Applying information technology effectively for teaching reading - Unit 5 - English 12

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART A: INTRODUCTION
2
1. Reason for choosing the study
2
2. Objects of the study 
2
3. Scope of the study
3
4. Methodology of the study
3
5. Significance of the study
3
PART B: CONTENTS
4
1. Theoretical background of the reading skill
4
1.1. What is the reading skill?
4
1.2 The importance of reading
5
1.3. Phases in the reading learning process
5
2. Applying IT in teaching reading lesson Unit 5 grade 12
6
3. Result after applying the research. 
19
PART C: CONCLUSIONS
21
PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Reason for choosing the study
For many years, teaching reading has been based on a concept of reading as the application of a set of isolated skills such as identifying words, finding main ideas, deciding true or false information, answering questions, matching Teaching reading comprehention was viewed as a mastery of these skills. Besides many techniques used by teachers to teach reading comprehension, applying Information technology in teaching reading has been contributing considerably to aim of helping students understand the lessons better and better.
	In teaching English, as Steve mentioned in the Teaching Reading Page, comprehension is the only reason for reading. Without comprehension, reading is a frustrating, pointless exercise in word calling. It is no exaggeration to say that how well students develop the ability to comprehend what they read has a profound effect on their entire lives. A major goal of teaching reading comprehension, therefore, is to help students develop the knowledge, skills, and experiences they must have if they are to become competent and enthusiastic readers.
It is a matter of fact that finding the most suitable and closest materials is not easy and many teachers finds it rather difficult to apply Information Technology effectively in this problem. Therefore, instead of using , they choose traditionally designed exercises in the text book to save their time and effort. 
Basing on these facts, I forcefully designed a teaching lesson with the help of Information Technology for reading texts unit 5 English textbook 12, Education Publishing House, with the aim of helping many teachers and students in teaching and learning reading comprehension those mentioned reading texts. That why I choose the theme “Applying Information Technology effectively for teaching reading Unit 5 English 12 ” 
2. Objectives of the study 
The objectives of this research is to simplify the tasks and use strategies in reading lessons in English textbook 12 to have effective lectures and develop student’s reading skills 
3. Scope of the study
This study is conducted among the 12th form students at Thieu Hoa high school during the school year 2016 - 2017.
4. Methodology of the study
Both comparative and contrastive methods are used. For the theoretical basis, a lot of reference materials on reading skills have been collected, analyzed and synthesized carefully with the due consideration for the students’ learning situations.
5. Significance of the study
This study may provide insights into the process of learning the reading skill for the students. It motivates the students’ desire for learning English, and make them more confident and active in listening activities. It also gives some suggestions for other teachers for teaching reading lessons
PART B: CONTENTS
1. Theoretical background of the reading skill
1.1. What is the reading skill? 
According to Wikipedia, reading is a process of retrieving and comprehending some form of stored information or ideas 
	- “Reading is an exercise dominated by the eyes and the brain. The eyes receive the message and the brain then has to work out the significance of these message” (Harmer, 1994) 
	- "Reading is what happens when people look at a text and assign meaning to the written symbol in that text” (Aebersold và Field, 1997)
1.2. The classifications of reading :
* Reading aloud:
	Basing on the definition, reading aloud demands the skills such as comprehension of the words on the pages and produce the ideas and statements properly and timely. In everyday life, reading aloud seems to be unnecessary . According to linguists, reading aloud is closer to the practising pronunciation than reading comprehension. However, in learning language it is benificial to students to some certain extends. The first advantage is that reading aloud enable the students to combine the sounds with the words, which help the teacher to identify the mistakes the students make. The second advantage is that reading aloud can help them to pronounce correctly and fluently when communicating with others. Thirdly, it is reading aloud that is used as a strategy for teacher to manage the class activities because of the fact that when a student reads, the others have to listen and read attentively for fear that the teacher might ask them to continue the activities. 
However, there are some disadvantages of reading aloud. Firstly, when practising this activity, students tend to pay attention to the sounds more than the meanings of the text. Secondly, when student takes turn to read, others may make noise, and it may be time consuming because students often read slowly. 
*Silent reading:
 Silent reading is activity that we carry out in daily life, such as reading books, magazines, tables, and so on. This activity is associated with the comprehension and focusing on the meanings of the text other than its format. It is an effective skill because of the following reasons:
	Firstly, Students do not need to read all the words on the page as the text given is meaningful and their responsibility is to guess the meaning in the context
	Secondly, students can read at their own speed. Silent reading enables students not only to understand the main ideas but also to understand the specific details so that they are able to answer the teacher’s questions. 
* Extensive reading:
	This type of reading relates to reading long text to get entertainment. It helps students to use their knowledge for their own purpose 
* Intensive reading:
	It is the activity that is carefully instructed by the teacher. The aim of teaching communicative language is focusing on the ablility of understanding and applying information so that students can develop four language skills.
When applying this method in teaching English comprehension reading, it can be understood that we change a reading text in the text book into another form in order to help students exploit and understand that lesson better. 
