The effects of phrase reading on EFL students reading comprehension at hoa binh junior high school a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master of arts in TESOL

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL LE THI THANH HOA THE EFFECTS OF PHRASE READING ON EFL STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION AT HOA BINH JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL Major: TEACHING ENGLISH TO SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGES Major code: 60140111 MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL Supervisor: LE HOANG DUNG (PhD.) Ho Chi Minh City, 2020 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis entitled “The Effects of Phrase Reading on EFL Students’ Reading Comprehension at Hoa Binh Junior High School” is my own work Except where references is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis does not contain material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution Ho Chi Minh, 2020 Le Thi Thanh Hoa ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all the people who have helped me for the completion of this thesis First and foremost, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Le Hoang Dung for his expert guidance, full support, understanding and encouragement throughout my research Without his patience and timely advice, my thesis work could not have been done Secondly, huge thanks go to the teachers and students at Hoa Binh junior high school who have been so helpful and patient to me They are always willing to support me and give me great opportunity to conduct this research Finally, my special thanks go to my family members who have supported me with everything so that I could concentrate on this thesis I would not have been able to complete this thesis without their continuous encouragement and unconditional support Le Thi Thanh Hoa iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CG: Control Group EFL: English as a Foreign Language EG: Experimental Group ESL: English as a Second Language HBJHS: Hoa Binh Junior High School L1: First Language L2: Second Language M: Mean N: Number SD: Standard Deviation PR: Phrase Reading SLA: Second Language Acquisition SPSS: Statistical Package for Social Sciences RCT: Reading Comprehension Test iv ABSTRACT Concerning the importance of reading comprehension and the potential use of phrase reading in language learning, the current study aimed at investigating (1) the effects of phrase reading on EFL students’ reading comprehension, (2) students’ attitude towards the use of phrase reading, and (3) the difficulties of using phrase reading in the EFL classrooms There were 169 eighth-graders of Hoa Binh junior high school involved in this study The overall findings indicated that phrase reading strategy had positive effects on students’ reading comprehension Besides, students had positive attitude towards the employment of phrase reading and expressed their willingness to use phrase reading strategy for further learning Also, the study discovered some critical challenges that students encountered when using phrase reading strategy The findings have offered intriguing implications for the employment of phrase reading strategy in secondary school in Vietnam and other language learning contexts Keywords: phrase reading, reading comprehension, attitude, challenges v TABLE OF CONTENT STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iii ABSTRACT iv TABLE OF CONTENT v LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES viii CHAPTER – INTRODUCTION .1 1.1 Background of the study 1.2 Statement of the problem 1.3 Aims of the study 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Scope of the study .4 1.7 Definitions of the key terms 1.8 Organization of the thesis CHAPTER - LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Overview of reading comprehension 2.1.1 Definitions of reading 2.1.2 Concept of reading comprehension 2.1.3 Taxonomy of reading comprehension 2.2 Overview of phrase reading 11 2.2.1 Definitions of phrase reading 11 2.2.2 The benefits of phrase reading 11 vi 2.2.3 Phrase reading instruction 13 2.3 Previous studies on the effects of phrase reading on reading comprehension 15 2.4 Research gap 23 2.5 Conceptual framework 25 2.6 Chapter summary 27 CHAPTER - RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .28 3.1 