Using While- Reading Techniques to Improve Reading Comprehension for the 11th Form Students at Phan Dang Luu High School

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PART 1: INTRODUCTION
1.

Rationale of the study.
Nowadays, English is the most popular language in the world. As an effective means

of international communication, it is used as the official language in many fields of life such
as economics, politics, science, technology, sports and many others. This leads to an
increasing demand of learning English. There are more and more people who learn English
and consider it as an inevitable factor in their work and life.
In Vietnam, English has been brought into the school curriculum as a compulsory
subject, and the teaching and learning of that international language has been recently paid
great attention to. When teaching English, the teacher teaches his students not only the
English language but also its usage. And under the right guidance, right help of the teacher,
the students have to try their best to master 4 language skills: reading, writing, listening and
speaking in order to communicate in English successfully. Among these four skills, reading
plays an important role in enriching the students’ general knowledge and in helping them
with their further study later.
Owing to the importance of reading itself, the growing interest in learning English in
Vietnam creates a wide learning environment. It can be seen that the teaching of reading of
reading comprehension has been paid in increasing attention to its different aspects. As time
goes by, many experts and methodologists have come to understand that reading
comprehension is important not only at schools but also afterwards. That is reading helps
students as readers develop their language ability in general and comprehension skills in
particular at schools as well as gives them other benefits to avoid cultural and language bias,
etc. in daily communication. Recognizing the importance of reading, I decide on choosing
“Using While- Reading Techniques to Improve Reading Comprehension for the 11th
Form Students at Phan Dang Luu High School ”
2. Aims of the study
The specific aims of the study are as follows:

-

Clarifying the nature of reading comprehension in accordance with some

important points in teaching this skill.


2

-

Investigating the present situation of teaching and learning reading

comprehension of the 11th form students to find out advantages as well as problems facing
both teachers and students in reading lessons.
-

Suggesting useful techniques to develop the reading comprehension skills

in the while- reading stage for the 11th form in Phan Dang Luu high school.
3.

Scope of the study
Due to the limitation, all the techniques suggested are used in the while- reading

stage. And the object of this study is the 11th form students at Phan Dang Luu high school.
4.

Methods of the study
To implement this study, the following methods are used:

- Consulting related materials: For the sake of getting knowledge and useful

ideas, I read many books and other materials in addition to earlier researches about reading
and teaching reading comprehension.
- Delivering survey questionnaire and observing reading lessons: To fulfill
this thesis, two survey questionnaires, one for students and another for teachers and some
reading class observations were carried out to find out the teachers’ and students’ attitudes
toward teaching and learning reading as well as their working methods.
5.

Significance of the study.
The findings of the study are believed to be useful for reading teachers to be aware of

the essential role of while- reading stage in a reading lesson. Furthermore, the suggestions
for while- reading techniques hopefully can help the students to improve their reading skills
as well as the teachers.
6.

Design of the study.
The thesis is divided into three parts. The first part is the Introduction which includes

rationale aims, scope, methods, significance and design of the study. The secondDevelopment is the main part which consists of three chapters. Chapter I is about review of
literature relating to reading comprehension. Chapter II investigates the present situation of
learning and teaching reading to the 11th form students at Phan Dang Luu high school.
Chapter III gives some suggested techniques used in the while- reading stage to develop the
reading skill for the 11th form students. Part III is the Conclusion of the study.


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PART 2: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter, I attempt to deal with definitions of reading in general and reading
comprehension in particular, types of reading and teaching reading comprehension.
1.1.

Theoretical background of reading comprehension

1.1.1

Definitions of reading.
The term “Reading” is widely used in practice. However, reading is differently

defined due to the areas of defining in term of activities or goals at any one level on grade.
That is why, no definition of reading can possibly include all points of views and features.
Moreover, each one’s definition only reflects what reading means to that person.
However, a careful considered definition of reading is very necessary for the reading
teacher. Because reading is the most critical aspect of any teaching programme and for the
teachers to decide what they will teach in the classroom. Herein, I would like to mention
some definitions of reading extracted from different sources on the theme.
Elias and Ingram (1977:55) states:
“Reading was defined as the abstraction of meaning from a visual configuration, and
was shown to involve desirably not a painstaking grapheme- by- grapheme decoding but the
postulation of alternatives of meaning which one reduced by the parsimonious interaction of
the component process with the visual configuration.”
Besides, Goodman (1982) points out reading as psycholinguistic guessing game.
Because it deals with how language and thought are interactive, but it operates within a
sociolinguistic context. According to the Gould, Diyanni, Smith and Standford (1990),
reading is related to interpretation, making sense of all events taking place around us for a
process of making potential meanings for readers. Especially, Buzan (1997) finds that all

common reading definitions only relate to a part of the process and an accurate definition of
reading must contain the full range of reading skills, or reading as a multi- level process
which comprise the following steps:
•

