Chuyên đề tốt nghiệp: Reading comprehension difficulties among second[1]year business english students at national economics university and some solutions

INTRODUCTION 00 oc ccccccecccccesceececeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeseeseteteeaeeeees 1 1.1 Background to the sfudly G5 2 1S v9 ng giết 1 1.2 Aims of the SfUdy - Gà LH TH TH TH HH HH ng Hiệp 2 1.3 Research quesfẽOnS . SG Ă ng ng ng nhiệt 2 1.4 Scope of the sfudly - - - HH HH TH HH HH Hiệp 3 1.5 0,02

LITERATURE REVIEW LH re 4 "PC an —Ầ3Ÿ3ŸŸ

Reading models cccccccccescceseesseessessceseeeseeesecnseseeeaeseseceeeesenseeeseenneeas 5 1 The bottom-up H1OCẽ€ẽ 5 SH tru 6 2 The top-down IHOèGèẽL 7 5c 321883 3E EESEEEEEeEEEreerereeeereerrse 6 3 The interactive TIOđè€ẽL 2G tk vi 7 2.2 Reading comprehensionn - - - S1 vn SH HH HH ng re, 8 2.2.1 Definition of reading cornpr€hi€e'SIOH óc cccsssiseiteerxssreses 8 2.2.2 The roles of reading comprehension à So ccccsseeeeexesreses 9 2.2.3 Reading comprehension difficulties -cccccscccsecrseereerses 10 2.2.3.1 Linguistic Gifficulties cccccccccsccccccccssccesscsessecesscsescsseeeeseeeesessaeenses 10 2.2.3.2 Non-linguistic dIƒfẽCHỈTâS cv HH rệt Il

Three well-known models are often employed to decode the reading process, i.e., bottom-up, top-down and interactive.

Nguyễn Hong Nhật- 11193946- Business English 61B

Gough (1972) was the original theorist behind the bottom-up model which supposes that reading starts from small parts (letters, words, sounds) to whole (meaning, comprehension) In other words, it is known as a text-driven, word- driven or data-driven system.

Figure 2 The Bottom-up Model

In detail, via this model, learners build up their reading process with graphemes and phonemes as the foundation of the sequence Then, they embark on the second stage called the lexical level which is the transformation of first- level characters into words and collocations As a continuation, these inputs are converted into meanings that generate knowledge acquisition.

However, because the whole flow is fixed one way from the beginning to the end, no higher-level information can return to alter lower-level components (Rumelhart, 1997) Alderson (2000) presented another disadvantage, 1.e., designating readers to be passive decoders of the semantic-syntactic chain In this way, the reader needs little pre-existing knowledge and instead, relies heavily on the textual meaning With disregard to the reader’s role, the contribution of the bottom-up method to students’ reading comprehension is deemed of minor importance (Johnson, 2001).

The top-down model was put forward by Goodman (1967) in the scientific field sooner than the bottom-up model The former is reader-driven or knowledge- driven, running from whole to part, completely different from the latter.

Level II Syntax (language pattern)

(letter/sound elationshup) Level Ill

Figure 3 The Top-down Model

In the top-down course, learners initially approach a reading material with their own textual prediction and expectation hinged on their fundamental knowledge This allows them to detect intelligible meaning and interpret complicated parts of the text Evidently, owing to the downward flow of information, word identification depends on the meaning or the readers’ language abilities They hypothesize the forthcoming word and use meaning to validate their forecast If meaning is constructed, readers resample the text and form a new hypothesis.

Although many researchers recommend this model, there are cautions from the risk of inaccurate comprehension through applying schemata to texts without much regard for what the texts actually say (Johnson, 2001) This scenario even worsens in environments where students are deprived of the obligatory conditions to sharpen their knowledge and schemata.

Neither the bottom-up nor the top-down model works individually for a fruitful and comprehensive reading process, Rumelhart (1977) devised a synthetic model combining the two types and referred to it as a “message board”.

As the diagram depicts, the message board collects all sources of knowledge: syntactic, orthographic, semantic and lexical to facilitate word identification It is speculated that the message center keeps a record of premises about the input, scans the pattern synthesizer for the hypotheses relevant to its own sphere of knowledge, and then gauges those speculations which will be either approved or disapproved Reading, according to Rumelhart, is hence neither a bottom-up nor top-down process, but incorporation of both.

Aligned with Rumelhart is Harmer (2002), who emphasized the necessity of the interactive model which simultaneously demonstrates the build-up of minute agents to the achievement of understanding and the big picture overview in link with readers’ expectations to the detailed understanding of small elements To Ahmadi et al (2013) statement, the joint approach admits the contribution of both lower-level processing skills (word recognition) and higher-level comprehension and reasoning skills (text interpretation).

The understanding of reading comprehension varies from researcher to researcher Grabe and Stoller (2002) explained reading comprehension as the vocabulary apprehension and formation of main ideas that can be put into new interpretations From Block (2002)’s point of view, reading comprehension is not a step but a complex process that incorporates the reader’s role in making sense of the content with the help of relevant reading skills Grabe (2009) again reclaimed the importance of reading comprehension as the center of reading Readers read to

Nguyễn Hong Nhật- 11193946- Business English 61B comprehend the conveyed message in the written text Following this mindset, Akyol et al (2014) also asserted in their paper that the prime purpose of reading is to understand what the passage is about Reading lacking comprehension is meaningless.

Yogurtcu (2013) proposed a more detailed explanation, i.e, “the process of reading comprehension provides a link between thinking, textual content, and the reader’s level of readiness, expectations and objectives of reading” Similarly, Russell (2013) emphasized that reading involves the problem-solving intention of the reader, particularly critical thinking and reflection Subsequently, Yukselir

(2014) considered reading comprehension as the outcome of combining text, environment, the reader’s history, reading techniques and decision-making altogether.

Other researchers place reading comprehension definition concerning linguistic nature Tompkins (2011) referred to reading comprehension as a creative process that depends on four elements: syntax, semantics, pragmatics and phonology Then, according to Gilakjani & Sabouri (2016), the reader must utilize reading skills such as word recognition, grammatical understanding and prior knowledge to achieve reading comprehension.

2.2.2 The roles of reading comprehension

As commented by Ahmadi et al (2013), reading comprehension is the measurement of gauging one’s passage understanding, which raises a high need to teach reading comprehension for foreign languages Gayo et al (2014) pointed out the cross-sectional essence of reading comprehension by which the entire academic learning process is influenced In particular, by serving as a root of enriching linguistic features such as vocabulary and grammar, it contributes to enhancing relative skills like speaking and writing.

Admittedly, reading comprehension in English is growing strongly within every community to create a prosperous society as knowledge and information in STEM majors as well as books, international businesses, etc are written and performed mainly in this language (Lo et al., 2013) In practice, reading comprehension is implied to be the core piece of becoming an accomplished individual (Vorstius et al., 2013) and of both educational and career attainment

METHODOLOGY .000 ccc eceecceceecceseeseeseeeeeeeeeeaeeeeeeseeeeeaeeaeeaees 15 3.1 z8

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To gain accurate and reliable results and accomplishing the purposes of the research, a questionnaire and interview were used as an instrument to collect data.

The questionnaire includes four main parts Part one is designed to get the participants' background information and their reading level in the latest semester at the university Parts two and three consist of sub-problems in both linguistic and non-linguistic aspects to gather participants’ opinions about problems in reading comprehension The Likert five-point scale corresponding to the following degrees: "Strongly disagree", "Disagree", "Neutral", "Agree" and "Strongly agree" was employed to gather and measure the answers The final part discovers students’ reactions when facing such difficulties By the use of questionnaires, the privacy of the respondents has been protected so the students can deliver honest responses to assist the progress of the study.

The interview is intended to re-analyze the authenticity of the questionnaires and gauge the effectiveness of several solutions in class according to students' opinions.

Step 1: Design the questionnaire The questionnaire items were designed from the division of elements in chapter 2 and the purposes of the research.

Step 2: Deliver the questionnaires to the instructor and a few students for a pilot study and then adjust the questionnaire.

Step 3: Distribute the online questionnaires to 50 BE students through social media.

Step 4: Gather data from the questionnaire and transfer it into figures and tables.

The data amassed from the survey is examined in styles of charts, tables and descriptive statistics.

50 replies in the survey are all authentic and useable for the research The in-depth inspection is shown in the following chapter titled “Analysis and findings”.

ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS .ccocceieeeee 17 4.1 The linguistic difficulties of reading comprehension

4.1 The linguistic difficulties of reading comprehension

8 Strongly disagree #Disagree Neutral SAgree Strongly agree

Figure 5 Data analysis of vocabulary difficulties

V1: I often have difficulty guessing the meanings of some new or unfamiliar words when reading.

V2: I have difficulty understanding technical terms (law, chemistry, etc.) in the reading.

V3: I have difficulty understanding idioms, proverbs, and collocations in the reading.

V4: I have difficulty understanding metaphor, simile, metonymy, and personification in the reading.

Derived from the chart, the second element (V2) attracted the highest approvals (40), occupying up to 80% of the total results This indicates that technical terms in the reading are the biggest challenge for the students on the way to achieving reading comprehension Following closely V2's report are the troubles of understanding figures of speech (V3 and V4), with the summed outcomes of

"agreement" and "strong agreement" being 39 and 38 respectively Accordingly,

Nguyễn Hong Nhật- 11193946- Business English 61B these figures when converted to percentages make up over 70% for each unit. Although the word meaning section (V1) displayed a larger figure of "neutrality" than the other three at 16 votes, it still received more "agreements" throughout the five measurements at 27 in total Noticeably, only a minority showed no difficulties in vocabulary, which is less than 10 votes of both "strongly disagree" and "disagree" statements throughout four claims.

In summary, the respondents seem to share major struggles in understanding various kinds of vocabulary in reading materials, with the strongest votes for "agreement" and the weakest votes for "disagreement" volumes This pattern could be explained by the nature of the Business English department Since the major covers a wide range of reading topics, mainly economics-related, and provide deep insight into the essence of English, it is understandable that the students have a hard time getting used to the extensive exposure to extensive vocabulary, challenging them of understanding the reading content.

8 Strongly disagree #Disagree Neutral “#Agree Strongly agree

Figure 6 Data analysis for syntactic difficulties

SĨ: [have difficulty understanding readings that use a wide range of tenses.

S2: I have difficulty understanding compound sentences (2 independent clauses linked with “for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so”) in the reading.

S3: Ihave difficulty understanding complex sentences (1 dependent clause + 1 independent clause For e.g.: conditional sentences) in the reading.

S4: Ihave difficulty understanding relative clauses in the reading.

S5: I have difficulty understanding passive-voice sentences in the reading.

Another area that was considered as a part of the reading comprehension problems is syntax, or in another word, grammar Within the five items that were adopted, S5, S2, and S4 received the most disapprovals from individuals, which was only a few votes away from each other, at 34, 33, and 31 correspondingly The three occupy more than 60% of their separate calculations Meanwhile, S1 and S3 also experienced a narrow result in the neutrality column, with 16 for the former and 15 for the latter However, the "disagreements" in both units are still higher than in other points, meaning that readers have no distinct problems in decoding grammar in a text.

Overall, grammatical subjects (tenses, types of sentences, components) are not intimidating hurdles for second-year BE students, which is likely thanks to the sound grammatical foundation built and reinforced during the K12 school years.

4.1.3 Most difficult linguistic aspect (Appendix A)

Which linguistic aspect do you have the most difficulty in?

Figure 7 Most difficult linguistic aspect

According to the pie chart, it is clear that BE sophomores face more difficulties in vocabulary than grammatical understanding when reading While the vocabulary

Nguyễn Hong Nhật- 11193946- Business English 61B feature occupies the largest part of the pie, which is 78%, syntax only accounts for 22%.

TF1 TF2 TF3 TF4 TF5 TF6

8 Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree

TF 1: I have difficulty understanding long readings.

TF2: I have difficulty understanding readings that describe unfamiliar topics and contents.

TF3: I have difficulty understanding unfamiliar genres (fiction, biography, folklore, poetry, etc.).

TF4: I have difficulty understanding unfamiliar text types (report, discussion, narrative, etc.).

TFS: I have difficulty understanding readings that do not have a fixed outline.

TFO: I have difficulty finding the main and detailed ideas in the text.

One of the most important aspects of non-linguistic difficulties is text features Among the six elements, readings with unfamiliar topics and contents (TF2) stand out as the most taxing to the participants, accumulating up to 33 votes, equivalent to 66% Subsequently, in line with drawing a significant number of agreements, all over 20, are TF3, TF5, and TF6, hinting that learners also view

Nguyễn Hong Nhật- 11193946- Business English 61B strange genres, a messy outline and finding main and detailed ideas to be difficult. Noticeably, 16-17 voters either agreed or disagreed to run into problems understanding unfamiliar text types (TF4) or long exercises (TF1).

In short, text features are a considerably powerful item in designating one's reading comprehension This is attributed to the complexity and depth of the element itself.

