báo cáo thực tập tốt nghiệp tiếng anh (44)

PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Justification of the Study

English never loses its importance in the international society. English is
important because it is, maybe, the only language that truly links the whole world
together. If it were not for English, the whole world would not be as united as it is
today. Modern thoughts are trending towards globalization. English is considered
as a useful language tool for this trend.
Meanwhile, Vietnamese people also get used to the open-door policies of the
Government. And English keeps its value in Vietnam when the Vietnamese have
given priority to it. Especially, English has entered the national policy of Vietnam:
education. Therefore, teachers of English play better role in helping students to
learn this subject better. English has become one of the most important and
compulsory subjects at all schools in educational system in Vietnam. From
elementary to university or even at higher levels, English always plays an
important part. As a result, teachers have tried to find more and more effective
methods so as to succeed in teaching English. More particularly, the new textbook
for this subject has been brought out for 4 years, which requires both the teachers
and learners to renew and apply suitable methods. In this context, communicative
language teaching has been developed to satisfy the requirements of education.
Teaching and learning English mean training students’ four language skills:
reading, speaking, listening and writing. These skills are equal in the level of
importance. However, the level of applying communicative activities in teaching
and learning them is different. The author herself is really interested in reading
skill. Reading not only helps students widen their knowledge, but also enables
them to develop other language skills. In addition, the ability of students to read the
text owing to their limited vocabulary prevents many of them from getting
interested in training this skill. Therefore, teachers must try their best to get
students’ attention from pre-reading stage. And short games and activities seem to
be a good choice to encourage students to take part in reading lessons actively.

However, in real teaching in high schools, not many teachers use
communicative activities in English classes, especially in reading lessons. The
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author is trained to be a teacher of English in the near future. This study is a good
opportunity for the author to understand students’ attitudes towards learning
English in general and reading skill in particular. After all, the author would like to
have the knowledge about short games and activities to make reading lessons more
interesting for the students.
For the reasons above, the author has decided to choose the topic “Using
some short games and activities to increase the 11 th form students’ interest in prereading stage at Quynh Luu I high school” as the study of her graduation thesis.
2.

Aims and Objectives of the Study

The Aims and objectives of the study are as follows:
- To provide some basic knowledge about reading skill, teaching reading and
teaching vocabulary as well as short games and activities used in pre-reading stage.
- To make an investigation into the real situation of using short games and
activities in English reading lessons at Quynh Luu I high school.
- To find out how short games and activities work in English reading classes
at Quynh Luu I high school.
- To provide some suggested short games and activities in pre-reading stage
to encourage the 11th form students to learn reading skill.
3. Research Questions

The Aims of this study are to find out the answers to the three following
research questions:
-What are the attitudes of teachers and students at Quynh Luu I high school

towards reading skill in genera and the use of short games and activities in prereading in particular?
-To what extent do the teachers of English at Quynh Luu I high school use
short games and activities in the pre-reading stage?
-To what extent do short games and activities in pre-reading stage work in
reading classes at Quynh Luu I high school ?
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4. Scope of the Study

This study only focuses on pre-reading stage. The subjects of this study are
teachers and 11th form students at Quynh Luu I high school in Quynh Luu district,
Nghe An province.
5. The Method of the Study

To finish this study, the author has used many methods: investigating
methods, analytic and synthetic methods, descriptive methods, comparative and
contrastive methods.

Firstly, the author collected and analyzed the materials related to reading
skill as well as communicative activities and games from different documents.
Then, a survey was conducted to get information about the real situation about
teaching and learning English reading at Quynh Luu I high school. After that, the
selected information and data were analyzed in three categories. Finally, some

suggested activities and games were presented in pre-reading stage for the 11 th
form students.
6. Format of the Study

Besides acknowledgements, the table of contents, references and

appendixes, the thesis consists of three main parts.
Part I “INTRODUCTION” consists of the author’s reasons for choosing the
study, Aims, research questions, methods, scope, and design of the study.
The second part “DEVELOPMENT” comprises three chapters. Chapter 1
is “Theoretical Background”. In this chapter, the author provides all concepts
related to the study: reading skill, teaching reading, stages of reading, teaching
vocabulary and communicative activities and games for pre-reading stage. Chapter
2 is titled “The Survey” .This chapter mainly focuses on the real situation of using
short games and activities in English reading classes for 11 th form students at Quynh
Luu I high school. Chapter 3 “Recommendations and Suggestions for Using Short
Games and Activities in the Pre-reading Stage” provides several suggestions for the
teachers in using short games and activities in pre-reading stage of the reading
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lessons. It also introduces some short games and activities in the author’s
experimental lessons.
Part III is “CONCLUSION” in which the author summarizes the main
points in the study and suggests some topics for further studies.

PART II:

DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
1.1.

Reading Skill

1.1.1. Nature of Reading

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According to Nuttall and Alderson (1996), reading can be summarized by
explaining a number of processes: perceptual processing, word recognition,
syntactic processing, metalinguistic processing and comprehension. However, this
is not specified for learning reading skill.
In addition, reading is the receptive skill in the written mode. Independently,
it can develop listening and speaking skills, but often develops along with them,
especially in societies with a highly-developed literary tradition. Reading can help
build vocabulary that helps listening comprehension the later stages particularly.
This means that reading is a process of deriving meaning from written or printed
text. Although reading is a receptive skill, it is an active and interactive process
because it involves the reader and the reading material in building meaning. It
involves partial use of available minimal language cues selected from perceptual
input on the basis of the reader’s expectation. As this partial information is
processed, tentative decisions are made to be confirmed, rejected or refined as
reading progresses.
Furthermore, reading is viewed as a kind of interaction that occurs between
the reader and the text. The meaning, as an outcome of the interaction between the
reader and the text, not only resides in the text itself, but also lies in the interaction
between the reader and the text. Reading is a complex cognitive process of
decoding symbols in order to construct or derive meanings. It is a means of
language acquisition, of communication, and of sharing information and ideas. Like
all language, it is a complex interaction between the text and the reader which is
shaped by the reader’s prior knowledge, experiences, attitude, and language
community which is culturally and socially situated.
Finally, reading is an activity with purpose. A person may read in order to
gain information or verify existing knowledge, or in order to critique a writer’s

ideas or writing style. In Alderson(2000), there are seven purposes of reading, those
are reading to reach for simple information, to skim quickly, to learn from text, to
get an integrate information, to search information needed for writing, to critique
texts and to achieve general comprehension.

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Therefore, both teachers and students need to recognize the knowledge of
reading definition and purposes. It facilitates teachers to determine the appropriate
approach for teaching reading. And it helps to develop students’ awareness of
reading
process and reading strategies.
1.1.2. Principles for Teaching Reading in a CLT Classroom

Reading skill plays an important role in English language learning.
Therefore, it is necessary to have a set of principles that teachers of English must
follow when teaching reading so that they can ensure their students’
understanding of the lessons.
Forseth et. al. (1996:84-85, cited in Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo Dinh
Phuong, 2007) has pointed out principles for teaching reading as follows:

1. State the purpose of a reading task to the students before they read.
It is obvious that people have their own purposes when reading a text.
Thus, it is beneficial to state a purpose for reading the given text. The teacher
should tell the students why they are reading a text. As a result , the students can
focus on the text better for they know what information they need to get after
reading.
2. Prepare students to read by introducing the topic of the text.
When teaching a reading text, the teacher should introduce the topic of

the text beforehand to prepare for students with general knowledge about what
they are going to do in the text. If the subject is difficult, provide students with
background information. When the students are prepared carefully before
reading, they will comprehend the text more thoroughly.
3. Before the students read the text, have them read questions about it
beforehand to help them focus on meaning.
Normally, each reading passage in the textbook has some questions
relating to its content for students to answer after reading. Therefore, have

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students read the questions first will guide them to what information they need to
understand the text. If questions do not come with the text, the teacher can make
up one or two which will help the students concentrate. It is even helpful to have
them try to answer the questions before they read the text.
4. Do not pre-teach vocabulary unless necessary
We know that one of the skills readers should learn is to guess the
meaning of unknown words. If all words are presented beforehand, this will
prevent them from being able to guess from context. Besides, it is very
ineffective for students to remember the meaning of lists of isolating words.
Instead of doing in this way, the teacher should work on skills that help the
students guess intelligently. If a word is rarely used, it is better to ignore it then.
5. Have students read silently without whispering the words or moving the
lips.
Reading silently will help students to read more quickly and focus on
more important words. Moreover, the students will be able to pay attention on
meaning, not to the form of words only.
6. Discuss difficult vocabulary after reading the text.
After reading, if the students are not able to understand certain words by

guessing from the context, the teacher will help them by explaining the meaning
of the words.
7. When discussing the answer to the comprehension questions, be sure to
refer back to the text often.
Generally, the comprehension questions are aimed at checking whether
students have understood the contents of the reading text or not. Thus, referring
back to the text will help the teacher check the students’ understanding as well as
make them realize where in the text that information locates.
8. Focus on developing the skills of the readers.

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The goal of teaching reading is not only to help the students to understand
the text for that day, but also to help them to effectively read for themselves after
class. It means that they can apply sub-skills that are taught in the classroom to
read any kind of text in their daily life.
In short, there are a number of principles that the teacher must follow
when teaching reading. Depending on the features of each class and each reading
lesson as well as the level of students that the teacher can choose an appropriate
one for their reading classes.
1.1.3. Stages of Teaching a Reading Text
Nguyen Thi Van Lam & Ngo Dinh Phuong (2007:59) suggested that there
are three main stages of teaching a reading text as follow:

1.1.3.1.

Pre-reading

In real life, people often read something because they want to. They read a

newspaper to get information; or they read a novel as they want to relax themselves
or to know the content of the story they like. However, in English classes, the
situation is quite different. Usually the students read a text not only because they
want to, but because the teacher tells them to, or because it is in the lesson.
Therefore, it is necessary to give the some activities before they start reading to
make them want to read. Also, these activities make it easier for them to understand
the text and focus attention on what they are reading. These activities are called prereading activities. They include: Introducing the text, presenting new vocabulary
and giving guiding question(s).
Introducing the topic of the text before the teacher asks the students to read
has two purposes: to help students in their reading, by giving them some ideas of
what to expect and to increase their interest, make them want to read the text.
SomeTimes the topic of the text itself is very interesting, in which case the students
may be eager to read it. So, the teacher does not have to spend too long on
motivating them to read. In some texts, the language impossibly deals with the
language elements beforehand, but it may be worthwhile to draw students’ attention
to the way they are used in the text, once they have read it.
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Furthermore, it is important to present new vocabulary beforehand.
However, the teacher does not need to teach all the new words before the students
read it. They can guess the meaning of many words from the context. Guessing the
meaning of unknown words is an important part to help students to develop their
reading skill.
Finally, one or two guiding questions can be given for students to think about
as they read. The purposes of these questions are to give the students a reason to
read and lead the students towards the main point of the text, so that after the first
reading, they should have a good general idea of what is about.
1.1.3.2. While-reading
This stage consists of two steps. In the first reading, the students read the text

silently once through and discuss the guiding questions. Next, it is second reading
and comprehension. After the students have read the text for the first Time and have
tried to understand the general meaning, the teacher provides some while-reading
activities and should be sure that the students have looked at the activities before
they go through the text again for detailed comprehension. Some of the activities
are:
 Matching
 Answering the questions
 Main idea
 True or fall statements
 Multiple choice
 Paraphrasing
 Finding words with given meaning
 Labeling a diagram
 Choosing a picture that fits the meaning of the text
 Gap-filling, etc.
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1.1.3.3. Post-reading
In a reading lesson, there is a difference between applying the activity at an
earlier stage of the reading process and at the post reading stage. This difference is
due to the quantity and quality of information possessed by the readers. This stage
contains answering the book's exercises and questions that related to the reading
passage. If the students answer these questions correctly with a less interference by
the teacher, the goals of the lesson are achieved. However, the teacher must finish
ten minutes earlier, giving him enough Time to evaluate the students understanding
of the lesson. Therefore, the teacher can repeat the lesson to the students who do not
understand in a quick and comprehensive way.

1.1.4. Principles for Teaching Vocabulary
Forseth et. al. (1996: 23-25) propose eight principles for teaching
vocabulary:
1. Present Words in Context.
Presenting words in isolation forces students to understand mechanically or
misunderstand theirs meanings. As a result, they cannot make use of the in authentic
communication. Therefore, using and presenting words in context helps students to
guess their meanings and to remember them better.
2. Do not Present too Many Words at Once.
People cannot consume a big amount of food at the same Time. It is similar
to learning new vocabulary. Too many new words will create a mess in students’
mind. It is also one of the reasons that prevent students from learning vocabulary
effectively.
3. Remember that Practicing Words in Context is more Important than
Memorizing Isolated one.
We can learn many new words without being able to use them in
communication. Students may be required to learn the meanings of words but they
must also be given the opportunity to use them productively in speaking and
writing.
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4. Teach Students Skills for Guessing New Words, Especially When Reading.
The meaning of words can be inferred from the different types of contexts and
from looking at the affixes of the word. This means that it is the students who open
the door to break into the word’s meaning. Therefore, they will find themselves
more active and involved. Besides, their learning is also more effectively.
5. Avoid Translation as Much as Possible
Only use translation as a last resort. When presenting new words, having words
translated will separate learner from foreign language environment. Also, students

