Using extensive reading to enhance grade 10 english gifted students’ reading comprehension and reading motivation at nguyen xuan on high school

NGHE AN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING NGUYEN XUAN ON HIGH SCHOOL - - TEACHING EXPERIENCE USING EXTENSIVE READING TO ENHANCE GRADE 10 ENGLISH GIFTED STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION AND READING MOTIVATION AT NGUYEN XUAN ON HIGH SCHOOL Subject: Foreign Language Teaching Field: Education Author: Nguyen Thi Thuy Nga Year: 2021 Nguyen Xuan On High School Dien Chau, March 2021 ABBREVIATION ER Extensive Reading L2 Second Language EFL English as a Foreign Language ESL English as Second Language L1 First Language MRQ Motivation for Reading Questionnaire ERF Extensive Reading Foundation SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Min Minimum Max Maximum M Mean SD Standard Deviation i LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Oxford Bookworm Library’s levels 15 Table 3.2 Penguin Readers’ levels 16 Table 3.3 Macmillan Readers’ levels .17 Table 3.4 Cambridge English Readers’ levels .17 Table 3.5 The ER program’s schedule 19 Table 4.1 Pre-questionnaire’s Descriptive Statistics 26 Table 4.2 Post-questionnaire’s Descriptive Statistics 28 Table 4.3 Paired Samples Test – Pairs of Items 3, & .31 Table 4.4 Paired Samples Test – Pairs of Items 1, & .34 Table 4.5 Paired Samples Test – Pairs of Items 2, 4, 8, & 10 38 Table 4.6 Reading comprehension tests’ statistics 41 Table 4.7 Pre-test’s frequency 41 Table 4.8 Post-test’s frequency 42 Table 4.9 Results of Pair Sample Test – Pre-test & Post-test 43 Table 4.10 Results of pre-test and post-test – participant 2, 3, 4, 6, and 44 ii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1: Simple Action Research Model .15 Figure 4.1 Participants’ reading motivation from reading reports… ………… 29 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABBREVIATION .i LIST OF TABLES .ii LIST OF FIGURES iii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .1 1.1 Reason for choosing the topic .1 1.2 History of the problem …………… ………….2 1.3 Aims of the study and research questions ….3 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Method of study ………………………………………………… ………… …4 1.7 The organization of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Theoretical background of reading 1.1 Definitions of reading .… 2.1.2 Definition of reading comprehension: .5 2.1.3 Types of reading …6 2.2 Extensive reading 2.2.1 The definition of extensive reading 2.2.2 Graded readers 2.3 Reading motivation 10 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 13 3.1 Restatement of research questions: .13 3.2 Participants .13 3.3 Research method: 13 3.3.1 Rationale: 13 3.3.2 Action research process: 14 3.4 The extensive reading program 15 3.4.1 Materials 15 3.4.2 Level tests 18 iv 3.4.3 The extensive reading procedure .19 3.5 Data collection instruments 21 3.5.1 Questionnaires: .21 3.5.2 Tests…… 22 3.5.3 Reading reports 22 3.5.4 Interviews 23 3.6 Data analysis .24 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .25 4.1 Effects of the ER program on participants’ intrinsic reading motivation 25 4.1.1 The importance of reading in English .25 4.1.2 Reading involvement 33 4.1.3 Reading curiosity 36 4.1.4 Reading for scores – an extrinsic reading motivation factor 39 4.2 Effects of the ER program on participant’s reading comprehension skill 40 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION 46 5.1 Conclusions 46 5.2 Implications .47 5.3 Limitations and recommendations 48 REFERENCES 49-52 APPENDIX 1A 53 APPENDIX 1B 55 APPENDIX 57 APPENDIX 3A 61 APPENDIX 3B 65 APPENDIX 69 APPENDIX 70 APPENDIX 72 APPENDIX 7A 73 APPENDIX 7B 75 APPENDIX 8A 77 APPENDIX 8B 78 APPENDIX 79 v vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Reason for choosing the topic: Nowadays, with the rapid pace of integration and globalization, English becomes a golden key to open the door of many fields such as commerce, communication, science and technology throughout the world Therefore, to meet the demand of the society, it is very necessary to teach English in schools of all levels In recent years teaching and learning English in secondary schools have been major changes in the contents and teaching methods to fit the goals and requirements set for this subject in the reform program The most basic point of the new