GRADUATION PAPER A STUDY ON READING STRATEGIES APPLIED BY THE THIRD YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT TAY BAC UNIVERSITY

GRADUATION PAPER A STUDY ON READING STRATEGIES APPLIED BY THE THIRD YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT TAY BAC UNIVERSITY

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

TAY BAC UNIVERSITY

BUI THI NHIN

GRADUATION PAPER

A STUDY ON READING STRATEGIES APPLIED

BY THE THIRD YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS

AT TAY BAC UNIVERSITY

Field: English Methodology

Son La, 2013

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

TAY BAC UNIVERSITY

BUI THI NHIN

GRADUATION PAPER

A STUDY ON READING STRATEGIES APPLIED

BY THE THIRD YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS

AT TAY BAC UNIVERSITY

Field: English Methodology

Supervisor: Mrs Do Thi Thanh Tra, MA

Son La, 2013

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First, I would like to acknowledge my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Mrs Do Thi Thanh Tra who has given me the support, guidance and invaluable critical feedback during the process of carrying out the graduation paper

I also want to thank the useful suggestions and detailed comments of the teachers in Foreign Language Department and fellow classmates in 50th English course

In addition, I am grateful to teachers and students in 51th English course at Tay Bac University who help me collect data for completing this research

Finally, I am indebted to my family for their love, care and tolerance encouraging me to do this study

Son La, 10 th April 2013 BUI THI NHIN

ABSTRACT

English has undoubtedly become an international means of communication

As its essential roles in communication, the language teaching and learning has been changing rapidly to meet new demands However, the English language teaching and learning in Viet Nam in general, the teaching, and learning in Son la in particular still leave much room to be expected Especially, the learning of reading skill and using reading strategies is still far from being satisfactory It is clear that if the students use learning strategies, their learning will be more successful and obstacles while learning will not hinder their understanding any longer

The purpose of this research is to investigate the attitudes of teachers and the third year English major students at Tay Bac University toward reading strategies, afterwards, specific reading strategies applied by the students are thoroughly examined, and some feasible recommendations are given to these students to support them learn reading more effectively

In order to achieve these objectives, three instruments, namely document analysis, questionnaire and interview were used for teachers and students at Tay Bac University The result shows that the teachers always pay attention on applying reading strategies during reading lessons On the other hand, the students do not usually apply reading strategies as a motivation in learning reading The rarely used activities are: placing new words into context, using images, previewing and predicting (memory strategies), using background knowledge, guessing meaning from context, taking note (cognitive strategies), guessing intelligently and using other linguistic clues (compensation strategies) identifying the purpose of reading texts (meta cognitive strategies ), giving themselves valuable reward for a particular good performance in learning (affective strategies ), asking for classification or verification, cooperating with peers, developing cultural understanding, becoming aware of others thought and feeling (social strategies )

TABLES OF CONTENT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i

ABSTRACT ii

TABLES OF CONTENT iii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Purposes of study 1

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Scope of the study 2

1.5 Methodology 2

1.6 Design of the study 2

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 Language learning strategies 4

2.1.1 Definition 4

2.1.2 Classification of language learning strategies 5

2.2 Reading strategies 10

2.2.1 Definition of reading comprehension 10

2.2.2 Classification of reading 11

2.2.3 Definition of reading strategies 12

2.2.2 Classification of reading strategies 13

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 17

3.1 Description of the subjects 17

3.2 Data collection instruments 17

3.2.1 Document analysis 17

3.2.2 Questionnaires 17

3.2.3 Interviews 18

3.3 Results and discussions 18

3.3.1 Results collected from document analysis 18

3.3.2 Results collected from questionnaires 20

3.3.2.1 Students’ attitude towards reading strategies 20

3.3.2.2 Students’ use of reading strategies 21

3.3.3 Results collected from interview 26

CHAPTER 4: MAJOR FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS 29

4.1 Major findings 29

4.2 Suggestions 30

4.2.1 Arouse students' awareness of the importance of reading strategies 30

4.2.2 Suggestions of using reading strategies 31

4.2.2.1 Suggestion of using memory strategies 31

4.2.2.2 Suggestion of using cognitive strategies 33

4.2.2.3 Suggestion of using compensation strategies 36

4.2.2.4 Suggestion of using metacognitive strategies 39

4.2.2.5 Suggestion of using affective strategies 41

4.2.2.6 Suggestion of using social strategies 42

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 44 REFERENCES

APPENDIX

LISTS OF CHARTS AND TABLES

Table 1: Students’ attitude toward reading strategies……… 20

Chart 1: Students’ use of memory strategies……… ………21

Chart 2: Students’ use of cognitive strategies……… …… 22

Chart 3: Students’ use of compensation strategies……….…….23

Chart 4: Students’ use of metacognitive strategies……….……….24

Chart 5: Students’ use of affective strategies……… ……25

Chart 6: Students’ use of social strategies 26

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

It is undeniable that English is an international language, which plays an important role in social life It links people over the world in many fields: science, technology, business, communication, education, etc It also helps people to approach the endless knowledge of the human being Therefore, teaching and learning English have become the necessity in every country

Reading is considered one of the most important skills which language learners should master, particularly as it helps to build a variety of language expression and structures, widen general knowledge and lead to lifelong learning and improvement in the first and second language skills But acquiring and mastering this skill is likely to become a big hindrance to many learners while they often find it difficult to exploit this skill in their learning experience

In Viet Nam, English is one of the foreign languages, which is compulsory from primary to university In upper secondary school, listening, speaking, reading and writing are four main skills that students have to learn when they learn English Reading seems to be the most challenging skill for many students They find difficult in reading texts, reading tasks and reading exercises There are several reasons for this problem, and lack of using strategies during reading process seems to be the biggest reason Therefore, it is necessary, meaningful, and practical to do the research “A study on reading strategies applied by the third year English major students at Tay Bac University”

by the third year English major students at Tay Bac University

+ To give some suggestions in order to support the third year English major students at Tay Bac University read more effectively

1.3 Research questions

The study aimed at answering the questions as follows:

+ How do the teachers and the third year English major students at Tay Bac University percieve the importance of reading strategies in learning to read in English?

+ Which specific reading strategies are applied by the third year students majoring in English at Tay Bac University to facilitate their reading comprehension? How often do they utilize each kind of strategies?

+ what recommendations should be made to help these students to read more effectively?

1.4 Scope of the study

Due to the lack of time, condition, and material, this study only focus on investigating reading strategies employed by the third year students majoring in English at Tay Bac University

1.6 Design of the study

The study is composed of five chapters:

Chapter 1, Introduction, provides the background to the study, aims of the study, research questions, and methodology

Chapter 2, Literature review, involves different issues in the theories of language learning strategies in a foreign language as well as reading strategies Chapter 3, Data collection and analysis, consists of two parts: the first part focuses on the description of the subjects The second part is an analysis on the data collected from the survey questionnaires for students and interview questions for teachers

Chapter 4, Major findings and solution, consists of two parts: The first part focuses on the major findings inferred from the data analysis in Chapter 3 From these findings, some strategies and activitiesare recommended

Chapter 5, Conclusion, is the conclusion and the weakness of the study as well as some suggestions for further study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter involves different issues in the theories of language learning strategies in a foreign language as well as reading strategies

2.1 Language learning strategies

2.1.1 Definition

This section presents several definitions of language learning strategies by leading figures in the second and foreign language field: MacIntyre (1994),

O'Malley and Chamot (1990) and Oxford (1990)

Language learning strategies are “the actions chosen by language students

that are intended to facilitate language acquisition and communication”

(MacIntyre, 1994, p.190) MacIntyre emphasized learners’ deliberate action of language learning strategies This definition highlights the awareness and intention of learners’ use of language learning strategies (to facilitate language

acquisition and communication)

Language learning strategies are "the special thoughts or behaviors that

individuals use to help them comprehend, learn, or retain new information"

(O’Malley and Chamot, 1990, p.1) In O’Malley and Chamot’s definition, language learning strategies can be either observable (behaviors) or unobservable (thoughts) Additionally, the explicit goals of learning strategies are to assist students to gain comprehension and learn new information (Lan,

2005, p.17)

Language learning strategies are “operations employed by the learner to

aid the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use of information ; specific actions taken by the learners to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self- directed, more effective, and more transferable to new situations” (Oxford,

1990, p 8)

These definitions share one commonality: language learning strategies are

“what students do to assist their learning” (Bremner, 1999, p 8) However, they

have been defined in many different ways In fact, the terms used to describe

strategies and to account for their goals vary

As clearly shown in Oxford's (1990) definition, several explicit goals are evident “These are related to aspects of learning and use of information, as well

as to the changed nature of learning when learning is enhanced by strategies ("easier, faster, more self-directed ")” (Lan, 2005, p.17) In addition, Oxford believes that appropriate language learning strategies could help learners gain self-confidence and improve proficiency In this paper, Oxford’s points of view

is mostly considered because they care about specific actions taken by the learners to make learning enjoyable, easier, more self-directed and they are

suitable for kind of students under this study

The next sub-section describes and comments on some of the most common classifications of language learning strategies by Oxford (1990), with the aim to select the most relevant classification schemes for coding reading comprehension strategies in the present study

2.1.2 Classification of language learning strategies

According to Oxford’s way of classification, there are direct strategies and indirect strategies The former consists of mental processing of the language that includes memory, cognitive and compensation strategies The later are meta cognitive, affective, social strategies that support and manage language learning

without directly involving the target language

* Direct strategies

As it is stated by Oxford (1990, 80), “language learning strategies that directly involve the target language are called direct strategies” All direct strategies require mental processing of the language and use for different purposes

Direct strategies are classified into :

+ Memory strategies

+ Cognitive strategies

+ Compensation strategies

● Memory strategies

Memory strategies help students memorize, store, and retrieve new information Memory strategies require very simple principles such as arranging things in order, making association and reviewing Although memory strategies can be powerful contributor to language learning, stressed by Oxford, some researchers have shown that students are rarely reported using these strategies Memory strategies include the following techniques:

Cognitive strategies consist of the following techniques:

a Recognizing and using formulars and patterns

b Repeating language material

c Practicing with sounds and writing systems

d Practicing naturalistic

e Getting the ideas quickly

f Using resources for receiving and sending messages

g Reasoning deductively

h Analyzing expressions

i Analyzing contrastively

Compensation strategies include the following techniques:

a Using linguistic clues

b Using other clues

c Getting help

d Using mime or gesture

e Selecting the topic

f Adjusting the massage

+ Metacognitive strategies

+ Affective strategies

+ Social strategies

● Meta-cognitive strategies

Metacognitive strategies are “actions which go beyond purely cognitive device, and which provide for learners to coordinate their own learning process” (Oxford 1990:136) He further indicated that those metacognitive strategies are extremely important; learners use these strategies sporadically and without much sense of their importance In several studies of second and foreign language learning, reported by Oxford, “students used metacognitive less often than cognitive strategies and were limited in their range of metacognitive strategies, with planning strategies most frequently employed and with little self-evaluation

or self-monitoring”

Metacognitive strategies consist of the following techniques:

a Over viewing and linking, with already known material

b Paying attention

c Finding out about language learning

d Organizing learning

e Setting goals and objectives

f Identifying the purposes of a language task

g Planning for a language task

h Seeking practice opportunities

is distressing, given the power of affective strategies

Affective strategies have the following techniques:

a Using progressive, deep breathing, or meditation

b Using music

c Using laughters

d Making positive statements

e Taking risks wisely

f Rewarding oneself

g Listening to the body

h Using a checklist to assess feelings about language learning

i Writing a language learning diary

j Discussing feelings with someone else

● Social strategies

Social strategies are used to create and maintain language communication between and among people Language is a form of social behavior Learning a language, thus “involve other people, and appropriate social strategies are very important in this process” (Oxford, 144)(Oxford

Oxford (1990) noted that there is a large overlap among six groups in her strategy classification system For instance, metacognitive strategies help students regulate their own cognition by assessing how they are learning and planning often requires reasoning, which is itself a cognitive strategies Similarly, the compensation strategies of guessing, which is clearly used to make up for knowledge gaps, also require reasoning as well as involve socio-cultural sensitivity typically gained through social strategies

Social strategies consist of the following techniques:

a Asking for clarification or verification

b Asking for correction

c Cooperating with peers

d Cooperating with proficient users of the new language

e Developing cultural understanding

f Becoming aware of others’ thought and feeling

Apparently, there is a strong mutual support among all the types of strategies among direct and indirect ones Oxford (1990) even compared the

former and the later to the Director of a play The Director acts as an internal guide who administers the Performers, who cooperate and realize the play In other words, both direct and indirect strategies interact closely and actively for the best possible outcome Using language learning strategies help learners develop their competence in all reading, speaking, writing and listening skill

2.2 Reading strategies

2.2.1 Definition of reading comprehension

Reading has been the subject of research for over a century (Cheng, 1985)

In fact, a lot of trials have been made by those who are interested in this approach However, working out a thorough definition of reading is a hard nut

to crask since different researchers have various points of view about it Anderson (1999, p.7) confirmed that “reading is an active, fluent process which involves the readers and the reading materials in building meaning” What can

be inferred from this definition is that reading is considered as a process of working out the intended meaning from a reading text Harmer’s definition (1998, p.70-71) has some points in common “reading is an exercise dominated

by the eyes and the brain The eyes receive messages and the brain then has to work out the significance of these messages” Obviously, this definition fails to the ways that help readers understand messages in the text The definition is given by William (1990, p.2), which says that “reading is a process whereby one looks at and understands what has been written” also encounters this shortcoming The definition that seems to be more satisfying than those mentioned above

is the one introduced by Rumelhart (1977) In Rumelhart’s words, reading entails three elements: the reader, the text, and the interaction between the reader and the text Sharing the same point of view Aebersold and Field (1977, p15) stated that reading is what happens when people look at a text and assign meaning to the written symbols in that text The text and the reader are the two physical entities necessary for reading process to start It is, however, the interaction between the text and the reader that costitute actual meaning

What makes the definitions of reading by Rumelhart (1977) and Aebersold and Field (1977) different is the interaction between the purpose and the manner

of reading that determines how people read a text or what reading strategies they bring to reading process

To sum up, it is obvious that attempts to define reading have been various but only Aebersold and Field’s (1977) definition reveals the features and ideas

of reading as it indicated that reading takes three elements for the occurrence of process of transferring meaning from writer to reader The reader, the text and the interaction between these two factors

So far, general views on reading have been mentioned, the next section will look into the models that describe the reading process in order to have a full understanding about the nature of reading

2.2.2 Classification of reading

Depending on the purpose of reading, each person has different methods of reading In other words, the purpose of reading will determine the manner in which the reader access to reading materials This study will classify reading according to the criteria of the manner of reading and the purpose of reading

- Classification according to the manner

Doff (1988), there are two ways of reading: reading aloud and silent reading

"Reading aloud is the process that the readers look at the text to understand the text and read aloud" (Doff: 70) Doff said that reading aloud is one way transmission of necessary information, Nuttall (1996) considered read aloud a useful tool to practice pronunciation

Reading aloud aims at practicing the ability to communicate with others, the ability to express thoughts and feelings So, reading aloud as a procedure

to form the reader the technical skill of reading as: pronunciation, intonation, fluency, etc On the other hand, reading aloud allows the reader to comprehend the letters of the language, so it helps the reader to remember the text more easily

Silent reading is as the link between the visual stimulus and the meaning or process of seeing and understanding Silent reading helps the reader to understand and master content of the text Therefore, silent reading is used popular in learning reading skill

- Classification according to the purpose of reading

According to Wood (1985), Williams (1986) and Grellet (1990) there are four ways to read: skimming, scanning, extensive reading and intensive reading, Grellet (1990) stated that skimming and scanning are necessary techniques to require speed Skimming is reading through the entire text and finding the main idea, the structure of the text, and purpose of the author But when looking for specific information, readers often use scanning

Extensive reading and intensive reading have some differences The two main points of extensive reading are smooth and relaxed while the purpose of intensive reading is to understand the specific details of the content of the reading and to transmit the reading content (Nuttall, 1989, p.23)

2.2.3 Definition of reading strategies

Reading strategies, as defined by Brantmeier (2002, p.1) are “the comprehension processes that readers use in order to make sense of what they read and reading strategies are summarized as follows :

“The strategies may involve skimming, scanning, guessing, recognizing cognates and word families, reading for meaning, predicting, activating knowledge, making inference, following references, and separating main ideas from supporting ideas”

According to Anderson (1999, p.12), there are six reading strategies: 1.activate prior knowledge, 2.cultivate vocabulary, 3.teach for comprehension, 4.increase reading rate, 5.verify reading strategies, 6.evaluate progress

Brown (1990, p.3) considered reading strategies as the ways that help learners read more quickly and more effectively

In short, reading strategies can be defined as the ways show readers how to manage their interaction with the written text to comprehend and learn new

information from the reading texts effectively

2.2.2 Classification of reading strategies

According to Oxford’ way of classification, in this study, reading strategies are divided depending on learning strategies These are direct strategies, which include memory strategies, cognitive strategies, compensation strategies and indirect strategies which consist of metacognitive strategies, affective strategies and social strategies

A Direct strategies

I Memory strategies

1 Placing new word into context: readers should place new words and expressions into a meaningful context or a real situation, such as a spoken or written sentence, to remember information better and longer

2 Using imagery: readers create meaningful visual imagery of the spoken input either in the mind or in real drawing to comprehend and store information

3 Previewing and predicting: readers focus on previewing key elements (titles, headings, etc.) to determine what they already know about a reading text Then predict what they will learn

4 Employing action: readers use body movement, total physical response, physical response or sensation to remember information better For example: use your finger to help your eyes follow lines of text, underline or highlight words you don’t understand, and circle or highlight key words in a bright color

5 Grouping words: readers list all words in the assignment that may be important for them to understand Arrange words to show the relationships to the learning task Add words they probably already understand to connect relationships between what is known and the unknown

II Cognitive strategies

6 Using background knowledge to infer information: readers are encouraged to use what they already know before reading new material, or how much background knowledge they have in order to do the tasks more quickly and easier

7 Skimming and scanning: readers should moving their eyes quickly down

a page, not reading every word, in order to get an idea of what the text is about Then sweeping their eyes (like radar) over part of a text to find specific pieces of information

8 Guessing meaning from context: sometimes readers do not need to look

up the words they don’t know The first thing to do should be to look at the context and actually try to guess the meaning of the words without having to look up in the dictionary

9 Making inference and drawing conclusion: Before doing a reading text, readers may use available information to guess meaning of new items, predict outcomes, or fill in missing information Then drawing conclusion about the text

to remember it longer

10 Taking note: readers had better write down keywords or concepts in abbreviated verbal, graphic, or numerical form while reading

III Compensation strategies

11 Guessing intelligently\using linguistic clues: readers seek and used language-based clues to guess the intended meaning of speech Suffixes, prefixes, and word order, etc are useful triggers for guessing

12 Using other linguistics clues: Using synonym, antonym, restatement, list, definition, etc to define unfamiliar words are the good ways for readers to remember the words

B Indirect strategies

IV Metacognitive strategies

13 Identifying the purpose of reading texts: Before reading, readers should establish the purpose by asking themselves questions such: Why are you reading this article or chapter, and what do you want to get out of it? When you have accomplished your purpose, stop reading For instance, your purpose in seeking a number in the telephone book is specific and clear, and once you find the number, you stop "reading." This principle helps readers to get the focus or theme, or main ideas, or main facts or figures, or evidence, arguments and

examples, or relations, or methods, that can prompt them to use what they want

in the minimum time

14 Self-monitoring: readers check their comprehension during reading by asking themselves questions to know how much they understand about the text

15 Advance organizers: Before reading an assignment, readers should be pointed out such as cause-effect or problem-solution It can be beneficial to call attention to specific plans of paragraph or text organization such as signal words, main idea sentences, highlighted phrases, headings and subtitles A review of skimming techniques might also be appropriate as these various areas are covered

V Affective strategies

16 Rewarding you: Readers had better give themselves valuable rewards for a particular good performance in learning to make them feel happy and encourage them to learn

17 Writing a language-learning diary: readers write a diary or journal to keep track of events or feeling in the process of learning to review when necessary

18 Seeking practice opportunities: readers create opportunities to practice reading skill outside classroom setting such places as in the library, on the bus,

or in the garden, etc depending on learner’s choice

VI Social strategies

19 Asking for clarification or verification: readers ask the speakers or language instructors in classroom setting to slow down, paraphrase, repeat, or explain what has been said They ask for classifying to make sure that something has been understood

20 Cooperating with peers: readers work with their friend in pairs or groups to improve their reading comprehension ability in cooperative spirit

21 Developing cultural understanding: readers try to enrich their knowledge of the target culture to understand the discourse This helps them complete the task quickly and easily

22 Becoming aware of others thought and feeling: learners keep aware of fluctuations in the thought and feeling of speakers in order to get the messages more appropriately

Summary: This chapter has presented the revelant literature, which has

helped to form the theoretical framework for the study Different aspects of language learning strategies and reading strategies have been discussed

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This chapter focuses on methodology The first section shows the description

of subjects, and the second deals with the description of data collection instruments and procedures

3.1 Description of the subjects

The subjects of this study include the following groups:

The first group is 53 third year English major students at TBU The majority of them are minority communities Learners, who come from different provinces in the Northwest of Viet Nam, are aged around 20-23, and have had from 5 to 9 years of learning English These students have different backgrounds

of learning English

The second is 5 English teachers at TBU, aged from 29 to 36 They all have from 6 to 12 working years They were invited to complete the questionnaire while they were teaching the students of English at TBU

3.2 Data collection instruments

3.2.1 Document analysis

The documents which were analyzed are: Newly published English books which have been using since school year 2004-2008, the books according to the 3-year English program at secondary schools, and the reading materials introduced for English major students by teachers of Foreign Language

Department at Tay Bac University such as Concept and comments (Patricia

Ackert, 2005), Practice your reading skills (Hanoi National University, 2006), Effective Reading (Simon Greenall and Michael Swan, 1986),etc

3.2.2 Questionnaires

The questionaires for the students (see appendix 1) was conducted in order

to investigate students’ attitudes toward reading strategies and students’ use of reading strategies

The questionnaire consists of two parts, which was designed with two main purposes The first part aims at collecting students’ attitude toward the importance

of reading strategies The second part focuses on six kinds of strategies with 22 techniques so as to evaluate the students’ frequency in using reading strategies The strategies are : memory strategies (1 to 5), cognitive strategies ( 6 to 10 ), compensation strategies ( 11 to 12 ), metacognitive strategies (13 to 15 ), affective strategies (16 to 18 ), social strategies (19 to 22) Both six strategies require students to answer by choosing one of four answers, answers 1 = usually, answers 2 = often, answers 3 = sometime, answer 4 =never

The questionnaires were distributed to students in period 2 of the reading lesson and collected after 20 minutes

3.2.3 Interviews

As mentioned above, there were five English teachers, aged from 29 to 36 They all have from 6 to 12 working years at Tay Bac University attended the interview The interview questions related to reading strategies and its importance in learning reading skill

The interview for teachers consists of five questions (see appendix 2) The first and the second questions aim at identifying the teachers’ general ideas about the importance of reading strategies and their attitudes toward reading strategies The third and fourth questions find out about the teachers’ evaluation at their students’ reading competence The rest question finds out the difficulties that the third year English major students often meet when they learn reading skill as well

as applying reading strategies through perception and evaluation of teachers

3.3 Results and discussions

3.3.1 Results collected from document analysis

The majority of the students (75.5%) have learned English from the grade 6 according to Newly published English books which have been using since school year 2004-2008 The books consists of 16 units, each unit of lesson includes: reading, speaking, listening, writing, language focus The book provides a wide range of different reading texts and tasks at each stage with a view to help the students improve their reading skills such as skimming, finding the main ideas, matching, guessing meaning of unknown words and so on

Besides, there is a small percent of students (24.5%) in the 51th English course have learnt English from the grade 10 according to the 3-year English program

at secondary schools The book is designed under unit of lesson which consists of: situation practice, use of language, reading practice, word and phrases This proves that all students have been approached reading skills since they were at secondary school

However, the students have only one reading lesson each unit, which is not enough for them to develop their reading skills In addition, there are some reading texts discussing about strange topics, which interfere students while learning reading skill

Entering the university, students have more chance to approach reading

strategies Firstly, students are learned the book Concept and comments

(Patricia Ackert, 2005) The book includes 25 units, each unit consists of:

vocabulary, comprehension, word study The second book is Practice your reading skills which is published in 2006 It is designed for students at

intermediate level to develop their reading skills such as skimming, scanning, finding the main idea, guessing the meaning of words through context, etc

Second year students have accessed to reading strategies in an active way

through the Reading 2, published by the Hanoi National University This book

is divided into two main parts that include 15 units In the first part, from unit 1

to unit 6 focus on introducing all of the reading strategies for students, there are many practical exercises to practice reading skills and help learners enhance their knowledge about vocabulary, sentence patterns and style in English The second part provides opportunities for students to apply and improve reading strategies learned in the first part

The next book is Effective Reading (Simon Greenall and Michael Swan,

1986) The aim of this book is to help learners of English to read more effectively

by presenting and developing the various skills needed for successful reading comprehension The book is suitable for all advanced learners of English because the passages are all examples of contemporary British and American taken from a

variety of sources such as newspapers, magazines, novels, advertising material and instructions There are 45 units in this book Each unit contains a variety of suggestions for further language activities such as group discussion work, roleplays, intensive vocabulary study and writing practice

In brief, these illustrated that the students have approached a variety of reading resources and skills

3.3.2 Results collected from questionnaires

3.3.2.1 Students’ attitude towards reading strategies

Table 1: Students’ attitude towards reading strategies

As can be seen from the table 1, the majority of students reported that, their teachers usually guide them reading strategies (75.5%), but they were not satisfied with their reading ability (92.5%) They find difficult in doing exercises and solving the tasks in English There is a positive factor that 100% of the students have heard about the concept of reading strategies; however, 81.1% of students think that language learning strategies are not important There are only 18.9% of students think that language learning strategies play an important role

in reading process This proves that they do not aware of the importance of the use of reading strategies in the learning process

3.3.2.2 Students’ use of reading strategies

* Students’ use of memory strategies

Memory strategies are very useful in helping students memorize, store and retrieve information However, it can be seen from the chart that language-learning students rarely use these strategies There is a small number of students who have activated revelant schemas to associate and place new words and expressions into a meaningful context in memory (1.9%) Meanwhile, 60.3% students have never this technique in memory Moreover, it is surprised that most of the students have never created meaningful visual imagery of the spoken input to comprehend or store information (58.4 %) The reason for this maybe they get used to remembering new words by learning by heart instead of using some useful ways They do not pay much attention to previewing and predicting key elements (titles, headings, etc.) to determine what they already know about a

text It means that memory strategies have not been used widely by students

Thus, the techniques of the memory strategies students do not use are placing words into specific context, creating meaningful visual imagery of the spoken input either in the mind or in real drawing to comprehend and previewing and predicting key elements

* Students’ use of cognitive strategies

Looking at the chart, we can see that most of students have the ability to read quickly to get the information, ignore the irrelevant ideas, specifically 48.3%, whereas there are very few students regularly use background knowledge to infer information (5.7%), meanwhile 47.2% do not use it as an effective method to support the process of reading In addition, 24.5% of the students have used the clues, hints to infer information, 26.4% of students can record the main ideas and restate according to their own ideas Guess the meaning from context has not really been focused by the students, only 7.5% of students who often guess the meaning of the word through context during reading and 49% of students rarely use this technique The students also do not pay attention to taking note while reading

Thus, the techniques in the cognitive strategies that students do not often apply are using background knowledge to infer information, guessing meaning

of the words through context, and taking note

* Students’ use of compensation strategies

The chart shows that students have not used compensation strategies a lot

It can be seen that only 11.3% of students based on the linguistic clues as the roots, suffixes, prefixes, word order so as to guess the meaning of new words during reading Moreover, students do not pay attention to the use of other linguistic clues such as synonyms, antonyms, restatement, etc to guess the meaning of the words in the reading process, specifically 50.9% of students who never use this sub-skill

Thus, students who have not applied the two techniques of compensation strategies: guessing intelligently and using other linguistic clues

* Students’ use of metacognitive strategies

The chart indicates that there is only 11.3% of students who made effort to identify the purpose of reading texts before reading, while 47% have sometime done because they do not pay attention to this technique Surprisingly, most of the students have never check their comprehension during reading or checking accuracy and/or appropriateness of their or written production while it is taking place, whereas 41.5% of students can preview ideas and concepts of the material

to be learnt, often by skimming the text for organizing principle

It can be said that students have not used metacognitive strategies widely as such identifying the purpose of reading texts before reading

* Students’ use of affective strategies

It can be seen from the chart, 43.4% of the students usually create opportunities to practice reading skill outside classroom setting Besides, the students often pay attention to discuss your feelings with someone else or write

a diary to share their emotion (41.5%), On the other hand, only a modest number

of students (7.5% ) give themselves valuable reward for a particular good performance in learning

In short, the technique students do not apply regularly in affective strategies is giving themselves valuable reward for a particular good performance in learning

* Students’ use of social strategies

The chart demonstrates that most of students do not pay attention to the application of social strategies while learning reading skill Because of worriedness, 94.3% students have never asked for clarification or verification A smaller number of students often use this technique (5.7%) Moreover, only a small number of the students (11.3%) have cooperated with their peers They were so shy and lazy in cooperating There are very few students who try to enrich their knowledge of the target culture to understand the discourse (7.5%)

as well as pay attention to the thought and feeling of writers (15.1%)

Overall, it can be seen that the 4 techniques of social strategies are not focused by students during the process of reading

3.3.3 Results collected from interview

There are five teachers to be interviewed All of them were asked the same questions, but their answers had some simplifies and differences When being asked about the general ideas about reading strategies (question 1), they all agree that reading strategies play an important role in reading process Using reading strategies is integral in order to read more effectively Therefore, they