Áp dụng chiến thuật siêu nhận thức để nâng cao kĩ năng đọc hiểu tiếng anh cho học sinh lớp 11 trường thpt quế võ số 3, tỉnh bắc ninh

Trang 1 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES TRAN THI TINHAPPLYING METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS OF THE 11th GRADE STUDENTS AT QU

INTRODUCTION

Rationale of the study

Reading is a receptive skill and is considered one of the most important language skills Through reading, not only other language skills such as writing and speaking can be developed well but the language components, vocabulary and grammar, can be improved Numan (1991) has argued that “there is a constant interplay between listening, speaking, reading and writing, besides that it is clear that in a lesson ostensibly labeled ‘reading’, opportunities exist for the language learners to develop the other language skills”

In fact, reading is not a favorite subject for some students It can be seen from the way they behave when given a passage to read Generally, in many schools, the teachers just ask the students to read and translate the passage As a result, the teachers have to spend much time encouraging them to become interested in reading

Reading comprehension plays an important part in all areas of learning including in acquiring a language When studying any subjects, students need to read books, articles, and other materials so that they can have better understanding or knowledge about that subject However, they need to have a good reading comprehension to do so whether it is on their first or their second language If students cannot comprehend their reading materials well, they will not be able to achieve a high achievement (Iwai, 2009) Therefore, it is very important for the students to master reading comprehension as well as reading strategies

Moreover, the teaching of reading comprehension is one of the methods used to help students to answer questions related to finding the main idea of a text, getting specific information, comprehending the reading passage and understanding the vocabulary, references and inferences and so forth

It appears that the techniques and strategies now used by teachers for teaching reading comprehension are not very effective to enable students to become competent readers The teachers usually teach reading by asking the students to read the text orally and to find the meaning of any unfamiliar words from a dictionary and afterwards they are asked to answer questions based on the text they have just read to measure their comprehension Moreover, the students often do not have enough time to practice reading, because the Curriculum only provides them with

45 minutes in one session for each subject, including English Consequently, not all students have time to grasp the language

Unfortunately, many high school students have not learned effective strategies for comprehending expository text and for navigating this type of information In addition, a lack of sufficient background knowledge and content- specific vocabulary also impede students’ ability to comprehend the subject matter

In the course of teaching English, the researcher noticed that students at Que

Vo 3 high school number 3 always encounter difficulties related to all four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing, especially with reading skills and students cannot achieve high mark when doing reading comprehension test Current teaching and learning English at Que Vo 3 high school number 3 has not yet made progress and revealed many limitations although the teachers have applied new teaching methods and taught the students different strategies when dealing comprehension test, and used modern technique such as projectors and active boards

The question now arises as to how to find the best way to improve reading comprehension skill of the 11 th students at Que Vo high school number 3, Bac Ninh province, hence this study.

Aims of the study

The objective of the study is to apply metacognitive strategies in teaching students reading comprehension skill

The aims of this study are to investigate students’ reading strategies and improve reading comprehension skill of the 11 th grade students at Que Vo high school number 3, Bac Ninh province With the above-mentioned aims, the study tries to answer the following research questions:

1 What are students’ reading strategies?

2 To what extent do metacognitive strategies improve students’ English reading comprehension skills?

Scope of the study

The researcher intends to start with an overview of the current situations of students’ learning English reading comprehension skills, then analyze the effects metacognitive strategies on students’ reading and make some recommendations on the effective use of metacognitive strategies to motivate students to practice reading English more As an action research project, the study was conducted with the researcher’s own students in her own class with the participation of 39 students in class 11A5 at Que Vo high school number 3 They were chosen because it was assumed that the 11th grade students did not experience more metacognitive strategies at a high school.

Significance of the study

The study contributes theoretically more details, which are considered significant about reading, reading strategies, especially Global reading strategies, Problem-solving reading strategies and Support reading strategies As a result, it is hoped to help students improve reading comprehensions skills

This study has been conducted with the expectation that the results of the study will help teachers flexibly apply metacognitive strategies to teaching, thereby improving students' reading comprehension skills Basing on these, the researcher can withdraw strategies for both teachers and students to improve students’ reading comprehension skills Certainly, once their reading comprehension skill is enhanced, they will feel more confident and dare to perform in class In addition, it is expected that the thesis will better inform the teachers of a student-centered approach to teaching reading skills in order to gain the highest participation of students.

Organization of the study

The graduation thesis consists of five chapters, organized as follows:

Chapter I Introduction This chapter mentions the background and rationale to conduct the study, states the aims, the significance, the scope, and organization of the graduation thesis

Chapter II Literature Review This chapter represents theoretical background knowledge related to reading comprehension skills and metacognitive strategies, a brief review of the previous studies and its impacts on students’ reading ability

Chapter III Methodology This chapter states the subjects of the study, research instruments, and data collection procedures employed in this research

Chapter IV Findings and Discussions This chapter analyzes and discusses the results collected from survey questionnaire and tests Besides, the limitations of the study are introduced

Chapter V Conclusions and Recommendations This chapter summarizes the main points discussed in the previous parts, presents the limitations of the thesis and provides some suggestions for further research

Reading skill and reading comprehension strategies are important in learning language The fact of teaching and learning English and especially the students’ result of the reading comprehension test inspired the researcher to carry out this study In this chapter, the writer presents the rationale, aims, scopes significance, and the organization of this study The other parts of the study are shown in the following chapters

LITERATURE REVIEW

Reading and Reading Comprehension

There have been many ways in which the researchers give the definition of reading Reading is a receptive skill which plays a very significant role in students’ learning process

Reading is referred as a process for the purpose of extraction of meaning from written text (Mc Donell, 2003) According to Seng and Fetimah (2006), reading includes readers, texts and the interaction between readers and texts, and all the activities are defined to as reading strategies or reading skills

Xiaoqiong Zhou & Yonggang Zhao (2017) state that reading has generally held an important place in foreign and second language learning and teaching, and it not only provides important and sufficient linguistic input for second language learners, but also lays a foundation for their further development in listening, speaking, writing and translating

Anderson (2003) considers reading as a fluent process gone through by readers In this process learners combine information from the text with their own background knowledge mutually bot-tom-up and top-down to construct meaning

Reading comprehension is one of the main sources providing the learner with the essential input (Harmer, 2007) Reading comprehension is the ability to process what is being read, understand the meaning the author is trying to convey — both textually and sub-textually — and make inferences based on prior knowledge

According to Ahmadi and Hairul (2012), reading comprehension is an important factor in EFL/ESL learning process and should be emphasized in different levels of education, for instance, reveals that an area of concern and indeed one of the top priorities of ESL/EFL students after completing elementary English courses is reading comprehension

In the study of Cain, Oakhill, & Bryant (2004), reading comprehension is defined as a process by which meaning is constructed through coordinating a number of complex processes such as reading of words, knowledge of words, text organization, strategies and even knowledge of the world

Reading comprehension is a complex cognitive process It is explored by educational researchers with its multidimensional components, processes, and factors involved in different settings with the aim of finding better ways of developing it among learners Theoretically, reading comprehension is an interactive process of deriving meanings from a text Trehearne and Doctorow

(2005) support this claim saying that it is an interaction of different variables (reader, text, environment) in a sociocultural context It is viewed as a complex set of cognitive activities involving many skills and dimensions such as ‘the perception of words, clear grasp of meaning, thoughtful reaction, and integration’ (Hermosa, 2002)

There are different variables or components influencing the reading comprehension performance of students Some of these are vocabulary knowledge, background knowledge, knowledge of grammar, metacognitive awareness, syntactic knowledge, and reading strategies (Koda, 2005) In addition to the components or variables that shape reading comprehension, there are also other more specific elements or factors that influence one’s reading performance These include students’ reading attitudes or motivation, breadth and depth of engagement in reading, effective instruction on comprehension techniques, rich vocabulary and world knowledge, fluency, text structure or genre, opportunities for oral and written expression, and awareness on different reading strategies (Trehearne & Doctorow,

2005) Perfetti, Landi, and Oakhill (2004) also identified three higher-level factors in comprehension: sensitivity to story structure, inference making, and comprehension monitoring

Further, in the study of Geske and Ozola (2008), socio economic factors in the family, collaboration of a student and family, student’s reading outside the school, and student’s reading at school emerged as significant factors affecting

7 comprehension Nergis (2013) also found out that depth of vocabulary knowledge, syntactic awareness, and metacognitive awareness have influence on academic reading comprehension In the study of Alshumaimeri (2011), he found out that oral reading method positively affects comprehension performance of Saudi students

The study of Mermelstein (2014) also revealed that extensive reading program significantly improves Taiwanese students’ reading comprehension levels and performance The same result was obtained by Erfanpour (2013) with his Iranian students Examining the effect of technology, Alshumaimeri and Alasmari

(2012) found out that using WebQuests improves students’ motivation and reading comprehension.

