Using scaffolding activities to enhance 10th graders’ reading comprehension

VINH UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE _ PHẠM TUẤN CHÂU USING SCAFFOLDING ACTIVITIES TO ENHANCE 10TH GRADERS’ READING COMPREHENSION MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION NGHE AN - 2019 VINH UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE _ PHẠM TUẤN CHÂU USING SCAFFOLDING ACTIVITIES TO ENHANCE 10TH GRADERS’ READING COMPREHENSION FIELD: THEORY AND METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH Code: 8.14.01.11 MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION SUPERVISOR: Associate Professor LE VAN CANH, Ph.D NGHE AN - 2019 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission, and have not been published elsewhere Author PHAM TUAN CHAU ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I could not complete my dissertation without the academic and tutelage from a number of people First and foremost, I owed a depth of gratitude to my supervisor, Associate Professor LE VAN CANH, Ph.D He provided me with beneficial guidance and invaluable feedback that mainly contributed to my research accomplishment His inspiration also provided me with the strength to overcome continuous challenges during the four months spent researching the dissertation Also, I am very grateful to the teachers and students at Quy Hop high school for their great contributions during the time of my experiment Finally, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my wife who is always besides me and encourage me when I have difficulty in my studies iii ABSTRACT The present study examines the effectiveness of using scaffolding activities to enhance 10th graders‘ reading comprehension This aim was broken down to three small objectives namely the difficulties of 10th graders encountering in learning reading comprehension skills, the impact of scaffolding activities interference on students‘ reading comprehension scores and students‘ attitudes towards scaffolding activities A mix-methods approach was employed to achieve the purpose of the study Quantitative data was obtained by means of questionnaires, pre-test, post test while qualitative data was collected through the interview of the students The data analysis involved the calculation of percentages for each option in the questionnaires, the calculation of mean scores of pre-test and post test as well as manual interview transcription The results showed that students did not spend much time on English reading at home Reading passages in their textbooks were the main source of their reading However, the reading passages in the textbook, despite the interestingness of their topics, revealed a lot of difficulties for the students in terms of length and vocabulary Students did not know effective techniques to deal with reading tasks After using scaffolding activities in reading lessons, students in experimental group got higher scores in the post test (mean score = 6.4) compared to control group (mean score = 5.8), which shows positive impact of scaffolding activities on students‘ reading comprehension abilities Results from the interviews with six students after experimental teaching period also revealed positive attitudes of students towards reading lessons applying scaffolding activities iv TABLE OF CONTENT STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENT iv LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii Chapter INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 The structure of the study Chapter THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 Second Language Reading Comprehension 2.1.1 The nature of reading 2.1.2 The second language reading comprehension 2.1.3 Communicative Language Teaching Approach 2.1.4 Teaching reading comprehension 10 2.2 Students‘ 2nd reading comprehension difficulties 2.3.Sociocultural perspectives on second language learning 16 17 2.4 Scaffolding as the central concept of the sociocultural theory in second language learning 18 2.5 Previous studies on the Use of Scaffolding activities in Reading comprehension 22 Chapter METHODOLOGY 24 3.1 Research setting 24 v 3.1.1 An overview of Quy Hop High School 24 3.1.2 Teachers 24 3.1.3 Students 25 3.1.4 The English Language syllabus 25 3.2 Research methodology 26 3.2.1 Participants 26 3.2.2 Research methods and Data collection instruments 26 3.2.3 Procedures 29 Chapter FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 31 4.1 Difficulties 10th graders at Quy Hop High School encounter in learning reading comprehension skills 31 4.2 Students‘ improvement in reading comprehension ability 39 4.3 Students‘ attitudes towards scaffolding activities 43 Chapter CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION 46 5.1 Conclusion 46 Implications for effective reading lessons 47 5.3 Limitations and Suggestions for further studies 47 REFERENCES 49 APPENDIX 52 APPENDIX 55 APPENDIX 57 APPENDIX 62 APPENDIX 68 APPENDIX 73 APPENDIX 76 APPENDIX 77 vi LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 4.1 Students‘ amount of time spent on everyday reading in English 32 Figure 4.2 Students‘ reading medium 32 Figure 4.3 Students‘ favorite reading genres 33 Figure 4.4 Students‘ reasons for not reading in English 34 Figure 4.5 Students‘ current reading 35 Figure 4.6 Students‘ assessment about the reading texts in their textbook 36 Figure 4.7 Students‘ preparation of reading lessons before class 36 Figure 4.8 Students‘ difficulties when reading texts in their textbook 37 Figure 4.9 What students when reading in English 38 Figure 4.10 Pre-test and post-test mean scores by the control and experimental groups 41 Table 4.1 Students‘ scores for the pre-test and post test 39 Table 4.2 A comparison of pre-test and post-test results by control group and group 42 vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Q1 : Question Q2 : Question Q3 : Question L1 : First Language L2 : Second Language ESL : English as a Second Language EFL : English as Foreign Language CLT : Communicative Language Teaching Chapter INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale English is taught as a compulsory subject at the vast majority of schools and universities in Vietnam to help pave the way for Vietnam to participate in the move towards globalization, of which English is regarded as the main medium for international communication The ability of reading comprehension of texts in English has become the main goal of English teaching in nearly every Vietnamese school However, many high school Vietnamese EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners have seemingly found it difficult to fully master the reading comprehension skills This issue has therefore stimulated a number of researchers to study various ways to help those learners strengthen their English reading comprehension which means students can comprehend, interpret, integrate critique, analyze, connect, and evaluate ideas in texts The rationale for this study comes from the researcher‘s desire to explore the effectiveness of using scaffolding activities in enhancing 10t graders‘ reading comprehension Being a researcher also a teacher at a high school in Vietnam, I have found that amongst the reading passages in textbooks for Vietnamese high school students that I have read, lessons are long and complicated, and reading tasks are boring rather than inspiring to students The main types of reading tasks in the textbook is asking students to read and exercises like True/False, answer questions, multiple choice Inadequate guidance is given to students to help them find answer to the questions Therefore, many of the students seem not to be interested in the reading lessons They have low motivation to study This motivates the researcher to carry out a study to find out solution to the problem The underlying purpose of the study is to address how to teach reading comprehension more attractively and effectively, so that more students will want to learn 64 Key: 1F, 2F, 3T While-reading: Task 1: Ask students to work in pair and read task in the textbook (page 144) Discuss with the partner and underline key words in the given statements (Using Modeling and Think-Aloud Strategy) - Teacher uses the technique Talk Aloud to teach students ways of identifying key words of a question, and locates the key words in the reading passage The first World cup was held in Uruway in 1904 – False - Next, students have to find the key words in the reading passage: In 1904, FIFA the governing body for football was set up At its first meeting, FIFA planned to organize a Word Cup championship But it was not until 1930 that Question The first World Cup was held Only 13 teams took part in the first tournament The host nation, Uruguay, gained a victory over Argentina in the final and became the first champion in the history of World Cup - Teacher uses the same techniques to help students the rest of the exercise: 65 Question Question Question Question Question Keys: 1F (the World Cup was held in 1930-line8) 2F (the World Cup is held every years-lines1-2) 3T (line7) 4T (lines16-17) 5F (Brazil has won, not played the WC times-line17) Task 2: Read the passage and complete the chart (Using Graphic Organizers) - Student‘s works in groups of four to complete the chart 66 - Key: Post-reading Ask students to close their books and practise telling about the World Cup using the information in the chart 67 - Let students read the passage quickly to find evidence from the passage to relate to these figures - Go around to check, help and take note of students typical errors - Call on some students to talk and give feedback Homework (4 minutes) - Learn vocabulary by heart carefully at home - Write a summary of the passage about the history of the World Cup - Prepare for the next lesson: Unit 14- Reading (2nd) 68 Appendix LESSON PLAN UNIT 16: HISTORICAL PLACES LESSON A: READING I Objectives: By the end of lesson the students will be able to: - understand the reading passage about students know more about history of Van Mieu -Quoc Tu Giam In particular: + Students can identify key words of the questions in the reading passage + Find answers to questions - use vocabulary items related to cinema to talk about historical places II Method: Communicative approach III Teaching aids: Textbook, whiteboard markers, chalks, pictures, PowerPoint IV Procedure: Warm-up: (4 minutes) - T asks students some questions: a Have you visited a historical place? b When was it? c What you tell about it? - T leads in the lesson: Ok, in order to understand more about historical places Today, we‘ll study a new lesson Unit 16- part: Reading Pre- reading: (7 minutes) (Using Activating Prior Knowledge strategy) - Ask Students answer the questions in the textbook: - Let students work in pairs to the task - Walk round the class and offers ideas and comments when students need help 69 - Conduct the correction and give the meaning of some words While-reading: Task 1: Ask students to work in pair and read task in the textbook (page 144) Discuss with the partner and underline key words in the given statements (Using Modeling and Think-Aloud Strategy) - Teacher uses the technique Talk Aloud to teach students ways of identifying key words of a question, and locates the key words in the reading passage The construction of Van Mieu took place between 1076 and 1779 – False - Next, students have to find the key words in the reading passage: Van Mieu – Quoc Tu Giam is a famous historical and cultural site in Hanoi Originally built in 1070 in the Ly dynasty, Van Mieu was preventative Question of Confucian ways of thought and behavior - Teacher uses the same techniques to help students the rest of the exercise: 70 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5& Q6 Keys: F (line2-in1070) T (line4) F (from 11thto 18th century) F T T Task 2: Read the passage and complete the chart (Using Graphic Organizers) - Student‘s works in groups of four to complete the chart 71 Key: 72 Post-reading - Ask students to close their books, work in pairs and practise telling about Van Mieu using the information in the chart - Let students read the passage quickly to find evidence from the passage to relate to these figures - Go around to check, help and take note of students typical errors - Call on some students to talk and give feedback Homework (4 minutes) - Reread the passage and write the summary of main points of the lesson (about 70 words) 73 Appendix 6: POST TEST I Read the passage and answer the questions It is estimated that about 200 million people who use the Internet computer network around the world The Internet allows people to work at home instead of traveling to work The Internet allows businesses to communicate with customers and workers in many part of the world for the cost of a local telephone call Email allows users to send documents, pictures and other data from one part of the world to another in at least minutes People can use the Internet to shopping This saves a lot of time It is possible to use the Internet for education – students may connect with their teachers from home to send or receive email or talk their problems through ―on line‖ rather than attend a class The Internet allows people a to stay at home and rest b not to work c to travel to work d to work at home To a business, the Internet is to communicate with customers a a cheap way b a very expensive way c an inconvenient way d a difficult way E mail can be use to send a documents b information c data d all are correct It takes _ to the shopping on the Internet 74 a a lot of time b a little time c less time d more time To use the Internet for education is a impossible b possible c inconvenient d difficult II Read the passage and answer the questions The search of alternative resources of energy has resulted in different directions Many communities are burning garbage and other biological waste products to produce electricity Experimental work is being done to make synthetic fuels from coal, or coal tars But to date, that process has proved expensive Some experts are trying to revive hydroelectric power which is derived from streams and rivers Fifty years ago, hydroelectric power provided one third of the electricity used in the United States, but today it supplies only four percent The oceans are another source of energy Scientists are studying ways to change the energy of ocean currents, tides, and waves into electricity What are many communities doing to produce electricity? a burning garbage and other biological waste products b changing waste products into power c searching for alternative resources Has the process of making synthetic fuels proved cheap or expensive? a It has proved cheap 75 b It has proved expensive c It has not proved expensive Where is hydroelectric power derived from? a rivers and ocean b lakes and streams c rivers and streams What percentage of the electricity used in the United States does hydroelectric power provide today? a 33% b 35 % c % What are scientists studying? a ways to have electricity from the energy of ocean b ways to change the energy of ocean currents, tides, and waves into electricity c a and b are correct 76 Appendix ANALYZING DATA FROM QUESTIONNAIRES 77 Appendix INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTION Student T: Do you often read in English at home? What kinds of reading you read? Are they difficult? How often you read in English per day? S: Sometimes I often read in the textbook and reference books The reading was sometimes normal, but some were difficult I often spend about 30 minutes on reading English everyday T: What you think about reading texts in the textbook? (Are they difficult? Are they long? Do they have many new words? Is the topic interesting? Example?) S: The reading passages in the textbooks are often long and difficult There are many new words that hinder me from understanding the meaning of the passages Reading topics in the textbook are interesting For example, the reading about World Cup I love football T: When you confront a new word, what you do? S: I often look up the meaning of the word in my dictionary T: Do you prepare for reading text before attending reading lessons? S: A little I have a lot of homework to finish And…uhm…to be honest, I‘m quite lazy to read, even in Vietnamese I don‘t like reading It makes me sleepy T: When the teacher uses scaffolding activities (such as using charts or highlighting key words), you understand the reading more? 78 S: Sure Identifying key words have helped me to reading tasks more effectively It is also easier for me to remember the information in the reading passages For instance, in the unit ‗Historical Places‘ I could remember some information about The Temple of Literature based on the years mentioned in the reading texts T: Do you want to continue learning reading lessons by this way? Why/Why not? What you like the most about the lessons? S: To be honest, I like reading lessons more when learning like this Our classes were so interesting More students involved in the lesson I hadn‘t done reading tasks well before, but when the teacher used the method of identifying key words and using charts; I could to the task better Especially, I was able to guess some correct answers even though there were many new words in the texts That‘s what I like about the lesson Furthermore, I had many chances to work in groups with other students We could find the answers together and present them in A0 paper It made the reading lessons less boring T: Do you think scaffolding activities (key words and charts,) will help you enhance your reading comprehension ability? Absolutely ... scaffolding activities to enhance 10th graders‘ reading comprehension This aim was broken down to three small objectives namely the difficulties of 10th graders encountering in learning reading comprehension. .. reason to choose scaffolding activities rather than other instructional strategies to assist students to improve their English reading comprehension is that scaffolding activities are proved to positively... reading comprehension, teaching reading comprehension, scaffolding activities as well as previous research work on using scaffolding activities to teach reading comprehension Chapter mainly deals