VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
BS 3S OIC OIE 2S OI 2k OS 2S IS 24S 24 2k 2k 2g ais 2k 2k 2k 2k 2k
LE THI HOA
THE EFFECT OF PREDICTION STRATEGY ON IMPROVING READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS OF NON-ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS AT HO
CHI MINH UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY (HUD)
Ảnh hướng của chiến lược phán đoán đến việc phát triển kĩ năng đọc hiểu của sinh viên không chuyên ngữ tại trường Đại học Công Nghiệp TPHCM
M.A MINOR THESIS
FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111
Trang 2VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
BS 3S OIC OIE 2S OI 2k OS 2S IS 24S 24 2k 2k 2g ais 2k 2k 2k 2k 2k
LE THI HOA
THE EFFECT OF PREDICTION STRATEGY ON IMPROVING READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS OF NON-ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS AT HO
CHI MINH UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY (HUD)
Ảnh hưởng của chiến lược phán đoán đến việc phát triển kĩ năng đọc hiểu của sinh viên không chuyên ngữ tại trường Đại học Công Nghiệp TPHCM
M.A MINOR THESIS
FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111
SUPERVISOR: PHAM HỮU ĐỨC, PhD
Trang 3DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP
I, LE THI HOA, declare that this graduation thesis is original and has not been
submitted for assessment elsewhere
I declare that this assignment is my own work and does not involve plagiarism or
collusion
Date: ./ /2014
Signature
Trang 4ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my thanks to many people who have assisted my research
work
Firstly, my great appreciations go to the contribution of my supervisor Pham Huu Duc, Ph.D who spent time and energy helping me complete my thesis I am grateful to his valuable guidance and great insight into my thesis writing His guidance was indispensable to the design and completion of the study I am also grateful to him for his comments, correction and for her kindly encouragement and enthusiasm during the development of this study
Secondly, my special words are also extended to my students They were very enthusiastic when studying with my instruction; they encouragedme in being confident to accomplish my practice completely Their support is greatly appreciated
Next, I would like to thank my family for supporting me, taking care of me and encouraging me during the time I implemented the thesis Their love and expectation for me is a great encouragement to complete the thesis Finally, I also want to give acknowledgement to my friends who spent their time to help me during the process, gave me insightful comments for my thesis, and encouraged me when I was
Trang 5ABSTRACT
Trang 6TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION OE AUTHOR.SHIP 55 <5 5 555555525556 i ACKNOWL,EGDEMN Ì Q0 Go nọ 0000066 H Di (04 ÔÔÔÔỒÔ lil TABLES OE CONTIENTTS G0 HH 000000880896 Iv DEEINITION OIE TERMS 0G G0 g0 00010096 V LIST OE TABLES AND EIGUIRRES SG SH Re vi Part A: INTRODUCTION I RatlOnalÌ€ QG Gì Họ ng 1 SY VY Toà co nh ae e 1 SN 0i Sa 4 2 “v0 UÀi i2 = 2
5 lIimporfance Of the S{Uy << << c c1 1131131111111 11 11111111 ng ng và 2 6 Method of the S†Udy .- 0000000 111111111111199933 1111111 ng ng v2 3
7 Design of the Study rễ ae 3
Part B: DEVELOPMENT
Trang 7I.I Reading skIÏÏ - << 10000 01311111111111199131 11111111 kg v2 5 I.I.I Definitions ofreading - - - << << 3111111111119 231111111111 kh rrg 5 1.1.2 The Importance Of r€adIng -c c1 3333111113113 1 1111111 1xerrrree 5 1.1.3 Reading comprehenSIO - - - << < << c1 113333331313115885555111 111111111 srrrrre 9 1.2 Prediction straf€gy - Ăc S1 SH TH ng ng re II
1.2.1 Definitions of prediction strafepy . - 12
1.2.2 Importance of prediction sfrafegyY . -. L3 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGYY 7G GG G000 990.0 0 6056 15 2.1 Participants and settings ofthe sfudy << << sssssesssssss 15 2.2 Data collectiOn cu 15 2.2.1 Data collection 1nstrumenf - «<<<<<<<<«: 15 2.2.2 Data collection procedure ccccccssssscccccecccceeeeseeesssnseeeeeeeceeeseeseeeeeeeeaas 15 2.2.3 Data analysis procedure .ccccccsesssssccceeecccceeeeseeesssnseeeeeeeceeeseeseeeeeeeeeaas 17 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION S2 s°2 19 3.1.1 Analysis from the reading f€SfS - << c5 5S 1331113335555 xx2 19 3.1.2 Response †O QU€SfIOTIAIT€ (<< << 11110111111111111111585855351 1111111 x2 22 3.2 — DISCUSSIOH nh kkhhekkeereeeseeerereeeee 2 3.2.1 Having authenfic reading purpOse - -<- 24 3.2.2 Choosing authentic reading mater1aÌS 25
3.2.3 Improving background knowledge for further reading 26
3.2.4 Improving vocabulary by reading as much as possIble 27
3.2.5 Combining prediction stratepgy with other strafeples 28 3.3 Pedagogical [mplÏICafIOT\ << << c1 111111111111 111 1858553553355 x2 29
PART C: CONCLUSION
Trang 82 Limitation ofthe study ¬— 3 Suggestions for Further Research ¬ Dd
Trang 9PART A: INTRODUCTION
1 Rationale
