Advances in english linguistics employable for the teaching of reading comprehension techniques to first year students at viettronics technology college

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES *** NGUYỄN CHÍ DŨNG ADVANCES IN ENGLISH LINGUISTICS EMPLOYABLE FOR THE TEACHING OF READING COMPREHENSION TECHNIQUES TO FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT VIETTRONICS TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE (Những thành tựu Anh ngữ học ứng dụng vào việc giảng dạy kĩ Đọc hiểu cho sinh viên năm thứ Trường Cao đẳng Công nghệ Viettronics) M.A Minor Thesis Filed Code : English Teaching Methodology : 60 14 10 HANOI - 2010 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Declaration i Acknowledgement ii Table of contents iii List of abbreviations, tables, figures and charts vi PART A: INTRODUCTION .1 Rationale Aims and objectives of the study 2.1 Aims of the study 2.2 Objectives of the study Methods of the study Scope of the study Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW Review of literature 1.1 Introduction 1.2 An Overview on the Nature of Reading 1.2.1 Definition of reading 1.2.2 Definition of reading comprehension 1.2.3 Reading process 1.3 Types of reading 1.3.1 Manner of reading 1.3.2 Purposes of reading 1.4 Some advances in English linguistics employable for the teaching of reading comprehension techniques 1.4.1 Extensive reading .9 1.4.1.1 Extensive reading definitions 1.4.1.2 Extensive reading vs Intensive reading 11 iv 1.4.1.3 Using extensive reading in the language class .12 1.5 Previous research studies 14 1.6 Summary 15 CHAPTER 2: AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CURRENT SITUATION OF TEACHING AND LEARNING READING AT VIETTRONICS TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE (VTC) 17 2.1 Introduction .17 2.2 An Overview on Viettronics Technology College 17 2.3 Teachers and Teaching Methods .18 2.4 Materials and Assessments .18 2.5 Data Collection, Findings and Discussion .19 2.5.1 Data Collection .19 2.5.1.1 The Subject 19 2.5.1.2 Data collection instruments 19 2.5.2 Data analysis and discussion 20 2.5.2.1 Students’ attitudes towards the role of reading English to their learning and their future career .20 2.5.2.2 Students’ attitude towards the reading text in Lifeline- Elementary book 21 2.5.2.3 Students’ activities in reading .22 2.5.2.3.1 Students’ activities in pre-reading 22 2.5.2.3.2 Students’ activities in while-reading 23 2.5.2.3.3 Students’ activities in post-reading 24 2.5.2.3.4 Teachers’ activities towards their students in the reading lesson .25 2.6 Summary 27 CHAPTER 3: THE EMPLOYMENT OF EXTENSIVE READING AS A POSSIBLE WAY OF TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION TECHNIQUES TO THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT VTC 28 3.1 Introduction .28 3.2 The employment of extensive reading as a possible way of teaching reading comprehension techniques to the first year students at VTC 28 3.2.1 The reading material is easy .28 v 3.2.2 A variety of reading material on a wide range of topics must be available .29 3.2.3 Choosing what they want to read .30 3.2.4 Students read as much as possible 30 3.2.5 The purpose of reading is usually related to pleasure information and general understanding .31 3.2.6 Reading is its own reward 31 3.2.7 Reading is individual and silent .32 3.2.8 Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower 32 3.2.9 Teachers orient and guide their students 32 3.2.10 The teacher is a role model of a reader 33 3.3 Summary 34 PART III: CONCLUSION 35 Recapitulation 35 Limitations and suggestions for further research 37 REFERENCES 38 APPENDIX I SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE I v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, TABLES, FIGURES AND CHARTS ABBREVIATIONS VTC: Viettronics Technology College ER: Extensive reading FIGURES Figure 1: The traditional types of reading Figure 2: The general picture of advances in reading TABLES Table 1: Ten principles of extensive reading CHARTS Chart 1: Students’ attitudes towards the role of reading English to their learning and their future career Chart 2: Students’ attitude towards the reading text in Lifeline- Elemetary book Chart 3: Students’ activities in pre-reading Chart 4: Students’ activities in while-reading Chart 5: Students’ activities in post-reading Chart 6: Teachers’ activities towards their students in the reading lesson -1- PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale In the modern time, when the world entered a new millennium, the tendency towards globalization is an indispensable development Therefore, the desire for having a mutual understanding among the world economies, among the world citizens is becoming more and more urgent Thanks to the globalization and the entry to the WTO, Viet Nam is striving to the growth rate of world economy Using English as a useful means of communication is really in need Furthermore, to have good chances to find out stable jobs as well as to get high social positions, one of the key factors to the success is good at English For the reasons, teaching and learning English is getting highly development in the world Learners of English must concern in four practical skills in English as reading, speaking, writing and listening Obviously and surely, most of learners want to be the masters of all Some of them pay attention to speaking and listening, they consider speaking and listening as a tool for the communication and realization of their goal Also, writing is important and necessary for others because of their office documents, reports and business letters etc requirement However, most of them confirm reading is one of the most complex skills It is difficult for them to focus on reading, especially for reading texts with lengthy and unknown words They also complain that the reading classes are boring and they feel bored because they are able to understand a little about the subject they are reading Therefore teachers need to have some new advances to improve reading skill for learners Learners must be taught how to read and teachers should give best methods and new advances in reading to motivate and develop learners’ reading skill Viettrronics Technology College, a seven – year – old College is located in Hai Phong city has four faculties, Basic department, Electrical and Electronics department, Information Technology department and Economic Administration department We, English group belong to Basic department so we teach for non- English major students who are offered reading course in Lifelines book (Elementary by Tom Hutchinson) for the first term and second term For the first year students have to face up with quite a lot of problems in -2- learning reading because most of them have just graduated from high school They seem to lack of basic background knowledge of reading Moreover, they are not acquainted with lengthy and unknown words reading texts in limitation time They only have two periods to read and carry out a reading text in each lesson that cause them many difficulties in reading and understanding the text That is also the reason why the first year students often have to look up new words and write down everything the teachers explain As a certain result, they are tired of reading and their reading skills still keep stable For all above reasons, the researcher wishes to try some new advances to improve reading skill for students, especially the first year students And the writer’s thesis is: “Advances in English Linguistics Employable for the Teaching of Reading Comprehension Techniques to First Year Students at Viettronics Technology College” Aims and objectives of the study 2.1 Aims of the study The purpose of this study is to investigate and survey the difficulties in reading encountered by non – English students at Viettronics Technology College from that Advances in English Linguistics Employable for the Teaching of Reading Comprehension Techniques can be given to motivate and help them to improve reading skill The specific aims are: + To investigate into current situation of teaching and learning reading at VTC + To find out the difficulties encountered by non – English students at VTC + To give the employment of extensive reading as a possible way of teaching reading comprehension techniques to the first year students at VTC 2.2 Objectives of the study + Data collection for the analysis from the first year students of classes in Economic administration department at VTC: + Find out the dominant difficulties + Evaluate what advances in English linguistics employable for the teaching of reading Comprehension Techniques are best suitable -3- Methods of the study To get the aims of this study, the quantitative and qualitative research methods are used to observe and obtain information on students’ attitude in reading lesson Besides that Writer intends to use categorized and systematized research methods to find out students’ difficulties in reading and choose the best suitable advances using for teaching of reading comprehension techniques to first year students at Viettronics Technology College Scope of the study The main focus of the study is the employment of extensive reading as a possible way of teaching reading comprehension techniques to help non- English major students to solve reading texts, especially, lengthy and unknown words texts Due to the limitation of time, the author will pay more attention to survey on the first year students of Economic Administration department at VTC to investigate reading difficulties that students are often coped with then give some principles of extensive reading employable for the teaching of reading comprehension techniques to motivate them better in their reading skill Design of the study This minor thesis is divided into three parts Part A “Introduction” firstly, introduce how important English language is in modern society The students’ demands for studying English including four skills: reading, speaking, listening and writing as well as students’ attitude to these Secondly, talk a little about the difficulties in studying reading comprehension at VTC Thirdly, presents the background aims, objectives, research methods, scope and design of the study Part B: Consists of three chapters: Chapter 1: Reviews literature and the literature of previous works and some linguistic concepts concerning to research topic such as definitions of reading, definitions of reading comprehension, types of reading, reading comprehension, definition of extensive reading, extensive reading versus intensive reading etc Chapter 2: Analyzes the general learning situation at VTC, teachers and their teaching methods, materials and assessment, especially, data collection, finding and discussion also will be focused in this chapter -4- Chapter 3: Gives the employment of extensive reading as a possible way of teaching reading comprehension techniques to the first year students at VTC Part C: “Conclusion” summarizes what is obtained in this study and shows the limitations and gives some suggestions for further study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW Review of literature 1.1 Introduction In this chapter, there are four sub-sections The first section deals with the theoretical background of reading skill including the definition of reading, reading comprehension, reading process, types of reading and the purpose of reading Especially, in the second section some advances in English linguistics employable for teaching of reading comprehension techniques will be given and because of limited time, the researcher only pay attention to one of these advances, extensive reading such as extensive reading definition, extensive reading versus intensive reading, using extensive reading in the language class and The third section focuses on the previous research of extensive reading on students’ reading The fourth section summarizes this chapter 1.2 An Overview on the Nature of Reading 1.2.1 Definition of reading There are numerous of reading definitions as: According to Goodman (1971: 135), reading is “a psycholinguistic process by which the reader, a language users, reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has been encoded by a writer as a graphic display”, and the act of reconstruction is viewed as “a cyclical process of sampling, predicting, testing and confirming” -5- Rumelhart (1977) defines “reading involves the reader, the text and the interaction between the reader and the text” William also shares the same idea on reading when he points out “written, then, often contain more than we need to understand them The efficient reader makes use of this to take what he needs, and no more, to obtain meaning” Harmer (1989:153) states that “eyes receive the message and the brain has to work out the significance of the message” He views reading from a different perspective and he consider reading as a mechanical process Obviously, Experts give different reading definitions but they all share the same idea that reading includes reader, text, reading process and reading message 1.2.2 Definition of reading comprehension Reading comprehension plays a very important part in teaching and learning reading a foreign language It is the ability to understand information in a text and interpret it appropriately So that: Swam (1975:1) states “a student is good at comprehension we mean that he can read accurately and efficiently to get the maximum information of a text with the minimum of understanding” Grellet (1981:3) proposes “reading comprehension or understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as effectively as possible” Lenz (2000:3) also says “reading comprehension is the process of constructing meaning from the text” It means that reading comprehension consists of at least two people, the reader and the write Thus, the process of comprehending involves decoding the writer’s words and using background knowledge to construct an approximate understanding of the writer’s passage On the whole, reading comprehension is the process that helps readers obtain information in a text and understand it appropriately - 30 - This variety also ensures that students can find things they want to read, whatever their interests Teachers will have many opportunities to select different kinds of reading material to encourage students’ flexible approach to reading Students are led to read for different reasons (e.g entertainment, information) and they are also able to practice reading in different ways by themselves 3.2.3 Choosing what they want to read Self-selection of reading material is the key to extensive reading, students can select texts as they in their own language, that is, they can choose texts they expect to understand, to enjoy or to learn from Correlative to this principle, students are also free, indeed encouraged, to stop reading anything they find to be too difficult, or that turns out not to be of interest Teachers should let the student feel free on choosing what they read, how much they read, when they read by the way of giving them a topic and control their reading in class each week This is not only helps provide enough material for the whole class but also awakes students’ responsibility for learning reading skill Moreover, there are also a lot of ideas and prompts for teachers to get and use for their reading on internet Basing on reference documents from internet, teachers can find a lot of ER activities or how to apply ER for second language learners which support teachers in designing ER class in accordance with objectives they want to get from students or whether these activities are suitable with students’ level or not 3.2.4 Students read as much as possible There is no upper limit to the amount of reading that can be done, but a book a week is probably the minimum amount of reading necessary to achieve the benefits of extensive reading and to establish a reading habit This is a realistic target for students of all proficiency levels, but for the first year students with low-intermediate levels, teachers should choose the ER document which is relating topic they study in class and ask them to read, for example, in the first week of second term, the teacher give students the reading document relating to “survivors” and guide them to search the reading documents from many different sources as on internet system, at libraries or from books also relating to “survivors” at home and in the second week, they will study about this topic in their - 31 - reading lesson and