An investigation into the first year english Majors some strategies for dealing with unfamiliar words for better EFL reading comprehension and recommendations

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY NO.2 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY BUI THI HONG AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE FIRST- YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS’ SOME STRATEGIES FOR DEALING WITH UNFAMILIAR WORDS FOR BETTER

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY NO.2

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY

BUI THI HONG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE FIRST- YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS’ SOME STRATEGIES FOR DEALING WITH UNFAMILIAR WORDS

FOR BETTER EFL READING COMPREHENSION AND

RECOMMENDATIONS (Graduation paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the Degree of

Bachelor of Arts in English)

Hanoi, May 2013

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY NO.2

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY

BUI THI HONG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE FIRST- YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS’ SOME STRATEGIES FOR DEALING WITH UNFAMILIAR WORDS

FOR BETTER EFL READING COMPREHENSION AND

RECOMMENDATIONS

(Graduation paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the Degree of

Bachelor of Arts in English) SUPERVISOR: TA THI THANH HOA, M.A

li

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to take this chance to express my greatest gratitude to Ms Ta Thi Thanh Hoa, M A., my supervisor, for her patience in providing continuous and careful guidance as well as encouragement, indispensable suggestions and advice

I am greatly indebted to the teachers of English at Hanoi Pedagogical

University 2 for their help and guidance while I was carrying out the survey

I wish to thank all lecturers at Hanoi Pedagogical University No.2, especially the lecturers in the Foreign Language Faculty for their educated instructions during

my years of university work

I am particularly grateful to my close friends for their encouragement and

constructive feedback Their enthusiasm and kindness in helping me collect valuable reference documents and data for my research

Last but not least, I owe a debt of gratitude to my beloved family, for their whole- hearted encouragement and endless support

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

Title: “An investigation into the first-year English majors’ strategies for dealing with unfamiliar words for better EFL reading comprehension and recommendations"

(Graduation paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the Degree of Bachelor

of Arts in English)

I certify that no part of this report has been copied or reproduced by me from any other person’s work without acknowledgements and that the report is originally written by me under strict guidance from my supervisor

Date submitted: May, 2013

ABSTRACT

Today’s language teachers and researchers have realized the important role of vocabulary in reading comprehension In academic reading classes for ELF students, strategies dealing with unfamiliar words are often of practical concern

No doubt, English texts include not only unfamiliar vocabulary items but also unfamiliar concepts and culture- specific ideas so the readers experience great

difficulties comprehending with the text With this regard, the thesis was carried

out to investigate some strategies for dealing with unfamiliar words with strong hope that it would help improve student’s reading comprehension in English at Hanoi Pedagogical University No.2

The data collection instruments used in this study were tests and

questionnaire One-hundred first-year majors in Foreign Language Faculty were

tested in order to examine whether their strategies of dealing with unfamiliar words

in reading passages are effective

Based on the findings, the thesis make some recommendations on strategies dealing with unfamiliar words in order to make the reading comprehension process more effective in future English classrooms

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

1 EFL: English Foreign Language

2 HPU2: Hanoi Pedagogical University Number 2

3 ESL: English as a Second Language

TABLE OF CONTENTS

IV RESEARCH SCOPPE c2 2t 2t HE HH2 HH re 3

V RESEARCH TASK oo 3

VI RESEARCH METHODS ccccccssescesseseeseeseesseessesesscseesessssseseesseesseeassesseeseesssnesseecsscseesseeseesse 3 VIL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH c5 555cc 4 VII DESIGN OF THE RESEARCH WORK .cccccssssesseseeeeesieseeesseseesessessseesseseeseseensaseeeeses 4

PART I: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND I.1 Literature Review in Đi€Ý - - cà tt kề TH HH TH TT gi 5 1.2 Reading Comprehension 0 7 1.2.1 Definition of Reading Comprehension cceseecesseeetsseseeseeeetesseeeeeseeecnesnseeeeeeeeeeseeeenenee 7 1.2.2 The importance of Reading Comprehension cssessesssseeeseeseesceeeeseeseeeeneenseeseeneeesanes 8 I6 C00 200i)0i5i19(0:0 (6ì) 8n 9 I0 cu u00 8n 4 10 I2 Uo ¿(0/0020 ra 10 Nho vi 300120 .-nỪoỪỪỪDằDẳỶỪDBỒẰẲ 11 I0 ao cn.)ỢỪVODỤDlA1:) 12 1.2.4.1 Defining learning strategies oo cece 12

1.2.4.1.1 Cognitive ố nh 13 1.2.4.1.2 MetacognItIV€ Sffat€Ø1€S Sàn HH HH ng tri, 13 I.2.4.1.3 Social/ AffectiV€ SfTafCB1€S - cà TT H111 T11 Hàn rên 14 1.3 Unfamiliar words

13.1 Definition and classification Of WOrc St tt ket 15 1.3.2 The Importance of vocabulary in reading coimprehennsiOI1 . - 5552 +55 16 1.3.3 Definition ofunfamiliar WOrC - 6< SkS**kEEEE TT 1H11 11 1111 g1 tt nh ngư 17 1.3.4 What makes words unfarmiliar2 + SE EkeEeEkektrkerkerkekerkerkrkerkerkrree 18 1.3.5 The importance of strategies of dealing with unfamiliar words in reading process 19

CHAPTER II: THE STUDY

I.1 Research dcsign and me€thOd - St tStx‡kEEEEVEkkEkEEkekkrkerkerkekrrkirkrkerkerkrrke 21 I0 1 21 II.1.2 Instruments

In» DD 21 TL.1.2.2 QuUeStIONNALTE 22 I1.2 Report of the survey results 0 ceseecsessesseseesesesseeseeeesseeeesesucsteatssesecsesaeesseeseeassenteansneeeenes 23

