skkn cấp tỉnh using some methods to help students improve reading skill in grades at to hien thanh high school thanh hoa city

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HOÁ TRƯỜNG THPT TÔ HIẾN THÀNH SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM USING SOME METHODS HELP STUDENTS IMPROVE READING SKILL IN GRADES AT TO HIEN THANH HIGH SCHOOL, THANH HOA

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HOÁ

TRƯỜNG THPT TÔ HIẾN THÀNH

SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM

USING SOME METHODS HELP STUDENTS

IMPROVE READING SKILL IN GRADES AT

TO HIEN THANH HIGH SCHOOL, THANH HOA CITY

Người thực hiện : LÊ THỊ HÀ Chức vụ : Giáo viên

THANH HOÁ, NĂM 2024

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims of the study 2

1.3 Subjects of the study 2

1.4 Methods of the study 2

PART 2: CONTENT 4

2.1 Literature review 4

2.1.1 Readings 4

2.1.2 Reading skills 4

2.2 The reality of the students's readingskills in the study of English at To Hien Thanh High School 4

2.3 The produce of using reading skills to improve students’ skills in review for the National Exam for the students of class B6 at To Hien Thanh High School in Thanh Hoa city 4

2.3.1 Time and Measurement 5

2.3.2 The ways of using reading skills in English language classrooms 5

PART III CONCLUSION 10

3.1 Conclusion 10

3.2 Suggestion 11

REFERENCE 13

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

English is one of the core subjects, which are complusory in the GCSE examination or the National Examination for upper- secondary school students Therefore, students have invested a lot of time in studying it

However, it can be said that most of the students are stressed and frustrated about this subject Some feel completely hopeless and feel they will never be able to understand and do the test well especially with vocabulary questions

There is a fact that students understand everything their teacher taught in class but find themself struggling at home when they attempt the vocabulary questions and reading parts in English mock tests

Many students sometimes struggle to remember things for exams Even they get overwhelmed as the teacher progresses with the syllabus worried that they are forgetting the things they studied a week, two weeks or a month ago This is a situation that many students find themselves in Some study techniques have scientifically been proven that will exactly solve these problems and substantially improve the student’s grades Two highly effective scientifically proven techniques are reading skills

Reading skills,as the skill suggests, students actively recall the information that they have learnt This constant retrieval of information helps them to move information from short-term to long-term Moreover, by constantly making the brain retrieve specific information, the brain will be able

to form stronger muscle memory that will allow students to draw information whenever they need it When students simulate their brain to process and remember new information, they can improve their English proficiency and learn easily

Reading skillsallows students to acquire information before they would forget and keep it constantly fresh in their mind The concept is simple: students learn a new word, and then they see it a few days later, then a few weeks later, etc The more they study a new word, the easier they remember it In the end, it will stick into your long-term memory

Therefore, there are a large range of benefits teachers can have for using some methods help students improve reading skillsin English teaching in general

and review for the National High School Exam in particular This makes them one of the best and most motivating methods in the classroom, regardless of the background of the students

For these above reasons, I would like to choose the topic: USING SOME

METHODS HELP STUDENTS IMPROVE READING SKILL IN GRADESAT TO HIEN THANH HIGH SCHOOL, THANH HOA CITY

In the hope of motivating the students of class B6 at To Hien Thanh High school in studying English in general and reviewing in order to prepare better for their English test on The National High School Exam in particular I also expect that these scientific methods are possible to increase the students’ interest in the study of English at school and help them get higher marks in this exam as well

It is hoped that both students and other teachers will find some useful reference for their learning and teaching in this study

1.2 Aims of the study

The study is aimed to help the students:

- Learn English vocabulary in English tests easier, then remember them longer

- Become familiar with English vocabulary used in tests and prepare better for the National High School Exam

- Create an enjoyable asmophere and reduce the stress

- Increase the students’ interest in the study of English

1.3 Subjects of the study

The study is carried out with 43 students of the class B6 who have been learning English for 7 years( 4 years at lower secondary school, more than two years at high school).These students study at To Hien Thanh High School in Thanh Hoa city

Among 43 students who take part in the study, many of them are not good

at English, they only remember and know some simple words or phrases However, they have mobile phones which can be connected by wifi or 3G everyday

1.4 Methods of the study

In order to achieve the above aims, the teacher use practice tests ( the same form as The illustration Test 2023 of Ministry of Education and Training)

as materials not only to improve the students’ vocabulary but also help them

remember what they have learned in the study of English as a second language Students will have time to study vocabulary and revise many times to remember before forgetting them After practising these two methods in a period of time, they will gradually improve their vocabulary and master more words and phrases and prepare better for the English test on the National High School Exam

In this study, theory study, observation, data collection and analysis, discussion as well as evaluation are mainly used to achieve the aims of the study

PART 2: CONTENT 2.1 Literature review

2.1.1 Readings.

English reading passages are short texts and paragraphs written in English, helping English learners practice and improve their reading comprehension skills English readings are very diverse in genre, such as stories, short stories, short paragraphs, conversations

2.1.2 Reading skills.

Reading skill is often rarely mentioned in English learning tips, but it is one of the important skills and requires learners to have a serious training process to be able to deeply understand content of documents Especially in IELTS, this skill is even more emphasized and the English test on the National High School Exam

2.2 The reality of the students's readingskills in the study of English

at To Hien Thanh High School.

Although students who are in grade 12 have been learning English for 7 years or even 10 years(3 years in primary schools), they still feel that English is

a very difficult subject, especially reading skill Many students do not receive sufficient exposure at home They have many difficulties in understanding English sentences as well as using their knowledge to do the tests because of the lack of reading skill

Additionally, the students who study at To Hien Thanh High School in Thanh Hoa city do not have much opportunities to use English outside classrooms Thus, with 3 periods at school, they find it difficult to understand

text as well as reading skill Those are the reasons why their English are not good, even there are many students who do not know anything about English

All this turned this subject into something horrible and boring to tears in order not to get good marks

Therefore, motivating students, improving and developing their reading skill and language skills are really necessary and important in their English learning and in their final test in the National Exam as well

2.3 The produce of using reading skills to improve students’ skills in review for the National Exam for the students of class B6 at To Hien Thanh High School in Thanh Hoa city

2.3.1.Time and Measurement

2.3.1.1.Time

The study is carried out at extra English lessons in the afternoon The students of class B6 have four English lessons per week at class but using these methods as warm-up activites are applied twice a week with short passages Every lesson is repeated three times Students study at home( words and phrases are up on the group of the class on Facebook or on Shub classroom)

The study lasts nearly 3 months ( from April 4th 2023 to June20th2023) In this study, there are 6 tests are used

2.3.1.2 Measurement

Assessment of the students’s reading skill and language skills in the study

of English is based on their language development and motivation they have

In this study, I myself evaluate the students’ reading skill and language skills through the definition of the word given on Practice test, their understanding about reading skills as well as their English skills Moreover, my observation about their improvement compared to their level at the beginning to see whether the students are able to remember and recognize and use reading skills that they learnt when they do the test

Moreover, I also have discussion with my students and my colleage working with me at To Hien Thanh High School on using the following reading skills

2.3.2 The ways of using reading skills in English language classrooms.

For students in class 12B6, the teacher chose texts that are very familiar, realistic and easy to understand to helps them and understand easily They understand mostly from what they receive through their senses, that is to say,

Some principles on using some methods to improve the students’ English reading skills and language skills

This proceduce is divided into three stages: + Preparation

+ Presentation + Production

2.3.2.1 Preparation stage (Teacher’s preparation before the lesson) 2.3.2.2 Presentation stages

Step 1: Teacher’s Presentation

Step 2: Students’ Presentation

2.3.2.3 Production stages

2.3.3 Some suggestions in reading skills selection.

Basing on format of the English test this year and the content of units in English 12 textbook and the students’knowledge I recommand some practice tests such as:

- The English Illustration test in 2023 (of Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training)

-Practice test 1

- Practice test 2

- Practice test 3

-Practice test 4

-Practice test 5

Practice Tests offer popular topics, so it is not difficult for teachers to reading skills that are suitable for the students to review for their National High School Exam

Here are an illustrating example The steps and activites I have proposed for the example chosen can equally be appiled to any Practice tests with five skills have chosen

2.3.3.1 Skill 1-identifying the topic and the main of the passage.

To answer questions about the topic and the main ideas of the passage follow these steps:

Step 1: Read the first several sentences for the topic and the main ideas Step 2: Read the last sentences for the conclustion and posible restatement

of the topic and main ideas

Step 3:Skim the rest of the passage for the key words that will confirm the topic and the main ideas and show the organization of the passage

Step 4:Read the first questions about the passage and anwser it

Step 5:Read the anwser choices Eliminate any anwsers that definitely wrong and choose the best anwser from the remaining ones

Think about the following passage Read questions about the topic of a passage are often worded as follows :

Question 1: With what is this passage mainly concerned?

Question 2:What is the topic of this passage?

Question 3:This passage mainly discusses……

Question 4:What does this passage mainly discuss

Question 5:This passage deals mainly with…

Question 6: What is the subject of this passage?

2.3.3.2 Skill 2-understanding details and comprehension questions.

The reading skills of skimming and scanning are very important when you need to read quickly for information Skimming means reading quickly for general meaning.You skim reading material to find out about the topic.the main ideas, and the general organization of passage.Scanning means knowing what information you need to find before you read.Then your eyes move quickly to find that particular information.You can when you are looking for a fact or a detail or particular word

In this lesson, you will learn reading skills related to understanding and comprehension

details.The followings are the commom question types of this technique Question 1:Wh- questions ( what, where, when, why, how …….)

Question 2:All of the followings are mentioned in the passage EXCEPT…

Question 3:Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?

2.3.3.3 Skill 3-identifying referents.

The reading comprehension section often includes question on reference words Reference words are those words in a passage that refer back to concepts

mentioned earlier in the passage or refer forward to words or phases that will be introduced We use reference words in English to avoid repeating the same word

Reference words help to tie together the whole passage so that it is easier

to understand

Reference words are usually pronouns , but may also be possessive adjectives or specified items Some examples of reference words are It, its, this, one, they, them, their,those………

The followings are the commom question types of this technique

Question 1:The word “ their” in line 6 refers to

Question 2:The pronoun “they” in line 7 refers to

Question 3:The phrase “ these men” in line 10 refers to

2.3.3.4 Skill 4-understanding vocabulary in context.

How to make use of context in reading passages

Most writers try hard to help their readers to understand the information in

a reading passage.They do this by providing “cues” or “ aids” in their writing to clarify ,define, and explain difficult concepts , key words and expressions in the passage

In the following example sentences ,common context cues in written discourse are illustrated for the words “ adversity” that may be :contrast, example, definition, appositive, series, parallelism, Wh-marker, reason, use your knowledge of the word and personal experiences

2.3.3.5 Skill 5-check to make inferences.

Questions on the reading comprehension section often ask you to use your understanding of the facts and details which are directly stated in a reading passage to make an inference about the passage Information that is not directly stated in the passage is said to be implied by the author Questions about implied information may be about a part of the passage.You may be asked to draw conclusion about the passage itself or to make predictions about another realated situation

For an example : Think about the following sentences and questions,

In last year’s competition, of the five contestants chosen, one was from White Springs, two from other towns in Idaho, and the rest from neighboring areas of the Pacific Northwest

Using the facts of the text itself, we can make several inferences about this sentence

Explanation

Question 1:What or Where is White Springs?

We can infer that White Springs is a town in Idaho, based on the phrase

other towns in Idaho.

Question 2:Where is Idaho?

We can infer that both White Springs and Idaho are in the Pacific

Northwest , based on from neighboring areas of the Pacific Northwest.

After using Active Recall and Space Repetition and at the beginning of two lesson per week during nearly two months, the teacher recogized that students were eager to wait for the vocabulary word and using English with the tests the teacher select

Another finding is that the students become familiar with English pronunciation and accent at the same time as they know more about the vocabulary and develop their language skills as well as share a good moment with their classmates

According to the measurement scale , the level students received when they did the tests was determined by their confidence, ability to remember language skills in the topics and improve their reading skills as well

The students were asked to do the same trial test at the first lesson and last lesson of the study The result had changed dramatically

Table: The result of the trial test of the students in class B6 who understand reading skills at the beginning and the end of the study in comparision with measurement scale

Skill 1 15 students 43 students

Skill 2 13 students 43 students

Skill 3 12 students 41 students

Skill 4 10 students 40 students

Skill 5 5 student 35 students

In other words, there was a link between the students’ vocabulary with the development of language skills in general and the reading skills in particular The more they improve reading skill, the more their English skills develop