Using information transfer technique to adapt some reading tasks for the while and post reading stage in TIENG ANH 12

A - INTRODUCTION I REASON FOR CHOOSING THE TOPIC The Ministry of Education has carried out many programs of innovation in teaching English with a view to developing students’ abilities The question is that how we can get students more involved and interested and help them use language skills well like listening, speaking, reading or writing In fact, during my teaching at school, I realize that students have so many difficulties in learning these skills, especially reading skills Most of the students feel bored and not want to read English texts or comprehension exercises any more The reason is that the text is always full of new words and structures As a result, students feel very stressful and are always under pressure whenever teachers ask them to read the passage or answer questions To deal with this problem, I am sure that most of the English teachers will have to think and find out an effective method that is suitable for real condition and each student In this writing, I would like to recommend my teaching experience; that is “Using Information Transfer Technique to adapt some reading tasks for the while and post reading stage in TIENG ANH 12” I hope that my ideas and my efforts will become a useful solution to teach the reading lessons II AIMS OF THE STUDY The purpose of the topic is to improve and enhance the effectiveness of teaching reading and make students more interested in doing comprehension exercises using “Information Transfer Technique” such as: charts, diagrams, tables, maps, etc Students now will not be stressful when they look at every passage They can understand and summarize contents of the reading lessons Students who are bad at English will be very difficult to deal with a passage with so many new words “Information Transfer Technique” will help them understand the reading in a visual way The reading will become simple and attractive to them With students who are good at English, “Information Transfer Technique” will help them generalize the text quickly and develop their critical thinking To teachers, using “Information Transfer Technique” will help them solve difficulties in teaching reading effectively They don’t need to supply the students with so many new words and the students can master the reading lessons I chose some reading lessons in “Tieng Anh 12” text book to illustrate my topic for several reasons Firstly, students who are in Grade 12 will be very busy with many subjects and have to prepare for the coming examination Therefore, most of the students not pay attention to English lessons especially reading lessons Secondly, the reading lessons in this textbook will be longer and more complicated than those they studied in English 10 and 11 Moreover, choosing these reading lessons will soon help them improve their critical thinking and develop their reading skills III DUTIES OF THE STUDY - Study theoretical background of teaching reading using “Information Transfer Technique” - Study practical background of teaching the reading lessons using “Information Transfer Technique” Then compare the result before and after adapting - Drawing some useful experiences after studying IV OBJECT OF THE STUDY The students of the Grade 12 at Yen Thanh Upper-secondary school, Yen Thanh District, Nghe An Province V METHODS OF THE STUDY I have finished this topic with the help of my colleagues and my students at my school I have used these following methods: - I have read books, reference books and other problems relating to my topic - I have analyzed the result and the difficulties that students encountered - I have investigated and asked my colleagues’ evaluation and students’ comments - I have applied English pedagogical methods B CONTENT I THEORETICAL BACKGROUND What is the transfer? The Oxford Dictionary has explained the term “transfer”: “To transfer (information / music, ect.) is to “ copy information, music, an idea, ect from one method of recording or presenting it to another” or “ to be recorded or presented in a different way.” With the definition above we can understand the term “transfer” like this: with the same information, we have many ways to present it and the procedure of transmitting from one type to another is the transferring What is the Information Transfer technique? There are several definitions relating to the Information Transfer technique: According to Stolar (1995, p.5) “Information Transfer technique means translating data from one form to another We move the Reading or Listening text to graphic stimuli or visual like charts, graphs, diagrams, figures, maps, ect and vice verse” With the similar view, David Palmer, (1991, p.79) state that “An Information Transfer is an activity involving the reproduction of information either from a diagrammatic or semi-diagrammatic form into a fully linguistic form or vice verse” It can be inferred that the learners are helped in understanding the text by means of a nonverbal device such as a diagram, graph, or table When simple knowledge is the objective, it can provide assistance in familiarizing students