II nh 23

IV 00:0 8n 26 E0) 0g: d 34

CHAPTER III: DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS IiBRbiv01v0i 011 35 III.2 Discussion of major findings

IV.1 Some strategies for dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension .+ 40 IV.1.1 Ignoring the unfamiliar Words T1 40 TV.L.D.D SKIMMING oe 40

IS Al IV.1.2 Guessing or referencing the word meaning by analyzing formation of words 42 TV.1.2.1.1 Stem Of r00ts hố 43

IV.1.3 Guessing or referencing the word meaning from context by making use of context

PART III: CONCLUSION

IiiR®uU.ui) on 57 HIL.2 Limitations and suggestions for further sfUdy - 5c ‡tkEkekekerkekekerrekekerkek 58

REFERENCES - - Sàn HH TH HH HT TH HH HT TH TH TH hệ I EXERCISE i:

ix

PART I: INTRODUCTION

I RATIONALE

Nowadays, as an effective means of international communication, English is widely used in all fields throughout the world such as politics, economics, tourism, telecommunication, culture, science and technology, and since Vietnam carried out the open door policy towards the regional and global integration, English language has become more and more important to everyone Therefore, it is necessary for Vietnamese students to have a good command of English to satisfy the growing requirements in a developing country like Vietnam

In the process of teaching and learning English as a second or foreign language, reading is an essential skill For many people, reading is the most

important skill to gain the knowledge and the means by which learners can access

to further study So with well-developed skills, the reader will have chances to make greater progress and achieve greater development in all academic areas Reading is an important tool for people of many societies, allowing them to access reservoir of information or knowledge Everyone needs reading skills for such various purposes as survival, broadened knowledge and pleasure Reading is a basic skill not only every school requires but every job expects It is the fact that skills of reading and analyzing documents or a variety of data sources are major factors which affect a person’s work performance and his salary as well Therefore, improving reading skill is very important for undergraduate students of English in general and those of Foreign Language Faculty at Hanoi Pedagogical University No.2 in particular

Reading is not just pronouncing words but requires understanding However, the first difficulty students learning English as a foreign language meet while reading is unfamiliar words Many students probably consider that it is their main problem in reading When encountering in an unfamiliar word, most students are first likely to ask what it means If they do not find out the word meaning, they

cannot go on reading and comprehending the text College material contains unfamiliar words and specialized or technical vocabulary that students must learn Also, college textbooks in general are written at a higher level than other materials,

so some effective strategies for dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension are necessary

In studying process, the researcher of this paper and other students of Foreign Language Faculty at Hanoi Pedagogical University No.2 have met many difficulties caused by unfamiliar words in reading comprehension There should be more information about the sample’s exploitation of strategies for dealing with

unfamiliar words in English Foreign Language reading comprehension Therefore,

the researcher would like to provide insight into EFL reading comprehension and unfamiliar words and propose some effective strategies for dealing with unfamiliar

words in reading comprehension to the first-year English majors at Hanoi

Pedagogical University No.2

II] RESEARCH PRESUPPOSITION

Several principle questions are raised as follow:

1) What are difficulties that students usually meet when encountering

unfamiliar words in reading comprehension?

2) Which strategies do the students often use for dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension?

3) What are effective strategies to enhance second language student’s reading comprehension ability dealing with unfamiliar words become more effectively?

Il RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The study is aimed at the following goals

1) To focus on finding what difficulties students usually meet when

encountering unfamiliar words in reading comprehension

2) To bring out some effective strategies to help students learn English as a foreign language in general and the first-year English major students at Hanoi Pedagogical University No.2 in particular to overcome their difficulties

IV RESEARCH SCOPE

The general research area of this study is EFL learning methodology

The study focuses on difficulties caused by unfamiliar words in reading comprehension and some effective strategies for dealing with them Others relating

to the reading comprehension are also briefly mentioned

The research aimed at English learners, especially the first-year English major students at Hanoi Pedagogical University No.2 The population involved in the study is one hundred first-year English major students at Hanoi Pedagogical University No.2

4) Proposed effective strategies of dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension based on the result drawn from the survey

Hopefully, this research will be a good source for students in general, especially the students of Foreign Language Faculty at Hanoi Pedagogical University No.2 in particular

VI RESEARCH METHODS

In order to accomplish this paper systematically and adequately, the author

has acquired all the literature resources from many sources of data such as the

internet, journal, and teaching and learning methodology books in the Library of Hanoi Pedagogical University No.2 and the Vietnam National University Library

The author implemented a survey with subjects who are the first-year English major students at Hanoi Pedagogical University No.2 Consulting and discussing

by the supervisor in the process of researching also greatly contributed to the completion of this thesis

VII SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH

The findings of the thesis will be useful not only to the researcher, but also

to the teaching staff and especially to the students at HPU2 in learning reading

skills Besides, the study will make a great contribution to improve the quality of

teaching and learning English at HPU2 Furthermore, it will offer the theoretical basis for the application of reading techniques in classroom

VIII DESIGN OF THE RESEARCH WORK

There are three main parts in this thesis: introduction, development, and

conclusion

The introduction provides the rationale, the presupposition, the aims, the

significance, the scope, the methods, and the design of the thesis

The development consists of four chapters: Chapter | presents the theoretical background of reading comprehension Chapter 2 focuses on the study It reports the results of test, questionnaire Chapter 3 summarizes the major findings and discussion Chapter 4 proposes some strategies dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension and recommendations

The conclusion provides a brief summary of main parts being present in the study, the conclusion drawn out and the limitation of the study It also suggests directions further study

PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1 Literature Review in Brief

