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 provide
opportunities 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
1
#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 international
standard 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 of A Study on some possible effective pre-reading activities to
improve reading skills for the 2
nd -
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 5
nd
)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 5
nd
)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 5
nd
)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 and
students 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"oduction provides 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:<, 5==>(. ?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 reading
material 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.
4
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 their
opinion, *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 -.E. 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 hisFher
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
5
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 view
concentrates 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+ 'Iarolin and Iarin, -.//0 5(. "eading means
6
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 aloud involves *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 aloud
does not happen outside the classroom as 9off '-.//0 EB( said, *reading aloud is not an
activity we engage in very often outside the classroom+.
"eading aloud has both advantages and disadvantages. Jatal '-.EE( 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 reading is *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
7
'-.//0 EB( 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 students4
understanding 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
8
to the text Juttal '-./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 the
early 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 '-./E0 C.B( claimed that0 *Etensive reading would normally start
with reading for the main ideas or for general information then for general comprehension
9
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 language
readingG 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 >E( 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 chapterF section headings, summaries and opening paragraphs,
10
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 '-./E0 -==( *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 you
scan, 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,
11
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 the
meaning 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.
12
,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 that
may 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
13
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. Ileinginna '-./-0 E( defines motivation as *a desire or want that
energi:es and directs goal)oriented behavior+. Sharing the same point, ,rown '5===0 -E=(
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
->E( as *an internal state that arouses, directs and maintains behavior+.
Iinds 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 '-..E( defines that
intrinsic motivation *is the natural tendency to see# out and conquer challenges as we
pursue personal interests and eercise capabilities+. "affini '-..E( 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.
14
&.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 needs
and 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 '-..E0 -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 overL. 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
15
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 EEC(,
Taglieber, Mohnson and Karbough '-.//0 CAE(, and %oorman and ,lanton '-..=0 -BE( 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 CAE(
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.
16
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 '-..E(
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"y
In 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.


17
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 study
,eing 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,
18
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 >=FCA full)time teachers aged
from 5A to CA 'half of them have been in !reat ,ritain, &ustralia, &merica and India for
further training( and /=F--= 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 E 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==E)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.
19
'.'.4. Readin! mate"ials
'.'.4.&. An o%e"%ie9 of the te1t,oo- More "eading #o$er
English has been made compulsory in the curriculum of our &cademy. It is mainly
taught to those who wor# for the %inistry of 9efense and most of them are army officers)
to)be. ?hen they enter the academy, they continue to study English for at least four years.
9uring this time, they are divided into two stages0 The first stage is for pre)intermediate
and intermediate levels. The second one is for upper)intermediate and advanced levels. The
students have to wor# very hard to gain #nowledge of English to support for their 2obs
when graduating since they use English as main tool in their wor#. For the last several
years, English teaching methodology has been improved much and course)boo#s have
been changed yearly to meet the demand of the students at the %S&. The tet boo# More
Reading Power is chosen as a core tet boo# for teaching reading to the second year
students at our &cademy. They have only >= periods of reading for each term, which
counts for E= periods for the whole second year, so the teacher who teaches reading has to
select only some typical reading lessons in the tetboo# More Reading Power for teaching,
but not all the lessons included in the boo#. Dther tets have been read by the students
themselves at home as homewor# or reference materials.
'.'.4.'. St"uctu"e of the te1t,oo- More "eading #o$er
1onsidering the need to learn reading at the %S&, the importance role of reading in
the students4 future 2ob and its practical purposes, More Reading Power appears to be one
of the most suitable and productive tetboo# for second year students. %any students have
a conceptuali:ation of reading which is interferes with their reading in English. More
Reading Power aims to help students acquire an accurate understanding of what it means
to read in English. Student awareness of reading and thin#ing process is further encouraged
in many parts of the boo# by eercises which require them to wor# in pairs or small
groups. In discussion with others, students need to formulate and articulate their ideas
more precisely, and so they also acquire new ways of tal#ing and thin#ing about a tet.
Students are also required to write and then read each other4s wor# so they can eperience
the connections between reading and writing. This boo# is different from other reading
boo#s. More Reading Power is divided into four parts so the learners can practice in four
different #inds of reading s#ills.
20
#art one% "eading for #leasure
%any students have never learned to en2oy reading for pleasure 'reading
etensively( in English. ?e all #now that in order to be a good reader, it is necessary to
read a lot. Students must understand the importance of reading etensively, and then they
must be encouraged to develop the habit of reading regularly for pleasure.
In this part, students are instructed to select boo#s to read for pleasure or individual
basic. These boo#s should be neither too easy nor difficult. They should not be boo#s that
are required in other courses that students have already read in translation. %ost important,
students should be encouraged to choose any boo#s they want such as0 fiction, nonfiction,
literature, or popular culture. ?hat concerns most is that the boo# is of interest to the
individual student and that the student actually wants to read it.
#art t$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
21
! "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 process
the 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, 1omparisonF 1ontrast and 1ause)Effect
22
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 another
language. 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 ESLFEFL 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 Power provides 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
23
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 EBO 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 E 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==E)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
24
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 -E& '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 the
collected 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, E, 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.
25
'.4.'. Class o,se"%ation
The author of the study randomly chose 5 classes '-E& ; 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 the
tas#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#
26
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 Power are too difficult.
They say that some reading tets contains too many new words and sometimes it ta#es
them 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 lesson67 focuses on
the necessity of the activities that should be done before reading the tet. &bout BAO of the
27
students state that their teachers organi:e some 6re)reading activities. It is obvious that the
students are aware of the importance of these activities and they regard them as inevitable
factor in almost reading lessons. Jearly 5AO of the students report that they are as#ed to
read the tet without preparation. This may due to the teachers4 own ways of teaching or
because of the time constraint.
'.5.&.'. Students3 p"efe"ences fo" P"e#"eadin! acti%ities.
,ased on the students answer to question C '5hich of the following Pre:reading
activities does your teacher use in reading lesson67 we have the following table to
illustrate their feedbac#.
6re)reading activities always sometimes rarely never
-. using games to
introduce the tet -AO CAO >=O -=O
5. using pre)reading
questions EAO 5AO -=O =O
>. pre)teaching new
vocabulary C=O >AO AO 5=O
C. eplaining the
instructions of the tet B=O AO -=O -AO
A. ma#ing students
predict the content of
the tet E=O 5=O -AO AO
E. giving reading tas#
to students 5=O CAO 5=O -AO
B. using visual aids to
introduce the tet 5=O 5AO A=O AO
/. giving a brief
introduction to the tet AAO 5AO -=O -=O
Table 5! <re=uency of using Pre:reading activities by the teachers
Table 5 indicates that three activities such as0 using pre:reading =uestions,
explaining the instructions of the text and making students predict the content of the text
are most frequently used by lots of the teachers. Dthers activities li#e using games and
pre : teaching new vocabulary are also chosen at the pre)reading stage by quite many
teachers. 3owever, A=O of the students reports that their teachers rarely use visual aids
to introduce the tets.
Table > below gives the facts to the question A 85hat do you think of these
activities! interesting, not very interesting, or boring67
28
6re ) reading activities interesting normal boring
-. using games to introduce the tet BAO -AO -=O
5. using pre)reading questions E=O 5AO -AO
>. pre)teaching new vocabulary A=O >=O 5=O
C. eplaining the instructions of the tet >AO A=O -AO
A. ma#ing students predict the content
of the tet.
>=O CAO 5AO
E. giving reading tas# to students 5=O A/O 55O
B. using visual aids to introduce the tet /=O 5=O =O
/. giving a brief introduction to the tet EAO 5AO -=O
Table >! "tudents; preferences for pre:reading activities
Loo# at the table >, the most noticeable thing is that '/=O( of the students finds
using visual aids, and 'BAO( of them state that using games to introduce the text are
interesting, but they are rarely used by their teachers 'table 5(. It can be understood that the
preparation for visual aids and games are time)consuming and hard for many teachers.
,esides, a large number of students en2oy other activities li#e pre:teaching new words and
using pre:reading =uestions, unfortunately, many of them thin# that explaining the
instructions of the text and making students predict the content of the text are normal or
even boring 'based on few students4 choices(.
?ith question E, the author intends to eamine the way that the students prefer to
participate in 6re)reading activities. The feedbac# of this question will be presented in the
chart - below.

/= &. wor# individual
CAO ,. wor# in pairs
>AO 1. wor# in groups
5=O


= & , 1
1hart -0 "tudents; preferences for participation in Pre:reading activities#
The chart above shows that many students '>AO( li#e to work in groups. It can be
understood that group)wor# enables students to activate their eisting #nowledge to share
29
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
EAO
C=O
=
-=O

&- &5 &> &C
1hart 5a0 "tudents; preferences for teachers; ways of introduction to the text
&-0 by using visual aids 'EAO(
&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 'EAO( 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
30
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,
31
which will ma#e it easier for the students to read and comprehend the tet. KesF 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, -E 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
32
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-0 5hat 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
33
the students focus on the reading tet immediately at the beginning of the lesson. "eplying
to this question, . teachers '>=O( say that they often give a brief introduction to the tet as
they could save time to lead their students directly to the reading tet4s requirements, or
they are worried that without which the students are not well)informed and might get
confused when dealing with the reading tet. Surprisingly, -A teachers 'A=O( state that
they often present some new words in the tet as they suppose that these words may
become an obstacle that causes difficulty to the students in understanding the tet and
carrying out the tas#s that followed. Dther > teachers '-=O( say that they often organi:e
some other lead)in activities 'such as providing some lead)in questions, using visual aids,
etc,.( to the tet in order to create the students4 interest. &ccording to them, by giving some
lead)in questions to the tet, their students find it easier to understand and they can better
concentrate on it as they read. ?hen the author had an informal interview with those
teachers about the activities they often used, she found that the activities which were
mostly employed by the teachers were using pre)reading questions to introduce the topic of
the tet, ma#ing students predict the content before reading, etc. 3owever, there are still >
teachers '-=O( claim that they do nothing before a reading tet, these teachers eplain that
there is no time for these activities, and that their students4 level is already at the
intermediate, they understand thoroughly what they have to do, and that there is no need to
waste time on unnecessary activities. They want their students to read the tet at once and
to eploit the tet themselves before chec#ing for the feedbac# later.
8uestion > is aimed at finding out what the teachers thin# about the role of the 6re)
reading activities.
/=O
B=O


5E.BO

>.>O

= & , 1
1hart C0 *eachers; attitude towards the role of Pre:reading activities#
34
&. very important0 5E.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 '5E.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 often use pre)reading activities to start the lesson. These activities are even
al$ays used by other > teachers '-=O( and the rest portion which ma#es up E=O of the
population state that they sometimes employ 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 E=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( agree that they use these activities in
order to help students predict the content of the tet or provide them with bac#ground
35
#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
agree that these activities are able to increase their students4 motivation before reading.
,esides, -/ teachers 'E=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 disagreeing is very modest, ranged from =O to 5=O.
8uestion E 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
E=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 'E=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 E=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
36
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&.

E=O
C=O

5BO
5=O
->O

= & , 1 9
1hart E0 *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 E, 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 E 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
37
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 as0 providing
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 '-E& 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 -E& with Nnit -)6art Four, the reading
tets in this unit are all about the 3awaiian Islands such as ?ater Sports in 3awaii, and
38
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
activities applied by the teachers have a great impact to students4 motivation before they
start reading. 3owever, the activities employed by the teachers were not varied since they
seem to prefer using pre)reading questions and giving introduction.
'.;. Summa"y
1hapter 5 has presented the situation of the study, in which the author would li#e to
focus on the setting, the reading material, and the characteristics of the students and
teachers participating in the study. ,esides, the contents and the aims of two survey
questionnaires and class observation are also presented in this chapter. The data analysis
from the questionnaires and class observations help the author have an overview of
teaching and learning reading at %S&. ?ith more details about students4 and teachers4
attitudes towards 6re)reading activities, students4 preferences for these activities as well as
students4 and teachers4 comments on 6re)reading activities in the tetboo# are also
39
investigated. The following chapter will deal with ma2or findings and suggestions of some
possible 6re)reading activities applied to teach More Reading Power to the second)year
English students at the %S&.
Chapter 3
Major fndings and suggestions of some possible Pre
reading ati!ities applied to tea" More Reading Power to t"e
#eond$%ear &nglis" Majors at t"e M#'
(.&. a8o" findin!s
(.&.&. The "ole of usin! P"e#"eadin! acti%ities to the Second#yea" )n!lish
a8o"s at the SA
The findings of this study showed that that both teachers and students at the %S&
are highly appreciated the important role of 6re)reading activities. For the teachers, the
application of 6re)reading activities enables them to activate students4 eisting #nowledge,
to teach more words as well as to arouse students4 motivation in reading to the tets. Dn
the other hand, for the students, the 6re)reading activities are obviously useful since they
are more motivated, they can understand the tets better while reading and the most
important thing is that these activities help them improve their reading s#ills as well.
(.&.'. 2"e:uency of usin! P"e#"eadin! acti%ities in "eadin! lessons
&s mentioned above, nearly all the teachers in the study are aware of the
importance of the 6re)reading activities, so they usually employ these activities with the
hope to motivating students as well as helping them deal with the reading tets more easily.
From the teachers4 and students4 survey questionnaires, the author finds out the order of
frequency for using 6re)reading activities in a reading lesson at the %S&.
! &he most fre'uently used activities%
) eplaining the instructions of the tet
) using pre)reading questions
) ma#ing students predict the content of the tet
&ctually, the first and the second activities are regarded as traditional ones and they
are mostly employed in every reading lesson by the teachers. ?hat is more, it does not ta#e
the teachers much time to design or prepare. %a#ing students predict the content of the tet
is another familiar activity. &ccording to the teachers, this activity encourages students to
40
use their eisting bac#ground #nowledge and vocabulary to guest the content and incidents
that may be occurred in the new reading tet. It also helps students more concentrating in
the coming stages.
! &he activities that are sometimes used%
) pre)teaching new vocabulary
) giving reading tas# to students
6re)teaching new vocabulary in a reading tet is a popular activity that sometimes
provided by the teachers since they considered words and structures are the #ey roles in
helping students avoid confusion or misunderstanding. %oreover, this activity is very useful
for the second year)students at the %S& because many of them consider the lac# of vocabulary
is a great barrier which ma#es it difficult for them to read and comprehend the reading tet.
&s mentioned above, sometimes teachers give the reading tas# without warming them
up by using any 6re)reading activities. The reason to this may be because they suppose that
their students are at their intermediate level, they #now how to, so there is no need to waste
time on unnecessary activities, 2ust only let them read the tet and eploit it themselves
7 The activities that are rarely used0
) using games to introduce the tet
) using visual aids to introduce the tet
&ll students of the second)year at the %S& are in their teens or early twenties, so
perhaps they still en2oy ta#ing part in what are called *2ust for fun+ activities li#e ta#ing
part in game or en2oying visual aids which were provided by the teachers. 3owever, these
activities need careful preparation and time consuming, so the fact that they are rarely used
in reading lessons is understandable.
(.&.(. Students3 p"efe"ences fo" P"e#"eadin! acti%ities
It is noticeable that students4 preferences for 6re)reading activities differ from what
the teachers often do in reading lessons. &s mentioned in chapter 5, many students en2oy
such activities as using games or using visual aids to introduce the tet, meanwhile, they
are sometimes or even rarely used by the teachers. In fact, almost the teachers at the %S&
are well aware that these activities are motivational ones. 3owever, it is obvious that
preparing visual aids or designing games possibly are tough for a lot of teachers.
Fortunately, both students and teachers share the same view in using such pre)reading
activities as providing pre)reading questions and giving brief introduction to the tet.
6erhaps they all find these activities interesting and motivational.
41
(.&.4. Students3 p"efe"ences fo" pa"ticipatin! in P"e#"eadin! acti%ities
From the data collected in chapter 5 the researcher reali:ed that a large number of
students en2oy wor#ing in groups, actually, group)wor# encourages students to display
their eisting #nowledge to share eperience together. 3owever, more students prefer
wor#ing in pairs, since doing pair)wor# provides them more time as well as more
opportunities. ?hat is more, pair)wor# also enables them to epress their point of view
more freely in non)threatening environment.
(.&.5. Teache"s3 difficulties in desi!nin! and applyin! the P"e#"eadin! acti%ities
&s mentioned in chapter 5, many reading lessons in More Reading Power include
6re)reading activities. 3owever, these activities are boring and repetitive so the teachers
always add more activities for each lesson to arouse the students4 motivation. Dbviously, to
create a motivated atmosphere for the students, teachers should employ appropriate
activities or the activities of their interest. ,ased on the data collected from the survey
questionnaire for the students the researcher discovered that ma2ority students are in favor
of such activities as using games and visual aids. 3owever, most of the teachers have to
admit that designing these activities is difficult and time)consuming. It requires a great
effort if they wish these activities wor# well in their real teaching situation. ,esides,
handling these activities sometimes is out of control because they often occupy much time
and they may cause noise to the surrounding environment.
(.&.;. Teache"s3 and students3 comments on P"e#"eadin! acti%ities a%aila,le in
the te1t,oo- More "eading #o$er
From the data collected in the previous chapter, the author found out that almost the
students and the teachers in the study are not in favor of the 6re)reading activities available
in the tetboo# they are using currently. In general, most of them comment that these
activities are not suitable for their teaching and learning reading, some of them even
suppose that these activities are boring. &ccording to them, these activities are poor,
repetitive, and sometimes rather boring. Therefore, they all thin# that more activities
should be added at the 6re)reading stage.
(.'. Su!!estions of some possi,le P"e#"eadin! acti%ities applied to teach More
"eading #o$er to the Second#yea" )n!lish a8o"s at the SA
For developing s#ills to the second year students at the %S&, reading
comprehension is one of the most difficult but important academic tas#s facing
second year students at intermediate level. To improve reading s#ills can positive
impact many aspects of second year students4 performance. 9isinterest in reading
42
may result in poor reading comprehension, creating students4 interest, enhancing their
motivation and improving their concentration in the tetboo# More Reading Power
are indispensable steps. In this study, the researcher offers several suggestions for the
teachers to create their students4 interest, to enhance their motivation as well as their
concentration before reading#
(.'.&. C"eatin! Inte"est and )nhancin! oti%ation
?ays for creating interest and enhancing motivation for the students at the %S& will
vary significantly according to personal preferences, eperiences, bac#ground, and sub2ect
matter. For second)year students of English at the %S& it would be helpful to suggest some
ways for creating the students4 interest and enhancing their motivation before reading.
!roup discussion is an activity that can be appropriate for situations in which tets
are difficult, sometimes contain unfamiliar concepts or words that may be not eist in the
students4 minds. !roup students in three or four with an efficient reader to create an
eciting reading atmosphere since reading alone is conventional and sometimes rather
boring and not effective.
(.'.'. Usin! %isual aids
It is very important for the readers to have something to loo# at is eye)caching and
relevant to the tas# in hand. There are many advantages of using visual aids in a reading
lesson that the teacher can use. First of all, using visual aids can focus attention on meaning
and help to ma#e the language, using visual aids in the class in general and in the reading
lesson in particular can bring students bac# to real life. Secondly, having something to loo#
at can #eep the students4 attention and ma#e the class more alive and interesting. %oreover,
using visual aids at pre)reading stage can help the teacher much in presenting new words or
introducing a topic, as part of language practice, and when reviewing language that has been
presented earlier. !ood visual aids are not 2ust used once, but again and again and can be
shared by different teachers and with different groups of students.
(.'.(. P"e# :uestionin!
6re)questioning involves presenting students with a set of written questions '"oyer
et. al., -./>( or having students generate their own questions on the topic of the reading
passage 'Taglieber et.al., -./>(. The aim of this activity is to motivate students to read
what follows for a purpose, that is, to gain the re=uisite information to answer the
=uestion# '1arrell, -.//05CB( ,eing motivated is one of the most important factors that can
help students in the process of reading. *The more students loo# forward to reading and
43
anticipate in their minds what the tet could hold in store for them, the easier it will be to
grasp the main points of the passage+ '!rellet -./-0E5(. 6roviding pre)reading questions
also *functions to get students to predict within a contet area what the tet will be about+
before studying the tet '1arrell -.//05CB(. They ma#e students *aware of what they wish
to learn about the topic+ '!rellet -./-0E5(, since these questions set purposes for reading.
(.'.4. $"ainsto"min!
Dne very popular #ind of 6re)reading activities is *,rainstorming.+ Students are
given a particular #ey word or #ey concept and then invited to call out words and concepts
they personally associate with the #ey words or words provided by the teacher. It has many
advantages, since it requires little teacher preparation, allows learners freedom to bring
their own prior #nowledge and opinions to bear on a particular topic, and involves the
whole class. Jo one need feel threatened when any bid is acceptable and can be added to
the framewor#. The results of this #ind of activity resemble what has been called *semantic
mapping+ '?allace -..>0.5(.
(.'.5. Role# playin!
"ole)play is a way of bringingsituation from real life into classroom. ?hen the
teacher carries out role)play, he or she as#s the students to imagine themselves to be a
farmer, a doctor, a teacher or a scientist, etc,. In general, role)play increases motivation, it
gives students a chance to use the language in new contets and for new topics. The
students can imagine themselves in defferent situations when they do role)play. In addition,
by using role)play in the class, the teachers is building on something that the students
naturally en2oy, because through the role)play, the students can epress their own natural
epressions, intornations and gestures as well.
(.(. Summa"y
1hapter > has presented the author4 ma2or findings about students4 attitudes towards
6re)reading activities, students4 preferences for these activities, teachers4 difficulties when
designing and applying 6re)reading activities as well as students4 and teachers4 comments
on 6re)reading activities in tetboo# More Reading Power#
%ore importantly, these findings enable the researcher to provide suggestions on
some possible 6re)reading activities which are thought to be appropriate for motivating
students at the first stage of the reading lesson in particular, and for developing reading
s#ills to the second year students of English at the %S& in general.
44
In a single lesson, it is not possible for the teacher to use all these suggested
activities presented in this chapter, therefore, the teacher should choose different activities
for different reading lessons with different purposes. It is hoped that with the application of
this advice, the teachers can help the students at the %S& learn the tetboo# %ore "eading
6ower more effectively.
PART C: CONC*USION
&. Summa"y of the study
This study was conducted with the hope to find out the role of 6re)reading activities
to second)year students4 motivation in reading at the %S&. It is obvious from the previous
chapters that the importance of reading in foreign language learning is undeniable and
appropriate techniques are also important to improve the students4 reading abilities. &s the
result, the suggestions of several appropriate activities to help second)year students better
in their reading s#ills at the %S& appears to be necessary.
This study entitled (A study on possible effective #re-reading activities to improve
reading skills for the 2
nd
-year English majors at the Military Science Academy) consists
of three parts0 the introduction, the development, and the conclusion. The first part presents
the rationale and scope of the study, aims, methods, significance, and the design of the
study. The second part)development includes three chapters0
1hapter -)theoretical bac#ground reviews the relevant literature on reading and
reading comprehension. ,esides, concepts and ideas about motivation in general and in second
language learning in particular have been mentioned. %oreover, the importance of motivation,
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 in this chapter.
1hapter 5)the study presents the situation of the study, in which the author would
li#e to focus on the setting, the reading material, and the characteristics of the students and
teachers participating in the study. The data analysis based on the questionnaires for the
teachers and the students as well as class observations are also presented in this chapter.
1hapter > deals with ma2or findings through data analysis in chapter 5. In addition,
the author provides suggestions of some possible 6re)reading activities which can be
applied to teach More Reading Power to the second)year English students at the %S&.
The last part of the study)conclusion, in which the limitations and suggestions for
further study are presented.
'. *imitations and su!!estions fo" fu"the" study
45
In most research pro2ects, limitations are inevitable. The study presented in this
thesis is of no eception. 9ue to the shortage of time and #nowledge, the study can not
cover all the factors affecting the students4 motivation in learning reading at the %S&. This
study merely focuses on motivational activities for the 6re)reading stage to the second)year
students ma2or of English at the %S&. Thus, further study on motivational while)reading
and post)reading activities for the second)year students and for the students of other years
seem to be of great usefulness.
46