“Pre reading strategies enhance high school students’ reading competence in reading lessons”

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING NGOC LAC ETHNIC BOARDING HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE INNOVATION PRE-READING STRATEGIES ENHANCE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ READING COMPETENCE IN READING LESSONS Writer: Đinh Văn Thiện Position: Teacher Topic in the fields of: English THANH HOA 2019 INDEX INDEX ……………………………………………………………… Page A INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………… I Reasons to choose the theme ……………………………………… II Purposes of the research ………………………………………… III Objects of the research ………………………………………… IV Range of the research ………………………………… ……… V Methodology of the research …………………………………… B CONTENTS ……………………………………………………… I Theoretical basis of the study ……………………………………… II Reality of the issue ……………………………………………… III The practical basics of the theme ………………………………… Solutions …………………………………………………………… Some suggested solutions to run “Before you read” part in high 11 school basic English curriculum IV The assessment of experimental results ………………………… 17 C CONCLUSION ………………………………………………… 18 Experience lessons ………………………………………………… 18 Proposal …………………………………………………………… 18 REFERENCE AND LINKS ………………………………………… 20 CONVENTIONS OF ABBREVIATIONS ………………………… 20 EXPERIENCE CATEGORY ASSESSED AND CLASSIFIED BY COUNCILS 21 A INTRODUCTION I Reasons to choose the theme Being the most popular language in the world, English is widely used in many countries all over the world in many fields such as economy, science and technology It is a useful means that helps human beings promote mutual understanding and connect each other around the world In Viet Nam, with the global economic integration as well as the innovation of economy and society, English has become more and more concerned by people of all ages, especially the younger generations Being aware of the importance of English, our government has issued numerous policies and decisions to improve learning and teaching English in order to gain the capacity to use it fluently As a result, English become a compulsory subject in school curriculum and an indispensable requirement in the current employment Although English is important in term of studying and employment, learning English is never a simple work It requires learners to master four basic skills: listening skill, speaking skill, writing skill and reading skill Among them, reading skill gives learners a massive amount of information, ways of expression and grammar structures Thus, developing reading skill for students is one of important tasks to help them not only comprehend their reading lessons in textbooks but also expand their knowledge through additional documentation However, it is a difficult skill that often challenges and declines most of the learners by its characteristic complexity To solve this situation, being a teacher of English, I considered carefully that how I can teach all my students to learn this skill effectively According to my experience of teaching, it is surprising to find that the prereading part is an important stage to a reading comprehension In order to conduct reading lessons in motivate and effective ways, I decided to study the topic: “Pre-reading strategies enhance high school students’ reading competence in reading lessons” II Purposes of the research Completing a reading lesson is not a problem to students and of course to a teacher of English The issue I want to emphasize here is that whether students have or not their interest and efficiency in the class Be aware of my responsibility for requirements of the Department of Education and Training combining my students’ reality to learn English at my school, I wrote this experience innovation wishing to share some of my own opinions to my colleagues about “Pre-reading strategies” I hope my research will help my high school students partially remove the difficulties they have in the process learning English III Objects of the research In a practical valuable research, choosing appropriate objects is one decisive part Basing on the fact of my teaching English in my school for many years, I have understood problems and difficulties in learning English of my students who are mainly ethnic minorities Therefore in this topic, I studied the fundamental solutions applied to the students in my school within my colleagues’ assistance The number of participants included four classes with a total of 120 students IV Range of the research In this topic I am just focusing on the following issues: Teacher’s tasks in “Pre-reading strategies” Students’ activities in “Pre-reading strategies” Some suggested solutions to run “Before you read” part in high school basic English curriculum V Methodolody of the research For complete data in high reliability, I carried out my study through a combination of the analysis and the comparison of four classes in reading lessons in which the output and interest of students are key values In order to have an effective subject, I researched it based on my own teaching experience process, a number of references related to reading skills and some comments of my colleagues B CONTENTS I Theoretical basis of the study In an English