STUDENTS’ PERCEIVED DIFFICULTIES IN READING COMPREHENSION WITH REFERENCE TO NEW TIENG ANH 10 TEXTBOOK AT NGHI LOC IV HIGH SCHOOL a SURVEY INTERVIEW STUDY

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my deepest thanks to my beloved supervisor Mr. Le Van Canh,
MA for his invaluable support, patient guidance, and encouragement he gave me
throughout my research. I am truly grateful to him for his advice and suggestions right
from the beginning when this study was only in its formative stage.
I also wish to send my sincere thanks to the lecturers of Post Graduate Department,
Foreign Language College of Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their interesting
lessons and suggestions, which aroused the thesis for this study to be realized.
I am indebted to my family members whose support and encouragements greatly
contributed to the completion of my study.
Last but not least, I wish to thank my readers for their interest and comments on this
thesis.
1
DECLARATION
I certify that this thesis is the result of my own study and that it has not been submitted
to any other university or institution wholly or partially.
Hanoi, June, 2008
Student:
Lª Minh Sao
2
ABSTRACT
The important role of reading comprehension is apparent for any student who has
success in his command of foreign language in general, English in particular. For non-
English major students in Nghi Loc IV Upper Secondary School, reading has been paid
more attentions to as the students have to take the examinations which are grammar- and
reading- based. However, they have encountered a lot of difficulties in reading skills even
after the new textbook has been put to use.
This study aims to investigate the reading difficulties perceived by the 10
th
grade
students of Nghi Loc IV Upper Secondary School. The results of this study has shown that

the 10
th
form students often have difficulties with vocabulary, grammar, reading skills and
background knowledge when learning reading comprehension. This study has also given
some suggestions to reduce their reading difficulties and helps students to obtain desirable
results in learning reading.
3
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
TABLES
Table 1: Students’ attitudes toward reading skills
Table 2: Students’ reading habits
Table 3: Students’ perspectives about easy reading texts
Table 4: Students’ perspectives about difficult reading texts
Table 5: Studens’ activities in Pre-reading
Table 6: Studens’ activities in While-reading
Table 7: Studens’ activities in Post-reading
Table 8: Students’ areas of difficulties
Table 9: Students’ difficulties in the area of vocabulary
Table 10: Students’ difficulties in the area of grammar
Table 11: Students’ difficulties in the area of reading skill
FIGURES
Figure 1: Students’ attitudes toward reading skills
Figure 2: Students’ opinions of the easy reading texts in the textbook
Figure 3: Students’ areas of difficulties
Figure 4: Students’ difficulties in the area of grammar
4
THE TABLE OF CONTENT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I
DECLARATION II
ABSTRACT III

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Introduction 1
2. Rationale 1
3. Aims of the Study 2
4. Research Questions 2
5. Method of the Study 3
6. Scope of the Study 3
7. Organization of the Thesis 3
CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 5
2.1. Introduction 5
2.2 Definition of Terminology 5
2.2.1. What is reading? 5
2.2.2. Reading Comprehension 6
2.3. The difficulties of the second language reading comprehension process 7
2.3.1. Reading skill problem 7
2.3. 2. Language problems 8
2.3.3. Cultural background knowledge 9
2.4. Learner-centeredness in foreign language education 10
2.5. Summary 11
CHAPTER III: THE STUDY 12
3.1. Introduction 12
3.2. The rationale of using survey interviews 12
5
3.3. The context of the study 13
3.3.1.The students, their background and their learning conditions 13
3.3.2. Teachers and methods of teaching 14
3.4. Reading Comprehension in the New TIENG ANH 10 14
3.5. The participants 15
3.6. Instrumentation 15
3.7. The Interviews and Data Analysis 16

3.7.1. Students’ attitudes toward learning English 16
3.7.2. Students’ attitudes towards learning reading skill 16
3.7.3. How much do the students read? 18
3.7.4. Students’ perspectives about reading texts in New Tieng Anh 10. 19
3.7.4.1. Students’ perspectives about easy reading texts 19
3.7.4.2. Students’ perspectives about difficult reading texts 21
3.7.5. Students’ activities in the reading lessons 22
3.7.5.1. Pre-reading activities 22
3.7.5.2. While-reading activities 24
3.7.5.3. Post-reading activities 25
3.7.6. Students’ reading difficulties 26
3.7.6.1. In the area of vocabulary 27
3.7.6.2. In the area of grammar 28
3.7.6.3. In the area of background knowledge 30
3.7.6.4. In the area of reading skills 31
3.7.6.5. In the area of reading tasks 32
3.7.7. Students’ remarks about teaching reading and their recommendation for
improving reading skill 33
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CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 35
4.1. What are students’ attitudes toward reading skill? 35
4.2. What do they really think of the reading texts in the text book: New Tieng Anh 10 ? 35
4.3. What do students do when they read a reading text? 35
4.4. What difficulties do students encounter in learning reading skill? 36
4.5. What do the students want their teachers to do to help them read more effectively ? 37
4.6. Suggestions to improve reading skill to students at Nghi Loc IV High school 37
4.6.1. Techniques for reading interest and motivation 38
4.6. 1. 1. Making English reading fun 38
4.6. 1.2. Making English reading useful 38
4.6.2.Training students to become efficient readers 39

4.6.3 Making students fully aware of their purpose of reading 39
4.6.4. Encouraging students to have extensive reading habit 39
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION 40
5.1. Conclusions 40
5.2. Limitations of the study and Suggestions for Further study 40
REFERENCES 41
APPENDIX
7
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
1. Introduction
Reading comprehension is one of the most important language skills that students of
foreign language need to have. This is because the goal of most foreign language students
is to get access to the knowledge they need through the medium of the foreign language
they are learning. In addition, reading is a very important , even the most important source
of linguistic input through which the students acquire the foreign language. Unfortunately
there are many factors, both linguistic and non-linguistic, that makes reading
comprehension a difficult skill for the students to acquire. This study is to investigate those
difficulties as perceived by the students.
This Chapter introduces the rationale, the aim, the research question, the research method,
and the scope of the study. The Chapter concludes with a presentation of the organization
of the study.
2. Rationale
The ongoing process of regional and global intergration in Vietnam has resulted in an
increasing demand for English language teaching across the country. Now, learning
English is not only an interest but also a practical thing for many people. Learning English
means learning four related skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. In teaching and
learning English as a foreign language in Vietnam, reading has always received a great
deal of attention. This is understandable, English is learnt and taught in non-English
environment, so reading is not only one of the four language skills that students of English
need to acquire but also a means of further study. According to Carrell (1981) “For many

students, reading is by far the most important of the four skills in a second language,
particularly in English as a second or foreign language”(p.1). What is more, when poor
reading results are reported, one tends to blame the students for having poor ability or for
making insufficient effort. Nevertheless, the students are not always at fault. There are
other important factors in the process of teaching and learning reading that are worth
considering. It could be unsuitable teaching materials. It could be the inappropriate attitude
of the teachers and learners towards the subject. It could be the teachers’ inappropriate
teaching methods and classroom techniques.
8
In the context of the upper secondary school, reading even more important than other
three skills of speaking, listening, and writing because students have to take the
examinations which are grammar- and reading- based. However, the students’ reading
proficiency is not satisfactory even after the new textbook has been put to use.
The study is based on the assumption that unless teachers understand students’
difficulties, their teaching of reading comprehension will never be efficient and effective.
In other words, teachers need to adopt a more learner-centred perspective in making their
pedagogical decisions.
Although it is important to understand students’ difficulties so as to provide them
with needed support, not a single study on the upper secondary school students’
perceptions of the difficulties they have faced with in comprehending the reading texts in
the textbook. Being a teacher of English, I myself think that it is essential to do a research
on students’ reading difficulties so I decided on choosing the topic “ Students’ perceived
difficulties in reading comprehension with reference to New Tieng Anh 10 textbook at
Nghi Loc IV High school: A survey interview study”.
3. Aims of the Study
This study aims to investigate students’ difficulties in reading texts in the new
textbook for grade 10 according to their perceptions. Findings will be used to suggest
appropriate instructional support to help students to improve their reading comprehension
skills. To be more specific, the objectives of this study are:
- to investigate the students’ attitudes towards English reading.

- to find out the students’ areas of reading difficulty.
- to suggest ways to reduce the difficulties and help students to improve their reading
skills.
It is hoped that the findings from this study will be some benefits to teachers and
students in Nghi Loc IV upper secondary school.
4. Research Questions
In order to achieve the aims mentioned above, the study concerntrated answering the
research questions:
9
- What are the students’ attitudes towards reading English ?
- What do they perceive of the difficulties in the reading texts in New Tieng Anh 10
textbook ?
- To what extent do the teacher’s teaching methods help them improve reading skills
according to their perception ?
5. Method of the Study
With the aim of finding out students’ perceived difficulties in comprehending reading
texts in the new textbook, a survey interview approach is adopted for this study. Semi-
structured interviews will be conducted on a group of 20 Grade 10 students. These students
will be selected randomly among volunteers.
All the interviews will be audio-taped and fully transcribed. Data will be analyzed
qualitatively to identify common difficulties the students encounter in their reading
comprenhension.
6. Scope of the Study
This study limits itself to the investigation of a small sample of Grade 10 students at
NL IV High school - a school located in the rural area of Nghe An province- to find out
their difficulties in comprehending the reading texts in the textbook through semi-
structured interviewing.
7. Organization of Thesis
This minor thesis consists of four chapters.
The first chapter includes a rationale for the study, the aims, method, scope of the

study as well as the organization of the thesis.
The second chapter “Literature Review” discusses the theoretical background relevant
to the research topic including the definition of reading , reading difficulties, learner-
centeredness in foreign language learning.
Chapter three presents the research method, context of the study, the material and the
participants. In addition, it deals with the findings and data analysis.
10
The fourth chapter is about the discussion of findings giving some suggestions to
reduce difficulties in learning English reading comprehension.
The last part of the study “Conclusion” summarizes the findings, point out the
limitations and suggests further researches

11
CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Introduction
In Chapter One, the rationale, the scope, the aim, the research questions and research
methods were presented. This Chapter reviews the relevant literature on reading
comprehension in foreign language as well as the commonly found difficulties readers of
foreign language are faced with.
The Chapter begins with a definition of reading comprehension, which is followed by a
description of difficulties inherent in the reading comprehension process. The last section
of the Chapter discusses the principles of learner-centered approaches to language teaching
to highlight the importance of understanding students’ difficulties in the process of reading
foreign language from their own perspectives.
2.2. Definition of Terminology
2.2.1. What is reading?
In our daily life, we spend time reading books, newspapers, novels or stories because
we find them interesting and useful. When reading, we understand the texts, we analyze
and find its meaning, give out meaningful conclusion. But noone can define exactly what
reading is. This question attracts much attention and researchers have defined reading in

various ideas. According to Goodman (1971), reading is “a psycholinguistics process by
which the reader, a language user, reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has
been encoded by a writer as a graphic display” (p.135). Goodman thought that this act of
reconstruction is viewed as “a cyclical process of sampling, predicting, testing and
confirming.”
William (1984) had the same view on reading, especially on the act of reconstruction as
Goodman. He argues that “ written texts, then, often contain more than we need to
understand them. The efficient reader makes use of this to take what he needs, and no
more, to obtain meaning”(p.3). His opinion is shared by Nuttall and Grellet. The former
asserts that “reading is getting a message from a text.”
Harmer (1989: 153) considers reading as a mechanical process that “ eyes receive the
message and the brain then has to work out the significance of the message” (p. 153). He
not only focuses on two actions that dominated by the eyes and the brain but also the speed
12
of the process “ a reading text moves at a speed of the reader”, which means that the reader
who decides how fast he wants to read the text.
Sharing the same view, Smith (1985) defined “ reading is understanding the author’s
thought” (p. 102). It means that the readers “read the author’s mind not the author’s
words”.
In fact, the meanings of a word depend much on the context in which it occurs so when
we read we have to put the words into the context and not understand the words in
isolation. We can see that the nature of reading is the interaction between readers and the
authors. If readers do not understand the authors’ mind, their reading becomes usefuless.
One more definition of reading is offered by Allen and Vallete (1977). They thought that
“ reading is developmental process” (p. 249). We learn reading not only to know how to
read, to master the symbols, the language, grammar, ect used in the text but also to
understand the ideas, the information expressed in that text or to develop the ability
reconstructing its contents in our own words.
In short, from these opinions above, it is clear that noone can give all the ideas and
features of what reading is. Each definition reflects what reading means as seen from the

scholar’s own view. However, all definitions reveal their common feature, that is the
nature of reading. Morever, the definition “reading is understanding the author’s thought”
seem to be preferable. We- the readers read the author’s mind not the author’s words.
2.2.2. Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension plays an important part in learning a foreign language. Reading
comprehension can be understood as the ability to get the required information from the
text as efficiently as possible. In the reading process, there are three elements appearing:
the text being read, the background knowledge of the reader and the contextual aspects
relevant for interpreting the text.
Swam(1975) stated 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” (p.1). In the same view, Richard and Thomas (1987)
claim that “ Reading comprehension is best described as an understanding between the
author and the reader” (p.9). Sharing these ideas, Grellet (1981) takes the point that
13
“Reading comprehension or understanding a written text means extracting the required
information from it as effectively as possible” (p.3).
These above opinions are not exactly the same, but they all show that reading is much
more than just pronouncing words correctly or simply knowing what the author intends. It
is a process in which the readers (as they read) can recognize the graphic form and
understand the relation between the writing and the meaning. In the other words, after
reading, students can find the way to bettering their grammar, words, pronunciation and
can understand the content of the text and use it in their real life as effectively as possible.
Therefore, it is important for us to understand what reading comprehension is. For the
teachers who teach reading, a profound understanding about the nature of reading
comprehension may help them find out the students’ difficulties of learning reading.
2.3. The difficulties of the second language reading comprehension process
Reading in a foreign language is very important to academic studies, personal success
and personal development. However, reading in a language which is not the learner’s first
language is also a source of difficulty. The problems with foreign language reading may be

either in learner’s reading skill language problems or background knowledge.
2.3.1. Reading skill problem
If the reading ability of a reader in his mother tongue is poor, he can not read well in a
foreign language. According to Anderson (1984), the reason the students can not read
adequately in English is that they cannot read adequately in the native language.
The interaction between first language and second language reading ability is further
clarified by several researchers. For example, Bernhardt and Kamil (1975) assume that
“reading performance in a second language is largely shared with reading ability in a first
language” (p. 17).
While investigating the transferability of students’ L1 reading strategies to L2 reading,
Sarig (1987) also asserts that “ the same reading strategies types account for success and
failure in both languages to almost the same extent. It can be concluded, then, that reading
process from the first language appear to transfer to the foreign language” (p. 118).
Reading is an active skill, involving guessing and predicting. Students’ limited reading
skills create many problems. Very frequently, students do not know how to use different
14
reading skills, how to use appropriate ways to move their eyes from word group to word
group.
It is common that there are new words, new structures in a reading text for every
language learner. If the learner has no good reading ability, he will read the text with less
understanding and he will get discouraged and will not want to keep on reading gradually.
There fore, how to help learner of a foreign language to read better is closely related to
their reading.
2.3. 2. Language problems
Yorio (1971) gives out a contrary view to reading problems. He argues that reading
problems of foreign language learners are largely due to the knowledge of the target
language to mother tongue interference in the reading process. In his opinion, reading
involves four factors: knowledge of the language, ability to guess so as to make the correct
choice, ability to remember the previous cues, and ability to make necessary association
between the different cues that have been selected. Therefore, learners with limited

knowledge of the target language may face with considerable difficulties when reading in
the target language.
Besides, readers have to face various difficulties. The first and the foremost problem is
that they may have to work with unfamiliar and difficult topics. These are called “ text
problems”. The content of the text might be rather strange to the students and the
grammatical structures might be new. Therefore, they can not understand it. The readers
will find the text very challenging and might not have any motivation left to keep on
reading. L2 readers may have difficulty adjusting their reading strategies to match the
author’s intent or purpose. They may not be familiar with a particular story “grammar” or
the organizational patterns of informational text. They may not be familiar with specific
genre and the literary devises used in text.
The second but not less important kind of problem is the “vocabulary problems”. As
everyone knows, grammatical knowledge accounts for a great deal of competence in
reading. However, knowledge of vocabulary is a great deal more important as a factor of
reading comprehension than awareness of grammatical structures (O’Donnel, 1961: 313-
316).
15
L2 readers may lack knowledge of English grammar and syntax and therefore, may read
word by word. They may encounter too much unfamiliar vocabulary to grasp the overall
concept conveyed in the sentence. They are also challenged when reading idiomatic
expressions and unfamiliar grammatical constructions.
In addition, L2 readers may have difficulty with more complex and compound sentences.
They may lose the meaning of references within the text, such as with frequent use of
pronouns. Pronoun usage may be different or less frequent in the native language.
Connectives may be overlooked or misunderstood so they lose the relationships between
concepts and ideas.
Reader encounter a lot of difficulties in dealing with proverbs and idioms, synonyms and
antonyms, polysemantic and subtechnical vocabulary. Metaphor, metonymy and other
types of transference of meaning also cause great difficulty for readers.
2.3.3. Cultural background knowledge

Several studies on reading skills indicate that apart from language problems and reading
skill problems, cultural knowledge can also affect students’ reading ability.
According to Fries (1963) meaning at the social level is the meaning that transcends the
language code and is related to the background knowledge of the native speakers of that
code. Comprehension of the total meaning of a sentence occurs only when the linguistic
meaning of the sentence is fitted into “a social framework of organized information.” This
idea is echoed by other researcher who have stated that readers will have different levels of
comprehension of the same text because they start off from different positions. They
interpret texts differently because of the differences in the high-level cultural schemata that
were activated.
Carrell (1981) demonstrated the effect of cultural knowledge on the product of
comprehension, appealing to the processes of distortion and elaboration to account for the
differences between a recall of text and the original text. Readers facing with unfamiliar
cultural content may mistranslate or misinterpret the text according to their own cultural
experiences.
Reading comprehension is a function of cultural background knowledge. If readers
process the schemata assumed by the writer, they understand what is stated and effortlessly
16
make the inferences intended. As Hudson (1982) puts it: “the reading problems of the
second language reader are not due to an absence of attempts at fitting and providing
specific schemata. Rather, problem lies in projecting appropriate schemata” (p. 9)
From what we have discussed it seems that there are three main factors that affect
reading comprehension: reading ability or reading skills; linguistic knowlegde; and cultural
and background knowledge. The difficulties may be related to a number of other
difficulties such as readers’ reading habits, attitude, motivation, the way reading is taught,
the leaning environment, ect Whatever kind the problems are, they are various in the
reading process in a foreign language and great efforts must be made to overcome them.
2.4. Learner-centeredness in foreign language education
Recently, in the field of second/foreign language education there has been a shift in
focus from the teacher to the learner. Very briefly, there are two reasons of this shift:

learners are now the centre of the language teaching and learning process and learners
learn better if the teacher’s teaching style match their learning styles.
Nunan (1990) points out that learners learn better if teachers know how to carter for all
individual differences and needs. What is more, learners learn better if the teacher knows
of their learning difficulties and helps them to cope with those difficulties.
He defines learner-centered classrooms as the places where “key decisions about what
will be taught, how it will be taught, when it will be taught, and how it will be accessed
will be made with reference to the learner” (Nunan, 2000, p. 11). .
In a learner-centered curriculum, information about learners from learners is used to
answer when and how to teach what. Nunan (2000) elaborates several stages of negotiating
a learner-centered curriculum; making instructional goals clear to learners; allowing
learners to create their own goals, encouraging learners to use the second language (L2)
outside the classroom; raising awareness of learning processes; helping learners identify
their own preferred styles and strategies; encouraging learners to become teachers;
encouraging learners to become researchers. The learner-centered curriculum also
describes well how to promote learner autonomy as an educational goal at an institutional
level.
17
One important implication of learner-centeredness for instruction is that teachers, rather
than delivering already organized and interpreted subject material to students, need to
guide students to create their own understandings. They accomplish this by utilizing
students’ backgrounds of understanding, cooperative learning, authentic learning problems,
and active student engagement in the learning process.
With the learner-centered approach, teachers bring command of content knowledge but
design flexibility for learners to construct their learning. Learner needs and characteristics
take precedence over knowledge of facts and skills; the emphasis is on engaging learners
in learning for understanding and thinking, to help them build their own interpretations.
Teacher narratives and the emphasis on learner characteristics make the learner-centered
approach a viable alternative for matching teaching practices with learner needs.
Learner-centered education, in this perspective, embodies the learner, learning in the

programs, and policies and teaching that support effective learning for all students.
Administrators are responsible for developing, maintaining, and enhancing a school
environment that promotes effective learning. They are also responsible for ensuring that
teachers are knowledgeable about their students and how learning best occurs. Teachers
are responsible for having classrooms that promote effective learning for all and for being
familiar with the instructional techniques that promote effective learning for all.
2.5. Summary
Through the brief literature review, it is obvious that there are so many factors involved
in the L2 reading comprehension process. Insights into this process highlights reading
difficulties, which includes reading skill problems, language problems and cultural
background problems. Also, the literature review also emphasizes the need to understand
how students talk about their difficulties and problems if learned-centred teaching is
desired.The next Chapter, Chapter III, will present in detail the present study.
18
CHAPTER III: THE STUDY
3.1. Introduction
This chapter deals with the method that has been employed for the achievement of the
aims and objectives of the study. It also provides some information about the current
situation of teaching and learning reading skill at NL IV upper secondary school. The
researcher analyses the data collected and then come up with certain findings on the
difficulties experienced by the 10
th
form students at NL IV upper secondary school.
3.2. The rationale of using survey interviews
Interviews are one of the most important sources of studying information and this minor
thesis was not a different curcumstance. Powney and Watts (1984, cited in Verma &
mallick, 1999, P.122) defines it as “an interaction between three elements: the interviewer,
the interviewee, and the context of the interview including the issue questions raised in the
interview.” The researcher applied the method since it could explore in greater detail and
in depth some particularly important aspects and address other closely related topics.

Besides, interviews are among the most challenging and rewarding forms of measurement.
They require a personal sensitivity and adaptability as well as the ability to stay within the
bounds of the design of the interview.
What is more, interviews are a popular research method because they are flexible and
participatory. Interviews are flexible because the interviewer has the freedom to change
some questions or the asking order of the questions according to the reactions of the users.
Besides, interviews are participatory since they require both the interviewer and the
participant to join in an interactive conversation. This is a big advantage when compared
with the isolated effect of the questionnaires because the user shares the experience and he
may have more tendencies to use the interface after the interview. Due to these reasons,
interviews are more personal ways of gathering information from users than the
questionnaires.
On the other hand, interviews are relatively short, and the researcher can collect
quantitative data as well as qualitative data. Also, depending on the type of the interview,
the researcher may not be able to establish the natural environments of the participants.
19
In this study, twenty students were interviewed in a natural setting so that they could
feel at ease when answer the researcher’s questions. The time budget was allocated
flexibly so that each subject felt free to express to the best their opinions, support their
points and add extra information when needed. As the subjects are all non-major English
students, the interviews could be carried out in Vietnamese so as to get correct
information.
3.3. The context of the study
3.3.1.The students, their background and their learning conditions
Nghi Loc IV upper secondary school has been established for ten years. It is located in
the rural area of Nghe An province. All students in the school come from farming families.
The number of 10
th
grade students at the school is about five hundreds. Most of them are at
the age of 15 and live far from school. They have been learning English since they were in

grade 6. During these years, the objective of education programme was not tested and the
main method that their teachers often used to teach them is the Grammar-Translation one.
The students were rarely given chances to work in pairs, in groups or take part in some
activities such as discussion or games. Morever, they were not provided with modern
learning facilities that are very helpful for their learning such as casettes, tapes Therefore,
students found English unnecessary and their English ability in general was very limited
during that long time.
At present, the students’ conditions of learning are not good enough. A few students
have dictionaries to learn English, so this can also affect their study. When they were at
primary and secondary schools, they only focused on the subjects such Maths, Literature,
Physics and they often lack of the proper English teaching. In the first year at Nghi Loc
IV high school, they have more time to improve their general knowledge of most subjects.
English is considered as one of the most important subjects that 10
th
grade students need
have more practice in the afternoon classes. The school has only one liberary, however it is
not good enough, teachers and students sometimes get troubles when using it.
Another problem of the students is that most of them do not have the habit of learning
independently and tend to depend on the textbooks and the teachers for knowledge. This
20
fact calls for a teacher’s provision of the methods of learning at the tertiary level for
students.
3.3.2. Teachers and methods of teaching
Our school has got 10 English teachers, aged from 27 to 37. The oldest teacher has
more than 15 years of teaching experience and the youngest teacher has got 5 years. All of
us have never participated in refreshment courses abroad. However, we have been to some
domestic workshops in language teaching.
Each of our teachers teaches 18 compulsory periods a week, and we have to face many
difficulties of the students. Most of the time the teachers play a key role in the lesson,
being the main speakers working with the text. In teaching reading, teachers resist in using

teacher-centered approach and it seems that they have never made reading an interactive
skill. New words or structures are always written down on the blackboard and the meaning
of every word is provided right way without any requirement for students’ prediction or
guessing from the context. Students are then ordered to read new words aloud one by one,
frequently after the teachers. After that they ask to read the text for the first time , mainly
to find other words or structures still unfamiliar to them. Finally, students are required to
translate the text into Vietnamese and complete the reading tasks provided in each lesson.
Therefore, students are always passive and only ask the teachers questions when they
encounter difficult structures or words that they can not find in the dictionary. And the
success rests on how flexible and adaptable the individual teacher is to respond to the
requirement of the new teaching situation.
From what mentioned above, it is apparent that learner-centered approach has not been
widely used in teaching reading at NL IV High school, so there should be more appropriate
teaching techniques to make students read more effectively.
3.4. Reading Comprehension in the New TIENG ANH 10
The new TIENG ANH 10 is a text book that is being used at all upper secondary
schools in Viet nam. It consists of 16 units, the first section of each unit is reading. Being a
textbook, the new Tieng Anh 10 provides reading passages of various topics. They are
about “ daily work” (as in unit 1 and 2), about “technology” ( unit 5), “consevation” ( unit
21
9 &10 & 11), “entertainment” (unit 12, 13 & 14), ect Mainly they are designed for the
aims of developing language skills and students’ background knowledge.
In reading part, there is always a passage whose topic relates to other three skills. It is
designed with three steps, they are pre-reading, while-reading and post-reading. Pre-
reading often gives questions with clear and beautiful pictures to lead in the topic of the
text. While-reading asks students to scan for specific information and skim for general
ideas. Post-reading also provides useful activities for students and it helps students wrap
things they have learnt form the passage. In general, these are more interesting than the old
textbook and they are completely suitable for the changing of teaching and learning
methods.

Seemingly, various topics in the reading texts are beneficial for reading comprehension
development. However, the reading texts are sometimes challenges for students because
some passages has got new structures and some topics are unfamiliar with students in the
rural area, such as Unit 5 is about Computers. In fact, many students in the rural area do
not know what a computer is, how many parts there are in a computer, ect Therefore, it is
not easy for English teachers to explain. Morever, some units do not have new words or
phrases, meanwhile others consist of new words and new structures.
3.5. The participants
The research was carried out at Nghi Loc Iv upper secondary school with the
participation of twenty 10
th
form students, aged 15, both male and female. They were
selected at random and from different classes. To students, English is a compulsory subject
in the schedule, they always complained that “it has so many rules, it is so complicated”
and that they “have no head for English”. However, as English was taught and examined
through four skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking, it became more indestible to
them.
3.6. Instrumentation
The main instrument used to gather information for the study is tape-recorded
interviews for the students. A one-to-one interview with twenty students was conducted. It
was carried out in Vietnamese, in the form of informal conversation between the
researcher and the students. The questions in the interviews were extended to more open-
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ended questions to get more information or thorough understanding of the reason behind
each students’ answer. Each converstion lasted for fifteen to twenty minutes. The data
were then transcribed and translated into English.
3.7. The Interviews and Data Analysis
3.7.1. Students’ attitudes toward learning English
The interview data showed that the students were divided into two broad groups. The
first group was composed of those who were negative towards learning English , and the

second group were those who were quite positive.
In the interview the students were quite frank about the reasons why they did not like
English. As can be seen from the data that teachers’ teaching methodology was quite
influential to the students’ attitudes towards learning. They explain that:
“ I do not like English because my teacher didn’t care us and he did not have good
methods of teaching when I was at secondary school”.
“The reason I do not like English is that I find it boring, the atmosphere of the English
lessons always makes me and my friends depressed, time is too long.”
“ I do not have ability to remember new words, grammar so I don’t like English”
By contrast, students who have positive attitudes toward English are goal-oriented or
self-directed. They have a clear purpose of learning English in their mind, that is learning
English for their future employment. For example, one of the students said in the
interview:
“ I like learning English and I try my best to learn it in order to pass all the exams,
become a tourist guider or go to work abroad as a worker”.
After investigating their attitudes toward learning English, the author continued using
other questions to explore students’ learning reading skills.
3.7.2. Students’ attitudes towards learning reading skill
Table 1: Students’ attitudes toward reading skills
Ideas for reading skill Number of mentions Percentage
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Reading is the most important skill 10 50
Reading is as important as other skills 7 35
Reading is not so important as other
skills
3 15
In genral, the table shows that half of the students were aware of the importance of reading
skills. Their attitudes towards reading skills can be diagramed as follows:
Figure 1 - Students’ attitudes towards learning reading skills
As apparent from the chart, the student respondents valued the importance of reading

skill in different ways. 50% of them thought that reading skill was very important, the most
important of the four skills, whereas 35% considered reading equally important to
listening, writing and speaking skills and only 15% found it not so important as other skills
The reasons the students gave for their perception of the importance of reading are varied,
but they all seemed to see the association of reading to other language skills or to the
acquisition of other formal elements of the language.
“I like reading most and reading is very important because it helps me speak, listen, write
more easily and better”
“ If we want to develop speaking, listening or writing skills, we should be good at reading
so that we have information to write , speak and have a background to listen.”
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“ In fact, we can’t speak well if we do not have good reading skill. Reading is a sound
basis for speaking.”
“ I like reading and consider it the most important skill because I often use vocabulary,
structures or writing style in the reading text for my own writing tasts.”
“It is is difficult to imagine that if we didn’t learn reading skill first, we couldn’t solve the
tasks of other skills. Reading is very important to us”.
“ I feel very eager to translate and understand the content of a new reading text. It is a
chance to improve my pronunciation when I read the texts aloud. Reading skills provide us
knowledge of language and it is very neccessary. We can understand the orders of the
tasks, especially, we can pass the final exam, do the tests easily if we read well.”
In contrast, there were students who outweighed other language skills and they
thought they learned to read simply to do the test. These students said that.
“Our aim is passing the final exam so we think reading is a key that only help us
understand the the contents of tests and do them more easily.”
“In future, I will go to work abroad , I will use speaking mostly , thus, reading is not as
important as speaking and listening.”
“ My parents work as shopkeepers at CuaLo beach and I need to speak and listen better. I
think reading is not neccessary for me.”
These students thought about the important of reading skill with the facts in their daily

life and activities.
3.7.3. How much do the students read?
In order to be good readers students are expected to read as often as they can.
Table 2 shows how often the students read English at home.
Table 2 - Students’ reading habits
How often do they read? Number of
mentions
Percentage
Often 12 60
Sometimes 5 25
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