they discuss the thing they have read and prepared before By this ways, students’ vocabulary will be widened quickly as well as they will improve their grammar and translation by themselves 3.2.5 The purpose of reading is usually related to pleasure, information and general understanding Teachers should realize that the considerable improvement of reading class atmosphere related to pleasure, information and general understanding is very important in which most students feel comfortable, achievable and exited about reading in class They are interested in activities instead of being bored with reading traditional classes They try their best to complete reading tasks and try to reach the requirements of the lessons, share ideas or discuss the lesson that is given by teachers, for example, teachers give the topic “family” to students and divide class into small groups to discuss about this topic then ask them to book questions together It makes students show their motivating surprise at the idea of understanding the content and also show their knowledge about the topic they read Especially, by discussing, the class will be filled with ideas and discussions All students will feel confident and exited in reading It helps them have good motivation in learning reading skill 3.2.6 Reading is its own reward The students' experience of reading the text is at the center of the extensive reading experience, just as it is in reading in everyday life For this reason, extensive reading is not usually followed by comprehension questions It is an experience complete in itself At the same time, teachers may ask students to complete follow-up activities based on their reading for a wide variety of extensive reading activities for teaching foreign language The reasons for this are various: to find out what the student understood and experienced from the reading; to monitor students' attitudes toward reading; to keep track of what and how much students read; to make reading a shared experience; to link reading to other aspects of the curriculum For such reasons, students may be asked to such things as write about their favorite characters, write about the best or worst book they have read, or a dramatic reading of an exciting part of a novel Such activities, while respecting the integrity of students' reading experiences, extend them in interesting and useful ways - 32 - 3.2.7 Reading is individual and silent Silent, individual extensive reading contrasts with the way classroom texts are used as vehicles for teaching language or reading strategies or (in traditional approaches) translated or read aloud It allows students to discover that reading is a personal interaction with the text, and an experience that they have responsibility for Thus, together with freedom to choose reading material, individual silent reading can be instrumental in students discovering how foreign language reading fits into their lives Students read at their own pace Teachers should design silent reading period when students read their self-selected books in the classroom Time for each lesson is limited so students can not complete all their extensive reading in the class Therefore, most of teachers should give extensive reading as homework And remember that, being a teacher, you should create as many silent reading periods as you can 3.2.8 Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower In extensive reading, the speed is also quite important because to achieve overall language proficiency, a student must take reading speed into account Reading passages also should be given at levels of difficulty to confirm that reading speed is usually faster than slower In the service of promoting reading fluency, teachers should discourage students from using dictionaries when they come across words they don't understand Extensive reading is a chance to keep reading, and thus to practice such strategies as guessing at or ignoring unknown words or passages, going for the general meaning, and being comfortable with a certain level of ambiguity 3.2.9 Teachers orient and guide their students Extensive reading is very different from usual classroom practice Students accustom to wading through difficult foreign language texts might drown when suddenly plunge into a sea of simple and stimulating material Serious-minded students, for example, in thrall of the macho maxim of foreign language reading instruction, No reading pain, no reading gain, might not understand how reading easy and interesting material can help them become better readers - 33 - Students thus need careful introduction to extensive reading Teachers can explain that reading extensively leads not only to gains in reading proficiency but also to overall gains in language learning The methodology of extensive reading can be introduced, beginning with choice: students’ choosing what to read is an essential part of the approach Teachers can reassure students that a general, less than 100%, understanding of what they read is appropriate for most reading purposes It can be emphasized that there will be no test after reading Instead, teachers are interested in the student's own personal experience of what was read, for example, was it enjoyable or interesting, and why? The final component of orientation is practical Students should be introduced to the library of reading materials and how it is divided into difficulty levels It should be remembered that students unaccustomed to browsing foreign language reading material may need assistance in selecting appropriate texts of interest to them Orientation is the first step Guidance throughout the extensive reading experience is also needed, in light of the independence and choice extensive reading allows students Teachers can keep track of what and how much each student reads, and their students' reactions to what was read Based on this information, teachers can encourage students to read as widely as possible and, as their language ability, reading ability and confidence increase, to read at progressively higher levels of difficulty Guidance implies a sharing of the reading experience, which leads us to the final principle of extensive reading 3.2.10 The teacher is a role model of a reader Teachers themselves should keep improving their reading skills by reading day by day Because reading is the best way for teachers to find out and update information as well as absorb new things in life Teachers will have creative ideas and imagination by the way of reading The teachers will bring all new things they read into their reading class to inspire their students to read Furthermore, teachers of extensive reading should have to commit to reading what their students By reading what students read, teachers will become a part of the community that forms within the class When students and teachers share reading, the foreign language reading classroom can be a place where teachers discuss books with students, answer their questions and make tailor-made recommendations to individual students It can be a place - 34 - where students and teachers experience together the value and pleasure to be found in the written word 3.3 Summary The researcher hope that will give teachers food for thought and reflection as they consider their beliefs about how best to help their students become proficient foreignlanguage readers with ten principles of teaching extensive reading employable for the teaching reading comprehension techniques for the first year students at VTC The researcher also realizes that, teachers are always the path-guiders for students to read and improve their reading skill Through extensive reading, teachers help their students to know how they can understand the texts, remember new words and especially, change students’ thought of boring reading lessons - 35 - PART C: CONCLUSION Recapitulation With the aims of improving the teaching and learning reading comprehension of the first year students, the research is designed with three main chapters In the chapter 1, the researcher briefly presents an overview on the nature of reading, states the traditional types of reading and introduces the advance types employable for the teaching comprehension techniques for the first year students at VTC It is extensive reading Then, the definition of extensive reading, extensive reading versus intensive reading and using extensive reading in the language class are given Finally, it is the previous work of extensive reading In the chapter 2, firstly, the writer also gives quick information of Viettronics Technology College which is included teachers and teaching methods, materials and assessments Next, is the analysis of current situation of teaching and learning reading at Viettronics Technology College with the data collection of twenty surveyed questions to find out the information about teachers and their teaching methods applied in reading lessons, viewing the students’ activities in pre-reading, while-reading and post-reading Also, showing how much students are interested in their reading materials and how much students assess to the utility of the material Especially, through that analysis, the author wants to find out how many percentages of extensive reading that teachers use to teach reading for the first year students From these, the writer gives other ways of teaching reading comprehension to teachers Also, from the major findings and discussions, it can be realized that there are many difficulties in students’ reading skill and the main way of teachers’ teaching reading is traditional intensive reading with predicting, skimming or scanning Ten principles of extensive reading are quite new advances for the teachers’ teaching methods of reading at VTC Chapter focuses on extensive reading employable for the teaching reading comprehension techniques for the first year students at VTC It is quite a new way of teaching and learning reading for both teachers and students so extensive reading is applied - 36 - to teachers and students with ten principles according to Bam ford and Richard Day (2004) * The reading material is easy * A variety of reading material on a wide range of topics must be available * Choosing what they want to read * Students read as much as possible * The purpose of reading is usually related to pleasure, information and general understanding * Reading is its own reward * Reading is individual and silent * Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower * Teachers orient and guide their students * The teacher is a role model of a reader Perhaps, these principles are still new for teachers and students at VTC, however, they are obviously efficient escorts of the teachers who are looking forward to improving their students’ reading skills A variety of ER activities are of great help in improve students’ reading skill Through ER activities, students will be able to learn how to enhance their observation abilities, develop vocabulary ER will motivate students to feel comfortable to read without being bored Students will have a chance to develop their reading skill, read for information, pleasure and expand interests As the result, they’ll find reading not difficult as they have thought And their reading skills will be improved day by day By extensive reading, teachers also have opportunities of accessing to new items that they read in different kinds of reading materials They can widen their knowledge of reading as well as using the items they read to their reading lessons and make their reading lessons more interesting and efficient Therefore, the researcher of this study hopes that in the coming time, other teachers can have deeply studies on students’ ESP field to find out the existed difficulty in students’ - 37 - reading as well as the application of ten principles of extensive reading will be able to use to teach the reading comprehension techniques for the first year students at VTC Limitations and suggestions for further research Because of the limitation of time and ability of author, this study has some limitations The study only focus on the first year students with their reading skill of basic English learning while all students should be assisted to have better reading ability for their ESP in the second and third year In addition, the number of questionnaire items should also be increased and focused on both teachers and students to get more information of difficulty in reading comprehension and from that he can give better solutions of improving students’ reading skill Also, the study should mention to the way to develop the students’ reading speed and word retention more detailed to have more significant result On the whole, to help students to be good readers, apart from traditional teaching reading methods, each teacher should apply ten principles of extensive reading into their teaching reading comprehension And once again, the author hopes that the study will make a contribution to the better situation of teaching and learning reading skill at Viettronics Technology College - 38 - REFERENCES Bell, T., & Campbell, J (1996) Promoting Good Reading Habits: The Debate Network Bell, T (1998) Extensive reading: why? 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The Internet TESL Journal Vol.IV, No.12, December 1998 Doff, A (1988) Teach English Cambridge University Press Elley, W.B., & Mangubbai, F (1983) The impact of reading on second language learning, pp.53-67 Elley, W.B (1991) Acquiring literacy in a second language: The effect of book-based programs, Language learning, pp.375-411 Goodman, K.S (1971) Reading a psycholinguistics guessing game In H Singer & B.R.Ruddell (Eds), Theoretical models and processes of reading Newark Delaware: International Reading Association, pp.137-140 Grabe, W (1991) Current development in Second Language Reading Research TESOL Quarterly Grellet, F (1981) Developing reading skills Cambridge: CUP, pp3-19 Grellet, F (1990) Developing reading skills-A practical guide to reading comprehension exercises Cambridge: CUP Greenwood, J (1985) The teaching of English as an International Language Collins: Glassgrow and London Hafiz, F.M., & Tudor, I (1989) Extensive reading and the development of language skills ELT Journal Harmer, J (1989) The practice of language teaching Harlow Longman, pp.153-155 Hayes, B.L (1991) The effective teaching of reading In B.L.Hayes (Eds) Holden, W.R (2003) Student Attitude toward Reading A preliminary Investigation, Bulletin of Hokuriky University, Volume 27 Hafiz, F., & Tudor, I (1989) Extensive reading and the development of language skills, pp.5-13 Hill, D (2006) Presentation Extensive Reading, Buenos Aires: KEL Bookshop - 39 - Kamil, M.L (1986) Reading in the Native Language In B.H.Wing (ED.), Listening, Reading, and writing: Analysis and Application, Middlebury, VT: Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, pp.71-91 Kalb, G (1986) Teaching of extensive reading in English instruction at the senior gymnasium level, pp.420-430 Kembo, J (1993) Reading: Encouraging and Maintaining Individual Extensive Reading English Teaching Forum, pp36-38 .Krashen, S D (1982) Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition New York: Prentice Hall Krashen, S D (1984) Writing: Research, Theory and Application New York Krashen, S D (1993) The power of reading Insights from the research Englewood, Co: Libraries Unlimited Lenz, K (2000) Reading comprehension CUP, pp.3-7 Lewis, M (1985) Practical Techniques for Language Teaching Commercial Color Press, pp.110-113 Macalister J (2008) Integrating extensive reading into English for academic purposes programs, The Reading Matrix Vol.8, No.1 Nagy, W.E., & Herman, P.A (1987) Breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge: Implications for acquisition and instruction In M McKeown and M Curtis (EDs) Nunan, D (1991) Language teaching methodology Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Nuttal, C (1982) Teaching reading skills in a foreign language London: Heineman, pp.36-40 Nuttal, C (1996) Teaching reading skills in a foreign language London: Heineman Educational Books Paran, A (1996) Reading in EFL: facts and fictions English Language Teaching Journal Richards, J.C (2003) New ways in teaching reading comprehension Cambridge: CUP Richards, D & Bamford, J.