The strategies to do reading comprehension exercises of english majored juniors at tay do university

TAY DO UNIVERSITY FACUTLY OF LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURB s*r H()e rAY BA THESIS TIIE STRATEGIES TO DO READING COMPREHENSION EXERCISES OF ENGLISH MAJORED JUNIORS AT TAY DO T]NIVERSITY Supervisor Student HUVNH THI MY DUYtN, M Ed Name: TRAN THI THANH HIT,N Code: 1157010016 Class: ENGLISH i i lldxc : DH TAy Do L '^'rtif*';"1 I Can Tho, 2015 - L.003748 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I consider myself very lucky and honored to have so many wonderful people to lead me to completion of this research First of all, I would like to express my most heartfelt gratitude to my supervisors Huynh Thi My Duyen, M.Ed who took time out to guide and to complete my thesis She helped me out of problem and gave me good orientation as well as encouragement In addition, she gave me precious feedback and constructive comment which helped me has a right way to overcome difficulties and complete my thesis better Next, I would like to demonstratq my thanks to the students of English who completed the questionnaire and the test in my study Finally, I want to send my special encouragement as work love to my parents for their continuous well as my close friends for their supports during the time of COMMENTS 1l : ABSTRACT I , Reading strategies are believed to be necessary for doing reading exercises and gqtting reading comprehension However, the strategies should be chosen suitably to deal with different exercises this study was conducted to find out: (l) The strategies the students often use when doing reading comprehension and (2) Whether they use the reading strategies effectively in rlealing with these kinds of exercise Thirty four English Majored Juniors at Tay Do University were chosen as the sample A test of some types of reading comprehension exercises and a questionnaire were used as an instrument in this study The descriptive statistics shows that skimming, scanning and guessing from the context were the most commonly used strategies in doing reading comprehension exercises whereas inferring strategy was the least frequently used one Moreover, they use reading strategies effectively and suitable when doing exercises Besides, they also have some difficulties irr dealing with mixture exercises which require them to combine to get good results In addition, this research results help to indicate some implications for teaching and studying in dealing with types of strategies together reading comprehension exercises llt , TABLE OF'CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Chapter 3: RESLIARCH METHODOLOGY Chapter 5: IMPLICATIONS, LIMITATIONS, SUGGESTIONS f'OR FURTHER RESEARCH AI\ID CONCLUSIONS REFERENC.ES 38 LIST OX'TABLES AND FIGURES LIST OT'TABLES Table 3.1: The descripion ofthe questionnaire 18 Table 4.1 The mean score of the reading test Table 3.2: The procedure of the researcii 19 20 Table 4.2 The students' score when doing reading test 20 Table 4.3 The students' mean scores when doing exercises 21 exercise Table 4.5 The scores of Multiple - choice exercise Table 4.4 The scores of the True / False Table4.6ThescoresofMatchingexercise .21 .23 25 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1 The students' rate in doing True / False Figure 4.2 The students' rate in doing Multiple - exercise 22 choice exercise 24 exercise Figure 4.4 The students' interest in learning reading ., Figure 4.3 The students' rate in doing Matching 26 28 Figure 4.5 The students' attitude toward reading comprehension exercises in the textbook 28 Figure 4.6 Kinds of exercises that the students often did Figure 4.7 The frequency of the students' using strategies Figure 4.8 The rate of some common strategies that the sfudents often used to reading comprehension exercises r, 3l Figure 4.9 The strategies that the students used more often r .32 Figure 4.10 The students' shategies for True / False exercise ., .33 Figure 4.11 The students' strategies for Multiple - choice exercise 34 Figure 4.12 The students' shategies for Matching exercise 35 Figure 4.13 The tlpe of exercise that students often had the most diffrcult 36 vl THE STRATEGIES TO DO READING COMPREHENSION EXERCISES OF ENGTIISH MAJORED JTJNIORS AT TAY DO UNTVERSITY Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION Chapter I Introduction describes in details the rationale of the research Next, the research aims and significance of the research are stated The final part is the organization of the research 1.1 Rationale Nowadays, English is considered the most necessary and common language spoken ever5rwhere ln fact, "English has an imporrant role in the fields of medicine, education and engineering" (Sozdinler, 2008, p.l) So leaming English has become rapidly increasing in response to the need of the present information time In effect, English becomes a,compulsory subject at schools Studying English, the students have to learn many different skills such as Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing Among them, reading skill is not less important than the others According to Cochran (1993, crucial role in the overall development success pl), Reading has played a of a language skill and even academic for decades" tn addition, reading could help students to expand their knowledge of the language of cultures and the world Atierua e002, pl) considers that "It is difficult to approach listening and speaking if the readers not learn reading skill" Besides, through reading, students can learn how to think in the target language, they can learn how to use vocabulary effectively and they feel more comfortable with written language (Mikulecky, 1986) From the above matters, reading skill should Qe paid much attention to and should be taught carefully at schools However, "Reading is not an easy skill" (Narvaez, 2002,p.158) In addition, according to Grabe ahd Stoller (2001, p.192), "Reading is a complex skill', Therefore, most students have some problems in the reading process, which iesults in the low level of comprehension Indeed, "The ultimate goal of reading a text involves comprehension" (Anderson, 2003, p.68) Therefore, it is essential to develop reading skill and especially to improve reading comprehension Metsala and Ihri (1998) believe that "Reading comprehension involves integral interaction between text and reader" (cited in Khatib and Fat'hi, "Reading comprehension results 2001, p.l9a) Moreover, from interactive variables that simultaneous rather than sequentially" (Hawkins, lggl, p.170) In operate other words, reading comprehension is understanding what is conveyed in the texts It does not mean that the students need to understand every word but they should capture the required information in the texts Therefore, doing reading comprehension exercises can be one of the v{ays for students to gain better comprehension and for teachers to check their students' comprehension : In order to help students learn reading as well as reading comprehension exercises effectively, it is worth equipping them with useful strategies (Hismanoglu, 2000) In fact, using strategies in important because doing reading comprehension exercises is it could help students to capture efficient manner Ben the required information in an - David (2002, p.l) states that "Readers often encounter problem in reading texts and have diffrculties in understand meaning of the context but reading strategies help them in learning foreign language and reading comprehension" Moreover, Dufly (1993,93) says that "Reading strategies refer to the plan for readers to solve problem encountered in constructing meaning from text" Similarly, Pearson (1972, p.125) states "Reading strategies provide learning opportunities; facilitate learning and recalling of information as well as strengthening the reading comprehension ability of language learners', However, some students not know how to get good result on reading comprehension as well as what strategies are used when doing kinds of reading comprehension exercises ln fact, according to Chamot (2005, p.25), "Students have their own preference of shategies, but in order to become mctivated and select 'strategies to use, English foreign language leamers should self - monitor their reading strategies" Therefore, students should know multiple reading strategies as well as the appropriate use of those shategies for better results However, sometimes students lack basic strategies or they not know what strategies and when to apply them to various exercises From that, reading process and doing exercises will take much of the students' time and require motivation to read Similar to other students, perhaps the students at Tay Do University in Can Tho city may also face some of the above problems Even English Majored Juniors who often reading comprehension exercises may also need good reading strategies As my observation, some students complain about their difficulties when leaming reading a-s well as doing reading comprehension exercises Actually, some state that they are not confident in their reading ability, and their reading scores are still low Therefore, I wonder whether English Majored Juniors have difficulties in using strategies to deal with reading comprehension exercises and how they can overcome these difficulties Therefore, I conduct a study to explore The strategies to reading comprehension exercises of English majored juniors at Tay Do University" 1.2 Aims and signilicance of the research 1.2.1 Aims of the research This research aims to find out what strategies English Majored Juniors at Tay Do University often use when doing reading comprehension exercises Moreover, the research is conducted with the aim to investigate whether English Majored Juniors at Tay Do University know how to apply strategies to reading comprehension exercises effectively From that, some suitable solutions can be 5.3 Suggestions for furt[er research Due to the limitation of this study, it is highly suggested that future research should attempt to solve those points Firstly, the future research should' be conducted in a longer time, In addition, the sample size should be larger including a more diverse population across other classes or schools From that, the research can explore more deeply and get objective results Finally, the future research should employ more instruments such as interview and tests comprehension exercises of other kinds of reading in order to have more information about the ways the students use strategies to reading comprehension and effectiveness ofthese ways on their comprehension 5.4 Conclusions The research was conducted to completely answer the research questions "What strategies English Majored Juniors at Tay Do University often use when doing kinds of reading comprehension exercises? " as well as "Do the English Majored Juniors use the reading strategies effectively in dealing with these kinds of exercise? " Through the results of the test and the questionnairc, it is concluded that English majored juniors at Tay Do University did kinds of reading comprehension exercises such as True / False, Multiple - choice, Matching, Filling in the blanks, Reordering However, they often did True / False, Matching and Multiple exercises and they had a good result with True / - choice False exercise In addition, the findings of the data also show that English majored juniors often used strategies when doing kinds of reading comprehension exercises and they use scanning and skimming strategies more than other shategies Moreover, the findings also state that these strategies can help students to reading comprehension exercises effectively and quickly Some limitations studies are also stated in this chapter 39 of research and suggestions for later I , RBFERENCES Aebersold, J & Field, M (1997) From Reader to Reading Teacher Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Atienza, P P (2002) Yerbal Protocols of Reading Erlbaum, Hillsdate, NJ Barnett, M (1989) More than Meets the Eye: Foreign Languoge Reading Theory ond practice Englewood Cliffs, NJ: CAL & Prenticq,- Hail Bartrice and Linda (2004) More reading potwer France: Lesson Longman Ben-David, R (2002) Enhan"irg :*prehension through Graphic Organizers Unpulished master's thesis Kean University (ERIC Document Reprodution service) No ED461907 Chamot, A U (1987) The learning strategies of ESL students Learner strategies in language learning, Tl-84 Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Chamot, A U (2005) Language Learning Strategt Instruction: Current Issues and Research Amrual Review of Applied Linguistics,25 Cheng, W (1985) Teaching Reading Comprehension in the Secondary ESL Class: The challenge New Materials and Methods Retrieved February 8ft, 2015 From http ://Sunzi lib.hku.hklhkjo/vied3 3/33 00273.pdf D' Arcangelo, M (2002) The Challenge of Content Area Reading Educational Leadership, 12 - 15 Dinh, T H (2008) Vocabulary Learning Strategies Employed by Stuflents at Hung Vuong Gifted High School Retrieved February l3tr',.2015 F-rom http ://data.ulis.vnu.edu.vn/j spui/trandle/ 23456789/44 I Dufly, G G (1993) Rethinking strategy instruction: four development and their low achiever's school Journal,93 v1l teacher's understandings The Elementary Grabe, W & Stoller, tr L (2002) Teaching and researching reading Harlow: Pearson Education Grabe, W & F L Stoller (2001) Readingfor Academic Purposes: Guidelines for the ESI-/EFL Teacher In M Celce-Murcia (ed.), Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language (3rd edition), 192 Boston: Heinle & Heinle Grellet, F (1981) Developing Reading Skills 'Cambridge: Cambridge Univetsity Press Grellet, F (1936) Developing reading skill: A pracitical Guide to Reading comprehension Exercises Cambrige: Cambrige University Press Harmer, H (19E9) The Practice of English Language Teaching Halow: Longman Hismanoglu, M (2000) Language learning strategies in foreign language learning and teaching, Haceltepe University (Ankara, Turkey) Mayer, J M (2002) Learning strategies in second language acquisition Cambridge: Cambridge University Press McCarthy, A C (2002) An Introduction to English Morphitlogt: Words and Their Structure Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Mundsoclr, A., Deese, J., & Deese, success in college (5'h ed.) E.I( (2003) How to study and other skills for NY: McGraw-Hill Narvaez, D (2002) Individual dffirences that influence reading comprehension New York: Guiford Nassaji, H (2004) The relationship between depth ofvocabulary knowledge and L2 leamer's lexical inferring Modern Language Review, 107 strategy use and success The Canadian -134 vllt Ngo, T H N (2009) A Study on English Reading English Majored of Thai Strategies Used by Third year- and Muong Ethnic Minorities at Tay Bac University Nuttafl, C (1982) Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language London: Heinemanm Educational Books Pani, S (2004) Reading strategy instruction through r4ental modeling EZZ Journal,355-362 Pearson, P D & Johnsotr, D D (1972) Teaching reading comprehensron New York: Holt , Rinehart & Winston,l54 Pemela, H and Elaine, K (2007), Interaction I Reading Mc Graw - Hill New York Pressley, M (1989) The Nature of literacy instruction in ten grade-415 classroom in upstate New York Scientific Studied of Reading 159-191 Rozakis, L (2003) Test taking strategies and study skills E-b o ok; DOI for the utterly confused : I 03 6/00 I I 67 65McGraw-Hill Smith, F (1964) (Jnderstanding reading.Holt, Rinechart and Winston, New York Snow, C et al (2002) Reading for [Inderstanding: Toward and R&D Program in Reading comprehension, california: science & Technology policy : Institution, RAND Education, Sozdinler, M 11 (2008) Importance of Englisft Retrieved January 20n,20t5 From StrUi Terry, T.M (1980) The narrative exam - an approach to creative organization of multiple-choice tests Journal of college science Teaching, g(3),156-15g lx APPENDICES APPENDIX READING TEST Please fill your information in the blank and choose your correct answer A Student's background Full name: Class: Gender: Male tr Female n Date of birth/Age: B Read the follow texts Then the exercises following the reading texts