Tìm hiểu những khó khăn trong việc dạy và học kĩ năng đọc hiểu theo giáo trình NewHeadway

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ LAN HƯƠNG A study of difficulties in teaching and learni

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ LAN HƯƠNG

A study of difficulties in teaching and learning

reading comprehension in the course book “New

Headway (Pre-Intermediate) to the first year

students at college of Broadcasting 1, Phu Ly city,

Ha Nam province and some solutions

(Tìm hiểu những khó khăn trong việc dạy và học kĩ năng đọc hiểu theo giáo trình NewHeadway (Pre-Intermediate) cho sinh viên năm thứ 1 tai trường cao đẳng Phát thanh- truyền hình 1,Thành phố Phủ lý, Tỉnh Hà Nam và một

số giải pháp khắc phục)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10

HANOI – 2011

NGUYỄN THỊ LAN HƯƠNG

A study of difficulties in teaching and learning

reading comprehension in the course book “New

Headway (Pre-Intermediate) to the first year

students at college of Broadcasting 1, Phu Ly city,

Ha Nam province and some solutions

(Tìm hiểu những khó khăn trong việc dạy và học kĩ năng đọc hiểu theo giáo trình NewHeadway (Pre-Intermediate) cho sinh viên năm thứ 1 tai trường cao đẳng Phát thanh- truyền hình 1,Thành phố Phủ lý, Tỉnh Hà Nam và một

số giải pháp khắc phục)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10

Supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Vượng, MA

HANOI – 2011

4 Methods of the Study

5 Scope of the study

6 Design of the study

1.3.3.4 Vocabulary

1.3.3.5 Reading comprehension

1.3.3.6 Ability to use references

1.3.3.7 Pattern of reading

1.4 Difficulties of the second language reading comprehension process

1.4.2 Language problems 1.4.3 Cultural background knowledge 1.4.4 Learner-centeredness in foreign language education

Chapter II: An introduction of the course book “New Headway "

(Pre-Intermediate) and the current situation of teaching and learning this course book

2.1 General description of the course book “New Headway”(Pre-Intermediate)

2.1.1 Objectives

2.1.2 Topics, Terminologies and grammatical structures

2.1.3 Characteristics of reading texts and reading exercises

2.2 Current situation of teaching the course book

2.2.1 Length of the course and time allocation for reading skill

2.2.2 Teaching staff and teaching methods

2.2.3 Teaching facilities 2.3 Current situation of learning the course book

2.3.1 Students’ background

2.3.2 Students’ learning condition

2.3.3 Students’ attitude to learning English

Chapter III: The Study

3.1.The context of the study

3.2 The subject

3.3.Data collection methods

3.4.Data collection procedure

3.5 Data analysis and discussion

3.5.1 Discussion of the result collected by means of the questionnaire

3.5.1.1 Student's opinion on the course book "New Headway"(

Intermediate)

3.5.1.2 Difficulties revealed by the students

3.5.1.3 Students' sources of difficulties and their desire from the

teachers

3.5.2 Discussion of the result collected by means of the interview,

classroom, observation and journal keeping

3.5.2.1 Teacher's opinion on the course "New Headway"

(Pre-Intermediate)

3.5.2.2 Teacher's difficulties in teaching reading English in the

course book "New Headway" (Pre-Intermediate)

3.5.3 Possible solutions

3.5.3.1 Training students to become efficient readers

3.5.3.2 Encouraging students to have extensive reading habit 3.5.3.3 Making students fully aware of their purpose of reading

3.5.3.4 Improving background knowledge for English teachers 3.5.3.5 Improving teachers' classroom techniques

3.5.3.6 Equipping teaching facilities

3.5.3.7 Adapting the course book

CONCLUSION

1.Summary of the study

2.Limitations and suggestions for further study

Appendix 1: Interview questions for teachers I

Appendix 2: Questionnaire for students II

Appendix 3:Content of the course book "New Headway" (Pre-Intermediate) IV

Appendix 4: Unit 3: The reading text" The name's Bond, James Bond" V

(pages 26-27)

Appendix 5: Unit 4: The reading text" Markets around the world" VII

(pages 34-35)

Appendix 6: Unit 8: The reading text "Jobs for the boys… and girls" X (pages 66-67)

INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

In the college of Broadcasting 1, Phu Ly city, Ha Nam Province, where the author works, there are some departments such as: Journalism, Accounting, Information Technology, Engineering, Telecommunication

English is a compulsory subject at school It is taught with the purpose that students will use it effectively to fulfill their daily work in the future so it receives great deal concern of teachers and students here In English, students have to learn both General English and English for Specific Purposes

General English play a very important role with the object to enhance the first year students’ general knowledge in English Because General English will support students general knowledge to learn further English Moreover, students in the college of Broadcasting 1 will use English as a means of communication and receive information when they graduate

Basing on the characteristics of the future work, students must study English with four related skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing In teaching and learning English as

a foreign language in Vietnam, reading has always received a great deal attention This is understandable, English is learnt and taught in non-English environment, so reading is not only one of the four language skills that students of English need to acquire but also a means of further study

Although in the course book “New Headway” four skills are taught, reading is more important than other three skills because students have to take the examinations which are grammar and reading based However, the students’ reading proficiency is not satisfactory That is because teachers and students have difficulties in receiving especially reading skill though this course book has used for some terms If those difficulties are not found out and

no solutions to overcome are given, it is certain that reading class cannot be successful Despite the above mention reason, no study on this matter has been carried out It has encouraged the author to do the research

2 Aims and significance of the study

The study is aimed at:

1 investigating the areas of difficulties that students and teachers are coping with

in their daily of teaching and learning reading comprehension in the course book "New Headway" (Pre-Intermediate) for the first year students

2 offering some solutions to overcome difficulties encountered

The study is carried out in terms of both theory and practice with a hope to be of some help

to the improvement of reading comprehension teaching and learning efficiency for the first year students in the college of Broadcasting 1

- What are feasible solutions to overcome those difficulties?

In order to find out the answers to the research questions, many sub-questions shall be deal with:

- What are teachers' and students' opinions on the course book "New Headway" Intermediate)?

(Pre What are difficulties in learning Reading comprehension in this course book revealed by students and is there any relation between students' difficulties and their teachers’ teaching method?

- What are difficulties in teaching Reading comprehension in this course book revealed by teachers?

Once the difficulties are found, appropriate solutions to overcome those difficulties will be suggested

4 Scope of the study

This study limits itself to the investigation of

- a sample of the first year students

- Teachers of English

- Reading comprehension in the course book "New Headway" (Pre-Intermediate)

5 Methods of the study

In order to get the most exact information for the study, two methods of research

(qualitative and quantitative) were employed with the following instruments:

- survey questionnaires to students

6 Design of the study

The study will be organized into 3 parts:

Part I: Introduction: Presents the rationale, aims and significance of the study, research question, scope of the study and methods of the study

Part II: Development: This part consists of 3 chapters:

Chapter 1: Discusses the theoretical background, which is relevant to the purpose

of the study

Chapter 2: Gives a brief introduction on the course book used in this study “New Headway” (Pre-Intermediate) and current situation of teaching and learning this course book

Chapter 3: Deals with the study: context of the study, the subject, data collection method, data collection procedure Also in this chapter, the data will be analyzed and the findings of the study will reveals teachers’ and first year students’ difficulties in teaching and learning reading comprehension of General English Basing on difficulties, solutions to overcome will be suggested

Part 3: Conclusion: Summaries the study and offers some suggestions for further study

DEVELOPMENT Chapter I: Theoretical background 1.1 Definition of Terminology

1.1.1 What is reading?

In our daily life, we spend time reading books, newspapers, novels or stories because

we find them interesting and useful When reading, we understanding the texts, we analyze and find its meaning, give out meaningful conclusion But no one can define exactly what reading is This question attracts much attention and researchers have defined reading in various ideas According to Goodman (1971:135), reading is “a psycholinguistics process by which the reader, a language user, reconstructs, as best as

he can, a message which has been encoded by a writer as a graphic display Goodman thought that this act of reconstruction is reviewed as “a cyclical process of sampling, predicting, testing and confirming”

William (1984:3) had the same view on reading, especially on the act of reconstruction

as Goodman He argues that: “written texts, then, often contain more than we need to understand them The efficient reader makes use of this to take what he needs, and no more, to obtain meaning His opinion is shared by Nuttall and Grellet The former asserts that “reading is getting a message from the text”

Harmer (1989:153) considers reading as a mechanical process that “eyes receive the message and the brain then has to work out the significance of the message” He not only focuses on two actions that dominated by the eyes and the brain but also the speed

of the process “a reading text moves at a speed of the reader” which means that the reader who describes how fast he wants to read the text

Sharing the same view, Smith (1985:102) defined “reading is understanding the author’s thought” It means that the readers “read the author’s mind not the author’s words”

One more definition of reading is offered by Allen and Vallete (1977:249) They thought that “reading is developmental process” We learn reading not only to know how to read, to master the symbols, the language, grammar, etc used in the text but

also to understand the ideas, the information expressed in that text or to develop the ability reconstructing its contents in our own words

In short, from these opinions above, it is clear that no one can give all the ideas and features of what reading is Each definition reflects what reading means as seen from the scholar’s own view However, all definitions reveal their common feature that is the nature of reading Moreover, the definition “reading is understanding the author’s thought” seems to be preferable

1.1.2 What is Reading Comprehension?

Reading comprehension plays an important role in learning a foreign language Reading comprehension can be understood as the ability to get the required information from the text as efficiently a possible In the reading process, there are three elements appearing: the text being read, the background knowledge of the reader and the contextual aspects relevant for interpreting the text

Swam (1975:1) stated that when we say “a student is good at comprehension we mean that he can read accurately and efficiently, so as to get the maximum information a text with the minimum of understanding”

In the same view, Richard and Thomas (1987:9) claim that “reading comprehension is best described as understanding between the author and the reader Sharing these ideas, Grellete (1981) takes the point that “reading comprehension or understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible”

These above opinions are not exactly the same, but they all show that reading comprehension is much more than pronouncing words correctly or simply knowing what the author intends It is a process in which the readers can recognize the graphic form and understand the relation between the writing and the meaning In the other words, after reading students can find the way to bettering their grammar, words, pronunciation and understanding the content of the text and use it in their real life

It is really important for us to understand what reading comprehension is For the teachers, who teach reading, a profound understanding about the nature of reading comprehension may help them find out the students’ difficulties of learning reading

1.2 Stages in teaching reading skill

It is common knowledge that a reading lesson consists of three important stages: reading, while reading and post reading Obviously, each stage has its own characteristics and time allocation

pre-1.2.1 Pre-reading stage

This stage is carried out before the students begin reading the text It plays essential part in the whole process of a reading lesson because it is difficult to ask students to read unseen text without preparation which involves such activities as pre-reading questions, pre-teaching vocabulary According to William (1984; 37), the purposes of the pre-reading stage are:

- to arouse students’ interests in the topic

- to motivate learners by giving a reason for reading

- to provide some language preparation for the text Normally, pre-reading stage often lasts about one-tenth of the time allocation for the whole lesson However, depending on each lesson, it may last shorter or longer Before delivering activities for this stage, the teacher needs to pay careful attention to the objectives of the lesson, the situation of teaching and learning, the students’ needs for the fact that “a good beginning makes a good ending”

1.2.2 While-reading stage

William (1984:38) states that while reading stage is the main part of a reading lesson with the following specific aims:

- to help understanding of the writer’s purpose

- to help understanding of the text structure

- to clarify text content The teacher, at the while reading stage, needs to help their students comprehend the content thoroughly while the students have to apply to the best their reading skills like skimming, scanning, guessing, etc to understand the text as well as the writer’s purposes containing through the reading text Time allocation for this stage is nearly two-third of the whole lesson

1.2.3 Post-reading stage

It is the last phrase of a reading lesson so it is the time for students' production This stage will reflect how well students comprehend the text In William's view (1984:39)

"the post-reading stage is aimed at consolidating or reflecting upon what has been read and relating the text to the learners' own knowledge, interests or views"

In conclusion, these above mentioned stages are essential for a reading lesson However, it is not necessary to carry out all these stages mechanically on every occasion Depending on the purposes of reading lesson, the teacher may apply these stages as well as allocate each stage appropriately

1.3 Reading approaches and skills

1.3.1 Intensive reading

Nutall (1982:36) defines: “Intensive reading involves approaching the text under the guidance of a teacher or a task which forces the students to focus on the text” Thus, intensive reading is usually a classroom- oriented activity in which students focus on the linguistic or semantic details of a message to extract specific information Intensive reading calls students’ attention to grammatical forms, discourse markers and other surface structures Intensive reading aims at understanding not only

of what the texts mean, but of how the meaning is produced

The “how” and the “what” are equally received Consequently, intensive reading lessons train primarily strategies for students to encounter with other texts There are two sub-distinction of intensive reading; they are skills-based and text-based While the former focuses on a particular skill (for example: distinguish the main idea

of a text from the details, inferences from content), the later, on the other hand, refers

to the lesson focus in the text itself and students try to understand it as fully as necessary, using all their acquired skills

1.3.2 Extensive reading

The purpose of extensive reading is to train students to read directly and fluently

in a foreign language for his own enjoyment, without the aid of the teacher to achieve a general sense of the text, skimming for the gist and scanning for some key details Extensive reading is a relatively rapid and efficient process of reading a text for global

or general meaning

1.3.2.1 Skimming

Skimming is the act of looking some prominent parts of an article By catching

a few words only, the readers can get an overall picture of the “what”, of course only

on a rather superficial level Because of its nature, the key to skimming is to know where to find the main idea of different paragraphs and to be able to synthesize them

by way of generalization

1.3.2.2 Scanning

Scanning is another useful skill to locate specific item of information that we need and often we do not even follow the linearity of the message, but focus on the needed information In contrast with skimming, scanning is far more limited since it only means retrieving needed information

In the teaching of reading as a language skill, Kenedy and Bolitho (1991:74) designate some necessary reading skills: skimming, scanning, reference skill, relating diagram to text, predicting and sequencing the structure of a text and reading notices and instructions However, students will never read efficiently unless they can adapt their reading speed and techniques to their aims when reading

So the main conclusion to be drawn from all above mentioned is the students would waste time and fail to remember points of important to them because they would absorb too much non-essential information if they are not helped to read appropriately Hence, to understand a text efficiently, the readers should not select types of reading separately but in combination of purpose-oriented strategies so that they can cope with more and more sophisticated texts and tasks and deal with them efficiently: quickly, appropriately and skillfully

1.3.3 Factors connected with reading success

There are 7 main factors connected with reading success:

- Ability to use references

Read at the same time everyday, make sure that your reading light is right; and

at last read in a quiet place

To be a good reader, we must be able to read aloud with clarify and expression

Do not stumble over words or read in a monotone Read so that our listeners understand and enjoy what we are reading

1.3.3.4 Vocabulary

The better our vocabulary is, the better our reading is Whether our vocabulary now is good or poor, we should keep on trying to learn the meaning of new words When we come across a word we do not know, do not stop reading Continue reading until we finish the text Then reread the sentence in which the new word appears Try

to get the word’s meaning from the words around it If we still are not sure what the word means, look it up in the dictionary Always compare the difference meaning and select the one that fits the sentence we are reading

1.3.3.5 Reading comprehension

Reading comprehension is not just one ability It is any different abilities These abilities include a long and varied list of reading skills and habits

To develop good comprehension, pay close attention to what we read Read to meet our own well-defined purpose Relate what we read to our own experience From

a critical attitude toward what we read And finally, organize the information we get from reading

1.3.3.6 Ability to use references

If we want to be a good reader, become familiar with reference materials such

as dictionaries, encyclopedias, yearbooks, atlases and the library’s card catalog Kear where to find these references and how to use them

1.3.3.7 Pattern of reading

If we would be an effective reader, develop a pattern a reading that covers a wide variety of interests Read magazine article and books on different subjects Read both fiction and non-fiction Skim a newspaper and read carefully the most parts Make good use of the public library

1.4 Difficulties of the second language reading comprehension process

1.4.1 Reading skill problem

If the reading ability of a reader in his mother tongue is poor, he can not read well in a foreign language According to Anderson (1984), the students cannot read adequately

in English is that they are not able to read adequately in the native language

The interaction between the first language and the second language reading ability is further clarified by several researchers For example, Bernhart and Kamil (1975:17) assume that “reading performance in a second language is largely shared with reading ability in a first language”

While investigating the transferability of students’ L1 reading strategies to L2 reading, Sarig (1987: 118) also asserts that “the same reading strategies types account for success and failure in both languages to almost the same extent It can be concluded, then, that reading process from the first language appears to transfer to the foreign language”

Reading is an active skill, involving guessing and predicting Students’ limited reading skill creates many problems Very frequently, students do not know how to use

different reading skill, how to use appropriate ways to move their eyes from word group to word group

Students’ limited reading skills create many problems such as reading slowly, failing to understand and summarize main ideas of the reading text, unable to guest or predict meaning of the words or phrases used in that context, etc

Therefore, such students find it hard to be successful in their reading They cannot understand the text thoroughly and those are reasons why they do not want to keep on reading In addition, learners' motivation reason toward reading is also an important factor in reading process It may affect reading result such as good speed, enjoyment and comprehension Lacking of motivation, the readers do not want to read more

It is common that there are new words, new structures in a reading text for every language learner If the learner has no good reading ability, he will read the text with less understanding and he will get discouraged and will not want to keep on reading gradually Therefore, how to help learner of a foreign language to read better is closely related to their reading

1.4.2 Language problems

Yorio (1971) gives out a contrary view to reading problems He argues that reading problems of foreign language learners are largely due to the knowledge of the target language to mother tongue interference in the reading process

According to Alderson (1984) and Clarke (1980), Reading problems of foreign language learners are due largely to imperfect knowledge of the target language and to mother tongue interference in the reading process A lack of appropriate linguistic knowledge contrasts the transfer of reading skills and strategies from the first language

to the second language Dealing with the text, readers have to work with unfamiliar and difficult topics These called “text problem”

The second but not less important kind of problem is the "vocabulary problem" As everyone knows, grammatical knowledge accounts for a great deal of competence in reading However, knowledge of vocabulary is a great deal more important as a factor

of reading comprehension than awareness of grammatical structures (O'Donnel, 1961: 313-316)

Second language readers may lack knowledge of English grammar and syntax and therefore, may read word by word They may encounter too much unfamiliar vocabulary to grasp the overall concept conveyed in the sentence They are also changed when reading idiomatic expressions and unfamiliar grammatical constructions

In addition, second language readers may have difficulties with more complex and compound sentences They may loose the meaning of references within the text, such

as with frequent use of pronouns Pronoun usage may be different or less frequent in the native language Connectives may be overlooked or misunderstood so they loose the relationships between concepts and ideas

Besides, readers may encounter a lot of difficulties in dealing with proverbs and idioms, synonyms and antonyms, poly-semantics and technical vocabulary Metaphor, metonymy, and other types of transference of meaning also cause great difficulty for readers

1.4.3 Cultural background knowledge

Several studies on reading skills indicate that apart from language problems and reading problems, cultural background knowledge also affect students' reading ability According to Fries (1963) meaning at the social level is the meaning that transcends the language code and is related to the background knowledge of the native speakers of that code Comprehension of the total meaning of a sentence occurs only when the linguistic meaning of the sentence is fitted into "a social framework of organized information" This idea is echoed by other researchers who have stated that readers will have different levels of comprehension of the same text because they start from different positions They interpret texts differently because of the differences in the high-level cultural schemata that were activated

Carell (1981) demonstrated the effect of cultural knowledge on the product of comprehension, appealing to the processes of distortion and elaboration to account for the differences between a recall of text and the original text Readers facing with unfamiliar cultural content may mistranslate or misinterpret the text according to their own cultural experiences

Reading comprehension is a function of cultural background knowledge If readers process the schema assumed by the writer, they understand what is stated and effortlessly make the inferences intended

As Hudson (1982:9) puts it: "the reading problems of the second language readers are not due to an absence of attempts at fitting and providing specific schemata rather, problem lies in projecting appropriate schemata"

1.4.4 Learner-centeredness in foreign education

Recently, in the field of second /foreign language education there has been a shift in focus from the teacher to the learner There are two reasons of this shift: learners are now the center of the language teaching and learning process and learners learn better if the teacher's teaching style matches their learning styles

Nunan (1990) point out that learners learn better if teachers know how to carter for all individual differences and need What is more, learners learn better if the teachers know of their learning difficulties and help them to cope with the difficulties

