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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ******************* LÊ THỊ THÚY AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF TASK-BASED METHOD IN TEACHING READING FOR THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI COLLEGE OF INDUSTRIAL ECONOMICS (NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC SỬ DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY KĨ NĂNG ĐỌC THEO ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG GIAO NHIỆM VỤ CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT KHÔNG CHUYÊN NGỮ TẠI TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG KINH TẾ CÔNG NGHIỆP HÀ NỘI) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Hanoi, 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ******************* LÊ THỊ THÚY AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF TASK-BASED METHOD IN TEACHING READING FOR THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI COLLEGE OF INDUSTRIAL ECONOMICS (NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC SỬ DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY KĨ NĂNG ĐỌC THEO ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG GIAO NHIỆM VỤ CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT KHÔNG CHUYÊN NGỮ TẠI TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG KINH TẾ CÔNG NGHIỆP HÀ NỘI) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Phạm Thị Thanh Thùy, Ph.D Hanoi, 2014 DECLARATION I, Le Thi Thuy, hereby state that this thesis entitled “An Investigation into the Use of Task – Based Method in Teaching Reading for the First year non-English Major Students at HaNoi College of Industrial Economics” is the result of my own research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at Faculty of Post Graduate studies – University of Languages and International Studies-Vietnam National University Hanoi, September, 2014 Signature Lê Thị Thúy i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like first and foremost to thank Dr Pham Thi Thanh Thuy - my thesis supervisor - for her critical comments and valuable guides without which this thesis could not have been completed I would also like to express my thanks to the lecturers and the staff of the Postgraduate Department at University of Languages and International Studies for their useful lectures and careful guidance My sincere thanks go to all my colleagues and my students at Hanoi college of Industrial Economics And I also wish to express my thanks for the great cooperation from the first year students in the classes: CKT13.1, CKX13.4, CKX13.2 and CQS13.1 in the data collection of my study Last of all, I would like to express my thanks to my family, especially my husband for their sacrifice and encouragement ii ABSTRACT At HCIE, reading is one of the most important skills in learning English Therefore, how to teach reading well and effectively has been concern of the teachers In the past, the common teaching method applied in this college is Grammar- Translation Method However, this method is not effective in teaching reading Among the modern teaching methods, Task-Based Method (TBM) is considered a new and effective one Task-Based Method has been tried by many English teachers at HCIE The main purpose of this research paper is investigating the real situation of teaching reading skills at HCIE for the first year students and providing some suggestions for using TBM to improve teaching reading skills at HCIE To gain these objectives, three kinds of instruments are applied such as survey questionnaire, class observation and informal interview iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS HCIE: Hanoi College of Industrial Economics Ss: Students Ts: Teachers TBM Task Based Method GTM Grammar Translation Method OU Open University ULIS, VNUH University of Languages and International Studies, Hanoi iv Vietnam National University, LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES TABLES Table 1: Students’ and teachers’ attitude toward the reading materials Table 2: Students’ assessments on teachers’ activities in reading lessons Table 3: Students’ performance in reading lessons Table 4: Teachers’ frequencies of using activity management in reading lessons Table 5: Teachers’ activities at pre-reading stage Table 6: Teachers’ activities at while-reading stage Table 7: Teachers’ activities at post-reading stage FIGURES Figure Willis’ (1996) TBM framework Figure 2: Ellis (2006) Classroom processes Traditional form-focused teaching method and Task-Based Method v TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii List of abbreviations iv List of tables and figures v Table Of Contents vi PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aim of the study Research questions Scope of the study Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Reading skills 1.1.1 Definition of reading 1.1.2 Definition of reading comprehension 1.1.3 The Goals of teaching Reading skills 1.2 Task - based Method 1.2.1 What is task 1.2.2 Type of tasks 1.2.3 A framework for TBM Implementation 10 1.2.4 Task - Based Method (TBM) and Traditional Teaching Method 12 2.5 Task - Based Method in teaching reading skills 15 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 16 2.1 Background to the study 16 2.1.1 Teachers and students 16 2.1.2 The textbooks 16 vi 2.1.3 The teaching and learning facilities 17 2.2 Design and methodology 17 2.2.1 Participants 17 2.2.2 Instruments 18 2.2.3 Data collection procedures 19 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DICUSSION 21 3.1 Current situation of English reading lessons in classroom at HCIE 21 3.1.1 Students’ and teachers’ attitude toward the reading materials 21 3.1.2 Students’ assessments on teachers’ activities in reading lessons 22 3.1.3 Students’ performance in reading lessons 23 3.1.4 Teachers’ frequencies of using activity management in reading lessons 24 3.1.5 Teachers’ activities at pre- reading stage 25 3.1.6 Teachers’ activities at while-reading stage 26 3.1.7 Teachers’ activities at post-reading stage 27 3.2 Some suggestions for using TBM to improve teaching reading skills 29 3.2.1 Suggestions for students 29 3.2.2 Suggestions for teachers 30 3.2.3 Suggestions for administrator 32 PART C: CONCLUSION 34 Summary of major findings 34 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study 34 REFERENCES 35 APPENDIXES I vii PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Up to date, English becomes a dominant international language in all aspects such as communication, science, aviation, entertainment, education In Vietnam, it is undeniable that it has become the most popular foreign language to be used as a means of communication Therefore, teaching and learning English is now considered as a necessity in the society with the aim of mastering an international language Together with the development of language, language teaching methodology has also developed to find the effectiveness of teaching and learning At HCIE, the system of the grammar and reading texts based exams is dominated So the students are eager to learn grammar points and reading exercises in workbooks as much as possible in order to pass the exam only Therefore, developing reading comprehension ability is a basic content in this college And how to teach reading effectively has been the concern of the teachers Some years ago, the situation of teaching reading at HaNoi college of Industrial Economics was not satisfactory, because many teachers still used Grammar – Translation Method, which did not attach enough importance to the improvement of learners' communicative competence As a teacher for four years in this college, the researcher realizes that the grammar translation method is not really effective for our students Meanwhile Task-Based Method which has been strongly advocated and promoted by many world-leading linguists (Prabhu 1987, Nunan 1989, Willis 1996, Skehan 1998, Bygate & Ellis 2001) since early 1980s TBM has been tried by many English teachers at HCIE When the teachers use the TBM in reading class, the situation of teaching and learning reading is totally different For these main reasons above, the researcher determined to conduct this research work entitled: “An Investigation into the Use of Task-Based Method in Teaching Reading for the First year non-English Major Students at HaNoi College of Industrial 23 Taylor, B.M (1980) Children’s memory for expository text after reading Reading Research Quarterly, 15, 399–411 24 Thanh and Huan (2012) Task – Based Language Learning and student motivation in vacabulary acquisition Language education in Asian http://dx.doi.org/10.5746/LEiA/12/V3/L1/A10/Thanh_Huan 25 Tudor, I (1989 ) Pre – reading : A categorization of formats, system, 17, 323 – 328 26 Tompkins, G.E (2007) Literacy for the 21st century: Teaching reading an writing in prekindergarten through grade (2nd ed.) Upper Saddle River: Pearson 27 Willis, J (1996) A Framework for task - based learning London: Longman 28 Vacca, R., & Vacca, J (2007) Content area reading: Literacy and learning across the curriculum Boston: Allyn and Bacon Publishing 29 Wisker, G (2001) The Postgraduate Research Handbook Palgarve: New York 37 Appendix 1: QUESTIONAIRE FOR STUDENTS This survey questionnaire is designed to support my thesis “An Investigation into the Use of Task – Based Method in Teaching Reading for the First year non – English Major Students at HaNoi College of Industrial Economics” Your cooperation would be essential in my paper The answers will be used for research purposes only Please tick the appropriate options to respond to each statement or question and answer the questions as accurately and frankly as you can In your opinion, how are reading topics in your textbook? a interesting b boring c unfamiliar d impractical What you think about the texts’ length in each lesson? a long b medium c short d very short What you think about the number of tasks in a reading part? a a few b enough tasks c too many tasks d many tasks What you think about the teachers’ activities in your reading lesson? a not motivating b boring c repetitive d interesting e motivating Give reasons for your choice: ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… In your reading lessons, you often… a finish 90% - 100% of the tasks I b finish 70% - 80% of the tasks c finish 50% - 60% of the tasks d finish 90% - 100% of the tasks Which following factors affect your result in your reading lessons? a too many tasks b difficult and challenging tasks c no preparation before class d others II Appendix 2: QUESTIONAIRE FOR TEACHERS This survey questionnaire is designed to support my thesis “An Investigation into the Use of Task – Based Method in Teaching Reading for the First year non – English Major Students at HaNoi College of Industrial Economics ” Your cooperation would be essential in my paper The answers will be used for research purposes only Please tick the appropriate options to respond to each statement or question and answer the questions as accurately and frankly as you can Thank you for your cooperation In your opinion, are reading topics intersting in your textbook? a interesting b boring c unfamiliar d impractical What you think about the texts’ length in each lesson? a long b medium c short d very short What you think about the number of tasks in a reading part? a a few b enough tasks c too many tasks d many tasks Which following activities you often use at pre – reading stage? Pre-reading activities always often sometimes rarely never Using games to introduce the text Pre- questioning Pre-teaching new vocabulary Giving a detailed introduction to the text Predicting Doing the readings tasks Reading out loud the text Which following activities you often use at while – reading stage? While-reading activities always Reading for specific information III often sometimes rarely never Reading for gist or general ideas of the text Reading for thorough comprehension Asking and answering comprehension questions Infer the writer’s intended message from a given context Reading orally and answering the comprehension questions Deduce the meanings of certain words from a given context Which following activities you often use at post – reading stage? Post-reading activities always often sometimes rarely never Summarizing the text Translating the text into Vietnamese Discussion Repeating useful words/phrases Giving the same reading task(s) to students Writing a short paragraph related to the text Do nothing Which of activity management you often use in your reading lessons? Activity management always Individually In pairs In groups Whole - class IV often sometimes rarely never Appendix 3: SAMPLE OF CLASSROOM OBSERVATION (TWO SAMPLE IN FOUR) TEACHING OBSERVATION SHEET Teacher's name: Hồng Date & time of observation: 8h40’ ÷ 9h25’ ngày 15/4/2014 Lesson Topic: Communication No of students: 79 Full note of teacher’s and students’ activities: Time Teacher’s activities Student’s activities Warm up Game: Game: Write down - Ss work in groups to - This activity is 8h 40’ the different ways people can discuss the answers There is good communicate Comments for Ss to no fixed answer After two brainstorm the ideas - T divides the class into minute, one or two Ss related to the lesson groups and gives each group present their answers and It als creates easy a handout T asks Ss give explain feeling to Ss with the their answers in two minutes - Some things they give out next lesson The winner will be the group are: Using a phone - The instruction of T give much more things in this activity is Writing and posting a letter - Gives comment and some Sending an email or a fax clear, corrections (if any) sufficient TV and radio helpful and - T asks Ss to guess what - Listen and take notes they are going to read about - Ss raise hands to give answers B Pre - Task 1(7’) reading - Asks Ss to skim the text on - Ss skim the text on page - 8h 47’ page 11 and In this task, match the 11 and match the headings teacher’s instruction paragraphs is clear and helpful Emphasize that they only - Ss give answers too and Ss the need to understand the topic Correct answers: task well of each paragraph - T doesn’t ask Ss headings with P1: How we communicate - T goes around the class to P2: Differences between the way to cooperate see them doing their task, people and animals giving facilitators if P3: V A history to complete the task: of in individuals, in necessary communication pairs, or in groups - Calls on some students