The effects of using kwl (know want to know learned) strategy on the 7th graders reading comprehension

Trang 1 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY --- ∞0∞--- NGUYEN THUC QUYNH ANH THE EFFECTS OF USING KWL KNOW-WANT TO KNOW-LEARNED STRATEGY ON THE 7TH GRADE

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

- ∞0∞ -

NGUYEN THUC QUYNH ANH

THE EFFECTS OF USING KWL ( KNOW-WANT TO KNOW-LEARNED) STRATEGY ON THE 7TH GRADERS’ READING COMPREHENSION

MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2022

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

- ∞0∞ -

NGUYEN THUC QUYNH ANH

THE EFFECTS OF USING KWL ( KNOW-WANT TO KNOW-LEARNED) STRATEGY ON THE 7TH GRADERS’ READING COMPREHENSION

Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

Major code: 8 14 01 11

MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL

Supervisor: LE THI THANH THU, Ed.D

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2022

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC MỞ CỘNG HÒA XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM THÀNH PHỐ HỒ CHÍ MINH Độc lập – Tự do – Hạnh phúc

KHOA ĐÀO TẠO SAU ĐẠI HỌC

GIẤY XÁC NHẬN

Tôi tên là: NGUYỄN THỤC QUỲNH ANH

Ngày sinh: 10-01-1989 Nơi sinh: Đà Lạt, Lâm Đồng

Chuyên ngành: Lý Luận và Phương pháp dạy học Bộ môn Tiếng Anh

Mã học viên: 1881401110002

Tôi đồng ý cung cấp toàn văn thông tin luận án/ luận văn tốt nghiệp hợp lệ về bản quyền cho Thư viện trường đại học Mở Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh Thư viện trường đại học Mở Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh sẽ kết nối toàn văn thông tin luận án/ luận văn tốt nghiệp vào hệ thống thông tin khoa học của Sở Khoa học và Công nghệ Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh

Nguyễn Thục Quỳnh Anh

CỘNG HÒA XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM

Độc lập - Tự do - Hạnh phúc

Ý KIẾN CHO PHÉP BẢO VỆ LUẬN VĂN THẠC sĩ

CỦA GIẢNG VIÊN HƯỚNG DẪN

Giảng viên hướng dẫn: TS Lê Thị Thanh Thu

Học viên thực hiện: Nguyễn Thục Quỳnh Anh Lớp: MTESOLOl 8A

Tên đề tài: The effects of using KWL (Know-Want to know-Learned) strategy on the

7th graders ’ reading comprehension

Ý kiến củagiáo viên hướng dẫn về việc cho phép học viên: Nguyễn Thục Quỳnh Anh

được bảo vệ luận văn trướcHội đòng:

Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, ngày tháng J/2 năm 20^'L-'

Người nhận xét

TS. Lê Thị Thanh Thu

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis entitled: “The effects of using KWL (Know-Want to

know-Learned) strategy on the 7th graders’ reading comprehension” is my original

work; it is based on my own research

All sources used in this thesis have been documented This piece of work has not been submitted for assessment in any subject or course at Open University or elsewhere

Ho Chi Minh City, 2022

Nguyen Thuc Quynh Anh

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I cannot express enough thanks to my below people whom I have received great amount

of encouragements, suggestions, and supports from them during the time I was conducting and completing my thesis

I would like to express my deep and sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Le Thi Thanh Thu for her valuable advice, patience, encouragement, immense knowledge, and whole-hearted guidance from the beginning days until the finished research paper She was always available to read and give comments on my work It would have been impossible for me to complete my thesis without her help, especially, when I was difficulties before and during my pregnancy

I want to express special acknowledgments to the teacher who taught two groups and all my seventh-grade students who were willing to participate in my study

I am extremely grateful to my family members for their love, care, and sympathy for me during the master's course and in the progress of conducting this thesis Besides, my special thanks go to my best friends in our Chop - Chep group who have willingly helped

me with their abilities

Thanks for all your encouragement!

ABSTRACT

The idea for this study arised from the reputation of an instructional strategy that students follow the KWL chart while they are reading namely KWL ( Know-Want to know-Learned) This strategy has received commendations for its benefits which are brought

to students’ reading This study aims to uncover two questions relating to possible changes in students’ reading comprehension performance and their attitude toward the application KWL strategy to reading

To achieve the purposes, the researcher employed a quantitative approach with a group quasi-experimental design This study lasted for ten weeks with thirty-eight participations from two classes divided into two groups which were the control group and the experimental group While the experimental group was taught with the KWL strategy, the control group was taught with the conventional teaching technique Pretest and posttest were applied to measure the effects of KWL on students’ reading comprehension performance meanwhile the questionnaire was conducted to investigate students’ attitudes towards the application of the KWL strategy to reading comprehension The results proved that students in both groups improved their reading comprehension; however, learning with the KWL strategy had significantly better results than students learning with the conventional teaching technique Besides, the students in the experimental group showed positive attitudes toward learning reading with the KWL strategy

two-Based on the findings, recommendations were given for the implementation of the KWL strategy in teaching, learning reading, and for further research especially about the students’ attitude toward learning reading with the KWL strategy

LIST OF ABBREVIATION

1 AES: Albert Einstein School

2 ALM: Audio - Lingual Method

3 CG: The control group

4 CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

5 DOET: Department of Education and Training

6 EFL: English as a Foreign Language

7 EG: The experimental group

8 KWL: Know- Want to know- Learned

9 MOET: Ministry of Education and Training

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATION iv

LIST OF TABLES viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale of the study 1

