How to improve reading comprehension skills for the 11 Grade-students at U Minh Thuong High School by using while-reading activities: Master of TESOL

Abstract

After that, a five-week action research project was carried out. The subjects were 80 U Minh Thuong high school students from two classes (11A1 and 11A2). Data were gathered through the use of questionnaires (one for teachers and one for students) and class observations. The preliminary data revealed that students' poor reading comprehension could be attributed to the inappropriate methods and techniques used by English teachers at U Minh Thuong high school. Based on preliminary findings, it was hypothesized that “How to improve Reading Comprehension skills for the 11 grade Students at U Minh Thuong high school by using while–reading activities”. The researcher implemented an action plan in which the students were explicitly trained in some while-reading activities. The project evaluation revealed that all of the students have positive attitudes toward using while-reading activities in teaching reading lessons and that their reading comprehension skill could be improved using these tools; a large majority of the participants reported progress in their reading comprehension skill in the post improvement questionnaire survey. While-reading activities were beneficial in assisting students in completing their reading tasks more effectively. Furthermore, they felt more confident in their reading abilities.