EFFECTS OF READING STRATEGY INSTRUCTIONS ON ELEVEN GRADERS’ PERFORMANCE: A STUDY AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN KHANH HOA PROVINCE EFFECTS OF READING STRATEGY INSTRUCTIONS ON ELEVEN GRADERS’ PERFORMANCE: A STUDY AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN KHANH HOA PROVINCE
Introduction
Research Rationale
English is widely utilized in a variety of fields, including politics, economy, tourism, telecommunication, culture, science, and technology Since Vietnam implemented its open-door policy toward regional and international integration, English has gained increasing importance As a result, to meet the expanding demands in a rising nation like Vietnam, Vietnamese students must have a strong command of English.
Along with speaking, listening, and writing, reading is one of the four language skills taught in the English language learning process Reading is regarded as the most crucial skill among all others Snow (1998) stated that “reading is essential to success in our society The ability to read is highly valued and important for social and educational advancement.” In addition, according to Komiyama (2009), “reading supports the development of overall proficiency and provides access to crucial information at work and in school.” Reading in a second or foreign language has been a significant component of language learning over the past forty years (Zoghi et al., 2010) This significance has made reading education an important issue in educational policy and practice for English language learners (Cheung & Slavin, 2005)
However, reading is a complex, interactive cognitive process of extracting meaning from text There are a lot of difficulties for the learners to achieve the goal of mastering the content of the text and completing the enclosed task in the reading requirement In 1998, Vogel indicated that about 52% of adults with reading problems had difficulties in learning a foreign language (Vogel & Reder, 1998).
Schiff and Calif (2004) further explained that EFL students had reading problems due to a lack of understanding and awareness of how to use reading strategies The researcher needs to determine the causes of the learners' problems with English reading comprehension On the other hand, the main objective of all reading is about the competence to understand a reading text It implies that reading can be effective if readers can fully understand the reading text The process of comprehending the reading text is not an easy task for the students In this case, the teacher should employ various techniques to enhance the learners' reading comprehension It aims to aid students in remembering new lexical items from the reading text in addition to helping them quickly absorb general information in the reading text Olviyanti et al (Olviyanti et al., 2011) claimed, “Reading comprehension strategies are tools that proficient readers use to solve the comprehension problem they encounter in texts.” As a result, EFL students must acquire sufficient reading strategies to construct the text's meaning.
Many high school students find reading comprehension to be one of the most difficult aspects of the graduation examination The difficulties encountered by these language learners may be explained by a lack of reading strategies and a lack of background knowledge of the given topics or the world in general It is easy to see that reading is an everyday ordinary task to which little thought is given, yet it is one of the most important skills that learners acquire at school because it serves as the foundation for all further learning When reading in a foreign language is a laborious, unpleasant, and unsuccessful experience, readers are often unwilling to read in the target language This explains why most EFL students dislike reading inEnglish.
In addition, the parents’ unstable income which still depends much on the farm work influences partly the quality of education because most of the family cannot afford to invest in their children’s studies Another reason is that a few parents whose thought is not progressive are unaware of the importance of English and let their children focus on Maths, Physics, and Chemistry Moreover, the student’s background of knowledge is rather lower than other schools in the region.
Besides, English is a foreign language in Vietnam, and English language students may have difficulties in comprehending reading text Many high school students find reading comprehension the most difficult when taking their graduation exams.
These language learners' difficulties may be explained due to a lack of reading strategies and background knowledge of the topics Locally, the issue is frequently raised in group meetings.
As an English teacher, the researcher has always understood the significance of developing students' reading skills Teachers must discover what motivates students to read Teachers must reawaken adolescent students' passion for reading.
Therefore, teachers must investigate the difficulties that individual students face By examining the issue, teachers can not only assist their students in overcoming reading challenges but also foster and develop the motivation that already exists in engaged readers In addition, practicing reading skills regularly is always an interest of the researcher After reviewing related studies in terms of content and subject, the researcher found some literature gaps that could be addressed in this study such as the research participants, sample size, local student population, and research tool.
This inspired the researcher to carry out this study “Effects of reading strategy instructions on eleven graders’ performance at a high school in Khanh Hoa Province”
Research Aim and Objectives
The general aim of this study is to investigate the effects of reading strategy instructions on eleven graders’ performance at the investigated highschool
The specific objectives are set as follows:
- To investigate the difficulties in learning the reading skill perceived by EFL eleven graders
- To examine the effects of reading strategy instructions on EFL eleven graders’ reading performance.
Research Questions
With the objectives stated above, the study focuses on answering two research questions:
1 What are EFL eleven graders’ difficulties perceived in learning the reading skill?
2 What are the effects of reading strategy instructions on EFL eleven graders’ reading performance?
Research Scope
The study aims to find out the difficulties in learning the reading skills perceived by students in grade 11 and the effects of reading strategy instructions on their performance., The research scope was narrowed down to 80 students from two classes in grade 11 at Nguyen Chi Thanh High School, in Khanh Hoa Province.
Students study all four English skills in the official textbook; however, the study is limited only to students’ English reading skills The study was conducted in the second semester of the academic year 2022 - 2023.
Research Significance
Practically, this research is likely to contribute to the following implications for many people Firstly, this research assists English teachers in selecting effective methods for boosting students' reading comprehension Secondly, students can understand the types of learning strategies to accelerate and improve their reading skills In addition, learners can practice the concept of a good learning strategy for reading on an academic and daily basis Today’s students must be standardized in English to “actively participate in the global community” (Vietnamese Ministry of Education, The Decision No 1400/QĐ-TTg, 2008) The Project of Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages in the National Education System from 2008 to 2020 was formed in 2008 specifically to increase student achievement in these areas.
Improving students’ English standards has become the mandate across all schools in Vietnam (Vietnamese Ministry of Education, Decision No 1400/QĐ-TTg, 2008).
The researcher believes that all teachers in schools can positively influence students’ achievement and can play a significant role in students’ reading development This paper is beneficial to both teachers and students in upper secondary school Thirdly, this research is considered a useful reference or source of future data and also helps future researchers move forward with a deeper insight for improving reading comprehension The role of reading skills in getting better other linguistic skills, as well as the role of reading skills in our educational systems, is considered
Theoretically, conducting reading strategy research in the context of multilingual developing countries likely helps curriculum developers to make constructive decisions about the improvement of programs This study contributes to studies on reading ability in Vietnam Collecting different sets of data is to depict a clearer picture of the use of strategies It is hoped that the findings of this study can contribute to basic reading knowledge and serve to stimulate curiosity and interest to know more about strategy instruction approaches to teaching reading comprehension.
Structure of the Thesis
Thesis is presented in five chapters: Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Findings and Discussion, Conclusions and Implications.
Chapter 1, Introduction, presents the rationale, which introduces the reasons why the researcher chose to conduct the study, the aim, the research questions, the scope, the significance and the structure of thesis.
Chapter 2, Literature Review, examines several underlying theoretical constructs that framed this study It also examines the relevant literature regarding 1) Definition of reading, 2) Teaching reading, 3) Difficulties in reading comprehension, 4) Reading Strategies, 5) The importance of strategies in the learning process, 6) Reading strategy instruction, 7) Types of reading tasks in the textbook “TIẾNG ANH 11” and strategies in reading comprehension, and 8) Previous related studies on the implementation of EFL students’ learning reading skills.
Chapter 3, Methodology, explains the research methods Firstly, it presents the research approach Secondly, it describes the research setting and participants.
Thirdly, it introduces the research instruments used to collect data Lastly, this chapter comes to an end with the procedure to conduct the study
Chapter 4, Findings and Discussion, reports the results of the study First of all, the pre-test result is introduced Second, the post-test result is presented Then, the information collected from the questionnaire is analyzed to give an in-depth explanation of the findings Last, the interview transcription analysis is the final finding of this chapter.
Chapter 5, Conclusions and Implications, concludes the report of the study.
First, it summarizes the main findings of the study Then, it suggests the research implications Finally, the limitations of the study and the suggestions for future research make the last part of this chapter.
Literature Review
Theoretical Background
Reading is defined differently by each individual According to Antar Abdellah (2010), “Reading is an interactive skill In this respect, the mental processes involved are similar to those employed while listening In both, the students are engaged in decoding a message rather than encoding Both require more than just a passive knowledge of the vocabulary and structure of the language” It is iin accordance with Harris’s claim, “Reading is the meaningful interpretation of printed or written verbal symbols which also involves sensing, perceiving, achieving meaning, learning, reacting in a variety of ways” (Albert Josiah Harris, 1962) Additionally, Patel and Jain (2008) contend that reading is a skill that requires the capacity for recognition and comprehension and that it is an essential activity that keeps people up to date Nuttal (1982) defines reading as a meaningful interpretation of printed or written verbal symbols It means that reading is a result of the interaction between the students; perception of graphic symbols that represent a language and their knowledge of the world In this process, the reader tries to recreate the meaning intended by the writer.