1.2 Study objectives and research questions 4

1.4 Organization of the study 5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Reading 6

2.1.1 Definition and role of reading 6

2.1.2 Teaching and learning reading 7

2.1.2.1 Teaching reading 7

2.1.2.2 Learning reading 8

2.1.3 How to learn reading effectively 9

2.2 Reading strategies 11

2.2.1 Definition of reading strategies 11

2.2.2 Classification of reading strategies 12

2.2.2.1 KWL strategy 12

2.2.2.3 Benefits of KWL strategy 15

2.3 Attitudes 17

2.3.1 Definition 17

2.3.2 Components 18

2.3.3 The roles of students' attitudes towards reading comprehension 18

2.4 Previous related study 19

2.4.1 Previous related study in foreign countries 19

2.4.2 Previous related study in Vietnam 23

2.5 Research gaps 24

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 26

3.1 Research site 26

3.1.1 Background of the study 26

3.1.1.1 Overview of AES 26

3.1.1.2 Teaching and learning English at AES school 27

3.2 Research participants 29

3.3 Research design 29

3.4 Applications of KWL strategy 31

3.4.1 Research procedures 31

3.4.2 Teaching procedures of the experimental group 32

3.4.3 Teaching procedures of the control group 33

3.5 Data collection instruments 36

3.5.1 Tests 36

3.5.2 Questionnaire 39

3.6 Data collection analysis 40

3.7 Research reliability and validity 41

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 43

4.1 Test analysis and discussions 43

4.1.1 Test data screening 43

4.1.2 Comparison between the control group and experimental group’s pre-test scores 44

4.1.3 Comparison between the control group’s pretest and post-test scores 45

4.1.4 Comparison between the experimental group’s pretest and posttest scores 47

4.1.5 Comparison between the control group and experimental group’s post-test scores 48

4.2 Questionnaire analysis and discussions 51

4.2.1 Checking the reliability of the questions in themes 52

4.2.2 Analysis of the questionnaire 53

4.2.2.1 Students’ recognition of the benefits of learning reading with the KWL strategy 55

4.2.2.2 Students’ feelings towards learning reading through the KWL strategy 57 4.2.2.3 Students’ desire to use the KWL strategy in reading 59

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 64

5.1 Summary of the study 64

5.2 Conclusion 65

5.3 Recommendation 67

5.3.1 For the English teacher 67

5.3.2 For the students 68

5.3.3 For futher research 68

5.4 Limitation of the study 69

REFERENCES 70

APPENDICES 77

APPENDIX 1: THE SAMPLE OF LESSON PLAN OF THE CONTROL GROUP 77

APPENDIX 2: THE SAMPLE OF LESSON PLAN OF THE CONTROL GROUP 80

APPENDIX 3: THE PRE- TEST 84

APPENDIX 4: THE POST -TEST 92

APPENDIX 5: QUESTIONNAIRE IN ENGLISH VERSION 100

APPENDIX 6: QUESTIONNAIRE IN VIETNAMESE VERSION 102

APPENDIX 7: THE PRETEST RESULTS OF THE CG 104

APPENDIX 8: THE PRETEST RESULTS OF THE EG 105

APPENDIX 9: THE POSTTEST RESULTS OF THE CG 106

APPENDIX 10: THE POSTTEST RESULTS OF THE EG 107

APPENDIX 11: THE PRETEST AND POSTTEST RESULTS OF THE CG 108 APPENDIX 12: THE PRETEST AND POSTTEST RESULTS OF THE EG 109 APPENDIX 13: RESULTS OF THE QUSESTIONNAIRE A1-A4 110

APPENDIX 14: RESULTS OF THE QUSESTIONNAIRE B1-B3 112

APPENDIX 15: RESULTS OF THE QUSESTIONNAIRE C1-C2 114

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 KWL chart 14

Table 2.2 The implementation of the KWL strategy 14

Table 3.1 The Research method 30

Table 3.2 Research plan 32

Table 3.3 Teaching procedures 35

Table 3.4 Pretest and posttest’s structure 38

Table 4.1 The pretest score of the control group and experimental group 44

Table 4.2 Independent sample T-test of the pretest scores of the control group and expreimental group 44

Table 4.3 The pretest and posttest scores of the control group 45

Table 4.4 Paired sample T-test of the pretest and posttest scores of the control group 46

Table 4.5 The pretest and posttest scores of the experimental group 47

Table 4.6 Paired sample T-test of the pretest and posttest scores of the experimental group 47

Table 4.7 The posttest score of the control group and experimental group 48

Table 4.8 Independent sample T-test of the posttest scores of the control group and expreimental group 48

Table 4.9 Questionnaire reliability 52

Table 4.10 Students’attitude toward KWL strategy 53

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

The first chapter concerns the introduction of the research, dealing with the rationale of the study, study objectives, research questions, scopes of the study, study background, and organization of the study

1.1 Rationale of the study

Language is a means of communication, as human need language to exchange ideas, feeling, or thought In order to communicate among different countries, people need a community language and English is considered as an official language for communication in the world (Amaliani, 2017) English has become an important communication language in Vietnam since Vietnam opened its door to the world in 1986 (“Learning English in Vietnamese context”, 2017) As foreigners come to invest in Vietnam, knowing English helps people communicate more effectively English opens many opportunities and provides Vietnamese with better jobs Furthermore, English helps the Vietnamese contact with multiple cultures as well as Vietnamese students have easier access to many famous universities in the world

It is undeniable the role of English in Vietnam, anyhow, there are further reasons that motivate Vietnamese to learn English With The National Foreign Languages 2020 Project by the Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), English is a compulsory subject from primary to high school In the period of 1982-2002, English is

a compulsory subject in high school and an optional one in secondary school (Hoang, 2010) Since 2002, students in high school and secondary school have studied English

as a compulsory subject while primary students have taken English as an optional one (Hoang, 2010) In 2003, primary students from grade 3 to grade 5 learned English as an optional subject for two periods a week Since 2006, grade 3 to grade 5 students have studied English as a compulsory one for four periods a week (Le, 2020) Since 2018,

grade 1 and 2 students have studied English as the optional subject for 2 periods a week (Hoang, 2020)

In order to get the best result in learning English, students need to improve their four skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing, among which there is no denying the importance of reading among the four skills Bojovic (2010) expressed reading skills involve: “identifying word meaning, drawing inferences, identifying the writer’s technique, recognizing the mood of passage, finding answers to questions” (p.7) According to Lismayanti (2014), reading is considered being the most important skill

In all the education stages, reading ability plays the main role in the success of teaching and learning “It is because most of the materials of teaching and learning are in written form” (Lismayanti, 2014, p 225) Every student has their reasons while they are reading, such as they read books or articles for getting knowledge, read newspapers and magazines for getting information as well as reading comic books or novels for relaxing

It means that reading for specific reasons or reading just for relaxing, students also need

to understand the written materials Understanding the materials does not only help students be deeply involved in the content of the text or critical in what they are reading but also improve their vocabulary and grammar Reading skill therefore is considered as the core of the teaching and learning process

Although reading is an important skill, learners still have many difficulties in comprehending English texts According to Ho (2016), insufficient vocabulary is the one factor that hinders the reading comprehension ability of learners Besides, O’Reilly, Wang and Sabatini (2019) expressed that lacking background knowledge is also a problem that students face when they comprehend the texts Reading motivation is another factor that influences students' reading comprehension (Nguyen, 2018) Over the past few decades, many studies have conducted ways to help students improve their

reading comprehension Reading strategies is one way that plays an important role in the teaching and learning reading process as well as improving students’ reading comprehension (Lismayanti, 2014; Yanti, 2017; Paige, 2011) There are five popular reading strategies that are introduced by Yanti (2017) including choral reading (CR) strategy, paired reading (PR), porpe strategy (PS), SQ4R strategy, and Know- Want to know- Learned (KWL) strategy

One of the reading strategies that is believed to have a positive effect on learners’ reading comprehension is the KWL strategy The KWL strategy stands for Know- Want to know- Learned which focuses on the readers who make the questions and think about the answers while they are reading (Mahdi, 2018) This strategy has well-organized steps which are helpful for students to follow (Kusumaningrum & Widiyanto, 2019) Fengjuan (2010) claims in KWL, the teacher is the facilitator for student- centered in their teaching, so students are very active while they are reading Furthermore, according to Budiarti (2018), learning with KWL, students can activate their prior knowledge about the topic, elicit students’ interest in reading and students can assess what they have read Therefore, KWL is a good strategy to help students improve in their reading comprehension (Lismayanti, 2014; Yanti, 2017, Wuladari, 2017) as well as to help students have a positive attitude toward their reading (Madhi, 2017; Tran, 2016)

Many students still find difficulties in the reading lesson, so do the seventh-grade students at Albert Einstein school (AES) Students mostly do not understand what they have read They can read the text fluently, but they are not able to comprehend the text Students could not answer the questions correctly because they have difficulties in comprehending the reading text Furthermore, in the reading lesson, students just follow the teacher’s directions and are very passive in their learning That causes students to get bored easily and do not maintain concentration in learning, and consequently could not

gain the purpose of reading The problem of the low levels in reading comprehension and the negative attitude of students toward reading might come from students’ lack of reading strategy Students could not find the appropriate strategy to engade them effectively into the reading In order to help the students improve their reading comprehension as well as have a positive attitude toward reading, teachers can modify their way of teaching reading by the way that they help students aware of the reading strategies and enhance students’ application Due to the benefits of KWL are mentioned above, the KWL strategy must be applied in the hope that it could help the AES students improve their reading comprehension and enhance their positive attitude toward reading

1.2 Study objectives and research questions

This study aims primarily to investigate the impact of the KWL strategy on the 7th graders’ reading comprehension at AES The impact investigated includes the effect of the KWL strategy on the AES 7th graders’ reading performance and the students' attitudes toward the application of the KWL strategy to reading comprehension

To achieve the purpose above, the study will address the two following research questions:

1 What are the effects of the KWL strategy on reading comprehension performance of the 7th graders at AES school?

2 What are their students’ attitudes toward the application KWL strategy to reading comprehension?

1.3 Significant of the study

The research on the effects of the KWL strategy on the 7th graders’ reading comprehension at AES brings several benefits Firstly, many students still find difficulty

in learning reading; therefore, this research offers students some recommendations on how to learn reading more efficiently through the application of the KWL strategy

Secondly, although with the devotion and enthusiasm of the teachers, they still find helping students improve their reading comprehension is a real challenge This research introduces to teachers the learning reading strategy is known that the instructional strategy From the KWL strategy, the teachers help students to be familiar with the KWL steps and encourage them to practice by themselves Finally, the study can contribute as

the helpful referential materials for other researchers

1.4 Organization of the study

This study consists of five chapters, (1) Introduction, (2) Literature review, (3) Research methodology, (4) Results and discussions, and (5) Conclusion, and recommendations Chapter 1 presents the rationale of the study, and it also includes the study objectives, research questions, scopes of the study, study background, and organization of the study

In Chapter 2, the literature relevant to the theoretical framework of reading, reading strategies, and KWL strategy is presented together with the review of previous related studies Chapter 3 discusses the study design, participants of the research, research site, materials, research instruments, and analysis procedures Chapter 4 analyzes and discusses the data from the Pre-test, Post-tests, and questionnaires Chapter 5 summarizes the finding of the study, the limitation and recommendations for further study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

The second chapter concerns the review on reading, reading strategy, KWL strategy, students’ attitudes, the previous related study, and the research gaps

2.1 Reading

2.1.1 Definition and role of reading

Richards, Platt, and Platt (1992) defined reading in two ways First, reading is the process

of reading the text aloud to understand or not understand the content of the text Second, reading is the process of reading the text silently to focus on understanding the content

of the text The second definition is related to the text understanding which is concerned

by more researchers According to Richard (1998), reading is the contribution of meaning from a written message and interpreting the information appropriately In addition, deriving meaning and interpreting the information are determined by the reading purposes, the context, the nature of the text, the strategies, and the knowledge of the reader (Cline & King, 2006) Reading is associated with comprehension Comprehension is understanding and getting the meaning of the written text, and it is the central competency of reading (Wulandari, 2017) Comprehension refers to the ability

to understand not only the word reading but also the ideas and the relationships between the ideas which are conveyed in the text (McNamara, 2007)

