IELTS reading test taking strategies employed by high score candidates in academic training module

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************** IELTS READING TEST-TAKING STRATEGIES EMPLOYED BY HIGH SCORE CANDIDATES IN ACADEMIC TRAINING MODULE (Chiến thuật làm đọc EL S sử dụng thí sinh đạt điểm cao kỳ thi học thuật EL S) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI – 2017 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************** IELTS READING TEST-TAKING STRATEGIES EMPLOYED BY HIGH SCORE CANDIDATES IN ACADEMIC TRAINING MODULE (Chiến thuật làm đọc EL S sử dụng thí sinh đạt điểm cao kỳ thi học thuật EL S) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Dr ng HANOI - 2017 c inh DECLARATION I hereby declare that this thesis is my own original research and written entirely by myself Any citing in the thesis is followed by references and acknowledgement I also hereby state that I agree to the requirements of the University of Languages and International Studies in terms of using as well as preserving my M.A thesis This condition means that any access to my thesis for study purpose should be allowed Hanoi, 2017 Phí Thị Mùi i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This research is one of the most challenging academic tasks that I had to face I could not have been able to complete without the wholehearted help and guidance of my supervisor, my family, my friends, and my students First and foremost, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor Dr Duong Duc Minh for his useful comments, remarks and engagement throughout the process of researching and completing my thesis With patience and knowledge, he always steers in the right direction and encourages me to overcome many difficulties or problems when conducting the study Furthermore, I would also like to thank the participants in the research, who contributed greatly to the success of the research and provided a great deal of useful information during collecting data stage Last but not least, my sincere thanks also go to my family and friends for always supporting me and giving me confidence when I needed most ii ABSTRACT This thesis aims to illuminate how the successful IELTS takers perform their IELTS reading test and provide a useful guidance for anyone concerning about IELTS reading test This study is motivated by three research questions: (1) What test-taking strategies frequently used by Vietnam test takers in performing IELTS reading tasks? (2) How are those English test-taking strategies related to test takers‟ performance? (3) To what extent the uses of English test-taking strategy of successful candidates vary significantly with their gender and learning experience? If yes, what are the main patterns of variation? The research employed multiple methods including a broad survey questionnaire of 100 participants and a thorough interview of 06 English language learners who had taken the IELTS test and gained at least 7.0 for reading skill to point out the common reading strategies used by high score test takers and indicate the influence of them on the test takers‟ performance Moreover, further suggestions on how the strategy use differs among successful candidates are also concluded in the study The findings from the research illustrate the variety in application of test-taking strategies and the impact of strategies on the results when taking the test The findings also prompt an encouragement to learn and sharpen basic approach when taking the reading test, especially in IELTS reading which examine learners‟ proficient language skill iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS IELTS: International English Language Testing System SPSS: Statistical Package for the Social Sciences IDP: International Development Program P1: Interviewee P2: Interviewee P3: Interviewee P4: Interviewee P5: Interviewee P6: Interviewee iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: The number of participant according to gender 18 Figure 2: English experience of participants .19 v LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Characteristics of good language learners (Brown, 2007: 259-260) Table 2: IELTS: Guide for Teachers (British Council, 2008) 18 Table 3: IELTS Reading test-taking strategies 25 Table 4: Reliability of General Strategies 26 Table 5: Reliability of Text-related Strategies 26 Table 6: Reliability of Question-related Strategies 27 Table 7: George and Mallery‟s cronbach α value range 27 Table 8: Means and Standard Deviations Indicating Test-taking Strategy Use .30 Table 9: Correlation between English Test-taking Strategy Use and Students‟ Test Performance 33 Table 10: Means and Standard Deviations Indicating Test-taking Strategy Use of Male and Female .37 Table 11: Correlation between gender and IELTS test score 38 Table 12: Means and Standard Deviations Indicating Test-taking Strategy Use based on English learning experience ………………………………… ……… 42 Table 13: The correlation between English learning experience and IELTS score 42 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS iv LIST OF FIGURES v LIST OF TABLES vi TABLE OF CONTENTS vii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of the problem 1.2 Purpose of the study 1.3 Scope 