An investigation into the reading strategies used by non english major students at vien dong college

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE READING STRATEGIES USED BY NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT VIEN DONG COLLEGE A minor thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL By DAO THI THU VAN Supervised by Tran Dang Khanh Linh, Ph.D HO CHI MINH CITY, JANUALRY 2023 STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I hereby state that the minor thesis entitled: “An investigation into the reading strategies used by non-English major students at Vien Dong College” and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts is the result of my own my research This minor thesis has not been submitted for any degree to any other universities or institutions Candidate’s signature Date: December 26th, 2022 ĐÀO THỊ THU VÂN II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr Tran Dang Khanh Linh for her academic supervision and personal support She has monitored my progress and offered advice and encouragement throughout Without her critical comments and valuable suggestions, this study could not have been completed I also would like to thank Dr Tran Thi Thanh Dieu who guided and supported me during the first stage I would like to thank all lecturers of Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature at University of Social Sciences & Humanity, Viet Nam National University, Ho Chi Minh City for their meaningful and interesting lessons My sincere thanks go to third-year non-English major students at Vien Dong College who have enthusiastically participated in my study Last but not least, my heartfelt thanks are due to my family, my husband and my daughter who have always encouraged and supported me Ho Chi Minh City, December 2022 III TABLE OF CONTENT STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii TABLE OF CONTENT iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF FIGURES viii ABSTRACT ix CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1.2 Research aims and questions 1.3 Significance of the study 1.4 Organization of the thesis CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Reading 2.1.1 Definition 2.1.2 Types of reading 2.1.3 Reading comprehension 2.2 Reading strategies 2.2.1 Reading strategies in relation to language learning strategies 2.2.2 Conceptualisations of reading strategies 2.2.3 Classification of reading strategies 10 2.3 Previous studies on reading strategies 13 2.3.1 Reading strategy use in general 13 2.3.2 Reading strategy use and proficiency 15 2.4 Conceptual framework 17 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 18 3.1 Research questions 18 3.2 Research design 18 3.3 The context of the study 18 3.4 Participants 19 3.5 Instruments 21 3.5.1 Questionnaire 21 3.5.2 Interviews 23 3.5.3 Reading comprehension tests 24 IV 3.6 Data analysis and statistical procedures 26 3.7 Summary 26 CHAPTER RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 27 4.1 Analysis of questionnaire 27 4.1.1 Students’ use of reading strategies 27 4.1.1.1 Overall reading strategies 27 4.1.1.2 Individual reading strategies 29 4.1.2 Differences between higher-performing and lower-performing students in reading strategy use 33 4.2 Analysis of interview 41 4.2.1 Students’ awareness of the importance of reading strategies 41 4.2.2 The strategies often employed by the students 42 4.2.3 Teacher’s strategy instructions 42 4.3 Discussions 43 4.3.1 What strategies non-English major students frequently use when reading English texts? 43 4.3.2 Do higher-performing students differ from lower-performing students in terms of the reading strategies they use? 45 4.4 Summary 46 CHAPTER CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 47 5.1 Conclusions 47 5.2 Implications 48 5.3 Limitations of the study 49 5.4 Recommendations for further study 49 REFERENCES 51 APPENDICES i APPENDIX i APPENDIX X APPENDIX XVI APPENDIX XXIV APPENDIX XXXI V LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ELT: English language teaching ESL: English as a second language EFL: English as a foreign language PET: Preliminary English Test SORS: The Survey of Reading Strategies CEFR: The Common European Framework of Reference VI LIST OF TABLES Table Summary of participants’ characteristics Table Items modified to the adapted SORS Table Frequency of strategy use and corresponding scores Table Frequency distribution of three reading strategy groups Table Descriptive statistics of twenty-nine sub-strategies of reading strategies Table Difference between higher- and lower-performing groups of students in terms of frequency distribution of three reading strategy groups Table Difference between two groups in terms of twenty-nine sub-strategies of reading