1

hu VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

O TH THNG

DESIGNING A SUPPLEMENTARY READING SYLLABUS FOR GRADE 10 ENGLISH GIFTED STUDENTS AT TUYEN QUANG SPECIALISED UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL
THIT K CHNG TRNH C HIU B TR CHO HC SINH LP 10 CHUYN ANH TRNG THPT CHUYN TUYN QUANG

MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: CODE:

METHODOLOGY

601410

HANOI 2010

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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

O TH THNG

DESIGNING A SUPPLEMENTARY READING SYLLABUS FOR GRADE 10 ENGLISH GIFTED STUDENTS AT TUYEN QUANG SPECIALISED UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL

THIT K CHNG TRNH C HIU B TR CHO HC SINH LP 10 CHUYN ANH TRNG THPT CHUYN TUYN QUANG

MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: METHODOLOGY CODE: 601410 SUPERVISOR: Dr. HONG TH XUN HOA

HANOI - 2010

3 Declaration
This paper is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. I confirm this is my own research and that has not been published or submitted for any other degrees.

Researcher's signature

o Th Thng

Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge my debt to my supervisor, Dr. Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa, who has been generous with her feedback, time and patience. It is her considerate

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guidance that motivates me to fulfill my thesis. I would be grateful to the teachers who taught me different courses at Vietnam National University, Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies as their invaluable lectures led me to the ideas of doing the research of the subject matter. I also express our thanks to my colleagues and students who helped me to complete the survey questionnaires and spent a great deal of time with me, discussing some of issues related to my research, offering insights and perspectives. Last but not the least, I want to thank my family for their understanding and untiring love. My husband, my son and my precious daughter have been my cheerleaders through the quite long and sometimes difficult academic path I have followed.

Many other people contributed valuable help and support. It is impossible to cite them all. Though their names do not appear in this acknowledgement, they shall always be cherished and remembered in my heart.

Abstract

The major aim of the study involves designing a supplementary reading syllabus for grade 10 English students at Tuyen Quang Specialized Upper Secondary School with the hope of helping to develop students' reading skills, communicate clearly and effectively in daily situations as well as perform successfully in the national examination for excellent

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students. The participants under investigation are composed of grade 10 English gifted students and English teachers who have been teaching English classes. The results of data analysis from the survey questionnaires, documents and from the requirements of the MOET for the gifted and of the tests for the national examination for excellent students are the factual basis for a proposed supplementary reading syllabus. Hopefully, this proposed syllabus will meet the students' needs and point out the contents that the teachers have to teach in order to fulfill the requirements of the MOET for the gifted and of the tests for the excellent students with the aim of enhancing the students' results of the exams. However, this study is only conducted with the limited needs analysis and the assessment of the students English proficiency level and their difficulties in terms of reading skills is subjective because no tests are taken. In addition, the differences between the teachers' and the students' perceptions in the necessity of a few topics and that of grammatical items cannot be clearly explained. Therefore, it is hoped that further study would be conducted with a larger needs analysis to achieve a reliable result. The estimate of the students level of proficiency and their difficulties is more objective when tests on them are taken. It would be better to clarify the teachers' and the students' different perceptions in the necessity of a few topics and that of grammatical items.

List of abbreviations

TQSS MOET

Tuyen Quang Specialised Upper Secondary School Ministry of Education and Training

List of Tables
Table 1: Teachers perception of students difficulties in terms of reading exercises Table 2: Teachers perception of the necessity and interest in reading topics Table 3: Teachers perception of the necessity and interest in reading topics Table 4: Students perceptions of difficulties in terms of reading exercises Table 5: Students perceptions of the necessity and interest in reading topics

23 25 26 28
31

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Table 6: Students perception of grammatical items needed in a new syllabus Table 7: Teachers and the students perceptions of the students difficulties in reading exercises. Table 8: Teachers and students perceptions of students difficulties in reading comprehension Table 9: Teachers and the Students perceptions of the necessity and the interest in reading topics Table 10: Teachers and the students perceptions of the necessity of grammatical items Table 11: The proposed supplementary reading syllabus for grade 10 English gifted students (see Appendix 1)

32 33 34 36 37

List of Figures
Figure 1: Teachers perception of students difficulties in terms of reading comprehension Figure 2: Teachers attitudes towards a supplementary reading syllabus Figure 3: Students difficulties in terms of reading comprehension Figure 4: Students attitudes towards a supplementary reading syllabus Figure 5: Teachers and Students perceptions of necessity of a Supplementary Reading Syllabus

24 24 29 30 35

table of contents

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Declaration Acknowledgements Abstract List of Abbreviation Lists of the tables

i ii iii iv v

Part I: Introduction
1. Rationale 2. Aim of the study 3. Research questions 4. Scope of the study 5. Method of the study 6. Design of the study 1 2 2 3 3 3

Part II:

Development
4 4 4 4 5 6 6 6 7 8 8

Chapter 1: Literature review 1.1. Theoretical background to Syllabus design 1.1.1. Syllabus and curriculum 1.1.2. Definitions of syllabus 1.1.3. Steps in designing a language syllabus 1.1.3.1. Needs analysis 1.1.3.1.1. Definitions of Needs 1.1.3.1.2. The importance of needs analysis 1.1.3.2. Goals and objectives of the syllabus 1.1.3.3. Selection of content 1.1.3.4. The organization of syllabus 1.2. Theoretical background to Reading comprehension 1.2.1. Definitions of reading and reading comprehension 1.2.2. Models of reading process 1.2.3. Reading skills and strategies 1.3. Summary

9 11 12 13

Chapter 2: Needs analysis of grade 10 English gifted students at Tuyen Quang Specialized Upper Secondary School
2.1. The context of the study 14

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2.1.1. The school 2.1.2. The teaching staff 2.1.3. The students 2.1.4. Time allocation for English classes at TQSS 2.2. The study 2.2.1. The subjects 2.2.2. The instrument for data collection 2.2.3. Data collection procedures 2.2.4. Data analysis and major findings 2.2.4.1. Data from documents and the material 2.2.4.1.1. The requirements of the MOET on curriculum for gifted students 2.2.4.1.2. The requirements on tests for excellent students 2.2.4.1.3. The teaching materials 2.2.4.2. Data from survey questionnaires 2.2.4.2.1. Needs perceived by the teachers 2.2.4.2.2. Needs perceived by the students 2.2.4.2.3. Comparisons between the teachers and the students perceptions of needs 2.2.4.3. Major findings 14 15 16 16 17 17 17 18 19 19 19 20 21 22 22 27 33 38

Chapter 3: A proposed a Supplementary Reading Syllabus for grade 39 10 English gifted students at TQSS
3.1. Aims and Objectives of a reading syllabus for the English gifted students at TQSS 39 3.2 Content specification 3.2.1. Topics in the syllabus 3.2.2. Reading skills 3.3.3. Grammatical items 3.3. Time schedule 3.4. Syllabus organization 3.5. The Proposed Syllabus for grade 10 English gifted students at Tuyen Quang Specialized Upper Secondary School 3.6. Summary 42 43 45 47 39 40 40 41 41 41 42

Part III: Conclusion References Appendix

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Part I: Introduction
1. Rationale

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In the era of integration and globalization of the world economy, one cannot deny the role of English as a bridge to link closely the nations all over the world. English is the language that has spread throughout the world most extensively and is dominating in a number of important fields international commerce, communication, tourism and science and technology. English is both a means of and the latest achievement of science and technology. That is the reason why at present, learning English is not only the interest but also the great and practical demand for many people, especially for students who are anxious to explore the modern world. Therefore, English has become a compulsory subject to all the secondary school students in Vietnam. In Vietnam, however, English is taught and learned in a non-native environment, so reading may be considered as the best way to help students to understand and use the upto-date information in their fields of study. Carrel (1984: 1) points out: for many students, reading is by far the most important of the four macro skills, particularly in English as a second or a foreign language (cited in Sao 2008). Indeed, reading is of paramount importance in making extensive use of academic materials written in English. Reading these materials on different subjects is one of the best ways to help students improve their English. Therefore, developing reading skills is very essential for all the students, especially for the gifted students. Training and nurturing the gifted require a special education that differentiates from the regular students. This differentiated education is composed of a lot of factors, among which curriculum and syllabus are the most crucial. On discussing about the materials, ONeill (1982: 81) states: each group is so unique that its needs cannot be met by the materials which are designed for another group. The Ministry of Education and Training also suggests that the curricula used for the aptitude students are not similar to those for the regular students but more advanced, flexible and open. Therefore, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has been implementing the renovation to textbooks on English on a large scale. The two new textbooks for upper secondary school level are officially called Ting Anh (i.e. standard English textbooks) used for students pursuing Ban c bn (i.e. the non-specialization program) and Ban t nhin (i.e. specialization in sciences), and Ting Anh 10 nng cao (i.e. the advanced English textbooks 10) used for Ban x hi (i.e. specialization in humanities) in general and for the aptitudes in particular. Since 2006- 2007 academic year, the advanced English textbook 10 has been used to teach gifted students in nationwide schools. However, according to the MOET, this textbook has not properly satisfied the talents demand as well as met the

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requirement of the national exam for the excellent. Hence, on November 6th, MOET issued -a regulation No12856/BGDT- GDTrH - A guideline in the contents for specializing subjects taught for grade 10 at specialized upper secondary schools (2006). According to this regulation, gifted students are provided with 70 extra periods (including reading, listening, speaking, writing and language focus) except for 140 compulsory periods in order to enhance their level of English proficiency. This 70-period syllabus has not been designed by MOET but it has been done by teachers themselves in each school who teach the talents. In addition, MOET suggests that the specific time allotment for each expanded and advanced part depends on students proficiency level as well as the real condition of each school. (A guideline in the contents for specializing subjects taught for grade 10 at specialized upper secondary schools, 2006: 6). The flexibility and openness offer teachers at specialized school in general and at Tuyen Quang Specialized Upper Secondary School (TQSS) in particular more chances to select relevant materials to their class situation. Because, however, the English supplementary materials specifically developed for the gifted are inadequate, this flexibility also brings a lot of challenges to teachers of English when making an attempt to find, select and adapt materials suitable for their students needs. In order to help language teachers surmount the aforementioned difficulty and provide students with a relevant supplementary reading syllabus, I have carried out a study on designing a supplementary reading syllabus for grade 10 English gifted students at Tuyen Quang Specialized Upper Secondary School. 2. Aims and objectives of the study. The general aim of this study is to design a supplementary reading syllabus for grade 10 English gifted students at Tuyen Quang Specialized Upper Secondary School. Specifically, the main objectives of this study are: + To find out the students needs in terms of reading skills + To identify the objectives and contents of a supplementary reading syllabus. 3. Research questions of the study As a basis of the study, the following research questions are to be answered: 1. What are the students needs in terms of reading skills? 2. What are the objectives and contents of the supplementary reading syllabus? 4. Scope of the study In this thesis, the author only centers on designing the supplementary reading syllabus for grade 10 English gifted students at Tuyen Quang Specialized Upper Secondary School.

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5. Method of the study. In order to achieve the aims mentioned above, a survey questionnaire is used as one of the tools to collect information about the students' difficulties in terms of reading skills and their needs and interest regarding topics and language items. Also, document analysis is aimed at finding out the requirements of the MOET for the gifted students and for the excellent students' tests. At last, informal interviews with the teachers and the students are also touched on in order to clarify information collected from survey. In this study, therefore, both quantitative and qualitative methods are employed. 6. Design of the study The study is divided into three parts: Part I is the introduction including the rationale, the aim, the scope, the method and design of the study. Part II is the development that consists of 3 chapters: - Chapter 1 is about literature review of Syllabus design and of Reading theories. - Chapter 2 gives descriptions of context, instruments, data collection and analysis of the results. - Chapter 3 proposes a supplementary reading syllabus for grade 10 English gifted students at Tuyen Quang Specialized Upper Secondary School . Part III is composed of concluding ideas and limitation of the study.

Part II: Development

Chapter 1: Literature review 1.1 Theoretical background to syllabus design 1.1.1. Syllabus and curriculum

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The concept of a syllabus is hardly new in education but giving an exact definition what a syllabus is in current literature is an uneasy task. Nunan (1988: 5) states that There are some confusing views on just what it is that distinguishes syllabus design from curriculum development. Therefore, showing a difference between syllabus and curriculum is badly in need. According to Allen (1984: 61), curriculum is a general concept. It involves consideration of the whole complex of philosophical, social and administrative factors which contribute to the planning of an educational program. Syllabus then refers to that subpart of curriculum which is concerned with a specification of what units will be taught. Curriculum as defined by Candlin (1984: 31) includes language learning, learning process, and experience, evaluation, and the role relationships of the teachers and learners. Syllabus, on the other hand, is based on accounts and records of what actually happens at the classroom level as the teachers and learners apply a given curriculum. In short, curriculum is a broader notion concerned with the planning, implementation, evaluation, management, and administration of education programmes whilst syllabus centers narrowly on the selection and grading of content. Therefore, syllabus design has traditionally been seen as a subsidiary component of curriculum design. 1.1.2. Syllabus definitions Many different writers have given out dissimilar definitions of syllabuses which are reflected in broad and narrow views on syllabus design. The broad view argues that with the advent of communicative language teaching the distinction between content and tasks is difficult to sustain. Yalden (1984: 14) states: The syllabus replaces the concept of method and the syllabus is now seen as an instrument by which the teacher, with the syllabus designers help, can achieve a degree of fit between the needs and aims of the learner (as social being and as individual) and the activities which will take place in the classroom To advocate this opinion, Been (1984, cited in Nunan, 1988: 8) points out: Any syllabus

will express, however indirectly, certain assumptions about language, about the psychological process of learning, and about the pedagogic and social process within a classroom Contrary to those adopting a broader view, authors advocating the narrow view draw a clear distinction between the syllabus design and the methodology. For them, syllabus design is concerned with the selection and grading content, while methodology is

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concerned with the selection of learning tasks and activities. Allen (1984: 49) states that a syllabus ......is concerned with a specification of what units will be taught (as distinct from how they will be taught, which is matter of methodology). Sharing with Allens point of view, Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 80) also indicate that A syllabus is a document which says what will (or at least should) be learnt. Clearly, all these authors reveal syllabus in terms of the selection and grading content. In a word, some linguists consider syllabus design and methodology as separate options, others think otherwise. Therefore, it is essential for the designer to decide on which view to follow when designing a syllabus. As a point of departure to design a supplementary for the gifted, the term "syllabus" only centers on the content of learning and its organization, which means being narrowly defined. 1.1.3. Steps in designing a language syllabus Different stages of designing a syllabus are proposed by different linguists. According to Nunan (1988: 75-96), all the language programs should take their form of departure from the goals and objectives that have been derived from an analysis of learners needs. For him, designing a syllabus is composed of such the steps as (i) needs analysis, (ii) setting goals, (iii) selecting and grading content and (iv) selecting and grading learning tasks. Taba (1962, cited in Brumfit, 1984: 268), however, points out seven steps in designing a syllabus as follows: (i) needs analysis, (ii) formulation of objectives, (iii) selection of content, (iv) organization of content, (v) selection of learning activities, (vi) organization of learning activities and (vii) decisions about what needs evaluating and how to evaluate. However, on discussing some issues related to communicative approach, Munby (in Read, 1984: 58) suggests that designing a syllabus involves a logical sequence of three stages: (i) need analysis, (ii) content specification, (iii) syllabus organization. A syllabus design for an upper secondary school means designing a generalpurpose syllabus, but learner needs is also considered as the starting point of the syllabus because, according to Hutchinson and Waters (1897: 53), any course should be based on an analysis of learner needs. Moreover, Richards (1984: 7) points out that students learning English for general purposes for whom mastery of the language for its own sake or in order to pass the general examination is the primary goal. Therefore, designing a syllabus for gifted students who also learn general purpose English consists of a following logical sequence four steps: (i) Needs analysis (ii) Formation of objectives (iii) Selection of content (iv) Syllabus organization 1.1.3.1. Needs analysis

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1.1.3.1.1. Definitions of needs The very concept of language needs has never been clearly defined and remains at best ambiguous. Numerous researchers have debated definitions of needs. Berwick (1989: 52) suggests a basic definition of need: a need is a gap or measurable discrepancy between a current state of affairs and a desired future state. According to Brindley (1984: 28), the term needs sometimes refers to wants, desires, demands, expectations, motivations, lacks, constraints and requirement, while needs is defined as what the user- institution or the society at large regards as necessary or desirable to be learnt from program of language institution (Mountford, 1981: 27). Sharing with the two aforementioned points of views, Nunan (1988: 14) reveals that needs analysis is not only mentioned why the learners want to learn the target language, but also things as societal expectations, and constraints and the resources available for implementing the syllabus. The notion of needs here not only refers to the needs of the learners but also takes into account the user-institution or the society. It is important for the researcher to take the needs of the management into account as to what the learner needs the language for, so that the syllabus that is designed will include both the needs of the learner and the needs of the establishment. 1.1.3.1.2. The importance of needs analysis Needs analysis (also known as needs assessment) has a vital role in the process of designing and carrying out any language course. According to Nunan (1988: 43), needs analysis is considered as the initial process for specification of behavioral objectives. It is from these objectives that detailed aspects of the syllabus such as functions, topics and so on are derived. Richards (1984: 5) indicates the importance of needs analysis as follows: Needs analysis serves three main purposes: it provides a means of obtaining wider input into the content, design and implementation of a language program; it can be used in developing goals, objectives and content; and it can provide data for reviewing and evaluating an existing program. Furthermore, in order to satisfy various needs of particular learners, it is of great importance to designers to analyze their learners needs to design appropriate course for them, motivate them and help them learn English more quickly and more effectively. When discussing the significant role of the analysis of the learners needs, Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 53) argue that If learners, sponsors and teachers know why the learners need English, that awareness will have an influence on what will be acceptable

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as reasonable content in the language course, and on the positive side; what potential can be exploited. With the share of Hutchinsons and Waters' view, Tudor (1996: 70) suggests that course content should be based on an analysis of the situations in which the learner will be required to use the language. Thus, needs analysis has an importance in all kind of language learning and teaching situations whether for specific purpose or general purposes and makes a learning programme more relevant to the real life needs of the learners. 1.1.3.2. Goals and Objectives of the syllabus The identification of learning goals and objectives is of great importance in the development of a language program. These will provide a rationale for the course or program. Vale et al (1996: 32) draw an important distinction between goals and objectives. In their opinions, goals are general statements from the teachers perspective and provide direction to the teaching and learning, while objectives spell out what learners will actually be able to do. Sharing with Vale et als ideas, Nunan (1988: 61) suggests that goal statements are relatively imprecise. While they act as a signpost, they need to be fleshed out in order to provide information for course and programme planners. This can be achieved through the specification of objectives. In other words, goals are generally stated whereas objectives express the specific ways in which the goals will be achieved. In conclusion, clear-cut understanding of goals and objectives will help teachers to make sure what materials should be taught, and when and how it should be taught. 1.1.3.3. Selection of content After having specified the language needs of the learner, forming the goals and objectives, the next step would be to decide on the content of the syllabus, i.e. specifying the content that needs to be taught and then organizing it into a teaching syllabus of appropriate learning units. According to Shaw (1975), the selection of content is mainly concerned with two questions: how much can we teach or how much can be learned by learners in questions and which items should be included. In his opinion, criteria for selection are based on the relative usefulness or relative difficulties of content matter. He argues that students point of entry level and duration of the course provide a good indicator of how much should be included and how difficult the content matter should be. Purposes and types would determine the usefulness of the content. Based on these criteria, Shaw proposes the following general procedure for selection of content: - determine previous knowledge of learners

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- decide the amount of content in general terms - list items in rough order of specific frequency - group for relative difficulty - check that both functional and notional categories are present - check coverage of grammatical items In this section, therefore, we are provided with some means by which we can go about selecting content matter for a language syllabus. 1.1.3.4. Syllabus organization Having once determined on what to teach, the next stage is to decide on an appropriate strategy of presentation. Gibbons (in Read 1984: 137) points out that "the objective of organizing a syllabus is not to produce an adequate description of the language, but to promote learning". Thus the content should be organized in such a way in order to facilitate teaching and learning. The unit organization should also be suitable for the particular purpose of learning. According to Allen (1984), there are three approaches which can be utilized to sequence and organize content: the traditional structural-analytic approach in which the highest priority is given to formal grammatical criteria; the functional-analytical approach which defines objectives in terms of categories of communicative language use and a nonanalytic, experiential, or natural growth approach, which aims to immerse learners in real-life communication without any artificial preselection or arrangement of items. Wilkins (1976) feels that staging and sequencing should be carried out according to the criteria of simplicity, regularity, frequency, and contrastive difficulty. With the share of Wilkinss idea, Yalden (1983) suggests that more simple language should be taught before the more complex so as to facilitate learning. Moreover, it should be noted that the syllabus sequenced on particular views of learning may not only have to start with subject matter which is more familiar to the learner before moving on to something which is unfamiliar, but it may also represent a particular view of conditions offered by the specific classroom situation. In other words, if language is viewed as learned, then the logic of grammar rules imposes a sequence. If language is viewed as acquired, then the linguistic content is not restricted. If a syllabus is based on language use, a needs analysis would be required. In this study, the selection of the topic-based or theme-based syllabus as the primary principle organizing for the reading course, the syllabus will be organized in an integrated manner including components: topics, skills, grammar and vocabulary.

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1.2. Theoretical background to reading comprehension 1.2.1. Definitions of Reading and Reading comprehension Along with the macro-skills, reading is also considered as the major centre of teaching and learning a second or foreign language. This skill has received a great deal of attention as well as investigation from a lot of researchers. Just like any other words our huge vocabulary, reading may have a number of meanings depending on the different contexts. We, therefore, should never expect one single definition of this term. This is true considering the fact that in the history of pedagogy, different pedagogists have made an attempt to define reading and reading comprehension in different ways. + Reading Rumelhart (1997) indicates that reading involves the reader, the text, and the interaction between reader and text (cited in Aebersold & Field, 1998: 5). As can be seen, the reader and the text are two essential components of the reading process; it is, however, the interaction between them that constitutes actual reading where meaning can be extracted from the text. Sharing with Rumelharts idea, Silberstein (1994: xii) states that reading is a complex cognitive process in which reader and text interact to (re)create meaningful discourse. From these definitions, it is apparent that reading is a process in which the reader interacts with the text to achieve some kind of meaning. This meaning does not already lie in the text, waiting to be discovered but it largely depends on the reader. Widdowson (1979) states that meaning does not reside in text, but rather text has potential for meaning. (cited in Alderson & Urquahart, 1986: xxv). In other words, it is the reader that assigns meanings to the text basing on his personal knowledge and experience, etc. This can help to explain why different readers may come up to different conclusions about the same text. + Reading comprehension Grellet (1981: 3) states: reading comprehension or understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as effectively as possible. In this sense, reading comprehension simply means reading and understanding. It should be noted that reading comprehension is composed of two equally important components. Decoding- the ability to translate text into speech- is only part of the process reading comprehension. The other part is language comprehension- the ability to understand spoken language. The readers, as they read, receive information from the writer via words, sentences and paragraphs and so on, and make an attempt to understand his/her feelings. According to

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Harris and Hodges (1995: 39), reading comprehension is the construction of the meaning of a written communication through a reciprocal, holistic interchange of ideas between the interpreter and the message (cited in Brassell and Rasinski, 1997: 16). In this case, reading comprehension requires an action on the part of the reader. That action involves the use of the existing knowledge that the reader has on the topic of the text as well as the text itself in order to create meaning. From these ideas above, it can be concluded that there is no consensus of what reading comprehension is as each writer comprehends and gives its different definitions through his own point of view. However, they share some certain characteristics. Reading comprehension not only includes linguistic recognition and cognitive understanding but also tends to be affected the readers appreciation. When reading, readers need to understand, analyze, and response to what is written in order to comprehend the content of the text and apply it in their own life as effectively as possible. 1.2.2. Models of reading process As can be seen, there have been a great number of discussions and arguments among methodologists about the reading process. According to Nuttall (2005), this process is shown such some ways as bottom-up approach, top-down approach and the interaction of top-down and bottom-up processing. + In the bottom-up reading process, Nuttall (2005: 17) points out that the reader constructs meaning from a written text such as recognizing letters and words, working out sentence structure. This model pays special attention to grammatical skills and vocabulary development. Alderson (2000: 16), sharing with Nuttalls idea, states that the reader experiences an automatic process in which he begins with the printed words, recognizes graphic stimuli, decodes them to sounds, recognizes words and decodes meanings. Comprehension at this process results in a relatively shallow understanding of what the text stated directly. As a result, this process underestimated the contribution of the reader. + Top-down processing emphasizes the importance of the readers background knowledge, or the schemata. This theory argues that when reading a text, a reader has his own knowledge, expectations, and questions, which he matches with the text. Silberstein (1994: 7) presents that readers use prior knowledge to make predictions about the data they will find in a text. According to Nuttall (2005: 16), this process helps readers see the overall purpose of the text as well as enables them to predict the writers purpose. Goodman (1982, cited in Alderson, 2000: 17) calls reading a psycholinguistic guessing game in which the reader has an active role. This approach, therefore, emphasizes the

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importance of building and activating the readers background knowledge in enhancin g his reading skill. However, reading process is not full understanding without the combination of these approaches. Only with a combination of those two approaches can the process of reading be adequately characterized. This combination is referred to as the interactive processing whose advocates argue that top-down and bottom-up processes are occurring, either alternatively or simultaneously (Alderson, 2000: 18). With the share of Aldersons point of view, Nuttall (2005: 17) suggests that bottom-up and top-down approaches are used to complement each other. In short, the abilities to approach a text both top-down and bottom-up are of equal importance as these processes cannot be separated. There, only when the language teacher develops in students both these abilities is their reading skill to be improved. 1.2.3. Reading skills and strategies Duffy (1993: 232) reveals that reading strategies are plans for solving problems encountered in constructing meaning. The two terms reading skills and reading strategies are often used interchangeably. Nevertheless, different scholars have their own different opinions about them. Munby (1987: 123-132) makes a list of reading skills as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Recognizing the script of a language Deducing the meaning and use of unfamiliar lexical items Understanding explicitly stated information Understanding information in the text, not explicitly stated Understanding conceptual meaning Understanding relations within the sentence Understanding relations between part of a text through lexical cohesion devices Recognising indicators in discourse Understanding relations between part of a text through grammatical cohesion devices

10. Identifying the main point or important information in a piece of discourse 11. Distinguishing the main idea from supporting details 12. Extracting salient points to summarise 13. Basic reference skills (understanding and use of graphic presentation, table of contents and index, cross-referencing, card catalogue, phonetic transcription/ diacritics) 14. Skimming to obtain the gist of the text or a general impression of the text

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15. Scanning to locate specifically required information 16. Transcoding information presented in diagrammatic display On the other hand, on talking the ways to exploit the reading texts, Nuttall (2005) has given several reading skills which are divided into three groups: word attack skills

(Structural clues, Inference from context, Using a dictionary, Ignoring), text attack skills (Understanding syntax, Recognizing and interpreting cohesive devices, Recognizing text organization, Recognizing the presuppositions underlying the text, Recognizing implications and making inferences, Prediction) and Integration and application. Even though the aforementioned lists of reading skills are more or less different from one another, it is inevitable that they have some features in common such as recognitions skills, decoding skills... For the sake of the study, Nuttalls taxonomy will be selected since it best describes skills that are relevant to those required in the textbook and the national exam for the English aptitude students, who are the objects of this study. 1.3. Summary In this chapter, the author has revealed the literature review of syllabus design and reading theories, which will be the theoretical background for the study. As regards syllabus definitions, the different points of views are discussed by such linguists as Yalden (1983), Hutchinson and Waters (1987), Allen (1984) and Been (1984). Four main steps have been identified in the process of designing the intended syllabus namely needs analysis, objective settings, content selection and syllabus organization. Moreover, definitions of needs and its importance are also touched on. At the end of the chapter, reading theories were reviewed and reading skills from Nuttalls taxonomy will be employed to specify the content of the syllabus.

Chapter 2 Needs analysis of grade 10 English gifted students at Tuyen Quang Specialized Upper Secondary School In this chapter, the situation of teaching English at Tuyen Quang Specialized Upper Secondary School and that of teaching reading for grade 10 English gifted students will be discussed. Such factors as teachers, students and a current syllabus will also be

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taken into consideration. More importantly, the requirements of the MOET on curriculum for the gifted, tests for the excellent students and survey questionnaires will also be analyzed. 2.1. The context of the study 2.1.1. The school Tuyen Quang Specialized Upper Secondary School is in the system of specialized schools. Therefore, like other specialized schools, its major objective is to train and foster the gifted for the province in particular and for the nation in general. Since it was established in 1987, it has endlessly enhanced the education and training career both in quantity and in quality. It first had only six classes with eighty seven students for two specialized subjects math and literature and Russian was taught at school at that time. Currently, the number of classes has increased to twenty three with eight hundred and fifteen students for seven specialized subjects: mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, informatics, literature and English. After twenty three years of development and tirelessly striving, it has become a reliable education address of students and their parents in the province with the leading number of the students gaining the provincial and national prizes and especially the annual number of students passing the university entrance exam. In spite of the fact that it is the only specialized school in the province, the school still meets such difficulties as materials, facilities and so forth. Like many other upper-secondary schools in the province, the facilities of TQSS are not paid much attention to. The schools only two modern classrooms which are equipped with projectors and videos are used by teachers who teach different subjects. The lack of modern classrooms causes teachers a lot of trouble in following communicative language teaching approach. Moreover, reference materials for all the subjects are extremely insufficient, especially English - the only foreign language taught at the school for the time being. In fact, in the school library there is nothing but few English textbooks, teachers manuals and English reference books for university entrance exam, which were all published years ago. No special rooms such as a multi-media room or a language laboratory are equipped, no English magazines and newspapers are provided and the only facilities for learning English are cassette players and tapes, which are in poor condition. Actually, the school has an open policy for buying materials. Every two years, about three or four subjects are provided reference materials but in the local bookshops there are not enough appropriate English materials for teaching and learning at school. Therefore, teachers usually have to go to Hanoi to seek for materials.

24
Since 2006- 2007 academic year, the English materials used to teach grade 10 students at school have been two new textbooks called the English textbook 10 (Ting Anh 10), and the advanced English textbook 10 (Ting Anh 10 nng cao), which are published by Education Publishing House. The former consisting of 16 units with 105 periods for two terms is used for the students of all the classes, the latter comprising 16 units with 140 periods is used for the gifted only. Except for the aforementioned compulsory periods, the students of the English classes are provided with 70 extra periods. 2.1.2. The teaching staff of the English group at TQSS. Out of a total of 9 teachers of English aged from 30 to 50, two of them are male. Four of them graduated from English Department at Thai Nguyen University with their teaching experience from 17 to 25 and the others, their time of teaching experience from 8 to 15 years, were trained in English Department, College of Foreign Languages, and Hanoi National University. Two of the teachers of language have taken degrees of Master of Art, the other six hold B.A degree in English; one is studying for M.A degree. None of them has an opportunity to study abroad or to communicate with foreigners or native English speakers. English teachers at the school, especially those teaching English specializing classes face up with a heavy workload such as teaching the provincial and national teams for the excellent students. Moreover, they are always worried about how to have a supplementary reading material required by MOET in order to teach the aptitude-students because they have few opportunities to get further training in courses or workshops and the only workshops they participated are the ones for using the new textbooks held by MOET some years ago, but only one or two teachers were invited. Another problem is that the teachers stand no chance of working or contacting with academic specialists, experts or even native speakers, who may offer a valuable assistance and a proper consultation. For all the above reasons, the author has carried out a study on designing a supplementary reading syllabus for grade 10 gifted students with a view to helping the teachers reduce the anxiety about preparing materials and providing somewhat relevant syllabus for teaching at school situation. 2.1.3. The students at TQSS The students of the school range from fifteen to eighteen years old. Some come from different parts in the province, others are from Tuyen Quang Town. In order to be admitted to this school, the students who have finished the 9th year grade with good results have to take part in a very hard examination of two compulsory subjects: mathematics, literature and a specialized subject. For English gifted students, not all of them are good at

25
English, some of them are selected owing to their good results in mathematics and literature. This will be a challenge for the school and the language teachers because having good record in the provincial and national exams means that they need really potential candidates who have an excellent command of English. Since the academic year of 2007, the number of English gifted students who have passed the university entrance exam and won the provincial exam is about 85 % - 90% on average, the number of students gaining the achievements from the annual national exam for the excellent students is lower than years ago. For example, in 2008, six students took the national exam for excellent students, only two won the consolation prizes. In 2009, no students got the prize, and only one student won the consolation prize in 2010. Apparently, the students English proficiency level is not high, which makes school leaders and language teachers express their great concern as to what should be done and how this should be done in order to improve their students level of English proficiency and increase the number of the students winning the national prizes, which is also one of the schools main objectives in coming years. 2.1.4. The time allocation for English classes at TQSS As discussed in the introduction, apart from 140 periods for the compulsory textbook, the English gifted students are given 70 extra periods for further practice by the MOET in order to enhance their communicative competence. These are used for the whole academic year. However, the MOET has not fixed the time for four skills such as reading, speaking and listening, writing and language focus, so the specific time for these skills is assigned by the school itself. Of 70 periods, 30 periods are spent on teaching reading skills, with which grammatical items are also taught in combination. Perhaps because the gifted students at our school hardly have difficulty in grammar. The other periods are used for speaking and listening and writing.

