Investigating the reading skill challenges of the first-year non-major students of English

1 COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - VNU, HANOI POSTGRADUATE STUDIES DEPARTMENT DƯƠNG THỊ HUYỀN INVESTIGATING THE READING SKILL CHALLENGES OF THE FIRST- YEAR NON- MAJOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH (TÌM HIỂU VỀ NHỮNG THÁCH THỨC ĐỐI VỚI KỸ NĂNG ĐỌC HIỂU CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT KHÔNG CHUYÊN ANH) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Major: English Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Hanoi – 2011 COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - VNU, HANOI POSTGRADUATE STUDIES DEPARTMENT DƯƠNG THỊ HUYỀN INVESTIGATING THE READING SKILL CHALLENGES OF THE FIRST- YEAR NON- MAJOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH (TÌM HIỂU VỀ NHỮNG THÁCH THỨC ĐỐI VỚI KỸ NĂNG ĐỌC HIỂU CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT KHÔNG CHUYÊN ANH) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Major : English Methodology Code : 60 14 10 Supervisor: Dr Ha Cam Tam Hanoi – 2011 TABLE OF CONTENT page PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale for the study Aims of the study Significance of the study Scope of the study Method of the study Organization of the study PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Reading and Reading Comprehension 1.2 Reading process 1.3 Context and the role of Context 1.4 Schema Theory 1.5 Reading Comprehension Levels 10 1.6 Reading Comprehension Skills 14 1.6.1 Reading for specific information 17 1.6.2 Finding the main ideas 17 1.6.3 Guessing vocabulary from the context 19 1.6.4 Making inferences 20 CHAPTER TWO: THE STUDY 22 2.1 Research Question 22 2.2 Participants 22 2.3 Data Collection Instruments 22 2.4 Data Collection Procedure 24 2.5 Analytical Framework 24 2.6 Data Analysis and Discussion 27 2.6.1 Making inferences 28 2.6.2 Finding the main ideas 30 2.6.3 Guessing vocabulary from context 32 2.6.4 Reading for specific information PART THREE: CONCLUSION 34 36 3.1 Major findings 36 3.2 Implications 37 3.3 Limitations for the study 37 3.4 Suggestions for further study 38 References Appendices Appendix 1: Sample of test Appendix 2: Keys of test Appendix 3: Sample of test Appendix 4: Keys of test Appendix 5: Results of making inferences Appendix 6: Results of finding the main ideas Appendix 7: Results of guessing vocabulary from context Appendix 8: Results of reading for specific information 39