Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U Hanoi open university Faculty of english and modern languages Graduation paper B.A Degree in English Some strategies for dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension for students of English faculty, Hanoi open university Supervisor : Le Phuong Thao, M.A Student : Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy Date of birth : 29/09/1988 Course : 2006 – 2010 Hanoi, May 2010 Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U Declaration Title: Some strategies for dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension for students of English faculty, Hanoi open university (Graduation Paper submitted in Partial Fulfillment for B.A Degree in English) I certify that no part of the above report has been copied and reproduced by me from any other person’s work without acknowledgement and that the report is originally written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor Date submitted: May 15th, 2010 Student: Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U Nguyễn Thị Thu Thủy Lê Phương Thảo Acknowledgements I am so glad to have a good opportunity of doing this graduation paper It helps me much in collecting and classifying my knowledge which I have studied To finish paper, I have worked under extremely high responsibility I received many supports from teachers and friends I cannot accomplish this task without their help First of all, I would like to express my appreciation to all the teachers of English faculty, Hanoi Open University for teaching me to be a well-educated student I have learnt so many things from what they taught me They have made favourable conditions for me to study at school during my precious four years here Secondly, I would like to give special thanks to Ms Le Phuong Thao, my supervisor, for both her positive response to my ideas for this paper and her advice that helped me to complete it I would not complete my graduation paper without her enthusiastic instructions and correction Besides, I also would like to thank my friends and all the students who helped me implement my study Finally yet important, I am very thankful to my family and my boyfriend for their spiritual and financial supports to help me finish my course in Hanoi Open University Hanoi, May 2009 Nguyễn Thị Thu Thủy Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U Chapter I: Introduction 1.1 Rationale: Reading is an important tool for people of many societies allowing them to access information or knowledge Everyone needs reading skills for various purposes as survival, broadened knowledge and pleasure Reading is a basic skill not only every school requires but every job expects It is the fact that skills of reading and analyzing documents or a variety of data sources are major factors which affect a person’s work results and his salary as well Therefore, improving reading skill is very important for undergraduate students of English in general and English faculty at Hanoi Open University in particular Reading is not just pronouncing words but requires understanding However, the first thing students learning English as a foreign language meet when they are reading is the vocabulary Many students probably consider that their main problem in reading is not having a big enough vocabulary Most students who meet an unfamiliar word they cannot interpret are first likely to ask what it means If they not find out the word’s meaning, they cannot go on reading and comprehending the text College material contains unfamiliar words and specialized or technical vocabulary that students must learn Also, college textbooks in general are written at a higher level than other materials, so some effective strategies for dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension are necessary In studying process, the author of this paper and other students of English faculty at Hanoi Open University have met many difficulties made by unfamiliar words in reading comprehension Therefore, the author would like to present some reading compehension and unfamiliar word knowledge and propose some effective strategies for dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension for students of English faculty at Hanoi Open University Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U 1.2 Aims of the study: It is obvious that reading plays an important role in our life No worker can work well without reading documents and no student can study without reading books Yet, we always have trouble with unfamiliar words in reading The objective of the study is to bring out some strategies which are helpful in dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension for students of English faculty, Hanoi Open University In this study, the author would like to focus on finding what difficulties students usually meet when encountering unfamiliar words in reading and from that point, the author would like to bring out some effective strategies to help students learning English as a foreign language in general and the students of English faculty at HOU in particular to overcome their difficulties To help students deal with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension, this study focused on the following main points: • Overview of basic knowledge on reading comprehension and unfamiliar words in reading • Difficulties made by unfamiliar words in reading comprehension for students • A survey to get what exactly students find hard in encountering unfamiliar words in reading comprehension and their habit of dealing with this • Proposed effective strategies of dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension based on the result drawn from the survey Hopefully, this research will be a good source for students in