A study on application of some reading techniques to doing IELTS reading comprehension tasks for the 1st – year english majors in the foreign language department, hai phong university

PART 1: INTRODUCTION
1. RATIONALE
Nowadays, English is the most popular language in the world. Demand
for learning English gets stronger when Vietnam fosters its international
relation. 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. People learn and English with
different purposes, but there is a fact that they are trying to learn English with
the hope that they can use it effectively.
In Vietnam, English has been brought into school curriculum as a
compulsory subject and the learning of that international language recently
has been paid great attention to. The students, naturally and obviously, have
to try their best to master 4 language skills: reading, writing, listening and
speaking. Among these four skills, reading is an important one during the
English learning process and plays a role in enriching the student’s general
knowledge and in helping them with their further study later. Reading
comprehension is important not only at school, but also afterwards. That is
reading helps students as readers develop their language ability in general and
comprehension skills in particular at school as well as gives them other
benefits to avoid cultural and language bias, etc in daily communication.
In the Foreign Language Department, Hai Phong University (HPU),
there is a fact that many 1 st year English majors do not pay proper attention to
basic reading techniques to do IELTS reading tasks. Thus, it leads to the
situation that many of them get the poor exam results. From this fact, I decide
on choosing “A study on application of some reading techniques to doing
IELTS reading comprehension tasks for the 1st – year English majors in the
Foreign Language Department, Hai Phong University”.

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2. AIMS OF THE STUDY
The purpose of the study is to investigate the difficulties faced by the 1st
– year English majors at Foreign Language Department, HPU in doing IELTS
reading comprehension tasks so that techniques can be given to help them
improve this skill. The specific aims of the study are as following:
- To find out student’s difficulties in doing IELTS reading
comprehension texts.
- To investigate the reasons for these difficulties.
- To suggest some useful reading techniques and tips that help students
do IELTS reading comprehension tasks well.
3. METHODS OF THE STUDY
The research is carried out with a combination of methods: survey
questionnaires, reading sample works, data and material collection,
observations and analysis.
- Delivering survey questionnaires and observing reading lessons:
This method ensures the study to be practical and reliable. Questions in
survey questionnaires related to content of application of some reading
techniques and two reading samples will be given to the 1 st - year English
majors in the Foreign Language Department, HPU in form of a survey. Some
reading class observations were carried out to find out the difficulties in doing
IELTS reading comprehension tasks.
- Consulting related materials: For the sake of getting knowledge and
useful ideas, I read many books and other materials in addition to earlier
research about reading and reading comprehension techniques.
4. SCOPE OF THE STUDY
Though the study focuses on techniques to improve reading
comprehension skill for the 1st – year English majors in the Foreign Language
Department, HPU, due to the limitation of time, the researcher just can
conduct survey on students of two classes to investigate reading problems

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experienced by these students then suggest some certain techniques to help
them better their reading comprehension skill.
5. DESIGN OF THE STUDY
The study is divided into three parts: the introduction, the development
and the conclusion.
The introduction provides the basic information such as: rationale, aims
of the study, methods of the study, scope of the study and design of the study.
The development is the main part which consists three chapters:
- Chapter 1: “Literature review” presents the definitions and types of
reading, the importance of reading skill, stages of a reading lesson, definitions
and techniques for reading comprehension, factors in teaching and learning
reading as well.
- Chapter 2: “Methodology” investigates the situation analysis and
instrumentation of the study.
- Chapter 3: “Data analysis and class observation” focuses on data
collection, findings and discussion.
- Chapter 4: “Major findings and some suggested techniques to
improve reading comprehension to the 1st – year English Majors in the
Foreign Language Department, Hai Phong University” offers major findings,
recommendations and some technique suggestions for doing reading
comprehension tasks.
The conclusion is a review of the study, future directions for further
research and limitation of the study.

