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GRADUATION PAPER A STUDY ON READING STRATEGIES APPLIED BY THE THIRD YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT TAY BAC UNIVERSITY
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING TAY BAC UNIVERSITY BUI THI NHIN GRADUATION PAPER A STUDY ON READING STRATEGIES APPLIED BY THE THIRD YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT TAY BAC UNIVERSITY Field: English Methodology Son La, 2013 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING TAY BAC UNIVERSITY BUI THI NHIN GRADUATION PAPER A STUDY ON READING STRATEGIES APPLIED BY THE THIRD YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT TAY BAC UNIVERSITY Field: English Methodology Supervisor: Mrs Do Thi Thanh Tra, MA Son La, 2013 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First, I would like to acknowledge my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Mrs Do Thi Thanh Tra who has given me the support, guidance and invaluable critical feedback during the process of carrying out the graduation paper I also want to thank the useful suggestions and detailed comments of the teachers in Foreign Language Department and fellow classmates in 50th English course In addition, I am grateful to teachers and students in 51th English course at Tay Bac University who help me collect data for completing this research Finally, I am indebted to my family for their love, care and tolerance encouraging me to this study Son La, 10th April 2013 BUI THI NHIN i ABSTRACT English has undoubtedly become an international means of communication As its essential roles in communication, the language teaching and learning has been changing rapidly to meet new demands However, the English language teaching and learning in Viet Nam in general, the teaching, and learning in Son la in particular still leave much room to be expected Especially, the learning of reading skill and using reading strategies is still far from being satisfactory It is clear that if the students use learning strategies, their learning will be more successful and obstacles while learning will not hinder their understanding any longer The purpose of this research is to investigate the attitudes of teachers and the third year English major students at Tay Bac University toward reading strategies, afterwards, specific reading strategies applied by the students are thoroughly examined, and some feasible recommendations are given to these students to support them learn reading more effectively In order to achieve these objectives, three instruments, namely document analysis, questionnaire and interview were used for teachers and students at Tay Bac University The result shows that the teachers always pay attention on applying reading strategies during reading lessons On the other hand, the students not usually apply reading strategies as a motivation in learning reading The rarely used activities are: placing new words into context, using images, previewing and predicting (memory strategies), using background knowledge, guessing meaning from context, taking note (cognitive strategies), guessing intelligently and using other linguistic clues (compensation strategies) identifying the purpose of reading texts (meta cognitive strategies ), giving themselves valuable reward for a particular good performance in learning (affective strategies ), asking for classification or verification, cooperating with peers, developing cultural understanding, becoming aware of others thought and feeling (social strategies ) ii TABLES OF CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i ABSTRACT ii TABLES OF CONTENT iii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Purposes of study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Methodology 1.6 Design of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Language learning strategies 2.1.1 Definition 2.1.2 Classification of language learning strategies 2.2 Reading strategies 10 2.2.1 Definition of reading comprehension 10 2.2.2 Classification of reading 11 2.2.3 Definition of reading strategies 12 2.2.2 Classification of reading strategies 13 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 17 3.1 Description of the subjects 17 3.2 Data collection instruments 17 3.2.1 Document analysis 17 3.2.2 Questionnaires 17 3.2.3 Interviews 18 3.3 Results and discussions 18 3.3.1 Results collected from document analysis 18 3.3.2 Results collected from questionnaires 20 iii 3.3.2.1 Students’ attitude towards reading