Also, Grabe et al (2011) assert that vocabulary and syntax are automatically recognized when someone is reading From these definitions, reading is an effort on the part of the learners to assimilate or convey the information and meaning from the text by comprehending, absorbing, interpreting, and giving the written form meaning
Therefore, it can be concluded that reading involves more than just looking at words represented by symbols on a page; it also involves understanding the meaning of individual words in order to comprehend a text's content and to extract information from it.
Teaching reading is the act of instructing individuals or groups on how to derive meaning from text When learning to read, learners are instructed to "guess" the word they don't understand by using context clues and critical thinking techniques To put it another way, teaching reading is a multi-stage process that includes pre-, during, and post-reading to drive a book's content and build students' reading skills so that they can read an English text efficiently Furthermore, Alysousef 2006) asserts that modern reading tasks have three procedural stages pre-, during-, and post-reading - in contrast to conventional reading materials Pre- reading can help students engage the relevant schema While-reading is intended to improve students' ability to deal with literature by broadening their linguistic and technical knowledge, the post-reading stages include exercises, cut-up sentences, and comprehension questions to help students improve their comprehension abilities Alyousef also asserts that reading class activities are divided into three stages: pre-, while- and post-reading.
2.1.2.1 Pre-reading Activities Pre-reading stages occur before students begin to read This stage aims to acquaint students with the material they will be reading in order for them to gain a basic understanding of the content and purpose of reading At this point, teachers attempt to engage students' schema related to the topic or quickly explain the text's contents Giving children fundamental text-related questions and guessing the content of a reading text based on the title or image in a text are two activities that can be done at this level.
2.1.2.2 While-reading Activities A reading activity is something the reader does while reading This activity’s goal is to help the reader understand the content of a text At this point, the teacher may assign students tasks such as highlighting key points, determining the purpose of the text, and determining its structure.
2.1.2.3 Post-reading Activities A post-reading activity is something that readers do after they finish reading This stage is intended to assess students'/readers' comprehension of the materials they have read In this section, the instructor can engage in a variety of activities, such as asking understanding questions and leading small group discussions Furthermore, Duffy (Gerald G Duffy, 2009) states that when teaching reading comprehension, teachers should consider two factors First, reading comprehension is a knowledge-based skill It implies that in order to explain the reading text to students, teachers ought to be familiar with it Second, teachers must use effective strategies because reading is a complex cognitive and linguistic activity that requires deciphering alphabetic symbols.
The process by which students recognize and interpret their reading comprehension problems is referred to as students' perception Gunning (Gunning, 2002) separates the reading issues into three categories: (1) Problems of language knowledge, (2) Problems of background knowledge, (3) Problems of motivation, (4) Problems of reading strategies, and (5) Problems of reading knowledge It means that the students' reading comprehension problems are caused by more than one factor.
First, phonological knowledge, semantic knowledge, syntactic knowledge,morphemic knowledge, and pragmatic knowledge are all problems of language knowledge Second, background knowledge issues, or the condition in which readers discover discrepancies between their prior knowledge and what the author intended in the text (Yi, 2006) Another issue with background knowledge is the difficulty in understanding some cultures' loaded words and phrases, even if the reader knows every word in the text (Gunning, 2002, p.8) Third, there are motivational issues, or students are less motivated to read Less motivation to read is also one of the reasons students struggle to meet their reading comprehension goals (Alderson, 2000) If students are not interested in the topic they are reading about, they may struggle with reading comprehension On the contrary, if the students are truly interested in the topic, it can become an important factor because positive motivation plays a significant role in reading development, which promotes comprehension, so that the students may be motivated to read other topics Fourth, reading strategy issues or situations in which students used inappropriate reading comprehension strategies Readers can process the text more efficiently if they have a good reading comprehension strategy On the contrary, if readers use a poor strategy, they will struggle with reading comprehension In conclusion, reading strategy demonstrates how readers comprehend a text, read a text, and respond when they encounter difficulties with reading comprehension Finally, problems with the reading process or the condition in which students are unable to focus until the end of a passage Readers appear to forget what they have already read at times, forcing them to go back and reread it In short, some aspects of reading problems can impair students' comprehension.
2.1.4.1 Defining Strategies There have been some significant variances in the concept of learning strategies The following is Rubin's general definition of learning strategies: “Learning strategies are strategies which contribute to the development of the language system which the learner constructs and effect learning directly” (Rubin, 1987).
According to Oxford (Rebecca L Oxford, 1990), “Learning strategies are specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self- directed, more effective and more transferable to new situation” These definitions are thought to be extremely thorough because they include both the cognitive and emotive components of learning processes O'Malley and Chamot (1990) put out the definition that has been mostly accepted to this point They believe that learning techniques are “the special thoughts or behaviors that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn or retain new information” Despite being brief, the definition captures the most crucial features of learning strategies, namely that they are both behavioral and mental and may be uniquely described Their definition is thorough; thus, the current study uses it as the main focus of its analysis The classification of language learning strategies has been done by numerous academics Nonetheless, O'Malley and Chamot's approach has received the most positive and helpful feedback (1990) According to the information processing model, on which O'Malley and Chamot's study is based, three major categories of strategies are recognized in their framework: metacognitive, cognitive, and social/affective The three parts that follow will present the three categories of language learning methodologies.
2.1.4.2 Metacognitive Strategies Metacognitive strategies are “higher order executive skills that may entail planning or monitoring, or evaluating the success of a learning activity” (O’Malley & Chamot, 1990, p.44) All of the metacognitive learning techniques, which O'Malley and Chamot (1990) divide into seven categories, can be used for a range of learning tasks The following techniques would be applied as metacognitive techniques for language reading comprehension tasks:
1 Planning: previewing the main ideas and concepts of the material to be learnt, often by skimming the text for the organizing principle.
2 Monitoring: Checking one’s comprehension during listening or reading checking the accuracy and/ or appropriateness of one’s oral or written production while it is taking place
3 Self-evaluation: Checking the outcomes of one’s own language against a standard after it had been completed.
2.1.4.3 Cognitive Strategies Cognitive strategies are “more directly related to individual learning tasks and entail direct manipulation or transformation of the learning material”(O’Malley & Chamot, 1990) Cognitive learning strategies are classified into fourteen categories, according to O'Malley and Chamot (1990, p.119).
These cognitive strategies, however, may be limited in their application to the specific type of task in the learning activity Typical reading comprehension strategies discussed in the cognitive category include:
1 Repetition: Imitating a language model, including overt practice and silent rehearsal.
2 Grouping: Classifying words, terminology, or concepts according to their attributes or meaning.
3 Deduction: Applying rules to understand or produce the second language making up rules based on language analysis.
4 Imagery: Using visual images (either mental or actual) to understand or remember new information.
5 Elaboration: Relating new information to prior knowledge, relating different parts of new information to each other, or making meaningful personal associations with the new information.
6 Transfer: Using previous linguistic knowledge or prior skills to assist comprehension or production.
7 Inferencing: Using available information to guess the meaning of new items, predict outcomes, or fill in missing information.
8 Summarizing: Making a mental, oral, or written summary of new information gained through listening and reading.
2.1.4.4 Social/ Affective Strategies Finally, social/affective strategies are known as “a broad grouping that involves either interaction with another person or ideational control over affect” (O’Malley and Chamot, 1990, p.45) The following are definitions of the social/affective strategies:
1 Questioning for clarification: Eliciting from a teacher or peer additional explanations rephrasing, examples, or verification.
2 Cooperation: Working together with one or more peers to solve a problem,pool information, check a learning task, model a language activity, or get feedback on oral or written performance.
3 Self-talk: Reducing anxiety by using mental techniques that make one feel competent to do the learning task.
In general, the presented affective strategies are thought to be applicable to a wide range of tasks They would, however, be used for listening comprehension rather than reading comprehension.
2.1.5 The importance of strategies in the learning process 2.1.5 The importance of strategies in the learning process
Previous Related Studies
Reading is one of the most studied topics in EFL Hundreds of studies have been conducted around the world to investigate, examine, and explore various issues related to EFL reading, all motivated by a genuine desire to better understand reading and the reading process The ultimate goal is to help learners become better readers who can use reading for personal, academic, and professional advancement.
