Effective reading TB

PART A: INTRODUCTIONI. RationaleIn many second or foreign language teaching situations, reading receives a special focus. There are a number of reasons for this. First, many foreign language students often have reading as one of their most important goals. They want to be able to read for information and pleasure, for their career, and for study purposes. In fact, in most EFL situations, the ability to read in a foreign language is all that students ever want to acquire. Second, written texts serve various pedagogical purposes. Extensive exposure to linguistically comprehensible written texts can enhance the process of language acquisition. Good reading texts also provide good models for writing and provide opportunities to introduce new topics, to stimulate discussion and to study language. Reading, then, is a skill which is highly valued by students and teachers alike.In process of teaching and learning English as a foreign language in Vietnam in general, and at the Military Science Academy (MSA) in particular, reading has always been offered a great deal of attention both from the teachers and the students. Like many others universities in Vietnam, English at the MSA is learnt and taught in non-native environment, therefore, reading is not only considered as a means to gain knowledge but also a means by which further study takes place. In other words, learners “read to learn” (Burns, 1988:11).According to Carrel (1981:1), “for many students, reading is by far the most important of the four skills in a second language, particularly in English as a second or foreign language”. This is especially true to the students at the MSA, where learners are mostly future interpreters, translators, or teachers of English in others Military Colleges whose desires are to be able to handle subjects related to written materials in English and to work with their English-speaking colleagues and partners. It is essential for them to acquire the ability to read English effectively and efficiently. However, despite the teachers’ and students’ effort, students still often claim to have a lot of difficulties in reading English textbooks or English materials, and therefore, they sometimes read them inefficiently.For the second-year students of English, although they have been learning English for at least several years, it is still often difficult for them to understand a text or a passage in English, since they still lack vocabulary, grammar, reading skills and poor background knowledge. Besides, the teachers sometimes have to face with difficulties in dealing with the 1 students’ learning demand and newly introduced sources of materials. In addition, teaching methods and teaching techniques in general, are still below the international standard of education. To find out the areas of students’ difficulty at the MSA and the causes of their unsuccessful reading comprehension is necessary. Therefore, these reasons have inspired the writing of A Study on some possible effective pre-EFFECTIVE READING - TEACHER'S BOOK A Study on some possible effective pre-reading activities to improve reading skills for the 2 nd - year English Majors at the Military Science Academy PART A: INTRODUCTION PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1 LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1. Introduction 1.2. Theoretical background of reading 1.3. Teaching and learning reading skills 1.4. Theoretical background of motivation 1.5. Summary Chapter 2 THE STUDY 2.1. Introduction 2.2. Situation analysis 2.3. Sample and sampling 2.4. Instruments for collecting the data 2.5. Data analysis. Chapter 3 Major findings and suggestions of some possible Pre reading activities applied to teach More Reading Power to the Second-year English Majors at the MSA 3.1. Major findings 3.2. Suggestions of some possible Pre-reading activities applied to teach More Reading Power to the Second-year English Majors at the MSA 3.3. Summary PART C: CONCLUSION 1. Summary of the study 2. Limitations and suggestions for further study 1 PART A: INTRODUCTION I. Rationale In many second or foreign language teaching situations, reading receives a special focus. There are a number of reasons for this. First, many foreign language students often have reading as one of their most important goals. They want to be able to read for information and pleasure, for their career, and for study purposes. In fact, in most EFL situations, the ability to read in a foreign language is all that students ever want to acquire. Second, written texts serve various pedagogical purposes. Extensive exposure to linguistically comprehensible written texts can enhance the process of language acquisition. Good reading texts also provide good models for writing and provide opportunities to introduce new topics, to stimulate discussion and to study language. Reading, then, is a skill which is highly valued by students and teachers alike. In process of teaching and learning English as a foreign language in Vietnam in general, and at the Military Science Academy (MSA) in particular, reading has always been offered a great deal of attention both from the teachers and the students. Like many others universities in Vietnam, English at the MSA is learnt and taught in non-native environment, therefore, reading is not only considered as a means to gain knowledge but also a means by which further study takes place. In other words, learners “read to learn” (Burns, 1988:11). According to Carrel (1981:1), “for many students, reading is by far the most important of the four skills in a second language, particularly in English as a second or foreign language”. This is especially true to the students at the MSA, where learners are mostly future interpreters, translators, or teachers of English in others Military Colleges whose desires are to be able to handle subjects related to written materials in English and to work with their English-speaking colleagues and partners. It is essential for them to acquire the ability to read English effectively and efficiently. However, CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1. Rationale Internationally, within the field of education over the last few decades a gradual but significant shift has taken place, resulting in less emphasis on teachers and teaching and greater stress on learners and learning. This change has been reflected in various ways in language education. Teaching English as a second or foreign language (TESL/TEFL) has also changed tremendously. Most significantly, the traditional teacher-centred approach has been replaced with the learner-centred one, which reflects a desire to explore ways of making teaching responsive to learner needs and interests and allowing learners to play a fuller, more active and participatory role in the day-to-day teaching and learning processes. Inherent in this approach is a shift in the responsibilities of both teachers and students in the foreign language classroom. No longer does the teacher act as the centre of all instruction, controlling every aspect of the learning process. Learners themselves now, more than ever, are sharing the responsibility for successful language acquisition and, in doing so, are becoming less dependant on the language teacher for meeting their own individual language learning needs. By giving students more responsibility for their own language development, language programs are inviting learners to become more autonomous, to diagnose some of their own learning strengths and weaknesses and to sift-direct the process of language development. Then, for all L2 teachers who aim to develop their students' communicative competence and language learning, an understanding of language learning strategies is crucial. As Oxford (1990) puts it, language learning strategies" . are specially important for language learning because they are tools for active, self-directed involvement, which is essential for developing communicative competence" (p.1). According to Nunan (1999), learner-centeredness does not mean that teachers should devaluating their own professional roles or handling their duties and responsibility to the learner. Learner-centered instruction "is a matter of educating learners so that they can gradually assume greater responsibility for their own learning" (Nunan, 1999: 12) and research suggests that training students to use language learning strategies can help them become better language learners. In the field of second language acquisition, focus has been shifted away from finding perfect teaching methodologies to investigating why some learners 1 are very successful in their language learning while others are not although they have made as much effort learning the language. Several studies that have been carried out by Oxford (1990), O'Malley and Chamot (1990), Nunan (1991), Rubin and Thompson (1994) and Cohen (1998) have shown that one of the most important factors that distinguish successful learners from unsuccessful ones is their learning strategies. In other words, successful learners do use some effective learning strategies to deal with problems that emerge during their learning process while unsuccessful ones employ inappropriate or ineffective strategies resulting in their failure in their language learning. This finding has provoked interest among researchers and teachers in identifying learning strategies employed by good language learners with a view to training bad learners to use such effective learning strategies. In Vietnam, learning strategies have also become a topic of interest in recent years when the concepts of "self-learning" and "life-long learning" have been familiar to the ears of both Vietnamese teachers and learners. Several studies into this field have been conducted with different Reu00000_ch01.qxd 3/30/07 c h ap t e r 10:53 AM Page Effective Reading Instruction The Teacher Makes the Difference Reu00000_ch01.qxd 3/30/07 10:53 AM Page Chapter Questions Why is learning to read considered so important for young children? What is reading? What are the seven characteristics of highly effective reading teachers? What effective teachers know and to promote success in reading for all students? The First Day Selena is a college student preparing to become an elementary school teacher For her, this is not just another class, but the real beginning of her teaching career Without doubt, teaching reading will be the centerpiece of her classroom Selena recalls fondly her own first grade teacher, Mrs Roberts, who introduced her to the world of books and reading Selena hopes she will be a “Mrs Roberts” to the children she will teach over the course of her career Though there are several professors who teach the introductory reading course, Selena has chosen Dr Favio’s class Professor Favio is known for her many years of successful teaching in public schools and her rigorous, hands-on instructional methods that get her students ready for their first year of teaching The professor begins by asking students to read a scenario printed on the cover of the course syllabus On one occasion, Frank Smith (1985), a well-known literacy expert who had never taught a child to read in a classroom, was confronted with a taunting question by a group of exasperated teachers: “So, what would you do, Dr Smith, if you had to teach a room full of 30 five-year-olds to read?” Dr Smith’s response was quick and decisive He first indicated that children learn to read from people—and the most important of these people are teachers As teachers, therefore, you need to comprehend the general processes of how children develop and learn And teachers need to understand the specific processes whereby children learn to read After everyone has finished reading the quote, Dr Favio continues the class with a question clearly intended to provoke discussion: “How did you learn to read? What you remember about learning to read? Who helped you? Turn to your neighbor, introduce yourself, and share your thoughts in response to this question.” Immediately the room fills with the buzz of students sharing their ideas about how they learned to read Selena shares her memories with her “elbow partner,” Terrence She tells him how she was first introduced to Reu00000_ch01.qxd 3/30/07 Chapter 10:53 AM Page Effective Reading Instruction: The Teacher Makes the Difference books by her mom and grandma “Did they ever read Clifford, the Big, Red Dog to you?” asks Terrence “He was my favorite!” After a few minutes of discussion, Dr Favio asks the class to share some of their ideas and records them on a white board at the front of the classroom • • • • Little kids learn to read from someone who reads to them I learned to read from my older sister I remember writing letters and asking my mother what they spelled I had a favorite book I memorized because my grandmother read it to me over and over again • I remember my teacher reading a great big book to us in kindergarten called Mrs Wishy Washy I loved that book! • I watched Sesame Street, Barney, and Reading Rainbow I learned the letters and some words from watching TV Next, Dr Favio asks her students to define what it really means to read They are to take one minute of think time, and then share their ideas with their elbow partner This question makes Selena remember how she struggled in learning phonics Terrence remarks, “Well, I agree that reading has to include phonics, but I don’t see how you can call it “reading” if you don’t understand what you are reading I mean, I can call out all of the words in my geology book, but understanding what they mean is another thing For me, that takes some work!” Dr Favio invites comments from the class and records these statements about the nature of reading • I think reading is when you