idiom: “It is the first step that counts.” people imply the importance of the beginning in most of the work We can apply this idiom when we evaluate the essential of “Pre-reading strategies” in entire process of reading teaching There is an indisputable fact that Pre-reading strategies allow students to think about what they already know about a given topic and predict what they will read or hear Before students read any text, teachers can direct their attention to how a text is organized, teach unfamiliar vocabulary or other concepts, search for the main idea, and provide students with a purpose for reading According to Danny Brassell and Timothy Rasinski: “Most importantly, teachers can use prereading strategies to increase students' interest in a text." (Danny Brassell and Timothy Rasinski, Comprehension That Works Shell Education, 2008) In other words, in “pre-reading strategies”, the instructor conducts tasks and asks students to take part in activities in order to achieve the following purposes:  Motivation in study  Need for study  Guideline for the topic and predication of the content  Pre-teach vocabulary However, what all successful pre-reading activities have in common is that they are student-centered The teacher has to identify the potential problems of readability inherent in a chosen reading text, and then has to help students find ways to overcome those difficulties Rather than just provide answers or summarize the content, the teacher can guide students identify the sources of their reading difficulties In order to obtain the intention above, the strategies must be applied flexibly and effectively in “Pre-reading” stage are Brainstorming, Discussion, and Questioning Brainstorming Sue Watson in his study indicated that Brainstorming is an excellent teaching strategy to generate ideas on a given topic It helps promote thinking skills When students are asked to think of all things related to a concept, they are really being asked to stretch their thinking skills Similarly, a substantial body of research affirmed that Brainstorming is a large or small group activity that encourages students to focus on a topic and contribute to the free flow of ideas By expressing ideas and listening to what others say, students adjust their previous knowledge or understanding, accommodate new information and increase their levels of awareness Brainstorming's main purposes are to:  focus students' attention on a particular topic  generate a quantity of ideas  teach acceptance and respect for individual differences  encourage learners to take risks in sharing their ideas and opinions  demonstrate to students that their knowledge and their language abilities are valued and accepted  introduce the practice of idea collection prior to beginning tasks such as writing or solving problems  provide an opportunity for students to share ideas and expand their existing knowledge by building on each other's contributions Discussion According to previous studies, discussion regarded as one of the most challenging teaching methods can also be one of the most rewarding Using discussion as a primary teaching method allows the teacher to stimulate critical thinking As the teacher establishes a rapport with the students, the teacher can demonstrate that the teacher appreciates their contributions at the same time that the teacher challenges them to think more deeply and to articulate their ideas more clearly Frequent questions, whether asked by the teacher or by the students, provide a means of measuring learning and exploring in-depth the key concepts of the course Questioning Questioning techniques are a heavily used, and thus widely researched, teaching strategy Research shows that asking questions is second only to lecturing Teachers typically spend anywhere from 35 to 50 percent of their instructional time asking questions A teacher may vary his or her purpose in asking questions during a single lesson, or a single question may have more than one purpose In a more general view, in their research named “Classroom Instruction That Works” Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock (2001) illustrated that instruction involving questioning is more effective than instruction without questioning Questioning is one of the research-based strategies presented in One important finding is that questions that focus student attention on important elements of a lesson result in better comprehension than those that focus on unusual or interesting elements Questions should also be structured so that most elicit correct responses Additionally, they indicated that teachers ask questions for a number of reasons, the most common of which are:  To actively involve students in the lesson  To increase motivation or interest  To evaluate students’ preparation  To check on completion of work  To develop critical thinking skills  To review previous lessons  To nurture insights  To assess achievement or mastery of goals and objectives  To stimulate independent learning II Reality of the issue Advantages Although many problems directly affect to the teaching and learning process, our teachers and students have surmounted the difficulties and have gradually improved the quality of teaching and learning English