Some suggestions for doing the english readingcomprehension test effectively in the national examination for GCSE and the entrance exam

PART A: INTRODUCTION I Rationale for the study In the trend of global integration, English is considered as an international language It is the major language of intercommunication, international commerce, business, science, culture and so on In Vietnam, the economic opendoor policy pursued by the Government has increased the demand for using English Therefore , there has been a positive trend of teaching and learning English across the country English is also introduced to the educational curriculum from primary education (optional) to tertiary education (compulsory) In recent years, Lam Kinh high school as well as the other high schools in rural and mountainous areas , teaching and learning English has been taken into consideration In the process of teaching and learning English, reading comprehension skill is by far the most important of the four macro-skills It can be said that reading comprehension skill becomes very important and essential for language learners that all important exams such as the national Examination For GCSE , the entrance exam to university… are focusing on testing reading comprehension skill of learners However, teaching and learning reading comprehension at Lam Kinh High School is not very effective and is still far from satisfactory for various reasons Students are habituated to solve simple and direct passages in their school days, but when it comes to competitive exams as national examination for GCSE and the entrance exam to university) the task becomes difficult Being unable to understand the vocabulary (meaning of words) and concept of the passage, getting used to the habit of word-by-word reading; focusing excessively on details rather than main ideas; poor vocabulary and limited background knowledge are the obstacles that make students embarrassed and worried about the reading comprehension test As a result they may fail to solve it or ignore it all In order to help the students build up passion for reading, have strategies for comprehending the reading text well, develop effectively reading habit outside classroom so that student can improve their reading skill and can get high marks in examinations , I choose the topic of study: “Some suggestions for doing the English readingcomprehension test effectively in the national examination for GCSE and the entrance exam to university II Aims of the study The aims of the study are to investigate some effective techniques and strategies in solving the reading comprehension in examinations for GCSE and the entrance exam to university Some main purposes covering the study are summarized as follow: + To understand the theoretical background of reading comprehension: …… to improve students’ English reading skills + To investigate some techniques and strategies for reading comprehension + To help English teachers, especially teachers of English at upper secondary schools to find out effective techniques to deal with reading comprehension with the hope of helping them in teaching English III Subject of the study This study has been carried out to search for a better and more effective ways and strategies for reading comprehension in order to help students to gain success in national examination for GCSE and the entrance exam to university IV Methods of the study To achieve the aims mentioned above , a detailed study is used The theoretical background of the study presented in my study comes from documents on the internet and many published books written by different authors on language teaching The statistics and data collected for the study come from the students and the English teachers at Lam Kinh upper secondary school by making observation through reading comprehension lessons in the classroom and through tests and exams Through theoretical and practical experience in leaning environment at Lam Kinh high school, I myself build up the topic PART B: DEVELOPMENT I Theoretical background Definitions of reading comprehension Comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading Reading comprehension skill plays a very important role in teaching and learning reading a foreign language It has the nature of communication, in which reading activity acts as a means of communication between the writer and the reader Reading comprehension or understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible That means reading comprehension is an activity which aims at decoding the meaning of word combination in the text in the most efficient way To sum up, reading becomes meaningless without comprehension since only reading comprehension can appreciate how much readers understand the text Therefore, how to help students have effective reading comprehension methods is considered to be the most important part in reading teaching 2.Types of reading According to purposes, reading is categorized into four types: skimming, scanning, extensive and intensive reading 2.1 Skimming If the task of the reader is merely to get an overall idea of the passage, he is most likely to use the strategy called skimming This strategy enables the reader to say what kind of text it is and what kind of information it contains Thus, the learner can expect what the passage is about and, consequently, he can activate appropriate schemata Skimming is also helpful in deciding whether a text is relevant for particular reader’s purposes, as the reader can quickly estimate the relevance of the text by skimming it Since this technique provides the reader with the main ideas of the text, it affords a logical framework for details to be fitted into it during more intensive reading What is significant to add, during skimming the reader does not pay attention to details and can skip new words providing the text can still be understood To sum up, skimming is a very useful reading comprehension skill for students, and it is advisable to apply at the first stage of teaching reading with the hope that it can help them to have an overview of what they are reading Moreover, it will be easier for them to deal with the other tasks that followed 2.2 Scanning Scanning is also one of two most valuable reading strategies However, scanning is far more limited than skimming since it only means retrieving what information is relevant to our purpose Scanning occurs when a reader goes through a text very quickly in order to find a particular point of information when scanning, we only try to locate specific information and often we not even follow the linearity of the passage to so We simply let our eyes wander over the text until we find what we are looking for, whether it is a name, a date, or a less specific piece of information” In short, the key to scanning is to decide exactly what kind of information we can look for and where to find it The purpose of scanning is to extract certain specific information without reading through the whole text 2.3 Intensive reading Intensive reading is a slow reading of a text aimed to explain every unknown word, grammar structure and style It also very often involves translation of the read passage As the main emphasis is on features of the text, rather than on its semantic context, the reader’s interest in the story may be reduced The objective of intensive reading is to achieve a full understanding of the text not only of what it means but also of how the meaning is produced thus it is made use of when the reader encounters a more difficult foreign language text Intensive reading is reading for accuracy which is essential to the students’ comprehension Overview, purpose, questions, reading, summarize, test, and understanding are the seven procedures that cover the method, for very effective reading for detailed comprehension and long retention reader’s knowledge 2.4 Extensive reading Extensive reading is a fluency activity, mainly involving general understanding It provides valuable reinforcement of the language already presented and practiced in the class as well as giving students useful practice in inferring meaning from the context of the text Extensive reading is used to obtain a general understanding of a subject and includes reading longer texts for pleasure, as well as business books Use extensive reading skills to improve our general knowledge of business procedures Getting students to read extensively is the easiest and most effective way of improving their reading skills Reading is necessary to every learner and undeniably an important skill in comparison with others In addition, it is notable that intensive and extensive reading should not be seen as in being opposition but need to be paid equal attention for the sake of the students For second or foreign language learners, both intensive and extensive reading are of great importance as they act as a means to gain knowledge 3.The importance of reading in foreign language learning and in important examinations In the process of teaching and learning a second or foreign language, the teaching and learning of reading are always received much attention, since it is regarded as one of the most important major skills First of all, reading helps students learn to think in English, enlarge their English vocabulary, improve their writing Richard (1993:4) claimed that “reading may help to increase knowledge of the target language through exposure to new vocabulary and grammatical structures” There is a close relationship between reading and vocabulary knowledge, because while reading, the readers know most of the words in the text already, and they can also determine the meaning of many of the unfamiliar words from the contexts Therefore, the best way to acquire a large vocabulary is to read It is understandable that anyone who has a large vocabulary is usually a good reader Besides, Richard (1993: 4) also stated that “reading in the new language is also an important way to learn about the target culture”, which means that reading provides the students with a wide range of interesting information, helps them understand the ways of life, behaviors, thoughts and other aspects of the native people and it is also a good way to find out about new ideas, facts and experiences Therefore, they can master vocabulary, grammar and the background knowledge or cross-cultural problems that they encounter In other words, reading is very important to the foreign language learners because it widens their knowledge of language and life It seems to be the most important skill to the students of English since their main purpose is to understand the written texts In the English test of the entrance university examination, reading section for general or specific information ( except for cloze test) is very important This part accounts for 25% with reading passages So candidates who want to get good marks should study this part carefully II Practical background 1.Background of the study 1.1 Description of the English syllabus at upper secondary schools At upper secondary schools, there are three levels of English: English 10, 11 and English 12 In the past the textbooks used here are the three-year-course ones, the seven- year-course books have been used lately English is now a compulsory subject in schools Students have English lessons during the first term and second term of the school year The textbooks chosen are English 10, 11, 12 by Nha Xuat Ban Giao Duc Each consists of 16 lessons which have been covered through out the school year with mid-term and term tests in between Each lesson is divided into periods with the aim of giving the students basic knowledge of English and practice four skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing skill By using this textbook, we can develop our students’ communicative competence and our students can learn real things from daily life The textbooks also develop students’ reading and writing skill At the end of each term, students have an exam for four skills 1.2 Description of the students at upper secondary schools Most of students of Lam Kinh high school have already learned English for at least four years at lower secondary school but many of them are at the low level of English proficiency Another fact is that most of the students are from rural areas in Tho Xuan district Consequently, individual differences in learning styles, identities, attitudes, motivation, etc are unavoidable and may cause the teachers some problems during their teaching In addition, their lack of awareness on the importance of English as well as motivation makes them not interested in learning English Although most of them have already learnt English for at least four years at lower secondary school, their knowledge of English is still poor and limited Some students can even hardly say a complete sentence in the target language 1.3 Description of the teachers at upper secondary schools At Lam Kinh High School, there are totally teachers of English, including me, aged from 30 to 40 Half of us graduated from Hong DucUniversity in Thanh Hoa province and none of us have been to any English speaking countries The number of female teachers formed the majority (5 female teachers and only one male teacher) All of us are enthusiastic with their career and had at