TOEIC reading comprehension skills for english majors at thuong mai university

ABSTRACT Today, TOEIC certification plays an important part in the resume of employees It reflects the level of proficiency in communicating in English in activities such as business, commerce, tourism In particular, reading comprehension skills in the TOEIC test is considered the hardest part Therefore, it is extremely necessary to practice reading comprehension skills while still in school Recognizing the importance of reading comprehension skills in the TOEIC test, the study was launched with the desire to point out common mistakes while doing the reading comprehension section of English Department students at Thuong Mai University and propose some solutions to improve their reading comprehension skills Hopefully this article will partly help students studying for the TOEIC exam as well as preparing to enter the TOEIC exam Hanoi, November 25th, 2019 Ho Ly Na Tra My – 16D170030 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT In fact, we cannot deny that every success is associated with support or assistance, whether more or less, directly or indirectly by others First of all, I would like to express my special thanks to the teachers in the English Department at ThuongMai University for their dedicated knowledge in years ago which is not only a foundation for the research but also a precious knowledge for me to step into life in a solid and confident way I also sincerely thank the supervisor Ms.Hoang Thu Ba for her valuable guidance, constructive suggestions, and unconditional support during the time I tried to complete this research I have made this graduation report in nearly weeks This is the first time I’ve experienced in this fields, my knowledge is still limited so that I could not avoid difficulties and mistakes I hope to receive comments from you so as to enhance my experience Finally, I wish you good health, happiness, and success in your life Sincerely thanks! Student Ho Ly Na Tra My Ho Ly Na Tra My – 16D170030 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS vi CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Previous research 1.3 Aim of study 1.4 Research subjects 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Research methodology 1.6.1 Participants of the study 1.6.2 Data collection method 1.6.3 Data analysis procedures 1.7 Organization of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Theoretical background .8 2.1.1 Definition of reading comprehension .8 2.1.2 Types of reading comprehension 10 2.1.3 TOEIC reading test 11 2.2 Reading comprehension-related problems .16 2.2.1 Long texts and runing out of time 17 2.2.2 Multiple synonyms 17 2.2.3 Vocabulary, phrases and traps .17 2.3 Factors affecting English majors’ reading comprehension skill .17 2.3.1 Lacking of vocabulary 17 2.3.2 Lacking of skimming and scanning skill .18 2.3.3 Bad translation skill .18 2.3.4 Lacking of testing skill 18 2.4 The solutions improving reading comprehension skill 18 2.4.1: Solutions for students 18 2.4.2: Solutions for teacher 19 Ho Ly Na Tra My – 16D170030 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS 20 3.1 The real situation of learning English 20 3.1.1 English learning time of English majors .20 3.1.2 Time to know about TOEIC test of English majors .20 3.2 Reading comprehension practice-related habit .21 3.2.1 Practicing time TOEIC test of English majors .21 3.2.2 Students of English Department’s self-assessment reading comprehension skills on the TOEIC test 22 3.2.3 Reading habits of English Majors 23 3.3 Reading comprehension skill-related problems .24 3.3.1 Students’ assessment of difficulties in reading comprehension part of TOEIC test .24 3.3.2 Some difficulties when test – taking .24 3.4 Language competence - related problems 25 3.4.1 Factors leading to Enghlish majors’ problems in doing reading comprehension section in TOEIC test 25 3.4.2 Factors leading to the reading comprehension difficulties of the learners 26 3.5 The solutions to improve the reading comprehension skill in TOEIC test 27 3.5.1 Ways to improve reading skills on the TOEIC test .27 3.5.2: The reality of applying these above ways to improve reading comprehension skills in TOEIC 27 3.5.3 The effect of learning vocabulary 28 3.5.4 The effect of practicing regularly 29 3.5.5 The effect of joining a course in English centers 29 3.6 Summary 30 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATION AND SUGGESSTION 31 4.1 Learing by heart vocabulary day by day 31 4.2 Practicing regularly 31 4.3 Applying some tips while taking the reading comprehension section of the TOEIC test .32 4.4 Joining a course in English centers 33 CONCLUSION 35 REFERRENCES APPENDIX Ho Ly Na Tra My – 16D170030 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS TMU THUONG MAI UNIVERSITY LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Table 3.1: General information Image 1: TOEIC scorecard 15 Chart 3.1: English learning time of English majors 20 Chart 3.2: Time to know