“ The reading problem is so bad ’’ said one social studies teacher, “that I no longer make any reading assignment. It is useless. Most of the kids can not read the text. What ever they learn, they learnt through lecture and discussion. All are verbal.’’
At high school the teaching and learning of reading in English are limited because they learn English as a second language. There are five periods per week but reading skill has only one period a week so the learner is too difficult to remember and follow the topic and main paragraph.
3.1. The role of reading in learning
Reading is fundamental to function in today's society. There are many adults who cannot read well enough to understand the instructions on a medicine bottle.
That is a scary thought - especially for their children. Filling out applications becomes impossible without help. Reading road or warning signs is difficult. Even following a map becomes a chore. Day-to-day activities that many people take for granted become a source of frustration, anger and fear.
Reading is important because it develops the mind. The mind is a muscle. It needs exercise. Understanding the written word is one way the mind grows in its ability. Teaching young children to read helps them develop their language skills. It also helps them learn to listen. Everybody wants to talk, but few can really listen.
Lack of listening skills can result in major misunderstandings which can lead to job loss, marriage breakup, and other disasters - small and great. Reading helps children [and adults] focus on what someone else is communicating.
Reading is important. It is how we discover new things. Books, magazines and even the Internet are great learning tools which require the ability to read and understand what is read. A person who knows how to read can educate themselves
in any area of life they are interested in. We live in an age where we overflow with information, but reading is the main way to take advantage of it.
Reading develops the imagination. TV and computer games have their place, but they are more like amusement. Amusement comes from two words "a"[none]
and "muse”. Amusement is non-thinking activities. With reading, a person can go anywhere in the world or even out of it! They can be a king, or an adventurer, or a princess, or the possibilities are endless. Non-readers never experience these joys to the same extent.
Reading is fundamental in developing a good self image. Nonreaders or poor readers often have low opinions of themselves and their abilities. Many times they feel as if the world is against them. They feel isolated [everybody else can read - which isn't true] and behavior problems can surface. They can perform poorly in other subjects because they cannot read and understand the material and so tend to
"give up."
As students learn to sound out letters and words, spelling comes easier.
Also, reading helps to expand the vocabulary. Reading new words puts them in their mind for later use. Seeing how words are used in different contexts can give a better understanding of the word usage and definitions than the cold facts of a dictionary.
There is an old saying, "The pen is mightier than the sword." Ideas written down have changed the destiny of men and nations for better or worse. The flow of ideas cannot be stopped. We need to read and research to build on the good ideas and expose the bad ideas before they bring destruction. Only by reading can we be armed in this never-ending, life-and-death struggle.
The fact of the power of written ideas communicated through reading is a foundational reason why some governments oppose free and honest communication. Illiterate people are easier to control and manipulate. They cannot do their own research and thinking. They must rely on what they are told and how
their emotions are swayed. There is a good possibility that this is one of the main reasons phonics was removed from the schools about 100 years ago.
Finally, reading is important because words - spoken and written - are the building blocks of life.
3.2. The factors affecting the learning of reading
Reading comprehension is influenced by the reader's strength and fluency in language and her understanding of its uses and variant meanings. Oral language skills also play a part in determining how proficient a reader each student is, because students will hear words and gain a larger vocabulary. A larger vocabulary will help a student interpret other, unknown words, by using the idea of context.
The complexity of any written work will influence the degree to which it can be interpreted. Sentence structure, word choice, and inferred or variable word meanings can affect the ability of readers to understand the piece. Younger elementary readers cannot process the information in a high school textbook, yet many are able to understand texts written for their grade or reading levels specifically.
Students attempting to read a piece while in a hectic or unorganized environment will find it more difficult to understand the piece than readers in a quiet and controlled space. Safety is also another factor. If the student is in an unsafe home environment, he may find it difficult to concentrate on homework or reading. When placed in safe environments, his reading comprehension skills may improve. Loud noises such as televisions or radios or loud conversations can also serve as distractions for readers.
The importance of the reason behind the reading task can also influence the student's ability to understand the material. Testing, class work or homework situations have greater consequences than reading for pleasure. Some students will react positively in testing and school situations, while others will be overwhelmed by the pressure to perform to a certain standard. Students suffering
this anxiety may rush through the reading or not fully understand the instructions, resulting in confusion and poor comprehension of the material.
Other students may force themselves to focus on the reading more closely, and be better able to comprehend it.
If a reader finds the material uninteresting or dry, she will have a more difficult time focusing on the reading. This inattention could result in a lowering of reading comprehension levels. If they find the material interesting they will better understand it and will remember it more clearly. Educators can keep readers motivated by providing interesting pieces throughout the students' class time.
We use English 12 by Hoang Van Nam of Vietnam’s education public to teach.
3.3. Motivation in reading
The problem addressed in this study is that many high school teachers are unaware of, or mistaken about, specific strategies and practices that actually motivate their students to read, and that what motivates one group of students may not motivate another. Content-area teachers are often unaware that although they may not have been trained in teaching reading strategy and may feel as though teaching reading is not their job, it is an expectation that could largely be met by the implementation of motivational strategies. Because national reading scores of proficient readers among high school students have dropped and continue to remain in the lower 70 percent range, it is critical that high school teachers focus on providing reading experiences that will increase their students’ reading abilities.
Understanding how to motivate students is a crucial skill that high school teachers should aspire to attain; however, instructors often miss opportunities to capitalize on the strengths of those they teach by not tapping in to what excites them.
Although it may be 7 time-consuming, numerous connections could be made to all content areas that could spark a genuine interest within students (Guthrie &
Wig field, 2000). It is understandable with all the responsibilities placed on
instructional leaders to “cover” a wide breadth of content preparing students for mandatory accountability testing that they may be reluctant to implement all the suggestions offered by experts on motivation (Lanterns, 2006), but it is possible that they could adapt a few of the most highly recommended into their classroom management strategies or teaching techniques. Once teachers understand the benefits of their efforts, both in student performance and attitude, they will likely be motivated to incorporate more, adjusting procedure and effectively changing the culture of their classrooms (Hall, 2005). Like their primary and middle school counterparts, high school teachers can learn of the importance of the provision of proper motivation, understanding that the delivery of their content alone is insufficient. High school teachers need to be able to determine what will motivate each of their students to read. The first step in this differentiation of teaching is discovering perceptions particular student groups possess in regard to reading.
So it is very important .we often use many kinds of motivation such as:
matching, gap-filling, guessing, questionnaires, bill, letters. Especially the students always want encourage them getting high marks. And we often divide them in to many groups to get main information and compare each group’s information by practice true or false but the motivation is the most method for students learn reading comprehension.
Motivation researchers have discussed how motivational and cognitive processes
Interact, and how each affects achievement outcomes (Pint rich, 2003; Pint rich, Marx, &Boyle, 1993; Author, 2006). In particular, such research has focused on how motivation provides an activating, energizing role for cognitive processes, which in turn can impact achievement (Pint rich; Authors, 2006). For example, Author et al. reviewed work showing that motivational variables such as self- efficacy and intrinsic motivation predict students’ achievement in different areas such as reading ability, math, language arts, sports and occupational choice.
However, Pint rich noted that there is little specific information in the literature
about the strength of these activating processes or how they operate. For instance, it motivation and reading comprehension is likely, that there are multiple motivational pathways for the exercitation of students’ behaviors such that some students may be motivated by their self-efficacy beliefs, whereas others may activate cognitive processes through personal interests or contextual factors.
Research that examines the different ways that motivation relates to various cognitive processes speaks of the need for integrated models of motivation and cognition that has been emphasized in the motivation field (Pint rich).
In the field of reading motivation, in particular, several researchers have examined the relations among motivation variables and literacy skills. For example, research has found relationships of young children’s reading self-concept (assessed as students’ perceptions of reading competence, the difficulty of reading, and their attitude towards reading) with word recognition and reading comprehension skills (Chapman & Tuner; 1995 Chapman, Tuner, & Poncho, 2000). Findings showed that children who reported negative reading self-concepts performed more poorly on reading-related tasks than did children with positive reading self-concepts (Chapman et al.).