with vocabulary Advantages of using Information Transfer Technique in teaching Reading The Information Transfer Technique has many advantages over traditional teaching methods First of all, Information Transfer Technique is regarded as a visual kind of information that falls into variety forms such as charts, graphs, maps, diagrams, etc Therefore, it is much easier for students to understand the details as well as the whole content of the text Second, Students can often work together to complete a task, so encourage an open and sharing atmosphere among students of a mixture of talents and personalities That is to say weak students will have a good opportunity to join in the group work with the help of good students Therefore, students will become an active language user and an active participant in the given activities while the teacher is a guide and consultant In addition, The Information Transfer Technique can lead to a learner-centred class where students can learn a foreign language by using it to accomplish different communicative tasks, so successful students’ communicative ability Another advantage is that The Information Transfer Technique can help students master the reading passage easier With most main information of a reading text being transferred into charts, graphs, tables, etc This technique will be a useful tool for teachers and students to deal with the partial and general content of the text Also through the activities using information transfer technique, students can improve their ability of generalization and find the process of study a fascinated challenge Generally, The Information Transfer Technique with its advantages will bring a new wind into the teaching process Information Transfer will help make the activities refresher more competitive as well as encourage students’ involvement in the lessons Students will be excited to join the various, challenging and creative activities and therefore the atmosphere of the class will be more attractive Then this may lead to a successful reading lesson for teachers 3 Main types of Information Transfer According to a specific reading lesson, we can apply one of these following techniques: - Maps and plans - Grids and tables - Diagram and charts - Diaries and calendars - Miscellaneous lists, forms, coupons, etc In my teaching experience, I mainly use charts, diagrams and tables to design reading activities II PRACTICAL BACKGROUND The real state of teaching and learning the reading lessons at The Grade 12 at Yen Thanh Upper- Secondary school The first problem is that students have had trouble doing reading tasks at the while reading stage That is because most of the students at my school have so few new words and structures, so at this stage, although I provided the students with necessary vocabulary and explained the questions carefully, they still found the reading tasks very difficult and whenever teachers asked them to the tasks in classes or at home, they usually copied their friends’ answers or used reference books like “Hoc Tot Tieng Anh 12” to finish their tasks Moreover, most of the reading lessons are long and full of new words This makes the reading tasks more difficult and they should be adapted The second problem is that at the post stage, when I asked students to generalize the main idea or the content of the passage, they could not answer and even some other students didn’t understand what they have learnt Therefore, some activities using the Information Transfer Technique should be designed based on the text to help the students generalize and master the text content easily Another one is that doing the repeated tasks every day like answering questions, gap-fill or synonym/antonym makes students feel very bored and loose their enthusiasm in learning reading lessons Some interesting activities using the Information Transfer Technique should be designed as new tasks to make the reading lessons more attractive to change the atmosphere and to get the students involved in the lessons Adapting some activities for the while and post reading stage by completing the chart and reconstructing the text orally for each lesson in “Tieng Anh 12” using The Information Transfer Technique (From Unit to Unit 16) In this paper, I will use The Information Transfer Technique to adapt some activities for the while and post reading stage and give out the procedure to demonstrate them The while – reading stage: I have used Information Transfer Technique to adapt some reading tasks The aim of adapting is to make the tasks at this stage simpler and easier for the students to The Post – reading stage: I have used Information Transfer Technique to adapt some reading tasks for this stage The aim of adapting is to help students summarize or generalize the text content The students will use the information from the charts, diagrams or the tables to reconstruct the content of the passage orally This will help the students not only to master the lessons but also to improve speaking skills Activity 1: Read the passage again and complete the chart - Lesson: UNIT 1: HOME LIFE (see chart 1) - Stage: While you read – adapted task (Task – page 14) - Aims: To help