VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
*********************

NGUYỄN THỊ THI A STUDY ON TEST-TAKING TECHNIQUES FOR TOEIC READING
COMPREHENSION TEST BY STUDENTS AT VIETNAM
MARITIME UNIVERSITY

(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CÁC THỦ PHÁP TRONG LÀM BÀI ĐỌC
TOEIC ĐỐI VỚI SINH VIÊN TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀNG HẢI VIỆT NAM)

M.A. MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111

HANOI - 2014
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

I truly certify that this thesis is the result of my personal study in fulfillment
of the requirement for the Degree Master of Arts and this thesis has not been
published or submitted for a degree to any other university or institution wholly or
partially.
Hanoi, June 2014
Nguyễn Thị Thi ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS


This study was conducted at Vietnam Maritime University with a view to exploring
test-taking strategies relative to learners’ performance in TOEIC Reading
Comprehension as well as identifying differences in reading strategies among high
proficiency and low proficiency students at Vietnam Maritime University.
The subjects involved in the study are over 100 students of Vietnam Maritime
University (VMU) chosen randomly from 4 TOEIC classes. Two classes are at
Elementary Level (TOEIC Level 1), the other classes are at Intermediate Level
(TOEIC Level 2). The data was collected from survey questionnaires, interviews
and administration of two TOEIC tests for students. The results indicated that
students at VMU put more emphasis on using reading strategies when they attended
the TOEIC course. In addition, this study also revealed some differences in reading
strategy use among students of different proficiency levels. However, when looking
at the data, the researcher found some shared strategies between the two groups.
From the findings, the study suggested several pedagogical implications for
teachers, students and test-designers at VMU, acknowledged limitations of the
study and offered suggestions for further research.
iv


Table 1:
Types of Topic Texts often exploited
23
Table 2:
Strategies to Deal with Reading Text
25
Table 3:
Reading strategies in taking TOEIC Reading Comprehension
26
Table 4:
Types of Topic Texts often exploited by Low Proficiency and
High Proficiency Students
29
Table 5:
Comparison about reading strategies
30

v

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Declaration i
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iii
Lists of figures and tables iv

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1. Research question 1 21
3.1.1. Types of Reading Passages and Topic texts often exploited 21
3.1.2. Reading Approach 24
3.1.3. Strategies to Deal with Reading Text 25
3.1.4. Reading strategies in taking TOEIC reading comprehension 26
3.2. Research question 2 27
3.2.1. A comparison about the Priority of Reading Passage 27
3.2.2. Types of Topic Texts often exploited by Low Proficiency and High
Proficiency Students 28
3.2.3. A comparison about Reading Approach 29
3.2.4. A Comparison about reading strategies 30
PART III: CONCLUSION
1. Summaries of the major findings 31
2. Pedagogical Implications 32
3. Limitations 34
4. Recommendations for further study 34
REFERENCES 36
APPENDIX 1 I
APPENDIX 2 VII
APPENDIX 3 VIII
APPENDIX 4 XVI
APPENDIX 5 XVII
1

PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale for the study
In the age of economic growth and global integration, English obviously plays a
very important role. However, the criteria for evaluating one’s English competence
are more and more difficult. In today’s context, the A, B, C certificates used for

at how their trainees would actually perform in the real test for better TOEIC
preparation instruction. To achieve this aim, the following research questions will
be addressed:
1) Which test-taking techniques became more effective for TOEIC Reading
Comprehension test to the students at Vietnam Maritime University?
2) What are differences in reading strategies among high proficiency and low
proficiency students at Vietnam Maritime University?
3. Scope of study
This study aimed to document the test-taking techniques of 100 students who are
taking TOEIC preparation course at Vietnam Maritime University in Haiphong. 50
students are at Elementary level, 50 students are at Intermediate level.
Investigating the “test-taking techniques for TOEIC Reading Comprehension test to
students at Vietnam Maritime University”, this study is expected to make certain
contributions to the related populations including students taking TOEIC test,
teachers teaching TOEIC, and researchers of the same subjects.
4. Significance of study
First of all, through the problems pointed out and the suggestions made, the students
may improve their performance in reading TOEIC test.
Similar to the students, the study would help TOEIC teachers to realize their
problems in guiding their students in sitting for a test in order to achieve the best
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results. Moreover, by noticing the students’ difficulties in reading, teachers can
have their in-time consideration and correction in teaching reading effectively.
In addition to the benefits given to the two above subjects, the study may serve as
the foundation based on which further related research would be carried out.
Particularly, future research could be made better after the limitations of the study
are considered.
5. Method of the study
In the current study, the researcher decided to employ immediate retrospective
5

PART II: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1: Literature Review
In this chapter, relevant knowledge collected from various sources will be presented
so that it can suitably serve as a foundation for the research. The paper is divided
into two parts including theories on reading difficulties and TOEIC reading.
1.1. Reading
1.1.1. Definitions of reading
According to Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics, reading can be defined as
the process of perceiving a written text in order to understand its contents which can
be done silently, and the understanding that result is called reading comprehension.
However, the term reading can also be understood as saying a written text aloud
which can be done with or without understanding the text. Another definition of
reading which can be found in Collins English Learners’ Dictionary is an act of
looking at and understanding point. This definition puts the emphasis on the
involvement of the act of the eye during the process of reading and was supported
by Harmer (1989) as eyes receive the message and the brain has to work out the
significance of the message (p.153).

