VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
PHẠM THU THA
̉
O A STUDY ON THE TEACHING OF READING SKILLS TO 10
TH
FORM
STUDENTS AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN NINH BINH

( Nghiên cứu về việc dạy kĩ năng đọc hiểu cho hoc sinh lớp 10 ở một
trường THPT, Ninh Bình) MA. MINOR THESIS
Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.10


Hanoi, 2013
i

DECLARATION

I hereby certify that the thesis entitled:
“A study on the teaching of reading skills to 10
th
form students at a high
school in Ninh Binh.” is the result of my research for the Degree of Master of Art
at University of Languages and International Studies, Ha Noi National University,
and the thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or
tertiary institution.
Ha noi, September 2013
Student Phạm Thu Thảo
iii ABSTRACT
This research was aimed at finding out: (1) the students‟ background of
English and their attitudes toward learning reading comprehension skill; (2) factors
causing their difficulties and the problems the teachers might encounter in the
teaching process of the reading comprehension skills; (3) suggested solutions. The
researcher carried out the study by three instruments: classroom observation, two
survey questionnaires and informal interviews. The research reveals that the
students‟ lack of knowledge, including linguistic and cultural background
knowledge, the teachers‟ teaching methods, some difficulties from the textbook all
cause problems for the teachers in the teaching process. Besides, the data from the
study confirm the fact that the students‟ poor attitudes towards the importance of
reading comprehension skills in learning English contributes to the problems in
teaching this skill. In addition, the school‟s lack of conductive facilities is also made
the situation worse. From the results inferred in the analysis, the study suggests
some feasible solutions to make teaching and learning English reading skills more
effective.

v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION………………………………………………………………….i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT……………………………………………………… ii
ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………… iii
LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES…………………………………………… iv
TABLE OF CONTENT………………………………………………………… v
PART I: INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………….1
1. Rationale of the study………………………………………………………… 1
2. Aims and objectives of the study 3
3. Scope of the study…………………………………………………………… 3
4. Research methodology 4
4.1. Research questions………………………………………………………… 4
4.2. Research approach……………………………………………………………4
4.3. Data collection instrumnts……………………………………………………4
4.4. Data analytical units………………………………………………………….4
4.5. Data analysis methods……………………………………………………… 4
4.6. Data collection procedures………………………………………………… 5
5. Significance of the study……………………………………………………….5
6. Organization of the study………………………………………………………5
PART II: DEVELOPMENT……………………………………………………5

2.3. Research Instruments……………………………………………………….23
2.3.1. Classroom Observation………………………………………………… 24
2.3.2. Questionnaire…………………………………………………………… 24
2.3.3. Interview………………………………………………………………….26
2.4. Data analysis methods………………………………………………………26
2.5. Data collection procedures………………………………………………….26
2.5.1. The Participants………………………………………………………… 26
2.5.2. Teachers and Methods of teaching……………………………………… 27
vii

2.5.3. Procedure………………………………………………………………….28
2.6. Data analytical units……………………………………………………… 28
CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF THE
FINDINGS…………………………………………………………………… 29
3.1. Report the data analysis…………………………………………………… 29
3.1.1.Classroom observation…………………………………………………….29
3.1.2.Questionnaires …………………………………………………………… 32
3.1.2.1.Questionnaire for students……………………………………………….32
3.1.2.2. Questionnaire for teachers …………………………………………… 38
3.1.3.Interview………………………………………………………………… 44
3.2. Discussion of the findings………………………………………………… 45
3.2.1 Research question 1. What are the teachers‟ and students‟ attitudes towards
the teaching and learning of reading? 45
3.2.2. Research question 2. What difficulties do the teachers meet/encounter
when dealing with a reading lesson? 45
3.2.3. Research question 3. What are feasible solutions to overcome these
difficulties? 46
CHAPTER 4: SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS………………………………….47
4.1. Adapting and re-designing the tasks in the textbook to be more suitable to
students………………………………………………………………………… 47


1

PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
Nowadays, English has become a global language and has been widely used
in many countries in the world. In Vietnam, it plays an important role in the
increasing development of science, technology, economics, politics, culture and
international relation. This leads to an increasing demand of learning English. More
and more people want to acquire the language proficiency in a higher level because
of the globalization trend. Many people consider it as an inevitable factor in their
work and life. In most school throughout Vietnam, English is considered the most
important foreign language and chosen to teach as compulsory subject.
In teaching and learning as a foreign language in Vietnam, reading has
always received a great deal of attention. According to Erten & Razı (2003)
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. Sharing the same
point of view, Carrell (1984:1) shows that “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”. Therefore, Reading is always the first skill presented in each unit
in the new textbook “Tieng Anh 10”. This proves the important role of reading.
This is also understandable because reading provides students with the abilities to
understand the written materials. Reading has become not only an important means

few students choose the colleges or universities which require an English exam.
The grade tenth students at Nho Quan C High School are approximately 16
years old. Lots of them come from comparatively poor families so their learning
condition is low. Their parents can hardly afford to pay extra expenses for their
children‟s schooling such as a dictionary, a cassette player or even some English
reference books. Some of them do not take care of their children.
Moreover, most of the students have low English level. The majority of
them have learned English for four years, a few of them have learned it for seven
years (three years at primary school). However, their English background
knowledge remains humble. For some students, things they have learned at
secondary school seem to be completely new at high school. They cannot express
their ideas even a very simple sentences. For example, in unit 3 “people‟s
3

background”, some students cannot find the answer for the question: when and
where was Marie Curie born?
In addition, their lack of awareness of the importance of English as well as
motivation makes them not interested in English. As a result, most of them do not
have the habit of learning independently and tend to depend on the textbooks and on
the teacher for knowledge.
2. Aims and objectives of the study
This study aims to investigate the areas of difficulty that the teachers at Nho
Quan C high school in Ninh Binh province are coping with in their daily teaching of
reading comprehension to the 10
th
form students with the new textbook “Tieng Anh
10” and to suggest some possiple solutions to reduce and overcome these
difficulties.
To be more specific, the objectives of this study are:
-to investigate the teachers‟ and students‟ attitude towards reading

reality of difficulties the teachers confronted in their teaching reading skills. Then,
two types of survey questionnaire were conducted with informants of teachers of
English and students selected randomly from 8 classes at Nho Quan C High School.
In addition to questionnaire, the qualitative data has been employed/ obtained by
informal interviews with some teachers to collect further information about the real
situations of teaching reading comprehension at Nho Quan C high school.
4.3. Data collection instruments
Classroom observation, two survey questionnaires and interview were used
in this study.
4.4. Data analytical units
The data from questionnaire were keyed into the computer and analyzed by
using Microsoft office excel 2007. Descriptive statistics including percentages was
implemented in order to investigate the teacher‟s and students‟ attitudes towards the
importance of reading comprehension skills and difficulties the teachers
meet/encounter when dealing with reading lesson. Besides, information from
classroom observation and interview was also synthesized.
4.5. Data analysis methods
The study is designed to use both qualitative and quantitative methods
(methods of data analysis) to achieve its aims.
5

4.6. Data collection procedures
Firstly, classroom observations were conducted for four reading lessons for
each class in seven weeks for five teachers. Then, based on the classroom
observations, the questionnaire was designed and delivered to 160 students of the
tenth form and 10 teachers. The researcher randomly selected the individual in
classes for investigation. All of the copies were returned and respectively used for
analysis. Lastly, to collect more information, four interview questions for teachers
were designed. All the answers to the questions were recorded to analyze.
5. Significance of the study

We often spend time reading books, newspapers, magazines, novels, picture
books etc in the free time. Reading helps people relax and reduce stress after the
all day work. Reading is a completely individual activity which takes place in all
different ways. We understand and analyze the text, find its meaning, give out
meaningful information. The ability to read is such a natural part of human beings
that they seldom try to define reading. Different researchers have given different
points of view on the definition of reading. Herein, I would like to mention some
definitions of reading extracted from different sources on the theme.
William (1984), Nuttall (1996), and Frank (1985) share the same view that
reading accounts for understanding what has been written. Also, Goodman (1971:
135), states that: “reading is psycholinguistic process by which the reader, language
user, reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has been encoded by writer as
a graphic display”, and the act of reconstruction is viewed as “a cyclical process of
sampling, predicting, testing and confirming. ”
One more definition offered by Ur (1996: 138) showed us his simple
definition “reading means reading and understanding”. Harmer (1989: 190) seems
to be interested in the notion of reading. He considers reading as a mechanical
process that “eyes receive the message and the brain has to work out the
significance of the message”. Sharing the same view, Smith (1985: 102) defined
7

“reading is understanding the author‟s thought”. It means that the readers “read the
author‟s mind not the author‟s words”.
Moreover, Rubin, and Thomson, (1994: 91) offers another definition of
reading: “Reading is an active information-seeking process in which readers relate
information in the text to what they already know”. From this point of view, the
reader‟s knowledge of the knowledge and knowledge of the world is of importance
to their reading success.
It is clear that no definition can give all the ideas and features of what
reading is. Each author can have a different definition of reading we cannot tell

It can be concluded that reading comprehension is a process of understanding
what is conveyed in the text. It does not mean that the readers need to understand
every single word in the text but actively work on the text and extract the required
information efficiently. It is important for us to understand what reading
comprehension is. For the teachers teaching reading, a profound understanding
about the nature of reading comprehension may help them find out the students‟
difficulties in learning reading and help them to overcome it.
So far we have looked at some definitions concerning reading and reading
comprehension which have been seen from different points of views. It is more
significant to have a more in-depth look at the reading process to make the bridge to
the focus of the study.
1.2. Purposes of reading
Because the nature of reading is “understanding”, the readers extract the
“message” of the author, interpret texts of the specialized subjects in order to get
information for their further studies, their future work in the most appropriate way.
And obviously, various ways of reading are influenced by different reasons for
reading due to the “relevance” features to the purposes. Reading purposes determine
the “what” and the “how” of the reading process, and consequently reading skills/
strategies need to be adopted appropriately.
9

1.3. The importance of reading in learning a foreign language
Reading plays a significant role in building both linguistic and background
knowledge for other language skill. Hoang et al (2006) considers reading as the
most effective means of improving students‟ language competence. When there is a
lack of the second language environment, reading becomes more significant
because it helps enlarges students‟ background knowledge and vocabulary as well
as improves other skills.
To master reading skill is always challenging task that requires students a
number of factors: a good competence of English grammar, rich vocabulary, and

out. The words on the page have no meaning. And while people read for many
different reasons, the chief goal is to derive some understanding of what the writer
is trying to convey and make use of that information – whether for fact gathering,
learning a new skill, or for pleasure. That‟s why reading comprehension skills are so
important. Without them the reader cannot gather any information and use it to
efficiently function and enjoy the richness of life. General speaking, No one can
deny that reading bring readers an ocean of knowledge of different areas. They can
learn more experience of life. They have necessary benefits to avoid difficulties in
mutual understanding in communication such as culture shock, language shock due
to different cultures, habits and languages. Moreover, reading is also an important
way of expanding students‟ receptive knowledge of language and stimulating
students to talk and write.
In other words, reading is very important to the foreign language learners
because it widens their knowledge of language and life. It seems to be the most
important skill to the students of English since their main purpose is to understand
the written texts. 11

1.4. Effective reading comprehension and Reading comprehension skills
1.4.1. What is Effective Reading Comprehension?
According to Ur (1996), reading comprehension as a process combining such
elements as: A clear purpose in mind; an enhanced motivation; appropriate reading
comprehension strategies based on the purposes and motivation; good prediction;
sufficient background information and vocabulary; close attention to the significant
bits; and fairly high speed.
Cook (1989), on the other hand, contends that effective reading
comprehension would be best reflected if we bring distinct cognitive behaviors of
good versus poor readers before, during and after reading an assignment into a

vocabulary
- Do not see any organization
- Add on rather than integrate
new information
12

occurring
+ knowing what is understood
- Do not realize they do not
understand
After reading
- Reflect on what was read
- Feel success is a result of
effort
- Summarize major ideas
- Seek additional information
from outside sources
- Stop reading
- Feel success is a result of luck
1.4.2. Reading Comprehension Skills
Nutall (1982) provides a list of reading skills which consist of macro-skills
with word-attack skills and text-attack skills.
Word-attack skills are composed of processing morphological information,
distinguishing structural clues, inferencing (or guessing the meanings of unfamiliar
words) from context, active, receptive and throw-away vocabulary, learning to
ignore difficult words and using dictionary.
Text-attack skills include two subgroups:
Significance and cohesion: understanding sentence syntax, recognizing and
interpreting cohesive devices and interpreting discourse markers.
Discourse: recognizing functional value, recognizing the presuppositions

and learning English as a foreign language.
2.2. Factors in teaching reading lesson
2.2.1. The Roles of the Teacher
Discussing the roles of the teacher in teaching reading, Richard and Amato
(1988) emphasize:
“The first role is to facilitate communicative process between all participants
in the classroom, and between these participants and the various activities and text.
The second role is to act interdependent within the learning teaching group.”
14

Besides, linguistics point out an essential element of the teacher‟s role-a
model reader. According to Nuttall (1982: 192) showing that “you are a reader
means carrying books around with you, referring to books as you teach, reading out
brief passages that may interest students, talking about what you are reading at the
moment, and handling books as if you loved them”. He also states that “teacher‟s
job as providing, first, suitable texts and second, activities that will focus the
students‟ attention on the texts”
Harmer (2001) gives an opinion that the teacher needs to create interest in
the topic and task. He also needs to work as an organizer, observer, feedback
organizer and prompter.
▪ An observer: While students are reading, the teacher can observe
their progress since it will give him valuable information about how well his
students are doing individually or collectively, and will tell him whether to give
them extra time, or move to organize feedback more quickly than he has
anticipated.
▪ A feedback organizer: When the students have completed the given
tasks. The teacher can lead a feedback session to check if they have completed the
tasks successfully or not.
▪ A prompter: When students are reading the text, it is also necessary
to draw their attention to the language features in that text. He may direct his

of the learners. They have to be active and take charge of what they do.
-monitoring comprehension: students need to understand how texts work and
what they do when they read
-learning to talk: it is clear that a good reader carries on a dialogue with the
text . Consequently, the students have to learn how to do this. To talk about the text
in class is an effective way to promote this skill.
-taking risks: Students have to take the risk of making mistakes because
making mistake is an opportunity to learn