Luận văn thạc sĩ Luật học: Tìm hiểu nhận thức của sinh viên về việc sử dụng kỹ năng đọc mở rộng để nâng cao khả năng đọc hiểu tại Đại học Luật Hà Nội

This thesis has studied the use of extensive reading activity by second-year Legal English major students at Hanoi Law University to enhance reading comprehension.. Reading a lot of diff

MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THI THU PHUONG

443021

GRADUATION PAPER

Hanoi - 2023

MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THI THU PHUONG

443021

AN EXPLORATION OF STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS

OF THE USE OF EXTENSIVE READING TO IMPROVE READING COMPREHENSION

AT HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY

SUPERVISOR Nguyen Thu Trang, MA.

Hanoi — 2023

I hereby state that I: (Nguyen Thi Thu Phuong, Class 4430), being a

candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts accept the requirements of theUniversity relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper

deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in

the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, inaccordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the

care, loan or reproduction of the paper

April 4", 2023

Supervisor Student

The graduation paper was accomplished with various aid from enormous

people who gave their distinctive assistance throughout the whole procedure

of this paper in many ways

Firstly, I would like to express my deep gratitude to the Faculty of LegalForeign Language of Hanoi Law University for granting me an opportunity towrite this graduate paper

I am deeply indebted to my instructor, Ms Nguyen Thu Trang, M.A., for

spending valuable time to passionately mentor and help me throughout the

study process and thesis completion My thesis would not have been possible

without her assistance, and invaluable suggestions and guidance

I owe special thanks to all the Members of the Thesis Committee, whoare the lecturers with their fair evaluation, thorough examination, and detailed

comments about my research

My genuine appreciation to all the respected lecturers at the Hanoi LawUniversity in general and the Faculty of Legal Foreign Languages inparticular, who have educated me a lot during the past years

The research reported in this thesis would not have been carried outwithout the enthusiasm, and interest of the second-year Legal English majorstudents from course 46 who participated in filling out questionnaires

Last but not least, Ï am genuinely grateful to my family and friends fortheir unwavering support, encouragement, and advocacy during the course of

my research They give me the courage to face issues head-on and the power

to guide me through them I also sincerely thank myself in private for striving

and attempting to accomplish the thesis as best as possible

ill

Reading is a fundamental receptive skill in communicating and

learning a language “The more you read, the more things you know Themore that you learn, the more places you will go.” (Dr Suess, 2003) This

thesis has studied the use of extensive reading activity by second-year Legal

English major students at Hanoi Law University to enhance reading

comprehension To achieve this, the researcher conducted the investigation

using the quantitative method Questionnaires were used as data collectiontools for the study The findings of the study show that using extensive

reading help students in improving reading comprehension Though somedifficulties are encountered, students have adopted different strategies in

extensive reading From these findings, some suggestions regarding extensivereading to improve reading comprehension are made based on the result

section

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Bi Organizniinn OE tĨre SEY os cxss care cssces amex ees axa nha ka nan RS A gu3 G800 3CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW SH rau S1.1 Reading and reading comprehension << 55s ss+<<+sseesss bìToda DFO tI TINH tang nhaaài thhng tưng is ng tas A LOGSA3 NK 148080 5Lid Renidingg Compr el erst sis vines iccias sins tàng G063 00815 Lang visas asians canes essen 61.2 Extensive reading 111111 v1 1n 1v TH vn re 91.2.1 Definition and characteristics of extensive reqdïng 91.2.1.1 Definition of extensive reading c5 91.2.1.2 Characteristics of extensive reading -‹‹ - li1.2.2 The importance of extensive reading à c3 131.2.3 The principles of Extensive ÑeqdlÏng ẳ - cà sex 161.3 Benefits and difficulties of extensive reading on _ readingVU¡01083/13/1)00).22 ẦồồÖa 191.3.1 Benefits of extensive reading on reading comprehension 191.3.2 Difficulties of implementing extensive reading on readingCOMPTENENSION E8 211.4 The strategies implemented by students during extensive reading 231.5 Some previous practices related to the implementation of extensivereading in students’ reading learning - - - -cccssssSSssseeses 2l/lï UNAMID son cưng nhan thanh ac SN RT NSN AS 8 SI giấ Di

CHAPTER ¿: METHODOUUOOCY ei: ae si ceiicenieniaeieeiinndennraeannianenaon 28Poll, ERAN CLD, smonsingood.Lielsts eames wines snes wee sce aoe vor amen Sena amo nae SE 28Pine PRI CD HN: es gamesrrgosti eno emacs acne eee 101860 come uete tBSE.V0RSAĐS:S2/E0R wae geen ee 282d Data pollec tion, TrnÍfrnTTEHỦSu seo ceen ma nsrisien moan censssaamms trong amma cae va 292.4 Data collection procedure - -cc S123 2x rreeses 292.5 Data analysis mefhod - - - c1 1222221111111 11111 181111 ngư 30CAE pn 01860 70059236/08910 HDSf.T0RS2ĐS:22IE0R EafEiLTofSU8i020080 E8 3lCHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 323.1 Respondents’ perception of using extensive reading 323.2 The strategies implemented by HLU’s English major students whileparticipating in extensive reading - - - - Ăc nh re 403.3 Difficulties encountered by second-year English major at HanoiLaw University when using extensive reading -<+- 45

CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS che 504.1 Recommendations for major English students through usingextensive reading to improve reading comprehension 504.2 Recommendations for Ïe€fur€s - - 55 5 11+ *sskeeeske neAhk CMMANNMNNTERIE Score scx swan acto SR SRS US RN NW 3

ee SE), nonnongnnnnn ghhgữi tron H14 TĐS0Bi tl078R-H0DHã HN E011 NHANG SIG0R3E/055 g08H01DIđ10805109 ti 54

1 Summary of the main findinøs - << S3 *‡+<Sssesessessssss 54

2 Tmplications 7107 af

3 Limitations and suggestions for further study -. ‹- 56EEE ETS BGG nnuntstoni cic esenescnson 1201 tư 2H0N04 SRAA ATIR ti0EHh3HI0/6809105 gi ayPLP PESIIDD I, ccs esos gưn05E.gưnHði vtn ta es, cS CRE SS RST N S OT N4 66