A few studies have been conducted to investigate EFL students' learning reading skills.
Nguyen Thi Lap (Nguyen Thi Lap, 2010) conducted the reviewed study, entitled “Reading strategies to improve reading comprehension of students at Thai Nguyen College of Economics and Technology (TNCET)” The study aimed to examine how efficiently the reading strategies were used in reading classes in English at TNCET The participants in this study were 30 first-year non-English majors specializing in Economics and Business Management at TNCET The instruments included tests and questionnaires to collect data on the reading strategies employed by the first-year Economics and Business Management students Reading strategies were regarded as essential in Vietnam for improving reading comprehension and overcoming reading comprehension failures The concepts of "self-learning", "life-long learning‟, and “teaching methods innovation” were familiar to both teachers and students Students could efficiently acquire and use most of the L2 reading strategies in reading classes if teachers provided clear guidelines and ample practice time A small number of reading strategies, such as transfer and imagery strategies, should be given more time and practice A study looked at the reading strategies used by students in the same major as well as those from different majors at TNCET to see if different reading strategies yielded the same efficiency The study was conducted in a short period, so the results' validity was limited.
Yaseen & Awad (2013) conducted the reviewed study, entitled “The reading difficulties in English and how to deal with them as perceived by teachers and students in Nablus District” This study sought to identify the most common reading difficulties in English and how to address them for tenth graders in the Nablus district, as perceived by English teachers and students alike The study looked at how teachers' variables (gender, qualification, and years of experience) and students' variables (gender) affected having reading difficulties in English and how to deal with them The researcher created two different data collection instruments to achieve the study objectives: two questionnaires and an interview The study's findings revealed that students' reading difficulties in learning English were exacerbated by their reading behaviors Furthermore, the content (textbook), teaching aids, and teaching methods all had an impact on the reading difficulties.
Based on the study's findings, the researcher suggested holding training courses for teachers to provide them with the necessary experience to teach their students reading skills correctly.
The previous study, entitled “Students' perceptions on the use of reading strategies, reading difficulties, and factors affecting their reading performance: A case study of a technical English class”, was carried out by Viriya Paksasuk (Paksasuk, 2013) This case study investigated Thai university students' perceptions of reading strategies, reading difficulties, and factors influencing their reading performance Thirty-one students participated in this study Students' reflective journals and semi-structured interviews served as research tools When the students practiced reading English texts and wrote about their reading experiences in their reflective journals, they reported that they used a variety of reading strategies learned in class, gained a better attitude toward reading English, and improved their reading ability Their reading difficulties stemmed from a lack of vocabulary, pronunciation issues, and L1 interference in translation The findings assisted teachers in better preparing reading instructions and activities to help students become better readers.
Vu Tue Minh (2014) conducted the reviewed study, entitled “An action reading strategy instruction for 11th grade students at An Duong Vuong HighSchool” This action research project was designed to improve students' reading comprehension in a regular 11th-grade classroom by increasing their awareness of and use of reading strategies Data were gathered using a variety of instruments,including pre and post- assessment tests, the Metacognitive Strategy Index (MSI),and questionnaires The findings showed that the learners' use of reading strategies improved, along with their comprehension of the reading strategies These findings raised intriguing questions about the application of reading strategy instruction in the context of foreign language learning Because of the limitations in teaching, teachers should temper any expectations of achieving rapid success Despite some positive findings, the study revealed some limitations that might be noted before the results could be generalized Among them, the limitation originated from the sample size of the study which was restricted to only a group of 20 students Therefore, the researcher’s study on more participants was overcome in order to get more evidence on the effects of applying the reading strategy instruction in teaching and learning English reading skills
Roshan Ali Teevno & RB Raisani (2017a) conducted the study under review,
“English reading strategies and their impact on students’ performance in reading comprehension” The goals of this study were to investigate the strategies that students use to learn English and to determine the impact of these strategies on students' reading comprehension performance at the secondary school level The fundamental techniques for learning English in Pakistan are learning strategies A survey was conducted to identify the learners' learning strategies and their impact on the learners' reading comprehension performance A sample of 359 students was drawn at random from the Higher Secondary Schools and Intermediate Colleges in the district of Naushahro Feroze in Sindh Pakistan The study's data were gathered using a questionnaire, an interview protocol, and a reading comprehension test.
According to the findings, students used a variety of reading learning strategies,including reading aloud, silent reading, summarizing the reading texts, outlining grammatical structures and patterns contained in the reading texts, answering simple questions, looking up the meaning of new vocabulary, and translating English texts into their mother tongue The conclusion reached was that students employed various reading strategies and that these strategies had an effect on their reading comprehension In terms of gender, there was no significant difference in the use of strategies and their impact on reading performance, while students in urban areas outperformed their peers in rural areas.
Nguyen Thi Thanh (2019) performed a related study, entitled “An investigation into reading strategies used by EFL students at high school” This study attempted to investigate some of the difficulties that high school readers might face The second focus of the study was to identify effective reading strategies that might assist students in better comprehending a reading task The study included 75 students from various high schools in Quang Ninh The majority of the chosen students reported difficulties with vocabulary and comprehension of the subject matter Reading under time constraints was also difficult According to the study's findings, appropriate reading strategies and adequate reading practice might be solutions to the problems presented.
The International Journal of Instruction published the previous study reviewed Fathi, J., & Afzali, M (2020) conducted a study, which was entitled “The effect of second language reading strategy instruction on young Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension” The study sought to investigate the impact of second language reading strategy instruction on young Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' reading comprehension To achieve this goal, 48 Iranian EFL students aged 11 to 13 were randomly assigned to one of two groups: experimental or control The study used a quasi-experimental design, with the experimental group receiving 12-week reading strategy instruction and the control group receiving regular method instruction with no strategy instruction, but they were measured in terms of reading comprehension before and after the strategy instruction The reading component of the Cambridge Preliminary English Test (CPET) was given as a pre-test and post-test of the study to assess the participants' reading comprehension performance The data was analyzed using the paired samples t-test and one-way ANCOVA The study's findings revealed that after receiving the strategy instruction intervention, the learners in the experimental group outperformed those in the control group in terms of reading comprehension.
Reading strategy instruction's pedagogical implications were also discussed.
Valizadeh, M (2021) uploaded an article to the Shanlax International Journal of Education with the title “The effect of reading strategies instruction on EFL learners' reading performances” The purpose of this reviewed study was to see if instructing English as a foreign language (EFL) for learners in the use of reading strategies when reading English passages affects their English reading performance.
Based on the results of the Oxford Quick Placement Test, the participants were 51 Turkish English learners at the elementary level The entire treatment/control period lasted 20 sessions over 10 weeks on a Reading course The experimental group (n 26) received reading strategy instruction, while the control group (n = 25) received traditional teaching methods instruction A reading proficiency test was used to collect data The independent samples t-test revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group significantly
Hayati Fardasatul Jinan (Fardasatul Jinan, 2022) conducted the study Its title is “EFL teachers’ perception of the effectiveness of teaching strategies in reading comprehension for High School Students in Surabaya” This study examined EFL teachers' perceptions of the efficacy of teaching strategies in reading comprehension and discovered various strategies that teachers used when teaching reading To address this issue, 35 English teachers from various high schools in Surabaya were given survey questionnaires According to the results, EFL teachers' teaching strategies were effective in improving students' comprehension abilities.
Furthermore, this study discovered 12 strategies used by EFL teachers when teaching reading, and these strategies were thought to be effective in improving students' comprehension of what they were reading Teachers used effective reading strategies to help students improve their comprehension skills The researcher suggested that future research shift its focus from teacher perceptions to student perceptions so that it could provide information not only from the teachers' perspective but also from the students' perspective.
On the SAGE and Open Access pages, the article titled “The impact of reading strategy instruction on reading comprehension, strategy use, motivation, and self- efficacy in Chinese University EFL students” was conducted by Li et al (2022).
This study looked at the impact of explicit reading strategy instruction on reading comprehension, reading strategy use, reading motivation, and reading self-efficacy in Chinese university EFL students A total of 117 first-year university students were randomly assigned to either the experimental or control groups Students in the experimental group received a 16-week reading strategy training that was integrated into their English reading classes The information was gathered using five major instruments: a reading comprehension test, a reading strategy questionnaire, a reading motivation questionnaire, a reading self-efficacy questionnaire, and a semi- structured interview Independent-sample t-test results revealed a significant difference in reading comprehension between the experimental and control groups following reading strategy instruction, implying that students who received reading strategy instruction improved their reading comprehension significantly An ANCOVA analysis of pre-and post-questionnaire results revealed no significant differences in reading strategy use, reading motivation, or reading self-efficacy after the strategy instruction Furthermore, interview data revealed that students in the experimental group had very positive attitudes toward reading strategy training The results of the interviews also suggested that a dynamic interplay of individual and contextual factors could explain the lack of significant changes in strategy use, motivation, and self-efficacy at the end of strategy training.
Methodology
Research Approach
The study followed the experimental research design According to Gay et al.
(2003, p.355), experimental research is the most genuine way of analyzing the links between variables For this study, a specific type of experimental design, referred to as a quasi-experimental design, was used to assess the effects of reading strategies on eleventh graders’ performance This kind of research is often used in the educational context In this study, an effort was made to follow some of the principles guiding true experimental research designs by keeping variables constant, using pre- and post-tests before and after the intervention, and using the same subjects throughout the study Worobey (2015) argues that a quasi-experimental design requires a minimum of two intact groups of subjects: the control and intervention Thus, two intact groups were used and these were randomly assigned to control and intervention groups respectively The study was a pretest-treatment- posttest as well as a comparison-group one There were two independent variables called ‘Reading Strategies Instruction’ and ‘Traditional Instruction of Reading Skill’ There was a dependent variable named ‘English Reading Performance’.
To collect and analyze the data, the study used the mixed-methods approach Creswell (2014) states that “Mixed methods involve combining or integration of qualitative and quantitative research and data in a research study.
Qualitative data tends to be open-ended without predetermined responses while quantitative data usually includes closed-ended responses such as found on questionnaires or psychological instruments.” According to Creswell (2014), the rationale for the choice of a mix-method approach is its strength of drawing on both qualitative and quantitative research and minimizing the limitations of both approaches The combination of research designs for data collection and analysis helped the researcher to develop a more thorough understanding of the issue being investigated.
Quantitative data were collected from the survey using the questionnaire ranging from question 1 to question 36 A survey design looked at a sample of the population to generate a quantitative or numerical description of trends, attitudes, or views According to Creswell (2014, p.154), the researcher extends or makes generalizations about the population based on sample results.
The qualitative data were collected from the interview with the assistance of the researcher including the clarification and explanation of difficult terms and ideas.
According to Creswell (2014, p.180), the qualitative approach contrasts sharply with the quantitative one The qualitative approach makes use of a variety of knowledge claims, inquiry techniques, and data-gathering and analysis methods Although the methodologies are comparable, qualitative procedures use text and image data, have distinct data processing steps, and make use of a range of inquiry strategies.
Research Setting and Participants
This research was conducted at Nguyen Chi Thanh High School from January to June in 2023 when the students were in the second term of the academic year By the time of the study, they had finished the second term examination There are five high schools and one continuing education center in Ninh Hoa Among them,Nguyen Chi Thanh High School is situated in a rural commune in Ninh Hoa, KhanhHoa Province The whole school has 36 classes equipped with televisions a free wi- fi system, and a laboratory room for English, which is proof that teaching and learning English are concerned As a working teacher at school, the researcher is encouraged to carry out this study
The population of this study consisted of two classes with 80 students in grade 11 at Nguyen Chi Thanh High School randomly selected Among them, there were 33 males and 47 females, all of whom were chosen to answer the questionnaire through Google Forms This research was conducted as a students’ perspective analysis of the difficulties in their reading comprehension At the time after going through the learning process of reading, the researcher chose one class assigned as the control group with the traditional teacher-led reading approach while the other was the experimental group receiving reading strategy instructions The reason the researchers chose these two classes was because both classes were currently studying the 11th-grade English pilot program and had the same proficiency level.
The intervention lasted for 12 weeks, which excluded the time for data collection with 80 students included in this study – 40 in the control group and 40 in the experimental group The chosen classes were observed by the researcher, assessing the aspects of experience gained by students during the study, and what results were obtained There are some reasons why the researcher chose those participants Firstly, students in grade 11 had experienced the program of Tieng Anh 10; therefore, they were familiar with the reading types Secondly, compared to the 10 th and 12 th graders, they have enough awareness to follow the reading strategies the teachers instruct.
Grade 10 is still new with the 2008 general English program whereas 12 th grade seems to deviate from the majors they choose for the future Finally, the researcher hopes to create a foundation for 11 th graders in reading skills so that they have a better ability for reading tests in the examinations.
Categories Instruments The number of students Gender
- Interview - Pre-test - Post-test
Research Instruments
In the study, three instruments were used to collect the data on the effects of reading strategy instructions on eleven graders’ performance including the questionnaire, the reading measure, and the interview.
Questionnaires are the first tool used in this investigation According to several authors, including Rebecca L Oxford (1990), M, O'Malley and Chamot (surveys are a typical way to gather information on learning methods in general and reading strategies in particular) The benefits of questionnaires are as follows, as noted by Herbert et al (1989) Firstly, they do not require as much time to administer as other procedures do Secondly, all subjects receive the same questionnaire at the same time, resulting in more consistent, standard, and reliable data Lastly, because multiple-choice questions are employed, questionnaires may readily be quantified Yet, one of the main issues with questionnaires is how time- consuming it is to create a reliable one The researcher should exercise caution when creating questions since ambiguity may prompt respondents to provide irrelevant information Moreover, replies might not always be accurate since students might exaggerate or understate how frequently they employ particular tactics They might not even be aware that they are utilizing a particular approach or even how they are using it
Therefore, the researcher was very careful with the questionnaire This questionnaire was developed based on Nguyen Thi Thanh’s (2019) reading difficulties and Mokhtari and Reichard’s (2002) metacognitive awareness of reading strategies inventor.
The questionnaires including closed-ended questions were distributed to two classes with 80 EFL students in grade 11 through Google Forms The study did not put the names form, because the responses were anonymous Particularly, data discussed in the present study were obtained from two sections in order to answer the research questions In section 1, the questionnaire was delivered to all the participants to investigate difficulties they encountered during the reading comprehension (see Appendix 1A) The questionnaire consisted of 15 items among which items 9, 10, 12, 13, and 14 were adapted from Nguyen Thi Thanh’s (2019) work In addition, instead of using a 4-point Likert scale, this section was accompanied by a 5-point Likert scale - Never true for me (1), Seldom true for me
(2), Sometimes true for me (3), Often true for me (4), and Always true for me (5).
There were no right and wrong answers; therefore, the participants were free to answer based on what they experienced In the last section, the researcher used 21 items to investigate the students’ perceptions toward effects of reading strategy instructions (please see Appendix 1B) This questionnaire was originally developed by Mokhtari and Reichard (2002)as a tool to measure native English language learners’ awareness of reading strategy usage Some of the items such as items 17, 20, 21, 26, 27, 28, and 36 were altered or reworded to be close to the reading texts in the school textbook In this part, only the experimental group was asked to choose a response based on their perception after the reading strategy instructions were applied by the teacher In this questionnaire, each item was accompanied by a 5-point Likert scale, and its content was changed as follows: Never effective for me
(1), Seldom effective for me (2), Sometimes effective for me (3), Often effective for me (4), and Always effective for me (5) In this study, the questionnaires were translated into Vietnamese to facilitate the respondents' understanding
3.3.2 The Pre-test and Post-test
A test is a technique used to gather information on a subject's aptitude or subject-specific knowledge Two reading comprehension tests were administered to the grade 11 participants in this study The students took the first reading comprehension test for the assessment of their reading techniques, and the second one was administered after they had been provided the reading strategy construction Tests were chosen as the primary tool for gathering data for the study since they were the only means to investigate and equip students' reading strategies, which were crucial to the project's success The researcher had to take the students' reading skills into account when choosing the assessments for them Their level of English proficiency at the time of the study was pre-intermediate The reading comprehension exams that were chosen for them were, therefore, to be appropriate for their level of proficiency Both the "English workbook" and "Bai tap trac nghiem Tieng Anh" by Tran Ai Thanh and Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa were used as the sources for the two reading comprehension assessments These were chosen as the study's reading tests since they may be regarded as standard exams that are appropriate for pupils and familiar to them The format of the two reading comprehension tests employed in this study is similar The reading measure including the pre-test and post-test was made up of 3 passages, a total of 17 questions which could be classified into five types of reading questions: (1) True,
False, or Not Given statements, (2) getting the main idea, (3) finding the specific information, (4) dealing with vocabulary, and (5) making headings Among 17 questions, there were 2 True/ False questions, 2 main idea questions, 8 detailed questions, 4 vocabulary questions, and 1 about making headings Among them, passage 1 and passage 3 followed a multiple-choice format with 16 questions With each item, the four alternatives contained one correct answer and three distractors.
Passage 2 had a matching format with 4 or 5 items The bandscore of the test was a10-point one Eventually, each correct answer in passages 1 and 2 got 0.5 points while this in passage 3 got 2 points, and the allotted time was 30 minutes
The first test called the pre-test was done before the practice of reading strategy instructions in order to assess the students’ reading performance Passage 1 and passage2 were adapted from “Bai tap trac nghiem Tieng Anh 10” (Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa et al.,n.d.-a) while passage 3 was adapted from “English workbook 10” (Tran Ai Thanh et el., n.d.) The contents of the items were given to all the participants in the two groups with similar levels of reading comprehension before the experiment
The post-test was done by the participants in both groups after the twelve-week intervention ended Like the pre-test, the contents of the post-test including the types of reading were cited from “Bai tap trac nghiem Tieng Anh 11” (Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa et al., n.d.-b) and from “English workbook 11” (Tran Ai Thanh et al., n.d.) It aimed to measure the effects of reading strategy instructions on participants’ performance
Regarding the qualitative data, the interview was used to gather in-depth, precise, insightful information and comprehension of the participant's perceptions of the subject of the study Vietnamese was used as the language during the interview with the participants to make it easier to collect accurate and meaningful data With the respondents' consent, the talks were taped for later analysis
The semi-structured interview was chosen for qualitative data collection in this study Data collected from the interview were used to support those obtained from the questionnaire and clarify the two research questions For research question 1, the main problems when students did reading comprehension tasks were discussed in the interviews Of 80 participants, 11 participants in both groups were chosen for the interviews For research question 2, five students in the experimental group were asked for their perceptions of the effects of the English reading strategies they were taught in class during the intervention time During the interviews, the interviewees were purposive samples to guarantee a representation of high, intermediate, and low English reading performance on the pre-test reading test The interview questions can be found in Appendix 2 All the interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim for content analysis.
Research Procedure
The pilot phase aimed to test the appropriateness of the instruments The pilot study was carried out one month before the official data collection phase so that the researcher was able to check the clarity and logic of the instruments used The questionnaire and interview questions were developed in English They were then piloted on two different groups of students with 5 students for the questionnaire and 2 students in the intervention group for the interview Based on feedback received during the administration of the questionnaire and interview questions at the pilot stage, a few modifications were made with the consultancy of the supervisor to create the final versions of the instruments The questionnaire and interview questions were then translated into Vietnamese to make sure the students understood the statements well
After the pilot study, several changes were made with the assistance of the supervisor to create the final versions of the instruments Besides the correction of the grammatical mistakes as well as the vocabulary used, considering the questionnaire about students’ perceptions toward the effects of reading strategy instructions, item contents were changed as follows: Never effective for me (1),
Seldom effective for me (2), Sometimes effective for me (3), Often effective for me (4), and Always effective for me (5) The reason was to likely gather important information that focused on the aim and objectives of the study Concerning the interview questions, one interview question was added to identify which reading strategies the students perceived as ineffective, along with the reasons for their judgment This process aimed to discern the preferred reading strategies and the ones the students would dislike the most based on their perceptions Those 3 questions are listed as follows:
1 What are your main problems when doing reading comprehension tasks?
Why are they difficult for you?
2 Are the reading instructions given by your teacher effective to you? Which ones are the most effective? Why?
3 Which reading instructions are the least effective? Why?
To find the answers to the proposed research questions, the researcher carried out the study in two phases: the preparation and intervention phases Before the administration of the instruments which followed the same pattern used in the pilot study, the researcher gave a brief explanation to both groups of students on what to do
In the first phase, the questionnaires (from item 1 to item 15) were delivered to examine students’ perceptions of reading difficulties that the selected populations were facing In phase 1, the researcher delivered the pre-test (T1) to find out the participants’ reading performance before the intervention In early February 2023, the students were given the first reading comprehension test The test scores were collected and then analyzed for their reading performance Based on these results, the effects of learning strategies on students were investigated Afterward, the researcher identified the primary issues that participants encountered while performing reading comprehension tasks during the interviews Eleven out of 80 participants were interviewed and coded from EL1 to EL11.
In the next phase of the intervention, the researcher introduced the reading strategy instructions to the students in the experimental group to solve the reading types in Tiếng Anh 11 during the last two weeks of February After that, they were expected to practice and acquire the given strategies until mid-May After the twelve-week intervention, another reading test called the post-test (T2) was delivered to the students in both groups at the end The training was not given to the control group simply because the aim was to see whether reading strategy instructions would have a positive effect on the student’s performance before its implementation in all the classes was recommended The control group observed the study period in class for the entire twelve weeks; they were engaged in the activities typical of a study period in high school
In the second week of May, the test scores of the second reading comprehension test were collected and analyzed to investigate how efficiently the reading strategies were used by the experimental students The researcher compared the results of T1 and that of T2 After that, the questionnaire that included 21 items (from item 16 to item 36) was given to the intervention group to find out their perception after applying the reading strategy instructions by the teacher Finally, the researcher interviewed 5 participants in the experimental group to gather in- depth information and comprehension of the participant's perceptions of the effects of reading strategy instructions in a high school The work was completed in mid- May.
This is the procedure for collecting questionnaire data:
The researcher created the questionnaire in terms of the number of questions and the content of it.
The researcher compiled a questionnaire via Google Forms.
The researcher provided a link for each class to complete the questionnaire through their Zalo groups.
The researcher downloaded the results produced automatically by Google Forms for analysis after the students had finished the questionnaire.
After the results were downloaded, they were transformed into a numerical format for SPSS analysis.
The interview data were gathered from recordings of meetings involving the researcher who posed the questions; the 11 participants were expected to respond regarding the main problems in reading comprehension and the 5 interviewees in the experimental group were asked about the effects of reading strategy instructions.
Following is the procedure for gathering interview data:
The researcher prepared interview questions.
The researcher looked for students who were willing to participate in the interview.
After talking to the participants, the researcher explained the goal of the interview, the questions that would be asked, and how the interview might be conducted.
The researcher conducted one-on-one interviews with each participant according to a timetable that was agreed upon beforehand.
The interview took place in Vietnamese, starting with an introduction of the study, the researcher, and the participants, then moving on to the prepared questions and replies.
After the interview was completed, the researcher transcribed the conversation.
After the transcription process, the data was ready for analysis
For the questionnaire data, the researcher took the following steps in analyzing the data obtained:
1 Gathering the data: To get data for this section, the researcher distributed the questionnaire to 80 EFL students in grade 11 The two-part questionnaire's purpose is to gather information about reading difficulties and the effects of reading strategy instructions
2 Arranging and coding the data obtained from the questionnaire: the researcher used SPSS 22 to facilitate data processing
3 Processing the data: The researcher used SPSS 22 to analyze the data that had been gathered in the table using closed-ended questions To analyze the data,the descriptive statistics were used As stated by Cohen (2017), “descriptive statistics do exactly what they say: they describe and present data, no inferences or predictions: they simply report what has been found in a variety of ways” By this method, the mode, mean, median, minimum and maximum scores, range, standard deviation, standard error, inclination, and kurtosis were all obtained.
4 Verifying and interpreting the data: Based on the outcome of the data processing from SPSS 22, the researcher created a descriptive phrase after the data was processed using SPSS 22.
5 Drawing conclusion: In this final phase, the researcher wrote a report and made conclusions about the study findings.
For the test data, paired sample t-tests and independent sample t-tests were utilized to detect significant differences between the control and intervention groups as well as within each group To determine if the performance of the group improved following the intervention, the two sets of test scores (pre-test and post- test scores) of the intervention group students were compared To determine whether there was a difference in each participant's performance, the same was done to the pre-test and post-test scores of participants in the control group.
For the interview data, the answers given by the participants were transcribed and coded Particularly, for interview question 1, eleven respondents in both groups coded from EL1 to EL11, and for interview questions 2 and 3, only 5 participants in the experimental group coded from EL12 to EL16, gave the answers Despite the similarity of the questions, the students' answers varied To find repeated themes,content analysis was used to examine it.
Findings and Discussion
Findings from the Pre-Test
4.1.1 Summary of Pre-test Administered to Participants
Before the intervention, the pre-test was critical in determining the participants' baseline reading performance Carefully chosen texts and questions classified into five types ensured a thorough assessment of their reading abilities.
For passages, two approaches were employed to assess adaptation The grading system reflected each part's varied difficulty and relevance The 30-minute time limit made the test more realistic Its major objective was to provide a baseline for beginning reading ability, which could then be compared to post-test results to assess the effectiveness of reading strategy instructions Uniform material minimized assessment biases and variability, attributing improvements directly to reading method instructions.
4.1.2 Presentation of Pre-test Scores and Performance
The experimental group's pre-test scores were obtained from a reading comprehension test performed prior to the adoption of reading strategy guidelines.
In the experimental group, there were 40 people in all To provide an overview of the group's performance, the scores were tallied and the mean score was determined Similarly, the pre-test scores for the control group were acquired from the reading comprehension exam administered prior to the administration of any reading strategy instructions There were 40 people in the control group Individual scores were recorded, and the mean score was derived to evaluate this group's overall performance The mean pre-test scores of the experimental group and the control group were compared to see if there were any variations in the two groups' first reading performance Mean scores were a useful indicator of the average level of performance within each group These results were then evaluated in order to get insight into the efficacy of the reading approach guidelines.
Mean Pre-Test Scores of the Experimental Group and Control Group
Group Mean Pre-Test Score
A T-test analysis was performed to determine whether there were statistically significant differences between the mean pre-test scores of the experimental group and the control group The T-test determines if the observed variations between the two groups means were due to chance or are truly representative of distinct performance levels The T-test analysis yielded a p-value of 1, showing no statistically significant difference in pre-test scores between the experimental group and the control group This showed that the two groups' initial reading performance did not differ significantly before the implementation of reading strategy instructions
Specific question categories with lower scores were discovered in both the experimental group and the control group True, False, or Not Given statements, getting the overall idea, discovering specific facts, working with language, and making headers were the five types of inquiries Each question type was thoroughly examined to identify areas of difficulty for the participants.
Distribution of Pre-Test Scores by Question Type
Average Score Control Group Average
True, False, or Not Given 0.5 0.5
True, False, or Not Given: In both groups, the average score was 0.5 This suggested that both groups performed equally on this type of question The result indicated that the experimental treatment, if there was any, did not affect their performance on these questions.
Getting the Main Idea: Again, both groups had the same average score of0.5 Like the first question type, the experimental treatment, if presented, did not appear to have an impact on their performance in understanding the main idea of texts.
Finding Specific Info: The experimental group scored slightly higher (2.2) than the control group (2.1) on this question type This difference was not substantial but suggested a marginal improvement in the experimental group's ability to locate specific information within texts.
Dealing with Vocabulary: In this case, the experimental group (2.2) scored slightly lower than the control group (2.3) While the difference was minimal, it might indicate that the experimental treatment had a slightly negative effect on vocabulary-related questions.
Making Headings: Both groups had the same average score of 1.1 on this question type Similar to the first two question types, the experimental treatment did not appear to affect their performance in creating headings for texts.
Overall, it seemed that the experimental group and the control group performed similarly across most of the question types However, there were some slight variations in performance on "Finding Specific Info" and "Dealing with Vocabulary" question types It was important to consider the significance of these differences and whether they were practically meaningful or merely due to chance.
Additional statistical analysis, such as p-values and effect sizes, would be necessary to determine the significance of these differences.
In conclusion, the pre-test analysis provided useful information about the experimental and control groups' early reading performance When the mean scores of the two groups were compared, there was a substantial difference in their reading abilities prior to the intervention The identification of typical pre-test performance concerned serves as the foundation for developing targeted reading strategy instructions to successfully address these obstacles The next stage of the study involved giving both groups reading strategy instructions and analyzing their improvement with a post-test The results of this pre-test analysis were used to inform the tactics used in the ensuing intervention phase, with the goal of improving the participants' overall reading comprehension skills.
Findings from the Post-Test
4.2.1 Summary of Post-test Administered to Participants
The post-test was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the reading strategy instructions given to the experimental group and the control group during the twelve-week intervention It consisted of three reading passages and 17 questions divided into five categories To guarantee fairness, the format and difficulty level were the same for both groups Participants received 30 minutes to complete the test, and correct answers were scored The results of the post-test were predicted to demonstrate variations in reading comprehension and strategy execution between the two groups These findings would contribute to the study's analysis and discussion by providing insights into the intervention's success and the impact of the instructions on participants' reading skills.
4.2.2 Presentation of Post-test Scores and Performance
Mean Post-Test Scores of the Experimental Group and Control Group
Group Mean Post-Test Score
Table 5 depicted a visual comparison of mean post-test scores from both groups The experimental group had a mean post-test score of 7.2 This means that, on average, the individuals in this group scored 7.2 points on the post-test assessment after the experimental treatment The control group had a mean post-test score of 6.9 This indicates that, on average, the individuals in the control group scored 6.9 points on the same post-test
Comparing the mean post-test scores of the two groups, we can see that the experimental group (7.2) has a slightly higher mean post-test score than the control group (6.9) This suggests that there is a difference in post-test performance between the two groups The difference in mean post-test scores, in this case, is 0.3 points, with the experimental group outperforming the control group This suggests that the experimental treatment or intervention had a positive impact on the participants' post-test scores, albeit a relatively small one
Here are the post-test results for each question type:
Distribution of Post-Test Scores by Question Type
True, False, or Not Given 0.6 0.5
True, False, or Not Given: The experimental group outperformed the control group in this category with an average score of 0.6 compared to 0.5 The difference was not significant but suggested a slight advantage for the experimental group.
Getting the Main Idea: Once again, the experimental group scored slightly higher with an average of 0.6 compared to the control group's 0.5.
Finding Specific Info: Both groups scored equally in this category, with an average of 2.3, indicating no significant difference in their ability to find specific information.
Dealing with Vocabulary: The experimental group scored 2.4, while the control group scored 2.5 The experimental group performed slightly better in this aspect, although the difference was not substantial.
Making Headings: The experimental group averaged 1.2, while the control group averaged 1.1 The experimental group had a slightly higher score in this category as well.
In summary, the experimental group seems to have a slight advantage in the first four question types, though the differences in scores are not substantial.
However, in the "Making Headings" category, the experimental group scored slightly better It's important to note that these differences may or may not be statistically significant depending on the sample size and other factors not provided in the data Overall, the results suggest a modest advantage for the experimental group in some areas of the assessment In conclusion, the reading approach instructions benefited both groups, particularly in areas such as identifying the key idea and locating specific material However, language comprehension and summarizing abilities require further attention and assistance To overcome these issues, educators might try including more vocabulary-building tasks and encouraging students to regularly practice summarizing books Educators can effectively support students in building their reading comprehension skills by continuing to enhance and customize reading strategy teachings.
4.2.3 Comparison between Pre-test and Post-test Results
The comparison of pre-test and post-test findings for the experimental group and the control group provides important insights into the impact of reading strategy instructions on the participants' reading comprehension abilities We examine the changes in scores for each group in different question types between the pre-test and post-test in this section.
Comparison of Pre-Test and Post-Test Results
A closer look at the average score comparison between pre-test and post-test findings revealed that both the experimental group and the control group saw a rise in their overall average scores This improvement indicated that the reading strategy teachings improved their reading comprehension abilities Let's look more closely at the exact changes in each question category.
True, False, or Not Given and Getting the Main Idea: Both the experimental group and the control group had the same pre-test and post-test scores in these categories, indicating that the intervention or training did not have a significant impact on their performance in these question types.
Finding Specific Info and Dealing with Vocabulary: In both these question types, the experimental group improved from the pre-test to the post-test, while the control group remained relatively stable This suggests that the intervention or training had a positive impact on the experimental group's ability to find specific information and deal with vocabulary-related questions.
Making Headings: In the "Making Headings" category, both the experimental and control groups showed improvement from the pre-test to the post- test However, the experimental group's improvement was slightly greater, indicating that the intervention may have had a modest positive effect on their ability to create headings.
These findings suggest that the intervention or training was effective in enhancing certain skills related to information retrieval, vocabulary comprehension,and creating headings However, it had no discernible impact on skills related to identifying the main idea and determining the truth or falsity of statements.
Comparison of Post-Test & Pre-Test Average Scores between Experimental Group and Control Group
Mean Pre-Test Score Mean Post-Test Scores
The post-test results demonstrated that both the experimental group and the control group improved their mean scores when compared to the pre-test The mean score for the experimental group increased from 6.5 in the pre-test to 7.1 in the post- test, while the mean score for the control group increased from 6.5 to 6.9 These data implied that the reading strategy instructions influenced their reading comprehension abilities positively.
In summary, the comparison of pre-test and post-test findings showed that the reading strategy instructions were helpful in improving many areas of reading comprehension for both the experimental group and the control group Both groups improved their ability to recognize the primary idea, locate specific facts, and evaluate the accuracy of statements However, difficulties with word understanding and creating headings continued, indicating that these areas may require additional focus in future interventions The overall gain in average scores emphasizes the importance of including focused reading strategies in language learning curricula.
The findings support the idea that teaching pupils proper reading practices can lead to improved reading comprehension skills, which are essential for academic success and linguistic fluency These findings have important implications for educators, curriculum designers, and language instructors, underlining the significance of personalizing reading strategy training to fit the individual requirements of language learners while also aiding their overall language development More study and development of reading strategy treatments can result in more effective language learning techniques and better outcomes for language learners.
4.3.1 Participants' Perceptions of Difficulties in Learning the Reading Skill
4.3.1.1 Summary of the Questionnaire Administered to Participants The purpose of the study was to look into the reading challenges experienced by grade 11 students at Nguyen Chi Thanh High School The data was gathered by distributing a questionnaire via Google Form to 80 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students from two grade 11 classes The questionnaire contained statements addressing several areas of reading difficulties, and participants were asked to assess each statement on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest - Never true for me (1), Seldom true for me (2),Sometimes true for me (3), Often true for me (4) and Always true for me (5) The acquired data was then examined in SPSS 22 using descriptive statistics to provide useful insights into the students' viewpoints The findings were used to build effective reading techniques throughout the intervention phase of the study and will serve as a foundation for understanding learners' experiences The first section of the questionnaire sought participants' perceptions of problems in learning to read Descriptive statistics were used to examine the replies in order to provide a full knowledge of the participants' viewpoints on various reading problems.
4.3.1.2 Results of Participants' Perceptions of Difficulties in Learning the Reading Skill.
Participants' Perceptions of Difficulties in Learning the Reading Skill
No Statements Mean StandardDeviation N Rank
1 I have problems understanding words in the readings 3.92 1.02 80 High
2 I have problems understanding grammatical points 3.61 1.12 80 High
3 I have problems inferring information in the readings 3.54 1.08 80 High
4 I have problems getting the main points of the readings 4.12 0.94 80 High
5 I have problems deducing meaning from context 3.88 0.98 80 High
6 I have problems selecting specific relevant information 3.73 1.05 80 High
7 I have problems predicting information from readings 3.29 1.15 80 High
Findings from the Interview
The transcription of the interviews gave useful insights into the viewpoints of participants on their reading comprehension challenges and the effectiveness of reading strategy teaching The interview technique was critical in collecting qualitative data because it allowed participants to share their views, experiences,and emotions about reading comprehension assignments The researcher could acquire a better grasp of the specific issues students faced and the strategies they found most helpful by conducting interviews.
4.4.1 Students' Perceptions of Difficulties in Learning the Reading Skill
The examination of the interview transcriptions in Appendix 3 shows that 11 participants faced a variety of problems when learning to read This constraint hampered their overall comprehension and made understanding the meaning of phrases and the overall content of the texts difficult
Q1 Main challenges in reading comprehension Number of respondents
Understanding Grammatical Points and Contexts 5
The table above provides a concise overview of the major difficulties that participants had while attempting to read written texts It describes the specific difficulties, as well as the number of individuals who reported each difficulty This table analysis gives key insights into the regions where participants encountered the most difficulties, offering light on the intricacies of reading comprehension.
Understanding foreign words in the readings was one of the most common issues stated by several participants The data shows that a considerable number of participants, totaling eleven people, identified having a limited vocabulary as a key issue This remark emphasizes the importance of vocabulary in reading comprehension A limited vocabulary might make it difficult to understand the meaning of words in context, limiting overall comprehension of the material.
EL2: "I have problems understanding words in the readings because my vocabulary is limited."
EL5: "Because I feel that my vocabulary is still quite limited and has many gaps, I often feel confused when dealing with readings that contain a large amount of vocabulary and are too long."
Another key problem highlighted by the participants was inferring information from the readings Many students struggled to guess words in context and deduce meaning from the text
EL3: "I don't have a large vocabulary, so I struggle to guess words in context, making inference difficult."
EL4 had a similar problem owing to a lack of vocabulary and self-study experience.
EL4: "Having limited vocabulary and exposure to various reading comprehension topics, along with a lack of experience in self-study or self-practice at home I am not familiar with the platforms and websites that can be helpful for reading exercises."
The inability to infer information hampered their overall comprehension and made fully comprehending the materials difficult Eight participants reported having difficulty making inferences when reading Inference is a cognitive talent that is essential for deriving meaning beyond explicit text, as it frequently requires readers to connect the dots and form conclusions based on contextual data The fact that numerous participants struggled in this area suggests that they may have a gap in their inferential reasoning ability
Handling lengthy reading passages appeared as another significant challenge for the participants
EL6: "Due to my very limited vocabulary, I am unable to fully translate long passages There are words that, even though I know their meanings, do not translate in the context of the passage as I understand them, leading to inaccurate inference of information.”
Participants such as EL7 also struggled with lengthy texts due to a lack of vocabulary, resulting in misinterpretation of the readings This difficulty made it difficult for students to keep concentrating and understand important information from the readings, lowering their overall comprehension According to the statistics, seven participants struggled with managing lengthy reading passages This difficulty reflects the cognitive demands of processing and remembering information from long texts Such challenges may be ascribed to problems with sustained attention and efficient information extraction, emphasizing the importance of initiatives to develop these skills
Another typical issue mentioned by participants was selecting specific important material from the readings
EL1: "I have problems selecting specific relevant information."
EL1: “I'm having trouble deducing information from the readings."
EL9: "I have difficulty inferring information in the readings."
EL9: “At home, I ignore English reading practice."
Because of this difficulty, they were unable to identify essential points and relevant information, resulting in inadequate knowledge and responses Participants reported displeasure with their limited vocabulary during the interviews, which severely hampered their reading comprehension Six respondents cited difficulties in selecting specific information from the reading materials This task emphasizes the significance of good skimming, scanning, and information retrieval strategies.
Participants who are dealing with this issue may benefit from training that improves their capacity to swiftly recognize and isolate relevant details
Understanding grammatical points and contexts was also considered as a significant concern for the respondents
EL8: "I have trouble understanding grammatical points."
EL8: “I have difficulty deducing meaning from context.”
EL8: "Due to our lack of foundation and inability to grasp the basic structure of English, coupled with a tendency to be lazy in learning vocabulary, we often struggle to understand the readings.”
This restriction hampered their capacity to comprehend the meanings of words in context and understand the structure of English sentences As a result, they were dissatisfied with their reading instruction According to the table, five participants had difficulty recognizing grammatical subtleties and contextual clues This problem shows that better grammatical awareness and the capacity to analyze complicated phrase forms are required Contextual awareness is critical for drawing appropriate meaning from sentences, particularly in English, where meaning is frequently influenced by surrounding material.
In conclusion, the examination of the table provides significant information about the precise regions that participants found difficult in their reading comprehension journey These tasks required a wide range of abilities, from vocabulary to inferential reasoning and managing large texts These findings emphasize the necessity of addressing not only vocabulary development but also inferential skills, contextual knowledge, and effective information extraction mechanisms in reading comprehension education.
4.4.2 Participants' Perceptions Toward Effects of Reading Strategy Instructions
Moving on to 5 participants' evaluations of the results of reading strategy education, it was clear that the techniques supplied by their teachers were generally beneficial in increasing their reading comprehension skills
Q2 The most Effective Reading Strategies Number of respondents
Inferring Word Meanings from Context 5
Underlining or Circling Textual Material 4
Identify text elements and connecting ideas 2
Skimming the text first through characteristics 2
The table above summarizes the participants' assessments of effective reading strategies, including the number of respondents who thought each strategy was beneficial This table provides valuable insights into the ways that participants saw as beneficial in improving their reading comprehension skills, offering light on the methods they found most effective and powerful.
One of the more effective tactics was to predict the material before reading.
Conclusion
Summary of Key Findings of the Study
The study "Effects of reading strategy instructions on eleventh graders' performance at a high school in Khanh Hoa Province" investigated the influence of reading strategy instructions on the academic performance of eleventh-grade students Through a combination of pre-tests, post-tests, questionnaires, and interviews, the research demonstrated that explicit reading strategy instructions have a positive impact Students who received these instructions exhibited enhanced reading comprehension skills, evidenced by improved post-test scores Moreover, students displayed increased engagement with texts, an elevated awareness of their cognitive processes while reading, and a heightened confidence in tackling challenging materials Both quantitative measures and qualitative insights from interviews collectively underscored the significance of teaching reading strategies as a means to bolster students' comprehension abilities and metacognitive approaches to learning.
This study's findings provide important insights into the effectiveness of reading strategy education in enhancing reading comprehension abilities among grade 11 students The incorporation of pre-test and post-test data, questionnaire responses, and interview transcriptions aids in gaining a thorough knowledge of the participants' reading difficulties and the impact of the intervention.
The pre-test findings revealed that the experimental group had better initial reading performance than the control group, highlighting the need for tailored reading strategy education to address specific areas of difficulty The post-test findings clearly show that the experimental group outperformed The control group across all passages, indicating that reading strategy training had a beneficial effect on their reading comprehension abilities A deeper look at the pre-test and post-test results demonstrates that both groups' overall average scores improved after the intervention This result implies that the reading strategy lessons improved the participants' reading comprehension abilities significantly The experimental group, in particular, made great gains in detecting the main idea and locating specific information, suggesting the effectiveness of the reading strategy instructions in guiding students' attention and comprehension.
The questionnaire responses gave useful information about the participants' views of reading difficulties and the efficacy of the reading strategy instructions.
Key obstacles observed were understanding foreign terminology, inferring knowledge, dealing with lengthy paragraphs, and identifying specific pertinent information These findings highlight the importance of individualized therapies to address these specific areas and improve participants' reading comprehension skills.
The majority of techniques had high mean ratings, indicating that the participants thought the reading strategy instructions were successful Predicting content before reading, employing typographical assistance to locate crucial information, and inferring word meanings from context were all effective strategies However, several tactics, such as reading difficult literature aloud and utilizing tables and numbers, were viewed as less helpful, probably due to challenges in efficiently implementing them The transcribed analysis of the interviews adds to the quantitative findings by offering further insights into the participants' perspectives on reading comprehension issues and the effectiveness of reading strategy teaching.
The interviews found that participants frequently struggled with interpreting foreign words, inferring information, dealing with lengthy paragraphs, and identifying specific pertinent information This qualitative data emphasizes the significance of focusing on these areas in reading approach recommendations.
Overall, the combined data from pre-test and post-test scores, questionnaire responses, and interview transcriptions indicate that reading strategy instructions aided both the experimental group and the control group in enhancing many facets of reading comprehension The capacity of participants to recognize the primary idea, locate specific facts, and rate the correctness of statements considerably improved However, difficulties with vocabulary comprehension and heading creation persisted, indicating the need for further concentration and specialized education in these areas The study's shortcomings, such as the small sample size and the specific setting of grade 11 students at Nguyen Chi Thanh High School, should be addressed The findings should be applied with caution to different populations or educational environments.
In conclusion, the study emphasizes the significance of including focused reading practices in language acquisition programs The findings back up the premise that teaching kids correct reading habits can lead to enhanced reading comprehension skills, which are necessary for academic success and linguistic fluency These data can be used by educators to develop treatments that address specific issues and improve participants' reading comprehension abilities Further research and development of reading strategy therapies may result in more effective language learning strategies and better language learning results for language learners.
Pedagogical Implications
As an empirical study, the most important purpose of this study is putting the findings of the study into practice reading English and improving students’ reading comprehension in Nguyen Chi Thanh High School Some major implications for applying strategy instructions in teaching and learning English reading skills arising from the study are listed below If teachers use reading strategy instruction in their teaching, they will find that it adds more dynamism to their classroom activities, as well as tickling the interest of many students However, they are advised to vary their methods, techniques and ways of teaching, according to their students’ needs and interests They are also advised to use the method more intensively and more frequently It is also strongly believed that reading strategy instruction can be an effective tool for improving students’ learning However, one must first learn how to use the “tool” appropriately to teach English more effectively If students use an appropriate strategy, they will be able to understand the reading material quickly so that they can improve their comprehension skills In fact, reading comprehension is the most important skill for students to get improved in English language learning.
It is the language input for the expected output The reading comprehension requires many efforts from language, cultural and subject matters perspectives Teachers at high schools should motivate students to read more by introducing effective reading strategies as well as reading practice to enrich their schemata Once their understanding of as many areas is good, the comprehension becomes less challenged Fostering metacognitive awareness through explicit instruction not only bolsters reading skills but also equips students with valuable cognitive tools applicable across disciplines The implications of the study's findings help educators and curriculum developers leverage the insights garnered from this research to design and implement more targeted reading strategy instruction programs By tailoring strategies to students' diverse needs and learning styles, educators can create a more inclusive and effective learning environment and draw upon this research to inform decisions related to curriculum design and pedagogical training.
Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research
It is essential to acknowledge the limitations inherent in this study, which offer avenues for future research and exploration Firstly, the study focused on a specific group of eleventh graders from a single high school in Khanh Hoa Province.
Expanding the research to include a larger and more diverse sample, encompassing various geographical and cultural contexts, could provide a more comprehensive understanding of the generalizability of the findings Secondly, while this study examined the short-term effects of reading strategy instruction, investigating the long-term impact on students' overall academic progress and their ability to transfer acquired skills to different subjects warrants further investigation Additionally, the results cannot be applied to all levels because they were obtained using samples of
11th grade students whose English skill is only at the beginning of pre-immediate.
To gather more broad data, more research could be done with participants who could speak English at various levels Finally, because this study was only a minor thesis with a small number of pages, it only examined the impact of strategy education on reading, not on other English skills Therefore, further research must be done to find the best and most efficient ways to apply reading strategies when instructing both reading comprehension and other English language abilities.
Based on the conclusions drawn from this research, several recommendations emerge for educational practitioners, researchers, and policymakers It is necessary that school administrators should invest in professional development opportunities that equip educators with the necessary skills to integrate effective reading strategy instruction into their teaching practices Besides, researchers are encouraged to replicate and expand upon this study in different educational contexts, grade levels, and subjects to generate a more comprehensive body of evidence
In closing, the findings of this study underscore the importance of deliberate and targeted reading strategy instruction in enhancing students' academic performance By harnessing the power of metacognitive awareness and strategic reading habits, educators can empower students to become proficient, confident,and independent learners As education continues to evolve, this research contributes to the ongoing dialogue aimed at enriching pedagogical practices and nurturing the intellectual growth of our future generations.
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A STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING
DIRECTIONS: Listed below are statements about difficulties when doing reading comprehension tasks Four numbers follow each statement (1, 2, 3, 4 or 5) and each number means the following:
∙ 1 means “Never true for me.”
∙ 2 means “Seldom true for me.”
∙ 3 means “Sometimes true for me.”
∙ 4 means “Often true for me.”
∙ 5 means “Always true for me.”
After reading each statement, circle the number (1, 2, 3, 4 or 5) that applies to you using the scale provided Please note that there are no right or wrong answers to the statements in this inventory.
1 I have problems understanding words in the readings 1 2 3 4 52 I have problems understanding grammatical points 1 2 3 4 53 I have problems inferring information in the readings 1 2 3 4 54 I have problems getting the main points of the readings 1 2 3 4 55 I have problems deducing meaning from context 1 2 3 4 56 I have problems selecting specific relevant information 1 2 3 4 5
7 I have problems predicting information from readings 1 2 3 4 5 8 I have problems handling lengthy readings 1 2 3 4 5
9 I am not interested in reading lessons 1 2 3 4 5
10 I am not self-motivated in reading comprehension 1 2 3 4 5 11 I am not interested in reading texts in English 1 2 3 4 5 12 I feel upset when I don't understand what I read in English 1 2 3 4 5 13 I ignore practice reading English at home 1 2 3 4 5 14 I have little knowledge of the reading topics 1 2 3 4 5 15 I am always under time pressure during readings 1 2 3 4 5
Thank you for your cooperation!
A NHẬN THỨC CỦA HỌC SINH VỀ NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN TRONG
HỌC KĨ NĂNG ĐỌC HIỂU
HƯỚNG DẪN: Dưới đây là những khó khăn người học gặp phải khi đọc hiểu Mỗi số (1, 2, 3, 4 hoặc 5) tương ứng với các nội dung sau:
∙ 1 có nghĩa “Không bao giờ đúng với tôi”
∙ 2 có nghĩa “Ít khi đúng với tôi”
∙ 3 có nghĩa “Thỉnh thoảng đúng với tôi”
∙ 4 có nghĩa “Thường đúng với tôi”
∙ 5 có nghĩa “Luôn luôn đúng với tôi”