Factors Affecting Reading Comprehension

Xiaoling Yang (2016) implied that there are many factors that affect reading comprehension among which the reader’s background, classroom tasks and strategies he employs are some of the major factors In the paper he discussed the factors that affect the choice of learning strategies in reading comprehension First, a wide range of individual differences such as motivation, age, learning style, personality, sex, intelligence differences into account to probe into the nature of strategy use and development have been identified as factors that influence the development and use of learning strategies in reading comprehension Secondly, he showed that some situational factors like classroom setting, teaching method, task also contribute to the diverse use of learning strategies

The study of Szilvia Varga Tánczikné (2017) highlights the role of vocabulary, phonological, morphological awareness and metalinguistic knowledge in reading comprehension Reading abilities have different components These components are the following: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency and vocabulary Phonemic awareness is the knowledge that words are made up of a combination of individual sounds It also includes the ability to hold on to those sounds, blend them successfully into words and take them apart again Phonics is the relationship between a specific letter and its sound, only as it relates to the written word Phonics has a special significance in opaque orthographies like English where children have to learn the spelling of different words

According to Szilvia Varga Tánczikné (2017), from linguistic point of view comprehension consists of sub-lexical and lexical elements which include phonological awareness Phonological awareness refers to the understanding of and access to the sound structure of spoken language, that is the consciousness that oral language can be broken down into individual words, and words into phonemes It also includes morphological awareness, for example, derivation and conjugation refers to morphological awareness Recent research in psycholinguistics shows that in order to comprehend the text the reader must have a metalinguistic knowledge, which means that the reader is aware of the structure of the language, knows how the texts are developed

Sawitri Suwanaroa (2021) showed that the factor of reading problems in the study that highly affected reading competence most was students’ attitude, and other problems, such as teaching and learning in the classroom and family support, were found less frequently He also implied that to solve reading problems, a plan needs to be constructed to build students' fundamental reading skills

Reading comprehension skill is also influenced by the reader’s cognitive skills, such as visual processing, processing speed, and logic and reasoning skills which can all have an impact on their ability to comprehend text As a result, our overall communication skills, our critical thinking skills, our attention to detail, our decision-making ability, even our ability to concentrate can all be assumed from our ability to understand what we read After reading a paragraph in a text we may question ourselves about the concepts discussed in the paragraph so as to understand the text Self-questioning is a common metacognitive comprehension monitoring strategy If we cannot find the answer to the questions or understand the text, we must then determine what needs to be done to ensure that we meet the cognitive goal of understanding the text We may go back and re-read the paragraph with the goal of being able to answer the questions she had generated If, after rereading through the text we can now answer the questions, we may determine that she understands the material So, the metacognitive strategy of self-questioning is used to ensure that the cognitive goal of comprehension is met

Reading comprehension strategies

According to Brown (2007), for most foreign language learners who had literate before in a preceding language, reading comprehension is essentially to develop appropriate and efficient, comprehension strategies such as:

- Identifying the purpose of reading: knowing the purpose of their readings, learners remove the potential distracting information in order to develop an efficient reading;

- Use efficient silent reading techniques for relative reading comprehension:

It is referred by teaching some silent rules that improve learners’ efficiency, those rules are: a) Do not pronounce every written word b) Try to visualize and perceive some phrases c) Guess the meaning of words from context when they are important to global understanding

- Skim the text for main ideas: It relates to a quick movement of eyes over the text to find the gist it also gives the advantage to learners to predict some possible supporting ideas, message, and purpose

- Scan the text for specific information: Scanning may help learners to find the specific pieces or pieces of details such as names, dates, in that way they can find a key concept without reading the whole text

- Use clustering: This strategy aids learners to organize their ideas from the chaos to eventually have a clearer idea of the text

- Distinguish from literal and implied meanings: Most of the time, language can’t be understood from literal meaning sometimes texts include implied meaning that should be processed through pragmatic information.

Metacognitive Strategies

Metacognitive strategies are the techniques which learners carefully employ to assess or manage their reading process, Mokhtari and Sheorey (2002)

According to Knaack and Robertson (2018), metacognitive strategies are:

- Concept Mapping and Visual Study Tools: A concept map is a representative relationship between ideas, images, and also words that helps to develop logical thinking and study skills

- Reflective writing: It helps learners to make connections between previous knowledge and the integrated content As well, writing also allows them to observe their process during and after their reading experience

- Retrospective Post-Assessment: It consists to ask learners almost at the of the course to reflect about what was their previous and post opinion and concept of the reading, if there was any change in their knowledge, skills and attitudes

- Pre-assessment (Self-Assessment) of Content: The aims of this strategy are to teach students how their brains are connected for learning and how to use simple activities, in order to find out what already know about a specific topic and elicits students to think about how the learning process works, what they know about the topic or content which would help them to identify possible misconceptions they hold on the topic and create thoughtful planning associated with their learning strategies

- Think Aloud for Metacognition: This strategy proposes to think aloud about any topic, picture, and text It is ideal to work in pairs because they can receive feedback from each other to become more metacognitive in their own approaches to reading

- Metacognitive Awareness Inventory: Also known as (MAI), this strategy was developed by Schraw and Dennison in 1994, and addressed specifically for adult learners The main purpose was to bring awareness of metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive regulation through 52 questions in which learners are able to control and monitoring their learning

- Self-Assessment of Self-Regulated Learning Skills: In this strategy, learners evaluate themselves along with a survey which contains 21 statements that come from ASSIST (Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students) that was designed to evaluate college students’ conceptualizations of learning, approaches identifying three main approaches to study: deep, strategic (greater success) and surface (poorer performance)

- Classroom Assessment Tools: To promote metacognitive thinking, it is necessary to use some short activities during class time

Despite that Djudin (2017), agrees on most of the strategies stated before, the author boosts some other strategies such as: Wrapper Strategy: It is used to increase learners' monitoring skills It consists of a short intervention that encloses an existing activity and integrates a metacognitive practice; Journals: It fosters learners to monitor their own thinking is through personal learning journals The instructor might assign questions weekly to help them reflect on how rather than what they learned Furthermore, it encourages to development of creative expressions including diaries, mind maps e-tools, etc

According to Zhaowen Cao & Yuewu Lin (2020), metacognitive strategies made up of a series of skills used with particular metacognitive knowledge in mind Therefore, metacognitive strategies include an ability of consciously using metacognitive knowledge to plan for, arrange, monitor, regulate and evaluate the learning process and learning situation and respond accordingly Their study shows that metacognitive strategies cover five parts: self-awareness, self-planning, self- monitoring, self-regulation and self-evaluation

Zhaowen Cao & Yuewu Lin (2020) shows that self-awareness refers to consciously identifying what one already knows, establishing one's objectives, determining one's motivation and anxiety level, and considering task requirements For example, learners must be aware of the purposes of their English learning: to expand their vocabulary to improve reading comprehension or to improve their listening and speaking ability

Self-planning indicates the selection of appropriate strategies and the allocation of resources that effect performance, (Zhaowen Cao & Yuewu Lin,

2020) Before beginning a task, learners must make predictions, arrange strategies in order, and allocate time reasonable Planning decisions includes determining: whether they can perform the task; how much of the given task they can expect to complete; which parts of the task will be easiest and why; which will be the difficult and why; whether or not it is necessary to engage in deliberate learning; and which will be the most efficient strategies for completing the task

Self-monitoring refers to learners’ online awareness of comprehension and task performance when the task is taking place (Zhaowen Cao & Yuewu Lin, 2020) According to O'Malley and Chamot (1990), as a learner, the basic self-monitoring skill is checking, verifying or correcting his/her comprehension or performance in the course of a language task This skill let the learners know what they understand and what they misunderstand However, this skill can tell the good language learners from the poor language learners The more complex of tasks are, the more difficult in monitoring the mind is to finish tasks Moreover, learners have to concentrate on the task in order to enhance successful accomplishment of it

Self-regulation refers to regulating learning plans and strategies when learners come across comprehension problems and slow down their understanding (Zhaowen Cao & Yuewu Lin, 2020) Learners adjust their strategies according to the effectiveness of previous strategies They also state that some researchers equal self-regulation to self-management, which helps learners to modify their thinking processes in order to cope with changing situational demands