* Skimming:
* Scanning: 
1.3 The importance of reading
Language skills are often integrated with each other in language use. This is true with listening and speaking, so in conversations, two or more people alternate speaking and listening. Reading is a receptive skill where the purpose is to comprehend or understand what someone might be writing. It is an important, active skill of language as it involves various kinds of the listener's knowledge: knowledge of phonology, vocabulary, semantics of the language in use, culture of its people, his life, experience in the topic, his ability to predict and respond, etc. It decides his comprehension, and content .
 In learning English as a foreign language, students cannot develop other skills unless they develop reading skills. It may be very important for them to further study the language and communicate in it. Finally, reading is an important way of acquiring the language or "picking up" vocabulary and structures. 
	. 
The aim of teaching communicative language is focusing on the ablility of understanding and applying information so that students can develop four language skills. Therefore, using Information Technology plays an important role on account of the following reasons:
The information presented with the support of Information Technology is easy to understand, suitable for students at both good and medium levels.
Students can practise four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing.
 Language used in the Information Technology is communicative.
The information is arranged basically so that the timid students can find the help of those who are better at learning.
Students work together to complete exercises, enhancing the friendly and opened atmosphere among the students with different characters and different levels.
Practical background 
	According to a research on techniques of teaching English reading in Secondary school in 1999, many teachers usually use the following methods:
Answering questions.
Deciding true or false statements.
Gap- filling.
Matching.
Synonyms/ antonyms.
Among those methods, answering questions seems to be the most popular. They are used after teachers teach new words and structures. To a certain extent, these methods can fulfil the aim of helping students understand and know thoroughly the contents of the lessons. Nonetheless, how will the class be if these methods are applied in all the lessons? Will the students find it interesting to learn whereas they can find the exact answers for the tasks in many reference books? 
Information Technology bearing many good points can bring to a new change in teaching process. It can make the atmosphere in the classroom more exciting, encourage students to participate in many activities, especially games designed basing on the available tasks in the text book, which creates a successful and effective lesson.
3. Applying Information Technology in teaching comprehension reading
	Instead of using many traditionally designed exercises in reading lesson in the text book such as answering questions, true or false statements, gap -filling or matching teachers can use Information Technology in reading lessons in three stages: pre-reading, while- reading and post- reading.
	Using Information Technology depends on the contents of the lesson and students; teachers should design a suitable Information Technology. I have forcefully designed successfully applied this method in the following ways.
Information Technology is ideal for teaching and presenting concepts in the classroom as they provide a useful focus for students, delivering an overview of the topic without superfluous information. Perfect for introducing a new subject in a way which is accessible and easy to follow, Information Technology is an excellent way to present concepts and ideas. 
 Information Technology is the ideal teaching tool for classroom handouts, as the inherent colour, images and visually appealing layout of Information Technology engages students instantly. It provides subject overviews succinctly, making even the most complex topic easy to understand and interesting. It is especially useful for visual learners, such as dyslexic students, who can feel frustrated and demotivated when being given information in linear, monochromatic format. 
It is recently assessed that classroom interaction and listening to students was key for generating independent thought, a quality looked for by examiners and future employers. Information Technology is the perfect collaborative tool for class discussions, as the nature of the Information Technology encourages students to forge links between topics as well as forming their own ideas and opinions. With Information Technology , this teaching process is made smoother. 
It is important to assess knowledge at the beginning of a topic and after to monitor your students understanding. Information Technology is a key tool for this concept, of preview and review/pre and post learning. Information Technology encourage students to express ideas, from special needs and highly gifted students, and provides an accurate barometer of topic adoption.
4. Applying Information Technology for reading comprehension Unit 5 , English text book 12 , Education Publishing House.
4.1 Pre-reading 
 This stage is aimed at preparing students with everything necessary for reading and understanding the text. 
Warming up the class: This step is to motivate the class, gradually setting up a context for the reading text to be presented by asking questions to elicit students' experience, or ideas concerning the coming text or by using some sort of visual aids or their imagination. 
"Look at the table and complete the missing words" 
The result is that the students recalled their old lesson and quickly complet the table, they felt relaxed and excited to do the tasks. 
After that teacher gave the following question: "Where can you continue your education after leaving high school?"
Teacher asked the students to work in pairs , then gave words : universities, institutes, colleges 
	Teacher led to the lesson: 
UNIT 5 : HIGHER EDUCATION
LESON 1: READING (Period 29)
Introducing the topic of the reading text. The teacher briefly introduces the topic of the reading text so that the students may get their mind ready for it. 
 Presenting key words. The teacher only presents any word that is necessary for students to understand the text. 
Giving guiding questions: These guiding questions will help focus the students' attention on the main points of the text. They will guide the students to the better understanding of the text. Students should be allowed to make guesses at the answer to the questions before reading. 
Students worked in pair, matched and answered the question :
	“How will you feel when you first start your university life?”
Students: “I will feel ”
 homesick, lucky, proud, happy, lonely 
2. New words and phrases (7 minutes)
4.2 While-reading . 
The aim of this stage is to facilitate students' reading and check their comprehension. While the students are reading the text for the first time, they can check their guess at and give the correct answer to the guiding questions. The teacher then gives the students some tasks to do while they are listening for the second time. They can do some of the activities such as: gap-filling, true or false statements, answering comprehension questions, matching, multiple choice, reordering, etc. The students may need to read the text more than once so that they can finish their while-listening activities. After checking the students' answers, the teacher should emphasize the key points of the text and explain the difficulties in vocabulary or structures that the students encounter while listening. Be sure while listening, students are not allowed to look at the tape script of the listening text. 
2. Task 2 (10 minutes)
- Teacher guided the students to do the task
- Asked them to work in pair.
- Showed the table on the screen to have them pay more attention to the task.
	By using effectiveness with the help of Information Technology, my students could find the important words (key words) easily so that they could do the task 1 more effectively. 
	Teacher called out students to answer , asked them to explain their choices, identifying the position of the sentences in the text	
 	Teacher gave the result of the task 2, students compared and corrected their answers. 
Task 3 (10 minutes): 
Teacher showed the questions on the screen asked the students to read the text again and answer.
 Asked them to explain their choices, identifying the position of the sentences in the text	
 	Teacher gave the result of the task 2, students compared and corrected their answers Gv yêu cầu HS làm theo cặp, gọi HS viết câu trả lời lên bảng và HS so sánh.
4.3 After reading 
 At this stage, students can have opportunities to practise using what they have 
	got from the reading text. Students can do such activities as: 	' 
Summarizing the text orally or in written form. 
Re-telling the content of the reading text. 
Role play: Students play the roles of the characters in the text. 
 Discussion: Students can discuss the points in the reading text or giving their comments about the information in the text. 
The teacher should make up and vary the activities for students to do at this stage depending on their level of English. 
III. After you read
 These are the feelings that Sarah, Ellen and Brenden have in their first year at university. Choose the right word to fill in each blank.
amazed, daunted, excited, lonely, scared ,free 
She is Ellen. She feels ...???
She is Sarah. She feels ...???
He is Brenden. He feels ...???
Homework:
 Homework
 Learnt by heart new words
Prepare new lesson
5. Results of applying Information Technology in teaching reading comprehension
In order to assess the effectiveness of applying this method to teaching reading, I have compared my work with many classes (12C, 12M, 12E ). Before using this method, most of my students could traditionally complete all the taks in the text book, with the help of their teacher. However, they easily forgot the vocabularies, the topic as well as the contents of the reading passage. 
Table 1: Before applying the study
Class
Students
Excellent
Good
Average
Weak
12C
 47
10.6%
31.8%
47%
10.6%
12M
 42
2.4%
28.4%
50%
19.2%
12E
45
4.4%
24.2%
42.8%
28.6%
Table 2: After applying the study
Class
Students
Excellent
Good 
Average
Weak
12C
 47
10.6%
34%
49%
6.4%
12M
 42
7.1%
40.5%
42.9%
9.5%
12E
45
11.1%
28.9%
51.1%
8.9%
	It is a matter of fact that after applying Information Technology in teaching reading comprehension, my students and I felt it very interesting to learn and to teach vocabularies basing on the pictures, they seemed to be very eager for reading lessons. During reading lessons, all the students were involved in the Information Technology, they worked excitingly to find out the missing information and the branch information, being ignorant of their reference books. After reading lesson, students comprehended the reading text more thoroughly. Besides, they had many chances to practice many other skills like writing and listening, especially speaking in pairs, in groups or in individually in front of the whole class.
PART C: CONCLUSION
Conclusion
Obviously, teaching method is a product connecting theory and practice in order to help students get knowledge, practice their skills and solve the problems. Changing teaching method is changing the role of the teacher from the provider into a consultant; students will fulfil the demand of knowledge themselves. It is clearly that in my class, with Information Technology, the atmosphere of learing is getting more and more exciting, students are voluntary participants in teaching process, I myself find it is relaxing to be a guide instead of being a translator, for all the activities in the classroom.
	In order to apply this method effectively, the teacher should spend time designing a suitable and closed Information Technology for each lesson. Besides, teachers can encourage students to creat a Information Technology for themselves to stimulate their mind. 
2. Suggestion
	Practical teaching English text book 10, 11, 12 Education Publishing House, I suggest that there should be more multiple choice questions in eaxminations in order to assess the real ability of students and to avoid students’ laziness.	 
	This is my little experience in finding methods to help students find reading comprehension more interesting and comprehend the reading text thoroughly and actively. I hope to receive your reading and comments .
 Thank You!
 Thanh Hóa, ngày 15 tháng 05 năm 2017
Xác nhận của Thủ trưởng đơn vị Tôi xin cam đoan đây là SKKN của 
 mình viết, không sao chép nội dung 
 của người khác.
	 Người viết
 Bùi Thị Kim Phượng
REFERENCES
1.Ron and Carol Forseth, (1960), Methodology Handbook for English Teacher in Vietnam, English Language Institue America.
2.Penny Ur, (1999), A course in English Teaching: Practice and Theory, Cambridge University Presss.
3.Penny Ur, Andrew Wright, (1990) , Five minutes activities: A resourse book of short activities, Cambridge University Press.
4.Antonia C., Problems of Learning English as a Second Language, Singapore