54 Trang 5 The thesis entitled IMPROVING READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH CONTEXT CLUES STRATEGY FOR THE ELEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS AT VO THI SAU HIGH SCHOOL Trang 6 BA RIA VUNG TAU UNIVER
i MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BA RIA VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY - THESIS IMPROVING READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH CONTEXT CLUES STRATEGY FOR THE ELEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS AT VO THI SAU HIGH SCHOOL Submitted to the Postgraduate Institute in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL Course code: 8140111 By Vu Ngoc Lanh Supervised by Nguyen Xuan Hong, Ph.D Ba Ria-Vung Tau, 2023 ii TABLE OF CONTENT STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS x ABSTRACT xi LIST OF TABLES xii LIST OF FIGURES xiii APPENDICES xiv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1.2 Statement of the problem 1.3 The aims of the study 1.4 Research questions of the study 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Significance of the study 1.7 Organization of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Reading comprehension skill 2.1.1 Definition of reading 2.1.2 Definition of reading skills 2.1.3 Definition of reading comprehension 11 2.1.4 Definition of Context Clue Strategy 12 2.2 The aspects of “Context Clues Strategy” 15 2.2.1 Definitions and Characteristics of “Context Clues Strategy” 15 iii 2.2.2 Types of “Context Clues Strategy” 15 2.2.3 The positive and negative effects of “Context Clues Strategy” in reading class 18 2.3 Previous studies 19 2.4 Conceptual framework 22 2.5 Summary 22 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 24 3.1 Aims and research questions 24 3.2 Research design and participants 25 3.2.1 Research design 25 3.2.2 Research participants 26 3.2.3 Research instruments 26 3.3 Data collection instruments 29 3.3.1 The questionnaire 29 3.3.2 The interviews 30 3.3.3 The pre-test and the post-test 30 3.4 Data collection procedures 30 3.5 Data analysis procedures 32 3.6 Reliability and validity of the study 34 3.7 Summary 35 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 36 4.1 Results 36 4.1.1 The types of Context Clues Strategy that teachers and students use 36 iv 4.1.2 The students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards the use of Context Clues Strategy 38 4.1.3 The effectiveness of Context Clues Strategy on improving 11th-grade grade students’ reading comprehension at Vo Thi Sau High School 43 4.2 Discussions 49 4.3 Summary 51 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 52 5.1 Introduction 52 5.2 Summary of the main findings of the study 52 5.2.1 The types of Context Clues Strategy teachers and students use 52 5.2.2 The attitudes of teachers and students towards the use of Context Clues Strategy 52 5.2.3 The effectiveness of Context Clues Strategy on improving students’ reading comprehension skill 53 5.3 Implications of the study 53 5.4 Limitations of the study 54 5.5 Recommendations for further studies 55 v The thesis entitled IMPROVING READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH CONTEXT CLUES STRATEGY FOR THE ELEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS AT VO THI SAU HIGH SCHOOL was successfully defended and approved on ……………… at Ba Ria – Vung Tau University Academic Supervisor: Nguyen Xuan Hong, Ph.D Examination Committee Chair Reader Reader Member Secretary Member On behalf of the Examination Committee Chair (full name, title, signature) vi BA RIA VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY POSTGRADUATE INSTITUTE & HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT Ba Ria - Vung Tau, September 2023 MASTER’S THESIS REPORT Student name: Vu Ngoc Lanh Sex: Female Date of birth: 09/ 12 /1985 Place of birth: Nam Dinh Province Major: English Language Student code: 21110026 I- Thesis title: IMPROVING READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH CONTEXT CLUES STRATEGY FOR THE ELEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS AT VO THI SAU HIGH SCHOOL II- Objectives and contents: This study aims at investigating the teaching and learning of reading comprehension through Context Clues Strategy for grade 11 students at Vo Thi Sau High School in Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province The objectives of this study are as follows: - To investigate teaching and studying of reading comprehension skill of the eleventh-grade students at Vo Thi Sau High School; - To find out what Context Clues Strategy teachers and students at Vo Thi Sau High School use during learning reading comprehension skill; - To explore the attitude of teachers and students at Vo Thi Sau High School to Context Clues Strategy used during learning reading comprehension skill - To check whether Context Clues Strategy use can help to improve reading comprehension skill of students at Vo Thi Sau High School vii - To suggest solutions to employ Context Clues Strategy successfully and effectively for teachers and students at Vo Thi Sau High School while learning reading comprehension skill This study was conducted at Vo Thi Sau High School, Ba Ria – Vung Tau province The participants were 150 EFL (English as a Foreign Language) high school students who were in grade 11 In the hope of gaining the results, the researcher applied the mixed method: quantitative and qualitative, three instruments were put in use: a questionnaire, a semi-structured interview, and tests (pre-test, posttest) to obtain the data III- Starting date: (as stated in the Decision issued by the University) IV- Completing date: V- Academic supervisor: NGUYEN XUAN HONG, Ph.D ACADEMIC SUPERVISOR SCHOOL HEAD ((full name, signature) ((full name, signature) viii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the master’s Thesis submitted today entitled: “IMPROVING READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH CONTEXT CLUES STRATEGY FOR THE ELEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS AT VO THI SAU HIGH SCHOOL” In terms of the statement of requirements for Thesis in master’s programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee of Postgraduate Institute, Ba Ria Vung Tau University Ba Ria - Vung Tau, September 2023 VŨ NGỌC LÀNH ix RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, VU NGOC LANH, being a candidate for the degree of TESOL accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of master’s Thesis deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my master’s Thesis deposited in the library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarians for the care, loan, and reproduction of theses Ba Ria - Vung Tau, September 2023 Signature …………………… VU NGOC LANH x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr Nguyen Xuan Hong, my supervisor, for his patience, guidance, insightful advice, and constant encouragement throughout the whole research process Without his support and guidance, this thesis would never have been completed Next, I would like to thank the students and the English teachers at Vo Thi Sau High School, Ba Ria – Vung Tau province where I did my research They gave me a lot of time during the data collection process and they also encouraged me to complete the research Finally, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my family, especially my mother and my husband, who have always been by my side to encourage and been a great source of encouragement and motivation to help me complete this thesis VŨ NGỌC LÀNH