do not usually remember vocabulary that has been translated. The only case that
translation should be used is when it takes too long to communicate in English.
6. Avoid Using the Dictionary as Much as Possible.
When reading or listening, students should first try guessing or ignoring new words
so that they can continue without stopping. Also, using a dictionary when speaking
or listening will slow down communication.
7. Remember that not All Words Are Important.
This principle deals with the vocabulary selection problem in teaching language. In
huge vocabulary source, trying to teach more and more new words is not suitable.
In fact, some words of the sentence are more important than others. Students can
use the more important words so as to guess the meanings of the words around
them and understand the whole sentence.
8. If a Word Is Necessary for Understanding an Activity or a Passage, Teach
it to the Students Beforehand.
If it is not so necessary or important, the teacher should let students first
guess at the meaning while they are reading or listening. Teach the meaning later or
not at all.
1.2. Short Games and Activities
1.2.1. Definitions and Advantages of Short Games and Activities in Classroom

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“Activity” is a loose term used to give a general description of what will
happen in class. Short activity is a kind of activities which is short, simple and
interesting enough to motivate students to learn a foreign language better.
Furthermore, Hadfield (1990: 3) states that a game is an activity with rules, a
goal, and an element of fun. Besides, Stanton & Lambert (1985) defines that a
game is an activity that usually has 4 properties: a particular task or objective; a set
of rules; a competition between players and communication between players by

spoken or written language.
In the long run, each of them has developed their own concepts of game. All
the above-mentioned definitions refer to the features of a game. It is governed by
rules. It is for fun and it has a goal or an objective.
As we know, language learning is hard work which requires the effort at
every moment and over a long period of Time. Using games is one of the most
important ways to teach efficiently in a language class. Many experienced
textbook, methodology manuals and writers have argued that games are not just
Time-filling activities but have a great educational value.
According to Lee Su Kim (1995:35), there are many advantages of using
games in the classroom. Firstly, games are a welcome break from the usual routine
of the language class. Thus, they are motivating and challenging. In fact, learning a
language requires a great deal of effort. Games help students to make and sustain
the effort of learning. Also, they encourage students to interact and communicate.
In addition, games provide language practice in the various skills- speaking,
writing, listening and reading. Of course, they create a meaningful context for
language use.
Well-chosen games are invaluable as they give students a break and at the
same Time allow students to practise language skills. Games are highly motivating
since they are both amusing and challenging. Games are highly motivating because
they are amusing and interesting. They can be used to give practice in all language
skills and be used to practice many types of communication.
Moreover, Lengeling and Malarcher (1997: 42) found that:
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In an effort to supplement lesson plans in the ESL classroom, teachers often turn to
games. The justification for using games in the classroom has been well
demonstrated as benefiting students in a variety of ways. These benefits range from
cognitive aspects of language learning to more co-operative group dynamics.

It is undeniable that using games in the classroom brings a lot of benefits. It
lowers affective filter, encourages creative and spontaneous use of language,
promotes communicative competence, motivates and gives a lot of fun. For class
dynamics, games builds class cohesion, fosters whole class participation, promotes
healthy competition, gives student centered classroom and makes teacher be only
as facilitator. For adaptability, games are easily adjusted for age, level, and
interests. They utilize all four skills and require minimum preparation after
development.
In conclusion, using games is an efficient way to teach English in the
classroom as Albert Einstein said that: “Teaching should be such that what is
offered I perceived as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty." By this way, the
teachers get the best results in the classroom. It arises students’ motivation. Games
prepare young learners for life and they acquire positive social attitudes. Games
teach sharing, helping each other and working as a team. A child learns by doing,
living, trying and imitating. So this kind of learning is lasting. During games some
feelings such as the pleasure of winning and the ambition of losing may arise. This
gives to the teacher an idea about student’s character. So games are must-have
activities for hardworking teachers.
Particularly, Nuttall and Alderson (1996) stated that the importance of prereading activities cannot be overstated. When students go into a reading selection
with questions they will come out of that selection with answers. Teachers must
prepare their students for reading both narrative and content materials by first
exploring what the students already know about the topic. Next, teachers must
ensure that what the students need to know to comprehend the text is part of the prereading activities. Finally, teachers must use pre-reading activities that highlight the
vocabulary that students will encounter in the reading selection. Teachers may also
want to suggest reading strategies that would be helpful to use in order to read and

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comprehend a particular selection. In short, pre-reading activities are performed to
obtain relevant background information, to recall what is known about the topic, to
anticipate what the text might be about, to introduce vocabulary necessary for
comprehension of the text and to establish purposes for reading the selection.
In addition to building or activating background knowledge, pre-reading
activities can provide a forum to elicit from students their feelings and reactions to
ideas and issues contained in a reading selection before confronting those issues in
the text. Such activities allow students to examine their own beliefs, enhance
understanding and appreciation of events in the book or decisions made by
characters and encourage aesthetic responses to literature. Further, because they
have thought about issues with which characters are confronted, students will
identify more intensely with characters during reading. Pre-reading activities serve
to set purposes for reading, arouse students' curiosity, and motivate them to read.
1.2.2. Short Games and Activities for Pre-reading Stage
1.2.2.1. Lead-in Games and Activities
These activities can play a number of functions. They can generate interest in
the topic, activate participants' prior knowledge of the subject and help the
facilitator and participants to identify individual learning needs and goals,
encourage the sharing of information and resources, and reveal resistance to
discussion or learning. Lead-in activities used in classroom are various and the
followings are examples.
a. Crossword puzzles
Lucy Calkins (2001) found that crossword puzzle is a word puzzle that
normally takes the form of a square or a rectangular of white and shaded squares.
The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by
solving clues which lead to the answers. In languages that are written left-to-right,
the answer words and phrases are placed in the grid from left to right and from top
to bottom. The shaded squares are used to separate the words or phrases.

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Squares in which answers begin are usually numbered. The clues are then
referred to by these numbers and a direction, for example, "4-Across" or "20Down". At the end of the clue the total number of letters is someTimes given,
depending on the style of puzzle and country of publication. Some crosswords will
also indicate the number of words in a given answer, should there be more than one.
b. Pre-questions:
Whenever teachers or students decided on questions to be answered by
reading, they are activating prior knowledge. These questions tend to focus
attention and provide for purposeful reading. Teachers can accomplish this by
preparing questions in advance of reading. This will help in guiding students as they
complete their reading assignment. They are also called topic lead-in questions
which can be answered collectively as a group or individually. Use topic lead-ins
liberally because it is appropriate to use them in every session. Basing on these
questions, class discussions and informal talks serve as techniques to discover more
about what students bring to their reading. The teacher can also help students
develop their own questions which will help them establish purpose and focus
attention to the topic of the reading text.
c. Role playing
This is any speaking activity when a person either put himself into somebody
else's shoes, or when one stay in his own shoes but put him into an imaginary
situation.
Imaginary people gives the joy of role-play that students can 'become' anyone they
like for a short Time such as the President, the Queen, a millionaire, a pop star etc.
…The choice is endless. Students can also take on the opinions of someone else.
In addition, imaginary situations can be activated and practised through role-play.
For examples, At the restaurant, Checking in at the airport, Looking for lost
property are all possible role-plays.

d. Using pictures

Pictures and photos can activate a students' prior knowledge and lead
them into the topic. If a student has some information on fossils, a simple
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picture such as coal may serve to retrieve appropriate knowledge. Thus, the
teacher may share this photograph of a fossil before students read a science
textbook chapter on this topic.
e. Story telling
Story telling is great activities to get students get hooked to reading text. This
may be real-life experiences: Actual experience is the best way to develop and
refine the schemata that make up readers' prior knowledge. To impact a student’s
memory, they must see, touch, use, and experience real objects or situations. If
possible, provide any real-life experiences that have to do with the assignment.
Even something done on a small level will help with students' understanding.
Besides, the teacher can use jokes and news related to the topic of reading text.
f. Pantomime
Pantomime is the art of acting without words by using one's body to convey
the story or event. Often referred to as "mime," pantomime is a skill that requires
body awareness and control. For drama class in any school grade, begin with
exercises that allow students to become aware of and express themselves with their
bodies through engaging in simple tasks and activities. By using pantomime, the
students learn to show, not tell. According to Rooyackers and Bowman (1997: 5371) gave out many types of pantomime, for examples, The mystery object, The
invisible object, Is it a teapot, Funny faces show….
g. Word searching
This kind of games, also known as word find games, is popular for helping
students recognize words. In searching for words, the students seem to read and
memorize the words in a way that they enjoy and which helps them learn the words
and their spelling. The familiar games are hangman (or hang mouse), word search,
jumble letters …

h. Music games
Students typically enjoy musical activities. Whether they are preparing to
sing, move to music or simply listen to music, this kind of games will help them get

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ready to interact with the art form. Music games carried out in classroom are quite
various, too. One example is listening and guessing the name of the song, the name
of singer or the kind of music. Winters (2000) introduced a list of music games such
as listening games (Which instrument is missing?, Freeze frame … ), concentration
games (Mirror with sounds, Putting songs together…), musical quizzes ( Question
quiz), games for self-expression and improvisation( Games for feelings, Helping out
songs…).
1.2.2.2. Teaching Vocabulary Games and Activities
These activities are aim at showing the meanings of word and reinforcing the
vocabulary that students learnt. There are many different activities for teaching
vocabulary. The followings are some of them.
a. Matching Word with its Definition
This activity is an excellent way for the students to remember new words and
their definitions. There are 2 columns: one contains words and the other contains
definition with wrong order. Students’ task is to find out which word goes with
which definition. Besides, the teacher can prepare cards or handouts containing
either word or its definition. Then, students’ duty is to find the card go with each
other.
b. Finding Synonyms / Antonyms
Students race to see who can find a synonym/ antonym to a given word the
quickest. On the chalk board, the teacher writes a word or phrase that has recently
been reviewed. Students work together to think of a synonym/antonym for the given
item. If the word is a correct answer, they earn a point. If not, others have an

opportunity to present a word. The team with the most points at the end of the game
will win. Moreover, this activity is designed to show the meaning of word. The
teacher can give antonym or synonyms of the new word that the students have
already known. For instances, antonym - synonym - homonym activity cards were
given out by Odell, F and Head,K.
c. Mime

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In opinions of Odell, F. and Head, K. (2003), this is very useful, especially
for actions because the teacher or the students can act out a word to demonstrate its
meaning. For example, some verbs like “to eat”, “to cry” or “to smile” are easy to
mime. The teacher should think that students are very creative; so, he can get their
help in acting out the words so as to make learning more effective.
d. Making sentences
In this activity, teacher simply asks students to make sentences, using words
they have learnt. They can make their own sentences with the given words or the
teacher provides situations for them.
e. Gap-filling
By giving some sentences with blanks, the teacher helps students choose a
suitable word for each blank. The words are available or the students have to make
up their own word.
f. Using visual aids
Pictures and other visual material such as real objects, realia and flashcards
can convey the meaning of word very well. These things attract students a lot and
they make students connect the meaning of word to what they see easily. Wright,
Betteridge and Buckb (2006) introduced some related activities such as Vocabulary
cards , Identify by looking, Strip of a magazine picture….

CHAPTER 2: THE SURVEY
2.1. An Overview of the Survey
2.1.1. Aims of the Survey
Learning and teaching are processes related to the knowledge of the teachers
and learners. These processes are carried out in steps and stages; hence, it is not
good to skip or deny any stage. In fact, the pre-reading stage that occurs at the
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beginning of a reading lesson is often limited or neglected. However, to investigate
whether this fact happens at Quynh Luu I high school or not, this survey is carried
out. It is aimed at searching for the attitudes of teachers and students towards
reading skill in general and pre-reading stage in particular. Especially, this survey
also attempts to find out the real situation of using short games and activities in
pre-reading stage at Quynh Luu I high school.
From the data collection and analysis, the author introduced some suggested
short games and activities in pre-reading stage to teachers and the 11 th students.
2.1.2. Informants and Setting
2.1.2.1. The Teachers
The first survey questionnaire is designed for 12 teachers of English at
Quynh Luu I high school. Most of them are experienced teachers because ten of
them have been teaching for eight or more than eight years. Among these, two
teachers have over fifteen years of teaching experience and eight of them have
below fifteen years. The rest ones are young teachers, one of whom has been
teaching for three years and the other started her teaching job last year. All in all, the
teachers of English at Quynh Luu I high school are enthusiastic and skillful enough
to make a valuable contribution to education.
2.1.2.2. The Students
Quynh Luu I high school is the center of education in Quynh Luu province.
Not only do the teachers but also students have a high opinion of learning.

Therefore, this school is proud of its achievements. All of students started learning
English when they were in the sixth grade. Therefore, one hundred of the 11 th form
students involved in this survey have been already learning English for five years.
2.2. Description of the Survey Questionnaires
This survey consists of two types of research questionnaires: for the students
and teachers.
2.2.1. The Survey Questionnaire for the Teachers
The survey questionnaire for the teachers consists of eleven items. Question
No. 1 and No .2 are designed to get general information about the teachers. The third
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question shows the attitudes of the teachers about the importance of four language
skills. Question No.4 measures their interest in teaching reading, speaking, listening,
writing and language focus at school. Question N o.5 describes their attitudes
towards reading skill. Question N o.6 is more specific for their attitudes about prereading stage. Question No.7 is about the frequency of using lead-in activities in
pre-reading stage. Then, attitudes about teaching vocabulary are illustrated in
question No.8.

Next, Question No.9 indicates the frequency of using teaching

vocabulary activities. Question No.10 denotes the teachers’ difficulties in using prereading stage. The last question searches for the teachers’ further opinions.
2.2.2. The Survey Questionnaires for the Students
2.2.2.1. Students’ Questionnaire No. 1 (before the experimental teaching)
Similarly, two questionnaires are designed so as to collect information about
students. The first one consists of eleven items. The two first questions are aimed at
sorting out the type of students. Question No.3 indicates their interest in five parts of
a unit of English. Question No.4 shows their feelings about reading skill. Question
No.5 tries to find out their expectations when facing up with uninteresting topics for
reading. Question No.6 describes their opinions on the frequency of using teaching

vocabulary activities by the teachers. The levels of the students’ familiarity with
lead-in games and activities are indicated through Question N o.7 and with teaching
vocabulary activities through Question No.10. Question No.8 focuses on the
students’ difficulties in taking part in these activities. Question N o.9 describes the
students’ feelings about learning vocabulary in pre-reading stage. The last one gives
students a chance to express their own ideas about favorite activities.
2.2.2.2. Students’ Questionnaire No.2 (after the experimental teaching)
This questionnaire was distributed after the author’s experimental teaching.
It consists of six questions. Question N o.1 and No.2 focus on students’ feelings
about reading lessons taught by the author in general. Their feelings about lead-in
short games and activities used by the author in classroom are expressed in question
No.3 and No.4. Meanwhile, the effect of teaching vocabulary activities is shown into

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different levels in question No.5. The last question is about advantages and
disadvantages of both lead-in and teaching vocabulary short games and activities.
2.3 Survey Results and Data Analysis
The following are the results and data analysis which answer the three
research questions.
2.3.1 The Attitudes of Teachers and Students at Quynh Luu I High School
towards Reading Skill in general and the Use of Short Games and Activities in
Pre-reading in particular.
Attitude is an important factor of teaching and learning process, especially in
learning languages. Therefore, what teachers and students think about reading
English skill as well as pre-reading games and activities has a bad or good influence
on the success of that process. The survey clarified their attitudes through
questionnaires.

Figure 1: The Time students spend learning English at home per day
It can be clearly seen from the pie chart that most of students have a high
opinion of self-studying English. The highest percentage of students (34%) spent
more than one and a haft of hour per day on learning English at home. In addition, a
rather smaller proportion of them spent from 1 to 1.5 hour per day doing that. 26%
of them needed from a haft to less than 1 hour per day and the smallest one (10%)
used only less than 30 minutes.
The attitudes of teachers towards four language skills are different as
following.

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Degree

Skill

The most important
The least important

Reading

Speaking

Listening

Writing

(%)

(%)

(%)

(%)

33,33
0

33,33
16,67

0
50

33,33
33,33

Table 1: The degree of importance for four language skills
The table reveals the teachers’ attitudes towards the degree of importance of
four main language skills. The percentage of the teachers considering reading as the
most important skill is the same as those of speaking and listening. By contrast,
writing gets the highest proportion for the least importance with a haft of the
teachers. Also worth noting is that the proportion of the teachers ranking reading the
first in importance is equal to that of those regarding it as the least important skill
(33,33%). Therefore, the teachers at Quynh Luu I high school had highly opposite
ideas about this issue.
Although these four main skills were considered differently in the aspect of
importance, all were taught at school through reading, speaking, listening, writing
and language focus parts. The levels of interest of students and teachers are shown

in the following chart.

Figure 2: The levels of interest of students and teachers about five types of English
lessons
Most noticeably of all, it can be seen from the bar chart that both students
and teachers were interested in reading lessons. The percentages of participants for
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reading lessons were the highest (66.7 % for teachers and 34% for students). In
other words, reading lessons had a good position in students’ and teachers’ thoughts.
Surprisingly, the different ideas about reading skill did not make the teachers less
interested in teaching it. However, the percentage of teachers was twice as large as
that of students. Similarly, students and teachers had the same idea about writing
lessons. None of them were fond of this kind of lesson and it accounted for the
highest percentage of participants to consider it the least interesting.
More specifically, the attitude towards reading skill was also revealed in the
following table.
Ideas
Subjects

very
necessary

necessary

not very

not necessary

necessary

at all

Teachers

66.67%

33.33%

0%

0%

Students

68%

32%

0%

0%

Table 2: The attitudes of teachers and students towards reading skill
This table presents data on how necessary reading skill is at Quynh Luu I
high school. The first result worth pointing out is that both students and teachers
considered reading skill very necessary or necessary. Not only the teachers but also
the students had a bias in favor of considering reading skill the most necessary with
quite equal proportion (66.67% and 68% respectively). Therefore, the percentage

of the students considering reading skill necessary (32%) was approximate to that
of the teachers (33.33%).
Next, what teachers and students thought about pre-reading stage is also
illustrated through this survey.
What do you think about lead-in activities in pre-reading stage?
a. very useful

teachers
33,33 %

b. useful

66,67 %

c. not very useful

0%

d. not useful at all

0%

Which helps you much when you read uninteresting topics?
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students


a. some activities and games for introducing the topics

90%

b. doing some reading tasks

8%

c. reading the text at once

0%

d. nothing

2%

Table 3: Attitudes of students and teachers towards pre-reading stage
It is clear from the table that no teachers found lead-in activities in prereading stage useless. According to two-thirds of the teachers (66,67%), pre-reading
activities were useful and higher level of usefulness belongs to one-thirds left. Thus,
lead-in activities in pre-reading stage took an important part in the teachers’
thoughts.
Furthermore, these activities helped students at Quynh Luu I high school a
lot, especially when some reading texts were about uninteresting topics. In this case,
a majority of the students needed encouragement from games and activities (90%).
In other words, there were many students interested in activities and games more
than any other help. In fact, students focusing on learning English vocabulary and
structures might do some reading tasks. And, of course, no students wanted to read
the text at once because of the uninteresting topics. Finally, 2% of students needed
nothing to deal with uninteresting topics. This means that the teachers should try
their best to motivate their students before telling them to read the text. Besides,
students gave suggestions for the teachers to use more and more lead-in games and
activities.

Moreover, attitudes towards teaching and learning vocabulary in pre-reading
stage were clarified thanks to the survey. The teachers had high agreement because
91.7% of them thought that it was important to teach vocabulary beforehand. The
suggested reasons for their choices were: It helped students to understand the text
easily and students could know exactly the meaning of the words. In addition, only
8,3% of the teachers thought that teaching vocabulary beforehand was not
important. In their opinions, doing like that would not stimulate students to guess
the meaning of the context and they would be passive. Likewise, students’ opinions
are presented in the pie chart below.
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Figure 3: Attitudes of students towards learning vocabulary in pre-reading stage
As shown clearly from chart, 70% of the students thought that it was very
necessary to learn vocabulary in pre-reading stage. Slightly weaker idea which is
necessary to do so got the second rank accounting for 24 % of the students. The
students finding learning vocabulary beforehand not necessary at all had smallest
percentage (only 2%). These possibly wanted to guess the meaning of words during
reading the text or they did not care about this.
All in all, both students and teachers were concerned about reading skill as
well as pre-reading stage. Their positive attitude is a great advantage to carry out
some games and activities in experimental lessons.
2.3.2 The Extent the Teachers of English at Quynh Luu I High School Use
Short Games and Activities in the Pre-reading Stage
As discussed in the above part, the teachers accepted a truth that using short
games and activities, indeed, enabled to increase the students’ interest. In addition,
the students hoped to take part in more and more short games and activities.
However, the real situation of using short games and activities in pre-reading stage
is worth considering.
The frequency of using pre-reading activities by the teachers is presented as

follows.

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