I have difficulty understanding readings that do not relate to the background knowledge in my mind.

8 Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree

From the bar chart, the lack of prior knowledge is reported to trouble the readers remarkably during the comprehension process 31 respondents, which is equal to 62%, mutually agreed to face a block of understanding without the pre-existing information about the text 13 of them felt that a shortage of advance knowledge does not really prevent them from gaining an understanding Only a few were able to be independent of the effects of this factor on reading comprehension.

4.2.3 Reading strategies (Appendix A) (Refered to the theory of reading strategies, page 13 and 14)

Figure 10 Reading comprehension strategies awareness and usage

From the collected data, it is clear that students' consciousness and usage of the listed reading comprehension strategies differ markedly Only with summarizing have they all had the chance to practice reading Subsequently, 44 (88%) of them know and use monitoring strategy and 39 (78%) choose predicting as the frequently used strategy, putting them in second and third place With these three being the leading strategies, it seems that students pay close attention to the text's content and try hard to understand it fully by abridging the ideas, keeping track of their reading process, and preparing themselves for upcoming paragraphs.

In contrast, making connections, visualizing, and questioning are the least known and used reading comprehension strategies, with the first one staying in the last place This suggests that linking text details with outside information, creating pictures and graphs to see the content, or generating questions are not well-known strategies among students or they can be not as helpful as other strategies.

8 Strongly disagree #DIsagree Neutral #Agree #Strongly agree

RS1: I have difficulty finding and choosing the right strategies to help myself understand the reading.

RS2: I have difficulty using reading strategies to help myself understand the text's meaning.

In reading strategies measurements, the two statements illustrate similar order, with the results do not stay far from one another Both showed a larger number of agreements compared to other levels, specifically 22 for finding and choosing the right strategy and 24 for using them However, there is also a noticeable quantity of neutrality and disagreement between the two elements, proving that reading strategies barely hinder readers' understanding of the content.

4.2.4 Most difficult non-linguistic aspect (Appendix A)

Which non-linguistic aspect do you have the most difficulty in?

@ Text features (length, outline, writing style, genre, topic)

@ Prior knowledge (knowledge relating to the text)

@ Reading strategies (finding & choosing/ using)

Figure 12 Most difficult non-linguistic aspect

Figure 13 clearly illustrates the rank of non-linguistic difficulties from the students' votes Specifically, "Reading strategies" experienced the highest choice, standing at 46%, then followed by "Prior knowledge" at 40% Only 14% of the voters showed trouble in the "Reading strategies" aspect when reading.

4.3 Students' responses to reading comprehension difficulties (Appendix A)

What do you do when you encounter the reading problems above?

Use the dictionary for vocabulary understanding Search grammar structures to understand ˆ44 (88%) -22 (44%)

Translate the text to Vietnamese 35 (70%)

Write down the explanation after 0, searching pa

Stop reading 4 (8%) do more and more reading I: (2%) exercises

Figure 13 Responses to reading comprehension difficulties

The way students respond to the reading comprehension difficulties when facing them varies differently To tackle the vocabulary problems, they use a dictionary for meanings and usage, which is the most turned-to solution at 88% of votes Following 1s the translation of texts to the students’ mother tongue with 70% ticks Searching for grammar structures and writing down the explanation after searching are the next two useable practices with close outcomes, correspondingly at 44% and 48% The least voted choices among the options are "stop reading" and

"keep doing reading exercises", with 8% and 2% each.

Five students from two different reading classes were invited to share their thoughts on the topic for further investigation.

In response to the first question (Do you encounter a lot of linguistic troubles when reading? What are they?), all interviewees stressed that unfamiliar vocabulary makes the text more complicated and harder to comprehend Some of

Nguyễn Hong Nhật- 11193946- Business English 61B them incorporated other linguistic aspects in the answers such as grammar structures For example, Participant | said, “With grammar and structure, many of the reading essays include complex and compound sentences, and some of them are not common expressions in the native language In terms of vocabulary, there are plenty of new and academic terms that are new to English learners” Likewise, the contributors were also asked the same question but with non-linguistic aspects (Do you encounter a lot of non-linguistic troubles when reading ? What are they ?). While three of them mutually listed background knowledge and one elaborated that "foreign factors such as culture, history, geography, etc that English learners have never heard of could make the reading less comprehensible", the other two coincidentally provided the same factor, which was time management topped with a bad memory.

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