Kennedy (1981) defined reading comprehension as “the process by which the reader becomes an idea and understands it in relation to his or her own needs and goals” (p.61) The process of understanding the whole of the text is constructed by the reader through interaction with the written language (Wulandari, 2017) Amaliani (2016) added a participatory process that helps readers understand from the smallest feature of the text such as vocabulary, sentences, and grammar, to the biggest aspect such as finding the main idea, making a conclusion, predicting what the next passage and understanding the

whole meaning of the text A good comprehension reader can summarize their previous knowledge on the topic of a reading passage, and they can ask questions before and during the reading For ideas that have not been clearly stated, good readers can make appropriate inferences They can find main ideas, summarize and draw mental images from words in the text (Gillet, Temple, Temple & Crawford, 2016)

In short, reading comprehension is the heart of reading This is the complex process of the readers interact with the written text before or during reading to understand the meaning of the text and get the author’s purposes

Reading comprehension is one of the important skills of learning English that is learned

by students in English as a foreign language (EFL) courses (Duarte & Barner, 2005) Reading comprehension in learning English as a foreign language helps students meet the requirements in their learning at school (Dechant (1991) as cited in Gamboa-González, 2017) This skill is considered the requirement ability when students are learning Students need to understand word problems to solve problems in mathematics

or science, or students need to understand the text to answer the comprehension questions It is common that students who study any subject will be assessed on their English ability by a reading comprehension test Therefore, reading comprehension is what the learners who learn English as a foreign language need most, this is also the essential skill in learning a foreign language (Saeedi, 2016)

2.1.2 Teaching and learning reading

2.1.2.1 Teaching reading

Teaching reading is important in language teaching (Iskandar, 2017) According to Nunan (2003), there are usually at least two aspects in teaching reading The first one is teaching reading for the beginners who learn to read for the first time and the second one

is teaching reading for the readers who already have reading skills in their first language Harmer (2008) expressed the basic requirements to teach reading is that students need to

be engaged with what they are reading, students should be encouraged to respond to the content of the reading text, or predict what will happen next in reading, and the last one

is good teachers will help students exploit reading texts to the full

Iskandar stated five facts that exist as issues in teaching reading comprehension as follows “the students’ lack of mastery of the basic, the student’s habit of slow reading, the student’s inability to figures out inferences, implications and main ideas, text selection, and exercise to include” (Iskandar, 2017, p.40) Moreover, the problems in teaching reading comprehension are related to teaching strategies, the teachers do not have the appropriate strategy to solve the problems in teaching reading (Iskandar 2017)

In short, reading is an active skill, so teachers should consider which aspect do their learners belong to, adjust their way of teaching reading in how they help students be aware of the reading strategies, and apply this strategy more effectively In this study, the researcher focused on students performance in their reading comprehension The term reading can be understood as reading comprehension as a consequence

2.1.2.2 Learning reading

Learning is defined by Iskanda as a process of changing from do not know to know (2017) In the definition of Lachman (1997), learning is the behavior changing due to experience (1997) Brown (2000) added learning is an activity to gain knowledge, skills, and experience about the subject studying which requires practice to improve understanding of that subject

Tankersley (2003) said when comprehension is deep, readers can make meaning by evaluating, synthesizing, analyzing, and interpreting the text Therefore in learning reading comprehension students need to make an effort to get the information and understand the meaning of the text The purpose of learning reading comprehension is the readers can obtain an overall understanding of what they have been read (Iskandar, 2017) In short, learning reading comprehension is the process in which students can evaluate, synthesize, analyze and interpret to get the information and understand the meaning of the text

Wulandari expressed three difficulties that students face when learning reading comprehension: “Students do not have good motivation in reading class because they find reading activities boring and uninteresting So, most students become passive, lazy

to read is exactly reading” (2017, p.6) In addition, students cannot activate knowledge before reading, so students cannot show what they already know about the topic, they are not ready to read the text and it is more difficult to understand the text as the consequence Furthermore, students cannot evaluate what they have read, therefore, students cannot analyze, explain or criticize what that have read, so they do not deeply understand the text Due to the difficulties that students face when learning to read, it is necessary to find out the ways to learn reading effectively

2.1.3 How to learn reading effectively

There are four main ways that can help students to learn reading more effectively First, students should activate their prior knowledge about the topic Prior knowledge in reading is the total of all knowledge that the readers have gained, experienced, and stored

in their minds (Roit, 2017) When the prior knowledge is activated, students will show what they already know about the topic, what things they need to add in order to be successful in their reading Furthermore, activating prior knowledge show students are

ready to read the text, that helps students easier to understand the text Besides activating prior knowledge helps students recognize the reason why they are struggling in reading, which might be lacking experience or lacking reading comprehension skills So they will find out the ways to solve the difficulties to help them improve their reading Therefore,

it is important for students to activate their prior knowledge before reading

Second, students should make their own questions as wondering during reading to create their interest in reading “Wondering is a natural response to reading and helps students

to understand the text better” (Roit, 2017, p.10) Besides, wondering prepares students for what will happen next in a text as well as show the students have a purpose which helps them get their needs and goals in their reading Making questions to create students’ interest is also a way that can help students read more effectively The student's interest can depend on the reading material or the purpose of the reading With reading material, according to Gashaye (2018), reading material must interest or at least be relevant to the students' background knowledge On the other hand, students should give their reasons for reading to help them feel more interested in reading (Williams, 1984) Therefore, stimulating students' interest will help students have a positive attitude in their reading

