VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

VŨ THU THỦY

THE EXPLOITATION OF ELICITING TECHNIQUES TO

ENHANCE THE READING COMPREHENSION ABILITY FOR

THE FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS AT ULIS, VNU

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS

FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS (TEFL)

HANOI, MAY, 2010

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

VŨ THU THỦY

THE EXPLOITATION OF ELICITING TECHNIQUES TO

ENHANCE THE READING COMPREHENSION ABILITY FOR

THE FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS AT ULIS, VNU

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS

FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS (TEFL)

SUPERVISOR: PHẠM MINH TÂM, M.A.

HANOI, MAY, 2010

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to register my profound gratitude to Ms. Pham

Minh Tam, my supervisor, for her invaluable instruction, expertise and

encouragement.

I would like to express my appreciation to the teachers and students in English

Division 1 of the Faculty of English Teacher Education in University of

Languages and International Studies, whose participation and opinions are the

valuable materials for my research.

I would also like to give my special thanks to my classmates and my friends

whose warm support and enthusiasm have contributed greatly to the

development of the research.

Lastly, I am grateful to my family for their kindly encouragement during the

research’s finalization.

ii

ABSTRACT

In current English Language Teaching (ELT), communicative competence is the

most important goal for learners but it is a big problem of Vietnamese students.

This can be seen obviously in English classes, especially in Reading sessions.

The reason for that may be they lack opportunities of practicing talking in

English and linking their knowledge to the learnt issues. Students, consequently,

feel embarrassed or even afraid of talking in public and pretend that they can

understand easily the content of the lesson despite the opposite fact. This

situation urges teachers trying to involve students in the activities in class to

make sure that they are able to fully understand the lessons. Amongst numerous

solutions offered by teachers, the exploitation of Elicitation is one of the most

common ways. In this research, Elicitation is examined in three aspects: what the

commonly used Eliciting techniques are, how they affects students’

comprehension ability in Reading classes, and what attitude teachers have

toward them. For the accomplishment of these purposes, the teachers and the

first-year students in the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education of

University of Languages and International Studies has participated in the

research with the triangulated data collection method of classroom observation,

interview, and questionnaire. The collected data were then processed and

analysed to find the answers for students’ response to the use of Eliciting

techniques by teachers. The study also aims to point out the benefits of

employing Elicitation in teaching Reading as well as the problems teachers may

encounter when using those techniques and figure out the solutions to them.

Eventually, the whole research process entailed several practical implications

and suggestions for this method to be well conducted in teaching Reading.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………i

ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………………. ii

LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………...vii

LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………………….vii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………..1

1.1. Statement of the problem and the rationale for the study ………………..1

1.2. Research aims and Research questions …………………………………..3

1.3. Scope of the study ………………………………………………………..3

1.4. Significance of the study ………………………………………………. ..4

1.5. Method of the study …………………………………………………….. 5

1.5.1. Design ……………………………………………………………… 5

1.5.2. Sampling …………………………………………………………… 5

1.5.3. Data collection instruments …………………………………………6

1.5.4. Data collection procedure ………………………………………….. 7

1.5.5. Data analysis procedure……………………………………………...8

1.6. Organization of the study ………………………………………………...8

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW………………………………………...9

2.1. Eliciting techniques ……………………………………………………. 9

2.1.1. Eliciting …………………………………………………………… 9

iv

2.1.1.1. Definitions of Eliciting ………………………………………..9

2.1.1.2. Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Eliciting ……………10

2.1.2. Eliciting techniques ………………………………………………...12

2.1.2.1. Asking questions ……………………………………………. 12

2.1.2.2. Using visual aids……………………………………………… 13

2.1.2.3. Conducting games or activities ………………………………. 14

2.1.2.4. Giving definitions and examples …………………………….. 14

2.1.2.5. Organizing group discussion ………………………………… 15

2.2. Reading comprehension ability …………………………………………16

2.2.1. Reading …………………………………………………………….16

2.2.2. Reading comprehension ……………………………………………17

2.2.3. Reading comprehension ability …………………………………….18

2.2.4. Eliciting techniques and Reading in second language teaching…… 19

2.3. Related studies ………………………………………………………. ...23

2.4. Conclusive Remarks …………………………………………………... 25

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY…………………………………………….. 26

3.0. Research questions …………………………………………………….. 26

3.1. Participants …………………………………………………………….. 27

3.1.1. The teachers of English Division 1 in the Faculty of English TeacherEducation………………………………………………………….. 27

v

3.1.2. The students in the Faculty of English Teacher Education………...27

3.2. Instruments …………………………………………………………….. 28

3.2.1. Classroom observations ……………………………………………28

3.2.2. Interviews …………………………………………………………..29

3.2.3. Questionnaires …………………………………………………….. 30

3.3. Procedure of data collection……………………………………………..31

3.4. Procedure of data analysis ………………………………………………32

3.5. Conclusive remark ……………………………………………………...33

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION………………………………...34

4.1. RESEARCH QUESTION 1: What techniques do the teachers use ineliciting the first-year students in Reading classes? ……………………34

4.2. RESEARCH QUESTION 2: To what extent are these techniques effectivein improving students’ level of Reading comprehension as perceived bythe teachers and the students? ………………………………………….39

4.2.1. The aims of the Teacher’s exploiting Eliciting techniques inReading classes…………………………………………………..39

4.2.2. The effectiveness of applying Eliciting in Reading classes perceivedby the teachers and the students …………………………………41

4.3. RESEARCH QUESTION 3: What are the teachers' perceptions inapplying these techniques in teaching Reading? ……………………….48

4.3.1. Teacher’s attitude towards Eliciting techniques in Readingclasses……………………………………………………………..48

vi

4.3.2. Benefits of using Eliciting Techniques in Reading classes perceivedby the teachers …………………………………………………….51

4.3.3. Teacher’s difficulties in applying Eliciting Techniques in Readingclasses and their solutions ………………………………………...53

4.4. Conclusive remarks……………………………………………………...55

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION………………………………………………….56

5.1. Major findings of the research…………………………………………..56

5.2. Pedagogical implications of the research ……………………………….58

5.3. Contribution of the research …………………………………………….60

5.4. Limitations of the research ……………………………………………...60

5.5. Suggestions for further studies ………………………………………….61

REFERENCES …………………………………………………………………63

APPENDICES…………………………………………………………………..67

Appendix 1: Observation scheme……………………………………………68

Appendix 2: Samples of Observation scheme ………………………………70

Appendix 3: Questions for interview ………………………………………..76

Appendix 4: Questionnaire form …………………………………………….77

vii

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Major techniques applied by the teachers to exploit

Elicitation in reading class for the first-year students…………..p. 34-35

Table 2. Different ways of assessing Eliciting techniques in Reading

classes by teachers………………………………………………… p. 43

Table 3. Students’ reaction to Eliciting techniques used by teachers

in Reading classes …………………………………………………. p.45

Table 4. Students’ opinion of Eliciting techniques that teachers use

in Reading classes ………………………………………………….p. 47

Table 5. Teachers’ preparation for Eliciting in teaching Reading …………..p.50

Table 6. Teachers’ opinions on the benefits of using Eliciting in

teaching Reading …………………………………………………...p. 52

Table 7. Teachers’ difficulties in using Eliciting techniques in teaching

Reading ……………………………………………………………p. 53

LIST OF FIGURESFigure 1. Teachers’ aims in using Eliciting techniques in teaching

Reading ……………………………………………………............p.39

Figure 2. Teachers’ assessment of their using Eliciting techniques

in teaching Reading ……………………………………………….p. 42

Figure 3. Teachers’ opinion of the importance of using Eliciting

in Reading classes ………………………………………………...p. 49

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1. Statement of the problem and the rationale for the study

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has recently been viewed as a

default approach in almost every English language classroom worldwide

since it aims at producing students who are communicatively competent. As a

result, students are required to develop a new habit of getting engaged in

every activity of every subject actively.

The aim of being communicatively competent is considered to be really hard

to achieve in Reading classes. Despite the fact that Reading is an active

process itself since readers are required to work hard when reading and

understanding a text, it is still considered a Receptive skill in learning and

teaching English. In the Reading lessons, students are often asked to work on

their own, which create the impression that the interaction between students

and teachers are not strong enough. Also, students may find the Reading

lessons boring. This might be the case in Vietnamese classes, as students find

no interest in sitting for hours for reading a text, answering the questions and

waiting for teacher’s correction. The students in Reading classes gradually

become silent and lazy to participate in class activities. This situation puts the

question WHY into consideration. The reasons may lie on the way that

teachers attract students in Reading classes.

One of the most common ways to attract students in the lesson is eliciting, “a

technique used by the teacher during the lesson that involves the language

learner in the process of discovering and understanding language” –

mentioned ESLFocus Teacher Expert (2009) in www.eslfocus.com.

“Eliciting helps to develop a learner-centred classroom and a stimulating

environment, while making learning memorable by linking new and old

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information” (Darn, 2009, from Teaching English of BBC website). Teachers

can apply it in the lessons by asking questions, using a visual or providing a

simple definition of something. Therefore, theoretically, it is an effective way

to activate students in a lesson. However, the fact that students are not eagerly

involved in the Reading lessons hypothesizes about the teachers’ exploitation

of Eliciting in Reading sessions: they are likely to be ignored or limitedly

used. This results to the less interaction between teachers and students and

silent class atmosphere. It is the reason why the researcher chooses to

investigate the current situation of exploiting eliciting techniques in teaching

Reading.

Moreover, CLT is not widely applied in many high schools in Vietnam for

several reasons: the major aim of high-school-students is to pass the national

entrance exams; they only learn to get high achievements for showing off; or

the teachers are not qualified enough. Thus, CLT is more favourable in

English specialised schools, for example the University of Languages and

International Studies (ULIS) of Vietnam National University. In addition, the

academic year 2009-2010 is the first time that the fourth year students in the

Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, ULIS are allowed to have

Practicum Program with the first year students. This is a great chance for the

researcher to have direct interactions and observations of the Reading lessons

of the first-year students and to investigate the real situations of the

investigating issue – the use of eliciting techniques in Reading classes.

With all the above reasons, a research is conducted to verify the hypothesis of

using Eliciting Techniques with the title: The Exploitation of Eliciting

Techniques to Enhance the Reading Comprehension Ability for The First-year

Students at ULIS, VNU

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1.2. Research aims and research questions

In doing the research, the author wants to discuss three main issues. Firstly,

the study investigates what techniques the teachers employed to elicit

information to help students fully understand the Reading texts. Secondly, it

examines the teachers’ and students’ evaluation on the effectiveness of

eliciting techniques. Thirdly, the study aims to identify the benefits expected

by teachers when they use Elicitation as well as the encountered problems in

the process of using these eliciting techniques, followed by some suggestions

to overcome these problems. These objectives are accomplished by answering

the following questions:

1. What Eliciting techniques do the teachers use in Reading classes of the

first-year students?

2. To what extent are these techniques effective in improving students’

level of Reading comprehension as perceived by the teachers and the

students?

3. What are the teachers' perceptions about applying these techniques in

teaching Reading?

1.3. Scope of the study

The research targets at the first-year students as they are the direct subjects of

the Practicum Program in which the lessons are taught by the forth-year

themselves. It provides the researcher a great opportunity of fully examining

the real situations successively to get frequent and reliable data. Besides, their

Reading lessons are in the fixed schedule with fixed aims for the entire course

which is PET (Preliminary English Test) which is similar to Level B1 in the

Common European Framework of Reference. This level is described as the

ability to:

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- Understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters

regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc.

- Deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area

where the language is spoken

- Produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of

personal interest

- Describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes & ambitions and

briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans

The study is restricted to the main stream first-year students at the Faculty of

English Language Teacher Education, University of Languages and

International Studies of Vietnam National University, Hanoi, as they

represent the majority which can provide the reliable results.

Besides, the study only focus on the Eliciting techniques which are commonly

used in classes such as asking questions, using visuals or providing definition

and examples to get information from students and help them to understand

texts better.

1.4. Significance of the study

The research is expected to have a certain impact on the way how Reading

comprehension is taught by encouraging teachers’ Elicitation in Reading

classes. It is justified by the positive evaluation of both teachers and students

in the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, University of

Languages and International Studies on enhancing comprehension ability of

students and involving students in class activities as a result from exploiting

Eliciting techniques. It also evaluates the most common problems and their

solutions suggested by teachers to smooth the lessons. In addition, this study

serves as a referential material for both the researcher and other EFL teachers

in teaching Reading.

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1.5. Methodology of the research

1.5.1. Design

The study starts with a Literature Review with the premise from some

previous related studies. It describes the situations, discusses the issues related

and suggests some solutions to existing problems.

In this research, observations were chosen as the most important tool because

it is the most effective technique to record the learners and teachers’

behaviour. In addition, in-depth interviews in combination with

questionnaires were also employed to get the supplementary data to support

the researcher in analyzing and discussing the issue.

1.5.2. Sampling

As the investigated issue is the exploitation of eliciting techniques which are

used by the teachers and have effect on the students at the same time, the

study involved both the first-year students and the teachers in the Faculty of

English Language Teacher Education, ULIS.

According to Nguyen (2008, p.37), “in a survey research literature, a range

between 1%-10% of the population is usually mentioned as the ‘magic

sampling fraction’, depending on how careful the selection has been”. This is

the base for the researcher to believe that the result from the expected

participants, including 40 to 50 students, which are equivalent to eight to ten

percents of 500 students in the Faculty of English Language Teacher

Education, is quite reliable and valid. They were randomly selected in

observed classes to interview together with the teachers to collect data after

the classroom observations.

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1.5.3. Data collection instruments

In order to collect the most reliable and valid data for the research, three

applied instruments were observation schemes, interviews, and

questionnaires.

1.5.3.1. Observation scheme

Since the research is on a practical issue, classroom observation is regarded as

an effective tool to record the behavior of both teachers and students in class.

It is the great chance for the researcher to gather the actual data in real

situations. It allowed the author to dig in the problem and analyze the issues

carefully and thoroughly. Observation scheme was carefully built with the

detailed checklist. The data collected from the observation schemes were

mainly used to answer the first Research Question.

1.5.3.2. Teachers and students interview

In the present research, semi-structured interviews were employed.

- Teachers interview: This interview consisted of two parts. In the first

part, it was aimed to find out the answers to the Research Questions

number 2 and 3 which would be compared with students’ opinions. In

the other part, the interview helped the researcher find out problems

and solutions of the employment of eliciting techniques in Reading

classes.

- Students interview: The researcher chose randomly some students from

each observed classes to involve in the interview part. This provided

the result to answer the second question in the study about the

effectiveness of the teachers’ eliciting techniques in Reading classes.

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The participants were contacted in advance to ask for permission before

carrying out the collecting data stage.

1.5.3.3. Questionnaire

As the classroom observation could not involved all the teachers in the

Faculty of English Language Teacher Education who are expected to

participate in the research, questionnaires were a good choice to collect more

information. The questionnaires were designed to get the answers for all the

three Research Questions.

1.5.4. Data collection procedure

This stage consisted of three steps related to activities carried out both out of

class and inside classrooms.

- Step 1: Classroom observations were carried out once in each of eight

classes: 09E2, 09E4, 09E7, 09E12, 09E15, 09E17, 09E20, 09E21.

Those classes were chosen by the researcher herself but on permission

of the teachers. Before the date of observation, a checklist was

drafted to make the observation more oriented and focused.

- Step 2: Semi-structured interviews were conducted face to face with

selected teachers and students after finishing the observations step.

While interviewing, the researcher tried her best to take notes and tape-

record the content under the interviewees’ permission.

- Step 3: Questionnaires were separately sent via emails to the teachers in

English Division 1 of the Faculty of English Language Teacher

Education as it was difficult to meet all of them in school. Teachers

answered by highlighting or marking on their choices. After a few days,

questionnaires with answers were sent back to the researcher.

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1.5.5. Data analysis procedure

The results from observations were summarized, evaluated and categorized by

Microsoft Excel with the detailed checklists from the observation schemes.

After that, the students and teachers interviews were transcribed and

categorized into groups. The information from the interviews was the basis to

compare the teachers’ and students’ opinions and draw the conclusion of the

effectiveness of teachers’ applying Eliciting techniques in Reading classes. In

addition, the answers in questionnaires were also grouped to add more

information to the discussion of the three Research Questions.

1.6. Organization of the study

This research report is organized into 5 chapters:

1. Introduction: provides the rationale for, the aims, significance, scope

and organization of the study.

2. Literature Review: presents related literature that provides the

theoretical basis for this study.

3. Methodology: describes the research instruments, participants and the

procedures to conduct the research, including data collection and data

analysis.

4. Results and Discussion: presents and discusses findings to derive valid

implications.

5. Conclusion: summarizes the main findings, and draws out lessons and

suggestions for similar studies in the future.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This second chapter will define some key concepts discussed in the research:

“Eliciting techniques” and “Reading comprehension ability”. After that, the

overview of some related studies will be shortly described to justify the

objectives of this research paper.

2.1. Eliciting techniques

2.1.1. Eliciting

2.1.1.1. Definitions of Eliciting

Stated in the website of Teaching English in BBC, Eliciting (elicitation) is a

term “which describes a range of techniques which enable the teacher to get

learners to provide information rather than giving it to them”. It is commonly

used to familiarised students with vocabulary, language forms and rules of a

targeted skill, and to brainstorm a topic at the beginning of a lesson.

According to Doff (1988, cited in To & Nguyen, 2009, p.12), “Eliciting

involves the class by focusing students’ attention and making them think. This

happens even if students do not know the words being elicited; so elicitation

can be used for presenting new language as well as reviewing what was

taught earlier”

Eliciting is also stated in Teaching English of BBC website to be based on

several premises:

- Students have a great deal of knowledge, both of the language and of

the real world, which needs to be fully activated and constructively

used

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- The teaching of new knowledge is often based on what the learners

already know

- Questioning assists in self-discovery, which makes information more

memorable

Eliciting helps to develop a learner-centered classroom and a stimulating

environment. Moreover, it plays the role of the link between new and old

information, which forms a good way to make learning memorable. Eliciting

is not limited to any single language or academic knowledge. Teacher can

elicit ideas, feelings, meanings, situations, associations, memories or anything

that help provide the key information about a topic, and therefore a starting

point for the lesson.

2.1.1.2. Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Eliciting

a. Advantages of Using Eliciting

Case (2009), a teacher, pointed out in www.usingEnglish.com that Eliciting in

EFL classrooms provides many benefits. They include:

- Keeping students concentrate on the lessons

- Checking students’ understanding of the focusing issues

- Activating students’ background knowledge

- Increasing student talking time (STT) / cutting down teacher talking

time (TTT)

- Helping students learn how to guess and work things out for themselves

Moreover, Doff (1988, cited in To & Nguyen, 2009, p.12) emphasized on one

of the most obvious advantages of teacher’s using eliciting that is “Eliciting

gives teachers a chance to see what students know and what they do not, and

so adapt their presentation to the level of the class”. That way will involve all

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members in class in the lesson, the stronger ones will not be bored with the

“too easy” questions and the weaker ones will not be panic because of their

slower understanding.

b. Disadvantages of using Eliciting

On the one hand, eliciting is a powerful tool of the teachers with many

benefits they can gain. On the other hand, it also challenges teachers with

several difficulties it can create.

First and foremost, “Eliciting takes more time than straightforward

presentation of new knowledge”, said Doff (1988, cited in To & Nguyen,

2009, p.12). For example, eliciting a word or an explanation may take ten

times as long as just explaining it. Students may get too engaged to the

discussion themselves and forget about the main topic or the main tasks.

Ways to avoid this problem are quite various: plan your elicitation and make

sure you have found the quickest way, use pictures and other prompts, if that

will cut down on the amount of time eliciting will take, etc.