to P4: Communication today - Ss answer with talk their enthusiasm about reason they choose - Gives comments and the While correct answers - reading Task 2(10’) Read the text more - Teacher does well carefully and then work in and - Give Ss time to read the text pairs to give answers she gives a proper feedbacks more carefully and match the - Three students raise hand pictures on page 11 to each of to speak out their answers the four ancient societies in Correct answers: paragraph three - Aks students for answers Picture 1: Rome Picture 2: Greece - Give comments, checks and Picture3: gives correct answer 14th century Europe Picture 4: Egypt - T works quite well - Scan the text and find the as a facilitator and Task 3(10’) specific information instructor - Asks Ss to scan the text to - Answer, check together find specific information and take notes - T asks Ss read the text again and answer the questions - T gives careful instructions - Answer teacher’s questions on what to in individuals - Asks for answers and check Correct answers: in front of the class together Bees/dance - Teacher writes down correct Elephants/ make sounds answers on blackboard Whale/ sing songs Monkeys/ use their face to show emotions Humans have language They VI can write poetry, explain, persuade, tell lies… Radio, film, TV and Internet Good: you can give and get information quickly Bad: It is difficult to know what information is important Post - Teacher works well reading as a monitor and Task 4(10’) - T asks Ss discuss the - Discuss the given chairperson following questions in group questions and give their of four opinions What can animals that people can’t? How you like to communicate? - After minutes, teacher calls some students to present their opinions - Teacher gives out feedbacks and comments for corrections Homework and ideas of Ss’ - T should keep the performances time correctly to have enough time to - Asks students to prepare the - Listen and take notes summarize the lesson next lesson and give Ss careful direction for their study at home General Comments: - The atmosphere in class is good: Most of the students are active and concerned very much to the lesson However, there are still some Ss did not still focus on learning Some were too passive in giving opinions or ideas to contribute to the tasks VII - Besides, the class was so crowded Teacher seemed not to contact with most of the students sitting at the back - The time for each task is a reasonable - Teacher completely follows reading tasks in the course book - Teacher should keep the time correctly to have enough time to summarize the lesson and give students thoroughful direction for their study at home VIII TEACHING OBSERVATION SHEET Teacher's name: Hoa Date & time of observation: 2h40’ ÷ 3h25’ ngày 18/6/2014 Lesson Topic: Ghost stories No of students: 81 Full note of teacher’s and students’ activities: Time Teacher’s activities Student’s activities Comments Warm up Activity 1: 2h 40’ - Asks Ss some questions - Ss + Do you believe in ghost? After two minute, one or two into answer individually - This activity get Ss the + What would you if you saw Ss present their answers and discussed a ghost? explain topic in the reading passages and + Would you talk to? they know what they + Would you run away? are going to read - Gives comment and some corrections (if any) - Gives comment and some - The instruction of T corrections (if any) in this activity is - T asks Ss to guess what they - Ss raise hands to give clear, are going to read about - T answers helpful and sufficient Introduce the reading passage B Pre - Activity 2: (8’) - Ss skim the text in groups In this activity, Ss reading Read for the main ideas 2h 47’ - Divides Ss into groups, asks on page 99 and answer the practice speed them to read quickly the whole questions in group reading and get the text and answer the question main content of the Do you think he……? - Ss give answers reading passage + believes or doesn’t believe in Correct answers: - T’s instruction is ghosts Yes, he believes in ghost clear and helpful too + tries to find ghost No, he doesn’t try to find and Ss the activity + tries to get rid of ghost photos He helps people who well IX - T goes around the class to see already have ghosts in their - Ss answer with their them doing their activity, giving house facilitators if necessary enthusiasm Yes, he tries to get rid of - Calls on some groups to talk ghosts about reason - Gives comments and the correct answers While Activity 3(10’) reading - Give Ss time to read the text more carefully and Read the text more - T works quite well decide carefully and then give as a facilitator and whether these statements are answers TRUE or FALSE: - Eight students raise hand to Mr Roberts is a social worker instructor speak out their answers He helps to sort out problems Correct