USING SOME WARM UP ACTIVITIES TO TEACH READING SKILL FOR GRADE 10 STUDENTS AT LONG CHAU SA HIGH SCHOOL. ( Sử dụng một số hoạt động khởi động để dạy kỹ năng đọc cho học sinh lớp 10 trường Trung học phổ thông Long Châu Sa)

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research has been developed for almost seven months with the
responsibility of the researcher and great help from other people.
Firstly, I wish to express my deep gratitude to MA. Nguyen Thi Thu Hang
who has been my trusted guide through the completion of the thesis.
I would like to thank teachers in Science Committee of Foreign Language
Department as choosing my paper, creating favorable condition for me to
accomplish this thesis.
Great acknowledgement is supported by teachers and students in Long
ChauSa high school for their help during my research process especially
students who enthusiastically gave their time to answer the research questions in
this study.
Last but far from least, I am truly grateful to teachers and students at
English department, my family and friends, who are always at be back of me,
providing me with helpful advice, ideas, and special encouragement.
Finally, I wish to share the results of the research with all the people
mentioned above.


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TABLE OF CONTENT


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LIST OF THE TABLES
Table 3.1: The students’ opinion toward reading skill
Table 3.2: Students’ opinion about warm up activities

Table 3.3: The teacher’s opinion about the uses of warm up activities
Table:4.1. Students’ attitude toward the suggested warm up activities
Table 4.2: Students’ evaluation of the suggested warm up activities


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LIST OF THE CHARTS
Chart 3.1: The current situation of using warm up activities
Chart 3.2: The teacher’s opinion toward warm up activities in reading lessons
Chart 3.3: The frequency of using warm up activities in reading lessons
Chart 4.1: The effectiveness of using warm up activities in reading lessons


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ABSTRACT
This research found out the effectiveness of using warm up activities in
reading skill. It gave an introduction emphasizing on reading skill and warm up
activities in the reading lessons which had a number of benefits. Starting a class
with a warm up activities may promote interest among students, set a friendly
environment, increase students’ participation, attract their attention etc. In
theoretical part, it covered details information about reading skill and warm up
activities including the definition; principles, kinds and roles. Most importantly,
the researcher investigated the current situation of teaching and learning reading
skill at Long Chau Sa high school by survey questionnaire and pretest; then she
suggested three warm up activities: using pictures, using videos and using
crossword. In order to test the effect of proposed activities, the researcher
carried out experiment. After that, the author checked the effectiveness by posttest and questionnaire for grade 10A6 students at Long Chau Sa high school.
These activities help students at Long Chau Sa high school loved reading skill.

These activities helped students have attention, motivation and interest when
start reading a long text. They felt comfortable and relaxed and pay attention in
reading lessons without feeling bored and tired. From that they could improve
their reading skill.


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PART A: INTRODUCTION
1.

Rationale
In today’s modern world, English language has become a part of every

existing field. It has been an international language of communication, business,
science, information technology, entertainment and so on. Many countries have
English as their native languages.
English has experienced its popularity in teaching and learning in Vietnam
over the last few decades. Demand for learning English even gets stronger when
Vietnam fosters its international relations. According to Chastain, K (1987):
“English, in parallel with the knowledge of some other fields, turns out to be a
key to open the door into the bustling world”. In any walk of life in Vietnam,
you can find people use English; from the big cities to mountainous areas; from
the international conferences to daily conversations, or just few pidgin words
with the foreign tourists. People learn and use English with different purposes,
but there is a fact that they are trying to learn English with the hope that they can
use it effectively.
Learners of English, naturally and obviously, want to become the masters
of all the four skills. Though there are some who proposed what they need is
speaking a fluent English, other consider listening a tool for the realization of

their goal, there are also some who say writing is necessary because
documenting reports, letters, memos, etc is what they daily deal with in their
office. Learning to read effectively remains the top in the targets of most
learners here. However, most of them say they find it difficult to focus on
reading, and especially to have effective reading. Some even say it is boring to
start reading because there are piles of new words, and lengthy reading texts.
According to Sookchotirat (2005), reading skill is the most important skill
as it is the basis of all the success in one's life. Reading is not only the mother of
all skills that helps the students leant other skills but also plays an important role
in enriching the students' general knowledge and in helping them with their
further study later. Good readers can gain more knowledge of any kind from


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reading. Reading makes the reader more knowledgeable, have wider
perspectives and vision. Reading helps the reader get new ideas leading to
cognitive development. When the readers transfer what they read to apply with
their own idea a new perspective or idea is created.
Typically, a reading lesson consists of three stages: pre - reading, while reading and post - reading. The warm up activities are taught at the pre reading.
It is considered the most important because in this stage, warm up activities help
students have attention, motivation and interest when start reading a long text.
They felt comfortable and relaxed with great attention in reading lessons without
feeling bored and tired. From that they can improve their reading skill. So in the
process of teaching reading, the teacher should have warm up activities to
motivate the learners in order that they could achieve the most comprehension
from the reading.
From this facts, I choose “Using some warm up activities to teach reading
skill for grade 10 students at Long Chau Sa high school” According to this
research, the author hopes that she will get effectiveness when teaching reading

skill using warm up activities.
2. Purpose of the research
For the reasons mentioned above, this study is carried out to make a small
contributions to the improvement in teaching English in general and in teaching
reading skill in particular for teachers and students at Long Chau Sa high school.
The purpose of this study:
-

Using some warm-up activities to teach reading skill for grade 10 students at

-

LCS high school.
Evaluate the effectiveness of these activities in teaching and learning reading
skill.
3. The research methods
In order to accomplish this study systematically and adequately, the following
methods have been used:
- Theoretical method: to study the related documents to give some knowledge
about reading skill and warm up activities.


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- Investigative and survey method: To fulfill this study, three survey
questionnaires, two for students and teachers before experiment and another for
student after experiment and the tests are delivered to the students to evaluate
the effectiveness of suggested warm up activities
- Analysis method: to get the data from many different materials related to the
study, analyzing to get the final results.

- Comparison method: to compare the result form the test before and after
experiment.
4. Research questions
The study will find the answer for the following question:
1. What warm up activities are used for teaching reading to grade 10students at
Long Chau Sa high school?
2. How effective are warm up activities for learning reading of the grade 10
students at Long Chau Sa high school?
5. Previous research
5.1. In the world
Md. Mesbahul Haque (2010), Using pre reading activities to help learners
comprehend a text better in Brac University. The research aimed at the
effectiveness of pre-reading activities in the comprehension of a text better. To
find out the appropriateness of this hypothesis data was collected by taking a
class of higher secondary level of students. The result shows that the
performance of the students with pre-reading activities is much better than that
of the students without pre-reading activities. Therefore, it can be suggested that
there is a dire necessity of pre-reading activities in ESL classroom and the ESL
teachers should use pre-reading activities. They should also be very careful in
choosing the type of pre-reading activities because different texts demand
different types of tasks and activities. However, this research involves a few
students. Therefore I would like to work on the same area in a broader context
and with more students in future.


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Kaiy (2006) studies activities to enhance reading in a second language in
University of Nevada. The author recommends a lot of activities that can be
used to improve student’ interested in reading lessons. He suggested that using

of different activities in teaching and learning foreign language is the most
effective way to motivate students to speak.
Brown (2001) lists some important micro skills that learners should use in
reading tasks in Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. According to
him, students should follow some principles for designing interactive reading
techniques, such as: Don’t overlook the importance of specific instruction in
reading skills (balance extensive and silent reading), use techniques that are
motivating, balance authentic texts, encourage the development of reading
strategies include both bottom-up and top-down techniques, subdivide the
techniques into pre-reading, during-reading and after-reading phases.
5.2. In Viet Nam
Le Thi Thuy Dung (2013), with the study on “using timed- reading
activities to increase tenth grade’s reading rate fluency at Tran Phu High School,
Vinh Phu province: An action research”, she examined the effectiveness of
timed reading activity in increasing 10th graders’ reading speed and their fluency.
This study also has investigated into the students’ attitudes towards tied reading
activity. The results obtained from the analyzed data show that the use of timed
reading helped raise students, reading rate and comprehension, especially in fast
reader group. Furthermore, most of the students expressed positive attitudes
towards timed reading activity.
Le Minh Duyen (2015) carried out a study on the use of some activities to
improve reading comprehension for grade 10 students at Chan Mong high
school. During the process of carrying out research, the researcher discovered
the fact that lots of the students having many difficulties in learning reading
comprehension skill. Their difficulties come out from lack of reading skill, lack
of vocabulary and lack of background knowledge. In order to improve and


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enhance students’ reading comprehension, the researcher proposed some
activities to deal with current situation. Moreover, after carrying experiment
teaching, giving the posttest for students, collecting them and applying some
proposed activities, the researcher got a result of the study. This result is quite
satisfactory because the number of students got bad marks in reading test
reduced considerably. These activities are very helpful to both the teachers and
students in teaching and learning English in general and English reading
comprehension in particular.
Nguyen Thi Hai Lam (2005) studied on Using five minute activities to
warm up the language classroom. This study addresses the factual role of the
warming up activities in the high school and the attitudes of teachers to this
problem, and also, it give the need short activities in the lesson time and list of
5-minute activities and procedures to help teacher especially young teachers
make the first 5 minutes useful in each lesson in order to achieve a totally
successful teaching and learning result. That helps all teachers and students
more aware of the great learning value of warming up the class to motivate
pupils and make use of the short moment at the start of the lesson.
Overview of the research shows that there are many authors studying on
warm up activities for teaching and learning in the world as well as in the Viet
Nam such as: Using pre reading activities to help learners comprehend a text
better in Brac University written by Md. Mesbahul Haque (2010); Activities to
enhance reading in a second language in University of Nevada by Kaiy (2006);
“using timed- reading activities to increase tenth grade’s reading rate fluency by
Le Thi Thuy Dung (2013); Using five minute activities to warm up the language
classroom by Nguyen Thi Hai Lam (2005)…Those previous research provided
valuable information indicating that using warm up activities helped students
improve reading comprehension but there have not been any researches that go
into study on warm up activities for reading lessons to raise students’ attitude
toward reading skill, from that help to improve reading skill based on currents
situation of the application.

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Moreover, there have no researches about using warm up activities to
teach reading skill for grade 10 students. This is the first time the study “Using
some warm up activities to teach reading skill for grade 10 students at Long
Chau Sa high school” is carried out at Hung Vuong University. So, I will choose
research about this issue with hope that this method can help the lesson more
interesting, effective to the teachers and students.
6. Scope of the research
This study focuses on some warm up activities to teach reading skill for grade
10A6 students at Long Chau Sa high school of the research
7. Outline of the study
The study consists of 3 parts, references and appendices
PART A: INTRODUCTION
Part A presents the overview of the study including the rationale for the research,
previous researches, research purpose, research questions, significance of the
research, scope of the research and design of the study.
PART B: STUDY
This part consists of 4 chapters
Chapter 1: Literature review, deals with the previous researches about reading,
warm up activities and warm up activities for teaching reading skill.
Chapter 2: Methodology, provides detailed information about the participants of
the study, and focuses on some reasons for choosing and description of the data
collection instrument and research procedure.
Chapter 3:Current situation of teaching reading skill for grade 10 students at
LCS high school, focuson the current situation as well as some findings from the
data analysis. From this, the researcher suggests some warm up activities to
teach reading skill.

Chapter 4: Experiment, is doing experimental teaching in which some warm up
activities are applied to teach reading skill for grade 10A6 students at Long
Chau Sa high school.
PART C: CONCLUSION


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In this part, the researcher summarizes the major findings recorded from
the study, gives implications, presents the limitations of the study, and provides
some suggestions for further.


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PART B: STUDY
CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
1.1. Overview of reading skill
1.1.1. Definition of reading skill
Attempts have been made to give a definition of what reading is. However,
the act of reading is not completely understood nor easily described.
Pegolo (1985) defines “reading involves the reader, the text, and the interaction
between the reader and the text”. It means the role of learners and reading texts
are placed an important position in reading act.
According to Goodman (1971), reading is “a psycholinguistic process by which
the reader, a language users, reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has
been encoded by a writer as a graphic display”, and the act of reconstruction is
viewed as “a cyclical process of sampling, predicting, testing and confirming.”
Harmer (1989) views reading from a different perspective. He considers
reading as a mechanical process that “eyes receive the message and the brain has

to work out the significance of the message.”
Reading is the process of acquisition such messages from writing text or
another sources. Carell (1989) said that, reading is a respective language
process. It is a psycholinguistic process in that it starts with a linguistic surface
representation encoded by a writer and ends with meaning which reader
constructed. There is an essential interaction between language and the though
in reading. The writer encodes thought as language and the reader decodes
language thought. When a reader interacts with print, his prior knowledge
combined with the print and the visual (written) information results in his
comprehending the message. By reading, the reader will know what they read
and challenged to response the ideas of the author.


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The definition above explains that reading is combination of word
recognition, intellect, and emotion interrelated with prior knowledge to
understand the message communicated. By reading the reader will know what
they read and challenged to response the ideas of the author. In order to make
the messages or information that comes from the author can be understand and s
comprehended easily by the reader.
In short, reading be viewed as the meaning full interpretation or printed or
written verbal symbols. For the beginner, reading is concertinaed mainly with
learning to recognize the printed symbols that represent language and respond
intellectually and emotionally when being asked about the context of the text he
has read. The reasoning side of reading becomes increasingly important as word
recognition is mastered. As proficiency in reading increases, individual learn to
adapt their reading strategies in accordance with the purpose for reading
restriction imposed by the material. The nature of reading tasks, therefore,
changed as learner progress to the mature levels. Reading is not one skill but a

large number of highly interrelated skills that develop gradually over the year,
Harris (1990).
In general, reading is defined in many different ways depend on each
person’ view and his/her study purpose. Hence, it is not easy to give a
completely exact definition on this term. However, a definition can be
summarized basing on above definitions is that: Reading is a complex process in
which written or printed material is decoded by readers in order to get writer’s
message.
1.1.2. Classification of reading
It is necessary for the students to be aware of the purpose and goals for reading a
particular piece of written text. The important notice for both the teachers and
learners is that the purpose of reading related to the types of reading skills. The
subjects will attain their goals quickly and efficiently if they apply appropriate
reading skills. Kenneth Beare (2000) an ESL trainer and developer, points out


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that there are 6 main types of reading skills according to two ways of
classification:
1.1.2.1.Classification according to manner
Reading, according to manner, is divided into reading aloud and
silent reading
a. Reading aloud
“Reading aloud involves looking at the text, understanding it and also
saying it.”(Doff,1988). Though reading aloud is considered a way to convey
necessary information to the others, it is unpopular activity outside classroom.
For the teachers reading aloud is more of a speaking exercise of pronunciation.
In fact, reading aloud proves itself to be advantageous for the learners
because it helps them make the connection between sounds and spelling of

letters and words and assists the teachers to check learners’ pronunciation.
However, there are contradictory opinions about it, Greenwood(1985) criticizes
the overemphasis of the purpose of “teaching pronunciation” through reading
aloud
As for Doff (1988), reading aloud is not a very useful technique for some
reasons: Firstly, only one student is active at a time, the others are either not
listening at all or listening to a bad model. Secondly, students’ attention is
focused on pronunciation, not on understanding the text. Thirdly, it is an
unnatural activity, most people do not read aloud in real life. Lastly, because
students usually read slowly, it takes up a lot of time in class.
By whispering the words while reading, reading aloud slows the reader
down and forces him to read every word so it can distract him from
understanding the text.
b. Silent reading
Silent reading is the activity we usually engage in when we read books,
newspapers, advertisements, etc. Silent reading is widely used in both real life
and classroom, and “it is the method we normally use with our native language,
and on the whole the quickest and most efficient” (Lewis, 1985:110). With silent


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reading we can best understand the reading materials in the shortest possible
time because we do not need to read all the words in the text, we can read at our
own speed and if we do not understand what we are reading, we can read again
or slow down for intensive reading. For the teachers, silent reading is helpful for
controlling the class. In silent reading, students are in fact concentrating on the
text, obtaining the meaning and extracting what they need.
In short, silent reading is the most useful and practical way to develop the
students’ reading ability. However, it is more beneficial when the teacher

sometimes combines it with reading aloud to improve students’ pronunciation
and intonation because reading aloud also has its own advantages.
1.1.2.2 According to purposes of reading
According to purposes, reading is categorized into four types: skimming,
scanning, extensive reading, and intensive reading.
a. Skimming
Skimming is used to quickly gather the most important information, or
'gist'. According to Grellet, F. (1981) “When skimming, we go through the
reading material quickly in order to get the gist of it, to know how it is
organized, or to get an idea of the tone or the intention of the writer.”
Hedge, T. (2000) states that “Skim reading is used to get a global
impression of the content of a text. An example would be previewing a long
magazine article by reading rapidly, skipping large chunks of information, and
focusing on headings and first lines of paragraphs.”
b. Scanning
Scanning occurs when a reader looks quickly through the text searching
for a specific piece of information or to see if the text is suitable for a specific
reading purpose. Hedge,T. (2000) points out that “Scanning involves searching
rapidly through a text to find a specific point of information, for example, the
relevant times on a timetable, items in a directory, or key points in a academic
text.”


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Scanning is the reading skill we use when we want to find the answer to a
specific question. Like skimming, scanning is a useful reading skill that may at
first strange to a learner who is used to reading everything in a foreign language
with the same degree of attention. Though these two reading techniques are
important for quick and efficient read, they should not be selected separately.

c. Intensive reading
Intensive reading “involves approaching the text under the guidance of a
teacher or a task which forces the students to focus on the text” (Nuttall, 2000).
In the view of Brown (2001), intensive reading “is usually a classroom-oriented
activity in which students focus on the linguistic or semantic details of a
passage”.
Grellet, F. (1981) states that “Intensive reading means reading short text to
extract specific information. This is an accuracy activity involving reading for
detailed”. 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.
Through intensive reading, the reader must arrive at a profound and detailed
understanding of logical arguments, the rhetorical arrangement, the pattern of
the text, the attitude and purposes of the writer and his linguistic means to
achieve his purposes. In other words, intensive reading is reading for accuracy
which is essential to the students’ comprehension.
d. Extensive reading
Extensive reading is used to obtain a general understanding of a subject
and includes reading longer texts for pleasure, as well as business books. Use
extensive reading skills to improve our general knowledge of business
procedures. Grellet, F. (1981) points out “Extensive reading means reading
longer texts, usually for one’s pleasure. This is a fluency activity, mainly
involving global understanding”. What is more, Nuttall, C. (2000) argues that
“getting students to read extensively is the easiest and most effective way of
improving their reading skills” Extensive reading is considered to be useful for
students’ self-learning. Their reading habit and passion for reading are also


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formed through extensive reading. Students can choose the topics they like and

read for their own purpose for pleasure or entertainment. However, it is more
effective if students’ extensive reading is followed an instructional program with
the help of the reading teacher.
In short, 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.
1.1.3

Principles for teaching reading skill
According to the Nuttall (2000), carried out the Top ten principles for

teaching reading, Oxford University Press. In order for the teaching of EFL
reading to be effective, it is important for teachers to regularly take stock of their
perception of the nature of the reading process itself, relevant reading activities,
and appropriate class-room management. The following are his ‘top ten’
principles:
1. In the absence of interesting texts, very little is possible. An obvious
principle, but one which is often forgotten. Interest is vital, for it increases
motivation, which in turn is a significant factor in the development of reading
speed and fluency. Interesting to whom? First and foremost to the learner, but
preferably interesting also to the teacher.
2. The primary activity of a reading lesson should be learners reading
texts- not listening to the teacher, not reading comprehension questions, not
writing answers to comprehension questions, not discussing the content of the
text. This is not to say that such activities are unimportant; but it is a question of
balance. Of course, if the objective of a particular lesson is the integration of the
reading activity with another skill (e.g an associated writing task), then the

lesson will justifiably have two equally important activities. But my emphasis on
the primacy of learners reading in a single-skill ‘reading only’ lesson is to stress
that the central activity of learners reading must not be allowed to become


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submerged in a welter of peripheral supportive activities. Learners learn to read
by reading: there is no other way.
3. Growth in language ability is an essential part of the development of
reading ability. The pendulum in recent years has swung towards an emphasis
on teaching appropriate skills and strategies. This re-orientation is welcome; but
we must not forget that the best skills and strategies in the world will have little
effect unless learners are simultaneously expanding their ‘sight’ vocabulary, and
their recognition knowledge of commonly occurring sentence patterns and
rhetorical patterning in text. In fact, Alderson (1984), having reviewed the
relevant literature, suggests that a minimum language threshold is necessary
before reading skills and strategies (including their transfer from the mother
tongue) can successfully operate.
4. Classroom procedure should reflect the purposeful, task-based,
interactive nature of real reading. A psycholinguistic model of the reading
process (Goodman 1970) holds that the reader is actively engaged in striving to
reconstruct the author’s message. He or she participates in an internal dialogue
in which hypotheses are formed, predictions made, doubts expressed,
uncertainties subsequently clarified, new information grafted on to old, old
views modified by new, etc. Reading is thus not only active but interactive-just
as interactive as audible conversation.
5. Teachers must team to be quiet: all too often, teachers interfere with
and so impede their learners’ reading development by being too dominant and
by talking too much. Although it can and should be fostered by collaborative

group work, in the final analysis reading is an individual skill, like swimming or
playing the piano. It has to be practiced under guidance, with copious
encouragement, and with carefully set goals. The teacher’s role is therefore less
that of information-giver/text-explainer, and more that of coach/classroom
organizer/trouble-shooter/consultant/personnel manager/catalyst. This latter role
is a far more professional one (and far more demanding!) than that of
straightforward text-explainer/question-asker.


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6. Exercise-types should, as far as possible, approximate to cognitive
reality. Since the purpose of teaching reading is to make the learner a more
efficient reader, it follows that we need to identify the strategies, skills, and
objectives of the efficient reader during the process of real reading (as opposed
to the classroom teaching of reading), and then help the learner to acquire them.
In other words we need to identify just what the efficient reader does (by
examining our own cognitive processes, perhaps).
investigations of the reading process (self-report, self-observation, and
think-aloud), focusing on individual case-studies, are throwing very interesting
light on what readers do during the process of reading (Cohen 1984; Hosenfeld
1984). We must now apply the fruits of this growing body of knowledge to the
creation of more appropriate exercise-types.
7. A learner will not become a proficient reader simply by attending a
reading course or working through a reading textbook. For every hour of
intensive reading, a learner should be doing at least another hour of extensive
reading by means of a graded reader system, a collection of carefully-chosen
texts, simple paperbacks, etc. It does not matter very much what learners read in
extensive reading, as long as they enjoy doing it. A system of graded readers is,
of course, one of the most effective ways of promoting extensive reading.

Nuttall (1982) gives excellent advice concerning setting up and administering
such a scheme.
8. A reader contributes meaning to a text. Reading is not simply a
matter of taking out (information, opinion, enjoyment, etc.), like shopping at a
supermarket; it also involves contributing (attitudes, experience, prior
knowledge, etc.). This natural characteristic of real reading must be encouraged
and developed in teaching EFL reading. This can be done by including questions
or tasks which require readers to combine what is in their heads with what is in
the text. (Such questions and tasks can be indicated by a symbol as if necessary)
9. Progress in reading requires learners to use their ears, as well as their
eyes. As with audible reading, silent reading involves stress and intonation or
prosody, the greater the degree of comprehension. Therefore, learners should be


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encouraged also to listen to texts—such as tapes accompanying graded readers,
specially recorded tapes, the teacher reading to the class, older learners reading
to younger learners, and better readers reading to weaker readers in their group.
10.Using a text does not necessarily equal teaching reading. Texts can be
used for many different purposes. For example, it is perfectly sensible to use a
text to demonstrate a certain grammatical or functional point in context, as a
trigger for further work on that point. But it would be a mistake to think that one
was thereby teaching reading. Johns and Davies (1983) make the important
distinction between what they call TALO (text as linguistic object) and TAVI
(text as vehicle for information). In TALO, the text is a carrier for the teaching
of language grammar, vocabulary, etc. which is laboriously ‘mined’ from the
text by the teacher and learners (usually with the teacher as chief miner). This a
perfectly justifiable use of text as one way of teaching language: but it
contributes very little to the development of learners’ reading skills.

1.1.4 Factors effecting learning reading skill
According to Dennis (2008), reading comprehension is a complex process
between identifying printed symbols and interpreting the meaning behind the
symbols. Some factors affect reading comprehension skill. They are complexity
of the reading text, environmental influences, anxiety during reading
comprehension, interest and motivation, decoding or word recognition speed,
and medical problems. Dennis pointed out some factors as follow:
One of the factors that impacts learners’ reading comprehension is the
complexity of the texts. This factor is influenced by the readers’ strength and
fluency in language and their comprehending of its applications and different
meanings. Oral abilities have a significant part in identifying how skilled a
reader can be because learners hear words and obtain a lot of vocabulary. A lot
of vocabulary assist learners in explaining the unknown words through applying
the opinions of context.
The second factor related to the environmental conditions that impact
the learners who try to read a passage. Readers may have a lot of problems to


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understand a text in an unorganized environment than those who read in a
calm and controlled place. If learners are in an unsafe place, they find it
difficult to focus on their reading. When they are in safe environments, their
reading comprehension ability will better. Readers will lose their
concentration in understanding a text when there are noises like televisions or
radios.
The third factor is pertinent to the anxiety during reading comprehension.
Examinations, class work, or homework situations can put more pressure on
readers’ reading than reading for enjoyment. Some learners react positively to
examinations while others are overwhelmed by the pressure to carry out a

reading activity. Learners who experience this anxiety may not completely
understand the instructions and this may lead to confusion and poor
comprehension of the reading task.
The fourth factor is interest and motivation. According to Dennis (2008),
learners’ interest and motivation are very important in developing reading
comprehension skill. If readers find the reading material monotonous, they will
have a lot of problems in concentrating on their comprehension. This can lead to
a lowering of reading comprehension among readers. If the reading material is
interesting for learners they can easily understand it and can remember it clearly.
EFL teachers should motivate their learners through providing interesting
reading materials during their class time.
The fifth factor is related to decoding or word recognition speed. Readers
who have problems in decoding and recognizing words read slowly and find it
more difficult to understand the meaning of passages than those without
decoding problems. She expressed that vocabulary influences the reading
comprehension skill because readers apply decoding skills to understand the
pronunciation and meaning of words they have not seen before. Persons who
have enough vocabulary can clarify the meaning or reading passages faster than
those who should guess the meaning of unfamiliar words according to the clues
of context (Dennis, 2008).


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The last factor is concerned with the medical problems. According to Hill.
(1990) poor reading comprehension skill may be related to the medical difficulty
that does not get addressed until the child is older. This involves undiagnosed
ADD (attention deficit disorder), speech problems, and hearing impairments.
She emphasized that learners with speech and hearing difficulties are less likely
to take part in oral reading and class discussions. These are the two activities

that help learners improve their reading comprehension skill.
1.1.5 The importance of reading skill
Most scholars would agree that reading is one of the most important skills
for educational and professional success (Alderson, 1984). In highlighting the
importance of reading comprehension Rivers (1987) stated that “reading is the
most important activity in any language class, not only as a source of
information and a pleasurable activity, but also as a means of consolidating and
extending one’s which are knowledge of the language”.
Reading promotes the learners’ other language skills. Krashen (1981)
confirms that those who read more, have larger vocabularies, do better on test of
grammar and write better (Kim & Krashen, 1997). Chastian (1987) while
accepting the significance of reading for meaning claimed that all reading
activities serve to facilitate communication fluency in each of the other language
skills.
1.2 Overview of warm up activities
1.2.1. Definition of warm up activities
Oxford dictionary defines warm up activity as something that you do prepare
yourself for an activity, especially gentle exercises before a physical activity.
Other related terms of warm up activities are stirring activities or ice- breakers.
Alderson (1984) points out that warm up activities are designed to attract
students’ attention, to help them put aside distracting thoughts, and to get them
ready to focus individually and as groups on whatever activities that follow. He


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also expresses that the key issue in generating interest is to widen the student’s
appetite.
According to Kayi (2006), warm up activity is an effective way to help
the students begin to think in English and to review previously introduced

material.
Nguyen Bang (2000) recommends warm up activity or warm up or lead in, as he
names, as one kind of class activities. He suggests that a warm up activity is an
activity designed at the beginning of the lesson to create a comfortable class
atmosphere or to prepare for students readiness and knowledge for the new
lesson. This kind of activity often takes no more than five minutes but it plays a
very important role in deciding the success for the lesson.
On a well- known website brought to English teachers and learners by
Larsen- Freeman. D. (1986), warm up activity is defined as “an activity
designed to get things started, to wake up tired students (and teachers), and
prepare brains, mouths, ears and eyes for English”.
Basing on all the ideas above, the definition which can be drawn out is
that warm up activity is a kind of short activities which is used to break the “ice”
in classroom and make it “hot” from the beginning of each period of language
class. They are short, simple and interesting enough to motivate students to learn
a foreign language better.
1.2.2. Types of warm up activities
1.2.2.1. Using pictures
a. Overview of pictures
As Hill (1990) pointed out, “the standard classroom” is usually not a very
suitable environment for learning languages. That is why teachers search for
various aids and stimuli to improve this situation. Pictures are one of these
valuable aids. They bring “images of reality into the unnatural world of the
language classroom.” (Hill, 1990) Pictures bring not only images of reality, but
can also function as a fun element in the class. Sometimes it is surprising, how
pictures may change a lesson, even if only employed in additional exercises or


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just to create the atmosphere. Pictures meet with a wide range of use not only in
acquiring vocabulary, but also in many other aspects of foreign language
teaching. Hill (1990) demonstrated this fact on an example, where he used one
compiled picture and illustrated the possibility of use in five different language
areas. His example shows employing pictures in teaching structure, vocabulary,
functions, situations and all four skills.
Furthermore he pointed out that “potential of pictures is so great that
only a taste of their full potential can be given” in his book (Wright, 1990).
To be more specific, beside lessons where pictures are in the main focus, they
might be used just as a “stimulus for writing and discussion, as an illustration
of something being read or talked about, as background to a topic and so on”
(Hill 1990)
However, “pictures have their limitations too”. (McCarthy 1992). For
example, in teaching vocabulary, pictures are not suitable or sufficient for
demonstrating the meaning of all words. (McCarthy 1992).It is hard to illustrate
the meaning of some words, especially the abstract ones such as ‘opinion’ or
‘impact’. Therefore, in some cases, other tools are used to demonstrate the
meaning (see chapter 2.2 of the Theoretical Part), or alternatively pictures might
be supplemented by other tools.
Pictures, being suitable for any group of learners independently on age or
level, can be used in lots of various ways. As Hill (1990) stated, “What is done
is limited only by the preparation time available, the visuals to hand and the
imagination of the individual teacher.”
Hill (1990) listed several advantages of pictures, such as availability (one
can get them in any magazines, on the internet, etc.); they are cheap, often free;
they are personal (teacher selects them); flexibility - easily kept, useful for
various types of activities (drilling, comparing, etc), they are “always fresh and
different”, which means they come in a variety of formats and styles and
moreover the learner often wonders what comes next. (Hill 1990) From my
experience, learners always pay attention and are curious about what are they

going to do with the pictures shown. However, there is always a downside: it can