least eight years experienced in teaching English However, in terms of methodology, the teachers in our school usually employ the traditional methods of teaching especially Grammar-translation method They often apply this method in teaching English In other words, they focus on analyzing the grammar rules, not on the acquisition of language skills They spend most of the classroom time explaining new words, analyzing grammar structures and translating texts into Vietnamese Students often listen and take notes passively This leads to low motivation in students and creates very few chances for them to improve their communicative competence 1.4 Description of physical setting In most upper secondary schools, English teaching and learning activities are mostly carried out inside the classrooms which are designed for lecture lessons with the only classroom equipment: a blackboard, tables and a desk The only type of teaching aid that the English group has is some cassette recorders and pictures In term of class size, the number of students in an English class is quite large, from 40 to 50 This large number causes a great deal of difficulties for the teaching and learning activities The materials for reference and selfstudy are not available for teachers and students at schools In the school library, there are only some English books that are not really helpful for teachers and students 2.Difficulties 2.1.Teachers’ difficulties when teaching reading When asking the teachers about the problems they were facing with in teaching reading, the majority admitted that the most difficult issue was the students’ limitation of vocabulary and grammatical structures Moreover,despite the fact that the teachers at LK school are well aware of the techniques and strategies for reading comprehension skill, some of them find it difficult to use them in their teaching because of many reasons The biggest one is that they are deeply affected by old teaching methods They said that after quite a long time applying these methods, they become absorbed to them and it is very difficult for them to change In the reading lesson , before doing the task, teacher often provide students with all of the new words and then translate the text in to Vietnamses.This makes students become passive in learning 2.2 Students’Difficulties 2.2.1 Passive learning style The students are still deeply affected by the old and passive learning methods such as Translation or Audio-lingual Method and the learning environment at lower secondary school where reading was not fully taken into consideration They only learn what the teacher supply in the classroom They are accustomed to the habit of word-by-word reading and doing simple and short reading comprehension exercises 2.2.2 Lack of knowledge for comprehension The information from the data collected clearly shows that students’ limitation of vocabulary and grammatical structures, their lack of appropriate reading strategies and their background knowledge are students’ main difficulties, which influence their motivation for reading as well as their understanding Not only the students but also the teachers faced many problems when dealing with reading lessons Students had very limited vocabulary, and were too dependent on teachers, peers dictionaries New words have affected the students’ process of reading Background knowledge is found to be a less challenge than vocabulary Students found that they did not know anything in some aspects Therefore, they had many difficulties when reading a strange topic With many demonstrations that those who possess rich prior knowledge about the topic of a reading often understand the reading better than the others with low prior knowledge Students’ lack of appropriate reading strategies is another problem, the teachers had to face 2.3.Objectives factors 2.3.1 Large-sized classes All classes at Lam Kinh school consists of more than 45 students, so that it is very difficult for teachers to control the class and to put an eye on every student During the time working only good and talkative students make use of the chances to raise their voice, shy and less able students can not be given enough care, attention and encouragement 2.3.2 Lack of reference books and teaching aids In the school library, reference books are not available There are only some reference books for reading comprehension exercises Teachers must selfprepare for their lesson without school’s helping II Some suggestions for doing reading comprehension tasks effectively 1.Preparation for the national examination for GCSE - To well in the exam , students should prepare the followings: 1.1 Topics for practicing: Generally, the assignment can place on any topic in our life But the readings that students normally encounter in the national high school exams generally fall into the topic related to the themes in the textbooks and some burning ones such as :You and me; Family and friends; Education (system of education …) and language ; Community (People, Nature, environment, environment pollution, population…), Recreation; Places and events; Social Issues; Health; Food To the test for reading comprehension well, Students should take the time to read texts or documents in English on these topic in English as much as possible Youshould spend at least 10-15 'reading texts from the readingpart in the textbook, then the lessons of self-training, reference books, magazines , on the Internet… 1.2.Enrich the vocabulary and background knowledge Students often find reading tasks are difficult and boring because of their limitation of vocabulary grammatical structures and lack of background knowledge Background knowledge and good vocabulary minimize the difficulties in the process of reading, creating confidence - a psychological factors essential for learning to read and makes you understand the reading comprehension much easier Teachers should guide students to read more books and related materials in English on many different topics about expanding knowledge base on issues of science and technology, socio-economic, technological literature arts, events Keep a notebook, Note down the new words you learned today and revise them periodically Learn by heart all the words that appear frequently in the passage practiced, NOT the difficult and unfamiliar words Identifying the types of questions Understand and become familiar with the types of questions allows you to save time when analyzing and understanding the meaning of the types of questions , so that you have more time to read the answers to each question and find the correct answer of all In this analysis, I ‘ll guide students how to recognize all types of questions in reading comprehension tasks by explaining and giving examples 2.1 Main idea/ main topic/ main purpose questions; These ask sts to identify an answer choice that correctly summarizes the author’s main idea, the subject of the main passage, or the author’s reason for writing the passage The questions are often like these:‘’ What is the main idea of the passage?’’/‘’What is the passage primarily about?’’ 2.2: Factual questions -These ask sts to locate and identify answers to questions about specific information and detailed in the passage - The questions are : “ According to the passage where did…?”/“According to the author why did…?”/ “ Which of the following is true , according to the passage? ‘’ 2.3Negative questions: These ask students which of the answer choice s is not mentioned in the passage “ Which of the following is NOT true about… ? “ /“ All of the following are true EXCEPT ….” 2.4 Scanning questions: - These ask students to find the place in the passage that some topics are mentioned - Example: “ Where in the passage does the author first discuss….? “ 5: Inference questions; - These ask students to draw conclusions based on the information in the passage Example: “ The author implies that which of the following is true? “” “ Which of the following can be inferred from the passage? ‘ 2.6: Vocabulary – in- context questions: - These ask students to identify the meaning of word or phrase as used in the passage Example: “ The word ‘ -‘ in line 10 is closest in meaning to…………? “ 7: Reference questions; These ask students to identify the Noun to which a pronoun or other expression refers Example: “ The word ‘ they’ in line refers to……….? “ “ In line 15 , the word ‘ it ‘ refers to….? “ Strategies for answering each type of questions successfully( How to answer each type of question successfully) These are the best tactics for answering each type of questions: 1: For overview questions: Main idea/ main topic questions; After almost every passage , the first question is about the main idea, main topic or main purpose of a passage Main idea questions ask you to identify the most important thought in the passage Sample questions: + What is the main idea of the passage ? + The primary idea of the passage is……… ? + Which of the following best summarizes the author’s idea? It is relatively easy to find the main ideas by studying the topic sentences, which are most probably found at the beginning of each paragraph Don’t answer the initial overview questions about a passage until you have answered the other questions The process of answering the detailed questions may give you a clearer idea of the main idea, topic , or purpose of the passage The correct answers for main idea/ main topic/ main purpose questions correctly summarize the main points of the passage; they must be more general than any of the supporting ideas or details, but not so general that they include ideas outside the scope of the passage Distracters for this type of question have one of these characteristics : + They are too specific + They are too general + They are incorrect according to the passage + They are irrelevant (unrelated ) to the main idea of the passage -If you are not sure of the answer for one of these questions, go back and quickly scan the passage You can usually infer the main idea, main topic or main purpose of the entire passage from an understanding of the main ideas of the paragraph that make up the passage and the relationship between them Example : The passage: Basketball was invented in 1891 by a physical education instructor in Springfield, Massachusetts, by the name of James Naismith Because of terrible weather in winter, his physical education students were indoors rather than outdoors They really did not like the idea of boring, repetitive exercises and preferred the excitement and challenge of a game Naismith figured out a team sport that could be played indoors on a gymnasium floor, that involved a lot of running, that kept all team members involved, and that did not allow the tackling and physical contact of American style football Question and answer: What is the topic of this passage? A The life of James Naismith B The history of sports C Physical education and exercise D The origin of basketball =>The first sentence of this passage states that basketball was invented, so the invention of basketball is probably the topic A quick check of the rest of the sentences in the passage confirms that the topic is, in fact, the beginnings of the sport of basketball Now you should check each of the answers to determine which one comes closest to the topic that you have determined Answer A mentions James Naismith but not basketball, so it is not the topic Answer B is too general; it mentions sports but does not mention basketball Answer C is also too general; it mentions physical education but does not mention basketball The best answer is therefore answer D.: the origin of basketball means that the way that basketball was invented is going to be discussed The following chart outlines the key information that you should remember about main idea questions: MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS What is the topic of the passage? How to identify What is the main idea of the passage? the question What is the author's main point in the passage? Which of the following would be the best title? Where to find The answer to this type of question can generally be determined by looking at the first sentence of each paragraph the question 1.Read the first line of each paragraph 2.Look for a common theme or idea in the first lines 3.Pass your eyes quickly over the rest of the How to answer passage to check that you have really found the question the topic sentence(s) Eliminate any definitely wrong answers and choose the best answer from the remaining choices 2: Factual questions 10 When answering these questions, remember that the answers to these questions are not directly stated or provided in the passage – you must “read between the lines” In other words, you must make conclusions based directly on information in the passage Many test- takers find these questions the most difficult type of reading questions Example 1: The passage A star very similar to the Sun is one of the nearest star to the Earth That star is Alpha Centauri just 4.3 light- year away Other than our own sun , the nearest star to the earth is a tiny red star , not visible without a telescope, called Proxima Centauri It can be inferred from this passage that: A Proxima Centauri is similar to the earth’s Sun B Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the