Reading comprehension is a process which contributes to success in learning

a foreign language and good language learners are considered to be good readers

It is regarded as both a process and a product of communication with a writer To

achieve reading comprehension, a reader needs “a variety of highly flexible

process called comprehension strategies” (May, (2001:119)) Vocabulary

development is considered as one of the important strategies in reading

comprehension

It is commonly agreed by teachers and researchers that vocabulary

knowledge and reading have a close relationship A reader who has much

vocabulary knowledge can comprehend a text better Limited lexical knowledge discourages reading and, simultaneously, a lack of reading restricts vocabulary

enriching To become a successful, advanced reader, a learner will need to learn and apply different strategies to deal with unknown words encountered in reading

Generally, a good reader has appropriate strategies to deal with unknown words in

reading such as guessing or inferring the meaning of unknown words in a text

Since more and more teachers and researchers have come to understand the role of the lexicon in language learning and communication, a great amount of research

has been conducted on lexical inference and vocabulary development

According to Paribakht & Wesche, (1999) in the book Studies in Second Language Acquisition, a good reader can guess the meanings of some unfamiliar words in a text, and there is a strong relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension Reading ability of second/foreign language learners has been widely investigated and it has been found that they will understand more and make more vocabulary guesses if they participate actively in the reading process by applying strategies

In the book Reading in a Foreign Language, Alderson (1981) proposes the term “reading strategies” that students must utilize in order to comprehend reading passages, and she noted 20 effective reading strategies “an efficient reader reads to identify meaning rather than words, takes chances in order to identify meaning, considers illustrations, evaluates guesses, uses a variety of types of context clues, and follows through with proposed solutions”

Inferring the meaning of unknown words from context is regarded by Marva Barnett (1990) in the book More than Meet the Eyes Foreign Language Reading and O’Malley& Chamot(1990) in the book Learning Strategies In Second Language Acquisition as a cognitive strategy, one of the most effective learning strategies that have been demonstrated to be paramount not only in reading comprehension but also in vocabulary acquisition

In the book Second Language Reading and Vocabulary, Thomas Huckin

(1996) also mentions the role of vocabulary in lexical inference Lexical inference has also been addressed in a number of research studies concerning learner factors Hunt (1996) implies that inferring meaning from context works best when learners have the ability to recognize several thousands of high-frequency words in a context that is not too challenging to readers

Thomas Huckin & James Coady (1998) in the book entitled Second language reading and vocabulary learning describe four possible factors that may contribute

to connection between vocabulary development and reading comprehension The first is an underlying aptitude for verbal learning Second, students learn to access

their prior knowledge of word meanings to help them understand new text Third,

the more students know the words in the reading texts, the better they comprehend the texts Fourth, students who thoroughly understand a word also understand many ideas related to that word The four factors imply that vocabulary knowledge will have a positive effect on reading comprehension

In short, much research has been done on strategies dealing with unknown words in reading comprehension It has been observed by the researcher that students learn more and enjoy reading more if they use strategies of dealing with

unfamiliar words in their classes They use a wide variety of strategies when they deal with unknown words, but they are often not aware of what strategies they use

when they read in English It was found out that they were often reluctant to

engage in the inferencing process as they preferred first language translations Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate if the EFL students used inferencing when they dealt with unknown words in the reading passages in English and to suggest some strategies for dealing with new words in reading comprehension in

English to the first-year English Majors at Hanoi Pedagogical University No.2

1.2 Reading Comprehension

1.2.1 Definition of Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension plays an important part in teaching and learning reading Reading comprehension can be understood as the ability to attract the

required information from the text as efficiently as possible There are three

elements involving in the reading process: the text being read, the background knowledge of the reader and the contextual aspects relevant for interpreting the text In reading, readers not only activate their knowledge of the language but also the knowledge of the word or more specifically background knowledge of the text, which is considered to be extremely important

Studying the nature of reading comprehension, there are some definitions of

reading from researchers:

Richard and Thomas (1987:9) state: “reading comprehension is best described as an understanding between the author and the reader” The emphasis

is on the reader’s understanding of printed pages based on the individual’s unique background of experience

According to Cathy Puett Miller, TLA, Inc (1974:11), “Reading comprehension is the process of constructing meaning from text The goal of all reading instruction is ultimately targeted at helping a reader comprehend text Reading comprehension involves at least two people: the reader and the writer The process of comprehending involves decoding the writer’s words and then using

background knowledge to construct an approximate understanding of the writer’s message”

Swam (1975:1) points out “A student is good at comprehension we mean that

he can read accurately and efficiently so as to get the maximum information of a text with the minimum of understanding”

In line with Swam, Grellet (1981:3) accepts that “reading comprehension or understanding a written means extracting the required information from it as effectively as possible”

The definitions of reading comprehension above are general ones In order to understand more about reading comprehension, it is necessary to take a closer look

at actual process that really takes place in the reader’s mind So far, several models

of reading have been proposed to describe this process The next section is going to

present these models of reading and their strengths and weaknesses

1.2.2 The importance of Reading Comprehension

As we know, the teaching and learning of reading are gaining much attention because reading is one of learning a second or foreign language Moreover, “for many students, reading is by far the most important of the four macro skills, particularly in English as a second or a foreign language” (Carrell (1997:1)) That idea is true as reading can bring many benefits for the learners

One of the main benefits of reading comprehension is that it helps the learners enrich their vocabulary and knowledge of the structures of the English language According to Richard (1993:3) reading “may help to increase knowledge of the

target language through exposure to new vocabulary and grammatical structures”

Educational researchers have also found a strong correlation between reading and vocabulary knowledge While reading, the learners know most of the words in the text already, and they can also determine the meaning of many of the unfamiliar words from the text In the other words, the best way to acquire a large vocabulary

is to read Besides, through reading the learners will have chances to learn how grammar structures are used in difference situations

“Reading in the new language is also an important way to learn about the target culture” (Richard, (1993:4)) Reading brings the learners a wide range of

interesting in information, helps them understand the way of life, behaviors,

thought and other social aspects of the English people Thus, they can tackle the vocabulary, the grammar, and the background knowledge or cross-cultural problems they often encounter now

Reading on a regular basis can also have the added benefit of improving our

spelling as well The more we read, the more we see the proper spelling and it will

help us to make sure that we are spelling things correctly as well, which is definitely very important People who start reading from an early age are observed

to have good language skills, and they grasp the variances in phonics much better Especially, for children, reading out loud exposes them to proper grammar and

phrasing It enhances the development of their spoken language skills, their ability

to express themselves verbally, clearly and concisely

After all, there are many great benefits of reading and they all show the importance of reading today There are so many ways in which reading continues

to be both a vital skill for students to master, and an important source of

knowledge and pleasure Reading is like providing the mind with nourishment

Knowledge is the food for the mind and soul Apart from giving us the basic information about the world around us, it also encourages us to think Therefore,

the key to improving weak reading comprehension is to promote our reading habit and skills through understanding main benefits of reading completely

1.2.3 Reading Comprehension Models

In looking for ways to describe the interaction between the reader and the text, researchers have created models that describe what happens when people read According to the researchers, there are three main models of how reading occurred

1.2.3.1 Bottom-up Model

With the bottom-up model, reading was viewed as “the process of meaning

interpretation” in which “the language is translated from one form of symbolic

representation to another” (Nunan, 1991)

According to Carven, bottom-up model describes reading as being a linear process from graphic symbols to meaning responses, and the readers check words individually, and sound them out phonetically With this type of reading, the readers passively perceive input which progresses from the lowest level of reading- the interpretation of symbols-to the higher levels such as the assigning of meaning

According to Gough (1972), reading should be bottom-up He believes

readers should follow five stages: eye fixation, absorption of the visual stimulus, letter identification, phonological representation, and understanding of words

serially from left to right

Gough specifically assumes that the reader is not a guesser However, many researchers have shown his bottom-up explanations are not adequate

Samual and Kamil (1988:31) point out the shortcomings of the models as follows:

Because of the lack of feedback loops in the early bottom-up models, it was difficult to account for sentence-context effects and the role of prior knowledge of text topic as facilitating variables in word recognition and comprehension

1.2.3.2 Top-down Model

In this model, reading has been seen as the process in which reader moves

from the top, the higher level of mental stages down to the text itself This theory focuses on the reconstruction of meaning rather than the decoding of form, the interaction between the reader and the text than the graphic forms or printed pages Top-down model theory argues that readers bring a great deal of knowledge, expectations, assumptions, and questions to the text and, given a_ basic understanding of vocabulary, they continue to read as long as the text confirms their expectations (Goodman, 1967)

In this model, the reader, far from being a passive receiver, plays an active part in the text interpretation, using background knowledge to form inferences, and only decoding symbols when it is necessary for comprehension

Having the same ideas with Goodman, Smith (1998) assumes that “Reader can go straight to meaning in the text by means of prediction Reading is not a master of identifying words after words.”

According to Stanovich (1980), Goodman and Smith’s top-down theory is on

a belief that the actual decoding process is slow, and that is therefore faster and

more economical for the reader to get to know what the text will contain next, so

that the slow decoding process can to some extent be avoided He accepts that the reader do form inferences while reading, and the background knowledge has a powerful effect on comprehension, but assumes that it is false to imply the

generation of hypotheses concerning subsequent words in a text is quicker than

processing the words according to purely visual information

Due to limitations of both bottom-up and top-down models, a new and more insightful reading process has been proposed under the name of interactive model 1.2.3.3 Interactive Model

Interactive theorists appreciate both the role of knowledge and the prediction, and at the same time emphasize the importance of rapid and accurate processing of the actual words of the text According to Grabe (1998), the expression

“interactive” is sometimes interpretered to refer to the interaction between the text and the reader, and sometimes to the interaction between top-down and bottom-up

reading processes

According to Hayes (1991:7):

Interactive models, different processes are thought to be responsible for providing information that is shared with other processes The information obtained from each type of processing is combined to determine the most appropriate interpretation of the printed pages

With the strong points of the interactive model, the reading teachers can develop it in their reading classrooms The teachers also need to develop the ability

to take the advantages of these models and therefore can anticipate the types of processes and potential problems that the students will experience

1.2.4 Learning strategies

1.2.4.1 Defining learning strategies

Strategy is a high level plan to achieve one or more goals under conditions

of uncertainty Strategy becomes ever necessary when it is known or suspected there are insufficient resources to achieve these goals

Learning strategies seem to be "tricks" learners that help learners remember things better or to do tasks more efficiently Several researchers have studied what learning strategies are and why they are effective in the learning process

Concerning the definition of learning strategies, there are some considerable differences

Rubin (1987:23) gives a general definition of learning strategies:

Learning strategies are strategies which contribute to the development of language system which learner constructs and effect learning directly

According to Oxford (1990:5):

"Learning strategies are specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferrable to new situations."

These definitions are judged as quite comprehensive because they cover both cognitive and affective aspects of learning strategies

The definition has been widely accepted to date was proposed by Od’Malley and Chamot (1990) They assumed that learning strategies are “the special thoughts or behaviors that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn or retain new information” (1990:1) Although the definition is short, it covers the most important aspects of learning strategies that learning strategies are both mental and behavioral, and learning strategies are individually characterized

From reading through the definitions coined by researchers in the area of learning strategies, it would be appropriate to state that learning strategies, in essence, are actions taken by the learner to assist in learning more effectively

Language Learning Strategies have been classified by many scholars But

the framework that has been most widely welcomed and useful is the framework of O’ Malley and Chamot (1990) The three categories of language learning strategies will be presented as follows

1.2.4.1.1 Cognitive strategies

Cognitive strategies are “more directly related to individual learning tasks and entail direct manipulation or transformation of the learning material” (1990:8) These are perhaps the most popular strategies with language learners The target

language is manipulated or transformed by repeating, analyzing or summarizing

The four sets in this group are: Practicing, Receiving and Sending

Messages, Analyzing and Reasoning, and Creating Structure for Input and Output Practicing is the most important in this group which can be achieved by repeating, working with sounds and writing, and using patterns

The tools of receiving and sending messages are used when learners try to

find the main idea through skimming and scanning It is not necessary to check

every word

The adult learners commonly use analyzing and reasoning strategies These are used to understand the meaning and expression of the target language These are also used to make new expressions

Three sets of strategies belong to this group and they are: Centering Your Learning, Arranging and Planning Your Learning, and Evaluating Your Learning

The aim of centering learning is to give a focus to the learner so that the

attention could be directed toward certain language activities or skills

Arranging and planning learning help learners to organize so they may get

maximum benefit from their energy and effort

Evaluating learning helps learners with problems like monitoring errors and evaluation of progress

Research has found that compared to cognitive strategies metacognitive strategies are used less consistently by the learners

1.2.4.1.3 Social/ Affective strategies

Social strategies are very important in learning a language because language

is used in communication and communication occurs between people

Social/Affective strategies are referred to as “a broad grouping that involves either interaction with another person or ideational control over affect” (1990:45) Four sets of strategies are included in this group: Asking Questions, Cooperating with others, Empathizing with Others, and Self-talk

Among the four, asking questions is the most helpful and comes closest to understanding the meaning It also helps in conversation by generating response

from the partner and shows interest and involvement

Cooperation with others eliminates competition and in its place brings group spirit Studies show that cooperative learning results in higher self-esteem, increased confidence, and rapid achievement Learners do not naturally apply cooperative strategies because of strong emphasis put on competition by educational institutions Sometimes competition brings a strong wish to perform better than others, but it often results in anxiety and fear of failure It is important

to help learners change their attitudes from confrontation and competition to

cooperation

Empathy is very important in communication Empathy means to put oneself

in someone else situation to understand that persons point of view

Self-talk is the last set of strategies in this group Reducing anxiety by using mental techniques makes one feel competent to do the learning task

Learners can use social strategies to develop cultural understanding and become aware of thoughts and feelings of others Learners can apply the strategy

of cooperating with others by doing something together in the language they are

learning

1.3 Unfamiliar words

1.3.1 Definition and classification of word

Language is formed of words Words allow us to talk about objects as diverse

as helicopters and penguins The language learner learns word before acquiring syntax or conventional discourse patterns

In Webster’s College Dictionary, a word is known as:

“a unit of language, consisting of one or more spoken sounds or their written

representation, that functions as a principal carrier of meaning, is typically seen

as the smallest such unit capable of independent use, is separated from other such units by spaces in writing and is often distinguished phonologically, as by accent

or pause”’ (18, 412)

A word is the smallest free form or an item that may be uttered in isolation with semantic or pragmatic content in a language, in contrast to a morpheme, which is the smallest unit of meaning Words can be combined to create other units

of language, such as phrases, clauses, and sentences A word consisting of two or more stems joined together form a compound A word can combine with an

already existing word or part of a word form a portmanteau (Internet source No.)

Another remarkable definition on words which Leonard Bloomfield introduced the concept of “Minimal Free Forms” in 1962 is that “Words are thought of as the smallest meaningful unit of speech that can stand by themselves

This involves phonemes — units of sound and lexemes — units of meaning”

However, he also approves that some written words are not minimal free forms, as they make no sense by themselves (e.g the and of)

A word in English is a basic central unit in the language It may consist of one

or more morphemes as a morpheme is the smallest unit that has meaning, either

lexical or grammatical

Lexical words are called Open class items which convey content words

include Nouns, Adjectives, Adverbs and Verbs The number of this class is

unlimited because its members can go together to create a new word with new meaning (e.g new is an adjective combines with born — a verb to create a new adjective new — born) By adding affixes to a member, a new member can be formed For instance, act (Verb) > active (Adjective) > actively (Adverb) > actor (Noun) > action (Noun)

In contrast, grammatical words are known as Closed system items which

consist of function words such as Articles, Demonstratives, Pronouns, Prepositions and Conjunctions This type of word has some features different from Open class

items The number of grammatical words is limited because its members cannot go together On the other hand, the members of this class exclude each other For example, a car is accepted but a my car is not available As the result, it can never

create new members

1.3.2 The importance of vocabulary in reading comprehension

Vocabulary has been seen as a primary factor in verbal comprehension throughout much of the history of modern psychological and educational research Successful fluent reader's vocabulary knowledge is the core skill that enables them

to read faster and better with improved recall and especially improved comprehension

The importance of vocabulary knowledge can quickly be seen as the fundamental tool that enables one to read groups of words with single eye fixations Because when a word or a group of words are immediately recognizable, meaning that you know the meaning of the word or words and you do not require decoding to understand, then this imparts a unique physiological characteristic your eyes do not fixate on known vocabulary nor require re-reading!

In addition, the importance of vocabulary can extend to spelling instruction If the reader cannot make out a word, he will either skip it or stop reading This can

be easily illustrated by looking at poorly-spelled and incomprehensibly written articles on the Internet When concepts cannot be clearly expressed, it is easy for readers to click away and seek another source Spelling errors tend to spread,

especially online, making written communication difficult to understand

Furthermore, to the vital importance of vocabulary for success in life, a large vocabulary is more specifically predictive and reflective of high levels of reading achievement The Report of the National Reading Panel (2000), for example,

concluded, “The importance of vocabulary knowledge has long been recognized in

the development of reading skills As early as 1924, researchers noted that growth

in reading power relies on continuous growth in word knowledge” (pp 4-15)

It stands to reason, and research, that vocabulary is important for reading to learn as well as learning to read For understanding of text, students need to be familiar with the meaning of almost words in any book or passage they read Decoding instruction by itself will not guarantee that students will gather enough meaning to learn from what they are reading

1.3.3 Definition of unfamiliar word

One of the difficulties that students meet when they are reading is the vocabulary Many students probably consider that their main problem in reading is not having a big enough vocabulary Most students who meet an unfamiliar word cannot interpret are first likely to ask what it means If they do not find out the word’s meaning, they cannot go on reading and comprehending the text So, what

is an unfamiliar word in reading?

