Strategies for improving scores of reading english comprehension tests in national high school exam at nong cong 2 high s

DEPARTMENT OF THANH HOA EDUCATION AND TRAINING NONG CONG HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING SCORES OF READING ENGLISH COMPREHENSION TESTS IN NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL EXAM AT NONG CONG HIGH SCHOOL Doer: Mai Thị Kim Dung Duty: Teacher Subject: English THANH HOA, 2017 - 2018 TABLE OF CONTENT PART ONE : INTRODUCTION I RATIONALE OF THE STUDY II AIMS OF THE EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE III SCOPE OF THE EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE IV RESEARCH METHODOLOGY PART TWO : DEVELOPMENT I LITERATURE REVIEW II THE PROBLEMS OF READING ENGLISH COMPREHENSION TESTS The shortage of vocabulary related to the topics The types of multiple-choice questions Time pressure The ways to approach the passage III STRAGERIES FOR IMPROVING SCORES OF READING ENGLISH COMPREHENSION TESTS IN NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL EXAM Developing vocabulary for reading comprehension 1.1 Synonyms and Antonyms 1.2 Vocabulary trees 1.3 Word formation charts Categorizing the types of questions in reading comprehension and how to these 2.1 Main idea question 2.2 Overview questions 2.3 Factual questions 2.4 Negative questions 2.5 Vocabulary- in – context questions 2.6 Reference questions 2.7 Inference questions Use time properly The ways to approach the passage Page 02 Page 02 Page 02 Page 03 Page 03 Page 04 Page 04 Page 05 Page 05 Page 05 Page 05 Page 05 page 06 Page 06 Page 06 Page 07 Page 07 Page 07 Page 08 Page 09 Page 10 Page 12 Page 13 Page 15 Page 16 Page 16 Page 17 Page 17 IV EXPERIMENTAL RESULT PART THREE : CONCLUSION AND PROPOSAL I Conclusion II Proposal Page 18 Page 18 Page 18 PART ONE: INTRODUCTION I RATIONALE OF THE STUDY In the tendency of integration of the global economy, English is one of the effective communicative tools for everyone The role of English is considered to be very important in the fields of economies, politics, science, culture and education Responding to the trend, English lessons are taught with four skills (speaking, reading, listening, writing) and new teaching methods to motivate students in each unit This really helps students, especially the 12 th grade students who are going to take part in the National High School Exam, improve their reading comprehension skills to get better scores in reading part According to the regulations enacted by the Ministry of Education and Training, the 12 th grade students will take a national exam instead of the traditionally separated high school graduation and university entrance exams and English [10] – a foreign language – is one of the main subjects assessed under Multiple Choice Questions In a 60 - minute English test candidates ( students) are required to finish 50 multiple choice questions including phonetics; vocabulary; grammar; antonym; synonym; cloze reading; reading comprehension; transformation; error correction [8] The reading comprehension part of the exam tests students’ ability to read and answer questions about passages It usually contains two passages and after each passage there are usually from seven to ten multiple choice questions which candidates should complete in a relatively short time [9] However, many 12th grade students, especially students at Nong Cong High School are quite confused to read two reading comprehension passages in English tests In fact, it is the most challenging and difficult language skill which involves the interaction of other sub – skills namely skimming, scanning and careful reading and predicting [5] Most of them guess the answers without reading or find information in reading passage They have problems with vocabulary knowledge and time contribution They are not well - prepared how to recognize the types of questions appearing in the reading comprehension and how to deal with these ones Moreover, the way to approach the passage is not mentioned enough well to get better marks in reading part in an English test in National High School Exam The above mentioned reason leads to the choice of studying about experience initiative in analyzing “ STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING SCORES OF READING ENGLISH COMPREHENSION TESTS IN NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL EXAM AT NONG CONG HIGH SCHOOL.” II AIMS OF THE EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE The aims of the experience initiative are: a To investigate candidates’ difficulties in reading comprehension skills when they participate in English Tests in National High School Exam b To give students some strategies to reduce candidates’ pressure and improve reading comprehension skill to have higher marks in reading part in English tests III SCOPE OF THE EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE The writer attempt not only to introduce some strategies to apply skills in reading English passages to reduce students’ difficulties but also make them more self – confident and motivated in reading and understand English passages in a short time in exams The author applies into the class 12A2 at Nong Cong High School, Thanh Hoa IV RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Reading reference books Discussing with other teachers Applying in teaching Observing and drawing out experiences PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT I LITERATURE REVIEW Reading is not a passive task, but rather an active one In fact, reading requires both the learner’s mental and experimental inputs of who is expected to comprehend the written message In highlighting the importance of reading comprehension, “reading is the most important activity in any language class, not only as a source of information and a pleasurable activity, but also as a means of consolidating and extending one’s which are knowledge of the language” [7] The most important reading problems are lacking of essential vocabularies, linguistics, text structure knowledge, and limited contents backgrounds This is related to the results of foreigner researchers who found that students learning English as a foreign or second language cannot comprehend their English passage Most of their reading problems are improper reading texts, misunderstanding of grammar, vocabularies, and limited background knowledge on the reading passage Comprehensive reading is an interactive process between reader’s background and contents Reader, who once encounters difficulties in comprehension, always employs reading strategy to get over those difficulties [11] The competency of high school students in reading English is still a matter of concern The recent curriculum objective is to enable students to understand and use the language appropriately in accordance with the appropriate situations The 2018 national high school exam include 60 minutes for Foreign Languages – mainly English [8] Candidates are compulsory to take an 50 – multiple choice question English test consisting of two reading comprehension passages ( 30%); phonetics ( 8%); communication ( 4%); closing reading ( 10%); Vocabulary and grammar (38%) and writing(10%) Therefore, reading comprehension passages is not avoidable in the next multiple – choice English exam Skills for finishing a reading comprehension passage with the highest scores in a short time are not easy for candidates taking an exam There are different types of learning strategies which help candidates to solve their problems Reading strategies as actions make candidates’ task easier, enjoyable, effective and self – directed [6] Reading strategy helps readers increase their comprehension [4] Reading strategy refers to an action or a series of action of cognitive steps readers use while reading in order to acquire, store, and retrieve new information to construct meaning from the text [3] Reading strategy is one of the factors which influenced English comprehensive reading [11] In order to attain a high level of comprehension, readers have to know what strategy to use, how to use, and why to use them [11] The reading strategies refer to techniques that help candidates solve the problems they face whenever they read As a result, candidates need a guide to assist themselves to maximize their scores in reading comprehension part in an English test II THE PROBLEMS OF READING ENGLISH COMPREHENSION TESTS The most difficult problems that many 12 th grade students in other places as well as at Nong Cong High School have when they complete their reading comprehension are the limitation of vocabulary; the use of time in a test; the recognition of the types of reading comprehension and the method to them and the way to approach the passage The shortage of vocabulary knowledge Candidates or students may suffer mainly from understanding vocabulary with suitable contexts in reading comprehension passages The difficulties that can be found among readers is the existence of various meanings within the same word For example, the word “ present ” means “ gift ”, but in the context of reading passages it is understood “ the action of existing” The problem with such category is that the candidates knows only one meaning can lead him to a wrong understanding of the passage Insufficient vocabulary often drives candidates to many obstacles in reading comprehension since lexis has a very important role for a successful reading The types of multiple – choice questions When candidates or students have some troubles answering reading comprehension questions about the passage in an English test in National High School exam, it is assumed that they did not read the passage or were not paying close enough attention while reading For many candidates or students, however, this is not the case They did read, they are just unsure of how to locate information within the passage to help them answer the question posed Students need to be explicitly prepared how to recognize the multiple choice questions being asked and how to locate the information to help them answer One approach that can help them this is the strategy to distinguish the types of multi-choice reading comprehension questions they are being asked and how to find the answers to those questions This has an positive influence on scores of the test they in the National High School Exam Time pressure Timing is known as an important factor in scoring higher in reading comprehension part in English tests Most test-takers find this the hardest to complete a reading comprehension part because reading the passages takes up so much time Near the end of the test, candidates may realize that they won’t have enough time to finish The ways to approach the passages Candidates or students sometimes wonder which approach is better while solving reading comprehension questions, first reading the passage and then the questions or first reading questions and the passage Moreover, they read one word at a time like this: “ Different cultures follow their special customs when a child’s baby teeth fall out In Korea , for example , they have the custom of throwing lost teeth up on the roof of a house.”[5] This word-by-word reading slows candidates down and interfere with their comprehension and affect their scores Additionally, in reading comprehension, they not know how to skim and scan the passages, read them carefully and predict the answers These are considered at the same time as the sub-skills of reading Basing on these views, an action research is to improve scores at reading comprehension skill in English tests at Nong Cong High School as well as to reduce these difficulties III SUGGESTED STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING SCORES OF READING COMPREHENSION SKILL IN ENGLISH TESTS In this part, some strategies for reading comprehension skill in English tests are presented to reduce the students’ difficulties and motivate them getting higher marks at Nong Cong High School The author’s own experience suggests that these techniques make candidates more confident to take English tests Developing vocabulary for reading comprehension The vocabulary used in the Reading Comprehension portion is fairly sophisticated Therefore, students should be well prepared vocabulary knowledge of the topics in English books from grade 10th to 12th before taking an important exam for graduation They can be taught how to learn vocabulary relating the topics by the following tips: 1.1 Synonyms and Antonyms When learning new vocabulary, try to find synonyms and antonyms for each word This is especially important when learning adjectives or adverbs Unit Unit In English 12 [2] Synonyms - Work together - Safe (a) Vocabulary - Join hand - Secure (a) - Mischievous (a) Unit - Compulsory ( a) - Curriculum (n) - Upper secondary school Unit - Pessimistic ( a) - Incredible ( a) - Contribute (v) Unit 10 - Derive from Antonyms - Obedient (a) - Optional (a) - Study program - High school - Optimistic (a) - Unbelievable (a) - Donate (v) - Stem from - Enact (v) - Reserve - vulnerable Unit 14 - Appeal (v) - Dedicate (v) - Initiate (v) Unit 15 - Advocate (v) - Look down upon - Lose touch with - Neglect (v) - Prevent (v) - Preserve - Protected - Call upon Devote(v) Start (v) Agree (v) - Look up to - Keep in touch with - Ignore (v) 1.2 Vocabulary trees Vocabulary trees help provide context Once students have mapped a few vocabulary trees, they will discover themselves thinking in vocabulary groups In English 11 book [2] Unit 3: Party When students see the word “ Party”, their mind will quickly relate such words as birthday cakes; candles; birthday songs; gifts; etc Unit 15: Space conquest [2] When students learn the word “ space conquest”, they think about words as astronaut = cosmonaut, spacesuit, spacecraft, orbit, portable life support system, etc 1.3 Word formation charts Word formation refers to the form a word takes For example, the word satisfaction ( Unit – in English 11 book) [2] has four forms: Noun: satisfaction Verb: satisfy Adjective: satisfying / satisfied Adverb: satisfyingly Word formation is one of the keys to success for candidates to prepare for English exams These word formation charts provide the concept noun, personal noun, adjective, and verb forms of key vocabulary listed in alphabetical order There will almost certainly be words that candidates or students not recognize Sometimes they can guess the meaning of these words by context However, it is not necessary to understand all the vocabulary in the passages in order to answer the multi- choice questions Categorizing the types of questions in reading comprehension and how to these When students know the kinds of questions they must answer, it will be easier to find the answers or choose the correct answers In English tests of National High School Exam, multi-choice questions can be categorized into main idea, factual questions, negative question, scanning questions , inference questions, vocabulary – in – context questions, reference questions 2.1 Main idea questions After almost every passage, the first question or the last one is an overview question about the main idea, main topic, or main purpose of the passage Main idea questions ask students to identify an answer choice that correctly summarizes the author’s main idea, the subject of the whole passage, or the author’s reason for writing the passage • Sample questions: “ What is the main idea of the passage?” “ What is the passage primarily about?” “ Why is the author write the passage?” “ The main point of this passage is ” • Sample answer choices “ To define ……….…… ” “ To relate………… ….” “ To discuss ……… … ” “ To propose ………….