VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOIUNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIESTHE FALCUTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES USING SCANNING AND SKIMMING TECHNIQUES TO IMPROVE 9 GRADE STUDENT
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The procedure of the research adapted the ideas of action research by Kemmis and McTaggart (1988) The research was developed and carried out during 10 weeks of the second semester of the academic year 2022- 2023 To be more specific, the action research procedure is presented as follows:
Step 1: Problem Identification and preliminary Investigation
The researcher identified the problem by doing observation during her teaching English at this school The researcher recognized that the 9"-grade students often spent too much time reading a passage and answering questions. They regularly did not complete all reading tasks within the time allowance; the results of reading tests were not as high as expected.
To investigate further about the problem and to figure out the actual level of the students’ reading comprehension, a pretest was employed The aim of the test was to identify their actual current reading comprehension ability so that the researcher had a proper plan to teach reading skill with skimming and scanning techniques.
After reviewing the initial data, the researcher came to the assumption that the students would improve their reading ability in general and reading comprehension in particular if they applied skimming and scanning strategies in their reading lessons.
Step 2: Planning After determining the reading problems, the researcher designed a strategy to solve the students’ reading skills challenges identified in the previous step by using skimming and scanning techniques Detailed lesson plans were developed, and additional scanning-skimming activities were arranged for the students.
Step 3: Intervention The researcher carried out the actions that had been prepared for the previous stage First, the researcher taught the students about skimming and scanning tactics
27 and how to apply them when studying reading comprehension.
The procedure for applying skimming and scanning techniques in reading courses is as follows:: e Students start at the beginning of the reading and skim the text very quickly. e Students familiarise themselves with the reading material by gaining an overview before reading in detail. e After gaining an overview of the text, students identify the section(s) of the text that they probably need to read. e Students scan the text until they locate information requiring attention, and then slow down to read the relevant section more thoroughly.
Action research plan After reflecting upon the project objectives and processes the researcher had created the following project action plan This plan describes in detail the steps of the research and the necessary tools to complete it The action plan lasted a time span of 10 weeks as follows:
+ Project objectives: T checks students’ reading habits and reading comprehension ability.
+ Action: T observes reading lessons and administrates a pretest of reading skills.
+ Researcher activities: Reviewing and collecting details on teaching and learning of reading skills and students’ reading comprehension.
+ Reading topics: Local community, city life + Project objectives: T implements skimming and scanning strategies in teaching reading comprehension.
+ Action: Students use skimming and scanning strategies to read and comprehend the text.
+ Researcher activities: Designing reading activities with skimming and scanning strategies; teaching reading comprehension skimming and scanning
+ Reading topics: healthy living for teens, our experiences, now-and-then lifestyle, natural wonders of the world, and tourism
+ Project objectives: Students increase reading comprehension through the use of skimming and scanning strategies.
+ Action: T uses skimming and scanning strategies to help students read and comprehend the text; ask students to work in pairs or on their own to study the texts.
+ Researcher activities: Teaching reading comprehension with skimming and scanning strategies; checking students’ comprehension and observe their reaction to the use of skimming and scanning strategies.
+ Project objectives: T completes the action research project and gathers data on the usefulness of skimming and scanning tactics for improving reading comprehension.
+ Action: T administers a post-test and interviews students about their opinions on the application of skimming and scanning tactics.
+ Researchers’ activities: include testing students' reading comprehension and asking students about the benefits and/or drawbacks of using skimming and scanning tactics in reading sessions.
Step 4: Reflection After the cycle, the researcher analysed the data collected from the tests, questionnaires and interviews It was done to know whether the implementation was successful or not.
The decision to continue the flashcard implementation in the next cycle was done when the goals of action research project were not fulfilled.
To ensure a holistic understanding and rigorous analysis of the issue at hand, multiple data collection instruments were employed in the study Utilizing a range of tools not only added depth and breadth to the research but also addressed the
29 problem from various angles, thus enriching the findings and conclusions.
3.5.1 Pre-test and post-test
A well-constructed exam is one that accurately measures test takers' aptitude in a specific topic (Brown, 2004) As a result, a pretest and a posttest were used to assess the students’ reading ability, specifically their reading comprehension.
The use of a pre-test and post-test design in this study is critical in determining the success of the intervention, which is the integration of skimming and scanning techniques to improve reading comprehension skills among 9th-grade students The assessments attempted to quantify the usefulness of skimming and scanning tactics by comparing students' reading comprehension skills before and after they were implemented.
The design of both the pre-test and post-test was carefully crafted to ensure a comprehensive evaluation of the students’ reading abilities Both the pre-test and post-test shared the same form, length and levels of difficulty Each test comprised two passages containing from 190 to 290 words, which met the requirement of testing reading skill in the high school entrance exam Each passage asked students to answer five questions that focused on assessing various aspects of reading comprehension, including understanding the text, interpreting the information, analyzing the content and finding the synonym, antonym or reference The topic of the passages in the pre-test and post-test were taken from Unit | to Unit 3 in English
9 — Global Success textbook Since both pre-test and post-test are designed in multiple choice form, students would be allowed to do the test in the multiple- choice answer sheet in 20 minutes The maximum mark for the reading test was 10 points equivalent to one point for each correct answer In order to ensure the validity of pre-test and post-test, the researcher had all the participants take these tests at the same time interval The tests were scored by English teachers who were not in charge of designing the intervention session using the application of the website chamthi.com.
It is important to note that while the post-test mirrored the format of the pre- test, it contained different content to ensure that the assessment was based on the
30 students' ability to apply the newly learned techniques, rather than on their recall of specific texts.
In conclusion, the pre-test and post-test design was a fundamental element of this study, enabling an objective and reliable assessment of the intervention's effectiveness Through this approach, the study aimed to provide empirical evidence on the utility of skimming and scanning techniques in enhancing reading comprehension, thereby contributing valuable information to educational practices and strategies.
Dérnyei (2003) states that questionnaires can be used to investigate students’ perspectives and their problems towards the classroom activities Therefore, the researcher employed this instrument to gather students’ feedback on the effectiveness of the skimming and scanning techniques implemented during the study and to gauge students’ attitudes and perceptions on a range of topics, from their enjoyment of reading to their confidence in using the newly learned techniques.
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The aim of classroom observation was to know the teaching and learning process of reading comprehension directly before implementing the action research.
In the class, the teacher used observation sheet during the reading activities It was observed that instead of getting actively involved in reading exercises, the students just kept silent and only gave answers when being asked Generally, the teacher wrote the correct answers on the board, then, the students copied them into their notebooks They only asked the teacher to explain the text when they did not understand the answers for the reading tasks Therefore, the reading lessons made
36 the students bored, then they gradually lost their interest and motivation in learning reading skills Another problem is that, it usually consumed a lot of time for the students to read the texts, which may be due to the fact that the students did not have proper reading strategies to deal with reading tasks Some weaker students even showed no interest in reading the texts but did other things or just waited for the teacher’s feedback Overall, the students’ learning skills and readiness for learning was good, but insufficient, so they needed to focus on enhancing their reading skills.
In short, from the class observation during her teaching, the researcher found out that most of the students did not have proper methods for learning reading; their vocabulary was limited; and their learning motivation was rather low during the reading lessons.
4.1.2 Findings from the pre-test
The pre-test was administered before doing the action research project The pre-test in this study had a purpose of investigating the students’ achievement on reading comprehension.
The teacher researcher gave score to the students’ test papers based on the rubric of reading comprehension Each correct answer of a question was given 0.5 point The highest result was 10 points and the lowest result was O point The teacher researcher processed those scores mathematically and statistically to ensure whether the use of skimming and canning strategies to improve the students’ reading comprehension or not.
From the students’ scores in the pre-test, the researcher could calculate the number of the students who pass the passing score of 6.0 points as Developing level (see Table 4.1).
Table 4.1 presents data from a pre-test, showing the distribution of scores among 40 valid responses The scores range from 2 to 10, with each score’s frequency, percent, valid percent, and cumulative percent indicated Starting at the lowest end of the scale, there was one student scoring a 2, representing 2.5% of the total and valid percent This suggests that a few students found the test to be extremely challenging Scores of 3 were slightly more common, with 4 students, or 10%, achieving this result whereas a score of 4 was achieved by 6 students, constituting 15% of the respondents This brings the cumulative percentage to 27.5% indicating a notable portion of students scoring below average For the score of 5 and 6, 10 students, or 25%, achieved this range of mark raising the cumulative percent to 52.5% of students who got from 2-6 points This percentage is lower than the initial target of the class (65%) where the participants are studying Moving into the higher scores, one of which was the most common one was score of 7, achieved by 9 students, or 22.5% of the respondents, which indicates that a considerable number of students performed on the average level Nonetheless, there were not many students achieving scores of 8, with only 3 students, or 7.5%, and scores of 9, achieved by 4 students Lastly, with the score of 10, the highest possible, was attained by 3 students, or 7.5%, completing the cumulative percentage at 100%. This indicates that a small proportion of students well-performed or excelled in the test.
In summary, the pre-test results show a diverse range of scores from the lowest score of 2 to the highest one of 10 with more than a half of 40 students scoring from 2 to 6 while the number of students achieving the scores of 8 to 10 was not really high, which did not meet the target that these students desired.
4.2 Research findings from action implementation
4.2.1 Findings from the post-test
Table 4.2 presents data from a post-test, displaying the distribution of scores among 40 valid responses, similar to the pre-test The scores range in this test from the lowest ones of 3 to the highest of 10, which meant that there was no student getting the score of 2 like in the pre-test Each score's frequency, percent, valid percent, and cumulative percent are still provided, similar to the statistics of the pre- test Starting at the lowest end in this test, only one student scored a 3, representing 2.5% of the total and valid percent, which indicates that few students found the post-test extremely challenging Scores of 4 were achieved by 5 students, accounting for 12.5% of the respondents This shows a slight increase in the number of students scoring in this lower range compared to the pre-test.
Table 4.2 The results of post-test
Frequency | Percent | Valid Percent | Cumulative
For the score of 5 and 6, 7 students, or 17.5%, achieved this mark showing a decrease compared to the pre-test for this score range The cumulative percentage at
39 point 3 to 6 is 32.5%, and especially the student getting the lowest score of 2 in the pre-test has been making his/her progress by improving his point above 2 indicating that the initial target of the participants could be satisfied Although there was a decrease in the score of 7 achieved by 6 students, representing 15% of the participants compared to the pre-test, a significant change is observed in the scores of 8, achieved by 9 students, or 22.5% It has clearly seen that while score of 7 achieved by the majority of students in the pre-test, this percentage also happened in the post-test score but grade rose from 7 to 8 This is a notable increase from the pre-test and contributes significantly to the cumulative percentage of students performing well and excellently in the post-test.
Particularly, scores of 9, achieved by 4 students, or 10%, and scores of 10, achieved by 8 students, or 20%, indicate a substantial improvement, which were less frequent in the pre-test The cumulative percentage for the scores from 8-10 is 52.5% showing a considerable change in the result of students well performing and excelling in the post-test compared to the pre-test 52.5% is certainly higher than 50% of the students achieving from 8-10 that the target of the class made for every English test at first In summary, the post-test results show an upward shift in the distribution of scores compared to the pre-test, with more students achieving higher scores, particularly in the 8 to 10 range This suggests an improvement in understanding or skill in the tested area among the students The distribution indicates a positive shift in proficiency levels post-intervention.
4.2.2 Findings from pre-test and post-test comparison
Table 4.3 summarize the results of a paired samples t-test comparing the pre- test and post-test scores of 40 participants This statistical test is used to determine whether there is a significant difference between two related groups, in this case, the same students’ scores before and after an intervention.
It has obviously been seen from the chart that in the pre-test, the mean score is 6.20, with a standard deviation of 2.163 suggesting moderate variability in the pre-test scores while the mean score for the post-test is 7.33, with a standard deviation of 2.068 This also shows variability but indicates an overall higher performance in the post-test Regarding to sample size and standard error, both tests have the same number of participants (n = 40), nevertheless, the standard error of the mean is slightly lower in the post-test (.327) compared to the pre-test (.342), suggesting a slightly more precise estimate of the population mean in the post-test.
In conclusion, the data from Table 4.3 revealed that there was statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the study samples in reading comprehension in the pretest and the posttest, which are 6.10 and 7.33 respectively.
I [em] % `] correlation coefficient is 908, which is very high, indicating a strong positive relationship between pre-test and post-test scores This means that students who scored high (or low) on the pre-test tended to score similarly on the post-test Moreover, the significance value is 000, which is less than the typical alpha level of 05, suggesting that the correlation is statistically significant.
Devia Error | Interval of the i Mean Difference
41 standard deviation and standard error, confidence interval, T-value and degrees of freedom (df) as well as significance (2-tailed) were indicated clearly to compare the results of pre-test with the one of post-test Firstly, it has been shown that the mean difference between pre-test and post-test scores is -1.125, which proved that the post-test scores are 1.125 higher than the pre-test scores Secondly, in term of standard deviation and standard error, the standard deviation of the differences is 911, and the standard error is 144, indicating the variability and precision of the differences in scores Thirdly, with 95% confidence interval, the interval ranges from -1.416 to -.834, suggesting that the true mean difference in the population lies within this range Furthermore, the t-value is -7.809 with 39 degrees of freedom, indicating the magnitude of the difference relative to the variability in the sample data Finally, the significance value is 000, which is below the typical alpha level of 05, indicating that there were slight differences in means between the pre-test and post-test In brief, the statistical analysis shows a significant improvement in test scores from the pre-test to the post-test The positive correlation suggests that while students generally improved, their relative standing compared to their peers remained consistent The high t-value and the significant p-value (.000) strongly suggest that the observed differences in test scores are unlikely to be due to chance. This indicates that whatever intervention or change occurred between the pre-test and post-test likely had a positive effect on the students’ performance.
The results of pre-test and post-test
Figure 4.1 Distribution of the pre-test and post-test scores
As illustrated in Figure 4.1, the study samples indicated more improvement in understanding the texts in the post-test than the pre-test As it can be seen in Tables 4.3 and 4.4 above, the results of post-tests showed that the students made progress in learning reading skills in the treatment lasting for 10 weeks As for this point, skimming and scanning techniques showed their effectiveness during reading lessons This result also supported the researcher’s hypothesis that using skimming and scanning techniques in reading activities had positive effects on the development of comprehension for the 9" grade students at a secondary school in
