(Luận văn thạc sĩ) improving students reading comprehension through predicting strategy instruction an action research at cao ba quat upper secondary school

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES HOÀNG THỊ KIM QUẾ IMPROVING STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH PREDICTING STRATEGY INSTRUCTION: AN ACTION RESEARCH AT CAO BA QUAT UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL (NÂNG CAO KHẢ NĂNG ĐỌC HIỂU CỦA HỌC SINH THÔNG QUA VIỆC GIẢNG DẠY CHIẾN LƯỢC DỰ ĐOÁN: NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT CAO BÁ QUÁT) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 601410 HANOI, 2011 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES HOÀNG THỊ KIM QUẾ IMPROVING STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH PREDICTING STRATEGY INSTRUCTION: AN ACTION RESEARCH AT CAO BA QUAT UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL (NÂNG CAO KHẢ NĂNG ĐỌC HIỂU CỦA HỌC SINH THÔNG QUA VIỆC GIẢNG DẠY CHIẾN LƯỢC DỰ ĐOÁN: NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT CAO BÁ QUÁT) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 601410 Supervisor : Phạm Minh Tâm, M.Ed HANOI, 2011 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1 Language Learning Strategies, O‘ Maley and Chamot, 1990……… ………….… I I Table 1.2 Reading Strategies in O‘Malley and Chamot‘s Scheme………………………… 11 11 Table 1.3 Reading Strategies Recommended by Teachers at Chinese University of Hongkong ………………………………………………………………………… 11 Table 1.4 Predicting Strategies and Activities to Develop Predicting Strategies………… 12 12 Table 1.5 Grammar-Translation Method and Communicative Language Teaching……….….13 13 Table 1.6 Task-based Learning Framework Reproduced by J Willis, 1996…………….…….II II Table 1.7 Model of Reading Comprehension Instruction……………………………….…….15 15 Table 1.8 Models of Reading Strategy Instruction…………………………………….……….15 Table 2.1 Background Information on the Participants…………………………………….…22 22 Table 2.2 Procedures for Questionnaire Development……………………………………… 22 22 Table 2.3 Procedures for Test Development………………………………………………… 23 23 Table 2.4 Syllabus of Predicting Strategy Instruction Course……………………………… 25 25 Table 2.5 Procedures for Predicting Strategy Instruction Development…………………… 25 25 Table 3.3 Percentage of the Students‘ Correct Answers in the Pre-test and Post-tests……… 33 33 Table 3.4 Percentage of the Students‘ Correct Answers to Each Question in the Pre-test and Post-tests………………………………………………………………………… 33 33 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 Components of Reading……………………………………………………………5 Figure 2.1 Action Research Model………………………………………………………… 21 21 Figure 3.1 Students‘ Awareness and Use of Predicting Strategies………………………… 28 28 Figure 3.2 Students‘ Awareness and Use of Other Reading Strategies………………………29 29 Figure 3.3 Students‘ Awareness of Predicting Strategies…………………………………….31 31 v TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… i i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………………………………………………….…… …ii ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… iii iii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ………………………………………………………………………………… … iv iv PART A : INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………………………….………… 1 Rationale for the Study …………………………………………………………………………………………………… … Aims and Research Questions of the Study …………………………………………………………………….…… Scope of the Study ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 33 Significance of the Study ………………………………………………………………………………………………………3 Research Methodology ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Organization of the Thesis …………………………………………………………………………………………………… PART B : DEVELOPMENT ………………………………………………………………………………………… CHAPTER : LITERATURE REVIEW …………………………………………………………… …… …… 1.1 The Nature of Reading Comprehension ……………………………………………………………………………… 44 1.1.1 Definitions of Reading Comprehension………………………………………………………………….44 1.1.2 Reading Models…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 1.1.2.1 Bottom-up Reading Models ………………………………………………………………… 55 1.1.2.2 Top-down Reading Model …………………………………………………………………… 66 1.1.2.3 Interactive Reading Model …………………………………………………………………… 1.1.3 Schema Theory……………………………………………………………………………………………………….7 1.2 Reading Comprehension Strategies …………………………………………………………………………………… 77 1.2.1 Foreign Language Learning Strategies………………………………………………………………….88 1.2.1.1 Definitions of Foreign Language Learning Strategies ………………………… 1.2.1.2 Classification of Language Learning Strategies …………………………………… 99 1.2.1.3 The Importance of Language Learning Strategies for Students…………… 1.2.2 Reading Comprehension Strategies…………………………………………………………………… 10 10 1.2.2.1 Definitions of Reading Comprehension Strategies ………………………………11 11 1.2.2.2 Classification of Reading Comprehension Strategies ………………………… 11 11 1.2.3 Predicting Strategies.