[uan van tot nghiep- m.a theis 12- 07

8/12/2019 [Uan Van Tot Nghiep- m.a Theis 12- 07

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PART A: INTRODUCTION

I. Rationale

In many second or foreign language teaching situations, reading receives a special

focus. There are a number of reasons for this. First, many foreign language students often

have reading as one of their most important goals. They want to be able to read for

information and pleasure, for their career, and for study purposes. In fact, in most EFL

situations, the ability to read in a foreign language is all that students ever want to acquire.

Second, written tets serve various pedagogical purposes. Etensive eposure to

linguistically comprehensible written tets can enhance the process of language

acquisition. !ood reading tets also provide good models for writing and provideopportunities to introduce new topics, to stimulate discussion and to study language.

"eading, then, is a s#ill which is highly valued by students and teachers ali#e.

In process of teaching and learning English as a foreign language in $ietnam in

general, and at the %ilitary Science &cademy '%S&( in particular, reading has always

been offered a great deal of attention both from the teachers and the students.

Li#e many others universities in $ietnam, English at the %S& is learnt and taught

in non)native environment, therefore, reading is not only considered as a means to gain

#nowledge but also a means by which further study ta#es place. In other words, learners

*read to learn+ 'urns, -//0--(.

&ccording to 1arrel '-/-0-(, *for many students, reading is by far the most

important of the four s#ills in a second language, particularly in English as a second or

foreign language+. This is especially true to the students at the %S&, where learners are

mostly future interpreters, translators, or teachers of English in others %ilitary 1olleges

whose desires are to be able to handle sub2ects related to written materials in English and

to wor# with their English)spea#ing colleagues and partners. It is essential for them to

acquire the ability to read English effectively and efficiently. 3owever, despite the

teachers4 and students4 effort, students still often claim to have a lot of difficulties in

reading English tetboo#s or English materials, and therefore, they sometimes read them

inefficiently.

For the second)year students of English, although they have been learning English

for at least several years, it is still often difficult for them to understand a tet or a passage

in English, since they still lac# vocabulary, grammar, reading s#ills and poor bac#ground

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#nowledge. esides, the teachers sometimes have to face with difficulties in dealing with

the students4 learning demand and newly introduced sources of materials. In addition,

teaching methods and teaching techniques in general, are still below the internationalstandard of education. To find out the areas of students4 difficulty at the %S& and the

causes of their unsuccessful reading comprehension is necessary. Therefore, these reasons

have inspired the writing ofA Study on some possible effective pre-reading activities to

improve reading skills for the 2nd -year English Majors at the Military Science Academy.

It is hoped that the study will ma#e some contributions to improve the learning of English

in general, and the learning of reading in particular among the 5nd)year English ma2ors at

the %S&. The author also hopes that it will be possible to ma#e suggestions for the

teachers to improve the situation of teaching and learning reading at the %S&.

II. Aims of the study

The main purposes of the study are to investigate pre)reading techniques employed

by the teachers of English at the %S&, and to give a suggestion of some possible pre)

reading activities that can be applied to teach the tet boo# %ore "eading 6ower to the

second)year students of English at the %S&.

To achieve these purposes, the study will focus on the following aims0

7 To understand better and more fully the notions of reading and reading

comprehension, etc.

7 To investigate the teachers4 and students4 attitude towards the pre) reading techniques.

7 To eamine the students4 preference for pre)reading techniques.

7 To suggest some possible pre)reading activities which are thought to be effective

for teaching reading to the 5nd)year students at the %S&.

III. Scope of the study

To improve reading s#ill for students of English at the %S&, the teachers can ma#e

use of various techniques and number of things should be done. 3owever, in this study, the

author only intends to overview a brief of current situation of teaching and learning reading

of the 5nd)year students of English at the %S&, and to suggest some possible activities that

can be applied in the 6re)reading stage in order to motivate students in reading lesson as

well as help them to become good and effective readers.

IV. ethods of the study

The study was carried out on the basis of qualitative research method including

questionnaires and class observation.

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8uestionnaires are designed as a mean to ma#e the researcher4s evaluation more

ob2ective. The questionnaires are given to the second)year students and the teachers of

English at the %S& with the hope to find out their attitudes towards pre)reading techniques

and their comments and suggestions for these activities. 9ata were collected through the

survey questionnaires and class observation.

&naly:ing statistics from the survey questionnaire on reading activities conducted with

the cooperation of the both teachers and students at the %S&. &ll comments, remar#s,

recommendation assumptions, and conclusion provided in the study based on the data analysis.

esides, more information needed for the study is gathered through other methods

such as class observations, informal interviews, and discussions with the teachers andstudents at the %S&.

V. Si!nificance of the study

The study highlights the importance of motivation to the reading s#ills in general

and to the pre)reading stage in particular. %oreover, the findings of the study are thought to

be useful for teachers of English to be aware of the essential role of the pre)reading

activities to the students4 motivation in reading lessons.

VI. Desi!n of the study

The study is composed of three parts0 Pa"t A#Int"oductionprovides rationale, the

aims, scope, methods, and design of the study. Pa"t $#De%elopment consists of three

chapters0 Chapte" Literature review, conceptuali:es the study4s theoretical bac#ground,

presents the concepts relevant to the topic of the thesis0 reading and reading

comprehension, classification of reading, role of reading in foreign language learning,

motivation and factors in teaching and learning reading. 1hapter one will be closed with

the importance of the 6re)reading activities in a reading lesson. Chapte" ')The study,

presents the methodology used in the study. It also shows the detailed results of the survey

and covers a comprehensive analysis on the data collected form questionnaires and class

observations. Chapte" ()offers some ma2or findings and suggestions of some possible 6re)

reading activities which are thought to be helpful for teaching reading to the 5 nd)year

students of English at the %S&. Pa"t C# Conclusion is a review of the study, future

directions for further research and limitations of the study as well.

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PART $: D)V)*OP)NT

Chapter

*IT)RATUR) R)VI)+

&.&. Int"oduction

In this chapter, the author mainly concerns with reviewing the notions of reading

and reading comprehension. The review includes the definitions of each notion and

followed by the classification of reading, the importance of reading in foreign language

learning, theory of motivation and factors in teaching and learning reading. Last but not

least, the importance of the 6re)reading activities are also presented in this chapter as the

main purpose of the research

&.'. Theo"etical ,ac-!"ound of "eadin!

&.'.&. Definitions of "eadin! and "eadin! comp"ehension

&.'.&.&. Definition of "eadin!

"eading is often referred to as the most important of the four language s#ills for

EFL learners, as it enables students to gain eposure to the target language and receive

valuable linguistic input to build up language proficiency 'Erten ; "a:(. ?e can not

be sure when reading activity begins, but we have to admit that reading is essential activity

that provides a great contribution in obtaining #nowledge. It is obvious that in real life we

usually spend much time reading all sorts of things li#e boo#s, maga:ines, newspapers,

novels, stories. 3owever, sometimes we read but we do not understand what they mean, or

can not understand the tet we read. In this case, it can not be called reading. So what is

reading@

There have been numerous definitions of reading each of them is the reflection of

its author4s view of the reading process. &nderson '-0 -( eplains this very neatly as

follows0*"eading is an active, fluent process which involves the reader and the readingmaterial in building meaning. %eaning does not reside on the printed page or occurs in

reading, which combines the words on the printed page with the reader4s bac#ground

#nowledge and eperiences.+

&ccording to 3armer '-/0 -A>(, reading is a mechanical process that *eyes

receive the message and the brain then has to wor# out the significance of the message+. In

his definition, 3armer focuses on both two actions dominated by the eyes and the brain as

well as on the speed of the process *a reading tet moves at a speed of the reader+, which

means that the readers themselves decides how fast he wants to read the tet.

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Sharing the same opinion, Smith '-/A0-=5( defines *reading understands the

author4s thought+. 3e also added that *understanding print or even receiving

communication can hardly be said to eplain reading+. The problem still remains how the

reader understands the print or the message. *It means that we)the reader)read the author4s

mind not the author4s words+. "oe, Stood and urns '-/B05( describes reading in a more

etensive way. In their opinion, *reading is understanding written language+, *reading is a

comple mental process+, *reading is thin#ing+, or *reading comprehension is

reconstruction, interpretation and evaluation of what author of written content means by

using #nowledge gained from life eperience.+

&nother definition of reading was offered by &llen and $alletta '-BB0 5C(. In theiropinion, *reading is a developmental process+. ?e learn reading not only to #now how to

read, to master the symbols, the sound, the language, the grammar etc, that used in the tet

but also to understand the ideas, the information epressed in that tet or to develop the

ability of reconstructing its content using our own words. Dne more researcher called

!oodman '-B-0 -A>( considers reading is *a psycholinguistic process by which the

reader) a language user, reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has been encoded

by a writer as a graphic display.+

"eading involves a reader, a tet, and a writer. "eading s#ills are developed in an

active process. This process involves the surface representation encoded by a writer and

ends with interpretation of the written tet and interchanges between the writer and the

reader '!oodman - in 1arrell -//(. If the writer is careless, the reader may not get the

message. If the writer ma#es demands that the reader cannot fulfill, the message will not be

received, even though to another reader it might be clear. If the reader is careless, reading

will result in incomplete interpretation. The reader tries to interpret the tet through hisher

own eperiences, but they may differ from the writer4s eperiences. This eplanation

proves that reading is not 2ust an active process, but also an interactive one. "eading is

closely lin#ed with meaning. For this reason, lac# of shared assumptions presents the most

difficult problem in reading.

To sum up, from all these opinions above, it is obvious that no definition can

possibly capture all the ideas and features of what reading is. Each linguist4s definition

reflects what reading means as seen from his own point of view. 3owever, they all have

some features in common, they share the same ideas that reading means we)the readers

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read the author4s mind not author4s word, and that reading means comprehending written

language and it employs a variety of s#ills. In addition, they all concentrate on the nature

of reading.

&.'.&.'. Definition of "eadin! comp"ehension

In teaching and learning a foreign language in general and teaching reading in

particular, reading comprehension plays an important part, it can be understood as the

ability to draw attention to the required information from the tet as efficiently as possible.

So what is reading comprehension@

&ccording to "ichard and Thomas '-/B0 (, *"eading comprehension is best

described as an understanding between the author and the reader+. This point of viewconcentrates on the reader4s understanding of the message based on the individual4s

bac#ground #nowledge. They stated that *reading is much more than 2ust pronouncing

words correctly or simply #nowing what the author intends0 it is the process whereby the

printed pages stimulate ideas, eperiences and responses that are unique to an individual.+

In his boo#, Swan '-BA0 -( pointed out that *& student is good at comprehension

we mean that he can read accurately and efficiently, so as to get the maimum information

of a tet with the minimum of understanding+. For "oe, Stood and urns '-/B0 (0

Reading comprehension is reconstruction, interpretation, and evaluation of what author of

written content means by using knowledge gained from life experience.

Study the nature of reading comprehension, !rilled '-/-0 >( indicated that

*"eading comprehension or understanding written tet means etracting the required

information from it as effectively as possible+. This means that the student can show his

understanding by re)epressing the content of the tet in many ways such as summari:ing

the tet, answering questions etc.

From these theories above, it can be understood that reading for comprehension is

the primary purpose for readingG raising studentsH awareness of main ideas in a tet and

eploring the organi:ation of a tet are essential for good comprehension. It is the process

in which the readers ) as they read, can recogni:e the graphic form and understand the

relation between the writing and the meaning. It means that after reading, students can

master grammar structures, words, pronunciation etc and can understand the content of the

tet and use it in their real life as effective as possible. Furthermore, *reading without

comprehension is the meaningless+ 'arolin and arin, -//0 5(. "eading means

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comprehending written language so when understanding brea# down, reading actually does

not occur.

&.'.'. Classification of "eadin!

&.'.'.&. Acco"din! to manne"

&ccording to 9off '-//(, reading is divided into two main types0 reading aloud

and silent reading.

! "eading aloudinvolves *loo#ing at the tet, understanding it and also saying it+

'9off0 B=( and he considers reading aloud as a way to convey necessary information to

someone else. $ery few people are required to read aloud as a matter of daily routine. The

readers are as#ed to read the tet so loudly that other people can hear it. "eading alouddoes not happen outside the classroom as 9off '-//0 B( said, *reading aloud is not an

activity we engage in very often outside the classroom+.

"eading aloud has both advantages and disadvantages. Jatal '-( sees reading

aloud as an important aid for beginners to improve their pronunciation. It helps students to

ma#e the connection between sounds and spelling of letters and words and also assists the

teacher to chec# students4 pronunciation. %oreover, it is a technique for him to #eep the

class under control, since when one student reads aloud, the others are as#ed to listen in

case they may be required to continue the reading.

3owever, !reenwood '-/A( critici:es this ideaG he claims that students may unable

to focus adequately on the tet4s meaning when they highly concentrate on pronouncing

the words. 3is point of view implied that there are also some negative effects that should

be ta#en into account in the process of teaching and learning that involves reading aloud.

First of all, when reading aloud, students only focus on the pronunciation not on the

meaning of the tet. The second thing is that when students ta#e turn to read a tet aloud,

only one student is activeG the others will do something else, since they do not have to read.

In addition, this way of reading usually waste much time because students read in turn so

they have to wait one after one. It can be inferred that there is little value in reading aloud

if we want to improve the readers4 reading s#ills. Therefore, the teachers as educators

should identify the level of their students and decide whether to apply reading aloud or not

in teaching reading to their students.

! Silent readingis *the method we normally use with our native language and on

the whole quic#est and most efficient+ Lewis '-/A0 --=(. Sharing the same idea, 9off

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'-//0 B( defined silent reading as followed0 *silent reading involves loo#ing at sentence

and understanding the message it conveys, in other words ma#ing sense of a written tet. It

does not normally involve saying the words we read nor even silently in our heads+.

Therefore, we can see that silent reading is an effective s#ill for reading comprehension

since students do not need to read all the words of a tet, they can read at their own speed

and in case they do not understand a sentence they can go bac# to read again. ?hen

reading silently, students not only obtain its main ideas in the shortest length of time but

also deeply understand its details and can answer the questions as well.

To summari:e, silent reading is one effective s#ill for reading process in general and

reading comprehension in particular, since the teacher can chec# his or her students4understanding easily and can ad2ust the reading materials and eercises to suit the students4

ability. Therefore, it should be applied in teaching and learning a foreign language.

&.'.'.'. Acco"din! to pu"poses

6eople do not usually read unless they have a reason or a purpose for reading. They

always have a need of some #ind that can be satisfied through reading. In the case of an

effective reader, his reason for reading will also determine his style of reading and the

relevant reading s#ills to be used because the purpose could be very general when he reads

for pleasure or escape. Dn the other hand, it could be specific li#e loo#ing up a telephone

directory for someone4 phone number he can not use the same way of reading.

&ccording to Jutgall '5===0 >/(, there are two main types of reading, namely,

intensive and etensive readings, these are not 2ust two contrasting ways of reading but an

infinitive variety of interrelated strategiesG both of them are complementary and necessary.

Intensi%e "eadin! /IR0

The aim of intensive reading is to arrive at a profound and detailed understanding of

the tet not only of what it means but also of how the meaning is produced. I" means

reading short tets to etract specific information. Its main concern is for detailed

comprehension. In I", students normally wor# with short tets with close guidance from

the teacher. The aim of I" is to help students obtain detailed meaning from the contet, to

develop reading s#ills) such as identifying main ideas and recogni:ing tet connectors) and

to enhance vocabulary and grammar #nowledge. Jutgall4s opinion about this #ind of

reading is0 *Intensive reading involves approaching the text under the close guidance of

the teacher or under the guidance of task which forces the students to pay great attention

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to the textJuttal '-/50 5>(. *Intensive reading+, from Francoise4s point of view, *means

reading short tets to etract specific information. This is an accuracy activity that involves

reading for detailed+ Francoise '-/-0 C-(. It can be inferred that I" often refers to the

careful reading of shorter, more difficult foreign language tets with the goal of complete

and detailed understanding. I" is also associated with the teaching of reading in terms of

its component s#ills. Tets are studied intensively in order to introduce and practice

reading s#ills such as distinguishing the main idea of a tet from the detail, finding

pronoun referents, or guessing the meaning of un#nown words.

)1tensi%e "eadin! /)R0

In everyday life, to read etensively means to read widely and in quantity. In theearly part of this century, etensive reading too# on a special meaning in the contet of

teaching modern languages. Some researchers such as 3arold 6almer in ritain and

%ichael ?est in India wor#ed out the theory and practice of etensive reading as an

approach to foreign language teaching in general, and to the teaching of foreign language

reading in particular.

1arrell and 1arson '-B0 C,A=( stated that *etensive reading generally involves

rapid reading of large quantities of material or longer reading for general understanding,

with the focus generally on the meaning of what is being read than on the language.+

&lthough this definition provides an overview of E", 9avis '-A0 >5( offers another

description of E" from an English Language Teaching 'ELT( classroom implementation

perspective0 *&n etensive reading program is supplementary class library scheme,

attached to an English course, in which pupils are given the time, encouragement, and

materials to read pleasurably, at their own level, as many boo#s as they can, without the

pressures of testing or mar#s. Thus, pupils are competing only against themselves, and it is

up to the teacher to provide the motivation and monitoring to ensure that the maimum

number of boo#s is being read in the time available. The watchwords are quantity and

variety, rather than quality, so that boo#s are selected for their attractiveness and relevance

to the pupils4 lives, rather than for literary merit+.

&ccording to !rellet '-/-0 5( E" means *reading a longer tet usually for one4s

own pleasure. This is a fluency activity, mainly involving general understanding+. Sharing

the same view, 3ammer '-/0 CB( claimed that0 *Etensive reading would normally start

with reading for the main ideas or for general information then for general comprehension

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and finally, after much practice, for details comprehension+. E" is generally associated

with reading large amounts with the aim of getting an overall understanding of the

material. "eaders are more concerned with the meaning of the tet than the meaning of

individual words or sentences. In fact, most of E" is usually done silently and outside the

classroom, it gives the students opportunities to use their #nowledge of the target language

for their own purposes. esides, it provides the valuable reinforcement of language items

and structure already presented in the classroom, gives the students chance to update and

enrich their language #nowledge by reading the topics they li#e and read for en2oyment

without consideration for pressure of time, intense concentration, and total comprehension.

E" therefore, is regarded as an effective way for the students to improve their languagereadingG it helps students enhance language learning in such areas as spelling, vocabulary,

grammar, and tet structure. esides, it gives students more positive attitude toward

reading offers them greater en2oyment of reading, helps them to read with pleasure. It is

also considered as an advisable sort of wor# for the students to increase and improve their

general #nowledge of the world as well.

asing on the purposes of reading, people may be s#imming or scanning as they are

reading etensively.

S-immin!

&ccording to !rellet '-/-0 -( s#imming appears when *we go through the

reading material quic#ly in order to get its main points or the intention of the writer, but

not to find the answer to specific questions+. &nd Juttall '-/50 >( also stated that *y

s#imming, we mean glancing rapidly through a tet to determine whether a research paper

is relevant to our own wor# or in order to #eep ourselves superficially informed about

matters that are not of great importance to us+. In addition to the definitions of s#imming,

?ood '-=0 5( said that *?hen the reader loo#s at the content page of the boo#, or the

chapter headings, sub headlines, etc. This is sometimes called previewing. &nother

eample is when reader glances quic#ly through a newspaper to see the main items of the

day are. This will often mean 2ust glancing at the headlines+. That means when we quic#ly

to get general impression to see whether the tet is useful to us, it is not necessarily

searching for a specific details and #ey words. S#imming provides an overview of the tet

so it is beneficial to loo# at chapter section headings, summaries and opening paragraphs,

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therefore, the purpose of s#imming are to chec# relevance of the tet and to set the scene

for more concentrated effort that is to follow if the tet is useful.

To sum up, s#imming is a very useful reading s#ill for students, and it is advisable

to apply at the first stage of teaching reading with the hope that it can help them to have an

overview of what they are reading. %oreover, it will be easier for them to deal with the

other tas#s that followed.

Scannin!

ased on the theory of scanning made by ?illiams '-/0 -==( *Scanning occurs

when a reader goes through a tet very quic#ly in order to find a particular point of

information+, it can be understood that scanning is very high speed reading. ?hen youscan, you often have a question in your mind. Kou do not read every word, only the words

that answer your question. 6ractice scanning can help you to s#ip over unimportant words

so that you can read faster. Scanning is another useful s#ill of reading which involves

finding a particular piece of information that we need. In scanning, we)the reader, usually

focus on searching the information we want, moving our eyes quic#ly along the lines. That

is why scanning is widely used in everyday life. For eample, you might scan the list of

names in a telephone directory in order to find a phone number. It can also be usually

practiced with variety of sources such as dictionaries, indees, advertisements, maga:ine,

newspaper articles, encyclopedia entries, labels, or reference materials and so on. Scanning

is regarded as a useful and important technique that helps students understand the gist of

the tets well.

!enerally spea#ing, there are different styles of reading and they are determined not

by the tets but by the readers4 reasons for reading. &n effective reader is the one who can

adapt his fleibly according to his purpose of reading. & reader s#ims through the tet to

see what it is about before scanning for specific information he is loo#ing for. 3e does not

choose the tet either etensively or intensively. To understand a tet, these types of

reading are not used separately but in a combination altogether.

&.(. Teachin! and lea"nin! "eadin! s-ills

&.(.&. The impo"tance of "eadin! in fo"ei!n lan!ua!e lea"nin!

In the process of teaching and learning a second or foreign language, the teaching

and learning of reading are always received much attention, since it is regarded as one of

the most important ma2or s#ills as what 1arrell '-B-0 -( stated0 *for many students,

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reading is by far the most important of the four macro s#ills, particularly in English as a

second or foreign language+. This is also true for the %S&, because at our academy,

reading is an active s#ills namely spea#ing, listening and writing. To master reading s#ill is

always challenging tas# that requires students a number of factors0 a good competence of

English grammar, rich vocabulary, and reading techniques. First of all, reading helps

students learn to thin# in English, enlarge their English vocabulary, improve their writing.

"ichard '->0C( claimed that *reading may help to increase #nowledge of the target

language through eposure to new vocabulary and grammatical structures+. There is a

close relationship between reading and vocabulary #nowledge, because while reading, the

readers #now most of the words in the tet already, and they can also determine themeaning of many of the unfamiliar words from the contets. Therefore, the best way to

acquire a large vocabulary is to read. It is understandable that anyone who has a large

vocabulary is usually a good reader.

esides, "ichard '->0 C( also stated that *reading in the new language is also an

important way to learn about the target culture+, which means that reading provides the

students with a wide range of interesting information, helps them understand the ways of

life, behaviors, thoughts and other aspect of the native people and it is also a good way to

find out about new ideas, facts and eperiences. Therefore, they can master vocabulary,

grammar and the bac#ground #nowledge or cross)cultural problems that they encounter. In

other words, reading is very important to the foreign language learners because it widen

their #nowledge of language and life. In the contet of %S&, it seems to be the most

important s#ill to the students of English since their main purpose is to understand the

written tets.

&.(.'. 2acto"s in teachin! and lea"nin! "eadin!

&.(.'.&. Teache"3s "ole

%any linguistics state that the teacher is the most important factor in teaching

reading. In a reading class, the teacher plays so many roles, such as an organi:er, a

manager and a counselor, an instructional epert, so he or she should be a guide to assist,

encourage them, employ various types to support the students develop reading s#ills. 3e or

she also the person who provides the students with an aniety)free atmosphere which helps

them feel free to 2oin new reading style, practice to master new strategies, wor# under

pressure of time.

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esides, linguistics point out an essential element of the teacher4s role)a model

reader. &ccording to Juttall '-/50 -5( *showing that you are a reader means carrying

boo#s around with you, referring to boo#s as you teach, reading out brief passages thatmay interest students, tal#ing about what you are reading at the moment, and handling

boo#s as if you loved them+. 3e also states that *teacher4s 2ob as providing, first, suitable

tets and second, activities that will focus the students4 attention on the tets+

&.(.'.'. Students3 "ole

Dbviously, students themselves play an important role in improving their own

reading s#ills. Juttall '5==>0 >>( provides several ma2or roles for the students in a reading

lesson. First, they should *ta#e an active part in reading+. This is the first and foremost

responsibility of the learners. They have to be active and ta#e charge of what they do.

Second, students have to ta#e the ris# of ma#ing mista#es because a mista#e is an

opportunity to learn. The net thing is *monitoring comprehension+, which means students

need to understand how tets wor# and what they do when they read. They have to learn

how to carry on a dialogue with the tet. The last thing for them to do is learning not to

cheat oneself, students who do not want to learn to read can easily cheat, but in fact, they

are cheating themselves, it is 2ust a waste of time and their opportunities as well.

&.(.'.(. The "eadin! te1ts

It can not be denied that reading tets play a crucial role in teaching and learning

reading because through them new grammar, phonetic and leical items of the target

language are introduced. Furthermore, tets are also means to help students enrich their

bac#ground #nowledge and vocabulary as well. In reading lesson, students are supposed to

understand the tets correctly as much as possible, learn some new language items e.g.

words, structures, and use what they have got from the tet through reading tas#s and

communication activities that follow. Therefore, in teaching reading, the teacher should

pay much attention to the following aspects such as language content, vocabulary and

grammatical structures, types of reading activities, though it is not simple thing to do as

what uc#, ! '5==-( states0 *6roviding suitable tets is not a simple matter. It ta#es time,

effort and some epertise+.

&.4. Theo"etical ,ac-!"ound of moti%ation

&.4.&. Definition and types of moti%ation

It is common #nowledge that motivation is vast and complicated sub2ect

encompassing many theories. %otivation is thought to be important and inevitable in most

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fields, without which one is difficult to succeed. %ost definitions of motivation reflect that

motivation is an internal state or condition that serves to activate or energi:e behavior and

give it direction. leinginna '-/-0 ( defines motivation as *a desire or want thatenergi:es and directs goal)oriented behavior+. Sharing the same point, rown '5===0 -=(

indicates that *motivation is some #inds of internal drive which pushes someone to do

things in order to achieve something+. %otivation is also suggested by ?oolfor# '5==-0

->( as *an internal state that arouses, directs and maintains behavior+.

inds of motivation and their features have been discussed by scholars and

psychologists, who refer to motivation which comes from inside as well as from outside.

&ccording to the researchers, there are many different #inds of motivation such as

Integrative, Instrumental Intrinsic, Etrinsic, !lobal Situational, and Tas#s. &mong them,

intrinsic and etrinsic motivations have an important part in classroom motivation and they

are partially accessible to teacher influence.

Int"insic oti%ation /I0

&ccording to ?lod#ows# '--( intrinsic motivation refers to *motivation to

engage in an activity for its own sa#e+. Sharing the same point, "eeve '-( defines that

intrinsic motivation *is the natural tendency to see# out and conquer challenges as we

pursue personal interests and eercise capabilities+. "affini '-( also states that *what

motivates us to do something when we do not have to do anything+. The factors that

support intrinsic motivation are competence)feeling that you #now how to do things,

autonomy)being able to perform an activity by yourself without eternal help and

relatedness)connection with your social environment li#e helping the others. This can be

understood that intrinsic motivation comes from the individual, or in other words, from

one4s interest or curiosity.

)1t"insic oti%ation /I0

?e eperience etrinsic motivation when we do something tin order to earn a grade

or reward or when we are not interested in the activity for its own sa#e. 3armer '5==-(

indicates that etrinsic motivation is *caused by any number of outside factors such as the

need to pass an eam, the hope of financial reward or the possibility of future travel+.

%ost writers agree that intrinsic and etrinsic motivation interact with each other

and play an important role in second language learning. &s a result, students can be either

motivated by internal or eternal factors depending on the circumstances and conditions

the activity is performed.

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&.4.'. The impo"tance of moti%ation in second lan!ua!e lea"nin!

&s mentioned above, motivation is essential to success in most field of learning. ?e

will almost certainly fail to ma#e the necessary effort without motivation. %any studies

have proved that motivation is very strongly related to achievement in language learning.

rown '-=( shares this point of view by claiming that *a learner will be successful with

the proper motivation+.

There has been a great deal of research on the role of motivation in second language

learning. 3owever, it is not simple for researchers to indicate precisely how motivation is

related to learning. This can be eplained that *motivation in second language is a comple

phenomenon, which can be defined in terms of two factors0 learners4 communicative needsand their attitudes towards the second language community+ 'Lightbown and Spada,

-(. %otivation is one of the main determining factors in success in foreign or second

language learning. &ccording to Dford and Shearing '-0 -5-,-55( *motivation is

important because it directly influences how often students use L5 learning strategies, how

much students interact with native spea#ers, how much input they receive in the language

being learned 'the target language(, how well they do on curriculum)related achievement

tests, how high their general proficiency level becomes, and how long they persevere and

maintain L5 s#ills after language study is over. Therefore, motivation is crucial for L5

learning, and it is essential to understand what our students4 motivations are+. In their

research on motivation, rown, %allow, 1roo#s, and Schmidt seem to be in favor of

intrinsic orientation. 3owever, both intrinsic and etrinsic motivation are necessary for

language learners, especially for most $ietnamese learners, who are often influenced by

social and institutional factors li#e finding better 2ob opportunities as well as pressure of

eams. That is why it is essential to ma#e the learners aware that both intrinsic and

etrinsic motivations are beneficial in second language learning.

&.4.(. The impo"tance of moti%ation in lea"nin! "eadin!

Study on the importance of motivation in learning reading, "ednec# and Lester,

'5===0 A( state that0 *motivation is one of the most important ingredients in s#illed

reading+. Kou can reali:e that you are more engaged when you are reading something that

interests you. There are many factors that can help you become interested in what you are

reading, such as0 your thoughts, feelings, interests, and your bac#ground #nowledge.

"eading motivation refers to the desire to read, even when not required to do so. "eading

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motivation involves see#ing out opportunities to read for curiosity, #nowledge, and

involvement. "esearchers, who study on reading, recogni:e that in order to create lifelong

readers, endowing the learners with proficient reading are not enough. They also need to

have internali:ed motivation. esides, reading material is another important factor that

greatly influences the students4 motivation in a reading lesson. First of all, if the reading

material is interesting and relevant to the students, it will motivate them to read more.

"eading material should have suitable contents, this means, the tets are considered

suitable will tell the students thing they do not #now and introduce them to new and

relevant ideas. Secondly, reading material4s language items such as vocabulary and

grammatical structures may have an impact on the students4 motivation. Through the tets,the students can understand the way the others feel or thin# and ma#e them read for

themselves. In addition, teacher also poses an important factor in motivating the students in

a reading lesson. The teachers play the #ey role in creating a good classroom environment,

since it has a powerful effect on the encouragement or discouragement of motivation to

learn. Furthermore, the teachers4 activities and tas#s are the #ey component to the students4

motivation learning reading s#ill. Therefore, the teachers should aware of their students4

needs, including their motivation for reading and the purpose that reading has in their lives.

They should provide suitable techniques to help the students to develop their competence

as readers during the reading lessons.

&.4.4. Definition and the impo"tance of P"e#"eadin! acti%ities in lea"nin! "eadin!

9ifferent researchers such as La:ar '->0 />(, 1hen and !raves '-A0 C(,

Taglieber, Mohnson and Karbough '-//0 CA(, and %oorman and lanton '-=0 -B( have

provided many definitions of 6re)reading activities. La:ar for eample, defines pre)reading

activities as activities that help students with cultural bac#ground, stimulate student interest

in the story, and pre)teach vocabulary. 1hen and !raves define 6re)reading activities as

*devices for bridging the gap between the tet4s content and the reader4s schemata+.

Focusing on L- reading instruction, Taglieber, Mohnson and Karbough '-//0 CA(

point out the motivational aspect of 6re)reading activities. &ccording to these writers, pre)

reading activities activate or develop prior #nowledge, provide #nowledge of the tet

structure and also establish a reason for reading.

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It can not be denied that 6re)reading activities play a crucial important role in

motivating the students through the reading lesson. The aim of using 6re)reading activities

is to activate the reader4s bac#ground #nowledge, to prevent failure, and to support the

reader4s interpretation of the tet. Employing 6re)reading activities in the first stage of the

reading lesson can promote interaction between the reader and the tet. Nr '-(

emphasises that the aim of 6re)reading activities is to provide anticipation and activate

reader in the net stages of the reading process. The purpose of using these activities is to

develop a better self)awareness of the relationship between the reader4s meaning and the

author4s meaningG and to help readers understand the teacher4s epectations and views.

&.5.Summa"yIn this chapter, the relevant literature which has helped from the theoretical

bac#ground and conceptual framewor# for the study is presented. First, definitions of

reading and reading comprehension have been given. Second, some #inds of reading

suggested by different theorists have been presented and ta#en into consideration. ?hat is

more, concepts and ideas about motivation in general and in second language learning in

particular have been mentioned. In addition, the importance of motivation and the factors

affecting the students4 motivation in learning reading s#ill as well as definitions and the

importance of 6re)reading activities have also been reviewed. The net chapter will display

the methodology and findings of the research in the light of the theories mentioned above.

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Chapter 2

T6) STUD7

'.&. Int"oduction

In this chapter, the author attempts to outline two parts of the study. The first part

focuses on the current situation of teaching and learning reading s#ill at the %S&, in which

the description of the sub2ects as well as settings for the study and instruments are

discussed. The second part is an analysis on the data collected from the survey

questionnaires and the class observation.

'.'. Situation analysis

'.'.&. Aims of the studyeing a teacher of English at the English 9epartment, %S& for over ten years, I have

decided to carry out a survey on pre)reading activities conducted by the teachers and students

at the %S& in order to find out whether the assumption above is true or not. Finally, I will

come up with a suggestion of some possible pre)reading activities with the hope to motivate

students in reading lessons as well as to improve their reading s#ills in general.

'.'.'. The settin! of the study

This study was conducted at the %S&, where the author is teaching. The &cademy

has been in operation for more than fifty years. It is the unique %ilitary 1ollege of the

%inistry of 9efense that train teachers, translators, interpreters and others who need

foreign languages in their 2obs. English is only one of many other languages taught such as

French, 1hinese, "ussian, Thai, etc. The students have to go through a four)year course

learning both bac#ground and speciali:ed #nowledge.

Li#e other languages, in the English 9epartment, English is taught in a formal

setting #nown as a classroom. The teaching is divided into two stages. 9uring the first

stage, students spend the first two years studying general English and the four macro

language s#ills such as spea#ing, reading, listening and writing under the guidance of the

teachers. Nsually, three or four teachers are in charge of a class, each of them is

responsible for teaching one or two language s#ills using certain tetboo#s selected by the

staff of the 9epartment and additional materials chosen by the teachers themselves. &t the

second stage, the students have to spend time on studying other sub2ects li#e grammar,

phonetic, leicology, country study, translations, methodology English and &merican

literature, etc. The students have English classes almost every wor#ing day. 3owever,

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class time spent for reading s#ill might not be sufficient enoughG particularly at an

intermediate level because there are only two periods of reading per wee# 'each period

lasts for CA minutes(.

Furthermore, the students learn English in the $ietnamese contet and do not have

any chance to be in contact with the native spea#ers, thus, they are only learn English in a

foreign language setting. This is another obstacle that prevents them from mastering

English in general and the reading s#ill in particular.

'.'.(. Su,8ects

This study was carried out with the participation of >=CA full)time teachers aged

from 5A to CA 'half of them have been in !reat ritain, &ustralia, &merica and India for

further training( and /=--= second)year students and they are learning tet boo# %ore

"eading 6ower.

'7( Df the >= teachers, they all have 9iploma 9egree in English while twenty of

them have %.&. 9egree in Education, Linguistics, or International "elations and another

one has 6h.9. 9egree in Linguistics. %ost of them have at least three years of teaching,

therefore, with no doubt, they are eperienced and enthusiastic teachers, they are always

willing to help their students overcome the difficulties and ma#e progress in learning

English. These teachers are now teaching English to the students of different courses at the

%S&0 full time, short time courses 'These courses last for about two years and they are

used for &rmy Dfficers who have 9iploma 9egree in other foreign languages and now are

serving in different branches of the &rmy belonging to the %inistry of 9efense(.

'7( The /= students under investigation are in the second term of the second year at

the English 9epartment of the %S& 'both cadet and civilian students, male and female(.

These students4 ages are between 5= and 55 years old. They are supposed to have quite an

equal #nowledge of English before entering the %S& since most of them have learnt

English for at least B years 'from grade to grade -5 at school(. %oreover, they all passed

a very challenging entrance eam. Some of them come from 3anoi, the rest come from

different provinces around the country. These students were chosen from --= second year

students during the school year of 5==)5==B. They have completed their first three terms

of the four)year course. Df course it was very difficult to select a sample of individuals

since the students had already assigned to four different classes.

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#art one% "eading for #leasure

%any students have never learned to en2oy reading for pleasure 'reading

etensively( in English. ?e all #now that in order to be a good reader, it is necessary to

read a lot. Students must understand the importance of reading etensively, and then they

must be encouraged to develop the habit of reading regularly for pleasure.

In this part, students are instructed to select boo#s to read for pleasure or individual

basic. These boo#s should be neither too easy nor difficult. They should not be boo#s that

are required in other courses that students have already read in translation. %ost important,

students should be encouraged to choose any boo#s they want such as0 fiction, nonfiction,

literature, or popular culture. ?hat concerns most is that the boo# is of interest to theindividual student and that the student actually wants to read it.

#art t$o% "eading comprehension Skills

"eading is a very comple tas# involving many different s#ills. In this part of the boo#,

students will practice some important reading comprehension s#ills. Each new comprehension

s#ill is introduced with a rationale and practiced in a series of eercises sequenced from simple

to more difficult ones in order to build up the students4 mastery of the s#ill. The s#ills covered

include both *top)down+ 'concept)driven( and *bottom)up+ 'tet)driven( models of reasoning

and comprehending. Through which they will learn to thin# in new ways about what they are

reading. &nd they may find that their reading comprehension in their native language will also

be improved. There are ten Nnits in this 6art0

Unit ! "canning#

Unit $! Previewing and Predicting

Unit %! &ocabulary 'nowledge for (ffective Reading

Unit )! *opics

Unit +! *opics of Paragraphs

Unit ! Main ideas

Unit -! Patterns of .rgani/ation

Unit 0! "kimming

Unit 1! Making inferences

Unit 2! "ummari/ing

The eercises in this part are grouped under headings which refer to the following

specific s#ills and areas0

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!"canning!Speed is essential s#ill that mainly discussed in unit one of this part,

students are encouraged to scan different sources of materials under pressure of time. They

are also given an opportunity to practice as#ing and writing questions which helps them

learn to as# themselves questions as they read.

7 Previewing and Predicting0 efore reading a passage, the students usually as#

themselves what they #now about the sub2ect matter. 6reviewing and 6redicting ma#e

easier to see what information they already #now about what they read the passage

6reviewing and 6redicting are considered to be essential s#ills for a good reader that help

students predict or ma#e some educated guesses about what is in the passage. These

reading s#ills also encourage students to get some ideas about what they will read processthe information more quic#ly and will also be able to follow the writer4s ideas better.

3 4ealing with unfamiliar words!&s we all #now that, in the process of language

learning in general, learning of a foreign language in particular, vocabulary plays a crucial

important role. This part tries to convince the students that it is not always necessary to

loo# up the words in the dictionaries. It also mentioned some advantages to guessing

meaning and points out that there are multiple clues to meaning such as0 guessing un#nown

vocabulary, guessing meaning from contet in sentences, using grammar to guess word

meaning and recogni:ing words that connect ideas.

3 Understanding the topics!?hen the students read for the meaning, they should

begin by loo#ing for the topic. This helps them connect what they read to what they

already #now. Through the eercises provided in these units, students are required to

choose topic of a group of words, or identify the topics from the words and paragraphs

given, etc.

3 (xtracting main ideas!Sometimes it is difficult to see what the main ideas of a

passage are, or to distinguishing between important and unimportant information. The

eercises in unit si of this part encourage students to read for the general sense rather than

for the meaning of every single word.

3 Understanding text organi/ation patterns!Students may have trouble in seeing how

a passage is organi:ed. The eercises in unit B of this part give practice in recogni:ing how

sentences are 2oined together to ma#e paragraphs form the passage, and how this

organi:ation is signaled. esides, the students are also wor# with four of the most common

patterns of organi:ation such as0 Listing, Sequence, 1omparison 1ontrast and 1ause)Effect

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3 5riting summaries!Summari:ing is usually viewed as a writing s#ill, but it is also

a very useful reading s#ill, since it requires the reader to monitor comprehension. In order

to summari:e the reader must understand thoroughly the main idea and the main points of

a tet. Therefore, most of eercises in unit ten involve the students in actively writing

summaries. In summari:ing, the students must try to condense and paraphrase the ideas in

the tet. These s#ills often do not come easily to students, but they are essential for many

#inds of writing.

#art three% &hinking skill

Learning to read well in English means learning to thin# in English, however, many

students are used to translating as they read and have great difficulty thin#ing in anotherlanguage. If the students want to read well in English, they must thin# in English when

they read. If they thin# in another language and translate form the English, they will

always have difficulty with comprehension. Nnderstanding the words and grammar is not

enoughG they need to be able to follow the ideas in English. The eercises in this part are

designed to help students develop their ability to follow ideas and thin#ing in English.

#art four% "eading faster

Learning to read faster must be a #ey part of any reading improvement program.

There are two basic reasons for this. First, students in most academic settings are faced

with an enormous quantity of reading in English. %any ESLEFL students ta#e three to

four times longer than native)language students to complete reading tets, which means

that they have little time left to assimilate what they have read.

The other reason for learning to read faster is that it leads to a better comprehension.

?hen reading faster, the eyes cannot focus on every wordG they must focus on group of

words together. This ma#es it much easier for the brain to reconstruct meaning.

Furthermore, since reading faster forces the reader to s#ip un#nown or nonessential words,

the brain can concentrate better on the general meaning of the tet.

!enerally spea#ing, the boo#More Reading Powerprovides students with a wide

range of different reading tas#s that help them improve their reading techniques such as0

Scanning, S#imming, 6redicting and 6reviewing, Identifying Topics, etc.

esides, the reading tets in %ore "eading 6ower are of the students4 interests, for

eample, in unit one they have chance to get to #now more about %arie 1urie and

Satellites. In other units, they can read about Elephants, as#etball in the Nnited States, the

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Effects of ?eather, and 1limate, or about different sub2ects such as &utomobiles) 6roblems

and Solutions, Sources of 9isease, Dil spill, etc.

3owever, there are some reading tets containing many new and difficult words. Ta#e

an eample of unit four)*opics, in some eercises, they can not wor# out what is the topic or

topics for the group of words since they have to encounter many un#nown words in the same

group, or they are unable to figure out the word that odd one out from the whole group of

words. esides, their lac# or poor of general bac#ground #nowledge is also another drawbac#

that prevents them from reading effectively. Therefore, it is the teacher4s tas# to select and

apply suitable techniques and activities that can activate students4 basic #nowledge and

increase their interests in the reading lesson, especially before they read the tets.'.(. Sample and samplin!

The sample was drawn from two sources0 from CA full)time teachers of English

aged from 5A to CA and --= second)year students and they are learning the tet boo# More

Reading Power.

The researcher invited >= teachers 'about BO of the population(, they all have

9iploma 9egree in English and twenty of them have %.&. 9egree in Education,

Linguistics, or International "elations and another one has 6h.9. 9egree in Linguistics.

The reason for choosing them was that all of them were teaching at the English

9epartment of the %S&. %ost of them have at least three years of teaching, therefore, with

no doubt, they are eperienced and enthusiastic teachers, they are always willing to help

their students overcome the difficulties and ma#e progress in learning English.

The students under investigation are in the second term of the second year at the

English 9epartment of the %S& 'both cadet and civilian students, male and female, aged

from - to 5A(. They are divided into four groups and are supposed to have quite an equal

#nowledge of English before entering the %S& since most of them have learnt English for

at least B years 'from grade to grade -5 at school(. %oreover, they all passed a very

challenging entrance eam in order to become a student at our academy. These students

were chosen from --= second year students during the school year of 5==)5==B. They

have completed their first three terms of the four)year course. Df course it was very

difficult to select a random sample of individuals since the students had already assigned to

four different classes. The solution to this case is that instead of randomly selecting the

individuals, the researcher chooses classes for investigation. This method has two

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advantages0 First of all, it is convenient for the researcher to observe the participants

completing the questionnaire in their classG secondly, these classes have students with quite

different #nowledge of English 'The cadets seem to be better at English than the civilian

ones(. Three classes chosen are -& 'cadets(, A&9- and A&95 'civilians(, which include

/= students 'about B>O of the second year students(. 3opefully these students could be

representative for the rest of the students.

'.4. Inst"uments fo" collectin! the data

'.4.&. Su"%ey uestionnai"es

Nsing questionnaire allows the researcher to collect the data needed in quantitative

form. esides, the researcher finds it quite easy to summari:e, analy:e, and report thecollected data because all informants answer the same questions. %oreover, the informants

are provided with an opportunity to epress their attitudes towards teaching and learning

reading s#ills openly.

'.4.&.&. The uestionnai"es fo" the students

The questionnaire consists of / questions, which are divided into three parts. 6art

one 'includes questions -, 5 and >( aims at eploring the students4 attitudes towards pre)

reading techniques. In part two, by answering questions C, A, , and B, students have

chance to epress their preferences for 6re)reading techniques. The final part of the

questionnaire 'question /( was made to find out the students4 comment on the 6re)reading

activities in the tet boo#More Reading Power. 3opefully, it can help the researcher give

suggestions for providing the students with some more 6re)reading activities.

'.4.&.'. The uestionnai"es fo" the teache"s

There are / questions in the questionnaire for the teachers and they were designed

with three main purposes. Firstly, through the answers to the first C questions, the

researcher will evaluate the teachers4 attitudes towards the role of 6re)reading activities in

a reading lesson. Then the current situation of using pre)reading activities in a reading

lesson will be surveyed with a view to seeing whether all teachers do the same thing in

every reading lesson, which 6re)reading activities the teachers often employ and their

difficulties when dealing with these activities. 8uestion B is aimed at investigating the

teachers4 comments on 6re)reading activities available in the boo# More Reading Power.

The purpose of the last question 'question /( is to find out some suggestions used by other

teachers in order to ma#e pre)reading stage of the reading lesson more interesting.

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'.4.'. Class o,se"%ation

The author of the study randomly chose 5 classes '-& ; A&9C( to observe. She

watched and followed all the procedures and activities the teachers and the students were

performing in the real classroom settings, which enabled the researcher to elicit reliable

data. In other words, it is a means to chec# the reliability of the data collected for other

sources ) the questionnaires, informal interviews, and discussions.

The observation was carried out two times at two different units and with different

teachers in these classes. Each lesson lasted C= minutesG the researcher has set a chec#list

for her observation including the students4 attitudes towards the teachers4 activities, their

involvement in the activity and their interaction with each other while completing thetas#s. She also observed the students4 reactions to 6re)reading activities employed in the

lesson as well as their preferences for these techniques.

Two reading lessons chosen to be observed belong to 6art Four 'Nnit-, ; >(. The

reading tets in Nnit - are all about the 3awaiian Islands such as ?ater Sports in 3awaii,

3awaiian Traditions, and Jatural 9isasters in 3awaii. The students read about different

topic in Nnit >, the reading tets mainly focus on the !lobal Issues such as the !lobal

?arming, 6opulation Eplosion, and the 9isappearance of some Species. The purpose of

choosing these units is that the researcher would li#e to observe how the teacher deal with

long reading tets and what techniques the teachers used at the pre)reading stage to

motivate students in reading these tets.

'.5. Data analysis.

This part of the thesis is the treatment of all data collected from the survey

questionnaires conducted on /= second year students and >= teachers of English at the

%S& as well as from the author4s observation in three classes. The analysis of the data is

presented in 5 parts. The first part is the results based on the questionnaires for the students

and the teachers. The second part is the results of the class observation.

'.5.&. Data analysis of the students3 su"%ey uestionnai"es.

'.5.&.&. Students3 attitudes to9a"ds P"e#"eadin! acti%ities.

Table - provides the answer to the question - '5hat do you think about the texts in

the textbook More Reading Power67 and question >89ow do you find the role of Pre:

reading activities in a reading lesson67#

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Dption

8uestion& 1 9

- CAO -=O -AO >=O> >AO A=O -=O AO

Table-0"tudents; attitude towards the reading texts and the role of Pre:reading

activities

For the first question, when as#ed about the attitude towards the reading tets in

More Reading Power, a great number of students, which accounts for CAO, agree that they

are interesting and >=O of them thin# that they are suitable for the students while -=O of

them say that they are boring.

It is obviously seen that most of the students have positive attitude towards reading

comprehension s#ill. y learning reading, particularly learning More Reading Power the

students are able to enrich the bac#ground #nowledge, improve their reading s#ill, widen

their source of vocabulary, grammar structures, and get pleasure and information as well.

Dnly a small number of students find the tet boring because the topic of some reading

tets is unfamiliar to them, this also affects the lesson. The rest portion which accounts for

-AO of the students state that the reading tets in More Reading Powerare too difficult.

They say that some reading tets contains too many new words and sometimes it ta#esthem much time to loo# up the words in the dictionary, otherwise they are unable to carry

out the reading tas#s which followed effectively.

8uestion > is aimed at finding out the students4 opinions on the role of 6re)reading

activities.

Loo#ing at table - above, we can reali:e that the 6re)reading activities are

beneficial to students in any way, so it is not surprising to find out that the biggest

population of the students 'A=O( thin#s these activities play an important role in

motivating them to read, >AO of them even thin#s that these activities are very important.

3owever, -=O of the students do not highly appreciate the application of the 6re)reading

activities employed by the teachers. Dnly AO thin# these activities are not important at all.

This can be eplained that their teacher4 activities are not of the students interests or not

suitable for their levels of language proficiency.

8uestion 5 '5hat does your teacher often do to begin a reading lesson67focuses on

the necessity of the activities that should be done before reading the tet. &bout BAO of the

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eperience. %oreover, students can ta#e an active part in discussion. & greater proportion

of students 'CAO( li#e to work in pairs#The reason for this may be due to the class setting

'the students often sit in the table of two( so that, when wor#ing in pairs, they do not have

to change the seats arrangement and can have more time as well as more opportunities to

epress their ideas, the rest proportion, which accounts for only '5=O( of the students li#e

to work individually.

8uestion B refers to three 6re)reading activities such as0 introducing the reading

text briefly> pre:teaching new words and giving pre:reading =uestions. These activities are

traditional and mostly used by every teacher in several ways. In this study, the author

would li#e to eamine how to employ these activities to attract students4 attention.

-==

/AO

AO

C=O

=

-=O

&- &5 &> &C

1hart 5a0 "tudents; preferences for teachers; ways of introduction to the text

&-0 by using visual aids 'AO(

&50 by using a short story 'C=O(

&>0 by using games '/AO(

&C0 by using the titles, subtitles of the tet '-=O(

Loo#ing at the chart 5a, we can find out that almost students '/AO( li#e their

teachers to use games to introduce the reading tet. They possibly consume that by using

this way at the first stage of the lesson, they feel li#e wor#ing in non)threatening

environment and more relaing. The second way that many of them 'AO( en2oy is using

visual aids. Nsing a short story was chosen by fewer students 'C=O(. This can be inferred

that students will feel unwilling to listen to something before reading to the tet ecept

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2oining a game or loo# at the visual aids with their own eyes. Dnly / students '-=O( li#e

the teachers to use titles and subtitles before they read the tet, may be because this one is

boring and is not persuasive enough.

-==

BAO

A=O

C=O

5AO

= - 5 > C

1hart 5b0 *he students; preferences for teachers; ways of introducing new vocabulary

-0 by using synonyms, antonyms 'BAO(

50 by using definition or eplanation 'A=O(

>0 by using visual aids 'C=O(

C0 by using games '5AO(

Loo# at the chart we can see that the biggest portion of the students 'BAO( would

li#e their teachers to use synonyms or antonyms to eplain the vocabulary of the tet

before reading, may be because they are confident with their vocabulary #nowledge and

are eager to revise the words they have already #nown and lin# them with the new ones

through this activity. Nsing definition or eplanation is selected by half of the students

under the survey 'A=O(. It is evident that with clear definition or eplanation of the words,

motivation to read the tet will be increased and understanding will not be hindered any

more. It is surprising that when dealing with new vocabulary only C=O of the students

choose the games, may be at this stage their focus is mainly on the content of the tet they

are going to read. Therefore, they want the teachers to carry out activities that connect with

the vocabulary rather than en2oying games which they possibly thought a waste of time.

Nsing 6re)reading questions is very helpful because it enables students to predict

the content of the tet as well as increases their motivation. & large number of the students

'/AO( are in favor of ?ho)questions as they can lead them to see# for certain information,

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which will ma#e it easier for the students to read and comprehend the tet. Kes no

questions are chosen by 5= students '5AO(. Dnly / students '-=O( li#e multiple)choice

questions. It can be inferred that this type of questions is not easy to answer or may be they

are sometimes reluctant to response to this question so many of them usually choose the

answer randomly.

'.5.&.(. Students3 comments on P"e#"eadin! acti%ities in the te1t,oo-.

8uestion / was designed with the hope to find out students4 comments on the 6re)

reading activities in their tetboo# 'More Reading Power(.

/=

AAO A=O

C>.BO

5=O -AO

=

= & 1 9 E

1hart >0 "tudents; comments on Pre:reading activities in their textbook

&. boring 'C>.BO(

. unsuitable for students4 needs 'AAO(

1. unable to motivate students '5=O(

9. interesting '-AO(

E. others 'A=O(

From the chart we reali:e that almost the students in the study are not in favor of the

pre)reading activities available in their boo#s. C= students which accounts for 'AAO( thin# that

the activities are not suitable for their needs. &nother >A of them 'C>.BO( suppose that the

activities are boring. 3owever, - students '5=O( claim that they are unable to be motivated by

the activities provided in the tetboo# and only -5 students '-AO( even state that these

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activities are interesting. %ay be because of these reasons C= students 'A=O( prefer the choice

others which means they want more activities should be provided at the 6re)reading stage.

'.5.'. Data analysis of the teache"s3 su"%ey uestionnai"es

'.5.'.&. Teache"s3 attitude to9a"ds the "eadin! te1ts in the te1t,oo- and

to9a"ds the P"e#"eadin! acti%ities'8uestions - and 5(

Dption

8uestion & 1 9

- -=O -=O >=O A=O

5 A=O >=O -=O -=O

Table C0 *eachers; attitude towards reading texts and Pre:reading activities

8uestion-05hat do you think about the texts in the textbook More Reading Power6

&. interesting0 -=O . suitable0 -=O

1. difficult0 >=O 9. boring0 A=O

8uestion 50 5hat do you often do to start a reading lesson6

&. present some new words in the tet0 A=O

. give a brief introduction to the tet0 >=O

1. organi:e some other lead)in activities to the tet0 -=O

9. nothing0 -=O

The score of the question - in table C above shows the teachers4 attitude towards the

reading tets in the tetboo# they are teaching and the things they often do to create their

students4 interest and motivation before reading. !enerally spea#ing, most of them have

negative attitude towards pre)reading activities introduced in the tetboo#. That is why for

the first question about their comments on the reading tets in More Reading Power, a

great number of the teachers, which accounts for A=O suppose that the reading tets are

boring, -5 of them '>=O( even thin# that they are difficult. Dnly / of them) which ma#e up

5=O in total, thin# that they are suitable and interesting to teach. %ay be because the topic

of some reading tets is unfamiliar and not interesting or they may contains too many new

words that require much time to loo# them up in the dictionary. &s the result, the

preparation for the lesson sometimes is time)consuming.

8uestion 5 is about the activities that the teachers often do to motivate students

before a reading lesson. In general, most of the teachers are well)aware that these activities

are crucial important and necessary for both the teachers and the students since they help

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&. very important0 5.BO

. important0 B=O

1. not important at all0 >.>O.

It can be seen form the chart above that most of the teachers 'B=O( are aware of

the importance of 6re)reading activities. Dther teachers which account for '5.BO(

even thin# that these activities are very important and necessary to be employed at the

first stage of every single reading lesson. 3owever, one teacher '>.>O( still claims that

the activities are not important at all, that indicates she does not recogni:e the importance

of motivation in a reading lesson so she often as#s students to read the tet and carry out

the tas#s at once.

8uestion C is designed to eplore the teachers4 frequency of using 6re)reading

activities in a reading lesson.

?hen answering to the question C '9ow often do you use pre:reading activities in a

reading lesson67. The researcher reali:es that about >=O of the teachers under

investigation oftenuse pre)reading activities to start the lesson. These activities are even

al$aysused by other > teachers '-=O( and the rest portion which ma#es up =O of the

population state that they sometimesemploy them at the beginning of the lesson.

'.5.'.'. Teache"s3 pu"poses and difficulties in applyin! P"e#"eadin! acti%ities

in teachin! "eadin!.

8uestion A concentrates on eploring the teachers4 purposes of using 6re)reading

activities in a reading lesson. The researcher has the feedbac# to be shown in the following table0

6urposes Strongly

agree

&gree Jot agree

&. to increase the students4 motivation. B=O >=O =O

. to help students predict content of the tet. C=O A=O -=O

1. to provide bac#ground #nowledge on the

topic of the tet. >=O A=O 5=O

9. to teach new, difficult vocabulary or

structures in the tet. C=O C=O 5=O

E. others >=O =O -=O

*able +! *eachers; purposes of using Pre:reading activities

From the table, we reali:e that most teachers are highly appreciate the role of 6re)

reading activities, that is why many of them 'A=O( agreethat they use these activities in

order to help students predict the content of the tet or provide them with bac#ground

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#nowledge on the topic of the tets. There is an equal number 'C=O( between the teachers

who strongly agree that 6re)reading activities can help them teach new, difficult

vocabulary or structures to their students. Surprisingly, 5- teachers 'B=O( even strongly

agreethat these activities are able to increase their students4 motivation before reading.

esides, -/ teachers '=O( agree that they use the 6re)reading activities not only to serve

these purposes but also other ones. ?hen the researcher has an informal tal# with them,

they eplain that these activities help them to draw students4 attention and can get them

involve in the tet. The portion of disagreeingis very modest, ranged from =O to 5=O.

8uestion is designed to find out the difficulties the teachers have to cope with

when applying the 6re)reading activities in their teaching situation.

-==O

B=O

=O

A=O

>=O

= & 1 9

1hart A0 *eachers; difficulties in applying Pre:reading activities#

&. designing them is timePconsuming 'B=O(

. designing them is difficult '=O(

1. sometimes the activities can not motivate the students '>=O(

9. handling them sometimes is out of control 'A=O(

%ost of the teachers at the %S& agree that 6re)reading activities provide many

advantages in warming up the students before reading. 3owever, B=O of them have to

admit that designing these activities is time)consuming, and =O find this wor# difficult, it

requires a great effort form the teachers if they wish this activities wor# well in their real

teaching situation. 3alf of them 'A=O( claim that handling these activities sometimes is out

of control, since they occupy much time or when carrying out the games the students may

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cause noise that affect the surrounding. Some teachers '>=O( state that they usually apply

6re)reading activities, but sometimes these activities can not motivate their students. It can

be understood that these activities are not of the students4 interest or the way the teachers

use to introduce them is not clear or persuasive enough.

'.5.'.(. Teache"s3 comments on the P"e#"eadin! acti%ities in the te1t,oo- and

thei" su!!estions fo" futu"e imp"o%ement.

8uestion B is designed to find out the teachers4 comments on the 6re)reading activities

in the tetboo#More Reading Power which they are currently teaching at the %S&.

=O

C=O

5BO

5=O

->O

= & 1 9

1hart 0 *eachers; comments on the Pre:reading activities in the textbook#

&. interesting 5=O

. unsuitable for the students4 interest C=O

1. ineffective in motivating the students 5BO

9. unable to enhance the students4 motivation for reading ->O

From the data showed in chart , we learn something about the teachers4 comments

on the 6re)reading activities available in the tetboo#. In general, most of them are not in

favor of these activities. The biggest portion 'C=O( of the teachers thin# that the 6re)

reading activities in the tetboo# are unsuitable for the students4 interest, only of them

'5=O( suppose that they are interesting which means that these teachers often ta#e a lot of

advantages from the 6re)reading activities and are successful in eploiting them in

teaching reading to the students. %eanwhile, / teachers '5BO( comment that these

activities are ineffective in motivating their students at the first stage of the reading lesson.

Four teachers '->O( complain about the 6re)reading activities in the boo# are poor and

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sometimes rather boring. Therefore, they are unable to enhance the students4 motivation

and encourage them to read and complete the tas#s followed.

The purpose of question / is to find out the teachers4 suggestions and

recommendation on the 6re)reading activities that can be added to improve the reading

lesson in general and the first stage of the lesson in particular.

%ost of the reading lessons in the tetboo# include 6re)reading activities of some

#inds. 3owever, many teachers remar#ed that these activities were boring, poor and

repetitive, since they were mainly followed the same types of activities such as0providing

pre:reading =uestions> giving brief introduction to the text before as#ing the students to

practice, it is also the main reason why some of the teachers chose choice 9 for question B.Therefore, when answered question / 'In your opinion, what should be done at pre:

reading stage in order to make a reading lesson more interesting7# Jone of them chose

choice 9 8nothing, there is no need(. It can be inferred that all of them discovered the

drawbac# of the tetboo# they are teaching, and were willing to provide suggestions to

improve these wea#nesses. ased on the selection of choices &, , and 1 all of them

suggested that more various #inds of 6re)reading activities should be added and more

activities that are of the students4 interest should be provided.

'.5.(. Data analysis of the class o,se"%ations

The author of the study randomly chose 5 classes '-& and A&9C( with different

teachers to observe. The researcher watched and followed all the procedures and activities

the teachers and the students were performing in the real classroom settings, which enabled

her to elicit reliable data. The first thing she noticed was that all these teachers used some

lead)in activities at the 6re)reading stage. This proved that the teachers were highly

appreciated the impact of these activities to the students4 motivation.

The observation was carried out two times at two different units and with different

teachers in these classes. Each lesson lasted C= minutesG the researcher provided a chec#list

for her observation including the students4 attitudes towards the teachers4 activities, their

involvement in the activity and their interaction with each other while completing the

tas#s. She also observed the students4 reactions to 6re)reading activities employed in the

lesson as well as their preferences for them.

The first observation too# place in class -& with Nnit -)6art Four, the reading

tets in this unit are all about the 3awaiian Islands such as ?ater Sports in 3awaii, and

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Jatural 9isasters in 3awaii and 3awaiian Traditions, etc,. 3awaii nowadays, in fact, rather

familiar to many students, however, many of them are still lac# information about this

name. Therefore, the teacher employed the techniques of using visual aids 'photos( as well

as provided some 6re)reading questions related to 3awaii and ?ater Sports in 3awaii

as#ed students to wor# in groups to discuss the pictures and teacher4s questions. The

teacher chec#ed for the feedbac# with the whole class, these activities lasted in -A minutes.

From the researcher4 observation, the students were willing to ta#e part in teacher4s

activities and eager to read the tet to get more information about 3awaii.

The second observation was ta#en in class A&9C with Nnit >, in this lesson the

students read about another topic, the reading tets are about !lobal Issues such as the!lobal ?arming, 6opulation Eplosion, and the 9isappearance of some Species. The

purpose of choosing this lesson is that the researcher would li#e to observe how the teacher

deal with long reading tets and what activities the teacher used at the 6re)reading stage to

motivate students. The teacher was quite well)prepared for the 6re)reading activities and

used up -A minutes to eploit them. First of all, she introduced the topic of the reading tet.

Then, she divided students into groups to brainstorm the words or ideas related to the topic

of the lesson she had introduced beforehand. Jet, the teacher provided some lead)in

questions, as#ed the students to discuss in pairs before chec#ing for the feedbac# with the

whole class.

In general, the observations help the researcher confirm the fact that 6re)reading

activiti

[uan van tot nghiep- m.a theis 12- 07

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