Effective stratergies on improving reading comprehension

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO NAM ĐỊNH
TRƯỜNG THPT CHUYÊN LÊ HỒNG PHONG

CHUYÊN ĐỀ BÁO CÁO HỘI THẢO
CỤM ĐỒNG BẰNG DUYÊN HẢI BẮC BỘ
LẦN THỨ VIII
CHUYÊN ĐỀ SỐ 2:
EFFECTIVE STRATERGIES ON IMPROVING READING
COMPREHENSION

Tác giả: Trần Thị Hà
Trần Thị Phượng
Trần Thị Hồng
Nhóm Tiếng Anh
Trường THPT chuyên Lê Hồng Phong- Nam Định

Nam Định, ngày 20 tháng 8 năm 2014


TABLE OF CONTENT
Activities........................................................................................................................... 8
Activities........................................................................................................................... 9
5.3. Post-reading:........................................................................................................... 15


PART A. INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
In terms of opportunities, nationally, it can be seen that, foreign language
education policy and accompanying student attitudes and motivation have
become crucial issues in the national development of Vietnam over the past
twenty years. Social changes have resulted in the changes in foreign language

learning and teaching. This choice of English, in particular, has greatly
influenced education, especially secondary school. English has become a
compulsory subject in the state examination. In addition to the aim of passing
their exams and getting some further studies for their future life, students have a
desire to be integrated into the cultures to acquire human’s civilization.
Learning English means learning four related skills: listening, speaking,
reading and writing. Among these, reading seems to be the leading activity in
the process of teaching and learning and it accounts for roughly 30% of total
marks in the national exams.
Reading comprehension is a skill that is learned over time. It requires the
reader to be able to read fluently, stay focused, and think critically about the
book or text in question. Unfortunately, many students struggle comprehending
texts. Some cannot discern the main ideas from the details while others have a
hard time understanding what the book is even talking about. Therefore, helping
students increase their reading comprehension is a key to their educational
success or failure.
As a matter of fact, the question of how to teach reading effectively has been
of great concern. In this article, I would like to share with you all some of my
strategies to help improve reading comprehension.
2.

Aims:

-Show out the importance of mastering reading comprehension
-Provide some suggestions for improvement of reading comprehension for high
school students.

1

PART B: DEVELOPMENT
1. Roles of reading in language learning and teaching.
Reading plays an indispensable role in people’s lives. It is a way to acquire
knowledge and experience. Through reading, knowledge has greatly contributed
to the growth of mankind. Reading is the fastest and simplest way to raise
people’s educational level (Hung & Tzeng, 2001). Reading is like opening the
door of understanding to human’s past, where it can serve as a looking glass for
our present. Reading also stimulates the development of brain cells, reinforces
language skills, and enhances organizational abilities. Where there is little
reading, there will be little language learning. (Bright and Gregor (1970, p.5253). In fact, the students who want to learn English as a foreign language has to
explore the knowledge of it by reading a lot or throwing himself into a created
English speaking environment. Only by reading can students acquire the speed
and the skills needed for their practical purposes. It is difficult in the modern
world to do anything other than a basic job without being able to read. Reading
as a skill is the key to an educated workforce, which in turn is the bedrock of
economic advancement, particularly in the present technological age.
Additionally, reading helps form other language skills such as listening,
speaking and writing. Reading is the best way for students to get used to new
vocabulary, concepts, grammar and structures in reading materials. The students
know how to use them in listening, speaking and writing in a right context and
have further practice of the language during the process of learning. Through
reading, students can understand the use of words and structures in their written
forms as well as the connecting devices that link them together. Reading
comprehension is closely interrelated with other language skills. “ There are few
cases in real life when we do not talk or write about what we have read or when
we do not relate what we have read to something we might have heard”
(Frangoise Grellet-1982, p8).

2

A special relationship exists between listening and reading, which are both
receptive phases of language, as opposed to productive phases of speaking and
writing. In reading lesson, students have to listen to the teacher’s explanations
and guidance and answer the questions. They also have to listen to their friends’
opinions and exchange theirs with other’s. Sometimes, they have to listen to
necessary information extracted from the debates or discussions to support and
defend their own ideas; therefore, reading is not only aimed at improving the
student’s reading skill but their listening skill as well.
During a reading lesson, students may share what they have read with the
partners by discussing, exchanging and arguing. In this way speaking is helpful
for students to understand the text and at the same time to improve their
speaking skill.
“The connection between reading and writing is particularly strong. Both
reading and writing are basically constructive process” (Roe and Ross.1998,
p22). For a reading- related activity, written work is an effective way in
checking student’s reading comprehension. After reading the reading text,
teachers have students write a summary, reflection or take notes of what they
have read. As a result, they can use interesting main points in their writing paper
later on.
In conclusion, during the reading lessons, an emphasis is placed on the reading
activities, but reading comprehension should not be separated from the other
skills. The four skills must be interrelated to master a foreign language
2. The nature of reading comprehension.
There exist different views and definitions of reading comprehension.
Jermery Harmer
(1983, p15) states that “Reading is an exercise dominated by the eyes and the
brain. The eyes receive messages and the brain then has to work out the
significance of these messages”.

3


According to Eddie Williams (1984, p.3) “Reading is a process whereby one
looks at and understands what has been written”. Some have taken the position
that reading involves merely the decoding of graphic symbols and the
production of meaning. Though there are several and varied definitions of
reading, most of us would come to conclusion that reading without
understanding is meaningless. Reading comprehension has the nature of
communication, in which reading acts as means of communication between the
writer and the reader.
Reading comprehension is, in fact, a language processes, not the sum of
various decoding and comprehension sub skills. In short, reading is the process
of reconstructing the author’s ideas and information. In a reading lesson at
school, the text is decoded by the students and the product of reading act is
communication, their understanding of ideas that have been put in print by the
writer.
As a means of communication, reading is a means of communicating with
friends and teacher at school. For example, summarizing a text, taking notes of
main points in the text or making comments on it in a sheet of paper then
comparing with the partners are some useful follow-up activities after reading.
3. Kinds of reading comprehension
One of the most important points to keep in mind when teaching and
learning reading comprehension is that there is not one type of reading but
several according to one’s purposes for reading. Students will never be good
readers unless they can adapt their reading skills to their aims when reading.
In considering the reading process, it is important to distinguish the reading
activities according to manners and purposes of reading.
According to manners, it can be classified into
-Silent reading

-Reading aloud
According to purposes, it can be divided into
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-Intensive reading
-Extensive reading
-Scanning
-Skimming
3.1. According to manners of reading
3.1.1. Silent reading
Silent reading is “the ability we normally engage in when we read books,
newspapers, road signs, etc. It involves looking at black marks on paper and
understanding the messages they convey” (Doff 1988).
Silent reading is widely used in real life in which we do not read every word
aloud. The eyes run from left to right, top to bottom to receive the graphic
forms of printed materials and decode them in mind.
Silent reading is good for reading comprehension because:
-Firstly, students can all read at their own speed. If they do not understand,
they can go back and read it again.
-Secondly, students are, in fact, concentrating on the text and thinking about
the meaning.
Therefore, silent reading is a skill students need to develop.
3.1.2. Reading aloud
Reading aloud is seen as a way of reading whose purposes is “not just
understand a text but convey information to someone else” (Doff 1981). In
other words, it is obvious that reading aloud involves looking at the text,
understanding its and also saying it.
In the classroom, reading aloud can be used to train students in
pronunciation, so it can be done by the teacher at the earliest stage of

teaching procedure. “Beginners have to discover how writing is associated
with the spoken words they have already learnt” (Natali 1989, p.2) or
reading aloud is also used as a means to make other students keep quiet.
However, reading aloud is not a very useful technique as Bright and Gregef
(1970, p. 177) state.
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It interferes with the proper business of the reading lesson which is to
create imaginative response in the mind from the visual stimulus of black marks
on paper.
1.

Where it is used frequently it slows down reading speed whereas the
objective is if increase it.
3.2. According to purposes of reading
3.2.1. Extensive reading
It is an activity which frees students from the restriction of class work. Students
read at their own pace. They can choose what to read
Extensive reading is an effective way to help students improve their English.
Nuttal (1982, p. 168) says that “The best way to improve one’s knowledge of a
foreign language is to go and live among its speakers. The next best way is to
read extensively in it”.
In 1981, Frangoise Grellet pointed out that “Extensive reading means reading
longer texts, usually for one’s own pleasure. In the context of classroom learning
this is a fluency activity, mainly involving global understanding. For extensive
reading, students work on their own reading texts graded to the levels of
individual readers. They are given opportunities to progress at their own rate.
The purpose of the extensive reading is to train the student to read quickly and
'fluently in the foreign language for his own enjoyment without the aid of the

teacher. Therefore, the material for extensive reading should be selected at a
lower level of difficulty than that for intensive reading. Structures in the text
should be already familiar to him, and new words should be introduced slowly
in such a way that their meaning can be deduced from the context or quickly
ascertained. In order to encourage students to read extensively the teacher
should be able to recommend to the students extensive reading material which
corresponds to their individual tastes and interests”
At high school, students often read intensively in the reading lessons, this
reading style is suitable for them to learn and practise the language, but it cannot
help to train them in fluent reading. On the contrary, extensive reading can
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provide students with fluency in reading. Furthermore, extensive reading can
supply them with an adequate language environment as well as the enjoyment in
reading and in learning a language. Therefore, it is necessary for the educational
authorities and teachers to incorporate intensive reading and extensive reading
into school curriculum.
3.2.2. Intensive reading
According to Frangois Grellet (1981, p 4) “Intensive reading means reading
shorter texts to extract specific information. This is more an accuracy activity
involving reading for detail”
Intensive reading exercises may include:
•

looking at main ideas versus details

•

understanding what is implied versus stated

•

making inferences

•

looking at the order of information and how it effects the message

•

identifying words that connect one idea to another

•

identifying words that indicate change from one section to another

Hedge (1985, p.68) stresses that “Intensive reading lessons provide students
with training in the strategies and skills they need to become successful readers”
In intensive reading, students are trained in reading comprehension through the
analytical approach to grammar and lexis. They are encouraged to infer the
meaning of unknown words and structures from the context in the target
language. For many learners, their purpose in reading English language is not
for information, interest, or pleasure, but to learn English. So they assume that
the appropriate style for them should be slow, intensive reading in order to be
sure of not missing any words. Materials for intensive reading used by students
in class are short stories and extracts from novels or magazines. They are chosen
according to the level of difficulty of language and for the interest they hold for
young people still at school. This reading matter is studied in considerable detail
and it is related' to language learning under the teacher’s guidance. Therefore,

the teacher’s task is to provide the students with strategies and skills of reading
7


to arrive at a profound and detailed comprehension of the text and how the
meaning is expressed.
3.2.3. Skimming
Skimming is a way of reading that a reader is required to jump through the text,
ignoring parts of it for the very general purpose of seeing what it is about, and
whether there is anything of interest to him in it. The reader skims in order to
satisfy a very general curiosity about the text rather than finding the answer to
particular questions. Skimming is a quick reading to get know the general
meaning of a passage , the organization of the passage, the structure of the text
and the writer’s purpose
Skimming is not an appropriate aim for learners at beginner level. It is suitable
for the students of the eleventh form or twelfth form especially for gifted
students of English. At this level skimming helps them to organize their
thoughts and specify what information they can get from the reading material,
therefore, their subsequent reading is more efficient.
Activities
•

Students must locate facts that are expressed in sentences, not single
words.

•

To improve skimming, readers should read more and more rapidly, to
form appropriate questions and predictions and then read quickly

•

Pugh (1978) suggests that to assess skimming, after the students have read
and completed the assigned questions, further questions may be asked,
"beyond the scope of the purpose originally set" (p.70).

3.2.4. Scanning
Scanning is, in contrast, described as follows.
By scanning “the reader here is on the look-out for a particular item or
items he believes in the text” (Peter Wingard, 1990, p.83). For example,
the name of the scorer in a football report.
According to Nuttal, 1989 scanning means “glancing rapidly through a text
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either to search for specific pieces of information (eg: a name, a date) or to get
an initial impression of whether it is suitable for a given purpose”
“Scanning occurs when a reader goes through a text very quickly in order to
find a particular point of information (William, 1986).
Activities
•

Activities may include exercises that are devised by the teacher in which
students scan for a single word or specific text .

•

Activities may include exercises that are often carried on as a competition
so students will work quickly.

•

Students use titles and tables of contents to get an idea of what a passage
is about , activate prior knowledge about the topic of the passage by
answering some questions or performing a quiz , anticipate what they
want to learn about the top , use titles, pictures, and prior knowledge to
anticipate the contents of the text , use key words, that may have been
given to them by the teacher, that do not appear in the text, that allude to
the main idea

Like skimming, scanning is a useful reading skill that may be at first strange to
a learner who is used to reading everything in a foreign language with the same
degree of attention. It can be appropriately applied in teaching and learning
reading as it can be very useful as a study technique.
4. Conclusion
All kinds of reading are interrelated. Skimming and scanning are all helpful
reading skills that enable the readers to read rapidly in order to select some
specific information that are worth spending time on. Both skimming and
scanning are useful skills in silent reading. Reading aloud and silent reading can
be used effectively for teaching and learning intensive reading but extensive
reading is commonly carried out by readers who read for pleasure or further
study through silent reading.

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5. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
According to Cohen (1986), reading strategies refer to those mental
processes that readers consciously choose to use in accomplishing reading tasks.
As Block (1986) defined, reading strategies are techniques and methods readers

use to make their reading successful. These methods include how to conceive
tasks, what textual cues they attend to, how readers makes senses of what they
read, and what they do when they do not understand. Often the term skill and
strategy are used interchangeably, but there is difference between both of them.
Strategies can be defined as conscious actions that learners take to achieve
desired objectives, but skill is a strategy that has become automatic.
When reading, readers employ some specialist skills. They are successful in
understanding what they read and do not depend on how they apply these skills
to their process of reading. This is the important question for teachers and
students in teaching and learning reading skills. Here are some useful skills and
activities for reading comprehension.
5.1. Pre-reading
A good reader often predicts what he is going to read. In other words, he
generally has some expectations before he actually begins reading the text.
While reading he can understand the text and match the content of the text to his
predictions which will change when he gets more information from the process
of reading. One of the important things for the teachers in the pre-reading phase
is to encourage students to develop predictive skills. This helps to arouse
student’s attention and interest in the topic. The way he introduces the text, the
way he asks questions and the way he gives a reason for reading will interest
students and motivate their purpose for reading. For example, teachers can ask
students to predict what will happen at the end of a story or have them explain
how they decided on their prediction, which encourages them to make
inferences about what they are reading by using the title, subtitles, pictures,
maps, diagrams, and divisions within the text to predict content and organization
or sequence of information.
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In addition, teachers help to give students the background knowledge necessary

for comprehension of the text, or activate the existing knowledge that the
students possess. By answering questions, students get to know the purpose of
reading, focus their attention on what they are to learn as well as encourage
them to monitor their comprehension. The following are some activities I have
applied during pre-reading phase at my high school
1. Prediction
1.1 Possible passages
Steps:
+ Choose 8 – 15 key words from the text students will read.
+ Determine categories into which students should sort the words
+ Tell students that the Unknown Words category is only for terms the group
has no idea about – if they have a sense that a word should go in a certain
category, they should place it there.
+ Ask students to make a gist statement using words listed above
Aim:
+ engage students in contextual study of vocabulary before reading a passage
+ help students overview the reading text
Sample: (Unit 4- Book 10-Advanced)
Possible Passage
Word list: Helen Keller, Sullivan, deaf, blind, fingertip alphabet, manual alphabet,
Radcliffe College, Braille, remarkable woman
Characters
Helen Keller

Problems
deaf

Outcomes
fingertip alphabet

Sullivan

blind

Braille

Unknown words
manual alphabet

Radcliffe College
remarkable women
Possible statement: Helen Keller was a deaf and blind child. Thanks to
Ms.Sullivan’s help, she could master the fingertip alphabet and Braille. She made
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every effort to learn and graduate from Radcliffe College. Soon she became one of
remarkable women in the world.

1.2 Possible sentences
Steps:
+ Choose 8 – 15 key words from the text students will read (both unknown
words and familiar words)
+ Ask each student to choose at least two words from the list to make a
meaningful sentence that may be found in the upcoming reading
+ After reading, have students check to see if their "possible sentences" were
accurate or need revising
Aim:
+ activate students' prior knowledge about content area vocabulary and concepts
+ help students overview the reading text

Sample:(Unit 10- Book 10- Advanced)
Word list: Nam Cat Tien national park, established, central government,
ecotourism site, species, visitors, landscape, ecotourism, economy, promote
Possible sentences:
- Nam Cat Tien national park was established by the central government
- Nam Cat Tien national park is considered as an ecotourism site.
- Nam Cat Tien national park contains many different species of plants and
animals
- A lot of visitors come to Nam Cat Tien national park because of its beautiful
landscape
……

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2. Word list
Steps:
- Write a key word or concept related to the reading material
- Ask students to work in groups and list their associations for the cue
- Encourage students to make inquiries about the associations for example:
clarify the words, provide an example, definitions, or modeling…
- Ask students to think and talk about the key word
Aim: activate students’ prior knowledge and provides a framework for a
student-led discussion
Sample (Unit 14- Book 10- advanced)
World Cup: competition, football, soccer, championship, team, cup, fan,
hold, score, footballer, final, match, host country,
3. Pre- questions
Steps:
- Asks students to work in groups and dicuss the list of questions teacher gives

Aim:

build

the

students’

interest

and

motivation

and

activate

students’background knowledge and make connections
Sample: (Unit 14- Book 10- Advanced)
T asks students to work in groups and discuss the following questions to see
how much they know about soccer and the world cup
1. How often is the world cup held?
2. What does the abbreviation FIFA stand for?
3. When and where was the first World Cup tournament held?
4. Who is considered the all-time best soccer player?
5. When was the World Cup first held in Asia?
6. Is there a World Cup tournament for women?
7. Where and when will the next World Cup be held?

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5.2. During reading.
5.2.1. Extracting specific information
In real life, we often read something as we want to extract some specific
pieces of information. We read the text as quickly as possible and only
concentrate on the particular items that interest us and disregard the other
information necessary. This skill when applied in reading is often called
scanning. It is one of some reading skills that is very useful for improving
students’ reading speed because a common problem for foreign language
students in Vietnam is that they tend to read too slowly in all types. This is one
of their disadvantages when taking their exam in which reading passage
occupies 30% of total marks of the examination paper.
5.2.2. Getting the general picture
Readers often read something because they want to get the general
picture and have a general idea of the main points of what they have read
without being too concerned with the detail. It is the main point that they are
interested in. The skill of reading in order to get the general picture is
skimming. It presupposes the reader’s ability to pick out the main points and
discard what is irrelevant. In teaching reading skills, skimming is a useful sub
skill that also helps to improve the students’ reading speed. They will be able to
go through the text extremely quickly to see what a text is about or how it is
organized.
5.2.3. Reading for detailed comprehension
Reading for detailed comprehension is very common in intensive reading
in which students are trained to read the text carefully through the analytical
approach to grammar and lexis for detailed comprehension. Students have to be
able to access texts for detailed information of many kinds. By generating
questions, students become aware of whether they can answer the questions and

if they understand what they are reading. Students learn to ask themselves
questions that require them to combine information from different segments of
text. For example, students can be taught to ask main idea questions that relate
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to important information in a text. For upper secondary students, their grammar,
the use of words and sentence patterns, so the slow, intensive reading is the
appropriate style for them.
5.2.4. Reading for communicative tasks.
As I have mentioned above, reading comprehension has a nature of
communication. Reading activity is a means of communication between the
writer and the reader when the reader decodes what the writer encodes. Reading
activity cannot be seen a matter of “stamping in” selected pieces of language but
it is an effective way to develop the learners’ language ability. It can foster
student’s communicative interaction about what they have read. There are some
reading techniques involved in reading for communicative tasks. Students can
rearrange the text that has become disordered. They can do this activity in pairs
and then the teacher can ask different pairs to read the story out in the correct
order. In another way, half of the class are told to prepare the questions while
the rest is given the text and told to read it so that they will be able to answer the
classmates’ questions. The teacher should bear in mind that at the earliest stage
of the learning process, the secondary school students’ knowledge of English is
limited. This does not mean they cannot communicate effectively with the
language they have got. It is clear that the lower their level is, the less
sophisticated language users they are. They can nevertheless be expected to use
the language they know for the purposes of communication.
5.3. Post-reading:
After the lesson, teachers can have students summarize the reading
passage, which can help both to clear up any confusion about the meaning of a

text and to secure it more firmly in students' memories. However, it can take a
lot of practice to become adept at writing concise, accurate summaries that focus
on main points and eliminate unnecessary information. Teachers may provide
samples for their students and model their own work, showing how they would
identify key points, paraphrase them, and condense them. Further, they can

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assign students to start with relatively short, simple passages before going on to
summarize longer and more complicated texts.
Likewise, teachers ask the students to work in pairs or group, discussing
the text and related topics and then report back to the class or give their
presentation.Probably the most important comprehension strategy of all but one
that is surprisingly rare in the nation's secondary classrooms is to give students
frequent and extensive opportunities to discuss what they've read. It’s neither
easy nor straightforward to lead students in focused, informative, and engaging
discussions of texts. Teachers need to come up with provocative questions, keep
the conversation focused, guide it though lulls, and help students to learn and
stick to important classroom norms and rules (having to do with turn-taking,
respecting others' opinions, staying on point, and so on). However, when
students do engage in high-quality text-based discussions, they tend to come
away with much clearer and more nuanced understandings of course materials.
Moreover, teachers can lead to combine reading with a speaking
component. For example, students may interview each other or debate about
their reading or combine reading with a writing component, for instance, after
reading the text, students may be asked to write a report or a reflection. Teacher
also encourage students to read the texts on the same topic or let students
choose the authentic texts from suggestions by the teacher so that students do
not choose those that are too overwhelming. Student take notes main ideas and

then write a reflection on what they noticed about their own reading, which
allows students to bring more background knowledge to each new text read.
Often teachers will respond to the students and if so, the student should leave
room in the journal for this. Some of my proposed activities during postreading phase as follows.
1. Discussion/ debate
Discussion is purposeful talk through which students explore their thinking,
respond to ideas, process information, and articulate their thoughts in verbal
exchanges with classmates and teachers.
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1.1 Problem solving (unit 4/ Book 11- Advanced)
Teacher asks students to discuss in groups, showing some main causes leading
to literacy problems and suggesting some solutions
1.2 Agreement or Disagreement with a statement (Unit 5/Book 11- Advanced)
Sample: Teacher has students work in groups, express his/ her points of views
on beauty contests
1.3 Alternatives ranking
Sample: (Unit 1/ Book 11- Advanced)
- Teacher prepares handouts including a list of important qualities of a good
friend
- Students work individually and rank the importance of these qualities
- Students work in small groups and share their opinions
Important qualities of a good friend: Loyalty, Intelligence, Humor, Honesty,
Generosity, Sympathy, Tolerance, Sincerity
2. Summary
It is an easy way to have students reflect on what they read and synthesize their
thinking. A variety of forms for summary can be used based on the format of the
text
2.1 completing a plot diagram

2.2 taking notes on a time line (unit3/ Book 10- Advanced)
2.3 using mindmaps ( unit1/ Book 10- advanced)
2.4 filling gaps (unit 12/ Book 10- advanced)
3. Reflection
3.1 Monitor comprehension
Steps: Ask students to list three facts they learned from a reading, two questions
they had as they read and one thing they found interesting
Aims: let students to show what they have learned or ask questions about a topic
in a simple way

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3.2 Response journals
Steps: provide journal sheets or booklets with prompting questions that will
help structure student responses.
Aims:
+ record student feelings, responses, and reactions to reading texts
+ encourage students to think deeply about the materials they have read and to
relate this information to their prior knowledge and experiences
Sample:
Teacher provides some prompts to facilitate students’ reading comprehension
and reflections.
-Helen Keller’s efforts to overcome her impairment
-lessons from the ups and downs in her life

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PART C: CONCLUSION

As reading, one of the receptive skills through which students can widen
their knowledge of the target language more than other skills, it is important for
the students to have good techniques in reading to become good readers.
Therefore, it is necessary for the teacher to have useful methods and motivating
activities in improving students’ reading comprehension.

In this paper, the

author has reviewed the role of reading in language learning, the integration of
reading with other language skills and the classifications of reading and most
importantly made some suggestions for teaching and learning to improve
reading skills. It is common knowledge that we learn to read by reading a lot,
yet reading a lot is not the emphasis of most reading curriculum. There is now a
considerable evident that the best way to learn to read is to combine both
approaches (extensive and intensive reading) in the class. For example, where
extensive reading is encouraged, the teacher may have all the students read the
same text so they can discuss the topic together or learn a specific skill such as
as writing an outline. In a class where intensive reading is mostly used, students
may be asked to read texts of their own choosing to report back on, in either an
oral or written format. It is expected that together with various reading activities
listed above can contribute a great deal to students in developing reading
comprehension and make students more active in the learning process in order to
gain a better result.

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REFERENCES
1. Nuttal.1982. Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language. Heinemann.
2. Doff.A. 1988. Teach English. Cambridge University Press.

3. Harmer.J. 2001. The Practice of English Language Teaching. Longman.
4. Richard R.Day.1993.New Ways in Teaching Reading. Honolulu, Hawaii
5. Munby, John (1968) "Teaching Intensive Reading Skills" in Mackay, Ronald,
Barkman, B &. Jordan, R.R. (Eds.) Reading in a Second Language, Rowley,
Mass: Newbury House Publishers Inc.
6. Bell, Timothy (2001) "Extensive Reading: Speed and Comprehension", The
Reading Matrix, Vol.1, No.1 April
2001 />7. Hafiz, F.M. & Tudoe, I. (1989) "Extensive reading and the development of
language skills", ELT Journal, Vol.43/1, p.5-13

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APPENDIX
NAM DINH DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
LE HONG PHONG SPECIALIZED UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL
Name: Trần Thị Hồng
Class: 10 English 2
Date of preparing: 20th July, 2014
Lesson plan
Reading skill
Unit 1: SCHOOL TALKS
1.
-

Class description:
35 students of 10th grade, 10 boys and 25 girls.
5 students are of very few words. They are timid and passive in

participating in class activities, just sit still and quietly.

Conversely, 7 students are active and enthusiastic, but two of them have
quick tempers, which is rather difficult to control.
2. Time: 45 minutes
3. Objectives:
• Skill: after the lesson, students will able to:
Scan for specific information to do True/False/Not mentioned
-

task.
Summarize the text.
Give a presentation in a limited time based on the knowledge

gained during the lesson.
• Language: students will be able to:
Widen their vocabulary of school talks, especially team learning
-

such as supportive, strategy, assignment, etc.
Use certain expressions (seeking right teammates, forming
teams with both genders, etc) to talk about strategies for

•
4.
-

maximizing the performance of team work.
Knowledge: after the lesson, students will be able to:
Have an overview of benefits, strategies and activities of team learning.
Acquire a certain vocabulary in this field.
Assumed knowledge:

Ss have already known some vocabulary items related to team learning

(e.g: textbook, face-to-face, class notes, etc).
Some of them are familiar with working in group so to some extent, they
know common activities of team learning, its benefits and strategies used.
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5.
-

Anticipated problems:
Ss may not know some new words related to the topic; they should be

provided in advance. (supportive, strategy, assignment, etc)
Ss may find it difficult to deal with True/False/Not mentioned task, so T
should spend some time eliciting strategies to do with this kind of task.
Some Ss may feel strange to summarizing task, which means T should ask
them some questions for each part’s summary.
Ss may have difficulty in making a performance within a limited time, so
T should give Ss some time to prepare and ask them to focus on important
points.
Some Ss are timid (they don’t want to take part in the activities and
express their ideas). Hence, the teacher pays more attention to them and gives
them more chances to raise their voices.
While some are very ebullient (they may transgress others), so the teacher
calls timid Ss randomly and then give the questions.
6. Teaching aids: power point, textbook, cards, blackboard and handouts.
7. Procedure:
Teacher

Students

7.1. Lead-in: (2m)
• Asks Ss to close their books and play a game.
• Close their books
• Shows a picture on the board and asks them some • Answer the questions
questions:

Do you know who he is? What does he do? Which • Form the groups
• Listen
to
programs is he famous for?
Alright, do you want to play this interesting game?
instruction
And here are the rules for you.
• Divides the class into 4 groups.
• Instructs Ss (using step-by-step technique):
Now, I’ll divide all of you into 4 groups. Listen to
my instruction:
- Firstly, name your groups.
- Call your group’s name whenever you have the
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the


answers. 10 points for one right answer.
• Answer the questions
- The group with highest points will be the

winner.
Are you clear? (Ss: Yes)
• Play the game
• Checks Ss’ understandings:
+ So what should you do when you have the
answers?
+ How many points for one right answer?
Ok, are you ready now?
• Lets Ss play the game.

• Work in groups
• Listen to the
instruction

• Work in groups
• Go to the board and
write down the
answers
(CLASS NOTES)

• Answer the questions
• Watch the clip and
answer the questions
• Listen to the teacher

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