Using supplementary reading materials for improving students reading skill at thai nguyen college of mechanics and metallurgy

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN QUỲNH DƯƠNG USING SUPPLEMENTARY READING MATERIALS FOR IMPROVING STUDENTS' READING SKILL AT THAI NGUYEN COLLEGE OF MECHANICS AND METALLURGY Sử dụng tài liệu đọc bổ trợ để cải thiện kỹ đọc sinh viên trường Cao đẳng Cơ khí - Luyện Kim, Thái Nguyên M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60 14 10 HA NOI - 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN QUỲNH DƯƠNG USING SUPPLEMENTARY READING MATERIALS FOR IMPROVING STUDENTS' READING SKILL AT THAI NGUYEN COLLEGE OF MECHANICS AND METALLURGY Sử dụng tài liệu đọc bổ trợ để cải thiện kỹ đọc sinh viên trường Cao đẳng Cơ khí - Luyện Kim, Thái Nguyên M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60 14 10 SUPERVISOR: ĐINH HẢI YẾN, M Ed HA NOI - 2010 -v- TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration p i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii List of abbreviations iv List of figures and tables iv Table of contents v PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the thesis Aims of the thesis Significance of the thesis Scope of the thesis Organization of the thesis PART 2: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature Review 1.1 Supplementary materials 1.1.1 Definitions and roles of supplementary materials 1.1.2 Criteria for selecting supplementary materials 1.2 Reading comprehension skill 1.2.1 Definitions of reading & reading comprehension 1.2.2 Purposes & roles of reading in language learning 1.2.3 Reading approaches 1.2.3.1 Bottom-up approach 1.2.3.2 Top-down approach 1.2.3.3 Interactive approach 1.2.4 Types of reading 1.2.4.1 Intensive reading 1.2.4.2 Extensive reading 10 1.2.5 Reading strategies 13 1.3 Summary 16 - vi - Chapter 2: Research Methodology 16 2.1 The context of the study 16 2.2 Research method 17 2.2.1 Research questions 17 2.2.2 Instrumentation 17 2.2.2.1 Tests 17 2.2.2.2 Questionnaire 19 2.2.3 Participants 19 2.2.4 Data collection procedures 20 2.3 Summary Chapter 3: Data analysis and Discussion 21 22 3.1 Tests results 22 3.2 Results of the questionnaires 24 3.3 Findings 33 3.4 Summary 35 PART 3: CONCLUSION 36 Conclusions 36 Implications for teaching methodology 36 Limitations and recommendations for further research 38 References 39 Appendices Appendix 1: Pre-test I Appendix 2: Post-test IV Appendix 3: Weekly reading log VII Appendix 4: Book report VIII Appendix 5: Questionnaire (English version) XI Appendix 6: Questionnaire (Vietnamese version) XVI Appendix 7: Test result XXI - iv - LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CMM: College of Mechanics and Metallurgy ER: Extensive Reading ERP: Extensive Reading Program ESP: English for Special Purposes BR: Bad Readers GR: Good Readers MR: Medium Readers SRM: Supplementary Reading Materials LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figures Figure Efficient reading Figure - Students’ attitudes towards importance of reading skill in English learning Figure - Students’ perception about reading section in their coursebook Figure - Students’ perception about time allocation for reading in their coursebook Figure - Students’ self-evaluation of their reading speed Figure - Students’ extra reading before ERP Figure - Students’ reading strategies in getting the main ideas of the texts Figure - Students’ strategies in working with new vocabulary Figure - Students’ preferred topics for reading Tables Table - Tests results of the three groups BR, MR and GR Table - Students’ tests results Table - Students’ orientation before reading Table - Students’ reading strategies when working with texts Table - Students’ attitudes towards Extensive Reading Program Table - Students’ suggestions for good supplementary reading materials -1- PART 1: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the thesis Reading is an important mental process which belongs only to human beings It helps to open the door into mankind's treasures of knowledge Good reading skills can help readers make great progress in academic purposes It also brings people enjoyment and enriches our life Undeniably, reading is an essential skill a person has to master In English teaching and learning, reading is one of the four important major skills However, the effectiveness of teaching and learning of this skill is still limited in many schools and colleges Methodologically, many teachers are influenced by the Grammartranslation method According to them, teaching of reading means introducing vocabulary, grammatical structures and translating the text into their mother tongue Furthermore, the reading materials are not sufficient, relevant and interesting enough to students which, accordingly, leads to students’ demotivation in learning reading With regards to English teaching and learning methodology, there have been a lot of books and researches done on reading Some names to be considered are