using while reading activities to improve reading comprehension for the 10th form students at nguyen trai high school

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DECLARATION

I certify that this thesis is the result of my own study and that it has not been submitted to any other university or institution wholly or partially

Nghệ An, August, 2013

Student:

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements Abstract Tables of contents Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION II Gì ốn 8 PP Cu ca na 9 Ea ha 9 No ào 9 5 Sipnificance ofthe sfUdy ¿5+ S22 S2221212212112112111171211121211112111 1.1 xe 9 6 Scope ofthe sfudy c2 nọ SH HỲ HH Tnhh thờ 10 7 PreVIoUus sfUdIes c2 2S SH nh nh nh riờ 11 8 Design ofthe study cQ SH nh» TH nen khe 12 Chapter 2: Theoretical background 13 2 1 Definitions oŸreading and reading comprehension .13 2.1.1 Delinitions ofreading - Sàn khe 13 2.1.2 Definitions ofreading comprehension 15 2.2 TYypes ofreading c2 2n 2n SH SH Hn nh nh nh nh nhớ 15

2.2.1 According to manners oŸreading 15 2.2.1.1 Reading uo£aầIỤAaddẳ 16 2.2.1.2 Silenf reading ccc con nọ nh nh nhe 17 2.2.2 According to purposes oŸ reading - 17

2.2.2.1 Skimming cọ nh rrớ 18 2.2.2.2 Scanning eee ee eee e nett eenenen teense eeens 18 2.2.2.3 Intensive reading 0.0.0 ee cece cece eee eeeeneeneneee es 19 2.2.2.4 Extensive reading cọ n nhe 19 2.3 Factors in teaching and learning reading 21

2.3.1 Teacher”s role - - chen nh hen 22

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2.3.2 Students’ role 0.0.0 o cece cece cence nett cette ee ee een hy 22 2.3.3 The reading texts 0 0.0.0 e cece cette eee ete ee reece eee 23 2.3.4 The three stages of a reading lesson 23 2.3.4.1 The pre- reading sfage -ccccc cà s: 23 2.3.4.2 The while - reading sfage 25 2.3.4.3 Posf-reading sfage cọ nen khe 26

Chapter 3: Methodolòyy Stn nàng 28 3.1 Action research

3.2 The subJects of the study - 2S S nha 29 3.2.1 The researcher- the teacher -c-cccccccscs se 29 3.2.2 The parficIpans -.c cọ nh nh nhe he 30 3.2.3 Data collection instrumenfs -.c-~cS + cse, 30 3.3 The reading program for grade 10" at Nguyén Trai high school - 31 3.3.1 The objectives of the program - -:-: -:+ 31 3.3.3 The schedule of the course 0 6 cece cece eee cece eee eetetee neces 31 3.3.4 Characteristics oŸ reading passages 32 3.3.5 CharacteristIcs of reading tasKs - 32 3.4 The current situation of teaching the textbook at Nguyễn Trãi High School 33

3.4.1 Introduction to Nguyễn Trãi High School and students 34 3.4.2 Teachers and teaching methods 34 3.4.3 Teaching facIÍIfIes c2 22s nhe 35 3.4.4 Syllabus of teaching English and time allocation for a reading period 35 Chapter 4: ACTION RESEARCH PROCEDURE 36 4.1 Rationale for choosing action research -. -: 36

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4.2 Restatement ofresearch quesfions -:-:-++: 36 4.3 Action research procedures .c cà + 36

C SN No 3.-Í‹aiaiaaaiiiẳaaÝŸÝ 36 4.3.1.1 Identifying the problem -c< + c<s 37 4.3.1.2 Observing a lesson that illustrated the problem 37 4.3.1.3 Conducting a survey to get information from students 40 4.3.1.4 Consulting with colleagues - + 45 4.3.1.5 Generating hypotheses -c-c 22c c2 sec 48 4.3.1.6 Drawing a plan of action to solve the problem 49 4.3.2 Acting sSÍÀ€ Q.2 ọ 2n 2n 2n 2n TH HT ngà nh nh nhe 49 4.3.2.1 The first try — out lesson — at class 10 A 49 4.3.2.2 The second try — out lesson — at class 10D 49 4.3.3 ObserVving sfagỹe HT TT nh nh nà ng 50 4.3.4 Reflection/ Evaluation stage - -:c5s2s°: 56 SUmMWFV cọ BS SE BH nh nh nhi 60 Chapter 5: CONCLUSION

5.1 Summary of the main findings 64 5.2 Implications for more effective reading lessons -.- 64 5.2.1 To the teachers c2 nọ SH ST TH Tnhh HỜ 64 5.2.2 To the classroom faciÏIties . ccSccScS + Ss*seesreei 65 5.3 Limiftations and sugsestions for further research Ĩ

b0) =ddaa ii BS 66

References Appendices

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In the first place, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Ngơ Hữu Hồng, PhD, who has provided me with insightful discussion, helpful comments, valuable support in the preparation and completion of this thesis Without his constant guiding support and continuous encouragement, my thesis would have never come out in the present form

My sincere thanks also go to the teachers in the post- graduate department for what they have taught me and the materials they have supplied me in the fulfillment of this thesis

I would also be very grateful to my classmates, who have given me suggestion and encouragement and to the teachers and the 10" form students at Nguyễn Trãi high school, who actively took part in my experimental tests

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ABSTRACT

In an attempt to help improve reading comprehension of students at Nguyễn Trãi high school, an action research project was carried out to answer the following questions:

1 What difficulties do the teachers and students face when dealing with a reading lesson?

2 How can the use of while-reading activities in teaching reading lessons enhance Nguyén Trai tenth-grade students’ reading comprehension skill? Then action research project was carried out for five weeks The subjects were 80 students from two classes (10A and 10D) at Nguyễn Trãi high school Data were collected by means of questionnaire (one for teachers and one for students) and class observation The initial data revealed that students’ poor reading comprehension may be attributed to the unsuitable methods and techniques used by teachers of English at Nguyén Trai high school On the basis of initial findings, it was hypothesized that Training students while-reading activities would help improve the students’ reading comprehension The researcher implemented an action plan, in which the students were trained some while- reading activities explicitly The evaluation of the project showed that all of the students had positive attitudes toward using while-reading activities in teaching reading lessons and their reading comprehension skill could be improved through these tools, a great majority of the participants reported in the post-improvement questionnaire survey that they have made progress in their reading comprehension skill While-reading activities were useful which helped the students complete the reading tasks more effectively Besides, they felt more confident in reading

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1: Evaluating the students’ English reading competence

