DECLARATION
I certify that this thesis is the result of my own study and that it has not been
submitted to any other university or institution wholly or partially.
Nghệ An, August, 2013
Student:

Nguyễn Minh Tâm

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Abstract
Tables of contents
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale for the study............................................................................................8
2. Aims of the study …………………………………………………………...…..9
3. Research questions..................................................................................................9
4. Methods of the study...............................................................................................9
5. Significance of the study.........................................................................................9
6. Scope of the study……………………………………………………………...10
7. Previous studies………………………………………………………………...11
8. Design of the study………………………………………………………….... 12
Chapter 2: Theoretical background……………………………………………..13
2. 1 Definitions of reading and reading comprehension …...…………. ………. . 13
2.1.1 Definitions of reading……………...…………………………… ………...13
2.1.2 Definitions of reading comprehension……...………………………….. .. 15
2.2 Types of reading………………………………………………………………..15
2.2.1. According to manners of reading………………………………..………..15
2.2.1.1. Reading aloud………………………………..……………………… 16

3.3.3 The schedule of the course……………………………………...……….31
3.3.4 Characteristics of reading passages …………………………………..…32
3.3.5 Characteristics of reading tasks ………………………………………....32
3.4 The current situation of teaching the textbook at Nguyễn Trãi High School ....33
3.4.1 Introduction to Nguyễn Trãi High School and students………………….34
3.4.2 Teachers and teaching methods ………………………………………….34
3.4.3 Teaching facilities ………………………………………..………………35
3.4.4. Syllabus of teaching English and time allocation for a reading period
….35
Chapter 4: ACTION RESEARCH PROCEDURE…………………………… 36

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4.1 Rationale for choosing action research………………………………………. 36
4.2 Restatement of research questions……………………………………………..36
4.3 Action research procedures …………………………………………...…… . .36
4.3.1 Planning stage…………………………………………………………..….36
4.3.1.1. Identifying the problem……………………………………..…….…...37
4.3.1.2. Observing a lesson that illustrated the problem…………………….....37
4.3.1.3. Conducting a survey to get information from students……..………....40
4.3.1.4. Consulting with colleagues…………………………………………....45
4.3.1.5 Generating hypotheses……………………………………………........48
4.3.1.6 Drawing a plan of action to solve the problem………………………...49
4.3.2 Acting stage………………………………………………………………..49
4.3.2.1 The first try – out lesson – at class 10 A……………………….……...49
4.3.2.2 The second try – out lesson – at class 10D…………………………….49
4.3.3 Observing stage…………………………………………………………….50
4.3.4. Reflection/ Evaluation stage…………………………………………........56
Summary…………………………………………………………………………...60

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ABSTRACT

In an attempt to help improve reading comprehension of students at
Nguyễn Trãi high school, an action research project was carried out to answer the
following questions:
1. What difficulties do the teachers and students face when dealing with a
reading lesson?
2. How can the use of while-reading activities in teaching reading lessons
enhance Nguyễn Trãi tenth-grade students’ reading comprehension skill?
Then action research project was carried out for five weeks. The subjects
were 80 students from two classes (10A and 10D) at Nguyễn Trãi high school. Data
were collected by means of questionnaire (one for teachers and one for students)
and class observation. The initial data revealed that students’ poor reading
comprehension may be attributed to the unsuitable methods and techniques used by
teachers of English at Nguyễn Trãi high school. On the basis of initial findings, it
was hypothesized that Training students while-reading activities would help
improve the students’ reading comprehension. The researcher implemented an
action plan, in which the students were trained some while- reading activities
explicitly. The evaluation of the project showed that all of the students had positive
attitudes toward using while-reading activities in teaching reading lessons and their
reading comprehension skill could be improved through these tools, a great majority
of the participants reported in the post-improvement questionnaire survey that they
have made progress in their reading comprehension skill. While-reading activities
were useful which helped the students complete the reading tasks more effectively.
Besides, they felt more confident in reading.

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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
This chapter provides the rationale for the study states the aims, research
questions and methods of the study, defines the scope and significance of the study,
the previous studies and design of the study.
1. Rationale for the study.
Reading is considered as one of the most important skills which language
learners should master, particularly as it helps to build a variety of language
expression and structures, widen general knowledge and leads to lifelong learning
and improvement in the first and second language skills. “Reading is an essential
skill for English as a second/foreign language (SL/EFL) student; and for many,
reading is the most important skill to master” Anderson [8, p.14] According to
Carrell [13.p.1-3] “For many students, reading is by far the most important of the
four skills in a second language, particularly in English as a second or foreign
language”. What is more, when poor reading results are reported, one tends to
blame the students for having poor ability or for making insufficient effort.
Nevertheless, the students are not always at fault. There are other important factors
in the process of teaching and learning reading that are worth considering. It could
be unsuitable teaching materials. It could be the inappropriate attitude of the
teachers and learners towards the subject. It could be the teachers’ inappropriate
teaching methods and classroom techniques.
In the context of the upper secondary school, reading even more important
than other three skills of speaking, listening, and writing because students have to
take the examinations which are grammar- and reading- based. However, the
students’ reading proficiency is not satisfactory even after the new textbook has
been put to use.
Nguyễn Trãi High School, which was founded in 1980, is one of the high
schools chosen to pilot the set of English textbook 10. During the piloting period

- Exploring how the use of while-reading activities in teaching reading
lessons can enhance upper secondary students’ English reading skill.
3. Research questions.
To achieve these two objectives, two research questions were set for the study:
1. What difficulties do the teachers and students face when dealing with a
reading lesson?

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2. How can the use of while-reading activities in teaching reading lessons
enhance Nguyễn Trãi tenth-grade students’ reading comprehension skill?
4. Methods of the study.
The methodological approach was action research using mixed methods for
data collection. The tools for data gathering include two questionnaires, (one for
teachers and one for students) and class observation. (See chapter 3)
5. Significance of the study.
Reading has always a significant position in language teaching.
Nevertheless, how to teach and learn reading effectively often poses great problems
to both teachers and students. For the teachers of English at high school, reading is
considered a difficult skill to teach. Most language teachers, following a traditional,
test-oriented teaching approach, often concentrate on teaching English vocabulary,
grammar, and focus only on grammar exercises for the exams. However, nothing is
difficult if we, the teachers make decision to make it easier. Hopefully, with a range
of suggestions of how to make while – reading activities effectively in reading
lessons introduced in this research, it will be more motivating for the teachers to
teach and make progress in teaching reading. Therefore, their students will be
interested in reading lessons.
6. Scope of the study.
Due to the limitation of time and knowledge, this thesis only focused on

implementation of two types of pre-reading activities, guessing reading content
from pictures and asking pre-reading questions and to investigate the learners
attitudes towards the implementation of the two pre-reading activities. The results
of this study revealed that the activities subjects were highly motivated, enthusiastic
to read. After the experiment, the students scored significantly higher.
- Nguyễn Thị Minh Hồng (2008) conducted a study on some possible
effective pre-reading activities to improve reading skills for the 2nd -year English
Majors at the Military Science Academy. The study was carried out with the
participation of 30/45 full-time teachers aged from 25 to 45 (half of them had been
in Great Britain, Australia, America and India for further training) and 80/110
second-year students and they were learning text book More Reading Power. Of the
30 teachers, they all had Diploma Degree in English while twenty of them have
M.A. Degree in Education, Linguistics, or International Relations and another one
has Ph.D. Degree in Linguistics. Most of them had at least three years of teaching,
therefore, with no doubt, they were experienced and enthusiastic teachers, they were
always willing to help their students overcome the difficulties and make progress in
learning English.

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These teachers were now teaching English to the students of different
courses at the MSA: full time, short time courses (These courses last for about two
years and they are used for Army Officers who had Diploma Degree in other
foreign languages and now were serving in different branches of the Army
belonging to the Ministry of Defense). The 80 students under investigation were in
the second term of the second year at the English Department of the MSA (both
cadet and civilian students, male and female). These students’ages were between 20
and 22 years old. They were supposed to have quite an equal knowledge of English
before entering the MSA since most of them had learnt English for at least 7 years

each practice skill often presents. Of the learners, 46 of them were from 14 to 18
years old; 20 were from 31 to 45, and the rest from 18 to 30.
The youngest group (from 14 to 18) was attending secondary and upper
secondary school education, and the oldest (from 30-45) were holding certain
positions in many offices and they had ever graduated from university or colleges.
All of them had one thing in common, that was they all officially or unofficially
experienced at least three years learning English. The purpose of this study was to
examine the areas of difficulties in reading encountered by non-major students at
HFLC so that techniques could be given to help them improve this skill. The result
of this study revealed that students were more active and became more aware of
what they needed to do every reading lesson and the teacher worked out appropriate
techniques to help handle the difficulties or clear away the obstacles faced by
students in their reading process so as to gradually better their reading skill.
To sum up, reviewing the previous studies inside and outside Vietnam,
the findings of some of the above studies indicate positive effects for using reading
activities in teaching reading lessons. Those findings provide encouraging evidence
that using reading activities in teaching reading lessons increases the learners’
awareness of effectiveness of using reading activities which can improve their
reading comprehension. The researcher, hence, desires to conduct such a study to
improve learning reading at her school.
8. Design of the study.
The thesis consists of five chapters, organized as follows:
Chapter 1 - Introduction - provides the rationale for the study, states the aims, the
scopes, the methods, the significance, the research questions of the study, the
previous studies and the design of the study .
Chapter 2 - Theoretical background – presents the knowledge relating to the issues
in terms of reading comprehension and teaching reading comprehension.
Chapter 3 Methodology – describes the action research and the reading
program for grade 10th at Nguyễn Trãi high school.


reconstruction is viewed as “a cyclical process of sampling, predicting, testing and
confirming.”
William [30, p.3] had the same view on reading, especially on the act of
reconstruction as Goodman. He argues that “written texts, then, often contain more
than we need to understand them. The efficient reader makes use of this to take
what he needs, and no more, to obtain meaning”
Harmer [21, p.153] considers reading as a mechanical process that “eyes
receive the message and the brain then has to work out the significance of the
message”. He not only focuses on two actions that dominated by the eyes and the
brain but also the speed of the process “a reading text moves at a speed of the
reader”, which means that the reader who decides how fast he wants to read the
text.
Moreover, Urquhart & Weir [29, p.22] define reading as follows: “ Reading is
the process of receiving and interpreting information encoded in language form via
the medium of print”. Reading plays such an important part in the success of second

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language learning and it is necessary to understand what reading is, however, it’s
difficult to explain it briefly and correctly.
In a general term, reading is defined as “ Reading is an active, fluent
process which involves the reader and reading materials in building meaning,
meaning does not reside on the printed page, nor is it only in the reader” Anderson
[8, p.1] this definition of reading has been generally shared by other researches.
Deriving from those opinions, reading is considered a process in which a
reader looks at and understands what has been written out.
2.1.2 Definitions of reading comprehension
In teaching reading, it is necessary to understand the nature of reading
comprehension. What the teacher understands about it will have a great influence on

and purposes of reading.
2.2.1. According to manners of reading
Reading, according to manner, is divided into reading aloud and silent reading
2.2.1.1. Reading aloud
Aloud reading is an unnatural activity because most people do not read aloud
in real life, and it is difficult for the speaker to pay attention to the meaning of the
text when reading aloud, In fact, it must be recognized that reading aloud is
primarily an oral matter so that for those who teach and learn foreign languages, it
is closer to “pronunciation” than it is to “comprehension”. Lewis and Hill [24,
p.110] mention: “Asking a student to read aloud unseen also means that he may
concentrate so hard on pronouncing the words that he will be unable to concentrate
adequately on their meaning too. He may read correctly but afterwards will not be
able to tell what he has read”
This kind of activity seems to be more popular in the language classroom. It
focuses on the pronunciation of words in the text rather than understanding. In
reading a text, students come across many new words and phrases that they do not
know how to pronounce. The teacher, in this case may help his students pronounce
words by reading the text orally and loudly. So reading aloud is often applied for
beginners and limited in upper classes because of some reasons. Firstly, it takes up a
long time as students often read slowly when they focus on pronunciation. They
consequently have not enough time to deduce the meaning of the text or complete
comprehension exercises. Secondly, because students are concerned with
pronunciation, it is hardly for them to understand the meaning of the text.

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As for Doff [17, p.67], “Reading aloud involves looking at a text,
understanding it and also saying it. Its purpose is not just to understand a text but
to convey the implication to someone else.”



quickly gather the most important information, or 'gist'. According to Grellet, F.
[20, p.19], “When skimming, we go through the reading material quickly in order
to get the gist of it, to know how it is organized, or to get an idea of the tone or the
intention of the writer.”
Nuttal [26, p.36] states that “by skimming, we mean glancing rapidly through
the text to determine whether a research paper is relevant to our own work or in
order to keep ourselves superficially informed about matters that are not of great
importance to us.”
Therefore, the key that actually encourages learners to skim is to give them a
series of texts and ask them to select appropriate titles from groups of ones.
Moreover, in order to teach skimming effectively, the teacher should have the
students read the beginning or end of a text or a paragraph because it may provide
students with a statement relating to the topic. Skimming gives students the
advantage of being able to predict the purpose of the passage, the main topic or
message, or possibly some of the developing or supporting ideas. This gives them a
“head start” as they embark on more focused reading. Skimming also helps student
organize their thoughts and specify what information they can get from a book so
that the subsequent reading will become more efficient.
In conclusion, skimming is understood as a necessary technique for reading
comprehension which enables readers to get the main points of the text without
being concerned with the details. Therefore, skimming should be applied at the first
stage of teaching reading to help student have an overview of what they are going to
read. And it is sure that they will understand the whole text later. Hence, skimming
should be applied in teaching reading to help students have an overview of what
they read.
2.2.2.2. Scanning
Scanning occurs when a reader looks quickly through the text searching for a
specific piece of information or to see if the text is suitable for a specific reading

is an activity involving global understanding just as Grellet [20, p.4] confirms:
“Extensive reading means reading longer text, usually or one’s own pleasure. This
is a fluency activity mainly involving general understanding.”
What is more, Nuttal [26, p.168], this kind of reading is also a very useful
skill for students to widen their knowledge as he wrote: “The best way to improve
one’s knowledge of foreign language is to go and live among its speakers. The next
best way is to read extensively in it.”
Lewis and Hill [24, p.109] state that “extensive reading means students have
a general understanding of the text without necessarily understanding every word”.
It is obvious that when reading extensively, readers do not need to have intense
concentration on the content of a long text and total comprehension because the
objective of extensive reading is to cover the greatest possible amount of text in the
shortest possible time.

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To summarize, extensive reading is one of good ways to improve one’s
knowledge of a foreign language because its aim is to cover the content of text in
the shortest possible period of time. In the language classroom, the teacher must
introduce some suitable reading materials to students, as it is useful for them to
form a good habit of reading.
2.3. Factors in teaching and learning reading
2.3.1 Teacher’s role
Together with students, the teacher is one of the two main necessary
elements which create the teaching process. In general, the role of the teacher is to
provide students with knowledge and the best methods for learning effectively. The
teacher is a means to an end, that is, an instrument to see that learning takes place.
Besides this general function, teacher also has specific roles in teaching reading
comprehension process. Although the success in a reading class is how far the

need for reading.
2.3.2 Students’ role
Like the teacher, the student is also one of two main factors of teaching and
learning process. This process can only be carried out when there are both of them.
The students are not only the subject but also the object of teaching and learning
process. In particular, in a reading lesson, the students play the role of the readers.
The role demands that the students should make sense of the text for themselves. It
is the fact that the student is the heart of the reading lesson and the element which
determines the success of a reading lesson. That is to say, the students must be very
active in the lesson from the beginning in reading texts to get the right meaning of
the texts.
Moreover, they also have to do other exercises and maybe they have to
encounter and solve the difficulties by themselves. Thanks to this, the students can
accumulate a large amount of knowledge from the reading texts and understand
them thoroughly. On the other hand, the understanding from the reading text is the
chance for the students to improve other language skills, because only when they
really master the knowledge by themselves, can they apply it flexibly.
In fact, very frequently, the students deal with some problems which are
beyond their ability, for example proverbs, idioms, polysemantics, or background
understanding and so on. In this case, to get the target reading, the students have
work under the direction of the teacher and take part in guided activities actively
and attentively. However, the teacher should only act as the guide and give the
students some suggestions to help them think and understand the reading texts on
their own. Therefore, the teacher can stimulate the students’ creativity as well as

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their imagination. If not, the students will be passive and the reading lesson will not
be successful.

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