i
THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
READING PERFORMANCE AND READING INTERESTS OF
COLLEDGE FRESHMEN OF THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY: BASIS
FOR DEVELOPING COLLEGE SUPPLEMENTARY INTERGRATIVE
READING MATERIALS

A Dissertation
Presented to
The Faculty of Graduate School
Batangas State University
Batangas City, Philippines
Page
TABLE OF CONTENTS i
LIST OF TABLES iii
LIST OF FIGURES v
CHAPTER
I. THE PROBLEM 1
Introduction 1
Statement of the Problem 7
Scope, Limitations and Delimitations of the Study 9
Significance of the Study 9
II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE 13
Conceptual Literature 13
Research Literature 49
Synthesis 78
Theoretical Framework 83
Conceptual Framework 86
Hypothesis 88
Definition of Terms 88
III. RESEARCH METHOD AND PROCEDURE 90
Research Design 90
Subjects of the Study 93
Data Gathering Instrument 95
Data Gathering Procedure 97
Statistical Treatment of Data 98
IV. PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF
DATA 99
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BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
LIST OF TABLES

Table Title Page
1. Distribution of Participants 93
2. Percentage Distribution of the Students’ Demographic
Profile in Terms of Gender 99
3. Percentage Distribution of the Students’ Demographic
Profile in Terms of Type of High School Graduated from 100
4. Percentage Distribution of the Students’ Demographic
Profile in Terms of Living Accomodation 101
5. Percentage Distribution of the Students’ Demographic
Profile in Terms of Monthly Family Income 101
6. Percentage Distribution of the Students’ Demographic
Profile in Terms of Educational Attainment of Parents 102
7. Level of the Students’ Reading Performance in English 104
8. Relationship Between Demographic Profile and Reading
Performance of the Students’ 106
9. Reading Interests of Freshmen Students with Regards to
Music 108
10. Reading Interests of Freshmen Students with Regards to
Food and Health 112
11. Reading Interests of Freshman Students with 114 iv

1. The Conceptual Model of the Study Using the
Input-Process-Output Approach………………………………… ……90
1
THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM

Introduction
The importance of education could hardly be denied by every one
for it is not the quality alone that most educators are after, but most of
all, an effective English language teaching instruction especially in non-
native English speaking countries like Vietnam. This world is now in
global competition where teaching college English emphasizes not only
theory but more on practice in order to compete communicatively with
other countries. It is now the concern of English teachers to apply
language learning into useful, meaningful and worthwhile classroom
engagements and create career advantage in life.

complex process the students experience is the skill in reading. The
teacher, whether in elementary, secondary or even in college, needs to
guide the students properly in the acquisition of basic skills to be able to
read with understanding.
Development of reading skills is vital most especially for students.
Reading is a multifaceted process that develops only with practice.
There are certain aspects of reading, such as fluency and word
recognition, which can be learned in a few years. These basics must be
mastered but at the same time reading comprehension should be
emphasized in the process. Students can parrot words on a page all
day long but if they don’t have the necessary comprehension skills they
will not be able to make predictions about what will happen next,
monitor their understanding of content, sequence or characters, clarify 3
THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
confusing parts of the text, or connect what they’re reading to their own
experience or prior knowledge (Marshall, 2012).
The model of what “reading” is has changed quite dramatically
from an earlier model where reading was mainly a process of decoding

