An investigation into english reading strategies employed by first year students in honors program at vietnam national university of agriculture

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  TRẦN THI ̣THU HIỀN AN INVESTIGATION INTO ENGLISH READING STRATEGIES EMPLOYED BY FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS IN HONORS PROGRAM AT VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE (Nghiên cứu chiế n lươ ̣c đo ̣c hiể u tiế ng Anh của sinh viên năm thứ nhấ t ̣chấ t lươ ̣ng cao ta ̣i Ho ̣c viêṇ Nông nghiêp̣ Viêṭ Nam) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Hanoi – 2015 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  TRẦN THI ̣THU HIỀN AN INVESTIGATION INTO ENGLISH READING STRATEGIES EMPLOYED BY FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS IN HONORS PROGRAM AT VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE (Nghiên cứu chiế n lươ ̣c đo ̣c hiể u tiế ng Anh của sinh viên năm thứ nhấ t ̣chấ t lươ ̣ng cao ta ̣i Ho ̣c viêṇ Nông nghiêp̣ Viêṭ Nam) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Dr Nguyễn Huy Kỷ Hanoi - 2015 DECLARATION This paper is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for The Degree of Master in English Teaching Methodology I confirm that this is my own research, and that it has not been published or submitted for any other degrees Hanoi, 2015 Trầ n Thi Thu Hiề n ̣ i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge the contributions of the following people whose help and guidance have encouraged me to complete this thesis First and foremost, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my admirable supervisor, Dr Nguyễn Huy Kỷ, whose patience, prompt consultancy and encouragement were the most essential factors to the fulfillment of this research Secondly, I also counted myself as fortunate to have the six students (S1, S2, S3, S4, S5 and S6) as my research participants Without much of their time devoted to several survey and think-aloud procedures, this thesis would not have been finished Thirdly, I must also express my most sincere appreciation to my colleagues who have assisted me with data analysis and useful advice Lastly, my heartfelt gratitude goes to my beloved parents and husband whose constant support and patience have encouraged me through the most difficult times ii ABSTRACT The present study explores reading strategies used by the first-year students in Honors program at Vietnam National University of Agriculture and find out the differences in strategy use by successful readers and less successful readers Six first-year students were chosen as the participants The research instruments were questionnaires and think-aloud reports Metacognitive was found to be more preferred than Cognitive by both groups Successful readers reported utilizing metacognitive and cognitive categories more frequently and employed a wider range of reading strategies than less successful readers Also, significant differences between successful readers and less successful readers were found on some prominent Metacognitive and Cognitive strategies From these findings, the research pointed out some reading strategies the students need to develop Some teaching implications were that teachers should provide students with instruction on reading strategies, make them aware of self-monitoring their reading strategy use and apply think-aloud reports in the curriculum iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Objectives of the study Research questions Methods of the study .2 Significance of the study .2 Scope of the study Organization of the study .3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Language learning strategies 1.1.1 Definition 1.1.2 Classification of learning strategies 1.2 Reading strategies 1.2.1 Definition of reading 1.2.2 Different approaches to reading process 10 1.2.3 Reading strategies 12 1.2.3.1 Definition 12 1.2.3.2 Previous studies on reading strategies 14 1.3 Summary .16 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 17 2.1 Participants 17 2.2 Settings of the study .18 iv 2.3 Data collection instruments .18 2.3.1 Questionnaires 18 2.3.2 Think-aloud reports 21 2.4 Procedures of data collection 21 2.4.1 Pilot study .21 2.4.1.1 Stage .21 2.4.1.2 Stage .22 2.4.1.3 Results of the pilot-study 22 2.4.2 Administering the questionnaires 22 2.4.3 Administering the think-aloud reports 22 2.5 Coding of data 23 2.6 Procedures of data analysis 23 2.7 Summary .23 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 24 3.1 Research question 1: What reading comprehension strategies are used by successful readers and less successful readers? 24 3.1.1 The use of reading strategy categories 24 3.1.2 The use of individual strategies within strategy categories 25 3.1.2.1 The use of individual strategies within metacognitive category .25 3.1.2.2 The use of individual strategies within cognitive category 26 3.2 Research question 2: How does the use of reading comprehension strategies by successful readers differ from that by less successful readers? 26 3.2.1 Differences in the use of strategy categories 26 3.2.2 Differences in the use of individual strategies .27 3.2.2.1 Differences in the use of individual metacognitive strategies 29 3.2.2.2 Differences in the use of individual cognitive strategies 30 3.3 Summary .31 PART C: CONCLUSIONS 33 Recapitulation of major findings .33 v Concluding remarks 33 Implications 34 3.1 Reading strategies that the students need to develop .34 3.1.1 Reading strategies that successful students need to develop 34 3.1.2 Reading strategies that less successful students need to develop 35 3.2 Teaching implications 35 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies 36 REFERENCES 38 APPENDICES I vi LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table Learning strategy definition and classification (O'Malley and Chamot, 1990: 119) Table 2: Reading strategy framework adapted from O‟Malley and Chamot (1990) .14 Table 3: Summary of previous reading strategy studies adapted from Nguyen (2006: 17) .15 Table Background information about the participants 17 Table 5: Questionnaire: Reading strategy coding categories adapted from O'Malley and Chamot (1990: 119) 20 Table 6: Strategy categories used by successful and less successful readers 26 Table 7: Difference in the use of individual strategies by SRs and LRs .28 Table 8: Reading strategies that successful students need to develop 34 Table 9: Reading strategies that less successful students need to develop 35 Figure 1: Strategy category frequency for successful and less successful readers .24 Figure 2: Individual strategy frequency within Metacognitive category for successful and less successful readers 25 Figure 3: Individual strategy frequency within Cognitive category for successful and less successful readers 26 Figure 4: The use of individual metacognitive strategies by successful readers 29 Figure 5: The use of individual metacognitive strategies by less successful readers 29 Figure 6: The use of individual cognitive strategies by successful readers 30 Figure 7: The use of individual cognitive strategies by less successful readers 31 vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS VNUA Vietnam National University of Agriculture RSs Reading strategies LLSs Language learning strategies SRs Successful readers LRs Less successful readers L2 Second language viii Opera House was designed not by an Australian but but… by a celebrated Danish architect, Jorn Utzon” uhh…and besides, there is uhm…important information that this architecture did not meet uhm…his…uhm…expectation The next sentences explain about this Ok What about paragraph 4? Paragraph 4…Paragraph continues …to talk about building this house and some changes The size of the building, uhh…rehearsal room and other facilities were made smaller Ok Thank you Can I ask you another question? Ok How did you come to give answers for each question? How did you come to give answers for each question? Uhm….Uhm…After… skimming through the text and the questions, uhm…I reread….I reread the questions carefully and and…and… decide what the key information is being mentioned and where uhm…it should be found in the text Uhm…Then… I scan the reading for the key words …relating to the questions and don‟t care about other information Ok How did you give answers for Part C, which asks you to find the synonyms? Part C…Uhm…Synonym…Uhm…I guess the part of speech of the words… in exercises, uhm…then then… I find the words in the text by deciding the part of speech and function of the words… in the sentences What did you next? Uhm…Then find a meaning relation between the word… in exercises and the words…in the sentence Did you try to understand the passage in detail? in detail? No Do you normally try to understand the passage in detail when you read? Do you normally try to understand in detail? Not “did you” but “do you” Uhm ok ok…No, I don‟t… I just pay attention to the information to answer questions Another question Were there any occasions when you just skipped the words that you did not consider very important? If the word is not important, did you skip it? Uhm…Many times…Uhm… Because…uhm…that word is easy to guess its meaning or or… already known the meaning and felt uhm feel… it‟s not important Many times I that Uhm…In the reading text Uhm… there are always new and known words For new and difficult new words, I usually ignore or read quickly In reading this passage, did you think about any key words? XII Yes, yes, always that Uhm…When reading the passage, I usually underline words appear… many times or… important words in a sentence Uhm uhm In…True/ False exercises, underline and find key word in both passage and exercises very important and and…especially words like …“no not, except” I always underline this ones Ok good Did you want to use dictionary? Be frank! Yep yep I extremely want… I always have a little dream, is to have a dictionary in my mind I know dream is dream (Yes, dream is dream in the test) Yes, uhm…to know the meaning, we can use dictionary to or or… guess base on the context Although I guess ….not good, but nearly correct is a big success In short, if hard…, everything is ok, even learn new words Were there any occasions when any sudden ideas about an opera house crossed your mind? Uhm I I…haven‟t had such ideas yet Uhm… I normally don‟t think such ideas in my mind Were there any complex grammatical structures? Difficult grammatical structure? Uhm…Yep, many Feel that…feel that…the author writes… a wrong…a wrong structure (No no the author is always right!) It is difficult to understand… not same with the knowledge I learned But… then think that the test cannot be wrong, so try… to understand Did you base on any grammar and vocabulary knowledge to understand the text? Of course Uhm…Like I will…I will apply… all skills and grammar to Did you make guess when encountering new words in this text? Did you guess when you meet new words? Uhm…Obviously this is always need to when reading Uhm… If uhm…we don‟t try to guess the meaning, we never can the exercises Uhm Because uhm…new new words are unlimited and passage often have many new words Can you give me an example? Example…For example, for for example, uhm… in the exercise “Find synonym words in the text with the following words below”, uhm there is the word… “lasting”, and… in the last sentence of paragraph 2,uhm…there is the phrase… “abiding love” and…love relates uhm… to the long-term or ….eternity…eternity So maybe… “abiding” is synonym of “lasting” After reading everything, did you think about the overall meaning of the passage? XIII Yes, I did Uhm… I….often this Uhm…Some texts texts are easy, so after reading only or times I can understand the overall meaning Uhm…But…But difficult texts, uhm… I have to think During reading the text, did you translate the text into Vietnamese? Yes, sometimes Uhm…If the text is too difficult, ah I try to translate in my mind or… by voice Uhm…And in exercises…, it‟s the same…But… if it is easy to understand, I don‟t translate The last question for you Were there any occasions when you felt annoyed or irritated while reading the text and then you forced yourself to go back to the text? I mean when you feel difficult and uncomfortable, did you read again? Ok Quite many times Because… that word is to difficult to guess meaning or… too easy I read back to check uhm… whether I understand correct or not Uhm…So I feel comfortable in mind, then… keep continue doing exercises But sometimes, uhm when I meet too many new and difficult words, I feel discouraged and… don't want to read back and choose random That’s all? Yes Ok, thank you very much! Student Have you finished? Finish? – Yes, No, I‟m not I didn‟t complete all questions Are you sure of all your answers? Yes, I‟ve checked my answer but don‟t sure, especially in part c, d Have you just skimmed through the reading passage? Reading passage…skim…Yess…Uhm…For all passage, I read fast I save the time when I need to focus on the para…paragraph where I can find the answer How did you understand the passage? Uhmm…Yes…I think I understand the basic meaning of all paragraphs but not every single word Did you often read some sentences like the first sentence, the middle sentence or the last sentence in a paragraph to understand it? Ok…waittt…the first…the midlle the last…Yes, I can understand… Yes, I often read the first sentence of each paragraph to understand And…and I…think that the first paragraph is something about Sydney Opera house XIV What about second paragraph? Uhm…second paragraph…Second paragraph…is describe something about this and the meaning of this with Australians The third paragraph? Yeah Third is the problem when it build and the architect who beside this out of Australia (Beside? You mean design?) – uhm…design…yes design What about paragraph 4? Uhm four…paragraph four…ah…I think this is how they build this after the architect out and how it become the famous architecture in the world How did you give answers for Part C, which asks you to find the synonyms? Synonym? You mean…you mean part C…Ok This is most difficult part with me… First, I try to understand the meaning of words in part C I could understand the word number , , and maybe is 5… quite sure Number 3, uhm…I guess meaning Uhm Number…wait…number 6, I definitely didn‟t know Then I compare with the words in the passage I focus on new words I never seen And decide the meaning of those words Sometimes…uhm… I also decide…the function of word, for example it is noun and verb And turn back to match with the word in the question Another question for you Did you try to understand the passage in detail? Passage in detail uhm…In fact, ah… I not try to understand the detail I just focus on on some of them what help me answer the question For each part, uhm… I focus I focus on different detail For each kind of question uhm…I focus on on meaning of word Do you normally try to so? Do you normally try to understand the passage in detail when you read? The previous question is “did you try” and this question is “do you try” Do you try…understand…in detail…uhm No Uhm…I just want understand basic meaning of the passage Yes Were there any occasions when you just skipped the words that you did not consider very important? Uhm…important…Yes I think…Yes Always when I think it is not important It is the most easy way to find incorrect answer In reading this passage, did you think about any key words? Oh my God…key words I like it Yes…It help me find the answer faster You just need find a word instead instead of… all sentence or the meaning (instead of all sentence or the meaning?) Yes, the sentence, I‟m sorry Ok That‟s it XV Did you underline them, underline any key words or phrases or take notes during reading? Key words…take note…Oh I see…No, I just read and remember in my mind (You have very good memory) Yes Did you want to use dictionary? Yes, of course I want to but I didn‟t Because…need to prep…prepare for the test situation and it can‟t use dictionary Yes… Were there any occasions when any sudden ideas about an opera house crossed your mind? Cross your mind…sorry…cross your mind…my mind? For the first time I read this passage, I imagine…imagine yes the picture of Opera Sydney house in my mind After that, I connect it with the information in the passage to help me understand this passage quickly Uhm… It is very useful so I often this Ok What else are you thinking now? What else are you thinking now? Uhm more yes more…More, when I have a question, sometimes when I have time, I check it in my mind first whether I know this topic before…topic before If I know then I can connect to the passage If it I don‟t have then I check in the passage So I don‟t need to water a lot about sometime answer (Sorry you don’t need what?) don't need…don‟t need to wonder a lot about some answer Were there any complex grammatical structures? Yes, …there are some Uhm… Such as the comparison in the paragraph uhm…2 …I can understand full meaning of this I just guess the meaning so…maybe… it can make some of my answer incorrect Did you base on any grammar and vocabulary knowledge to understand the text? Uhm Yes, vocabulary…vocabulary is necessary but grammar… is not always Yes, coz‟ …I normally don‟t care much about grammar Did you make guess when encountering new words in this text? Nearly all the time I try to guess meaning base… on the sentences around it After reading everything, did you think about the overall meaning of the passage? General meaning of the passage Yes, always I don‟t want to just answer questions I want to get…knowledge knowledge Did you translate the text into Vietnamese? Vietnamese…No, I hardly ever translate I just normal reading Only when I need to understand a single word XVI Ok The last question for you Were there any occasions when you felt annoyed or irritated while reading the text and then you forced yourself to go back to the reading text? - Oh yes…this long question…yeah When you feel uncomfortable, did you come back to the text to read again? Oh…No, I think I don‟t want to waste time If I cannot answer in the first time, then I think I cannot So I will not read again Yes That’s all? - Yes, that‟s all Thank you so much - Thank you for listen to me Student Have you finished? Yes uhm…Some question is difficult…Uhm… I didn‟t complete all question Are you sure of all your answers? I don‟t sure of my answer Uhm… There are some answer I random because I can’t understand or… can’t find the correct answer Have you just skimmed through the reading passage? Ah…Yes…As always, uhm…I skimmed through the passage before doing exercises, uhm…try to remember some words appear many times in passage Uhm…That helped me guess a…bit about the content of reading How did you understand the passage? Understand the passage…Before doing, I read quickly the text and take the notice in some nouns and verbs like…“building”…“art”, “Sydney opera house”, ahhh…“design”, “architect”, and so on …So I guess that the text is around the opera house because…the phrase appears in all paragraphs Did you often read some sentences like the first sentence, the middle sentence or the last sentence in a paragraph to understand it? Uhm…yeah…I also notice the first sentence of each paragraph because I know it is often the topic sentence How did you give answers for Part C, which asks you to find the synonyms? Part C…uhm…part C is about meaning In order to this type of exercise, I often translate some words…I knew that fill the meaning…the type (noun adjective adverb verb) next to them I put it replace the word that I think it is answer in sentence in the paragraph and uhm… translated it; ahh… if the meaning is reasonable… it is my answer Did you try to understand the passage in detail? XVII Ahh…in detail…I didn‟t try to understand the passage in detail That takes a lot of time I always understand the text uhm…by doing tasks and…uhm… try to understand only the parts that help me answer the questions Uhm…I pay a little attention to other parts and… don‟t care about unimportant words Another question for you In reading this passage, did you think about any key words? Ahh…key word…I think key words usually is the main idea of the question, ahh… they appear in both question and text So… I…care…much about them Did you underline them? Underline key words or phrases or take notes during reading? Uhm No Maybe no… I take notice and try to remember Did you want to use dictionary? Yes… I really really want and often use whenever I meet difficult words Were there any occasions when any sudden ideas about an opera house crossed your mind? No No no What else are you thinking now? Uhm…Sometimes I often base on my knowledge…background knowledge to understand the passage better So I don‟t know about Opera House Did you base on any grammar and vocabulary knowledge to understand the text? Ahh…Yes, I often that For example… I guess the