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<small>pNATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITYFACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGESDEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ENGLISH</small>

NGUYEN HONG NHAT

READING COMPREHENSION DIFFICULTIES AMONG

SECOND-YEAR BUSINESS ENGLISH STUDENTS AT NATIONALECONOMICS UNIVERSITY AND SOME SOLUTIONS

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<small>NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITYFACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGESDEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ENGLISH</small>

NGUYEN HONG NHAT

READING COMPREHENSION DIFFICULTIES AMONG

SECOND-YEAR BUSINESS ENGLISH STUDENTS AT NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY AND SOME SOLUTIONS

Hanoi, April 2023

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On top of the list, I am most in debt to the professors in the Faculty of Foreign Languages at National Economics University. My genuine gratitude is reserved for all teachers who have led and passed down knowledge to me during the past four years. I also want to show my thankfulness to the dean of the department, Mrs. Kelly Pham and the faculty assistant, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy for assisting me in changing the field of internship despite the sudden request. It would be incomplete to miss out on my thesis instructor, Mrs. Nguyen Do Huong Giang, who has accompanied me throughout the whole period of research with meticulous care and enthusiasm.

Besides the beloved teachers are my fellows, both inside and outside of the department, who actively fought alongside me and sent continuous blessings to each other during the previous three months. Had it not for their encouragement, I would have been defeated by pessimism and struggles.

To all the participants who helped to fill out my survey, you guys play the

most crucial role to my research and in return, this should also help you to detect

your problems and work on it strategically.

The last tribute is paid to my family. Their love and empathy meant so much during the process of graduation.

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EXCUTIVE SUMMARY

English is now the compulsory standard to enter and graduate from most universities. Among the four skills that are determined to judge one's English skill, this study focuses on reading only, with a specific objective to investigate second-year BE students’ reading comprehension difficulties at National Economics University. 50 answers collected from the survey and 5 interviews contributed to

the analysis of the difficulties.

In particular, reading comprehension problems are scrutinized from two aspects: linguistic and non-linguistic. While the former comprises vocabulary and grammar (or syntax), the latter examined text features, prior knowledge and reading strategies. The results indicated that vocabulary and text features were the most taxing problems regarding linguistic and non-linguistic respectively. Within vocabulary territory, technical terms seemed to perplex students the most when reading. In the case of text features, most students displayed their concern about

unfamiliar topics and contents.

Finally, some solutions to both teachers and students were proposed to

improve the situation. The recommendations were matched with the order of the analyzed data about reading comprehension problems to create a connection between the problems and the corresponding solutions.

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: English as a Foreign Language

: National Economics University

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. The number of Foreign Languages learners worldwide...- 1

Figure 2. The Bottom-up Model ...-...-- -- + 5 + 4+1 E311 11 ng rệt 6 Figure 3. The Top-down MOde]L... -- --- s13. 132111393113 11 9111 11 H1 vn ky 7 Figure 4. The Interactive ÏMOCelL... -- --- + c + 111119311911 91111 ng nh ng ky 8 Figure 7. Data analysis of vocabulary difficulties ...---«s+<<<s<<<+ssss 17 Figure 8. Data analysis for syntactic dIfiCuÏfI€s... ..- --- «5< cssc+sxsssseesres 18 Figure 9. Most difficult linguistic aspect ... -s- Ăn ni, 19 Figure 10. Text features difficulties ...0.. cc eeceseeeeeessceeececeeeeeeeceaeceeeeseeeeeeneeeees 20 Figure 11. Prior knowledge difẨICUÏty... -. c1 HH nhe, 21 Figure 12. Reading comprehension strategies awareness and usagøe... 22 Figure 13. Reading strategies difficulties ... cc cceescesseeeseeeeeeeseeeeteeeeeeeseeeees 23 Figure 14. Most difficult non-linguistic aSP€CI...- 555555 + s+ssexsseeessss 23

