EFL high school teachers' practice of teaching reading comprehension in relation to communicative aproach: A case study in Phu Yen province = Thực tế dạy đọc hiểu của giáo viên tiếng Anh phổ thông trong mối tương quan đường hướng giao tiếp: Một trường hợp nghiên cứu ở tỉnh Phú Yên

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

QUY NHON UNIVERSITY

MẠNH THỊ THUỲ DIỄM

EFL HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS’ PRACTICE OF

TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION IN

RELATION TO COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH: A

CASE STUDY IN PHU YEN PROVINCE

MASTER THESIS IN THEORY AND METODOLOGY OF

ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

Binh Dinh, 2022

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

QUY NHON UNIVERSITY

MẠNH THỊ THUỲ DIỄM

EFL HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS’ PRACTICE OF

TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION IN

RELATION TO COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH: A

CASE STUDY IN PHU YEN PROVINCE

Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching

Code : 8140111

Supervisor: HA THANH HAI, Ph.D.

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BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN

MẠNH THỊ THUỲ DIỄM

THỰC TẾ DẠY ĐỌC HIỂU CỦA GIÁO VIÊN

TIẾNG ANH PHỔ THÔNG TRONG MỐI TƯƠNG

QUAN ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG GIAO TIẾP: MỘT

TRƯỜNG HỢP NGHIÊN CỨU Ở TỈNH PHÚ YÊN

Chuyên ngành: Lý luận và phương pháp dạy học bộ môn tiếng Anh

Mã số : 8140111

Người hướng dẫn: TS. HÀ THANH HẢI

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STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby certify that the Master thesis entitled “EFL high school

teachers’ practice of teaching Reading Comprehension in Phu Yen province

in relation to Communicative approaches” is entirely the result of my own

research, except where otherwise referenced or acknowledged. This thesis has

not been submitted for any degree or diploma at any other institutions.

Binh Dinh, 2022

Mạnh Thị Thuỳ Diễm

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my

supervisor, Ph. Ha Thanh Hai for his patience, encouragement, valuable

guidance and beneficial criticism throughout my research. Without his great

support, this thesis would not have been accomplished in time.

I am extremely grateful to all my lecturers who provided us with

essential knowledge for this thesis.

Special thanks goes to my classmates who gave me their help during

the time I conducted the study.

I would like to thank my school-board, my colleagues who spent their

golden time encouraging me to do this thesis.

Last but not least, I would like to express my special thanks to my

family, especially my parents who gave me unconditioned love and support,

which is very significant for me to fulfill this work.

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ABSTRACT

This study aims to investigate EFL high school teachers’ practice of

teaching Reading Comprehension in Phu Yen province in relation to

Communicative approach in order to help teachers have a better insight in

teaching reading comprehension skill. The qualitative and quantitative

methods are applied to seek descriptive information of EFL high school

teachers’ practice of teaching reading comprehension and produce numerical

data. Eighteen classroom observations of classes taught by nine teachers aim

at identifying EFL high school teachers’ practice of teaching reading

comprehension. The results reveal that the traditional methods are used in

teaching reading comprehension by most of the teachers. In terms of the

Communicative approach, a small number of the teachers use this method.

Therefore, the traditional methods are used more frequently by most of the

teachers in the classroom than the Communicative approach. Regarding the

use of the strategies and disparities between the practice of teaching reading

comprehension and the Communicative approach-based theory of teaching

reading comprehension, the findings show that most of the teachers at Phu

Yen seem to be strongly influenced by the grammar- translation methods

which only concentrate on the ability of using grammar rules precisely.

Moreover, the biggest difference between the grammar-translation methods

and the Communicative approach is the strategies that are used by the

teachers at three stages, namely pre- reading, while- reading and post￾reading. It is hoped that the results of this study will provide useful

knowledge and contribute to the teaching and learning in reading

comprehension skill, especially for those who want to improve this skill.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ...................................................................i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..............................................................................ii

ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................................iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS..........................................................................vi

LIST OF TABLES ..........................................................................................vii

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

1.1. Rationale ................................................................................................. 1

1.2. Aim and objectives.................................................................................. 2

1.2.1. Aim of the study................................................................................ 2

1.2.2. Objectives.......................................................................................... 2

1.3. Research questions.................................................................................. 3

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

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

1.6. Organization of the study........................................................................ 4

CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW...................................................... 6

2.1. Theoretical background .......................................................................... 6

2.1.1. Definition of Reading ....................................................................... 6

2.1.2 Definition of Reading Comprehension.............................................. 7

2.1.3. The Communicative approach.......................................................... 8

2.1.4 Procedures of teaching a reading lesson.......................................... 20

2.1.5 The common teaching techniques used at three stages ................... 21

2.2. Previous studies related to the study..................................................... 26

2.3. Summary ............................................................................................... 30

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CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES.............. 32

3.1. Research design..................................................................................... 32

3.2. Research methods ................................................................................. 32

3.3.1. Classroom observation.................................................................... 33

3.3.2. Interview ......................................................................................... 34

3.4. Participants............................................................................................ 34

3.5. Research procedures ............................................................................. 36

3.6. Data analysis......................................................................................... 36

CHAPTER 4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ......................................... 38

4.1. Findings................................................................................................. 38

4.1.1. Findings from classroom observations........................................... 38

4.1.2. Findings from interview.................................................................. 44

4.1.3. Disparities between the practice of teaching reading and the

Communicative approach ......................................................................... 52

4.2 Discussion .............................................................................................. 54

CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS.......................... 58

5.1. Conclusions........................................................................................... 58

5.2. Implications........................................................................................... 59

5.3. Limitations............................................................................................ 59

5.4 Suggestions for further research ............................................................ 60

REFERENCES.............................................................................................. 61

APPENDIXES

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

EFL: English Foreign Language

CA: Communicative approach

T: Teacher

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LIST OF TABLES

Number Tables Page

3.1 The information about the participants 35

3.2 Teachers’ experience 35

4.1 Techniques of the traditional method used at pre￾reading stage

39

4.2 Techniques of the Communicative approach used at

pre- reading stage

40

4.3 Techniques of the traditional method used at while￾reading stage

41

4.4 Techniques of the Communicative approach used at

while- reading stage

42

4.5 Techniques of the traditional method used at post￾reading stage

43

4.6 Techniques of the Communicative approach used at

post- reading stage

44

4.7 Interview results from teachers 44

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Rationale

Reading is one of the most important skills in determining a learner’s

linguistic competence; it is a receptive language process that includes the

process of recognition, interpretation and perception. Students can get new

information and the knowledge of language used in the texts through reading.

Boer and Dallmann (1960: 2) say that reading is the process where the author

is attempting to explain into printed symbols. We read printed materials

because we want to understand what the author is trying to say. According to

Ungwattanakul (1994), miscomprehension in reading is caused by a lack of

knowledge of vocabulary and sentence structures. Reading comprehension

determines a student's success in learning many things, particularly in school,

so reading plays an important role in the learning process.

Reading comprehension skill is considered a key skill for the twelfth

grade students not only in school but also for the National Examinations. In

fact, the result for the students’ reading comprehension skill in Phu Yen

province is still not high. One of the biggest problems is that students do not

acquire enough vocabulary items to understand the texts they read. It means

that the ability of understanding also depends on students’ background.

Another problem is that the students feel bored in reading lessons because

they don’t have motivation. Students are expected to understand the reading

material well so that they can gain information correctly and improve their

knowledge. Therefore, according to Pardo (2004), teachers should assist

students in activating their prior knowledge so that they can quickly

comprehend the information in the text.

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In the last few years, there has been an increasing interest in teaching

reading comprehension using the traditional method and Communicative

approach. It seems now that the attitude toward the traditional method has not

changed completely. However, some English teachers have been considering

the use of Communicative approaches for different learning purposes.

It can be seen that Communicative approach have not been studied

deeply in terms of teachers’ practice of teaching reading comprehension in

relation to them.

These above reasons inspire me to carry out a study on the aspect of teaching

Reading Comprehension skill with the topic “EFL high school teachers’

practice of teaching reading comprehension in Phu Yen province in

relation to Communicative approach”. This study aims to explore whether

there are any disparities between the practice of teaching reading

comprehension and the Communicative approach-based theory of teaching

reading comprehension.

1.2. Aim and objectives

1.2.1. Aim of the study

The main target of this thesis is to investigate EFL high school teachers’

practice of teaching reading comprehension in Phu Yen province in relation to

the Communicative approach.

1.2.2. Objectives

To achieve the aim of the study, the research focuses on the following

objectives:

+ To find out EFL high school teachers’ practice of teaching reading

comprehension in Phu Yen province.

+ To compare the practice of teaching reading comprehension with the