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Expected outcome and significance of the study CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW .4 2.1 Reading 2.1.1 Definition of reading 2.1.2 Purposes of reading 2.2 Language learning strategies 2.3 Strategies of successful language learners 2.4 Reading comprehension and test-taking strategies 2.4.1 Reading comprehension strategies 2.4.2 Test-taking strategies 2.5 The IELTS test 10 2.6 IELTS reading test 11 2.7 Summary of previous studies 12 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 16 3.1 Participants and setting 16 vii 3.2 Research method 20 3.3 Research Instruments 20 3.3.1 Survey questionnaire 20 3.3.2 Individual interview .21 3.4 Data analysis procedure 22 3.4.1 Data collection procedure 22 3.4.2 Data analysis procedure .23 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 26 4.1 Reading test-taking strategies used by IELTS candidates in performing IELTS reading tasks 26 4.1.1 Testing the reliability of data 26 4.1.2 Reading test taking strategies used by IELTS candidates 27 4.2 How are those English test-taking strategies related to test takers‟ performance? 33 4.3 Is there any difference in English test-taking strategy use among successful candidates? 35 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION 44 5.1 Summary of the major findings 44 5.2 Implications for IELTS test takers and IELTS trainers 45 5.3 Limitations and suggestions for further study 46 REFERENCES 47 APPENDENCES I APPENDIX I APPENDIX III APPENDIX 3……………………………………………………………………III viii paragraph 15 Pay special attention to the first part of the 3.04 1.290 2.86 1.320 4.06 1.018 2.82 1.124 3.27 985 3.34 1.154 2.86 1.325 3.18 1.296 3.52 1.344 3.04 1.347 3.05 1.174 3.64 1.208 3.00 1.247 3.36 1.217 4.02 1.097 3.11 1.397 3.27 1.518 3.08 1.192 3.14 1.239 3.27 883 3.24 1.080 2.68 1.517 3.05 1.174 3.20 1.485 3.11 2.75 2.95 1.133 3.46 1.417 passage 16 Find short sentences within paragraphs 17 Form ideas about the text while reading Relate what you read 18 to what you already know 19 Look for context clues for the meaning of unfamiliar or difficult word 20 Answer the questions you know first 21 Avoid answers that are too specific or too look for broad 22 Always answers that sound consistent with the idea in the text 23 Guess the meaning of any word in the stem 40 you not know 24 Use prior knowledge to answer questions 25 Guess if you cannot find the answer 26 2.75 1.404 3.64 1.364 3.06 1.490 2.68 1.389 3.18 1.435 3.42 1.444 3.32 1.188 3.14 1.125 3.44 1.215 Make sure you find evidence in the text to answer the question, try not to use what you think is true Table 12: Means and Standard Deviations Indicating Test-taking Strategy Use based on English learning experience As the above tables show, less than years‟ English experience prefer strategy 02 (Budget your time) and strategy 06 (Look for key words in the questions and words and phrases with similar and related meanings in the texts, look for a paraphrase of each statement) On the other hand, strategy 01 is employed least (Have a purpose of reading to answer the question only) It is a quite understandable fact that less experienced learners often pay a great deal of attention to timing, especially during preparation step and they usually in the habit of reading all the word in the text to generate the main ideas of the passage instead of going straightforward to answer the questions That is also the sharing of one interviewee coming from this group P6: When taking the test, I often look at my watch to locate the time At the first time when I learned IELTS, I often had the habit of reading the text carefully to know the main ideas of the passage I think early learners often have mistakes like this From 05 to 10 years‟ English learning experience group shows many dissimilarities with less than years‟ English learning experience group Strategy 05 ( Highlight important information as you read) is the first priority, the second 41 ones are strategies 06 and 07 (Look for key words in the questions and words and phrases with similar and related meanings in the texts, look for a paraphrase of each statement; Scan quickly for numbers, names, dates and words around it to get the answers) The last stand is strategy 12 (Look for how the text is organized and ignore details) It seems that experienced group are accustomed to the test and reading skills, as a result, they not pay attention to the text but getting the answers The most experienced group show many resemblances with the second group Strategy 19 (Look for context clues for the meaning of unfamiliar or difficult word) is the most frequent used one, then strategy 06 (Look for key words in the questions and words and phrases with similar and related meanings in the texts, look for a paraphrase of each statement) Standing at the bottom place is strategy 24 (Use prior knowledge to answer questions) When being asked why they did not use prior knowledge to answer the questions, they said it “it is wrong to apply prior knowledge to answer reading questions but only base on the information in the text” (P5) Some said that only when they could not find the answers in the text, would they utilize previous understanding to answer questions because in many