SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HÓA
TRƯỜNG THPT QUẢNG XƯƠNG III

SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM
TÊN ĐỀ TÀI

SOLUTIONS TO TEACHERS’ DIFFICULTIES IN
TEACHING READING SKILLS TO GRADE 10TH
STUDENTS AT QUANG XUONG II HIGH SCHOOL,
THANH HOA PROVINCE

Người thực hiện: Ngô Thị Khuyên
Chức vụ: Giáo viên
Đơn vị công tác: Trường THPT Quảng Xương III
Sáng kiến thuộc lĩnh vực (môn): Tiếng Anh

THANH HOÁ 2016


TABLE OF CONTENT
Part I: Introduction

1

1. Rationale of the Study

1

2. Aims of the Study

1


3

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
2.1. The Current Situation of Teaching and Learning the Textbook at
Quang Xuong 3 High School

6
6

Research Instruments

7

2.3. Data Collection Procedure

8

2.2.

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
3.1.
3.2.

9

Classroom Observations and Interview

9


4.6. Equipping Teaching Facilities

17

PART III: RESULTS (Reached result)

18

PART IV: CONCLUSION

19


PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the Study
English has experienced its popularity in Vietnam over the last few
decades. The demand for English even gets stronger when Vietnam fosters its
international relations. English, in parallel with the knowledge of some other
fields, turns out to be a key to the door into the bustling world. That is why
English is now widely taught in almost all education institutions, at every level.
At Quang Xuong 3 High School, where the author works, all of the
English teachers have the same problems. They have to confront some major
obstacles in reading, such as: students’ habits of word-by-word reading,
excessive focus on details rather than main ideas, poor vocabulary and limited
background knowledge, etc. If those difficulties are not found out and no
solutions to overcome are given, it is certain that reading lessons can not be
successful and it even becomes worse.
In this situation, the teachers need to take a serious look at the teaching
and learning of English in general and the teaching and learning of the reading
skills in particular so as to suggest suitable techniques to enable the teaching and

- the teachers of English at Quang Xuong 3 High School; and
- reading comprehension in the textbook “Tieng Anh 10”.
The findings and suggested solutions most appropriately applied to the
teachers of English as well as 10 th grade students at Quang Xuong 3 High
School. That is, the teachers and the students will be able to find ways to
improve their process of teaching and learning reading skills.
5. Method of the Study
The study was designed to use a number of methods to achieve its aims.
Firstly, classroom observation was carried out to investigate the 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 randomly selected from 2 classes at Quang Xuong 3 High
School. In addition to questionnaire, informal interviews with the informants were
also employed.


PART II: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter is aimed at providing a theoretical background to this study.
The review of issues most relevant to the focus of the study will be included:
concepts of reading and reading comprehension, reading process, reading
difficulties for foreigner learners.
1.1. The Nature of Reading.
Reading comprehension
According to Grellet (1981: 3): “Reading comprehension or
understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as
efficiently as possible.” The author means that reading comprehension is an
activity which aims at decoding the meaning of word combination in the text in
the most efficient way.
1.2. Teaching Reading Comprehension

1.2.2.2. The Role of the Students
In communicative language teaching, the learners are regarded as the
centre of the lesson. It is true in every reading lesson. During the reading process
the students play the roles of an active and creative listener and as well as reader.
1.2.3. The Three Stages of a Reading Lesson
Although the role of reading activities in teaching reading is made
apparent, how they are organized and sequenced in a lesson varies among
different approaches to language teaching. In the light of recent and widely
accepted communicative approach, it is a common practice that a reading lesson
includes three stages: pre-, while- and post-reading. (William, 1984; Dubin and
Bycina, 1991 cited in To et al., 2006: 158) (Hoang et al., 2005).
1.2.3.1. Pre-reading Stage
1.2.3.2. While-reading Stage
1.2.3.3. Post-reading Stage
In conclusion, the above-mentioned stages are essential for a reading
lesson. However, it is not necessary to carry out all these stages mechanically on
every occasion. Depending on the purposes of each reading lesson, the teacher
may apply these stages as well as allocate time for each stage appropriately.
1.3. Difficulties in Teaching Reading
As being mentioned above, no one can deny the important role of reading
skill. However, it is uneasy for a language learner to be successful in learning
reading because there are many factors affecting the success such as reader’s
reading habits, attitude, motivation, exposure to the target language, textual
characteristics, the way reading skill is taught and the teacher’s classroom
techniques or learning environment, etc. Jolly (1978), Coady (1979) and others
grouped those factors into three types: reading skill problem, language problem, and
cultural background knowledge.
1.3.1. Reading Skill Problems
According to Jolly (1987), Coady (1979) and others, one’s first language
reading ability plays a more important role in reading success than his level of

2.1.1 Introduction to Quang Xuong 3 High School and its Students
Quang Xuong 3 High School is located in Sam Son town, Thanh Hoa
province. This shool has been in operation for 33 years. The school is
surrounded by villages. Like other high schools, its duty is to train students from
the 10th form to the 12th form.
The students at Quang Xuong 3 High School are approximately 16-18
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 booksMoreover, most of the students have low English level
In addition, their lack of awareness on the importance of English as well
as motivation makes them not interest 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.
2.1.2. An Overview of the Textbook “Tieng Anh 10”
2.1.2.1Contents of the Textbook
The textbook “Tieng anh 10” is designed under a theme-based approach
with 16 units. Each unit is about a theme. There are five parts in each unit
arranged as follows: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing, and Language
Focus.
Reading is the beginning part of each unit. The aim of this is that through
reading and through developing reading skills such as skimming, scanning, etc.
the students are provided with language input.
2.1.2.2. Characteristics of Reading Passages and Reading Tasks in the
Textbook
Characteristics of Reading Passages
A reading passage in the textbook “Tieng Anh 10” has 190-230 words in
length. Each passage is closely related to the theme of the unit. It is divided into
small paragraphs. Some passages are long and rather difficult for the students to
understand, as there are a lot of difficult new words and grammatical structures.

English 10, and the problems they confronted with in the process of teaching
reading skills.
Questionnaire for students tended to survey on their perception about the
importance of reading skills in learning English as a compulsory subject at
school, their evaluation of their current speaking competence, and difficulties they
encountered in learning reading skills.
2.2.2. Class Observation
The researcher carried out classroom observations by visiting 3 classes in
reading periods and recording all activities occurred in each class: the teacher’s
presentation on the reading lessons, the teacher’s questions and explanations, the
students’ performance in English. The observation checklists for reading class were
made. The checklists included five criteria:
1. Teacher’s preparation
2. Teacher’s presentation
3. Teacher’s method
4. Teacher’s/ students’ personal characteristics
5. Teacher-student interaction
2.2.3. Interview
The interview, which were semi-structured, and 20-25 minutes in length
each, focused on the critical issues arising from the observed lessons as well as
issues related to teachers’ difficulties in teaching reading skills.
All the interviews were conducted in Vietnamese in order for the
participants to fully articulate their views without being constrained by the use
of a second language. They were then fully transcribed, translated and analyzed
by the researcher to uncover the emerging themes.


2.3. Data Collection Procedure
Data collecting methods used for the study comprised survey
questionnaire, classroom observations, and interviews.

skills in the textbook “Tieng Anh 10”.
• Questions 3, 4, 5 relate to the way the teachers often do in a
reading lesson.
• Questions 6, 7, 8 aim at finding out the problems the teachers face
in reading teaching process with the textbook “Tieng Anh 10”.
• Questions 9, 10 focus on teachers’ suggested solutions to difficult
situations they meet.
3.2.1.2. Results
Problems Teachers Often Faced in Teaching Reading Skills
Question 3:
Categories
Number of teachers Percentage
New words
5
100%
New grammatical structures
4
80%
Ideas in the reading texts
2
40%
Cultural knowledge
1
20%
All of the above
1
20%
Table 1: Teachers’ focus when teaching a reading text.
As can be seen from Table 4, when conveying the reading text to the
students, all of the teachers focused on new words and most of them paid

Chart 2: Teachers’ expectation of the students in the post-reading
3.2.2. Questionnaire for students
Results
Question 2:
Opinions
Number of students
Percentage
Easy
0
0%
Interesting
12
14%
Difficult
65
76.4%
Boring
18
21%
Too long
50
76.4%
Too short
0
59%


Table 2: Description of students’ opinions on the sections for reading in English
10
Most of the students thought that the sections for reading in English 10

From Chart 4 we can see that most of the students chose the way of
reading each paragraph, stop and see the meaning of the new word, then
continue (54%). 32% of them read from the beginning to the end, then the
reading tasks and 14% read and base on the context guessed the general ideas of
the text.


1. Read from the beginning to the end, then the reading
tasks
2. Each paragraph, stop and see the meaning of the
new word, then continue
3. Read and base on the context to guess the general
ideas of the text.

Chart 4: Students’
while-reading
activities


CHAPTER 4: SOLUTIONS
This study has shown that teachers at Quang Xuong 3 High School faced
many difficulties when teaching reading skills. This chapter gives some
suggestions based on the opinions about the solutions of the teachers at Quang
Xuong 3 High School (answers of question 4 in the interview) and on the
author’s study on theory of teaching and learning reading comprehension. The
suggestions include: Improving students’ reading interest and motivation,
training the students to become efficient readers, propose activities for the
teachers, improving teachers’ reading techniques, and adapting materials.
4.1. Improving Students’ Reading Interest and Motivation and making
Reading Lessons Funny

4.3. Varying Reading Activities


Very often our interesting communicative activities are not quite as
interesting or as communicative as we think they are. So maybe the teachers
need to take a closer look at the types of reading activities they are using and see
if they really capture students’ interest and create a real need for communication.
Firstly, pair work and group work are thought to be very useful in reading
activities. Using pair work and group work helps teachers reduce boredom and
tiredness among students. In large size classes, it will help teachers be easy to
control and motivate students. Each student has an opportunity to take part in the
lesson and can be corrected mistakes by other group members.
Secondly, making full use of games and visual aids is what the teachers
should concern. Games help learners reduce stress, which are beneficial to
teachers in motivating students. Visual aids such as music, pictures and maps are
believed to create enjoyable and motivating learning atmosphere, stimulate
students’ interest and attention during the lesson.
Besides, discussion, story telling and interview …should be introduced to
the students so that they are not fed up with the same activities they have to do
everyday.
Example: Text book 10:
Unit 2: School talks
Part A: Reading
T: Imagine one of you are a journalist and one of you are a character in the
passage ( Phong, Phong’s father, and Miss Lan Phuong) . Interview your partner
(based on the passage)
Interview 1:
S1: What’s your name?
S2: My name’s Phong
S1: How old are you?

Part A: Reading
T: Listen to some pieces of music and try to guess the topic of this lesson.
( T plays the cassette)
Unit 13: Films and cinema
Part A: Reading
Teacher gives picture of a famous film to attract attention the students’
attention and leads to the new lesson.

Unit 14: The World Cup
Part A: Reading
T: Work in pair to ask and answer questions about the World Cup
Students:
S1: Where was the first World Cup held?
S2: It was held in Uruguay


S1: How often is it held?
S2: It was held every two years
S1: Which team played in the final match of the 2002 World Cup?
S2: Germany and Brazil
S1: Which team played five times in the World Cup?
S2: Brazil
4.5. Adapting the Textbook
The textbook “Tieng Anh 10” is designed for the 10 th form students in all
over the country. Thus, that it may cause difficulties for some schools with low
level students like Quang Xuong 3 High School is obvious. The teachers,
therefore, have to take responsibility for adjusting the tasks to adapt to our
students’ level. However, it is important that the adaptation closely connect to
the objectives of the lessons.
As mentioned above, teachers complained that some sections for speaking

3 blocks (blocks 10, 11 and 12). After the solutions have been applied, I noticed
the students with the difficult as I have described above (the practical subjects),
especially students grade 10 for children begin to be interested in learning
reading skill. I myself have obtained some quite good results from the
application of these solutions. Firstly, these experiences are very suitable for the
schedule and text book. Students are more motivated to learn English, more
willing to broaden their knowledge and develop reading skills. The atmosphere
of learning is more relaxing and exciting.Students have chances to express their
own ideas, thoughts. They don’t feel embarrased when starting new lessons
anymore. More and more students can converse with each other, especially the
weak students now can understand the text and do some tasks.
Praiseworthy than they completely overcome the difficulties in
reading - English-speaking, boldly participate in communication and that they
more actively in the activities involved in the unit. Students ardent, excited,
exciting in a study, items prepared at home more thoroughly. Therefore, the
tracking quality professional learning by students in school year 2015- 2016 also
advanced remarkably.( I have this result from some tests I gave to the students)
STATISTICS RESULTS MONITORING QUALITY OF ENGLISH
STUDENTS, SCHOOL YEAR 2015-2016
Semester 1
CLASS

TOTAL

Excellent

Quite

Average



13

29.
5

21

47.
7

10D4

41

1

2.4

12

29.
2

19

46.
3

8


%

10D2

44

2

4.5

16

36.
5

16

36.
3

10

22.
7

10D4

41


and teaching quality, the new method is selected flexibility towards change new
suit their students.
Preparing lesson plan preparation, details, double. Strengthening product use
available teaching or enriched, practical, effective.
Encourage students to change to the English they speak in English while
using English more often in class, or group you study at home.
Over the route gifted children, has made progress and participate in speech. In
addition, it should often help encourage the children are poor and timely fixes
language of children in a gentle, for they are not complex, shame, fear wrong to
be afraid to say or lowbrow.
2. Limitations and suggestions for Further Study
Most study is not without limitations. The study presented in this thesis is
of no exception due to time constraints and scope of the study.
First, in terms of methodology, the study is limited in the fact that the data
may not fully reflect all aspects of difficulties in teaching reading
comprehension with the textbook “Tieng Anh 10”.
Second, the author’s practical experience in teaching reading
comprehension with the textbook is limited; the suggestions to overcome
difficulties are likely to be subjective and incomplete.
Third, the study has no chance to deal with other three skills in language
teaching: Listening, Speaking, and Writing.
These limitations, therefore, call for further research for long-term benefits of the
learners.