Applying graphic organizers to teaching reading comprehension at an giang university

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY
UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE and HUMANITY
@@@

Lê Thái Hưng

APPLYING GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS
TO TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION
AT AN GIANG UNIVERSITY

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Arts (TESOL)

Supervisor
Senior lecturer Nguyễn Thị Kiều Thu, Ph.D.

Ho Chi Minh City, September 2008


CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY
I hereby certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled:
APPYING GRAPHIC ORGANISERS TO TEACHING
READING COMPREHENSION
In terms of the statement of
requirements for Thesis in Master’s Programs
issued by the Higher Degree Committee

Ho Chi Minh City, Septemper 2008

Lê Thái Hưng

i


RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS
I hereby state that I, Lê Thái Hưng, being the candidate for the degree of
Master of TESOL, accept the requirements for the University relating to the
retention and use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited
in the Library should be accessible for the purpose of study and research, in
accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for care, loan and
reproduction of theses.

Ho Chi Minh City, September 2008

Lê Thái Hưng

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would first like to express my deepest gratitude to the precious instructions
given by my respectable advisor, Ms. Nguyễn Thị Kiều Thu, Ph.D.. Without her
wholehearted guidance, long-standing encouragement, invaluable comments, and
strong support during the research, this thesis could not have been accomplished.
The greater part of the credit for this complete work goes to her.
I also wish to say my heartfelt gratitude to all my teachers of the Master
course in TESOL, 2005-2008 at Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences
and Humanities, whose highly informative, interesting lectures, academic advice
and enthusiastic guidance helped me form a more scientific approach to my career.

My special thanks to Ms. Trần Thị Thái, my respectable teacher, who was
willing to share some invaluable experiences of her own during my research work.
I am indebted as well to some of my colleagues at the Department of Foreign
Languages, An Giang University, especially Ms. Nguyễn Thị Tâm and Ms. Trương
Thị Thanh Nga, who were willing to permit me to attend their classes and gave me
their helpful hands in testing. Many thanks are also offered to all the students of the
two classes DH7D1 and DH7D2 for their enjoyable companionship and honest
support.
Grateful acknowledgement is made to my beloved for their data collection,
feedback and supportive opinions in accomplishing this thesis, as well as to my
family for their deep love and heartedly constant encouragement.

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ABSTRACT
Recent educational researches have pointed to the cognitive view of learning,
which examines what goes on inside the learner’s mind. Teaching methods based on
this view are thought to concentrate on the procession of information of learners. As
any educator knows, regardless of prior knowledge of student, for individual
students to feel competent of doing or completing a task given, it’s up to the
educator to make that task organized, comprehensible, and challenging as well. The
idea or information the instructor is conveying, should be as clear as possible for a
student to handle, and should be at the level of understanding of the learner.
Educators can achieve this goal by applying and providing cognitive strategies such
as an organizational framework which facilitates the thinking process for learners.
One of the major cognitive-related ways in which students can be trained is through
the use of graphic organizers (G.Os). In respect to the more specialized area of
language acquisition, recent overviews of reading have argued that G.Os, as an
instructional tool, greatly contribute to reading comprehension.

In order to expand the knowledge on G.Os and learning outcomes, this thesis
examines the effects of G.Os on reading comprehension of university students. The
current research attempts to use G.Os in order to see if they can help teach and learn
the English language more effectively.
The hypothesis embedded in the thesis is:
When given a reading text, students who have been familiar with G.Os will
better understand and remember the facts as well as the relationships between these
facts so as to more easily reproduce the text in written and oral forms.
For such a proposition to stand valid, a study was conducted to provide
realistic evidence. The over-four-week investigation, which contained a period of
experimental teaching, two tests and one form of questionnaire, examined the

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effectiveness of G.Os on language achievement of the second year students of
English major at An Giang University (AGU). The result of quantitative analysis
indicated that (1) G.Os were of great benefits in practicing the three skills of
language learning, i.e. reading, writing and speaking; and that (2) the students of
English major had positive attitudes toward G.Os after exposing to them.
The findings of the present study confirm the usefulness of G.Os in teaching
English at university. On recommending a step-by-step procedure to incorporate
G.Os into classroom activities, this thesis is the initial step toward the application of
G.Os in teaching English at AGU. Furthermore, it is dedicated to making it easier to
implement G.Os as an creative method in teaching and learning the English
language in Vietnamese context.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Certificate of originality.........................................................................................i
Retention and use of the thesis...............................................................................ii
Acknowledgement..................................................................................................iii
Abstract ..................................................................................................................iv
Table of contents ....................................................................................................vi
List of tables ...........................................................................................................x
List of figures .........................................................................................................xi
Appendices .............................................................................................................xii
Abbreviations .........................................................................................................xiii
Chapter I: INTRODUCTION
1.1. BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY ...............................................................1
1.1.1 Vietnamese education in the international integration............................1
1.1.2 The current methods of teaching reading comprehension at AGU.........2
1.1.3 Lack of visual tools in reading classes ....................................................3
1.1.4 Textbook .................................................................................................3
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT .............................................................................4
1.3 THE PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH..........................................................6
1.4 METHODOLOGY .........................................................................................7
1.5 LIMITATIONS ...............................................................................................8
1.6 ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS.............................................................10
Chapter II: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. DEFINITION OF TERMS AND TYPES OF G.OS ......................................12
2.2. RATIONALE FOR USING G.OS..................................................................20
2.3. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF G.OS......................................................23
2.4 PRINCIPLES OF READING COMPREHENSION .....................................26

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2.4.1 The nature of reading ..............................................................................26
2.4.2 Schema theory ........................................................................................28
2.4.3 The interactive model..............................................................................29
2.5 LEARNING STYLES AND STRATEGIES...................................................30
2.5.1 Learning styles .......................................................................................30
2.5.2 Learning strategies ..................................................................................33
2.6 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND TO THE RESEARCH............................36
2.6.1 Theories of learning process ...................................................................36
2.6.1.1 Right brain versus left brain ..........................................................36
2.6.1.2 Theories of interactive visual-verbal learning...............................37
2.6.2 Theories of the cognitive role of G.Os .............................................................40
2.7 PREVIOUS RESEARCHES ON THE PEDAGOGICAL EFFECTIVENESS

OF G.OS IN READING COMPREHENSION ................................................43
2.8 SUMMARY ....................................................................................................47
Chapter III: METHODOLOGY
3.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS..............................................................................49
3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN .....................................................................................49
3.2.1 Subjects ...................................................................................................50
3.2.2 Instruments ..............................................................................................51
3.2.2.1 Pre-test............................................................................................51
3.2.2.1.1 Written test ................................................................................51
3.2.2.1.2 Oral test......................................................................................54
3.2.2.2 Experimental teaching .....................................................................55
3.2.2.3 Post-test.............................................................................................56
3.2.2.3.1 Written test ..................................................................................56
3.2.2.3.2 Oral test.......................................................................................57

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3.2.2.4 Questionnaires ................................................................................57
3.2.2.4.1 Participants...............................................................................57
3.2.2.4.2 Questionnaire description.........................................................58
3.2.3 Data collection procedure........................................................................60
3.2.3.1 Test scoring .....................................................................................60
3.2.3.2 Questionnaire administration .........................................................61
3.2.4 Some problems with the tests..................................................................61
3.3 SUMMARY .....................................................................................................62
Chapter IV: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS
4.1 OVERVIEW OF ANALYZING PROCEDURE ............................................63
4.2 ANALYSIS ON TEST SCORES ....................................................................64
4.2.1 Descriptive statistics................................................................................64
4.2.1.1 Pre-test scores ...............................................................................64
4.2.1.2 Post-test scores ..............................................................................65
4.2.2 Pre-test – post-test comparison ...............................................................66
4.2.2.1 Gain score computing .....................................................................66
4.2.2.2 Gain scores of the two groups.........................................................67
4.2.2.3 Gain score analysis .........................................................................69
4.3 RESPONSES TO QUESTIONNAIRES..........................................................76
4.3.1 Students’ experiences with G.Os ............................................................76
4.3.2 Students’ comments on the effects of G.Os ...........................................77
4.3.3 Students’ preference for G.Os being applied in teaching and learning...79
4.4 DISCUSSIONS ON MAIN FINDINGS..........................................................80
4.5 SUMMARY ....................................................................................................82

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Chapter V: RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 IMPLICATIONS..............................................................................................84
5.2 CONCERNS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH .....................................................86
5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................87
5.3.1 Constructing G.Os with “ASAS” and “5 IFS”........................................88
5.3.2 Introducing G.Os to students with “3 Steps” ..........................................90
5.3.3 Implementing G.Os in 3 stages of teaching a lesson...............................91
5.3.4 Creating G.Os with technology...............................................................92
5.3.5 Using G.Os to assess students .................................................................92
5.3.6 Integrated – skill approach using G.Os. ..................................................93
5.3.7 Overcoming challenges ..........................................................................93
5.3.8 Textbook recommendation......................................................................96
5.3.9 Summary .................................................................................................97
5.4 CHAPTER SUMMARY..................................................................................98
CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................100
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES ..............................................................102
APPENDIX ...........................................................................................................111

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Descriptive statistics for G.O and non-G.O group comparisons .............. 51
Table 2: Pre-test scores of G.O and non-G.O groups ............................................. 64
Table 3: Post-test scores of G.O and non-G.O groups............................................ 65
Table 4: Frequency distribution of the post-test scores of the two groups
compared to the pre-test scores ................................................................. 67
Table 5: Descriptive statistics of the gain scores of the two groups....................... 68
Table 6: Test of normality ....................................................................................... 70

Table 7: Test for equality of variances.................................................................... 72
Table 8: Statistics of G.O and non-G.O groups ...................................................... 73
Table 9: Independent samples t-test analysis of gain score difference................... 74
Table10: Frequency distribution of the participants’ experience with G.Os ........... 76
Table11: Frequency distribution of the participants’ using G.Os............................ 76
Table12: Frequency distribution of the students’ perceptions of the degrees
G.Os can help in practising language skills ............................................. 78
Table13: Frequency distribution of the students’ preference for G.Os
being applied in teaching and learning .................................................... 79

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: A Heuristic for Thinking about Reading Comprehension ....................27
Figure 2: Left-Right brain function.......................................................................36
Figure 3: Continuum of representational conventions in cognitive artifacts........38
Figure 4: Information Processing..........................................................................44
Figure 5: The post-test scores of the two groups compared to the pre-test
scores.....................................................................................................68
Figure 6: Frequency distribution of gain scores of non-G.O group......................71
Figure 7: Frequency distribution of gain scores of G.O group .............................71
Figure 8: The percentage of the respondents’ comments on the helpfulness of
G.Os in comprehension..........................................................................77
Figure 9: The participants’ preference for G.Os being applied in teaching
and learning...........................................................................................80
Figure10: Four steps for planning G.O embedded curriculum ............................. .94

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APPENDICES
APPENDIX 1 Cause and effect organizers......................................................... 111
APPENDIX 2 Types of G.Os and their functions .............................................. 132
APPENDIX 3 The mind map.............................................................................. 137
APPENDIX 4 (a) Pre-test .................................................................................. 138
APPENDIX 4 (b) Post-test.................................................................................. 142
APPENDIX 5 A typical lesson plan ................................................................... 146
APPENDIX 6 Mark scheme for writing section................................................. 154
APPENDIX 7 Mark scheme for speaking test.................................................... 155
APPENDIX 8 Scores of G.O group.................................................................... 156
APPENDIX 9 Scores of non-G.O group ............................................................ 157
APPENDIX 10 Guidelines for choosing types of G.Os ....................................... 158
APPENDIX 11 Sample G.O-embedded lesson format .............................................159
APPENDIX 12 A sample lesson with blank G.Os ............................................... 160
APPENDIX 13 Opinion survey ..................................................................... 162

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ABBREVIATIONS
G.Os :

Graphic organizers

AGU :

An Giang University

ELT

:

English language teaching

L2

:

Second or foreign Language

EFL :

English as a foreign language

ESL :

English as a second language

FRE :

Flesch Reading Ease

SPSS :

Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

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Chapter I: INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
1.1.1 Vietnamese education in the international integration
The growth of the use of English as the world’s primary language for
international communication has obviously been acknowledged for several decades.
Complex international, economic, technological and cultural changes amplify the
leading position of English as the language of the world market. The global spread of
English raised not just linguistic, educational and economic issues but also cultural,
political and ethical ones. Despite the extraordinary changes of the last few years, one
thing appears to remain the same. More people than ever want to learn English. It is
common knowledge that English has been growing in popularity across the world.
In Vietnam, English language teaching (ELT) has long been a trend and the
wave of English learning in the present day has turned out to be stronger than ever
before. This indicates that Vietnam’s international integration has been well-prepared
and is increasingly going along, together with numerous feasible national programs
and projects, primarily in the fields of economy and education.
As expected, education and training plays its key role in raising the awareness
and sense of responsibility of present and future generations. Vietnamese education,
which traditionally stresses mechanical memory rather than inquiry, has dynamically
flourished in recent years. The renovation of educational system, especially the
renewal of teaching and learning methods, is increasingly strengthening. The learnercentred( 1)approach has started to be widely applied in schools and universities as well
as educational centres, particularly in the field of ELT. That is part of the campaign
(1)

Moore (1999) defines learner-centredness as a way of thinking about student learning that

drives your teaching practice and focuses on student outcomes rather than on teaching.

1

set out by Ministry of Education and Training in order to upgrade the quality of
national education.
In international relationship, Vietnam, since becoming the 150th member of
WTO, has gone through the open door into world trading and international
communication. The globalization route requires human beings to together put efforts
to address global issues which relate to the existence and non-existence of not only an
individual, a social class or a nation. While Vietnamese education is rooted in
national concerns like industrialization and modernization, there are also global
issues that education should address. That is to say, our educational system is to face
a lot of big challenges and demands. The established styles of teaching such as
teacher-directedness and grammar-emphasis will soon become history, giving way to
the wide application of efficient methods and modern approaches to teaching and
learning. Regarding that English is a means of cross-culture communication, these
innovations need to be employed in ELT as soon as possible in an attempt to bring up
a Vietnamese energetic generation who are capable of “using” English, instead of
merely “knowing” it.
1.1.2 The current methods of teaching reading comprehension at AGU
There have been a few methods used to teach reading comprehension to
students of English major at AGU. Among those methods are the problem method and
the communicative approach. Additionally, the method of discussion has been used in
reading classes as well.
Presently, the communicative approach has been formally required for teaching
a reading class. In theory, this approach adheres to the idea that language learning
should be meaningful and realistic, and that students should learn applicable language
skills in order to communicate. Yet in practice, the method of discussion is preferred
by most of the English teachers at AGU. The method supposedly encourages students
to talk and share their home preparation with other students in group or in class.

2

Teachers create exercises and act as a presenter of language. It is thought to be
beneficial to student practice and production of the target language.
Copies of a single required class text remain the dominant reading resource in
classrooms. Students view texts as storehouses of factual information for oral or
written questions. Recitation, a form of questioning in which teachers already know the
answers to the questions they ask, occurs more frequently than give-and-take dialogue
in the form of liberated discourse. Classroom interactions most often consist of teachercontrolled dialogue, yet student-initiated comments or questions are also encouraged.
1.1.3 Lack of visual tools in reading classes
Even though professors or educationalists became interested in using visual aids
in the early 1950s (Dalrymple, 2006) and visual aids are currently used in meetings or
conferences, some visual aids have not been widely applied in the ordinary English
classrooms at AGU, except for some common ones like chalkboard, posters, and rarely
films.
In the classroom, students are verbally taught and materials are most frequently
presented through verbal means. This forms the verbalism, which is defined as the
memorizing of words rather than understanding the concept or idea behind the words
(Dalrymple, 2006). Moreover, the frequency of the method of discussion, in
dominating the pedagogy of English major, has led most teachers in charge of reading
teaching to believe that other teaching methods are less adequate. Therefore, the
research and development of alternative teaching techniques, including the use of
G.Os, has not been pursued in the Department of English.
1.1.4 Textbook
At the time the present research was carried out, the second-year students of
English major, the subjects of the research, were studying the Interaction 2 - 4th
Edition, McGraw-Hill / Contemporary.

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The reading book is authorized by Elaine Kirn (West Los Angeles College)
and Pamela Hartmann (Los Angeles Unified School District). It is in use as the
official syllabus for teaching the second year students of English major of AGU.
As mentioned by Janet Podnecky - the author of Instructor’s Manual
Interaction 2 Reading - “The goal of Interaction 2 Reading is for students to become
independent readers through instruction in various reading skills and through
intensive and extensive readings” (p.iv). The book contains twelve chapters, each of
which consists of four parts as follows: Part 1: Reading 1, Part 2: Reading 2, Part 3:
Building Vocabulary and Study Skills and Part 4: Reading in the Real World. Besides,
there are also parts of Focus on Testing and Video Activities. Before and after each
reading text in each chapter, there are exercises to develop reading skills and
vocabulary. Students practice identifying main ideas, classifying and organizing
information, and preparing summaries-skills needed for academic study and research.
The Interaction Reading text books, from edition 1st to 4th, have been
continuously applied to teaching at AGU for eight years.
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT
As mentioned earlier, the learner-centred approach has started to be widely
applied in educational organizations, especially in the field of ELT, in order to
develop language competence of students. However, students’ ability to use English,
as pointed out by some experienced experts, is still the problem that needs to be taken
into more careful consideration. From the author’s standpoint, the problems to be
considered are due to not only the methods the teacher uses, but also skills or subskills to help learners understand both rationally and emotionally to achieve
successful communication from their learning process.
In Vietnamese educational system, reading usually stands in the central part of
a school curriculum. A typical lesson is supposed to be planned in a three-phase
framework in order to build background knowledge and to practise integrated skills

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of speaking, listening, reading and writing. The overarching goal of reading area is to
forward the development of active, engaged, independent readers. Yet in reality,
fostering reading comprehension in classrooms can be a difficult task if effective
teaching tools and training are not available.
The diversity of today’s classrooms requires a great deal of planning by
teachers. The various learning approaches and developmental difficulties which
teachers encounter place responsibility on the teacher to come up with strategies that
will address this variety. In fact, it can be seen that the majority of teachers of ELT,
for some reasons, still prefer using old and out-of-date teaching methods which are
heavy on conveying knowledge. The traditional text-based teaching styles frequently
rely on students’ memorization of facts while ignoring the fact that many students do
not understand how these facts may be relevant to a particular subject. Teachers do
not usually emphasize on training students the independent and creative thinking
methods as well as right attitudes toward learning and life. In addition, few teachers
of reading comprehension feel they have the expertise or the time to help struggling
readers. More to the point, they may not recognize that their students are struggling
with reading. Most teachers spend limited instructional time for implementing
reading skills and strategies, yet they expect their students to have the reading
comprehension necessary to read in the content areas.
One of the most vexing problems facing teachers of ELT today is that many
students come into their classrooms without the prerequisite knowledge, skills, or
dispositions to read and comprehend the materials placed before them. Certain
textbooks being used in reading classrooms can further interfere with students’
understanding the material, particularly when they lack prior knowledge of certain
subjects. To further compound the problem, many students begin reading classes at
university well below grade level. Learning disabilities, language barriers, and low
skill levels are possible reasons for reading problems. These students are at risk of

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reading failure and in need of instruction that strengthens reading skills. A recent
survey conducted at AGU revealed a perceptible proportion of the students who
misinterpret, misuse or easily forget the reading information in their quizzes. The
knowledge of English they acquired from the given texts did not seem to meet the
requirements for critical information let alone to be satisfactory in oral presentation.
This shows that their reading comprehension is not yet well-built and that their
reading skill is not well-trained, either.
To find an answer to these problems will require certain changes that will
incorporate different teaching strategies to address the diversity found in today’s
classrooms. This step must be accomplished while providing adequate instruction to
all students. Particularly useful in activities that require critical thinking skills, the
G.O is known as a sub-skill or a tool to support teaching and to help students
comprehend and practise language skills in a very helpful way. As it promotes active
learning (Bromley, DeVitis and Modlo, 1999), the G.O is often referred to as the
specific thinking tools of the twenty first century. However, while proved effective
and popularly used in many countries, G.Os still do not receive much attention in
Vietnam.
The whole situation requires that an intense and clear research on the
effectiveness and applicability of G.Os in reading comprehension should be
presented so that teachers and students can count on it to promote teaching and
learning process.
1.3 THE PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH
In the past decade, there has been sustained interest in promoting reading as a
significant and viable means of language development for second or foreign language
(L2) learners. This is especially the case in English as a foreign language (EFL)
settings in which sources of L2 input are limited (Redfield, 1999). Likewise, the
concept of a “communication triangle” of reading, writing, and discussing implies the

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significant role of methodologies whereby the teacher could stimulate the natural
interaction of language uses in students to further linguistic development.
Specifically, it entails the need for a method with which the teacher could connect
assignments to teach “the art of communicating” (Simpson, 1986). This study is
based on the premise that the G.O is regarded as a vehicle to reach meaningful
learning(2) and as an aid in processing information. It is the ultimate hope of G.O
practitioners that L2 learner’s gains in language acquisition will transfer to an
advanced stage.
Bearing that sense, the purposes of this study are:
(1) to examine the multi-effects of G.Os as a learner-centred tool in teaching
reading skill;
(2) to seek practical evidence which reinforces the assumption that with G.Os
being used methodically, reading comprehension can help students improve their
speaking and writing skills; and
(3) to provide recommendations for initially applying G.Os to ELT at AGU.
1.4 METHODOLOGY
To reach the goal of the thesis, an investigation was carried out based on: (1)
two tests of the same format given out before and after a four-week study on G.Os
(referred from now on to as pre-test and post-test), and (2) a form of questionnaire.
The tests were accomplished by two groups of students, which were experimental
group using G.O strategy (namely G.O group) and controlled group using normal
study guide strategy (namely non-G.O group). Every effort was made to maximize
(2)

Ausubel (1968) believes that three conditions must exist for meaningful learning to occur:

(a) the learner must sense a relationship among the concepts to be learned; (b) the learner

must possess specific relevant ideas to which this new material can be related; and, (c) the
learner must actually intend to relate these new ideas to ideas already possessed.

7


the comparability across the two tests. The question of interest is whether the
improvement in scores from pre-test to post-test is greater for the treatment group
than it is for the controlled group. The question can be answered by computing the
difference between the pre-test and post-test scores for each person and then
analyzing those differences. This analysis of difference scores is also called a gain
score analysis.
The questionnaire was used to measure the attitudes of students toward the
validity and utility of G.Os in learning the language of English. Both random and
non-random sampling was taken up to decide on the subjects for the tests and the
questionnaires. Finally, quantitative technique was employed for data collection and
analysis.
Using an experimental design, namely Two-group Control Group Design, the
study compared the two strategies in teaching reading currently used in EFL and ESL
(English as a second language) classrooms. One of the two strategies is at present
employed in the Department of English at AGU. Both the pre-test and post-test were
designed to check the reading, writing and speaking skills of two classes of second
year students of English major at AGU. Soon after, a form of questionnaire was
handed out to the group of students studying with G.Os, asking their perceptions of
factors involving the utilization of G.Os. The collected data was then analyzed and
synthesized to draw out supporting evidence for the thesis.
1.5 LIMITATIONS
In interpreting this study, it is important to consider limitations that may
reduce the generalizability of the findings. Given the characteristics of the study,
several shortcomings are admittedly apparent. Researchers agree that the

effectiveness of any learning strategy depends on context and content of instruction,
and on individual learner’s experience, cognitive maturity, motivation, and learning
style (Oxford, 1990b). Obviously, the study did not contemplate on such figures of

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the participants. In this study, context and content of instruction were analogous for
both G.O and non-G.O groups. One assumption made was that subjects did not
substantially differ in terms of their experience and cognitive maturity because they
were at the same grade level, they were randomly assigned to treatment groups, and
their pretest scores did not indicate statistically significant differences (Gimenez,
1994). The results therefore indicated that the two groups did not vary on learning
styles to the point of significantly impacting academic achievement scores according
to the tests used in this study to measure the students’ comprehension. Virtually,
studies conducted among groups of different socioeconomic and demographic factors
will offer valuable findings on G.Os’ applicability in education.
Furthermore, the present research has not yet carefully considered the effect of
three types of factors suggested by Winn (1987), i.e. treatment, learners, and task. As
with any instructional technique, the effectiveness of G.Os will depend on the entire
context of treatment, including the G.O characteristics (e.g. is it realistic or symbolic)
and quality (has the artist expressed the content clearly and appropriately), the
support system (such as specific instructions and tasks), the classroom environment,
whether the treatment is well designed to achieve the educational objectives, and
other relevant considerations. Also, it has not yet made clear whether it really
indicates the extent to which the educational objectives (conceptual understanding,
acquisition or improvement of skills, retention, transfer...) have been achieved.
Another limitation of this study was the length of treatment. Due to scope and
sequence limits placed on curriculum and timing of the research project, it was
necessary to impose a four-week restriction on time allocation. Nevertheless, the four

weeks allotted might not have been sufficient time for students to develop and apply
graphical organizing techniques. It is conceivable that students spent time during the
treatment period learning the techniques of G.Os instead of learning the content of
the given texts. Moreover, the shortage of time might lead to the constraint on the

9


participants’ degree of involvement in constructing G.Os, which might help them
achieve a high level of graphical organizing mastery and therefore affect the results
of the study. From another aspect, this short exposure may also be viewed as
supporting the strength of G.Os. Because students exhibited significant gains after a
brief exposure, longer exposures to G.Os may generate even greater gains in
academic scores.
The most significant question involves the sample size, which may cause
deficiency in the outcome of the study. The study was limited to two classes of AGU.
It is not likely that these students are representative of the majority of English
majored students throughout the country. Its results and conclusions therefore can not
be generalized with certainty.
Another area in need of more careful consideration relates to the research
circumstance, which implies that the study was conducted under highly controlled
conditions. With prior teaching experience and being well equipped on G.Os, the
author of the thesis assigned himself to the position of the instructor of the two
classes under investigation. Indeed, different teachers have different motivations,
teaching skills and levels of G.O knowledge. Thus, it remains unclear if similar
results would be achieved with other teachers in other environments. In other words,
it remains to be seen if the results of this research would be replicated under less
controlled conditions. Currently, little is known about how best to provide staff
development and support to teachers as they work to implement new innovations,
including the G.O. Even less is known about maintaining and sustaining innovations

(Denton and Fletcher, 2003).
1.6 ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS
There will be four chapters which are preceded by Chapter 1 demonstrated
above, building up the thesis.

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Chapter 2-Literature Review-assesses the literature which backs up the present
study. Beginning with the definition and types of G.Os, this chapter will then get into
the specific reasons for using G.Os, together with the historical perspective of G.Os
and the theoretical background to the research. Finally, the previous research on the
pedagogical effectiveness of G.Os in reading comprehension will end this chapter.
Chapter 3-Methodology and Methods Used-lays out the methodology of the
study, composing of the subjects, instruments and data collection procedure.
Chapter 4-Data analysis and Findings-presents the analyses using the test
scores and the responses to the questionnaires before making note of the extracted
findings.
Chapter 5-Implications and Recommendations- shows the implications which
are drawn from the study and recommends some techniques to step up the learning
outcomes using the G.O.

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