Tác động của việc sử dụng tài liệu số bằng các phương tiện kĩ thuật cá nhân đến rèn luyện kĩ năng đọc của sinh viên năm nhất ngành tiếng anh

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - HO THI THUY TRANG THE EFFECTS OF USING DIGITAL RESOURCES THROUGH PERSONAL TECHNOLOGICAL DEVICES ON ENGLISH-MAJORED FRESHMEN'S READING PRACTICE: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY AT HUFL MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60.14.01.11 SUPERVISOR: DR TRAN QUANG NGOC THUY HUE, 2017 iv BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ HỒ THỊ THÙY TRANG TÁC ĐỘNG CỦA VIỆC SỬ DỤNG TÀI LIỆU SỐ BẰNG CÁC PHƯƠNG TIỆN KĨ THUẬT CÁ NHÂN ĐẾN VIỆC RÈN LUYỆN KĨ NĂNG ĐỌC CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH, TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ, ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ - LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60.14.01.11 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TIẾN SĨ TRẦN QUANG NGỌC THÚY HUẾ, 2017 iv STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself Date: 25/ 12/ 2017 Signature iv ABSTRACT This thesis reports on the effects of using digital resources through personal technological devices on English-majored freshmen's reading practice at HUCFL Initially, how the participants used digital resources to practice reading via PTDs was clarified through the data from their weekly news reports and interviews, from which their perception on this practice was also shaped Besides, the impacts of using digital resources via PTDs on the participants‟ reading practice were described Finally, recommendations based on the research findings were supposed for better application in the future The participants in this research included 75 first year students taking part in “Reading 2” (pre-intermediate level) as one of their requisite courses Accordingly, they were required to read some pieces of newspaper every week to complete the report designed by the researcher beforehand using their favorite piece of news, yet they could read a wide variety of news from different sources using their PTDs After the course, the researcher interviewed 10 students who took her “Reading 2” class so that the researcher, also the teacher of the class, would have a closer look at what the students were doing outside of classroom to practice reading The researcher used principles of thematic analysis, which was derived from Braun and Clarke‟s guidelines (2006) to present all the data for the research Standing firmly on these reliable bases, the researcher drew conclusions that, firstly, the participants regularly used their PTDs such as smartphones and laptops as the main devices for their reading practice Secondly, the participants clearly perceived the practice of using digital resources via their iv PTDs for improving their reading skill Thirdly, using digital resources to practice reading via PTDs had positive impacts on their vocabulary learning, reading skills and background knowledge Overall, the research will benefit not only freshmen in HUFL but also the teachers who directly instruct these learners in reading practice iv My extremely special thanks go to my whole-hearted supervisor, Dr Tran Quang Ngoc Thuy, for all her dedication, patience and thorough guidance even though she is fully occupied with her work Without her meticulous supervision and her nice and kind encouragement over time, I would not be able to complete my thesis I am grateful to my cute students in two “Reading 2” classes, who were always willing to cooperate with me in writing weekly news reports and ready for the interviews at my convenience Their well-written news reports have been of boundless motivation for me to keep my spirit high till the end as reading their nice words truly made my day I owe thousands of debts of gratitude to my former teachers, as well as my current colleagues, Ms Thu Suong, Ms Thanh Thuy, Ms Hoang Thuy, Ms Ngoc Yen, Ms Khanh Tam, Ms Thanh Thao, Ms Ngoc Chau, and Ms Thanh Thao (Rocky’s mom) for always being a great source of motivation and encouragement for a novice teacher, also a “trouble-maker” like me, to incredibly conquer the thesis mission Honestly, I am among the luckiest people in the world to have such inspiring supporters by my side Last but not least, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my family, my soulmate and my friends, who were unfailingly by my side to raise me up whenever I have difficulties with the present research Their great companionship will stay in my heart, forever and ever TABLE OF CONTENTS SUB COVER PAGE i STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ii ABSTRACT iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vii CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the study 1.2 Significance of the thesis 1.3 Aims of the study 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Structure of the thesis CHAPTER 2- LITERATURE PREVIEW 2.1 Theoretical background 2.1.1 M-learning in the era of technology 2.1.2 Teaching reading in the technological era 2.1.2.1 Schema theory and background knowledge 2.1.2.2 Strategies for reading comprehension 10 2.1.2.3 Vocabulary learning 11 2.1.3 Advantages and disadvantages of m-learning 14 2.2 Related studies 16 CHAPTER 3- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Methodology 18 3.2 Participants 18 3.3 Data collection methods 18 3.4 Data analysis methods 2120 CHAPTER 4- FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 How English-majored freshmen uses digital resources to practice reading 25 4.2 The effects of the use of digital resources on freshmen‟s reading practice 32 4.2.1 In terms of vocabulary learning 32 4.2.2 In terms of reading skills and sub-skills 41 4.2.3 In terms of background knowledge 4342 4.3 Suggestions to improve the impacts of using digital resources through personal technological devices on freshmen‟s reading practice 43 4.3.1 From participants 43 4.3.2 From the teacher- researcher 4544 CHAPTER 5- IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION 5.1 Summary of the research findings 46 5.2 Implications 4948 5.3 Limitations of the study 50 5.4 Recommendations for further research 5150 REFERENCES 52 APPENDICES 56 Appendix 1: Weekly news report designed by the teacher- researcher 56 Appendix 2: Interview questions 59 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Number Abbreviations Full version PTDs Personal technological devices L1 First language L2 Second language MALL Mobile- Assisted Language Learning EFL English as a Foreign Language ICT Information and Communication Technology HUFL Hue University of Foreign Languages LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES List of tables Table 1: Coding frame Pages 20-21 Table 2: Inter-coder reliability Table 3: Online resources that freshmen English-majored students used 22 24-25 for reading practice Table 4: Total number of reports of students from two “Reading 2” 30 classes Table 5: Advantages and disadvantages of using digital resources to 38-39 practice reading via PTDs List of figures Figure 1: Common types of contemporary mobile devices in 2010 Pages Thirdly, the researcher also reckoned that stricter discipline should be clearly presented to the students at the beginning of the course To sum up, online interaction, timely feedback, and strict disciplines are believed to support the participants to gradually improve their reading practice using digital resources through PTDs CHAPTER 5: IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION This chapter presents (1) a summary of the research findings, which drives to (2) some implications, acknowledges (3) the limitations of the study and suggests (4) recommendations for further research 5.1 Summary of the research findings In answers to the first research question, the participants regularly used their PTDs such as smartphones and laptop as the main devices for their reading practice With the mushrooming of mobile apps and the availability of wifi connection, it has been easier than ever before for these students to make full use of digital resources and PTDs for their language learning in general and for reading practice in particular The most popular news resources for the participants to use were mainly from https://learningenglish.voanews.com/ and https://www.newsinlevels.com/ 46 because the news in these two resources were classified into three levels, from which learners might be able to choose the right one that suits their English proficiency Besides, several other resources and Facebook were also utilized for reading practice Regarding the second question, the findings successfully confirmed that the participants clearly perceived the practice of using digital resources via their PTDs for improving their reading skill Nearly half of the participants completed the maximum number of weekly reports as required by the teacher-researcher However, there were about 20% of the participants who submitted fewer reports than their peers for the reason that they did not own any PTDs As far as the third question is concerned, it was shown through in-depth interviews with 10 participants that using digital resources to practice reading via PTDs had positive impacts on their (1) vocabulary learning, (2) reading skills and (3) background knowledge Accordingly, the participants firstly accumulated a wide range of vocabulary from different fields and enriched their repertoire of collocations Besides, the process of acquiring L2 through L1 proved to be efficient in vocabulary learning, which enabled the students to easily memorize a new word and reduce the L2 ambiguous explanation or definitions Secondly, the participants‟ reading speed had been improved (which meant they were able to read faster) thanks to practicing skimming on the devices‟ screen every day Moreover, paraphrasing helped them know how to read for main ideas and summarize the content of the news easily, which would be useful for their reading practice In the 47 same vein, a list of advantages and disadvantages of using digital resources via PTDs for reading practice were also detailed The former included the portability, the convenience and the availability of digital resources for reading practice, while the latter merely covered the difficulties that the participants had in note taking and saving interesting lines from the news Briefly, the benefits of reading with digital resources far outweighed its minor drawbacks Thirdly, exposing themselves to a wide variety of news every day enabled the participants to broaden their background knowledge in the mobile world It was undeniable that news was updated the hour if not minute so they could keep up with everything happening around the world like politics, science, sports, and so on The final question dealt with several recommendations by the participants and teacher-researcher herself Firstly, the participants wished that more group and class discussions would be conducted on site for more sharing and interaction among the students and their teacher Besides, bonus marks could be used as a source of motivation for the students to complete the task on a weekly basis Some participants were genuinely encouraged to perform better day by day thanks to the rewards from their teacher Yet, stricter discipline should be introduced for those who may fail to follow the regulations Furthermore, that the teacher-researcher assigned each topic per week for all of the participants to read was also a constructive suggestion for the next implementation of this practice Secondly, the researcher herself asserted that the participants should interact with others on a virtual platform like Facebook, Edmodo or Twitter for more collaborative learning, 48 in which the researcher might spend much more time on online course management Furthermore, a meticulous plan for marking students‟ reports should be designed to save the teacher-researcher from being overwhelmed with such a big volume of workload 5.2 Implications The key findings above have shed light on implications for both the learners and the teacher-researcher Once aware of the power that using digital resources could offer, it was highly recommended that EFL learners should maintain the habit of reading on their PTDs to make the most of this practice Not only are they advised to read news in this course as required but they also hold on with them in the next course to maintain perpetual progress Besides, learners should no longer rely on their teacher to prepare everything ready for them; instead, they should actively get involved in finding the resources themselves and interact with their peers when the online platform has yet to be created There are three pedagogical implications for the interested teachers Firstly, it would be a useful scaffolding task if every week the teacher-researcher required students read not only the news but also browse through a book such as an abridged novel or a graded reader on their PTDs to further practice their reading sub-skills By so doing, the students will benefit a great deal in light of extensive reading with any portable devices Secondly, reading practice can be conducted in pairs or in 49 groups of four members for a better collaborative learning style They may share the same interest in reading whatever they like, then they will be more willing to get involved in learning and sharing it with their peers Last but not least, the success of the initial application of using digital resources to reading practice through PTDs also implies the feasibility of using digital resources for in-class reading practice, where learners are required to turn their mobiles or laptops on to reading exercises 5.3 Limitations of the study There are some inevitable limitations to the present research For one thing, had the study been initially conducted in two groups consisting of one experimental group and the other controlled, critical data analysis would be performed However, this might lead to inequality among the participants when studying with the teacherresearcher, where they were to be treated more or less the same For another, the weekly news report was adapted from Brown‟s (2000) sequence, which might cause difficulties for some participants who were at low English proficiency to carry out the paraphrasing task Yet, in order to gradually boost their reading comprehension skill, they were encouraged to it as a compulsory part of the report For the last but not least note, data were mainly collected from weekly reports and in-depth interviews, in which the teacher-researcher was still inexperienced in managing and analyzing qualitative data Findings from in-depth interviews were nonetheless 50 believed to be consistent enough to clarify the outcomes of the research Above all, the research limitations turned out to be the motivation for further studies 5.4 Recommendations for further research Further research might be conducted in terms of research population, task design and other targeted skills Firstly, it is highly recommended that the research participants should be separated into the experimental and controlled groups The data collected from these two groups will be compared and contrasted for more critically objective and reliable results Secondly, more research attempts should be initiated by modifying the 3Rs sequence (Brown, 2000) in the weekly news report to exploit a wider range of language besides vocabulary acquisition and reading sub-skills Last but not least, personal technological devices are still new and resourceful in the world of language learning Therefore, it is believed that more research should be invested into the usage of digital resources in other language skills to explore their influences on language learning In a nutshell, future researchers will hopefully be inspired by these suggestions for further research in this field 51 REFERENCES Atkinson, D (1987) The mother tongue in the classroom: A neglected resource? 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A low-cost personal response system for learning and teaching Journal of Chemical Education, 90, 388-389 Le, N (2015) Trung binh nguoi Viet Nam so huu 1,4 ti thue bao di dong (Vietnam has 1.4 billion mobile phone subscribers) Retrieved 23 January, 2015 from ITC News https://goo.gl/8qpwCN McDonough, J & McDonough, S (1997) Research methods for English language teachers London: Arnold 54 Maxwell, J A (2012) Qualitative research design: An interactive approach (3rd ed) UK: SAGE Publications Miles, M B., & Huberman, A M (1994) Qualitative data analysis UK: SAGE Publications Nation, P (2001) Learning vocabulary in another language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Nation, P (2005) Teaching vocabulary The Asian EFL Journal Retrieved 20 December, 2016 from http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/sept_05_pn.pdf Patton, M Q (2002) Qualitative research and evaluation methods Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Ramachandran, S D., & Rahim, H A (2004) Meaning recall and retention: the impact of the translation method on elementary level learner vocabulary learning Regional Language Centre Journal, 35(2), 161-178 Selinger, H W., & Shohamy, E (1989) Second language research methods Oxford: Oxford University Press Schmitt, N (2000) Vocabulary in language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Tayebeh, M., & Amin, N (2012) Mobile-assisted language learning International Journal of Distributed Parallel Systems, 3(1), 309-319 55 Formatted: English (U.S.) Thornbury, S (2002) How to teach vocabulary Essex, England: Longman Wagner, D A (2014) Mobiles for reading: A landscape research review United States Agency for International Development (USAID) USA: JBS International Wang, S & Smith., S (2013) Reading and grammar learning through mobile phones Language and Learning Technology, 3(17), 117-143 APPENDICES Appendix 1: Weekly news report designed by the teacher-researcher WEEKLY NEWS REPORTS Week number: Headline: Source: Paraphrasing/ summarizing What I have learnt How I activated what I learnt 56 A sample of student’s news report Relearning the Lost Skill of Patience “Students need to learn the value of slowing down and focusing on one task at a time - and teachers can help them to it.” I Paraphrase As a student, we sometimes may have the tendency to rush to get the answer for homework, reading tasks, and so on before really thinking through the question This impatience is pushing us in the other direction, toward immediacy, rapidity, and spontaneity Eventually, we may not have an indepth contemplation In is an article, we‟ll find a new teaching methodology that gives students opportunities to “engage in deceleration, patience, and immersive attention.” "Access is not synonymous with learning" II What I have learned 57 "They could see the school from the glass-bottom boat." School here means: a a place for learning b a group of fish " he knew the right answer, but he was eager to get it over with." Get over something: to deal with or gain control of something Synonym: overcome  She can‟t get over her shyness Get over something (with): to complete something unpleasant but necessary  I‟ll be glad to get the Philosophy of Macism and Leninism exam over and done with "The answer lies in teaching methods that stress patience, critical thinking, and a delayed response based on a deep and meaningful contemplation." Contemplation (n): serious and quiet thought for a period of time; the act of thinking deeply about something  He sat there deep in contemplation  Contemplate (v): consider, think about/of  Contemplative (adj): think quietly and seriously about something She was in a contemplative mood Conscientious: putting a lot of effort into your work A conscientious student "Many teachers, in an effort to ease homework loads and make way for more time dedicated to the problem - or project-based learning, have decided to opt for shorter works such as short stories and essays." Make way for something: to provide a space or an opportunity for something  Some beautiful old buildings were torn down to make way for the new parking garage  Although she is busy, she always makes way for having dinner with her family Ease something (v): to make something easier, less unpleasant, painful, severe, etc  The painkillers ease the pain 58 “… I found that many teachers have abandoned the use of novels in their classroom altogether.” Altogether: completely; in every way  I altogether agree with you  He played less and less often, and eventually he gave up altogether Altogether: in total  That‟ll be $200 altogether, please “They arm students with both the practical skills and the intellectual patience to quiet their minds and reject quick conclusions until all the evidence is in.” Arm (v): to provide yourself or others with equipment or knowledge in order to complete a particular task Giving, providing, supplying Quiet (v): to (cause someone to) become calmer or less noisy Appendix 2: Interview questions Which online resources you often read news from? Why? How you select the news? Which type(s) of personal digital devices is/are used for your reading practice? Why you choose it/them? How often you spend on reading news? Every day? Every week? And how much time you spend on writing your report? What are the impacts of reading practice by using digital resources with personal technological devices on your vocabulary learning? What are the impacts of this activity on your reading practice? What are the impacts of this activity on your background knowledge? What are the advantages of reading practice by using digital resources through personal technological devices? What are the disadvantages of this activity? 59 10 Would you like to recommend anything for a better implementation of this activity in the future? 60