Research design .28 3.1.1 Mixed-methods research design .28 3.1.2 Research hypotheses 29 3.2 Research site and participants 30 3.3 Research instruments 32 3.3.1 Reading comprehension tests 32 3.3.2 Questionnaire 35 3.3.3 Focus group interview 36 3.4 Research procedure 37 3.5 Pilot study 39 3.6 The experiment 42 3.7 Data analysis 46 3.8 Reliability and validity of the study 47 3.8.1 Reliability 47 3.8.2 Validity .48 3.9 Research ethics 49 3.10 Chapter summary 50 CHAPTER – RESULTS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 51 vii 4.1 Results and findings 51 4.1.1 Statistical analysis of the reading comprehension test results 51 4.1.2 Analysis of data from questionnaire 61 4.1.3 Analysis of data from interview .71 4.2 Discussion .77 4.2.1 Effects of phrase reading on students’ reading comprehension .77 4.2.2 Students’ attitude towards the implementation of phrase reading 81 4.2.3 Challenges of using phrase reading strategy encountered by the students 82 4.3 Chapter summary 85 CHAPTER –SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSIONS 86 5.1 Summary of findings .86 5.2 Suggestions for teachers and students .87 5.2.1 Suggestions for teachers 87 5.2.2 Suggestions for students 88 5.3 Limitations of the study and recommendations for further studies 88 5.4 Chapter summary 90 REFERENCES 91 APPENDICES 98 viii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table - Summary of previous studies on the effects of phrase reading on reading comprehension .22 Table - Description of the participants 31 Table – Summary of RCTs’ descriptions 34 Table 3 - Description of participants in the pilot study 40 Table - Description of reliability statistics of RCTs in the pilot study .41 Table – A lesson plan model for the EG and CG .44 Table - Description of reliability statistics of RCTs in the main study 48 Table - Reliability statistics of the questionnaire .48 Table – Summary of t-test result for the pre-test .51 Table - Summary of t-test result of CG after the treatment .52 Table - Summary of t-test result of EG after the treatment 53 Table 4 - Summary of t-test result of post-test 53 Table - Summary of t-test result for delayed post-test of CG 54 Table - Summary of t-test result for delayed post-test of EG .54 Table - Summary of t-test result for two levels of comprehension scores before the treatment 55 Table - Summary of t-test result for literal comprehension and inferential comprehension score of CG 56 Table - Summary of t-test result for literal comprehension and inferential comprehension score of EG 57 Table 10 - Summary of t-test result for the pre-test and post-test of poor readers 58 Table 11 - Summary of t-test result for the pre-test and post-test of good readers 58 ix Table 12 - Summary of t-test result for literal comprehension and inferential comprehension scores of good readers .59 Table 13 - Summary of t-test result for literal and inferential comprehension scores of poor readers .60 Table 14 - Students’ attitude towards PR strategy .62 Table 15 - Students’ attitude towards the benefits of PR 63 Table 16 - Participants’ attitude towards the instruction .65 Table 17 - Participants’ attitude towards the activities 67 Table 18 - Likelihood of further learning with PR strategy 69 Figure – Elements of reading (adapted from Oakhill, Cain, & Elbro, 2015, p 3) Figure - Components of reading comprehension (adapted from RAND Reading Study Group, 2002, p 11) Figure - Conceptual framework of the study 26 Figure - Procedure of the study 38 125 Interviewee 2: I prefer to work with my peers rather than working alone Interviewee 5: This strategy is quite difficult but effective But before I can actually use this strategy, I hope to have a lot of time for practicing this strategy so I can gain the best results from it Interviewee 1: I think the teacher should guide me more to use this strategy 126 Appendix 9B – SCRIPTS FOR STUDENTS’ INTERVIEW (Vietnamese version) Người vấn: Bạn có nghĩ đọc cụm từ có lợi cho việc đọc hiểu bạn? Tại sao? (Nhớ thông tin tốt hơn, xác định ý chính, tìm thơng tin cụ thể dễ dàng hơn, đọc nhanh hơn, v.v.) - Học sinh 1: Em nghĩ phương pháp có lợi khiến em hiểu văn tốt - Học sinh 2: Em thấy - Học sinh 3: Phương pháp có lợi giúp em đọc nhanh - Học sinh 4: Em đồng ý em hiểu số câu khó em đọc câu khó - Học sinh 5: Em nghĩ hữu ích chia viết đoạn văn, em thực nhớ số ý mà