Nunan, D (1991, 1999) in the series about language teaching and learning, Brown, H.D (1994), Anderson, N.J (1999), Nuttall, C (1982), Williams, E (1984), to name but a few The given authors share an opinion that once appropriate strategies are applied, intensive and extensive reading will help improve students' reading skill In order to explore the efficiency of using supplementary reading materials in improving students' reading skill, the author conducted an action research at Thai Nguyen College of Mechanics and Metallurgy (CMM) With this study, she wanted not only to enhance the teaching and learning efficiency of reading skill, but also to stimulate students' interest in language learning as well Aims of the thesis The study is aimed at investigating whether the supplementary reading materials improve students' reading skill Besides, it is hoped that the study will provide some suggestions for: - Selecting, adapting supplementary reading materials - Selecting appropriate methods for teachers to teach reading skill -2- Significance of the thesis The study, hopefully, will be useful not only to the author and her colleagues in improving the teaching quality, but students will also benefit from it Besides, the findings of the study will serve as a foundation for selecting and adapting supplementary reading materials and choosing the appropriate teaching methods Furthermore, it is hoped that the work will make some contribution to the field of teaching methodology Scope of the thesis The study focuses on teaching and learning of the reading skill The supplementary reading materials are selected and introduced to students by the teacher to make them read out of class (extensive reading), but under the teacher's monitoring All the students/participants are of the second year of the Information technology Faculty at CMM Organization of the thesis The study has three main parts as follows: Part 1: Introduction This part introduces the rationale, the aims, the significance, the scope and the organization of the study Part 2: Development This part consists of three chapters: Chapter provides literature review focusing on the issues related to supplementary reading materials and reading skill Chapter presents the methodology applied in this work It also includes an overview of the context of the study Chapter discusses the findings of the study based on the tests and questionnaires results Part 3: Conclusion This part summaries all the major issues in the previous parts with conclusions drawn from the findings It also provides some implications for teaching methodology and suggestions for further research -3- PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Supplementary materials 1.1.1 Definitions and roles of supplementary materials Supplementary materials may be defined differently According to Tomlinson supplementary materials are …materials designed to be used in addition to the core materials of a course They are usually related to the development of skills of reading, writing, listening or speaking rather than to the learning of language items Tomlinson (1998, p.13) In other words, they are additional materials along with a course book to help develop learner's four major skills Therefore, it is important for teachers to know how to choose the best supplementary materials for the class, and how to adapt materials appropriate for certain teaching purposes Supplementary materials have various types As Ur (1996, pp.190-191)) states, they include computers, books, over head projectors, video equipment, audio equipment, posters, pictures, games etc Each type has certain strong points and weak points in teaching and learning a language as well Supplementary materials play a very important role in teaching and learning a language However, in this thesis, the author focuses only on reading skill It is the reason why she discusses the roles of reading texts as supplementary reading materials They are very helpful for the learners because "students have a readily available and sufficiently large supply of texts at their levels of language proficiency" (Aebersold & Field, 1997, p.47) As such, the role of supplementary reading materials in language teaching and learning is undeniably crucial 1.1.2 Criteria for selecting supplementary materials When selecting supplementary materials "it is important to match the materials with the goals and objectives of the course, with one's learners' attitudes, beliefs and preferences" (Nunan, 1991, p.209) -4- More specifically, Nuttall (1996, pp.170-179), takes into consideration six following criteria for selecting supplementary materials: - Suitability of content: The materials should be appropriate with students' tastes and interests Enjoyable texts make reading more effective Suitability of the reading texts is also a motivation for students to read more - Exploitability can be understood as facilitation of learning It also means that teachers make use of the text to develop the students' competence as readers: integrating reading strategies (skimming, scanning, word attack skills, text attack skills…) - Readability refers to the combination of structural and lexical difficulty The language of the text can be easy for one student, but difficult for another So, it is necessary to assess the students' language proficiency - Variety makes the reading more interesting Monotonousness brings boredom and demotivates students - Authenticity: For reading to be effective, we need texts which exhibit the characteristics of true discourse: having something to say, being coherent and clearly organized and written by the foreign language community - Presentation: This criterion requires the materials to look attractive (illustrations, a large clear type, a spacious layout, etc.) and authentic (e.g.; texts accompanied by diagrams, photographs, etc) Clarke and Silberstain (1987, pp.236-237) in their article entitled "Toward a Realization of Psycholinguistic Principles in their ESL Reading Class", suggest two questions to be answered when discussing criteria for reading selections: - Is the reading selection appropriate to both the proficiency levels and students' interests? - Can the selection be made to provide practice in the skills we need to reinforce? From the points above, it can be seen that the scholars share the same ideas in that suitability of content (appropriate to the students' interests) and readability (appropriate to students' proficiency levels) are the two most important criteria in selecting reading materials And the ideas about suitability of content and readability are also the guidelines for the researcher to select the supplementary reading materials for this study 1.2 Reading comprehension skill 1.2.1 Definitions of reading and reading comprehension -5- Different people define reading in different ways One of the simplest definitions of reading suggested by Williams (1984, p.2) is that "it is a process whereby one looks at and understands what has been written" However, according to him, the reader is not passive, but active in that he "is able to arrive at understanding without looking at every letter and word, and generally reads in groups of words, not word by word, far less letter by letter" Actually, reading is a mental process which is not easily described In the most general term proposed by Rumehart (1977, cited in Aebersold & Field, 1997, p.5) "reading involves the reader, the text and the interaction between reader and text" In this perspective, the interaction between reader and text can be understood as a process in which the reader working with the printed words, uses his background knowledge and experiences to exploit the meaning of the text Sharing this view, Anderson (1999, p.1) states: "reading is an active, fluent process which involves the reader and the reading material in building meaning" In brief, each person can have his own definition of reading However, it is obvious that reading involves the written words, the reader and the message transmitted in those words In other words, it is the process of meaning exploitation of the written words realized by the reader As language teachers, we should understand the nature and strategies of reading to help our students read effectively If reading is understood generally as above, reading comprehension should be defined more specifically According to Richard & Thomas (1987, p.9) "reading comprehension is best described as an understanding between the author and the reader" They further point out that "reading comprehension is a mental process that in the final analysis, only the reader fully understands Comprehension is what simulates readers to remember their past experience That knowledge is, then, used in trying to get meaning out of print Meaning does not reside in the printed page but rather in the mind of the reader" (1987, p.143) To share the same opinion, Carrel (1997, p.21) states, "reading comprehension is reconstruction, interpretation and evaluation of what author of written content means by using knowledge gained from life experience" In sum, if reading simply is the activity which involves the reader, the text and the interaction between reader and text, reading comprehension is more than that It is not only linguistic and cognitive understanding, but also the author's intended meaning and the reader's perception and appreciation - VI - a a rich country c a poor country b a peaceful country d a developed country The teacher wore his torn shirt and socks because he … a did not have better clothes b always wore those things to class c wanted to teach his students something d gave his things to the new child At the end of the story, the students of the class … a did not like the new student b felt sorry for the new student c helped the new student as much as they could d b & c are correct Task 5: True or False? The new student often brought smell things to class The students of the class did not like him because he was not a good boy The teacher felt sorry for the new child and he decided to help him The story has a happy ending: the poor child was loved and helped Task 6: Which is the moral of the story? We should not treat anyone depending on his appearance Good friends always help one another in difficulties Do not hurt anyone It is our duty to help other people and treat everyone equally We should not wear torn clothes in public places THE END - VII - APPENDIX WEEKLY READING LOG (Please hand it in every week!) Your full name: Week: (From …….….……….to ……………… ) How many pages DAYS Title Any comments? did you read? Monday /… Tuesday /… Wednesday /… Thursday /… Friday /… Saturday /… Sunday /… Total pages you have read this week: …………… Total time you have spent on extensive reading this week: …………….… - VIII - APPENDIX BOOK REPORT Your full name: Week: (From …….….……….to ……………… ) Please complete the following form: The book name is ……………… The author is ………………… 3: The genre of the book is ………………… Number of pages is …………………… The book is ………………… for you (Please tick your choice)  Easy  At the right level  Difficult The book is…………… (Please tick your choice)  Great  Good  OK  Boring Please write briefly your personal opinion about the book (For example, “I love it”/ “I like it”/ “I not mind reading it”/ “I not like it” … and say why you think so) When and where does the story take place? Who are the main characters? 10 Who is your favorite character? Why? - XI - APPENDIX (English version) QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS Dear students, This survey questionnaire is designed for study purposes only Your faithful answers to the questions are very important to the success of the study Thank you very much for your cooperation! Please circle the most appropriate answers for you! I/ Students’ attitudes towards reading skill and reading texts in New Headway Elementary In your opinion, reading is a/an … skill in learning English a Important b Normal c Unimportant For good reading comprehension, the following issues are very important (you can have more than one option): a Vocabulary b Grammar c Background knowledge d Appropriate reading strategies e All of the above How you find reading texts in New Headway Elementary? (you can have more than one option): a Interesting b Boring c Relevant d Irrelevant e Difficult f Easy g Long - XII - h Short i Others: (please specify) In your opinion, time allocation for reading in New Headway Elementary is … a Too much b Suitable c Insufficient How you find your reading speed? a Fast b Normal c Slow Have you ever done any extensive reading out of class? a Usually b Sometimes c Never II/ Students’ reading strategies before the Extensive Reading Program Before reading, you often look at the title and pictures of the text to predict the content of the reading text? a Never b Sometimes c Usually Before reading, you read the questions followed to focus on important information in the text? a Never b Sometimes c Usually When reading, you skim for general ideas then read carefully? a Never b Sometimes c Usually 10 To get main ideas of the reading text, you often… a Read carefully from beginning to end - XIII - b Skim c Scan 11 Getting new vocabulary or structures, you often … a Look up in the dictionary or ask the teacher/classmates b Ignore c Figure out the meaning from the context 12 While reading, you often translate the reading text into Vietnamese language? a Never b Sometimes c Usually 13 When you fail to understand the text, you use grammar knowledge to work with the text? a Never b Sometimes c Usually 14 When you read the text, you use your background knowledge of the field to understand the reading text? a Never b Sometimes c Usually III/ Students’ attitudes towards Extensive Reading Program 15 In your opinion, should we use supplementary reading materials to improve the reading skill? a Yes b No 16 Extensive reading makes you more interested in learning English a Yes b No 17 Your reading skill is improved after extensive reading a Yes b No - XIV - 18 Your background knowledge is widened owing to extensive reading a Yes b No 19 Extensive reading provides you with more new vocabulary and structures a Yes b No 20 Extensive reading outside the class provides you with enjoyment and friendly environment You not get work pressure with extensive reading a Yes b No 21 After this program finishes, you will keep on reading extensively a Yes b No 22 What topics you prefer for extensive reading (Tick off the items on the list): a Love b Student life c Education d Science and technology e Inventions f Sports g Health h Holidays and festivals i Environment j Politics k Business and trading l Famous people m Explorations and adventures 23 In your opinion, which of the following requirements should a good supplementary reading material meet? a) Reading texts should be relevant and within the reader’s background knowledge b) Reading topics should be the same as the ones in the course book - XV - c) Exercises