Students’ poor reading skill affecting their effective reading of English newspapers

By Mr. Vipark Sarikapak

วิ�ภาคย์� สฤกภ�ค

Background of the research

• Students’ problems • Individual’s comprehension and summary of what

he or she has read (general news, business news and letters to the editor) • Student’s basic weaknesses of English vocabulary,

structures, expressions and punctuation used • Low marks obtained from tests and assignments

done • Apathy towards English as a great source of the No.1

international and communicative language

Purpose of the research• In order to improve and develop 10 students’ reading skill of English newspapers and to use the effective reading skill for their further studies at a higher educational level. Population and Samples Population groups to be conducted in this study is the second year students of foreign language class 2/1 diploma level

dividing into 3 groups: G-group F-group P-group (see Table 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3)

Conceptual framework

• Higher Vocational Certificate Curriculum B.E. 2003 • Reading Skill Development for Secondary Education using

English newspapers by Chudarat Nuamjit,Oct 2008 focusing on Pre-reading(individuals),While-reading(pair-work) and Post-reading(group work)

>>> This study is a content/descriptive research applying the conceptual framework of Jane Willis in Teaching English through English (1981) stating that “… when teaching reading skill that you are not teaching or explaining this passage, but are using this passage as a means of developing your students’ reading skill… ” etc.

Methodology/data collection• Individual’s tests focusing on pre-tests and post-

tests of the news read (see Table 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 )

• Individual’s development of the summary, main idea and details of the news read (see Table 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 )

• Comparisons of three categories of G,F and P groups especially students’ marks obtained from the tests and assignments provided (see Table 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 )

Students’ initials

Item assessed

Genera l news

Letters to the editor

Business news

Summary

Main idea

Details G-group= good Those who always got 8-10 marks

1 TDR

P1 b a b b a a 3 real names of students cannot be revealed because of moral & academic reasons Overall

Individuals’ improvement & development of their reading skill were satisfactory.

P1=pretest P2=posttest a= 8-10 marks b= 5-7 marks

P2 a a a a a a

2 STM

P 1 a b a a b a

P2 a a a a a a

3 SMP

P1 b b b a a b

P2 a a a a a a

Table 3.1

Students’ initials

Item assessed

General news

Letters to the

editor

Business news

Summary Main Idea

Details F-group = fair Those who usually got 5-7 marks=b

1 STD

P1 b b b b b b 4 real names cannot be disclosed because of moral & academic reasons. Overall Obviously , three of 4 students’ improvement was satisfactory but student No. 4 still needed development earnestly. P1=pretest P2=posttest a=8-10 marks b=5-7 marks c=1-4 marks

P2 b a b a b a

2 SSR

P1 c b b b b b

P2 a b a b b a

3 BJP

P1 c c b b b b

P2 a b a a b b

4 RNS

P1 c b b b b c

P1 b c c c b c

Table 3.2

Students’ initials

Item assessed

Genera l news

Letters to the editor

Business news

Summary

Main idea

Details P-group=poor Those who always got 1-4 marks

1 KTT

P1 c c c c c c On a moral & academic obligation basis, 3 real names cannot be revealed. Overall

Only one student(No.1) badly needs to improve his reading skill seriously.

P1=pretestP2=posttest b= 5-7 marks c= 1-4 marks

P2 b c c c b c

2 KMK

P 1 c c c c c c

P2 b b b a b a

3 SRY

P1 c c c c c c

P2 b a b b a b

Tine 3.3

Research summary results

• According to the criteria set, the improvement and development of students from G,F and

P-groups on two-category topics studied (see Table 3.1,3.2 & 3.3 ) were satisfactory and acceptable only two students from F and P groups should be urgently advised to study more because their marks obtained are still below the criteria set.

Results/Advantage

• The first expected gainers go to the 10 students of foreign language class 2/1 diploma level particularly their improvement and development of their English newspaper reading skill. Students(8 of 10 =80%) pass the criteria set.

• This study might be a pilot one for other classroom researchers in the field of foreign language circles.

Thank you