VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
   VŨ THỊ KIM THANH

A STUDENT- BASED EVALUATION OF THE READING COMPREHENSION
TASKS IN “TIENG ANH 12 NANG CAO”
ĐÁNH GIÁ CỦA HỌC SINH VỀ CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG ĐäC HIỂU
TRONG SÁCH “TIẾNG ANH 12 NÂNG CAO”
MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: METHODOLOGY
CODE: 601410 HANOI - 2010

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
v
Table of contents

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS II
ABSTRACT III
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS IV
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES VIII
INTRODUCTION 1
1. Statements of the Problems and Rationale for the Study 1
2. Aims of the Study 2
3. Significance of the Study 3
4. Scope of the Study 3
5. Methods and Procedures 4
6. The Structure of the Thesis 4
Chapter I. Review of Literature 5
1.1 Reading comprehension 5
1.1.1 Definition of Reading and Reading Comprehension 5
1.1.2 The Importance of Reading Comprehension in Foreign Language Learning 6
1.1.3 Reading Sub-Skills 6
1.2 Reading comprehension Tasks 8
1.2.1 Tasks 8
1.2.2 Reading Tasks 8
1.2.3 Types of Reading Tasks 8
1.3 Textbook Evaluation 10
1.3.1 Definition of Textbook Evaluation 10
1.3.2 The purpose of Textbook Evaluation 10
1.3.3 Types of Textbook Evaluation 10

4.1.4 Helping to develop and consolidate vocabulary and grammar competence 26
4.1.5 Relevance to students’ level of English. 27
4.1.6 Preparing students for exams 28
4.1.7 Developing sub- reading skills 29
4.1.8 The need to modify and supply more reading comprehension tasks. 31
4.1.9 Matching personal reading strategies 31
4.2 Qualitative data 32
4.2.1 Usefulness to students’ English language learning 32
4.2.2 Relevance to the students’ needs 34
4.2.3 Students’ expectations 34 M.A.Thesis vii
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 36
5.1 Summary of the study. 36
5.2 Recommendations 38
5.2.1 Addition 38
5.2.2 Providing Supplementary Reading Texts 39
5.3 Conclusion 40
5.4 Limitations of the study 41
REFERENCES 42
APPENDIX 1: PHIÕU §IÒU TRA HỌC SINH I
APPENDIX 2. CÂU HO
̉
I PHO
̉
NG VÂ

Table 5 : Added tasks suggested in the three reading stages in each unit 39 M.A.Thesis 1
Introduction
1. Statements of the Problems and Rationale for the Study
In the age of globalization the status of English has been enhanced. As Richard
(1985:1) reminds us the current state of English has turned a significant percentage of the
world population into part time users or learners of English. This is also true for Vietnam
in the new social context with the recent economic renovation, the participation in WTO as
well as regionalization and globalization. There has been increasing demand for mastering
English.
The teaching and learning English in high secondary school is most prioritized by
the MOET. The old set of textbooks which was used for a long time has been replaced by
the new one in 2002 which is claimed to incorporate the latest methodology in second
language teaching. The introduction of the new textbooks is considered the first step
towards the achievement of better quality of education. The objectives of the books have
been adjusted for a better use of English “as a tool of communication at basic level in
terms of listening, speaking, reading and writing” (Hoang et al., 2006a:33).
Being an effective and fluent reader in another language is very important as
reading helps students consolidate what they have learned and support their further study.
According to Carrel (1981:1), “for many students, reading is by far the most important of
the four macro skills, particularly in English as a second or a foreign language”.
Unfortunately, teaching and learning readings skills is still far from satisfactory for various
reasons.
The new textbooks for upper secondary school level comprised two sets: the basic
book and advanced books. Hoang Van Thu specializing secondary school chooses the

has been highlighted. As English has become an international language, learners with their
diverse learning contexts and needs are focused in more specific ways.
Research on the limitations of the new textbooks has been a core part of my study.
Based on the findings, recommendations are made which are expected to help improve
students‟ reading skill to enable them firstly to successfully fulfill the reading section in the
university entrance examination paper, and secondly to further their study.
2. Aims of the Study
The study aims to understand students‟ evaluative comments on the usefulness and
relevance of the reading tasks in terms of preparing better for the high school graduation
and university entrance exams, further study and future jobs. Particularly, the study tries to
answer the following two research questions:

M.A.Thesis 3
1. To what extent do students find the reading comprehension tasks useful to
their English language learning?
2. To what extent do students find the reading comprehension tasks relevant to
their learning needs?
3. Significance of the Study
The study helps the audience to be aware of the strong and week points of the text
book. This would also enable the teachers to effectively exploit the strength and revise,
modify or supplement the materials if necessary.
Moreover, it is useful for the teachers to listen to their students about their
interests, needs, and expectations. Only by doing that, can we respond to their needs at the
utmost and maximize the learning/teaching objectives by revising the textbook.
The study has been also a benefit for the evaluator herself. As Richards, (1990)
believes that a successful teacher is the one who can evaluate teaching materials and to
teach students successfully, therefore it is a good chance to review major theoretical basis

This thesis is divided as follows:
The Introduction presents the background to the study, states the aims, significance,
discusses the scope of the study, method and procedure and outlines the thesis.
Chapter One, Literature Review, discusses issues relating to reading, reading
evaluation, task evaluation and reading comprehension tasks, which serves as the scientific
base for the thesis.
Chapter Two presents the overview of the reading task in Tieng Anh 12 Nang Cao.
Chapter Three, Methodology, presents the deep analysis of the setting including the
students‟ profile and institution. It also describes data collection instrument, data collection
procedure and data analysis.
Chapter Four, Data Analysis and Discussion, presents the results from the
questionnaire, and interview. The chapter ends with a discussion of the findings.
Chapter Five, Recommendations and Conclusion, presents the recommendations
drawn from the findings of the study and concludes the thesis.
M.A.Thesis 5
Chapter I. Review of Literature

1.1 Reading Comprehension
1.1.1 Definition of Reading and Reading Comprehension
What is Reading?
According to Goodman (1971:135), reading is “a psycholinguistic process by

M.A.Thesis 6
1.1.2 The Importance of Reading Comprehension in Foreign Language
Learning
Reading is an important, if not the most important, skill that students who study
foreign language need to acquire. As Eskeys (2005) points out that many students of
English as a Foreign Language (EFL) rarely need to speak the language in their day-to-day
lives but may need to read it in order to “assess the wealth of information”(P.563). Of the
four language skills, reading has conventionally been the most emphasized in FL and ESL
or EFL situations over the years. Bright and Gregor (1970:52-53) states that books provide
most pupils with the situation in which learning takes place. Where there is little reading,
there will be little language learning. He also states “further education depends on quantity
and quality of reading. All the important skills, in fact, require quick and efficient
imaginative reading.”
When English is taught in a foreign language environment like in Vietnamese high
schools, students have little opportunity to practice it outside the classroom. In this context,
students are expected to learn how to read in a foreign language in order to learn the
language and obtain the information that they find useful for them. ”Learning to read and
reading to learn” is not an outworn slogan. The need for developing the reading skill is
more urgent because of the ever-increasing amount of reading our students are called upon
to do. From a second language acquisition (SLA) perspective, reading and the reading texts
are a source of input of the target language without which acquisition of the second
language can hardly happen. This is because reading texts can be used for several different
purposes, and this is reflected in the coursebook as follows.
- developing reading skills and strategies,
- presenting/ recycling grammar items, extending vocabulary
- providing models for writing,
- giving information of interest to students,

- Extracting salient points to summarize the text or an idea.
- Selective extraction of relevant points from a text.
- Basic reference skills
- Transcoding information to diagrammatic display
- Skimming
- Scanning
To develop these sub reading skills, the reading comprehension tasks are designed
in the textbook

M.A.Thesis 8
1.2 Reading Comprehension Tasks
1.2.1 Tasks
Task, from a dictionary of applied linguistics, is “an activity or action which is
carried out as the result of processing or understanding language (i.e. as a response)
(Richards, Platt and Weber, 1986:289). According to Nunan (2001:10), task involves
communicative language use in which the communicative task is described as a piece of
classroom work.
1.2.2 Reading Tasks
Nunan (2001) describes the reading task as a classroom work which involves
learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language
while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather than form. A reading task in
a classroom consists of a process of three tasks (pre-reading task, while-reading task and
post-reading task). Pang, Muaka, Bernbardt and Kamil (2003:6) define reading task as a
complex activity for understanding written texts that involves both perception and thought.
Reading consists of two related processes: word recognition (the process of perceiving
written symbols from different kinds of texts) and comprehension (the process of making
sense of words).

information by marking and labeling. Use
marked text as basis for summary
(diagrammatic or note form)
Text completion
- Word completion (selected words deleted
from the text)
- Phrases completion (selected phrases/
clauses deleted from the text)
- Sentence completion (selected sentences
deleted from the text)

Sequencing
- Selected segments of text arranged in
logical/ time sequence (text cut into
segments representing steps, events, etc )
- Segments of text classified (text cut into
segments representing certain categories of
information)

Prediction
- Pupils predict next events/ steps or stage
after reading segments of text (text
segments presented at section at a time)

Table completion
- Pupils fill in cells of table using row and
column headings and text as sources of
information (teacher provides row and
column headings)
- Pupils devise row and column headings
10
1.3 Textbook Evaluation
1.3.1 Definition of Textbook Evaluation
A textbook is a teaching material for the teacher and a learning material for the
learner. Within this master thesis, the terms „textbook‟, „text‟, and „materials‟ are used
interchangeably.
In general there are many definitions of evaluation. Hutchinson and Waters
(1987:96) defines evaluation as “a matter of judging the fitness of something” and “it is
concerned with relative merit”.
1.3.2 The purpose of Textbook Evaluation
Evaluating materials enables teachers to see if teaching material matches the
objectives of the language learning program; whether it assists learners to use language
effectively for their own purposes; if it accords with learners‟ needs by facilitating their
learning processes; or whether it supports learning. (Cunningsworth, 1984:5).
1.3.3 Types of Textbook Evaluation
Ellis (1997:37) divides materials evaluation into two types: macro-evaluation and
micro- evaluation. According to him, the former is the impressionistical assessment of
effectiveness of the whole set of materials. In the latter, however, a particular teaching task
chosen by the evaluator is given through evaluation. For this one, Ellis focuses on
evaluation at the task level with reference to its language teaching methodology. The task
here is described in terms of its objectives, the input (the information provided), the
conditions (under which the task is conducted), the procedures, the outcomes (the
achievement on completion of the task). The aim in this model is to identify the match
between task planned and task in use. According to him, micro-evaluation can serve as the
basis for further macro evaluation. On the other hand, micro-evaluation can be an
individual, practical and legitimate way of carrying out an empirical evaluation of teaching
materials
“A micro-evaluation of teaching materials is perhaps best carried out in relation to

This study follows these steps in getting the students to evaluate the reading tasks
in Tieng Anh Nang Cao for 12 Graders.
1.3.5 Student- Based Textbook Evaluation
Definition
According to Ellis (1997:39) student-based evaluation is the evaluation in which
the effectiveness of the task is examined through the students‟ attitudes and opinions by
using questionnaires and interviews.
Why Student - Based Evaluation?
Student -based evaluation of textbooks is an evaluation in which the learners assess
the textbook whether it matches their language proficiency, needs, interests and
expectations. When learners are involved in textbook evaluation, they may have a greater
feeling of being active factor of the learning process. Such an evaluation may serve to
increase learner motivation, create a sense of learner-centredness, and stimulate learning.
Learners only learn what they need or want to learn (Tomlinson, 2003:147). Evaluation of
the textbook basing on learners‟ opinion is also helpful to the teachers so that they know
how to adapt and supplement the currently-used textbook to motivate their learners. That is
why the author chooses the student- based evaluation type.

M.A.Thesis 12
1.3.6 The Need to Have Students’ Evaluation of the Reading Tasks
Cheng (1985) criticizes the traditional practice of teaching reading in which the
students are to read the text and then answer questions as for being of little help to the
development of the reading skills which are necessary to cope with different reading
materials for different reading needs. The students‟ task is to do as directed and nobody
asks them whether they like the text and their reading skill is improved or not.
Nuttall (1996:170), while also criticizing the conventional approaches to
coursebook evaluation which ignore the learners voice, challenges that “Suggesting that

13
1.3.7.2 Criteria for Task Evaluation
Littlejohn (1998) proposes three criteria for the task evaluation: 1) “what is there”
in the book; 2) “what is required of the users”; 3) “what is implied” based on the
distribution of teacher and students. Matthews (1991) suggests “the balance of tasks”
(enough attention to different types of task). Grant (1991) looks at “enough activities”.
1.3.7.3 Criteria for Evaluation of Reading Comprehension tasks
It is important for EFL teachers at high school level to select appropriate reading
materials, considering students‟ needs, interests and abilities. In other words, successful
selection of materials may be a key to enhancing students‟ reading ability.
Nuttall (1996:170-174) highlights three major criteria for evaluating texts for
reading. These include: suitability of content, exploitability, and readability. By suitability
she means the reading texts must be interesting to the students. According to her, far and
away the most important criterion is that the text should interest the readers- preferably
enthrall and delight them. Of course it is possible to develop reading skills on a text that
bores readers, but interesting content makes the learner‟s task far more rewarding.
Exploitability refers to the facilitation of learning- is arguably the most important
criterion after interest. When the text is exploited, it is used to develop the students‟
competence as readers. To achieve exploitability the reading text must fit the purpose of
the reading lesson in terms of both the language and content. The text must be exploitable
in terms of integration of various reading sub-skills as well as integration of other language
skills.
Regarding the third criterion – Readability, she suggests that reading teachers
assess the students‟ level and consider lexical, structural and passage difficulty of the text
and then calculate the readability level of the material. It seems that these suggestions are
reasonable and teachers should bear these kinds of criteria in mind when they choose
reading materials.
1.4 Previous Studies on the New Set of English Textbooks
In Vietnam a number of projects have been carried out to evaluate the new set of
English textbooks including the basic and the advanced, among which Nguyen Thuy Minh

addition, those evaluations were made with the teachers‟ perspectives only. This study,
therefore, focuses on the students‟ evaluation of the reading tasks in Tieng Anh Nang Cao
for 12 graders.
Summary
This chapter has reviewed theories related to the reading comprehension and the
roles it plays in the process of English language teaching and learning as well as important
issues of reading task evaluation that need to be considered when conducting the research.
The highlighted aspects are the sub-reading skills presented in reading comprehension
tasks, the model to evaluate tasks proposed by Rod -Ellis with student-based evaluation
and the criteria to evaluate reading tasks. It has also reviewed some of the previous
research on textbook evaluation in different contexts in other settings in Vietnam. All of
these serve as a basic for carrying out an evaluation of the reading comprehension tasks in
Tieng Anh 12 Nang Cao at a specific secondary school. The next chapter presents an
overview of the reading task in Tieng Anh 12 Nang Cao.

M.A.Thesis 15
CHAPTER 2. OVERVIEW OF THE READING TASK IN
TIENG ANH 12 NANG CAO

2.1 Overview of the National Curriculum and Syllabus for ELT
Before an evaluation of the reading tasks of Tieng Anh 12 Nang Cao takes place,
an overview of the national curriculum for ELT in secondary school education and the
syllabus for the 12 grade is provided
In 2006 MOET issued a new curriculum which defines English as a compulsory
subject, which is “instrumental to the access of world science and technology as well as
world cultures” (MOET, 2006: 5). It describes the aims for ELT at secondary school level
for the advanced program as enabling students to:

- Distinguish the main ideas and supporting ideas.
- Use the main ideas to summarise the text.
- Comprehend and judge the author‟s opinions and attitudes
(Tieng Anh 12 Nang Cao - Teacher‟s book, p9)
2.3 Overview of the Reading Section
The Reading section is structured according to the conventional stages of a reading
lesson. It begins with one or two Before you read activities, the aim of which is to
introduce students to the topic, activate their background knowledge of the topic, motivate
them to read and elicit new vocabulary, to present the notion, content, personal experience
related to the. The aim of this part is to arouse the pupils‟ interest in their learning. It may
be some suggested questions, matching the pictures with the title or information, group or
pair work discussion. It then presents a short text followed by 2-3 While you read
activities, the aim of which is to develop reading skills and strategies such as scanning,
skimming and guessing meaning in context. While - reading tasks help students understand
the writer‟s purpose and clarify the text content. The section ends with one or two After
you read activities to offer students some further practice, e.g. oral or written language
production. Post- reading tasks aim to check students‟ comprehension, consolidate what
students have read and provide a sense of completion to the whole process.

M.A.Thesis 17
2.3.1 Reading Text Types
This part includes one or more passages with different genres extracted or
developed from the authentic source but the language is adjusted to suit the students‟ level
of the 12 graders.
Regarding text types, all the texts in the textbook are authentic and cover the
following genres.
Table 2.1 Reading Text Types

develop other skills such as: listening, speaking, writing with different kinds of practice in
the following parts. It also provides the language content in the Language Focus part.
It is effective to label the 3-stage process for the reading tasks namely: Pre-
reading, While- Reading, Post- Reading.
2.3.2 Reading Task Types
Table 2.2 Quantity of Reading Tasks
Before you read
While you read
After you read

Total 30
Percent 30%
53
53%
17
17%

As can be seen, the number of while- reading tasks accounts for over half of total
tasks in the textbook (53%) whereas the tasks in pre-reading make up 30% and post-
reading just 17%. Obviously, most of comprehension tasks are concentrated in the while-
reading stage. Therefore, such a big proportion of tasks designed for while-reading is of
great use as students have more opportunity to comprehend the text, in other words, they
will be more approachable to the content of the text and this result expresses the authors‟
exploitation of the reading text to the full.
Compared with the quantity of while-reading tasks, the task quantity in pre-reading
is quite adequate. This part is important and dispensable as it prepares the readers for what
he or she is going to read.
So “rich” in number of tasks as while-reading is, the number of tasks in post-
reading is the “poorest”. Clearly each reading passage is distributed evenly with one post-
reading task to consolidate what they have gained, to connect what they have known from

1
1
1
Pre-reading Task
Discussion
Question- answering
Matching
Tick the items
Total: 30
10
8
9
3
Post-reading Task
Discussion
Writing
Summarizing
Oral presentation
Total:17
14
1
1
1