Self-evaluation refers to checking outcomes, or evaluating the achievements and efficiency of one’s learning Classical examples include revaluating one's goals and conclusions The decisions learners have to make are as follow: whether the production of their learning is contradictory to or consistent with other parts of a text or available material (ability to see similarities and differences and appreciate what it means); whether the production is consistent with reality or common sense (understanding of the relationship with learning and reality, i.e., the purpose of learning, personal goals, etc.); and whether they have been able to apply the rules they know and how well

2.4.2 Flavells’ Model of Metacognitive Components

Metacognition was first introduced by Flavell, and defined as one’s ability to understand, control, and manipulate his own cognitive process to maximize learning Flavell elaborated meta-cognition as cognition about cognition and mentioned the differences between metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive experience Flavell reveals that meta-cognition refers to both people’s awareness

13 and control, not only of their cognitive processes, but of their desires and motivations as well Teachers agree that metacognitive reading strategy can be utilized to help student’s reading comprehension and promote the monitoring and regulation of one’s own cognitive enterprises The metacognitive strategy implementation such as self-awareness and self-evaluating is to improve independent readers who can control their own learning and learn, when and how to use those strategies while reading, Flavell (1981) According to Flavell (1979,

1987), metacognition consists of both metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive experiences or regulation

Teaching Reading by Using Metacognitive Strategies

There are several steps in metacognitive strategy which are used in teaching reading comprehension According to Zhang and Sheepo (2013) metacognitive strategies are divided into three categories, they are: planning, monitoring, and evaluating These steps are discussed below

Studying requires the ability to plan strategies for learning (Palinscar & Brown, 1984) Reading can be divided into three parts, viz: pre-reading, while reading and post-reading As a metacognitive strategy, planning takes place in the phase of pre-reading In the course of planning, learners would consider thinking about the reading topic and other features that can help them formulate a preliminary idea about the content of the text Pictures, graphics, headings, and subheadings also play a remarkable role in helping readers make predictions about the content of the text and they are used as parts of the planning strategy (Benchmarkeducation, 2011)

Thiede, Anderson and Therriault (2003) say that overall reading comprehension is influenced by how accurately one can monitor comprehension during reading In this process, the students monitor how well they are learning the material, which is a step toward determining the current level or state of learning According to Fogarty (1994) there are several strategies that the students can use for this monitoring aspect, such as: make connections, predictions, inferences, use context clues, use text features, identify text structures, use graphic to pinpoint particular types of text information and write comments or questions on self-stick notes or in the margins

The next suggested metacognitive strategy is evaluating Actually, evaluating itself has many purposes, for example - collecting feedback, gathering data or information, and doing assessments In addition, evaluating in reading serves several purposes Succinctly defined as making judgments, evaluating helps readers determine: (1) the importance of information obtained from the written text; (2) the accuracy and credibility of what has been read; (3) the appropriateness or usefulness of the ideas (4) the amount of personal enjoyment in reading a text (5) one’s own progress as a reader (Fries-Gaither, 2012) Moreover, Zimmermann and Pons

(1986) say that strategies for evaluation are statements or behaviors that the students can use to measure the quality or progress of their work

In summary, metacognitive strategies are high order executive skills that make use of knowledge of cognitive processes and involve thinking about the learning process, planning for learning (pre-reading phase), monitoring the learning task (reading phase), and evaluating how well one has learned (post-reading phase), (Chamot & Kupper, 1989; Wenden, 1998)

Common Metacognitive Reading Strategies

Many strategies and techniques have been proposed as solution to enhance the students reading comprehension skill One of them is metacognitive reading strategy

Metacognitive reading strategy awareness, are strategies that help students to regulate or monitor cognitive strategies (Ahmadi et al., 2013) Many researches then attempted to create taxonomies of metacognitive reading strategy to facilitate reading comprehension

Semtin and Maniam (2015) describe the Metacognitive Strategy as a technique that requires “planning for learning, thinking about the learning process that takes place, monitoring of one’s comprehension, and evaluating learning after completion of a task” (p 55)

According to Mokhtari and Sheorey (2002), metacognitive reading strategies can be divided into three subcategories: Global, Problem-solving, and Support strategies The knowledge of these strategies recalls the concept of metacognitive knowledge, which is considered the key factor that can successfully improve reading, especially those in foreign language environments These Metacognitive Strategies assist the language teachers to better understand their students’ different reading styles and identify the most impactful reading strategies to be taught in the language classroom

Global Reading Strategies refer to the techniques through which learners arrange their process of reading and comprehension The pre-reading activities as using existing knowledge and setting a goal before reading are examples of these strategies, Mokhtari and Sheorey (2002)

According to Semtin and Maniam (2015), Global Reading Strategy focuses on guiding the students to have a reading purpose in mind when reading a text which can be increasing vocabularies and getting more information on specific topics

The use of global reading strategies is directed towards a global analysis of the reading text For example, paying attention to the characteristics of the text, guessing what the text is about, and the like Use of these strategies helps the reader make himself or herself ready to comprehend the main text These strategies are mostly general and intentionally employed Among 30 items of The Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) by Mokhtari and Sheory (2002), this category contains

1 I have a purpose in mind when I read

2 I think about what I know to help me understand what I read

3 I take an overall view of the text to see what it is about before reading it

4 I think about whether the content of the text fits my reading purpose

5 I review the text first by noting its characteristics like length and organization

6 I decide what to read close and what to ignore

7 I use tables, figures, and pictures in text to increase my understanding

8 I use context clues to help me better understand what I am reading

9 I use typographical features like bold face and italics to identify key information

10 I critically analyze and evaluate the information in the text

11 I check my understanding when I come across new information

12 I try to guess what the content of the text is about when I read

13 I check to see if my guesses about the text are right or wrong

Problem-Solving Strategies constitute techniques that readers resort to so that they can overcome difficulties facing them while reading an English text

“Rereading hard to understand text” and “adapting one's reading rate to the difficulty level of what they’re reading” are examples of these strategies, Mokhtari and Sheorey (2002)

Semtin and Maniam (2015) also indicated that Problem-Solving Strategy focuses on assessing the students to solve reading problems when they are reading difficult texts which include adjusting the reading s peed, rereading the text, reading aloud, and guessing the meaning of the difficult words.The name of Problem- solving strategies is suggestive in itself These strategies help the reader tackle the problem while the text becomes difficult to understand Examples include rereading for a better understanding, pausing and thinking about the text, starting again from the part where you lost your concentration, and so forth These strategies help the readers in the real act of reading a text, allowing the reader to get through the text skillfully Among 30 items of The Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) by Mokhtari and Sheory (2002), this category contains 8 items:

1 I read slowly and carefully to make sure I understand what I am reading

2 I try to get back on track when I lose concentration

3 I adjust my reading speed according to what I am reading

4 When text becomes difficult, I pay closer attention to what I am reading

5 I stop from time to time and think about what I am reading

6 I try to picture or visualize information to help remember what I read

7 When text becomes difficult, I re-read it to increase my understanding

8 When I read, I guess the meaning of unknown words or phrases

Mokhtari and Sheorey (2002) defines support strategies are the group of techniques that help the reader to comprehend the text during reading Examples of these strategies are when learners choose to underline key words, highlight important points and pay attention to the typographical aspects of the text

Support reading strategies mostly involve using outside reference materials, taking notes, underlining information, and other practical strategies Via these support or functional strategies, a reader can sustain responses to the reading text

According to Semtin and Maniam (2015), Support Reading Strategy focuses on providing the students with extra reading techniques, which include using some reference materials, such as the dictionary, taking notes and underlining particular

19 sentences to remember, asking self-questions to find the answers, and paraphrasing the paragraphs Among 30 items of The Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) by Mokhtari and Sheory (2002), this category includes 9 items:

1 I take notes while reading to help me understand what I read

2 When text becomes difficult, I read aloud to help me understand what I read

3 I underline or circle information in the text to help me remember it

4 I go back and forth in the text to find relationship among ideas in it

5 I summarize what I read to reflect on important information in the text

6 I discuss what I read with others to check my understanding

7 I ask myself questions I like to have answered in the text

8 I use reference materials such as dictionary to help me better understand

9 I paraphrase to better understand what I read.

Previous studies

Reading strategies is one of the most researched areas in the field of research on the English language Many studies have investigated the metacognitive reading strategies of learners Following is a brief review of the related studies

Muhid, A., Amalia, E R., Hilaliyah, H., Budiana, N., & Wajdi, M B N

(2020) conducted the research investigate the effectiveness of implementing metacognitive strategies to teach reading comprehension in Indonesian context The subjects of this study were students from eleven grade There were ten classes for eleven grade The school divided the classes into male and female student classes Based on the school policy, the researcher conducted the study on female classes Two classes which were homogenous in their English competence chosen for experimental and control group Each class consists of 25 students The research instruments were Reading Comprehension Test and Metacognitive Strategy Questionnaire The results of the study revealed that their students who got metacognitive strategy instruction had increased their score in post-test compared to their pre-test score In addition, there was a significant positive correlation between metacognitive strategies implementation and English reading achievement The metacognitive reading strategy training was proven to be successful to help students improve their reading comprehension ability

Neslihan Kửse and Firdevs Gỹneş (2020) explored undergraduate students’ use of metacognitive strategies during reading to determine if there was a difference by gender, grade level, department and faculty 236 students participated in the study The results indicated a significant difference based on gender and grade level Finally, it was found that as the reading comprehension increased in narrative texts, so did the strategy use in overall scale as well as in Global Reading Strategies and Problem Solving Strategies sub-scales

The research was conducted by Channa & Nordin (2014) in their journal entitled “Identifying Metacognitive Strategies through Learners‘ The Effect of Applying Metacognitive Strategy to Improve Students’ Ability in Reading Comprehension” The main objective of this research was to judge whether teaching metacognitive strategies to students would benefit in developing metacognitive knowledge of students at all levels means from primary level to undergraduate and graduate levels, and would work in improving the comprehension levels of students in all fields as well.Their research findings showed that there are two conclusions come to the surface First, teachers should teach metacognitive strategies, and the students should use actively for developing their reading comprehensions Second, an increase in metacognitive knowledge leads to improvement of reading comprehension‖ They also revealed that teachers play important role to develop reading comprehension abilities among students at all levels

The study is conducted by Usman, Aziz and Absida (2017) is aimed to discovering metacognitive strategy’s effect in reading comprehension The research entitled “Improving reading comprehension using Metacognitive strategy” was carried out in 2017 The researchers used experimental group and control group method with total seventy-five students to find the effect of metacognitive strategy The data is collected from the test and questionnaire The result from this research is reading comprehension of students’ experience a significant increased when implemented this strategy

The next study entitled “Metacognitive strategy as points in teaching reading comprehension” is carried out by Zhussupova and Kazbekova The participants of

21 this research are sixty random students The study is conducted in 2016 and use control group and experimental group as a method The data is collected from pre- investigation test, implementation task and post investigation task Based on the result, students who applied metacognitive strategy experienced an increase in reading comprehension compared to students who did not apply that strategy

Ismail and Tawalbeh (2015) conducted a quasi-experimental study examining the effect of the metacognitive reading strategies on EFL low achievers in reading The study revealed that training on the use of metacognitive strategies among low achieving EFL readers improves reading comprehension performance

In Rosmita’s study, the author can draw conclusion of the research, that was the method of metacognitive strategy and reading expository text can be used effectively to teach reading, it can make the class situation of learning well, can follow the stages of the learning process, and bring students to what conditions the class should be So, the teacher's role is to control the class process and allow students to interact freely Based on the explanation above, it is very important for the teacher to make the situation in the classroom come alive, so students have a good attitude in the teaching and learning process By applying the metacognitive strategy method and reading expository text, students will realize and much easier to understand how to read well and well again (Rosmita, 2022)

In Viet Nam there have been several studies related to metacognitive reading strategy In their study, Thao M T Nguyen and Lap Q Trinh (2011) investigated which meta-cognitive reading strategies used by Vietnamese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) and the interaction between learners' meta-cognitive strategy use and their reading achievement The paper also focuses on problems hindering learners' use of meta-cognitive strategies They collected data from questionnaires, reading comprehension tests and interviews The participants were eighty-four students at grade 11 of an upper secondary school in a remote area of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam The result of this study showed that students used problem solving strategies most often and support strategies least often and a strong interaction between students’ use of these strategies and their achievement in

22 reading comprehension In addition, some problems hindering the use are reported, which are Participants' Lack of Knowledge of Cognition, Participants' Lack of Regulation of Cognition, and Participants' Lack of Instrinsic Motivation for Learning to Read in English

Hien Thu Tran Thi and Phuong Thanh Tran (2018) carried out the research on the effects of teaching English reading strategies to students at Vietnam National University of Agriculture in raising their awareness and reading comprehension ability 170 -first year students took part in their research The result showed that teaching reading strategies could help to raise students’ awareness of using reading strategies to understand and answer questions about texts, which contributes to their reading comprehension ability

Last but not least, in the study of Hieu Manh Do and Huong Le Thu Phan

(2021), 123 undergraduate students at Hong Bang university took part in the study They completed an online survey which discovered their frequencies of using global, problem solving and supporting strategies and did a reading comprehension test The result showed that problem solving strategies were used higher than global and support strategies

In this chapter, the writer gives general knowledge about reading, reading comprehension skills and its related concepts metacognitive strategy and several previous studies on using metacognitive strategy in teaching English reading comprehension skills Metacognitive strategies cover five parts: self-awareness, self-planning, self-monitoring, self-regulation and self-evaluation Metacognitive strategies are effective in many fields Metacognitive reading strategies can be divided into three subcategories: Global, Problem-solving, and Support strategies Based on the finding of the previous studies and the importance of meta-cognitive strategies and reading comprehension, the researcher has carried out this work with a view to investigating whether the application of meta-cognitive strategies to teach reading comprehension skill for her students worked well

METHODOLOGY

Research design

3.1.1 Reasons to choose action research method

Dick (2002) defines action research as a natural way of acting and researching at the same time It is a form of self-reflective inquiry that teachers can use to improve the rationality and justice of their own practices, their understanding of these practices, and the situations in which these practices are carried out (Carr & Kemmis, 1983) Action research provides teachers a means to investigate their own practice, have an insight into what they and their students actually do and fail to do, develop a deeper understanding of students, and based on that they are more able to decide what works best and what needs improvement in their classrooms (Gay & Airasian, 2003)

Basing on the definition and description of an action research, it can be seen that there are four distinguishing features making action research different from other types of research Firstly, action research is conducted by teachers themselves Conducting action research helps teachers identify the problems in their teaching practice as well as the problems their students encounter to be able to draw up a plan to solve it, implement and evaluate the effects of their solutions on their students’ learning The second point is that action research is a reproduction cycle, which means after the evaluation, the process can be repeated with the revised plan Thirdly, it is collaborative Teachers conducting an action research have to participate, collaborate, and examine their knowledge and the ways they interpret themselves and their actions They do research in their own teaching context and collect data about how they teach as all the data comes from the class on which the researcher is working They invite students to study their own learning and to comment on their teaching method, curriculum and organization of their learning Last but not least, action research aims at changing things (Nunan, 1992) It means that for teachers, the study conducted aims to change and improve the situation

24 within the class that they are taking care of, and it also affects the students’ output to some extents

In this study, the researcher’s purpose is to investigate the challenges that her students face in developing their reading comprehension skills, identify the impacts of metacognitive strategies on improving their reading ability and based on the findings to make suggestions on how to apply effectively in her own teaching context To achieve these aims, action research framework seems to be the most suitable; therefore, she decided to do this research following the steps proposed for the action research in one cycle

So far, a number of action research models have been proposed by various researchers According to Kemmis and Mctaggart (2000), action research has number of cycles, each cycle of an action research often involves the planning of a change, the acting and observation of the process and the consequences of the change, and the reflection on these processes and consequences After a cycle ends, the new cycle begins, following the same steps An illustration of action research's cycles by Kemmis and McTaggart (2000:564) is presented in the following figures

Figure 3.1: Action research spiral (Kemmis & McTaggart, 2000:564)

The figure outlines four steps in action, the transition from one essential phase to another and how the progress can be done through the system It can be clearly seen that in an action research study, the researcher does not stop after

25 receiving the results from his actions He must evaluate the effectiveness of his actions as well as the limitations of the methods After that, he should modify the plan, make some changes and do it again for better results These stages are inseparable but embedded in action and reflection

In this study, the researcher underwent the following action research framework by Kemmis and McTaggart (2000) in one cycle:

Setting of the study

The study was conducted at Que Vo high school number 3 in Bac Ninh Province The school was established about 20 years ago; however, the facilities are comparatively new and modern The school has a medium size with 21 classes The classes including 11A5 are bad at English in general and at reading comprehension skills in particular It is very difficult for them to master reading skills