: Maximum

: Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

: English as a Foreign Language

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LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLESFIGURES

Figure 1: The virtuous circle Of ZOOd r€@Q(Ï€F -c 5+ + +*vvE+sseeexxes 21Figure 2: Students’ frequency of reading in Englisn «55s ss<+++s 32

Figure 3: English sources read by English majors at HLÙ - «+ 33

Figure 4: Reading mode students DF€ƒ©TTCC - 5c + + EE++*vVE+seeeexees 33

Figure 5: Books genres preferences among English majors students at HLU34

Figure 6: Students’ attitude towards the guidance of the teacher to useEEHÍHHHÙNEI WINGO cece ts 0 GN AE A RS A OR A OS 35

Figure 7: Students’ assessment towards the guidance of the teacher to use

⁄24/2/JAx.422/2/1/500n0n8587858Ẻ.Ầ 36

Figure 8: Purpose of students when they read outside the classro0omn 37Figure 9: People helping students to choose students of reading materials 38

Figure 10: Students’ assessment of CxtenSive VEAING - «55+ << s<+++s 38

Figure 11: Student's preference strategies at FÌLU «+ s+++s++eex+s 44

Table 1: Perception of students about the benefits of extensive reading AM

Table 2: Global reading strategy applied by HLU s students 41

Table 3: Problem-solving strategy applied by HLU’S studenfs 42

Table 4: Support reading strategy applied by HLU’S students 43

Table 5: Major difficulties in vocabulary students encounteredi 45

Table 6: Major difficulties in knowledge students encounfteredl - 46 Table 7: Some other difficulties students €HCOMHÍ€F€d c5 555 55+ <ss s53 49

1X

INTRODUCTIONThis chapter intends to lay the background of the study with a particularized

presentation of its rationale, aims, research questions, scope, significance, and

organization

1 Rationale of the study

With over 8 million speakers spread across the globe, English is

considered the most important international language (Berlitz, 2023) One of

the most often used languages in the world, English has many

interrelationships with many different facets of human life There are fourlanguage skills possessed by students such as listening, speaking, reading, and

writing that needs to be mastered in English Nowadays, the development of

reading skills brings up a larger perspective on learning foreign languages

According to Grabe and Stoller (2002), reading might be seen of as a means

to get data from the textand form an interpretation of it It implies that reading

serves as a valuable tool for pupils to acquire a vast world of knowledge and

information, understanding, or experience Reading in English has developedinto a crucial ability for academic and professional success As stated byMohammad, Z A., & Hasbi, M (2021), it also contributed to an individual'ssuccess because it aids in the comprehension of written or printed materialsthat aid in professional engagements and interactions For a better result in thelearning process, students need to read more materials and comprehend it.According to the research of Mohd Asraf, R., & Ahmad, I S (2003),

encouraging students to read widely is one of the best strategies to help them

improve their language proficiency And as result of the experiments on

extensive reading done by Mason and Krashen (1997) indicated that reading

score is significantly positively correlated with the number of book pages theyread

At the same time, the major goal of reading is the comprehension of themeaning of the text Comprehension is a crucial component in the

development of students’ reading skills Therefore, reading comprehension is

a complex task that necessitates the orchestration of many different cognitive

skills and abilities (Oakhill,et al,2015,1:1) To have better students’ readingachievement, they used a lot of methods in learning English One of these is

extensive reading that writers use to obtain a better understanding of what

learners do when reading in a foreign language Reading a lot of differentkinds of reading material with the intention of gaining broad knowledge aswell as pleasure is referred to as extensive reading (Susser & Robb, 1990).Recognizing the significant influence of extensive reading that isauspicious in learning foreign languages in general and in readingcomprehension in particular, the writer decided to conduct this paper on thistopic with a view of investigatingta students’ awareness of the magnitude ofextensive reading among students at Hanoi Law University

2 Aims of the study

The main aim of this study was to investigate students’ opinions onreading comprehension through extensive reading The research objectivesare concretized into the following purposes:

e Investigating how extensive reading activities are utilized in the process

of learning English by HLU’s English major students

e Discovering some strategies implemented by HLU’s English major

students while participating in extensive reading activities

e Pointing out the difficulties in reading comprehension that

English-majored students encounter during using extensive reading at HLU

2 What are the learning strategies used by students while participating inextensive reading activity?

3 What are the difficulties in using extensive reading activity for readingcomprehension improvement by English-majored students?

4 Scope of the study

The research paper was carried out with the subject of the study mainly

aimed at second-year English majors at HLU Taking into consideration K46students who have accomplished some core subjects Including English

reading skills subjects They are already supposed to have some importantbackground knowledge in acquiring knowledge as well as improving skills.Moreover, these students have studied English for at least three consecutivesemesters, thus it is likely that they had the chance to use extensive reading as

a strategy to improve their English

5 Significance of the study

By investigating students’ usage of extensive reading, some difficultiesfaced by the participants, and strategies adopted, the contribution of the study

would be of interest to the students, teachers, and other researchers in dealing

with reading in language learning processes Especially, the analyzed resultscan help students to heighten their consciousness of extensive reading as well

as raise teachers’ inspiration to apply these strategies to instruct their students

in reading skills Additionally, the outcome of the study could even serve as a

reference for other researchers who are interested in learning about extensive

reading in reading comprehension

6 Organization of the study

The graduation paper is composed of three major parts The name andcontents of each part are presented below:

Part I: Introduction offers a general review of the study and contains six

constituent parts namely Rationale, Aim, Research Question, Scopes,Significance, and Organization of the paper

Part II: Development is segmented into four chapters as follows:

Chapter 1: Literature Review which presents related studies and defines

the concept of reading, reading comprehension, extensive reading and theirrelationship

Chapter 2: Methodology highlights research design, participants, the

method, the procedure adopted in the study to collect, and the data analysismethod

Chapter 3: Results and Discussion concentrate on the in-depth analysisand explanation of the collected data

Chapter 4: Recommendation make several suggestions on the basis ofthe key study results

Part HI: Conclusion gives a summary of the study, discusses thoroughly thelimitation of the study, and suggests some ideas for future research

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter aims to provide the theoretical background of the study which

consists of the theories that are very crucial for properly defining the specificconcept or terms that would be concerning in research The terms will beunderstood from different points of researchers The theories are arranged anddiscussed in the following sections

1.1 Reading and reading comprehension

1.1.1 Definition of reading

Reading is one of the most important skills of academic learninglanguage in searching for information, developing the mind and expandingnew knowledge Materials that people need to read are combinations ofseveral letters and words From them, they will recognize words and associateimages, thereby being able to better understand the content that is written bythe author in the reading

In the field of reading research, reading is considered an interactiveprocess in which the reader's existing knowledge of the outside worldinteracts with the information that is either directly or indirectly transmitted

by the text (Smith, 1995, p.23) According to Wixson, Peters, Weber, and

Roeber (1987), reading is the process of making meaning that incorporates the

reader's prior knowledge, the information in the text, and the readingsituation From the point of view of Mikulecky, B S (2008), reading is a

process that involves both conscious and unconscious thought Numerous

strategies are used by the reader to reassemble the meaning that the author is

believed to have intended In other terms, reading is a cognitive process where

the reader decodes symbols to create meanings for them (Nisa et.al, 2019).Besides, According to Walker (1988), reading is an active, problem-solvingprocess that entails anticipating or making guesses about the author'sobjectives through suspenses for the flow of the narrative He asserts that

reading entails thinking back on one's past experiences and attempting to

comprehend what is written

Harmer (1991) describes reading as an exercise reigned by eyes andbrain The brain must determine the meaning of the information once the eyes

have taken messages Goodman (1971) explains reading is a psycholinguistic

process in which a writer encodes information and then the reader createsmeaning Reading is also the most essential approach to acquiring languages,

a high frequency of reading English texts and a strong reading technique willimprove someone's English The frequency with which something occurs or isrepeated is referred to as its frequency Furthermore, Hornby et al (2000:514)

in Yuli Myra Zona (2005:7) state that frequency is the rate at which studentsread English books

Cline et.al infers that reading is deciphering and comprehending writtenmaterial Understanding is determined by the goals for reading, the setting,the character of the text, and the readers’ methods and background

knowledge The primary objective of reading, according to Pourhosein

Gilakjani and Ahmadi (2011), is to obtain information from a text which theauthor intended for the reader to gain Therefore, reading is useless if youdon't get the text's meaning because you won't get the crucial lessons youwould have learned from it This also is relevant to the statement of Tarigan

in Harras and Sulistianingsih(1997:11), reading is a process done and used bythe reader to obtain information in written media

As can be seen, Fiscarina, R A (2018) provided the opinion regardingreading as for understanding the substance of the text being read as well as forgaining information or knowledge from the text If someone reads to gaininformation, they will learn that anything is possible in the world

1.1.2 Reading Comprehension

The important purpose of reading 1s to comprehend the writer’s message

A key element of academic learning and information access is the ability to

6

read with general comprehension Numerous attempts have been made to

define reading comprehension Each opinion on reading comprehension

indicates the author's point of view when they research it As a result, variouslinguistics define reading comprehension in many ways

Comprehension is considered as the process through the written text to

give meaning and during this process, the reader forms a mental

representation of the text's meaning (Kinstch, 1998) According to Thompkins

(2011), reading comprehension is a process to recognize words in the text.Additionally, he asserts that words the reader is unfamiliar with may affect

how well they are understood Therefore, it is possible to say that reading

comprehension is the process in which one drives meaning from words thatare recognized, even though there are some unknown words

According to RAND Reading Study Group (2002), they describe readingcomprehension is the process of concurrently extracting and constructing

meaning via interaction and participation with written language Theyunderline the significance and limitations of the text as a gauge of readingcomprehension by utilizing the words extracting and constructing This iscarefully explained by (Sweet et.al, 2003), finding the right words to use,participating in the translation of print to effective sound (extracting), andgenerating a representation of the information being delivered - all of whichunavoidably requires creating new meanings and combining fresh knowledgewith old (constructing)

Comprehension comprises three components: The reader does the

comprehension work; The text that needs to be understood; The activity in

which comprehension is a portion

Swan (1975:1) suggests that for students to have strong comprehension

which means that they are able to read precisely and quickly in order to take

in the most information possible from the text with minimum understanding

Reading comprehension, according to Admadi, Ismail, and Abdullah (2013),

is the understanding of the text's surface and underlying meaning Thus,reading comprehension is quite difficult work for everybody to readers canunderstand what is intended to be conveyed.

A student's comprehension is strong We refer to his ability to read

precisely and quickly in order to absorb the most information possible while

requiring the least amount of comprehension

Reading comprehension, according to McNamara (2007:111), is a result

of intricate interactions between the characteristics of the text and what thereader brings to the reading scenario Similarly, reading comprehension is acomplex process that has a lot of variables These factors include workingmemory, general language abilities, basic knowledge, comprehensiontechniques, and knowledge of texts (Babayigit and Stainthorp, 2011).Klingner et.al (2007:8) goes on to explain that reading comprehension is amulti-component, very complicated process that incorporates interactionsbetween readers and the information and reading strategies they bring to thetext as well as variables unique to the text itself (interest in the text,knowledge of text kinds)

Harris and Hodge (1995) declare reading comprehension is purposefulthinking in which meaning is constructed via interactions between text andreader According to Westwood, reading comprehension is an active thinking

process since it requires the reader to actively constructs meaning in order to

fully comprehend the information presented in a book In a similar work,reading comprehension is described as a process of thought in which a reader

chooses particular facts, ideas, or concepts from written materials; ascertains

the meanings the author meant to convey and chooses how to connect to priorknowledge; and judges their suitability and value for achieving the learner's

own goals, Veeravagu, et al (2010:206)

Reading comprehension is the complicated process by nature, readersmust integrate their prior knowledge with the text's material (Meneghetti,

8

Carretti, & De Beni, 2006) According to M.S Burns, J.K Kidd, reading

comprehension happens when readers create meaning when they engage with

the written word and engage in a dialogue and the text's content Tocomprehend text, readers must be able to decode text fluently, rely on their

wide vocabularies, and use comprehension skills and abilities to help them

understand the printed material With the simple view of reading (SVR;

