nghiên cứu về dịch nói giao tiếp anh - việt trong các dự án hiv aids của tổ chức phi chính phủ tại việt nam

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES
***



LE THI THUY



DEVELOPING SUPPLEMENTARY READING AND WRITING
MATERIALS FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJORED UNIVERSITY
STUDENTS: A NEEDS-BASED APPROACH


PHÁT TRIỂN TÀI LIỆU ĐỌC-VIẾT BỔ TRỢ CHO SINH VIÊN
KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH THEO ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG LẤY
NHU CẦU NGƯỜI HỌC LÀM TRUNG TÂM



M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology
Code: 601410

HANOI - 2009

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES
***



LE THI THUY



DEVELOPING SUPPLEMENTARY READING AND WRITING
MATERIALS FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJORED UNIVERSITY
STUDENTS: A NEEDS-BASED APPROACH


PHÁT TRIỂN TÀI LIỆU ĐỌC-VIẾT BỔ TRỢ CHO SINH VIÊN
KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH THEO ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG LẤY
NHU CẦU NGƯỜI HỌC LÀM TRUNG TÂM



M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology
Code: 601410
Supervisor: Vu Mai Trang, M.A





HANOI - 2009

iv
Tables of contents

Candidate’s declaration i
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iii
Tables of contents iv
List of abbreviations vi
List of figures, charts and tables vii
INTRODUCTION 1
1. Statement of the problem and the rationale for the study 1
2. Aims and objectives of the study 2
3. Significance of the study 2
4. Scope of the study 3
5. Methods of the study 3
6. Design of the study (An overview of the rest of the paper) 4
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5
1.1. Needs analysis 5
1.1.1. Definition of needs 5
1.1.2. The importance of needs analysis 5

1.2. Textbook evaluation and adaptation 6
1.2.1. The Role of Textbooks 6
1.2.2. Textbook evaluation 7
1.2.3. Textbook adaptation 7
1.3. Supplementary materials 8
1.3.1. The importance of supplementary materials 8
1.3.2. Definition of supplementary materials 10
1.3.3. Criteria of developing supplementary reading texts 11
1.4. Reading exercises and reading skills 12
1.4.1. Types of reading exercises 12
1.4.2. Reading skills 13
1.5. Creating activities based on reading texts 14

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1.5.1. Skills integration in EFL teaching and learning 14
1.5.2. Creating writing activities from reading texts 14
1.6. Suitability of the present study in the research area 15
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 16
2.1. Description of the context 16
2.1.1. The current syllabus for the third-year students 16
2.1.2. The teaching staff 17
2.1.3. The students 17
2.2. Description of the participants 18
2.3. Methods of data collection 18
2.4. Methods of data analysis 20
2.5. Scope of the research 20
CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 21
3.1. Personal evaluation of the coursebook New Headway 21
3.2. The attitudes of students and teachers towards the coursebook New Headway 22
3.3. Students’ preferences for a supplementary material 26

3.4. Teachers’ view on the teaching of reading and writing 30
3.5. Teachers’ view on where to use the supplementary materials 31
3.6. Conclusion 32
CHAPTER 4: DEVELOPING SUPPLEMENTARY READING AND WRITING
MATERIALS FOR NON – ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS IN HULIS, VNU 33
4.1. Criteria of developing supplementary reading and writing materials. 33
4.1.1. Criteria of selecting reading materials 33
4.1.2. Developing procedures 34
4.2. An overview of the developed sample material 34
4.2.1. General descriptions of the material 34
4.2.2. Purposes of the material 35
4.3. Recommendations 35
4.4. The sample of supplementary reading and writing materials for NEMS 37
CONCLUSION 38
REFERENCES 41
APPENDICES I

vi
LIST OF ABREVIATIONS

VNU Vietnam National University
HULIS Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies
NEMS Non – English majored students
ESP English for Specific Purposes
B.A Bachelor of Arts

vii
LIST OF FIGURES, CHARTS, AND TABLES



Figures
Figure: A framework for material writing
Charts

Chart 1: Overall rating of teachers and students on the course book
Chart 2: Students’ attitudes towards the course book’s layout and design
Chart 3: Students’ attitudes towards the topics’ sequence
Chart 4a: Students’ attitude towards the reading passages
Chart 4b: Teachers’ attitude towards the reading passages
Chart 5: Course book evaluation average marking – a comparison between teachers and students
Chart 6: Respondents’ view on using the course book
Chart 7: Students’ attitude towards the benefits of reading exercises
Chart 8: Students’ preference of reading texts
Chart 9: Favorite types of exercises
Chart 10: Reading skills students would like to develop more
Chart 11a: The frequency of practicing writing exercises
Chart 11b: Students’ preference of writing exercises
Chart 12. Advantages of using a reading text to teach writing
Chart 13: Techniques used to employ reading texts to create writing activities

Tables
Table: An overview of the coursebooks New Headway




1
INTRODUCTION
1. Statement of the problem and rationale for the study
The diversity of needs of English language learners has long been acknowledged
(Tarone & Yule, 1989). Researchers also propose that teachers should identify correct
learner expectations and attitudes about how languages are learned and also explain the
reasoning behind classroom methods, in order to reduce any gap between learner and
teacher beliefs (Horwitz, 1985; Wenden, 1986; McCargar, 1993; Kern, 1995; Peacock,

1999). A learning-centered approach to lessons, materials and syllabus design advocates
the involvement of learners in contributing to this design. Learners should be invited to
express their views in their needs for learning the language, their preferred learning styles
(Willing, 1988). These views can then inform the material design, and they should take
part in assessing the materials once they are applied. Therefore, when designing materials
for NEMS, it is necessary that the teachers have reliable information about their learner
variables so that syllabi, methods of teaching, and methods of testing match learners‟ needs
as closely as possible. According to Bachman and Palmer (1996): “needs analysis, or
needs assessment, involves the systematic gathering of specific information about the
language needs of learners and the analysis of this information for purpose of language
syllabus design” (p.102).
A pilot survey was done by the researcher with the aim of learning about the needs of
the non-English majored students (NEMS) shows that while students want to get good
marks at final exams (in the format of reading and writing), they also want to enhance their
language competence including reading and writing skills. For a majority of students
coming from such departments as German, Korean, Japanese, Russian, and Chinese who
had chance to learn English at high school, exercises in the coursebook New Headway
bore them and discourage them from practicing their skills. They really need something
more challenging. Students work with the ready-made-text in the coursebook because the
text is seen as the main source of providing and acquiring knowledge for both teachers and
students. Supplementary reading texts are „sometimes‟ or „rarely‟ assigned to the students.
During the periods of reading skill, they concentrated only on practicing reading exercises
of a unit in the coursebook and dealing with new words appearing in the text. The study
also indicated that most of the students would like to have a full pack of supplementary
reading materials to meet the needs of the students.


2
Selecting or developing reading materials to enhance reading and writing skills has
become a popular activity in English Department, HULIS, VNU. However, a library search

suggested that there have been very few researches on designing supplementary materials
for NEMS in our university, especially those on the integration of reading and writing.
This fact urged the researcher to do a research on the subject with the hope that the final
product (supplementary reading and writing material) would benefit both teachers and
NEMS in HULIS, VNU.
2. Aims and objectives of the study
This study investigates NEMS‟ learning needs including their attitudes towards the
New Headway coursebook, their practice of reading and writing strategies. The first aim of
this study is to examine some characteristics of the reading texts and exercises in the
coursebooks „New Headway‟ (Elementary and Pre-intermediate). The second aim is to find
out how well the coursebook matches the needs of students. In addition, the research aims
to analyzing students‟ preferences for the choice of topics and types of supplementary
reading and writing exercises. To help the students to be aware of the importance of
integrating reading and writing skills is also an important aim. More importantly, the
researcher aims to develop a supplementary material to motivate the students and help
them to reinforce reading and writing skills.
Specifically, this minor thesis would aim to develop a supplementary reading and
writing skills to enhance these skills. By that, the study would have to answer the
following questions:
1. What are students‟ views on the New Headway coursebooks?
2. To what extent does the New Headway coursebooks satisfy students‟ needs?
3. What are students‟ preferences for a supplementary Reading and Writing
material?
3. Significance of the study
The findings of this research will provide teachers with insightful information on
learners‟ needs and preferences as an input to materials design, focusing on reading and
writing skills input to materials planning. The study demonstrates the importance of a good
understanding of learner variables at multi-faculty in HULIS. Although the actual needs of
English might vary among different multi-faculty universities, the applied process of
questionnaire design, validation and data analysis can serve as a model or example for

3
other NEMS in HULIS or in other universities in VNU. Hopefully, the developed material
would be a reference for both teachers and NEMS to use when teaching and learning the
coursebooks New Headway (Elementary/ Pre-intermediate).
4. Scope of the study
The researcher has no ambition to touch upon every aspect of teaching both reading
and writing skills but focuses mainly on selecting reading texts and creating writing
activities based on reading texts. In other words, the study is only aimed at guiding
students to different kinds of writing exercises in which they can use reading texts as the
springboard to generate ideas. Therefore, more attention is given to reading exercises.
Writing, in this paper, is considered nearly like post-reading stage.
Additionally, due to the small scale of the study as well as the limitation of time
and knowledge, the material designed will be applied to third year students learning in
session two, including 10 units for 15 weeks, focusing on the integration of reading and
writing, designing the supplementary the materials for developing listening and speaking
skills will be the future research.
5. Methods of the study
According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987), the best methodology for studying
the needs of any particular group of students is to use such methods as questionnaires,
follow-up interviews, and collection of authentic texts. Therefore, in order to find out
answers to the above-mentioned questions, survey questionnaires - a typical time-saving
and information- reliable method of quantitative approach will be exploited to collect
opinions about the coursebook and teachers and students‟ attitudes towards the reading
passages in New Headway coursebooks taught in the second session. Through
questionnaires, quantities data, truth value of persuasive statistics concerning the
investigated issues, could be obtained.
In addition, information from other sources such as the Internet, journals, and
books was collected, summarized, analyzed and synthesized. Collecting information and

analyzing data from other sources also equip the researcher with background knowledge
and literature of the investigated issue.
In summary, through analyzing the information and data collected, the researcher
have flexibly taken advantages of all the above mentioned methods as a source of evidence
to enhance the persuasive value of the study.


4
6. An overview of the rest of the paper
The paper includes four chapters altogether:
Chapter 1 - Literature Review reviews theoretical background on which the whole study is
based, including the theoretical issues of supplementary reading and writing materials.
Chapter 2 – Methodology describes in detail the methods and procedures the researcher
uses in conducting this research.
Chapter 3 – Data analysis and findings presents the results and discusses the findings as
well as possible interferences from such findings
Chapter 4 – provides some criteria for developing supplementary reading and writing
exercises for NEMS with Recommendations giving pedagogical suggestions for teachers
and students when and how to use this material.

5
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Needs analysis
1.1.1. Definition of needs
There are different understandings of needs, which reflect the interest as well as, to
some extent, some points of views of stakeholders. Richterich (1972, cited in Johnson,
1982: 40) reflected his viewpoint on language needs: “the requirements which arise from
the use of a language in the multitude of situations which may arise in the social lives of
individuals and groups”. By analyzing the language needs of a specific group of learners,
we should be able to identify those notions and functions that will be most valuable to
teach.
Another definition comes from goal-oriented perspective, needs can be defined as
what students should be able to do at the end of their language course or “what the user-
institution or society at large regards as necessary or desirable to be learnt from a program
of language instruction” (Mountford, 1981: 27)
In this thesis, the definition of Brindley (1984: 28) would be employed. According
to him, needs refer to wants, desires, demands, expectations, motivations, lacks,
constraints, and requirements. From this point of view, needs of students may be in a great
harmony or in opposition to the requirements of course designers.
He also stated that when analyzing needs, it is also important to bear in mind and
combine two types of needs: subjective needs and objective needs.
Objective needs are those which can be diagnosed by teachers on the basis of the analysis of
personal data about learners along with information about their language proficiency and patterns of language
use … subjective needs which are often „wants‟, desires‟, „expectations‟ or other psychological
manifestations of a lack) cannot be diagnosed as easily (Brindley, 1984:31)
1.1.2. The importance of needs analysis
According to Nunan (1988), needs analysis is considered as the initial process for
the specification of behavioral objectives. It is from these objectives that detailed aspects

of the syllabus such as functions, topics, lexis and structures derived.
A needs analysis is usually seen as being most beneficial for an English for Specific
Purposes (ESP) course, “an approach to language teaching which aims to meet the needs of
particular learners” (Hutchinson & Water, 1987: 21)


6
In order to meet the various needs of particular learners, it is very important for
designers to analyze their learners‟ needs so as to design appropriate courses for them to
motivate them and help them learn English faster and more effectively. Therefore, needs
analysis is of great importance to the effectiveness of teaching and learning process.
Recently, a major trend in language syllabus design as well as materials
development is the use of information from and about learners.
1.2. Textbook evaluation and adaptation
Thanks to the rapid ELT development in the world, more and more textbooks have
made their way to Vietnam markets. Although most classroom teachers will not be
involved in producing textbooks, all teachers have the responsibility for textbook
evaluation, selection and adaptation. Due to space limitation, in this study, we will focus on
the role of textbooks, and how to evaluate textbooks as well as how to adapt a textbook.
According to McGrath (2002), the term „coursebook‟ refers to a textbook on which a
course is based, hence, the terms „coursebook‟ and „textbook‟ in this minor thesis will be
used interchangeably by the researcher.
1.2.1. The Role of Textbooks
The significant role of textbooks in language teaching and learning process is
undeniable. In any ESL program, a basic structure or syllabus needs to be formed to enable
the whole process of learning and teaching to work. A textbook seems to provide such
basis. It may serve as a language input source for learners. By that, they can expose to the
authentic language. Also, a textbook can be used as a foundation on which teachers;
especially inexperienced ones build their lesson plans and give their instructions in the
class. For most of second language learners, besides the input they receive from their

teachers, textbooks serve as a main source of contact with the target language. Therefore,
textbooks can be said to be the key component in most language programs. As Hutchinson
and Torres (1994: 315) suggest:
"The textbook is an almost universal element of [English language] teaching. Millions of copies are
sold every year, and numerous aid projects have been set up to produce them in [various] countries…No
teaching-learning situation, it seems, is complete until it has its relevant textbook. "
In this case, „relevant textbook‟ is understood by the researcher as such that a
textbook can meet teachers and learners‟ needs as well as the context of teaching and
learning. Especially as for non-English majored students, they rarely have a chance to


7
practise English outside their classrooms and even fewer opportunities to interact with
native speakers. Without these opportunities, learners receive less input and produce less
output, which affects their learning. Therefore, the classroom becomes the unique
environment in which students are exposed to the target language. Similarly, the textbook
is the only source that provides them with both linguistic and pragmatic knowledge.
1.2.2. Textbook evaluation
It is the fact that not all the textbooks satisfy students‟ needs or every context of
teaching and learning. It is, therefore, necessary to evaluate a coursebook. McGrath (2002:
59) mentioned that four evaluative processes are subsequently involved selection,
rejection, adding, and changing.
1. Selection – of coursebook material that will be used unchanged.
2. Rejection – complete (e.g. omitting a whole activity or even a whole lesson) or
partial (e.g. cutting one or more stages within an activity).
3. Adding – in the form of extension or exploitation of the existing material, this
can be regarded as adaptation; where new materials are introduced, this will be termed
supplementation.
4. Changing – i.e. more radical forms of adaptation, such as modifications to
produces or changes in context/content (replacement).

Textbook evaluation is aimed to examining how well a textbook matches the needs of
a language program and students. McGrath (2002) suggested that an ideal systematic
textbook evaluation would be a longitudinal one, which includes „pre-use‟ evaluation,
„whilst-use‟ evaluation and „post-use‟ evaluation. In this paper, the researcher is going to
employ the second kind to elicit ideas from students to find out to what extent the textbook
satisfies the students‟ needs.
1.2.3. Textbook adaptation
Despite the fact that textbook writers have made great effort to meet the needs of the
intended users, when actually used in a particular classroom, they are still in need of being
adapted to satisfy the needs of specific students with different learning styles in different
teaching and learning contexts.
Teachers can adapt textbooks at three levels. The first one is Macro adaptation, which
is ideally done before the language program begins. After comparing what is covered in a
textbook and what is required by the syllabus or examination, the teacher may find that


8
certain areas or even whole units of the book can be omitted, and certain contents need to
be supplemented. Macro adaptation is very important because it helps the teacher to avoid
waste of time. It also helps the teacher to see in advance what he or she needs to
supplement so that he or she can keep an eye on materials that could be used.
The second level of adaptation is adapting a unit. This could be reordering the
activities, combining activities, omitting activities, rewriting or supplementing exercise
material, etc. Unit adaptation helps to make the classroom teaching more smooth and
cohesive. It also helps the teacher to better fulfill the aims of a unit.
The third level is adaptation of specific activities in a unit. Occasionally an activity a
teacher regards as valuable, but it is not well-designed or it is not feasible in a particular
class. If the teacher does not want to give up the activity, he or she needs to adapt it.
(Evaluating and Adapting Textbooks, retrieved from:
/>books.htm)

However, one thing in common the three levels share is that adaptation involves
supplementation, that is, teachers add materials from other resources to textbooks they are
using. Taking the above options and levels of adaptation, the researcher chose to adapt the
New Headway coursebooks by developing a supplementary material.
The researcher agrees with O‟ Neil (1993) on the view that the coursebooks cannot
adequately fulfill the needs of all students who have different background knowledge,
learning styles and motivations. Over the past decades, it has become increasingly clear
that teachers are strongly recommended to take into account such factors as
anthropological and socio-cultural factors which influence the conditions under which
English is taught. On the other hand, Alptekin (1993) argues that “writers write materials
in line with their own culture rather than that of the learners”. Hence, bridging the gap of
their individual learners‟ cultural background should be emphasized, which can be done by
adapting and producing materials.
1.3. Supplementary materials
1.3.1. The importance of supplementary material
As discussed above, much of the language teaching could not take place without
textbooks. No textbook, however, is perfect. According McGrath (2002), a single
coursebook cannot meet all the needs of a specific class of learners, even when the


9
coursebook has been carefully designed to cater for the needs of learners in that context.
Supplementation, according to him, means no more than „adding something new‟. This
definition seems to be fit in such a context that teachers are making an attempt to bridge
the gap between a coursebook and the demands of a public examination, or a coursebook
and students‟ needs. According to him, we can supplement a coursebook by devising our
own material. He argues that „suitable supplementary materials is not available‟, which
means supplementary material has to meet the same criteria as coursebook material, but
these are likely to be more strictly applied. The researcher, however, believes that in
addition to the core material (textbooks), supplementary material should be flexible so that

teachers can personalize to make it a better teaching resource or individualize it for a
particular group of learners. A supplementary material can meet the requirements of
specific students in a particular context. Therefore, there still exist suitable materials.
It is the teachers that design supplementary materials as they “know their own
students and will be able to „tune‟ the material to suit their level, their aptitude, their
interests, their needs, and personalize so that it seems even more meaningful” (McGrath,
2002, p. 84). Similarly, Block‟s argument (1991, cited in McGrath, 2002) that teachers
should prepare their own material derives from his dissatisfaction with published material.
He claimed that teacher-prepared material is likely to be more-up-to-date and more
relevant to students‟ needs and interests than equivalent coursebook material. Therefore, it
is necessary to base on an analysis of learner needs. When designing this material, the
researcher applied the model of Jolly and Bolitho (1998, cited in McGrath, 2002, p. 90)
illustrating steps in material design. It is a clear and teacher-friendly framework that helps
the researcher follow steps easily, especially when the research adopts needs-based
approach. Being aware that developing any material derives from the aim of enhancing the
teaching and learning process, the needs of teachers or students should be identified in
terms of attitudes, learning styles, expectations, motivations, and preferences in their
learning a second language. The facing problems are also explored to provide necessary
information for teachers. To bridge the gap of a particular teaching and learning context,
contextual and pedagogical realization is included in the model. When designing a
material, it is essential to take into account its layout and format, which is also mentioned
in the model. Although it did meet common requirements of developing a material, the
model only provided a basic scheme on which the material designers can base to build


10
their specific model and to make it more detailed.
IDENTIFICATION by teachers or learner(s) of a need to fulfill or a problem to solve by the creation of materials

EXPLORATION of the area of need/problem in terms of what language, what meanings, what functions, what
skills etc.?


CONTEXTUAL REALISATION of the proposed new materials by the finding of suitable ideas, contexts or
texts with which to work


PEDAGOGICAL REALISATION of materials by the finding of appropriate exercises and activities AND the
writing of appropriate instructions for use


PHYSICAL PRODUCTION of materials, involving consideration of layout, type, size, visuals, reproduction,
tape length etc.
Figure: A framework for material writing
1.3.2. Definition of supplementary materials
According to To & Nguyen (2006), “Supplementary materials are materials
designed to be used in addition to the core materials of a course.”
Supplementary materials are materials used to complement the work done in class.
(“Teacher‟s Manual,” 2006)
From the concepts of supplementary materials mentioned above, supplementary
reading materials are understood as materials catering for reading activity. These materials
are provided by the textbook‟s authors, the teacher or the students themselves to aim at
reinforcing and developing reading skills that have been learnt in class.
Lam (2004) claimed that supplementary reading texts should have the same topic as
those in the textbook. Nevertheless, “Textbook and learning materials” (2000) suggested
that supplementary materials expand upon the information in the textbook. They may
range from “chalk and blackboards to educational television and interactive computerized
lessons”. It means that supplementary materials can be further or out of what have been
taught in class.

Lam (2004) also added that the language, styles and types of supplementary
reading exercises are more diverse, and these exercises can be done in class or at home.
Supplementary reading materials are recognized necessary because they have a lot
of benefits. First, they provided students more opportunities to reinforce reading skills.


11
Developing any skill always needs a progress, and a variety of materials on a wide range of
topic can encourage reading for different reasons and in different ways. Within limited
time in class, it is hard for one to have good reading skills. Therefore, he/she should spend
time on supplementary readings at home. In fact, if the reading texts and exercises are of
students‟ interests, they would motivate them in reading, and since supplementary reading
exercises are often done at home, they would enhance learner independence and autonomy.
Second, as mentioned in the previous part, supplementary readings which contain various
contents would widen their background knowledge. Third, supplementary reading
materials itself is a large language input such as vocabulary, structures and expressions that
will support students in developing other skills.
1.3.3. Criteria of developing supplementary reading texts
There have been a number of criteria for collectors to consider when selecting a
supplementary text. However, in the researcher‟s opinion, such things should be given
priority to as: the target students‟ interests, the length and level of difficulty of the reading
text.
Students’ interests
Commonly, supplementary readings are recommended to have the same topics or
grammatical focus as main readings. However, interest is the first criterion to select a
reading text (Anderson, 2003 and Hedge, 2000). Reading activity would bring little or no
effect if students had to read a text that they were not interested in. According to Jones
(2004), in such situation, reading would be not far from a „struggle‟ and students would
find ways to avoid reading it.
Length of the reading text

Besides, another criterion for selecting texts is appropriate length. They should not
be too long. Reading a text in a second language is demanding itself, so a lengthy text
would discourage students to read (Rees, 2006). On the other hand, according to many
researchers, too short texts are not always good ones because they may have been
beforehand modified or shortened. As a result, they would be inefficient in language and
information content.
Level of difficulty of the reading text
To begin with, a good text, as Rees (2006) suggested, is supposed to contain a
useful lexical set, some good grammar exponents, interesting syntax and sentence style.


12
Nevertheless, the texts‟ content should be in an appropriate level to target students.
“Teacher‟s Manual” (2006) advised that reading materials should be within the linguistic
competence of the students in terms of vocabulary and grammar.
Additionally, it is widely suggested that the texts should be written in standard
English. They should not have a lot of technical language or culturally specific, slang or
informal language that the students may not be familiar with. The texts should also not
contain many words of old-fashioned style and local dialects.
To sum up, considering such main criteria of reading texts before assigning to
students is one essential thing for a teacher to do. If the texts are guaranteed with those
criteria, the teacher has gone half way to the success in developing reading skills for the
students. This phenomenon is called „Matthew Effect‟: “Successful reading experiences
lead to greater skills levels in reading, which lead to more reading.”(cited in Rasinski &
Padak, 2006).
1.4. Reading exercises and reading skills
1.4.1. Types of reading exercises
There are many types of reading exercises, but the most common types are:
True/False: Statements are given and basing on the text, the student has to decide whether
it is true or false. This type of exercises is often used to check comprehension.

Comprehension questions: The student has to answer questions after reading to prove
how much they comprehend the text. These questions may attach to the content of the
passage or may be open-ended ones.
Gap-filling (Cloze reading)/ Table-filling: A sentence, dialogue, paragraph or table
containing a blank or multiple blanks. The student has to fill in exactly the correct word(s)
in the blank spaces. A hint may be sometimes included such as a root verb that need to be
changed, or the first letter of the word. This type of exercises usually checks vocabulary or
key words in the reading passage.
Matching exercises: The candidate must link items from the first column to items in the
second. This could be individual words, words and definitions, parts of sentences, pictures
to words (paragraph) or subheadings and paragraphs. Because students can get the right
answers without knowing the words, if she/he has most of the answers correct, she/he
knows the last one left must be right, these exercises often have more words than
necessary.


13
Rearranging facts (Unscramble): is „a reordering task‟ in which the student has to
arrange the scrambled facts presented in the reading passage. (Tschichold, 1997)
Multiple - choice: The student is given a number of possible answers and he/she has to
choose the correct one. Correct answers may best complete a sentence, give the same
meaning as a sentence or indicate if a sentence is true.
Find words in the text: An explanation is given and the student has to find in the text the
word that is closest to that explanation.
1.4.2. Reading skills
In classifying and defining reading skills, the researcher adapts from the online
English dictionary Macmillan (2002), which shows a most clearly and easily understood
list of important skills: skimming, scanning, identifying key words, guessing meaning,
identifying the topic sentence, summarizing, and reading for gist. In this minor thesis, the
following popular reading skills will be taken into account in designing supplementary

reading exercises:
Skimming: Williams (1986) claimed that the purpose of skimming is simply to see what a
text is about. In other words, Grellet (1981) defined skimming as running one‟s eyes over a
text to get the gist of it. In brief, skimming is looking for the main ideas of a text and
paying little attention to the details.
Scanning: From the view of Williams (1986), scanning occurs when a reader go through
a text very quickly to find a particular point of information. In other words, scanning is
retrieving details in the text that are relevant to one‟s purposes.
Identifying key words: This skill is applied when students underline the key words in a
text, or complete a table with key words from the text.
Guessing meaning: Students read a passage which contains new words and phrases. They
try to guess the meaning of the new words and phrases by their context.
Identifying the topic sentence: Students find the sentence in a paragraph which gives the
idea of what the paragraph is about.
Summarizing: Summarizing is an example of integrating skills. Students read a text and
identify the main points, then use those main points to write a summary (a much shorter
version of the text) containing only the essential information.
Reading for gist: This skill is used when reading a passage to get a general idea of what it
is about, but not worrying about understanding the complete content or every specific idea.


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1.5. Creating activities based on reading texts
1.5.1. Skills integration in EFL teaching and learning
According to Oxford (1990), integrating skills is the application of an integrating
approach for the development of communicative skills in the classroom, in which the four
skills in the acquisition of knowledge of a foreign language can be taught in a coherent
way, and practiced together, with a distinction of the importance of once upon the other.
The integrated-skill approach, as contrasted with the purely segregated approach,
not only helps learners gain a true picture of the richness and complexity of the English

language as employed for communication but also turns English into a real means of
interaction and sharing among people. In addition, integrating the language skills help to
promote the learning of real content, not just the dissection of language forms. (Scarcella
et. al, 1992)
1.5.2. Creating writing activities from reading texts
The importance of skills integration in EFL teaching and learning can not be
denied. The question of why and how writing activities can be created based on the reading
text is linked to the connection between two skills: Reading and Writing. Butler and
Turbill (1984) agreed that reading and writing are similar and mutually supportive
language processes. Both skills rely on the reader‟s or writer‟s background knowledge to
construct meaning and both make use of cuing systems (graphic, semantic, syntactic) to
allow the reader or writer to predict and confirm meaning. In his influential study about the
relationship between reading and writing, Stotsky (1983) pointed out one conclusion that
“reading experiences have as great an effect on writing as direct instruction in grammar
and mechanics.”
To show how reading and writing are interconnected, Skeans (2000) stated that the
theory of constructivism supported that both comprehending and composing were regarded
as text production processes. Hence, "both reader and writer were active participants in the
making or construction of meaning as they interacted with text" (p. 70).
Recently, coursebooks and textbooks have shown a shift by leaving a skill – based
reading approach to reading and applying reading-writing components. Jeanette and
Moseley state it in the preface of their book as:
“ today the idea of integrating writing and reading instruction is gaining increased acceptance because
research has indicated its theoretical validity and teachers have discovered its pedagogical effectiveness.


15
Instructors of both writing and reading have in many cases already begun to offer integrated instruction that
allows students to view writing and reading in the same rhetorical context.” (1985, p.vii).
Writing has generally been an uninteresting, dull experience for students and causes

reluctance. In order to make writing more interesting and enjoyable for students, it has to
be integrated into the other activities. In this research, writing is integrated into reading.
The close connections between reading and writing make the teaching of these skills in the
light of integrated-skill approach feasible.
We can find a list of authentic writing activities such as guided writing, writing
letters, writing descriptions, reporting experience, writing a narrative based on a picture or
a series of pictures, describe an occasion when you were disappointed (afraid, surprised,
etc.) In this paper, the researcher focuses on certain types of writing activities based on
reading texts from which students can have chances to improve their language proficiency
and approach the communicative target language more easily.
1.6. Suitability of the present study in the research area
So far, as a brief description of aspects of the role of textbooks, supplementary
material, teaching integrated skills writing activities, along with related issues, has been
presented and discussed, there comes the need to clarify how the present study fits into the
area of investigation.
Firstly, the researcher found it necessary to utilize texts to improve the teaching and
learning integrated skills for NEMSs. Therefore, this paper could be of use as it puts the
emphasis on the prospects of designing supplementary materials to integrate reading and
writing skills for NEMS. It would make possible suggestions in details on how teachers
can exploit reading texts to promote their teaching writing.
Secondly, from the real context of teaching, the researcher has found the necessity
of adapting textbook by designing supplementary materials since up to now, this field has
not been touched upon. Therefore, the present paper, aiming at finding the needs of NEMS,
is by all means necessary.
In short, this research is supposed to fill up one among the existing gaps in the
research field. By this, it means that this research would improve the context of learning
and teaching reading and writing skills among teachers of Second Foreign Language
Division and NEMS in HULIS. The research is presented with further information in the
following sections.

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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY
2.1. Description of the context
As the study was conducted at HULIS, the researcher found it necessary to give a
brief description of teaching and learning context, including the coursebook being used, the
teachers as well as non-English majored students.
2.1.1. The current syllabus for the third-year students
It is noticeable that these students are following credited syllabus. There are four
modules for NEMSs and they start module 1 in their fourth semester, and finish it in their
seventh semester. Being in charge of the second module, the researcher aimed to design a
complete pack of supplementary material to aid the teaching. Among four modules,
therefore, the second module with four credits was chosen. The second module covers ten
units – from unit 11 in Headway Elementary to unit 6 in Headway Pre-Intermediate. In
each module, there are three main types of tests: Progress test 1 (in the format of reading
and writing) accounts for 10 percent of the total mark whereas progress test 2 checks
speaking and listening skills (20 percent of the total mark). The third test, the end-of-term
test, makes up of 50 percent of the whole assessment, has reading and writing format.
Designing learner-friendly exercises to help the students perform well in the tests is also
one aim of this study.
In terms of the materials, a series of New Headway, formally used as the
coursebook by NEMS, HULIS for two years are considered more up-to-date than Lifelines
coursebooks, which were used by HULIS. This material, written by John and Liz Soars,
has been quite successful and popular to learners of English all over the world. Also they
are widely used in many English courses for the following reasons:
- According to the authors, Headway has been designed for adult and young adult
who would like to use English both for fluency and accuracy and all the four skills are
developed systemically (Soars and Soars, 1993) which makes this book appropriate for all
kind of learners.
- The book concentrates on traditional approaches such as a clear focus on grammar

with in-depth analysis and clarification, through many exercises and reading material, yet it
employs the “communicative approaches” since students are required to work out rules
individually.


17
- The textbooks have been written to satisfy the needs of all kinds of learners from
different countries or backgrounds, they are not merely used for a particular national group
and reflect upon their personal opinions.
- Student needs and interests present good reasons for choosing the greatly popular
Headway series, which is for students who want to make use of English accurately and
fluently, and to communicate with ease in both social and everyday situations (Soars &
Soars, 1996).|
Each of the main units is based around a theme and has a main structural focus
recycled and developed through the unit. The contents of this module are presented in
Appendices.
2.1.2. The teaching staff
Division of Second Foreign Language consists of eleven teachers, among whom
seven teachers have got BA Degree in language teaching. The context of teaching and
learning English for NEMS, HULIS requires some adaptation and adjustment of teachers.
Most of them try to integrate the four skills by employing communicative approach
whereas some elderly teachers are reluctant to it. These teachers are used to grammar-
translation methods and form-focused instructions. During the periods of reading skill,
they concentrated only on practicing reading exercises of a unit in the coursebook and
dealing with new words appearing in the text. Students mainly work with the ready-made
texts in the coursebook. Writing activities are hardly introduced to students; therefore,
there does not exist the so-called integration approach. In addition, the format of final test
which focuses on checking reading and writing skills drives the students‟ attention to these
two skills. Although what is taught is different from one class to another, depending on
both the teachers and the students‟ level of proficiency and their needs, the situation at

HULIS raises a necessity of designing a supplementary material to meet their needs.
2.1.3. The students
Actually NEMS at HULIS can be divided into two groups:
The first is those who took an English test in their entrance examination; the second
is those who did not. The first group consists of students studying Japanese, Korean,
German, and some Russian, Chinese students. By the time they leave high school, most of
them have studied English for at least seven years; however, they traditionally
concentrated on reading skills, vocabulary and grammatical structures.


18
The second one includes students from French department, and the others from
Russian and Chinese department. Generally students from group 1 are better at English
than those from group 2; therefore, since academic year 2008-2009, two programs have
been offered to students aiming at these two different groups. The first program is General
English (GE), the focus of which is basics of English grammar, structures and vocabulary.
The second program is Advanced English which aims at developing students‟
communication skills in English; therefore, all the four skills would be well developed. No
sooner had the second program been introduced, the demand for better reading exercises
arose for both groups.
2.2. Description of the participants
In this study students at HULIS in their third-year and teachers of English were
defined as the participants.
150 third-year students were selected randomly. Their ages ranged from 20 to 22.
They have just started their third module, so they could have the best view of module 2.
With regard to teacher population, there were only 11 teachers including the
researcher. They were between 24 and 50 years old and their experience of teaching quite
varied, ranging from 2 years to 28 years.
2.3. Methods of data collection
As having been mentioned above, in this research, questionnaires were used to get

the sufficient data.
Questionnaires have been considered “a vital tool in the collection of data it can
provide data economically and in a form that lends itself perfectly to the purposes of the
study” (Gajendra, 1999: 117). In this particular research, the researcher will use two sets of
questionnaires: one for teachers and the other for students. Both questionnaires are divided
into two main parts:
The first one, which is a checklist, aims to finding out the attitudes of teachers and
students towards the coursebook New Headway (questions 1, 2, 3, 6). Then their
viewpoints on the strengths and weaknesses (question 4, 5) are covered. Each question in
this checklist is based on either recent research or previously developed checklists
(Sheldon 1988, McDonough and Shaw 1993, Cunningsworth 1995, Miekley 2005). The
checklist is built in such a way that it can meet the needs of this research.
In the second part, while students‟ preferences for a supplementary material are
shown from question 7 to 12, the teachers‟ views on teaching reading and writing are


19
illustrated in questions 7-10. Question 11 aims to elicit teachers‟ ideas of where to use
supplementary reading and writing exercises.
In each set of questionnaire, both closed and open questions were used. By using
closed questions, the researcher hoped to get the exact number and the specific information
about the matter studied. Open questions, on the other hand, would help elicit more
thorough information about the subject matter. Therefore, the mutual supplementation of
the two kinds of the questions would hopefully result in the most reliable source of
information. The questions in two sets of questionnaires are corresponding to each other.
In each set of questionnaires, the following categories will be covered:
- Teachers and students‟ evaluation on the New Headway coursebooks (the first six
questions in both questionnaires)
- The students‟ preferences for supplementary material:
+ Students‟ favorite topics

+ Students‟ favorite types of text
+ Students‟ favorite types of reading and writing exercises
150 questionnaires were handed out randomly to NEMSs who have just started
their third module. The reason for choosing students in their third module is that they have
just been through the second module. Among all NEMSs, students in module 3 have the
best view of module 2 in general, and reading passages in Headway textbook in particular.
To some extent, they understand quite well the strong points and weak ones of the
coursebook. To achieve the highest possible response rates, the questionnaire was given to
the students in the class time. The researcher chose randomly students from different
faculties with a view to accessing a large number of students from different levels, so the
non-response bias can be reduced. As the questionnaires were delivered to students during
the short break, the researcher got back the exact number (150 questionnaires).
Also, the questionnaires were given to 10 teachers who are teaching English to
NEMSs. All of them were so willing to finish. Survey questionnaires were used to collect
opinions about the coursebook. The aim of the questionnaires is to find out the attitudes of
teachers and students towards the topics, reading passages and types of exercise in New
Headway coursebook taught in the second module.
The steps of constructing the questionnaires were performed as follows: