PART ONE: INTRODUCTION Rationale English has experienced its popularity in teaching and learning in Vietnam over the last few decades Demand for learning English even gets stronger when Vietnam fosters its international relations English, in parallel with the knowledge of some other fields, turns out to be a key to open the door into the bustling world In any walk of life in Vietnam, you can find people use English; from the big cities to mountainous areas; from the international conferences to daily conversations, or just few pidgin words with the foreign tourists People learn and use English with different purposes, but there is a fact that they are trying to learn English with the hope that they can use it effectively In Haiphong Foreign Language Center, Haiphong University (HFLC), English is the foreign language dominating the teaching and learning programs for nearly 30 years Despite a prejudice that learning English at a center is less effective than that at some universities, colleges, or international schools, learners at HFLC, regardless of their ages, always strive for a good command of English as they are well aware of their learning purposes Learners of English, naturally and obviously, want to become the masters of all the four skills, and those at HFLC are not exceptions Though there are some who propose what they need is speaking a fluent English, therein they consider listening a tool for the realization of their goal, there also are some who say writing is necessary because documenting reports, letters, memos, etc is what they daily deal with in their office, learning to read effectively remains the top in the targets of most learners here However, most of them say they find it difficult to focus on reading, and especially to have effective reading Some even say it is boring to start reading because there are piles of new words, and lengthy reading texts From this fact, we teachers of this center have to something new to promote reading skill among learners Thereby, if the learners not know how to gain the reading fruits, we need to show them the way; if they not realize the importance of reading or simply they not like it, it is our duty to light them up, set fire to them, and add fuel With this in mind, the researcher wishes to give a hand in promoting reading skills among these learners, and as a result, the thesis title goes as: “A study on the techniques for improving reading skills to non-major students of English at Haiphong Foreign Language Center, Haiphong University.” Aims of the study The purpose of this study is to examine the areas of difficulties in reading encountered by non-major students at HFLC so that techniques can be given to help them improve this skill The specific aims are: - to investigate the learners’ attitude in HFLC - to find out the difficulties encountered by non-major learners at HFLC - to suggest techniques to help learners better their reading skill Methods of the study To achieve the aims mentioned above, quantitative method is used, and the following tasks are involved: - Collecting data for the analysis from 240 learners of C level classes in 2005 - Assessing what difficulties are dominant - Evaluating what techniques are best fit Scope of the study Though the study focuses on techniques to improve reading skills of the nonmajor students at HFLC, due to the limit of time, the researcher can just conduct survey on learners of C level to investigate reading problems experienced by these learners, then suggest certain techniques to help them better their reading skill Also, such follow-up activities after reading are left untouched Design of the study The study is divided into three parts The first part, ‘introduction,’ outlines the impetus from which the author decided to conduct this study as well as the boundary within which the study is realized This part moreover presents feasible methods for the fulfillment of research objective The second part, ‘Development,’ consists of three chapters: - Chapter one presents various linguistic concepts most relevant to the research topic such as definition of reading, classification or reading, reading comprehension, effective reading, etc - Chapter two deals with analyses on general learning situation at HFLC, learning requirements, teachers and their teaching methods, materials as well as material assessment, this chapter also focuses on data collections – findings and discussion - Chapter three emphasizes the implication of the study in which certain techniques for improving reading skills to non-major students at HFLC are suggested The last part of the study, ‘Conclusion,’ summarizes what is addressed in the study, points out the limitations, and provides some suggestions for further study PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT Chapter one: Literature Review 1.1 Introduction To provide a theoretical background to the study, this chapter is devoted to the reexamination of concepts most relevant to the thesis’s topic They are nature of reading and reading comprehension, reading process, classification of reading Moreover, what is effective reading comprehension and the techniques for reading comprehension will also be discussed 1.2 An Overview on the Nature of Reading 1.2.1 Definition of Reading Attempts have been made to give a definition of what