ADAPTING READING TASKS IN THE TEXTBOOK “TIẾNG ANH 10” TO FACILITATE 10TH GRADERS’ READING COMPREHENSION AT NHU THANH SECO

PART 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale of the study
In teaching and learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL), reading
has always received a great deal of attention. According to Carrell [3; p.1] “for
many students, reading is by far the most important of the four macro-skills,
particularly in English as a second or foreign language”; sharing the same point
of view, Richard [11; p.15] shows that “Becoming an effective and fluent reader
in another language has a number of important benefits for learner.”
Undoubtedly, reading has become not only an important means to gain and
enrich the students’ general knowledge but also an essential means to help them
with their further study in future. Unfortunately, teaching and learning reading
skill at high schools are still far from satisfactory for various reasons. Despite
the teacher’s effort, students’ motivation is still low and reading lessons are said
to be the boring one.
English language teaching materials in general and textbooks in particular
play the role of tool, tutor, guide book. These roles are especially significant in
EFL contexts including Vietnam, where textbooks are regarded as a staple in
almost all EFL classes. Textbooks are useful source of language input and
guidance for both teachers and learners. Despite the development of technology
and the growth of computer-assisted language learning, it is unlikely that
textbooks will disappear. In teaching and learning reading skill in particular, the
role of textbooks is even more important than in teaching any other language
skills or grammar and vocabulary because when reading, students have to pay
much attention to the printed texts in order to understand them. However,
available textbooks are not completely good for all teaching contexts.
Accordingly, it is necessary for teachers to be well-equipped with assessment
tools evaluate materials and more importantly, recommendation to adapt the
materials to ensure that students are using the highest quality texts, and their
language knowledge and skills are improved. Nevertheless, there has been little
investigation into how to adapt material.
The second reason for my choice is that there have been diverse opinions

of both teachers and learners on the actual effectiveness of the reading tasks in
the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’ by Hoang Van Van, which has been used to teach
the 10th grade students at high schools. There have been arguments on both the
potentials and limitations of the reading tasks in this textbook and the needs and
references of teachers and learners who are using it. This school year, when
working with the students in the mountainous areas, I have met a lot of
difficulties in which the biggest challenges emerge from teaching reading
comprehension. My colleagues in the school have also confronted a number of
troubles, one of which was students’ lack of motivation to learn foreign language
in general and reading skill in particular. Despite the teacher’s efforts, the
problems are not better. For example, some students stated that they found
reading lessons boring and did not feel they had learnt much in class. Therefore,
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the reading tasks need taking into more consideration by adapting to teach
reading skill to the students. This is the reason why I myself focus on “Adapting
reading tasks in the textbook ‘Tiếng Anh 10’ to facilitate 10 th graders’ reading
comprehension” with some common adapting techniques in the hope of
increasing students’ motivation, arousing their interest, and thus enhancing their
positive attitudes towards learning reading lessons.
1.2. Purpose of the study
This study aims at helping to improve reading comprehension for the 10 th
graders at Nhu Thanh secondary & high school in Thanh Hoa province by using
some techniques of adapting the materials to facilitate and encourage them in
learning reading lesson in the textbook “Tieng Anh 10”. In order to achieve the
aims and objectives of the thesis, the following research questions were
proposed:
(1) What are students’ attitudes towards the reading tasks in the textbook
‘Tieng Anh 10’?

(2) To what extent can the adaptation of the tasks help to facilitate the
students’ reading comprehension?
1.3. Scope of the study
The study was carried out to two groups of the students of the class 10B 5
at Nhu Thanh secondary & high school in Thanh Hoa Province, and it was
conducted in 8 weeks of the second semester of the academic year.
1.4. Method of the study
This study using qualitative and quantitative research method aimed to
determine whether reading task adaptation can enhance students’ r e a d i n g
comprehension skills o r have a positive affect on the ability of students to
make sense of what they read. The author used data collection instrument to
gather information about the students involved, monitor the progress of the
students when they are exposed to some task adapting during the lectures to
determine the effectiveness of the material adaptation based on the students’
pre-test, post-test result
The pre-tests were indispensible to assess the reading comprehension
level before the intervention of the strategy and used as a baseline score. The
post-tests were used to determine the effectiveness of the strategy used by
the students during the experiment process by comparing the pre-test scores to
the posttest scores taken at the end of the study. The students’ attitudes (shown in
answered questionnaires) were also a reliable data for the teacher to conclude the
hypothesis.

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PART 2: DEVELOPMENT
2.1. Literature Review
2.1.1. Reading skill
Reading is known as a receptive process that connected the reader with

the text, making comprehension. The text displays letters, words, sentences,
and paragraphs that express meaning. The reader manipulates knowledge,
skills, and strategies to decide what that meaning is. Up to now reading has
been described differently by lots of academics.
Harmer [6; p.153] shares his ideas “reading is an exercise dominated by
the eyes and the brain. The eyes receive messages and the brain then has to
work out the significance of these messages”. Clearly, ideas of reading have
been diverse in exploiting words and expressions but they all focus on two
actions: studying with eyes and comprehending with brains of which the
latter is more significant. The most obvious thing in the latter is that the
readers not only look at and understand the meaning of what is written but
also read authors’ thinking.
2.1.2. Reading comprehension
Many studies confirm that the final goal of reading instruction is
comprehension and one of the most important goals of skilled reading is
decoding and understanding written text. However, the decoding and the ability
to recognize words in texts are only the beginning stages of reading and reading
comprehension. Grellet [5; p.3] states that “understanding a written text means
extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible.” He also
shows the examples in which a good reader will omit unnecessary information
and find out what he or she is searching for.
In another word, reading comprehension can be defined as “a fluent
process of readers combining information from a text and their own background
knowledge to build meaning. Reading becomes meaningless without
comprehension since only reading comprehension can appreciate how much
readers get the text. Therefore, how to aid students in having efficient reading
comprehension methods is considered to be the most powerful task in teaching
reading.
For the student with limited English language proficiency, limited
English vocabulary, and lack of strategy awareness, the printed page may

pose overwhelming obstacles. When teachers understand the process nature
of reading and have strategies available for use at each stage, the assignment
of reading can be a more rewarding activity. When students are able to engage
with text in an active and focused way, their time spent will reap benefits of
greater content learning and enhanced literacy.
2.1.3. Defining task and task-based language teaching and learning
Applied since 1980s, task-based language teaching (TBLT) is a
communicative approach to language instruction, using the successful
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completion of communicative tasks as its primary organizing principle. In taskbased teaching, learners will upgrade their language competence by focusing on
getting something done during using of the language. Moreover, learners are
encouraged to use whatever language they already have in the process of
completing a task. The use of tasks will also give a clear and purposeful context
for the teaching and learning a language.
Obviously, task-based approach focuses on communication with real
situation and employs tasks as the main means of teaching and learning. Many
of definitions concentrate on different aspects of what constitutes a task. One of
the most widely quoted definitions for task is offered by Long [7; p.89]. He
refers to a task as “a piece of work undertaken for oneself or for others, freely
or for some rewards. Thus examples of tasks include […] filling out a form,
buying a pair of shoes, making an airline reservation, borrowing a library book,
taking a driving test, typing a letter, […], making a hotel reservation, writing a
check, finding a street destination and helping someone across the road. In
other words, by “task” is meant the hundred and one things people do in
everyday life, at work, at play, and in between”. Similarly, Nunan [10; p.10]
describes “task” as a piece of classroom work which involves learners in
comprehending, producing or interacting in the target language while their
attention is principally focused on meaning rather than form.

In spite of a variety of interpretations, several common design features
can be identified. These features include that all three definitions emphasize the
importance of focus on meaning. This criterion supports the notion that
conveying an intended meaning is the essence of language use.
2.1.4. Definition of adaptation
Tomlinson [12: p.xiv] stated that adaptation is “making changes to
materials in order to improve them or to make them more suitable for a
particular type of learner”. Relating to adaptation techniques, Madsen and
Bowen [2; p. xi-ix] indicate that adaptation is the action of employing “one or
more number of techniques: supplementing, editing, expanding, personalizing,
simplifying, modernizing, localizing, or modifying cultural/ situational content”.
However, McDonough and Shaw [8; p.9] emphasize the teacher’s role in
bridging a gap between materials and learners “the teacher must satisfy the
demand of the textbook, but in ways that will be fulfilling to those who learn
from it”.
In summary, adaptation technique requires teachers to revise and adjust
materials in order that they could be more practical and accessible to the
teaching context.
2.1.5. Questionnaires
The survey questionnaire is a useful instrument and widely applied to data
collection for the research. The attractions for using questionnaires have to be
counted by the time taken to develop, pilot and refine. Moreover, this research
methodology is carried out with low cost and less pressure. The analysis of
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answers to closed questions is relatively straightforward. However, the honesty
of answers to questionnaires is impossible to be checked. The participants can
choose the answers they think are the best not the thing they really do. In this
study, the survey questionnaire was used to collect information about students’

attitudes towards reading skill, reading tasks in learning English. In order to
avoid misunderstanding and ensure the accuracy of the data, the questionnaires
should be written in Vietnamese.
2.1.6. Pre-test and Post-test
According to Cohen [4; p.5], tests are seen as “a powerful method of data
collection”. So as to evaluate the changes of the students’ reading
comprehension, the researcher need to build two reading tests: Pre-test and Posttest. These tests aim to discover how much improvement the students gain in
reading whereby the effectiveness of the teaching is demonstrated. The topics
and contents of the tests have to be relevant to students’ reading lessons. In
preparing the tests, the researcher tried to guarantee the equal value in terms of
vocabulary, content and difficult level. Each test consisted of one reading
passage, which was followed by five multiple choice questions. The participants
were required to read the passages to choose the best answer for each question.
The time allowance for each test was fifteen minutes. To ensure that the tests
could give a reliable result for the research questions, the researcher bore in
mind such qualities of a good test as validity, reliability and practicality. The
pre-test was delivered before the intervention and the post-test was conducted
after the intervention.
2.2. Reasons for adapting tasks
Though textbook writers make great effort to meet the needs of the
intended users, teachers still have to adapt the materials they are using if they
want their teaching to be more interesting and effective. In fact, a course book
can never be totally an effective tool for all teachers to follow without any
adaptation since there might be intrinsic deficiencies such as linguistic
inaccuracies, out-of-datedness, and lack of authenticity or lack of variety.
Another reason for adaptation, as clarified by McDough and Shaw [8;
p.85] is “to maximize the appropriateness of teaching materials in context, by
changing some of internal characteristics of a course book to better suit our
particular circumstances”. Teachers may choose any method to adapt the
teaching materials in order to make them more relevant, accessible and useful to

learners, which can stimulate learners’ motivation and improve learners’
achievement during learning process.
Relating to the role of motivation in language learning, McGrath [9; p.65]
acknowledges that one of the practical reasons for adaptation is “to maintain
learners’ interests by varying what might be a rather repetitive diet”. It is
motivation that affects the extent of students’ involvement and performance in
language learning.
2.3. Types of the adaptation exploited in the study
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There is a wide range of adaptation techniques that teachers can apply
when teaching reading with hope of helping students make maximum use of the
textbook and learn as much the target language as possible. In the small context
of the study, two types of adaptation have been exploited as follows:
* Simplifying: When simplifying, the teacher could be rewording instructions
or text in order to make them more accessible to learners, or simplifying a
complete activity to make it more manageable for learners and teachers.
* Reordering: When reordering, the teacher has decided that it makes more
pedagogic sense to sequence activities differently. An example is beginning with
a general discussion before looking at a reading passage rather than using the
reading as a basis for discussion.
On the whole, adaptation is a very practical activity realized mainly by the
teachers in order to make their work more relevant to the learners with whom
they are daily contact. Moreover, it is a fact that no published textbook can
possibly cater for every teacher, learner or teaching situation. Thus, each teacher
has to take responsibility for textbook adaptation so as to ensure an optical
match between textbooks and the particular teaching context. Finally, it is
advisable that teacher should create more enjoyable and easier lessons to make
language teaching process more effective.

2.4. Research context
2.4.1. Setting and Participants:
This study was conducted in 8 weeks from January 2019 to April 2019 in
class 10B5 at Nhu Thanh secondary & high school in mountainous area of Thanh
Hoa province.
Forty 10th graders involved in the study. They mainly come from the
mountainous villages in the region. In general, they had learnt English for over 4
years. However, their proficiency is not satisfactory enough, and their learning
style is quite passive. In addition, they hardly acquired any effective skills in
reading a short reading text. In their opinion, learning English means getting
grammar and structures with common lexical resources. As a result, they were
almost beginners in reading comprehension as a high school student.
2.4.2. The textbook:
The design of the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’ is based on task-based
approach with 16 units and 6 Test Yourself parts. There are five parts in each
unit arranged as follows: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing, and Language
Focus. The reading passages in this book are about 200 words in length. It is
intended to provide students with through coverage of basic grammatical and
lexical items and language skill. There are six topics throughout the curriculum
such as: Personal Information, Education, Community, Nature, Recreation, and
People and Places. All the reading lessons in the textbook follow up three
stages: before you read, while you read, and after you read. The reading tasks
are designed based on three reading activities: pre-reading, while-reading, and
post-reading tasks. These tasks are in plenty of forms including: question6


answer, multiple-choice, blank filling, word predicting, etc. However, with the
period of 45 minutes, the reading texts and reading tasks are quite long,
complicated and difficult to students at Nhu Thanh secondary & high school.
2.4.3. The reality of teaching and learning reading skill at Nhu Thanh

secondary & high school.
As mentioned above, the research is conducted at Nhu Thanh secondary
& high school, which is located in Thanh Hoa Province. Like other high schools,
English is one of the compulsory subjects in curriculum, and it is taught three
times a week with 45 minutes for each lesson. However, there is no language
laboratory at school, teachers who teach English are only equipped cassette
players for listening lesson.
After one term studying at my school, tremendous difficulties arose with
both teachers and students in teaching and learning lessons. In term of reading
skills, the students had been accustomed to basic reading skills like reading a
short sentence, short passage with a small range of common vocabulary. To
them, therefore, reading comprehension is nearly hopeless.
2.5. Stages of the study
Step 1: Initiation
During the first term of the school year, I recognized that students felt
tired of reading lessons; some did not want to participate in reading activities;
some did not feel satisfied with the reading tasks; and a few of them did not
understand the lessons at all. These problems resulted in students’ low
achievement and demotivation in doing reading tests in class. What should be
done to solve these problems?
Step 2: Investigation
To understand more about the situation, I had informal chats with the
students in breaks to discover their problems. Moreover, the exchange with
colleagues through informal talks was employed.
The students were demotivated because some reading tasks in the
textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’ were unsuitable to their level. They could not complete
the reading tasks in order to understand the information conveyed in reading
texts. Some students shared that reading skill was the most boring and stressful
for them.
The survey questionnaire (appendix 1A, 1B) was given to one hundred

th
10 grade students, which aims at confirming the hypothesis that students’
troubles are related to reading tasks in the textbook.
To access students’ achievement before treatment, a pre-test (appendix 2)
was given to two groups of students. The purpose of the test was to help the
author discover students’ reading comprehension level at that moment.
Step 3: Intervention
Adapting reading tasks is believed to be an appropriate method which
helps the students in class 10B 5 improve their performance in reading. And the
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plan of action was conducted to achieve the research aims. The intervention
should be designed to raise the participants’ awareness of task adaptation and,
therefore, improve their reading achievement through the introduction of
adapted reading tasks.
The reading tasks of Unit 9, Unit 11, and Unit 13 were adapted (appendix
4), using some common adaptation techniques such as simplifying, adding in
combination with reading strategies. This was for the purpose of engaging
students in groups or pair work and keeping them motivated in the lessons.
One of the two groups that participated in the study would be chosen
randomly to be experiment group. They would learn the reading lessons with
adapted tasks. The remainder would be considered as control group. This group
was still taught with original tasks in the textbook.
These lessons were developed for the sake of the study. Some samples of
adapted tasks, the reasons for adaptation based on the inappropriateness of the
original tasks were presented in the Appendix 4.

Picture 1: Students of experiment group in a Reading lesson (Unit 11- National
Parks)

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Picture 2: Students of experiment group in a reading lesson (Unit 9- Undersea
World)

Picture 3: Students of experiment group in a reading lesson (Unit 13- Films and
Cinema)
Step 4: Evaluation
Having collected all the data from the means of survey questionnaire and
tests, the researcher analyzed the data for findings. There was an increase in
students’ motivation of learning reading skill since the tasks were more
9


interesting. There was greater involvement of the students because they feel less
difficult to solve the reading tasks. The results from the pre-test and post-test
revealed some changes in students’ reading comprehension.
2.6. Data collection procedure
The data collection procedures include the following steps:
Step 1: The preliminary questionnaire was administered randomly to 100 10 th
grade students from the classes being taught by the researcher at Nhu Thanh
secondary & high school. Each respondent was handed a copy of the
questionnaire, and asked to answer all the question items in it. However, so as to
increase the quality and quantity of participant response, the researcher
announced the questionnaire to all the students in advance, sent a printed leaflet
of a study purpose and a few sample items, explained the purpose and the
potential significance of the research once again and the rationale for the
sample, assured the confidentiality of their answers, and monitored

questionnaire completion process.
Step 2: A 15-minute reading comprehension test was conducted among forty
students from class 10B5 as the pre-test. Before the test, the author told students
that they are expected to do the test as best as they could since the score of the
test would not be recorded in their school report. During the pre-test, the
participants were not permitted to consult one another, instead, they had to do
individually.
Step 3: After applying three reading lessons with adapted tasks, the author gave
another reading comprehension test as the post-test to the participants. The
procedures of conducting the test were the same as that of the pre-test.
Step 4: Based on the result of the first cycle of the study, the researcher decided
whether to carry out the next cycle.
2.7. Data analysis procedure
The survey questionnaire was designed of multiple choice questions, thus
after it had been collected, the students’ answers were counted based each
question. The data were analyzed quantitatively in descriptive approach, and the
descriptive analyses were then reported in percentages. Hence, the results of the
preliminary investigation were clearly presented.
The pre-test and post-test aimed at exploring the students’ improvement in
learning reading after they had been given three lessons with adapted tasks. The
test was a reading passage about 180 words and five multiple-choice
comprehension questions. When having the tests results, the researcher counted
the scores, classified them on a scale of poor, below average, average, fair, and
good; and then expressed as a percentage. After that, the differences in test
results were used to discover the improvement made by the treatment and to
assess the extent the task adaptation impacted on the students’ reading
achievement.

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PART 3: CONCLUSION
3.1. Discussion of the main findings
The study was carried out with a view to exploring the effectiveness of
lesson adaptation to improve the students’ reading comprehension ability. The
result was collected from the questionnaires and the differences of pretest and
posttest results.
3.1.1. Preliminary inquiry (questionnaires)
Before applying task adaptation in reading lessons, the researcher
conducted a survey (questionnaires in Vietnamese because of the students’
incompetent level of English) to determine the students’ opinions about reading
skill and reading lessons. The questions cover the exploration of the students’
attitudes to reading skill, reading lesson, reading task type they find less
challenging as well as the students’ wish for the reading tasks.
When asked, the almost nearly students disclosed the fact that they did not
like reading skill at all even though it is the most familiar skill to them in the
process of learning English. About one-third of the students said they enjoyed
reading skill a little. Noticeably, only a small percentage of the students were
much fond of learning reading. And two students said: “I don’t know”.
Moreover, only 3 percent of the students seemed to be interested in reading
lessons because of their limited vocabulary items. 57 percent of students
admitted that they could not understand the text because they did not have
enough general knowledge, and 55 percent believed it was due to their lack of
reading strategies. 21 percent of students said they were not interested in the
topics and a minority of them shows that they did not understand the lessons at
all due to the fact that they had no basic knowledge of English.
In order to survey students’ views on reading tasks in the textbook ‘Tieng
Anh 10’, I raised some questions to them from which I could discover the causes
of difficulty and boredom in reading tasks. Their answers showed that more than
one-third of the students joining the survey said they could hardly complete all

in one period of the lesson. About twenty-nine percent of students claimed that
this was an average number of tasks for students.
In short, the data from the survey questionnaire revealed the fact that most
of the students felt bored with the reading tasks in the current textbook (because
of their incompetence in English). They were not motivated in doing the tasks
because some of the tasks were difficult and some were too long and
complicated and every so often they did not understand at all. And these things
caused the students fear of the reading lessons. Thus, they hoped that there were
tasks easier and appropriate to their level.
3.1.2. The result of Pre-test
The forty students were given the pre-test (appendix 2) to examine their
English ability before the experiment. The results of the pre-test from the table
below showed that the scores of two chosen students’ groups were a bit
different. However, the fact revealed from these figures was that most of the
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students’ performance in both two groups was below average even poor. The
students were all tested on the same day, one day before the interventions
began. The results of the initial assessment are shown in Table 1
Level 1
(insufficient)
No
%
26
65

Level 2
Level 3
Level 4

(sufficient)
(proficient)
(excellent)
No
%
No
%
No
%
10
22.5
4
10
0
0
Table 1: Initial Student scores

The data showed that most students’ reading comprehension levels were
rather low. It proved that many of them encountered the problem with
understanding the word meaning in the text.
3.1.3. The result of post- test
After the four practice reading lessons, the students were again given
another assessment to determine if there was any growth in their
comprehension. For the assessment, the students were first tested at their initial
level and were moved up or down in level based on their scores of the test
given at their prior level. Due to the growth in their comprehension skills, all
students’ levels had to be adjusted accordingly. Their post- test scores and the
changes in level for each student are presented in Table 2.
Level 1
(insufficient)

No
%
10
25

Level 2
(sufficient)
No
%
20
50

Level 3
(proficient)
No
%
9
22.5

12

Level 4
(excellent)
No
%
1
2.5


Table 2: Final Student scores

It is undoubtedly that the data illustrated above have shown that the
reading lesson adaptation can lead to a growth in comprehension skills of
students. The data collection instruments used to gather information about the
students involved, monitor the progress of the students, and assess the
students, both prior to the intervention as well as after its conclusion, have
been extremely useful in this research. It can be said that lesson adaptation
is a realistic practice to facilitate students with low level of English to fulfill
the task requirement as well as enhance students reading comprehension.
Based on the data discussed above, it is a satisfactory conclusion that
practice with adaptation over the three reading lessons assisted students with
increasing their reading comprehension skills. The students exposed to the
adapted tasks were able to understand the lesson more clearly. By using
adapted tasks, the students were able to finish the tasks in each reading lesson
more easily and importantly, this motivates them to engage in the learning
process in class. Through observation, the author could see the difference in her
students’ attitudes towards the lessons with adapted tasks. During the lessons,
few students dozed off, most of them were active in taking notes, discussing
with partners, and finding out the answers; especially no one referred to ‘Để học
tốt Tiếng Anh 10’ or something like that.
Students liked to solve the tasks adapted. Through the small talks to the
students after every reading lesson with adapted tasks, the author leant that the
majority of students were satisfied with them. Some of them said they could
finish the tasks more easily than the previous time; some revealed that the
adapted tasks were challenging enough for them to do and they were expecting
the coming ones.
Admittedly, these things kept the students motivated in learning reading and
their reading skill were improved gradually. This was showed through not only
their competence in solving the tasks but also their higher scores.
3.2. Summary of the study
The 10th graders at Nhu Thanh secondary & high school were not

motivated in learning reading and found it hard to improve their reading
comprehension. There were many factors related to this, and one of the most
important reasons resulted from the challenging reading tasks in the textbook.
By reviewing the relevant literature on reading theories and task
adaptation, the researcher understood and knew how to apply task adaptation as
an effective method in teaching reading. Besides that, the review also helped her
know more about different adapting techniques and strategies.
So as to find out the effectiveness of the adapted tasks application, the
study was conducted with the participation of forty students from classes 10B 5 at
Nhu Thanh secondary & high school in Thanh Hoa Province. Through
classroom observation, small talks, survey questionnaire, pre-test and post-test,
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some important findings have been discovered and enabled the author to draw
some conclusions.
Adapting reading tasks is really necessary because reading tasks cannot be
suitable for all teaching contexts, so teachers should be aware of adapting tasks
from the textbook. It was proved from the study that students felt more
interested in the reading lessons relying on the tasks adapted to be less
challenging and more stimulating and thus she recognized that a small change of
a task could make it more suitable and easier for students.
This study also offered some suggestions for teachers when adapting
reading tasks in teaching. Adapting tasks is a time-consuming work and takes
much knowledge, in other words, the teacher who desires to make tasks more
suitable through the adapting process must have cared about adaptation
techniques, students’ need and interest as well as their English level. Moreover,
the study helped to solve the problem of uplifting the quality of learning English
of the 10th grade students at Nhu Thanh secondary & high school. It would
enable the teaching and learning English to be more effective and efficient.

3.3. Limitations and suggestions for further adapting tasks
3.3.1. Limitation
The study has achieved its aims; however, there are still a few drawbacks
that should be considered for future study. Firstly, because of time and some
other factors, the data collected could only be carried out among small groups of
students not all the 10th grade students of one school, so the findings could not
be generalized to the students of the whole school. Secondly, the time for
applying task adaptation was only two months, which might be not enough to
investigate all students’ reflections. And the tests might not fully reflect the
students’ performances in quite short procedures. Therefore, the author hoped
that more studies would be conducted to measure the effectiveness of this
method as well as help improve students’ reading comprehension in particular
and English level in general.
3.3.2. Suggestions for further adapting tasks
Firstly, adapting tasks is absolutely essential for teaching English at Nhu
Thanh secondary & high school, especially for reading skill. Helping students
practice some effective strategies while reading is really necessary. Therefore, it
is beneficial that teacher should guide students how to use these techniques in
each lesson. Practical educators and language teaching have proved that not only
teachers but also the others such as writers, publishers, and learners can take part
in adapting materials. Therefore, students should be involved in the task
adaptation, which may help them solve problems they probably encounter in
learning reading lessons.
Secondly, it is an undeniable fact that guiding students the way to study
themselves is the goal of educating process. The most challenging task that the
teachers have to solve is to keep students motivated in learning. They should be
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encouraged to learn outside the classroom since the class time is limited. We all

have appreciated the importance of reading outside the classroom and suggested
some useful ways to classify the readers for easier deliveries of available reading
reference books. Therefore, it is suggested that teachers should give students
advice on what to read and how to read effectively. In other words, assigning
homework to students plays an important part in teaching and teachers should do
it with much care.
Finally, adapting reading tasks is necessary as reading tasks cannot be
suitable for all objects and teaching context, so teachers should be fully aware of
adapting tasks available in materials. Teachers ought to do this work frequently
difficult tasks may discourage the students from reading. There are many types
of task adaptation such as reordering, simplifying, adding, modifying, etc. that
teachers can apply to the lessons. If the teacher just do as what available in the
materials without any adaptation, the teaching is undoubtedly less effective.
Adapting tasks take a lot of time and experience. The matter here is that
the teacher or trainer who wishes to make the tasks suitable to the students must
have much consideration for techniques, students’ needs and levels.
Nevertheless, the teacher does not need to worry about the time and effort,
because the adaptation is not only individual work, it could be shared with the
ones who have the same interest. Working together will help the process of
adaptation more effective.
Thanh Hoa, May 2th, 2019

Signature of Principle

Hereby, I certify that this study is the result
of my own experience and has not been
submitted by any others.
Writer

Trần Thị Hồng

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