Recognition: You are concerned with understanding of alphabetical

symbols. This step occurs instantly before physical reading begins.


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•

Assimilation: This step starts with word then to the eye and via the optic

nerve to the brain.
•

Intra- Integration: This step refers to the link of all parts of the

information being read with all other appropriate parts.
•

Extra- Integration: This step requires learners to bring all of their previous

knowledge to what they read, making appropriate connections, analyzing, criticizing,
appreciating, selecting and rejecting.
•

Retention: This step requires the basic storage of information of the

readers.
•

Recall: This process shows the ability of the readers to get back the

storage when it is needed.
•

Communication: This process includes written and spoken in which

information is used immediately or eventually. It also contains very crucial and often
neglected human function: Thinking- “thinking is your ongoing extra integration”
(Buzan, 1997:34)
Although those reading definitions are of different attitudes to reading, they seem to
have some features in common. It is because they all concentrate on the nature of reading.
To make this point clear, Abbot, Wingard, Greenwood and McKeating (1981: 81) shows that
“Here are two broad aspects or levels. First there is basically visual task, that of
deciphering the marks on the page, the brain receiving signals, from the eyes. Secondly,
there is cognitive task, that of interpreting the visual information, so the one is not simply
“barking at print””
Deriving from those opinions, reading is considered a process in which a reader
looks at and understand what has been written out.
1.1.2

Definitions of reading comprehension
In teaching reading, it is necessary to understand the nature of reading comprehension.

What the teacher understands about it will have a great influence on what he or she teaches in

the class. He would know what to teacher and how to make his reading lesson effectively. In
fact, methodologists have been providing different definitions of reading comprehension.
According to Grellet (1981: 3): “Reading comprehension or understanding a written
text means extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible.” The author


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means that reading comprehension is an activity which aims at decoding the meaning of
word combination in the text in the most efficient way.
Also concerning the reading comprehension, Richard and Good (1978:9) provide a
clearer point of view:
“Reading comprehension is best described as an understanding between the author
and the reader. The emphasis is on the reader understanding of the printed page based on the
individual reader’s unique background of experience. Reading is much than just pronouncing
words correctly or simply what the author intends. It is the process whereby the printed
pages stimulate ideas, experiences and responses that are unique to an individual”
According to the above authors, reading comprehension is not only simply
understanding what is written, but also is what stimulates students to remember from their
experiences. That knowledge is then used to get meaning out of printed page, but in the mind
of the readers which included not only facts or details but also emotion, belief and critical
evaluation.
From these opinions, it can be concluded that reading comprehension is a process of
understanding what is conveyed in the text. It does not mean that the reader needs to
understand every single word in the text but actively work on the text and extract the
required information efficiently.
1.1.3

The importance of reading
Deriving from some of reading definitions above, we find that reading is a very

important factor in language acquisition. It is important because it is considered an essential
skill both at school and afterwards. Reading takes its place alongside the development of oral
ability in the school programme. Reading also gives us as readers a lot of opportunities to
contact with different contexts in our daily life. Byrne (1988:46) provides three reasons for
the importance of reading as follows:
“* It offers language learners another areas of success. We should accept that not all
students will be good speakers and at least give them credit if they become good readers
*It gives the students a skill which they can use on their own (i.e. it is a key to selfaccess work)
* It is likely to be one of the skills that most students will need in the long term.
Certainly, it is one that they will always be able to put to use. That is, they can read even if
they do not get any opportunities to speak. ”


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Generally, no one can deny that reading brings readers an ocean of knowledge of
different areas. They can learn more experience of life. Then they have necessary benefits to
avoid difficulties in mutual understanding in communication such as: culture shock,
language shock due to different cultures, habits, and languages. Moreover, reading is also an
important way of expanding students’ receptive knowledge of language and stimulating
students to talk and write.
However, all reasons mentioned earlier show that in terms of classroom activities it
is good for students to read but we can not assume that all students are efficient readers.
Much depends on how well they have been taught to read in their mother tongue.
1.1.4

Types of reading.
We read different texts in different ways. According to the way of reading, we have

aloud reading and silent reading. Depending on the purpose of reading, we can classify
reading into skimming, scanning, intensive reading and extensive reading.
1.1.4.1

According to the ways of reading.

1.1.4.1.1

Aloud reading

Aloud reading is an unnatural activity because most people do not read aloud in real
life, and it is difficult for the speaker to pay attention to the meaning of the text when reading
aloud. According to Doff (1988:67), “aloud reading involves looking at a text, understanding
it and also saying it. Its purpose is not just to understand a text but to convey the implication
to someone else.”
This kind of activity seems to be more popular in the language classroom. It focuses
on the pronunciation of words in the text rather than understanding. In reading a text,
students come across many new words and phrases that they do not know how to pronounce.
The teacher, in this case may help his students pronounce words by reading the text orally
and loudly.
Aloud reading is often applied for beginners and limited in upper classes because of
some reasons. Firstly, it takes up a long time as students often read slowly when they focus
on pronunciation. They consequently have not enough time to deduce the meaning of the text
or complete comprehension exercises. Secondly, because students are concerned with
pronunciation, it is hardly for them to understand the meaning of the text as Lewis and Hill
(1995:110) mention: “Asking a student to read aloud also means that he may concentrate


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inadequately on their meaning. He may read correctly but afterward will not be able to tell
what he has read”
That is the reason why, only for the early stages of foreign language learning, aloud
reading should become an established part of a lesson to help the beginners read words,
phrases with correct stress and intonation in a sentence.
1.1.4.1.2

Silent reading

Silent reading is the nearest approach to the essence of reading. Because only by
reading silently, can the readers best comprehend the written materials in the shortest
possible time.
According to Broughton, Brumfit and other linguistics (1980:92), the nature of silent
reading skills is far from uniform. It is changeable according to the use to which it is being
put. Some of them are mentioned as follows:
•

To survey material which is to be studies, to look through indexes,

chapter heading and outlines.
•

To skim- particularly when one item of information is being sought in a

mass of other printed information.
•

To gain superficial comprehension, as when reading for pleasure or

preparing to read aloud.

•

To study the content of what is read in some detail.

•

To study the language in which the material is written.

Through these ways of using reading, the readers’ depth and detail of understanding,
of comprehension will be improved effectively.
1.1.4.2

According to the purposes of reading.

1.1.4.2.1 Skimming
Skimming is commonly used in reading comprehension. It is one of specific reading
techniques necessary for quick and efficient reading. There have been many definitions of
skimming.
Greenwood (1981:92) writes: “the reader goes through particular passage such as
newspaper article merely to get the gist”
In this term, Douglas Brown has the same opinion but it is clearer than that of above
author. He wrote:


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“Skimming consists of quickly running eyes across the whole text for its gist.
Skimming gives readers the advantage of being able to predict the purpose of the passage,
the main topic, or massage, or possibly some of the developing or supporting ideas.”
Considering the two opinions, it can be concluded that skimming is a skill that

enables readers to get the main point of the text without being concerned with details. They
only go through the text very fast to get general sense or the gist of it.
In brief, skimming is a very useful study technique to help the learner organize his
thoughts and specify what information he can get from a book, so that his reading is more
efficient. Hence, skimming should be applied in teaching reading to help students have an
overview of what they read.
1.1.4.2.2

Scanning

Similar to skimming, scanning is a necessary technique in reading efficiently.
Douglas (2001:308) defines scanning as follows: “Scanning was quickly searching for some
particular piece or pieces of information in a text”
Sharing the same opinion with Douglas Brown, Williams (2001:100) emphasizes:
“Scanning occurs when a reader goes through a text very quickly in order to find a particular
point of information.” It reveals the key to scanning is to decide exactly what kind of
information we are looking for and where to find it.
In addition, Grellet (1981:19) gives a more detailed definition of scanning: “When
scanning, we only try to locate information and often we do not even follow the linearity of
passage to do so, and scanning is far more limited since it only means retrieving what
information is relevant to our purpose.”
These authors have the same point that while scanning reader does not need to read
form cover to cover, they only look for the information they want by running their eyes
rapidly along the lines. It can be practised with the great range of texts such as dictionaries,
map, advertisements, labels, etc. This kind of reading is very useful in reading selectively.
In general, both skimming and scanning are effective techniques for quick and
efficient reading. It is advisable to make use of them to improve reading comprehension
skills for students in reading classes.

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1.1.4.2.3

Intensive reading

Intensive reading is also widely used in a reading class. Its is an effective way to
explore the text, to go deeply into the meaning and the organization of the text.
According to Grellet (1981:4) “Intensive reading means reading short text to extract
specific information. This is an accuracy activity involving reading for details.”
In addition, Nuttal (1989:23) writes: “Intensive reading involves approaching the
texts under the close guidance of the teacher…, or under the guidance of a task which forces
the students to pay great attention to the ext. the aim of intensive reading is to arrive at a
profound and detail understanding of the text: not only of what is means but also of how the
meaning is produced. ”
From the mentioned opinions intensive reading’s aim is to achieve full understanding
of the logical arguments, attitude, and purposes of the writer as well as his linguistic means
to achieve these purposes.
Sharing the same opinion with Nuttal, Douglas (2001:312) defines:
“Intensive reading is usually a classroom oriented activity in which students focuses
on linguistic or semantic details of a passage. Reading calls students’ attention to
grammatical forms, discourse markers and other surface structure details for the purpose of
understanding literal meaning, implication, rhetorical relationships and the like””
In short, intensive reading is a basic classroom activity. It is really effective if the
teacher and his students know how to fully exploit this activity in class with the help of
reading exercises.
1.1.4.2.4

Extensive reading

Extensive reading is also called “reading for fluency”. The students read long texts to
have general understanding, to develop fluency in reading or to relax. This is an activity
involving global understanding just as Grellet (1981:4) confirms: “Extensive reading means
reading longer text, usually or one’s own pleasure. This is a fluency activity mainly
involving general understanding.”
In Brown’s opinion, besides practising fluency, extensive reading helps students
enrich their language elements because it is one of the keys to achieve reading ability,
linguistic competence, vocabulary, spelling and writing (2001:301)


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And to Nuttal (1989:168), this kind of reading is also a very useful skill for students
to widen their knowledge as he wrote: “The best way to improve one’s knowledge of foreign
language is to go and live among its speakers. The next best way is to read extensively in it.”
To summarize, extensive reading is one of good ways to improve one’s knowledge of
a foreign language because its aim is to cover the content of text in the shortest possible
period of time. In the language classroom, the teacher must introduce some suitable reading
materials to students, as it is useful for them to form a good habit of reading.
1.2

Teaching reading comprehension

1.2.1 Relationship between reading and other skills.
In the process of teaching and learning English, it is very crucial for learners to realize the
integration of language. That is the possibilities of other aspects of foreign programme. Therefore,
reading skill is closely related to writing, listening and speaking skills. Understanding relations will
help learners succeed.
According to Rivers and Temperly (1978), reading skill is not a single skill but an
integrated- language skill. Firstly, reading is related to writing. That is when students are

asked to summarize or continue the reading material such as resume, end of a story, short
descriptions of the characters, etc. secondly, reading is concerned with listening
comprehension. Students may listen to a story, a play… than read it or read first and “listen
to a worthwhile reading or dramatic presentation of what they have read. The aural element
adds vividness and life to the reading unit” (Rivers and Temperly, 1978:259). They further
note that
“Practice in direct reading of a text which is readily accessible to the students at their
present level of knowledge, while they are simultaneously listening to a taped model reading it
in meaningful and expressive segments, can help students develop useful habits of anticipation
and syntactic identification in both of these skills.”
Thirdly, that is integration of reading and speaking. Reading materials serve as a
fundamental source for oral presentations as they can base on these ideas they have read to
discuss or debate for their own purposes. This is the best way for them to share what they
have been reading with others.
To summarize, those combinations between reading and, writing, listening, speaking
comprehension should be put into serious consideration when teaching and learning English
as a foreign language.


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1.2.2

The roles of the teacher and the students in a reading lesson

1.2.2.1

The roles of the teacher.
It is natural that in a reading lesson, the students must work actively and individually.

It does not mean that the teacher has nothing to do. Discussing the roles of the teacher in
teaching reading, Richard and Amato (1988) emphasize:
“The first role is to facilitate communicative process between all participants in the
classroom, and between these participants and the various activities and text. The second role
is to act interdependent within the learning teaching group”.
In Richard and Amato’s point of view, the teacher is an organizer of resources. He
also plays the role as a guide within the classroom procedures and student’s activities during
the lesson.
Being concerned with the roles of the teacher in teaching reading, Harmer (2001:213)
gives an opinion that the teacher needs to create interest in the topic and task. He also needs
to work as an organizer, observer, feedback organizer and prompter.
•

An observer: While students are reading, the teacher can observe their progress

since it will give him valuable information about how ell his students are doing individually
or collectively, and will tell him whether to give them extra time, or move to organize
feedback more quickly than he has anticipated.
•

A feedback organizer: When the students have completed the given tasks, the

teacher can lead a feedback session to check if they have completed the task successfully or
not. He may start by having his students compare their answer in pairs or in groups and then
ask for their answers. When asking students to give answers, it is effective to ask them where
in the text they found the information. This will help him recognize his students’ problems if
their answers are inappropriate.
•

A prompter: When students are reading the text, its is also necessary to draw their

attention to the language features in that text. He may direct his students to certain features
of the text construction, clarify ambiguities and make them aware of issues of the text
structure which they have not come across previously.
Referring to this issue, Moore (1992:5) adds: “The teacher is an environmental
engineer who organizes the classroom space to fit their goal and to maximize learning. The
way the physical space of the classroom is organized can either help or hinder learning ”


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In this case, it is plausible to create an environment of a communicative classroom where
meaningful and useful reading activities are carried out, so that the students can best acquire
reading skills and practice other language skills.
In general, the teacher must be aware of what they need to do in a reading lesson.
Playing their roles well will certainly help the teacher lead successful reading lessons. It will
help students understand the text efficiently, and at the same time improve considerably their
reading skills.
1.2.2.2

The roles of the students
In communicative language teaching, the learners are regarded as the centre of the

lesson. It is true in every reading lesson. During the reading process, the students play the role of
an active and creative listener as well as readers.
In a reading lesson. Students must take an active role as listener. They need to listen
to the teacher’s instructions and explanations carefully to find out the way of recognizing
information and way of deducing new words or grammatical structures.
The students must also be active and flexible readers, it is wise if they work on their
own during the reading process, make full use of the class time to read and do the exercises

to achieve a full understanding of the text. Its is necessary for them to find a suitable reading
strategy and use their background knowledge to fulfill their tasks because the significance of
the text as well as the information is not always directly stated in printed pages.
In summary, students are the key factor to decide the success of a reading lesson.
Teacher and students ate interrelated to each other during the process of teaching and
learning reading skills.
1.2.2.3

The roles of reading materials
The roles of the reading texts must be paid attention to in teaching and learning

reading skills because an appropriate text is very important in building up pupils’ reading
competence (Boughton, Brumfit, Flavell, Hill and Pincas, 1990:102)
In William’s opinion, reading material is any piece of written language. It may come
from the integrated course book which includes reading texts, from the supplementary
reading comprehension and reading skills books containing texts and exercises, from the real
life (authentic texts) or be simulated texts (1984:23). He further discusses some criteria
which are very useful for the teacher in choosing text for reading lessons. Reading materials
should not contain a large a mount of language that it is too difficult for most of the class. In


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addition, a purposeful reading can occur with specially prepared texts that imitate real life
counter parts but simple language. Furthermore, the topic of the text plays an important role
because how difficult or easy a text is depends not only on the language of the text but on
what sort of knowledge the learners bring to the text and how much they like to read it.
Discussing about choosing texts, Nuttal (1982) gives three following criteria:
•

Suitability of contents: materials those students will find interesting enjoyable,

challenging, and appropriate for their goals in learning English.
•

Exploitability of contents: a text that facilities the achievement of certain

language and content goals, that is integratable with other skills (listening, speaking, and
writing)
•

Readability: a text with lexical and structural difficulty that will challenge

students without overwhelming them.
To the teacher at the secondary school, the text book will be the main source of reading
materials for his students in the reading class. He sometimes can use texts outside the textbook
which are both suitable for the students’ level and interesting enough to attract their attention
and encourage them to read.
1.2.3

The three stages of a reading lesson.
A reading lesson can be divided into three stages which are pre- reading stage, while-

reading stage and post- reading stage. Each of these stages carries its own features and
purposes and requires different techniques and strategies (William, 1984:37)
1.2.3.1

The pre- reading stage
In a reading lesson, the pre- reading stage is an important one because it creates

motivation and positive attitude towards the reading text for studnets. It will focus their
attention on what they are going to read. Concerning the purposes of the pre- stage, Williams
(1984:37) writes:
“What the pre- reading phrase tries to do is:
1. To introduce and arouse interest in the topic.
2. To motivate learners by giving a reason for reading.
3. To provide some language preparation for the text”
In general in the pre- reading stage, it is necessary to set a good preparation for
students, provide them the sense of what they are going to do in their reading lesson.


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1.2.3.2

The while- reading stage

1.2.3.2.1

Aims

While- reading stage is the main part of a reading lesson. Without this stage, the
students will lose the chance to deal with the text to understand the writer’s purpose and
clarify the text’s content in detail. Williams (1984:38) points out the aims of the whilereading stage:
1. To help to understand of the writer’s purpose.
2. To help to understand of the text structure.
3. To clarify the text.
He also gives the teacher some questions to ask himself on order to deal with the
above- mentioned aims:
1. What is the function of this text?

2. How is the text organized or developed? (e.g.: a narrative, an explanation
with various examples, an argument and counter argument)
3. What content or information is extracted from the text?
4. What may the reader anger or deduce from the text?
5. What language may be learned from the text?
6. What reading styles may be practiced?
It is clear that, question (1) deals with the aims of understanding, the writer’s
purpose, question (2) helps to recognize the text structure and the rest help to clarify the text
content.
The answers to these questions will be a guide for the teacher in this stage.
Depending on their answers, the teacher will choose suitable activities for students which
focus them on exploiting the meaning of the text, and develop their reading skills.
1.2.3.2.2

Activities

Studying the reading lesson, Sheils (1993:92) suggests a wide range of activities in
the while- reading stage:
1.

Deducing meaning

6.

Following instructios

2.

Questioning

7.

Comparing

3.

Recognizing

8.

Note- taking

4.

Matching

9.

Completing

5.

Ordering

10. Decision- making/ Problem- solving


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Concerning the while- reading stage’s activities, in his research, William (1984:39)

has a more generating idea: “While- reading work should begin with a general or global
understanding of the text, and then move to smaller unit such as paragraphs, sentences and
words”
It is clear that all the activities suggested by Sheils can be included in the two
categories mentioned by Williams, i.e. reading for general understanding first, and the
reading for specific information. In the while- reading stage, to direct students to the general
understanding of the text, the teacher may ask them to guess the title, to match the heading
etc. He also may ask students to find out the specific information in the text by answering the
questions, to use the information in the text for completing tables or diagrams. Furthermore,
the students can focus only on individual language item by deducing the meaning of the new
lexical items, etc.
In this aspect, Mathews, Spratt and Dangerfield (1999:67) suggest a number of
reading skills in accordance with activities.
Skills

Activities
1. Jumbled sentences or paragraphs.
2. T circles the references devices in a text and SS work
out what they refer to

Understanding the relation

3. T gives students a passage in which the logical

between sentences and

connectors are blanked out. Students have to read the

clauses

passage and work out what the connector must be.
4. Prediction exercises: Students only read the first line
and then predict the next.

Recognizing the effect of

1.

Multiple choice or True/ False questions

style

2.

Discussion on the style of the text.

Recognizing the
organization of a text
Making inferences
Extensive reading

3. Parallel passage in different style.
1. Jumbled paragraphs
2. Discussing the function of particular paragraphs.
True/ false or discussion questions on possible
interpretation of the text
Students red on a self- access basis from a class reading


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bank.
1. The text is used simply as spring board for discussion
on a particular topic.
Skimming for the gist

2. Students read through a passage and then suggest a title
for this.
3. Students match different titles to series of short texts

Scanning for specific
information

within a given time limit.
1. Underlining or circling the required information in a
given time limit.
2. Pre- questions focusing on specific information
1. Information transfer activities.
2. Note- taking on the order of events or emotion in a

Reading for detail

text.
3. True/ false questions.
4. Jigsaw reading

Indeed, there are various activities the teacher can choose for his students in this stage.
Its is, however, essential to be flexible in this task. The selection of any of them depends on the
nature of the reading text and the level of the students. Besides selecting suitable activities,
during the while- reading stage, the teacher should bear in mind his roles of an organizer,

observer, assessor and prompter as mentioned in the last part, the roles of teacher.


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1.2.3.3

The post- reading stage
The post- reading stage is the final but not the les important stage of a reading lesson

because it is time for students to apply what they have got from the text into real life
communication. In Williams’s opinions ( 1984: 39), the post- reading stage aims at:
1. To consolidate or reflect upon what has been read.
2. To relate the text to the learners’ own knowledge interest or views.
In summary, each of the reading stage carries its own aims and activities. It is very
effective if these three stages are combined flexibly and appropriately for an efficient reading
lesson. In the while- reading stage, it is necessary to help the students improve and develop
sub- reading skills such as skimming, scanning, or reading for details. If the students can
acquire these skills, it is easier for them to understand efficiently the significance of the text.
To acquire these skills, students may be instructed to take part in various activities according
to each skill. There are numerous activities in this stage. The teacher should be flexible in
choosing them for their reading lessons. In the process of reading, asking students to work in
pairs or groups is also advisable. This may enable students to feel more pleasant in reading,
encourage the to work harder to improve and develop effective reading skills.
3.4 Summary
In this chapter, all the concerning theoretical background of reading comprehension
has been presented. First, some definitions of reading and reading comprehension basing on
some linguistics scholars have been presented. Second, teaching reading comprehension
consisting of relationship between reading and other skills, the role of the teacher as well as
the students in the three stages of a reading lesson have been reviewed.

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CHAPTER 2:
THE PRESENT SITUATION OF
LEARNING TEACHING READING TO THE 11TH FORM STUDENTS
AT PHAN DANG LUU HIGH SCHOOL
2.1 Introduction
Nowadays, together with improvements of other skills of English learning, reading
comprehension has been put into consideration at secondary schools in Vietnam. As time
goes by, a lot of achievements in teaching reading comprehension can be clearly seen. It is
true that quality of teaching and learning reading comprehension in most secondary schools
has been improved remarkably in terms of the teachers’ methods and the learners’ attitudes.
However, there are still some problems facing the reading teachers a well as the pupils.
In order to fulfill this thesis, two survey questionnaires were conducted to the 11 th
form pupils and eight teachers of English, especially those who are teaching English to the
11th form students at Phan Dang Luu high school to get more details of the reality of
teaching and learning reading comprehension at while- reading stage. This section deals with
main points: Objects of the study, objectives of the study, methods of study.
2.1.1

Objects of the study
The main objects of this study are:
-

One hundred 11th form secondary students at Phan Đăng Lu high school,

most of them have been learning English for nearly six years.
-

Ten teachers of English at Phan Đăng Lu high school, especially those

who are teaching English to the 11th form students.


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2.1.2

Objectives of the study
There are three main objectives of this study. The first is to make clear teachers and

students’ attitudes towards teaching and learning reading texts. The second is to find out
students difficulties in learning reading texts, the third is to investigate the methods of
teaching and learning reading texts.
2.1.3

Methods of the study.
To carry out this study, the following methods are used:
-

Using survey questionnaire: To find out the present situation of learning

and teaching reading to the 11th form students at Phan Dang Luu high school, two survey
questionnaires, one for teachers and another for students are conducted among students and
10 teachers at Phan Dang Luu high school.
-

Observing classes: Class observation is also a useful method. It gives a

chance to observe the teaching and learning of reading texts.
2.2 Data analysis and findings.
2.2.1
2.2.1.1

Survey questionnaires for teachers and students
Teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards teaching and learning reading.
Question 1, 2, 3 in the survey questionnaire 1 and questions 1, 2 in the survey

questionnaire 2 are conducted to investigate teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards reading
in English, the importance of reading in English and the importance of developing this skill.
The results are as follows:


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Chart 1: Students’ attitudes towards reading in English.
A. Yes

B. No

Chart 1
Chart 2: Students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards importance of reading
comprehension.
A. Very important
B. Important as other language skills
C. Less important than other language skill
D. Not important at all

Chart 2
Chart 3: Students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards importance of developing
reading comprehension skills


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A. Very important
C. Not very important

B. Important
D. No important at all

Chart 3
Chart 4: Students’ and teachers’ opinions about reading texts in English 11
textbook
A. Interesting
B. Boring

C. Suitable to student’ level
D. Not suitable to students’ level

Chart 4
Basing on the collected data from Chart 1, 2 and 3, it is obvious that a majority of
students and teachers had positive attitudes

towards learning and teaching reading

comprehension. Most of students were interested in reading in English (chart 1). They gave

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various reasons for their choice. Firstly, reading is very interesting, it can help students relax
after long studying hours. Secondly, by reading they can broaden their mind and improve
their background knowledge. In addition reading enables them to reinforce vocabulary and
grammatical structures and develop other language skills. Through the statistics collected, a
fact was improved that to both students and teachers, reading comprehension stands equal to
speaking, listening and writing (Chart 2). And because both students and teachers were
aware of the importance of reading comprehension, most of them accordingly think that
developing reading comprehension is necessary (Chart 3). This is a great advantage in
teaching and learning this skill.
The next question focuses on the students’ and teachers’ opinion about reading text
in the text book (Chart 4). In response to this question, teachers and students showed
different ideas. 30% of teachers thought that texts in the textbook were interesting but only
15% of students shared the same view point. Most students (43%) found that reading texts
were boring, 32% of them thought they were not suitable for their level. To teachers, a large
number of them (40%) believe that reading texts are suitable to the students’ level, 15% of
them thought they are boring, and the rest (15%) stated they are difficult to the students.
This figure shows a big difference in the opinion about reading texts in the current
textbook. It may greatly affect the methods on teaching and learning reading texts of
students.


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Chart 5: Students’ purposes in reading
A.

To entertain themselves

B.

To reinforce vocabulary and grammatical structures

C.

To improve language skills

D.

To improve background knowledge

E.

All of the above

Chart 5
Question number 5 for students deals with their purposes of reading. In this question,
the students can choose more than one answer (Chart 5). Different ideas were provided for
reading purposes. The statistics indicates that students who read in English with the
combination of the mentioned purposes are the largest, accounting for 65%. Next is the
number of students who consider widening vocabulary and grammatical structures as their
reading purposes (27%); 15% of them read for developing language skills; 9% read for
information and reading for pleasure is the least percentage (only 3%).
As can be seen, the purposes of reading in English are various. Many students think
that reading can help them much in reinforcing language skills and elements and improving
background knowledge.
2.2.1.2

Students’ difficulties in reading.
Chart 6: Students’ difficulties in reading
A.

Lack of vocabulary


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B.

Lack of grammatical

C.

Lack of background knowledge

D.

Lack of reading skills

Chart 6
The next question (Chart 6) find out students’ difficulties in reading texts.
According to the data, many students had more than one and different difficulties. Both
teachers and students shared nearly the same opinion about students’ difficulties in reading.
There is only a great imbalance in the last mentioned difficulty. While 30% of students
thought it was difficult for them to complete comprehension exercises (lack of reading
skills), only 12% of teachers recognized this. This fact may have great effect to the
efficiency of reading lessons. When teachers do not recognize their students’ shortcomings,
they cannot help them to overcome these problems. In this case, the teacher may not

concentrate on developing their students reading skills but providing them with new
vocabulary and grammatical structures.
Students’ difficulties in reading are also various. How do the students overcome
these difficulties?
2.2.1.3

Students’ and teachers’ methods of learning and teaching reading texts.
Chart 7: Students’ ways of overcoming difficulties
A. Wait for the ring answer when the teachers correct
B. Ask the teachers for help


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C. Discuss with friends to find out the right answer

Chart 7
The statistics in Chart 7 shows that when having difficulties in reading, most of
students (53%) waited for their teacher’s correction; 26% discussed with their friends to find
the right answers. This reveals a fact that in reading classes, the teacher may not encourage
students to work in pairs/ groups to save time and have a better result in reading. Their
reading lessons, therefore, cannot be effective as the students passively depend on their help.