A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of english majored sophomores at tay do university

TAY DO UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE Research proposal A STUDY ON THE DIFFICULTIES IN READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS OF ENGLISH MAJORED-SOPHOMORES AT TAY DO UNIVERSITY Supervisor: Dang Thi Hanh, MA Student’s name: Tran Thi Anh Khoa Student’s code: 1652220201026 Class: English 11A Can Tho, May 2020 A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majoredsophomores at Tay Do University ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This research proposal could hardly finish without enthusiastic help of many people First of all, I want to express my deep gratitude toward my supervisor, Ms Dang Thi Hanh, MA at Tay Do University This proposal could not have been completed without her enthusiasm, thoughtfulness, and informativeness Actually, she instructed, commented, and provided me useful references and materials so that I could complete my research proposal In addition, she spent her valuable time on guiding and encouraging me during the time I was conducting the research Secondly, I want to show my special thanks to all lecturers in the Faculty of Linguistics and Literature of Tay Do University for their teaching and helping me widen knowledge of English over the past four years I also would like to extend my special thanks to the Faculty of Linguistics and Literature of Tay Do University for giving me the opportunity and permission to carry out the proposal research Finally, I want to give my wholehearted thankful words to my family and my friends for love and support They have always encouraged and motivated me during my studying process i A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majoredsophomores at Tay Do University COMMENTS  ii A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majoredsophomores at Tay Do University TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i COMMENTS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii ABSTRACT v CHATER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 The significance of study 1.3 The organization of study CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 The definitions of reading skill and reading comprehension 2.1.1 The definitions of reading skill 2.1.2 The definitions of reading comprehension 2.2 The importance of reading comprehension 2.3 Difficulties in reading comprehension 2.3.1 Grammatical structures 2.3.2 Vocabulary 12 2.3.3 Background knowledge 15 2.3.4 Lack of reading comprehension skills 16 CHAPTER RESEARCH AIMS – RESEARCH QUESTIONS – HYPOTHESIS 19 3.1 Research Aims 19 3.2 Research Questions 19 3.3 Hypothesis 19 CHAPTER RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 20 4.1 Design 20 4.2 Participants 20 4.3 Instruments 20 iii A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majoredsophomores at Tay Do University 4.3.1 Questionnaire 21 4.3.2 Interview 21 4.4 Procedure 21 CHAPTER EXPECTED OUTCOME 23 5.1 Motivation 23 5.2 Grammatical structures 23 5.3 Vocabulary 24 5.4 Background knowledge 24 5.5 Reading comprehension skills 24 REFERENCES 26 APPENDIX A 29 APPENDIX B 37 iv A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majoredsophomores at Tay Do University ABSTRACT Reading comprehension is often considered one of the most difficult aspects of language learning In reality, many language learners find it difficult to express their thinking in the reading comprehension process because each student has their own problem This survey research presents the process of study about "A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majored-sophomores at Tay Do University" The participants of this research are the sophomores from Bachelor of English class at Tay Do University In study process, questionnaire and interview are used as two instruments to collect the data The results of the research will point out the difficulties in reading comprehension skills Therefore, the study is expected to help students improve their reading comprehension skills v A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majoredsophomores at Tay Do University CHATER INTRODUCTION In this chapter, the researcher would like to present the rationale, significance and the organization of the study 1.1 Rationale Nowadays, language has become an important tool to connect people from many different countries around the world However, different countries have different language Therefore, people need a common language to exchange information As a result, English is considered as an international language because it is used popularly to communicate in several areas such as business, diplomacy, tourism and so on In Vietnam, English is taught widely as a foreign language in order to help students meet their own purposes Certainly, English is one of the necessary requirements for those who want to get a good job or continue to study in higher education When learning English, students often concentrate on four basic skills They are listening, speaking, reading and writing Among these skills, reading is an important skill which needs to be developed, especially reading comprehension ability This is because the goal of most foreign language students is to get access to the knowledge they need through the medium of the foreign language they are learning In addition, reading is very important, even the most important source of linguistic input through which the students acquire the foreign language Unfortunately, there are many factors, both linguistic and non-linguistic, that makes reading comprehension a difficult skill for the students to acquire According to Carrell (1981) “For many students, reading is by far the most important of the four skills in a second language, particularly in Engish as a second or foreign language” There is no denying that reading is one of the important skills in English and gives a variety of benefits to us Reading is the window of the world because of the fact that A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majoredsophomores at Tay Do University people can get more knowledge and information from books, magazines, newspapers, etc It helps readers to discover new words and phrases that they come across in everyday conversations Many foreign language students often regard reading as one of the most important goals in the learning process and social interaction because, first, reading is an indispensable communication tool in a civilized society Second, the reading materials produced in any period of time in history are most influenced by social background Third, the developments over the period of the recorded history of reading have led to two very different poles In the process of teaching and learning English as a foreign language in Vietnam in general, and at Tay Do University (TDU) in particular, reading has always been paid a great deal of attention from both teachers and students Like many other universities in Vietnam, English at TDU is learned and taught in a non-native environment, therefore, reading is not only considered as a means to gain knowledge but also a means by which further study takes place Traditionally, reading is a passive activity, but in fact, it should be active As Block (1992: 319-343) indicates, "reading is such a hidden process that it is often unnoticed in the language classroom Teachers often believe that reading classes should be teacher-centered" However, according to Bedir (1998), if teachers adopt rote learning, learners are usually expected to tackle comprehension difficulties by themselves Moreover, teachers must focus not only on language development but also on reading strategy practice English majored-sophomores at Tay Do University are less exposed to training in reading skills and they not know how to activate their schemata Thus, they encounter difficulties in comprehension This results in poor marks in reading sections of their examinations For the second-year students of English at TDU, although they have been learning English for at least several years, it is still often difficult for them to understand the text or passage in English, since they still lack vocabulary, grammar, reading skills, and poor background knowledge Besides, the teachers sometimes have to face difficulties in dealing with the students’ A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majoredsophomores at Tay Do University learning demands and newly introduced sources of materials In addition, teaching methods and teaching techniques in general, are still below the international standard of education From these reasons above, the researcher decided to carry out "A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majored-sophomores at Tay Do University" It is hoped that the study will make some contributions to improve learning English in general and reading in particular for the second-years students of English at TDU The researcher also hopes that students can recognize their difficulties in reading comprehension and through it will be possible to make useful suggestions or methods to help them improve their reading skill 1.2 The significance of study The results of the present study can be meaningful in both theoretical and practical aspects For theoretical significance, it is expected to supplement previous studies on the field of learning reading comprehension Also, it would provide valuable information and make suggestions for later researchers concerned For practical significance, it can be shed light on deeper difficulties in reading comprehension of English majored-sophomores at Tay Do University 1.3 The organization of study The research consists of five chapters Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Literature review Chapter 3: Research aims – Research questions – Hypothesis Chapter 4: Research methodology Chapter 5: Expected outcome A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majoredsophomores at Tay Do University CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW The current chapter reviews the theoretical framework relevant to difficulties and reading comprehension It comprises four sections The first section states the definitions of reading The second section presents the definitions of reading comprehension The third section expresses the importance of reading comprehension In the final section, the focus is on the difficulties effect reading comprehension skills 2.1 The definitions of reading skill and reading comprehension 2.1.1 The definitions of reading skill Reading is referred to as the importance of the four skills for EFL (English Foreign Language) learners, as it enables students to gain exposure to the target language and receive valuable linguistic input to build up language proficiency (Erten & Raz1, 2003) We cannot be sure when reading activity begins, but we have to admit that reading is an essential activity that provides a great contribution to obtaining knowledge It is obvious that in real life we usually spend much time reading all sorts of things like books, magazines, newspapers, novels, stories However, sometimes we read but we not understand what they mean, or cannot understand the text we read In this case, it cannot be called reading So what is reading? There have been numerous definitions of reading, each of which is the reflection of its author’s view of the reading process Anderson (1999: 1) explains this very neatly as follows: “Reading is an active, fluent process which involves the reader and the reading material in building meaning Meaning does not reside on the printed page or occurs in reading, which combines the words on the printed page with the reader’s background knowledge and experiences.” According to Harmer (1989: 153), reading is a mechanical process that “eyes receive the message and the brain then has to work out the significance of the message” In his definition, Harmer focuses on both two actions dominated by the eyes and the brain as A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majoredsophomores at Tay Do University CHAPTER EXPECTED OUTCOME In chapter 5, the researcher would like to express the motivation, grammatical structures, vocabulary, background knowledge and reading comprehension skills Reading comprehension plays an important role in learning a language Students majoring in English usually face many problems when practicing it From there we can offer some effective ways to help them overcome difficulties in reading comprehension This study aims to point out the difficulties faced by second-year English major students when they practice reading comprehension It includes the following elements: 5.1 Motivation When students have good reading comprehension skills, they are able to fully understand the content, predict what will happen next, recognize characters, gain insight or understanding to build upon or relate to what they are reading to their own life's experience Besides, reading comprehension skills increase the pleasure and effectiveness of reading Strong reading comprehension skills help them in all the other subjects and in personal and professional lives 5.2 Grammatical structures Knowing the grammar points is important for good reading comprehension Students can identify grammatical structures such as tenses, sentences, clauses, and so on through means such as books and news Besides, reading specialized materials is also very beneficial for improving grammar knowledge, sentence structures This will enable students to have good reading comprehension ability as well as the ability to be sensitive, think and express ideas smoothly and coherently in the process of reading and understanding text 23 A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majoredsophomores at Tay Do University 5.3 Vocabulary Accumulating vocabulary for yourself is also one of the factors affecting reading comprehension Reading a piece of text will not be interrupted by a new word once you know the meaning of the word Reading more texts will help students increase their vocalulary in different fields both in meaning and in usages In many ways to increase vocabulary, students can listen to music, take notes of new vocabulary Thereby, it can help them memorize vocabulary that they have met and made reading comprehension easier 5.4 Background knowledge Background knowledge is essential to have good reading comprehension The importance of background knowledge and the role of sociocultural meaning in second language reading comprehension are fully recognized (Carrell, 2006) If readers have difficulty understanding language patterns of reading material, the material can be called linguistically complex material to these readers; if readers have difficulty understanding the background knowledge, culture, and information in reading material, the material is then conceptually complex to the readers (Devine, 2006) Therefore, acquiring background knowledge is important It is useful for reading comprehension, as well as expressing yourself as a knowledgeable person when learning social knowledge 5.5 Reading comprehension skills Many texts contain information and details that is unrelated to the most important concepts and ideas Identifying a purpose or objective when reading will keep you focused on what's important Defining your purpose ahead of time will also help you classify information that is relevant to the main concepts, as well as which is nonessential, so you can maximize the time spent studying what's most important 24 A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majoredsophomores at Tay Do University Writing something down is one of the most effective memory techniques As you come across key concepts, facts and ideas, use a highlighter, write them down on a piece of paper, or make a note in the margin This will help you remember what you've read and be able to quickly access important sections for future reference 25 A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majoredsophomores at Tay Do University REFERENCES  References from books Alderson, J (2000) Assessing Reading Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Allen and Valletta (1977) Communicative Methodology in Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Anderson (1999) From reading to reading teacher: Issues and strategies for Second Language Classrooms Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Becker (1977), direct instruction model guidebook for teachers Bedir, R L (1973) Reading comprehension education in fifteen countries New York: Wiley Block, E (1992) See how they read: Comprehension monitoring of L1 and L2 readers TESOLQuarterly, 26, 319 - 341 Carrell, P L., & Eisterhold, J C (2006) Schema theory and ESL reading pedagogy In P L Carrell, J Devine, & D E Eskey (Eds.), Interactive approaches to second language reading (pp 73-92) Beijing: World Publishing Company Davis (1944) 'Vocabulary learning in a second language: Person, task, context and strategies' Pp 1-25 Doan Thu Huong (2017) The difficulties in reading comprehension of second years English at University of Quy Nhon Erten & Raz1 (2003) "Reading Rate and Comprehension" (PDF) ERIC:ED523331 Gernsbacher (1990) A comparison of reading comprehension processes 26 A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majoredsophomores at Tay Do University Goodman, K (2006) The reading process In P L Carrell, J Devine, & D E Eskey (Eds.), Interactive approaches to second language reading (pp 11-21) Beijing: World Publishing Company Grilled (1981).“Effective Practices for Developing Reading Comprehension” In A.E.Farstrup & S.J Samuels (Eds.) Harmer, H (1989) The Practice of English language teaching Harlow: longman Hart & Risley (2003) Essential Reading on Early literacy Jabberwocky (1980) A comparison of reading comprehension processes in good and poor comprehenders Reading Research Quarterly, 11, pp 623659 Karolin and Karin (1988) A conference approach to the development of metacognitive strategies Kintsch & Rawson (2005); Perfetti, Landi & Oakhill (2005) Improving students achievement through organization of student learning Le Thanh Binh (2010) The difficulties in reading lessons of students at Sao Viet Centre Mikulecky & Jeffries Yuill, J V (1991) Children’s problems in text comprehension Cambridge: Cambridge University Press O’Donnel (1961) Effects of Long-Term Vocabulary Instruction on Lexical Access and Reading-Comprehension Journal of Educational Psychology, 74(4), 313-316 Richard and Thomas (1987) Students’ difficulties in reading ESP (English for Specific Purposes) At Tarbiyahdepartment University of Muhammadiyah Malang B A Thesis University of Muhammadiyah Malang 27 A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majoredsophomores at Tay Do University Roe, Stood and Burns (1987) Teacher knowledge and the knowledge base of teaching Journal of Educational Research, 35, 441-461 Smith, F (1985) Reading Cambridge: CUP Swan (1975) The simple view of reading Reading and Writing, 2, 127-160 Thorndike (1973) Lexical Inferencing Procedures or Talking about Words Gunter Narr Verlag Tăubingen Timothy Shanahan (1990) The Art of Reading: Context for writing Vander Broek (1994) Principles of Language Learning and Teaching Prentice Hall References from the Internet http://www.speechlanguage-resources.com/reading-comprehension-problems.html https://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ld/all-resources/study/reading www.readingrockets.org/article/seven-strategies-teach-students-text-comprehension www.busyteacherscafe.com/literacy/comprehension_strategies.html www.benchmarkeducation.com/best-practices-library/comprehension-strategies.html www.phschool.com/eteach/language_arts/2002_12/essay.html www.readingrockets.org/article/comprehension-instruction-what-work https://www.educationcorner.com/reading-comprehension.html 28 A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majoredsophomores at Tay Do University APPENDIX A QUESTIONNAIRES FOR STUDENTS Dear friend, My name is Tran Thi Anh Khoa and I am currently a senior majoring in English I am very grateful to you for spending your valuable time helping me Now I am carrying out a research entitled "A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majored-sophomores at Tay Do University" This is the questionnaire used to collect the necessary information from you, so please take your time to finish these below questions carefully because your answers are very important and helpful to my research Once again, thank you so much ! Student’s full name: Class: Gender: Male Female Age: Please read the following questions and circle the appropriate answer for each question Give specific answers if needed How long have you studied English? years Where you come from? a Urban area/ city b Rural area/ countryside Which subject did you learn when you were in high school? a Listening 29 A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majoredsophomores at Tay Do University b Speaking c Reading d Writing In your opinion which skill is the most difficult? a Listening b Speaking c Reading d Writing What you think about reading? a Very important b Important c Normal d Not important What you think about your reading comprehension skill? a Very good b Quite good c Average d Bad e Very bad 30 A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majoredsophomores at Tay Do University In your opinion, which factors have the most important influence on reading comprehension skill? a Lack of grammatical structures b Poor vocabulary c Lack of background knowledge d Lack of reading comprehension skills e Others This below table is about your difficulties in reading comprehension skills Please check (x) on the colums that best fits your opinion in each statement in the following table according the 5-degree scale, including: (1)Strongly agree (2)Agree (3)No idea (4)Disagree (5)Strongly disagree Statements (1) (2) You cannot understand what the main idea is because there are many new grammar points 31 (3) (4) (5) A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majoredsophomores at Tay Do University 9.You misunderstand the meaning of the article because it is impossible to recognize or decode individual words, access their meanings and explain grammatical structures 10 You have difficulty adjusting your reading strategy and no longer have the motivation to continue reading because of poor grammar 11 You read each word to understand the content of the article because of lack of knowledge about grammar and English syntax 12 You have difficulty with complex and compound sentences, idioms, metaphors, 13 You express cannot text creatively because of grammatical constraints 14 You don’t know how to arrange the word to reading comprehension due to your poor 32 A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majoredsophomores at Tay Do University grammatical knowledge 15 You cannot fully understand the content of the text because of poor vocabulary 16 Your reading comprehension will be affected when you are not taught specialized terms or new words 17 You ignore too many words in a paragraph and cannot understand the content of the text 18 You encounter too many unfamiliar vocabulary words to grasp the overall concept conveyed in the sentence 19 You have lots of vocabulary but you not know how to choose the appropriate words for each context 20 You not have enough vocabulary to think and express ideas smoothly 21 You have to stop and check the dictionary when you encounter a new word 33 A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majoredsophomores at Tay Do University 22 You think that in order to have a good reading ability, it is necessary to have a good background knowledge 23 If you have knowledge of history, science, literature, art, then your ability to read and understand will be easier 24 With poor background knowledge, you cannot build good ideas and not know information about new topics 25 You find the content of the article difficult to understand because you not know the information related to the subject of the article 26 You not understand what reading skills are and not know how to use the reading skills to suit each reading exercise 27 You can't find the main idea because you don't know how to use reading skills 28 It takes a lot of time to figure 34 A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majoredsophomores at Tay Do University out the main idea in a text because of the lack of reading skills 29 You think that poor reading will slow down your reading speed as well as make it impossible for you to concentrate, understand and grasp the information of that reading 30 When reading a short text, you use methods intensive to reading understand the content 31 You not know how to use skimming and scanning techniques 32 It's easier to use a scanning technique instead of reading each word or translating the text into Vietnamese to find keywords or details in the text 33 You ignore words or phrases that contain the main idea and cannot identify the content and gist of the text because of a lack 35 A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majoredsophomores at Tay Do University of skimming THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND HELP!  36 A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majoredsophomores at Tay Do University APPENDIX B STUDENTS’ INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Dear friend, My name is Tran Thi Anh Khoa and I am currently a senior majoring in English Now I am conducting a research entitled "A study on the difficulties in reading comprehension skills of English majored-sophomores at Tay Do University" Would you please take a minute to answer all below questions? Your responses are very important to my research Once again, thank you so much! Student’s full name: Class: Gender: Male Female Age: What you think about the role of reading comprehension skills in real life? In your opinion, what difficulties have students faced in reading comprehension? What should you to improve your reading comprehension skills? 37