SKKN APPROPRIATE QUESTIONS CAN IMPROVE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ READING SKILLS.

SKKN APPROPRIATE QUESTIONS CAN IMPROVE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ READING SKILLS.SKKN APPROPRIATE QUESTIONS CAN IMPROVE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ READING SKILLS.SKKN APPROPRIATE QUESTIONS CAN IMPROVE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ READING SKILLS.SKKN APPROPRIATE QUESTIONS CAN IMPROVE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ READING SKILLS.SKKN APPROPRIATE QUESTIONS CAN IMPROVE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ READING SKILLS.SKKN APPROPRIATE QUESTIONS CAN IMPROVE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ READING SKILLS.SKKN APPROPRIATE QUESTIONS CAN IMPROVE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ READING SKILLS.SKKN APPROPRIATE QUESTIONS CAN IMPROVE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ READING SKILLS.SKKN APPROPRIATE QUESTIONS CAN IMPROVE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ READING SKILLS.

READING SKILLS INTRODUCTION As an international language, English offers a source of benefits to young people First and foremost, English assists young people to acquire more knowledge As more and more materials namely books, lectures and videos as well are printed or constructive in English As a result, people with English proficiency tend to stand a chance of exploring deeper anything without being prevented by language barrier Secondly, reading and speaking English fluently is the best advantage for people who want to go abroad They will have no interference of language in communicating with foreigners Besides, learning English will help young people find good jobs Almost all companies enquire employees to be knowledgeable about some languages, especially English Of course, more and more people want to use it as a means of communication at work, in business and tourism As a teacher, the researcher is aware that English has been one of the compulsory subjects in secondary schools and high schools in Vietnam English is also one of the subjects for the Entrance Examination of some national and international university However, in teaching and learning English as a foreign language, reading has always received a lot of attention Therefore, how to teach and learn reading skills effectively requires many efforts from both teachers and learners Many students in Tri An High School confronted five major obstacles in reading such as: the habits of word-by-word reading, excessive focus on details rather than main ideas, poor vocabularies and limited background knowledge A lack of receptive vocabularies is big obstacles for them to understand long passages with too many difficult words Most of the students feel scared and worried when they have to read long and difficult passages Although the literature so far has pointed out so many methods that can be applied in the reading class, this research exclusively focused on some questions that may help READING SKILLS students understand the passage and choose the suitable answers This matter has inspired the research to carry out the research with the hope that through this study, the researcher will have better teaching approaches so as to improve 2- LITERATURE REVIEW 1- Definition of reading and reading comprehension Reading is an important skill to help people learn from human knowledge and experience Through reading, knowledge has greatly contributed to the educational level To help students derive meanings from a text, the teacher has to understand the process of reading Reading can easily be defined as the process in which a person receives and interpretes a message from printed materials Reading is a process of how information is processed from the text into meanings, starting with the information from the text, and ending with what the reader gains Goodman (1976) and Smith (1973) indicated that reading is a language process, not merely the sum of various decoding and comprehension subskills guistic guessing game, in which the reader actively interacts with the text to construct meaning Ur (1996: According to Harmer (1989: eading is an exercise dominated by the eyes and the brain The eyes receive messages and the brain then has to work READING SKILLS 2.2- Purposes for doing reading There are so many different reasons for doing reading and that we read in different ways for different purposes (Nuttall 2000:2) These different purposes, generalized into the following two main categories: We read for pleasure and for information in order to find out something or in order to something with the information you get Grellet 2001:4) are to get information, to respond to curiosity about a topic, to follow instructions to perform a task, for pleasure, a musement, and personal enjoyment to keep in touch with friends and colleagues, to know what is happening in the world, and to find out when and where things are Hedge 2000:195) 3- Classification according to purpose According to purpose, reading is categorized into four types: skimming, scanning, extensive reading and intensive reading 2.3.1- Skimming, scanning Skim-read and scan-read are necessary reading techniques for general sense or the gist of a reading text