Earth C Alpha Centauri is invisible from the Earth D Proxima Centauri is less than 4.3 light- years from the Earth => Choice (A) is not a valid inference; Alpha Centauri is similar4 to the Earth but Proxima Centauri is a tiny red star Choice (B) also cannot be inferred , the closest star to the Earth is our own Sun Nor can (C) be inferred , Proxima Centauri is invisible , but there’s no information as to whether Alpha Centauri is Since Alpha Centauri is 4.3 light- year away, it can be inferred that Alpha Centauri , the closest star , is less than that The following chart outlines the key information that you should remember about implied detail questions INFERENCE QUESTIONS(IMPLIED DETAIL QUESTIONS) Which of the following can be inferred from the passage? It can be inferred from the passage that … How to identify It is implied in the passage that…… the question It is most likely that…… What probably happened ? Where to find The answers to these questions are generally found in order the question in the passage Choose a key word in the question Scan the passage for the key word (or a related idea) How to answer Carefully read the sentence that contains the key word the question Look for an answer that could be true, according to that sentence 3.6: Vocabulary – in- context questions: In Vocabulary – in- context questions , you must determine which of four words or phrases can best substitute for a word or words in the passage 15 When answering vocabulary – in- context questions, you must most often depend on the general context of the sentence to help you choose the correct answer You should follow the following steps to answer vocabulary – in- context items: + Look at the words being asked about and the four answer choices If you are familiar with the word, guess which answer is correct Do not mark your answer sheet yet + Read the sentence in which the word appears If you were familiar with the word and guessed at the answer, make sure that the word that you chose fits with the word as it is used in the sentence If you were unfamiliar with the word, see if context clues in the sentence or in the sentences before or after help you guess the meaning + if you are not sure which answer is correct, read the sentence with each of the four answer choices in place Does one seem more logical , given the context of the sentence, than the other three? If not, any seem illogical? ( Those you can eliminate) + If you are still not sure , make the best guess you can and go on Example : In Britain’s North American colonies, university – trained physicians were at a premium At the time of the revolution, there were probably only around 400 and some 3,000 practitioners who had on-the –job training As barber- surgeons or physicians’s apprentices Whether university trained or not, none had much knowledge of the causes of the disease, and the ‘’cures’’ they often recommended – bleeding, blistering, and the use of violent purgatives – were at best ineffective and at worst lethal Questions and answers: 1.The phrase ‘’ at a premium’’ in line is closest in meaning to… A.Well- paid B.not very numorous C.very experienced D.not well- respected => The phrase ‘’ only around 400’’ indicates that there were a shortage of university – trained physicians, so the answer is (B): not very numorous 2.Which of the following words coud best be substituted the word ‘’lethal’’ in line 7? A.Impractical B.Brutal C.Impossible D.Deadly => The phrase ‘’ at best ineffective and at worst lethal’’ indicates that the correct answer must describe a situation much worst than ineffective Choices (A) and (C) don’t create logical sentences when substituated for lethal Choice (B) : brutal( which means savage or violent ), is more logical , but only choice (D) is synonymous with the word that is asked about 16 The following chart outlines the key information that you should remember about vocabulary questions: VOCABULARY- IN- CONTEXT QUESTIONS How to identify What is the meaning of “X” in line Y?/The word “X” in line the question Y could best be replaced by Information to help you understand the meaning of a Where to find vocabulary word can often be found in the context surrounding the question the word Find the word in the passage How to answer Read the sentence that contains the word carefully Look for context clues to help you understand the meaning the question Choose the answer that the context indicates 7: Reference questions: In general reference questions tend to be the easiest type of reading questions Reference questions ask about the meanings of pronouns and demonstratives such as they, it, he, she, which, who, that, and this The goal of these questions is simple: you need to decide what the pronoun or phrase refers to You probably already this automatically when you read; if you don’t, then you probably have trouble understanding the reading passages Reference questions are one of relatively few question types that very basically test a skill that is necessary to read well The answer to a reference question is almost always going to be stated before the pronoun in question is used (there are exceptions, but this is a good general rule) But don’t simply look in the previous sentence; it’s possible that the reference is even earlier than that (two or three sentences before the pronoun) or in the same sentence, sometimes appearing after the pronoun in question Example : Although people commonly associate the word clone with modern scientific advancements, its usage in botany (the study of plants) is far removed from those developments; a clone is, in the world of plants, a completely natural thing, even a common one Generally speaking, a clone is an individual which is genetically identical to its progenitor, the parent from which the clone was produced In this type of procreation, only one progenitor is necessary There are, of course, relatively few animals which reproduce in this way While certain types of fish, reptiles, and insects (among others) reproduce asexually, most creatures from the animal kingdom are born from two parent individuals with two discrete sets of genes In comparison, plants frequently reproduce asexually, creating genetically identical offspring, or clones The term for this type of procreation is vegetative reproduction, which includes a number of different processes by which various plants multiply 17 Questions and answers: 1.The phrase “this type of procreation” refers to (A) becoming genetically identical (B) reproduction by cloning (C) birth to a pair of parents (D) producing individual sets of genes => In this case, we know that “this type of procreation” actually refers to “vegetative reproduction” by the sentence it’s in But notice that “vegetative reproduction” isn’t in the answer choices Still, it helps to know that “procreation” is a type of reproduction, meaning a way to create more plants From that information, we can cross off A and D, which don’t describe types of reproduction Then, if we read the sentence before the one containing “this type of procreation,” we see that at that point in the paragraph, the author is describing plants that reproduce and create clones That matches (B) nicely The following chart outlines the key information that you should remember about vocabulary questions: REFERENCE QUESTIIONS How to identify -From signals : refer, reference - The word "It" / "They,"/ the question "Them"/ "Those" in line " " refers to ? Where to find The same sentence containing the word or the earlier the question related sentences 1.Find the word in the passage 2.The answer often lies in the same sentence before the pronoun in question How to answer Exception: it’s possible that the reference is even earlier the question than that (two or three sentences before the pronoun) or in the same sentence, sometimes appearing after the pronoun in question 4.Steps for doing the reading comprehension test Step1 : Look over all the questions ( but not the answer choices) and underline the key words Try to keep these questions in mind during your reading Step 2: Skim the whole passase to get the general content and its organization You can leave out this step if yohu have no time Step 3: Read all the questions and choices of each one Based on the key words and the choices to locate the paragraph or the sentences containing the information needed to get the answer( Use the pencil to mark the paragraph or the sentences so that you can easily collate with the choices) Step 4: Based on the information in the passage and the way to answer each type of questions to find out the correct answer Note: For main idea questions, don’t answer until you have finished all the others so that you have an overview of it and choose the answer easily 18 IV Result after applying the study in teaching After applying these personal experiences in teaching English I myself get excellent results This achievement is gained because of the following reasons First of all, these experiences are suitable with the new syllabus of English at upper secondary schools and the reading comprehension test in national exam Secondly, Students t not have to be worried, nervous and embarrassed when solving the reading comprehension in class as well as in examinations but willing to deal with it The number of students who can comprehend the text successfully at my school increases, especially some bad students can understand and use a few techniques and strategies quite effectively By giving students some tips, techniques and strategies and clear instruction to solve the reading comprehension, students become more confident in English examinations Once I give a task about this, they can understand and it successfully That is the main reason of the following result carried out during the recent school years at my school as below: Group 1:NOT use reading techniques and strategies Group 2: Use proper reading techniques and strategies Really Number Excellent Good Normal Bad bad Group of students SL % SL % SL % SL % SL % 45 4,4 10 22.2 21 46.7 12 26.7 0 45 15 15 33.4 19 42.2 8.8 0 PART C: CONCLUSION 1.Summary of the study Along with the other language skills, reading comprehension is a very important skill and is unevitable part of English reading comprehensions test in national examination for GCSE as well as the entrance exam to university, so it is important for the students to have good techniques in reading to become good readers and gain success in the exams In the case of this study, the teachers of reading at Lam Kinh High School are supposed to be aware of many factors that affect students’ reading comprehension Among these, there are four main factors that should be taken into consideration for High school students: Students’ lack of background knowledge and world knowledge, students’ low motivation, students’ limited vocabulary and grammatical structures and their lack of appropriate reading strategies Success in reading comprehension is not an inborn capacity and it can be learned Once teacher can motivate the students to take part in reading lessons actively, give some clear techniques and strategies which are more suitable and effective in reading comprehension skill, the ability of reading comprehension will be improved Students no longer feel worried about their exam In contrast they are more confident and eager to it and even get high marks Therefore, the aim of the study is to provide teachers and students some 19 useful techniques and strategies when dealing with reading comprehension section successfully in classes as well as in the GCSE examination and in the entrance exam to university Over the past few years, the application of these techniques and strategies for reading comprehension has been widely adopted Students have mastered these techniques and strategies and now they feel more confident and take part in reading lessons more actively Their vocabulary, their background knowledge of reading comprehension have been improved.As a result they can comprehend the texts successfully and even get the highest marks for the reading comprehension tests 2.Suggestions for further study I have tried to share some of my experience in reading comprehension skill to help students to get high marks in their exammination for GCSE and the entrance exam to university.This study is my great effort However, there is an obvious limitation of time, shortcomings are unavoidable Not all the suggested techniques for teaching and learning reading are experimented properly, so the researcher can’t draw a conclusion of the effectiveness Therefore, the suggestions to improve reading comprehension skills for students at Lam Kinh High School may be subjective and uncompleted This thesis was carried out within the area of Lam Kinh High School so the mentioned teaching methods may not be suitable to apply to other high schools because of learners’ differences in language proficiency and other social constraints Despite such limitations, I strongly believe that my research is successful to some extent and I hope that teachers of English and students can get something useful from this document I would like to receive your sincere criticism and constructive comment to make it a better one for another time Any further researches that employ supplementary instruments such as experimental research or observations and carry out in a longer period of time on a large scale can help to prove the above results more strongly and persuasively and can also help to avoid the subjective assessments from the researcher of this study Xác nhận BGH trường Thanks for reading my study! Writer Thanh Hóa,ngày 31-05-2016 Tơi xin cam đoan SKKN viết, khơng chép nội dung người khác Hà Thị Giang 20 PHỤ LỤC SAMPLE READING COMPREHENSION TEST AND DEMONSTRATION Read the passage and choose the best answer for each question by cỉcling the letter A, B, C, or D Coincident with concerns about the accelerating loss of species and habitats has been a growing appreciation of the importance of biological diversity, the number of species in a particular ecosystem, to the health of the Earth and human well-being Much has been written about the diversity of terrestrial organisms, particularly the exceptionally rich life associated with tropical rainforest habitats Relatively little has been said, however, about diversity of life in the sea even though coral reef systems are comparable to rain forests in terms of richness of life An alien exploring Earth would probably give priority to the planet's dominant, most-distinctive feature ― the ocean Humans have a bias toward land that sometimes gets in the way of truly examining global issues Seen from far away, it is easy to realize that landmasses occupy only one-third of the Earth's surface Given that two-thirds of the Earth's surface is water and that marine life lives at all levels of the ocean, the total three-dimensional living space of the ocean is perhaps 100 times greater than that of land and contains more than 90 percent of all life on Earth even though the ocean has fewer distinct species The fact that half of the known species are thought to inhabit the world's rain forestsdoes not seem surprising, considering the huge numbers of insects that comprise the bulk of the species One scientist found many different species of ants in just one tree from a rain forest While every species is different from every other species, their genetic makeup constrains them to be insects and to share similar characteristics with 750,000 species of insects If basic, broad categories such as phyla and classes are given more emphasis than differentiating between species, then the greatest diversity of life is unquestionably the sea Nearly every major type of plant and animal has some representation there To appreciate fully the diversity and abundance of life in the sea, it helps to think small Every spoonful of ocean water contains life, on the order of 100 to 100,000 bacterial cells plus assorted microscopic plants and animals, including larvae of organisms ranging from sponges and corals to starfish and clams and much more Step 1: What is the main point of the passage? 21 A Humans are destroying thousands of species B There are thousands of insect species C The sea is even richer in life than the rain forests D Coral reefs are similar to rain forests The word "appreciation" in paragraph is closest in meaning to A ignoranc B recognition C tolerance D forgiveness Why does the author compare rain forests and coral reefs in paragraph1 ? A.They are approximately the same size B They share many similar species C Most of their inhabitants require water D Both have many different forms of life The word "bias" in line is closest in meaning to A concern B disadvantage C attitude D prejudice 5.which of the following is true about the ocean according to the passage? A It’s 100 times greater than land B It contains more species than land C It contain a vast majority than life on Earth D.It occupies one- third of the Earth’s surface The passage suggests that most rain forest species are A insects B bacteria C mammals D birds The word "there" in line 24 refers to A the sea B the rain forest C a tree D.the Earth's surface The author argues that “there” in paragraph is more diversity of life in the sea than in the rain forests because A more phyla and classes of life are represented in the sea B there are too many insects to make meaningful distinctions C many insect species are too small to divide into categories D marine life-forms reproduce at a faster rate Which of the following is NOT mentioned as an example of microscopic sea life? A Sponges B Coral C Starfish D Shrimp 10 Which of the following conclusions is supported by the passage? A Ocean life is highly adaptive B More attention needs to be paid to preserving ocean species and habitats C Ocean life is primarily composed of plants D The sea is highly resistant to the damage done by pollutants Step 2: Skim the whole passase to get the general content and its organization 22 Questions How to answer the questions Step Step What is the main -Determine the paragraph - Identification: This is point of the passage? containing the the main idea question information: all the (A)Humans are => leave it until you passage destroying thousands of have answered the other species questions (B) There are thousands of insect species (C) The sea is even richer in life than the rain forests (D) Coral reefs are similar to rain forests 2.The word -Determine the paragraph "appreciation" in containing the paragraph is closest in information: meaning to +Paragraph (A) ignorance +Thesentences: (B) recognition Coincident with concerns about the accelerating (C) tolerance loss of species and habitats has been a (D) forgiveness growing appreciation of the importance of biological diversity, the number of species in a particular ecosystem, to the health of the Earth and human well-being -Wordquestion in- context -Look at the four choices and their meaning (A) ignorance: dốt ngu (B)recognition:sựghi nhận (C)tolerance:sựkhoan dung (D) forgiveness: tha thứ Choose the answer that the context indicates =>(B)is suitable and 23 -Look for context clues to closest in meaning help you understand the meaning 3.Why does the author -Determine the paragraph -Scan for information compare rain forests containing the - Compare choices=> and coral reefs in para information: The correct answer is (D) 1? +Paragraph (A).They are +The sentences: approximately the same Relatively little has been size said, however, about (B)They share many diversity of life in the sea similar species even though coral reef systems are comparable (C)Most of their to rain forests in terms of inhabitants require richness of life water (D)Both have many different forms of life The word "bias" in -Determine the paragraph -Reference question: para is closest in containing the The answer lies not in the meaning to information: sane sentences but in the (A) concern +Paragraph sentences before (B) disadvantage (C) attitude (D) prejudice + The sentenes: Humans =>Choice (D) is the most have a bias toward land suitable that sometimes gets in the way of truly examining global issues 5.which of the -Determine the paragraph following is true about containing the the ocean according to information: the passage? +Paragraph 2( based on (A) It’s 100 times the word: the ocean) greater than land -Factual(stated questions detail) - Eliminate the definitely wrong answers : (A), (B), (D) 24 (B) It contains + The sentences: Seen The best answer is C more species than land from far away, it is easy to realize that landmasses (C) It contain a occupy only one-third of vast majority than life the Earth's surface Given on Earth that two-thirds of the (D).It occupies Earth's surface is water one- third of the Earth’s and that marine life lives at all levels of the surface ocean, the total threedimensional living space of the ocean is perhaps 100 times greater than that of land and contains more than 90 percent of all life on Earth even though the ocean has fewer distinct species The passage suggests -Determine the paragraph -Factual(stated detail) that most rain forest containing the questions species are information: Based on the (A) insects +Paragraph 3: based on information in paragraph the words: rain forest, 3, we3 can see that the (B) bacteria species, insects word “insects (C) mammals +The sentences: The fact “ and other related words that half of the known appear frequently.=> the (D) birds species are thought to correct answer is (A) inhabit the world's rain -The words bacteria (B), forests does not seem mammals(C), birds (D) surprising, considering not appear in the the huge numbers of passage insects that comprise the bulk of the species One scientist found many different species of ants 25 in just one tree from a rain forest While every species is different from every other species, their genetic makeup constrains them to be insects and to share similar characteristics with 750,000 species of insects The word "there" in -Determine the paragraph paragraph … refers to containing the information: (A) the sea +Paragraph (B) the rain forests +The sentence: (C) a tree Nearly every major type (D)the Earth's surface of plant and animal has some representation there -Reference question: The answer lies not in the same sentence but in the sentence before : If basic, broad categories such as phyla and classes are given more emphasis than differentiating between species, then the greatest diversity of life is unquestionably the sea Nearly every major type of plant and animal has some representation there =>Correct choice (A) answer is The author argues that there is more diversity of life in the sea than in the rain forests because -Determine the paragraph By finding the containing the information from the information: identified sentences, we can understand that ” The +Paragraph 3: based on ocean is home to a variety “diversity of life, “the of the living things” (A)more phyla and sea’,“phyla’’, “classes” , classes of life are “insect” Collating the represented in the sea 26 (B)there are too many +The sentence: If basic, insects to make broad categories such as meaningful distinction phyla and classes are given more emphasis (C)many insect species than differentiating are too small to divide between species, then the into categories greatest diversity of life is (D)marine life-forms unquestionably the sea reproduce at a faster Nearly every major type of plant and animal has rate some representation there Which of the following is NOT mentioned as an example of microscopic sea life? (A) Sponges (B) Coral (C) Starfish (D) Shrimp information From choices with the information from the passage: (A): relevant (B):NOT mentioned (C) :NOT mentioned (D): NOT mentioned -Determine the paragraph - Collate the information containing the from choices with the information: information from +Paragraph 4: based on identified sentences, we “microscopic sea” find out that: +The sentence: Every spoonful of ocean water contains life, on the order of 100 to 100,000 bacterial cells plus assorted microscopic plants and animals, including larvae of organisms ranging from sponges and corals to starfish and clams and much more (A): mentioned (B): mentioned (C) : mentioned (D): NOT mentioned => the correct answer is (D) 10 Which of the following conclusions is supported by the passage? Determine the paragraph -The task of this question containing the is to draw a suitable information: the whole conclusion passage -Read choices, (A)Ocean life is highly Collating the information adaptive 27 (B)More attention needs to be paid to preserving ocean species and habitats (C)Ocean life is primarily composed of plants (D) The sea is highly resistant to the damage done by pollutants from choices with the information from the whole passage to eliminate the incorrect answers A): NI( No Information) (B): proper (C) : NI (D): NI => the correct answer is (B) What is the main -Determine the paragraph point of the passage? containing the information: the whole (A)Humans are passage destroying thousands of species (B) There are thousands of insect species (C) The sea is even richer in life than the rain forests (D) Coral reefs are similar to rain forests - Identification: main idea question - You can usually infer the main idea, main topic or main purpose of the entire passage from an understanding of the main ideas of the paragraph that make up the passage and the relationship between them -Eliminate the definitely wrong answers : (A), (B), (D) => the correct answer is (C) NGUỒN TÀI LIỆU THAM KHẢO 28 1.Textbooks 10, 11, 12 – Education Publisher 2.TOEFL Success- Peterson’s 2000 English language Teaching Methodology – Ministry of Education and Training 2003 Rèn luyện kỹ đọc hiểu môn tiếngAnh- Vũ Mai Phương Teach English – Atraining couse for teachers- Adrian Doff Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary Website : http://www.violet.vn Website : http://123doc.org/trang-chu.htm 29 ... language and life It seems to be the most important skill to the students of English since their main purpose is to understand the written texts In the English test of the entrance university examination, ... comprehension tasks effectively 1.Preparation for the national examination for GCSE - To well in the exam , students should prepare the followings: 1.1 Topics for practicing: Generally, the assignment... reading comprehension section successfully in classes as well as in the GCSE examination and in the entrance exam to university Over the past few years, the application of these techniques and