CIVILWAR The Civil War was one of the most difficult times in American history From l86l to 1865, America was at war with itself The war stemmed from differences in beliefs between anti-slavery individuals in the northern stater, and pro-slavery individuals in the south Slavery was very important to the southern economy, and many southemers were afraid that Abraham Lincoln would try to to abolish slavery when he became president Such individuals did not think the govemment had the right to tell the states what to People in the north thought that slavery was immoral, and were afraid that if slavery was allowed in America's new territories, it would never be defeated In 1860 and 1861, eleven southem states decided to secede (break away) from the United States and form their own government Confederate States It was called the of America Richmond, Virginia was made their Congress declared war on April 14, 186l for x capital the purposes of preserving the Union The first shots of the Civil War were fired two days earlier at Fort Sumter, South Carolina The war that ensued was long and deadly Over 500,000 soldiers were killed, by far, more than any other war in American history Both the north and the south won many major victories Many battles proved inionclusive The northern side, however, had more people and supplies The turning point in the war occurred between July l-3 of 1863 at the Battle of Gettysburg It was the only time the south waged a major battle on northern soil (not including battles fought in border states) The Union (Northern) army was victorious and'drove the Confederates back.to Virginia In 1864, the Confederate Army was further weakened Union forces had cut the Confederacy in two separate parts by taking over the Mississippi River and the port of New Orleans Robert E Lee's army was also under constant attack from Union general Ulysses S Grant throughout Virginia Finally, after Union forces invaded the Confederate capital of Richmond, the Confederate States of America i were forced to surrender on April 9, 1865 at Appomattox Courttrouse, Virginia The war was over and the Union was preserved What could be a title for the introductory paragraph? A The Civil War: Why it happened B The Civil War: The Baffle of Gettysburg C The Civil War: 'Ihe Government's Role in the Conflict D The Civil War: The Deadliest War in American History The Second Paragraph describes A How the Southern states won the Battle of Fort Sumter B The major battles of the Civil War C How the southern states seceded and formed their own government D Why Richmond Virginia was made capital of the Confederate States of America xl The third paragraph describes A How the Northem states started to win the war B How the Civil War started at Fort Sumter, South Carolina C How the Southem states started to win the war D How the Southem side had more soldiers and suppies The final paragraph describes A How the Confederate Army was defeated by Union forces B How the Confedtjrate Army saved their capital city of Richmond C How the Union Army was forced to surrender D How the Confederate Army invaded the North again xll CHANGES IN TOWN I have returned to my hometown of Wilson Creek after an absence of 10 years So many things have changed around here When I left Wilson Creek, there was a small pond on the right as you left town They have filled in this pond and they have built a large shopping mall there A new post office has also been built just across from my old school There is a baseball stadium on the outskirts of Wilson Creek which has been changed completely They have now added a ncw stand where probably a few thousand people could sit It looks really great The biggest changes have taken place in the downtown area They pedestrianised the centre and you can't drive there anymore A have European-style fountain has been built and some benches have also been added along with a grassy area and a new street cafe My street looks just the same as it always has but a public library has been built in the next street along There used to be a great park there but they have cut tiown all the trees which is a pity The library now has a large green area in front of it but it's not the same as when the park was there Another improvement is the number of new restaurants that have opened Creek A h Wilson Chinese and an Italian restaurant have opened in the town cenhe and a Mexican restaurant has opened near my home Which is where I am going tonight! Write each of these sentences with T (true) or F (false) 14 Jake's school doesn't exist anymore 15 They have improved the baseball stadium 16 Jake likes the new-look baseball stadium 17 It's only possible to reach the downtown area on foot 18 The buildings in,the centre of the town look European xlll MUSIC BANKS It is very difficult to succeed in the music business; nine out of ten bands that release a first record fail to produce a second Surviving in the music industry requires luck and patience, but most of all it requires an intricate knowledge of how a record company functions The process begins when a representative of a companyts Artists and Repertoire (A & R) department visits bars arid night clubs, scouting for young, talented bands After the representative identifies a promising band, he or she will work to negotiate recording contract a contract with that band.'the signing of this is a slow process A company will spend a