to meet the constantly changing requirements of the textbook programs • For teachers: - They have absorbed initially to new teaching methods - They have constantly improved knowledge as well as have learned experiences from each other to promote the quality of teaching • For students: - Most of them participate regularly and positively in learning English - They are always interested in learning new teaching methods Shortcomings We easily see boredom, lack of dynamism and inefficiency in reading lessons in my school This is what my colleagues and I have devoted special attention To find out the factors that lead to this problem, we carried out a survey and perhaps below are the major causes: • For teachers: - Many of them not make a sufficient preparation for every lecture - They apply new methods in their teaching inconstantly - Pre-reading strategies are conducted in inappropriate ways to students’ levels - Many of them are not really aware of the important role of Pre-reading strategies Some even ignore this part because of their own reasons • For the students: - Most of them not review and prepare the new lesson before coming to class - Their background knowledge is limited - Their comprehension skills are at the level of awareness - Their vocabulary is not available III The practical basics of the theme Solutions Normally, activities in Pre-reading strategies had better last from ten to fifteen minutes in a forty five-minute-lesson How can we achieve our goal in such a short time? There are many factors that affect directly effectiveness and excitement in pre-reading strategies, in which the preparation for the lesson of teacher and the students are two extremely important ones 1.1 What should teachers in Pre-reading strategies? To operate a reading lesson effectively, the teacher has to make a good preparation for it As being mentioned above, Pre-reading strategies play an important role in the process of teaching reading skill In a more specific view, the teacher should pay much more attention to “Before you read” He needs organize himself “Strategies to activate students’ knowledge” and prepare “Additional Pre-reading Strategies” 1.1.a Strategies to activate your prior knowledge: - Brainstorming: Brainstorming that helps the learners improve thinking skills as indicated earlier on in this study can excite students and set the context To achieve this goal, the teacher needs students to write words related to the reading, the pictures in the reading or the title, the topic of the reading At the same time, teachers or students can write words or phrases on the board These activities in this part should be short (around 3-4 minutes) and focused on the topic of the lesson In the same vein, “concept or mind mapping” is also a type of brainstorming in which the teacher sets the title / subject as the main idea, then develops a "mind map" around it It can be effective for the students in a group or by individual - Discussion: Group discussions in and out of class will help the students to discover what they bring to their reading lesson, what other fellow learners bring, as well as shared experiences Therefore, the teacher should ask students to discuss the pictures in the reading Tell them to say their thoughts about the text: Talk about what? What happens? In order to encourage all students in the class to participate in the discussion, the teacher should have students work in pairs or small groups If you find they have new background information, ask for more information from them Noticeably, in his study named “Discussion Method Teaching: A Practical Guide” (1989), William M Welty asserted that the leader in the discussion (the teacher in a reading lesson) needs enough space to move about the room in order to energize the discussion when necessary; ideally, enough space to be able to contact every student in the room - Questioning : Have students think of questions provided in “Before you read” part in the reading lesson in high school English curriculum This activity creates a useful practice in forming students' answers and giving them a reason to read Nevertheless, these questions given in the curriculum are sometimes inadequate and even inequivalent to effectively implement the tasks in this stage They can be flexibly applied or replaced by others which are created by teachers The followings are a series forms of questions that teachers can designed to ask students when in reading lessons: - Definition: What is ? Where does fit? What group does belong to? - Characteristics: How would I describe ? What does look like? What are its parts? - Examples: What is a good example of ? What are similar examples that share attributes but differ in some way? - Experience What experience have I had with ? What can I imagine about ? It is advisable to ask good students to answer questions and the kind of question asked will depend on the reason for asking it Questions are often referred to as ‘open’ or ‘closed’ Closed questions, which have one clear answer, are useful to check understanding during explanations and in recap sessions If the teacher wants to check recall, then he is likely to ask a fairly closed question, for example: ‘How many oceans are there in the world?’ or ‘How often are the Asian Games held?’ On the other hand, if the teacher wants to help pupils develop higher-order thinking skills, he will need to ask more open questions that allow students to give a variety of acceptable responses During class discussions and debriefings, it is useful to ask open questions, for example: ‘Can you explain why endangered species have become extinct?’, ‘Given all your arguments, why you don’t like horror films?’, ‘What you think about if all forests were distroyed?’ Questioning is sometimes used to bring a students’s attention back to the task in hand, for example: ‘What you think about this statement, Nam?’ or ‘Do you agree?’ 1.1.b Additional Pre-reading strategies - Visual Aids: Pictures and other visual material can activate your prior knowledge Likewise, visual aids can be used to draw students' attention to the main topic of the reading and create an exciting atmosphere for the class Thus, in addition to the pictures provided in English course books, teachers create diversity by using realia, such as pictures from newspapers, magazines, the Internet or a few ideas of how to incorporate pictures into your teaching * Use personal pictures: Whenever possible, use pictures of the teacher or real photos around the town or school (that students would recognize) in Power Points or games This will make it much more interesting and memorable for the students, so words will stick that much easier * Draw stick figures: When all else fails, or the teacher needs a quick solution, use the simple drawing or stick figure Stick figures take only a second to draw, can be used to teach just about anything, and are guaranteed to get a chuckle By these sources of aids, teachers should consider the pictures and questions carefully before giving to their students In order to make a good impression on students, the pictures must be lively, positive, related to the topic and easy to understand In this part, teachers order students look at the pictures in order to answer the questions or only think about them Of course, be sure that the questions should be concise, related to the content of the lesson and easy to answer Generally, there are many new words, expressions and grammar structures in a reading text This is a major problem that interrupts readers to discover the text In order to gain the high effectiveness, teachers can apply their favorable vocabulary teaching methods as long as each lasts roughly five minutes - Vocabulary Previews: By pre-teaching unfamiliar key words, students can improve new words, background information, and comprehension To gain this goal, it is advisable for the teacher to the following tasks:  List all words in the assignment that may be important for students to understand  Arrange words to show the relationships to the learning task  Add words students probably already understand to connect relationships between what is known and the unknown  Share information with students  Verbally quiz them on the information before assigned reading begins - Structural Organizers: Before reading an assignment, basic frameworks which are included in the text should be pointed out such as cause-effect or problem-solution It 10 can be beneficial to call attention to specific plans of paragraph or text organization such as signal words, main idea sentences, highlighted phrases, headings and subtitles A review of skimming techniques might also be appropriate as these various areas are covered Some suggested solutions to run “Before you read” part in high school basic English curriculum 2.1 Basic English 10 Period 2: Unit 1: A DAY IN THE LIFE OF … Lesson 1: Reading Part 1: Before you read The teacher can start off by raising some closed questions:  Do you get up early?  What time you often get up?  Do you need an o’clock to wake you up?  What you after breakfast?  What you in the morning / afternoon / evening? It it no use in correcting students’ answers but the teacher should encourage them speak out Next, two pictures are presented with two questions: 11 What are they doing? Where are they? Then, the teacher orders the students the reading text and pre-teach orally the below words in it: Go off (phv): (the bell or an alarm) ring Plough (v): a large farming implement with one or more blades fixed in a frame, drawn by a tractor or by animals Harrow (v): an implement consisting of a heavy frame set with teeth or tines dragged over plowed land to break up clods, remove weeds, and cover seed Do transplanting (phv): replanting is the technique of moving a plant from one location to another Peasant (n): farmer Get ready (phv): to prepare Contented (adj): satisfied with On the hand, verbally and visually the teacher can pre-teach some of these key words by giving pictures with the words cited below: The clock is going off Lead the buffalo to the field 12 Plough the plot of land Harrow the plot of land Do the transplanting Pump water into the plot of land Smoke lobaco cigarrette Take a short rest 2.2 Basic English 11 Period 39: Unit 7: WORLD POPULATION Lesson 1: Reading Part 1: Before you read The teacher can start off by giving two pictures with the questions: 13 What are the differences between the two families? The teacher leads students to focus on the items of houses, the number of children, and the living condition in each picture Next, order students look at and think about the picture: The below words in the text should be pre-taught orally: B.C : Before Christ (Eg.: In 2000 B.C.) A.D : Anno Domini (Eg.: In A.D 2000) figure (n): number (to) double (v): twice the quantity resource (n): a useful or valuable possession or quality of a country, organization, or a person (to) support (v) : provide (to) limit (v) – (n): a restriction on the size or amount of something permissible or possible birth-control method (n): method, medicine, or device used to prevent pregnancy It is time + clause (past simple) Eg.: It is time you went to bed 14 2.3 Basic English 12 Period 55: Unit 10: ENDANGERED SPECIES Lesson 1: Reading Part 1: Before you read Teachers should introduce to students pictures followings: Destructive habitats: Cut down trees Forest fire Chemistcal pollutants Smoke discharged from factories Endangered animals: 15 Deer Rhinocero Cheetah Elephant Next, the teacher raises a question: What you think about them? There may be a number of errors in students’ answers Instead of paying attention to these errors, the teacher should encourage them think, speak naturally and praise the ideas in dialogue or discussion Then the below words in the text should be pre-taught orally: identify (v): to recognize a problem, need, fact, etc and show that it exists habitat (n): the natural environment in which an animal or plant usually lives exploitation (n): the action of making use of and benefiting from resources urbanization (n): the process of making an area more urban verge (n): an edge or border biodiversity (n): the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem conservation (n): prevention of wasteful use of a resource In the same vein, teachers can use “concept map” as a form of brainstorming to set the title as the main idea In a specific way, teachers present a number of key words associated with details or sub-topics, lead students to the main idea, which situated in the center and then stimulate them to speak out their general understandings concerned about the main topic The Red List 16 rare extinction ENDANGERED SPECIES Habitat destruction wildlife reservation The above are some samples of the research In order to obtain effectiveness in lectures, teachers should apply them actively, flexibly and control students’ activities, space to move about the room and time to operate this part IV The assessment of experimental results 17 I carried out my study through a combination of the analysis and the comparison of four reading lessons in which the output and interest of students are key values I choose classes: 10A1, 11A6, 10A4, 11A2 and divided into groups Experimental group: class 10A4 and class 11A2; controlled group: class 10A1 and class 11A6 The results were followings: Items in the assessment Students have high inspiration in learning Students can grasp new words, expressions and grammar structures in a reading text Students can achieve the general content Students can complete tasks in the lesson Time in running the reading lesson 10A1 15/30 11A6 14/30 10A4 26/30 11A2 25/30 12/30 11/30 23/30 20/30 14/30 14/30 24/30 20/30 11/30 12/30 20/30 18/30 Over 45 Over 45 43min 44min After applying this innovation method for students in grades 10A1, 11A6, 10A4, 11A2 and through this experiment, I realized in the lesson if applying the innovation of teaching methods of listening skills to students I myself have achieved satisfactory results as follows: Before reading the text: - Many situations stimulate the creativity of students and help them show interest in learning, confident in communication activities and their awareness of being a central position in the class - Students can understand the keywords and the topic of the text before they start “While you read” part - Students are no longer afraid of reading comprehension but ready and excited to enter the reading After reading lesson: - The number of students who can grasp the general content of the text and complete assignments is significantly higher - Students have learned some reading skills and how to reading exercises - Students' reading skills have improved - Helping children improve their knowledge of culture, society and science through readings - Teachers can operate the lesson in an active way in the appropriate time I found that applying the innovative method to teach Pre-reading strategies for my students is a right direction that can bring remarkable satisfactory results in the process of teaching and learning English in high schools C CONCLUSION 18 Experience lessons After successfully applying this topic I myself have achieved remarkably positive results and valuable experiences for myself as follows: - An exciting atmosphere in learning often stimulates the teacher and students to rush into the lesson Therefore, motivation in study is the first essential factor that needs to be created Basically, in order to achieve this goal, the teacher need to have the following qualifications in the class:  Joviality  Good sense of humor  Good language skills  Appropriate teaching method - Teachers must always create a foreign language environment during lessons and use English as the primary language for communication Depending on grades and students, teachers can use short, simple, easy-to-understand, easy-tomemorize and easy-to-understand sentences However, in an unfamiliar topic with a massive amount of new words, teachers sometimes have to accept students’ replies in Vietnamese in order to make the introduction fluent in this short time The words teachers should introduce in this part are useful or some difficult ones that really interrupt the students when they scan or skim the text - Teachers need to flexibly choose reading strategies and teaching techniques in the process of reading lesson combining with creating visual aids to engage students in reading content - Teachers should not be too attentive to the student's error while speaking Let the students think and speak naturally Never force students to stop talking while they are trying to express their meaning in English, doing so will make them feel afraid to make mistakes when listening and speaking Praise the ideas in dialogue or discussion, not because of the accuracy of the words - Teachers should integrate learning activities in the form of "playing - learning" - Teachers must have improved lectures to suit each student's level, enabling weak students to confidently participate in exciting classes - Above all, there is not much control over the class If students are practicing and teachers ask questions, students will not have the opportunity to practice Proposal As the role of the main guider, teachers need to be aware of their responsibilities in each task and especially emphasis on their preparation before coming to class Teachers must improve their teaching methods and professional knowledge in many ways such as self-study in curricula, programs on the Internet, on television, learning through colleagues, participating in thematic courses and training courses Focusing on pre-reading strategies, my research cannot bring the success for entire reading comprehension in all three course books in high 19 school basic English curriculum Therefore, I look forward to learning the other research for next steps in the process of teaching comprehension The suggested solutions in pre-reading strategies above experienced by my colleagues and me through our teaching reading comprehension brought positive results than we had done before However, these suggested solutions may be hard to fit well with all kinds of students Thus, I would like to receive the comments and the exchange of ideas from you who have the passionate enthusiasm in the development of Vietnam education Identity of the headmaster Thanh Hoa,20th May 2019 I make sure that this experience innovation was done by me Đinh Văn Thiện 20 REFERENCE AND LINKS Brown, H D (1990) Principles of Teaching and Learning Prentice Hall Regents, New Jersey Dornyey, Z 2001 Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Harris, R (1991) Some ideas for motivating students Danny Brassell and Timothy Rasinski, 2008 Comprehension That Works Shell Education William M Welty (1989), Discussion Method Teaching: A Practical Guide Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock, 2001 Classroom Instruction That Works Sue Watson, July 09, 2018 How to Brainstorm in the Classroom Basic English curriculum: 10th grade, 11th grade and 12th grade (Student books and Teacher books) https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/esl-visual-aids/ 10 https://teaching.unsw.edu.au/brainstorming 11 https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/esl-visual-aids/ CONVENTIONS OF ABBREVIATIONS n adj ph.v n.ph noun adjective phrasal verb noun phrase minutes Danh từ Tính từ Cụm động từ Cụm danh từ Phút 21 EXPERIENCE CATEGORY ASSESSED AND CLASSIFIED BY COUNCILS DANH MỤC CÁC ĐỀ TÀI SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM ĐÃ ĐƯỢC HỘI ĐỒNG ĐÁNH GIÁ XẾP LOẠI CẤP PHÒNG GD&ĐT, CẤP SỞ GD&ĐT VÀ CÁC CẤP CAO HƠN X ẾP LOẠI TỪ C TRỞ LÊN Họ tên tác giả: Đinh Văn Thiện Chức vụ đơn vị công tác: Giáo viên - Trường THPT DTNT Ngọc Lặc TT Tên đề tài SKKN Clarifying some basics of relative clauses to help high school students related exercises Clarifying some cultural aspects of giving compliments and some suggest implications for English teaching in high schools Investigate students’ attitude toward teacher feedback on their writing performances to help teachers provide effective feedback: a case study from Bac Son high school Using English songs to help EFL 10th grade students improve pronunciation knowledge Kết Năm học Cấp đánh giá đánh đánh giá xếp xếp loại giá xếp loại loại Sở GD & ĐT C 2013- 2014 Sở GD & ĐT C 2015 - 2016 Sở GD & ĐT C 2016 - 2017 Sở GD & ĐT C 2017 - 2018 22 ... decided to study the topic: “Pre- reading strategies enhance high school students’ reading competence in reading lessons” II Purposes of the research Completing a reading lesson is not a problem... on the following issues: Teacher’s tasks in “Pre- reading strategies Students’ activities in “Pre- reading strategies Some suggested solutions to run “Before you read” part in high school basic... obtain the intention above, the strategies must be applied flexibly and effectively in “Pre- reading stage are Brainstorming, Discussion, and Questioning Brainstorming Sue Watson in his study indicated