không đọc lại đoạn văn nhiều lần - Học sinh 6: Em đồng ý với bạn Người vấn: Bạn gặp phải khó khăn sử dụng đọc theo cụm từ? (gợi ý: hướng dẫn, hoạt động, thời gian thực hành, sử dụng đọc cụm từ kiểm tra đọc hiểu, v.v.) - Học sinh 3: Khi em chia đoạn văn, em khơng biết em chia xác hay khơng trước em chưa thưc phương pháp em xác phải chia - Học sinh 4: Phương pháp khác với buổi học mà hồi trước em hay học nên nhiều em ngại sử dụng - Học sinh 1: Mấy buổi em hay sợ em làm sai lúc em chia đoạn văn thành cụm từ 127 - Học sinh 2: Có nhiều học sinh lớp q nên em có hội hỏi riêng lúc em chia đoạn văn khơng giống mẫu Vì em khơng biết em làm khác đoạn mẫu có sai không - Học sinh 6: Khi mà em chia đoạn văn thành cụm từ, bạn em toàn làm nhanh em, bạn làm có phút xong Em chẳng làm kịp bạn Nhiều phương pháp hợp với bạn giỏi Người vấn: Vậy bạn làm để khắc phục cho khó khăn này? - Học sinh 3: Khi chiếu đoạn văn mẫu hình, em so sánh với em kiểm tra xem em làm có hay khơng Nhiều em hay hỏi bạn ngồi bên cạnh em Em so sánh em với bạn để xem em làm có khơng bạn em hay chia giống mẫu cô bạn em thường làm nhanh - Học sinh 4: Em học dần em quen Nên sau em dùng mà không sợ lúc làm quen với việc chia câu với đoạn văn - Học sinh 1: Về sau em chia buổi học cách chia em khác cô Vì có giải thích chia câu thành cụm từ có nhiều cách chia không thiết phải theo mẫu - Học sinh 2: Thường e hỏi bạn bên cạnh Nhiều đoạn văn em không giống mẫu bảng e đợi tới cuối em hỏi Người vấn: Bạn có nghĩ việc chia đoạn văn thành nhiều cụm từ dễ áp dụng không? Tại sao? - Học sinh 4: Em nghĩ phương pháp khơng q khó sử dụng - Học sinh 1: Em nghĩ - Học sinh 3: Lúc đầu, phương pháp khó sử dụng em Em chưa nghe tới phương pháp sau quen 128 - Học sinh 6: Em nghĩ em áp dụng phương pháp có giáo hướng dẫn - Học sinh 5: Em nghĩ sử dụng em có nhiều thời gian để luyện tập - Học sinh 2: em đồng ý Người vấn: Bạn có muốn sử dụng đọc cụm từ lần sau không? Tại sao? - Học sinh 6: Em nghĩ em sử dụng phương pháp em nghĩ hữu ích - Học sinh 2: em đồng ý - Học sinh 1: Em sử dụng phương pháp gặp câu khó hiểu - Học sinh 3: Em đồng ý với bạn Người vấn: Bạn có gợi ý hay đề xuất để việc sử dụng pp lớp học hiệu không? - Học sinh 2: Em nghĩ em nên làm việc theo nhóm làm việc - Học sinh 5: Phương pháp khó hiệu Nhưng trước thực phương pháp em muốn có nhiều thời gian em tập làm quen để em đạt hiệu tốt - Học sinh 1: Em nghĩ giáo viên nên nên hướng dẫn em nhiều phương pháp 129 Appendix 10 – CONSENT FORM 130 131 Appendix 11 – STUDENTS’ PHRASED TEXT SAMPLES 8 Task of post-test Task of delayed post-test 132 Appendix 12 - LESSON PLAN FOR THE CONTROL GROUP UNIT 14: WONDERS OF THE WORLD I/Objectives : By the end of the lesson, the students can have more information about the world’s wonders, especially Angkor Wat in Cambodia II/Language contents : Vocabulary: compile, honor, claim, religious, royal Grammar: passive form (review) III/ Techniques: Q-A, T/F, MC, predicting IV/Teaching aids : Students’ & teacher’s books, Extra board, Pictures & handouts V/Procedure : Teacher’s & students’ activities Warm – up: (5') brainstorming Name wonders of the world Content * The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: Great Pyramid of Giza Hanging Gardens of Babylon Temple of Artemis at Ephesus Statue of Zeus at Olympia Mausoleum of Halicarnassus Colossus of Rhodes the Lighthouse of Alexandria * New words: - compile (v) To set up the context and pre- teach - honor (v)= to show respect - claim (v) = say something is true the key words - religious (adj) - Explaining some new words by - royal(adj) using pictures, explanation Providing input:(20') - Public/ individual repetition An Egyptian man compiled a list what he thought were the wonders of the world Set the scene "You knew wonders The only surviving wonder is The Pyramids of the ancient world and now read of Cheops in Egypt T/F prediction: 133 the following statements and tell me Today, we can still see the Hanging gardens they are right or wrong" of Babylon in present day Iraq Angkor Wat was originally built to honor a - Ss read the statements In pairs, ss Hindu God guess if the statements are T or F The Great Wall of China first wasn't in the list of the wonders of the world In the early 15th century, the Khmer King chose Angkor Wat as the new capital Answer: F (A Greek man) T F (the pyramid of Cheops) T T F (Phnom Penh) Questions: Reading task:(10') Was Hanging Gardens of Babylon in Iraq? - Ask ss to read the text carefully Is Angkor Wat is a pyramid? Where is the Statue of Zeus? and correct the false sentences What are the other wonders that the Greeks didn't know? - Ask ss some detailed questions What's the largest temple in the world? about the text How's Angkor now? - Multiple choice: Ss read the text again and choose the correct answers Wonders of the world Post – reading : (10') Grid - Ss read the text again and complete the grid Country Hanging Gardens of Iraq Babylon Ha Long Bay Encourage: List some wonders in modern life more Eiffel Tower To evaluate strong ss - Ss find out the other wonders VI/Home assignments : Name some wonders you know and where they are 134 Appendix 13 - LESSON PLAN FOR THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP UNIT 14: WONDERS OF THE WORLD I II III IV V VI Aim and objectives: After the lesson, students will be able to • Skill:  Identify the main idea  Read for detail ideas  Read in meaningful phrases • Language:  Learn more new words and structures about wonders of the world Language focus: • Grammar: revision • Vocabulary: compile, religious, royal, honor, etc Assumed knowledge: students have learned some vocabulary about animals Anticipated problems: - There may be time left (solution: teacher has already prepared extra exercises for students) - There is lack of time (solution: reduce the activities) Teaching aids: book, blackboard, pictures, handouts, projector etc Procedure: Stages/ Content Teacher’s activities Time Warm- Matching: Wonders of the world - Teacher gives up instruction - Instruction: “You are going to (5 mins) watch a video clip with pictures - Teacher shows Ss a of wonders around the world video clip (1 minute) Match the pictures with the name with pictures of provided in the handout I will wonders and lets them call some of you to come to the guess the name of each board to write the answers You wonder will receive some gifts for your - T calls some Ss to correct answers” come to the board and Suggested answers: write the answers H - Angkor Wat (Cambodia) - T gives feedback G - Tai Mahal (India) - T gives the gifts for Ss B - Machu Picchu (Peru) at the end of the lesson I - Christ the Redeemer - T leads into the new Statue lesson A - Great Wall of China F - Pyramid of Cheops Students’ activities - Listen to the instruction - Watch the clip and guess the name of each wonder - Come to the board and write the answer 135 Providing input & PR practice (20 mins • (Egypt) Reading passage Centuries ago in Ancient Greece, / a man by the name of Antipater of Sidon / compiled a list of what he thought were the seven wonders of the world // The seven / included the Hanging Gardens of Babylon in present-day Iraq, / the Statue of Zeus in Greece / and the Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt // The pyramid / is the only wonder / you can still see today // Many people / claim that there were other wonders / which the ancient Greeks knew nothing about // These include the Great Wall of China, / the Tai Mahal in India / and Angkor Wat in Cambodia // Anglor Wat / should really be known as a wonder / because it is the largest temple in the world // The temple / was built around the year 1100 / to honor a Hindu God / but over the next three centuries / it became a Buddhist religious center // The area surrounding the temple, Angkor Thom, / used to be the royal capital city // In the early 15th century, / the Khmer rulers / moved to Phnom Penh / and Angkor was quiet // It now is a famous tourist attraction • Vocabulary - Compile (v) /kəmˈpaɪl/ to collect information from different places and arrange it in a book, report, or list - Honor /ˈɒn.ər/ (n) great respect for someone (v) to show respect - T delivers the phrased reading passage to the Ss (The whole passage has been divided into meaningful phrases by embedding slashes.) - T reads the first sentences in two manners: word-byword and phrase-byphrase - T reads the whole passage phrase-byphrase - T calls Ss to take turn and read the passage phrase-by-phrase - T explains how a sentence should be divided - T shows Ss how to use voice and appropriate pausing to mark the phrase boundaries in speech - T calls Ss to take turn and read the passage phrase-by-phrase (T assists Ss and gives feedback if necessary) - Students use their copies to follow along - T elicits new words or grammatical points if necessary - T presents new words by eliciting from Ss in appropriate techniques - T lets Ss hear the - Listen to the sounds and repeat the word chorally and individually - Copy down the - Ss take turn and read the passage in phrase 136 - Claim /kleɪm/ (v) to say that something is true - Religious /rɪˈlɪdʒ.əs/ (adj) relating to religion - Royal /ˈrɔɪ.əl/ (adj) belonging to a king or queen or a member of their family sounds recorded and then conducts repetition chorally and individually - T delivers the same reading text without slashes to Ss and gives Ss time to segment the passage - T asks Ss to work in pairs or groups and take turn to read the passage in phrased manner (Ss don’t have to phrase exactly like the model phrased passage) - T encourages and assists Ss if necessary Reading Task 1: Decide the following - T aks Ss to read the task statements are RIGHT or WRONG passage again (10 - T tells the Ss to the or DOESN’T SAY mins) reading task in pairs and find the evidence for each An Egyptian man compiled answer a list of what he thought - T discusses the content of were the seven wonders of the passage and how to the world convey meaning through appropriate phrasing Today we can still see the Hanging Garden of Babylon - T checks the answers and gives feedback in present-day Iraq The Great Wall of China first wasn’t in the list of the Seven Wonders of the World Angkor Thom used to be the largest city in Cambodia In the early 15th century, the Khmer King chose Angkor Wat as the new capital vocabulary - Ss read the text in meaningful phrases - Ss read the passage again and reading task - Ss correct the answers 137 Suggested answers: Postreading (10 mins) Wrong (An Greek man compiled a list of what he thought were the seven wonders of the world.) Wrong (Today we can’t see the Hanging Garden of Babylon in present-day Iraq.) Right Doesn’t say Wrong (In the early 15th century, the Khmer King chose Phnom Penh as the new capital.) Task 2: Read the text again and complete the grid Wonders world of the Country 1.Hanging Gardens Iraq of Babylon Homework Task 3: Work in pairs and tell your partner which wonder you want to visit and the reason for it (or list some more wonders in modern life) HOMEWORK:  Practice reading the text in phrases - T asks Ss to work in pairs and discuss - Ss work in pairs and discuss 138 APPENDIX 14 – AVERAGE ENGLISH SCORES OF THE EIGHT GRADERS AT HBJHS Average English scores achieved Average reading scores in the 2nd semester exam in achieved in the 2nd semester grade exam in grade (maximum score is 10) (maximum score is 2.5) A 6.2 1.6 B 5.5 C 5.5 0.9 D 5.6 1.2 E 5.2 0.8 F 5.7 G 5.3 0.9 H 5.4 1.1 Class AVERAGE = 1.1 9 All of the names of the classes have been changed to ensure the confidentiality of the database of Hoa Binh junior high school 139 APPENDIX 15 - A SAMPLE OF CODING PROCESS Transcription Dissecting text Coding Themes Interviewer: What difficulties did you encounter when using phrase reading? (Suggestion: instruction, activities, time for practicing, using phrase reading in reading comprehension test, etc.) Interviewee 2: There are many many students students in my class so I don’t Overcrowding classroom have a lot of opportunities to ask the teacher privately when don’t have a lot of Time- my text is not similar to opportunities constrained teacher’s chunked text I am not environment sure if my chunked text is Difficulties using phrase different from the model ask the teacher Student-teacher reading chunked text, it is acceptable or privately contact encountered by not students not sure Reluctance to acceptable or not segment the text/ being afraid of making chunking mistakes ... focused on the employment of phrase reading on young learners in EFL reading classrooms at Hoa Binh junior high school Also, the study investigated the effects of phrase reading on students? ?? reading. .. using phrase reading strategy The findings have offered intriguing implications for the employment of phrase reading strategy in secondary school in Vietnam and other language learning contexts... reading comprehension and the potential use of phrase reading in language learning, the current study aimed at investigating (1) the effects of phrase reading on EFL students? ?? reading comprehension,