2051 1 427.9»
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY
cals
TEACHERS’ AND LEARNERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS READING IN ENGLISH 10 TEXTBOOK
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Arts (TESOL)
Submitted by: DUONG CONG THI THUY
Supervisor: Dr NGUYEN THANH TUNG
HO CHI MINH CITY, MARCH 2009
Trang 3ABSTRACT
With the tendency of globalisation and world integration, English becomes an important bridge to help people all over the world understand one another To contribute to that success, the role of English textbook should be paid attention to
However, since its introduction into high schools in 2006-2007 up till now, the
English textbook for the 10" graders in general and its reading skill in particular have not been systematically evaluated, supported by empirical evidence
To help evaluate the reading materials in this English language textbook, a theoretical framework of textbook evaluation was shaped The evaluation was limited to text selection in terms of length, type, authenticity, culture, integration into other skills, and topic, and task design dealing with the pre-, while-, and post-
reading activities In order to elicit their attitudes towards these two broad themes,
copies of the questionnaire were administered to 217 students and seven teachers of English at Lam Ha High School in Lam Dong Province in mid-May, 2008 The analytical framework employed to analyse student and teacher data was strictly
based on the themes and sub-themes as identified in the theoretical framework
The findings show that both students and teachers thought that the reading materials had not met the great expectations as intended by the textbook writers Specifically, the teachers’ opinions were more positive than those of the students
Trang 4TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Statement Of authorship 0 ccc esereseesseceseeeserereee rent cneedssaesessreeteneeeseees i AcknowledBg€Im€TIS cà nàn" HH HH Hàn HH rà như ii 0 0 Hi Table 0Ÿ COnfenfS HH nh nh HH nh nà ni kh ng iv LiSt Oftable§ c co HS HH nh co KH Ko Ki Ki Ki nà hà in viii
Chapter 1: SOCIO-CULTURAL CONTEXT AND ENGLISH
TEXTBOOK Q QC nh nh nh nh tà re 1
lì 9n 1
1.2 Statemenf OŸPUTPOS€ nà HH H HH HH iu 3
1.3 Research questions nh 3
1.4 Sipnificance oŸthe SfUY Ăn HH HH ghê 4 1.5 Focus and structure of the fÏleSIS sư 4 Chapter 2; EVALUATION OF READING TEXTS: A CONCEPTUAL ):29/13À,/9) 3) (3 — 5 2.1 InfrOdUCtOH HT HH HH HT Hà Hà nh CC Hà He hi 5 2.2 Text s€leCfOI cà HH HH HH HT Hà TH 5 6 6 7 § 10 10 2.2.7 Summary Of text seleCtIOn cSoS tt yH vxe 11
2.3 Task design sscssscscssssssssssssssssvsvsssssssssessssssesesssessenessesscesscseccesseeeseseeeeeeees 1
Trang 6Lai 4.2.1.3 Authenticity HH 21 xe 4.2.1.4 ° 4.2.1.5 Integration into other skills , «+<css2 “"S ' an 4.2.1.7 Summary oftext selection -. -~- 4.2.2.2 While-reading Hee 4.2.2.3 POSÍ-TERỈE HH re 4.2.2.4 Summary oŸtask design ven 4.2.3 Summary ofstudent đata anaÌySiS -<c<c<ceeeece 4.3 Teacher data anaÌySiS HH 2t tưy 4.3.1 Texf seleCHOT LH HH ng re 43.1.1 .ẽa cố ẻ “" “ Type oc ccccecc cee cc cence eee teen ena eeseeee eae eaeeeenee 4.3.1.3 Authentcify HH re “6° 4.3.1.5 43.1.6 TOpIC HH HH TH km Tnhh rên 4.3.1.7 Summary oftext selection -cecesvee VN 4 mẽ 4.3.2.1 Pr€-r€AdÏnE ch HH Hà re 4.3.2.2 While-reading coSi.eerereireeret 4.3.2.3 Posft-reading c HH re
Trang 75.2 General findings - kh nh HH TH ng HH TH tri 57 5.3 Findings on text sele€C[On nàn ng nh bà ky 38 5.4 Findings about task deSign càng ươn 60 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONBG 62 6.1 ÍnfrOdUCfiOH ch nh Km Ki ng nà hit mg 62 6.2 Research questions explicitly answered ccc cece eee cena eee eee 62 6.3 Strengths and weaknesses in the methodology of the study 63 6.4 Recommendations for teachers and textbook designers 64 6.4.1 Teachers .cccseccscssessssssessscesesenssscssecsccscnssssneessuerssessessnerseensens 64 6.4.2 Textbook đesignerS «cong H ey 65 6.5 Suggestions for further research cv terehhereieieirret 66 6.6 SUITATY ào ST HH HH HH HH H4 1k H171 1.1 HH ri 67 REFERENCES - Ác ào HH 68 APPENDICES ng HH HH HH re 73 Appendix 1: Reading evaluation questionnaire for students (English A 7-70) (0) 0) = 73 Appendix 2: Reading evaluation questionnaire for students (Vietnamese OT 0) (0) ) ne Ee 82
Trang 8Table 1: Table 2: Table 3: Table 4: Table 5: Table 6: Table 7: Table 8: Table 9:
Table 10: Teachers' attitudes towards length
Table II: Teachers' attitudes towards type
Table 12: Teachers” attitudes towards authenticity
Table 13: Teachers` attitudes towards culture
LIST OE TABLES Students' attitudes towards length
Students” attitides toWards typ€ cu
Stuđents' attitudes towards authenticity
Students' attitudes towards culture
Students’ attitudes towards integration into other skills
Students' attitudes towards †OpÏC -
Students’ attitudes towards pre-reading activities
Students’ attitudes towards while-reading activities
Students’ attitudes towards post-reading activities
Table 14: Teachers’ attitudes towards integration into other skills Table 15: Teachers” aftitudes towards tOpi€
Table 16: Teachers' attitudes towards pre-reading
Table 17: Teachers’ attitudes towards while-reading
Trang 9CHAPTER 1
SOCIO-CULTURAL CONTEXT AND ENGLISH TEXTBOOK 1.1 Background
Approximately 400 million people speak English as their first language nowadays and about the same number use it as a second language Specifically, with the tendency of globalisation and world integration, nations all over the world have many opportunities to co-operate with one another in many fields, such as politics, diplomacy, economy, science, technology, international trade, cultural exchange, education, and sports In this context, an international language is required
Therefore, the role of English becomes more and more important, as it is a bridge to
enhance mutual understanding and relationship among countries
Languages taught in Vietnam are influenced by their socio-cultural context As such, they reflect the government’s language policy of a particular period in history
For instance, before 1954, the French textbook “L’ Anglais Vivant” was used, and
from 1954 to 1975, the English textbooks “Let’s Learn English” and “English for Today” were adopted at schools in the South of Vietnam
From the reunification of the country in 1975 until the economic reform in 1986, although the Russian language dominated, English was still taught as one of the compulsory subjects at high schools, and “English Learning Materials” for Grades
10, 11 and 12 were first published by the Education Publishing House
Trang 10Firstly, from 1986 to 1995, Vietnam became one of the biggest exporters of rice,
coffee, pepper, and other products To meet the demand of the economic development in this period, language education was urged to change, too Thus, English textbooks were modified The English 10 textbook first published was then replaced by the English textbook written for a seven-year curriculum by Tu Anh, Phan Ha, and May Vi Phuong and for a three-year one by Dang Tran Cuong, Nguyen My Dung, Pham Khai Hoan, Le Duc Nhuan, and Hoang Van Sit
Secondly, from 1995 up till now, since the United States lifted its economic embargo against Vietnam, more and more tourists have visited this country It became a member of the following organisations: the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1995, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in 1998, and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2006 It is the host of many ASEAN events and APEC meetings Following this growth in the status of the country, the English 10 textbook was replaced again by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) and the new one began to be piloted in many high schools This time it was edited by the editor-in-chief Hoang Van Van and his colleagues, Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa, Do Tuan Minh, Nguyen Thu Phuong, and Nguyen Quoc Tuan, and has been taught in the whole country since the beginning of the school year 2006-2007 This is a pivotal mark for education reform in order to meet the expectations of many language policy makers, teachers, and students and their
parents
Since its introduction into high schools, there have been both favourable and
Trang 11emphasis on the consequences of the heavy workload in the textbook and the need to evaluate it He said, “One of the most important reasons that made too many
students quit school was heavy textbook; thus, it should be examined” (as cited in B T A, 2008) However, to do this, it is necessary to establish clear-cut criteria, as
Nguyen (2008) puts it, “Can we evaluate textbooks when we do not have any standardised criteria?”
1.2 Statement of purpose
Given the background together with its gap as identified and presented above, this study aims to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of reading materials in the English 10 textbook to help improve the quality of English teaching and learning in Vietnam
1.3 Research questions
To achieve the aim articulated above, this thesis will try to find the information to
answer the following research question:
1 What are students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards reading comprehension materials in the English textbook for the tenth graders?
Underlying this main research question are two sub-questions about text selection
and task design Therefore, in order to answer this main question, the researcher has
to find the answers to the following two sub-questions:
Trang 123 What is: their evaluation of task design, ie pre-, while-, and post- reading activities?
1.4 Significance of the study
If the study can be carried out successfully, it can help those concerned — teachers, students and textbook designers — to use this textbook more effectively in a sense that improvements can be strengthened and weaknesses can be overcome for the benefits of English teaching and learning in high schools in Vietnam
1.5 Focus and structure of the thesis The thesis is structured as follows:
Chapter 1 problematises the object of the study To do this, it deals with the five parts of background, statement of purpose, research questions, significance of the study, and focus and structure of the thesis Chapter 2 aims to shape a conceptual framework of reading materials along two broad themes: text selection (in terms of length, type, authenticity, culture, integration into other skills, and topic), and task design (i.e the pre-, while-, and post-reading activities) Chapter 3 deals with research design and methodology employed to carry out the research It describes four main issues regarding the research site, participants, data types and methods of data collection, and analytical framework Chapter 4 analyses and interprets the data collected from students and teachers Chapter 5 discusses the findings grounded in the data analysed in the previous chapter Chapter 6 first addresses the main research question and its two sub-questions in light of the findings, next reviews the methodology of the study in terms of its strengths and weaknesses, then gives teachers and textbook designers recommendations, and finally makes suggestions
Trang 13CHAPTER 2
EVALUATION OF READING TEXTS: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
2.1 Introduction
As presented in the previous chapter, the evaluation of the English textbook for the tenth graders, especially the reading skill, after more than one year in use is an urgent requirement to help improve the teaching and learning quality in high schools in Vietnam However, there has been a lack of a systematic and reliable set of criteria for textbook evaluation in general and reading skill in particular up to this time To rectify this lacuna, therefore, this chapter will shape a theoretical framework which can serve as guidelines to help evaluate reading materials in a language textbook The evaluation is limited to:
(1) the text selection in terms of length, type, authenticity, culture,
integration into other skills, and topic; and
(2) the task design dealing with the pre-, while-, and post-reading activities
2.2 Text selection
Theoretically, there are many criteria which a textbook evaluator has to take into
account when evaluating a reading text However, when the contents themselves are
examined, those of length, type, authenticity, culture, integration into other skills, and topic are central to-this process Thus, the following part will deal with each of
Trang 142.2.1 Length
The length of a reading text is one factor that can make great contributions to the teaching and learning of a language This idea is supported by Cunningsworth (1995), British Council [BC] (n.d.), and “Readability and reading ages of school science text-books” [“Readability”] (n.d.)
Text length should be appropriate for a particular group of learners, and the number of words in each reading passage and the number of reading passages in the textbook can be accessed by their age (Cunningsworth, 1995, p 75) As far as text length is concerned, an ideal word limit is 300 words, and this number is not to be exceeded if one wants to facilitate the reader’s memory, as biologically human brain can process up to this figure with ease (BC, n.d., para 17) Not only the length of a text, but also that of each sentence in the text should be taken into account On average, each sentence should consist of up to only “12 words so that the reader’s eyes can scan the lines more accurately” (“Readability ”, n.d., para 25)
Thus text length involves not only the number of texts in the textbook in question but also the length of each text or each sentence in the text Ideally, these features should correspond with learners’ level and age
2.2.2 Type
Trang 15Texts must be taken from as different sources as possible These sources can be
“advertisements, instructions, recipes, information leaflets, poems, letters,
transcripts of interviews, novels, questionnaires and factual travel guides” (Cunningsworth, 1995, p 75), or “newspapers, magazines, and books” (Richards, 2001, p 265) or “news report, bedtime story, fable and e-mail” (Sulkunen, 2007, pp 28-29) The reasons for a wide range of sources can be either or a combination of the following: “to attract readers” (Tomlinson, 1998, p 7), or to help learners to encounter many fields in real life due to their interest and relevance (Sulkunen, 2007, p 28)
Various types of text, presented earlier, can be further classified into three types: literary works (i.e short stories, drama, biography, and autobiography), information (i.e brochures, summarised essays, memoirs, speeches and critiques), and daily life
(i.e charts, schedules, forms, timelines, applications, coupons, consumers’ products, labels or information, product use or warning labels, safety notices, technical
instructions, warranties and trouble-shooting guides) (ibid., pp 28-29)
Ideally, texts, therefore, must be taken from three different sources so as to
stimulate learners in their language learning due to the relevance to their needs 2.2.3 Authenticity
Authenticity is very significant in language pedagogy because it prepares learners for real-life situations where they use language “to do something”, but not “to talk about the language itself’ Especially in communicative language teaching in modern time, its role is highly appreciated thanks to the effectiveness it brings about Teaching reading in particular is not an exception As such, reading materials
Trang 16Authentic texts are vital to learners to get practice in dealing with real-life reading passages because in the long term they can help them to cope with the same kinds of reading that are encountered by “native speakers of the target language” (Ur,
1996, p 150) They are inherently difficult Therefore, learners have to work hard,
coming into contact with them
The difficulty of authentic materials can be identified with reference to some of their characteristics One is that they are composed of language in which “no concessions are made to foreign speakers” (Harmer, 2002, p 205) Obviously, they are natural language which is normally used by native or competent speakers of a language For this reason, they are “authentic, natural and unlikely to be simplified” (ibid., p 205) Another feature is that they are “written and used for genuine communicative purpose”, and not “produced for pedagogical or testing purposes” (Sulkunen, 2007, p 42)
Hence, some of the linguistic features that should be considered in preparing language to be included in reading teaching materials are authenticity, genuineness, naturalness, non-simplification, and non-concession
2.2.4 Culture
The evaluation of a reading text in particular and reading comprehension materials can be of less significance if culture is not carefully considered Culture should be incorporated into the teaching and learning of language, and many different aspects of culture, both /ow and high, of, especially, the target language need to be depicted
(Tomlinson, 1998; Cisar, 2004; Lazar, 2003; de Graffenried, 2006; & Xue-shun,
Trang 17Both theory and practice support the integration of culture into language Theoretically, culture is embedded in language; thus, learners are supposed to learn not only another language but also another culture (Tomlinson, 1998, p 19) Practically, language is almost impossible to be separated from culture because the main goal of a foreign language class is to prepare learners for the target cultural environment (de Graffenried, 2006, para 12) That is why it is recommendable that culture be selected and presented appropriately in each text because readers often like to read and discover cultural texts of native speakers (Xue-shun, 2007, p 20)
The kind of culture to be described can be both /ow and high The former can include various aspects of life such as “traditions and customs or everyday life and routine, lifestyles and habits”, or, more fundamentally, “beliefs (different ways of thinking and reacting)” that govern people’s behaviours in everyday life; the latter
normally refers entertaining aspects such as “art, music, cinema, literature” (Lazar,
2003, p 18)
Not only the culture of the target language but also that of learners’ mother tongue needs to be scrutinised, as they should be helped to have opportunities to demonstrate an understanding of the similarities and differences between their own culture and that of native speakers (Cisar, 2004, para 5)
Trang 182.2.5 Integration into other skills
A good design of reading materials is likely to create opportunities not only for developing reading skill, but also for integrating it into other skills (Cunningsworth,
1995; Akkar, Celebi, Cakmak, & Demir, n.d.; & Saricoban, 2004)
There are various ways in which reading can be integrated into other skills For instance, instead of being read, reading texts are listened to on tape by learners (Akkar et al., n.d., para 29) Some advantages of this kind of integration are closely related to phonetics, as pronunciation, stress, and intonation can be highlighted Alternatively, a reading text or only part of it can be used as a model for written work In this model, learners are usually asked to write something based on what they have read, but they have to use different information or give information in a different form (Cunningsworth, 1995, p 73) There is also a possibility of integrating reading in speaking This can be done through discussing, questioning, and answering questions according to the text (Saricoban, 2004, p 14)
In summary, good reading materials provide an opportunity for their integration into each of the other three skills or any combination of them
2.2.6 Topic
Topics play a part in the effectiveness of teaching and learning reading comprehension If the same topic is encountered over and over again, it may cause boredom and non-interest for learners For this reason, reading topics should be as
various and interesting as possible (Cunningsworth, 1995; Harmer, 1998; & Lazar
Trang 19Topics should be of various kinds (Cunningsworth, 1995, p 75) In addition, they must be suitable for age groups For example, for teenagers it is advisable that they range from “real-life situations” (those of home, family life, parties, sports, travelling, holidays, and fashion), to “adventure” (virtual tourism and extreme sport), and “humour” (a variety of cartoon characters), or “serious social issues” (like disability and homelessness aid) (Lazar, 2003, p 51)
Diversity and suitability of topics can serve learners many purposes For instance, they can enrich and widen their experience (Cunningsworth, 1995, p 75), or be the “springboard” for fascinating lessons” (Harmer, 1998, p 68), or stimulate them to reflect and provide opportunities for exchanges of ideas (Lazar, 2003, p 51)
In a word, various and suitable topics of reading materials can serve many educational purposes
2.2.7 Summary of text selection
Among many themes that need to be taken into consideration are those of length, type, authenticity, culture, integration into other skills, and topic, as they are central to and necessary for teaching and learning
2.3 Task design
Trang 202.3.1 Pre-reading
Initial as they are, these activities are important to help readers to comprehend a reading text This idea can be found in the works by Crandall (1995), “Language Link Corporate Site” [“Language Link’’] (2005), Varaprasad (1997), and Razi (n.d.)
Pre-reading activities can be considered to be an introduction to the text In this introduction, learners are encouraged to predict the contents of the text by activating
their “formal schemata” (Crandall, 1995, as cited in Richards, 2001, p 272) or
“background knowledge” (“Language Link”, 2005, para 9) They can also show their personal “opinions” (Varaprasad, 1997, as cited in Saricoban, 2004, p 4) about or “attitudes” (“Language Link”, 2005, para 10) to it As a result, initially they can establish an interrelationship between themselves and it (ibid., para 10) or, to some
extent, know the reason why the author wrote it (Varaprasad, 1997, as cited in Saricoban, 2004, p 4), or raise their sense of initiative in what they will read (Razi,
n.d., para 21)
Some of the ways to introduce a text are brainstorming, semantic mapping, and free writing (Crandall, 1995, as cited in Richards, 2001, p 272) Alternatively, a number of questions are given to familiarise learners with the context (“Language Link”, 2005, para 11) These activities and questions can also focus on graphic cues such
as “titles, headings, indentations, white space, as well as any visual and other text
displays that highlight the organisation and relative importance of various themes in the text” (Crandall, 1995, as cited in Richards, 2001, p 273)
Trang 212.3.2 While-reading
If pre-reading ones give vital, albeit only initial, foundation in reading comprehension, then while-reading tasks will mainly aim at substantially increasing that preliminary understanding The knowledge regarding a series of possible activities can be found in the works of Widdowson (1978), Cunningsworth (1995),
Crandall (1995), and Al-Jarf (2004)
Comprehension questions can vary in the degree of understanding of the text that is required: from more literal or superficial to deeper levels of meaning On the one hand, some questions only claim literal or surface meaning understanding, and are usually of a straightforward factual nature (Widdowson, 1978, as cited in Cunningsworth, 1995 p 78), such as the literal recognition, recall or verification of details, sequence of events, comparisons, and cause-effect relationships (Al-Jarf, 2004, para 1) Others can be answered by matching a word in the question to the same word in the text and then copying out the sentence in the text containing that word (ibid., para 1) The technique of scanning is usually used to deal with “these questions”
On the other hand, there are questions about the general idea of a text Inherently, these are more demanding ones that usually claim processing of the text at a deeper level so that information contained in different parts of the text is identified and combined to give a complete answer (Widdowson, 1978, as cited in Cunningsworth, 1995, p 78) Furthermore, readers are asked to identify the organisation and development of ideas To solve these questions, the technique of skimming is applied Besides, there are inference questions which require the reader to make a logical conclusion from what is given, or, in other words, read between the lines
Trang 22In addition to the discovery of different levels of meaning, while-reading tasks should help learners deal with linguistic knowledge and consolidate language work Various types of grammar and vocabulary exercises linked to the reading passage need to be designed if there are lexical items and grammatical! points unfamiliar to the learners but crucial to the understanding of the text The purpose of these activities is to help learners become aware of the context in which linguistic knowledge is embedded To serve this purpose, activities, like word-search, are undertaken which require them to look in the text for either “synonyms, antonyms”
(Cunningsworth, 1995, p 79) or “semantic or contextual clues, such as topic, words
preceding and/or following the unfamiliar words, commonly used expressions,
definitions, direct explanations, descriptions, examples, parentheses, comma enclosure, appositives, mood and tone available in the written text” (Al-Jarf, 2004,
para 6)
Ideally, while-reading tasks are supposed to focus on developing not only the techniques of scanning and skimming to help find out specific and general information and linguistic knowledge (ideally in its context) but also effective study skills in learners To serve the last objective, some activities can be designed to include “underlining, highlighting or note-taking” (Crandall, 1995, as cited in
Richards, 2001, p 273)
While-reading activities are, therefore, should be designed to help learners develop reading skills, consolidate linguistic knowledge, and enhance effective study skills 2.3.3 Post-reading
Trang 23be found in the works of Crandall (1995), Ur (1996), Razi (n.d.), and Saricoban (2004)
There are some activities to help readers “clarify any unclear meaning where the focus is on the meaning not on the grammatical or lexical aspects of the text” (Razi, n.d., para 25) Alternatively, to understand the text more deeply, “readers are asked to summarise the content in a sentence or two This may be done in the target language or the mother tongue” (Ur, 1996, p 146) and it is helped by making use of key words and structures (Razi, n.d., para 25) Besides, they can make an outline (Saricoban, 2004, p 5) or draw a conclusion of the text and catch the missing parts in the text (Razi, n.d., para 25) Also, they can be encouraged to make a critical
analysis and evaluation of the text content linguistic knowledge (Crandall, 1995, as
cited in Richards, 2001, pp 273-274)
In fact, to further comprehend the text, learners should clarify, summarise, evaluate,
and analyse it
2.3.4 Summary of task design
The role of pre-, while-, and post-reading activities is very important because, taken together, they can serve as adhesive and gradual steps to help learners comprehend
the text in full
2.4, Summary of Chapter 2
This chapter has provided a critical, quite comprehensive, and relevant overview of different theories that, when taken together, can serve as a theoretical framework
Trang 24frame on which the researcher will work to carry out the study can be summarised
as follows
In evaluating reading materials of a textbook, attention should be paid not only to text selection but also to task design Some of the key features of the former are length, type, authenticity, culture, integration into other skills and topic With respect to the latter, three stages in teaching reading material are pre-, while-, and post-reading tasks Therefore, they should be taken into account as well
In relation to text selection, firstly Jength should be evaluated for its suitability in terms of the number of texts in the textbook, the length of each text and each
sentence in the text, and the learners’ level and age
Secondly, type must be taken into account: Texts should be taken from many different sources to help prepare learners for real-life communication
Thirdly, authenticity is very important in a reading text with its characteristics of
genuineness, naturalness, non-simplification, and non-concession
Fourthly, culture should be paid attention due to its inseparability from language Many aspects of /ow and high culture of both L1 and L2 can help learners prepare
for successful intercultural communication
Fifthly, good reading materials create opportunities for their integration into the three other skills of listening, speaking, and writing
Finally, topic must variously range from real-life situations and adventure to
Trang 25With respect to task design, pre-reading activities should initially involve learners both verbally and graphically They are normally designed to activate learners’ background knowledge and help inspire them to the text
To help the learners substantially comprehend the text, while-reading tasks are ideally designed to develop the techniques of scanning and skimming, consolidate contextualised linguistic knowledge and enhance effective study skills
Trang 26CHAPTER 3
DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
This chapter explains the research design and method of investigation To do this, it first describes the research site, next gives an account of the sampling selection, then justifies the types of data needed to answer the research questions, and finally sketch the analytical framework employed to analyse the data after their collection Specifically, the design of the questionnaire to collect data is closely based on the conceptual framework shaped in the previous chapter
3.2 Research site
Lam Ha High School (LHHS) in Dinh Van Town, Lam Ha District, Lam Dong Province is the place where the study took place on May 15, 2008 It is located in a land where many ethnic groups of Vietnam live and staffed by many new young teachers who come from all the corners of the country and are very enthusiastic and
warm-hearted to devote their life to the teaching and research However, it is rather
poorly-equipped: There is no laboratory Although there are only 20 computers, the teachers are eager and ready to face challenges in their work Some of them even try to apply new teaching facilities into their teaching For instance, they try to use PowerPoint Presentation to make a lesson plan and teach it
3.3 Participants
Trang 273.3.1 Students
The key issues which need to be considered as far as this type of participants is concerned are population, sample, representativeness, and sample selection
According to Gorard (2003, pp 57-58), the group that a researcher wishes to study is termed the “population”, and the group which he or she actually involves in his or her research is called the “sample” The purpose of selecting a sample is to save time and money, but the aim of the study is still achieved It is only from the previously defined population that the “sample” will be “representative” of However, it must be large enough Therefore, the researcher usually wants the sample to be as large as possible
Although there are two ways to select a sample which are probability and non- probability, the former is strongly advised because it can help avoid the researcher’s subjectiveness and secure that everyone will have a non-zero opportunity to be selected One of the methods in choosing a sample according to probability is systematic selection, which means that every K" person (quasi-random) is selected (Neuman, 1994, p 197) In other words, to do a systematic sampling, the total population is divided by the sample desired In the event of an uneven number for
the interval, the nearest whole number will be selected for the interval (Dixon &
Bouma, 1984, pp 133-134)
Trang 28As it was an uneven number, it was rounded up to 3 Thus every third student was
taken out The result was 101 males and 116 females Therefore, the sample consists of 217 students
3.3.2 Teachers
Teachers were described in terms of number, gender, age, educational background, and teaching experience
In the Section of Foreign Languages of LHHS, there were ten teachers Of this number, two went on business and one was doing her master in TESOL programme Therefore, there were seven participants who voluntarity participated in the research All of them were females, taught the tenth graders, and had a bachelor’s degree The means of their age and English teaching experience were 29 and 6 respectively
3.4 Data types
This part justifies the design of the questionnaires which consists of three main types: demographic data, students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards reading materials, and data on their further comments or opinions
3.4.1 Demographic information
The quantitative methodology is not based on the context; thus, there are many drawbacks associated with the lack of contextual features in the research Therefore,
to overcome them, the researcher usually includes social variables to help
Trang 29background information relating to these demographic variables Besides, those of ethnicity, English learning time, and the average mark in English of the last semester were put in the questionnaire
Thus the students involved in the study were born in 1991 or 1992 They had learned English for 5 or 6 years and just completed the English 10 textbook Among
of them were 33 students from 9 ethnic affiliations: Cil: 13, Thai: 6, Ning: 5, K’Ho: 3, Tày: 2, Lạch: 1, Mạ: 1, Mường: 1, Nhắng: 1
The questions about qualifications and English teaching experience were added for the teachers
3.4.2 Students’ and teachers’ attitudes: Five-point scale
One of the methods of data collection is five-point scale It is normally designed to measure respondents’ attitudes towards an issue in question The origin of attitude scaling was identified with Rensis Likert’ work, which appeared in the late 1920s His techniques consist of designing a scale of five points which are strongly agree, agree, uncertain, disagree, and strongly disagree Nowadays, it continues to be one of the most commonly used scale applications because of its strengths: “It is simple to use, seems to work well in a wide range of circumstances, and appears to be fairly robust” (Maxim, 1999, pp 223-224)
Earlier, other writers on research methods also articulated the strengths of this
method of quantitative data collection, especially in comparison with those of qualitative research For instance, Nunan (1992) says:
Trang 30quantification than discursive data such as free-form field notes, participant observers’ journals, and the transcripts of oral language (p 143)
Thus, one of the strengths of Likert’s scale is the conversion of data into statistics for objective analysis Based strictly on his theory, five-point scale was designed to collect information about students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards reading materials The following is its elaboration
3.4.2.1 Students
The purpose of the study is to find information to answer the research questions about two broad themes of text selection and task design The former consists of six themes and the latter is composed of three Therefore, the items in the questionnaire are justified along these lines
3.4.2.1.1 Text selection
Text selection consists of 49 questions which were distributed among the six themes of length, type, authenticity, culture, integration into other skills, and topic Following are the particulars for each theme
Length contains seven questions To know whether it is suitable for learners, it is necessary to know its contribution to language learning, suitability, appropriacy, and accessibility to age and level Therefore, the questions included in this theme are to capture these pieces of information
Trang 31Authenticity shares the same number of questions as the previous theme to clarify its
features in terms of real-life usefulness, difficulty, naturalness and complexity
regarding language, non-concession, nativeness (i.e written by English speaking writers), and genuine communicative purpose
Culture occupies eleven questions designed to elicit information about the inseparability of culture with language, various aspects of culture, appropriacy in selection and presentation, chances for discussing similarities and differences of the cultures of the target language and students’ mother tongue, and the possibility for
intercultural communication
Integration into other skills takes the same number of questions as length to elicit whether it can be integrated into listening, speaking, and writing skills
Topic holds the same number of questions as type and authenticity Its aim is to clarify information about the variety, i.e from real-life situations to adventure,
suitability, interest, “springboard” for fascinating lessons, exchanges of ideas, and
enrichment and widening of experience
The detail for each of the themes presented above can be found in Appendix 1 3.4.2.1.2 Task design
Task design consists of 37 questions and they were distributed into three themes of pre-, while-, and post-reading
Trang 32familiarse them with the contents of a text This can be done by encouraging them to predict the contents of the text, activating their background knowledge, showing their personal opinions or attitudes to the text, establishing an interrelationship
between them and the text, knowing the reason why the writer has written the text,
raising their sense of initiative, introducing a text (via brainstorming, semantic mapping, and free writing), and focusing on graphic cues
While-reading contains 17 questions which aim to know whether the students can substantially understand the text thanks to the design of literal or surface meaning questions, such as those that ask them to literally recognise, recall or verify details, do the matching, and deal with linguistic knowledge (i.e grammar and vocabulary) in context, or deeper meaning questions, such as those that require them to find out the sequence, make comparisons, identify cause and effect, trace the development of ideas, draw a logical conclusion from what is given A good design of while- reading questions normally encourages learners to employ the two techniques of scanning and skimming to find specific and general information Therefore, some questions are also made to elicit this information
Post-reading consists of the same number of questions as pre-reading Its aim is to elicit information on whether the students can more deeply comprehend the text by clarifying any unclear meaning, focusing only on meaning or not on grammatical and lexical aspects, summarising the content, making an outline, catching the missing parts, making a critical analysis, evaluating language knowledge, and analysing the text
Trang 33transiate it from English into Vietnamese (See Appendix 2 for detail) She only
administered the Vietnamese version to them 3.4.2.2 Teachers
A similar version of the questionnaire was designed for the teachers In general, the number of items was the same as that for the students However, there were some modifications: Most of the time, the wording in relation to learning was changed to teaching Other changes can be spotted in Appendix 3
3.4.3 Open-ended questions
In addition to multiple choice, essay-type questions were included so that respondents could give further opinions on a particular issue which Likert’s scale might fail to address, as Nunan (1992, p 143) says, “it is also likely responses to open questions will more accurately reflect what respondent wants to say.”
3.5 Analytical framework
As can be seen in the questionnaire, there are three types of data: demographic
information, students’ and teachers’ attitudes given in the form of multiple choice,
Trang 343.5.1 Nominal data
To help the reader to focus only on students’ and teachers’ attitudes when reading data analysis in Chapter 4, the researcher has decided to move the analysis for this data type to this chapter, namely sections 3.3.1 Students and 3.3.2 Teachers
3.5.2 Ordinal data
This type of data was converted into three measurements: raw count, percentage, and mean (M) and standard deviation
3.5.2.1 Raw count
Raw count will not be used to analyse student data because of not lending itself to the central tendency clearly, especially with a rather great number of respondents;
thus, percentage and mean will be used instead On the contrary, it is appropriate,
most of the time, for analysing teacher data because there are only seven teacher participants in this study
3.5.2.2 Percentage
McDonough and McDonough (1997) say, “Percentage is each person’s response that can be plotted, giving an overview of all the data Frequencies and therefore proportions can be easily calculated, and it is often clearer to translate these into percentages” (p 178), This will be done for each question in each theme on computer As justified above, percentage will be normally used for analysing
Trang 353.5.2.3 Mean and standard deviation
Brown (2005) articulates that “Mean is a statistic central tendency that is the equivalent to the arithmetic average obtained by totaling the scores and then dividing the sum by the number of scores” (p 290) It is calculated
vx
Specifically, mean is calculated following formula: ¥ = a These symbols are understood as follows: ¥ is read “X-bar”, a symbol for the mean of a sample x means to add up or to sum N is the total number of scores (Brown, 1988, p 67) Mean will be used to analyse the data of both types of respondents, students and
teachers, because it will show the reader a central tendency
In addition to that of the central tendency, standard deviation (henceforth referred to as StdD is included) It is “the most frequently used measure of variability” (Hatch & Farhady, 1982, p 59) On the one hand, if the total number of scores is 100 or more the following formula will be used to calculated it:
StdD =
On the other hand, if the total number of scores is less than 100, 1 is subtracted from
N for sampling error as decided by mathematicians: and standard deviation for teacher data is calculated following formula:
Trang 36The symbols in these two formulae are interpreted as follows vx ? means to firstly square every score and then add them up (> Xx Ỷ is adding up all the scores and then squaring the sum N is the total number of scores
StdD will be used for analysing both the student and teacher data The first formula
will be used for the students and the second one will be used for the teachers
In reporting research results, the basic information ~ X and StdD — must be presented together as “a pair of inseparable friends” (Gorard, 2003, pp 37-38) The reason to include the latter measure together with the former one is that “the amount of deviation from the central score will be important in our statistical analyses” (Hatch & Farhady, 1982, p 61) The importance of StdD lies in the interpretation of a particular opinion as more homogeneous or more heterogeneous: “the higher the standard deviation, the more varied and the more heterogeneous a group is on a given behaviour, since the behaviour is distributed more widely within the group” (Seliger & Shohamy, 1989, p 217)
3.5.3 Textual data
This part will be performed following three steps Step 1 is called “open coding” It is a first attempt at putting the data into categories which are usually themes that the researcher becomes aware of when reading the research notes Step 2 — “axial coding” — means to focus on the coded material, organise themes, and note possible relationships between them At step 3 of “selective coding”, the researcher looks for
cases that illustrate themes and note negative cases (Miles & Huberman, 1994, p
45)
Trang 373.6 Summary
This chapter has described the research site, two types of participants, data types, and analytical framework Thus the study was carried out at LHHS with 217 students and seven teachers; Likert’s five-point scale was used as a main method of
data collection; and the data analysed was framed along the two broad themes of
text selection and task design via three measurements of raw count, percentage, and
Trang 38CHAPTER 4
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
4.1 Introduction
Chapter 3 has described the methodology used in the study in terms of the research site, participants, data types and methods of data collection, and analytical framework This chapter will present the analysis and interpretation of student and teacher data according to three measurements: raw count, percentage, and mean and
standard deviation
It should be noted that although standard deviation is included together with its mean, only the latter will be presented throughout for both student and teacher data The following reason is given for this exclusion:
There are no extreme values that may influence the interpretation of the mean, or the central tendency, as the points on the scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree will be coded with regular numerical values of 1-5 accordingly
However, even when there is no extreme value, as all the scores are regular, it is
still necessary to take into account their average variability to define how much the respondents’ opinions spread out from the central point of the distribution This is left to the reader However, to help him/her with the interpretation, the following general rule is given: The larger the StdD is, the more different the respondents’ comments are on a particular item To put it another way, the smaller the StdD is,
Trang 394.2 Student data analysis
This part consists of two broad themes which are text selection and task design
4.2.1 Text selection
The six identified themes, which are length, type, authenticity, culture, integration into other skills, and topic will be analysed and interpreted in this order 4.2.1.1 Length Student choice | SA | A U D SD | M | StdD Text length 1 2 3 4 5 |3.0 | 1.58 1 contribution to language 5 | 122 114 | 20 5 21 10.95 learning 25.8 | 56.2 [6.5 | 9.2 | 2.3 ` ` 2 suitability of text number 0 27 19 123 | 48 3.9 | 0.89 0.0 | 12.4 | 88 | 56.7 | 22.1 |`" ` 3 appropriacy 3 18 12 131 |53 14 |83 |55 |60.4 |244 | CÔ | 087
4 word number in each text and | 2 15 21 96 83 41 | 0.91 its accessibility to age 0,9 (6.9 |9.7 | 44.2 | 38.2 | ` ` 5 word number in each text and | 0 26 52 124 | 15 3.6 | 0.79 its accessibility to level 0.0 | 12.0 | 24.0 | 57.1 | 6.9 ` , 6 accessibility of word 6 41 32 125 | 13 3.5 | 0.95 number in each sentence to age | 2.8 | 18.9 | 20.3 | 52.1 | 6.0 7 accessibility of word 6 33 48 117 ‘| 13 3.5 |0.92 number in each sentence to level | 2.8 {| 15.2 | 22.1 | 53.9 | 6.0 , `
Table 1 Students’ attitudes towards length
Trang 40textbook was unsuitable and that the text length was inappropriate for them Nearly the same number (82.4%) said that the number of words in each text was inaccessible to their age, and about 20% fewer (64%), albeit still predominant, reckoned that it was inaccessible to their level Finally, roughly 60% rejected the accessibility of word number in each sentence to both age and level of learners 4.2.1.2 Type Student choice} SA; A U D SD | M | StdD Text type 1 2 3 4 5 3.0 | 1.58 1 Many sources and attract 54 | 108 | 23 | 26 6 22 | 1.03 students’ learning 24.9 | 49.8 | 10.6 | 12.0 | 2.8 ` 2 different types 83 | 105 | 13 13 3 38.2 | 48.4 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 1.4 1.8 | 0.88 3 taken from many different 28 | 64 29 | 75 | 21 3.0 | 1.24 sources 12.9 | 29.5 | 13.4 | 34.6 | 9.7 ` ` 4 literary works 0 7 10 | 124 | 76 0.0 | 3.2 | 4.6 | 57.1 | 35.0 4.2 | 0.68 5 information 0 0 4 78 | 135 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.8 | 35.9 | 62.2 4.6 | 0.53 6 daily life 2 1 1 101 | 112 09 | 05 | 0.5 |465|51L6| tố | 963 7 interest and relevance 5 32 45 | 106 | 29 2.3 | 14.7 | 20.7 | 48.8 | 13.4 | *° | 997 8 helping students later in real 3 37 78 82 17 33 | 0.90 life 1.4 | 17.1 | 35.9 | 37.8 | 7.8 `
Table 2 Students’ attitudes towards type