Reading Comprehension Strategies and Reading Skills

Reading Comprehension Strategies and Reading SkillsGEPT General face Profiency TestHP Higher growthLP deject developmentHETC Harvard program line Training CenterRationaleHammadon (1991) says Reading comprehension is non beneficial witnessing intelligence activitys, convictions, or even texts, hardly involves a complex interartion of the renters preceding knowledge, phrase profiency and their learning strategies (p.30). So schooling strategies be very strategic to achieve the comprehension. M either types of interlingual rendition strategies are introduced to guide students of all disparate invades. However, in that location were few lookers who investigate the relationship of adaptation comprehension strategies and interpret comprehension of students. At HETC, education has a key place in any slope courses when students regard side not only as the interest but also the demand for improving their study and promoting in their careers to achieve the long-t erm goals, especially whatever of them were assigned to live and last abroad. In their learning bear on, almost the students meet great challenges when dealing with the rendition texts. They usually do not understand texts and send packingnot complete the tasks so they impression tired in variation lessons. Therefore, what are the master(prenominal) ca employs of this current emplacement? In order to get hold out the fasten out, the researcher started a quite a little on the development comprehension outline mathematical function. For t from each oneers at HETC, it is hoped that this study may offer them the shipway on how to localize strategies utilize by the students and then(prenominal) they discount ensconce what they should do to promote their students realizeing comprehension and in their learning as well.Literature review2.1. Reading comprehension strategies and studying skillsOxford (1990) gives a detailed definition of language learning strategies Learning strategies are specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more(prenominal) enjoyable, more self-directed, more exitive, and more transferable to new situations (p.8) and described concretely how learning strategies are utilize to the quaternion language skills listening, speaking, writing and tuition. fit to her, quaternary-spot strategies listening strategies, , or reading strategies are those learning strategies themselves that employ to each of the four skills.Of course, skills and strategies are dickens big talking to and vulgar terms of the reading activities, as well. Nutall (1982) pointed out that reading was certainly a process of the readers, who use strategies to work with the moment of the texts actively and then do sense from them. By the interesting fundamental interactions from the readers and texts, more and more researchers keep working to research the relationship amidst the use of reading strategies and reading comprehension.However, dodge and skill, are they unalike? Yes, it was actually apparent that they were different. Strategy meant people used the planned methods and implements to achieve their goals, but skill was known as a routine. Moreover, dodging was the result of conciously work towards goals. It helped readers to understand the importee of contents in order to find out the dish out or obtain a certain per gainance level in reading that they want for themselves (Gagn, 1985). However, it is not always easy to make such a clear differnces among these two terms. Grabe and Stoller (2002) said that many abilities that are commonly identified as strategies are relatively automatic in their use by silvery readers (e.g. skipping an unknown news show sequence reading, rereading to reestabilsh text content (p.15) Paris et al (1991) supposed an emerging skill can become more competent and developmentally advanced when they become generated and applied automatically as skills ( p.61). close totimes this divergence is not clear at all because that is part of the genius of reading. In this study, reading strategies are used to show specific actions, locomote and plans that students conciously apply in their reading process to improve their comprehension.2.2. The relationship amid reading strategies and reading comprehensionReading comprehension must(prenominal) croak rapid in almost any intentful place setting, and the more quick a text is read, the break down reading processes are to effect. Those specific processes must be implemented effectively in combination to ensure the reading comprhension. Reading comprehension requires the reader be strategic. The reader needs to identify processing difficulties, address balances amongst text schooling and stage setting knowledge, decide for monitoring comprhension, and shifing goals for reading. When a entire reader use strategies, they can read fluently, flexible in line with changing purpose and t hen abide monitoring the comprehension. Similarly, reading is an process that evaluating the reader, who must decide if the reading culture is coherent and finds out the purpose for reading.Alderson (2003) said reading as the interaction of four things. He claimed that the reader and the text together must be fluent reading or the ability to reach at an set aside rate with adequate comprehension, or the ability of the reader to use a wide variety of reading strategies to accomplish a purpose for reading (p.149). So discovering the best methods and strategies are the way that a good learner apply during a reading process.2.3. Previous research on reading comprhension strategiesGrellet, F. (1981) wrote a book Developing Reading Skills. This book showed the all pregnant(predicate) role of reading and provided some techniques which help learners improve their reading skill.Nutal, C. (1989) proved reading is to enable students to read without help unfamiliar authentic texts at becharm speed, silently with adequate understanding.Ozek, O. (2006) researched A study on the Use of Cognitive Reading Strategies by ELT Students. This study carried out to find out which reading strategies are commonly employed by ELT students while reading a text, and which reading strategies are needed to be highly-developed to understand the text better, and to continue academic studies success entirey.San San Kung (2007) did an investigation into the relationship amid reading comprehension and the use of reading strategies among EFL students in colleges in Taiwan. through the study, the researcher knew what the reading strategies the EFL students use more or less and what the differences between different grade students.MethodologyThis chapter will describe research methods used to invite data to answer the research questions and then explain how and why the methods are used.3.1. Research questionsThis study aims to find out reading dodge use of HETCs students. This also ha s objectives to discover if there are any differences in schema use between lower berth and higher(prenominal)(prenominal) increase readers, as well. Then to suggest some recommendations to raise students awareness of using reading comprehension strategies in the coterieroom. It aims at answering the following questions1. What reading strategies are used by students at HETC?2. What are the differences in the use of reading strategies between lower and higher attainment readers?3.2. Descriptions of variables3.2.1. Independent variablesIn this study, the emancipation variables were the students at HETC. 51 students were chosen as representatives of this particular sort sudents to collect needed data. These 51 students were separate into four groups in which students are the members of higher and lower proficiency groups. These 2 groups were chosen to get information to answer the second research question ( More details active these groups and nearly higher and lower profici ency readers will be found in 3.3.1 and 3.4.2)3.2.2. Dependent variableThe dependent variable in this research were the strategies applied in reading comprehension, i.e. reading comprehension strategies.3.3. The data disposition instrumentsThis study employs a combibation of 3 data collection instruments* General side of meat development Test (GEPT)* interrogative clipaire* Think-a out loud interviewsAs one of the objectives of this study is to find out if there are any dfferences in the system use between higher proficiency (HP) and lower proficiency (LP) readers. The test was used to divide the subjects into difference groups in which groups of higher and lower proficiency were chosen to collect the data.Think- forte interviews aimed at getting qualitative data and quesionaire was used to get quantiative data. The agent can collect a large information of all mentioned strategies and the information from students who piece of land their legal opinion of strategy use in the reckon-aloud interviews. Of course, the think a loud interviews in this study can be one of the best ways to reaffirm the result got from the questionaire. For example, in the questionaire, the subjects report that they use life experiences to understand the marrow of texts or read the first base-class honours degree and last paragraphs and then go back to read the paragraphs the fountain will know they use these strategies or not in the interview.3.3.1. TestA General side proficiency test is a procedure taken to collect data on students ability or the knowledge of disciplines as education about peoples language ability is often very useful and necessary (Nunan, 1992). The GEPT was taken form the book IELTS for Academic Purpose A short insentive course (see the attachment 3). Based on the result of the test, the subjects were classified into 4 groups. Group 1 consists students who just got from chink 1 to 2.5 group 2 has those who got design from 3 to 5. The students in t hese 2 groups are LP learners. regard aswhile, the students who are in group 3 got mark from 5.5 to 6.5 they are at medium levels. And the last group group 4 consists of HP ones who got mark from 7 and over. After having the result of the test, the author decided to chose group 2 and 4 to collect the data to answer the second research question. So there are 51 subjects in these 2 groups. The author did not choose group 1 because their proficiency were too low and they were only 1% of the subjects. Details of the test can be found in accessory 1.3.3.2. headspringaireQuestionaire is the second data collection instrument in this study. This is also a pretty popular office of data collection. Many researchers suppose that using questionaire in language research has many advantages. First, questionaire can be given to a great meter of students at the same time and it is self- disperseed. Second, to protect the privacy and keep the fairness, the subjects name might not be appeared on the questionaire. So subjects tend to administer the information more naturally, even some sensitive information. Third, the data hoard are more accurate because questionaire is usually given to all the subjects at the same time.This study used one survey questionaire to gather the information about reading strategies as well as the differences in strategy use between these two kinds of readers. According to the result of the questionaire (and interviews), the athor can make some recommendation to help students improve their reading abilities. The quesionaire was designed establish on the questionaire of Shan Shan Kung (2007). This part consists 3 parts. Of couse, in this study, the author modified the first part personal information part. The next part concept of reading had 3 questions to explore the perceptions of position reading. The last part had thirty viii questions of strategy use. In the beginning of third section, thirty four questions apply a Liker Scale po int systems. The subjects were asked to respond to each statement by choosing among four answers 1) usually 2) sometimes 3) rarely 4) never. Each section has four to 6 questions (except section 1 has 10 questions because of discovering the reading process). Through the survey, the author found out which strategies actually actracted HP readers more than LP readers.3.3.3. Think aloud interviewsIn addition to the quetionaire, interviews are used to obtain information by actually talking to the subject. The interviewer asks questions and the subject responds. Interviews are the good way for appeal data as Seliger, H.W. (1989) claimed Interviews are personalized and therefore permit a level of in-depth information gathering, free response and flexibility that cannot be obtained by other procedures (p.166). However, it can be costly and time consuming. In this study, think aloud interviews were used to collect the data about the students reading strategy. The Interviewer watch for Reading Strategies developed by Honsenfeld et al. (1981). In oder to make the Guide appropriate for objectives of thi study, the researcher has made some changes in the strategies they posed ( see Appendix 3).3.4. Participants in the studyAt the time the study was carried out, the subjects had just correct an side of meat course. Their textbook was Therefore, their commonly assumed proficiency was intermidiate. They were members of three classes. bingle class included 25 students , 24 in the other class and 21 in the last one and they stuied the same textbook. Their ages ranged from 19 to 24. roughly all of students had at least 3 years of learning English before this class. They were delivered a reading proficiency test to be divided into higher and lower proficiency readers.In this study, gender has minimal effect on the results because the number of male students is quite small in the full of the subjects.3.5. ProcedureThe data were collected by the researcher during a cal endar week in autum 2009. After contacting the English teachers of the subjects in person to get flattery for asking their students to participate in the study, the researcher pre-arranged the time. The researcher went to English classes to administer the tests. The students were asked to complete the test in 60 minutes. The English teachers and the researcher administer and marked the test papers later.The 2 days after, subjects were distributed the questionanires. The researcher gave some directions to the subjects and of then encouraged students to ask for any clarifications they might need and any other extra time when they filled out the questionaire. And of couse, the researcher cute to protect the privacy and the students fairness, so the students names would not fill in the questionaires. In order to advoid misunderstanding the questions, the questionaire were translated into Vietnamese which were enclosed with the English version. The questionaire governing body took about 30 minutes in each class.For days later, sixsome chosen students were interviewed individually at the researcher s office in HETC. The reseacher pre-arranged the time and contacted to the students by the phone. Before the interview, the reseacher gave the instructions and explained the purpose of the study to students so they could understand what they had to do clearly. Each interview took from 10 to 15 minutes. information analysis and findings4.1. The result of the questionaire 4.1.1. Demographic Data put over 4.1Demographic Information of Students (N=51)SubjectFrequencyPercentageTotalN%Gender phallic917.651100Female4282.4LevelLower proficiency3263.7 Higher proficiency1936.3Years ofEnglish learning experience235.9511004917.651529.461121.67611.8823.9947.81012.0 pick up at the remit 4.1, of the 51 students participating in the study, 9 (17.6%) were males and 43 (82.4%) were females. Of the 19 HP students (36.3%) and 32 (63.7%) were LP students.When asking about years of En glish learning experience, just 1 students (2.0%) has been perusal English for ten years. 9 students (17.6%) postulate been studying English for four years, 15 students (29.4%) have been studying English for five years, 11 students (21.6%) have been studying English for six years, 6 students (11.8%) have been studying English for seven years, 2 students (3.9%) have been studying English for eight years, 4 students (7.8%) have been studying English for nine years.Because foreign language in general and English in particular were given into school from sixth grade in lower-ranking school, and from tenth grade in high school ( in some remote areas), the most students years of English learning experience were between four and seven years.To answer the second section of the questionnaire about concepts of reading, the results were presented in fudge 4.2. turn off 4.2The Relationship between the Important of Reading for terminology Learning and Reading Hours per Week by higher and lo wer proficiency studentsReading hours per week234Over 4N%N%N%N%Higher proficiency students(N =19) really important210.5526.3631.6315.8important15.3210.5Not importantLowerproficiency students(N =32)Very important618.8721.9515.6important412.5515.6412.5Not important13.1According to the exemplar of Table 4.2, HP students who image reading was very important for language learning were 2 (10.5%) worn-out(a) two hours per week on reading, 5(26.3%) for three hours per week, 6 (31.6%), for four hours per week and 3 (15.8%) for over four hours per week. HP students who thought reading was important for language learning were 1 (5.3%) spent two hours per week on reading, 2 (10.5%) for four hours per week. There were not any students who thought reading was not important for language learning.In the LP group, 6 (18.8%) students thought reading was very important for language learning and spent two hours per week for it, 7 (21.9%) spent three hours for reading, 5 (15.6%) spent four hours for reading. These LP students supposed reading was important for language learning were 4 (12.5%) spent two hours per week on reading, 5 (15.6%) for three hours per week. There was 1 (3.1%) students said reading was not important for language learning but still spent two hours per week on it.4.1.2. Findings for Research Question OneThe research question one was What reading comprehension strategies are used by students at HETC ? After collecting data, it showed what the same or different strategies were used more or less by HP or LP students for help them understand the contents of the reading materials in different reading situations and were ranked from low to high to represent which strategy would be used more or less by the students during their reading process in different situations. The results were listed in the following by all of students reading ability levels when they used reading strategies in different reading situations.The get along results came from the 51 students in Table 4.3, 4.4, 4.5 and 4.6.Table 4.3 bastardlys, Ranks, and Standard Deviations of the Uses of Reading Strategies in First Section by students at HETCWhen I read English materials, hold still forMeanSDRank1.I read a board of contents, and then read the contents1.821.902.I focus on the first time of each paragraph for helping me understand the master(prenominal) points of the solid paragraph2.517.123.I underline the master(prenominal) points when I am reading2.034.974.I write Vietnamese on the margin for vocabulary speech communication I dont understand during reading1.862.905I skim over the full text, and then read details1.883.926I use life experiences helping me understand the heart and soul of texts1.862.907I use the background knowledge of the English culture to understand the contents2.5781.038I use key words or sentences to guess the principal(prenominal) idea of the articles1.8831.089After reading each paragraph, I ask myself if I understand what I read before, and paraphrase the main idea, then keep reading the next paragraph2.2551.0910I address what I read with classmates2.4561.05In Table 4.3, the result indicated which strategies the 51 students used more or less when they read English materials. The table showed the data with mean, mean rank, and specimen deviation.As illustration of Table 4.3, the mean was from 1.82 to 2.51 and the rank was S1 (1.82) Table 4.4Means, Ranks, and Standard Deviations of the Uses of Reading Strategies in First Section by students at HETCWhen I do not understand a vocabulary,MeanMeanSDRank11I check the dictionary immediately2.3731.112I mark and pass it, keep reading and then go back2.3321.0813I use other words in the sentence to infer the meaning of vocabulary2.091.8714I give way its suffix and prefix to get its meaning3.0041.21Through Table 4.4, strategy 13 I use other words in the sentence to infer the meaning of vocabulary was most used by the students when they did not understand a vocabulary during the reading process. On contrary, strategy 14 I crumple its suffix and prefix to get its meaning was the strategy which most students used least in this reading situation.Table 4.5Means, Ranks, and Standard Deviations of the Uses of Reading Strategies in First Section by students at HETCWhen I do not understand a sentence,MeanMeanSDRank15I use the context (topic, subject) to derive the meaning of each sentence1.861.9116I translate word for word into Vietnamese to better understand the meaning of the sentences2.3541.1217I take grammar analysis (ex finding subject and verb etc.) to understand the meaning of the sentences2.3331.0218I analyze the structure of sentences (ex sample sentence, adjective clause, or adverb clause, etc.)to derive the meaning of sentence2.375.9719I will analyze the verb tense (ex past tense or early tense) or verb mood (ex subjunctive mood or pressing mood) for better understanding2.272.95In Table 4.5, those strategies had close mean tally between each oth er, but it also pointed out the differences from 2.27 to 2.37, except the strategy 15 had the mean score less 1.86. It described that strategy 15 I use the context (topic, subject) to derive the meaning of each sentence were the most used by the students when they did not understand a sentence during reading process. Vice versa, the means of the strategy 16 and strategy 18 to derive the meaning of sentence meant that they were used least than other strategies in this section.Table 4.6Means, Ranks, and Standard Deviations of the Uses of Reading Strategies in First Section by studentsWhen I dont understand (including vocabulary and sentences,) except above reading strategies,MeanMeanSDRank20I check books (ex grammar books or encyclopedia) for references2.1621.1421I go on the Internet to find think information1.981.9222I ask teachers or classmates for clarification2.2731.0323I read the difficult parts several(prenominal) times2.6351.1224I read the contents orally several times2.474.9 425I will diddle the vocabulary pertaining to the contents before reading2.162.99According to the data, it presented that strategy 21 I go on Internet to find tie in information was used by almost students. The information technology nowaday becomes quite popular to students so they would like to search information on the Internet. The S20 = S25 (2.16) both(prenominal) stood the second position. The strategy that students used least was strategy 23 I read difficult parts several times.4.1.3. Findings for Research Question TwoResearch question two was What are the differences in the use of reading strategies of the higher and lower proficiency students at HETC? Through mean, standard deviation, t-tests and p value, the data analysis depicted detailed information about the differences of reading strategy performance between these two groups of students. The comparative groups centre on higher and lower proficiency student.Table 4.7Means, Standard Deviations, t-Tests and p Value between higher and lower proficiency students at HETCwhen I read English materials,Lower proficiency studentsHigher proficiency studentsTp(N=19)(N=32)MeanSDMeanSD1.I read a table of contents, and then read the contents2.001.0541.72.813.999.3222.I focus on the first sentence of each paragraph for helping me understand the main points of the whole paragraph2.161.1181.78.7921.288.203.I underline the main points when I am reading2.001.1052.06.914-.208.844.I write Vietnamese on the margin for vocabulary words I dont understand during reading2.791.0842.781.069.026.985.I skim over the full text, and then read details2.051.0261.78.870.965.346.I use life experiences helping me understand the meaning of texts1.89.9371.84.917.189.857.I use the background knowledge of the English culture to understand the contents2.051.1292.86.871-2.729.00**8.I use key words or sentences to guess the main idea of the articles2.371.2611.59.9112.412.02*9.After reading each paragraph, I ask myself if I understand what I read before, and paraphase the main idea, then keep reading the next paragraph2.001.2022.53.983-1.630.1110.I discuss what I read with classmates2.531.2642.41.946.359.72pAs indicated in Table 4.7, strategy 7 and strategy 8 attended to the significant difference level (pTable 4.8Means, Standard Deviations, t-Tests and p Value between higher and lower proficiency students at HETCWhen I do not understand a vocabulary,Higher proficiency studentsLower proficiency studentstp(N=19)(N=32)MeanSDMeanSD11.I check the dictionary immediately3.32.7491.81.8966.432.00**12.I mark and pass it, keep reading and then go back2.891.12.06.8782.809.00**13.I use other words in the sentence to infer the meaning of vocabulary2.05.9112.13.871-.279.7814.I analyze its suffix and prefix to get its meaning2.841.3443.131.07-.782.44pIn table 4.8, strategy 11 and strategy 12 attended to the significant different level (pTable 4.9Means, Standard Deviations, t-Tests and p Value between higher and lower proficienc y studentsWhen I do not understand a sentence,Higher proficiency studentsLower proficiency studentstp(N=19)(N=32)MeanSDMeanSD15.I use the context (topic, subject) to derive the meaning of each sentence1.891.11.84.808.176.8616.I translate word for word into Vietnamese to better understand the meaning of the sentences3.210.9761.840.8845.005.00**17.I take grammar analysis (ex finding subject and verb etc.) to understand the meaning of the sentences2.161.1672.44.948-.885.3818.I analyze the structure of sentences (ex sample sentence, adjective clause, or adverb clause, etc.)to derive the meaning of sentence1.84.8982.69.896-3.253.00*19.I will analyze the verb tense (ex past tense or future tense) or verb mood (ex subjunctive mood or imperative mood) for better understanding1.84.898