strategies Table Difference between two groups of students in terms of high strategy usage Table Difference between two groups of students in terms of medium strategy usage Table 10 Difference between two groups of students in terms of low strategy usage VII LIST OF FIGURES Figure The definition of reading by Anderson (2003) Figure The conceptual framework of the study Figure Participants’ use of overall reading strategies Figure Higher-performing versus lower-performing participants’ use of overall reading strategies VIII ABSTRACT This study is an investigation into reading strategies used by non-English major students at Vien Dong College when they read English texts in class It aimed to find out what reading strategies non-English major students frequently applied into their reading process, and identify the differences between higher-performing and lower-performing students in their use of reading strategies A combined qualitative and quantitative methodological approach was used as a research design of the study To collect data, a survey questionnaire were delivered to 51 non-English major students at Vien Dong College After the three reading comprehension tests, 12 students from two groups, higher- and lower-performing students were invited to take part in the interview for further information about their use of reading strategies The findings from the study showed that overall reading strategies were used at a medium frequency by the participants Problemsolving reading strategies were the most frequently used strategies and global reading strategies were the least frequently used strategies by students In addition, the findings revealed that higher-performing students used reading strategies more frequently than lower-performing students As a result of these investigations, some implications were made with the hope that they might be a useful reference for English teachers and syllabus designers at Vien Dong College in helping their students improve reading skill Also, some suggestions were identified for future research IX CHAPTER INTRODUCTION This chapter first describes a background in which the study was conducted It also presents the purpose of the study and the research questions Finally, the significance and organization of the study are discussed 1.1 Background to the study English plays a significant role in the working environment nowadays, especially as it increases chances of getting a good job for graduates Therefore, in all colleges and universities in Viet Nam, English is considered as a prerequisite compulsory condition for non-English major students to be able to graduate from their colleges and universities In most Vietnamese colleges, an integrative approach to English language teaching (ELT) is adopted That is students are given the chance to practice all four English macro skills (i.e Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing) The curriculum for English varies from college to college, but reading skill is definitely an integral (and usually highlighted) part in the syllabus of every tertiary institution This is because reading is widely believed to be beneficial for building a wide range of vocabulary, language expressions and structures which are definitely necessary in learning a new language (Alvermann & Earle, 2003; Zoghi, Mustapha, Rizan & Maasum, 2010) Reading skill has also been found to widen learners’ knowledge of the work-related world and leads to a lifelong learning (Celce-Murcia & Olshtain, 2000) Nevertheless, a large body of literature has also reported the multiple challenges faced students when reading in English such as lack of vocabulary, language structure or knowledge of the topic A study conducted by Ho (2012) on reading comprehension problems encountered by first-year students reported that Vietnamese students encounter several degrees of difficulties in reading comprehension For them, reading comprehension is not interesting, requiring too much effort and concentration over a long span of time, especially when they XVII XVIII XIX XX XXI XXII XXIII APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE This questionnaire is designed to explore non-English major students’ reading strategies at Vien Dong College Please spend time answering each question as honestly as possible All information collected will be highly confidential and only used for the research purpose PART 1: BACKGROUND INFORMATION Full Name: Age: Gender:  Male  Don’t want to say  Female Years of learning English: Your frequent result in the reading section at college: Below average Average Above average PART 2: Please read each statement carefully and put a tick () in the box which is true for you Items Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) I have a purpose in mind when I read Before reading, I think about what I know about the topic of the text I take an overview of the text to see what it is about before reading XXIV I review the text first by noticing its characteristics like length and organization When reading, I decide what to read closely and what to ignore I use tables, figures, and pictures in texts to increase my understanding I use context clues to help me better understand what I am reading I use typographical features like bold face and italics to identify key information I critically analyze and evaluate the information presented in the text 10 I check my understanding when I come across new information 11 I try to guess what the content of the text is about when I read 12 I check to see if my guesses about the text are right or wrong 13 I take notes while reading to help me understand what I read 14 When text becomes difficult, I read aloud to help me understand what I read 15 I underline or circle information in the text to help me remember it 16 I use reference materials (e.g , a dictionary) to help me understand what I read 17 I paraphrase (restate ideas in my own words) to better understand what I read 18 I go back and forth in the text to find relationships among ideas in it 19 I ask myself questions I like to have answered in the text 20 When reading, I translate from English into Vietnamese XXV 21 When reading, I think about information in both English and Vietnamese 22 I read slowly and carefully to make sure I understand what I am reading 23 I try to get back on track when I lose concentration 24 I adjust my reading speed according to what I am reading 25 When text becomes difficult, I pay closer attention to what I am reading 26 I stop from time to time and think about what I am reading 27 I try to picture or visualize information to help remember what I read 28 When text becomes difficult, I re-read it to increase my understanding 29 When I read, I guess the meaning of unknown words or phrases  Thank you for your cooperation  XXVI BẢNG CÂU HỎI NGHIÊN CỨU Bảng câu hỏi thiết kế nhằm tìm hiều chiến lược đọc hiểu sinh viên không chuyên Anh trường Cao Đẳng Viễn Đơng Vui lịng dành thời gian trả lời câu hỏi cách trung thực Mọi thông tin thu thập bảo mật hồn tồn sử dụng cho mục đích nghiên cứu PHẦN 1: BACKGROUND INFORMATION Họ tên: ……………………………………………………………… Tuổi: ……………………………………………………………… Giới tính:  Nam  Nữ Số năm học tiếng Anh: ………………………………………………… Kết bạn thường đạt kĩ đọc hiểu trường cao đẳng: Dưới trung bình   Trung bình  Trên trung bình PHẦN 2: Vui lịng đọc câu cách cẩn thận đánh dấu  vào ô với bạn Không Hiếm Thỉnh Thường Luôn bao thoảng xuyên (2) (3) (4) (5) (1) Em có mục đích đọc Trước đọc, em nghĩ xem biết chủ đề đọc Trước đọc, em nhìn tổng thể đọc để biết nói điều XXVII Đầu tiên em xem xét đọc cách ý tới đặc tính độ dài cấu trúc Em định chỗ cần đọc kĩ chỗ cần lướt qua đọc Em sử dụng bảng, số, tranh ảnh đọc để hiểu đọc Em sử dụng gợi ý ngữ cảnh để giúp em hiểu rõ em đọc Em sử dụng đặc trưng chữ in đậm in nghiêng để xác định thơng tin Em phân tích đánh giá thơng tin đọc(ví dụ suy nghĩ xem thơng tin đọc có với thực tế hay khơng) 10 Em kiểm tra hiểu gặp thông tin đọc 11 Khi đọc, em cố gắng đoán nội dung đọc 12 Em kiểm tra xem suy đốn đọc hay sai 13 Em ghi đọc để giúp em hiểu đọc 14 Khi đọc trở nên khó hiểu, em đọc to để giúp em hiểu XXVIII đọc 15 Em gạch chân khoanh trịn thơng tin đọc để giúp dễ nhớ 16 Em sử dụng tài liệu tham khảo (ví dụ từ điển) để giúp em hiểu đọc 17 Em diễn đạt ý đọc theo ngơn từ riêng để hiểu đọc 18 Em xem xem lại thơng tin đọc để tìm mối liên hệ thơng tin với 19 Em tự nhắc thân câu hỏi mà em cần trả lời sau đọc 20 Khi đọc, em dịch từ tiếng Anh sang tiếng Việt 21 Khi đọc em nghĩ thông tin tiếng Anh tiếng Việt 22 Em đọc chậm cẩn thận để chắn hiểu đọc 23 Em cố gắng lấy lại tập trung bị tập trung 24 Em điều chỉnh tốc độ đọc tùy theo đọc (ví dụ chỗ khó hiểu em đọc chậm hơn) 25 Khi đọc trở nên khó, em ý kĩ em đọc 26 Thỉnh thoảng trình XXIX đọc, em dừng lại suy nghĩ đọc 27 Em cố gắng hình ảnh hóa hình dung thông tin để dễ nhớ 28 Khi đọc trở nên khó hiểu, em đọc lại lần để hiểu 29 Khi đọc, em đoán nghĩa từ cụm từ khơng biết  Cảm ơn cộng tác em  XXX APPENDIX INTERVIEW QUESTIONS “Do you think that employing reading strategies are helpful when we read an English text? Why/Why not?” Which strategies you often apply when reading an English text in class? Do your teachers often instruct you on reading strategies when you read an English text? CÂU HỎI PHỎNG VẤN Em có nghĩ việc áp dụng chiến lược đọc hiểu hữu ích chung ta đọc đọc tiếng Anh không? Em thường áp dụng chiến lược đọc hiểu đọc đọc tiếng Anh lớp học? Các giáo viên có thường hướng dẫn em chiến lược đọc hiểu em đọc đọc tiếng Anh không? XXXI