Reading performance and reading interests of colledge freshmen of Thai nguyen university: basis for developing college supplementary intergrative reading materials

jor in English By: DINH THI HUONG (LILAC) December, 2014 i 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 ii 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 iii 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 iv 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 v THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines LIST OF FIGURES Figure Title Page 1. The Conceptual Model of the Study Using the Input-Process-Output Approach..90 1 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 non- native 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. 2 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 3 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 4 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. 5 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 6 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 7 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. 8 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? 9 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 10 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 11 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 12 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 13 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 14 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. 15 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines Reading Performance. One of the most important skill that a person can acquire is reading. It helps the learner to understand the world by enabling them to learn about the past and plan for the future (Grove et al, 1982). For academic success, reading is important since it is also considered a critical skill. In the educational system reading is well integrated that either educational or academic success is considered synonymous to reading success. In term of reading skills, the ability to read is essential to the ability to talk. Without this ability, one can find this modern world a confusing place to live in. It will be difficult to find one’s way about a strange city without help. One must be able to read if he desires to talk or write in such a way as to interest, convince, or persuade other people. Through reading, he will learn, not only what other people thought, felt, dreamed of, or believed in; but also have those people expressed their ideas, emotions, dreams, and beliefs. In academic setting, reading is the central means for learning new information and gain access to alternative explanations and interpretations. Reading also provides the foundation for synthesis and critical evaluation of skills. It is the primary means for independent learning wherever the goal is performing better on academic tasks, learning more about subject matter, or improving language abilities. 16 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines Reading as pointed out by Beber (1995) is a process by which information is extracted from written or printed texts. Since reading is a complex process there are critical aspects of which it is dependent and these are the written format of the word and the reader’s ability to decode the phonetic relationships between the letters of the page and the sounds of the spoken language and a semantic or syntactic process that has to do with meaning of the words which are being pronounced. Reading as one skill in language performance is basically about making sense of a text and is the receptive skill of the morphologic form of the language. It is astoundingly complex cognitive process. It has cognitive consequences that extend beyond its immediate task of lifting meaning from a particular passage (www.csun.ed/know/ands/content/Academic Resource/Reading). Dauzat (1981) on the other hand states that reading as a process involves mental ability embedded in other communication abilities and converts graphic stimuli into meanings. It is an act of reconverting symbols into language with which the individual is already familiar. For reading and academic success, strong vocabulary skills both expressive and receptive are critical. Vocabulary depth is significant because it supports reading development. Reading can also help us develop our own ideas about relationship as well as the world of thoughts and emotions. 17 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines Reading has to be considered in the role of language because according to Anderson (1985), it is a basic life skill and creates almost limitless possibilities for achievements. Much of the learning takes place in the form of reading in spite of other medium of instruction used whether it be in the form of a textbooks or a written work. In conveying information and new knowledge, reading plays a pivotal role. The National Reading Panel in Washington D.C. (2000) noted the interaction between a reader’s ability to recognize the meanings of individual words in printed text (vocabulary comprehension) and that reader’s skill at comprehending the larger meaning of a passage (text comprehension). Vocabulary instruction should be t... series of recursive interaction, and interact gradually by interactions. Here, the readers reconstruct their own meaning. Strategic reading is flexibility in the use of reading techniques when reading. A strategic reader is one who understands different reading goals and various kinds of strategies for each kind of text. A strategic reading, according to Mather (2003), has appropriate strategies for these reading situations: skimming, summarizing, paraphrasing, comprehending, sequencing events, looking for relationships, clarifying or predicting, among others. To be more effectively developed as a skill, the reading process may use different strategies. Semantic mapping is a visual method of expanding and extending vocabulary knowledge by displaying words related to other words or concepts in a relationship pattern. 