Figure 15. Responses to reading comprehension difficulties ... 24

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXCUTIVE SUMMARY .00..cicccccccccceceseeseeseeseesecseeaecnecseseceeseeaeeaeeseeaeeeeaeeaeeaes i LIST OF ABBREYVIA TIONS...- Ác SH HH HH HH re, ii LIST OF FIGURES 1... ... iii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...00... oc ccccccecccccesceececeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeseeseteteeaeeeees 1

1.1. Background to the sfudly... -- G5 2 1S v9 ng giết 1 1.2. Aims of the SfUdy... - -- Gà LH TH TH TH HH HH ng Hiệp 2 1.3. Research quesfÏOnS... .. .-- SG Ă ng ng ng nhiệt 2 1.4. Scope of the sfudly... - --- - HH HH TH HH HH Hiệp 3

PIN NI, 2 1... nen... 4 2.1.1.2. Extensive redding nốeốaốe.ốẶ.áa... 5

2.1.2. Reading models ...cccccccccescceseesseessessceseeeseeesecnseseeeaeseseceeeesenseeeseenneeas 5

2.1.2.1. The bottom-up H1OCÏ€Ï... 5 SH tru 6 2.1.2.2. The top-down IHOÌGÌÏL... 7 5c 321883 3E EESEEEEEeEEEreerereeeereerrse 6 2.1.2.3. The interactive TIOđÌ€ÏL... 2G tk vi 7 2.2. Reading comprehensionn...- -- - - S1 vn SH HH HH ng re, 8

2.2.1. Definition of reading cornpr€hi€e'SIOH... óc cccsssiseiteerxssreses 8 2.2.2. The roles of reading comprehension ...à So ccccsseeeeexesreses 9 2.2.3. Reading comprehension difficulties ...-cccccscccsecrseereerses 10

2.2.3.1. Linguistic Gifficulties...cccccccccsccccccccssccesscsessecesscsescsseeeeseeeesessaeenses 10 2.2.3.2. Non-linguistic dIƒfÏCHỈT©S... cv HH rệt Il CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ...000.. ccc eceecceceecceseeseeseeeeeeeeeeaeeeeeeseeeeeaeeaeeaees 15

3.1. z8... ... 15 3.2. Data collection method... -. . - -- c1 ng nh giết 15 3.3. Data collection procedUFF€S...- - - --- c5 + 323v ng 16 3.4. Data analysis procedures ... - - -- - - SH HH ng 16 CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS...ccocceieeeee 17

4.1. The linguistic difficulties of reading comprehension... -- 17

ADD, VOCADULATY 0 nnhaaee... 17

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4.1.3. Most difficult linguistic ŒSD€CÉ... - c SxSSnkShnHiisrikesvrs 19

4.2. Non-linguistic difficulties ...-- --- 5 2< sen 20 4.2.1. Text features1s en... 20 4.2.2. Prior KHOWÏ@(ÏE©...- Gà HhnHgnHưy 21 4.2.3. Reading Strategies 8n ốe..e... 22

4.2.4. Most difficult non-linguistic ASPeCt ... cà ts tetetseeetseeeeeees 23

4.3. Students' responses to reading comprehension difficulties ... 24 4.4. Interview anaÌYSÏS...- .-- - LH TH HH TH TH HH ngư 24 4.5. Suggested s0ÏufÏOIS...- -Q- Gà HH TH. HH HH HH Hưy 27 4.5.1. Solutions to linguistic pFỌGHS... Ghi ry 27 4.5.2. Solutions to non-linguistic pFObÏGIHS... ... se se. 28 4.5.3. Recommendations fOr CÍÍVIÍÄ@S... se, 29 CONCLUSION... Qui 31 REFERENCES

APPENDIX

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This chapter clarifies the background, objectives, scope, research questions, methodology and structure of the study.

1.1. Background to the study

During the International Integration Period, students from all backgrounds are expected to sharpen their language skills to a working proficiency extent. The better their language ability is, the more chances they have to get a decent job,

secure their position, and gain success in the global, yet competitive job market. Among the six international languages, English has become the most popular learning option for educational institutions and individuals because of its prevalent nature and abundant learning resources. In fact, from Newsdle’s statistics in 2022,

the number of English learners globally reached 1.5 billion, the highest figure in the report.

<small>@ Highest Studied Foreign Languages</small>

<small>wsdle in the World in Numbers</small>

Figure 1. The number of Foreign Languages learners worldwide

Today, universities across Vietnam, including National Economics University, have set English outcome standards for a vast number of majors as the mandatory graduation requirement. Therefore, it is the student’s responsibility to learn and master the language as required for their future.

To appraise the English level of a person, an evaluation format of four skills,

namely listening, reading, writing, and speaking, is accepted and used widely.

Reading as a receptive skill, meaning receiving and processing information, plays a crucial role in the mastery of the language. In the educational setting, reading is an indispensable activity during the learning process. As a matter of fact, EFL

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students seem to have trouble making progress when there is little exposure to

reading materials in learning environments (Nation, 1979). In reality, EFL students across many countries admitted that without reading, they would not have been

able to finish their program and obtain their degree (Kim & Anderson, 2011; Salehi, Lari & Rezanejad, 2014). Hung and Ngan (2015) also ascertained the role of reading when concluding that reading helps enhance students’ vocabulary and fluency and supports the acquisition of two productive skills, which are writing

and speaking.

During reading training, reading comprehension is one of the pressing topics for both teachers and students. By reading, we in general, and students in particular seek to comprehend the content of the texts (Stauffer, 1969). Therefore, reading comprehension belongs among the essential contributors to reading success. Even so, a number of EFL learners still struggle to resolve their reading problems. This matter seems to worsen with the lack of linguistic elements and foreign knowledge backgrounds such as culture, socio-economic, etc., and proper solutions to guide the students to the learning path suitable for them.

Based on the above reasons, this study is conducted to discover and analyze “READING COMPREHENSION DIFFICULTIES AMONG SECOND-YEAR BUSINESS ENGLISH STUDENTS AT NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY AND SOME SOLUTIONS”.

1.2. Aims of the study

The aims of this research include:

- Investigating the difficulties that second-year BE students at NEU face in reading comprehension.

- Proposing several solutions to tackle the reading comprehension problems among second-year BE students at NEU.

1.3. Research questions

This study focuses on finding the answers to the following questions:

- What are the reading comprehension difficulties that BE sophomores at NEU

- What can be done to improve the reading comprehension of BE sophomores

at NEU?

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1.4. Scope of the study

This study focuses mainly on the reading comprehension difficulties among

BE sophomores at NEU and some solutions to improve the reality.

This research limits its coverage to 50 second-year BE students of the academic year 2022-2023.

1.5. Methodology

Primary data is collected via survey questionnaires. The designed queries are delivered to 50 BE students at NEU during the second semester of the 2022-2023 academic year. The answers gained from the survey form are a key tool for further analysis of problems that BE sophomores face in reading comprehension activities and recommendations for improvement.

Secondary data is gathered through desk research based on available sources such as published reports, foreign scientific research, journals, books, etc.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Reading

2.1.1. Types of reading

Researchers have expressed a barrage of distinct opinions on the types of reading. Grellet (2010) believed that reading comprises four categories: scanning,

skimming, intensive and extensive reading. While the two former terms may

belong to the reading skills, the latter two remain the principal types (Harmer, 2002

and Nuttall, 2005). The two authors also stressed that in order to profit from their reading, students need exposure to both intensive and extensive reading.

2.1.1.1. Intensive reading

As claimed by Nuttall (2005), intensive reading guides the readers to an understanding of not only the text surface but also of the context. Conquering this

goal requires efficient readers. From Grelle (2010)’s standpoint, this type of reading is “an accuracy activity” that drives learners to read thoroughly to find

answers to questions.

Intensive reading involves learners reading in detail with specific learning aims and tasks. Patel (2008) placed the term in connection with teacher guidance in a classroom dynamic. During an intensive reading session, the teacher is the center who gives instructions and explanations to students. This demands them to carry out a strict procedure for classroom preparation. In the pre-class phase, teachers may send out reading materials as homework for students to prepare beforehand. When the class comes, they will clarify the reading purposes and steps to accomplish them. There will be plenty of exercises to solve as this is the nature of intensive reading. From the performances of students, teachers should be able to identify the students’ reading progress and give them feedback to improve their

skills. Through intensive reading, students gain a lot of benefits in terms of linguistics. Most notably, it is their lexical resource as well as control of the language in speech and writing that will be upgraded efficaciously.

Additionally, intensive reading activities consist of short passages

comprehension that focuses mainly on vocabulary and grammar (Mart, 2015).

Brown (2000) worded it as “narrow reading” since students are to dissect different

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paragraphs with the same or different topics. The more attentive students are to the

texts, the more comprehension is elevated.

2.1.1.2. Extensive reading

This means reading texts for the enjoyment and development of general reading skills. It covers a wide range of materials within learners’ linguistic proficiencies (Grabe and Stoller, 2002). Patel (2008) revealed the aim of extensive reading is to drive learners to read directly and fluently in the target language for enjoyment with no support from the teacher. Grabe (2009) later commented that “no other set of reading activities or reading practice can substitute for reading a longer text with reasonable comfort and without needing to stop constantly, and without feeling fatigued or overwhelmed”. Likewise, extensive reading is considered to be relaxing, informal and personalized by the students themselves (Chen et al., 2013).

Nuttall (2005) advanced two reasons to read extensively. Firstly, it is the

least challenging yet most helpful way to boost one’s reading skills. Secondly, as “an educational tool”, extensive reading not only creates “a favorable climate” but

also “a source of enjoyment” for learners. By sparking students’ reading interest, it motivates and accompanies them in making reading progress. Modirkhamene and Gowrki (2011) confirmed that this method results in better understanding and fluent readers. In an experiment on Taiwanese students, Chen et al. (2013)

concluded the merits of extensive reading in fueling EFL students’ comprehension, attitudes and vocabulary expansion. In line with this thinking, Alzu’bi (2014)

concurred that the language abilities of EFL students in universities such as reading comprehension, lexicology, grammar and cultural awareness are bettered.

Looking from another direction, Keene and Zimmermann (2013) mentioned that extensive reading is also applied by teachers for more quality lessons. Reading is an invaluable asset for language educators to attain more

information about their field (Casanave, 2004). 2.1.2. Reading models

Three well-known models are often employed to decode the reading

process, i.e., bottom-up, top-down and interactive.

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2.1.2.1. The bottom-up model

Gough (1972) was the original theorist behind the bottom-up model which supposes that reading starts from small parts (letters, words, sounds) to whole (meaning, comprehension). In other words, it is known as a text-driven, word-driven or data-word-driven system.

Figure 2. The Bottom-up Model

In detail, via this model, learners build up their reading process with graphemes and phonemes as the foundation of the sequence. Then, they embark on the second stage called the lexical level which is the transformation of first-level characters into words and collocations. As a continuation, these inputs are converted into meanings that generate knowledge acquisition.

However, because the whole flow is fixed one way from the beginning to the end, no higher-level information can return to alter lower-level components (Rumelhart, 1997). Alderson (2000) presented another disadvantage, 1.e., designating readers to be passive decoders of the semantic-syntactic chain. In this way, the reader needs little pre-existing knowledge and instead, relies heavily on

the textual meaning. With disregard to the reader’s role, the contribution of the bottom-up method to students’ reading comprehension is deemed of minor

importance (Johnson, 2001).

2.1.2.2. The top-down model

The top-down model was put forward by Goodman (1967) in the scientific field sooner than the bottom-up model. The former is reader-driven or

knowledge-driven, running from whole to part, completely different from the latter.

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Level | Meaning (deep structure)

Level II Syntax (language pattern)

Figure 3. The Top-down Model

In the top-down course, learners initially approach a reading material with their own textual prediction and expectation hinged on their fundamental knowledge. This allows them to detect intelligible meaning and interpret complicated parts of the text. Evidently, owing to the downward flow of information, word identification depends on the meaning or the readers’ language abilities. They hypothesize the forthcoming word and use meaning to validate their forecast. If meaning is constructed, readers resample the text and form a new

Although many researchers recommend this model, there are cautions from the risk of inaccurate comprehension through applying schemata to texts without

much regard for what the texts actually say (Johnson, 2001). This scenario even worsens in environments where students are deprived of the obligatory conditions to sharpen their knowledge and schemata.

2.1.2.3. The interactive model

Neither the bottom-up nor the top-down model works individually for a fruitful and comprehensive reading process, Rumelhart (1977) devised a synthetic

model combining the two types and referred to it as a “message board”.

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<small>- Semamtic</small>

Graphemi c essage Board )| CC”

Information + (Pattern Synthesizer ) Teterpretation

Orthographic Val x Lexical

Figure 4. The Interactive Model

As the diagram depicts, the message board collects all sources of knowledge: syntactic, orthographic, semantic and lexical to facilitate word identification. It is speculated that the message center keeps a record of premises about the input, scans the pattern synthesizer for the hypotheses relevant to its own sphere of knowledge, and then gauges those speculations which will be either approved or disapproved. Reading, according to Rumelhart, is hence neither a bottom-up nor top-down process, but incorporation of both.

Aligned with Rumelhart is Harmer (2002), who emphasized the necessity of the interactive model which simultaneously demonstrates the build-up of minute agents to the achievement of understanding and the big picture overview in link with readers’ expectations to the detailed understanding of small elements. To Ahmadi et al. (2013) statement, the joint approach admits the contribution of both lower-level processing skills (word recognition) and higher-level comprehension and reasoning skills (text interpretation).

2.2. Reading comprehension

2.2.1. Definition of reading comprehension

The understanding of reading comprehension varies from researcher to

researcher. Grabe and Stoller (2002) explained reading comprehension as the vocabulary apprehension and formation of main ideas that can be put into new interpretations. From Block (2002)’s point of view, reading comprehension is not a step but a complex process that incorporates the reader’s role in making sense of the content with the help of relevant reading skills. Grabe (2009) again reclaimed the importance of reading comprehension as the center of reading. Readers read to

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comprehend the conveyed message in the written text. Following this mindset, Akyol et al. (2014) also asserted in their paper that the prime purpose of reading is

to understand what the passage is about. Reading lacking comprehension is meaningless.

Yogurtcu (2013) proposed a more detailed explanation, i.e, “the process of reading comprehension provides a link between thinking, textual content, and the

reader’s level of readiness, expectations and objectives of reading”. Similarly,

Russell (2013) emphasized that reading involves the problem-solving intention of the reader, particularly critical thinking and reflection. Subsequently, Yukselir

(2014) considered reading comprehension as the outcome of combining text, environment, the reader’s history, reading techniques and decision-making altogether.

Other researchers place reading comprehension definition concerning

linguistic nature. Tompkins (2011) referred to reading comprehension as a creative

process that depends on four elements: syntax, semantics, pragmatics and phonology. Then, according to Gilakjani & Sabouri (2016), the reader must utilize

reading skills such as word recognition, grammatical understanding and prior

knowledge to achieve reading comprehension.

2.2.2. The roles of reading comprehension

As commented by Ahmadi et al. (2013), reading comprehension is the

measurement of gauging one’s passage understanding, which raises a high need to

teach reading comprehension for foreign languages. Gayo et al. (2014) pointed out the cross-sectional essence of reading comprehension by which the entire academic learning process is influenced. In particular, by serving as a root of enriching linguistic features such as vocabulary and grammar, it contributes to enhancing relative skills like speaking and writing.

Admittedly, reading comprehension in English is growing strongly within every community to create a prosperous society as knowledge and information in STEM majors as well as books, international businesses, etc. are written and

performed mainly in this language (Lo et al., 2013). In practice, reading comprehension is implied to be the core piece of becoming an accomplished individual (Vorstius et al., 2013) and of both educational and career attainment

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(Karasakaloglu, 2012). In contrast, it can be said that poor comprehension may be responsible for academic failure (Lipka and Siegel, 2012) and may deter EFL learners’ attempts to land and secure a job in the labor market (Ahmadi et al.,

2.2.3. Reading comprehension difficulties

As a common topic in the English teaching-learning area, a great many papers have been published to explore and address reality. Chen and Chen (2015) calculated that more than 50% of adults with L2 reading comprehension issues are faced with adversities in acquiring a foreign language. The situation also arises within the EFL student community. Notably, because they have to make efforts to understand the L2 reading, they tend to display indifference, boredom and even loathing of the literature. In addition, numerous studies have found the problems encountered by EFL readers in class, namely the lack of vocabulary, linguistic understanding complexities, language cutoff, troubled reading skills and schemata

deficiency (Grabe, 1991; Birch, 2002; Alyousef, 2006; Rahman, 2004; Fitriani,

U. Kasim & S. Raisha (2017) divided the problems into two groups:

linguistic and non-linguistic. While the first term incorporates semantics (meaning of words) and syntax (grammar), the second one analyzes reading impediments outside linguistic facets, for instance, text features, prior knowledge, and reading strategies.

2.2.3.1. Linguistic difficulties

Semantics and vocabulary

As listed in Oxford Dictionary, the term refers to the meaning of words and phrases. Hudson (2007) considered lexical resources as a significant agent in

reading, which, in detail, could give rise to comprehension. Dated back to 1979, Chiesi and Voss depicted that the more defectively word meaning are engraved in semantic memory, the less information is analyzed and fewer links between concepts are made. In 1998, Nation and Snowling measured the gap between good and poor comprehension abilities on a semantic fluency scale. The two scientists eventually discovered that poor readers presented fewer examples compared to good readers due to their inferior word reading and/or vocabulary skills.

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Readers with narrow lexical resources have a hard time identifying key and

controlling words within a text, which possibly obstructs their grip on reading.

This was illustrated by Laufer and Ravenhorst-Kalovski (2010) when the two authors proved that less fluent memorization of frequently used vocabulary and weak proficiency in lexical decoding is likely to result in lower levels of L2 reading comprehension. Compatibly, Kieffer & Lesaux (2012) supported the idea of a tight bond between vocabulary volume and text comprehension. Those who fail at distinguishing words in passages face a higher risk of reading comprehension problems than others. Furthermore, readings packed with alien words appear to be

more taxing even for advanced EFL students to comprehend (Kuzborska, 2012).

Syntactic awareness

Oxford Dictionary defines syntax as the arrangement of words or phrases

to form sentences, i.e., the rules of grammar. Guo et al. (2011) said that syntactic awareness aids in reading comprehension prediction. The investigator also segregated the entity into two poles: low level and high level. The former category introduces the fundamentals of grammar such as units, parts of speech, and so on and grammatical acceptability. On the other end, a high level of syntax describes

the identification and formulation of syntactic rules and the control of one’s

grammatical performance. Hudson (2007) made it clear that this awareness determines how easy or difficult a text might be.

Plenty of students confront reading comprehension dilemmas because they cannot understand English syntax. In reality, there is a definite dissimilarity between English and Vietnamese sentence formulas and word order. Alkhawaldeh

(2010) announced that students’ poor reading comprehension could be traced back to confusion in syntactic understanding. Later on, Azeroual (2013) conceded the weight of vocabulary and grammar in comprehension difficulties.

2.2.3.2. Non-linguistic difficulties Text features

Alderson (2000) denoted text elements that either facilitate or complicate the reading process such as text topic and content, text type and genre, and text structure and length. Nuttall (2005) reported one of the causes behind text reading

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difficulties is when the reading narrates a specified science about which the learner has little to no background information. Two years later, McCormick proposed

several identical aspects that make texts more complex to absorb, listing text

structure, foreign details, abstract notions, and readability.

As mentioned above, text structure could be one of the cumbersome segments for students to follow when they cannot map the conveyed concepts and messages. There are a variety of text arrangements, each of which employs certain reading skills (Harmer, 2002). According to Marzban and Adibi (2014), the recognition and application of text organizations are pivotal procedures underlying reading comprehension. Low-skilled readers are said to show weaknesses in text structure dissection (Snowling and Hulme, 2005). Grabe (2009) also differentiated good readers as being able to detect the text structure and make use of it for a better grasp of the passage.

Prior knowledge

From Alderson (2000)’s breakdown, background knowledge is the pertinent experiences and analogous knowledge of the reader that are recalled to help interpret the text more plainly. Nguyen (2007) distinguished that learners with little exposure to information and limited reading history are more inclined to spend several times reading the text to comprehend it. Zhao and Zhu (2012)

debated that it raises students’ interest, increases their reading speed, and helps

them form appropriate judgments. This means if the previous knowledge is absent,

readers’ comprehension abilities might plunge. Long ago, Just & Carpenter (1987) already discussed that despite knowing every word and sentence, a reader can only understand the superficial meanings of those items if he/she grasps no gist of the

Reading strategies

The conceptions of skill and strategy are often interchangeable. Afflerbach et al. (2008) stated that skills become strategies when a person knows how and when they function, notices their limits, and is capable of choosing the appropriate method. Another perspective inspects reading strategies are the methods used to forward comprehension, whereas skills are the baby steps and paths into understanding.

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Competent readers are told apart by moderately utilizing proper strategies to further their comprehension. Roe (2014) defined a strategic learner as someone that could solve any problem arising during the reading process with the help of suitable tools. Hairul, Ahmadi & Pourhossein (2012) claimed that reading strategies influence positively on students’ comprehension. Other researchers also believe readers that receive specific and systematic reading instruction turn out as better readers than those of the opposite.

Pressley et al. (1992) advanced the "Super Six" model that introduced and described six separate reading comprehension strategies that later adopted by teachers in English field to give instructions in their reading classes. The six branches can be encapsulated as below.

e Making connections

Students who make connections are said to be better at determining the

text's meaning (Keene and Zimmerman, 1997). According to the two authors,

connections can be made through three relationships: text-to-self, text-to-text and text-to-world. The text-to-self type refers to the personal connection between the reader's individual life and the text itself. For instance, one can be reminded of a holiday to his/her grandfather's farm while reading a text about horses. The second connection, text-to-text, happens when one text resembles or contains similar, relatable characteristics to another one, for example, books by the same writer, same topic or style. Lastly, text-to-world means seeing the relation between the

world, perhaps something in history or in current affairs, and the content of the

e Predicting

Prediction is not simply thinking about what will happen next without clues but rather employing antecedent information to forecast the content. Learners use details from graphics, text and experiences to anticipate what will be read and to actively adjust comprehension while reading. For example, young readers are asked to look at the "Sherlock Holmes" book's cover and guess the events that will occur in the story or its genre.

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® Questioning

With this strategy, learners pose and answer questions that clarify meaning and promote deeper understanding of the text in every aspect possible. Questions can be generated by the learner, a peer or the teacher. To question is to have purposes in reading, carving one's comprehension deeper and clearer. This is an

integral part of synthesis when reading, not a trait that occurs naturally.

e Monitoring

From Oczkus (2004)'s depiction, monitoring basically means "making

judgments". However, it is a much more intricate strategy which demands lots of

practice and development to function properly and effectively. In short, it asks for a huge deal of critical thinking from the reader. When reading, they stop and think about the text and know what to do when meaning is disrupted and if they have to re-read, revise or check the information again.

e Visualizing

This strategy allows learners to create a mental image from a text read. Visualizing brings the text to life, engages the imagination and uses all of the senses. Nonetheless, it may be tough for readers who are used to being fed visual images.

e Summarizing

Through summarizing, learners identify and accumulate the most important ideas and restate them in their own words. Summarization helps students to tell apart key information from the text and how to read that information.

Summarization plays a great role in predicting and is also likely to embrace

connecting to link pivotal points and themes.

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This chapter specifies participants, data collection method and procedure along with data analysis procedures.

3.1. Participants

With the aim of gathering realistic particulars about reading comprehension difficulties faced by NEU sophomores, 50 students from different classes of BE

major were invited to contribute to an online questionnaire. In order to have a

thorough insight into the problems, this research is based on their current real situation.

There is a considerable disparity in the number of student groups taking part in the survey. While most of the contributors are female with a distinction of 84%, the rest (16%) belongs to their male counterparts.

The participants’ average reading score ranges significantly. The majority of BE second-year students scored higher than 8, occupying 66% of the pie chart. Only 14% were reported to receive a mark over 9 and the rest had a score from 8

to lower. These results partially reveal the students’ reading ability, with most of

them staying are good readers, although not achieving the highest scores. 3.2. Data collection method

To gain accurate and reliable results and accomplishing the purposes of the research, a questionnaire and interview were used as an instrument to collect data. The questionnaire includes four main parts. Part one is designed to get the participants' background information and their reading level in the latest semester at the university. Parts two and three consist of sub-problems in both linguistic and non-linguistic aspects to gather participants’ opinions about problems in reading comprehension. The Likert five-point scale corresponding to the following degrees: "Strongly disagree", "Disagree", "Neutral", "Agree" and "Strongly agree" was employed to gather and measure the answers. The final part discovers students’ reactions when facing such difficulties. By the use of questionnaires, the privacy of the respondents has been protected so the students can deliver honest responses to assist the progress of the study.

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The interview is intended to re-analyze the authenticity of the

questionnaires and gauge the effectiveness of several solutions in class according

to students' opinions.

3.3. Data collection procedures

Step 1: Design the questionnaire. The questionnaire items were designed from the division of elements in chapter 2 and the purposes of the research.

Step 2: Deliver the questionnaires to the instructor and a few students for a pilot study and then adjust the questionnaire.

Step 3: Distribute the online questionnaires to 50 BE students through social media.

Step 4: Gather data from the questionnaire and transfer it into figures and tables.

Step 5: Analyze collected data.

3.4. Data analysis procedures

The data amassed from the survey is examined in styles of charts, tables and descriptive statistics.

50 replies in the survey are all authentic and useable for the research. The in-depth inspection is shown in the following chapter titled “Analysis and findings”.

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CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

This chapter exhibited three discoveries: the linguistic difficulties, the non-linguistic difficulties and students' responses to reading comprehension <small>8 Strongly disagree #Disagree Neutral SAgree Strongly agree</small>

Figure 5. Data analysis of vocabulary difficulties

V1: I often have difficulty guessing the meanings of some new or unfamiliar words when reading.

V2: I have difficulty understanding technical terms (law, chemistry, etc.) in the reading.

V3: I have difficulty understanding idioms, proverbs, and collocations in the reading.

V4: I have difficulty understanding metaphor, simile, metonymy, and personification in the reading.

Derived from the chart, the second element (V2) attracted the highest approvals (40), occupying up to 80% of the total results. This indicates that technical terms in the reading are the biggest challenge for the students on the way

to achieving reading comprehension. Following closely V2's report are the troubles

of understanding figures of speech (V3 and V4), with the summed outcomes of "agreement" and "strong agreement" being 39 and 38 respectively. Accordingly,

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