The effects of pre reading on students reading comprehension at chợ lạch a high school in ben tre province

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES - - Student: DANG THE NHU THE EFFECTS OF PRE-READING ACTIVITIES ON STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION AT “CHỢ LÁCH A” HIGH SCHOOL IN BẾN TRE PROVINCE Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL) Supervisor Dr LE THI ANH PHUONG Ho Chi Minh City, 2012 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: THE EFFECTS OF PRE-READING ACTIVITIES ON STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION AT "CHO LACH A" HIGH SCHOOL IN BEN TRE PROVINCE In terms of the statement of Requirements for Theses in Master’ Program issued by the Higher Degree Committee, the thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree Ho Chi Minh City, Dang The Nhu i RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, Dang The Nhu, being the candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library In terms of these conventions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for care, loan or reproduction of the theses Ho Chi Minh City, Dang The Nhu ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, my deepest gratitude was expressed to Dr Le Thi Anh Phuong, my supervisor, for her encouragement and kind support for my thesis I highly appreciate her valuable insights in her feedback to me and I am so grateful for all her guidance, and confidence in my ability to accomplish this thesis I would also like to express my sincere thanks to all the instructors who have been taught TESOL 08 class for their teaching I am especially grateful to my beloved family, I would like to thank my mother, Mrs Pham Thi My Hoa for her patience and support given to me during the time I did this thesis, two of my sisters for their enthusiasm and good care for my newly-born baby so that I could have the time to this research, my husband and my brother for their support and help I would like to express my thanks to all my classmates at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities for their constant assistance and support while I was studying at this University My sincere thanks go to all of the students and English staff who participated in this research for their kindness and willingness to help me overcome difficulties in doing this thesis at "Cho Lach A" high school iii ABSTRACT This thesis investigates the effects of pre-reading activities on students’ reading comprehension of grade 11 at "Cho Lach A" high school in Ben Tre Province The thesis starts with students' perceptions about the current pre reading activities in English Grade 11 textbook Based on these findings, adaptations of these activities were made and tried out After that the effectiveness of the adapted activities was evaluated via the differences between the pre and post test scores in the reading tests taken by the students, in addition to the questionnaire responses provided by the students and the teachers Implications and recommendations for applying the adapted pre-reading activities to help solve these problems are indicated The data were collected from 85 students of two classes of grade 11, in "Cho Lach A" high school in Ben Tre province, with one as control group and the other as experimental group The findings showed that students and teachers were generally in favor of pre-reading activities in the textbook in providing students with background knowledge and information related to the readings These pre-reading activities in the textbook, nevertheless, were still limited in the number available, in their inadequate and small-sized pictures and difficult questions which were not motivating enough to help the students in improving their reading skills In addition, activities such as, discussion, pictorial contexts, matching and pre-questions were more popular to the students than guessing The adaptation of pre reading activities was conducted in sessions of about 10 minutes with the Experimental group to find out students’ reading comprehension iv It seemed that adapted pre-reading activities were positively perceived by the students They found these activities interesting and relevant to their personal experience, as reported in the questionnaires and journal data As shown in the experiment, the additional activities provided the students with more information about the readings, with the vocabulary and pictorial context activities more popular than brainstorming, guessing and semantic mapping Of note, pre-question and previewing seemed to be much less popular The results of the adapted activities were encouraging as they seemed helpful in improving the students' test scores Based on the findings, implications and suggestions were given to improve the teaching of English, in particular reading comprehension at "Cho Lach A" school and in similar contexts in Vietnam v TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of originality i Retention and use of the thesis ii Acknowledgements .iii Abstract iv Table of contents vi List of charts x List of tables xi Abbreviations xii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background .1 1.2 Problems in teaching and learning English 1.3 Research problems 1.4 Limitation .5 1.5 Hypotheses 1.6 Significance of the thesis .5 1.7 Definitions of terms 1.8 Organizations of the study .7 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Importance of reading .9 2.2 Reading process 2.3 Importance of reading skills 10 2.4 Reading purposes 11 2.5 Approaches in teaching reading skill .12 2.5.1 Phonic approach 12 vi 2.5.2 Whole language approach 13 2.6 Stages in a reading lesson 15 2.6.1 Pre reading stage 15 2.6.2 While reading stage 17 2.6.3 Post reading stage 17 2.7 Pre-reading activities .18 2.7.1 Importance 18 2.7.2 Purposes 19 2.7.3 Types 20 2.7.3.1 Brainstorming 20 2.7.3.2 Previewing 21 2.7.3.3 Pre-questioning 21 2.7.3.4 Semantic mapping .23 2.7.3.5 Vocabulary activity 23 2.7.3.6 Pictorial contexts .24 2.7.3.7 Prediction 25 2.8 Principles in teaching pre-reading activities 25 2.9 Empirical studies .27 2.10 Role of textbooks 28 2.11 Textbook evaluation and adaptation 30 2.12 Summary .33 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 34 3.1 Research questions 34 3.2 Research design 34 3.2.1 Subjects .38 3.2.2 Description of the textbook 39 3.2.3 Adapted activities 40 vii 3.2.4 Description of data collection instruments 44 3.2.4.1 Journal 44 3.2.4.2 Questionnaires 44 3.2.4.3 Pre and post tests 46 3.2.5 Data collection procedures 46 3.2.6 Data analysis method 47 3.3 Summary .48 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND FINDINGS .49 4.1 Results and discussion 49 4.1.1 Participants’ perceptions about textbook activities .49 4.1.1.1 Effectiveness of these activities 49 4.1.1.2 Reasons .50 4.1.2 Participants’ perceptions about adapted activities .52 4.1.2.1 Usefulness of adapted activities .52 4.1.2.2 Effectiveness of adapted activities .56 4.1.2.3 Effects of adapted activities .58 4.1.3 Test results 59 4.1.3.1 Pre test scores 60 4.1.3.2 Post test scores 60 4.1.3.3 Pre test and post test comparison .61 4.1.4 Additional data .62 4.2 Main findings 64 4.3 Summary .65 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 66 5.1 Conclusions 66 5.2 Implications and recommendations 67 viii 5.2.1 Importance of pre reading activities 67 5.2.2 Limitations of textbooks .68 5.2.3 Textbook evaluation .68 5.2.4 Textbook adaptations 69 5.2.5 Teaching pre reading activities .69 5.3 Limitations of the study 71 5.4 Suggestions for further research 71 REFERENCES 72 APPENDICES 80 APPENDIX 1: TEXTBOOK AND ADAPTED ACTIVITIES .80 APPENDIX 2: EXAMPLES OF DIFFICULT QUESTIONS .83 APPENDIX 3: GROUP A’S TEST SCORES .84 APPENDIX 4: GROUP B’S TEST SCORES .86 APPENDIX 5: REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE AND VOCABULARY 88 APPENDIX 6: SUGGESTED ADAPTATIONS AND AUTHORS 90 APPENDIX 7: QUESTIONNAIRE 92 APPENDIX 8: QUESTIONNAIRE 97 APPENDIX 9: EFFECTS OF TEXTBOOK ACTIVITIES:REASONS 102 APPENDIX 10: EFFECTS OF ADAPTED ACTIVITIES 104 APPENDIX 11: JOURNALS 107 APPENDIX 12: PRE TEST 111 APPENDIX 13: POST TEST 117 APPENDIX 14: ADAPTED ACTIVITIES for “ENGLISH 11” 124 ix 5) ………………………… a Express Money Transfer b Phone Calls and Faxes c Press Distribution d Mail and Parcel Service Task Predict what exactly people in each service with following given phrases of words transfer money to one’s relatives in less than 24 hours the ordinary telephone call service send a document but not lose its original shape transmit texts and graphics over distances 141 send letters or packages by air or by land or by sea deliver EMS in the shortest time subscribe your favorite newspapers or magazines your newspapers or magazines will be delivered early in the morning a Express Money Transfer: …………………………………………………… …………………………………………………… b Phone Calls and Faxes …………………………………………………… ………………………………………………… c Press Distribution …………………………………………………… …………………………………………………… d Mail and Parcel Service …………………………………………………… …………………………………………………… 142 10: Read these facts about endangered species and NATURE discuss the two questions below: IN Once found throughout Africa and Asia, cheetahs DANGER are now only scattered throughout East Asia (p.114) It is estimated that only 1,000 pandas remain in Task 1) Pre-questions: the wild There are only about 20 Siberian tigers left the wild in China and about 100 live in Chinese zoos Whale Elephant and national parks What you understand from the facts above? Can you explain why the numbers of these animals have become small? Parrot 143 Polar Tortoise Leopard Monkey Rhinoceros Look at these above pictures Which of these animals are in danger? Which of the animals can be found in Vietnam? 144 Task 2) Prediction: Look at these pictures and guess the causes and solutions to these effects Garbage Tree cutting 145 Volcano Earthquake Flood Forest fire 11: Matching: Think of the advantages and SOURCES disadvantages of these energies Write down OF words or phrases in the box ENERGY Unlimited Limited Available Very dangerous Expensive Clean and unlimited Only possible in a few places Exhausted in a short tim Possible during day time Clean and unlimited No wind energy when there is no wind (p.124) Sources of energy Nuclear energy answer the following questions: Solar energy What source of energy does each picture 146 Water power Advantages Disadvantages above refer to? (wind power, water power, Wind power and solar energy) Geothermal heat What you need energy for? Give the names of the sports and their pictures: 12: THE ASIAN GAMES (p.136) A B Discuss the following questions: How often are the Asian Games held? How many countries take part in the Asian Games? What sports are Vietnam best at? C 147 D E F 1).basketball… 4).hockey … 2).athletics… 5) mountain biking … 3).wrestling … 6) cycling… KEY: 1.B F A D E C 2).Pre-questions: Do you know names of the sports in the picture above? Can you name them all? Can you name some other sports? Do you like sports? What kinds of sports you like? 148 13: The pictures below present some hobbies Work Task 1) HOBBIES with a partner and say which you like to in your Put five of your favorite activities in order from (p.146) free time to painting shopping reading a book watching sports keeping fit making money spending money having a message learning new things helping other people meeting new people visiting places doing nothing eating meditating listening to music decorating your home doing puzzles working tudying singing collecting stamps Task 2) What activities are mentioned in this text? 149 14: Which of the following leisure activities you RECREAT think British people often in their spare time? Task 2) Predict what activities you think British people in their free time ION (p 154) Which of the following leisure activities you think British people often in their spare time? □ reading books/newspapers □ meeting friends □ watching TV/videos □ listening to music □ playing sports □ watching sports □ shopping □ spending time outdoors □ singing □ playing a musical instrument 15: SPACE Ask and answer the following questions Pictorial context: Match the events with the CONQUES Who is the first human to fly into space? dates given T Can you name the first humans to set foot on the moon? 150 (p 166) Who is the first Vietnamese to fly into First Vietnamese in space space? First oldest human ever to fly into space First artificial satellite: Sputnik First woman in space First Chinese in space 151 First human to set foot on the moon First living being in space First human in space A 20th July, 1969 B 3rd November, 1957 C 16th June, 1963 D 15th October, 2003 E 12th April, 1961 152 F 4th October, 1957 G 29th October, 1989 H 23rd July, 1980 Key: H G F C D A B E 16: THE Below are two famous man-made wonders of the Pictorial context by matching the names to the WONDER world Look at them and answer the questions: famous sights and where they are S OF THE WORLD (p 178) A ……………… B………… Can you name two wonders of the world? Where you think they are located? What you know about them? C……………… 153 D……………… E……………… 154 F……………… 1.The Parthenon a Athens, Greece 2.The Stonehenge b Wilshire, England 3.The Great Wall c Beijing, China 4.The Taj Mahal d Angra, India 5.The Opera House e Sydney, Australia 6.The Pyramids f Cairo, Egypt 124 ... with information preparing for the reading text which caused them less motivated and interesting in approaching the reading A big problem in teaching is that in their daily teaching of a reading. .. ABSTRACT This thesis investigates the effects of pre- reading activities on students? ?? reading comprehension of grade 11 at "Cho Lach A" high school in Ben Tre Province The thesis starts with students' ... contributions Theoretically, this study was conducted to add information of reading process as well as reading skill and information on the effects of pre reading activities on students? ?? reading comprehension