vận dụng hồ sơ bài tập vào việc giảng dạy kỹ năng đọc cho sinh viên năm thứ hai không chuyên tiếng Anh tại trường Đại học Kinh tế - Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN QUỲNH HOA USING PORTFOLIO IN TEACHING READING SKILL TO SECO

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN QUỲNH HOA

USING PORTFOLIO IN TEACHING READING SKILL TO SECOND-YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS – VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

(Vận dụng hồ sơ bài tập vào việc giảng dạy kỹ năng đọc cho sinh viên năm thứ hai không chuyên Tiếng Anh tại trường Đại

học Kinh tế - Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10

Cohort: MA 16

HANOI, 2010

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN QUỲNH HOA

USING PORTFOLIO IN TEACHING READING SKILL TO SECOND-YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS – VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

(Vận dụng hồ sơ bài tập vào việc giảng dạy kỹ năng đọc cho sinh viên năm thứ hai không chuyên Tiếng Anh tại trường Đại

học Kinh tế - Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10

Cohort: MA 16

Supervisor: Đinh Hải Yến, M.Ed

HANOI, 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS ……… i

ACKNOWLEDMENTS ……… ii

ABSTRACT ……… iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ……… iv

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ……… vi

PART I: INTRODUCTION ……… 1

I.1 Rationale of the thesis ……… 1

I.2 Objectives of the thesis ……… 2

I.3 Scope of the thesis ……… 2

I.4 Method of the thesis ……… 3

I.5 Design of the thesis ……… 3

PART II: DEVELOPMENT ……… 4

Chapter 1: Literature Review ……… 4

1.1 Reading skill ……… 4

1.1.1 Definition of reading skill ……… 4

1.1.2 Reading subskills ……… 5

1.1.3 Role of reading skill to non-English major students ……… 6

1.1.4 Requirements for the teaching and learning of reading skill for non-English major students ………

6 1.2 Portfolio ……… 7

1.2.1 Definition of portfolio ……… 7

1.2.2 Types of portfolio ……… 8

1.2.3 Characteristics of portfolio ……… 9

1.3 Using portfolio in teaching reading skills ……… 10

1.3.1 Portfolio in practice ……… 10

1.3.2 Typical gains of using portfolio in teaching reading skill ……… 11

1.3.3 Typical pitfalls of using portfolio in teaching reading skill ……… 13

Chapter 2: Methodology ……… 15

2.1 The course ……… 15

2.2 Participants ……… 16

2.3 Research questions and data collection instruments ……… 16

2.3.1 Survey questionnaires ……… 16

2.3.1.1 Pre-portfolio questionnaire ……… 16

2.3.1.2 Post-portfolio questionnaire ……… 17

2.3.2 Portfolio experiment ……… 17

2.4 Data analysis instruments ……… 23

Chapter 3: Data analysis and discussion of major findings ……… 24

3.1 The participants ……… 24

3.2 The effectiveness of the reading portfolio ……… 27

3.2.1 The learning of the introduced reading subskills ……… 27

3.2.2 The teacher’s and learners’ gains through the reading portfolio ………… 31

3.2.2.1 Gains for the learners ……… 32

3.3.2.2 Gains for the teacher ……… 34

3.3 Difficulties in applying reading portfolio to non-English majors ……… 35

3.4 A feasible portfolio model for non-English majors ……… 37

PART III: CONCLUSION ……… 39

III.1 Summary of previous parts ……… 39

III.2 Conclusions ……… 39

III.3 Implications for English teachers ……… 40

III.4 Recommendations for further study ……… 40

REFERENCES ……… 42 APPENDIX 1: PRE-PORTFOLIO QUESTIONNAIRE ……… I APPENDIX 2: PORTFOLIO INSTRUCTION ……… III APPENDIX 3: TEACHER’S HANDOUTS ……… VII

APPENDIX 5: PORTFOLIO COVER PAGE ……… XXXVII

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table

Table 2.1 Criteria to assess students’ reading portfolio ……… 20 Table 2.2 Introduced reading subskills and corresponding reading tasks …… 22 Figure

Figure 3.1 The participants’ frequency of reading in English ……… 25 Figure 3.2 Reasons for difficulty in reading English texts ……… 26

PART I: INTRODUCTION

I.1 Rationale of the thesis

Not only recently, teachers and learners in higher education have complained about serious shortcomings of traditional learning and testing, in which learning is only conceived as the accumulation of stimulus-response association Moreover, most testing systems used in Vietnamese universities consist of only written tests, and mainly focus on checking students‟ memorization of rules or concrete items of knowledge rather than assessing their effort, real understanding or ability to apply knowledge in real situations Meanwhile, the modern society and the labour market are requiring graduates to have higher-order cognitive skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, analyzing data, and being able to present facts and opinions orally or in written form (Dochy, 2001; as cited in Birgin & Baki, 2007) Those are practical skills that help employees fulfill their increasingly demanding jobs in a competitive environment In short, there seems to be a gap between what the society requires and what the educational system offers

To bridge the gap mentioned above, it is necessary for university education to provide learners with realistic knowledge and practical skills Moreover, assessment is required to measure both on-going efforts and learning outcomes More importantly, training students

to be active and independent learners should be the ultimate educational aim In order to do

so, the only way is letting students take responsibility for their own learning, design their own learning plan, seek out additional learning materials, assess their own progress, and cooperate with others in learning In this regard, portfolio is claimed to be a teaching and learning tool that creates such activeness and autonomy in learners

In the world, various kinds of portfolio have been used since the early of 1990s in teaching foreign languages and have shown promising results In Vietnam, portfolio has gradually become a favourable teaching tool at many universities as it combines both instruction and assessment Moreover, portfolio focuses on various language and learning skills not just concrete language items However, this tool has been mainly applied to English major students as it requires much time, effort and higher-order cognitive skills As for non-English majors, portfolio is assumed to be not feasible

To check validity of such assumption, the writer has selected the topic “Using portfolio

to teach reading skill to second-year non-English major students at University of Economics and Business, Vietnam National University, Hanoi” to conduct a study

I.2 Objectives of the thesis

This study aims at investigating the implementation of portfolio and examining its effects

on teaching reading skill to second-year non-English major students at University of Economics and Business – Vietnam National University Hanoi (UEB) It is hoped to build

up a feasible portfolio model and offer suggestions for the teaching and learning of this basic receptive skill Specifically, answers to the following research questions are sought:

1 What are portfolio‟s effects on improving learners‟ reading skill?

2 What are the problems emerging in the implementation process?

3 What are possible adjustments to tailor the common portfolio design and make it more suitable to non-English majors?

I.3 Scope of the thesis

Portfolio can be used for various reasons – assessing learners‟ performance, teaching concrete language items, or assisting learners in improving their language skills Within the scope of this study, portfolio is manipulated mainly as a teaching tool to help students build

up and enhance their awareness of the importance of reading skill, as well as train them how to apply basic reading subskills effectively in comprehending English texts Specifically, portfolio is intended for strengthening only the reading skill as such concentration would ensure better results than conducting an unfocused research spreading over all four skills

As mentioned above, it has become common to apply portfolios to students of English major However, to their non-English major counterparts, this teaching tool is quite new Consequently, the study selects second-year non-English majors at UEB as the tentative subjects For these learners, English is not the top priority but still a necessity as their future jobs majoring in Finance and Banking, International Economy, or Business Administration all require good English proficiency Furthermore, reading skill would be a useful tool for these learners to develop other English skills as well as knowledge to widen other subject areas

Additionally, adjustments suggested in this thesis target at non-English major students only They can be altered to match specific teaching and learning conditions Selection of those adjustments is decided according to pedagogical theories of specialists and teaching experience of the writer of this thesis

I.4 Method of the thesis

The study is carried out in form of an action research, conducted by the writer herself as a practitioner in EFL teaching and concurrent with the teaching and learning process Both quantitative and qualitative data are collected in order to get a full view of the effects that the designed portfolio brings to classroom practice

To collect desired data, two research instruments are made use of, namely survey questionnaire and portfolio analysis As for the first instrument, there are two questionnaires – the pre-portfolio questionnaire and its post-portfolio version They were manipulated to gather information to answer three research questions In addition, teacher‟s notes and informal talks between learners and the teacher – mostly occurring during break time – are used to obtain detailed information about students‟ feedback and suggestions However, these data are merely students‟ opinions; thus, quite subjective Accordingly, to improve validity of the research results, submitted portfolios are analyzed from the pedagogical standpoint to reveal effectiveness and feasibility of reading portfolio

I.4 Design of the study

The study consists of three parts:

Part I: Introduction

This part introduces the objectives, scope, and organization of the study

Part II: Development

This is the main part of the study It is divided into three chapters

Chapter I: Literature Review

Theoretical background relevant to the topic and critical survey of related articles, books and other resources are presented

Chapter 2: Methodology

This chapter presents the detailed procedure of the study: the ESP course, population selection, and methodology for data collection and data analysis

Chapter 3: Data analysis and discussion of major findings

This chapter deals with the findings drawn out from the analysis of data The findings and discussion are based on information gained through the two questionnaires, informal conversations between participants and the researcher, as well as the students‟ portfolios

Part III: Conclusion

Major findings of the study are summarized in this part Besides, implications for English teachers and recommendations for further research are presented

PART II: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature Review

As the study is centered on the use of reading portfolio to non-English majors, two key

terms are clearly defined, namely reading skill and portfolio This chapter is wholly

distributed to review relating theories and practical studies so that these two terms are understood precisely and applied successfully to non-English major learners

1.1 Reading skill

1.1.1 Definition of reading skill

Reading is a common term but defining it is not easy Most authors tend to define the term

by pointing out its characteristics rather than giving a concrete definition According to Nunan, reading is “essentially concerned with meaning, specifically with the transfer of meaning from mind to mind: the transfer of a message from writer to reader” (2000, p.3)

As for Nuttall (1996), he views reading in relation with communication and as a process with the ultimate aim of approaching the writer‟s underlying idea in the text As such, these authors consider reading as an interactive process in which reader and writer are key participants However, unlike face-to-face communication, the writer is not present; which brings much challenge and even the risk of misunderstanding to the interaction

Perhaps because of the writer‟s absence, Anderson focuses mainly on the interaction between the reader and the text in building meaning He further describes that:

A synergy occurs in reading which combines the words on the printed page with the reader‟s background knowledge and experiences Readers move through the printed text with specific purposes in mind to accomplish specific goals

Anderson (1999, p.1) Similarly, in Silberstein‟s words (2002, p.12), reading is “a complex information processing skill in which the reader interacts with text so as to (re)create meaningful discourse.”

The mentioned viewpoints persuasively reject the old conception that reading is merely

a receptive process in which the reader passively absorbs the written text In short, reading

is the integration of the direct interaction between the reader and the text, the indirect interaction between the reader with his/her prior knowledge and experience and the writer Another way to understand a notion is looking into its components As for reading, they are its subskills The part below will discuss major reading subskills

1.1.2 Reading subskills

Basing on application level, Nuttall (1996) suggests two groups of important reading subskills that a learner should develop They are word attack skills and text attack skills The first group, word attack skills, helps students deal with difficult vocabulary items such as idioms, multi-meaning words, sub-technical vocabulary, text-structuring words and pin-down words, i.e words with abstract meaning that can only be inferred from textual cohesion This group of skills includes a number of subskills as following:

 Identifying key words and ignoring inessential words

 Assigning meaning to a word using structural clues like grammatical function, morphology

 Guessing word meaning from the context

 Using a dictionary

The second group, text attack skills, deals with above-word level with the aim of getting

as closely as possible to the writer‟s message Subskills belonging to this group include:

 Understanding syntax

 Recognizing and interpreting cohesive devices – i.e pro-forms like it, our, this,

then, one, so and comparatives; elliptical expressions as in “They came although they were

asked not to (come)”; lexical cohesion including synonyms, hyponyms, and metaphor

 Interpreting discourse markers that signal the sequence of event, discourse organization, or the writer‟s point of view

 Recognizing functional value: naming, explaining, evaluating

 Recognizing text organization

 Recognizing presuppositions underlying the text

 Recognizing implications and making inferences

The above list is quite thorough but sounds rather complicated to readers Anderson

(1999) offers a simpler enumeration by just mentioning understanding main ideas, making

inferences, predicting outcomes, and guessing vocabulary from context; or skimming, scanning, previewing and reviewing text as listed later in his book In Harmer‟s opinion

(2003), important reading subskills consist of only skimming for the gist of a text and

scanning for particular bits of information Sometimes, these two subskills are integrated

into two types of reading: extensive - reading a longer text, often for pleasure with emphasis on overall meaning and intensive reading - reading a short text for details

In conclusion, such major reading subskills need to be fostered through practice so that learners can cope with sophisticated unfamiliar texts and tasks, and deal with them effectively, i.e quickly and with appropriate strategies After all, this is the ultimate, though not easy to achieve, objective for English teachers in teaching reading

1.1.3 Role of reading skill to non-English major students

It is commonly agreed that for non-English majors, reading is an important language skill and is closely related to other skills Specifically, reading texts composed by English writers provides good models for students‟ writing When reading, learners are exposed to the standard use of vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, as well as the native way to construct sentences, paragraphs and texts Moreover, ideas and opinions from reading texts will be a rich source of food for thought, which aids learners much in catching points when listening or expressing their own views when speaking

Furthermore, in Anderson‟s words (1999), this skill when strengthened may act as a momentum pushing learners forward in their academic areas In this era of information boom; students have easy access to numerous reference sources, which are commonly written in English Reading texts from such sources, students can get information relevant

to their specialized academic fields Hence, as commonly stated in the curriculum for English majors, reading is the focus of the teaching and learning of English at universities

non-1.1.4 Requirements for the teaching and learning of reading skill for non-English major students

According to Nuttall (1996, p.31), the most general aim for teaching reading is

to enable students to enjoy (or at least feel comfortable with) reading in the foreign language, and to read without help unfamiliar authentic texts, at appropriate speed, silently and with adequate understanding

Clearly, this is a challenging task, which needs strict requirements

As for Anderson (1999), he claims that reading and the process to weave a tapestry are somewhat similar From this comparison, it seems obvious that learning to read is a process that requires much time and practice Because of the fact that the language proficiency of most non-English majors is not very good, adequate practice is even more important

Moreover, appropriate reading strategies are crucial, especially when difficulties are created by both the foreign language itself and the complicatedness of specialized content This requirement results in a call for teacher‟s guidance or instruction In Railton and Watson‟s viewpoint (2005; as cited in Sert, 2006, p.192), teacher guidance is of great importance even when learners study autonomously They argue that:

Autonomous learning is as much a skill as learning to drive - it must be taught, it requires practice, and it is assessed against specific criteria Unless they are taught how to take the wheel for themselves, students, like learner drivers, may be at risk For non-English major students, appropriate guidance and instruction from teachers are inevitably significant since they often lack effective learning skills

To sum up, students need to autonomously spend adequate time and effort to practise and be given chances to practise to improve their reading skill Teacher‟s instruction is also

of great importance to ensure that learners apply effective learning strategies In this regard, portfolio seems to meet all the given requirements as a teaching and learning tool On the one hand, learners have to practise their language skills frequently and put due effort into learning On the other hand, guidance from the teacher is integrated continuously into the

process In the following part, the notion portfolio and its major issues will be discussed

In the article “The Use of Portfolio to Assess Student‟s Performance”, Birgin and Baki (2007) provide various definitions of portfolio Through their summary, it is revealed that many authors such as Arter and Spandel, 1991; Collins, 1992; De Fina, 1992 agree with Paulson, Paulson and Meyer when defining portfolio as collection of learners‟ work with specific purpose(s) through which their learning effort can be revealed However, differing viewpoints do exist Grace (1992) views portfolio as a means to understand students‟ learning process as a whole Sharing the same standpoint, Winsor and Ellefson (1995) add that portfolio provides information about not only the learning process but also what learners can produce with language, i.e their learning product Other authors such as Simon and Forgette-Giroux (2000); Birgin (2003), to name but a few, claim that this is an assessing tool which teachers can apply to see how much their learners have progressed

Those definitions not only clarify meaning of portfolio but also reveal its benefits In

fact, both teachers and learners gain from portfolio as a useful teaching-learning activity However, it seems that these authors just mention three different kinds of portfolios, namely collection, reflection and assessment portfolio as suggested by Zhenhui (2005)

In short, it is hard to decide on a perfect definition for portfolio as it has various

versions basing on purposes for which it is created It is then advisable to classify different types of portfolio The next section will provide a brief review of major portfolio types

1.2.2 Types of portfolio

Portfolios can be classified in accordance with a number of criteria According to Haladyn (1997), there are five types of portfolio namely ideal, showcase, documentation, evaluation, and class portfolio

 The ideal portfolio contains all students‟ works The teacher does not assess this portfolio Students, instead, evaluate their own portfolios

 The showcase portfolio consists only of the students‟ best works It is important for students to select and reflect their own works Thus, this portfolio type is also not suitable to be graded

 The documentation portfolio involves a collection of works over time showing growth and improvement of students' learning This portfolio contains qualitative and quantitative data

 The evaluation portfolio includes a standardized collection of students‟ works which is determined by the teacher or, in some cases, by the students This portfolio is suitable for grading students

 The class portfolio contains student‟s grade, teacher‟s view and knowledge about students in the classroom

Such way of classification is based on the content of a portfolio, i.e., what is included in

it Meanwhile, using the same criterion, Slater (1996) describes only there types of portfolio

as showcase, open-format and checklist portfolio The first type is a limited portfolio where

a student is only allowed to present a few pieces of evidence to demonstrate mastery of learning objectives In an open-format portfolio, students are allowed to submit anything they wish to be considered as evidence for mastery of a given list of learning objectives As for a checklist portfolio, it is composed of a predetermined number of items

Another way of classification uses portfolio function as main criterion For example, Zhenhui (2005) introduces three main portfolio categories; namely Collection, Reflection, and Assessment

 Collection provides a chance for learners to explore portfolios, especially those who have never fulfilled a portfolio task It is also advisable that collections are confined to one single area such as reading, or writing

 The second category is used to gather data about students‟ metacognitive and affective awareness in selected area and reveal their perceptions, interpretations, as well as strategies used in acquiring knowledge

 Assessment, as its name suggests, aims at assessing learner‟s work through specified criteria

In short, portfolios can be subdivided in various ways However, content and function are two main criteria for classification

1.2.3 Characteristics of portfolio

Paulson, Paulson and Meyer (1991) view portfolio as a concept with various realization depending on who creates it – the learner – as well as the environment in which it is created – the classroom However, all portfolios still possess a number of typical characteristics Following are three main features of a portfolio:

 Combining assessment and instruction: Hamps-Lyons (1994; as cited in Chen, 2006) considers portfolio both assessment and instruction tool through which teacher has a repertoire of evaluation techniques to make use of Thus, learners can feel at ease as they have more chances to show their effort and improve the final scores Besides, the fear of being assessed may be reduced when assessment is interwoven into instruction Meanwhile, teacher guidance and instruction is undoubtedly necessary to avoid confusion for learners

 Focusing on learners‟ learning effort and progress: Chen (2006) quotes Dudley (2001) to argue that the real aim of portfolio is not assessing but revealing learners‟ effort and progress as well as giving them a sense of achievement Only in this sense, can portfolio show its value and result in maximum benefits In other words, portfolio is a learning tool rather than an assessing tool On the other hand, assessment – though not the most important role of portfolio – functions as a considerable source of motivation Thus, assessment criteria must encourage students to make real effort in learning Accordingly, discussion among teachers and learners is essential to reach agreement on appropriate criteria Besides, these criteria should be clear and easy to understand Normally, they are in form of rubrics with detailed explanation

 Putting students at the center: According to Birgin and Baki (2007), a portfolio should be as student-centered as possible The students are the portfolio‟s real owners in the way that they select its components, contribute in deciding assessment criteria, and assess it themselves In this process, teacher facilitates guides, offers choices rather than informs, directs, and predetermines priorities as in traditional teaching Lynch and Shaw (2005) also

emphasize learners‟ active participation in selecting the portfolio components, showing their reflection, and deciding evaluation criteria

Besides, Barton and Collins (1997, as cited in Birgin & Baki, 2007) state that portfolios

of any kind should be multi-sourced; authentic; flexible in terms of assessment; explicitly purposeful and multipurpose; corresponding to both the course and reality; and, most importantly, encouraging to learners‟ ownership Therefore, all portfolios should be ongoing so that they show students‟ effort, progress, and achievement over a period of time With the descriptions stated above, portfolios are not either the arbitrary collections or observation of student‟s works to be filled haphazardly It is important that the portfolio collections should be purposeful, systematic, with clearly determined evaluation criteria, and are taken over a period of time

Similarly, Lynch and Shaw (2005) propose seven key features that portfolios of any type must demonstrate, among which is the requirement that portfolio evaluation procedure must be thorough, i.e., both the final product and the process of creating the portfolio are assessed; and is multi-dimensional and gathered from various channels including teacher, peer, and self-assessment

In short, portfolio must interweave instruction into assessment The main purpose is to facilitate students‟ learning so that they have chance to use and then improve their language skills Students also have the right to raise their opinions in how to compose their own portfolios It is crucial for the teacher to preserve these features of portfolio to ensure maximum teaching and learning efficiency

1.3 Using portfolio in teaching reading skills

The previous part covers the theoretical aspect of the term portfolio In this part, further

discussion will deal with its practical aspect

classroom In the mentioned studies, portfolios are used with general purpose as an alternative to traditional assessment

Hoover and Taylor (1998) used portfolio with a different purpose – to teach about Vietnam War As for Roeder (2007), he applied portfolio to have students construct their own meaning of the Bill of Rights The purpose of applying portfolio there is to teach specific knowledge items

Besides, portfolio can also be used as a tool to develop and strengthen a particular skill For example, Frazier and Paulson (1992) established a portfolio focusing on writing – the skill that the earliest portfolios focused on

In conclusion, studies on the use of portfolio have been conducted since the early of 1990s Moreover, researchers seem to explore this pedagogical tool from various aspects –

to replace traditional pencil-and-paper tests, to aid understanding of concrete language issues, or to build up learners‟ language skills

1.3.2 Typical gains of using portfolio in teaching reading skill

From practical research results, portfolio has been proved to be a promising teaching technique It brings about remarkable gains to teaching and learning process

The first gain is portfolio‟s effect on learner autonomy Discussing the feasibility of using portfolio to enhance learner autonomy, Zhenhui (2005, p.23) claims:

By using portfolios, they [learners] can take an active control of their learning process by using metacognitive strategies, for example, planning and organizing learning, monitoring and observing learning, and reflecting on learning There is no doubt that using metacognitive strategies can alter students‟ view of the teacher‟s and their own roles in ways that enhance autonomy

Fourteen years earlier, Paulson, Paulson and Meyer already argued that portfolio had the power to urge learners to take charge of their own learning Then in Zhenhui‟s view (2005, p.20), when learners are given control over their own learning in terms of both content and method, they “are more likely to be able to set realistic goals, plan programs of work, develop strategies for coping with new and unforeseen situations, and evaluate and assess their own work.”

Meanwhile, autonomy is commonly agreed to be an influential factor contributing to learners‟ success Scharle and Szabó (2000) pose a common question “Why should you [learners] develop responsibility and autonomy?” to raise awareness of necessity for this capacity and attitude The authors then point out that the answer lies in the nature of language acquisition, that is learning only occurs when learners actually make their

contribution Moreover, it is without doubt that learners will have to acquire further knowledge by themselves all life long as their needs constantly change The only way for them to be prepared (with guidance from teacher) and/or to prepare themselves is being autonomous and responsible learners In other words, autonomy is a necessary and useful capacity for not only learners‟ studying at the moment but also their life and work in the future Creating such capacity and attitude in learners may be the greatest gain from the use

of portfolio

Moreover, in Roeder‟s words (2007), portfolio is “a form of constructivist learning, or learning that students construct themselves”, which parallels the notion of autonomy above Furthermore, the author claims that learners have the chance to carry out such construction process using the learning style that they find effective the most Concerning this benefit, Chen (2006, p.70) reviews a number of studies on the use of portfolio and concludes that

“in pedagogy, the assembly of a portfolio is regarded as conducive to students‟ multiple intelligences, self-reflection, critical thought, learning responsibility, plus content area skills and knowledge.” Roeder (2007) share the same viewpoint with Chen in claiming that through portfolios, students can construct their own learning, thus increase their understanding of both language items and their learning process

Paulson, Paulson and Meyer once compared portfolio with “a window into the students‟ heads” (1991, p.61) In other words, portfolio gives reliable and dynamic data about students for teachers and students themselves With such useful information, learners can know which areas need improvement, and teachers can plan their teaching toward better results

Different from these above authors, De Fina (1992, p.39; as cited in Birgin & Baki,

2007, p.83) looks at portfolios as an assessment tool and creates a table summarizing advantages of portfolios over traditional testing system Among mentioned benefits, the following are the most prominent

 Provide an opportunity for student to

demonstrate his/her strengths as well as

weaknesses

 Provide multiple opportunities for

observation and assessment

 Invite the learner to be reflective on

 Provide a summary of student‟s performance on certain (thus limited) tasks

 Provide a temporary picture of each learner‟s abilities on particular tasks

 Ask the learner to provide a singular

his/her work and knowledge, thus

encouraging him/her to become independent

and self-directed

 Encourage teacher-student conferencing

 Inform instruction and curriculum, place

learner at center of the educational process

desired response, which seemingly trains him/her into an auto but passive learning machine

 Force teacher-administration conferencing

 Reinforce idea that the curriculum is the center of the educational process

Sharing the same opinion, Hamp-Lyons (1994; as cited in Chen, 2006) favours the use

of portfolio as it can interweave assessment with instruction He further explains that when multi assessment methods are made use of, evaluation will be “less threatening and more supportive” (p.54) to learners

In short, with the given advantages, portfolio helps enhance learners‟ autonomy, and reveals their strengths and weaknesses Additionally, it gives students a good chance to work out the most suitable learning method for themselves, and is a reliable assessing instrument for teachers

1.3.3 Typical pitfalls of using portfolio in teaching reading skill

Despite profound advantages as mentioned earlier, portfolio does have shortcomings which require due consideration

First, scoring a portfolio may be seen as less reliable or fair than multiple choices test scores (Birgin & Baki, 2007 citing Cicmanec & Viecknicki, 1994) as it is often quite subjective

Another pitfall concerns anxiety about the validity and reliability of the portfolio assessment Birgin and Baki (2007) notes that when portfolio is applied as an assessment method, questions about the real “owner” of the portfolio and learner self-dependence can

be raised In other words, reliability and validity of this assessing method is doubted Unfortunately, this suspicion is reinforced through practical researches (Herman & Winters, 1994; Geathart & Herman, 1995; Koretz et al., 1994) Thus, the authors believe that constant inspection and work presentation are necessary

Furthermore, using portfolio is very time consuming for teachers to review, comment and score students‟ works; to assess students‟ performance over time, especially in the crowded classroom (Birgin, 2006b; as cited in Birgin & Baki, 2007) More time is also required to create new materials and lessons However, in reality, many teachers are strained by heavy workload and limited time for class preparation Others may feel

confused and not confident in conducting multidimensional teaching and assessment Consequently, they are very likely to fall back on the old but convenient way of teaching and testing with pencil-and-paper tests As for learners, they have diverse priority lists and cannot devote themselves fully to English only Hence, excessive time and effort required

by portfolio assignments may turn into a burden

One of the problems of using portfolio is to store, to handle and to control learners‟ portfolios in crowded classrooms As for students, they often have problems in recordkeeping and information management

For learners, another shortcoming is portfolio‟s limited effect on test performance Meanwhile, grade is still something important in Vietnam educational system

Chen (2006, p.85) mentions difficulty when applying portfolio with a heterogeneous/multilevel class It is challenging to design suitable tasks and decide on appropriate standards for learners of various language proficiency, to make them all interested and motivated in learning

In general, portfolio may bring about not only advantages but also pitfalls including the problems of reliability, validity, time and effort consumed especially when applied to multilevel classes Record keeping is also a real challenge for the students‟ side, while slow effort makes portfolio not very attractive to them Thus, appropriate adaptation and adjustment are crucial to maximize the educational gains and minimize unexpected effects

of this teaching and learning tool

To conclude, fundamental notions including reading skill and its subskills; portfolio and its various realizations, outstanding features and feasibility for application have been reviewed in this chapter All together set the theoretical framework for the study, which will be presented in details in the following chapter

Chapter 2: Methodology

In this chapter, methodology applied to conduct the action research is clarified Most important are information about the course in which the study was carried out, the participants, and adjustments made to tailor a suitable reading portfolio for those participants Data collection and data analysis instruments are also presented

2.1 The course

To understand the participants‟ background on English learning, it is necessary to describe briefly the time allocated for this language in UEB in general and the specific course within which the study was conducted in particular

Altogether, learners have to fulfill four English courses while studying in this university – three General English (GE) courses and one English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course The action research occurred within the most challenging course – ESP This course possesses three noticeable features:

 About course objectives, as stated in the syllabus, ESP aims at consolidating and widening students‟ vocabulary as well as their knowledge of language usage relating to business and economics field Besides, the course focuses on developing learners‟ language skills which have been built through previous GE courses With an essential role to non-English majors as discussed in Literature Review, reading is undoubtedly a focus

 The course book is Market Leader Intermediate – New Edition (ML) This is a book carefully and professionally designed by a prestigious publisher – Pearson Longman

It has been widely acknowledged and adopted to teach English for Business and Economics However, a huge number of economic and business terminologies are included, which creates much challenge for the participants

 As for schedule, students learn four periods in a row every week during fifteen weeks of the semester Within this tight timetable, the workload is quite heavy as each unit contains not only skills practice, vocabulary and language review but also a case study As

a result, certain parts are turned into homework or self-study

In short, the objectives set for the course are rather ambitious, whereas the time allocated is not in parallelism Consequently, both teachers and students are assumed to work really hard to catch up with the schedule and to meet the course requirements In addition, guidance and instruction in combination with frequent practice are required

2.2 Participants

Fifty three students from two classes of which the writer is in charge in teaching ESP take part in the study Among them, twenty six students are majored in Finance and Banking, while twenty seven other students are majored in Business Administration They all have finished three GE courses in previous semesters However, these students are of various language proficiency levels Those who studied English as a compulsory subject for the university entrance examination are much better at the language than their counterparts who entered the university with subjects in natural science areas The participants are coded randomly from S1 to S53 Besides, the researcher plays the role of the teacher (coded as T)

in this study She is qualified to be an English teacher and has four-year experience in English language teaching

2.3 Research questions and data collection instruments

This study is an action research as the teacher is also the researcher Being aware of her learners‟ difficulties in acquiring reading skill, she decided to use reading portfolio, which

is highly recommended by both researchers and experienced teachers, to improve the teaching and learning results Thus, the study is actually the way she applies theory into practice and evaluates changes by the designed portfolio In details, three research questions are:

1 What are portfolio‟s effects on improving learners‟ reading skill?

2 What are the problems emerging in the implementation process?

3 What are possible adjustments to tailor the common portfolio design and make it more suitable to non-English majors?

To achieve research objectives, two main data collection instruments are manipulated

2.3.1 Survey questionnaires

2.3.1.1 Pre-portfolio questionnaire

The first research tool for data collection is a pre-portfolio questionnaire (see Appendix 1) This questionnaire, which consists of 14 questions, was designed to get general information about the participants, including:

 Participants‟ background: The first four questions target at getting such data as English learning experience, purposes of learning the language, and extra effort outside classroom to learn the language

 Information concerning learners‟ understanding, opinion, difficulties, and needs around the two key notions – reading skill and portfolio In details, the first question in the

group was designed to know importance of English to individual learners The next question focuses on importance of only one skill – reading skill – in comparison with the other three Question number four and five identify the students‟ frequency of reading texts written in English as well as kinds of texts they often read The next two questions help clarify whether reading is difficult to non-English majors and the main reasons for difficulties The rest of the questionnaire tackles learners‟ understanding of the term

portfolio, and its purposes Besides, kinds of reading texts that learners find interesting and

reading subskills that they want to learn are two important pieces of information achieved through question number nine and ten

In short, the pre-portfolio questionnaire provides fundamental knowledge about the participants so that appropriate adjustments may be made to design a suitable reading portfolio for non-English major learners

2.3.1.2 Post-portfolio questionnaire

At the end of the course, learners were required to write the cover page when submitting their portfolio In fact, this is a post-portfolio questionnaire with three questions:

 What can you gain from the reading portfolio?

 What difficulties you encountered when composing the reading portfolio?

 What do you suggest to make the portfolio more beneficial to your learning of reading?

Besides, the teacher often had informal talks with her students during break time or after class hours to get valuable feedback about their needs and challenges

However, the main problem of the above questionnaires is that they are quite subjective

as the main source of data is the participants‟ opinions and comments Furthermore, as students have no pedagogical knowledge, their assessment about effectiveness of the portfolio may be not of high reliability and validity level As a result, the second instrument must be applied, which is the portfolio itself

2.3.2 Portfolio experiment

In the entire process, the participants‟ reading portfolios function as a backup data collection instrument for the two questionnaires In this part, the writer will describe in details the experiment of using portfolio to non-English major students in practising reading skill All collected reading portfolios were analyzed to reveal the participants‟ acquisition and improvement in reading It is hoped that these instruments will gather thorough, detailed, reliable and valid data for analysis

Taking into consideration the features of the course and participants, especially the fact that portfolio owners are non-English majors, a number of adjustments were implemented during the semester In details, the adjustment process consists of three main stages

be the major source of reading texts Besides, four main reading subskills were intended to include in the portfolio, namely skimming, scanning, guessing new words‟ meaning, and distinguishing facts from assumptions and opinions In fact, the two first subskills are suggested by most linguists Meanwhile, the third subskill was selected basing on the researcher‟s teaching experience Her students always claim that they find reading ESP texts difficult as there are too many new terms As for the last subskill, the researcher chose

it with an aim of improving the students‟ judgement skill.Since learners now have chance

to access to various sources of information, it would be very confusing if they could not distinguish between concrete facts and personal assumptions or opinions which have not been proved A good judgement skill, thus, is needed to assess reliability and validity of information

In addition, to improve effectiveness of the reading portfolio, chances to recycle new language skills as well as difficulty level of reading tasks were carefully considered Specifically, previously introduced subskills were integrated and recycled in the following weeks The rule of assigning tasks is from simple to complex and with an increasing number so that non-English majors can absorb the knowledge and subskills better The participants would also be encouraged to put more effort in selecting reading texts about economics and business themselves and to apply the introduced reading subskills to comprehend the texts The purpose is to create a frequent reading habit to the learners

It was also decided that the participants would only have reading assignment every two weeks, not weekly In details, in one week, they were introduced a new reading subskill and had home assignments to practise at home The next week, they would practise the newly introduced strategy or recycle the older ones As a matter of fact, the odd weeks were

spared for writing tasks as all four skills are integrated in just one English course, and it is impossible to spend too much time on reading

More importantly, the procedure to compose the portfolio was adapted to the participants who are inexperienced portfolio-composers For the first two assignments, students worked in small groups consisting of those with mixed language proficiency This

is somehow a form of peer coaching, enabling learners of higher language proficiency to help those of lower level Besides, as group works often provide a comfortable and safe context, learners may have a relaxing start-up The logic is that clear model and tight control are required at first, and then they can be gradually reduced when learners get familiar to a new way of learning In the fifth week, learners had no task Instead, they had

a period to discuss their difficulties in composing the portfolio Under the teacher‟s control and facilitation, students would found out feasible solutions together so that they were ready to work alone For the next four assignments, students worked individually to create their own portfolios Then they had one week to complete and organize their portfolios into the final product and handed in The last week was scheduled for teacher‟s feedback and comments with the aim of making learners realize their strengths and weaknesses

 Moreover, criteria for assessment were outlined in the way that both learning effort and learning outcome would be evaluated The following table illustrates this principle:

Criteria Requirement and assessment of fulfillment

Reflection on reading: difficulties you encountered when doing reading

assignments and strategies/solutions you applied

Extra

effort

Selecting texts of related topics and applying learned reading strategies to

comprehend the texts: 1

Cover

page

Briefly answer three questions: 1

1 What can you gain from the reading portfolio?

2 What difficulties you encountered when composing this reading

portfolio?

3 What do you suggest to make this portfolio more beneficial to your

learning of reading?

Note: Late entries are only accepted AFTER 1 WEEK

Late submission of the completed portfolio (week 14) is NOT accepted

Table 2.1 Criteria to assess students’ reading portfolio

 Finally, a pre-portfolio questionnaire was designed to get basic information about the participants and identify learners‟ wants and needs Moreover, students were encouraged to select the content for their portfolio through this questionnaire The kinds of text that learners find interesting and reading subskills that they want to learn were questioned This questionnaire would be delivered in the first day of the semester

Stage 2: While-portfolio

This is when the designed portfolio was brought into application

As already scheduled, in the first period, the pre-portfolio questionnaire was given to the participants to complete

Because portfolio has not been applied in teaching English in UEB, portfolio instruction was identified as vitally important and required due attention Consequently, the rest of the first day in the semester was made use of to introduce key issues of the portfolio The purpose is to make learners understand the benefits of spending time and effort on creating portfolios To achieve this purpose, both short and long-term objectives were emphasized

as portfolio does not often show clear and immediate effects Besides, it is a good chance for the teacher to express respect and willingness to regard learners as partners in working towards the common aim of improving learners‟ language proficiency Moreover, assessing criteria were announced and negotiated with the participants In general, the participating students agreed with the teacher‟s criteria, so assessment was fixed as in the above table After that, the answers in the questionnaire were analyzed thoroughly Most of the learners‟ needs and wants matched the teacher‟s prediction However, a supporting part named Business Brief was added, for majority of the participants claimed that poor vocabulary was their main problem This part was created to increase the participants‟ vocabulary and also train them how to deal with new words Three main tasks include explaining the words already known in students‟ own words to revise relating terms,

guessing new words‟ meaning, and checking meaning of those that they cannot guess from available sources

The portfolio entries collected every two week were also analyzed to clarify new emerging problems and needs As a matter of fact, two more reading subskills were selected on the basis of certain learners‟ faults in their entries – marking text while reading and using graphic organizers to activate the ideas, and understanding reference and making inference As for the marking subskill, it was raised from a student‟s claim that she had read the whole text three or more times to do just two simple reading tasks About the later subskill, it arose from a True/False exercise The student made wrong answer as she misinterpreted reference of the subject Combining with the predetermined subskills, the chosen reading subskills and their equivalent reading tasks were as following (for more details, see Appendix 3):

2 Reading strategy: Skimming

- 2 simple tasks: ordering, MCQ

Vocabulary

- 1 task: checking meaning of new terms (suggested reference sources were given)

4 Reading strategy: Scanning + Skimming (recycled)

- 4 tasks: students do the tasks and explain which reading strategy is the best one to apply

- 1 difficult task: guessing meaning of new terms

8 Reading strategy: Marking the text, Using graphic organizers to activate the ideas + Scanning, Skimming (recycled)

- 4 difficult tasks: marking, using appropriate graphic organizers, point out clues that they found to do skimming and scanning exercises

Vocabulary

- 3 tasks: explaining the terms in your own words, guessing meaning of the terms, checking meaning of the terms (the tasks were simplified in the way that the teacher had divided the new terms into three groups: terms of common knowledge, terms with clues given in the text, difficult terms; but no suggested reference sources are given)

10 Reading strategy: Understanding reference, making inference

- 4 difficult tasks to practise new strategies

- 3 difficult tasks to practise the new strategy and revise old ones (students had

to clarify the way they do the exercises)

Vocabulary

- 3 tasks (students had to divide the new terms into three groups by themselves without suggested reference sources)

13 Self-assessment and portfolio completion

Table 2.2 Introduced reading subskills and corresponding reading tasks

In addition, as the participants lack learning experience and skill, the teacher tried to provide them detailed guidelines and facilitation Before assigning any portfolio task, necessary knowledge, and sample were provided and practices were carried out under the teacher‟s guidance (see Appendix 3: Teacher‟s handouts)

Finally, encouragement was given to the participants regularly Although reading and commenting detailedly on the students‟ work was not an easy task, the teacher tried her best not to miss any improvement and positive effort made by her learners and compliment the learners on their good work

Stage 3: Post-portfolio

All students‟ portfolios were collected in week 14 of the semester The teacher‟s task then was evaluating and commenting on their work The cover page, every single portfolio entries, as well as the extra reading texts the participants collected to comprehend were analyzed in details Outstanding issues were noted down and discussed as feedback to the participants in the last day with aim of letting the students know their strengths and

weaknesses Since this is also the last English course in UEB, such feedback may be useful for these students in their self-study process in the future

To recap, with appropriate content, adequate support, consistent control and timely encouragement, it is hoped that the reading portfolio can make the teaching and learning of reading skill more exciting and effective

2.4 Data analysis instruments

Each data collection instrument brings about data of different kind Hence, data analysis instruments must also be corresponding to each kind of data obtained

Data collected through the pre-portfolio are mostly quantitative data Thus, they were treated as statistics, i.e the number of students was counted, percentage for each kind of answer was identified, and from that ranking and interpretation were made

In contrast, data from the post-portfolio are mainly qualitative Accordingly, they were read and interpreted carefully Finally, important information was grouped into four main issues – the participants‟ assessment about their own acquisition of the introduced reading subskills, difficulties of composing the reading portfolio, gains from the reading portfolio

as a whole, and students‟ recommendations for better results

The most complicated group of data is the information hidden in the reading portfolios

To reveal the participants‟ acquisition and improvement of introduced reading subskills, both direct and indirect clues were searched for As for direct clues, they were made up from fulfillment of tasks corresponding to the requirement For example, when applying skimming, the participants could select the correct key message among given alternatives or summarize the main idea of the paragraph in their own ways In other cases, they were able

of pointing out the clues they had based on to guess new words‟ meaning Meanwhile, indirect clues were the participants‟ explicit explanation of the process they applied the subskill

To conclude, this chapter has described outstanding features of the course in which the study occurred, the participants, and data collection as well as analysis instruments Applying such instruments on the targeted participants, the researcher managed to come up with major findings, which will be discussed in the next chapter

Chapter 3: Data analysis and discussion of major findings

Applying data analysis instruments on collected data, the researcher managed to reveal noticeable research results, which help answer three research questions This chapter will focus on describing and discussing the major findings including participants‟ background as basis to evaluate effectiveness of the reading portfolio, as well as gains and difficulties of both the teacher and learners in the process of composing the portfolio In turn, all these findings are used to assess whether adopted adjustments were appropriate to the participants Besides, students‟ recommendations were taken into consideration to outline a workable portfolio to non-English majors

3.1 The participants

As mentioned previously, the pre-portfolio questionnaire aims at identifying the participants‟ background as well as their needs and wants Such information was used as criteria to compare with the portfolio itself and the participants‟ improvement in reading From that, the conclusion about appropriateness and effectiveness of the reading portfolio can be made

Among interesting facts about fifty three participants identified through this questionnaire, the most prominent ones can be described as follows:

 In terms of awareness, the majority of the participants (81%) emphasized that English was very important to them Besides, almost all of them, except for four students, have clear learning targets, ranging from short-term such as to pass the final exam to long-term such as to prepare for future jobs, from theoretical such as to widen knowledge to practical such as to get a good job Such positive attitude can be an advantage to the teaching and learning process as learners tend to try harder when they are well aware of the subject‟s importance and have definite learning objectives However, the learners did not perceive due importance of reading skill in particular when the most common order of increasing importance is speaking – listening – reading – writing Surprisingly, this perception differs from linguists‟ emphasis that reading is the most important skill to non-English majors Nevertheless, most students acknowledge that reading is not an easy skill

In fact, 26% think that reading is very difficult, while nearly three fourths claimed that the skill is difficult Thus, it is necessary for the teacher to raise the students‟ awareness of the important role of reading skill and guide them to read effectively

 About their background in English learning, 92% of all participants have learned English for years as a compulsory subject at school Thus, they are supposed to accumulate not a modest amount of English vocabulary and structure Besides, as far as the teacher knows, reading is the main skill trained at secondary and high school Accordingly, the participants‟ reading skill cannot be too bad

 Besides, an interesting fact was revealed that not a small number of participants (42%) put extra time, effort and also money in extra classes for improving their English proficiency However, those classes may focus on roughly grammar not skills Accordingly, only 28% said reading skill was included in those extra courses To make the matter worse, most students do not spend much time reading English texts Nearly three fourths show low frequency in English reading The bar chart below will illustrate that fact in details:

Figure 3.1 The participants’ frequency of reading in English

 Concerning the kinds of text that the participants often read, most of them read texts in the course book To some extent, it is a duty, not extra effort in learning Another common kind of texts is those for entertainment accessed through the Internet such as pieces of advertisements, chat texts Not many students read news articles in English – only

12 in 53 students It is noticeable that only a negligible number of students (5 students, equivalent to 9%) read economic books, despite the fact that their major is economics Difficulty of content and interest may be two main factors affecting students‟ selection of texts to read The habit of reading infrequently and selecting mostly easy texts for entertainment as such may result in negative consequences including slow reading speed, limited vocabulary, etc Accordingly, it is understandable that reading was claimed to be difficult by most participants

 About reasons for such difficulty, there are both subjective and objective ones Two main reasons are that there are too many new words in reading texts and learners have no appropriate reading strategy The first reason is actually predictable as having many

terminologies is a mentioned feature of economic texts Besides, non-English majors have not been trained properly; thus, the fact that they do not know how to deal with difficult reading texts is unavoidable Difficult content and slow reading speed are two other major reasons Detailed figures are clarified through the following chart:

Figure 3.2 Reasons for difficulty in reading English texts

 Turning to the second key notion – portfolio, most students (74%) have vague understanding of the term, defining portfolio merely as collection of homework or something they have to do at home One fourth of the participants do not know what the term means or refers to Perhaps, they have never composed a portfolio One student even claims that portfolio is hell as he is afraid of having to do home assignments As for purposes of a portfolio, the participants selected different options It is likely that they just guessed basing on their vague understanding These data raise the need of careful portfolio introduction so that the participants fully understand the portfolio‟s purpose and functions, and thus are willing to spend time and effort on it

 Regarding learners‟ needs and wants, they prefer practical and not too serious reading texts such as articles that help them update information and short reading texts for entertainment About reading subskills, the participants focus on general understanding and want to learn how to read for gist (66% chose skimming) As main reason causing difficulty

in reading is new words, guessing new words‟ meaning is preferred by the same number of learners as skimming Scanning was selected by 55%, while making inferences was chosen

by 47%

In conclusion, the participants‟ background shows that both chances and challenges may exist when the reading portfolio is applied It can be advantageous when most of the participants have learned English for not a short time They are also thoroughly aware of the importance of this foreign language, and have clear learning purposes However, reading skill – a difficult skill to themselves – is not paid due attention and adequate

practice The direct consequences are limited vocabulary, especially ESP terminologies, and lack of good reading strategies Hence, the assumed tasks of the teacher through the reading portfolio are emphasizing the role of reading skill and introducing main reading subskills so that the learners can read more effectively Moreover, the participants have quite vague understanding of portfolio as a teaching and learning tool, so the teacher is required to introduce and guide them carefully on how to compose a portfolio With these inexperienced portfolio composers, a collection combined with simple reflection tasks seems to be the best choice

3.2 The effectiveness of the reading portfolio

To evaluate the effectiveness of the reading portfolio in improving the participants‟ reading skill, the acquisition of basic reading subskills in the learners is the key criterion Besides, the participants‟ opinions about what they gain from the portfolio are worth considering This section will reveal whether the portfolio is efficient through these two sources of evidence

3.2.1 The learning of the introduced reading subskills

Analyzing the collected entries has opened the door to the participants‟ learning process As

a matter of fact, the introduced subskills are interesting and useful to certain students while troublesome to the others Following are concrete evidences for this conclusion

As for the two fundamental reading subskills – skimming and scanning, most participants can learn quite fast and apply them in doing different reading tasks Specifically, they know how to look for the topic sentence to understand each paragraph then combine all topic sentences to grasp the whole text They also know how to identify key words and scan for those important words More importantly, the participants know which subskill to apply to solve different reading tasks Following are two extracts which prove that success:

(S9, Reading entry 2) However, some students still find these skills challenging One had problem in distinguishing between main ideas and supporting details Thus, although she understood the general meaning, she could not summarize the key message Another claimed that “I couldn‟t choose skimming or scanning to answer the questions” – (S43, Reading entry 2) The second subskill helping learners handle the issue of vocabulary is practised through three reading tasks About the task “explain the terms in your own words”, many learners expressed their understanding of the term and used their own vocabulary to explain it – though not quite exactly For example, one student explained that “religion is a thing you

believe and observe (it should be obey or follow) its rule, keep it in whole life when you

become a member of it” – (S26, Reading entry 4) In contrast, some students just simply copied the expert‟s definition These students may not know these words However, it is more likely that they were too lazy to fulfill the task

As for the task “guessing new word‟s meaning”, most participants were quite successful

in acquiring the new subskill They could find out clues in relative clause; explanation, illustration or definition after punctuation signal, or based upon words‟ stem and affixes to guess unknown words‟ meaning Below are two cases in which the learners succeeded in guessing the meaning of new terms

(S28, Reading entry 3)

(S46, Reading entry 5) With new and difficult terms that they could not guess the meaning, the learners were able to make use of available sources to check what they refer to Nevertheless, specialized words which do not belong directly to business and economics often caused the participants

much trouble Most students could not find the meaning of such words as turn-taking,

proximity

Understanding reference is also not very difficult to the learners Most of them could point out the exact reference, but some others were still confused and made mistake when there were a number of distracting entities around For example, when reading the following sentences “… The WTO has forced European Union to phase out its old quota system that guaranteed West Indian growers market access, and there‟s no way she can match the prices of the giant US corporations that dominate the market for the world‟s

favourite fruit …”, almost all students could not identify the reference of the phrase the

market, whether it is the market in Europe, West India, or the US Making inference is

paired with understanding reference as it refers to meaning that is not stated directly Because of this nature, certain students could identify all hidden points while others were just able to find out one or two points

In contrast, marking the text while reading seems to be a difficult subskill The learners did not succeed in acquiring it, they applied the same mark for topic sentence, main points and also supporting details, which are unclear Besides, they missed important points whereas marked too many details Their way of underlining sometimes may lead to

misunderstanding if they do not read other parts carefully – S12 is a typical example However, some were quite good at marking the main ideas of the reading text such as S21

(S12, Reading entry 4) (S21, Reading entry 4)

As for using graphic organizers to personalize organization of ideas, like marking, some participants acquired the subskill quite well, selecting appropriate organizer as in the following examples:

(S33, Reading entry 4) (S25, Reading entry 4)

By contrast, some other participants did not know which graphic organizer to apply when dealing with a specific reading purpose In addition, they could not shorten or

paraphrase the original sentences to make them more outstanding Other problems include mix up too many kinds of organizer and draw an organizer that is not pleasant to the eyes Following are some examples:

(S24, Reading entry 4) (S16, Reading entry 4) (S29, Reading entry 4) Distinguishing facts from assumptions and opinions is another subskill that makes the learners confused Although the participants had been provided with some useful tips, they could not identify which information is a fact, which is just an assumption or personal opinion Moreover, in reality, the writer may omit the signal words; hence create even greater difficulty for the learners

To recap, the reading portfolio is effective to a certain extent as the participants have begun to be aware of various reading subskills to comprehend English texts Furthermore, they apply the introduced subskills in reading tasks Specifically, skimming, scanning, guessing new words‟ meaning, and understanding reference and making inference were used quite effectively However, marking the text and using graphic organizers to activate the ideas as well as distinguishing facts from assumptions and opinions remained real challenges Many students could not adopt these subskills or still used them ineffectively

3.2.2 The teacher’s and learners’ gains through the reading portfolio

The learners‟ viewpoint and the teacher‟s personal judgement also support the conclusion made through the analysis of reading entries as both sides claimed that reading portfolio is beneficial for them Moreover, these opinions reveal further effects of the portfolio on the participants

3.2.2.1 Gains for the learners

As for the fifty three students, they shared with the teacher in the cover letter that they have gained much from the portfolio In details, these benefits include:

First of all, with focus on reading skill, this portfolio helps the learners improve this basic skill As stated by one student “To improve reading skill is really hard I do not know where to start And making this portfolio helps me find the starting and supply many useful [sub]skills” – (S8, Cover letter) These subskills were also mentioned by his classmates For example, “the portfolio broadens my vocabulary, especially economic terms” – (S42, Cover letter) Another said “Before learning [the introduced reading subskills], I read all things in normal skill (i.e in the same way) like reading [in] Vietnamese After learning, I know when use skimming, when use scanning, how to understand reference and make inference, know how to distinguish facts from assumptions, etc Most of them are not easy but I think they are useful and exciting” – (S53, Cover letter) Other positive comments include “I do not need to look up the meaning of all new words” – (S50, Cover letter), and “I know how

to search information more quickly, how to evaluate assumptions, opinions” – (S7, Cover letter) Actually, these comments match the conclusion from portfolio analysis

The second benefit is that the portfolio brings about real and concrete evidence for learning progress The sentence “It shows my process of studying, thus I will assess my progress” – (S15, Cover letter) – is a persuasive evidence for the second benefit As a result

of such benefit, the portfolio as a collection of the teacher‟s guide, practices, home tasks, and important terminologies turns into a personalized coursebook that helps the students review lessons, and arrange knowledge effectively and systematically to prepare for the final examination

Besides, through doing various reading tasks, the students could recognize their errors (also why they make such errors) and know how to correct themselves “Our teacher helps

us to correct the exercises, which is very necessary Because we still have many faults but sometimes I cannot know if she does not show us,” S40 claimed From a broader viewpoint, students realized their weaknesses and were guided to select appropriate learning strategies – “the portfolio shows me the parts which I need to try more, and it really helped me find the appropriate way to learn English” – (S31, Cover letter)

More importantly, the participants found their own way to learn in the process of composing the portfolio With the teacher‟s facilitation, the participants worked out ways to

do given reading tasks Some good signs showing that the learners were studying in the way they found most effective were revealed For instance:

“I tried to read the first time without help from dictionary to practise my skimming

and scanning skill as well as check my level After completing exercises without dictionary, I started doing again with dictionary and fixed answers” – (S10, Cover letter), or

“I underline the key words or words that I think important I look up some new words that I could not guess the meaning in the Internet and dictionaries I also discussed with my friends, compared my answers and asked them for help if there were anything I did not understand.” – (S46, Cover letter)

In other words, they know how to study alone smartly as well as cooperate with their friends to fulfill the requirements

Not limited to the reading texts in the coursebook or the given tasks, the introduced reading subskills have been applied in other texts that the students selected by themselves One student said that she now “can read business books and newspapers in English This will help me enrich my background knowledge about economics, business and market – how people live, how they do business, and how they deal with problems” – (S17, Cover letter), while another claimed “now I can read long articles with many new words” – (S32, Cover letter) Besides, some students think that the portfolio “is useful for us in the future

to study more or go to work” – (S53, Cover letter)

Raising awareness is another benefit of the portfolio It can relate to necessity of study as in “we have to teach oneself (i.e learn by ourselves) more Because the knowledge

self-in the book is very much, the time at class is not enough to understand clear[ly] everythself-ing

So we have to prepare next lesson at home … complete all commissions which [the] teacher entrust[s]” – (S23, Cover letter) Actually, many students have already studied by themselves such as the following one “I learn how to collect data, look up words, read to get information from news” – (S44, Cover letter) Besides, it may simply raise awareness of the language in general – “I cannot achieve good results in this course, but I was more aware of the importance of English I will try my best” – (S7, Cover letter), or reading skill

in particular – “practise reading is a good way to build a rich vocabulary, express your idea clearly and broaden your knowledge” – (S27, Cover letter) Furthermore, students realized the importance of background knowledge as identified through the saying: “to understand carefully these articles, we have to use not only appropriate reading strategies but also some basic knowledge about the issue mentioned” – (S11, Cover letter)

Sometimes, the benefits are quite unexpected such as increasing the learner‟s typing speed or the lesson about hardness and patience (S28)

In conclusion, most learners acknowledge that the reading portfolio is beneficial for them though each gained different things The following comments from the students can effectively summarize these benefits:

“In my opinion, the way our teacher gave us many reading assignments is really useful for our studying At first, many exercises made me feel a bit tired but at last when the exam is coming, I feel much better when I want to review what I have learnt, not only from the textbook but also many extra words, phrases, structures, and valuable strategies provided by our teacher Through these assignments, I realize that

I have accumulated more to my vocabulary as well as knowledge of finance Thus, I can prepare more carefully for both midterm tests and the final exam.” – (S28, Cover letter)

And “I find my English better” – (S32, Cover letter)

3.3.2.2 Gains for the teacher

Not only the students, has the teacher found the portfolio beneficial for herself

Firstly, she can understand her learners‟ difficulties It can be the reasons why the students cannot read effectively as expressed “there are many new words and structures as well as specialized words which make the context more difficult to understand Otherwise,

my reading speed is still slow and sometimes I find it hard to focus on the article” – (S21, Cover letter) Or it can be the terms that her learners do not understand like when some learners misinterpret that (personal) value has the same meaning as price and explain it as how much you pay to have something From that, the teacher knows the root of the problems and can find out the most effective teaching method

Similarly, the portfolio raises her awareness of a problematic area which needs more instruction For example, in an entry for week eight, one student made a false answer as she misinterpreted the reference of the sentence‟ subject Consequently, the teacher decided that the subskill understanding reference should be introduced to the learners

However, the greatest benefit that the teacher gains is her students‟ appreciation Such sentences as “Thank for your whole-hearted help” – (S53, Cover letter) and “I would like to say thank you for your help Your enthusiasm inspired the rest of us to greater efforts You supplied to us much worthy knowledge and gave us specific instructions to understand our lessons and to do our homework successfully” – (S15, Cover letter) – are priceless presents from her students

To conclude, the reading portfolio provided the learners with instruction and practice so that they can acquire basic reading subskills Moreover, it helped its owners widen their

vocabulary, especially jargon in economics and business After composing this portfolio, the participants were more aware of the importance of reading skill, and benefits of spending time and effort on the portfolio Last but not least, a good reading habit has initially been formed As for the teacher, she feels that her teaching is more effective and meaningful In short, the reading portfolio proved itself as an effective teaching and learning tool It is the conclusion made through both analyzing the students‟ reading entries and synthesizing the participants‟ opinions

3.3 Difficulties in applying reading portfolio to non-English majors

As mentioned above, composing a reading portfolio is a new, thus challenging task to the participants There are many difficulties that both the teacher and students encountered As for the students‟ side, these difficulties are mentioned in the cover letter honestly

The first and foremost obstacle is applying skills which the teacher supplied The participants may easily understand what skimming or scanning is, or know what should be done to distinguish facts from assumptions in theory However, when they need to manipulate the knowledge in practice, it is not easy at all One student admitted that

“(al)most texts are complex and they make me confused” – (S8, Cover letter) In other words, it is length and complexity of ESP reading texts that causes the learners much trouble In details, each subskill is difficult in one or another way Relating to the subskill to deal with terminologies, there are some considerable sentences in the students‟ cover letter – “I cannot understand the words‟ meaning in specific situations, especially multi-meaning words” – (S41, Cover letter), “I know the words‟ meaning but in economics, they have changed their meaning” – (S12, Cover letter), or “there are many sources but I do not know which one is the best definition” – (S19, Cover letter) These sentences show that the participants could not understand the specialized meaning of terminologies When they checked the meaning, they did not know which one is appropriate in that context Sometimes, the participants could not guess new words‟ meaning or find reference sources Other difficulties include skimming and scanning as expressed “after reading the text, I cannot remember anything I feel it is very difficult to understand the message I need to take in” – (S11, Cover letter), and “I cannot point out the main idea as the writer does not express them directly” – (S46, Cover letter)

One very interesting point revealed from the cover letter is the fact that the reading portfolio can be “too difficult for somebody who do not know how or do not like learning English” – (S40, Cover letter) Though having studied English for years, not a small