2.2. The study 2.2.1. The subjects The subjects of the study consist 5 English teachers and 35 grade 10 English gifted students. The teachers are 35 to 47- year-old female teachers of the English group who are in charge of teaching English for the gifted students and the annually provincial and national teams for the excellent students. Among these teachers, two of them hold M.A degrees in English. They all have good English knowledge and are experienced because they have been teaching English at school for at least 10 years. The students under

26
investigation mainly coming from the different parts of the province have been learning English since they were in grade 6. Although all of them are motivated to study English, they do not have homogeneous level of English proficiency. The participants who are all aged between 15 or 16 have just finished their second term. 2.2.2. The instruments for data collection Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 59) suggest that there are a large number of ways in which information can be gathered about target needs such as interview, observation, questionnaires and so on. In this study, three instruments chosen to collect information are document analysis, interview and the questionnaires. The documents for analysis are composed of a guideline in the contents for

specializing subjects taught for grade 10 at secondary schools issued in 2006, tests for the excellent students from 2007- 2010 and the current textbook, are analyzed. The analysis of documents is not only to seek for the gap between the MOETs requirements for the gifted and the current textbook, but to find out MOETs requirements for the tests in the national exam for the excellent students. Informal interviews with the teachers and the students are also touched on in order to clarify and supplement information collected from survey. A survey questionnaire is used as one of the tools in order to collect information. The questionnaires designed are based on a rating scale. By using this method, the author can get ideas about the level of students difficulties in terms of reading skills and topics as well as grammatical items for a supplementary syllabus. Two questionnaires, including teacher questionnaire and student questionnaire, were conducted. The teacher questionnaire (see Appendix 3) was administered to the English teachers at the school. The questionnaire was divided into the two parts with each item designed on a 5-point Likert Scale. Part 1 includes two questions about difficulties in terms of reading skills experienced by students. Part 2 comprises three questions which deal with the topics and grammatical items that are in need of being consolidated in a supplementary reading syllabus. The student questionnaire (see Appendix 4) was designed and written in Vietnamese for 35 gifted students of grade 10. The structure of the student questionnaire is the same as the teachers. 2.2.3. Data collection procedure. The data collection was performed as follows: For the survey questionnaire: Before directly delivering the questionnaire to the students, the author explained clearly in Vietnamese the aim of the survey questionnaire.

27
When the students received the questionnaire, the author went over with the students in class question by question to make sure that they could fully understand all the questions before giving their final answers. After the students freely completed the questionnaire, the author collected immediately. For the teachers, a survey questionnaire was delivered to them at the English group meeting and all the teachers asked was expounded. It was collected three days later in order for them to have enough time to respond to all the questions exactly and fully. For the informal conversational interview: 5 English teachers and 8 randomly chosen students participated in the interviews. The informal interviews were conducted after the survey had been obtained to clarify and supplement information from the surveys. As mentioned above, data for this study were gathered from two main sources: documentary analysis and survey questionnaire. Therefore, it requires both analytical and statistical analysis. 2.2.4. Data analysis and major findings 2.2.4.1. Data from documents and the material 2.2.4.1.1. The Moets requirements on curriculum for gifted students Time allocation and the aims of English teaching for the talents are suggested in a guideline in the contents for specializing subjects taught for grade 10 at specialized upper secondary school issued by MOET (2006) and a curriculum allotment for secondary high schools (2009). English taught to the gifted students consists of 210 periods (140 compulsory periods and 70 periods for further practice) per 35 weeks. In 2006 MOET issued a new curriculum which defines English as a compulsory subject, which is "instrumental to the access of world science and technology as well as world cultures (MOET, 2006: 111). The particular objectives of grade 10 English students who study the advanced English textbook are pointed out in Documents for teachers of English at grade 10 by MOET. After finishing grade 10, students will be able to: - listen and understand the main ideas and details of monologues/ dialogues of 140160 words on the 6 topics covered. Understand texts that are delivered at a slow speed. Recognize and distinguish sounds, words and intonation. - ask and answer about the topics covered. Perform some basic language functions such as giving instruction, expressing opinions, asking direction, asking and giving information, expressing attitudes and points of view, etc. - read and understand the main ideas and details of texts of 200-250 words on the topics covered. Develop vocabulary strategies: using words in contexts, dictionary skills, etc.

28
- write texts of 100-130 words on familiar topics based on models or prompts for personal or basic communicative purposes. (MOET, 2006: 114) According to the MOET, however, apart from achieving above objectives, grade 10 English gifted students ought to enhance linguistic knowledge and master language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), the contents and language items are more complex and more difficult than those mentioned in the advanced English textbook 10 (Ting Anh 10 nng cao). With regard to topics, an emphasis the Ministry puts is that the contents of language skills such as listening, speaking, and reading are not fixed in order to create openness for teachers material selection. However, the scope and the complexity of topics should be paid attention so that their difficulty and contents are not too far from those mentioned in the secondary educational curriculum. Methodologically, the new curriculum is claimed to follow learner-centered approach and the communicative approach with task-based teaching is the central teaching method, which means that communication skills is the goal of the teaching and learning process; linguistic knowledge is the means by which communication skills are formed and developed and students play an active role in the teaching and learning process; teachers are only organizers and guides. Therefore, the methodology used for specializing curriculum must be followed the above mentioned approach. In order to meet the students demand for being specialized in English, some reference materials are recommended. The aims of these materials are giving deeper introduction of some contents that are not fully presented in compulsory curriculum. These are composed of English textbooks and materials at pre-intermediate and intermediate level, which are published by prestige publishing houses in the world.

2.2.4.1.2. Requirements on tests for excellent students Unlike the previous years, tests for excellent students were divided into two groups, A and B. Group A was considered to be more difficult than group B. However, since the new textbooks started to be used for all the secondary schools in our country in 2006, the tests for excellent students have been applied uniformly across all parts of our country. Analyzing the tests for excellent students from 2007 to 2010, we have found that structure of the English tests has been changed. The format of the English tests is usually composed of the following main parts: testing listening skill, testing knowledge of language (Lexico-

29
grammar), testing reading skill, testing writing skill. Grammar must be at advanced level and reading skills, used to assess excellent students being Recognizing text organization, Guessing unfamiliar words in a text, Inferring, Understanding the writers attitude, Comprehension questions, can be at intermediate or upper-intermediate levels. It is apparent that most of these skills evaluated in the tests for the excellent students are not defined in the guidelines by MOET. Topics covered in these years tests include: Environment, Education, English language, Natural disasters, and Cultural diversity. In short, even though most of the topics in the tests are required by the MOET in the curriculum, so are the grammatical points, there is still a gap in terms of reading skills. 2.2.4.1.3. The teaching material The new textbook used for the gifted students in the school is named the advanced English textbook 10, which comprises 16 teaching units and four consolidation units. The teaching contents for each unit are summarized in a book map which is provided on the first page of each book. Each teaching unit covering a topic is taught in seven periods and is structured into five sections: Reading, Listening, Speaking, Writing and Language Focus respectively. The glossary at the end of the textbook contains both phonetic transcription and Vietnamese translation for each entry. This textbook is underpinned by theme-based approach to the introduction of language input. Six themes presented respectively in the textbook are You and Me, Education, Community, Nature and Environment, Recreation and People and Places. Each theme consists of two or three topics which are true to life. The purpose underlying in this book is to develop students communicative language skills including reading, listening, speaking and writing via different interesting and well-designed units. Teaching procedure of reading, listening, speaking, and writing section is divided into three stages: pre-stage, while-stage, and post-stage. The pre-stage helps students familiarize with the topics and contents. The aim of the while-stage is to develop the students language skills. The last stage is aimed at consolidating what the students have learnt from the topics. An in-depth analysis in terms of reading section, for the sake of the study, was conducted based on the requirement of the MOET for the aptitude students and the demand of the tests for excellent students. Through the informal interviews with teachers and students, their opinions on reading section were collected. The interviews mainly focused on gathering their ideas on topics, reading skills and reading activities. From the analysis and interviews a conclusion about the strong point and the weak point of reading section were drawn.

30
Reading is chosen as the first section in each unit. Via the reading text and tasks, language input expects to be provided for practice of other language skills. Reading passages provided in the textbook have various topics with up-to-date information. Prereading often is illustrated with clear and beautiful pictures together with questions to lead in the topic of the text. While-reading asks students to scan for specific information or skim for general ideas. Post-reading provides useful activities which help students wrap things they have learnt from the passages. In spite of the aforementioned strengths, reading section has still some weaknesses. One concern is that reading tasks are not only poorly designed but also limited. Seven main types of reading exercises are provided in this book: focusing on comprehension questions; gap-filling/ table-filling/ map-filling; matching exercises; multiple choice; true-false; finding words in the text and rearrange facts. Another drawback is that reading skills provided in textbook are not various and only three of them are often used in the tests for University Entrance Examination and for excellent students. Last but not the least, the contents of some reading texts in curriculum does not meet the gifted students requirement due to their simplicity of language contents as well as that of language structures. This may be explicitly found in such topics as school talks, school outdoor activities, national parks and so on. Obviously, when compared with the requirements of MOET for the gifted and for excellent students' tests, the reading section in this textbook has shortcomings in terms of unvaried types of reading skills and exercises and the simplicity of language contents. 2.2.4.2. Data from survey questionnaires 2.2.4.2.1 Needs perceived by the teachers 2.2.4.2.1.1 Teachers perception of students difficulties in terms of reading exercises. The significant results are shown in Table 1 below, but others from the survey in terms of reading exercises are indicated in appendix 5. It is apparent from the table below that all of the teaching staff (100%) believed that students always met the greatest difficulty in reading exercises such as Guessing unfamiliar words in a text via a context, Identifying the information that is not explicitly stated in a paragraph/text and Choosing the option that best describes the writers attitude. The exercises ranked the second with 80% of the teachers who chose difficult and 20% selected normal were Identify the main ideas within paragraphs or in reading texts, Choosing and putting the phrases/ sentences to where they fit in a text and Summarizing the text. All the aforementioned reading exercises seemed not to be presented in textbooks, but they were always found in the tests for the University Entrance Examination and for the excellent students. On the

31
other hand, the reading exercises -Filling in the table with the information from the reading passage, Answering short questions, and true or false - were supposed to be easy for the students by nearly half the teachers. No tick was placed in "Very easy and not applicable". The results indicate that reading exercises introduced much in the textbooks seem far easier for the students than those are not or are introduced less. Therefore, it is necessary to supplement some reading exercises with a view to helping students develop their reading skills.
Table 1: Teachers' perceptions of students' difficulties in terms of reading exercises No

Reading exercises Identify the main ideas within paragraphs or in reading texts. Guess unfamiliar words in a text via a context Choose and put the phrases / sentences to where they fit in a text. Identify the information that is not explicitly stated in a paragraph / text Filling in the table with the information from the reading passage Choose the option that best describes the writer's attitude

Easy N P 0

Normal N 1 P 20

Difficult N 3 P 60

Very difficult N P 1 20

Skimming Guessing unfamiliar words in a text Recognizing text organization Inferring Utilizing text information

80

20

20

80

40

60

40

60

6 7 8

Understanding the writer's attitude Comprehension Short answer questions questions Other exercises Summarize the text

0 2 0

0 40 0

0 3 1

0 60 20

3 0 4

60 0 80 0

2 0 0 0

40 0 0 0

True or False 2 40 3 60 0 (N: The number of the teachers; P: The percentage of the teachers)

2.2.4.2.1.2. Teachers perception of students difficulties in terms of reading comprehension Among the teachers, informants, (80%) thought that their students often had difficulty in vocabulary and background knowledge. Through the informal interviews, the teachers also clearly explained that their students challenge was due to their limited size of vocabulary and the lack of background knowledge on unfamiliar topics such as nature, technology, cultural diversity and so on. By contrast, only one teacher (20%) believed that their students had high level of English proficiency, they found vocabulary and knowledge in reading passages suitable for their students ability. It is not surprising to see that 80% of

32
the teachers thought their students have no difficulty in grammar, but only 20% think so. Obviously, the students, from almost all of the teachers points of views, are not fluent readers. According to Silberstein (1994: 12), fluent readers possess a large receptive vocabulary and knowledge of syntactic and rhetorical structure

Figure 1: Teachers perception of students difficulties in terms of reading comprehension

2.2.4.2.1.3. Teachers perception of students needs for a supplementary reading syllabus As can be seen from Figure 2, all the teachers showed their positive attitudes towards the proposal of a supplementary reading syllabus. 100% of the teachers thought that a supplementary syllabus was of great importance. Through the interviews, the teachers believed that this syllabus would help the gifted students to partly satisfy the requirements of the MOET and partly those of the tests for excellent students.

40%

60%

.
Figure 2: The Teachers attitudes towards a Supplementary Reading Syllabus

2.2.4.2.1.4. Teachers perception of the necessity and interest in reading topics The teachers were asked to rank the topics in terms of the interest and necessity. The identification of the topics was based on the compulsory textbooks for secondary curriculum (both the set of standard English textbooks and that of the advanced English textbooks), English tests of the national examinations. Table 2 above merely focuses on the

33
results collected of some outstanding topics, the detailed ones of other topics are shown in appendix 6. It can be seen from the table that 100 % of the teachers found Nature, Environment and Cultural diversity the most interesting and necessary. Topics (Education, Books, English language and Learning languages, Sports, Technology, Women, Daily life and No Level of interest Topics Level of necessity

Recreation) interested 80% of the teachers, but their necessity was estimated differently by the teachers. Among them, Education and English language and learning languages were considered as very necessary topics with the high percentage of 100% and 80% found the others necessary. On the contrary, the topics that got the lowest percentage of interest and importance were Hobbies, Famous people and Music. 40% of the teachers regarded Hobbies and Famous people as unimportant topics, the same number of the teachers was fond of the former and 20% enjoyed the latter. Music was found the least necessary of all with 60%, but it seemed more gripping than Hobbies and Famous people. No topics were seen to be "Very boring" and "Not necessary at all". In short, some topics covered in the curriculum and touched upon in the tests for excellent students interested most of the teachers and they should be included in a supplementary syllabus, but others getting the low percentage of both interest and necessity should not be in the syllabus.

34
Unnecessary
N
0 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 2 0 0

Interesting

Very interesting

Necessary
N
4 5 4 1 4 4 3 0 3 4 4 1 4 4

Very necessary

N
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 1

P
20 20 20 0 20 0 0 0 20 0 40 0 0 20

N
3 4 3 1 4 4 4 3 3 4 3 2 4 3

P
60 80 60 20 80 80 80 60 60 80 60 40 80 60

N
1 0 1 2 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1

P
20 0 20 40 0 20 20 20 20 20 0 20 20 20

N
0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0

P
0 0 0 40 0 0 0 20 0 0 0 40 0 0

N Education Environment Sports Famous people Culture diversity English languagelearning languages Recreation Music Daily life Technology Nature Hobbies Women Books
1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0

P
20 0 0 0 20 20 20 0 0 0 20 0 0 0

P
80 100 80 20 80 80 60 0 60 80 80 20 80 80

N
0 0 1 2 0 0 1 2 2 1 0 2 1 1

Fairly necessary
P
0 0 20 40 0 0 20 40 40 20 0 40 20 20

Normal

Boring

P
0 0 0 40 0 0 0 60 0 0 0 40 0 0

2.2.4.2.1.4. Teachers perception of the necessity and interest in reading topics

Table 2: Teachers perception of the necessity and interest in reading topics

(N: The number of the teachers ; P: The percentage of the teachers)

2.2.4.2.1.5. Needs of grammatical items as perceived by the teachers The outstanding results of the teachers perception of grammatical items that need consolidating in a supplementary reading syllabus are presented in Table 3, other results reveal in appendix 7. As presented from the table above that four grammatical items (Phrasal verbs, Prepositions after verbs, Prepositions following adjectives, Subjunctives, Preposition following nouns Linking words and Inversions) were ranked the first with 20% of the teachers who thought they were the most necessary and 60% considered them necessary grammatical items. The second rank was items (Sequence of tenses, Special cases of passive voice, Word-formation, Emphatic structures). Almost all of the teachers (80 %) regarded them as necessary ones and only one teacher (20%) selected fairly necessary. Grammatical items placed in the last position were The order of adjectives in adjective

35
phrase and Prepositions of time and places with 40% of the teachers who regarded them as fairly essential ones and 60% unnecessary. This suggested that they should not be included in the syllabus. The results showed that most of the teachers believed their students should be taught the most difficult grammatical items in grade 10 although this perception did not accord with objectives specified by the MOET. However, it has been proved that their students have a good command of English grammar (see Figure 1)
Table 3: Teachers' Perceptions of their students' ranking of their grammatical items

Unnecessary

No

Grammatical items N

P 0 0 20 0 0 0 20 20 0 20 20 20 0

N 4 4 3 4 1 4 3 3 0 3 3 3 4

P 80 80 60 80 20 80 60 60 0 60 60 60 80

N 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1

P 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 40 20 20 20 20

N 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0

P 0 0 0 0 40 0 0 0 40 0 0 0 0

N 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Sequence of tenses Special cases of passive voice Phrasal verbs Word-formation The order of adjectives in adjective phrase Prepositions after nouns Prepositions after verbs Prepositions following adjectives Prepositions of time and places Linking words: Either..or. Subjunctives Inversion The structure of emphasis

0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 0

( N: The number of the teachers, P: The percentage of the teachers)

2.2.4.2.2. Needs perceived by the students 2.2.4.2.2.1. Students perception of difficulties in terms of reading exercises.

Not necessary at all P 0 0 0 0 20 0 0 0 20 0 0 0 0

Necessary

Very necessary

Fairly necessary

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The overall results of survey about difficulties in terms of reading exercises perceived by the students were shown in appendix 8, Table 4 below merely deals with the important results of some reading exercises. According to the table, the majority of the students found Guessing unfamiliar words in a text via a context, Inferring and Choosing the option that best describes the writer's attitude most difficult with 91,4% and 94,3% (for the two last items) respectively, and only 8,6% considered the former as a normal exercise and 5,7 % saw the latter, too. The second level of difficulty was focused on Identify the main ideas within paragraphs or in reading texts and Choose and put the phrases / sentences to where they fit in a text with 74,3 % and 25,7 % of the students considered it as normal reading exercises. Rearrange the paragraph, Summarize the text and Long answer questions were ranked the third, among which 68,6 % of the students regarded two first exercises as difficult and very difficult ones and 31,4 % found them normal. The rest was perceived as 'difficult ' and 'very difficult exercise by 65,7 % of the students and 34,3 % saw it normally. According to the students perception, three exercises chosen as easy ones by over a half of them (57,2% to 60%) were Filling in the table with the information from the reading passage, Short answer questions and True or False. Only one third (12/35) found them normal and difficult. From the analysis, it can be clearly realized that the students often met the greatest difficulty in Recognizing text organization, Inferring, and Understanding the writers attitude, which seemed to be permanently testkilled in the national examination tests, whereas Filling the table with information from the reading passage, Short answer questions and True or False were considered to be easy. The students, through the interview, explained that these exercises provided in the textbook were easy because information was explicitly performed in reading passages. No ticks were placed in "Very easy and Not applicable".

Table 4: Students' perception of their difficulties in terms of reading exercises

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Easy N
1 2

No Skimming Scanning Guessing

3 unfamiliar

Reading exercises Identify the main ideas within paragraphs or in reading texts. Scan the text for specific information Guess unfamiliar words in a text via a context Rearrange the paragraph Choose and put the phrases / sentences to where they fit in a text. Identify the information that is not explicitly stated in a paragraph / text Filling in the table with the information from the reading passage Choose the option that best describes the writer's attitude Short answer questions Long answer questions Summarize the text True or False 0 5 0 0 0 0

Normal N 9 10 3 11 9 2 9 2 10 12 11 10 P 25,7 28,5 8,6 31,4 25,7 5,7 25,7 5,7 28,5 34,3 31,4 28,5 0

Difficult N 19 17 21 19 20 22 5 23 5 21 20 5 P 54,3 48,6 60,0 54,3 57,2 62,9 14,3 65,8 14,3 60,0 57,2 14,3

Very difficult N P 7 3 11 5 6 11 0 10 0 2 4 0 20,0 8,6 31,4 14,3 17,1 31,4 0 28,5 0 5,7 11,4 0

14,3 0 0 0 0 60,0 0 57,2 0 0 57,2

words in a text Recognizing 4 text organization

5 6 7

Inferring Utilizing text information Understanding the writer's attitude

21 0 20 0 0 20

Comprehension 8 questions
9

Other exercises

( N: The number of the Students, P: The percentage of the Students)

2.2.4.2.2.2. Students difficulties in terms of reading comprehension

Figure 3: Students perception of difficulty in terms of reading comprehension

The results from Figure 3 reveal that most of the students (19 accounting for 54, 3% and 11 constituting 31, 4%), in turn, found vocabulary difficult and very difficult. Only five students (14, 3%) thought it was normal. Moreover, during the interview with the

38
students, they also explained that their limitation of vocabulary made it impossible for them to understand the text quickly. In addition, they were not used to guessing the meanings of new words in contexts. When meeting unfamiliar words, they usually used a dictionary, which required a lot of time to read the text. Another problem almost all of the students had encountered was background knowledge. 71,5% found it difficult, among which very difficult made up 14,3%. The rest found it normal. Further more, they also explained that their little social knowledge prevented them from reading well the texts and made them understand it dimly and even they could not speak out the main ideas of the reading texts, especially unfamiliar topics. At last, Grammar seemed the easiest item for them. 65,7 % considered it easy and normal, only five (34,3 %) found it difficult. 2.2.4.2.2.3 Students perceptions for supplementary reading syllabus Optimistically, from the data shown in Figure 4, all the students saw the importance of a supplementary material. 69 % of the students chose very necessary and 31% selected necessary. No ticks were placed for the rest. The results expressed the students positive attitudes towards the proposal of a supplementary reading syllabus.

31 % 69 %

Figure 4: Students attitudes towards a Supplementary Reading Syllabus

2.2.4.2.2.4. Students perceptions of the necessity and interest in reading topics The results shown in Table 5 below only focuses on some prominent topics, other results are indicated in appendix 9. As can be seen from the table, Nature and Environment got the highest percentage of both the level of interest and that of necessity. The former was perceived as a gripping topic by 88,6% of the students and 94,3% found it 'very necessary' and 'necessary'. Surprisingly, the same number of students (85,7%) considered the latter an interesting and a necessary topic. The second rank was referred to Education, Sports, Cultural diversity, English language and learning languages, Technology,

39
Recreations, Books and Women. All of them were regarded as exciting and important topics by over 70% to over 80% of the students. Hobbies and Famous people were two topics which had the lowest percentage of interest and necessity, (14,3%-11,4% for the former and 34% - 25,7% for the latter, in turn). Almost all of the students (80%) found Music gripping, but only 25,7% perceived it as an important topic. Therefore, it cannot be included in the syllabus. In short, the majority of the students found the topics required by the MOET gripping and necessary, except for two topics, Hobbies and Famous people. No topics were considered to be very dull and 'not necessary at all'.
Table 5: Students perceptions of the necessity and interest in reading topics

Level of interest
Interesting Very interesting Very necessary Normal Boring

Level of necessity
Unnecessary
N P

Necessary

No

Topics

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

5 14,3 20 57,2 10 28,5 0 11 31,4 19 54,3 5 14,3 0 4 11,4 21 3 8,6 60 9 25,7 1

0 0 2,9

Education Environment Sports

18 42,9 14 16 45,7 14

40 40

3 17,1 0 5 14,3 0

Fairly necessary
P

0 0

8 22,9 16 45,7 5 14,3 6 17,1 3 8,6 6 17,1 12 34,3 14 40 0 0 5,7

9 25,7 10 28,5 13 37,2 Famous people 2,9

11 31,4 18 51,4 5 14,3 1 10 28,5 17 48,6 8 22,9 0 9 25,7 19 54,3 7 11 31,4 17 48,6 7 7 20 20 20 0 0

Culture diversity 15 42,9 14 40 6 17,1 0 English language 0 11 31,4 19 54,3 5 14.3 0 learning languages 0 8 22,9 19 54,3 6 17,1 2 Recreation
0

Music Technology Nature Hobbies Women Books

8,6 6 17,1 15 42,9 11 31,4 0 0

18 51,4 8 22,9 2

5,7 0 40 5,7 0

10 28,5 20 57,2 5 14,3 0 21 0 7 7 60 0 20 20 12 34,3 2 5,7 0

15 42,9 16 45,7 4 11,4 0 2 5,7 3 8,6 16 45,7 14 60 8 22,9 2

4 11,4 15 42,9 16 45,7 19 54,3 9 25,7 0 20 57,2 6 17,1 2 0 5,7

4 11,4 21 14 40

15 42,9 6 17,1 0

( N: The number of the students, P: The percentage of the students)

40
2.2.4.2.2.5. Needs of grammatical items as perceived by the students
Table 6: Students perception of grammatical items needed in a supplementary syllabus

Unnecessary

Necessary

Very necessary

Fairly necessary

No

Grammatical items
N

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Sequence of tenses Special cases of passive voice Phrasal verbs Word-formation The order of adjectives in adjective phrase Prepositions following nouns Preposition after verbs Prepositions following adjectives Prepositions of time and places Subjunctives Inversion The structure of emphasis

9 8 14 12 0 7 7 12 0 14 14 10

25,7 22,9 40 34,3 0 20 20 34,3 0 40 40 28,5

16 18 12 17 7 18 19 11 5 11 12 17

45,7 51,4 34,3 48,6 20 51,4 54,3 31,4 14,3 31,4 34,3 48,6

8 6 7 6 9 8 9 9 10 7 5 8

22,.9 17,1 20 17,1 25,7 22,9 25,7 25,7 28,5 20 14,3 22,9

2 3 2 0 11 2 0 3 8 3 4 0

5,7 8,6 5,7 0 31,4 5,7 0 8,6

0 0 0 0 8 0 0 0

22,9 12 8,6 11,4 0 0 0 0

( N: The number of the students, P: The percentage of the students)

The outstanding results of some grammatical items perceived by the students are illustrated in Table 6, other ones are presented in appendix 10. According to this table, the item that almost of the students (29/35) found the most necessary was Word-formation, which seemed that they expected to enlarge their size of vocabulary and to reduce their challenges in terms of vocabulary when facing up reading texts. Moreover, this item always appeared in the tests for the excellent students. The items ranked the second were Prepositions after verbs, Emphatic structures, Special cases of passive voice, Phrasal verbs, Prepositions following nouns, Inversions, Subjunctives, Sequence of tenses. Of these items, two items (Prepositions after verbs and Emphatic structures) got higher percentage of the necessity with 77,1% than the others - with 74,3% for the next two and 71,4% for the rest. The third position was referred to Prepositions following adjectives with 65,7% (23/35) choosing 'necessary' and 'very necessary'. Two items having the lowest percentage

Not necessary at all

N P

0 0 0 0 22,9 0 0 0 34,3 0 0 0

41
of necessity were The order of adjectives in adjective phrase with 20% and Prepositions of time and places with 14,3%. To sum up, the appropriate grammatical items are of great necessity to be revised again in the syllabus. 2.2.4.2.3. Comparisons between teachers and students perceptions of needs 2.2.4.2.3.1. Comparisons between teachers and students perceptions of the students difficulties in terms of reading exercises.
Table 7: Teachers and students perceptions of the students difficulties in terms of reading exercises

Easy No Reading exercises Identify the main ideas within paragraphs or in reading texts. Scan the text for specific information Guess unfamiliar words in a text via a context Rearrange the paragraph Choose and put the phrases / sentences to where they fit in a text. Identify the information that is not explicitly stated in a paragraph / text Filling in the table with the information from the reading passage Choose the option that best describes the writer's attitude Short answer questions Long answer questions Summarize the text True or False T % 0 S % 0

Normal T % 20 S % 25,7

Difficult T % 60 S % 54,3

Very difficult T S % % 20 20

Skimming

2 3

Scanning Guessing unfamiliar words in a text Recognizing text organization

0 0 20

14,3 0 0

80 0 40

28,5 8,6 31,4

20 80 40

48,6 60 54,3

0 20 0

8,6 31,4 14,3

20

25,7

80

57,2

17,1

Inferring

5,7

40

62,9

60

31,4

Utilizing text information Understanding the writer's attitude Comprehension questions Other exercises

40

60

60

25,7

14,3

0 60 40 20 60

5,7 28,5 34,3 31,4 28,5

60 0 60 80 0

65,8 14,3 60 57,2 14,3

40 0 0 0 0

28,5 0 5,7 11,4 0

40 57,2 0 0

0 0 40 57,2

(T %: The percentage of the teachers; S %: The percentage of the students)

The results gained from the questionnaires show a high consensus of opinions of the teachers and students in terms of reading exercises. However, Table 7 above merely centers on some dramatic ones, other results can be shown in appendix 11. It can be seen

42
from the table that three skills (Understanding the writers attitude, Guessing unfamiliar words in a text and Inferring) were considered as the most difficult ones by 100% of the teachers and more than 90% of the students, only a few of them (3/35) found them normal. Both of them also saw Identify the main ideas within paragraphs or in reading texts, Choose and put the phrases/ sentences to where they fits in the text, Long answer questions and Summarize the text be difficult only after the aforementioned skills. Short answer questions, Fill in the table with the information from the reading text and True or False were found easy. However, there was a small different view between teachers and students on such reading exercises as Rearrange the paragraph and Scan the text for specific information. The former was found normal and difficult by the same number of the teachers (40%) whereas 68,6% of the students considered it as a difficult one and only 31,4% regarded it as a normal one. The latter was perceived as a normal and difficult exercise by 80% - 20% of the teachers respectively while only 28,5% of the students thought it was normal and 57,2% found it difficult. No reading exercises were supposed to be 'Very easy' and 'Not necessary at all' by both the teachers and the students. In short, skills in the curriculum required by MOET seemed easy for students, whereas those causing students a lot of problems were only found in the tests for excellent students. Hence, it is necessary to provide them with more reading exercises in order to help them develop their reading skills and do well in the national examinations. 2.2.4.2.3.2. Comparisons between teachers and students perceptions of Students difficulties in terms of reading comprehension
Table 8:Teachersand Students perceptions of Students difficulties in terms of reading comprehension

Level of difficulty Teachers Students Teachers Students Teachers Students Teachers Students

Vocabulary 20 % 31,4 % 60,0 % 54,3 % 20,0 % 14,3 % 0 % 0 %

Very difficult Difficult Normal Easy

Areas of difficulties Grammar Background knowledge 0 % 20,0 % 0 % 14,3 % 20 % 60,0 % 22,9 % 57,2 % 60,0 % 20,0 % 37,2 % 28,5 % 20,0 % 0 % 39,9 % 0 %

The information from Table 8 reveals that both the teachers and the students shared the same views on difficulties that the students often encountered in terms of reading comprehension. Vocabulary and background knowledge seemed to cause problems for

43
them, whereas grammar appeared easier to them. Only 22,9 % (8/35) of the students thought they met difficulty in grammar, so did 20% (1/5) of the teachers. No ticks were put in 'Very easy' for vocabulary, grammar and background knowledge. 3.3.4.3.3. Comparisons between teachers and students perceptions of the necessity of a Supplementary Reading Syllabus From the results of Figure 5, it can be concluded that 100% of the teachers and of the student had very positive attitudes towards a supplementary reading syllabus. Among of them, 60% (3/5) of the former and 69% (24/35) of the latter found it very necessary, only 40% and 31% saw it necessary respectively. In short, a supplementary syllabus for grade 10 English gifted students at TQSS was badly in need.
60 % 69%

40% 31 % 31%

40 %

Figure 5: Teachers and Students perceptions of necessity of a Supplementary Reading Syllabus

3.3.4.3.4. Comparisons between teachers and students perceptions of the necessity and the interest in reading topics In terms of topics, the majority of the topics required by the MOET were selected by both the teachers and the students. Table 9 below deals with the outstanding topics. It can be seen from the table that the topics getting the highest percentage of both the interest and the necessity were Nature, Environment and Cultural diversity. 100% of the teachers and more than 80% of the students found them exciting and significant. Other topics were considered as gripping and necessary ones, except for Hobbies and Famous people. However, there was a minor difference between the teachers' and the students' perceptions of the topics Music and Daily life. Teachers thought that their students needed to be taught familiar topics, whereas their students would like to get used to strange ones. Therefore, they found these topics unnecessary. In order to satisfy both the teachers and the

44
students in terms of topics, those having a high percentage of interest and necessity would be included in the syllabus.
Table 9: Teachers and students perceptions of the necessity and the interest in reading topics

Level of interest
Interesting Very interesting Very necessary Normal Boring

Level of necessity Topics

Unnecessary T % S % 0 0 40 0 0 5,7 0 0 0 0 5,7 Necessary Fairly necessary S % 40 40 T % S % 0 17,1 0 0 14,3 0 40 0 17,1 0 5,7

No

T % 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

S %

T %

S %

T %

S %

T %

S % 0 0 2,9

T %

S %

T %

20 14,3 60 57,2 20 28,5 0 20 31,4 80 54,3 0 14,3 0 20 11,4 60 0 60 20 25,7 0

Education Environment Sports

20 42,9 80 0 45,7 100

0 22,9 80 45,7 20 14,3 0 17,1 0 8,6 20 17,1 40 34,3 40

8,6 20 25,7 40 28,5 40 37,2 Famous people 2,9 0 0 5,7 0 40 5,7 0 0 0

20 31,4 80 51,4 0 14,3 0 0 28,5 80 48,6 20 22,9 0 0 25,7 80 54,3 20 0 20 20 0

Culture diversity

20 42,9 80

English language learning Languages 20 31,4 80 54,3 0 14,3 0 20 22,9 60 54,3 20 17,1 0 Recreation Technology Nature Hobbies Women Daily life Music Books
0 28,5 80 57,2 20 14,3 0 20 0 0 0 0 0 60 0 20 0 8,6 20 80 34,3 0

