Phát triển động lực đọc của học sinh trung học phổ thông qua việc đọc thêm trường hợp của học sinh lớp 12 tại một trường trung học phổ thông ở tỉnh hà nam

It is documented in the second language learning literature that, if learners only read texts from textbooks, it will be not enough for students who are going to take the 2 in 1 GCSE Gen

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

IN HA NAM PROVINCE

(Phát triển động lực đọc của học sinh trung học phổ thông qua việc đọc thêm: Trường hợp của học sinh lớp 12 tại một trường trung học

phổ thông ở tỉnh Hà Nam)

M.A MINOR THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 8140231.01

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

VŨ DIỆU HUYỀN

DEVELOPING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ READING

MOTIVATION THROUGH EXTENSIVE READING:

THE CASE OF 12TH GRADERS AT A HIGH SCHOOL

IN HA NAM PROVINCE

(Phát triển động lực đọc của học sinh trung học phổ thông qua việc

đọc thêm: Trường hợp của học sinh lớp 12 tại một trường trung học

DECLARATION

I hereby certify that this minor thesis entitled “Developing high school

a high school in Ha Nam Province” is entirely the study of my own work, which

has not been submitted before any degree or examination in any other university, and that all the sources I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references

Hanoi, November 2019

Signature

Vu Dieu Huyen

My sincere gratitude is also extended to all lecturers and staff of Postgraduate Studies for their useful lectures, materials, guidance and enthusiasm during my course

I would like to gratefully acknowledge the support from my colleagues and students, especially students of classes 12A1 and 12A4, who have inspired and guided me in the accomplishment of the study

Last but not least, I would like to thank my beloved family for their understanding, support and encouragement Without them, I would not have been able to finish this thesis

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATION vii

LIST OF TABLES viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Research questions 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Significance of the study 2

6 Method of the study 3

7 Organization of the thesis 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 Reading 4

2.1.1 Definition of reading 4

2.1.2 Roles of reading in second language teaching 5

2.1.3 Intensive reading vs extensive reading 6

2.2 Extensive reading 8

2.2.1 Definition of extensive reading 8

2.2.2 Characteristics and principles of extensive reading 9

2.2.3 Constraints on developing an extensive reading program for students 11

2.3 Motivation for reading 13

2.3.1 Definition of motivation 13

2.3.2 Reading motivation 14

2.3.3 Factors affecting students‟ reading motivation in learning a second language 15

2.3.4 Extensive reading as a motivator to students to read 18

2.4 Previous studies on extensive reading and students’ reading motivation 20

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 23

3.1 Research approach 23

3.1.1 Overview of action research 23

3.1.2 Rationale for the use of an action research 23

3.1.3 Steps of action research 24

3.2 The research procedures 25

3.2.1 Research context 25

3.2.2 Research participants 26

3.2.3 Research procedures 27

3.3 Data collection instruments 31

3.4 Data collection procedures 32

3.4.1 Planning 32

3.4.2 Pre-intervention questionnaire 33

3.4.3 Post-questionnaire 33

3.5 Data analysis procedure 33

3.6 Summary 34

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 35

4.1 Preliminary investigation 35

4.1.1 Students‟ self-reports of the frequency of extensive reading assignments 35

4.1.2 Students‟ preferred reading material genres and sources of reading materials 38

4.1.3 Students‟ perceived benefits of extensive reading 40

4.1.4 Students‟ perceived effects of extensive reading on students‟ reading comprehension and motivation 41

4.2 Evaluation 43

4.2.1 Research question 1 43

4.2.2 Research question 2 45

4.3 Summary 46

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 48

REFERENCES 52 APPENDICES I

APPENDIX 1: PRE-INTERVENTION QUESTIONNAIRE (English version) IAPPENDIX 2: POST-QUESTIONNAIRE (English version) VIIAPPENDIX 3: AN INTERVENTION COURSE XI

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Chart contrasting intensive and extensive reading (Welch 1997: 53) 7

Table 2: Schedule for an extensive reading program: 30

Table 3: Frequency of extensive reading assignments required by teachers 35

Table 4: Students‟ self-reports of their time spent on extensive readingand reasons of extensive reading 36

Table 5: Students‟ preferred reading material genres and sources of reading materials 39

Table 6: Students‟ perceived benefits of extensive reading 40

Table 7: Students‟ perceived effects of extensive reading on students‟ reading comprehension and motivation 42

Table 8: Students‟ assessment of the benefits of extensive reading 43

Table 9: Students‟ attitudes towards extensive reading program 45

Table 10: Summary of the Research Findings 47

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This part introduces the rationale, the aims, research questions, scope,

significance, and research method of the study This is followed by the structure of

the thesis

1 Rationale of the study

Reading is an important activity which provides linguistic input for the development of other language skills However, I, as a classroom teacher, observed that the majority of students were not motivated to read English outside the classroom From my experience, I hypothesized that student‟s motivation and their vocabulary could be the reasons for their unsuccessful reading comprehension Most of students seemed to be passive and reluctant to read They were not aware of the benefits of reading to their English language learning That‟s why they limited their reading to the reading texts in the textbook It is documented in the second language learning literature that, if learners only read texts from textbooks, it will be not enough for students who are going to take the 2 in 1 GCSE (General Certificate

of Secondary Education) exams in which reading comprehension texts are much more challenging than texts in the national curriculum, and sometimes are beyond students‟ knowledge and reading skill

Most scholars agree that in language teaching, the use of extensive reading

is quite useful to the learning process because it promotes students‟ confidence and motivation and makes the learning process quicker and easier, according to Hedgcock and Ferris (2009) Day and Bramford (1998) also add more points that, through extensive reading, students can develop reading habits, get prepared for further reading and develop some academic skills More importantly, students develop positive attitudes towards second language learning In other words, it is agreed upon that reading extensively provides improvement in attitudes towards further reading Despite the well-documented benefits of extensive reading, in my teaching context, not much research was conducted regarding the implementation of

extensive reading and students‟ reading motivation This motivated me to undertake this action research project, which was aimed at motivating my students to be more active in extensive reading

