A student - based evaluation of the reading comprehension tasks in Tieng Anh 12 Nang Cao = Đánh giá của học sinh về các hoạt động đọc hiểu trong sách

To what extent do students find the reading comprehension tasks useful to their English language learning?. As a result, the main aim of the reading syllabus, reading texts and reading t

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

  

VŨ THỊ KIM THANH

A STUDENT- BASED EVALUATION OF THE READING COMPREHENSION

TASKS IN “TIENG ANH 12 NANG CAO”

ĐÁNH GIÁ CỦA HỌC SINH VỀ CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG ĐäC HIỂU

TRONG SÁCH “TIẾNG ANH 12 NÂNG CAO”

MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: METHODOLOGY

CODE: 601410

HANOI - 2010

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

  

VŨ THỊ KIM THANH

A STUDENT- BASED EVALUATION OF THE READING COMPREHENSION

TASKS IN “TIENG ANH 12 NANG CAO”

ĐÁNH GIÁ CỦA HỌC SINH VỀ CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG ĐäC HIỂU

TRONG SÁCH “TIẾNG ANH 12 NÂNG CAO”

MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: METHODOLOGY

CODE: 601410 SUPERVISOR: LÊ VĂN CANH (MA)

HANOI - 2010

Table of contents

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS II ABSTRACT III LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS IV LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES VIII

INTRODUCTION 1

1 Statements of the Problems and Rationale for the Study 1

2 Aims of the Study 2

3 Significance of the Study 3

4 Scope of the Study 3

5 Methods and Procedures 4

6 The Structure of the Thesis 4

Chapter I Review of Literature 5

1.1 Reading comprehension 5

1.1.1 Definition of Reading and Reading Comprehension 5

1.1.2 The Importance of Reading Comprehension in Foreign Language Learning 6

1.1.3 Reading Sub-Skills 6

1.2 Reading comprehension Tasks 8

1.2.1 Tasks 8

1.2.2 Reading Tasks 8

1.2.3 Types of Reading Tasks 8

1.3 Textbook Evaluation 10

1.3.1 Definition of Textbook Evaluation 10

1.3.2 The purpose of Textbook Evaluation 10

1.3.3 Types of Textbook Evaluation 10

1.3.4 Models of Micro-Evaluation of Tasks 11

1.3.5 Student- Based Textbook Evaluation 11

1.3.6 The Need to Have Students’ Evaluation of the Reading Tasks 12

1.3.7 Criteria for Evaluation 12

1.4 Previous Studies on the New Set of English Textbooks 13

CHAPTER 2 OVERVIEW OF THE READING TASK IN TIENG ANH 12 NANG CAO 15

2.1 Overview of the National Curriculum and Syllabus for ELT 15

2.2 Overview of the Textbook 15

2.3 Overview of the Reading Section 16

2.3.1 Reading Text Types 17

2.3.2 Reading Task Types 18

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 21

3.1 The Setting 21

3.2 Participants 21

3.3 Data collection methods 22

3.3.1 Survey questionnaire 22

3.3.2 Interview 22

3.4 Data Collection Procedures 22

3.5 Data Analysis 23

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 24

4.1 Quantitative data 24

4.1.1 Usefulness of the Reading Tasks 24

4.1.2 Usefulness of the information 25

4.1.3 Genres of reading texts 25

4.1.4 Helping to develop and consolidate vocabulary and grammar competence 26

4.1.5 Relevance to students’ level of English 27

4.1.6 Preparing students for exams 28

4.1.7 Developing sub- reading skills 29

4.1.8 The need to modify and supply more reading comprehension tasks 31

4.1.9 Matching personal reading strategies 31

4.2 Qualitative data 32

4.2.1 Usefulness to students’ English language learning 32

4.2.2 Relevance to the students’ needs 34

4.2.3 Students’ expectations 34

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 36

5.1 Summary of the study 36

5.2 Recommendations 38

5.2.1 Addition 38

5.2.2 Providing Supplementary Reading Texts 39

5.3 Conclusion 40

5.4 Limitations of the study 41

REFERENCES 42 APPENDIX 1: PHIÕU §IÒU TRA HỌC SINH I APPENDIX 2 CÂU HỎI PHỎNG VẤN CHO HỌC SINH V APPENDIX 3 OVERALL EVALUATION OF THE READING SECTION VI APPENDIX 4 THE SUGGESTED ADDITION OF THE READING TASKS VII APPENDIX 5 SUPPLEMENTARY READING TEXTS IX

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Table 1: Types of reading tasks developed within Davies‟ and Green‟s model 9

Table 2.1 Reading Text Types 17

Table 2.2 Quantity of Reading Tasks 18

Table 2.3 Types of Reading Tasks 19

Figure 4.1 Students‟ general opinions on the usefulness of the reading tasks 24

Figure 4.2 Students‟ opinion on the usefulness of the information 25

Figure 4.3 Students‟ opinion on genres of reading texts 25

Table 4.1 Students‟ opinions towards how much vocabulary and grammar is consolidated and developed 26

Table 4.2 Students‟ assessment of the relevance of the reading tasks to their level of English 27

Table 4.3 Relevance to the requirement of the exams 28

Table 4.4 The sub-skills of reading tasks students gained 29

Figure 4.4 Student‟s opinions on the needs of modification 31

Table 4.5 Relevance to students‟ personal learning method in general and method to learn reading comprehension in particular 31

Table 5 : Added tasks suggested in the three reading stages in each unit 39

Introduction

1 Statements of the Problems and Rationale for the Study

In the age of globalization the status of English has been enhanced As Richard (1985:1) reminds us the current state of English has turned a significant percentage of the world population into part time users or learners of English This is also true for Vietnam

in the new social context with the recent economic renovation, the participation in WTO as well as regionalization and globalization There has been increasing demand for mastering English

The teaching and learning English in high secondary school is most prioritized by the MOET The old set of textbooks which was used for a long time has been replaced by the new one in 2002 which is claimed to incorporate the latest methodology in second language teaching The introduction of the new textbooks is considered the first step towards the achievement of better quality of education The objectives of the books have been adjusted for a better use of English “as a tool of communication at basic level in terms of listening, speaking, reading and writing” (Hoang et al., 2006a:33)

Being an effective and fluent reader in another language is very important as reading helps students consolidate what they have learned and support their further study According to Carrel (1981:1), “for many students, reading is by far the most important of the four macro skills, particularly in English as a second or a foreign language” Unfortunately, teaching and learning readings skills is still far from satisfactory for various reasons

The new textbooks for upper secondary school level comprised two sets: the basic book and advanced books Hoang Van Thu specializing secondary school chooses the basic books for non English specializing classes and the advanced for English specializing

ones English 10 and English 11 were approved and officially introduced into schools by

MOET in the academic years 2006-2007 and 2007-2008, respectively English 12 has been implemented in the nationwide scale since the academic year 2008-2009 Up to now it has been used for English specialized classes of grade 12 in Hoang Van Thu school for two years

As a teacher of English in a specializing high school, I have worked quite closely with the new textbooks I have noticed that although the books have shown a great deal of improvement as compared with the old series of grammar-based textbooks, they also bear several limitations as it can not be of great help to improve students‟ language knowledge and more importantly it hardly caters for all the needs of students

In a specializing school the students‟ level of language proficiency is rather high

Tieng Anh 12 Nang Cao does not come to students‟ expectations in term of language, grammar, the length and the quality of the tasks Students have to use supplementary reading material to improve their reading skill which is compulsory part in all exams So how would the teachers solve this problem?

The methodology course in postgraduate program has changed our mind and provided us with the new perspective about our English language teaching career It helps

us shape our critical thinking towards using the textbooks The research therefore is

conducted to evaluate the reading comprehension task in Tieng Anh 12 Nang Cao using student - based evaluation

Since the 1970‟s there has been a movement to make learners the center of language instruction and it is probably best to view textbooks as resources in achieving aims and objectives that have already been set in terms of learner needs “The learner is focused” is one of the issues mentioned by Canagarajah (2006) in which the role of learner has been highlighted As English has become an international language, learners with their diverse learning contexts and needs are focused in more specific ways

Research on the limitations of the new textbooks has been a core part of my study Based on the findings, recommendations are made which are expected to help improve students‟ reading skill to enable them firstly to successfully fulfill the reading section in the university entrance examination paper, and secondly to further their study

2 Aims of the Study

The study aims to understand students‟ evaluative comments on the usefulness and relevance of the reading tasks in terms of preparing better for the high school graduation and university entrance exams, further study and future jobs Particularly, the study tries to answer the following two research questions:

1 To what extent do students find the reading comprehension tasks useful to their English language learning?

2 To what extent do students find the reading comprehension tasks relevant to their learning needs?

3 Significance of the Study

The study helps the audience to be aware of the strong and week points of the text book This would also enable the teachers to effectively exploit the strength and revise, modify or supplement the materials if necessary

Moreover, it is useful for the teachers to listen to their students about their interests, needs, and expectations Only by doing that, can we respond to their needs at the utmost and maximize the learning/teaching objectives by revising the textbook

The study has been also a benefit for the evaluator herself As Richards, (1990) believes that a successful teacher is the one who can evaluate teaching materials and to teach students successfully, therefore it is a good chance to review major theoretical basis relating to material evaluation Being equipped with the knowledge, teachers have a critical thinking towards the material they are using, namely, they can evaluate it systematically and methodologically This work is also of great use for the writer to gain good and useful insights into the nature of the reading comprehension tasks in the textbook This micro- evaluation will serve as basis for evaluating other tasks such as listening, speaking, and writing tasks

4 Scope of the Study

First, the study can not be generalized to other 12 specializing classes in HVT specializing school as their English textbook is the basic set and it can not also be applied

in other high schools even though they teach the same textbook because of different population

Second, the study was concerned with evaluating only the Reading Comprehension

Tasks in Tieng Anh 12 Nang Cao The limitation of time and the scope of a minor thesis do

not allow the researcher of this project to cover many aspects as expected However, the

subject is hopefully deeply analyzed

5 Methods and Procedures

In order to find the answer for the above research questions, the writer reviewed different textbook evaluation methods of many researchers in this field and finally found that the method proposed by Ellis (1997) is the most suitable as this study aims to evaluate one task in a textbook

To collect the data, the methods used in the thesis are questionnaires and interview Survey questionnaires here play a vital role in getting feedback from students about the

reading tasks in Tieng Anh 12 Nang Cao Interview is served to probe more about students‟

concrete opinions

6 The Structure of the Thesis

This thesis is divided as follows:

The Introduction presents the background to the study, states the aims, significance, discusses the scope of the study, method and procedure and outlines the thesis

Chapter One, Literature Review, discusses issues relating to reading, reading evaluation, task evaluation and reading comprehension tasks,which serves as the scientific base for the thesis

Chapter Two presents the overview of the reading task in Tieng Anh 12 Nang Cao

Chapter Three, Methodology, presents the deep analysis of the setting including the students‟ profile and institution It also describes data collection instrument, data collection procedure and data analysis

Chapter Four, Data Analysis and Discussion, presents the results from the questionnaire, and interview The chapter ends with a discussion of the findings

Chapter Five, Recommendations and Conclusion, presents the recommendations drawn from the findings of the study and concludes the thesis

Chapter I Review of Literature

“a cyclical process of sampling, predicting, testing and confirming.”

Nuttall (1996) defines reading as “essentially concerned with meaning”(pp18-19) That means the reader‟s responsibility is to get meaning out of text Reading viewed from this perspective can be interpreted as an active creative process in which the reader interprets a message in the light of his or her previous knowledge, predicts and anticipates subsequent rhetorical strategy and information, selects information relevant to his or her reading purpose, matches information with his or her previous knowledge and experience, evaluates it in the light of that knowledge and then applies this information to new experiences As a result, the main aim of the reading syllabus, reading texts and reading tasks is to develop students‟ appropriate reading strategies, or enabling skills that will help them to comprehend texts and not just the text being studied In other words, students should be trained to become automatic or independent readers Those reading strategies should be embedded in the reading tasks

What is Reading Comprehension?

Ro, Stood and Burns (1987:2) consider “Reading comprehension is reconstruction, interpretation and evaluation of what author of written content means by using knowledge gained from life experience.”

Anderson and Pearson (1984:225) argue that when students make a critical evaluation of the ideas conveyed in the text, “they are making connections between the new information on the printed page and their existing knowledge”

According to interactive model of reading, comprehension is built up or constructed from knowledge sources which interact with each other on the input from the written page Comprehension, by definition, is the process of relating new or incoming information to information already stored in memory Readers make connection between the new information on the printed page and their existing knowledge They must allow the new information to enter and become a part of their knowledge store (Lee and Vanpatten1995:191)

1.1.2 The Importance of Reading Comprehension in Foreign Language Learning

Reading is an important, if not the most important, skill that students who study foreign language need to acquire As Eskeys (2005) points out that many students of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) rarely need to speak the language in their day-to-day lives but may need to read it in order to “assess the wealth of information”(P.563) Of the four language skills, reading has conventionally been the most emphasized in FL and ESL

or EFL situations over the years Bright and Gregor (1970:52-53) states that books provide most pupils with the situation in which learning takes place Where there is little reading, there will be little language learning He also states “further education depends on quantity and quality of reading All the important skills, in fact, require quick and efficient imaginative reading.”

When English is taught in a foreign language environment like in Vietnamese high schools, students have little opportunity to practice it outside the classroom In this context, students are expected to learn how to read in a foreign language in order to learn the language and obtain the information that they find useful for them ”Learning to read and reading to learn” is not an outworn slogan The need for developing the reading skill is more urgent because of the ever-increasing amount of reading our students are called upon

to do From a second language acquisition (SLA) perspective, reading and the reading texts are a source of input of the target language without which acquisition of the second language can hardly happen This is because reading texts can be used for several different purposes, and this is reflected in the coursebook as follows

- developing reading skills and strategies,

- presenting/ recycling grammar items, extending vocabulary

- providing models for writing,

- giving information of interest to students,

- stimulating oral work (Cunningsworth, 1995:73)

1.1.3 Reading Sub-Skills

Nuttall (1996) categorizes the reading skills into two major types: (a) word attack skills and (b) text attack skills “Word attack skills” includes tackling unfamiliar lexical items by using morphology, inference from context, a dictionary, etc… The latter include

(i) understanding sentence syntax, (ii) recognizing and interpreting cohesive devices, (iii) interpreting discourse markers, (iv) recognizing functional value, (v) tracing an interpreting rhetorical organization, (vi) recognizing implications and making inferences, (viii) prediction, (ix) integration and application (pp 69-97) Any evaluation of the reading text and/or reading syllabus should refer to these skills

Another researcher Grellet (1981) has proposed 19 sub- reading skills that he takes from Munby‟s Communicative Syllabus Design:

- Recognizing the script of a language

- Deducing the meaning and use of unfamiliar lexical items

- Understanding explicitly stated information

- Understanding information when not explicitly stated

- Understanding conceptual meaning

- Understanding the communicative value (function) of sentences and utterances

- Understanding relations within sentences

- Understanding the parts of a text through lexical cohesion devices

- Understanding cohesion between the parts of a text through grammatical devices

- Interpreting text by going outside it

- Recognizing indicators in discourse

- Identifying the main point or important information in a piece of discourse

- Distinguishing the main idea from supporting details

- Extracting salient points to summarize the text or an idea

- Selective extraction of relevant points from a text

- Basic reference skills

- Transcoding information to diagrammatic display

- Skimming

- Scanning

To develop these sub reading skills, the reading comprehension tasks are designed

in the textbook

1.2 Reading Comprehension Tasks

1.2.1 Tasks

Task, from a dictionary of applied linguistics, is “an activity or action which is carried out as the result of processing or understanding language (i.e as a response) (Richards, Platt and Weber, 1986:289) According to Nunan (2001:10), task involves communicative language use in which the communicative task is described as a piece of classroom work

1.2.2 Reading Tasks

Nunan (2001) describes the reading task as a classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather than form A reading task in

a classroom consists of a process of three tasks (pre-reading task, while-reading task and post-reading task) Pang, Muaka, Bernbardt and Kamil (2003:6) define reading task as a complex activity for understanding written texts that involves both perception and thought Reading consists of two related processes: word recognition (the process of perceiving written symbols from different kinds of texts) and comprehension (the process of making sense of words)

1.2.3 Types of Reading Tasks

According to Nunan (1999:262), good reading tasks are tasks that :

- Typically make use of authentic and challenging texts

- provide students with a rhetorical or topical framework for processing and analyzing the text

- Frequently involve an oral reading of the text by the teacher or a student followed by silent reading and rereading of the text

- Involve students in direct analysis of the text instead of in direct question answering

- Frequently involve the transfer of information from the text to a visual or diagrammatic representation

The table below exemplified the types of reading tasks that can be developed within Davies’ and Green’s model - the Directed Activities Related to Text (DART) used as an alternative to the traditional approach to reading comprehension There are two different task types: reconstruction activities and analysis activities Reconstruction activities require the reader to reconstruct a text Analysis activities require the reader to transform the information in the text in some way

Table 1: Types of reading tasks developed within Davies’ and Green’s model

Text completion

- Word completion (selected words deleted

from the text)

- Phrases completion (selected phrases/

clauses deleted from the text)

- Sentence completion (selected sentences

deleted from the text)

Sequencing

- Selected segments of text arranged in

logical/ time sequence (text cut into

segments representing steps, events, etc )

- Segments of text classified (text cut into

segments representing certain categories of

information)

Prediction

- Pupils predict next events/ steps or stage

after reading segments of text (text

segments presented at section at a time)

Table completion

- Pupils fill in cells of table using row and

column headings and text as sources of

information (teacher provides row and

column headings)

- Pupils devise row and column headings

using texts and cells of matrix as sources

of information (teacher fills in cells)

Text marking

- Locating and underlining parts of text representing certain meaning of information targets

Table construction

- Pupils construct and complete diagram appropriate for particular text

Pupil- generated questions

- Pupils read text and generate questions they still need answers to

Summary

- Pupils produce headings and summarize information

1.3 Textbook Evaluation

1.3.1 Definition of Textbook Evaluation

A textbook is a teaching material for the teacher and a learning material for the learner Within this master thesis, the terms „textbook‟, „text‟, and „materials‟ are used interchangeably

In general there are many definitions of evaluation Hutchinson and Waters (1987:96) defines evaluation as “a matter of judging the fitness of something” and “it is concerned with relative merit”

1.3.2 The purpose of Textbook Evaluation

Evaluating materials enables teachers to see if teaching material matches the objectives of the language learning program; whether it assists learners to use language effectively for their own purposes; if it accords with learners‟ needs by facilitating their learning processes; or whether it supports learning (Cunningsworth, 1984:5)

1.3.3 Types of Textbook Evaluation

Ellis (1997:37) divides materials evaluation into two types: macro-evaluation and micro- evaluation According to him, the former is the impressionistical assessment of effectiveness of the whole set of materials In the latter, however, a particular teaching task chosen by the evaluator is given through evaluation For this one, Ellis focuses on evaluation at the task level with reference to its language teaching methodology The task here is described in terms of its objectives, the input (the information provided), the conditions (under which the task is conducted), the procedures, the outcomes (the achievement on completion of the task) The aim in this model is to identify the match between task planned and task in use According to him, micro-evaluation can serve as the basis for further macro evaluation On the other hand, micro-evaluation can be an individual, practical and legitimate way of carrying out an empirical evaluation of teaching materials

“A micro-evaluation of teaching materials is perhaps best carried out in relation to

„task‟‟ (Ellis, 1997: 37) Tasks within the curriculum or of methodology is described as

“Tasks are justify on the grounds that they will help the learners to develop the skills they will need for carrying out real-world communicative tasks beyond the classroom” (Nunan, 2001:38) And as the important places of retrospective evaluation and tasks are as described, the researcher decides to conduct a retrospective evaluation on reading comprehension tasks as this is the initial and important part of the four language skills It can give the input for the following lessons such as listening, speaking, writing, and

language focus and it is one important section in university entrance examination Another reason why the author chooses this micro restrospective evaluation is the feasibility to conduct a research

1.3.4 Models of Micro-Evaluation of Tasks

Ellis (1997:38) recommends the following steps of task evaluation:

Step 1- Choosing a task to evaluate; (In this thesis the reading comprehension tasks are examined)

Step 2 - Describing the task which requires the specification of the content of a task

in terms of input, procedures, language activities and outcome; (The researcher analyzes the reading tasks)

Step 3- Planning the evaluation;

Step 4 - Collecting the information for the evaluation (before, while and after the task is used) about how the task was performed; (This work uses while and after evaluation)

Step 5 - Analyzing the information;

Step 6 - Reaching conclusion relating to what has been discovered as result of the evaluation of the task and making recommendations;

Step 7- Writing the report

This study follows these steps in getting the students to evaluate the reading tasks

in Tieng Anh Nang Cao for 12 Graders

1.3.5 Student- Based Textbook Evaluation

Definition

According to Ellis (1997:39) student-based evaluation is the evaluation in which the effectiveness of the task is examined through the students‟ attitudes and opinions by using questionnaires and interviews

Why Student - Based Evaluation?

Student -based evaluation of textbooks is an evaluation in which the learners assess the textbook whether it matches their language proficiency, needs, interests and expectations When learners are involved in textbook evaluation, they may have a greater feeling of being active factor of the learning process Such an evaluation may serve to increase learner motivation, create a sense of learner-centredness, and stimulate learning Learners only learn what they need or want to learn (Tomlinson, 2003:147) Evaluation of the textbook basing on learners‟ opinion is also helpful to the teachers so that they know how to adapt and supplement the currently-used textbook to motivate their learners That is why the author chooses the student- based evaluation type

1.3.6 The Need to Have Students’ Evaluation of the Reading Tasks

Cheng (1985) criticizes the traditional practice of teaching reading in which the students are to read the text and then answer questions as for being of little help to the development of the reading skills which are necessary to cope with different reading materials for different reading needs The students‟ task is to do as directed and nobody asks them whether they like the text and their reading skill is improved or not

Nuttall (1996:170), while also criticizing the conventional approaches to coursebook evaluation which ignore the learners voice, challenges that “Suggesting that you look for motivating materials implies that you know what interests the students Are you sure you do? It is worth carrying out an investigation” Unfortunately, the student-based evaluation of the learning materials and learning tasks is rarely undertaken in the field of English language teaching This is the reason why I adopted this approach to the evaluation of the reading tasks in this study

1.3.7 Criteria for Evaluation

1.3.7.1 Criteria for Textbook Evaluation

Before choosing the criteria to evaluate the reading task, it is necessary to consider the criteria to evaluate a textbook in general

Criteria are what evaluators use to “reach a decision regarding what needs to be evaluated” (Tomlinson, 1998:220) which are the bases upon which evaluators depend on when making judgments Cunningsworth (1995), Grant (1987) possess the same ideas when proposing criteria for evaluating textbooks According to them the perfect textbook does not exist but the best one available for the teacher and their students certainly does Such a book should satisfy these conditions:

1 It should correspond to learners‟ needs, interest and abilities It should match the aims and objectives of the language learning progress

2 It should reflect the uses (present or future) which learners will make of the language A textbook should be chosen so that they will help equip students to use language effectively for their own purposes

3 It should take account of students‟ needs as learners and should facilitate their learning processes, without dogmatically imposing a rigid method

4 The textbook must meet the needs of official public teaching syllabuses or examinations

My thesis research questions are based on these conditions and then are amplified

in the form of the questionnaire and interview

1.3.7.2 Criteria for Task Evaluation

Littlejohn (1998) proposes three criteria for the task evaluation: 1) “what is there”

in the book; 2) “what is required of the users”; 3) “what is implied” based on the distribution of teacher and students Matthews (1991) suggests “the balance of tasks” (enough attention to different types of task) Grant (1991) looks at “enough activities”

1.3.7.3 Criteria for Evaluation of Reading Comprehension tasks

It is important for EFL teachers at high school level to select appropriate reading materials, considering students‟ needs, interests and abilities In other words, successful selection of materials may be a key to enhancing students‟ reading ability

Nuttall (1996:170-174) highlights three major criteria for evaluating texts for

reading These include: suitability of content, exploitability, and readability By suitability

she means the reading texts must be interesting to the students According to her, far and away the most important criterion is that the text should interest the readers- preferably enthrall and delight them Of course it is possible to develop reading skills on a text that bores readers, but interesting content makes the learner‟s task far more rewarding

Exploitability refers to the facilitation of learning- is arguably the most important

criterion after interest When the text is exploited, it is used to develop the students‟ competence as readers To achieve exploitability the reading text must fit the purpose of the reading lesson in terms of both the language and content The text must be exploitable

in terms of integration of various reading sub-skills as well as integration of other language skills

Regarding the third criterion – Readability, she suggests that reading teachers

assess the students‟ level and consider lexical, structural and passage difficulty of the text and then calculate the readability level of the material It seems that these suggestions are reasonable and teachers should bear these kinds of criteria in mind when they choose reading materials

1.4 Previous Studies on the New Set of English Textbooks

In Vietnam a number of projects have been carried out to evaluate the new set of English textbooks including the basic and the advanced, among which Nguyen Thuy Minh (2007) is the most typical example Her research “Textbook evaluation: The case of English textbooks currently in use in Vietnam‟s upper secondary schools” gives readers a rather comprehensive evaluation on the new set of textbooks The evaluation was carried under the criteria namely: the teaching of language skills (Reading, listening, speaking and writing), the teaching of language element (grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary) using the checklists provided by Cunningsworth (1995) The researcher has come to some

conclusion about the strengths and weakness of the new textbooks The strength is pointed out as the books have brought about the positive changes in the way English was taught at secondary school, making it significantly more communicative and effective The weakness is the challenge for both students in rural, remote areas and for teachers who do not continue to improve their language knowledge, skills and teaching methods

Another evaluation of the whole textbook English 11 taught at Phan Dinh Phung secondary school in Ha Noi - A Case Study by Le Thi Hue found out some useful results She concluded that the textbook English 11 truly followed the objectives prescribed by MOET for the course Regarding to the suitableness of the textbook to the students, the reading and speaking section are relatively acceptable but the listening part and language focus need some modification to be more suitable The author believed that interesting, challenging and motivating subjects and contents that were relevant to students needs interest the students

When it comes to reading part in the advanced textbook, Nguyen Thi Nguyet has conducted a survey on “How to make classroom reading more communicative for grade 10

of English at Bac Ninh specializing high school The significant part is devoted to recommendations on how to make classroom reading more communicative

Although the Tieng Anh textbook series for Vietnamese high schools have been evaluated by some authors, the Tieng Anh 12 Nang Cao has not been evaluated yet In

addition, those evaluations were made with the teachers‟ perspectives only This study,

therefore, focuses on the students‟ evaluation of the reading tasks in Tieng Anh Nang Cao

for 12 graders

Summary

This chapter has reviewed theories related to the reading comprehension and the roles it plays in the process of English language teaching and learning as well as important issues of reading task evaluation that need to be considered when conducting the research The highlighted aspects are the sub-reading skills presented in reading comprehension tasks, the model to evaluate tasks proposed by Rod -Ellis with student-based evaluation and the criteria to evaluate reading tasks It has also reviewed some of the previous research on textbook evaluation in different contexts in other settings in Vietnam All of these serve as a basic for carrying out an evaluation of the reading comprehension tasks in Tieng Anh 12 Nang Cao at a specific secondary school The next chapter presents an

overview of the reading task in Tieng Anh 12 Nang Cao

CHAPTER 2 OVERVIEW OF THE READING TASK IN

TIENG ANH 12 NANG CAO

2.1 Overview of the National Curriculum and Syllabus for ELT

Before an evaluation of the reading tasks of Tieng Anh 12 Nang Cao takes place,

an overview of the national curriculum for ELT in secondary school education and the syllabus for the 12 grade is provided

In 2006 MOET issued a new curriculum which defines English as a compulsory subject, which is “instrumental to the access of world science and technology as well as world cultures” (MOET, 2006: 5) It describes the aims for ELT at secondary school level for the advanced program as enabling students to:

1 “Use English as a means for basic communication relatively proficiently both in spoken and written channels to meet the specific demand related to socio- science and humane

2 Master basic and relatively systematic knowledge of English suited to their levels of proficiency and ages and the specific demand related to socio- science and humane

3 Acquire some general understanding of the people and cultures of some speaking countries and develop a positive attitude towards the people, cultures and language of these countries; cultivate the pride in, love for and respect to the Vietnamese culture and language”

English-2.2 Overview of the Textbook

The book is claimed to adopt a theme-based syllabus The methodologies presented

in the book are the “learner-centered approach and the communicative approach with based teaching being the central teaching method” The teaching contents for each unit are summarized in a book map which is provided on the first page of each book There are 16 teaching units and six review units in each book Each teaching unit covers a topic and is structured into five sections: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing and Language Focus

task-Each unit is supposed to be taught in 7 periods with 45 minutes per one Reading skills are dealt with first and foremost in a unit because the authors expect to use the reading text to provide language input and ideas for practice of other language skills

The requirement of the MOET on reading skills in Tieng Anh 12 Nang Cao are

defined as follows:

After finishing grade 12, students are able to:

- Use appropriate skills to read a passage of 300-350 words for general, detailed

or specific information the theme of which is included in the textbook

- Distinguish the main ideas and supporting ideas

- Use the main ideas to summarise the text

- Comprehend and judge the author‟s opinions and attitudes

(Tieng Anh 12 Nang Cao- Teacher‟s book, p9)

2.3 Overview of the Reading Section

The Reading section is structured according to the conventional stages of a reading lesson It begins with one or two Before you read activities, the aim of which is to introduce students to the topic, activate their background knowledge of the topic, motivate them to read and elicit new vocabulary, to present the notion, content, personal experience related to the The aim of this part is to arouse the pupils‟ interest in their learning It may

be some suggested questions, matching the pictures with the title or information, group or pair work discussion It then presents a short text followed by 2-3 While you read activities, the aim of which is to develop reading skills and strategies such as scanning, skimming and guessing meaning in context While - reading tasks help students understand the writer‟s purpose and clarify the text content The section ends with one or two After you read activities to offer students some further practice, e.g oral or written language production Post- reading tasks aim to check students‟ comprehension, consolidate what students have read and provide a sense of completion to the whole process

2.3.1 Reading Text Types

This part includes one or more passages with different genres extracted or developed from the authentic source but the language is adjusted to suit the students‟ level

of the 12 graders

Regarding text types, all the texts in the textbook are authentic and cover the following genres

Table 2.1 Reading Text Types

(Source: Tieng Anh 12 Nang Cao- MOET)

In brief, the textbook uses different types including press extract, advertisement, extracts from factual books and novels, announcements, precautions for safety There is a text with gaps, which requires not only to understand, but also to be able to supply missing words (Unit 5) However, the distribution is not even as the predominant is press extract, which accounts for 70% of the total This may bore students as they expect the alternative The interesting about the text types used in the textbook is that they are extracted from authentic sources Plenty of authentic language arouses students‟ interests as they have a chance to get familiarized with the English of native speakers Nunan (1998) has suggested characteristics of materials as follows: „Materials should be authentic as they reflect the outside world and the socio-cultural context within which they will be used‟

Moreover, the reading parts are presented with wordings illustrated with colorful pictures, tables, together The reading part is used to provide the input in the context and to

develop other skills such as: listening, speaking, writing with different kinds of practice in the following parts It also provides the language content in the Language Focus part

It is effective to label the 3-stage process for the reading tasks namely: Pre- reading, While- Reading, Post- Reading

2.3.2 Reading Task Types

Table 2.2 Quantity of Reading Tasks

Total 30

Percent 30%

53 53%

17 17%

As can be seen, the number of while- reading tasks accounts for over half of total tasks in the textbook (53%) whereas the tasks in pre-reading make up 30% and post- reading just 17% Obviously, most of comprehension tasks are concentrated in the while-reading stage Therefore, such a big proportion of tasks designed for while-reading is of great use as students have more opportunity to comprehend the text, in other words, they will be more approachable to the content of the text and this result expresses the authors‟ exploitation of the reading text to the full

Compared with the quantity of while-reading tasks, the task quantity in pre-reading

is quite adequate This part is important and dispensable as it prepares the readers for what

he or she is going to read

So “rich” in number of tasks as while-reading is, the number of tasks in post- reading is the “poorest” Clearly each reading passage is distributed evenly with one post- reading task to consolidate what they have gained, to connect what they have known from the text with their own ideas and experience

Table 2.3 Types of Reading Tasks

In brief the typical types of the reading tasks in Tieng Anh 12 Nang Cao are as

The Table above shows the task types categorized in three stages It can be seen that reading tasks on comprehension are the most various However the distribution is not even as the types such as matching words and meanings, question- answering, matching, gap filling can be seen in most of the lessons

When it comes to the pre-reading stage, the task types are not so diversified However, the distribution is quite even

Regarding post- reading tasks a number of discussions are required whereas other types of tasks take up a very small percent

Summary

This chapter presents the aims of the national curriculum and syllabus for ELT, the overview of the textbook, the requirement of the MOET on reading skills The most significant part is devoted to the analysis of text and task types In general, the textbook uses various authentic texts but the most dominant one is the press extract The task types are distributed in 3-stage process While- reading tasks take up over half of the total and the rest belongs to the Pre and Post reading ones The distribution of tasks is not even Examining the nature of the reading tasks helps the researcher to have preliminary evaluation The next chapter presents the methodology in which the research is conducted

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1 The Setting

The research was done at 12 English class at Hoang Van Thu (HVT) specializing school, a kind for fast-track students, which is the only one in Hoa Binh mountainous province The school has been in operation for 40 years The main task of the school as defined by the province and MOET is “to look for and to develop talents for the province, the country; and to make the school to become a high quality education center that gives impact on the development of the province.” A specializing school is aimed to educate and train pupils in order to provide them with sufficient knowledge to enable them to pass the challenging national examinations for the excellent pupils and university entrance examination and colleges Therefore, the following objective have been set for the school:

in every school year better results should be achieved in these examinations

Every year the school has three English specializing classes from grade 10 to 12 The students are selected on the basis of the results they achieve in their selection exams which are English, mathematics and literature for students who choose to follow the English specialization

Tieng Anh Nang Cao is for 10, 11, 12 English specializing classes English is given six classes (45 minutes per one) in the morning and two whole afternoons a week

3.2 Participants

The study was carried out with the participation of 30 12 graders (three males), who were aged from 17 to 18, and were highly motivated They all have similar educational background That is, they all passed the entrance examination to HVT specializing school, have learned together for three years and they are focusing on 3 main subjects English, mathematics, literature for the university entrance exams However, they come from different districts of Hoa Binh Therefore, to some extent the class is multilevel Their English was approximately at intermediate level This means they are reasonably fluent on a restricted range of topics They, however, have difficulty expressing topics outside a limited range They face a number of problems with words, grammar, idioms, and pronunciation

When being asked about reading materials, most students say they have access to many types of materials such as magazines, newspaper, works of fiction etc In term of reading capacity, they can understand the content of the text as a whole and they are capable of going through the text quickly in order to make a summary of the passage Besides, they can scan the text to locate specific information These students still have difficulty in guessing unfamiliar words in a text, understanding technical terminologies, reading in order to respond critically and understanding the writer‟s attitudes and purposes

3.3 Data collection methods

Following Richards‟ suggestions (1984), “since any source of information is likely

to be incomplete or partial, a triangular approach (i.e collecting information from two or more sources) is advisable”, the researcher decided to employ a combination of different data collection instruments to gather the information for the study: survey questionnaire, informal interviews

3.3.1 Survey questionnaire

Survey questionnaires are often used to collect data in social sciences Many significant advantages of using questionnaires are indicated by Gillham (2000): less pressure on respondents, not under pressure of interview bias, analysis of answers is straightforward In this study a questionnaire, which consists of 17 closed items and three open-ended items, was administered to 30 English language students of grade 12

3.3.2 Interview

The informal interviews with student informants were conducted to probe more their opinions on the usefulness and relevance of the reading comprehension section in the textbook with some clarification and explanation

The questionnaire and interview guidance was written in Vietnamese to make students with different English proficiency levels be able to adequately understand the questions

3.4 Data Collection Procedures

The researcher went to the class to conduct the survey at a pre-arranged time She first briefly explained to the participants the nature and purpose of this study and provided instructions about how to answer the questionnaire The time for answering the

questionnaire took about 30 minutes The interviewing data were collected soon after the survey was completed The length of each interview lasted approximately 20 minutes Each interview conducted in Vietnamese and tape- recorded

3.5 Data Analysis

Data collected from the questionnaire were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics The interview data were analyzed qualitatively to shed more light on some issues related to the questionnaire data, particularly the participants‟ opinions of the usefulness and the relevance of the reading tasks to their learning needs

Summary

Kumaravadivelu (2006) states:

First and foremost, any postmethod pedagogy has to be a pedagogy of particularity That is to say, language pedagogy, to be relevant, must be sensitive to a particular group of teachers teaching a particular group of learners pursuing a particular set of goals within a particular institutional context embedded in a particular sociocultural milieu

Therefore, firstly, this chapter describes the context in which the studies takes place The setting of a specializing school with its aims and objectives and the participants with their goals, expectations and their English proficiency have been clarified Secondly,

it deals with the methodology to conduct the research The data collection, namely, the questionnaire and interview, the data collection procedure, and data analysis have been clearly presented The next chapter presents the most significant part; that is, the results and discussions of the study

CHAPTER 4: Results and Discussions

4.1 Quantitative data

Overall Evaluation of the Reading Section

Before analyzing the results of the quantitative and qualitative data, the means score of the questionnaire is presented to find out students‟ general opinion on the usefulness and relevance of the reading section in the textbook What do students think of the reading comprehension tasks overally?

Looking at the means from the appendix 3, we can assume that most of participants endorsed the evaluation that the reading section only partly helps their learning and not relevant to their needs Out of 17 items, only three items (1,2,8) had the means higher than 3.5 and thus were the most common positive comments whereas the rest had the means lower than 3.5 especially in which 8 items are lower than 2.87 thus were the most common negative comments held by the participants Two items (11 and 19) received the lowest means when all students agreed that the reading task does not help them in passing the university entrance examination and the teacher should modify and supply more reading comprehension tasks To get more details of the information about the usefulness and relevance of the different aspects of the reading section each of the questionnaire items was analyzed and presented as follows The usefulness of the reading tasks will be presented before the relevance

4.1.1 Usefulness of the Reading Tasks

Figure 4.1 Students’ general opinions on the usefulness of the reading tasks

1 The reading task in the textbook is useful for your learning English

No idea (3) 23%

Disagree(2) 10%

Highly disagree(1) Disagree(2)

No idea (3) Agree (4) Highly agree (5)

The reading task contains useful information for you.

No idea (3) Agree (4) Highly agree (5)

Regarding the usefulness of the reading tasks, 67% of the respondents agreed that

the tasks were useful to their learning English while only 10% disagreed However, the

number of students choosing “No idea” was 7 accounting for 23% The opinions are

various reflecting students‟ different point of view Two thirds of them thought the reading

texts help them to expand their knowledge but for the rest the texts did not provide

anything new

4.1.2 Usefulness of the information

Figure 4.2 Students’ opinion on the usefulness of the information

Concerning the information contained in the text, over 80% respondents thought it

was useful as the topics are various and attractive Students are updated with cultural

diversity, economic reforms, environment, international organizations, sports, educational

systems overseas as well as in Vietnam The knowledge on higher education has been

mentioned and it is useful as all students expect to further their study after graduating from

school The topics such as future jobs, future life, youth also attract students Only 2

respondents said “No” Maybe these kinds of information are too familiar to them or they

are just not to their taste

1.3 Genres of reading texts

Figure 4.3 Students’ opinion on genres of reading texts

Various genres of reading texts

7%

Disagree(2) 36%

No idea (3) 10%

Agree (4) 30%

Highly agree (5) 17%

Disagree(2)

No idea (3) Agree (4) Highly agree (5)

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