Table 4.2: The expectations of the students towards teachers’ reading techniques Table 4.3: The students are asked to join in the while-reading activities

Table 4.4: The reasons the students aren’t interested in taking part in the while- reading activities today

Table 4.5: The teachers — related — problems make the students feel not motivated enough in today’s while — reading activity

Table 4.6: The difficulties the teachers face when teaching reading

Table 4.7: The reasons why the teachers do not usually use while-reading activities in teaching reading lessons

Table 4.8: The students’ opinions about the lessons using while-reading activities Table 4.9: The changes made by the teacher

Table 4.10: The students’ own changes after taking part in the while-reading activities

Table 4.11: The students’ personal problems

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LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 4.1: The difficulties the students face when learning reading Chart 4.2: The students overcome the difficulties

Chart 4.3: The students’ responses to those while-reading activities

Chart 4.4: The reading lessons using while-reading activities have made English easier to learn

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides the rationale for the study states the aims, research questions and methods of the study, defines the scope and significance of the study, the previous studies and design of the study

1 Rationale for the study

Reading is considered as one of the most important skills which language learners should master, particularly as it helps to build a variety of language expression and structures, widen general knowledge and leads to lifelong learning and improvement in the first and second language skills “Reading is an essential skill for English as a second/foreign language (SL/EFL) student; and for many, reading is the most important skill to master” Anderson [8, p.14] According to Carrell [13.p.1-3] “For many students, reading is by far the most important of the four skills in a second language, particularly in English as a second or foreign language” What is more, when poor reading results are reported, one tends to blame the students for having poor ability or for making insufficient effort Nevertheless, the students are not always at fault There are other important factors in the process of teaching and learning reading that are worth considering It could be unsuitable teaching materials It could be the inappropriate attitude of the teachers and learners towards the subject It could be the teachers’ inappropriate teaching methods and classroom techniques

In the context of the upper secondary school, reading even more important than other three skills of speaking, listening, and writing because students have to take the examinations which are grammar- and reading- based However, the students’ reading proficiency is not satisfactory even after the new textbook has been put to use

Nguyén Trai High School, which was founded in 1980, is one of the high schools chosen to pilot the set of English textbook 10 During the piloting period the teachers have confronted a number of difficulties such as students’ general lack of motivation and opportunities to practise communicating in the target language It is further exacerbated by students’ familiarity with passive learning, the uneven

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teachers’ capacities, the large size of the classes and the poorly equipped classrooms Regarding reading skills, students at Nguyén Trai High school share a number of difficulties with their counterparts throughout the country

They confront five major obstacles in reading, such as: the habits of word- by-word reading, overemphasis on forms rather than meaning, excessive focus on details rather than main ideas, poor vocabulary and limited background knowledge In this situation, the teachers need to take a serious look at the teaching and learning of English in general and the teaching and learning of the reading skill in particular so as to suggest suitable techniques about the teaching and learning of the reading comprehension at high schools to be more effective

Being a teacher of English at Nguyén Trai High School, the researcher wishes to give a hand in promoting reading skills for her 10th-form students This matter of fact has offered her a chance to conduct a study on “Using While- Reading Activities to Improve Reading Comprehension for the 10th-Form Students at Nguyén Trai High School” In the study, the author decided to carry out the action research to find out what difficulties the teachers and students face when dealing with a reading lesson and whether the while — reading activities are important to teachers of English at Nguyén Trai High School Based on the results of this action research, some changes and improvements could be applied in the author’s lessons, and some appropriate strategies needed to be designed with the hope that students will work more effectively in the reading lessons

2 Aims of the study

This study has two objectives:

- Finding out the difficulties of upper secondary teachers and students when dealing with the reading lessons

- Exploring how the use of while-reading activities in teaching reading lessons can enhance upper secondary students’ English reading skill

3 Research questions

To achieve these two objectives, two research questions were set for the study: 1 What difficulties do the teachers and students face when dealing with a

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2 How can the use of while-reading activities in teaching reading lessons enhance Nguyén Trai tenth-grade students’ reading comprehension skill? 4 Methods of the study

The methodological approach was action research using mixed methods for data collection The tools for data gathering include two questionnaires, (one for teachers and one for students) and class observation (See chapter 3)

5 Significance of the study

Reading has always a significant position in language teaching Nevertheless, how to teach and learn reading effectively often poses great problems to both teachers and students For the teachers of English at high school, reading is considered a difficult skill to teach Most language teachers, following a traditional, test-oriented teaching approach, often concentrate on teaching English vocabulary, grammar, and focus only on grammar exercises for the exams However, nothing is difficult if we, the teachers make decision to make it easier Hopefully, with a range of suggestions of how to make while — reading activities effectively in reading lessons introduced in this research, it will be more motivating for the teachers to teach and make progress in teaching reading Therefore, their students will be interested in reading lessons

6 Scope of the study

Due to the limitation of time and knowledge, this thesis only focused on using while-reading activities in teaching reading lessons to tenth- grade students at Nguyễn Trãi high school in the second term of the school- year of 2012-2013 7 Previous Studies

The number of reading comprehension activities research which investigates the effects of reading comprehension activities on reading comprehension has been ever more limited Nevertheless, the following studies on using reading comprehension activities to improve the reading comprehension skill

- Bui Thi My Linh (2007) investigated using While- Reading Techniques to Improve Reading Comprehension for the 11" Form Students at Phan Dang Luu High School The participants of the study were one hundred 11th form secondary students at Phan Dang Luu high school; most of them had been learning English for

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nearly six years and ten teachers of English, especially those who were teaching English to the 11th form students at this school

To fulfill this thesis, she used two survey questionnaires, one for students and another for teachers and some reading class observations were carried out to investigate the present situation of teaching and learning reading comprehension of the 11" form students to find out advantages as well as problems facing both teachers and students in reading lessons and she suggested useful techniques to develop the reading comprehension skills in the while- reading stage for the 11" form in Phan Dang Luu high school The results of this study revealed that using While-reading Techniques to teach reading lessons helped the 11™ form students at Phan Dang Luu high school to improve their reading skills as well as the teachers

- Yeeding, S (2007) examined the effects of Pre-reading activities on reading comprehension ability This study was conducted with 60 grade-9 students studying at Muslim Witaya Phuket in 11 weeks totaling 22 periods The purposes of the study were to compare the learners’ comprehension ability before and after the implementation of two types of pre-reading activities, guessing reading content from pictures and asking pre-reading questions and to investigate the learners attitudes towards the implementation of the two pre-reading activities The results of this study revealed that the activities subjects were highly motivated, enthusiastic to read After the experiment, the students scored significantly higher

