Tenth graders' problems and stratrgies in doing inferential reading tasks in English = Những khó khăn và chiến lược làm bài đọc hiểu môn tiếng Anh dạng suy luận của học sinh lớp 10

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

QUY NHON UNIVERSITY

DANG THANH HANG

TENTH GRADERS’ PROBLEMS AND STRATEGIES

IN DOING INFERENTIAL READING TASKS IN

ENGLISH

Field: Theory and Methodology in English Language Education Code:

Code: 8140111

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. NGUYEN QUANG NGOAN

BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO

TRƢỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN

ĐẶNG THANH HẰNG

NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN VÀ CHIẾN LƢỢC LÀM BÀI

ĐỌC HIỂU MÔN TIẾNG ANH DẠNG SUY LUẬN

CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 10

Ngành: Lý luận và phƣơng pháp dạy học bộ môn tiếng Anh

Mã số: 8140111

Ngƣời hƣớng dẫn: PGS.TS Nguyễn Quang Ngoạn

i

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine. The data and findings discussed

in the thesis are true, used with permission from associates and have not been

published elsewhere.

Signature:................................................

Name: Dang Thanh Hang Date:.......................................................

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis would not have been possible without the encouragement

and whole- hearted assistance of many people.

Firstly, I owe my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen

Quang Ngoan, whose encouragement, guidance and support from initial to the

final level has enabled me to overcome many difficulties and develop my

research skills.

I would like to extend my special thanks to all the staff, especially the

teaching staff at An Nhon No.3 High School where I have studied for

providing me with knowledge, research skills and facilities.

My special thanks also go to the students who have participated in this

project. Without their assistance, I would not have been able to collect

valuable data for the project.

Finally, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my family, whose

continuous encouragement, support, and love helped me pass through

insurmountable difficulties during my research.

iii

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to find out tenth graders‟ difficulties in making

inference in reading and examine tenth graders‟ strategies in doing inferential

reading tasks The population of this study included 120 tenth graders. In

collecting the research data, I used questionnaires and interviews. The

questionnaires consisted of 9 problems and questionnaire which consisted of

11 strategies. Research data were collected both quantitatively and

qualitatively The result showed that the students‟ overall difficulty in making

inference in reading inferiential reading belonged to “moderate” category. It

could be seen that students‟ biggest difficulty was on inferences about the

author‟s attitude. Last but not least, if students use suitably stragies, theit

results will be improved.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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

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

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

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

LIST OF CONVENTIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS.................................. v

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

LIST OF FIGURES......................................................................................viii

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

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

1.2. Aims of the study .................................................................................... 3

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

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

1.5. Significance............................................................................................. 3

1.6. Organization of the thesis ....................................................................... 4

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

2.1. Inferential reading .................................................................................... 6

2.1.1. Reading skills and inferential reading as a reading skill................... 6

2.1.2. Types of inferences ......................................................................... 10

2.1.3. Skills and factors involved inferences............................................. 14

2.2. The comprehension process................................................................... 16

2.3. Strategies to enhance reading comprehension ....................................... 17

2.4. Factors affecting reading comprehension .............................................. 18

2.5. Previous relevant studies........................................................................ 20

2.6. Summary ................................................................................................ 22

CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY ................................................................ 24

v

3.1. Participants............................................................................................. 24

3.2. Data collection instruments.................................................................... 25

3.2.1. Questionnaire................................................................................... 25

3.2.2. Interview ......................................................................................... 26

3.3. Data collection procedure ...................................................................... 26

3.4. Data analysis .......................................................................................... 28

3.4.1. Quantitative analysis....................................................................... 28

3.4.2. Qualitative analysis ......................................................................... 29

3.5.Summary 30

CHAPTER 4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .......................................... 31

4.1. Results................................................................................................... 31

4.1.1. Results for research question 1........................................................ 31

4.1.2.Results for research question 2 ........................................................ 33

4.1.3.Interview data................................................................................... 41

4.2. Discussion ............................................................................................. 43

CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION...................................................................... 47

5.1. Conclusions on what difficultities students face when doing inferential

reading........................................................................................................... 47

5.2. Conculsions on what strategies should be used ..................................... 48

5.3. Implication ............................................................................................. 49

5.4. Limitations of the study ......................................................................... 51

5.5. Suggestions for further studies............................................................... 52

REFERENCE............................................................................................ 53

APPENDIX............................................................................................... 57

Example:.................................................................................................... 59