long time investigating the band itself as well as current trends in popular music During this period, it is important that a band reciprocate with an investigation of its own, leaming as much, as possible about the record company and making personal connections within the different departments that , will handle 15 their recordings Once a band has signed the contract and has finished recording an album, the Publicity and Promotions department takes over This departrnent decides whether or not to mass produce and market the band's album 20 Most bands fail to make personal contacts in this second department, thus losing their voice in the important final process of producing and marketing their album This loss of voice often contributes to the band's failure as a recording group Matching each word on the left with the similar word on the right A release examination B an intricate C: investigation distribute D handle C takes over conhol xlv takes charge an extaneous APPENDIX2 , QUESTIONAIRE A SURVEY ON USING THE STRATEGIES To oo n{aorNc coMpREHENsIoN ExERCrsEs Dear students, My name is Tran Thi Thanh Hien I am an English Majored senior at Tay Do University At present, I am conducting research "The strategies to reading comprehension exercises of English Majored Juniors at Tay Do University" These questions play a very important part in my thesis I hope that you will cooperate enthusiastically and honestly I would like to be grateful to everyone for your help Please /ill your information in the blanks and choose your correct answers A Student's background Full name: Class: Gender: Male tr Date of birth/Age: Female n B Read the following statements, please circle for your answer What you think about learning English? a Very important b Important c Not important at all How many hours you read per day? a Less than an c.5-Thours hour b.2-4hours d More than hours xv Do you like learning Reading? much b Much a Very Do you think Reading is a Very c A little d Not at all in important skill? important : "'; b Important c Not important at all What you think about reading comprehension erercises in your textbooks? diffrcult b Difficult a Too ' c At an average level d Easy What kinds of erercises you often do? (You can choose more than one answers) a Matching b Question type c Reordering d True / False e Filling in the blanks f Others What you think about applying strategies to reading comprehension exercises? a Very important b Important c Not important at all How often you use reading strategies when doing reading comprehension exercises? a Always d Sometimes b Usually e Rarely c Often f Never xvt Which strategies you often use to reading comprehension exercises? (You can choose more than one answers) a Skimming b Scanning c Guessing d Inferring e Referenci4g f Others 10 Which strategies you use more often than the others? (Choose one) a Skimming b Scanning c Guessing d Inferring e Referencing f Other 11 Which is the most common to the 6True / False exercises? (Choose one) a, skimmin$1 b Scanning '' c Guessing d Referencing 12 With the types of exercises (Multiple choice", which strategies you often use? (You can choose more thsn one answers) a Scanning b Inferring c Skimming d Guessing e Others xvlt 13 What stratery you often use commonly when doing types of below eMatchingtt exercises? Scanning b Infening a d Skimming e Guessing Referencing , 14 Which kind of reading comprehension exercise you find the most diflicult? a True / False b Filling in ttre blanks c Multiple - choice d Matching e Others Why? 15 Please, give some suggestions to reading comprehension exercises better? xvllt APPENDIX SYNTACTIC CUES Signal words and phrases Functions Time or frequency Words or In general, after, before, on the whole, in most amount usually, frequently, every, rarely, some, most ::.t, Simple listing or additional Also, another, in addition, furthermore, moreover ideas (continuation signals) **rrle, Example for instance, such as, is like, including l: Comparison and contrast Similarly, in the same way, likewise, however, in the other hand, whereas, but, both and, either or, neither nor Cause - effect relationship Before, for, therefore, as a result, due to, thus (conclusion) Sequential listing (ordering First, second, later, nest, before, then, finally, of steps, events ) following, since, now Definition Refers to, in other word, consists of, means Analysis Consider, analyze, this means, examine Condition or modification Whether or, so that, if, in other that coming up xlx Punctuation marks Punctuations Sign Functions , Showing definition, explanatio;, showing items Comma which more or similar ideas Semicolon , After related sentences, for separating independent meanings Full stop After complete declarative sentences, after abbreviations Colon Showing items which needffi explanation or examples, showing items which need enumeration Dash Before and after appositive, for s€parating numbers and figures Showing definitions, synonym or explanations Curved brackets Showing definitions, synonym, or explanati,ons Square brackets I Missing parts in a quotation, for explanations Three Periods - Showing omitted words, avoiding repetition or Ellipses Exclamation mark 10 Quotation marks having more ideas I Showing surprise, addressing someone, pray, sigh (tt-t') and Direct quotation, showing proper nouns, ('_') definitions rpltd:riutr;i ! -r'l^ U VIEN, , J ; I xx