(1998) Extensive reading in the second language classroom Cambridge: CUP Richards, D., & Bamford, J (2004) Extensive reading activities for teaching language Cambridge: CUP - 40 - Richards, D., & Bamford, J Reading in a foreign language Volume 14 Number October 2004 Robb, T., & Susser, B (1989) Extensive reading vs skills building in an EFL context Rummerhart, D (1977) Towards an interactive model of reading In S.Dordic (Eds) Attention and Performance IV Academic Press Samuels, S.J., & Hamil, M.L (1988) Models for the reading process Cambridge: CUP Stotsky, S (1983) Research on reading/writing relationships: A synthesis and suggested directions Language Arts, pp.627-642 Susser, B., & Robb, TN (1990) EFL Extensive Reading Instruction: Research and Procedure JALT Journal, pp.161-185 Swam, M (1975) Inside meaning CUP Tignanelli, R (2007), The evaluation and use of extensive reading materials: a case study, Edinburgh University Williams, E (1986) Reading in the Language Classroom, London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd Wodinsky, M., & Nation, P (1988) Learning from graded readers Reading in a Foreign Language, pp.155-161 I APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE This survey questionnaire is intended for our thesis “Advances in English Linguistics Employable for the Teaching of Reading Comprehension Techniques to First Year Students at Viettronics Technology College” Please circle your answer to respond to each statement or question frankly and accurately as you can Your answer will be of invaluable help in the development of better ways of teaching reading English at our college Thanks a lot! How you find the role of reading English to your learning English and to your future career? a very important b important c not very important d not important What you think of the reading text in the book “lifelines -Elementary” a very interesting b not very interesting c interesting d boring Are there many unknown words in the reading text in “lifelines – Elementary”? a many b some c no unknown words d other II How you feel when you have a reading text with many new words that you don’t know? a anxious b enjoyable c nervous d tired What you think of the length of the reading text in “lifelines – Elementary”? a very long b medium c long d short What you often for pre-reading? a look at the headings and title for each section and think about the meaning of each b pay attention to the questions of the texts c scan the texts and predict the content of the reading texts d nothing Before reading, how often you predict the main content of the text? a often b sometimes c rarely d never How can you guess the main ideas of the text? a basing on the first and the last sentence of the text b reading the text carefully c basing on the picture and headline to find main ideas d scanning e skimming What you often for your detail reading? a read the text attentively from the beginning to the end b read sentence by sentence and underline new words and structures c read the first and the last sentence of each paragraph in the reading text d read and translate sentence by sentence III 10 What you often when you are faced up with unknown words in your whilereading? a look them up in the dictionary b guess the meaning of the word basing on the meaning of sentences c ask your teacher for meaning d ignore them all 11 After reading the text for details, you are unable to understand the text, what you do? a stop reading immediately b ask your partners c ask your teacher d not know what to 12 After reading the text for details, how often you summarize the text? a often b sometimes c rarely d never 13 What kind of exercise you like most to after reading the text? a comprehension questions b multiple choice questions c true/ false d word formation 14 What does your teacher often to create your attention to the reading text for prereading? a ask you to look at the headings and title for each section and think about the meaning of each? b ask you to look at the pictures and think about the meaning of the text c scan the text and cross out all the words and structures you don’t know on the board d give a brief introduction to the text 15 What does your teacher often when you have difficulties in understanding the text? a explain new words and structures b ask you to predict the content of the text c translate the text into Vietnamese IV d nothing 16 What does your teacher to help you cover all meaning of the text after reading? a summarize the text b give exercises following the content of the text c ask you to book some questions for your partner’s answer d ask you to retell the main content of the text 17 To help you to understand the content of the text, how often does your teacher translate the text into Vietnamese? a usually b sometimes c seldom d never 18 Apart from the reading text in lifelines, does your teacher often give you other document to read? a often b sometimes c rarely d never 19 Do you often keep the way of teacher’s teaching reading in your mind after reading? a often b sometimes c seldom d never 20 How much you memorize the way your teacher gives you? a much b rather c just little d not at all ... types of reading -7- Silent reading Reading aloud Manner READING Purposes Extensive Intensive General information Reading for pleasure Skimming Scanning Brief information Reading for information Reading. .. choose the best suitable advances using for teaching of reading comprehension techniques to first year students at Viettronics Technology College Scope of the study The main focus of the study is the. .. The first section deals with the theoretical background of reading skill including the definition of reading, reading comprehension, reading process, types of reading and the purpose of reading