USING GRAPHIC ORGANISERS TO IMPROVE READING SKILL FOR 12 GRADERS

NGHE AN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING 1-5 HIGH SCHOOL TOPIC: USING GRAPHIC ORGANISERS TO IMPROVE READING SKILL FOR 12 GRADERS Subject: English Teacher: Le Thi Hong Thu Group: Literature - English School year: 2020- 2021 Telephone number: 0385.034.838 Nghia Đan, March 2021 TABLE OF CONTENTS  Part I II III IV V Part II I 1.1 1.2 2.1 2.2 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 II III Part III CONTENT Introduction Reasons for the study Aims of the study Scope of the study Methods of the study New features in the study’s result Content Theoretical and practical background Reading skill Definition of reading skill: The importance of reading skill Graphic organizers Definition of graphic organizers Benefits of graphic organizers Types of graphic organizers employed in the study Network tree Venn diagram Problem and solution map Compare & contrast matrix KWL chart Research context Setting and Participants The reality of teaching and learning reading skill at – high school Stages of the study Instructional Procedure The Pre-test and Post-test Model Application in teaching Result and discussion Discussion of the main findings Result of pre- test Result of post- test Suggestion: Conclusion References Appendices Page 3 5 6 5 6 7 9 10 11 11 11 11 11 12 14 26 12 13 14 15 28 PART I INTRODUCTION I Reasons for the study Reading is one of the four basic skills of teaching and learning English It is a difficult skill It appears almost in all competitions which assess the capacity of English studying students Specifically, in the last National High School exams appeared three reading tests with total sentences up to 20 questions (of 50 questions) Through classroom observations and real teaching context at 1-5 school, I find that in reading lesson, my students often have difficulties in identifying explicit information in a text, and comprehending the text as they lack of vocabulary; they are also unable to find the main idea in a paragraph as well as to infer the meaning of the text Moreover, they feel scared when doing a long and difficult reading task because the reading lessons are not exciting enough to get students involved in their learning The reality poses a question to teachers about how to encourage students to learn and improve their reading skills so that they will be able to pass the English paper in the coming national examination in which reading skill accomplishes large proportion Students are quite weak at reading skill because they find that there are too many vocabularies in long reading passages From this fact, as a teacher of English, I myself think it is essential to find something new to improve my students’ reading comprehension level so that they can improve their reading comprehension One of the effective solutions to help them is using graphic organizers Graphic organizers actually have the power and potential to enhance the learning ability of students in all age groups Because the use of visual learning tools is becoming widespread, the introduction of graphic organizers from an early age has been pushed as a means of facilitating familiarity with these extremely effective tools as early as possible When having used in effective ways, graphic organizers have a great amount of potential for fostering learning in a variety of different areas in education The most prevalent educational areas that are positively affected by the effectiveness of graphic organizers are comprehension, reading and vocabulary knowledge Through the use of graphic organizers, students are able to gain a better understanding of the underlying concepts that can be found within what is being read, allowing them to isolate text that is not important to their learning This will allow the student to determine main ideas so that they can build entire stories from their reading Through this process, the reading skill for the student will be boosted Graphic organizers can be used to allow students to structure the most essential ideas while simultaneously removing any non-essential ideas from the playing field Both comprehension skills and vocabulary knowledge have also been proven to increase at a significant rate after using these powerful tools for visual learning From the mentioned reasons above I decided to choose the study “USING GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS TO IMPROVE READING SKILL FOR 12 TH GRADERS” to help the students much more involved in the reading process II Aim of the study: This study is aimed at giving out a brief overview on graphic organizers and identifying whether and to what extent Graphic Organizers can improve grade 12 students’ reading comprehension skill in identifying the main idea, dealing with vocabulary, fact and opinion, and making inferences Not only does it help students to be more interested in reading lessons and they can better in the General Certificate of Secondary Education exam but it also helps teachers to use methods more effectively in different classes III Scope of the study: This research was carried out with 42 students in 12C8 at 1-5 high school The research focuses on whether graphic organizer can improve and how it affects these students’ reading skill I have been using