reading is However, the act of reading is not completely understood nor easily described Rumelhart (1977) defines “reading involves the reader, the text, and the interaction between the reader and the text” It means the role of learners and reading texts are placed an important position in reading act According to Goodman (1971:135), reading is “a psycholinguistic process by which the reader, a language users, reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has been encoded by a writer as a graphic display”, and the act of reconstruction is viewed as “a cyclical process of sampling, predicting, testing and confirming.” William (1986:3) shares the same view on reading when he argues that “written texts, then, often contain more than we need to understand them The efficient reader makes use of this to take what he needs, and no more, to obtain meaning.” Harmer (1989:153) views reading from a different perspective He considers reading as a mechanical process that “eyes receive the message and the brain has to work out the significance of the message.” Though definitions of reading are numerous, none can certainly capture all the ideas and features of what reading is However, what they all share is that they try to find out the nature of reading, and reading act, in which the readers, reading process, and reading message are emphasized 1.2.2 Reading Comprehension Reading comprehension plays a key role in teaching and learning reading a foreign language It can be understood as the ability to obtain the information as required in the reading lessons as efficiently as possible Thus, three elements - reading text, background knowledge of the reader, and the contextual aspects relevant for the interpretation of the text - are involved in the reading process Swam (1975:1) proposes “a student is good at comprehension we mean that he can read accurately and efficiently so as to get the maximum information of a text with the minimum of understanding.” Grellet (1981:3) considers “reading comprehension or understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as effectively as possible.” Richard and Thomas (1987:9) points out “reading comprehension is best described as an understanding between the author and the reader.” Though these opinions are not exactly the same, what comes up as a common point is that reading comprehension is the process in which the readers, as they read, can recognize the graphic forms of the reading text and understand what is implied behind these forms 1.2.3 Reading Process Bottom-up Models have been long known, and as for Cambourne (1979), it became the basis of a large number of reading schemes In Bottom-up models, the reader begins with the written text (the bottom), and constructs meaning from letters, words, phrases, and sentences found within, and then processes the text in a linear fashion In the process of meaning interpretation, the language is translated from one form of symbolic representation to another (Nunan, 1991) Clearly, these are text-driven models so the reader plays a relatively passive role as s/he builds comprehension by moving eyes from letters to letters, words to words, phrases to phrases, and sentences to sentences to identify their exact meaning Samuels and Kamil (188:301), in which the shortcomings of these models are stated, says the lack of feedback makes it “difficult to account for sentence-context effects and the role of prior knowledge of text topic as facilitating variables in word recognition and comprehension.” Next come Top-down models in which the reading process moves from the top, the higher level of mental stages down to the text itself This approach emphasizes the reconstruction of meaning rather than the decoding of form, the interaction between the reader and the text rather than the graphic forms of the printed pages The readers proves his active role in the reading process by bringing to the interaction his/her available knowledge of the subject, knowledge of and expectations about how language works, motivation, interest and attitudes towards the content of the text Apparently, the strong points of top-down models outnumber those of the bottom-up as the reader – the central of the reading process as we personally assume – proves his active role However, to some researchers, these models still reveal certain shortcomings because it sometimes fails to distinguish adequately between beginning readers and fluent readers Moreover, a purely top-down concept of the reading process makes little sense for a reader who can be stymied by a text containing a large amount of unfamiliar vocabulary What is more, in top-down models, the generation of hypotheses would actually be more time-consuming than decoding (Stanovich, 1980) The third type – interactive models of the reading process – is proposed in the thought of the perceived deficiencies of both bottom-up and top-down models Interactive theorists appreciate the role of prior knowledge and prediction, and at the same time emphasize the importance of rapid and accurate processing of the actual words of the text Hayes (1991:7) proposes “in interactive models, different processes are thought to be responsible for providing information that is shared with other processes The information obtained from each type of processing is combined to determine the most appropriate interpretation of the printed pages.” To sum up, the appearance and popularity of interactive models show that interactive models can maximize the strengths and minimizes the weaknesses of the separate use of either bottom-up or top-down models 1.3 Classification of Reading 1.3.1 Classification according to Manner Reading, according to manner, is divided into reading aloud and silent reading in which “reading aloud involves looking at the text, understanding it and also saying it.” (Doff, 1988:70) Though reading aloud is considered a way to convey necessary information to the others, it is an unpopular activity outside classroom In fact, reading aloud proves itself to be advantageous for the learners because it helps them make the connection between sounds and spelling of letters and words, and assists the teachers to check learner’s pronunciation However, there are contradictory opinions about it While Nuttal (1996) says reading aloud is an aid for beginners to improve their pronunciation, Greenwood (1985) criticizes the overemphasis of the purpose of “teaching pronunciation” through reading aloud Unlike reading aloud, silent reading is more often used in both real life and classroom, and “it is the method we normally use with our native language, and on the whole the quickest and most efficient” (Lewis, 1985:110) Because reading is a very personal skill so silent reading is a more effective skill for reading comprehension because firstly learners not need to read all the words in the text, secondly they can read at their own speed and if they not understand the sentence, they can go back, thirdly students can not only attain the main ideas in a short time but also understand its details thoroughly to answer the questions, and finally the teacher can check his/her learners’ understanding easily and add reading materials and exercises suitable to their ability 1.3.2 Classification according to Purpose According to purpose, reading is categorized into four types: skimming, scanning, extensive reading, and intensive reading Skim-read and scan-read are necessary reading techniques for general sense or the gist of a reading text Nuttal (1982:36) says “by skimming, we mean glancing rapidly through the text to determine whether a research paper is relevant to our own work or in order to keep ourselves superficially informed about matters that are not of great importance to us.” Grellet (1981:19) states that “when skimming, we go through the reading material quickly in order to get its main points or the intention of the writer, but not to find the answer to specific questions … When scanning, we only try to locate specific information and often we not even follow the linearity of the passage to so.” Though these two reading techniques are important for quick and efficient reading, they should not be selected separately because a text can be best tackled by a combination of strategies So after skimming and scanning, students need to have the products of critical reading, which would be “chewed and digested” as stated in Francis Bacon (1992:386) that “some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” Unlike skim-read and scan-read which to some extent still have something in common, extensive and intensive reading are viewed differently While extensive reading is associated with reading outside the classroom and fluency and pleasure in reading are expected as reading fruits while intensive reading, also called study reading, involves the close guidance of the teacher and require great attention to the text Students need to “arrive at a profound and detailed understanding of the text not only of what it means but also of how the meaning is produced” (Nuttal, 1989:23) 1.4 Effective Reading Comprehension and Reading Comprehension techniques 1.4.1 What is Effective Reading Comprehension? Ur (1996:148) considers effective reading comprehension a process with the elements that follow: - A clear purpose in mind - An enhanced motivation - Appropriate reading comprehension strategies based on the purposes and motivation - Good prediction - Sufficient background information and vocabulary - Close attention to the significant bits - Fairly high speed Cook (1989:14), nevertheless, suggests effective reading comprehension would be best viewed from the cognitive behaviors of good versus poor readers in different reading stages: before-, during- and after-reading 1.4.2 Techniques for Reading Comprehension What constitutes effective reading comprehension has been unveiled Mature readers not only convey their clear purpose, close attention, prior knowledge and sufficient vocabulary but also appropriate techniques for effective reading Grellet (1990) provides three groups of techniques: Sensitizing - Inference - Understanding relations within the sentences - Linking sentences and ideas Improving reading speed From skimming to scanning - Predicting - Previewing - Anticipation - Skimming - Scanning Nuttal (1982) provides a list of reading skills which consist of macro-skills with Word-attack skills and Text- attack skills While the former compose of morphological information, structural clues, inference (or guessing the meanings of unfamiliar words) from context, active, receptive and throw-away vocabulary, learning to ignore difficult words, and using dictionary, the latter include two subgroups: significance and cohesion with understanding sentence syntax, recognizing and interpreting cohesive devices, interpreting discourse markers, and discourse with recognizing functional value, tracing and interpreting rhetorical organization, recognizing the presuppositions underlying the text, recognizing implications and making inferences, prediction, and integration and application The techniques are actually various, and in each case and for different purposes of reading, one proves to be more advantageous than the other However, hereby are some suggested approaches which the researcher personally expects to help readers get better reading fruits - Activating and building background knowledge - Previewing the text to build expectations - Rereading activities for lower levels of language proficiency - Building and monitoring comprehension of the text - Adjusting reading strategies when necessary - 1.5 Establishing a purpose for reading Reviewing reading information in the text Summary In short, this chapter focuses on the concepts useful for the accomplishment of the study First comes an overview on the nature of reading in which the definition of reading and reading comprehension is focused Then, dominant groups of models of reading process are stated Actually, each has its own strong points and drawbacks, so what should be done is combining these models to make full use of the advantages offered and minimize the shortcomings revealed so that reading process with its models is always perceived as a “developmental process”(Vallette, 1977) What’s more in the first chapter is the classification of reading into reading aloud and silent reading in terms of reading manner and skimming, scanning, extensive reading, and intensive reading in terms of reading purposes Last comes in the first chapter is an insight into what is effective reading comprehension and the techniques for effective reading comprehension 10 In the while-reading stage, apart from setting up the activity, the teacher should not a lot of teaching because students will be working on the “while”-task, by themselves, individually, in pairs, or in group Instead, the teacher will have to a lot of monitoring and assisting weaker students who are having difficulty completing the task One thing to keep in mind is that reading skill lesson is task-based the teacher, therefore, should less up-front teaching He need prepare the reading lesson in details so that the materials will be fully exploited and his students can realise their active role in the classroom It is essential for him to select as much material of the students’ interest as possible, and try to avoid making a lot of photocopies Setting up and varying reading tasks can help activate the students, as they know their position in the lesson It is beneficial to let them independently work with comprehension questions, disordered statements or pictures, words or phrases matching, etc Moreover, giving a ‘guide’ or framework to foster reading practice can also aid students’ reading process, and therein make them willing to work on Doing extension activities, in addition, enables students to know that they need to strive for the last stage in their lesson Production-type exercises such as writing summary, writing letters, speaking come-up topics, role-playing, etc will add fire to reading lesson and make the students realise that reading is a long-lasting interest 3.3.4 Encouraging Students to Have Extensive Reading Habit Familiarizing the students with extensive reading is a way to fuel their enthusiasm for learning English By reading extensive materials, the students can feel the joys of reading in another language Moreover, it helps enrich their vocabulary, strengthen their understanding of language, and consolidate their grammar Nuttal (1982) states “the best way to improve your knowledge of a foreign language is to go and live among its speakers The next best way is to read extensively in it.” In order to motivate the students to have extensive reading habit, here below are some principles to keep in mind • The reading material is easy Learners read materials that contain few or no unfamiliar items of vocabulary and grammar Learners at advanced levels of foreign language proficiency will be able to 30 choose from reading materials written for native speakers of that language Most learners, however, are at lower levels of proficiency The reading material in an extensive reading library must be subdivided into difficulty levels, so that learners of various ability levels can find material that they can easily understand • There is a variety of reading materials on a wide range of topics This variety ensures that learners can find things they want to read, whatever their interests Different kinds of reading material also encourage a flexible approach to reading Learners are led to read for different reasons (e.g., entertainment; information; passing the time) and, consequently, in different ways (e.g., skimming; scanning; more careful reading) • Learners choose what they want to read Self-selection of reading material is the key to extensive reading Learners are also free, indeed encouraged, to stop reading anything that isn’t interesting or which they find too difficult Students themselves should be encouraged to find and bring what they actually enjoy reading to the class Teachers had better appoint groups of students in turn to collect extensive reading material for each lesson This is not only helps provide enough material for the whole class but also awakes students’ responsibility for learning • Reading is individual and silent Learners read at their own pace Silent reading period should be designated when students read their self-selected books in the classroom Time for each lesson is limited, so students cannot finish all their extensive reading in the class Therefore, most extensive reading should be assigned as homework Be sure that you, at the post of a teacher, did create as many silent reading periods and spaces as you could • Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower In extensive reading, the speed is of course not so important because most of the materials are read at home, so it is to vary according to the reader’s mental and physical status For example, it will be fast if the reader feels comfortable and interested, otherwise it won’t However, to achieve overall language proficiency, a reader must take reading speed into account Reading passages should be given at levels of difficulty so as 31 to guarantee that reading speed is usually faster rather than slower It is generally recognized that if reading speed is improved, overall language competence is fostered, for all skills of language are interrelated • The purpose of reading is usually related to pleasure, information and general understanding It’s gone with the traditional methods of learning a foreign language when students tried hard to understand how a language works but not learn how to use it, with the oldfashioned method of teaching, which mainly concentrated on grammar transformation Students now are offered various inputs with an aim of becoming proficient at using a language Extensive reading is one of the first selected approaches because it helps create pleasure in a language class, the key factor to a successful lesson, in addition to information and general knowledge 3.4 Techniques for the Improvement of Teachers’ activities in Reading Lesson 3.4.1 Adjusting Teaching Time and Efforts Findings from the survey reveal that teachers at HFLC have already had various ways to create reading interest among the students, motivate and provide them different techniques to enable their reading process effective However, more time and efforts should be spent on the strategies to increase the number of students who feel much interested in what their teachers have performed The study suggests that teachers at HFLC have helped their students realise three reading stages so that their students can read more effectively and spend time and energy for each stage of reading reasonably However, the teachers also need to notice that not enough time and efforts have been spent to help their students deal with problems with new words or phrases, or come-up problems of cultural knowledge Teachers, moreover, need to save more time and efforts identifying what difficulties their students are coping with in each stage of reading For example, if their students find it hard to start discussion about the topic to read, it is essential that the teachers guide them with interesting questions, or theme-based topics If that is the problem of working out 32 the gists, asking them to have skim read is the task of the teachers and this is certain to facilitate the students What’s more, time and efforts are also necessary for the teachers to tabulate their students’ level of proficiency so that appropriate reading exercises can be handed punctually In short, using the time and efforts wisely is one technique to help teachers improve their students’ reading skill 3.4.2 Varying strategies to aid the students in three phases of a reading lesson From the findings of the survey, there are series of things that should be done to aid students in three phrases of a reading lesson Teachers should select or combine different activities to assist their students as using one preferred technique all the time cannot be advantageous for it is impossible to have “one dish that suits all taste.” First, in pre-reading phase, teachers may ask their students to talk about pictures accompanying with the text, predict from the title, agree or disagree with a set of proposals about the topic, answering a set of questions or a quiz, listing items of information they already know about the topic, or discuss the topics In addition, they can make up discussion questions to raise students’ interest in the topic, to create attitude towards it, and to give readers and students to rehearse some key language Some photographs also can help the students to anticipate content in drawing up their own lists This activates their prior knowledge of the topic and any relevant language they might already know Helping students to be fully aware of their reading purpose (see suggestions in 3.3.2) is also a task to fulfil of teachers at HFLC Second, during while-reading stage, instead of focusing just on language knowledge, vocabulary, or structure as traditionally applied by many teachers at HFLC, teachers should encourage students to be active as they read by asking them to possibly: - follow the order of ideas in a text, - react