Third, students should relate new information to their prior knowledge to evaluate what they have read This step is often used in the post-reading process, students summarize what they have just read by analyzing, explaining, and criticizing Assessing what they have read will help students deeply understand and remember the text longer

Last but not least, students should practice the ability to work independently and work

in groups in a variety of reading texts Students who read independently are mindful of the explicit lesson they have just participated in, and draw on those skills to help them

practice, read and understand the text Working in groups provides students opportunities

to express what they understand about the text and receive feedback from other students and the teacher which helps them improve their reading (Vaughn, 2009)

In conclusion, there are various ways to learn reading effectively which are activating prior knowledge, making questions as wondering to eliciting interest, relating new information to prior knowledge to evaluate what they have read, and practicing the ability to read independently and in the group in a variety of reading texts

2.2 Reading strategies

2.2.1 Definition of reading strategies

Strategy is identified of the basic long-term goals, and the application of action processes

to accomplish these goals (Nickols, 2016) Juni and Mokhamad (2014) added strategy

is implying thoughtful planning to do something, this might be the generalized plan of a lesson that includes the objectives, structure, and steps of the lesson Furthermore, strategy is the action which you may have to solve the problem, to help you make the most process, to improve your cognitive, affective, or social behavior (Mariani, 2002)

The term ‘reading strategy has been defined in various ways by researchers According

to Olshavsky (1976), a reading strategy is a purported means of understanding an author's message Reading strategies are the intentional actions that readers voluntarily take to improve an understanding of what they have read (Pritchard,1990) Sujarwo (2020) defined reading strategies as the “broad term used to describe the planned and explicit actions that help readers translate print to meaning” (p.6) The clearly planned and specific methods to approach a problem or a task to achieve certain information and the particular goal in the reading (Bos and Vaugh, 2020)

In addition, some definitions refer to the reader's consciousness Reading strategies are the consciously or unconsciously actions to understand a text, in the normal reading situation, readers use a variety of reading strategies automatically (Davies (1990) as cited

in Akkakoson, 2011) Readers are unaware that they are using a reading strategy, especially if the text is not difficult (Anderson, 1980)

In conclusion, reading strategies are seen as the deliberate or undeliberate actions taken

by the readers to get the goal of their reading as well as improve their reading comprehension

2.2.2 Classification of reading strategies

Reading strategies received the concern from many educational researchers such as Jiménez, García, and Pearson (1996) found six reading strategies namely invoking prior knowledge, monitoring, visualizing, evaluating, noticing novelty, and demonstrating awareness Besides, Kashyap and Dyquisto (2020) showed two reading strategies which are The 4 "P's strategy: Purpose, Preview, Prior Knowledge, Predict, or the SQ3R Strategy: Survey, questions, Read, Recite, Review Especially, Yanti (2017) added five reading strategies which are choral reading (CR) strategy, paired reading (PR), porpe strategy (PS), SQ4R strategy, and know – want to know- learned (KWL) Among the strategies mentioned, those which were showed by Yanti were considered popular and had an important role in developing students' reading comprehension

2.2.2.1 KWL strategy

According to Rahmawati (2018) “The KWL (Know, Want, and Learn) learning strategy was developed by Ogle in 1986 The aim of this strategy is to facilitate students' metacognitive thinking processes This strategy can be illustrated by a simple graph consisting of three columns” (p.239) Besides KWL is a learning strategy which is

primarily used by students to direct and facilitate learning (Team, 2021) Blachowicz and Ogle (2017) added KWL is an activity in which active readers are led by the teacher

to engage with the reading texts Ogle (1986) stated KWL activities help students read actively in their reading are "engaging previous knowledge, asking questions, and recalling important information in the text to enhance comprehension" (as cited in Budiarti 2018, p.73 ) The KWL is used as the instructional strategy, after a period of time, when students clearly know what they are required to do and be familiar with the KWL strategy in their reading, the teacher will let students use the strategy by themselves (Le, 2020)

2.2.2.2 Procedure for applying the KWL strategy into the learning reading comprehension

According to Wulandari (2017), the KWL strategy is one of the learning reading strategies which is using the chart to capture the ideas in the process of before, while, and after reading to help students understand the text and get the purpose in their reading The KWL chart has three columns First, provide students the opportunities to activate their prior knowledge and list what they already know about the topic in the K column Second, they consider what they want to know about the topic and list the ideas in the W column Third, during or after reading, students can add details of what they have learned then list the ideas in the L column (Amaliani, 2017) The chart below is an example of the KWL chart

Table 2.1 KWL chart (Wulandari, 2017)

There are three steps in learning reading with the KWL strategy (Wulandari, 2017) The procedure of using the KWL strategy is described as the following :

Table 2.2 The implementation of the KWL strategy (Wulandari, 2017)

Step 1:

The first step is pre-reading Students are encouraged to brainstorm to help them focus

on the background knowledge which is related to the topic The teacher’s questions should lead students to think about the topic they are going to discuss Students can work individually or in groups and brainstorm what they already know about the topic They can connect the title, headlines, or pictures in the text with the topic The students’ responses are recorded in column K on the board or on the worksheet

Step 2:

The second step is continuous with pre-reading work The students can work individually, discuss in groups or discuss with the teacher what they want to know from the text Before starting to read, students write down the specific questions which they are most interested in column W If students give the statement, the teacher will guide them to change it into a question This step will be done until the students do not have any more questions about the topic

Step 3:

In the third step, students can read the text and try to look for the answers to their questions in column W They have the option of writing down the answer in column L while they are reading or immediately after they finish reading The opportunities for students to work in groups or in pairs to help them become familiar with this strategy before they work independently Column K is also used for the revision of the lesson This strategy has three steps that are well–organized and easy for students to follow (Kusumaningrum & Widiyanto, 2019)

2.2.2.3 Benefits of KWL strategy

According to Foote, Vermette, and Batteaglia (2001), KWL is an active and powerful reading strategy It is considered an excellent strategy to improve students’ reading comprehension (Rusmiati, 2017) Many researchers note that when the students learn with the KWL strategy, they have to read a lot of reading texts and try to comprehend the text Therefore, students have a significant improvement in their reading comprehension achievement (Kusumaningrum & Widiyant, 2019; Sinambela, Manik & Pangaribuan, 2015) Moreover, according to Budiarti (2018), the KWL strategy has three major benefits, there are:

First, KWL helps activate students’ prior knowledge about a topic, concept, or process before learning about it (Youniss, 2013) “With this prior knowledge, the brains of the students will recall what they already know (the K of KWL) about the topic” (Budiarti ,

2018, p.73) Learners who start to recall what they already know can comprehend the text more easily Therefore, KWL not only helps students activate their previous knowledge but also helps them to get the meaning of the text more easily

Second, KWL builds the students’ interest in reading The KWL strategy stirs the interest

of students in what they want to know more about the topic ( the W of KWL) Making questions is one way to elicit the students’ interest The teacher guides the students to make up their questions or issues which are hoped to find the information in the reading text The readers are curious and interested to read the text because they want to find whether the answers of their own questions are in the text or not “By completing K and

W column, the students are not only making use of their prior knowledge but also are motivated to keep reading the text” (Budiarti, 2018, p.73) In short, KWL can increase the students’ interest and helps students get more motivation to read the text as well

Third, KWL provides a chance for the students to assess what they have learned In the process of completing the last column namely Learned, students will record all the information they get from the text by connecting the previous information with the new one and assess what they have learned (the L of KWL) (Budiarti, 2018) Students have the chance to assess what they have learned will help them expand their ideas and their understanding of the topic

In conclusion, KWL brings a lot of benefits for students to improve their reading comprehension Through brainstorming, students activate their prior knowledge about

the topic, thereby increasing their reading and enhancing their comprehension of the text Furthermore, making their own questions before reading will build the students’ interest and motivate them to read the text Last, the KWL strategy gives students the opportunity

to evaluate what they have learned so they can deeply understand the topic

2.3 Attitudes

2.3.1 Definition

According to Gardner (1985), a person's attitude is the evaluative reaction that he/she shows about an object depending on his beliefs and thoughts about that object Supiah ( 2018) simply defined a person's attitude as an expression of how people like or dislike one thing Attitude refers to a person's personality and behavior, as well as positive or negative responses to objects, ideas, and situations The person who likes the object is believed to respond positively to that object, which means that the attitude is a reflection

of the mind (Muchtar, 2015)

In today's society, reading is everywhere and is considered a necessary skill This is an active act of expressing an individual's interaction with the outside world through the text Reading attitude is an individual's feeling about the reading and behaviors such as selecting and reading texts (Kharismangtyas & Fiftinova, 2019) Reading attitude significantly affects reading activity

The attitude toward reading influences the development of reading skills A poor attitude can lead students not to read when other options are available On the other hand, learners' positive attitude towards reading can lead students to greater engagement in reading And students who are motivated to read tend to spend more time in their reading ( Udu, 2021)

2.3.2 Components

Gardner (2010) expressed three components of attitudes namely cognitive, affective and conative (behavioral) First, the cognitive component is mentioned in beliefs, thoughts, and attributes which we relate to the object It is the opinion that is related to the general knowledge of one person Riyanto, Setiyadi and Kadaryanto (2015) note that this component appears to influence learning very much because it relates to a person’s perception Second, the affective component is the person's emotion or feeling towards

an object It refers to feelings or emotions that are brought to the surface around something, such as against, like, or dislike (Mohammad, 2022) In addition, whether the object is true or false, feelings are influenced by a person's beliefs about this object In other words, the affective component deals with individual feelings Last, the behavior component is the way that the attitude influences how a person acts or behaves in a particular way toward an object It refers to the attitude which reflects the purpose of a person within the short-run or long-run In conclusion, the cognitive, affective, and conative (behavioral) components are closely interrelated, influence each other, and motivate the action

2.3.3 The roles of students' attitudes towards reading comprehension

Reading specialists realize that students' attitude is one of the important factors that detemine student’s achievement in their learning including in reading comprehension because learners’ attitudes contribute to the way students behave towards their ability at the present and try to reach a higher level of reading in the future (Riyanto et.al., 2015) Muchtar (2015) states that a skilled reader may stay away from books after studying A reader who is less skilled but loves books and has an enthusiastic attitude towards reading will continue to read regularly into adulthood It means the problem students face in their reading is not causing their ability to read but their lack of interest or attitude Studies

based on students' reading habits have specifically concerned the importance of promoting specific reading strategies to improve students' reading interests or attitudes

2.4 Previous related study

2.4.1 Previous related study in foreign countries

The application of KWL in learning and teaching reading comprehension received the concern of many researchers in the world They studied two important terms which are students’ improvement and students’ attitudes toward applying the KWL strategy to reading comprehension

Firstly, students’ improvement in their reading comprehension Many researchers used different types of experimental design for example True experimental design and Quasi-experimental design to study on different levels of students from university to primary school

Using true experimental design, Sinambela et.al., (2015) explored how the KWL significantly improves the students reading comprehension The research was carried out with a total of 46 students who were divided into two groups The students were from the fifth-semester students of the English department, Faculty of Education of HKBP Nommensen University Medan The researcher conducted pre-test, treatment, and post-test during six meetings Although the treatment with the experimental group only took four meetings, students were active and the score in the post-test is higher than the score

in the pre-test It means that the application of the KWL strategy has a significant effect

on students’ reading comprehension achievement

Adikara (2019) studied tenth-grade students of SMA Mardi Utomo The purpose of the research is finding how reading comprehension ability before and after being taught

using the KWL strategy The research used a quantitative approach and True experimental design, consisted 17 students with only one group, pre-test and post-test in three meetings The treatment was conducted once, the result showed that the KWL strategy has a positive effect on reading comprehension in the tenth grade as well as this strategy helps students to solve their problems in reading comprehension In this research, there is only one meeting for treatment and the researcher did not clearly state how this group was taught So the study results seem less convincing and reliable

Youniss (2013) examined the effectiveness of using the KWL strategy in developing reading comprehension skills for the eighth graders in Khanyounis Governorate schools The study carried out 82 students which were decided into two groups One group consisted of 41 students for the experimental group who were taught by the KWL strategy and the other group included 41 students who were taught through the ordinary way of teaching The experiment was accomplished in two months during the second term of the school year The results show that using the KWL strategy has a significant effect on the students' levels of reading comprehension

Also using true-experimental design, Maulida (2016) study on the first-grade students at SMPN 3 Banda Aceh This study aims to investigate the proper implementation of KWL that helps the students increase their ability in terms of reading skills The sample of this study consisted of one group pretest and post test with 30 first-grade students who were chosen randomly The researcher concludes that teaching reading by using KWL gives

a good effect on students’ reading comprehension at SMPN 3 Banda Aceh However, the length of the treatment or the time between the pretest and posttest were not clearly mentioned in this study

Besides using true experimental design, quasi-experimental design is also used popularly

in researching the applying KWL strategy to the improvement of students' reading comprehension Utami, Bindarti, and Suharjito (2014) studied high school students, the purpose of this research was to investigate whether the KWL strategy could have a significant effect on the students' reading comprehension achievement or not The researcher used Quasi-Experimental Research This study began by interviewing the English teacher of the eleventh-grade students of SMAN 1 Besuki There were two kinds

of data in this research, namely primary data and supporting data The primary data were obtained from the students’ reading comprehension achievement test scores while the supporting data were collected by using observation and interviewing the teacher The result showed that the use of the KWL strategy has a positive impact on the reading comprehension achievement of eleventh-grade students at SMAN 1 Besuki

Lismayanti (2014) also used a quasi-experimental design to study eighth-grade students The aim of this study was to see whether the use of the KWL strategy is effective in improving the students’ reading comprehension achievement in learning English as a Foreign Language The population included 40 students who were in the eighth grade of SMPN 4 Palembang There were two groups which were the control group which used the traditional method and the experimental group which applied the KWL strategy, each group consisted of 20 students The data were collected by using a multiple-choice reading comprehension test and were analyzed by using the t-test formula The result shows that the KWL strategy was effective in improving the students’ reading comprehension achievement

Using quasi-experimental design were also used in seventh-graders through Madiana’s study (2016) The research aimed to investigate the effect of the KWL strategy on students’ achievement in reading comprehension 74 students whose reading

comprehension was low were the participants of this research The instrument of this research included tests, questionnaires and observation The Pair sample T-test was used

to analyze the data of the test The results showed that two groups improved in their reading comprehension, however, the experimental group used the KWL strategy outperformed the control group with a significant mean difference Besides, the result of observation showed the improvement in students’ characters and after students were taught by using the KWL strategy there were also found differences in each aspect of character such as self-awareness, managing emotion, and motivating oneself However, the researcher did not include the data analysis from the questionnaire and verify how the data supported the findings of the research

In conclusion, many researchers used different methodologies such as true experimental design by Sinambela et.al., (2015), Adikara (2019), Youniss (2013), quasi-experimental design by Utami et al.(2014), Lismayanti (2014), Madiana’s study (2016), to study on students improvement in their reading comprehension from University to primary school The results of these studies show students improve in their reading comprehension when teachers apply KWL in their teaching

Secondly, students have a positive attitude toward applying KWL to reading comprehension Mahdi (2018) used the pre-experimental study to investigate whether the KWL Strategy improves students’ reading skills and to explore students’ attitude toward the implementation of the KWL Strategy in learning reading comprehension He studied 20 eighth-grade learners who were in the experimental group with pretest and post-test The results showed the post test's score is higher than the pre test’s score In addition, the questionnaire was used to elicit required data, the result showed most of the students have a positive response to using the KWL strategy but some of the students still found it was difficult to apply KWL so they have a negative response to this strategy

There are not many researchers who studied this aspect Therefore, students' attitudes toward applying the KWL strategy to the reading comprehension aspect should be paid more attention by researchers

2.4.2 Previous related study in Vietnam

In Vietnam, there are few researchers who study applying KWL in teaching and learning reading comprehension The researcher, Tran (2016) made a study on 90 passive students from three different universities with 30 students who got the lowest score in the choosing participants test from each university 30 students from each university would

be divided into 2 groups, the experimental group, and the control group After three months of the KWL trial teaching, the students from both groups had the test for evaluating the result of the trial teaching The research has proved the effect of the treatment Besides, Tran also used questionnaires to investigate what the passive students are thinking about the KWL method According to Tran the passive students who were the population in her research are “clearly identified with the salient characteristics, called strata” Students tended to “passively accept what is found in the texts”, they did not reply to the teacher’s questions in class, as well as got the same lowest scores of the reading test (Tran 2016, p.482) The study showed students improve their reading comprehension as well as KWL strategy can promote students to be more active in their learning reading comprehension and students showed their interest in this strategy

Besides, the researchers, Le (2020) used a Quasi-experimental design to examine how the use of the KWL strategy affected fifth-graders reading comprehension achievement There were 50 fifth-grade students which were divided in to control group and experimental group The pretest and postest were used before and after the treatment The result showed students improve their reading comprehension when the teacher applied the KWL strategy to their reading However, this research only studied on

students’ improvement in their reading comprehension side, the researchers did not study students’ attitudes toward applying the KWL strategy to the reading comprehension aspect

a precious source for the researcher to choose the KWL strategy for students’ reading comprehension in this study

Anyhow though KWL was investigated by many researchers, most of them studied in terms of students’ improvement in their reading comprehension Few of them studied students’ attitudes toward applying KWL to reading comprehension With the reading improvement side, many education researchers in the world and in Vietnam use different research methodologies such as Pre-experimental design, experimental design (True experimental design, Quasi-experimental design), to study about the application of KWL strategy in developing the reading comprehension for instant Youniss (2013); Lismayanti (2014); Utami et al.(2014); Simabela et al (2015); Tran (2016); Madiana’s study (2016); Mahdi (2018); Le ( 2020) The studies above were investigated in Universities, high school, primary school, and mostly in the eighth-grade students, to the best of the researcher's knowledge, only one study was undertaken on the effect of the KWL on grade 7 students, which is the grade that the researcher investigates in this current study Besides, it has been reported by many researchers from University to Primary school that the KWL strategy improves students’ reading comprehension

Therefore, in this study, the researcher would like to investigate if these results are applicable to the 7th-grade students at Albert Einstein School (AES)

On the other hand, there are not many researchers who study about students’ attitudes toward applying KWL to reading comprehension The researcher (Tran, 2016) studied passive students at University, she expressed that the KWL strategy could promote students to be more active in their learning reading comprehension and students showed their interest in this strategy Besides, Mahdi (2018) studied eighth-grade learners, and the result showed most of the students had a positive response to using the KWL strategy but some students still find it was difficult to apply KWL so they had a negative response

to this strategy Thus, the researcher would like to use the KWL strategy in this study to know what is the AES seventh graders’ attitudes toward applying KWL to reading comprehension

Last, Albert Einstein School has not had any research about using KWL on seventh students’ reading comprehension so far Therefore, the researcher decided to do this research on the seventh graders at AES in HCMC in Vietnam to examine the effect of applying the KWL strategy on developing the seventh graders’ reading comprehension and their attitude toward applying KWL to reading skills

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

In view of the conceptual framework in Chapter 2, Chapter 3 described the methodology was used in this research The researcher presented the research site, research participants, and research design in the first three sections of this chapter The next section addressed the application of the KWL strategy and the data collection instrument The last one was about the data analysis and reliability and validity of the research

3.1 Research site

This research was conducted at Albert Einstein School (AES) This school is situated on Nguyen Van Linh Street, Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam There are seven English teachers, including two Vietnamese teachers and five foreign teachers with 252 students in the secondary, from Grade 6 to Grade 9 The facilities in this school are quite good Each classroom is equipped with one TV, one whiteboard, a computer, a teacher’s desk, 20 to 25 chairs, and two air-conditioners

3.1.1 Background of the study

3.1.1.1 Overview of AES

AES school was established in 2014, and it belongs to the system of Khoi Nguyen Education group, with four schools: Canadian International School (CIS), Bilingual Canadian International School (BCIS), Albert Einstein School (AES), and Canadian Vietnam Kindergarten ( CVK) AES is situated on Nguyen Van Linh Street, Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam AES is growing fast, which has doubled enrollment since 2018 The number of students at AES in 2021 is about 930 students, rang from six to 17 years old

There are 102 teachers at AES school, including 47 primary teachers, 55 secondary and high school teachers There are two Vietnamese teachers and five foreign teachers

teaching English at the secondary among aged from 20 to 45 Among them, two have

MA degrees at Nottingham University and Poznan University, another is taking an MA course in TESOL at Ho Chi Minh City Open University and four have bachelor's degrees from New Hampshire University, Moscow State University, Central Lancashire University, and The University of Social Sciences and Humanities Vietnam, National University Ho Chi Minh City Most of them have over two-year experience in teaching English All the teachers are very devoted and enthusiastic about their students

3.1.1.2 Teaching and learning English at AES school

The AES 7th graders learn English with the MOET curriculum and the extra English curriculum which is the iP/iLS Program of Pearson This extra English program is applies for students in grade 1 through grade 9 The iP/iLS English program with 3 subjects: Math, English, Science currently is available in 92 countries around the world The iP/iLS program provides students with a strong language and knowledge foundation according to British high school standards, to prepare students well for studying abroad

or studying at international universities in Vietnam after completing high school Students are assessed on their learning results based on the European Common Framework at the end of the 6th and 9th grade according to the iP/iLS program (AES, 2019)

In AES, English is a compulsory subject, so Vietnamese teachers teach the 7th graders three periods per week with the MOET curriculum, and the foreign teachers teach eight periods per week with the iP/iLS Program Students study with foreign teachers every day, so they are good at listening and speaking They feel confident in their communication with foreign teachers However, in reading and writing, students tend to

be passive in the lesson Students’ reading ability is low, they still face with many

difficulties in reading texts Furthermore, students take their reading for scores, they seem not much enjoyable in their reading

Students learn English with Vietnamese teachers for three periods per week “I learn smart world 7” is the textbook of the MOET curriculum There are 10 themes in the textbook In the first semester, students learn from Theme 1 to Theme 5, and from Theme

6 to Theme 10 in the second semester Each theme has five lessons, in which besides practicing four skills, students also learn vocabulary and grammar in each lesson

Audio- Lingual Method (ALM) and Communicative language teaching approach (CLT) are used frequently in teaching listening and speaking by the Vietnamese English teachers They normally tend to apply the following steps when teaching reading, for example, students learn new words in pre-reading, read the text and answer the comprehension questions while–reading, and in post-reading students are required to say what they have read

The foreign teachers use the Gateway 7 to teach English four periods, Jump Maths 7 to teach mathematics two periods and Heinemann Explore Science 7 for science subject two periods per week Gateway 7 by Spencer (2016) will develop the four skills, and grammar, vocabulary so that students can use language in their real-life communication Jump Maths 7 by Mighton, Sabourin, Klebanov and Mc Clintock (2009) include the Maths vocabulary, terminology, and tasks to help the students practice Mathematics skills Besides, the Heinemann Explore Science 7 by Stringer (2012) includes the scientific knowledge about nature, people, and animals which helps students get more knowledge and feel excited about science