ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest thanks to my beloved supervisor Mr. Le Van Canh, MA for his invaluable support, patient guidance, and encouragement he gave me throughout my research. I am truly grateful to him for his advice and suggestions right from the beginning when this study was only in its formative stage. I also wish to send my sincere thanks to the lecturers of Post Graduate Department, Foreign Language College of Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their interesting lessons and suggestions, which aroused the thesis for this study to be realized. I am indebted to my family members whose support and encouragements greatly contributed to the completion of my study. Last but not least, I wish to thank my readers for their interest and comments on this thesis. 1 DECLARATION I certify that this thesis is the result of my own study and that it has not been submitted to any other university or institution wholly or partially. Hanoi, June, 2008 Student: Lª Minh Sao 2 ABSTRACT The important role of reading comprehension is apparent for any student who has success in his command of foreign language in general, English in particular. For non- English major students in Nghi Loc IV Upper Secondary School, reading has been paid more attentions to as the students have to take the examinations which are grammar- and reading- based. However, they have encountered a lot of difficulties in reading skills even after the new textbook has been put to use. This study aims to investigate the reading difficulties perceived by the 10 th grade students of Nghi Loc IV Upper Secondary School. The results of this study has shown that the 10 th form students often have difficulties with vocabulary, grammar, reading skills and background knowledge when learning reading comprehension. This study has also given some suggestions to reduce their reading difficulties and helps students to obtain desirable results in learning reading. 3 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES TABLES Table 1: Students’ attitudes toward reading skills Table 2: Students’ reading habits Table 3: Students’ perspectives about easy reading texts Table 4: Students’ perspectives about difficult reading texts Table 5: Studens’ activities in Pre-reading Table 6: Studens’ activities in While-reading Table 7: Studens’ activities in Post-reading Table 8: Students’ areas of difficulties Table 9: Students’ difficulties in the area of vocabulary Table 10: Students’ difficulties in the area of grammar Table 11: Students’ difficulties in the area of reading skill FIGURES Figure 1: Students’ attitudes toward reading skills Figure 2: Students’ opinions of the easy reading texts in the textbook Figure 3: Students’ areas of difficulties Figure 4: Students’ difficulties in the area of grammar 4 THE TABLE OF CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I DECLARATION II ABSTRACT III CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1 1. Introduction 1 2. Rationale 1 3. Aims of the Study 2 4. Research Questions 2 5. Method of the Study 3 6. Scope of the Study 3 7. Organization of the Thesis 3 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 5 2.1. Introduction 5 2.2 Definition of Terminology 5 2.2.1. What is reading? 5 2.2.2. Reading Comprehension 6 2.3. The difficulties of the second language reading comprehension process 7 2.3.1. Reading skill problem 7 2.3. 2. Language problems 8 2.3.3. Cultural background knowledge 9 2.4. Learner-centeredness in foreign language education 10 2.5. Summary 11 CHAPTER III: THE STUDY 12 3.1. Introduction 12 3.2. The rationale of using survey interviews 12 5 3.3. The context of the study 13 3.3.1.The students, their background and their learning conditions 13 3.3.2. Teachers and methods of teaching 14 3.4. Reading Comprehension in the New TIENG ANH 10 14 3.5. The participants 15 3.6. Instrumentation 15 3.7. The Interviews and Data Analysis 16 3.7.1. Students’ attitudes toward learning English 16 3.7.2. Students’ attitudes towards learning reading skill 16 3.7.3. How much do the students read? 18 3.7.4. Students’ perspectives about reading texts in New Tieng Anh 10. 19 3.7.4.1. Students’ perspectives about easy reading texts 19 3.7.4.2. Students’ perspectives about difficult reading texts 21 3.7.5. Students’ activities in the reading lessons 22 3.7.5.1. Pre-reading activities 22 3.7.5.2. While-reading activities 24 3.7.5.3. Post-reading activities 25 3.7.6. Students’ reading difficulties 26 3.7.6.1. In the area of vocabulary 27 3.7.6.2. In the area of grammar 28 3.7.6.3. In the area of background knowledge 30 3.7.6.4. In the area of reading skills 31 3.7.6.5. In the area of reading tasks 32 3.7.7. Students’ remarks about teaching reading and their recommendation for improving reading skill 33 6 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 35 4.1. What are students’ attitudes toward reading skill? 35 4.2. What do they really think of the reading texts in the text book: New Tieng Anh 10 ? 35 4.3. What do students do when they read a reading text? 35 4.4. What difficulties do students encounter in learning reading skill? 36 4.5. What do the students want their teachers to do to help them read more effectively ? 37 4.6. Suggestions to improve reading skill to students at Nghi Loc IV High school 37 4.6.1. Techniques for reading interest and motivation 38 4.6. 1. 1. Making English reading fun 38 4.6. 1.2. Making English reading useful 38 4.6.2.Training students to become efficient readers 39 4.6.3 Making students fully aware of their purpose of reading 39 4.6.4. Encouraging students to have extensive reading habit 39 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION 40 5.1. Conclusions 40 5.2. Limitations of the study and Suggestions for Further study 40 REFERENCES 41 APPENDIX 7 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1. Introduction Reading comprehension is one of the most important language skills that students of foreign language need to have. This is because the goal of most foreign language students is to get access to the knowledge they need through the medium of the foreign language they are learning. In addition, reading is a very important , even the most important source of linguistic input through which the students acquire the foreign language. Unfortunately there are many factors, both linguistic and non-linguistic, that makes reading comprehension a difficult skill for the students to acquire. This study is to investigate those difficulties as perceived by the students. This Chapter introduces the rationale, the aim, the research question, the research method, and the scope of the study. The Chapter concludes with a presentation of the organization of the study. 2. Rationale The ongoing process of regional and global intergration in Vietnam has resulted in an increasing demand for English language teaching across the country. Now, learning English is not only an interest but also a practical thing for many people. Learning English means learning four related skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. In teaching and learning English as a foreign language in Vietnam, reading has always received a great deal of attention. This is understandable, English is learnt and taught in non-English environment, so reading is not only one of the four language skills that students of English need to acquire but also a means of further study. According to Carrell (1981) “For many students, reading is by far the most important of the four skills in a second language, particularly in English as a second or foreign language”(p.1). What is more, when poor reading results are reported, one tends to blame the students for having poor ability or for making insufficient effort. Nevertheless, the students are not always at fault. There are other important factors in the process of teaching and learning reading that are worth considering. It could be unsuitable teaching materials. It could be the inappropriate attitude of the teachers and learners towards the subject. It could be the teachers’ inappropriate teaching methods and classroom techniques. 8 In the context of the upper secondary school, reading even more important than other three skills of speaking, listening, and writing because students have to take the examinations which are grammar- and reading- based. However, the students’ reading proficiency is not satisfactory even after the new textbook has been put to use. The study is based on the assumption that unless teachers understand students’ difficulties, their teaching of reading comprehension will never be efficient and effective. In other words, teachers need to adopt a more learner-centred perspective in making their pedagogical decisions. Although it is important to understand students’ difficulties so as to provide them with needed support, not a single study on the upper secondary school students’ perceptions of the difficulties they have faced with in comprehending the reading texts in the textbook. Being a teacher of English, I myself think that it is essential to do a research on students’ reading difficulties so I decided on choosing the topic “ Students’ perceived difficulties in reading comprehension with reference to New Tieng Anh 10 textbook at Nghi Loc IV High school: A survey interview study”. 3. Aims of the Study This study aims to investigate students’ difficulties in reading texts in the new textbook for grade 10 according to their perceptions. Findings will be used to suggest appropriate instructional support to help students to improve their reading comprehension skills. To be more specific, the objectives of this study are: - to investigate the students’ attitudes towards English reading. - to find out the students’ areas of reading difficulty. - to suggest ways to reduce the difficulties and help students to improve their reading skills. It is hoped that the findings from this study will be some benefits to teachers and students in Nghi Loc IV upper secondary school. 4. Research Questions In order to achieve the aims mentioned above, the study concerntrated answering the research questions: 9 - What are the students’ attitudes towards reading English ? - What do they perceive of the difficulties in the reading texts in New Tieng Anh 10 textbook ? - To what extent do the teacher’s teaching methods help them improve reading skills according to their perception ? 5. Method of the Study With the aim of finding out students’ perceived difficulties in comprehending reading texts in the new textbook, a survey interview approach is adopted for this study. Semi- structured interviews will be conducted on a group of 20 Grade 10 students. These students will be selected randomly among volunteers. All the interviews will be audio-taped and fully transcribed. Data will be analyzed qualitatively to identify common difficulties the students encounter in their reading comprenhension. 