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PART 2: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
I.1. AN OVERVIEW ON THE NATURE OF READING
I.1.1. Definition 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 definition only can
reflect some aspect of reading. Herein, I would like to mention some
definitions of reading extracted from different sources on the theme.
According to Carell Devine and Eskey (1988:13), “Reading is a
process in that it starts with linguistic surface representation encoded by a
writer and ends with meaning, which reader constructs. There is, thus, an
essential interaction between language and thought in reading. The writer
encodes thought in language and the reader decodes language to thought”. In
this definition, we can see clearly the interrelationship between the writer, the
reader and the text.
Besides, 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.”
William (1986:3) shares the same view on reading when he argues that
“Written texts, then, often contain more than we need to understand them.
The efficient reader makes use of this to take what he needs, and no more, to
obtain meaning.”

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Harmer (1989:153) views reading from a different perspective. He
considers reading as a mechanical process that “Eyes receive the message
and the brain has to work out the significance of the message.”
Moreover, according to Ramelan(1990:i), “Reading is a very important
part in our life. Through reading we can explore the world, countries that
have never been visited before and the minds and ideas of great people in the
past, all of which will enrich our experience and knowledge and broaden our
horizon.”
Though definitions of reading are numerous, none can certainly capture
all the ideas and features of what reading is. However, what they all share is
that they try to find out the nature of reading, and reading act, in which the
readers, reading process, and reading message are emphasized.
I.1.2. The importance of reading skill
Learning a foreign language is a process which requires learners to
integrate many language skills. It is generally accepted nowadays that reading
is a key skill for most students learning a foreign language and that it should,
therefore, take place alongside the development of oral ability in the school
program. From time to time, reading itself has proved its importance in daily
life as well as in learning a foreign language. And from our experience in real
life, we find reading quite important. Its importance is also confirmed by
linguistics.
Byrne (1988:46) provides three reasons for the importance of reading:
- It offers language learners another area 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 self- access 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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According to Bright and Gregor (1970:52), “books provide most pupils
with the situation in which learning takes place. Where there is little reading,
there will be little language learning”. It is obvious that reading is a means by
which further learning takes place.
Generally, reading brings readers an ocean of knowledge of different
areas. Being well informed by reading, learners can have stable background
knowledge, wide vocabulary and much information so that they will feel selfconfident to share opinions and communicate with others. 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 an important way of
expanding the students’ receptive knowledge of a language. In short, reading
plays a vital role in learning a foreign language.
I.1.3. Classifications of reading
I.1.3.1. According to manner
Reading, according to manner, is divided into two kinds: reading aloud
and silent reading.
I.1.3.1.1. Reading aloud
Doff (1988:67) states that, “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.” In fact, aloud reading is
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. 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. However,
in the classroom, only the reading student is active at a time, others are either
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not listening at all or listening to a bad model. In addition, some students’
speed of reading is very slow so it takes a lot of time in class. Students are
concerned with pronunciation so 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 inadequately on their
meaning. He may read correctly but afterward will not be able to tell what he
has read”. Therefore, it must be admitted that the usefulness of reading aloud
is limited.
In short, reading aloud should be applied for those who are beginners to
establish the connection between sound and spelling of letters and words, and
assists the teachers to check learner’s pronunciation. But for the 1 st English
major students, the purpose of reading is more than connecting the
pronunciation.

They

focus

on

understanding

the

text

and

doing

comprehension exercises which cannot be completed by reading aloud. It is
very difficult to read aloud and understand the text at the same time of
reading. So reading aloud might be a good way to practice pronunciation and
intonation.
I.1.3.1.2. Silent reading.
Unlike reading aloud, silent reading is more often used in both real life
and classroom, and “It is the method we normally use with our native
language, and on the whole the quickest and most efficient” (Lewis,
1985:110).
Silent reading can be applied effectively to teaching and learning a
comprehension text because reading a text silently helps students concentrate
on its meaning. Only by reading silently, the readers can best comprehend the
written materials in the shortest possible time.
According to Doff (1988:67), silent reading or reading for meaning “is
the activity we normally engage in where we read books, newspapers, road
signs, etc. It involves looking at sentences and understanding the message
they convey, in other words, ‘making sense’ of a written text. ” Reading is a
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personal skill, so silent reading is an effective skill for reading comprehension
because learners do not need to read all the words in the text and they can
read at their own speed. If they do not understand the word or the sentence,
they can go back and read it again. Therefore, they can cover the greatest
possible amount of the text in a shortest possible time. Moreover, students can

understand its details thoroughly to answer the questions, and finally the
teacher can check his/her learners’ understanding easily and add reading
materials and exercises suitable to their ability.
In sequence, silent reading is a useful technique in a reading
comprehension process applied to students to exploit reading lessons and it is
also a good way to help teachers control the class.
I.1.3.2. According to purpose
According to purpose, reading is categorized into four main types:
skimming, scanning, extensive reading and intensive reading.
I.1.3.2.1. Skimming
Skimming is commonly used in reading comprehension because it is
one of specific reading techniques necessary for quick and efficient reading
and sometimes skimming may be the prerequisite of reading for full
understanding. There have been many definitions of reading as follows:
According to Wood (1984:92), “Skimming occurs when the reader
looks quickly at the content page of a book, or at the chapter headings,
subheading, etc. This is sometimes called previewing”.
Grellet (1981:19) states that “when skimming, we go through the
reading material quickly in order to get the gist of it, to know how it is
organized, or to get an idea of the tone or intention of the writer.”
Besides, Nuttal (1982:36) says “By skimming, we mean glancing
rapidly through the text to determine whether a research paper is relevant to
our own work or in order to keep ourselves superficially informed about
matters that are not of great importance to us.”
In this term, Douglas Brown has the same opinion but it is clearer than
those of above authors. He wrote:“Skimming consists of quickly running eyes
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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.”
In brief, skimming is understood as a necessary technique for reading
comprehension which enables readers to get the main points of the text
without being concerned with the details. It is a very useful study technique to
help the learner organize their thoughts and specify what information they can
get from a book. Skimming gives students the advantage of being able to
predict the purpose of the passage, the main topic or message, or possibly
some of the developing or supporting ideas so that their reading are more
efficient. Hence, skimming should be applied in teaching reading to help
students have an overview of what they read.
I.1.3.2.2. Scanning
Similar to skimming, scanning is a necessary technique in reading
efficiently. However, scanning is far more limited than skimming since it
only means retrieving what information is relevant to our purpose. Scanning
occurs when a reader goes through a text very quickly in order to find a
particular point of information.
Douglas (2001:308) defines scanning as follows: “Scanning was quickly
searching for some particular piece or pieces of information in a text.”
In addition, Francois (1981:19) understands that “When scanning, we
only try to locate specific information and often we do not even follow the
linearity of the passage to do so. We simply let our eyes wander over the text
until we find what we are looking for, whether it is a name, a date, or a less
specific piece of information”.
With the same opinion, Mabel gives a more detailed definition of
scanning: “Scanning is the speed technique that helps you locate a bit of
specific information very rapidly. It could involve finding a name, date, place
or statistic. Or it might involve identifying a general setting in a short story.
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Scanning is the technique you use when you read maps, charts, tables, or
graphs. It is the main skill that the researchers use when they examine
various sources to locate information about a specific topic”.
These authors have the same point that while scanning reader does not
need to read from cover to cover, they only look for the information they want
by running their eyes rapidly along the lines. Scanning requires two skills of
the reader. One of them is that they recognize the specific type of word that
identifies the item. The other is the use of a different eye movement pattern,
vertical vision. Nearly all the background reading required for the presenting
of a topic to the class by a group calls for proficiency in this type of reading.
There is a great range of text suitable for scanning – indexes, dictionaries,
maps, advertisements, labels, reference material, etc., so this kind of reading
is very useful in reading selectively.
In general, both skimming and scanning are effective techniques for
quick and efficient reading, and they should not be selected separately
because a text can be best tackled by a combination of strategies.
I.1.3.2.3. Extensive reading
Extensive reading is a fluency activity, mainly involving general
understanding. It provides valuable reinforcement of the language already
presented and practiced in the class as well as giving students useful practice
in inferring meaning from the context of the text. The students read long texts
to have general understanding, to develop fluency in reading or to relax.
Carrell and Carson (1997:297) defined: “Extensive reading generally
involves rapid reading of large quantities of material or longer readings”.
What is more, “Extensive reading means students have a general
understanding of the text without necessarily understanding every word”,
(Lewis and Hill, 1985:1099).
And to Nuttal (1982:168), this kind of reading is also a very useful skill
for students to widen their knowledge as he wrote: “The best way to improve

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one’s knowledge of foreign language is to go and live among its speakers.
The next best way is to read extensively in it.”
The practice of extensive reading needs little justification. It is clearly
the earliest way of bringing the foreign learner into sustained contact with a
substantial body of English.
Broughton (1980:111) suggests that “There appear to be basically
three ways the extensive reading may be encouraged, first by having class
sets of title, second by operating a class library system, and the third by using
the school library”.
To summarize, this type of reading is suitable for student’s self learning
with a view to training them to read directly and fluently in the foreign
language for their own enjoyment without the aid of the teacher. Moreover, it
is very necessary for students at University because it actively promotes
reading out the class and gives them opportunity to use their own knowledge
of the language for their own purposes.
I.1.3.2.4. Intensive reading
While extensive reading is associated with reading outside the
classroom and fluency and pleasure in reading are expected as reading fruits,
intensive reading, which is also called study reading involves the close
guidance of the teacher and require great attention to the text.
In the view of Lewis (1985:109), “Intensive reading means students
understand everything they read and be able to answer detailed vocabulary
and comprehension questions”.
Sharing this opinion, 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 text. 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.”
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The concern of such reading is for detailed comprehension of very
short texts, according to Broughton (1980:93), “The objective of intensive
reading is to achieve full understanding of the logical argument, the
rhetorical arrangement or pattern of the text, of its symbolic, emotional and
social overtones, of the attitudes and purposes of the author, and of linguistic
means that he employs to achieve his ends.”
Intensive reading recalls student’s attention to grammatical forms,
discourse markers and other surface structure details for the purpose of
understanding literal meaning implications, rhetorical relationships and the
like. In other words, it’s clear that the aim of intensive reading is to arrive at a
profound and detailed understanding of the reading text means as well as of
how the meaning is produced.
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.
I.1.4. Reading process
A reading lesson can be divided into three stages: 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.
I.1.4.1. Pre-reading stage
Pre-reading stage is carried out before the students begin reading the
text. It plays a decisive role in the whole process of teaching reading
comprehension, so most experienced readers employ pre- reading and other
strategies to make reading easier.
According to Williams (1984:37), the purposes of the pre-reading stage are:

- To introduce and arouse interest in the topic
- To motivate learners by giving a lesson for reading
- To provide some language preparation for the text
Pre- reading aims at introducing the text to the students and helps them
make careful preparation before reading the text. It is advisable for the teacher
to create a reading motivation and a positive attitude towards reading for
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students so that they can achieve a high level of success and become
confident that they can read effectively.
Normally, this stage lasts from two to ten minutes depending on each
lesson. As for Doff (1988), there are many activities a teacher can carry out to
help students before they start reading as following:
- Introducing the text briefly
- Presenting new vocabulary
- Revising grammatical structures
- Giving guiding questions
Gebhard (1987:21) explains that “Providing background information
on a reading lesson is another way teachers can facilitate successful reading
comprehension. Providing information about a reading selection before
students read provides them with the opportunity to gain new language, as
well as recall their already existing knowledge, which they can take with
them into their reading experience, and this knowledge facilitates successful
comprehension”.
In general, the teacher needs to take the objectives of the lesson, the
situation of teaching and learning the students’ needs into account when
choosing activities for the stage.
I.1.4.2. While-reading stage
While- reading stage is carried out when all students actually set their