The course book used is the new English text book named “English 11” – Volume 1 by Hoang Van Van, Phan Ha, Hoang Thi Hong Hai, Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa, Kieu Thi Thu Huong, Vu Thi Lan, Dao Ngoc Loc, Chung The Quang (2017), with the cooperation of Pearson Longman Press, published by Vietnamese Educational Publishing House The book is one of a three - level English language set of text-book for the Vietnamese upper secondary school It consists of five units and two review units Each unit includes eight lessons which are Getting Started, Language, Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing, Communication and Culture, Looking Back and Project The first semester lasts for eighteen weeks with fifty- four periods and teachers are required to deal with the all units of volume 1 In the text book, reading comprehension skills is a frequent classroom activity with practice range from more controlled to freer ones and requiring students to use different reading strategies

The researcher teaches 4 classes at Que Vo high school number 3, but she only selected 11A5 as the participant because of the limitation of time to conduct the study The class has 39 students, 20 males and 19 females, aged 17, and they were subjected to the metacognitive strategies such as the modern techniques These students were not good at English as well as reading comprehension skills Most of them had no tendency towards taking English after leaving upper secondary school

Their desire is working as workers in the companies in industrial zone Actually, they have no motivation to study English They seem to just focus on their tests, grammar and vocabulary in written form, rather than mastering four basic communicative skills Consequently, reading comprehension skill is likely to be a challenging one for their learning English They seem not to spend much time practicing their reading, both in class and at home As a result, their reading performance is limited though they may be good at other skills when they do the tasks passively with pens and papers In addition, students only have a 45-minute reading period every two week as following the syllabus.

Weekly schedules and research procedures

This part presents details about activities as well as the procedures that the researcher followed to conduct this research

Due to the time constraint and the fact that there was a strict syllabus to follow, the researcher could only implement activities focusing on the major parts in the textbook that require more reading, namely Getting Started, Reading and Communication and Culture

The table below shows the topics, requirement, preparation and activities of ten lessons that the researcher had to complete during the ten weeks of the research

It also gives information about the procedures the researcher followed in this period, which mainly involves the preparation process and the reading activities

Table 3.1: The timetable of the action implementation

Week Unit/ Topic Task requirement Preparation Reading activity

- Look at the picture and discuss what problem people have in each picture

- Read the passage and answer the questions and choose the best answer

- Read for general ideas and specific ideas

- Identify what reading strategies need to employ for each question

- Regulate what strategies have been used in doing the task

- Look at the picture and find out what are they doing

- Read the passage, answer the questions and choose the best answer

- Read the conservation, answer the questions and choose the best answer

9 Unit 4: Caring for those in need

- Read the conservation, answer the questions and choose the best answer

10 Unit 4: Caring for those in need Lesson 3:

-Read the passage, answer the questions and choose the best answer

11 Unit 4: Caring for those in need

-Read the passage, answer the questions and choose the best answer

12 Unit 5: Being part of ASIAN

13 Unit 5: Being part of ASIAN

As previously mentioned, this research followed the four steps of action research proposed by Kemmis and McTaggart (2000), which includes planning, implementing, observation, and reflection Information on how the researcher underwent each step is specified in the following part

In this stage, the researcher prepared detailed lesson plans for each class period Such information regarding the lexical items to provide students, types of reading activities to be conducted, instructions to give, procedures to follow

For acting, the researcher carried out the lesson plans and conducted the teaching activities step by step The implementation of metacognitive strategies for reading lessons lasted for ten weeks Before each reading lesson, students were instructed to do some preparation at home which mostly involves preparing for the topical lexical items, brainstorming ideas, collecting necessary information and preparing (if required) During the class time, students were required to use the strategies that the teacher had introduced to complete reading comprehension questions and other reading activities

During this stage, the researcher took the role of a teacher who provided the instructions, monitored the class activities, motivate interaction, facilitated students and provided constructive feedback to students

In the final stage, the reflection, students were asked to provide feedback on other students’ answers Students also received feedback from the teacher about their strengths, weaknesses together with some advice on how to solve their problems After each reading lesson, students were also required to complete a learning log in which they briefly reported on what reading strategies they used in the lesson and what they learned from the lesson The researcher then collected these logs and analyzed to get more information on students’ learning This helps the researcher to better evaluate the results of the classroom activity, students’ improvement and based on that, necessary adjustments can be made in the following lessons

Data collection instruments

This study used three instruments: survey questionnaire for students, pretest and posttest

The survey questionnaire is one of the most effective instruments for collecting data in social science It puts less pressure on respondents, and analysis of answers is straightforward Gillham (2000) In this research, 15 questionnaires adopted from The Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) by Mokhtari and Sheory

(2002) were employed as one of the main sources for the researcher to investigate how often students use metacognitive strategies in learning reading comprehensions

In the present study, a five-point Scale is attached to each item ranging from

1 -“never ”, 2 -“occasionally”, 3- “sometimes”, 4 -“usually” to 5- “always” Students are asked to indicate the frequency with which they use a reading strategy implied in the statement by selecting the number that represents their response The higher number indicates a more frequent use of the strategy concerned

The survey questionnaires were delivered to students of class 11A5 at Que

Vo High School number 3 after ten weeks of administration (week 14 of the first semester of the school year 2021-2022) Since the language used in the questionnaires is simple, easy to understand and the researcher spent a few minutes explaining her students’ questions about new vocabulary, she did not need to translate them into Vietnamese Students were required to complete the survey in the process taking 10 minutes

The questionnaire consisted of 15 questions related to Global strategy, Problem Solving Strategy and Support strategy (5 questions in each group)

Question 1: I take note while reading to help me understand what I read.

Question 2: I think about what I know to help me understand what I read.

Question 3: I take an overall view of the text to see what it is about before reading it. Question 4: I read aloud to help me understand what I read

Question 5: I read slowly and carefully to make sure I understand what I am reading

Question 6: I review the text first by looking at characteristics like length and organization

Question 7: I underline or circle information in the text to help me to remember it Question 8: When reading, I decide to read closely and what to ignore

Question 9: I use reference materials (e.g a dictionary) to help me understand what I read Question 10: I stop from time to time to think about what I am reading

Question 11: I use context clues to help me better understand what I am reading Question 12:I try to picture or visualize information to help remember what I read Question 13:I go back and forth in the text to find relationship among ideas in it Question 14:When I read, I guess the meaning of unknown words or phrases

Question 15:When reading, I translate from English into my native language

The researcher made reading tests be the main instrument used in this study and reading test will be administered as the pretest and the posttest The tests were administered to the group of the study The pretest was designed with the contents from unit 1 to unit 10 of new English 10 textbook And the same instrument was used as posttest designed with the contents from unit 1 to unit 5 of new English 11 textbook Volume 1

Both of the tests include 2 parts: part 1 consists of the title of the test, time allowance and space to require students to fill in their full names Part 2 is the content of the test which has 3 passages with 20 multiple-choice reading comprehension questions for students to read the passage and choose the best answer for each question Each correct answer will get 0.5 point, and the total mark of the test is mark 10 Reading comprehension questions in both tests require students to use specific skills such as scanning for specific information, skimming for general ideas, guessing meaning from the context, drawing inference and making reference

The pretest was done by the students of class 11A5 before starting the lessons The purpose of doing pretest is to get reading score of the students before doing treatment In pretest, the researcher asked students to read the passages

33 carefully and choose the best answer for each question Students were advised to recollect the topics they had studied in grade 10 to predict and understand the content of the passages In addition, they were encouraged to try their best and feel relax, not worrying about the marks they would get

After all the lessons accomplished, the group was given the post test Posttest was administered after finishing of giving treatment The purpose of doing posttest is to get the students’ reading score after doing treatment In the posttest, the students were evaluated individually like in the pretest The form of posttest is similar to pretest.

Data analysis

The data collected through the questionnaire and the two tests were analyzed using Microsoft Excel application The results were analyzed with the support of figures, tables and charts

Table 3.2: Analysis and Statistical tools

1 Students’ using metacognitive strategies Frequency

2 Comparison on the performance of the students T-test

This chapter presents a review of the methodology of the study It describes in detail the subjects of the study, the research design - the action research was used in one cycle, the setting of the study, the participants were 39 students grade 11 th , the procedures and the data instruments and data analysis

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Analysis of the information collected from the survey questionnaires

Table 4.1: The number and percentage of the students using the reading strategies

Always Often Sometimes Rarely Never

I take note while reading to help me understand what I read 6 15.38 10 25.64 18 46.15 5 12.82 0 0.00

I think about what I know to help me understand what I read 11 28.21 10 25.64 12 30.77 4 10.26 2 5.13

I take an overall view of the text to see what it is about before reading it 8 20.51 17 43.59 5 12.82 5 12.82 4 10.26

4 I read aloud to help me understand what I read 4 10.26 5 12.82 11 28.21 12 30.77 7 17.95

I read slowly and carefully to make sure I understand what I am reading 5 12.82 15 38.46 11 28.21 5 12.82 3 7.69

I review the text first by looking at characteristics like length and organization 5 12.82 15 38.46 15 38.46 3 7.69 1 2.56

I underline or circle information in the text to help me to remember it 9 23.08 18 46.15 10 25.64 2 5.13 0 0.00

8 When reading, I decide to read closely and 5 12.82 7 17.95 10 25.64 13 33.33 4 10.26

I use reference materials (e.g a dictionary) to help me understand what I read 9 23.08 12 30.77 9 23.08 6 15.38 3 7.69

I stop from time to time to think about what I am reading 8 20.51 10 25.64 15 38.46 6 15.38 0 0.00

I use context clues to help me better understand what I am reading 5 12.82 14 35.90 16 41.03 3 7.69 1 2.56

I try to picture or visualize information to help remember what

I go back and forth in the text to find relationship among ideas in it 6 15.38 18 46.15 12 30.77 3 7.69 0 0.00

When I read, I guess the meaning of unknown words or phrases 7 17.95 10 25.64 16 41.03 4 10.26 2 5.13

When reading, I translate from English into my native language 5 12.82 8 20.51 16 41.03 8 20.51 2 5.13

Table 4.1 shows the number and percentage of the students using the reading strategies As we can see in the table, most of the students use all of the strategies with different frequencies and each strategy shown in the table was applied by different number of students

Referring item number 1 “I take note while reading to help me understand what I read”, 6 students accounting for 15.38% always use this strategy, 10 students

(25.64%) often use it, 18 students (46.15%) sometimes use it, 5 students (12.82%) rarely use it and no student (0%) chooses the last frequency “never”

For item number 2 “I think about what I know to help me understand what I read”, 11 students (28.21%) always use this strategy, 10 students (25.64%) often use it, 12 students (30.77%) sometimes use it, 4 students (10.26 %) rarely use it, and

For item number 3 “I take an overall view of the text to see what it is about before reading it”, 8 students (20.51%) always use this strategy, 17 students

(43.59%) often use it, 5 students (12.82%) sometimes use it, 5 students (12.82%) rarely use it, and 4 students (10.26%) never use it

For item number 4 “I read aloud to help me understand what I read”, 4 students (10.26%) always use this strategy, 5 students (12.82%) often use it, 11 students (12.82%) sometimes use it, 12 students (30.77%) rarely use it, and 7 students (17.95%) never use it

For item number 5 “I read slowly and carefully to make sure I understand what I am reading”, 5 students (12.82%) always use this strategy, 15 students

(38.46%) often use it, 11 students (28.21%) sometimes use it, 5 students (12.82%) rarely use it, and 3 students (7.69 %) never use it

For item number 6 “I review the text first by looking at characteristics like length and organization”, 5 student (12.82%) always uses this strategy, 15 students

(38.46%) often use it, 15 students (38.46%) sometimes use it, 3 students (7.69%) rarely use it, and 1 student (2.56%) never uses it

For item number 7 “I underline or circle information in the text help me to remember it”, 9 students (23.08 %) always use this strategy, 18 students (46.15%) often use it, 10 students (25.64 %) sometimes use it, 2 students (5.13%) rarely use it, and 0 student (0%) never uses it

For item number 8 “When reading, I decide to read closely and what to ignore.”, 5 students (12.82%) always use this strategy, 7 students (17.95%) often use it, 10 students (25.64%) sometimes use it, 13 students (33.33%) rarely use it, and 4 students (10.26%) never use it

For item number 9 “I use reference materials (e.g a dictionary) to help me understand what I read.”, 9 students (23.08%) always use this strategy, 12 students

(30.77%) often use it, 9 students (23.08%) sometimes use it, 6 students (15.38%) rarely use it, and 3 students (7.69%) never use it

For item number 10 “I stop from time to time to think about what I am reading”, 8 students (20.51%) always use this strategy, 10 students (25.64%) often use it, 15 students (38.46%) sometimes use it, 6 students (15.38%) rarely use it, and no students (5.13%) never use it

For item number 11 “I use context clues to help me better understand what I am reading.”, 5 students (12.82%) always use this strategy, 14 students (35.9%) often use it, 16 students (41.03%) sometimes use it, 3 students (7.69%) rarely use it, and 1 student (2.56%) never uses it

For item number 12 “I try to picture or visualize information to help remember what I read”, 5 students (12.82%) always use this strategy, 15 students

(38.46%) often use it, 14 students (35.9%) sometimes use it, 5 students (12.82%) rarely use it, and no student (0%) never uses it

For item number 13 “I go back and forth in the text to find relationship among ideas in it”, 6 students (15.38%) always use this strategy, 18 students

(46.15%) often use it, 12 students (30.77%) sometimes use it, 3 students (7.69%) rarely use it, and no student (0%) never uses it

For item number 14 “When I read, I guess the meaning of unknown words or phrases.”, 7 students (17.95%) always use this strategy, 10 students (25.64%) often use it, 16 students (41.03 %) sometimes use it, 4 students (10.26%) rarely use it, and

For item number 15 “When reading, I translate from English into my native language.”, 5 students (12.82%) always use this strategy, 8 students (20.51%) often use it, 16 students (41.03%) sometimes use it, 8 students (20.51%) rarely use it, and

In general, most students often use item number 3 “I take an overall view of the text to see what it is about before reading it”, item number 5 “I read slowly and carefully to make sure I understand what I am reading”, item number 6 “I review the text first by looking at characteristics like length and organization.”, item number 7 “I underline or circle information in the text help me to remember it”, item number 9 “I use reference materials (e.g a dictionary) to help me understand what I read.”, item number 12 “I try to picture or visualize information to help remember what I read” and item number 13 “I go back and forth in the text to find relationship among ideas in it” They sometimes use item number 1 “I take note while reading to help me understand what I read”, item number 2 “I think about what I know to help me understand what I read”, item number 6 “I review the text first by looking at characteristics like length and organization”, item number 10 “I stop from time to time to think about what I am reading”, 11 “I use context clues to help me better understand what I am reading”, item number 14 “When I read, I guess the meaning of unknown words or phrases.”, and item number 15 “When reading, I translate from English into my native language” The students rarely use item number 4 “I read aloud to help me understand what I read”, and item number

8 “When reading, I decide to read closely and what to ignore”

4.1.2 Result of Using Global Reading Strategies, Problem- Solving Reading Strategies and Support Reading Strategies

4.1.2.1 Result of Using Global Reading Strategies

Table 4.2: The number and percentage of the students using the Global

I think about what I know to help me understand what I read

I take an overall view of the text to see what it is about before reading it

I review the text first by looking at characteristics like length and organization

I use reference materials (e.g a dictionary) to help me understand what I read

I use context clues to help me better understand what I am reading

Table 4.2 shows the frequency and percentage of students using the metacognitive reading Global 5 items of Global Reading Strategies are item number 2 “I think about what I know to help me understand what I read”, , item number 3 “I take an overall view of the text to see what it is about before reading it”, , item number 6 “I review the text first by looking at characteristics like length and organization”, , item number 9 “I use reference materials (e.g a dictionary) to help me understand what I read”, and item number 11 “I use context clues to help me better understand what I am reading” On average 7.6 turns of students

(19.49%) always use this reading strategy group, 14 turns of students (34.87%) often use it, 11 turns of students (29.2%) sometimes use it, 4.2 turns of students (10.77%) rarely use it, and 2.2 turns of students (5.64%) never use it

In addition, Global Reading Strategies were reported to be the most frequently used strategies, especially “previewing text before reading” and determining what to read” and “using prior knowledge” As drawing attention these strategies are usually encouraged as a pre-reading activity in textbooks and teachers preferred to active students’ “prior knowledge “about the content of text so the participants of the previous study might favor these strategies (Sheorey, R, 2001)

4.1.2.2 Result of Using Problem -Solving Reading Strategies

Table 4.3: The number and percentage of the students using the Problem-

I read slowly and carefully to make sure I understand what

When reading, I decide to read closely and what to ignore

I stop from time to time to think about what I am reading

I try to picture or visualize information to help remember what I read

When I read, I guess the meaning of unknown words or phrases

Table 4.3 shows the frequency and percentage of students using the Problem- Solving Strategies 5 items of Problem- Solving Strategies are item number 5 “I read slowly and carefully to make sure I understand what I am reading”, item number 8 “When reading, I decide to read closely and what to ignore”, item number 10 “I stop from time to time to think about what I am reading”, item number 12 “I try to picture or visualize information to help remember what I read”, and item number 14 “When I read, I guess the meaning of unknown words or phrases” On average, 6 turns of students (15.38%) always use this reading strategy group, 11 turns of students (29.23%) often use it, 13 turns of students (33.8%) sometimes use it, 6.6 turns of students (16.92%) rarely use it, and 1.8 turns of students (462%) never use it

Moreover, in the previous study of Mokhtari, K., & Sheorey, R (2002), the participants in that study preferred to apply the strategy of “guessing unknown words from context” most frequently among problem-solving strategies This strategy is usually encouraged in the courses and the learners are usually trained to apply this strategy if they encounter any comprehension problem due to an unknown word

4.1.2.3 Result of using Support Reading Strategies

Table 4.4: The number and percentage of the students using the Support

I take note while reading to help me understand what I read

I read aloud to help me understand what I read

I underline or circle information in the text to help me to remember it

I go back and forth in the text to find relationship among ideas in it

English into my native language

Analysis of the information collected from pretest and posttest

Table 4.5: Distribution of Pretest Scores

In the table 4.5, no student could get good mark 8, 9 or 10 There were 5 students (12.82%) got mark 7 The number of the students who got average mark (mark 5, 5.5, 6, ad 6.5) was 16 (41.03%) The remainders who got mark below the average were 18 students (accounting 46.15%) It is not surprising because most students pay attention to studying English grammar and they do not like reading in English, so they are not good at reading comprehension

Table 4.6: Distribution of Posttest Scores

As we can see in the table 4.6, after applying metacognitive strategies in reading lessons, the students seemed to get improvement in reading skills and get better marks in the posttest It can be seen that students' results in the posttest were partly improved There were no students who got mark 1.5 compared with the pretest results although there was still one student (2.56%) get the lowest mark

(mark 2), the total number of the students who got marks below average mark was 5 students (12.82%), much less in compared with that of the Pretest The number of students gaining mark 5, 5.5, 6, 6.5 increased from 16 to 26 students (66.67%) Whereas, there were still 5 students achieving mark 7 However, surprisingly, there were 2 students getting mark 7.5 and one student getting mark 8, which was not seen in the result of the Pretest

4.2.3 Comparison of Data on the Pretest and Posttest Scores of the Students

Figure 4.1 Distribution of Pretest and Posttest Scores

Figure 4.1 shows the distribution of the pretest scores and posttest scores of the students It is evident from the figure that the scores in the posttest have increased as compared with the scores in the pretest The highest score which used to be 7 has increased to 8 and lowest score which used to be 1.5 has also increased to 2 This indicates that the students have acquired learning based on the metacognitive strategies (See Appendix 5)

4.2.4 Test of Difference between the Pretest and Posttest Scores of the Students

Table 4.7: Test of Difference between the Pretest and Posttest Scores of the students

Mean Difference t computed t tabulated Remarks

Table 4.7 shows the comparison of the mean score of students in the pretest and posttest The difference of the means in pretest and posttest using the metacognitive strategies is significant when tested at α = 0.05 The computed value of t is equal to 11.9 which is higher than the tabulated t-value which is equal to 2.02 (See Appendix 6) Therefore, with 95% level of confidence, it can be implied that the mean score of students in the pre-test is lower than the post-test using the metacognitive strategies or there is a significant difference between mean scores of students in the pretest and posttest using the metacognitive strategies α = 0.05.

Discussion

The result of the questionaires implied that most of the strategies listed in the table were employed by the students However, some students never used some of these strategies Comparing the use of three categories of these reading strategies, the Global Reading Strategies were frequently employed slightly higher than the Problem-Solving Strategies and Support Reading Strategies

The comparison of the mean score of students in the pretest and posttest indicates that the students have gained mastery of the subject matter when exposed to this modern instruction The increased level of performance of the students in the post-test scores also shows that there are improvements in the amount of learning and retention (Peter, 2000) The concepts of verbs were not only re-learned, moreover, using the metacognitive strategies, the students were able to practice and rehearse the application of the principles through the drill activities In this method,

49 the students relearned the principles, acquired information and learned the application of the concepts of verbs, thus, an increase in the level of language performance

In this chapter the research results collected from the survey questionnaires, pretest and posttest are summarized and discussed The analysis of the information collected from the questionaires shows the frequency of using the diferent reading strategies, among which Global strategies were used more than two other groups The analysis of the information collected from pretest and posttest show that result of the posttest is higher than that of the pretest In other words, the result shows the progress of students in practicing reading comprehension skills

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Conclusion

It is necessary for students to improve their English proficiency, especially reading comprehension skills In this study, the researcher aimed to investigate what reading strategies that students use when they read in English, and implemented metacognitive strategy to help them improve their reading comprehension skills Subjects of the research were 39 students of class 11A5 at Que Vo high school number 3 in Bac Ninh province The major data collection instruments were questionnaires, pretest and posttest

After the implementation, data collected were summarized and analyzed to look for the answers to the two research questions:

1 What are students’ reading strategies?

2 To what extent do metacognitive strategies improve students’ English reading comprehension skills?

Regarding the first question “What are students’ reading strategies?”, students’ reading strategies in reading comprehension were shown in the result of the questionnaires Three groups of Global, Problem -Solving and Support reading strategies were employed by the students However, some students never used some of these strategies Comparing the use of three categories of these reading strategies, the Global reading strategies were frequently employed slightly higher than the Problem-Solving reading strategies and Support reading strategies The Global reading strategies were used most and then comes, Support and Problem Solving in respectively

Concerning the second research questions: “To what extent do metacognitive strategies improve students’ English reading comprehension skills?”, the data that collected from T-test has clarified the impacts of metacognitive strategies on students’ reading comprehension skills The benefits were shown through the marks

51 compared in T-test Before applying metacognitive strategies, the low scores were much, the high scores were little However, after applying metacognitive strategies, the problem became different because the increase of average marks and good marks and the decrease of bad marks The implementation of metacognitive strategies has proved to make positive.

Recommendations

Based on the findings of the study, the researcher would propose some recommendations

As for teachers of English, they may use metacognitive strategy to improve students’ reading comprehension skills, and should be recognized of the advantages of metacognitive strategy Some of researchers think that metacognitive strategy is the frequently used in learning strategy, and the teachers should stimulate the students by conducting metacognitive strategy in learning English

The teachers could develop students’ deeper understanding of text, it also improves the students’ thinking to higher level, and it steers the students into adulthood when the students would transfer use of these skills from their school lives to their personal lives and continue to apply them as they mature In the first step, planning is to design the activities and behaviors that they should do Monitoring is used to control and manage their activities in learning process In evaluating, for finding out what are their strength and weakness in learning English

If the students applied this strategy, hopefully they could improve their skill in reading comprehension skills and could get perfect score in teaching learning process Also, they should have the full knowledge of different reading strategies, especially metacognitive reading strategies so that they can teach students how to apply these strategies effectively

In addition, teachers should design suitable activities, or find extra reading materials in order that students will have chance to practice reading skills Moreover, teachers should make their lessons more attractive to the students to get them engaged in the reading lessons Apart from this, teachers should guide students use suitable strategies when dealing with each kind of reading questions

As for students, they should be informed about the importance of reading skills and reading in English They should be aware of the different reading strategies, and have chance to practice the strategies Also, they should be more active in both learning in class and their self- studying at home

Moreover, the researcher suggests to other researchers The researchers expected to conduct research about the use of metacognitive strategies to improve students’ reading comprehension skills The researcher hopes that, the other researchers add the media when they apply this strategy and make the students more interest in the learning process This research could be a reference for other researchers to develop further research and also suggested to future research what are learning distraction that found by the students in learning English.

Limitations

Although the study was conducted with the best effort of the researcher, limitations were unavoidable Due to the time constraint and the requirement to follow a fixed syllabus, the researcher could not fully follow ongoing cycles of an action research The results would be better if she revised her plan and acted again

Another limitation relates to the data collection instruments The instruments used for this study includes questionnaires and T-test Though the data collected were sufficient, all are quite subjective as it largely based on the respondents’ personal opinions Therefore, it is better to include some objective data such as pretest and post-test results to increase the reliability of the data as well as the interpretation of the information collected.

Recommendations for further research 52 REFERENCES I APPENDICES VII APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS VII APPENDIX 2: PRETEST FOR STUDENTS IX APPENDIX 3: POSTTEST FOR STUDENTS XIV APPENDIX 4: TABLE READING SCORING RUBRIC XIX APPENDIX 5: SCORES OF THE STUDENTS’ PRETEST AND POSTTEST XXI APPENDIX 6: T-TEST: PAIRED TWO SAMPLE FOR MEANS XXIII APPENDIX 7: LESSON PLANS

Metacognitive strategies have been proven to be useful and effective in not only in learning foreign languages but also studying other subjects This study only focused on one class with 39 students, and the instruments were questionnaire and t- tests The next researches should have a bigger population in grade 10 and 12, and the interview and observation should be used to make the result more reliable In addition, gender and motivation should be considered in the future research

In this chapter, the writer summarizes the main points, presents the recommendations and limitations of the thesis and provides some suggestions for further research The result of the study shows that the implementation of metacognitive strategies made effective However, there are still some limitations that can be made better in future studies Some recommendations for other teachers of English, students as well as further researches are given.

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APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS

This questionnaire aims at surveying the students’ strategies in reading in English in class 11A5 at Que Vo high school number 3 This will be treated as needed analysis for the study which will be carried out to help you improve in reading English comprehension skills The data collected will also be used in my graduation thesis, and your contribution is of great value for my research paper

Questionnaire on Students’ Use of Reading Strategies

Each statement is followed by five numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and each number means the following:

1 I take note while reading to help me understand what I read

2 I think about what I know to help me understand what I read

3 I take an overall view of the text to see what it is about before reading it

4 I read aloud to help me understand what I read

5 I read slowly and carefully to make sure I understand what I am reading

6 I review the text first by looking at

5 4 3 2 1 characteristics like length and organization

7 I underline or circle information in the text to help me to remember it

8 When reading, I decide to read closely and what to ignore

9 I use reference materials (e.g a dictionary) to help me understand what I read

10 I stop from time to time to think about what I am reading

11 I use context clues to help me better understand what I am reading

12 I try to picture or visualize information to help remember what I read

13 I go back and forth in the text to find relationship among ideas in it

14 When I read, I guess the meaning of unknown words or phrases

15 When reading, I translate from English into my native language

(Adapted from SURVEY OF READING STRATEGIES by Kouider Mokhtari and Ravi Sheorey, 2002)

Thank you for your cooperation!

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions

Electronic devices are becoming increasingly common in educational environments The term most commonly used for such devices is "educational technology" This is not actually a new idea, as the rewritable wax tablets, often with lined surfaces to guide novice writers used in antiquity or the blackboard itself are both instances of technological innovations to support pedagogy

There are many different ways in which electronic devices are used in education For example, students in STEM (science, technology, engineering medicine) fields have been making extensive use of sophisticated calculators for many years (the abacus and slide rule were non-electronic predecessors to calculators)

In humanities as well as sciences, students use computers or equivalent devices to do research and write papers

In all fields, courses are now likely to have websites, and many instructors use course management software such as Blackboard, to post information for students, record grades, set up online discussions, and check for plagiarism

In lecture classes, many instructors project slides or notes on a screen and may even upload lecture notes so that students can review them Some courses are hybrid, meaning that they have a strong online component, or offered entirely online Many courses taught in conventional lecture halls are streamed online, and may use devices such as clickers to become more interactive

Any device (including tablets or cell phones) that instructors incorporate into a learning environment functions as educational technology

1 According to the passage, the term "educational technology" refers to

A electronic devices used in education B the rewritable wax tablets used in STEM

C sophisticated calculators D course management software

2 The word "instances" mostly means

A special types B typical cases C excellent chances D right occasions

3 The word "extensive" in the passage is closest in meaning to

4 The word "they" in the passage refers to

5 According to the passage, which of the following does NOT function as educational technology?

A the blackboard B the abacus C the tablet D the cellphone

The issue of equality for women in British society first attracted national attention in the early 20 th century, when the suffragettes won for women the right to vote In the 1960s, feminism - the belief that women and men are equal in abilities and should have equal rights and opportunities - became the subject of intense debate when the women's lib movement encouraged women to reject their traditional supporting role and to demand equal status and equal rights with men in areas such as employment and pay

Since then, the gender gap between the sexes has been reduced The Equal Pay Act of 1970, for instance, made it illegal for women to be paid less than men for doing the same work, and in 1975 the Sex Discrimination Act aimed to prevent either sex having an unfair advantage when applying for jobs In the same year the Equal Opportunities Commission was set up to help people claim their rights to equal treatment and to publish research and statistics to show where improvements in opportunities for women need to be made Women now have much better employment opportunities than formerly, though they still tend to get less well-paid jobs than men, and very few are appointed to top jobs in industry

Many people believe that there is still a long way to go before women are treated as equals in employment In education, however, girl's and women's

XI opportunities have improved rapidly and in public employment there are policies to increase the proportion of women employed, which is still very low at senior levels

6 According to the passage, what happened when British women won the right to vote for the first time?

A The whole society change their viewpoint on the matter of feminism

B The matter of equality for women attracted national attention

C Men and women in British society gained equal rights and opportunities

D Women and men in British society were equal in abilities

7 The word 'intense' in the passage is closest in meaning to

8 When was the Equal Opportunities Commission established in the UK?

9 According to the passage, which of the following supports research for the sake of women?

A The Equal Pay Act B The Equal Opportunities Commission

C The Sex Discrimination Act D The Equal Rights Amendment

10 Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A Women no longer have to play their traditional role

B Women are now paid the same as men for the same work

C Women are still unable to approach top jobs in industry

D Women can never reach high rank in public employment

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions

Music can be happy, sad, romantic, sleepy, spine-tingling, healing - all kinds of things But what is it? Some people define it as an artful arrangement of sounds across time Our ears interpret these sounds as loud or soft, high or low, rapid and short, or slow and smooth The sounds need to continue for a time in some sort of pattern to become music

Music, like language, is a uniquely human form of communication As with language, there are many different kinds In North America, people listen to jazz,

XII rock, classical, folk, country, and many other kinds of music Each kind of music has its own rules and “speaks” to us in its own way

What we think of as music depends on where we live What Americans are used to listening to might sound strange to someone from another culture, and vice versa It might not even sound like music In Indonesia, gamelan orchestras play music on gongs, drums, and xylophones These aren't the instruments you'd find in a typical orchestra in North America

Today, modern communications make it possible for us to listen to music from all over the world Music from one part of the world influences music from another part For example, gamelan music from Indonesia influenced 20th-century American composers such as John Cage

No one knows for sure when music began Perhaps while people were working, they began to chant or sing to make the work go faster People who were repeating movements - picking crops or rowing boats, for example - could sing or chant in time to the work Navajo Indians, for example, had corn-grinding songs Many cultures developed work songs

Over time, people developed musical instruments They might have started by clapping their hands and stamping their feet Sticks and objects that rattled could have replaced the human body as early instruments Both instruments and music became more complex with time

Today, many cultures divide music into art music and music of the people Art music, which we call classical music, is more complicated than the music of the people - folk music and popular music Art music is generally harder to write and perform Musicians who perform it need a lot of training Popular and folk styles typically are easier to create, perform, and understand

11 Which of the following is given a definition in paragraph 1?

12 The word "interpret" in the passage is closest in meaning to

13 What has enabled music of one nation to influence that of another?

14 Why is John Cage mentioned in paragraph 4?

A To show how he has an influence on Indonesian music

B To represent famous music composers in the 20th century

C To illustrate how music from one region can influence that of another

D To suggest that Indonesian music is related to American music

15 According to paragraph 5, why did people sing to chant at work?

A To repeat the movements B To make the work go faster

C To compose work songs D To make the work harder

16 The word "They" in the passage refers to

17 The word "rattled" in the passage mostly means

A made mistakes B done harms C made sounds D done wonders

18 The word "complex" in the passage is closest in meaning to

19 Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage?

A Music and language are forms of communication only used by human beings

B People's locations can influence on their concept of music

C People developed musical instruments before they chanted at work

D Ordinary people may find art music hard to understand

20 Which of the following does the passage NOT discuss?

A What music is B When music began

C How music is categorized D Who composed

(Adapted from: “Sách bài tập trắc nghiệm Anh 10- tác giả Nguyễn Thị Chi 2018” )

(Adapted from “Em học giỏi tiếng Anh lớp 11 – tập 1, Tác giả Đại Lợi, Nguyễn Thị Thu Huế, Nhà Xb Đại học Quốc Gia Hà Nội, 2020”)

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