about TOEIC test of English majors 20 Chart 3.3: Practicing time TOEIC test of English majors 21 Chart 3.4: Students of English Department’s self-assessment reading comprehension skills on the TOEIC test .22 Chart 3.5 : Reading habits of English Majors 23 Chart 3.6: Students’ assessment of difficulties in reading comprehension part of TOEIC test 24 Chart 3.7: The difficulties in doing reading comprehension section in TOEIC test 24 Chart 3.8: Factors leading to Enghlish majors’ problems in doing reading comprehension section in TOEIC test 25 Chart 3.9: Factors leading to the reading comprehension difficulties of the learners 26 Chart 3.10: Ways to improve reading skills on the TOEIC test 27 Chart 3.11: The reality of applying these above ways to improve reading comprehension skills in TOEIC 27 Chart 3.12: The effect of learning vocabulary 28 Chart 3.13: The effect of practicing regularly 29 Chart 3.14: The effect of joining a course in English centers .29 Ho Ly Na Tra My – 16D170030 Ho Ly Na Tra My – 16D170030 CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale In the integration period and with the current trend of globalization, foreign language - popularly English - plays an extremely important role That language is considered the most popular in the international arena Not only that, English is also considered a bridge of languages between countries around the world, having a positive effect in exchanging and cooperating with people of countries Therefore, in an increasingly social society with international integration , English is a compulsory and important condition for students in the process of communicating and applying for jobs Today, the criteria for evaluating an English ability are becoming more and more difficult The A, B, C certificates used for people who want to find jobs are replaced by IELTS, TOEFL or TOEIC TOEIC, along with other requirements for candidates, is preferred by most companies to assess the English language proficiency of their employees Therefore, many people are trying their best to achieve success on the TOEIC test They have to pass sections: Listening and Reading Many people think that reading comprehension section in the TOEIC test is the most difficult and needs the most attention Most people who get an unexpected result in reading comprehension often blame it on reading comprehension At Thuong Mai University, English Department students must achieve TOEIC 800 or IELTS 6.5 to be eligible to graduate Although they have not taken the TOEIC exam preparation course, they studied many subjects majoring in economic English The vocabulary that they have accumulated is very close to the TOEIC test Therefore, to take a TOEIC exam, most students of the English department can study at home by themselve or take a course at an English center However, I realize that not all of them can well in reading comprehension Maybe the total score on the TOEIC test is not too bad, it is almost the score of the listening section Their reading comprehension skills are weak and they cannot avoid some common mistakes when doing tests For all reasons, I decided to conduct a study on how to improve TOEIC reading comprehension skills for English majors at Thuong Mai University From there, several solutions are propsed to improve their reading comprehension skills Ho Ly Na Tra My – 16D170030 1.2 Previous research In this part of the study, I will review some previous studies related to this research These studies have been conducted to identify students' reading comprehension difficulties Firstly, the effectiveness of stratified reading with the development of reading skills of first-year students of Vietnam Maritime University This research was conducted by a lecturer at Vietnam Maritime University (M.S Nguyen Thi Hoai Phuong, 2016) The researchers conducted this study to study and evaluate the effect of stratified reading - a form of extended reading comprehension - on the development of reading skills of freshmen at Hang University From this research result, the researcher has come up with some applications in teaching activities and shows the methods of teaching reading comprehension skills and strategies to improve reading comprehension skills for students Second, a study on test-taking techniques for TOEIC reading comprehenion test by students at Viet Nam maritime University This research was conducted by Nguyen Thi Thi (Viet Nam maritime University) This study is a view to exploring test-taking strategies relative to learners ’performance in TOEIC Reading Comprehension as well as identifying differences in reading strategies among high proficiency and low proficiency students at Vietnam Maritime University From the findings, the study suggested several pedagogical implications for teachers, students and test-designers at VMU, acknowledged limitations of the study and offered suggestions for further research In this part of the study, some previous studies related to this study will be reviewed These studies were carried out to identify the writing errors made by students In short, the previous studies in writing skills have revealed some errors and mistakes in reading comprehenion and pointed out some solutions, but not at all, especially, for English majors at Thuongmai University Ho Ly Na Tra My – 16D170030 1.3 Aim of study All of the reasons I mentioned in section 1.1 (Rationale) show that the purpose of this study is: - Finding out the common problems in the TOEIC reading comprehension section that students of the English Department at Thuong Mai University have to face up with - Proposing some solutions to help English majors improve their situation I see that it necessary to a research on TOEIC reading comprehension skill, it helps to find the most common factors that affect students' reading skills, common mistakes that students encounter in the course of doing exercises to improve their reading comprehenion skills and get good marks on the TOEIC test I hope that this study can help students of the English Department at Thuong Mai University have a deep understanding of reading skills, especially reading comprehension in TOEIC and it will help them improve not only their reading skills but also other neccessary skills 1.4 Research subjects This study researches about the TOEIC reading comprehension skills for English majors at Thuong Mai University, I determined that the research subject of study is reading comprehension skills when English majors doing TOEIC test 1.5 Scope of the study As the title of the study has indicated, the author only focuses on the TOEIC reading comprehension skills Besides, because the time and scope of the thesis is limitted , I can only conduct a survey on 100 students at Thuongmai University ( students of English Department) 50 students of K52, 25students of K53 and 25 students of K54 Ho Ly Na Tra My – 16D170030 The reason for my choice of students of English Department is that they are students of English department, so their English level is quite good Moreover, they have to start studying for the TOEIC exam for the goal of 800 points The study also focuses on the difficulties and mistakes that students make in reading comprehension sections of the TOEIC test and suggests solutions for them 1.6 Research methodology In this section, the researcher will discuss the methodology used to implement the research The chapter will cover five major parts, context, participants, data collection instruments, data collection procedures and data analysis procedures.1.6.1 The context of the study In Vietnam, most universities take the TOEIC certificate as a condition of graduation For English majors in TMU need a TOEIC certification with 800 points while for non - English proficient students, the score only from 450 points This shows that achieving high TOEIC certification is essential for English faculty students of TMU Therefore, the researcher conduct this survey to help them improve their reading comprehension skills in the TOEIC test, which also helps to improve their scores 1.6.1 Participants of the study The study was conducted with 100 students at Thuongmai University ( students of English Department) 50 students of K52, 25 students of K53 and 25 students of K54 Most of them are review for the TOEIC test Of these, 95 students are female and students are male Although all of them have learned English for over years they have had difficulty in reading English comprehension Each person has difficulties due to different impact factors They also enthusiastically participated in the survey to share their difficulties and find ways to improve their English reading skills, especially the reading comprehension skills on the TOEIC test All students agree to provide information in a voluntary, comfortable and accurate manner Ho Ly Na Tra My – 16D170030 120 100 98 80 60 Column2 40 20 Already Not yet Chart 3.11: The reality of applying these above ways to improve reading comprehension skills in TOEIC From the above data, we see that most students are aware of the importance of reading comprehension skills in TOEIC, so they are always looking for ways to improve this skill 98 students out of 100 students is a big number Only students have not applied the above methods because they are still not interested in TOEIC and are focusing on other goals 3.5.3 The effect of learning vocabulary 95 Extremely efficient Efficient Quite efficient Inefficient Chart 3.12: The effect of learning vocabulary Ho Ly Na Tra My – 16D170030 This figure shows and clearly indicates “ The effect of learning vocabulary” in proving reading comprehension skills on the TOEIC test Noone rated “Inefficient” and “Quite efficient” while 95% of them suppose that it is extremely efficient and the left chose “efficient” Indeed, this result shows that vocabulary plays an important role in the TOEIC test Having a wealth of vocabulary will help you take the test easier Ho Ly Na Tra My – 16D170030 3.5.4 The effect of practicing regularly Extremely efficient Efficient Quite efficient Inefficient 81 Chart 3.13: The effect of practicing regularly Nearly the same as “The effect of learning vocabulary”, the effect of practicing regularly also has similar survey results While noone choose “Inefficient” and “Quite efficient” 91% of students choose “Extremely efficient” and the rest choose “Efficient” (9%) 3.5.5 The effect of joining a course in English centers 20 45 Etremelly efficient Efficient Quite efficient Inefficient 30 Ho Ly Na Tra My – 16D170030 Chart 3.14: The effect of joining a course in English centers It can be seen from the above figure, joining a course in an English center has a different rating among students 5% of students say taking a course in English centers is not efficient Besides, nearly half of students said this way was very effective (45%) This shows that subjective factors still have a great influence on student learning outcomes The remaining 30% say that it is efficient and the rest say it was quite efficient (20%) 3.6 Summary From the above questions, we can summarize that of English Department students at Thuong Mai University know about TOEIC quite early and they start to study when they are two-year, even first year students In the reading comprehension section, in particular part 7, students have lots of difficulties There are many causes for these difficulties in terms of subjectivity and objectivity However, some of them have adopted some ways to improve their reading comprehension skills and bring quite high efficiency Ho Ly Na Tra My – 16D170030 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATION AND SUGGESSTION 4.1 Learing by heart vocabulary day by day The famous linguist David A Wilkins (1972) once said: “Without grammar, very little information can be conveyed But without vocabulary, no information can be conveyed ” The above judgment shows that vocabulary is always the most important factor when learning a language However, each person's learning style will determine the outcome If you just dive into taking notes in a stereotype, or learn words in a typographic memory, you will quickly forget Specially the reading comprehension section in the TOEIC test includes a large number of long text having new words, new phrases, synonyms So if you have poor vocabulary, you can hardly achieve high scores in this section Ho Ly Na Tra My – 16D170030 The first way for English majors in TMU to learn vocabulary effectively is through books Currently, there are many useful books about vocabulary in TOEIC test such as: 600 Essential Words for the TOEIC, 3420 toeic vocabulary words, Check your vocabulary for TOEIC, Prep for the new TOEIC Voca – Phrase… These books contain vocabulary from many fields, especially economics, very close to the TOEIC test Besides that, they can also learn vocabulary through applications on smartphones There are lots of useful apps that are free: Enny, Quizlet, 3000 TOEIC reading… By learning vocabulary on their phone, they can study anywhere, anytime, even when they are on their way to school by bus That is very convenient 4.2 Practicing regularly Soren Rosier- a PhD candidate at Stanford's Graduate School of Education said that “Many people have trouble with reading Reading well takes time, patience, and practice!” In fact, Taking exams regularly will help English majors in TMU to know what level they are and create quick reflexes through the exams There are a number of TOEIC test book with very close to IIG's real TOEIC test questions such as: ETS TOEIC 2017, ETS TOEIC 2018, ETS TOEIC 2019 In addition, there are many books dedicated to part such as: Rainbow TOEIC part …They should spend a lot of time to gain experience and supplement your knowledge that you are missing after each test If you are just trying to make lots of problems, they are almost at a standstill because their knowledge and skills not increase So, after each test, they should carefully read the sentences they have done wrong and the random choice of luck, then find out what knowledge that sentence needs to use, learn and record At the same time, think carefully about whether they can apply a more effective method to their sentences They also have to practice a lot to apply fluently methods: skimming and scanning Moreover, Learning how to allocate time appropriately is also essential Testing themselve and divide heir time When doing the reading comprehension section in TOEIC test, time is a relatively big pressure for the candidates If they not adjust the time, they absolutely can miss a lot of questions that not have time to read, even keep an eye on However, the problem is that if they read too fast, they will Ho Ly Na Tra My – 16D170030 miss many ideas, read too slowly, focusing on all the sentences, sections will make them feel tired and heavy It's best to read slowly in the important parts and speed up the less important, easy to understand or too familiar content Besides that, expanding background knowledge is also a way to improve reading comprehension skill Expanding your background knowledge regularly by reading newspapers, magazines and books You should focus on articles about daily life and business Reading a lot of books will help you have extensive knowledge about economy, society and life This is the advantage when applying to part in the TOEIC test Practicing a lot, read any article about your area of interest Practicing a lot will help you succeed in any subject, any job, not just learning English or taking the TOEIC exam However, you should remember, not force yourself to read to be able to achieve the best effect 4.3 Applying some tips while taking the reading comprehension section of the TOEIC test According to Ms Hoa - a famous inspirational messenger and English teacher, in order to get a high reading comprehension score in TOEIC, we need to apply some tips while doing the test There are some tips for English majors in TMU when taking the reading comprehension section of the TOEIC test The first tip is determining the proper order of taking the test Reading the question before they read the passage Determining what the passage want to ask Reading the passage and finding information related the question Answering informative questions like: Who is it ? Where… ? When… ? to have an overview of the lesson Then answering a deductive question like: Purpose…? Can we infer…? Information not in the text… Ho Ly Na Tra My – 16D170030 The question aking for information is not included in the text should be done at last Answering other questions in advance will help them eliminate the wrong answer for this question or at least help them find the position to read more to exclude Usually, except for deductive questions (for example: Purpose…? Can we infer…? The information is not in the text…?) the order the questions in the lesson will follow the article correctly Using context to answer questions about vocabulary or on the main idea of the passage Using context to answer questions about the meaning of words Whether or not they know the meaning of this word, look at the context of the word to guess the meaning For deductive questions, information will not be directly stated in the lesson Then, look at the words and ideas in the article that are mentioned in each option Find signed information and not conclude too hastily If there is information in the passage that is different from the real life, they must follow it, because the multiple-choice questions only follow the passage, not the life If there are tables, charts, forms, surveys… they should be careful because there may be additional information below For a double reading (2 paragraphs and paragraphs), there will be at least one question that requires they to reread both paragraphs and paragraphs to link information from them Therefore, when reading ideas for this section, they should look through both articles before answering 4.4 Joining a course in English centers Because English majors in TMU are not taught TOEIC in school, studying at an English center is necessary They can also practice TOEIC by themselve at home, but it will not work unless they have a great determination If they study at home, no one will correct them Meanwhile, in English centers, there are teachers who almost reach the TOEIC score, they will help them see the Ho Ly Na Tra My – 16D170030 mistake they encounter while doing the test and help them correct it Moreover, at the centers, they will have a short test before they start studying The center will usually take them to take an exam to assess their English level so that they can arrange a class that is appropriate for their level, and students with the same level will be easier to review and exchange Since then, each class will have a study path to suit the ability of the students Studying at the center will have teachers, friends to exchange or create their own TOEC refresher sessions To take regular test, give tips on how to take the test, how to take the test when taking the exam Ho Ly Na Tra My – 16D170030 CONCLUSION The previous chapters have already introduced the general introduction, provided the theoretical background, analyzed and discussed the findings of the study and justified the methods for students This chapter, serving as the conclusion of the whole research, will includes summaries of the major findings, limitations of the study and recommendations for further studies Summary of major results Reading comprehension skill, especially in TOEIC test is the subject throughout the research The scope of the study is English majors at Thuongmai University By using quantitative method with questionnaire and observation, the researcher find some difficulties that they have to face up with when doing Part in TOEIC tesr: Long texts and running out of time, multiple synonyms, new words, pharases and traps… These are basic difficulties From the result of the survey, the researcher have some solutions for students They should learn by heart vocabulary day by day, practice regularly and apply some tips while taking the reading comprehension section of the TOEIC test Besides that, joining a course in a English center is also good method Ho Ly Na Tra My – 16D170030 Limitation of the study In the process of completing research, there still exist a number of limitations regardless of the contribution of time and effort First of all, the limited number of participants with only 100 students could not best represent for the whole English Majors at VMU, hence it is not really objective and many students not have a chance to express their opinions Secondly, being Vietnamese so that while writing the thesis, the researcher inevitably can not avoid the wrong structure, grammar and vocabulary despite great efforts to complete the study Recommendations for future studies Being aware of the restriction on the number of participants, the future research should be implemented in larger range in order to make the research be more objective Ho Ly Na Tra My – 16D170030 REFERRENCES 1.Abbas PourhoseinGilakjani (2016) “How Can Students Improve Their Reading Comprehension Skill?” 2.Anh ngữ Athena Bí kíp vượt vũ môn Toeic Part 3.Anh ngữ Ms Hoa từ vựng TOEIC hot 4.Anh Tuấn (EFC) Toeic – điều cần biết TOEIC 5.Ashley Friedman (Updated May 09, 2019) Definition of Reading Comprehension 6.Comprehension Swan (1975, p.1) Definition of Reading 7.Edu2Review Top app luyện thi TOEIC hỗ trợ người học cực tốt mà bạn cần biết 8.Grellet (1990, p.3) Definition of Reading Comprehension Hoàng Điệp – 2015 Làm để cải thiện kỹ đọc hiểu tiếng Anh? 10.Keith Lenz (Ph.D., University of Kansas) Definition of Reading Comprehension 11.Lougheed (2007b) ) reading skills such as “skimming, scanning, using the context and reading fast” 12.Luyện thi TOEIC Reading Part theo fomat đề 13.M.S Nguyen Thi Hoai Phuong, 2016 “The development of reading skills of first-year students of Vietnam Maritime University” 14.Nguyen Thi Thi (Viet Nam maritime University) “A view to exploring testtaking strategies relative to learners ’performance in TOEIC Reading Comprehension” 15.Phạm quỳnh Điệp – 2018 Cải thiện kỹ đọc hiểu Tiếng Anh dễ16.Tran Lan Huong (2010): “ A study on the difficulties in studying TOEIC reading of non-English majors at elementary level at Haiphong private University.” Ho Ly Na Tra My – 16D170030 APPENDIX Questionnaires for the survey related to writing skill of third-year student Part I – Personal information Q1: What is your name? …………………………………………… Q2: What is your class? ……………………………………………… Q3: How long have you been learning Enghlish? a Less than years b 5-10 years c More than 10 years Q4: How long have you known TOEIC test? a Less than year b 1-5 years c More than years Part II – Information related to reading comprehension skills in general and TOEIC reading comprehension skills in particular 1.Hobiies Q5: How many times you practise TOEIC test per week? a b c 2-3 d More than Q6: Which level you self-assess your the reading comprehension skill on the TOEIC test? a Bad b Average c Good d Very good Q7:How often you read English books ? a Never Ho Ly Na Tra My – 16D170030 b Sometimes c Very often d Always Reading comprehension skill-related problems Q8: Do you find it difficult to reading comprehension section in TOEIC test? a Yes b No Q9: What are these difficulties? a Long texts and running out of time b Multiple synonyms c New words, pharases and traps d Others Language competence - related problems Q10: What reasons lead to these difficulties? a Test taker b Learing schedule c Teacher d Others Q11: If the learner is the source of the reading comprehension difficulties, is it related to? a Lacking of vocabulary b Lacking of testing skill c Bad translation skill d Others The solutions Q12: In your opinion, what are the ways to improve reading skills on the TOEIC test? a Learning vocabulary b Practicing regularly c Joining a course in a English center d All of them Ho Ly Na Tra My – 16D170030 Q13: Have you applied the above ways to improve your reading comprehension skills in TOEIC test? a Already b Not yet Q14: How would you rate the effect of learning vocabulary? a Extremely efficient b Efficient c Quite efficient d Inefficient Q15: How would you rate the effect of practicing regularly? a Extremely efficient b Efficient c Quite efficient d Inefficient Q16: How would you rate the effect of joining a course in a English center? a Extremely efficient b Efficient c Quite efficient d Inefficient Ho Ly Na Tra My – 16D170030 ... how to improve TOEIC reading comprehension skills for English majors at Thuong Mai University From there, several solutions are propsed to improve their reading comprehension skills Ho Ly Na... other neccessary skills 1.4 Research subjects This study researches about the TOEIC reading comprehension skills for English majors at Thuong Mai University, I determined that the research subject... 1.1 (Rationale) show that the purpose of this study is: - Finding out the common problems in the TOEIC reading comprehension section that students of the English Department at Thuong Mai University