Post on 28-Jul-2015
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
THE FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION
NGUYỄN HỒNG NGỌC
THE SELECTION OF AUTHENTIC TEXTS FOR
READING REFLECTION ACTIVITY OF SECOND-YEAR
MAINSTREAM STUDENTS AT FELTE, ULIS, VNU
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS (TEFL)
Hanoi, May 2011
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
THE FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION
NGUYỄN HỒNG NGỌC
THE SELECTION OF AUTHENTIC TEXTS FOR
READING REFLECTION ACTIVITY OF SECOND-YEAR
MAINSTREAM STUDENTS AT FELTE, ULIS, VNU
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS (TEFL)
SUPERVISOR: KHOA ANH VIỆT, M.A.
Hanoi, May 2011
i
ACCEPTANCE
I hereby state that I: Nguyễn Hồng Ngọc, K41-E1, being a
candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the
requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of
Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper
deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study
and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by
the librarian or the care, loan or reproduction of the paper.
May 4th 2011
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To complete this paper, firstly, I would like to express my deepest
gratitude to my supervisor Mr. Khoa Anh Việt, M.A. for very valuable
guidance and enthusiastic support.
I also would love to send my heartfelt thanks to Ms. Nguyễn Minh
Huệ, M.A. and Ms. Phạm Minh Tâm, M.Ed. for their priceless pieces of
advice. Without them, I would encounter enormous number of difficulties
when carrying out this research.
I would like to thank all the second-year mainstream students who
were willing to participate in my study. Especially, I am totally grateful to
three cases: Student I, Student II and Student III for their willingness to
provide me with precious information during the interviews. Without
them, I would not have been able to complete this thesis.
Last but not least, I would like to give my sincere thanks to my
classmates at K41-E1 who have always encouraged me during the time
this research was conducted.
iii
ABSTRACT
In the context of Faculty of English Language Teacher Education,
students’ extensive reading is instructed, controlled and evaluated
through Reading Reflection activity. In this task, they are encouraged to
choose authentic texts since this type of texts can provide incredibly
valuable language in real-life communication. As one of the first studies
on students’ selection of authentic materials, this paper presents both
important factors of authentic texts affecting students’ choices of
materials for Reading Reflection and also the hindrances to their selecting
procedures. By identifying these factors and hindrances, the researcher
hopes to offer useful suggestions to improve the current situation. To
achieve these aims, 3 cases out of 176 second-year mainstream students
were deliberately chosen and investigated. It was indicated in this
qualitative research that cases with lower English competence and little
interest in Reading Reflection paid more attention to the readability, the
appropriate length and content of authentic texts while the student with
better English academic records and more interest in reading reflection
greatly considered the exploitability, the sources as well as the writing
styles of those texts. Moreover, these subjects overcame various
hindrances before coming up to their final decisions. Those hindrances
mostly came from disorganized sources of texts, low English
competence, limited background knowledge, lack of guidance, lack of
critical thinking, lack of study skills and lack of time. Thus, to minimize
the hindrances to the students’ procedures of selecting authentic
materials, teachers’ more thorough and passionate guidance was highly
recommended together with learners’ habits of reading more frequently.
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iii
List of tables, figures and abbreviations vii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Statement of the problem and rationale for the study 1
1.2. Aims of the study and research questions 4
1.3. Significance of the study 5
1.4. Scope of the study 6
1.5. Methods of the study 6
1.6. An overview of the rest of the paper 7
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Definitions of key terms 9
2.1.1. Reading 9
2.1.1.1. Definitions of reading 9
2.1.1.2. Reading purposes 10
2.1.1.3. Intensive reading vs. Extensive reading in L2
classrooms
11
2.1.1.4. Reading reflection 13
v
2.1.2. Authenticity 14
2.1.2.1. Definitions of authenticity 14
2.1.2.2. Types of authenticity 14
2.1.3. Texts 16
2.1.4. Authentic texts 17
2.2. Advantages and disadvantages of using authentic texts 18
2.2.1. Advantages 18
2.2.2. Disadvantages 21
2.3. Related studies 22
2.3.1. An overview of related studies worldwide 23
2.3.1.1. Sources of authentic texts 23
2.3.1.2. Other important factors in selecting authentic texts 23
2.3.2. An overview of related studies in Vietnam 26
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1. Research design 28
3.2. Setting of the study 29
3.3. Sampling and participants 31
3.3.1. Sampling method 31
3.3.2. Participants 34
3.4. Research Instruments 35
vi
3.4.1. Questionnaire 35
3.4.1.1 Reasons for using Questionnaire 35
3.4.1.2. Questionnaire Content and Format 35
3.4.2. Interviews 36
3.4.2.1. Reasons for using Interviews 36
3.4.2.2. Interview Content and Format 38
3.5. Procedures 39
3.5.1. Data collection 39
3.5.2. Data analysis 41
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1. Case analysis – Student I 43
4.1.1. Background information 43
4.1.2. Factors of authentic texts affecting the selection of
Student I
45
4.1.3. Hindrances to Student I when selecting authentic texts 47
4.2. Case analysis - Student II 50
4.2.1. Background information 50
4.2.2. Factors of authentic texts affecting the selection of
Student II
51
4.2.3. Hindrances to Student II when selecting authentic texts 53
4.3. Case analysis – Student III 55
vii
4.3.1. Background information 55
4.3.2. Factors of authentic texts affecting the selection of
Student III
57
4.3.3. Hindrances to Student III when selecting authentic texts 59
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION
5.1. Summary of findings 61
5.2. Implications for more effective selections of authentic texts
for Reading Reflection activity
62
5.3. Limitations of the study 65
5.4. Suggestions for further studies 66
REFERENCES
APPENDICES
APPENDIX 1: Questionnaire – Vietnamese version
APPENDIX 2: Questionnaire – English version
APPENDIX 3: Semi-structured interview schedules – Vietnamese
version
APPENDIX 4: Semi-structured interview schedules – English version
APPENDIX 5: Transcription of the interviews
APPENDIX 6: Guidelines for Reading Reflection
APPENDIX 7: Samples of authentic texts for Reading Reflection
viii
LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND
ABBREVIATIONS Lists of tables
Tables Page
Table 1. The differences between extensive and intensive
reading (Yáng, 2007, p. 13)
12
Table 2. Authentic materials vs. Non-authentic materials
(Miller, 2003, p. 33)
17
Table 3. Advantages & Disadvantages of Authentic Reading
Materials (Berardo, 2006, p. 65)
22
Table 4. Important Factors in Choosing Authentic Reading
Materials (Berardo, 2006, p. 63)
25
Table 5. Basic information about three participants 34
List of figures
Figures Page
Figure 1. Types of texts selected by the second-year
mainstream students for Reading Reflection
3
Figure 2. The number of difficulties second-year mainstream
students have encountered when selecting authentic texts for
Reading Reflection
4
Figure 3. Important factors of authentic texts affecting
Student I’s selection of materials for Reading Reflection
47
Figure 4. Student I’s hindrances when selecting authentic
texts
49
ix
Figure 5. Important factors of authentic texts affecting
Student II’s selection of materials for Reading Reflection
53
Figure 6. Student II’s hindrances when selecting authentic
texts
55
Figure 7. Important factors of authentic texts affecting
Student III’s selection of materials for Reading Reflection
59
Figure 8. Student III’s hindrances when selecting authentic
texts
60
List of abbreviations
FELTE, ULIS, VNU Faculty of English Language Teacher Education,
University of Languages and International
Studies, Vietnam National University
L1 First Language
L2 Second Language
TEFL Teaching English as Foreign Language
.
1
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
This first chapter states the problem and the rationale of the study,
together with the aims, the objectives, the scope and the significance of
the whole paper. Above all, the research questions are identified to
function as the goals of the whole research.
1.1. Statement of the problem and the rationale for the study
In every civilization, reading is a crucial activity. It is the method
to share and acquire knowledge. On describing the popularity of reading,
Anderson (2003, p. 64) states that “the modern world is filled with
materials for reading”. They are newspapers, magazines and books; they
also can be advertisements or the labels in the products people buy.
In foreign language teaching and learning, along with speaking,
listening and writing, reading is also an essential skill. According to
Anderson (2003), teaching reading usually has at least two aspects. The
first aspect is to teach the one who is learning to read at the first time. The
second aspect “refers to teaching learners who already have reading skills
in their first language” (p. 68). In other words, learners will learn how to
transfer skills they have known to the new reading context in a new
language.
In foreign language classrooms, learners can practice intensive
reading or extensive reading. While intensive reading focuses more on
language and reading skills inside classrooms, extensive reading often
focuses on the meaning of what is being read rather than on the language.
It is widely believed that people become good readers through reading,
and that learning how to read should mean a focus of attention on the
meaning rather than the language of the text. Moreover, nowadays,
2
learners have been taught not only to improve reading skills but also to
emphasize on personal development. For this purpose, extensive reading
is carried out outside the class, and that raises a question of how to
control the development of learners. Reading reflection activity has been
widely applied to answer this question. Wirth (2008, as cited in Pham,
2010) claims that Reading Reflections involve a range of higher order
thinking skills. In this activity, students are asked to summarize the
content of the reading (understand), describe what is new or interesting
(analyze, evaluate, create), and identify those parts of the reading that are
confusing (analyze, evaluate).
The Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, University of
Languages and International Studies has applied this activity in the
curriculum for teaching reading skills. Students are asked to do Reading
Reflection from the first year to the third year. However, during the
process of completing Reading Reflection, students have encountered
many difficulties and been confused about their self-improvements. For
this activity, students have to decide on their own materials to summarize
and reflect. They are encouraged to find texts about up-to-date topics
from a variety of sources. When being asked, 168 out of 176 second-year
mainstream students admitted that they did not use texts in any textbooks
for their reflections. Instead, they selected real-life texts from magazines,
newspapers or other Internet sources which are in general called authentic
materials. The researcher has asked 176 participants whether they used
authentic texts for Reading Reflection or not. The figure below describes
their answers.
3
Figure 1. Types of texts selected by the second-year mainstream students for Reading
Reflection
It is the fact that giving students chances to select their own
studying materials has increased students’ active learning which
according to Pritchard (2005), is one of the best learning methods because
of students’ engagement and contribution to the lessons. Moreover,
students’ selection of authentic texts is also an opportunity for them to
improve reading skills and especially critical reading since students are
likely to give comments on the authors’ opinions stated in the texts, and
justify whether their arguments are persuasive or not in their Reading
Reflections.
However, the difficulties in choosing authentic materials in
teaching and learning language have been widely affirmed. The figure
below describes the extent of the number of difficulties that the second-
year students who have filled in the questionnaires have encountered
when selecting authentic reading materials for Reading Reflection:
4
Figure 2. The number of difficulties second-year mainstream students have
encountered when selecting authentic texts for Reading Reflection
These dominant facts have encouraged the researcher’s desire to
carry out a multiple-case study on the selection of authentic texts for
Reading Reflection of second-year mainstream students at FELTE, ULIS,
VNU. It is highly expected that the special features of authentic materials
as well as the variety of each case’s attributes will be presented and
associated to reveal valuable contributions to the teaching and learning of
English reading skills at FELTE, ULIS, VNU.
1.2 Aims of the study and research questions
In this research, firstly, the researcher desires to find out the factors
of authentic texts which influence students’ selection of materials for
Reading Reflection activity. Secondly, this will be an opportunity for
targeted students to share their hindrances during the process of choosing
authentic texts for Reading Reflection activity.
5
In brief, the aims of the study can be addressed by two following
questions:
1. Which factors of authentic texts have second-year mainstream
students considered when selecting materials for Reading
Reflection activity?
2. What are the hindrances to the students’ selection of authentic
texts for Reading Reflection activity?
1.3. Significance of the study
Once having been completed, this research would serve as one of
the initial studies on students’ decision on their own study materials. As
the benefits of active learning have been widely recognized, the
investigation on factors and hindrances affecting students’ procedure of
selecting study materials could provide an in-depth understanding of the
current situation, and then more pedagogical suggestions might be
revealed. Hopefully, this study might be particularly practical and useful
for teachers and students at FELTE, ULIS, VNU.
In addition, “real” language exposure with variation being reflected
in authentic materials has made them very useful for language learners to
communicate in real life. In this study, three focal cases have been
carefully chosen to present the clear cut instance of the phenomenon.
Other students can partly find themselves in these cases. And then, the
association among different facets could be found out for students to
acknowledge and overcome their obstacles. As a result, students would be
more confident to acquire more useful language to communicate
successfully outside classrooms.
6
1.4. Scope of the study
As the aims of the research have been clearly stated, instead of
studying the whole process of students’ completion of Reading
Reflection, the researcher places a strong focus on their selection of
authentic text for Reading Reflection activity. The primary concerns will
be factors of authentic texts affecting the students’ selection of materials
for Reading Reflection activity. In other words, while there are many
factors influencing students’ choices, the researcher’s concentrations are
only striking features within an authentic text.
Moreover, it should be mentioned that the research is conducted in
the context FELTE, ULIS, VNU where Reading Reflection activity has
some particular requirements. These special requirements have also led in
particular demands of materials (The requirements of materials for
Reading Reflection can be seen in Appendix 6).
Lastly, it is noteworthy that the samples in this study were
restricted to second-year mainstream students at FELTE, ULIS, VNU.
Although 176 students from 11 mainstream classes filled in the
questionnaires, only 3 of them were chosen to distribute to the findings of
this paper.
1.5. Methods of the study
In this paper, multiple-case study method which bases on in-
depth investigations of some individuals was applied. First, the
questionnaires were distributed to 11 classes with about 220 students so
that the researcher could reach suitable cases more easily. Finally, 176
out of 220 questionnaires were collected. After the research analyzed the
data in the questionnaires, three second-year mainstream students were
7
deliberately chosen. Once these students agreed to participate in the
research, individual semi-structured interviews were conducted in order
to explore valuable information about the phenomenon. This method
helped the researcher to understand the situation from the viewpoints of
the insiders. It should be noted that the questions in the questionnaires as
well as the framework of the interviews were considered meticulously
through the piloting procedure so that no crucial point would be omitted.
After the three interviews had been completed, the researcher
transcribed the collected data in detail. The basic information of cases
was also gathered from both questionnaires and interviews. To answer
two research questions, the researcher analyzed cases one by one.
Comparison and contrast among cases were emphasized to reveal the
most significant distinctions of second-year mainstream students’
selection of authentic materials for Reading Reflection.
1.6. An overview of the rest of the paper
The rest of this research is divided into five chapters:
Chapter 2 (Literature Review) provides the background of the
study including definitions of key terms and discussion of related studies
in the world and in Vietnam about issues to be considered when selecting
authentic materials.
Chapter 3 (Methodology) firstly states the research design and the
setting in which this research was conducted. In this chapter, the
researcher also describes the sampling method, the participants and the
instruments employed to carry out the paper. Finally, the detailed
procedures of data collection and data analysis are presented step by step
with exact dates and numbers.
