some strategies for dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension for students of english faculty, hanoi open university

Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U

Hanoi open university
Faculty of english and modern languages

Graduation paper
B.A Degree in English

Some strategies for dealing with unfamiliar
words in reading comprehension for students
of English faculty, Hanoi open university

Supervisor : Le Phuong Thao, M.A
Student

: Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy

Date of birth : 29/09/1988
Course

: 2006 – 2010

Hanoi, May 2010

1


Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U

Declaration

Title: Some strategies for dealing with unfamiliar

words in reading comprehension for students of
English faculty, Hanoi open university

(Graduation Paper submitted in Partial Fulfillment for B.A Degree in
English)

I certify that no part of the above report has been copied and reproduced
by me from any other person’s work without acknowledgement and that the
report is originally written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor.

Date submitted: May 15th, 2010

Student:

Supervisor:

2


Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U

Nguyễn Thị Thu Thủy

Lê Phương Thảo

Acknowledgements
I am so glad to have a good opportunity of doing this graduation paper. It
helps me much in collecting and classifying my knowledge which I have studied.

To finish paper, I have worked under extremely high responsibility. I received
many supports from teachers and friends. I cannot accomplish this task without
their help.
First of all, I would like to express my appreciation to all the teachers of
English faculty, Hanoi Open University for teaching me to be a well-educated
student. I have learnt so many things from what they taught me. They have made
favourable conditions for me to study at school during my precious four years
here.
Secondly, I would like to give special thanks to Ms. Le Phuong Thao, my
supervisor, for both her positive response to my ideas for this paper and her
advice that helped me to complete it. I would not complete my graduation paper
without her enthusiastic instructions and correction.
Besides, I also would like to thank my friends and all the students who
helped me implement my study.
Finally yet important, I am very thankful to my family and my boyfriend
for their spiritual and financial supports to help me finish my course in Hanoi
Open University.

Hanoi, May 2009
Nguyễn Thị Thu Thủy

3


Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U

Chapter I: Introduction
1.1 Rationale:
Reading is an important tool for people of many societies allowing them
to access information or knowledge. Everyone needs reading skills for various

purposes as survival, broadened knowledge and pleasure. Reading is a basic skill
not only every school requires but every job expects. It is the fact that skills of
reading and analyzing documents or a variety of data sources are major factors
which affect a person’s work results and his salary as well. Therefore, improving
reading skill is very important for undergraduate students of English in general
and English faculty at Hanoi Open University in particular.
Reading is not just pronouncing words but requires understanding.
However, the first thing students learning English as a foreign language meet
when they are reading is the vocabulary. Many students probably consider that
their main problem in reading is not having a big enough vocabulary. Most
students who meet an unfamiliar word they cannot interpret are first likely to ask
what it means. If they do not find out the word’s meaning, they cannot go on
reading and comprehending the text. College material contains unfamiliar words
and specialized or technical vocabulary that students must learn. Also, college
textbooks in general are written at a higher level than other materials, so some
effective strategies for dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension
are necessary.
In studying process, the author of this paper and other students of English
faculty at Hanoi Open University have met many difficulties made by unfamiliar
words in reading comprehension. Therefore, the author would like to present
some reading compehension and unfamiliar word knowledge and propose some
effective strategies for dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension
for students of English faculty at Hanoi Open University.

4


Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U

1.2 Aims of the study:

It is obvious that reading plays an important role in our life. No worker
can work well without reading documents and no student can study without
reading books. Yet, we always have trouble with unfamiliar words in reading.
The objective of the study is to bring out some strategies which are helpful in
dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension for students of English
faculty, Hanoi Open University. In this study, the author would like to focus on
finding what difficulties students usually meet when encountering unfamiliar
words in reading and from that point, the author would like to bring out some
effective strategies to help students learning English as a foreign language in
general and the students of English faculty at HOU in particular to overcome
their difficulties. To help students deal with unfamiliar words in reading
comprehension, this study focused on the following main points:
• Overview of basic knowledge on reading comprehension and

unfamiliar words in reading
• Difficulties made by unfamiliar words in reading comprehension for

students
• A survey to get what exactly students find hard in encountering

unfamiliar words in reading comprehension and their habit of dealing
with this
• Proposed

effective strategies of dealing with unfamiliar words in
reading comprehension based on the result drawn from the survey.

Hopefully, this research will be a good source for students in general,
especially the students of English faculty at HOU in particular.

1.3 Scope of the study:
English reading comprehension is a wide field for research. In the scope
of this study, due to the limited time and knowledge, the author mainly focuses
on difficulties made by unfamiliar words in reading comprehension and some

5


Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U

effective strategies for dealing with it. The research aimed at English learners,
especially students at Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University.

1.4 Method of the study:
In order to accomplish this thesis systematically and adequately, the
author has acquired all the literature resources from many sources of data such as
the internet, newspapers and linguistic books in the Library of Faculty of English
and Modern Languages, HOU and the Vietnam National Library. The author
implemented a survey with subjects who are students of English faculty, Hanoi
Open University. Personal observation consulted and discussed by the supervisor
in the process of researching also contributed much to the completion of this
thesis.

1.5 Design of the study:
The study is divided into five chapters:
• Chapter I: Introduction
• Chapter II: Literature Review
• Chapter III: The study
• Chapter IV: The finding and discussion
• Chapter V: Conclusion

6


Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U

Chapter II:
Literature review
2.1 Reading Comprehension:
2.1.1 Definition of Reading:
Joe Cortina and Janet Elder (2000) defined reading as a form of thinking
in Opening Doors – Understanding college reading: “It is your brain that does
the reading, not your eyes. Your eyes merely transmit images to the brain for it
to interpret” (12,75). To understand this, we consider a blind person reading
Braille, a system of printing for the blind, in this case, the finger – tips transmit
input to the brain. Thus, Joe and Janet highly preciate the importance of brain or
thinking in reading. It also means that meaning resides in the reader’s mind, not
in symbols printed on a page. It is the readers who construct meaning by
associating their knowledge and experience with what is on the printed page.
Different readers, therefore, with their own knowledge and experience have
different understanding about the written text.
In Deanne’s view (2000), reading term is defined as follows: “Reading is
a complex cognitive process of decoding symbols for the intention of deriving
meaning (reading comprehension) and/or constructing meaning” (6,65).
According to Deanne, reading is a process of getting a message from a written
text. The writer encodes his thought or ideas as language and the reader decodes
the language to understand author’s message. This can be understood that
reading refers to receiving the writer’s knowledge and thought. It is an activity
that connects the reader and the written material or the writer. When reading,
obviously, readers interact with the writer in some ways and this will be influent

on the reading effectiveness of readers.
Another noticeable definition on reading given by John, L. (2002) is that:
“Reading is the motivated and fluent coordination of word recognition and
comprehension” (14,89). In his study, he shows that “Reading is a multifaceted
process involving word recognition, comprehension, fluency and motivation”.

7


Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U

Reading is making meaning from print. It requires: identifying the words in print
(word recognition), constructing an understanding from it (comprehension),
coordinating identifying words and making meaning so that reading is automatic
and accurate (fluency). Reading in its fullest sense involves weaving together
word recognition and comprehension in a fluent manner. These three processes
are complex, and each is important. Leipzig, also, gives a considerable idea on
reading: if reading is not pleasurable or fulfilling, readers will not choose to read,
and they will not get the practice they need to become fluent or efficient readers.
Therefore, reading also means developing and maintaining the motivation to
read.
In general, reading, like other terms, is defined in many different ways
depend on each person’ view and his/her study purpose. Hence, it is not easy to
give a completely exact definition on this term. However, a definition can be
summarized basing on above definitions is that: Reading is a complex process in
which written or printed material is decoded by readers in order to get writer’s
message.
2.1.2 Definition of Reading Comprehension:
The term “comprehension” is offered in Webster’s College Dictionary
(2008) is “the capcity of the mind to perceive and understand” or “power to

grasp ideas” from the written text. In other words, reading comprehension is a
highly interactive process that takes place between a reader and a text. Individual
readers will bring variable levels of skills and experiences to these interactions.
These include language skills, cognitive resources and world knowledge. Any act
of reading occurs within a particular sociocultural and emotional context. This
consists of elements such as the readers’ home culture, their previous experiences
of reading and being read to, their expectations that reading should carry
meaning, their motivation, their view of themselves as a reader, the purpose for
reading the text, the cultural value placed on reading and the reading
environments the reader experiences.
According to Hulstijn (1993), the word comprehension has its roots
in Latin: comprehendere means to seize. In the Latin derived language of

8


Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U

French, from which many English words come, the verb comprendre means to
understand. Thus, reading comprehension denotes the ability to read words and
grasp (seize) the meaning of these individual words as well as to understand the
meaning of the groups of these words.While many students can read aloud,
calling out the individual words with the correct pronunciations, some of them do
not comprehend what they read. That is, they can say all the words, but they do
not understand what the combined words all mean. On the other hand, those who
can read aloud or silently and understand what they have read, have
reading comprehension. Reading comprehension, therefore, can be defined as
“the level of understanding of a writing”.
Reading comprehension can be known as the result of effective reading as
well as the ability to understand and interact with the written materials in a

meaningful way. For students, comprehension refers to understanding college
textbook by reading for ideas. Reading comprehension is the crucial link to
effective reading, a strong factor in our educational and professional lives.
Reading comprehension can be known as the heart and goal of reading, since the
purpose of all reading is to gather meaning from the printed page.
2.1.3 The importance of Reading Comprehension:
One of the main benefits of reading is that it helps to build our vocabulary.
When reading books, magazines, websites, etc. we sometimes encounter new
words. Even if we do not completely understand the word, we will be able to
figure it out through association or the use of a dictionary. This not only allows
our vocabulary to grow but deepens our level of understanding. We see and
remember new words and are given examples of how they are used, this means
that vocabulary is expanded through reading process. Reading keeps our brain
working and keeps us up to date with language and modern vocabulary and
slang. It is well – known fact that too many people today don’t read regularly and
they also suffer difficulties from their limited vocabulary in communication.
Each person’ vocabulary is the foundation of his ability to think and his ability to
share his thought with other people. The more we read the more effectively we
use language in daily life.

9


Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U

Another great benefit of reading is that it provides us a wonderful time to
relax and de-stress for both children and adults. Reading can transport people to
different countries and cultures, or it can take us on a great adventure. Reading
should be viewed as a pleasurable activity – as a source of entertaining tales and
useful and interesting factual information. If we need a few moments to relax

after a hard day, reading is a wonderful way to do so. Through books, besides,
children can also learn about people and places from other parts of the world,
improve their understanding of and concern for all of humanity. Reading can
provide children with endless hours of fun and entertainment. Stories can free up
imaginations and open up exciting new words of fantasty or reality. They allow
children to dream and may give them a good start on the road to viewing reading
as a lifelong source of pleasure.
It is also found that another reading benefit that shows the importance of
reading is that reading can actually help to enhance our brain power. Not only is
reading a required skill to complete school and then university it is also a needed
skill in adult hood. The ability to read and learn new things through out our life
keeps our brain young and health. As we read, we stimulate the brain, and there
are some studies that even show that people who read on a regular basis are less
likely to end up dealing with problems like Alzheimer’s Disease. It is also
observed that children and teengagers who love reading have comparatively
higher IQs. The ability to learn about new subjects and find helpful information
on anything from health problems to more academic research into science or the
arts depends on the ability to read. Recent researches has shown that good
readers stand out from the rest because of their improved cognitive abilities.
They can think creatively. It improves their grasping power. It makes them
analyse and solve problems better. Reading helps a person be successful in life.
Reading on a regular basis can also have the added benefit of improving
our spelling as well. The more we read, the more we see the proper spelling and
it will help us to make sure that we are spelling things correctly as well, which is
definitely very important. People who start reading from an early age are
observed to have good language skills, and they grasp the variances in phonics
much better. Especially, for children, reading out loud exposes them to proper

10

Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U

grammar and phrasing. It enhances the development of their spoken language
skills, their ability to express themselves verbally, clearly and concisely.
After all, there are many great benefits of reading and they all show the
importance of reading today. There are so many ways in which reading continues
to be both a vital skill for students to master, and an important source of
knowledge and pleasure. Reading is like providing the mind with nourishment.
Knowledge is the food for the mind and soul. Apart from giving us the basic
information about the world around us, it also encourages us to think. Therefore,
the key to improving weak reading comprehension is to promote our reading
habbit and skills through understanding main benefits of reading completely.
2.1.4 Types of reading and Reading rates:
Scanning type of reading: This type is used to look for some printed
materials quickly or find a particular piece of information such as a name, date,
or phone number.Take an example, we read a telephone book, we know exactly
what we are searching for (key words and names). We “see” every item on the
page, but we don’t necessarily read the pages. We ignore anything we are not
looking for. Thus, when we discover the key words being searched for, we will
be unable to recall the exact content of the page. Approximate rate of scanning
type of reading is 1,500 wpm (words per minute) or more.
Skimming type of reading: Skimming is a reading skill used to get an
overview of the highlights of the material. We read the material quickly to gain a
general impression and it is not necessary to search for a specific item and key
words. Skimming method is useful to look at chapter/section headings,
summaries and opening paragraphs. The two purposes of skimming are: checking
relevance of text and settting the scene for the more concentrated effort that is to
follow, if the text is useful. A person who uses skimming type of reading has the
reading speed at between 800 to 1,000 wpm.

Light type of reading: Reading for leisure tends to be light reading. This
refers to reading at a pace which feels comfortable, reading with understanding,
and skimming the boring, irrelevant passages. An average light reading speed is

11


Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U

100 – 200 words per minute. This form of reading does not generally require
detailed concentration.
Word by word type of reading: This type of reading is time consuming
and demands a high level of concentration. Some material is not readily
understood and so it requires a slow, careful and analytical reading. People use
this type of reading for unfamiliar words and concepts, scientific formulate. It
can take up to an hour just to read a few lines of text.
Reading to study type of reading: The aim of the method of reading for
study is to understand the material some depth. The method involves five simple
steps: Survey, Question, Read, Recall and Review. The first, readers skim
through to gain an overview and not key points. Then, they devise questions we
hope the text will answer and read slowly and carefully. The forth step is
recalling from memory, writing down the main points made by the chapter. Final
one is reviewing readers’ questions, comparing these to their recall and
establishing how well the text has answered the questions, and filling in any gaps
by further reading and note-taking.
Obviously, people read for many different purposes. There are different
styles of reading for different situations. The technique reader chooses will
depend on the purpose for reading. For example, he might be reading for
enjoyment, information, or to complete a task. If he is exploring or reviewing, he
might skim a document. If he is searching for information, he might scan for a

particular word. To get detailed information, he might use a technique such as
SQ4R. Readers, moreover, need to adjust their reading speed and technique
depending on their purposes. Our reading speed should fit our purposes for
reading. We read for many different purposes, and our reasons for reading any
particular material affects our reading speed. For example, we approach to
reading a newspaper article or a letter from a friend will be different from our
approach to reading and studying a college textbook. Reading rates and their uses
are shown in this following table (12, 79) :

12


Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U

Table 2.1: Flexible reading
Reading rates

Approximate rate

Uses

(wpm)
Rapid reading

300 – 500

For
relatively
easy
material, when readers

want only important
facts or ideas or for
leisure reading.

Average reading

200 – 300

For textbooks, complex
magazines and journals
and literature.

Studying reading

50 – 200

For new vocabulary,
complex
concepts,
technical material, and
retaining details (such as
legal
documents,
material
to
be
memorized and material
of great interest or
importance).

2.1. 5 Reading comprehension strategies:
The term “strategy” refers to “a particular plan for achievement of a goal”
(18, 257). A lot of reading strategies are adopted by the speed reader to
accomplish reader’s goal of fast reading. Reading is not only just pronouncing
words but requires understanding. Most experienced readers use a variety of
strategies to understand text. Five main strategies suggested to ensure good

13


Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U

reading comprehension are: prediction, questioning, clarifying, imagining and
summarisation.
Prediction: Predicting means anticipating or making educated guesses
about what is coming next as reader reads. Predicting is a natural part of reading
and the first step to successful comprehension, but we may not always do it when
we are reading college textbooks. It could be believed that the ability to predict
what a text entails is the first step to successful comprehension. A reader obtains
the first clues to what a text is about via its title. Together with the opening
sentences this can help the reader decide if the text is appropriate to their purpose
(in the case of non-fiction) or to activate a story schema (in the case of fiction).
The good reader then actively looks for cues to enrich their mental model of the
text as reading proceeds. In turn, the developing representation of the text can be
used to set up expectancies at the word, sentence and text levels. This will
facilitate reading fluency and deepen understanding.
Questioning and clarifying: An actively engaged reader can use selfquestioning to monitor their reading comprehension and to help clarify points
that they fail to understand. Closely related to this is the use of the look back
strategy to find information that is needed to resolve ambiguities. A successful
comprehender knows how to generate pertinent questions, and can fall back on

their mental model of the text to know where to locate relevant information.
Imagining: Imagining refers to the use of mental imagery to enhance text
comprehension by enriching the mental model of a text. Many successful
comprehenders translate the story they are reading into a series of images, almost
like a film that can be replayed during story recall. Children who do not do this
spontaneously can be taught to use the strategy to incorporate the details of what
they read around a central theme.
Summarisation: The process of summarisation is perhaps most closely
allied to the development of the situation model. Summarisation involves the
extraction of the gist and main themes of what is read (while putting aside the
irrelevant details), and integrating the details into a coherent whole. Additional
processes may include the evaluation of style and mood and making

14


Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U

generalisations. Summarisation depends on basic language skills, inferential
abilities and knowledge and engagement with texts.
2.1.6 Effective reading and proficient readers:
Effective reading is active and interactive process. Effective reading
requires that readers interact with the material they are reading. Reading actively
also means being aware of how the material is organized. Finally, active reading
means that readers monitor their comprehension as they read and that they take
steps to correct the situation when they are not comprehending.
Most of people think of reading as a simple, passive process. But reading
is actually a very complex process that requires a great deal of active
participation on the part of the reader. Here are some ideas which experts in the
field have said about the reading process:

“What do we read? The message is not something given in advance – or
given at all – but something created by interaction between writers and readers
as participants in a particular communicative situation”. (Roy Harris in
Rethinking Writing, 2000)
“Reading is asking questions of printed text. And reading with
comprehension becomes a matter of getting your questions answered”. (Frank
Smith in Reading without nonsense, 1997)
“Reading is a psycholinguistic guessing game. It involves an interaction
between thought and language. Efficient reading does not result from precise
perception an identification of all elements, but from skill in selecting the fewest,
most productive cues necessary to produce guesses which are right the first time.
The ability to anticipate that which has not been seen, of course, is vital in
reading, just as the ability to anticipate what has not yet been heard is vital in
listening”. (Kenneth Goodman in Journal of the Reading Specialist, 1967)
“Literacy practices are almost always fully integrated with, interwoven into,
constituted as part of, the very texture of wider practices that involve talk, interaction,
values, and beliefs”. (James Gee in Social Linguistics and Literacies, 1996)

15


Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U

According to above ideas, reading is a process requires many complex
skills and a proficient reader is a reader who knows how to use them logically.
For example, proficient readers recognize the purpose for reading, approach the
reading with that purpose in mind, use strategies that have proven successful to
them in the past when reading similar texts for similar purposes, monitor their
comprehension of the text in light of the purpose for reading, and if needed adjust
their strategy use. Proficient readers know when unknown words will interfere

with achieving their purpose for reading, and when they won't. When unknown
words arise and their meaning is needed for comprehension, proficient readers
have a number of word attack strategies available to them that will allow them to
point out the meaning of the words to the extent that they are needed to achieve
the purpose for reading. Reading is also a complex process in that proficient
readers give to the text as much as they take. They make meaning from the text
by using their own prior knowledge and experiences. Proficient readers are
constantly making predictions while reading. They are continuously anticipating
what will come next. Their prior knowledge and experiences with texts as well as
with the world around them allow them to do this. It is this continuous interaction
with the text that allows readers to make sense of what they are reading.
Hussain (2005, p.110) writes that a proficient reader who comprehends
English language has the following capabilities:
• He can read at normal speed.
• He is able to understand the lexical and the structural meanings of the

words, phrases and sentences.
• He can take in complete phrases or groups of words at once and when

reading aloud, use appropriate sounds, juncture, stress and intonation
pattern.
• He can guess the meaning of unfamiliar words while reading a text.
• If he is unable to guess the meaning of an unfamiliar word, he can find

out it in a dictionary.
• He can skip unnecessary information while skimming.
• He is able to read silently without moving his lips.

16

Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U

• He is able to differentiate between opinion and facts.
• He can locate the topic sentence in a paragraph.
• He can make a summary of important points.
• He can distinguish between various moods of the writer.
• He can recognize the meanings of various graphic signals such as

punctuation marks, etc.
This is shown clearly through the following figure:

Figure 2.1: Reading activities performed by skilled readers
Proficient reading depends on the ability to recognize words quickly and
effortlessly. A proficient reader is a person who “does not have to interrupt his

17


Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U

reading and open the dictionary all” (Deanne Milan).

2.2 Unfamiliar words:
2.2.1 Definition of word:
In Webster’s College Dictionary, a word is known as:
“a unit of language, consisting of one or more spoken sounds or their
written representation, that functions as a principal carrier of meaning, is
typically seen as the smallest such unit capable of independent use, is separated
from other such units by spaces in writing and is often distinguished

phonologically, as by accent or pause”. (18, 412)
A word is the smallest free form or an item that may be uttered in isolation
with semantic or pragmatic content in a language, in contrast to a morpheme,
which is the smallest unit of meaning. A word may consist of only one
morpheme (e.g. car), but a single morpheme may not able to exist as a free form
(e.g. the English plural morpheme –s). Typically, a word will consist of a root or
stem, and zero or more affixes. Words can be combined to create other units of
language, such as phrases, clauses, and sentences. A word consisting of two or
more stems joined together form a compound. A word combined with an already
existing word or part of a word form a portmanteau. (Internet source No.)
Another remarkable definition on word which Leonard Bloomfield
introduced the concept of “Minimal Free Forms” in 1962 is that “Words are
thought of as the smallest meaningful unit of speech that can stand by
themselves. This involes phonemes – units of sound and lexemes – units of
meaning”. However, he also approves that some written words are not minimal
free forms, as they make no sense by themselves (e.g. the and of) .
A word in English is a basic central unit in the language. It may consist of
one or more morphemes as a morpheme is the smallest unit that has meaning,
either lexical or grammatical.
Lexical words are called Open class items which convey content words
include Nouns, Adjectives, Adverbs and Verbs. The number of this class is

18


Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U

unlimited because its members can go together to create a new word with new
meaning (e.g. new is an adjective combines with born – a verb to create a new
adjective new – born) . By adding affixes to a member, a new member can be

formed. For instance, act (Verb)  active (Adjective)  actively (Adverb) 
actor (Noun)  action (Noun).
In contrast, grammatical words is known as Closed system items which
consist of function words such as Articles, Demonstratives, Pronouns,
Prepositions and Conjunctions. This type of word has some features different
from Open class items. The number of grammatical words is limited because its
members can not go together, in the other hand, the members of this class
exclude each other. For example, a car is accepted but a my car is not available.
As the result, it can never create new members.
Basic knowledge of word is shown clearly in the following diagram:

Morphemes

Words

Parts of speech

Open class

Closed – system

Noun, Verb, Adjective,
Adverb

Pronoun, Article,
Preposition, Conjunction,
Demonstrative,
Interjection

Diagram 2.1 : Word structure.

19


Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U

2.2.2 Definition of unfamiliar words:
Reading in its fullest sense involves weaving together word recognition
and comprehension in a fluent manner. However, the fact shows that word
comprehension is not always easy. The first thing students meet when they are
reading is the vocabulary. Many students probably consider that their main
problem in reading is not having a big enough vocabulary. Most students who
meet an unfamiliar word cannot interpret are first likely to ask what it means. If
they do not find out the word’s meaning, they can not go on reading and
comprehending the text. So, what is an unfamiliar word in reading?
A word which is an “unaccustomed” or “unusual” word to readers is
called an unfamiliar word (18, 190). It is unlikely that a student will know every
word in a text and even if he thinks he has seen every word before, it is unlikely
that he will has seen a particular word in its present context. It is therefore
necessary to work out the meaning of unfamiliar words in context and, perphaps,
familiar words in new contexts.
Reading in college refers to reading academic materials with many
difficult words. Students cannot read college textbooks, however, without also
facing with unfamiliar words. An unfamiliar word can be a new word or a
familiar word in new contexts. For example:
“Nutrient levels have risen sharply in many parts of the bay, causing
algal blooms and oxygen depletion. Levels of heavy metals and toxic organic
chemicals have increased in the water and in the bottom sediment, and some of
this toxic contaminants have been biologically amplified in food webs.”
In above example, “algal blooms”, abundant seaweed-type plant, is

considered a new word for many students because it is a technical term. Students
hardly meet it in other contexts so they cannot figure out its meaning. The next
word “amplified” is probably a familiar word means “to enlarge by addition or
discussion”. But in this context, its meaning is “increased, made greater”. It
therefore is also considered an unfamiliar word which students cannot identify
the exact meaning of word.

20


Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U

For these reasons, unfamiliar words can cause frequent interruptions in
students’ reading concentration. If there are too many unfamiliar words in the
text, this can be a substantial stumbling block for further progress in reading any
text. Furthermore, students who do not have a means of dealing with these
difficult words, their sustained reading will be much more disrupted, less words
will be encountered.
2.2.3 Difficulties made by unfamiliar words in reading comprehension:
In college or university, studying requires certain reading comprehension
skills so that college students may be able to ready fluently textbooks, specialist
documents or other academic papers. Even reading comprehension is also one of
the most important skills required in tests and examinations. Yet, the fact that
reading comprehension is not easy and comfortable for students due to unfamiliar
words in the page.
Whenever students encounter the unfamiliar words, their reading is
certainly interrupted. Most of them feel confused and worried because of these
words. Generally, their reading habit is reading word-by-word. They can
comprehend the sentence only when every word of the context is familiar with
them. Understanding individual words is vital for them to understand the whole

sentence. Students who is not available to understand such sentences definitely
struggle with the whole text’s meaning.
Moreover, the first reaction of encountering an unfamiliar word in reading
comprehension is that students immediately stop to ask other people (friends,
teachers or nearby people) for helping or look it up in the dictionary. This, of
course, makes their reading speed slow. This means students do not save their
time when reading or not gain their reading goal. Slow reading speed also affect
on finishing students’ scores at school.
Another difficulty made by unfamiliar words is lack of interest to reading
comprehension. Reading is not only just pronouncing words but requires
understanding so understanding what is being read is very important for students
in studying or researching. Reading process interrupted by unfamiliar words
means that reading is not pleasurable or fulfilling. Students will not choose to

21


Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U

read, and they will not get the practice they need to become fluent or efficient
readers. Therefore, developing and maintaining the motivation to read is also
affected by unfamiliar words in reading comprehension.

2.3 Some strategies for dealing with unfamiliar words in
reading comprehension:
2.3.1 Ignoring the unfamiliar words:
When students first meet unfamiliar words in reading, they should ignore
them by using skimming and scanning skills if the unfamiliar words don’t affect
their reading. These two skills are useful for students to understand the general of
a sentence or a passage as a whole without knowing what every word means.

2.3.1.1 Skimming skill:
Skimming is used to gain a quick overview in order to identify the main
idea or general information of a text, students just past over the text lightly and
hastily. When students are skimming, their eyes begin to slide down a column of
words, names, figures, or phrases they do not actually read each entry. A word,
name, figure or phrase students should look for can:
• Appear as a title, subtitle, heading or subheading
• Appear in bold print, italics or color
• Be repeated throughout the paragraph
• Appear once at the beginning and is then referred to throughout the

paragraph by pronouns or by other words.
It is clear that a paragraph does not have all of these clues, but all
paragraphs have at least one of them. The following example illustrates looking
for a word, name, or phrase in the paragraph that appears in special print:
“The explosive growth of the World Wide Web is due largely to the
development of graphical browsers, software that allows you to move easily
among the millions of Web sites. By far the most popular browsers is Netscape,
which is employed at most colleges and universities, through it is facing a stiff

22


Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U

challenge from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Commercial on-line services such
as CompuServe, Prodigy, and America Online offer their own browsers.” (14,93)
The word in italics indicates the topic: browsers. The entire paragraph
discusses browsers, a way to move easily among millions of web sites. One or

more of the four clues described above will always help students determine the
topic of paragraph. Determining the topic is the starting point in comprehending
as students read. It is also a key to reading comprehension without understanding
every word appears in context.
Furthermore, they should consider reading the first or last sentence of
each paragraph is useful when they are seeking the general idea rather than
understanding individual words (19, 34) because the first sentence or last one of
each paragraph is often where the introduction or the summary is located. The
following excerpt is from a health textbook:
“Bulimia, a disorder characterized by eating followed by vomiting, may
occur with anorexia nervosa or as a separate illness with different psychological
roots. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the symptoms of
bulimia are found in 40 to 50 percent of people with anorexia nervosa. As with
anorexia, the majority of bulimia victims are women, typically in their early
twenties, college-educated, single, and white. Unlike those with anorexia, the
victims of bulimia tend to be of nearly normal weight and have healthy, outgoing
personalities. The greatest difference is that a person with anorexia turns away
from food while a person with bulimia is obsessively drawn to it. It is obvious
that there are important similarities and differences between the eating disorders
bulimia and anorexia.” (14,129)
The topic of paragraph which is bulimia and anorexia is located at the last
sentence. As students read the paragraph, they must ask themselves, “What is the
most important point the authors want me to understand about bulimia and
anorexia?”. In spite of lots of unfamiliar technical words, students can find out
the answer to this question, the last sentence, is the stated main idea sentence.
This sentence contains the topic and it is a general statement that tells about the
author’s most important point – bulimia and anorexia.

23

Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U

2.3.1.2 Scanning skill:
While skimming skill is used to know general information, scanning is the
special technique students should use to find detailed information without
understanding every word’s meaning. Skimming refers to the process of quickly
searching reading material in order to locate specific bits of information.
Scanning involves moving reader’s eyes quickly down the page seeking
specific words and phrases. Reader does not actually read but move the eyes
across the page and by using vertical section of the recognition span is able to
cover three or four lines of print at a movement. When reader reaches the
information he needs, he reads it thoroughly.
Reader probably scan when he searches for a phone number in a telephone
book, goes through the TV guide looking for a program to watch or looks up an
unknown word in the dictionary. If reader searches for a date, he should move his
eyes down the page looking for numbers. If reader looks for a person’s name, he
should use the inevitable capital letter as an aid. In other situations, using
quotation marks, hyphens, or italics is also helpful.
To sum up, when first meeting unfamiliar wors in reading, students
should be keep calm and decide whether they need to understand the exact
meaning of the unfamiliar words in order to understand the general sense of the
sentence or passage. If not, they had better use skimming and scanning skills to
identify the neccessary information. It is clear that, when students use these two
skills, they would not only accelerates your reading speed and flexibility, but also
be more confident in reading activity.

2.3.2 Recalling the word’s meaning by pronunciation:
When readers encounter an unfamiliar word or a familiar word without
remembering its meaning in reading, they should first sound it out or decode the

word. Reading decoding skills are critical component in the ability to read. In
Reading in a foreign language (Alderson, J.C., 1984), reading decoding skills is
defined as “the ability to make sense of printed words. This involves recalling
and recognizing the spoken word that is represented by the printed word.” In

24


Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – K13U

other words, reading decoding skills is the ability to understand that a printed
word represents the spoken word, and that this printed word is made of a
sequence of phonemes.

Barnett, M. (1988) give the definition: “Decoding skill is the ability to
apply readers’ knowledge of letter-sound relationships, including knowledge of
letter patterns, to correctly pronounce written words”. Understanding these
relationships gives students the ability to recognize familiar words quickly and to
figure out words they haven't seen before.
In English, there is a good deal of regularity between the letters and the
sounds (phonemes), but there are also quite a few exceptions. There are very few
letters in English that always correspond to a single sound, and there is no one
sound that always corresponds to a single letter. English, it is said, has a “deep
orthography”, which basically just means that there are a lot of words that are not
spelled the way they sound (e.g. “colonel” or “choir”). This is illustrated by the
following table that shows the one-to-many relationship that exists between
letters and sounds (phonemes):
Table 2.2: Letter-sound relationships
Letters

Words that represent different sounds each letter can
make

A

APPLE, AUTHOR, AUTHORITY, ANY, SAID, SAY,
ALGAE

B

BOX, LAMB

C

CITY, COUNTRY, CHAIR

D

DOOR, LACKED

E

BED, BEAD, STEAK, EUREKA, THE, SEW

F

FOOD, OF

G

GIANT, GRUNT, RING, REIGN, SIGN, ENOUGH

H

HOLE, PHONE, SHINE, CHORE, CHOIR, HOUR,
EXHIBIT

I

FINE, LID, CEILING, WEIRD, GOITER

J

JAM, JALEPENO

K

KING, KNIFE

25