Developing 12th graders reading comprehension through collaborative learning

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY CHU THI TRUNG THU DEVELOPING 12TH GRADERS' READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH COLLABORATIVE LEARNING MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION NGHỆ AN - 2019 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY CHU THỊ TRUNG THU DEVELOPING 12TH GRADERS' READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH COLLABORATIVE LEARNING CODE:8140111 MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION SUPERVISOR: Nguyen Thi Kim Anh, Ph.D NGHỆ AN, 2019 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I acknowledge that this study is mine The data discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission from associates, and have not been published elsewhere Author Chu Thị Trung Thu ACKNOWLEDGMENT The completion of this thesis has been possible thanks to the support of many people who set off upon this journey with me and people whom I encountered along the path First of all, I am greatly indebted to Dr Nguyen Thi Kim Anh, my supervisor, for her invaluable guidance, comments, criticisms, corrections and for her kindly constant encouragement during the course of writing this thesis Second, I would like to thank all lecturers at the Foreign Languages Department, Vinh University for their valuable teaching and tremendous assistance that have enlightened my study Third, I am grateful to my colleagues at Nguyen Duc Mau high school for their constructive suggestions about this research Without their help and cooperation, the research would have been made impossible I also would like to give my special thanks to the students at Nguyen Duc Mau school who have actively participated in my study Last but not least, my sincere thanks to my family, my friends, especially my husband, who also encourages and shares the hardship with me These people deserve all the credit I highly appreciate all their support and contribution ABSTRACT Reading is one of the most important skills in study and daily life, there are many studies which have been carried out in this area This study in the first place deals with the situation of learning reading in a high school The study also aims at finding an effective way to improve English reading comprehension by using collaborative reading An experimental was the method chosen to identify whether the use of collaborative reading had any effects on students’ reading comprehension The participants of the study are 77 students of Group A (class 12C8), Group B(12C4), Nguyen Duc Mau high school In the study, all the students in the experimental group used collaborative reading in reading lessons with relatively high frequency and students in control group did not use these methods but used inappropriate reading methods such as trying to the text by working individual A pre-test and a post-test for reading comprehension were administered and the comprehension of the reading texts by the experimental group was compared with those by the control group The result revealed that students in the experimental group are fully aware of the importance of collaborative reading to their reading comprehension improvement The effectiveness of applying these methods is clearly shown And the other group made less improvement in their reading comprehension which was demonstrated in their smaller increases in their scoring Therefore, this study suggests that collaborative reading can be a useful method to improve English reading comprehension among students then this method making deserves to be taken into consideration in teaching reading at Nguyen Duc Mau school TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENT ABSTRACT TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Methods of the study 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Significance of the study 1.7 Organization of the study CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Reading skills 2.1.1 Definitions of reading 2.1.2 Reading and reading comprehension 2.1.3 Overview of reading process models 2.1.4 Kinds of reading 13 2.1.5 Purposes of reading 14 2.1.6 Sub-skills reading approach 15 2.2 Collaborative learning approach 16 2.2.1 The definition of collaborative learning 16 2.2.2 The principles of collaborative learning 19 2.2.3 Techniques of collaborative learning 20 2.2.4 The benefits of collaborative learning 23 2.2.5 The difficulties of collaborative learning 26 2.2.6 Teacher's role in collaborative learning 26 2.2.7 Students' role in collaborative learning 29 2.3 Relevant studies 30 CHAPTER RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 32 3.1 The setting of the study 32 3.1.1 The school 32 3.1.2 The Participants 32 3.2 Materials 33 3.3 Instrumentations 34 3.4 Procedure 35 3.4.1 Schedules 35 3.4.2 Treatment 35 3.4.3 Reading tasks in textbook Tieng Anh 12 selected for this study 36 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 42 4.1 Finding from questionnaires 42 4.1.1 The use of collaborative learning in reading 42 4.1.2 Students’ attitude toward learning with collaborative reading 43 4.1.3 Students’ assessment of their reading comprehension improvement in some aspects of collaborative learning 43 4.1.4 Students’ assessment on the role of collaborative learning and the effectiveness of using collaborative learning in reading lesson 45 4.1.5 Some difficulties in using collaborative learning in reading 46 4.2 The findings of the tests 47 4.2.1 Pre-test 48 4.2.2 Post-test 49 4.3 Discussions 51 4.4 Recommendations 53 4.4.1 Bring students together using collaborative learning 54 4.4.2 Ways to collaborate 54 CHAPTER CONCLUSION 56 5.1 Recapitulation 56 5.2 Recommendation for teachers and students 56 5.2.1 Establish clear group goals 57 5.2.2 Keep groups midsized 57 5.2.3 Establish a flexible group norm 57 5.2.4 Build trust and promote open communication 57 5.2.5 For larger tasks, create groups roles 57 5.2.6 Create a pre-test and post-test 57 5.2.7 Consider the learning process itself as part of the assessment 58 5.2.8 Allow groups to reduce anxiety 58 5.2.9 Establish group interactions 58 5.3 Limitations of the study 59 5.4 Suggestions for further study 59 REFERENCES 61 APPENDIX LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 3.1 The students' Profile 33 Table 4.1: Students’ use of collaborative learning in reading 42 Table 4.2: Comparison of mean scores in the pre-test of the two groups 48 Table 4.3: Pre-test score frequencies of the two groups 48 Table 4.4: Frequency of distribution of the two groups 50 Table 4.5: Comparison of mean scores in post-test of the two groups 51 Table 4.6: Means of pre-test and post-test 52 Figure 4.1: Students’ attitude toward using collaborative reading 43 Figure 4.2: Change after using collaborative reading 44 Figure 4.3: Students’ assessment on the role of collaborative reading 45 Figure 4.4: Students’ assessment of the effectiveness of collaborative reading 46 Figure 4.5: Frequency of distribution of the two groups 50 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as Foreign Language STAD: Student Teams - Achievement Division TAI: Team Accelerated Instruction TGT: Team Games Tournaments CIRC: Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale English has been the common language of the world for decades It plays an important role in all aspects of society such as communication, science, technology, education, etc Particularly, English becomes an official and effective international communicative language Learning English would greatly give an advantage to the person concerned As a result, more and more people are studying English in order not to be left behind the development of society On September 30, 2008, the Prime Minister signed the Decision No 1400 /QD-TTG approving the project "Teaching and learning foreign languages in the national education system" (referred to as the foreign language project in 2020) The overall objective of the project is "to comprehensively improve the teaching and learning of foreign languages in the education system, including higher education, in order to ensure that by 2015, the ability to use foreign languages of human resources, especially for some priority areas Specifically, the specific objective clearly states: "For non-specialized subjects, after graduation, students must reach the minimum level of in accordance with the framework of foreign language skills." In Vietnam, English is taught and learned in a non-native environment, then we have no option to train them reading effectively and reading may be considered as the best way to help students to understand and use the up-to-date information in many fields English has been a compulsory subject among Vietnamese students for many years However, the students’outcomes are unsatisfactory because of many factors, one of which is their lexical deficiency It is clear that valuable classroom time should be spent on training our students in English reading Why 60 are suggested to use varied strategies in their teaching and learning activities In this case, the teachers can use collaborative learning to improve the students' reading in their classroom Finally, the suggestion will deliver us a basic data and useful information for the next researchers who are interested in developing the similar study in the future, such as different field, and with more deeply problem to be discussed 61 REFERENCES Abbot, G., Wingard P., Greenwood J., & McKeating D (1981) The Teaching of English as an International Language: A Practical Guide Glasgow & London: Collins, and applied linguistics Longman Bean, J (1996) Engaging ideas, the professor's guide to integrating writing, critical thinking, and active learning in the classroom, San Francisco; USA Jossey Bass Publishing Brassell, D & Rasinski, T (1997) Comprehension that Works: Taking Students Beyond Ordinary Understanding to Deep Comprehension Shell Education Cohen, B.P & Cohen, E.G (1991) From group work among children to R & D teams: interdependence, interaction, and productivity, In Lawler, E.J Davis, Barbara Gross (1993) Tools for Teaching, California: Jossey-Bass Inc Day, Richarch R.(1993) New Ways in Teaching Reading, USA: Pantagraph Freeman, Diane Larsen(2000) Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching, New York: Oxford University Press Goodman, K.S (1976) Reading: A psycholinguistic guessing game In H Singer & R Ruddell (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading (pp 497-508) Newark, DE: International Reading Association Gough, P B (1972) One second of reading In J F Kavanagh & I G Mattingly (Eds.), Language by ear and by eye: The relationship between speech and reading Oxford, England: Massachusetts Inst of Technology P Grellet, F (1981) Developing reading skills, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Harmer, Jeremy, the Practice of English Language Teaching, New York: Longman,1999 Huda, Nuril(1999) Language Learning and Teaching; Issues and Trends, Malang: IKIP Malang Press 62 Jacobs, R C., & Campbell, D T (1961) The perpetuation of an arbitrary tradition through several generations of a laboratory microculture The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 62(3), 649-658 Johnson, D.W & Johnson, R.T (1990) Using cooperative learning in math, In Davidson, N (ed.), Cooperative Learning In Mathematics (pp.103-125) Menlo Park, California; USA Addison-Wesley Publishing Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R.T., Holubec, E.J (1984) Cooperation in the Classroom Edina, Minnesota; USA Interaction Book Co publishing Johnson, DW., R.T.Johnson and K.A Smith(1991) Cooperative Learning: Increasing College Faculty Instructional Productivity, ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No.4, George Washington University Kessler, Carolyn (1992) Cooperative Language Learning; A Teacher's Resource Book, NewYork: Prentice-Hall, Inc(ed) Learning and College Teaching Newsletter, 6(3), Retrieved Nov 2011, from Littlewood, William (2005) Foreign and Second Language Learning 9th edition, Cambridge University Press Mc Donough, Jo and Christopher Shaw(2003) Materials and Methods in ELT; A Teacher's Guide second edition, Maryland: Blackwell Publishing Murcia, Marianne Celce(2001) Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, USA: Heinle & Heinle Nunan, David (1991) Language Teaching Methodology; A Textbook for teachers, UK: Prentice-Hall International Nunan, David (1992) Collaborative Language Learning and Teaching, New York: Cambridge University Press Nunan, David (1992) Research Methods in Language Learning, Cambridge: CUP Nuttal, Christine(1982) Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language, Oxford: Heinemann Panitz, T & Panitz, P (1996) Assessing students and yourself using the one Cooperative Learning and College Teaching Newsletter, 6(3), Retrieved 63 Nov 2011 Parish, Betsy(2004) Teaching Adults ESL; A Practical Introduction, New York: McGraw-Hill Printing (ed) R.C, McCleod, J.D (1985) Social support and mental health in community samples (pp.219-240), In Cohen, S & Syme, S.L (Eds.), Social Support and Health San Fransisco, California; USA Academic Publishing Richards, J C & Platt, J H (1992) Longman dictionary of language teaching Savage, John F and Jean F Mooney(1979) Teaching to Children with Special Needs, London: Allyn and Bacon, Inc second edition, New York: Allyn and Bacon, 1995 second edition, New York: Allyn and bacon Sharan, Shlomo(1999) Cooperative Learning and the Teachers, New York: The Greenwood Educator and reference Collection Slavin, Robert E, (1995) Cooperative Learning; Theory, Research, and Practice Slavin, Robert E., Cooperative Learning; Theory, Research, and Practice small group interaction to student achievement American Educational Research Journal, 19 (2), pp 259-274 Smith and MacGregor (1992)., “What Is Collaborative Learning?" in Collaborative Learning: A Sourcebook for Higher Education, by the National Center on Postsecondary Teaching, Learning, and Assessment at Pennsylvania State University Smith, F.(1978) Understanding Reading: A psycholinguistic analysis of reading Smith (1985: 102) Reading Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Sudjono, Penny(1996) A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Swing, S.R & Peterson, P.L (1982) The relationship between student ability and Tinto, V (1997) Enhancing learning via the community Journal of Thought and Action, (1), pp53-54 Walter, Teresa(2004) Teaching English Language Learners, New York: Pearson Education, Inc 64 Webb, N.M (1980) An analysis of group interaction and mathematical errors in heterogeneous ability groups British Journal of Educational Psychology 50 (3), pp.266-276 William, E (1986) Reading in the Language Classroom Oxford: Macmillan Publisher http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/collaborative.html (Wednesday, September 17, 2008.) 65 APPENDIX A SUGGESTED LESSON PLAN ON COLLABORATIVE LEARNING Unit 14 INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS Lesson A: READING The Red Cross is an international humanitarian agency In times of war, it is dedicated to reducing the sufferings of wounded soldiers, civilians, and prisoners of war In time of peace, it gives medical aid and other help to victims of major disasters such as floods, earthquakes, epidemics, and famines The initiative for founding the Red Cross came from a Swiss man called Jean Henri Dunant Appalled by the almost complete lack of care for wounded soldiers, he appealed to the leaders of nations to found societies devoted to the aid of the wounded in wartime A conference was held in Geneva in 1864, and official delegates of 12 nations signed the first Geneva Convention, laying down rules for the treatment and protection of the wounded and the disaster-stricken It was also at this meeting that the famous symbol of the organization, the white flag bearing a red cross, was adopted It was Henry Davison, president of the American Red Cross War Committee, who proposed forming a federation of these National Societies An international medical conference initiated by Davison resulted in the birth of the League of Red Cross Societies in 1991 In November 1991, it became the International Federation of Red Cross The Federation’s mission is to improve the lives of vulnerable people who are victims of natural disasters, poverty and health emergencies The International Red Cross has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland Today, the total number of national Red Cross societies from all over the world has mounted to 186 So help and support are able to be rapidly sent to wherever there are victims of catastrophe, for example, to help the victims of Asia tsunami in 2004 Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies in the countries hit by 66 the tsunami reacted without hesitation to help those struggling to survive, despite the fact that many staff and volunteers had lost families, friends, colleagues, and livelihoods For example, the Indonesian Red Cross Headquarters in Banda Aceh was washed away, but a temporary office was in place within hours and the injured were being helped TASKS: (Modified by the teacher) Task1: Read the text in groups and then match the main ideas to their appropriate paragraphs Paragraphs Main ideas Paragraph A The foundation and the symbol of the Red Cross Paragraph B The advantage of having national Red Cross Societies Paragraph C The foundation of the League of Red Cross Societies and Paragraph its different names D The aims of Red Cross in time of War and Peace Task Read the passage again and choose the statement is True(T) or False(F) Statements The Red Cross is aimed at providing medical aid and other help to victims of natural disasters The foundation of the International Red Cross was inspired by a Swiss man called Henry Dunant The Geneva Convention was the first sign in 1864 The symbol of the Red Cross has three colors The International Red Cross has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland T/F 67 APPENDIX B SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE This survey questionnaire is designed for students at Nguyen Duc Mau School with the aim of serving my research into using collaborative l to improve reading comprehension Your assistance in the completion of the survey is highly appreciated Thank you very much What you often when reading a text and don't understand the content? A Read through the text B Read the text individually C Read the text with their partner D Read the text in silent Do you like collaborative learning which has been used in your reading lesson? A Yes B No C No idea How important you think collaborative learning on our reading comprehension? A very important B important C slightly important D.unimportant How effective is the collaborative learning on your reading comprehension? A very effective B effective C slightly effective D ineffective Before using collaborative learning in the reading lesson, how much could you understand the content of the reading text? A about 20%-30%B about 30%-50% C.about 50%-70% D above 70% After the semester using collaborative learning in a reading lesson, how much could you understand the text? A about 20%-30% B about 30%-40% C about 50%-70% D above 70% 68 What difficulties have you had in using collaborative learning in reading? 69 APPENDIX C Pre-test Unit 12: Water Sports Water polo is played in a pool 1.8 meters deep, 30 meters long and 20 meters wide, with a goal meters high and at least 0.9 meters above the water The goal is marked by vertical posts, a crossbar, and a net There are seven players per team, six swimmers and a goalie The home team wears white caps, the visiting team blue ones and the goalies wear red caps with the number in white Like football, the game begins with the ball in the center of the pool and both teams sprint for it from their own goal lines The ball can be advanced bypassing with one hand or swimming with the head above the water and the ball between the arms so it rides on the wave created by the swimmer’s head No player except the goalie can hold the ball with both hands Defensive players are not allowed to interfere with the opponent’s movements unless the player is holding the ball Major fouls are penalized by one minute in the penalty box and a player is ejected after committing five personal fouls For minor fouls, such as holding or punching the ball, a free throw is awarded from the spot of the foul At least two players must touch the ball after a free throw before a goal can be scored A game is divided into quarters ranging from five to eight minutes in length After a tie, there are two overtime periods of three minutes each If the game is still tied after the overtime periods, two teams continue to play 3-minute overtime until the referee’s decision is made 70 Task 1: Work in pairs Match the words in column A with their meanings in column B A B opponent a to make someone leave a game penalize b an action in sports that is against the rules eject c to punish a team or player who breaks the rules foul d a situation in a game when two teams have the same scores tie e someone who tries to defeat another person in a competition Task 2: Complete the following sentences, using the information from the passage Water polo is played in a pool……… meters deep,…… long and ……….wide The home team wears………, the visiting team wears ……………and the goalies wear…………… Both teams sprint for the ball from…………… A free throw is awarded for minor fouls, such as…………… A game is divided into quarters ranging from………….in length Task 3: Work in pairs Ask and answer the following questions Where can people play water polo? Where is the ball when the game starts? How can the ball be advanced? Which players are allowed to hold the ball with both hands? What happens to a player who commits five personal fouls? III AFTER YOU READ Work in groups Make a comparison between football and water polo, using - place to play 71 - number of players - main rules - length of game Football Place to play Number of players Main rules Length of game Water polo 72 APPENDIX D post-test Unit 14- Women in Society Throughout much of the history of human civilization, deep-seated cultural beliefs allowed women only limited roles in society Many people believed that women’s natural roles were as mothers and wives These people considered women to be better suited for childbearing and homemaking rather than for involvement in the public life of business or politics Widespread doubt about women’s intellectual ability led most societies to deny education, employment and many legal and political rights to women It was men who controlled most positions of employment and power in society The struggle for women’s rights - the rights that establish the same social, economic, and political status for women as for men - began in the 18th century during a period known as the Age of Enlightenment During this period, political philosophers in Europe began to argue that all individuals, male or female, were born with natural rights that made them free and equal These pioneer thinkers advocated that women should not be discriminated against on the basis of their sex Today, although their status varies in different countries, women in most parts of the world have gained significant legal rights The most important of these is the right to have equal work opportunities and pay to men, the right to vote, and the right to formal education Task 1: Matching Paragraph Main ideas Paragraph A The struggle for women's rights began in the 18th century Paragraph B Women's role and rights nowadays Paragraph C People's attitude towards women's intellectual ability in the past 73 Task 2: Choose the best option A, B, C or D to answer the following questions According to the text, what was the main role traditionally accorded to women? A working in education B building houses C taking care of the house and family D working in factories Before the 18th century, what was the attitude of societies towards women’s intellectual ability? A respectful B supportive C resentful D disbelieving According to the text, what is the purpose of the struggle for women’s rights? A to free women from housework B to establish a friendly relationship between men and women C to bring equality between men and women D to argue that women have the better intellectual ability What “these pioneer thinkers’” at the end of paragraph refer to? A 18th-century European people B 18th century European political philosophers C 18th century European women D 18th century European politicians Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the last paragraph as one of the women’s legal rights today? A the right to hold property B the right to equal pay C equal employment opportunity rights D the right to vote Task 3: Choose the best title for the passage A Intellectual Ability B The Age of Enlightenment C Women’s Rights D Women’s Role in Education 74 AFTER YOU READ Work in groups (three groups) Summarize the reading passage by writing ONE, a sentence for each paragraph - Paragraph ONE: - Paragraph TWO: - Paragraph THREE: ... and common reading learning and using collaborative tasks learning in reading, applying in common reading tasks Reading Unit 12: Water Sports ▪ Pre -reading ▪ Pre -reading Collaborative learning: ... questions: What are students' perception of collaborative learning in EFL reading lesson? Does collaborative learning help develop 12th graders' reading comprehension? If yes, to what extent? 1.4... teaching reading skill for high schools in Vietnam, aims at developing reading comprehension through collaborative learning It first and foremost helps understand whether collaborative reading