- Nguyễn Thi Minh Hồng (2008) conducted a study on some possible effective pre-reading activities to improve reading skills for the 2"4 ‘year English Majors at the Military Science Academy The study was carried out with the participation of 30/45 full-time teachers aged from 25 to 45 (half of them had been in Great Britain, Australia, America and India for further training) and 80/110 second-year students and they were learning text book More Reading Power Of the 30 teachers, they all had Diploma Degree in English while twenty of them have M.A Degree in Education, Linguistics, or International Relations and another one has Ph.D Degree in Linguistics Most of them had at least three years of teaching, therefore, with no doubt, they were experienced and enthusiastic teachers, they were always willing to help their students overcome the difficulties and make progress in learning English

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These teachers were now teaching English to the students of different courses at the MSA: full time, short time courses (These courses last for about two years and they are used for Army Officers who had Diploma Degree in other foreign languages and now were serving in different branches of the Army belonging to the Ministry of Defense) The 80 students under investigation were in the second term of the second year at the English Department of the MSA (both cadet and civilian students, male and female) These students’ages were between 20 and 22 years old They were supposed to have quite an equal knowledge of English before entering the MSA since most of them had learnt English for at least 7 years (from grade 6 to grade 12 at school)

Moreover, they all passed a very challenging entrance exam Some of them came from Hanoi; the rest came from different provinces around the country These students were chosen from 110 second year students during the school year of 2006-2007 They had completed their first three terms of the four-year course Of course it was very difficult to select a sample of individuals since the students had already assigned to four different classes The main purposes of the study were to investigate pre-reading techniques employed by the teachers of English at the MSA, and to give a suggestion of some possible pre- reading activities that could be applied to teach the text book More Reading Power to the second-year students of English at the MSA

The results of this study showed that both teachers and students at the MSA were highly appreciated the important role of Pre-reading activities For the teachers, the application of Pre-reading activities enabled them to activate students’ existing knowledge, to teach more words as well as to arouse students’ motivation in reading to the texts On the other hand, for the students, the Pre-reading activities were obviously useful since they were more motivated, they could understand the texts better while reading and the most important thing was that these activities helped them improve their reading skills as well

- Nhữ Văn Lược (2005) also conducted a study on the techniques for improving reading skills to non-major students of English at Haiphong Foreign Language Center, Haiphong University This study was conducted with the participation of 240 learners (aged 14-45) at 6 C level classes in 2005 These classes did not start at the same time This meant the students were not learning the same

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lesson when the survey was carried out However, they had ever finished unit 40 in the book Streamline English — Destination, so they all knew what their teacher in each practice skill often presents Of the learners, 46 of them were from 14 to 18 years old; 20 were from 31 to 45, and the rest from 18 to 30

The youngest group (from 14 to 18) was attending secondary and upper secondary school education, and the oldest (from 30-45) were holding certain positions in many offices and they had ever graduated from university or colleges All of them had one thing in common, that was they all officially or unofficially experienced at least three years learning English The purpose of this study was to examine the areas of difficulties in reading encountered by non-major students at HFLC so that techniques could be given to help them improve this skill The result of this study revealed that students were more active and became more aware of what they needed to do every reading lesson and the teacher worked out appropriate techniques to help handle the difficulties or clear away the obstacles faced by students in their reading process so as to gradually better their reading skill

To sum up, reviewing the previous studies inside and outside Vietnam, the findings of some of the above studies indicate positive effects for using reading activities in teaching reading lessons Those findings provide encouraging evidence that using reading activities in teaching reading lessons increases the learners’ awareness of effectiveness of using reading activities which can improve their reading comprehension The researcher, hence, desires to conduct such a study to improve learning reading at her school

8 Design of the study

The thesis consists of five chapters, organized as follows:

Chapter 1 - Introduction - provides the rationale for the study, states the aims, the scopes, the methods, the significance, the research questions of the study, the previous studies and the design of the study

Chapter 2 - Theoretical background — presents the knowledge relating to the issues in terms of reading comprehension and teaching reading comprehension

Chapter 3 - Methodology — describes the action research and the reading program for grade 10" at Nguyén Trai high school

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Chapter 4 - Action Research Procedures describe the rationale for choosing action research and the procedures of this action research with the following main steps: defining the problem, observing class, conducting a survey using questionnaires, collecting data and analyzing data, and giving out conclusions from findings Chapter 5 — Conclusion - is the last part which offered a summary and suggestions for more effective reading activities and some limitations and suggestions for further studies

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CHAPTER2

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

In this chapter, I attempt to deal with definitions of reading in general and reading comprehension in particular, types of reading and teaching reading comprehension

2 1 Definitions of reading and reading comprehension 2.1.1 Definitions of reading

Reading is a completely individual activity which takes place in all different ways from newspapers, magazines, written texts, telephone directory, labels on medicine bottles, notices, etc The ability to read is such a natural part of human beings that they seldom try do define reading However, there are still different points of view on the definition of reading

According to Goodman [19, p.135], reading is “a psycholinguistic process by which the reader, a language users, reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has been encoded by a writer as a graphic display’, and the act of reconstruction is viewed as “a cyclical process of sampling, predicting, testing and confirming.”

William [30, p.3] had the same view on reading, especially on the act of reconstruction as Goodman He argues that “written texts, then, often contain more than we need to understand them The efficient reader makes use of this to take what he needs, and no more, to obtain meaning”

Harmer [21, p.153] considers reading as a mechanical process that “eyes receive the message and the brain then has to work out the significance of the message” He not only focuses on two actions that dominated by the eyes and the brain but also the speed of the process “a reading text moves at a speed of the reader”, which means that the reader who decides how fast he wants to read the text

Moreover, Urquhart & Weir [29, p.22] define reading as follows: “Reading is the process of receiving and interpreting information encoded in language form via

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the medium of print’ Reading plays such an important part in the success of second language learning and it is necessary to understand what reading is, however, it’s difficult to explain it briefly and correctly

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In a general term, reading is defined as “ Reading is an active, fluent process which involves the reader and reading materials in building meaning, meaning does not reside on the printed page, nor is it only in the reader” Anderson [8, p.1] this definition of reading has been generally shared by other researches

Deriving from those opinions, reading is considered a process in which a reader looks at and understands what has been written out

2.1.2 Definitions of reading comprehension

In teaching reading, it is necessary to understand the nature of reading comprehension What the teacher understands about it will have a great influence on what he or she teaches in the class He would know what to teacher and how to make his reading lesson effectively In fact, methodologists have been providing different definitions of reading comprehension

