Some suggestions for doing the english readingcomprehension test effectively in the national examination for GCSE and the entrance exam

PART A: INTRODUCTION
I. Rationale for the study
In the trend of global integration, English is considered as an international
language. It is the major language of intercommunication, international
commerce, business, science, culture and so on. In Vietnam, the economic opendoor policy pursued by the Government has increased the demand for using
English. Therefore , there has been a positive trend of teaching and learning
English across the country. English is also introduced to the educational
curriculum from primary education (optional) to tertiary education (compulsory).
In recent years, Lam Kinh high school as well as the other high schools
in rural and mountainous areas , teaching and learning English has been taken
into consideration. In the process of teaching and learning English, reading
comprehension skill is by far the most important of the four macro-skills .It can
be said that reading comprehension skill becomes very important and essential
for language learners that all important exams such as the national Examination
For GCSE , the entrance exam to university…. are focusing on testing reading
comprehension skill of learners.
However, teaching and learning reading comprehension at Lam Kinh
High School is not very effective and is still far from satisfactory for various
reasons. Students are habituated to solve simple and direct passages in their
school days, but when it comes to competitive exams as national examination
for GCSE and the entrance exam to university) the task becomes difficult .
Being unable to understand the vocabulary (meaning of words) and concept of
the passage, getting used to the habit of word-by-word reading; focusing
excessively on details rather than main ideas; poor vocabulary and limited
background knowledge are the obstacles that make students embarrassed and
worried about the reading comprehension test . As a result they may fail to
solve it or ignore it all.
In order to help the students build up passion for reading, have strategies
for comprehending the reading text well, develop effectively reading habit
outside classroom so that student can improve their reading skill and can get
high marks in examinations , I choose the topic of study: “Some suggestions

for doing the English readingcomprehension test effectively in the national
examination for GCSE and the entrance exam to university.
II. Aims of the study
The aims of the study are to investigate some effective techniques and
strategies in solving the reading comprehension in examinations for GCSE and
the entrance exam to university. Some main purposes covering the study are
summarized as follow:
+ To understand the theoretical background of reading comprehension: …….
to improve students’ English reading skills.
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+ To investigate some techniques and strategies for reading comprehension.
+ To help English teachers, especially teachers of English at upper secondary
schools to find out effective techniques to deal with reading comprehension with
the hope of helping them in teaching English.
III. Subject of the study
This study has been carried out to search for a better and more effective
ways and strategies for reading comprehension in order to help students to gain
success in national examination for GCSE and the entrance exam to university.
IV. Methods of the study
To achieve the aims mentioned above , a detailed study is used. The
theoretical background of the study presented in my study comes from documents
on the internet and many published books written by different authors on language
teaching. The statistics and data collected for the study come from the students and
the English teachers at Lam Kinh upper secondary school by making observation
through reading comprehension lessons in the classroom and through tests and
exams .Through theoretical and practical experience in leaning environment at Lam
Kinh high school, I myself build up the topic.
PART B: DEVELOPMENT

I. Theoretical background
1. Definitions of reading comprehension
Comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading .Reading comprehension
skill plays a very important role in teaching and learning reading a foreign
language. It has the nature of communication, in which reading activity acts as a
means of communication between the writer and the reader.
Reading comprehension or understanding a written text means extracting
the required information from it as efficiently as possible. That means reading
comprehension is an activity which aims at decoding the meaning of word
combination in the text in the most efficient way.
To sum up, reading becomes meaningless without comprehension since
only reading comprehension can appreciate how much readers understand the
text. Therefore, how to help students have effective reading comprehension
methods is considered to be the most important part in reading teaching
2.Types of reading
According to purposes, reading is categorized into four types: skimming,
scanning, extensive and intensive reading.
2.1. Skimming
If the task of the reader is merely to get an overall idea of the passage, he
is most likely to use the strategy called skimming. This strategy enables the
reader to say what kind of text it is and what kind of information it contains.
Thus, the learner can expect what the passage is about and, consequently, he can
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activate appropriate schemata. Skimming is also helpful in deciding whether a
text is relevant for particular reader’s purposes, as the reader can quickly
estimate the relevance of the text by skimming it. Since this technique provides
the reader with the main ideas of the text, it affords a logical framework for
details to be fitted into it during more intensive reading. What is significant to

add, during skimming the reader does not pay attention to details and can skip
new words providing the text can still be understood.
To sum up, skimming is a very useful reading comprehension skill for
students, and it is advisable to apply at the first stage of teaching reading with
the hope that it can help them to have an overview of what they are reading.
Moreover, it will be easier for them to deal with the other tasks that followed.
2.2. Scanning
Scanning is also one of two most valuable reading strategies. However,
scanning is far more limited than skimming since it only means retrieving what
information is relevant to our purpose. Scanning occurs when a reader goes
through a text very quickly in order to find a particular point of information.
when scanning, we only try to locate specific information and often we
do not even follow the linearity of the passage to do so. We simply let our eyes
wander over the text until we find what we are looking for, whether it is a name,
a date, or a less specific piece of information”.
In short, the key to scanning is to decide exactly what kind of
information we can look for and where to find it. The purpose of scanning is to
extract certain specific information without reading through the whole text.
2.3. Intensive reading
Intensive reading is a slow reading of a text aimed to explain every
unknown word, grammar structure and style. It also very often involves
translation of the read passage. As the main emphasis is on features of the text,
rather than on its semantic context, the reader’s interest in the story may be
reduced. The objective of intensive reading is to achieve a full understanding of
the text not only of what it means but also of how the meaning is produced thus
it is made use of when the reader encounters a more difficult foreign language
text. Intensive reading is reading for accuracy which is essential to the students’
comprehension.
Overview, purpose, questions, reading, summarize, test, and understanding
are the seven procedures that cover the method, for very effective reading for

detailed comprehension and long retention reader’s knowledge.
2.4. Extensive reading
Extensive reading is a fluency activity, mainly involving general
understanding. It provides valuable reinforcement of the language already
presented and practiced in the class as well as giving students useful practice in
inferring meaning from the context of the text. Extensive reading is used to
obtain a general understanding of a subject and includes reading longer texts for
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pleasure, as well as business books. Use extensive reading skills to improve our
general knowledge of business procedures. Getting students to read extensively
is the easiest and most effective way of improving their reading skills.
Reading is necessary to every learner and undeniably an important skill
in comparison with others. In addition, it is notable that intensive and extensive
reading should not be seen as in being opposition but need to be paid equal
attention for the sake of the students. For second or foreign language learners,
both intensive and extensive reading are of great importance as they act as a
means to gain knowledge.
3.The importance of reading in foreign language learning and in important
examinations
In the process of teaching and learning a second or foreign language, the
teaching and learning of reading are always received much attention, since it is
regarded as one of the most important major skills .First of all, reading helps
students learn to think in English, enlarge their English vocabulary, improve
their writing. Richard (1993:4) claimed that “reading may help to increase
knowledge of the target language through exposure to new vocabulary and
grammatical structures”. There is a close relationship between reading and
vocabulary knowledge, because while reading, the readers know most of the
words in the text already, and they can also determine the meaning of many of

the unfamiliar words from the contexts. Therefore, the best way to acquire a
large vocabulary is to read. It is understandable that anyone who has a large
vocabulary is usually a good reader. Besides, Richard (1993: 4) also stated that
“reading in the new language is also an important way to learn about the target
culture”, which means that reading provides the students with a wide range of
interesting information, helps them understand the ways of life, behaviors,
thoughts and other aspects of the native people and it is also a good way to find
out about new ideas, facts and experiences. Therefore, they can master
vocabulary, grammar and the background knowledge or cross-cultural problems
that they encounter. In other words, reading is very important to the foreign
language learners because it widens their knowledge of language and life. It
seems to be the most important skill to the students of English since their main
purpose is to understand the written texts.
In the English test of the entrance university examination, reading
section for general or specific information ( except for cloze test) is very
important. This part accounts for 25% with 2 reading passages. So candidates
who want to get good marks should study this part carefully.
II. Practical background
1.Background of the study
1.1. Description of the English syllabus at upper secondary schools

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At upper secondary schools, there are three levels of English: English 10,
11 and English 12. In the past the textbooks used here are the three-year-course
ones, the seven- year-course books have been used lately. English is now a
compulsory subject in schools. Students have English lessons during the first
term and second term of the school year.
The textbooks chosen are English 10, 11, 12 by Nha Xuat Ban Giao Duc.

Each consists of 16 lessons which have been covered through out the school
year with mid-term and term tests in between. Each lesson is divided into 5
periods with the aim of giving the students basic knowledge of English and
practice four skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing skill.. By using this
textbook, we can develop our students’ communicative competence and our
students can learn real things from daily life. The textbooks also develop
students’ reading and writing skill. At the end of each term, students have an
exam for four skills.
1.2. Description of the students at upper secondary schools
Most of students of Lam Kinh high school have already learned English
for at least four years at lower secondary school but many of them are at the low
level of English proficiency. Another fact is that most of the students are from
rural areas in Tho Xuan district. Consequently, individual differences in learning
styles, identities, attitudes, motivation, etc are unavoidable and may cause the
teachers some problems during their teaching. In addition, their lack of
awareness on the importance of English as well as motivation makes them not
interested in learning English. Although most of them have already learnt
English for at least four years at lower secondary school, their knowledge of
English is still poor and limited. Some students can even hardly say a complete
sentence in the target language.
1.3. Description of the teachers at upper secondary schools
At Lam Kinh High School, there are totally 6 teachers of English,
including me, aged from 30 to 40. Half of us graduated from Hong
DucUniversity in Thanh Hoa province and none of us have been to any English
speaking countries. The number of female teachers formed the majority (5
female teachers and only one male teacher). All of us are enthusiastic with their
career and had at least eight years experienced in teaching English.
However, in terms of methodology, the teachers in our school usually
employ the traditional methods of teaching especially Grammar-translation
method. They often apply this method in teaching English. In other words, they

focus on analyzing the grammar rules, not on the acquisition of language skills.
They spend most of the classroom time explaining new words, analyzing
grammar structures and translating texts into Vietnamese. Students often listen
and take notes passively. This leads to low motivation in students and creates
very few chances for them to improve their communicative competence.
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1.4. Description of physical setting
In most upper secondary schools, English teaching and learning activities
are mostly carried out inside the classrooms which are designed for lecture
lessons with the only classroom equipment: a blackboard, tables and a desk. The
only type of teaching aid that the English group has is some cassette recorders
and pictures. In term of class size, the number of students in an English class is
quite large, from 40 to 50. This large number causes a great deal of difficulties
for the teaching and learning activities. The materials for reference and selfstudy are not available for teachers and students at schools. In the school library,
there are only some English books that are not really helpful for teachers and
students.
2.Difficulties
2.1.Teachers’ difficulties when teaching reading
When asking the teachers about the problems they were facing with in teaching
reading, the majority admitted that the most difficult issue was the students’
limitation of vocabulary and grammatical structures.
Moreover,despite the fact that the teachers at LK school are well aware of the
techniques and strategies for reading comprehension skill, some of them find it
difficult to use them in their teaching because of many reasons. The biggest one
is that they are deeply affected by old teaching methods. They said that after
quite a long time applying these methods, they become absorbed to them and it
is very difficult for them to change. In the reading lesson , before doing the task,
teacher often provide students with all of the new words and then translate the

text in to Vietnamses.This makes students become passive in learning.
2.2 Students’Difficulties
2.2.1 .Passive learning style
The students are still deeply affected by the old and passive learning
methods such as Translation or Audio-lingual Method and the learning
environment at lower secondary school where reading was not fully taken into
consideration. They only learn what the teacher supply in the classroom .They
are accustomed to the habit of word-by-word reading and doing simple and short
reading comprehension exercises.
2.2.2. Lack of knowledge for comprehension
The information from the data collected clearly shows that students’
limitation of vocabulary and grammatical structures, their lack of appropriate
reading strategies and their background knowledge are students’ main
difficulties, which influence their motivation for reading as well as their
understanding. Not only the students but also the teachers faced many problems
when dealing with reading lessons. Students had very limited vocabulary, and
were too dependent on teachers, peers dictionaries. New words have affected the
students’ process of reading.
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Background knowledge is found to be a less challenge than vocabulary.
Students found that they did not know anything in some aspects. Therefore, they
had many difficulties when reading a strange topic. With many demonstrations
that those who possess rich prior knowledge about the topic of a reading often
understand the reading better than the others with low prior knowledge.
Students’ lack of appropriate reading strategies is another problem, the teachers
had to face.
2.3.Objectives factors
2.3.1. Large-sized classes

All classes at Lam Kinh school consists of more than 45 students, so that
it is very difficult for teachers to control the class and to put an eye on every
student. During the time working only good and talkative students make use of
the chances to raise their voice, shy and less able students can not be given
enough care, attention and encouragement.
2.3.2. Lack of reference books and teaching aids
In the school library, reference books are not available. There are only
some reference books for reading comprehension exercises. Teachers must selfprepare for their lesson without school’s helping.
II. Some suggestions for doing reading comprehension tasks effectively
1.Preparation for the national examination for GCSE
- To do well in the exam , students should prepare the followings:
1.1. Topics for practicing:
Generally, the assignment can place on any topic in our life. But the
readings that students normally encounter in the national high school exams
generally fall into the topic related to the themes in the textbooks and some
burning ones such as :You and me; Family and friends; Education (system of
education …) and language ; Community (People, Nature, environment,
environment pollution, population…), Recreation; Places and events; Social
Issues; Health; Food
To do the test for reading comprehension well, Students should take the
time to read texts or documents in English on these topic in English as much
as possible. Youshould spend at least 10-15 'reading texts from the readingpart
in the textbook, then the lessons of self-training, reference books, magazines , on
the Internet…
1.2.Enrich the vocabulary and background knowledge
Students often find reading tasks are difficult and boring because of their
limitation of vocabulary grammatical structures and lack of background knowledge.
Background knowledge and good vocabulary minimize the difficulties in
the process of reading, creating confidence - a psychological factors essential for
learning to read and makes you understand the reading comprehension much easier.

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Teachers should guide students to read more books and related materials
in English on many different topics about expanding knowledge base on issues
of science and technology, socio-economic, technological literature arts, events
Keep a notebook, Note down the new words you learned today and revise
them periodically.
Learn by heart all the words that appear frequently in the passage
practiced, NOT the difficult and unfamiliar words.
2. Identifying the types of questions
Understand and become familiar with the types of questions allows you to
save time when analyzing and understanding the meaning of the types of
questions , so that you have more time to read the answers to each question and
find the correct answer of all. In this analysis, I ‘ll guide students how to
recognize all types of questions in reading comprehension tasks by explaining
and giving examples
2.1. Main idea/ main topic/ main purpose questions;
These ask sts to identify an answer choice that correctly summarizes the
author’s main idea, the subject of the main passage, or the author’s reason for
writing the passage.
The questions are often like these:‘’ What is the main idea of the
passage?’’/‘’What is the passage primarily about?’’
2.2: Factual questions
-These ask sts to locate and identify answers to questions about specific
information and detailed in the passage.
- The questions are :
“ According to the passage where did…?”/“According to the author why did…?”/
“ Which of the following is true , according to the passage? ‘’
2.3Negative questions:

These ask students which of the answer choice s is not mentioned in the passage
“ Which of the following is NOT true about…..? “ /“ All of the following are
true EXCEPT ….”
2.4 Scanning questions:
- These ask students to find the place in the passage that some topics are mentioned.
- Example: “ Where in the passage does the author first discuss….? “
2. 5: Inference questions;
- These ask students to draw conclusions based on the information in the passage
Example: “ The author implies that which of the following is true? “”
“ Which of the following can be inferred from the passage? ‘
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2.6: Vocabulary – in- context questions:
- These ask students to identify the meaning of word or phrase as used in the
passage.
Example: “ The word ‘-------‘ in line 10 is closest in meaning to…………? “
2. 7: Reference questions;
These ask students to identify the Noun to which a pronoun or other
expression refers.
Example: “ The word ‘ they’ in line 5 refers to……….? “
“ In line 15 , the word ‘ it ‘ refers to….? “
3. Strategies for answering each type of questions successfully( How to
answer each type of question successfully)
These are the best tactics for answering each type of questions:
3. 1: For overview questions: Main idea/ main topic questions;
After almost every passage , the first question is about the main idea,
main topic or main purpose of a passage. Main idea questions ask you to
identify the most important thought in the passage.
Sample questions:

+ What is the main idea of the passage ?
+ The primary idea of the passage is………..?
+ Which of the following best summarizes the author’s idea?
It is relatively easy to find the main ideas by studying the topic sentences,
which are most probably found at the beginning of each paragraph.
Don’t answer the initial overview questions about a passage until you have
answered the other questions. The process of answering the detailed questions may
give you a clearer idea of the main idea, topic , or purpose of the passage.
The correct answers for main idea/ main topic/ main purpose questions
correctly summarize the main points of the passage; they must be more general
than any of the supporting ideas or details, but not so general that they include
ideas outside the scope of the passage.
Distracters for this type of question have one of these characteristics :
+ They are too specific
+ They are too general
+ They are incorrect according to the passage.
+ They are irrelevant (unrelated ) to the main idea of the passage.
-If you are not sure of the answer for one of these questions, go back and
quickly scan the passage. You can usually infer the main idea, main topic or
main purpose of the entire passage from an understanding of the main ideas of
the paragraph that make up the passage and the relationship between them.
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Example : The passage:
Basketball was invented in 1891 by a physical education instructor in
Springfield, Massachusetts, by the name of James Naismith. Because of terrible
weather in winter, his physical education students were indoors rather than
outdoors. They really did not like the idea of boring, repetitive exercises and
preferred the excitement and challenge of a game. Naismith figured out a team

sport that could be played indoors on a gymnasium floor, that involved a lot of
running, that kept all team members involved, and that did not allow the tackling
and physical contact of American style football.
Question and answer:
1. What is the topic of this passage?
A. The life of James Naismith
B. The history of sports
C. Physical education and exercise
D. The origin of basketball
=>The first sentence of this passage states that basketball was invented, so the
invention of basketball is probably the topic. A quick check of the rest of the
sentences in the passage confirms that the topic is, in fact, the beginnings of the
sport of basketball. Now you should check each of the answers to determine
which one comes closest to the topic that you have determined. Answer A.
mentions James Naismith but not basketball, so it is not the topic. Answer B. is
too general; it mentions sports but does not mention basketball. Answer C. is
also too general; it mentions physical education but does not mention basketball.
The best answer is therefore answer D.: the origin of basketball means that the
way that basketball was invented is going to be discussed.
The following chart outlines the key information that you should remember
about main idea questions:
MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS
What is the topic of the passage?
How to identify What is the main idea of the passage?
the question
What is the author's main point in the passage?
Which of the following would be the best title?
Where to find The answer to this type of question can generally be
determined by looking at the first sentence of each paragraph.
the question

1.Read the first line of each paragraph.
2.Look for a common theme or idea in the first lines.
3.Pass your eyes quickly over the rest of the
How to answer
passage to check that you have really found
the question
the topic sentence(s).
4. Eliminate any definitely wrong answers and choose the best
answer from the remaining choices.
3. 2: Factual questions
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Factual questions ask about explicit facts and details given in the passage.
They often contain one of the WH- question words : who, what, when, where,
why, how much and so on.
Factual questions often begin with the phrases : “ According to the
passage,…” or “ According to the author,…” . When you see these phrases, you
know that the information needed to answer the question is directly stated
somewhere in the passage( unlike answers for inference questions)
To answer the factual questions , you have to locate and identify the
information that the question asks about. If you are not sure from your 1 st
reading where to look for specific answers, use the following scanning
techniques:
+ Focus on one or two key words as you read the stem of each question. Lock
these words in your mind.
+ Scan the passage looking for the key words or their synonyms. Look only for
these words . Do NOT try to read every word of the passage.
+ It may help to use the eraser end of your pencil as a pointer to focus your
attention. Don’t read the passage completely – just look for these words.

+ When you find the key words in the passage, carefully read the sentence in
which they occur. You may have to read the sentence preceding or following that
sentence as well.
+ Compare the information you read with the four answer choices.
The order of detail questions about a passage almost always follows
the order in which ideas are presented in the passage. In other words, the
information you need to answer the first detail question will usually come near
the beginning of the passage; the information for the 2 nd will follow that, and so
on. Knowing this should help you n locate the information you need.
Correct answers for detail questions are seldom the same , word for word,
as information in the passage; they often contain synonyms and use different
grammatical structures.
Example:
Flutes have been around for quite some time, in all sorts of shapes and sizes and
made from a variety of materials. The oldest known flutes are, about 20,000
years old, they were made from hollowed-out bones with holes cut in them. In
addition to bone, older flutes were often constructed from bamboo or hollowedout wood.
Today flutes are generally made of metal, and in addition to the holes they
have a complicated system of keys, levers, and pads. The instrument
belonging to well-known flautist James Galway is not just made of any metal,
it is made of gold.
Question and answer:
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1.According to the passage, the oldest flutes…..
A. had holes cut in them
B. were made of metal
C. were made 200,000 years ago
D. had a complicated set of levers and

pads
=> Since this question asks about the oldest flutes, you should see that
this question is answered in the second sentence. The passage states that
the oldest known flutes were bones with holes cut in them, so the best answer is
answer A.. Answers B. and D. are true about today's flutes but not about the
oldest flutes, so they are incorrect. Answer C. is an incorrect number; the oldest
flutes are 20,000 years old, not 200,000 years old.
The following chart outlines the key information that you should remember
about stated detail questions:
FACTUAL QUESTIONS(STATED DETAIL QUESTIONS)
How to identify According to the passage…/It is stated in the passage.../The
the question
passage indicates that… /Which of the following is true...?
Where to find
The answers to the questions are found in order in the passage.
the question
1. Choose a key word in the question.
2. Skim in the appropriate part of the passage for the key word
or idea.
How to answer
3. Read the sentence that contains the key word or idea
the question
carefully.
4. Eliminate the definitely wrong answers and choose the best
answer from the remaining choices.
3.3: Negative questions:(unstated detail questions)
These questions ask you to determine which of the four choices is not
given in the passage. These questions contain the words NOT, EXCEPT or
LEAST ( which are always capitalized).
Sample questions:

.Which of the following is NOT true about…..?
. According to the passage , all of the following are true EXCEPT..
. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?
Scan the passage to find the answers that are correct or are mentioned in
the passage. Sometimes the three distractors are clustered in one or two
sentences; sometimes they are scattered through out the passage. The correct
answer of course is the one that does not appear.
Negative questions often take more time than other questions . Therefore
you may want to guess or come back to these questions if you have time.
Sample Item:
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The Florida Keys are a beautiful chain of almost 1,000 coral and limestone islands.
These islands form an arc that heads first southwest and then west from the
mainland. U.S. Highway 1, called the Overseas Highway, connects the main
islands in the chain. On this highway, it is necessary to cross forty-two bridges over
the ocean to cover the 159 miles from Miami, on the mainland, to Key West, the
farthest island on the highway and the southernmost city in the United States.
Question and answer:
Which of the following is NOT mentioned about the Florida Keys?
A. The Florida Keys are a chain of islands.
B. The Florida Keys contain coral and limestone.
C. The Florida Keys are in the shape of an arc.
D. The Florida Keys are not all inhabited.
This question asks for the one answer that is not mentioned about the Florida
Keys. The passage states that the Florida Keys are a chain (answer A) with coral
and limestone (answer B) in the shape of an arc (answer C), so these answers are
not correct. The best answer is therefore answer D.. The passage does not
mention whether or not the keys are all inhabited.

The following chart outlines the key information that you should remember
about Negative questions:( “unstated” detail questions):
NEGATIVE QUESTIONS( “UNSTATED” DETAIL QUESTIONS)
Which of the following is NOT stated./ NOT mentioned/ NOT
discussed?
How to identify Which of the following is Which of the following is Which of
the question
the following is NOT true about…..?
According to the passage , all of the following are true
EXCEPT……
Where to find The answers to these questions are found in order in the
the question
passage.
1. Choose a key word in the question.
2. Scan the appropriate place in the passage for the key word
(or related idea).
3. Read the sentence that contains the key word or idea
How to answer
carefully.
the question
4. Look for answers that are definitely true according to the
passage Eliminate those answers.
5. Choose the answer that is not true or not discussed in the
passage.
3.4: Scanning questions:
-These questions ask you to find where in the passage some particular
information and transition is located . They are easy to identify: the answers are
usually line numbers. They are usually easy to answer , too. Scanning questions
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are often the last questions in a set of questions about a passage. Use the same
techniques for scanning given about detail questions. Sample questions:
+ In what line does the author shift his focus to…?
+ Where in the passage does the author first discuss………..?
+ A description of …………….. can be found in…………?
Example: The passage:
The words "capital" and "capitol" are confused in spelling and in meaning
by a lot of people who try to use them. Both their spellings and their meanings
are quite closely related. A "capital" is the location of the center of government,
while a "capitol" is the actual building where the government officials meet.
Thus, in the United States, for example, the Capitol building is located in
Washington, D.C., which is the capital city of the United States.
Question and answer:
Where in the passage does the author define the word "capital"?
A. Lines 1-2
B. Lines 3-4
C. Line 5 D. Line 6
To answer this question, you should skim for the word capital and then
look for its meaning A capital is the location of the center of government, and
this definition is given in the third line. Answer B. is therefore the best answer to
this question.
The following chart outlines the key information that you should
remember when you are trying to determine where in the passage something
is found:
SCANNING QUESTIONS
How to identify Where in the passage…….?
the question
Where to find
The answer can be in any of the lines listed in the answer to

the question
the question.
1. Choose a key word or idea in the question.
How to answer 2. Skim the appropriate past(s) of the passage looking for
the question
the key word or idea.
3. Choose the answer that contains the key word or idea.
3.5. Inference questions( Implied detail questions)
In this type of question, you will be asked to answer a multiple choice
question about a reading passage by drawing a conclusion from a specific detail
or details in the passage. Inference questions may be phrased in a number of
ways. Many of these questions contain some form of the words infer or imply
Sample questions: +Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?/
It can be inferred from the passage that…/ The author implies that…/Which of
the following does the passage imply?
14


When answering these questions, remember that the answers to these questions
are not directly stated or provided in the passage – you must “read between the
lines”. In other words, you must make conclusions based directly on
information in the passage. Many test- takers find these questions the most
difficult type of reading questions
Example 1: The passage
A star very similar to the Sun is one of the nearest star to the Earth .That
star is Alpha Centauri just 4.3 light- year away. Other than our own sun , the
nearest star to the earth is a tiny red star , not visible without a telescope, called
Proxima Centauri.
It can be inferred from this passage that:
A. Proxima Centauri is similar to the earth’s Sun

B. Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the Earth.
C. Alpha Centauri is invisible from the Earth.
D. Proxima Centauri is less than 4.3 light- years from the Earth.
=> Choice (A) is not a valid inference; Alpha Centauri is similar4 to the Earth
but Proxima Centauri is a tiny red star. Choice (B) also cannot be inferred , the
closest star to the Earth is our own Sun. Nor can (C) be inferred , Proxima
Centauri is invisible , but there’s no information as to whether Alpha Centauri is.
Since Alpha Centauri is 4.3 light- year away, it can be inferred that Alpha
Centauri , the closest star , is less than that.
The following chart outlines the key information that you should
remember about implied detail questions.
INFERENCE QUESTIONS(IMPLIED DETAIL QUESTIONS)
Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
It can be inferred from the passage that..….
How to identify
It is implied in the passage that……
the question
It is most likely that……
What probably happened.....?
Where to find
The answers to these questions are generally found in order
the question
in the passage.
1. Choose a key word in the question.
2. Scan the passage for the key word (or a related idea).
How to answer
3. Carefully read the sentence that contains the key word.
the question
4. Look for an answer that could be true, according to that
sentence.

3.6: Vocabulary – in- context questions:
In Vocabulary – in- context questions , you must determine which of four
words or phrases can best substitute for a word or words in the passage.
15


When answering vocabulary – in- context questions, you must most often
depend on the general context of the sentence to help you choose the correct
answer.
You should follow the following steps to answer vocabulary – in- context
items:
+ Look at the words being asked about and the four answer choices. If
you are familiar with the word, guess which answer is correct. Do not mark your
answer sheet yet.
+ Read the sentence in which the word appears. If you were familiar with
the word and guessed at the answer, make sure that the word that you chose fits
with the word as it is used in the sentence. If you were unfamiliar with the
word, see if context clues in the sentence or in the sentences before or after help
you guess the meaning.
+ if you are not sure which answer is correct, read the sentence with each
of the four answer choices in place. Does one seem more logical , given the
context of the sentence, than the other three? If not, do any seem illogical?
( Those you can eliminate)
+ If you are still not sure , make the best guess you can and go on.
Example :
In Britain’s North American colonies, university – trained physicians
were at a premium. At the time of the revolution, there were probably only
around 400 and some 3,000 practitioners who had on-the –job training. As
barber- surgeons or physicians’s apprentices. Whether university trained or not,
none had much knowledge of the causes of the disease, and the ‘’cures’’ they

often recommended – bleeding, blistering, and the use of violent purgatives –
were at best ineffective and at worst lethal.
Questions and answers:
1.The phrase ‘’ at a premium’’ in line 2 is closest in meaning to…
A.Well- paid
B.not very numorous
C.very experienced
D.not well- respected
=> The phrase ‘’ only around 400’’ indicates that there were a shortage of
university – trained physicians, so the answer is (B): not very numorous
2.Which of the following words coud best be substituted the word ‘’lethal’’ in
line 7?
A.Impractical
B.Brutal
C.Impossible
D.Deadly
=> The phrase ‘’ at best ineffective and at worst lethal’’ indicates that the correct
answer must describe a situation much worst than ineffective. Choices (A) and
(C) don’t create logical sentences when substituated for lethal . Choice (B) :
brutal( which means savage or violent ), is more logical , but only choice (D) is
synonymous with the word that is asked about.
16


The following chart outlines the key information that you should remember
about vocabulary questions:
VOCABULARY- IN- CONTEXT QUESTIONS
How to identify What is the meaning of “X” in line Y?/The word “X” in line
the question
Y could best be replaced by

Information to help you understand the meaning of a
Where to find
vocabulary word can often be found in the context surrounding
the question
the word.
1. Find the word in the passage.
How to answer 2. Read the sentence that contains the word carefully.
3. Look for context clues to help you understand the meaning.
the question
4. Choose the answer that the context indicates
3. 7: Reference questions:
In general reference questions tend to be the easiest type of reading
questions. Reference questions ask about the meanings of pronouns and
demonstratives such as they, it, he, she, which, who, that, and this. The goal of
these questions is simple: you need to decide what the pronoun or phrase refers
to. You probably already do this automatically when you read; if you don’t, then
you probably have trouble understanding the reading passages. Reference
questions are one of relatively few question types that very basically test a skill
that is necessary to read well.
The answer to a reference question is almost always going to be
stated before the pronoun in question is used (there are exceptions, but this is a
good general rule). But don’t simply look in the previous sentence; it’s possible
that the reference is even earlier than that (two or three sentences before the
pronoun) or in the same sentence, sometimes appearing after the pronoun in
question.
Example :
Although people commonly associate the word clone with modern
scientific advancements, its usage in botany (the study of plants) is far removed
from those developments; a clone is, in the world of plants, a completely natural
thing, even a common one. Generally speaking, a clone is an individual which is

genetically identical to its progenitor, the parent from which the clone was
produced. In this type of procreation, only one progenitor is necessary. There
are, of course, relatively few animals which reproduce in this way. While certain
types of fish, reptiles, and insects (among others) do reproduce asexually, most
creatures from the animal kingdom are born from two parent individuals with
two discrete sets of genes. In comparison, plants frequently reproduce asexually,
creating genetically identical offspring, or clones. The term for this type of
procreation is vegetative reproduction, which includes a number of different
processes by which various plants multiply.
17


Questions and answers:
1.The phrase “this type of procreation” refers to
(A) becoming genetically identical (B) reproduction by cloning
(C) birth to a pair of parents
(D) producing individual sets of genes
=> In this case, we know that “this type of procreation” actually refers to
“vegetative reproduction” by the sentence it’s in. But notice that “vegetative
reproduction” isn’t in the answer choices. Still, it helps to know that
“procreation” is a type of reproduction, meaning a way to create more plants.
From that information, we can cross off A and D, which don’t describe types of
reproduction. Then, if we read the sentence before the one containing “this type
of procreation,” we see that at that point in the paragraph, the author is
describing plants that reproduce and create clones. That matches (B) nicely.
The following chart outlines the key information that you should
remember about vocabulary questions:
REFERENCE QUESTIIONS
How to identify -From signals : refer, reference ...- The word "It" / "They,"/
the question

"Them"/ "Those" .... in line "------" refers to------?
Where to find
The same sentence containing the word or the earlier
the question
related sentences.
1.Find the word in the passage
2.The answer often lies in the same sentence before the
pronoun in question.
How to answer
3. Exception: it’s possible that the reference is even earlier
the question
than that (two or three sentences before the pronoun) or in
the same sentence, sometimes appearing after the pronoun
in question.
4.Steps for doing the reading comprehension test
Step1 : Look over all the questions ( but not the answer choices) and underline
the key words. Try to keep these questions in mind during your reading.
Step 2: Skim the whole passase to get the general content and its organization .
You can leave out this step if yohu have no time.
Step 3: Read all the questions and 4 choices of each one. Based on the key
words and the 4 choices to locate the paragraph or the sentences containing the
information needed to get the answer( Use the pencil to mark the paragraph or
the sentences so that you can easily collate with the 4 choices)
Step 4: Based on the information in the passage and the way to answer each
type of questions to find out the correct answer.
Note: For main idea questions, don’t answer until you have finished all the
others so that you have an overview of it and choose the answer easily.
18

IV. Result after applying the study in teaching
After applying these personal experiences in teaching English I myself
get excellent results. This achievement is gained because of the following reasons.
First of all, these experiences are suitable with the new syllabus of English at upper
secondary schools and the reading comprehension test in national exam. Secondly,
Students t do not have to be worried, nervous and embarrassed when solving the
reading comprehension in class as well as in examinations but willing to deal with
it. The number of students who can comprehend the text successfully at my school
increases, especially some bad students can understand and use a few techniques
and strategies quite effectively.
By giving students some tips, techniques and strategies and clear
instruction to solve the reading comprehension, students become more
confident in English examinations. Once I give a task about this, they can
understand and do it successfully. That is the main reason of the following result
carried out during the recent school years at my school as below:
Group 1:NOT use reading techniques and strategies
Group 2: Use proper reading techniques and strategies
Really
Number
Excellent
Good
Normal
Bad
bad
Group of
students SL %
SL
%
SL
%

SL
%
SL %
1
45
2 4,4 10 22.2
21 46.7 12 26.7
0
0
2
45
7 15. 15 33.4
19 42.2
4
8.8
0
0
6
PART C: CONCLUSION
1.Summary of the study
Along with the other language skills, reading comprehension is a very
important skill and is unevitable part of English reading comprehensions test
in national examination for GCSE as well as the entrance exam to university, so
it is important for the students to have good techniques in reading to become
good readers and gain success in the exams. In the case of this study, the
teachers of reading at Lam Kinh High School are supposed to be aware of many
factors that affect students’ reading comprehension. Among these, there are four
main factors that should be taken into consideration for High school students:
Students’ lack of background knowledge and world knowledge, students’ low
motivation, students’ limited vocabulary and grammatical structures and their

lack of appropriate reading strategies.
Success in reading comprehension is not an inborn capacity and it can
be learned. Once teacher can motivate the students to take part in reading
lessons actively, give some clear techniques and strategies which are more
suitable and effective in reading comprehension skill, the ability of reading
comprehension will be improved . Students no longer feel worried about their
exam. In contrast they are more confident and eager to do it and even get high
marks..Therefore, the aim of the study is to provide teachers and students some
19


useful techniques and strategies when dealing with reading comprehension
section successfully in classes as well as in the GCSE examination and in the
entrance exam to university.
Over the past few years, the application of these techniques and strategies
for reading comprehension has been widely adopted. Students have mastered
these techniques and strategies and now they feel more confident and take part
in reading lessons more actively. Their vocabulary, their background knowledge
of reading comprehension have been improved.As a result they can comprehend
the texts successfully and even get the highest marks for the reading
comprehension tests.
2.Suggestions for further study
I have tried to share some of my experience in reading comprehension
skill to help students to get high marks in their exammination for GCSE and
the entrance exam to university.This study is my great effort. However, there is
an obvious limitation of time, shortcomings are unavoidable. Not all the
suggested techniques for teaching and learning reading are experimented
properly, so the researcher can’t draw a conclusion of the effectiveness.
Therefore, the suggestions to improve reading comprehension skills for students
at Lam Kinh High School may be subjective and uncompleted. This thesis was

carried out within the area of Lam Kinh High School so the mentioned teaching
methods may not be suitable to apply to other high schools because of learners’
differences in language proficiency and other social constraints.
Despite such limitations, I strongly believe that my research is successful
to some extent and I hope that teachers of English and students can get
something useful from this document.
I would like to receive your sincere criticism and constructive comment
to make it a better one for another time. Any further researches that employ
supplementary instruments such as experimental research or observations and
carry out in a longer period of time on a large scale can help to prove the above
results more strongly and persuasively and can also help to avoid the subjective
assessments from the researcher of this study.

Xác nhận của BGH trường

Thanks for reading my study!
Writer
Thanh Hóa,ngày 31-05-2016
Tơi xin cam đoan đây là SKKN của mình
viết, không sao chép nội dung của người khác

Hà Thị Giang
20


PHỤ LỤC
SAMPLE READING COMPREHENSION TEST AND
DEMONSTRATION
Read the passage and choose the best answer for each question by cỉcling
the letter A, B, C, or D .

Coincident with concerns about the accelerating loss of species and habitats has
been a growing appreciation of the importance of biological diversity, the
number of species in a particular ecosystem, to the health of the Earth and
human well-being. Much has been written about the diversity of terrestrial
organisms, particularly the exceptionally rich life associated with tropical rainforest habitats. Relatively little has been said, however, about diversity of life in
the sea even though coral reef systems are comparable to rain forests in terms of
richness of life.
An alien exploring Earth would probably give priority to the planet's
dominant, most-distinctive feature ― the ocean. Humans have a bias toward
land that sometimes gets in the way of truly examining global issues. Seen from
far away, it is easy to realize that landmasses occupy only one-third of the
Earth's surface. Given that two-thirds of the Earth's surface is water and that
marine life lives at all levels of the ocean, the total three-dimensional living
space of the ocean is perhaps 100 times greater than that of land and contains
more than 90 percent of all life on Earth even though the ocean has fewer
distinct species.
The fact that half of the known species are thought to inhabit the world's
rain forestsdoes not seem surprising, considering the huge numbers of insects
that comprise the bulk of the species. One scientist found many different
species of ants in just one tree from a rain forest. While every species is different
from every other species, their genetic makeup constrains them to be insects and
to share similar characteristics with 750,000 species of insects. If basic, broad
categories such as phyla and classes are given more emphasis than
differentiating between species, then the greatest diversity of life is
unquestionably the sea. Nearly every major type of plant and animal has
some representation there.
To appreciate fully the diversity and abundance of life in the sea, it helps
to think small. Every spoonful of ocean water contains life, on the order of 100
to 100,000 bacterial cells plus assorted microscopic plants and animals,
including larvae of organisms ranging from sponges and corals to starfish and

clams and much more.
Step 1:
1. What is the main point of the passage?
21


A. Humans are destroying thousands of species.
B. There are thousands of insect species.
C. The sea is even richer in life than the rain forests.
D. Coral reefs are similar to rain forests.
2. The word "appreciation" in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to
A. ignoranc
B. recognition
C. tolerance
D. forgiveness
3. Why does the author compare rain forests and coral reefs in paragraph1 ?
A.They are approximately the same size.
B. They share many similar species.
C. Most of their inhabitants require water.
D. Both have many different forms of life.
4. The word "bias" in line 9 is closest in meaning to
A. concern
B. disadvantage C. attitude
D. prejudice
5.which of the following is true about the ocean according to the passage?
A. It’s 100 times greater than land.
B. It contains more species than land
C. It contain a vast majority than life on Earth
D.It occupies one- third of the Earth’s surface.
6. The passage suggests that most rain forest species are

A. insects
B. bacteria
C. mammals
D. birds
7. The word "there" in line 24 refers to
A. the sea
B. the rain forest C. a tree
D.the Earth's surface
8. The author argues that “there” in paragraph 3 is more diversity of life in the
sea than in the rain forests because
A. more phyla and classes of life are represented in the sea
B. there are too many insects to make meaningful distinctions
C. many insect species are too small to divide into categories
D. marine life-forms reproduce at a faster rate
9. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as an example of microscopic sea
life?
A. Sponges
B. Coral
C. Starfish
D. Shrimp
10. Which of the following conclusions is supported by the passage?
A. Ocean life is highly adaptive.
B. More attention needs to be paid to preserving ocean species and habitats.
C. Ocean life is primarily composed of plants.
D. The sea is highly resistant to the damage done by pollutants.
Step 2: Skim the whole passase to get the general content and its organization .
22


Questions

How to answer the questions
Step 3

Step 4

1. What is the main -Determine the paragraph - Identification: This is
point of the passage?
containing
the the main idea question
information:
all
the
(A)Humans
are
=> leave it
until you
passage
destroying thousands of
have answered the other
species.
questions.
(B) There are thousands
of insect species.
(C) The sea is even
richer in life than the
rain forests.
(D) Coral reefs are
similar to rain forests.

2.The
word -Determine the paragraph
"appreciation"
in containing
the
paragraph 1 is closest in information:
meaning to
+Paragraph 1
(A) ignorance
+Thesentences:
(B) recognition
Coincident with concerns
about the accelerating
(C) tolerance
loss of species and
habitats has been a
(D) forgiveness
growing appreciation of
the
importance
of
biological diversity, the
number of species in a
particular ecosystem, to
the health of the Earth
and human well-being

-Wordquestion

in-

context

-Look at the four choices
and their meaning
(A) ignorance:
dốt

sự ngu

(B)recognition:sựghi
nhận
(C)tolerance:sựkhoan
dung
(D) forgiveness: sự tha
thứ
Choose the answer that
the context indicates.
=>(B)is

suitable

and
23


-Look for context clues to closest in meaning
help you understand the
meaning.
3.Why does the author -Determine the paragraph -Scan for information

compare rain forests containing
the
- Compare 4 choices=>
and coral reefs in para information:
The correct answer is (D)
1?
+Paragraph 1
(A).They
are
+The
sentences:
approximately the same
Relatively little has been
size.
said, however, about
(B)They share many diversity of life in the sea
similar species.
even though coral reef
systems are comparable
(C)Most
of
their
to rain forests in terms of
inhabitants
require
richness of life.
water.
(D)Both have many
different forms of life.
4. The word "bias" in -Determine the paragraph -Reference question:

para 2 is closest in containing
the
The answer lies not in the
meaning to
information:
sane sentences but in the
(A) concern
+Paragraph 2
sentences before
(B) disadvantage
(C) attitude
(D) prejudice

+ The sentenes: Humans =>Choice (D) is the most
have a bias toward land suitable.
that sometimes gets in the
way of truly examining
global issues

5.which
of
the -Determine the paragraph
following is true about containing
the
the ocean according to information:
the passage?
+Paragraph 2( based on
(A). It’s 100 times the word: the ocean)
greater than land.

-Factual(stated
questions

detail)

- Eliminate the definitely
wrong answers : (A), (B),
(D)
24


(B). It contains + The sentences: Seen The best answer is C
more species than land
from far away, it is easy
to realize that landmasses
(C). It contain a
occupy only one-third of
vast majority than life
the Earth's surface. Given
on Earth
that two-thirds of the
(D).It
occupies Earth's surface is water
one- third of the Earth’s and that marine life lives
at all levels of the
surface.
ocean, the total threedimensional living space
of the ocean is perhaps
100
times

greater
than that of land and
contains more than 90
percent of all life on
Earth even though the
ocean has fewer distinct
species.
6. The passage suggests -Determine the paragraph -Factual(stated
detail)
that most rain forest containing
the questions
species are
information:
Based
on
the
(A) insects
+Paragraph 3: based on information in paragraph
the words: rain forest, 3, we3 can see that the
(B) bacteria
species, insects
word “insects
(C) mammals
+The sentences: The fact “ and other related words
that half of the known appear frequently.=> the
(D) birds
species are thought to correct answer is (A)
inhabit the world's rain
-The words bacteria (B),
forests does not seem

mammals(C), birds (D)
surprising, considering
do not appear in the
the huge numbers of
passage
insects that comprise the
bulk of the species. One
scientist found many
different species of ants
25