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 37 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines serve as a good model of literate behavior, teachers must demonstrate the kind of literacy they want to show. As Graves and others have argued, 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. Today, rapid development of educational technologies lead to construction of information societies (Alkharusi, H. 2010). Thus “Information” has become the focus of economic development of the modern societies (Tezer, M., &Bicen, H. 2008). Moreover six or seven thousand essays have been published in a day and information is multiplied in five and a half year time (Aỳkar, 1992). Rapid renovation of information affects education systems directly and it requires training individuals who can adapt to 21st century. Information societies need individuals who can reach information, easily, contribute their production by using information that they reach, who have gained the power of doing analysis and linking, and the habit of evaluation systems have to train individuals who have qualities that are expressed. Reading rate of people who read regularly, between 16 and 21, decreased to 63% in 1983 from 75% when it is compared to 1978. So, analyzing university students’ reading habits became necessary. Especially the quality of reading habits and interests of candidate teachers has vital importance 38 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines in order to be a good example for pupils and teenagers. Thus determining reading habits and interests of university students is seen required in order to develop the characteristics that are expressed and make suggestions about this subject it is thought that results of this research will give clues in determining characteristics of today’s effective teachers. Research from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2002) showed that reading enjoyment is more important for children’s educational success than their family’s socio- economic status. Reading for pleasure could therefore be one important way to help combat social exclusion and raise educational standards. According to Krashen (1993), who is a major proponent of the value of reading for pleasure: when children read for pleasure, when they get “hooked on books”, they acquire, involuntarily and without conscious effort, nearly all of the so-called “language skills” many people are so concerned about: they will become adequate readers, acquire a large vocabulary, develop the ability to understand and use complex grammatical constructions, develop a good writing style, and become good (but not necessarily perfect) spellers. Although free voluntary reading alone will not ensure attainment of the highest levels of literacy, it will at least ensure an acceptable level. Without it, children simply do not have a chance. What young people has been an area of interest to 39 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines researchers, teachers, librarians and other interested parties for more than a century and many studies have attempted to answer it. Researchers have studied children's reading interests and preferences using a variety of methods, such as surveys and interviews. However, there still is no definitive understanding of what children prefer to read and when these preferences develop. Research findings are also likely to present only a temporal snapshot of children’s and young people’s reading preferences. However, what studies show time and again is that children and young people read a diverse range of materials outside class, incorporating materials not traditionally regarded by schools as acceptable reading matter. For example, the Reading Connects survey (Clark & Foster, 2005) showed that when pupils were asked what types of materials they were reading outside class, magazines, websites, text messages, jokes and books/magazines about TV programmes emerged as the most popular reading choices. Over half the pupils also indicated reading emails, fiction, comics, while newspapers were also popular choices. When asked specifically about what type of fiction, if any, they preferred reading, adventure, comedy and horror/ghost stories were the most frequently chosen types. Only 5% of pupils did not read fiction. Integrative supplementary reading materials. Two reasons cited for reading: pleasure and study. The type of materials used for 40 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines study includes dictionary, textbook, instructional material, internet material, report and story/novels. This implies that the materials associated with academic work would be regarded as important for study. Whereas those cited for pleasure reading include magazines, emails, newspapers and novels. These types of reading material do not require much processing as the others cited for study. Thus, learners are more relaxed and feel comfortable reading these materials in a leisurely manner. (Noor, 2011), stated that young people favored reading magazines and newspapers most and novels least. Recently introduced e-reader brands have attracted so much attention that it is sometimes difficult to remember that those currently on the market are not the first generation of such devices. The first generation was introduced, to little fanfare, in the 1990s. Devices such as the Soft Book and the Rocket E-Book reader are well documented in the literature, but were unsuccessful in the market. The most recent wave of e-readers began with the Sony Reader in 2006 and Amazon’s Kindle in 2007, and thus far is enjoying more success. Barnes and Noble and Borders have entered the market with the Nook and the Kobo, respectively, and Apple has introduced the iPad, a multifunction device that works well as an e-reader. Amazon claims that e-book sales for the Kindle have outstripped their hardcover book sales. These numbers may reflect price 41 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines differences, enthusiasm on the part of early adopters, marketing efforts on the parts of these particular companies, or a lack of other options for e-reader users because the devices are designed to be compatible primarily with the offerings of the companies who sell them. Nevertheless, they certainly indicate a rise in the con- sumption of e- books by the public, as the dramatic increase in wholesale e-book sales bears out. In the meantime, sales of the devices increased nearly 80 percent in 2010. With this flurry of activity have come predictions that e- readers will replace print eventually, perhaps even within the next few years. Books have been published with such bold titles as Print is Dead. However, despite the excitement, e-readers are still a niche market. According to the 2010 Pew Internet and American Life survey, 5 percent of Americans own e-book readers. Those who do skew heavily to the wealthy and well-educated, with 12 percent having an annual household income of $75,000 or more and 9 percent of college graduates owning an electronic book reader. This suggests that e-book readers are still a luxury item to many. To academic librarians, it is especially important to know whether e- readers are being adopted by college students and whether they can be adapted for academic use. E-readers’ virtues, including their light weight, their ability to hold many books at the same time, and the speed 42 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines with which materials can be delivered, could make them very attractive to students. However, they have many limitations for academic work. Most do not provide the ability to copy and paste into another document, have limited note-taking capabilities, and rely on navigation strategies that are most effective for linear reading. The format also presents many difficulties regarding library lending. Many publishers rely on various forms of DRM (digital rights management) software to pro- tect copyrighted materials. This software often prevents e-books from being compatible with more than one type of e-book reader. Indeed, because e-book collections in academic libraries predate the emergence of e-book read- ers, many libraries now own or subscribe to large e-book collections that are not compatible with the majority of these devices. Furthermore, publishers and manufacturers have been hesitant to establish lending models for their books. Amazon recently announced that they would allow users to lend a book once for a period of four- teen days, if the publisher gave permission. This very cautious and limited approach speaks volumes about publishers’ fears regarding user sharing of e-books. Several libraries have developed programs for lending the devices, but there is no real model for lending e-books to users who already own e-readers. A service called Overdrive also provides downloadable collections, primarily of popular fiction, that can be accessed in this 43 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines manner. However, the collections are small and are not compatible with all devices, including the most popular, the Kindle. In the United Kingdom, the Publisher’s Association has pro- vided guidelines under which libraries can lend e-books, which include a requirement that the user physically visit the library to download the e-book. Clearly, we do not currently have anything resembling a true library lending model for e-reader compatible e-books, especially not one that takes advantage of the format’s strengths. Despite the challenges, it is clear that if e- book read- ers are enthusiastically adopted by students, libraries will need to find a way to offer materials compatible with them. As Buczynski puts it, “Libraries need to be in play at this critical juncture lest they be left out or sidelined in the emerging e-book marketplace.” However, because the costs of participating are likely to be substantial, it is very important to discover whether students are indeed adopting the hardware. Few studies have focused on spontaneous student adoption of the devices, although several mention that when students were introduced to e-readers, they appeared to be unfamiliar with the devices and regard them as a novelty. However, e-readers have become more prevalent since many of these studies were conducted. Thus this study surveys students to find their attitudes toward e-book readers. Only a few studies have attempted to quantify the popularity of e-readers. As mentioned above, the 2010 Pew Foundation 44 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines survey, Internet and American Life, found that e-readers were luxury items owned by the well educated and well off. In the survey, 5 percent of respondents reported owning an e-reader. In the ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 3.1 percent of undergraduate college students reported own- ing an e-book reader, suggesting that college students are adopting the devices at a slower rate than the general population. Commercial market research companies, including Harris Interactive and the Book Industry Study Group, also have collected data on e-book adoption. The Harris Interactive poll found that 8 percent of their respondents owned e- readers, and that those who did claimed that they read more since acquiring it. However, as a weighted online poll with no available measure of sampling error, these results should be considered with caution. The Book Industry Study Group survey, although it was sponsored by several publishers and e-reader manufacturers, appears to use a more robust method. This survey, Consumer Attitudes toward E-Book Reading, was conducted in three parts in 2009 and 2010. Kelly Gallagher, who was responsible for the group that conducted the study, remarks that “we are still in very early days on e-books in all aspects—technology