FOCUS ON SCANNING AND SKIMMING STRATEGIES TO

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYỄN THỊ THANH NGỌC

FOCUS ON SCANNING AND SKIMMING STRATEGIES TO
IMPROVE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ READING
FLUENCY
Major : Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages ( TESOL)
Code : 60140111

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

SUPERVIOR:

Ngơ Đình Phương, Assoc. Prof.,Ph.D.

Nghệ An, 2017


DECLARATION
I certify this thesis entitled
Focusing on skimming and scanning strategies to improve high school
students’ reading fluency
is my own work

Vinh, July 2017

Nguyễn Thị Thanh Ngọc

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
For the completion of this thesis, I have received great assistance and support
from my teachers, colleagues, students and my family.
This thesis would not have been without the support of many people.
First of all, I would like to express my special gratitude to Assoc. Prof., Dr
Ngo Dinh Phuong, my supervisor, for his invaluable guidance, comments,
criticisms, corrections , priceless advice, and his kindly constant encouragement
during the course of writing this thesis.
Secondly, I would like to express my thanks to all lecturers at Foreign
Languages Department of Vinh University for their valuable teaching and
assistance that have enlightened my study path.
Thirdly, I truly wish to thank the colleagues and students of Quang Xuong 1
High school for their assistance and co-operation in giving me valuable information.
Last but not least, my sincere thanks go to my family, my classmates at the
Master Course Class, my friends for their essential help and encouragement.
I highly appreciate all their support and contribution.

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ABSTRACT
Reading is one of the most important skill in study and daily life. This research
aims to find out how skimming and scanning strategies effect on improving
students’ English reading fluency. To achieve the aim of the study, both qualitative
and quantitative methods were chosen. The researcher carried out two survey
questions for 80 students and 7 teachers, and then analyzed the obtained to discuss
about teachers and students’ attitude towards the importance of reading
comprehension, towards skimming and scanning strategies, the effectiveness and

difficulties of these strategies in teaching and learning reading comprehension .
Pre- test and post - test results showed significant differences between the
experimental class and controlled class as a result of using skimming and scanning
strategies
Experimental students, who use skimming and scanning strategies in
learning reading comprehension, make a higher gaining in reading comprehension
than controlled students who did not use skimming and scanning strategies in
learning reading comprehension. With respect to reading comprehension rates , the
experiment found that the difference between the experimental class and controlled
class were statistically significant. And the result was also compared to show
correctly in the number of the table and charts. The findings of the research indicate
that the students appreciate the role of scanning and skimming strategies in
learning reading comprehension.
This study suggested that skimming and scanning strategies can be useful to
improve students’ reading fluency. However, the scope is still limited and there exist
certain difficulties that hinder the teachers and students in learning reading
comprehension with skimming and scanning strategies .

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
DECLARATION………………………………………………………………… i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……………………………………………………...ii
ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………………………...iv
LIST OF TABLE …………………………………………………...…………….ix
LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………..x
CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION ………………………………..........................1

1.1 Rationale ……………………………………………………….……………....1
1.2. Aims of study ……………………………………………………………….....2
1.3. Scope of the study …………………………………………………………..…2
1.4. Research questions………………………………………………………....... 2
1.5.Method of the study ……………………………………………………...…... 2
1.6. Structure of the study ………………………………………………………….3
CHAPTER II : LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1.Definition of reading skill ………………………………………………......... 4
2.1.1. Definition of reading ………………………………………………….......…4
2.1.2. Definition of reading comprehension ………………………………..….... 5
2.2.Models of reading…………………………………………………………… 6
2.2.1.The bottom - up model ……………………………………………….…… 7
2.2.2. The top – down model……………………………………………….…… 8
2.2.3. The interactive model………………………………………………….….. 8
2.3. Techniques of reading ……………………………………………………… 9
2.3.1. Reading aloud……………………………………………………………… 9
2.3.2. Silent reading……………………………………………………………….10
2.4.Types of reading ………………………………………………………………11
2.4.1. Intensive reading …………………………………………………………...11

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2.4.2. Extensive reading …………………………………………………………...12
2.5.Language learning strategies………………………………………………......14
2.5.1. Definition of language learning strategies ………………………………....14
2.5.2. Definition of reading strategy ………………………………………….......15
2.5.3.The Nature of Reading Strategy ……………………………….………….. 15
2.5.4. The importance of reading strategy ………………………………………..16
2.6. Some strategies of reading …………………………………………………...17

2.6.1.Predicting …………………………………………………………………...17
2.6.2.Inferring ………………………………………………………………...…..18
2.6.3.Guessing ……………………………………………………….………..…..19
2.6.4.Self- monitoring …………………………………………………………….19
2.6.5.Summarizing ……………………………………………………….…….....20
2.6.6. Skimming…………………………………………………………………..21
2.6.7. Scanning………………………………………………………………..…..22
2.7. Reading strategies instruction…………………………………………..…....23
2.8.The importance of strategies scanning and skimming in reading
comprehension ………………………………………………………………..…..23
2.9.How to use skimming and scanning effectively………………………….......24
2.10.Skimming and scanning training procedure …………………………..……26
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY OF STUDY
3.1. Research methodology ……………………………………………..……....29
3.2. Participants …………………………………………………………..……....29
3.3. Instruments for data collection ……………………………………….……...30
3.3.1.Questionnaire …………………………………………………………..…...30
3.3.2. Classroom observation ………………………………………………..…....31
3.3.3. Interview ……………………………………………………………..…….31
3.3.4.Tests. ………………………………………………………………………..32
3.4. Data collection procedure …………………………………………………....32
3.5. Data analysis ………………………………………………………………....33

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3.6. Summary ……………………………………………………………………..33
CHAPTER IV: FINDING AND DISCUSSION ……………………............35
4.1. Results from the questionnaire
4.11.Questionnaire for teachers …………………………………………............35

4.1.1.1Teachers’ experience in teaching English ………………………................35
4.1.1.2.Teachers’ attitude toward the importance of reading
comprehension ………………………………………………………………….. 35
4.1.1.3.Teachers’ difficulties in teaching reading comprehension ………….......36
4.1.1.4. Teachers’ attitudes towards using skimming and scanning
strategies in teaching reading comprehension ………………….………………..38
4.1.1.5. Students’ assessment on effectiveness of scanning and skimming
strategies in teaching reading comprehension ………………………………........38
4.1.1.6. Benefits of using skimming and scanning strategies in teaching
reading comprehension …………………………………………………………...39
4.1.1.7. Some difficulties of using skimming and scanning strategies in
teaching reading comprehension. ………………………………………………...42
4.1.2.Questionnaire for students ………………………………………………..43
4.1.2.1.Students’ experience in study English………………………………...….43
4.1.2.2. Students’ attitude towards the importance of reading comprehension …43
4.1.2.3.Students’ difficulties in learning reading comprehension……………….44
4.1.2.4. Students’ attitude towards using scanning and skimming in
learning reading comprehension…………………………………………………45
4.1.2.5.Students’ assessment on the role of scanning and skimming
strategies in reading comprehension …………………………………………….46
4.1.2.6. Students’ assessment on effectiveness of scanning and skimming
strategies in learning reading comprehension…………………………………….47
4.1.2.7. Benefits of using skimming and scanning strategies in learning
reading comprehension……………………………………………………………48
4.1.2.8. Some difficulties of students in using scanning and skimming
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strategies in learning reading comprehension ………………………………..….50
4.2. Results from the test ……………………………………………………..51

4.2.3.1. Pre- test …………………………………………………………………..52
4.2.3.1.1. Pre –test scores…………………………………………………………52
4.2.3.1.2 Descriptive statistics ……………………………………………………53
4.2.3.1.3.Frequency of distribution ………………………………………………54
4.2.3.2. Post- test ………………………………………………………………….55
4.2.3.1.Frequency of distribution ………………………………………………....57
4.2.3.2. Descriptive statistics ……………………………………………………..58
4.3. Findings ………………………………………………………………………59
4.4.Summary ……………………………………………………………………...61
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ……………………………………………..…62
5.1. Recapitulation…………………………………………………………………62
5.2. Limitation and suggestions for further study…………………………………63
REFERENCES ………………………………………………………………...…64
APPENDIX A ………………………………………………………………….....67
APPENDIX B …………………………………………………………………….69
APPENDIX C …………………………………………………………………….71
APPENDIX D …………………………………………………………………....77

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1.Description of teachers’ experience in teaching English
Table 4.2. Teachers’ attitude towards the importance of reading comprehension.
Table 4.3. Teachers’ difficulties in teaching reading comprehension
Table 4.4. Teachers’ attitude towards using skimming and scanning
strategies in teaching reading comprehension.
Table 4.5. Teachers’ assessment on effectiveness of skimming and scanning
strategies in teaching reading comprehension.
Table 4.6. Benefits of using skimming and scanning strategies in teaching reading

comprehension.
Table 4.7. Difficulties of using skimming and scanning strategies in teaching
reading comprehension.
Table 4.8.Students’ experience in study English
Table 4.9. Students’ attitude towards the importance of reading comprehension
Table 4.10. Students difficult in learning reading comprehension
Table 4.11. Benefits of using skimming and scanning strategies in learning reading
comprehension
Table 4.12. Students’ difficulties in using scanning and skimming strategies in
learning reading comprehension
Table 4.13. Pre –test scores
Table 4.14 : comparison of mean scores in pre- test of the two classes
Table 4.15. Pre- test score frequencies of the two classes
Table 4.13. students’ assessment on effectiveness of skimming and scanning
strategies in teaching reading comprehension.
Table 4.14 : comparison of mean scores in pre- test of the two classes
Table 4.15. Pre- test score frequencies of the two classes
Table 4.16. Post – test scores
Table 4.17. Frequency of distribution of the two classes
Table 4.18 : comparison of mean scores in post- test of the two classes
Table 4.19. Means of pre-test and post - test

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Students’ attitude towards the importance of reading comprehension
Figure 2: Students’ attitude toward using scanning and skimming in learning
reading comprehension.
Figure 4.3: Students’ assessment on the role of skimming and scanning

strategies in teaching reading comprehension.
Figure 4.4. Students’ assessment on effectiveness of skimming and scanning
strategies in teaching reading comprehension.
Figure4.5: Pre- test score frequencies of the two classes
Figure 4.6. Frequency of distribution of the two classes

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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter provides the rationale for the study, the aims, research
questions, scope of the study and design of the study.
1.1.Rationale of the study
As an international language, English nowadays plays an important role in
academic studies, professional success and personal development in the world of
economic integration and globalization. Therefore learning English has been
considered a very important duty of all students and English is also a core subject
which is compulsory in the national examinations.
Reading is considered as one of the most important skills which language
learners should master. Reading not only helps students widen their knowledge
but also enables them to develop other language skills such as listening, writing
and speaking skill. According to Anderson “ Reading is an essential skill for
English as a second or foreign language and for many, reading is the most
important skill to master.”( 5, p.14). Carrell also stated that “ For many students,
reading by far the most important of the four skills in a second language or foreign
language” ( 11, p.1-3).
In the context of upper secondary school , reading is more important than
other skills of speaking, listening and writing because students have to take
the examinations which are grammar and reading based and reading is considered

the most difficult. The reason is that students are not familiar with reading strategies
especially skimming and scanning strategies. They usually translate every sentence
in text into Vietnamese in the hope that knowing the meaning of every word will
mean they arrive at a meaningful total. And they tend to focus attention on forms
and details rather than meanings and main ideas. So it is difficult for them to
understand meaning of text and answer the questions based on content of the text
and makes them waste of time. The above weakness and problems can be seen in a

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reading class for most students especially for the twelve grade students at high
school.
For these reasons, I decide to choose the subject “Focusing on scanning and
skimming strategies to improve high school students’ reading fluency” in the hope
that it can help students improve their reading’s fluency.
1.2. Aims of study
The aims of the study are as follows :
- Investigating the importance of reading comprehension and some
difficulties that the students face when learning this skill.
-Identifying teachers’ and students’ attitude and assessment on using
scanning and skimming in reading comprehension.
-Evaluating the reality and the effectiveness of using scanning and
skimming in improving students’ reading fluency .
1.3. Scope of the study
The researcher carries out the investigation at Quang Xuong 1 high school to
study the effectiveness of scanning and skimming in reading comprehension to
improve the students’ reading fluency.
1.4. Research questions
1. What are teachers and students’ attitude and expectation of using scanning and

skimming strategies in learning reading comprehension ?
2. What challenges do teachers have when focusing students on these techniques?
1.5. Method of the study
To fulfill this study, a mixed use of both quantitative and qualitative are applied.
Quantitative method is used to investigate students’ attitude and expectation in
using scanning and skimming strategies in learning reading comprehension by
mainly using questionnaire. Qualitative method is used to find out
effectiveness, difficulties, and suggestions of using scanning and skimming
strategies in learning reading comprehension by using the instrument of survey
and discussions to collect and analyze the data. The data are collected by

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means of questionnaire and tests.
1.6. Structure of the study
The study consists of five chapters as follow:
Chapter I : Introduction
This chapter deals with the researcher’s reasons for choosing the topic of the
study, the aims, scope of the study, research questions, method of the study and
structure of the study.
Chapter II: Literature review
This chapter provides the theory about reading, reading comprehension, reading
strategies as well as skimming and scanning strategies in reading.
Chapter III: Method
This chapter aims at stating the methods that the researcher applies to do the
study. This study is conducted as a survey research that employ both qualitative
and quantitative approaches to collect data. The quantitative analysis are used
through the process of data collected from questionnaire and tests. In addition, the
qualitative approach is employed to deal with the data gathered from interviews

with the randomly chosen students in order to obtain more in depth understanding.
The combination of these data collection methods will help the author achieve the
aims of the study.
Chapter IV: Finding and discussion
The finding and discuss are based on the achieved result from the questionnaires,
observation and interviews for both teachers and students and tests for students.
Chapter V: Conclusion is a review of the study, the limitations of the study and
recommendations for further research.
The study ends with the “ reference” which lists all the material and sources of
the information used in the study and the “ appendix” in which the questionnaire
designed for students and teachers and tests for students are mentioned

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CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter provides the background knowledge on the topic that relate to the
research: definition of reading, reading comprehension , classification of reading
techniques, model of reading, definition of reading strategies, some strategies, the
importance of skimming and scanning in learning reading comprehension, the
relationship between scanning and skimming, how to use these strategies in reading
comprehension effectively, skimming and scanning training procedure will be
discussed.
2.1.Definition of reading and reading comprehension
2.1.1. Definition of reading
Reading has a multi - faced impact on our life. People have demand for
reading
to expand their knowledge. Through reading textbooks, magazines, newspapers,….
People can discover what happens around the world. Today, when people have to

update new mass information all over the world, reading becomes more and more
important. However, there are different point of views on the definition of reading.
According to Rechards (1992, p.306) reading means “ perceiving a written
text in order to understand its content and saying a written text aloud.” Here, there
is clearly an overlap between reading and writing , in which a “text” has to be written
down before we can read it. In many societies, literature is still seen as a prime
example of writing and therefore one of the first things a student is asked to do is to
read. Reading is a receptive skill with many sub schillings just as those involved in
listening. Harmer( 1989,p.153) considers reading as a mechanical process that “eyes
receive messages and brain then has to identify the meaning of those messages”. It
seems that the text presents letters, words, sentences, paragraphs that encode meaning.
The reader uses knowledge, skills, and strategies to determine what that meaning is.
According to Siberstein ( 1993): “ Reading is complex information processing
skill in which reader interacts with the text to create the meaningful discourse”.

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Goodman ( 17,p.135) states: Reading is psycholinguistic process by which the
reader, a language user reconstructs as best as he can, message which has been
encoded by a writer as a graphic display”.
William ( 30,p.3) had the same view on reading, especially on the act of
reconstruction as Goodman. He argues that written text, then, often contains more
than we need to understand them. The efficient reader make use of this to take what
he needs, and no more, to obtain meaning”.
In general term, reading is defined as “ reading is an active, fluent process which
involves the reader and reading materials in building meaning. Meaning does not
reside on the printed pages, nor is it only in the reader”. Anderson, (5,P.1). This
definition of reading has been generally shared by other researchers deriving from
those opinions, reading is considered as a process in which a reader looks at and

understands what has been written out.
From all the opinions above, it is clear that no researcher could give an
absolutely exact definition that can capture all the ideas and features of reading and
we cannot tell whose point of view is better because each of them focus on one
important matter of reading. However, they all try to find out the nature of reading,
that is “understanding”, in which they emphasize on reading process, reading
material and readers. Therefore, being a language teacher, we must understand the
nature of reading thoroughly to help students read effectively.
2. 1.2. Definition of reading comprehension
Understanding the message that the authors want to covey is very important.
Therefore, reading comprehension plays an important role in teaching and learning
language reading skill. Methodologists have provided different definitions of
reading comprehension. According to Smith ( 204, p.379) comprehension as a
process by which someone links what he knows about the world to what he already
has as information ( intensive) and ( expectations) in his head thus, comprehending
is the state of being out of confusion and puzzling to set things clear with no
misunderstanding”. Comprehension as defined by Bernhardt (1987) is a process of

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relating new, or incoming information to information already stored in the memory
(background knowledge) . Obviously, during the process of reading, readers must not
only look at words on the pages ( bottom –up process) but also activate background
knowledge( top – down process), and then build all the elements into comprehension.
Furthermore, according to Enhart’s organization reading comprehension can be
Defined as : a topic dependent. It involves making appropriate decisions from
the beginning of a text. It involves met cognitive awareness of the comprehension
process. The first two items above are so – called “schemata” ( background
knowledge), The third item involves scanning, which is reading general idea as far

as the third and the fourth parts are concerned, slow speeds in reading seem to
imply limited use of them, and also limited comprehension . Swam ( 28, p.1) states
that “ when we say a student is good at comprehension. We mean that he can read
accurately and efficiently, so as to get the maximum information a text with the
minimum of understanding. Also concerning the reading comprehension, Grellet
( 18, p.3) argues that reading comprehension or understanding a written text
means extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible”. The
researcher means reading comprehension is an activity which aims at decoding the
meaning of word combination in the text in the most efficient way.
From these opinion, it can be concluded that reading comprehension is a
process of understanding what is conveyed in the text. It does not mean that the
reader needs to understand every single word in the text but actively work in the
text and extract the required information efficiently .
2.2. Models of reading
Reading models explain what happened in the process of reading they describe
how reader processes printed texts to construct meaning, that means, these models
are concerned with how readers could be able to translate given printed words into
meanings from the level of perception of the text by the eyes into analysis by the
brain. This led us to shed a light on three main theoretical model of reading process
that has been researched by many cognitive and behavioral scientists: Bottom-up,

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top-down and interactive models .
2.2.1. The Bottom-up Model
The bottom up approach is known as phonics, which requires the learner
to match letters with sounds in a defined sequence i.e. reading in linear process
by which readers decode a text word by word, linking the words into phrases and
then sentences (Gray and Rogers 1956, cited in Kucer (1987,p 27-51). This model

of reading is concerned primarily with the recognition of individual letters,
phonemes and words that means the meaning of the whole text begins from the
word level, then the sentential level, and finally the text level ( as cited by Lisson
and Wixson, 1991, in Rumptz, 2003). Besides this, it emphasizes a single direction,
part- to- the whole processing of text. In other words, it involves a series of steps
that the reader has to go through i.e. moving from the smallest linguistic units such
as: sentences, phrase, and so on, until reaching the meaning of the text (James. E &
Gentry, 2008).
The bottom up model allows students to start with the perceptual processing of
text and move upward through word recognition to comprehension, in other words,
it is the process in which the reader begins with the smallest units of text (letters)
and then move to the higher units of text (clusters) and finally get to words. So,
readers derive meaning in linear manner, i.e. building letters into words, words into
sentences, phrases and then proceeds to the overall meaning.
The bottom – up model reveals several shortcomings in describing the actual
reading process. It does not give a full account of a reader’s prior knowledge.
Moreover it emphasizes a single – direction in which implies that no higher level
information ever modifies or changes lower level analysis. In some cases, readers
are able to identify a word correctly only by employing higher level semantic and
syntactic processing.
2.2.2. The Top- down Model
Top – down processing emphasizes the important of the reader’s background
knowledge, or the schemata.

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Richards (1990, P. 50-51 ) defined the top-down model referred to “the use
of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of a given text that means
readers make connection between their previous knowledge about a topic,

situational or contextual knowledge, or knowledge stored in long term memory in
the form of “schemata” and “scripts”. This theory argues that when reading a text, a
reader has his own knowledge, expectations, and questions, which he match with
the text. Grabe (1988, P. 56) states also that reading in this model is not just
extracting meaning from a text but a process of connecting information in the text
with the background knowledge of the reader that is used in the act of reading.
Reading, in this sense, is “a dialogue between the reader and the text”.
According Nuttall (2005: 16), top – down process helps readers see the overall
purpose of the text as well as enables them to predict the writer’s purpose. In this
view, the reader reconstructs meaning from written language by using the syntactic
and semantic system of the language. Brown ( 2001: 18) points out that with top
down process “ we draw on our own intelligence and experience to understand the
text”. The top –down model of reading emphasizes the higher order skills inherent
in reading which are primarily the use of predictions and inferences in the process
of constructing meaning from past experiences, and the reconstruction of these
predictions based on new information incongruent with past knowledge.
However, top – down models have some limitations. Alderson, (2001: 18)
discusses that “ the main drawback of top – down approach is that the readers do
not know how prior knowledge is called upon from memory and how it is then
used in understanding”. Samuel and kamil (1988) show the weakness of this model
that for many texts, the reader has little knowledge of the topic and cannot generate
predictions.
2.2.3. The Interactive Model
Since neither the bottom- up nor top – down model of the reading process
totally accounts for what occurs during the reading process, the interactive model
is the attempts to make connection between both models of reading; the bottom up

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and top down ones. In other words, it recognizes the interaction of both models
simultaneously throughout the reading process. Similarly, Eskey (1988,p.93-100)
sees that “the interactive model takes into account the continuous interaction
between bottom-up and top-down processing in the construction of the meaning of
a text”. From this view, good readers are those who have both ability of good
decoding and interpreting of texts, their decoding skills become more automatic.
Eskey also believe that to achieve fluency and accuracy in reading, readers must
work at perfecting both their bottom- up recognition skills and their top – down
interpretation strategies. In other word, good reading – fluent and accurate readingcan result only from a constant interaction between these two processes.
Rumelhart (1981, p. 37) also views that it is “one in which data driven,
bottom- up processing combines with top- down, conceptually driven processing
to cooperatively determine the most likely the interpretation of input”. Additionally,
Carell (1998, p.240-254) put s in his words: “The interactive model suggests that
the reader processes reading by starting with a linguistic surface representation
encoded by a writer and ends with meaning which the reader construct”.
The interactive model emphasizes both the identification skills, which are
represented in the bottom – down model, and the global interpretation skills which
come from knowledge of the top- down model of making predictions and
inferences. It seems that the interactive model is the best one that can truly reflect
the reading process.
2.3. Techniques of reading
2.3.1. Reading aloud
Reading aloud involves “ looking at the text; understanding it and also
saying it”( Doff:70), and he considers reading aloud as a way to convey necessary
information to someone else. Very few people are required to read aloud as a
matter of daily routine. The readers are asked to read the text so loudly that other
people can hear it. Reading aloud does not happen outside the class as Doff
( 1988, p.67) said “ reading aloud is not an activity we engage in very often

9

outside the classroom”. Reading aloud has both advantages and disadvantages.
Natal (1966) sees reading aloud as an important aid for beginners to improve
pronunciation. It helps students to make the connection between sounds and
spelling of letters and words and also assists the teacher to check students’
pronunciation. Moreover, it is an effective technique to keep class under control.
However, Greenwood ( 1985) critizes this ideas . He claims that students may
unable to focus adequately on the text’s meaning when they highly concentrate on
pronouncing the words.
When reading aloud, students mainly focus on pronunciation not on meaning
of the text, so it is difficult for them to understand meaning of context. Moreover,
reading aloud wastes students’ time because students read in turns, so they have to
wait one after one, and they will not have enough time to deduce the meaning of the
text or complete comprehension exercises, and in the classroom, only the reading
student is active at a time, others are either not listening at all or listening to a bad
model. Some students’ speed of reading is very slow so it takes a lot of time in class.
In conclusion, reading aloud can be applied for those who begin learning a
foreign language to establish the connection between sound and spelling. But for high
level, students’ purpose of learning reading is more than connecting the pronunciation.
When asking students to read aloud, he may lack connection on the meaning so
They cannot complete understanding the text and doing comprehension exercises.
They can read correctly but after that they will not able to tell us what they have
read. It is difficult to read aloud and understand the text at the same time of reading.
It might be a good way to practice pronunciation. Therefore the teachers as
Educators should identify the level of their students and decide whether to apply
reading aloud or not in teaching reading to their students.
2. 3.2. Silent reading
It is obvious that by far the greatest amount of reading which is done is silent.
Silent reading is most likely for the term “reading”. Silent reading can be applied

effectively to teaching and learning a reading comprehension text because reading

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a text silently helps students concentrate on understanding its meaning.
“Silent is the method we normally use with our native language on the quickest
and most efficient” Lewis ( 1985, p. 110). Sharing the same idea, Doff ( 1988, p. 67)
defined silent reading as followed : “silent reading involves looking at sentences
and understanding the message it conveys, in other words, making sense of a
written text. It does not normally involve saying the words we read nor even
silently in our heads”. With silent reading, we can best understand the reading text
in the shortest time as possible because we do not need to read all the words in the
text, we can read at our own speed and in case they do not understand its meaning,
they can read again. When reading silently, students both obtain its main ideas in
the shortest length of time and deeply understand its meaning. Besides, silent
reading also helps teachers control the class.
In all, silent reading is a useful technique in reading comprehension process
applied to students to exploit reading lesson effectively. However, it is more
beneficial when the teacher sometimes combines silent reading with reading aloud
to improve students’ pronunciation and intonation because reading aloud also has its
own advantages.
2.4. Type of reading: According to purpose, reading is categorized into two types:
intensive reading and extensive reading.
2.4.1. Intensive reading :
Intensive reading is widely used in reading class. It is an effective way to
explore the text, to go deeply into the meaning and organization of the text. As
Grellet’s definition “ intensive reading means reading short text to extract specific
information. This is an accuracy activity involving reading for details, Grellet
(1981,p. 4). The main concern of intensive reading is for detail comprehension. In

intensive reading, students normally work with short text with close guidance from
the teacher. The aims of intensive reading are to help students obtain detailed
meaning from the context, to develop reading skills such as identifying main ideas
and recognizing text connectors and to enhance vocabulary grammar knowledge.

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Nuttal ( 1982,p. 36) states : “ intensive reading involves approaching the text under
the guidance of a teacher or a task which forces the students to focus on the text”.
It can be offered that intensive reading often refers to the careful reading of shorter,
more difficult foreign language texts with the goals of complete and detailed
understanding. Intensive reading is also associated with the teaching of reading in
terms of its component skills. Texts are studied intensively in order to introduce
and practice reading skills such as distinguishing main idea of a text from the
detail, finding pronoun referents, or guessing the meaning of unknown words.
In doing intensive reading, the actual amount of time spent on reading is very
little as a l ot of procedure such as listening to the teacher’s instructions, reading
comprehension questions, discussing the content of the text, doing post – reading
activities have to be followed.
Reading speed is usually slower as learners have to stop at some moments
during their reading in the classroom to look up new words in dictionary, and ask
the teacher for a definition or analyze the text by reading it word- by – word or
sentence – by sentence. Reading in intensive reading approach is not individual as
learners are assumed to interact more with the teacher than with the text.
What is meant by all the characteristics of intensive reading approach
mentioned above is not that intensive reading is bad, only that it is limited in what
it tries to do.
In short, intensive reading is a basic classroom activity. It is really effective if
the teacher and his students know how to fully exploit this activity in class with the

help of reading exercise.
2.4.2. Extensive reading
Extensive reading means to read widely and in quantity. The aims of extensive
reading are to build reader confidence and enjoyment. Extensive reading is always
done for comprehension of main ideas, not for specific details. Brown ( 1989)
explains that “extensive reading is carried out to achieve a general understanding
of a text.” Carrell and Carson ( 1997,p. 49, 50) also stated that: “extensive generally

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involves rapid reading of large quantities of material or longer reading for general
understanding, with the focus generally on the meaning of what is being read than
on the language”.
Extensive reading is also considered to be useful for students’ self- learning.
Their reading habit and passion for reading are formed through extensive reading .
Students can choose the topic they like and read for their own purpose for pleasure
and entertainment. However, it is more effective if students’ extensive reading is
followed an instructional program with the help of the reading teacher. In fact most
of extensive reading is done silently and out of the classroom and it gives the
students opportunities to use their target language for their own purpose. Besides,
it provides the valuable reinforcement of language items and structure already
presented in the classroom, gives the students chance to update and enrich their
language knowledge by reading the topics they like and read for enjoyment without
consideration for pressure time, intense concentration, and total comprehension.
Extensive reading therefore, is regarded as an effective way for the students to
improve their language reading. It helps students enhance language learning in such
areas as spelling, vocabulary, grammar, and text structure. It also gives students
more positive attitude toward reading offers them greater enjoyment of reading,
helps them to read with pleasure. And it is considered as an advisable sort of work

for the students to increase and improve their general knowledge of the world as
well.
Basing on the purposes of reading, people may be skimming and scanning as
they are reading extensively.
To sum up, extensive reading is one of good ways to improve one’s
knowledge of a foreign language because its aim is to cover the content of text in
the shortest possible period of time. In the language classroom, the teacher must
introduce some suitable reading materials to students, as it is useful for them to
form a good habit of reading.
2.5. Language learning strategies

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Both of learners and good readers may use various reading strategies that
could help them to achieve a meaning of texts successfully. That is why, the use of
reading strategies is more important for learners to reach comprehension when reading.
5.1.Definition of language learning strategies
Since the effective use of language strategies by learners play an important
role in language learning, several attempts have been made to define the concept of
language learning strategies.
Rubin and stern suggested that “ the good language learner” might be doing
something special that we could all learn from. From these very first initiatives,
more and more researchers have come to recognize the significance of special
learner techniques or strategies in second language acquisition.
Tarone ( 1980) defines a language learning strategy by distinguishing between
Production strategies and learning strategies. He considers the first two of these
“ strategies” as ‘ an attempt to develop linguistic and sociolinguistic competence in
the target language.
In O’Malley and Chamot’s study, learning strategies are “ the special

thoughts or behaviors that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn or retain
new information.” (O’Malley and Chamot, 1990:1). In this definition, language
learning strategies can be either observable or unobservable ( mental and
behavioral), and language learning strategies are individually characterized.
Oxford’s definition ( 1990) of this term is often considered as the most
comprehensive and widely accepted for its fill conveyance of affective aspects of
language learning strategies. The research indicated language learning strategies are
“operations employed by the learner to aid the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and
use of information”. This definition

clearly reflects the nature of language

learning strategies.
It is impossible to cover all definitions of learning strategies offered by
researchers; even it is a challenge to decide which definition is helpful to all
research purposes. Therefore, the comprehensiveness of this definition and the

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characteristics of learning strategies also lend themselves well in the context of the
study.
2.5.1. Definition of Reading Strategies
There are many different views about the definition of reading strategies
depending on different scholars that is why there is no clear cut definition.
Garner (1987, p.95) defines reading strategies “as generally deliberate,
playful activities undertaken by active learners, many times to remedy
perceived cognitive failure”. Additionally, Barnett (2002, p1-14) has used the term
reading strategy to refer to “the cognitive operations that take place when readers
approach a text with the purpose to make sense of what they read. In this sense,

reading strategies are as the comprehension processes that readers use in order to
make sense of what they read”. So, Reading strategies are effective techniques that
are used by learners to succeed in reading comprehension. On the other hand, we
cannot exclude the role of teachers who should be both aware of the use of reading
strategies and should teach learners on how to use these different strategies
successfully.
In short, reading strategies can be considered as the way readers use in their
interaction with the written text to help them get effectiveness in their reading.
2.5.2.The Nature of Reading Strategy
Discussion on reading strategy is necessary in developing an understanding
that is any reading process must involve strategies, in some way or another,
which readers use in the attempt of constructing meaning from text. According to
Cohen (1998), the term “strategies” has, in fact, been used to refer both to
General approaches and to specific actions or techniques used to learn a second
language. For example, a general approach strategy could be that of forming
concepts and hypotheses about how the target language works. A more specific
strategy could be that of improving reading comprehension in the new language. In
addition, strategic reading is a prime characteristic of expert readers (cited in Paris,
2002). Being an expert reader means using the strategies for effective extraction

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