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PART 1: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study.
Nowadays, English is the most popular language in the world. As an effective means
of international communication, it is used as the official language in many fields of life such
as economics, politics, science, technology, sports and many others. This leads to an
increasing demand of learning English. There are more and more people who learn English
and consider it as an inevitable factor in their work and life.
In Vietnam, English has been brought into the school curriculum as a compulsory
subject, and the teaching and learning of that international language has been recently paid
great attention to. When teaching English, the teacher teaches his students not only the
English language but also its usage. And under the right guidance, right help of the teacher,
the students have to try their best to master 4 language skills: reading, writing, listening and
speaking in order to communicate in English successfully. Among these four skills, reading
plays an important role in enriching the students’ general knowledge and in helping them
with their further study later.
Owing to the importance of reading itself, the growing interest in learning English in
Vietnam creates a wide learning environment. It can be seen that the teaching of reading of
reading comprehension has been paid in increasing attention to its different aspects. As time
goes by, many experts and methodologists have come to understand that reading
comprehension is important not only at schools but also afterwards. That is reading helps
students as readers develop their language ability in general and comprehension skills in
particular at schools as well as gives them other benefits to avoid cultural and language bias,
etc. in daily communication. Recognizing the importance of reading, I decide on choosing
“Using While- Reading Techniques to Improve Reading Comprehension for the 11
th
Form Students at Phan Dang Luu High School ”
2. Aims of the study
The specific aims of the study are as follows:
- Clarifying the nature of reading comprehension in accordance with some
important points in teaching this skill.

The thesis is divided into three parts. The first part is the Introduction which includes
rationale aims, scope, methods, significance and design of the study. The second-
Development is the main part which consists of three chapters. Chapter I is about review of
literature relating to reading comprehension. Chapter II investigates the present situation of
learning and teaching reading to the 11
th
form students at Phan Dang Luu high school.
Chapter III gives some suggested techniques used in the while- reading stage to develop the
reading skill for the 11
th
form students. Part III is the Conclusion of the study.
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PART 2: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter, I attempt to deal with definitions of reading in general and reading
comprehension in particular, types of reading and teaching reading comprehension.
1.1. Theoretical background of reading comprehension
1.1.1 Definitions of reading.
The term “Reading” is widely used in practice. However, reading is differently
defined due to the areas of defining in term of activities or goals at any one level on grade.
That is why, no definition of reading can possibly include all points of views and features.
Moreover, each one’s definition only reflects what reading means to that person.
However, a careful considered definition of reading is very necessary for the reading
teacher. Because reading is the most critical aspect of any teaching programme and for the
teachers to decide what they will teach in the classroom. Herein, I would like to mention
some definitions of reading extracted from different sources on the theme.
Elias and Ingram (1977:55) states:
“Reading was defined as the abstraction of meaning from a visual configuration, and
was shown to involve desirably not a painstaking grapheme- by- grapheme decoding but the
postulation of alternatives of meaning which one reduced by the parsimonious interaction of

“Here are two broad aspects or levels. First there is basically visual task, that of
deciphering the marks on the page, the brain receiving signals, from the eyes. Secondly,
there is cognitive task, that of interpreting the visual information, so the one is not simply
“barking at print””
Deriving from those opinions, reading is considered a process in which a reader
looks at and understand what has been written out.
1.1.2 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 what he or she teaches in
the class. He would know what to teacher and how to make his reading lesson effectively. In
fact, methodologists have been providing different definitions of 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
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means that reading comprehension is an activity which aims at decoding the meaning of
word combination in the text in the most efficient way.
Also concerning the reading comprehension, Richard and Good (1978:9) provide a
clearer point of view:
“Reading comprehension is best described as an understanding between the author
and the reader. The emphasis is on the reader understanding of the printed page based on the
individual reader’s unique background of experience. Reading is much than just pronouncing
words correctly or simply what the author intends. It is the process whereby the printed
pages stimulate ideas, experiences and responses that are unique to an individual”
According to the above authors, reading comprehension is not only simply
understanding what is written, but also is what stimulates students to remember from their
experiences. That knowledge is then used to get meaning out of printed page, but in the mind
of the readers which included not only facts or details but also emotion, belief and critical
evaluation.
From these opinions, it can be concluded that reading comprehension is a process of
understanding what is conveyed in the text. It does not mean that the reader needs to

1.1.4.1 According to the ways of reading.
1.1.4.1.1 Aloud reading
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. According to Doff (1988:67), “aloud reading 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.”
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.
Aloud reading 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 as Lewis and Hill
(1995:110) mention: “Asking a student to read aloud also means that he may concentrate
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inadequately on their meaning. He may read correctly but afterward will not be able to tell
what he has read”
That is the reason why, only for the early stages of foreign language learning, aloud
reading should become an established part of a lesson to help the beginners read words,
phrases with correct stress and intonation in a sentence.
1.1.4.1.2 Silent reading
Silent reading is the nearest approach to the essence of reading. Because only by
reading silently, can the readers best comprehend the written materials in the shortest
possible time.
According to Broughton, Brumfit and other linguistics (1980:92), the nature of silent
reading skills is far from uniform. It is changeable according to the use to which it is being

overview of what they read.
1.1.4.2.2 Scanning
Similar to skimming, scanning is a necessary technique in reading efficiently.
Douglas (2001:308) defines scanning as follows: “Scanning was quickly searching for some
particular piece or pieces of information in a text”
Sharing the same opinion with Douglas Brown, Williams (2001:100) emphasizes:
“Scanning occurs when a reader goes through a text very quickly in order to find a particular
point of information.” It reveals the key to scanning is to decide exactly what kind of
information we are looking for and where to find it.
In addition, Grellet (1981:19) gives a more detailed definition of scanning: “When
scanning, we only try to locate information and often we do not even follow the linearity of
passage to do so, and scanning is far more limited since it only means retrieving what
information is relevant to our purpose.”
These authors have the same point that while scanning reader does not need to read
form cover to cover, they only look for the information they want by running their eyes
rapidly along the lines. It can be practised with the great range of texts such as dictionaries,
map, advertisements, labels, etc. This kind of reading is very useful in reading selectively.
In general, both skimming and scanning are effective techniques for quick and
efficient reading. It is advisable to make use of them to improve reading comprehension
skills for students in reading classes.
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1.1.4.2.3 Intensive reading
Intensive reading is also widely used in a reading class. Its is an effective way to
explore the text, to go deeply into the meaning and the organization of the text.
According to Grellet (1981:4) “Intensive reading means reading short text to extract
specific information. This is an accuracy activity involving reading for details.”
In addition, Nuttal (1989:23) writes: “Intensive reading involves approaching the
texts under the close guidance of the teacher…, or under the guidance of a task which forces
the students to pay great attention to the ext. the aim of intensive reading is to arrive at a
profound and detail understanding of the text: not only of what is means but also of how the

1.2.1 Relationship between reading and other skills.
In the process of teaching and learning English, it is very crucial for learners to realize the
integration of language. That is the possibilities of other aspects of foreign programme. Therefore,
reading skill is closely related to writing, listening and speaking skills. Understanding relations will
help learners succeed.
According to Rivers and Temperly (1978), reading skill is not a single skill but an
integrated- language skill. Firstly, reading is related to writing. That is when students are
asked to summarize or continue the reading material such as resume, end of a story, short
descriptions of the characters, etc. secondly, reading is concerned with listening
comprehension. Students may listen to a story, a play… than read it or read first and “listen
to a worthwhile reading or dramatic presentation of what they have read. The aural element
adds vividness and life to the reading unit” (Rivers and Temperly, 1978:259). They further
note that
“Practice in direct reading of a text which is readily accessible to the students at their
present level of knowledge, while they are simultaneously listening to a taped model reading it
in meaningful and expressive segments, can help students develop useful habits of anticipation
and syntactic identification in both of these skills.”
Thirdly, that is integration of reading and speaking. Reading materials serve as a
fundamental source for oral presentations as they can base on these ideas they have read to
discuss or debate for their own purposes. This is the best way for them to share what they
have been reading with others.
To summarize, those combinations between reading and, writing, listening, speaking
comprehension should be put into serious consideration when teaching and learning English
as a foreign language.
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1.2.2 The roles of the teacher and the students in a reading lesson
1.2.2.1 The roles of the teacher.
It is natural that in a reading lesson, the students must work actively and individually.
It does not mean that the teacher has nothing to do. Discussing the roles of the teacher in
teaching reading, Richard and Amato (1988) emphasize:

reading skills and practice other language skills.
In general, the teacher must be aware of what they need to do in a reading lesson.
Playing their roles well will certainly help the teacher lead successful reading lessons. It will
help students understand the text efficiently, and at the same time improve considerably their
reading skills.
1.2.2.2 The roles 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 role of
an active and creative listener as well as readers.
In a reading lesson. Students must take an active role as listener. They need to listen
to the teacher’s instructions and explanations carefully to find out the way of recognizing
information and way of deducing new words or grammatical structures.
The students must also be active and flexible readers, it is wise if they work on their
own during the reading process, make full use of the class time to read and do the exercises
to achieve a full understanding of the text. Its is necessary for them to find a suitable reading
strategy and use their background knowledge to fulfill their tasks because the significance of
the text as well as the information is not always directly stated in printed pages.
In summary, students are the key factor to decide the success of a reading lesson.
Teacher and students ate interrelated to each other during the process of teaching and
learning reading skills.
1.2.2.3 The roles of reading materials
The roles of the reading texts must be paid attention to in teaching and learning
reading skills because an appropriate text is very important in building up pupils’ reading
competence (Boughton, Brumfit, Flavell, Hill and Pincas, 1990:102)
In William’s opinion, reading material is any piece of written language. It may come
from the integrated course book which includes reading texts, from the supplementary
reading comprehension and reading skills books containing texts and exercises, from the real
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life (authentic texts) or be simulated texts (1984:23). He further discusses some criteria
which are very useful for the teacher in choosing text for reading lessons. Reading materials

3. To provide some language preparation for the text”
In general in the pre- reading stage, it is necessary to set a good preparation for
students, provide them the sense of what they are going to do in their reading lesson.
1.2.3.2 The while- reading stage
1.2.3.2.1 Aims
While- reading stage is the main part of a reading lesson. Without this stage, the
students will lose the chance to deal with the text to understand the writer’s purpose and
clarify the text’s content in detail. Williams (1984:38) points out the aims of the while-
reading stage:
1. To help to understand of the writer’s purpose.
2. To help to understand of the text structure.
3. To clarify the text.
He also gives the teacher some questions to ask himself on order to deal with the
above- mentioned aims:
1. What is the function of this text?
2. How is the text organized or developed? (e.g.: a narrative, an explanation
with various examples, an argument and counter argument)
3. What content or information is extracted from the text?
4. What may the reader anger or deduce from the text?
5. What language may be learned from the text?
6. What reading styles may be practiced?
It is clear that, question (1) deals with the aims of understanding, the writer’s
purpose, question (2) helps to recognize the text structure and the rest help to clarify the text
content.
The answers to these questions will be a guide for the teacher in this stage.
Depending on their answers, the teacher will choose suitable activities for students which
focus them on exploiting the meaning of the text, and develop their reading skills.
1.2.3.2.2 Activities
Studying the reading lesson, Sheils (1993:92) suggests a wide range of activities in
the while- reading stage:

2. T circles the references devices in a text and SS work
out what they refer to
3. T gives students a passage in which the logical
connectors are blanked out. Students have to read the
passage and work out what the connector must be.
4. Prediction exercises: Students only read the first line
and then predict the next.
Recognizing the effect of
style
1. Multiple choice or True/ False questions
2. Discussion on the style of the text.
3. Parallel passage in different style.
Recognizing the
organization of a text
1. Jumbled paragraphs
2. Discussing the function of particular paragraphs.
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Making inferences
True/ false or discussion questions on possible
interpretation of the text
Extensive reading
Students red on a self- access basis from a class reading
bank.
Skimming for the gist
1. The text is used simply as spring board for discussion
on a particular topic.
2. Students read through a passage and then suggest a
title for this.
3. Students match different titles to series of short texts
within a given time limit.

choosing them for their reading lessons. In the process of reading, asking students to work in
pairs or groups is also advisable. This may enable students to feel more pleasant in reading,
encourage the to work harder to improve and develop effective reading skills.
3.4 Summary
In this chapter, all the concerning theoretical background of reading comprehension
has been presented. First, some definitions of reading and reading comprehension basing on
some linguistics scholars have been presented. Second, teaching reading comprehension
consisting of relationship between reading and other skills, the role of the teacher as well as
the students in the three stages of a reading lesson have been reviewed.
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CHAPTER 2:
THE PRESENT SITUATION OF
LEARNING TEACHING READING TO THE 11
TH
FORM STUDENTS
AT PHAN DANG LUU HIGH SCHOOL
2.1 Introduction
Nowadays, together with improvements of other skills of English learning, reading
comprehension has been put into consideration at secondary schools in Vietnam. As time
goes by, a lot of achievements in teaching reading comprehension can be clearly seen. It is
true that quality of teaching and learning reading comprehension in most secondary schools
has been improved remarkably in terms of the teachers’ methods and the learners’ attitudes.
However, there are still some problems facing the reading teachers a well as the pupils.
In order to fulfill this thesis, two survey questionnaires were conducted to the 11
th
form pupils and eight teachers of English, especially those who are teaching English to the
11th form students at Phan Dang Luu high school to get more details of the reality of
teaching and learning reading comprehension at while- reading stage. This section deals with
main points: Objects of the study, objectives of the study, methods of study.
2.1.1 Objects of the study

87%
13%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
A B
Students
Chart 1
Chart 2: Students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards importance of reading
comprehension.
A. Very important
B. Important as other language skills
C. Less important than other language skill
D. Not important at all
31%
23%
61%
73%
5%
3%
3%
0%
0%

Chart 4: Students’ and teachers’ opinions about reading texts in English 11
textbook
A. Interesting C. Suitable to student’ level
B. Boring D. Not suitable to students’ level
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
A B C D
students
teachers
Chart 4
Basing on the collected data from Chart 1, 2 and 3, it is obvious that a majority of
students and teachers had positive attitudes towards learning and teaching reading
comprehension. Most of students were interested in reading in English (chart 1). They gave
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various reasons for their choice. Firstly, reading is very interesting, it can help students relax
after long studying hours. Secondly, by reading they can broaden their mind and improve
their background knowledge. In addition reading enables them to reinforce vocabulary and
grammatical structures and develop other language skills. Through the statistics collected, a
fact was improved that to both students and teachers, reading comprehension stands equal to
speaking, listening and writing (Chart 2). And because both students and teachers were
aware of the importance of reading comprehension, most of them accordingly think that
developing reading comprehension is necessary (Chart 3). This is a great advantage in
teaching and learning this skill.
The next question focuses on the students’ and teachers’ opinion about reading text
in the text book (Chart 4). In response to this question, teachers and students showed

Chart 5
Question number 5 for students deals with their purposes of reading. In this question,
the students can choose more than one answer (Chart 5). Different ideas were provided for
reading purposes. The statistics indicates that students who read in English with the
combination of the mentioned purposes are the largest, accounting for 65%. Next is the
number of students who consider widening vocabulary and grammatical structures as their
reading purposes (27%); 15% of them read for developing language skills; 9% read for
information and reading for pleasure is the least percentage (only 3%).
As can be seen, the purposes of reading in English are various. Many students think
that reading can help them much in reinforcing language skills and elements and improving
background knowledge.
2.2.1.2Students’ difficulties in reading.
Chart 6: Students’ difficulties in reading
A. Lack of vocabulary
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B. Lack of grammatical
C. Lack of background knowledge
D. Lack of reading skills
72%
70%
25%
24%
17%
16%
30%
12%
0%
10%
20%
30%

0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
A B C
students
Chart 7
The statistics in Chart 7 shows that when having difficulties in reading, most of
students (53%) waited for their teacher’s correction; 26% discussed with their friends to find
the right answers. This reveals a fact that in reading classes, the teacher may not encourage
students to work in pairs/ groups to save time and have a better result in reading. Their
reading lessons, therefore, cannot be effective as the students passively depend on their help.
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