6. Scope of the Study This study limits itself to the investigation of a small sample of Grade 10 students at NL IV High school - a school located in the rural area of Nghe An province- to find out their difficulties in comprehending the reading texts in the textbook through semi- structured interviewing. 7. Organization of Thesis This minor thesis consists of four chapters. The first chapter includes a rationale for the study, the aims, method, scope of the study as well as the organization of the thesis. The second chapter “Literature Review” discusses the theoretical background relevant to the research topic including the definition of reading , reading difficulties, learner- centeredness in foreign language learning. Chapter three presents the research method, context of the study, the material and the participants. In addition, it deals with the findings and data analysis. 10 [...]... performance in a second language is largely shared with reading ability in a first language” (p 17) While investigating the transferability of students’ L1 reading strategies to L2 reading, Sarig (1987) also asserts that “ the same reading strategies types account for success and failure in both languages to almost the same extent It can be concluded, then, that reading process from the first language appear... schemata Rather, problem lies in projecting appropriate schemata” (p 9) From what we have discussed it seems that there are three main factors that affect reading comprehension: reading ability or reading skills; linguistic knowlegde; and cultural and background knowledge The difficulties may be related to a number of other difficulties such as readers’ reading habits, attitude, motivation, the way reading. .. engaging learners in learning for understanding and thinking, to help them build their own interpretations Teacher narratives and the emphasis on learner characteristics make the learner-centered approach a viable alternative for matching teaching practices with learner needs Learner-centered education, in this perspective, embodies the learner, learning in the programs, and policies and teaching that... like learning English and I try my best to learn it in order to pass all the exams, become a tourist guider or go to work abroad as a worker” After investigating their attitudes toward learning English, the author continued using other questions to explore students’ learning reading skills 3.7.2 Students’ attitudes towards learning reading skill Table 1: Students’ attitudes toward reading skills Ideas... interview Due to these reasons, interviews are more personal ways of gathering information from users than the questionnaires On the other hand, interviews are relatively short, and the researcher can collect quantitative data as well as qualitative data Also, depending on the type of the interview, the researcher may not be able to establish the natural environments of the participants 20 In this study, ... reader in his mother tongue is poor, he can not read well in a foreign language According to Anderson (1984), the reason the students can not read adequately in English is that they cannot read adequately in the native language The interaction between first language and second language reading ability is further clarified by several researchers For example, Bernhardt and Kamil (1975) assume that reading. .. might be new Therefore, they can not understand it The readers will find the text very challenging and might not have any motivation left to keep on reading L2 readers may have difficulty adjusting their reading strategies to match the author’s intent or purpose They may not be familiar with a particular story “grammar” or the organizational patterns of informational text They may not be familiar with. .. transference of meaning also cause great difficulty for readers 2.3.3 Cultural background knowledge Several studies on reading skills indicate that apart from language problems and reading skill problems, cultural knowledge can also affect students’ reading ability According to Fries (1963) meaning at the social level is the meaning that transcends the language code and is related to the background knowledge... effectively 3.4 Reading Comprehension in the New TIENG ANH 10 The new TIENG ANH 10 is a text book that is being used at all upper secondary schools in Viet nam It consists of 16 units, the first section of each unit is reading Being a textbook, the new Tieng Anh 10 provides reading passages of various topics They are about “ daily work” (as in unit 1 and 2), about “technology” ( unit 5), “consevation”... effective learning for all students Administrators are responsible for developing, maintaining, and enhancing a school environment that promotes effective learning They are also responsible for ensuring that teachers are knowledgeable about their students and how learning best occurs Teachers are responsible for having classrooms that promote effective learning for all and for being familiar with the instructional . with reference to New Tieng Anh 10 textbook at Nghi Loc IV High school: A survey interview study . 3. Aims of the Study This study aims to investigate students’. writing. In teaching and learning English as a foreign language in Vietnam, reading has always received a great deal of attention. This is understandable,