8
Chapter 4 (Results and discussion) presents, analyzes and
discusses the results that the researcher have found out from all collected
data in accordance with two research questions.
Chapter 5 (Conclusion) summarizes the major findings of the
research. In this chapter, the researcher presents some pedagogical
recommendations for both teachers and learners, and also points out the
limitations of the studies as well as some suggestions for further studies.
Conclusive Remarks
In this chapter, the researcher has elaborated on these following points
(1) Statement and rationale for the study
(2) Aims and objectives of the study
(3) Significance of the study
(4) Scope of the study
(5) Methods of the study
(6) An overview of the rest of the study
Generally speaking, these elaborations have not only justified the major
contents and structure of the study but will also work as the guidelines for
the rest of the paper.
9
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
The second chapter reviews the literature of the study, especially a
number of related studies to the research topic. Firstly, the important key
terms, namely “reading” and “text and authentic texts” will be provided.
The advantages and disadvantages of authentic texts also will be pointed
out. Finally, the researcher gives out an overview of related studies
worldwide and in Vietnam.
2.1. Definitions of key terms
2.1.1. Reading
2.1.1.1. Definitions of reading
According to Anderson (2003, pp. 67-68), reading is a fluent
process in which readers combine “information from a text and their own
background knowledge to build meaning”. He emphasizes that reading is
“…an enjoyable, intense, private activity, from which much pleasure can
be derived, and in which one can become totally absorbed”, and
comprehension of the text is the purpose of this process.
Hafner & Jolly (1982) defines reading as a process of converting
written language symbols into the direct or implied symbols which could
be understood by the readers. That requires readers and writers to have
certain neutral amount of knowledge so that comprehension could be
achieved. To be more simple, Williams (1986, p. 2) explains that reading
is “a process whereby one looks at and understands what has been
written”.
10
No matter what explanation is given to the term, in this paper, the
researcher perceives that reading is a process in which the readers
associate their background knowledge with written language for the sake
of comprehension.
2.1.1.2. Reading purposes
Reading can be defined in different ways to different people.
However, “reading always has a purpose” (Berardo, 2006, p. 61). The
reasons for reading depend very much on the purposes for reading.
Wallace (1992, pp. 6-7) gives out three main purposes of reading: “for
survival, for learning or for pleasure”. “Reading for survival” is
considered to be in response to our environment, to find out information
and can include street signs, advertising, and timetables… It depends very
much on the day-to-day needs of the readers and often involves an
immediate response to a situation. In contrast, “reading for learning” is
considered to be the type of reading done in the classroom and is goal-
orientated while “reading for pleasure” is something that does not have to
be done. For Nuttall (1996, as cited in Richard, 2001, p. 52) the central
ideas behind reading are:
- The idea of meaning
- The transfer of meaning from one mind to another
- The transfer of a message from writer to reader
- How we get meaning by reading
- How the reader, the writer and the text all contribute to the process.
11
2.1.1.3. Intensive reading vs. Extensive reading in L2 classrooms
Though there are many different reading styles, this part only
focuses on Intensive reading and Extensive reading in L2 classrooms
because of the nature of Reading Reflection activity.
Day and Bamford (1997, as cited in Tran, 2009) define that in L2
classrooms, intensive reading is used to digest short foreign language
texts with the aim of complete and detailed understanding in terms of its
components. Intensive reading has usually been used in classrooms to
help learners to develop reading skills such as identifying main ideas,
reading for details, recognizing text connectors…
On contrary, extensive reading is related to reading longer texts,
usually for one’s own pleasure (Grellet, 1981). In other words, extensive
reading could, according to Levis and Hill (1992), be defined as the
reading process in which students have basic information of the texts
without understanding every detail.
Day and Bamford (1997, as cited in Tran, 2009), extensive reading
supplies students with the dynamics of reading when the students practice
it in reality. They list ten characteristics discovered in crucial programs
for extensive reading in L2 classrooms:
- Students read as much as possible, perhaps in and definitely out of
the classrooms.
- A variety of materials on a wide range of topics is available so as
to encourage students to read for different reasons and in different
ways.
- Students themselves decide what they want to read and have the
rights to stop reading material that fails to interest them.
12
- The purposes of reading are usually related to pleasure,
information and general understanding. These purposes are
determined by the nature of the materials and the interests of the
student.
- Reading is its own reward. It means that there are few or no
follow-up exercises to be completed after reading.
- Reading materials are well within the linguistic competence of the
students in terms of vocabulary and grammar. Dictionaries are
rarely used while reading because the constant stopping to look up
words makes fluent reading difficult.
- Reading is individual and silent, at the student's own pace, and,
outside class, done when and where the student chooses.
- Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower as students read
books and other material that they find easily understandable.
- Teachers orient students to the goals of the program, explain the
methodology, keep track of what each student reads, and guide
students in getting the most out of the program.
- The teacher is a role model of a reader for students - an active
member of the classroom reading community, demonstrating what
it means to be a reader and the rewards of being a reader.
Yáng (2007, p. 13) has summarized the differences between
extensive reading and intensive reading in the following table:
Extensive reading Intensive reading
Development of faster reading Development of specific reading
skills
Self-chosen materials; authentic
reading
Teacher-assigned texts with drills
13
Analytical reading Focused development of
vocabulary, grammar, and study
skills
Improved motivation for L2 reading
Clearly-focused instruction of
grammar
Greater entertainment & enjoyment
(lower anxiety & better affective
factors)
Positive effects of building up
basic language skills in a short time
Wider range reading for pleasure Understanding author’s bias &
purpose
Table 1. The differences between extensive and intensive reading (Yáng, 2007, p. 13)
In general, while intensive reading plays an important role in L2
learners’ development of language and grammar, extensive reading
emphasizes on the learners’ motivation of L2 reading. In intensive
reading, students have to read the materials assigned by their teachers;
whereas, in extensive reading, students have to decide their own texts.
2.1.1.4. Reading reflection
Reflection is a form of mental processing – like a form of thinking
– which is used to fulfill a purpose or to achieve some anticipated
outcome. It is applied to relatively complicated or unstructured ideas for
which there is not an obvious solution and is largely based on the further
processing of knowledge and understanding and possibly emotions that
we already possess (Moon, 1999, as cited in Pham, 2010).
According to Mertens (2001, as cited in Pham, 2010), a reflection
paper can be written on an assigned piece of reading, a lecture or an
experience. A reflection paper probably will be further clarified by the
14
teacher or professor who assigns students to do. However, for the most
part, a reflection paper cites students’ “reactions, feelings and analysis of
an experience in a more personal way than in a formal research or
analytical essay” (p. 14). When writing a reflection paper on literature,
the point is to include readers’ thoughts and reactions. Readers can
present the feelings on what they have read, analyze and explain them.
Personal experience and opinions are highly recommended in a reflection
paper, but the readers should not depend on it; the material themselves
are the main subjects.
2.1.2. Authenticity
2.1.2.1. Definitions of authenticity
The terms “authenticity” is a relative concept which is often used
to describe language samples that reflect the “naturalness of form, and
appropriateness of cultural and situational context” (Rogers & Medley,
1988, p. 467). In language teaching and learning authenticity refers to
“genuineness, realness, truthfulness, validity, reliability, undisputed
credibility, and legitimacy of materials or practices” (Tatsuki, 2006, p.
17). Widdowson (1998) refers to them as possessing “genuineness” – a
characteristic of the text or the material itself (p. 616). He distinguishes
between “genuineness” and “authenticity” which refers to the “uses” to
which texts are put. A certain kind of authenticity is created through the
interaction of the users, situations and the texts. That kind of authenticity
is determined mostly by the authenticity of situation in which the
language is produced as well as by the source of the sample and the
purpose of the speakers.
15
2.1.2.2. Types of authenticity
Breen (1985) emphasizes four types of authenticity within
language teaching. These types are indicated to be in continual
interrelationship with one another during any language lesson. These
types include:
- Authenticity of the texts which are used as input data for our
learners: This refers to the authentic qualities of a given text.
Authentic texts for language learning are any sources of data which
serves as a means to help the learner to develop an authentic
interpretation.
- Authenticity of the learners’ own interpretations of such texts:
Learner authenticity means that the learner must discover the
conventions of communication in the target language which will
enable him or her to gradually come to interpret meaning within
the text in ways which are likely to be shared with fluent users of
the language.
- Authenticity of tasks conductive to language learning: Task
authenticity reflects the purpose to which language input is put. It
means that the chosen tasks should involve the learners not only in
authentic communication with texts and others in the classroom,
but also in learning and the purpose of learning.
- Authenticity of the actual social situation of the language
classroom: The authenticity of the classroom is a special social
event and environment wherein people share a primary
communicative purpose that is learning. The authentic role of the
language classroom is the provision of those conditions in which
the participants can publicly share the problems, achievements and
overall process of learning a language together as a social activity.
16
2.1.3. Texts
According to Brown and Yule (1983, p. 6, as cited in Wallace,
1992, p. 8), a text is “a verbal record of a communicative act”. Halliday
and Hasan (1985, p. 10, as cited in Wallace, 1992, p. 8), in the same line
of definition, describe text as language that is functional, which is “doing
some job” such as persuading people to buy products or conveying New
Year’s greeting. However, now the definition of Text has been widened.
In the book “Materials Development in Language Teaching”, Tomlinson
(1998, p. 7) has defined text as “any scripted or recorded production of a
language presented to learners of that language”. A text can be in both
written or spoken forms and could be, for example, a poem, a newspaper
article, a passage about pollution, a song, a film, an extract from a novel
or play, a passage written to exemplify the use of the past perfect, a
recorded telephone conversation, a scripted dialogue or a speech by a
politician.
In his book, Tomlinson (1998) also gives out the definition of
Material in language teaching. Material can be anything which is used by
teachers or learners to “facilitate the learning of language” (p. 7).
Materials can be in the form of a text book, a work book, a cassette, a CD
- Rom, a video, a photocopied handout, a newspaper, a paragraph written
on a whiteboard: anything which presents or informs about the language
being learned. In other words, materials are everything which is
“deliberately used to increase the learners’ knowledge and/or experience
of the language” (Tomlinson, 1998, p. 7).
The similarities between the definition of “Text” and the definition
of “Material” in language teaching have made these two concepts be used
17
interchangeably. In this research, the researcher used both term “Text”
and “Material” with the same purposes.
2.1.4. Authentic texts
The traditional definition adopted for such texts are "those which
have been produced for purposes other than to teach language" (Nunan,
1988, p. 99). On the same page, Bacon & Finnemann (1990, p. 73) states
that “authentic materials are texts produced by native speakers for a non-
pedagogical purpose”. They are therefore written for native speakers and
contain “real” language. Harmer (1991, as cited in Matsuta, para. 1)
defines authentic texts as materials which are designed for native
speakers. They are “…real-life texts, not written for pedagogic purposes”.
They are designed not for language students, but for the speakers of the
language. Authentic materials is significant since it increases students'
motivation for learning, makes the learner be exposed to the “real”
language as discussed by Guariento & Morley (2001, p. 347). The
common in these definitions is the “exposure to real language and its use
in its own community”.
Rogers and Medley (1988) define it as “appropriate” and “quality”
in terms of goals, objectives, learner needs and interest and “natural” in
terms of real life and meaningful communication (p. 467). There are
many references to authentic material in the ELT literature. Books and
journals contain thorough explanations of why it should or should not be
included in lessons, and how it is to be used or best exploited. But those
authors who support the use of authentic material have in common one
idea: "exposure”, in other words, the benefit students get from being
exposed to the language in authentic materials. The definition of
authentic materials used in this paper is taken from Peacock (1997, as
18
cited in Richard, 2001). Authentic texts are materials that have been
produced to fulfill some social purposes in the language community not
for pedagogical purposes.
Authentic Materials Non-Authentic Materials
Language data produced for real life
communication purposes.
They are specially designed for
learning purposes.
They may contain false starts, and
incomplete sentences.
The language used in them is
artificial. They contain well
formed sentences all the time.
They are useful for improving the
communicative aspects of the
language.
They are useful for teaching
grammar.
Table 2. Authentic materials vs. Non-authentic materials (Miller, 2003, p. 33)
2.2. Advantages and disadvantages of using authentic texts
2.2.1. Advantages
The advantages of using authentic texts are undeniable; they have
been confirmed clearly in many literatures. According to Martinez
(2002), using authentic materials in the classroom, even when it is not in
an authentic situation, still provides the learners with many significant
advantages. He summarizes several benefits of using authentic materials
as follows:
The first one is that by using authentic materials, students are
exposed to real discourse, as in videos of interview with famous people
where intermediate students listen for general ideas. Secondly, authentic
materials keep students informed about what is happening in the world,
19
so they have an intrinsic educational value. Thirdly, as language change
is reflected in the materials so that students and teachers can keep abreast
of such changes.
Moreover, reading texts are ideal to teach/practise mini-skills such
as scanning, e.g. students are given a news article and asked to look for
specific information. Different authentic materials such as books, articles,
newspapers, and so on contain a wide variety of text types, and language
styles not easily found in conventional teaching materials. Thus, it can
help students extend their vocabulary and help memorize them in a
number of meaningful recyclings.
Last but not least, authentic materials can encourage reading for
pleasure because they are likely to contain topics of interest to learners,
especially if students are given the chance to have a say about the topics
of kinds of authentic materials to be used in class. As a result, learners
will keep high motivation and interesting in language learning through
these meaningful interactions with the materials.
With almost the same points of view, Berardor (2006) also
indicates various advantages of using authentic materials, especially
authentic reading materials, Authentic materials also give the reader the
opportunity to gain real information and know what is going on in the
world around them. They can help learners “bridge the gap from the
classroom lessons to real life by making immediate use of classroom
lessons in their lives” (Spelleri, 2002, p. 3). They also produce a sense of
achievement. Extracting real information from a real text in a
new/different language can be extremely motivating, therefore increasing
students' motivation for learning by exposing them to “real” language
(Guariento & Morley, 2001, p. 352). They also reflect the changes in
20
language use, (again something that does not occur in textbooks, which
become very dated, very quickly) as well as giving the learner the proof
that the language is real and not only studied in the classroom: “Authentic
texts can be motivating because they are proof that the language is used
for real-life purposes by real people” (Nuttall, 1996, as cited in Richard,
2001, p. 53).
The wide variety of different types of text means that it is easier to
find something that will interest the learner and may even encourage
further reading or reading for pleasure. An advantage of taking a
complete newspaper or magazine into classroom, rather than photocopies
of an article, is that students can actually choose what they want to read.
The more the learner reads the better readers they will become. One of
the aims of authentic materials is to help the student react in the same
way L1 speakers react in their first language (L1). Learners who live in
the target language environment, once outside of the classroom will
encounter a variety of situations in which different reading
purposes/skills are required. We can claim that learners are being exposed
to real language and they feel that they are learning the 'real' language.
The main advantages of using authentic materials are (Peacock
1997, as cited in Richards, 2001, p. 54):
• They have a positive effect on learner motivation.
• They provide authentic cultural information.
• They provide exposure to real language.
• They relate more closely to learners ' needs.
• They support a more creative approach to teaching.
21
2.2.2. Disadvantages
Richards (2001) points out that alongside with these advantages,
authentic materials often contain difficult language, unneeded vocabulary
items and complex language structures, which causes a burden for the
teacher in lower-level classes. Martinez (2002) mentions that authentic
materials may be too culturally biased and too many structures are mixed,
causing lower levels have a hard time decoding the texts.
Even if the classroom is not a “real-life” situation, authentic
materials do have a very important place within it. It has been argued that
by taking a text out of its original context, it loses its authenticity: “As
soon as texts, whatever their original purpose, are brought into
classrooms for pedagogic purposes, they have, arguably, lost
authenticity” (Richards, 2001, p. 56).
Moreover, she believes that authentic materials can also become
outdated very quickly. The biggest problem with authentic materials is
that if the wrong type of text is chosen, the vocabulary may not be
relevant to the learner’s needs and too many structures can create
difficulty. There comes the question of when authentic materials should
be introduced and used in a classroom; in other words, can we use
authentic materials regardless of our students' level? The advantages and
disadvantages of authentic materials have been summarized in the
following table by Berardo (2006, p. 65):
Advantages Disadvantages
- “Real” language exposure with
language change/variation being
reflected
- Often too culturally biased,
difficult to understand outside
the language community
22
- Students are informed about what
is happening in the world
- The same piece of material can be
used for different tasks
- Ideal for teaching/practising mini
skills-skimming/ scanning
- Contain a wide variety of text
types, language styles not easily
found in conventional teaching
materials
- Encourage reading for pleasure,
likely to contain topics of interest
- Vocabulary might not be
relevant to the student's
immediate needs
- Textbooks tend not to include
incidental/improper English and
become outdated very quickly
- Too many structures are mixed
so lower levels have problems
decoding the texts
- Special preparation is necessary,
can be time consuming
- Can become outdated easily, e.g.
news stories, articles.
Table 3. Advantages & Disadvantages of Authentic Reading Materials (Berardo,
2006, p. 65)
2.3. Related studies
As the significance of using authentic texts has been commonly
justified, there are certainly number of studies on the using of authentic
texts in L2 classrooms. However, almost all of these studies justify the
benefits of using authentic texts to the learners inside classrooms, and
the number of papers studying important factors of authentic texts that
both teachers and learners have to pay attention to when making use of
those materials is even smaller.
23
2.3.1. An overview of related studies worldwide
2.3.1.1. Sources of authentic texts
One of the important factors when deciding to use an authentic text
is its origin. Authentic texts are varied in types and forms, they can be
print, audio, and visual documents created and used by native speakers.
Examples include books, Web sites, articles, artwork, films, folktales,
music, and advertisements. According to Berardo (2006) in the paper
“The use of authentic material in teaching reading”, the sources of
authentic materials that can be used are infinite but the most common are
newspapers, magazines, TV programs, movies, songs and literature,
especially the Internet because “whereas newspapers and any other
printed material date very quickly, the Internet is continuously updated”
(p. 62). The texts found on the Internet are more visually stimulating as
well as interactive.
He also believes that authentic materials should be the kind of
material that students will need and want to be able to read when
travelling, studying abroad, or using the language in other contexts
outside the classroom. Authentic materials enable learners to interact with
the real language and content rather than the form. Learners feel that they
are learning a target language as it is used outside the classroom.
Consequently, those materials should be chosen from various sources
deliberately. He states that the selection of authentic materials carelessly
can lead to very serious problems.
2.3.1.2. Other important factors in selecting authentic texts
As the variety and availability of authentic materials have been
affirmed, the selections of them should be considered very seriously.
24
Nuttall (1996) in the book “Teaching Reading Skills in a foreign
language” lists three main criteria when choosing texts to be used, which
are “suitability of content, exploitability and readability”(p. 44). Berardo
also totally shares the same point of view about these features. He
indicates that the most important criterion is whether the content of the
text is suitable or not. The reading materials should be first of all, relevant
to courses’ objectives, then interesting and motivating to students’ needs.
He also highlights “the first criterion to me is that they are motivating
or that the exercises that can be done with them are motivating”.
Exploitability refers to how the text can be used to “develop the students’
competence as readers”. The fact that the texts are in English does not
guarantee their suitability for any language classes.
Once the texts are suitable and exploitable, readability is another
point to be considered. The term “readability”, according to Berardo
(2006, p. 63), is used to describe the “combination of structural and
lexical difficulty of a text”. The amount of new vocabulary and any new
grammatical forms presented should be enough for readers to read. It is
important to assess the right level for the right students.
Berardo also emphasizes that “variety and presentation also
influence the choice of authentic materials” (2006, p. 62). Firstly, he
believes that “a reading course can be made more interesting if a variety
of texts is used”. Secondly, it is also very important that whether the text
looks authentic or not. The “authentic” presentation illustrated by the use
of pictures, diagrams, photographs, helps to clarify the context. “This
helps the reader understand not only the meaning of the text better but
also how it would be used” (Berardo, 2006, p. 63). A text which is
appealing to readers should not only have interesting contents but also be
attractive in term of presentation.
25
It may seem to be a very superficial aspect but the appearance of any article is the first thing that the student notices. An “attractive” looking article is more likely to grab the reader’s attention rather than a page full of type.
(Berardo, 2006, p. 63)
Berardo (2006, p. 63) summarizes some important factors in
choosing authentic reading materials in the table below:
Suitability of Content
Does the text interest the student?
Is it relevant to the student’s needs?
Does it represent the type of material that the
student will use outside of the classroom?
Exploitability
Can the text be exploited for teaching purposes?
For what purpose should the text be exploited?
What skills/strategies can be developed by
exploiting the text?
Readability
Is the text too easy/difficult for the student?
Is it structurally too demanding/complex?
How much new vocabulary does it contain? Is it
relevant?
Presentation
Does it “look” authentic?
Is it “attractive”?
Does it grab the student’s attention?
Does it make him want to read more?
Table 4. Important Factors in Choosing Authentic Reading Materials (Berardo,
2006, p. 63)
There are some other factors worth taking into consideration when
selecting authentic materials. One of these factors presented in the paper
“Using authentic materials in classroom” is that the authentic texts should
26
not “too ephemeral” (Cook, 1981, para. 9). Cook confirms that “there is
nothing worse than entirely disconnected bits of authentic language
that are not linked to other aspects of the teaching. The obvious way to
make this link is through themes.”
2.3.2. An overview of related studies in Vietnam
In the context of Vietnam, especially at FELTE, ULIS, VNU,
the researcher could find some studies related to her concerns. Tran
(2009) carried out a research about “The practice of extensive reading by
second year English majors at ULIS-VNUH”. In this paper, the researcher
describes how second-year English majors at ULIS, VNU practice
extensive reading, what kind materials and reading strategies they have
employed during the process of reading extensively. Moreover, Tran also
explores the purposes, the benefits as well as the difficulties of extensive
reading as perceived by second year English students. Later on, another
comprehensive research titled “The exploitation of reading reflection task
for third year students, ULIS, VNU” conducted by Pham (2010) also points
out the benefits and difficulties that students have encountered on the way
of completing Reading Reflection, and the strategies they have applied to
overcome those hindrances. In this research, he also emphasizes the
difficulties in selecting good materials for Reading Reflection which badly
affect students’ results of Reading Reflection.
Nguyen (2005) underlines the importance of using authentic
materials in teaching reading skills to first-year students in Vietnam in
the study “The exploitation of authentic materials in teaching reading
skills for first year students in English Department, CFL – VNU”. In
this research, Nguyen provided the readers with the overall picture of
27
how authentic materials are exploited in several different tasks to help
students to improve reading skills.
There are some researches about factors that teachers have to
consider when applying authentic materials in L2 classrooms.
However, the researcher hardly finds any papers about important
factors of authentic texts affecting students’ selection of their own
materials for reading tasks in general and for Reading Reflection
activity in particular. Although there are some studies concerning the
difficulties when students practice extensive reading, there is no
exhaustive exploration about hindrances when students have to find
appropriate texts to gain better improvements. Such gap in the
literature actually encouraged the researcher to conduct a study about
students’ selection of authentic texts for Reading Reflection activity.
Conclusive Remarks
In this chapter, key terms including reading, authenticity, texts and
authentic texts have been clarified. After that, a review of several studies
related to this current research in the world and in Vietnam has been
described. Generally, the theoretical framework presented in this study
manifests the advantages and disadvantages of using authentic materials
and importance factors in selecting authentic texts in L2 classroom.
28
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
In the preceding chapter, the literature on the research topic was
briefly reviewed for the theoretical basis of the whole study. Turning to
the practical side, this research was carried out with strict adherence to
justified methods of data collection and analysis in order to maximize its
validity and reliability. This claim would be substantiated in this chapter
as, the research design, the participants, the instruments as well as the
procedures of data collection and analysis are discussed in detail.
3.1. Research design
Weick (1979) highlighted the three crucial goals of research which
can be accomplished by applying case studies: generality, accuracy, and
simplicity – in other words, the understandability of the results.
According to Marshall & Rossman (1999), case studies are intended to
take the readers of the research into the world of the subject(s); case
studies can provide a much richer and more vivid picture of the
phenomena under study than other, more analytical methods. This
method is used primarily when researchers wish to obtain an in-depth
understanding of a relatively small number of individuals, problems, or
situations (Patton, 1990). Moreover, case studies can present the
“attempts, on one hand, to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of the
event under study but at the same time to develop more general
theoretical statements about regularities in the observed phenomena”
(Fidel, 1984, p. 274).
In this study, multiple-case study method which bases on in-depth
investigations of some individuals was applied. It allowed the researcher
to explore the phenomenon under study through the use of a replication
29
strategy. As the “high degree of completeness, depth of analysis, and
readability” (Duff, 2008, p. 43) of case study has been widely approved,
the researcher wished to get a better understanding of the phenomenon
from the perspective of the participants, not to find out a tendency of a
group. It may also reveal new perspectives of processes or experiences
from participants themselves; thus, generate new hypotheses, models, and
understandings about the nature of language learning.
Each individual with different characteristics has different factors
to consider and various difficulties when selecting texts for Reading
Reflection activity. The researcher desires to explore that situation
meticulously, which could be feasible only by applying qualitative
method. Moreover, through this method, the researcher may gain a
sharpened understanding of why the instance happened as it did; whether
there is any relationship among all these dimensions and what might
become important to look at more extensively in future research.
For all these reasons, qualitative multiple-case study method was
applied into this current research. The researcher hopes that all efforts
would present valuable findings to teaching and learning of reading skills
in FELTE, ULIS, VNU.
3.2. Setting of the study
The study was conducted at Faculty of English Language Teacher
Education, University of Languages and International Study, Vietnam
National University (FELTE, ULIS, VNU). As one of the leaders in
teaching and learning foreign language, this University has applied many
modern methods to improve the quality of training.
30
Reading Reflection is one of the activities has been applied to
encourage students to read and respond. Students are required to do
Reading Reflection from the first year to third year. This fact has proved
the great emphasis of this activity because students at FELTE, ULIS,
VNU hardly have to do one activity during three years. This is individual
work, and second-year students only have to submit one reflection for the
whole semester.
According to Dang – a lecturer of English Division 2 at FELTE,
ULIS, VNU (personal communication, February 24, 2011), one of the
very important objectives for Reading IV this semester is to help second-
year students improve their Critical Thinking skills. Reading Reflection
activity is one of the activities which can help students accomplish that
goal. It encourages students to read extensively and critically. For this
assignment, students have to choose their own reading materials, reflect
on what they have read and share their thoughts and opinions concerning
the content of the materials. Reading Reflection task assignment weighs
10% of the final result for Written Communication 4 (The instruction of
Reading Reflection task for second-year mainstream students at FELTE,
ULIS, VNU can be found at the Appendix 6 of this paper).
Students of FELTE, ULIS, VNU need to build up a high level of
academic English use and a constant access to English materials for
purposes of applied linguistics. Moreover, second-year mainstream
students have gone through 3 semesters at FELTE, ULIS, VNU. They
had completed the course of Study Skills from which they can take in a
lot of experience, knowledge and strategies to study more effectively.
Guiding students to select useful study materials is one of the cores of
this course.
31
After analyzing the questionnaires, the researcher narrowed down
the potential interviewees and contacted three of them to make
appointments for the interviews. Later, she worked with them in person at
Block B2, ULIS and implemented three in-depth interviews, each lasting
for approximately 30 minutes in their mother tongue, Vietnamese, for the
sake of natural and convenient expressions. Before this, the informants
were guaranteed that their answers would be treated with the strictest
confidence and they were entitled to be informed about the findings of
this research.
3.3. Sampling and participants
3.3.1. Sampling method
Purposive sampling – extreme cases
In this study, the researcher selected potential participants
purposively. Purposive sampling is virtually synonymous with
qualitative research (Palys, 2008). While the desired population is
relatively limited in number, those who are capable of giving informative
and meaningful contributions are even harder to be located, as a result of
separate class distributions and different levels of interest to the topic.
Hence, only through purposive sampling that the researcher can seek out
rich sources of information and carry out in-depth analysis of the issue
being discussed.
First, the questionnaire was distributed to second-year mainstream
students to provide the researcher with their important personal
information. The researcher chose cases representing a range of
attributes, with differences in terms of variable criteria. The cases
selection was based on extreme and multiple-case sampling with
32
contrasting cases. The researcher chose this sampling method because it
“represents the purest or most clear cut instance of a phenomenon” that
the researcher was interested in (Palys, 2008). To be more specific,
various cases with unlike conditions of studying, learning styles and
characteristics expose particular choices of authentic texts. The extreme
cases sampling method was applied as the researcher expects to see the
clearest differences among second-year mainstream students’ selection of
authentic reading materials by analyzing the most contrasting cases.
The cases who have selected authentic texts for Reading Reflection
were chosen basing on their answers in the questionnaires. Three
attendants were selected because they manifested significant and
representative features for the successful analysis of the study.
1. Choose extreme cases across students’ English Proficiency
English competence is a very crucial factor. Even though the
participants are all second-year mainstream students, their levels of
English skills are not the same. This fact has been proved by the final
results of English skills of the last semester. As the focus of the study was
a reading activity, the result of Written Communication Skills is one of
the most important attributes that the researcher bases on to find focal
cases.
2. Choose extreme cases across the students’ frequency of
reading English materials
The main purpose of Reading Reflection activity is to encourage
students to read extensively and critically Dang (personal
communication, February 24, 2011). Thus, the researcher asked for
participants’ frequency of reading books and other materials, especially
33
English ones. As the students’ habits of reading English materials are
absolutely different, their procedures of selecting authentic material are
also very varied. Students who read more frequently consider different
features of texts when choosing materials for Reading Reflection activity
from those who do not read usually.
3. Choose extreme cases across students’ interest in doing
Reading Reflection activity
The interest of the subjects in one activity has greatly influence on
the effort that they would spend on it. This criterion also affects students’
procedure of selecting texts for Reading Reflection activity. The
researcher expected to see the differences of text selections between
motivated students and unmotivated ones.
4. Choose extreme cases across the students’ extents of
difficulties in choosing reading texts for Reading Reflection.
This is also very striking features when choosing focal cases for
interviews. The aim of this action was to find whether there is any
relationship among all important dimensions. In other words, it may
helped the researcher to find out why this case with certain features have
a lot of difficulties when selecting authentic texts for Reading Reflection
activity while the others do not.
Last but not least, focal cases are students who are willing to take
part in the research and share their own feelings and opinions
enthusiastically. They have provided the researcher with their personal
information and also expressed their interest in the research’s focus.
34
3.3.2. Participants
After comparing and contrasting the data collected thanks to the
questionnaires, the researcher contacted suitable cases to ask for their
favor to participate in the research and arrange the schedule with them.
Finally, three cases were very enthusiastic to meet the researcher and
considered that as an excellent opportunity to express their opinions about
Reading Reflection Activity, particularly, the selection of authentic
materials.
The researcher called these three students Student I, Student II and
Student III. Some information about these subjects can be described in
the following table:
Student I Student II Student III
Program of training Mainstream Mainstream Mainstream
Major English
Language
Teaching
English –
External
Economics
English
Language
Teaching
Years of study English 8 9 12
English Competence Very poor Average Very good
Frequency of reading
English materials
Rarely Rarely Always
Interest in doing Reading
Reflection task
Very
interested in
Not at all Very
interested in
Number of difficulties in
selecting materials
A great
number
A great
number
Some
Table 5. Basic information about three participants
35
3.4. Research Instruments
3.4.1. Questionnaire
3.4.1.1 Reasons for Using Questionnaire
The researcher decided to use questionnaire as the first research
instruments because of some certain reasons. Firstly, the questionnaire
provided the researcher with the overall understanding about second-year
mainstream students’ selection of authentic text for Reading Reflection
activity among of FELTE, ULIS, VNU. In other words, using
questionnaire, the researcher could collect the data which were “more
likely to be standardized, uniform and consistent across subjects”
(Brown, 2001, p. 77). Secondly, in order to find out suitable focal cases,
the researcher really wanted to approach a large number of second-year
students. Using questionnaire was a great tool to achieve that goal.
3.4.1.2. Questionnaire Content and Format
The first part of the questionnaire served as a pre-face with a brief
introduction about the research and the explanation of the key term
“authentic text”. In addition, the questionnaire was delivered to students
in Vietnamese in order to avoid any misunderstanding which could have
bad influence on the results of this study. They were presented clearly
and concisely so that students would not feel discouraged and willing to
fill in all the questions. A variety of types of questions were applied to
ask the responders to self-reflect their own performances when selecting
texts for Reading Reflection activity:
- Numeric items were used to ask participants about their self
evaluation of English proficiency, especially Written
Communication skills. These questions focused on students’ years
36
of studying English, their results for Written Communication 3 and
Reading Reflection assignment.
- Some specific open questions asked about concrete pieces of
information such as students’ majors or experience in selecting
study materials. These pieces of information were very valuable to
the researcher to understanding the circumstances of the
participants which would affect their access to sources of materials.
- Likert-Scales questions which are effective for gathering
students’ views, opinions about various language-related issues
(Brown, 2001, p. 41) were also applied. Students had to choose the
most suitable description about their level of English proficiency,
Written Communication Skills, Interest in doing Reading Reflect,
and the extent of difficulties that they had when choosing authentic
texts for this activity.
Through all these questions, the researcher believed that the most
suitable focal cases were revealed. The more understanding the researcher
could gain from the participants, the much better the situations were
approached.
3.4.2. Interviews
3.4.2.1. Reasons for using Interviews
In order to have an in-depth understanding about the phenomenon,
the researcher conducted the interviews with three second-year students
who had finished the questionnaires and were willing to give further
information.
37
In the book “Interviewing as qualitative research”, Seidman says
that he chooses interviews because he is interested in people’s stories.
The word “story”, as he explains, derives from the Greek word “histor”,
which means the one who is wise and learned (2006, p. 7). He also
emphasizes that the purpose of in-depth interview is not to get answers to
questions, not to test hypotheses, and not to “evaluate” as the term is
normally used. At the root of in-depth interview is an interest in
understanding the lived experience of other people and the meaning they
make of that experience. Interviewing provides access to the context of
people’s behavior and thereby provides a way for the researcher to
understand the meaning of that behavior.
Reading Reflection activity is one of significant assignments on
which second –year students have to spend a great amount of time and
effort. In this paper, the researcher does not deal with the questions of
how much or how. The research focus is the nature, the essence of
second-year students’ selection of authentic text for Reading Reflection
activity. The variety of contexts and characteristics of participants
guarantees the assorted manners in deciding texts. Moreover, through
these interviews, the researcher can collect a large number of details to
have the most profound description of the phenomenon. Last but not
least, interviewing cases individually gave the researcher opportunity to
perceive the situation from the view of the participants. About this
advantage, Merriam (2009, p. 1) has stated that “the insight and
understanding from those who are studied offers the greatest promise of
making difference in people lives”.
38
3.4.2.2. Interview Content and Format
The semi-structured interview was designed with clear division,
flexible frame and some important suggested key points. The advantages
of semi-structured interview are undeniable. It gives the interviewer a
great deal of flexibility while offering the interviewees adequate power
and control over the course of interview (Hoang & Nguyen, 2006). In this
research, the researcher had had general ideas about the situation. The list
of questions was not predetermined; however, the researcher also made
use of some eliciting questions related to important factors in case the
students could not remember all details at a time. It should also be
mentioned that the researcher had grouped the questions into correlating
aspects in such a manner that these could be expressed in different ways
for different participants.
The interviews were loosely formal when students talked with the
researcher in a comfortable place as well as a pleasant atmosphere. In
order to avoid possible misunderstanding, both the interviewer and
interviewee used Vietnamese, not English. During the interviews, the
students were encouraged to share their stories and opinions as much as
possible. Moreover, the researcher also welcomed any further responses
and sharing via any kinds of communication whenever the interviewees
could recall some of crucial details after the interviews had finished.
All the responses from interviewees would be recorded and
transcribed to serve the purpose of meticulous and accurate analysis. The
researcher believed that during those interviews, more detailed
information which provided very thorough understanding about the
situations were presented.
39
3.5. Procedures
3.5.1. Data collection
The data collection procedure basically consisted of four main
steps; each of them was taken at different time. The steps would be listed
as follows:
Step 1: Pilot questionnaire and interview
The first versions of the questionnaire were piloted on a randomly
selected group of 9 students from 3 different classes. They were also the
second-year students. Especially, that was the high time for them to select
materials for Reading Reflections since the following week they had to
summit the intended text for this activity to be approved by their teachers.
Thus, they were most likely to understand, remember and concerned
about the procedure, the important factors as well as the difficulties when
choosing those texts for Reading Reflection. Therefore, they were able to
contribute practical feedback on the questions.
First, the researcher asked participants to fill in the questionnaire
and highlight any ambiguous points. After filling those questions, the
students were free to express their opinions and inquiries to the
researcher. Some confusing questions were realized and revised.
Second, a group discussion was carried out to encourage students
to share their opinions about the two research questions. The researcher
took part in that discussion with the role of the monitor. The friendly
atmosphere of the discussion created a good opportunity for all
participants to be quite open-minded. The researcher, actually, took in a
40
lot of valuable information during this process. A more detailed frame
with many important key points would be applied for the real interviews.
The piloting process was carried out in Room 213, Block B2 on
Tuesday, 15th, March, 2011.
Step 2: Distribute questionnaires
The feedbacks and suggestions were carefully considered and
applied to make necessary changes in order to produce the final versions
of the questionnaire. After this editing step, a number of remarkable
changes were made, making the final versions noticeably different from
the first ones.
The distribution of questionnaires took place from Monday 21th
March 2011 to Thursday 24th March 2011 to be exact, right at the due
week for materials for Reading Reflections. 176 students from 11 classes
completed the questionnaires. The great number of answerers guarantees
the possibility to find out suitable cases for interviews.
Step 3: Choose suitable focal cases
Basing on the answers in the survey, the researcher identified the
suitable interviewees by their specifically written answers in which
thorough concern and care was shown. Three second-year students were
finally selected for the interviews. This whole process took the researcher
three days of analysis. Then, the researcher contacted the participants to
ask for their favors to join in the study and arrange the suitable time for
meeting.
41
Step 4: Interview focal cases
Three individual interviews took place at the French Department’s
backyard on 29th and 30th March 2011 in a friendly and informal
atmosphere as the participants and the researchers were all
undergraduates. The participants’ rights of privacy were announced at the
beginning of the interviews. All the interviews were then recorded as
audio files to avoid any omission of information.
3.5.2. Data analysis
Step 1: Take notes and transcribe the data collected
All the recordings were transcribed for the sake of meticulously
and accurately analyzing. The researcher wanted to understand the
phenomenon specifically and avoid any risk of leaving out crucial pieces
of information.
Step 2: Present the information
After transcribing all the recordings, the researcher started to
answer the research questions. The researcher compared and contrasted
all the details collected during the interviews. During this process, the
researcher also contacted the focal cases to clarify any ambiguous points
in the interviews. Some cross-checks were made with the literature
review to locate any emerging issues.
For the convenience of getting each case thoroughly conveyed, the
researcher described each case one by one, with comparisons and
contrasts integrated. Some opinions from the informants were cited when
necessary during the report.
42
Conclusive Remarks
So far, the research methodology with all related elements have
been justified in this chapter. In this multiple-case study, questionnaires
were implemented to find suitable focal cases. Then, three individual
interviews were carried out for an in-depth investigation of the
phenomenon. The procedures of data collection and data analysis were
clearly described step by step with exact time and figures.
43
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In the previous chapter, the methodology applied in this study has
been described and justified. The researcher has carefully explained
choices of participants, the research instruments as well as presented the
detailed procedures of data collection and data analysis. In this chapter,
all collected data will be analyzed and discussed to answer each research
question. It is worth mentioning that the researcher will analyze each case
one by one in order to figure out any relationship among attributes within
each participant.
4.0. Research questions
1. Which factors of authentic texts have second-year mainstream
students considered when selecting materials for Reading
Reflection activity?
2. What are the hindrances to the students’ selection of authentic
texts for Reading Reflection activity?
4.1. Case analysis – Student I
4.1.1. Background information
This student is from mainstream program. Her major is English
Language Teaching. She has studied English for 8 years; however, she
claimed that she was not confident with her English skills, especially
Written Communication skills. She described her English proficiency at
the lowest level (Very poor). She stated that reading skills were very
challenging; and Reading Reflection was the hardest assignment she had
to complete this semester. Her result for Written Communication 3 (the
previous semester) was not good. She only got a C for this course.
44
Student I is now living on the campus without the Internet access.
She had to go to the Internet Center at the campus whenever she needed
to find materials for her study. She claimed that everyday, she used the
Internet for at least 3 hours. One of her important purposes of using the
Internet was to read news and search for learning materials. Although she
was really interested in reading Vietnamese news, she admitted that she
hardly read English news as “they are difficult to understand”. In
addition, she confirmed that she rarely went to the library of Faculty of
English Language Teacher Education. Instead, this student usually visited
the bookstores to find some interesting books. They were mainly novels
or core books for her learning at FELTE, ULIS, VNU. Many of them
were English ones which, according to her, are well-known and
recommended by her teachers.
Like other second-year students of FELTE, ULIS, VNU, Student I
has taken part in Study Skills Course. She also usually asked her
classmates for some pieces of advice when selecting materials, especially,
authentic texts for Reading Reflection.
Although she is not confident with her English skills, she is
extremely interested in Reading Reflection task. She explained that this
activity was very useful to her that she “studied a lot from this
assignment: the vocabulary, the structures and other worldwide
knowledge”. Furthermore, this assignment was a very good chance for
her to improve not only reading skills but also writing skills. During the
interview, students I always emphasized that she had to invest a great
amount of time in Reading Reflection, particularly, in selecting suitable
texts for it. She believed that it was a very “miserable” process which
required a lot of patience. In the questionnaire that she had filled in
beforehand, she chose the highest rank for the extent of difficulties when
45
selecting authentic texts for Reading Reflection activity, which meant a
great number of difficulties. One of the important factors should be
mentioned was that for this semester (semester 4), her reading skills
lecturer assigned specific topic for Reading Reflection to each student.
4.1.2. Factors of authentic texts affecting the selection of Student I
The first and foremost factor that Student I considered when
choosing a text as material for Reading Reflection activity was the level
of difficulty of the texts. As a student who was not good at English
Written Communication skills, Student I paid a lot of attention to this
issue. She believed that if the text had been too difficult to understand,
she would not have written a sharp and thorough reflection. And that
would lead to very bad results for her Reading Reflection. She did not
want a text with too many scientific terms, old English words or too
complicated structures in her selected texts. However, she also did not
prefer texts which were easy and trivial. She wanted a text including
some new words or structures so that she could widen her vocabulary and
English structures, which was one of the reasons why she was really
interested in Reading Reflection activity. This factor referred to the
usefulness of the texts to help Student I to develop her English
competence. Moreover, as a student who was not confident in English, it
was understandable why Student I strongly cared about this factor.
The next factor that Student I also paid very special attention to
was the exploitability of texts. It meant that the texts could be exploited
for the purposes of writing a reflection. They must include some
arguments or authors’ opinions: “The other factor I have to consider is
that this text is suitable to do reflection”. It must contain some arguments
and some author’s opinions about some social issues. Consequently,
46
Student I never chose a text with sole stories, facts or general
introduction. She also emphasized that whenever she read a text, she
always thought of the questions: “what am I going to do with this text?”;
“what is to reflect?”
Length of texts was also put into serious consideration when
Student I selected materials for Reading Reflection activity. Even when
she knew that she could edit the text to make its length appropriate with
the requirement, she still did not want to choose a text which was too
short or too long. In the course guide, the criterion for the length of the
text was about 700 – 1300 words; however, Student I only focused on the
texts with about 1000 words. Her explanation for this situation was that
she was not good at reading, while the long texts were usually very
difficult with many terminologies and very complicated structures. She
emphasized that she was “not patient enough to read and understand
them meticulously”. Thus, Student I usually chose shorter and more
concise texts for Reading Reflection.
Another crucial feature of authentic texts that had influence on her
selection of authentic text was the suitability of content. Firstly, the text
content must focus on the topic she had been assigned. Secondly, Student
I did not want to write a reflection on a boring and unattractive text. She
was interested in a text that “can provide the readers with some useful
information”. She claimed that “the content of the text is totally
important. I am usually interested in an article which tells me about what
is happening around the world”. On contrary, she never chose a text
discussing “an everyone-known-issue.”
Her last concern when choosing texts was the sources of these
texts. Although this factor was not as important as other factors but it was
47
always in her mind during the procedure of finding reading materials. All
famous sources like the New York Times, the CNN or the BBC were
always her priorities: “If there are two texts which are at the same level of
length and interest, I would prefer the one from reliable sources”.
Unsurprisingly, she tried her best to avoid any articles from blogs or
public services. Her most concerns were printed sources and other well-
known websites.
Figure 3. Important factors of authentic texts affecting Student I’s selection of
materials for Reading Reflection
4.1.3. Hindrances to Student I when selecting authentic texts
The first and also the biggest difficulty that Student I has
encountered was her poor English competence. She herself realized that
her “most weakness is the very limited vocabulary”. That made her
procedure of selecting texts very difficult and time-consuming. She found
it very challenging to exploit the texts meticulously. Usually, she could
not understand the text thoroughly with only one time of reading. Due to
48
the limited vocabulary, she believed that she had missed some very useful
texts. She said that “texts from well-known sources are usually very
difficult to read. They are written by experts with a lot terminologies and
complex analyses”. She knew that they were very beautiful texts for
Reading Reflection, but she was “incapable of understanding them
exhaustively”. And when she could not understand a text carefully, she
would not choose it for her assignment since “it was a great danger”.
Other difficulty that she had to overcome was the lack of Internet
access. As mentioned in the previous part, student I now is living in the
campus of FELTE, ULIS, VNU. There is no Internet in her room, and
during the time finding materials for Reading Reflection, she has to go to
Internet Center at the campus. That became a big inconvenience for her.
It required more efforts, time as well as patience if she wants to find a
really good text: “I want to read as much as possible. Nevertheless, I
could only use the Internet to read articles about 2 or 3 hours per day.
That is really not enough”. The researcher believed that this difficulty
was partly because she only searched for materials about some days
before the due date. Since she knew her assigned topic from the
beginning of the semester, it was not too difficult to deal with this
problem. The strategies she applied to find texts for Reading Reflection
went opposite to the natures of extensive reading.
The too disorganized sources of materials on the Internet
brought Student I not only advantages but also disadvantages. Millions of
articles on the Internet actually have confused the decisions of Student I.
At first, she believed that the availability of texts on the Internet were a
big convenience for her. However, after a period of time, she felt that it
was very confusing. She believed that the sources of texts on the Internet
were too chaotic: “there are millions of texts about my topic from several
49
sources. I tried to read a lot of texts, and finally, I cannot decide which
one was the best.” Moreover, the reliability of the source was not
important factor to her, thus, she read texts from every source and then
“got stuck” in a plenty of texts.
Another difficulty that she mentioned during the interview was the
lack of instructions. Even though Student I has taken part in Study
Skills course at the second semester, she admitted that “what I studied
was good, but we did not have a lot of chances to practice at that time”.
Thus, all of them became a theoretical part which was easy to forget.
Moreover, all the instructions she studied seemed to be too general. She
believed that “When it comes to the reality, I hardly could apply what I
have learned.”
Figure 4. Student I’s hindrances when selecting authentic texts
50
4.2. Case analysis – Student II
4.2.1. Background information
Student II is also from Mainstream Program; however, unlike
Student I, her major is English – External Economic. This student has
studied English for 11 years; and her self-assessment of English
competence was average. Student II is more confident with her English
Written Communication skills than her English Oral Communication
skills. Her result for Written Communication 3 was also better than the
result of Student I. She got a B for Written Communication and also a B
for Reading Reflection in the previous semester. She also had the same
point of view with Student I that Reading Reflection was a very difficult
and challenging activity. She felt it was really hard to make a good
Reading Reflection.
Student II is living in the hostel where daily Internet access is
available. However, surfing the Internet is not her hobby. She hardly read
both Vietnamese English news. She also admitted that she never visited
the library of FELTE, ULIS, VNU. She has read only few English books
which are recommended by her teachers and friends.
Although she has gone through Study Skills course, she hardly
remembered any knowledge and skills that she has been taught. When
the due date to submit materials for Reading Reflection was coming, she
had to do anything on her own. She did not consult any one to find
suitable texts.
It is important to indicate that unlike Student I, Student II is not
interested in Reading Reflection activity at all. She chose the lowest level
to describe her interest in Reading Reflection activity. She explained that
51
“this activity is so difficult; we had to do it again and again, from
semester to semester. I totally lack inspiration to complete a reading
reflection”. She used the phrase “personal crisis” to describe the time of
doing Reading Reflection. Since there was no interest, she did not
complete the assignment spontaneously and always “runs after the time”.
This girl spent about 3 or 4 days selecting texts for Reading Reflection
activity.
Student II also chose the highest rank for her extent of difficulties
when selecting authentic texts for Reading Reflection activity, which
meant a great number of difficulties. And like Student I, Student II also
did not have the right to freely choose her topic for Reading Reflection
this semester.
4.2.2. Factors of authentic texts affecting the selection of Student II
It was totally the same as Student I when Student II’s first concern
of selecting texts for Reading Reflection was the level of difficulty of the
texts. She could not write a Reading reflection if in the texts, there were
too many new words and structures. She believed that “texts with some
arguments are usually difficult to read”. She wanted to find a text with
clear division; a text which was easy to read and easy to reflect. She
emphasized that it was strategic decision affecting the final result.
Although student II’s preference was texts which were at
appropriate level of difficulty to her, she really wanted those texts to be
up-to-date. The updated content of the texts was crucial to her as it could
“motivate me to read more excitedly”. In other words, the text’s update
had big influence on her final decision of reading materials. When being
asked what helped her decide whether the text was up to date or not, she
52
answered that she could rely on two factors. Firstly, it was the topic of the
article: “Understanding the topic of an article is considerably important.
It could make me know what the text is really about. Moreover, I will
never choose a very old topic”. To be more specific, she associated her
background knowledge with the title of the article to decide whether the
main discussion in this article was up-to-date or not. She preferred some
articles which discussed something new to her, or some “hot” issues that
people around the world were caring about. According to her, “new”
meant “good” and “interesting”. The second issue that would help her to
make decision was the date of publication. A too old article which was
publicized before 2000s would be immediately out of her list.
Student I and student II shared the same opinion about the
importance of text length. This is an essential condition to her: “It is
essential. Too short or too long texts will be out immediately”. This case
was the effect of the word limitation for Reading Reflection activity. The
length of a Reflection was about 300 – 500 words, and if the text was too
long, it was likely for Student II had to get over that limitation. She did
not do that because it was so time-consuming.
When being asked whether the source of the text was important,
her answer was “a little”. Actually, she chose any texts that would be
suitable for her to make Reading Reflection in with only some
consideration of their sources. Her belief was that “not all articles from
famous and reliable sources like CNN, BBC, or Washington Post are
good. Good texts can be everywhere”. However, as being warned by the
teacher, she avoided personal blogs or other social network like
Wikipedia.
53
Figure 5. Important factors of authentic texts affecting Student II’s selection of
materials for Reading Reflection
4.2.3. Hindrances to Student II when selecting authentic texts
As student II would like to write Reflection on a really up-to-date
text, the first hindrance which she was aware of was her narrow
background knowledge. As mentioned in background information of
Student II, she rarely read books and articles, especially English ones.
She agreed that she herself was a not an up-to-date learner; and “it is hard
for a not up-to-date learner like me to find what I really want”. She
understood that the world was changing everyday, something which was
fresh or new today could become a trivial fact tomorrow. Student II did
know that due to the lack of background knowledge, she had missed the
chances to select many beautiful articles for Reading Reflection.
The second problem that Student II had to face up with was her
poor English vocabulary. This became a very serious problem to her
especially, as Business English major: “Business English vocabulary was
absolutely difficult. However, that is my major, and I should concentrate
54
more on it”. She felt very frustrated when the text was full of new words,
especially, economic terminologies. From her point of view, this obstacle
exceeded her time of selecting and understanding the materials.
The next problem that Student II was aware of was the lack of
critical thinking. To explain this situation, she illustrated an example of
her first article for Reading Reflection which was not accepted: “It is all
about facts and general information. There was no opinion, no argument.
I choose it simply because of its up-to-date content”. She even surprised
the interviewer more by the confession that “to be honest, I did not
understand what argument was until yesterday” after her teacher
explained the term to her in the Critical Thinking course. One of the
pedagogical objectives of Reading Reflection activity is to help students
practice critical reading. Furthermore, this was not the first time Student
II had to do Reading Reflection. The lack of critical thinking for a
second-year mainstream students was acceptable; however, the fact that
Student II even did not really understand what argument was after nearly
2 years studying at this Faculty was dramatically problematic.
Her last hindrance was unique because Student II was the only case
in this study that had to find the second article to submit as her first
choice was officially refused by her lecturer. For the second time to
choose text, she had to deal with quite serious timing problem. Student
II only have one week to find another material as well as to submit the
outlines for Reading Reflection. That made Student II felt very stressful
because during the same time she had to complete many other
assignments. To avoid any shortcomings like the first time, the second
selecting procedure was significantly considered. However, it was not
easy at all when “a lot of materials need reading while I actually have
two days”. And again, Student II was not confident with her decision.
55
Figure 6. Student II’s hindrances when selecting authentic texts
4.3. Student III
4.3.1. Background information
This girl is also a mainstream student with the major of English
Language Teaching. She has studied English for 12 years. She is very
confident with her English. Her both Oral and Written Communication
skills are very good. She is an excellent student who gets very high mark
for all English skills. Her final results for Written Communication Skills
the last semester was an A, especially, her mark for Reading Reflection
last semester was 9.8.
Student III is living with family with the Internet access. Different
from Student I and student II, Student III is really interested in reading.
Everyday, she spends at least two hours reading English articles. Her
favorites were economics, political news and editorials. She said that she
wanted to know what was happening around the world and also wanted to
“learn the writing styles and the presentation of native writers”. She
56
believed that they would be very useful for her to be an English teacher in
the future. Student III admitted that she came to library sometimes. For
this semester, she came to the library more frequently than the previous
semesters.
Like other second-year students of FELTE, ULIS, VNU, she has
gone through Study Skills Course. Additionally, she usually asks her
friends who are studying abroad for some pieces of advice when selecting
materials, especially, authentic texts for Reading Reflection. This girl also
totally appreciates what she has been taught about Internet searching
skills with the seniors from class E1K41 during the Tutoring Program
2010.
Student III extremely likes doing Reading Reflection task. She said
that this activity had encouraged her to read more. It has helped her to
“form the habit of extensive reading”. She realized that from semester 2,
the semester that she began to do reflection activity, she has been more
and more interested in reading English books and articles. For her, the
importance of Reading was undeniable. She believed that reading was a
very good habit which could help her to improve her English a lot.
Student III agreed that it was difficult to find suitable materials for
Reading Reflection Activity; however, unlike Student I and Student II,
student III only had some difficulties when selecting texts for this
activity. Besides, Student III can freely choose the topic of the text for
her Reading Reflection.
57
4.3.2. Factors of authentic texts affecting the selection of Student III
Student III shared the same opinion with Student I about the most
striking factor when selecting texts for Reading Reflection activity which
was the exploitability of the texts. She stated that this was the first and
foremost factor she would focus on when reading an article. It made “the
materials for Reading Reflection activity different from materials for
other learning activities”. The texts must present some social issues, and
especially, the writers must be critical ones. She said “they (the writers)
must express their viewpoints and give reasons or examples to illustrate
these arguments”.
Source of texts was also largely concerned by student III. She
believed that materials from reliable sources were more valuable.
Selecting texts on these sources brought her a lot of advantages: “The fact
that finding texts from well-known sources really saves my time and
effort. These sources guarantee quality”. Instead of swimming in several
different texts, what Student III needed to do was to digest these well-
known sources. She even paid attention to the author of the texts: “It
would be better to who my selected text belong to before using it”. The
introductions about the authors of the articles are always available on
reliable sources, which make Student III very “confident and assured” in
her final decisions. Apparently, student III had very unique strategies to
select materials for Reading Reflection. These may be the answer for her
excellent academic record.
Student III was the only case that mentioned the importance of
academic writing styles. From her point of view, the writing styles of
English articles, especially, editorials written by scholars were different
from the writing styles of Vietnamese writers. She believed that
58
“editorials from the New York times are presented very clearly and
amazingly well-supported”. The academic writing styles made those texts
very sharply illustrated. It actually proved the seriousness of the writers
and greatly affected the qualities of their pieces of writing. Student III
preference was authentic texts which strictly followed academic writing
styles.
The content of the text was also emphasized during the interview.
However, it was not as important as the three previous ones. Her
explanation was “an interesting text to read does not mean a good text to
reflect, whereas a not really interesting text could be a promising piece of
land for Reading Reflection”. Nevertheless, the content of the text had
influence on her patience to do the Reading Reflection. An interesting
text was really so motivating that Student III could spend the whole day
reading the text, checking new words and considering its arguments.
Thus, it would be better for her when the article had a beautiful content.
Readability - the level of difficulty of language use was the last
issue that she took into consideration. A too easy text with many familiar
words and simple structures would never be a good choice as Student III
also “intend to reflect on the language use of the article”. Contrarily, a
too difficult material could easily lead to “misunderstanding and
superficial reflection”.
59
Figure 7. Important factors of authentic texts affecting Student III’s selection of
materials for Reading Reflection
4.3.3. Hindrances to Student III when selecting authentic texts
Student III did not have a lot of difficulties when selecting texts for
Reading Reflection activity. She shared the same difficulty with Student I
when being so confused with the large number of disorganized
materials on the Internet. Although focusing on reliable sources, she
rarely found suitable articles in these sources because “they were too
difficult to be reflected thoroughly”. Finally, using the ordinary way to
search for materials, she could find “too many options appearing with
only one click, it becomes a real matrix which dazzles me”.
The second difficulty that Student III expressed was the lack of
Internet Searching Skills. Actually, Internet Searching skills were more
complicated than she had thought: “I really don’t know what kind of key
words should be used to get the closest results”. Some other features
mentioned during the interview were “What is the arrangement of the
results with Google search?” “What are some tips could be used to get
60
the closest answers?” Student III explained “the conventional way of
searching materials with lengthy sentences” did not work. What student
III usually got finally is “some irrelevant articles”.
Figure 8. Student III’s hindrances when selecting authentic texts
Conclusive Remarks
In this chapter, the findings of the study were revealed and some
related discussions were made after the findings presented. Firstly,
students with different level of English, interest in doing Reading
Reflection and frequency of reading English materials have considered
various factors when selecting authentic texts. They are: Source of texts,
Text Content, Text Exploitability, Text Readability, Text Presentation
and Text Length. Secondly, students also have many encountered many
obstacles when selecting texts for Reading Reflection activities. These
hindrances mainly come from: low English competence, limited
background knowledge, lack of guidance, lack of time, lack of critical
thinking, lack of study skills and disorganized sources of texts on the
Internet.
61
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION
Previous chapters have exhaustively elaborated on the introduction,
the literature, the methodology as well as the results of this study. Finally,
this chapter will conclude the paper by summarizing the outcomes,
pointing out the limitations and some suggestions for further studies.
Especially, the researcher also puts forward some pedagogical
suggestions for a more effective selection of authentic materials for
Reading Reflection task.
5.1. Summary of findings
Initially, the study pinpointed the fact that many second-year
mainstream students have to deal with difficulties when selecting texts for
Reading Reflection activity. This procedure required students a lot of
time and effort to select good materials. For this reason, it was necessary
to find out important factors within an authentic text that students have to
consider when selecting materials for Reading Reflection activity.
Secondly, students with different levels of English, interest in
doing Reading Reflection and frequency of reading English materials,
have considered various factors when selecting authentic texts. In the
context of FELTE, ULIS, VNU, these factors mainly belonged to the
following categories:
- Source of texts
- Text Content
- Text Exploitability
- Text Readability
- Text Presentation
- Text Length
62
While cases with lower level of English competence paid the most
attention to the level of difficulties of texts, the appropriation of texts’
length and the suitability of texts’ content, the case with higher level
greatly considered the exploitability of texts, their sources and writing
styles. It was also illustrated that, students who liked doing Reading
Reflection were more willing to read longer texts.
Students also encountered many obstacles when selecting texts for
Reading Reflection activities. These hindrances mainly came from:
- Low English competence, especially limited vocabulary
- Limited background knowledge
- Lack of guidance
- Lack of critical thinking
- Lack of study skills, especially Internet searching skills
- Lack of time
- Disorganized sources of texts
Among those these hindrances, low English competence and the lack of
study skills were emphasized as very serious problems.
5.2. Implications for more effective selections of authentic texts for
Reading Reflection activity
As mentioned in the previous parts, the selection of texts for
Reading Reflection activity has taken students a lot of time and efforts.
Moreover, many of the selected texts are not inadequate to the
requirements and not suitable for a reflection. According to Dang (2011),
a lecturer of English Division II, FELTE, ULIS, VNU (personal
communication, February 24, 2011) about 70% texts selected by her
students are not good enough for writing Reading Reflections; and the
63
same situation comes to some of her colleagues’’ classes. Thus, basing on
the literature and the results of the research, the researcher pinpoints some
pedagogical solutions for both teacher and students.
For teachers
Firstly, all cases in this study and also most of students helping the
researcher in the piloting have stated that what they learned from Study
Skills course in Semester 2 was not useful enough. They were all too
general and lacked practicality. Thus, from the view of the researcher,
more thorough instructions and studying skills should be presented to
students. The consults from teachers and other sources like tutors,
seniors, etc. are very important. Some tutoring programs and workshops
should remain and be developed since they would be very good
opportunities for students to get more strategies and experience from
experienced ones.
Almost all students said that they did not receive any feedbacks for
Reading Reflections as well as the materials they had chosen the last
semester. This is quite problematic when students cannot clarify what
their shortcomings were. Teachers in this case, should give students very
careful comments so that students would understand their weaknesses and
solve them. Especially, the feedbacks on students’ materials should be
given out from the first time student have to complete Reading Reflection
seriously.
Moreover, students’ interest in Reading Reflection task is also very
important. If students are not interested in Reading Reflection activity,
they will not invest much of their time in choosing a good text to reflect.
As an instructor, teachers should try their best to improve students’
64
motivation in doing Reading Reflection. They should create more
activities to encourage students to read at home. One of the shining
examples is the News Report activity when students have to read English
news at home and share what they have read with their partners at classes.
For students
The emphasis of Reading Reflection activity is to ask students to
read extensively. It means that students have to form the habit of reading
longer texts for the purposes of interest and knowledge. Selecting
authentic materials for this activity, likely requires a certain amount of
time and patience. Instead of spending one or two days selecting
materials, students should read more frequently. And during this process,
they could collect any materials which are possibly suitable for Reading
Reflection.
Critical thinking skills are also really needed when students select
authentic texts for Reading Reflection activity. Second-year students
seem to be unfamiliar with those skills, which has bad influence on their
selection of texts for Reading Reflection activity. One another purpose of
Reading Reflection is to encourage students to read critically. If students
lack of critical thinking skills or even do not understand what critical
reading is, they could not find a text meeting the requirements to write
good reflection. As a result, students should use more time to study and
improve those skills with the help of teachers.
Last but not least, the researcher wants to highlight the importance
of reading to English learners, especially to students at FELTE, ULIS,
VNU. It is extremely needed for an English major at FELTE, ULIS, VNU
to have the ability to select valuable materials to support his or her study.
65
This becomes an essential skill which greatly affects students’
improvements after 4 years. And it is Reading Reflection task that helps
students to improve this skill. Thus, this task is especially crucial.
Understanding this value, the researcher does hope that students would be
more interested in Reading Reflection and have more effort to complete
this activity. As Day and Bamford (1997, as cited in Tran, 2009, p. 15)
has said: “reading is its own reward”, students should bear in their minds
the long-term benefits of reading critically and extensively. Students
should be more active and confident when selecting materials to study.
5.3. Limitations of the study
Despite the researcher’s great efforts and her supervisor’s
appreciable supports, the research still bears a number of shortcomings.
Initially, even though the questionnaires were distributed to 176 students,
three were only 3 cases investigated in this study. The reason for this
limitation was partly because of the controlling criteria to find suitable
cases. On the other hand, it was also the result of the researcher’s
limitation of time.
Secondly, the lack of literature related to the topic was a big
obstacle for the researcher to have an exhaustive framework for the
interviews. It would lead to the omission of some important dimensions,
and then could badly influence the results of the study.
Lastly, the suggestions for the phenomenon were pinpointed
mainly basing on the researcher’s viewpoints and experience as a student
of Faculty of English Language Teacher Education who had to deal with
seven Reading Reflections. The validity of these suggestions should have
66
been tested through means of case studies and experiments, for which the
researcher was not able to afford.
Despite all those shortcomings, the researcher’s flexibility, hard
work and meticulously justification of research methodology and
collected data have improved the validity and reliability of this research.
For further studies, all these drawbacks should be taken into
consideration seriously.
5.4. Suggestions for further studies
It is highly recommended that further studies are conducted on a
broader scale with more targeted population. More cases with varied
attributes could contribute very valuable ideas. Additionally, when more
cases are analyzed, some more commons points are likely to reveal,
which could give chances for the researcher to come up with some
generalization.
Since authentic materials are more and more encouraged to be
exploited in classes, especially language classes, the selection of
appropriate and useful materials is absolutely important. Especially, the
creation of opportunities for learners to decide their own materials for
study is always considered a good method to increase learners’
contribution to the lessons. The focus of this research is only students’
selection of reading materials for Reading Reflection activity. A more
exhaustive research with more investigations of students’ selection of
materials for other learning activities could be conducted to make
comparisons and contrasts to figure out more significant findings.
67
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Martinez, A.G. (2002). Authentic materials: An Overview on Karen's
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71
APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: Questionnaire – Vietnamese version
PHIẾU ĐIỀU TRA
Tôi là Nguyễn Hồng Ngọc, sinh viên lớp E1K41 – Khoa Sư Phạm Tiếng Anh
trường ĐHNN-ĐHQG HN, hiện tại tôi đang thực hiện khóa luận tốt nghiệp với tựa
đề: “Việc lựa chọn ngữ liệu thực tế (authentic texts) phục vụ cho hoạt động đọc
phản ánh (reading reflection) của sinh viên năm 2, hệ chính quy, khoa Sự Phạm
Tiếng Anh trường Đại học Ngoại Ngữ, Đại học Quốc Gia, Hà Nội”.
Trong bài nghiên cứu này, ngữ liệu thực tế được định nghĩa là tài liệu được
viết bởi những tác giả bản ngữ không nhằm phục vụ mục đích giảng dạy mà nhằm
thỏa mãn một vài mục đích xã hội trong cộng đồng sử dụng ngôn ngữ đó. Trong việc
học ngoại ngữ, đây là những ngữ liệu của cuộc sống có vai trò quan trọng trong việc
thúc đẩy người học và giúp người học làm quen với ngôn ngữ giao tiếp hàng ngày.
Ví dụ, các văn bản trong giáo trình hay trong các bài kiểm tra không được coi
là ngữ liệu thực tế vì các văn b ản này được tạo ra để áp dụng trong việc dạy học.
Ngược lại các bài viết hàng ngày trên báo chí hay trên Internet về các vấn đề xã hội
chính là các ngữ liệu thực tế. Chúng có thể là sách, các bài báo, các bài xã luận, phim,
âm nhạc, quảng cáo…
Mong bạn giúp tôi điền đầy đủ thông tin vào phiếu điều tra sau đây.
Rất mong sự giúp đỡ của bạn!
1. Chuyên ngành bạn đang học là gì? ………………………………………………
2. Bạn đã học tiếng Anh bao nhiêu năm?.....................................................................
3. Bạn đánh giá trình độ kĩ năng đọc của mình ở mức độ nào? (khoanh tròn)
1
Rất không tốt
2
Không tốt
3
Bình thường
4
Tốt
5
Rất tốt
4. Điểm kĩ năng giao tiếp viết kì 3 của bạn là bao nhiêu (A, B, C, D)?..........................
5. Điểm bài đọc phản ánh (reading reflection) gần đây nhất của bạn là bao nhiêu (A,
B, C, D)? ………..
6. Bạn có lựa chọn ngữ liệu thực tế cho hoạt động đọc phản ánh kì này không?
Có/Không (khoanh tròn)
72
7. Bạn đã t ừng được dạy về kĩ năng lựa chọn tài liệu học tập chưa? Chưa/Rồi
(khoanh tròn)
8. Bạn có tham khảo ý kiến của ai khi lựa chọn tài liệu học tập? Có/Không (khoanh
tròn)
9. Hay khoanh tròn chữ số thể hiện sư yêu thích của bạn với hoạt động đọc phản ánh
(reading reflection)
1
Rất không thích
2
Không thích
3
Bình thường
4
Thích
5
Rất thích
10. Khoanh tròn chữ số thể hiện mực độ thường xuyên của việc đọc các tài liệu tiếng
Anh của bạn
1
Không bao giờ
2
Rất hiếm
3
Thỉnh thoảng
4
Thường xuyên
5
Luôn luôn
11. Khoanh tròn chữ số thể hiện số lượng khó khăn mà bạn gặp phải khi tìm ngữ liệu
thực tế (authentic texts) cho hoạt động đọc phản ánh (reading reflection)
1
Không có
2
Rất ít
3
Một số
4
Nhiều
5
Rất nhiều
Bạn có vui lòng tham gia nghiên cứu của tôi không? Có/Không (khoanh tròn)
Nếu có, xin cám ơn bạn rất nhiều. Đây sẽ là cơ hội để bạn có tự đánh giá lại quá trình
lựa chọn bài cho hoạt động đọc phản ánh, cũng như đóng góp những ý kiến của mình
để giúp cho hoạt động này tại khoa Sư phạm Tiếng Anh ngày càng hiệu quả hơn.
Xin bạn cung cấp thông tin cá nhân để tôi có thể liên lạc với bạn.
Họ tên:
Lớp: Số điện thoại:
Email:
Xin chân thành cám ơn!
73
APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONNAIRE – ENGLISH VERSION
QUESTIONNAIRE
I am Nguyen Hong Ngoc from E1-K41, ULIS, VNU. I would like to ask you
some information so that some of you can help me further in my graduation paper
about “The selection of authentic texts for Reading Reflection activity of second-
year mainstream students at Faculty of English Language Teacher Education,
ULIS, VNU”.
In this study, authentic texts are defined as materials written by native
speakers for non pedagogical purposes. They are real-life texts which increase
students' motivation for learning, makes the learner be exposed to the “real” language.
Authentic texts are produced to fulfill some social purposes in the language
community for language students, but for the speakers of that language.
For example, materials which are written in the course books or designed for
tests are not authentic texts. On contrary, real-life texts which are found in
newspapers, magazines, online journals or books not for purposes of teaching and
learning are authentic materials. They could be books, Web sites, articles, artwork,
films, folktales, music, and advertisements.
Please give your answers sincerely as it determines the success of my study
Thank you very much for your help!
1. What major are you in now? ………………………………………………………
2. How long have you studied English? ………………………………………………
3. Circle the number that best reflects your self-assessment of your Written
Communication skills
1
Very Poor
2
Poor
3
Average
4
Good
5
Very good
4. Which score did you get for Written Communication 3 (A, B, C, D or F)? …….
5. Which score did you get for your last Reading Reflection (A, B, C, D or F)?
…….
6. Have you chosen authentic texts for Reading Reflection this semester? Yes/No
(please circle)
74
7. Have you ever taken part in any courses related to selecting materials skills?
Yes/No (please circle)
8. Did you consult anyone about selecting materials? Yes/ No (please circle)
9. Circle the number that best describes the extent of interest you have when doing
Reading Reflection
10. Circle the number that best describes the extent of your frequency in reading
English materials
1
Never
2
Rarely
3
Sometimes
4
Usually
5
Always
11. Circle the number that best describes the extent of the number of difficulties you
had when selecting authentic texts for your Reading Reflection
1
No
2
A few
3
Some
4
Many
5
A great number
Are you willing to participate in my study? Yes/ No (please circle)
Firstly, if you say Yes, it will be a big favor and I would really appreciate. Secondly,
it is a very good chance for you to reflect on your own performance when selecting
texts for Reading Reflection activity. Particularly, your help in this study
contributes substantially to people’s understanding of factors as well as difficulties
influencing students’ selection of authentic materials.
If yes, please let me know some of your personal information so that I can contact you
later.
Your name:
Class: Phone number: Email:
Thank you very much!
1
Not at all
2
Below average
3
Average
4
Above average
5
Very interested in
75
APPENDIX 3: SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW SCHEDULES –
VIETNAMESE VERSION Phần I: Điều tra thêm thông tin cá nhân
- Trình độ ngoại ngữ
- Điều kiện học tập: có Internet hay không? Có thường xuyên đến trung tâm học
liệu hay không?
- Kĩ năng học tập
- Sự yêu thích dành cho hoạt động đọc phản ánh
- Việc thường xuyên đọc tài liệu Tiếng Anh
- Việc lựa chọn đề tài cho hoạt động đọc phản ánh (chọn tự do hay bị chỉ định)
Phần II. Câu hỏi nghiên cứu 1: Những yếu tố quan trong của ngữ liệu thực tế có
ảnh hưởng đến việc lựa chọn tài liệu cho hoạt động đọc phản ánh của sinh viên
năm hai.
- Trong quá trình lựa chọn bài cho hoạt động đọc phản ánh, em phải cân nhắc
những yếu tố nào? Vì sao?
• Nguồn của bài
• Khả năng khai thác của bài
• Nội dung của bài
• Độ khó của bài
• Cách thức trình bày bài
- Trong những yếu tố này, yếu tố nào theo em là quan trọng nhất? Vì sao?
Phần III. Câu hỏi nghiên cứu 2: Những trở ngại trong việc lựa chọn ngữ liệu
thực tế cho hoạt động đọc phản ánh của sinh viên năm hai.
- Trong quá trình lựa chọn bài cho hoạt động đọc phản ánh, em gặp phải những
trở ngại gì?
• Thiếu hướng dẫn từ giáo viên
• Nguồn ngữ liệu thực tế hỗn độn trên Internet
• Khả năng ngoại ngữ hạn chế
• Thiếu kĩ năng tư duy phê phán
• Thiếu kĩ năng học tập
• Các trở ngại khác
76
APPENDIX 4: SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW SCHEDULES –
ENGLISH VERSION Part I: Basic information
- English competence
- Study conditions: Internet Access
- Study skills
- Interest in Reading Reflection task
- Frequency in reading English materials
- Topic for Reading Reflection (freely chosen or assigned)
Part II: Research question 1: Which important factors of authentic texts
affecting second-year mainstream students’ selection of materials for Reading
Reflection activity?
- What are important factors of authentic texts you have considered when
selecting materials for Reading Reflection activity? Why?
• Sources of texts: The reliability of text’s origin.
• Suitability of Content: Text is relevant to the topic student is
assigned; the content is updated interesting to read.
• Exploitability: Text can be exploited for the purposes of Reading
Reflection (include good points for reflections)
• Readability: Text is in appropriate level of difficulty (not too much
new words or complicated structures)
• Presentation: Text is presented clearly and attractively
- In your opinions, among those factors which one is the most important? Why?
Part II: What are the hindrances to subjects’ selection of authentic texts for
Reading Reflection activity?
- What are the hindrances to your selection of authentic texts for Reading Reflection?
Why?
• Lack of guidance
• Disordered source of texts in the Internet
• Limited English competence
• Lack of critical thinking
• Lack of study skills
• Other hindrances
77
APPENDIX 5: TRANSCRIPTIONS OF THE INTERVIEWS
I. INTERVIEW WITH STUDENT I
• Time: 29th March 2011
• Place: French Department
• Interviewee: Student I
I: Thank you very much for your willingness to take part in my study. Firstly, I
want to ask for some of your personal information. How do you think about
Reading Reflection task?
S: I am not good at Reading skills. They are very challenging, and reading
reflection is the hardest assignment to me. However, I have studied a lot from
this assignment: the vocabulary, the structures and other worldwide knowledge.
Thus, I am totally interested in reading reflection task. This assignment is a very
good chance for me to improve not only reading skills but also writing skills. I
have to invest a great amount of time in Reading Reflection, particularly, in
selecting suitable texts for it. This is a miserable process that asks me to be
really patient.
I: Are you living with you family now?
S: No, I am living in the campus.
I: Do you have the Internet at your room?
S: No, that’s very inconvenient. I have to go to the Internet Center at the campus to
find materials for study. Everyday, I surfs the Internet for at least 3 hours.
I: For what?
S: To read news and search for learning materials.
I: So it means you really love reading, right?
S: Yes, I read news everyday.
I: English or Vietnamese news?
S: Vietnamese news, I hardly read English news, they are difficult to understand.
I: Do you usually go to the library of our Faculty?
S: I rarely go to the library of Faculty of English Language Teacher Education.
Instead, I usually visit the Bookstores to find some interesting books. They are
78
mainly novels or core books that my teachers have asked me to read. They are
very well-known.
I: Have you received any pieces of advice when selecting texts for reading
reflection?
S: I usually ask my classmates for some pieces of advice when selecting materials,
especially, authentic texts for Reading Reflection.
I: When selecting materials for reading reflection, which factors have you
considered?
S: It is the level of difficulty; this is the most important factor. If the text is too
difficult to understand, I could not write a sharp and thorough reflection; and
that would lead to very bad results for my Reading Reflection. I am tired of
scientific terms, old English words or too complicated structures in some texts.
However, I don’t want my selected text to be too easy. One of the reasons that I
am really interested in Reading Reflection activity is that when I read those
texts, I can widen my English vocabulary and structures. The next is that this
text must be suitable to do reflection. It has contains some arguments, some
author’s opinions about some social issues. Whenever reading a text, I always
think of the questions: what am I going to do with this text? what is to reflect?
I: Is there any other factor?
S: Yes, length of the texts is also put into serious consideration. I know that I could
edit the text to make its length appropriate with the requirement. Nevertheless, I
never choose a text which was too short or too long. I only focus on the texts
with about 1000 words. I am not good at reading. The long texts are usually
very difficult with many terminologies and very complicated structures. I am
not patient enough to read and understand them meticulously. Thus, I choose
shorter and more concise ones. I also want a text that can provide the readers
with some useful information. The content of the text is totally important. I am
usually interested in an article which tells me about what is happening around
the world. I never choose a text discussing an everyone-known-issue.
I: What’s about sources of texts?
S: It is pretty important. If there are two texts which are at the same level of length
and interest, I would prefer the one from reliable sources. I try to avoid any
articles from blogs or public services. My most concerns were printed sources
79
and other well-known websites like New York Times, CNN, BBC. That’s all.
I: Now we talk about the hindrances to your procedure of selecting texts. Can you
list them?
S: The first and also the biggest difficulty to me is my poor English competence.
My most weakness is a very limited vocabulary. That makes my procedure of
selecting texts very difficult and time-consuming. I could not understand the
text thoroughly with only one time of reading. Texts from well-known sources
are usually very difficult to read. They are written by experts with a lot
terminologies and complex analysis. I know that they are very good texts for
Reading Reflection, but I am incapable of understanding them exhaustively. It
was a great danger when reflecting those texts.
I: I see that. Anything else?
S: I think it is the lack of Internet access. This procedure always requires a lot of
time. I want to read as much as possible. Nevertheless, I could only use the
Internet to read articles about 2 or 3 hours per day. That is really not enough.
Moreover, the jumbled variety of materials on the Internet brings me some
disadvantages. There are millions of texts about my topic from several sources. I
tried to read a lot of texts, and finally, I cannot decide which one was the best. I
actually got stuck.
I: Oh, I believe that you have taken part in study skills course. You were taught
how to search for materials effectively on the Internet, right?
S: What I studied was good, but we did not have chances to practice at that time.
Thus, all of them became a theoretical part which was easy to forget. When it
comes to the reality, I could hardly apply what I have learned. I totally lack of
instructions when selecting those texts.
I: Is that all?
S: Yes, that’s all!
I: Thanks you very much!
S: You’re welcomed!
80
II. INTERVIEW WITH STUDENT II
• Time: 30th March 2011
• Place: French Department
• Interviewee: Student II
I: Thank you for being here. As you know, my graduation paper is about the
selection of authentic texts for Reading Reflection activity. Are you clear about
the term “authentic text”?
S: Yes, you have explained it in your questionnaire.
I: Ok, firstly, I really want to ask you some questions about your personal
information. Are you confident with your English skills?
S: Not really, I think my Written Communication skills are better.
I: So do you feel hard when doing?
S: Of course, in my opinions, Reading Reflection is the most challenging task I
have to complete this semester. Many of my friends share this point of view. It
is so difficult to create a good reading reflection. This activity is so difficult; we
had to do it again and again, from semester to semester. I totally lack inspiration
to complete a Reading Reflection. I don’t like doing reading reflection at all.
I: You are now living with your family, aren’t you?
S: I am living in the hostel
I: Do you have the Internet at your room?
S: Yes, I cannot live without the Internet.
I: Do you like reading, especially English materials?
S: No, I don’t. I hardly read both English and Vietnamese texts. I only read
whenever I am asked or when I have to complete the assignments. And these
materials have been recommended by my teachers beforehand.
I: You have been taught study skills, right? Do you think it is useful when you
have to choose study materials yourself?
S: To be honest, I hardly remember anything in this course. I do not apply any
strategies I have been taught in this course to select learning materials.
I: Do you spend a lot of time selecting materials for reading reflection?
S: About 3 or 4 days, actually I always run after time.
I: When selecting authentic materials for reading reflection, what are important
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factors that you have considered?
S: I think that if I want to make a good reflection, the text must be first of all not
too difficult. Texts with some arguments are usually difficult to read. I want to
find a text with clear division; a text which is easy to read and easy to reflect.
Actually, it is strategic decision affecting the final result of my reading
reflection. I don’t want to reflect something that I don’t totally understand.
I: Is there any other factor?
S: Yes, the content of texts. A text with up-to-date content can motivate me to
reading more excitedly.
I: So the content of the texts must be up-to-date?
S: Yes, up-to-date.
I: How do you know that this text is up-to-date or not?
S: I will rely on two factors. Firstly, Understanding the topic of an article is
considerably important. It could make me know what text is really about.
Moreover, I will never choose a very old topic, the one that everyone has read. I
usually associate my background knowledge with the title of the article to
decide whether the main discussion in this article is up-to-date or not. I want to
read about hot issues that everyone is caring about. Every new thing is good and
interesting.
I: What’s about the second factor?
S: The date of publication. On the Internet, the date that an article is publicized
and edited is always available. A too old article which was publicized before
2000s would be immediately out of my list.
I: Do you pay any attention to the length, the presentation or the source of those
texts?
S: The length is important. It is not a crucial factor but needs considering. Too
short or too long texts will be out immediately. The length of a Reflection was
about 300 – 500 words, and if the text is too long, I am likely to get over that
limitation. It is too time-consuming when reading a too long text; I have a lot of
assignments to do. I also pay attention to the origin of those texts, but just a
little. Not all articles from famous and reliable sources like CNN, BBC, or
Washington Post are good. Good texts can be everywhere. However, there is a
warning from my teacher that we should avoid personal blogs or other social
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network like Wikipedia.
I: Is that all?
S: Yes.
I: So which one is the most important in your opinions?
S: The first factor is the difficulty of texts. It will decide the whole results.
I: The next problem I want to ask you is your hindrances when selecting authentic
texts for reading reflection activity. You stated in the questionnaire that you
have encountered a lot of difficulties.
S: That’s right! This process is really hard and time-consuming. The first point is
my narrow background knowledge. As I have said before, I really want an up-
to-date text for reading reflection; however, it is hard for a not up-to-date
learner like me to find what I really want. I rarely read books and articles,
especially English ones. The world is changing everyday, something which was
fresh or new today could become a trivial fact tomorrow. I do believe that I
have missed a lot of chances to select many beautiful articles for reading
reflection.
I: That’s quite problematic! Is there anything else?
S: I am not a good English learner. My poor English vocabulary was very serious
problem, especially when my major is Business English. English business
vocabulary was absolutely difficult. However, that was my major, and I should
concentrate more on it. I feel very frustrated when the text was full of new
words, especially, economic terminologies. This problem exceeded my time of
selecting as well as understanding the materials.
I: That’s all?
S: No, the next hindrance makes me very ashamed.
I: Oh, don’t worry, I promise to keep secret your name.
S: To be honest, I did not understand what argument was until yesterday. It was
when my teacher returned the materials, and a lot of us have to select different
text for reading reflection. My first article for reading reflection was not
accepted. It is all about facts and general information. There was no opinion, no
argument. I choose it simply because of its up-to-date content. Yesterday, when
my teacher of critical thinking course explained what argument was, that was
the first time I thoroughly understand this term.
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I: At least, you understand it now. Another hindrance, please?
S: There is one other. This is my only problem. I have to find the second article to
submit as her first choice is officially refused by my lecture. For the second
time, I have to run after the time. There is one week to find another material as
well as to submit the outlines for reading reflection. And I am very stressful. I
do not want to make the same mistakes, so I have considered a lot. However, it
is not easy at all when a lot of materials need reading while I actually have two
days.
I: I think you have a week?
S: No, because there are a lot of other assignments, and also the due date for the
outlines is coming.
I: Is this the last hindrance?
S: I think so.
I: Okay, thank you very much for your cooperation. If you have something more
to share, you can contact me at any time.
S: Yes.
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III. INTERVIEW WITH STUDENT III
• Time: 30th March 2011
• Place: French Department
• Interviewee: Student III
I: Good afternoon! Thank you for your cooperation. You seem to be very excellent
English learner, quite impressive! You are living with your family, and the
Internet is available, right?
S: Yes!
I: Do you like reading?
S: Yes, I like reading very much, and I try to read as much as possible. I am
interested in political news and editorials. I want to know what is happening
around the world. And I also want to learn the writing styles and the presentation
of native writers. They would be very useful for me to be an English teacher in
the future.
I: Do you usually read books in the library of FELTE, ULIS, VNU.
S: Sometimes, for this semester, I go to the library more frequently than the
previous semesters.
I: Who are your consultants when selecting study materials?
S: I ask some of my friends who are studying abroad. I also really appreciate what I
have been taught about Internet searching skills with the seniors from class
E1K41 during the Tutoring Program 2010.
I: Why do you like reading reflection activity that much?
S: It helps me to form the habit of extensive reading. From semester 2 I began to
read English books and articles more frequently. Reading is very important, its
help me to improve my English competence a lot
I: What are factors you have considered when selecting texts for reading reflection
task?
S: The first and foremost factor is that the text could be exploited for reading
reflection. It makes the material for reading reflection activity different from
materials for other learning activities. The texts must present some social issues,
and especially, the writer must be a critical one; they must express their
viewpoints and give reasons or examples to illustrate these arguments. Source of
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texts is also very important to me. Finding texts from well-known sources really
saves my time and effort. These sources guarantee quality. It would be better to
know who the author of the text is before using it. That makes me confident in
my decision.
I: There are my other factors. Have you ever thought of them?
S: Yes, I also pay attention to academic writing style. The writing styles of English
articles, especially, editorials written by scholars are different from the writing
styles of Vietnamese articles. Editorials from New York Times are presented very
clearly and amazingly well-supported. I prefer authentic texts which strictly
followed academic writing style.
I: What’s about the content of those texts?
S: Yes, it’s fairly important. An interesting text to read does not mean a good text
for reading reflection, whereas a not really interesting text could be a promise
piece of land for Reading Reflection. Of course, texts with beautiful content are
always better. I could spend the whole day to read, check new words and consider
its argument. I also considered the level of difficulty of language use. A too easy
text with many familiar words and simple structure would never be a good
choice. I intend to reflect on the language use of the article. I don’t want any
misunderstanding and superficial reading refection.
I: Is there any other feature?
S: No, that’s all
I: Now, we come to the hindrances when you select those texts. You said you have
encountered some. What are they?
S: I am so confused with the large number of materials on the Internet. I rarely find
suitable articles in reliable sources as they are too difficult to be reflected
thoroughly. Too many options appearing with only one click, it becomes a real
matrix which dazzles me.
I: Oh, I see. And that’s all?
S: I also lack of Internet Searching Skills. I really don’t know what kind of key
words should be used to get the closest results. What is the arrangement of the
results with Google search? What are some tips could be used to get the closest
answers? The conventional way of searching materials with lengthy sentences
always leads to some irrelevant articles. At this time, I only can think of these
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difficulties. I think it’s kind of…I mean I am not good at searching skills while
the sources of texts on the Internet are too board, they kind of interacting each
other.
I: I see that
S: That’s all I can think of.
I: Oh, that’s precious to me. If you find out something else, call me!
S: I’ll.
I: Thanks so much again.
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APPENDIX 6: GUIDELINES FOR READING REFLECTION
(According to the Course Guide for second-year mainstream students at
FELTE, ULIS, VNU)
Number of reflection
ONE
Deadline of submission
Student List for each theme: Week 1
Reading Reflection Material: Week 7
Reading Reflection Outline: Week 11
Reading Reflection Material: Week 14
Type of work Individual
What to do? - For each reflection, find a reading text on the particular topic that you are assigned.
Note: Teacher can either assign topics of reading texts for reflection or can let students choose their own topics of interest.
- The reflection MUST be written based on answering the following questions:
What is the text about? What is the author’s purpose when he/she writes this? For
whom is it written? What is the organization pattern of the text?
What are the general style and noteworthy linguistic features of the text?
What arguments does the author use to support his/her opinions? Are these arguments fair?
Or Are the ideas presented in the text persuasive?
What can you learn from the text (in terms of knowledge, language, and written communication skills)?
Is there any information in the text agreeing with or contrasting with information you have ever read in other texts on the same topic and/ or your personal experience?
Requirements - Length of reading text: 700 – 1300 words
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- Length of reflection: 300 – 500 words
Submission - Submission to the teacher must include:
Reflection Copy of Reading Text(s) Source(s) of Reading Text(s) (name of author, year of publication, etc.)
Marking criteria - The level of analysis of the materials read (answering all the questions)
- Students’ writing ability
- Consideration to plagiarism.
Notes - Any quotations necessary for illustrating students’ ideas must be acknowledged.
- Reflections with purely “cut and paste” quotes without any synthesis, analysis, reflection and acknowledgement will be given low or zero mark basing on the level of plagiarized information.
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APPENDIX 7: SAMPLES OF AUTHENTIC TEXTS FOR
READING REFLECTION
I. STUDENT II’S MATERIAL FOR READING REFLECTION (the first
choice)
READING MATERIAL
THEME 3: BUSINESS AND MONEY
GUILDING A CHILD TO FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE
Total words: 1256
By BETH KOBLINER
Published: November 4, 2010
LAST spring, Jamie McGurk, an independent producer in Los Angeles, knew that the
rough economic climate would make it difficult for her 22-year-old daughter
Stephanie to get a job. So when Stephanie decided to move back home after
graduating from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., her mother was
delighted. “We didn’t get to spend that much time with her when she was on the East
Coast, so it was the best thing ever,” she said.
Jamie McGurk, left, and her daughter Stephanie. Let graduates chart their own
careers, the elder Ms. McGurk said.
Unlike many adult children, however, Stephanie invited her boyfriend, Alex, to join
her. The good-humored Ms. McGurk embraced the idea wholeheartedly. “I was happy
they moved here and not Delaware, where he’s from,” she said.
Welcome to parenthood in 2010. Of course, parents of adult children face all types of
challenges, even in the best of times. These days, though, they have to help their
offspring cope with a tough job market and, often, debt from credit cards and student
loans.
Many parents are also worried about their own jobs, shrinking home values and
fading retirement dreams. That is a lot to handle. But with a bit of preparation, parents
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can prevent themselves from flying off the handle every time they see their child
idling on the sofa watching “Family Guy.”
These are particularly difficult times for people in their 20s, who had a 12.5 percent
unemployment rate in September, compared with 9.2 percent for the general
population on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, according to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
“The labor market has been a disaster for young people,” according to Andrew Sum, a
professor of economics and the director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at
Northeastern University”. Not only is it difficult for young people to find work, he
said, but “40 percent of college graduates under 25 who have jobs are mal-employed,
meaning they’re working at jobs that don’t require college degrees.” That is up from
30 percent in 2000.
Stephanie McGurk, who majored in environmental studies, eventually took a job as a
nanny. On Oct. 15, four months after she had moved home, she and Alex, who landed
a job in his field of graphic design, found a small rental in Burbank, Calif.
Not all young people are able to transition as smoothly. As a result, parents are
improvising as they find themselves in the role of life coach, career
counselor, financial adviser, real estate agent and pseudo-psychologist for their adult
children. Here are some tips:
EXPECT CHILDREN TO MOVE HOME It no longer has the same stigma. One in
five people aged 25 to 34 lives in a multigenerational household, typically with their
parents, according to a study released this year by the Pew Research Center. That
figure has nearly doubled since 1980.
A survey released last month by Twenty something, a market research firm, found
that 85 percent of those graduating last spring planned to move back home, up from
67 percent as recently as 2006. Even when children get jobs, parents should
encourage them to continue living at home — at least as long as everyone can tolerate
it, some personal finance experts say. Money that would have been spent on rent
could be saved, or used to pay off credit cards and student loans.
DO NOT SACRIFICE TOO MUCH If children move back home, it is reasonable to
have them contribute in some way, said Ann Diamond, a financial counselor in New
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York City. “If they’re making enough money, you can ask them to pay some rent,”
she said.
Otherwise, agree on responsibilities, like making dinner a few nights a week or doing
the laundry. Most important, parents should not put their own financial security at
risk, experts say. “I see too many parents, especially mothers, helping out grown
children when they should be squirreling away more money for their own retirement”,
said Cindy Hounsell, president of the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement, a
nonprofit organization in Washington.
DO NOT MICROMANAGE CAREERS Parents should make it clear to their
children that they are expected to be moving toward financial independence and give
them a specific time frame to get a job, experts say. It is a good idea, however, to
resist pointing out that their hopes of becoming rock stars, poets or even Internet
entrepreneurs may not be realistic.
“Instead of saying you have to compromise on your dream job, let them figure this out
by themselves,” said Ms. McGurk. She added that she and her husband had let their
daughter and houseguest know that their comfortable arrangement was not intended to
be indefinite. “Right now there aren’t too many jobs available in the fair trade, natural
food movement, dealing with indigenous farmers in L.A.,” she joked, referring to her
daughter’s college major.
HELP WITH FINANCIAL PLANNING Even if the subject of personal finance
terrifies parents, it is a good idea to confront it for their children’s sake. Ms. Diamond
suggested that parents sit down and talk through their basic monthly expenses,
including cellphone charges, credit card debt and car insurance. Introducing a Web
site like mint.com to assist with budgeting, debt repayment and savings goals can help
a parent avoid being the one doing the nudging.
“It’s a rude awakening for many people recently out of school,” said Ms. Diamond.
“But you need to start the conversation and talk to them like adults.”
HAVE THE DEBT TALK The average college student leaves school with more
than $4,000 in credit card debt and $24,000 in student loan debt. It is wise for parents
to make sure that children know the rates on their student loans and credit cards, and
that they should pay the highest interest debts first.
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Parents should not co-sign credit cards for their children because the parents’ credit
score will most likely drop if the child misses just one payment, finance experts say.
Also, have them find out if they are eligible for the government’s Income-Based
Repayment plan, which can reduce the cost of their federal student loans significantly.
Try finaid.org and ibrinfo.org.
If your children need money for graduate school, steer them to the federal Graduate
Plus loan program, which charge a fixed rate of 7.9 percent. That may be lower than
many private student loans. Go to studentaid.ed.gov.
CONSIDER HEALTH INSURANCE Grown children may want help in paying off
their car loans, but if money is tight, springing for their health coverage is a better
idea. Under the new Obama health care rules, you may already be allowed to cover
your children under 26 years old on your policy, whether they live at home or not.
(Check state laws, too. New Jersey, for example, allows parents’ policies to cover
their children through age 30.)
LET THEM DEFINE SUCCESS More young people are pursuing nontraditional
paths because of the abysmal job market. (Applications to the Peace Corps, for
example, were up 18 percent last year, the highest since 1998.)
After graduating from high school in 2008, Zach Cooper trained at the French
Culinary Institute in New York City for a year and then went to college. After his
freshman year, he told his parents that he was not returning to school because he had
been offered a full-time job as a line cook at Morandi, a Keith McNally restaurant in
New York.
His mother, Lynn Sonberg, was not thrilled at first. “I wanted him to have the luxury
of a period of intellectual exploration,” she said. But she is proud of his achievement.
“He’s almost financially independent at age 20 at doing something he loves,” she
said, “and that’s a blessing.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/05/business/businessspecial5/05LAUNCH.html?_r=
1&sq=guiding%20a%20child%20to%20financial%20independence&st=cse&adxnnl
=1&scp=1&adxnnlx=1300874534-M4SokvWTF4CA86zjLXgmGQ
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II. STUDENT II’S MATERIALS FOR READING REFLECTION (The second
choice)
READING MATERIAL
THEME: BUSINESS AND MONEY
CASHLESS SOCIETY: WHY WE NEED IT
By Emmy Boy
Total words: 1197
Paper money: do we still need it?
The Need for Cashless Society
Have you ever made a payment without any physical exchange of cash? Have you
ever made or accepted any online payment on the internet with computers where only
figures were involved? Did you notice that everything was easier and much more
convenient than the ordinary physical cash exchange? You may not realize it then but
you are actually using electronic cash payment systems.
Welcome to the new world of cashless society!
The payment system has gone through a lot of changes and evolution since the very
first barter market system to the most recent electronic payment system which is
being more and more globalized today. Electronic Cash can take on many forms;
bank cards, credit cards, debit cards, mobile phones, electronic banking, ATMs and
so on.
I remember the time when I wanted to buy a very good phone that will suit my styles.
After browsing through gsmarena.com website, I discovered the mobiles that had the
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qualities I really wanted in a phone. I knew the phone could also be found on Amazon
for purchase. So, everything was set. Then I discovered I still had one very big
problem. Amazon.com does not have any shop in Nigeria which meant that there was
no way they were going to even accept our Naira!
That was how my desire to possess a nice mobile ended until I discussed the problem
with a friend. I have always known that this guy was always buying most of his
electronics and stuffs abroad but I have never bothered to ask him how he does it. So
when this problem of mine came up, I had to ask him.
He simply told me to consider that very day as my lucky day. In a moment, he went
into action. Next thing I know, we were exchanging our Naira into USD at our local
bureau de change. After the exchange, we paid the cash into his domiciliary account
and that was that. The next day we were making some purchases on amazon.com with
his American Express MasterCard and that was the beginning of how I got that very
phone I so much desired.
This is just one of the amazing advantages of having a cashless society.
Cashless society makes it easily and readily possible for someone to make purchases
anywhere in the world without being actually being physically present. It also
promotes trades and business across borders by destroying the barriers of differences
in national currencies. Thus cashless society allows for the easy payments of goods
and services especially in our world today as the world is gradually migrating into a
global village, hence the great need for people to go cashless. Another plus for going
cashless is the ease of making such payments. People are now able to make payments
with their mobile phones in the comfort of their homes. There is also a whole lot of
time that is freed up for leisure, increased productivity, effectiveness and efficiency is
increased because of the little amount of almost insignificant loss time required to
effect payments under the electronic cash system.
But then there are yet many other reasons why cashless society should be
embraced.
Cashless society is one effective way in which bank robberies can effectively be
controlled or even put to an end. This is simply because there will be no more cash to
be stolen by the dare-devil armed robbers. Unless, those robbers have devised a
means of converting ordinary numbers seen on the computer screens into physical
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cash, then they will go home empty-handed and electronically defeated. The
problems and risks faced by armed police guards in transporting huge sums of raw
cash from one bank location to another bank are too many. We have heard cases
whereby these mobile policemen were waylaid and sometimes killed by criminals on
the way when carrying these bulky sums of cash from one bank to another. All
negative stories like these will simply become a thing of the past simply because there
will be no cash to carry about. It is virtual money all the way as everything boils
down to ATMs, credit and debit cards, plastics with embedded magnetic chips and
passwords!
Electronic Cards: The best is yet to come?
Reduced cost of printing money
All over the world, governments are known to be spending so much money in
printing in more money and in minting coins too. Also so much money is involved in
maintaining the quality of such printed cash in terms of providing stronger securities
as a guard against counterfeiting by unscrupulous individuals and syndicates. Again,
the physical conditions of such printed cash should also be taken into consideration
because paper money is one of the most handled objects in any society. Now, with the
advent of cashless society, there will be no need whatsoever to print paper money as
well as mint coins again thus saving huge amount of money for the government. Even
other forms of physical money like checks and money orders will also disappear.
Cashless society can effectively check money laundering amongst syndicates all over
the world. This is because cashless society institutes an effective cash movement
control whereby the transfer of cash from one place to another is monitored. As one
of the pros for going cashless, there will be no need for individuals to even carry
physical cash about. I have always imagined what it was like when people in
Zimbabwe had to move large sums of almost worthless paper money during that dark
period of the highest inflation witnessed in that African country! So that effectively
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eliminates the availability of cash to be moved around by syndicates involved in
money laundering all over the world. This advantage will at least go a long way in
checking the corrupt tendencies of many African leaders who are well known to be
involved in such dubious activities of money laundering.
Paper money is one of the most ubiquitous and most widely-travelled articles on earth
hence they carry some amount of disease and germs as they are moved around by
people everyday. Have you ever wondered about all the places, all the nook and
cranny, that piece of paper money you are holding right now in your hands have been
to? I bet if you only knew, you might find it so hard to touch that paper again
considering the dirt and germs it must have picked up in the course of its journey
round the country to your pocket or wallet. There is no restriction on who should
touch money or not. There is absolutely no control or legislation on the level of
cleanliness of the hands that should handle the paper thus we are always exposed to
great health risks anytime we handle money. Cashless society can seriously protect us
from such health hazards.
These advantages of moving toward a cashless society would not be limited to the
above mentioned matters only, but considering these and many other factors affecting
this movement, it seems like we are moving gradually toward the cashless society but
not in a pace that we are ever going to reach it.
http://hubpages.com/hub/cashless-society-why-we-need-it