Some recommedations to develop reading skills for the first year students at faculty of english, hanoi open university

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

CODE: 28

FACULTY OF ENGLISH

GRADUATION PAPER
B.A Degree in English

SOME RECOMMENDATIONS TO DEVELOP READING
SKILLS FOR THE FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS AT FACULTY
OF ENGLISH, HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

Supervisor

:

Nguyen Thanh Binh, M.A

Student

:

Pham Hoang Dung

Date of birth :

02/09/1994

Course

K19A3 (2012 – 2016)

:

Hanoi - 2016


DECLARATION

Title: SOME RECOMMENDATIONS TO DEVELOP
READING SKILLS FOR THE FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS AT
THE FACULTY OF ENGLISH, HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY
(Graduation Paper submitted in Partial Fulfillment for B.A Degree in
English)

I certify that no part of the above report has been copied and
reproduced by me from any other person’s work without acknowledgement
and that the report is originally written by me under strict guidance of my
supervisor.

Date submitted: April 15th, 2016

Student

Phạm Hoàng Dũng

Supervisor

Nguyễn Thanh Bình

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am so glad to have a good opportunity of doing this graduation paper.
It helps me much in collecting and classifying my knowledge which I have
studied. To finish the paper, I have worked under extremely high
responsibility. I received many supports from teachers and friends. I cannot
accomplish this task without their help.
First of all, I would like to express my profound gratitude to all the
teachers of Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University for teaching me to be a
well-educated student. I have leant so many things from what they taught me.
They have made the best condition for me to study at school during my last
four years here.
Secondly, I am very grateful to my supervisor Mrs. Nguyen Thanh
Binh M.A for both her enormous positive response to my ideas for this paper,
her honest advice and strict guidance that helped me complete this paper. I
would not complete my graduation paper without her enthusiastic instructions
and correction.
In particular, I would like to give my special thanks to my friends and all
other students who helped me a lot during my studies and my research as well.
Finally yet important, I am very thankful to my family who have
encouraged and supported me so much in all respects.

Hanoi, April 15th,2016
Phạm Hoàng Dũng


TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART A: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................... 1
PART B: DEVELOPMENT ........................................................................ 4
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................... 4

1.1 Understanding of reading ..................................................................................... 4
1.1.1 Definitions of reading ..................................................................................... 4
1.1.2 Types and skills of reading comprehension..........................................6
1.1.2.3 Skimming and scanning together ..............................................................7
1.1.2.6 Intensive and extensive reading together ........................................... 10
1.1.3 The role of reading ........................................................................................ 11
1.2 Factors affecting reading ................................................................................... 13
1.2.1 Language factors ............................................................................................ 13
1.2.2 Non - language factors ................................................................................. 16
1.3 Summary of the chapter ..................................................................................... 18
CHAPTER II: SOME DIFFICULTIES AND LIMITATIONS OF THE
FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH DURING THE PROCESS OF
LEARNING READING SKILLS.............................................................. 19
2.1 Subject of the study .............................................................................................. 19
2.2 Data collection ........................................................................................................ 19
2.2.1 Survey questionnaire ................................................................................... 19
2.2.2 Class observation and discussion ........................................................... 20
2.3 Data analysis ........................................................................................................... 20
2.3.1 Students' interest in reading..................................................................... 21
2.3.2 Real problems in reading ............................................................... 22
2.3.3 Methods used by students to develop their reading skills .......... 25
2.4 Findings ..................................................................................................................... 31


2.5 Summary of the chapter ..................................................................................... 32
CHAPTER III: SOME RECOMMENDATIONS TO DEVELOP
READING SKILLS FOR THE FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS AT
FACULTY OF ENGLISH, H.O.U ............................................................ 33
3.1 Strategies for learning reading........................................................................ 33
3.1.1 Pre-reading activities ................................................................................... 33

3.1.2 While-reading activities .............................................................................. 35
3.1.3 Post-reading activities ................................................................................. 37
3.2 Some other recommendations to develop reading skills..................... 39
3.2.1 Enhancing background knowledge........................................................ 39
3.2.2 Improving reading speed ........................................................................... 41
3.2.3 Changing reading habits ............................................................................. 42
3.3 Creating motivation for reading ..................................................................... 45
3.4 Summary of the chapter ..................................................................................... 47
PART C: CONCLUSION .......................................................................... 48
REFERENCES
APPENDIX


Graduation paper

PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Reading is one of four basic language skills - listening, speaking, reading
and writing which is learned and practiced regularly during the process of
learning a foreign language and is a receptive skill that base on reading,
people can get information, knowledge, then analyzing and doing things what
they need to do. According to getting information or knowledge, reading also
is a tool that help people entertain after hard-working hours by reading books,
comics, magazines or so on. Beside collecting information and knowledge,
reading also plays a very important role in improving English user’s
pronunciation along with speaking, especially reading out loud.
Meanwhile, students of English in general and first-year students at
Faculty of English in particular are still bad at this skill. The problem that
they often get is about lack of vocabulary, grammar and limited social
background, so they face with some difficulties in understanding the article if

they do not know the meaning of the words. Therefore, improving reading
skill is very important for students at English faculty of Hanoi Open
University. Moreover, students learning English as a major at university are
usually not interested in reading, they regard it as a boring skill, not
interesting as speaking or listening skills. As a result, their reading skills are
not paid much attention. One more factor of the necessity of improving
reading skill is nowadays reading well is also a request for a good job along
with other English skills. Hence useful advice for boosting students’ reading
level really is a necessary demand .
During 4 years at the Faculty of English, the author of this paper and other
students have met many difficulties in advancing reading abilities. Moreover,
enhancing reading skills for undergraduate students of

Phạm Hoàng Dũng – K19A03

English major at

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Hanoi Open University is one of the top targets of English training program
following Standard of English Ability of Ministry of Education and Training.
Therefore, with the purpose of helping the first-year students to develop
reading skills, the author of this paper would like to suggest some strategies to
help them deal with regular problems they face in the process of learning
reading skills.
2. Aims of the study
The purpose of this study is to help develop the reading skills for the

first-year students at English faculty – Hanoi Open University.
Therefore, the main targets of this thesis are:
- Exploring the learning of reading skills of the first-year students at
Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University.
- Finding the problems and difficulties that the students usually get in
reading process.
- Proposing some suggestions to improve reading skill for the firstyear students.
3. Scope of the study
Due to the time limit and the length of this paper so I only focus on
reading skills, some common problems and some strategies to develop
reading skills. It is the reason why I have chosen the topic “ Some
recommendations to develop reading skills for the first-year students
at Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University” as the subject of my
graduation paper.
4. Research questions
- Are the first-year students interested in reading skills?
- What are the problems and limitations which first-year students are
facing with?

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- What have the first-year students done to deal with all the
difficulties and improve their reading skill?
5. Methods of the study
- Consulting supervisor and other teachers.

- Collecting data from :
+ Studying books related
+ Doing survey questionnaire
+ Getting from internet
+ Experienced teachers' points of view and comments
+ Class observation
- Analyzing data collected.
- Drawing conclusion
6. Design of the study
The graduation paper is divided to three parts and three chapters.
• PART A : Introduction
This part includes rationale, aims, scope, research questions, methods and
design of the study
• PART B: Development
This part contains three main parts:
Chapter I

: Literature Review

Chapter II

: Some difficulties and limitations of the first-

year students of English during the process of learning
reading skills
Chapter III

: Some recommendations to develop reading

skills for the first-year students at Faculty of English, H.O.U

• PART C: Conclusionn
This final part is to summarize or restate main points of the graduation paper.
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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

Reading plays a very important role in daily life in general and in
searching and receiving information and knowledge in particular, especially
with English learners. In learning English, reading is one of the four main
skills that almost people who study English have to use competently. Reading
is used not only inside the class but also does outside in order to find out,
collect and receive information and lore. However, how many people
understand exactly what is reading? The part below will provide different
definitions of reading.
1.1 Understanding of reading
1.1.1 Definitions of reading
Establishing a clear definition of reading provides an important
perspective for evaluating approaches to teaching word-identification skills.
Most educators would agree that the major purpose of reading should be the
construction of meaning - comprehending and actively responding to what is
read. Two of the most widely cited and agreed-upon definitions of reading are
the following:
According to Anderson (1985), "Reading is the process of constructing
meaning from written texts. It is a complex skill requiring the coordination of

a number of interrelated sources of information" (p.6).
Similarly, Wixson, Peters, Weber, & Roeber (1987, citing the new
definition of reading for Michigan) also assumed that: "Reading is the process
of constructing meaning through the dynamic interaction among: the reader's
existing knowledge; the information suggested by the text being read and the
context of the reading situation".

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Previously, mechanistic definitions of reading as the translation of
printed symbols into oral language equivalents are incomplete, given the
progress made in understanding the nature of the reading process. There is
widespread agreement that without the activation of relevant prior knowledge
by a cognitively active reader and the melding of that prior knowledge with
the text information, there can be no reading of text.
Even definitions of reading that emphasize meaning indicate that
reading is activated by print. The reader must be able to translate the written
words into meaningful language. Virtually, all four- and five-year-old
children can communicate with and learn from oral language, but very few
can read, because they lack the ability to identify printed words. While simply
being able to recognize or "say" the printed words of text without constructing
the meaning of that text is not reading, constructing meaning from written text
is impossible without being able to identify the words.
The terms word identification, word recognition, and decoding are
frequently used interchangeably. The new Literacy Dictionary (Harris &

Hodges, 1995) defines both word recognition and word identification as "the
process of determining the pronunciation and some degree of meaning of an
unknown word" (pp. 282-283). For words that are in a reader's meaning
vocabulary, unlocking the pronunciation leads to the word's meaning. If a
printed word is not in a reader's meaning vocabulary, word-identification
skills may allow access to the word's pronunciation, but not its meaning.
Being able to arrive at the pronunciation of a printed word constitutes word
identification in the most minimal sense; however, if the reader is unable to
attach meaning to the word, then he or she has not read the word, since
reading must end in meaning construction.

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Obviously, reading, like another terms, defined by many different ways
depending on each person’s view. However, in a general view, reading is a
very important skills by which the learners could be access the knowledge and
the information for what he or she wants. In addition, it is also a complex
process for readers to understand writer’s messages in the written or printed
materials.
1.1.2 Types and skills of reading comprehension
Reading – a receptive skill, together with listening, is the contrastive
skill with two productive skills – speaking and writing. These language skills
apply and support one another to develop and master the language we are
learning. Nevertheless, this skill like other skills, has its own typical types,
and of course, they are really more complicated than just pronouncing words.

1.1.2.1 Scanning
Scanning ia a quick reading, focusing on locating specific
information.Scanning involves quick eye movements, not necessarily linear in
fashion, in which the eyes wander until the reader finds the piece of
information needed. Moreover, it is used when a specific piece of information
is required, such as a name, date, symbol, formula, or phrase, is required. The
reader knows what the item looks like and so, knows when he has
located what he was searching for. It is assumed then, that very little
information is processed into long-term memory or even for immediate
understanding because the objective is simply matching. Scanning is used
often with technical, scientific or professional materials to locate specific
information. Scanning is a valuable skill for second language learners to
develop because often they do not require a detailed read of a text. There are
many everyday uses for scanning, relevant to a purpose, such as reading a
schedule.

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1.1.2.2 Skimming
Skimming is reading through quickly from begenning to the end of the
article to get - to know the general meaning of a passage - to know how the
passage is organized, that is, the structure of the text or to get an idea of the
intention of the writer. This kinds of reading is a more complex task than
scanning because it requires the reader to organize and remember some of the
information given by the author, not just to locate it. Skimming is a tool in

which the author's sequence can be observed, unlike scanning in which some
predetermined information is sought after.
Skimming is used when reading some general questions in mind.
Skimming is used in making decisions on how to approach a text such as when
determining if a careful reading is deserving. Skimming is used to build student
confidence and an understanding that it is possible to gain meaning without
reading every word in a text. Skimming is used as part of the SQ3R (survey,
question, read, recite and review) method of reading, often for speed reading.
This method involves the student in surveying, questioning, reading, reviewing
and reciting. Skimming is used for the initial survey and for review.Skimming is
a skill that a student may want to develop if they are planning to continue with
academic studies. It is often used in reviewing for a test.
1.1.2.3 Skimming and scanning together
Skimming and scanning are sometimes referred to as types of
reading and at other times, as skills.Skimming involves a thorough overview
of a text and implies a reading competence. Scanning is more a limited
activity, only retrieving information relevant to a purpose. Brown (1994)
suggest ed that "perhaps the two most valuable reading strategies for learners
as well as native speakers are skimming and scanning." (p.283). Pugh (1978)
suggested that since scanning is a less complex style of reading it can be

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introduced first. Skimming requires greater fluency and more practice is
required, so it should be introduced later.

Often skimming and scanning are used together when reading a text.
For example, the reader may skim through first to see if it is worth reading,
then read it more carefully and scan for a specific piece of information to note.
Students need to learn that they need to adapt their reading and techniques to
the purpose of the reading. By practicing skimming and scanning, the
individual learns to read and select specific information without focussing on
information that is not important for meaning.
1.1.2.4 Extensive type of reading
Brown (1989) explains that extensive reading is carried out "to achieve
a general understanding of a text." Long and Richards (1971, p.216) identify
extensive reading as "occurring when students read large amounts of high
interest material, usually out of class, concentrating on meaning, "reading for
gist" and skipping unknown words." The aims of extensive reading are to
build reader confidence and enjoyment. Extensive reading is always done for
the comprehension of main ideas, not for specific details.
Krashen's Input Hypothesis (1982) made a distinction between
acquisition and learning. For Krashen, the dominant mode of language
learning is inacquisition, the largely subconscious "picking up of the
language" which characterizes language in informal settings and which is
similar, if not identical, to the way children develop ability in their first
language. (p.10). Language acquisition represents unconscious learning which
takes place when attention is focused on meaning rather than form. In order to
acquire language, Krashen suggested the learner must be exposed to large
amounts

of

second

language

input

that

was

"meaningful"

,

interesting, relevant, not grammatically sequenced, and in a low anxiety

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setting.

It is felt that Extensive Reading programs provide such an

environment. The L1=L2 Hypothesis suggests that second language learning,
like the first, follows a highly predictable pattern. If the conditions of first
language acquisition are approximated by extensive second language reading,
the second language learner can achieve native like competence in a
classroom. An extension of this suggests that reading for pleasure from
appropriate second language texts provides subconscious and progressively

more difficult second language input much like that essential for first
language acquisition. Rumelhart (1980) proposed an "interactive model" of
the reading process in which reading is a complex task of simultaneously
combining "bottom-up" processes (in which the reader analyzes text in small
pieces and builds meaning from these) and "top-down" processes (in which
the reader makes "guesses" about the content of a passage). It is thought
that Extensive Reading programs provide the quantities of reading practice
necessary for the automaticity of the "bottom-up" (word recognition) process.
1.1.2.5 Intensive type of reading

Brown (1989) explains that intensive reading "calls attention to
grammatical forms, discourse markers, and other surface structure details for
the purpose of understanding literal meaning, implications, rhetorical
relationships, and the like." He draws an analogy to intensive reading as a
"zoom lens" strategy" . Meanwhile, Long and Richards (1987) say it is a
"detailed in-class" analysis, led by the teacher, of vocabulary and grammar
points, in a short passage. Intensive Reading, sometimes called "narrow
reading", may involve students reading selections by the same author or
several texts about the same topic. When this occurs, content and grammatical
structures repeat themselves and students get

many opportunities to

understand the meanings of the text. The success of "narrow reading" on

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improving reading comprehension is based on the premise that the more
familiar the reader is with the text, either due to the subject matter or having
read other works by the same author, the more comprehension is promoted.
Practicing intensive reading will make some skills rapid reading speed
or interpreting text by using words attack skills, text attack skills and non-text
information.
Assessment of intensive reading will take the form of reading tests
and quizzes. The most common systems of questioning are multiple-choice
and free-response. Mackay (1968) , in his book Reading in a Second
Language, reminds teachers that the most important objective in the reading
class should NOT be the testing of the student to see if they have
understood.

Teachers

should,

instead,

be

spending

most

of

the

time training the student to understand what they read.
1.1.2.6 Intensive and extensive reading together
It is common for both approaches to reading to be used in the same
class. For example, where extensive reading is encouraged, the teacher may
have all the students read the same text so they can discuss the topic together
or learn a specific skill such as as writing an outline. In a class where
intensive reading is mostly used, students may be asked to read texts of their
own choosing to report back on, in either an oral or written format.
In both approaches, it is not the nature of the skills that are of most interest
but rather, the results.
In general, depending on reading purposes of people, there are many
kinds of reading for different aims and the technique chosen by each readers
will be used to certain purposes. For example, when people are in an exam
like ielts test or toeic test or so on, they need to read quickly or skim to get the
main idea to answer the question or read carefully scan for details and

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particular words to complete the filling gap task. Readers, moreover, if their
purpose is for enjoyment, the technique could be used for this aim is extensive
because the target of extensive reading is for enjoyment, maybe people do not
understand exactly meaning of each word but they still understand the content
of the text. Or if people want to understand, find out or study more about
academic issues of language, intensive reading is the good technique for them.

1.1.3 The role of reading
Reading is fundamental to function in today's society. There are many
adults who cannot read well enough to understand the instructions on a
medicine bottle. That is a scary thought - especially for their children.
Filling out applications becomes impossible without help. Reading road or
warning signs is difficult. Even following a map becomes a chore. Day-today activities that many people take for granted become a source of
frustration, anger and fear. Reading is a vital skill in finding a good job.
Many well-paid jobs require reading as a part of job performance. There are
reports and memos which must be read and responded to. Poor reading skills
increase the amount of time it takes to absorb and react in the workplace. A
person is limited in what they can accomplish without good reading and
comprehension skills.
It is also found that reading is important because it develops the mind.
The mind is a muscle. It needs exercise. Understanding the written word is
one way the mind grows in its ability. Teaching young children to read helps
them develop their language skills. It also helps them learn to listen.
Everybody wants to talk, but few can really listen. Lack of listening skills can
result in major misunderstandings which can lead to job loss, marriage
breakup, and other disasters - small and great. Reading helps focus on what
someone else is communicating.

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Why is reading important? It is how we discover new things. Books,
magazines and even the Internet are great learning tools which require the

ability to read and understand what is read. A person who knows how to read
can educate themselves in any area of life they are interested in. We live in an
age where we overflow with information, but reading is the main way to take
advantage of it.
Another benefit of reading is that reading develops the imagination. TV
and computer games have their place, but they are more like amusement.
Amusement comes from two words "a" [non] and "muse" [think]. Amusement
is non-thinking activities. With reading, a person can go anywhere in the
world or even out of it! They can be a king, or an adventurer, or a princess, or
the possibilities are endless. Non-readers never experience these joys to the
same extent. Reading is fundamental in developing a good self image.
Nonreaders or poor readers often have low opinions of themselves and their
abilities. Many times they feel as if the world is against them. They feel
isolated [everybody else can read - which isn't true] and behavior problems
can surface. They can perform poorly in other subjects because they cannot
read and understand the material and so tend to "give up."
Good reading skills, especially in a phonics reading program, improve
spelling. As students learn to sound out letters and words, spelling comes
easier. Also, reading helps to expand the vocabulary. Reading new words puts
them in their mind for later use. Seeing how words are used in different
contexts can give a better understanding of the word usage and definitions
than the cold facts of a dictionary. There is an old saying, "The pen is mightier
than the sword." Ideas written down have changed the destiny of men and
nations for better or worse. The flow of ideas cannot be stopped. We need to
read and research to build on the good ideas and expose the bad ideas before

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they bring destruction. Only by reading can we be armed in this never-ending,
life-and-death struggle. The fact of the power of written ideas communicated
through reading is a foundational reason why some governments oppose free
and honest communication. Illiterate people are easier to control and
manipulate. They cannot do their own research and thinking. They must rely
on what they are told and how their emotions are swayed. There is a good
possibility that this is one of the main reasons phonics was removed from the
schools about 100 years ago.
Finally, reading is important because words - spoken and written - are
the building blocks of life. We are, right now, the result of words that we have
heard or read and believed about ourselves. What we become in the future
will depend on the words we believe about ourselves now. People, families,
relationships, and even nations are built from words.
1.2 Factors affecting reading
1.2.1 Language factors
Vocabulary
Whether or not students have mastered vocabulary skills affects their
reading comprehension. Students must be able to comprehend a familiar word
and its relationship with other words within a text. Mastering vocabulary
includes recognizing a word’s part of speech, definition, useful context clues,
and how it functions in a sentence. These vocabulary strategies can help
improve comprehension.
Many researchers consider vocabulary knowledge to be an important
variable that affects reading comprehension in both first and second language
learning (Alderson, 2000; Joshi, 2005; Qian, 2002; Ricketts et al., 2007). A
limited vocabulary size, as well as a lack of sufficient knowledge of word
meanings, often hinders learners from understanding the meaning of the text.

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Garcia (1991) finds that a lack of familiarity with vocabulary in the test
passages and questions is a powerful factor affecting fifth and sixth grade
Latino bilingual learners on a test of reading comprehension. Qian (1999,
2002; Qian & Schedl, 2004) studies the roles of breadth and depth of
vocabulary knowledge in reading comprehension in academic settings.
Breadth of vocabulary knowledge refers to the size of vocabulary that a
person knows and depth of vocabulary knowledge relates to how well the
person knows a word. The two factors play an important role for second
language learners because learners are more likely to come across words in
which they are not familiar. According to Qian (2002), “having a larger
vocabulary gives the learner a larger database from which to guess the
meaning of the unknown words or behavior of newly learned words, having
deeper vocabulary knowledge will very likely improve the results of the
guessing work” (p. 518).
Grammar
Even though grammatical competence is presumed to be indispensable
for identifying syntactic relations of sentence components, there has been
little research on how readers’ knowledge of grammar contributes to reading
comprehension (Alderson, 1984; Shiotsu & Weir, 2007; Urquhart & Weir,
1998). Most studies addressing the role of grammar in reading explored the
issue by measuring the correlation between learners’ grammatical knowledge
and their reading comprehension ability (Urquhart & Weir, 1998). For

example, Alderson (1993) reviewed the data from the English Language
Testing Services (ELTS) Revision Project and found a considerable overlap
between scores on the grammar test and the reading test, which led him to
propose a significant role of grammar in reading. In a similar vein, in Kuhn
and Stahl’s (2003) review of theories and research on reading instruction,

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training readers to parse sentences into meaningful phrases and providing
them with already syntactically segmented texts were revealed to promote
reading comprehension to a significant level. That is to say, the abilities to
identify syntactic roles of words, dissect sentences into meaningful chunks,
and recognize the syntactic structure of a sentence seem to contribute to the
construction of meaning from the text.
Active reading
Beginning readers often rely on skilled readers to guide them through a
text. However, as readers develop, they will be able to monitor their own
reading comprehension. Students can actively guide their own reading by
targeting comprehension problems as they occur. Students can troubleshoot
comprehension problems by recalling what they read, asking themselves
questions or evaluating the text.
Academic language challenges
Academic words is the words only used in certain major, so not all of
people know exactly and totally the academic words of all branch. This
academic language can be a challenge to students' ability to understand

concepts in science or social studies class. Mrs. King sometimes helps
students work on their classwork and sees them struggle with academic
language on three levels:
Phrase: at the phrase level of academic language, challenges are typically
vocabulary words that students only encounter in that particular class. For
example, students only see the words 'numerator' or 'denominator' in math.
Sentence: at the sentence level, challenges deal more with grammar and
understanding how sentences are formed and work. Students see different
kinds of sentence structure in content area classes as they learn about things
such as comparing and contrasting two animals, for example.

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Discourse: at the discourse level, students are called on to make sense
of content and meaning of overall structures and genres. They have to figure
out how different text is organized, such as a fairy tale and an autobiography.
Or understanding a science lab report may be difficult for some students if
they haven't been exposed to this form of academic language.
1.2.2 Non - language factors
Background knowledge
Background

knowledge

plays

an

essential

role

in

reading

comprehension. In an effort to comprehend a text, students rely on their
background knowledge to link what they already know to the text they are
reading. Background knowledge includes both a reader’s real-world
experiences and literary knowledge. Drawing parallels between background
knowledge and texts helps students become active readers, improving their
reading comprehension.
Background

knowledge

(or

background

information) directly

influences comprehension. A skilled, fluent reader who knows a lot about
American history, for instance, will have an easier time understanding a
passage about the Civil War than a reader who does not own such background

knowledge to the reading. We usually gain much of our background
knowledge when we are children and adolescents in school.
As accomplished readers, we are often not aware of how much
understanding of what we read comes from the knowledge we bring to the
text. Reading comprehension is the process of 'constructing meaning' from a
text. Comprehension is a 'construction process' because it involves all of the
elements of the reading process working together as a text is read to create a
representation of the text in the reader's mind. The more prior knowledge we
have of the subject presented in a passage, the richer will be our

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understanding. Prior knowledge of a subject forms a framework (schema) into
which additional ideas can be assimilated and remembered.
Context materials
One factor that impacts reading comprehension is the context in which
reading occurs, or where and how it takes place. There are two ways to look
at the context in terms of reading comprehension.
Where reading occurs. Think about our favorite place to read. Are we
more successful in a crowded, noisy coffee house or in a cozy spot in our
room? Factors show that often students are asked to read at school in noisy
places, which may negatively impact their ability to understand.
Social context. Sometimes readers are asked to read independently, at
their seats or in a quiet spot. Other times they read as part of a social
grouping, such as circle time or choral reading. It is noticed that sometimes

when students read out loud with another people they understand more than
when they read by themselves.
Comprehension basics
What is the point of reading unless we understand what we read?
Students need to comprehend what they read in order to learn about the
subjects they study, and comprehension depends on several factors. Readers
bring their skills and background knowledge about the topic with them. They
need to remember and make sense of what they are reading, connecting the
new understanding to the old. This can be a tricky process.
Some surveys show that although some students are great at oral
reading, they struggle with comprehension. Why do some readers
comprehend easily and others struggle? Let's take a look at factors that impact
comprehension, including ways in which reading takes place, the reader's
specific characteristics, and properties of the text itself. Then we'll consider

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some of the challenges presented by academic language. Finally, we'll explore
some strategies teachers can use to help student readers' comprehension.
Motivation
The last but not least important factor affecting reading is motivation.
How does motivation affect reading? If someone is bored by the reading
material, they won't want to do it. Also, being able to decode what you are
reading is important. Being able to understand vocabulary and the main idea
is also important. In my classes, I find that sometimes words that seem easy to

the teacher are not easy to the students, and may throw off the main idea of
the text if those words are not correctly interpreted.
1.3 Summary of the chapter
In this chapter, a brief overview about reading has been showed that
include the definition and the types of reading. It is affirmed that reading is a
very important and effective skill with many aspects in life. Moreover, the
author of this paper also provides knowledge on the factors affecting reading
skill development.
At the same time, the author of this paper has also expressed his own
opinion about reading as a consideration and the readers might get a
general view about reading. In the next chapter, this paper will be designed
to help learners realize some barriers in improving their reading skills and
the writer hope that the useful information will be transfer to the people
who need it most.

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CHAPTER II: SOME DIFFICULTIES AND LIMITATIONS OF THE
FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH DURING PROCESS OF
LEARNING READING SKILLS
2.1 Subject of the study
This survey was carried out among 100 students, group K22 of the
Faculty of English, H.O.U. They are the first-year students at pre-intermediate
English level. They have gotten familiar with English reading lessons and are
all in need of upgrading their skills.

2.2 Data collection
2.2.1 Survey questionnaire
In order to get information about the problems of the first-year students
in learning reading skills, a survey questionnaire was worked out and given
to the first-years students and they were asked to answer them honestly to
guarantee the accuracy and the reliability of the results.
The survey questionnaire (see Appendix), consists of 14 questions
attributed to help find essential information of the overview of studying
reading as well as challenges facing students. Question 1 aims to explore the
time the students started learning English. Question 2, 3, 4, and 5 aim to find
out students’ attitudes toward reading. The sixth question attempts to find out
the difficulties that students often encounter in reading English. The aim of
question 7 is to find out the teachers’ role in teaching English reading skills in
class. Question 8 is to find out what kind of reading exercise students are
interested in. Question 9 looks for the reading techniques that students often
use to read in class. Question 10 explores student’s reading results in previous
tests. Question 8 is to find out thinking of students about improving reading
skills. Question 11 is to find out what way that students tend to use to develop
reading skills in class. Question 12 and 13 aims to find out the intensity of

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practicing and what methods students prefer to do to enhance reading at
home. And the question 14 is to find out the materials students usually use to
practice reading.

2.2.2 Class observation and discussion
Class observation brings many worthy and important educational
intentions. The goals of observing classroom is to gather additional
information which is believed to be an essential contribution to make the
analysis from data collected by survey questionnaire become more convincing
and authentic.
2.3 Data analysis
In survey questionnaires, some questions are designed to find out the
situation of learning reading skills of the first-year students at Faculty of
English, Hanoi Open University. The results are described as follow.
Nowadays, English has become a very popular international language
in all around the world and Vietnam as well. Therefore, because of Vietnam
integration process, the government has applied English as a compulsory
subject in school from primary school to university. In question 1 of the
survey, it is found that many schools in Vietnam have taught English from
grade 3, just there are a few schools that students have learned English after
grade 3. According to the statistic got from students answering the question 1,
the number of students learnt English under 8 years old is 60 percent (60%),
and the percentage of students learning English from 11 years old is 30%,
mostly in rural areas where the education conditions are still low. Besides,
there is a little number of students starting learning English after 15 years old.
And the number of this group is approximately 10% However, they have been
taught only the basic program such as vocabulary, grammar and language
structures. Within 45 minutes of one lesson, they just only could learn these

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