Nuttall y skimming, we mean glancing rapidly through the text to determine whether a research paper is relevant to our own work or in order to keep ourselves superficicially informed about matters that are not of Grellet (1 hen skimming, we go through the reading material quickly in order to get its main points or the intention of the writer, but not to find the answer to specific questions When scanning, we only try to locate specific information and often we not even follow the linearity of the Through the two reading techniques are important for quick and effective reading, they should not be selected separately because a text can be best READING SKILLS tackled by a combination of strategies So after skimming and scanning, Francis Ba ome books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few to be 2.3.2- Intensive Reading Nuttall (2000:38) states that intensive reading involves approaching the text under the guidance of a teacher or a task which forces the student to focus on the text According to Brown (1990:297), intensive reading is usually a classroom-oriented activity in which students focus on the linguistic or semantic details of a passage The objective of intensive reading is to understand not only what the text means but also how the meaning is produced 2.3.3- Extensive reading Extensive reading is generally associated with reading large quantities with the aim of getting an overall understanding of the material Lewis and Hill (1992: xtensive reading means students have a general understanding of the text without necessarily understanding eve -learning in order to train them to read directly and fluently in the foreign language for their own enjoyment without the aid of the teacher However, extensive reading can be best achieved only through an instructional program Extensive reading sometimes involves skimming and scanning as strategies to gain general sense of a text, skimming for the gist and scanning for some key details In short, for second or foreign language learners, both intensive and extensive reading are of great importance as they act as a means to gain knowledge but also to develop READING SKILLS 2.4- Types of reading comprehension questions According to GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test), there are types of reading comprehension questions Main idea Supporting idea Reference Inference Tone & Style 2.4.1- Main idea According to JoAnn Miller (2009:31), Main idea questions ask students to identify the "primary purpose" or "main point" of the passage In order to answer these questions correctly, students must be able to identify the thesis of the passage and those ideas that support this thesis The main idea is the central, or most important idea in a paragraph or passage It states the purpose and sets the direction of the paragraph or passage The main idea may be stated or it may be implied When the main idea of a paragraph is stated, it is most often found in the first sentence of the paragraph However, the main idea may be found in any sentence of the paragraph The main idea may be stated in the first sentence of a paragraph and then be repeated or restated at the end of the paragraph The main idea may be split The first sentence of a paragraph may present a point of view, while the last sentence presents a contrasting or opposite view To find the main idea of any paragraph or passage, ask these questions: Who or what is the paragraph about? READING SKILLS with? Common question stems Which of the following most accurately states the main idea of the passage? The primary purpose of the passage is to The passage is primarily concerned with which of the following? The author of this passage is primarily concerned with The main point made by the passage is that What is the topic of this passage? What is the main idea of this passage? Which title best reflects the main idea of the passage? How to identify correct answer Main point questions ask students to identify the importance of the author's point Students must identify which ideas in the passage play a supporting role and which idea is being supported In many ways, this is similar to identifying the premises and conclusion to a critical reasoning argument The correct answer to a main point question is often a paraphrase of the conclusion or thesis statement of the passage Common incorrect answer choices are those that feature supporting ideas These answer choices are appealing to many testtakers because the material presented in them is true and based upon the passage READING SKILLS Ex 1: The Nobel prizes, awarded annually for distinguished work in chemistry, physic, physiology or medicine, literature and international peace, were made available by a fund established for that purpose by Swedish philanthropist, Alfred Bernhard Nobel The prizes, awarded since 1901, are administered by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm In 1969, a prize for economics endowed by the Central Bank of Sweden was added Candidates for the prizes must be nominated in writing by a qualified authority in the field of competition Candidates are judged by Swedish and Norwegian academies and institutes on the basis of their contribution to mankind The awards are usually presented in Stockholm on December 10, with the King of Sweden officiating, an appropriate tribute to Alfred Nobel on the anniversary of his death Each prize includes a gold medal, a diploma, and a cash award of about one million dollars (Retrieved from http://engleza-fse.edu.ro/?q=content/test-reading-1) Choose the best option (A, B, C or D) which contains the main idea of the following paragraph A The Nobel prizes B Great contribution to mankind C Alfred Nobel D Swedish philanthropy READING SKILLS Explanation: (A) is the correct answer After skimming reading the passage, the readers think about the meaning of the whole text They identify the ideas about the Nobel Prizes in the passage which play a supporting role Ex 2: Soccer players learn many skills when playing soccer Soccer players learn how to dribble and pass the ball They also learn how to control the ball so they can eventually score Most importantly, soccer players learn how to work together with their teammates What is the main idea? A They also learn how to control the ball so they can eventually score B Soccer players learn how to dribble C Soccer players learn many skills when playing soccer 2.4.2- Supporting idea Supporting idea questions are often prefaced by "according to the passage" or "the passage states that" Most of the questions that fit into this category could be called "find the fact" as they rely on your ability to find a specific piece of information, often contained in two or three sentences These questions tend to be more difficult than main idea questions because they require a more detailed recollection of the test If necessary, students can return to the text and quickly re-read a few sentences READING SKILLS Unlike main idea questions which are more generic in their question stem, these questions tend to incorporate an idea specific to the passage in the question stem Factual and negative factual questions ask about specific details and facts that are often provided in a single line of text Sometimes students will be directed to the paragraph that contains the answer Common question stems: Factual questions: + According to the passage, why did ? + According to the information in paragraph 2, where did .? + Which of the following is true, according to the passage? + The author uses as an example of + The author mentions in the third paragraph because it was Negative factual questions: + The author mentions all of the following in the passage EXCEPT + In the passage, the aothor does NOT provide a specific example of + According to the information in paragraph 3, which of the following is NOT Vocabulary questions: line 9? READING SKILLS eaning to which of the following? How to identify correct answer In trying to identify the correct answer, it is extremely important that students stick quite close to the text The words "according to the passage" should be taken seriously Answers that seem logical but are not directly supported by the text should be avoided Ex 1: Sally went shopping after school Friday and all day on Saturday and she bought a lot of new outfits On Sunday her mother took her to the outlet mall so she could finish buying clothes for the new school year She also bought school supplies so she would be prepared for her classes What is the main idea of this paragraph about Sally? The main things that this paraghragh is about is the fact that Sally spent the weekend shopping What are supporting details? Supporting details are examples and extra information that help you understand the main idea What are some supporting details in this paraghraph? - Sally bought new outfits - Sally bought school supplies Ex 2: (1) Due to increasing costs, there will be two changes in the tuition 10 READING SKILLS D an agreement between the bride and groom It can be inferred from the passage that historical parents want their child to get marriage to one from an aristocratic family because they can The inference question A protect their property and retain their social status B achieve higher social status and increase their property(Paragraph 1sentence 4) C exert their greatest influence on whom their child marries D seal peace between former enemies The vocabulary question A discussing B negotiating C quarrelling D critizing According to the passage, a preferential marriage is a marriage in which the brigde or groom is supposed to marry The factual question A one that have been betrothed B a particular kind of person(Paragraph 2- sentence 6) C one with a high social status D one with the same social status have no voice The vocabulary question 24 READING SKILLS A B cannot speak aloud C have a serious sore-throat D ing to persist The vocabulary question A go on insisting B continue to exist C fail to exist D refuse to stay which The reference question A societies B dowries C families D daughters According to the passage, India and Chinese families have sometimes tried to limit the number of daughters born to them because they The factual question A not want to send their daughters to convents B not want to be impoverished by the costs of marriage C need their sons-in-law to enhance their weath D it is difficult to find their daughters suitable husbands 10 Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage? The negative question 25 READING SKILLS A In some upper- caste Hindu marriage, chilren are betrothed at a very young age (Paragraph 2- sentence 3) B Marriage was also used as a way of sealing peace between former enemies (Paragraph 1- the last sentence) C arents may give property to the new couple (Paragraph 3- sentence 3) D Families use dowries to attract a daughter-in-law with desirable qualities Rationale: After the students have already practised reading the passage to interprete its content, they will read questions carefully And then they underline the idea in the passage that corresponds the questions They are provided with opportunities to decide on things in the passage and this is considered as stimulation Read the passage carefully and choose the correct answer A major difference in the way hill-tribes practice slash-and-burn is the skill with which swiddening is executed and organized There are reports of Lua farmers in the northwest of Thailand who were particularly skilled Before the field was cleared, village elders would carefully select the sites of the new fields by examining the growth of the vegetation and physically tasting the soil to determine if fertility had been sufficiently restored Once an area had been identified, individual families would clear portions of the new field These Lua were aware of the dangers of 26 READING SKILLS erosion and prohibited the felling of trees along ridges or waterways, and would fine any villagers in violation of this prohibition As the fields dried, the entire village became involved in the preparation for the burning Every household would either contribute labour or would pay a tax to finance fire-fighting activities The villagers would build a firebreak around the site of the new field, completely clearing a five to 10m corridor of combustible material, so that fire could not spread beyond the site of the new field Once the field was ready to be burned, it would be ignited, while Lua armed with muskets would wait at the periphery, to shoot any game that might free from the fire After the fields were cleared, the Lua would make terracing by building structures of bamboo poles and rocks along the contours of the field, which would retard erosion and allow the farmers to grow vine plants like squash A further distinction in swiddening is between rotational and pioneer interchangeably with sub-type of swiddening The term properly refers to the swiddening system employed by sedentary farmers like the Karen Their settlements tended to remain in a fixed location near their permanent paddy fields, and their swidden fields would move, perhaps rotating around the region of the village over decades, hence the term and some Yao have been described as to poppy cultivation has been observed on numerous occasions The Hmong and the Yao are usually considered to have been the most nomadic of the major hilltribe group, and this would explain why they, unlike the other major groups, tend to build their houses directly on muddy ground without much flooring-if they expected to move every five to 10 years, it would not make sense to overinvest in the generalization (Source: Adapted from a Review of Swidden Agriculture in Southeast Asia) 27 READING SKILLS What does aph mean? felling The vocabulary question A cutting down B falling down C growing up D picking up Which group of people is popular for their widening skills? The factual question A Lua (Line 2,3- paragraph 3) B Hmong C Yao D Karen they The reference question A Other major groups B The hill-tribe groups C Hmong and Yao people D The hill4 It can inferred from the passage that the factor that decides the cultivating habits of these hill-tribe groups is The inference question A the height of land they choose to farm on B the number of years they live in one place C the tradition passed on by their parents D the suitability of the land and their crops (Line 5,6- paragraph 1) Which phrase is used to describe a group of people who keep moving their living and farming areas? The factual question 28 READING SKILLS A active villagers B pioneer swiddeners (Line 9- paragraph 3) C rotational swiddeners D slash and burn cultivators Which attitute question A Admiring B Humorous C Criticizing D Informative What is the main idea of the passage? The main idea question A Skills to prepare fields for cultivation B Differences among swiddening practices C Varieties in hill-side house architectures D Types of farming on Thai highlands Rationale: After the students have already practised reading the passage to interprete its content, they will read questions carefully And then they underline the idea in the passage that corresponds the questions They are provided with opportunities to decide on things in the passage and this is considered as stimulation EFFICIENCY GAINING After applying these techniques to teaching for a long period, the researcher has realised that most of the students have made considerable progress in studying English, especially the reading skill The ratios of the students understanding the texts while reading from average and weak levels up to fair and good ones have clearly increased More importantly, students themselves have felt more self-confident, comfortable and active while reading 29 READING SKILLS English materials Thanks to the techniques mentioned previously, students have improved the reading skill effectively Moreover, language class atmosphere becomes more exciting and less stressful than it used to be Last but not least, a teacher has worked less and become a bandmaster TABLE OF STATISTICS The classes assigned between 2016 and 2017 are 12A1, 12A2, 10A8 a The folowing survey had been carried out before applying this theme Good level Fair level Average level Weak level Class Ss 38 Ratio 12 Ratio Ss Ss Ratio Ss Ratio 15 11 36 10 22 35 15 12 (This survey table was carried out in late August, 2016) b The folowing survey was carried out after applying this theme Good level Fair level Average level Weak level Ss Ss Class Ss 38 36 Ratio Ss Ratio 13 Ratio Ratio 35 20 18 (These statistical figures were conducted again in early April, 2017) 30 READING SKILLS * Besides, the researcher also asks the students in class 12A1 some questions about reading comprehension skill and have the following results Numbers of students: 38 Results Options Yes (%) No (%) Is reading comprehension important? 32 (84.2%) (15.8%) Do you read the questions first and then 25 (65.8%) 13 (34.2%) 18 (47.4%) 20 (52.6%) structures (23.7%) 29 (76.3%) Are your main difficulties limitation of 26 (68.4%) 12 (31.6%) answer them by scanning the text? Do you read the text carefully and then choose the best answer after understanding every word? Do you rely on dictionaries or your friends for the meanings or explanations when unfamiliar words or appear? vocabulary and grammar structures? As shown in the above table, most of the students have positive attitudes towards reading comprehension Fascinatingly, 84.2 % of the students find the importance of reading and 15.8% of them not highly appreciate the important role of reading It seems that reading comprehension is not very beneficial to them A large number of students (65.8%) read the questions first and then answer them by scanning the text It is pleasing to see that these students seem to have appropriate reading skills when finding out specific information 31 READING SKILLS However, there are still numerous students who apply inappropriate reading skills They often read the text carefully before reading the questions and answer them or read the questions first and answer them after understanding everything in the text From the data analysis, it is obvious that main difficulties which influence their motivation for reading as well as their understanding are their limitation of vocabulary and grammatical structures Therefore, most of the students feel depressed when they read long and difficult passages SUGGESTED TECHNIQUES 1- Giving pre-reading questions Pre-reading questions or guiding questions are comprehension questions asked either orally or written on the board before the students read the text It is easily seen that these questions are hey give the students a reason to read and to lead them to the main poi 1988:61) Guiding questions, obviously, should be concerned with the general meaning or with the most important point of a text and not focus on minor details Pre-reading questions should be rather easy and not too long 6.2- Techniques for enriching vocabulary According to McCarthy (1990), without words a learner can not communicate or read David Wilkins (cited in Thornburg, 2002), when mentioning the shift of focus from grammar as the central anchor of language teaching to the lexicon, emphasizes the importance of vocabulary acquisition as ithout grammar very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary nothin 32 READING SKILLS Students often find reading tasks are difficult and boring because of their limitation of vocabulary Some suggested techniques below can be carried out to solve this problem a Encouraging students to have extensive reading habit Familiarizing the students with extensive reading is a way to increase their enthusiasm for learning English By reading extensive materials, students can broaden their vocabularies and strengthen their understanding of the target language Therefore, the reading material is easy enough for students to motivate them to have extensive reading habit b Learning roots is also the effective way to review vocabulary It helps students to grasp the meaning of the words before they look them up in the dictionary It also helps students to see how words are often arranged in families with similar characteristics Like when they hear or read something that they means life By allowing students to choose their own words in each unit, they were given a big chance to perform important amount of autonomy to establish individual learning and work towards them in a structured way 6.3- Promoting students to be fully aware of their purpose of reading This technique involves determining the task purpose-an act useful for all language skills-especially reading When the students have their purpose in mind, they know how to channel their energy in the right direction Therefore, helping the students to identify the purpose of the reading text right before they start to the task is a useful aid in their reading progress Glancing at titles, 33 READING SKILLS subtitles, headings, subheadings can give students the clues for the reading purpose students are provided with a range of reading purposes and can practice different ways of approaching a text Various formats suggest different purposes of reading: looking quickly through the piece to get the main idea or gist (skimming), search rapidly for particular piece of information (scanning), reading a longer text for pleasure (extensive reading), and reading a short text carefully and in details (intensive reading) By and large, effective reading consists of clearly identifying the purpose of reading, with which the students know what they are looking for and can get rid of potential distracting information EXPERIENCE LESSON With some useful techniques for appropriate questions, a teacher can assist students promote their activeness and initiative Also, they have had confidence in taking part in their lesson, acquiring knowledge quickly and choosing the answers exactly Particularly, students have made much progress in their reading skill For example, they've increased their reading speed, got information more exactly and especially shortened time solving tasks The most important thing is that they've done the tasks belonging to the reading skill in an effective way Last but not least, students no longer feel scared or worried when having to read very long passages with unknown words 34 READING SKILLS CONCLUSION Reading is one of the perceivable skills through which students can better their knowledge of the target language more effectively than the others Therefore, it is crucial for the students to have good techniques in reading to become good reader Through this study, the researcher is obviously aware of many factors that l Those are the habits of word-byword reading, excessive focus on details rather than main ideas, poor vocabularies and limited background knowledge Teaching English reading skill by making use of appropriate questions can be applied in all classes in my school Teachers design appropriate questions in order for students to improve their reading skill As a result, students reading English passage Moreover, their reading speed will be improved clearly The more they practice, the more vocabularies they have This method will help students achieve their intended goals of learning This is the first time the researcher have written this research paper The researcher realizes that each teacher has his/her own methods of teaching However, no matter what approaches are applied, they all aim at bettering in concrete situations with great effectiveness It is hoped that the research will bring good results not only for the researcher but for other colleagues in Tri An High School as well The researcher strongly hopes that appropriate questions students but also for teachers 35 READING SKILLS Finally, I would be very thankful for any comments and suggestions regarding possible improvements Vinh An, May 6th, 2017 Written by 36 READING SKILLS (QUESTIONNAIRE) The on reading comprehension skill Do not write your name on the questionnaire Put a tick in the box to describe your views on reading comprehension skill Is reading comprehension important? Yes No Do you read the questions first and then answer them by scanning the text? Yes No Do you read the text carefully and then choose the best answer after understanding every word? Yes No Do you rely on dictionaries or your friends for the meanings or explanations when unfamiliar words or structures appear? Yes No Are your main difficulties limitation of vocabulary and grammar structures? Yes No 37 READING SKILLS REFERENCES Brown, H.D (1990) Principles of Teaching and Learning Prentice Hall Regents, New Jersey Carrell, P (1984) The effects of rhetorical organization on ESL readers TESOL Quarterly, 18(3), 441- 469 Doff, A (1988) Teach English: A training course for teachers Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Grelet, F (1981) Developing reading skills Cambridge: CUP Harmer, J (1989) The Practice of English Language Teaching 1st ed Longman Joshi, B (1995) The role of visual communication in teaching English The Progress of Education, 9, 266-268 Lewis, M and Hill, J (1992) Practical Techniques for Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press McCarthy, M (1990) Vocabulary Oxford: Oxford University Press Nuttall, C (1996) Teaching Reading Skills in a foreign language Oxford: Heinemann 10 Nuttall, C (2000) Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language 2nd Oxford: Heinemann 11 Richards, J (2002) Thirty Years of TEFL/TESL: A personal reflection RELC Journal Vol 33 No Pp 1-35 12 Swan, M (1975) Inside meaning Cambridge: CUP 13 Thornbury, S (2002) How to teach vocabulary Essex: Longman 15 Ur, P (1996) A Course in Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 38 ... According to purpose, reading is categorized into four types: skimming, scanning, extensive reading and intensive reading 2.3.1- Skimming, scanning Skim-read and scan-read are necessary reading techniques... so as to improve 2- LITERATURE REVIEW 1- Definition of reading and reading comprehension Reading is an important skill to help people learn from human knowledge and experience Through reading, ... also to develop READING SKILLS 2.4- Types of reading comprehension questions According to GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test), there are types of reading comprehension questions Main idea