Difficulties in teaching reading comprehension with the new English textbook “Tieng Anh 10” (the set of standard textbooks) to the 10 th form students at Ke Sat High School



   1. Rationale Nowadays, English is an international language and has been widely used in many countries in the world. In Vietnam, English is also considered the most important foreign language and taught as a compulsory subject in most schools throughout the country. It has also become an important need of the Vietnamese as a means of communication. As a result, there have been a lot of changes in English teaching in order to meet the need. One of the changes relates to new English language teaching syllabus and new textbooks, which have arrived at high schools since 2006. The new textbooks change from a grammar and vocabulary focus into a skill focus: listening, writing, speaking and reading. This, therefore, has advantages as well as disadvantanges in teaching and learning English. In the new English textbook “Tieng Anh 10” ,which refers to "English 10", reading is the first skill presented in each unit. This proves the important role of reading. This is understandable as generally speaking, reading provides students with the abilities to understand the written materials. Reading has become not only an important means to gain knowledge but also a means by which further study takes place. This is the second year I have taught the new textbook “Tieng Anh 10” to the 10 th form students. I have met a lot of difficulties. The biggest challenges emerge from teaching reading comprehension. My colleagues in my school have the same problems. We usually find it difficult and hard to teach in reading lessons. Despite the teachers’ efforts, the students’ reading skills are disappointing. Most of the students do not understand the texts and do not complete the reading tasks well. If those difficulties are not found out and no solutions to overcome are given, it is certain that reading lessons cannot be successful and it even becomes worse. This has a great effect on students’ learning result. On the other hands, students will be fed up with learning English if they find it worthless to study this subject. For all these reasons, it is necessary to find out difficulties in teaching reading comprehension to the 10 th form students at my school and the solutions. The author has been encouraged to carry out the study on “difficulties in teaching reading comprehension with the new English textbook “Tieng Anh 10” (the set of standard textbooks) to the 10 th form students

at Ke Sat High School”. Once the difficulties are identified, some solutions to overcome them will be suggested. 2. Aims of the study The specific aims of the study are: - to investigate the areas of difficulty that the teachers at Ke Sat High School are coping with in their daily teaching reading comprehension to the 10 th form students with the textbook “Tieng Anh 10”. - to suggest some solutions to overcome these difficulties . The study is carried out with a hope that the findings from the study will be of some benefits to the teachers at Ke Sat High School. 3. Scope of the study This study is limited to: - the 10 th form students at Ke Sat High School - the teachers of English at Ke Sat High School - reading comprehension in the new English textbook “Tieng Anh10”. 4. Methods of the study With the aim of finding out the difficulties in teaching reading comprehension with the new English textbook "Tieng Anh 10" to 10 - form students at Ke Sat High School, this study adopts quantitative and qualitative methods. To achieve the above aims, the study has been carried out with the data collected from different instruments: - interview questions for teachers of English at Ke Sat High School to investigate their perceptions of reading difficulties. - questionnaire for the 10 th form students at Ke Sat High School to collect information about their views of reading difficulties and causes of them. Beside these instruments, classroom observation is used to record information from teachers. 5. Design of the study The study is divided into three parts: - The first part is the Introduction, which presents the retionale for the study, the aims, methods, scope of the study as well as the design of the thesis.

- The second part is the Development of the study, divided into five chapters: + Chapter 1 is for Literature review, which provides the theoretical background. + Chapter 2 gives an overview of the new English textbook “Tieng Anh 10” and current situation of teaching the textbook at Ke Sat High School. + Chapter 3 deals with the study: context of the study, research questions, the participants, the data collection methods and data analysis. + Chapter 4 is for findings and discussion of findings. + Chapter 5 suggests some solutions to overcome difficulties. - The last part is the Conclusion of the study, which summarises the study, states the limitations of the study and recommendation for further research.















     1.1. The nature of reading 1.1.1. Definition of reading and reading comprehension Definition of reading Goodman (1971: 135) considers reading as “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”, and the act of reconstruction is viewed as “a cyclical process of sampling, predicting, testing and confirming”. According to Rumelhart (1977) “reading involves the reader, the text, and the interaction between reader and text”. It means the roles of learners and reading text are placed an important position in reading act. Harmer (1989: 153) views reading from a different perspective. In his definition, “reading is an exercise dominated by the eyes and the brain. The eyes receive the message and the brain has to work out the significance of the message”. Smith (1985: 102) shares the same view on reading when he defines “reading is understanding the author’s thought”. It means that the readers “read the author’s mind not the author’s words”. Attempts to define reading have been numerous. However, the act of reading is not completely understood nor easily described. The definitions have been drawn from different reading theories and models by various scholars. However, they all try to find out the nature of reading and reading act, in which the readers, reading process and reading message are emphasized. Reading comprehension Reading comprehension plays an important role in teaching and learning reading a foreign language. It can be understood as the ability to obtain the information as required in the reading text as efficiently as possible. According to Swam (1975: 1). “a student is good at comprehension” if “he can read accurately and efficiently, so as to get the maximum information of a text”.

Acording to Grellet (1981: 3) “reading comprehension or understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as effectively as possible” Though these opinions are different, they all have a common point, that is, reading comprehension is the process in which the readers, as they read, can recognize the graphic forms of the reading text and understand what is implied behind these forms. 1.1.2. Effective reading comprehension Cook (1989: 14) shows that effective reading comprehension would be best reflected if we bring distinct cognitive behaviors of good versus poor readers before, during and after reading an assignment into a comparison. Stage Good or mature readers Poor or immature readers Before reading - Active prior knowledge - Understand task and set purpose - Choose appropriate strategies - Start reading without preparation - Read without knowing why - Read without considering how to approach the material During reading - Focus attention - Anticipate predict - Use fix-up strategies when lack of understanding occurs - Use contextual analysis to assist comprehension - Self-monitor comprehension by : + knowing comprehension is occurring + knowing what is understood - Are easily distracted - Read to get done - Do not know what to do when lack of comprehension occurs - Do not recognize important vocabulary - Do not see any organization - Add on rather than integrate new information - Do not realize they do not understand After reading - Reflect on what was read - Feel success is a result of effort - Summarise major ideas - Stop reading - Feel success is s result of luck

- Seek additional information from outside sources On the other hands, Ur (1996: 148) considers effective reading comprehension as a process combining such elements as: - a clear purpose in mind - an enhanced motivation - appropriate reading comprehension strategies based on the purposes and motivation - good prediction - sufficient background information and vocabulary - close attention to the significant bits - fairly high speed 1.2. Stages of teaching reading It is common knowledge that a reading lesson consists of three important stages: Pre - reading (Before you read), While - reading (While you read) and Post - reading (After you read). Obviously, each stage has its own chatacteristics and time allocation. 1.2.1. Pre - reading (Before you read) This stage is carried out before the students begin reading the text. It plays an essential part in the whole process of a reading lesson, because it is difficult to ask students to read the text without the preperation that involves such activities as pre - reading questions, pre - teaching vocabulary. According to William (1984: 37), the purposes of the pre - reading stage are: - to introduce and arouse interest in the topic - to motivate learners by giving a reason for reading - to provide some language preparation for the text Normally, pre - reading stage often makes up about one-tenth of the time allocation for the whole lesson. However, depending on each lesson, it may last shorter or longer. Before delivering activities for this stage, the teacher needs to pay careful attention to the objectives of the lesson, the situation of teaching and learning, the students’ needs into account. 1.2.2. While - reading (While you read)

William (1984: 38) states that while - reading stage is the main part of a reading lesson with the following specific aims: - to help understanding of the writer’s purpose - to help understanding of the text structure - to clarify text content. The teacher, at the while - reading stage, needs to help their students comprehend the text thoroughly while the students have to apply to the best their reading skills like skimming, scanning, guessing, etc. to understand the text as well as the writer’s purpose conveyed through the reading text. Apparently, time allocation for this is nearly two-thirds of the whole lesson. 1.2.3. Post - reading (After you read) It is the last step of a reading lesson. It is the time for students’ reproduction. What they reproduce will reflect how well they comprehend the text. In William’s view (1984: 39), the post - reading stage is aimed at consolidating or reflecting upon what has been read and relating the text to the learners’ own knowledge, interests or views. Normally, it takes ten or fifteen minutes to complete all activities at this stage. To conclude, the above-mentioned stages are essential for a reading lesson. However, it is not necessary to carry out all these stages mechanically on every occasion. Depending on the purposes of a reading lesson, the teacher may apply these stages as well as allocate time for each stage appropriately. 1.3. Difficulties in teaching reading In reading, it is not easy for a student to be successful in learning reading, because there are many factors affect the success such as students’ habits, attitude, motivation, exposure to the target language , textual characteristics, the way reading is taught, and the teacher’s classroom techniques or learning environment, etc. Yorio (1971), Jolly (1978), Coady (1979) and others have grouped those factors into three types: Reading skill problems, Language problems, and Cultural background knowledge. 1.3.1. Reading skill problems

According to Jolly (1978), Coady (1979) and others, one’s first language reading ability plays a more important role in reading success than his level of the target language does, because foreign language reading requires the transference of old skills, not the learning of new ones. They believe that if the reader has a poor reading ability in his mother tounge, then, he cannot read well in a foreign language. Students’ limited reading skills cteate many problems, such as reading slowly, failing to understand and summarise main ideas of the reading text, unabling to guess or predict meaning of the words or phrases used in that context, etc. Therefore, such students find it hard to be successful in their reading. They cannot understand the text thoroughly and those are the reasons why they do not want to keep on reading. In addition, learner’s motivation towards reading is also an important factor in reading process. It may effect on reading result such as good speed, enjoyment and comprehension. Lack of motivation, the reader does not want to read any more. 1.3.2. Language problems According to Yorio (1971: 108), reading problems of foreign language learners are due largely to imperfect knowledge of the target language and to mother tongue interference in the reading process. In his view, reading involves four factors: knowledge of the language, ability to predict or guess in order to make the correct choice, ability to remember the previous cues, and ability to make the necessary associations between the different cues that have been selected. Therefore, learners with limited knowledge of the target language might have considerable difficulty when reading in the target language. Clarke (1980) and Alderson (1984) share this view. They acknowledge that a lack of appropriate linguistic knowledge constrains the transfer of reading skills and strategies from L1 to L2. Dealing with the text, readers have to work with unfamiliar and difficult topics. These are called “text problems”. The context of the text might be rather strange to the students, that makes them unable to understand. Besides, another kind of problem is “vocabulary problems”. Readers encounter a lot of difficulties in dealing with proverbs and idioms, synonyms and antonyms, polysemantic and subtechnical vocabulary. 1.3.3. Cultural background knowledge

Apart from language problems and reading skill problems, cultural background knowledge also affects students’ reading ability as culture plays a central role for many topics. And that comprehension of a culturally unfamiliar text is more difficult than comprehension of a culturally familiar text, because readers, facing up with unfamiliar cultural context, may mistranslate or misinterpret the text according to their own cultural experience. For the text structure, the impact of culture is less outwardly evident but apperently still present. They will greatly affect the reader’s comprehension. Sometimes, the implicit cultural knowledge presupposed by a text or from different assumption about meaning and comprehension held by the writer also causes difficulty to the reader. From what has been discussed, it can be concluded that there are three main factors that affect reading comprehension: reading skills, language knowledge, and cultural background knowledge. Reading difficulties may be caused by a number of other factors. Whatever kind of problems are, they are various in the reading process in a foreign language and great efforts must be made to overcome them. Summary This chapter provides a theoretical framework for the study. First, it provides an overview of the nature of reading, in which the definitions of reading and reading comprehension are discussed. Then, effective reading comprehension is addressed. What is more, this chapter also discusses stages of teaching reading. Finally, it provides an insight into reading difficulties. Having looked at the literature review of reading, the textbook related to this thesis will be presented hereby.
      !"#  $%&#    !'      !()* )   2.1. An overview of the new textbook “Tieng Anh 10” (the set of standard textbooks) 2.1.1. Objectives The new English textbook “Tieng Anh 10” (the set of standard textbooks) was written by a group of lecturers of College of Foreign Languages (Vietnam National University, Hanoi) and published in 2006. The syllabus of the textbook “Tieng Anh 10” is the continuation of that of the textbooks at secondary schools. Therefore, the objectives for the 10 th form students to achieve would be higher. According to the Ministry of Education and Training, by the end of the 10 th form students should be able to: - Listen for the main ideas or for specific information of a monologue or a dialogue with the length of 120 - 150 words of the topics they have learnt. - Exchange information in English at a simple level about the situations relating to the topics they have learnt. - Comprehend passages of appropriately 190 - 230 words about the topics they have learnt. Understand the main ideas of the text or understand the text in detail. Develop vocabulary comprehension: gap - filling, matching, ect. - Write paragraphs (of about 100 - 120 words) relating to the topics they have learnt according to a model or with prompts. 2.1.2. Content of the textbook The new English textbook “Tieng Anh 10” is designed under theme- based approach with 16 units. Each unit is about a theme. The units are set up in the following order: - Unit 1: A day in the life of .... - Unit 9: Undersea world - Unit 2: School talks - Unit 10: Conservation - Unit 3: People’s background - Unit 11: National parks - Unit 4: Special education - Unit 12: Music - Unit 5: Technology and you - Unit 13: Films and cinema
 - Unit 6: An excursion - Unit 14: The world cup - Unit 7: The mass media - Unit 15: Cities - Unit 8: The story of my village - Unit 16: Historical places These units cover six topics required: - You and Me (Units 1, 2, 3) - Education (Units 4, 5, 6) - Community (Units 7, 8) - Nature and Environment (Units 9, 10, 11) - Recreation (Units 12, 13, 14) - People and Places (Units 15, 16) There are five parts in each unit arranging as follows: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing, and Language focus. Each part is carried out in a period (45 minutes). The aim of the arrangement is to help students to practise four macro-skills as much as possible. In addition, there exists a “Test yourself” after every three or two units. The objectives of the “Test yourself” is to examine how well students have achieved in the previous units. The “Test yourself” is constructed as follows: Listening, Reading, Grammar and Writing. Reading is the beginning part of each unit. The aims of this is that through reading and through developing reading skills such as scanning, skimming, etc. the students are provided with language input. This can help them to be acquainted with the theme and the language relating to the theme. From then, the students can speak, listen and write about the things relating to the