effective strategies on improving reading comprehension in the current high school graduation exam

1.INTRODUCTION 1.1.The reason of choosing the topic English today is considered a global language and almost anyone in the world needs to master this language as a way to communicate and integrate.It is compulsory for students who will be the future masters of the country Along with the development of technology, medicine, engineering and education, English plays a very important role Therefore, learning English becomes even more necessary than ever When learning English, besides acquiring the ability to communicate, reading skill also plays an integral part in learning process Reading not only helps students expand vocabulary but also learn grammatical structures in a natural way In high school graduation examination, it is reading skill that is one of the skills tested and it accounts for 30 percent of the entire marks.  This skill often makes my students lose patience That is to say having a good reading skill is very necessary.At Hoang Le Kha high school, for most of the students, they find reading comprehension especially important yet most challenging one When doing this kind of task, students often start reading the passages immediately, even translate them into their mother language whereas the passages are often long and difficult with a lot of new words Because of lack of a suitable method to answer each kind of questions, students not have enough time to complete their task or choose the answer at random On the other hand, students not have many chances to this kind of tasks because most of the passages in the textbook 10, 11, and 12 – basic – only ask students to read the passages and then answer the questions Consequently, most of them not recognize each type of questions and even not know what the requirement of the question is Due to these reasons, students often get poor result when doing this kind of exercises On teaching reading skill, especially multiple choice reading comprehension to the students at Hoang Le Kha high school I have found that classifying each kind of questions to find out the answer quickly, accurately and adapting the textbook to give students more chances to practice doing this kind of tasks are very important in teaching reading skill The above reasons have inspired me to conduct my initiative with the title “effective strategies on improving reading comprehension in the current high school graduation exam” 1.2 Aims of the research This paper aims: - Provide students with the most effective strategies for English reading comprehension skills - Study a range of different reading skills that help students improve their reading skills 1.3 Object of the Research This subject focuses on students at Hoang Le Kha High School to help them to conquer high result in reading comprehension in high school graduation exam 1.4 Methods of study - Finding out difficulties that students have in English classes - Reading reference books - Discussing with my colleagues - Attending classes of co-workers - Applying ideas in teaching - Observing and drawing out experiences - Checking and assessing students’ understanding CONTENTS 2.1.Rationale of the study According to Williams (Williams, E (1984) Reading in a Language Classroom London: Macmillan ) The role of reading in learning a foreign language learners can practice the language they met through listening and speaking Language that students get through reading can be reused for writing skills, or students can interpret the meaning of the reading to obtain the necessary information for them That is to say, to have good reading comprehension skills is very important Having a good reading skills is one of the core elements to help them achieve high marks in the examinations Reading comprehension is one of the most important skills in learning English Therefore, mastering this skill is the key to master English However, it is not easy to so It is necessary to lay down some strategies to improve reading comprehension skill The writing below is aimed at pointing out a number of strategies on improving reading comprehension skill among high school student 2.2 Practical basis Having taught English at Hoang Le Kha High School for many years, I have noticed English is probably one of the most challenging subjects that often create high levels of anxiety and stress among learners here.The fact is that those who are usually bored or not interested in the English class not engage enough in class work, which leads to slow acquisition, unequal power in school They seem to feel discouraged and often neglect it It is these problems that urge me to find out the solutions to help students get over the challenges and hold interest in the foreign language in a flexible and easy manner To know exactly about this problem, I investigated 142 students in classes 11A1,11A3,11A5,11A7 before applying “effective strategies on improving reading comprehension in the current high school graduation exam” by doing a lot of tests about reading comprehension to find out the ways they did the test and why a lot of them got bad result, and I got the result: Grade Total students Good (9-10) Above average (7-8) Average (5-6) Weakness (3-4) 11A1 36 2(5.5%) 4(11%) 20(55%) 10(28.5%) 11A3 31 1(3.2%) 3(9.7%) 10(32%) (55.1%) 11A5 41 2(4.9%) 3(7.3%) 15(36.6%) 21(51.2%) 11A7 34 0(0%) 1(2.9%) 7(20.6%) 26(76.5%) As can be seen from the tables that most of the students seem not to like reading comprehension and they express their preferences with suggested learning strategies From these reasons,the study entitled “effective strategies on improving reading comprehension in the current high school graduation exam”has been conducted as a motivation and a means of providing the students with the most effective strategies for English reading comprehension skills 2.3 Effective strategies on improving reading comprehension in the current high school graduation exam 2.3.1 Reading comprehension skills 2.3.1.1.Skimming (Skimming for main ideas) One of the factors that contribute to the success of the English test is the proper time division In the limited time, especially when there are 400-500 words comprehension texts, if we not have an effective method of writing, there will definitely be a lack of time To solve this problem, we need to have the basic skills when doing the reading comprehension exercises Skimming is one of the three most commonly mentioned skills in reading comprehension What is Skimming? Skimming is a skill that uses your eyes to scan through the entire lesson to get the main idea and inner content of the passage When I need to use Skimming skill? - Skimming to see the meaning of the text to determine what is important information - Skimming to identify the main keyword - After skimming a passage, you will determine whether to carefully read this pasage later What are the steps in Skimming? - First, read the topic This is the shortest summary of the article's content - Read the introduction, or overview - Read the entire first paragraph of the text - Read subtitles if find correlations between them - Read the first sentence of the remaining paragraphs + The main idea of each paragraph is usually in the first sentence + If the author starts with a question, a quote, then maybe the main idea will be in the last sentence - Read more deeply into the text Please note: + Clue words to answer the questions: who, what, when, why, how + Adjective + Different words, especially capital words + List + Calculated from quantity (best, most, worst, ) + Typing signs: italic, bold, underlined, 2.3.1.2 Scanning What is Scanning? Scanning is a skill to read quickly to get specific data and detailed information in the key post When to use the Scanning skill? Scanning is often used when searching for data such as names, dates, parameters, or words in a text without reading and understanding other parts of the text For the questions, candidates have completed skimming, apply scanning skill to find the correct answers What are the steps in Scanning? -Have some form of your mind about what information you are looking for If you can clearly identify the information you need to search for in the article, it will be easier to find the words in the article - Predict what the information in the course will be: number, first name, date, and possibly in the paragraph - Analyze how to organize the courses before scanning starts + Maybe in title, chart, or in bold? + Information can be sorted by rhyme, by data just like in phone book, note solution? - Quickly look at multiple lines at the same time - When you find a sentence that contains the information you are looking for, stop and read the entire sentence - You can read from top to bottom, or read diagonally 2.3.1.3 Paraphrasing "Paraphrasing" is a re-expression of a written or spoken paragraph in a vocabulary or other structure without changing the meaning of the passage For example: The hardest woodwind instrument to learn is the oboe The oboe is the most difficult woodwind instrument to master This technique includes the following ways: a Use synonyms - a car exhibition → an auto show - Identify problems in the system → to expose defects in the system - Vehicular access will be temporarily restricted → Some roads will be closed for a certain period of time b) Use antonyms - The construction will improve the traffic flow → The construction will ease traffic congestion - The museum is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday → The museum is closed to the public on Monday - Encourage better attendance → to have fewer absences c) Switch from a specific noun (eg color printer) to a generic noun (eg, office equipment) - She is eating an apple → She is eating a fruit - He bought a microwave oven → He purchased a kitchen appliance - rare and endangered species → certain species d).Switch from a generic noun to a specific noun - transportation service → bus, subway, train, and airline service - fossil fuels → coal, oil, and gas - footware → shoes, sandals, boots e) Change word form - to take occasional walks → to walk occasionally - to dress comfortably → to wear comfortable clothing - We guarantee your information is confidential → We guarantee the confidentiality of your information f) Using other constructs - Street parking is available, but limited → Visitors may have difficulty fiding a place to park - Competitive salary based on the level of prior experience → Pay depends on how much experience the applicant has 2.3.2.Forms for the basic questions in the reading exercises There are types of questions that often appear in comprehension texts and are divided into main groups: questions about main idea, question specific information and inference, vocabulary questions Question 1$ MAIN IDEAS QUESTIONS -What is the topic of thepassage? -What is the subject of the passage? -What is the main idea of the passage? Questions -What is the author's main point in the passage? -With what is the author primary concerned? -Which of the following would be the best title? -What is the author's main purpose in the passage? Usually at the beginning or end of each paragraph If the main idea is not specific at the beginning or end of the paragraph, we Answer will leave it to the last after taking the time to answer the detailed questions -Read the first lines of each paragraph -Find the most common ideas in the first line and find the relationship between them -During the reading process, pay attention to keywords that are repeated How to - Usually this last question after answering the detailed questions first to save time - Quickly scan the whole article to check if you have found the correct main content or not - The type of options is definitely wrong Usually the main ideas are not too general, not too detailed and cannot be mentioned in the article (too general), (too specific) or (not mentioned) -Choose the best option among the remaining options Example The passage: Read the following passage and choose the correct answer to the question below Increasing numbers of parents in the U.S are choosing to teach their children at home In fact, the U.S Department of Education has estimated that in 1999, about 850,000 children were being homeschooled Some educational experts say that the real number is double this estimate, and the ranks of homeschooled children seem to be growing at the average rate of about eleven percent every year At one time, there was a theory accounting for homeschooling: it was traditionally used for students who could not attend school because of behavioral or learning difficulties Today, however, more parents are taking on the responsibility of educating their own children at home due to their dissatisfaction with the educational system Many parents are unhappy about class size, as well as problems inside the classroom Teacher shortages and lack of funding mean that, in many schools, one teacher is responsible for thirty or forty students The children are, therefore, deprived of the attention they need Escalating classroom violence has also motivated some parents to remove their children from school Although there have been a lot of arguments for and against it, homeschooling in the U.S has become a multi-million dollar industry, and it is growing bigger and bigger There are now plenty of websites, support groups, and conventions that help parents protect their rights and enable them to learn more about educating their children Though once it was the only choice for troubled children, homeschooling todayis an accepted alternative to an educational system that many believe is failing QUESTION Which is the best tittle for the passage? A.Reasons for Homeschooling in the USA B.The Trend of homeschooling in the USA C.Homeschooling - one of the ways of education in the USA D.Education system in the USA DETAILED DISCOVERY -The first sentence of the paragraph mentioned the main idea of the paragraph "Increasing numbers of parents in the U.S are choosing to teach their children at home." -we continue to read through the rest of the line, we see that the entire text revolves around this topic"being homeschooled" "behavioral or learning difficulties" "dissatisfaction with the educational system" "remove their children from school" -Finally, there are sentences at the end of the paragraph"homeschooling today is an accepted alternative to an educational system that many believe is failing." -So, with the question which title is most suitable for the passage We can choose the answer B: The trend of home education in the US In order to be sure of our answer, we cannot help but go through the answer options A.Reasons for homeschooling in the USA B.The trend of homeschooling in the USA C.Homeschooling - one of the ways of education in the USA D.Education system in the USA Question 3: General organization or attitude) This type of question often requires defining the composition of the paragraph or the attitude of the author in the paragraph For the composition question type, we should pay attention to the linking words between the paragraphs With regard to the author's attitude question, we should pay attention to the expressive adjectives, or make a judgment based on the main content after skimming the whole article In particular, you need to use the elimination method for completely wrong options ORGANIZATION QUESTION SIGNAL Time order/ Chronological order Firstly, secondly, finally, next, then Cause and effect Because, since, as, lead to, due to, as a result, consequently Definition - example Define, mean, indicate, show Comparison and contrast On the one hand, on the other hand More, less, least, most Problem - solution Cause, result in, deal with, solution Example The passenger: Read the following passage and choose the correct answer for the question below Increasing numbers of parents in the U.S are choosing to teach their children at home In fact, the U.S Department of Education has estimated that in 1999, about 850,000 children were being homeschooled Some educational experts say that the real number is double this estimate, and the ranks of homeschooled children seem to be growing at the average rate of about eleven percent every year At one time, there was a theory accounting for homeschooling: it was traditionally used for students who could not attend school because of behavioral or learning difficulties Today, however, more parents are taking on the responsibility of educating their own children at home due to their dissatisfaction with the educational system Many parents are unhappy about class size, as well as problems insidetheclassroom Teacher shortages and lack of funding mean that, in many schools, one teacher is responsible for thirty or forty students The children are, therefore, deprived of the attention they need Escalating classroom violence has also motivated some parents to remove their children from school Although there have been a lot of arguments for and against it, homeschooling in the U.S has become a multi-million dollar industry, and it is growing bigger and bigger There are now plenty of websites, support groups, and conventions that help parents protect their rights and enable them to learn moreabout educating their children Though once it was the only choice for troubled children, homeschooling today is an accepted alternative to an educational system that many believe is failing QUESTION The attitude of the author towards homeschooling can be best described as A acceptable B favorable C remarkable D unfavorable Answer B: With this question type, we should after skimming the whole article to understand how the main content of the article is, so we will find out the author's attitude expressed in the article In this passage, the author argues about the increasing trend of home education in the US, the reasons why this trend takes place and develops, so the author's attitude here is positive Usually, with this type, they often find it difficult because they encounter many new words Moreover, the words showing attitude are usually adjectives, so after each comprehension reading, we should pick up some common words to pay attention and add new words Question 4: Identify the information mentioned in the passage(stated detail) The informational question raised in the text often asks about a small piece of information in the text The answer to this question is the information outlined in the article Usually, the correct answer is just a "restatement" that repeats the information in the article in a different wording STATED DETAIL QUESTIONS Question According to the passage, It is stated in the passage The passage indicates that Which of the following is true Answer The answer lies in the reading - Underline the main and important words in the question - Use scanning skill to find suitable sections to read carefully to get information How to - Read carefully the questions containing the keywords and ideas in the question carefully -Type out the most likely wrong answers and choose the best answer among the remaining option Example The passage: Increasing numbers of parents in the U.S are choosing to teach their children at home In fact, the U.S Department of Education has estimated that in 1999, about 850,000 children were being homeschooled Some educational experts say that the real number is double this estimate, and the ranks of homeschooled children seem to be growing at the average rate of about eleven percent every year At one time, there was a theory accounting for homeschooling: it was traditionally used for students who could not attend school because of behavioral or learning difficulties Today, however, more parents are taking on the responsibility of educating their own children at home due to their dissatisfaction with the educational system Many parents are unhappy about class size, as well as problems inside the classroom Teacher shortages and lack of funding mean that, in many schools, one teacher is responsible for thirty or forty students The children are, therefore, deprived of the attention they need Escalating classroom violence has also motivated some parents to remove their children from school Although there have been a lot of arguments for and against it, homeschooling in the U.S has become a multi-million dollar industry, and it is growing bigger and bigger There are now plenty of websites, support groups, and conventions that help parents protect their rights and enable them to learn more about educating their children Though once it was the only choice for troubled children, homeschooling today is an accepted alternative to an educational system that many believe is failing Parents can teach children at home with the support of ……… A.the internet, conventions along with support groups B.support groups, teachers and websites 10 C.documents, websites and support groups D.books, support groups and the Internet The key words in the question are: parents, teach, home, support so we will have to apply scanning technique to scan the whole paragraph to see where the key words appear in the article We see the information in the sentence: "There are now plenty of websites, support groups, and conventions that help parents protect their rights and enable them to learn more about educat-ing their children." → Answer A: Internet, utilities and support group Note: There are also paraphrasing techniques (the same expressions for the same idea), "teach" and "educate", "support" and "help" or "enable" which are pairs of almost synonyms means Sometimes, the paragraphs without the appearance of the question key words appear synonyms or close to the meaning Question 5: Determining information not mentioned in the article (unstated details) One of the most common question types in the text is to find an answer that is not covered in the passage In this question type, the words "not mentioned", "not stated", "all following options are true Except" or "not true" This question type will have options containing the information mentioned in the article and option not covered in the article UNSTATED DETAIL QUESTIONS Questions Answer -Which of the following is not stated ? -Which of the following is not mentioned ? -Which of the following is not discussed ? -All of the following are true except -Which of the following are false ? The answer will be information that does not appear in the article or the answer is incorrect in comparison to the article - Read carefully the question and available options, underline the key words - Scan quickly to localize the appropriate information for the key words How to - Read carefully the sentences containing the ideas in the selection - Eliminate selections that are mentioned or correct from 11 the text - Choose the option that is not mentioned or does not match the article read Example The passage: The Alaska pipeline starts at the frozen edge of the Arctic Ocean It stretches southward across the largest and northernmost state in the United States, ending at a remote ice-free seaport village nearly 800 miles from where it begins It is massive in size and extremely complicated to operate The steel pipe crosses windswept plains and endless miles of delicate tundra that tops the frozen group It weaves through crooked canyons, climbs sheer mountains, plunges over rocky crags, make its way through thick forests, and passes over or under hundreds of rivers and streams The pipe is feet in diameter and up to million barrels or 84 million gallons of crude oil can be pumped through it daily Resting on H-shaped steel racks called "bents", long sections of the pipeline follow a zigzag course high above the frozen earth Other long sections drop out of sight beneath spongy or rocky ground and return to the surface later on The pattern of the pipeline's up-and-down route is determined by the often harsh demands of the arctic and subarctic climate, the tortuous lay of the land, and the varied compositions of soil, rock, or permafrost permanently frozen ground A little more than half of the pipeline is elevated above the ground The remainder is buried anywhere from to 12 feet, depend-ing largely upon the type of terrain and the properties of the soil One of the largest in the world, the pipeline cost approximately $8 billion and is by far the biggest and most expensive construction project ever undertaken by private industry In fact, no single business could raise that much money, so major oil companies formed a consortium in order to share the cost Each company controlled oil rights to particular shares of land in the oil fields and paid into the pipeline -construction fund according to the size of its holdings Today, despite enormous problems of climate, supply shortages, equipment breakdowns, labor isagreements, treacherous terrain, a certain amount of mismanage-ment, and even theft, the Alaska pipeline has been completes and is operating QUESTION The author mentions all of the following as important in determining the pipeline's route EXCEPT the 12 A kind of soil and rock B lay of the land itself C.local vegetation D climate Information on other answers is available in the article: "The pattern of the pipeline's up-and-down route is determined by the often harsh demands of the arctic and subarctic climate (D), the tortuous lay of the land (B), and the varied composi-tions of soil, rock (A), or permafrost permanently frozen ground "→Key: C Question 6: Inference, finding the meaning (inference) This type of question often requires us to draw conclusions or to deduce the details outlined in the passage This question type usually includes words implied, inferred, or probably With this question, the answer is not given directly in the article, but we need to rely on the available information to deduce and make a conclusion IMPLIED DETAIL QUESTIONS It is implied in the passage that Questions It can be inferred from the passage that It is most likely that What probably happened ? Answer The answer to this question is often based on our understanding of the article, but we can search according to the order of the text -Find key words, key words of each question -Skimming to see where the key word and key idea lie in paragraphs (usually in the order in the article) -Read carefully the sentences containing key words and ideas How to - Find the right answer by the passage -Use the exclusion method to eliminate the worst case scenario, then choose the best one from the rest of the options Example The passage In the American colonies there was little money England did not supply the colonies with coins and did not allow the colonies to make their own coins, except for the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which received permission for a short period in 1652 to make several kinds of silver coins England wanted to keep money out of America as a means of controlling trade: America was forced to trade only with England if it did not have the money to 13 buy products from other countries The result during this pre-revolutionary period was that the colonists used various goods in place of money: beaver pelts, Indian wampum, and tobacco leaves were all commonly used substitutes for money The colonists also made use of any foreign coins they could obtain Dutch, Spanish, French, and English coins were all in use in the American colonies During the Revolutionary War, funds were needed to fiance the world, so each of the individual states and the Continental Congress issued paper money So much of this paper money was printed that by the end of the war, almost no one would accept it As a result, trade in goods and the use of foreign coins still flurished during this period By the time the Revolutionary War had been won by the American colonists, the monetary system was in a state of total disarray To remedy this situation, the new Constitution of the United States, approved in 1789, allowed Congress to issue money The individual states could no longer have their own money supply A few years later, the Coinage Act of 1792 made the dollar the offiial currency of the United States and put the country on a bimetallic standard In this bimetallic system, both gold and silver were legal money, and the rate of exchange of silver to gold was fied by the government at sixteen to one QUESTION It is implied in the passage that at the end of the Revolutionary War, a paper dollar was worth A exactly one dollar B just over one dollar C just under one dollar D almost nothing The passage implies that at the end of the Revolutionary war, what value is dollar of money? Key words are a paper dollar, worth We find the information in the sentence "So much of this paper money was printed that by the end of the war, almost no one would accept it." The sentence almost no one would accept it equivalent to the answer D: almost of no value With deductive questions, we need to combine homework skills, word understanding, and common topics stated in the readings Question 7: Find a word or phrase that is mentioned or referred to in a paragraph(reference question) This is an easy type of question to get points Usually questions take the pronouns he, she, they or them, it, him , their possessive adjectives, its the pronouns that designate this, that, these, those , to use as words referenced For this type of question, you should it first In the question often appear words refer We just need to read carefully the question containing the word 14 referenced and the sentences before it Usually, the answer is in the previous sentence or the sentence contains the referenced word REFERENCE QUESTIONS Question The word "X" in the passage refers to Answer Often phrases are in sentences before or in the sentence itself contains the word referenced - Read the questions and options available - Surf the text quickly to find the word referenced in the question How to - Read carefully the sentence containing the referenced word and the sentence before it to find the phrases listed in the answer selection - Eliminate the most likely false, choose the best one in the remaining options Example The passage In the American colonies there was little money England did not supply the colonies with coins and did not allow the colonies to make their own coins, except for the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which received permission for a short period in 1652 to make several kinds of silver coins England wanted to keep money out of America as a means of controlling trade: America was forced to trade only with England if it did not have the money to buy products from other countries The result during this pre-revolutionary period was that the colonists used various goods in place of money: beaver pelts, Indian wampum, and tobacco leaves were all commonly used substitutes for money The colonists also made use of any foreign coins they could obtain.Dutch, Spanish, French, and English coins were all in use in the American colonies During the Revolutionary War, funds were needed to fiance the world, so each of the individual states and the Continental Congress issued paper money So much of this paper money was printed that by the end of the war, almost no one would accept it As a result, trade in goods and the use of foreign coins still flurished during this period By the time the Revolutionary War had been won by the American colonists, the monetary system was in a state of total disarray To remedy this situation, the new Constitution of the United States, approved in 1789, allowed Congress to issue money The individual states could no longer have their own money supply A few years later, the Coinage Act of 1792 made the dollar the offiial currency of the United States and put the country on a bimetallic standard In this bimetallic system, both gold and silver were legal money, and the rate of 15 exchange of silver to gold was fied by the government at sixteen to one QUESTION The pronoun "it" in paragraph refers to which of the following A.The Continental Congress B.Trade in goods C.The War D.Paper money Information in the sentence: "So much of this paper money was printed that by the end of the war, almost no one would accept it." → Answer D: paper money With this type of question, we need to stick to the sentence containing the pronoun, translate it briefly and choose the answer Question 8: Find vocabulary from synonyms and antonyms This is a difficult question type, requiring to guess the meaning of a difficult word appearing in the passage based on the context However, there are still some signs in the article for you to make guesses VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT QUESTION What is the meaning of "X" in line "Y"? The word " X" in line "Y" could be replaced by Which of the following word has the closest meaning with Questions the word "X" in line "Y"? Answer Which of the following has the opposite meaning with the word "X" in line "Y" Based on information around the given word to guess the meaning of the word - -Find that word in the text - -Read the sentence carefully How to - -Find clues in context to help understand the meaning of words - - Choose the answer that the context shows Example The passage In the American colonies there was little money England did not supply the colonies with coins and did not allow the colonies to make their own coins, except for the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which received permission for a short period in 1652 to make several kinds of silver coins England wanted to keep money out of America as a means controlling trade: America was forced to trade only with England if it did not have the money to buy products from other countries The result during this pre- revolutionary period was that the colonists 16 used various goods in place of money: beaver pelts, Indian wampum, and tobacco leaves were all commonly used substitutes for money.The colonists also made use of any foreign coins they could obtain Dutch, Spanish, French, and English coins were all in use in the American colonies During the Revolutionary War, funds were needed to fiance the world, so each of the individual states and the Continental Congress issued paper money So much of this paper money was printed that by the end of the war, almost no one would accept it As a result, trade in goods and the use of foreign coins still flurished during this period By the time the Revolutionary War had been won by the American colonists, the monetary system was in a state of total disarray To remedy this situation, the new Constitution of the United States, approved in 1789, allowed Congress to issue money.The individual states could no longer have their own money supply A few years later, the Coinage Act of 1792 made the dollar the offiial currency of the United States and put the country on a bimetallic standard In this bimetallic system, both gold and silver were legal money, and the rate of exchange of silver to gold was fied by the government at sixteen to one QUESTION The word "remedy" in paragraph is closest in meaning to A resolve B medicate C renew D understand We may not know the word "remedy" but if you carefully read the sentence containing this word and the sentence around it, you will be able to guess the meaning of the word in the context "To remedy this situation, the new Constitution of the United States, approved in 1789, allowed Congress to issue money." (To remedy this situation, the new Constitution in America, approved in 1789, allowed Congress to print money.) Answer A is the correct answer 2.4.Research achievement “Effective strategies on improving reading comprehension in the current high school graduation exam” has become rather effective for my students, who are generally showing their boredom with learning English After applying these activities to the lessons, my students are more interested in English lessons and work more effectively Real numbers are shown by the two following tables The result before applying the initiative Grade Total students Good (9-10) Above average (7-8) Average (5-6) Weakness (3-4) 11A1 36 2(5.5%) 4(11%) 20(55%) 10(28.5%) 11A3 31 1(3.2%) 3(9.7%) 10(32%) (55.1%) 17 11A5 41 2(4.9%) 3(7.3%) 15(36.6%) 21(51.2%) 11A7 34 0(0%) 1(2.9%) 7(20.6%) 26(76.5%) The result after applying the initiative Grade Total students Good (9-10) Above average (7-8) Average (5-6) Weakness (3-4) 11A1 36 10(28.5%) 20(55%) 4(11%) 2(5.5%) 11A3 31 17(55.1%) 10(32%) 3(9.7%) 1(3.2%) 11A5 41 21(51.2%) 15(36.6%) 3(7.3%) 2(4.9%) 11A7 34 7(20.60%) 10(29.41%) 15(44.1%) 2(5.89%) Comparing the results between the two above tables, we see that the number of students of my charge getting average marks has increased This means that most of the students know how to not only the multiple-choice reading comprehension but also answer each kind of questions quickly and effectively I boldly introduced my new method to my colleagues in the professional group With the results achieved, the colleagues in the group are very supportive of my approach 3.CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 3.1 Conclusion Mastering reading skill is very important for all English learners From the reading passage students can learn about the world, culture, science, technology, art and other aspects they are interested in This helps them broaden their knowledge Furthermore, having a good reading skill helps students develop other skills, for instance, writing and speaking, also learn more vocabulary and grammar structures Because of time limitation, I not avoid errors I would like to receive feedback from my colleagues, especially teachers who teach English to make my initiatives more complete and widely applied in the teaching process 3.2 Recommendation 3.2.1 To teachers: - Try to adapt reading passages in textbook which are similar to the ones in the state’s high school graduation exams so that students can practice and feel confident when doing the multiple-choice reading comprehension tasks 18 - Use different methods to encourage students to enlarge their vocabulary 3.2.2 To students: - Apply these above methods to as many multiple-choice reading comprehensions as possible to improve reading skills - Spend time learning vocabulary so that it will be easier when doing multiplechoice reading comprehension tasks Thanh Hoa, May 10th 2021 Principal’s confirmation : I assure this is my idea report, not copy others’ content Written by Le Thi Hai REFERENCES Mann, M & Taylore-Knowles, S (2003) Reading skills for First Certificate Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2.http://www.efl.elearning-burkina.com/pedagogy-and-didactics/423-thereading-lesson-plan.html 19 3.http://www.howtolearn.com/2013/02/skimming-and-scanning-two-importantstrategies-for-speeding-up-your-reading/ 4.http://quizlet.com/18130470/toefl-reading-strategies-flash-cards/ 5.http://teflbootcamp.com/teaching-skills/teaching-efl-reading/ 6.Practice reading comprehension skills – Vu Thi Mai Phuong(2018) 7.Reading comprehension for national high school exam preparation -Trang Anh.(2019) 20 ... reading comprehension skills 2.3 Effective strategies on improving reading comprehension in the current high school graduation exam 2.3.1 Reading comprehension skills 2.3.1.1.Skimming (Skimming... ? ?effective strategies on improving reading comprehension in the current high school graduation exam? ??has been conducted as a motivation and a means of providing the students with the most effective strategies. .. through the answer options A.Reasons for homeschooling in the USA B .The trend of homeschooling in the USA C.Homeschooling - one of the ways of education in the USA D.Education system in the USA