1.1.3. Reading process
Reading process is claimed by Gascoigne (2005) to be a selective process which is
characterized as an active process of comprehending. So far, there have been three
widely accepted reading models developed to depict the act of reading or the way
and procedure that readers use to construct meaning from the reading texts. The
three reading models are bottom-up, top-down and interactive (Barnett, 1989).
In bottom-up model, reading is compelled by the text, proceeds from part to whole,
constructs meaning from letters, words, phrases, sentences. Readers process the text
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in linear direction (Nunan, 1991). Therefore, in this model, readers are believed to
play a rather passive role. The basis of bottom-up reading model lies in the
linguistic knowledge of the reader (Samuel & Kamil, 1988).
In top-down model, the understanding of the text is constructed from whole to part.
The readers predict what come next, test their prediction and adjust or confirm. In
this model, readers actively use their background knowledge. Goodman (1967)
described reading using top-down model like a “psycholinguistic guessing game” in
which the “reader reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has been
encoded by a writer as a graphic display” (p.135).
Interactive model is a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches. This
model was discussed as the process of combining textual information with the
information the reader brings to a text (Widdownson, 1979); therefore, the meaning
of the text is, in fact, “synthesized based on information provided simultaneously
from several knowledge sources” (Stanovich, 1980, p.35)
1.2. Reading comprehension
Sedita (2001) claimed that reading comprehension is the ability to determine
meaning from text. It is a complicated, interactive process where readers construct
meaning based on information they get from the text combine with their own
knowledge. Gough and Tunmer (1986) supported that reading comprehension is
actually a process of decoding. According to the RAND Reading Study Group,

they also help teachers to monitor his/her teaching methods in the classroom” (cited
in To and Nguyen, 2008).
There are many ways to classify tests including basing on their uses and purposes,
the ways to mark them, or on the types of test tasks, etc. According to test purposes
as the grouping principle, we can classify tests into four common types as below:
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Types of test
Purposes
Proficiency
tests
To see how good students are at language, or use of the language. The
contents of a proficiency tests are not chosen according to what has
been taught, but according to what is needed for a particular purpose.
Achievement
tests
To see how well students have learnt the language taught in class.
Achievement tests are often at the end of term or end of the year and
test the main points of what has been taught in that time.
Placement
tests
To identify a student’s level of language and find the best class for
them. These are essential in large institutions that frequently receive
new students.
Diagnostic
tests
To identify problems that students have with language. They help
teachers diagnose the language problems students have and to plan
what to teach in future.
1.3.2. TOEIC Test

questions in single passages. Test takers will only read advertisement, form, letter,
e-mail, fax, memo, table, index, chart, instruction, or notice separately. There are at
least 2 questions and 20 questions in double passages. The test-takers, in this part,
must choose the best answer among four for each question.
1.4. TOEIC reading comprehension strategies
As in all reading comprehension exercises, a variety of skills are required to deduce
the right answer. These include skimming, scanning, paraphrasing, and
understanding vocabulary in context. Readers must be able to identify synonyms
and implied information. A clue is that the order of the questions follows the order
to the information in the reading passage.
Lougheed (2007b) suggests that reading skills such as “skimming, scanning, using
the context and reading fast” (p.228, see more in the 5
th
Appendix) should be
practiced sharply to enhance reading comprehension. He goes on to add that a
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competitive tip is to “read the questions before read the passage” (Introductory
Course, p.151). It might be inferred that when readers have a particular question in
their mind, they can read fast and purposefully. Furthermore, TOEIC examinees “do
not read the answer before they read the passage” (Lougheed, 2007a, p.151). It may
be understood that when test-takers master each reading question, they should find
the answer in the passage instead of looking for answer options (A), (B), (C), (D)
after each question. It can be seen that Lougheed (2007c) reveals that TOEIC
examinees should find not only direct answer but also “synonyms, paraphrases, and
implied answers” (p.170). It is not enough without mentioning four main question
types: “main idea questions, detail questions, inference questions and vocabulary
questions” (Lougheed, 2007a, p.151) which readers are highly recommended to
prepare for the new TOEIC test.
According to www.masterthetoeic.com, one of the most important skills readers

Choice, look for Key Words from the Question–are they nearby? If “Yes”, then
that is probably the correct answer.
Another strategy is time management (time limit strategy). Good time management
is essential when taking tests such as TOEFL, TEFL, etc. It is especially true of the
TOEIC test. The time limit strategy is the easiest way to improve TOEIC score. The
strategy involves planning how much time test-takers should spend on each
question and limiting yourself accordingly.
For example, if test-takers had a 10 minute test with a total of 10 questions and each
question was worth 1 point, they should spend about 1 minute on each question. If
they spent 9 minutes doing the first question, they would have less than 1 minute for
the other 9 questions!
By not wasting time on the hard questions, test-takers should have time at the end of
the test to come back and do the rest. It is possible that you may even find hints for
hard questions further on in the test. This strategy is best applied to the TOEIC
Reading section.
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Forster et al. (1997, p.129) continue to reveal that reading the questions with
carefulness is the first step followed by predicting possible correct answers. The
second step comes to information-identifying skills. In “Strategies 1: Building
TOEIC/TOEFL test-taking skills”, it is pointed out that the questions asked may not
impose as the orderly information in the text. In addition to that, from my teaching
experience, I agree with such researchers in term of wrong answers in TOEIC
reading comprehension which may be resulted in by choosing “too general, too
vague or too specific” answers (p.129).
As Forster et al. (1997, p.9) recommend, answers B and C are the two most popular
answer to questions in TOEIC, so it is worthy to advise students to mark B or C
when they have no idea for the answer to a specific question. Moreover, these
researchers suggest that when students encounter a new word which they have not
seen before, it is better to depend on surrounding words in the sentences for

(Someren, Barnard & Sanberg, 1994)
In the current study, the researcher decided to employ immediate retrospective
verbal report approach to explore the test-taking strategies of 100 students as well as
the cognitive processes underlying their performance in reading TOEIC.
Retrospection is a data-collecting method in which participants are asked to report
their mental processes after solving a problem. Among all of the five methods used
for studying cognitive processes, retrospection is claimed to produce the list
disturbance to the participants’ cognitive process since the subjects are not
interrupted during the problem-solving process (Someren, Barnard & Sandberg,
1994). The use of retrospective verbal protocol, however, has its own disadvantage
since it may affect the cognitive process itself as a consequence of being aware that
“one is going to be asked questions afterwards” (Someren, Barnard & Sandberg,
1994, p.25) and produce “incomplete verbalization” (Xiangdong & Chunyan, 2012,
p.405).
Nevertheless, this method has been utilized in a number of second language studies
to investigate students’ test-taking strategies (Wu, 1998; Weir, Hawkey, Green, &
Devi, 2006; Xiangdong & Chunyan, 2012). To lessen the negative points of the
method, in the current study, the researcher choose to conduct retrospective
interview immediately after the reading process along with the use of action
protocol which, in this case, would be the reading answer sheets, the immediate
products of the reading task, to help the subjects better recall their cognitive
processes while reading.
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1.6 Summary
To sum up, this chapter provides different current theories of both reading and
sources of reading difficulty in order to give a clear overview on the matter of the
study. The following chapter will deal with the methodology with which the study
was conducted.


2.1. Settings
This study was conducted at the Center of Foreign Languages, VMU. At VMU,
students have to take sit for a TOEIC-test which includes Reading and Listening
comprehension for the final examination. Therefore, in each English class, normally
ranging from 25 to 30 students per class, there is a mixture of different students-
that means students came from different departments and levels of English. Often,
students coming from Maritime Economics Department are better in English than
the other Departments, and Navigation students are normally worse. To make the
situation better, CFL held the placement test to classify students into different
levels. Low proficiency students took part in TOEIC Level 1 that TOEIC score
ranged from 200 to 300, high proficiency ones did in TOEIC Level 2 that TOEIC
score ranged from 350 t0 450. At the end of 50 classes, they are asked to sit for a
full TOEIC- based test.
They must get scores of 450 as one of the conditions to graduate. To meet the
requirements for a TOEIC 450 course, students should be at intermediate level of
English in order to catch up with advanced curriculum. However, the English
abilities of students are different, using strategies is the most effective way to get
the score. The subject is mainly taught in formal settings according to the
nationwide course distribution.
2.2. Participants
The number of participants in the study was 100 who had been chosen from 4
TOEIC preparation classes at the CFL. Most of them were second year students in
the academic year 2013-2014 at VMU. They came from different departments at
17

different levels. Most of them were ranging their age from 19 to 20. Of the 100
students, 50 were at elementary level whose current TOEIC band scores ranged
from 200 to 300, attend TOEIC Level 1, the other 50 were at intermediate level
whose TOEIC band scores ranged from 350 to 450, attend TOEIC Level 2. The
band score 450 was then considered as the level border line.