A word which is an “unaccustomed” or “unusual” word to readers is called

an unfamiliar word (18, 190) In other word, it is word that rarely comes up in

sentences, or word that are not really well known Some writers sometimes use some unfamiliar words on their writing in order as their writing style

Reading in college refers to reading academic materials with many difficult

words Students cannot read college textbooks, however, without also facing with

unfamiliar words An unfamiliar word can be a new word or a familiar word in

new contexts

It is unlikely that a student will know every word in a text and even if he thinks he has seen every word before, it is unlikely that he will has seen a particular word in its present context It is therefore necessary to work out the meaning of unfamiliar words in context and, perhaps, familiar words in new

contexts

1.3.4 What makes words unfamiliar?

Not all words are difficult, and many are difficult only in some contexts or for

some readers However, we can identify some kinds of lexical items, and some

ways in which words are used, that frequently present difficulty to a foreign

language reader

Words with several meanings

Any word with more than one meaning is potentially troublesome Some of the most dangerous misunderstandings arise when everyday words are used in specialized field The difficulty arises partly because it is not immediately

apparent

To tackle these unexpected misunderstanding, we must first be aware that they may occur and then use common sense in deciding whether to accept a familiar meaning or check whether another is possible

Transfer of meaning

Metaphor and similar kinds of transferred meaning are always potential problems They do not mean what at first glance they seem to mean Metaphor may lie in a single word or be far more extensive It always involves an implicit comparison between A and B, so one way of handling it is to analyze what A and

B have in common that is relevant to the context

Idiom

An idiom is a lexical item consisting of several words, with a meaning that cannot be deduced from the individual words

The problem idioms are the ones composed of simple words, each of which the student understand Without the teacher’s help, students may not realize that they do not understand the whole sentence: so ask a question which cannot be answered unless the idiom is understood

Irony

Irony is chiefly a problem of pragmatics rather than lexis The word may be simple, but the way the writer uses them is not The difficulty is the mismatch between the apparent meaning and the writer’s underlying intention

Irony is one of the most difficult uses of language The only way to handle it seems to be at the level of a whole text, since interpretation depends on assessment

of the writer’s attitude from other evidence in the text It is probably best dealt with

as examples arise in texts use for other purpose

In short, many words are difficult only in some contexts or for some readers When students first meet a new word, it is not easy for them to understand, to

figure out meaning or dealing with them Thus, some effective strategies for dealing with unfamiliar words are very essential to help students learn more effectively

1.3.5 The importance of strategies of dealing with unfamiliar words in reading

process

It is said that one of the most important factors that distinguish successful learners from unsuccessful ones is their learning strategies Successful learners should use some effective learning strategies to dealing problems that emerge during their learning process In the field of reading comprehension, the strategies

of dealing with unfamiliar words play an important role

First, reading in its fullest sense involves weaving together word recognition

and comprehension in a fluent manner However, the fact shows that word

comprehension is not always easy The first thing students meet when they are reading is that there are too many unfamiliar words in the text And a number of these words are important words which students have to figure out them to solve

reading tasks Therefore, effective strategies of dealing with unfamiliar words will

strongly help them overcome difficulties when encountering any unknown words Besides, if there are too many unfamiliar words in the text, this can be a

substantial stumbling block for further progress in reading any text Unfamiliar words can cause frequent interruptions in students’ reading concentration Thus, students who do not have specific strategies of dealing with these difficult words,

their sustained reading will be much more disrupted, fewer words will be encountered

Furthermore, knowledge of strategies dealing with unfamiliar words is very important because if a learner is conscious of the process underlying the learning,

he or she will be more effective in language learning The fact showed that learners who are taught strategies of dealing with unfamiliar words are more highly motivated than those who are not However, not all learners automatically know which strategies work best for them

For these reasons, explicit strategies training and experimenting with different

strategies can lead to more effective reading It is beneficial to teach students

strategies to dealing with this problem The new teaching capacities also include identifying student’s strategies of dealing with unfamiliar words, conducting training on strategies of dealing with unfamiliar words, and helping learner become

more independent It also “is tool for active, self-directed involvement, which is

essential for developing communicative competence” (O’Malley & Chamot,

1990) The learners who have developed appreciated strategies of dealing with

unfamiliar words have greater self-confidence and learn more effectively

CHAPTER II: THE STUDY

Reading comprehension is also one of the most important skills required in tests and examinations Yet, there is a fact that reading comprehension is not easy for students due to unfamiliar words in the texts Whenever students encounter the unfamiliar words, their reading is certainly interrupted Therefore, most of the

students probably consider that their main problem of reading is their lack of

effective ways of deal with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension If they find out those ways, their difficulties in reading can be improved significantly This chapter describes the characteristics of the subjects, the research instruments

II.1 Research design and method

IL1.1 Subject

The subjects in this study are 100 first-year English major students at Hanoi Pedagogical University No.2 All the students were at the ages from 18 to 20 They have studied four skills of English namely speaking, reading, writing and listening

They have 2 periods of reading lessons a week The ‘what’ and ‘how’ to teach and

learn EFL reading has been of great concern among the lecturers The author conducts a study to only investigate into the first-year English majors’ strategies for dealing with unfamiliar words in English foreign language reading comprehension

IT.1.2 Instruments

Two instruments-exercise and questionnaire- were chosen and employed for the present study

11.1.2.1 Exercises

The author handed out vocabulary exercises to each student

The exercise has eighteen sentences It includes three exercises delivered to

the subjects to survey their strategies of guessing unfamiliar words

Exercise one has ten sentences In each sentence, students are expected to figure out the meaning of the underlined words by circling A, B, C or D based on both the sentence context and the meaning of characters that make up the words

The purpose of this exercise is that the author can test the students’ ability to

guess the unfamiliar word meaning by making use of context clues (Contrast Clue,

Synonym Clue, Restatement Clue, Summary Clue, Example Clue, Definition Clue, Cause and Effect Clue, Clue from another sentence, Experience Clue, and Antonym Clue)

Exercise two includes four sentences This requires students choose the best

answer out of four ones A, B, C or D The aim of the exercise is to check the

knowledge of the students of word components (root, prefix and suffix) and parts

of speech (noun, verb, adjective, etc.) in three first sentences and their strategies of

analyzing structural formation for guessing meaning words in last sentences

Unlike the exercise one, in exercise three, the author’s aim is to examine the

student’s knowledge of context clues to guess the unfamiliar word meaning in a long text This exercise has four questions The level of difficulty may be higher

These three exercises can be done quite easily if the students employ certain

vocabulary strategies Indeed, if students have knowledge about word components, parts of speech, analyzing structural formation ability and making use of context clues ability, the meaning of those words can be figured out very easily so that they

do not need use dictionary or ask other people for help

11.1.2.2 Questionnaire

Questionnaires were handled out to the subjects

The questionnaire in present study consists of twenty sentences for one hundred first- year English majors at Hanoi Pedagogical University No.2

The five first questions aim at identifying student’s opinion about reading comprehension in general In question six, it focuses on difficulties caused by unfamiliar words when students encounter In the questions from seven to sixteen, students were asked which strategy they often use for dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension process The four last questions are designed to

survey the student’s ways of completing the three given exercise’s by giving some possible ways of solving them Based on their answers to these questions, the difficulties or problem on unfamiliar words in reading comprehension can be revealed Based on this, some suggestions for dealing with unfamiliar words will

be proposed Hopefully, student’s reading skill will be improved

II.2 Report of the survey results

In this section, a clear result about the first- year English major students’ ways

of doing the exercises, students’ opinion about reading comprehension in general and some strategies they use most for dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension are all identified

These findings are drawn from the exercises and the questionnaire

11.2.1 Exercises results

As mentioned above, vocabulary exercises were delivered to each student

The exercise I (from sentence | to sentence 10) aims at checking the students’ ability to guess the unfamiliar word by making use of context clues

Sentence | requires student’s knowledge about contrast clues to choose the

right answer From the sentence, the correct answer is B few in number The key word that let us know the meaning of sparse is however and a lot of that shows the opposition of the first clause Over half of students (55 out of 100) students chose this answer This shows us many students know how to guess the word meaning

through contrast clues in the sentence

In sentence 2, meaning of the word monstrous can be guessed if the students realize synonym clues If we don’t know what monstrous means, we can learn its meaning by looking at the words around that word Here the writer is comparing the sizes of a cat and a mouse He is also comparing the sizes of a mouse and an insect Monstrous is thus similar to big because the author uses the phrase in the same way Therefore, we know that monstrous means very large or huge

Therefore, the correct answer must be D 61 out of 100 students chose this answer

Whereas restatement clue appears in sentence 3, the phrase that is signals a clarification of a previously used word in the sentence The word coagulate can be

figured out by the clause after the phrase that is “they convert from liquid to solid

or semi-solid state” Thus, the right answer is C 32 out of 100 students chose this answer

Summary clue is used in sentence 4 In this sentence, apparently, from the account of Mrs Christopher’s deeds, the reader can infer that altruistic means unselfish The correct answer is C Only 25 of 100 students figured out the correct meaning of the word

The sentence 5 requires student’s knowledge about example clue We can guess the meaning of rigors by looking at the Examples - the long hours, the lifting of heavy loads, the very hot and then very cold temperatures outdoors All situations as examples show us difficult conditions so we can guess that rigors are means of difficult conditions The right answer is B Nearly half of students (47 out

of 100) chose answer B

Definition clue is used in sentence 6 The meaning of the word prestidigitator can be figured basing on definition clues who entertained children by pulling rabbits out of his hat swallowing fire, and other similar tricks The correct answer

is A 35 students chose this answer

In sentence 7, the word ophthalmologist can be guess by cause and effect clue The expressions which indicate cause and effect relationships of situations or events are the word “because” The correct answer is D 38 of 100 students figured

out the correct meaning of the word

In sentence 8, clue from another sentence help students guess the meaning of

allocated is set aside The correct answer is A Only 20 of 100 students figured out the correct meaning of the word

70 students — nearly three fourth students — found out the right answer C thrifty to question 9 In this question, experience clue is used The sentence provides enough evidence for readers to guess that frugal means thrifty — the newlyweds had to be thrifty if they wanted to save money

Antonym clue appears in sentence 10 Readers note that ‘pretty and not plain’ are opposites When readers see the next pair of words in a parallel construction,

reader can assume that affluent is the opposite of poor, and must therefore mean rich Therefore the right answer is B 25 out of 100 students made their choice of option B

The exercise Il (from sentence 11 to sentence 14) aims at checking the students’ knowledge word components and parts of speech

In sentence 11, the answer D a noun is the best answer and majority students (91 of 100) solved this question successfully This shows us most students know

how to analyze structural grammar function of word

In question 12, students can identify the function of the word anarchy if they have knowledge on suffix -archy The answer A a noun which 52 students chose is

correct

The sentence 13 requires knowledge on root of word to find out the best answer The root of illuminate is lum (the answer C) Only 26 students found out the right answer

In question 14, the word antipathy can be figure out by prefix anti The prefix anti means opposite or against, so B dislike is the correct answer Only 30 students found out the correct answer This means that students do not have enough knowledge on affixes, so they cannot figure out the exact meaning of the word

In exercise III, (question 15 to question 18) the author’s aim is to examine the student’s knowledge of context clues to dealing with the unfamiliar words in a text

In the question 15, the kind of context clue does the author use for myopia is definition clue Students can base on the sentence “Jn myopic eyes, the light focuses in front of the retina instead of directly on it” in the first paragraph The answer is B 30 out of 100 students choose the correct answer

Restatement clue is used in the question 16 The writer uses a noun or noun

phrase to modify another noun that comes before it “the retina, the sensory

membrane or sheet that lines the eye” Thus, the word retina can guess easily The

C a membrane or lining is the right answer 38 students choose right answer

In the question 17, the information appears in paragraph 3 We can find out two or more example as context clues for the phrase corrective visual devices “like

glasses and contact lenses”, or “they help a nearsighted person see distant objects

more clearly” C is the correct answer Only 22 students choose right answer

Most of the students choose right answer in the question 18 Nearby word would be a clue will be is doctor The answer A which 85 students chose is correct 11.2.2 Questionnaire results

The questionnaire results will be shown as follows:

Figure 1: Student’s Opinion about Reading Comprehension

Question 1: The chart above shows student’s opinion about reading comprehension It can be seen from chart, nearly three fourths (74%) students found reading comprehension boring, 11 % out of them found it interesting and only 8% found it favorite This shows that they meet many difficulties in reading

so they lack interest to practice it though it is one of the important subjects required

in university

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Question 2: The figure 2 reveals student’s opinion about difficulty level in

reading comprehension It can be said that the long time of learning English helps

them have right perception of the difficult level of reading comprehension skill As shown in pie chart, nearly half of the students (44%) claimed that reading

comprehension was difficult to them; some others (36%) perceived it very

difficult Only a small number of the students (20%) considered it normal None of them found it easy or very easy to learn This finding has shown that the level of

the reading text was somewhat difficult to most students This might cause

student’s boredom and demotivate them in learning, just because the level of the reading text was much higher than their proficiency

Question 3: Up to 52% students said that their reading speed was slow, 32% students read the English text very slowly As low as 16% students obtained normal speed of reading comprehension No one could read the texts fast or very fast The results are likely to be a support to those of question 2 above, which describes the fact that reading comprehension is usually considered a difficult skill

for the majority of students

27

Question 4: The pie chart (figure 3) above shows level of efficiency of

reading comprehension When being asked about the efficiency of student’s

reading comprehension, it was surprising that the majority of the students (76%) said their reading comprehension was not efficient, some others (20%) perceived it normal Only 4% found it efficient No one found it very efficient Therefore, we

can see that they meet a lot of difficulties in reading comprehension

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®A lot of new words appearing

aa, in the reading text

@ Your poor background knowledge

® Difficult grammar of the reading text

@ Not having enough time to read

greatest percentage of the student (60%) affirmed that unknown words were the

leading cause which prevent them from reading the texts effectively, 20% students claimed that their poor background knowledge was the foremost drawback which made them unable to learn reading comprehension efficiently Meanwhile, 16% of

them complained that lack of time to read caused their inefficient reading

comprehension Only 4% students thought that their learning reading comprehension was not effective due to difficult grammar The findings has indicated that the main factor that made reading comprehension difficult to most students was unfamiliar words which they encounter while reading This emphasizes that helping students know how to guess the meaning of unknown words from context while reading becomes a significant task for teachers

Question 6: Majority students (78%) found that a lot of difficulties are caused by unfamiliar words in their reading comprehension such as: being

impossible to understand the whole text, reading slowly due to interruption and

becoming tired of reading

Question 7: As can be seen from the table, 56% of the students tried to search for the meaning of only some key words relating to the main idea of the reading text, 24% students stated that they often looked for the meaning of almost all unfamiliar words appearing in the reading text, and 20% of them revealed that searching for the meaning of all unfamiliar words was their habit while reading

The finding has shown that more than half of the surveyed students were aware of having to choose only some key words to learn within the limited time of a reading

session while nearly half of them (44%) were unaware of this

Figure 5: Students’ ways of figuring out the meanings of an unfamiliar

word in a reading text

Question 8: The ways students use to know the meanings of an unfamiliar word in a reading text are shown in figure 5 The results indicated that most of the students have not known how to use word-attack skills in order to deal with unfamiliar words effectively Nearly half students (47%) consulted a dictionary when they wanted to know the meaning of new words Asking the teacher or their classmates was also a good way to get the meaning of unfamiliar words 28% of

them chose this way Only 11% students tried to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words 14% of them have known how to ignore the unfamiliar words

Question 9: Almost all of the students chose “yes” as the answer to this question This proved the fact that they knew clearly that, their spending time on searching for the meaning of unfamiliar words during reading process had negative effect on the speed and efficiency of their reading comprehension By giving their real thought, the students might expect their teacher to provide them with a better

way to enrich their vocabulary to improve their reading skill

Question 10: About over three fourths students (77% of them) found out the efficient ways to read a long text as reading the first sentence of each paragraph, paying attention to the title, subtitles, subheading and illustrations and focusing on proper names and figures

Question 11: Skimming skill is an important reading comprehension skill but

28 “students never use this skill Only 14% of them sometime do, 17% students often do, and 41% students always do

Question 12: Scanning skill is likely to be used more popularly than

skimming one Over half of students (55%) often use scanning skill in reading comprehension, 38 students sometimes do, and 7% students always do No one never do this

Question 13: The majority (96%) had the right answer on scanning skill They often look for the author’s use of organizers, words with outstanding style or color and key ideas in margin

Question 14: All of the students said that the words or phrases in the same text can help them dealing with unfamiliar words This show that the words and phrase in the same text can function as a type of context clues help them guess the

meaning of unfamiliar words more easily

Question 15: When asked about level of frequency of using dictionary, nearly half of subjects (53%), always use dictionary to look the unfamiliar word up in their reading comprehension 32% of them often do, only 15% of them sometimes

do None of them could do this without dictionary