Hoover & Gough, 1990), reading comprehension is portrayed as the result ofdecoding and language comprehension, which has had a big impact In thecontext of the SVR, decoding refers to operations necessary to deciphertextual code, such as word recognition, phonological processing, andorthographic processing, while the processes required to create a coherent

mental representation of vocabulary and inference are part of languagecomprehension-making

From the theories above, it could be concluded that readingcomprehension is a complex process in that they learn about the content ofreading text that they read and understand what needs to be read In other

words, reading comprehension is the type of reading skill that enables readers

to infer meaning from written work along with the skills they previously had,enabling them to comprehend the knowledge and information containedtherein

1.2 Extensive reading

1.2.1 Definition and characteristics of extensive reading

1.2.1.1 Definition of extensive reading

To comprehend the text, learners need methods or strategies which can

be used by a teacher Methods are used to ascertain whether it may enhancepupils' reading comprehension and motivate them to read literature The

writer would like to introduce extensive reading as one of the most efficient

strategies

Nowadays, there are many different definitions for extensive reading.From Ferdila, Bamford and Day (2004) point of view, extensive reading is amethod of teaching reading as a situation in which students read manymaterials in their target language They choose reading materials and read

them without the guidance of the teacher Learners read for knowledge, for

overall meaning, and for broad information with enjoyment Grab and Stoller

(2013) stated that extensive reading is a method of teaching and learning

reading in which students read in large quantities Nation (2008) also said that

ER helps language learners focus on the texts' meanings of the texts they readand improve their reading fluency Taguchi, Takayasu-Maass, and Gorsuch(2004) offered ER, an approach that Readers chooses materials for themselvesfrom a collection of graded readers (books with a limited vocabulary rangeand simplified grammatical structures) to meet predetermined target times ofsilent sustained reading

Besides, Hafiz and Tudor (1989) defined ER as an activity that cancreate a learning environment where students have access to a great quantity

of written material in the second language (L2) for personal pleasure withoutfollow-up tasks or language work

Likewise, extensive reading often involves the rapid reading of vastquantities of material or longer reads (e.g., full books) for broadunderstanding, with the concentration typically being more on the content'smeaning text than its language (Carrell and Carson, 1997) The goal ofextensive reading is to focus the reader's attention on reading text to expandknowledge or information, and the reader will pay less attention to specificlanguage structures or even a particular reading technique According toSusser and Robb's (1990) definition of extensive reading, it involves readingmaterial that are long or include large amounts of information, are read forglobal or general comprehension, or are read for enjoyment Moreover,

10

reading 1s personalized and the books are not addressed 1n class, the studentpicks the books they wish to read.

Additionally, extensive reading was described by Rodrigo et al (2007)

as reading in a huge amount in order to fully comprehend the content or to

enjoy the reading process All of these definitions agree that substantial

reading entails reading a significant amount of content in a second language

and reading for pleasure Grellet (1981) indicates that extensive reading

means reading lengthy texts, typically for enjoyment This is a fluencyactivity, especially involving global understanding The objective of ER is to

instruct pupils directly and fluently in a foreign language for their joy

Extensive reading is defined by the Longman Dictionary of LanguageTeaching and Applied Linguistics as a skill intended to foster great readinghabits, increase vocabulary and structure knowledge, and foster a love ofreading In particular, it is thought that learners may encounter more unknownwords when reading alone, providing learning opportunities to deduce thewords' meanings from context and thus learn their meanings (Krashen, 1989).And extensive reading is intended to foster a favorable attitude towardreading, form good reading habits, increase vocabulary, and organizeknowledge (Richards and Schmidt, 2010)

To sum up, people of all ages and academic levels can engage inextensive reading Extensive reading is skill in which people can read all they

want to read from there can improve many important skills as well as their

own knowledge about the issues covered in the reading they read and want tolearn outside of the classroom

1.2.1.2 Characteristics of extensive reading

Extensive reading is an efficient strategy that readers can use tounderstand the text's meaning In order to comprehend more about theextensive reading, it is crucial to have a good understanding of the

characteristics of ER Extensive reading 1s defined by Hedge (2000:202) with

the peculiar features:

Reading large quantities of material from newspapers and magazines,short stories, novels, or professional reading

To inspire or arouse a desire to read, the material that is made available

should be diverse and follow the purposes for which they want to read, e.g.,

books, magazines, newspapers, fiction, non-fiction, academic, entertaining,

specialist, general, lighthearted, serious (Day & Ford, 2002)

Read frequently and regularly over time

Reading consistently over time on a frequent and regular basis is a greatway to improve your knowledge and increase your understanding of theworld Reading consistently over time can also help you stay focused on theinformation in the text for longer periods of time Regular reading also allows

us to explore new perspectives and gain a better understanding of ourselves

Reading text on a frequent and regular basis can also help us become more

aware of the world around us and better equipped to respond thoughtfully in

various situations Shrum and Glisan (2000) connect ER to the practice ofreading many books for a long time

Reading longer texts of the types mentioned in the first point above(more than a few paragraphs in length)

Reading longer texts can be challenging for many, requiring more focusand attention than reading shorter texts However, it is an important skill tohave in order to understand complex topics and acquire knowledge Textlengths are long enough to develop an idea or story ideally, and they call onreaders to follow ideas, concepts, or characters as they change throughout thetext over time As a result, reading comprehension requires more outstandingwork from the reader, making developing reading comprehension skillsefficient

12

Reading for general meaning, primarily for pleasure, curiosity, orprofessional interest

It is assumed that students will prefer reading books on themes ofinterest to them over those that have been assigned as readings If they made

the right choice, books should be simple to read for complex themes In

general, when individuals who regularly read for enjoyment, they experience

reading's worth as efferent and aesthetic processes As a result, individuals are

more inclined to read for a purpose, which encourages the development oftheir reading habits (Sanacore, 2002, p 68) Furthermore, language learners

who are not yet proficient also find enjoyment in the act of reading a foreign

language book

Reading longer texts during class time but also engaging in individual,independent reading at home, preferably of materials that are chosen bythe student

Extensive reading activities, according to Carrell and Eisterhold (1983 ascited in Alyousef 2005), may help students become self-directed people whoare seeking the meaning of texts if they are based on books that students havechosen and that they would be interested in reading The process of reading

selections will be made based on the works' topic, degree of difficulty, and

length Materials according to the needs of learners in mind make it easier for

readers to assimilate information

1.2.2 The importance of extensive reading

Extensive reading has been the subject of much discussion over the past

few decades and the advantages of ER have been generally supported by

numerous studies According to Bamford, students who read more books willnot only become better readers and feel more confident, but they will also

improve their vocabulary and acquire stronger reading, writing, listening, and

speaking abilities (Bamford, Extensive Reading Activities 1)

It has been shown in several studies that ER is beneficial in helping

students develop their language in a variety of ways (e.g., Lai, 1993; Robb

and Susser, 1989) were apprehension of ER effect on some language aspects

ER programs have produced positive effects on a number of languageabilities, including reading, writing, general language ability, grammar, andvocabulary (e.g., Iwahori, 2008; Bell, 2001; Hitosugi & Day, 2004; Mason &

Krashen, 1997; Pigada and Schmitt, 2006; Horst, Cobb, & Meara, 1998) For

example, Tan (1998) conducted a study to examine the importance ofextensive reading for enhancing the reading, listening, writing, and linguistic

understanding of college English students (grammar and vocabulary) Threetools were employed by the researcher The research findings demonstrated

that ER can significantly enhance students' linguistic and reading skills Pitts,White, and Krashen also found a link between substantial reading andincidental vocabulary learning (1989)

Various studies have shown that ER increases both reading rate andreading proficiency (e.g., Nash & Yuan, 1992; Cho & Krashen, 1994; Elley &Mangubhai, 1981; Tudor & Hafiz, 1989) Research shows that students whoread a lot improve their language proficiency overall as well as their effectand reading proficiency For instance, Cho and Krashen (1994) reported thatthe listening and speaking skills of their four adult ESL learners improved.Jeon and Day (2006) also investigate the impact of ER on reading

proficiency According to this study, ER has drawn more attention in the field

over the past 30 years Additionally, the adults had a greater impact than thechildren and adolescents group did and online stories were more effectivethan printed books

The necessity of ER in some aspects of L2 ability has been emphasized

by numerous studies It has been also found that L2 learners’ attitudes toward

L2 reading have improved and their desire to learn the target language has

increased (e.g., Fujito & Noro, 2009; Poulshock, 2010; Yamashita, 2013)

14

Khan, D (2021) had taken research for instruction to gain support for the

reading attitudes in a second language The outcomes indicated descriptive

analysis of reading attitudes before and after the project for each variable and

a Statistically significant difference He concluded that positive feelings

towards reading can be fostered through ER Bell and Campbell (1997)

outline numerous ways for encouraging students to read as well as explain the

contributions that ER and frequent library use have to the development of the

reading habit in the context of Southeast Asia

Extensive reading has a good impact on their language learning while

also helping children develop personally (Davis, 1995) Extensive reading in a

foreign language has many advantages which is can improve student

knowledge with the foreign language To fulfill their word bank, they readseveral novels It appears obvious that students increase their vocabularybecause they frequently learn new words from the numerous books they read

(Yildirim, 2014) Azal and Harun (2016) also looked at the effects ofextensive reading on prior knowledge and how it affects the classroom

discussion's ability to understand the content matter The results showed that

reading a lot helped students broaden their previous knowledge by

considering fresh angles and viewpoints on the subject matter and elaborating

on new ideas Additionally, ER gives students opportunities to develop theircritical thinking Husna & Nida (2020) conducted a study to English teacher

candidates make the most of their efforts to improve their critical thinking

abilities through ER program The results of the critical thinking examindicate that the student's critical thinking abilities have improved with aresult of the ER program As a result, students are better equipped to broadentheir perspectives, develop their cognitive abilities, they can relate theirinformation from reading text to the real world

1.2.3 The principles of Extensive Reading

Day and Bamford (2002) noted that, in addition to its effects on languageand reading skills, ER may be a key to unlocking students' important taste forforeign language reading (Day & Bamford, 2002, p 136) In order to have a

better understanding of an extensive reading approach, principle of the

reading is the crucial thing that students can grasp when reading any material

Day and Bamford (2002) gave the following top ten principles for asuccessful extensive reading program

The reading materials are easy

The materials that student read is appropriate for the learner’s level oflanguage These materials are given to readers and often include few to nowords and sentences that are foreign to them This factor is crucial in theimplementation of ER, according to Bachiri (2016) the right materials drawthe reader’s attention to reading otherwise, the presence of many complicatedstructures that are beyond their level may lose students’ interest If they had tobattle with challenging reading material, the readers would not complete theirlengthy reading tasks According to Hitosugi & Day (2004), material becomessimpler to read when there are no more than one or two unfamiliar terms on apage This is especially true for extended reading when students read without

a teacher's guidance

A wide selection of reading material on a variety of themes must beavailable

This principle is essential for motivating readers to increase their

knowledge of a wide range of subjects Reading materials should provide a

variety of topics and genres to allow readers to select the content that suitstheir interests with any purpose Different reading materials not only promote

reading for various purposes in various ways, but also assist readers in

becoming acquainted with various genres and topics To get insight into your

pupils' reading preferences, follow the recommendations of Williams by

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asking them what they like reading, look over their shoulders at the library, or

consult the school librarian(1986: 42) Numerous reading materials promote

reading as well as a variety of reading styles (e.g., skimming; scanning;carefully reading) It is believed that students’ reading comprehension isimproved in language learning

Students choose what they want to read

Students have the option to choose the reading content they wish to read

and to quit reading anything that fails to interest them, is too simple, or toochallenging The key of extensive reading is self-selection of reading content

In other words, this is the cornerstone of extensive reading (Thomkova, 2008,

p 20) In accordance with it, self-selection allows students to take on adistinct role where the teacher assigns the readings As a result of having theoption to select their own reading material, the pupils are particularlyenjoyable with this approach of extended reading The own choice ofmaterials text is a personal activity that encourages students to takeresponsibility for their studying and boosts their motivation throughout thelearning process

Reading as much as possible

The quantity of time spent reading, according to Day and Bamford(2002), is the most significant factor in reading However, there will be cases

where students are not given the opportunity to read more, or reading time

will be limited For effective reading and establishment of a reading habit andthe establishment of a reading habit, one book per week is appropriate

