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A Study on some possible effective pre-reading activities to improve reading skills for the 2nd -year English Majors at the Military Science Academy


A Study on some possible effective pre-reading activities to improve reading skills for the 2nd -year English Majors at the Military Science Academy
PART A: INTRODUCTION
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1
LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Introduction
1.2. Theoretical background of reading
1.3. Teaching and learning reading skills
1.4. Theoretical background of motivation
1.5. Summary
Chapter 2
THE STUDY
2.1. Introduction
2.2. Situation analysis
2.3. Sample and sampling
2.4. Instruments for collecting the data
2.5. Data analysis.
Chapter 3
Major findings and suggestions of some possible Pre reading activities applied to teach More Reading Power to the Second-year English Majors at the MSA
3.1. Major findings
3.2. Suggestions of some possible Pre-reading activities applied to teach More Reading Power to the Second-year English Majors at the MSA
3.3. Summary
PART C: CONCLUSION
1. Summary of the study
2. Limitations and suggestions for further study


PART A: INTRODUCTION
I. Rationale
In many second or foreign language teaching situations, reading receives a special focus. There are a number of reasons for this. First, many foreign language students often have reading as one of their most important goals. They want to be able to read for information and pleasure, for their career, and for study purposes. In fact, in most EFL situations, the ability to read in a foreign language is all that students ever want to acquire. Second, written texts serve various pedagogical purposes. Extensive exposure to linguistically comprehensible written texts can enhance the process of language acquisition. Good reading texts also provide good models for writing and provide opportunities to introduce new topics, to stimulate discussion and to study language. Reading, then, is a skill which is highly valued by students and teachers alike.
In process of teaching and learning English as a foreign language in Vietnam in general, and at the Military Science Academy (MSA) in particular, reading has always been offered a great deal of attention both from the teachers and the students.
Like many others universities in Vietnam, English at the MSA is learnt and taught in 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. In other words, learners “read to learn” (Burns, 1988:11).
According to Carrel (1981:1), “for many students, reading is by far the most important of the four skills in a second language, particularly in English as a second or foreign language”. This is especially true to the students at the MSA, where learners are mostly future interpreters, translators, or teachers of English in others Military Colleges whose desires are to be able to handle subjects related to written materials 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 students’ effort, students still often claim to have a lot of difficulties in reading English textbooks or English materials, and therefore, they sometimes read them inefficiently.
For the second-year students of English, although they have been learning English for at least several years, it is still often difficult for them to understand a text or a passage in English, since they still lack vocabulary, grammar, reading skills 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. To find out the areas of students’ difficulty at the MSA and the causes of their unsuccessful reading comprehension is necessary. Therefore, these reasons have inspired the writing of A Study on some possible effective pre-reading activities to improve reading skills for the 2nd -year English Majors at the Military Science Academy. It is hoped that the study will make some contributions to improve the learning of English in general, and the learning of reading in particular among the 2nd-year English majors at the MSA. The author also hopes that it will be possible to make suggestions for the teachers to improve the situation of teaching and learning reading at the MSA.
II. Aims of the study
The main purposes of the study are to investigate pre-reading techniques employed by the teachers of English at the MSA, and to give a suggestion of some possible pre- reading activities that can be applied to teach the text book More Reading Power to the second-year students of English at the MSA.
To achieve these purposes, the study will focus on the following aims:
* To understand better and more fully the notions of reading and reading comprehension, etc.
* To investigate the teachers’ and students’ attitude towards the pre- reading techniques.
* To examine the students’ preference for pre-reading techniques.
* To suggest some possible pre-reading activities which are thought to be effective for teaching reading to the 2nd-year students at the MSA.
III. Scope of the study
To improve reading skill for students of English at the MSA, the teachers can make use of various techniques and number of things should be done. However, in this study, the author only intends to overview a brief of current situation of teaching and learning reading of the 2nd-year students of English at the MSA, and to suggest some possible activities that can be applied in the Pre-reading stage in order to motivate students in reading lesson as well as Giúp them to become good and effective readers.
IV. Methods of the study



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