………………………………………………………………………………………… 11 11 1.3 Reading Comprehension Strategy Instruction ……………………………………………………………………12 12 1.3.1 Approaches to Reading Comprehension Strategy Instruction …………………………….13 13 1.3.2 Model of Reading Comprehension Instruction ……………………………………………………14 14 1.3.3 Models of Reading Strategy Instruction …………………………………………………………… 15 15 1.4 Related Studies ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 17 17 1.5 Summary …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….18 18 vi CHAPTER : RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ……………………………………………………………… 19 2.1 Research Context ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 19 19 2.2 Research Questions …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….20 20 2.3 Research Approach …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….20 20 2.4 Participants …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………21 21 2.5 Data Collection Instruments ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 22 22 2.5.1 Questionnaire……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 22 22 2.5.2 Pre-test and post-tests ……………………………………………………………………………………… 23 23 2.5.3 Teacher’s diary and students’ reflective journal……………………………………………… 23 23 2.6 Intervention ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 24 24 2.7 Data Collection Procedures ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 25 25 2.8 Data Analysis Procedures ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 26 26 2.8.1 Questionnaires …………………………………………………………………………………………………….26 26 2.8.2 Pre-test and post-test ………………………………………………………………………………………… 26 26 2.8.3 Diary and Journals……………………………………………………………………………………………… 27 27 2.9 Summary …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 27 27 CHAPTER : RESULTS AND DISCUSSION …………………………………………………………………… 28 3.1 Preliminary investigation ……………………………………………………………………………………………………28 28 3.1.1 Students’ Awareness and Use of Predicting Strategies……………………………………… 28 28 3.1.2 Students’ Awareness and Use of Other Reading Strategies ……………………………… 29 29 3.2 Evaluation ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 30 30 3.2.1 To what extent does the use of predicting strategy instruction improve the students’ reading comprehension? ……………………………………………………………… … 30 3.2.2 What are effective techniques to teach predicting strategies as perceived by the students and the teachers? ………………………………………………………………………… 36 3.3 Summary …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….41 41 PART C : CONCLUSION …………………………………………………………………………………………….42 42 Summary of the Main Findings ……………………………………………………………………………………………42 42 Pedagogical Implications of the Study …………………………………………………………………………………42 42 Limitations of the Research ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 44 44 Suggestions for Further Research ……………………………………………………………………………………… 44 44 REFERENCES ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 45 45 APPENDIXES ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… II PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale for the Study Reading is an essential skill for English as a foreign language (EFL) students; and for many, reading is the most important skill to master With strengthened reading skills, EFL readers will make greater progress and attain greater development not only in English but also in all academic areas Therefore, ―reading is the most heavily researched single area of the whole curriculum, and yet, paradoxically, it remains a field in which a good deal of fundamental work has yet to be approached, and one in which a great many teachers would claim to be almost wholly ignorant‖ and secondary teachers ―who have generally had no training at all related to reading but nevertheless feel conscious that the ability to read fluently is the basis for most school learning, and one of the surest predictors of academic attainment‖ (Harrison and Gardner, 1977) Traditionally, attempts to improve the comprehension of texts for EFL students have focused on familiarizing the students with vocabulary needed to comprehend the passage However, within the last 15 years, much of the research conducted in the field of reading comprehension has concentrated on the knowledge and control of reading strategies, and more and more emphasis has been put on the importance of training EFL learners to be strategic readers Studies have revealed that the use of appropriate reading strategies may improve reading comprehension (Olsen and Gee, 1991), and using reading strategies can be of great help to non-native readers because they may serve as effective ways of overcoming language deficiency and obtaining better reading achievement on language proficiency tests (Wong, 2005; Zhang, 1992) However, empirical research indicates that in most reading classrooms, students have received inadequate instruction on reading skills and strategies (Miller and Perkins, 1989) EFL teachers seldom teach a strategy explicitly in class In other words, teachers normally stress on the production of reading comprehension rather than the reading process Reading lessons are more of reading tests, in which teachers ask the students to read the text and complete several reading tasks This problem can be found in many EFL reading classes in the world, and Vietnam is not an exception Vietnamese learners of English, in general, and students at Cao Ba Quat Upper Secondary School in particular, after several years of learning English, turn out to be word-by-word readers; they tend to read very slowly to understand the meaning of every single word When they encounter unfamiliar words or unfamiliar concepts, they feel discouraged and resort to wild guessing to construct the text meaning Some students not understand the main idea of a text even when they have translated every word into their mother tongue Very few students deliberately look at the title of a text to think about its topic before reading Fewer students use their background knowledge to facilitate their comprehension They are completely dependent on the decoded messages from the text, so once their decoding mechanisms fail due to their deficient language proficiency, comprehension breaks down With a view to gaining some insight into reading strategies and reading strategy instruction, I chose to study how to improve students‘ reading comprehension through predicting strategy instruction The rationale for my focus on predicting strategies is that they are of key importance in the comprehension process It has been found out that efficient reading often includes the use of predicting strategies (Goodman, 1976; Palincsar & Brown, 1984) Interacting with text, readers use their prior knowledge in concert with cues in the text to generate predictions Although the importance of prediction in comprehending texts has been demonstrated by recent research, much remains to be learned about predicting strategies Aims and Research Questions of the Study The study aims at exploring the impact of predicting strategy instruction on the reading comprehension of 10th grade students at Cao Ba Quat Upper Secondary School with a view to giving recommendations on how to teach the students to use predicting strategies effectively to improve their reading comprehension The specific aims of the research are as follows:  To examine the impact of the predicting strategy instruction on the reading comprehension of 10th grade students at Cao Ba Quat Upper Secondary School  To determine effective techniques to teach predicting strategies in reading comprehension in their reading classes, from the teacher‘ and students‘ perspectives In order to achieve the above aims, the following research questions will be addressed (1) To what extent does the use of predicting strategy instruction improve Cao Ba Quat Upper Secondary School’s grade 10 students’ reading comprehension? (2) What techniques are effective to teach these students’ predicting strategy, as perceived by the teacher and the students? Scope of the Study This study only focuses on the teaching of predicting strategies to 10th grade students at Cao Ba Quat Upper Secondary School, so the teaching of other reading strategies or to other subjects would be beyond the scope Significance of the Study The study examines the impact of the predicting strategy instruction on the participants‘ reading comprehension and suggests effective techniques to teach predicting strategies, so it would be of great value to the teaching of reading skill In the light of the research, teachers can adjust their reading instruction so as to help to train strategic readers Research Methodology In order to achieve these aims, an Action Research was employed to measure the influence of the intervention-predicting strategy instruction-on the students' reading comprehension The data was collected via a number of instruments including a questionnaire, a pre-test, two post-tests, teacher’s diaries and students’ journals After a preliminary investigation had been carried out, a predicting strategy instruction course was designed, and then implemented in the second semester of the school year 2010 - 2011 with the participation of 50 students from Group 10A10 at Cao Ba Quat Upper Secondary School The data was then analysed by means of descriptive statistic devices and content analysis method The results indicated that with the combination of these instruments the study yielded reliable findings Organization of the Study The thesis consists of three main parts: INTRODUCTION which provides an overview of the study, DEVELOPMENT which is the main part and consists of chapters, and CONCLUSION which includes the summary, pedagogical implications, limitations of the study and suggestions for further study Three chapters in the main part are as follows: Chapter 1: Literature Review is review of the literature related to the research topic, which serves as a theoretical foundation of the study Chapter 2: Research Methodology provides information about the research context, participants, research approach, data collection instruments, data collection procedures, and data analysis procedures Chapter 3: Results and Discussion is the main part of the study, which reports and discusses the main findings according to the research questions PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter is primarily concerned with the nature of reading comprehension, including some definitions of reading comprehension, models of reading and the schema theory This will be followed by a review of language learning strategies, classifications of language learning strategies, the importance of language learning strategies, reading strategies and predicting strategies The next part presents a review of approaches to reading comprehension strategy instruction, the model of reading comprehension instruction, and models of reading strategy instruction Finally, it is a summary of related studies 1.1 The Nature of Reading Comprehension 1.1.1 Definitions of Reading Comprehension For many students, reading is a very important skill, particularly in English as a second or foreign language Concerning the role of reading, Anderson (1999) confirms that ―the more exposure the student has to language through reading, the greater the possibilities that overall language proficiency will increase‖ There are numerous definitions of reading and reading comprehension which range from simple to complex ones, from the decoding view to the comprehending view, from readers‘ passive role to their active one Goodman (1971, p 135) regards reading as ―a psycholinguistic process by which the reader, a language user, reconstructs, as best as he can, a message encoded by a writer as a graphic display‖ Reading comprehension is a process of deriving meaning from the print and integrating the new information with the old one (Koda, 2005, p 14; Sweet and Snow, 2003, p 1) The old information is the reader‘s prior background knowledge and experience Goodman (1975) added that reading should be ―an active, purposeful and creative mental process‖ of extracting meaning partly from textual clues and partly from their prior background knowledge In this way, readers show their active parts in the process of comprehending a written text; they are not normally a decoding machine, but they must think and consider what sort of old information should be activated and when it should be made use of to facilitate the comprehending process In other words, reading is the construction of meaning of a written text through the interactions between text and reader (Durkin, 1993) Reading can also be defined as ―a fluent process of readers combining information from a text and their own background knowledge to build meaning The goal of reading is comprehension…The text, the reader, fluency, and strategies combined together define the act of reading‖ (Anderson, 2003, p 68) The following figure represents the definition of reading: Fluency Strategies Reading The Text The Reader Figure 1.1 Components of Reading The definitions presented above give us an overview of reading comprehension With the literature review of reading models, we can determine what factors are involved in efficient reading 1.1.2 Reading Models In the last 40 years, reading researchers have been studying the link between the reading process (what goes on in the brain) and how to teach reading Although there are many models of reading, reading researchers tend to classify them into three kinds: Bottom-up, Topdown and Interactive 1.1.2.1 Bottom-up Reading Model All the proponents of bottom-up models agree that comprehension begins by processing the smallest linguistic unit (phoneme) and working toward larger units (syllables, words, phrases, sentences), and proceeds from part to whole In this way, bottom-up theorists view reading as a passive process dependent on the written or printed text Gough (1972, as cited in Hudson, 2007) considers reading process as a sequential or serial mental process of detecting the parts of written language (letters) and converting them into phonemes, combining these phonemic units to form individual words, and finally putting the words together to understand the author‘s written message, hereby the mechanism called Merlin is utilized to apply syntactic and semantic rules in order to determine the meaning of the sentences The process ends with the oral realization of the sentence based on phonological rules (pp 34 – 5) XIX While You Read 10’ - Ask the students to share their predictions with - Share the predictions with their partner partner - Ask the students to report the topics predicted and - Report the anticipated topics write these topics on the board and copy the ones that the students think might be the most likely topic of the text  To practice reading for Task 1: Finding the Main Idea the main idea of the text, - Ask the students to read the text quickly to choose - Listen to the instruction using predicting strategy the main idea of the text - Model the task - Observe the modeling I read the text quickly from beginning to end While reading, I check which prior predictions are correct or formulate other predictions about the main idea of the text Finally, I choose the main idea among the sentences given - Ask the students to share their answers with their - Work in pairs, discussing how partners, discussing how they found the main idea the main idea was found and and what their best choice of the main idea is which given sentence is the main idea - Ask the students to report their answer - Report the answers in front of - Give feedbacks on the students‘ report the class - Give the correct answer - Check the answer - Ask the students to identify the process of finding - Try to identify the process of the main idea of a text finding the main idea of the reading text XX 10’  To practice reading for Task 2: Deciding which tour is best for each specific information, person using predicting strategy - Ask the students to read what different people say about their traveling - Ask the students to read the text to find out which of the tours mentioned in the text is best for each person - Model the task: First, I read the heading of each paragraph and look over the picture next to it Then, I make predictions on what the tour mentioned in the paragraph is After that, I read the text to confirm, reject or adjust my prediction to get the right answer Finally, I consider each person’s statement about his/her traveling to decide whether the tour mentioned in the text is best for him/ her - Ask the students to the task individually as instructed - Read what different people say about their traveling - Listen to the instruction - Listen to the modeling - Work individually, read the headings and look over the pictures to predict what tour is mentioned in each paragraph, then read the text silently to check the predictions and choose the best tour for each person based on the specific information in each passage - Ask the students to work in groups of four and - Work in groups of four and discuss how they did the task and what they discuss how the task was done decided and what the decision was XXI After You Read 5’ - Ask some groups to report to the class what they have done, and the whole class makes the final decision - Give feedbacks on the students‘ report - Ask the students to review the process of reading for specific information in the text  To practice writing the Task: Writing the title of an advertisement for a title of a tour tour advertisement - Ask the students to work in pairs to write the title of an advertisement for a tour - Model the task - Conduct the task - Ask some pair to show the title and ask the others to predict which tour is advertised - Report in front of the class - Review the process of reading for specific idea in the text - Listen to the instruction - Observe the modeling - Do the task in pairs, discuss to make the title of an advertisement for a tour - Show the title and the whole class predict which tour is advertised XXII Appendix 8: Lesson Plan for the Lesson on Predicting the Main Idea of a Paragraph from its First Sentence, and Using the Background Knowledge of the Content to Predict the Upcoming Information in the Text I Level: 50 students - Pre-intermediate level of English II Time Allowance: 45‘ III Aims: At the end of the lesson, … - The students can predict the main idea of a paragraph after reading its first sentence - The students can use their background knowledge to predict the upcoming information in the text IV Assumed Knowledge: Students have some idea of the topic ―The Future of Online Shopping‖, and some words and phrases related to this topic V Anticipated Problems: Students may not have enough vocabulary and background knowledge related to the topic VI Teaching Aids: Articles about the topic ―Shopping‖, prediction worksheets VII Procedures: Stage Time Aims Teacher’s Activities Students’ Activities 1.Warm-up 7’  To motivate the Task 1: Making decisions on which article to read students to learn the to get information for an assignment on the topic lesson and to introduce “The Future of Online Shopping” the predicting strategy - Elicit what to think of when writing an assignment - Talk about what to think of on the topic ―The Future of Online Shopping” when writing an assignment on the topic ―The Future of Online Shopping” - Divide the class into groups of four - Make up the groups - Give each student a set of four first sentences of four articles - Tell the students to imagine that they are looking - Listen to the teacher‘ for information for an assignment on the topic instruction ―The Future of Online Shopping” - Giving the model For example, I choose the - Observe the modeling XXIII Lead -in 1’  To lesson introduce article with this first sentence because from this first sentence, I predict that the article is about the future of online shopping - Ask the students to prepare for the task - Study the first sentences given individually first and make decision on which article with which first sentence can provide information for the topic and give the reason for the choice - Ask the students work in groups, share with the - Work in groups, talk to each other group members which article to choose, and other about which article to why to choose it choose, and why to choose it - Ask the students to prepare to report to the class - Each group prepares the report how they did the task and which article they have decided to choose - Ask some groups to present their reports, and the - Present the report whole class discusses to make the final decision on the tour - Give feedbacks on the students‘ report the - Tell the students that they are going to learn how - Listen to predict the content of a text from its first sentence, and how to use their background knowledge of the text content to predict the upcoming information XXIV Before You Read 7’ 5’ While You Read 15’  To activate the Task 1: Deciding whether the predictions about students‘ background the future of shopping are true or false knowledge about the - Ask the students to discuss to decide whether the topic and review useful predictions about the future of shopping are true or words and phrases false - Ask the students to report the answers and the reason for these answers in front of the class - Lead the students to identify the topic of the reading lesson - Review useful words and phrases and present some others that may be found in the reading text  To review predicting Task 2: Previewing the Reading what the text is about - Ask the students to look at the title of the reading through the title and text, and the pictures and headings in the text to pictures predict the topic of the text that they are going to read - Do the task individually, predicting what the text is about - Read the predictions and work in pairs to decide whether they are True or False - Report the answers and the reason for these answers - Determine the topic of the lesson - Copy the new words and new phrases - Listen to the instruction - Work individually, studying the title of the reading text and the pictures and heading in the reading text to predict what the text is about - Ask the students to share their predictions with - Share the predictions with their partner partner - Ask the students to report the topics predicted and - Report the anticipated topics write these topics on the board and copy the ones that the - Give feedbacks students think might be the most likely topic of the text  To practice reading for Task 1: Finding the Topic of each Paragraph the main idea of a - Ask the students to read some topics and then read - Listen to the instruction paragraph, using the text to find out they are the topics of which XXV predicting strategy paragraphs - Model the task - Observe the modeling To this task, I read the first sentence of each paragraph and predict which topic it is going to discuss in the next sentences of this paragraph Then I read on to check whether the anticipated topic is right or wrong If it is right, I go on with the next paragraph If it is wrong, I adjust my prediction Finally, I confirm the answers - Ask the students to the task individually; read - Work individually and the the first sentence of each paragraph, write the task as instructed to find out the anticipated topic in the space below the first topic of each paragraph sentence, reading on to confirm or reject the predictions, finally write the letter of the paragraph next to the topic given - Ask the students to work in pairs to share their - Work in pairs, share their answers with their partners, discussing how they answers with their partners, found the topic and what the topics of the discussing how they found the paragraphs are topic and what are the topics of the paragraphs - Ask the students to report their answers and how to - Report the answers in front of get these answers the class - Give feedbacks on the students - Check the answer - Give the correct answer - Ask the students to identify the process of finding - Try to identify the process of the topic of a paragraph finding the topic of a paragraph XXVI 10’  To practice reading for Task 2: Deciding whether the following specific information, predictions about the future of shopping are true using predicting strategy or false - Ask the students to reread the predictions about the future of shopping - Ask the students to read the text to find out the specific information in the text that help them to decide whether the given predictions about the future of shopping are true or false - Model the task: First, when I read the prediction, I consider what aspect of shopping is mentioned Then I locate which paragraph is about that aspect Finally, I compare the information with my prior prediction to decide whether this prediction is true or false - Ask the students to the task individually as instructed - Ask the students to work in groups of four and discuss how they did the task and what they decided - Ask some groups to report to the class what they have done, and the whole class makes the final decision - Ask the students to review the process of reading for specific information in the text - Reread the predictions about the future of shopping - Listen to the instruction - Listen to the modeling - Work individually, read the predictions, read the text to locate the information and then decide whether the prediction is true or false - Work in groups of four and discuss how the task was done and what the decision was - Report in front of the class - Review the process of reading for specific idea in the text XXVII After You Read 5’  To practice writing the Task: Writing the first sentence for a paragraph title of a tour about “the future of shopping” and its outline advertisement - Ask the students to work in pairs to write the first - Listen to the instruction sentence as the topic sentence of a paragraph about the topic ―the future of shopping‖ and an outline of the supporting ideas - Explain to the students that the first sentence of a - Observe the modeling paragraph should be the topic sentence, which - Do the task in pairs, discuss to contains the main idea of the paragraph make the first sentence of a - Conduct the task paragraph and an outline of the supporting ideas of the paragraph - Ask some pairs to show the first sentences and ask - Show the first sentences and the others to predict what would be included in the the others to predict what following sentences of the paragraph would be included in the following sentences of the paragraph XXVIII Appendix 9: Lesson Plan for the Lesson on Using the Background Knowledge of the Content and of the Textual Structure to Predict the Upcoming Information in the Text I Level: 50 students - Pre-intermediate level of English II Time Allowance: 90‘ III Aims: At the end of the lesson, the students can predict what to come next in the text they are reading, using their background knowledge of the content and of the textual structure IV Assumed Knowledge: Students have knowledge of the topic ―Changing Families‖ and vocabulary related to this topic, and knowledge of different textual structures V Anticipated Problems: Students may lack knowledge of the topic ―Changing Families‖ and vocabulary related to this topic, and knowledge of different textual structures VI Teaching Aids: Prediction worksheets, A3 paper worksheets VII Procedures Stage Time Aims Teacher’s Activities Students’ Activities 1.Warm-up 7’  To motivate the Task 1: Predicting what will happen students to learn the - Divide the class into groups of four - Make up the groups lesson and to introduce - Give each group a set of four pictures - Listen to the teacher‘ the predicting strategy - Ask the students to work in groups, look at each instruction picture to predict what will happen - Giving the model For example, looking at the - Observe the modeling picture, I predict that - Ask the students work in groups, share the - Study the pictures, discuss predictions what will happen - Ask some groups to present their reports, and the - Present the report, and discuss whole class discusses to find the most likely to find the most likely possibilities possibility - Review different textual structures XXIX Lead -in 1’ Before You Read 15’ 7’  To lesson introduce the - Tell the students that they are going to learn how to predict what to come next in the text, using their background knowledge of the content and of the textual structure  To activate the Task 1: Looking at the photo and answering the students‘ background questions knowledge about the - Ask the students to look at the pictures, and work topic and review useful in pairs to answer the following questions: words and phrases What country these people are from? What are their relationships to each other? Do they live in the country or in the city? - Ask the students to predict the topic of the lesson Task 2: Making a Network of the topic “Family” - Ask the students to imagine that they are going to attend a conference on the topic ―Family‖, they are working out the ideas for this conference - Give the network model - Ask the students to work in groups of four, make a network of this topic - Ask the students to report the result of their interview in front of the class - Lead the students to identify the topic of the reading lesson  To review predicting Task 3: Previewing the Reading Text the topic from the title - Ask the students to look at the title of the reading and pictures text, and the pictures and headings in the text to predict the topic of the text that they are going to read - Listen - Look at the pictures, read the questions given and work in pairs to answer these questions - Predict the topic of the lesson - Listen to the instruction - Observe the model - Work in groups to make the network - Present the network in front of the class - Review useful words and phrases related to the topic - Listen to the instruction XXX 15’  To activate the students‘ background knowledge about the topic and review useful words and phrases - Do the task individually, predicting what the text is - Look at the title of the reading about text, and the pictures and headings in the text to predict the topic of the text that they - Ask the students to share their predictions with are going to read their partner - Share the predictions with - Ask the students to report the topics predicted and partner write these topics on the board - Report the anticipated topics - Ask the students to read the introduction paragraph - Read the introduction of the text to consider their prior predictions about paragraph to consider the the topic of the reading text anticipated topic of the text - Ask the students to report their predictions, and - Report the answer about the write them on the board topic of the text Task 4: Making outlines for the reports for an international conference on “Changing Families” - Divide the class into smaller groups of four - Make up the working groups students, and assign each small group a name; Group Africa, Group Americas, Group Asia and Group Europe - Ask the students that at the conference about the - Listen to the instruction topic ―Family‖, they are representatives for their continents and had to make a report on ―Changing Families‖ in their continents - Ask each small group to discuss how families in - Work in groups of four, discuss their continent are changing, and then make an how families in their continents outline for the report on the changing aspects of are changing and make an the family in their continent outline for the report on the issue XXXI While You Read 15’  To practice reading for main idea, revising predicting the topic from the title and predicting the main idea of a paragraph from its first sentence - Ask students to form new small groups including four members, each of who come from one different group - Ask the students that at the conference, they are assistants for its chairman, and had to make an outline for the report on the changing families all over the world - Ask students to work in these new groups, use the ideas about the changing aspects of the family in their continent that they have discussed in the former groups to make an outline for a new report on the changing aspect of family all over the world - Ask some groups to report their outlines for their reports Task 1: Identifying the Topic of the Text and the Main Ideas of the Paragraph - Ask the students to look back at their anticipated topics, then read the text quickly to confirm the actual topic of the text, and the task about the main idea - Ask the students to the task individually, and then work in pairs to compare the answers - Ask the students to report their answer - Give feedbacks - Form new working groups - Listen to the instruction - Work in the new groups to discuss the changing aspects of families all over the world - Report the outlines - Listen to the instruction - Work individually and the task as instructed to confirm the prediction of the topic, then work in pairs to share their answers with their partners - Report the answers in front of the class XXXII 25’  To practice reading for specific information, using background knowledge of the content and of the textual structure - Confirm the topic of the text, and the main ideas of the paragraphs Task 2: Identifying Specific Information - Ask the students to read the text and stop at several certain points to make predictions of the upcoming information, using their background knowledge of the topic and of the textual structures - Model the strategy o When I read up to the point…., from my knowledge of the topic, I predict that the next sentences are about … After that, I read on to check my prediction o When I read up to the point… , from my knowledge of the textual structure, I know that this is a cause-effect text, I predict that the next sentences are about … After that, I read on to check my prediction - Guide a student to model the task - Ask the students to the task individually first, and then in pairs to check the predictions and identify the specific information - Ask the students to report their work, - Give feedbacks and confirm the information - Check the answer - Listen to the instruction - Watch the modeling - Work individually, read up to certain spot, make predictions for the upcoming information, then read on to check the predictions - Work in pairs, check the predictions - Report the results and how to specific get these results XXXIII After You Read 5’ - Review the process of making predictions of the upcoming information, using the background knowledge of the content and of the textual structure  To practice writing the Task: Writing the report about the changing rest of the paragraph aspect of families in the world - Ask the students to work in pairs, write the report about the changing aspect of families in the world - Conduct the task - Ask some pairs to present the report - Give feedbacks - Listen - Listen to the instruction - Do the task in pairs - Present the report ... students at Cao Ba Quat Upper Secondary School, and to identify effective techniques to teach predicting strategies, an action research was carried out in the researcher‘s own class at this school. .. indicated that predicting is a fruitful strategy that EFL learners, in general, and Cao Ba Quat Upper Secondary School? ?? 10th grade students should master.Apart from this strategy, other reading. .. aims at exploring the impact of predicting strategy instruction on the reading comprehension of 10th grade students at Cao Ba Quat Upper Secondary School with a view to giving recommendations