2 Aims of the study

This action research was conducted with a view to understanding the influence of extensive reading on students‟ changed reading motivation Extensive reading is believed to build up knowledge of vocabulary and structures for reading comprehension It was hoped that when extensive reading was encouraged, students‟ reading motivation would change and their reading competence would be

4 Scope of the study

The study was conducted on volunteer 12 graders in my two classes during the first semester of the school year 2019-2020 The research was not aimed at generalizing the results Rather, the purpose was to help me to understand whether the encouragement and support of students‟ extensive reading changed their reading

motivation or not

5 Significance of the study

The findings of this action research project is believed to be useful for the researcher because once completed, the study will provide an insight into the way extensive reading changes students‟ reading motivation What will be achieved in this research may help teachers highly evaluate reading extensively as a way to improve students‟ reading motivation Moreover, the research will be much beneficial to students who would like to improve reading achievement

6 Method of the study

As the aim of this action research project is to gain understandings of the influence of extensive reading on high school students‟ reading motivation, it fits the purpose of an action research design As Tsui (1993: 33) pointed out, “action research is a very effective way of helping teachers to reflect on their teaching and

to come up with their own alternatives to improve their practice.”

The author‟s desire is to measure the development in the students‟ reading motivation before and after applying extensive reading activity In order to get data, questionnaires were employed including a pre-intervention questionnaire, and post-questionnaire The data collected was analyzed and discussed so that reliable findings could be clarified

7 Organization of the thesis

The thesis consists of five chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction: introduces the rationale, aims, research questions,

scope, significance, method of the study and organization of the thesis

Chapter 2: Literature review: covers the overview of the literature which

includes relevant theoretical background and reviews of related studies concerning reading, extensive reading and the use of extensive reading in developing students‟ reading motivation

Chapter 3: Research methodology: includes an overview of the approach

used to conduct the study including the participants of the study, the instrumentation, the methods and procedures of data collection and data analysis

Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion: demonstrates the findings

accompanied by data analysis and discussion

Chapter 5: Conclusion: recapitulates the major findings of the study,

represents further recommendations for the implementation of authentic materials and acknowledges the limitations of the study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter reviews the literature on extensive reading and students‟ reading motivation in foreign/second language learning The three main issues that are included in the chapters are the theoretical background of reading, extensive reading and reading motivation First, the definition, roles and forms of reading are introduced Next, an overview of extensive reading such as definitions, principles and characteristics of extensive reading and constraints on developing extensive program for learners are precisely analyzed Last, motivation and motivation for reading definitions, factors affecting students‟ reading motivation in learning a second language, extensive reading as a motivator are also presented in this chapter

2.1 Reading

2.1.1 Definition of reading

One of the skills that can be considered the first step in acquiring English is reading It plays an essential part to achieve success inside and outside educational activities However, there is no exact definition of reading because different authors and researchers define this term in different ways under various perspectives

According to William (1984), reading is a process whereby one looks at and understands what has been written It may be the simplest definition and easiest to understand about reading as it is considered a mental process in which readers are active, not passive, to look into a written text and absorb the information from the written linguistic message

Sharing the opinion with William, Alderson et al (1987) defines reading as the process of constructing meaning from written texts They also add that reading

is a complex skill requiring coordination of a number of interrelated sources of information Reading is also defined in a single sentence as it is the ability to draw meaning from the printed page and interpret this information appropriately (Candlin and Hall, 2002)

Brunan (1989) defines reading as a two way interaction between the readers and the writers Smith (1973) shares the same opinion with Brunan when he

supposes that reading is an activity in which information is transferred from a transmitter to a receiver

In short, there are a number of opinions and definitions of reading according

to different scholars From the definitions above, what comes out clearly is that most scholars seem to agree that reading is to do with readers, texts and meanings However, it cannot be concluded which is better and more accurate because each of them solves one aspect of reading, for survival, for learning or for pleasure Reading for survival means reading for information about outside world such as street signs, timetables, advertisements, etc In contrast, reading for learning is the in-class reading, which is controlled and regulated by the syllabus or the textbook Reading for pleasure is reading for relaxation, it is something that one does not have to do and depends on one‟s interest such as reading short stories or comic books, so on According to Kim (2002), reading is a very complicated process involving a variety

of factors that interact with one another Therefore, learners should be provided with sufficient scaffolding so that they can achieve more effective reading comprehension

2.1.2 Roles of reading in second language teaching

There is no doubt that reading functions as a crucial element in second language teaching The learning of this skill is especially essential component for acquiring a second language Reading is necessary for all aspects of daily life Not only is it an important tool in education and individual development but it also plays central roles in individuals‟ careers Most of the materials for learning are in the written form of books or computer based materials Therefore, it is important to develop text‟s understanding, to enhance fluency, to expand knowledge, to build up background knowledge, and to practice reading strategies

Obviously, reading is highly emphasized in second language teaching of all levels on the ground that it sets the basis for other language skills The following quote by Krashen (1993:23) indicates the crucial role of reading “Reading is good for you Reading is the only way we become good readers, develop a good writing

good spellers” He strongly agrees that constant reading helps learners be better able to read fluently, write skillfully with a good master of grammar and vocabulary The more learners read, the more learners become proficient in the target language as readers, writers, speakers and listeners

All in all, reading helps to expand learners‟ background knowledge, and exposes them to more linguistic input Also, reading brings learners enjoyment and refreshment as well Through reading one learns and gets pleasure For each reading purpose, different types of reading are employed

2.1.3 Intensive reading vs extensive reading

In foreign language teaching, two approaches of reading are recognized, namely intensive and extensive reading The differences in these two kinds of reading are discussed bellows

Intensive reading is an activity of reading in the classroom in limited time

It is a classroom oriented activity in which short texts are dealed with detailed understanding under a teacher‟s guidance This form of reading is defined by Nuttall (2000:38) that it “involves approaching the text under the guidance of a teacher or a task which forces the students to focus on the text” This activity focuses on achieving a full understanding of the text that teachers select Palmer (1964:111) considers intensive reading as the activity “take a text, study it line

by line, referring at every moment to our dictionary and our grammar, comparing, analyzing, translating, and retaining every expression that it contains” In other words, intensive reading relates to mainly reading short texts and focuses on specific lexical or syntactic parts of the text The aim of intensive reading is to “arrive at an understanding, not only of what the text means but how the meaning is produced”, (Nuttall, 2005:38) Intensive reading requires from a reader fully understanding of the material so that a learner can see the main idea of a text, find pronoun referents or guess the meaning of unknown words Intensive reading makes readers‟ experience frustrating, unpleasant and unproductive As a result, students dislike reading

Extensive reading, contrary to intensive reading, a long-run approach, usually takes place outside the classroom It is an individual activity which provides learners with relatively long reading materials for independent reading for pleasure, information and general understanding rather than the meaning of individual words

or sentences According to Long and Richards (1971:216), extensive reading occurs

“when students read a large amount of high interest material, usually out of class, concentrating on meaning, reading for gist and skipping unknown words” Extensive reading is for general understanding which means comprehension of the reading material less than 100% It is a program that facilitates and motivates students to choose what to read from a wide variety of text types according to their own interests The main assignment which is given to students is reading

Differences between the two approaches to the teaching of reading are summarized by Roberta Welch (1997) in the table below:

Table 1: Chart contrasting intensive and extensive reading (Welch 1997: 53)

Intensive Reading Type of reading Extensive reading

Must finish

Use dictionary

No dictionary

Despite the differences between those approaches mentioned above in terms

of how learners read, they are both to be used in a classroom Drew and Sørheim (2009) encourage a balanced approach, which is a combination of various

approaches to trigger both the conscious and subconscious processes in learning a language It is important for teachers to be up-to-date on different approaches for teaching purposes The following section will discuss further extensive reading in foreign language education contexts

2.2 Extensive reading

2.2.1 Definition of extensive reading

Extensive reading is sometimes referred alternatively as “Supplementary reading (West, 1955), “Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading” (Vaughan, 1982; Krashen, 1985), “Pleasure Reading” (Mikulecky, 1990; Trelease, 2006), etc Different scholars of different approaches provide different definitions of extensive reading

Palmer (1927, as cited in Smith, 2003, p 454) defines that extensive reading means “rapid reading” Those with knowledge of a foreign language are able to read texts written in that language with understanding and without that process of mental translation

The term "extensive reading" by Bamfort et.al (1991) refers to reading of a large quantity of material or long texts, for global or general understanding; with the intention of obtaining pleasure from the text Further, because reading is individualized, with students choosing the books they want to read, the books are not discussed in class Extensive reading encourages students to read, read and read more Davis (1995:329) shares the same notion of extensive reading in which pupils are given the time, encouragement and materials to read pleasurably, at their own level, as many books as they can, without the pressures of testing or marks The goal of extensive reading is encourage more reading, give more experience that builds language

According to Hafiz and Tudor (1989:4), extensive reading is “the reading of large amounts of material in the second language over time for pleasure or interest, and without the addition of productive tasks or follow up language work” Through extensive reading, learners self-select reading materials and writing brief summaries

or comments on what they read

Sharing the same idea with Hafiz and Tudor, Helgesen, M (2005) does believe that extensive reading is an activity through which learners read easy and enjoyable books It is considered as a pleasure activity that makes learning easier However, it is noticed that extensive reading varies depending on students‟ motivation and school resources (Hedge, 2000)

In language teaching, extensive reading is considered an approach to language teaching in which learners read a lot of easy and enjoyable materials in the new language Students choose their own reading material and read it independently

of the teacher They read for general, overall meaning, information and enjoyment Extensive exposes learners to “large quantities of material within their linguistic competence” (Grabe and Stoller, 2002, cited in Pigada & Schmitt, 2006)

From a series of definitions above, it can be concluded that extensive reading refers to a reading program which provides learners with a source of reading materials that suitable for their reading abilities Despite different terms of extensive reading, they have the same basis in theory which is intended to develop good reading habits, to build up knowledge of vocabulary and structure, and to encourage

a liking for reading

2.2.2 Characteristics and principles of extensive reading

There are several defining characteristics which make extensive reading different to most reading that happens in the classrooms Hedge (2000) listed five characteristics of extensive reading as follows:

 Reading large quantities of material, whether short stories and novel, newspaper

or magazine articles, or professional reading,

 Reading consistently over time on a frequent and regular basis,

 Reading longer texts (more than a few paragraphs in length) of types listed in the first point above,

 Reading for general meaning, primarily for pleasure, curiosity, or professional interest,

 Reading longer texts during class time but also engaging in individual, independent reading at home, ideally of self-selected materials

From all the above characteristics of extensive reading, a conclusion can be drawn that: "Extensive reading is reading of a large quantity of material or long texts, for global or general understanding; with the intention of obtaining pleasure from the text” (Susser & Robb, 1990:165) Further, because reading is individualized, with students choosing the books they want to read, the books are not discussed in class (Bamford et al., 1991) The goal of an extensive reading approach is to get students enjoy reading in the target language

Day and Bamford (2002) on their part identify the top ten principles related

to successful extensive reading:

1- Students read as much as possible, perhaps in and definitely out of the classroom 2- A variety of materials on a wide range of topics is available so as to encourage reading for different reasons and in different ways

3- Students select what they want to read and have the freedom to stop reading material that fails to interest them

4- The purposes of reading are usually related to pleasure, information, and general understanding These purposes are determined by the nature of the material and the interest of the student

5- Reading is its own reward There are few or no follow-up exercises after reading 6- Reading materials are well within the linguistic competence of the students in terms of vocabulary and grammar Dictionaries are rarely used while reading because the constant stopping to look-up words makes fluent reading difficult 7- Reading is individual and silent, at the student‟s own pace, and outside class, done when and where the student chooses

8- Reading speed is usually faster than slower as students read books and other material they find easily understandable

9- Teachers orient students to the goals of the programme, explain the methodology, keep track of what each student reads, and guide students in getting the most out of the programme

10- The teacher is a role model of a reader for students- an active member of the classroom reading community, demonstrating what it means to be a reader and the rewards of being a reader

The principles listed by Day & Bamford are very good standards and inspiration for how to explore extensive reading However, these principles should

be carefully considered and adapted to make learners‟ studying effective Learners‟ needs and capabilities should also be taken into consideration when educators decide how to adjust these principles

2.2.3 Constraints on developing an extensive reading program for students

In addition to the roles of extensive reading as motivation for students to read, there are some constraints on developing a further reading program for learners, which challenges educators

Firstly, it is an obstacle for teachers to find supplementary reading materials which meet the demand of all students in terms of both interests and levels Nuttall (2000) suggests the four main criteria for choosing material for the extensive reading program: short, appealing, varied and easy An extensive reading program should be suitable with students‟ capacity, but diversified in topics, interesting and culturally relevant to students so that reading materials can attract learners‟ concerns Actually, not all of schools can provide English reading materials which are suitable with students‟ levels It is teachers‟ duty that develops an extensive reading program for students, which should therefore consist of texts graded into a number of reading levels to cater for the full range of ability in the class If a student

is not enjoying the book they are reading, encourage them to choose another one, even if this means they will not finish it This is what real readers do Readers‟ interests come first because students will not read extensively or voluntarily unless they are interested in the material (Jeon and Day, 2016)

Secondly, implementing a supplementary reading program may also be a hard task with the large number of students in a class Most of classes consist of approximately 40 students of mixed ability, which may be difficult for teachers to handle a big number of students as every student might have a wide range of topics

in their mind To overcome it, for the orientation of minimizing the various topics

of extensive reading, teachers can provide particular reading materials to be chosen

by students every week However, teachers should ensure that learners can find texts that they are interested in and are of an appropriate level As Nuttall (1982:185) points out that reading skill will develop much better if a student reads a lot of books that are too easy rather than a few that are too difficult Elisheva Barkon (2017) also adds that it is more important to read for a few minutes every day than to read for 20 minutes only once a week

Thirdly, extensive reading is not about testing It is the next limitation of extensive reading program It is about helping students to build their reading speed and fluency, and become more confident readers in English Readers might be assessed by simply showing that they have read and understood a large number of books over the course of a semester Therefore, to evaluate and keep track of students‟ reading progress, teachers can offer follow-up activity after reading (Day and Bamford, 2004) Another way to do this is to create a generic book choice reading reflection worksheet This is something that the students should complete each week It will require them not only to summarize the book, but also to answer questions about how the book relates to their personal life and how it has helped them grow as a reader (Powell, 2011) However, the important thing is to make sure that the tasks are short and will not take

up so much time that they are distracted from their main job of reading Furthermore the tasks should be simple and easy to do so that these will not put students off the extensive reading program One of the ways to observe students‟ extensive reading is

to encourage them to report back their reading in certain ways (Harmer, 2007) for example by employing reading journal

From the constraints above, it can be concluded that extensive reading program can only benefit the teaching and learning process if they are seriously taken by the school, the teachers and the students If an extensive reading program

is integrated into the learning process and is regarded as a relaxing and regular of students‟ activities, the materials chosen are interesting and carefully graded with students‟ right levels, the program will develop a reading motivation in the students and bring about marked improvement in their English in the long run

2.3 Motivation for reading

2.3.1 Definition of motivation

“Motivation” is a complex psychological construct which can be defined diversely The concept “motivation” has passed through a number of different interpretations and therefore many theories of motivation have been proposed

According to Richards and Schmidt (2002), motivation is defined as “the driving force in any situation that leads to action” Sharing the same ideas with them, Harmer (2007:27) defines motivations as internal drive which pushes someone to act in order to achieve something

Lightbrown and Spada (2006: 63) see motivation in second language learning to be a “complex phenomenon” which can be defined in term of two factors: learners‟ communicative needs and their attitude towards the second language community Motivation balances between the communicative needs of the learner and his or her attitude towards the second language community

A summary of definitions offered by Mitchell (1982) is quite similar to the definition offered by Williams and Burdens (1997) when they suppose that motivation becomes those psychological process that cause arousal, direction, and persistence of voluntary actions that are goal-related

One of the leading researchers in language learning motivation, Dornyei (2001), claims that motivation is an abstract, hypothetical concept that we use to explain why people think and behave as they do Motivation is one affective component that is influenced by instructions and involved in the performance of all learners‟ responses Gardner (2006:241) also points out that students with higher levels of motivation will do better than ones with lower levels Motivation is one of the main determining factors in success in second language learning Students can hardly learn a language without motivation because it creates the strength and positive attitude to get students involved in learning process Moreover, whether strategies can carry out tasks successfully or not also effects students‟ level of motivation and capacities to succeed in learning the target language Because of

that, strategies to motivate students efficiently are the most recurrent and essential concerns of all language teachers

2.3.2 Reading motivation

Reading motivation is an aspect which attracts many teachers and researchers‟ over the years However, the term “reading motivation” has been

variously defined according to different scholars

Motivation for reading is a crucial entity for successfully engaging in the reading process because it is the element that maintains students‟ engagement throughout the entire reading process The more students read, the better readers they become (Bamford & Day, 1998) Motivation has close relation with learners in comprehending a text, and learners need to have motivation in reading It refers to positive attitude toward reading in English and willingness to read more English materials

According to some linguistic experts in the field of reading (Baker and Wigfield, 1999), reading motivation is one of the key factors that influence reading efficiency and learning motivation in general Reading motivation is the answers to the questions like what makes one read, why do some people want to repeat their reading experience, how does one become a reader for life, and so on

Guthrie and Wigfield (2000: 405) defines reading motivation as an

“individual‟s personal goals, values, and beliefs with regard to the topics, processes and outcomes of reading” In this definition, the reading motivation of each individual is varied depending on context and the way the text is presented

Hermosa (2002) considers reading motivation as the interest or desire to read for different purposes She does believe that it is important for teachers to make integrative reading activities to facilitate learners‟ real love and passion for reading both inside and outside the class

Resnick and Lester (2000:5) states that “motivation is one of the most important ingredients in skilled reading” Motivation is a contributing factor in language learning because learning will be more effective and efficient if it is

pushed by motivation Students would likely to read more when they are allowed to choose their reading materials because they would discover that reading is an enjoyable activity (Hairul, Ahmadi, & Pourhossein, 2012)

Gambrell (2011) identifies seven research-based rules of engagement that foster the reading motivation in students According to Gambrell, students are more motivated to read when:

• reading tasks and activities are relevant to their lives,

• a wide range of reading materials is accessed to

• opportunities to engage in sustained readings are available

• opportunities to make choices about what they read and how they engage in and complete literacy tasks are available

• opportunities to socially interact with others about the texts they are reading are available

• opportunities to be successful with challenging texts are foreseen

• classroom incentives reflect the value and importance of reading (p.173-176)

2.3.3 Factors affecting students’ reading motivation in learning a second language

It has been broadly accepted that motivation is one of the most fundamental elements in foreign language learning Without enough motivation, almost learners even the most extraordinary skills cannot achieve long-term goals However, motivation for reading is not the same among learners because it depends on reading materials, teacher‟s attitude and students‟ behavior-related factors

2.3.3.1 Reading materials

Reading materials are one of the most important factors determining learners‟ motivation for reading According to Lightbown and Spada (1999:57), students are more likely to be motivated to read more reading materials when they are interesting and relevant enough to their age and ability

Cho et al (2010) add that materials for reading should be interesting yet challenging in order to motivate readers The role of materials in enhancing reading motivation has also been gaining clarity

In terms of the level of difficulty, reading texts should be suitable for students‟ levels It is readily available and easy to understand If students are assigned to read the texts which are beyond their language proficiency level, they will become overwhelmed and soon, they will be discouraged and frustrated They do not understand the texts because of a great deal of unknown words, complex sentence structures and so on

In terms of the topic of the reading texts, it is noted that the topics should be interesting enough to attract students‟ desire to read If the topics of the reading texts are not interesting and irrelevant to learners‟ experience and knowledge, they may stop reading immediately because those texts do not satisfy leaners‟ expectations need and curiosity Therefore, it is a challenge for both teachers and learners to choose the texts with rich source of motivation such as music, films, technology, sports, hobbies, etc When students are interested in the topic, they enjoy reading and their reading comprehension is the best achieved

In terms of the content of the reading texts, it should be carefully chosen as long as texts catch up with readers‟ interest with some relevance to the situation and context The vocabulary in the reading text must be of appropriate level with learners The complexity of grammar must not be too great so that learners can see the content

of the texts they are following

From the analysis mentioned above, it can be concluded that reading texts play

a very important role in reading learning environment in terms of its level of challenge, topics and content Nuttall (1996) offers three criteria for teachers to choose reading materials for students such as suitability of content (interesting, challenging but appropriate), exploitability (facilitate the achievement of certain language and content goals), readability (suitable level of difficulty without overwhelming readers)

2.3.3.2 Teachers’ attitudes

Galluzzo (2005:142) also emphasizes the importance of teaching which is determined by teachers‟ attitude when he says that “nothing is more central to

student learning than the quality of teacher” Ericksen (1978:3) points out

“Effective learning in the classroom depends on the teacher‟s ability…” According to these researchers, students‟ learning motivation is directly affected

by teachers and their teaching techniques with appropriate guidance and advice

Furthermore, students‟ learning motivation is also strongly affected by what happens in the classroom, including teachers‟ personality, attitude and teaching methods Teachers play a significant role in students‟ learning of a foreign language because they can either facilitate or impede the learning process Students‟ interest

in learning much depends on whether teachers are warm, sensitive, enthusiastic, empathetic, humorous and flexible or not Therefore, teachers should vary reading activities both in and outside the class and adapt reading materials so that they can prevent demotivation and increase learners‟ interest level

Additionally, the way teachers give feedback also directly influences students‟ learning motivation In order to achieve effect learning environment, teachers are encouraged to create a competitive learning atmosphere in which students are not afraid of making mistakes and willing to exposure themselves and express their own thinking, interest and learning needs Davies (1996) also shared his own ideas about factors affecting learning motivation He emphasized that in learning how to use a language effectively, students must be actively engaged in using language He also appreciated the role of the teacher of English in creating opportunities within the classroom situation, which enables students to think through language and to express their learning through the models of speaking, listening, reading and writing

In brief, there are two main things that teachers should keep in mind in helping learners to study a language The first is to provide the students with suitable materials, and the second is to provide them with suitable teaching activities Nuttall (1982: 192) considers teacher‟s job as “providing first, suitable texts and second, activities that will focus the students‟ attention on the text”

2.3.3.3 Students’ behavior

Students‟ behavior also holds a considerable role in the second language reading classroom and has a close relationship with motivation

Among some factors that influence the second language learning motivation, Oxford and Shearin (1994) emphasizes some student-related factors such as attitude, beliefs about self, goals, involvement and personal attribute The author also said that learning can only happens when certain affective conditions such as positive, self-confidence and low anxiety exist This opinion is similar to Krashen‟s (1985) when

he proposed that attitudes can act as barriers or bridges to reading in a new language and are the essential environmental ingredient for language reading

Obviously, reading in a foreign language is really difficult because of students‟ limited reading skill, which is caused by their lack of vocabulary, cultural understanding and more importantly, lack of frequent practice of reading One of the factors leading to these problems is that learners do not find themselves interested in reading In other words, students have no motivation for reading skill Readers usually cope with a large number of new words, unfamiliar topics when they have no skill of guessing their meanings Consequently, students cannot concentrate well on the reading texts, or when they get to the end of the text, they may not recall what they have read from the beginning

To improve reading motivation and reading ability, it is necessary that students be willing to select materials they like, and read materials from easy to difficult Students will become more motivated when assigned a book that they would typically choose on their own (Moley, Bandre, & George, 2011) The free choice and unlimited time of reading materials are believed to make positive attitudes toward reading in the second language According to Powell (2011), teachers should build their curriculum around student interest books rather than following pre-determined content

2.3.4 Extensive reading as a motivator to students to read

Extensive reading as an effective strategy to learn a language has been gaining popularity for a long time It is also highly evaluated as a way for fostering learners‟ motivation and progress in reading development and improvement at various levels

Strong (1996:291) emphasizes that “extensive reading of literature can encourage students to develop positive attitudes toward reading” Students who read

a lot improve positive attitudes toward reading and develop motivation in studying a language There are relatively few studies examining the relationship between motivation and reading in a second language

Also discussing the role of extensive reading in language education as motivators, Nuttall (1996:127) states that “getting students to read extensively is the easiest and most effective way of improving their reading skill …It is much easier

to teach people to read better if they are learning in a favorable climate, where reading is valued not only as an educational tool, but as a source of enjoyment”

Day and Bamford (1998) also suggests that applying the extensive reading approach in English learning class has the potential to influence all of the variables

in the motivation model as follows First, the reading materials are interesting and readily available to attract students Second, reading ability is not a problem for low-level reading ability learners because they read at levels appropriate to their reading ability Next, free choice of reading material produces positive attitude toward reading in the second language Learners have no fear of evaluation when they finish reading Last, the extensive reading approach creates a classroom environment that values and encourages reading Motivation is a force that make people do (or not do) something (Day and Bamford, 1998) If a child‟s reading motivation is high, the amount and breadth of reading increases (Wigfield and Guthrie, 1997), and if the amount and breadth of reading increase, a child will achieve more academically (Anderson, Wilson and Fileding, 1998)

The benefits of extensive reading are diverse and wide-range Bell (1998) lists some basic roles of extensive reading in language learning as enhancing learners‟ language competence and exposure to language, increasing vocabulary, building confidence with text, development prediction skills Grabe (2012) also emphasizes some benefits of extensive reading that are to build vocabulary and structural awareness, enhance background knowledge, develop automaticity, improve comprehension skills, and promote confidence and motivation

Obviously, many of the studies and researchers already support extensive reading, which allows learners to find pleasure in reading when they gain a general understanding of literacy ideas, learn reading strategies, and acquire new vocabulary Various researchers have asserted the strengths and a number of positive effects of extensive reading on students‟ reading motivation Most of them also agree that extensive reading plays an important role in developing fluent second language readers because learners develop the ability to read large quantities

of written materials with pleasure (Takase, 2007)

To sum up, extensive reading in language learning can be considered as a motivator because extensive reading materials help:

- To provide comprehensible input

- To enhance learners‟ general language competence

- To increase the students‟ exposure to the language

- To increase knowledge of vocabulary

- To lead to improvement in writing

- To increase affect and motivate learners to read

- To consolidate previously learned language

- To encourage the exploitation of textual redundancy

- To facilitates the development of prediction skills

Extensive reading is considered as a motivator to students and one of the main determinants of reading achievement It can result in learner‟s autonomy and formulate high intrinsic motivation (Hedge, 2000) Learners‟ motivation to read increases when they are interested in what they are reading, which is why it is up to the learner to decide what to read in the extensive reading approach Consequently, the reading motivation of each individual is different, depending on numerous external factors and changes in the course Therefore, the research of how to change students‟ reading motivation has become a challenging task

2.4 Previous studies on extensive reading and students’ reading motivation

Many studies have shown that extensive reading has positive effects on various aspects of second language development and on attitudes towards second

language reading Extensive reading has also been promoted as a method of increasing reading motivation There have been few studies which have examined the relationship between extensive reading and the motivation to read

Day and Bamford (1998) emphasized that applying the extensive reading approach in English learning class has the potential to influence all of the variables

in the motivation model They supposed that free choice of reading material produces positive attitudes toward reading in the second language; therefore, reading extensively may create a classroom environment that values and encourage further reading

Additionally, Mori (2002) in a study “Refining Motivation to read in a foreign language” indicated that when students do not have enough exposure with the target language they do not get the necessary desire to read anything in that language On the contrary, the more the learners are in contact with the target language, the more they become motivated to read in that language (2013:1239) Therefore, reading materials chosen for extensive reading should concentrate on student‟s needs, tastes and interest to motivate and energize them to read more

Gao (2004) carried out a research to find out whether extensive reading can increase motivation or not The experiment had two groups of high school students from Taiwan with the same English teachers and the same lessons of English courses One was the experiment group, which practiced extensive reading each week and the other was the control group After one year, the results finally showed that the experiment group, with extensive reading practice, gained noticeably higher motivation in language learning, and greater confidence in their English

Another study conducted by Kirin and Wasanasomsithi (2010) showed that high amount of reading had positive effects on students‟ reading comprehension, reading pace and also reading motivation They affirmed that the more participants read, the more they comprehend In addition, after finishing the experiment with extensive reading, participants had positive attitudes towards reading activity

A number of international studies have been conducted regarding the positive effects of an extensive reading program For example, Day et al (2011)

reviewed several studies conducted from 1981 to 2008, which showed that the gains are related to reading rate, reading strategies, oral fluency, attitude, motivation, and general language proficiency

In Vietnam, there have been some research projects on the effects of extensive reading on improving reading motivation of the learners The first one, Dao, T.N (2014) in his MA thesis also emphasized the role of Internet as an online extensive reading resource which can be best used to develop extensive reading for Vietnamese learners of English The subjects of his study were 30 students of 10th graders at Tuyen Quang Gifted High School In his teaching applications, he tried to design extensive reading activities to motivate students to learn and also attempted

to address certain challenges in this approach

Additionally, Tran‟s study was conducted at two intact English classes at a university in Vietnam in 2018 The subjects for the study were 68 participants of two groups The first group is composed of 33 subjects as a control group The second group included 35 English students as a treatment groups All of them are first year Vietnamese EFL learners and none of the participants had previously experienced extensive reading before The study set out to seek whether extensive reading help improve EFL learners‟ reading or not

All these studies and research on the effects of extensive reading program indicate that supplementary materials can be an appropriate way for improving learners‟ background language skills, and especially developing students‟ motivation for reading In other words, the extensive program has effected a substantial improvement in learners‟ reading proficiency and motivation Hence, the researcher decided to carry out an action research to investigate the effectiveness of extensive reading on developing students‟ reading motivation

In summary, this literature review shows that extensive reading promises to

be an effective strategy to develop students‟ reading motivation However, the review also shows that the influence of extensive reading on Vietnamese high school students‟ reading motivation remains to be one of the issues that are worth further investigation

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The focus of this chapter is to provide information about the action research project reported in this thesis The information includes the description of the methodology employed to collect data for the study

3.1 Research approach

3.1.1 Overview of action research

This study is Action Research in nature Action research is one of the most common research approaches in applied linguistics to be extensively used to research changes in teaching practice It refers to the conjunction of three elements: action, research, and participation It has become a valued research methodology, a collaborative and innovative approach that encourages people‟s active intervention

to take systematic action to resolve specific problems

According to Reason and Bradbury (2001:1), action research is defined as “a participatory, democratic process concerned with developing practical knowledge in the pursuit of worthwhile human purposes It seeks to bring together action and reflection, theory and practice, in participation with others, in the pursuit of practical solutions to issues of pressing concern to people, and more generally the flourishing of individual persons and their communities”

As defined in Cohen and Manion (1994:186), action research is “small-scale intervention in the functioning of the real world and a close examination of the effects of such intervention” Cohen, Manion, and Morrison (2007:297) also show the importance of action research that “action research is a powerful tool for change and improvement at the local level It can be used in almost any setting where a problem involving people, tasks and procedure cries out for solution”

3.1.2 Rationale for the use of an action research

Action research aims to increase to control the ability of the involved community or organization members to control their own destinies more effectively and to keep improving their capacity to do so within a more sustainable and just

environment Cohen and Manion (2007) state that the aim of action research is to improve the current state of affairs within educational context in which the research is carried out

Kemmis and McTaggart (1988, cited in Nunan, 1992, p 17) stated the three defining characteristics of action research Firstly, it is carried out by practitioners rather than outside researchers Secondly, it is collaborative Thirdly, it is aimed at changing things

This research matches well the features of action research The inspiration for the research was the recognition and observation of a real problem in the classes that my colleagues and I taught in the past few school years Most of the students appeared to poorly participate in reading lessons Most of them seemed to be insufficiently motivated to read in English This research was conducted with a desire to improve students' reading motivation through extensive reading materials With this view, this research meets the demand of action research project

First of all, this research was carried out by myself, a classroom teacher, with

my own students in my two regular classes In addition, the students and I collaborated during the process of doing the research Finally, the aim of the research is to gain understanding of whether extensive reading had some positive influence on my students‟ reading motivation

3.1.3 Steps of action research

In the model of action research, Altricher and Gstettner (1993: 343, cited in Cohen et al., 2004) indicate four steps: finding a starting point; clarifying the situation; developing action strategies and putting them into practice; making teachers‟ knowledge public Tsui (1993) suggested 5 steps in conducting action research: Identifying problems; Finding causes of the problem; Designing strategies for improvement (plan for action) and writing a proposal for action research; Trying out the strategies (action) and keeping a diary of what happened

in the class; and Evaluating the try-out Whereas Nunan (1992:19) suggested seven steps as follows:

- Step 1: Initiation (Identify the problem)

- Step 2: Preliminary investigation (Collect data through a variety of means)

- Step 3: Hypothesis (Assumption) (Develop research questions)

- Step 4: Intervention (Devise strategies and innovation to be implemented)

- Step 5: Evaluation (Collect data again and analyze it to work out the findings)

- Step 6: Dissemination (Report the result by running workshops or issuing a paper)

- Step 7: Follow-up (Find alternative methods to solve the same problem)

In short, action research is a kind of scientific study which is often carried out by a teacher or an educator in order to solve a practical problem in a classroom Action research is not a panacea for all ills but provides a means for people to more clearly understand their situations and to formulate effective solutions to problems they face

Action research is employed in this study to explore the extent to which the application of extensive reading to teach reading comprehension helps to develop students‟ reading motivation The author follows five first steps of an action research cycle suggested by Nunan (1992) in conducting the study because these steps are relevant to the main goal of the researcher‟s enquiry, and suitable for the researcher‟s teaching situation and purpose

3.2 The research procedures

3.2.1 Research context

This action research project was conducted at a high school in Phu Ly City,

Ha Nam province The school has 30 classes with an average of 40 students per class The physical condition of the school is considered as a supportive environment for language teaching and learning with favorable facilities such as rooms well-equipped with overhead projector, screen, loud speakers, CD and CD player There were three forty-five-minute English classes and one optional lesson every week Each unit consists of 5 lessons and each lesson focuses on different basic skills

The students of approximately 16-18 years old had learned English as a compulsory subject for about 9 years, but their language competence was not at the

same level For some students, the things they had learned at the secondary school seem to be completely new Their vocabulary was not large enough to understand a short and simple passage Over the years working as a teacher of English, I found that many students at this high school tended to got low scores in reading comprehension tests The majority of students claimed that reading seemed to be most difficult skill for them to master because of the variety of unfamiliar words and the complexity of grammatical structures Moreover, students‟ low language knowledge prevented them from attaining this input skill This discouraged students‟ reading motivation, which was the result of infrequent reading practice and low reading comprehension Additionally, the main reason, as investigated, is that students were overdependent on reading texts in textbooks as their major source

of reading They did not read much outside the classroom if they were not required

by their teachers

In addition, the amount of time allocated to reading is, according to the syllabus, not much Therefore, teachers, in most cases, hardly use supplementary reading materials rather than those in the textbooks chosen in advance by the curriculum, which students can hardly find motivation to read As a result, they lose

a chance to become autonomous readers Teachers often employ the traditional method of teaching in reading lessons Most of the time, the teachers play the key role in the classroom, being the main speakers working through the text The teachers explain new words, new structures even willingly give the answers and evidence to some difficult exercises without waiting for students‟ thinking Then the students are more passive

Those reasons mentioned above motivate for this action research project

3.2.2 Research participants

The participants are 86 students in two class 12A1 and 12A4 of a high school

in Ha Nam province during 8 weeks of the first semester of the school year

2019-2020, of whom there are 56 female students and 30 males Students study English with a textbook during three classes of 45 minutes and one optional class in the

morning each week The students participating in the study were at the age of 17 who started studying English at grade 6 and have quite a full knowledge of grammar; however, not many have a rich vocabulary and most often have problem with reading skill in English When looking into this problem, the researcher found out that students often found it difficult in reading comprehension on the ground that they do not practice reading outside the class regularly, in other words, students did not read extensively because they had low motivation for reading Students only read when they were required by the teachers, but most of them did it superficially

The participants of the research may not represent the whole population of the students in the school

3.2.3 Research procedures

The action was conducted during 8 weeks of the first semester of school year 2019-2020 Adapting steps in Nunan (1992)‟s action research cycle, the action was

developed in five main steps as follows:

Step 1: Problem identification

During the process of teaching English for the 12th form students over years, the researcher discovered that most of her students seemed to be weak at reading comprehension skill They were not keen on doing reading activities, in other words, they did not have reading motivation or they just read when being required

As a result, the students' scores in exams were quite low, especially for questions related to reading texts The researcher discussed her concern with her colleagues and they admitted that their students had the same problems with reading Moreover, the time for reading lessons in class is not enough to improve reading, which requires students to read extensively to develop their reading motivation as well as their language competences This urged the teacher to find a better way to work with her new classes in the school-year 2019-2020

Step 2: Preliminary investigation: Use the questionnaire

Having observed and analyzed the studying results over years, especially the fact that only 23.7 % of the students got mark 5+ in the GCSE exam at the end of

English competence is rather low When being asked what part in the test they worried most, almost all of them found reading questions most challenging Most students honestly revealed that they hardly read outside the class voluntarily because they were not interested and motivated which lead to their obsession with reading and students‟ low achievement in doing reading tests

Therefore, the researcher raised a question for exploration: “To what extent does extensive reading change high school students‟ reading motivation?” To answer this question, a pre-questionnaire was conducted The questionnaire consists

of ten questions These questions are both closed and open-ended The participant was asked to respond to each question first by ticking the given options that were true to themselves Then they were asked to answer the open-ended questions by providing the reason for their selected answers (see Appendix 1 for the full questionnaire)

The participants‟ responses were analyzed quantitatively so that information about their motivation to read English was obtained This information was used to inform the action that followed

Step 3: Assumption

The students were unmotivated because some reading tasks in the textbook English 12 were unsuitable to their level, the topics were not interesting to them, or students did not frequently practice reading extensively outside the class Moreover, they lack vocabulary and background knowledge whereas time for reading lesson in class is limited They could not completely understand the information conveyed in reading texts Some students shared that reading skill was the most boring and stressful for them

To confirm the problems, the questionnaire was given to 86 students in group 12A1 and 12A4 It aims at confirming the hypothesis that students‟ troubles are related to reading motivation with the support of extensive reading

To access students‟ achievement before applying extensive reading program,

a pre-intervention questionnaire was given to them to discover students‟ reading attitudes towards extensive reading activity

Step 4: Intervention: Conducting the extensive reading program

The most important step of doing an action research suggested by Nunan (1992), as presented in “Research method” is the intervention carried out by the researcher To achieve the aims of this study, the teacher decided to use extensive reading program to change students‟ reading motivation This step of intervention was carried out as follows:

Before the period of implementing the program, the researcher gave students

a pre-intervention questionnaire to find out what they thought of free reading and what types and sources of reading materials they were interested in

During the period of implementing the program, students were oriented to the objectives of this study which is to practice reading in English, so students need not look up every unknown words but focus on the content Besides, students were also given the instructions on how to select supplementary reading materials, read extensively, write summary and fill out the record Students were suggested materials for extensive reading assignment from the websites www.newsinlevels.com, www.tweentribune.com/, www.dogonews.com/ These lessons were developed and classified into different stages and different topics Additionally, students were encouraged to watch the video and to do more activities

as required The students could begin reading in their free time at school, but no need to finish reading texts depending on their reading pace Then they could continue their reading outside the class Thanks to this website with the variety of reading materials and topics, learners could improve all other language skills

The teacher and the students had one meeting every week at the period for optional lessons During these meetings, students were instructed to discuss every text they had read including title of the text, time for reading, the topic and their assignment at home Students were also required to talk about their problems and opinion of the reading materials The teacher monitored carefully, shared ideas, gave some advice and encourages students to continue to read whenever they were free By doing so, the teacher can check whether the students really do the reading,

but should not make any correction A review should be taken after first few weeks and at the end of the extensive reading program for evaluation of its effectiveness and suggestions for the adjustment

After the period of implementing the program for 8 weeks, the students received a post questionnaire to write down their own thoughts of the extensive reading program so that the researcher could see the effects of extensive reading on

students‟ reading motivation

Table 2: Schedule for an extensive reading program

1 Joke about a clever

blonde woman

www.newsinlevels.com/#

Funny story Retell the story Say what

you think of the women in the story

2 Rhino Embryos

www.newsinlevels.com/#

Nature in danger Summarize the cause of

rhino‟s extinction and suggest some possible solution to protect rhinos

3 Plastics in the Black Sea

www.newsinlevels.com/#

Environmental Pollution

Write a paragraph about the situation and solution to protect the sea

4 Good News about AIDS

www.newsinlevels.com/#

Discovery Discuss some good news

about a dangerous disease

5 What is wind?

www.tweentribune.com

Weather How can wind both uproot a

tree and someone's life?

6 Why do we love junk

food?

www.tweentribune.com

Food and health Why does it take a lot of

time and money to design fast food, when the food itself is fast and cheap?

7 Why do we use one hand

more than the other?

Celebrations How is Valentine‟s Day

celebrated around the world?Is it different from Valentine‟s Day in Vietnam?