Republic of the Philippines
ones gets through reading depends on his interpretations about similar
things that he reads. Each person is unique individual trying to put
meaning to an author’s message.
Learning to read is one of the most important accomplishments
that can be achieved during ones formal schooling. However, reading is
a complex process that causes students a lot of troubles.
According to reading specialists, many students do not become
good readers when they have poor reading habits and negative
attitudes toward reading. Usually they are those who have numerous
unrelated, disorganized and incomplete pieces of words floating in their
memories and more often than not, they become the disable readers
and the poorest individuals in the class.
A disabled reader is not an exemption from those who are termed
as slow learners. He is one and the same as those who experience
difficulty within the learning situation in connection with mental ability. If
this is the case, the teacher must set specific attention to the disable
readers or slow learners although it is believed that the overall
curriculum must be the same for all students. Whether each student
reads well or poorly, the teacher must be to make an analysis for each
case and the teacher should determine the learner’s points of strengths
or weaknesses before giving intelligent assistance. 5
THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
Thai Nguyen University so that in the end, a reading program will be
proposed to enhance the reading skills of freshman students.
As a college instructor in English courses, the researcher too,
have a notion that the first year college students enrolled in the different
programs of Thai Nguyen University could be the main concern of this
academic issue. Despite their having finished the secondary level, they
are still deficient in the basic communication skills especially in reading.
Hence, the problem in skill acquisition that prevails among the
first year college students has to be identified and given attention to.
The researcher really wanted to come up with a concerted effort among
English instructors of the different colleges of this university– to lessen,
if not eradicate the reading weaknesses of the students. Such effort
however, is an expectation for better quality of today’s college
graduates.
Likewise, the need for this study is really on call since it should
always be the concern of the English teachers to know the abilities,
interests, needs and characteristics of the students under his control
and at the same time discuss the weaknesses of each student in
reading as well as give the corresponding measure. As one goes up the
ladder of education, this student has to learn to read extensively in

instrument in developing college supplementary integrative reading
materials that will assist each individual learner to attain his reading
potential as a student.

Statement of the Problem
This study will attempt to determine the reading performance and
reading interests on of freshman students of Thai Nguyen University. 8
THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
Specifically, it seeks answers to the following questions:
1. What is the demographic profile of college freshman students of
Thai Nguyen University in term of::
1.1 gender
1.2 type of high school graduated from
1.3 living accommodation
1.4 monthly family income
1.5 educational qualification of parent?
2. What is the level of the students’ reading performance in English?
3. How does reading performance relate to the demographic profile

along literature, science, sports and games, music, food and health.
The study will be conducted in the school year 2013-2014 among 400
freshman students of TNU.

Significance of the Study
The Thai Nguyen University is a tertiary institution that is
committed and accountable for providing classroom instruction with
positive results which is being manifested in high performance level with
regards to student learning outcomes. Teachers are dedicated to the
well-being of the students and communities they serve, taking into
account their cultural diversity, group aspirations, and what is valued in
education.
With the good intention of the researcher, this study will be in a
way benefiting directly or indirectly to the following who are involved in
the educational system most especially those concerned with the
English courses or even other tool subjects where the medium of 10

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
aids. More so, they could be able to understand better the attitudes,
interest, comprehension skills and problems of the pupils as regards
reading.
The Language Department of TNU. The findings would serve as
an indispensable basis in revitalizing and intensifying English as well as
the Reading Program. The results too, would give them ideas of
integrating a well-planned reading activities in English and
developmental Reading subjects.
School Administrators. This study would be instrumental in the
performance of the school as far as students’ development is
concerned. With an improved grammar, the school would be well
represented in inter-schools and community activities. Moreover, the
output of the study could be considered as supplementary to the
reference materials provided in the school library. This could also
encourage them to further intensify the school’s both English and
Reading Programs.
More likely, the findings would motivate the administrators to
implement a reading program that could assist English teachers to
discover students’ strengths and weaknesses in reading skills.
Parents. The program to be proposed in the study would be
easily appreciated, since the end beneficiary in any educative process
is the student. They would be proud knowing that their children are
The future researchers. This could provide them insights on how
to help individuals improve their reading skills deficiencies to work

13

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE

This chapter presents the review of conceptual and research
literatures which are related to the present study. They provide insights
of facts and discussed as basis of the study.

Conceptual Literature
Characteristics of Freshmen College students. Gardner and Lambert
(2000) defines ‘attitude’ as the persistence shown by the learner in striving for
a goal. Brown uses the term ‘attitudes’ to refer to the set of beliefs that the
learner holds towards members of the target language group and also

positive attitudes toward reading is an extremely important and sometimes
challenging task (Richek et. al. 2002).
In developing positive attitudes in language learning, several steps may
be helpful in this regard. First, the teacher will want to establish positive
relationships with students. It may be helpful for the teacher to have an
understanding of the students’ cultural backgrounds and the values they bring
to school. Once positive relationships and open communication have been
established, students accept the teacher as a role model and as a model of
literate behavior. Second, to serve as a good model of literate behavior,
teachers must demonstrate the kind of literacy they want to show. Teachers
must see themselves as readers and writers if they want their students to read
and write (Au, 2002). The teacher also plays a vital role in developing positive
attitudes in language learning though students play the central role.
Education Secretary Br. Armin A. Luistro, FSC (2012) quotes that it is
important to assess the reading capability of students because reading is the
foundation of all academic learning. He added that if a pupil fails to master
basic reading skills at the outset, it will be a constant struggle for them to get
through other disciplines successfully, thus depriving them of the chance to
become literate and productive individuals. 15

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
Reading as pointed out by Beber (1995) is a process by which
information is extracted from written or printed texts. Since reading is a
complex process there are critical aspects of which it is dependent and
these are the written format of the word and the reader’s ability to
decode the phonetic relationships between the letters of the page and
the sounds of the spoken language and a semantic or syntactic process
that has to do with meaning of the words which are being pronounced.
Reading as one skill in language performance is basically about
making sense of a text and is the receptive skill of the morphologic form of
the language. It is astoundingly complex cognitive process. It has cognitive
consequences that extend beyond its immediate task of lifting meaning from
a particular passage (www.csun.ed/know/ands/content/Academic
Resource/Reading). Dauzat (1981) on the other hand states that reading
as a process involves mental ability embedded in other communication
abilities and converts graphic stimuli into meanings. It is an act of
reconverting symbols into language with which the individual is already
familiar. For reading and academic success, strong vocabulary skills
both expressive and receptive are critical. Vocabulary depth is
significant because it supports reading development. Reading can also
help us develop our own ideas about relationship as well as the world of
thoughts and emotions.

immediately.
As noted by Guthrie and Wigfield (2000), student attitudes toward
reading are identified to be the central factor affecting reading
performance. People generally believe successful individuals are
formed by these three reasons: ability, effort, or luck. Highly successful
people tend to believe that they succeed because of ability and fail due 18

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
to lack of effort (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001). Rasinski (2003)
calls this the “Michael Jordan effect.” To get where he wanted to be
professionally, Michael Jordan had to undergo many long hours of
tedious practice to become an expert in his sport, and was self-
motivated to do so. Therefore, attitudes in achieving a particular goal
could matter.
Reading performance is watered down into the detailed
presentation of the reading process. For readers to easily process what
they read, Samuels (2002) have identified steps that readers use
whenever they read. These are decoding, comprehension and attention.

for students to read, read and read excellent books, for fluency depends
on extensive reading and development of background knowledge
depends on quality reading (Pressley, 2002). Duke and Pearson (2002)
suggested 16 characteristics of good readers in developing reading
comprehension. These are as follows. (1) Good readers are active
readers. (2) From the outset they have clear goals in mind for their
reading. They constantly evaluate whether the text, and their reading of
it, is meeting their goals. (3) Good readers typically look over the text
before they read, noting such things as the structure of the text and text
sections that might be most relevant to their reading goals. (4) As they
read, good readers frequently make predictions about what is to come.
(5) They read selectively, continually making predictions about their
reading – what to read carefully, what to read quickly, what not to read,
what to reread, and so on. (6) Good readers construct, revise, and
question the meanings they make as they read. (7) Good readers try to
determine the meaning of unfamiliar words and concepts in text, and
they deal with inconsistencies or gaps as needed. (8) They draw from,
compare, and integrate their prior knowledge with material in the text.