MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

AN INVESTIGATION
INTO READING COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES
REPORTED BY ENGLISH MAJOR FRESHMEN
AT NONG LAM UNIVERSITY

A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF ARTS (TESOL)
By
NGUYEN MINH TRANG
Supervised by
Dr. BUI THI THUC QUYEN

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2017


i

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I declare this thesis entitled “AN INVESTIGATION INTO READING
COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES REPORTED BY ENGLISH MAJOR
FRESHMEN AT NONG LAM UNIVERSITY” is the result of my own work
except as cited in the reference.

The thesis has not been accepted for any degree and it is not currently submitted in
candidature of any other degree.


a reading comprehension test and the questionnaire administered to 120 freshmen
majoring in English at Nong Lam University. Semi-structured interviews were
conducted with 12 students selected from the participants to collect qualitative data.
While the data from the reading test and the questionnaire were gathered and
analyzed by SPSS statistical package version 22, the semi-structured interview data
were recorded, transcribed and then analyzed by the method of content analysis.
The results indicated that the participants reported to employ strategies on
reading at medium level of frequency and there was not any significant correlation
between students’ awareness of strategies and their reading scores. However, some
differences in utilizing reading strategies between successful and unsuccessful
readers were revealed in this study. Furthermore, this study indicated that the
students’ reading strategy use was not significantly affected by their gender or
length of learning English. These findings have offered detailed insight into issues
related to freshmen’s reading comprehension and reading strategy use at Nong Lam
University. They are hoped to be helpful for teachers and learners of EFL at this
university and other similar contexts. Finally, based on the limitations of this study,
directions are provided for future research.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ......................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ....................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................ iv
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................. vii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS............................................................................... viii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................1
1.1 Problem statement .................................................................................................1

3.6.1 The reading test .........................................................................................28
3.6.2 The Questionnaire .....................................................................................29
3.6.3 Pilot of the study........................................................................................31
3.6.4 Reliability and validity of the questionnaire .............................................32
3.6.5 The semi-structured interviews .................................................................32
3.7 Data collection procedures ..................................................................................34
3.8 Data analysis .......................................................................................................35
3.8.1 Questionnaire data .....................................................................................36
3.8.2 Interview data ............................................................................................37
3.9 Chapter summary ................................................................................................37
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ....................................................38
4.1 Test of reliability .................................................................................................38
4.2 Results of students’ questionnaire .......................................................................39
4.2.1 Students’ frequency of use of reading strategies .......................................40
4.2.2 Relationship between reading strategy awareness and reading competence
............................................................................................................................45
4.2.3 Relationship between perceived use of reading strategies and gender .....49
4.2.4 Relationship between reading strategy awareness and length of learning
English ................................................................................................................51
4.3 Findings of students’ interviews .........................................................................55
4.4 Discussion of findings .........................................................................................59


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4.5 Chapter summary ................................................................................................64
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS ......................................65
5.1 Summary of major findings ................................................................................65
5.2 Implications .........................................................................................................67
5.3 Limitations and recommendations ......................................................................68

learning .............................................................................................................52
Table 4.15 Profile of the participants ............................................................... 55
Table 4.16 Strategies used to tackling reading problems.................................57


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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ANOVA

Analysis of Variances

d

Effect size of independent t-test

EFL

English as a Foreign Language

M

Mean value

N

Number of participants

p


2013). It is widely known that reading can improve other skills such as writing or
speaking, and it also enhances the process to acquire information from several
sources (Yilmaz, 2012). Lee (2012) considers English reading as “a fundamental
form of language inputs, and a psycholinguistic process for active reconstruction of
a message from written language” (p. 310). Although most of EFL learners do not
have to speak English in their daily lives, they need to read a great deal of materials
written in English so as to obtain “the wealth of information” (Eskey, 2005, cited in
Zhou, 2011, p.46). In Vietnam, especially in universities, every English major
student has to take at least a course on reading comprehension as one of the
compulsory subjects. Moreover, reading comprehension is an essential part in
almost every EFL exam such as National High School Examination, IELTS
(International English Language Testing System), TOEFL (Test of English as a
Foreign Language), and so forth.
On the other hand, comprehending a reading text is not an easy task,
especially in foreign language. Many researchers assert that learners of EFL are “illequipped to handle the academic reading demands” (Maasum & Maarof, 2012, p.
1250). Pang (2008) points out that EFL learners’ proficiency in reading is
influenced by many factors, such as word recognition, familiarity with the reading
topics or structure, and so forth. Additionally, many research studies conducted


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have proved that learners who are successful in reading comprehension are the ones
who “are active and use a variety of strategies as they read (Keene & Zimmermann,
1997, cited in Scharlach, 2008). Cantrell and Carter (2009; cited in Raftari, Seyyedi
& Ismail, 2012) also agree that successful reading associates most with
“understanding about the kinds of reading strategies”. Hence, reading strategies and
use of these strategies also play a very important role in processing the reading text
(Pang, 2008). However, “there could be some differences in frequency and choices
of the strategies among countries” (Kasimi, 2012, p. 170), and the strategies that are

This study gives an in-depth understanding of first-year students’ use of
strategies on reading at Nong Lam University. It first helps the teachers of EFL
reading know which strategies freshmen tend to utilize in their reading process.
Secondly, from this finding, teachers can examine how effectively the students have
employed these strategies when comprehending a reading text in English. Thirdly,
the students are provided with the knowledge as well as skills in employing reading
strategies successfully. Finally, the current study is hoped to be a reference for those
who are concerned about EFL reading comprehension and reading strategies at
universities in Vietnam.
1.5 Working definition of key terms
Key terms of this study were defined as follows:
Academic reading: is explained as “purposeful and critical reading of a range
of lengthy academic texts for completing the study of specific major subject areas”
(Sengupta, 2002, cited in Hoang, 2016, p. 8). In the current study, academic reading
refers to reading academic or school-related materials.
English as a Foreign Language (EFL): English is considered a foreign
language when it is “for learners in whose community English is not the usual
language of communication” (Thornbury, 2006, p. 74). He also states that “the
distinction between a foreign language and a second language is not always clear in


4

practice” (p. 74). In the current study, EFL refers to English that students learn as an
academic subject, and they may not use to it communicate in their daily life.
EFL context: In this study it refers to the situation in which English is used as
a foreign language.
Materials: Thornbury (2006) states that “materials include anything that is
used to support the learning process” (p. 127), such as “coursebooks, workbooksvisual aids, charts, board games, Cuisenaire rods, audio and video materials, as well
as the software that is run by computers, data projectors and interactive

provided in this chapter.
Chapter 5 summarizes the major findings in chapter 4, addresses theoretical
and practical implications, demonstrates limitations of the study, and gives future
research direction.


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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter aims to review theories of reading comprehension, reading
strategies and other issues relating to them in EFL context. It also provides a
summary of previous studies conducted with university students on their use of
reading strategies when reading academic materials in English.
2.1 Reading comprehension in EFL context
A great number of researchers insist on the important role of reading to master
a foreign language. K. T-C. Chen and S. C-L. Chen (2015) indicate that reading is
an essential part in a foreign language learning because reading is one of the “means
of data collection” (Mirzapour & Mozaheb, 2015, p. 389) and “a means of
communicating information between the writer and the reader” (Budiharso, 2014, p.
190). Through reading activities and reading materials, the learners learn about a
variety of vocabulary items as well as grammar points (Naidu et al., 2013).
Therefore, they can “receive valuable linguistic input to build up language
proficiency” (Erten & Razi, 2003; cited in Kasimi, 2012, p. 160). Moreover, as
Budiharso (2014) states, reading can be seen as “a kind of dialogue between the
reader and the text” (p. 191) and from the written text, the reader can understand
what the writer wants to express.
Reading is more than a process of looking at or saying the printed or written
words and symbols. Reading has been considered as “a complex cognitive activity
that is crucial for adequate functioning and for obtaining information in current

Many researchers have so far expressed different views on factors that
contribute to reading comprehension. Hou (2013) points out the four factors of
reader’s decoding ability, reader’s social and cultural background, the text’s level of
readability, teachers’ instruction, and classroom environment. Meanwhile, Shang
(2015) takes several factors that enhance reading comprehension into consideration
which are “vocabulary, prior/background knowledge, textual clues, intrinsic
motivation or interest, as well as strategic behaviours for monitoring” (p. 294). Last
but not least, Hoang (2016), after extensively investigating previous studies, lists a
variety of factors including reader’s competence of foreign language grammar,


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sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, and strategy use (Scarcella & Oxford, 1992,
cited in Hoang, 2016); additionally, the factors of reader’s purpose or motivation,
vocabulary, knowledge of text types, concentration while reading are also added to
the list. Hoang (2016) also stresses that although there are different factors that
influence reading comprehension, the utilization of strategy is believed to play a
crucial role in the reading process.
To sum up, reading is a crucial skill that every EFL learner has to master and
reading comprehension is an essential goal for them to achieve in order to response
correctly to the written texts, interact with the author through the texts and access
the sources of information in academic context (Karbalaei & Golshan, 2010).
Besides, Kung (2013) insists that reading is “a complex language skill” (p. 194) and
if learners wish to develop it, they should not follow just one certain way when they
read a text. Instead, learners need to engage in a complex process which involves
getting information from the written text and making sense of it by employing
different strategies (Kasimi, 2012).
2.2 EFL reading strategies
As mentioned above, reading comprehension is not easy for EFL learners to

According to Amiryousefi et al. (2012), “reading strategies are a set of mental
operations that are employed by the readers to comprehend the text or to solve their
comprehension problems” (p. 1174) or reading strategies can be simply explained
as “techniques and methods readers use to make their reading successful” (Baker &
Boonkit, 2004; cited in Zare & Othman, 2013, p. 188). In EFL context, K. T-C.
Chen and S. C-L. Chen (2015) define reading strategies as “conscious processes,
ones in which readers understand the use of EFL reading strategies as they read the
text” (p. 158). Mirzapour and Mozaheb (2015) claim that reading strategies are “the
processes used by students to increase their comprehension or overcome
comprehension failure” (p. 390). Saengpakdeejit and Intaraprasert (2014) refer
reading strategies to “any sets of learning processes, learning techniques, or learning
behavior” (p. 2599) which EFL students employ to comprehend the reading
materials in academic context and improve their reading comprehension skills both


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inside and outside the classroom. EFL reading strategies can be also described as
“what readers reveal in the ways they manage interactions with the text and how
they use strategies to achieve effective reading comprehension” (Carrell et al., 1998;
cited in K. T-C. Chen & S. C-L. Chen, 2015, p. 158). In other words, reading
strategies is any action readers take to conceive of a task, understand the reading
material, and resolve reading problems in order to enhance comprehension (Lee,
2012).
In conclusion, although there are many definitions and descriptions of EFL
reading strategies, it is widely assumed that reading strategies indicate the way
readers plan to accomplish a reading task, how they comprehend the written text
and how they overcome comprehension problems (Derakhshan & Nazari, 2015).
Moreover, after investigating a number of researches, Naidu et al. (2013) suggest
that EFL learners should develop reading strategies if they want to succeed in

to Shang (2010) and Yukselir (2014), the important cognitive strategies include
translating into the first language, reading aloud, underlining the texts, paragraphing
or summarizing the material, note-taking the important ideas, visualizing new
knowledge, deduction, using keyword, contextualization, relating new information
to prior background knowledge, predicting outcomes or guessing new information
base on available information. Cognitive strategies are considered “as the actions
and procedures readers use while working with the text” (Sheorey & Mokhtari,
2001; cited in Ebrahimi, 2012, p. 102) in order to comprehend the reading content
(Kung, 2013).
On the other hand, metacognitive strategies are described as “higher thinking
skills that help readers achieve awareness of whether they understand a reading text
or not” (Yukselir, 2014, p. 68). Shang (2010) states that the use of metacognitive
strategies has an important influence on learning achievement, and she also
investigates many studies to explore how other researchers categorize metacognitive
strategies. It can be inferred from her investigation that metacognitive strategies are


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generally divided into three types: planning, monitoring and regulating or
evaluating. Meanwhile, Bishop et al. (2005, as cited in Yukselir, 2014) suggest a list
of metacognitive strategies which involves using a variety of senses to visualize and
predict the main points of the texts, associating readers’ background with the
information the reading text, analyzing text structure, applying lexical and
grammatical knowledge to understanding a sentence, exploring inferences to
recognize the cause and effect relationship, asking and answering questions, paying
attention to the introduction and conclusion of the text to obtain the main points,
evaluating, summarizing and synthesizing. To conclude, metacognitive strategies
help a reader “allocate significant attention to controlling, monitoring, and
evaluating the reading process” (Karbalaei & Golshan, 2010, p. 67).

Therefore, Amiryousefi et al. (2012) conclude that bottom-up strategies are at wordlevel while top-down strategies are at world-level and these two models “must work
in concert with each other”.
It can be concluded that EFL strategies on reading has been categorized into
various types (K. T-C. Chen & S. C-L. Chen, 2015). However, they have been
generally accepted to play an important role in students’ reading performance, and it
is suggested that students should be trained to actively monitor their reading process
(Shang, 2010).
2.4 Reading strategies for better reading comprehension performance
A large number of researchers have made an attempt to provide strategies that
help to enhance reading comprehension. Hosenfeld (1984; cited in Ratna S, 2014),
Ratna S (2014), Derakhshan and Nazari (2015) suggest a variety of “good
strategies” that are: considering the reading purpose, making use of the title to
predict the contents, skimming to get the main points of the reading text, scanning
for specific details of the text, relating information from the text to reader’s prior
knowledge, note-taking, guessing the meaning of a word from context and
grammatical categories, summarizing, paraphrasing, understanding a paragraph by
reading the first line, skipping unknown and unimportant words, considering text
organization, reading the text again to deal with comprehension breakdown,
focusing on reading for meaning, evaluating guesses’ validity, keeping reading,


14

acknowledging the word’s origin, considering unfamiliar words, preferring
meaningful reading material, not objecting to guess, exploiting illustrations such as
drawings or pictures, utilizing glosses, only using dictionaries as the last recourse,
basing on predictions, and making use of the context. Ratna S (2014) believes that
these strategies can improve learners’ reading comprehension skill. Another helpful
strategy is paraphrasing which is considered as “an active learning strategy that can
help readers to remember important points by restating with their own words”

comprehension process.
Block (1986, cited in Omar, 2014) states that successful readers are
distinguished from less successful readers by these four characteristics: “(1)
integration, (2) recognition of aspects of the text structure, (3) use of general
knowledge, personal experiences, and associations, (4) response in an extensive as
opposed to a reflexive mode” (p. 17). First of all, a successful reader can
consciously integrate information in the text during the reading process in order to
fully comprehend the reading material (Sheorey & Mokhtari, 2001, cited in
Karbalaei & Golshan, 2010; Omar, 2014; Block, 1986, cited in Raftari et al., 2012).
Secondly, they are able to be aware and make use of the structure of the text as a
clue such as utilizing the glosses, summaries, introductions, conclusions or basing
on the title to make predictions (Block, 1986, cited in Raftari et al., 2012; Oxford,
1990, cited in Shang 2010; Derakhshan & Nazari, 2015). Thirdly, successful readers
are capable of relating what they have already known to the new information in the
reading text and make use of the context clues to accomplish the tasks (Block, 1986,
cited in Raftari et al, 2012; Derakhshan & Nazari, 2015). Last but not least,
successful readers recognize what the author wants to convey in the text and focus
on the author’s information rather than their own thoughts and feelings. Block
(1986) concludes that readers who are able to integrate information, recognize text
structure, and pay attention to the writer’s message succeed in developing their
reading skills.
Additionally, learners who succeed in reading comprehension are said to be
able to recognize some parts of the text that are more important than the others to
pay more attention when reading (Arabsolghar & Elkins, 2001, as cited in Kazemi


16

et al., 2013; Yukselir, 2014). According to Ghavamnia et al. (2013), successful
readers read through the text quickly and focus on the key points; they know how to