strategies 20 3.3.2.2 Students’ use of reading strategies 21 3.3.3 Results collected from interview 26 CHAPTER 4: MAJOR FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS 29 4.1 Major findings 29 4.2 Suggestions 30 4.2.1 Arouse students' awareness of the importance of reading strategies 30 4.2.2 Suggestions of using reading strategies 31 4.2.2.1 Suggestion of using memory strategies 31 4.2.2.2 Suggestion of using cognitive strategies 33 4.2.2.3 Suggestion of using compensation strategies 36 4.2.2.4 Suggestion of using metacognitive strategies 39 4.2.2.5 Suggestion of using affective strategies 41 4.2.2.6 Suggestion of using social strategies 42 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 44 REFERENCES APPENDIX iv LISTS OF CHARTS AND TABLES Table 1: Students’ attitude toward reading strategies………………………… 20 Chart 1: Students’ use of memory strategies………………………… ………21 Chart 2: Students’ use of cognitive strategies………………………… …… 22 Chart 3: Students’ use of compensation strategies……………………….…….23 Chart 4: Students’ use of metacognitive strategies……………….…………….24 Chart 5: Students’ use of affective strategies…………………………… ……25 Chart 6: Students’ use of social strategies 26 v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale It is undeniable that English is an international language, which plays an important role in social life It links people over the world in many fields: science, technology, business, communication, education, etc It also helps people to approach the endless knowledge of the human being Therefore, teaching and learning English have become the necessity in every country Reading is considered one of the most important skills which language learners should master, particularly as it helps to build a variety of language expression and structures, widen general knowledge and lead to lifelong learning and improvement in the first and second language skills But acquiring and mastering this skill is likely to become a big hindrance to many learners while they often find it difficult to exploit this skill in their learning experience In Viet Nam, English is one of the foreign languages, which is compulsory from primary to university In upper secondary school, listening, speaking, reading and writing are four main skills that students have to learn when they learn English Reading seems to be the most challenging skill for many students They find difficult in reading texts, reading tasks and reading exercises There are several reasons for this problem, and lack of using strategies during reading process seems to be the biggest reason Therefore, it is necessary, meaningful, and practical to the research “A study on reading strategies applied by the third year English major students at Tay Bac University” 1.2 Purposes of study For the above-mentioned reasons, the main purposes of the thesis are as the following: + To investigate the students’ and teachers’ attitudes toward reading strategies + To find out what reading comprehension strategies have been employed by the third year English major students at Tay Bac University + To give some suggestions in order to support the third year English major students at Tay Bac University read more effectively 1.3 Research questions The study aimed at answering the questions as follows: + How the teachers and the third year English major students at Tay Bac University percieve the importance of reading strategies in learning to read in English? + Which specific reading strategies are applied by the third year students majoring in English at Tay Bac University to facilitate their reading comprehension? How often they utilize each kind of strategies? + what recommendations should be made to help these students to read more effectively? 1.4 Scope of the study Due to the lack of time, condition, and material, this study only focus on investigating reading strategies employed by the third year students majoring in English at Tay Bac University 1.5 Methodology The methodologies were used in this study: + Analysis + Questionnaires + Interview 1.6 Design of the study The study is composed of five chapters: Chapter 1, Introduction, provides the background to the study, aims of the study, research questions, and methodology Chapter 2, Literature review, involves different issues in the theories of language learning strategies in a foreign language as well as reading strategies Chapter 3, Data collection and analysis, consists of two parts: the first part focuses on the description of the subjects The second part is an analysis on the data collected from the survey questionnaires for students and interview questions for teachers Chapter 4, Major findings and solution, consists of two parts: The first part focuses on the major findings inferred from the data analysis in Chapter From these findings, some strategies and activities are recommended Chapter 5, Conclusion, is the conclusion and the weakness of the study as well as some suggestions for further study REFERENCES English references Aebersold, J.A & Field, M.L (1997), From Reader to Reading Teacher, Cambridge University Press Bauer,L (2004), A glossary of Morphology, Edinburgh University Press Ltd, Carell, P (1987), Readability in ESL, Reading in a foreign language Day,R.R & Bamford, J (1998), Extensive reading in the second language classroom, Cambridge University Press Derry, S.J & Murphy,D.A (1986), Designing system that train learning ability: From theory to practice, Review of Educational Research D.A Wilkin (1972), Linguistics in language teaching, The MIT Press Doff,A (1988), Teaching English: a training course for teacher, Cambridge University Press Ellis, R (1994), The study of second language acquisition, Oxford University Press Flavell, J.H (1979), Metacognition and cognitive monitoring, American psychologist 10 Fry,E (1965), Teaching faster reading, Cambridge University Press 11 Jackson,H (2002), Lexicography, Routledge, New York 12 MacIntyre, P D (1994), Toward a social psychological model of strategy use, Foreign Language Annals 13 Mayer, R.E (2003), Learning and Instruction, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc 14 Nuttall, C (1996), Teaching reading skills in a foreign language (2nd ed.), Oxford: Heinemann 15 O'Mally, J.M & Chamot, A.U (1990), Learning strategies in second language acquisition, Cambridge University Press 16 Oxford, R.L (1990), Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know, Newbury House, New York 17 Paris, S G, M Y Lipson & K K Wixson (1983), Becoming a strategic reader, Contemporary Educational Psychology 18 Paris, S.G, Wasik, B.A & Turner, J.C (1991), The development of strategic reader, In R Barr, M.L Kamil, P Mosenthal, & P.D Pearson, Handbook of reading research, Longman 19 Patricia Ackert (2005), Concepts and comments, NXB Giao thông vận tải 20 Penny Ur (1996), A course in Language teaching, Great Britain at the University Press, Cambridge 21 Practise your reading skills, NXB Đại học quốc gia Hà Nội, 2006 22 Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum (2002), A university grammar of English, NXB giao thông vận tải 23 Scott Thornbury (2004), How to teach Vocabulary, Longman 24 Tarone, E (1983), Some thoughts on the notion of communication strategy, Longman 25 Williams, R (1986), "Top ten" principles for teaching reading, ELT Journal Vietnamese references 26 Bộ Giáo dục đào tạo (2004), tiếng Anh 6, NXB Giáo dục 27 Bộ Giáo dục đào tạo (2005), tiếng Anh 7, NXB Giáo dục 28 Bộ Giáo dục đào tạo (2006), tiếng Anh 8, NXB Giáo dục 29 Bộ Giáo dục đào tạo (2007), tiếng Anh 9, NXB Giáo dục 30 Bộ Giáo dục đào tạo (2000), tiếng Anh 10, NXB Giáo dục 31 Bộ Giáo dục đào tạo (2000), tiếng Anh 11, NXB Giáo dục 32 Bộ Giáo dục đào tạo (2000), tiếng Anh 12, NXB Giáo dục 33 Bộ Giáo dục đào tạo (2006), tiếng Anh 10, NXB Giáo dục 34 Bộ Giáo dục đào tạo (2007), tiếng Anh 11, NXB Giáo dục 35 Bộ Giáo dục đào tạo (2008), tiếng Anh 12, NXB Giáo dục 36 Nguyễn Hữu Chấn (2007), Cấu tạo từ tiếng anh lý thuyết tập thực hành, NXB giáo dục 37 Phan Hà (2003), Bí học từ vựng tiếng Anh, NXB giáo dục 38 Phạm Thị Hằng (2003), Đọc hiểu kĩ đọc hiểu tiếng Anh, NXB Thanh niên 39 Vũ Thị Thanh Hương (2008), Sử dụng thông tin cảnh tri thức vào dạy kỹ đọc hiểu cho người nước học tiếng Việt, NXB Khoa học xã hội 40 Hoàng Tất Trường (1993), Từ vựng học tiếng Anh bản, Trường ĐHSP Ngoại ngữ, Hà Nội 41 Nguyễn Thị Vượng (2007), Reading 2, Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ, Đại học quốc gia, Hà Nội 42 Mai Ngọc Chừ; Vũ Đức Nghiệu & Hoàng Trọng Phiến (1997), http://ngonngu.net/ , truy cập ngày 20 tháng 12 năm 2011 APPENDIX APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRES (For students) This survey questionnaire was designed for my graduation paper “a study on reading strategies applied by the third year English major students at Tay Bac University” It is highly appreciated if you could spend your little time completing truthfully the questionnaire All the information provided by you is solely for the study purpose and can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Full name: Gender: Age: Years of learning English: Part A: Please put a tick on your suitable answer Have you ever heard about reading strategies? A Yes B.No In your opinion, reading strategies play an important role in reading process? A Yes B No Have you ever been taught reading strategies in order to read effectively? A Yes B No Are you satisfied with your reading skill? A Yes B No Part B: How often you use the following techniques? Usually Sometime Often Never I Memory strategies Placing new words into a meaningful context Using imagery Using key words Using physical response or sensation Grouping words II Cognitive strategies Recognizing and using formulas and patterns Getting the ideas quickly Guessing meaning of the new words from context Recombining known elements 10 Highlighting major points by using emphasis techniques III Compensation strategies 11 Using linguistic clues such as suffixes, prefixes, and word order, etc 12 Using other clues such as synonyms, antonyms, examples, definitions, etc IV Metacognitive strategy 13 Finding the purpose of the reading text 14 Self-monitoring 15 Keep your eyes moving past the unfamiliar words and thus try to understand the main ideas V Affective strategies 16 Using progressive relaxation 17 Rewarding yourself 18 Discussing your feelings with someone else 11 22 33 44 VI Social strategies 19 Asking for clarification 20 Cooperating with peers 21 Developing cultural understanding 22 Becoming aware of author’s thought and feeling Thank you very much for your cooperation! APPENDIX INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (For teachers) Years of teaching English: What are your general ideas about the importance of reading strategies? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Do you often teach your students reading strategies? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… What you think about your students’ reading competence? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Do you think your students are using many different reading strategies to read more effectively? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… What recommendations you think to help the students overcome the difficulties in learning and applying reading strategies? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Thank you very much for your cooperation APPENDIX For example: read the following passage about earthquakes, then complete the following outline by adding information to each of the point listed in it I Devastating Power of Earthquakes A Examples of Great Quakes B Richter scale of measurement II Causes of Earthquakes A Previous theories B Currently accepted theory After finishing the passage, if readers complete this outline, they will see the overall organisation of the text and understand the content of the text logically.It makes readers remember information better APPENDIX COMMON ROOTS Root words meanings Examples agr farming Agriculture: nông nghiệp anthro human Anthropoid: dạng người aqua water Aquatic: sống nước astro star Astronomy: thiên văn học aud hear Audience: thính giả biblio book Bibliography: thư mục bio life Biology: sinh vật học cap, capt, cip hold, keep Capture: bắt giữ ced, cess, cede go, yield Procedure: tiến trình cep, cept, ceive give, hold Reception: tiếp nhận chron time Chronology: bảng niên đại cid kill Suicide: tự tử clud, clus close Conclude: kết luận cosmo world Cosmopolitant: người theo chủ nghĩa giới crat powerful,strong Autocrat; người độc tài cred trust Credit: tin tưởng, tín nhiệm cur, curr run Incurable: khơng thể chữa chạy demo human Democrat: người theo chủ nghĩa dân chủ dict talk Diction: cách phát âm duct, duc lead Induce: dẫn tới hành động fact, fac make, Manufacture: sản xuất fec, fect bring Effect: làm ảnh hưởng fic, fict create Fiction: điều hư cấu fund, fus drop Refund: trả lại, bồi thường gen, gener born Regenerate: làm cho hồi sinh geo land Geography: địa lí glot tongue Glottal: hầu gram write Grammar: ngữ pháp graph compose Paragraph: đoạn văn gress, grad go Progress: trình hydra water Hydrant: vòi rồng lect, leg choice Elect: lựa chọn at least Minimize: tối thiểu hoá nom name Nominal: thựôc tên phone sound Telephone: điện thoại reg, rect rule, guide Direct: trực tiếp scop look Telescope: kính thiên văn tang, tact touch Tangible: hữu hình voca call Invocation: kêu gọi APPENDIX PREFIXES OF NOUN Prefixes Meanings Examples after late Afternoon: buổi chiều bi two Bilingual: song ngữ together, with Connection: kết hợp dis not Disagreement: không đồng ý fore before, soon Foreleg: chân trước homo same Homosexual: người đồng tính in not Incapacity: khơng có khả inter between, among Internation: quốc tế mini tiny Minibus: xe buýt nhỏ mis wrong Mispronunciation: phát âm sai mono one Monolingual: đơn ngữ non not Nonpayment: khơng hồn trả lại out far, separate Outlook: người sống ngồi vịng pháp luật over too much Overcrowding: tình trạng đông người poly many Polygamy: chế độ nhiều vợ post after Posterity: đời sau pre before Prepayment: trả trước re again Redecoration: trang hoàng lại semi half Semicircle: nửa vòng tròn sub lower than Subway: đường hầm super over Supermarket: siêu thị tele distance Television: truyền hình un not Untruth: khơng thật under too little Underbelly: bụng uni one, private Uniform: đồng phục up taller Upstair: cầu thang vice replace Vicepresident: phó thủ tướng APPENDIX PREFIXES OF ADJECTIVE Prefixes a Meanings not, in state of Examples asexual: vơ tính alive: cịn sống anti against anti-nuclear: chống hạt nhân antiviral: chống vi rút anti-hero: nhân vật phản diện bi two biannual: hai năm lần dis not dissappointed: thất vọng il not illigal: bất hợp pháp im not immature: chưa trưởng thành in negative inactive: không động inter among interpersonal: liên nhân intra inside intralingual: nội ngôn ngữ ir not irrational: không hợp lý mal negative maladroit: léo mono one monolingual: đơn ngữ multi many multicultural: đa văn hóa poly many polysyllabic: từ đa âm tiết pre before prehistoric: thuộc tiền sử sub beneath subnormal: bình thường super too much supernatural: siêu nhiên un negative unacceptable: chấp nhận under too litter undermentioned: đề cập APPENDIX SUFFIXES OF NOUN Suffixes Meanings Examples age Act Marriage: kết ance, enc Perform Performance: trình diễn ancy, ency Hesitate Hesitancy: lưỡng lự ant, ent person or thing Participant: người tham gia ary, ory person, place Secretary: thư kí ery, ry Study Chemistry: hố học dom Domain Kingdom: cung điện ee Person Employee: người làm thuê ess Women Actress: nữ diễn viên hood Stage Childhood: thời thơ ấu ian Person Musician: nhạc sĩ ics Science Mathematics: toán học ion, ation act, state Invention: phát minh sion, tion Formation Organization: thành lập ism attitude, political movement Idealism: chủ nghĩa lí tưởng ist member of a party Realist: người theo chủ nghĩa thực ity Quality Rapidity: nhanh chóng ment Act Movement: chuyển động ness state, quality Sickness: ốm đau or Person Inventor: nhà phát minh APPENDIX SUFFIXES OF ADJECTIVE Suffixes Meaning Examples able, ible able, worthy to Visible: nhìn thấy al belong to Musical: thuộc âm nhạc ed Affected Clothed: cung cấp quần áo en made from Silken: làm từ lụa ful Having Useful: có ích ic Gradable Heroic: có tính anh hùng ish belong to Childish: trẻ ive Gradable Active: chủ động less Without Careless: bất cẩn like have the quality of Manlike: giống người ly have the quality of Manly: đàn ông, phong độ ous primary gradable Ambitious: tham vọng ward manner, direction Foreward: thẳng phía trước APPENDIX Self-Questioning Procedure (Question Generation) Inner Dialogue (Question Answering) Why am I reading this? To learn about the Japanese culture What will I be learning? The pictures show all different parts of the Japanese culture How is this organized? Each letter of the alphabet tells me about Japan What I already know about I saw "sushi" on restaurant menus this? Does this make sense as I Yes The pictures help me make a personread? Do I understand? to-text connection Is there new information here? Yes The pronunciations in italics help me Should I slow down? Reread? pronounce the words Slow down I should read this part again Yes These words make sense because the How am I doing? Am I picture images make Japan real I'll add learning as I read Japanese words to my thesaurus ... OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING TAY BAC UNIVERSITY BUI THI NHIN GRADUATION PAPER A STUDY ON READING STRATEGIES APPLIED BY THE THIRD YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT TAY BAC UNIVERSITY Field: English. .. research is to investigate the attitudes of teachers and the third year English major students at Tay Bac University toward reading strategies, afterwards, specific reading strategies applied by. .. investigate the students? ?? and teachers’ attitudes toward reading strategies + To find out what reading comprehension strategies have been employed by the third year English major students at Tay Bac