i
THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
READING PERFORMANCE AND READING INTERESTS OF
COLLEDGE FRESHMEN OF THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY: BASIS
FOR DEVELOPING COLLEGE SUPPLEMENTARY INTERGRATIVE
READING MATERIALS
A Dissertation
Presented to
The Faculty of Graduate School
Batangas State University
Batangas City, Philippines
In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Major in English
By:
DINH THI HUONG (LILAC)
December, 2014
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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TABLE OF CONTENTS...........................................................................i
LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................iii
LIST OF FIGURES..................................................................................v
CHAPTER
I.
THE PROBLEM.........................................................................1
Introduction................................................................1
Statement of the Problem..........................................7
Scope, Limitations and Delimitations of the Study ....9
Significance of the Study...........................................9
II.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE ...................................................13
Conceptual Literature ..............................................13
Research Literature.................................................49
Synthesis.................................................................78
Theoretical Framework............................................83
Conceptual Framework ...................................................86
Hypothesis...............................................................88
Definition of Terms ..................................................88
III.
RESEARCH METHOD AND PROCEDURE .........................90
Research Design.....................................................90
Subjects of the Study ..............................................93
Data Gathering Instrument ......................................95
Data Gathering Procedure ......................................97
Statistical Treatment of Data ...................................98
IV.
PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF
DATA ...................................................................................99
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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
V. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS..132
Summary ...............................................................132
Findings .................................................................134
Conclusions ...........................................................137
Recommendations ................................................138
BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................................................140
APPENDIX ..........................................................................................148
CURRICULUM VITAE ........................................................................177
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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
LIST OF TABLES
Table
Title
Page
1.
Distribution of Participants...........................................................93
2.
Percentage Distribution of the Students’ Demographic
Profile in Terms of Gender ..........................................................99
3.
Percentage Distribution of the Students’ Demographic
Profile in Terms of Type of High School Graduated from .........100
4.
Percentage Distribution of the Students’ Demographic
Profile in Terms of Living Accomodation ...................................101
5.
Percentage Distribution of the Students’ Demographic
Profile in Terms of Monthly Family Income ...............................101
6.
Percentage Distribution of the Students’ Demographic
Profile in Terms of Educational Attainment of Parents..............102
7.
Level of the Students’ Reading Performance in English ...........104
8.
Relationship Between Demographic Profile and Reading
Performance of the Students’....................................................106
9.
Reading Interests of Freshmen Students with Regards to
Music .........................................................................................108
10.
Reading Interests of Freshmen Students with Regards to
Food and Health........................................................................112
11.
Reading Interests of Freshman Students with ..........................114
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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
12.
Regards to Sports and Games..................................................114
13.
Reading Interests of Freshmen Students with Regards to
Science......................................................................................116
14.
Relationship Between the
Reading Performance of the
Students’ and Reading Interests of Freshmen Students...........118
15.
Proposed Supplemental Reading Materials..............................120
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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure
1.
Title
Page
The Conceptual Model of the Study Using the
Input-Process-Output Approach…………………………………..……90
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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM
Introduction
The importance of education could hardly be denied by every one
for it is not the quality alone that most educators are after, but most of
all, an effective English language teaching instruction especially in nonnative English speaking countries like Vietnam. This world is now in
global competition where teaching college English emphasizes not only
theory but more on practice in order to compete communicatively with
other countries. It is now the concern of English teachers to apply
language learning into useful, meaningful and worthwhile classroom
engagements and create career advantage in life.
As English is the language of academic instruction, the success
of students depend on their communication ability which is anchored on
their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills in English. But recent
studies show that the performance of the college students have fallen
short of the standard output expected while there is an increasing
complaint of the college professors that most college students are
disabled readers. Most of the college students are no longer fluent in
speaking, reading, and writing the English language.
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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
With the advent of new technology, students nowadays spend
more of their free time enjoying with their gadgets, mostly for games
rather than with their reading materials. No matter how hard educators
push the campaign of reading among students, most of them would
prefer not to participate
One of the most important skills being taught to students today is
reading. This is the foundation for which the individual builds new skills,
expands knowledge, and drives great satisfaction. Perhaps, the most
complex process the students experience is the skill in reading. The
teacher, whether in elementary, secondary or even in college, needs to
guide the students properly in the acquisition of basic skills to be able to
read with understanding.
Development of reading skills is vital most especially for students.
Reading is a multifaceted process that develops only with practice.
There are certain aspects of reading, such as fluency and word
recognition, which can be learned in a few years. These basics must be
mastered but at the same time reading comprehension should be
emphasized in the process. Students can parrot words on a page all
day long but if they don’t have the necessary comprehension skills they
will not be able to make predictions about what will happen next,
monitor their understanding of content, sequence or characters, clarify
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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
confusing parts of the text, or connect what they’re reading to their own
experience or prior knowledge (Marshall, 2012).
The model of what “reading” is has changed quite dramatically
from an earlier model where reading was mainly a process of decoding
the words on the page (Mather, 2003). The current view about reading
is that it is a complex cognitive process; a bottom-up process in which
the pre-existing knowledge structure of the reader is brought to bear on
the text. Silvertain added that there are two kinds of background
knowledge. They are formal schemata, which involve knowledge of
rhetorical structures and conventions, and the content schemata which
involved knowledge of the word beyond text. In this contemporary view
of reading, the teacher’s role is to assist in developing an appreciation
schema during the reading process.
Nowadays, in Vietnam, English is considered as a basic subject.
It is being taught in most of the universities, including Thai Nguyen
University.
Reading in English is very interesting because it helps the learner
not only to study English well, but also to understand more about the
outside world. The learners will be informed the events, culture, people,
and others in foreign countries through English newspaper, magazines
or books. Reading is the key that unlocks the door in the world of
enlightenment and enjoyment. However, the input or the information
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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
ones gets through reading depends on his interpretations about similar
things that he reads. Each person is unique individual trying to put
meaning to an author’s message.
Learning to read is one of the most important accomplishments
that can be achieved during ones formal schooling. However, reading is
a complex process that causes students a lot of troubles.
According to reading specialists, many students do not become
good readers when they have poor reading habits and negative
attitudes toward reading. Usually they are those who have numerous
unrelated, disorganized and incomplete pieces of words floating in their
memories and more often than not, they become the disable readers
and the poorest individuals in the class.
A disabled reader is not an exemption from those who are termed
as slow learners. He is one and the same as those who experience
difficulty within the learning situation in connection with mental ability. If
this is the case, the teacher must set specific attention to the disable
readers or slow learners although it is believed that the overall
curriculum must be the same for all students. Whether each student
reads well or poorly, the teacher must be to make an analysis for each
case and the teacher should determine the learner’s points of strengths
or weaknesses before giving intelligent assistance.
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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
The goals of reading are to understand written text, integrate new
ideas, and generalize from what is read. Reading comprehension
depends on several interrelated skills: understanding oral language,
decoding the printed word, reading fluently, and using strategies to
increase comprehension. No matter what the student’s age is, it’s
important his skills develop in all areas because significant difficulty in
any one of them can cause a breakdown in the whole process of
reading (Baumel, 2003).
Reading is a process of extracting meaning from print. It involves
both visual, perceptual and linguistic processes. Good readers know
and understand the processes involved in reading and consciously
control them. This awareness and control of the reading processes is
called metacognition, which means “knowing about knowing”. Some
students do not know what they are reading. They continue to red even
though they do not comprehend. Poor readers tolerate such confusion
because they either don’t realize that it exists or don’t know what to do
about it. Poor reader focuses on facts whereas good readers try to
absorb details into a larger cognitive pattern.
The reading problem and comprehension of the college students
must really be given priority so that they will be able to cope up with the
demands of both academic and professional endeavors. To see better
development, the researcher decided to tap the freshman students of
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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
Thai Nguyen University so that in the end, a reading program will be
proposed to enhance the reading skills of freshman students.
As a college instructor in English courses, the researcher too,
have a notion that the first year college students enrolled in the different
programs of Thai Nguyen University could be the main concern of this
academic issue. Despite their having finished the secondary level, they
are still deficient in the basic communication skills especially in reading.
Hence, the problem in skill acquisition that prevails among the
first year college students has to be identified and given attention to.
The researcher really wanted to come up with a concerted effort among
English instructors of the different colleges of this university– to lessen,
if not eradicate the reading weaknesses of the students. Such effort
however, is an expectation for better quality of today’s college
graduates.
Likewise, the need for this study is really on call since it should
always be the concern of the English teachers to know the abilities,
interests, needs and characteristics of the students under his control
and at the same time discuss the weaknesses of each student in
reading as well as give the corresponding measure. As one goes up the
ladder of education, this student has to learn to read extensively in
order to improve his level of achievement. He has to develop the basic
skills in reading. The researcher wanted to emphasize the need for
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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
reading skills because she believes that success in reading is success
in school, thus, success in future life. It is even obvious that the ability to
read is vital to learning because access to knowledge in the various
disciplines is made possible through reading. This eventually prepares
the youth for both local and global competitiveness.
Since this should be the focus of tertiary education, a very
alarming finding proved that there is a need to refocus attention to the
reading program in the college level because reading is a primary
avenue to knowledge. To advance in knowledge, one should forever
learn more, study more, and reason more. Likewise, reading is the most
important task of learning and all the lessons and subjects in the
academe need the skills in reading. A student who has developed the
basic skills in reading loves to read well. As he goes up the ladder of
education, he has to learn to read extensively in order to improve his
level of achievement. The researcher at this point wanted to become an
instrument in developing college supplementary integrative reading
materials that will assist each individual learner to attain his reading
potential as a student.
Statement of the Problem
This study will attempt to determine the reading performance and
reading interests on of freshman students of Thai Nguyen University.
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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
Specifically, it seeks answers to the following questions:
1. What is the demographic profile of college freshman students of
Thai Nguyen University in term of::
1.1 gender
1.2 type of high school graduated from
1.3 living accommodation
1.4 monthly family income
1.5 educational qualification of parent?
2. What is the level of the students’ reading performance in English?
3. How does reading performance relate to the demographic profile
of the students?
4. What are the reading interests of college freshman students along
the following:
4.1 literature
4.2 science
4.3 sports and games
4.4 Music
4.5 Food and health
5. How do the profile variable relate to reading performance and
reading interest?
6. What supplementary integrative reading materials may be
prepared?
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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
Scope, Limitations and Delimitations of the Study
This study will focus and is limited to the reading performance of
freshman students of Thai Nguyen University.
It will also deal with the survey of reading interests of students
along literature, science, sports and games, music, food and health.
The study will be conducted in the school year 2013-2014 among 400
freshman students of TNU.
Significance of the Study
The Thai Nguyen University is a tertiary institution that is
committed and accountable for providing classroom instruction with
positive results which is being manifested in high performance level with
regards to student learning outcomes. Teachers are dedicated to the
well-being of the students and communities they serve, taking into
account their cultural diversity, group aspirations, and what is valued in
education.
With the good intention of the researcher, this study will be in a
way benefiting directly or indirectly to the following who are involved in
the educational system most especially those concerned with the
English courses or even other tool subjects where the medium of
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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
instruction is English .The researcher believe that this study would be
beneficial to the following.
The Students of TNU. The useful and relevant information
acquired from the study will encourage them to keep on using English
as their second language. They would even realize that learning reading
skills would enable them to easily change the printed words and
symbols into ideas or thoughts, thus, reflects on their significance,
relates with them and sees their implications. With this, becoming
grammatically competent will make the students speak English with
confidence, as well as their improved performance in language tests.
The acquired skills in reading would help the students in their active
participation in recitation, reporting and investigation projects, in
explaining mathematical solutions, and campus writing.
To add, this would challenge them harder to improve their weak
points and enhance their strong points of the reading skills.
The English Teachers. The results of this study could provide
them insights on how they will address the needs, problems and
constraints toward the concept of reading. The results could even enrich
their English syllabus design and content as well as instructional
development. They would be encouraged, too, to think of additional
creative techniques of the reading activities in their classes to improve
students’ reading skills particularly on scanning, vocabulary and study
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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
aids. More so, they could be able to understand better the attitudes,
interest, comprehension skills and problems of the pupils as regards
reading.
The Language Department of TNU. The findings would serve as
an indispensable basis in revitalizing and intensifying English as well as
the Reading Program. The results too, would give them ideas of
integrating
a
well-planned
reading
activities
in
English
and
developmental Reading subjects.
School Administrators. This study would be instrumental in the
performance of the school as far as students’ development is
concerned. With an improved grammar, the school would be well
represented in inter-schools and community activities. Moreover, the
output of the study could be considered as supplementary to the
reference materials provided in the school library. This could also
encourage them to further intensify the school’s both English and
Reading Programs.
More likely, the findings would motivate the administrators to
implement a reading program that could assist English teachers to
discover students’ strengths and weaknesses in reading skills.
Parents. The program to be proposed in the study would be
easily appreciated, since the end beneficiary in any educative process
is the student. They would be proud knowing that their children are
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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
being developed in school in terms of language particularly reading
proficiency. As a result, they will not hesitate to extend their full support
to whatever school activities their children are involved in. In addition,
the findings will make them more aware and cooperative of the reading
program that the school implements because they are vital in the
educative process of their children.
Other Higher Education Institutions. It is also perceived that
the data collected would likely be useful for the teachers of other higher
education institutions who have limited English proficient students. The
fact that reading is a complex process, these institutions could motivate
and challenge their own organization to boost the manifold skills and
abilities needed in the successful reading act.
Syllabus Designers. This research study could make the
syllabus designers find a place for reading competencies in the course
of activities for lessons they have to make. This would give them the
realization that reading should not be taken for granted and that it needs
to be involved in their design. This would prompt them to continue
developing materials that will enrich the students’ reading competence.
The future researchers. This could provide them insights on how
to help individuals improve their reading skills deficiencies to work
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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
This chapter presents the review of conceptual and research
literatures which are related to the present study. They provide insights
of facts and discussed as basis of the study.
Conceptual Literature
Characteristics of Freshmen College students. Gardner and Lambert
(2000) defines ‘attitude’ as the persistence shown by the learner in striving for
a goal. Brown uses the term ‘attitudes’ to refer to the set of beliefs that the
learner holds towards members of the target language group and also
towards his own culture. Gardner and Lambert have investigated a number of
different attitudes which they consider relevant to L2 learning. Stern classifies
these attitudes into three types: (1) attitudes towards the community and
people who speak the L2 (i.e. ‘group specific attitudes’); (2) attitudes towards
learning the language concerned; and (3) attitudes towards languages and
language learning in general (Ellis, 2010). All these types of attitudes
displayed by language learners appeared in the survey questionnaire.
The attitude of the reader is an important factor in constructing
meaning. Because of an unfriendly teacher long ago in a high school physics
class, one adult finds any article about physics almost impossible to
understand. However, warm memories of a chemistry teacher make this
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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
subject more readable. Many students with reading problems are literary
afraid of books. Nine-year-old Kenisha experienced a magical feeling
achievement after she overcame her fear of books and read and enjoyed her
first hardcover book. For those who teach students with problems, developing
positive attitudes toward reading is an extremely important and sometimes
challenging task (Richek et. al. 2002).
In developing positive attitudes in language learning, several steps may
be helpful in this regard. First, the teacher will want to establish positive
relationships with students. It may be helpful for the teacher to have an
understanding of the students’ cultural backgrounds and the values they bring
to school. Once positive relationships and open communication have been
established, students accept the teacher as a role model and as a model of
literate behavior. Second, to serve as a good model of literate behavior,
teachers must demonstrate the kind of literacy they want to show. Teachers
must see themselves as readers and writers if they want their students to read
and write (Au, 2002). The teacher also plays a vital role in developing positive
attitudes in language learning though students play the central role.
Education Secretary Br. Armin A. Luistro, FSC (2012) quotes that it is
important to assess the reading capability of students because reading is the
foundation of all academic learning. He added that if a pupil fails to master
basic reading skills at the outset, it will be a constant struggle for them to get
through other disciplines successfully, thus depriving them of the chance to
become literate and productive individuals.
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