Nunan (2000: 11) defines learner-centered classrooms as the places where "key decisions about what is taught, how it will be taught, when it will be taught, and how it will be accessed will be made with reference to their learner

In a learner-center curriculum, information about learners from learners is used to answer when and how to teach what Nunan (2000) elaborates several stages of negotiating a learner-centered curriculum; making instructional goals clear to learners; allowing learners to create their own goals, encouraging learners to use the second language outside the classroom; raising awareness of learning processes; helping learners identify their own preferred styles and strategies; encouraging learners to become teachers; encouraging learners to become researchers The learner-centered curriculum also describes well how to promote learners autonomy as an educational goal at an institutional level

One important implication of learner-centeredness for instruction is that teachers need

to guide student to create their own understandings They accomplish this by utilizing students' background of understanding, cooperative learning, authentic learning problems, and active student engagement in the learning process

Summary:

Through the brief literature review, it is obvious that there are so many factors involved in the L2 reading comprehension process From what have been discussed it can be concluded that there are three main factors that affect reading comprehension: (1) reading skill, (2) language proficiency or language knowledge, and (3) cultural background knowledge

Also, the literature review emphasizes the need to understand how students talk about their difficulties and problem if learner-centered teaching is desired

Insights into this process highlights reading difficulties Having looked at the literature Review of reading comprehension, an application in the course book will be presented hereby

Chapter II: An introduction of the course book “New Headway" Intermediate) and the current situation of teaching and learning this course book 2.1 General description of the course book “New Headway” (Pre-Intermediate)

(Pre-2.1.1 Objectives

In the college of Broadcasting 1, students learn English with the intention of using it as a means to complete their future job requirements They use English to communicate so the course book "New Headway" (Pre-Intermediate) has been chosen to be the official course book for the first year students before they continue learning ESP

The book was written by Liz and John Soars As can be seen in the title of the book, it reveals a new way of learning English The book was written with the purpose of providing general knowledge for different kinds of learners: those who have never learnt English; those who are not good at English; those who want to improve their English At the end of the course, students should be able to:

- enrich their vocabulary

- enrich their general knowledge

- using skills to communicate successfully

- have basic knowledge to continue their study of ESP

- get a certificate to get a job

For all the reasons above, our college chose this course for the first year students to encourage students in learning English

2.1.2 Topics, Terminologies and grammatical structures

The book covers 12 topics (in 12 units) about general knowledge (see Appendix 3) Each

unit has different length depending on the complexity of the subject matter In each unit, concrete objectives are revealed to the title of the unit

For example, the objectives of Unit 1, the title is “getting to know you” and the reading text is “A blind date” After reading, students:

- have some knowledge about star signs

- can take a blind date

- have vocabulary bout personality and describing adjectives

Terminologies can be classified into two main groups: single and compound terms Single terms are made up of one word, usually a noun or a verb Eg: Aquarius ( sao Bao Bình), Tarus ( sao Kim Ngưu), lasagne ( món bột với cà chua và nước sốt hấp chung), diode (ống

hai cực) where as compound terms are the ones which consists of two or more than two words Eg: blind date (cuộc gặp giữa 2 người khác phái mà trước đó chưa hề quen biết), back pack (ba lô đeo trên vai ), floating market (chợ nổi), carpet souk (mỗi loại thảm chỉ có một cái duy nhất)…

About grammatical structure, it will cover three sub-units: words, sentences and tenses Many words in the books exist in the form of stem (scence, temple, mess ) , sometimes use prefixes (repay, dislike, impolite…) or suffixes (receivable, healthy, useless, romantic, personal )

Sentence types in the book are of various types: simple and complex sentences are used regularly Eg: "At 3.30 he was dreaming, not very peacefully, of these black coated men with red eyes and angry white teeth James Bond took his gun from under his pillow, got quietly out of the bed, and crept slowly along the wall toward the window"(Unit 3, page 26)

The sentences are presented in both active and passive voice Eg: "Nobody would give them money for their project, so they used their credit cards and bought as much computer memory as possible Then, in 1998, they were given a cheque for $100,000, and they started their own company." (Unit 10, page 83)

2.1.3 Characteristics of reading texts and reading exercises

The organization of information in reading texts of this course book shares common characteristics of other reading texts, has its own characteristics: the information is grouped into themes

The exercises in the reading comprehension are divided into some types:

2.2 Current situation of teaching the course book

2.2.1 Length of the course and time allocation for reading skill

English for communicating is introduced to the first year students in the college of Broadcasting 1 They study the course book "New Headway" (Pre-Intermediate) The total

time for the course book is 60 periods (= 4 credits) The course book covers 12 units And they learn the book during all the term and each period lasts 45 minutes

Each unit lasts 4-6 periods depending on the length and difficulty of its content And reading is one of four parts in each unit so the time for this skill in each lesson is one fourth So to apply all stages in reading lesson is not easy

2.2.2 Teaching staff and teaching methods

The English teaching staff at the college of Broadcasting 1 consists of 4 official teachers at the age from 25 to 35 All the teachers have university diploma from different universities

in Vietnam At present, 2 out of 4 teachers have done MA courses in Hanoi University of foreign studies and one of them is doing an MA course in University of Language and International studies

The number of teachers are limited and the number of students are great so it is certain that teachers must teach many classes Classes are usually conducted in the form of lectures, with most of the time the teachers playing the keys role in the classroom, being the main speakers working through the text The teachers explain new words, terms and even translate some difficult texts into Vietnamese

Though, the teachers are always aware of the new trend in teaching method nowadays: Learner- center approach, they try to give their students independence in studying by asking them to work through the texts or discuss subject matters in groups, giving them some instructions before asking them make presentation in front of the class Students at that time have to play the role of the teacher, giving lecture to the whole class and they feel highly motivated in learning

However, only one or two teachers can do these The rest of teachers write new words or structures on the blackboard and the meaning of new words is provided right way without any requirement for students' prediction or guessing from the text Students are then ordered to read new words aloud one by one frequently after the teachers

After that they ask students to read the text for the first time before doing tasks Students are always passive and only ask the teachers questions when they encounter difficult structures or words that they can not find in the dictionary And the success rests on how flexible and adaptable the individual teacher is to respond to the requirement of the new teaching situation

2.2.3 Teaching facilities

Teaching facilities are considered significant and may affect the teaching process positively or negatively In general, the teaching facilities in the college of Broadcasting 1 are poorly equipped There is no laboratory and there is one library but it mainly provides a few books of English Neither, overhead projector nor projector is equipped in classrooms except in Informatics class or Engineering class The equipment in classroom is very simple and traditional A board, chalk, cassette player and textbook are main teaching equipments in every class

2.3 Current situation of learning the course book

2.3.1 Students’ background

Most of learners of the course book "New Headway" (Pre-Intermediate) are full time students at the first year, aging from 18-19 They come from different parts of the country with different level of English Every year our college has about 500 first year students Some students are good at English, some have never learnt English before and most of them have learnt English as a subject in high school but they are not keen on it Students are divided into classes from 40 to 60 students Although they have different levels of English, they all learn the course book "New Headway "(Pre-Intermediate) in the first year

2.3.2 Students’ learning condition

The students' condition of learning is not good enough A few students have dictionaries to learn English Moreover, most of students live far from family so the places

to live and learn are badly-equipped They mainly get the knowledge from the textbook without referent books meanwhile the library of the school is poor Because of this it affects their study and result at the final exam

2.3.3 Students’ attitude to learning English

When students were in high school they mainly learnt English for passing the final exam in each term or at the end of the school year So they did not care how to get knowledge and how to communicate by English They found English unnecessary and their ability in general was very limited

But now English is taught in 3 terms with different levels and it is an important subject for them at school as well as in the future job so they are well aware of their purpose of learning, they become hard working and patient

Chapter III: The Study 3.1 The context of the study

The college of Broadcasting 1 has been established for over 50 years Its duty is to provide different form of training with different departments Now there are some main departments such as: Accounting, Journalism, Information Technology and Engineering and Telecommunication

English is a compulsory subject in the curriculum of teaching and learning in the college of Broadcasting 1 This subject is graded into 2 major stages The first stage

is aimed at providing students with basic general knowledge of English And the two next stages are the time for students to study English for their professional field (in the 2nd year) At the first stage students have to study general English in 60 class periods Each period lasts 45 minutes The course book they study is "New Headway" (Pre-Intermediate) Teachers concentrate on developing students' four basic skills in order to prepare for students' knowledge towards ESP And among four skills, reading comprehension is paid much attention Because if students read well, they will have words and structures to practice other skills and it helps them much in reading and learning ESP later

3.2 The subject

In order to achieve the aims of the thesis and answer the above research questions, the subjects of the study include: a group of four teachers of English All of them are female They have at least three year experience in teaching English

Also, 300 first year students in 10 classes from all departments in the school were surveyed 70% of them are female and 30% are male

The students are chosen randomly among the students in each class

3.3 Data collection methods

In order to get the most exact information for the study, two methods of research (qualitative and quantitative) were employed with the following instruments:

- survey questionnaires to students

- classroom observation

- informal interview with teachers of English

- journal keeping

Each instrument has its purposes:

- Classroom observation was employed to know the purpose of reading class ( what the teachers focus most on in teaching reading ), teaching methods ( how and when the teachers often explain new words and term? why?); post-reading activities (after reading lessons, what the teachers expects students to be able to do?) and unforeseen difficulties in reading class ( what problems arise during reading class?)

- Journal keeping was used with the intention of recording the method of preparing reading lessons and teaching techniques used in classroom; expected and unexpected problems the teachers are coping with while teaching; the solutions to unexpected problems while teaching and any brainwave to overcome these problems

- Interview questions were carried out with English teachers (see Appendix 3):

Question 1: is aimed at investigating teachers' perception on the course book they are teaching

Question 2, 3 and 4 are aimed at investigating difficulties the teachers are coping with in teaching reading English for the first year students

Question 5, 6 are aimed at investigating solutions the teachers are using

- Questionnaires for students was designed in order to get more information

supporting other instruments to find out teachers' difficulties (see appendix 4)

Question 1: Students' perception on the course book

Question 2: Students' areas of difficulty

Question 3-15: Students' sources of difficulty and their desire from teachers

3.4 Data collection procedure

As being described in the previous part, various instruments were designed Journal keeping was the first instrumental for this study I have been teaching general English for 5 years and have kept the journal on my own since then with the

purpose of recording difficulties during my teaching process in order to find out the solutions to overcome these problems

Then while studying MA course, I had an idea of carrying out a study on reading comprehension with the course book "New Headway" And the journal has been no longer used to record my own difficulties but also difficulties of my colleagues We normally sat together at short breaks or after class hours to discuss our lectures, at that time difficulties revealed by my colleagues were also recorded

in my journal After that, when the thesis was official carried out, I designed more instruments to collect the data such as: interview questions for teachers and questionnaire for students

Six interview questions for teachers and 15 questions for students were designed to collect more information supporting what I have been recorded in my journal from teachers of English and the first year students They were carried out after revising carefully and receiving comments from colleagues as well as supervisor Classroom observation was carried out during my colleagues' lectures

It is noted that in order to make it easy in analyzing data, 300 out of 500 the first year students (randomly in 10 classes) were surveyed The survey was carried out at the short break and questionnaires were delivered to those who were still in class

3.5 Data analysis and discussion

In this part, the result collected from different instruments will be presented in separated parts in order to answer the research questions raised in the previous part The first part is the result of survey questionnaire to students and the next one is the result of other instruments to teachers

3.5.1 Discussion of the result collected by means of the questionnaire

In this part, the data collected from survey questionnaire will be presented in the tables according to the purposes of the study Sometimes the results of the questionnaire are compared with the results of other instruments in order to make the answers to the questionnaire clearer

3.5.1.1 Students' opinion on the course book "New Headway" Intermediate)

(Pre-Table 1

answer

False

1 The course book is useful and appropriate

to me and it helps me reinforce my general

knowledge Because it helps me to

communicate and I can understand the texts

The result of the survey to students reveals that most of students (93%) find it useful

to learn the current course book of English for the first year students The fact is that students in general English hours are very interested They indicate that the course book really helps them reinforce their general knowledge and they can use English

to communicate and understand the content of the texts in the course book better

3.5.1.2 Difficulties revealed by the students

d predicting and remembering new

words through context

e.understanding lectures completely in 204 24 72