AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES IN READING ENGLISH OF VISUALLY IMPAIRED STUDENTS AT ULIS a CASE STUDY = sử DỤNG CHIẾN THUẬT SIÊU NHẬN THỨC TRONG KHI đọc TIẾNG ANH của SINH VIÊN KHIẾM THỊ ở TR

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES IN READING ENGLISH OF VISUALLY IMPAIRED STUDENTS AT ULIS - A CASE STUDY Supervisor: Cao Thúy Hồng (Ph.D) Student: Nguyễn Linh Giang Class: QH2017.F1.E6 HA NOI - 2021 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHOÁ LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP SỬ DỤNG CHIẾN THUẬT SIÊU NHẬN THỨC TRONG KHI ĐỌC TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN KHIẾM THỊ Ở TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ NGHIÊN CỨU TRƯỜNG HỢP ĐIỂN HÌNH Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Cao Thúy Hồng (T.S) Sinh viên: Nguyễn Linh Giang Lớp: QH2017.F1.E6 HÀ NỘI – NĂM 2021 ACCEPTANCE PAGE I hereby state that I: Nguyen Linh Giang – QH12017.F1.E6, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (Mainstream program) accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper Signature Date: June 2021 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank all people whose help contributed significantly to the completion of my thesis First and foremost, I want to express a heartfelt gratitude to my dedicated supervisor, Dr Cao Thuy Hong for her tremendous support, both mentally and academically Without her guidance, I would never be able to finish my thesis She was always patient, magnanimous and encouraging, helping me believe in myself when I faced up with many difficulties She is more than a supervisor to me because she treated me with tolerance like my mother Secondly, I am grateful to Minh Nguyet and Thu Phuong for giving me so much invaluable advice and materials Moreover, my sincere thanks go to three participants and my close friends including Thanh, Ngoc, Loan, Sang, Minh Anh for their kindness and willingness to help whenever I needed I also wish to send my deep appreciation to Nha Uyen for being my lifesaver and inspiration Last but not least, I am indebted to my family, especially my mother who always stood by me and provided every condition to facilitate my process of writing the thesis i ABSTRACT No longer is metacognitive strategy an unfamiliar concept but it has never stopped to attract researchers’ attention Metacognitive strategies, in short, is “thinking about thinking” which means the process to plan, monitor and evaluate one’s performance (Chick & Taylor, 2013) This research aims at finding the metacognitive strategies employed by visually impaired students and factors influencing their choice of strategies By using qualitative approach and case study design, the researcher attempted to analyze data from interviews and two kinds of think-aloud protocol Findings reveal that visually impaired students applied all metacognitive reading strategies However they mostly showed a frequency of use in planning including advanced organizing, selective attention and directed attention Moreover, they also used problem-solving strategies to compensate for their disability Regarding factors influencing their choice of metacognitive reading strategies, the researcher discovered six factors comprising nature of the disability, learning styles, motivation and interest, lexical range, self-efficacy and technological hindrance Some implications for visually impaired students, teachers, curriculum developer and policy developers are also specified Keywords: metacognitive reading strategies, visually impaired students ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i ABSTRACT ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of the problems and rationale for the study 1.2 Research aims and research questions 1.3 Scope of the study 1.4 Significance of the research 1.5 Organzation CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of key concepts Visual impairment Metacognition Meta-cognitive strategies Metacognitive reading strategy 2.2 Use of metacognitive strategy and reading comprehension 2.3 Framework of the study Research question 1: What are the metacognitive strategies employed by visually impaired students in reading English? Research question 2: What are the factors that affected their choice of metacognitive strategies? 14 2.4 Research gap 14 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 16 3.1 Research participants and sampling 16 3.2 Qualitative research approach 17 3.3 Case-study research design 18 3.4 Data collection methods and procedure 18 iii Data collection instruments 18 3.5 Data analysis procedure and methods 22 Thematic Analysis 22 Procedure of data analysis 23 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 26 4.1 Question 1: What are the metacognitive strategies employed by visually impaired students in reading English? 26 Case 1: Moon - The advanced organizer 26 Case 2: Susan - an average planner 30 Case 3: Lily - an inconsistent monitor 32 Cross-case analysis and discussion 34 4.2 What are the factors that affected their choice of metacognitive strategies? 35 Nature of the disability 39 Learning styles 40 Motivation and interest 41 Lexical range 43 Self-efficacy 44 Technological hindrance 45 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 48 5.1 Summary of key findings 48 5.2 Implication 48 For students 49 For teachers 49 For curriculum developers and policy developers 50 5.3 Limitations of the study 50 5.4 Suggestions for future research 51 REFERENCES 52 APPENDICES 59 APPENDIX – CONSENT LETTER 59 APPENDIX – STUDENT INTERVIEW PROTOCOL 61 APPENDIX – READING COMPREHENSION TEST 64 iv LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 2.1 Category of visual impairment Table 2.2 O’Malley and Chamot L2 learning strategy framework 10 Table 2.3 A framework of the first research question 12 Table 3.1 The profiles of three participants 17 Table 3.2 Description of the reading comprehension test 20 Table 3.3 phases of thematic analysis procedure (Braun & Clarke, 2006) 23 Table 3.4 O’Malley and Chamot’s classification of 24 Table 3.5 Examples of coding process 25 Table 4.1 Key factors affecting choice of metacognitive strategies 36 Figure 2.1 Factors affecting students’ metacognitive learning strategies 14 Figure 3.1 Data collection procedure 22 v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CAE: Certificate in Advanced English EFL: English as a Foreign Language ESL: English as a Second Language IELTS: International English Language Testing System JAWS: Job Access With Speech L2: Second Language TAP: Think-aloud protocol ULIS: University of Languages and International Studies VSTEP: Vietnamese Standardized Test of English Proficiency WHO: World Health Organization vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter aims at stating the rationales behind the researcher’s decision to conduct the study, proposing the aim and two research questions Moreover, the scope and the contribution of the study are mentioned Finally, the organization of the research is summarized at the end of the chapter 1.1 Statement of the problems and rationale for the study There has been an international shift from the pursuit of the best teaching method to focus on how successful teachers and learners actually achieve their goals in second language teaching (Schreurs & Dumbraveanu, 2013) It is in line with the change from teacher-centeredness to learner-centeredness, which considers learners as the core of teaching-learning process A variety of previous studies have stated that one of the most pivotal factors that impact learners’ performance is their choice of learning strategies (Rubin, 1975; Oxford, 1990 & Nunan 1991) When it comes to reading, the burgeoning demand for understanding the strategies that learners used to improve their reading comprehension and factors that underpins their use of these strategies have been widely discussed (Sarỗoban, 2002; Ozek & Civelek, 2006; Li, 2010) Students who are aware of their cognitive behaviors and are in control of their strategy use throughout all stages of the reading process have been found to attain better performance than those without such thinking (Hoang, 2019) In other words, the role of metacognitive reading strategies - those strategies designed to increase a readers’ knowledge of awareness and control, to improve their reading comprehension, and to evaluate whether their attempts at comprehension have been successful (Usman, Zulfadli & Absida, 2017) - in facilitating students’ reading comprehension is somewhat undeniable Pajares, F (2008) Motivational role of self-efficacy beliefs in self-regulated learning In Schunk, D.H., & Zimmerman, B.J (Eds), Motivation and self- regulated learning: Theory, research, and application (pp 111–141) NY: Erlbaum Purpura, J (1999) An analysis of the relationships between test takers’ cognitive and metacognitive strategy use and second language test performance Language Learning, 47, p 289-325 Pressley, M., & Afflerbach, P (1995) Verbal protocols of reading: The nature of constructively responsive reading Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Pugh, K J., & Bergin (2006) Motivational Influences on Transfer Educational Psychologist, 41(3), 147–160 Rubin, J (1975) What the “Good Language Learner” Can Teach Us TESOL Quarterly, 9(1), 41–51 Saricoban, A (2002) Reading strategies of successful readers through the three phase approach The Reading Matrix, 23(4), 1-16 Setiawan, W A J., Adnyani, L D S., & Suprianti, G A P (2020) Strategies in Teaching Reading to Visually Impaired Students Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris undiksha, 8(2), 65-73 Schreurs, J., & Dumbraveanu, R (2014) A Shift from Teacher Centered to Learner Centered Approach International Journal of Engineering Pedagogy (IJEP), 4(3), 36 https://doi.org/10.3991/ijep.v4i3.3395 Tran, T M P., & Pho, P D (2020) A Case Study of How Visually Impaired Learners Acquire Language Ethical Lingua: Journal of Language Teaching and Literature, 7(1), 1-10 Usman, B., Zulfadli, A A., & Absida, N R (2017) Improving reading comprehension using metacognitive strategies English Education Journal, 8(4), 425-438 Vandergrift, L (2005) Relationships among motivation orientations, metacognitive awareness and proficiency in l2 listening Applied Linguistics, 26(1), 70 – 90 57 World Health Organization & IAPB (2007) Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness: action plan 2006-2011 (No WW 140) Geneva 27, Switzerland: WHO Press Yang, X H & Zhang, W P (2002), “The Correlation between Metacognition and EFL Reading Comprehension of Chinese College Students”, Foreign Language Teaching and Research, 34, 213-218 Yin, R K (2009) Case Study Research: Design and Methods (fourth edition) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Zare-ee, A (2007), “TheRelationship between Cognitive and Meta-cognitive Strategy use and EFL Reading Achievement”, Journal of Applied Psychology, 2, 105119 58 APPENDICES APPENDIX – CONSENT LETTER APPROACH FOR VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION IN RESEARCH THESIS: “AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES IN READING ENGLISH OF VISUALLY IMPAIRED STUDENTS AT ULIS - A CASE STUDY” Dear Madam, Participation in Research I am Nguyen Linh Giang, a student from class QH2017.E6, Mainstream Program, FELTE, ULIS I am conducting research for my graduate thesis, which is about “An investigation into the use of metacognitive strategies of visually impaired students at ULIS-VNU in reading English” The aims of this research are to: (i) identify the types of metacognitive strategies that visually impaired students use in reading English; (ii) explore the frequency of strategy use and (iii) find out the most effective metacognitive reading strategies from their perspective The participants for my research are visually impaired students taking the English courses during their years in FELTE Information will be gained through conducting interviews in a strictly confidential setting Excerpts of the interview will be used as part of the final report, but personal information will under no circumstances be disclosed I am approaching you for your voluntary participation in this research project Your participation is highly valuable and will be most appreciated 59 You can contact me for further information via email linhgiang2107@gmail.com or number 085 693 8774 (Ms Linh Giang) Participants may request a copy of the research report Thank you very much for your kind participation! Yours sincerely 60 APPENDIX – STUDENT INTERVIEW PROTOCOL AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES IN READING ENGLISH OF VISUALLY IMPAIRED STUDENTS AT ULIS - A CASE STUDY I INTRODUCTION AND WARM-UP Greeting the students Introduce the research question and some background information Clarify any question from the participant before starting the interview II MAIN INTERVIEW Fixed set of questions Could you tell me exactly your kind of visual impairment? Since when have you had this problem with your eyes? What was your English level when you attended ULIS? You can just give your assumption if you are not sure about it How many years have you studied English? What is your English level now? What you first before you read? Do the titles, subtitles or pictures give any impression to you? When you read, can you find topic sentences? Do you look for main ideas and supporting details? What is the most important for you: main ideas or supporting details? How can you determine the differences between the main idea and the supporting details? What you focus on while you read English? 61 10 What you often if you have difficulty in understanding what you are reading? 11 What you often when there are unfamiliar words? 12 Do you often refer to dictionaries when there are new words or structures? Please explain why 13 How often you have to translate reading articles or reading assignments into Vietnamese yourself or use Google Translate? If yes, you have to translate a short paragraph or a long one to the whole text? 14 Do you think grammatical structure is a problem for you when you read? Please explain your answer 15 Do you use your personal background experience to help you understand the text? Please explain your answer 16 Do you use self-talk or ask yourself questions while reading? If yes, how often, and explain your answer 16 Do you think reading aloud can help you read better? If yes, how often you it? 17 When you the test, will you read the text first or the questions first? Will you the questions in turn or depend on the difficulty of the questions to decide the priority? 18 How does the JAWS software affect your reading speed and concentration (if any)? 19 What you when you finish reading? 20 After you read, you mentally summarize what you read or write down main ideas? 21 How you develop your reading speed? 22 What you to improve your reading ability? 23 Do you have a habit of reading about what you like or are concerned about? 62 Further enquiries based on the answers given by each participant III CONCLUSION & FINAL THANK-YOU Apart from what has been discussed, what else would you like to share with me? Thank you very much for your participation! 63 APPENDIX – READING COMPREHENSION TEST Part You are going to read an article about a woman who trains actors in fighting skills For questions 31 – 36, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text Kombat Kate James Stanton meets ‘Kombat Kate’ Waters, who trains theatre actors in how to ‘fight’ on stage There must be few occasions when it would be really rude to refuse an invitation to head-butt someone you’ve just met! But I’m in one of those right now I’m in a rehearsal room in a theatre with a group of actors, facing up to stage fighting director Kate Waters I’ve already dragged her around the room and slapped her on the arm Now she wants me to head-butt her But fear not, this is all strictly pretend! ‘Imagine there’s a tin can on my shoulder,’ she says ‘Now try to knock it off.’ I lower my head as instructed, then lift it sharply, aiming for the imaginary can, hoping desperately that I don’t miscalculate the angle and end up doing damage to her face To my amazement, I get it right ‘That was good,’ says Waters ‘Now maybe try it again without smiling.’ Waters, known in the industry as Kombat Kate, is showing me how actors fight each other without getting hurt, and that includes sword-fighting (She inspires fierce 64 devotion: when I tweet that I’m meeting Waters, one actress friend responds: ‘She’s amazing She taught me how to be a secret service agent in two days.’) Perhaps the most famous play Kate has worked on recently was called Noises Off She taught the cast how to fall down stairs without breaking any bones One of the fight scenes is fairly close, Kate tells me, to the one we’re trying out now ‘I’ve just slowed it down a bit,’ she says tactfully, before inviting me to throw her against the wall I obey, making sure I let go of her quickly, so she can control her own movement Push your opponent too hard, and they will hit the wall for real I watch her hit the wall before falling to the ground She’s fine, of course ‘That’s my party trick,’ she says with a grin ‘Works every time.’ Once the lesson is over Kate tells me how she became one of only two women on the official register of stage fight directors Already a keen martial arts expert from childhood, Kate did drama at university, and one module of her course introduced her to stage combat When she made enquiries about the possibility of teaching it as a career, she was told about the register and the qualifications she’d need to be accepted onto it It was no small order: as well as a certificate in advanced stage combat, she would need a black belt in karate and proficiency in fencing, a sport she’d never tried before But she rose to the challenge and taught the subject for several years at a drama college before going freelance and becoming a fight advisor for the theatrical world The play she’s working on is Shakespeare’s Richard III This involves a famous sword fight With no instructions left by the great playwright other than – Enter Richard and Richmond: they fight, Richard dies – the style and sequence of the fight is down to Kate and the actors 65 ‘I try to get as much information as possible about what a fight would have been like in a particular period,’ Kate explains ‘But because what I’m eventually doing is telling a dramatic story, not all of it is useful The scene has to be exciting and something for the audience.’ Ultimately, of course, a stage fight is all smoke and mirrors In our lesson, Kate shows me how an actor will stand with his or her back to the audience ahead of a choreographed slap or punch When the slap comes it makes contact not with skin but with air: the actor whacks his chest or leg to make the sound of the slap In the rehearsal room, I can’t resist asking Kate how she thinks she would fare in a real fight Would she give her attacker a hard time? She laughs, ‘Oh, I’d be awful,’ she says ‘I only know how to fake it.’ I can’t help thinking, however, that she’s just being rather modest In the first paragraph, the writer is aware of A a critical attitude from Kate B the concern of the other actors C the need to reassure his readers D having been in a similar situation before How does the writer feel when Kate mentions the tin can? A worried about hurting Kate B relieved that Kate is just pretending C concerned that it may injure his head D convinced that he won’t take it seriously enough 66 When Kate and the writer repeat the fight scene from Noises Off, we learn that A the writer isn’t sure of his instructions B Kate has adapted it slightly for the writer to try C the writer is initially unwilling to it D Kate has to react quickly to a mistake the writer makes What does the phrase ‘no small order’ (line 22) tell us about stage combat? A Kate knew she would love learning about it B It is something very few people ever perfect C Studying it required a lot of obedience and respect D Qualifying to teach it would be a long and difficult process What does the writer tell us about the sword fight in the play Richard III? A Its details need to be made up B It’s a particularly challenging scene to C Its action is conveyed through spoken words D It is widely agreed to be the most exciting of its kind What does ‘it’ refer to in line 30? A information B a fight C a particular period D a dramatic story 67 Part You are going to read the introduction to a book about the history of colour For questions 31 – 36, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text Introduction to a book about the history of colour This book examines how the ever-changing role of colour in society has been reflected in manuscripts, stained glass, clothing, painting and popular culture Colour is a natural phenomenon, of course, but it is also a complex cultural construct that resists generalization and, indeed, analysis itself No doubt this is why serious works devoted to colour are rare, and rarer still are those that aim to study it in historical context Many authors search for the universal or archetypal truths they imagine reside in colour, but for the historian, such truths not exist Colour is first and foremost a social phenomenon There is no transcultural truth to colour perception, despite what many books based on poorly grasped neurobiology or – even worse – on pseudoesoteric pop psychology would have us believe Such books unfortunately clutter the bibliography on the subject, and even it harm The silence of historians on the subject of colour, or more particularly their difficulty in conceiving colour as a subject separate from other historical phenomena, is the result of three different sets of problems The first concerns documentation and preservation We see the colours transmitted to us by the past as time has altered them and not as they were originally Moreover, we see them under light conditions that often are entirely different from those known by past societies And finally, over the decades we have developed the habit of looking at objects from the past in black-andwhite photographs and, despite the current diffusion of colour photography, our ways 68 of thinking about and reacting to these objects seem to have remained more or less black and white The second set of problems concerns methodology As soon as the historian seeks to study colour, he must grapple with a host of factors all at once: physics, chemistry, materials, and techniques of production, as well as iconography, ideology, and the symbolic meanings that colours convey How to make sense of all of these elements? How can one establish an analytical model facilitating the study of images and coloured objects? No researcher, no method, has yet been able to resolve these problems, because among the numerous facts pertaining to colour, a researcher tends to select those facts that support his study and to conveniently forget those that contradict it This is clearly a poor way to conduct research And it is made worse by the temptation to apply to the objects and images of a given historical period information found in texts of that period The proper method – at least in the first phase of analysis – is to proceed as palaeontologists (who must study cave paintings without the aid of texts): by extrapolating from the images and the objects themselves a logic and a system based on various concrete factors such as the rate of occurrence of particular objects and motifs, their distribution and disposition In short, one undertakes the internal structural analysis with which any study of an image or coloured object should begin The third set of problems is philosophical: it is wrong to project our own conceptions and definitions of colour onto the images, objects and monuments of past centuries Our judgements and values are not those of previous societies (and no doubt they will change again in the future) For the writer-historian looking at the definitions and taxonomy of colour, the danger of anachronism is very real For example, the spectrum with its natural order of colours was unknown before the seventeenth 69 century, while the notion of primary and secondary colours did not become common until the nineteenth century These are not eternal notions but stages in the everchanging history of knowledge I have reflected on such issues at greater length in my previous work, so while the present book does address certain of them, for the most part it is devoted to other topics Nor is it concerned only with the history of colour in images and artworks – in any case that area still has many gaps to be filled Rather, the aim of this book is to examine all kinds of objects in order to consider the different facets of the history of colour and to show how far beyond the artistic sphere this history reaches The history of painting is one thing; that of colour is another, much larger, question Most studies devoted to the history of colour err in considering only the pictorial, artistic or scientific realms But the lessons to be learned from colour and its real interest lie elsewhere What problem regarding colour does the writer explain in the first paragraph? A Our view of colour is strongly affected by changing fashion B Analysis is complicated by the bewildering number of natural colours C Colours can have different associations in different parts of the world D Certain popular books have dismissed colour as insignificant What is the first reason the writer gives for the lack of academic work on the history of colour? A There are problems of reliability associated with the artefacts available B Historians have seen colour as being outside their field of expertise C Colour has been rather looked down upon as a fit subject for academic study D Very little documentation exists for historians to use 70 The writer suggests that the priority when conducting historical research on colour is to A ignore the interpretations of other modern day historians B focus one’s interest as far back as the prehistoric era C find some way of organising the mass of available data D relate pictures to information from other sources In the fourth paragraph, the writer says that the historian writing about colour should be careful A not to analyse in an old-fashioned way B when making basic distinctions between key ideas C not to make unwise predictions D when using certain terms and concepts In the fifth paragraph, the writer says there needs to be further research done on A the history of colour in relation to objects in the world around us B the concerns he has raised in an earlier publication C the many ways in which artists have used colour over the years D the relationship between artistic works and the history of colour An idea recurring in the text is that people who have studied colour have A failed to keep up with scientific developments B not understood its global significance C found it difficult to be fully objective D been muddled about their basic aims 71 ... research on metacognitive reading strategies at the moment have been conducted on normal students Research on reading strategies in general and metacognitive reading strategies particularly of visually. .. learning process, planning information, monitoring the learning task and evaluating how well one has started Planning Advance organizers Previewing the main ideas and concepts of the material... Chamot’s classification of metacognitive reading strategies Learning Strategy Definition Metacognitive Thinking about the learning process, planning strategies information, monitoring the learning