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Luận văn tiếng Anh
eveloping test-taking strategies for TOEIC Reading Comprehension Tests: A study on non-major English students at University of Economic – Technical Industries = Phát triển các chiến lược làm bài thi Đọc hiểu của kỳ thi TOEIC cho sinh viên không chuyên tiếng Anh tại trường Đại học Kinh tế - Kỹ thuật Công nghiệp
First and foremost, I would like to express my most sincere thanks to my respected
supervisor, Dr. Ngo Huu Hoang for his generous assistance, invaluable advice, guidance,
constructive comments. Without his help, this study would not have possibly been
completed.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my thankfulness to the Post- Grade
Department for their enthusiastic Giúp during the time of studying and writing my thesis.
I also wish to acknowledge the cooperation of my colleagues and my students,
especially the students at University of Economic – Technical Industries who have helped
me to collect data for the study.
Hereby, I also would like to thank all the readers for their attention and I highly
appreciate any comments and opinions on this study.
ABSTRACT
So far, most Vietnamese universities have tended to choose TOEIC as a measure unit to
assess input English level and graduation for students. TOEIC score reports provide
accurate, meaningful feedback about a test taker‟s strengths and weaknesses, along with a
description of the English language strengths typical of test takers performing at various
score levels. However, when taking the TOEIC test, especially the TOEIC reading
comprehension section, many students do meet a lot of difficulties in reading, and
therefore fail to be efficient readers and get high scores. One of the primary causes is that
students seem unskilled or unaware of the use of test-taking strategies for TOEIC reading
comprehension tests. Then, which strategies should students be used while taking the
TOEIC reading comprehension tests?
A number of studies and books have already been released in the area of application of
test-taking strategies to TOEIC reading comprehension part. This study is concerned with
developing test-taking strategies to Giúp non-major English students at UNETI reduce
reading difficulties, improve their skills and take the TOEIC reading comprehension tests
with higher scores.
The result of the study show that non-major English students at UNETI often have
difficulties, to different extent, in many areas of the language such as difficulties with
vocabulary, with grammar, discourse, and reading strategies. Moreover, the data collected
in the study also revealed that the students‟ inefficient use of reading strategies is a great
source of reading problems. Through the students‟ low frequency of strategy use to deal
with question kinds in TOEIC reading comprehension tests, it is shown that students fail to
apply reading strategies effectively in responding to questions during tests. Therefore, the
study suggests that to enable to successfully take the TOEIC reading comprehension test,
students should actively use strategies involved as skimming and scanning skills, utilize
context clues to understand difficult words and find out the synonym or paraphrase for the
word. In some cases, if test-takers have no idea about a question, the application of
techniques to guess should be needed. Besides, the study also recommends several test
taking strategies for each kind of questions in TOEIC reading comprehension test.
PART I – INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Reading as an active, receptive, and decoding language skill is the main source of
meaningful input in the process of learning a foreign language. Besides, according to Kim
and Anderson (2011, p. 30), “reading is essential for successfully completing all college
level courses. In other words, college students who are more proficient readers are most
likely to experience more success in their courses”. Meantime, tests are the most common
evaluating method in nearly all educational systems and academic institutions worldwide.
Generally, tests express the most students‟ total grades, particularly at the college level.
Whether the goal is college admission, certification, detection of specific behavior, or
personal selection, a decision about an individual‟s ability is usually made based on his or
her scores in specific tests. Therefore, it is certain that test takers have developed
numerous techniques for finding correct answers to reading tests without fully or even
partially understanding the text. However, in a test, to evaluate academic reading ability,
the primary needs for test takers is to actually use academic reading skills in responding to
items, rather than to rely on test-wiseness tricks. The Test of English for International
Communication (TOEIC) has made great efforts to evaluate the reading comprehension
abilities of test takers dealing with academic-like texts. It is clear that the reading tasks in
TOEIC are able to discriminate better readers from poorer readers. However, how exactly
do test-takers try to complete the tasks? What reading and test-taking strategies do students
use to complete the tasks?
For ages of applying TOEIC tests as the standard to assess the level of English
proficiency in the workplace and everyday communication of non- major English students
at University of Economic and Technical Industries (UNETI), I realize that many students
do not know how to utilize multiple test-taking strategies to enhance their performance in
successfully taking TOEIC tests in general, and TOEIC reading comprehension tests in
particular. In details, when approaching the TOEIC reading comprehension part, they
frequently read the questions and carelessly scan the passage, merely guessing answers in
the end, due to insufficient knowledge about text types and task design. Some can not
complete the whole reading test because they lack the fast reading skill and active
application of scanning or skimming strategies. Some seem unaware of the test-taking
strategies. Hence, the significance of a study on developing test-taking strategies for
TOEIC reading comprehension tests as a way of helping non- major English students at
UNETI do well in their tests seems undeniable.
2. Aims of the Study
This study was carried out with following specific purposes:
1) To investigate difficulties and causes of difficulties which non- major English
students at UNETI encounter in taking TOEIC reading comprehension tests.
2) To investigate the frequency use of test-taking strategies which non- major English
students at UNETI deal with question kinds in TOEIC reading comprehension tests.
3) To develop test-taking strategies to Giúp learners reduce difficulties, improve their
reading skills and take the TOEIC reading comprehension tests with higher scores.
3. Research questions
The study was carried out in order to find out the answers to two research questions:
1) What are the difficulties and causes of difficulties encountered by non- English
major students at UNETI in taking TOEIC reading comprehension tests?
2) What is the frequency use of the test-taking strategies which non- major English
students at UNETI deal with question kinds in TOEIC reading comprehension
tests?
3) How to develop students‟ test-taking strategies for TOEIC reading comprehension
tests?
4. Scope of study
As the title of the study has indicated, the author only focuses on developing test-taking
strategies via TOEIC reading comprehension part. Besides, because of limited time and
scope of the minor thesis, the researcher can only conduct a survey on non- English major
students at UNETI.
5. Methods of study
In order to fulfill the aims of the study, the study has been carried out using both
quantitative and qualitative methods. The data were collected from survey on 120 non
English major students at the UNETI. The survey questionnaire included both closed and
open-ended questions to ensure data.
6. Significance of the study
Results of the study will Giúp provide a better understanding of test-taking strategies for
the TOEIC reading comprehension test placed on non- major English students at UNETI
and they are expected to successfully perform in their tests.
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Luận văn tiếng Anh
eveloping test-taking strategies for TOEIC Reading Comprehension Tests: A study on non-major English students at University of Economic – Technical Industries = Phát triển các chiến lược làm bài thi Đọc hiểu của kỳ thi TOEIC cho sinh viên không chuyên tiếng Anh tại trường Đại học Kinh tế - Kỹ thuật Công nghiệpFirst and foremost, I would like to express my most sincere thanks to my respected
supervisor, Dr. Ngo Huu Hoang for his generous assistance, invaluable advice, guidance,
constructive comments. Without his help, this study would not have possibly been
completed.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my thankfulness to the Post- Grade
Department for their enthusiastic Giúp during the time of studying and writing my thesis.
I also wish to acknowledge the cooperation of my colleagues and my students,
especially the students at University of Economic – Technical Industries who have helped
me to collect data for the study.
Hereby, I also would like to thank all the readers for their attention and I highly
appreciate any comments and opinions on this study.
ABSTRACT
So far, most Vietnamese universities have tended to choose TOEIC as a measure unit to
assess input English level and graduation for students. TOEIC score reports provide
accurate, meaningful feedback about a test taker‟s strengths and weaknesses, along with a
description of the English language strengths typical of test takers performing at various
score levels. However, when taking the TOEIC test, especially the TOEIC reading
comprehension section, many students do meet a lot of difficulties in reading, and
therefore fail to be efficient readers and get high scores. One of the primary causes is that
students seem unskilled or unaware of the use of test-taking strategies for TOEIC reading
comprehension tests. Then, which strategies should students be used while taking the
TOEIC reading comprehension tests?
A number of studies and books have already been released in the area of application of
test-taking strategies to TOEIC reading comprehension part. This study is concerned with
developing test-taking strategies to Giúp non-major English students at UNETI reduce
reading difficulties, improve their skills and take the TOEIC reading comprehension tests
with higher scores.
The result of the study show that non-major English students at UNETI often have
difficulties, to different extent, in many areas of the language such as difficulties with
vocabulary, with grammar, discourse, and reading strategies. Moreover, the data collected
in the study also revealed that the students‟ inefficient use of reading strategies is a great
source of reading problems. Through the students‟ low frequency of strategy use to deal
with question kinds in TOEIC reading comprehension tests, it is shown that students fail to
apply reading strategies effectively in responding to questions during tests. Therefore, the
study suggests that to enable to successfully take the TOEIC reading comprehension test,
students should actively use strategies involved as skimming and scanning skills, utilize
context clues to understand difficult words and find out the synonym or paraphrase for the
word. In some cases, if test-takers have no idea about a question, the application of
techniques to guess should be needed. Besides, the study also recommends several test
taking strategies for each kind of questions in TOEIC reading comprehension test.
PART I – INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Reading as an active, receptive, and decoding language skill is the main source of
meaningful input in the process of learning a foreign language. Besides, according to Kim
and Anderson (2011, p. 30), “reading is essential for successfully completing all college
level courses. In other words, college students who are more proficient readers are most
likely to experience more success in their courses”. Meantime, tests are the most common
evaluating method in nearly all educational systems and academic institutions worldwide.
Generally, tests express the most students‟ total grades, particularly at the college level.
Whether the goal is college admission, certification, detection of specific behavior, or
personal selection, a decision about an individual‟s ability is usually made based on his or
her scores in specific tests. Therefore, it is certain that test takers have developed
numerous techniques for finding correct answers to reading tests without fully or even
partially understanding the text. However, in a test, to evaluate academic reading ability,
the primary needs for test takers is to actually use academic reading skills in responding to
items, rather than to rely on test-wiseness tricks. The Test of English for International
Communication (TOEIC) has made great efforts to evaluate the reading comprehension
abilities of test takers dealing with academic-like texts. It is clear that the reading tasks in
TOEIC are able to discriminate better readers from poorer readers. However, how exactly
do test-takers try to complete the tasks? What reading and test-taking strategies do students
use to complete the tasks?
For ages of applying TOEIC tests as the standard to assess the level of English
proficiency in the workplace and everyday communication of non- major English students
at University of Economic and Technical Industries (UNETI), I realize that many students
do not know how to utilize multiple test-taking strategies to enhance their performance in
successfully taking TOEIC tests in general, and TOEIC reading comprehension tests in
particular. In details, when approaching the TOEIC reading comprehension part, they
frequently read the questions and carelessly scan the passage, merely guessing answers in
the end, due to insufficient knowledge about text types and task design. Some can not
complete the whole reading test because they lack the fast reading skill and active
application of scanning or skimming strategies. Some seem unaware of the test-taking
strategies. Hence, the significance of a study on developing test-taking strategies for
TOEIC reading comprehension tests as a way of helping non- major English students at
UNETI do well in their tests seems undeniable.
2. Aims of the Study
This study was carried out with following specific purposes:
1) To investigate difficulties and causes of difficulties which non- major English
students at UNETI encounter in taking TOEIC reading comprehension tests.
2) To investigate the frequency use of test-taking strategies which non- major English
students at UNETI deal with question kinds in TOEIC reading comprehension tests.
3) To develop test-taking strategies to Giúp learners reduce difficulties, improve their
reading skills and take the TOEIC reading comprehension tests with higher scores.
3. Research questions
The study was carried out in order to find out the answers to two research questions:
1) What are the difficulties and causes of difficulties encountered by non- English
major students at UNETI in taking TOEIC reading comprehension tests?
2) What is the frequency use of the test-taking strategies which non- major English
students at UNETI deal with question kinds in TOEIC reading comprehension
tests?
3) How to develop students‟ test-taking strategies for TOEIC reading comprehension
tests?
4. Scope of study
As the title of the study has indicated, the author only focuses on developing test-taking
strategies via TOEIC reading comprehension part. Besides, because of limited time and
scope of the minor thesis, the researcher can only conduct a survey on non- English major
students at UNETI.
5. Methods of study
In order to fulfill the aims of the study, the study has been carried out using both
quantitative and qualitative methods. The data were collected from survey on 120 non
English major students at the UNETI. The survey questionnaire included both closed and
open-ended questions to ensure data.
6. Significance of the study
Results of the study will Giúp provide a better understanding of test-taking strategies for
the TOEIC reading comprehension test placed on non- major English students at UNETI
and they are expected to successfully perform in their tests.
Do Drive thay đổi chính sách, nên một số link cũ yêu cầu duyệt download. các bạn chỉ cần làm theo hướng dẫn.
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