new words by the type uhm… noun…adjective verb…adverb, the word near them I usually based on the type of the word to find the the synonyms Moreover… the ending –ed…-s…ing or the tense helped me know what event happen fist, ahh… what happen then, ahh… what is being mentioned For example,…when finding the synonym of “limited” in paragraphs or and 4, I see words…“escalating” and…“restricted”, but I chose…choose “restricted” because of its ending “ed” Did you make guess when encountering new words in this text? When you meet new words, did you make guess? New words ahh…Yes I often guess the new word to uhm… understand the text if it is not too difficult After reading everything, did you think about the overall meaning of the passage? The general meaning? XVIII Yes….uhm… After reading, I still remember about the content Uhm…I can conclude what is the main idea of this text uhm…by not only reading the text… but also doing exercises Did you translate the text into Vietnamese? Ahh Yes But not all the text I translated the sentences that I think it ahhh …need for the question The last question for you Were there any occasions when you felt annoyed or irritated while reading the text and then you forced yourself to go back to the text? Sorry Can you repeat the question? Ok When you feel uncomfortable, when you feel difficult to understand, did you go back to read again? Ahhh Yes But only when the sentence is uhm too difficult to understand Uhm…It has too many new words I need to read again and again ahh because I see there are many ways to understand For example, the…the last paragraph, I don‟t understand clearly I guess it is complain about architect or…uhm… about cut out or… about… smaller the size That’s all? Yes, that‟s all Ok Thank you so much Student Have you finished? Yeah I have completed all Are you sure of all your answers? But uncertain about answers Did you check the answers? No, I forgot….Sometimes I remember, sometimes not Have you just skimmed through the reading passage? No For clarification overall content of articles…I have read carefully to understand each part How did you understand the passage? Did you often read some sentences like the first sentence, the middle sentence or the last sentence in a paragraph to understand it? I always think the topic is at the beginning of the paragraph So I often read it first to understand the text How did you give answers for Part C, which asks you to find the synonyms? Part c…I think should be expanded vocabulary First, …I translate the words Because… I know little words, uhmmm…I did this part last because it XIX need time and… If I know the meaning, I guess the type For example, ahh… if its ending is “ed”, I guess it is a verb After that, ahhh… I find the word in the text by… guess its meaning and decide…decide the function and… the type of word Then I match with the word in the exercise If I don‟t know if I don‟t know the meaning of the word in the exercise, I didn‟t it I choose random (laugh) Did you try to understand the passage in detail? Uhm…Yes…I read carefully the text should be able to understand Uhm… Especially part D part D, remember to fill the form and timeline for this part Do you normally try to understand the passage in detail when you read? The last question is “did you” and this question is “do you normally try to understand the passage in detail?” Uhm Yes, I often try to understand as much as possible Uhm…This is extremely important (laugh) It makes me feel confident In reading this passage, did you think about any key words? Key word? Key word…Yes, I always think about key words…Uhm… I think about key words in questions first After that…I find key words in the paragraph Did you underline them? Underline the key words or phrases or take notes during reading? …No, I always remember in mind (laugh) Did you want to use dictionary? Dictionary…Uhm…If I it in the exam, in the rule I mustn‟t use dictionary (Of course) so… I underline it and read clause before it or read the question, to predict correctly from new it involves matters what purpose…Uhm… So if I it at home I often use dictionary to know the new word but I can know form of the word Were there any occasions when any sudden ideas about an opera house crossed your mind? I mean anytime you think of the opera house? No no No, I didn‟t….Uhm… I don‟t know about this opera house Did you connect your personal knowledge and experience with the topic of this reading text? Uhm…Yes, sometimes In the passage has the word… Australia I know this country It is near the sea and has has…kangaroos Many Vietnamese students study there Did you base on any grammar and vocabulary knowledge to understand the text? Grammar and vocabulary…? Yes, did the grammar and vocabulary help you to understand the text? XX Uhm I usually do… not rely on… grammatical structures to respond Did you make guess when encountering new words? When you meet new words, did you guess its meaning? Ah…sometimes ahh…Sometimes, I guess new words through… the previous word or… sentence after the word After reading everything, did you think about the overall meaning of the passage? Did you think about the general meaning? No…I just try to answer the questions and stop It‟s happy when I can