APPLYING SOME TECHNIQUES TO HELP PUPILS OF GRADE 12 AT NHU THANH SECONDARY AND HIGH SCHOOL DO READING COMPREHEN

1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 RATIONALE OF THE STUDY In today’s global world, the importance of English can not be denied and ignored since English is the most common language spoken everwhere With the help of developing technology, English has been playing a major role in many sectors including medicine, engineering, and education, which, in my opinion, is the most important arena where English is needed Particularly, as a developing country, Turkey needs to make use of this world-wide spoken language in order to prove its international power This can merely be based on the efficiency of tertiary education It is widely spoken and written language in the world Most of the records, documents and particulars are written in English All the journals, magazines, articles and papers are also written in English So without knowing English it is quite impossible for us to know the latest information, invention and new discoveries The world is running so fast We know that it is the age of information, communication technology and science All the internet activities are conducted in English To connect with the other person of the world within a moment, to send any application, document and other writing material there is other language but English In order to keep pace with the world there is no other alternative to learning English As a smart, modern, civilized and wise person one should learn English Not only this, but also to be a higher educated person English is a must If we want to earn vast knowledge and higher education in any branch, we are to take help from the books which are written in English It is clear to us that the world seeks the person who knows English well He can easily get service, mix with the other persons, enjoys more opportunities than others Moreover, it helps a man to get a good job easily An expert person in English can easily earn vast wealth by using English So if we don’t know English, we will fail to keep pace with the progressive force of the world Many foreign guests and delegates come to our country They don’t know our mother tongue So we need to learn English to communicate with them From this we can say that we need to learn English to join the advanced and developed world So we should be very serious and sincere about learning English as an emergency basis In our country, English has been regarded as the most important foreign language nowadays, especially since the Vietnamese Government carried out the open door policy, English has been taught for a long time in Vietnam It becomes a compulsory subject in most universities and schools throughout the country However, the emphasis on transmission of structural rules and forms often sever as the principal method of teaching English in Vietnamese schools and universities In Reading leassons, the students always have difficulties and challenges in understanding the content of the reading passage because of the shortage of vocabularies/structures, so that they can not tasks well The knowledge of English of the students in Nhu Thanh Secondary&high school is not good, not excellent so when they take part in examinations, they ofen get low mark because don’t have a good choice for questions In my own observation through my teaching in Nhu Thanh Secondary&High School, I see that most of my students are aware of the importance of learning English in which vocabulary and grammar play an important role However, their knowledge of English seems still very poor Many students say that they have not paid much their attention to learn vocabulary and grammar items by heart, they have problems with word formation and usage A lot of them have not learnt words in context; and they are lack of excitement in the classroom, etc… Grammar is central to the teaching and learning of languages It is also one of the more difficult aspects of language to teach well Many people, including language teachers, hear the word "grammar" and think of a fixed set of word forms and rules of usage They associate "good" grammar with the prestige forms of the language, such as those used in writing and in formal oral presentations, and "bad" or "no" grammar with the language used in everyday conversation or used by speakers of nonprestige forms Language teachers who adopt this definition focus on grammar as a set of forms and rules They teach grammar by explaining the forms and rules and then drilling students on them This results in bored, disaffected students who can produce correct forms on exercises and tests, but consistently make errors when they try to use the language in context Teaching grammar is an essential part of school education or adult learning Without good grammar, spoken or written words lose much of their meaning and most of their value Grammar is a very important thing to get right, and teachers should take extra care to impart proper grammar to all their students Sadly, grammar is often seen as a difficult and boring subject and one popular method of teaching is to just repeat the correct grammar for a certain situation over and over until it is memorised and able to be repeated, like a parrot This is dull for both teachers and students, and often only results in the students being able to repeat what they have learned, rather than resulting in a complete understanding that can be applied to all situations It is very clear that teaching vocabulary and grammar are too great and various to talk about With the limitation of this paper, I will only focus on some simple signs which are regarded as the most effective methods to helps pupils of grade 12 national high school exam with subject of English On the other hand, Reading Comprehension is the ability to understand a written passage of text Basically: “Did you understand what you have read?” It is the bridge between the passive reader and active reader It is the crucial link to effective reading which is essential for a rich academic, professional and personal life Reading fluency is a very important part of reading comprehension as readers who spend their time decoding words tend to lose the understanding of what is being read If your child is still decoding at Grade level it is vital to return to the basic mental tools that create a solid cognitive foundation in order to establish successful reading comprehension These cognitive skills include attention, auditory analysis, sound blending, memory, processing speed and visual perception A lack of strong reading comprehension skills definitely affects a child’s success at school as academic progress depends on understanding, analysing and applying information gathered through reading In a test, the total questions of reading comprehension is great, it covers about more than 30 percents, so the students don’t undersatnd the reading passage well, it means they can not the reading passage well Therefore, I have decided to choose this subject “Applying some techniques to help pupils of grade 12 at Nhu Thanh secondary and High School reading comprehension better ” 1.2 AIMS OF THE STUDY - When writing this innovation, I wish to offer some ideas to find the best ways to help pupils, especially, pupils of grade 12 national high school exam with subject of English get mark - I the research to know about the fact of learning vocabularies as well as grammar of students so that I can provide them with some easier ways to the exam 1.3 OBJECT OF THE STUDY - In this innovation teaching, I focus on finding some solutions to guide pupils of grade 12 at Nhu Thanh secondary and High School reading comprehension better The class I carried out my research is 12C2, 12C3 at Nhu Thanh Secondary&High school 1.4 METHODS OF STUDY - The method of collecting and analyzing material for the resarch: Research for material concerning about the subject, analyse and get certain knowledge from previous researches, finally give the foundation to the research - Exchange method discussion: Discussion with other colleagues after visiting their classes to draw out experiences - Experimental method: This research is also carried out in my teaching vocabularies and grammar CONTENT 2.1 THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL BASIS: 2.1.1 Theoretical basis: English has played a vital role in society and made considerable contribution to education, culture, science and technology The number of people learning English for various purposes (such as for job, business, traveling…) is continually on the increase everyday Therefore different kinds of English teaching and learning materials are available over the world, especially in Vietnam In our country, English has been regarded as the most important foreign language nowadays, especially since the Vietnamese Government carried out the open door policy English has been taught for a long time in Vietnam It becomes a compulsory subject in most universities and schools through out the country As we know that, the aim of teaching a foreign language is not only to provide students with the knowledge of language to solve exercises, or to the exam, but it also helps students to have abitity to communicate with other people in that language So, in order to communicate in a foreign language well, students ought to have good ability about Listening skill, Speaking skill, Reading skill, Writing skill These skills can be done well or not, they are based on the number of vocabularies and grammar of students It means that the number of vocabularies of students and the understanding of grammar structures play an important role in improving skills Although many children can read, reading and reading comprehension are two different things While reading involves translating and decoding text into sounds and spoken words, reading comprehension involves taking what was just read and deriving meaning from those words In simpler terms, reading comprehension is the ability to read, understand, process, and recall what was just read Proper reading comprehension can be difficult, so why bother? Even though learning how to properly read and comprehend texts is a complicated process, it is a necessary skill to master, both for work and for pleasure You will need to know how to read and interpret all kinds of different texts— both on the basic, literal level and on a more in-depth level—throughout your schooling, in college, and in the working world (as well as in your recreation time!) If we think about "reading" just as a literal or surface understanding of a piece and "reading comprehension" as the complete understanding, a person can only get by in the world on pure "reading" for so long Reading comprehension is essential for many significant aspects of daily life, such as: Reading, understanding, and analyzing literature in your English classes Reading and understanding texts from your other class subjects, such as history, math, or science Doing well on both the written and math sections of the SAT (or all five sections of the ACT) Understanding and engaging with current events presented in written form, such as news reports Properly understanding and responding to any and all other workplace correspondence, such as essays, reports, memos, and analyses Simply taking pleasure in written work on your own leisure time Just like with any goal or skill, we can master reading comprehension one step at a time 2.1.2 Practical basis: After many years of teaching English in Nhu Thanh high School, and now I am teaching English at Nhu Thanh Secondary&High School, I find that the large number of students is very afraid of learning English, especially in learning new words and grammars because according to them, new words are difficult to learn by heart, but easy to forget and English grammar is differrent from Vietnamese, so whenever the teacher asks them to check old lesson, they always feel nervous This leads to result they have low marks, moreover, when they the test or the exam, they always make mistakes that is why they always say that English is the most difficult subject To solve this problem, in the past few years, I have helped students to overcome the difficulties by creating interesting lesson in every period of lesson so that students can feel more interesed in learning English So I decide to choose this research subject 2.2 THE STATUS OF THE RESEARCH SUBJECT: 2.2.1 The advantages of teaching reading comprehention: For students - We know that English has become a compulsory subject in most schools, when students were in primary and secondary school, they were also taught this subject, so when they enter high school, they also have a basic knowledge, they are familiar with the ways of learning this subject On the other hands, students themselves realized the importance of learning English so they spend more time, money on their study and buying facilities which help them study better Besides, the facilities which the school has to help students study are good and enough For teachers: - Most teachers have good knowledge and good method of teaching English, besides, they love teaching Moreover, students are interested in learning English - The facilities of the school like language laboratory , books , tapes , and radios are full and Administrator is interested and facilitates the teaching of the teachers so that they can prove their abilities in the best way - Most students have motivation in their study 2.2.2 The disadvantages of teaching reading comprehention: For students: - As I said above, the large number of students is very afraid of learning English, especially in learning new words and grammar because according to them, new words and grammar are difficult to learn by heart, but easy to forget Besides, some students are lazy in learning vocabularies and grammar, they don,t have motivation in their study - Classrooms are too crowded so some students don,t have opportunity to practise their English in class For teachers: - Some of teachers have difficulty in teaching new words and grammar because they have not created an interesting learning environment - There are also some teachers who have not applied new teaching methods so this makes students feel bored when learning English 2.2.3 Specific survey in classes 12C2, 12C3 Class Excellent Good Fair Poor (%) (%) (%) (%) 12C2 4,5 11,8 46,1 37,6 12C3 5,7 12,9 47,6 33,8 2.3 SOME TECHNIQUES TO HELP PUPILS DO THE READING COMPREHENSION BETTER 2.3.1 The importance of teaching reading comprehention Reading comprehension is the understanding of what a particular text means and the ideas the author is attempting to convey, both textual and subtextual In order to read any text, your brain must process not only the literal words of the piece, but also their relationship with one another, the context behind the words, how subtle language and vocabulary usage can impact emotion and meaning behind the text, and how the text comes together as a larger, coherent whole For instance, let's look at the first line from Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." Now, a completely literal interpretation of the text, just based on word-meaning, would have us believe that 'all rich men want wives.' But the context, word choice, and phrasing of the text actually belie that interpretation By using the phrases "universally acknowledged" and "must be in want of" (emphasis ours), the text is conveying a subtle sarcasm to the words Instead of it being an actual truth that 'rich men want wives,' this one sentence instantly tells us that we're reading about a society preoccupied with marriage, while also implying that the opening statement is something people in that society may believe, but that isn't necessarily true In just a few short words, Austen conveys several ideas to the reader about one of the main themes of the story, the setting, and what the culture and people are like And she does so all the while seeming to contradict the literal words of the piece As we know that, reading comprehension plays an very importannt role in a test or in an exaxmination Reading comprehention is the understanding of what a particular text means and the ideas the author is attempting to convey, both textual and subtextual In order to read any text, your brain must process not only the literal words of the piece, but