An investigation into both efl reading difficulties and a reading course as attempt to resolve the problems at soc trang collecge of education

MINIST RY OF EDUCATION AN D T RANING
VIETNAM NA TI ONAL UNIVERS ITY O F HO CHI M INH CITY
HOCHIMI NH CITY UN IVE RSITY OF SOC IAL SCIENCES AN D HU MANITI ES

LAM Q UANG TUYET M INH

AN INVESTIGATION INTO BOTH EFL READING DIFFICULTIES AND
A READING COURSE AS AN ATTEMPT TO RESOLVE TH E PROBLEMS
AT SOC TRANG COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

SU BMITTED IN PARTI AL FULFILMENT
O F THE RE QUIREMENTS FOR THE DEG REE OF
MASTER O F T ESO L

Supe rvisor: NGUYEN HoANG LINH , M .A

.LA
;, "

'.: - - ., -

. _ ~.

' I

'

i
I

'':'=- - ~

HO C HI MIN H C ITY - 2005


CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY
I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted tod ay entitled:
AN INVESTIGATION INTO BOTH EFL READING DIFFICULTIES
AND

A READING COURSE AS AN ATTEMPT TO RESOLVE

THE PROBLEMS AT SOC TRANG COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

In terms of the statement of Requirements for These s in
Master' s Programmes issued by the Higher Degree Committee.

Ho Chi Minh City, September 2005

LAM QUANG TUYET MINH


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to acknowledge a debt to the people who have helped me to
complete this study.
First of all, I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Mr. Nguyen Hoang
Linh, M.A., for his critical and valuable suggestions, comments, corrections, and
encouragement.
I also wish to thank Mr. Huynh Huu Nhi, the Principal of Soc Trang

College of Education, who has given me the opportunity to attend the TESOL
Graduate Programs.
In addition, I would like to show my gratitude to all of my lecturers of the
Postgraduate Section of the Department of English Linguistics and Literature of
Ho Chi Minh University of Social Sciences and Humanities for their interesting
and professional lectures.
Finally, I greatly appreciate the staff of the English Department at my
College for their support and concern, and all of my students at Soc Trang
College of Education for their participation in this thesis.

11


ABSTRACT
Reading ha s been the skill mo st empha sized in traditi on al a nd eve n tod ay
EFL tea ching in many countrie s. For many stude nts, readin g is the most
important of the four language skills in English as a seco nd lan guage a nd a
foreign language.
At Soc Trang College of Education , however, stude nts find readin g
compre he nsion difficult and unfamiliar because th e y ha ve been lack ing o f
vocabulary, grammar, and e specially reading technique s which ha ve not be en
much equipped during stude nts ' EFL courses . In addition, most EFL course s at
the college level in th is school that I have ob served either ign ore the reading
skills or deal with it inadequately.
Ba sed on the a bo ve rea son s, I a m very interested in finding o ut the
diffi culties in reading encountered by students attendin g in so me non- Engli sh
major cla sses at Soc Trang College of Education . Then a reading stra te gy course
with a modified tea ching method and supple me nte d with the additional reading
material is applied with the aim of trying to re sol ve the stude nts' probl ems in
their reading le ssons. Before the reading course, the pre-te st and the

questionnaire before the course are used to se e the stude nts' reading difficulties,
then the po st-te st and the questionnaire after the course are conducted to
examine whether the students can get mu ch progre ss in learning EFL reading .
The study report is presented in five chapters. Chapter one is an
introduction involved three concrete parts, the sco pe of the study , the rati on al e
of the study, and the aims with so me re search question s. Chapter two pre sents
III


an overview of some aspects relating to reading skills. Methodology of the study
is especially addressed in chapter three. Chapter four offers the finding s, some
discussions from the data collection. The last chapter ends with some
conclusions and recommendations on teaching reading and reading instructions.

IV


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Content

Page

Certificate of Origin alit y

i

Ackn owl edgements

ii

Abstrac t

iii

Table of Cont ents

v

List of Abbreviations

viii

List of Figures and Table s

ix

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION

1

1.1 Scope of the Study

1

1.2 Rati onale of the Stu dy

3

1.3 Aims of the Stud y a nd Re se arch Qu estions

5

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

7

2. I A Brie f History on EF LIESL Re ad ing

7

2.2 Re adi ng Proce ss

12

2.3 Some App roach es Affecting Re ad ing Proce ss

12

2.3. 1 Th e Schema Th eor y

12

2.3.2 Th e Bottom -Up and Top -Down App roache s

13

2.4 Re aders a nd Re adin g Le ssons

13

2.4. 1 Re aders and Readers' Contribution to Comprehen sion

13

2.4.2 Reading Te xt and Benefits of Re ading Texts

17

2.5 LI and L2 Interferen ce s

18

2.6 Re adin g Skills

20

2.7 Te achin g Re ading : Skills and Te aching Strat e gy Re adi ng fro m Successfu l
Classroom

24

2.8 Re ading Instructions

32
v


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

2.9 Reading Task

37

2.10. Background of Teaching and Learning English and Some Students'
Common Difficulties in Reading

38

Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY

43

3.1 Objectives

43

3.2 Participants

43

3.3 Data Collection Procedure

44

3.3.1. Identifying stude nts' pr obl ems in re ading

44

3.3.1.1. Que stionnaire before the Training

44

3.3.1.2. Pre-test

44

3.3.2. Trying a Training Course to Re sol ve the Probl ems

45

3.3.2.1. Some maj or criteria for building the additio nal materi al s

45

3.3.2 .2. Re ading Topics

48

3.2 .2.3. Language Knowl edge

48

3.2.2.4. Skill s devel op ed during the training co urse

48

3.3.3. New Teaching Method

50

3.3.3.1. Training pro cedure

50

3.3.3.2. Practical Fa ctors on Running the Reading Course

51

3.3.3 .3. Sample lesson plan

53

3.3.4 . Identifying Results

60

3.3.4.1

60

Po st-te st

1142
. s a f ter t he course
- ._. .. Que sti.onnaire

60

Chapter 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

61

4.1 Students' Reading Difficulties

61

4.1.1. Results from the questionnaires before the course

61

VI

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

4.1.2. Results from the pre-test..

64

4.2. The post-test Results and Analy sis

66

4.2 .1. Comparison of the Pre-te st and Post-test

66

4.3. Te st Results

66

4.3.1. Comp arison of the Pre-t est and Post-test

66

4.4 Results from the Questionna ire after the Trainin g Cour se

69

4.5. Limitation

75

4.6 Discussion

76

Chapter 5: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

78

Appendix I: Questionnaires before the course

SI

Appendix 2: Pre-test

82

Appendi x 3: Post-test

86

Appendi x 4: Questionnaires after the course

91

Bibliography

94

VII

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ANOY A: analysis of vari ance
DF : Differ en ces in Means sco res betw e en the tests
EFL: Engli sh as a Forei gn Lan guage
ESL: English as a Sec ond Lan guage
ESP: English for Specific Purp ose s
ETR: English - Te xt - Rel ati onship
FL: Fore ign Lan guage
M: Mark s obtai ne d form the tests

YD: very diffi cult
D: difficult
NYD : Not ve ry diffi cult
ND: Not difficult
Std De v: Standard De viati on

Vlll

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

/

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Table 1.1: Students' Opinion on the Four Language Skills
Figure 2.l.a: Psycholinguistic Model (Coady, 1979)
Figure 2.1.b: The Traditional View of the Readers
Table 2.1: Differences between the Old and New Definitions of Reading
Figure 2.l.c: Comprehension Strategies (R.A. Kuth & B.F. Jones, 1991)
Figure 2.4 .1: Presupposition and Communication (Nuttall, 1982)
Table 2.6: Strategies-Based Approaches to reading Tasks (Nunan, 1999)
Figure 2.10: Degrees of English Language Training in High School
Table 2.1O.a: Results of the English Subject in the First College Year
Table 2.1O.b: students' Motivation in Studying English
Table 4.1: Students' Experiences on Their Reading Difficulties
Table 4.2.1.a: Results Obtained from the Pre-test and Post-test
Figure 4.2.1: Results Obtained from the Pre-test and Post-test

Table 4.2.1.b: Means and Standard Deviation Obtained in Pre-test and Posttest
Table 4.2.I .c: Differences in Means Scores among the Tests
Table 4.2.1 .d: Descriptive Statistic for the Effect of the Study Program on the
Mean Value of the Tests
Table 4.3: Results of the Questionnaire after the Training Course

IX

-

- _ . _ --

-

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

Chapter 1: ltr oduetion

CHAPT'ER 1: INTR.ODUCTION
1.1. Scope of the Study
To carryon the goa ls of enha nci ng the te a ch ing a nd le a rning qual ity .
the te a ch er ne eds to ha ve: firs tly the way of te a ch ing in accordance wit h
stude nts' le vel s, second ly the a bility to help studen ts participa te in the le sso ns to
de vel op stude nts' se nse of initiati ve an d crea tiveness .
In order to use Eng lis h as a co mm unicative tool, the le arners a re not
only fu lly e q ui pped wi th gra m mar, struc tures, vocabulary , pronun ci at ion . but
a lso tra ine d in four sk ills : listenin g, speak ing, rea ding an d wr iting. Th ere for e .

we e as ily find o ut that every unit of a n Eng lish le sson ofte n includ e s most o f the
ac tiv ities that can help the le arners de vel op the ir a b ility in lea rning a lan gu a ge
a ll-sidedly . Amo ng the se lan gua ge ski lls, liste ning a nd re adin g a re thou ght as
the passive skills or recepti ve sk ills . Both invo lve hi ghl y co m plex cog nitive
proc e ssin g o pe ra tio ns . Ac cordin g to N una n ( ISlSlSl :24Sl) the o bv io us d iIlc rc ncc
betwe en the tw o skills , re ad in g an d listenin g, is e phe me ra l: whe n the words
listened a re go ne as soon as the y are utt e red , w ritte n words in rea di ng a re
perman ent, a nd ca n be re visited whe n re ad ing . In fac t, re ad in g is not so meth ing
that every individual ca n do. It is prob abl y tru e to see tha t a n lot of tim e , mon e y
a nd effort is spe nt in te aching a nd le arning re ading at sc hoo ls a ro und the wo rld .
Durin g a co up le of de cad e s, in the world , there ha ve be e n tre me ndo us
cha nges

III

No wad ays

the fie ld of te ach ing an d le arnin g lan g ua ge , es pecia lly Eng lish .
III

man y uni versit ie s a nd co lleges in Vie tna m,

Eng lis h is a

co m pulso ry subjec t, so there is a re al ne ed of te a chin g a nd le arnin g Eng lish. For

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

1

C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

.n.

11.l ~ S· "

/

in-T£SOL

Chapter 1: Itroduction

many students at Soc Trang College of Educati on , re ading is one of the
interesting lan guage skill in le arning English as a second or fore ign langu age
(se e the table I bel ow ). I ma y find that re ading is one of the ma in re a son s why
many stude nts le arn the lan guage, ju st be cause Engli sh , a fore ign lan gu age , ca n
se rve their need of mastering a fore ign lan gu age and supp lementing the
knowl ed ge on their spe cia list as we ll as higher e duca tion.
Students at Soc Tr an g Coll e ge of Educa tio n ha ve be en tra ine d to
bec om e future te ach ers in so me fields of Ped agogy: English lan gu age .
Math emati cs-Ph ysics, Ch emistr y-Bi ol ogy, Literature-Hi stor y. Ci vics-History .
Biology-G ymn astics, e tc. se t by Soc Tr an g Bure au of Education and Tr ain ing for
the annua l local ne ed of the e duca tion. Be sid e the mat erials in Vie tna mese
provided by the te achers in classes, stude nts are e nco uraged to re ad specia lize d
materials ava ilable in English to ge t more knowled ge a nd information for their
furthe r study . Students are now co nsc ious of the imp ort an ce a nd the ne ce ssity of
English for their future job s as well as internati on al inte gr ati on. A qu e stionn a ire
se nt to 119 EFL se cond-yea r stude nts is used to as k which skills intere st the m
the most whe n the y were le arn ing Eng lish as fore ig n lan gu age . Th e da ta fro m

the qu e stionn aire be fore the trai ning course to exa mine the stude nts' re adin g
difficult ie s sho ws the percentag e of attraction of the four lan gu age skills.
Skills
I. Writin g
2. Re ading
3. Sp eakin g
4 . Listening
Total

Opinion s on the skills
42 (35.3%)
32 (26 .9%)
30 (25.2%)
15 (12.6 %)

119
Tabl e 1.1: Students' opinion on the four lan gu age skills
Based on the re sults from the tabl e above, readi ng co mpre he nsion
may get a grea t deal o f atte ntion from stude nts at thi s co llege . It is clea r that
re ading is the skill that interests the stude nts a nd sa tisfies the ir ne eds. In fact ,

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

2


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

Chapter 1: itroduction

M.A Thesis in TESOL

the stude nts like to learn reading and they are re all y aware of how much this
skill affe cts their study. In reality, how e ver, stude nts usu all y meet so me
problems wh en the y are reading.
1.2. Rationale of the Study
We are now living

In

an inform at ion age with the exp losion o f

documents, book s, magazine s, new sp ap ers, advertise me nts. instruction s. and
es pecia lly the dev el opment of the Internet a ll ove r the world. T he ne ed to rea d
in English has be en more imp ort ant than ever before.
In Vietn am , te ach ing English ge nera lly provi des stude nts with certain
abilities to understand the writte n mate rial s and to inte gr at e into a modern
world. It is true that the stude nts can le arn a lot of Eng lish ins ide and outside the
classroom. Along with the modern trend of te ach ing and le a rni ng Eng lish, the
te achers of the Eng lish Department a t So c Tr an g Co llege of Educa tion have
be en trying to apply the improved ways for more effective purposes in lan guage
te aching and le arnin g proce ss. Amo ng the four lan gu age skills, I am ve ry
inte res te d in doin g a survey on stude nts' re ading diffi cultie s. Th en I de cide to do
an inves tiga tio n into EFL re ading difficulti e s and an a tte mp t to de al with the
re adin g probl ems by applying a strategy train ing cou rse in whic h re adin g is
tau ght to the students inte grated with the other lan gu a ge skills to hel p the m fee l
at ease and und erstand the way how to inte rna lize re ad ing a foreig n lan guage
effective ly. Th e re are so me major re ason s to carry out this curren t study .
Fir stly, at Soc Tr an g Colle ge of Edu cat ion whe re stude nts are traine d
to becom e tea chers, re ading co mprehens ion is tau ght in the integra tion with

listening, spea king, writing activitie s eve ry se meste r of a three-year course . EFL
students at this co llege wh o will ge t the e le menta ry le vel o f Eng lish proficien cy
hav e sixty period s for e ac h se meste r of the first year and fo rty -five periods for

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

3


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

Chept er 1: Itra d uc tio n

M.A Thesis in TESOL
the othe r fo ur se meste rs . Th e tex tbook that

SIX

teache rs of the Eng lish

Department have been using to te ach for the se classes is " The New Engli sh
Cambridge Course , Student Book 1- Michael Swa n, Cathe rin e Wa lter, 1990.
Cambridge University Pre ss ". Thi s te xtb ook cle arly foc uses on the integration of
four lan guage skills in whi ch the main foc us is on listening and speaki ng. There
is not e nough knowledge and activities to de vel op re ad ing an d wri ting skills,
es pecially reading skills.
Sec ondl y, it seems that the re is not e no ugh tim e and cha nces for
te achers as we ll as stude nts to deve lop the stude nts' ow n re ading ski lls. My own
ex perience as a te acher of English suggests that te ach e rs shou ld spend more
time for re ad ing skills and supply su itab le mat e rials that suit the studen ts'

knowled ge and le vel of English. Why do 1 think so? Firstly, because EFL
stude nts ne ed to re ad othe r materials in the ir moth e r ton gue as well as in Eng lish
for their ex tra study, and there is a ce rtai n matt er that a fter the y finish every
se mes te r, stude nts are a lways te sted by a te st paper that ca n mea sure the ir
abilities throu gh English gra mmar, lan guage in use , read ing , a nd wr iting
compre he nsion. Because stude nts are not train e d mu ch in re adin g, hen ce the y
did the te st with the low sco res, es pecia lly in re ad ing co mp re hensi on part. The
re sults obta ine d from the te sts at the e nd of each semes ter ha ve not sa tisfie d the
te achers as well as the stude nts.
Th e fin al fund am ental re ason of this study is base d on the ne e d of
having an improved way of teaching. From the ind ependen ce day of our cou ntry
to the e nd of Februa ry 200 I this school was known as a Secondary Educat ion
Schoo l. After that time , with the allowa nce of Minis try of Education and
Training, it has go t the authority in be comin g a Coll e ge of Edu cation where
stude nts are train ed to te ach at secondary schools in the future . In thre e -ye ar
working as a ne w sc hoo l, the board of co llege governors a nd the teach ing sta ff

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

4


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

Cheptzr I: ltr odueti on

M.A Thesis in TESOL
ha s been ove rco ming di fficultie s

In

te achin g during the e ar ly days of a new

period. Th e matter of how to hel p students ge t success in the ir le a rning proce ss
is a lways in our min d. Particul arl y in the De partme nt of Engl ish . the
Communicati ve App roach ha s be en wid el y e mploye d in te achin g the lan gu age
to stude nts. All of the te ach ers know that this approa ch is e xpecte d to facilit at e
active le arning and lan gu age acquisition. It gi ve s the lea rners oppo rtunities to
de vel op and integra te naturall y with the community whe re Eng lish is spoke n.
With the vital re ason s menti on ed ab ove . the writ er o f this study trie s to
ca rry out a re se arch on .. An investigation into both EFL reading difficulties and

a reading course as an attempt to resolve the problems at S oc Trang College of
Education "to help stude nts to study Eng lish be tter.
1.2. Aims of the Study and Research Questions
Th e princip le a im of the study is to inve stigate curre nt se tting o f
le arn ing EFL re ad ing at Soc T ran g Colle ge o f Ed uca tion to find out the
difficultie s in re ading that have be en obstacles to the stude nts e xperie nced by
themsel ve s Juring the re ading proce ss.
Th e second purpose o f this study is to point out some im plicat ion s by
conduc ting a training course in which additiona l readi ng mat erial s are a pplie d to
te ach EFL re ading to stude nts. Th e se are the thin gs that the write r expe cts to do :
(a) De finin g the difficulti e s e xperie nced by the stude nts while the y arc
le arn ing EFL re adin g.
(b) Base d on the stude nts ' difficultie s. de signi ng additio na l re adin g mate rial s
to te ach EFL with a modified wa y.
(c) Find ing the effects of re ading stra te gy trainin g to stude nts.
(d) Estima ting students ' re ad ing a bility by the post-te st co mpa re d wit h the
pre-te st.

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

5


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

M.A Thesis in TESOL

Cheptz r 1: Itroducti on

In fact, the primary work that the study ha s to ca rry out is to ans we r
these major re search question s:
(I ) What are the difficulties in EFL re ading le arnin g proc e ss experie nce d

mainly by elementary level stude nts at Soc Tran g Coll e ge of Educa tion?
(2) Doe s the training course with supple menta ry re adin g material s e nha nce
EFL college stude nts ' reading profici ency?
Th e second questi on can be spe cifie d as the foll owing subques tio ns :
(2. 1) Doe s the modified te achin g meth odology ha ve a positi ve effe ct on
stude nts ' reading ability?
(2.2) Do the supple me nta ry materials help stude nts to ge t over their re ad ing
diffi culti e s?

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

6


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

M.A Thesis in TESOL

2.1. A Brief History On EFLIESL Reading:
Re se arch on ES L re ading and e fforts to improve ES L re ad ing
instru ction ha ve grow n the last twenty yea rs. It has be come di fficult to sy nthes ize
the re se arch and introduction al lite rature in ES L/EFL ac ade m ic re ad ing a nd
fore ign language re ading.
Re adin g can be defin ed in a va rie ty wa ys acc ording to differe nt
authors' conce ption o f the re adin g proce ss. In the mid -to late 1960s Si lberstei n
noted that re ad ing wa s se e n as little more than re inforceme nt for or a l language
instru ction. Th e ma in purpose to te a ch re ad ing was to ex a mine gra mma r and
voca bulary, or to prac tise pronunciation (Silbe rste in, 19 87). Throu gh the ea rly to
mid- 1970 s, a large nu mbe r of re se arche rs and te acher train ers argued a nd
supporte d the grea te r importance o f te ach ing re adin g, e.g. Es key, 1973.
T he the ory of re adi ng base d on the work of Goodman ( 1967. 19X5 )
and Smith ( 197 1, 1982) be gan to be arg ue d by othe r re se arche rs by mid-to la te
1970s. Re ad ing wa s seen by Goodm an a nd Smi th as a .. psycho linguistic guessi ng
ga me " that the re ad er, a lan gu age user, re con structs a me ssa ge which has be e n
e ncode d by a writer as a gra phic displ ay. " By this pu zzle-sol ving proce ss, the
read ers mu st infer the me aning and mak e a de cision to ke ep or not to ke ep
so me thing in mind, then move in their re ading. Good add e d th at re adin g is not
primarily a proc e ss o f picki ng up information fro m the written te xt le tte r-byletter, word-b y-word ; he a lso co nfirme d that re adi ng is a lso a se lective proce ss.
Ch asta in (197 J:3 13) de scribed the way in which the reader is
e xpecte d to pe rfor m in order to ge t the me a ning fro m th e written te xt. He
beli e ved th at " in co mpre he nding a written passage , the re ader first se nses the

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

7

C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

M.A Thesis in TESOL
ove ra ll me aning, then segments the passage into sma ller units of spe cific
informa tion and fina lly re ache s a le vel of knowledge..."
Based on a psycholingui stic model of re ading, Clarke and Silberstei n
( 1977) drew out so me implications for instru ctor in whic h rea ding wa s viewed as
an act ive proce ss of compre he nding and stra tegies we re used to te ach stude nts
for

more

efficie nt purpose s, e .g. guessing

from

the

con text,

defini ng

ex pecta tions, maki ng infe ren ce s abo ut the te xt, skimming , e tc. Teac hers used
the goa l of re adin g instru ction to hel p stude nts define goa ls ami strategies for
re ad ing, e mploy so me ac tivities to e nha nce co nceptua l re adine ss and to hel p
stude nts with so me strategies to de al with difficult sy ntax, vocab ulary a nd
orga niza tiona l struc tures .
Coad y ( 1979) cite d that a co nce ptua liza tio n of re adin g proce ss

requ ires three co mpone nts: proce ss stra teg ies,

background know ledge a nd

conce ptua l abilities. Accordin g to this psycho lingu istic mo del, he suggested tha t
a model in which the EFLIESL rea de r's background knowled ge inte racts with
conceptua l abilities and proce ss stra tegies , more or le ss succe ss fully, to produce
compre he nsio n.

Con ce ptu al Abilities

~ Proce ss Stra teg ies ~
Figure 2. l.a : Psycholin gu istic Model (Coady, 1979)
In additio n, to Coad y, co nceptua l abilitie s me an ge nera l intell e ctua l
ca pac ity; processing strate gies me an va rious subcompo ne nts of re adi ng abi lity
(e .g.

gra pheme-morpho-phoneme

corres po nde nces ,

syllable -mo rphe me

informati on , sy ntac tic info rma tion, le xical me anin g, and con te xtua l me anin g).

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

8

C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

M.A Thesis in TESOL

Chapter 2: 6it era ture'Review

Accordi ng to Coady, be ginning re ad e rs foc us o n pr ocess stra teg ies
whe re as more proficient re ade rs pay much a tte ntion to co nceptua l abil itie s a nd
mak e better use of background kn owledge. Coad y menti one d littl e more to the
role of back ground kn owledge:
Background know ledge become s an important variable when we
notice, as many have, that studen ts with a Western back ground of some kind
learn English faster, on the average, than those without such a back gr oun d,
(Coa dy 1979:7)

During 19 80s, Good ma n a nd Smi th focu se d mu ch o n ESL reading
theory and practi ce. O ther re se ar ch ers indi cat ed tha t wh a t the rea ders bring to
the re ading task is more pervasi ve a nd more powerful than the psycholingu ist ic
mod el. Th e y suggeste d:
Th e read e r brings to the task a for midable amo unt of informa tion
a nd ide as. att itude and bel ie fs. Th is know le dge. coup led with the a bility
to ma ke lingu istic pred iction s, det e rmine s the ex pecta tions the reader
will de vel op a he reads . Sk ill in re ading de pends on the efficient
inte rac tio n bet ween lingui stic kn owled ge and know le dge of the world .
(Clarke and Silberstei n 1977: 136-1 37)

In 1985, David Pearson re ferred to "the co mpre hensio n re vol ution " .
In essence, he was talking a bo ut the mo vement fro m tradition al views o f rea di ng
bas ed on beha viorism to visio ns of re ading a nd readers ba sed o n cogniti ve

psychology.
The traditi on al vie w of the le arn er as a n "e mp ty" vesse l to be filled
with kn owl edge from exte rna l so urces is exe m plifie d by thi s sta tue at the
University of Leuven (Belgium) .

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

9


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

M.A Thesis in TESOL

Figure 2.l.b:
Th e trad itional view
of readers
(The sta tue at the
Unive rsity of Le ure n
(Be lgium ))

Pe ar son . D also indi cate d the diffe ren ce s be tween old and new
de finitions of re ad ing.
Traditional Views

Ne w De finition of Re adin g

Rese arch Base

Beh aviorism

Cog nitive scie nce s

Goa ls of Re adin g

Mastery of isolat ed fac ts

Constructing mea ning and

and skills

self-reg ulate d le arn ing

Me chani call y de coding

An interaction amon g he

words; memori zing by rote

rea der, the te xt, and the

Re adin g as Proce ss

co ntex t
Learn er

Passive , vesse l re ce iving

Ac tive, strateg ic rea der,

RolelMetaphor

knowl ed ge from ex te rna l

good stra tegy user,

so urces

cog nitive appre ntice

Tabl e 2. 1: Diffe rence s bet ween the Old a nd New De fin ition s of Reading
R. A. Knuth and B. F. Jone s ( 199 1) in the ir article on readi ng
compre he nsion co llecte d the op inio ns of the re ad ing expert re se archers a nd
summe d up so me imp ortant findings fro m cog nitive sciences as the follow ing.
Me aning is not in the wo rds on the page . Th e reader constructs

meaning by making inference s and inte rpre ta tio ns.
Re adin g researche rs be lieve that informa tion is store d in long-te rm
memory in orga nize d" knowled ge struc tures" . Th e e sse nce of le arnin g is linking
@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

10


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

M.A Thesis in TESOL
new informati on to prior kn o wledg e abo ut the top ic, the te xt struct ure or genre,
and strate gie s for le arning.
How well

a re ad er con stru ct me anin g de pen ds

10

part on

metacognition, the re ad er' s ab ility to think abo ut a nd co ntro l the learning
process, and attributio n, bel ie f abou t the re lati on ship amo ng performance. effort
and re spon sib ilit y.

Reading and Writing are integratedly related. Th at is, readi ng and
writin g ha ve man y cha rac te ristics in co mmo n. Also, re ad ers ca n increase the ir
compre he nsion by writing, and re ading abo ut the topic improves wr iting
pe rfo rma nce.

Collaborati ve learning is a powerful approach for te ach ing and
le arning. Th e ma in goa l is to es tab lish a commu nity of learners in whic h studen ts
are able to ge nera te qu e stion s a nd discu ss ide as freely with the te ache r a nd each
othe r. Students o fte n e ngage in te achin g roles to help othe r st ude nts le arn and
tak e re spon sibility for le arning.
More over, R. A. Knuth a nd B. F. Jon e s ( 199 1) co ncretized the

Comprehension Strategies fro m the Guide to Curriculum Plann ing in Reading
fro m the Wiscon sin Dep artmen t of Publ ic Instru ction .

Cont e xt

Te xt
Comprehension

Strategies

2. I.c:
Figure
Com preh en sion
Stra tegies (R. A.
Kn uth & B. F.
Jon e s, 1991 )

Re ad e r
Com preh en sion re sults from an interacti on a mo ng the re ade r, the
stra te gies the re ad er e mploys, the materi al bein g re ad, and the co ntex t in which
re ading tak e s place .

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

11


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

M.A Thesis in TESOL
2.2. Reading Process
Reading is not sole ly a process of extract identification of letters,
word s, and ultim ately sentences; re ading to comprehen sion built from lett er to
word to phrase to se nte nce (Goodman, 1967). During thi s process, re ad ers mak e
use of their existing background knowledge (sche mata) to predict ab out what is
comin g next in the text and about how to comprehend the unfamiliar piec e of
inform ation (Rume lhart, 1980 ; Rum elhart & Orth on y, 1977 ). It is cle ar that ba sic
decoding proce sse s are very important for comprehension and are used by

readers in interaction with the more complex pro ce sse s of me anin g generati on
(Eskey, 1987; Grabe , 1985 ; Rurnelhart, 1977). How ever, it is e qua lly cle ar that
readers enga ge in reading in orde r to gain inform ation .
2.3.

Some Approaches Affecting Reading Process

2.3.1. The Schema Theory Model
Schema theory can be understood as the mental structure which stores
in our mind or knowledge , called Schemsts. Th e the ory of compreh en sion based
on schemata is sche ma theory. This theory is proposed firstly by the psych ologist
Barlett (1932). According to schema theory, comprehending a text is a n
interactive process between the reader's background knowl edge and the te xt.
That means to be a good re ad er; one ca n rel at e e fficie ntly his/he r own
background knowledge to the text.
To sche me theory, the process of interpretation is guided by the
principle that every input is mapped ag ainst so me existin g sche ma a nd a ll
as pe cts of that sche ma must be compatible with the input inform at ion . Th is
principle results in two basic mode s of inform ati on proce ssin g, nam el y bottomup, and top-down processing.

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

12


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

M.A Thesis in TESOL
2.3.2. The Bottom-Up and Top-Down Approaches
Th e bottom-up approach views re ading as a process of dec od ing

written symbo ls into aura l equiva le nts. According to this approach , a re ad er
decodes to tran slate letters into sou nds , then blends the se le tte rs a nd sounds into
words and puts words togeth e r into se nte nces a nd finally builds up the te xt and
its mean ing. Thu s, the bottom-up is call ed " data-dri ven ", ..outside the he ad " or
" phonics ap proa ch "
Accord ing to Frank Smith ( 1978) in his book Understanding Reading.
he presented a " psyc ho linguistic " approach to rea ding. He point ed out that
phonics approach simply does not work. Smith a nd othe rs de vel oped a n
alterna tive ca lle d top-down approach. Th is is a lso viewed as the " inside- out ",
..conce ptua lly dr ive n ", "i nside the he ad " or ..psyc holingui stic approach ". It
suggests that the mean ing of the tex t ex ists in the re ade r' s mind and not in the
te xt itse lf. He nce , it e mp hasizes the reconstruction of meanings rather than the
decoding of the forms.
Stan ovich ( 1980), Nunan ( 1999) proposed a mixture of the two
approaches, both bottom-up and top-d own a pproaches, ca lle d an interactive-

compensatory-sim ultaneous approach to re adin g. Th is approach suggests that
me anin g e xists in the head of the re ader and also in the te xt; ther e fore the rea der
can combine both the printed inform ati on and their knowl edge ab out the world to
compreh end the te xt. Furth ermore , to Nun an ( 1995), re ad ers ca n use thei r
knowled ge of the co nte nt of the te xt as we ll as the knowledge of the te xt
structure to re constru ct the write r's origi na l co mmu nica tive in writing the te xt.
2.4.

Readers and Reading Lessons

2.4 .1. Readers and Readers' Contribution to Comprehension :

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

13


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

M.A Thesis in TESOL
Rivers a nd Temperly (19 78 :187) sugges te d that there are sev e n ma in
purpose s for re ad ing :
(1)To obtai n inform at ion for so me purp ose s or beca use we are curious
about the topic;
(2)To ob tai n instru ction s on how to perform some task for o ur work or
dail y life (e .g. know ing how a n applia nce works);
(3) To act in a play, play a game , do a puzzle ;
(4) To ke ep in touch with friends by corres ponde nce or to unde rstand
busine ss letters;
(5)To know when or whe re so me thing will ta ke place or what

IS

(6) To know what is happenin g or has ha ppen e d (a s re porte d

10

ava ilable;

newspape rs, maga zine s, report s);
(7 ) For e njoy ment or excite me nt.

Actu all y, pe opl e ' s re asons for re ading can be divide d

10

three main

ca tegories:
(1)Readi ng for surviva l
(2) Reading for le arnin g
(3) Reading for ple asure
It might be e xpected that many profi cien cy stude nts would choose to
read for ple asure in their own langu age , although moti vati on for doin g so in
English might be the imp ossibil ity. Re adin g for surviva l can obvi ously be
ex pec ted in an English spea king co untry, but in othe r coun tries re ad ing might for
wor k.
Most of be ginn ing stude nts ' re ading purp ose in L2 is readi ng for their
le arning - more specifica lly the le arning of Eng lish . Re a lly, what do the y wa nt

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

14