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Swam [28, p.l| stated that when we say a student is good at comprehension we mean that he can read accurately and efficiently, so as to get the maximum information a text with the minimum of understanding”

Also concerning the reading comprehension, Grellet [20, p.3] argued that: “Reading comprehension or understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible.” The author means that reading comprehension is an activity which aims at decoding the meaning of word combination in the text in the most efficient way

According to the above authors, reading comprehension is not only simply understanding what is written, but also is what stimulates students to remember from their experiences That knowledge is then used to get meaning out of printed page, but in the mind of the readers which included not only facts or details but also emotion, belief and critical evaluation

From these opinions, it can be concluded that reading comprehension is a process of understanding what is conveyed in the text It does not mean that the

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reader needs to understand every single word in the text but actively work on the text and extract the required information efficiently

2.2 Types of reading

One of the most important points to keep in mind when teaching and learning reading comprehension is that there is not one type of reading but several according to one’s purposes for reading Students will never be good readers unless they can adapt their reading skills to their aim when reading In considering the reading process, it is important to distinguish the reading activities according to manners and purposes of reading

2.2.1 According to manners of reading

Reading, according to manner, is divided into reading aloud and silent reading 2.2.1.1 Reading aloud

Aloud reading is an unnatural activity because most people do not read aloud in real life, and it is difficult for the speaker to pay attention to the meaning of the text when reading aloud, In fact, it must be recognized that reading aloud is primarily an oral matter so that for those who teach and learn foreign languages, it is closer to “pronunciation” than it is to “comprehension” Lewis and Hill [24, p.110] mention: “Asking a student to read aloud unseen also means that he may concentrate so hard on pronouncing the words that he will be unable to concentrate adequately on their meaning too He may read correctly but afterwards will not be able to tell what he has read”

This kind of activity seems to be more popular in the language classroom It focuses on the pronunciation of words in the text rather than understanding In reading a text, students come across many new words and phrases that they do not know how to pronounce The teacher, in this case may help his students pronounce words by reading the text orally and loudly So reading aloud is often applied for beginners and limited in upper classes because of some reasons Firstly, it takes up a long time as students often read slowly when they focus on pronunciation They consequently have not enough time to deduce the meaning of the text or complete comprehension exercises Secondly, because students are concerned with pronunciation, it is hardly for them to understand the meaning of the text

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As for Doff [17, p.67], “Reading aloud involves looking at a text, understanding it and also saying it Its purpose is not just to understand a text but to convey the implication to someone else.”

That is the reason why, only for the early stages of foreign language learning, reading aloud should become an established part of a lesson to help the beginners read words, phrases with correct stress and intonation in a sentence

2.2.1.2 Silent reading

Silent reading is the nearest approach to the essence of reading Because only by reading silently, can the readers best comprehend the written materials in the shortest possible time Silent reading can be applied effectively to teaching and learning a reading comprehension text because reading a text silently helps students concentrate on understanding its meaning Silent reading is widely used in both real life and classroom, and “it is the method we normally use with our native language, and on the whole the quickest and most efficient” Lewis and Hill [24, p.110] With silent reading we can best understand the reading materials in the shortest possible time because we do not need to read all the words in the text, we can read at our own speed and if we do not understand what we are reading, we can read again or slow down for intensive reading

For the teachers, silent reading is helpful for controlling the class In silent reading, students are in fact concentrating on the text, obtaining the meaning and extracting what they need

In sequence, the depth and detail of understanding, of comprehension increase as we go though the ways of doing silent reading In all, silent reading is a useful technique in a reading comprehension process applied to students to exploit reading lessons and it is also a good way to help teachers control the class

2.2.2 According to purposes of reading

According to purposes, reading is categorized into four types: skimming, scanning, extensive reading, and intensive reading

2.2.2.1 Skimming

Skimming is commonly used in reading comprehension It is one of specific reading techniques necessary for quick and efficient reading Skimming is used to

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quickly gather the most important information, or 'gist' According to Grellet, F [20, p.19], “When skimming, we go through the reading material quickly in order to get the gist of it, to know how it is organized, or to get an idea of the tone or the intention of the writer.”

Nuttal [26, p.36] states that “by skimming, we mean glancing rapidly through the text to determine whether a research paper is relevant to our own work or in order to keep ourselves superficially informed about matters that are not of great importance to us.”

Therefore, the key that actually encourages learners to skim is to give them a series of texts and ask them to select appropriate titles from groups of ones Moreover, in order to teach skimming effectively, the teacher should have the students read the beginning or end of a text or a paragraph because it may provide students with a statement relating to the topic Skimming gives students the advantage of being able to predict the purpose of the passage, the main topic or message, or possibly some of the developing or supporting ideas This gives them a “head start” as they embark on more focused reading Skimming also helps student organize their thoughts and specify what information they can get from a book so that the subsequent reading will become more efficient

In conclusion, skimming is understood as a necessary technique for reading comprehension which enables readers to get the main points of the text without being concerned with the details Therefore, skimming should be applied at the first stage of teaching reading to help student have an overview of what they are going to read And it is sure that they will understand the whole text later Hence, skimming should be applied in teaching reading to help students have an overview of what they read

2.2.2.2 Scanning

Scanning occurs when a reader looks quickly through the text searching for a specific piece of information or to see if the text is suitable for a specific reading purpose

In the view of Brown [11, p.308] defines scanning as follows: “Scanning is the process of quickly searching for particular piece or pieces of information in a text

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The purpose of scanning is to extract specific information without reading the whole text.”

Grellet [20, p.19] gives a more detailed definition of scanning: “When scanning, we only try to locate information and often we do not even follow the linearity of passage to do so, and scanning is far more limited since it only means

,

retrieving what information is relevant to our purpose.’

These authors have the same point that while scanning reader does not need to read form cover to cover, they only look for the information they want by running their eyes rapidly along the lines It can be practiced with the great range of texts such as dictionaries, map, advertisements, labels, etc This kind of reading is very useful in reading selectively

In general, both skimming and scanning are effective techniques for quick and efficient reading It is advisable to make use of them to improve reading comprehension skills for students in reading classes

2.2.2.3 Intensive reading

Intensive reading is also widely used in a reading class It is an effective way to explore the text, to go deeply into the meaning and the organization of the text

Intensive reading "involves approaching the text under the guidance of a teacher or a task which forces the students to focus on the text" Nuttall [26, p.38] Brown considers intensive reading as "a classroom-oriented activity in which students focus on the linguistic or semantic details of a passage.” Brown [10, p.297] The objective of intensive reading is to achieve a full understanding of the text, not only of what it means but also of how the meaning is produced Through intensive reading, the reader must arrive at a profound and detailed understanding of logical arguments, the rhetorical arrangement, the pattern of the text, the attitude and purposes of the writer and his linguistic means to achieve his purposes Intensive reading has the following characteristics:

1 The reading materials may not be relevant to learners' ability and interest as they are chosen by teachers not learners

2 In doing intensive reading, the actual amount of time spent on reading is very little as a lot of procedures such as listening to the teacher's instructions,

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reading comprehension questions, writing answers to comprehensive questions, discussing the content of the text, doing pos-reading activities have to be followed

3 Reading speed is usually slower than faster as learners have to stop at some moments during their reading in the classroom to look up new words in dictionary, ask the teacher for a definition or analyze the text by reading it word-by word or sentence-by-sentence

4 Reading in intensive reading approach is not individual as learners are assumed to interact more with the teacher than with the text

What is meant by all the characteristics of intensive reading approach mentioned above is not that intensive reading is bad, only that it is limited in what it tries to do

In short, intensive reading is a basic classroom activity It is really effective if the teacher and his students know how to fully exploit this activity in class with the help of reading exercises

2.2.2.4 Extensive reading

Extensive reading is also called “reading for fluency” The students read long texts to have general understanding, to develop fluency in reading or to relax This is an activity involving global understanding just as Grellet [20, p.4] confirms: “Extensive reading means reading longer text, usually or one’s own pleasure This is a fluency activity mainly involving general understanding.”

What is more, Nuttal [26, p.168], this kind of reading is also a very useful skill for students to widen their knowledge as he wrote: “The best way to improve one’s knowledge of foreign language is to go and live among its speakers The next best way is to read extensively in it.”

Lewis and Hill [24, p.109] state that “extensive reading means students have a general understanding of the text without necessarily understanding every word” It is obvious that when reading extensively, readers do not need to have intense concentration on the content of a long text and total comprehension because the objective of extensive reading is to cover the greatest possible amount of text in the shortest possible time

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To summarize, extensive reading is one of good ways to improve one’s knowledge of a foreign language because its aim is to cover the content of text in the shortest possible period of time In the language classroom, the teacher must introduce some suitable reading materials to students, as it is useful for them to form a good habit of reading

2.3 Factors in teaching and learning reading 2.3.1 Teacher’s role

Together with students, the teacher is one of the two main necessary elements which create the teaching process In general, the role of the teacher is to provide students with knowledge and the best methods for learning effectively The teacher is a means to an end, that is, an instrument to see that learning takes place Besides this general function, teacher also has specific roles in teaching reading comprehension process Although the success in a reading class is how far the students learn without the teacher’s help, it does not mean that there is nothing for teacher to do in a reading class In fact, there is a great deal Without help from the teacher, it is difficult for the students to be efficient readers

Nuttal [26, p.35] suggests that “there are two main things that a teacher should always remember in helping students The first is to provide the students with suitable materials, and the second is to provide them with suitable teaching activities”

The teacher sometimes finds it difficult to select suitable reading material, because the first thing they have to do is to select a text which is at the right level of difficulty for the students A text which is too difficult will make them bored Secondly, selecting texts that interest the students is another important point to remember If the text provided is interesting, and the students enjoy reading it, they will be motivated to read more, and vice versa Thirdly, there should be variety in the range and the type of exercises A text with many kinds of accompanying exercises probably covers many different skills

Besides, suitable activities the teacher provides can focus the students’ attention of specific skills necessary for efficient reading Normally, there are three main activities in a reading comprehension text which are called pre-reading stage, while — reading stage, and post- reading stage Thus, the role of the teacher is

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closely related to these stages At pre-reading stage, the teacher has to make students be aware of what they are going to read and do during the lesson At while- reading stage, the teacher’s main function is to offer help to students if necessary And at post- reading stage, the teacher is considered as a guide or an adviser to help the students express their own ideas through their understanding of the text

To sum up, the two main duties of the teacher in helping the students to be efficient readers are to provide suitable reading materials and suitable reading activities To fulfill his role, the teacher should know the reading skill that students need for reading

2.3.2 Students’ role

Like the teacher, the student is also one of two main factors of teaching and learning process This process can only be carried out when there are both of them The students are not only the subject but also the object of teaching and learning process In particular, in a reading lesson, the students play the role of the readers The role demands that the students should make sense of the text for themselves It is the fact that the student is the heart of the reading lesson and the element which determines the success of a reading lesson That is to say, the students must be very active in the lesson from the beginning in reading texts to get the right meaning of the texts

Moreover, they also have to do other exercises and maybe they have to encounter and solve the difficulties by themselves Thanks to this, the students can accumulate a large amount of knowledge from the reading texts and understand them thoroughly On the other hand, the understanding from the reading text is the chance for the students to improve other language skills, because only when they really master the knowledge by themselves, can they apply it flexibly

In fact, very frequently, the students deal with some problems which are beyond their ability, for example proverbs, idioms, polysemantics, or background understanding and so on In this case, to get the target reading, the students have work under the direction of the teacher and take part in guided activities actively and attentively However, the teacher should only act as the guide and give the students some suggestions to help them think and understand the reading texts on their own Therefore, the teacher can stimulate the students’ creativity as well as

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their imagination If not, the students will be passive and the reading lesson will not be successful

In addition, the students can be the important element that helps teacher fulfills his duties The teacher can not teach without the students On the other hand, the students are the providers of feedback to the teacher through their expression and understanding of the reading texts Without the students’ feedback, the teacher does not know how to make the reading lesson become most effective Moreover, because the student is the heart of a reading lesson, all the teacher’s activities are to provide the students with as much knowledge as possible If the teacher does not know how much knowledge his students can receive from his reaching, he can not have appropriate method for his students to study effectively

Therefore, the student may negotiate with the teacher to find out the suitable method of study as well as select appropriate reading materials and activities Furthermore, through the students’ reflections, the teacher may find out his mistakes and draw up his own experience to teach better and perfect himself

To sum up, in teaching and learning process in general, and in a reading lesson in particular, the teacher and the students have the interdependent relationship The students need to be active to take part in the activities that the teacher provides to understand the reading texts and do the exercises On the other hand, the teachers need to be aware of problems facing students to help them overcome their difficulties and assess the students’ ability correctly to have appropriate teaching method Lacking one of the two elements — the teacher and the students, the teaching and learning process can not be carried out Therefore, the relationship between the teacher and the students also makes them become co- participants

