A STUDY ON ENGLISH READING STRATEGIES USED BY THIRD YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS OF THAI AND MUONG ETHNIC

DECLARATION

This paper is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master

of Education. I confirm that this is my own research, and that it has not been published or

submitted for any other degrees.

Student’s signature

ACKNOWLEGEMENTS

I would like to acknowledge the contributions of the following people, without those help

and guidance, this thesis would not have been completed.

First and foremost, I counted myself very fortunate to have had Nguyen Thai Ha, MEd as

my supervisor, and I would like to thank for her patience, corrections, advice and

encouragement.

Secondly, a special acknowledgement must go to Le Van Canh, MA who suggested the

appreciated ideas for this study.

Thirdly, I must also express my most sincere appreciation to my colleagues who have

helped to gather data, who have had assisted with data analysis, and who have helped by

reading and giving useful advice. Especially, I would like to acknowledge the assistance

given by Mrs Do Thi Thanh Tra, who has always been a well- wishing friend.

Fourthly, I am grateful to the students who participated in this study by answering the

questionnaires and doing think-aloud reports and contributed considerably to its success.

Lastly, my heartfelt gratitude goes to my loving parents, my siblings, and my husband who

have supported me with their patience, encouragement.

ABSTRACT

This thesis begins with the premise that learning strategies have been widely

accepted as the keys that lead to success in learning a language. A lot of research has been

carried out in various contexts to investigate the use of language learning strategies by

different learners and the effects of such factors as gender, motivation, age, and so forth on

the use of language learning strategies. Reading comprehension strategies have been

identified by various researchers in both second and foreign language contexts. However,

little empirical research has been conducted to uncover the reading comprehension

strategies used by Vietnamese students, especially by students at Tay bac Unuversity

(TBU). To address this gap, the present study investigates reading comprehension

strategies used by third-year English majors of Thai and Muong ethnic minorities at TBU.

The present study investigated the use of reading learning strategies of 12 third year

English major students of Thai and Muong minorities at TBU and the possible influence on

their choice of strategies by their ethnicity. The use of strategies by Muong and Thai

ethnic students at TTBU were assessed and measured by think-aloud reports. The gathered

data was analyzed with the help of t-test. The most frequently used strategies were reported

were metacognitive, followed by cognitive and social/affective. Besides, Thai and Muong

ethnic showed that they were significantly different in the choice and frequency of strategy

use. Muong students had more preference for the use of metacognitive and cognitive

strategies, whereas Thai used social/ affective strategies more frequently than their Muong

ethnic counterparts. These results of the study indicated that ethnicity is a factor that had

influence on the use of strategies as the findings of the previous research. Based on the

findings some discussion and implications were made along with suggestions for further

research.

LIST OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................................... III

LIST OF CONTENTS......................................................................................................................................IV

LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................................................VIII

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 1

1.2 Rationale..................................................................................................................................................... 1

1.3 Aims of the study ....................................................................................................................................... 2

1.4 Scope of the study ...................................................................................................................................... 3

1.5 Significance of the study............................................................................................................................ 3

1.6 Design of the thesis.................................................................................................................................... 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................................... 5

2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 5

2.2 Language learning strategies ..................................................................................................................... 5

2.2.1 Definition............................................................................................................................................ 5

2.2.2 Classification of learning strategies.................................................................................................. 6

2.2.3 Factors affecting the learners’ learning strategy choice................................................................ 12

2.3 The theory of reading............................................................................................................................... 12

2.3.1 Definition of reading........................................................................................................................ 12

2.3.2 Reading processes............................................................................................................................ 14

2.3.3 Reading strategies............................................................................................................................ 16

2.4 Previous studies on language learning strategies .................................................................................... 17

2.4.1 Language learning strategies studies .............................................................................................. 17

2.4.2 Reading strategies studies................................................................................................................ 21

2.5 Summary .................................................................................................................................................. 27

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................. 28

3.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 28

3.2 Research questions................................................................................................................................... 28

3.3 Participants and settings of the study ...................................................................................................... 28

3.3.1 Participants ...................................................................................................................................... 28

3.3.2 Settings of the study.......................................................................................................................... 29

3.4 Instruments............................................................................................................................................... 29

3.4.1 Questionnaires ................................................................................................................................. 30

3.4.2 Think-aloud reports.......................................................................................................................... 30

3.5 Pilot – study.............................................................................................................................................. 30

3.5.1 Stage 1 .............................................................................................................................................. 31

3.5.2 Stage 2 .............................................................................................................................................. 31

3.5.3 Results of the pilot-study.................................................................................................................. 31

3.6 Data collection procedures....................................................................................................................... 31

3.6.1 Administering the questionnaires .................................................................................................... 31

3.6.2 Administering the think-aloud reports............................................................................................. 32

Coding of data ................................................................................................................................................ 32

3.7.1 Coding of questionnaire data .......................................................................................................... 32

3.7.2 Think-aloud report data................................................................................................................... 32

3.8 Data analysis procedures.......................................................................................................................... 34

3.8.1 Questionnaire data........................................................................................................................... 35

3.8.2 Think-aloud report data................................................................................................................... 35

3.9 Summary .................................................................................................................................................. 35

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS ................................................................................................................................. 36

4.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 36

4.2. Results of Questionnaires ....................................................................................................................... 36

4.2.1 Readers’ attitude to reading comprehension .................................................................................. 36

4.3 Results of think- aloud reports................................................................................................................. 39

4.3.1 Students’ use of reading comprehension strategies ........................................................................ 39

4.3.2 Difference in strategy use between Muong and Thai ethnic minorities ......................................... 43

4.4 Summary .................................................................................................................................................. 48

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS ................................................................................. 49

5.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 49

5.2 Discussion ................................................................................................................................................ 49

5.2.1 Muong and Thai ethnic minorities’ attitude to reading comprehension. ....................................... 49

5.2.2 Strategy frequency............................................................................................................................ 50

5.2.3 Difference in strategy use between Muong and Thai ethnic minorities ......................................... 51

5.3. Reading strategies that Muong and Thai ethnic students need to develop............................................ 54

5.3.1 Reading strategies that Muong ethnic students need to develop .................................................... 54

5.3.2 Reading strategies that Thai ethnic students need to develop ........................................................ 55

5.4 Implications.............................................................................................................................................. 56

5.5 Limitations and further research.............................................................................................................. 59

5.6 Conclusion................................................................................................................................................ 60

REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................................. 62

APPENDIX 1: OXFORD’S STRATEGY CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM ...................................................I

APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONNAIRES............................................................................................................... V

APPENDIX 3: READING TASK FOR THINK- ALOUD REPORT ...................................................... VII

APPENDIX 4: SAMPLE PROTOCOLS ..................................................................................................... XII

APPENDIX 5: A SAMPLE OF THE CODED PROTOCOLS ................................................................XIII

APPENDIX 6: RESULTS OF SAMPLE PROTOCOLS ........................................................................... XV

APPENDIX 7:RAW DATA ........................................................................................................................ XVII

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

L1: The first language

L2: The second language

LLS: Language learning strategy

Sm: Muong ethnic student

RS: Reading strategy

St: Thai ethnic student

TBU: Tay Bac University

TOEFL: Teach of English as a foreign language

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: The background information about the participants..............................................29

Table 2: Coding scheme for the use of reading comprehension strategies..........................33

Table 3: Thai and Muong ethnic students’ preference to reading comprehension..............36

Table 4: The role of reading comprehension to Muong and Thai ethnic students’ learning

English .................................................................................................................................37

Table 5: Factor affecting reading comprehension ...............................................................38

Table 6: Strategy categories used by Muong and Thai Ethnic readers................................43

Table 7: Difference in the use of individual strategies between Muong and Thai Ethnic

readers..................................................................................................................................43

Table 8: Reading strategies that Muong ethnic students need to develop ...........................54

Table 9: Reading strategies that Thai ethnic students need to develop ...............................55

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Reading comprehension strategy category frequency for Thai and.....................40

Figure 2: Individual strategy frequency within Metacognitive category for Thai and Muong

ethnic students......................................................................................................................41

Figure 3: Individual strategy frequency within Cognitive category for Thai and Muong

Ethnic Students ....................................................................................................................41

Figure 4: Individual strategy frequency within Social/Affective category for Thai and

Muong Ethnic Students........................................................................................................42

Figure 5: CALLA Instructional Framework........................................................................58



CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

This chapter introduces the rationale and the aims of the study. The scope of the

study and the significance as well as the design of the thesis will also be presented in this

chapter.

1.2 Rationale

Reading is considered 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, 1999). Carrell states (1989) “For many students, reading is by

far the most important of four skills in a second language, particularly in a language as a

second or foreign language”. This is true for Vietnamese learners who have studied

English through reading since English is taught and learned as a foreign language and in

non- native environment. But acquiring and mastering this skill is likely to become a big

hindrance to many learners while they often find it difficult to exploit this skill in their

learning experience. On the other hand, the findings of many ESL/EFL research projects

have shown the positive effects of learning strategies to enhance the comprehensibility of

learners or to overcome comprehension failures. “The employment of appropriate language

learning strategies can result in improved proficiency and greater self-confident.” (Oxford,

1990).

The current explosion of research in second language reading has begun to focus on

readers’ strategies. These strategies consist of whole range of strategies including

skimming, scanning, reading for meaning, guessing meaning of unknown words,

recognizing text structures and so forth. Most of the reading strategies research focus on

the investigation into reading strategies employed by successful and unsuccessful learners.

Less attention was given to the relationship between strategy use and such factors as