These days, there is no doubt that the English language is becoming something of a forerunner in the global communication It is the language of choice in most countries of the world It brings people together, gets out of the border of a country and brings the world closer As an effective means of international communication, English is used as the official language in many fields of life such as economics, politics, science, technology, sports and many others This leads to an increasing demand of learning English In many Asian countries such as Singapore, Philippine, Malaysia or Thailand, English is used as an official language besides their mother language; and Vietnam is not an exception “English is now commonly used in exchange between, say, Japanese and Argentinean business people, or between Singaporeans and their
Trang 10can cope with more and more sophisticated texts and tasks, and deal with them efficiently: quickly, appropriately and skillfully’, wrote Ur (1996, p.147)
2 Aims of the research
The research aims:
- To investigate the effects of prediction strategy on the students’ reading ability; - To provide the teachers with some suggestions to make best use of prediction
strategy in teaching and learning reading comprehension
3 Research Question
Based on the aims of the research, the author will attempt to answer the following questions:
- What is the initial reading ability of the students?
Does prediction strategy affect students’ reading ability? - What can be done to improve prediction strategy?
4 Scope of the study
Trang 11time and does not have good results “The dictionary is often over-used, resulting in slower, less fluent reading, as well as frequently misunderstanding through selection of the wrong definition’, noted Ur (1996, p.149) Word-by-word translation sometimes makes them misunderstand the meaning of the whole text Therefore, the final result of reading is not good
5 Importance of the study
According to Richard and Renandya (2002, p.273), good reading texts also provide good models for writing, and also provide opportunities to introduce new topics, to stimulate discussion and to study language It can be said that learning Reading is the challenging part in both teaching and learning languages The findings of the study will be useful for improving students’ reading comprehension with prediction strategy It is believed to be beneficial to both teachers and learners
6 Methods of the Study
In order to reach the aims of the study mentioned above, the study includes tests and survey questionnaires to collect data on the reading strategies employed by HUI English non-majored students First, the three reading comprehension tests were given to the subjects in order to identify their reading proficiency levels The first test was to estimate their initial reading levels; the two last was to evaluate the effect of prediction strategy on their reading comprehension skills Then, the questionnaires were administered to find out their reading strategies
Trang 127 Design 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 3 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 the review of the literature related to the research topic, which serves as a theoretical foundation of the study
Chapter 2: Methodology provides information about the research context, participants, research approach, data collection instruments, data collection procedures, and data analysis procedures
Trang 13PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW
1 Reading Skill
1.1 Definition of reading
The written word surrounds us daily It confuses us and enlightens us, depresses
us and amuses us, sickens us and heals us (Brown, 1994, p.283) It is the reason why
Trang 14these factors do not match a reader’s knowledge and experience, the text might be too difficult for optimal comprehension to occur This means that the text and readers’ knowledge and experience interact with each other; if the reader has no knowledge or experience about what they are reading, they cannot reach the author’s ideas in the text Besides, Strong et al (2002) in their research on Reading for Academic Success also showed the reasons why the textbooks cause difficulties for students to read In their opinion, there are four reasons for that These are text structure, information overload, the “authority” of the textbook and new vocabulary and concepts that are disconnected from experience and prior knowledge Strong et al (2002, p.2)noted that trying to differentiate the important information from the not-so-important information, attempting to make sense of tables and diagrams that were sandwiched into text, keeping track of all the new vocabulary words, doing their best thwart boredom and lagging attention pans-these are the associations Sharing the same view with Strong and his friends, Ur (1996, p.146) in his book also gave a suggestion that the text should be accessible: if learners cannot understand vital information without looking up words or being given extra information from elsewhere
Trang 15p.257) also mentioned to the challenge with background knowledge, “Reading comprehension is thus an interactive process between the reader and the text, in that reader is required to fit the clues provided in the text to his or her own background knowledge To be skilled in reading depends on the efficient interaction between linguistic knowledge and knowledge of the world (Nunan, 1994, p 284)
The term of “Reading” is widely used in practice However, reading is differently defined due to the areas of defining in term of activities or goals at any one level on grade That is why no definition of reading can possibly include all points of
views and features
However, a careful considered definition of reading is very necessary for the reading teacher Because reading is the most critical aspect of any teaching program
and for the teachers to decide what they will teach in the classroom, herein, I would
Trang 16e Recognition: You are concerned with understanding of alphabetical symbols This step occurs instantly before physical reading begins
e Assimilation: This step starts with word then to the eye and via the optic nerve to the brain
e Intra- Integration: This step refers to the link of all parts of the information being read with all other appropriate parts
e Extra- Integration: This step requires learners to bring all of their previous knowledge to what they read, making appropriate connections, analyzing, criticizing, appreciating, selecting and rejecting
e Retention: This step requires the basic storage of information of the readers
e Recall: This process shows the ability of the readers to get back the storage when it is needed
e Communication: This process includes written and spoken in which information is used immediately or eventually It also contains very crucial and often neglected human function: Thinking- thinking is your ongoing extra integration (Buzan, 1997, p.34)
Although those reading definitions are of different attitudes to reading, they seem to have some features in common It is because they all concentrate on the nature
of reading To make this point clear, Abbot, Wingard, Greenwood and
Trang 17opinions, reading is considered as a process in which a reader looks at and understands
what has been written out
1.2 Importance of reading
According to Rubin (1987), cited in Schmitt (1997, p.203), learning strategies are
defined as “the process by which information is obtained, stored, retrieved, and used”
and “therefore vocabulary learning strategies could be any which affect this broadly- defined process”
Trang 18shock, language shock due to different cultures, habits, and languages Moreover,
reading is also an important way of expanding students’ receptive knowledge of language and stimulating students to talk and write
Deriving from some of reading definitions above, we find that reading is a very important factor in language acquisition It is important because it is considered an essential skill both at school and afterwards Reading takes its place alongside the development of oral ability in the school program Reading also gives us as readers many opportunities to contact with different contexts in our daily life Byrne (1988, p.46) provides three reasons for the importance of reading as follows
a) It offers language learners another area of success We should accept that not all students would be good speakers and at least give them credit if they become good
readers
b) It gives the students a skill that they can use on their own (i.e it is a key to self- access work)
c) It is likely to be one of the skills that most students will need in the long term It is one that they will always be able to put to use That is, they can read even if they do not get any opportunities to speak
Generally, no one can deny that reading brings readers an ocean of knowledge of different areas They can learn more experience of life Then they have necessary benefits to avoid difficulties in mutual understanding in communication such as culture
shock, language shock due to different cultures, habits, and languages Moreover,
Trang 19However, all reasons mentioned earlier show that in terms of classroom
activities it is good for students to read but we cannot assume that all students are efficient readers Much depends on how well they have been taught to read in their mother tongue
1.3 Reading comprehension
Richard and Renandya (2002, p 277) noted that “Reading for comprehension is the primary purpose for reading and that raising students’ awareness of main ideas in a text and exploring the organization of a text are essential for good comprehension”
In teaching reading, it is necessary to understand the nature of reading comprehension What the teacher understands about it will have a great influence on what he or she teaches in the class He would know what to teach and how to make his reading lesson effectively In fact, methodologists have been providing different definitions of reading comprehension
According to Grelet (1981, p 3), “Reading comprehension or understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible” He means that reading comprehension is an activity that aims at decoding the meaning of word combination in the text in the most efficient way
Also concerning the reading comprehension, Richard (1978) provided a clearer point of view:
Trang 20simply what the author intends It is the process whereby the printed pages stimulate ideas, experiences and responses that are unique to an
individual
66
According to Richard (1978), reading comprehension “is not only understanding simply what is written, but also is what stimulates students to remember from their experiences” This means that that knowledge is then used to get meaning out of printed page, but the mind of the readers includes not only facts and details but
also emotion, belief and critical evaluation
From these opinions, it can be concluded that reading comprehension is a process of understanding what is conveyed in the text It does not mean that the reader needs to understand every single word in the text but actively work on the text and extract the required information efficiently
Reading model: top-down; bottom-up; interaction 2 Prediction strategy
2.1 Definition
Trang 21revising, and verifying his or her predictions This strategy also helps students make connections between their prior knowledge and the text Predicting involves thinking ahead while reading and anticipating information and events in the text After making predictions, students can read through the text and refine, revise, and verify their predictions The strategy of making predictions actively engages students and connects them to the text by asking them what they think might occur in the story Using the text, students refine, revise, and verify their thinking and predictions
(Attp://beyondweather.ehe.osu.edu)
2.2 Importance of prediction strategy
Making predictions is more than just guessing what is going to happen next Predicting helps students become actively involved in reading and helps to keep their interest level high Making predictions activates students’ prior knowledge about the text and helps them make connections between what is new and what they already know By making predictions about the text before, during, and after reading, students use what they already know — as well as what they suppose might happen — to make
connections to the text
Snow (1998) has found that throughout the early grades, reading curricula should include explicit instruction on strategies used to comprehend text either read to the students or let students read themselves These strategies include summarizing the main idea, predicting events or information to which the text is leading, drawing inferences, and monitoring for misunderstandings
Trang 22analyze it in terms of what they know about it Making prediction is a strategy in which readers make use of the information from the text and their prior knowledge to generalize about what they are going to read about He also concluded thata better strategy is to use the context, the words and sentences surrounding a particular word, to help you guess that word’s meaning These guesses will be accurate enough for readers
to understand the author’s ideas
Trang 23CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Participants and setting of the study
The study was conducted with the participation of 52 students in an English non-majored class at HUI Most of the students are freshmen and they are learning with a basic level They were going to study in 5 lessons of reading comprehension with prediction strategy
2.2 Data collection
2.2.1 Data collection instrument
The data was collected via a number of instruments including three different tests: a pre-test for preliminary investigation into the students’ reading levels and two post-tests to measure the impact of predicting strategy instruction on the students' reading comprehension , and a questionnaire after the three tests
2.2.2 Data collection procedure
Trang 24Table 1: activities for pre-reading and while-reading BEFORE READING WHILE READING Activating background knowledge - Open prediction - True/ False prediction - Pre-question - Network - If You Don’t Know, Ask, OK? Previewing
- Look at the title and the headings for each section to predict what the reading text is about
- Look at the pictures to predict what the reading text is about
Overviewing
- Read the first and the last paragraphs each paragraph to predict what it is about
Reading and Confirming Prior Predictions
- Read and confirm or reject the prior predictions
Predicting What to Come Next
- Use the prior knowledge about the topic
to
predict what to come next in the passage - Use the prior knowledge about the
textual structure of the text to predict what
to come next
At the beginning of the course, the students will take part in a pre-test to emphasize their level of reading comprehension After two first lessons with prediction strategy, a test was delivered and the last test was taken place after the next two
Trang 25At the end of the course, a questionnaire of five questions was delivered to students to find out their reading strategy before taking the course and their opinion for the good technique in improving prediction strategy
2.2.3 Data analysis procedure
In order to achieve the aims of the study mentioned above, the quantitative analysis the main tool for analyzing the data, which is collected from the questionnaire and it was conducted by using Excel technique Together with analyzing questionnaire, the three tests were analyzed with Excel tool
This classroom action research is carried out within three stages In the first stage, the researcher planed lesson plans with strategies and activities for improving the students’ prediction strategy as well as the materials and how to present the materials effectively From the second stage, the researcher will be applied what she prepared in the first stage to teach the students in the class The last stage is reflection In this stage, the researcher reflected the result of effectiveness of applying prediction strategy in improving reading comprehension through analyzing the questionnaire and the tests
In this research, the cycle was conducted until the criteria of success are achieved Two criteria were expected to be fulfilled by the students The first was the students’ means score had to be higher than 60 in the last meeting of a cycle This was in accordance with the teacher’s minimum requirement The second, at least 80% of students should get above score from medium level in the final reading test If those criteria were achieved, the implementation of prediction strategy can be considered
successful
Trang 26preliminary study done, the researcher gave questionnaire to clarify the problems that
occurred in the class
The researcher used reading tests, questionnaires to collect the data Students’ reading scores were used as data in this study collected using the reading tests The results of the students’ reading scores indicated whether or not the students made improvement This provided a basis for further revisions and planning for the next cycle
Trang 27CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Findings
3.1.1 Analysis from reading tests
The improvement of students’ reading score is the main indicator of the success of the employment of prediction strategy is In the first reading test in Cycle 1, the result of the test showed that the average score of the students in reading test of Cycle Iwas 51.36 There was an improvement compared on the result of the score on preliminary study However, the students still could not reach the criterion of success because there were only 63% of the students got above 50
The researcher also calculated the mean score of the students in the reading test
in Cycle 1 and classified the students’ score into low, medium, and high Low score
ranged from 0 to 40, medium ranged from 50 up to 70, and high score ranged from 80 up to 100 Based on the analysis of the students’ scores in Cycle 1, it was found that 19 (36.53%) students were included in the Low Level, 32(61.53%) students in Medium Level, and 1 (1.92%) students in High Level (see Table1.1)
Trang 28The table above showed the result from the Cycle 1 After the meeting of the cycle, the students had some improvement but it was not strongly much In short, the number of the students who got medium scores and above was increased from 21 to 33 Meanwhile the rest with low scores were also reduced from 31 to 19 Based on the score analysis, the researcher found that most of the students got low scores in vocabulary question and topic sentence question The students still found difficulties to catch certain words from the story It might be caused by the fact that students lack of vocabulary and their scanning and skimming skills They were easily got bored when they could not discover the definition of the new words in the passage This strongly affected to their total reading because they lost their motivation for reading
To overcome this problem, in Cycle 2, the researcher planned to give the students an exercise to review the new words appeared in the text, and to guide them with scanning and skimming skills to get the general ideas of the text They would find out the new words and would be guided to try to get the meanings from the information surrounding them
As in Cycle 1, reading test was done in the last meeting of Cycle 2 The data from reading test was satisfying There was an improvement in their reading scores In last meeting of Cycle 2, all of the students were attending the class
After analyzing the test results, the researcher found out that there were 9 students(17.30 %) who got low score, 41 students (78.84 %) got medium score, and the rest of them 2 students (3.70%) got high score The mean score was also increased
from 51.34 to 61.9
Trang 29some useful techniques for classroom activities in the process of pre-reading and while-reading In the pre-reading activities, the students were given some question to activate their background knowledge as showed in Table 1
As in Cycle 2, the researcher compared the result in Cycle 2 with the criteria of success It was shown that the students had already reached the criteria of success The result of Cycle 2 had showed positive improvements in the students’ reading skills as indicated by the achievement of the criteria of success More details on the students’
scores can be seen in table 1.2 and 1.3
Table 2 Students’ Achievement in Preliminary Study, Cycle 1, and Cycle 2 Number of students Level Scores Preliminary test | Cycle 1 Cycle 2 High 80-100 2 1 2 Medium 50-79.5 19 32 41 Low 0-49.5 31 19 9 Total number of students 52 52 52 Note: PT: preliminary test
Table 3 Students’ Mean Score in Preliminary Study, Cycle 1, and Cycle 2 Stage PT Cycle 1 Cycle 2 Mean score 43.65 51.34 61.9 Note: preliminary test
During the teaching and learning process, the students also gave positive responses to participate in the activities The data from questionnaire that were given in
Trang 30the last meeting of Cycle 2 showed that 96% (50 students) agreed that prediction strategy with those kinds of technique made the reading activity more interesting than before and it also motivated them in learning reading comprehension
3.1.2 Responses to the questionnaire
Question I(number of|2 (number|3 (number |4 (number|]5 (number choices ) of choices) | of choices) | of choices) | of choices) 1 14 19 15 3 1 2 II 23 16 2 0 3 10 19 10 II 2
Question 5.C6 (How many/ttal?): 50/52Khéng (How many/ total?): 2/52 After finishing the lessons, a questionnaire with five questions was delivered to students to complete, and the result was positive
For question 1, most of the students consider the lessons were useful to them
We can see in the table above, the number of students choose number 1 is 14 and 18
for number 2 However, four students think the lessons are not very useful
For question 2, the number of students who think that learning reading comprehension in this way is easy for them to understand is 42 (11 for number 1 and 23 for number 2) Two students find a little bit difficult to understand
Question 3 is about the application of students in using English after the lesson This revealed that the number of the students who were able to apply the strategy in reading practice was not very satisfied There were only 29 students using it well while
Trang 31For the question 4, after analyzing the result from the students’ responses, the researcher found that most of the students are having difficulties in reading comprehension because of their lack of vocabulary and background knowledge Most of the answers are vocabulary and grammar structure in reading comprehension, which makes them confused and harder to understand the reading passages Therefore, the result from question 3 was not very positive
In short, most of the students express their expectation to continue using this kind of strategy for the next classes They found that there was some effectiveness in their reading However,13 students got confused with the effectiveness of the strategy because they had difficulty in applying what they learned in the class into practice and they found that that did not have enough time to complete the reading passage if they try to use prediction strategy Therefore, they read naturally through the passage and passed the strategy
3.2 Discussion
Based on the result of the findings, it can be concluded that although the prediction strategy has a positive effect on the students’ reading comprehension, students still have face some problem while they are reading because of some other factors such as the problem with vocabulary, activating background knowledge, using authentic materials, and scanning and skimming skills
Considering with that result, there points that can be raised and discussed with regard to the findings in order to make students improve in reading comprehension skill 3.2.1 Having authentic reading purpose
Trang 32on what the text might suggest Students must be reading for reasons that make sense and have relevance to them They have to decide your purpose of reading before going to read Now that you have a general grasp of the material, you need to define a purpose What information are you hoping to gain? This sounds like a simple question, but sometimes it is not Different readers can have drastically different objectives Thus, it is important for students to have a clear purpose and to keep in mind what they want to gain from the text If we have a clear purpose of reading, you will find down the pleasure in reading This makes your reading practice more comfortable and effective However, if you don’t define a purpose, it’s likely you'll get bogged down by unimportant sections or ignore crucial ones The purpose of reading is to connect the ideas on the page to what you already know In addition, if you do not know anything about a subject, then pouring words of text into your mind is like pouring water into your hand You do not retain much By clarifying what you need to know, you will be able to distinguish the important from the irrelevant and allocate your attention accordingly A clear purpose of reading usually enhances post-reading discussion 3.2.2 Choosing authentic reading materials
Trang 33language of the text but on what sort of knowledge the learners bring to the text and how much they like to read it Besides reading passages in course-book, teachers can select different materials from different sources such as books, magazines, newspapers, or even from the internet to make the materials more enticing and varying Reading a selection for which students have little background knowledge also makes comprehending the passage more difficult Students are much more likely to comprehend what they read if teachers help them connect new information to prior knowledge and experiences, plan ways to build their background knowledge, and increase their understanding of the world Sometimes, teachers should let their students select what they want to read about The principle of freedom of choice means that learners can select texts as they do in their own language, that is, they can choose texts they expect to understand, to enjoy or to learn from Correlative to this principle, learners are also free, indeed encouraged, to stop reading anything they find to be too
difficult, or that turns out not to be of interest
3.2.3 Improving background knowledge for further reading
Trang 34have an adequate amount of background knowledge on the subject of a text will have a lower comprehension of the text To activate students’ background knowledge, teachers can use many activities such as class discussion related to the text, or letting student watch a video clip about the reading topic In this way, students will have a clear imagination in their head about what they are going to read about This will make their reading process more fluent and effective To do that, one need to be raised is to read as much as possible Learners should be encouraged to read the books they like as well as research the information given in internet and websites It helps learners to build up a good habit and explore the knowledge about the world outside
3.2.4 Improving vocabulary by reading as much as possible
Vocabulary is an extremely important part in a language It is said that language is a set of vocabularies When we build a house, foundation is the most important Similarly, vocabulary is the first important thing need to be paid attention when we start learning a language Vocabulary is the basic tool in communicating as well as imparting and receiving knowledge We cannot understand or study a language without understanding of its vocabulary As seen in the study, students could not made good use of predicting strategies in their reading comprehension because of their deficiency in their prior knowledge of the text topic and the textual structure as well as their vocabulary Nevertheless, in many cases, even though the students understood all the linguistic cues, they failed to make predictions due to their insufficient relevant prior knowledge of the topic Therefore, it is vital that teachers help students broaden their knowledge and vocabulary, and this might be aided by extensive reading Teachers should frequently assign students reading texts of different topics and
structures, then ask them to summarize each text in the form of network, or semantic
Trang 36contributes to develop your other skills because you can know more words to present your ideas in speaking or writing
3.2.5 Combining prediction strategy with other strategies
The four key principles to developing reading skill are letting students use their prediction skill It means that teachers should not give students every explanation For example, when we give our students reading tasks, we should not give all definitions of
all vocabulary; when we do that, our students have to brainstorm, and predict the
meanings depending on the context of the reading passage We should give chances for them to ask questions about the text or vocabulary just when they do not find out the answers Using prediction skill, students will save time in looking up dictionary Moreover, it also creates a good habit for students in reading information and they will remember what they learn longer However in order to get the best result in reading comprehension, combination with other strategies such as skimming and scanning is necessary This requires the teacher with the good combination and methodology in transferring and guiding the students reading with their useful own ways of reading 3.3 Pedagogical Implication
English teachers in general and teachers at HUI in particular can benefit from the present findings because they can modify their further reading teaching to really meet the students’ urgent needs The implications for teaching derived from the present research include the following points
Trang 38PART C: CONCLUSION 1 Conclusion of the study
Trang 39particular and reading skill in general in order to meet the need of the students and motivate them in learning reading comprehension skill
2 Limitation of the study
Despite my effort to take all aspects of the research into consideration, the study still bore some limitations in terms of the data collection instruments Some of the limitations of this study include external validity, or the generalizability of the study Only 52 participants who participated in the complete study and each participant was an English non-majored student They are shy and not confidents to join in the activities Moreover, in the limited time and condition, the research process just ended in Cycle 2 when the total learning score in reading of the students was 61.9 It would be more reliable if the researcher had more time to make it up to 70.0 In addition, prediction strategy is just one of reading strategies The research cannot have a comprehensive view on students’ reading learning strategies
3 Suggestion of the study
The present study explored the improvement that predicting strategy instruction has made in the subjects’ reading comprehension and determined effective techniques to teach these reading strategies, and this study, based on the findings of the research offered some suggestions for further research as follows: