BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUẢN LÝ VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ HẢI PHÒNG

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KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP
NGÀNH : NGÔN NGỮ ANH NHẬT

Sinh viên

: Phạm Thị Duyên

Giảng viên hướng dẫn: TS. Trần Thị Ngọc Liên

HẢI PHÒNG 07– 2020


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HAIPHONG MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY
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A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES AND SOLUTIONS TO
IMPROVE READING SKILL FOR FIRST-YEAR
ENGLISH MAJORS STUDENTS AT HMTU

GRADUATION PAPER
MAJOR: ENGLISH-JAPANESE

Student

NHIỆM VỤ ĐỀ TÀI
1. Nội dung và các yêu cầu cần giải quyết trong nhiệm vụ đề tài tốt
nghiệp
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2. Các tài liệu, số liệu cần thiết
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3. Địa điểm thực tập tốt nghiệp
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CÁN BỘ HƯỚNG DẪN ĐỀ TÀI TỐT NGHIỆP
Họ và tên

: ........................................................................................

Học hàm, học vị


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Đơn vị công tác:

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Họ và tên sinh viên:

.......................................... Chuyên ngành: ...............................

Nội dung hướng dẫn:

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Tinh thần thái độ của sinh viên trong quá trình làm đề tài tốt nghiệp
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1.
Đánh giá chất lượng của đồ án/khóa luận (so với nội dung yêu cầu đã đề ra
trong nhiệm vụ Đ.T. T.N trên các mặt lý luận, thực tiễn, tính toán số liệu…)
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Họ và tên sinh viên:

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Đề tài tốt nghiệp:

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1. Phần nhận xét của giáo viên chấm phản biện
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2. Những mặt còn hạn chế
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3. Ý kiến của giảng viên chấm phản biện
Được bảo vệ

Không được bảo vệ

1.3.3. Exten sivereading ...................................................................................... 10
1.3.4. Inten sivereading .................................................................................................. 11
1.4. Difficulties in learning the reading skill ................................................................. 12
1.4.1.Memory problem .................................................................................................. 12
1.4.2.Issues with decoding ............................................................................................. 12
1.4.3.Poor comprehension ............................................................................................. 13
1.4.4.Speed..................................................................................................................... 13
1.5. Factors affecting reading difficulties ...................................................................... 13
CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY ....................................................................................... 20
2.1. Participants ............................................................................................................. 20
2.2. Instrument ............................................................................................................... 20
2.3. Data collection procedure ....................................................................................... 21
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ....................................................... 22
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3.1. Causes of reading difficulties experienced by first-year English majors at HMTU ...... 22
3.2 Some suggestions to improve reading skill for first year English majors students of
HMTU ........................................................................................................................... 32
PART C: CONCLUSION ........................................................................................... 37
1. Summary .................................................................................................................... 37
2. Limitations ................................................................................................................. 37
3. Recommendations for further study .......................................................................... 37
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 39
APPENDIX................................................................................................................... 41
Section 1: Questions ...................................................................................................... 41

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Haiphong Management and
Technology University

ESL

English as a second language

EFL

English foreign language

L2

Second language

ADD

Attention deficit disorder

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PART A: INTRODUCTION
1.Rationale
There is no doubt that the role of English in the life of any society in the
world today has been becoming more and more important. The widespread need
for English as an international language puts a considerable pressure on the
education resources of any countries. In case of or country, since our government
carried out the open door policy to attract foreign investment and co-operate with
other countries, teaching and learning English become necessary. Moreover, it is

This is especially true to the students at the HMTU, where learners are
often future interpreters, translators, or teacher whose desires are to be able to
handle subjects related to written material in English and to work with their
English- speaking colleagues and partners. It is essential for them to acquire the
ability to read English, effectively and efficiently. However, despite the
teachers’ and the students’ effort, students still often claim to have a lot of
difficulties in reading English textbooks or English material, and therefore, they
sometimes read them inefficiently.
For the first-year students of English, although they have been learning
English for at least several years, it is still often difficult for them to understand
text or passage in English, since they still lack vocabulary, grammar, reading skill
and poor background knowledge. Besides, the teachers sometimes have to face
with difficulties in dealing with the students’ learning demand and newly
introduced sources of materials. In addition, teaching methods and teaching
techniques in general, are still below the international standard of education.
Identifying the areas of students’ difficulty at HMTU and the cause of their
unsuccessful reading comprehension is necessary. Therefore, these reasons have
inspired the writing of a study on DIFFICULTIES AND SOLUTIONS TO
IMPROVE READING SKILL FOR FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS
STUDENTS AT HMTU as well as some suggested solutions. It is hoped that the
study will make some contributions to improve learning English in general, and
reading in particular among the first-year English majors at HMTU. The author
also hoped that it will be possible to make useful suggestions for the teachers to
improve the situation of teaching and learning reading at HMTU.
2.Aims of the study
As an English department student, the main purpose of this study is to
identify the majors causes of difficulties reading skill by first-year English majors
students at Haiphong Management and Technology University. Besides, the study
is expected to suggest some solutions to improve reading skill for students. In
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The research work has three main parts:
Part A – Introduction provides rationale, the aims, scope, methods and
organization of the study.
Part B – Development consists of three chapters:
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 Chapter one is literature view which provides an overview of reading,
difficulties in learning reading skill and factor affecting reading difficulties.
 Chapter two shows detailed explanation of the methodology.
 Chapter three indicates the cause of difficulties in reading skill
experienced by first year English majors at HMTU and some suggested solutions
to reading difficulties as well as implication for teaching and learning reading skill
at HMTU.
Part C – Conclusion summarizes what is given in previous chapters and
limitation of the study as well as recommendations for further study.

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1 Theoretical background of reading
1.1.1. Definition of reading
Reading is often referred to as the most important of the four language
skills for EFL learners, as it enables students to gain exposure to the target
language and receive valuable linguistic input to build up language proficiency
(Erten & Razi, 2003). We cannot be sure when reading activity begins, but we
have to admit that reading is essential activity that provides a great contribution
in obtaining knowledge. It is obvious that in real life we usually spend much

not only to know how to read, to master the symbols, the sound, the language, the
grammar, that used in the text but also to understand the ideas, the information
expressed in that text or to develop the ability of reconstructing its contents
using our own words. One more researcher called Goodman (1971: 153)
considers reading is “a psycholinguistic process by which the reader – a
language user, reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has been
encoded by a writer as a graphic display”.
Reading involves a reader, a text, and a writer. Reading skills are
developed in an active process. This process involves the surface representation
encoded by a writer and ends with interpretation of the written text and
interchanges between the writer and the reader (Carrell 1988). If the writer is
careless, the reader may not get the message. If the writer makes demands that the
reader cannot fulfill, the message will not be received, even though to another
reader it might be clear. If the reader is careless, reading will result in complete
interpretation. The reader tries to interpret the text through his/her own
experiences, but they many differ from the writer’s experiences. This
explanation proves that reading is not just an active process, but also an
interactive one. Reading is closely linked with meaning. For this reason, lack of
shared assumptions presents the most difficult problem in reading.
To sum up, from all these opinions above, it is obvious that no definition
can possibly capture all the ideas and feature of what reading is. Each linguist’s
definition reflects what reading means as seen from his own point of view.
However, they all have some features in common, they share the same ideas that
reading means we – readers read the author’s mind not the author’s word, and that
reading means comprehending written language and it employs a variety of skills.
In addition, they all concentrate on the nature of reading.
1.1.2 Definition of reading comprehension
In teaching and learning a foreign language in general and teaching
reading in particular, reading comprehension plays an important part, it can be
understood as the ability to draw attention to the required information from the

when understanding break down, reading actually does not occur.
1.2. The importance of the reading skill
A student’s reading skill are important to their success in school as they
will allow them to access the breadth of the curriculum and improve their
communication and language skills. In addition, reading can be a fun and
imaginative time for students, which opens doors to all kinds of new worlds for
them, especially first-year English majors at HMTU because English at the
HMTU is learnt and taught in non-native environment. Indeed, reading is not only
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considered as a mean to gain knowledge but also a means by which further study
takes place. Learning to read is about listening and understanding as well as
working out what is printed on the page. Through the teacher’s conversation,
students are exposed to a wide range of words. This helps them build their own
vocabulary and improve their understanding when they listen, which is vital as
they start to read. It is important for them to understand what the teacher’s opinion
is and what he or she is talking about. Even if student do not understand every
word, they will hear new sounds, words and phrases which they can then try out,
copying what they have heard because of their desire to handle subjects related to
written material in English and to work with their English-speaking colleagues
and partners.
Why is reading so important?
Studies show that reading for pleasure makes a big difference to student’s
education performance. Likewise, evidence suggests that students who read for
enjoyment every day not only perform better in reading tests than those who do
not, but also develop a broader vocabulary, increased general knowledge and a
better understanding of other cultures.
In fact, reading for pleasure is more likely to determine whether a student
does well at school than their social or economic background.

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
students 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. However, skimming sometimes proves too difficult for younger
learners, or beginners because they generally lack confidence and the knowledge
of the language they are learning.
1.3.2.Scanning
Like skimming, scanning is also one of two most valuable reading strategies.
However, scanning is far more limited than skimming since it only means
retrieving what information is relevant to our purpose. Scanning occurs when a
reader goes through a text very quickly in order to find a particular point of
information. It is a useful skill worth cultivating for its own sake, if it has been
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cultivated systematically from the earliest point in the course at which it can be
attempted, co-operative work on the study of texts can be greatly expected and
made easy. Francois (1981: 19) understands that “when scanning, we only try to
locate specific information and often we do not even follow the linearity of the
passage to do so. We simply let our eyes wander over the text until we find what
we are looking for, whether it is a name, a date, or a less specific piece of


And the reason why this kind of reading is essentially needed is that it can promote
reading out of class. Students can read directly and fluently in the foreign language
for their own enjoyment without the aid of teacher. Furthermore, it is by pursuing
the activity of extensive reading that the volume of practice necessary to achieve
rapid and efficient reading can be achieved. It is also one of the means by which
a foreigner may be exposed to a substantial sample of the language he may wish
to learn without actually going to live in the country to which that language is
native.
Basing on the importance of extensive reading, Nuttall (1982: 168) shows
that “the best way to improve one’s knowledge of a foreign language is to go and
live among its speakers: The next best way is read extensively in it”.
The practice of extensive reading needs little justification. It is clearly the
earliest way of bringing the foreign learner into sustained contact with a
substantial body of English.
Broughton (1980: 111) suggests that “there appear to be basically three
ways the extensive reading may be encouraged, first by having class sets of title,
second by operating a class library system, and the third by using the school
library”.
In short, the kind of reading is necessary for students at University
because it actively promotes reading out the class and gives them opportunity to
use their own knowledge of the language for their own purposes. Moreover, this
kind of reading is regarded as pleasure and interest. That is why intensive
reading is highly motivated.
1.3.4.Intensive reading
The remaining two kinds of reading activity, content study reading and
linguistic study reading are also often grouped together and called intensive
reading.
Different from extensive reading – reading for fluency, readers can read
without the aid of the teachers and without understanding the text in detail –

when reading and understanding English documents.
1.4.1.Memory problem
Short-term and long term problem can be another aspect of reading
comprehension issues. When a student does not fully understand what he or she
just read or learn, student will have difficulties remembering the information and
new words. Teachers can identify students with memory problems before issue
gets out of hand by using pop quizzes and mini-test after reading sections.
1.4.2.Issues with decoding
Also known as sounding out words, decoding is when students are able to
put sounds to letters in order to sound out written language. It’s common for
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beginner readers to struggle when they meet new or unfamiliar terms, but typically
decoding becomes easier with phonics instruction and repeated practice with
reading out loud. If a student continuous to struggle, there may be a specific
learning difficulties present, or a physical impairment that is preventing them
from physically seeing the letters or hearing the sounds in spoken language.
1.4.3.Poor comprehension
There’s a lot going on reading, from letter and word recognition to
understanding meaning at the phrase, sentence, and paragraph level. When a
beginner reader encounters vocabulary they do not know or do not recognize due
to inaccurate decoding, they are likely to skip ahead. The more blanks in a line of
text, the harder it is to make meaning and the more cognitively challenging and
frustrating the reading task becomes. That’s why poor comprehension can result
when a student struggles with decoding, has a limited vocabulary or attempts to
read a text that is at too high of a level.
However, reading also requires being able to pay attention to narrative.
Students need to identify gist, main ideas, and specific details and even make
inferences about what they are reading. If a student has problems staying focused,

The complexity of the texts is one of the factors that impacts learners’
reading comprehension. This factor is influenced by the readers’ strength and
fluency in language and their comprehending of its applications and different
meanings. Oral abilities have a significant part in identifying how skilled a reader
can be because learners hear word and obtain a lot of vocabulary. A lot of
vocabularies assist learners in explaining the unknown words through applying
the opinions of context (Denis, 2008). The second factor related to the
environmental conditions that impact the learners who try to read a passage.
Readers may have a lot of problem to understand a text in an unorganized
environment than those who read in a calm and controlled place. When they are
in safe environments, their reading comprehension ability will better. Readers will
lose their concentration in understanding a text when there are noises like
televisions or radios.
The third factor is pertinent to the anxiety during reading comprehension.
Examinations, class work, or homework situations can put more pressure on
readers’ reading than reading for enjoyment. Some learners react positively to
examinations while others are overwhelmed by the pressure to carry out a reading
activity. Learners who experience this anxiety may not completely understand
the instructions and this may lead to confusion and poor comprehension of the
reading task. The fourth factor is interest and motivation. According to Dennis
(2008), learners’ interest and motivation are very important in developing reading
comprehension skill. If readers find the reading material monotonous, they will
have a lot of problems in concentrating on their comprehension. This can lead to
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