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

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Note: The words in pre-teaching are not the words in Task 1.
While you read (20')
Set the scene: You going to read a passage about life changes in the country. You read it and do the following tasks.
Task 1 - Vocabulary Matching (6')
Ask Ss to work individually.
First, ask Ss to look at all the words in A and their definitions in B. Make sure that the Ss identify the part of speech of the given words in A, and there are not new words in the definitions in B.
Then, ask Ss to read the passage quickly and underline the given words in A.
Encourage Ss to guess the meaning of the words in the context.
E.g. Toguess the meaning of make ends meet, Ss should pay atention to the words: work hard, hardly in the same sentence.
Call on some Ss to explain their answers in front of the class.
Give correct answers: 1.b 2.d 3.a 4.e 5.c
Give Vietnamese equivalents if necessary.
Task 2 - Table Completion (8')
In this task, Ss have to work individually and scan the passage to get specific information to complete the table. T instructs Ss some strategies to do.
Let Ss study the table carefully before doing the task.
Ask Ss to read the passage again and scan the information about each area of change.
(Note: It is easy to recognize that the first paragraph is about the village many years ago, the second - the village now)
Go around and provide help when necessary.
Check the answers in front of the class
Give correct answers:
Areas of change
Before
Now
houses
made of straw and mud
made of brick
radio and TV
few families had a radio or a TV set
many families have a radio or a TV set
farming methods
old
new
crops
poor
good/ bumper
travel
by cart/ on foot
by motorbike
Task 3 - Answering questions (6')
Ask Ss to work in pairs and answer the questions.
(Note: The two last questions can be omitted, because they belong to Reported speech, which is difficult for many students. These questions will be seen again when learning Reported speech in Language focus lesson.)
Tell Ss to underline the key words in each question. Make sure that Ss understand all the questions.
Ask Ss to answer and compare their answers with another pair.
Call on some Ss to read their answers aloud in front of the class.
Give feedback and correct answer:
It was poor and simple.
Because they hope that with an education of science and technology their children could find a way of bettering their lives.
They introduced new farmimg methods which resulted in bumper crops. They also helped grow cash crops for export.
After you read (5')
Here, T can change the question " How can people with an education help make the life of their community better?" into ".... of their village better?". This is easily understandable for Ss.
Let Ss base on the passage and write a paragraph of 5-7 sentences at home.
Suggest some phrases: Introduce new farming methods, Grow cash crops for export, Apply modern technology, Raise awareness about safety food, Keep the environment clean, ....
Wrapping (3')
Summarise the main points of the lesson:
+ Social knowledge: the changes in the country life
+ Language knowledge: some words about the country life
Assign homework: Write a paragraph of 5-7 sentences about " How can people with an education help make the life of their village better?"
Summary of the chapter
This chapter has made some suggestions to reduce difficulties that the teachers of English at Ke Sat High School encounter when teaching reading comprehension with the texrbook "Tieng Anh 10". It is really not easy to overcome the difficulties. In order to become a good teacher in teaching reading, the teacher must work really hard and have appropriate teaching mothod. Besides, they must be flexible and adaptable to respond to the requirements of the new textbook, and to improve students' reading skill.
PART III: CONCLUSION
In this part I would like to make a brief summary of the issues discussed in the study and offer some suggestions for further study.
Summary of the study
This study provides an analysis of some difficulties in teaching reading comprehension with the textbook "Tieng Anh 10" (the set of standard textbooks). The sources of these difficulties are perceived by the teachers of English and the 10th form students at Ke Sat High School. The study is done with the purposes of identifying difficulties of the teachers, and then offering some suggestions to overcome those difficulties.
The study was carried out in terms of both theory and practice. The study started with some concepts on reading and reading comprehension. The next chapter described important features about the textbook used in this study, and the current situation of teaching at Ke Sat High School.
In order to find out the problem, several instruments were employed to collect the data: a survey questionnaire to students, a list of interview questions to the teachers of English in combination with classroom observation. The ultimate goal of all these instruments is to find out difficulties that the teachers of English at Ke Sat High School are coping with in teaching reading comprehension with the textbook "Tieng Anh 10" to the 10th form students.
Why were the students' difficulties intended to find out? That is because difficulties of the students must be in any relation with their teachers' teaching. The students, as being indicated in the findings, have some problems related to vocabulary and grammatical structures, i.e. understanding and predicting new words, and to understanding the text.
In combination with other research instruments, the result of the study has pointed out some typical problems that the teachers face with in their daily teaching reading comprehension with the textbook:
The long and difficult reading passages and reading tasks.
The low English level of the students.
The students’ negative attitude towards learning reading.
The lack of teaching aids.
After indicating the difficulties, the solutions have been suggested to overcome them. They include: the ways to make reading lessons useful, the ways to train students to become efficient readers, the ways to improve teacher’s techniques in reading lessons, the ways to equip teaching facilities, and the ways to adapt materials.
It is hoped that what has been discussed in the study might be beneficial to both the teachers of English and the students as it helps them learn about their strength and weaknesses, and thus, identify room for future improvement and development of teaching and learning reading comprehension. It is also hoped that the study will prove worthwhile to those who want to conduct in this area and who are concerned with the problem.
Limitations and suggestions for further study
In most research projects, limitations are inevitable. The study presented in this thesis is of no exception.
First, in terms of methodology, the study is limited in the fact that the data may not fully reflect all aspects of difficulties in teaching reading comprehension with the textbook "Tieng Anh 10".
Second, the author's practical experience in teching reading comprehension with the textbook is limited, the suggestions to overcome difficulties are likely to be subjective and incomplete.
Third, within the scope of the thesis, the study cannot indicate concrete application in adapting the textbook. In addition, the study has no chance to deal with other three skills in language teaching: Listening, Speaking and Writing. All the existing limitations of this study call for further research.
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