ADAPTING READING TASKS IN THE TEXTBOOK ‘TIẾNG ANH 10’ TO DEVELOP STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN VIET MINH THU

ADAPTING READING TASKS IN THE
TEXTBOOK ‘TIẾNG ANH 10’ TO DEVELOP
STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION
Major: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching
Code: 60.14.01.11

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

SUPERVISOR:
Assoc. Prof., Ph.D. Ngo Dinh Phuong

Nghệ An, 2017


1
ABSTRACT
Learning English is always stressful to the 10 th grade students at Tran Dai
Nghia High School, especially in reading lessons. This study aims at investigating
students’ options about the reading tasks in the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’. With the
result of the survey, the writer conducted a research on applying task adaptation in
teaching reading for the purpose of improving students’ reading comprehension.
The design of the study was based on the steps of conducting action
research. Two groups of the 10th grade students with 23 members for each group
were chosen to participate in the research. One was experiment group, the
remainder was control group. There were some similarities in quantity, age, sex,
religion and English level between the two groups. Survey questionnaire, pre-test

and post-test were the main instruments used to collect students’ opinions and data
for the study.
The opinion survey showed that most of the students felt bored with the
reading tasks in the textbook and found it difficult to solve them. And the deviation
of the mean between the pre-test (3.87) and post-test (5.67) of the experiment group
proved that the application of task adaptation in reading lessons motivated the
students and helped them improved their reading comprehension.


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A completed study would not be done without any assistance. Therefore, the
author, who conducted this research, would like to express her thanks to their
support and encouragement during the time of doing this research.
First of all, I would like to express my sincere and deep gratefulness to my
supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ngo Dinh Phuong. His kindly support and continuous
advices went through the process of completion my thesis. His encouragement and
comments had significantly enriched and improved my work. Without his
motivation and instructions, the thesis would have been impossible to be finished
effectively.
I also acknowledge my thankfulness to all lecturers and staff of Postgraduate
studies for their valuable lessons and precious helps. Thanks to their lessons as well
as needed supports, I could overcome obstacles when doing this research.
I would like to state my thanks to all the 10 th grade students at Tran Dai
Nghia High School, especially two groups from 10A4 and 10A5, who zealously
participated in the survey and experiment.
Last of all, my special thanks come to my family and my friends for their
kind assistances and motivation during the time I carry out the study.

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: The participants’ background .............................................................. 38
Table 2: The results of the pre-test of the two groups ....................................... 52
Table 3: The results of T-Test examines before the experiment ........................ 53
Table 4: The post-test results of two groups ...................................................... 54
Table 5: The results of T-Test examines before and after the application .......... 55


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LIST OF CHARTS
Chart 1: Students’ attitudes to reading skill ....................................................... 44
Chart 2: Students’ attitudes to reading lessons .................................................. 44
Chart 3: The factors affecting students’ competence in reading
comprehension .................................................................................... 45
Chart 4: The students' evaluation about the number of reading tasks ................ 46
Chart 5: Students' opinion about while-reading tasks ....................................... 47
Chart 6: Students’ opinions about reading tasks in textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’ .... 47
Chart 7: The way to solve the reading tasks of the students .............................. 48
Chart 8: The students' views on the difficulties of different types of
reading tasks ....................................................................................... 49
Chart 9: The students' preference to different types of reading tasks ................ 50
Chart 10: The students' wishes for the reading tasks ........................................... 51
Chart 11: The percentage of the pre-test scores of the two groups ...................... 52
Chart 12: The percentage of the post-test scores of the two groups .................... 54
Chart 13: The improvement of the two groups made .......................................... 55


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ABBREVIATION

EFL: English as a Foreign Language
ELT: English Language Teaching
T: Teacher
Ss: Students


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TABLES OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................ ii
LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................. iii
LIST OF CHARTS ..............................................................................................iv
ABBREVIATION ................................................................................................ v
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................... 4
1.1. Rationale of the study .................................................................................... 4
1.2. Aims of the study .......................................................................................... 5
1.3. Research questions ........................................................................................ 6
1.4. Scope of the study ......................................................................................... 6
1.5. Significance of the study ............................................................................... 6
1.6. Research methodology .................................................................................. 7
1.7. Thesis format ................................................................................................. 7
CHAPTER