(Kredatusova, p 10) Reading more books can help students increase their

vocabulary, and acquaint themselves with different grammatical patterns.Students' reading comprehension and speed both improve the more they read.Reading is its own reward

The importance of ER is student experiments, and this activity will occur

in the person's everyday life As a result, individuals are not needed to show

their knowledge by responding to comprehension questions Nonetheless, the

instructor may need to require the pupils to conduct some tasks after reading

for a variety of reasons such as: finding out students' comprehension andexperiences from reading, keeping track of what students read, monitoring

students' attitudes toward reading, and connect reading to other curriculum

areas (Hitosugi & Day, 2004) These activities enhance students' readingexperiences in interesting and useful ways

Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower

Learners may read relatively fluently if reading is well within theirlinguistic abilities They will read more and comprehend more as they readquicker, which will inspire them to reading more (Hitosugi & Day, 2004).However, in the reading process, Furukawa (2006) claims that excessiveusage of dictionaries interrupts reading and hampers them from learningEnglish Instead, learners are encouraged to ignore or estimate the meaning of

a few unfamiliar objects they may encounter from context

The purpose of reading is usually related to pleasure, information andgeneral understanding

Learners are encouraged to read extensively for many reasons and in thesame ways as first-language readers According to Day and Bamford (2002)

in terms of extensive reading aim 1s to have enough comprehension to achieve

reading objectives such as information collecting, enjoying the stories, and

spending leisure time reading Accordingly, readers do not need to fullyunderstand the entire content they have read but only need to understand

enough for the original purpose when they approach this text

Reading is in individual and silent

Extensive reading differs from conventional methods by reading quietly

and individually According to Day & Bamford (2002) "Extensive reading

means learners read at their own speed" This is the process of reading

personal analogy, this can be done wherever the reader wants so that it can

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help students have a way of reading a foreign language that is suitable for

them

Teachers’ orientation and guidance

Because students must get acquainted with an extensive readingcurriculum before starting this method, teachers may act as instructors toexplain reading strategies to students, monitor their reading habits, and

instruct students to get the most out of their reading The first step are

orientation and guidance is also necessary throughout the extensive readingexperience (Day & Bamford, 2002) Teachers may suggest students to read ascarefully as they can and it can enhance their language skills by using theknowledge they gain If the student's reading comprehension improves, theteacher can advise the student to read at more difficult levels

The teacher as a role model

The teacher is a powerful example for students According to Hitosugiand Day (2004), a teacher will become better readers if they read the same

books as their pupils and discuss with them about books Besides, teacherscan provide specific students with reading recommendations As a result, the

instructor and students will develop a reading community and jointly

experience the value and joy of reading Based on the aforementioned traits, it

is evident that encouraging students to read widely may be a successfulstrategy for helping them learn the target language

The ideal reading environment will be created by incorporating all 10principles into the tensive reading curriculum, which will help pupils improvetheir language competency

1.3 Benefits and difficulties of extensive reading on readingcomprehension

1.3.1 Benefits of extensive reading on reading comprehension

Readers are required to read a range of texts for a number of purposes,

with the fundamental objective of reading being comprehension A lot of

studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of establishing extensive

reading to improve students’ reading comprehension

Language specialists claim that reading comprehension is a complexprocess that involves the interplay of a variety of linguistic aspects It

encompasses understanding the gist of the passage, defining vocabulary,

responding to questions about specifics in text, and so on Hedgecock and

Ferris (2009) note that applying background knowledge and reading skills

simultaneously and mainly subconsciously to specific texts is another aspect

of comprehension Due to studying, ER gives students crucial practice usingschemata (background knowledge) and methods when reading a variety of

texts and has the goal of reading rather than learning about reading(Hedgecock and Ferris, 2009) Long-term repetition of this type of work willenhance students' comprehension In another research, Sims (1996) tested twogroups of Taiwanese university first year students, one of the groups receivedextensive reading instruction, whereas the other received reading instruction

based on skills After studying, the extensive group outperformed the other

group on written recall and reading comprehension tests

In 1983, Elley and Manghubai suggested the beneficial impact of ER on

reading comprehension The researchers run a "book flood" initiative in Fiji

where high-interest picture books were distributed to local schoolchildren.The project's participants significantly improved their reading comprehension,

according to the data This project is one of the best example of the

importance of reading books for enjoyment and in large quantities The effect

of ER on general language learning is shown by Mason and Krashen (1997),who found that their extensive reading groups in Japan improved more on a100-item cloze test than those who were taught traditionally

Nuttall (2005) writes the growth cycle of the reader Extensive readingcan help readers “enter instead the cycle of growth The virtuous circle of the

good reader: Reads faster; Reads more; Understands better; Enjoys reading;

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Reads faster” (p.127) The Nuttall's circle demonstrates how comprehension

skills advance with more and faster reading Once readers enjoy reading and

have a better understanding of stories, they will read more frequently andmore books As comprehension improves, motivation is generated, which

promotes reading more In other words, practicing ER is the key to enhancing

Figure 1: The virtuous circle of good reader (Nuttal, as cited Mizuno, K,

2015)Huynh, P (2022) uses 3-Likert scale questionnaire and a semi interview

to explore students' perceptions of ER and its benefits on reading

comprehension The findings claim that students applied ER to their reading

processes by engaging in free reading, choosing their own topics, and being

under non-pressure on reading tasks From the results of the study, ERactivities help to improve reading competence and unconsciously develop areading habit for readers

1.3.2 Difficulties of implementing extensive reading on _ readingcomprehension

Although extensive reading also has many advantages in aspect' learningEnglish, there are still some difficulties in reading comprehension

A study written by Nurviyani (2020) indicates students have sometroubles when they implement ER such as the lack of motivation They don'twant to read anything complex; they just read easy books sometimes Despite

their fast comprehension of the material, their development in reading ability

did not considerably increase because of many unfamiliar words

Bowman, A (2017) explores some negative aspects of ER whichemploy graded readers and the Moodle reader platform as follow:

(1) Some researchers say ER which is used by graded readers and Moodle

reader is not “pure” ER

(2) There are software glitches and crashes that make students and teachers

will put in the position of either having to wait to do the next activities.(3) Many ER researchers lack control groups, and comparisons to non-ERgroups are invalid

(4) Many ER supporters have a propensity to attribute ER for a lot of theencouraging results of their research

(5) There is much debate regarding ER that is not sufficient on its own to

provide the entire L2 lexicon

(6) ER many not compatible with many students' chosen learning styles orstrategies

(7) Students frequently lack the time or drive to finish their ER tasks

(8) Students can cheat on the Moodle Reader quizzes

(9) ER might not be appropriate for the new culture of non-readers

(10) With graded readers in conjunction with Moodle Reader and forcing

students using ER to read a specific number of volumes or words maynot be regarded as "reading for pleasure."

(11) Some learners like classroom instruction

(12) Incidental grammar might be learned, but for some grammaticalstructures classroom teaching is required

(13) Teachers' time and responsibilities will increase when applying ER tothe curriculum

Besides, another research by He Mu et.al (2012) supplies somechallenges in implementing ER Reluctant readers, the change in roles of the

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teachers, a change in classroom culture, and the academic pressure on

students were among the obstacles to the effective practice of extensive

reading According to that, reluctant readers can read their books with greatexcitement but they will not want to read the book after a while Many

reasons can be explained by this situation such as students’ lack of confidence

regarding their reading ability, their fear of unfamiliar vocabulary, difficult

sentence structures, and outdated subject matters With the change of teacher

roles, several teachers appear to have little knowledge of answers to questions

asked by students as the questions about history, society, or other topics when

integrating ER into the curriculum And ER also brought extra burdens toteachers, they will have more pressure, and was busier than ever before Thechange in classroom culture led to some difficulties for teachers and students,the student’s academic pressure is a factor that makes ER not likely to be apleasurable activity

1.4 The strategies implemented by students during extensive readingThere are many classifications of the reading strategies that have beengiven, these strategies often drive from learning strategies According toOxford (1989), language learning strategies are behaviors or actions that aretaken by language learners to increase the effectiveness, success, andenjoyment of their language acquisition

According to Rubin's work in 1975, the term "learner strategy" has beennotoriously difficult to explain This term was defined by Rubin to refer to thetechniques or devices that a learner can use to acquire knowledge Rubin alsoclaimed that there are strategies that directly affect learning (memorizing anddeducting) and indirectly affect learning (providing chances for practicing anddeveloping abilities) She describes three major kinds of strategies: learning,(interactive) communication, and social strategies

O’Malley & Chamot (1990) categorize learner strategies into three

primary groups: cognitive, metacognitive, and social/affective In their

opinion, metacognitive encompasses those involving an understanding of the

learning process and controlling the process through planning, monitoring and

evaluation Cognitive strategies are conceptualized that involve manipulating

or transforming the content to be learned such as resourcing, repetition,

grouping, deduction, imagery, auditory representation, keyword technique,

transfer, inference, note-taking, summarizing, recombination, elaboration and

translation And Social/affective strategies mainly pertain to communicative

interaction with others, for example, while working with peers to solve

problems

Block (1986) studies college freshmen who spoke English as a second

language and as native speakers and were enrolled in remedial reading classes

at an American university and she classified the reading strategies into two

broad classes: general strategies and local strategies General comprehension

strategies contain gathering" and monitoring" They would be regarded as top-down, reader-centeredtechniques Local linguistic strategies deal with the reader's effort tocomprehend particular language units They would be regarded as text-centered, bottom-up approaches

"comprehension-Using the Survey of Reading Strategies, Mokhtari and Sheorey (2002)

assessed the students' metacognitive awareness and perceived usage ofreading techniques during reading texts According to the research, they givethree sorts of reading techniques that are global reading strategies (GLOB),problem-solving strategies (PROB), and support strategies (SUP) Global

strategies are ones that students have consciously intended to use to monitor

or manage the reading process, such as anticipating and previewing the text'slength and structure Problem-solving strategies are steps readers use inchallenging texts include guessing the new word from context cues andrevisiting the material to improve comprehension, At last, support

strategies are some basic support mechanisms that aid the readers to

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comprehending better by utilizing a dictionary, underlining, or highlightingtextual information, and taking notes.

1.5 Some previous practices related to the implementation of extensivereading in students’ reading learning

Bell (2001) researched primary school pupils in Yemen for two

semesters to consider the effects of ER and intensive reading (IR) on reading

comprehension and reading speed The participants had beginner-level

English skills He compared the means of the groups using tests on the

pretests and posttests and discovered the differences A control group and an

intervention group were formed for the students While the control groupreceived the IR program, the intervention group was given the ER program.Participants read two different texts aloud for three minutes each to determine

their reading rates, which were then determined by the amount of words read

per minute Before, Bell had a preconceived notion based on the studies hehad read that improvements in speed might be simpler to get thanimprovements in comprehension The comprehensive and intensive groups inthis study did not differ in the amount of time they spent reading, but itappears that the students also received other types of training (the reading

program overed only one-quarter of the total class time) The reading

comprehension test outcomes showed that both of the groups enhanced theircomprehension and reading speed, but the extensive reading group'simprovement was more significant

In a similar way, Nakanishi (2011) implemented a study to research the

effects of extensive reading and shadowing on reading comprehension exam

performance 89 Japanese students who were majoring in human sciencesmade up the study's participants They were split into two experimental

groups and two control groups Based on two experimental groups and two

control groups, they looked at how the two variables (ER and shadowing)

interacted throughout the course of a one-year treatment (two semesters, using

ANOVA The experimental groups got extensive reading instruction, and the

reading activities included quiet reading and easy-to-book self-selection

Three reading comprehension assessments were administered to all groupsduring the experiment The findings showed that although there was no

statistically significant difference between the groups, there was a difference

in the three test scores The scores from the post-test show that pupils' reading

abilities were enhanced by extensive reading The findings reveals that

although there was no statistically important difference between the groups,there was a difference in the three test scores Since there was no difference inthe results across the four groups, it can also be said that ER, or ER combined

with shadowing, produces results that are almost identical to those of other

traditional teaching techniques (as done in the control groups) In other words,the ER program is at least as effective as traditional education both inside andoutside of the classroom

Al-Nafisah (2015) conducted study to examine the impact of aextensive reading program on Saudi EFL university students' readingcomprehension A total of 54 students were included in the study, with 27each in the experimental and control group In three months, pretest andposttest data were gathered The researcher gave instructions to both groups,the experiment group and the control group The researcher also created areading comprehension test and an ER program Therefore, the researcher willevaluate how the participants' reading comprehension is affected by extensivereading The results showed that the experimental group did better in readingcomprehension than the control group The reading proficiency of studentswho were taught using the ER program approach is higher than that ofstudents who were taught utilizing the conventional method This backed withthe idea that extensive reading improves reading comprehension in EFLstudents This study is an early attempt to empirically investigate the effect of

ER on Saudi EFL university students' reading comprehension

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Through previous studies, it is evident that the main focus of research is

on the influence of extensive reading to enhance reading comprehension This

is an important point of research as it helps us understand the impact ofreading on a person's ability to comprehend text This study delves deeper

into students' perceptions of utilizing extensive reading as a tool to improve

their reading comprehension abilities Moreover, this study also addresses

some of the common obstacles that students may face when using extensive

reading and provides possible strategies to overcome these challenges Thus,

my research is a descriptive and explanatory study that seems to fill in somegaps in prior research For the research, it is possible to gain a deeperunderstanding of the relationship between extensive reading and readingcomprehension, as well as to provide insights into how students can improvetheir reading abilities through the use of extensive reading

1.6 Summary

This chapter presented relevant theories for the research Some

theoretical issues include the definition of reading and _ readingcomprehension, the concept of extensive reading and its characteristics

Aspects related to extensive reading have been demonstrated as theimportance and principles of extensive reading, benefits and difficulties ofextensive reading to reading comprehension and some strategies implemented

by students during using extensive reading This chapter also reviews someprevious studies on the equivalent subject of the implementation of extensive

reading in reading learning The following of this study will provide themethodology

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes a comprehensive description of the research

methodology and is divided into five main parts: Design of the study,Subjects, Data collection instruments, Data collection procedures, and Dataanalysis method

2.1 Research design

Quantitative research was selected in this study with an aim to answer

three questions stated in Introduction of this paper Implementing aquestionnaire is highly advantageous and practical in terms of collecting data

In particular, this approach enables the collection of a sizable quantity of datafrom numerous participants in a little period of time, and the results aresynthesized rapidly and easily by the researcher

2.2 Subjects

The subjects in this paper are second-year students at Hanoi Law

University 91 out of 100 people answered survey questionnaires, includingboth online and offline survey participants The main goal of this researchwas properly explained to the students, and they received thoroughinstructions both before and during filling out the form The majority of

respondents are females These subjects of the study are selected for a number

of reasons Students were believed to be familiar with academic reading and

its necessary requirements Up to the second year, almost all students learn all

language skills, and their level in English is supposed to be from Intermediate

to Advanced And it is anticipated that these English majors are already

accustomed to English academic reading and they have been exposed to many

skills and knowledge about reading, which serves as a crucial piece ofinformation for the study to examine Upon their participation in the study,

students were assured that their personal information would be kept private

and be used solely for objectives that the study attempts to accomplish

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After collecting data, the datum show that 91 survey participants include

62 females with a proposition of 68,9% and only 26 male students(accounting for 28,9%) In general, a majority of second-year English majorstudents are female Additionally, 2 students didn’t want to reveal their

gender which should be honored With these figures above, it 1s quite suitable

for students’ current sex ratio at Hanoi Law University

For students’ English proficiency level based on the Common European

Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) with their own valuation,52,6% of the students said their reading comprehension skill in English wasUpper Intermediate (B2), lightly over 29,3% of respondents claimed that theyreached B1 (Intermediate) level meanwhile 9 students of them were confident

to claim level C1 (Advanced)

2.3 Data collection instruments

The data was collected through the questionnaire The surveyquestionnaire contains four main parts (14 questions) serving to answer three

research questions of the study The first part aims at studying personal

information about students’ gender and English level In the second part ofthis questionnaire, questions from 1 to 9 obtain information about students'perception of using Extensive Reading The third part consists of questions 10and 11 focusing on strategies used by HLU’s English major students whenthey participate in Extensive Reading activities and the choice of strategiesthat they preferred in their opinions The last part consisting questions 12-14provides information on drawbacks in reading comprehension that studentsmay have encountered when they use Extensive Reading

2.4 Data collection procedures

Initially, a questionnaire was designed with a structure of sixteen

questions Then, the questionnaires were delivered to students in the four

classes at Hanoi Law University and completed in one week The researcher

collected answers offline by visiting classes N03 and N04 and also got data

online with classes NO1 and N02 via Google Forms with succinct and careful

explanations to respondents When the deadline is reached, the Google Forms

was closed and the survey results were preserved Thanks to the student’senthusiasm, the procedures were smoothly carried out, which made it quick to

collect questionnaire responses that aided with the data collection for the

research's data analysis phase

2.5 Data analysis method

After 7 days of surveying students, the researcher checked the validity ofall data from the survey questionnaires To analyze questionnaire data, allanswers to sixteen questions were finished in Google Forms, and 91 records

on Google Forms were collected and numbered from 1 to 91 The data was

compiled in Microsoft Excel Then, the data were illustrated through tablesand charts, which allowed the researcher to make comparisons among the

data Some rates of responses for questions were calculated for response

percentages Some statistics were analyzed by means of the softwareStatistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) To begin with, somevariables with a five-point Likert-type Scale (1 = Never, 2 = Rarely, 3 =Sometimes, 4 = Usually, 5 = Always) about the strategies that participants

perceived were classified into five categories corresponding to the frequency

encountered, and some variables related to benefits and difficulties that

students encounter for capturing the level of agreement (1 = Strongly

disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Neither agree nor disagree, 4 = Agree, 5 =Strongly agree) The data were entered into SPSS and interpreted as follows:Accordingly, the mean score (M) can be calculated with the formula:

Mean (M) = (Maximum — Minimum)/n = (5-1)/5 = 0.81.00 - 1.80: Strongly disagree/ I never encounter this

1.81 - 2.60: Disagree/ I rarely encounter this

2.61 - 3.40: Neither agree nor disagree/ I sometimes encounter this

3.41 - 4.20: Agree/ I usually encounter this

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