Teachers difficulties in teaching reading skills to grade 10th students at nha nam high school, bacgiang province

4 ABSTRACT In an attempt to investigate teachers’ difficulties in teaching reading skills to grade 10 students using the textbook “Tieng Anh 10” at Nha Nam High School, the research was aimed at finding out: (1) the students’ background of English and their attitudes toward learning speaking skills; (2) the problems the teachers might encounter in the teaching process of the skills; (3) factors causing their difficulties and their suggested solutions Specially, the study has been conducted in the form of a survey research, with the informants of the study being five English teachers at Nha Nam High School The survey questionnaire completed by the teachers and students, classroom observation and interview were the main instruments employed for the data collection The research reveals that the students’ lack of knowledge, including linguistic and cultural background knowledge, the teachers’ teaching methods, some difficulties from the textbook all cause problems for the teachers in the teaching process Besides, the data from the study confirm the fact that the students’ poor attitudes towards the importance of reading skills in learning English contributes to the problems in teaching the skills In addition, the school’s lack of conductive facilities is also made the situation worse Finally, the data are taken into account when the research discusses the results and suggests some solutions to overcome those difficulties LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: The results of classroom observations 18 Table 2: Teachers’ attitude towards reading skills 20 Table 3: Description of teachers’ opinions on the sections for reading in 21 textbook “Tieng Anh 10” Table 4: Teachers’ focus when teaching a reading text 21 Table 5: Teachers’ perception of the students’ comprehension 22 Table 6: Description of teachers’ problems in teaching reading skills 23 Table 7: Description of the teachers’ solutions to deal with the difficulties 24 Table 8: Students’ attitudes towards reading skill 25 Table 9: Description of students’ opinions on the sections for reading in English 10 26 Table 10: Students’ focus when learning a reading text 26 Table 11: Description of students’ problems in learning reading skills Table 12: Students’ views of sources of difficulties 29 30 Table 13: Students’ expectation of teachers’ solutions to their difficulties 31 Chart 1: The way teachers ask their students to read the text 22 Chart 2: Teachers’ expectation of the students in the post-reading 23 Chart 3: Students’ pre-reading activities 27 Chart 4: Students’ while-reading activities 28 Chart 5: Factors affecting students’ comprehension of the text 28 Chart 6: Students’ expectation in the post-reading stage 29 TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the Study Aims of the Study Research Questions Scope and Significance of the Study Method of the Study Organization of the Study PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 The Nature of Reading 1.1.1 What is Reading and Reading Comprehension? 1.1.2 Effective Reading Comprehension and Reading Comprehension Skills 1.1.2.1 What is Effective Reading Comprehension? 1.1.2.2 Reading Comprehension Skills 1.2 Teaching Reading Comprehension 1.2.1 Relationship between Reading and Other Skills 1.2.2 The Roles of the Teacher and the Students in a Reading Lesson 1.2.2.1 The Roles of the Teacher 1.2.2.2 The Role of the Students 1.2.3 The Three Stages of a Reading Lesson 1.2.3.1 Pre-reading Stage 1.2.3.2 While-reading Stage 1.2.3.3 Post-reading Stage 1.3 Difficulties in Teaching Reading 1.3.1 Reading Skill Problems 10 1.3.2 Language Problems 10 1.3.3 Cultural Background Knowledge 11 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 12 2.1 The Current Situation of Teaching and Learning the Textbook at Nha Nam High School 12 2.1.1 Introduction to Nha Nam High School and its Students 12 2.1.2 An Overview of the Textbook “Tieng Anh 10” 12 2.1.2.1 Objectives 13 2.1.2.2 Contents of the Textbook 13 2.1.3 Teachers and Methods of teaching 14 2.2 The Participants 14 2.3 Research Instruments 15 2.3.1 Questionnaire 15 2.3.2 Class Observation 15 2.3.3 Interview 16 2.4 Data Collection Procedure 16 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 17 3.1 Presentation of Statistical Results 17 3.1.1 Classroom Observations and Interview 17 3.1.2 Questionnaire 19 3.1.2.1 Questionnaire for teachers 19 4.1.2.2 Questionnaire for students 24 3.2 Discussion of the Findings 32 3.2.1 Difficulties from Students 32 3.2.1.1 Students’ Attitudes towards Reading Skill 32 3.2.1.2 Students’ Lack of Knowledge 32 3.2.2 Difficulties from Teachers 33 3.2.3 Difficulties from the Textbook 34 CHAPTER 4: SOLUTIONS 35 4.1 Improving Students’ Reading Interest and Motivation 35 4.1.1 Making Reading Lessons Funny 35 4.1.2 Making Reading Skill Useful 35 4.2 Training Students to Become Efficient Readers 36 4.2.1 Making Students Aware of the nature of the reading process 36 4.2.2 Promoting Students with a Variety of Reading Strategies 36 4.3 Varying Reading Activities 37 4.4 Improving Teacher’s Classroom Techniques 37 4.5 Teachers’ Flexibility in Using the Textbook 38 4.6 Equipping Teaching Facilities 39 PART III: CONCLUSION 40 Summary of the Study 40 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Study 40 REFERENCES 42 APPENDIXES PART I: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the Study English has experienced its popularity in Vietnam over the last few decades The demand for English even gets stronger when Vietnam fosters its international relations English, in parallel with the knowledge of some other fields, turns out to be a key to the door into the bustling world That is why English is now widely taught in almost all education institutions, at every level At secondary schools, the teaching and learning of that international language has been recently paid great attention to When teaching English, the teacher teaches his students not only the English language but also its usage In the English textbook “Tieng Anh 10”, reading is the first skill presented in each unit This proves the important role of reading According to Carrell (1984:1), “for many students, reading is by far the most important of the four skills in a second language, particularly in English as a second or foreign language” Unfortunately, teaching and learning reading skills at high schools is still far from satisfaction Despite the efforts of the teachers and students, the teachers often find their students’ reading skills disappointing, which not meet the requirements of the textbook At Nha Nam High School, where the author works, all of the English teachers have the same problems They have to confront some major obstacles in reading, such as: students’ habits of word-by-word reading, excessive focus on details rather than main ideas, poor vocabulary and limited background knowledge, etc If those difficulties are not found out and no solutions to overcome are given, it is certain that reading lessons can not be successful and it even becomes worse In this situation, the teachers need to take a serious look at the teaching and learning of English in general and the teaching and learning of the reading skills in particular so as to suggest suitable techniques to enable the teaching and learning of the reading comprehension at high school to be more effective Being a teacher of English at Nha Nam High School, the researcher wishes to give a hand in promoting reading skills for her tenth-form students This matter of fact has offered her a chance to conduct a study on “Teachers’ difficulties in teaching reading skills to grade 10th students at Nha Nam High School” It is hoped that this study may offer the English teachers at schools in general and the English techers at Nha Nam high school in particular the ways to teach reading skills more effectively 2 Aims of the Study The main purpose of the study is to research on difficulties experienced by the teachers of English at Nha Nam High School in teaching reading skills to grade tenth students with the textbook “Tieng Anh 10” And then some possible solutions are offered to help the teachers overcome these difficulties so as to make an improvement in our teaching and learning reading skills at high schools The specific objectives of the study are: ● To investigate the students’ attitude towards speaking skills in their English learning ● To examine the activities and techniques applied by the teachers at Nha Nam high school ● To identify the teachers’ major difficulties in teaching reading skills and examine the causes ● To offer possible solutions to the difficulties Research Questions The above aims of the study can be realized by the following research questions: (i) What are the current methods and techniques of teaching reading skills used by teachers at Nha Nam High School? (ii) What are the difficulties experienced by teachers and students in teaching and learning reading skills at Nha Nam High School? (iii) What are the activities and techniques to be used to teach reading effectively at Nha Nam High School? Scope and Significance of the Study This study is limited to: - the 10th form students at Nha Nam High School; - the teachers of English at Nha Nam High School; and - reading comprehension in the textbook “Tieng Anh 10” The findings and suggested solutions most appropriately applied to the teachers of English as well as 10th grade students at Nha Nam High School That is, the teachers and the students will be able to find ways to improve their process of teaching and learning reading skills Method of the Study The study was designed to use a number of methods to achieve its aims Firstly, classroom observation was carried out to investigate the reality of difficulties the teachers confronted in their teaching reading skills Then, two types of survey questionnaire were conducted with informants of teachers of English and students randomly selected from classes at Nha Nam High School In addition to questionnaire, informal interviews with the informants were also employed Organization of the Study The study is organized as follows: Part I, Introduction, presents the rationale for the study, the aims, research questions, scope and significance, methodology and organization of the study Part II, Development, consists of the following chapters: Chapter 1, Literature review, presents the theoretical background of reading skills Chapter 2, Looks at the current situations of teaching reading skills at Nha Nam High School Chapter 3, Research Methodology, focuses on the participants, the instruments and data collection procedure Chapter 4, Discussion of the findings, discusses the data which was collected at the second term of the 2010-2011 academic year at Nha Nam high School based on questionnaire, classroom observations and interviews Chapter 5, Solutions, makes some pedagogical suggestions for teachers and students at Nha Nam high School Part III, Conclusion, summarizes all the issues in the research and suggests some ideas for further study PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter is aimed at providing a theoretical background to this study The review of issues most relevant to the focus of the study will be included: concepts of reading and reading comprehension, reading process, reading difficulties for foreigner learners 1.1 The Nature of Reading 1.1.1 What is Reading and Reading Comprehension? Reading has been investigated by linguists, psychologists, educators and second language researchers, but an exact definition of reading really causes much confusion because different authors define the terms in different ways Herein, I would like to mention some definitions of reading extracted from different sources on the theme To give the definition, William (1984: 4), Nuttall (1996: 3), and Frank (1985:104) share the same view that reading accounts for understanding what has been written Also, Goodman (1971 cited in Ha, 2003:6), states that: “reading is psycholinguistic process by which the reader, language user, reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has been encoded by writer as a graphic display.” Ur’s simple definition is “reading means reading and understanding” (Ur, 1996: 138) Harmer (1989: 190) seems to be interested in the notion of reading He says “reading is an exercise dominated by the eyes and the brain The eyes receive message and the brain then has to work out the significance of the message.” Moreover, Rubin, and Thomson, (1994: 91) offers another definition of reading: “Reading is an active information-seeking process in which readers relate information in the text to what they already know” From this point of view, the reader’s knowledge of the knowledge and knowledge of the world is of importance to their reading success It is clear that no definition can possibly capture all the ideas and features of what reading is However, what they all share is that they try to find out the nature of reading, and reading act, in which the readers, reading process, and reading message are emphasized Reading comprehension In teaching reading, it is necessary to understand the nature of reading comprehension What the teacher understands about it will have a great influence on what he or she teaches in the class In fact, methodologists have been providing different definitions of reading comprehension According to Grellet (1981: 3): “Reading comprehension or understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible.” The author means that reading comprehension is an activity which aims at decoding the meaning of word combination in the text in the most efficient way Also concerning the reading comprehension, Richard and Good (1978: 9) provide a clearer point of view: “Reading comprehension is best described as an understanding between the author and the reader The emphasis is on the reader understanding of the printed page based on the individual reader’s unique background of experience.” So far we have looked at some definitions concerning reading and reading comprehension which have been seen from different points of views It is more significant to have a more in-depth look at the reading process to make the bridge to the focus of the study 1.1.2 Effective Reading Comprehension and Reading Comprehension Skills 1.1.2.1 What is Effective Reading Comprehension? Ur (1996: 148) views reading comprehension as a process combining such elements as: A clear purpose in mind; an enhanced motivation; appropriate reading comprehension strategies based on the purposes and motivation; good prediction; sufficient background information and vocabulary; close attention to the significant bits; and fairly high speed Cook (1989: 14), on the other hand, contends that effective reading comprehension would be best reflected if we bring distinct cognitive behaviors of good versus poor readers before, during and after reading an assignment into a comparison Stage Before reading Good or mature readers - Active prior knowledge - During reading Poor or immature readers Understand task and - Start reading without preparation set - Read without knowing why purpose - Read without considering how - Choose appropriate strategies to approach the material - Focus attention - Are easily distracted - Anticipate predict - Read to get done - Use fix-up strategies when lack - Do not know what to when of understanding occurs lack of comprehension occurs - Use contextual analysis to - Do not recognize important vocabulary assist comprehension - Do not see any organization - Self-monitor comprehension by - Add on rather than integrate new After reading + knowing comprehension is occurring information + knowing what is understood - Do not realize they not understand - Reflect on what was read - Stop reading - Feel success is a result of effort - Feel success is a result of luck - Summarize major ideas - Seek additional information from outside sources 1.1.2.2 Reading Comprehension Skills Nutall (1982) provides a list of reading skills which consist of macro-skills with word-attack skills and text-attack skills Word-attack skills are composed of processing morphological information, distinguishing structural clues, inferencing (or guessing the meanings of unfamiliar words) from context, active, receptive and throw-away vocabulary, learning to ignore difficult words and using dictionary Text-attack skills include two subgroups:  Significance and cohesion: understanding sentence syntax, recognizing and interpreting cohesive devices and interpreting discourse markers  Discourse: recognizing functional value, recognizing the presuppositions underlying the text, recognizing implications and marking inferences, and prediction 1.2 Teaching Reading Comprehension 1.2.1 Relationship between Reading and Other Skills In the process of teaching and learning English, it is very crucial for learners to realize the integration of language That is the possibilities of other aspects of foreign program Therefore, reading skill is closely related to writing, listening and speaking skills Understanding relations will help learners succeed Firstly, reading is related to writing That is when the students are asked to summarize or continue the reading material such as resume, descriptions of the characters, etc 43 15 Jolly, D (Oct, 1978) The establishment of a Self-access Scheme for Intensive Reading Paper presented at the Goethe Institute, Brishtish Council Colloquium on Reading, Paris 16 Lewis, M & Hill, J (1985) Practical Techniques for Language Teaching London Commercial Color Press 17 Munby, J (1978) Communicative Syllabus Design Cambridge: CUP 18 Nuttal, C (1982) Teaching Reading Skill in a Foreign Language Hong Kong: Macmillan Publishers Lmited 19 Nuttall, C (1996) Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language (New Edition) Hong Kong: Macmillan Publishers Lmited 20 Nutall, C (2000) Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language 2nd ed Oxford: Heinemann 21 Richard and Thomas (1987) Being an Effective Teacher Harper and Row Publishers 22 Rivers, W & Templey, M (1978) A Practical Guide to the Teaching of English as Second or Foreign Language OUP 23 Ur, P (1996) A course in Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 24 Van, Hoang Van Hoa, Hoang Thi Xuan Minh, Do Tuan Phuong, Nguyen Thu & Tuan, Nguyen Quoc (2006) Tieng Anh 10 Nha Xuat Ban Giao Duc 25 William, E (1984) Reading in the Language Classroom New York: Macmillan 26 Yorio, C.A (1971) “Some sources of Reading Problems for Foreign Language Learners” Language Learning, 21, 107-115 44 APPENDIXES APPENDIX LESSON OBSERVATION SHEET (Adapted from Brown, 1994) Name of the observed: ……………… Class: ……………… Observer’s name: ……………… Date: ……………… Categories Criteria I Preparation Class organization (well-prepared and well-organized) Comments: ………………………………………………… Apparently and appropriately prepared-objectives of the lesson Comments: ………………………………………………… II Presentation Language of instructions are clear and concise and students are able to carry them on Comments: ………………………………………………… Authentic materials are added Comments: ………………………………………………… The lesson smooth, sequent, and logical Comments: ………………………………………………… Material is presented at the students’ level of comprehension Comments: ………………………………………………… III Execution/ Methods The teacher moves round the class and make eyes contact with students Comments: ………………………………………………… Examples are used effectively Comments: ………………………………………………… Textbook is used flexibly Comments: ………………………………………………… 10 Time amount is distributed appropriately to the stages of the lesson Comments: ………………………………………………… IV Personal characteristics 11 Patience in eliciting students’ responses Comments: ………………………………………………… 12 Clarity, tone and audibility of voice Comments: ………………………………………………… 13 Pronunciation, intonation, fluency are in appropriate and acceptable Results (%) A NA 45 use of language Comments: ………………………………………………… V Teacher-student interaction 14 Teacher is a facilitator Comments: ………………………………………………… 15 Students are attentive and involved Comments: ………………………………………………… 16 Students are active Comments: ………………………………………………… 17 Effective individual, pair, and group work Comments: ………………………………………………… 18 Teacher’s controlling 46 APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS This survey questionnaire is designed for the study of teacher’s difficulties in teaching reading skills for the Grade 10 students at Nha Nam high school Your assistance in completing the following items is highly appreciated All the information provided by you is solely for the study purpose, and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Thank you very much for your cooperation! PART I: PERSONAL INFORMATION Your gender A Male B female Your age: A under 25 B from 26-30 years C from 31-35 years D over 35 years Years of teaching English A from 1-3 years B from 3-5 years C from 6-10 years D over 10 years PART II: TEACHERS’ PROBLEMS IN TEACHING READING SKILLS FOR THE GRADE 10 STUDENTS What you think about the importance of reading skills in the textbook “Tieng Anh 10”? A It is the most important B It is as important as other skills (speaking, listening, and writing) C It is not as important as other skills (speaking, listening, and writing) D Others (please specify)……………………………………………… What you think about the sections for reading in the textbook “Tieng Anh 10”? A Easy-to-teach D Boring B Interesting E Too long C Difficult-to-teach F Too short What you pay most attention to when teaching reading skills? (You can choose more than one) A New words B New grammatical structures C Ideas in the reading texts D Cultural knowledge E All of the above F Others (please specify)……………… What you often in the pre-reading stage? 47 A Introduce the topic of the reading B Introduce new words appearing in the reading text C Elicit students’ background knowledge D Ask students to predict what they are going to read E I nothing F Others (please specify)………………………………………………………… You often ask your students to read the text: A From the beginning to the end, then the reading tasks B Each paragraph, stop and see the meaning of the new word, then continue C Read and base on the context to guess the general ideas of the text D Others (please specify)………………………………………………………… In your opinion, your students usually understand the texts: A When they know the meanings of the new words in the text B By referring to their existing knowledge C After you translate the text into Vietnamese D Others (please specify)………………………………………………………… After the reading lesson, you always expect your students to be able to: A Read similar texts B Master the key words in the text C Understand and summarize the text in their own words D Use the words in the text in their daily life What are the difficulties that you have experienced when teaching reading to 10th form students with the textbook “Tieng Anh 10”? A The sections for reading in the textbook are not suitable for the students B Some topics in the textbook are too difficult C Students lack motivation to develop reading skills D Too little time to exploit reading lessons E Multi-level class F Others (please specify)………………………………………………………… What have you done to solve the above problems? (You can choose more than one) A I invest more time and effort in preparing lesson plan B I try to learn in combination with teaching C I replace some difficult tasks by easier ones D I provide students various activities E I provide students with a variety of reading strategies 48 10 Can you give some suggestions to have better teaching of reading skills for the grade 10 students? ……………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………… 49 APPENDIX BẢN CÂU HỎI CHO HỌC SINH Mục đích câu hỏi để tìm khó khăn mà học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Nhã Nam gặp phải trình học kĩ đọc Câu trả lời bạn nghiên cứư nguồn đóng góp có giá trị để hồn thiện cách dạy học Tiếng Anh PHẦN I: THÔNG TIN CÁ NHÂN Giới tính: A Nam B Nữ Bạn đến từ A Làng quê B thị trấn Bạn học tiếng Anh bao lâu? …………năm Điểm trung bình mơn tiếng Anh học kì I lớp 10 em: ………… PHẦN II: NHỮNG VẤN ĐỀ HỌC SINH GẶP PHẢI TRONG QUÁ TRÌNH HỌC KĨ NĂNG ĐỌC Em cảm thấy kĩ đọc tiếng Anh quan trọng nào? A Rất quan trọng B Quan trọng kĩ khác (nghe, nói, viết) C Em đánh giá kĩ khác (nghe, nói, viết) cao D Em chưa nhận thấy tầm quan trọng kĩ E Ý kiến khác (nếu có)………………………………………… Em nghĩ phần đọc sách giáo khoa tiếng Anh 10? A Dễ D Tẻ nhạt B Hay E Quá dài C Khó F Quá ngắn Khi đọc đọc tiếng Anh, em thường tập trung ý chủ yếu vào: (Bạn chọn nhiều một.) A Từ D Kiến thức văn hoá B Cấu trúc E Tất ý C Ý đọc F Ý kiến khác (nếu có): ……………… Trước đọc khoá, em thường: A Đoán nội dung khoá qua tiêu đề đọc B Liệt kê tất từ cấu trúc học có liên quan đến chủ đề đọc C Tìm hiểu nghĩa từ cụm từ đọc 50 D Đọc yêu cầu tập đọc E Em khơng làm mà đọc ln nội dung đọc F Ý kiến khác (nếu có): …………………………………………………………… Trong đọc, em thường: A Đọc từ đầu đến cuối vào yêu cầu đọc B Đọc đoạn, dừng để tìm hiểu nghĩa từ đọc tiếp C Bỏ qua từ dựa vào ngữ cảnh để hiểu nghĩa tổng quát đọc D Ý kiến khác (nếu có):………………………………………………………… Em thường hiểu khố: A Chỉ em biết nghĩa tất từ cấu trúc B Bằng cách dựa vào kiến thức biết em C Sau hoàn thành tất tập đọc D Sau dịch giáo viên dịch khoá sang tiếng Việt E Cách khác (nếu có):……………………………………………… Sau đọc, bạn thường A Nắm ý nghĩa cách dung từ khố B Hiểu tóm tắt khoá theo cách hiểu riêng em C Vận dụng từ khoá vào sống hang ngày D Ý kiến khác (nếu có):………………………………… Những khó khăn mà em gặp phải q trình học đọc với sách giáo khoa “Tiếng Anh 10” gì? A Phát âm nhớ từ dài B Hiểu nhớ thành ngữ, cum động từ, cụm danh từ C Hiểu mối quan hệ câu hay đoạn khoá D Đoán nghĩa từ nội dung đọc E Nhận ngụ ý, suy luận kết luận F Tóm tắt G Ý kiến khác (nếu có):………………………………………………………… Em nghĩ lí cho khó khăn gì? A Các nhiệm vụ đọc không phù hợp với khả bạn B Một số chủ đề khó C Một số đọc dài nhiều từ D Q thời gian để tìm hiểu E Giáo viên không dạy chiến lược đọc F Giáo viên nghiêm khắc yêư cầu cao 51 G Em thiếu tự tin động lực H Em thiếu từ vựng cấu trúc I Em thiếu kiến thức chủ đề học K Ý kiến khác (nếu có):…………………………………………………………… 10 Em muốn giáo viên làm để giúp em vượt qua khó khăn học đọc A Giáo viên chữa phần nhiệm vụ cẩn thận B Giáo viên cho nghĩa Việt Nam tương đương với từ dài khó C Giáo viên xung quanh lớp giúp đỡ học sinh họ cần D Giáo viên cung cấp kiến thức lien quan đến chủ đề học E Giáo viên giúp học sinh lựa chọn chiến lược đọc phù hợp cho F Giáo viên yêu cầu học sinh làm việc theo cặp nhóm G Giáo viên kiểm tra học sinh nhiều phần dịch H Giáo viên cho học sinh thêm tập giao tiếp để họ nhớ từ dễ I Ý kiến khác (nếu có):…………………………………………………………… 52 APPENDIX4 TRANSLATED VERSION OF QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS This survey questionnaire is designed for the study of teacher’s difficulties in teaching reading skills for the Grade 10 students at Nha Nam high school Your assistance in completing the following items is highly appreciated All the information provided by you is solely for the study purpose, and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Thank you very much for your cooperation! PART I: PERSONAL INFORMATION Your gender: A Male B female Your hometown: A Village B Town How long have you been learning English? …… years Your average marks in English in the first term of Grade 10: …… PART II: STUDENTS’ PROBLEMS IN LEARNING READING SKILLS What you think about the importance of reading skills in the textbook “Tieng Anh 10”? A It is the most important B It is as important as other skills (speaking, listening, and writing) C It is not as important as other skills (speaking, listening, and writing) D Others (please specify)……………………………………………… What you think about the sections for reading in the textbook “Tieng Anh 10”? A Easy D Boring B Interesting E Too long C Difficult F Too short What you pay most attention to when reading? (You can choose more than one) A New words B New grammatical structures C Ideas in the reading texts D Cultural knowledge E All of the above F Others (please specify)……………… What you often in the pre-reading stage? A Guess the content of the text through the topic of the reading B Listing learnt words and structures relating to the reading C Finding out the meanings of new words and new structures 53 D Read the requirement of the reading tasks E I nothing but read the text F Others (please specify)………………………………………………………… While reading, you often: A Read from the beginning to the end, then the reading tasks B Each paragraph, stop and see the meaning of the new word, then continue C Read and base on the context to guess the general ideas of the text D Others (please specify)………………………………………………………… You usually understand the texts: A When you have known the meanings of the new words and structures in the text B By referring to your existing knowledge C After completing all the tasks D After you or the teacher translates the text into Vietnamese E Others (please specify)………………………………………………………… After reading lesson, you expect to be able to: A Master the key words in the text B Understand and summarize the text in your own words C Use the words in the text in your daily life D Others:……………………………………………… What are the difficulties that you have in learning reading with the textbook “Tieng Anh 10”? (Choose as many as possible) A Pronouncing and remembering lengthy words B Understanding and remembering idiomatic expressions, verb phrases and noun phrases C Understanding the relationship between sentences or paragraphs in a text D Guessing the meaning of words and predicting the content of the text E Recognizing implication and making inferences and conclusion (deducing) F Summarizing G Others (please indicate here):……………………………………………… What you think are the reasons for your difficulties in learning reading skills? Yes No A The tasks for reading in the textbook are not suitable to you   B Some topics in the textbook are too difficult   C Some of the passages are too long and full of new words   D Too little time to exploit reading lessons   54 E The teacher doesn’t teach us sufficient reading strategies   F The teacher is too strict and demanding   G I lack motivation and confidence   H I lack vocabulary and structures   I I lack knowledge about the topic I am reading   10 What you want the teacher to help you overcome the difficulties? (Choose as many as possible) A Teacher corrects reading tasks carefully B Teacher gives Vietnamese equivalence for long and difficult words C Teacher goes round and helps their students whenever they need D Teacher provides more background knowledge related to the topics E Teacher helps students to choose suitable reading strategies for each reading text F Teacher asks students to work in pairs or in groups G Teacher checks students more often about translation H Teacher gives students more communicative exercises to help remember vocabulary more easily I Others (please specify)………………………………………………………… 55 APPENDIX INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS What you think about the textbook “Tieng Anh 10”? Give your opinions on reading passages and reading tasks What problems are you coping with in teaching reading with the textbook in - preparation of the lesson? - “Before-you-read” stage? - “Whlie-you-read” stage? - “After-you-read” stage? What you think is the most typical difficulty when teaching reading comprehension with the textbook? What have you been doing to overcome these difficulties? 56 APPENDIX * Task in Unit “A day in the life of…”: Answer the following questions: What is Mr.Vy’s occupation? What time does he get up and what does he after that? What does he in the morning? What Mr.Vy and his wife in the afternoon? Are they happy with their lives or not? Why? * Task in Unit “A day in the life of…”: Scan the passage and make a brief note about Mr.Vy and Mrs.Tuyet’s daily routines Then compare your note with a partner In the morning 4:30: the alarm goes off and Mr.Vy gets up ………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………… In the afternoon ………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………… After dinner ………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………… 57 APPENDIX Task in Unit 13 “Films and Cinema”: Find the word in the passage that can match with the definition on the right column ……………………… Film-making industry …………………… Series of related events or actions …………………… A period of ten years …………………… Quickly and in a short time …………………… Part of a film …………………… A person in a film ... of teaching reading skills used by teachers at Nha Nam High School? (ii) What are the difficulties experienced by teachers and students in teaching and learning reading skills at Nha Nam High. .. out to investigate the teachers? ?? difficulties in teaching reading skills to the tenth form students at Nha Nam High School Basing on the findings, it has offered some suggestions to help the teachers. .. to conduct a study on ? ?Teachers? ?? difficulties in teaching reading skills to grade 10th students at Nha Nam High School” It is hoped that this study may offer the English teachers at schools in