2:

LITERATURE

REVIEW

AND

THEORETICAL

BACKGROUND .................................................................................................. 9
2.1. Definition of reading, types of reading and reading comprehension ............. 9
2.1.1. Definition of reading ................................................................................ 9
2.1.2. Types of reading ................................................................................... 10
2.1.2.1. Intensive reading .............................................................................. 10
2.1.2.2. Extensive reading ............................................................................. 12
2.1.3. Reading comprehension ....................................................................... 17
2.2. Approaches to teaching reading .................................................................. 19
2.2.1. The Top-Down (Concept-Driven) Approach ..................... 21
2.2.2.........................................The Bottom-up (Serial) Approach
22
2.2.3......................................................The interactive approach
23
2.3. The importance of teaching and learning reading ........................................ 25


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2.4. Reading tasks .............................................................................................. 28
2.4.1. Defining task and task-based language teaching and learning ............... 28
2.4.2. Reading tasks and types of reading ........................................................ 29
2.5. Task adaptation ............................................................................................ 31
2.5.1. Definition of adaptation ......................................................................... 31
2.5.2. Reasons for adapting tasks ..................................................................... 32
2.5.3. Types of adaptation ................................................................................ 32
2.5.4. Review of existing studies ..................................................................... 34
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .................................................................... 35
3.1. Research context ......................................................................................... 35

3.2. Research approach ...................................................................................... 36
3.3. Participants .................................................................................................. 38
3.4. Data collection instruments ......................................................................... 38
3.4.1. Questionnaires ........................................................................................ 38
3.4.2. Pre-test and Post-test ............................................................................... 39
3.5. Research procedure ..................................................................................... 39
3.6. Data collection procedure ............................................................................ 41
3.7. Data analysis procedure .............................................................................. 42
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ............................................ 43
4.1. Findings ....................................................................................................... 43
4.2. Results and discussions ............................................................................... 43
4.2.1. Preliminary inquiry (questionnaires) ...................................................... 43
4.2.2. The pre-test and post-test ....................................................................... 51
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ......................................................................... 57
5.1. Summary of the study ................................................................................. 57
5.2. Suggestions for adapting tasks .................................................................... 58
5.2.1. Involving students in the adaptation process .......................................... 58
5.2.2. Encouraging students to take active role in learning .............................. 58
5.2.3. Raising teachers’ awareness of adapting tasks ....................................... 58


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5.3. Limitations and recommendations for the future study ............................... 59
REFERENCES .................................................................................................. 60
APPENDICES ................................................................................................... 64
Appendix 1A: Questionnaires for students ...................................................... 64
Appendix 1B: Questionnaires for students (in Vietnamese) ............................ 67
Appendix 2: Pre-test ........................................................................................ 70
Appendix 3: Post-test ...................................................................................... 72
Appendix 4: Samples of adapted reading tasks ............................................... 74

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale of the study
In teaching and learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL), reading has
always received a great deal of attention. According to Carrell (1981) “for many
students, reading is by far the most important of the four macro-skills, particularly
in English as a second or foreign language”; sharing the same point of view,
Richard (1995) 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 an essential means to help them with their further study in future.
Unfortunately, teaching and learning reading skill at high schools are still far from
satisfactory for various reasons. Despite the teacher’s effort, students’ motivation is
still low and reading lessons are said to be the boring one.
ELT materials in general and textbooks in particular play the role of tool,
tutor, guidebook and gauge. These roles are especially significant in EFL contexts
including Vietnam, where textbooks are regarded as a staple in almost all EFL
classes. Textbooks are useful source of language input and guidance for both
teachers and learners. Despite the development of technology and the growth of
computer-assisted language learning, it is unlikely that textbooks will disappear. In
teaching and learning reading skill in particular, the role of textbooks is even more
important than in teaching any other language skills or grammar and vocabulary
because when reading, students have to pay much attention to the printed texts in
order to understand them. However, available textbooks are not completely good
for all teaching contexts. Accordingly, it is necessary for teachers to be wellequipped with assessment tools evaluate materials and more importantly,
recommendation to adapt the materials to ensure that students are using the highest
quality texts, and their language knowledge and skills are improved. Nevertheless,
there has been little investigation into how to adapt material. This research gap has

encouraged me to choose textbook adaptation as the theme for this study.


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The second reason for my choice is that there have been diverse opinions of
both teachers and learners on the actual effectiveness of the reading tasks in the
textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’ by Hoang Van Van, which has been used to teach the 10 th
grade students at high schools. There have been arguments on both the potentials
and limitations of the reading tasks in this textbook and the needs and references of
teachers and learners who are using it. This is the tenth year the researcher has been
teaching the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’, she has met a lot of difficulties in which the
biggest challenges emerge from teaching reading comprehension. Her colleagues in
school have also confronted a number of troubles, one of which was students’ lack
of motivation and opportunities to practice communicating in the target language.
Despite the teacher’s efforts, students’ reading skill is unimproved. For example,
some students expressed that they found reading lessons boring and did not feel
they had learnt much in class. Since most students had access to teacher’s book
from which they could get the answers and background information for all reading
activities in the text book 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 English in general and reading skill in particular.
Therefore, the reading tasks need taking into consideration and further, adapting to
teach reading skill to the students. The study focus on “Adapting reading tasks in
the textbook ‘Tiếng Anh 10’ to develop students’ reading comprehension”, the
researcher used some common adapting techniques in the hope of increasing
students’ motivation, arousing their interest, and thus developing their positive
attitudes towards learning reading lessons.
1.2. Aims of the study

The main purpose of this study is to help improve reading comprehension
for the 10th grade students at Tran Dai Nghia High School in Tay Ninh Province. To
be specific, the study aims to investigate the areas of difficulty that the10 th grade


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students of the school are facing to when learning reading lessons with the textbook
‘Tieng Anh 10’; suggest some possible solutions to reduce and overcome these
difficulties; and propose some implications for teaching and learning reading skill
at Tran Dai Nghia High School.
1.3. Research questions
In order to achieve the aims and objectives of the thesis, the following research
questions were proposed:
-

What are students’ attitudes towards the reading tasks in the textbook ‘Tieng
Anh 10’?

-

To what extent can the adaptation of the tasks help the students to improve
their reading comprehension?

1.4. Scope of the study
Material adaptation is such a broad topic that it cannot be wholly discussed
within this small scaled study; therefore, only one specific aspect will be central to
the reading tasks’ adaptation. The researcher makes attempt to adapt only some
difficult while- and post-reading tasks in textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’ to reduce
students’ difficulties and make them more interested in English lessons, thus,
improving their reading achievement. The study only focuses on the 10 th grade

students at TDN High School, so the results of the study are not applied for
students at other high schools.
The study was carried out to the students of the class 10A5 at Tran Dai
Nghia High School in Tay Ninh Province, and it was conducted during the second
semester of the academic year.
1.5. Significance of the study
This study has been carried out to search for a better and more effective way
to develop students’ reading comprehension. The unsuitable tasks were adapted to
be more accessible for students. The study was believed to be useful for the
researcher because she could find out an effective way to make her teaching
process more easily. Moreover, it is expected that the result of the study may offer


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the teachers who teach English at Tran Dai Nghia High School the feasible ways in
teaching reading skill.
1.6. Research methodology
With reference to its characteristics, this thesis can be categorized as an
action research. Quantitative and qualitative methods will be employed to carry out
the study. The following methods will be applied to collect data for this study:
-

The reading tasks in the textbook Tieng Anh 10 will be reviewed to find
out their unsuitable characteristics of the reading tasks in terms of
methodology.

-

Survey questionnaires will be specially designed for both teachers of
English and the high school students who have experienced using this

textbook to find out their opinions on reading tasks in the textbook.

-

The combination of the review of reading tasks and two questionnaires
for teachers and students will provide reliable data, based on which the
conclusions and suggestions will be made in the new parts.

This thesis employed the action research so as to gain its aims because
according to Tsui (1993:33) “action research is a very effective way of helping
teachers to reflect on their teaching and to come up with their own alternatives to
improve their practice”. The author’s desire is to measure the difference in the
students’ reading achievement before and after the adaptation of the tasks in the
textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’, so after identifying the difficulties raised in the process of
teaching reading lessons, the researcher took intervention by delivering reading
lessons with adapted tasks. The data were collected via a number of instruments
including a questionnaire, a pre-test, and a post-test. The data were analyzed and
discussed in order that reliable findings could be clarified.
1.7. Thesis format
The thesis consists of five chapters:
Chapter 1 – Introduction: presents the rationale, aims, research questions,
scope, significance, methods and design of the study.


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Chapter 2 – Literature review and theoretical background: provides a
theoretical basis for issues relating to reading tasks and the adaptation of reading
tasks in textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’.
Chapter 3 – Methodology: includes research context, subjects, instruments
and data analysis process.

Chapter 4 – Findings and discussions: reports the findings and discusses
the data collected from the survey.
Chapter 5 – Conclusion: summarizes the study, presents some limitations
during the process of doing the research and gives some recommendations for
further study.


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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL
BACKGROUND
2.1. Definition of reading, types of reading and reading comprehension
2.1.1. Definition of reading
Reading is one of the basic skills of English. It is categorized as input skill,
which means when people read something they will get information from it. Nunan
(2004) states, reading is a fluent process of reader combining information from a
text and their own background knowledge to build meaning. Many theories
abound, but current thinking in the field of reading research proposes this
definition of reading as “an interactive process in which the reader's prior
knowledge of the world interacts with the message conveyed directly or
indirectly by the text” (Smith, 1995, p. 23 ).
In other words, reading is a process. As such, it has various stages
(before-, during-/ while-, and after-reading) at which different tasks need to be
performed. As a skill, reading can be trained and developed. People who want to
be a good and effective reader, they must master reading skill and its strategies and
techniques. Each reading passage has its own strategies and techniques to read it.
Reading is interactive. The mind of the reader interacts, conducts a dialogue,
engages actively with the text to decode, assigns meaning, and interprets. The
reader applies prior knowledge of the world to this act. There is a message to be
conveyed or constructed. Skilled readers understand the process and employ
different strategies automatically at each stage.

But some people are not so fortunate. For some students, the printed word
presents all manner of obstacles: grammatical, lexical (vocabulary-related), and
knowledge-related. Textbook sentences are long and complex; chock full of
idioms, unfamiliar terms, and excess verbiage. Furthermore, the information
may be absent from the student's knowledge and experience base. These
students may dive into the reading assignment with every good intention of
“doing the homework”, but quickly get bogged down. They struggle to decode


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the meaning of each word, yet fail to grasp the overall flow of ideas. Reading,
for them, is a frustrating and overwhelming effort with little payoff. These
students are at risk in reading situations because “they command a limited
repertoire of strategies. Often they are not sure what strategies are important in
particular reading tasks or how or when to use the strategies they do possess”
(Vacca & Vacca, 1996).
For the student with limited English language proficiency, limited English
vocabulary, and lack of strategy awareness, the printed page may pose
overwhelming obstacles. When teachers understand the process nature of
reading and have strategies available for use at each stage, the assignment of
reading can be a more rewarding activity. When students are able to engage with
text in an active and focused way, their time spent will reap benefits of greater
content learning and enhanced literacy.
2.1.2. Types of reading
2.1.2.1. Intensive reading
Brown (1989) explains that intensive reading “calls attention to grammatical
forms, discourse markers, and other surface structure details for the purpose of
understanding literal meaning, implications, rhetorical relationships, and the like”.
He draws an analogy to intensive reading as a “zoom lens” strategy. Long and
Richards (1987) say it is a “detailed in-class” analysis, led by the teacher, of

vocabulary and grammar points, in a short passage.
Intensive Reading, sometimes called “Narrow Reading”, may involve
students reading selections by the same author or several texts about the same topic.
When this occurs, content and grammatical structures repeat themselves and
students get many opportunities to understand the meanings of the text. The success
of “Narrow Reading” on improving reading comprehension is based on the premise
that the more familiar the reader is with the text, either due to the subject matter or
having read other works by the same author, the more comprehension is promoted.
This type of reading has got some characteristics as followed:


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 usually classroom based
 reader is intensely involved in looking inside the text
 students focus on linguistic or semantic details of a reading
 students focus on surface structure details such as grammar and
discourse markers
 students identify key vocabulary
 students may draw pictures to aid them (such as in problem solving)
 texts are read carefully and thoroughly, again and again
 aim is to build more language knowledge rather than simply practice
the skill of reading
 seen more commonly than extensive reading in classrooms
Assessment of intensive reading will take the form of reading tests and
quizzes. The most common systems of questioning are multiple-choice and freeresponse. Mackay (1968), in his book Reading in a Second Language, reminds
teachers that the most important objective in the reading class should not be
the testing of the student to see if they have understood. Teachers should, instead,
be spending most of the time training the student to understand what they read. In
intensive reading lessons, the teacher needs to choose suitable text, tasks and
activities to develop skills. Moreover, the teacher should give direction before,

during and after reading; prepares students to work on their own. Often the most
difficult part is for the teacher to ‘get out of the way’. And the teacher must know
how to encourage students through prompts, without giving answers.
Intensive reading provides a base to study structure, vocabulary and idioms;
a base for students to develop a greater control of language; and for a check on the
degree of comprehension for individual students. Therefore, through intensive
reading, students will be able to develop their rapid reading practice, interpreting
text by using word attack skills, text attack skills and non-text information.


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However, despite a few mentioned advantages, intensive reading has also
got several disadvantages. First, there is little actual practice of reading because of
the small amount of text. Second, in a class with multi-reading abilities, students
may not be able to read at their own level because everyone in the class is reading
the same material. Third, the text may or may not interest the reader because it was
chosen by the teacher. Fourth, there is little chance to learn language patterns due to
the small amount of text. Finally, because exercises and assessment usually follow
intensive reading, students may come to associate reading with testing and not
pleasure.
2.1.2.2. Extensive reading
Brown (1989) explains that extensive reading is carried out “to achieve a
general understanding of a text”. Long and Richards (1971, p.216) identify
extensive reading as “occurring when students read large amounts of high interest
material, usually out of class, concentrating on meaning, “reading for gist” and
skipping unknown words”. The aims of extensive reading are to build reader
confidence and enjoyment. Extensive reading is always done for the
comprehension of main ideas, not for specific details. Nuttall (1982) wrote that the
idea of Extensive Reading should be “standard practice” in second language
learning. She suggested the following ‘slogan’: “The best way to improve your

knowledge of a foreign language is to go and live among the speakers. The next
best way is to read extensively”. (p.168)
Krashen's Input Hypothesis (1982) made a distinction between acquisition
and learning. For Krashen, the dominant mode of language learning is
in acquisition, the largely subconscious “picking up of the language” which
characterizes language in informal settings and which is similar, if not identical, to
the way children develop ability in their first language”. ( p.10) Language
acquisition represents unconscious learning which takes place when attention is
focused on meaning rather than form. In order to acquire language, Krashen
suggested the learner must be exposed to large amounts of second language input


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that was “meaningful”, interesting, relevant, not grammatically sequenced, and in a
low anxiety setting. It is felt that Extensive Reading programs provide such an
environment.
Rumelhart (1980) proposed an “interactive model” of the reading process in
which reading is a complex task of simultaneously combining “bottom-up”
processes (in which the reader analyzes text in small pieces and builds meaning
from these) and “top-down” processes (in which the reader makes “guesses” about
the content of a passage). It is thought that Extensive Reading programs provide the
quantities of reading practice necessary for the automaticity of the “bottom-up”
(word recognition) process.
Extensive reading may appear as any of a complement to an intensive
reading program; or, an extra-curricular activity where students read out of class the
main focus of a reading course (termed an Extensive Reading Program) where
students work with a class set of books, individual reading of material, of their own
choice, with follow-up activities such as reading logs, reading journals, book
reports or projects. Although it is less common for extensive reading to
form an entire reading course, there are well-established Extensive Reading

Programs operating around the world. They have been carried on in many
countries, at varying levels of education from Elementary School to College, and in
different languages.
Day and Bamford (1980) put forward ten characteristics identified in
successful Extensive Reading Programs. They are duplicated (in abbreviated form)
below:
-

Students read as much as possible.

-

A variety of materials on a range of topics is available.

-

Students select what they want to read.

-

The purposes of reading are usually related to pleasure, information and
general understanding.

-

Reading is its own reward.


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-

Reading materials are well within the linguistic competence of the
students in terms of vocabulary and grammar.

-

Reading is individual and silent.

-

Reading speed is usually faster than slower.

-

Teachers orient students to the goals of the program.

-

The teacher is a role model of a reader for the students.
There are no reading comprehension exercises or formal assessments in

Extensive Reading programs. Course grades for an Extensive Reading program
may be determined by marks given for reading reports, reading journals, book
reports and projects. In extensive reading lessons, the role of the teacher is:
-

giving recommendations on reading materials, based on student's
interests.

-

guiding students in choosing appropriate levels of material, beginning
with easy books.

-

guiding students in choosing a variety of materials of their interest. This
may especially be necessary for students that choose the same type over
and over.

-

guiding students in setting specific goals for amounts read.

-

providing modeling. If class time is given for reading, the teacher reads at
the same time.

-

overlooking if students are not aware of the exact meaning of each word.
The teacher should not jump in and explain.

-

leading pre-reading activities to build interest in the text, such as in the
characters, places, themes, and actions. The teacher must be careful to
provide just enough to stimulate curiosity but not so much that the need to
read is removed.

And through extensive reading, the students may:


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-

develop a reading habit, gain more confidence in reading

-

improve their attitude towards reading

-

become more motivated to read

-

feel more autonomous over their own learning and more likely to take
more initiative

-

become more independent readers, being able to read for different
purposes and being able to change reading strategies for different kinds of
texts

-

become more aware of what's available to them to read and how to access

materials

-

expand sight vocabulary

-

build background knowledge

-

increase reading comprehension

-

improve overall language competence

-

be more prepared for further academic courses because they have read
large quantities
An Extensive Reading program may be combined with writing or combined

with speaking practice in a meaningful way (such as when students discuss with
each other the books they have been reading. Broughton (1978:92) suggested that
“It is by pursuing the activity of extensive reading that the volume of practice
necessary to achieve rapid and efficient reading can be achieved”. Krashen (1993a)
suggested that the benefits of free voluntary reading included “enhanced language
acquisition and literacy development, more ideas and information, greater success

in life, loss of verbal memory, and more fun”.
Nevertheless, extensive reading has a large number of challenges as
followed:
-

An Extensive Reading program may be costly and time-consuming to set
up if materials are not already available. It may be difficult to get support
from Administration.


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-

Students need to have easy access to texts within their language
proficiency level. An Extensive Reading program is easiest to establish
when the students have a high level of second language proficiency. For
intermediate levels, students require a specialized library within their
language proficiency range. They need texts they can read without great
use of a dictionary.

-

It may be difficult to keep students challenged to read more difficult texts
as the program continues. Some established programs use a ‘weighing
scale’ for students to record materials read, giving more ‘marks’ for
materials read at a higher level. Although this has proven to be a
motivating or competitive factor in some cases, in others it becomes
counter-productive if students try to read texts that are more difficult than
they can manage and consequently become discouraged.

-

Reading each student’s journals and reports can be very time-consuming
for teachers.

-

Students who come from a culture in which literacy is not valued may be
unwilling to participate in pleasure reading or may not get support at
home.

-

Some teachers prefer a skill based program and do not feel comfortable
with Extensive Reading.

-

Some teachers are unaware of how to use Graded Readers and so, provide
a limited range of activities for students, limiting their responses.

-

Some teachers feel that time spent on Extensive Reading will take away
from time that could be spent on learning language skills. Others will
argue that Extensive Reading provides a ‘richer context’ for practice.

-

Some people feel that if graded readers are used, they can give a false

impression of the level of reading that has been achieved. They feel that
some students may try ‘ungraded’ materials too soon and may revert to
using a dictionary to translate.


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-

Some people feel that students may place too much emphasis on the
number of pages read instead of on the understanding achieved.

-

Students that have only been exposed to Intensive Reading programs may
not believe that Extensive Reading is a ‘proper’ way to learn.

-

Aeberscold (1997) reported that feedback from students in an Extensive
Reading program indicated that they liked the ‘choice’ but not the ‘load’

Summary: It is common for both approaches to reading to be used in the same
class. For example, where extensive reading is encouraged, the teacher may
have all the students read the same text so they can discuss the topic together or
learn a specific skill such as writing an outline. In a class where intensive reading is
mostly used, students may be asked to read texts of their own choosing to report
back on, in either an oral or written format. In both approaches, it is not the nature
of the skills that are of most interest but rather, the results.
2.1.3. Reading comprehension
According to Dechant (1991) cited by Macceca (2007, p.4), it refers to

understand what is read, so readers must be able to cognitively process the words
by drawing meaning from their own experience and knowledge to understand the
author’s message. The main purpose of reading is to get comprehension. When a
student read a passage, he decodes written information and it is combined with the
background of knowledge in his brain to produce comprehension. Reading
comprehension is as the level of understanding of a text or message. This
understanding comes from the interaction between the words that are written, and
how they trigger knowledge outside the text or message.
McKay (2006) also stated reading is not only process but also product. The
product of reading is called reading comprehension, or an internal instruction of
meaning; that is there has been understanding of what has been read. Smith and
Robinson (1980) defined reading comprehension as the understanding, evaluating,
and utilizing of information and ideas gained through interaction between the
reader and the author. Furthermore, Harris and Smith (1972) showed that reading is


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a process intimately linked to think, and there are three factors influencing
comprehension such as background experience, ability to use language, and
intelligence.
Reading comprehension plays an important role in teaching and learning
reading a foreign language. It can be understood as the ability to obtain the
information as required in the reading text as efficiently as possible. There are three
elements appearing in the reading process. They are the text being read, the
background knowledge of the reader and the contextual aspects relevant for
interpreting the text. In teaching reading, it is essential to understand the nature of
reading comprehension. What the teacher understands about it will have a great
influence on what he or she teaches in the class. In fact, methodologists have been
offering several different definitions of reading comprehension.
Swan (1975) states that a student is good at comprehension, which means

that he can read accurately and efficiently to get the maximum information a text
with the minimum understanding. Having the same point of view, Richard and
Thomas (1987) claim that reading comprehension is the best described as an
understanding between the author and the reader. The emphasis is on the reader
understanding of the printed page based on the individual reader’s unique
background of experience.
Having the same point of view with the author above, Grellet (1981) takes
the point that reading comprehension or understanding a written text means
extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible. The author
means that reading comprehension is an activity which aims at decoding the
meaning of word combination in the text in the most efficient way.
It can be concluded that reading comprehension is a process of
understanding what is conveyed in the text. It does not mean that the readers need
to understand every single word in the text but actively work on the text and extract
the required information effectively. It is important for us to understanding what
reading comprehension is. For the teaching reading trainers, a profound


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understanding about the nature of reading comprehension may help them find out
the students’ difficulties in learning reading and assist them in overcoming it.
There are five types of reading comprehension; they are lexical, literal,
interpretive, applied and affective. Each type is important in helping readers truly
understand the meaning of text. Lexical comprehension centers around the
understanding of key vocabulary words found in the reading material. Literal
comprehension focuses on answering the who, what, when and where of the story,
while interpretive comprehension prompts a reader to wonder "What if" or "Why?"
With applied comprehension, the reader uses background information to form
opinions. When readers understand the emotional and social aspects of a story, they
are utilizing affective comprehension. Without this type of comprehension, readers

can easily get lost in the words and fail to understand the plot.
So far we have looked at some definitions concerning reading and reading
comprehension which have been seen from different viewpoints. It is more
significant to have a more in-depth look at the reading process to make the bridge
to the focus on the study.
2.2. Approaches to teaching reading
“The ability to read the written language at a reasonable rate with good
comprehension has long been recognized to be as important as oral skills, if not
more important” (Eskey 1970) (p.1). Reading research is just a little more than a
hundred years old. Serious attempts at building explicit models of the reading
process have a history of a little more than forty years. (Samuels & Kamil, p. 22)
That reading is not a passive, but rather an active, and in fact an interactive, process
has been recognized for some time in native language reading but it is only recently
that second / foreign language reading has been viewed as an active rather than a
passive process.
Reading a particular text does not guarantee understanding it; it requires a
process where a reader might extract information from a particular text as
efficiently as possible. Our reading purposes vary all the time or are simply