finish all questions Did you translate the text into Vietnamese? No I don‟t often translate the text into Vietnamese because… that make me don‟t have enough time to the task Yes And the last question for you The last one Were there any occasions when you felt annoyed or irritated, you feel uncomfortable while reading the text and then you forced yourself to go back to the text? When you feel uncomfortable, did you read again? Uhm…No, with difficult questions, I often skip them Reading again and again is very head aching That‟s all That’s all? Thank you so much Student Have you finished? Yes, I have finished Are you sure of all your answers? I don‟t sure my answer Did you check the answers? No, I didn‟t Because this exercises is difficult Uhm… I don‟t want to see again When it is a test or when it is so so, I will…check again Uhm…When it is too difficult or too easy, I will not check Have you just skimmed through the reading passage? Skim…Yes, I have The first, I care numbers, years and I see keywords such as: opera house, Sydney, Utzon,… Before doing, I often skim to understand general ideas How did you understand the passage? Uhm…I understand paragraph 1, 2, and by… look at the numbers and key words and translate quickly the words I know Uhm…I ignore new words From that, I can understand the general Did you read some sentences like the first sentence, the middle sentence or the last sentence in a paragraph to understand it? XXI Uhm…I don‟t remember but…I know the first sentence is often the topic So…I also often read it How did you give answers for Part A, which includes comprehension questions? Part A I see keyword at the question After that I reread quickly paragraph realated Did you underline any key words or phrases or take notes during reading? Uhmm…take note…Yeah, but I underlined only some important and hard to remember key words I rarely it because…because… it‟s waste of time How did you give answers for Part C, which asks you to find the synonyms? Part C? Uhm…I compare to information information at paragraph I compare meaning and type of word And… I answer For example… find the word in paragraph and… synonym with “considerably” It is adverb mean “đáng kể” In paragraph and have “hardly‟ uhm…“rightfully” and… “appreciably” I think “appreciably” is…correct Did you try to understand the passage in detail? Detail? No, I didn‟t I just pay attention to information for… answer questions Do you normally try to understand the passage in detail? Uhm…uhm…Sometimes When I want to get new information… and… knowledge and learn structures and… new words It need to understand in detail Did you want to use dictionary? Uhm dictionary…I want dictionary… but I often try to guess newword base on… words and I know ahh that I know Were there any occasions when any sudden ideas about an opera house crossed your mind? Did you think about the opera house? Opera house…Yes, I know this Sydney opera house I imagine its shape… its design So easier to understand the text Did you connect your personal knowledge and experience with the topic of this reading text? Connect your personal knowledge Uhm…Yes, before this reading…I‟ve already had some information about this topic Uhm…Sometimes, I don‟t knowledge…(I don’t ?) connect because I‟m afraid that my knowledge make me wrongly Did you base on any grammar and vocabulary knowledge to understand the text? XXII Uhm…grammar and vocabulary…Yes, but only when I need to analyze the structure For example, the last sentence of paragraph “the most famous design of any modern building anywhere” It is…comparison…comparison Did you make guess when encountering new words in this text? Menaing of new word…Yes, I did When the word is easy to guess After reading everything, did you think about the overall meaning of the passage? Overall meaning…No, I didn‟t Only when teacher ask me to Did you translate the text into Vietnamese? Uhm…I translate but all the text (But???) but not all the text I translated but not all the text, sometimes just the sentences that I think they are need for the question Were there any occasions when you felt annoyed or irritated while reading the text and then you forced yourself to go back to the text? Uhm too long I don‟t understand You don’t understand Ok When you felt uncomfortable, did you go back to read again? Understand? Uncomfortable…read again…Yeah I understand Yes, some difficult parts, after I read quickly first, I read again or times to feel the answer (find the answer?) yeah…find the answer That all That’s all Ok Thank you so much Student Have you finished? Yes, I‟m finished Are you sure of all your answers? I don‟t sure about my answer Becaus uhm…I don‟t understand the new words and…have more than a new word in the topic Did you check the answers? No, I didn‟t I don‟t… often check the answers because…I don‟t have enough time Have you just skimmed through the reading passage? Uhm…skim…When skim, uhm… we just care about some words Uhm…But I cannot understand the text Uhm…I only skim when I see familiar words, uhm…the words I saw and remember…then I skim And…skim only from the third or fourth times and… ah four time I read the text Uhm…But the first and second time, I cannot skim How did you understand the passage? Uhm…This topic I read very much Because…to answer part A and part B, I must read much to understand and…answer the question I think…I XXIII think…paragraph is about…maybe…uhm…about for the opera house Uhm…Paragraph 2, the first, the second, the third …describe the opera house Uhm…Paragraph 3…talks more about the author…author, Mr…Mr… Utzon…and…and cost And paragraph 4, uhm…the last, I don‟t understand much… because… there are many…there re many new words Did you read some sentences like the first sentence, the middle sentence or the last sentence in a paragraph to understand it? Yes, I read the first sentence I often read first sentence because uhm… it helps me know main ideas How did you give answers for Part C which asks you to find the synonyms? Uhm…Part C is difficult with me Because… I don‟t know this word Uhm…For example…“rashness”, advance…“advance… steadily” So I don‟t describe… and I don‟t find these words in the paragraph… If I know the mean of words in questions, I will find words in…pass…passage by guessing meaning and the type ahh…noun, verb, adjective, adverb Did you try to understand the passage in detail? In detail?…In fact, …I‟m not try to understand the detail Uhm…I just focus on some of them what help me answer the question Were there any occasions when you just skipped the words that you did not consider very important? Skip the word Yes, some new words I don‟t know… Maybe it‟s important but because I don‟t know… I…I ignore So maybe I the exercise wrong In reading this passage, did you think about any key words? Key word…Uhm…In the topic, I often try to find key words for answer questions Did you underline them? Underline key words or phrases or take notes during reading? Uhm…Yes, yes, but not many When I see key words in the text, I…I answer immediately Uhm…Only when difficult, I…un underline and think more Did you want to use dictionary? Dictionary…Uhm…There are many new words for me such as “bustle”…“brashness”…“forge” and…because this is not a test, I use dictionary Ahh…I really want to use each time I have new words…Sometimes, I try to guess meaning y myself Another question for you Were there any occasions when any sudden ideas about an opera house crossed your mind? Any occasion when you think about the opera house? XXIV Uhm…No, I didn‟t The opera type…I don‟t know Did you connect your personal knowledge and experience with the topic of this reading text? Uhm…No, I don‟t have knowledge about opera house Uhm…For the reading exercises, I…I don‟t have much personal knowledge, uhm…so…I little connect with the reading text Did you base on any grammar and vocabulary knowledge to understand the text? Uhm…grammar and knowledge…This pass…this passage most use past simple and…present perfect In this, I feel more new words than grammar And…I think in reading, need more…uhm more vocabulary than grammar Ahhh… Grammar need more in… writing So uhm so I don‟t care much about grammar to understand Did you make guess when encountering new words in this text? Did you guess the meaning of new words? Uhm…Yes, I don‟t really understand new words but… with words before and after to link, I can guess around the meaning Uhm…uhm…After that uhm… I check dictionary Uhm… Sometimes, with difficult words…I don‟t guess, I…check dictionary After reading everything, did you think about the overall meaning of the passage? Uhmm I think this is about history, shape, uhm…cost uhm I didn‟t think after reading Uhm…Sometimes sometimes I think about the meaning of the passage after reading ahh…because uhm…because… it is not exercise, or test….I read for myself Did you translate the text into Vietnamese? Uhm…Yes, in all reading until now, I always translate into Vietnamese ahh…to understand, ahh even questions below I…I also translate And now this is the last question for you Were there any occasions when you felt annoyed or irritated, I mean you feel uncomfortable while reading the text and then you forced yourself to go back to the text? Yes, yes, especially part Ahhh I feel most difficult I have to read again ahh…three or four times uhm…to to check answers Uhm…Other part… I didn‟t Other part I didn‟t After answer the first time, I go to other questions That’s all? Yes Ok Thank you very much XXV APPENDIX CODED DATA FROM THINK-ALOUD REPORTS Strategy Reading category strategies Successful readers Less successful readers S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 5 5 5 3 5 5 5 Self-monitoring 3 Self-evaluation 5 3 Resourcing 4 Grouping 4 3 Deduction 5 4 Imagery 1 Elaboration 4 3 Transfer Inferencing 4 3 Cognitive Note taking 1 2 Summarizing 1 Translation 3 Advance organizers Directed attention Selective Metacognitive attention XXVI .. .VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  TRẦN THI ̣THU HIỀN AN INVESTIGATION INTO ENGLISH READING STRATEGIES. .. learning strategies in general and reading comprehension strategies in particular, especially by students at Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA) In Honors Program at VNUA, reading is an. .. reading strategies and qualitative data was obtained through think-aloud protocol to investigate the learners‟ reading strategies Significance of the study Since research into reading strategies