to the opinions expressed, - understand the information the text contains, - ask themselves questions related, 33 - make notes, - predict content of the reading text, or glance at the title, subheading, the first and the last sentence of the reading text - predict the next part of the text from various clues so that teaching reading can become an interactive process To foster these activities, teachers can use a range of exercises such as ask students to tick a list of expectations or find answers for their questions, provide a chart for them to fill in with points of information, etc Encouraging silent reading should also be placed in the list of teaching techniques Time is always a matter of reading lesson, so with silent reading the students certainly can improve their reading speed and save much time This technique is also a help to prevent the class from becoming a bustling market with all the students together reading aloud Enhancing extensive reading outside classroom should also be added to the list of the techniques in use, for it helps the students experience the joys of reading in English Try to help the students realise that even a small piece of ads can become a “delicious dish” in their reading “menu” Finally, post-reading activities such as debate, role-play, reading of contrasting texts, summarizing the text, discussing come-up topics, or writing on relevant topics should be developed Varied as they may be, ideally they should tie up with the reading purpose set, so that students check and discuss activities done while reading and make use of what they have read in a meaningful way In short, there can be no single, set, rigid strategy for effective reading The teachers therefore need to vary their activities so as to make full use of the strengths and avoid the weaknesses 3.5 Techniques for the Development of Reading Materials In addition to motivation and teachers, to gain improvement in reading, attention should be paid to selecting reading materials It is much like when you want to serve a delicious meal for your customers When good cooks are ready, and you get yourself devoted to the dish, it is necessary to have fresh ingredients To ensure the success of the teacher in 34 activating his students and improving their reading skill, materials should be chosen with care and guaranteed of the students’ interest 3.5.1 Making Full Use of the Reading Texts and Designing Reading Text Based Activities Findings from the survey suggest that not a large number of the students involved in the survey are much interested in reading texts from the book Streamline English – Destination though they agree that the texts’ length is reasonable This attitude is foreseeable as this book is not designed specially for reading skill Hence, to raise students’ interest and improve their reading skill, the teacher need to make full use of the texts by setting up various tasks for his students Three stages of teaching reading lessons with different activities (as suggested in 3.4.2.) must be taken into consideration Moreover, reading text-based activities should also be set for the readers and here below are some that may be put in use - Encouraging brief discussion about the topics relevant to the reading text for warm - up - Providing reading text-based guided questions - Employing different reading text-based activities, such as T/F, answers given, ‘Wh’ questions, multiple choice, gap fill, role-play, etc - Designing various types of task-based exercises - Assigning different follow-up activities 3.5.2 Selecting appropriate supplementary Reading Materials As shown in Table 1, a very small number of students find the reading texts in the book Streamline English – Destination very interesting while up to 50% say it is rather and 22.5% propose the reading texts boring The book, of course, is acceptable but in addition to techniques for reading skill improvement in three reading phases, there should be supplementary reading materials to draw the students’ interest It is like changing the dish to suit the taste Williams, R (1986:42) makes a key point relating to principles for the reading lesson: ‘in the absence of interesting texts, very little is possible.” Teachers, 35 therefore, when selecting supplementary materials, should care for the criteria that follow: • Students’ interest • Level of difficulty • Variety (variety of the topic, of the of text, of rhetorical organization, and of reading purpose) • Types of reading activities and exercises Apparently, students’ interest should be a key criterion in selecting reading texts It is extremely difficult for them to get success in their reading task if they not like the texts Moreover, level of difficulty need consideration Texts to be chosen should be culturally and contextually accessible to the students as well as linguistically appropriate to their proficiency level For students of C level at HFLC, reading texts should be linguistically noncomplex and have a clear underlying internal structures The variety of the reading materials as mentioned above helps the students develop confidence to approach a text, increase their level of proficiency, challenge them to get progress, and more importantly change their reading taste Different types of activities and exercises, additionally, enable the students to further practice with reading skills 3.6 Summary Reading interest and motivation are the first factors to help the teachers improve their students’ reading skill To develop the love for reading, the skill which used to be assumed boring, teachers should not only make his English reading fun but prove it useful However these two factors, though very important, are not enough for a fruitful reading process The teachers, with their active role, need to train their students to become efficient readers Firstly, it is essential for them to help their students be aware of the nature of reading process so that the students can know which activities or strategies should be used during their reading Secondly, promoting the students to realize their purpose of reading is also a technique that can train efficient readers Moreover, the students must be activated to work willingly in different stages of reading and have extensive reading habit 36 If the tasks are just set for one side, the students’, the lesson cannot be as efficient as expected There should also be techniques for the improvement of teachers’ activities in reading lesson The teachers have to adjust the time and efforts to manage the class and make their students involved in the reading lesson They need, moreover, vary strategies to aid the students in three phrases of a reading lesson To realize the goal of improving reading skill for students at C level classes, reading materials should also be developed Both the teachers and their students have to make full use of the reading texts in the book Streamline English – Destination and design various types of reading text based activities In addition, supplementary reading materials should be carefully selected and provided 37 PART THREE: CONCLUSION Recapitulation With the objective to analyze the current learning and teaching reading situation at HFLC then suggest certain techniques for improving reading skills for students at C level classes, the research is done with three main chapters Chapter one briefly presents an overview on the nature of reading, states reading classification, and introduces what effective reading is and the approaches to teach effective reading Chapter two elaborates the analysis of current situation of teaching and learning reading at Haiphong Foreign Language Center - Haiphong University Time and efforts have been spent on accumulating information about teachers and their teaching methods applied in reading lessons, viewing teaching and learning materials and assessing the utility of these materials Also in this chapter, survey is conducted to identify how much students are interested in their reading materials, their teachers, and at the same time what activities are employed by the teachers as well as what the students often every reading lesson Chapter three focuses on the techniques which should be applied to facilitate reading skills for students of C level classes at HFLC These techniques are realized in four sections: how to create reading interest and motivate the students; how to train students to become efficient readers; how to improve teachers’ activities in reading lessons; how to select supplementary reading materials And here below are suggested techniques: Techniques for Reading Interest and Motivation • Making English reading fun • Making English reading useful Techniques for Training Students to Become Efficient Readers • Making Students Aware of the Nature of Reading Process • Promoting Students to Be Fully Aware of Their Purpose of Reading • Activating Students to Work Willingly in Different Stages of Reading 38 • Encouraging Students to Have Extensive Reading Habit Techniques for the Improvement of Teachers’ activities in Reading Lesson • Adjusting teaching time and efforts • Varying strategies to aid the students in three phases of a reading lesson Techniques for the Development of Reading Materials • Making Full Use of the Reading Texts and Designing Reading TextBased Activities • Selecting appropriate supplementary Reading Materials These techniques, to be frank, are not the all-time effective resorts; however, they are obviously efficient escorts of the teachers who expect to improve their students’ reading skills Limitations and Suggestions for Further Study In any research papers, limitations are unavoidable The study presented in this minorthesis is of no exception The study, though referring to the difficulties of teaching and learning reading skill at HFLC, has not dealt with students of all level but just C level while all students should be assisted to have better reading ability What’s more, the techniques suggested though proved to be useful and effective within the classes of C level at HFLC have not been proved to have good effects to students of lower or higher proficiency In addition, the techniques suggested are just those that have been collected during the process or teaching or with the experience of the researcher but not those actually invented Therefore, the researcher of this study hopes that in the coming time he can have a thorough study on students of all level at HFLC and their difficulties in learning English reading Moreover, teachers with the challenges they are facing in teaching at large classes should also become the key participant in his further study More ambitiously, he expects to work out his own techniques or strategies for bettering English reading skill for his students but not just collecting them from different sources appropriate to the situation at HFLC 39 References Allen, W.P (1977) Selecting reading material for foreign students Rockville, Mt: English Language Service Doff, A (1988) Teaching: a training course for teachers Cambridge: CUP Duffy, GG & Rochier, L.R (1986) Improving Classroom Reading Instruction:A decision Making Approach New York: Random House Goodman, K.S, (1970) Reading a psycholinguistics guessing game In H Singer & B.R.Ruddell (Eds), Theoretical models and processes of reading Newark Delaware: International Reading Association Greenwood, J (1985) The teaching of English as an International language Collins: Glassgow and London Grelet, F (1981) Developing reading skills Cambridge: CUP Hayes, B.L (1991) The effective teaching of reading In B.L Hayes (Eds), Effective strategies for teaching reading, 3-12 Boston: Allyn & Bacon Harmer, H (1989) The practice of English language teaching Harlow: Longman Lewis, M & Hill, J (1985) Practical techniques for language teaching London: Commercial Color Press Nunan, D (1991) Language teaching methodology Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Nuttal, C (1982) Teaching reading skills in a foreign language London: Heineman Robinson, R & Good, T.L (1987) Being an effective reading teacher: Harper and Row Publisher Rummerhart, D (1977).Towards an interactive model of reading In S Dordic (Eds) Attention and Performance IV Academic Press Samuels, S.J & Hamil, M.L (1988) Models for the reading process Cambridge: CUP Simon, Gr& Michael, S (1993) Effective Reading Cambridge: CUP Stanovich, K (1980) Towards an Interactive compensatory models of individual differences in the development of reading fluency Reading Research Quarterly Swan, M (1975) Inside meaning Cambridge: CUP Ur, P (1996) A course in language teaching Cambridge: CUP 40 Williams, E (1986) Reading in the language classroom Oxford: Macmillan Publisher 41 Appendix Survey Questionnaire for students at HFLC Please circle the appropriate for the following questions What you think of the reading text in the book “Streamline English – Destination”? a very interesting b interesting c rather interesting d boring What you think of the length of the reading text in the book “Streamline English – Destination”? a very long b long c moderate d short What your teachers often to create your interest before each reading task? a present some new words and structures on the blackboard b give a brief introduction to the text c give some guiding questions for you to think about as you read d nothing e other activities How much are you interested in the way used by your teacher to create reading interest before reading task? a much b rather c just little d not at all 42 What your teachers often to motivate you every reading lesson? a help you understand the purpose of the text b present some interesting tasks to you before asking you to read c provide you any new words or structures you ask for d simplify the task by asking you to read the text straightaway e other activities How much are you interested in the way your teacher motivate you before, while, and after every reading lesson? a much b rather c just little d not at all Do your teachers help you to be aware of the purpose of your reading? a usually b sometimes c seldom d never To help you understand the text, what your teachers often ask you to do? a predict the content of the text b skim the text c scan the text d move your eyes line by line for unknown words and structures e other activities Do your teachers often encourage you to have extensive reading outside classroom? a usually b sometimes c seldom d never 43 10 Before reading, you often predict the content of the reading text? a usually b sometimes c seldom d never 11 Before reading for details, you often glance at the title, subheading, the first and the last sentence of the reading text? a usually b sometimes c seldom d never 12 After having an overview of the text, what you often do? a read the text attentively from the beginning to the end b move your eyes line by line for unknown words and structures c read only the first and the last sentences of each paragraph in the reading text d other activities 13 What you often to find the main ideas of the text? a skimming b scanning c read the text attentively from the beginning to the end d making references e other activities 14 When unfamiliar words or structures appear, what you often do? a look them up in the dictionary b figure out the meanings of the words from the context c ignore them all d not know what to e ask for the word meaning from teachers 44 ... reading is and the approaches to teach effective reading Chapter two elaborates the analysis of current situation of teaching and learning reading at Haiphong Foreign Language Center - Haiphong University. .. English at Haiphong Foreign Language Center, Haiphong University. ” Aims of the study The purpose of this study is to examine the areas of difficulties in reading encountered by non- major students at. .. unfamiliar items of vocabulary and grammar Learners at advanced levels of foreign language proficiency will be able to 30 choose from reading materials written for native speakers of that language