2.3.3 The reading texts

The roles of the reading texts must be paid attention to in teaching and learning reading skills because an appropriate text is very important in building up pupils’ reading competence In William’s opinion, [30, p.23] reading material is any piece of written language It may come from the integrated course book which includes reading texts, from the supplementary reading comprehension and reading skills books containing texts and exercises, from the real life (authentic texts) or be

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simulated texts He further discusses some criteria which are very useful for the teacher in choosing text for reading lessons

Reading materials should not contain a large a mount of language that it is too difficult for most of the class In addition, a purposeful reading can occur with specially prepared texts that imitate real life counter parts but simple language Furthermore, the topic of the text plays an important role because how difficult or easy a text is depends not only on the language of the text but on what sort of knowledge the learners bring to the text and how much they like to read it

To the teacher at the secondary school, the text book will be the main source of reading materials for his students in the reading class He sometimes can use texts outside the textbook which are both suitable for the students’ level and interesting enough to attract their attention and encourage them to read

2.3.4 The three stages of a reading lesson

A reading lesson can be divided into three stages which are pre- reading stage, while- reading stage and post- reading stage Each of these stages carries its own features and purposes and requires different techniques and strategies

2.3.4.1 The pre- reading stage

This stage plays a decisive role in the whole process of teaching reading comprehension, so most experienced readers employ pre- reading and other strategies to make reading easier Pre- reading aims at introducing the text to the students and helps them make careful preparation before reading the text It is advisable for the teacher to create a reading motivation and a positive attitude towards reading for students so that they can achieve a high level of success and become confident that they can read effectively

According to Williams [30, p.37], the purposes of the pre-reading stage are: - To introduce and arouse interest in the topic

- To motivate learners by giving a reason for reading - To provide some language preparation for the text

Normally, pre-reading stage often last from two to ten minutes depending on each lesson The teacher should activate the students’ background knowledge and

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provide some information about the text This is aimed to help the students to predict the content of the text they are going to read Prediction is an important ability that the students should develop in order to comprehend various kinds of texts, especially the texts that the students are not familiar with In general in the pre- reading stage, it is necessary to set a good preparation for students, provide them the sense of what they are going to do in their reading lesson

2.3.4.2 The while- reading stage

Later on, students are lead into the main reading activity of the lesson, which principally aims at helping the students to understand the specific content and become aware of the rhetorical structure of the text Williams [30, p.38] states that while-reading stage is the main part of a reading lesson with the following specific aims:

- To help understanding of the writer’s purpose - To help understanding of the text structure - To clarify text content

The techniques applied in this stage widely vary, ranging from guessing new words in contexts, asking questions to note-taking Teachers, at the while-reading stage, need to help their students comprehend the text thoroughly while students have to apply to the best their reading skills like skimming, scanning, guessing, etc to understand the text as well as the writer’s purposes conveyed through the reading text Apparently, time allocation for this is nearly two thirds of the whole lesson

Concerning the while -reading stage’s activities, in his research, William [30, p.39] has a more generating idea: “While- reading work should begin with a general or global understanding of the text, and then move to smaller unit such as paragraphs, sentences and words”

In the while- reading stage, to direct students to the general understanding of the text, the teacher may ask them to guess the title, to match the heading etc He also may ask students to find out the specific information in the text by answering the questions, to use the information in the text for completing tables or diagrams Furthermore, the students can focus only on individual language item by deducing the meaning of the new lexical items, etc

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Indeed, there are various activities the teacher can choose for his students in this stage It is, however, essential to be flexible in this task The selection of any of them depends on the nature of the reading text and the level of the students Besides selecting suitable activities, during the while- reading stage, the teacher should bear in mind his roles of an organizer, observer, assessor and prompter as mentioned in the last part, the roles of teacher

2.3.4.3 Post-reading stage

The post- reading stage is the final but not the les important stage of a reading lesson because it is time for students to apply what they have got from the text into real life communication One of the purposes of post-reading work is to check whether the students have understood the text or not The teacher can ask the students some questions about the texts which are not given in the book or require them to discuss in group and in pair and so on

In Williams’ view [30, p.39], “the post-reading stage is aimed at consolidating or reflecting upon what has been read and relating the text to the learners’ own knowledge, interests or views” To achieve this, the teacher should help the students focus on the important points as writer’s opinion, the main ideas of the text, the specific paragraph or phrase in the reading text Another purpose of post- reading work is to expand on the topic or language of the reading text, and perhaps transfer things learned to another context Therefore, the students can relate the text to their background knowledge and interest and be able to express their personal opinion toward the text Moreover, post- reading activities also offer the students a real practice of using language

In summary, each of the reading stage carries its own aims and activities It is very effective if these three stages are combined flexibly and appropriately for an efficient reading lesson In the while- reading stage, it is necessary to help the students improve and develop sub- reading skills such as skimming, scanning, or reading for details If the students can acquire these skills, it is easier for them to understand efficiently the significance of the text To acquire these skills, students may be instructed to take part in various activities according to each skill There are numerous activities in this stage The teacher should be flexible in choosing them for their reading lessons In the process of reading, asking students to work in pairs

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or groups is also advisable This may enable students to feel more pleasant in reading, encourage them to work harder to improve and develop effective reading skills

Summary

In this chapter, all the concerning theoretical background of reading comprehension has been presented First, some definitions of reading and reading comprehension basing on some linguistics scholars have been presented Second, the role of the teacher as well as the students in the three stages of a reading lesson has been reviewed The following chapter will display the methodology

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CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes the action research and subjects of the study, data collection instruments and the reading program for grade 10" at Nguyén Trai high school

3.1 Action Research

3.1.1 What is action research?

Kurt Lewin, a German social psychologist, has been credited with the development of the idea of action research He first found that experimental methods, in many cases, were inadequate and unsatisfactory He then tried to seek for a method that based on people’s real world experience; from that time on, action research has entered the world of researchers According to Kurt Lewin [23, p.35], action research is “a comparative research of the conditions and effects of various forms of social action and research leading to social action’; this type of research uses “a spiral step,” each of which is “composed of a circle of planning, action and fact-finding about the result of the action”

Also discussing about action research, Carr and Kemmis [14, p.220] pay much attention to the purposes of action research when they define it as “a form of self-reflective enquiry undertaken by participants in social situations in order to improve the rationality and justice of their own practices, their understanding of these practices and the situations in which the practices are carried out”

On the other hand, looking at the nature of action research, O’Brien [ 27, p.2] asserts that although action research has been referred to by different names such as participatory research, collaborative inquiry, emancipatory research, action learning or contextual action research, it is truly understood as “learning by doing” namely, a group of people encounter a problem; they do something to resolve it; they then see how successful their efforts are and if they are not satisfied with the result they can try it again O’ Brien’s view is shared by Dick[ 16, p.3] when he states that “action research is a natural way of acting and researching at the same time” To make it clearer, Dick affirms that action research is a true reflection of its names as it is intended to achieve both action and research at the same time It is critically suitable

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for educational situations where teachers wish to bring about action in the form of change or improvement in their teaching and at the same time develop an understanding which informs the change and is an addition to what is known

Action research is a kind of scientific study which is often carried out by a teacher or an educator in order to solve a practical problem in a classroom It focuses mainly on the actions of both students and teachers So, it can solve the problems which are related to all actions and activities in a classroom The problems which are solved by action research are often practical and useful for teachers

3.1.2 Why should a teacher do action research?

To improve and develop teaching, research into classrooms is needed As teachers, we need to know what is actually happening in our classrooms, what learners are thinking, why learners are reacting in the ways they do, what aspects of the classroom we should focus on to develop our teaching most effectively, how we should change in these aspects, and what the effects of such a change are It is important to note that more than half of the items in this list concern describing and understanding the existing classroom situation rather than evaluating the implementation of a new approach If we do not truly understand our classroom situations first, our choices of new approaches to implement are likely to be based on personal fancy and whimsy rather than on what is most likely to have beneficial effects in the situation

Action research in schools, colleges or universities solves everyday practical problems experienced by teachers, rather than the “theoretical problems” defined by non — teaching researchers It should be carried out by the teachers themselves or by someone they commission to carry out for them

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3.1.3 What are the steps in action research?

According to Kemmis and Mc Taggart [22, p.11-14], who are major authors in this field, action research typically involves four broad phases in a cycle of CYCLE1 CYCLE2 research

Figure 1.1 Cyclical AR model based on Kemmis and Mc Taggart (1988)

The action research consisted of four main stages: Planning, Acting, Observing and Reflection/evaluation stage

Stage 1: Planning

- Identifying problem and causes of the problem: Low quality of English teaching- learning due to unsuitable methods and techniques used by teachers of English at Nguyén Trai high school The unsuitable methods and techniques lead to students’ low level of motivation and their underdeveloped English reading skill The researcher observed a lesson that illustrated the problem, and then conducted a survey to get information from students

- Designing strategies for improvement (plan for action): Plan lessons to try out the use of While- reading activities to improve reading comprehension skill for the 10" form students at Nguyén Trai high school

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Stage 2: Acting

- Trying out the techniques of the use of while — reading activities in reading lessons and making records of what happened in class

Stage 3: Observing

- Three volunteer teachers were asked to observe a lesson after the trying- out stage that illustrated the changes in the 10" grade students’ reading skill at Nguyễn Trãi high school

- The results of class observation were used to evaluate the success of the action on using While — reading activities to improve reading comprehension skill at Nguyễn Trãi high school

Stage 4: Reflection/evaluation stage

- A questionnaire survey was carried out to get information from students on the extent to which the use of While- reading activities has helped to improve their reading skill

- From the surveys, conclusion and commendations were made 3.2 The subjects of the study

3.2.1 The researcher- the teacher

In this study, the researcher is also the teacher who is responsible for teaching the classes 10A and 10D at Nguyén Trai high school in the second semester of school year (2012-2013) The researcher has been teaching English at Nguyén Trai high school for more than 3 years

3.2.2 The participants

This action research project was conducted with 80 grade 10" students in class 10A and 10D at Nguyén Trai High School, There were twenty males and sixty females Their average age ranges from 16 to 17, nearly three-forth of whom came from the countryside Their English proficiency levels were reported to be at the elementary level and 15 teachers who are currently teaching English To be more specific, among 15 teachers answering the questionnaires, there was no male teacher The teachers’ ages range from 24 to 56 Their experience of teaching

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English varied from one year to 30 years The research was carried out during the second term of the academic year 2012 — 2013 at Nguyén Trai High School

3.2.3 Data collection instruments

The data collection instruments used in this study are two questionnaires, (one for teachers and one for students) and class observation Information about these instruments is provided below

Instrumentation one: A set of questionnaires answered by the students in while— reading stage

The questionnaires were designed with 5 questions to elicit from students the information about the situation of their class in while— reading stage, the way the teacher carried out these activities The questions is multiple choice

Instrumentation two: A set of questionnaires completed by the teachers

This set of questionnaires were designed with the aim to find out the attitude of the teachers toward teaching while — reading activities in a reading lesson, the difficulties they often meet while conducting these activities and solutions to solve the problem In addition, their suggestions of how to make the while — reading activities effectively were also mentioned To complete the questionnaires, teachers had to tick the appropriate boxes or to give answers

Instrumentation three: A set of questionnaires answered by the students in post — reading stage

This was done with a view to exploring the changes that the teachers made to change the situation, the changes from the students appreciated by themselves Instrumentation four:

A collection of students’ answering papers in both pre — improvement stage and post — improvement

The researcher wants to find out the results of how while — reading activities affect to students’ reading comprehension skill The students’ answering papers were analyzed to withdraw the compared results

3.3 The reading program for grade 10" at Nguyén Trai high school 3.3.1 The objectives of the program

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Basing on the new textbooks designed by the Ministry of Education and Training, English are taught with four skills and Language Focus which focuses on grammar and pronunciation The reading program at Nguyen Trai high school follows the syllabus of the MOET (Ministry of Education and Training) with the aim of improving students’ abilities in reading On English 10 textbook, there are a range of types to practice reading such as: Daily activities or daily routine, self introduction, people’s background, special education, modern technology, outdoor activities

In terms of methodology, students are expected to master the general study skills Students should be active in self — studying, peer and group cooperation They make sense of the process in teaching and learning reading thoroughly and learn how to read well

3.3.2 The teaching materials

The course books used to teach reading skills to the grade 10" students of

Nguyén Trai High School is English 10 by MOET 3.3.3 The schedule of the course

There are 3 periods of English in a week In our school, we spend two weeks for one unit because each unit is taught from five to six periods

The teaching and learning tasks for the first term of the academic year will be scheduled as follows:

Week 1 Course Introduction

Unit 1: A day in the life of Week 2 +3

Theme: Daily activities, daily routine Unit 2: School talks

Week 4+ 5

Theme: Self introduction Week 647 Unit 3: People’s background

Theme: People’s background Week 8 Progress test one and correction

( Unit 1-3)

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Unit 4: Special education Week 9 Theme: Special education Unit 5: Technol d

Week 10411 7 P9 266060 áy an yeu

Theme: Modern technology Unit 6: An Excursion Week 12+ 13

Theme: Outdoor activities Progress test two and correction Week 14

(Unit 4-6)

Init 7:

Week 15 Unit 7: The Mass Media

Theme: The Mass Media: Newspapers, television, radio Unit 8: The story of my village

Week 16+17 Theme: Community life Final first — term Test

The teaching and learning tasks for the second term will be scheduled as follows: Unit 9: Undersea world Week 19+ 20 Theme: The Undersea world: marine life Unit 10: Conservation Week 21+22 Theme: Conservation Unit 11: National parks Week 23+24

Theme: National parks

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Unit 13: Films and cinema Week 28 +29

Theme: Films and cinema Unit 14: The World cup Week 30 +31

Theme: The world cup and other sports Progress test three and correction Week 32

(Unit 12-14) Unit 16: Historical places Week 33

Theme: Historical places

Week 34+35 Revision and Final Second — term Test

3.3.4 Characteristics of reading passages

A reading passage in the new English textbook “Tiéng Anh 10” has 190 - 230 words in length Each passage closely relates to the theme of the unit It is divided into small paragraphs According to "7ài liệu bơi dưỡng giáo viên tiếng anh 10” [1 p.60] ("Teacher Training Manual"), the passage is written with simple and easily understandable style However, some passages are long and rather difficult for the students to understand, as there are a lot of difficult new words It takes time to elicit them Moreover, in each passage, some sentences with the new grammatical structures of the unit are also introduced This requires the teacher to explain them to the students (quick explanation)

3.3.5 Characteristics of reading tasks

In “While you read” (While - reading) there is always a requirement: “Read the passage and do the tasks that follow” In each unit, three kinds of tasks are designed Each task has its own aim

- Task 1 helps the students to understand words or phrases in the passage (Vocabulary comprehension)

- Task 2 helps the students to comprehend the content of the passage (Passage comprehension)

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- Task 3 helps the students to have an overall understanding of the passage In task 1, the following exercises are included: Matching, Gap-filling Students are asked to guess meaning in context or finding words from context to match or to fill in the blank

Matching is the most popular exercise in Task 1

In task 2, to help students to comprehend the passage, the following exercises are dealt with:

- Deciding on True or False statement

- Scanning for specific information to fill in the sentenses or the table - Answering the questions

- Multiple-choice questions - Gap-filling (in “After you read’’)

Among the exercises, answering the questions appears most

To meet the requirement of Task 3, one type of exercise is designed: Multiple- choice This type is used to identify the main idea of the passage

Normally, Task 1 and 2 are complicated and they require more time to do These tasks themselves cause a lot of difficulties for students

3.4 The current situation of teaching the textbook at Nguyén Trai High School 3.4.1 Introduction to Nguyén Trai High School and students

Nguyén Trai High School is located in south west of Thanh hoa city This is a small school It has 21 classes It has been in operation for over 30 years Like other high schools, its duty is to train students from the 10" form to the 12" form Every year the school admits about 300 students for the 10th form After leaving the school, our students are provided with knowledge of English which is good enough for them to take the entrance exams to colleges or universities, or to begin working for their own living

In our school, Maths, Physics and Chemistry are chosen by most of the students who wish to take the exams to colleges or universities English is one of the

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compulsory subjects at high school and in the school-leaving exam However, few students choose the colleges or universities which require an English exam

The students at Nguyén Trai High School are approximately 16 - 18 years of age They come from the villages surrounding the school Most of their parents are farmers Their main work is doing farming Besides, they do extra work in cities Some of them do not take good care of their children The students have different learning abilities and different attitudes towards learning English such as some are learning for the entrance exams to colleges or universities, some are learning only for graduating exam, and others are learning for nothing, i.e they cannot identify what they learn English for They consider it as a subject they have to learn at school Thus, the teachers in our school cope with the difficulties which come from our students’ different motivations

Moreover, most of our students have low English level They have learnt English for four years at secondary schools However, their English background knowledge has been remained a little When they come to the 10th form, it is surprising that they have limited vocabulary and grammatical structures For some students, the things they have learnt at secondary school seem to be completely new at the moment Some students want to go to English classes in order to improve their English However, it is impossible for them to go to the English centres, because they are too far from the school So they attend the extra English classes which are held by the English teachers of our school

Another problem of the students is that most of them do not have the habit of learning independently and tend to depend on the textbook or the textbooks with the available answers (namely “To learn English well" etc), and on the teachers for knowledge This fact calls for suitable teaching methods to help the students become more active in learning English

3.4.2 Teachers and teaching methods

Our school has got five English teachers, aged from 24 to 56 Three of them took full- time ELT training courses at the College of Foreign Languages (VNUH), and two of them took in-service ELT course at the same college The oldest teacher has more than 30 years of teaching experience and the yougest teacher has got 3 years All of us have never participated in any training course abroad However, we

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have been to some domestic workshops in language teaching and some summer workshops on changes in English textbooks Each teacher has to teach approximately 12 periods a week Each has the responsibility to teach 3 periods in each class

As far as the methodology is concerned, the teachers are aware of the new trend in teaching method nowadays: Learner - centered approach They try to give their students independence in studying by asking them to work through the text or discuss subject matters in groups or in pairs, after giving the some instructions However, not all of the teachers can do that and the amount of time spent on such activities is not much

Furthermore, most of the 10th form students cannot do these themselves Therefore, the teachers often employ the traditional method of teaching in reading lessons The teachers play the key role in the classroom, being the main speakers working through the text The teachers explain new words, new structures, even give the answers to some difficult exercises The students are passive And the success depends on how flexible and adaptable the individual teacher is to respond to the requirement of the teaching situation

3.4.3 Teaching facilities

Teaching facilities are considered significant and may affect the teaching process positively or negatively According to the Ministry of Training and Education, the changing teaching methods are closely related to the changing teaching facilities In teaching competitions between high schools, lessons with modern teaching facilities are highly appreciated, because they bring great results In general, the teaching facilities at Nguyén Trai High school are poorly equipped There is no English laboratory; there is only one library which provides books on different subjects, mainly on Maths, Physics and Chemistry There are not any projectors The equipment in classrooms is very simple and traditional A board, chalk, a cassette player (which is in bad condition) and a textbook are main teaching equipments in every class

3.4.4 Syllabus of teaching English and time allocation for a reading period At the moment, the 10th form students are using the new textbooks, published in 2007 The new English textbook “Tieng Anh 10” has totally 16 units