CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
Internationally, within the field of education over the last few decades a gradual but
significant shift has taken place, resulting in less emphasis on teachers and teaching and
greater stress on learners and learning. This change has been reflected in various ways in
language education. Teaching English as a second or foreign language (TESL/TEFL) has also
changed tremendously. Most significantly, the traditional teacher-centred approach has been
replaced with the learner-centred one, which reflects a desire to explore ways of making
teaching responsive to learner needs and interests and allowing learners to play a fuller, more
active and participatory role in the day-to-day teaching and learning processes. Inherent in this
approach is a shift in the responsibilities of both teachers and students in the foreign language
classroom. No longer does the teacher act as the centre of all instruction, controlling every
aspect of the learning process. Learners themselves now, more than ever, are sharing the
responsibility for successful language acquisition and, in doing so, are becoming less
dependant on the language teacher for meeting their own individual language learning needs.
By giving students more responsibility for their own language development, language
programs are inviting learners to become more autonomous, to diagnose some of their own
learning strengths and weaknesses and to sift-direct the process of language development.
Then, for all L2 teachers who aim to develop their students' communicative
competence and language learning, an understanding of language learning strategies is crucial.
As Oxford (1990) puts it, language learning strategies" are specially important for language
learning because they are tools for active, self-directed involvement, which is essential for
developing communicative competence" (p.1). According to Nunan (1999), learner-
centeredness does not mean that teachers should devaluating their own professional roles or
handling their duties and responsibility to the learner. Learner-centered instruction "is a matter
of educating learners so that they can gradually assume greater responsibility for their own
learning" (Nunan, 1999: 12) and research suggests that training students to use language
learning strategies can help them become better language learners. In the field of second
language acquisition, focus has been shifted away from finding perfect teaching
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methodologies to investigating why some learners are very successful in their language

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strategies used by students of lower reading ability. Based on the findings, I am going to make
some implications to improve TBU students' reading proficiency.
1.2. Scope, aims and significance of the study
1.2.1. Scope of the study
The present study investigates the reading strategies used by readers among ethnic
minority junior first-year English-majored students at Tay Bac University (hereafter TBU).
The study of learning strategies in other English skills would be beyond the scope.
1.2.2. Aims of the study
The major purposes of this study are:
(1) to identify the reading strategies utilized by readers among ethnic minority junior
first-year English-majored students at Tay Bac University;
(2) to inform the concerned teachers so that they can find ways to improve their
students' reading proficiency.
In order to achieve the above aims of the study, the following major research question
will be addressed:
- What are the reading strategies employed by readers among TBU ethnic minority
junior first-year English-majored students?
1.2.3. Significance of the study
The study is the first one to be carried out in the field of reading strategies research at
TBU. It helps give a detailed description of reading strategies used by readers among first-
year English- majored students at junior grade at the university. More importantly, the
findings of their reading strategies can help teachers to understand more about their students
and they can serve as the foundation for some recommendations on how to improve the
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students' reading proficiency. They are also an important basic for reading strategy based
instruction to be implemented in the future.
1.3. Method of the study
In order to achieve the aims mentioned above, the present study utilized quantitative
method including tests and survey questionnaires to collect data on the reading strategies

(1981), Weinstein and Mayer (1986), Rubin (1987), O' Malley and Chamot (1990), Oxford
(1990) and Cohen (1998). These studies have helped figure out a comprehensive overview of
learning strategies.
Although research on learning strategies is becoming increasingly popular, there have
been some considerable differences in the definition of learning strategies in the literature.
Taron (1981) claimed that "Learning strategies as attempts to develop linguistic and
sociolinguistic competence in the target language". Learning strategies, according to
Weinstein and Mayer (1986) (in O' Malley and Chamot 1990), have learning facilitation as a
goal and are intentional on the part of the learner. The goal of strategy use is to "affect the
learner's motivational or affective state, or the way in which the learner selects, acquires,
organizes, or integrates new knowledge." (1986: 43). These definitions are too general in
comparison to the complex nature of learning strategies.
Oxford (1990) defined learning strategies as "specific actions taken by the learner to
make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more
transferable to new situations" (1990: 5). This definition is judged to be quite comprehensive
as it not only covers the cognitive but also the affective aspects of learning strategies (i.e. to
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increase enjoyment in learning). However, Oxford's definition is not sufficient in the sense
that it regards learning strategies as "specific actions", i.e. learning strategies are behavioral,
and therefore, they are mostly observable. However, many studies in this field have shown
that learning strategies are difficult to observe as they are not only behavioral.
In an attempt to define learning strategies in a more sensible manner, Weinstein and
Mayer (in Ellis,1994: 531) claimed that learning strategies "are the behaviors and thoughts
that a learner engages in during learning that are intended to influence the learner's encoding
process". Thus, these two authors see learning strategies both behavioral and mental. Their
view has been shared by most researchers in strategies studies.
The definition that has been widely accepted to date was proposed by O' Malley and
Chamot (1990). According to them, learning strategies are "the special thoughts or behaviors
that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn or retain new information" (1990: 1). In
spite of being quite short, their definition covers the most important aspects of learning