method is to promote students’ positive, proactive and create optimal conditions for students to train, develop and enhance abilities, how to use language in communication purposes rather than providing purely linguistic knowledge With this view, the techniques and activities in the classroom has been changed and diversified development Therefore, teachers need to grasp the main principles of the new method and learn the techniques and teaching activities from the viewpoint of communication that can be applied in a flexible, consistent and effective way The problem becomes more complicated when placed in Vietnam Students are often lazy to read, especially there are some new topics in the textbooks and the vocabulary is quite difficult A difficulty is that students have low language competence Therefore, it requires the efforts of both teachers and students from the first days at school Teachers should always explore and innovate teaching methods that meet students’ needs Also, students need to try their best to study and practice Nevertheless, grade 10 students have not shown that learning spirit They often show no interest in subjects and no focus on practicing basic skills, especially reading skill – the crucial skill It can help improve other skills: enhancing vocabulary in listening and speaking and improving writing skill Consequently, their reading comprehension is not sufficient to help them understand reading texts and motivate them to use reading skills to enhance language input For the above reasons, I decide to conduct a study titled : “Using extensive reading to enhance grade 10 English gifted students’ reading comprehension and reading motivation at Nguyen Xuan On High school” 1.2 History of the problem: Many people are trying to find out the answer for the question of how to learn English effectively Nuttall (1982, p 168 as cited in Renandya, 2007) wrote: “The best way to improve one’s knowledge of a foreign language is to go and live among its speakers.” It means that language learners need to move to and live in the environment where the language is used every time and everywhere However, almost all learners in Vietnam cannot afford to learn English in this way Nuttall also mentioned another way: “The next best way is to read extensively in it.” The second way, extensive reading (ER), appears to be more suitable and economical There have been several studies on ER with positive results for recent years It has both, cognitive and affective positive effects on the readers (improving readers’ communicating skills, helping readers acquire and retain vocabulary, motivating readers in reading in particular and in their language study in general (Nation, 1997)) ER can help learners with larger quantities of second language input (Hafiz & Tudor, 1989, as cited in Hedge, 2001), improve reading comprehension and reading speed (Bell, 2001), develop learner autonomy (Wu & Wu, 2009), increase reading motivation (Ro, 2013), help enhance reading rate (Huffman, 2014), encourage a positive attitude towards reading fluency (Wardani, 2015), improve EFL learners’ writing (Mermelstein, 2015), enrich lexical chunks acquisition (Pereyra, 2015) and so on As can be seen in those above studies, ER is currently being considered as one effective learning and teaching method However, the ER program has not been applied at schools where the researcher is working Hence, its effects at this schools is still unknown and the researcher would like to find out whether it helps improve students’ reading comprehension and motivate students to read in English So, I tried to explore this research by applying theory to practical teaching, with a desire to contribute my experience in arousing students’ interest in learning English This helps students love and have a passion for English in order to contribute improving the quality of teaching and learning English 1.3 Aims of the study and research questions As mentioned above, the purpose of the study is to find out whether implementing an extensive reading program with graded readers as the materials can help improve students’ reading comprehension and intrinsic reading motivation In order to achieve the purpose, the study is guided by the two main following questions: To what extent does reading graded readers affect students’ intrinsic reading motivation? To what extent does reading graded readers affect students’ reading comprehension? 1.4 Scope of the study The study focuses on using ER in teaching reading comprehension to grade 10 students at Nguyen Xuan On High school Hence, the study limits itself to teaching and learning reading only, and the participants of the study are 14 gifted students at grade 10 1.5 Significance of the study The findings of the study are expected to be useful for all the people concerned including the researcher, teachers, and students Hopefully, the study supplies English language teachers with the understanding of ER in terms of effects when applying it in teaching reading skill In addition, this is the first time an ER program applied for grade 10 students at Nguyen Xuan On High school; consequently, the final results of the study is a strong recommendation for ER programs to be integrated in the existing curriculum for the development of reading comprehension and reading motivation at schools 1.6 Method of study - Methods of theoretical studies: literature review of teaching activities - Method of practical research: It includes many methods such as: Observation; investigation; exchanges; statistics; aggregate; compare; summarize experience But free-riding, that’s doing what you want when you’re not in a competition, is the best thing in the world for me.” We asked her what is important when you’re learning “You can learn quickly but you need lessons It’s also important to have the right clothes so you don’t get wet because, to begin with, you spend a lot of time falling down!” Victoria was visiting Switzerland for a competition a Right b wrong c doesn’t say Victoria has won many skiing competitions a Right b wrong c doesn’t say Victoria thinks that snowboarding is a difficult sport to learn a Right b wrong c doesn’t say Working hard at her sport is not a problem for Victoria a Right b wrong c doesn’t say Victoria likes competitions more than anything else a Right b wrong c doesn’t say Victoria thinks you should have a teacher if you want to learn snowboarding a Right b wrong c doesn’t say Victoria says you can wear anything you like when you learn to snowboard a Right b wrong c doesn’t say III Read the text below and choose the correct words for each space For each question, circle the correct answer – A, B, C, or D – on your answer sheet SAMUEL PEPYS The most famous diary in English was written by Samuel Pepys It gives a detailed and interesting (1) of everyday life in England (2) 1660 and 1669 Pepys writes about important news stories of the time, like disease, an enemy navy (3) up the River Thames and the Great Fire of London He also writes about himself, even about his (4) - he often slept during church or (5) at the pretty girls He describes his home life – a (6) with his wife and how they became friends again, his worry about her illness As well as books, he liked music, the theatre, card (7) , and parties with good food and (8) of fun Pepys was a busy man who had many important (9) - he was a Member of Parliament and President of the Royal Society He is also (10) for his work for the British Navy 62 A description A between A driving A accidents A looked A conversation A battles A amount A acts 10 A reviewed b letter b from b flying b plans b prayed b discussion b games b plenty b hobbies b remembered c notice c through c running c dreams c talked c quarrel c matches c much c jobs c reminded -!- THE END -!- 63 d story d to d sailing d faults d thought d talk d plays d some d studies d reported APPENDIX Results of reading comprehension tests Participants Pre-test result Post-test result Gain 15 16 14 18 16 17 17 17 12 13 14 16 12 13 10 14 14 12 -2 10 16 16 11 14 14 12 12 15 13 15 15 14 16 13 -3 64 APPENDIX Level Test Sample (Level 2) Choose the best answer Jennifer looked at the clock on the waiting-room wall Nearly half-past eight The light was still on in Doctor Gibson's room I'm going to be late, she said to herself, why doesn't he hurry up? The evening surgery was always busy on Thursdays but tonight was worse than usual He/She/ They/ It quickly put the newspapers in a wardrobe/ shelf/ cupboard/ table Then she took off her white gloves/ shoes/ trousers/ coat and locked it in the cupboard to/ too/ two/ together She was turning off the lights where/ while/ when/ what someone rang the front doorbell Oh no/ not/ yes/ well, not another patient, not at this day/ minute/ hour/ month She ran to the door and open/ opening/ openly/ opened it Outside it was dark but her/ she/ he/ hers could see a man, his hands deep/ low/ down/ under in his pockets He moved his heart/ head/ back/ ears and the light fell on his fork/ flower/ finger/ face 'Richard!' she cried in surprise 'What is/ have/ are/ were you doing here?' 'Can I come on/ in/ at/ to for a minute?' He did not waited/ waiting/ waiter/ wait for an answer but pushed past her/ she/ hers/ him and went inside Jennifer turned to he/ his/ him/ her She was usually pleased when Richard shouted/ cried/ called/ asked but this was the wrong time “I/ I’m/ Im/ Its sorry, but you can't stay I could/ would/ might/ must hurry I'm meeting my friend Claire at/ to for/ of dinner and ' She stopped It was Richard/ Richards/ Richard is/ Richard’s eyes - they looked tired and worried Which’s/ What’s/ Who’s/ Where’s the matter?' she asked Just then Mr./ Mrs./ Dr./ Ms Gibson called from his room 'Did I/ I’m/ it/ they hear the doorbell, Nurse? Was it other/ another/ more/ an patient?' 'No, it's only my brother him/ that/ it/ Richard.’ she called back 65 She turned back at/ for/ from/ to Richard 'Is something wrong?' she asked another/ more/ began/ before He shook his head 'I'm fine,' he/ she/ they/ it said 'It's just well, I had some trouble at work.' 'Trouble?' 'It was nothing really I said something to my boss and he didn't like it He got angry with me and and in the end he told me to go So I've lost my job.' 66 APPENDIX Results of level tests Here are the list of participants’ scores at three level tests: Level test – level Level test – level Level test – level At the beginning At the beginning After weeks 20 27 26 20 26 29 23 28 28 23 27 26 18 26 26 18 24 27 15 25 28 14 24 27 20 25 25 10 20 28 26 11 19 26 26 12 16 24 25 13 22 25 25 14 22 26 25 Participants 67 APPENDIX 7A READING REPORT (Adapted from Helgesen’s ) Week: …… Your name: ……………………………………………………………………… Book’s title: ……………………………………………………………………… Type (circle): Non-fiction: cu – culture sc – science Fiction: hs – history bio – biography nf – other non-fiction: hi – human interest my – mystery ad – adventure rm- romance sf – science fiction tl - thriller of – other fiction: _ Publishers: O – Oxford M – Macmillan Level: Pages: It took me days to read the book Reaction report: P – Pearson C- Cambridge (Include: What the book was about/ What you thought of it) ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… Evaluation: Good I’d recommend this book to a friend 68 Tick one Average It was just so-so Poor This book was not interesting Your opinions of reading: ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… APPENDIX 7B (Participant’s reading report) 69 70 APPENDIX 8A 71 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Have you ever taken part in an ER program before? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… If yes, what material have you read? And how often? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Do you like reading graded readers? Why/ why not? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… How many books have you read in the program? How long did it take you to finish one book? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Could you understand all the content of the graded readers? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Do you have any problems while reading graded readers? Is yes, what are they? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… 72 APPENDIX 8B CÂU HỎI PHỎNG VẤN Trước em tham gia chương trình đọc mở rộng chưa? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Nếu có, em đọc tài liệu nào, vào lúc nào? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Em có thích đọc sách/ truyện khơng? Tại sao? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Trong chương trình đọc mở rộng em đọc sách/ truyện? Mất để em đọc xong cuốn? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Em có hiểu hết nội dung sách/ truyện khơng? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Em có gặp vấn đề đọc khơng? Nếu có, vấn đề gì? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… APPENDIX LIST OF GRADED READERS Level 1: Elementary (early & mid) No Publishers Codes Types Oxford Fiction (F) O8 Bookworm Playscripts O9 Non-Fiction (NF) Library Factfiles 73 Titles A ghost in love and other plays Animals in danger No 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Publishers Codes O10 O11 O12 O13 O14 O15 O16 (level 1) O17 O18 O19 O20 O21 O22 O23 P14 P15 Types F-playscripts F–Thriller & adventure F–Crime & Mystery NF–True stories F–Thriller & adventure F-Human Interest NF–True stories NF–True stories F-Human Interest F-World Stories F-Fantasy & Horror F-classics F-Fantasy & Horror NF–True stories F-Contemporary F-Contemporary Titles Five short plays Goodbye, Mr Hollywood Love or Money Mutiny on the Bounty White Death One way tickets The Coldest Place on Earth The Elephant Man The Lottery Winner The Meaning of gifts The Monkey’s Paw The Withered Arm The Wizard of Oz The Witches of Pendle The Wave The Mummy Returns King Arthur and the Knights of 19 P16 F-Classic 20 P17 F-Classic 21 P18 F-Classic 22 23 24 25 P19 P20 P21 P22 F-Classic F-Original F-Contemporary F-Classic P23 F-Classic 27 28 29 30 P24 P25 P26 P27 F-Original F- Human Interest F-Classic F-Classic 31 P28 F-Contemporary 32 33 34 35 P29 P30 P31 M16 F-Classic F- Adventure F-Contemporary Human Myths Black Beauty Round the World in 80 Days Mr Bean in Town The Adventures of Huckleberry Readers Interest/Humour/ Finn (Level 2) Crime/Detection/ 26 Penguin Readers (level 2) Macmillan the Round Table Robin Hood The Story of the Treasure Adventure/ Thriller/Spy 74 Seekers Treasure Island London The Lady in the Lake Moby Dick The Room in the Tower and Other Ghost Stories Lost Love and Other Stories Anne of Green Gables Simply Suspense Persuasion Stranger than Fiction: Urban No Publishers Codes 36 M25 37 M26 Types Human Interest/Romance Human Interest/Mystery/ Titles The House on the Hill Jane Eyre Horror/Ghost/Romance Human 38 M29 39 M30 40 M35 41 M36 42 M39 43 C12 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Cambridge English Readers (level 1) C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 Interest/Romance /Adventure/Thriller/Spy Human Interest/Romance Human Interest/Romance Human Interest/ Adventure/Thriller/Spy Mystery/Horror/ Ghost/Romance F-Murder & Investigation F-Mystery F-Thriller F-Mystery F-Mystery F-Mystery F-Romance F-Mystery The Last of the Mohicans Little Women The Mill on the Floss Money for a Motorbike The Phantom of the Opera Bad Love The Big Picture Blood Diamonds Don’t Stop Now! Inspector Logan John Doe Next Door to Love Parallel Level 2: Pre-intermediate (high elementary & early intermediate) No Publishers OBL (level 2) Codes O29 O30 O31 O32 O33 O34 O35 Types NF-True Stories F-Fantasy and Horror F- Human Interest F- Human Interest F-Crime and Mystery F-Classics F- Human Interest 75 Titles The Death of Karan Silkwood Voodoo Island New Yorkers Short Stories Anne of Green Gables Sherlock Holmes Short Stories Robinson Crusoe The Piano No Publishers Codes Types O36 F-Classics 10 11 12 O37 O38 O40 O41 13 O42 F-Classics F-Classics F-Classics F- Fantasy and Horror F- Thriller and 14 15 O43 O44 Adventure F-Human Interest NF-factfiles O45 F- Fantasy and Horror 17 18 19 O46 O47 O48 20 O49 F-Classics F- Human Interest F- Human Interest F- Thriller and 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 O50 O51 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C36 C27 16 OBL (level 3) Cambridge Readers (level 2) Adventure NF-factfiles F- Fantasy and Horror F-Comedy F-Mystery F- Human Interest F-Mystery F-Thriller F- Human Interest F-Mystery F-Science 76 Titles Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland The Jungle Book A Christmas Caroll Ethan Frame Frankenstein Goldfish Love Story Recycling-factfiles Tales of Mystery and Imafination The Call of the Wild The Railway Children The Secret Garden Skyjack The USA The Picture of Dorian Gray Circle Games Dead Cold Jojo’s Story Logan’s Choice The Man from Nowhere One Day A Picture to Remember Superbird ... above reasons, I decide to conduct a study titled : ? ?Using extensive reading to enhance grade 10 English gifted students’ reading comprehension and reading motivation at Nguyen Xuan On High school? ??... motivation? To what extent does reading graded readers affect students’ reading comprehension? 1.4 Scope of the study The study focuses on using ER in teaching reading comprehension to grade 10. .. et al (2012) divided reading motivation into two types: autonomous reading motivation and controlled reading motivation These two types are defined like intrinsic value and extrinsic value in