an investigation into the problems of reading skills among english majors

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PEOPLE’S COMMITTEE OF BINH DUONG PROVINCE

<b>THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY</b>

<b>NGO HUONG HOA </b>

<b>AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE PROBLEMS OF READING SKILLS AMONG ENGLISH MAJORS: A CASE STUDY AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY </b>

<b>MAJOR: THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CODE: 8 22 02 01 </b>

<b>MASTER THESIS </b>

<b>BINH DUONG, 2022</b>

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PEOPLE’S COMMITTEE OF BINH DUONG PROVINCE

<b>THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY</b>

<b>NGO HUONG HOA </b>

<b>AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE PROBLEMS OF READING SKILLS AMONG ENGLISH MAJORS: A CASE STUDY AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY </b>

<b>MAJOR: THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CODE: 8 22 02 01 </b>

<b>MASTER THESIS </b>

<b>SUPERVISOR: TRAN THANH DU, Ph.D. </b>

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<b>STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP </b>

Apart from the references, this thesis does not contain any material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma.

This thesis has not also been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution.

Thus, I hereby certify my authority of the thesis submitted entitled “An Investigation into The Problems of Reading Skills Among English Majors: A Case Study at Thu Dau Mot University” in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts.

Binh Duong, December 2022

Ngo Huong Hoa

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I am greatly indebted to all my lecturers at Thu Dau Mot University for their endless enthusiasm and undeniable helpful lectures. I would be very grateful to the staff of the Post-graduate Institution for their support during the time of studying.

Last but not least, my warmest thanks are due to my family for their motivation and encouragement.

To all of them, I dedicate this study.

Binh Duong, December 2022

Ngo Huong Hoa

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<b>ABSTRACT </b>

The current research was carried out to investigate the problems of reading skills that English majors at Thu Dau Mot University have had/encountered, to examine whether students’ demographics (gender, living areas, academic levels and favorite skills) affect their reading comprehension, and to make suggestions for learning and teaching reading comprehension. Through mixed methods consisting of quantitative and qualitative methods, the data for the analysis were collected through questionnaires and interviews. In particular, the quantitative data were from 129 valid questionnaires returned by English majors and 19 ones by English teachers at TDMU. The qualitative data were from the interviews with ten students and five teachers. The results show that English majors at TDMU currently have some problems with reading skills. In particular, they currently encounter many problems with reading skills in terms of their attitude, decoding and fluency, linguistic knowledge (vocabulary and text structures), reading comprehension strategies, and reading motivation. However, the survey found out that English majors at TDMU do not currently have problems with reading skills about their perception of the factors affecting reading comprehension, their grammar knowledge, and reading environment. Moreover, the analysis also shows some statistically significant differences in reading comprehension among groups of participants divided according to their living areas, academic levels, and favorite skills. Based on these results of the analysis, the researcher makes some suggestions for learning and teaching reading comprehension, acknowledges several limitations, and makes suggestions for further research.

<i><b>Key words: reading; reading comprehension; problem of reading skills. </b></i>

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1.4. Scope of the Study ... 4

1.5. Significance of the Study ... 4

1.5.1. In Terms of Theory ... 4

1.5.2. In Terms of Practice ... 4

1.6. Overview of the Thesis ... 5

CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ... 6

2.1. Definition of Reading and Reading Comprehension ... 6

2.2. The Importance of Reading Comprehension ... 7

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2.6.3. Effective Strategies for Improving Reading Comprehension Skills ... 20

2.7. Factors Affecting Reading Comprehension Skills ... 21

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3.4.2. Reliability... 31

3.4.2.1. Reliability of student questionnaire... 32

3.4.2.2. Reliability of teacher questionnaire ... 33

3.5. Data Collection Procedure ... 34

3.5.1. Data Collection Procedure of Questionnaires ... 34

3.5.2. Data Collection Procedure of Interviews ... 35

3.6. Data Analysis Procedures ... 35

3.6.1. Procedures of Data Analysis of Questionnaires ... 35

3.6.1.1. Procedure of data analysis of student questionnaire ... 35

3.6.1.2. Procedure of data analysis of teacher questionnaire ... 36

3.6.2. Procedures of Data Analysis of Interviews ... 37

3.7. Research Ethics ... 37

3.8. Chapter Summary... 38

CHAPTER 4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ... 39

4.1. Students’ Demographics ... 39

4.2. Problem About Attitude Towards Reading Comprehension ... 43

4.3. Problems About Perception of the Factors Affecting Reading Comprehension 48 4.4. Problems About Decoding and Fluency ... 52

4.5. Problems About Linguistic Knowledge ... 58

4.5.1. Problems About Vocabulary Knowledge ... 59

4.5.2. Problems About Grammar Knowledge ... 63

4.5.3. Problems About Text Structure ... 67

4.6. Problems About Reading Comprehension Strategies ... 72

4.6.1. Reading Strategies ... 72

4.6.2. Comprehension Strategies ... 76

4.7. Problems About Reading Motivation ... 84

4.8. Problems About Reading Environment ... 90

CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION, SUGGESTIONS AND LIMITATIONS ... 96

5.1. Conclusion ... 96

5.2. Suggestions ... 99

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Appendix 1. Questionnaire for student ... 114

Appendix 2. Questionnaire for teacher ... 122

Appendix 3. Interview Questions for Students ... 126

Appendix 4. Interview Questions for Teachers ... 127

Appendix 5. Teachers’ suggestions for students’ reading comprehension improvement ... 128

Appendix 6. Transcriptions of Student Interviews ... 129

Appendix 7. Transcriptions of Teacher Interview ... 138

Appendix 8. Results of Student Interviews ... 144

Appendix 9. Results of Teacher Interviews ... 150

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<b>LIST OF TABLES </b>

Table 4.1. Students’ Gender Difference ... 39

Table 4.2. Students’ Academic Levels ... 40

Table 4.3. Students’ Living Region ... 40

Table 4.4. Students’ Living Area ... 41

Table 4.5. Students’ Family’s Economics Status ... 41

Table 4.6. Students’ English Learning Time ... 42

Table 4.7. Students’ Favorite Skills ... 42

Table 4.8. Students’ Attitude Towards Reading Comprehension ... 44

Table 4.9. Attitude Towards Reading Comprehension According to Students’ Favorite Skills ... 45

Table 4.10. Attitude Towards Reading Comprehension According to Students’ Academic Levels ... 46

Table 4.11. Students’ Perception of the Factors Affecting Reading Comprehension Skills ... 48

Table 4.12. Perception of the Factors Affecting Reading Comprehension Skills According to Students’ Favorite Skills ... 49

Table 4.13. Perception of the Factors Affecting Reading Comprehension Skills According to Students’ Academic Levels ... 51

Table 4.14. Students’ Problems of Reading Skills due to Decoding and Fluency ... 53

Table 4.15. Frequency Statistics of Students’ Problems of Reading Skills due to Decoding and Fluency ... 54

Table 4.16. Teachers’ Evaluation of Students’ Reading Speed ... 54

Table 4.17. Teachers’ Observation of Students’ Reading Mode ... 56

Table 4.18. Problems of Reading Skills due to Decoding and Fluency According to Students’ Favorite Skills ... 56

Table 4.19. Students’ Problems of Reading Skills due to Vocabulary ... 59

Table 4.20. Problems of Reading Skills due to Vocabulary According to Students’ Academic Levels ... 60

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Table 4.21. Problems of Reading Skills due to Vocabulary According to Students’ Living Area ... 62 Table 4.22. Students’ Problems of Reading Skills due to Grammar ... 64 Table 4.23. Frequency Statistics of Students’ Problems of Reading Skills due to

Grammar ... 65 Table 4.24. Problems of Reading Skills due to Grammar According to Students’

Academic Levels ... 66 Table 4.25. Students’ Problems of Reading Skills due to Text Structures ... 67 Table 4.26. Descriptive Statistics of Students’ Problems of Reading Skills due to Text

Structures ... 68 Table 4.27. Students’ Reading Strategies Observed by Teachers ... 69 Table 4.28. Problems of Reading Skills due to Text Structures According to Students’

Academic Levels ... 70 Table 4.29. Students’ Use of Reading Strategies According to Their Academic Levels

... 72 Table 4.30. Students’ Use of Comprehension Strategies ... 77 Table 4.31. Use of Comprehension Strategies According to Students’ Academic

Levels ... 81 Table 4.32. Students’ Problems of Reading Skills due to Reading Motivation ... 84 Table 4.33. Teachers’ Reading Teaching Activities ... 87 Table 4.34. Problems of Reading Skills due to Reading Motivation According to

Student’s Favorite Skills ... 88 Table 4.35. Relation Between Students’ Favorite Reading Environments and Their

Comprehension ... 91

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<b>LIST OF FIGURES </b>

Figure 3.1. Yamane’s formula ... 26

Figure 3.2. Student sample size calculated by Yamane’s (1967) formula ... 26

Figure 3.3. Sampling error in student sample size calculated by Yamane’s (1967) formula ... 27

Figure 3.4. Sampling error in teacher sample size calculated by Yamane’s (1967) formula ... 27

Figure 3.5. Reliability checking 1 for student questionnaire ... 32

Figure 3.6. Reliability checking 2 for student questionnaire ... 33

Figure 3.7. Reliability checking for teacher questionnaire ... 34

Figure 4.1. Teachers’ options when their students cannot finish reading the text within the allotted time ... 58

Figure 4.2. Teachers’ roles while students read ... 94

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<b>LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS </b>

EFL : English as Foreign Language TDMU : Thu Dau Mot University

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<b>CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION </b>

As a background of the study, this first chapter tells the readers why this thesis is carried out as well as what results it hopefully contributes to the future of reading comprehension research and English language learning and teaching. In particular, the author states the reasons why the current study is carried out. Then, the objectives, research questions, scope and significance of the thesis are presented. Finally, the overview of the thesis is outlined so that the readers of the thesis can keep track.

<b>1.1. Rationale </b>

From the past till now, reading has been playing a very important role in our lives because it is a significant skill that helps us not only have access to new knowledge but also deepen our thoughts. Moreover, this skill is seen as an important tool in every professional field around the world to be able to recognize, understand and comprehend written or printed materials, which helps the readers to get engaged with the world around them. Let’s take an example of a man who has just been promoted from mechanic to manager in a big company. It’s plain that this man is really good at fixing things because he has done the jobs a long time before. However, when it comes to managing, this man has neither knowledge nor experience. In this case, what should he do so that he can perform his new position. As a natural response, he jumps into reading as many kinds of managing books as possible in the hope that he has basic knowledge about managing. Moreover, he can deepen his understanding of all the aspects of managing a job through reading from famous and successful managers’ stories around the world. Hence, through reading, we become more knowledgeable.

More importantly, one of the most important elements and essential tools in English language learning is reading skill (Pandian, 1997; Mokatsi, 2005) because English learners are able to develop good writing style, an adequate vocabulary and advanced grammar and become excellent spellers through reading process (Krashen, 1993). In this regard, it is undeniable that reading skill is the master of all language learning skills because without it, one is considered having no intelligence and blind in language knowledge.

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Although reading is really necessary and important especially for those who learn English as foreign language or second language because it helps them build and expand their language knowledge, not all people can do well with reading because reading is an interactive process in which the writer and the reader dialog through a text (Ruiz, 2015). As Barnett (1989, cited in Omaggio, 1993) defined, reading is seen as communication, as a mental process, as the reader’s active participation in the creation of meaning, and as a manipulation of strategies. Moreover, Day and Bamford (2000) posited that reading is the construction of meaning from a printed or written message. In addition, Pressley (2002) and Henderson and Buskist (2011) pointed out that readers are asked to be active while reading so that they have explicit aims related to the text, to look through the text before reading and while reading so that they can guess what is going to happen in the next session, to look through the passages and try to guess the meaning of words from the context, to use their background knowledge and check their understanding, to restructure the meaning, repeat it and question it, to think about the characters and events when reading fictional texts so that they tend to summarize informative texts, and to assume reading as a productive process. Hence, reading requires the readers to not only read the text but also understand the writers.

In keeping with this sense, the call for efficient reading skills is significant and is a necessity in most of the aspects in learning, since every aspect of the students’ academic life involves it. Though many students have learned to read, Rutzler (2020) showed a disparity by stating that “the act of reading and the act of comprehending what you read are two very different things”. In other words, not all the time do the readers comprehend all that they read in spite of the fact that their vocabulary is adequate and their grammar is wide. As a matter of claim, this is actually a problem that the majority of students who learn English as a foreign language or second language around the world as a whole and in Vietnam in particular are identified as having problems with reading. In this regard, Thu Dau Mot University is not an exception.

Indeed, as a first claim, most English majors at Thu Dau Mot University read without any particular strategies for remembering new words, getting the main ideas, getting the meaning by the context, recognizing and applying grammar or reading in discourse level. Moreover, their limited knowledge of vocabulary and of sentence

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structure, inappropriate use of background knowledge, lack of reading fluency, failure to distinguish between different text structures, and difficulty making inferences all have a negative impact on their reading comprehension.Therefore, they do not comprehend what they are reading, and consequently they gain little information. Unless students with these problems are helped to improve their understanding of a written text and overcome the problems they are facing through the utilization of appropriate solutions in early stages, they will continue to struggle with reading in their later years or even throughout their life. In the long run, they gradually feel demotivated in learning and maybe decide to quit.

Seeing this as a big problem, many researchers have conducted some research projects on this issue. As summarized, previous research studies on reading skills have focused on several themes. For instance, several studies have examined the difficulties in studying English reading skills (Tran, 2021; Thai, 2020; Bui, 2020; Tran, 2019). The findings indicated that students have difficulties in reading comprehension mainly because of their lack of vocabulary, limited grammar and inappropriate use of reading strategies. However, as observed, difficulties and problems in reading comprehension that students at Thu Dau Mot University are facing and having are deficient.

<i>For these reasons, the researcher decided to carry out the thesis on “An </i>

<i>investigation into the problems of reading skills among English majors: A case study at Thu Dau Mot University”. This thesis is absolutely necessary because it is expected to </i>

provide more insights into the problems of reading skills among English majors at Thu Dau Mot University.

<b>1.2. Objectives of the Study </b>

Firstly, in order to help students better enhance their reading comprehension and tackle their problems of reading skills, this research aims at investigating the problems of reading skills that English majors at Thu Dau Mot University have had/encountered. Secondly, in order for teachers to help improve their students’ reading skills, the research also aims to provide more insights into the problems whether the students’ demographics (gender, living areas, academic levels and favorite skills) affect their reading comprehension. And finally, the research is to make some suggestions for

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<b>1.4. Scope of the Study </b>

First, this study is limited to the English language students at Thu Dau Mot University. It is also limited to the period of implementation of the study which took place during the first semester of the academic year 2022-2023.

Second, the primary focus the researcher shall maintain is on analyzing the problems of reading skills that students have in terms of six categories: 1) decoding and fluency, 2) linguistic knowledge, 3) reading strategies, 4) comprehension strategies, 5) reading motivation, 6) reading environments.

Third, students’ demographics (gender, living areas, academic levels and favorite skills) are used as independent variables to check whether there are any significant differences in their problems of reading skills. This analysis is then used as a basis for making some suggestions for students to deal with the problems of reading skills they have had, for teachers to teach reading comprehension more effectively, and for the Faculty of Foreign Languages at TDMU to upgrade the syllabus of reading subjects. In this regard, the suggestions are solely for pedagogical purposes.

<b>1.5. Significance of the Study 1.5.1. In Terms of Theory </b>

The current research is expected to make a small contribution to a fuller understanding of the identified problems in the reading comprehension and to fill a gap in the current research field. Moreover, the findings of the study are expected to foster further research projects that will be focused on the limitation of the research field.

<b>1.5.2. In Terms of Practice </b>

The findings of the research are expected to be helpful for teachers of English, especially instructors who are in charge of the English program at Thu Dau Mot

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University. They can use the findings of the research as a basis for the appropriate teaching methods or strategies that may contribute to assisting their students in dealing with those problems. In addition, the results of this study may contribute in helping English majors at Thu Dau Mot University recognize reading comprehension problems they currently have in order to improve their understanding of what they read. Moreover, the results of the current research may provide the administrators with helpful data that could assist them to make curriculum decisions.

<b>1.6. Overview of the Thesis </b>

Chapter 1 “Introduction” starts with the background of the study. It tells the readers why the current study is carried out as well as what achievements it hopefully contributes. Particularly, the author provides the problems of reading skills that English Majors at Thu Dau Mot University have as the basis for this thesis decision. Then, the objectives, research questions, scope and significance of the thesis are presented.

Chapter 2 “Literature review” presents the author’s critical viewpoints on the theories about reading skills.

Chapter 3 “Methodology” describes the methodology of the study. In particular, it deals with research design, population and sampling, research instrument, data collection procedure, instrument validity and reliability, data analysis procedure, and research ethics.

Chapter 4 “Findings and Discussions” presents all the identified problems of reading skills that English majors at Thu Dau Mot university are facing. In each kind of problem of reading skills, the analysis is given as the basis for making suggestions.

Chapter 5 “Conclusion, Suggestions, and Limitations” summarizes the research results, suggests some pedagogical suggestions, acknowledges several limitations, and

<b>offers suggestions for future research in the field of reading comprehension skills. </b>

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<b>CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW </b>

As the theoretical background of the study, this chapter provides the arguments and concepts of reading comprehension and related issues like reading skills. This review provides a theoretical background for analyzing the problems of reading skills that English majors at Thu Dau Mot University are facing. In this regard, the key literature being reviewed in this study includes: definition of reading and reading comprehension, the importance of reading comprehension in language program, types of reading, reading comprehension strategies, factors affecting reading comprehension, reading comprehension problems, effective strategies for improving reading comprehension skills. Finally, previous studies are also reviewed to find out the gap in the topic being studied.

<b>2.1. Definition of Reading and Reading Comprehension </b>

Reading is an activity, using the eyes to recognize graphic symbols and letters, using the sound to convey to the listener, and using the mind to think and keep contents. According to Grabe and Stoller (2002), reading is a process of getting the meaning of something written by interpreting its characters symbols. It is also defined as a process of grasping full linguistic meaning in the new language through the symbol used to represent it (Grabe, 2009). Moreover, Harris (1962) said that “reading is the meaningful interpretation of printed or written verbal symbols which also involves sensing, perceiving, achieving meaning, learning and reacting in a variety of ways” (p. 60).

In keeping with these definitions, reading involves at least two people: the writer and the reader. The reader has to decode the writer’s words to understand his/her message and construct meaning from text. Thus, it can be said that definitions of reading often go with the concept of understanding or comprehension. A number of researchers such as Lipka and Siegel (2012), Russell (2013), and McLean (2014) emphasize that the main goal of reading is comprehension. Reading without comprehension is pointless. Grabe (2009) states that “reading is centrally a comprehending process” (p.14). Readers read to understand what is intended to be conveyed in writing.

According to Yogurtcu (2013), “the process of reading comprehension provides a link between thinking, textual content, and the reader’s level of readiness, expectations

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and objectives of reading” (p. 376). Reading comprehension from a psychological viewpoint as mentioned by Rivers (2000) is “a problem-solving behavior that actively involves the reader in the process of deriving and assigning meaning, drawing on contextual information” (p. 70).

Thus, based on the definitions of reading and reading comprehension as described above, a conclusion can be drawn that reading is an activity of recognizing the written words in the reading text, requiring the understanding or comprehension of what the writer tries to convey in those words.

<b>2.2. The Importance of Reading Comprehension </b>

According to Pandian (1997) and Mokatsi (2005), one of the most important elements and essential tools in English language learning is reading skill because English learners are able to develop good writing style, a wide range of vocabulary and advanced grammar and become excellent spellers through reading process (Krashen, 1993). In this regard, it is undeniable that reading skill is the master of all language learning skills because without it, one is considered having no intelligence and blind in knowledge. Moreover, it is also significant for students’ academic success (Azeroual, 2013) and has become essential in higher education (Najeeb, 2013). Reading is associated with academic success (Logan, Medford & Hughes, 2011; Dabarera, Renandya & Zhang, 2014) because a great deal of formal education depends upon being able to read with understanding (Hulme and Snowling, 2011). Consequently, reading efficiently in English has become a necessity for many people, especially EFL students. Attarzadeh (2011) points out that reading in English enables people to receive the published information. Similarly, Levine, Ferenz, and Reves (2000) state that the ability to read academic texts is considered one of the most important skills that university students of English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) need to acquire. Some authors such as Nassaji (2011), Chen (2012) and Sidek (2012) point out that the reading skill is not only necessary for comprehension purposes and getting information but also for linguistic competence development.

Although what have been discussed so far has emphasized the importance of reading comprehension, a large number of EFL students see reading as being less

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English majors at Thu Dau Mot University have any problems in terms of their attitude towards the importance of reading comprehension.

<b>2.3. Types of Reading </b>

In the history of reading comprehension teaching, two approaches used in developing reading skills have been known as extensive and extensive reading. It is believed that these two approaches can be beneficial, in one way or another, for improving students’ reading comprehension ability (Popescu, 2012; Attaprechakul, 2013; Alpatkein, 2006; Grabe, 2010; Huang, 2013; Bernhardt, 2010). For this reason, these two types of reading are reviewed in the current study.

<b>2.3.1. Intensive Reading </b>

According to Grellet (2010), intensive reading is a type of reading activity in which readers read short texts in order to extract specific informationwith the aim of understanding not only what the text means, but also how the meaning is produced (Nuttall, 2005). Thus, intensive reading is very effective for the development of the reading skills of students (Nuttall, 2005), but usually involves approaching the text under the guidance of a teacher (Yazar, 2013). In this regard, teachers need to perform their roles flexibly in intensive reading activity (Harmer, 2002). This means that in order to organize a good intensive reading activity, the teacher should be a curricula organizer, an observer, a feedback organizer and a prompter. In particular, as a curricula organizer, the teacher should tell students the purpose of their reading and give them clear instructions about how to achieve it and how long they have to do it. If teachers don’t do that, they go into their classes without an obvious purpose for the text, which contributes to their students’ poor comprehension. As an observer, the teacher should detect his/her students’ progress in reading and whether they are doing well individually and collectively. As a feedback organizer, the teacher may ask the students to compare their answers in pairs. The teacher can lead a feedback session to check whether the students have completed the task successfully. As a prompter, the teacher can prompt the students to notice language features in the text they read, and then clarify ambiguity. It can be concluded that intensive reading is very effective for the development of the reading skills of students (Nuttall, 2005), but it becomes less effective because of some hindrances. For example, the students only read if asked by their lecturers. Outside

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of the classroom, the students rarely read, or even never read. Moreover, according to Day and Park (2005), some drawbacks of intensive reading in reading class can be clearly summarized in three circumstances. First, students have no willingness to read, or if they read they do it slowly and without enthusiasm. In other words, students have almost no desire to read, even if they are reading, it is done very slowly and less enthusiastically. Second, students come to the class with an uneasy feeling, and they quickly become bored of the reading lessons. This means that students attend reading subjects with an uncomfortable mood, they are anxious, and very quickly get bored with reading class. Third, students only read English written materials if they are asked by their lecturer; apart from that, they rarely read English texts.

Thus, due to these drawbacks of intensive reading, the researcher of the current study tries to investigate whether English majors at Thu Dau Mot University have any problems with reading skills in terms of intensive reading or not.

<b>2.3.2. Extensive Reading </b>

If, in intensive reading, readers read short texts in order to extract specific informationwith the aim of understanding not only what the text means (Grellet, 2010), in extensive reading, the readers read “large quantities of materials that are within learners’ linguistic competence” (Grabe & Stoller, 2002, p. 21) and they read for general, for overall meaning, and for information at a reading text with enjoyment (Day & Bamford, 2004). As a matter of application, extensive reading is seen as “an approach to reading pedagogy that encourages students to engage in a large amount of reading” (Yamashita, 2013, p. 248). Moreover, extensive reading not only makes the students fluent readers, but also enables them to learn new words and expand their understanding of words they knew before.

Thus, there are two reasons for organizing extensive reading in reading comprehension teaching. The first reason is that extensive reading is “the easiest and most effective way of improving reading skills” (Nuttall, 2005, p. 127). The second reason is that extensive reading not only provides “a favorable climate” for the students but also it serves as “a source of enjoyment” (Nuttall, 2005, p. 127). As a result, students feel interested in reading, which helps them to acquire the desired progress in developing

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Furthermore, in extensive reading, students can select the books and texts they are interested in because the purpose of extensive reading is to enjoy reading texts. Besides, students do not have to answer questions on the texts they read, so they can read a great deal at their own pace. Thus, extensive reading practice is one way of improving comprehension and increasing reading flexibility (Nassaji, 2003). Similarly, Chen, Chen, Chen, and Wey (2013, p. 303) state that “extensive reading is relaxing, informal, and allows students to choose materials based on their English proficiency level and their interests”.

Further benefit of extensive reading is students’ positive attitudes toward reading might increase. As Sweet (2000) states that an “effective reading instruction can develop engaged readers who are knowledgeable, strategic, socially interactive, and motivated” (p.6). Moreover, Sheu (2003) found that “… students were happy to be involved in the extensive program, neither their views on learning English, nor their attitudes toward reading were improved” (p.221).

However, that each reader has his/herown purpose for reading is a big drawback to extensive reading. So, the number of students in a classroom can also become an obstacle in implementing extensive reading because it will be difficult to handle a big number of students as every student might have a wide range of topics in their mind. To minimize the various topics of reading materials, teachers can provide particular reading materials to be chosen by students every week. Similarly, the lack of reading materials which are suitable with students’ level is also the limitation of extensive reading because not all schools can provide English reading materials which are suitable with students’ level, together with a variety of reading materials on a wide range of topics. To overcome it, for the orientation of extensive reading, teachers can provide reading materials for the students, but sometimes some of their students feel uninterested in. Finally, there is no test which is also the limitation of extensive reading. To evaluate and keep track of students’ reading progress, teachers can offer follow-up activity after reading (Day & Bamford, 2004)

Hence, due to these drawbacks of extensive reading, the researcher of the current study tries to investigate whether English majors at Thu Dau Mot University have any problems with reading skills in terms of extensive reading or not.

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<b>2.4. Modes of Reading </b>

As a matter of fact, reading is an activity that students often perform either aloud or silently, depending on their learning styles. Thus, in terms of term, those two modes of reading are called oral reading and silent reading.

<b>2.4.1. Oral Reading </b>

As the name of this mode of reading tells us, oral reading refers to students reading the texts with sound. Sofyan, Wahid, and Idris (2021) state that through reading aloud strategy, students’ competence in understanding, analyzing, and interpreting the text will be improved. Moreover, the students feel more comfortable in reading activity and motivated to elaborate more on their pronunciation competence and self-confidence. This means that reading aloud makes the atmosphere of the class and students enjoyable in the teaching and learning activity. In addition to those benefits, having oral reading fluency is a strong predictor of reading comprehension (Turkyılmaz, Can, Yildirim, & Ates, 2014). Reading aloud helps in analyzing the mistakes readers make but it is not the normal way in which people read (Anderson, 2008).

However, Wyatt (2014) claims that reading aloud in English classes is consuming and not effective. Similarly, Nuttall (2005) stresses that overdoing the practice of getting language learners to read aloud around the class is dreary, demotivating and useless, unless it is done in order to help inadequate readers to read in groups or to round off work on a text. Moreover, Grabe and Stoller (2002) suggest that when reading aloud, readers must focus on every word, which may cause slow reading speed and impede reading comprehension.

<b>time-2.4.2. Silent Reading </b>

Different from oral reading, silent reading refers to students reading the texts without sound. In terms of benefits, silent reading is a reading skill that all readers need (Nuttall, 2005), the primary reading mode for proficient readers (Boer, Bergen, & Jong, 2014), and should be promoted in class (Kim, Wagner, & Foster, 2011); however, they also warn that students may pretend to be engaged in reading while they are not. In addition, when teachers ask the class to read a text silently, the faster students might become bored and restless as they finish long before the slower ones (Nuttall, 2005).

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been deeply criticized because of the lack of teacher’s guidance about how students can select challenging texts appropriately; poor control of the time allocated for reading practice; little or no teacher interaction with students around reading texts; no feedback to students about the quality and quantity of their reading; and no student responsibility, purposes, or goals for the time spent in reading practice (Reutzel, Jones, Fawson, & Smith, 2008).

<b>2.4.3. Comparison of Oral Reading and Silent Reading </b>

What has been discussed in section 2.4 shows that both modes of reading have advantages and disadvantages. But, is silent reading more advantageous than reading aloud? In fact, it is hard to conclude whether silent reading is more advantageous than reading aloud or not. This is because Prior, Fenwick, Saunders, Ouellette, O’Quinn, and Harvey (2011) advise that both oral reading (reading aloud) and silent reading should be used in reading activities to facilitate comprehension because in fact, if any single reading practice is used exclusively over long periods of time, it tends toward tedium for both students and teachers (Reutzel, Jones, Fawson, & Smith, 2008). Therefore, which of both reading modes should be used in reading activities depends on how much it helps the readers comprehend what they read.

In this regard, the researcher of the current study decides to investigate whether students have any problems related to reading modes or not by comparing the reading mode the teachers in Faculty of Foreign Languages at Thu Dau Mot University often use in class and the reading mode the students perform with the highest comprehension.

<b>2.5. Reading Approaches </b>

According to Johnson (2001), there are three major reading comprehension approaches that the readers can use to manage and facilitate their comprehension process, as well as better understanding a written passage and overcoming their reading comprehension difficulties. These approaches are the bottom-up approach, the top-down approach, and the interactive approach. These three approaches differ from one another based on the procedure that readers follow in order to obtain meaning from a written passage. For example, the bottom-up approach requires readers to decode each word in the text in order to gain meaning while the top-down one emphasizes the role that both the reader’s background knowledge and previous experience about the given topic play

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in obtaining meaning from the text. However, the interactive approach looks at the reading process as an activity that requires engaging in two interactions. Johnson (2001) suggests that these three approaches are important and realistic because of their advantages. Below are their brief descriptions:

The bottom-up approach views reading as a process of decoding written symbols into aural equivalents. According to this approach, a reader decodes to translate letters into sounds, then blends these letters and sounds into words and puts words together into sentences and finally builds up the text and its meaning. Thus, the bottom-up is called “data-driven”, “outside the head” or “phonics approach”.

According to Frank Smith (1978) in his book, he presented a “psycholinguistic” approach to reading. He pointed out that the phonics approach simply does not work. Smith developed an alternative called top-down approach. This is also viewed as the “inside-out”, “conceptually driven”, “inside the head” or “psycholinguistic approach”. It suggests that the meaning of the text exists in the reader’s mind and not in the text itself. Hence, it emphasizes the reconstruction of meanings rather than the decoding of the forms.

Stanovich (1980), Nunan (1999) proposed a mixture of the two approaches, both bottom-up and top-down approaches, called an interactive approach to reading. This approach suggests that meaning exists in the head of the reader and also in the text; therefore, the reader can combine both the printed information and their knowledge about the world to comprehend the text. Furthermore, to Nunan (1995), readers can use their knowledge of the content of the text as well as the knowledge of the text structure to reconstruct the writer’s original communicative in writing the text.

Thus, it can be concluded that which approach might be appropriate depends on the type and size of the text, the capability of the class, as well as students’ needs, the purpose of reading and the time allotted.

<b>2.6. Reading Comprehension Strategies </b>

In reading, it can be said that comprehension, the purpose of reading, is a complex process because it requires the readers to have the ability to understand not only what is written in the text but also what is behind the text. It is, therefore, true that the readers

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understanding because researchers such as Grabe and Stoller (2002), Machado (2010) and Karasakaloglu (2012) emphasize that without reading strategies, learners will struggle and continually focus on decoding letters and words instead of focusing on meaning and understanding. Thus, a successful and efficient reader is a reader that can use all or most of the reading comprehension strategies.

According to Harmer (2002), strategies for reading comprehension consist of: predicting, guessing word meaning, reading for specific information, scanning, skimming, reading for general comprehension, inferring from texts, interpreting texts, surveying text organization, and critically evaluating texts. In addition to this list of reading comprehension strategies, Madhumathi and Ghosh (2012) suggest other reading strategies such as: using mental images, envisaging, asking questions and monitoring comprehension. From this, there are many strategies for the readers to use in comprehending the text, but should they use all, most, some, or just one of these strategies to comprehend the text? In fact, it is hard to answer this question. However, Anderson (2008) suggests that the readers should use different strategies for different text types; for example, the readers use skimming and scanning while reading the orientated texts like newspapers and messages, or they use inferring, guessing and interpreting while reading to evaluate literary texts. Below are two commonly used sets of reading comprehension strategies that are noted by different linguists:

<b>2.6.1. Cognitive Strategies </b>

In reading, cognitive strategies are directly related to the readers’ target language and world of knowledge, which allow them to construct meaning from text and to perform the given task. These strategies assist and guide the students to understand the reading content through skimming, scanning, analyzing and summarizing. They also include the use of the readers’ first language to produce ideas. In addition, cognitive strategies are connected with comprehending strategies (i.e., using dictionary, translating, predicting, inferencing (using context clues to ascertain the meaning)), memory strategies (i.e., underlining and highlighting information, visualizing read information) and retrieval strategies (i.e., previewing text before reading, recognizing text organization, using prior knowledge) (Semtin & Maniam, 2015). Below is a review of key cognitive strategies.

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<i>2.6.1.1. Skimming </i>

Nuttall (2005) defines skimming as “glancing rapidly through a text to determine its gist” (p. 49). In keeping with this definition, skimming is a reading technique helping the readers easily find out general information or main points by first looking through the introduction or conclusion paragraph or the topic sentence in each paragraph. In this response, skimming helps people save time when they read for general information. Besides, skimming seems to be an important skill for reading comprehension because it facilitates getting a general understanding of the text quickly (Grabe & Stoller, 2002).

<i>2.6.1.2. Scanning </i>

Different from skimming, scanning is a reading technique used to look for specific information in a text (Patesan, Balagiu, Zechia, & Alibec, 2014). According to Nuttall (2005), scanning is “glancing rapidly through a text either to search for a specific piece of information (e.g. a name, a date) … or to get an initial impression of whether the text is suitable for a given purpose” (p. 49). It involves looking for specific words/phrases, figures, names or dates of a particular event. When a reader is good at scanning, it will be easy for him/her to dismiss any unneeded information, which saves time and effort. Scanning appears to be easier to apply than some other reading skills and it can help students to pass their exams but it does not guarantee full understanding of a text.

<i>2.6.1.3. Prediction </i>

According to Ahmadi and Ismail (2012), predicting is a technique of making assumptions that are related to the writer’s message by making the connection among their background knowledge, new information from the passage, and the passage’s construction. As Nuttall (2005) points out, prediction involves activating readers’ schemata and thinking along with the writer by using their own experience. This means that prediction occurs when the readers bring their own knowledge and experience to the text, which makes it easy and smooth for them to make out the meaning of the text. Johnson (2001) also points out that the previous knowledge or experience of a reader helps them to predict what the writer is going to say next. Moreover, Grellet (2010) indicates that using grammatical, lexical and cultural clues also helps readers predict

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According to Nuttall (2005), a successful reader depends largely on prediction because he/she does not have to go through each and every line in the text. She also points out that prediction often begins with the title of a text and continues throughout the whole process of reading. As a matter of the dark side, sometimes prediction may be wrong, yet it makes the reader think about the topic as prediction is useful even when it is not successful (Nuttall, 2005). Efficient readers always depend on their ability to predict what comes next. They use minimum clues from the text in order to reach the appropriate meaning of the text. As a matter of practice, Grellet (2010) and Cuperman (2014) suggest that teachers should make their students think about the topic, use key words of the text and ask themselves questions about the various ways the text may develop. When it is applicable, using pictures is one way to help students predict what is coming next (Harmer, 2002). On the other hand, Johnson (2001) suggests that using cloze exercises, in which learners are given a text with some words missing, can help learners develop predictive skills. Therefore, from the viewpoint of the researcher of the current study, prediction is considered as a warm-up activity that can be easily enhanced by teachers. It works really well in engaging the students in the reading activity. This means that the students will be more interested in reading to check whether their prediction is right or wrong.

<i>2.6.1.4. Inferencing </i>

It can be said that inferencing is an important technique in reading comprehension because it helps make assumptions and logical deductions from concrete ideas (Cuperman, 2014). This technique is needed when a text does not state something directly and then it is the reader’s responsibility to infer this information. Thus, inferencing is linked to the process of reconstructing the writer’s unstated ideas. Readers can make use of syntactic, logical and cultural clues to discover the meaning of these unknown elements (Grellet, 2010). Accordingly, the purpose of inferencing is to help readers to fill in the gaps in information and go beyond the literal meaning of words in a text to create a fully comprehensive image (Hogan, Bridges, Justice, & Cain, 2011). In addition, Nuttall (2005) indicates that readers can use their inferencing skills to draw a certain conclusion from facts or points in an argument, etc. that a text mentions.

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However, as Snowling and Hulme (2005) point out, it is difficult for readers to make inferences while reading if their comprehension is limited.

In order to enhance students’ inferencing skill in reading class, teachers should use key or clue words and raise inferential questions. Four factors that can help learners in inferencing are: knowledge of word meaning, drawing inferences from the content, finding answers to questions answered explicitly or in paraphrase in the passage and weaving together ideas in the content, and drawing inferences about the meaning of a word from context (Hudson, 2007). However, the most important thing should be noted that inferencing is not necessarily a certainty. It is about probabilities. But these possibilities may gradually turn into certainties when the reader meets a word more frequently and understands it more explicitly. According to Nuttall (2005), inferencing affects the interpretation of a text to a large extent, helps the students to read texts more quickly and makes reading more enjoyable because of its problem-solving character which appeals to most people and which challenges students to make use of their intelligence. In order to infer a piece of information from a given text effectively, students should make use of common sense, power of reasoning, knowledge of the world and other cultures. However, cultural differences should be taught to students to avoid mis-inferencing.

<i>2.6.1.5. Previewing </i>

Previewing is defined as “a pre-reading activity that introduces students to key features of a text” (Grabe & Stoller, 2002, p. 263). Through previewing, students can establish their expectations about what and how information is organized. If the reader wants to find out where the information is from, he/she should use this quick technique (Grellet, 2010). This technique requires the reader to read the title of a text, the table of contents, the index, the appendix, the preface of the author or publisher, headings or subtitles of chapters and paragraphs, information in the back cover, abstracts of journal articles, acknowledgement etc. (Gavin, Fairbairn, & Fairbairn, 2001). Thus, this useful skill saves students time in leading them towards intended and specific information that they look for. For example, instead of spending a long time reading a whole book to locate specific information, the students can check the table of contents or the text on

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<i>2.6.1.6. Recognizing Text Organization </i>

Recognizing text organization is also an important reading technique for successful readers because through the internal structure of sentences and texts, they may predict the likely values of sentences and in turn interpret difficult texts. According to Lo, Yeh, and Sung (2013, p. 413), text structure “refers to the way the writers organize information in text” which is classified into two types: content information and structural information. To construct the meaning of content information, the readers can use structural information. Thus, knowledge of text structure is important for comprehension (Hudson, 2007; Cain, 2010). The identification of how the text and ideas are organized makes it easier to interpret difficult sentences (Nuttall, 2005). In other words, a reading text will probably be like a puzzle to the readers who are unable to recognize how it is organized and how the ideas in a text are structured.

In order to recognize text organization, the readers must identify cohesive ties in the text because according to Mobalegh and Saljooghian (2012), cohesion is one of the aspects that show how well-organized a passage is. Five kinds of cohesive ties identified by them include: reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, and lexical cohesion. Reference means interpreting something in a text by referring to something else; substitution is replacing an item by another; ellipsis is omitting an item which is not key in a text; conjunctions are devices that express certain meanings; and lexical cohesion is related to selecting vocabulary. Thus, readers’ consistency of thinking and knowledge of text structure and organization are helpful in facilitating their reading comprehension.

<b>2.6.2. Meta-cognitive Strategies </b>

In reading, Semtin and Maniam (2015) describe the metacognitive strategy as a technique that requires “planning for learning, thinking about the learning process that takes place, monitoring one’s comprehension, and evaluating learning after completion of a task” (p. 55). Thus, metacognitive strategies can facilitate students’ reading comprehension (Ahmadi, Ismail, & Abdullah, 2013) and enable them to cope with the reading difficulties encountered and make necessary adjustments (Dabarera, Renandya, & Zhang, 2014). In other words, metacognitive strategies direct the ways readers arrange their interaction with the text and what strategies to use to achieve effective reading comprehension (Ahmadi et al., 2013). Moreover, these metacognitive strategies assist

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the language teachers to better understand their students’ different reading styles and identify the most impactful reading strategies to be taught in the language classroom.

From what has been discussed above, it can be concluded that metacognitive reading strategies are crucial in facilitating students’ reading comprehension and improving students’ reading skills. But, the teachers must take responsibility to enhance their students’ reading strategies because when students are not good enough at reading skills, teachers should teach them how to use meta-cognitive strategies effectively in order to avoid focusing only on words rather than the meaning of the whole text (Ahmadi & Gilakjani, 2012). Out of the metacognitive reading strategies, planning, monitoring and evaluation are the main strategies in reading comprehension. Planning takes place before reading, monitoring is a while-reading strategy to check understanding during reading and evaluation is activated after reading to assess the reading experience (Dabarera, Renandya, & Zhang, 2014). Below are brief descriptions of these strategies.

<i>2.6.2.1. Planning </i>

Planning, as a reading skill helping readers to select the appropriate strategies while reading, is “the process of thinking about and organizing the activities required to achieve a desired goal” (Ahmadi et al., 2013, p. 237). This requires the readers to be aware of a reading purpose before and while reading (Cogmen & Saracaloglu, 2009). This helps readers to be selective and focused on the desired information.

<i>2.6.2.2. Monitoring </i>

Monitoring, the strategy of analyzing information, is defined as “the ability to know what has been done right or wrong and to integrate new information with prior existing knowledge” (Yang, 2002, p. 19). Grabe and Stoller (2002) emphasize that readers should monitor their reading behavior to find out whether they understand the information in a text appropriately and interpret it meaningfully or not. As a matter of consequences, Snowling and Hulme (2005) associate low reading comprehension with low monitoring performance because the purpose of monitoring is to keep the work on track and to better control while reading (Ahmadi, Ismail, & Abdullah, 2013). So, readers should develop and practice this strategy when reading texts because if they lack it, their reading comprehension will be negatively affected and they may lose confidence

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students monitor themselves in reading classes through error detection activities, questioning training, and questioning the author. Training students in generating their own comprehension questions was highly recommended by Baleghizadeh (2011).

<i>self-2.6.2.3. Evaluation </i>

After reading, the readers need to make an evaluation, defined as “appraising the conclusion and regulatory processes of an individual’s learning” (Ahmadi, Ismail, & Abdullah, 2013, p. 238) to facilitate their reading comprehension. Teachers can promote their students’ evaluation skills by informing them about the mistakes they commit, making them aware about the difficulties they encounter and identifying the areas of challenge to students in reading comprehension (Akyol, Cakiroglu, & Kuruyer, 2014).

<b>2.6.3. Effective Strategies for Improving Reading Comprehension Skills </b>

From the review, it is found that every strategy has different roles in assisting the readers in comprehending the texts. So, which strategies should be most recommended for the readers? This is a tough question. It means that it is hard to tell exactly which strategies should be used because according to Matsumoto, Hiromori, and Nakayama (2013), reading comprehension is a complex task that involves many different cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies. Also, Ahmadi and Ismail (2012) state that “reading comprehension is a combination of the reader’s cognitive and meta-cognitive processes” (p. 159). This is also confirmed by Staden (2011) who lays emphasis on the effectiveness of using reading comprehension strategies in combination. Hence, it is noteworthy that readers should combine these strategies to achieve competence in reading. Kang (2014) also supports this view and thinks that using appropriate meta-cognitive reading skills is beneficial in making students fluent readers. Moreover, Egbert and Petrie (2008) emphasize the value of the learner’s conscious choice and application of the appropriate strategy to a certain learning task. They claim that this issue can make the difference between effective and less effective language learners. Good readers demonstrate adeptness at matching the strategies to the task they are working on whereas the less successful readers lack the meta-cognitive knowledge about task requirements that help in selecting the appropriate strategies.

Therefore, due to the fact that reading comprehension strategies play an important role in comprehending the reading text, the researcher of the current study

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tries to investigate whether English majors at Thu Dau Mot University have any problems about strategies they currently use to comprehend the reading text.

<b>2.7. Factors Affecting Reading Comprehension Skills </b>

Since reading comprehension is a complex process involving recognizing the written words and making the meaning of those words (Dennis, 2008; Block, 2004; Graves, Juel, & Graves, 1998), this process is often affected by some factors, including: complexity of the reading text, environmental influences, anxiety during reading comprehension, interest and motivation, and decoding or word recognition speed.

In terms of the complexity of the reading text, Dennis (2008) pointed out that the readers’ strength and fluency in language affect their comprehending of the reading text. The reason why Dennis (2008) links the complexity of the reading text to the readers’ strength and fluency in language is that if the readers know all of the vocabulary as well as grammatical points in the text, it becomes easier for them to understand the reading text. In this explanation, the complexity of the text is low.

Dennis (2008) found out that the environmental conditions also have a considerable impact on the learners who try to read a passage. In particular, the readers may have a lot more problems understanding a text in an unorganized environment than those who read in a calm and controlled place. If learners are in an unsafe place, they find it difficult to focus on their reading. When they are in safe environments, their reading comprehension ability will be better. Additionally, readers will lose their concentration in understanding a text when there are noises like televisions or radios.

The third factor affecting reading comprehension that Dennis (2008) found out in his research project is related to the readers’ anxiety while reading. In particular, readers have more pressure on reading if they read in examinations, class work, or homework situations while they get more excited if they read for enjoyment. Even worse, some learners react positively to examinations while others are overwhelmed by the pressure to carry out a reading activity. As a result, readers who experience anxiety while reading may not completely understand the reading text.

Similarly, the readers’ interest and motivation are very important in developing their reading comprehension skill (Dennis, 2008). If readers find the reading material

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This can lead to a lowering of reading comprehension among readers. If the reading material is interesting for the readers, they can easily understand it and can remember it clearly. Hence, EFL teachers should motivate their learners through providing interesting reading materials during their class time.

More importantly, decoding or word recognition speed was acknowledged to be one of the causes of poor reading comprehension (Dennis, 2008). This means that readers who have problems in decoding and recognizing words read slowly and find it more difficult to understand the meaning of passages than those without decoding problems. This factor is related to lexical processing which is a sequence of processes in which the readers recognize and access the meanings of word forms in a text (Tily, Fedorenko, & Gibson, 2010). In order to gain automatic access to words and their meanings, processing has to be practiced to a point that the lexical information contained in words takes less cognitive attention as it is easily recognized at surface (Hill, 2011). Therefore, many researchers support training learners to become automatic in word recognition to increase fluency (Chang, 2010), as automatic word recognition is crucial to fluent L2 reading comprehension (Grabe, 2010).

Thus, the researcher of the current study tries to investigate whether English majors at Thu Dau Mot University have any problems in terms of their awareness of the factors affecting reading comprehension skills.

<b>2.8. Previous Studies 2.8.1. Studies in the World </b>

Because reading is an important skill for all language learners, especially learners of English, it is one of the compulsory subjects in all schools. However, this skill becomes difficult for many learners because it requires learners to come up with appropriate reading strategies in order to comprehend the text. As a result, English learners face a lot of problems with reading skills while they learn reading skills. For these reasons, there have been a lot of studies done on reading comprehension problems.

<i>In 2018, Satriani conducted a research entitled “Reading Comprehension Difficulties </i>

<i>Encountered by English Students of Islamic University of Riau” to investigate </i>

difficulties in reading English skills. The author carried out the study through a mixed method using questionnaire and interview guides. The author found that most of the

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student’s difficulties in reading comprehension are that students have no motivation to form reading habits, have poor reading skills, and have poor vocabulary and grammar. With the research aims set by the author, he succeeded in uncovering the difficulties, pointing out the shortcomings faced by the students, and raising their awareness. However, proposals to solve the problem have not been specified. The study only recommends that students should acquire adequate vocabulary and know how to use it correctly in context to overcome their difficulties. But how they should practice, the author has not mentioned. This deficiency can be considered as a reason to do further research into the problems of reading skills.

In 2021, Al-Ghazo and Al-Sobh conducted research investigating the reading comprehension problems encountered by students of Ajloun National University. Data from 20 EFL students (10 males & 10 females) from the Department of English Language and Literature at Ajloun National University indicate that students have high estimation to certain problems they encounter in reading comprehension as a result of the complexity of the texts, anxiety, and word recognition (decoding). The findings of the study also revealed that there were statistically significant differences between male and female students in their reading comprehension challenges in favor of female students.

<b>2.8.2. Studies in Vietnam </b>

Similarly, in Vietnam, there has been a lot of research conducted on reading skills because students from different regions in Vietnam have different difficulties in reading. Of the recent studies, a research entitled “The difficulties in ESP reading comprehension encountered by English-majored students” was done by Tran and Duong in 2018 to explore difficulties of ESP (English for specific purposes) reading comprehension faced by English-majored students at one university in Vietnam. The study was done with the participation of 80 English-majored students who were involved in answering a close-ended questionnaire, and three ESP teachers who were invited to participate in a semi-structured interview. The findings showed that students did not have much trouble in dealing with reading ESP texts; nonetheless, it was sometimes seen that two common areas of difficulties in ESP reading comprehension students were faced with were

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revealed that students did not confront much with difficulties of text coverage, organization structure, and grammar used in ESP reading texts.

Another study on reading comprehension was done by Nguyen and Kim (2021),

<i>entitled “Difficulties in reading comprehension of English majored sophomores at Tay </i>

<i>Do university, Cantho, Vietnam”. This study surveyed the difficulties of sophomores in </i>

reading, helping students find their problems and solve them. After collecting and analyzing the data collected by questionnaire and interview, the results point out three main factors that affect students’ reading comprehension, including: linguistic knowledge, lack of reading strategies, and psychological effect. To help students overcome their difficulties in reading skills, the researcher recommends two ways: first, students must know the problems they are facing; second, they should follow the teacher’s instructions as well as improve their language, strategy, and motivation skills. Also, in 2021, Nguyen carried out a study investigating what difficulties in reading comprehension that the first-year English majors encounter and what the most common difficulties they face. Data from 126 first-year English majors at a public university in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam revealed that lack of background knowledge, inadequate vocabulary, time pressure and inappropriate use of strategies are the four most popular factors causing reading comprehension difficulties. By contrast, the findings reveal that the participants could deal with grammatical structures of the reading texts and have no problem in understanding them. The findings of the study are a good source of information helping students to recognize their own reading comprehension difficulties.

From these two studies on reading comprehension, it can be seen that these studies focus much on finding out difficulties in or problems about reading comprehension that students have. However, the researchers of these studies haven’t clarified whether there is any relationship between student’s demographics (gender, academic level, living region, etc.) and their reading comprehension problems or difficulties. Recognizing this as a researcher gap, the researcher of the current study will focus the research aims on filling this research gap to provide a clearer picture of reading comprehension problems or difficulties in Vietnam.

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<b>CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY </b>

As stated in section 1.2, this study aims at analyzing the reading comprehension problems that English majors at Thu Dau Mot University are facing and providing more insights into whether the students’ personal factors (gender, living region, family’s economics status and academic levels) affect their reading comprehension. This chapter, therefore, outlines how the study is designed and carried out.

<b>3.1. Research Design </b>

To achieve the research objectives as declared in Section 1.2, this research was done through quantitative and qualitative approach, also called mixed method. Quantitative approach was considered the appropriate method for this research because it helps generalize the research problem being studied by numeric data collected from a large group of population (Dörnyei, 2007; Snape & Spencer, 2003). In this regard, through the quantitative approach, the findings of the current research are expected to be reliable in terms of research methodology. Moreover, the qualitative method gives more convincing value to the data from the quantitative method.

To get the quantitative data for the study, the researcher conducted a survey through questionnaires for students and teachers to find out and generalize the reading comprehension problems that English majors at Thu Dau Mot University are facing. As Griffee (2012) stated that questionnaire is a data collection instrument used to get data “in a relatively short period of time” (p.55) and from a large group of participants. So, conducting a survey through a questionnaire was an effective way to reach the current study’s purposes. To get qualitative data, the researcher interviewed students and teachers to get more insights into the issue under investigation.

<b>3.2. Population and Sampling 3.2.1. Population </b>

As Hartas (2010) stated, a population is a group of individuals that share the same characteristic that is of interest to a study. In keeping with this sense, to fully generalize the being-studied problems of reading skills, first of all, participants in this study are students who are doing a bachelor’s degree in the English language at Thu Dau Mot

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studied over 4 years at TDMU. They are chosen as participants in this study because they are learning, have been learning, learned and are truly doing reading comprehension during their academic life at university. At the same time, in order to be able to draw a clearer picture of the reading comprehension problems that these students are facing, teachers of the English program at Thu Dau Mot university are also chosen to participate in this research. Therefore, the respondents in this study can be categorized under two types of groups: students and lecturers who are invited to answer two different questionnaires.

As provided from the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Thu Dau Mot University, the number of English majors at the faculty is around 500 students and the number of freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors is approximately equal among groups. Similarly, the number of teachers of the English program at Thu Dau Mot university is 22 full-time lecturers.

<b>3.2.2. Sampling </b>

With the limitations on the implementation time of the study and conditions to meet the students, the researcher chose randomly a sample of 222 students who are from freshmen to seniors to collect data from them. The sample size that the researcher chose was based on the size of the phenomenon that the researcher is trying to investigate, the number of the subgroups of the population, the heterogeneity of the population, and the degree of precision to be estimated (Bernard, 2013). Moreover, sampling must ensure validity and reliability of the study. Thus, the sample of 222 students was calculated by using Yamane’s (1967) formula:

1 + 𝑁(𝑒)<small>2</small>

<i>Figure 3.1. Yamane’s formula </i>

<b>According to Yamane (1967), n is the sample size, N is the population size, and </b>

<b>e is the level of precision, sometimes called sampling error. Therefore, when this </b>

formula is applied to calculate the sample size from the population size of 500 students, the result came out as follow:

1 + 500(0.05)<small>2</small> = 222 students

<i>Figure 3.2. Student sample size calculated by Yamane’s (1967) formula </i>

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In terms of statistics, 222 students were adequately representative of the student population of the current study. However, all of the English majors of the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Thu Dau Mot University were invited to answer the questionnaire for students. Therefore, 500 questionnaires were distributed. Within 20 days, from September 8<small>th</small>, 2022 to September 28<small>th</small>, 2022, 206 questionnaires were returned, but 77 of them were invalid because they did not satisfy the criteria for reliability checking, as stated in section 3.4.2.1. Therefore, the data from 129 valid questionnaires were used and analyzed for the current study. Although the number of valid questionnaires failed to reach the expected sample size, after calculated by using Yamane’s (1967) formula, the level of precision that the survey results reflect the views from the overall population is still more than 92%; equivalently, sampling error is less than 8% (see Figure 3.3.). This means that if 60% of the sample’s responses are “A” with a sampling error of 8%, 52% (=60%-8%) and 68% (=60%+8%) of the general population think that the answer is “A”.

𝑒 = ^√𝑁

𝑛 ^{− 1}𝑁<small>2</small>

= ^√500129^{− 1}

= 0.076 (≈ 8%)

<i>Figure 3.3. Sampling error in student sample size calculated by Yamane’s formula </i>

In contrast, because the group of teachers is small, all of the 22 lecturers in the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Thu Dau Mot University were invited to take part in the survey. After 14 days of data collection, all 22 lecturers did answer the questionnaire for the teacher, but three of them were invalid because they did not satisfy the criteria for reliability checking, as stated in section 3.4.2.2. Therefore, the data from 19 valid questionnaires were used and analyzed for the current study. Although the number of valid questionnaires failed to reach the expected sample size, after calculated by using Yamane’s (1967) formula, the level of precision that the survey results reflect the views from the overall population is around 92%; equivalently, sampling error is around 8%.

𝑒 = ^√𝑁𝑛 ^{− 1}

= ^√2219^{− 1}

= 0.084 (≈ 8%)

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