two primary groupings and a number of subgroups. Rubin's first primary category, consisting
of strategies that directly affect learning, includes clarification/verification, monitoring,
memorization, guessing/inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning and practice. The second
category, consisting of strategies that contribute indirectly to learning, includes creating
practice opportunities and using production tricks such as communication strategies. An
alternative classification scheme proposed by Naiman et al (1978) contains five broad
categories of learning strategies and a number of secondary categories. The primary
classification includes an active task approach, realization of language as a means of
communication and interaction, management of affective demands and monitoring of second
language performance.
Subsequent descriptive studies have endeavored to identify broad classes of learning
strategies, under which a large number of more specific strategies can be grouped. The works
by Wenden (1983), Oxford (1990), O'Malley et at (1985a and 1985b), O'Malley and Chamot
(1990) have made an important contribution to our knowledge of learning strategies. Wenden's
(1983) research examined the strategies that adult foreign language learners use in order to
direct their own learning. She identifies three general categories of self-directing strategies: (1)
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knowing about language (relating to what language and language learning involves), (2)
planning (relating to what and how of language learning), and (3) self-evaluation (relating to
progress in learning and learner's response to the language experience). Wenden's framework
devised as a basic for learner training.
R. Oxford (1990) built on the earlier classifications with the aim of subsuming within
her taxonomy virtually every strategy previously mentioned in the literature. Oxford (1990)
draws a general distinction between direct and indirect strategies. The former consists of
memory, cognitive and compensation strategies while the later includes metacognitive,
affective and social strategies. However, Oxford's classification of learning strategies is
somewhat complicated and confusing as she treats compensation strategies as a direct type of
learning strategies and memory strategies as separate ones from cognitive strategies.
Perhaps, the framework that has been most useful and generally accepted is O'Malley
and Chamot (1990)'s. In O'Malley and Chamot 's framework, three major types of strategies

Evaluation
Self-evaluation Checking the outcomes of one's own language against a standard after it has been
completed.
B. Cognitive
strategies
Resourcing Using target language reference materials such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, or textbooks.
Repetition Imitating the language model, including overt practice and silent rehearsal.
Grouping Classifying words, terminology or concepts according to their attributes or meanings.
Deduction Applying rules to understand or produce the second language or making up rules based on
language analysis.
Imagery Using visual images (either mental or actual) to understand or remember new information.
Auditory
representation
Planning back in one's mind the sound of a word, phrase or longer language sequence.
Key word method Remembering a new word in the second language by: (1) identifying a familiar word in the
first language that sounds like or otherwise resembles the new word, and (2) generating
easily recalled images of some relationship with the first language homonym and the new
word in the second language.
Elaboration relating new information to prior knowledge, relating different parts or new information to
each other, or making meaningful personal associations with the new information.
Transfer Using previous linguistic knowledge or prior skills to assist comprehension or production.
Differencing Using available information to guess the meanings of new items, predict outcomes or fill in
missing information.
Note taking Writing down key words or concepts in abbreviated verbal, graphic or numerical form while
listening or reading.
Recombination Constructing a meaningful sentence or larger language sequence by combining known
elements in a new way.
Translation Using the first language as a base for understanding and/or producing the second language.
C.
Social(affective)

the reading process to start. It is, however, the interaction between the text and the reader that
constitutes the actual meaning". These interaction, in their opinion, are the interactions
between purpose and manner of reading and through reading strategies and schema. Purpose
determines how people read a text. People may read the text to understand it (reading for full
comprehension), or simply to get the general idea (skimming), to find the part that contains the
information they need (scanning). Readers also use some mental activities that are often
referred to as reading strategies to construct meaning from a text. In addition, readers base on
their previous knowledge that they bring meaning to the text to assist their reading
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comprehension. This prior knowledge is known as the schema. Research in reading has shown
that schema plays an important role in helping the reader to comprehend a text.
The above-mentioned views on reading are only general ones. In order to understand
more about the nature of reading, it is necessary to take a closer look at the actual process that
really takes place in the reader's mind. So far, several models have been proposed to describe
this process. The next section is going to present these models of reading and discuss their
strengths and weaknesses.
2.4.2. Models of reading process
Up to now, attempts to describe the interaction between reader and text have been
numerous and different views of the reading process have been proposed. These views are
often grouped under three different reading models named the bottom-up, the top-down and
the interactive ones.
2.4.2.1. Bottom-up model
Early researchers often assumed a passive, bottom-up view of second language
reading, that is it was viewed as "a decoding process of reconstructing the author's intended
meaning" via recognizing the printed letters and words and building up a meaning for a text
from the smallest textual units at the bottom (letters and words) to larger and larger units at the
top (phrases, clauses, intersentencial linkages) (Rivers 1964, 1968; Plaister 1968; Yorio 1971).
In other words, in the bottom-up reading model, the reader begins with the written text
(the bottom) and constructs meaning from the letters, words, phrases and sentences found
within and then processes the text in a linear fashion. The coming data from the text must be

reading experts (Anderson 1978; Cziko 1978) have considered it as basically a concept-driven
top-down pattern in which "higher level processes interact with and direct the flow of
information through low level processes" (Stanovich 1980:34). In this top-down approach, the
reader begins with a set of hypotheses or predictions about the meaning of text he is about to
read and then selectively sample the text to determine whether or not his predictions are
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correct. Reading is a process of reconstructing meaning rather than decoding form, and the
reader only resorts to decoding if other means fail. This perspective was shared by many other
reading specialists such as Carrel (1988), Clarke and Siberstern (1977), Mackey and
Mountford (1979) and Widdowson (1978, 1983) as they viewed reading as "an active process
in which the second language reader is an active information processor who predict while
sampling only parts of the actual text" (in Carrel, 1983;3).
Just like bottom-up models, top-down models do have some limitations. These models
"tend to emphasize such higher-level skills as the prediction of meaning by means of context
clues or certain kinds of background knowledge at the expense of such lower skills as the
rapid and accurate identification of lexical and grammatical form. That is, in making the
perfectly valid point that fluent reading is primarily a cognitive process, they tend to
deemphasize the perceptual and decoding dimensions of that process" (Eskey,1988:93).
Samuel and Kamil (1988) also shared the same view. According to them, one of the
problems for the top-down model is that for many texts, the reader has little knowledge of the
topic and cannot generate predictions. A more serious problem is that even if a skilled reader
could generate predictions, the amount of time necessary to generate a prediction may be
greater than the amount of time the skilled reader needs simply to recognize the words.
Due to the above limitations of both bottom-up and top-down models, a new and more
insightful model of reading process has been proposed by Rumelhart (1977, 1980). Sanford
and Garrod (1981) and Van Dijk and Kintsch (1983) under the name of interactive model.
2.4.2.3. Interactive model
The interactive model combines elements of both bottom-up and top-down approaches,
using that "a pattern is synthesized based on information provided simultaneously from
several knowledge sources" (Stanovich, 1980:35).

2.5. Reading strategies
2.5.1. Definition of reading strategies
Much attention has been paid to the study of reading in general and reading strategies
in particular. Reading strategies are of interest for what they reveal about the way the readers
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manage their interaction with written text and how these strategies are related to text
comprehension.
As mentioned earlier, research in second language learning suggests that learners use a
variety of strategies to assist them with the acquisition, storage, and retrieval of information.
C. Brantmeior (2002) defined reading strategies as "the comprehension processes that readers
use in order to make sense of what they read" (2002:1). This process may involve skimming,
scanning, guessing, recognizing cognates and word families, reading for meaning, predicting,
activating general knowledge, making inferences, following references and separating main
ideas from supporting ones (Barnet, 1988). Obviously, some strategies may be more useful
than others with different types of reading texts and tasks.
Based on O'Malley and Chamot's (1990), reading strategies can be understood as the
special thoughts or behaviours that individuals use to help them to comprehend, learn and
retain new information from the reading text. These strategies are both observable and
unobservable and individually different. According to O'Malley and Chamot's (1990), reading
strategies can be classified into three main types including metacognitive, cognitive and
social/affective strategies. A categorization scheme of these strategies have been provided in
section 2.1.
2.5.2. Review of reading strategies research
A considerable number of studies examine the comprehension strategies that second
language readers utilize to process a text. In these studies, the participants are quite diverse,
some from elementary, secondary and university levels, some from remedial reading classes
and others enrolled in courses taught at non-university language centres. Obviously, the
participants are of many different ages and backgrounds. Furthermore, the investigators use a
variety of research method and tasks to examine strategy type and frequency of strategy use
including think-aloud reports, interviews, questionnaires, observations and written recalls

concept as a reader. While these results clearly described the strategies the students used to
process the text, they did not link the strategy use to comprehension of specific paragraphs or
to text as whole. The data only focused on sentence level comprehension so the results of the
study did not reveal overall comprehension of the entire text.
A decade later, Block's (1986) study compared the reading comprehension strategies
used by native English speakers and ESL students who were enrolled in remedial reading
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course at the university level and she connected these behaviors to comprehension. The
participants were identified as non-proficient readers because they failed a college reading
proficiency test before they study. Subjects read two exploratory passages selected from an
introductory psychology textbook, and were asked to think aloud while they reading (they
reported after each sentence). After reading and retelling each passage, the participants
answered twenty multiple choice comprehension questions. Block developed a scheme to
classify strategies that consisted of two types: general strategies and local strategies. General
strategies included the following behaviors: anticipate content, recognize text structure,
integrate information, question information, distinguish main ideas, interpret the text, use
general knowledge and associations to background, comment on behavior or process, monitor
comprehension, correct behavior, focused on textual meaning as a whole, and react to the text.
Local strategies were: paraphrase, reread, question meaning of a clause or a sentence, question
meaning of a word and solve a vocabulary problem. Of the 9 ESL students in the study, the
readers with higher comprehension scores on the retelling and the multiple choice questions
integrated new information in the text with old information, distinguish main ideas from
details, referred to their background and focused on textual meaning as a whole. This means
they all employed "general strategies". On the other hand, readers with low comprehension
scores rarely distinguished main ideas from details, rarely referred to their background,
infrequently focused on textual meaning and seldom integrated information.
Sarig (1987) investigated the contribution of L1 reading strategies and L2 language
proficiency to L2 reading, as well as the relationship between L1 and L2 reading strategies.
Sarig's subjects were 10 female native Hebrew readers who were studying English as a foreign
language. Sarig classified the data from think-aloud reports into four general types of

specifically, to "say everything they understood and everything they were thinking as they
read each sentence" (Block, 1992: 323). The results indicated that when facing a vocabulary
problem, proficient ESL readers used background knowledge, decided on whether the word
contributed to the overall meaning of the passage, reread the sentence and used syntactic clues.
The meaning-based strategies are classified as global behaviors. On the other hand, non-
proficient ESL readers focused on identifying lexical problems and did little to figure out the
meaning of the words.
From the above findings of research in reading strategies, it becomes clear that there
are indeed differences between successful or good readers and less successful or poor readers
in terms of strategy use. Overall, more proficient readers combine both top-down and bottom-
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up strategies in reading but tend to use more top-down strategies than bottom-up ones.
Specifically, they exhibit the following types of reading behaviors:
* overview text before reading
* employ context clues such as title, subheadings and diagrams
* look for important information while reading and pay great attention to it than
other information
* attempt to relate important points in text to one another in order to understand
the text as a whole
* activate and use prior knowledge to interpret text
* reconsider and revise hypothesis about the meaning of the text based on text
content
* attempt to infer information from the text
* attempt to identify or infer the meaning of words not understood or recognized
* monitor text comprehension
* use strategies to remember text (paraphrasing, repetition, making notes,
summarizing, self-questioning etc)
* understand relationship between parts of text and recognize text structure
* change reading strategies when comprehension is perceived not be proceeding
smoothly

2.6. Summary
This chapter has reviewed related theories on learning strategies in general and reading
strategies in particular. Some of the main points can be summarized as follows.
Concerning the definition of learning strategies, there have been quite different points
of views by different scholars. Some scholars see learning strategies as behaviors while others
view them as thoughts and behaviors. However, it is generally agreed that O'Malley and
Chamot's definition is the most convincing as it covers the significant features of learning
strategies: both mental and behavioral (both observable and unobservable) and individual
characterized.
The classification of learning strategies is also a complex work done by a considerable
number of researchers. Based on descriptive studies on learning strategies of ESL and EFL
learners, Rubin (1975), Naiman et al (1978), Wenden (1983), Oxford (1990), O'Malley et al
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(1985a and 1985b) and O'Malley and Chamot (1990) have proposed useful schemes for
classification of learning strategies. Of these schemes, O'Malley and Chamot's framework has
been most useful and generally accepted to date. In O'Malley and Chamot's framework, three
majors types including metacognotive, cognitive and social/affective strategies are
distinguished in accordance with the information processing model, on which their research is
based. Such a detailed and sufficient classification learning strategies is presented in table 2.1
and is going to be adopted for the investigation of reading strategies for this study.
The second part of this chapter covers the important theories related to reading and an
overview of studies on reading strategies of successful and unsuccessful learners. These
theorists describe a process that moves both bottom-up and top-down, depending on the type
of text as well as on the reader's background knowledge, language proficiency level,
motivation, strategy use and cultural shaped beliefs about reading. In comparison to the
bottom-up and top-down models, interactive models of reading provide a more accurate
conceptualization of reading performance and describe exactly what really happens during the
reading process. According to this interactive model, good reading can only result from a
constant interaction between the bottom-up and the top-down processes. In other words, good
readers are those who can "efficiently integrate" both of these processes. This view is now

participant
s
Gender Age (years)
Number of years
learning English
English proficiency
Male Female 19 20 21 4 7 8 10 Elementary
Pre-
intermediate
32 6 26 16 11 5 7 3 20 2 21 11
Table 3.1. Background information about the participants
These junior students are now studying the second semester of the course majoring in
English. The course for these students lasts from the first year to the third year of training at
the university. They have to learn some professional subjects in English to become teachers of
English after three years studying English at the university. Therefore, English in general and
reading skills in particular play a very important role in their study at the university.
There are some reasons for choosing these freshermen as the participants of this study.
Firstly, the training quality of these students is always of great concern to both the authority
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and teachers at TBU. The findings of the study would provide essential information for
teachers to improve TBU students' reading proficiency and hence contribute to enhancing the
overall training quality of these students. Secondly, they are suitable participants for the study
because they have already finished the first semester in English reading so their English
reading proficiency is of great concern for me to conduct the study on reading strategies. In
addition, as these students are ones who I have been directly teaching, it is feasible for me to
have favourable conditions to carry out all the steps of the research process.
3.1.2. Setting of the study
The present study was conducted from mid April to mid June when the participants
were in the second semester of the first year. Up to the time of the study, they had been
studying English at the university for nearly a year with 3 reading periods per week (nearly 90

written questionnaire delivered to TBU first-year junior English-majored readers to examine
their reading strategy use.
3.3. Instruments of data collection
The present study utilized quantitative method including tests and survey
questionnaires to collect data on the reading strategies employed by TBU students. First, the
two reading comprehension tests were given to the subjects in order to identify their English
reading proficiency levels. Then, the questionnaires were administered to find out their
reading strategies.
3.3.1. Tests
A test is a procedure to collect data on subjects' ability or knowledge of certain
disciplines. In second language acquisition research, tests are generally used to collect data
about the subjects' ability and knowledge of the second language in areas such as vocabulary,
grammar, reading, metalinguistic awareness and general proficiency. As Vu and Do (2004)
stated, all good tests should have five main characteristics including validity, reliability,
discrimination, practicality and backwash in order to accurately assess the learners' ability. In
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this study, two reading comprehension tests taken from De thi tuyen sinh vao Dai hoc Hue-
2001 and De 4 tuyen sinh vao Dai hoc va Cao dang nam 2002 were given to the subjects in
two periods. The reason for selecting them as the reading tests for my study is that both of
these can be regarded as standardized tests. They were developed by experts and therefore
considered to be well constructed. When deciding the tests for my students, I had to take into
consideration their reading abilities. At the time of the study their English proficiency was at
elementary level. Therefore, I only chose short and quite simple reading tasks which were
more appropriate for my students. Based on the analysis of the test scores from these two tests,
the students levels of proficiency were identified.
3.3.2. Questionnaires
Questionnaires are printed forms for data collection, which include questions or
statements to which the subject is expected to respond, often anonymously. Questions can
range from those that ask for yes-no responses or indication of frequency (e.g. 'never',
'seldom', 'sometime', 'often' and 'always') to less structured questions asking respondents to