answers: for both people and ghosts He is sure that ghosts exists F, T, T, T, F, 6.T, 7.F, F The boy knew it was his great – grandfather at the end of his bed The old man made the boy laugh 6.Mr Roberts solved the boy’s problem easily Ghosts are not usually members of the family Mr Roberts says you should never talk firmly to ghosts - Aks students for answers and explain - Give comments, checks and gives correct answer - This activity helps Ss understand clearly Acitivity 4(10’) - Read the text individually about the text and X Read for details and answer the questions have the skill to - T asks Ss read the text Correct answers: exploit the reading individually again and answer No, she didn’t text the questions - T works quite well She was at home reading Did Alice Lester know she Don’t be afraid I just as a facilitator and was ill before she heard the want to help you voices? instructor She heard two voices and What was she doing when she they told her to go home first heard the voices? The voices gave her an What did the first voice tell address to go to her? No, he didn’t What happened while she We are pleased we were was away on holiday? able to help you Goodbye What happened when she She is in good health now returned to London? Did the consultant believe what she told her? What did the voices finally tell her? How is she now? - T gives careful instructions on what to - Asks for answers and check in front of the class together - Teacher writes down correct Post answers on blackboard - Ss didn’t participate reading - Activity 5: (10’) - Have some students to read Listen and take enthusiastically notes out the passage once and ask some Ss the summary then present in turn - Two Ss read out the passage and two summarize Homework the text - Write an essay to talk about XI any ghost stories you know - Listen and take notes General Comments: - The atmosphere in class is good: Most of the students are active and concerned very much to the lesson However, there are still some Ss did not still focus on learning Some were too passive in giving opinions or ideas to contribute to the tasks - Besides, the class was so crowded Teacher seemed not to contact with most of the students sitting at the back - The time for each task is a reasonable - Teacher completely follows reading tasks in the course book - Teacher mainly pays attention to students’ reading to have the answers for the designed questions in the book and doesn’t focus on communicative activities - In most of the activities, T asks Ss work individually only which makes Ss boring Besides, they don’t have much chance to discuss with their friends XII Appendix 4:: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS This interview Questions are designed to support my thesis “An Investigation into the Use of Task – Based Method in Teaching Reading for the First year non – English Major Students at HaNoi College of Industrial Economics” Your cooperation would be essential in my paper The answers will be used for research purposes only Please answer the questions as accurately and frankly as you can Which activities you otfen use at pre – reading stage? Why? Which activities you often use at while – reading stage? Why? Which activities you often use at post – reading stage? Why? Do you often use pair work and group work? Why? XIII Appendix INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS This interview Questions are designed to support my thesis “An Investigation into the Use of Task – Based Method in Teaching Reading for the First year non – English Major Students at HaNoi College of Industrial Economics” Your cooperation would be essential in my paper The answers will be used for research purposes only Please answer the questions as accurately and frankly as you can How you like doing in reading lessons? (whole class work, group work, pair wor or individually) And why? Which activities you like in pre – reading activities? Which activities you like in while - reading activities? Which activities you like in post - reading activities? XIV ... ECONOMICS (NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC SỬ DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY KĨ NĂNG ĐỌC THEO ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG GIAO NHIỆM VỤ CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT KHÔNG CHUYÊN NGỮ TẠI TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG KINH TẾ CÔNG NGHIỆP HÀ NỘI) M.A MINOR... classified in one or more of three great domains which include the psychomotor domain, the affective domain and the cognitive domain The psychomotor domain is the domain of the mind and the body working... judgment, or taste which means that students can have tendency to make value choices and judgments about what they chose to read and to develop their own critical standards Two goals in the cognitive