situations the knowledge does not match with the information in the text, especially in an IELTS Reading Interesting that the result of the data analysis about the connection between IELTS score and English learning experience also strongly support that the more experienced the learners, the higher score they achieve Year ± SD < years 1.93±0.900 - 10 years 2.59±0.734 > 10 years 3.06±0.956 P 0.000 Table 13: The correlation between English learning experience and IELTS score 42 Overall, there exist many differences in what, when and how to use strategies among individual participants However, still some resemblances between identified groups (gender, English experience) may have 43 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION The main aims of the study is to find out the common IELTS test-taking strategies of high score test takers and investigate the relationship between those test-taking strategies and test takers‟ performance, further indicate the difference in application of different user groups This chapter will synthesize the findings, discuss the implications and limitations of the study, and propose some suggestions for further research 5.1 Summary of the major findings First and foremost, on average high score test takers have “medium use” of test-taking strategies The majority of testees agree upon that they come to the test with the position of a test taker; as a result, they often have the purpose of reading to answer the questions only This approach somehow affects the strategies to handle the task such as they often read the question first, some even underline the key words in the questions to clear about what information to find in the text and finally look for similar or related paraphrases in the text Moreover, while reading the text, they often have the habit of marking important information to easily follow the ideas of the text and locate the answers Testees also watch the clock when taking the test because the time is neat, especially with new English learners who show greater concern about this aspect than the others Some other familiar strategies are scanning, looking for context clues, and remembering that the answers follow the order of the passage On the other hands, some strategies receive little preference of participants, for instance, “reading every word in the text”, “looking for how the text is organized and ignore details”, and “using prior knowledge to answer questions” In terms of how reading strategies affect the test takers‟ performance, the findings demonstrate a close correlation between those variables Of three examined strategies, general tactics have greatest influence, the second is text-related strategies and the third is question-related ones The findings of the study have lots 44 of common with previous famous research (Chiu, 2011; Scharnagl 2004; O‟ Malley & Chamot, 1990; Oxford, 1990; Cohen, 1984; Nevo, 1989; Phakiti, 2008; Radojevic, 2009; Rezaee, 2005) Moreover, the collected data from the interview section also strongly support this conclusion, 100% of interviewees agreed that testtaking strategies played a crucial role in helping test takers improve their IELTS scores Concerning the last proposed research question, the results show a great deal of variety as well as similarity in test taking approaches of different user groups While male prefer scanning skill most, female tend to use looking for key words and paraphrasing more However, the priority of female is also the second priority of male Moreover, both groups illustrate a clear favor of general strategies Another noticing fact is that the IELTS scores of both groups not differ much English learning experience also have an effect on the strategy use of learners If less than years‟ English experience group shows great concern about timing and comprehending the text, other more experienced groups seem to be more proficient and apply test-taking purpose strategies more (looking for key words, paraphrasing, looking for context clues) but not pay attention to the text organization or use prior knowledge to answer questions The results also indicate that experienced readers can get higher scores than less experienced test-takers 5.2 Implications for IELTS test takers and IELTS trainers It can be concluded that test-taking strategies improve test performance in one or another way Accordingly, being familiar even having clear steps to deal with different task types needs to be prepared in advance, especially IELTS takers IELTS trainers and English teachers should integrate test-taking strategies into teaching curriculum An awareness of strategy instruction, even being presented or modeled will certainly help learners to benefit from test taking strategies and employ them effectively (Alderson, 2000) Anyone having tension to take the IELTS test can consult the findings of the study to apply into practice 45 5.3 Limitations and suggestions for further study One of the obvious drawbacks of the study is the number of participants The study‟s results would be more reliable if the number of the participants was increased Therefore, the standard deviation in the data analysis process is somehow higher than expected Moreover, the number of male and female participants in the study are not equal so it is hard to generalize the results representing for the whole group of people The study only focuses on IELTS high scorers so the results are not diverse Any researcher attempts to investigate in this field can conduct a study about the strategies employed by low scorers and high scorers to compare the similarities and the differences in test-taking employment of these two groups Besides that, an approach to examine the test taking strategies of singular task type such as Multiple Choice, Yes/ No/ Not Given or True/ False/ Not Given, Matching Headings or Cloze Test, Chart or Graph Filling can be considered as a new necessary topic for further study 46 REFERENCES Ahmad, I S & Asraf, R M (2004) Making sense of text: Reading strategies used by Good and Average readers The reading Matrix, 4(1), 26-37 Retrieved from: http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/asraf_ahmad/article.pdf Anderson, R.C (1985) Role of the reader‟s schema in comprehension, learning, and memory In H Singer & R.B Ruddell (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading (3rd ed., pp 372–384) Newark, DE: International Reading Association 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APPENDIX INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Do you often use reading test-taking strategies in IELTS test? Can you describe in details some basic/ familiar steps to IELTS Reading tasks in general? Why you follow the described steps? Do you think the reading strategies that you often follow affect the results of the test? What are the advantages of your reading strategies? What are the disadvantages of your reading strategies? APPENDIX SAMPLED INTERVIEW Interviewer: Hi, How are you? Thank you very much for being here The interview supposes to be very comfortable Interviewee: I‟m fine It is OK I have time Interviewer: I printed your answers in the survey part here This interview section will mostly refer to the result of the survey OK? Interviewee: OK, I understand III Interviewer: So let‟s get started Interviewee: OK Interviewer: First of all, I would like to ask whether you often use reading testtaking strategies in IELTS test or not? Interviewee: Definitely, yes When I prepared for the IELTS test I often followed some tips of my trainer and I practiced them After that, I am familiar with those strategies Interviewer: Can you describe in details some basic/ familiar steps to IELTS reading tasks in general? Interviewee: First of all, I often look at the questions first to know what I am being asked While reading the questions, I sometimes underline the key words in the questions After that, I come back to the text, scanning through the text, then finding the answer for the first question Often, the answer will follow the order of the text so if I can find the answer for the first question, I continue to read to find the answer for the next question While reading, I also always mark some important information in the reading passage It helps me to easily summarize the content of the text Those are some basic steps that I often follow Interviewer: Why you follow the described steps? Interviewee: I think IELTS is the test of language proficiency, the more correct answer I get, the higher score I gain so I it is not necessary to understand the text That is the reason why I often look at the question first Moreover, underlining the key word help me to focus on what I need to find in the text Furthermore, I feel I am quite familiar with those steps, sometimes I it naturally Interviewer: Do you think the reading strategies that you often follow affect the results of the test? Interviewee: I think the reading strategies have some effects on the result of the test Those strategies help me to the test quicker, more confident Interviewer: So what are the advantages of those strategies? IV Interviewee: The advantages, as I said, saving time and helping me to get more correct answers, I feel safer and more confident when taking the test Interviewer: Is there any disadvantages of applying reading strategies into IELTS reading test? Interviewee: I think, uhm, may be not Actually, I haven‟t thought about that Interviewer: No problem, so it is clear that the reading strategies that you apply have more positive effects than negative ones Thank you very much for your cooperation Your interview section provides me lots of qualified information, which is certainly helpful for my dissertation Thanks a lot Interviewee: My pleasure, hope that you can complete your research successfully When will you defense? Interviewer: In October Thank you very much Now you are free Interviewee: OK Good luck Bye Interviewer: Bye V ... 26 4.1 Reading test- taking strategies used by IELTS candidates in performing IELTS reading tasks 26 4.1.1 Testing the reliability of data 26 4.1.2 Reading test taking strategies. .. of IELTS testing: Academic and General Training versions Each test includes skills: Speaking, listening, reading and writing This paper is going to focus on reading skill of Academic Training module, ... IELTS reading test- taking strategies employed by high score candidates in academic training module with primary aim at seeking the most frequent and effective used strategies to handle the test