the students summarize the reading passage easier and to make the task more interesting and visual to students when they are reading information about Home life - Time: minutes - Preparation: Ao paper size to draw the chart; handouts printed the chart; red pens; textbooks - Procedure: + Step 1: Teacher gives instructions carefully + Step 2: Divide the class into groups or pairs according to student’s abilities and give students about minutes to + Step 3: Go around and help students whenever they need + Step 4: Choose groups or some pairs who finish first to come to the board to complete the information on the chart + Step 5: Check the result and give the correct answers + Step 6: Give feedback Answer: long hours the household a.m – p.m very late at night 5 clean the house – cook meals dishes take out the garbage win a place at university close-knit family Activity 1: Read the passage again and complete the chart A very (9)……… very supportive The children feel secure Mothe r work (1)… A night shift once a week Runnin g (2)…… Father Preparing meals From to… (3)… Come home until (4)… Help mother (5) the house Cook special dishes Daughte r Do the house hold chores Wash (6) … (7)……… Look after the boys Attempt to (8)……… Chart Activity 2: Read the passage again and complete the chart - Lesson: UNIT 2: CULTURAL DIVERSITY (see chart 2) - Stage: While you read – adapted task (Task – page 22) - Aims: To help the students summarize the reading passage easier and to make the task more interesting and visual to students when they are reading information about cultural diversity - Time: minutes - Preparation: Ao paper size to draw the chart; handouts printed the chart; red pens; textbooks - Procedure: + Step 1: Teacher gives instructions carefully + Step 2: Divide the class into groups or pairs according to student’s abilities and give students about minutes to + Step 3: Go around and help students whenever they need + Step 4: Choose groups or some pairs who finish first to come to the board to complete the information on the chart + Step 5: Check the result and give the correct answers + Step 6: Give feedback Answer: four confiding physical attractiveness trust built on love the Americans sacrifice more in a marrige than a man he loves her not because he has to romantic Activity 2: Read the passage again and complete the chart not romanic (8)…………… The Young Asians The Young Americans (1)…….key values (2)……… (3)………… Partnership of equal Indian students’ attitudes More concern (5)………… Chart A women has to (6)……… (4)………… Believe the husband to the right thing Because (7) ……… Activity 3: Read the passage again and complete the chart - Lesson: UNIT 3: WAYS OF SOCIALISING (see chart 3) - Stage: While you read – adapted task (Task – page 32) - Aims: To help the students summarize the reading passage easier and to make the task more interesting and visual to students when they are reading information about ways of socialising - Time: minutes - Preparation: Ao paper size to draw the chart; handouts printed the chart; red pens; textbooks - Procedure: + Step 1: Teacher gives instructions carefully + Step 2: Divide the class into groups or pairs according to student’s abilities and give students about minutes to + Step 3: Go around and help students whenever they need + Step 4: Choose groups or some pairs who finish first to come to the board to complete the information on the chart + Step 5: Check the result and give the correct answers + Step 6: Give feedback Answer: verbal communication non-verbal communication big, obvious non-verbal catch his eyes nod slightly a small friendly way considered rude 10 Activity 10: Read the passage again and complete the chart - Lesson: UNIT 12: WATER SPORTS (see chart 10) - Stage: While you read – adapted task (Task – page 130) - Aims: To help the students summarize the reading passage easier and to make the task more interesting and visual to students when they are reading information about water sports – water polo - Time: minutes - Preparation: Ao paper size to draw the chart; handouts printed the chart; red pens; textbooks - Procedure: + Step 1: Teacher gives instructions carefully + Step 2: Divide the class into groups or pairs according to student’s abilities and give students about minutes to + Step 3: Go around and help students whenever they need + Step 4: Choose groups or some pairs who finish first to come to the board to complete the information on the chart + Step 5: Check the result and give the correct answers + Step 6: Give feedback Answer: A poor in the water With one hand The centre of the pool Goalie/ goalkeeper Is ejected 24 Activity 10: Read the passage again and complete the chart Swimmer’ s head (2) …… Played in (1)…… The ball advanced by passing The game begin with the ball in (3) ……… Commit five personal fouls (4)……… Hold the ball with bold hands (5)……… Chart 10 25 Activity 11: Read the passage again and complete the chart - Lesson: UNIT 13: THE 22nd SEA GAMES (see chart 11) - Stage: While you read – adapted task (Task – page 140) - Aims: To help the students summarize the reading passage easier and to make the task more interesting and visual to students when they are reading information about the 22nd Sea Games held in Viet Nam in 2003 - Time: 10 minutes - Preparation: Ao paper size to draw the chart; handouts printed the chart; red pens; textbooks - Procedure: + Step 1: Teacher gives instructions carefully + Step 2: Divide the class into groups or pairs according to student’s abilities and give students about minutes to + Step 3: Go around and help students whenever they need + Step 4: Choose groups or some pairs who finish first to come to the board to complete the information on the chart + Step 5: Check the result and give the correct answers + Step 6: Give feedback Answer: solidarity cooperation for peace development 444 The Vietnamese Football team Thailand Men Football team The strong support of the countrymen 26 27 Activity 11: Read the passage again and complete the chart (1)…… (2)……… Gold medals (4)…… (3)……… Spirit of the Sea Games (5)…… … Chart 11 Men’s football team won Women’s football team won Wellprepared Vietnam’ s first place (7)……… (6)……… 28 Activity 12: Read the passage again and complete the chart - Lesson: UNIT 14: INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION (see chart 154) - Stage: While you read – adapted task (Task – page 140) - Aims: To help the students summarize the reading passage easier and to make the task more interesting and visual to students when they are reading information about The Red Cross – an international organization - Time: minutes - Preparation: Ao paper size to draw the chart; handouts printed the chart; red pens; textbooks - Procedure: + Step 1: Teacher gives instructions carefully + Step 2: Divide the class into groups or pairs according to student’s abilities and give students about minutes to + Step 3: Go around and help students whenever they need + Step 4: Choose groups or some pairs who finish first to come to the board to complete the information on the chart + Step 5: Check the result and give the correct answers + Step 6: Give feedback Answer: improve the lives of vulnerable people poverty health emergencies 186 help and support The International Ferderation of Red Cross founded 29 Activity 12: Read the passage again and complete the chart (5)……………… rapidly sent Advantages of having National AdRed Cross societies National Red Cross societies (4)…….countries In November 1991 The Red Cross Ferderation’s mission (6)…………… (1)…………… Victims of natural disasters (2)…………… (3)…………… Chart 12 30 Activity 13: Use the words and phrases in the box to reconstruct the text orally - Lesson: UNIT 15: WOMEN IN SOCIETY (see chart 13) - Stage: After you read (P.165) – adapted task for the After you read (P.165) - Aims: To help the students to talk about women in society more easily by looking at the chart and reconstruct using their own language - Time: about 10 minutes - Preparation: Ao paper size drawing the chart; handouts printed the chart; textbooks - Procedure: + Step 1: Teacher gives instructions + Step 2: Divide the class into groups, pairs or students can work individually according to their abilities and give them minutes to prepare If the students are not good at speaking and too shy to talk in front of the class, the teacher can model first + Step 3: Go around and help the students whenever they need + Step 4: Choose one representative from each group, pair or a student who can work individually to come to the board using the chart to talk steps of an interview + Step 5: Give comments and feedback 31 Activity 13: Use the words and phrases in the box to reconstruct the text orally Mothers and wives Education Employment Natural roles Societies deny Limited women’s roles Doubt about women’s intellectual ability Legal and political rights BEFORE THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT AFTER THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT Struggle for women’s rights The same status as men Social Economic Political TODAY Gained significant legal rights Work opportunities Vote Formal education Chart 13 32 Activity 14: Use the words and phrases in the box to reconstruct the text orally - Lesson: UNIT 16: THE ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS (see chart 14) - Stage: After you read (P.175) – adapted task for the After you read (P.175) - Aims: To help the students to talk about The ASEAN more easily by looking at the chart and reconstruct using their own language - Time: about 10 minutes - Preparation: Ao paper size drawing the chart; handouts printed the chart; textbooks - Procedure: + Step 1: Teacher gives instructions + Step 2: Divide the class into groups, pairs or students can work individually according to their abilities and give them minutes to prepare If the students are not good at speaking and too shy to talk in front of the class, the teacher can model first + Step 3: Go around and help the students whenever they need + Step 4: Choose one representative from each group, pair or a student who can work individually to come to the board using the chart to talk steps of an interview + Step 5: Give comments and feedback 33 Activity 14: Use the words and phrases in the box to reconstruct the text orally 1967 Foundation of ASEAN 1984 Joined the ASEAN 1995 Joined the ASEAN – 7th member 1997 Be admitted to The Association Hanoi 1998 Plan of Action 1999 Joined the Association 2007 GDP 1282 USD % from 2003 to 2007 2020 The ASEAN Vision Chart 14 34 III FINDINGS AND AVALUATION Finding from the students’ comments I applied the adapted tasks for the reading lessons for classes 12A1, 12A4, 12A5, 12A6 in the school year 2020-2021 After designing the reading tasks and applying for these classes, I gave out three questions to investigate how effective they are over the given tasks in the textbook Question 1: Are the adapted tasks easy to undersand? Question 2: Are the adapted activites interesting? Question 3: Are the adapted activites creative? Criterion Class Number of the students 12A1 38 12A4 41 12A5 34 12A6 37 Easy to undersand Interesting Creative Before After Before After Before After adapting adapting adapting adapting adapting adapting 17 32 36 13 35 (44,7%) (84,2%) (21,0%) (94,7%) (34,2%) (92,1%) 11 36 38 10 37 (26,8%) (87,8%) (17,1%) (92,7%) (24,4%) (90,2%) 29 32 31 (24,8%) (85,3%) (17,6%) (94,1%) (26,4%) (91,2%) 31 32 30 (21,6%) (83,8%) (13,5%) (86,4%) (21,6%) (81,0%) Table It can be seen from the table that after applying the adapted activities using the Information Transfer technique, the number of the students who commented that the activities were interesting, creative and easy to understand inreased sharply Although the students in these classes not have the same abilities, the majority of them are eager to the adapted tasks more than the given ones in the textbook In the four criterions above, the “Interesting” has a great change from students’ comments This is really a good solution to make the reading tasks more interesting and to get students involved in the reading lessons 35 3.2 Finding from the teachers’ evaluation After sharing the adapted reading tasks with my colleages in my English group, I gave out three questions to investigate their opinions about the feasibility of the activities and I received many good comments from them All members of my group were questioned Question 1: Are the activities interesting and motivating? Question 2: Are the activities suitable to most of the students’ levels Question 3: Are the activities easy to understand and carry out? Excellent Criterion Interesting and motivating Suitable to the students Easy to understand and carry out No of the teachers/ percent Good No of the teachers/ percent Average No of the teachers/ percent Poor No of the teachers/ percent 0 (87,5%) (100%) (0%) (%) (75%) (87, 5%) (25%) (0%) 0 (75%) (100%) (0%) (0%) Table It can be seen from the table that most of the teachers in my English group chose the level “ Excellent” and “ Good”, especially 100% for the criterion “Interesting and motivating” and “Easy to understand and carry out” This has proved that the adapted tasks using the Information Transfer Technique are highly evaluated 36 C CONCLUSION AND APPLICATION I Conclusion I applied the adapted activities for both good and weak students in the Grade 12 at my school in the school year 2020 - 2021 This study was carried at my school to examine how effective it was and I received good comments and evaluation from the students and the teachers The new activities have brought about a great change in the teaching of reading These tasks make the reading lessons more interesting and with colorful and visual design which are easy to understand and are suitable to most of the students The students are encouraged and motivated through the adapted tasks The activities are helpful for students to summarize and generalize as well as check their reading comprehension Although some activities take more time than the time allotted because the text are long and some others are still difficult to weak students, I believe that this study will bring a new wind and a great change in the teaching of the reading II Application By using The Information Transfer Technique, apart from reading skills, we can develop students’ speaking skills when we encourage them to reconstruct the text orally with the designed tasks based on the passage Moreover, this technique can be used to teach listening skills If the listening tasks are too difficult to students, Charts or diagrams can be used to design the new ones that are easier and simpler to students This may make the listening lessons become more attractive and effective Even though the adapted tasks using The Information Transfer Technique have been performed in the reading lessons and gain remarkable results, limitations are still unavoidable I would like to receive more comments and evaluation from other colleagues to make this study better and better Yen Thanh, 10th March, 2021 Author 37 REFERENCES English 12 textbook– Education Publisher English 12 teacher book – Education Publisher “Oxford Advanced Learner Dictionary” – 7th edition - Cambridge University Press Palmer, D (1991) Information Transfer for Reading and Listening Truong Vien (1990) an application of the Information Transfer Technique in teaching comprehension in Vietnamese secondary school classrooms of English Http//: www Google.com.vn: Clipart 38 ... 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