SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE READING SKILL HELPING STUDENTS AT NONG CONG 4 HIGH SCHOOL DO THE NATIONAL GENERAL SECONDARY TESTS OF ENGLISH BETTER

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING NONG CONG HIGH SCHOOL THE STUDY OF TEACHING EXPERIENCE SUBJECT: SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE READING SKILL HELPING STUDENTS AT NONG CONG HIGH SCHOOL DO THE NATIONAL GENERAL SECONDARY TESTS OF ENGLISH BETTER By: Nguyễn Văn Luân Position: Head of English group Aspect: English Address: Nong Cong, 2019 TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTENTS PART I INTRODUCTIONS I Reasons for choosing the topic II Scopes and objectives of the study III Methodology of the study IV Aims of the study IV Significance of the study PART II CONTENTS I The theoretical bases of the study Reading skill Overview of reading exercises in the course books and those in national general test of English 2.1.Reading pasages in the national general secondary education tests of English and those in the sample tests PAGE 1 2 3 5 5 2.2 The reading units in the course books having the same questions as those in the national general secondary education tests of English II The practical bases of the study Reality of solutions to reading skill 1.1 Quality about students’ reading skill 1.2 Habits of practising reading skill Solutions to improve the problems 2.1 Questions for detail information 2.1.1 Questions for detail information from the second sample test of 2017, reading passage 2.1.2 Teaching students strategies to reading lessons 10 2.2 Questions to determine the main idea or the title of the passage 12 2.2.1 Question for main idea of the passage in the second national general secondary sample test, 2017, reading passage 1: 2.2.2 Provide students procedures to reading lessons 2.3 Questions for vocabulary 8 9 11 13 14 2.4 Questions for reference objects 2.4.1 Questions for reference objects found from the national general secondary tests 2.4.2 Guide student stategies to this type of questions 2.5 Question for inferring 2.5.1 The referring question in the reading lesson of the second national general secondary test, 2017 2.5.2 Guiding students how to the reading lesson The positive impacts brought abot from my study The scope of applying of the study PART III CONCLUSION I Conclusions II Proposals to the leaders REFERENCE BOOKS 14 15 15 16 18 18 19 25 25 25 26 PART I INTRODUCTION I Reasons for the study Considering about the recent English result of General certificate of Secondary Examinations (GCSE), according to statistics from Thanh Hoa department of Education and training, Thanh Hoa was ranked in the worst group through out all the country, This fact makes the officials and English teachers concerned about, we should give out an approriate answer to the problem above so that we can find out solutions to improve the effect of teaching and learning English properly, especially, for the reslt of the next GCSE examination Understading the issue mentioned, after spending a long time studying and analysing the GCSE tests of English, sample tests of 2016, 2017, 2018, this shows that the tests demand for knowledge and linguistic skill, a lot of people have considered the content of the tests, however, up yo now, thaere has not been an official study specifying and finding out the basic causes and drawbacks from the students so as to offer a prosper solution to the problem If we not know students’ shortcomings in some skills, we can not help them during learning at school an revising effectively Therefore, during the process of teaching, testing, evaluating and talking to my students ang collgues, I understand that my students’ bad point is reading skill, on the other hands it is seen from GCSE examinations, the rate of reading skill accounts for 30 pecent the tltal marks of the test so I decided to choose the topic “ Solutions to improve reading skill helping students at Nong Cong high school the national general secondary tests of English better” for studying II Scope and objectives of the study To make progress in reading skill, help my students types reading tests in the GCSE examinations, in this study I mainly focus on the problems below First one: The state of comprehensive reading and my students’result of doing comprehesion reading Second one: The solutions to improve the effect of doing reading tests in the GCSE examinations III Methodology of the study Methodology, describes the research methods and data collection of the study To reach the final goal of studying, in this topic, I apply some methods for my study Observing method Investigating and information collecting method Testing method Comparing and contrasting method Analyzing and evaluating method IV Aims of the study Seeing my students’difficulties in doing reading exercises in the national tests, their discouragement when having reading exercises as well To help my students the reading exercises better in the tests, my study chiefly mentions the following purposes: - Understanding the students’ ability in doing the reading exercises in the tests - Assisting the students realise the questions often appearing in the examinations - Providing the students with stategies to the tests of reading in the national examinations From the goals mentioned above, my study gives a contribution to improving the effect of doing reading exercises in the national examinations.This also offers the researcher methods in teaching reading skill on competence developing orientation of learners The study is carried out with a view to answering the questions below Question 1: How is the students’ result of doing reading exercises? Question 2: What problems the students deal with when doing reading exercises of the national tests? Question 3: What solutions we need to help the students to the reading tests better? V The significance of the study After studying the types of reading exercises in the national English tests, seeing that there are some types questions appearing in the tests, for example; questions for specific information, questions for main ideas, questions for inferring, questions for the refference objectives, questions for vocabulary Comparing with the questions appearing in the course books, I have found the following differences First, practising reading skills in the text books is different from doing reading exercises in the national tests Second, Some skills of reading, such as: skimming for the main idea, guessing, infference are only mentioned in few reading lessons Third, the skill for refference objectives is not mentioned in reading lessons in the course books, whereas this is required in the national English examinations A number of reading skills has not been properly mentioned in the course books, such as skimming for the main idea, guessing, infference … The study focuses on those more, in addition, the study has provided students with the reading skill for refference objectives, an necessary skill which has not mentioned in the current course books PART II CONTENTS I The theoretical bases of the study Reading skill Reading skill is one of four skills of learning English To evaluate learners’ reading competence, there are fifteen reading questions of fifty ones in the national general secondary education test of English, equivalent to 3/10 points Nguyễn Thị Hồng Nhung & Nguyễn Bảo Trang (2010) show that the test for reading consists of six types of the questions, they are questions for specific information, questions for main ideas, questions for linking, questions for the refference objectives, questions for vocabulary, questions for inferring, Nguyễn Thị Chi and her partner (2016) say that learners want to the reading tests better, they need understand the skills below: - Scanning is ability of reading passages fast with a view to finding spcific information to anser the questions - Skimming is ability of reading passages quickly to find the main ideas of the passage; - Guessing is predicting meaning of the words basing on the specific situation - Inference is inferring ability to draw out the conclusion from information of the passage - Refering is contrastive skill to understand the the words referring to thing or person mentioned before in the passage In short, both the authors show the important skills to the reading tests better, however, Nguyễn Thị Chi and her partner (2016) provides the questions in the scope of the national general certificate secondary education test of English, I agree with this idea, therefore, I only focus on five reading skills in this study Overview of reading exercises in the course books and those in national general test of English 2.1 Reading pasages in the national general secondary education tests of English and those in the sample tests To have an overview of the national general secondary education test of English, I have studied the reading parts in recent exams as well as the sample tests, the result of the study is shown in the table below; Table 1: Statistics, skill questions, number of words Exam reading passages Questions of skill quantity of words Unit 1: questions for the detail of Unit 1: 355 the national general secondary education test of English Sample test 2017 number information; questions for vocabulary; words (10 question for objective of referrence; quetions) question for main idea Unit 2: questions for the detail of Unit 2: information;; questions for vocabulary; 481words questions for objective of referrence; (10 quetions) questions for inferring Unit 1: questions for the detail of Unit 1: 308 information; question for vocabulary; words (7 question for objective of referrence; questions) question for main idea Unit 2: questions for the detail of Unit 2: 396 information; question for vocabulary; words (8 question for objective of referrence questions) Sample test 2017 number 2 Unit 1: questions for the detail of Unit 1: 302 information; question for vocabulary; words (7 question for objective of referrence; questions) question for main idea Unit 2: questions for the detail of Unit 2: 409 information; question for vocabulary; words (8 question for objective of referrence; quetions) question for inferring Table shows that the national tests of English consists of two reading parts about from 300 to more than 400 words, reading passages are from foreign sources of documents with diversal topics, such as; culture, society, education, health, sports… the reading passages cover the skills through types of questions, for example; questions for main ideas, questions for detail