general, especially the students of English faculty at HOU in particular 1.3 Scope of the study: English reading comprehension is a wide field for research In the scope of this study, due to the limited time and knowledge, the author mainly focuses on difficulties made by unfamiliar words in reading comprehension and some Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U effective strategies for dealing with it The research aimed at English learners, especially students at Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University 1.4 Method of the study: In order to accomplish this thesis systematically and adequately, the author has acquired all the literature resources from many sources of data such as the internet, newspapers and linguistic books in the Library of Faculty of English and Modern Languages, HOU and the Vietnam National Library The author implemented a survey with subjects who are students of English faculty, Hanoi Open University Personal observation consulted and discussed by the supervisor in the process of researching also contributed much to the completion of this thesis 1.5 Design of the study: The study is divided into five chapters: • Chapter I: Introduction • Chapter II: Literature Review • Chapter III: The study • Chapter IV: The finding and discussion • Chapter V: Conclusion Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U Chapter II: Literature review 2.1 Reading Comprehension: 2.1.1 Definition of Reading: Joe Cortina and Janet Elder (2000) defined reading as a form of thinking in Opening Doors – Understanding college reading: “It is your brain that does the reading, not your eyes Your eyes merely transmit images to the brain for it to interpret” (12,75) To understand this, we consider a blind person reading Braille, a system of printing for the blind, in this case, the finger – tips transmit input to the brain Thus, Joe and Janet highly preciate the importance of brain or thinking in reading It also means that meaning resides in the reader’s mind, not in symbols printed on a page It is the readers who construct meaning by associating their knowledge and experience with what is on the printed page Different readers, therefore, with their own knowledge and experience have different understanding about the written text In Deanne’s view (2000), reading term is defined as follows: “Reading is a complex cognitive process of decoding symbols for the intention of deriving meaning (reading comprehension) and/or constructing meaning” (6,65) According to Deanne, reading is a process of getting a message from a written text The writer encodes his thought or ideas as language and the reader decodes the language to understand author’s message This can be understood that reading refers to receiving the writer’s knowledge and thought It is an activity that connects the reader and the written material or the writer When reading, obviously, readers interact with the writer in some ways and this will be influent on the reading effectiveness of readers Another noticeable definition on reading given by John, L (2002) is that: “Reading is the motivated and fluent coordination of word recognition and comprehension” (14,89) In his study, he shows that “Reading is a multifaceted process involving word recognition, comprehension, fluency and motivation” Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U Reading is making meaning from print It requires: identifying the words in print (word recognition), constructing an understanding from it (comprehension), coordinating identifying words and making meaning so that reading is automatic and accurate (fluency) Reading in its fullest sense involves weaving together word recognition and comprehension in a fluent manner These three processes are complex, and each is important Leipzig, also, gives a considerable idea on reading: if reading is not pleasurable or fulfilling, readers will not choose to read, and they will not get the practice they need to become fluent or efficient readers Therefore, reading also means developing and maintaining the motivation to read In general, reading, like other terms, is defined in many different ways depend on each person’ view and his/her study purpose Hence, it is not easy to give a completely exact definition on this term However, a definition can be summarized basing on above definitions is that: Reading is a complex process in which written or printed material is decoded by readers in order to get writer’s message 2.1.2 Definition of Reading Comprehension: The term “comprehension” is offered in Webster’s College Dictionary (2008) is “the capcity of the mind to perceive and understand” or “power to grasp ideas” from the written text In other words, reading comprehension is a highly interactive process that takes place between a reader and a text Individual readers will bring variable levels of skills and experiences to these interactions These include language skills, cognitive resources and world knowledge Any act of reading occurs within a particular sociocultural and emotional context This consists of elements such as the readers’ home culture, their previous experiences of reading and being read to, their expectations that reading should carry meaning, their motivation, their view of themselves as a reader, the purpose for reading the text, the cultural value placed on reading and the reading environments the reader experiences According to Hulstijn (1993), the word comprehension has its roots in Latin: comprehendere means to seize In the Latin derived language of Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U French, from which many English words come, the verb comprendre means to understand Thus, reading comprehension denotes the ability to read words and grasp (seize) the meaning of these individual words as well as to understand the meaning of the groups of these words.While many students can read aloud, calling out the individual words with the correct pronunciations, some of them not comprehend what they read That is, they can say all the words, but they not understand what the combined words all mean On the other hand, those who can read aloud or silently and understand what they have read, have reading comprehension Reading comprehension, therefore, can be defined as “the level of understanding of a writing” Reading comprehension can be known as the result of effective reading as well as the ability to understand and interact with the written materials in a meaningful way For students, comprehension refers to understanding college textbook by reading for ideas Reading comprehension is the crucial link to effective reading, a strong factor in our educational and professional lives Reading comprehension can be known as the heart and goal of reading, since the purpose of all reading is to gather meaning from the printed page 2.1.3 The importance of Reading Comprehension: One of the main benefits of reading is that it helps to build our vocabulary When reading books, magazines, websites, etc we sometimes encounter new words Even if we not completely understand the word, we will be able to figure it out through association or the use of a dictionary This not only allows our vocabulary to grow but deepens our level of understanding We see and remember new words and are given examples of how they are used, this means that vocabulary is expanded through reading process Reading keeps our brain working and keeps us up to date with language and modern vocabulary and slang It is well – known fact that too many people today don’t read regularly and they also suffer difficulties from their limited vocabulary in communication Each person’ vocabulary is the foundation of his ability to think and his ability to share his thought with other people The more we read the more effectively we use language in daily life Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U Another great benefit of reading is that it provides us a wonderful time to relax and de-stress for both children and adults Reading can transport people to different countries and cultures, or it can take us on a great adventure Reading should be viewed as a pleasurable activity – as a source of entertaining tales and useful and interesting factual information If we need a few moments to relax after a hard day, reading is a wonderful way to so Through books, besides, children can also learn about people and places from other parts of the world, improve their understanding of and concern for all of humanity Reading can provide children with endless hours of fun and entertainment Stories can free up imaginations and open up exciting new words of fantasty or reality They allow children to dream and may give them a good start on the road to viewing reading as a lifelong source of pleasure It is also found that another reading benefit that shows the importance of reading is that reading can actually help to enhance our brain power Not only is reading a required skill to complete school and then university it is also a needed skill in adult hood The ability to read and learn new things through out our life keeps our brain young and health As we read, we stimulate the brain, and there are some studies that even show that people who read on a regular basis are less likely to end up dealing with problems like Alzheimer’s Disease It is also observed that children and teengagers who love reading have comparatively higher IQs The ability to learn about new subjects and find helpful information on anything from health problems to more academic research into science or the arts depends on the ability to read Recent researches has shown that good readers stand out from the rest because of their improved cognitive abilities They can think creatively It improves their grasping power It makes them analyse and solve problems better Reading helps a person be successful in life Reading on a regular basis can also have the added benefit of improving our spelling as well The more we read, the more we see the proper spelling and it will help us to make sure that we are spelling things correctly as well, which is definitely very important People who start reading from an early age are observed to have good language skills, and they grasp the variances in phonics much better Especially, for children, reading out loud exposes them to proper 10 Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U Chapter V: Conclusion From recent studies, reading is an important way of gaining information in foreign language learning Reading comprehension is a basic skill for college students including foreign language learners There are a lot of reading exercises in an examination today But all these readings must be done in limited time So students are asked to read them correctly with a certain speed Many students probably believe that their main problem in reading is that unfamiliar words prevent them from reading fast The author of this paper would like to provide some possible strategies to students of English facultty at Hanoi Open Universiy for dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension First of all, in this study, the author has presented an overview of reading comprehension in order to make the study clearly and persuasive Reading comprehension is a complex process of interaction between the reader and the text Reading comprehension can be known as the result of effective reading as well as the ability to understand the writer’s message For students, comprehension refers to understanding college textbook by reading for ideas Effective reading is active and interactive process and a proficient reader is a person who know how to use reading strategies in a fluent and flexible manner to gain his own goal Furthermore, the most important overview this paper’s author would like to introduce is unfamiliar words in reading An unfamiliar word is a word which readers find it unaccustomed or accustomed but in a new context There are many difficulties made by unfamiliar words in reading comprehension such as: slowing reading speed, interrupting reading process and lack of interest in reading After studying theories involves the topic, the author of this paper implemented a survey by delivering the exercise and quetionaire to students of English faculty at Hanoi Open University After data collecting, the survey result has been found The situation the author has explored is that the majority of students got trouble with unfamiliar words in reading because they have not found the most effective and proper strategy yet to overcome their problem Finally, the author suggested the 3-step method to help students deal with unfamiliar words in reading based on above theories and the 48 Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U finding concerning students’ difficulties This method is combination of four strategies introduced clearly in chapter II but in an effective and flexible manner Also, the author gave some advices and remarkable points for each strategy to help students know how to make use of it The author of this study hopes that proper ways of learning will give great help to students not only for treatment of unfamiliar words in reading comprehension but also for their improvement of reading abilities Due to the limited time and knowledge, mistakes in the thesis are inevitable Therefore, all comments, remarks and suggestions are welcome and highly appreciated 49 Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U References : Books: Alderson, J.C (1984) Reading in a foreign language: A reading problem or a language problem In J.C Alderson & A.H Urguhart (Eds.) Reading in a foreign language New York: Longman Aspatore, J V (1984) But I don't know all the words! Foreign Language Annals 17, (pp 297-299) Clevedon UK: Multilingual Matters Barnett, M (1988) More than meets the eye: Foreign language reading NJ: Prentice-Hall Regents Carnine, D., Kameenui, E.J & Coyle, G (1984) Utilization of contextual information in determining the meaning of unfamiliar words Reading Research Quarterly 19, (pp 188-194) London: Sage Carrol, B & Drum, P (1982) The effects of context clue type and variations in content on the comprehension of unknown words New inquiries in reading research and instruction: Thirty-First Yearbook of the National Reading Conference Rochester, NY Deanne, M S (2000) Improving reading skills Boston: McGraw – Hill Deford, D., Lyons, C., & Pinnell, G (Eds.) (1991) Bridges to literacy: Learning from Reading Recovery Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Goodman, K., Goodman, Y., & Flores, B., (1979) Reading in the bilingual classroom: Literacy and biliteracy Rosslyn, VA: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education Heath, S (1983) Ways with words Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press 10 Huckins, T., Haynes, M & Coady, J (1993) Second language reading and vocabulary learning Norwood, NJ: Ablex 50 Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U 11 Hulstijn, J (1993) When foreign language readers look up the meaning of unfamiliar words? The influence of task and learner variables Modern Language Journal 77, (pp 139-147) London: Heinemann 12 Joe, C & Janet, E (2005) Opening Doors – Understanding college reading New York: McGraw – Hill 13 Joe, C & Janet, E (2000) New world : An introduction to college reading New York: McGraw – Hill 14 John, L (2002) Reading and study skills New York: McGraw – Hill 15 Nation, I.S.P (1990) Teaching and learning vocabulary New York: Newbury House 16 O'Donnell, M., & Wood, M (1992) Becoming a reader: A developmental approach to reading instruction Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon 17 Valencia, S W., Hiebert, E H., & Afflerbach, P P (Eds.) (1994) Authentic reading assessment: Practices and possibilities Newark, DE: International Reading Association 18 Webster (2005) Random House Webster’s College Dictionary New York: Random House Reference 19 Winograd, P & Hare, V (1988) Direct instruction of reading comprehension strategies: The nature of teachers' explanations In C E Weinstein, E.T Goetz & P.A Alexander (Eds.), Learning and study strategies San Diego: Academic Press 51 Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U Internet sources: America Reads Challenge (n.d.) Educators: What you can http://www.ed.gov/americareads/educators_cando.html (10th Mar, 2010) Collier, V (1995) Acquiring a second language for school Directions in Language and Education, 1(4) http://www.ncbe.gwu.edu/ncbepubs/directions/04.htm (13th Feb, 2010) Knuth, R A., & Jones, B F (1991) What does research say about reading? http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/stw_esys/str-read.htm (23rd Nov, 2009) Maryland State Department of Education (n.d.) Building effective teaching through educational research: English and language arts http://www.mdk12.org/practices/good_instruction/projectbetter/elangarts/inde x.html (25th Mar, 2010) Sweet, A P (1993) State of the art: Transforming ideas for teaching and learning to read Washington, DC: U.S Government Printing Office http://www.ed.gov/pubs/StateArt/Read/ (3rd Apr, 2010) Thomas, W P., & Collier, V (1997) School effectiveness for language minority students (NCBE Resource Collection Series, No 9) Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education http://www.ncbe.gwu.edu/ncbepubs/resource/effectiveness/index.htm (29th Apr, 2010) 52 Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U TABLE OF CONTENT  Declaration  Acknowledgements  Table of content References  Appendixes Appendix 1: Exercise Appendix 2: Answer keys Appendix 3: Questionaire Appendix 4: Some common roots and prefixes Appendix 5: Some common suffixes 53 Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U Appendix 1: Exercise Part I: Read the following sentences, figure out the meaning of the underlined words by choosing one of answers: The extinction of Bengal tiger will have been caused almost entirely by poachers who, according to some sources, are not interested in material gain but in personal gratification A.illegal hunters B.enterprising researchers C.concerned scientists Throughout history, humans have built a wide variety of dwellings, from tepees made of skin to mansions of stone A.homes B.stores C.churches Affluent, or wealthy, Americans should be more concerned with the problems of the homeless A.sucessful B.active C.rich The coach takes every opportunity to censure his players, yet he ignores every chance to praise them A.approve B.criticize C.choose The newlyweds agreed to be very frugal in their shopping because they wanted to save enough money to buy a home A.thrifty B.wasteful C.interested Some countries, in order to circumvent the problem, have allocated large amounts of land to animal reserves Many forests and national parks have been enlarged and improved A.set aside B.combined C.organized Part II: Choose the best answer: The word “contradict” means: A.oppose B.agree C.carry out Read the following sentence: “Those companies that respect the rights of shareholders and creditors, and ensure financial transparency and accountability, will be regarded as being an ardent advocate of investors’ interests.” The word “advocate” has function as: A.a noun B.a verb C.an adjective The word “appliable” has the function as: A.a noun B.a verb C.an adjective 10 The word “illuminate” has the root: A.luminate B.illumin C.lum 54 Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U Appendix 2: answer keys Part I: – A: illegal hunters – A: homes – C: rich – B: criticize – A: thrifty – A: allocated Part II: – A: oppose – A: a noun – C: an adjective 10 – C: lum 55 Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U Appendix 3: Questionaire A B C Which method did you use to solve the questions in exercise I? Using a dictionary Asking other people Guessing word’s meaning by making use of context clues Did you use your knowledge of parts of speech to guess the meaning of words in exercise II? A Yes B No Did you use your knowledge of root and affixes to guess the meaning of words in exercise II? A Yes B No A B C D E What you think about reading comprehension? Favorite Interesting Average Boring Very boring A B C D How often you read for broadening knowledge? Always Often Sometimes Never A B C What is effective reading comprehension? Reading fast without comprehension Reading slowly but understand entire text Reading both quickly and effectively Which difficulties are made by unfamiliar words in your reading comprehension? A Being impossible to understand the whole text B Reading slowly due to interruption C Becoming tired of reading D All above answers Which method you use most for dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension? A Ignoring the unfamiliar words B Recalling the word’s meaning by pronunciation C Guessing the word’s meaning 56 Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U D Looking the unfamiliar words up in the dictionary E Asking friends or teacher Skimming skill is used to read only the most important information to get general idea of the content by glancing rapidly over a text How often you use skimming skill in reading comprehension? A Always B Often C Sometimes D Never 10 What you often when reading a long text? A Read it word-by-word B Read the first sentence of each paragraph C Pay attention to the title, subtitles, subheading and illustrations D Focus on proper names and figures E All above answers, except A 11 Scanning skill is used to find a particular piece of information by moving your eyes quickly down the page seeking specific words and phrases How often you use scanning skill in reading comprehension? A Always B Often C Sometimes D Never 12 What you often when using scanning skill in reading comprehension? A Look for the author’s use of organizers such as: numbers, letters, steps, or the words: “first”, “second”, or “next” B Look for words that are bold faced, italics or in different font size, style or color C Look for key ideas in margin if there is one D All above answers 13 How often you use the dictionary to look the unfamiliar words up in your reading comprehension? A always B often C sometimes D never 14 Which dictionary you consider the best one? A monolingual dictionary (English – only dictionary) B bilingual dictionary C online dictionary 15 The method you are using to deal with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension is effective or not? A Effective B Not effective 57 Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U Appendix 4: Some common prefixes and roots Common Prefixes: Prefixes that reverse the Word’s meaning: Prefix meaning example Contra De Dis In, im Ir Non Un against reverse negation not not not not contradict, contrast decompose, deactivate disbelief, disenchanted invalid, immature irreversible, irrelevant noncombatant uncertain, unpaid Prefixes that indicate Number or Size: Prefix meaning example Bi Cent Deca Magna Micro Milli Mono Poly Quad Semi Tri Uni two hundred ten large, great small thousand one many four half, twice three one bicycle, bigamy century, centennial decade, decimal magnify, magnificent microscope, microbe million, millimeter monopoly, monorail polygamy, polynomial quadrangle, quadruplets semiannually, semifinal tricycle, triple uniform, unity - Prefixes that indicate position: Prefix meaning example A Ad Anti Circum Co, con, com En Epi Ex, e Im, in Inter Intra Intro Over without, not to, toward against around with, together into upon, over out of into between within (places) within (people) excessive atypical, amoral advertise, advocate antagonize, antifreeze circumference, circumstance committee, cocaptain entrance, enact epidermis, epoxy exit, eject immerse, inspect intermediary, intercept intrastate, intramurals introspective, introvert overdue, overwhelm 58 Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U Peri Post Pre Prim Sub Super Tele Trans around after before first under above distant across, beyond Additional prefixes: perimeter, periscope postscript, postpone prenatal, prefix primary, primer subway, submit superfund, superhuman telephone, television transport, transmit Prefix meaning example Ambi Auto Bio Civ Geo Hetero Homo Manu Mis Omni Physic Pop Pro Psycho Re Sequi Sym, syn both self life citizen earth other same hand wrong, hatred all relating to the body people forward mind again following same ambidextrous, ambiguous automatic, autonomous biology, biography civic, civil geology, geography heterogeneous, heterosexual homogeneous, homosexual manual, manicure misspell, mistake omnipotent, omniscient physiology, physician popular, population promote, propel psychology, psychic reconsider, restore sequel, consequence synonym, sympathy Common roots: Root meaning Animus Anni, enni Anthropo Aqua Aud Belli Bene Cap, cep Cede Chrono Corp Cred Cura Cycle spirit year human water hear warlike good, well take, receive yield time body believe care circle example animated, magnanious anniversary, perennial anthropology, misanthrope aquarium, aquanaut audible, audience rebellion, belligerent benefactor, benefit reception, capture recede, secede chronological, chronometer corporation, corporal credible, credit cure, manicure bicycle, cyclical 59 Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U Derm Dict Dorm Duc Equi Fac, fic Fer Fide Fin Fug Gene Graph, gram Juv Labor Leg, legis Loc Luc, lum Mal Meter Mis, mit Mort Naut Nov Nym, nom Ology Pathos Ped Phil Phobia Phono Port Pos Poten Scope Scrip, scrib Spec Sphere Temp Theo Tox Ven Vers, vert View skin say, speak sleep lead equal make, producing trust end flee produce, create written young work related to law place light bad measure send death related to the sea new name study of feeling foot or child love of fear sound carry place power see write look ball time God poison come turn see, look at dermatologist, epidermis dictation, diction dormitory, dormant conductor, induct equality, inequities factory, fiction fertilizer, infertility confide, fidelity finish, infinite refugee, fugitive generate, genetics telegraph, monograph juvenile, rejuvenate collaborate, laborious legal, legislator location, locomotive illuminate, lucid malignant, malicious kilometer, thermometer transmit, mission postmortem, morgue nautical, nautilus novelty, novice nominate, pseudonym psychology, sociology sympathy, antipathy pedal, pediatrician philosophy, philanthropy claustrophobia, acrophobia phonograph, telephone transport, import position, posture potential, potent telescope, microscope scribble, script spectator, spectacle atmosphere, hemisphere temporary, tempo theology, polytheism toxin, nontoxic convention, inventory reverse, convert prview, viewer 60 Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U Vis, vid Vita Voc observable life call television, video vitality, vitamin vocation, vocal 61 Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U Appendix Some common suffixes Suffixes Meaning Suffixes that indicate a person: -er, -or, -ist One who (does what the root word indicates) Suffixes that indicate a noun: -ance, -ence, -tion, -sion, State of, quality of, -ment, -ness, -ity, -ty, condition of, act of -tude, -hood, -age -itis Examples Banker, inventor, scientist, pacifist Tolerance, permanence, retention, vision, government, happiness, maturity, beauty, gratitude, statehood, marriage Sinusitics, tonsillitics Inflammation of (whatever the root indicates) -ology Study or science of Psychology, (whatever the root indicates) microbiology -ism Philosophy of or belief in Terrorism, Buddhism, pacifisim Suffixes that indicate an adjective: -al, -ic, -ish, -ical, -ive Pertaining to (whatever the Normal, hormonal, root indicates) psychic, selfish, magical, defective, pacific -less Without, lacking (whatever Homeless, toothless the root indicates) -ous, -ful Full of (whatever the root Harmonious, colorful indicates) -able, -ible Able to or be (whatever Comfortable, the root indicates) comprehensible Suffixes that indicate a verb: -ify, -ate, -ize, -en To (whatever the root Pacify, meditate, indicates) criticize, enlighten Suffixes that indicate an adverb: -ly In the manner (indicated by Slowly, heavily, the root) peacefully -ward In the direction of (whatever Estward, homeward, the root indicates) backward 62 ... students find hard in encountering unfamiliar words in reading comprehension and their habit of dealing with this • Proposed effective strategies of dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension. .. trouble with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension are: slowing reading speed, interrupting reading process, and lack of interest in reading When students encounter strange words in reading, ... Therefore, developing and maintaining the motivation to read is also affected by unfamiliar words in reading comprehension 2.3 Some strategies for dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension: