(SKKN HAY NHẤT) using while reading activities to improve reading comprehension for the 10th form

1. Introduction

1.1. The reason for choosing the subject.

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 Activities to Improve Reading Comprehension for the 10th￾Form Students at Tinh Gia 3 High School”

1.2. Objective of research

1.2.1. For the students

- Provide learners with an overview of how to use While- Reading Activities

in an English reading class.

- Help students improve reading comprehension in reading class.

1.2.2. For the teachers

- Find out the most effective ways to improve students’ reading

comprehension in general and the method of using While-Reading Activities.

- Know how to stimulate students to improve their reading skill.

1.3. Research methodology

I write this topic based on:

- The method of studying theory

- The method of investigating

- The method of questionnaire interview

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- The method of class observation

- Applying the topic to real teaching English at Tinh Gia 3 high school

- Comparison, collation and summary of the result, effect of the topic.

1.4. Scope of research

- The research is focus on using While-Reading Activities to help 10th

form graders at Tinh Gia 3 high school to improve reading comprehension in

reading lessons.

1.4.1. The students

This action research project was conducted with 80 grade 10th students in

class 10A5 and 10A6 at Tinh Gia 3 High School, There were twenty males

and sixty females. Their average age ranges from 16 to 17, nearly three-forth

of whom came from the countryside. Their English proficiency levels were

reported to be at the elementary level

1.4.2. The teachers

The English Group of Tinh Gia 3 high school includes 9 teachers. The

five English teachers are teaching English for grade 10 are invited to

participate in the survey. All of them have been teaching English for more

than 5 years, the oldest one has been an English Teacher for 25 years. The 5

teachers have also worked with English 10 text book several times. All

English teachers in Tinh Gia 3 high school are introduced and get to know

how to use While-Reading Activities.

2. Content

2.1. Theoretical background

2.1.1. 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 the component process with the visual configuration.”

Moreover, Urquhart & Weir [29, p.22] define reading as follows: “Reading is

the process of receiving and interpreting information encoded in language

form via the medium of print”. Reading plays such an important part in the

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success of second language learning and it is necessary to understand what

reading is, however, it’s difficult to explain it briefly and correctly.

In a general term, reading is defined as “ Reading is an active, fluent

process which involves the reader and reading materials in building meaning,

meaning does not reside on the printed page, nor is it only in the reader”

Anderson [8, p.1] this definition of reading has been generally shared by other

researches.

Deriving from those opinions, reading is considered a process in which

a reader looks at and understands what has been written out.

2.1.2. 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 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 understand every single word in the text but actively work

on the text and extract the required information efficiently.

2.1.3. Types of reading.

We read different texts in different ways. According to the way of

reading, we have aloud reading and silent reading. Depending on the purpose

of reading, we can classify reading into skimming, scanning, intensive

reading and extensive reading.

2.1.3.1. According to the ways of reading.

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