information, questions for guessing meaing of th words, questions for referrence, inferring … The questions are designed with suitable levels from kowing, understanding to low and high application of these questions of reading passages, the questions for detail information are majorities over 70 2.2 The reading units in the course books having the same questions as those in the national general secondary education tests of English Through the reality of teaching English, I realise that when having the reading questions like the questions in the national exam, my students are often confused, they not know how to the reading parts in the test To get proofs for comparing, I have studied the reading comprehension questions in the course books English 10,11,12, and the result of the study has been shown below Table shows the number of the reading passages in the course books which have the same questions as in the national tests English 10 Unit 4: Special Education English11 Unit 4: Volunteer Work English12 Unit 10: Engdangered Species Test Yourself B Unit 15: Women in Society Table shows the frequency of appearing types of questions which are the same as those in the national general tests of English in some units in the course books, such as, unit in English 10, units in English 11, this figure in English 12 This result shows that the types of these questions in the national general secondary education tests rarely appear in the reading passages of the course books English 10,11,12 Although reading skill are focused, designing the questions for reading passages in the course books are not corresponding with the questions of reading passage in the national general secondary tests of English Intensively studying about reading skill, particularly, the skill for “finding the reference object” has not been mentioned ,whereas the English tests of the national general examinations require this skill It is ths difference from the form and content that the students’ poor result of the national generral tests is completely resonable II The practical bases of the study Practical situation of solutions to reading skill 1.1 Quality about students’ reading skill To know the quality of doing the reading exercises of the twelfth form students, I have surveyed the comprehenion reading competence of 90 students from two classes at medium level with two reading passages including 15 questions with the different levels of difficulty to choose the gifted students for universities and colleges the time for two tests lasts 20 minutes the result of doing the tests of the students has shown below Chart 1: Result surveying the competence of doing reading exercise of the students Chart shows that the students getting from to true answers accout for 78.8%, equipvelent to 2,4/10 points of reading part in the test which the students gain a sad situationthat after surveying, there are 78,8 % students under average marks of reading skill, the result also shows that noone got from 10 to 15 true answers, there are only 21,2% of the students gaining the average marks without quite good and good So I can say that most students are very bad at reading skill of the nationaf general secondary exams, on the other hand, if we analyse more about the result of each subskill, most of the students can not choose the right answer for the questions of reference object, questions for vocabulay This fact reflects the most apparent disadvantage that few former studies have been mentioned 10 Question: According to the passage, which of the following is true about Question: In the passage/paragraph _, the author states that … Question: According to the passage/paragraph , which of the following is (NOT) true? All of the following are true EXCEPT Question: All of the following are mentioned in the passage EXCEPT 2.1.1 Questions for detail information from the second sample test of 2017, reading passage 1: Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions Whales are the largest animals in the world, and the gentlest creatures we know Although the whale is very huge, it is not hindered at all by its size when it is in the water Whales have tails that end like flippers With just a gentle flick, it can propel itself forward The skin of a whale is so smooth that it does not create any friction that can slow the whale down A whale’s breathing hole is located on the top of its head, so it can breathe without having to completely push its head out of the water Whales are protected from the cold seawater by body fat that is called blubber Whales live in the ocean but, in terms of behaviours, they are more similar to humans than fish They live in family groups and they even travel in groups when they have to migrate from cooler to warmer waters The young stay with their parents for as long as fifteen years Whales are known not to desert the ill or injured members; instead, they cradle them When whales are in danger, there are people who go to great lengths to help them One such case occurred in 1988, when three young whales were trapped in the sea It was close to winter and the sea had begun to freeze over Whales are mammals that require oxygen from the air, so the frozen ice was a great danger to them All they had then was a tiny hole in the ice for them to breathe through Volunteers from all over soon turned up to help these creatures They cut holes in the ice to provide more breathing holes for the whales These holes would also serve as guides for the whales so that they could swim to warmer waters (Adapted from http://www.englishdaily626.com?reading_comprehension) Question : Where is the whale’s breathing hole located? A On its head B On its back C On its face D On its tail Question : According to paragraph 2, the author mentions all of the following to show that whales “are more similar to humans” EXCEPT A they not desert the ill or injured members B they not migrate from cooler to warmer waters C they live in family groups and travel in groups D the young stay with their parents for almost fifteen years 12 Question : According to the passage, why was the frozen ice on the sea surface a danger to whales? A Because they couldn’t swim in icy cold water B Because they couldn’t eat when the weather was too cold C Because whales couldn’t breathe without sufficient oxygen D Because the water was too cold for them as they were warm-blooded 2.1.2 Teaching students strategies to this type of questions This types of question are often not difficult because the information often appear in the passage For these basic questions, if students know strategies to the reading lessons, they will not take much time to these quesions To these types of advanced questions for the aims of the entrance requirement to universities, students both have procedures and understand the reading lesson intensively To get hifh marks they need to follow the procedures below: + Determiming the meanings of the sentences through key words, question words, such as what, why, where, when, how… verbs, adjectives Asking students to pay attention to proper nouns + Locating the information basing on the key words through scanning Noticing students expressions of synanym or the closest meaning expressions to key words After locating the information, we read the sentence before and the one after the key word with a view to finding the answer + Using our first answer to contrast with the available options and choose the approriate option with the first answer For example; for the question “Where is the whale’s breathing hole located?” in reading lesson of the second national general secondary sample test, 2017, the key words are Where and breathing hole Scanning the reading lesson, we realise that the information appears in the first paragraph The word Where helped us determine the word of place along with the word breathing whole helped us locate the information in the clause “A whale’s breathing hole is located on the top of its head”, contrasting with our answer, we know the true answer is A 13 2.2 Questions to determine the main idea or the title of the passage Through studying the national tests, Each reading lesson has a question of this type This is a quite difficult question for all the students at any levels These questions often appear with the following types: Question: What is the paragraph mainly about? Question: What is the passage mainly about? Question: Which of the following statements best summerize the main idea of the passage? Question: Which of the following would serve as the best title of the passage? Question: What does the passage mainly discuss? Question: Which of the following could be the best title for the passage? Question: What is the main idea of the passage? II.2.1 Questions for main idea of the passage in the second national general secondary sample test, 2017, reading passage 1: Question: Which of the following best describes the main idea of this passage? A Successful attempts to rescue whales all over the world B Some remarkable similarities of whales to humans C Whales as the largest, gentlest but vulnerable creatures D Whales as the only animals to live in warm water II.2.2 Provide students procedures to this type of questions Study some foreign reading lessons, which are coherent and cohesive, the first sentence is often the title of the passage, when students have the question for main idea of the passage, we should guide students to pay attention to the first sentence of the passage However, For recent national general secondary examinations, especially, the sample tests of 2017, 2018, the types of these questions require for determining the main idea or the title of the whole reading lesson So in this study, we mainly give students the strategies to determine the idea or the title of the whole reading lesson + Skim the paragraphs of all the reading lesson then determine the main idea or the title of each paragraph through the first sentence in each paragraph 14 + Connect the information of the paragraphs to guess gthe general idea of the whole reading lesson + Use both contrasting methods and exclusive method Some multiple choice is only the detailed information or the main idea of one paragraph This detailed information sometimes has other expressions to classify the levels of difficulty For instance, the quetion “Which of the following best describes the main idea of this passage?” in the national general secondary sample test, 2017 Reading lesson consists of three paragraphs, the first one mainly decibes whales, the second one talks abot their behaviors, the third talks about the dangers whales are facing with Comparing with the options we see that the answer “Successful attempts to rescue whales all over the world”, is the information mentioned in the third paragraph, th answer “Some remarkable similarities of whales to humans” is also the information mentioned in the secon paragraph, and the answer “Whales as the largest, gentlest but vulnerable creatures” is a true option because it covers the general idea of three paragraphs, the option C is the true answer for the question II.3 Questions for vocabulary Determing meaning of the words through situation is a very important skill when reading, because it helps students overcome the discouragement due to the long reading lesson with a lot of new words The course book English 12, practising reading skill is chiefly through translation into Vietnamese (Give the Vietnamese equivalents to the following words) If students like this, they will have to both determine meaning and find Vietnamese equipvelents This is unnecessary and it is a waste of time For the national general secondary test this requirement is completely different Đối với câu hỏi rèn luyện kỹ đề thi THPT Quốc gia thực cách hoàn toàn khác, the total questions of this type are or ones in two reading lessons These types og wuetions often appear in the tests as the following: Question: The word/phrase _ in the passage/paragraph _ is closest in meaning to Question: The word/phrase in the passage/paragraph _ could best be replaced by which of the following? 15 Question: The word/phrase _ in the passage probably means II.4 Questions for reference objects After analysing the recent national general secondary tests as well as the sample tests 2017, 2018 I see that each reading lesson has one question for referrence object Through the reality of teaching and analysing students’ result of doing reading exercises, I not think this is a kind of difficult question if the students know procedures to reading lesson.Some types of these questions often appear in the te\he tests such as the following Question: The word/phrase _ in the passage refers to Question: What does the word/phrase in the paragraph _refer to? 2.4.1 Questions for reference objects found from the national general secondary tests Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions The concept of urban …… “We’ve created a curriculum that is fundamental in nature, addressing the principles of sustainable agriculture and what a food system is – how it functions both locally and globally,” Niebler says “These courses are challenging, robust and inspirational One of the really wonderful things about them is that we offer service learning opportunities, where students volunteer a portion of their time to working with local partner organizations They can a research project, or a service learning option The ideal would be to prompt students into careers that involve sustainable practices in an urban agriculture setting.” Adapted from “Promoting Sustainable Agriculture” by Marlene Cimons Question: The word “them” in paragraph refers to A courses B opportunities C principles D students 2.4.2 Guide student stategies to this type of questions The words, phrases for referrence objects often appearing in the reading parts of test are personal pronouns, possessive pronouns and adjectives, demonstrative adjectives, adverbs of time and places … the referring words or phrases often appear after the referred words or phrases To well this type of questions, I give students the following strategies 16 + Locating the referring words or phrases (bold words or phrases in the reading lesson) + Read the previous sentences or the rearword sentences Normally the referring objects are after the referring word or phrase + Determine the referring object, contrast with the options to find the corrects one, notice the singular and plural form of the referring words to choose the true answer For instance: The question “The word “them” in paragraph refers to .” in the national general secondary test, 2016 we have to determine the position of “them” in the sentence “These courses are challenging, robust and inspirational One of the really wonderful things about them is that we offer service learning opportunities, where students volunteer a portion of their time to working with local partner organizations.” The word opportunities and students can not be the referring object because it appears after “them” The word “principles” also can not be be the referring object because it is too far from the referring word So the correct answer in this case is A 2.5 Question for inferring These of questions not often appear in the tests but they are difficult questions, because the information does not express directly in the reading passages To these types of questions, the students need a basic amount of vocabulay to understand the content of the passage, they have good strategies as well These questions are often Question: It can be inferred from the passage that … Question: Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph _ /the passage? Question: Based on the information in paragph /the passage, which of the following can be inferred? Question: It is implied in the passage/paragraph _ that Question: According to the passage/paragraph , with which satements you think the author would most probably agree? 17 2.5.1 The referring question in the reading lesson of the second national general secondary test, 2017 Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions It's called 42 - the name taken from the answer to the meaning of life, from the science fiction series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 42 was founded by French technology billionaire Xavier Niel, whose backing means there are no tuition fees and accommodation is free Mr Niel and his co-founders come from the world of technology and start-ups, and they are trying to to education what Facebook did to communication and Airbnb to accommodation Students at 42 are given a choice of projects that they might be set in a job as a software engineer - perhaps to design a website or a computer game They complete a project using resources freely available on the Internet and by seeking help from their fellow students, who work alongside them in a large open-plan room full of computers Another student will then be randomly assignedto mark their work The founders claim this method of learning makes up for shortcomings in the traditional education system, which they say encourages students to be passive recipients of knowledge "Peer-to-peer learning develops students with the confidence to search for solutions by themselves, often in quite creative and ingenious ways." Like in computer games , the students are asked to design and they go up a level by completing a project They graduate when they reach level 21, which usually takes three to five years And at the end, there is a certificate but no formal degree Recent graduates are now working at companies including IBM, Amazon, and Tesla, as well as starting their own firms "The feedback we have had from employers is that our graduates are more apt to go off and find out information for themselves, rather than asking their supervisors what to next," says Brittany Bir, chief operating officer of 42 in California and a graduate of its sister school in Paris Ms Bir says 42's graduates will be better able to work with others and discuss and defend their ideas - an important skill in the “real world” of work "This is particularly important in computer programming, where individuals are notorious for 18 lacking certain human skills," she says But could 42's model of teacherless learning work in mainstream universities? Brittany Bir admits 42's methods not suit all students "It suits individuals who are very disciplined and self-motivated, and who are not scared by having the freedom to work at their own pace," she says (Adapted from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-37694248) Question: It can be inferred from the passage that A 42 is a good choice for people of all ages and nationalities B all 42’s graduates are employed by world leading technology companies C 42’s students have to handle the task assigned without any assistance D 42 adopts project-based and problem-solving learning methods 2.5.2 Guiding students how to this type of questions Through observing the teacing periods, evaluating students’ reading tests, most of the students can not this type of question correctly So I can say this is a difficult type of the quetion to classify the levels of the students To it we should to give students the following ponts: + Updating a number of the words relating to the topics they have learnt so that they are not so discouraged when seeing the reading units, thanks to this, they can understand the reading lessons.This quetion should be done eventually, after finishing all other questions in the reading passage + Look through the answering options + Eliminating the false options basing on the information in the lesson., the incorrect options are possible, because the information in the passage is not clear or not main informain, or excessive expression by using the words such as: always, never, none, impossible, without, most, all, every, the only, the best, the worst… For instance: the quetion : "It can be inferred from the passage that” in the secon national sample test We need to read the passage carefully one more after finishing other questions Reading the answering options we see that the answer ‘42 is a good choice for 19 people of all ages and nationalities’ is incorrect because it contains an excessive expression,” people of all ages”; the answer; “all 42’s graduates are employed by world leading technology companies” is wrong because of unclear information; the answer 42’s students have to handle the task assigned without any assistance this if an excessive expressio using the word “without” So the correct answer is D The positive impacts brought abot from my study The quality of doing reading lesson on objects has been experienced After having been presented in fron of my group of English on April fifth, 2019 With acquring my collegues’ ideas, I have applied the study to my designing the reading lesson plans to the Englisg classes I am teaching Through my evaluation, observation, I realise that there is a positive progress in practising my students’ reading skill The student are aware of the importance of improving vocabulary, concentrating on the strategies of doing reading lessons To prove the effectiveness of my study, I a survey again on 90 students from the classes which I had taught the strategies to the reading lessons, especially for the types of reading questions in the national general secondary tests in the next May This survey, I also choose 90 students accidentally to a test of reading comprehension consisting of 15 questions, both common and advanced questions in 20 minutes The result shown in te chart below 20 Chart 3: The result of doing reading lessons after applying the study The chart demonstrates: Most students gaining from to true sentences make up to about 82%, the number of the students getting from to 12 corrects sentences acounts for 19% per the total 15 sententeces This corresponds with over 19 percent getting over arverage marks of reading parts This result shows that the students’ reading competence is low, however, this rate compared with that in the table is much better, because the number of the students getting from to true answers reduced, whereas the students gaining from to true answer increase dramatically, even some of those students reach to 12 correct answers, there is, however, noone getting the maximum score This result shows that the considerable impact of the study is proved to be effective The scope of applying of the study With the aim of improving the practice of reading skill, helping students at Nong Cong high school access to the types of reading questions in the national general secondary tests In my study “ Solutions to improve reading skill helping students at Nong Cong high school the national general secondary tests of English better” can completely be applied at all periods of practising reading skills of the coursebooks English 10, 11, 12 This is listed below: On the field of method and ideas of teaching This study is approriately applied for the students at different levels of the cirriculum of upper secondary education I have presented some types of questions designed to improve reading skill and help students access to the reading questions in the national general secondary tests of English below These types of questions are also applied in the official periods of teaching of the coursebook English 12 at upper secondary schools they are also evidences for effectiveness, perspetive and application of the study at high schools: Unit 1: Home Life Part A: Reading Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions Question 1: According to passage, how many people are there in the author’s family? A.2 B C D Question 2: The word “they” in paragraph refers to A.The author’s parents B projects C women D children Question 3: The phrase “join hands” in paragraph is closest in meaning to which of the following? A.shake hands B work together C take hands D.combine with Question 4: Which of the following is NOT true about the author’s mother? 21 A She is responsible for doing the housework B She always gets up early in the morning C She prepares breakfast for her children D She often hurries home right now after hospital Question 5: According to paragraph 3, what does the author is attempting to after secondary school? A She is attempting to be allowed to study at a university B She is attempting to overcome her study pressure C She is attempting to help her parents with household chores D She is attempting to look for a job Question 6: Based on the information in paragraph 4, which of the following can be inferred? A Members of the family need each other B Members of the family are not confident enough C Members of the family have very close relationships D Members of the family are never close to each other - Suggested answers: D A B 4.D 5.A C Unit 6: Future Jobs Part A: Reading Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions Question 1: According to the passage, what should we before a job interview? A send a letter of application and our resumes to the company B send our school certificates C reduce the feeling of pressure D create a good impression on the interviewer Question 2: Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage? A a letter of application B a letter of recommendation C an identity card D school certificates Question 3: Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage? A Try to reduce the feeling of pressure and make a good impression on the interviewer B Find out as much information as you can about the job and the vacancy 22 C Your voice should be clear, polite and honest D Don’t say goodbye to the interviewer before leaving the office Question 4: The word “keenness” in the passage is closest in meaning to A interest B responsibility C understanding D knowledge Question 5: The phrase “jot down” in the passage probably means A.note down B mention C type D write Question 6: Which of the following is true during the interview? A Concentrate on what the interviewer is saying B Don’t need answer all questions C Always show your weakness D Interrupt when the job is explained to you Question 7: The word “they” in the last paragragh refers to A interview B congratulations C comments D you Question 8: What does the passage mianly discuss? A Advice on how to answer the interviewer’s questions B Advice on how to find a job C Advice on how to repare for a new job D Advice on how to overcome difficulties - Suggested answers: A 2.C D A B A 7.C 8.C Unit 10: Endangered Species Part A: Reading Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions Question 1: According to the passage, how many species of plants and animals are threatened with extinction? A over 8,300B exactly 15,500 C over 15,500 D 1,500 Question 2: The word ‘them’ in paragraph refers to A many thousands of species B biologists C causes D forests Question 3: According to paragraph 2, which of the following is NOT mentioned as a primary cause of species extinction? A pollution B habitat destruction C overpopulation D natural selection Question 4: Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage? 23 A Overexploitation of animals for food and other products has reduced the number of rare species B Plant and animal extinction leads to a loss of biodiversity C People have made different efforts to save endangered species D The Red List is a book which provides names of extinct species Question 5: The development of wildlife habitat reserves helps A save a large number of endangered species B make a list of endangered species C enact laws to protect wildlife D develop commercial trade and overhunting Question 6: The phrase “a wide range of ” is closest in meaning to A a large number ofB a big difference C a few of D a little of Question 7: The best title for the passage is _ A Endangered Species and Conservation Measures B Endangered Species and their Benefits C The Global Extinction Crisis D Endangered Species Extinction: Causes and Conservation Measures - Suggested answers: C A D D A A D Unit 16: The Association of southeast Asian nations Part A: Reading Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions Question 1: According to the passage, when was ASEAN founded? A.in 1967 B in 1984 C in 1995 D in 1997 Question 2: When did Vietnam join this association? A.in 1984 B in 1995 C in 1997 D in 1997 Question 3: According to paragraph 1, one of the main goals of the Association is to accelerate A.economic growth and social progress B economic growth and cultural development C economic growth, social progress, and cultural development D social progress and cultural development 24 Question 4: The word “its” at the beginning of paragraph refers to A.ASEAN B.population C.region D area Question 5: What was the combined gross domestic product of ASEAN in 2007? A It was US$1282 billion B It was US$ 1405 billion C It was US$ 5755 million D It was US $ 4464 million - Suggested answers: A B C A A PART III CONCLUSION I Conclusion After finishing the study, I realize that this study makes a great contribution to the process of improving reading skill, it is an integral part in help my students access to the types of reading questions in the national general secondary tests of English as well II Experience lessons First, There are differences between the reading questions in the cousebooks and those in the national general secondary tests so students often feel discouraged whe seeing them Second, Reading lessons in the national tests cover larger content, focus on some types of questions such as; questions for detail of information, question for main ideas, question for referring object, questions for vocabulary, questions for infering… whereas the reading questions in the coursebooks chiefly focus on choosing True/False statements, answering the comprehension questions so teachers need to contrast and compare the differences between two types of questions in coursebook and those in the national tests to students then give them the strategies for each type of questions III Proposals to the leaders After studying the problem, I see that the successful lessons depend on a lot of reference documents as well as visual aids, so the schools need to buy and add more equipment for teaching such as projectors, videos and reference books That will make the process of teaching and learning reading skill better 25 REFFERENCES Ministry of education and training (2009), English 12, Educational press, HaNoi Ministry of education and training (2007), English 11, Educational press, HaNoi Ministry of education and training (2014), English 10, Educational press, HaNoi Nguyen Quoc Hung (2003), Technique of teaching English, Educational press A S Hornby, English advanced learner’s dictionary – Oxford university press (1995) Long Man, Preparation course for the Toefl test – Poly techniques press The reasons of the worst result of The national general secondary tests of English, 2016 ? http://vtv.vn/chuyen-dong-24h/thi-thpt-quoc-gia-2016-vi-sao-diem-mon-tienganh-thap-nhat-20160721140734606.htm XÁC NHẬN CỦA THỦ TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ Nông Cống, ngày 10 tháng năm 2019 CAM KẾT KHÔNG SAO CHÉP (Tác giả ký ghi rõ họ tên) NGUYỄN VĂN LUÂN 26 ... applying of the study With the aim of improving the practice of reading skill, helping students at Nong Cong high school access to the types of reading questions in the national general secondary tests. .. “ Solutions to improve reading skill helping students at Nong Cong high school the national general secondary tests of English better can completely be applied at all periods of practising reading. .. Solutions to improve reading skill helping students at Nong Cong high school the national general secondary tests of English better for studying II Scope and objectives of the study To make progress