80 51,4 20 22,9 0

40 42,9 60 45,7 0 11,4 0 0 5,7 40 8,6 20 45,7 40 60 20 22,9 0

20 11,4 40 42,9 40 45,7 80 54,3 20 25,7 0

0 11,4 80

20 17,1 60 25,7 20 57,2 0 0 31,4 60 48,6 20 20 40 20 20

60 48,6 40 28,5 0 22,9 0 17,1 40 42,9 60 31,4 80 57,2 20 17,1 0

60 42,9 20 17,1 0

( T %: The percentage of the teachers; S %: The percentage of the students)

3.3.4.3.5. Comparisons between teachers and students perceptions of the necessity of grammatical items The prominent results of some grammatical items are shown in Table 10, others are indicated in appendix 13. As can be seen from the table, almost all of the teachers and the students had a high consensus of opinions on these chosen grammatical items. Among the items as mentioned, item Word-formation was considered as the most necessary one by 80% of the teachers and 82,9% of the students. Most of the teachers (80%) and the students (over 70%) found that Sequence of tenses, Special cases of passive voice, Phrasal verbs,

45
Prepositions following nouns, Prepositions after verbs, Prepositions following adjectives, Subjunctive, Inversions and The structure of emphasis should be included in a supplementary syllabus. Neither of them chose The order of adjective in adjective phrase and Prepositions of time and places as important ones that should be included in the syllabus. However, there was a minor difference between the teachers' and the students' view about Linking words. Most of the teachers ( 80%) thought the students should learn this grammatical item, but only half the students (57,2%) found it necessary to learn. This proved that the students would like to learn the grammatical items at advanced level.
Table 10: Teachers and students perceptions of the necessity of grammatical items

Unnecessary

Necessary

Very necessary

No

Grammatical items

2.2.4.3. Major findings

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

T %

S %

T %

S %

T %

Fairly necessary

S %

T %

S %

T %

Sequence of tenses 0 25,7 80 45,7 20 22,9 0 Special cases of passive of the teachers; S %: The percentage of the students) ( T %: The percentage 0 22,9 80 51,4 20 17,1 0 voice Phrasal verbs Word-formation 20 0 40 34,3 60 80 34,3 48,6 20 20 20 17,1 0 0

5,7 8,6 5,7 0

0 0 0 0

2.2.4.3. The Major order offindings adjectives in

conclusions were drawn: both the teachers and the students perceived that the students themselves had following difficulties in some reading skills that seemed to be only revealed in the Prepositions testsadjectives for excellent students, not in the compulsory textbook In addition, their limited size
Prepositions of time and places of vocabulary and a little background knowledge about such topics as cultural diversity, 0 0 0 14,3 40 28,5 40 22,9 20 34,3 20 34,3 60 31,4 20 25,7 0 8,6 0 0 Preposition after verbs 20 20 60 54,3 20 25,7 0 0 0 0

0 0 20 20 20 25,7 40 31,4 20 22,9 adjective phrase From the documents analysis and the results of survey questionnaire some Prepositions following nouns 0 20 80 51,4 20 22,9 0 5,7 0 0

10 Linking words: either..or.... 20 it 22,9 60 34,3 20 to 28,5 0 8,6 the 0 reading 5,7 nature, technology and so on made impossible for them fully understand

textsSubjunctive relating to these topics. With their20 vocabulary and cultivating 10 20the hope 40 of 60improving 31,4 20 0 8,6 0 0
11 12

their knowledge about some topics, all of the students (100%) had positive attitudes
Inversion 20 0 40 60 80 34,3 48,6 20 20 14,3 22,9 0 0 11,4 0 0 0 0 0

towards a supplementary reading syllabus, so did the teachers. The topics they expected to
The structure of emphasis 28,5

learn in a new syllabus were Education, Environment, Recreation, Books, Cultural

( T %: The percentage of the teachers;

diversity, English language and learning languages, Technology, Nature, Women and Sports. These topics got the highest percentage of interests and necessity, and some of them were also mentioned in the tests of the national exam for excellent students. Reading exercises they wanted to be taught were Identify the main ideas within paragraphs, Guess

S %: The percentage of the students)

Not necessary at all

S %

0 0 0 0

46
unfamiliar words in a text, Choose the option that best describes the writers attitude, Identify the information that is implicitly stated in a text, Summarize the text and Choose and put the phrase/ sentences to where they fit in a text and grammatical items they hoped to be taught were the ones at advanced level. To sum up, the analysis of the students' needs became the factual basis for this supplementary material, which the author would describe in the next chapter.

Chapter 3

47
A proposed Supplementary Reading Syllabus for grade 10 English gifted students at TQSS In this chapter, based on the theoretical background in chapter 1 and the analysis of the students' needs in the chapter 2, aims and objectives of the syllabus, the content, time schedule and syllabus organization will be 3.1. Aims and Objectives of a reading syllabus for the English gifted students at TQSS Based on the students needs analysis, the requirements of the MOET and the factual demand for the national exam for the excellent, the aims of the supplementary reading syllabus for grade 10 English gifted students at TQSS are set as follows: - To help students to develop reading skills in order to fulfill the requirements of the MOET and the level required in the test for the excellent students. - To assist students in enriching their knowledge as well as vocabulary of cultural and social topics. Objectives, as mentioned in the previous chapter, spell out what learners will actually be able to do. At the end of the course, students will be able to: + skim to get the gist and scan a text for specific information. + understand the writers intention and make inferences. + organize ideas in what is read and guess unfamiliar words in a text. + read and comprehend English materials at intermediate level about some topics related to culture and society. + cultivate vocabulary used in the specific texts for these topics. 3.2. Content specification Selecting the content and organizing it into teaching syllabus of appropriate learning units is the central point to syllabus design. As stated in the previous chapter, a supplementary reading syllabus is taught in the extra class in the afternoon. In order to facilitate students in their learning, a supplementary reading syllabus has the same design approach as the textbook- a theme-based syllabus. The syllabus will be organized in an integrated manner including following components: topics, skills, grammar, vocabulary and tasks/ activities among which topics, skills and grammar have been selected via the results of the survey questionnaire. Vocabulary about the topics are text-based. The selected contents, however, will be based not only on the students needs analysis but also on the requirements of the MOET for grade 10 English gifted students and even on the requirements of recent tests for the excellent student. Therefore, some reading

48
skills/exercises are selected because they are really necessary for the tests for the excellent students, but they are not required by the MOET. 3.2.1. Topics in the syllabus From the results of the surveys, the requirements of the curriculum and tests for the excellent, the following topics must be taken into account in the supplementary reading syllabus. 1. Cultural diversity 2. Education 3. Technology 4. Nature 5. Environment 6. Recreation 7. Sports 8. Books 9. Women 10. English language and learning languages

Of all the aforementioned topics, Environment, Cultural diversity and Nature get the highest percentage of the interest and necessity (see Table 10). Women is not regarded as a gripping topic, but it has a high percentage of necessity. Perhaps because it has appeared in the tests for the excellent students. Moreover, all these topics also belong to themes covered in the curriculum. 'English language and learning languages' is not required in the curriculum by MOET, but it should be included in the supplementary syllabus because it is one of the topics appearing in the test for the excellent students. There will be 15 units with 15 reading passages for 10 topics. This means that 5 topics include 2 units and 5 has one unit. The topics chosen with 2 units center on the ones which have by far the highest percentage of the interest and necessity. They are Education, Environment, Cultural diversity, English language and learning languages and Nature. 3.2.2. Reading skills Based on the specified objectives of the syllabus, the students need and the requirements of the tests for the excellent. The following reading skills and reading exercises should be taken into account in the syllabus. 1. Skimming: Choose the title that fits the texts best, Identify the main ideas within paragraphs or in the reading texts, Choose the words or sentences relating to the paragraph 2. Scanning: Scan a text quickly to answer a question about specific information 3. Guessing unfamiliar words in a text: Guess unfamiliar words in a text via a context 4. Recognizing text organization: Rearrange the paragraph, Choose and put the phrases/ sentences to where they fit in a text. 5. Inferring: Identify the information that is not explicitly stated in a paragraph/ text. 6. Understanding the writers attitude: Choose the option that best describes the writers attitude.

49
7. Comprehension questions: Multiple choice questions, Long answer questions 8. Summarizing the text 3.2.3. Grammatical items The results of the survey and the requirements of the MOET and of the tests for the excellent students, the following grammatical items are selected for a reading syllabus. 1. Sequence of tenses 2. Special cases of the passive voice 3. Phrasal verbs 4. Word-formation 5. Prepositions following adjectives 6. Prepositions after verbs 7. Prepositions after nouns 8. Emphatic structure 9. Subjunctives 10. Inversions

These items are commonly covered in the national exams for the gifted. Furthermore, this syllabus aims at supplementing the textbook in terms of types of exercises and improving the students' reading skills and language so that they can perform well in the national exams. Hence, in spite of being taught in grade 11 and 12 by MOET, these items will be included in this syllabus content. 3.3. Time schedule According to the requirement of the MOET, this syllabus must be taught in two terms, so the 30-period syllabus takes at least 30 weeks to finish. Each term has 15 periods, which will be arranged from week 2 to week 16 in the first term and from week 19 to 33 in the second term, the others will be spent on consolidation and achievement tests. Therefore, 15 units will be taught in 30 weeks, which means that one unit is distributed two weeks and each unit lasts two hours. 3.4. Syllabus organization Items in this syllabus are organized spirally to facilitate teaching and learning because the syllabus will be taught in the extra class in the afternoon. This means that new pieces of languages or skills are learnt intermittently in different contexts. For instance, some of the skills taught in the unit 1 may also be the skills taught in other units, but they include higher order of reading skills such as inferring or guessing unfamiliar words in a text and the texts used in each unit must be more difficult. Regarding the sequence of topics, the syllabus starts with the themes that are equivalent to those in the compulsory textbook. This is because with the classification like that students themselves can supplement some vocabulary as well as the background knowledge about the themes they have studied.

50
3.5. The Proposed Syllabus for grade 10 English gifted students at Tuyen Quang Specialized Upper Secondary School. Having foundation on the results analysis of the students' needs and the requirements of the MOET in general and tests for the excellent students in particular, a supplementary reading syllabus for the grade 10 gifted students has been discerned. The syllabus including 15 units will be primarily composed of five components: topics, skills, grammar, vocabulary and tasks/ activities. Authentic texts are recommended. The selection of these texts is based on the criteria set up by Nuttall (2005: 170). Three main criteria influence on the choice of texts: suitability (the text should interest the readers), exploitability (the text should facilitate learning) and readability (the text should be relevant to the students' level). Table 11 indicates a proposed supplementary reading syllabus (see Appendix 1). 3.6. Summary This chapter has presented a chosen syllabus for grade 10 English students at TQSS. The syllabus is built on students' needs, the requirements of the MOET and those of English tests for excellent students. A syllabus composed of some components, topics, skills, grammar, vocabulary and tasks/ activities, is constructed. Of all these components, topics and skills are considered as major ones of the syllabus. The specification and organization of the content into teaching syllabus of relevant learning unit have also been prescribed. With a view to syllabus illustration, a sample unit (see Appendix 2) is presented with specific activities set up to exploit the text.

51

Part III: Conclusion

With the aim of helping the gifted at Tuyen Quang Specialized Upper Secondary School read effectively and get prizes in the national exam for the excellent, providing them with a supplementary reading syllabus is of great importance. As clearly illustrated in the introductory part, this study implemented is due to such reasons as the requirements of the specialized education, the mismatch between the requirements of the MOET on testing the national excellent students and those of the current curriculum. Moreover, a supplementary material specifically developed for the gifted has apparently been insufficient. For all these reasons, we have carried out a study on designing a supplementary reading syllabus for grade 10 English gifted students at Tuyen Quang Specialized Upper secondary School. Considered as the point of departure of the study, the literature reviews on syllabus design and needs analysis have provided concepts and steps for designing a syllabus. Moreover, the literature review on reading comprehension has also been supplied with a remarkable insight into reading approaches, reading process and reading strategies/skills, which assist the author to select appropriate skills for the syllabus. The teaching and learning situation has been analyzed thoroughly. More importantly, the study of the current textbook based on the requirement of the MOET indicates that it has limited types of reading exercises which are too easy and give no stimulus for gifted students. Only two types of them are often used in the tests for excellent students. Also, there is a needs analysis of grade 10 English gifted students at school. The results of the needs analysis show that the students have difficulties in some types of reading exercises, vocabulary and background knowledge in some topics, so both the teachers and the students generally hold the expectations of the syllabus. They all expect to learn more demanding reading skills and grammatical items that are about to be tested in the national exams. They also express their interests in some certain topics. A proposed supplementary reading syllabus is presented with its aims and objectives, its content specification, its time schedule and syllabus organization. A sample unit is also supplied in order to make this reading syllabus workable. Hopefully, this proposed syllabus will meet the students' needs and point out the contents that the teachers have to teach in order to fulfill the requirements of the MOET for the gifted and of the tests for the excellent students with the aim of enhancing the students' results of the exams.

52
No matter how much attempt has been made, the study cannot avoid certain limitations. The first shortcoming is attributed to the limited needs analysis. As presented in chapter 2, the study involves a group of 35 grade 10 English gifted students and 5 English teachers teaching in English classes. Although their needs were demonstrated, this limitation somehow prevented us from getting a full idea of students' needs at varying degrees of proficiency. Another limitation is that the assessment of the students English proficiency level is subjective because no tests are taken. Last but not the least, there are differences in the teachers' and the students' perceptions in the necessity of a few topics and that of grammatical items but within the scope of the study they cannot be clearly explained. Therefore, it is hoped that further study would be conducted with a larger needs analysis including experts opinions and even grade 11 students ideas to achieve a reliable result. The estimate of the students level of proficiency and their difficulties is more objective when tests on them are taken. It would be better to clarify the teachers' and the students' different perceptions in the necessity of a few topics and that of grammatical items.

53

References
Aebersold, J. A. & Field, M. L. (1998). From reader to reading teacher.USA: Cambridge University Press. Alderson, J.C., Urquahart, A.H. (1984). Reading in a foreign language. Longman Group Limited, Essex. Alderson, J.C. (2000). Accessing reading. UK: Cambridge University Press. Allen, J.P.B. (1984). "General -Purpose Language Teaching: a Variable Focus Approach" in Brumfit, C.J. (ed). General English Syllabus Design. Pergamon Press Ltd. and The British Council. Anh, T & Phuong, M.V. (2006). Ting Anh 10 Nng Cao. Hanoi: NXB Giao Duc Berwick, R. (1989). "Needs Assessment in Language programming: From Theory to Practice" in Johnson. K. (Ed). The second language Curriculum. Cambridge University Press. Bo Giao Duc va Dao tao. (2006). Ti liu bi dng gio vin- mn ting Anh- Lp 10. H Ni: NXB Giao Duc. Bo Giao Duc va Dao Tao. (2006). Hng dn ni dung dy cc mn chuyn- Lp 10 cc trng THPT Chuyn. ( Adapted since 2006-2007 academic year) Brassell, D & Rasinski, T. (1997). Comprehension that Works: Taking Students Beyond Ordinary Understanding to Deep Comprehension. Shell Education. Brindley, G. (1984). Needs Analysis and Objective Setting in the Adult Migrant Education Program. Sydney: Adult Migrant Education Service. Brumfit, C.J (1984). "The limits of the Language Syllabus" in Read, J.A.S. (ed). Trends in Languages Syllabus Design. Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre. Candlin, C. (1984). Syllabus Design as a Critical Process, ELT Documents, No 118. London: Pergamon & The British council. Duffy, G. (1993). Rethinking Strategy Instruction: for Teachers Development and their Low Acheivers Understandings. Elementary School Journal, 93. Gibbons, J. (1984). Sequencing in Language Syllabus Design in Read, J.A.S (ed.). Trends in Language Syllabus Design. Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre. Grellet, F. (1981). Developing reading skills. A practical guide to reading comprehension Exercises. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Hutchinson and Waters (1987). English for Specific Purposes. Cambridge University Press. Mountford, A. (1981). The What, the Why and the Way. In Aupelf/ Goethe Institute British Council (I). Munby, J. (1978). Communicative Syllabus Design. Cambridge University Press. Munby, J. (1984). Communicative Syllabus Design: Principles and Problems in Read, J.A.S. (ed). Trends in Languages Syllabus Design. Singapore: SEAMEO Regional

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Language Centre. Nunan (1988). Syllabus design. Oxford University Press. Nunan (1988). Learner- centred curriculum. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Nuttall, C. (2005). Teaching reading skills in a foreign language. (3rd ed) Thailand: Macmillan Education. ONeill, R. (1982). Why use textbooks? ELT Journals. Oxford University Press. Richards, J.Q (1984). Language Curriculum Development. RELC Journal, Vol.14, No.1,June 1984. Sao. L.M. (2008). Students perceived difficulties in reading comprehension with reference to new Tieng Anh 10 textbook at Nghi Loc IV High School. An M.A thesis University of Language and International Studies. Hanoi. Shaw, A.M. (1975). Approaches to a Communicative Syllabus in Foreign Language Curriculum Development. Ph.D.thesis, University of Essex. Silberstein, S. (1994). Techniques and resources in teaching reading . Hong Kong. Oxford University Press. Tuyen Quang Specialized Upper Secondary School. Report on the results of three academic years ( 2008- 2010). Tests of the national examination for the excellent students from 2007 to 2010 provided by MOET Tudor, I. (1996). Learner-centeredness as language teaching education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Vale, D., A.Scarino, and P. McKay. (1996). Pocket all. Victoria, Australia: Curriculum Corportion. Wilkins, D.A. (1976). Notional Syllabuses. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Yalden, J. (1983). The communicative Syllabus: Evolution, Design and Implication. Oxford: Pergamon Press.

55 Appendix 1:
Table 11: The proposed Supplementary Reading Syllabus for grade 10 English gifted students Week Topics Skills - Skimming - Comprehension questions Grammar Vocabulary Tasks/ Activities - Identify the main ideas within paragraphs - Complete the sentences with correct answers - Word Webs - Rearrange each paragraph - Combine the root words with the suffixes.

1+2

Cultural diversity

3+4

Cultural diversity

- Word- formation : the formation of Text- based lexis adjectives - Sequence of verbs - Recognize text organization - The formation of Text- based lexis - Summarizing adjectives - Inferring - Comprehension questions - Subjunctive - The formation of nouns - Prepositions after verbs - Special cases of passive voice - Phrasal verbs

5+6

Education

- Making an inference Text -based lexis - Reading comprehension - Look for words whose meanings are similar to the words provided Text- based lexis - Choose the title that fits the texts best - Reading comprehension - Combine the root words with the suffixes.

7+8 Education

- Scanning for specific information - Skimming - Inferring - Comprehension questions - Guess the meaning of unfamiliar words

9 + 10 Technology

11+12 Nature

13+ 14 Nature

- Emphatic - Recognize text organization structures - Comprehension questions - Skimming -Understanding the author's attitude - Subjunctive - Prepositions after verbs

15+16

Environment

- Making an inference Text- based lexis - Reading comprehension -Combine the root words with the prefixes - Choose the words or sentences relating to Text- based lexis paragraph - Summarizing -Choose and put the phrases/ sentences to where Text- based lexis they fit in the text. - Multiple choice questions - Choose the best option that best describes the writer's attitude. Text- based lexis - Summarizing - Grouping words

56

Week

Topics

Skills

Grammar

Vocabulary

Tasks/ Activities - Choose the words or sentences relating to paragraph - Look for words whose meanings are similar to the words provided - Making an inference - Rearrange the paragraph - Scan a text for specific information - Multiple choice - Choose the words or sentences relating to paragraph - Reading comprehension - Look for words whose meanings are opposite the words provided - Choose the best option that best describes the writer's attitude - Scan for specific information

17+ 18 Environment

- Guessing a word via a context - Inferring - Recognize text organization - Scanning

- Inversions

Text- based lexis

19 +20 Recreation

- Inversion - Phrasal verbs

Text- based lexis

Books 21+ 22

- The formation of -Guessing unfamiliar words Nouns via a context. - Prepositions after - Comprehension questions adjectives - Scanning - Understanding the writer's attitude - Comprehension questions - Inferring - Skimming - Scanning for specific information - Understanding the writer's attitude - Comprehension questions - Prepositions following verbs

Text- based lexis

23+24

Sports

Text- based lexis

25+ 26 Women

- Prepositions after Nouns

English language 27 + 28 Learning languages 29+ 30 English language Learning languages

- Phrasal verbs - Phrasal verbs

- Reading comprehension - Making an inference Text- based lexis - Look for words whose meanings are opposite the words provided - Identify the main ideas with the paragraph. Text- based lexis - Summarizing - Reading comprehension - Choose the best option that best describes the Text- based lexis writer's attitude. - Summarizing

57 Appendix 2: Sample Reading Unit: Topic - Cultural diversity

Unit 1: Travel manners I. Before you read Task 1. Look at the chart. Are these types of behavior acceptable in your country ? Check () Acceptable or Unacceptable. Type of behavior 1. raising your voice in a public place 2. looking someone in the eyes while speaking 3. discussing religion with people you dont know well. 4. asking someones age 5. moving your hands while talking 6. asking about someones home life. Task 2. Look at the title of the reading. How do you think the following words relate to the topic of the reading ? obscene taboo Acceptable Unacceptable

violation acceptable

aggressive

insult

Every culture has its own unwritten list of behavior that is acceptable. Every society also has its taboos, or types of behavior that are considered a violation of good manners. If you travel to another country, on business or vacation, it is helpful to learn some of that countrys customs so that you dont insult the local people. The word taboo comes from the Tongan language and is used in modem English to describe verbal and nonverbal behavior that is forbidden or to be avoided. In spite of

58
what some may think, taboos are not universal; they tend to be specific to a culture or country, and usually form around a groups values and beliefs. Therefore, what is considered acceptable behavior in one country may be serious taboo in another. Verbal taboos usually involve topics that people believe are too private to talk about publicly, or relate to ones manner of speaking. In many cultures, for example, it is considered bad manners and is often offensive to discuss subjects such as sex or religion in public. In some countries, the volume of ones voice may offend people. In Japan, for example, people tend to be more soft-spoken, and might think that someone who is speaking or laughing loudly is rude or aggressive. Nonverbal taboos usually relate to body language. For example, one of the biggest differences among many Western, Asian, and African cultures is the use of eye contact. In the U.S, people make eye contact when they talk to others. If a person avoids eye contact, others might think they are being dishonest or that they lack confidence. If two people are having a conversation and the listener is not interested. In many Asian cultures, however, making direct eye contact with someone is often considered bold or aggressive. In many African cultures, making direct eye contact with an older person or a person of higher social rank or status is considered rude and disrespectful. In many Asian and African cultures, children are taught to lower their eyes when talking to their elders, or those of higher rank, as a way to show respect. Certain actions, especially with the hands and feet, can cause offense in many cultures. In Thailand, as in most other Buddhism cultures in Asia, touching a person on the head is considered very insulting because the head in the highest, and therefore considered the most important, part of the body. As the feet are the lowest, pointing at someone with one of your feet, or showing the soles of your feet to someone, is considered insulting in many Asian countries. Certain gestures made with the hands can have very different meanings depending on the country you are in. Crossing your middle finger over your forefinger is the sign for good luck in many western countries; in Vietnam and Argentina, however, it is an obscene gesture. Making a V sign with the forefinger and middle finger, with the palm of your hand turned toward your body, is often used to mean a quantity of two. However, in the U.K and Australia, this gesture in obscene. Also, in some Asian countries, moving your hands a lot while talking, or talking with your hands, is considered unseemly.

59
Behavior that is acceptable and non-offensive in one culture can be highly offensive in another. When visiting a foreign country, be aware of some of the basic differences, as this will help to ensure a more enjoyable trip. II. After you read Task 1: Skim the reading quickly and underline the main idea of each paragraph. Then, match each sentence below with the paragraph it describes. Write the number of the paragraph next to each sentence. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ Actions made with the hands have different meanings around the word. All cultures have types of behavior that are considered good or bad manners. In some cultures, there are topics that are not okay to discuss publicly. The volume of ones voice can also be taboo. Nonverbal taboos relate to messages we send with our bodies. Taboos are not the same everywhere, they are usually culture-specific. Remember that something that is okay in one culture may not be okay in another. Somebody language using the hands or feet can offend others.

Task 2: Read the passage again. Complete each sentence with the correct answer, then discuss your answers with a partner. 1. Before traveling to another country, its often a good idea to................................... 2. The word taboo meansand comes from the............language. 3. A taboo behavior is usually based on a groups.......................... 4. In certain cultures, it is bad manners to discuss these topics in public...... 5. In the U.S., people expect others to................................when talking. In Asian and African cultures, people often avoid it because........ 6. In many Asian cultures, it is very rude to touch a person on the............. or to point at the person with your..................... 7. ........ is a sign of good luck in many Western countries, but it is in Argentina and Vietnam. Task 3: Write the part of speech and definition of each letter in the chart. For example: Number 1 has been done Vocabulary 1. bold Part of speech adjective Definition g

60
2. violation 3. insult 4. forbidden 5. value 6. aggressive 7. offensive 8. unseemly 9. obscene. a. inappropriate, not suitable or proper. b. not allowed, to be avoided. d. extremely rude in a shocking way e. the breaking of a rule or law f. very forceful or threatening with words or behavior. h. rude , unpleasant, insulting. i. a principle or quality considered worthwhile or desirable. Task 4: Read each statement and circle the best answer. Then give one more example for each vocabulary item. 1. In many cultures, (spitting/talking) might be considered offensive. 2. (Stealing/Shopping) in forbidden almost everywhere. 3. In many countries, it might be unseemly for a man to wear (pants/shorts) to work. 4. A (sleeping cat/hungry dog) might be aggressive. 5. In many countries, students are considered to be bold it they disagree with their (teachers/ classmates). 6. (Respect / Housing) for the elderly an important value in many societies. 7. You might insult an American if you ask (his or her age/where he or she is from). 8. (Shaking hands/Raising the middle finger) is considered an obscene gesture in many countries. 9. It is a violation of good manners in many Asian countries to enter a home with your shoes (on/off).

c. to be rude another with words or actions, to fend. g. daring, forward, willing to take risks

61

Task 5: Complete the diagram below using the words in the box. Then, add other words or phrases you learned in this chapter. Explain your diagram to a partner. Verbal nonverbal obscene offensive make eye contact

Acceptable and Taboo Behavior in the United States

Pointing at someone

Shows confidence

Acceptable

Behavio r

Asking someone's age

Raising one's middle finger

Calling someone by his /her first name

Task 6: Discuss the following questions with a partner: 1. Imagine someone is going to visit you country. Make a list of three acceptable and three taboo forms of behavior this visitor should know about. 2. In your country are there any forms of behavior that used to be considered unseemly or offensive, that arent anymore? 3. Do you think peoples values in you country have changed much in recent years?

62
4. Have you, or has someone you know ever done something that offended a person from another country ? III. Language focus: The formation of adjectives Task 1: Read the passage again and find the examples of adjectives Task 2: Look at the following adjectives and say how they are formed. acceptable, aggressive, respectful, western, historic, musical, weekly, dangerous, Adjectives formed with suffixes Many adjectives related to verbs or nouns have a characteristic ending (or suffixes) Task 3: Add more adjectives into the following list. - able - ive - ful - al - ly - ic - ous - (i)an - ant - ible - ish changeable attractive successful practical friendly historic poisonous Egyptian pleasant permissible foolish comfortable informative harmful economical cowardly energetic humorous Victorian exorbitant illegible childish reliable impressive truthful identical lovely scientific luxurious Italian hesistant responsible reddish advisable aggressive boastful political yearly climatic industrious Brazilian abundant possible bookish

Task 4: Supply the adjectival forms. Refer to the box above only when you have to. 1. It is a good idea in theory, but rather _________________ . 2. I'm attracted by this scheme. I find it very _____________ . 3. A class of forty can be managed. It's just about _________________. 4. I know I hesitated before agreeing. I couldn't help ________________. 5. I don't know where you find all that energy. You are tremedously ______________. 6. This piece of furniture was made in the reign of Victory. It's ________________. 7. I don't know how to describe the colour of the sky. It's almost red, sort of ____________. 8. I have never met anyone who boasts as he does. He is extremely _______________ . 9. What level of radiation can be permitted? How much radiation is _____________ ? 10. The story is full of humour. I have rarely read anything that is so _____________ .

63 Appendix: 3
QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE TEACHERS The only purpose of this questionnaire is to gather the ideas of the teachers at Tuyen Quang Specialized Upper Secondary School to design a Supplementary Reading Syllabus for grade 10 English gifted students. Your answers to the questions will be of great significance to designing this Supplementary Reading Syllabus. So, please response to each question and fulfill all of them as frankly as possible. All the information you give will be used for research purposes only. Thank you very much for your kind co-operation! Part I: Difficulties in terms of reading skills. ( Please put a tick () the appropriate following boxes . The term N/A used in this section means not applicable. It is a suitable answer if you have never had your students do a certain kind of exercise.) 1. How difficult do your students find in terms of reading exercises? 5- Very easy 4- easy 3- Normal 2- Difficult 1- Very difficult 0- N/A No 1 Skimming Reading exercises 1.1. Choose the words or sentences relating to the paragraph 1.2. Choose the title that fits the text best. 1.3. Identify the main ideas within paragraphs or in reading texts. 2.1. Scan the text for specific information 2.2. Scan a text quickly to answer a question about specific information presented before reading 3.1. Guess unfamiliar words in a text via a context. 3.2. Guess the meaning of unfamiliar words in a text via synonym, antonym, their prefixes and suffixes. 4.1. Rearrange the paragraph. 4.2. Choose and put the phrases / sentences to where they fit in a text. 5.1. Identify the information that is not explicitly stated in a paragraph/ text. 5 4 3 2 1 0

Scanning

Guessing unfamiliar words in a text

Recognizing text organization

Inferring

64
Utilizing non-text 6 information 7 Understanding the writers attitude 8 Comprehension questions 6.1. Fill in the table with the information from the reading passage. 7.1. Choose the option that best describes the writers attitude. 8.1. Multiple choice questions 8.2. Short answer questions 8.3. Long answer questions 9 Other exercises 9.1. Summarize the text 9.2. True or false

2. What problems do you think your students encounter when learning reading comprehension? 1- Very difficult 2- Difficult 3- Normal 4- Easy 5- Very easy

No 1 2 3 4

Areas of difficulty Vocabulary Grammar Background knowledge Others: (please, specify) ......

Please, specify .............................................. .............................................. ..............................................

Section II. The ideas to design a Supplementary Reading Syllabus.

3. Do you think it is _________ to design a supplementary reading syllabus for grade 10 English gifted students ? very necessary necessary fairly necessary unnecessary not necessary at all

65

4. Please put tick () the following topics you think should be included in a supplementary reading syllabus and indicate how interesting and necessary they are. Add more of your own (if any).

Level of interest Very necessary Very boring Interesting Very interesting Normal No

Level of necessity Not necessary at all Unnecessary Necessary Fairly necessary

Boring

Topics

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Education Environment Sports Famous people Culture Jobs English languages learning languages Recreation Music Technology Mass media Wonders Nature Hobbies Woman Daily life Celebrations Famous places Books Computers Others: ...

66

5.

Please tick () in the boxes to indicate which of the following grammatical items should be included in grade 10 and how necessary they are. Unnecessary Not necessary at all Very necessary Necessary Fairly necessary

No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Grammatical items

Sequence of tenses Gerund and infinitive The present participle and past participle Special cases of passive voice Phrasal verbs Compound nouns Compound adjectives Word-formations The order of adjective in adjective phrase Prepositions following nouns Preposition after verbs Prepositions following adjectives Prepositions of time and places Comparisons Linking words: (either .or; neither . nor; so .. that .etc) Unreal past with wish, it's time, as if . Subjunctive Inversion Direct and Indirect speech The structure of emphasis Conditional sentences Restrictive and non restrictive relative clauses Others: (Please specify)

67

Appendix 4
PHIU HI KIN ( QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS) Mc ch ca phiu hi ny nhm thu thp kin ca hc sinh lp 10 Chuyn Anh - Trng THPT Chuyn Tuyn Quang phc v cho vic xy dng chng trnh c hiu ph tr ph hp vi mc tiu o to ca nh trng v p ng c nhu cu ca cc em lp 10 chuyn . Nhng kin ng gp ca cc em s gp phn quan trng trong nghin cu ca ti. Xin chn thnh cm n s hp tc ca cc em! Phn I: Nhng kh khn trong k nng c. (Em hy nh du () vo cc tng ng di y v cc dng bi tp c hiu.) 1. Em hy cho bit kin ca em v cc dng bi tp c hiu di y. 5- Rt d 4- D 3- Bnh thng 2- Kh 1- Rt kh 0- Bi tp cha c lm

STT

Cc dng bi tp c hiu c lt ly chnh 1.1. Chn cu tm tt hoc cu ch thch hp vi tng on. 1.2. Chn ch thch hp vi bi kha. 1.3. Xc nh cc chnh trong cc on hoc trong bi c. 2.1. c lt ly thng tin c th. 2.2. c lt bi kha ly thng tin c th c yu cu trc khi c. 3.1. on ngha ca t mi da vo ng cnh. 3.2. on ngha ca t mi da vo t ng ngha , tri ngha, v cu to t. 4.1. Sp xp li trt t cc on trong bi c. 4.2. Chn cm t hoc cu in vo ch thch hp trong bi c. 5.1. Xc nh thng tin m khng c ni r trong bi. 6.1. Dng cc t ni thm vo. 6.2. Dng cc t ni ch thi gian lin quan gia cc s kin.

c lt ly thng tin c th on ngha ca t trong bi Nhn bit cu trc ca bi c. Suy lun Cc bi tp v php ni trong

4 5

68
vn bn. Hiu thi ca tc gi. 6.3. Dng cc t ni ch l do, nguyn nhn, mc ch .. 7.1.Chn phng n miu t thi ca tc gi. 8.1. Cu hi nhiu la chn. 8.2. Cu tr li ngn. 8.3. Cu tr li di. 9.1. Tm tt bi kha. 9.2. Chn cu tr li ng hoc sai.

Cc loi cu hi c hiu.

Cc dng bi tp khc

2. Em hy cho bit nhng kh khn m em thng gp phi trong khi hc c hiu. 1- Rt kh Stt 1 2 3 4 2- Kh 1 3- Bnh thng 2 3 4 5 4- D 5- Rt d

Cc mt gp kh khn T vng Ng php Kin thc nn kin khc: ................

Hy cho bit c th ............................................................ ........................................................... ........................................................... ..........................................................

Phn II. Nhng kin xy dng chng trnh c ph tr. 3. Theo em xy dng mt chng trnh c hiu ph tr cho hc sinh lp 10 chuyn l: - Rt cn thit - Cn thit - Tng i cn thit - Khng cn thit - Khng cn thit cht no c

69

4. Em hy nh du () vo cc tng ng di y v nhng ch im cn phi c trong chng trnh c hiu ph tr v cho bit cc mc tng ng. ( Ghi thm nhng ch im khc theo kin ring ca em) Cc cp th v Th Bnh Khng Khng v Thng th v th v cht no Cc cp cn thit Cn Tng Khng Khng thit i cn cn cn thit thit thit cht no

Stt

Rt th v

Ch im

Rt cn thit

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Gio dc Mi trng Th thao Ngi ni ting a dng Vn ha Vic lm Ngn ng Ting Anh Gii tr m nhc Cng ngh Cc phng tin truyn thng Cc k quan th gii Thin nhin S thch Ph n Cuc sng hng ngy Cc l hi Cc danh lam thng cnh Sch My vi tnh Cc ch

70
khc: 5. Em hy nh du () vo cc mc cn thit ca cc kha cnh ngn ng cn c luyn tp trong chng trnh c hiu ph tr. 1. Rt cn thit 2. Cn thit 3. Tng i cn thit 4. Khng cn thit 5. Khng cn thit cht no c Stt 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 - Kt hp th - Danh ng t v ng t nguyn th - Hin ti phn t v qu kh phn t - Cc trng hp c bit ca b ng - Cm ng t - Danh t ghp - Tnh t ghp - Cu to t - Trt t ca tnh t - Gii t theo sau danh t - Gii t theo sau ng t - Gii t theo sau tnh t - Gii t ch thi gian v a im - So snh - T ni: ( Eg either.or, neither nor, so. That. - Cu iu kin khng c thc ( Unreal past with wish , its time, as if, as though.. 17 18 19 20 21 22 - Thc gi nh - o ng - Trc tip gin tip - Cu trc nhn mnh - Cu iu kin - i t quan h Kha cnh ngn ng 1 2 3 4 5

71
23 Cc dng khc: .

72 Appendix 5
Teachers' perceptions of their students in terms of reading exercises
Item s

Reading exercises N 1.1. Choose the words or sentences relating to the paragraph 1.2. Choose the title that fits the text best 1.3. Identify the main ideas within paragraphs or in reading texts. 2.1. Scan the text for specific information 2.2. Scan a text quickly to answer a question about specific information presented before reading 3.1. Guess unfamiliar words in a text via a context 3.2. Guess unfamiliar words in a text via synonym, antonym, their prefixes and suffixes 4.1. Rearrange the paragraph 4.2. Choose and put the phrases / sentences to where they fit in a text. 5.1. Identify the information that is not explicitly stated in a paragraph / text 6.1.Filling in the table with the information from the reading passage 7.1. Choose the option that best describes the writer's attitude 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 2

Easy

Normal

Difficult

Very difficult

P 0 0 0 0 20 0 20 20 0 0 40

N 4 3 1 4 2 0 2 2 1 0 3

P 80 60 20 80 40 0 40 40 20 0 60

N 1 2 3 1 2 4 2 2 4 2 0

P 20 40 60 20 40 80 40 40 80 40 0

N 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 0

P 0 0 20 0 0 20 0 0 0 60 0

Skimming

Scanning

Guessing unfamiliar words in a text Recognizing text organization Inferring Utilizing text information Understandin g the writer's attitude

5 6

60

40

73
8 9 Comprehensio n questions Other exercises 8.1. 8.2. 8.3. 9.1. 9.2. Multiple choice questions Short answer questions Long answer questions Summarize the text True or False 1 2 0 0 2 20 40 0 0 40 2 3 2 1 3 40 60 40 20 60 2 0 3 4 0 40 0 60 80 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

( N: The number of the teachers; P: The percentage of the teachers)

74

Level of interest Ite ms 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Very interest ing N P 1 20 1 20 1 20 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 40 0 0 20 0 0 20 0 Interest ing N 3 4 3 1 4 3 4 4 3 4 3 3 3 2 4 3 3 3 3 3 P 60 80 60 20 80 60 80 80 60 80 60 60 60 40 80 60 60 60 60 60 Normal N 1 0 1 2 0 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 P 20 0 20 40 0 20 20 20 20 20 40 40 0 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 Boring N 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 1 0 1 P 0 0 0 40 0 20 0 0 20 0 0 0 0 40 0 0 20 20 0 20

Topics
Education Environment Sports Famous people Culture diversity Jobs English languagelearning language Recreation Music Technology Mass media Wonders Nature Hobbies Women Daily life Celebration s Famous places Books Computer

Very necessary N 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P 20 0 0 0 20 0 20 20 0 0 0 0 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Level of necessity Fairly Necessar Unnecess necessar y ary y N P N P N P 4 80 0 0 0 0 5 100 0 0 0 0 4 80 1 20 0 0 1 4 4 4 3 0 4 2 2 4 1 4 3 3 3 4 3 20 80 80 80 60 0 80 40 40 80 20 80 60 60 60 80 60 2 0 1 0 1 2 1 3 3 0 2 1 2 2 1 1 2 40 0 20 0 20 40 20 60 60 0 40 20 40 40 20 20 40 2 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 40 0 0 0 0 60 0 0 0 0 40 0 0 0 20 0 0

75
0 0 0 0 0 Others: 0 0 0 0 0 0 Teachers' perceptions of their students' ranking grammatical items N: The number of the teachers ; P: The percentage of the No Grammatical items Very Necessary Fairly Unnecessar teachers 21 0

Appendix 7
0 0

0 Not

Appendix 6

Teachers' perceptions of their students' interest and necessity in reading topics

76
necessary N 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Sequence of tenses Gerund and infinitive The present participle and past participle Special cases of passive voice Phrasal verbs Compound nouns Compound adjectives Word-formation The order of adjectives in adjective phrase Prepositions following nouns Prepositions after verbs Prepositions following adjectives Prepositions of time and places Comparisons Linking words: Unreal past with wish, it's time, as if . Subjunctive Inversion Direct and Indirect speech The structure of emphasis Conditional sentences Restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses Others :( Please, specify) .
0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0

necessary N
4 3 3 4 3 3 3 4 1 4 3 3 0 2 3 3 3 3 3 4 3 3 0

y N
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

P
0 0 0 0 20 0 0 0 0 0 20 20 0 0 20 0 20 20 0 0 0 0 0

P
80 60 60 80 60 60 60 80 20 80 60 60 0 40 60 60 60 60 60 80 60 60 0

N
1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 0

P
20 40 40 20 20 40 40 20 20 20 20 20 40 40 20 40 20 20 40 20 40 40 0

P
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 40 0 0 0 40 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

necessary at all N P
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 0 0 0 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

77

( N: The number of the teachers, P:The percentage of the teachers)

Appendix 8
No Students' perceptions of their difficulties in terms of reading exercises Difficul Easy Normal t Reading exercises N P N P N P 1.1. Choose the words or sentences 11, 54, 34, 4 19 12 relating to the paragraph 4 3 3 1.2. Choose the title that fits the text 57, 28, Skimming best 3 8,6 20 2 10 5 1.3. Identify the main ideas within 25, 54, 0 0 9 19 paragraphs or in reading texts. 7 3 2.1. Scan the text for specific 28, 48, information 5 14,3 10 5 17 6 Scanning 2.2. Scan a text quickly to answer a 28, question about specific information 3 8,6 21 60 10 5 presented before reading 3.1. Guess unfamiliar words in a text 0 0 3 8,6 21 60 Guessing via a context unfamiliar 3.2. Guess unfamiliar words in a text words in a 14, 54, 25, via synonym, antonym, their prefixes and 5 19 9 text 3 3 7 suffixes 31, 54, Recognising 4.1. Rearrange the paragraph 0 0 11 4 19 3 text 25, 57, 4.2. Choose and put the phrases / organization 0 0 9 20 7 2 sentences to where they fit in a text. 5.1. Identify the information that is 62, Inferring not explicitly stated in a paragraph / 0 0 2 5,7 22 9 text Utilizing 25, 14, text 6.1.Filling in the table with the 21 60 9 5 7 3 information information from the reading passage Very difficult N 0 2 7 3 1 11 2 5 6 11 0 P 0 5,7 20 8,6 2,9 31,4 5,7 14,3 17,1 31,4 0

5 6

78
7 Understanding 7.1. Choose the option that best the writer's describes the writer's attitude attitude 8.1. Multiple choice questions Comprehension questions 8.2. Short answer questions 8.3. Long answer questions 9 Other exercises 9.1. Summarise the text 9.2. True or False 0 5 20 0 0 20 0 14, 3 57, 2 0 0 57, 2 2 19 10 12 11 10 5,7 54, 3 28, 5 34, 3 31, 4 28, 5 23 9 5 21 20 5 65, 8 25, 7 14, 3 60, 0 57, 2 14, 3 10 2 0 2 4 0 28,5 5,7 0 5,7 11,4 0

N: The number of the students; P Percent of the students

79 Appendix 9
Students' perceptions of their interest and necessity in reading topics Level of interest
Items

Very Interesting interesting N 5 11 4 3 11 8 10 9 11 7 3 3 15 2 4 6 7 6 14 3 P 14,3 31,4 11,4 8,6 31,4 22,9 28,5 25,7 31,4 20 8,6 8,6 42,9 5,7 11,4 17,1 20 17,1 40 8,6 N 20 19 21 9 18 9 17 19 17 18 10 6 16 3 21 9 15 9 15 18 P 57,2 54,3 60 25,7 51,4 25,7 48,6 54,3 48,6 51,4 28,5 17,1 45,7 8,6 60 25,7 42,9 25,7 42,9 51,4

Normal N 10 5 9 10 5 14 8 7 7 8 20 18 4 16 8 20 10 19 6 6

Boring P 0 0 2,9 37,2

Topics

Level of necessity Very Fairly Necessary Unnece necessary necessary N 15 16 8 3 15 5 11 8 3 10 5 0 21 0 7 6 2 2 7 0 P 42,9 45,7 22,9 8,6 42,9 14,3 31,4 22,9 8,6 28,5 14,3 0 60 0 20 17,1 5,7 5,7 20 0 N 14 14 16 6 14 12 19 19 6 20 10 10 12 4 19 17 5 12 20 19 P 40 40 45,7 17,1 40 34,3 54,3 54,3 17,1 57,2 28,5 28,5 34,3 11,4 54,3 48,6 14,3 34,3 57,2 54,3 N 6 5 5 12 6 11 5 6 15 5 15 14 2 15 9 9 25 18 6 12 P 17,1 14,3 14,3 34,3 17,1 31,4 14,3 17,1 42,9 14,3 42,9 40 5,7 42,9 25,7 25,7 71,4 51,4 17,1 34,3 N 0 0 6 14 0 7 0 2 11 0 5 1 0 16 0 3 3 3 2 4

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

P N 28,5 0 14,3 0 25,7 1 28,5 13 14,3 40 22,9 20 20 22,9 57,2 51,4 11,4 45,7 22,9 57,2 28,5 54,3 17,1 17,1 1 4 0 0 0 2 2 8 0 14 2 0 3 1 0 8

Education Environment Sports Famous people Culture 2,9 diversity 11,4 Jobs English language0 learning languages 0 Recreation 0 Music 5,7 Technology 5,7 Mass media 22,9 Wonders 0 Nature 40 Hobbies 5,7 Women 0 Daily life 8,6 Celebrations 2,9 Famous places 0 Books 22,9 Computer

80 Appendix 10
21 0 0 Students' of 0 0 perceptions 0 0 0 ranking their grammatical items 0 Others: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

(N: The number of the students; P: The percentage of the students)

81
Very necessar y N P 9 25, 7 3 8,6 7 8 Special cases of passive voice 5 Phrasal verbs 6 Compound nouns 7 Compound adjectives 8 9 10 Prepositions following nouns 11 Preposition after verbs 12 Prepositions following adjectives 13 Prepositions of time and places 14 15 Comparisons Linking words: ( either or; neither nor; so that ..etc) 3 8 8,6 22, 9 15 12 0 0 5 12 7 20 34, 3 19 11 7 20 18 Word-formation The order of adjectives in adjective phrase 12 0 6 8 14 40 22, 9 17, 1 34, 3 0 12 12 15 17 7 20 22, 9 Necessar y N 16 17 14 18 P 45, 7 48, 6 40 51, 4 34, 3 34, 3 42, 9 48, 6 20 51, 4 54, 3 31, 4 14, 3 42, 9 34, 3 Normal N 8 6 9 6 7 5 7 6 9 8 9 9 10 11 10 P 22, 9 17, 1 25, 7 17, 1 20 14, 3 20 17, 1 25, 7 22, 9 25, 7 25, 7 28, 5 31, 4 28, 5 Unnecessa ry N 2 5 5 3 2 6 5 0 11 2 0 3 8 4 3 P 5,7 14, 3 14, 3 8,6 5,7 17, 1 14, 3 0 31, 4 5,7 0 8,6 22, 9 11, 4 8,6 Not necessary at all N P 0 0 4 0 0 0 4 2 0 8 0 0 0 12 2 2 11,4 0 0 0 11,4 5,7 0 22,9 0 0 0 34,3 5,7 5,7

No 1

Grammatical items

Sequence of tenses 2 3 4 Gerund and infinitive The present participle and past participle

82
16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23

Unreal past with wish, it's time, as if . Subjunctive Inversion Direct and Indirect speech The structure of emphasis Conditional sentences
Restrictive and non restrictive relative clauses Other: (Please, specify): ........................................

6 14 14 8 10 8 3

17, 1 40 40 22, 9 28, 5 22, 9 8,6

15 11 12 13 17 12 15

42, 9 31, 4 34, 3 37, 1 48, 6 34, 3 42, 9

8 7 5 11 8 10 11

22, 9 20 14, 3 31, 4 22, 9 28, 5 31, 4

4 3 4 3 0 5 4

11, 4 8,6 11, 4 8,6 0 14, 3 11, 4

2 0 0 0 0 0 2

5,7 0 0 0 0 0 5,7

(N: The number of the students; P: The percentage of the students

Appendix

11

Table 7: Teachers' and students' perceptions of the students' difficulties in terms of reading exercises
Easy No Normal Difficult Very difficult

Reading exercises T
1.1. Choose the words or sentences relating to the paragraph
0%(0)

S
11,4% (4/35 ) 8,6% (3/35 ) 0%(0)

T
80,0% (4/5) 60,0% (3/5) 20,0% (1/5)

S
54,3% (19/3 5) 57,2% (20/3 5) 25,7% (9/35 )

T
20,0% (1/5) 40,0% (2/5) 60,0% (3/5)

S
34,3% (12/3 5) 28,5% (10/3 5) 54,3% (19/3 5)

T
0%(0 ) 0%(0 ) 20,0 % (1/5 )

S
0%(0) 5,7% (2/35 ) 20,0% (7/35 )

Skimming

1.2. Choose the title that fits the text best 1.3. Identify the main ideas within paragraphs or in reading texts

0%(0)

0%(0)

83
2.1. Scan the text for specific information 2 Scanning 2.2. Scan a text quickly to answer a question about specific information presented before reading 3.1. Guess unfamiliar words in a text via a context 3.2. Guess unfamiliar words in a text via synonym, antonym, their prefixes and suffixes 4.1. Rearrange the paragraph 4.2. Choose and put the phrases / sentences to where they fit in a text. 5.1. Identify the information that is not explicitly stated in a paragraph / text 6.1.Filling in the table with the information from the reading passage 7.1. Choose the option that best describes the writer's attitude
0%(0) 14,3% (5/35 ) 8,6% (3/35 ) 80,0% (4/5) 40,0% (2/5) 28,5% (10/3 5) 60,0% (21/3 5) 8,6% (3/35 ) 54,3% (19/3 5) 31,4% (11/3 5) 25,7% (9/35 ) 5,7% (2/35 ) 25,7% (9/35 ) 5,7% (2/35 ) 20,0% (1/5) 40,0% (2/5) 48,6% (17/3 5) 28,5% (10/3 5) 60,0% (21/3 5) 25,7% (9/35 ) 54,3% (19/3 5) 57,2% (20/3 5) 62,9% (22/3 5) 14,3% (5/35 ) 65,8% (23/3 5) 0%(0 ) 0%(0 ) 20,0 % (1/5 ) 0%(0 ) 0%(0 ) 0%(0 ) 60,0 % (3/5 ) 0%(0 ) 40,0 % (2/5 ) 8,6% (3/35 ) 2,9% (1/35 ) 31,4% (11/3 5) 5,7% (2/35 ) 14,3% (5/35 ) 17,1% (6/35 ) 31,4% (11/3 5) 0%(0) 28,5% (10/3 5)

20,0% (1/5)

Guessing unfamiliar words in a text

0%(0)

0%(0) 14,3% (5/35 ) 0%(0)

0%(0)

80,0% (4/5) 40,0% (2/5) 40,0% (2/5) 80,0% (4/5) 40,0% (2/5) 0%(0) 60,0% (3/5)

20,0% (1/5) 20,0% (1/5) 0%(0)

40,0% (2/5) 40,0% (2/5) 20,0% (1/5) 0%(0)

Recognizing text organization

0%(0)

Inferring Utilizing text information Understandin g the writer's attitude

0%(0)

0%(0) 60,0% (21/3 5)

40,0% (2/5)

60,0% (3/5)

0%(0)

0%(0)

0%(0)

Easy No

Normal

Difficult

Reading exercises T
Comprehensio n questions 8.1. Multiple choice
20,0% (1/5)

Very difficult

S
14,3% (5/35

T
40,0% (2/5)

S
54,3% (19/3

T
40,0% (2/5)

S
25,7% (9/35

T
0%(0 )

S
5,7% (2/35

84
8 8.2. Short answer questions
40,0% (2/5) ) 57,2% (20/3 5) 0%(0) 60,0% (3/5) 5) 28,5% (10/3 5) 34,3% (12/3 5) 31,4% (11/3 5) 0%(0) ) 14,3% (5/35 ) 60,0% (21/3 5) 57,2% (20/3 5) 0%(0 ) )

0%(0)

8.3. Long answer questions

0%(0)

40,0% (2/5)

60,0% (3/5)

0%(0 )

5,7% (2/35 ) 11,4% (4/35 )

Other exercises

9.1. Summarize the text

0%(0)

0%(0)

20,0% (1/5)

80,0% (4/5)

0%(0 )

( T %: The percentage of

the teachers; S %: The percentage of

the students)

85 Appendix 12
Comparisons between teachers' and students' perceptions of topics
Level of interest No Very interesting T 20% S 14,3% Interesting T 60% S 57,2% (20/35 ) 54,3% (19/35 ) 60,0% (21/35 ) 25,7% Normal T 20% (1/5) S 28,5% (10/3 5) 14,3% (5/35 ) 25,7% (9/35 ) 28,5% (10/3 5) 14,3% % (5/35 ) 20% 40,0% (14/3 5) 22,9% (8/35 ) 20% 0% (0) Boring T 0% (0) S 0% (0) Topics Very necessary T 20% S 42,9% (15/35 ) 45,7% (16/35 ) 22,9%

the interest and necessity of

Level of necessity Necessary T 80% (4/5) S 40,0% (14/3 5) 40,0% (14/3 5) 45,7% (11/3 5) 17,1% (6/35 ) 40,0% (14/3 5) 34,3% (12/3 5) 54,3% (19/3 5) Fairly necessary T 0% (0) S 17,1% (6/35 ) 14,3% (5/35 ) 14,3% (5/35 ) 34,3% (12/3 5) 17,1% (6/35 ) 31,4% (11/3 5) 14,3% (5/35 ) Unnecessary T 0% (0) S

(1/5) (5/35) (3/5) 31,4% (11/35 ) 11,4%

Education

(1/5 )

0% (0)

20% (1/5)

80% (4/5)

0% (0)

0%(0 )

0% (0) 2,9% (1/35 ) 37,2%

Environment

0% (0)

100% (5/5)

0% (0) 20% (1/5 ) 40% (2/5 )

0% (0)

0% (0)

20%

60%

20% (1/5)

0% (0) 40%

(1/5) (4/35) (3/5)

Sports Famous people Culture diversity

0% (0)

80%

0% (0)

17,1% (6/35) 40% (14/35 )

(8/35) (4/5)

0% (0)

8,6%

20%

40%

(3/35) (1/5) (9/35) (2/5)

(2/5 (13/3 ) 5) 2,9% (1/35 ) 11,4%

0% (0)

8,6%

20%

40% (2/5)

(3/35) (1/5)

20% (1/5)

31,4% (11/35 )

80% (4/5)

51,4% (18/35 0 (0) )

20% (1/5 )

42,9% (15/35 )

80% (4/5)

0% (0)

0% (0)

0% (0)

0% (0)

22,9%

60%

25,7%

(8/35) (3/5) (9/35) (1/5) 28,5% (10/35 ) 48,6% (17/35 )

(1/5 (4/35 ) 0%(0 ) ) 0% (0)

Jobs English language learning

0% (0) 20% (1/5 )

14,3%

60%

40% (2/5 ) 0% (0)

0% (0)

20,0% (7/35)

(5/35) (3/5) 31,4% (11/35 )

0% (0)

80% (4/5)

20% (1/5)

80% (4/5)

0% (0)

0% (0)

86
languages
8 0% (0) 25,7% 80% 54,3% (19/35 ) 48,6% (17/35 ) 51,4% (18/35 ) 28,5% 20% (1/5) 20,0% (7/35 ) 20,0% (7/35 ) 22,9% (8/35 ) 57,2% (20/3 5) 0%(0 ) 20% (1/5 ) 0% (0) 0%(0 ) 0% (0) 20%

(9/35) (4/5) 31,4% (11/35 ) 20,0%

Recreation

(1/5 )

22,9%

60%

54,3% (19/3 5) 17,1% (6/35 ) 57,2% (20/3 5) 28,5% (10/3 5)

20% (1/5 ) 40% (2/5 ) 20% (1/5 ) 60% (3/5 )

17,1% (6/35 ) 42,9% (15/3 5) 14,3% (5/35 ) 42,9% (15/3 5)

0% (0)

5,7% (2/35) 31,4% (11/35 )

(8/35) (3/5)

0% (0)

60% (3/5)

20% (1/5)

0% (0) 5,7% (2/35 ) 5,7% (2/35 )

Music

0%

8,6%

0% (0)

60% (3/5)

(0) (3/35) 28,5% (10/35 ) 14,3%

10

0% (0) 0% (0)

80%

20% (1/5) 40%

(7/35) (4/5) 8,6% 60%

Technology Mass media

0% (0) 0%(0 )

80% (4/5) 40%

0% (0) 0% (0)

0% (0)

11

14,3% (5/35)

(3/35) (3/5) (10/35 (2/5) )

(5/35) (2/5)

55

Level of interest No Very interestin g T S Interesting T S 51,4% (18/35 ) 45,7% (16/35 0%(0) ) 8,6% 20% Normal T S 17,1% (6/35 ) 11,4% (4/35 ) 45,7% (16/3 5) 22,9% (8/35 ) 57,2% (20/3 5) 37.1% (13/3 5) 40,0% (14/3 5) 17,1% (6/35 Boring T S 22,9% (8/35 ) Topics Very necessary T S

Level of necessity Necessary T S 28,5% (10/3 5) 34,3% (12/3 5) 11,4% (4/35 ) 54,3% (19/3 5) 48,6% (17/3 5) 14,3% (5/35 ) 34,3% (12/3 5) 57,2% (20/3 Fairly necessary T 60% (3/5 ) 0%(0 ) 40% (2/5 ) 20% (1/5 ) 40% (2/5 ) 60% (3/5 ) 40% (2/5 ) 20% (1/5 S 40,0% (14/3 5) 5,7% (2/35 0%(0) ) 42,9% (15/3 5) 25,7% (9/35 0%(0) ) 28,5% (10/3 0%(0) 5) 71,4% (25/3 0%(0) 5) 51,4% (18/3 0%(0) 5) 17,1% (6/35 0%(0) 22,9% (8/35) 0%(0) 40% (2/5) 45,7% (16/35 ) 0%(0) Unnecessary T S

12

0%(0 )

8,6%

60%

40% (2/5)

0%(0 )

(3/35) (3/5) 42,9% (15/35 ) 5,7%

Wonders Nature

0%(0 ) 20% (1/5 )

0%(0)

40% (2/5)

0% (0)

2,9% (1/35)

13

40% (2/5

60% (3/5)

0%(0 ) 40%

60,0% (21/35 )

0%(0)

80% (4/5)

14

0%(0 )

40%

40,0%

(2/35) (2/5) (3/35) (1/5) 60,0% (21/35 ) 25,7%

(2/5 (14/3 ) 0%(0 ) 5) 5,7% (2/35 )

Hobbies

0%(0 )

0%(0)

20% (1/5)

15

0%(0 ) 20%

11,4%

80%

20% (1/5)

(4/35) (4/5)

Women

0%(0 )

20,0%

80%

(7/35) (4/5)

16

(1/5 ) 20%

17,1%

60%

20%

0% (0)

(6/35) (3/5) (9/35) (1/5) 42,9% (15/35 ) 42,9% (15/35 ) 42,9%

0%(0)

Daily life Celebration s Famous places Books

0%(0 )

0%(0)

60% (3/5) 40% (2/35 ) 60%

17

(1/5 ) 0%(0 ) 20%

0%(0)

40% (2/5)

40% (2/5)

0%(0 ) 20%

20% (7/35 ) 11,4%

0%(0 )

5,7% (2/35)

8,6% (3/35)

18

5,7%

60%

20% (1/5) 20%

(2/35) (3/5) 40% 60%

(1/5 (4/35 ) 0%(0 ) ) 0%(0)

0%(0 ) 0%(0 )

5,7%

8,6% (3/35) 5,7% (2/35)

(2/35) (3/5) 20% 80%

19

(1/5 (14/35 (3/5) (15/35 (1/5)

(7/35) (4/5)

56

) 0%(0 )

) 8,6% 60%

) 51,4% (18/35 ) 20% (1/5)

) 17,1% (6/35 ) 20% 22,9% 0%(0 )

) 60% (3/5)

5) 54,3% (19/3 5)

) 40% (2/5 )

) 34,3% (12/3 0%(0) 5) 11,4% (4/35)

20

(3/35) (3/5)

(1/5 (8/35 ) )

Computer Others:

0%(0)

21

( T %: The percentage of students)

the teachers; S %: The percentage of

the

Appendix: 13
Comparisons between teachers' and students' perceptions of Very necessary Teach er Stude nt Necessary Teach er Stude nt ranking Fairly necessary Teach er Stude nt grammatical items Not Unnecessar necessary y at all Teach er Stude nt Teach er
0% 0%

Sequence of tenses

0%

25,7 % (9/3 5) 8,6% (3/3 5)

80% (4/5 ) 60% (3/5 )

45,7% (16/3 5) 48,6% (17/3 5)

20% (1/5)

Gerund and infinitive

0%

40% (2/5)

22,9 % (8/3 5) 17,1 % (6/3 5)

0%

5,7% (2/3 5) 25,7 % (9/3 5)

0%

Stude nt
0% 0%

No

Grammatical items

57

The present participle and past participle

0%

Special cases of passive voice

0%

20,0 % (7/3 5) 22,9 % (8/3 5)

60% (3/5 ) 80% (4/5 )

40,0% (14/3 5) 51,4% (18/3 5) 34,3% (12/3 5) 34,3% (12/3 5) 42,9% (15/3 5) 48,6% (17/3 5) 20,0% (7/35 ) 51,4

40% (2/5)

20% (1/5)

Phrasal verbs

40,0% 20% 60,0% (14/35 (1/5) (3/5) ) 22,9 % 60,0% (8/3 (3/5) 5) 17,1 60% % (3/5 (6/3 ) 5) 34,3% 80% (12/35 (4/5 ) ) 20 % (1/5 ) 80%

20% (1/5)

Compound nouns

0%

40 % 2/5)

Compound adjectives

0%

40% (2/5)

Word-formation

0%

20% (1/5)

9 10

The order of adjectives adjective phrase

in

0%

0%

20 % (1/5) 20 %

Prepositions following nouns

0%

20,0

22,9 % (8/3 5) 17,1 % (6/3 5) 20,0 % (7/3 5) 14,3 % (5/3 5) 20,0 % (7/3 5) 17,1 % (6/3 5) 25,7 % (9/3 5) 22,9

0%

17,1 % (6/3 5) 8,6% (3/3 5) 5,7% (2/3 5) 17,1 % (6/3 5) 14,3 % (5/3 5)

0%

0%

0%

0%

0%

0%

0%

0%

0%

0%

11,4 % (4/3 5) 5,7% (2/3 5)

0%

0%

0%

0%

0%

0%

40% (3/5 ) 0%

31,4% 20% (11/35 (1/5 ) ) 5,7% 0%

22,9 % (8/3 5) 0%

58

11

Prepositions after verbs

20% (1/5)

% (7/3 5) 20,0 % (7/3 5)

( 4/5)

(18/3 5)

(1/5)

60% (3/5 )

54,3% (19/3 5

20% (1/5)

% (8/3 5) 25,7 % (9/3 5)

(2/3 5)

0%

0%

0%

0%

Very necessary Teache r Studen t No Grammatical items

Necessary Teache r Studen t

Fairly necessary Teache r Studen t

Unnecessar y Teache r Studen t

Not necessary at all Teache r

0% 0% 0%

12

Prepositions following adjectives

34,3% 60% 20% (12/35 (3/5 (1/5) ) )

31,4% (11/3 5) 14,3% (5/35 ) 42,9% (15/3 5) 34,3% (12/3 5)

20 % (1/5)

25,7 % (9/3 5)

0%

8,6% (3/3 5) 22,9 % (8/3 5) 17,1 % (6/3 5) 8,6% (3/3 5)

13

Prepositions places

of time and

0%

0%

0%

28,5% 40% 40 % (10/35 (3/5 (2/5) ) ) 31,4% 20% 40% (11/35 (1/5 (2/5) ) ) 28,5% 20% (10/35 (1/5) )

20% 34,3% (1/5 (12/35 ) )

14

Comparisions

0%

8,6% (3/3 5) 22,9 % (8/3 5)

40 % (2/5 ) 60% (3/5 )

15

Linking words:( either .. or; neither nor; so that ..etc)

20%

0%

5,7% (2/3 5)

Studen t
0% 0%

59

16

Unreal past with wish, it's time, as if .

17

Subjunctive

18

Inversion

19

Direct and Indirect speech

17,1 % 0% (6/3 5) 40,0 20% % (1/5) (14/35 ) 40,0 20% % (1/5) (14/35 ) 22,9 % 0% (8/3 5)

60% (3/5 ) 60% (3/5 ) 60% (3/5 ) 60% (3/5 )

42,9% (15/3 5) 31,4% (11/3 5) 34,3% (12/3 5) 37,1% (13/3 5) 48,6% (17/3 5) 34,3% (12/3 5) 42,9% (15/3 5)

40% (2/5)

20% (1/5)

20% (1/5)

22,9 % (8/3 5) 20,0 % (7/3 5) 14,3 % (5/3 5)

0%

11,4 % (4/3 5) 8,6% (3/3 5) 11,4 % (4/3 5) 8,6% (3/3 5)

0%

5,7% (2/3 5)

0%

0%

0%

0%

0%

31,4% 40% (11/35 (2/5) ) 22,9 % (8/3 5)

0%

0%

0%

20

The structure of emphasis

0%

28,5% 80% (10/35 (4/5 ) ) 22,9 % (8/3 5) 8,6% (3/3 5) 60% (3/5 ) 60% (3/5 )

20% (1/5)

0%

0%

0%

0%

21

Conditional sentences

0%

28,5% 40% (10/35 (2/5) ) 31,4% 40% (11/35 (2/5) )

0%

22

Restrictive and Non restrictive Relative clauses

0%

0%

14,3 % (5/3 5) 17,1 % (6/3 5)

0%

0%

0%

0%

60

23

Others: ( Please, specify) . ( T %: The percentage of the teachers; S %: The percentage of the

students