1 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
  

NGUYỄN THỊ HỒNG THÚY

THE EFFECTS OF USING INTERNET-BASED MATERIALS IN DEVELOPING
LEARNER AUTONOMY IN LEARNING ENGLISH READING SKILL FOR
STUDENTS AT MY HAO HIGH SCHOOL, HUNG YEN

Hiệu quả của việc sử dụng tư liệu trên Internet
để phát huy tính tự chủ trong việc học kĩ năng đọc hiểu tiếng Anh
của học sinh trường trung học phổ thông Mỹ Hào, tỉnh Hưng Yên MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 601410
SUPERVISOR: DO BA QUY, MEd. HANOI – 2010


1.1.1 Definitions of reading
1.1.2 Extensive reading
1.2 Autonomy
1.2.1 Definition
1.2.2 Why develop learner autonomy ?
1.2.3 Characteristics of autonomous learners
1.2.4 The role of teachers in learner autonomy ?
1.3 Internet-based reading materials
1.3.1 Internet-based reading materials improve reading comprehension
1.3.2 Types of internet-based reading
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6 1.3.3 Criteria for choosing Internet-based reading materials
1.3.4 Considerations in using Internet-based materials
1.4 Summary
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7 PART A: INTRODUCTION
This part introduces the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the methods and the
scope of the study. It concludes with a presentation of the organization of the thesis.

1. Rationale for the study
In all of the educational contexts in Vietnam (including primary, secondary, and higher
education), no significant steps are being undertaken to promote autonomous language
learning within and beyond the classroom, and learning is mainly directed and evaluated by

processing the text, background knowledge and linguistic competence. Thus, besides the
reading texts in the textbooks students need to read more outside the classroom to enrich their
vocabulary as well as their background knowledge. That means students must read
extensively.
Through daily conversations with the teachers and students, the reseacher has found
that the main reasons why students are not interested in reading lessons are their lack of
background knowledge as well as vocabulary about the topics they are reading. Some topics
are unfamiliar, some others are boring so the students find it difficult to understand them.
Some students say that there are texts that they have read several times without understanding
anything. Moreover, time for reading lesson at high school is limited. There are 3 English
lessons every week. In five or six lessons, there is only one for reading, it means that there is
not much time for reading. In extra classes at school the teachers tend to pay more attention to
grammar exercises. The students have opportunities to practise vocabulary but in separated
sentences, not in reading texts. Because teaching reading is time consuming, the teachers
often neglect it. Large class size adds to the difficulties the students encounter in the reading
lessons. Another important reason is their lack of motivation. „Practice makes perfect‟, that is
the reason why teachers have to find ways to enhance students to read more so that they can
improve their reading ability.
9 Materials for extensive reading are available everywhere. But Internet-based materials
seem to be the most suitable for high school students. There are several reasons for choosing
Internet-based materials. First of all, in recent years, the use of the World Wide Web
(WWW) as a resource for language learning materials has gained increasing popularity
among language teachers and learners. The Internet can now be used for supplementing and
reinforcing what we do in the classroom as well as providing rich opportunities whereby
students can start learning languages on their own. Moreover, students generally have
positive feelings about learning languages via the Internet. For example, Kung and
Chuo (2002) conducted a study of students‟ attitudes towards learning English through

textbooks. Therefore, the sutents don‟t seem to be interested in reading lessons. Many of them
find reading difficult and boring and even some are afraid of reading. After reading a text,
they don‟t understand much about its content or they misunderstand the author‟s ideas. As a
high school teacher, I think that something has to be done about raising students‟interest in
reading and helping them comprehend the texts better. This minor study is inspired from the
idea that whereas many educators enthusiastically embrace the use of Internet-based reading
materials, little theoretical and empirical research exists that demonstrates how Internet-based
reading materials are useful in improving high school students‟ reading comprehension skills
and how to organize Internet-based reading activities effectively. Moreover, when seeking for
materials to design the lessons, I realise that Internet is a useful source of information for high
school students to increase their background knowledge. And that‟s the reason why I decided
to choose the topic “The Effects of Using Internet-based Materials in Developing Learner
Autonomy in Learning Reading Skill for Students at My Hao High School, Hung Yen”.
In light of these circumstances, this paper will investigate whether Internet-based
materials are effective in developing learner autonomy in learning reading skill for students at
My Hao High School, Hung Yen. To achieve this goal, the study will focus on the exploration
of factors that affect the students‟ reading comprehension in My Hao High school, whether
they are able to set language learning goals and work towards them, how the Internet-based
reading materials used within and beyond the classroom promote autonomous learning.

11 2. Aims of the study
This study aims at improving the quality of teaching/learning to read English as a
second language for grade 11 students at My Hao high school by using Internet-based
materials.
To achieve this aim, the study sets out to obtain the three following specific objectives:
1. To investigate the situation of learner autonomy in learning reading among high
school students in My Hao high school.

Internet-based reading materials play a more and more important part in raising the
effectiveness of teaching and learning foreign languages in general, English in particular. This
study focuses on the role of Internet-based reading materials in helping improve reading
comprehension skills for students in My Hao High school and offers some suggestions for the
intergration of Internet-based materials in high school teaching and learning curricular in
Vietnam.
6. Organization of the thesis
This minor thesis consists of three parts.
The first part “Introduction” includes the rationale for the study, the aims, research
questions, methods, scope of the study as well as the organization of the thesis.
Part B “Development” consists of four chapters. The first chapter “Literature Review”
discusses the knowledge relevant to the research topic including the theoretical background of
reading comprehension, learner autonomy and the roles of Internet-based materials. The
second chapter “Research methodology” presents the context of the study, the participants,
research methods. The third chapter deals with data and data analysis. The fourth chapter
mentions the major findings and recommendations to use Internet-based materials in
improving learner autonomy in learning reading.
The last part of the study “Conclusion” summarizes the findings, giving out some
limitations and recommendations for further study.

13 PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter reviews the relevant literature relating to reading comprehension, learner
autonomy and the role of Internet-based materials in improving reading comprehension skill.
The chapter begins with definitions of reading and some information about extensive
reading. The second section of the chapter presents background knowledge about learner
autonomy. The last section discusses the role of internet-based materials in helping to develop

complex nature of reading and the fact that it is one of the most important language skills,
most scholars in language methodology agree that there is a need for incorporating
multimedia into reading instruction. Reading should be supported with pictures,
diagrams, video, and audio (Brown, 2001). Learners need to be provided with sufficient
scaffolding to be able to achieve more effective reading comprehension (Brandl, 2002).
1.1.2 Extensive reading
So many studies have been conducted to find out ways to improve reading
effectiveness. Recently, there has been a lot of reseach about the effects of extensive reading
in improving students‟ reading comprehension. Research suggests that one of the best ways to
help students increase their language proficiency is to encourage them to read extensively.
Besides, free voluntary reading or sustained independent reading results in better reading
comprehension, writing style, vocabulary, spelling, and grammatical development. Students
who reported reading more English books experienced significantly greater improvement in
reading ability and vocabulary knowledge than those who reported reading less. The students
also reported that the extensive reading program helped them to improve their English. They
overwhelmingly found extensive reading to be not only more pleasurable, but also more
beneficial for language acquisition than instruction in grammar. Colin Davis suggested that
any classroom would be the poorer for the lack of an extensive reading programme and would
be “unable to promote its students‟ language development in all aspects as effectively as if
such a programme were present” (1995:335), he also claimed that such a programme would
make students more possitive about reading, improve their overall comprehension skills, and
15 give them a wider passive and active vocabulary. Strong (1996) also stated that “extensive
reading of literature can encourage students to develope possitive attitudes toward reading”.
1.2 Autonomy
1.2.1 Definition
Since the primary concern of this study is EFL student teachers'autonomy as language
learners, definitions of autonomy here refer to both students and teachers'autonomy just as

lifelong learners” (Pulist, 2000, p.1). To promote learning results of the students, developing
learner autonomy is “an unavoidable methodological option” (Narcy, 1994).
1.2.3 Characteristics of autonomous learners
Rousseau ([1762] 1911, cited in Candy, 1991: 102) regards the autonomous learner as
someone who is obedient to a law that he prescribes to himself. Within the context of
education, though, there seem to be seven main attributes characterising autonomous learners
(see Omaggio, 1978, cited in Wenden, 1998: 41-42):
1. Autonomous learners have insights into their learning styles and strategies;
2. take an active approach to the learning task at hand;
3. are willing to take risks;
4. are good guessers;
5. attend to form as well as to content, that is, place importance on accuracy as well as
appropriacy;
6. develop the target language into a separate reference system and are willing to revise
and reject hypotheses and rules that do not apply; and
7. have a tolerant and outgoing approach to the target language.
(cited on line)
However, to develop learner autonomy, besides the above characteristics need to be
taken into considerations the following skills:
1. Choosing instructional materials;
2. Setting learning objectives and prioritizing them;
3. Determining when and how to work on each objective;
17 4. Assessing progress and achievements;
5. Evaluating the learning program.

1.2.4 The role of teachers in learner autonomy?
The language teacher had a significant role as a resource person for autonomous

parental support for autonomy and involvement) have direct links with students'assimilation
of their classroom context and subsequent academic outcomes. Usuki, (2002) attracts
attention to teachers'attitudes towards their students which may play a key role in learner
autonomy. Probably, those are the reasons why most of the things have stayed the same in
Vietnamese educational system although it has been changed periodically for decades. For
example, the last trend is towards the innovation in teaching and learning methods. Yet,
traditional approaches to learning and teaching are still being used by many teachers with old
beliefs since the beliefs that individuals have play a decisive role in the process of
autonomous learning (Cotterall 1995).
There may be some other factors hindering teachers from effectively involving
themselves in this process. Firstly, they may be afraid of the students who improve fast
independently while the teachers make little or no progress because they are not autonomous
learners themselves. Secondly, some schoolteachers can earn money without trying hard, and
then they do not strive to learn new things. In that connection, introducing new things to
students can be a good starting point.
1.3 Internet-based reading materials
1.3.1 Internet-based reading materials in improving reading comprehension
Thanks to the ever expanding flexibility and versatility of IT in performing many
jobs, most of the language teaching authorities support using it in facilitating teaching in
general, teaching English in particular. With recent advancements in software technology,
multimedia computing and extensive use of the Internet (Soboleva, & Tronenko, 2002),
computers have become so widespread in schools and language institutions and their uses
have expanded so dramatically that language teachers must now begin to reconsider the
implications of using computers for teaching languages (Warschauer, 1996; Blake, 1997).
19 Internet technology is a “medium of global communication and a source of limitless authentic
materials” (Warschauer, 1996). With the emergence of the Internet technology, e-mail, list-
serves, streaming audio-video, chat rooms, audio-video and message boards, language

Son (2003) carried out a research study to examine the effectiveness of three different
types of reading text formats, namely paper-based format, computer-based non-hypertext
format, and computer-based hypertext format. The motivation in conducting this research
study was to find out the degree of usefulness of hyperlinks on the online lexical resources,
which provide readers with optional assistance during independent reading. Another
question Son was interested in was the learner attitudes towards the effectiveness of
incorporation of hyperlinks into reading materials. Defining hypertext as „non-sequential text
which is organized to allow readers to access to non-linear information‟ and pointing out
that hypermedia applications can enrich learning tasks by providing learners with various
types of online information, Son (2003) contends that the integration of text with sound and
images eventually paves the way for greater comprehension of the reading text as well as
better pronunciation and contextual use of lexical items in a way that traditional paper-
based texts cannot achieve.
In his article on net-based reading Brandl (2002) investigated the ways of
exploration of authentic reading materials on the World Wide Web and found out that
there are a lot of possibilities of integrating online reading resources into reading classes
whereby higher motivation, more effective and faster reading comprehension can be
attained.
1.3.2 Types of Internet-based reading
In this section, I will present three different types to Internet-based reading, which can
help students improve their reading comprehension skills using the materials from the
Internet. Based on these three types of reading I will conduct the study to find out how
Internet-based materials help improve reading comprehension skills of the students at My Hao
High school.
* Teacher-determined lessons
21 The reading activities and materials of this type are comparable to the computer as an
online electronic workbook. The teacher prescreens and selects reading materials or cultural

the teacher controls the navigational scope and the number and kind of Internet sites that the
students access. Despite the restriction, the learner has some autonomy as the tasks provide
the learner a choice in the sites he or she accesses and explores. Task types usually include
comparisons, gathering factual information, descriptions, and short summaries. The outcome
of the student assignments is clearly defined, but open-ended. The teacher's role can best be
described as a guide and facilitator. The students follow the teacher's lead but get to explore
the contents themselves. Teachers should list the most popular search engines such as Google,
Yahoo
* Learner-determined lessons
Learner-determined lessons follow an approach to integrating Internet-based resources
that is entirely learner-centered. The learners determine the topics, reading materials, and the
way they go about exploring the readings themselves. They decide on the process and the
product, formulate the goals, identify Internet-based resources, and make a decision on how
the outcomes should be evaluated. In this way, the students take on the roles of self-directed
and autonomous learners, and take full charge and responsibility for their outcomes. The
teacher only gets involved in the role of a facilitator offering support and guidance throughout
the process as much as necessary. Types of assessment may include teacher-, self-, or group-
assessment. Assessment of learner outcomes may be teacher-directed or student-determined.
Examples are short writing assignments, essays, or mini-projects or presentations that show
the students'analytical and interpretative skills of cultural readings and texts. The
technological skills required to implement this approach are minimal. If the teacher is to
provide guidance to his/her students on searching the Internet, then knowledge about Web
browsers, search engines and their effective use are indispensable.
There is no doubt, the vast amount of authentic resources on the Internet provides
learners an opportunity to improve their reading skills. Yet, to make the integration of WWW-
based activities a successful learning experience, it requires effective organization and
presentation of that information.

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Criteria 7. Organization: Logical/Rhetorical Ordering of Ideas. One of the main objectives of
reading lessons is understanding the main ideas and significant details of a text.
Criteria 10. Appearance of the Reading Passage: layout, print, type size. It is a good idea to
choose the text that has accompanying photos or pictures with captions that illustrate the
topic? Are paragraphs in each text/file clearly defined? Are the lines numbered? Is the font
clear and attractive? This can enhance reading speed. Materials that are visually appealing can
reinforce students‟motivation.
1.3.4 Considerations in using Internet-based materials
As pointed out above, there are numerous convincing arguments in favor of integrating
Internet-based materials into a foreign language curriculum. At the same time, several
arguments can be made that ask for a more cautious approach when using the Internet. The
Internet is not an ideal way of delivering instruction, and there are numerous challenges to
overcome. First, there are still many limitations on interactivity and bandwidth. Second, the
hyper-linked structure and presentation of information on the Internet may easily cause
students to get lost. Third, we have no control over the quality and accuracy of the contents of
the information. In other words, the use of the Internet resources completely depends on
reader judgment, which presupposes solid language proficiency and critical reading skills.
Fourth, little theoretical and empirical research actually exists that demonstrates how to make
use of Internet-based materials or how to design tasks that allow the learners to explore these
materials and yield expected learning outcomes. In the same vein, little is known about
students'attitudes towards the integration of Web-based readings in the foreign language
curriculum.
1.4 Summary
Through the brief literature review, it is clear that there are many factors involved in L2
reading comprehension process. Autonomy is seen as a capacity or ability for active and
independent reading. The relevant literature emphasizes the role of Internet-based materials
in language learning. It can be concluded that internet-based reading materials can help
develop learner autonomy in learning reading skill.
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26 modern facilities that were necessary for their learning such as cassettes, videos, computers….
Therefore, the students are not very active in class.
[
2.4 Data collection instruments
The data is collected by means of questionnaires and interviews.
2.3.1 Interview
Kvale (1996) states that interviews are a particular useful research method for getting in
deep information about a specific research issue or question. He supposes that this is a
personal form of research and interviewer works directly with the respondents, the
information about opinions or impressions is often easier to collect through oral interviews.
Nunan (1992) characterized interviews in terms of their degrees of formality. In an
unstructured interview, the interviewee is allowed to talk freely with little intervention from
the interviewer. In a semi-structured interview, the interviewer does not prepare questions in
advance but can control the scope of the talk by raising a topic or an issue. Predetermined
questions are only needed in a structured interview which is mostly a “questions and answers”
session.
In this study, a structured interview was carried out among twenty four students of class
11A12 at My Hao high school. Here, the researcher would like to get information about the
students‟reading habits, the factors affecting their reading comprehension and whether they
use the Internet-based materials for extensive reading.
2.3.2 Questionnaires
A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions and other
prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents. According to Richards
(2003) questionnaire is an effective way of information gathering about some aspects of
learners “such as beliefs, attitudes, motivation and preferences”. Questionnaires have
advantages over some other types of surveys in that they are cheap, do not require as much
effort from the questioner as verbal or telephone surveys, and often have standardized

learning reading skill.
28 CHAPTER 3: DATA AND DATA ANALYSIS
This chapter provides information about the current situation of learning English
reading skill at My Hao high school before the experiment and the students‟attitudes towards
learning reading after the experiment. It consists of two sections of data analysis, which aim at
answering the three research questions at the beginning of the study.
3.1 Students’ motivations, learning experiences and attitudes towards learning reading
before the experiment.
3.1.1 Interview
Twenty four students (randomly selected) were interviewed for about 20-30 minutes for
each student from February 15th to March 6th, 2010. The interviews took place in an informal
atmosphere, so that the students felt free to express themselves. The researcher took notes
during the interviews since the students did not feel comfortable talking on tape. Four main
questions constructed for the students are as follows:
1. Are you interested in learning reading? Why and why not?
2. What are the main factors that affect students‟ reading comprehension?
3. How much time do you spend for independent learning?
4. Have you ever used Internet-based reading materials? If yes, how do you find them?
The students' responses to the questions have been classified and calculated as
percentages. Below is the detailed data:
3.1.1.1 Responses to question 1:
Are you interested in learning reading? Why and why not? Please explain.
The interview data showed that 71% of the students (see Chart 1) were not interested in
reading lessons. The main reasons are their lack of background knowledge as well as
vocabulary about the topics they are reading. Some topics are unfamiliar, some others are
boring so the students find it difficult to understand them. Some students say that there are
texts that they have read several times without understanding anything. Moreover, time for