graphic organizers to motivate and enhance student thinking skills through the reading text by using images or visual illustrations instead of responding the questions given in the textbook IV Methods of the study: This study using quantitative research method and class observation aimed to determine whether graphic organizers are able to enhance students’ comprehension skills or have a positive effect on the ability of students to make sense of what they read The author used data collection instrument to gather information about the students involved, monitor the progress of the students when they used graphic organizers throughout the research, and determine the effectiveness of the graphs based on the pre-tests and post-tests The pre-tests were necessary to assess the reading comprehension level and skills the students possessed before the intervention of the strategy and used as a baseline score The post-tests were used to determine the effectiveness of the strategy used by the students during the research process by comparing the pre-test scores to the ones taken at the end of the seven practice reading lessons V New features in the study’s result: In my research, there are lots of interesting graphic organizers which have high effectiveness and wide application Many tasks in textbook have been adapted suitably to all levels of students These activities not only help students retain, organize, and evaluate the information by explicit instructions but also develop teachers’ creativity and flexibility in teaching reading skill This helps students better in national examination for General Certificate of Secondary Education PART II CONTENT I THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL BACKGROUND Reading skill: 1.1 Definition of reading skill: Reading is the process of looking at a series of written symbols and getting meaning from them When we read, we use our eyes to receive written symbols (letters, punctuation marks and spaces) and we use our brain to convert them into words, sentences and paragraphs that communicate something to us Reading can be silent (in our head) or aloud (so that other people can hear) Reading is a receptive skill and through it we receive information In many situations, the complex process of reading also requires the skill of speaking, so that we can pronounce the words that we read In this sense, reading is also a productive skill in that we are both receiving information and transmitting it (even if only to ourselves) 1.2 The importance of reading skill “The more you read, the more things you know The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go” This is a famous quote by Dr Suess The importance of reading skills cannot be stressed enough As a teacher, I often find that when I express my concern about a child’s reading ability and comprehension to parents, particularly at around the age of 10, parents are quite taken aback and I’m greeted with “but they’re so young, give them a chance.” Reading helps you discover the world Reading is a gateway to learn anything about everything It helps you discover new things and educate yourself in any area of life you are interested in You can find a book on just about any subject you can imagine, dive in and start learning Your child can learn about their interests (and even themselves) through reading things they enjoy Reading develops your imagination and creativity When we watch television or a movie, all the information is given to us on the screen – there’s nothing we need to imagine A book in its pure form is just words on a page, and our minds have to the work, imagining the words coming to life This does wonder to develop our creativity and imagination Reading improves vocabulary and communication Giving your child access to a world of words is one of the best ways to improve their vocabulary and enhance their spelling skills New knowledge that’s gained through enjoyment has a tendency to stick and doesn’t even feel like work! Both their written and spoken communication abilities can be improved through regular reading Reading helps people build a good self-image and play well with others Learning new concepts, discovering exciting places and understanding others’ perspectives is key to build a well-rounded self-image – not to mention the selfesteem boost from being able to read well! It’s at early ages that children can be most easily influenced, and a positive reading experience can wonders to help them form a positive perception of themselves Reading also has social benefits Children can discuss stories with others and form friendships over shared interests Reading improves concentration and reduces stress Not only does reading focus your attention entirely on the task at hand but it also immerses you in the information, improving concentration and memory of what you read Getting completely involved in a book can help us relax and feel calm Graphic Organizers 2.1 Definition of Graphic Organizers There are many definitions about graphic organizer A graphic organizer is a teaching and learning tool that is used to organize information and ideas in a way being easy to comprehend and internalize By integrating text and visuals, graphic organizers show relationships and connections between concepts, terms, and facts Graphic organizers can be used in all grade levels, and have proven to be effective learning tools for gifted children and students with special needs And with adult learners, graphic organizers can help enable the connection between what they already know and newly acquired knowledge 2.2 Benefits of graphic organizers Different types of graphic organizers can be used across the curriculum for teaching, learning, and note-taking They are easy to create and impactful in simplifying information They help to visualize or present information in a way that is easier to comprehend, by breaking down larger or complex concepts or ideas into smaller and simpler parts They provide students the opportunity to actively contribute and participate in the learning process through the creation of graphic organizers Besides that, they promote self-learning By using graphic organizers for note-taking, analyzing, studying, etc students can familiarize themselves with a lesson far more easily Graphic organizers provide teachers with tools to help students on the road to higher achievement in their reading comprehension skills Graphic organizers that target critical and creative thinking elements help develop students in their ability to comprehend and understand the meaning of a text The focus of the students in content is improved and they can classify the content into small understandable units Graphic organizers provide new language that facilitates classroom communication, as well as deepen understanding of the content that teachers work to transmit The effectiveness of graphic organizers is proved in the analysis done by Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock (2001) Graphic organizers clear students’ thoughts and sharpen their thinking by organizing and connecting key concepts related to what they are reading from the text They improve their critical thinking, a kind of cognitive activity that appears in many categories of the cognitive process dimension In Fisher’s opinion (2002), graphic organizers are the most helpful strategy that the students employed (an experimental study) Types of graphic organizers employed in the study In the literature there are so many graphic organizers such as concept map, story map, semantic map, timetable, cause and effect map, fishbone diagram, flow chart, bubble map, story pyramid, Venn diagram, K-W-L schema, problem-solution diagram, mind map, listing, topic network, conceptual network, hierarchy, matrix, linear system, falling dominoes, diagnostic tree, knowledge map, knowledge network, T-chart, horizontal flow chart, framework and computer-based graphic organizers (Hughes, 2004; Newman, 2007; Olson, 2014; Scott, 2011) According to the report of North Carolina Regional Education Laboratory, 1988 examples of reading strategies used with specific graphic organizers include: K-W-L-H technique, anticipation and reaction guide, spider map, series of events chain, continuum scale, network tree, human interaction outline, compare & contrast matrix, problem and solution outline, fishbone map, and cycle Graphic organizers have been categorized by both structure and function The structure category contains ‘‘Webbing, Concept Mapping, Matrix, Flow Chart,’’ whereas the function category consists of ‘‘Describing, Comparing & Contrasting, Classifying, Sequencing, Causal, Decision Making’’ (Loretta F, 2008) 3.1 Network tree Graphic organizer can help students organize facts and information related to the reading text A network tree is a type of graphic organizer that show connections A network tree is made up of a series of oval of two or three different sizes connected by many branches to show how facts and information develop from a main idea or a topic Also, this organizer is often used to indicate work cooperation, a hierarchy or branding procedure The main types of question for this organizer are: what is the superordinate category? What are the subordinate categories? How are they related? How many levels are there? Students can it themselves, in pairs or on groups and then share what they have done with others A network tree is a type of graphic organizer that shows connections of facts and information related to the reading text It is made of a series of oval of two or three different sizes connected by many branches to show how facts and information branch off of a main idea or topic 3.2 A Venn diagram A Venn diagram consists of two (or sometimes as many as five) overlapping circle It is used to help students compare and contrast two characters, settings, events, or other literary elements 3.3 Problem & Solution Map One of the organizers to promote critical thinking, a problem & solution map is applied to teaching a reading text in which problems and solutions for a problem are discussed This reading guide also helps students improve productive skills by talking or writing clearly and persuasively about the anticipated results if solutions are carried out 3.4 Compare & contrast matrix The compare and contrast matrix is used as a means of comparing different historical events, geographical regions, cultural and traditional differences or political systems It is best suited to text that is full of details and requires the student to learn many facts about different people, places, or events 3.5 KWL chart A K-W-L chart helps students understand what they know (K), what they want to know (W), and what they learned (L) when reading or researching a topic This is an effective visual tool to improve students by tapping their prior knowledge and letting them set their own purposes for learning By analyzing the L column, both the teacher and students can evaluate students’ grasp of knowledge or content Then the teacher can make plans to enrich concepts or to remedy misconceptions 10 III Result and discussion: Discussion of the main findings The study was carried out with the aim of finding the effects of graphic organizers on students’ reading comprehension at – high school It has been revealed from the data analysis that graphic organizers are effective strategies, which can help students understand and memorize ideas Repeated exposure to these strategies can be beneficial in assisting the students to increase their reading comprehension skills, thus allowing them a more rewarding reading experience Result of Pre- test The forty students participating in this study were given a reading pre-test in order to gather baseline data scores for the start of the research to quantify their reading comprehension levels The students were all tested on the same day, one day before the interventions began The results of the initial assessment are shown in Table Table 1: Initial Student scores Level (insufficient) Level (sufficient) Level (proficient) Level (excellent) No % No % No % No % 26 62 10 23.9 9.5 4.8 28 The data showed that most students’ reading comprehension levels were at literal It proved that many of them encountered the problem with decoding the text Result of post- test After the four practice reading lessons, the students were again given another assessment to determine if there was any growth in their comprehension For the assessment, the students were first tested at their initial level and were moved up or down in level based on their scores of the test given at their prior level Due to the growth in their comprehension skills, all students’ levels had to be adjusted accordingly Their post- test scores and the changes in level for each student are presented in Table Table 2: Final Student scores Level (insufficient) No % 11.9 Level (sufficient) No % Level (proficient) No % Level (excellent) No % 12 15 10 28.5 35.7 23.9 Obviously, the data illustrated above have shown that the examined teaching strategy, graphic organizers, can lead to a growth in comprehension skills of students The data collection instruments used to gather information about the students involved, monitor the progress of the students, and assess the students, both prior to the intervention as well as after its conclusion, have been extremely useful in this research It can be said that using graphic organizers is a realistic practice to enhance students reading comprehension Based on the data discussed above, it is a satisfactory conclusion that practice with graphic organizers over the seven reading lessons assisted students with increasing their reading comprehension skills The students exposed to the graphic organizers were able to understand the material more and more as time went on By using the graphic organizers, the students were able to map out parts of the text, allowing them to concentrate on a specific part of the text, and apply that comprehension skill This strategy worked very well for the students that needed to focus on one part of the text at a time to gain full understanding Suggestion: Based on the result of the study, teaching reading that uses graphic organizers as a newly-develop technique is suitable technique to improve students’ reading comprehension I could give suggestions for betterment of students’ 29 reading comprehension as follows Here are the steps for implementing graphic organizers: - Modeling - Guided practice - Independent application 4.1 For English teachers: For the sake of improvement of students’ reading comprehension, English teachers are suggested to: - Select and present material according to the students’ level and need - Check readability of the text that is going to be applied for teaching - Encourage students to learn reading comprehension not only in the classroom but also outside the classroom to make them more familiar with different written English texts - Select the appropriate graphic organizers for classroom usage - Explain graphic organizers explicitly when teachers gave modeling phase For the students: For the sake of successful learning of reading comprehension, students are suggested to: - Develop reading comprehension ability through forming reading habit to enrich students’ vocabulary mastery - Use actively all vocabularies that have been learned into different skills - Train a lot in reading using different genre of the texts - Monitor the comprehension by generating questions and explain back anything that has been learned 30 PART III CONCLUSION Graphic organizers are the perfect visual thinking and learning products that students and teachers use to gather research, generate ideas, identify connections, organize information, and create visual associations Another simple class activity that gives students a chance to grapple with the content is completing a graphic organizer: In groups, pairs, or even on their own, have students organize chunks of the content into graphic organizers, then compare their results to other groups From experiences in the classroom, I can conclude that the sooner students are introduced to using graphic organizers to pull apart text in search of answers to specific questions, the better chance they have at succeeding at reading in the future I hope that by providing students the chance to use and practice these strategies, students will have better results at standardizing testing and other tests they are challenged to later on Exposure to graphic organizers with reading comprehension can admittedly prove to be beneficial to those students It is essential for teachers to form an understanding of what works well in the classroom and what the students tend to respond to It is my hope that other teachers will use this study to benefit the students and improve students’ reading skill In conclusion, my attempt is to inspire my students in developing reading skill and to a certain extent, it is productive The data showed that the students became more focused, and they put more endeavor into practicing reading, this is shown through the improvement in their scores on reading comprehension measures 31 REFERENCES Tiếng Anh 12- Student’s book - Education Publishing House and Pearson Tiếng Anh 12- Teacher’s book - Education Publishing House and Pearson Ringler, L H., & Weber, C K (1984) A language -thinking approach to reading San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Bromley, K., Irwin-DeVitis, L & Modlo, M (1999) 50 graphic organizers for reading, writing & more: Reproducible templates, student samples, and easy strategies to support every learner New York: Scholastic Professional Books Marzano, R J., Pickering, D J., & Pollock, J E (2001) Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement Alexandria, VA: ASCD Hoang Tang Duc Graphic Organizers – Efective tools for teaching reading skills Vinh Univeristy- 6th International Conference on TESOL 13-14 August, 2015 32 APPENDICES APPENDIX Pre- test: Full name: Class: Marks: Read the passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from to 10 The sculptural legacy that the new United States inherited from its colonial predecessors was far from a rich one, and in fact, in 1776 sculpture as an art form was still in the hand of artisans and craftspeople Stone carvers engraved their motifs of skulls and crossbones and other religious icons of death into the gray slabs that we still see standing today in old burial grounds Some skilled craftspeople made intricately carved wooden ornamentations for furniture or architectural decorations, while others carved wooden shop signs and ships' figureheads Although they often achieved expression and formal excellence in their generally primitive style, they remained artisans skilled in the craft of carving and constituted a group distinct from what we normally think of as "sculptors" in today's use of the word On the rare occasion when a fine piece of sculpture was desired, Americans turned to foreign sculptors, as in the 1770's when the cities of New York and Charleston, South Carolina, commissioned the Englishman Joseph Wilton to make marble statues of William Pitt Wilton also made a lead equestrian image of King George III that was created in New York in 1770 and torn down by zealous patriots six years later A few marble memorials with carved busts, urns, or other decorations were produced in England and brought to the colonies to be set in the walls of churches - as in King's Chapel in Boston But sculpture as a high art, practiced by artists who knew both the artistic theory of their Renaissance Baroque-Rococo predecessors and the various technical procedures of modeling, casting, and carving rich three-dimensional forms, was not known among Americans in 1776 Indeed, for many years thereafter, the United States had two groups from which to choose either the local craftspeople or the imported talent of European sculptors The eighteenth century was not one in which powered sculptural conceptions were developed Add to this the timidity with which unschooled artisans originally trained as stonemasons, carpenters, or cabinetmakers - attacked the medium from which they sculpture made in the United States in the late eighteenth century Question 1: What is the main idea of the passage? 33 A There was a great demand for the work of eighteenth-century artisans B American sculptors were hampered by a lack of tools and materials C Skilled sculptors did not exist in the US in the 1770’s D Many foreign sculptors worked in the US after 1776 Question 2: It is stated in the first paragraph that the sculptural legacy that the new United States had from colonial times was A not great B plentiful C very rich D not countable Question 3: The phrase “turned to” in paragraph is closest in meaning to _ A castigated B censored C consulted D hired Question 4: When was sculpture as an art form in the hand of artisans and craftspeople ? A In 1776 B in 1789 C in 1777 D in 1780 Question 5: What did Stone carvers engrave into the gray slabs that we still see standing today in old burial grounds? A their motifs of skulls B crossbones C other religious icons of death D their motifs of skulls and crossbones and other religious icons of death Question 6: The work of which of the following could be seen in burial ground? A stone carves B carpenters C cabinetmakers D European sculptors Question 7: The word “they” in the passage refers to A wooden ornamentations B skilled craftspeople C architectural decorations D wooden shop signs Question 8: The word "commissioned" in paragraph refers to _ A enabled B allowed C conferred D empowered Question 9: What can be inferred about the importation of marble memorials from England? A Such sculpture was expensive to produce locally than to import B Such sculpture was as prestigious as those made locally C Such sculpture was not available in the US D The materials found abroad were superior 34 Question 10: How did the work of American carvers in 1776 differ from that of contemporary sculptors? A It was less time-consuming B It was more expensive C It was less refined D It was more dangerous Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 11 to 20 Though called by sweet–sounding names like Firinga or Katrina, tropical cyclones are huge rotating storms 200 to 2,000 kilometers wide with winds that blow at speeds of more than 100 kilometers per hour (kph) Weather professionals know them as tropical cyclones, but they are called hurricanes in the Caribbean Sea, typhoons in the Pacific Ocean, and cyclones in the Indian Ocean They occur in both the northern and southern hemispheres Large ones have destroyed cities and killed hundreds of thousands of people Tropical cyclones begin over water that is warmer than 27 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit) slightly north or south of the earth’s equator Warm, humid air full of water vapor moves upward The earth’s rotation causes the growing storm to start to rotate around its center (called the eye) At a certain height, the water vapor condenses, changing to liquid and releasing heat The heat draws more air and water vapor upward, creating a cycle as air and water vapor rise and liquid water falls If the cycle speeds up until winds reach 118 kilometers per hour, the storm qualifies as a tropical cyclone Most deaths in tropical cyclones are caused by storm surge This is a rise in sea level, sometimes seven meters or more, caused by the storm pushing against the ocean’s surface Storm surge was to blame for the flooding of New Orleans in 2005 The storm surge of Cyclone Nargis in 2008 in Myanmar pushed seawater nearly four meters deep some 40 kilometers inland, resulting in many deaths It has never been easy to forecast a tropical cyclone accurately The goal is to know when and where the next tropical cyclone will form “And we can’t really that yet,” says David Nolan, a weather researcher from the University of Miami The direction and strength of tropical cyclones are also difficult to predict, even with computer assistance In fact, long–term forecasts are poor; small differences in the combination of weather factors lead to very different storms More accurate forecasting could help people decide to evacuate when a storm is on the way Question 1: As stated in paragraph 1, tropical cyclones are storms with winds blowing at speeds of A more than 100 kph B at least 200 kph C less than 100 kph D no less than 200 kph 35 Question 2: The word “they” in paragraph refers to A sweet–sounding names B wind speeds C tropical cyclones D weather professionals Question 3: Which of the following comes first in the process of storm formation? A Liquid water falls B Warm, humid air moves upward C Water vapor condenses D Wind speed reaches 118 kph Question 4: According to the passage, a storm surge is A a rise in sea level B pushing seawater C a tropical cyclone D inland flooding Question 5: What is true about the storm surge of Cyclone Nargis? A It took a very high death toll B It caused flooding in New Orleans in 2005 C It occurred in Myanmar in 2005 D It pushed seawater kilometers inland Question 6: Most deaths in tropical cyclones are caused by _ A storm surge B earthquake C acid rain D flood Question 7: The word “evacuate” in paragraph mostly means A move to safer places B make accurate predictions C take preventive measures D call for relief supplies Question 8: Which of tropical cyclones are also difficult to predict, even with computer assistance? A the direction B the strength C the direction and strength D the speed Question 9: Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage? A The center of a growing storm is known as its eye B The direction and strength of tropical cyclones are difficult to forecast C Tropical cyclones are often given beautiful names D Tropical cyclone predictions depend entirely on computer assistance 36 Question 10: Which of the following would serve as the best title for the passage? A Cyclone Forecasting B Tropical Cyclones C Storm Surges D Cyclone Formation APPENDIX Post – test: Full Name: .Class: Marks: Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from to 10 In our connected globalized world, the languages which dominate communications and business, Mandarin, Hindi, English, Spanish and Russian amongst others, are placing small languages spoken in remote places under increasing pressure Fewer and fewer people speak languages such as Liki, Taushiro and Dumi as their children shift away from the language of their ancestors towards languages which promise education, success and the chance of a better life While to many parents, this may appear a reasonable choice, giving their offspring the opportunity to achieve the sort of prosperity they see on television, the children themselves often lose touch with their roots However, in many places the more reasonable option of bilingualism, where children learn to speak both a local and a national language, is being promoted This gives hope that many endangered languages will survive, allowing people to combine their links to local tradition with access to wider world culture While individuals are free to choose if they wish to speak a minority language, national governments should be under no obligation to provide education in an economically unproductive language, especially in times of budget constraints It is generally accepted that national languages unite and help to create wealth while minority regional languages divide Furthermore, governments have a duty to ensure that young people can fulfill their full potential, meaning that state education must provide them with the ability to speak and work in their national language and so equip them to participate responsibly in national affairs People whose language competence does not extend beyond the use of a regional tongue have limited prospects This means that while many people may feel a sentimental attachment to their local language, their government’s position should be one of benign neglect, allowing people to speak the language, but not acting to prevent its eventual disappearance Many PhD students studying minority languages lack the resources to develop their language skills, with the result that they have to rely on interpreters and translators to communicate with speakers of the language they are studying This has a detrimental effect on the quality of their research At the same time, they 37 have to struggle against the frequently expressed opinion that minority languages serve no useful purpose and should be allowed to die a natural death Such a view fails to take into account the fact that a unique body of knowledge and culture, built up over thousands of years, is contained in a language and that language extinction and species extinction are different facets of the same process They are part of an impending global catastrophe which is beginning to look unavoidable (Adapted from Complete Advanced by Guy Brook – Hart and Simon Haines) Question Which of the following could best serve as the main topic of the passage? A The threat to minority languages in different parts of the world B The domination of business languages all over the world C The shift from regional to national languages in many countries D The benefits of national languages in modern world Question According to the first paragraph, why many parents consider the change towards national languages a reasonable choice? A Because not many people nowadays are familiar with the language of their ancestors B Because children now can learn to speak both a local and a national language C Because their children may have a chance to achieve education, success and better living condition D Because their children may help to combine their links to local tradition with access to wider world culture Question 3: People whose language competence does not extend beyond _ A the use of a regional tongue have limited prospects B the structures of a regional tongue have limited prospects C the use of a regional tongue have increased prospects D the structures of a regional tongue have increadsed prospects Question What does the word “this” in the first paragraph refer to? A the more reasonable option B the place where children can use bilingualism C the opportunity to achieve prosperity D the promotion of bilingualism 38 Question The word “constraints” in the second language is closest in meaning to _ A investments B restrictions C crises D depressions Question What can be inferred from the sentence “their government’s position should be one of benign neglect” in paragraph 2? A People who are not members of the government will be allowed to speak their local languages B It’s better to allow these minority languages to die naturally by neglecting them C The government does not appreciate the importance of minority languages D The local people will be neglected if they use their ancestors’ languages Question What is the influence of the shortage of minority language resources on many PhD students mentioned in paragraph 3? A These students are unable to persuade people to use the language they are learning B Their qualified research is unlikely to complete C They will have many difficulties in understanding these languages D They have to become interpreters and translators of these languages themselves Question 8: The word “they” in paragraph refers to A languages C PhD students B the resources D interpreters Question 9: The word “facets” in the last paragraph could be best replaced by _ A aspects B problems C procedures D products Question 10: Which statement is NOT true according to the passage? A Local languages can’t unite and create as much wealth as national languages B State education is obligatory to ensure young people to speak and work in their regional languages C Lack of language skills causes a negative effect on the quality of PhD students’ research D Each citizen has their right to decide whether they want to speak a minority language or not 39 Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 11 to 20 Early peoples had no need of engineering works to supply their water Hunters and nomads camped near natural sources of fresh water, and populations were so sparse that pollution of the water supply was not a serious problem After community life developed and agricultural villages became urban centers, the problem of supplying water became important for inhabitants of a city, as well as for irrigation of the farms surrounding the city Irrigation works were known in prehistoric times, and before 2000 BC the rulers of Babylonia and Egypt constructed systems of dams and canals to impound the flood waters of the Euphrates and Nile rivers, controlling floods and providing irrigation water throughout the dry season Such irrigation canals also supplied water for domestic purposes The first people to consider the sanitation of their water supply were the ancient Romans, who constructed a vast system of aqueducts to bring the clean waters of the Apennine Mountains into the city and built basins and filters along these mains to ensure the clarity of the water The construction of such extensive water-supply systems declined when the Roman Empire disintegrated, and for several centuries local springs and wells formed the main source of domestic and industrial water The invention of the force pump in England in the middle of the 16th century greatly extended the possibilities of development of water-supply systems In London, the first pumping waterworks was completed in 1562; it pumped river water to a reservoir about 37 m above the level of the River Thames and from the reservoir the water was distributed by gravity, through lead pipes, to buildings in the vicinity Increased per-capita demand has coincided with water shortages in many countries South-east England, for example, receives only 14 per cent of Britain's rainfall, has 30 per cent of its population, and has experienced declining winter rainfall since the 1980s In recent years a great deal of interest has been shown in the conversion of seawater to fresh water to provide drinking water for very dry areas, such as the Middle East Several different processes, including distillation, electro dialysis, reverse osmosis, and direct-freeze evaporation, have been developed for this purpose Some of these processes have been used in large facilities in the United States Although these processes are successful, the cost of treating seawater is much higher than that for treating fresh water (From A Briggs’ article on culture, Microsoft Student 2008 ) 40 Question 11: Early peoples didn’t need water supply engineering works because A their community life had already developed B natural sources of fresh water nearby were always available C there was almost no dry season in prehistoric times D they had good ways to irrigate their farms Question 12: The word “impound” in paragraph is closest in meaning to “ ” A supply B irrigate C provide D drain Question 13: Clean water supply was first taken into consideration by _ A the English people B the ancient Romans C the Egyptians D the US people Question 14: For several centuries after the disintegration of the Roman Empire, the main source of water supply was from A springs and wells B systems of aqueducts C dams and canals D water pipes Question 15: The word “mains” in paragraph could best be replaced by “ ” A lands B areas C pipes D rivers Question 16: Which of the following is NOT true about London’s water supply in the middle of the 16th century? A Water was pumped from the River Thames B Water was stored in a reservoir C Water ran from the reservoir to buildings D Water was conducted through canals Question 17: The word “vicinity” in paragraph refers to A the cities in South-east England B the areas along the River Thames C the neighborhood around a reservoir developed D the region where industry Question 18: One of the causes of water shortages in South-east England is A water pollution B increased demand C water-supply system decline D water evaporation 41 Question 19: Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a process of conversing seawater to freshwater? A Steaming and cooling B Water evaporation C Dissolving chemicals D Purification method Question 20: In the passage, the author mainly discusses A the development of water supply B the results of water shortages C the water pumping systems D the fresh water storage 42 ... above I decided to choose the study ? ?USING GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS TO IMPROVE READING SKILL FOR 12 TH GRADERS? ?? to help the students much more involved in the reading process II Aim of the study: This... something new to improve my students’ reading comprehension level so that they can improve their reading comprehension One of the effective solutions to help them is using graphic organizers Graphic organizers... students in 12C8 at 1-5 high school The research focuses on whether graphic organizer can improve and how it affects these students’ reading skill I have been using graphic organizers to motivate