Investigating the use of kwl strategy in teaching the reading skill to efl 10th graders

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY - BUI THI PHUONG THAO INVESTIGATING THE USE OF KWL STRATEGY IN TEACHING THE READING SKILL TO EFL 10TH GRADERS MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION NGHE AN, 2018 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY - BUI THI PHUONG THAO INVESTIGATING THE USE OF KWL STRATEGY IN TEACHING THE READING SKILL TO EFL 10TH GRADERS MAJOR: TEACHING ENGLISH TO SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGE (TESOL) CODE: 8140111 MASTER‟S THESIS IN EDUCATION SUPERVISOR: Dr TRAN THI NGOC YEN NGHE AN, 2018 ABSTRACT The research is conducted to investigate the use of K – W – L strategy on EFL learners‟ reading comprehension and speed development For this purpose, forty three students at a high school were asked to participate in the present study Before implementing experimental stage, all participants did a general English test Randomly, the researcher chose one group to be a control group and the other was experimental group They were asked to complete the pre-test and survey questionnaire before taking part in experimental stage The post- test was designed to see whether there was a difference between the participants‟ reading comprehension and speed The collected data were analyzed in terms of reading speed (words per minute) and reading comprehension The results showed significant differences between the experimental and control groups in both aspects This proves that K – W – L strategy has great influence on EFL learners‟ reading comprehension and speed The experimental group boosted their reading speed and made bigger gains in comprehension compared with the control group The experimental students change their attitude toward reading as well as using K – W – L strategy after the treatment Based on the findings, some implications were pointed out and further research topics were suggested i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express our deepest gratitude to our supervisor, Dr Tran Thi Ngoc Yen for her absolutely indispensable assistance, valuable advice and detailed constructive comments, without which the research would not have been complete I wish to express my sincere thanks to the students of the two classes I worked with in order to gather the data for my study I am greatly indebted to my friends and colleagues for their various kinds of help and encouragement Finally, my warmest thanks are for my loving parents who supported and encouraged me whenever I had problem with my research I am truly grateful for their unconditional love, support and forbearance ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 The aims of study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of study 1.5 Design of thesis CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 The reading process 2.1.1 The definition of reading 2.1.2 The role of reading in language learning 2.1.3 The process of reading 2.2 Reading comprehension 2.2.1 Comprehension and reading comprehension 2.2.2 Factors affecting reading comprehension 10 2.3 Reading skills and reading strategies 12 2.4 Reading speed 16 2.4.1 Factors affecting reading speed 16 2.4.2 Measuring reading speed 17 2.5 The relationship between reading comprehension and reading speed 18 2.6 Teaching reading in a foreign language 19 2.6.1 Techniques to teach reading 19 2.6.2 Methods to improve reading fluency 21 2.7 The KWL strategy 22 2.7.1 Introduction 22 2.7.2 The definition of the KWL strategy 22 iii 2.7.3 The benefit of the KWL strategy 24 2.7.4 KWL as a reading comprehension strategy 25 2.7.5 The advantages of using KWL strategy 26 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research questions 28 3.2 Participants 28 3.3 Material 29 3.4 Procedures 30 CHAPTER FINDING AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Results 33 4.1.1 General English test results 33 4.1.2 Pre- test results 36 4.1.3 Post- test results 43 4.1.4 Results from the questionnaire survey 49 4.1.5 Comparison of mean and standard deviation after experiment in two groups 53 4.2 Discussion of main finding 55 4.2.1 The effect of KWL strategy on 10th graders‟ reading comprehension 55 4.2.2 The effect of KWL strategy on 10th graders‟ reading speed 56 4.2.3 The 10th graders‟ attitude toward using KWL strategy in reading lesson 57 CHAPTER CONCLUSION 5.1 Pedagogical implications 60 5.2 Limitations of the study 61 5.3 Recommendation for further research 61 5.4 Conclusion 62 REFERENCES 64 APPENDIX A 68 APPENDIX B 71 APPENDIX C 73 APPENDIX D 75 iv APPENDIX E 77 APPENDIX F 79 APPENDIX G 87 v LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 The reading topics of sixteen units in Tieng Anh 10 30 Table 4.1 The result in detail of general English proficiency test in two groups 33 Table 4.2 the similarities between control group with 37 participants and experimental group with 36 ones 36 Table 4.3: The reading speed students in two groups: control group and experimental group 37 Table 4.4 Means and standard deviations of participants‟ reading speed measured by words per minute (wpm) for two groups 39 Table 4.5 Reading comprehension result and its‟ percentage in two classes 40 Table 4.6 Comparison about mean, standard deviation, reading comprehension point and percentage rate between control group and experimental group 42 Table 4.7 The reading speed students in two groups: control group and experimental group 43 Table 4.8 Means and standard deviations of participants‟ reading speed were measured by words per minute (wpm) in two groups 44 Table 4.9 Post reading comprehension test result and result‟s percentage in two groups 46 Table 4.10 Comparison about mean, standard deviation, reading comprehension point and percentage rate between control group and experimental group 48 LIST OF CHARTS Chart 4.1 Correspondence between the general English proficiency test results in two classes 35 Chart 4.2 General English test results in experimental group 36 Chart 4.3 General English test results in control group 36 Chart 4.4 Comparison of mean and standard deviation of the pre–test about reading speed in two groups 39 Chart 4.5 Comparison of mean and standard deviation of the pre–test about reading comprehension in two groups 42 vi Chart 4.6 Comparison of mean and standard deviation of the post–test about reading speed in two groups 46 Chart 4.7 Comparison of mean and standard deviation of the post–test about reading comprehension in two groups 49 Chart 4.8: Experimental students‟ attitude toward “K – W – L” strategy…… 52 Chart 4.9 Comparison of mean and standard deviation of the pre and post –test about reading comprehension in two groups 53 Chart 4.10 Comparison about mean and SD of the pre and post–test about reading speed in two groups: experimental and control 54 vii CHAPTER INTRODUCTION This chapter consists of the following five parts which offer a general outline of the study: rationale, the aims and objectives, research questions, scopes and design of the study 1.1 Rationale Reading is considered as the most basic fundamental in today's society Reading contributes to heightening people's intellect as well as developing human language skill in daily work and communication Nonetheless, reading has been gradually replacing by modern visual tool such as television, cellphone, laptop, etc Simultaneously, many people find reading boring and get a lot of troubles in improving reading skill Especially, it's alarming that students - the young generation makes up a large proportion of them This fact is really a great challenge for language teachers in general and English teachers in particular They have been making their effort to help students develop reading skill and getting the joy as well as passion in reading According to Grabe and Stoller (2002, p.9), “reading is a complex and dynamic process that involves a set of activities such as remembering, comprehending, interpreting, differentiating, comparing, finding out, analyzing, organizing and applying message sent through written language in order to understand its content” Hence, students need to improve their reading skills in order to gain new knowledge, enjoy literature, and everyday activities that are parts of modern life Students will be on the road to academic failure, if they could not read Reading does not only help students develop other language skills, but also provides them knowledge of the target language K Goodman (1967, p 259) stated that “reading is fundamentally considered as an active and creative process in which the reader interprets a message in the light of his/her previous knowledge, predicts and anticipates subsequent rhetorical strategy and information (making use of the linguistic cues that the writer provides), selects information relevant to his reading purpose, matches information with his previous knowledge and experience, evaluates it in the light of that knowledge and then applies this 7.2 Lí cho lựa chọn bạn câu hỏi số 7.1 Tại bạn lại muốn cải thiện giai đoạn đó? Bạn thường dùng kiến thức mà bạn học đọc để làm gì? Bạn thấy việc sử dụng “K – W – L” strategy việc dạy học kỹ đọc hiểu nào? A Rất thú vị B Thú vị C Bình thường D nhàm chán 10 “K – W – L” strategy giúp bạn cải thiện tốc độ hiểu khả đọc hiểu nào? A Rất hiệu B Hiệu C Không hiệu D Vô ích 11.1 “K – W – L” strategy hiệu giai đoạn việc học kỹ đọc hiểu? A Pre – reading (phần trước đọc – Before you read) B While – reading (phần đọc – While you read) C Post – reading (Phần sau đọc – After you read) 11.2 Tại sao? (giải thích cho lựa chọn câu 11.1) 12 Bạn có muốn giáo viên sử dụng “K-W-L” strategy nhiều việc dạy học kỹ đọc hiểu khơng? A Có B Không Cảm ơn hợp tác bạn! 78 APPENDIX F LESSON PLAN FOR EXPERIMENTAL GROUP UNIT 7: MASS MEDIA – LESSON A: READING - ENGLISH 10 – P 74 & 75 A OBJECTIVES  Language objectives By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: - apply language knowledge and skills acquired from the unit to talk about their favourite programme and give some recommendation on what TV programme should be watched to meet the viewers‟ demand - develop their reading comprehension skills including skimming and scanning  Content objectives By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: - identify the different programmes on TV and other mass media - build up students‟ background knowledge about TV – programmes as well as mass media B LANGUAGE FOCUS Key terms: mass media, channel, news headlines, TV series, weather forecast, documentary, folk songs, quiz shows, etc C METHODS Communicative Language Teaching Method, K – W – L strategy D TEACHING AIDS Textbook, board, chalk, pictures, photos E PROCEDURE Content Teacher’s activities Students’ activities I Warm Play game “Miming game” – up (3 - ask students to play game in two - play game in two groups mins) groups Each group choose student to - choose students to be be representative in this game representative in this game - give words “TV, radio, cellphone” to - representatives get the 79 representatives words from teachers - ask representatives to use their body - representatives use their language to describe the words for their body language to describe team members the words for their - ask the other students look and guess classmates the words - the other students look and - elicit the words from students and lead guess the words to the topic of the lesson - give the words to teacher - listen to teacher II Pre - Teaching vocabulary (3 mins) reading - instruct some new words - look at teacher and observe (15 + Mass media – (use pictures) mins) + Channel (n) – ( use example) + Programme (n) (use example) + Comedy (n) – (explain) + Documentary (n) – (use example) - read as model and ask students to - listen and repeat listen, repeat - have students read these words individually and chorally - listen and correct read these words individually and chorally pronunciation - read and correct mistakes mistakes if necessary if necessary Checking vocabulary (task 1- page - listen to teacher 75) (3 mins) - work in pair then use their - give students instruction to the task knowledge and their - ask students to work in pair then use understanding about vocab their knowledge and their understanding to complete the task about vocab to complete the task - some students report their - call on some students to get their results result 80 - ask the other students to give comment - the other students give - give feedback and correct mistakes if comments necessary - listen and observe Brainstorming the students’ previous knowledge (3 mins) - ask students to work in group of four - work in group of four and and create their own mind map about the create their own mind map topic mass media about the topic mass media ( for example: programmes, channels, famous MC & actors, timetable, etc.) - call on some students to collect their - give some ideas that they ideas that they brainstormed brainstormed - compare and give feedback - listen and observe Using the K – W – L chart (6mins) - introduce students about “K – W – L” - listen and observe chart and its use - create their own chart What we What we What KNOW WANT we LEARNED to know - classify the information - ask students to classify the information they have just found out into they have just found out into different different categories and put categories and put them into the column them into the column “KNOW” “KNOW” - go around to observe, take notes and - complete the “ KNOW” column and ask for a help if give help if necessary necessary - ask students to work in groups to - work in groups discuss, compare and tell about the 81 differences between their group‟s knowledge and other groups‟ - ask students some questions - answer the questions “What you want to know about the information that your friends have got and you believe in that information?” - ask students to write down their own - write down their own questions about what they want to know questions about what they - call on some students to get some want to know typical questions - give some typical + How many types of programmes are questions there on national channels? + How many channels are there on TV? - take note if necessary + Which channels should we watch to discover the wildlife, animal, music, etc? + How long has a channel’s - read and observe programme last? + etc III While Activity 1: reading the text to get - information (5 mins) reading - ask students to read the channels‟ - (15 programmes silently mins) - remind students to look at the “W” - look at the “W” column to read the channels‟ programmes silently column to note what they want to know note what they want to about these national channels know about these national channels - have students underline the some - underline the some information relate to the questions that information relate to the 82 they want to know questions that they want to know - let students work in pair and find out - work in pair and find out suitable answers for their questions suitable answers for their questions - ask students to take notes and write - take notes and write these these notes into “L” column notes into “L” column Activity 2: doing task (5mins) - ask students to read the requirement of - read the requirement of task task - have students work in groups and read - work in groups and read the information that they have taken note the information that they to complete the task have taken note to complete Task 2: Decide the statement are true the task or false There are five news programmes on the three channels There is a comedy programme on between 10:15 and 11:00 The Nature of Language is a documentary programme at 15:15 onVTV2 The film Punishment is shown at 4:15 p.m on VTVl VTVl starts at 5:35 and ends at 23:30 - let students discuss and share what they - discuss and share what have got in groups they have got in groups - call on some representatives to give - some representatives give their answer their answer 83 - ask the other groups to listen and give - the other groups listen and comments give comments - listen, give feedback and correct - listen and observe mistake if necessary Suggested answers: T T F (The Nature of Language is on VTV3.) T F (VTV1 starts at 5:35 and the last programme starts at 23:30 - ask students to look at the information - look at the information that that they have written in “L” column, they have written in “L” correct mistakes if necessary and add column, correct mistakes if some importance note for doing this type necessary and add some of reading task importance note for doing this type of reading task Activity 3: doing task (5 mins) - give students instruction to the task - listen to teacher - ask students to underline the keywords - underline the keywords for for each questions each questions - have students work individually and - work individually and look look at the notes in “L” column and the at the notes in “L” column text to complete the task and the text to complete the task - let students work in pair and share their - work in pair and share results their results - call on some students to come to the - come to the board and 84 board and write their answers write their answers - ask other students to give comments - some students give comments Task Work in pairs Ask and answer the following questions How many films are on? What time can you watch the news? Which channel you recommend to someone who likes animals? What programme is on on VTV3 at 7:30? Which channel will you watch if you like folk songs? What is the last programme on VTV3? Suggested answer: There are five films on At 9:00 a.m, 12:00 at noon, 7:00p.m, 11:00p.m on VTV1 and 7:00p.m on VTV3 VTV2 The Quiz Show (You should watch) VTV1 Football - have students to look at the column “L” - look at the column “L” again and add some new notes about again and add some new what they have learnt or correct mistakes notes about what they have if necessary learnt or correct mistakes if necessary 85 IV Post Activity 4: talking about favourite -reading programmes (12 mins) (12 - give students instruction to the task mins) - ask students to work individually and - work individually and - listen to teacher decide which programmes they like best decide which programmes as well as what they need to mention in they like best as well as their presentation what they need to mention in their presentation - ask students to look at the information - look at the information they‟ve got from “L” column to enrich they‟ve got their presentations to column from “L” enrich their presentations - call on some students to make - make presentations about presentations about one of TV one of TV programmes they programmes they like watching and give like explanation watching and give explanation - ask other students to give some - other students give some comments comments - listen and give feedback - listen and observe - have students continue add more - continue information for what they‟ve learnt from information add more for what their lesson‟s topic as well as their they‟ve learnt from their lesson‟s topic as well as friends their friends - give students a consolidation about - listen to teacher and take what they‟ve learnt about topic and note if necessary homework 86 APPENDIX G LESSON PLAN FOR CONTROL GROUP UNIT 7: MASS MEDIA – LESSON A: READING - ENGLISH 10 – P 74 & 75 A OBJECTIVES  Language objectives By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: - apply language knowledge and skills acquired from the unit to talk about their favourite programme and give some recommendation on what TV programme should be watched to meet the viewers‟ demand - develop their reading comprehension skills including skimming and scanning  Content objectives By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: - identify the different programmes on TV and other mass media - build up students‟ background knowledge about TV – programmes as well as mass media B LANGUAGE FOCUS Key terms: mass media, channel, news headlines, TV series, weather forecast, documentary, folk songs, quiz shows, etc C METHODS Communicative Language Teaching Method D TEACHING AIDS Textbook, board, chalk, pictures, photos E PROCEDURE Content Teacher’s activities Students’ activities I Warm Play game “Miming game” – up (5 - ask students to play game in two - play game in two groups mins) groups Each group choose student to - choose students to be be representative in this game representative in this game - give words “TV, radio, cellphone” to - representatives get the 87 representatives words from teachers - ask representatives to use their body - representatives use their language to describe the words for their body language to describe team members the words for their - ask the other students look and guess classmates the words - the other students look and - elicit the words from students and lead guess the words to the topic of the lesson - give the words to teacher - listen to teacher II Pre - Teaching vocabulary (4 mins) reading - instruct some new words - look at teacher and observe (10 + Mass media – (use pictures) mins) + Channel (n) – ( use example) + Programme (n) (use example) + Comedy (n) – (explain) + Documentary (n) – (use example) - read as model and ask students to - listen and repeat listen, repeat - have students read these words individually and chorally - listen and correct read these words individually and chorally pronunciation - read and correct mistakes mistakes if necessary if necessary Checking vocabulary (task 1- page - listen to teacher 75) (3 mins) - work in pair then use their - give students instruction to the task knowledge and their - ask students to work in pair then use understanding about vocab their knowledge and their understanding to complete the task about vocab to complete the task - some students report their - call on some students to get their results result 88 - ask the other students to give comment - the other students give - give feedback and correct mistakes if comments necessary Answering questions - listen and observe (before you read - page 74) (3 mins) - give some questions - answer the questions + When you often watch TV? + How many channels are there on our national TV? + How many hour per week you watch TV? - ask students to think and give answers - think and give answers as III While as quick as possible quick as possible - listen and give feedback - listen and observe Activity 1: task (10 mins) - - ask students to read the channels‟ - read the channels‟ reading programmes silently programmes silently (20 - ask students to read task‟s requirement - read task‟s requirement mins) and underline some keywords and underline some keywords - ask students to work individually, read - work individually, read the the text again and find out the useful text again and find out the information which relate to the keywords useful information which to complete the task relate to the keywords to Task 2: Decide the statement are true complete the task or false There are five news programmes on the three channels There is a comedy programme on 89 between 10:15 and 11:00 The Nature of Language is a documentary programme at 15:15 on VTV2 The film Punishment is shown at 4:15 p.m on VTVl VTV1 starts at 5:35 and ends at - discuss and share what 23:30 - let students discuss and share what they they have got in groups have got in groups - some representatives give - call on some representatives to give the the answer answer - other groups listen and - ask the other groups to listen and give give comment comment - listen to teacher - listen, give feedback and correct mistake if necessary Suggested answers: T T F ( The Nature of Language is on VTV3.) T F (VTV1 starts at 5:35 and the last - listen to teacher programme starts at 23:30 - underline the keywords for 2.Activity 2: doing task (10 mins) each questions - give students instruction to the task - read the text again and - ask students to underline the keywords complete the task for each questions - come to the board and - ask students to read the text again and write their answers 90 complete the task - listen and observe - call on some students to come to the board and write their answers - ask other students to give comments Task Work in pairs Ask and answer the following questions How many films are on? What time can you watch the news? Which channel you recommend to someone who likes animals? What programme is on on VTV3 at 7:30? Which channel will you watch if you like folk songs? What is the last programme on VTV3? Suggested answer: There are five films on At 9:00 a.m, 12:00 at noon, 7:00p.m, 11:00p.m on VTV1 and 7:00p.m on VTV3 VTV2 The Quiz Show (You should watch) VTV1 Football IV Post Activity 4: talking about favourite -reading programmes (10 - give students instruction to the task mins) - ask students to work individually and - work individually and 91 - listen to teacher decide which programmes they like best decide which programmes as well as what they need to mention in they like best as well as their presentation what they need to mention in their presentation - have students work in pairs and talk - work in pairs and talk about one of TV programmes they like about watching and give explanation one programmes watching of TV they like and give explanation - go around and give a help if necessary - ask teacher for a help if necessary - give students a consolidation about - listen to teacher and take what they‟ve learnt about topic and note if necessary homework 92 ... The aim of this thesis is investigating the use of KWL strategy in teaching the reading skill to 10th graders at high school The researcher focused on studying the effect of KWL strategy on EFL. ..MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY - BUI THI PHUONG THAO INVESTIGATING THE USE OF KWL STRATEGY IN TEACHING THE READING SKILL TO EFL 10TH GRADERS MAJOR: TEACHING ENGLISH... strategy on 10th graders? ?? reading comprehension 55 4.2.2 The effect of KWL strategy on 10th graders? ?? reading speed 56 4.2.3 The 10th graders? ?? attitude toward using KWL strategy in reading lesson