Efl students difficulties in reading academic tasks = những khó khăn của học sinh trong các loại bài tập đọc hiểu tiếng anh

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY TRỊNH THỊ HUYÊN EFL STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN READING ACADEMIC TASKS Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching Code: 8140111 SUPERVISOR: LÊ NHÂN THÀNH, PhD BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƢỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN TRỊNH THỊ HUYÊN NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN CỦA HỌC SINH TRONG CÁC LOẠI BÀI TẬP ĐỌC HIỂU TIẾNG ANH Ngành: Lý luận phƣơng pháp dạy học môn Tiếng Anh Mã số: 8140111 NGƢỜI HƢỚNG DẪN: TS LÊ NHÂN THÀNH i STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP The work contained in this thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, my thesis contains no material previously published or written by any other person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself Date: Signed: Trinh Thi Huyen ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This paper could not have been completed without the encouragement and support from several individuals and groups to whom I would like to express my deep sense of gratitude during the stressful time of writing this paper First and foremost, I am deeply grateful to my supervisor, Dr Le Nhan Thanh, for his support, patience, and encouragement throughout my study His technical and editorial advice was essential to the completion of this paper and has taught me innumerable lessons and insights on the workings of academic research in general I have been extremely lucky to have a supervisor who cared so much about my work My sincere thanks also go to the teachers at the Department of Foreign Languages, Quy Nhon University for the useful knowledge that they taught me during the time I attended the M.A course I would also like to thank the teachers and students at Ly Tu Trong school for their untiring supports to this research paper Without their passionate participation and input, the study could not have been successfully conducted Last but not least, I owe an unpaid debt to all the generous support, love, and care from my beloved families and friends, which has given me more strength, belief, and motivation to overcome all the troubles in the whole process of this research Finally, I offer my regards and blessing to all of those who supported me in the completion of the thesis iii ABSTRACT Reading comprehension is an important skill in learning English because students with poor reading comprehension often face academic challenges In order to help students acquire good reading competence at school, it is essential to find out what difficulties they face in reading comprehension tasks Therefore, this study aims to explore difficulties that secondary school students encounter in their English reading comprehension tasks by investigating their perceptions of the causes of the difficulties The study was conducted at Ly Tu Trong Secondary School, Gia Lai Province with the participation of 90 students The data for this study was collected through questionnaires and 12 semi-structured interviews Among eight groups of factors, including both linguistic or non-linguistic factors, poor grammar knowledge was perceived as the factor causing most difficulties for the students in their reading comprehension tasks, followed by lack of content knowledge, lack of vocabulary, lack of background knowledge, and lack of reading strategies In contrast, non-linguistic factors including psychological factors, institutional factors, and physical factors were not perceived as the causes for difficulties with reading comprehension tasks The results from the analysis of the interviews supported those from the questionnaires They affirmed that lack of vocabulary, grammar knowledge, background knowledge, content knowledge, and reading strategies were the major causes of difficulties for the students in doing reading comprehension tasks Based on the findings, implications for educators, school administrators, and EFL teachers are addressed, and further studies are suggested iv TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v LIST OF TABLES vi LIST OF FIGURES vi CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1.BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY 1.2.RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY 1.3.AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1.3.1 Aim of the study 1.3.2 Objectives of the study 1.4.RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1.5.SCOPE OF THE STUDY 1.6.SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 1.7.ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1.READING AND READING COMPREHENSION 2.2.THE IMPORTANCE OF READING COMPREHENSION 10 2.3.TYPES OF READING 12 2.4.READING DIFFICULTIES AND FACTORS INFLUENCING READING DIFFICULTIES 16 2.4.1 Reading difficulties 16 2.4.2 Factors influencing reading difficulties 17 2.4.3 Previous studies 30 2.4.4 Research gaps 34 2.5.SUMMARY 34 v CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 35 3.1.RESEARCH APPROACH 35 3.2.RESEARCH SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS 36 3.3.DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS 37 3.3.1 Questionnaires 38 3.3.2 Interviews 40 3.4.DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES 41 3.4.1 Administering the questionnaires 41 3.4.2 Administering the interviews 42 3.5.DATA ANALYSIS METHODS 43 3.6.RESEARCH RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY 44 3.7.LEGAL AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS 45 3.8.SUMMARY 45 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 47 4.1.RESULTS FROM THE QUESTIONNAIRES 47 4.1.1 Difficulties caused by linguistic factors 49 4.1.2 Difficulties caused by non-linguistic factors 51 4.2.RESULTS FROM THE INTERVIEW 57 4.3.DISCUSSIONS 60 4.3.1 Discussion of difficulties caused by linguistic factors 60 4.3.2 Discussion of difficulties caused by non-linguistic factors 62 4.4.SUMMARY 65 CHAPTER CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 67 5.1.SUMMARY OF MAIN FINDINGS 67 5.2.RESEARCH IMPLICATIONS 68 5.2.1 Implications for students 68 5.2.2 Implications for school administrators 71 5.2.3 Implications for teachers 71 vi 5.3.LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 72 5.4.RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES 73 REFERENCES 75 APPENDICES v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as a Foreign Language FL: Foreign language L1: First Language L2: Second Language SPSS: Statistical Package for Social Sciences vi LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Background information of the participants 37 Table 3.2 Process of conducting the survey 39 Table 3.3 Mean Range for Agreement Degree 44 Table 3.4 Reliability Statistics 45 Table 4.1 Students‟ perceptions towards causes of difficulties in reading comprehension tasks 47 Table 4.2 A comparison between linguistic and non- linguistic factors 56 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1 Quantitative data collection procedure 42 Figure 3.2 Qualitative data collection procedure 43 AP-8 a Lớp b Lớp c Lớp d Lớp Phần B Nhận thức học sinh khó khăn làm loại tập đọc hiểu Tiếng Anh Khó khăn yếu tố ngơn ngữ gây I Em cho biết mức độ đồng ý khó khăn mà em gặp phải việc đọc đọc hiểu yếu tố ngôn ngữ gây cách đánh dấu()vào ô phù hợp Chủ điểm Phát biểu Hồn Khơng Khơng tồn đồng có ý khơng ý kiến đồng ý 1 Khó khăn thiếu kiến thức từ vựng Tơi khơng có đủ kiến thức từ vựng tiếng Anh Nghĩa theo ngữ cảnh nhiều từ cụm từ khiến tơi khó hiểu đọc Tơi lẫn lộn từ / cụm từ có nghĩa khác nên thấy khó hiểu nội dung đọc Đồng ý Hoàn toàn đồng ý AP-9 Khó khăn thiếu kiến thức ngữ pháp Sự phức tạp cấu trúc ngữ pháp đọc khiến tơi thấy khó hiểu nội dung đọc Em gặp khó khăn việc hiểu đọc cách tổ chức đoạn văn phức tạp II Khó khăn yếu tố phi ngơn ngữ gây Em cho biết mức độ đồng ý khó khăn mà em gặp phải việc hiểu loại đọc hiểu yếu tố phi ngôn ngữ gây cách đánh dấu () vào phù hợp Hồn Khơng Khơng Đồng Hồn tồn đồng có ý ý tồn khơng ý kiến đồng Phát biểu đồng ý ý Theme Khó khăn thiếu kiến thức tảng mang lại Em gặp khó khăn việc hiểu đọc có chủ đề không quen thuộc Kiến thức tảng em hạn chế nên đọc đọc hiểu em thấy khó hiểu nội dung Em liên kết trải nghiệm kiến thức có với nội dung đọc hiểu nên em thấy khó hiểu nội AP-10 dung đọc Khó khăn thiếu kiến thức nội dung 10 11 12 Khó khăn thiếu chiến lƣợc đọc mang 13 Kiến thức em nội dung chuyên sâu đọc hạn chế nên em thấy khó hiểu nội dung đọc hiểu Kiến thức em nội dung chuyên môn sâu đọc hạn chế nên em thấy khó nhớ thơng tin đọc đọc hiểu Kiến thức em nội dung chuyên môn sâu đọc hạn chế nên em thấy khó xác định vị trí thơng tin cách nhanh chóng Vì thiếu kiến thức chun mơn sâu nên em thấy khó hiểu nội dung đọc hiểu liên quan đến chuyên môn sâu Em áp dụng chiến lược đọc đọc lướt, đoán nghĩa theo ngữ cảnh, tóm tắt, suy ý chính, tìm chi tiết, v.v để hiểu đọc AP-11 lại Em khơng có động Khó 14 lực để học mơn đọc khăn hiểu Em lo lắng đọc yếu tố 15 đọc hiểu tâm lí Em nghĩ kỹ mang đọc không quan lại 16 trọng việc học tiếng Anh Chương trình giảng dạy tiếng Anh em học trường không 17 tập trung vào việc Khó phát triển lực khăn đọc hiểu học sinh yếu tố Giáo viên tiếng Anh không cung cấp đủ quan/ 18 tài liệu đọc hữu ích thể chế thú vị lớp mang học lại Giáo viên tiếng Anh không hướng dẫn 19 cặn kẽ, chi tiết chiến lược đọc cho học sinh Em bị tập trung Khó 20 tiếng ồn khăn đọc điều Khả đọc hiểu kiện em bị ảnh hưởng vật 21 tiêu cực chất hành vi hành thấp động bạn AP-12 mang lại lớp lúc đọc Việc bố trí bàn ghế lớp học khơng phù hợp có ảnh 22 hưởng tiêu cực đến việc đọc hiểu em Nhiệt độ phịng học q nóng q 23 lạnh ảnh hưởng tiêu cực đến việc đọc hiểu em Áp lực hoàn thành tập đọc hiểu theo yêu cầu thời 24 gian giáo viên ảnh hưởng tiêu cực đến việc đọc hiểu em Các em có gợi ý đề nghị việc làm tập đọc hiểu Tiếng Anh trường khơng? Nếu có, xin em vui lịng ghi Tôi cần vấn số em học sinh để biết rõ ý kiến em khó khăn việc đọc đọc hiểu tiếng anh Nếu em đồng ý tham gia vấn, xin vui lịng cung cấp thơng tin Họ tên: Số điện thoại: Email: Xin chân thành cảm ơn em! AP-13 Appendix C Interview protocol – English version Questions for interview in English Please describe the difficulties you face when learning reading comprehension, especially when you have to reading comprehension exercises in class at the request of the teacher Personally, what factors cause you the most difficulty in reading English reading comprehension passages? Why? AP-14 Appendix D Interview protocol – Vietnamese version Questions for interview in Vietnamese Em nêu khó khăn mà em gặp phải học môn đọc hiểu, đặc biệt em phải làm tập đọc hiểu lớp theo yêu cầu giáo viên Đối với thân em yếu tố gây cho em khó khăn nhiều việc đọc đọc hiểu tiếng Anh? Tại sao? AP-15 Appendix E Interview transcripts Extract 1: Researcher (R), Student (S1) Please describe the difficulties you face when learning reading comprehension, especially when you have to reading comprehension exercises in class at the request of the teacher S1: “There are many complex grammatical structures that I have not been taught before; therefore, it is difficult for me to understand the texts.” S1: “there are too many new words in the reading comprehension tasks that prevented me from understanding the text meaning.” Personally, what factors cause you the most difficulty in reading English reading comprehension passages? Why? S1: “There are many complex grammatical structures that I have not been taught before; therefore, it is difficult for me to understand the texts.” S1: Besides, limited vocabulary is also my problem Extract 2: Researcher (R), Student (S2 ) Please describe the difficulties you face when learning reading comprehension, especially when you have to reading comprehension exercises in class at the request of the teacher S2: “There are many complex grammatical structures that I have not been taught before; therefore, it is difficult for me to understand the texts.” S2: “I often found unknown words that have not been taught before in reading comprehension tasks; therefore, I cannot understand the text meaning” Personally, what factors cause you the most difficulty in reading English reading comprehension passages? Why? AP-16 S2: “Some words in the reading texts have different meaning in different contexts or grammatical structures; therefore, it is difficult for me to capture the right meaning of these words.” Extract 3: Researcher (R), Student (S3 ) Please describe the difficulties you face when learning reading comprehension, especially when you have to reading comprehension exercises in class at the request of the teacher S3: “There are many complex grammatical structures that I have not been taught before; therefore, it is difficult for me to understand the texts.” S3: “It is difficult for me to deal with reading tasks with unfamiliar topics” S3: I not got enough vocabulary to read the reading lessons Personally, what factors cause you the most difficulty in reading English reading comprehension passages? Why? S3: “Grammar is varied and complex; my limited knowledge of grammar hinders me from understanding English texts.” Extract 4: Researcher (R), Student (S4 ) Please describe the difficulties you face when learning reading comprehension, especially when you have to reading comprehension exercises in class at the request of the teacher S4: “There are many complex grammatical structures that I have not been taught before; therefore, it is difficult for me to understand the texts.” S4: “I often found unknown words that have not been taught before in reading comprehension tasks; therefore, I cannot understand the text meaning” AP-17 Personally, what factors cause you the most difficulty in reading English reading comprehension passages? Why? S4: “I not get many words to completting the tasks… Extract 5: Researcher (R), Student (S5) Please describe the difficulties you face when learning reading comprehension, especially when you have to reading comprehension exercises in class at the request of the teacher S5: “There are many complex grammatical structures that I have not been taught before; therefore, it is difficult for me to understand the texts.” Personally, what factors cause you the most difficulty in reading English reading comprehension passages? Why? S5: I find stress when teacher asked me to tell the answer to all class I not over come it S5: I also not have enough words to read… S5: I see material at school not much… Extract 6: Researcher (R), Student (S6 ) Please describe the difficulties you face when learning reading comprehension, especially when you have to reading comprehension exercises in class at the request of the teacher S6: “There are many complex grammatical structures that I have not been taught before; therefore, it is difficult for me to understand the texts.” S6: “I often found unknown words that have not been taught before in reading comprehension tasks; therefore, I cannot understand the text meaning” AP-18 S6: “Different grammatical structures used in a reading texts; however, the majority of structures are unfamiliar to me Hence, I cannot interpret these structures for my text understanding.” Personally, what factors cause you the most difficulty in reading English reading comprehension passages? Why? S6: “I not know which reading strategy is suitable for each type of reading comprehension tasks.” S6: I also not overcome psychological factor because iam scare to talk my answer and summit all answers Extract 7: Researcher (R), Student ( S7 ) Please describe the difficulties you face when learning reading comprehension, especially when you have to reading comprehension exercises in class at the request of the teacher S7: “There are many complex grammatical structures that I have not been taught before; therefore, it is difficult for me to understand the texts.” My vocabulary is now little for me to cover all the passages in the reading texts Personally, what factors cause you the most difficulty in reading English reading comprehension passages? Why? S7: My vocabulary is now little for me to cover all the passages in the reading texts S7: I not have many strategies to read and I also have little content knowledge so Iam afraid in which information of the reading texts I will handle… S7: We are not provided enough reading materials.” AP-19 Extract 8: Researcher (R), Student (S8 ) Please describe the difficulties you face when learning reading comprehension, especially when you have to reading comprehension exercises in class at the request of the teacher S8: “There are many complex grammatical structures that I have not been taught before; therefore, it is difficult for me to understand the texts.” S8: “Different grammatical structures used in a reading texts; however, the majority of structures are unfamiliar to me Hence, I cannot interpret these structures for my text understanding.” S8: “Grammar is varied and complex; my limited knowledge of grammar hinders me from understanding English texts.” Personally, what factors cause you the most difficulty in reading English reading comprehension passages? Why? S8: “There are several reasons attributed to my difficulties during my reading comprehension tasks; among these reasons the lack of grammar knowledge is the most influencing factor.” (S8) S8: “I suffered from the pressure from my teachers regarding the time set for comprehension tasks and their control over the process of reading.” Extract 9: Researcher (R), Student (S9) Please describe the difficulties you face when learning reading comprehension, especially when you have to reading comprehension exercises in class at the request of the teacher S9: “There are many complex grammatical structures that I have not been taught before; therefore, it is difficult for me to understand the texts.” S9: “I often found unknown words that have not been taught before in AP-20 reading comprehension tasks; therefore, I cannot understand the text meaning” S9: My vocabulary is not much to handle the reading texts at school S9: “We are not provided enough reading materials.” Personally, what factors cause you the most difficulty in reading English reading comprehension passages? Why? S9: “Grammar is varied and complex; my limited knowledge of grammar hinders me from understanding English texts.” S9: “My teacher’s teaching pedagogy is not appropriate for me to develop reading skills.” Extract 10: Researcher (R), Student (S10) Please describe the difficulties you face when learning reading comprehension, especially when you have to reading comprehension exercises in class at the request of the teacher S10: “There are many complex grammatical structures that I have not been taught before; therefore, it is difficult for me to understand the texts.” S10: “I often found unknown words that have not been taught before in reading comprehension tasks; therefore, I cannot understand the text meaning” S10: “It is difficult for me to deal with reading tasks with unfamiliar topics” S10: I face many new words which I not know how to understand them Personally, what factors cause you the most difficulty in reading English reading comprehension passages? Why? AP-21 S10: Lack of background and content knowledge make me find hard to understand the whole reading so I see it so challenging to read any passage Extract 11: Researcher (R), Student (S11) Please describe the difficulties you face when learning reading comprehension, especially when you have to reading comprehension exercises in class at the request of the teacher S11: “There are many complex grammatical structures that I have not been taught before; therefore, it is difficult for me to understand the texts.” S11: “I often found unknown words that have not been taught before in reading comprehension tasks; therefore, I cannot understand the text meaning” S11: “Words with different meanings caused a number of difficulties for me when dealing with English reading comprehension tasks I am usually confused with these multiple meaning words.” S11: “There are many complex grammatical structures that I have not been taught before; therefore, it is difficult for me to understand the texts.” S11: I not own words which I see it hard for me to handle the reading tasks, you know… Personally, what factors cause you the most difficulty in reading English reading comprehension passages? Why? S11: I see lack of background and content knowledge really challenging for me to deal with the reading texts, I usually skip reading… Extract 12: Researcher (R), Student (S12) Please describe the difficulties you face when learning reading AP-22 comprehension, especially when you have to reading comprehension exercises in class at the request of the teacher S12: “There are many complex grammatical structures that I have not been taught before; therefore, it is difficult for me to understand the texts.” S12: Vocabulary is so challenging that I usually guess to get the main idea of the texts Personally, what factors cause you the most difficulty in reading English reading comprehension passages? Why? S12: “My teacher’s teaching pedagogy is not appropriate for me to develop reading skills.” S12: Iam scared of being called to answer by my teachers