also their relationship with one another, the context behind the words, how subtle language and vocabulary usage can impact emotion and meaning behind the text, and how the text comes together as a larger, coherent whole Teaching reading in the English language course should include the following set of learning goals: - enable students to read a wide range of texts in English - develop awareness of the structures of the written English texts - develop the ability of criticizing the content of texts - practice different types of reading according to the purpose of reading - exposing students to different types of texts to build solid knowledge of the language and to facilitate reading in the future Four types of reading: - Skimming: reading for the gist or the main idea of the text - Scanning: reading to find specific information - Extensive reading: reading for pleasure and general understanding - Intensive reading: reading for getting the details A good reader: Reading research shows that a good reader should: - be able to read extensively as well as intensively - integrate information in the text with existing knowledge - be able to use the two models of reading in processing a text - be able to skim or scan a text depending on what he reads and the purpose of reading - read for a purpose His reading serves a function 2.3.2 How to teach reading comprehension skill to help pupils the test and the examination better */ Pre-Reading Pre-Reading Activities Why are Pre-Reading Activities Important? What are some Pre-Reading Activities that You can Implement in the Classroom? +/ Discussion +/ I’m listening to You +/ Quotations +/ Guessing from Words +/ Guessing from Pictures: +/ Pictionary +/ Guessing from sentences +/ How many words you know? +/ Speed chatting +/ Brainstorming +/ True or False +/ Introducing Vocabulary This reading stage is very important because pre-reading activities help students prepare for the reading activity by activating the relevant schemata, and motivating them to read Pre-reading activities can also help learners anticipate the topic, vocabulary and possibly important grammar structures in the texts Some activities in pre-rading stage: - Discussion: Create a discussion about the topic Teacher prepares sentences expressing opinions about the topic, then sticks them in corners of the classroom Students go and stand near the opinion they disagree with the most The group explains why the disagree about the topic - Guessing from Words Before students look at the text they are going to read, the teacher writes or words from the text on the board and asks the students to guess the topic or teacher can use the Spider words to introduce new topic Select some of the key words from the text Put the class into two or three groups In turn, a learner from each group (at the same time) comes to the whiteboard They are told the word and they have to draw that word They are not allowed to use letters or numbers in their drawing The other students try to guess the word and earn points for their team This can get very lively indeed! How many words you know? The teacher prepares the board by writing the letters of the alphabet in or columns The students form two lines standing behind each other Use colored markers so you know which team wrote what The first student at the front of each team gets the board marker The teacher gives a topic to the class The students move to the board and write one word related to the topic on the board next to the letter it begins with, then pass the marker/chalk to the next students in their team and go to the back of the queue The teams compete to write as many words as possible on the board in minutes The team with the largest number of appropriate and correctly spelled answers wins! For example: In Unit 12: WATER SPORTS- English 12, Part A- Reading: Teacher can use Spider Words by calling some pupils go to blackboard to write kinds of sport related to water sports Swimming Water polo Rowing Scuba-diving WATER SPORTS Windsurfing Synchronized Swimming Water power Solar Enery SOURCES OF ENERY Nuclear power Geothermal heat Wind Power - Guessing from Pictures: The teacher finds pictures or objects which are connected to the story and ask the students to guess how they are connected Students read the text to check Some questions we should use such as: - Do you know what kind of sport is? - Do you know this kind of sport? - Have you ever seen this kind of sport? - Do you know how to play this kind of sport? Teacher calls pupil in turn to stand up and answer questions so that teacher can ask pupils “Can you guess What the topic today is?” The teacher gives the title of the reading to the learners and students have to share their all their knowledge about the topic The goal of this activity is help learners create expectations about what they are about to read and then see if their expectation were met For example if you have to teach about the influence of social media on teenagers, students can take turn and talk about the topic, as they read they can confirm if the study they read confirm their expectations - Introducing Vocabularies and Structures In the context of an English clasroom, it will always be important to introduce key vocabulary so students don’t get discouraged by unknown words while they read Introducing vocabulary doesn’t have to be a boring task, you can easily create a word list with key vocabulary and see if students can tell you something about those words There are two important parts which we have to master if we want to have a good knowledge of a language: vocabulary and grammar structures It is said that 10 words are bricks and grammar structures are mortar So we can't build a good wall of a language knowledge without one of the above two parts Vocabulary learning, both within and outside the domain of reading has been a key part of English education in our school There is a need for more students centered approaches that improve both the retention and usage in a progressive fashion that goes beyond rote memorization It is very clear that teaching vocabulary is too great and various to talk about With the limitation of this paper, I will only focus on some techniques which are regarded as the most effective techniques in my teaching vocabulary here Traditionally, the teaching of vocabulary was mostly incidental, limited to presenting new items as they appeared in reading or listening texts This indirect teaching of vocabulary assumes that vocabulary expansion will happen through the practice of other language skills So students can independently build their own vocabulary by creating a Vocabulary Notebook It is considered the best way to self-study words to enrich the vocabulary To set up your students' vocabulary notebook, divide a spiral notebook into 26 sections, (one for each letter of the alphabet), allowing two or three pages per letter It's best to keep vocabulary separate from the Unit Porfolios, because many of the new words your students will learn along the way will not be specific to the thematic unit Vocabulary notebook pages can be helpful for students not only to observe their progress but also to establish an increasing awareness in reading Research has shown that it is much easier to remember words in context than in simple lists Students can also keep their vocabulary words in a file on computer It will be easier when they want to review their vocabulary lists Each day, students should make a vocabulary list of unknown words found while reading a newspaper, internet… At the end of the reading, students will be expected to make a vocabulary entries into their notebook If the student does not across any new words, choose new words from the "Vocabulary" section of the current unit study */ While-Reading As we know that, While-Reading activities are defined as activities that help students to focus on aspects of the text and to understand it better The goal of these activities is to help learners to deal as they would deal with it as if the text was written in their first language During this stage, students will be able to: - Confirm predictions - Gather information - Organize information In these actions teachers should ask pupils to some following activities: 11 - Identify topic sentences and the main idea of paragraphs: This is an important task, because it helps pupils identify and predict the content of the reading passage in order that they can exercises easier Remember that every paragraph usually includes a topic sentence that identifies the main idea of the paragraph - Distinguish between general and specific ideas: If you want to know what I mean, have a look at this reading exercise - Identify the connectors to see how they link ideas within the text: For a full list of linking words, have a look at these linking words grouped by category - Check whether or not predictions and guesses are confirmed: A reading class might start with one of these pre-reading activities Some pre-reading tasks might go beyond its stage - Skim a text for specific information: Skimming is the ability to locate the main idea within a text, using this reading strategies will help students to become proficient readers - Answer literal and inferential questions: Literal simply refers to what the text says and inferential is using the text as a starting point to get a deeper meaning - Infere the meaning of new words using the context: All language learners rely on context to decipher the meaning of a word, a reading strategy used quite a lot when you extensive reading - Student-to-student conversation, you can ask students to have a conversation after they have finished a paragraph or a stanza of a poem so they can clear up any confusions they might have - Scan a text for specific information: You scan when you look for your favorite show listed in the TV guide, when you look your friend’s phone number in your contact list If you want to use this reading strategy successfully, you need to understan how the reading material is structured as well as have a clear idea about what specific information you have to locate This technique is key if you need to find information in a hurry */ Post-Reading Post-reading activities help students understand texts further, through critically analyzing what they have read and these are carried out after you have implemented successfully Pre-Reading Activities and While-Reading Activities Examples of Post-Reading Activities - Creative Writing Ask students to choose 10-15 words from the text You can provide categories for the words e.g the most interesting words / the most important words Students then write a text using the words This text could be a story, poem or newsreport - Areas of Interest Ask students to say which part of the text is the most important/interesting and which part is not interesting or important 12 - Creative Discussions Prepare four or five simple questions and ask students to talk about those question for minutes and after that ask one member of each pair to go and talk to another person of the group - Quiz Your Classmates Ask your students to prepare questions about what they read, once they have them ready, you can tell the students to make groups of and then they can ask those questions to each other - Finding Related News After students have finished reading, they can browse on the internet for a new related to something they read, for example: if they read something about moral and values, they can find examples of altruism on the web and they can share that information with their classmates - Prepare a Survey Students can prepare a survey about the information they just read, using again the example of the moral and values reading, students can prepare questions such as: What would you if you found a wallet near to your house? What would you if you found a five dollars bill in the classroom? they can prepare the survey in class and ask the survey to their classmates or they can go home and bring the results and report them during next class - Parts of the Speech Ask students to spot the different parts of the speech from the reading, then they quiz their classmates asking questions such as: why type of word is moral? How would you use that word in a sentence? If you need to know more about the parts of the speech in preparation for the class The Parts of the Speech website can help you with that - Questions from Pictures Teachers shows a collage and ask student to look at the collage carefully and how some of the pictures relate to the reading they did - Character Analysis If you read a story, there must be one or two characters involved, analyze those characters and prepare a set of question that you would like to make them When all classmates have prepared their questions, ask them to give you their answers and then as a group try to answer the questions Advertisements 2.4 RESULT: After some years of teaching this way, I have seen the remarkable changes in my students' vocabulary as well as their grammar structures This helps students to have a large number of vocabularies and structures in doing exercises as well as 13 doing the tests Here is a table which tells the result students before and after applying these techniques The following is the result chart of classes Before applying some techniques After applying some techniques Class Excellent Good Fair Poor Excellent Good Fair Poor (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) 12C2 4,5 11,8 46,1 37,6 10,8 18,5 51,2 20,5 12C3 5,7 12,9 47,6 33,8 11,5 20,2 49,1 19,2 CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 3.1 CONCLUSION English nowadays has become an international mean of communication, so everyone should know how to communicate in English To use English perfectly, the learners must have good listening, speaking, reading and writing skills, and to this, the learners ought to have a large number of vocabularies good grammar As far as I have mentioned above, the process of teaching and learning vocabulary as well as grammar play an important part in learning a foreign language Within the limitation of the study, I cannot touch upon all techniques as well as problems which appear in teaching them, but what I hope to is just to discuss and present some techniques for a better vocabulary and grammar teaching which I have gained from my own experience of teaching English from that we can help our students to improve their English to meet the demand of study With limited experience, mistakes and blunders are unavoidable Further comments and remarks on this paper are warmly welcomed and highly appreciated./ */ SUGGESTIONS To meet the demand of today,s study, and to help students to have a good knowledge of English, I give some suggestions 1/ For students: Students should buy reference books to practise and exercises the more the better, on the other hands, they have to spend more time doing old lesson and preparing new lesson carefully before going to class Of course, students should practise doing the test more regularly 2/ For teachers: Teachers should change or apply new teaching methods which is suitable with students to create an interesting lesson to motivate students 3/ For school: School should have enough teaching facilities which help teschers to have a good teaching lesson Nhu Thanh, May 26th, 2019 The Headmaster’s identification I ensure that this study has been written by me The writer 14 Nguyen Van Phuc REFERENCES David Nunan (1991) the author of language teaching methodology book (David Nunan 1991) Enter the world of Grammar by E.Moutsou and S Parker Advanced language practice by Michael Vince Practical English Grammar (4rd Edition) by A.J.Thomson and A.V.Martinet English 10, 11, 12 Student's book and Teacher's book 15 ... with some easier ways to the exam 1.3 OBJECT OF THE STUDY - In this innovation teaching, I focus on finding some solutions to guide pupils of grade 12 at Nhu Thanh secondary and High School reading. .. undersatnd the reading passage well, it means they can not the reading passage well Therefore, I have decided to choose this subject Applying some techniques to help pupils of grade 12 at Nhu Thanh. .. Thanh secondary and High School reading comprehension better ” 1.2 AIMS OF THE STUDY - When writing this innovation, I wish to offer some ideas to find the best ways to help pupils, especially, pupils