VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ VÂN ANH A SURVEY OF TEACHERS’ USE OF POST READING ACTIVITIES AT HON GAI HIGH SCHOOL KHẢO SÁT VỀ VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG SAU BÀI ĐỌC CỦA GIÁO VIÊN TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG HÒN GAI M.A MINOR THESIS Major: Methodology of English Teaching Code: 60.14.10 HANOI - 2012 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ VÂN ANH A SURVEY OF TEACHERS’ USE OF POST READING ACTIVITIES AT HON GAI HIGH SCHOOL KHẢO SÁT VỀ VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG SAU BÀI ĐỌC CỦA GIÁO VIÊN TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG HÒN GAI M.A MINOR THESIS Major: Methodology of English Teaching Code: 60.14.10 Supervisor: HOÀNG THỊ HỒNG HẢI, MA HANOI - 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Declaration i Acknowledgement ii Table of contents iii List of figures and abbreviations vii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale 1 2. Research aims and research questions 2 2.1. Research aims 2 2.2. Research questions 2 3.Significance of the study 2 4. Scope of the study 2 5. Expected outcome and contributions of the study 3 6. Design of the study 3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter I: Literature review 5 1. Definitions of reading 5 2. The importance of reading 5 3. General views on post-reading activities 6 3.1. Definitions of post-reading activities 6 iii 3.2. Types of post-reading activities 7 3.3. The effectiveness when using post-reading 8 activities 3.4. The difficulties when doing post-reading 10 activities Chapter II: The study 12 1. Description of subject 12 2. Data collection instrument 12 2.1. Survey 12 2.2. Observation 14 2.3. Interview 14 3. Data collection procedure 14 3.1. For the questionnaire 14 3.2. For the observation 15 3.3. For the interview 15 4. Data analysis method 16 5. Data analysis procedure 17 5.1. For the questionnaire 17 5.2. For the interview 17 6. Data analysis 17 6.1. Survey questionnaire for teachers 17 6.1.1. The frequency that teachers implement post-reading 17 iv activities in a class 6.1.1.1. The table shows the frequency that teachers implement 17 post-reading activities in a class 6.1.1.2. The pie chart shows frequency that teachers implement 18 post-reading activities in a class 6.1.2. The post – reading activities that teachers implement 19 6.1.2.1. The table shows the post – reading activities that teachers 19 implement 6.1.2.2. The bar chart shows the post – reading activities that 19 teachers implement 6.1.3. The effectiveness of post-reading activities suggested by 21 the teachers of English 6.1.4. The difficulties that encountered by the teachers when 21 implementing post- reading activities 6.1.4.1. The result table shows the difficulties that encountered by 21 the teachers when implementing post- reading activities 6.1.4.2. The bar chart shows the difficulties that encountered by 22 the teachers when implementing post- reading activities 6.1.5. The ways to overcome those difficulties suggested by the 23 teachers 6.2. Survey questionnaire for students 24 6.2.1. The effectiveness of post-reading activities in students‘ 24 thinking 6.2.1.1. The table shows the students‘ thinking about the 24 effectiveness of post-reading activities v 6.2.1.2. The bar chart shows the students‘ thinking about the 25 effectiveness of post-reading activities 6.2.2. The post-reading activities that students prefer to take part 26 in 6.2.2.1. The table shows the post-reading activities that students 26 prefer to take part in 6.2.2.2. The bar chart shows the post-reading activities that 27 students prefer to take part in 6.2.3. The difficulties students have to face when taking part in 29 post-reading activities 6.2.3.1. The table shows the difficulties students have to face 29 when taking part in post-reading activities 6.2.3.2. The bar chart shows the difficulties students have to face 30 when taking part in post-reading activities 6.2.4. The ways to overcome those difficulties suggested by the 31 students 6.2.4.1. The table shows how students overcome the difficulties 31 encountered when taking part in post-reading activities 6.2.4.2. The bar chart shows how students overcome the 31 difficulties encountered when taking part in post-reading activities Chapter III: Findings and discussion 1.1. Interview 33 1.1.1. How is teachers‘ use of post-reading activities 33 implemented at Hon Gai high school? 1.1.2. What is the effectiveness of post-reading activities as 33 perceived by teachers and students? vi 1.1.3. What are difficulties encountered by students and teachers 34 when doing post-reading activities? 1.2. Observation 35 PART C: CONCLUSION 37 REFERENCES 40 Appendix 1a I Appendix 1b IV Appendix 2a VII Appendix 2b XIV Appendix 3 XXII Appendix 4 XXVII vii LIST OF TABLES, FIGURESANDABBREVIATIONS 1. List of tables Table 1: The frequency that teachers implement post reading activities in a class 17 Table 2: The post reading activities that teachers implement 19 Table 3: The difficulties encountered by the teachers when 21 implementing post reading activities Table 4: The students‘ thinking about the effectiveness of post 24 reading activities Table 5: The post reading activities that students prefer to take part 26 in Table 6: The difficulties encountered by students when participating 29 in post reading activities. Table 7: How students get overcome the difficulties encountered 31 when taking part in post reading activities 2. List of figures Figure 1: The frequency that teachers implement post reading 17 activities in a class Figure 2: The post reading activities that teachers implement 19 Figure 3: The difficulties encountered by the teachers when 22 implementing post - reading activities Figure 4: The students‘ thinking about the effectiveness of post 25 reading activities viii Figure 5: The post reading activities that students prefer to take part 28 in Figure 6: The difficulties encountered by students when 30 participating in post reading activities Figure 7: How students get overcome the difficulties encountered 31 when taking part in post reading activities 3.List of abbreviations EFL: English as a Foreign Language SRE: Scaffold Reading Experience ix PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 . Rationale The importance ofEnglishhas been more and morefully recognized. It can be easily noticed that reading skill is a very important factor in developing students‘ English learning. Educational researchers have found that there is a strong correlation between reading skills and academic success. In other words, a student who is a good reader is more likely to do well in school and pass exams than a student who is a weak reader. In fact, much of research has been done to find out the various methods and techniques that help students enhance their own language ability in general and reading skill in particular. In Vietnam, in recent years teaching methods have been more and more improved. There have been a lot of activities organized in order to enhance the effectiveness and help students be more active and self-confident in learning English in general and reading skills in particular. Many universities and high schools, including Hon Gai high school apply post reading activities which can be seen as one of the most effective way to develop students‘ reading competence. It is stated that post-reading activities encourage student to reflect upon what they have read. For the information to stay with the students, they need to go beyond simply reading it to using it. Until now, there have been a lot of researches done in the area of post reading activities. In 2000, Alderson wrote ‗Assessing reading‘ with the aim of analyzing the effectiveness of reading activities, including post reading activities. Sasson (n.d) wrote ―post reading activities – how teachers can end the lesson effectively‖ to give some advice so that teachers can apply when implementing post reading activities. However, there is a gap between the theory and the practice. In high schools in general, the advantages of post 1 reading activities have not been fully made use of. In addition, teachers and students encounter some difficulties relating to the students‘ level, time, etc; as a result, the implementation of these activities has not been effective. All mentioned above, the researcher decides to do a research on ―A survey of teachers‘ use of post reading activities at Hon Gai high school.‖ 2. Research aims and research questions 2.1. Research aims First and foremost, this paper is to present the ways of organizing post reading activities at Hon Gai high school. Second, students‘ perception and teachers‘ of the effectiveness of this activity will be exploited. Third, a detailed investigation is carried out to specify the difficulties encountered by teachers as well as students when doing post-reading activities. Besides, basing on the findings of the study, researcher presents the solutions suggested by respondents to get over these problems. In brief, the study will focus on the following questions: 2.2. Research questions 1. How is teachers‘ use of post-reading activities implemented at Hon Gai high school? 2. What is the effectiveness of post-reading activities as perceived by teachers and students? 3. What are difficulties encountered by students and teachers when doing post reading activities? 3. Significance of the study Post reading activities have to be improved as one of the most effective ways in language teaching and learning. The question of how post reading activities; however, is hardly paid attention to. Besides, there are not many researchers showing the interests in exploring the effectiveness as well as the difficulties encountered by students and teachers when doing this type of activity. Although the study is carried out with a small scale, the researcher do 2 hope that its result can help teachers and students at Hon Gai high school in particular and high schools in general have clear and thorough understandings about the effectiveness and difficulties when participating in post reading activities in reading lessons. From that, they will find and adapt the best solutions in order to improve teaching and learning reading skills. 4. Scope of the study As mentioned above, the study is carried out with a small scale one. Because of the time limitation, the samples are restricted to 50 students at 10 classes and 10 teachers who are responsible for teaching English grade 10 at Hon Gai high school. 5. Expected outcome and contributions of the study Overall, the research could be considerably helpful for teachers as well as researchers working on related studies. Based on the findings of the research, several pedagogical implications would be drawn. For the teachers of English in general and teachers of English at Hon Gai high school, the study, once completed, is expected to raise teachers‘ awareness of the effectiveness of post reading activities in improving reading skills for their students. In addition, the study will supply teachers with the difficulties as well as the suggestions so that they could take their own initiatives to exploit the suitable post reading activities when teaching reading lessons. Besides, with regard to researchers, those who happen to develop an interest in this topic could certainly rely on this research to find reliable and useful information for their related studies in the future. 6. Design of the study The thesis consists of three parts: Part A: Introduction 3 The introduction refers to the statement of the problem, research aims, research questions, significance, scope, expected outcome and contributions and the design of the study Part B: Development Chapter I: “ Literature review” presents some background knowledge of the issue for further steps of the study. Chapter II: “ The study” presents the detailed results of the survey together with the findings and discussion. Chapter III: “Findings and discussions” Part C: Conclusion The conclusion summarizes all the main findings of the thesis, the recommendations and mentions the limitation of the study 4 PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter I: Literature review 1. The definitions of reading Among the many definitions of reading that have arisen in recent decades, three prominent ideas emerge as most critical for understanding what "learning to read" means:  Reading is a process undertaken to reduce uncertainty about meanings a text conveys.  The process results from a negotiation of meaning between the text and its reader.  The knowledge, expectations, and strategies a reader uses to uncover textual meaning all play decisive roles way the reader negotiates with the text's meaning. Reading does not draw on one kind of cognitive skill, nor does it have a straightforward outcome—most texts are understood in different ways by different readers. 2. The importance of reading Reading is an activity of inferring meaning out of written symbols with the collaborative work of cognitive behaviors and psycho-motor skills (Demirel, 1992). Reading is described as the process of perception in terms of written and published words with the help of senses, comprehension of these after building meaningful connections; intellectual and spiritual acquisition, active and communicative involvement with the written and published symbols, reception consisting of a number of perceptive and cognitive processes, an interpretation and also a reaction. According to Alderson (1984), most scholars would suppose that reading is one of the most important skills for educational and professional success. In highlighting the importance of 5 reading comprehension Rivers (1981) stated that ― reading is the most important activity in any language class, not only as a source of information and pleasurable activity but also as a means of consolidating and extending one‘s which are knowledge of the language‖. As Karakas (2002) pointed that the real objective of reading is fast and right grasp of the meaning. Especially, reading at high speed along with full comprehension is a critical factor affecting the success of the students. Students who can read at a high speed, understand what is being read, have a rich verbal repertoire and have a good master of the language, learn more easily and have higher rates of success . The level of reading can be designated by asking questions about the reading text being read and evaluating the related answers in verbal or written way (Çalışkan, 2004). According to Eskey (1988) in advanced levels of second language the ability to read the written language at a reasonable rate and with good comprehension has long been recognized to be as oral skills if not more important. 3. General views on post-reading activities 3.1. Definitions of post-reading activities As language learning involves the acquisition of thousands of words, teachers and learners alike would like to know how vocabulary learning can be fostered, especially in EFL settings where learners frequently acquire impoverished lexicons, despite years of formal study. Research indicates that reading is important but not sufficient for second-language vocabulary learning, and that it should be supplemented by post-reading activities to enhance students' vocabulary knowledge. Post reading activities play an important role in language teaching and learning. There are many reasons for its being important. Firstly, learners 6 come across it a lot in their daily lives. Secondly, since the students in this research are preparatory learners who are learning English for academic purposes, that means students learn English for the examination. Therefore, without understanding the texts, they cannot learn anything; as a result, cannot be successful in the exams. Since post reading is an important skill in language learning, it is necessary to define it. According to Chastain (1998), post-reading activities help readers to clarify any unclear meaning where the focus is on the meaning not on the grammatical or lexical aspects of the text. Ur (1996) discusses summary as a kind of post-reading activity where the readers are asked to summarize the content in a sentence or two. It is also possible to give this post-reading activity in the mother tongue. Karakas (2002) proposes that the readers interpret the text and illustrate the relationship between the questions and their answers by using activities such as summarizing, question and answer, and drawing conclusions and it is possible to catch the missing parts of the mental picture through thinking aloud, discussion and summarizing. "Post-reading" (after, follow-up, beyond reading) exercises first check students' comprehension and then lead students to a deeper analysis of the text, when warranted (Alderson, 2000). The primary goal of post-reading activity is to make sure that satisfactory comprehension was taken place. If the person is looking for a number in a telephone directory, she or he should be very selective. She/he should scan the directory for the number needed. On the contrary, a researcher needs to read an article in detail to get the main ideas of the writer and to learn more about the subject. Nevertheless, it can still be argued that any reading is selective. Wallace (1992) shares the same idea by saying, ―Just as we filter spoken messages in deciding what to attend to, so do we filter written 7 messages. And even when we commit ourselves to a full reading, that reading will still be selective, some parts being read with greater care than others‖. 3.2. Types of post-reading activities Post reading activities serve a variety of purposes. They provide opportunities for students to synthesize and organize information gleaned from the text so that they can understand and recall important points. They provide opportunities for students to evaluate an author's message, his or her stance in presenting the message, and the quality of the text itself, to evaluate their understanding of the text and to respond to a text in a variety of ways, to reflect on the meaning of the text, to compare differing texts and ideas, to imagine themselves as one of the characters in the text, to synthesize information from different sources, to engage in a variety of creative activities, and to apply what they have learned within the classroom walls and in the world beyond the classroom. Not surprisingly given their many functions, post reading activities are also widely recommended. In creating the list of possible post reading activities for SREs, the experts have once again attempted to list a relatively small set of categories that suggest a large number of useful activities. According to the list of SRE components, there are eight types of post reading activities (a) Questioning, either orally or in writing; (b) Discussion—whether it is discussion in pairs or small groups or discussion involving the entire class; (c) Writing;(d) Drama; (e) Artistic, Graphic, and Nonverbal Activities; (f) Application and Outreach Activities; (g) Building Connections; (h) Reteaching. (Michael F.Graves and Bonie B. Graves, 2003) Post-reading activities also included: 1. Answering higher order thinking questions, as part of a game called "Book Wheels". 8 2. Role play. 3. Retelling. 4. Mock interviews in which one student portrayed a character in the story that other students would then interview. 5. Adding new words encountered while reading to a personalized vocabulary notebook (Ho & Wong, 2001). 3.3. The effectiveness when using post-reading activities Post-reading activities are simply activities done after during-reading activities are completed. At this stage, the students are in a temporary change of state or condition, that is, they now know something they do not know before. They know some new vocabulary items, some new sentence structures, some new idiomatic expressions, and they have new knowledge about a certain topic. However, it is definitely not enough for one reading lesson. How many times do the teachers see lesson plans with good pre- reading activities and well planned during reading activities, but brief, classic post-reading activities such as write the answers on a piece of paper, translate paragraph 2, write a sentence for each of the new words found in the text , using a similar pattern, write about your house? Something must be done to help the students use what they now know so that these new things will become more than just knowledge. In a post-reading stage students are not studying about the language of the text and they do not comprehend the text, either. At the post-reading stage students are supposed to apply what they possess. Gunning (1998) points out that post-reading activities are expected to encourage students to reflect upon what they have read. The purposes of the activities are for the students to use the familiar text as basis for specific language study, to allow the students to respond to the text creatively and to 9 get the students to focus more deeply on the information in the text. For the new information to stay with them, the students need to go beyond simply reading the information to using it. Following up in the post-reading stage is critical to both comprehension, which is instruction sensitive, and obtaining and working on new information, which takes the student to their real life situation. Well-designed after-reading activities usually require the learners to return to the text several times and to reread it to check on particular information of language use. Students, individually or in groups, should have ample time to share and discuss the work they have completed. This enables the students to tie up loose ends, answer any remaining questions, and to understand the inter relationships of topics covered. When readers are called on to communicate the ideas they have read, it is then that they learn to conceptualize and discover what meaning the text has to them. Although teachers should be careful to spend just some time in the pre-reading stage, they are actually expected to spend more time in the post reading stage with several activities. A twofold purpose is involved here, namely: students need to (1) recycle what they have obtained from the text and (2) go beyond the text and enter the real world, equipped with the newly-obtained information. At least six principles in foreign language teaching-learning by Brown (2007) can be fulfilled. From recycling some language components in different ways through different language skills, automaticity is certainly on its way. Meaningful learning is carried out because at a post reading stage students relate new information with their own life and experiences. Each student is asked to respond to parts of the text she or he has read. Because students are active in responding to the texts they have been, and the teacher puts him in the background, students are empowered and to a certain extent, in control of the activities. This may lead to students‘ autonomy. Willingness to 10 communicate, which involves students‘ willingness to take risks and being self-confident, is gained because they are supposed to be well-prepared to do the post-activities. When students are given different tasks, they have good opportunities to use the language, oral as well as written. This puts them in a position where they can develop their inter language. Finally, post-reading activities are not interested in the right versus wrong answers to comprehension questions anymore. Students do not have to prove they understand the vocabulary and grammar of the text, anymore. Therefore, students are not only taught to achieve linguistic competence but also discourse and strategic competence, so communicative competence is also taken care of. We can conclude that from post reading activities, the students are developing themselves to achieve automaticity, meaningful learning, autonomy, willingness to communicate, inter language, and communicative competence. 3.4. The difficulties when doing post reading activities Some students can learn to use different reading styles and read, understand a text very quickly while others slowly and false to understand what they read. Our students usually read every word in a text. They cannot focus on important words; try to translate word by word. Students‘ ability of predicting words are bad. They have difficulties in predicting what comes next in the text. Our students usually read out loud instead of reading silently. This slows them down and forces them to read every word when it can actually distract from understanding a passage. Finally, students get difficulties in guessing meaning of new words. Post-reading activities that extend texts provide an opportunity for teachers to check for learning. Transforming ideas from reading into artwork, poetry, etc. is an evaluative, interpretive act that reveals the student's level of 11