ERIC ED397663: Variables Affecting Reading Problem of a Thai Graduate Student.

56 Pages·1996·0.69 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
FL 023 987
ED 397 663
Adunyarittigun, Dusan:mg
AUTHOR
Variables Affecting Reading Problem of a Thai
TITLE
Graduate Student.
PUB DATE
[96]
NOTE
56p.
Reports
Information Analyses (070)
PUB TYPE
Research/Technical (143)
MF01/PC03 Plus Postage.
EDRS PRICE
Case Studies; *English (Second Language); *Error
DESCRIPTORS
Patterns; Foreign Countries; Graduate Students;
Language Proficiency; Metacognition; Miscue Analysis;
Questionnaires; *Reading Comprehension; *Reading
Difficulties; *Reading Processes; Schemata
(Cognition); Second Language Learning; Thai;
Uncommonly Taught Languages
ABSTRACT
This paper examines variables such as linguistic
ability in the target languago, schemata, and psychological factors
affecting the English language reading success or failure of a
31-year-old Thai graduate student in the information system program
at a U.S. university. The subject's self-assessment of reading,
speaking, and listening in Thai was at a good level, although his
writing proficiency was lower than that of his other Thai language
skills. He started learning English in the 5th elementary grade;
graduate school was his first exposure to English-language
instruction. Based on his Test of English as a Foreign Language
(TOEFL) score, the subject was rated as moderately good in listening,
speaking, reading, and writing. Yet he sought help to improve his
reading ability, comprehension, and retention. The subject was given
metacognitive
a general questionnaire and a reading questionnaire on
conceptualizations of his silent reading strategies in both Thai and
English. The subject was then asked to discuss his reading; these
discussions were audiotaped during the 90-minute tutoring sessions
held each week for 2 months in 1995. Findings suggest that lack of
background knowlelge about the text topic may handicap the reader, as
well as a reading misconception centered on knowledge-based rather
than text-based processing. Questionnaires are appended. (Contains 33
references.) (NAV)
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Variables Affecting Reading Problem of a Thai Graduate Student
Dumrong Adunyarittigun
University of Maryland College Park
U S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
01 fico ol Educational Research and Improvement
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INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)
Reading
Variables Af fecting
Thai
Reading Problem of a
Variables Affecting
A Case Study:
Graduate Student
English as a foreign
university classroom of
In a Thai
read
looking up vocabulary,
to see students
language, it is common
Many Thai
sophisticated syntax.
confused by
slowly and get
chapter
hours on reading a
that they spend many
students complain
hear that they
Furthermore, it is sad to
in an English textbook.
Then, they feel too
read.
gist- of what they
cannot get the
further information
reading and to seek
discouraged to continue
from the English texts.
eight
have as many as
entering universities
Thai students
English reading
However, their
instruction in English.
years of
study (1978), the
According to Seelor's
ability tends to be poor.
student
administered to thirty
Test Form A was
Nelson Denny Reading
The result
training college.
in a teacher
teachers of English
from 2.1 to 4.8.
equivalent scores ranged
shows that their grade
that the
1982 also manifests
by Nilagupta in
Another study done
the study
university students in
equivalent score of the
mean grade
the English reading
uncover that
These two studies
was 4.4.
enough to
is not effective
college students
ability of many Thai
These results
college level.
resources at the
make use of English
which
the variables
find out more about
interest us enough to
in reading English.
students to achieve
impede Thai college
affecting reading
that variables
(1971) points out
Yorio
imperfect
their
are
learners
language
foreign
for
problems
1
Variables Af fecting Reading
structure
knowledge of the target language such as vocabulary and
Normally foreign
and the interference of their native language.
Thus,
language.
language learners are literate in their native
their reading in
foreign language readers should be able to process
in their native
the foreign language in the same way as they do
knowledge of the
Yet, because of the lack of strong
language.
it makes their reading process in a foreign
target language,
anticipate meanings,
language more difficult. These readers cannot
units, and make
chunk strings of visual information into meaningful
Also, they have to pay close
use of the correct cues effectively.
This delays
attention to decoding unfamiliar words and structures.
According to Smith (1985), when readers
their reading process.
cognitive resources like
encounter difficulty in processing text,
to be allocated to correct
the
short term memory will need
comprehend
For instance, when readers are unable to
difficulty.
like rereading is
what they are reading, their fix-up strategy
short-term memory needs
to
their
Simultaneously,
allocated.
Then, their
read.
maintain their understanding of the text already
hold
to
capacity
limited
has
which
a
memory,
short-term
fill short-
information, is overwhelmed since the readers try to
With
information from the text.
term memory with too much visual
itself automatically.
its nature, the short-term memory clears
proceed with the next
Consequently, the readers get lost and cannot
Then, they face comprehension breakdown.
item of business.
readers, which Yorio
Another source of reading problem of FL
2
Variables Mfecting Reading
Syntactic
language.
points out, is the interference of the native
predicting and making meaning
structures in their Ll makes their
syntactic structures in their native
more difficult since the
target
from those
the
of
relatively different
are
language
modifier before noun
For instance, Thai students find a
language.
native language nouns
difficult to understand because in their
They often misuse a verb used as a
precede their modifiers.
Also, a
1982).
predicative adjective as a main verb (Nilagupta,
When FL
of meanings.
word of each language has different shades
word that they know in their
readers overgeneralize meanings of the
they tend to obtain a
first language (L1) to the target language,
distorted meanirg.
advocate Yorio's
Nilagupta (1977) and Eskey (1986) seem to
she administered an English
In Nilagupta's study,
findings.
vocabulary,
subtests:
Screening Test, which consists of three
graduate
Thai
1,278
to
and reading comprehension,
structure
Administration,
majors--Public
different
four
from
students
Statistics and Development of
Business Administration, Applied
have difficulty
The study reveals that Thai students
Economics.
and
nominalization
deletion,
embedding,
voice,
passive
with
neither-nor and none.
negative words such as by no means,
Yoriots propositions as well.
Tzung-yu (1993) clearly supports
fail in making meaning and
She states that EFL readers possibly
because of insufficient
comprehending, when reading English texts,
the
one of
illustrate,
To
knowledge.
grammatical
English
3
Variables Af fecting Rearang
significant difficulties in reading technical texts in English of
Chinese college students pointed out is the confusion caused by the
Dependent clauses and independent clause are
relative clause.
combined complicatedly, and the dependent clauses interrupt the
subject-verb-object sequence of the independent clause.
Moreover,
the meaning constructed from this pattern is inverted in Chinese
language and often deviant from the intended meaning.
Therefore,
it is difficult for EFL readers specifically EFL Chinese students
to understand texts.
the researchers tend to
From the aforementioned studies,
hypothesize and assert that a primary variable affecting the
reading problem of FL readers is the linguistic deficiency.
FL
readers or second language (L2) readers tend to have inadequate
knowledge of the target language to deal with their L2 reading.
This hypothesis about the reading problem of FL readers is more
credible when some research conducted (Goodman, 1971; Coady, 1979;
Clarke, 1988; Joanne, 1988; Royer & Carlo, 1991) demonstrates that
the reading abilities in the first language do transfer to reading
If so, FL/SL readers should be able to apply
in a second language.
their reading ability possessed in their Ll to reading in their L2.
Otherwise, they probably have the language deficiency in the L2.
In addition, researchers, like Carrell and Eisterhold (1983)
propose that schemata could be another variable affecting the
Carrell
reading failure
learners.
the
success
or
L2
of
&
two distinctive
types
of
there
are
that
Eisterhold
explain
4
Variables Af fecting Reading
the content
(Background knowledge of
schemata: Content schemata
(Background knowledge of the
and formal schemata
area of texts)
different types
organizational structures of
formal, rhetorical and
background
formal schemata, this
If readers possess
of texts).
of the text
to anticipate structures
knowledge will assist them
fables or simple
instance, the structure of
they are reading; for
the
development and setting;
characters,
stories consists of
and effect,
expository texts are cause
rhetorical structures of
Carrell and
contrast, and description.
collection, comparison and
studies
colleagues'
and Slater and his
(1983)
her colleagues'
level and with
readers at the intermediate
(1985) done with ESL
that the
respectively corroborate
ninth-grade native speakers
and recall of what
readers' comprehension
formal schemata do affect
they read.
cannot
that the fact that readers
Carrell and Eisterhold state
failure to activate
results from their
comprehend what they read
the schemata may be
The failure to activate
appropriate schemata.
clues in the
having provided sufficient
due to the authors' not
due to readers' not
Another possibility is
texts for readers.
by the text
required and anticipated
possessing the schemata
from the texts.
to make meaning
Needless to say, they fail
author.
reading problem of
variables affecting the
The hypothesis of
who advocate the
expanded by L2 researchers
FL readers has been
Eskey & Grabe,
reading (Rumelhart, 1985;
interactive model of L2
1988).
1988; and Carrell,
Carrell & Eisterhold,
1988; Eskey, 1988;
5
Variables Af fecting Reading
reading, efficient readers
Based on the interactive model of L2
(knowledge-based processing)
must be able to apply both Top-down
operating
strategies
processing)
(Text-based
Bottom-up
and
their prior
They should be able to make use of
interactively.
meanings from texts.
knowledge to make predictions and to construct
anticipating and sampling and to
To reduce the uncertainty in
efficiently, the readers should be
enhance their comprehension more
The
syntactic and semantic cues.
able to apply the graphophonic,
bottom-up and top-down strategies must
process of employing the
consciousness.
automatically and fluently proceed without
another
to
leads
reading
L2
model
of
interactive
The
SL/FL readers does not
hypothesis. That is, the reading problem of
-
example, lacking knowledge of
result from any single variable, for
prior knowledge only inasmuch
the target language only or lacking
of the
in reading, such as knowledge
as roles of each component
strategies and other variables
target language, schemata, reading
Therefore,
reading.
of
process
the
intertwined during
are
the reading problem of SL/FL
interplay of all variables affects
readers.
Mealey (1990) and Eskey (1986)
In addition, researchers like
failure of
variables that account for the
propose some additional
self-confidence.
and
motivation
are
Those
readers.
FL/SL
toward
drive
a
is
motivation
Mealey
(p.598),
to
According
feelings of efficacy following
competence that is reinforced by
competence, at least readers
In order to obtain y reading
success.
6
Variables Af fecting Reading
efficient reader and experience
should perceive himself as an
lot of
In fact, poor readers face with a
successful reading.
feel
they
so
reading,
in
sqcceed
to
difficulties and
fail
Never
reading.
in
persevere
not
do
then
and
discouraged
motivation and self-
experiencing reading success makes them lack
confidence in reading.
approach a learning
McCombs and Whisler (1989) present that to
requirement
their perception of task
learners evaluate
task,
of
Then, they come up with expectancies
against their competence.
learners come
After the evaluative process, if
success or failure.
positive
of success, it will lead to
up with an outcome expectancy
motivation to do and take risks in
affect such as confidence and
expectancies turns
In turn, if their outcome
approaching the task.
negative affect (e.g. anxiety) and
to be negative, it will lead to
put their effort required to
lack motivation to do the task and to
succeed in reading.
several variables such as
Based on the literature reviewed,
and
schemata,
language,
target
the
in
ability
linguistic
failure of L2
psychological factors affect reading success or
verify these variables
With a desire to experience and
readers.
The purpose
conducted.
claimed by many studies, a case study was
factors which cause readability
of this case study is to explore
Also, the investigator hopes to
difficulty of a Thai EFL reader.
read
instruction to help the participant to
propose some remedial
better.
7
Variables Af fecting Reading
Method
Participant
study was
The participant
thirty-one-year-old
the
of
a
graduate student studying in an Information System program at the
University of Baltimore, Maryland.
Based on his self-assessment,
his proficiency of listening, speaking and reading in Thai--his
native language--was at a good level, but his writing proficiency
was lower than that of the other skills.
The participant started learning English as a foreign language
at the fifth grade in his country.
Until the collego level,
English had not been the language of instruction, even in his
Having received a Bachclor of Science in Biology
English class.
from a
university
worked
Thailand,
state
sales
he as
in
a
representative of a medicine company.
Yet, English was rarely used
for communications at his workplace.
In 1992, he began receiving tutoring in English in order to
prepare for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).
Then, he took the TOEFL test and obtained a score of 550.
Based on
his score, we could assume that his English ability was moderately
good in terms of listening, speaking, reading and writing.
The
result was congruent with his self-assessment.
The participant was admitted and became a graduate student in
the Master of Information System program at the University of
Attending the graduate school in
Baltimore (UB), Maryland in 1994.
the UM was the first time that he encountered the situation of
8