Đánh giá các bài tập đọc hiểu trong sách tiếng Anh 12 dựa trên các bài tập nghĩa đen và nghĩa suy luận

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


LÊ THỊ DUNG


AN EVALUATION OF READING COMPREHENSION TASKS
IN ENGLISH 12 REGARDING LITERAL AND INFERENTIAL
COMPREHENSION TASKS

ĐÁNH GIÁ CÁC BÀI TẬP ĐỌC HIỂU TRONG SÁCH TIẾNG ANH 12
DỰA TRÊN CÁC BÀI TẬP NGHĨA ĐEN VÀ NGHĨA SUY LUẬN


M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS


FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60140111






Hanoi, 2014

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


LÊ THỊ DUNG


AN EVALUATION OF READING COMPREHENSION TASKS
IN ENGLISH 12 REGARDING LITERAL AND INFERENTIAL
COMPREHENSION TASKS

ĐÁNH GIÁ CÁC BÀI TẬP ĐỌC HIỂU TRONG SÁCH TIẾNG ANH 12
DỰA TRÊN CÁC BÀI TẬP NGHĨA ĐEN VÀ NGHĨA SUY LUẬN


M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS


FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60140111
SUPERVISOR: Dr. LÊ VĂN CANH

Hanoi, 2014


i

DECLARATION
I certify that the minor thesis entitled “An Evaluation of Reading
Comprehension Tasks in English 12 regarding Literal and Inferential
comprehension Tasks” and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL is the result of my work, except where
otherwise acknowledged, and that this minor thesis or any part of the same has not
been submitted for a higher degree to any other university or institution.
The research reported in this thesis was approved by Vietnam National
University, Hanoi.

Signature


Le Thi Dung

ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to acknowledge my deepest gratitude to my
supervisor, Dr. Le Van Canh for his enlightening lectures in the Methodology
and Materials Development Courses, greatly enthusiastic guidance,
encouragement, and constructive comments in-depth along the way with my
project. Without his support, this thesis would not be able to be completed
properly.
I am indebted to all the lecturers of the Faculty of Post Graduate
Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National
University, Hanoi whose instructions have laid the foundation for my work. I
would also like to express my special thanks to all the staff for their constant
assistance while my work was in process.
My best friend, Nguyen Thi Huong Giang, who, out of friendship and
kindness, did everything she could to help me with the thesis, deserve my most
special thanks.
Finally, I owe a great debt to my family, my relatives especially my
husband and daughter who helped me fulfill my job as a wife, a mother, a
teacher, a learner and a researcher. Once again, my sincere thanks to all.

iii
ABSTRACT
Reading comprehension is emphasized in English instruction in upper secondary
schools. The reading comprehension section in the textbook TIENG ANH 12
presents a reading text which is followed by different comprehension tasks to
provide students with reading comprehension practices. As a teacher who uses this
textbook, I had the feeling that the balance between literal and inferential tasks was
problematic. This feeling motivated me to conduct this study reported here. The
study was designed to seek an answer to the general question: “To what extent
does the TIENG ANH 12 adequately prepare students for doing the two
tasktypes?”. I used the criteria of Barrett‟s taxonomy to identify and evaluate the
reading task types presented in the TIENG ANH 12 with a focus on the adequacy of
two major task types: literal and inferential comprehension. The results reveal that
while the reading comprehension tasks in the textbook cover both these task types,
the literal comprehension tasks seemed to dominate.This raises the need for teachers
to supplement inferential comprehension tasks in an attempt to prepare the students
better for the examination for the General Secondary Education Diploma as well as
the National University Entrance Examination.

iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
Abbreviations
Full phrases
1. DART
Directed Activities Related to Text
2. EFL
English as a Foreign Language
3. ELT
English Language Teaching
4. ESL
English as a Second Language
5. FL
Foreign Language
6. GCSE
General Certificate of Secondary Education
7. MCQs
Multiple-Choice Questions
8. MOET
Ministry of Education and Training
9. SLA
Second Language Acquisition
10. TESOL
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

v
LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1: Frequency of questions regarding literal and inferential meaning in
General Secondary Education Diploma Examination Test of the school year
2011-2012 and 2012-2013. 17
Table 2.2: Frequency of questions regarding literal and inferential meaning in
National University Entrance Examination Test of the school year 2011-2012.18
Table 3.1: . Description of reading comprehension questions in TIENG ANH 1224
Table 3.2: Types of reading comprehension questions in TIENG ANH 12 27
Table 3.3: Frequency and percentage of evaluated tasks regarding literal and
inferential meaning in TIENG ANH 12 28
Table 3.4: Frequency and percentage of questions regarding literal meaning in
TIENG ANH 12 29
Table 3.5: Number and total percentage of questions regarding literal meaning in
TIENG ANH 12 according to Barrett‟ taxonomy 30
Table 3.6: Frequency and percentage of questions regarding inferential meaning in
TIENG ANH 12 31
Table 3.7: Number and total percentage of questions regarding inferential
meaning in TIENG ANH 12 according to Barrett‟ taxonomy 33
Table 3.8: Comparison of frequency and percentage of questions regarding literal
meaning and inferential meaning in TIENG ANH 12 and General Secondary
Education Diploma Examination Test. 34

Table 3.9: Comparison of frequency and percentage of questions regarding literal
meaning and inferential meaning in TIENG ANH 12 and National University
Entrance Examination Test 35



vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii
ABSTRACT . iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv
LIST OF TABLES v
TABLE OF CONTENTS . vI
PART A: INTRODUCTION . 1
1.1. The Rational 1
1.2. Aims, Objective of the Study 2
1.3. Research Questions 3
1.4. Scope of the Study 3
1.5. Significance of the Study 3
1.6. Structure of the Thesis 4
PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 5
1.1. Definition of Reading comprehension 5
1.2. The Importance of Reading Comprehension in Foreign
Language Learning 5
1.3. Reading Comprehension Tasks 6
1.4. Taxonomy of Reading Comprehension 7
1.5. Literal and Inferential Dimensions of Reading Comprehension 8
1.6. Textbook Evaluation 9

1.7. Types of Textbook Evaluation 10
1.8. Models of Micro-Evaluation of Tasks 11
1.9. Criteria for Task Evaluation 12
1.10. Previous Studies on the New set of English Textbooks 12


vii
CHAPTER II: METHDOLOGY 14
2.1. Overview of the National ELT Curriculum 14
2.2. Overview of the Textbook TIENG ANH 12 15
2.3. Overview of the National Examination for General Certificate
of Secondary Education and National University Entrance
Examination Tests 16
2.4. Research Design 19
2.5. Criteria for Classifying Reading Comprehension Tasks. 19
2.6. Criteria for Evaluating Two Tasktypes Regarding Literal and
Inferential Comprehension Meaning 20
2.7. Instrument 20
2.8. Procedures of the Study 23
CHAPTER C: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 24
3.1. Detailed Description of Reading Comprehension Questions
in TIENG ANH 12 24
3.2. Evaluated Tasks in TIENG ANH 12 27
3.3. Literal Meaning Comprehension Questions 28
3.4. Inferential Meaning Comprehension Questions 31
3.5. The Comparison of Density of the two Types of Questions
in the Tests and Textbook 34
PART III: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 36
REFERENCES 40
APPENDIX 1: Barrett‟s Taxonomy I

APPENDIX 2: National Examination for General Certificate of
Secondary Education II
APPENDIX 3: National University Entrance Examination VI
APPENDIX 4: Cấu trúc đề thi ĐH, CĐ THPT môn tiếng Anh XIX


viii
APPENDIX 5: Content Analysis Card XX
APPENDIX 6: Supplementary Reading XXI
APPENDIX 7: Sample Questions for Inferential Comprehesion Tasks XXV





1
PART A: INTRODUCTION

This part introduces the rationale, the aims and objectives as well as the scope and
significance of the study. This is followed by a brief introduction of how the thesis
is structured.
1.1. The Rationale
Reading is one of the four macro linguistic skills that foreign language learners need
to develop, the other three being listening, speaking, and writing. “Reading for
comprehension is the primary purpose for reading” (Grabe, 2002, p. 277). Through
reading , learners are exposed to the second language input, which is a pre-requisite
for the acquisition of the target language. In addition, reading helps students
consolidate what they have learned and support their further study. According to
Carrel (1981:1) “for many students, reading is by far the most important of the four
macro skills, particularly in English as a second or a foreign language.” While

reading for comprehension, foreign language learners are expected to use their
linguistic knowledge (grammatical knowledge and lexical knowledge) to decode the
text literally and to use inferences to interpret the writer‟s unstated assumptions by
using their schema and knowledge of the world. Inferential reading tasks are also
called „reading between the line‟, which is part and parcel of the reading
comprehension process. Therefore, in any reading comprehension tests, there are
always two types of tasks: reading for literal or explicit meaning and reading for
inferential or implicit meaning. According to Nutall (1996), “Inference is therefore
an essential skill, but a tricky one, because often it is not clear how much the writer
expect us to infer” (p. 115). My experience as a classroom teacher tells me that
inferential tasks are always challenging to the students, and in the test, students tend
to fail to provide correct answers to these tasks.
Not few teachers who report that students in their classes are unable to infer the
meaning of the reading texts effectively.This implies that students have weak


2
reasoning abilities, causing them to make incorrect inference while doing the
reading comprehension tasks either in the classroom or the test room.
In the context of the secondary school in Vietnam, most of the reading
comprehension texts are provided in the textbook that is prescribed by the Ministry
of Education and Training. I have noticed that the current textbooks have a great
deal of improvement as compared with the old series of grammar-based textbooks.
However, there is a lack of empirical information about whether the textbook
sufficiently help the students to do well in the examinations or not. While students
are expected to demonstrate their knowledge about grammar and vocabulary and
skills in reading and writing, this study focuses on the examination of the adequacy
of two types of reading comprehension tasks only: reading for literal meaning and
reading for inferential meaning. It is true that reading competence in English as a
foreign language is composed of several sub-skills like scanning and skimming,

reading comprehension tasks can be broadly divided into two above task types. I
wonder whether the distribution of two task types in the TIENG ANH 12
adequately prepares students for the two important examinations: the National
Examination for General Certificate of Secondary Education and the National
University Entrance Examination.
This is the rationale of this study.
1.2. Aims, Objective of the Study.
The study aims at examining the extent to which the TIENG ANH 12 prepares the
students for two reading comprehension task types: reading for literal meaning and
reading for inferential meaning. The two task types play an important role in the
students‟ competence in reading comprehension that is needed at two
examinations: the National Examination for General Certificate of Secondary
Education and the National University Entrance Examination.
In an attempt to achieve the above aim, the study is designed to achieve the
following objectives


3
1. to identify the adequacy of two reading comprehension tasks: reading for
literal meaning and reading for inferential meaning in the TIENG ANH 12
2. to determine whether teachers preparing students for the exams need to
supplement more tasks of these types or not.
1.3. Research Questions
In order to achieve the above-mentioned aims and objectives, the study was
designed to find answers to the following overarching research question:
- To what extent does the TIENG ANH 12 adequately prepare students for
doing the two tasktypes?
The above question encompasses three sub-questions that this study aims to answer:
1. What reading task types are used in the TIENG ANH 12?
2. What is the distribution of reading task types in TIENG ANH 12?

3. To what extent does the TIENG ANH 12 prepare students for the
National Examination for General Certificate of Secondary Education
and National University Entrance Examination Tests ?
1.4. Scope of the Study
The study limits itself to the evaluation of the adequacy of literal reading tasks and
inferential reading tasks in the textbook TIENG ANH 12 for the purpose of
preparing the students for the two high-stake examinations only. The reason for
choosing this particular textbook is obvious. It is the last grade before the students
take the school-graduation examination and university entrance examination.
1.5. Significance of the Study
The study is to evaluate the reading comprehension tasks in TIENGANH 12. The
findings of this evaluation will inform classroom teachers of the extent to which the
textbook sufficiently prepares the students for the two high-stake examinations in
terms of the adequacy of literal reading and inferential reading tasks. Therefore, the
study will help teachers to make sound decisions on whether it is necessary to add
more of either task types or not. The study has been also a benefit for the evaluator


4
herself. As Richard (1984) believes that a successful teacher is the one who can
evaluate teaching materials and to teach students successfully; therefore, it is a good
chance to review major theoretical basis relating to material evaluation. Being
equipped with the knowledge, teachers have a critical thinking towards the material
they are using, namely, they can evaluate it systematically and methodologically.
This work is also of great use for the writer to gain good and useful insights into the
nature of the reading comprehension tasks in the textbook. This micro- evaluation
will serve as basis for evaluating other tasks such as listening, speaking, and writing
tasks.
1.6. Structure of the Thesis
This thesis is divided as follows:

Part I, The Introduction, presents the background to the study, states the aims,
significance, discusses the scope of the study, method and procedure and outlines
the thesis.
Part II, which follows, is composed of three chapters. Chapter I reviews the
literature focusing on the nature of reading comprehension competence in English
as a foreign language, the importance of reading for literal and inferential meanings
and the need to evaluate the textbook. Chapter II presents the Study including the
research methodology including the research design and methods of data collection.
Chapter III, findings and discussion, states the research results and the author‟s
discussion on the results.
Part III, the Conclusion, summarizes the key points in the findings regarding the
research questions, and recommendations for classroom teachers.








5
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter reviews the literature on issues related to reading comprehension in
foreign language and the classification as well as features of most common reading
comprehension tasks.
1.1. Definition of Reading Comprehension
Comprehension of any written text means understanding the meaning of that text,
therefore, a reader comprehends when he reaches his ultimate goal of grasping the

meaning of the written material. This usually implies assimilating what is presented
on a page with the reader‟s own experience and knowledge (Harris,1948:9). For
Norris, without fulfilling this aim of grasping the meaning the whole activity would
be a “ word-by word reading" and should not be called “ reading" ( 1972:190-191).
Reading comprehension is clearly defined by Nuttal as part of the communication
process to be:
the way by which a reader gets a message from a text and that text full of
meaning like jug full of water, and can be poured straight into the
reader‟s mind which soaks it up like a sponge
( Nuttal,1982:4 )
In general, reading comprehension consists of two related processes: word
recognition (the process of perceiving written symbols from different kinds of
texts) and comprehension (the process of making sense of words).
1.2 The Importance of Reading Comprehension in Foreign Language Learning
Reading is an important, if not the most important, skill that students who study
foreign language need to acquire. As Eskeys (2005) points out that many students of
English as a Foreign Language (EFL) rarely need to speak the language in their
day-to-day lives but may need to read it in order to “assess the wealth of
information” (p.563). Of the four language skills, reading has conventionally been


6
the most emphasized in FL and ESL or EFL situations over the years. Bright and
Gregor (1970) state that books provide most pupils with the situation in which
learning takes place. Where there is little reading, there will be little language
learning. They also state “further education depends on quantity and quality of
reading. All the important skills, in fact, require quick and efficient imaginative
reading” (pp. 52-53).
When English is taught in a foreign language environment like in Vietnamese high
schools, students have little opportunity to practise it outside the classroom. In this

context, students are expected to learn how to read in a foreign language in order to
learn the language and obtain the information that they find useful for them.
”Learning to read and reading to learn” is not an outworn slogan. The need for
developing the reading skill is more urgent because of the ever-increasing amount
of reading our students are called upon to do. From a second language acquisition
(SLA) perspective, reading and the reading texts are a source of input of the target
language without which acquisition of the second language can hardly happen. This
is because reading texts can be used for several different purposes, and this is
reflected in the coursebook as follows.
- developing reading skills and strategies,
- presenting/ recycling grammar items, extending vocabulary
- providing models for writing,
- giving information of interest to students,
- stimulating oral work
(Cunningsworth, 1995:73)
1.3 Reading Comprehension Tasks
Task may be defined as “an activity or action which is carried out as the result of
processing or understanding language (i.e. as a response) (Richards, Platt and
Weber, 1986:289). According to Nunan (2001:10), task involves communicative
language use in which the communicative task is described as a piece of classroom
work.


7
Regarding tasks in reading comprehension, Nunan (2001) describes the reading task
as a classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating,
producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is principally
focused on meaning rather than form. A reading task in a classroom consists of a
process of three tasks (pre-reading task, while-reading task and post-reading task).
Pang, Muaka, Bernbardt and Kamil (2003:6) define reading task as a complex

activity for understanding written texts that involves both perception and thought.
According to Nunan (1999:262), good reading tasks are tasks that :
- typically make use of authentic and challenging texts.
- provide students with a rhetorical or topical framework for processing and
analyzing the text.
- frequently involve an oral reading of the text by the teacher or a student
followed by silent reading and rereading of the text.
- involve students in direct analysis of the text instead of in direct question
answering.
- frequently involve the transfer of information from the text to a visual or
diagrammatic representation.
1.4. Taxonomy of Reading Comprehension
It is necessary to present the levels introduced by some writers to show how reading
comprehension is achieved.
According to Robinson (1996: 27-33), there are four levels: words perception
including word recognition and word meanings, comprehension which includes
judgements and emotional responses, and assimilation in which the material comes
to be amalgamated with the reader‟s knowledge and experience .
In roughly the same way, Gray (1960: 13-19) indentified four levels: first, the
literal level that involves the translation of what the word says; second, the
interpretative level which relates materials to their context; third, the significance
level which involves implications; forth, the evaluation level which requires the
student to react to the material in his own terms .


8
As for Barrett (1974: 93), five–level taxonomy was developed: the literal
comprehension which consists of either recognition or recalling; recognition
necessitates conceptual thinking such as clarifying, summarizing or synthesizing
ideas of the reading material, then inferential comprehension stage in which the

reader utilizes his own past experience in order to interpret, and evaluation level
that implies the assessment of the reading material, finally appreciation in which the
reader is concerned with the literacy techniques and aesthetic impact.
After reviewing these taxonomies, it became evident that reading comprehension
can be covered by two general taxonomies: literal comprehension and inferential
comprehension.
1.5. Literal and Inferential Dimensions of Reading Comprehension
Current theories of reading comprehension view reading as an interaction between
the reader‟s text-based and knowledge-based processes (Nuttall, 1996). In reading,
“an individual constructs meaning through a transaction with written text that has
been created by symbols that represent language. The transaction involves the
reader‟s acting on or interpreting the text, and the interpretation is influenced by the
reader‟s past experiences, language background, and cultural framework, as well as
the reader‟s purpose for reading” (Hudelson, 1994, p. 130). This means that the
reader first engages in the linguistic processing of surface-level textual features.
This is called text-based procedures (Alptekin & Ercetin, 2011) which involve the
surface code (e.g., lexical decoding, word-to-text interpretation, syntactic parsing).
In other words, at this stage, the literal level of reading comprehension, which is
generally defined as the reader‟s ability to “gain meaning directly from the print”
(Walker, Munro, & Rickards, 1998, p. 88 cited in Alptekin & Ercetin, 2011, p. 242),
essentially captures surface code features and textbase meanings explicitly stated in
the text as well as the connecting devices that bind these text constituents locally.
Literal reading is believed as failing to provide a deep understanding of text content
(King, 2007) and has been associated with the performance of unskilled readers,
who are thought to be unable to go beyond the information contained in a text


9
(Walker, et al., 1998 cited in Alptekin & Ercetin, 2011, p. 242). By contrast,
inferential reading requires the reader to use his or her knowledge structures that are

relevant to textual content in order to reason beyond the text for correct
interpretation of the information in the text (Nuttall, 1996). “Inference is often used
to reconstruct the writer‟s unstated presuppositions” (Nutall, 1996, p. 114) .
Moreover, Day and Park (2005: 33 ) state that making inferences involves more
than a literal understanding. Answering inference questions may be difficult
because the answers are based on material that is in the text but not explicity stated.
An inference involves readers combining literal understanding of the text with their
own knowledge and intuitions.
In short, on evaluating a learner‟s reading comprehension competence, reading for
literal and inferential meaning plays a crucial role. Therefore, textbooks are
expected to provide adequate task types to develop these important reading skills.
However, as no textbook can satisfy the learning needs and learning purposes of all
the students, they need to be evaluated so that teachers can make appropriate use of
the textbook. The following section reviews the literature on textbook evaluation.
1.6. Textbook Evaluation
A textbook is a teaching material for the teacher and a learning material for the
learner. Within this study, the terms „textbook‟, „text‟, and „materials‟ are used
interchangeably. As textbooks are intended for a large body of student population,
they may not quite suitable for a particular group of students. Therefore, textbooks
should be evaluated by teachers or by both teachers and students to decide on
suitability of the textbook for that group of students in terms of their learning needs
and learning purposes.
Evaluating materials enables teachers to see if teaching material matches the
objectives of the language learning program; whether it assists learners to use
language effectively for their own purposes; if it accords with learners‟ needs by
facilitating their learning processes; or whether it supports learning.
(Cunningsworth, 1984:5).


10

A variety of definitions of textbook evaluation are offered by different specialists.
However, the definition by Worthen and Sanders (1973) is adopted in this study.
According to Worthen and Sanders (1973: 19 cited in Johnson, 1989: 223 ), “
Evaluation is the determination of the worth of a thing. It includes obtaining
information for use in judging the worth of a program, product, procerdure, or
object, or the potential utility of alternative approaches designed to attain specified
objectives”.
This definition is adopted because it highlights both the purpose of textbook
evaluation and the procedures of carrying out the evaluation.
1.7. Types of Textbook Evaluation.
Evaluation can be classified into summative evaluation and formative evaluation.
The former is conducted after the textbook has been used, i.e., post-use evaluation
while the latter refers to the type of evaluation conducted while the textbook is
being used, i.e., in-use evaluation. Another classification is suggested by Ellis
(1997:37), according to which materials evaluation is divided into two types:
macro-evaluation and micro- evaluation. Ellis elaborates that the former is the
impressionistic assessment of the effectiveness of the whole set of materials. In the
latter, however, a particular teaching task chosen by the evaluator is evaluated. The
task is described in terms of its objectives, the input (the information provided), the
conditions (under which the task is conducted), the procedures, the outcomes (the
achievement on completion of the task). The aim in this model is to identify the
match between task planned and task in use. According to him, micro-evaluation
can serve as the basis for further macro- evaluation. On the other hand, micro-
evaluation can be an individual, practical and legitimate way of carrying out an
empirical evaluation of teaching materials
“A micro-evaluation of teaching materials is perhaps best carried out in relation to
„task‟" (Ellis, 1997: 37). Tasks within the curriculum or of methodology is
described as “Tasks are justify on the grounds that they will help the learners to
develop the skills they will need for carrying out real-world communicative tasks

11
beyond the classroom” (Nunan, 2001:38). And as the important places of
retrospective evaluation and tasks are as described, the researcher decides to
conduct a retrospective evaluation on reading comprehension tasks as this is the
initial and important part of the four language skills. It can give the input for the
following lessons such as listening, speaking, writing, and language focus and it is
one important section in university entrance examination. Because the purpose of
this study is to evaluate the adequacy of the literal and inferential reading tasks in
TIENG ANH 12, the micro-evaluation approach was adopted. Procedures of this
model of textbook evaluation are presented in the subsequent section.
1.8. Models of Micro-Evaluation of Tasks
Ellis (1997:38) recommends the following steps of task evaluation:
Step 1- Choosing a task to evaluate;
Step 2 - Describing the task which requires the specification of the content of
a task in terms of input, procedures, language activities and outcome; (The
researcher analyzes the reading tasks)
Step 3- Planning the evaluation;
Step 4 - Collecting the information for the evaluation (before, while and after
the task is used) about how the task was performed; (This work uses while
and after evaluation)
Step 5 - Analyzing the information;
Step 6 - Reaching conclusion relating to what has been discovered as result
of the evaluation of the task and making recommendations;
Step 7- Writing the report
This study follows these steps to evaluate the reading tasks in TIENG ANH 12. The
tasks that were chosen to be evaluated in this study were reading for literal meaning
and reading for inferential meaning. After these tasks were chosen, a detailed plan
for the evaluation was worked out including the research design, scheduling and
decisions on the methods of evaluation. Then, data were collected and analyzed

12
according to the research design. Results of the data analysis were reported in this
thesis.
1.9. Criteria for Task Evaluation.
Little John (1998) proposes three criteria for the task evaluation: 1) “what is there”
in the book; 2) “what is required of the users”; 3) “what is implied” based on the
distribution of teacher and students. Matthews (1991) suggests “the balance of
tasks” (enough attention to different types of task). Grant (1991) looks at “enough
activities”. Nuttall (1996:170-174) highlights three major criteria for evaluating
texts for reading. These include: suitability of content, exploitability, and
readability.
1.10. Previous Studies on the New Set of English Textbooks
In Vietnam a number of projects have been carried out to evaluate the new set of
English textbooks including the basic and the advanced, among which Nguyen
Thuy Minh (2007) is the most typical example. Her research “Textbook evaluation:
The case of English textbooks currently in use in Vietnam‟s upper secondary
schools” gives readers a rather comprehensive evaluation on the new set of
textbooks. The evaluation was carried under the criteria namely: the teaching of
language skills (Reading, listening, speaking and writing), the teaching of language
element (grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary) using the checklists provided by
Cunningsworth (1995). The researcher has come to some conclusion about the
strengths and weakness of the new textbooks. The strength is pointed out as the
books have brought about the positive changes in the way English was taught at
secondary school, making it significantly more communicative and effective. The
weakness is the challenge for both students in rural, remote areas and for teachers
who do not continue to improve their language knowledge, skills and teaching
methods.
Another evaluation of the whole textbook English 11 taught at Phan Dinh Phung

secondary school in Ha Noi - A Case Study by Le Thi Hue found out some useful
results. She concluded that the textbook English 11 truly followed the objectives


13
prescribed by MOET for the course. Regarding to the suitableness of the textbook
to the students, the reading and speaking section are relatively acceptable but the
listening part and language focus need some modification to be more suitable. The
author believed that interesting, challenging and motivating subjects and contents
that were relevant to students needs interest the students.
When it comes to reading part in the textbook TIENG ANH 12, Nguyen Thi Huong
Giang worked on an analysis of cultural factor in the Textbook English 12 from the
perspective of English as an international language. This researcher examined
cultural content in the textbook and found out that the textbook meets the
requirement of the context of English as an international language in terms of
cultural content.
Although the textbook TIENG ANH 12 for Vietnamese high schools have been
evaluated by some authors, the reading comprehension tasks have not yet
evaluated. Therefore, I feel a strong need to undertake this evaluation.
Summary
This chapter deals with theoretical background of the study in order to give a clear
vision about the topic related to the issue of reading comprehension task
comprehension evaluation and criteria for evaluating reading comprehension tasks.
The practical aspect of the thesis is dealt with in the next chapter: Methodology.

14
CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY
The chapter describes the practical aspects of the study including the employing a
tool to collect data, the techniques of gathering and describing the data to achieve
the purpose of the study. It also briefly describes the Vietnamese English teaching
context, in which two important examinations take place annually and involve
nationwide population of students and the textbook English 12 which serve as the
setting of the study and the sample of the evaluation, respectively.
2.1. Overview of the National ELT Curriculum
Before an evaluation of reading comprehension tasks regarding literal and
referential comprehension tasks of TIENG ANH 12 was conducted, the national
curriculum for ELT in secondary school education and the syllabus for ELT in
Vietnam was reviewed. This review provides the basis for the evaluation in the
sense that the curriculum was used as a reference point for the evaluation .
In 2006 MOET issued a new curriculum which defines English as a compulsory
subject, which is “instrumental to the access of world science and technology as
well as world cultures” (Hoang, 2011). The aims for ELT at secondary school level
for the basic programme are described as enabling students to:
1. “Use English as a means for basic communication relatively proficiently both in
spoken and written channels to meet the specific demand related to socio- science
and humane.
2. Master basic and relatively systematic knowledge of English suited to their levels
of proficiency and ages and the specific demand related to socio- science and
humane.
3. Acquire some general understanding of the people and cultures of some English-

speaking countries and develop a positive attitude towards the people, cultures and
language of these countries; cultivate the pride in, love for and respect to the
Vietnamese culture and language” (Hoang, et al., 2011)
2.2 Overview of the Textbook TIENG ANH 12


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The book is claimed to adopt a theme-based syllabus. The methodologies presented
in the book are the “learner-centered approach and the communicative approach
with task-based teaching being the central teaching method”. The teaching contents
for each unit are summarized in a book map which is provided on the first page of
each book. There are 16 teaching units and six review units in each book. Each
teaching unit covers a topic and is structured into five sections: Reading, Speaking,
Listening, Writing and Language Focus. Reading skills are dealt with first and
foremost in a unit because the authors expect to use the reading text to provide
language input and ideas for practice of other language skills.
The requirement of the MOET on reading skill in TIENG ANH 12 is defined as
follows:
After finishing grade 12, students are able to:
- Use appropriate skills to read a passage of 300-350 words for general,
detailed or specific information the theme of which is included in the
textbook.
- Distinguish the main ideas and supporting ideas.
- Use the main ideas to summarise the text.
- Comprehend and judge the author‟s opinions and attitudes
(Tieng Anh 12 - Teacher‟s book, p3)
As far as reading comprehension is concerned, in each unit of TIENG ANH 12, the
reading comprehension often provides three kinds of tasks for students to complete
with each task having its own aim.
Tasks 1 aims at developing students‟ word-attack skills. In this task, students are

asked to guess the meaning of words and/or phrases using contextual clues.
Task 2 intends to help the students to build up different sub-skills of reading
comprehension. These sub-skills include:
- evaluating the information in the form of True/False questions .