Tìm hiểu về các yếu tố gây ra sự lo lắng của học sinh lớp 10 trong các giờ học đọc hiểu tiếng Anh ở trường THPT Tam Đảo

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

TRIỆU THỊ HOÀI THU

AN INVESTIGATION INTO FACTORS CAUSING THE 10TH STUDENTS’
ANXIETY IN ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION CLASSES AT
TAM ĐẢO HIGH SCHOOL

(Tìm hiểu về các yếu tố gây ra sự lo lắng của học sinh lớp 10 trong các giờ học
đọc hiểu tiếng Anh ở trường THPT Tam Đảo)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111

HANOI - 2016


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

TRIỆU THỊ HOÀI THU

AN INVESTIGATION INTO FACTORS CAUSING THE 10TH STUDENTS’
ANXIETY IN ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION CLASSES AT
TAM ĐẢO HIGH SCHOOL

(Tìm hiểu về các yếu tố gây ra sự lo lắng của học sinh lớp 10 trong các giờ học
đọc hiểu tiếng Anh ở trường THPT Tam Đảo)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111
Supervisor: Assoc. Dr. Ngô Hữu Hoàng

HANOI - 2016


TABLE OF CONTENTS
CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT ............................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
ABSTRACT .............................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES .......................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
PART A: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... I
1. Rationale of the study .......................................................................................... I
2. Aims of the study ................................................................................................. I
3. Research questions .............................................................................................. II
4. Scope of the study ............................................................................................... II
5. Methodology ....................................................................................................... II
6. Significance of the study .................................................................................... II
7. Organization of the study.................................................................................... II
PART B: DEVELOPMENT .................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW .................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.1. Reading ........................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.1.1. Definition of reading? .............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

1.1.2. Definition of reading comprehension ....... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.1.3. The importance of reading ....................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.2. Types of reading .......................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.2.1. Skimming ................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.2.2. Scanning ................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.2.3. Extensive reading ..................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.2.4. Intensive reading ...................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.3. Stages of a reading lesson ............................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.3.1. Pre-reading ............................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.3.2. While-reading ........................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

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1.3.3. Post- reading ............................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.4. Anxiety............................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.4.1. Definition of anxiety ................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.4.2. Foreign language reading anxiety ............ Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.5. Previous studies on the effect of anxiety on students’ reading comprehension
............................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.6. Summary ......................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY ............................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.1. Research method ............................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.1.1. The nature of qualitative research ............ Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.1.2. Selection of survey research as research strategy .. Error! Bookmark not
defined.
2.2. The context of the study ................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.2.1. An introduction of Tam Dao high schoolError! Bookmark not defined.
2.2.2. The teaching material and reading tasks in teaching reading ......... Error!
Bookmark not defined.

2.3. Participants...................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.4. Instruments...................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.4.1. Questionnaire............................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.4.2. Semi-structured interview ........................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.5. Data collection procedure ............................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.6. Data analysis procedure .................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.7. Summary ......................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ....... Error! Bookmark not
defined.
3.1. Students' attitude towards the importance of reading ... Error! Bookmark not
defined.
3.2. Students’ interest in English reading lessons . Error! Bookmark not defined.

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3.3. Reading anxiety caused by each reading factors .......... Error! Bookmark not
defined.
3.3.1. Anxiety caused by reading text factors .... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.3.2. Anxiety caused by personal factors .......... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.3.3. Anxiety caused by time constraint ........... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.4. Students’ opinions on teachers’ teaching method ........ Error! Bookmark not
defined.
3.5. Teaching methods in helping students overcome anxiety in reading ..... Error!
Bookmark not defined.
3.6. Discussion ....................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.7. Summary ......................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
CHAPTER 4: SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS ............. Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.1. Raise students’ self - awareness of anxiety .... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.2. Increase student’s self-confidence .................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

4.3. Improve students’ background knowledge ..... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.4. Apply appropriate reading strategies .............. Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.5. Develop supplementary reading materials ..... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.6. Create a pleasant and comfortable classroom atmosphere .. Error! Bookmark
not defined.
4.7. Summary ......................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
PART C: CONCLUSION ......................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1. Summary of the study ........................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
2. Limitations of the study ..................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3. Recommendations for the further study ............ Error! Bookmark not defined.
REFERENCES ......................................................................................................... IV
APPENDICES........................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

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PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
It is indisputable that English plays an important role in teaching and
learning as a foreign language. However, to master English, learners need to grasp a
lot of different skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing. Among these
skills, reading is the most crucial skill that not only develops other skills such as
speaking, listening and writing but also expands the students’ knowledge of the
language However, according to (Saito, Horwitz, & Garza, 1999), “reading is an
important source of input; however, it is also an anxiety provoking activity”.
Therefore, it can be undeniable that it is a difficult or a challenge to improve and
develop reading skills for both teachers and students.
In fact, in reading lessons in Tam Dao high school, teachers always try to
effectively transmit how to understand and exploit the reading text for students.
However, most of students share that they find that learning foreign language

reading as English is affected by the personal factors, especially anxiety. Therefore,
the effectiveness of students’ reading comprehension is not as expected and they
have little attention or motivation in reading lessons.
While a certain amount of research has been conducted to investigate foreign
language anxiety and its effect on learn a foreign language, little has been done on
anxiety in learning four skills, especially reading alone in Vietnam. As a teacher of
English in this school, I recognize the importance of reading, it is strongly desirable
for me to propose “An investigation into factors causing the 10th students’ anxiety
in English reading comprehension classes at Tam Đảo high school” to be the subject
of this thesis.
2. Aims of the study
The main aim of this study is to investigate the effect of students’ anxiety on
reading comprehension and then suggests some solutions to reduce their reading
anxiety.

I


3. Research questions
To achieve the aims mentioned above, the following research questions are
proposed:
1) . What are the causes that affect students’ anxiety at Tam Dao high school
in reading lessons?
2) . What are some suggested solutions to reduce students’ anxiety on reading
comprehension?
4. Scope of the study
This study focuses on students’ anxiety on reading comprehension. Due to
the limitation of page numbers of the minor thesis, the research only involves the
10th form students at Tam Dao high school.
5. Methodology

To achieve the aims of the study, qualitative method is employed. The data
was collected by means of survey questionnaires and semi-structured interviews.
After the data is collected, analyzed and discussed, some conclusions will be drawn,
and some suggestions will be made in the thesis.
6. Significance of the study
This study investigates the causes of anxiety on students’ reading
comprehension. It could be of some help to teachers and students at Tam Dao high
school to improve both teachers and students’ awareness of causes of reading
comprehension anxiety. By doing this research, the researcher wishes to help the
10th form students to reduce their reading anxiety through the suggested solutions.
7. Organization of the study
The research consists of three main parts: Introduction, Development and
Conclusion.
Part A: Introduction presents the rationale, the aims, the research questions,
methods, scope, significance and organization of the study.
Part B: Development consists of four chapters:

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Chapter 1 Literature review gives the concepts of reading, reading
comprehension, its importance, types of reading and stages of a reading lesson.
Next, the concepts of anxiety, foreign language reading anxiety and the previous
studies on anxiety in reading comprehension are presented.
Chapter 2 Methodology includes the research method, the context,
participants, instruments and research procedure with the following main steps:
conducting survey questionnaires and interview collecting data and analyzing data,
and giving out conclusions from findings.
Chapter 3 Analyses were given on students’ attitude and interests on reading,
their sources of anxiety, their opinions of teachers’ teaching methods and how to

cope with their anxiety chapter also focuses on data collections - findings and
discussion.
Chapter 4 Some suggested solutions of the study for improving reading skills
to the students at Tam Dao high school are proposed.
Part C: Conclusion is the last part which offered a summary, some
limitations and suggestions for further studies.

III


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