Tài liệu A study on difficulties and solutions to improve reading skill for first year english majors students at hmtu 

BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUẢN LÝ VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ HẢI PHÒNG ------------------------------- ISO 9001:2015 KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP NGÀNH : NGÔN NGỮ ANH NHẬT Sinh viên : Phạm Thị Duyên Giảng viên hướng dẫn: TS. Trần Thị Ngọc Liên HẢI PHÒNG 07– 2020 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HAIPHONG MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY ----------------------------------- A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES AND SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE READING SKILL FOR FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS STUDENTS AT HMTU GRADUATION PAPER MAJOR: ENGLISH-JAPANESE Student : Pham Thi Duyen Supervisor : Tran Thi Ngoc Lien .PhD HẢI PHÒNG 07 – 2020 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUẢN LÝ VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ HẢI PHÒNG -------------------------------------- NHIỆM VỤ ĐỀ TÀI TỐT NGHIỆP Sinh viên: Phạm Thị DuyênMã SV: 1512753030 Lớp : NA1901N Ngành : Ngôn ngữ Anh - Nhật Tên đề tài: Nghiên cúu về các khó khăn và các giải pháp để cải thiện kĩ năng đọc cho sinh viên năm nhất ngành ngôn ngữ Anh tại trường Đại học Quản lý và Công nghệ Hải Phòng NHIỆM VỤ ĐỀ TÀI 1. Nội dung và các yêu cầu cần giải quyết trong nhiệm vụ đề tài tốt nghiệp …………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………. 2. Các tài liệu, số liệu cần thiết …………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………. 3. Địa điểm thực tập tốt nghiệp …………………………………………………………………………………. CÁN BỘ HƯỚNG DẪN ĐỀ TÀI TỐT NGHIỆP Họ và tên : ........................................................................................ Học hàm, học vị : ........................................................................................ Cơ quan công tác : ........................................................................................ Nội dung hướng dẫn: .......................................................................................... Đề tài tốt nghiệp được giao ngày 30 tháng 03 năm 2020 Yêu cầu phải hoàn thành xong trước ngày 30 tháng 06 năm 2020 Đã nhận nhiệm vụ ĐTTN Đã giao nhiệm vụ ĐTTN Sinh viên Giảng viên hướng dẫn Hải Phòng, ngày 01 tháng 07 năm 2020 HIỆU TRƯỞNG CỘNG HÒA XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM Độc lập - Tự do - Hạnh phúc PHIẾU NHẬN XÉT CỦA GIẢNG VIÊN HƯỚNG DẪN TỐT NGHIỆP Họ và tên giảng viên: ................................................................................................... Đơn vị công tác: ........................................................................ .......................... Họ và tên sinh viên: .......................................... Chuyên ngành: ............................... Nội dung hướng dẫn: .......................................................... ........................................ ................................................................................................................................. Tinh thần thái độ của sinh viên trong quá trình làm đề tài tốt nghiệp ........................................................................................................................................... . .............................................................................................................................................. . .............................................................................................................................................. . .............................................................................................................................................. . .............................................................................................................................................. . .............................................................................................................................................. 1. Đánh giá chất lượng của đồ án/khóa luận (so với nội dung yêu cầu đã đề ra trong nhiệm vụ Đ.T. T.N trên các mặt lý luận, thực tiễn, tính toán số liệu…) . .............................................................................................................................................. . .............................................................................................................................................. . .............................................................................................................................................. . .............................................................................................................................................. . .............................................................................................................................................. . .............................................................................................................................................. . .............................................................................................................................................. 3. Ý kiến của giảng viên hướng dẫn tốt nghiệp Được bảo vệ Không được bảo vệ Điểm hướng dẫn Hải Phòng, ngày … tháng … năm ...... Giảng viên hướng dẫn (Ký và ghi rõ họ tên) QC20-B18 CỘNG HÒA XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM Độc lập - Tự do - Hạnh phúc PHIẾU NHẬN XÉT CỦA GIẢNG VIÊN CHẤM PHẢN BIỆN Họ và tên giảng viên: .............................................................................................. Đơn vị công tác: ........................................................................ ..................... Họ và tên sinh viên: ...................................... Chuyên ngành: .............................. Đề tài tốt nghiệp: ......................................................................... .................... ................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................. 1. Phần nhận xét của giáo viên chấm phản biện .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... 2. Những mặt còn hạn chế .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... 3. Ý kiến của giảng viên chấm phản biện Được bảo vệ Không được bảo vệ Điểm phản biện Hải Phòng, ngày … tháng … năm ...... Giảng viên chấm phản biện (Ký và ghi rõ họ tên) QC20-B19 CONTENT OF TABLE CONTENT OF TABLE ................................................................................................ 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................................................................... ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................................iv PART A: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 1 1. Rationale ...................................................................................................................... 1 2. Aims of the study ......................................................................................................... 2 3. Methods of the study.................................................................................................... 3 4. Scope of the study ........................................................................................................ 3 5. Organization of the study ............................................................................................. 3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT ......................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................... 5 1.1 Theoretical background of reading ........................................................................... 5 1.1.1. Definition of reading ............................................................................................. 5 1.1.2 Definition of reading comprehension ..................................................................... 6 1.2. The importance of the reading skill .......................................................................... 7 1.3. Classification of reading skills ................................................................................. 8 1.3.1 Skimming................................................................................................................ 8 1.3.2.Scanning ....................................................................................................... 9 1.3.3. Exten sivereading ...................................................................................... 10 1.3.4. Inten sivereading .................................................................................................. 11 1.4. Difficulties in learning the reading skill ................................................................. 12 1.4.1.Memory problem .................................................................................................. 12 1.4.2.Issues with decoding ............................................................................................. 12 1.4.3.Poor comprehension ............................................................................................. 13 1.4.4.Speed..................................................................................................................... 13 1.5. Factors affecting reading difficulties ...................................................................... 13 CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY ....................................................................................... 20 2.1. Participants ............................................................................................................. 20 2.2. Instrument ............................................................................................................... 20 2.3. Data collection procedure ....................................................................................... 21 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ....................................................... 22 i 3.1. Causes of reading difficulties experienced by first-year English majors at HMTU ...... 22 3.2 Some suggestions to improve reading skill for first year English majors students of HMTU ........................................................................................................................... 32 PART C: CONCLUSION ........................................................................................... 37 1. Summary .................................................................................................................... 37 2. Limitations ................................................................................................................. 37 3. Recommendations for further study .......................................................................... 37 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 39 APPENDIX................................................................................................................... 41 Section 1: Questions ...................................................................................................... 41 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT A complete study would not be done without any assistance. Therefore, the author who conducted this research gratefully gives acknowledgement to their support and motivation during the time of doing this research as a requirement of completing my Degree of University. First of all, I would like to express my endless thanks and gratefulness to my supervisor Ms. Tran Thi Ngoc Lien, PhD, the lecturer of Foreign Language Faculty, Haiphong Management and Technology University. Her kindly support and continuous advices went through the process of completion of my thesis. Her encouragement and comments significantly enriched and improved my work. Without her motivation and instructions, the thesis would have been impossible to be done effectively. My sincere thanks are also sent to all the teachers of Foreign Language Faculty at Haiphong Management and Technology University for their precious and useful lessons during my four-year study which have been then the foundation of this research paper and all the students of NA2301N, NA2301T and NA2301A who enthusiastically helped me complete the survey questionnaires. Last but not least, I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to my family, my friends who always encourage and inspire me to complete this graduation paper. Haiphong, June 15th, 2020 Duyen Pham Thi Duyen iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS HMTU Haiphong Management and Technology University ESL English as a second language EFL English foreign language L2 Second language ADD Attention deficit disorder iv PART A: INTRODUCTION 1.Rationale There is no doubt that the role of English in the life of any society in the world today has been becoming more and more important. The widespread need for English as an international language puts a considerable pressure on the education resources of any countries. In case of or country, since our government carried out the open door policy to attract foreign investment and co-operate with other countries, teaching and learning English become necessary. Moreover, it is the English that is used as an effective medium of international communication. It is the language of trade, science, technology, tourism, sport, music and many other fields of life. That is the reason why at present, learning English is not only the interest but also the great and practical demand for many people, especially for student who always want to assess the modern world. Therefore, English is now taught as a compulsory subject to all students at universities in our country. To master English, the students need to grasp all four skills that are closely related to one another: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. Among these skills, reading is an important one because it does not only help student develop other language skills, but also provides them knowledge on the target language. Reading is the window of the world because of the fact that people can get more knowledge and information from books, magazines, newspaper, etc. It helps readers to discover new words and phrases that they come across in everyday conversations. Many foreign language students often regard reading as one of the most important goals in learning process and social interaction. Firstly, reading is an indispensable communication tool in a civilized society. Secondly, that the reading materials produced in any period of time in history is the most influenced by social background. Thirdly, the development over the period of the recorded history of reading have led to two very different poles. In the process of teaching and learning English as a foreign language in Vietnam in general, and at Haiphong Management and Technology University 1 (HMTU) in particular, reading has always been paid a great deal of attention from both teachers and students. Like many other universities in Vietnam, English at HMTU is learned and taught in a non-native environment, therefore, reading is not only considered as a means to gain knowledge but also a means by which further study takes place. This is especially true to the students at the HMTU, where learners are often future interpreters, translators, or teacher whose desires are to be able to handle subjects related to written material in English and to work with their English- speaking colleagues and partners. It is essential for them to acquire the ability to read English, effectively and efficiently. However, despite the teachers’ and the students’ effort, students still often claim to have a lot of difficulties in reading English textbooks or English material, and therefore, they sometimes read them inefficiently. For the first-year students of English, although they have been learning English for at least several years, it is still often difficult for them to understand text or passage in English, since they still lack vocabulary, grammar, reading skill and poor background knowledge. Besides, the teachers sometimes have to face with difficulties in dealing with the students’ learning demand and newly introduced sources of materials. In addition, teaching methods and teaching techniques in general, are still below the international standard of education. Identifying the areas of students’ difficulty at HMTU and the cause of their unsuccessful reading comprehension is necessary. Therefore, these reasons have inspired the writing of a study on DIFFICULTIES AND SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE READING SKILL FOR FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS STUDENTS AT HMTU as well as some suggested solutions. It is hoped that the study will make some contributions to improve learning English in general, and reading in particular among the first-year English majors at HMTU. The author also hoped that it will be possible to make useful suggestions for the teachers to improve the situation of teaching and learning reading at HMTU. 2.Aims of the study As an English department student, the main purpose of this study is to identify the majors causes of difficulties reading skill by first-year English majors students at Haiphong Management and Technology University. Besides, the study is expected to suggest some solutions to improve reading skill for students. In 2 order to gain this aim, the specific objectives of the study are: Firstly, the study focuses on the theory related to reading skill, the awareness of the importance of reading and learning reading methods. Secondly, the study explores the real situation and problems which students have to encounter in learning reading. Finally, the main purpose of this study is to suggest some effective and productive methods that can be applied and suited for first year English majors students at Haiphong Management and Technology University. 3.Methods of the study The study is carried out on the basic of qualitative and quantitative research methods including questionnaires and class observation. Questionnaires are designed as a means to make the researcher’s evaluation more objective. The questionnaires are given to the first year students at HMTU with the hope to find out the causes of difficulties in reading skill by them and some suggested solutions to their difficulties. Analyzing statistics from the survey questionnaires on reading activities is conducted with the cooperation of both teachers and students at HMTU. All comments, remark recommendation assumptions, and conclusion provided in the study are based on the data analysis. Besides, more information needed for the study is gathered through other methods such as informal interviews and discussions with teachers and students at HMTU. 4.Scope of the study There are many different material resources and researches while the author’s personal experience is limited. Therefore, in this graduation paper, I would like to focus on finding the difficulties in studying reading of first year English majors students and some solutions for teaching and studying this skill. 5.Organization of the study The research work has three main parts: Part A – Introduction provides rationale, the aims, scope, methods and organization of the study. Part B – Development consists of three chapters: 3  Chapter one is literature view which provides an overview of reading, difficulties in learning reading skill and factor affecting reading difficulties.  Chapter two shows detailed explanation of the methodology.  Chapter three indicates the cause of difficulties in reading skill experienced by first year English majors at HMTU and some suggested solutions to reading difficulties as well as implication for teaching and learning reading skill at HMTU. Part C – Conclusion summarizes what is given in previous chapters and limitation of the study as well as recommendations for further study. 4 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Theoretical background of reading 1.1.1. Definition of reading Reading is often referred to as the most important of the four language skills for EFL learners, as it enables students to gain exposure to the target language and receive valuable linguistic input to build up language proficiency (Erten & Razi, 2003). We cannot be sure when reading activity begins, but we have to admit that reading is essential activity that provides a great contribution in obtaining knowledge. It is obvious that in real life we usually spend much time reading all sorts of things like books, magazines, newspapers, novels, stories. However, sometimes we read but we do not understand what they mean, or cannot understand the text we read. In this case, it cannot be called reading. So what is reading? There have been numerous definitions of reading each of them is the reflection of its author’s view of the reading process. Anderson (1999: 1) explains this very neatly as follows: “Reading is an active, fluent process which involves the reader and the reading material in building meaning. Meaning does not reside on the printed page or occurs in reading, which combines the words on the printed page with the reader’s background knowledge and experience.” According to Harmer (1989: 153), reading is a mechanical process that “eyes receive the message and the brain then has to work out the significance of the message”. In his definition, Harmer focuses on both two actions dominated by the eyes and the brain as well as on the speed of the process “a reading text moves at the speed of the reader”, which means that the readers themselves decides how fast he want to read the text. Sharing the same opinion, Smith (1985: 102) defines “reading understands the author’s thought”. He also added that “understands print or even receiving communication can hardly be said to explain reading”. The problem still remains how the reader understands the print or the message. “It means that we - the reader - read the author’s mind not the author’s words”. Roe, Stood and Burns (1987: 2) describes reading in a more extensive way. In the opinion, “reading is thinking”, or “reading comprehension is interpretation and evaluation of what author of written content means by using knowledge gained 5 from life experience.” Another definition of reading was offered by Allen and Valletta (1977: 249). In their opinion, “reading is a developmental process”. We learn reading not only to know how to read, to master the symbols, the sound, the language, the grammar, that used in the text but also to understand the ideas, the information expressed in that text or to develop the ability of reconstructing its contents using our own words. One more researcher called Goodman (1971: 153) considers reading is “a psycholinguistic process by which the reader – a language user, reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has been encoded by a writer as a graphic display”. Reading involves a reader, a text, and a writer. Reading skills are developed in an active process. This process involves the surface representation encoded by a writer and ends with interpretation of the written text and interchanges between the writer and the reader (Carrell 1988). If the writer is careless, the reader may not get the message. If the writer makes demands that the reader cannot fulfill, the message will not be received, even though to another reader it might be clear. If the reader is careless, reading will result in complete interpretation. The reader tries to interpret the text through his/her own experiences, but they many differ from the writer’s experiences. This explanation proves that reading is not just an active process, but also an interactive one. Reading is closely linked with meaning. For this reason, lack of shared assumptions presents the most difficult problem in reading. To sum up, from all these opinions above, it is obvious that no definition can possibly capture all the ideas and feature of what reading is. Each linguist’s definition reflects what reading means as seen from his own point of view. However, they all have some features in common, they share the same ideas that reading means we – readers read the author’s mind not the author’s word, and that reading means comprehending written language and it employs a variety of skills. In addition, they all concentrate on the nature of reading. 1.1.2 Definition of reading comprehension In teaching and learning a foreign language in general and teaching reading in particular, reading comprehension plays an important part, it can be understood as the ability to draw attention to the required information from the text as efficiently as possible. So what is reading comprehension? 6 According to Richard and Thomas (1987: 9), “Reading comprehension is best described as an understanding between the author and the reader”. This point of view concentrate on the reader’s understanding of the message based on the individual’s background knowledge. They stated that “reading is much more than just pronouncing words correctly or simply knowing what the author intends: it is process whereby the printed pages stimulate ideas, experiences and responses that are unique to an individual”. In his book, Swan (1975: 1) pointed out that “a student is good at comprehension we mean that he can read accurately and efficiently, so as to get the maximum information of a text with the minimum of understanding”. For Roe, Stood and Burns (1987: 9): Reading comprehension is reconstruction, interpretation, and evaluation of what author of written content means by using knowledge gained from life experience. Study the nature of reading comprehension, Francoise (1981: 3) indicated that “Reading comprehension or understanding written text means extracting the required information from it as effectively as possible”. This means that the student can show his understanding by re-expressing the content of the text in many ways such as summarizing the text, answering questions etc. From these theories above, it can be understood that reading for comprehension is the primary purpose for reading; raising student’s awareness of main ideas in a text and exploring the organization of a text are essential for good comprehension. It is the process in which the readers – as they read, can recognize the graphic form and understand the relation between the writing and the meaning. It means that after reading, students can master grammar structures, words, pronunciation and can understand the content of the text and use it in their real life as effective as possible. Reading means comprehension written language so when understanding break down, reading actually does not occur. 1.2. The importance of the reading skill A student’s reading skill are important to their success in school as they will allow them to access the breadth of the curriculum and improve their communication and language skills. In addition, reading can be a fun and imaginative time for students, which opens doors to all kinds of new worlds for them, especially first-year English majors at HMTU because English at the HMTU is learnt and taught in non-native environment. Indeed, reading is not only 7 considered as a mean to gain knowledge but also a means by which further study takes place. Learning to read is about listening and understanding as well as working out what is printed on the page. Through the teacher’s conversation, students are exposed to a wide range of words. This helps them build their own vocabulary and improve their understanding when they listen, which is vital as they start to read. It is important for them to understand what the teacher’s opinion is and what he or she is talking about. Even if student do not understand every word, they will hear new sounds, words and phrases which they can then try out, copying what they have heard because of their desire to handle subjects related to written material in English and to work with their English-speaking colleagues and partners. Why is reading so important? Studies show that reading for pleasure makes a big difference to student’s education performance. Likewise, evidence suggests that students who read for enjoyment every day not only perform better in reading tests than those who do not, but also develop a broader vocabulary, increased general knowledge and a better understanding of other cultures. In fact, reading for pleasure is more likely to determine whether a student does well at school than their social or economic background. 1.3. Classification of reading skills 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, an ESL trainer and developer, points out that there are 4 main types of reading skills.  Skimming: reading rapidly for the main points.  Scanning: Reading rapidly to finda specificpieceof information.  Intensivereading:readingashorttextfordetailed information.  Extensive reading: reading a longer text, often for pleasure with emphasis on overall meaning. 1.3.1 Skimming Skimming differs from general rapid reading in that the readers go 8 through the text extremely quickly, merely dipping into it or sampling it at various points. Skimming is the technique that is used widely in reading comprehension. Skimming may sometimes be the prerequisite of reading for full understanding. There are many definitions of skimming, Grellet (1981: 19) states that “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 intention of the writer”. It means that the purpose of skimming is simply to see what a text. Skimming occurs when the reader looks quickly at the contents page of a book, or at the chapter headings, subheading, etc. This is sometimes called previewing. Therefore, the key that actually encourages learners to skim is to give them a series of texts and ask them to select appropriate titles from groups of ones. Moreover, in order to teach skimming effectively, the teacher should have the students read the beginning or end of a text or a paragraph because it may provide students with a statement relating to the topic. Skimming gives students the advantage of being able to predict the purpose of the passage, the main topic or message, or possibly some of the developing or supporting ideas. This gives them a “head start” as they embark on more focused reading. Skimming also helps students organize their thoughts and specify what information they can get from a book so that the subsequent reading will become more efficient. In conclusion, skimming is understood as a necessary technique for reading comprehension which enables readers to get the main points of the text without being concerned with the details. Therefore, skimming should be applied at the first stage of teaching reading to help student have an overview of what they are going to read. And it is sure that they will understand the whole text later. However, skimming sometimes proves too difficult for younger learners, or beginners because they generally lack confidence and the knowledge of the language they are learning. 1.3.2.Scanning Like skimming, scanning is also one of two most valuable reading strategies. However, scanning is far more limited than skimming since it only means retrieving what information is relevant to our purpose. Scanning occurs when a reader goes through a text very quickly in order to find a particular point of information. It is a useful skill worth cultivating for its own sake, if it has been 9