Adapting reading tasks in the textbook english 12 to improve 12th form students’ reading achievement m a thesis linguistic 60 14 10

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES *************** VŨ THỊ THANH HUYỀN ADAPTING READING TASKS IN THE TEXTBOOK ENGLISH 12 TO IMPROVE THE 12 TH FORM STUDENTS’ READING ACHIEVEMENT ĐIỀU CHỈNH CÁC NHIỆM VỤ ĐỌC HIỂU TRONG SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG ANH 12 NHẰM NÂNG CAO KẾT QUẢ ĐỌC HIỂU CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 12 M.A Minor Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10 Hanoi, 2013 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** VŨ THỊ THANH HUYỀN ADAPTING READING TASKS IN THE TEXTBOOK ENGLISH 12 TO IMPROVE THE 12 TH FORM STUDENTS’ READING ACHIEVEMENT ĐIỀU CHỈNH CÁC NHIỆM VỤ ĐỌC HIỂU TRONG SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG ANH 12 NHẰM NÂNG CAO KẾT QUẢ ĐỌC HIỂU CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 12 M.A Minor Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10 Supervisor: Dr Hoàng Thị Xuân Hoa Hanoi, 2013 DECLARATION I declare that Adapting reading tasks in the textbook English 12 to improve 12th form student reading achievement is my own work, that it has not been submitted before for 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, September, 2013 Signature Vu Thi Thanh Huyen i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There have been many helping hands along the way and I wish to thank all of them, who have always supported and encouraged me in different but equally important ways in accomplishing this research First of all, I would like to express my sincere and deep gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa, for her precious lectures and invaluable guidance which helps me to write this research with less difficulty Without her helpful suggestions, I could never have finished my writing My sincere thanks also go to all lectures and staff of Postgraduate studies for their valuable lessons and precious helps Thanks to their lessons as well as needed helps, I could overcome enormous obstacles when doing this research Besides, I am also grateful to Mrs Le Thu Ha- the librarian, and all the library staff at the post graduate studies library of ULIS, VNU I would like to gratefully acknowledge the support that I received from my colleagues and students, especially students of group 12A1 at Kim Bang A high school, who have inspired and guided me in the accomplishment of the study Finally, special thanks are also due to my family and my friends for their support in bringing this research to a success ii ABSTRACT In learning a language, students show their different needs as well as different language proficiency Therefore, materials adaptation can be considered as a very important step in language teaching and learning in general and teaching English reading skill in particular so students will understand the content of reading materials with less frustration The study aims at investigating students’ opinions about reading tasks in the textbook English 12 Based on students’ opinions about reading tasks, the teacher attempts to find how to adapt them Then the teacher applied those adapted tasks in teaching English in the classroom to help students of group 12A1 of Kim Bang A high school have more chances to practice reading and improve their reading achievement The results indicated that most of the adapted tasks were suitable to students and helped them improve reading achievement slightly Briefly, the study suggests some adapted reading activities and tasks for teachers to utilize to increase the effectiveness of English reading lessons when applied to the textbook English 12 to teach the 12 th form students at Kim Bang A high school iii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Students’ opinions about reading skill and reading lessons Table 2: The students’ factors affecting their reading comprehension Table 3: The students’ evaluation on reading tasks in the textbook Table 4: The students’ most frequent habit of doing reading tasks Table 5: Students’ preference on types of reading tasks Table 6: Students’ improvement in their reading achievement ABBREVIATIONS T: The teacher Ss: Students iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii List of tables and abbreviations iv PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 Statement of the problem and rationale of the study Aims of the study Research Questions Significance of the study Research methodology Scope of the study Design of the study PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER : LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Reading and teaching reading skill 1.1.1 Definitions of reading 1.1.2 The importance of teaching and learning reading skill 1.2 Reading tasks 1.2.1 Defining task and task-based language teaching and learning 1.2.2 Defining reading tasks and types of reading tasks 1.2.3 Characteristics of reading tasks 10 1.3 Task adaptation 11 1.3.1 Definitions of adaptation 11 v 1.3.2 Reasons for adapting tasks 12 1.3.3 Techniques for task adaptation 13 1.4 Related studies 14 1.5 Summary 15 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 16 2.1 Research context 16 2.2 Reading tasks in the textbook English 12 17 2.3 Research Approach 18 2.4 Participants 20 2.5 Data Collection Instruments 20 2.5.1 Questionnaires 20 2.5.2 Pre-test and post-test 21 2.5.3 Diaries 22 2.6 Research procedure 22 2.7 Data collection procedure 24 2.8 Data analysis procedure 25 2.9 Summary 26 CHAPTER : RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .28 3.1 Preliminary investigation 28 3.1.1 Students’ opinions about reading skill 28 3.1.2 Students’ opinions about reading tasks 29 3.2 Evaluation 33 3.2.1 Students’ awareness of task adaptation 33 3.2.2 Students’ improvement in their reading achievement .35 vi 3.3 Summary 36 PART III : CONCLUSION 37 Summary of the main findings 37 Suggestions for adapting reading tasks 37 Limitations and recommendations for further research 40 REFERENCES 41 APPENDICES: I Appendix 1a: Questionnaire for students I Appendix 1b: Questionnaire (Vietnamese version) V Appendix 2: Pre-test IX Appendix 3: Post-test XI Appendix 4: Samples of students’ diaries XIII Appendix 5: Samples of adapted while reading tasks vii XVI PART I: INTRODUCTION Statement of the problem and rationale of the study In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of commercially produced foreign language textbooks or coursebooks as core teaching materials in young learner classrooms In many cases, the approaches taken, the methods advocated and the tasks given in these materials are unsuitable to certain language learning and teaching context Therefore, there is a huge risk of not doing what is best to promote learning In my own teaching context, the similar problem also occurs Thus, to promote language learning and teaching, adapting textbooks in general, adapting tasks given those ones is very important Reading comprehension can be considered the first step in acquiring English in Vietnam Among the four skills, reading is often taught with less focus, less innovation That means teachers base on the text, ask students some tasks provided and correct them This method of teaching derives from many reading problems including “insufficient sight vocabulary”, “inadequate visual analysis skills”, “inability to use context clues” and “inadequate comprehension skills” (Edwards, 1976) For all those obstacles, they pay less attention to reading skill and also get less motivation in learning this skill Therefore, the importance of having appropriate reading tasks to students’ level is becoming increasingly recognized According to Harmer (1998:68), it is very important to teach reading to students because “some of the language sticks in their mind as part of the process of language acquisition, and if the reading is especially interesting and APPENDIX 5: SAMPLES OF SOME ADAPTED WHILE READING TASKS Application: Unit 11: Books- Task 1(p.120): Simplifying The original tasks in the textbook Task1(p.120): Give equivalents to the following words or phrases swallow dip into taste “hard-to-pick-up-again” digest chew “hard-to-put-down” - Teacher (T) asks students (Ss) to look up the meaning of XVI their answer -Ss receive the cards of words in The aim of the adapted task:  to involve Ss in the tasks English and in Vietnamese  to help Ss understand the word -T asks Ss to exchange the information meaning - T checks and gives feedback and find out the cards with equivalent dictionary - Ss the task as required, and give to increase Ss’ remember and use the words  Vietnamese -the winners perform the action of the words with meanings related to the ways of reading books Samples of Cards Card A taste swallow dip into Keys: Card A+F, B+E, C+D XVII Application: Unit 13: The 22 nd SEA games- Adding The original task in the textbook Task (p.140): Scan the passage and complete each of the following sentences The 22 nd SEA Games were held in Vietnam from……… Thailand was with…………… Singapore and Vietnam participants who were awarded the Most Outstanding Athlete in……… A plan has been proposed for Vietnam to host the Asia XVIII Games at……………… - Teacher (T) asks students (Ss) to work individually and scan the passage, complete the blanks - Ss the task as required, and share answers with their friends -Ss give their answers - T checks and gives feedback Together with the symbol of the golden buffalo, the 22ns SEA Games were a great successful sports events held in Vietnam from the th to 13 th December, 2003 The Games really impressed sports enthusiasts with its spirit: solidarity, co-operation for peace and development Handout XIX Medals: he first time Chess competition is proceeded in SEA Games, Viet Nam has shown its leading rank in the region when winning half of the total sets of medals for chess (4 gold medals, silver medals and bronze medals) reaching the top of the team ranking The Philippines is placed the second (3 gold medals, bronze medals) and the third is Indonesia (1 gold medal, silver medals) Handout Competition: Two days after the start of the men's football, Chinlone - a new sport of SEA Games – will begin competition A number of other subjects will start before the opening ceremony, including water ball, wushu, women's soccer, boxing, basketball, wrestling, pencak silat, badminton, shooting, horse riding, Handout canoeing, and swimming XX Application: Unit 15: Women in Society- Task 1(p.163): Replacing The original tasks in the textbook Task (p.163): Give the Vietnamese equivalents to the following words and phrases human civilization childbearing involvement Age of enlightenment deep-seated cultural beliefs homemaking intellectual ability equal work opportunity - Teacher (T) asks students (Ss) to look up the meaning of words in the XXI dictionary - Ss the task as required, and give their answer - T checks and gives feedback  to teach Ss some synonyms in English  to involve Ss in some main ideas of the reading passage Handout Task 1: Rewrite the sentences by replacing the words in bold with expressions from the text which have similar meaning In the past, women were allowed only a few roles in society …………………………………… ………………… Many people don’t believe about women’s intellectual ability …………………………………… …………………………………… … The fight for women’s rights began in the 18 th century ………………………………………………………………………… … Nowadays, women in most parts of the world have gained significant acceptable rights Keys: limited doubt XXII struggle legal Application: Unit 16: ASEAN- Task 2, (p.174-175): Modifying The original tasks in the textbook (Contents of the tasks were given below) Task 2(p.174): Decide whether the following statements are true or false -T asks Ss to look through the statements and underline the key words -T asks them to read the passage, find out the similar information, compare and decide T or F -Ss as required, give their answer and take note the key Task 3: Answer the following questions -T asks Ss to study the questions -T checks whether Ss understand the XXIII question or not -T gives them suggestions -Ss skim and scan the passage -Ss answer the questions -T checks and gives feedback The original tasks Task 2(p174): Decide whether the following statements are true or false ASEAN was founded in 1967 in Bangkok, Thai land The ASEAN region has a total area of 4.5 million sq.kilometres, with a population of 575.5 billion It has a combined GDP of US$ 1282 billion, with a growth rate of around 6% per year from 2000 to 2004 The objective of the ASEAN Vision 2020 is to create economic integration among the member countries The ASEAN Vision 2020 was adopted in 1998 ASEAN has actively contributed to improving the socio-economic situations and solving the problems in the world Task 3: Answer the following questions Which countries founded ASEAN? What are the two main goals of the Association? XXIV What was the total trade value of ASEAN in 2006? When was the Hanoi plan of Action adopted? What sectors does ASEAN economic cooperation include? The adapted task Task: Read the text and complete the table to describe the member countries in the ASEAN Students should use the information in the text, the figure suggested Students should use one of the following structures to exchange the information with friends - ……… is a member country in ASEAN The capital of ……is……… - ………… joined the ASEAN in…… It has……in area and ………people Suggested information used to be filled in the table 331 698 km² 676.577 km2 299.764 km² 5.765 km² 6.927 km² XXV THE ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH EAST ASIAN NATIONS Flags Member countries Indonesia …………… …………… Singapore ………… ………… Vietnam ……… Myanmar ………… Total XXVI Key: Flags TH Member countries Indonesia Malaysia The Philippines Singapore Thailand Brunei Vietnam Laos Myanmar Cambodia Total XXVII XXVIII ... answering Finally, reading tasks involve the transfer of information from the text to a visual or diagrammatic representation In summary, both authors argue the role of tasks in reading teaching and... learning in Vietnam 1.2 Reading tasks 1.2.1 Defining task and task-based language teaching and learning Applied since 1980s, task-based language teaching is a communicative approach to language... work aimed at 29 finding out the cause of boredom and difficulty in reading lessons related to reading tasks Items a The reading tasks are suitable to my English level b The reading tasks are difficult