Applying schema building to help students improve their reading skills at university of law, ho chi minh city

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES # " NGUYEN THANH BINH APPLYING “SCHEMA-BUILDING” TO HELP STUDENTS IMPROVE THEIR READING SKILLS AT UNIVERSITY OF LAW, HO CHI MINH CITY submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL) Supervisor DOAN HUE DUNG, Ph.D Ho Chi Minh City, February 2009 RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, Nguyen Thanh Binh, being the candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for care, loan, or reproduction of the theses Ho Chi Minh City, February 2009 Nguyen Thanh Binh ACKNOWLEDGEGEMENTS I am very grateful to my supervisor, Ms Doan Hue Dung, Ph.D., for her explicit guidance in the completion of my thesis, and for her valuable advice, suggestions I want to acknowledge and thank to all the members of my class, TESOL 2005, for their care and encouragement that make me feel shared and confident And to all the teachers and students who have responded to the questionnaire survey to provide me a trustworthy source of data for the research In addition, to my close friend, Ms Ta Thi Nguyet, for her cooperation in teaching the two experimental classes and valuable advice My heartfelt thanks are also meant towards all the lectures and teachers whom I have studied in the course 2005-2008 at the USSH ABSTRACT The thesis investigates the difficulties of second-year students when they study ESP at the UL In this thesis, possible causes for the students’ difficulties are also found, and then implications and recommendations for applying Schema approach to ease those difficulties are presented The study is carried out by means of an experimental teaching, which adopts the Schema theory, conducted on 255 students majoring in Law Three sets of questionnaires were delivered to these students in two types of class (4 controlled classes and experimental classes) and eight teachers of English at the UL who take part in teaching these classes The results of the survey show that the students find ESP learning difficult because of their poor specialized vocabulary and lack of background knowledge related to the incoming texts The findings also indicate that the students and teachers highlight the necessity of applying schema building in teaching and learning ESP Based on the findings, suggestions were made to provide the teachers with possible ways in order to overcome the obstacles in teaching ESP at the UL and effective techniques to improve students’ reading skills TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 01 CHAPTER 1: BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 11 1.1 Description of the ESP course at the UL 11 1.2 Description of physical setting 13 1.3 Teaching staff 13 1.4 Students’ profiles 14 1.5 Summary 14 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 15 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 31 3.1 Research design 31 3.2 Participants 32 3.3 Instruments 33 3.4 Data collection procedures 37 3.5 Teaching settings 38 3.6 Summary 45 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS 46 4.1 Findings 46 4.2 Discussion of the findings 65 CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION 68 5.1 Implications 68 5.2 Recommendations 71 5.3 Conclusion 74 BIBLIOGRAPHY 76 APPENDIX 82 APPENDIX 88 APPENDIX 96 APPENDIX 104 APPENDIX 108 APPENDIX 113 LIST OF CHARTS FIGURE 4.1: The ages of students in two types of class FIGURE 4.2: Students’ gender FIGURE 4.3: Students’ Placement Test Scores FIGURE 4.4: Students’ assessment of vocabulary FIGURE 4.5a: The students’ assessment of vocabulary in the experimental group FIGURE 4.5b: The students’ assessment of vocabulary in the controlled group FIGURE 4.6: The difficulty of grammar in ESP texts FIGURE 4.7: The difficulty of topics of ESP texts before the experimental teaching FIGURE 4.8: The difficulty of topics of ESP texts after the experimental teaching FIGURE 4.9a: The comparison of the difficulty of Topics of ESP texts in the controlled group FIGURE 4.9b: The comparison of the difficulty of Topics of ESP texts in the experimental group FIGURE 4.10: Students’ strategies in Pre-reading FIGURE 4.11: Teachers’ techniques in Pre-reading FIGURE 4.12: The necessity of Schema-building FIGURE 4.13: The frequency of applying Schema building FIGURE 4.14: The suitability of ESP teaching materials FIGURE 4.15: BBC News front page FIGURE 4.16: Encarta encyclopedia articles LIST OF TABLES TABLE 4.1: Students’ ages in two types of class TABLE 4.2: Students’ gender in two types of class TABLE 4.3: Students’ Placement Test Score TABLE 4.4: The difficulty of vocabulary TABLE 4.5: The difficulty of vocabulary after the experimental teaching TABLE 4.6: The difficulty of grammar in ESP texts TABLE 4.7: The difficulty of topic of the ESP texts TABLE 4.8: The difficulty of topic of ESP text after experimental teaching TABLE 4.9: The difficulty of topics of ESP texts before and after the experimental teaching TABLE 4.10: Students’ strategies in pre-reading TABLE 4.11: Teachers’ pre-reading technique TABLE 4.12: The necessity of schema building in reading ESP text TABLE 4.13: The frequency of teachers’ uses Schema building in the class TABLE 4.14: The suitability of ESP material in learning and teaching ABBREVIATIONS CD-ROM Compact Disc, Read-Only Memory ESP English for Specific Purposes EGP English for General Purposes IPR Intellectual Property Rights L1 First language L2 Second language UL University of Law, Ho Chi Minh City UN United Nations UNICEF United Nation International Children’s Emergency Fund WTO World Trade Organization INTRODUCTION Vietnam’s economics has changed rapidly since Vietnam became a full member of the WTO; therefore, learning English, especially learning laws in English, has become an urgent need of government officers, managers, investors, lawyers, etc in all over the country Using legal English terminology also becomes very necessary for students at the University of Laws, HCMC (UL) for their future usages Therefore, ESP (English for specific purposes) is taught as a compulsory subject to second-year students and third-year students at the UL because of its importance When studying English, students at the UL often think that reading skills can be accessed easier than other skills However, in the process of reading, they can read words but they not know what they mean so that they have to spend too much time looking up new vocabulary to understand the text As a result, the students who are good readers in their first language have difficulties transferring their reading skills to a second In addition, in teaching and learning English, reading comprehension is one of the four skills that is spent much time and energy to develop In fact, most effort and methods are spent on teaching vocabulary, grammar as well as translation and less attention is paid to teaching reading skills, especially building background information (Schema building) related to the texts 0.1 STATEMENT OF THE PURPOSE Being a teacher of English with the experience of 10 years teaching English and with my observation at the UL, I recognize that in a reading class, specially in an ESP class, both teacher and students normally not deal with reading as an intergrating skills that requires a combination of skills, knowledge and strategies In reality, they pay more attention to teaching and learning some single aspects of the text like vocabulary and grammar or sentence structure They usually think that knowing the meaning of words is essential to understand the text; therefore, they tend to focus on the surface meaning and ignore factors like implied meaning, contexts, building background information related to the text This results in the fact that the practice of reading skills is neglected In other words, comprehension check is done through the question and answer exercises or true/false exercises and the reading comprehension is thought to be completed The common reality of teaching an ESP reading text shows that the teacher skips the first important two stages (pre-reading and while reading) and focuses on the post-reading stage only Sometimes the teacher also discusses about the topic of the text and asks students to talk and match the vocabulary before reading the text but students are not interested in discussing and usually keep silent As a result, reading class becomes boring and uninteresting to engage students in reading Ultimately, students only True-False exercises or answer the questions because their teacher asks them to so in reading class To make the reading lesson more comprehensible and enjoyable, there have to be a variety of tasks and activities that help students involve in the text According to Krashen (1982), comprehensible input is an important factor in language acquisition, and that a comprehension-before-production approach can facilitate language acquisition Therefore, background knowledge is vital in reading classroom because it provides input for the readers and help them apply what they already know about a subject in reading comprehension Rost (1994:142) states that without understanding input at the right level, learning cannot begin necessary 12 How often does your teacher apply Schema building (Background information building) in Pre-reading stage? Never Rarely Sometimes Usually Always † † † † † 13 How you assess your reading comprehension after your teacher applied the Schema-building method in pre-reading stage? Average † † † † Very good 14 Are all the lessons in your ESP course suitable for you? Not suitable † † † † Very suitable 15 Is it necessary to apply Schema-building for other skills in English to help students study better? Not necessary † † † † Very necessary Thank you for your participation! 93 BẢNG CÂU HỎI KHẢO SÁT SAU KHÓA HỌC (Version in Vietnamese) Xin bạn vui lòng cho biết ý kiến vấn đề liên quan đến kĩ đọc hiểu phương pháp giảng dạy mà Thầy/Cô áp dụng lớp bạn Xin bạn đánh dấu chéo vào mục phù hợp với bạn: Qua khóa học này, bạn nhận xét phương pháp giảng dạy giáo viên dạy đọc hiểu: † Không thay đổi so † Thay đổi vài mức † Thay đổi hoàn tồn với trước độ mang tính tích cực Theo bạn phương pháp tạo kiến thức, nội dung liên quan đến đọc mà giáo viên áp dụng phần Pre-reading giúp bạn giải vấn đề khó khăn nhiều nhất? Rất nhiều Khá nhiều Không nhiều Từ vựng † † † Cấu trúc câu, ngữ pháp † † † Chủ đề † † † Cùng với phương pháp mà giáo viên áp dụng bai Pre-reading task, bạn nhận xét độ khó đọc Anh văn chun ngành? Khơng khó Hơi khó Khó Rất khó 3.1 Từ vựng † † † † 3.2 Cấu trúc câu, ngữ pháp † † † † 3.3 Chủ đề khóa † † † † Trong khóa học với phương pháp giảng dạy giáo viên Pre-reading task, bạn giải vấn đề liên quan đến từ vựng? 94 † † † † Phán đoán nghĩa từ ngữ cảnh liên quan đến đọc Tìm nghĩa từ đồng nghĩa, trái nghĩa (Ví dụ: incentive, encourage .) Phân biệt từ loại khác từ gốc, chức vị trí chúng câu (Ví dụ: implement – implementation – implementing .) Hiểu nghĩa từ chuyên ngành thông qua mini-text giáo viên giới thiệu trước đọc khóa Sau giáo viên xây dựng cho bạn số kiến thức liên quan đến nội dung đọc chuyên ngành qua Pre-reading, bạn nhận xét từ vựng khóa? Khơng khó † † † † Rất khó Bạn nhận xét yếu tố ngữ pháp đọc chuyên ngành sau giáo viên bạn hồn thành Pre-reading task? Khơng khó Hơi khó Khó Rất khó 6.1 Cụm danh từ † † † † 6.2 Các công cụ liên kết ý (and, the, it…) † † † † 6.3 Bố cục † † † † Cùng với phương pháp mà giáo viên áp dụng Pre-reading task, bạn đánh ngữ pháp đọc tiếng Anh chun ngành? Khơng khó † † † † Rất khó Sau giáo viên xây dựng cho bạn kiến thức, thông tin liên quan đến đọc Anh văn chuyên ngành, bạn nhận xét chủ đề khóa? Khơng khó † † † † Rất khó Việc xây dựng nội dung, kiến thức liên quan đến chủ đề đọc giúp bạn yếu tố quan trọng sau đây? 95 † Khuyến khích bạn thực việc đọc † Gợi nhớ cho bạn kiến thức liên quan đến chủ đề đọc † Giúp bạn hiểu đọc Anh văn chuyên ngành cách rõ ràng 10 Bạn nhận xét phần thảo luận Pre-reading: Không thú vị † † † † Rất thú vị 11 Tóm lại, bạn nhận xét “xây dựng khung sườn kiến thức” liên quan đến đọc tiếng Anh chuyên ngành mà Thầy/cô áp dụng ? Không cần thiết † † † † Rất cần thiết 12 Vậy Thầy/ cô bạn có thường xuyên sử dụng phương pháp xây dựng “Nội dung, kiến thức liên quan đến chủ đề đọc” phần PRE-READING? Không Hiếm Thỉnh thoảng Thường xuyên Luôn † † † † † 13 Bạn nhận xét khả đọc hiểu tiếng Anh sau Thầy/cô áp dụng phương pháp xây dựng khung sườn kiến thức ? Trung bình † † † † Rất tốt 14 Các khóa chương trình học Anh văn chun ngành bạn có phù hợp với bạn hay không? Không † † † † phù hợp phù hợp 15 Bạn thấy phương pháp xây dựng khung sườn kiến thức cần thiết áp dụng cho tất kĩ khác tiếng Anh để giúp sinh viên học tốt ? Không cần thiết † † † † Rất cần thiết 96 Xin chân thành cảm ơn tham gia đóng góp bạn! APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS Dear teachers, 97 Would you please spend your time answering the following questions? These questions are used to find out effective ways in teaching ESP reading at University of Law, Ho Chi Minh City Thank you for your time and participation How long have you been teaching ESP at University of Law, HCMC? Not yet From to years From to 10 years Over 10 years † † † † In your opinion, which skill is the most important one to students of Law? Listening Speaking Reading Writing All of them † † † † † According to you, which difficulties your students often have in ESP reading? 3.1 Lack of vocabulary † 3.2 Grammar and new sentence structures occurred in the text † 3.3 Reading strategies (Skimming, Scanning…) † 3.4 Having no background knowledge of coming topic they will read † 3.5 Differences in culture, style of writing † 3.6 Other ideas: How you evaluate the difficulty of ESP texts to your students? Not difficult Slightly difficult Difficult Very difficult 4.1 Vocabulary † † † † 4.2 Grammar † † † † 98 4.3 Topic of the text † † † † In your opinion, which factor is the most important one to a reader in reading the ESP texts? 5.1 Vocabulary of the coming texts † 5.2 Knowledge of grammar and sentence structure † 5.3 Background knowledge of the coming text † What you expect your students to improve in teaching reading class? 6.1 Vocabulary † 6.2 Grammar and sentence structure † 6.3 Reading skill † 6.4 Background knowledge related to the ESP texts † 6.5 Other ideas: Which steps you often apply for pre-reading stage in the ESP course? 7.1 Explaining new vocabulary and sentence structures † 7.2 Discussing topic of the text first, then explaining new vocabulary † and sentence structure 7.3 Asking students to skim the text for general idea † 7.4 Building information, contents related to the topic of text to help † 99 students have basic knowledge of coming texts 7.5 Other ideas: Do you think that it is necessary for your students to use skimming when reading ESP texts? Not necessary † † † † Very necessary In your opinion, is it necessary for your students to use scanning when reading ESP texts? Not necessary † † † † Very necessary 10 How you evaluate students’ background knowledge of coming topic/subject? Not necessary † † † † Very necessary 11 What you think about building background knowledge (SchemaBuilding) for your students before reading ESP texts? Not necessary † † † † Very necessary 12 How often you apply Schema building (Background information related to the coming topic) in Pre-reading stage? Never Rarely Sometimes Usually Always † † † † † 13 According to you, what should students of Law to improve ESP reading skill? 13.1 Read more magazines, newspapers, books in English to † 100 enlarge their vocabulary 13.2 Do more exercises of grammar and sentence structure † 13.3 Read materials, newspapers of law in English to enlarge † their vocabulary and knowledge of law 13.4 Read the lessons at home in advance to understand vocabulary and content of the text 14 In your opinion, are students? Not † suitable the † lessons in the ESP course suitable † † † for your Very suitable Thank you again and good health! APPENDIX 5: LESSON PLAN FOR THE EXPERIMENTAL TEACHING Reading lesson 1: VIETNAM REFORMS “HARM CHILDREN” • Objectives: Students study the Convention on the Rights of the Children and read the paragraphs about a warning that the transition to a market economy is harming progress in protecting children in Vietnam • Language Content: Grammar: The Simple Present and Present Continuous Tense • Teaching aids: Pictures, Microsoft student software • Teaching techniques: Building mental framework for background information, scanning for the specific information, inferring the writer’s point of view • Time: 45 minutes 101 • Procedure: STAGE 1: PRE-READING I/ Activate your prior knowledge: - Teacher asks Students to read mini-texts and exercises in the text Mini-text 1: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) organization founded by the United Nations in 1946 to (1) food, clothing, and rehabilitative programs to European A- sell B- provide C- give children brutalized by World War II (1939-1945) In 1950 the United Nations made UNICEF responsible for improving the (2) of all children worldwide A- development B- improvement C- welfare The organization’s mission is threefold: (1) to ensure that basic nutrition, health, and education needs of children are met, (2) to give children the opportunity to expand their potential, and (3) to create an international ethical standard of behavior toward children Mini-text 2: UNICEF also provides a relief network for children and their parents or other caregivers in the (3) of disasters, such as floods, earthquakes, and droughts A- aftermath B- result C- effect It has worked extensively with children from war-torn countries to help alleviate their (4) The organization works to prevent child abuse, child labor, A- work B- hurt C- suffuring sexual exploitation of children, and the use of children as soldiers In the United States, UNICEF has focused its work on inner-city children victimized by random violence and gang warfare II/ DISCUSSION: - Teacher (T) shows the symbol of UNICEF and asks students (Ss): + “What does this symbol stand for?” + “What you know about this organization?” + “What can UNICEF for childen worldwide?” + “What are problems that harm the Vietnamese children now?” + “Have you ever witnessed any violations of children’s rights? If any, tell about them in class.” - Students discuss in group and answer T’s questions - T gives feedback and leads Ss to another activities III/ COMPLETE THE SENTENCE: 1/ She is exempt from the sex laws (DISCRIMINATE) 102 2/ The number of in general population has fallen by the fifth in the past 10 years (JUVENILE) 3/ It is just a social that men don’t wear skirts 4/ The transition to a market economy is children (CONVENT) progress in protecting (HARMFUL) 5/ Should parents use corporal for children education? (PUNISH) STAGE 2: WHILE-READING 1/ First reading: - Teacher asks Ss to read the text to find the main ideas for each paragraph - Ss read and tell the class their answers - Teacher gives feedback 2/ Second reading: - Ss read the reading selection individually in minutes, and then Ss decide what viewpoint of the writer is - Teacher chooses a master student to control the activity - Teacher listens and gives out his/her comment 3/ Third reading: - Teacher checks Ss’ comprehension through True/False exercise - Ss reread quickly and read aloud their answers to the class - Teacher gives the comment if there is something incorrect STAGE 3: POST-READING - Teacher writes down task for each group - Ss discuss in their group or go around the class to ask other Ss to have enough information to present for their group 103 - At the end of the lesson, teacher asks Ss to write a paragraph about what a child usually does in his or her free time at home -oOo - Reading lesson 10: Effective Implementation of Intellectual Property • Objectives: Students learn the definition of intellectual property and forms of intellectual property as well as its importance to attract investment • Language Content: Grammar: Non-finite verb form • Teaching aids: Fake goods sample, Pirating optical disks • Teaching techniques: Building mental framework for background information, discussing about Intellectual property, problem solving games • Time: 45 minutes STAGE 1: PRE-READING I/ Activate your prior knowledge: - Teacher asks Students to read mini-texts and exercises in the text Mini-text 1: Intellectual Property, creative works that have economic value and are protected by law Intellectual property laws reward the creators of most types of intellectual property by 1- a allowing b preventing c forgiving others from copying, performing, or distributing those works without permission The main purpose of this protection is to provide for people to produce scientific and creative 2- a measures b laws c incentives works that benefit society at large Some types of intellectual property are Mini-text 2: Form of Intellectual Property automatically protected by law from the moment of their creation The principal types of intellectual property are patents, copyrights, and trademarks (3) .law protects inventions that demonstrate technological progress (4) law protects a variety of literary and artistic works, including paintings, sculpture, prose, poetry, plays, musical compositions, dances, photographs, motion pictures, radio and television programs, sound recordings, and computer software programs (5) law protects words, slogans, and symbols that serve to identify different brands of goodsthe and servicesUsing in the the marketplace II Complete sentence: correct form of the word 3- a Business b Trademark c Patent d Technical 4- a Copyright b Composing c Trademark d License 5- a Property b Business c Trademark d Patent 104 1- Very little has been achieved in the of the peace agreement signed last week [Implement] 2- We need a big win our confidence [Boost] 3- The country was on the verge of collapse because of the of violent rebel attacks [Intensify] 4- He admitted possessing and delivering currency [Counterfeit] 5- If someone with an order, they are in accordance with what is required or expected [Comply] III Group discussion: Each group chooses one question, which is typed on the screen, discussing with your group members and then presenting the answer of your chosen question in the class Each group only has minutes to present and answer questions from other groups a How important is it to protect intellectual property rights (IPR)? b What can international companies like Coca Cola or Microsoft Corporation to stop their products from pirates? c In Vietnam, are counterfeit products imported? Are they produced locally? Are they traded freely and in considerable quantities both in streets and in shops? d Do you think that protecting intellectual property rights will contribute to the upgrading of human right? e Is the patent and trademark registration in Vietnam similar to that in the EU and America? STAGE 2: WHILE-READING 1/ First reading: - T asks Ss to read the text and arrange the paragraphs according to its order - Ss read the answer and teacher gives feedback 105 - Ss work in pair/group to discuss the extent of danger and damage that fake products may cause to Vietnam’s economics Ss have to write their choices and opinions following the teacher’s designed table: CATEGORY FAKE PRODUCT DANGER & DAMAGE Medicine Food Cosmestics Clothes/ bags/ shampoos Other 2/ Second reading: - Ss read the reading selection individually in minutes, and then decide T/F to each sentence given in the True/ False exercise - Teacher listens and gives out his/her feedback and comment 3/ Third reading: - Ss are asked to re-read the text and write in the blanks which lines containing the new vocabulary Ss read and write the numbers, T checks and corrects Line Line - Impliment - Counterfeit - Boost - Comply - Intensity - Infringements STAGE 3: POST-READING - Teacher writes down task for each group - Ss discuss in their group, and then join into other groups to collect information about intellectual property as well as fake goods and ways to prevent people from using fake products Finally, the group leader 106 summarizing the information goes to the front of class and presents the answer for the tasks - At the end of the lesson, teacher asks Ss to write a summary of the intellectual property and its importance # " 107 ... teachers and students in teaching and learning ESP at the UL? How can Schema- building assist students in improving their reading skills? What are solutions to enhance students? ?? reading skills in... from most general at the top to most specific at the bottom As these bottom-level schemata converge into higher level, more general schemata, these too become activated Bottom-up processing is... language L2 Second language UL University of Law, Ho Chi Minh City UN United Nations UNICEF United Nation International Children’s Emergency Fund WTO World Trade Organization INTRODUCTION Vietnam’s