should be of various types d) Vocabulary should be familiar with students e) Time should be set for each reading text f) Reading texts should have suitable length for elementary students g) Each reading text should have its glossary h) Reading texts should be of various types, such as articles, short stories, letters, emails, advertisements, diaries … 24 Do you have any ideas for more effective extensive reading: Thank you very much for your cooperation! - XVI - APPENDIX (Vietnamese version) PHIẾU ĐIỀU TRA Các em thân mến, Phiếu điều tra không dùng để đánh giá sinh viên, mà sử dụng vào mục đích nghiên cứu Vì việc em trả lời trung thực câu hỏi phiếu quan trọng Xin chân thành cảm ơn hợp tác em! Em khoanh vào câu trả lời phù hợp em! I/ Ý kiến sinh viên kỹ Đọc học Tiếng Anh nội dung đọc giáo trình New Headway Elementary Em cho việc học Tiếng Anh em, kỹ đọc kỹ năng… a Quan trọng b Bình thường c Không quan trọng Để đọc hiểu Tiếng Anh tốt, vấn đề sau quan trọng a Có vốn từ vựng Tiếng Anh phong phú b Nắm vững ngữ pháp Tiếng Anh c Có hiểu biết vấn đề đề cập đến d Có phương pháp đọc tốt e Tất ý Em cho nội dung đọc giáo trình New Headway Elementary (em có nhiều lựa chọn) a Hay b Chán c Có liên quan đến em quan tâm d Khơng liên quan đến em quan tâm e Khó f Dễ g Dài h Ngắn i Các ý kiến khác - XVII - Em cho thời lượng dành cho kỹ Đọc giáo trình New Headway Elementary là: a Quá nhiều b Vừa phải c Quá 10 Em tự đánh giá tốc độ đọc mình? a Nhanh b Trung bình c Chậm Em có đọc thêm đọc ngồi chương trình, ngồi lên lớp? a Th ường xuyên b Thỉnh thoảng c Không II/ Cách đọc sinh viên trước tiến hành Chương trình đọc thêm Trước đọc, em thường nhìn vào tiêu đề đọc, tranh ảnh minh hoạ để đoán trước nội dung đọc d Khơng e Thỉnh thoảng f Thường xuyên Trước đọc em xem trước câu hỏi để tập trung vào thông tin quan trọng a Không b Thỉnh thoảng c Thường xuyên Khi bắt đầu đọc, em đọc lướt toàn để nắm thơng tin khái qt, sau tập trung vào thông tin chi tiết a Không b Thỉnh thoảng c Thường xuyên 10 Để biết ý đọc, em thường: d Đọc từ đầu đến cuối cách cẩn thận - XVIII - e Đọc lướt qua (skimming) f Đọc quét lượt (scanning) 11 Khi gặp từ cấu trúc đọc, việc em thường làm là: d Tra từ điển hỏi giáo viên/hỏi bạn e Bỏ qua f Đoán nghĩa từ/cấu trúc qua ngữ cảnh 12 Trong đọc, em dịch đọc sang Tiếng Việt d Không e Thỉnh thoảng f Thường xuyên 13 Khi gặp đoạn khó hiểu bài, em sử dụng kiến thức cấu trúc ngữ pháp, cấu tạo từ… để hiểu nội dung d Khơng e Thỉnh thoảng f Thường xuyên 14 Khi đọc, em sử dụng kiến thức biết chủ đề đọc để hiểu nội dung văn a Không b Thỉnh thoảng c Thường xuyên III/ Ý kiến sinh viên Chương trình đọc thêm 15 Theo em có cần thiết phải sử dụng tài liệu bổ trợ để nâng cao kỹ đọc không? a Rất cần thiết b Không cần thiết 16 Chương trình đọc thêm tạo hứng thú cho em học Tiếng Anh a Đúng b Sai 17 Trình độ đọc em cải thiện sau tham gia chương trình đọc thêm a Đúng b Sai - XIX - 18 Kiến thức em mở rộng nhờ vào đọc thêm a Đúng b Sai 19 Đọc thêm giúp em mở rộng vốn từ vựng cấu trúc ngữ pháp a Đúng b Sai 20 Đọc thêm lên lớp làm cho em cảm thấy thoải mái, không bị áp lực nhiệm vụ học tập a Đúng b Sai 21 Em tiếp tục đọc thêm, kể chương trình kết thúc a Đúng b Sai 22 Em muốn đọc thêm chủ đề sau (em đánh đấu vào lựa chọn mình): a) Love b) Student life c) Education d) Science and technology e) Inventions f) Sports g) Health h) Holidays and festivals i) Environment j) Politics k) Business and trading l) Famous people m) Explorations and adventures 23 Theo em tài liệu bổ trợ phù hợp nên có tiêu chí đây: a) Nội dung đọc nằm tầm hiểu biết người đọc b) Chủ đề nên bám theo giáo trình dạy lớp c) Các dạng tập phải phong phú - XX - d) Từ vựng đọc nên nằm phạm vi từ vựng sinh viên e) Nên giới hạn thời gian cho đọc f) Bài đọc nên có độ dài phù hợp với sinh viên trình độ A g) Mỗi đọc nên có phần giải từ vựng, cấu trúc h) Các đọc nên thuộc nhiều loại văn khác (bài báo, câu chuyện ngắn, thư, quảng cáo, nhật ký …) 24 Những gợi ý em để chương trình đọc rộng hiệu hơn: Xin cảm ơn hợp tác em! - XXI - APPENDIX TEST RESULTS No Pre-test Post-test No Pre-test Post-test 1 1.5 30 4.5 5.5 1.5 31 4.5 5.5 1.5 32 1.5 33 5.5 2.5 34 6.5 35 6.5 36 6.5 2.5 2.5 37 5.5 2.5 38 5.5 6.5 10 2.5 39 5.5 11 2.5 40 5.5 6.5 12 3.5 41 13 42 14 43 15 44 7.5 16 3 45 17 46 6.5 7.5 18 3.5 47 6.5 7.5 19 3.5 4.5 48 7.5 20 3.5 4.5 49 8.5 21 3.5 4.5 50 7.5 22 51 7.5 23 4.5 52 7.5 8.5 24 5.5 53 7.5 8.5 25 4.5 5.5 54 26 4.5 5.5 55 27 4.5 56 8.5 10 28 4.5 5.5 57 8.5 9.5 29 4.5 58 10 - XXII - ... NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN QUỲNH DƯƠNG USING SUPPLEMENTARY READING MATERIALS FOR IMPROVING STUDENTS' READING. .. short, the strategies of skimming, scanning, word-attack skills and text-attack skills are very useful for students, especially in extensive reading of their supplementary materials Therefore, in... roles of supplementary materials and some criteria for selecting supplementary materials in teaching of reading skill The second section includes major issues related to reading comprehension skill: