AN INVESTIGATION INTO the reality of teaching reading to the second -year students at national

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN STUDIES

nguyen thi huyen

AN INVESTIGATION

INTO the reality of teaching reading to

the second -year students at national

Economics university

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree

of Master of Arts in Tesol.

SUPERVISOR : Nguyen thai ha, MA

Hanoi

October, 2007

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that the thesis entitled “An investigation into reading strategies of

learners in reading classes at The Military Political Academy” and submitted in

partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL)

is the result of my own work, except where otherwise acknowledged, and that this

minor thesis or any part of the same has not been submitted for a higher degree to

any other university or institution.

The Hanoi University of Foreign Studies approved the research procedures

reported in this thesis.

Signed :

Dated :

i

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP..................................................................................................................I

TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................................................................................II

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................................................IV

ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................................................V

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.........................................................................................................................VI

LIST OF TABLES.........................................................................................................................................VII

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

1.1. BACKGROUND TO THE THESIS ............................................................................................................1

1.2. THE AIMS OF THE STUDY.....................................................................................................................3

1.3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS........................................................................................................................3

1.4. OUTLINE OF THE THESIS......................................................................................................................3

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................................................................5

2.1. DEFINITION OF READING.....................................................................................................................5

2.2. LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES ....................................................................................................7

2.2.1. Reading strategies.......................................................................................................................7

2.2.2. Definition of language learning strategies..................................................................................8

2.2.3. Characteristics of language learning strategies..........................................................................9

2.2.4. Classification of language learning strategies..........................................................................10

2.3. FACTORS INFLUENCING READING STRATEGIES CHOICE OF LANGUAGE LEARNERS.............................11

2.3.1. Proficiency ...............................................................................................................................12

2.3.2. Motivation................................................................................................................................13

2.4. READING IN SECOND AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE ...............................................................................15

2.5. PREVIOUS STUDIES ON READING STRATEGIES..................................................................................16

2.6. CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................................19

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY...............................................................................................................20

3.1. RESEARCH QUESTIONS......................................................................................................................20

3.2. DESCRIPTION OF VARIABLES.............................................................................................................20

3.3. THE SETTING OF THE STUDY..............................................................................................................20

3.4. DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS.....................................................................................................21

3.4.1. Test..........................................................................................................................................22

3.4.2. Questionnaire..........................................................................................................................24

3.4.3. Interview..................................................................................................................................25

3.5. ANALYZING DATA ...........................................................................................................................26

3.5.1. Coding scheme for the use of reading strategies in students’ reading comprehension.............26

3.5.2. Coding scheme for the use of reading strategies while doing reading tasks ...........................27

3.5.3. Coding Scheme for factors influencing MPA learners’ reading strategy choice......................27

3.6. CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................................28

CHAPTER IV: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION.........................................................................................29

4.1. WHAT READING STRATEGIES ARE USED BY DIFFERENT LEARNER GROUPS AT THE MPA IN THEIR

READING COMPREHENSION?.....................................................................................................................29

4.2.WHAT READING STRATEGIES DO THE EFFECTIVE AND INEFFECTIVE LEARNERS USE WHILE THEY ARE

DOING READING TASKS?...........................................................................................................................31

4.3. WHAT FACTORS INFLUENCE LEARNERS’ LEARNING STRATEGY CHOICE?..........................................44

C..........................................................................................................................................................................45

EINTEL.....................................................................................................................................................45

S..........................................................................................................................................................................45

EINTEC.....................................................................................................................................................45

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S..........................................................................................................................................................................45

S..........................................................................................................................................................................45

S..........................................................................................................................................................................45

S..........................................................................................................................................................................45

S..........................................................................................................................................................................45

4.4. DISCUSSION......................................................................................................................................47

4.5. SUMMARY........................................................................................................................................48

CHAPTER V: IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION...............................................................49

5.1. FINDINGS..........................................................................................................................................50

5.2. IMPLICATION OF THE STUDY TO STRATEGY TRAINING. ...................................................................51

5.2.1. Enhancing learners’ awareness of the use of reading strategies...............................................51

5.2.2. Teacher and students’ role in activities of strategy training.....................................................52

5.3. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY............................................................................................................54

5.4. SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER STUDIES................................................................................................55

5.5. CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................................55

REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................................58

APPENDIX 1 ...................................................................................................................................................65

APPENDIX 2.1 ................................................................................................................................................67

APPENDIX 2.2 ................................................................................................................................................74

APPENDIX 3....................................................................................................................................................81

APPENDIX 4....................................................................................................................................................82

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my thanks to many people who have assisted my research

work.

To my supervisor Mr Le Quoc Hanh, M.A. (TESOLT), a senior lecture at Hanoi

University of Foreign Studies. I am grateful to him for his valuable guidance and

great insight into my thesis writing. His guidance was indispensable to the design

and completion of the study. I am also grateful to him for his comments,

correction and for his kindly encouragement and enthusiasm during the

development of this study.

My special words of thanks also go to the Management Board of the Post￾Graduate Department of the Hanoi University of Foreign studies for their

consideration and enthusiasm in helping me to pursue the course.

My particular thanks go to Ms. Nguyen Thai Ha, M.A. (TESOLT), a senior

lecture at Hanoi University of Foreign Studies, the Deputy Dean of post graduate

Department for her useful advice, criticism and support while the research was

being done.

I would also like to thank my collueges at Military Political Academy and my

students in the two classes of BT4A, BT4B for their participation and support.

Finally, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my husband and my

children for their love, great encouragement and support to me to fulfill this

thesis.

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ABSTRACT

This study is an investigation into reading strategies of different groups of

learners in reading classes at the Military Political Academy. It purposes to find

out the reading strategies used by different groups of MPA learners in their

reading comprehension, especially while they do reading tasks, and look at the

factors influencing their reading strategy choice. The participants of this study

were forty-eight students at varied levels of English proficiency. An experimental

method was chosen as the methodological approach underpinning this study..

Test, questionnaire and interview were used to gather data, which then analysed.

The findings indicate first, learners at the Military Political Academy used six

groups of reading strategies that offered by Oxfords (1990) at different degrees in

their reading comprehension. Among them, metacognitive strategies rank first,

next come social strategies. Second, the effective and ineffective learners’ uses of

reading strategies vary across the six reading strategy groups. The former tended

to use metacognitive, social and cognitive strategies at higher degree than did

ineffective ones while they do reading tasks. Final, MPA learners are most

strongly motivated by instrumental motivation although they were also

influenced by integrative and intrinsic motivation and they are not fully aware of

the use of reading strategies despite the fact that they used some kinds of reading

strategies in their reading. As for the implications of the study, some suggestions

are recommended for strategy training to MPA learners such enhance the

learners’ conception of the use of reading strategies in their learning reading

comprehension and implication for classroom learning and teaching.

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EFL : English as a foreign language

ESL : English as a second language

SIIL : Strategy inventory for language learning

LSs : Learning strategies

LS : Learning strategy

RSs : Reading strategies

RS : Reading strategy

MPA : Military Political Academy

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 : Summary of the analysis of the SILL.

Table 4.1 : A Comparison of the use of RSs between effective and ineffective

learners across six groups of RSs.

Table 4.2.1 : The reading strategies used by two groups of sample at the pre￾reading stage.

Table 4.2.2 :The reading strategies used by two groups of sample at the while￾reading

Table 4.2.3 : The reading strategies used by two groups of sample at the post￾reading stage.

Table 4.3 : Summary of the analysis of informants’ reasons for learning

English

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CHAPTER i: INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background to the thesis

English is one of the most important of Vietnam’s foreign languages. It is used

not only by Vietnamese to communicate with native speakers of English but also

as an important international language in communicating with people from non￾native English countries. Although English functions as a foreign language,

Vietnamese who are likely to be in contact with foreigners in various areas, for

example, education, politics, tourism, industry, business and in general social

contexts, need considerable proficiency in English. In fact, many people

nowadays realize that a command of English has become essential for their future

occupations, since it is a pre-requisite for success in both the public and private

sectors.

Of the four macro skills in language (listening, speaking, reading and writing),

there has been growing and justified concern about reading in Vietnam. This

concern is due to the increasing amount of printed English material in the society.

Various sources of modern knowledge and technology needed in developing the

country at large are usually reported in English. Proficient readers in English are

high demand.

In connection with the matters, in recent years, together with the increasing needs

for English learning at colleges or universities in the Army in general and at the

MPA in particular, great efforts have been made to improve the quality of the

teaching reading. To meet the demand of the state military, every year, the MPA

trains about one thousand political officers at different levels, who are not only

expected to be competent at their specialties but also have good knowledge of

foreign language. Every year, about a thousand officers at different levels,

hundreds of potential teachers and many post-graduate students of different social

sciences and humanities are trained here. Foreign language is a compulsory

subject at the MPA, because it is very important and necessary for the learners’

future work. After the course, they will have to read different materials written in

1