Other hindrances may result from both teachers and students. Specifically,

they are also stated by Case (2009) as follows:

- STT is not always longer

- Students may unequally understand and answer the questions of the

teachers that aimed at eliciting

- Students’ response is passive and silent which fails the objectives of

eliciting

- The information elicited can be too old or boring/ repetitive, or even not

worth answering

- Eliciting may lead students to “unreal” communication - the language

used is not appropriate in real life

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With all these listed advantages and disadvantages, it should be noted that

eliciting clearly contributes to student involvement but it does not always

produce the desired or expected results. That is the reason why teachers

should selectively use this efficient tool in class.

2.1.2. Eliciting techniques

In the viewpoint of Richards and Rodgers (1986, cited in To, 2008, p.22),

technique is “an explicit procedure employed to achieve a particular teaching

and learning objective or set of objectives.” This procedure is commonly

organized in class in the means of classroom activities, exercises and devices

to present and practice new targeted language.

Thus, the Eliciting techniques discussed in this study involve the students’

process of discovering and understanding guided by teachers. Elicitation can

be applied in explaining vocabulary, grammar, experiences, and ideas. By

eliciting, learners are given the chance to actively participate in the learning

process, expressing their acquired or intuitive knowledge, and studying

critical thinking which will enhance their language abilities by adding

knowledge to what they already know.

Eliciting techniques can be applied in various ways and in numerous

activities. They can be listed as below:

2.1.2.1. Asking questions

Doff (1988, cited in To & Nguyen, 2009, p.12) pointed out that “Eliciting can

take place at any stage of the lesson and is mainly done by asking questions”.

Questioning is crucial to the way teachers manage the class, engage students

with content, encourage participation and increase. According to Steve Darn

(2010), a trainer in Izmir University of Economics, Turkey, there are two

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main types of questions in classroom: Display questions and Referential

questions.

- Display questions are designed to elicit learners’ prior knowledge and to check

comprehension. They often focus on the form or meaning of language structures

and items, and the teacher already knows the answer.

- Referential questions. These require the learner to provide information, give an

opinion, explain or clarify. They often focus on content rather than language,

require ‘follow-up’ or ‘probe’ questions, and the answer is not necessarily known

by the teacher.

(Cited in Teaching English, BBC)

2.1.2.2. Using visual aids

- Showing pictures

Following Doff’s point of view (1988, cited in To & Nguyen, 2009, p.12-

13), it is commonly believed that “One of the easiest ways to elicit new

vocabulary (or structures) is by using pictures, either in the students’

textbook or brought in specially”. It is aimed to set the scene for teachers

to ask students some questions about the related topic like “what they see

in the pictures, why they think it happens, what they think will happen

next and how they feel or what they think about it”. This is the most

interesting way to give students chances to practice guessing and also

motivate them in studying at the same time.

- Using miming, gestures, facial expressions or body language

One of the most attractive ways of communicating is using body

language. In teaching, it also helps to elicit new vocabulary or structures.

It plays the key role in helping students to develop their ability to

understand in a real environment since body language and expressions

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convey a message about how speakers – teachers in this case – think or

feel. Therefore, to be effective as an instructor, teachers need

communication skills that should include careful listening, speaking

clearly in a well-modulated voice, and using reinforcing body language.

2.1.2.3. Conducting games or activities

According to Wright, Betteridge and Buckby (1984, p.1), “Language learning

is hard work ... Effort is required at every moment and must be maintained

over a long period of time. Games help and encourage many learners to

sustain their interest and work.” Moreover, “they give students a break and at

the same time allow students to practice language skills. Games are highly

motivating since they are amusing and at the same time challenging.

Furthermore, they employ meaningful and useful language in real contexts.

They also encourage and increase cooperation.” – said Arsoz (2000) in The

Internet TESL Journal. That is the reason why games and funny activities are

always welcomed by students in all ages. Games are commonly used as a

lead-in activity at the beginning of a lesson to motivate students and draw

their attention.

2.1.2.4. Giving definitions and examples

Bouma (2000), a writer of an English website, clarified the difference

between the two usually-mistaken terms: “meaning” for “definition”:

“Whereas a definition is the way you explain what is understood by a word, a

meaning is the factual, physical and emotional significance of something (a

word, experience, event, etc.). It’s the difference between explaining and

interpreting.” Definitions are mostly used to elicit vocabulary.

She also pointed out the three main types of definitions:

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- Simple definitions: teachers using synonyms, antonyms, dictionary

descriptions and physical descriptions

- Operational definitions: teachers will explains by purpose descriptions

and combination descriptions which answer the two questions: “What

something does” and “How it works”

- Lexical definitions: they are the most complicated type of definition

which requires wide background knowledge. They often include

etymology, word history, etc.

With the same function as definitions, giving examples is a powerful,

universal way to illustrate concepts and transfer knowledge in a subject area.

Many teachers could benefit from a more informed way to develop and use

examples in their courses. Most disciplines have “signature examples” such as

demonstrations, diagrams, videos, stories, and models.

2.1.2.5. Organizing group discussion

Gisela Konopka (1985, p.288), a German researcher and educator, believed

that “True group discussions are appropriately used to sharpen thinking, to

weigh facts, to make decisions on the basis of thinking encouraged by

diversity” as the ideas derived from individual thinkers are stimulated and

brought out through questions and discussions with others. “Discussion of

ideas is a typical medium of a society which expects and fosters freedom of

thought and freedom from fear of expression”. In addition, group discussion

also encourages students in cooperating and learning from each other’s

knowledge. That is a good way of actively sharing information.

These listed techniques are commonly applied in teaching English skills.

However, whether being widely used means that they can put good effects on

students or not is worth concerning, especially when they are exploited in

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teaching Reading – a perceptive skill. It is the focus of the researcher in this

study.

2.2. Reading comprehension ability

2.2.1. Reading

a. Definitions of reading in general

Reading is an ambiguous word which has multiplicity of meanings. Those

meanings mostly depend on its context in which they occur. As a result, there

is no point in looking for a simple and concise definition of “Reading”.

According to Anderson (2003, p.1), Reading can be defined as “an active,

fluent process of readers combining information from a text and their own

background knowledge to build meaning” This “active process” is explained

as “meaning does not reside on the printed page, nor it is only in the head of

the reader. A synergy occurs in reading which combines the words on printed

page with the reader’s background knowledge and experiences. Readers move

through the printed text with specific purposes in mind to accomplish specific

goals”.

Another way to describe Reading is shown by Grabe (1991, cited in

Silberstein, 1994, p.12) as a “complex information processing skill in which

the reader interacts with the text in order to (re)create meaningful discourse”.

The common between these two definitions is the process of collecting

information from the written text that readers need to do to understand its

content. That is the closest meaning of Reading referred in this study.

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b. Purposes of reading in general

Suggested by To et al. (2006, p.150), Reading is classified by different types:

- Receptive reading: reading for different purposes in real life

- Reflective reading: reading and “pause to reflect and trackback”

- Intensive reading: getting detailed meaning for the improvement of

reading skills and language components

- Extensive reading: archive general understanding with the combination

of background knowledge

- Skimming: getting general information from the text

- Scanning: finding details in the text

All those types of reading aim to “get something form the writing” (Nuttal,

1989, p.2-3). He mentioned that “Reading is to get a message from the text”.

As a result, it is significant to clarify the particular purpose when we read,

since Nuttall believes that there are different reasons for different ways of

reading (p.44).

2.2.2. Reading Comprehension

“Comprehension” has three dictionary definitions (Merriam Webster, 1963,

cited in Singer, p.901)

1. the act or action of grasping with the intellect

2. knowledge gained by comprehending

3. the capacity for understanding

These definitions imply that the term “comprehension” can refer to “a

process, a product, or a potential”. These different concepts mix together,

whether the focus is on teaching, testing, or on a theory of comprehension.

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Then what is “Reading comprehension”?

Dr. Keith Lenz from the University of Kansas (2005, p.7) stated that:

“Reading comprehension is the process of constructing meaning from text.

The goal of all reading instruction is ultimately targeted at helping a reader

comprehend text. Reading comprehension involves at least two people: the

reader and the writer. The process of comprehending involves decoding the

writer's words and then using background knowledge to construct an

approximate understanding of the writer's message.”

Richard and Thomas (1987, p.9) also considered Reading Comprehension as

“an understanding between the author and the reader. The emphasis is on the

reader’s understanding of the printed pages based on the individual’s unique

background of experience. Reading is much more than pronouncing the words

correctly or simply know what the author intends. It is the process whereby

the printed pages stimulate ideas, experiences, and responses that are unique

to an individual”

These two definitions agreed on the main feature of Reading comprehension

which is the interaction between writers and readers, between old information

and new information. It can be considered one of the most straightforward

and widely applied ideas in mainstream studies. It is also the concept of

Reading comprehension that the researcher applies in this study.

2.2.3. Reading comprehension ability

As stated above, Reading comprehension is the interaction between new and

old information. In other words, it is the result of the combination of the two

elements: the meaning of given text and the background knowledge of

readers. Thus, the Reading comprehension ability of readers is the capability

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to “mix and digest” the formed information in reading process, i.e. the level of

understanding in readers’ mind about the issues mentioned in the given texts.

In the viewpoint of Akmar Mohamad, a professor at the University Sains

Malaysia, reading comprehension is divided into three levels: comprising

lexical comprehension, referential comprehension and critical comprehension.

o The first level, literal comprehension, involves understanding surface

meanings. At this level, teachers can ask students to find information and

ideas that are explicitly stated in the text. In addition, it is also

appropriate to test vocabulary.

o The second level is interpretive or referential comprehension. At this

level, students go beyond what is said and read for deeper meanings.

They are required to be able to see relationships among ideas, for

example how ideas go together and also see the implied meanings of

these ideas. Referential comprehension includes intellectual processes

such as drawing conclusion, making generalization and predicting

outcomes.

o Finally, the third level is critical comprehension, by which ideas and

information are evaluated. At this level, students need to be able to

differentiate between facts and opinions or to judge the accuracy of the

information given in the text. Critical evaluation occurs only after our

students have understood the ideas and information that the writer has

presented.

2.2.4. Eliciting techniques and Reading in second language teaching

In a second language classroom, reading plays a significant role in building

both linguistic and background knowledge for other language skills.

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a. Purposes of reading of second language learners

As pointed out by Rivers and Temperley (1978, cited in Nunan, 1989, p.34)),

second language learners may read in another language for the following real-

life purposes:

- to obtain information as being curious about some topics

- to obtain instructions on how to perform some tasks

- to act in a play, play a game, do a puzzle

- to keep in touch with friends by correspondence or to understand

business letters

- to know when or where something will take place or what is available

- to know what is happening or has happened

- for enjoyment or excitement

However, the reading purposes of language learners in Reading classes are

not always related to real life. According to Nuttall (1996, p.223), students

who are required to read in class are asked to do some exercises such as gap-

fill or multiple choice questions. As a result, the aim of understanding the

content of the text in real-life meaning is often ignored and replaced by the

academic purposes. In Reading classes, teachers tend to apply the techniques

in Communicative Language Teaching approach to help students archive the

communicative goals. To be more specific, students are provided many

chances to practice to read silently the unfamiliar authentic texts to enhance

some needed skills including extracting specific information, inferring

opinions and attitudes, deducing meaning from the context… Reading is also

a good way to exploit and enhance students’ background knowledge on the

common fields mentioned in the text. That is the reason why Reading is one

of the most important skills for EFL learners to attain great development in

academic areas.

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b. The exploitation of Eliciting techniques in a Reading lesson

The process of teaching a Reading lesson in Communicative approach is often

divided into three stages namely pre-, while- and post-reading. Each stage has

its own aims and features or procedure in which Eliciting techniques are

employed and adapted accordingly as follows:

o Pre-reading stage

Pre-reading stage plays an important role in the whole process as it is of

great help in motivating students and giving them preparation for the

information from the text they are going to read. Specifically, in this

early stage, teachers are expected to:

Assess students' background knowledge of the topic and linguistic

content of the text

Give students the background knowledge necessary for

comprehension of the text, or activate the existing knowledge that

the students possess

Clarify any cultural information which may be necessary to

comprehend the passage

Make students aware of the type of text they will be reading and the

purpose(s) for reading

These aims are commonly achieved by the teacher’s employing

Elicitation in guiding and explaining. Several techniques which can be

used in this stage are: using pictures, predicting from the titles, guessing

and brainstorming to see what students have already known.

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o While-reading stage

Later on, students are lead into the main reading activity of the lesson. In

this second stage, teachers are guiders who will help students to:

understand the specific content

become aware of the rhetorical structure of the text

The Eliciting techniques applied in this stage widely vary to fulfill the

two main goals. However, it is the most common to use the ones like

guessing new words in contexts, asking questions to note - taking.

o Post-reading stage

Finally, teachers may conduct some activities in order to review the

content. This final stage is generally aimed at checking students’

understanding of the text or linking the information they gain from the

text with their knowledge, interests and opinions.

Some possible techniques which teachers may exploit in this stage

include discussing the main points, retelling and rewriting the stories.

To be brief, Reading comprehension in class is strongly affected by the

interactions between teachers and students in the process of exchanging

information. That process as well as its result on student’s comprehension

ability is boosted by teacher’s techniques in eliciting and communicating in

class. That is the reason why the main aim of this study is describe the fact

and effectiveness of applying eliciting tools in teaching Reading

comprehension.

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2.3. Related studies

Teaching approaches and techniques are the “fertile ground” for numerous

researchers in many decades as the desire to perfect the education system

keeps rising in society. The researches on improving the effect of teaching

and learning Reading as the second language are one of them. Many experts

dug deep in the basis of Reading to discover its nature and its features to build

up the techniques to help the learners easier in reading and learning to read.

Byrnes (1998) with the research on “Reading in the beginning and

intermediate college foreign language class” clarifies the Goals and

Techniques for Teaching Reading. He focuses on the Reading processes and

their aims. After that he draws some integrated strategies which can be

applied in classroom which include previewing, predicting, skimming and

scanning, guessing from context and paraphrasing.

Whereas few systematic studies have been found, plenty of initiatives have

been taken in order to authenticate reading in the classroom. One of them has

been suggested by Vogt (1997) in her journal article “Cross-Curricular

Thematic Instruction”. Vogt believes that the inclusion of a variety of content

areas from narrative and expository literature to "real world" materials could

help students to vary their experience and thus, well prepare them for future

"real-life" reading tasks. Specifically, she refers to a selection of texts of

different difficulty levels, teachers’ elaboration of new concepts, students’

group-work and role-play activities as several notable techniques to

authenticate reading in an ESL classroom.

Jonathan Newton (2001) has an article on a smaller aspect of vocabulary

learning, which titled “Options for vocabulary learning through

communication tasks”. In his study, Newton emphasizes on the activities

which can encourage the constructions of multiple associations between old

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and new knowledge in the lexical systems of learners. Also, he draws readers’

attention on the meaningful contexts and the immediate opportunities for

students to use vocabulary in real communication. That is the tasks teachers

should fulfill and also the aims they want to achieve.

Going to exploring more details on teaching Reading, Hibbing and Rankin-

Eriekson (2003) describes some specific tools in enhance student’s

understanding in Reading. Their article named “A picture is worth a thousand

words: Using visual images to improve comprehension for middle school

struggling readers” discusses teacher and student drawings in the classroom.

The materials include illustrations in texts, picture books, and movies as

external image-based tools that support reading comprehension. Those are

one of the tools for eliciting information in teaching Reading.

Although there are many related studies on techniques in both teaching and

learning Reading in second language classes, the researcher finds it hard to

search for the researches specified in Eliciting itself as well as its techniques.

Despite the fact that Eliciting is used in almost all Reading classes as a

familiar teaching technique in Communicative Language Teaching approach.

In addition, it is claimed to be one of the most effective way to teach Reading

but its proofs are not satisfactory for readers and researchers, especially in

Vietnam. Such limitations obviously offer a gap for researchers to conduct a

study on the same target with the attempt to examine the effectiveness of

using Eliciting techniques in teaching, particularly in Vietnam University.

2.4. Conclusive remarks

In this chapter, the theoretical background of the study has been briefly

reviewed with the key concepts which are Eliciting techniques, Reading

comprehension and Reading comprehension ability of students. Most

importantly, it pointed out that Elicitation can be used in every stage in every

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Reading session with the major objective of helping students understand texts

easily and thoroughly. In addition, the review of a number of related studies

in this chapter has detected a research gap which the researcher is pursuing to

bridge by seeking the answers to the three research questions.

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

Chapter 2 has briefly reviewed the literature on the research topic for the

theoretical basis of the study. Next, this chapter 3 discusses the participants,

the research instruments, and the procedure of data collection and data

analysis as a means to maximize the validity and reliability of the whole

research.

3.0. Research questions

As mentioned in the first two chapters, CLT has put an emphasis on

communicative competence in teaching and learning English, thus Elicitation

is the most commonly employed tool in English classes to engage students in

the lessons. However, it is the fact that Eliciting is limitedly used in

Vietnamese classes, especially in Reading sessions. This contradiction urges

the researcher to investigate the current situation of exploiting Eliciting

techniques in teaching Reading. To fulfill that aim, this research is conducted

to answer three questions related, which are:

1. What Eliciting techniques do the teachers use in Reading classes ofthe first-year students?

2. To what extent are these techniques effective in improving students’level of Reading comprehension?

3. What are the teachers' perceptions about applying these techniques inReading?

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3.1. Participants

The process of data collection involved the participation of both the teachers

of English Division 1 and the first-year students in the Faculty of English

Language Teacher Education at University of Languages and International

Studies – Vietnam National University (ULIS – VNU) as follows:

3.1.1. The teachers of English Division 1 in the Faculty of English

Language Teacher Education

As playing the role of the instructors in student-centered classes, the teacher’s

roles in designing activities and controlling students in the classrooms should

be considered. Therefore, all the 30 teachers in English Division 1 in the

Faculty of English Language Teacher Education were expected to involve in

the data collection process. They are in charge of teaching the first-year

students in four English skills. They are all graduated from English

specialised universities with excellent degrees. Thus, there is no doubt that

they are quite qualified to be chosen as the participants in this study.

However, for some reasons of further learning and private excuses, not all of

30 teachers are officially teaching the first-year classes. Moreover, because of

the intense teaching procedure and neat timetable, only 22 teachers can take

part in the research which is believed to be a large number of participants. It is

aimed to report the factual situations of English teaching and learning at their

schools as well as to share their valuable experience related to the topic.

3.1.2. The first-year students in the Faculty of English Language Teacher

Education

The number of students in the first year in the Faculty of English Language

Teacher Education is large, about 500 people, which are divided into 24

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classes. They are all good students who can pass the entrance examination to

enter the university. They are all specialised in English, therefore they are

rather familiar and fluent in using English.

Amongst them, only 40 students in eight classes are chosen randomly to

participate in the research. This number is equivalent to 8% of the total

population. The sampling procedure was carried out by the researcher herself:

asking three to five students from each class she observed to answer some

questions in the interview. Their answers were recorded to be analysed later.

3.2. Instruments

For a collection of sufficient reliable and valid data for the study, classroom

observation, interview, and questionnaire were fully employed.

3.2.1. Classroom observation

Since the exploitation of Eliciting techniques for ULIS first-year students was

a practical educational topic by its nature, classroom observation was also

employed since it is asserted that “Classroom observation helps to make

educational research more accessible and practical” (Hoang & Nguyen, 2006,

p. 55). Specifically, during a six-week practicum of the researcher at the

Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, the observation checklist

was completed for the implementation of the use of eliciting techniques in

Reading classes of first-year students.

As for the structure, the observation checklist (see Appendix 1) comprises two

parts:

- Some personal information of the teachers and their classes

- Evaluation of teacher’s exploitation of Eliciting techniques

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The second part contains the most important data for this study as it lists out

some common activities teachers used in teaching Reading as well as their

frequency and aims. Besides, researcher also added some criteria to the

observation scheme to evaluate students’ responses to Eliciting. Those criteria

were measured basing on student’s involvement in the lesson combined with

their answers in the interview followed.

3.2.2. Interview

Oral interview has been widely used as a research tool in applied linguistics.

In this study, researcher chooses the semi-structured interview as it is believed

to be “quite extraordinary” with its incredible rich data, full control and close

interactions. The questions expected in the interview have been planned as

followed:

o For teachers:

1. Do you think that you should use Eliciting Techniques in your class?

Why (Why not?)

2. Do you plan to use eliciting techniques when you prepare for the

lessons? (When you write the Lesson Plan for example?)

3. Can you give some comments on Ss's reactions/response to your

ways of eliciting?

+ Good (Ss understand) --> What might be the reasons?

+ Bad (Ss still confuse) --> What might be the problems? (Current

situations)

4. Do you have difficulties in using eliciting techniques? What are

they? (In general?)

5. What might be the solutions for those problems?

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o For students:

1. Do you have any comments on Reading lesson you just had? Do you

understand all the terms or explanation of the teachers?

2. I can see that in the lesson, T used _________ (the techniques used

by teachers), do you like it? (Yes/No, why and how?)

3. Do you think that way of teaching help you understand the lesson

better? Why and how? (Compare the result of the exercises you did

before and after listening to teachers’ elicitation and guide)

4. Do you like that way of teaching? What can you benefit/ gain from

it?

The interviews were conducted immediately after the class observation to

collect the most fresh experiences and feelings of the participants.

3.2.3. Questionnaire

The last instrument was a questionnaire survey including the participation of

all the research objects, i.e. all the 40 students, was used. It helped collect data

about students’ assessment/review of the applied strategies. This instrument

was chosen for its various advantages and compatibility with the aim of the

research, i.e. to survey the level of tolerance of students toward the use of

Eliciting techniques in teaching reading comprehension. Firstly, questionnaire

is an economical way of collecting data as it helps gather a large amount of

information within a relatively short period of time. Secondly, it enables

researchers to obtain data quantitatively, which later on will assist their study

with persuasive numbers concerning the issues investigated.

The questionnaire includes ten questions which are written in the type of

multiple choice questions and open questions. It was sent to teachers via

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email to get the answer. For the complete questionnaire form, see the

Appendix.

3.3. Procedure of data collection

Broadly speaking, the process of data collection could be put into three major

phases as follows.

- Phase 1: Classroom observation

Classroom observation is expected to be conducted in two or

three lessons successively. However, due to the tight schedule,

researcher managed to observe 8 classes, once for each. The

class choice was determined by the researcher herself which

were picked up randomly.

Soon after permission was granted, an appointment was made

and initiated with a brief introduction of the interviewer, the

research topic and the confirmation of confidentiality

- Phase 2: Interviews

Semi-structured interviews were conducted face to face with

selected teachers and students after finishing the observations.

While interviewing, the researcher tried the best to take notes and

tape-record the content under the interviewees’ permission.

- Phase 3: Questionnaire

In addition to the observations and interviews of Reading

teachers and first-year students, the questionnaire was sent to

teachers via email so that they can take time to fill in it. In the

questionnaires, teachers were asked about their perception in

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using Eliciting in teaching Reading, i.e. what the benefits and the

difficulties are.

3.4. Procedure of data analysis

Initially, the collected data were classified according to the three research

questions. That is, all of the data gathered from the teachers were mainly used

to answer the first and the third research question, whereas students’

responses would help to reply to the second one. Finally, a combination of

responses from both the teachers and the students were analyzed to address

the third question of the research paper.

The results from observations were also summarized, evaluated and

categorized with the help of Microsoft Excel. All the data were taken from the

detailed checklist from the observation scheme. The researcher used the

content analysis which focused on the actual content and internal features.

After that, the students and teachers interviews were categorized into groups.

The results from the interviews would be the basis to compare the teachers’

and students’ opinions and to draw the conclusion of the effectiveness of

teachers’ applying eliciting techniques in Reading classes.

The data was enriched by collected information from the questionnaires. The

information was categorized by Microsoft Excel also and the statistic was

illustrated by the tables and figures. It helped researcher ensure the accuracy

of the data and findings for this study.

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3.5. Conclusive Remarks

This Methodology chapter has discussed the participants; the three data

collection instruments used namely observations, interviews and

questionnaires; the data collection and data analysis procedures as

justifications for the methodology of the research. The following chapters

present the research findings and discussion.

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CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In the previous chapter, the methodology applied in this study has been

clarified with descriptions and justifications of the choice of participants, the

instruments and the process of data collection and analysis. In this chapter, all

collected data will be analyzed and discussed to reveal the answers to each

research question in turn.

4.1. RESEARCH QUESTION 1: What Eliciting techniques do the

teachers use in Reading classes of the first-year students?

Collecting the data for the study, researcher saw that Eliciting techniques

were quite popular in teaching Reading. All the teachers noticed the

importance of interaction between teachers and students in class, which urged

them to employ the Eliciting techniques in their lessons.

As the result of class observation and the statistics from the questionnaire,

teachers – 22 participants in this study – commonly used eight techniques as

follows:

TechniquesNumber of

respondents

Percentage

(%)

Asking questions 22/22 100

Using visual aids 8/22 36.4

Giving definitions of words/ terms /

concepts in Reading text6/22 27.3

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Table 1. Major techniques applied by the teachers to

exploit Elicitation in reading class for the first-year

students

The table shows that the teacher has applied different variations of Eliciting

techniques in their Reading classes.

The most common technique was ‘asking questions’ which had the highest

rate of 100% which means it was used by all the teachers involved in the

research. They used many questions on the first two stages of the lesson

which are pre-reading and while-reading. In pre-reading, the questions

focused on the background knowledge. The teachers thought exploiting

students’ common knowledge is a good way to lead them to the lesson and

make them more interested in it.

“I think it is beneficial as students will have chances to know what are they are

going to deal with in the lesson…”

(A teacher participated in the research)

TechniquesNumber of

respondents

Percentage

(%)

Linking the ideas of the text with SS’

background knowledge / daily life16/22 72.7

Letting SS discuss in groups / pairs 12/22 54.5

Giving examples 18/22 81.8

Using Vietnamese in explaining 10/22 45.4

Using games/ quizzes 3/22 13.6

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In the while-reading stage, questions were even employed more to get

students involved in the small discussions related to the Reading texts, or add

some information and some facts, for example, to the topic so that students

would have good interactions with the text itself, with the teachers and even

with the authors. That is a useful way to help students dig deeper in the issues

they are learning.

The second popular technique was ‘giving example’ which was followed by

‘linking the ideas of the text with student’s background knowledge’. Their

percentages were 81.8% and 72.7% respectively. These two techniques were

often employed in pre-reading stage to explain the topics or the key words of

reading texts. However, with the same aim to elicit vocabulary, teachers

seemed to avoid ‘directly giving definitions of words/ terms / concepts in

Reading text’ as it contributes only 27.3% which ranks seventh in eight used

techniques. One of the most common ways to apply this technique was the

combination of teacher’s description and student’s guesses. Interestingly,

these techniques were mixed quite smoothly by the teacher, which

successfully attracted the attention of students.

For example, “mediate” was a new word to students, so the teacher was the

one who give them definition. After that, teacher asked students to guess the

meaning of “mediator” and described the characteristics of a mediator in a

map as follows:

(Next page)

Page | 37

After eliciting the characteristics, teacher asked student’s reasons for each to

activate their background knowledge. This way of teaching was proved to be

useful to students as they found it easy to understand and remember.

“I like the way teachers asking questions and explaining new words by mind-map

and graphs from the very first lesson. I find it really interesting. Teacher often give

us the definitions and let us think about the related things and concepts. It keeps out

brain working in the lesson so we can understand more and remember more

easily…”

“I like it (the eliciting techniques that teacher used) because it warms the class’s

atmosphere up…”

(Students’ comments from the interview)

The forth ranked technique was ‘group discussion’ whose percentage was

54.5%. This technique was mostly applied in while-reading stage when

students are given texts and do the exercises. Students were also eager when

working in groups since it kept them motivated and “awake” because, in their

Page | 38

opinions, “Reading lessons are mostly silent and even boring when we just sit,

read, and do the exercise silently”.

The next technique preferably used by the teachers in Reading classes was

‘explaining in Vietnamese’. Due to the fact that students in the first year of

University have limited vocabulary, they sometimes complain that the lessons

are difficult to fully understand as teachers use English most of the time.

Realizing this problem, some teachers adapted their explanation with the use

of the first language to get the best result for students. This way of teaching

was warmly welcomed by learners but it seemed to be unpopular.

The two least used techniques were ‘using visual aids’ and ‘organizing

games/quizzes’ whose percentages were 36.4% and 13.6% respectively. The

former was commented as “hard to use” and “unnecessary to use” in Reading

teaching by some of the teachers. They explained their reasons including “it is

time-consuming”, “it may distract students” or “my drawing is not good”, etc.

However, the teachers who could exploit the use of visual aids in teaching,

they could raise the motivation and attention of students to a remarkably high

level. The same case went with the teacher’s using games and quizzes in

teaching Reading. With just a very simple game like “The hang man” – a

game to guess new words – the teachers could involve almost all students into

the lessons and help them to remember the words in an easy and funny way.

Nevertheless, this technique was quite limitedly used.

In short, Eliciting techniques namely asking questions, giving examples and

definitions, linking ideas, using visual aids and mother tongue, or group

discussion, were largely applied in almost all Reading classes. They were

creatively and variously used, adapted and mixed by the teachers which were

excitedly welcomed by the students.

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4.2. RESEARCH QUESTION 2: To what extent are these techniques

effective in improving students’ level of Reading comprehension as

perceived by the teachers and the students?

The discussions for this question examined the teachers’ and students’

evaluation on the effectiveness of eliciting techniques by finding out the main

aims of teachers when applying Eliciting techniques in Reading classes.

4.2.1. The aims of teacher’s exploiting Eliciting techniques in Reading

classes

Using Elicitation in teaching, Reading teachers expected to achieve many

goals in regard of both knowledge and skills. Among them, these following

objectives were the most common for almost all the teachers involved in this

study:

Figure 1.

Teachers' aims in using Eliciting techniques inteaching Reading

21

18

10

10

6

0 5 10 15 20 25

Background knowledge

Vocabulary

Main ideas of the text

Exercises guidance

Exercise checking

Aim

s

Numbers of respondents

Page | 40

The chart illustrates the five main aims of teachers when they used Elicitation

in Reading classes.

It is notable that most obvious goal of all the Reading teachers was activate

students’ background knowledge. It was first ranked in the checklist with 21

out of 22 respondents which equal 95.4%.

“A Reading lesson should always have Warm-up activity and Follow-up activity.

[…] I think eliciting is a good way to activate background knowledge of students to

help them link the old and the new information. It makes students easier to interact

to the new topic of a lesson”

(Teachers’ opinion quoted from the interviews)

This aim was attached to the most popular technique in Eliciting which was

asking questions as well as the process of linking ideas from texts to students’

own experiences and using Vietnamese in explaining.

The next major objective of employing Eliciting techniques in teaching

Reading was to explain/ build up the vocabulary for students. Amongst 18 out

of 22 teachers (81.8%) taking the surveys, even two of them thought that

Eliciting only aims at preparing the new words for learners before they read a

text. Almost all the techniques were applied to fulfill this goal including

giving examples, linking ideas with background knowledge, giving definitions

and using visual aids (pictures, drawings…)

The two next aims shared the same vote of 10 out of 22 teachers (45.4%)

which were helping students to get the needed ideas/ information from the text

and guiding students to do the exercises after reading the text. These goals

were reached by teachers’ using questions and group discussion. When

students answered the questions, teachers could tell how deep they understand

the discussing issue, what they know and what they do not know. It showed

Page | 41

the teachers how and what to teach to raise the comprehension level of

students. Teachers also gave students some tips or typical steps to do a typical

type of exercise. It was definitely useful for the examination preparation.

Apart from learning under teacher’s guidance, students found it easier for

them to learn from peers. That was the reason why group discussions were

used in teaching. After reading, the information was shared among group’s

members so that it could be viewed in different aspects. It was also a good

way to provide students the chances to practice critical reading.

The least percentage went to the aim of checking the exercises related to

reading text. Asking questions was the main techniques employed to archive

this goal. By successively asking questions, teachers required students to

convey their answers to the exercises and justify them by giving clues from

the text. It was a good way to make learners read more carefully and

understand as well as remember the information more easily.

To sum it up, the five listed aims for exploiting Eliciting techniques of

Reading teachers all focused on making the text more understandable for

students. Consequently, the level of students’ comprehension was encouraged

to be raised up high.

4.2.2. The effectiveness of applying Eliciting in Reading classes perceived

by the teachers and the students

The term “effectiveness” used in this study referred to the results of the

techniques that teachers used to elicit students in Reading lessons, i.e. “Is it

useful to help students improve their understanding” and the reasons lead to

that result. This level of “effectiveness” was judged from the view point of

both sides: the teachers’ and students’.

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4.2.2.1. The effectiveness perceived by the teachers

Being asked “Do you find it useful to use Eliciting in improving Reading

comprehension level of students in your classes?” all the answers were

positively YES. Their assessment could be summarized in the following chart,

using the five-point scale in the questionnaires.

In the teachers’ viewpoint, the Eliciting techniques applied in their Reading

classes are quite effective to students. The majority of them (19 out of 22

teachers) agreed that their students were willing to take part in their activities.

They occupied 83% of the total respondents. Amazingly, there were three

teachers who ensured that their activities were excitedly welcomed by the

students (13%). In contrast, the remaining teacher said that the eliciting

techniques she/ he applied were still rather confusing to learners. The reason

for this was students’ attitude. To be more specific, students were commented

Figure 2.Teachers' assessment of their using Eliciting techniques in

teaching Reading

Willing/ Eager83%

Silent0%

Excited13%

Indifferent(Passive)

0%

Neutral4%

ExcitedWilling/ EagerNeutralIndifferent (Passive)Silent

Page | 43

as being afraid or lazy in talking. Thus, they were not able to answer the

questions of teachers, which made the classroom’s atmosphere become tense.

However, that teacher still thought that she/he has been successful in helping

students with the typical and important tips to do the exercises.

“How the teachers can assess the effectiveness of their exploiting Eliciting

techniques in teaching?” This question was also given to teachers and here

were their answers:

Ways to assessNumber of

respondentsPercentage

Check the exercise 10/22 45.4%

Check students’ answers to

teachers’ questions22/22 100%

Ask directly “Do you

understand?”3/22 13.6%

No checking 0/22 0%

Table 2. Different ways of assessing Eliciting techniques in

Reading classes by teachers

All teachers reached an agreement on the most useful way to assess students’

understanding was to check their answers with different questions related to

the topic and the text. In addition, half of them (45.4%) believed that students’

comprehension could be examined by checking the exercises after the texts.

Learners’ answers and their clues found in the texts was also a good base to

tell teachers the gaps of knowledge and information they need to fill up.

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Differently, three of the teachers chose to directly ask students whether they

understand or not. This may solve the confusion quickly and effectively.

Apart from the suggested options for assessing students’ comprehension,

some of the teachers also exploited different ways like checking students’

understanding by asking them to repeat what has been discussed. This was a

common process of teachers in giving instructions for the exercises. It could

draw students’ attention to the lesson and help them remember the important

information. Another suggested way was checking by students’ products in a

reading task. This could refer to the reflections or students’ answers for the

questions as well as the exercises mentioned above.

In short, in teachers’ perception, the techniques they employed to elicit

students in Reading classes were quite effective.

4.2.2.2. The effectiveness perceived by students

The result for the effectiveness judged by students was found through the data

from the observations combined with the interviews.

Firstly, the result from the observation could be described in the following

table:

(next page)

Page | 45

ClassStudents’ reaction Students’ change in

understanding concepts5 4 3 2 1

Class 1 YES

Class 2 YES

Class 3 YES

Class 4 YES

Class 5 YES

Class 6 YES

Class 7 YES

Class 8 YES

Percentage 50% 87.5% 62.5% 37.5% 0% 100%

In the checklist, the assessments for students was also categorized by the five-

point scale which goes from the most excited response (5) to the silent

response (1). The scale was set as following:

After observing eight Reading classes of eight different teachers, the

researcher could find the most common reaction of the students when the

teachers elicited some information was eager (87.5% in total). They

participated energetically and contributed to the lessons with all their might.

This level of reaction went up and down in some activities at different time in

Table 3. Student’s reaction to Eliciting techniques used by teachers in Reading classes

(5)Excited

(4)WillingEager

(3)Neutral

(2)Indifferent(Passive)

(1)Silent

Page | 46

the lesson. Some funny games and interesting examples were found attractive

to students since they could learn something new while enjoying the fun in

the same time. 50% of the researched students were quite excited when they

were learned in such a friendly and funny atmosphere. However, sometimes

the techniques were not appropriately applied which was the main reasons for

the neutral attitude of students in Reading classes (62.5%). There were even

some classes in which students did not pay much attention to what teachers

were trying to do. The teachers kept asking and talking but the students rarely

replied to them. That was the situation of 37.5% observed classes with mark 2

in the scale. The reasons for which were the topic or the terms explained were

quite unfamiliar, even strange to students, and the way teachers delivered

them to learners was confusing.

Secondly, the same question was asked when researcher had interviews with

students – participants. For the first part of “like”, 100% students asked gave

the positive answer “YES”.

“Teacher does not force us to do too many exercises or to remember too many

things at a time. She also organizes the lessons with many group discussions and

games which gives us freedom and comfort in learning. We feel less bored and

stressed when coming to Reading class.”

“Teacher is creative and funny when leading to the lessons. That way makes us

more interested in the topic we learn.”

(Students’ opinion from interviews)

For the second part of “understand”, students’ replies were divided into two

groups – YES and NO – which went with their own reasons as follows:

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Answer Reason(s)

YES

o “Teacher asks many questions to make us think to find

the answer ourselves. As a result, when we can answer

those questions, we feel excited and we can remember

them for a long time.”

o “Teacher uses interesting games and chooses interesting

ways to explain the topic, which gives us inspiration in the

lesson. […] When guiding us to do the exercises, she gives

us many tips, step by step so we find them easier. She also

provides new words in interesting ways which really

impressed us. It is easy to imagine, easy to remember”

o “We can understand all the points she mentioned.”

(Students’ opinions from the interview)

NO o “Reading classes is boring because we only sit and read

silently most of the time. The topic is hard to understand

and the text is too long to read. However, teacher only let

us read with few instructions and guidance and then check

the answers …”

o “Teacher uses English to explain most of the time and we

find it hard to understand fully what she wants to say.

Sometimes the speed of talking to also too fast for us to

catch up with the ideas…”

(Students’ opinions from the interview)

Additionally, 100% students mentioned that they could gain much more

knowledge about the learning issues from teacher’s elicitation which helped

Table 4. Students’ opinion of Eliciting techniques that teachers usein Reading classes

Page | 48

them understand the reading text more. This resulted in the higher rate of

correct answers to the exercises related to the text.

Nonetheless, sometimes the students were confused when teachers elicited the

information from them as they believed that the way of asking questions or

games or even group work were more suitable for Speaking lessons despite

they still enjoyed them. Besides, many of them used the word “fine” or “ok”

to answer the questions about the techniques teachers used in Reading lessons

since those techniques were expected to create more fun in class.

In short, the majority of students had good comments on the lessons with

teachers’ eliciting techniques. They found the techniques useful to help them

enhance the ability to deeply understand the texts and give them great

motivation.

4.3. RESEARCH QUESTION 3: What are the teachers' perceptions

about applying these techniques in Reading?

4.3.1. Teacher’s attitude towards Eliciting techniques in Reading classes

To explore the role of Elicitation in teaching Reading, the researcher gave the

respondents the questions of how they considered the importance of Eliciting

in Reading, compared with Eliciting in other skills such as Listening, Writing

and Speaking. Their answers could be described by the pie chart below:

(next page)

Page | 49

Figure 3. Teachers' opinion of the importance of usingEliciting in Reading classes

86%

9% 5%

Less

Same

More

It was clearly seen from the pie chart that the Elicitation was of equal

importance compared with the three major English skills to almost all the

teachers (19/22 respondents).

“Each English skill includes numerous sub-skills and techniques and I think all of

them are important. Of course Eliciting is one of them”

(Teacher’s opinion form the interview)

Nevertheless, there existed two contrast ideas on this question. Two of the

teachers asked (9%) believed that Elicitation in Reading was more important

than in other skills since Reading was, for a long time, misjudged as a passive

and boring skill. That was the reason why the task of the teachers was to

activate students in Reading classes, to get them out of the routine of reading

and answering the questions silently. In their opinion, eliciting techniques

were a wonderful tool to bring motivation to students, which was considered a

big key for a successful Reading lesson. On the contrary, one teacher (which

made up 5% in total) claimed that Elicitation in Reading was less important

than other skills as it was only of good use when it was applied in the pre-

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reading stage to lead students in the lesson. The main part which conveyed the

main message was in the while-reading stage.

However, generally speaking, all the teachers agreed that Eliciting was

undoubtedly important to some extent in Reading classes. Consequently,

they always prepared for it before the lesson began.

Ways of preparation Number of respondents Percentage (%)

Note down in Lesson Plan 3 13.6

Plan in mind (specifically) 22 100

Prepare some general ideas 7 31.8

Ignore 0 0

Table 5. Teachers’ preparation for Eliciting in teaching Reading

It was notable that a100% the teachers made careful preparations for eliciting

for their lessons. They read the text to find the words, phrases and ideas which

might get students in trouble and form the explanation for them. They took

the three questions of “What to elicit”, “Where/When to elicit” and “How to

elicit” into consideration.

“I will expect in advance what problems or difficulties students may encounter

when learning Reading or reading a text, then I expect the way and techniques to

elicit to ease those problems”

“I often take short notes of important points in the lesson. For example, to

brainstorm for the word “ART” and the types of art, I will prepare the definition or

the advantages of art, etc. But they are all simple key points, which are not written

in Lesson Plan”

(Teachers’ opinion from the interview)

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Yet, different teachers had different way to prepare for the lesson. The ones

who wanted to perfect their teaching periods might fully note every technique

and important terms they were going to use in Lesson Plan. Others might just

keep some general ideas of whether or not they might use the Elicitation in

teaching Reading with no specific tool. The teachers’ preparation also varied

due to the nature and aims of each Eliciting activity.

4.3.2. Benefits of using Eliciting techniques in Reading classes perceived

by the teachers

Using Elicitation in teaching Reading brought many benefits to both teachers

and students. As mentioned in chapter 2 – Literature Review, the main

advantages of Eliciting include:

- Keeping students concentrate on the lessons

- Checking students’ understanding of the focusing issues

- Activating students’ background knowledge

- Increasing student talking time (STT) / cutting down teacher

talking time (TTT)

- Helping students learn how to guess and work things out for

themselves

These were also the benefit that the teachers involved in this study mentioned

when they did the questionnaires.

The specific answers could be illustrated in the following table:

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AdvantagesNumber of

respondents

It helps students get more background knowledge on studying

theme.22/22

It gives students chances to speak and practice expressing

thoughts in English.20/22

It leads students to the main problems/ issues of the lesson

more easily.22/22

It makes students brainstorm and concentrate more on the

lesson.22/22

It can help teachers check students’ understanding of a certain

issue.22/22

It is a good way to inspire students in learning and involving

in the lesson.22/22

It creates funny and friendly class atmosphere. 17/22

Table 6. Teacher’s opinions on benefits of using Eliciting in teaching Reading

Gladly, all the teachers could see clearly the strong points of exploiting

Eliciting techniques in Reading lessons. From the chart, it was obvious that

they focused on activating student’s background knowledge, brainstorming

and checking the comprehension of students. The motivation and inspiration

were also considerable benefits of Elicitation in Reading. This could create

the funny atmosphere for students which might well encourage them in

learning.

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4.3.3. Teacher’s difficulties in applying Eliciting techniques in Reading

classes and their solutions

In spite of such benefits, teachers still encountered many difficulties which

were listed in the table below:

ProblemsNumber of

respondents (out of 22)

Percentage

(%)

The topic is too difficult for

teachers to elicit and explain to

students

7 31.8

The way of eliciting is not suitable

with students0 0

Teachers do not precisely judge the

background knowledge of students3 13.6

Students cannot understand what

teachers are asking/explaining

(students’ ability)

2 9

Students do not cooperate with

teachers (students’ attitude)2 9

Table 7. Teacher’s difficulties in using Eliciting techniques in teaching Reading

The table showed that the most common difficulty that teachers might have is

related to the topic. In the first-year program, there existed some really

unfamiliar topics which made teachers hard to explain to make students

understand. The solutions to this problem might be the combination of

explaining from the simplest definitions related to the most general one and

explain in Vietnamese if necessary.

Page | 54

“If the topic is too difficult, I will try to explain the topic and its coverage first, and

then check Ss understanding to make sure they have grasped it. If Ss already

understand the topic, usually I will continue asking them to explore their

background knowledge, or require them to work in groups and exchange

information while I go around and help them with the vocabulary related to the

topic. This, as I expect, will facilitate their reading process.”

On the other hand, the teachers could make students get closer to the topic by

providing more background knowledge to students apart from checking them.

“Try to simplify the topic by providing background knowledge to students or assist

them with warm-up activities in which the vocabulary related to the theme is

drilled.”

(Teacher’s opinion from the interview)

The second problematic situation mentioned by the teachers was that they had

not correctly acknowledged the right level of students’ background

information. This case mostly happened in class so its solution depended a lot

on teacher’s flexibility. Teachers could base on the answers of learners and

ask more questions on the unclearly specified points or the impressed and

interesting points. That way might encourage students to talk, to interact and

to brainstorm more on the topic discussed.

Sometimes, the reasons for the problems lay on the students themselves. They

could not understand the questions from the teachers or the explanations

teachers gave, thus they did not speak a word to answer the questions. The

other case was that students were too shy or they did not cooperate with

teachers, so they also kept silent. Both these two situations might worsen the

class atmosphere and demotivate all class members, including the teachers.

Teachers might be confused since they did not know why students keep silent:

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they did not understand or they found the lecture boring. This phenomenon

was said to be resulted from several causes such as:

o Students did not expect for doing anything rather than silently reading

and do the exercises. They did not understand why to learn the

structures in the texts so they do not want to learn those.

o Students might be tired because they stayed up late the previous night

or they had to do some hard work before.

o Students were too shy as they were freshmen in university. They were

passive and afraid to talk in front of the whole class.

Those problems were solved by teachers with many different ways. The

simplest solution was paraphrasing the questions and explanations in more

familiar words to students. To some teachers, it was also a good way to “wake

the lazy students up by asking them a lot of questions. If they still seem not to

cooperate, ignore them but warn them that they will be called more in next

lessons.” “The important thing is making the questions interesting to call for

students’ attention”. When students still could not understand what teachers

wanted to explain, using Vietnamese was the best solutions to all teachers.

4.4. Conclusive remarks

In short, Eliciting techniques were fully exploited in Reading classes to raise

the inspiration together with the comprehension of first-year students in

Reading classes. Those techniques were believed and proved to be effective

and beneficial to both students and teachers despite some inevitable

difficulties in teaching which was overcome by simple but useful solutions.

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CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION

Previous chapters have thoroughly elaborated on the introduction, the

literature, the implementation and the results of the research. Finally, this

concluding chapter will summarize and evaluate the outcomes of the whole

paper by summing up the findings, limitations, contributions of the research

as well as putting forward several suggestions for further studies.

5.1. Major findings of the research

On the whole, this research paper performs as a fairly comprehensive study

on the exploitation of Eliciting techniques in teaching Reading for the first-

year students at ULIS. Through the analysis and discussion of data collected

from classroom observation, interviews and questionnaires, significant

findings concerning the research questions were revealed as follows:

Firstly, the study confirmed that Eliciting techniques have been widely used

by teachers in Reading classes including:

- Asking questions

- Giving examples

- Linking the ideas of the text with SS’ background knowledge / daily life

- Using group discussions

- Using Vietnamese

- Using visual aids

- Giving definitions of words/ terms / concepts in Reading text

- Using games/ quizzes

These techniques were mixed to make the lesson more attractive and more

comprehensible to the students.

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Secondly, the research also revealed that those eliciting techniques applied

were effective in all stages of a Reading classes which are: pre-, while-, and

post-reading. In the first stage, Elicitation was the most common and useful

way to lead students in the lessons. The students were quite interested in the

activities like games, answering the questions on background knowledge of

discussing the definitions of the given terms. Next, in while-reading stage, the

teachers exploited Eliciting techniques like group discussion, asking questions

and linking ideas to involve students in the lesson. The result was that they all

found it easier to understand the text and do the comprehension exercises. The

elicitation was also proved to be of good use in the last stage since it

encouraged students to dig deeper in the main issues discussed in the text and

link them with their own experiences to make them much easier to remember.

Thanks to the techniques of Eliciting, the students were able to fully

understand the Reading texts and do the task better.

Lastly, the study showed that all the teachers had positive attitude toward

using Eliciting techniques in Reading classes since they clearly aware of their

advantages. However, it is inevitable for the teachers to encounter many

problems when applying those techniques in teaching depending on the level

and characteristics of the students. Fortunately, those problems have been

realized and solved by different ways including:

- paraphrasing the questions, trying to make them interesting to students

- explaining from the most general point to the most detailed one

- warming up the atmosphere by games and jokes

- using Vietnamese

Those solutions were warmly welcomed by the students since they made the

lessons funnier and more comprehensible.

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5.2. Pedagogical implications of the research

Conducting this study, the researcher would like to acknowledge that Eliciting

techniques have been effectively exploited by the teachers in the Faculty of

English Language Teacher Education, ULIS. Their efforts, which principally

aimed at enhancing students’ comprehension ability and warm the atmosphere

of their Reading classes, had been initial but significant steps towards better

achievement of teaching Reading comprehension. However, there existed

some obstacles which were disagreed by the interviewed teachers and

students. They are thus open for solutions suggested by the researcher.

Firstly, some teachers were not well aware of the benefits of using Elicitation

in their Reading classes as they considered it the tool only for teaching new

words and structures for the students. As a result, many techniques supposed

to be employed as Eliciting techniques have been ignored by them since they

thought that they are time-consuming and boring if being exploited all the

time. This can demotivate both the teachers and students in teaching and

learning English. Moreover, some of the techniques commented by students

as quite effective are also hardly employed by the teacher, such as using

visual aids, using games or explaining in Vietnamese. The solution in this

case may depend on the flexibility of the teachers. The more various

techniques they use, the more interested their students would be. Changing

the types of questions and games successively is the best way to encourage

students to concentrate on the lessons. Mixing two, three or even more

techniques together is also a wise alternative in teaching. That may heighten

the student’s attention and understanding ability consequently.

Secondly, the effectiveness of the Eliciting techniques employed in Reading

sessions perceived by the students and teachers is different. Almost all the

teachers believed that the techniques they used in class were quite suitable for

Page | 59

students’ needs and level; however, students did not totally agree as they

found those Eliciting techniques more suitable for other skills, Speaking and

Writing for example. The reason for this phenomenon was that the teachers

did not clarify the objectives of the tasks they use for students. Even though

students all enjoyed the activities organised in class, they found them not

quite useful in studying. They did not fully understand the reasons why they

should do those tasks, thus their effort is all put into playing, ignoring the

messages of teachers from those activities. This may form a bad habit for

students which is being lazy in thinking or brainstorming, and the time they

learn in class become useless. This problem can be easily solved by providing

the students the implied aims after each Eliciting tasks that teachers assign.

Especially, to the point of the students who are studying to be a teacher, it can

be a good way to “kill two birds with one stone”: First, the students will not

miss the necessary information that teachers want to convey; Second, they

also learn how to organise and control class, how to make use of the planned

activities in class as they are teachers-to-be.

Finally, Eliciting can also be applied when teachers assign the exercises for

the students. As investigated through the teachers and students interviews, one

of the assignments of the first-year students in the Faculty of English

Language Teacher Education is the Reading Portfolio. In this portfolio,

students are supposed to collect one piece of reading text weekly, the content

of which depends on the topics in Reading syllabus. This is a good

opportunity for the learners to get more background knowledge as well as the

vocabulary and interesting structures. Yet it seems to be rather unfamiliar

with the teachers since they let students search and reflect on the texts of free

choice. Take the chances and get students ready for the lessons by preparing

with their homework and the result of the lessons is surely better.

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5.3. Contributions of the research

Overall, the research could be considerably helpful for teachers as well as

researchers working on the related studies.

As for the teachers, the study explores the ways that Elicitation is used to

involve the students in Reading sessions. Therefore, the paper first and

foremost would help teachers to become more aware of Eliciting as a

meaningful alternative. Secondly, the study provides teachers with some

suggestions and ideas so that they could take their own initiatives to

effectively exploit Elicitation according to their own classroom situations.

Finally, with regard to researchers, those who happen to develop an interest in

this topic or language teaching and learning of EFL could certainly rely on

this research to find reliable and useful information for their related studies in

the future.

5.4. Limitations of the research

Despite considerable efforts of the researcher, certain limitations could be

detected in this study due to time constraint and other unexpected factors.

First and foremost, this study involved relatively few participants (22

teachers and 40 students), which might affect the representativeness of the

sample. The expected teachers are 30 people in the English Division 1 of

ULIS, however, due to some reasons of studying abroad or even not being

interested in the topic, some of them refused to take part in the research. Some

others who have agreed to be the participants of the study but they are not

quite involved in the research topic so that the interviews are not equally

effective.

Page | 61

Secondly, time and scope of the study also did not allow the research sample

to be expanded, as all the Reading classes are scheduled in the first two

periods of Monday and Friday afternoon. As a result, number of observed

classes is limited. Researcher tried to enrich data by reducing the frequency of

observing to once for each classes so that the number of observed classes is

maximized. Yet, it becomes another limitation of this study since the data

collected is not constantly collected.

5.5. Suggestions for further studies

On the foundation of the study’s very limitations, the researcher would

suggest future studies on this matter to focus on expanding the sample size.

For instance, those who wish to learn more about the exploitation of Eliciting

techniques in teaching Reading could varying the sampling of participants.

Specifically, teachers and students from different classrooms at various

schools in Hanoi could be involved for better representativeness. Moreover,

this research only research on first-year students but these techniques are

widely applied in almost all the Reading classes, including the classes in high-

schools. Larger samples, in other words, would help to explore a wider

variety of techniques applied by the teachers to exploit Elicitation in reading

task authenticity in their classrooms.

Moreover, since the paper placed its focus on teachers’ perception of Eliciting

in Reading classes, other researchers may wish to evidence the effectiveness

of these tasks, which is perceived by students. This may require experimental

studies which compare the effects of the lessons with Elicitation and the

lessons without Elicitation on different groups of students and their language

learning. Expectedly, the results of such studies would be extremely helpful in

Page | 62

encouraging teachers to consider a further exploitation of Eliciting in EFL in

Vietnam.

Additionally, as this paper revolves around reading activities, further research

could expand this scope to other language skills, including Listening, Writing

and Speaking. In this way, it might be easier and more accurate to examine

the effects of Eliciting on the language learning curriculum as a whole.

Page | 63

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APPENDICES

Appendix 1. Observation scheme

Appendix 2. Samples of observation scheme

Appendix 3. Questions for interview

Appendix 4. Questionnaire form

OBSERVATION SCHEMEThe Exploitation of Eliciting Techniques to Enhance the Reading Comprehension ability for The First-year Students at ULIS

Date: …………....... (week…..) / Time: …………………./ Class: …………../ Skills: ………………………………………………………….....

ActivitiesTime Teachers’ Aim Students’

reactionStudents’response

Notes

Pre-While- Post-

BackKno

Vocab Ideas

QuesAns

Others 5 4 3 2 1

Befo-re After

Asking questions

Using visual aids

Giving definitions

Linking ideas/ concepts

Discussing in pairs/groups

Using examples

Others (specified)

Note:Students’ Reaction: Excited – Willing/Eager – Neutral – Indifferent (Passive) – Silent (5 1)Students’ Response: Understand: O – Not understand: XBack Kno: Background KnowledgeVocab: Vocabulary explanationQues Ans: Questions – Answers part (exercises)

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

TEACHERS

1. Do you think that you should use Eliciting Techniques in your class? Why

(Why not?)

2. Do you plan to use eliciting techniques when you prepare for the lessons?

(When you write the Lesson Plan for example?)

3. Can you give some comments on Ss's reactions/response to your ways of

eliciting?

+ Good (Ss understand) --> What might be the reasons?

+ Bad (Ss still confuse) --> What might be the problems? (Current situations)

4. Do you have difficulties in using eliciting techniques? What are they? (In

general?)

5. What might be the solutions for those problems?

STUDENTS

1. Do you have any comments on Reading lesson you just had? Do you

understand all the terms or explanation of the teachers?

2. I can see that in the lesson, T used _________ (the techniques used by

teachers), do you like it? (Yes/No, why and how?)

3. Do you think that way of teaching help you understand the lesson better? Why

and how? (Compare the result of the exercises you did before and after listening

to teachers’ elicitation and guide)

4. Do you like that way of teaching? What can you benefit/ gain from it?

QUESTIONNAIRE

The Exploitation of Eliciting Techniques to Enhance the Reading Comprehensionability for The First-year Students at ULIS

Dear teachers, my name is Vu Thu Thuy, from 06.1.E1. I am conducting a research on teachers’use of Eliciting Techniques in Reading classes to enhance first-year students’ readingcomprehension. I would like to ask for your help by answering these following questionsconcerning the English teaching. Your sincere answers will contribute greatly to the result of thisresearch. They will be treated with strictest confidence.

Thank you very much!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please tick on the options which are true to you. You can choose more than one option for eachquestion.

1. How do you consider the importance of Eliciting in Reading, compared with Elicitingin other skills? (Speaking, Writing or Listening)

More important

Less important

Same level

2. Which activities do you use as Eliciting tools in Reading classes?

Asking questions

Using visual aids

Giving definitions

Linking ideas/concepts in the text with students’ background knowledge

Using examples

Letting students work in groups

Others (Please specify)

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

3. How do you often prepare for using Eliciting in your Reading class?

Plan in the Lesson Plan (Note down in paper)

Plan in mind (which techniques to use, where and when to use them)

Think of some general ideas which may need eliciting (no specific tool/ technique)

Ignore it (depending on the situations in class to adjust the way of teaching/explaining)

Other ways (Please specify)

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

4. What are your aim(s) in using Eliciting in teaching Reading?

To explore students’ background knowledge

To build up students’ vocabulary

To help students get the needed ideas of the text

To guide students to do exercises

To check the exercises

Others (Please specify)

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

5. How do you assess the effectiveness of the Eliciting techniques you use in Readingclass?

By checking the exercises

By checking students’ answers to your questions

By asking “Do you understand?”

No checking

Other ways (Please specify)

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

6. How is students’ response while you use Eliciting in teaching Reading? (in general/most of the time)

5……4……3……2……1

Excited – Willing/Eager – Neutral – Indifferent (Passive) – Silent (5 1)

7. If your answer for Q6 is from 1 to 3, what do you think is the reason(s) for thatsituation?

Reasons Solutions

The topic is too difficult for studentsto understand

The way of eliciting is not suitablewith students

Students do not cooperate withteachers (students’ attitude)

Others (Please specify)

8. What are the benefit(s) of using Eliciting in teaching Reading?

It helps students get more background knowledge on studying theme.

It gives students chances to speak and practice expressing thoughts in English.

It leads students to the main problems/ issues of the lesson more easily.

It makes students brainstorm and concentrate more on the lesson.

It can help teachers check students’ understanding of a certain issue.

It is a good way to inspire students in learning and involving in the lesson.

It creates funny and friendly class atmosphere.

Others (Please specify)

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

9. Do you have any difficulties in using Eliciting techniques in teaching Reading? (Ingeneral)

YES

NO

If your answer is YES, what are the difficulties?

The topic is too difficult for teachers to elicit and explain to students

The way of eliciting is not suitable with students

Students cannot understand what teachers are asking/explaining (students’ ability)

Students do not cooperate with teachers (students’ attitude)

Others (Please specify)

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

10. The solutions for those problems would be:

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for your cooperation!

Your name:

Class teaching: