VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* HÀ THỊ LÝ PROMOTING THE 10TH FORM STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH TASK ADAPTATION WITH REFERENCE TO THE TEXTBOOK TIẾNG ANH 10: A CASE OF THẠCH THÀNH Thúc đẩy kỹ đọc hiểu cho học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Thạch Thành thông qua việc điều chỉnh hoạt động đọc sách giáo khoa Tiếng Anh 10 M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 Hanoi, 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* HÀ THỊ LÝ PROMOTING THE 10TH FORM STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH TASK ADAPTATION WITH REFERENCE TO THE TEXTBOOK TIẾNG ANH 10: A CASE OF THẠCH THÀNH Thúc đẩy kỹ đọc hiểu cho học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Thạch Thành thông qua việc điều chỉnh hoạt động đọc sách giáo khoa Tiếng Anh 10 M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 SUPERVISOR: NGUYỄN THỊ THU HÀ, Dr Hanoi, 2014 DECLARATION I, Ha Thi Ly, certify that this thesis is result of my own research and the substance of this thesis has not, wholly or part, been submitted for a degree to any other university or institution Hanoi, August 2014 Signature Ha Thi Ly i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Nguyễn Thị Thu Hà for her invaluable comments and suggestions, generous assistance and continual encouragement in completion of this research My sincere thanks go to all lectures and staff of Postgraduate studies for their valuable lessons and precious helps Thanks to their lessons as well as needed helps, I could overcome enormous obstacles when doing this research My special thanks also go to all students in the two classes 10C5 and 10 C7 at Thạch high school, who have inspired and guided me in the accomplishment of the study My gratefulness is to my husband, who has given me so much love, patience and encouragement , who spent hours working with the computer to help me with computer entry and processing Finally, I owe a great debt to my family, especially my mother and motherin- law, who has constantly supported and encouraged me to carry out this thesis Once again, my sincere thanks to all ii ABSTRACT Reading lessons for the 10th form students at Thach Thanh high school have been observed to be not interesting and rewarding due to the challenging reading tasks in the textbook The aim of this study, hence, is to explore whether using task adaptation can be effective in assisting students in their reading lessons, so they can understand the content of reading materials with less frustration Survey questionnaire, classroom observation and interviews were the main instrument of data collection which were delivered to 76 grade 10 students to collect their responses to the adapted lesson The result indicated that students are more interested in the reading as the original tasks were adapted in combination with using communicative games And when the tasks become less difficult and more interesting to most students, they developed a fairly high degree of motivation towards practicing reading Besides, the study suggests some adapted reading activities and tasks for teachers to utilize to increase the effectiveness of English reading lessons when applied to the textbook English 10 to teach the 10th form students at Thach Thanh high school iii ABBREVIATION T: The teacher Ss: Student TBLT: Task based language teaching iv LIST OF CHARTS Chart 1: The effectiveness of using task adaptation in the reading lesson to help students improve their reading skills 23 Chart 2: The changes of students‘ interest and confidence in English reading when the teachers used the adapted tasks 24 Chart 3: The students‘ view about the use of communicative games in the reading lesson 25 Chart 4: The students‘ ability of understanding the contents of the reading materials when the teachers use the adapted reading tasks 26 Chart 5: Students‘ performance in the reading lessons using the adapted tasks 27 Chart 6: The students‘ ability of completing all the reading tasks in the textbook with pleasure 28 Chart 7: The recommendations of students about reading tasks 28 Chart 8: The students‘ perception about the improvement of their reading skills through the using of games in adapting reading textbook tasks 29 Chart 9: The perception of students about the importance of teachers‘ roles and the way they organize activities to help students improve their reading skills 30 v TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS vi ABBREVIATION iv LIST OF CHARTS v CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION .1 1.1 Statement of the problem and rationale of the study 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 1.3 Scope of the study 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Research Methodology 1.6 Design of the study CHAPTER II THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Reading comprehension, reading skills, reading tasks 2.1.1 Definition of reading comprehension 2.1.2 Reading comprehension skills .6 2.2 Reading tasks 2.2.1 Defining task and task- based language teaching and learning 2.2.2 Reading tasks and types of reading tasks 2.3 Task adaptation as a type of promoting for the reading comprehension process 2.3.1 Adaption definition .8 2.3.2 Purposes of adaptation 2.3.3 Categories of adaptation .10 2.4 Motivation and strategies for motivating students in classroom 11 2.5 Using Communicative Language Games in Teaching and Learning English 12 2.6 Review of existing study 13 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY .15 vi 3.1 The setting of the study 15 3.1.1 The school 15 3.1.2 The teacher and the students .15 3.1.3 Reading tasks in the textbook Tieng Anh 10 16 3.2 Participants 17 3.3 Research approach 18 3.4 Research procedure 20 CHAPTER IV DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION .23 4.1 The response of students about the effectiveness of using task adaptation in the reading lessons 23 4.2 Student’s suggestions for adapting reading tasks in the textbook to promote their learning reading comprehension 27 4.4 Summary 31 CHAPTER V FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR ADAPTING READING TASKS 32 5.1 The findings 32 5.1.1 The effectiveness of adapting reading tasks in reading lessons 32 5.2 In what way can the reading tasks in the textbook be adapted to increase the students’ motivation in learning 33 CHAPTER VI CONCLUSION 36 6.1 Summary of the study 36 6.2 Limitations and suggestions for further study 37 REFERENCES 38 APPENDIX 1: SAMPLES OF SOME ADAPTED READING TASKS I APPENDIX 2A: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE XIII APPENDIX 2B: PHIẾU ĐIỀU TRA NGHIÊN CỨU XV APPENDIX 3: INTERVIEW PROTOCOL XVIII APPENDIX 4: OBSERVATION SCHEME XIX vii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of the problem and rationale of the study In teaching and learning English as a foreign language in Vietnam, reading has always received a great deal of attention According to Carrell (1981:1) ―for many students, reading is by far the most important of the four macro-skills, particularly in English as a second or a foreign language‖ Sharing the same point of view, Richard (1995:9) shows that ―Becoming an effective and fluent reader in another language has a number of important benefits for learner‖ Reading has become not only an important means to gain and enrich the students‘ general knowledge but also a means to help them with their further study in the future Unfortunately, teaching and learning reading skills at high schools is still far from satisfactory for various reasons Despite the teacher‘s effort, sometimes the students‘ motivation is still low and the reading lesson is said to be a boring one This is the seventh year the researcher has taught the new textbook ―Tieng Anh 10‖ to the 10th form students She has met a lot of difficulties in which the biggest challenges emerge from teaching reading comprehension Her colleagues in her school have confronted a number of difficulties, one of which was students‘ lack of motivation and opportunities to practice communicating in the target language Despite the teachers‘ efforts, the students‘ reading skills are unimproved For example, some students expressed that they found the reading lessons boring and did not feel they had learnt much in class Since most students had access to the teacher‘s book from which they could get the answers and background information for all reading activities in the textbook they used in class, they did not find it necessary or important to be attentive in class If those difficulties are not found out and no solution is given, reading lessons will become worst and students will be bored with learning English In this situation, the teacher needs to take a serious look at the teaching and learning of English in general and the teaching and learning of reading skill in particular By carrying out this study, the researcher wishes to give a hand in promoting reading skills for her 10th –form students The study Task 2: Select the right information about the national park your team visited Information about the national parks Cuc Phương Nairobi Everglade It is a sub- tropical wilderness in the southeastern United States We can go there to learn about many kinds of animals and plants It contains over 200 square kilometres of rainforest There are a lot of orphaned or abandoned animals are taken care of in it It has plants and animals from both tropical and temperate zones It is threatened by the contamination because there are toxic levels of chemicals in the water It is the smallest park in Kenya The best time to visit it is from October to April Application: Unit 13: Films and cinema – Task 1, 2, (p.133, 134): Adding, simplifying and – Competition game: lucky number The original tasks The adapted tasks in the textbook Reasons for the adaptation Task 1: Find the -Teacher ask students to work in The inappropriateness word in the passage group of five in which the leader of the original task: with the definition and the secretary of each group is - Task appears to be on the column right pointed out by her or by the rather difficult to the member of the group Each group students because they V - Teacher (T) asks can choose a nick name are challenged by the students (Ss) to read -After ask the students to read the vocabulary the in the of the definitions text for the first time, teacher gives definitions carefully skimming then each group a list of key vocabulary The aim the taken from the passage which show adapted task: reading text to find the changing in the film history from the suitable words To motivate and the early days to now For example: involve Ss in the tasks - Ss the task as still picture, moving photographs, - To make the task required, and give scene and camera, actors and easier to students their answer characters, old silent films, spoken - - T checks and gives films, musical cinema feedback to help Ss understand the word -Then teacher asks students to meaning close the book, discuss and reorder - to help students the list of words to help tell the practice canning and story about changing of the cinema skimming skills in history based on the first reading and their knowledge to help understand students briefly T asks each group to write their about the history of the answer on A3 paper cinema through some -Ss stick their answer on the board key words -Ss present their answers -Other groups give their comments -T observes Ss‘ discussion -T gives comments and feedback - The group with the quickest right answer would be the winner and receive a gift from the T Task 2: Answer the -The teacher asks the students to The inappropriateness question continue working in the groups of the original task: -T asks Ss to study assigned in activity VI Task 2: the questions -The teacher will give number , Tasks are long and -T checks whether each of which will represented for time-consuming Ss understand the each question, however, the order -T question or not -T not have of the questions are not the same as enough time to check them they are in the text book and some all students‘ answers gives suggestions of the question are given a lucky during the lessons -Ss skim and scan star the passage -Ss does -Tasks contain many -The groups will have to compete new words so Ss find it answer questions the to give the right answer For one difficult to understand correct answer they will get 10 -Task demotivates -T checks and gives points and for one correct answer students in reading with a lucky star they will have - Ss copy friends‘ work feedback Task 3: Decide chance to add 10 more points to or from De hoc tot which of the options their total mark or receive a gift tieng anh 10 below is the best title from the teacher for the passage -After all the questions have A The Story of a finished the teacher will give The Film Maker - Industry rewritten in one of the following - To make the task or multiple choice reading skill and choose the best exercise Then the teacher can organize to help students Q and A, True or False practice read the text again statements an English language T corrects and gives game, that is Lucky number for feedback To motivate and Film task in which the questions can be easier to students T asks students to forms: option the Note: Task and in the textbook involve Ss in the tasks C The History of of this lesson can be made into one the of comments and pointed out the adapted task: B A Brief History group that win the game of cinema aim the groups to continue competing to find the answer VII intensive The original tasks Task 1: Find the word in the passage with the definition on the right column ………………… Film making industry ………………… Series of related events or actions ………………… A period of ten years ………………… Quickly in a short time ………………… Part of a film ………………… A person in a film Task 2: Answer the questions When did the history of cinema begin? What did scientists discover at that time? Did films in the early days have sound? 4.When were audiences able to see long films? What form of films appeared as the old silent films were being replaced by spoken one? The adapted tasks: Task 1: The following words represent the development of cinema in history from beginning Put them in order old silent films moving photographs Still picture spoken films musical cinema scene and camera actors and characters VIII Task 2: Circle the best option A, B, C or D to complete the following sentences The history of cinema began in the ………century A 17th B 18th C.16th D.20th Scientists discovered that when a sequence of…………… were set in motion, they could give the feeling of movement A actors B characters C still pictures D films At the time of beginning, films had no…………… A sound B pictures C audiences D photographs In the early 1910s, audiences were able to see…………… A short films B long films C actors and actress D pictures It was not until …………that the cinema really became an industry A 1905 B 1916 C 1920 D 1915 The change of the cinema began ………… A In France B in London C in the rest of the world D In America When the spoken films replaced the silent ones, the………….appeared A actors and actress B characters C musical cinema D screen Application: Unit 14: The World Cup – Task 2, (p.144): Subtracting, modifying – Competition game The original tasks in the textbook The adapted tasks Reasons for the adaptation Task 2: Scan the text -T combines task and The inappropriateness of and complete each of the task -T asks Ss to work the original task: following sentences with in group of five a word or a number -Tasks are long and time- - T shows Ss a list of 10 consuming -T asks the students to numbers that reveal the -T does not have enough read the carefully sentences information related to the time to check all students‘ World Cup answers during the lessons -T asks the students to - T gives each group 10 -Tasks contain many new read the reading text to incomplete sentences words so Ss find it difficult find words or numbers to written in 10 cards face to understand IX fill in the blank in the down on the table sentences -Tasks demotivates - Each student in each students in reading -T calls Ss to give the group take turn to open one answer of the card and then try to -T corrects and gives find down which number feedback will fit to complete the sentence talking about the World Cup and underline the evidence in the reading text to show other member - If any student can not Task 3: Read the text find the number, the other The aim of the adapted again and decide whether member will help them task: the following statements - Which group completes - to motivate Ss by less are true ( T) or False (F) the whole sentences first challenging task -T asks Ss to work in will be pointed to stand up - to save time for oral pair to read the text again and has each member to practice activities and find evidence to speak up the complete - to give students chances show that the following sentence sentences are T or F to recall their knowledge - If all the answers are of the World Cup they -T calls Ss to give the correct they will receive a have learnt answer individually present or 10 mark from - to helps students to -T corrects and gives the teacher feedback - T practice scanning reading correct and give skill feedback Note: This activity also help T to prepared Ss with information and language to practice at post-reading stage more usefully X The original tasks: Task 2: Scan the text and complete each of the following sentences with a word or a number Only ………… teams competed in the first World Cup Today the final tournament of the World Cup has………… teams The team which was defeated in the first World Cup final was ………… The final match of the 2002 world Cup attracted a television audience of over ………… billion viewers After FIFA‘s first meeting, ………… years had passed before the first World Cup was held in Uruguay Task 3: Read the text again and decide whether the following statements are true ( T) or False (F) 1.The first world Cup was held in Uruguay in 1904 The World Cup is held every two years The World Cup is regarded as the world championship of the sport 4.Germany and Brazil played in the final match of the 2002 World Cup 5.Brazil is the country that has play five times in the World Cup The adapted task: Scan the text and complete each of the following sentences with a number 2002 1930 1st 13 32 20th 26 The first world Cup was held in Uruguay in ………… The World Cup is held every ………… years Germany and Brazil played in the final match of the ………… World Cup Brazil is the country that has won the World Cup ………… times Only ………… teams competed in the first World Cup Today the final tournament of the World Cup has………… teams XI The team which was defeated in the ………… World Cup final was Argentina The final match of the 2002 world Cup attracted a television audience of over ………… billion viewers After FIFA‘s first meeting, ………… years had passed before the first World Cup was held in Uruguay 10 The ………….World Cup was held in Brazil in 2014 XII APPENDIX 2A: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE Directions: This questionnaire is designed for my study on investigating into the effectiveness of using task adaptation to promote students’ Reading skills for the 10th form students at Thach Thanh high school, Thanh Hoa Circle one of the options to give your opinions about using task adaptation in the reading class to promote students’ reading comprehension Do you find the teachers‘ use of adapted tasks effective for your learning reading in class? A greatly effective B effective C less effective than the original task D ineffective How did your interest and confidence in English reading lesson change when your teacher used adapted tasks in the reading class? A My interest and confidence in reading lesson goes up B My interest and confidence in reading lesson goes down C There is no change in my interest and confidence Do you find it more motivated and easier to complete the reading tasks when your teacher combine them with games? A Yes, I strongly agree B Yes, I agree C No, I disagree D No, I strongly disagree By completing the adapted tasks, how much you understand the contents of the reading texts ? A really understand B understand more than when doing the original tasks C understand a little D understand nothing XIII 5.What did you think was your performance in the lessons with the adapted tasks ? A very good B quite good C not very good D bad Can you normally complete all the reading tasks in the textbook with pleasure? A always B usually C sometimes D rarely What you hope about the reading tasks in your text book after working with the adapted tasks? A They should be difficult and challenging B They should be easy to encourage weak students C They should be designed to force students to use all the strategies to finish them D They should be suitable and real-life reading tasks that involve meaningful communication How you think you can improve your reading skills through completing the tasks by competing with your friends in language games? A My reading skills can be improved a lot B My reading skills can be improved some C My reading skills can be improved a little D My reading skills cannot be improved What you think is the importance of the roles of the teachers and the way they organize activities to help you improve your reading skills? A very important B important C little important D not important Thanks for your help! XIV APPENDIX 2B: PHIẾU ĐIỀU TRA NGHIÊN CỨU Bản câu hỏi nhằm phục vụ đề tài nghiên cứu việc thúc đẩy việc học kỹ đọc hiểu thông qua thiết chỉnh nhiệm vụ đọc sách giáo khoa Tiếng Anh 10 trường THPT Thạch Thành 3, Thanh Hóa Các câu trả lời mà em cung cấp quan trọng cơng trình nghiên cứu Các liệu điều tra sử dụng cho việc nghiên cứu, khơng mục đích khác Những đánh giá mong muốn em việc thiết chỉnh hoạt động đọc sách giáo khoa nhằm giúp em học tốt kỹ này: Các em vui lòng khoanh vào mục mà em lựa chọn Em có nhận thấy việc thiết chỉnh hoạt động đọc sách giáo khoa có hiệu học đọc? A Rất hiệu B Hiệu C Không hiệu hoạt đọng sách giáo khoa D Không hiệu Hứng thú tự tin học đọc em thay đổi giáo viên em áp dụng hoạt động thiếtb chỉnh? A Hứng thú tự tin học em tăng lên B Hứng thú tự tin học em giảm xuống C Khơng có thay đổi hứng thú tự tin em học Việc giáo viên kết hợp nhiệm vụ đọc hoạt đọng trò chơi làm em thấy việc hoàn thành chúng dễ dàng thú vị ? A Hồn tồn đồng ý B Đồng ý C Khơng đồng ý D Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Các hoạt động thiết chỉnh có giúp em tìm hiểu nội dung khóa tốt khơng? A Có Chúng hữu ích XV B Chúng giúp em nhiều hoạt động sách giáo khoa C Chúng có giúp em chút D Chúng khơng giúp cho em Em đánh hoạt động học có sủ dụng hoạt động thiết chỉnh A Rất tốt B Khá tốt C Không tốt D Kém Em có thường hồn thành nhiệm vụ đọc sách giáo khoa cách hứng thú không? A Luôn B Thường xuyên C Thỉnh thoảng D Hiếm Em hy vọng nhiệm vụ đọc sách giáo khoa sau làm hoạt động đọc thiết chỉnh? A Các nhiệm vụ nên thiết kế khó mang tính thử thách cho học sinh B Các hoạt động nên thiết kế dễ để nhằm khuyến khích học sinh yếu tham gia C Các hoạt động nên thiết kế nhằm bắt bược học sinh phải sử dụng chiến lược đọc để hoàn thành D Các hoạt động nên thiết kế cách phù hợp với trình độ gắn với thực tiễn phát triển khả giao tiếp Em cải thiện kỹ đọc làm nhiệm vụ đọc thông qua cạnh tranh với bạn hoạt động trị chơi khơng? A Có, kỹ đọc em cải thiện nhiều B Có, em cải thiện phần C Có cải thiện đơi chút D Khơng cải thiện XVI Em đánh tầm quan trọng giáo viên việc tổ chức hoạt động nhằm giúp em cải thiện kỹ đọc? A Rất quan trọng B Quan trọng C Không quan trọng D Không quan trọng Xin chân thành cảm ơn giúp đỡ em! XVII APPENDIX 3: INTERVIEW PROTOCOL Interview the Introduction: Students Greetings and small talks as an ice-breaker The Interviews include Semistructured and Informal discussion and during the interviews more sub questions arose All the important Questions - Do you enjoy your reading class with the adapted tasks? - Do you find the adapted tasks are interesting and useful to your learning reading ? - In your opinion, what specific class activities are helpful to you? To what extent? - Are the tasks in the Reading lesson suitable to you? points of the - Can you improve your reading skills after each lesson? discussions were - Do you want your teacher to teach in this way more noted in the future? - What are your recommendations in the reading class using task adaptation to help you improve your reading skills better? Conclusion: Wrapping up the conversation with gratitude XVIII APPENDIX 4: OBSERVATION SCHEME In-class Observed Component Observation classes were  Check the students‘ attendance observed for weeks in  Classroom behaviors: Reading lesson - Students are attentive when reading: - Students the tasks with pleasure: - Students not copy the answers from their Each lesson was 45 minutes friends or De hoc tot Tieng anh 10 - Others:………………………………… Students‘ performance: XIX ... THE 10TH FORM STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH TASK ADAPTATION WITH REFERENCE TO THE TEXTBOOK TIẾNG ANH 10: A CASE OF THẠCH THÀNH Thúc đẩy kỹ đọc hiểu cho học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Thạch. .. THÀNH Thúc đẩy kỹ đọc hiểu cho học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Thạch Thành thông qua việc điều chỉnh hoạt động đọc sách giáo khoa Tiếng Anh 10 M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY... Cambidge University Press 10 Hoang et al (2006a), Đổi phương pháp dạy Tiếng Anh trung học phổ thông Việt nam, Hà Nội: NXB Giáo dục 11 Hoang et al (2006), Tiếng anh 10, NXB Giáo dục, Hà Nội 12 Huang