eyes on the text and this stage is the main part of a reading comprehension
lesson. The aims of this stage focus on making the students anticipate in the
process of understanding the whole text, and interpreting exactly what the
author wrote. 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 while- reading stage as
follows:
- To help understanding if the writer’s purpose
- To help understanding of text structure
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- To clarify text content
He also gives the teacher some questions to ask himself in order to deal
with the above- mentioned aims:
- What is the function of this text?
- How is the text organized or developed? (e.g.: a narrative, an
explanation with various examples, an argument and counter argument)
- What content or information is extracted from the text?
- What may the reader anger or deduce from the text?
- What language may be learned from the text?
- What reading styles may be practiced?
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.
At this stage, the students try to break up the organization of the text;
understand the text structures; classify the text content and recognize the
writer’s purpose and attitude. In addition, this stage helps the students develop
their decision – making and problem solving skills. Apparently, time

allocation for this is nearly two thirds of the whole lesson and because this
stage plays a very important role in a reading lesson, it must be designed
carefully.
I.1.4.3. Post-reading stage
Post- reading is the implementation of various activities carried out
after the students have read the text. It is the time for students’ production in
this last stage. What they produce will reflect how well they comprehend the
text. In Williams’s opinions (1984: 39), the post- reading stage aims at:
- To consolidate or reflect upon what has been read.
- To relate the text to the learners’ own knowledge interest or views.
According to Durkin (1981:486), “One reason for post- reading
discussion in class is to offer pupils the chance to see in what way their
reading did or did not succeed and why”.
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The post-reading stage aims at consolidating or reflecting upon what
students have read. To achieve this, the teacher should help the students focus
on the important points as writer’s opinion, the main ideas of the text, the
specific paragraph or phrase in the reading text. In this stage, it takes about
ten or fifteen minutes to complete all the activities.
In summary, the three stages carried their own aims and activities.
Obviously, it is very effective if these three stages are combined flexibly and
appropriately for an efficient reading lesson.

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I.2.

READING

COMPREHENSION

AND

READING

COMPREHENSION TECHNIQUES
I.2.1. Definition of Reading comprehension
Reading comprehension plays a key role in learning reading a foreign
language. It is necessary for both teachers and students to have a deep
understanding about the definition of reading comprehension. If reading is
simple mechanical movements of the eyes, reading comprehension includes
mechanical and mental activities. There are many definitions of reading
comprehension as follows:
Richard and Thomas (1987:143) state that “Reading comprehension is
a mental process that in the final analysis, only the reader fully understands.
Comprehension is what simulates readers to remember their past experience.
That knowledge is, then, used in trying to get meaning out of print. Meaning
does not reside in the printed page but rather in the mind of the reader.”
In addition, Swam (1975:1) proposes “A student is good at
comprehension we mean that he can read accurately and efficiently so as to
get the maximum information of a text with the minimum of understanding.”
Grellet (1981:3) considers “Reading comprehension or understanding
a written text means extracting the required information from it as effectively
as possible.”
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.”

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The goal of all reading instruction is ultimately targeted at helping a
reader comprehend text. Reading comprehension involves at least two people:
the reader and the writer. The process of comprehending involves decoding
the writer's words and then using background knowledge to construct an
approximate understanding of the writer's message.
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.
I.2.2. Techniques for Reading Comprehension
Reading techniques are the cognitive processes that a reader uses in
making sense of a text. For fluent readers, most of the reading techniques are
employed unconsciously and automatically. When confronted with a
challenging text, fluent readers apply these skills consciously and strategically
in order to comprehend so it is very important for students to know how to
apply these techniques.
According to Grellet (1990), there are three groups of techniques:
1. Sensitizing
- Inference
- Understanding relations within the sentences
- Linking sentences and ideas

2. Improving reading speed
3. From skimming to scanning
- Predicting
- Previewing
- Anticipation
- Skimming
- Scanning
Nuttal (1982) provides a list of reading skills which consist of macroskills with Word-attack skills and Text- attack skills. While the former
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compose of morphological information, structural clues, inference (or
guessing the meanings of unfamiliar words) from context, active, receptive
and throw-away vocabulary, learning to ignore difficult words, and using
dictionary, the latter include two subgroups: significance and cohesion with
understanding sentence syntax, recognizing and interpreting cohesive
devices, interpreting discourse markers, and discourse with
functional

value,

tracing

and

interpreting

rhetorical

recognizing

organization,

recognizing the presuppositions underlying the text, recognizing implications
and making inferences, prediction, and integration and application.
The techniques for reading comprehension are actually various, and in
each case and for different purposes of reading, one proves to be more
advantageous than the other. The students should be aware of which
technique is most suited, depending on the reading task. However, hereby are
some suggested approaches which the researcher personally expects to help
readers get better reading fruits.
- Establishing a purpose for reading
- Activating and building background knowledge
- Previewing the text to build expectations
- Rereading activities for lower levels of language proficiency
- Building and monitoring comprehension of the text
- Adjusting reading strategies when necessary
- Reviewing reading information in the text
I.3. FACTORS IN TEACHING AND LEARNING READING
I.3.1. The role of teachers
It is obvious that in the reading lesson, the students must do the reading
text actively and individually. However, it does not mean that the teacher has
nothing to do. Together with students, the teacher is one of the two main
necessary elements which create the teaching process and the teacher also
plays an important role in teaching and learning reading. Harmer (2001:213)
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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.

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 addition, Firochiaro (1989:23) points out that “In a reading class, a
teacher should help the students comprehend printed materials and provide
them with the knowledge and the ability to enable them to read other
materials out of class”.
Moreover, Nuttal (1982) suggests that “there are two main things that
a teacher should always remember in helping students. The first is to provide
the students with suitable materials, and the second is to provide them with
suitable teaching activities”.
In general, the role of the teacher is to provide students with knowledge
and the best methods for learning effectively. They 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.
I.3.2. The role of students
The students are centre factors in learning reading. The teacher cannot
teach without students and vice versa. During the reading lesson, the students
play the role of an active and creative listener as well as the reader. 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.
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In fact, students can deal with some problems when doing reading

comprehension tasks such as proverbs, idioms, or background understanding.
In this case, to get the target reading, the students have to work under the
direction of the teacher and take part in guided activities actively and
attentively. It 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 addition, the students can be the important element that helps the
teacher fulfills his duties. The students are the providers of feedback to the
teacher through their expression and understanding of the reading texts.
Thanks to the students’ reflections, the teacher may find out his mistakes and
draw up his own experience to teach better and perfect himself.
To sum up, teacher and students have the interdependent relationship in
teaching and learning reading process. This process can only be carried out
when there are both of them.
I.4. SUMMARY
In short, this chapter focuses on the concepts useful for the
accomplishment of the study. First, some definitions of reading basing on some
linguistics scholars have been presented. Second, the importance of reading skill
and the classification of reading into reading aloud and silent reading in terms
of reading manner and skimming, scanning, extensive reading, and intensive
reading in terms of reading purposes are stated. What’s more in the first chapter
are the three stages of a reading lesson. Then comes in the first chapter is an
insight into what is reading comprehension and the techniques for reading
comprehension. Last but not least, the role of the teachers as well as the students
in the three stages of a reading lesson has been reviewed.

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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY
2.1. THE CONTEXT OF THE STUDY
The survey of the study is carried out in order to find out student’s
difficulties in doing IELTS reading comprehension texts, to investigate the
reason for these difficulties and to research opinions and attitudes of the
students of using some useful reading techniques and tips that help students
do IELTS reading comprehension tasks well. It is conducted with the
assistance of the 1st year English majors, Foreign Language Department,
HPU. Survey questionnaires are given to 50 students studying at two English
majors classes at Foreign Language Department, HPU.
2.2. OBJECTS OF THE STUDY
The study is designed for the 1st – year English majors: They are from
18 to 20 years old, both male and female students, at the first year of
university. When doing this survey, they are in the mid 2 nd term at HPU. At
this stage, they have learned about some techniques applied in reading
comprehension and practiced some types of IELTS reading texts.
2.3. INSTRUMENTATION
2.3.1. Survey questionnaires
In this study, the researcher applied questionnaire as a main means of
data collection because of some advantages. Firstly, this method can give the
researcher the need data in quantitative form. Secondly, all informants have
chance of expressing their attitudes. As a result, researcher can have more
uniform and accurate data.
The survey questionnaires were administered to get information
concerning:
- Student’s difficulties in doing reading comprehension tasks
- Student’s attitudes towards reading comprehension techniques
- Student’s methods of doing reading comprehension tasks
- Student’s using supplementary materials
2.3.2. Sample texts

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The researcher uses two sample texts which has the same level to
investigate the student’s reading efficiency before and after applying methods
to doing reading comprehension texts.
2.3.3. Class observation
Class observation is also a useful method. It gives the researcher a
chance to observe the learning of reading texts.
2.3.4. Materials collection
It consists of reference books on reading as well as webs on Internet.
These materials provide me with necessary and important theories and
information. They help me finish the study perfectly.

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CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND CLASS OBSERVATION
3.1.DATA ANALYSIS OF STUDENT’S SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES
3.1.1. Question 1
A. Limited vocabulary
B. The lack of grammatical structures
C. Inappropriate reading techniques
D. Others (Optional): ……………

Chart 1: Student’s difficulties in doing reading comprehension tasks
This question is to find out the student’s difficulties in reading texts and
students can choose more than one answer.
When being asked about factors affecting student’s reading, many

students had more than one and different difficulties. As from the chart, we
can see that student’s difficulties in reading are so various. A large number of
the students (92%) agree that their motivation when dealing with reading
tasks is affected by limited vocabulary because there are too many new words
in each text so that their motivation for reading will be decreased. 40% of
them find it difficult to understand the text quickly because they lack of
grammatical structures, and using inappropriate reading techniques are the
problems to a not small number (70%).
3.1.2. Question 2
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A.
B.
C.
D.

Very important
Important
Quite important
Not important at all

Chart 2: The role of reading techniques to students’ reading
The second question is designed to investigate students’ attitude to the
role of reading techniques in a reading comprehension text. It is not surprising
to find that 100% of the students are aware of the importance of reading
techniques for doing reading comprehension. 32% of them find that reading
techniques play a very important role to their reading and the rest (68%) agree
that reading techniques are important.
3.1.3. Question 3

A. Read the question then read the text
B. Read the whole text from the beginning to the end immediately then
read the question
C. Others (Optional): ……………

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Chart 3: The first thing to do when working on IELTS reading comprehension texts
As the result reveals, the majority of the students (70%) often read the
question then read the text because they find that it is very important to find
out what they have to answer first. This activity will save much time for them.
In contrast, 28% of them read the text immediately then focus on the question.
Surprisingly, one student (2%) says that she feels very confused and doesn’t
know what to do first.
3.1.4. Question 4
A. Identify the type of question
B. Try to understand the question
C. Think about the information you will need to find
D. Underline key words in the question and think about synonyms or
paraphrases for these key words
E. Others (Optional): ……………

Chart 4: The way to deal with the question in reading comprehension texts
In this question, students can choose more than one answer. As we can
see from this chart, most of them (70%) often read the question and then
underline the key word in order to think about the synonyms or paraphrases.
It is well worth because this activity will help them brainstorm more and
improve the vocabulary as well. Next is the number of students who usually
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