and adoption.” Although the size of the market has increased dramatically, the survey found that almost half of all e-readers are acquired as a gift and that half of all e- 45 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines books “purchased” are actually free. However, among those who used e-books, about half said they mostly or exclusively purchased e- books rather than print. The e-books purchased are mostly fiction (75 percent); textbooks comprised only 11 percent of e-book purchases. Much of the literature on e-book readers consists of user studies, which provide useful information about how readers might interact with the devices once they have them in hand but provide no information about whether students are likely to use them of their own volition. However, these studies are of interest because they hint at reasons that students may or may not find e-readers useful, important information for predicting the future of e-books. User studies have covered small devices, such as PDAs (personal data assistants); first-generation e-readers, such as the Rocket eBook; and more recent e-book readers. The results of many recent e-reader user studies have been very similar to studies on the usability of the first generation of e-book readers: the devices offer advantages in portability and convenience but lack good note- taking features and provide little support for nonlinear navigation. Amazon sponsored large-scale research on academic uses of e- book readers at universities, such as Princeton, Case Western Reserve University, and the University of Virginia, while other 46 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines universities, such as Northwest Missouri State University, 20 carried out their own projects with other e-readers. Other types of programs, most notably Texas A&M’s Kindle lending program, and many academic focus groups have also contributed to our knowledge of how students use e-readers. Users in nearly every study have praised the portability of these devices. This can be very important to students; users in one study noted that the portability of reading devices allowed them to “reclaim an otherwise difficult to use brief period,” and in another, students were able to multitask, doing household chores and study- ing at the same time. Adjustable text size and the ability to search for words in the text have also been popular among students, as has the novelty value of these devices. Environmental concerns surrounding heavy printing have also been cited as an advantage of e-readers. However, the limitations of these devices, some of which are severe in an academic setting, also have been noted. The comments of students at Gettysburg College are typical: they liked the e- readers for leisure reading, but found them awkward for classroom use. Lack of note-taking support was an important drawback for many students. Waycott and Kukulska-Hulme noted that students were much less likely to take notes while Their first encounter with 47 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines an e-book reader.” While this is mere anecdote, it, along with the survey results noted above, raises the question of how popular the device really is on college campuses. Finally, a third group of studies attempts to predict the future of e- readers and e-books. Even before the introduction of e-readers, some saw e-books as the likely future of academic libraries. More recently, one report discusses the likelihood of and barriers to e-book adoption. This article concludes that “barriers to e-book adoption still exist, but signs point to this changing within the next two to five years. That, of course, has been said for most of the past 15 to 20 years.” Still, Nelson points out that technologies can become ubiquitous very quickly, using the iPod as an example, and warns libraries against falling behind. Graphic organizers are strategies employed which assist teachers and students to identify and classify the major relationships between concepts, objectives and key vocabulary of the lesson through visual representation. For example, pre-reading activity, the teacher analyzes the key vocabulary words and arranges them in a way that highlights the text meaning. For post-reading, the students this time arrange key vocabulary terms provided in the test according to the relationship patterns. 48 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines The “Think Aloud Strategy” feature teachers verbalizing their thoughts while reading aloud-modeling the kind of strategies skilled readers use during reading and pointing out specifically what they are doing to cope with a particular comprehension problem. During the think aloud strategy, students make predictions, describe the picture visualized, share the analogy that links new knowledge with prior knowledge; verbalize a confusing point to show how to monitor continuing comprehension and demonstrate fix-up strategies by rereading ahead, and checking the context to figure out a word. On the other hand, the “Request Procedure” is the acronym for reciprocal questioning, which helps readers cope with text material. Teacher and students take turns asking one another questions about common portion of an assignment they have read together. This helps students think and develop questioning techniques and fosters an active search for meaning. The “Guided Reading Procedure” (GRP) is designed to help readers to improve organizational skill comprehension and recall. This procedure is claimed to be especially useful to high school or college students in dealing with non-cohesive or “inconsiderate” texts. Suggested steps in using GRP are the preparation of students for reading by discussing both the GRP and its goals and passage itself. The content of the passage is related to information with which the 49 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines students are already familiar. The students are asked recall information. Silent reading is preferable. The teachers should act as role models in reading the passage and students are encouraged to recall information. The test is then reviewed to clarify points already recorded the students are taken beyond the text by discussing the various connections and inferences that are needed on the board: how the information items are linked, both explicitly and implicitly, and how the overall structure coordinates all the information. Reasoning strategies beyond those connections and inferences are focused on. In many institutions of higher learning, many students both local and foreign are limited English proficient in terms of second language. They are either high school graduates, college students, even adults with limited ability to speak, read and write, nor understand English. They are the ones who live in a family or community environment where a language, other than English is dominant. Research Literature The recent emphasis placed on improving children’s English Language Arts test scores often leads teachers to ignore the role of student attitudes in the process of becoming literate. In order for students to develop into effective readers, they must possess both the skill and the will to read (Seitz, 2010). This goes true with the study of 50 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines Verma (2005) among 350 students pursuing different professional courses in different English medium universities in India. She studied the learner’s attitude and its impact to language learning. She found out that students want a teacher who can motivate them to speak more and more in the classroom and teach them how to use language outside the classroom. They want their teacher to be good at English and capable of correcting their mistakes without hurting their ego or without accusing them of not having knowledge of English. They want their teacher to create an informal environment in the class where they can learn with fun. The reading comprehension level of Turkish students was found to be under international standards in examinations carried out in international arenas such as the PIRLS (MEB, 2003). Because of this academic failure of Turkish students in international examinations, the Turkish Education System has been revised and the elementary and high school curricula have been renewed under the light of international educational progresses in order to develop students’ academic skills such problem solving, critical thinking, effective listening as well as reading comprehension. Developing positive attitudes towards reading is also crucial in terms of measuring and assessing the objectives of reading skills (Roettger, Szymczuk and Millard, 1979 as cited in ĩnal, 2010). On the other hand, the determination of reading attitudes of high school students is believed to contribute to policymakers, curriculum 51 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines developers and teachers in order to design better high school curriculum that will enable students to read more and get higher marks from examinations (Gửkhan, 2012). This proves that reading attitudes of students may be a basis on how LPU could shape their language curriculum in the coming years. Reading attitudes and beliefs about reading competency are thought to affect reading frequency, and thus exert an indirect influence on reading achievement. The downward trend in reading attitudes documented in previous studies of elementary school students does continues through grade eight, but then a plateau is reached, marking an essentially stable level of attitudes throughout the rest of the secondary school years. Results on the development of self-efficacy over time are roughly the same as those conducted previously on self- concept, with stability across grade levels and a slight increase in the upper grades, particularly among girls, as they move from adolescence to the transition to adulthood (McQuillan, 2013). In short, as the students develop their reading attitudes and beliefs on reading competency in upper grades, they tend to read more. On a research conducted by Pedrina (2002) entitled “Reading Preferences of College Freshmen Students” at Saint Michael’s College of Laguna, she found that on the average, the selected college freshmen students achieve a grade of 2.0 to 2.5 only in English and 52 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines Filipino subjects. Most of them do read outside the classroom in school and at home with or without being assigned by the instructors. In addition, they only like to read materials in English like magazines, romantic novels and textbooks in school while on the other hand, they like Filipino reading materials such as textbooks, newspapers, and dictionary at home. And lastly, they prefer to read materials written in English and Filipino interchangeably. The recent emphasis placed on improving children’s English Language Arts test scores often leads teachers to ignore the role of student attitudes in the process of becoming literate. In order for students to develop into effective readers, they must possess both the skill and the will to read (Seitz, 2010). This goes true with the study of Verma (2005) among 350 students pursuing different professional courses in different English medium universities in India. She studied the learner’s attitude and its impact to language learning. She found out that students want a teacher who can motivate them to speak more and more in the classroom and teach them how to use language outside the classroom. They want their teacher to be good at English and capable of correcting their mistakes without hurting their ego or without accusing them of not having knowledge of English. They want their teacher to create an informal environment in the class where they can learn with fun. 53 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines The reading comprehension level of Turkish students was found to be under international standards in examinations carried out in international arenas such as the PIRLS (MEB, 2003). Because of this academic failure of Turkish students in international examinations, the Turkish Education System has been revised and the elementary and high school curricula have been renewed under the light of international educational progresses in order to develop students’ academic skills such problem solving, critical thinking, effective listening as well as reading comprehension. Developing positive attitudes towards reading is also crucial in terms of measuring and assessing the objectives of reading skills (Roettger, Szymczuk and Millard, 1979 as cited in ĩnal, 2010). On the other hand, the determination of reading attitudes of high school students is believed to contribute to policymakers, curriculum developers and teachers in order to design better high school curriculum that will enable students to read more and get higher marks from examinations (Gửkhan, 2012). This proves that reading attitudes of students may be a basis on how LPU could shape their language curriculum in the coming years. In addition, Bacong (2013) found in her study that lack of positive outlook towards reading or English language learning could be one of the reasons why Filipinos are falling behind in English proficiency tests. Recent language test results released by the IDP Education Pty. Ltd. 54 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines Philippines, an accredited group that administers the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) to Filipinos seeking to work and migrate abroad, showed that the Philippines is no longer the top English-speaking country in Asia. With an overall score of 6.71, Malaysia is now the No. 1 in English proficiency in Asia. The Philippines placed only second with 6.69, followed by Indonesia (5.99), India (5.79) and Thailand (5.71). This was gleaned from IELTS results in 2008, during which some 35,000 Filipinos — 70 percent of them nursing graduates applying for jobs abroad — took the language exam to evaluate their English proficiency in reading, writing, speaking and listening. This is one of the challenges that the current educational system in the Philippines needs to focus on and where LPU educators could take part in crafting solutions. 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Tankersly, K. “Literacy Strategies for Grades 4-12”, (2005), Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Retrieved February 2014 Available online at Struggling-Reader.aspx. 148 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines APPENDIX 149 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines Appendix A Questionaire for student Questionnaire on English Reading Skills Guide in answering the questionnaire. Good day! May I request you to answer the questions below truthfully? Rest assured that all responses will be treated confidentially. Do not forget to fill in your personal data. Do not leave any questions unanswered as this will invalidate your answer sheet. Thank you and more power! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part I - Demographic Profile of Students Kindly check the box of your answer. 1. Gender Male Female 2. Type of High School graduated from Private Public 3. Living accommodation Owned Rented 4. Monthly Family Income High (10.000.000 VND and above) Average (5.100.000-9.999.999) Low (5.000.000 and below) 150 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines 5. Educational Attainment of Parents Mother Father College graduate High school graduate Secondary school graduate Elementary school graduate Part III – Reading Interests of Students Kindly tick the box of your answer Legend Reading Materials Very Interesting (5) Interesting (4) Less Interesting (3) Least Interesting (2) Not Interesting at all (1) Music 1. The Life Story of Beethoven 2.Musical Reviews 3. The Birth of a New Tenor Literature 4. Diaries of Famous people in Vietnam 5.Historical Novels Food and Health 6. Health journals 7.Fitness and Wellness Magazines 8. Recipe Books 151 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines Sports and Games 9. Sports Reviews 10. Basketball Tips 11. Journals of Great Athletes 12.Biographies of Football Stars Science 13. Issues on Ebola Virus 14. Discoveries on Space and Astronomy 15.Reading on Stem Cell Therapy 152 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines Part II - Reading Comprehension Direction: Answer the questions that follow the texts. Write the letter of your answer on the space provided before each number. A Every year students in many countries learn English. Some of these students are young children. Others are teenagers. Many are adults. Some learn at school, others study by themselves. A few learn English just by hearing the language, in film, on television, in the office, or among their friends. But not many are lucky enough to do that. Most people must work hard to learn another language. Learning another language! Learning English! Why do all these people want to learn English? It is not difficult to answer that question. Many boys and girls learn English at school because it is one of their subjects. They study their own language, and Math and English. (In England, or American, or Australia, many boys and girls study their own language, which is English and Mathand another language, perhaps French, or German, or Spanish.) Many adults learn English because it is useful for their work. Teenagers often learn English for their studies, because some of their books are in English at the college or university. Other people learn English because they want to read newspapers or magazines in English. 153 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines _____1. According to the writer, a. only adults learn English b. no children like learning English. c. English is only useful to teenagers. d. English is popular in much of the world. _____2. Many people learn English by a. watching videos only. b. hearing the language I the office. c. talking with the film stars. d. working hard on their lessons. _____3. Many boys and girls learn English because a. English can give them a job. b. it is included in their study course. c. their parents make them. d. they have to study their own language. _____4. In America or Australia many school children study a. English as a foreign language. b. English and Math only c. such foreign languages as French, German, and Spanish. d. their own language and no foreign language. _____5. Many adults learn English because a. their work is useful. 154 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines b. they want to go abroad. c. most of their books are in English. d. it helps them in their work. B Alexander Graham Bell was born in Edinburgh Scotland in the nineteenth century, and later came to the United Stage. Several members of his family did a great deal to encourage him in the field of science. His father helped him a lot by supervising his work with the deaf. When he worked with the deaf and investigated the science acoustics, his studies eventually led to invention of multiple telegraph and his greatest invention – the telephone. He dedicated the last quarter century of his life to advance in aviation. _____6. What was Alexander Graham Bell’s greatest invention? a. multiple telegraph c. aviation b. telephone d. acoustics _____7. To what did Bell dedicate the last years of his life? a. acoustics science c. adventure b. aviation d. architecture _____8. How many years did Bell dedicate to aviation? a. 100 b. 50 c. 35 d. 25 _____9. What can we conclude about Alexander Graham Bell? a. He worked very hard, but never succeeded. 155 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines b. He spent so many years working in aviation because he want to be a pilot. c. He dedicated his life to science and the well-being of mankind. d. He worked with the deaf so that he could invent the telephone. _____10. Which of the following statements is NOT true? a. Bell was born in the 18th century. b. Bell worked with the deaf. c. Bell experimented with the science of acoustics. d. Bell invented a multiple telegraph. C Where vegetarian meals are served in courses, the parts are usually fitted into an unchanged pattern: soup, main course, salad and dessert. Many vegetarian cooking books have imposed this old structure into the vegetarian diet and try to find a “meat substitute”. However, the first thing to do when considering the vegetarian cuisine is to get free of these ideas. Vegetarian cookery is not the replacement for anything. It is a rich and varied cuisine, full of many marvelous dishes with definite characteristics, not the imitation of anything else. There are many ways to arrange a vegetarian menu. It need not be the slave of the traditional pattern, though this arrangement seems fitting and useful. It can also 156 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines consist of several equally important courses or several dishes served at once. _____11. How many courses are there in a vegetarian meal? a. one b. two c. three d. four _____12. What does the word “meat substitute” in bold mean? a. things that are made of meat. b. things that replace meat. c. things that look like meat. d. things that imitate meat. _____13. According to the first passage, the author seems to a. agree that the vegetarian meals should be the same as in the cookbooks. b. agree on the vegetarian cookbook’s old structure. c. disagree that the vegetarian meals should always follow the traditional pattern. d. agree that the pattern should be kept unchanged. _____14. According to the second passage a. the vegetarian menu lends itself to various arrangements. b. there is only one main course but there are different arrangements in a vegetarian menu. c. the traditional arrangement for a vegetarian menu is useless. d. the traditional arrangement for a vegetarian menu is the best. 157 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines _____15. What is the writer’s main purpose in the passage? a. to say that the traditional vegetarian meal is not suitable. b. to tell the readers that the vegetarian meal is served in course. c. to say that the vegetarian meals are rich and various cuisine, full of many marvelous dishes with definite characteristics. d. to give background knowledge on the vegetarian meal. D To many people, smoking is not only a pleasure but also an addiction. They need smoking, depend on it, and can hardly get rid of it. If they do not smoke for hours. They will feel a craving for a cigarette. They often chain smoke that means they light once cigarette after another. Smoking is often considered anti – social because many people do not like smell of cigarettes or the sight of the smoker’s stained fingers and of ash-trays full of cigarette-ends. Above all, smoking is harmful to health. In many countries, they forbid to advertise cigarette and a warning is printed every packet of cigarette that is “Smoking is bad for your health”. Scientists have proved that there is a close link between smoking and lung diseases, such as cough and tuberculosis and the worst of all is a fatal cancer. _____16. People smoke.. a. for pleasure only c. for addiction b. for fun d. for pleasure and addiction 158 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines _____17. A smoker a. can stop smoking easily b. depend on smoking and can hardly stop it c. do not addict to smoking d. do not depend on smoking _____18. A “chain smoker” means a. one who never smokes b. one who hates smoking c. one who rarely smokes d. one who lights one cigarette after another _____19. In many countries, . a. they forbid to encouraged b. smoking is illegal c. smoking is encouraged d. all are correct _____20. smoking has a link to a. cough b. tuberculosis c. cancer d. all are correct E Viruses were not isolated until 1935. Since the time, a great many viruses have been discovered. Although some are harmless to humans, many are pathogenic which means it causes disease. Human diseases are caused by viruses include polio, smallpox, influenza, measles, 159 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines mumps, rabies, and viral pneumonia. Other diseases caused by viruses include distemper in dogs and cats, food and mouth diseases in cattle and swine influenza in pigs. _____21. The word pathogenic refers to a. Disease causing organisms b. Fungi causing organisms c. Bacterial causing organisms d. Both a and b _____22. Which of the following statements are false? a. Viruses were isolated in 1935 b. Many viruses were discovered c. Some virus are harmless to human d. Many viruses are pathogenic _____23. Human diseases caused by viruses include a. Smallpox b. Measles and Influenza c. Polio D. All of the above _____24. What is the appropriate title for this passage? a. Virus – Great Causes of Diseases b. Disease-causing organisms c. The Pathogenic d. All of the above 160 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines _____25. Which of the following diseases is not a caused by virus? a. Viral pneumonia b. Rabies c. Foot and Mouth diseases d. None of the above F Plants that reproduce by seeds are the most abundant on earth today. In one group of these plants, the conifer, seeds are produces in structure called cones. Cnifers have twi kinds of cones, male and female cones are found on separate branches of the same tree. _____26. Which of the following statements is true? a. Plants that reproduce by the stem are the most abundant b. Conifers have four kinds of cones c. Female cones are smaller than male cones d. None of the above _____27. The plants which are more abundant on earth are the a. Plants that reproduce by the stem b. Branches class b. Plants that reproduce by seeds d. Conifers _____28. Male and female cones are found on a. Separate branches of another tree b. Separate branches of the same tree 161 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines c. Same branches of the same tree d. Same branches of the other tree G How a bee informs other bee depends on distance. Suppose a bee discovers food at a distance of less than one hundred meters from the hive, the bee returns to hive and perform a round dance on the inside wall of the hive. The bee circles first in one direction and then in the other. Soon other bees leave the hive, return shortly and perform the dance. Later, almost all the bees are aware of the distance to the food. The round dance must mean, “there is food somewhere within a radius of one hundred meters.” _____29. How a bee informs others depend on a. Distance b. Sound c. Light D. A and B _____30. Which of the following statement is true a. The round dance is useless. b. The round dance is for courtship. c. The round dance means food is near. d. The round dance is important. 162 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines Answer: 1. 11. 21. 2. 12. 22. 3. 13. 23. 4. 14. 24. 5. 15. 25. 6. 16. 26. 7. 17. 27. 8. 18. 28. 9. 19. 29. 10. 20. 30. Thank you for participating! 163 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines Appendix B 164 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines 165 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines 166 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines 167 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines 168 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines Appendix D. Documentation for dry-run in Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry 1. Teachers’ questionaire validation 2. Dry run of students’ test questionaire 169 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines Appendix E: Photographs of the Research Sites University of Agriculture and Forestry (UAF) University of Education (UE) University of Economic and Business Administration University of Sciences 170 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines College of Information Technology 171 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines Appendix E. Photographs of the Approval Test Administration of the Head of Colleges College of Information Technology College of Education 172 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines College of Economics and Business Administration ] College of Sciences 173 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines College of Agriculture and Forestry 174 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines Appendix F. Photographs of the Student Respondents College of Information Technology College of Sciences 175 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines College of Economics and Business Administration College of Education 176 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines College of Agriculture and Forestry 177 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines CURRICULUM VITAE DINH THI HUONG Viet Yen, Bac Giang Mobile no. 0989 122622 E-mail add: dinhhuong.lilac@gmail.com PERSONAL INFORMATION Date of Birth Place of Birth Age Nationality Religion Sex Civil Status Children’s names : August 22nd , 1981 : Bac Giang Province, Viet Nam : 33 : Vietnamese : Buddhism : Female : Married : Ngo Ngoc Linh Dan, Ngo Dinh Thien EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND 1986-1991 : Tu Lan Elementary School, Bac Giang province 1996-1999 : Viet Yen High School, Bac Giang province 1999-2003 : Bachelor of Arts Major in English Thai Nguyen University. 2007- 2009 : Master of Arts in English Laguna State Polytechnic University, 178 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines WORK EXPERIENCE 2003-2008: Teacher of Basic Knowledge Department of Viet Bac Arts and Culture College 2008-2014: Vice – Dean of Basic Knowledge Department of Viet Bac Arts and Culture College May, 2014 – now: Teacher of Centre of Foreign Languages of Ha Noi university of Home Affairs.