A STUDY ON COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES APPLIED IN THE PROCESS OF TEACHING READING ENGLISH IN GRADE 10TH AT TRAN PHU HIGH SCHOOL

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study has been finished with the support and encouragement of many people
to whom I am grateful.
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor,
Mrs. Le Thi Hong Van, M.A, a lecturer of faculty of foreign languages studies at Tay
Nguyen University. With her knowledge and experience in teaching English as well as
great enthusiasm, she has given me a lot of valuable advice, suggestion and
encouragement during my researching process.
Secondly, I would like to give my sincere thanks for the teachers of the faculty of
foreign languages studies, Tay Nguyen University for their useful lectures and
suggestion and my classmates for their support which are very useful for me to finish
this study.
Thirdly, I would like also to express my special thanks to all the teachers and
students at Tran Phu High school for their enthusiastic cooperation in my survey.
Without their help, this study would have been impossible.
Finally, I wish to thank my family, my friends who have encouraged and
supported me during the time of doing this study.

1


ABSTRACT
Reading, one of the four major basic skills in learning English, is taught at high
school through the reading text. And with the necessary need of communicative
approach, the way to teach reading English effectively is improved and changed. With
this purpose, the author carries out a study on the communicative activities in English
reading classes to somewhat helps student to improve their reading skill in particular
and their language competence in general. To investigate this aspect, a study on the
communicative activities applied in the process of teaching reading English is given
and processed at Tran Phu High school. And the study has given some aspects of
students’ attitude towards the communicative activities in reading English lessons.

The questionnaire was designed for the students at grade 10th and teachers at
Tran Phu High school. Moreover, some ideas about the communicative activities
applied in the process of teaching reading English are also exploited from the teachers
and students.
The study found the communicative language teaching (CLT) with the aims,
characteristic and the teacher and learner roles in CLT. And study found the
communicative activities applied in teaching reading English. In addition, it also
knows more about the students’ attitude towards the communicative activities in
reading English classes. In the final part of the study, some suggestions based on the
finding, are given to partly improve reading skill for the grade 10th students at Tran
Phu High school.

2


TABLE OF CONTENTS

3


LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: The students’ attitudes toward reading lessons ....................................16
Table 2: Communicative activities are done by students in the class.................17
Table 3: Students’ attitudes when communicative activities are applied in
reading lessons.....................................................................................................17
Table 4: The students’ suggestions for better reading teaching and learning....18

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
This chapter provides the background information for the whole assignment:
statement of the problem, objective the study, significance of the study.

1.1 Statement of the problem
Language is the most important means for the people to communicate to each
other. English is an international language and furthermore it becomes an official and
effective international communicative language. English is widely used in many fields
of life science, technology, education, etc. as a result, more and more people are
studying English with the hope that they can meet the requirements of social in general
and of their jobs in particular. . According to Jennifer (2013), English has special or
official status in more than 75 countries. It’s spoken as the first language by 375
million people and as the second language by approximately 375 million people.
Estimates suggest that one in every four people is able to speak a little English, with
numbers increasing year-on-year.
English now is a compulsory subject not only in teaching and learning but also in
many important examinations. So that they are not only study English because it is
compulsory but also because they are interested in English and they are aware well of
the importance of English for their job in the future.
4


It is not easy to master a foreign language at all. It requires many sub-skills such
as listening, reading, speaking and writing. Being a receptive skill, reading also has
some certain requirements to the students, not just a process of understanding grammar
structures mechanically. In fact, many students are very good at grammar and
vocabulary but cannot finish the reading tasks successfully.
It can be clearly seen that, there are many way to teaching reading skill, however,
what is the best way to teach effectively? Nowadays, teachers try to teach English in a
communicative way. Communicative activities, therefore, are becoming an essential
part in learning. In real teaching in high school, not many teacher use communicative
activities in English classes, especially in reading lessons. They only teach students
reading skills through mechanical drills in the textbook. Thus the author carries out a
study on the communicative activities in English reading classes to somewhat helps

student to improve their reading skill in particular and their language competence in
general.
For the reason above, the author decides to choose the topic “A study on
communicative activities applied in the process of teaching reading English in grade
10th at Tran Phu High school”.
1.2 Significance of the study

The study, as a whole, is considered to be significant on the three aspects.
First of all, theoretically, it provides some basic knowledge ranging from CLT,
Communicative Continuum to Reading Skill. Second, practically, it makes an
investigation into the real situation of using communicative activities in teaching and
learning English reading skill at Tran Phu High school. Finally, it provides some
suggested communicative activities to partly improve reading skill for the 10 th
students.
1.3 Objectives of the study
• To identify the communicative activities applied in teaching reading English
• To investigate students’ attitudes towards the communicative activities in reading
English reading lessons
• To suggest some communicative activities to partly improve reading skill for the 10 th
grade students at Tran Phu High school
1.4. Outline of the study
The assignment is divided into 5 chapters:

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Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION. This chapter provides the background information
for the whole assignment: statement of the problem, objective the study, significance
of the study.
Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. This chapter review the literature related to

the study. Firstly, it gives the aims, characteristic and the teacher and learner roles in
CLT. Secondly, we have communicative activities in language teaching and learning
process and characteristics of communicative activities. And finally, it gives definition
of reading, principles for teaching reading in a CLT classroom and types of
communicative activities in reading classes.
Chapter 3: CONTENTS AND METHODOLOGY. This chapter describes the
method used to carry out this study. It is composed 4 main parts: subject of the study,
scope of the study, contents of the study and research methods.
Chapter 4: FINDING AND DISCUSSION. This chapter reports and discusses the
result from this study.
Chapter 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS. This chapter presents
some suggestions to partly improve reading skill for the grade 10th students at Tran
Phu High school and the conclusion of the study.

6


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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter review the literature related to the study. Firstly, it gives the aims,
characteristic and the teacher and learner roles in CLT. Secondly, we have
communicative activities in language teaching and learning process and characteristics
of communicative activities. And finally, it gives definition of reading, principles for
teaching reading in a CLT classroom and types of communicative activities in reading
classes.
2.1 The Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)
Towards the end of the 1960s there was a growing dissatisfaction among applied
linguistics and foreign language teachers with the language theories and teaching

methods. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) began in Britain in that time as a
2.1.1

replacement to the earlier structural method.
The aim of CLT
The aim of CLT is therefore that learners develop linguistic fluency and not just
linguistic accuracy, as is so often the case in traditional language teaching (Brown,
2007). CLT is concerned with facilitating “lifelong language learning” (Brown
2007:46) and not just giving the learners the tools they need to deal with immediate
classroom tasks. Cooperative learning plays a big part in this regard along with
drawing out whatever intrinsically sparks learners to reach their fullest potential”
(2007:46).
The goal in CLT is communicative competence. Communicative competence can
be understood as the ability to use language correctly and appropriately to accomplish
the communication goals in authentic and meaningful situations. Communicative
competence is measured by determining if, and to what degree, the goals of interaction
are achieved.
CLT also developed procedures for the teaching of the four skills that knowledge
the interdependence of language and communication. Because communicative
principles can be applied to the teaching of any skill, at any level, and because of the
wide variety of classroom activities, description of typical classroom procedures used
in a lesson based on CLT principles is not feasible. Teaching points are introduced in
dialogue form, grammatical items are isolated for controlled practice, and then freer
activities are provided. Pair and group work is suggested to encourage students to use

8


and practice functions and forms. It can be said that CLT procedures are evolutionary
2.1.2

rather than revolutionary.
Characteristic of CLT
In CLT, meaning is paramount. Wilkins (1972) classifies meaning into notional
and functional categories and views learning a second language as acquiring the
linguistic means to perform different kinds of functions.
According to Larsen-Freeman (1986: 132) the most obvious characteristic of
CLT is that “Almost everything that is done is done with communicative intent”.
Students use the language through communicative activities (e.g. games, role-plays
and problem-solving tasks).
Another characteristic of CLT is the introduction of authentic material. In CLT, it
is considered desirable to give learners the opportunity to genuine communicative
needs in realistic second language situations so that they develop strategies for
understanding language as actually used by native speakers (Canaled and Swain,
1980).

2.1.3

The teacher and learner roles in CLT
In traditional classroom, teacher talks all the time and students only listen and
write down everything on their notebook. So how do the roles of learners and teacher

change in CLT?
2.1.3.1 The teacher roles
According to Breen and Candlin (1980: 99), cited in Richards and Rodger,
(2001:167), teacher in CLT has some main roles following:
The first role is to facilitate the communicative process between all participants
in the classroom and the various activities and texts.
The second role is to act as an independent participant within the learningteaching group.
The third role for the teacher is that of researcher and learner, with much to

contribute in terms of appropriate knowledge and abilities, actual and observed
experience of the nature of learning and organizational capacities.
2.1.3.2 The learner roles
Since the teacher’s role in CLT is less dominant than in teacher-centered method,
students are seen as more responsible managers of their own learning.
According to Breen and Candlin ( 1980: 110), cited in Richards and Roger,
(2001:166), the learner can be negotiators- between the self, the learning process, and
the object of learning – emerges forms and interacts with the role of join negotiator
within the group and within the classroom procedures and activities which the group
9


undertakes. The implication for the learner is that he should contribute as much as he
gains, and thereby learn in an interdependent way.
Additionally, in CLT, students are expected to interact primarily with each other
than with the teacher and to engage in negotiating meaning actively. The correction of
errors may be absent or infrequent. Thus, CLT procedures should be focus on learner2.1.4

centered instruction to enhance the students’ communicative competence.
Purposes of Communicative activities
2.1.4.1 Communicative activities allow natural learning
Language learning requires the learners’ knowledge about many aspect of
language such as vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, etc. In real language teaching,
the teacher cannot control the students’ acquisition of all aspect because language
learning takes place inside the learners. Some aspects of language learning can take
place only through natural acquisition process in which the learners are involved in

using the language for communication.
2.1.4.2 Communicative activities promote learning motivation
Students always take part in real communication to each other with a specific

purpose. Their motivation to learn will be improved if the classroom learning
procedure is design with many activities related to their communicative purpose and
can help them to achieve it successfully.
2.1.4.3 Communicative activities create a context which support learning
In language learning, the learning atmosphere in the classroom is also very
important. It somewhat affects the students’ learning. Communicative activities can
create a positive learning atmosphere by providing opportunities for students
interacting with each other and with the teacher as well.th interaction can support
2.2

students in their efforts to learn
Communicative activities
2.2.1 Communicative activities in language teaching and learning process
In the language classrooms, both teachers and students try their best to control
over the language that students use by organizing it into manageable portions to be
developed though communicative activities. Then, what are communicative activities?
The definition of communicative activities was discussed by Klipple (1991) when
he revealed that the term “communicative activities is used to refer to any operation
which is used to consolidate language already taught or acquired and which occurs
during the free stage of a lesson or students can produce meaningful and authentic
utterances without the controlling influence of the teacher or the course”. It means that
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every time a learner uses a language that they are learning, say English, either
productively or receptively, he or she involves in these kinds of activities.
In a nutshell, communicative activities are those that involve learners in using the
language for communicative rather than display purposes that focus on fluency rather
than accuracy and which involve learners in pair or group work as a setting for that
communication.

2.2.2 Characteristic of communicative activities
Communicative activities are designed to encourage the purposeful and
meaningful interaction between students in a language lesson. It is, therefore,
important for teachers to be fully aware of their characteristics so that they can use
them effectively.
Harmer (1991) lists 6 distinctive characteristics of communicative activities when
they are contrasted with non-communicative ones. They are presented as follows.

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Non-communicative activities

Communicative activities

1. The students have no desire to 1.
communicate.
2.

They

have

The

students

should

have

communicative desire.
no

communicative 2. They have communicative purposes

purposes.
3. The emphasis is on the form of the 3. The attention should be centered on
language, not its content.
the content not the language form.
4. Only one language item will be the 4. They will have to deal with a variety
focus of attention.
of language.
5. The teacher will often intervene to 5. The teacher should not intervene
correct mistakes, nominate students and
ensure accuracy.
6. The materials will be specially

6. No materials control.

designed focus on a restricted amount of
language.
In summary, it is of great importance to distinguish the characteristics of these
two kinds so that teachers and students of a language can make the best use of
communicative activities in the process of learning and teaching.
2.3
2.3.1

Reading skill
Definition of reading

Reading is one of the four major basic skills in learning any foreign language.
“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”.

(Cited

from

).
According to Nunan (1991), reading is basically a matter of decoding series of
written symbols into the aural equivalent. He also explains that “the reader processes
each letter as it is encountered. These letters are matched with the phonemes of the
language, which it is assumed the reader already knows…” (P. 64). Nunan emphasizes
the decoding skills when reading.

12


However, Goodman (1967) has another approach to reading. He called reading a
“psycholinguistic” guessing game, the reader make use of the 3 cueing systems: the
semantic, the syntactic and the graphophonic.
In order to develop reading, we need to put reading in social context. Learners are
socialized into reading and the motivation for learning to read not only or even
primarily for enjoyment or information, but because the aspiring reader wants to gain
access to a “community of reader” (Walace: 1988).
Through the concepts of reading, we can conclude that reading is decoding every
letters in text, adding three cueing systems and putting text in social context. We can
understand all information that exists in text and adding our knowledge about life,
society, cultural: consequently, we can predict what the text intend. Thus, it is
2.3.2

necessary tor the students learning how to read in an effective way.
Principles for teaching reading in a CLT classroom
As mentioned above, reading skill plays an important role in English language
learning. Therefore, it is necessary to have a set of principles that teachers of English
must follow when teaching reading so that they can ensure their students’
understanding of the lessons. According to Hoang Thi Xuan, M.A (2009), we have
some points of principles for teaching reading follows:
1. When teaching a reading text, it is beneficial to state a purpose for reading the
given text. Tell the students why they are reading the text.
2. Prepare the students to read by introducing the topic of the passage
3. Before the students read the text, have them read questions about it beforehand
to help them focus on the meaning. It is even helpful to have them try to answer the
questions before they read the text.
4. Do-not-pre-teach vocabulary unless necessary. One of the skills readers should

learn is guessing the meaning of unknown words. If all words are pre-taught, this will
prevent them from being able to guess from context.
5. Have students read silently without whispering the words or moving their lips.
This will help them read more quickly and focus on the more important words.
Reading silently helps them focus on meaning rather than the form (letters and
sounds).
6. Discuss difficult vocabulary after reading the text. If they were not able to
understand certain words or guessing from context, help them by explain the meaning
by definition or example.
7. When discussing to find answer to comprehension questions, be sure to refer
back to the text often – this will help the students practice finding the answers
13


themselves, if the teacher always just says the answers, the students may get into the
habit of ignoring what they are reading, instead, ask them where in the text the answer
is.
8. Finally, remember to focus on developing the skills of the readers. To do this,
they must develop the many sub-skills of reading like swimming, scanning, predicting,
guessing from context, and reading for total comprehension.
In short, there are a number of principles that the teacher must follow when
teaching reading. Depending on the features of each class and of each reading lesson
as well as the level of students that the teacher can choose an appropriate one for their
reading classes.
2.3.3 Types of communicative activities in reading classes
Littlewood

(1981)

divides

communicative

activities

into

functional

communication activities and social interaction activities. For the functional
communication activities, the main purpose is that learners should use the language
they know in order to get meaning across as effectively as possible. Success is
measured primarily according to whether they cope with communicative demands of
the immediate situation. Some examples of these activities are questions and answers,
interviews based on a text, information-gap activities, role-play, etc.
In addition, the social interaction activities place emphasis on social as well as
functional aspects of communication. Learners must not only aim to convey meanings
effectively but also pay greater attention to the social contexts in which the
interactions take place. Success is now measured not only in terms of the functional
effectiveness of the language but also in terms of the acceptability of the forms that are
used. In the early stages of learning, acceptability may mean little more than a
reasonable degree of accuracy in pronunciation and grammar. Later, it will
increasingly come to include producing language appropriate to specific kind of social
situations because of the limitation of the classroom; simulation and role-playing are
now important techniques for creating a wider variety of social situations and
relationships.
Basing on medium of communication, communicative activities can also be
classified into two types: oral and written communicative activities according to
Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo Dinh Phuong (2007).
14

For the first type of communicative activities, there are various sub-types of
activity which help to promote oral communication in the classroom such as Reaching
a consensus, Relaying instructions, Communication games, Problem solving,
Interpersonal exchange, Story construction and stimulation and Role play.
For the second one, there are also various sub-types which help promote written
communication in the classroom such as Relaying instructions, Exchange letters,
Writing games, Fluency writing, Story construction and Writing report, and
Advertisements.
In summary, this chapter shows us the aims, characteristics and the teacher and
learner roles in CLT; the communicative activities in language teaching and learning
process and characteristics of communicative activities. Especially, it gives definition
of reading, principles for teaching reading in a CLT classroom and types of
communicative activities in reading classes. There are researchers giving criteria for
the aspects of CLT in the process of teaching reading and they also show their ideas
and evaluation for these aspects. In addition, whether those ideas are right or wrong,
we will investigate them in the next parts.

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CHAPTER 3: CONTENTS AND METHODOLOGY
This chapter describes the method used to carry out this study. It is composed 4
main parts: subject of the study, scope of the study, contents of the study and research
methods.
3.1 Subject of the study
3.1.1 The students

The number of students participating in this study is 45. They are in grade 10 th of

Tran Phu High school during the school year 2014 – 2015.
3.1.2 The teachers
In this study, the researcher investigates 5 teachers who are teaching at English
faculty in Tran Phu High school.
3.2 Scope of the study

The study concerns about communicative activities and reading skill.
Within the study, the author just mentions about some background knowledge
about CLT and reading skills as well as some communicative activities in language
classes.
Furthermore, in this study, the author attempts to carry out the research on the
situation of teaching and learning English reading skill in grade 10 th at Tran Phu High
school. From these, the author’s purpose is to give some suggested communicative
activities as a technique to partly improve reading skill for the grade 10th students.
3.3 Research questions
The main content of this study to find out towards the answer of the following
questions:
• What are the students’ attitudes towards the communicative activities in teaching
•

English reading lessons?
What kinds of Communicative Activities can be applied in English reading classes to

improve reading skill for the grade 10th students?
3.4 Research methods
3.4.1 Research instrument
The instrument to collect the data used in this study is the questionnaire that has
been delivered to 45 students in grade 10th at Tran Phu High school.
The researcher chose this method because it has some advantages. According to
Gillham (2000), the advantage of using questionnaires is that there is less pressure for

an immediate response. Instead, the respondents can complete the questionnaire at a
relaxing pace when it suits them; they are not “under pressure interview bias”. First,
16


the responses are gathered in a standardized way, so questionnaires are quite objective.
Second, it is relatively quick to collect the information using a questionnaire. Finally,
potential information can be collected from a large portion of a group by using
questionnaire.
In this study, the questionnaires are delivered to students to investigate their
attitude towards the communicative activities applied in English reading lessons, the
real situation of using communicative in English reading lessons. Questionnaires are
also delivered to teachers to investigate the communicative activities that they use in
teaching reading English lessons.
The questionnaire for teachers has 3 questions aim at getting exactly information
of teaching reading at Tran Phu High school.
The specific contents of 3 questions used for survey are as follow:
Question 1 is about the teachers’ experience of teaching English.
Question 2 aims at finding out frequency of using communicative activities in
reading English lessons.
Question 3 states the teachers’ feeling when applied communicative activities in
reading lessons.
The questionnaire for students has 7 questions aims at getting exactly information
of learning reading at Tran Phu High school.
Questions 1 to question 3 investigate the attitude of the students towards the
reading lessons.
Question 4 aims at finding out frequency of doing communicative activities in
reading English lessons.
Question 5 and 6 state the students’ attitudes when communicative activities are
applied in reading English class.

Question 7 asks the students for their suggestions for better reading teaching and
learning.
Information from interview is analyzed by chart.
3.4.2 Questionnaire administration.
The questionnaires were delivered in March 2015 during class time at Tran Phu
High school. 45 copies of the questionnaire were delivered for students and 5 copies
of the questionnaire were delivered for the teachers. The students were instructed not
to discuss the questions before they had completed their answers. The researcher will
tell students the target of doing questionnaire and the role with the research. Also, the
respondents were not to write their names on the questionnaires to make sure that all
the respondents would answer freely and confidently. The students were asked to be
17


honest and accurate in completing the questionnaire. The questionnaire was collected
in a short time.

18


CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
This chapter presents the findings of the study and provides discussions based on
the analysis of the findings.
4.1 Findings
4.1.1. Questionnaires for teachers:
Table 1: Their teaching experience
Years of teaching
1-5 years
6-10 years
11-20 years

Number
1/5
2/5
1/5

%
20 %
40%
20%

1/5
20%
Over 20 years
According to the data collected in table 1, it can be clearly seen that 20% have
from 1-5 years of teaching experience. 40% have experience of teaching from 6- 10
years. 20% have from 11- 20 years of teaching experience. The rest have over 20
years. It is concluded that the teaching staff are quite experienced in their professions.
Table 2: Communicative activities are applied by teachers in teaching English
lesson in grade 10 at Tran Phu High school.
Communicative activities

Usually

Often

Rarely

1. Finding synonyms

60%

20%

20%

2. Role play

20%

20%

60%

3. Crossword puzzle

20%

4. Lucky number
5. Group work

Never

80%
100%

80%

20%

As can be seen in table 2, finding synonyms activity is usually used because it is
easy to prepare and design. Role play activity is rarely used because it is demanding
and time-consuming task. Cross word and lucky number are never used or used rarely.
Three respondents were interviewed and they all said that it is difficult to use modern
visual teaching aids in teaching reading by using game like crossword puzzle and
lucky number. And they have no time to prepare their teaching plans on power point
19


slides. Games make the lesson more interesting but they are time-consuming. Group
work activity is usually used because most reading tasks of Tieng Anh 10 textbook are
designed for this activity.
Table 3: The teachers’ feelings when applied communicative activities in reading
lessons
The teachers’ feelings
They motivate students to read
They slow down students reading
They are too demanding and difficult to process
I have no idea

Number
4/5
1/5
5/5
0/5

%
80%
20%
100%

0%

According to the table 3, we can see that most of the teachers think that
communicative activities motivate students to read. It means that communicative
activities can make reading lesson better and interesting. But 20% of the teachers said
that they slow down students to read. 100% of the teachers agree that communicative
activities are too demanding and difficult to process. They are also time-consuming.
4.1.2 Questionnaires for students
Table 1: The students’ attitudes toward reading lessons:
Questions

Percent (%)
B
C
22%
12%

1. Are you interested in learning reading lessons?

A
66%

2. Does reading help you much in English?

88%

6%

6%

3. Is learning reading text is difficult?

78%

22%

0%

(The information of A, B, C were presented in appendix B)
According on the table above, we can see that most students are interested in
reading lessons. We can affirm that reading plays an important role in learning
English. In question 1, 12% of the students had no idea. It means that they do not
know if they are interested in learning reading lessons or not.

20


Table 2: Communicative activities are done by students in the class
Communicative activities
1. Finding synonyms
2. Role play
3. Crossword puzzle
4. Lucky number
5. Group work

Usually
70%
16,7%

Often

25%
16,7%

80%

Rarely
5%
66,6%
20%

Never
80%
100%

20%

The data in table 2 show us the communicative activities which are usually done
are finding synonyms and group work activities. Role play activity is used rarely.
Crossword puzzle and lucky number are never done by them.
Table 3: Students’ attitudes when communicative activities are applied in reading
lessons

1. According to you, using communicative

Percent (%)
A
B
C
D
55,6% 22,2% 22,2% 0%

activities in reading lessons is:
2. How do you feel when applied

51,1% 26,7% 15,6% 6,6%

Questions

communicative activities in a reading lesson?
(The information of A, B, C, D were presented in appendix B)
The statistics point out 55, 6% of the students think that using communicative
activities in reading lessons is more effective. It means that they recognized
communicative activities plays an important role in reading lessons. It makes the
lesson more interesting. In addition, 51, 1% of the students said that communicative
activities motivate them to read, 26, 7% of the students feel communicative activities
slow down them reading and 15, 6% of students feel it should be used less. The rest
had no idea. It is concluded that communicative activities should be used in reading
lessons.

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Table 4: The students’ suggestions for better reading teaching and learning
Suggestions
Provide more suitable communicative

%
75%

activities in reading English lessons

Provide more communicative

90%

opportunities in reading lessons
Apply suitable teaching methods
Others

50%

From the table 4, we can see that 90% of the students suggest teachers should
provide more communicative opportunities in reading lessons. Taking part in
communicative activities regularly and enthusiastically help students motivate in
learning reading English. 75% of the students suggest teachers provide more suitable
communicative activities in reading English lessons. And 50% of the students want
their teachers apply suitable teaching methods. Most of students in this school are low
English level so that teachers apply suitable teaching methods to their language level is
necessary.
4.2 Discussions
4.2.1 The students’ attitudes towards the communicative activities in teaching
English reading lessons
Most of students at Tran Phu High school are interested in reading lessons. We
can affirm that reading plays an important role in learning English. They have positive
attitudes to learn reading lessons and reading skill. They said that using
communicative activities in reading lessons is more effective. It makes the lesson more
interesting.
4.2.2 Some communicative activities can be applied in English reading classes
4.2.2.1 Communicative activities are applied by teachers in teaching English
lesson
Finding synonyms activity is usually used because it is easy to prepare and

design. Role play activity is rarely used because it is demanding and time-consuming
task. Cross word and lucky number are never used or used rarely. Games make the
lesson more interesting but they are time-consuming. Group work activity is usually
used because most reading tasks of Tieng Anh 10 textbook are designed for this
activity.
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4.2.2.2 Communicative activities are done by students in the class
The communicative activities which are usually done are finding synonyms and
group work activities. Role play activity is used rarely. Crossword puzzle and lucky
number are never done by them.

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CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
Chapter 5 consists of conclusion and recommendation, finding out the result of
the study, and then suggesting solutions for teachers and students to improve teaching
and learning reading English.
5.1 Recommendation
5.1.1 Solutions for teachers by using communicative activities in teaching reading
English lessons.
Finding synonyms activity is usually used because it is easy to prepare and
design. Role play activity is rarely used because it is demanding and time-consuming
task. Games like Cross word and lucky number are never used or used rarely. Three
respondents were interviewed and they all said that it is difficult to use modern visual
teaching aids in teaching reading. And they have no time to prepare their teaching
plans on power point slides. Games make the lesson more interesting but they are
time-consuming. They should learn to overcome the lack of teaching aids by designing

games. Group work activity is usually used because most reading tasks of Tieng Anh
10 textbook are designed for this activity. They should also being flexible in
organizing group works in class.
5.1.2 Solutions for students in learning English reading lessons.
Most of students at Tran Phu High school are interested in reading lessons. We
can affirm that reading plays an important role in learning English. They have positive
attitudes to learn reading lessons and reading skill. They said that using
communicative activities in reading lessons is more effective. It makes the lesson more
interesting.
5.1.3 Suggested communicative activities for grade 10th at Tran Phu High school.
I will introduce some communicative activities suggestions to partly improve
reading skill for the grade 10th students at Tran Phu High school.
Group work
The discussion helps students to see how to read thoughtfully. Moreover,
working in groups makes it possible for students to help one another and, in successful
groups, the interaction achieves far more than individuals can working on their own.
Working together can be very motivating and a slight sense of competition between
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groups does no harm. To be useful for group work, a task must specify exactly what is
to be done, engage every member of the group and promote vigorous discussion. Some
textbook questions or activities are suitable for group work, or you may have to supply
extra tasks for this purpose. Well-planned questions make students realize they do not
understand, and focus attention on the difficult bits of the text. It is important to have a
classroom climate that encourages students to say what they really think.
Role play
Another way of widening the communicative possibilities is by role-play,
scenarios, and other drama techniques. The use of language in a dramatic situation is
likely to include the full complexity of language use: emotional overtones, posture,

gesture, and appropriate actions. So, the more closely the student can identify with the
role or task the more it provides a natural language experience. For example, I asked 4
students to play the roles of Minh, his friends Nam, Nga and Tam. To give a good
impression to the class, and to have an impressive performance, the students read the
whole article carefully with great interests. After a short-time preparation, each of
them played their role vividly, their performance were met with unanimous applause.
It is important to understand that what we have in mind is not a display in which a few
students are actors while the others are an audience.
Using games
Games are motivating. Games introduce an element of competition into
language-building activities. Most students who have experienced game-oriented
activities hold positive attitudes towards them (Uberman, 1998). An action research
conducted by Huyen and Nga (2003), students said that they liked the relaxed
atmosphere, the competitiveness, and the motivation that games brought to the
classroom. On the effectiveness of games, teachers in Huyen & Nga (2003) reported
that action research reported that their students seem to learn more quickly and retain
the learned materials better in a stress-free and comfortable environment. As Uberman,
(1998, 87) writes, "Games encourage, entertain, teach, and promote fluency and
communicative skills. If not for any of these reasons, they should be used just because
they help students see beauty in a foreign language and not just problems that at times
seem overwhelming."
5.2 Conclusion
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