…” “ To illustrate ………… ” “ To support idea that … ” “ To distinguish between _and _” “ To compare _and ” Students should not answer the initial overview question about a passage until they have answered the other questions The process of answering the detail 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, and 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 passages If students are not sure of the answer for one of these questions, go back and quickly scan the passage They can usually infer the main idea, main topic, or main purpose of the entire passage from an understanding of the main ideas of the paragraphs that make up the passage and the relationship between them Sample item: “Different cultures follow their own special customs when a child's baby teeth fall out ………… Birds aren't the only animals thought to take lost teeth………… The idea of giving lost teeth to an angel or fairy is also a tradition in the West …………” (Source: Reading Challenge by Casey Malarcher & Andrea Janzen) Question 28 What is the passage mainly about? A Traditions concerning children's lost teeth B Presents for young children's lost teeth C Animals eating children's lost teeth D Customs concerning children's new teeth (Code 401 – In the English test in National High School Exam 2017) [9] In the reading comprehension passage, when students read the main ideas of three paragraphs and the relationship among them, they will have their key A 2.2 Overview questions A number of other questions are asked that require an overall understanding of the passage These are often the last question in a set of questions Tone questions ask students to determine the author’s feelings about the topic by the language that he or she uses in writing the passage Look for vocabulary that indicates if the author’s feelings are positive, negative or neutral • Sample questions: “ What tone does the author take in writing this passage?” “ The tone of this passage could be best described as ……” “ Which of the following best describes the tone of the passage?” • Sample answer choices: Positive Humorous Worried Favorable Negative Ironic Optimistic Critical Neutral Amused Argumentative Objective Pleased Angry Informative Respectful Informative Sarcastic If students read the following sentence in passages, they may realize the tone of the passages would most likely be positive or negative Sample items: “ That was just the beginning of a remarkable series of performances by this brilliant actress” => These underlined words show a positive tone because it contains positive words “ At the time his poems were first published, they were very popular, but today most critics find them simplistic and rather uninteresting.”=> The sentence contains positive language ( “ very popular”) but overall, the tone is negative ( Words like but) “ Humans are bringing about another global-scale change in the atmosphere: the increase in what are called greenhouse gases Like glass in a greenhouse, these gases admit the Sun's light but tend to reflect back downward the heat that is radiated from the ground below, trapping heat in the Earth's atmosphere This process is known as the greenhouse effect Carbon dioxide is the most significant of these gases – there is 25 percent more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today than there was a century ago, the result of our burning 10 coal and fuels derived from oil Methane, nitrous oxide, and CFCs are greenhouse gases as well Scientists predict that increases in these gases in the atmosphere will make the Earth a warmer place They expect a global rise in average temperature somewhere between 1.0 and 3.5 degrees Celsius in the next century Average temperatures have in fact been rising and the years from 1987 to 1997 were the warmest years on record Some scientists are reluctant to say that global warming has actually begun because climate naturally varies from year to year and decade to decade, and it takes many years of records to be sure of a fundamental change There is little disagreement, though, that global warming is looming Global warming will have different effects in different regions A warmed world is expected to have more extreme weather, with more rain during wet periods, longer droughts, and more powerful storms Although the effects of future climate changes are unknown, some predict that exaggerated weather conditions may translate into better agricultural yields in areas such as the western United States, where temperature and rainfall are expected to increase, while dramatic decreases in rainfall may lead to severe droughts and plunging agricultural yields in parts of Africa, for example Warmer temperatures are expected to partially melt the polar ice caps, leading to a projected sea level rise of 50 centimeters by the year 2050 A sea level rise of this magnitude would flood coastal cities, force people to abandon low-lying islands, and completely inundate coastal wetlands Diseases like malaria, which at present are primarily found in the tropics, may become more common in the regions of the globe between the tropics and the polar regions, called the temperate zones For many of the world's plant species, and for animal species that are not easily able to shift their territories as their habitat grows warmer, climate change may bring extinction.” (Source: Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009 © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation) Question 50 Which of the following best describes the tone of the passage? A Sarcastic B Informative C Ironic D Argumentative (Code 403 – In the English test in National High School Exam 2017) [9] The underlined words show information because it consists of numbers, predictions, disasters and so on Choice B is the answer for the question 2.3 Factual questions Factual questions ask about explicit facts and details given in the passage They often contain one of the wh- question words: who, what, when, where, why, how much and so on Factual questions often begin with the phrases: “ According to the passage, …” or “ According to the author, ….” When students see these phrases, they should know that the information needed to answer the question is directly stated somewhere in the passage 11 To answer factual questions, students have to locate and identify the information that the question asks about If students are not sure from their first reading where to look for specific answers, use the following scanning techniques: • Focus on one or two keys words as students read the stem of each question Lock these words in their mind • Scan the passage looking for the key words or their synonyms Look only for these words Do not try to read every word of the passage • It may help to use a pencil as a pointer to focus their attention Do not reread the passage completely – just look for these words • When students find the key words in the passage, carefully read the sentence in which they occur Students may have to read the sentence preceding or following that sentence as well • Compare the information students read with the four answer choices The order of detail questions about a passage almost always follows the order in which ideas are presented in the passage In other words, the information students need to answer the first detail question will usually come near the beginning of the passage; the information for the second will follow that, and so on Knowing this should help students locate the information students need Correct answers for detail questions are seldom the same, word for word, as information in the passage; they often contain synonyms and use different grammatical structures Sample item: (Paragraph 1……………………………………… ) “A typical Japanese wedding party starts when the bride and groom enter the banquet hall together, and take their seats on a slightly raised platform facing their guests Invited guests are seated closer to the bride and groom, with family and relatives seated further in back The bride's and groom's bosses usually give congratulatory speeches then their friends sing in celebration Other wedding highlights include a candle ceremony where the couple holds a candle while greeting their guests at each table, and the cutting of the wedding cake Afterwards, the bride and groom thank their parents with a speech, then leave to end the party In the past, dishes that supposedly brought good fortune, such as prawns and sea breams, were served in abundance So much of the food was ordered that guests ended up taking the surplus home Today, the majority of the weddings serve just enough for everyone Additionally, before leaving, guests would traditionally receive souvenir gifts called hikidemono.” ( Paragraph 4…………………………………………………… ) (Source: http://www.hiraganatimes.com) Question 39 According to paragraph 2, which of the following the bride and groom at their wedding party? A They deliver a speech to thank their parents 12 B They sit on a platform at the back of the stage C They hold a candle and sing in celebration D They give a speech to thank their bosses Question 41 How were the wedding dishes in the past different from those of today? A They were more delicious B They were less delicious C They were served in smaller amounts D They were served in larger amounts (Code 403 – In the English test in National High School Exam 2017) [9] Question 39 and 41 are factual questions because there are “ According to the …” and “ How” “ which” It is not difficult for students to locate the information in paragraph and Focus on underlined key words, scan the passage looking for key words in paragraph : “Afterwards, the bride and groom thank their parents with a speech, then leave to end the party.” Or some key words in paragraph “In the past, dishes ………, were served in abundance.” “ Today, the majority of the weddings serve just enough for everyone.” Therefore, question 39: choose A and question 41: choose D 2.4 Negative questions Negative questions ask students to determine which of the four choices is not given in the passage These questions contain the words NOT, EXCEPT (which always capitalized) • According to the passage, all of the following are true EXCEPT … • Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage? Scan the passage to find the answer that ARE correct or Are mentioned in the passage Sometimes the three distractors are clustered in one or two sentences; sometimes they are scattered throughout the passage The correct answer is the one that does not appear Negative questions often takes more time than other questions Therefore, students may want to guess and come back to these questions if they have time Sample item: “ The idea of giving lost teeth to an angel or fairy is also a tradition in the West Many children in Western countries count on the Tooth Fairy to leave money or presents in exchange for a tooth The exact origins of the Tooth Fairy are a mystery, although the story probably began in England or Ireland centuries ago According to tradition, a child puts a lost tooth under his or her pillow before going to bed In the wee hours, while the child is sleeping, the Tooth Fairy takes the tooth and leaves something else under the pillow In France, the Tooth Fairy leaves a small gift In the United States, however, the Tooth Fairy usually leaves money These days, the rate is $1 to $5 per tooth, adding up to a lot of money from the Tooth Fairy!” 13 (Source: Reading Challenge by Casey Malarcher & Andrea Janzen) “Question 33 According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true about the tradition of tooth giving in the West? A Children give money to the Tooth Fairy B Children put their lost teeth under their pillows C Children hope to get money or gifts from the Tooth Fairy D Lost teeth are traditionally given to an angel or fairy.” (Code 401 – In the English test in National High School Exam 2017) [9] Question 33 is a negative question which contains NOT word Scan the paragraph to find the answers that is mentioned The choice B is “According to tradition, a child puts a lost tooth under his or her pillow before going to bed”; The choice C is “while the child is sleeping, the Tooth Fairy takes the tooth and leaves something else under the pillow” The choice D is ““ The idea of giving lost teeth to an angel or fairy is also a tradition in the West” The sentence “Children give money to the Tooth Fairy” is not mentioned in the paragraph, so the answer is A 2.5 Vocabulary – in – context questions In vocabulary-in-context questions, students must determine which of four words or phrases can best substitute for a word or words ( usually nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs) Some ask about two or three-word phrases Sometimes two of the answer choices for these items might be “ correct ” definitions of the words that is asked about In those cases, students must decided which of the two is correct in the context of the passage In ordinary reading, there are a number of clues that can help students determine the meaning of unknown word: • Synonyms “The first state to institute compulsory education was Massachusetts, which made it mandatory for students to attend school twelve weeks a year.” The word “ mandatory” is a synonym for the word “ compulsory” • Examples “Many gardeners use some kind of mulch, such as chopped leaves, peat moss, grass clippings, pine needles, or wood chips, in order to stop the growth of weeds and hold in moisture.” From the examples given, it is clear that “mulch” is plant matter • Contrast “In the 1820s, the Southern states supported improvements in the national transportation system, but the Northern states balked.”[1] Since the Southern states supported improvements, and since a word signaling contrast ( but) is used, it is clear that the Northern states disagreed with this idea, and that the word “balked” must mean objected or refused 14 • General context “In a desert, vegetation is so scanty as to be incapable of supporting any large human population.” [1] As is generally known, deserts contain little vegetation, so clearly the word “scanty” must mean scarce or barely sufficient When answering vocabulary-in-context questions, students must most often depend on the general context of the sentence to help students choose the correct answer Students should follow these steps to answer vocabulary-in-context items a Look at the word being asked about and the four answer choices If students are familiar with the word, guess which answer is correct Do NOT mark their answer sheet yet b Read the sentence in which the word appears If students were familiar with the word and guessed at the answer, make sure that the word that students chose fits with the word as it is used in the sentence If students were familiar with the word, see if context clues in the sentence or in the sentence before or after help students guess the meaning c If students 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 students can eliminate) d If students are still not sure, make the best guess they can and go on Sample item: “Most weddings in Japan start with a religious ceremony in which usually only family members attend Afterwards, a banquet is customarily held to which many people, including friends and colleagues, are invited To celebrate the happy occasion, guests give the bride and groom goshuugi – gift money in special envelopes Goshuugi from friends is usually 20,000 yen or 30,000 yen ………………… In the past, dishes that supposedly brought good fortune, such as prawns and sea breams, were served in abundance So much of the food was ordered that guests ended up taking the surplus home Today, the majority of the weddings serve just enough for everyone Additionally, before leaving, guests would traditionally receive souvenir gifts called hikidemono.” Question 37 According to the passage, goshuugi is A an important guest B a happy occasion C a type of food D a kind of gift Question 40 The word "fortune" in paragraph is closest in meaning to _ A excitement B luck C money D benefit (Code 403 – In the English test in National High School Exam 2017) [9] The phrase “gift money in special envelopes” indicates that it is a gift The answer is choice D 15 The word “ fortune” is the noun of the adverb “ fortunately” Students can guess the answer Or the word “ fortune” is based on “ brought” “ good” “ such as prawns and sea breams” Moreover, choice B is synonymous with the word that is asked about 2.6 Reference questions Reference questions ask what noun (called the reference), a pronoun or some other expression refers to The correct answer is NOT always the noun that is closest to the pronoun in the passage Incorrect choices are usually other nouns that appear in the passage If students are unable to decide immediately which answer is correct, substitute the four choices for the word that is being asked about Read the items, then decide choice is the correct referent for the underlined expression and choose the answer Sample item: “ Different cultures follow their own special customs when a child's baby teeth fall out In Korea, for example, they have the custom of throwing lost teeth up on the roof of a house According to tradition, a magpie will come and take the tooth Later, the magpie will return with a new tooth for the child In other Asian countries, such as Japan and Vietnam, children follow a similar tradition of throwing their lost teeth onto the roofs of houses.” Question 29 The word "their" in paragraph refers to A houses' B roofs' C children's D countries' (Code 401 – In the English test in National High School Exam 2017) [9] Of four choices, only “ children’s” is a logical substitute for “ their” 2.7 Inference questions There are questions in Reading English Comprehension tests that require students to make inferences The answers to the questions are not directly provided in the passage – students must “ read between the lines” In other words, they must make conclusions based indirectly on information in the passage Many test-takers find these questions the most difficult types of reading questions Inference questions may be phrased in a number of ways Many of these questions contain some form of the words “ infer” or “ imply” Sample questions or sentences • “ Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?” • “ It can be inferred from the passage that ………” • “ The author implies that …………… ” • “ Which of the following does the passage imply?” • “ It is probable that …………….” 16 Sample item: “ Once the loggers leave the land, a typical cycle of destruction ensues When the landless farmers arrive, they clear the land for planting Poor rainforest soils produce a low crop yield, especially after a couple of years At that point, the farmers often sell their lands to cattle ranchers or large plantation owners After nutrients have been exhausted and soils compacted by cattle, lands are then abandoned and often laid to waste Rainforest does not readily regenerate on these lands without human intervention Meanwhile, the colonist farmers and cattle ranchers move to a new piece of land made accessible by logging roads, where the cycle of deforestation begins again. (Source: Microsoft đ Encarta đ 2009 â 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation) Question 42 What can be inferred about rainforests from the passage? A Rainforest destruction can be reduced with the help of cattle ranchers B The cycle of rainforest destruction will come to an end C Human beings are the main contributor to deforestation in tropical regions D Most tropical rainforests have been sold to plantation owners.” (Code 404 – In the English test in National High School Exam 2017) [9] Choice (A) is not a valid inference; “ the farmers often sell their lands to cattle ranchers” and “ After nutrients have been exhausted and soils compacted by cattle” Choice (B) also cannot be inferred; “ Once the loggers leave the land, a typical cycle of destruction ensues When the landless farmers arrive, they clear the land for planting ”and “ the cycle of deforestation begins again.” Choice ( D) cannot be inferred because “ the farmers often sell their lands to cattle ranchers or large plantation owners” and “ cattle ranchers move to a new piece of land” Choice (C) is inferred that “ farmers arrive, they clear the land for planting” “After a couple of years” “ when poor rainforest soils produce a low crop yields”,” they often sell their land to cattle ranchers ” “After nutrients have been exhausted by cattle, lands are then abandoned” “cattle ranchers move to a new piece of land” and “the cycle of deforestation begins again” It refers that “Human beings are the main contributor to deforestation in tropical regions” Using time properly Timing is an important factor in scoring high in English tests Near the end of the test, students may realize that they will not have enough time to finish When there is only about or minutes remaining, this is what students should do: if students have not read one of the passages, skim it over very quickly to get the main idea Answer the first question about it ( which will probably be a main idea or topic question) Then answer any of the questions that provide line numbers ( vocabulary-in-context and reference questions) because these quire 17 less time to locate the information they need Then answer any remaining questions, referring back to the passage as little as possible If students cannot find the information needed to answer the question in about 10 seconds, just pick the choice that seems the most logical Then, in the last few seconds, choose the answer with their “ guess answer” On the other hand, if students finish the test before time is called, they should go back and work on items that they had trouble with the first time The ways to approach the passage Read the questions first Read the question, not the answer choices When students know the kinds of questions they must answer, it will be easier to find the answers Skim or read the passage quickly Do not read word for word or in detail Read quickly to find the main idea and general organization Go back to the passage to answer the questions If students know the answer, they not need to go back the passage Leave the difficult questions until last Take the guess when they not know the answer If students not know the answer, they should take a guess When they are taking a guess, first use a process of elimination instead of guessing blindly All multiple-choice questions often follow the same principle There is one stem and four answer choices One choice is correct, and the three incorrect choices are distracters In other words, they distract students, or take their attention away from the correct answer IV EXPERIMENTAL RESULT In conclusion, students have clear improvement in their reading ability in English tests comparison with their performances before They become more confident in taking English tests be willing to read without any fear of making mistakes Students have a considerable amount of vocabulary which relates to certain topics and they can use them to read in real situations Their reading skills in English tests are also improved Students’ improvement can be seen clearly in their reading tests The following chart is the result of class 12a2: Before applying strategies (Reading test at the beginning Class Total of the school year) 12A2 33 After applying strategies in class (Reading tests at the end of the school year) Excellent Good Fair Poor Excellent good Fair Poor (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) 12 33 27.5 27.5 24 48 19 18 PART THREE: CONCLUSION AND PROPOSAL I CONCLUSION The time allowed for me to implement my strategies was limited due to the fact that data collected over a longer time period produces results that can be considered to be more reliable and valid Nevertheless, conducting this action research made me aware of the importance of the teaching of skills for students to reading comprehension passages in English tests for National High School Exam I recommend that teachers of language to young learners should use a variety of strategies that encourage the students and make them more confident to take the exam with higher marks Additionally, I strongly recommend that teachers consider implementing other strategies to promote students’ reading comprehension skills Through this research, I learnt about many strategies that help to promote testing skills for reading passages, and it gave me an opportunity to implement the use of different motivational techniques to enhance students’ skills for taking English exams The data collected seem to support my assumptions that using strategies would have a positive impact on students’ scores, and would increase students’ confidence in their taking English exams The results also indicate that while teacher interaction and motivation play positive roles in students’ attitudes toward self-access learning, they make difference in the type of self-study activities students pursue It is also clear that students’ positive attitude becomes even stronger when the teacher motivates them to learn strategies to improve their scores in English exams II PROPOSAL With awareness of these limitations, it is suggested that further research be extended to: • provide students with the sources of reading comprehension materials so that students can study better • give more time for reading skill and skills for reading comprehension passage in English exams at high school for students to practice • reduce the amount of students per class instead of about 50 students in English lessons Confirmation of the Head Master of Nong Cong High School Thanh Hoa, May 20 th,2018 I declare that the work contained in this initiative is result of my own research Mai Thi Kim Dung 19 REFERENCES Nguyễn Thị Chi ( chủ biên) Hướng dẫn ôn tập thi tốt nghiệp THPT năm học 2014 – 2015, 2016 – 2017, 2017 – 2018, NXB Giáo dục Việt Nam Hoàng Văn Vân ( chủ biên), Sách giáo khoa, sách giáo viên Tiếng Anh lớp 10,11,12, NXB Giáo dục Việt Nam Anderson, N.j.(1991) Individual Differences in Strategy Use in Second Language Reading and Testing In Modern Language Journal Carrell, P.L (1983) Background Knowledge in second language comprehension in Language Learning and Communication Milada Broukal (2000) Toefl Reading flash Oxford, R (1990) Language Learning Strategies : What every teacher should know New York New Bury Rivers, W.(1981) Teaching Foreign Language skills, Chicago University of Chicago Press CV 1050/SGD ĐT-GDTrH V/v hướng dẫn ôn tập thi THPT quốc gia năm 2018 24 mã đề thi thức đáp án đề thi Trung Học Phổ Thông Quốc Gia năm 2017 10 https://tuoitrenews.vn/education/22346/vietnam-merges-high-schoolgraduation-and-university-entrance-exams 11 https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1094397.pdf 20 ... as to reduce these difficulties III SUGGESTED STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING SCORES OF READING COMPREHENSION SKILL IN ENGLISH TESTS In this part, some strategies for reading comprehension skill in English. .. considered at the same time as the sub-skills of reading Basing on these views, an action research is to improve scores at reading comprehension skill in English tests at Nong Cong High School as well... difficulties in reading comprehension skills when they participate in English Tests in National High School Exam b To give students some strategies to reduce candidates’ pressure and improve reading comprehension