Some strategies for dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension for students of english faculty, hanoi open university

rd. Suffixes, on the other hand, modify the meaning of a word and frequently determine its function within a sentence. Other suffixes change a words’s part of speech or inflection. For example, consider these forms of the word predict: prediction, predictability, predictor (nouns); predictable (adjective); predictably (adverb). Suffixes are not as helpful as roots or prefixes in determining the meaning of unfamiliar words because many suffixes have similar or even the same meanings. Also, some roots change their spelling before a suffix is added. For instance, when suffixes are added to happy, the y becomes an i: happier, happiness, happily. Some common roots, prefixes and suffixes are introduced sufficiently in Appendix 4, 5 of this paper. Obviously, understanding the meaning of various word parts can help readers determine the meaning of many unfamiliar words, especially in context. Students can figure out meaning of an un familiar word more quickly and logically by learning its roots. One root can be the foundation of many words, so studying a root means studying a lot of words at the same time. 2.3.3.2 Making use of context clues: Writers want you to understand what they have written. When they use words that they think might be unfamiliar to their readers, they often help the readers by offering various clues in the rest of the sentence so that the reader can deduce (reason out) the meaning of the word. Such clues are called context clues. The word context refers to the sentence and the paragraph in which the word appears. In this case, it refers to the rest of the sentence and the paragraph in which the unknown word appears. Using context clues means that reader reason out the meaning of an unfamiliar word from clues provided by the surrounding words and sentences. Kinds of context clue: The most common types of context clues are summarized in the table below. The table not only explains what to look for when readers encounter each type of context clue but also presents example sentences that illustrate it. Table 2.3 : Kinds of context clues Example Type of clue What to look for The psychological term interiority is defined as a tendency toward looking within during middle age. Definition Clue Phrases that introduce a definition, such as: is defined as, is called, is, is known as, that is, refers to, means, the term ; a term that is in bold print, italic, or color ; or certain punctuation marks that set off a definition or a term. The garden was redolent, or fragant, with the scent of roses. Synonym Clue Phrases that introduce synonyms, such as: in other words, or, that is to say, also known as, by this we mean, that is. I did the physical therapy excercises incorrectly and, instead of helping my back, they were actually deleterious. Contrast Clue Words and phrases that indicate opposites: instead of, but, in contrast, on the other hand, however, unlike, although, even though. The campers were warned that hiking up that steep mountain trail would enervate even the fittest members of their group. Experience Clue A sentence that includes a familiar experience (or information readers already know) can help them figure out the meaning of the new word. He enjoys aquatic sports such as swimming, scuba diving, and water skiing. Example Clue Words that introduce examples of the meaning of the unfamiliar word: for example, such as, to illustrate, like. When studying for his final exams, the student was told to eschew television. “Just give TV up!” was his roommate’s advice. Clue from another sentence Additional information in another sentence that may help explain the unfamiliar word. Ways of making use of context clues: Using the context clues is one of effective strategies students should know how to apply when they encounter an unknown word. “Students need to stir up their language knowledge and analyze the context because the context controls word meaning” (4,77). If an unfamiliar word appear in the context, students must read the sentence carefully, pay attention to the words and the other sentences surrounding the unfamiliar word and ask themselves “What would this word have to mean in order for it to make sense in this sentence?” (13,38). For example, “My four-year-old nephew loves cookies, cakes, candy, gorp, and anything else that is sweet.”. In this sentence, gorp is not probably a well-known word. Yet, students can deduce its meaning from the context: it is a type of dessert-like food. The context clues are the examples of “cookies, cakes, candy” and the words “anything else that is sweet”. To make sense of the sentence, gorp would have to refer to a type of sweet, sugary food. Also, important or key words often occur in the text several times. When they read the passage from the beginning, the meaning of a word may be clear in another sentence in the passage or the words surrounding a word will explain that word. Considering the sentences and surrounding ones, students can know the meaning of the same words presented. In any cases, a word’s context is important in terms of understanding its meaning and its function or usage. Obviously, in combination with regular reading, the use of context clues is an excellent way to improve students’ reading rate. Unfamiliar words, encountered often enough in context, eventually become part of one’s natural working vocabulary. If students develop their habits of reading regularly and using context clues to guess the meaning of unknown words, they will turn many unfamiliar words into familiar ones. 2.3.4 Looking the unfamiliar words up in the dictionary: When the unknown word is needed for text comprehension but its meaning can not be guessed, looking unfamiliar words up in the dictionary is used as a last resort . This means that students must learn how to choose a good dictionary and use it effectively with carefulness in order to make their consultation the most quickly and effectively (11,147) 2.3.4.1 Way to choose a good dictionary: Most students have to use the dictionary when they cannot readily identify a word out its meaning from the context. Hence, it is imperative that students have a good, up-to-date dictionary. There are two kinds of dictionary: an unabridged and an abridged version. An abridged dictionary, which is usually published in an inexpensive paperback format, is shorter than a complete dictionary and does not contain as many words as an unabridged version. A standard college edition of an unabridged (or relatively complete) dictionary generally contains around 175,000 entries. In contrast, an abridged one has only around 70,000 entries. Each has own advantages. The light weight of the paperback dictionary makes it more portable. Unabridged version, besides containing more words, also contain more complete definitions, etymologies, notes on appropriate usage, and explanations of symnonyms. But such a dictionary is heavy to lug around and therefore it is difficult to carry it when students study. An English – only dictionary is considered to be better for intermediate students. According to Hulstijn (1993) “Always try to find an explanation in English before looking for a translation” (p.26). It is to use a monolingual dictionary that has been designed for foreign learners. This type of dictionary gives more information about grammar, use and pronounciation than the dictionary for native speakers. Moreover, dictionaries are often updated to reflect changes which occur in language. Students should use an up-to-date dictionary which has been published recently because of such language changes. 2.3.4.2 Way to use the dictionary quickly and effectively: The important thing towards using a dictionary as a tool instead of a crutch is to decide which words to look up and accept what they should be as few as possible (13,192). If students decide to look up a new word, they had better do it quickly and to make the best use of the information in the dictionary. No matter which dictionary students choose, all contain the same features such as guide words, entry, pronunciation symbols, stress marks, parts of speech and etymology. Some students take much time to find a word in the dictionary, this is particularly likely if their mother language does not use the same alphabet as the foreign language. According to Alderson (1984), exercises on alphabetical order, and on using the guidewords at the head of each page, will help students (p.67). Even practice in opening the dictionary as nearly as possible at the right page is useful. In short, the final step shows us using dictionary is one of the useful ways to deal with unfamiliar words. But students should learn how to use dictionary quickly and effectively and how to choose the best dictionary as well. They should remember to use a dictionary as a tool instead of a crutch all the time. 2.4 Summary: In Chapter II, overviews of reading and reading comprehension have been introduced basing on some typical definitions by some authors. In addition, the author of this paper also provides knowledge on the importance of reading comprehension, types of reading comprehension, reading comprehension strategies and effective reading and proficient readers. In short, reading comprehension is a complex process of interaction between the reader and the text. The goal of reading comprehension is to comprehend the author’s message. There are many skills, strategies or techniques that readers can practise to increase the efficiency of the process such as: prediction, questioning, clarifying, imagining and summarisation. Effective reading is active and interactive process and a proficient reader is a person who know how to use reading strategies in a fluent and flexible manner to gain his own goal. Moreover, the most important thing in this study introduced is some knowledge on word and unfamiliar words. Unfamiliar word is a word which readers find it unaccustomed or accustomed but in a new context. The reasons why students are always got trouble with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension are: slowing reading speed, interrupting reading process, and lack of interest in reading. When students encounter strange words in reading, they should first ignore them by using skimming and scanning skills if they are not necessary for comphending the whole paragraph or text. If understanding individual words is important for reading comprehension, students should apply some strategies such as recalling the word’s meaning by pronunciation, guessing the word’s meaning by analyzing structural formation or making use of context clues, and looking the unfamiliar words up in the dictionary. Above suggested strategies help students not only speed their reading but also understand the text completely without worrying about unfamiliar words. All of above knowledge is aimed at helping this study more clearly and successfully. In the next chapter, the study focuses on the ways senior students at Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University use to deal with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension. Chapter III: The study This paper focuses on the ways senior students of English faculty at Hanoi Open University use to deal with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension. Reading comprehension is one of basic skills for college students including foreign language learners. There are a lot of reading exercises in an examination today. But all these readings must be done in limited time. So students are asked to read them correctly with a certain speed. New words prevent them from reading fast. Therefore, many students probably consider that their main problem in reading is ways to deal with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension. If they find out those ways, their difficulties in reading can be improved significantly. 3.1 Survey on ways senior students use to deal with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension: 3.1.1 The subjects: 80 senior students (40 in K14 and 40 in K13) of English faculty at Hanoi Open University were randomly chosen for the project. They are all senior students with a general advanced level of English and have studied four other skills of English namely speaking, reading, writing and listening. 3.1.2 Data collection: The survey which aims at collecting necessary data for the project consists of 4 steps: Giving one paper of vocabulary exercises to each student. Handing out questionaires to the subjects. Deleting invalid cases. Collecting the final number of the remaining valid and reliable cases. After collecting the valid cases, the number of trusted cases is 75. 3.1.3 Exercise description: The exercise consisting of two parts was delivered to the subjects to survey their skills of guessing unfamiliar word’s meaning. Part I includes 6 questions. In each question, the students must find out the meaning of a certain word or pharses by choosing one of the answers A, B or C. Every possible ways to solve the exercise are accepted, even if they need to use a dictionary or ask someone for help. With this part of exercise, the author of this paper can test the students’ ability to guess the unfamiliar word’s meaning by making use of context clues (Definition clue, Synonym clue, Contrast clue, Experience clue, Example clue and Clue from another sentence). Part II consists of 4 questions. In this part of exercise, students’ task is circling the most suitable answer out of three ones A, B or C. This exercise examines the students’ knowledge of word parts (root, prefix and suffix) and parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, etc.) and their skills of analyzing structural formation. These two parts of exercise can be solved rather easily if the students have certain reading comprehension skills. If students know how to analyze structural formation and make use of context clues, the meaning of those words can be guessed very easily so that they do not have to look the new word up in a dictionary or ask nearby people for help. In part I, the question 1 to 6 can be solved by making use of context clues. The meaning of those words can be found in each sentence. For example, in the question 1, poachers can be understood as people who are not interested in material gain but in personal gratification. The context clue of this sentence we can find out easily through relative clause is definition clue. Therefore, the answer A “illegal hunters” is right. In part II of exercise, question 7 to 10 show us the advantage of knowing parts of speech and word parts. Students can classify words immediately by memorizing the meaning of some common roots, prefixes and suffixes and position of noun, verb, adjective, etc in a phrase or a sentence. For example, in question 7 students have to apply knowledge about prefix to find out the meaning of prefix contra , against, then they must choose the answer A oppose. 3.1.4 Questionaire description: The questionaire is designed to survey the students’ preferred way of solving the exercise and their habit of reading comprehension. The first 3 questions of this questionaire focus on which ways and which reading comprehension skills the students have used to solve the two given exercise’s parts by giving some possible ways of solving them. The students must choose the ways that they have just used. The next three questions (4 to 6) aim at finding out what students think about reading comprehension and effective comprehension. In question 7, students’ difficulties made by unfamiliar words in reading comprehension can be shown. The rest of this questionaire (8 to 15) focuses on some important skills of word-attack strategies for dealing with difficult words in reading. From that point, students’ problems on unfamiliar words in reading comprehension will be shown clearly so that the author of this paper can propose some suggestions for dealing with them and improving their reading comprehension skills. 3.2 The result of survey: The following table shows us a clear result about the senior students’ preferred ways of solving the exercise and habit of reading comprehension and some other important skills of dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension. These findings are drawn from the exercise and the questionaire. Table 3.1 The result of survey on guessing word’s meaning exercise: The question number Answers A B C 32 19 24 33 0 42 8 4 63 39 27 9 46 17 12 16 0 59 20 23 32 69 0 6 5 12 58 34 22 19 In part I (question 1 to question 6) , questions are given to test students’ skill of making use of context clue. In question 1, meaning of the word poachers can be figured out if the students realize definition clues who are not interested in material gain but in personal gratification. The correct answer is A illegal hunters . 32 out of 75 students chose this answer. This shows us many students know how to guessing the word’s meaning through definition clues in the sentence. Question 2 requires students knowledge about example clues to choose the right answer A homes because tepees made of skin and mansions of stone are kinds of accomodation. Nearly half of students (33 out of 75) chose answer A. Synonym clue is used in question 3, so students have to realize the word wealthy is a synonym of affluent in order to solve this question. 63 of 75 students chose the correct answer C rich. Whereas contrast or antonym clue appears in question 4, praise is an antonym of censure, so B criticize is the right answer. Only about one third students (27 out of 75) solved this question successfully. 46 students – nearly two thirds students – found out the right answer A thrifty to question 5. In this question, experience clue is used. The sentence provides enough evidence for readers to guess that frugal means thrifty – the newlyweds had to be thrifty if they wanted to save money. In question 6, clue from another sentence help students guess the meaning of allocated is set aside . Only 16 of 75 students figured out the correct meaning of the word. In part II, question 7 to 10, aim at testing students’ knowledge on parts of speech and word parts. In question 7, students have to identify prefix contra of the word contradict. Prefix contra means against, so A oppose is the correct answer. Only 20 out of 75 students found out the correct answer. This means that students do not have enough knowledge on affixes, so they cannot figure out the exact meaning of the word. In question 8, A a noun is the best answer and majority students (69 of 75) solved this question sucessfully. This shows us most students know how to analyze structural grammar function of word. In question 9, students can identify the function of the word appliable if they have knowledge on suffix able. The answer C an adjective which 58 students chose is correct. Last question requires knowledge on root of word to find out the best answer. The root of illuminate is lum. Only 19 students found out the right answer. Table 3.2 The survey result of questionaire: The question number Answers A B C D E 47 23 5 - - 64 11 - - - 48 27 - - - 6 14 13 40 2 9 25 41 0 - 0 8 67 - - 12 3 17 43 - 6 7 5 30 27 2 15 39 19 - 0 14 3 0 58 4 34 35 2 - 2 3 0 70 - 34 25 16 0 - 41 8 26 - - 23 52 - - - Nearly two thirds students (47 out of 75) used dictionary to find out the word’s meaning and nearly one third (23 of 75) asked other people for help. This result shows that many students have the habit of using dictionary to look up word’s meaning. It is the reason why their reading speed have not been improved. Only 5 of 75 students used the skill of guessing word’s meaning by making use of context clues. Nearly half of the students (64 out of 75) used their knowledge of parts of speech to guess the word’s meaning, and 69 students had the right answer to question 2 in part II of the exercise. This means they had enough knowledge on parts of speech to identify word’s function in sentence and deal with unfamiliar word in reading comprehension. Nearly two thirds students (48 of 75) used their knowledge of root and affixes to guess the meaning of words in part II, but they did not solve all the possible words using affixes, only 20 students find out the right answer in question 1 (part II) and only 19 in question 4 (part II). This means they should care more about improving their English affixes. Most students found reading comprehension boring, 14 out of them found it interesting and only 6 found it favourite. This shows that they meet many difficulties in reading so they lack interest to practice it though it is one of the important subjects required in university. Only one third students (25 out of 75) often read for broaden knowledge, 41 ones sometimes read for broaden knowledge and only 9 ones always do. This means few students has the good habit of reading. A large number of students (67 out of 75) had the right answer to the question “What is effective reading comprehension?” They knew that effective reading comprehension is reading both quickly and effectively. Majority students (43 of 75) found that a lot of difficulties are made by unfamiliar words in their reading comprehension such as: being impossible to understand the whole text, reading slowly due to interruption and becoming tired of reading. Over two thirds students have not known how to use word-attack skills in order to deal with unfamiliar words effectively. Only 6 of 75 students have known how to ignore the unfamiliar words, 7 students have recalled the word’s meaning by pronunciation and 5 students can guess the word’s meaning. Skimming skill is an important reading comprehension skill but 19 of 75 students never use this skill. About three fourths students (58 of them) found out the efficient ways to read a long text as reading the first sentence of each parapraph, paying attention to the title, subtitles, subheading and illustrations and focusing on proper names and figures. Scanning skill is likely to be used more popularly than skimming one. Nearly half of students (34 of 75) often use scanning skill in reading comprehension, 35 students sometimes do, and 4 students always do. The majority (70 of 75) had the right answer on scanning skill. They often look for the author’s use of organizers, words with outstanding style or color and key ideas in margin. 34 students, nearly half of subjects, always use dictionary to look the unfamiliar word up in their reading comprehension. Over half of students (41 out of 75) consider a monolingual dictionary the best one whereas 26 of them regard an online dictionary as the best one. This shows that students know how to choose a good and comfortable dictionary. Nearly one third students (23 of 75) think their method of dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension is effective while 52 other students do not. This result shows us quite clearly that many students do not believe their way of study actually works. Therefore, those students meet some troubles in reading comprehension as well as other English subjects. 3.3 Summary: In Chapter III, the author of this paper carried out a survey in which exercise and questionaire are delivered to senior students (K14 and K13) of English faculty at Hanoi Open University. The result of survey shows that most students find reading comprehension quite boring because they have some difficulties made by unfamiliar words in reading comprehension. Over two thirds students think their method for dealing with unfamiliar words is not effective. This is one of the reasons why very few students have the habit of reading for broaden knowledge. Effective strategies which are mentioned in the next chapter are necessary for them to solve their problem. Chapter IV: The finding and discussion The major consistence finding across the exercise and questionaire of this study has shown that 70% students finds their ways to deal with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension ineffective. When students encounter unfamiliar words in reading, 40% of them regards looking the word up in the dictionary as the first preference to identifying its meaning, 36% prefers to ask for assistance (eg. from a teacher or a friend), 9.3% pronounces to recall the word’s meaning, 8% knows how to ignore strange words in reading, and only 6.7% uses strategies of guessing the word’s meaning. Once students are capable of sustained reading of text, their progress will rely on how easily individual words can be understood. If there are too many unfamiliar words in the text, this can be a substantial stumbling block for further progress in reading any text. Furthermore, if students do not have a means of dealing with these difficult words, it follows that sustained reading will be much more disrupted, less words will be encountered, so reading vocabulary will not be able to develop. One of the reasons why 56% students finds reading boring is that they meet many difficulties made by unfamiliar words in reading comprehension. Although reading is considered quite boring, but reading skill is one of the most important skills everyone needs in daily life as well as in study. Students everyday have to read various materials to gain information or broaden knowledge such as college textbook, specialized documents, or other academic papers. They usually meet many difficult words or technical terms when reading but they cannot deal with these effectively. The most popular way students use to figure out an unfamiliar word’s meaning is looking it up in the dictionary. The availability of a dictionary affords developing readers with a potentially valuable source of information regarding the meaning or spelling of unknown words. This method help students be able to know exactly word’s pronunciation, meaning function and word’s history as well. Yet, in some cases, dictionary does not indicate the exact meaning of the word used in a certain context. A word can have many different meanings in different contexts. Moreover, using dictionary takes students much time to finish their reading. The more unfamiliar words appear in the text, the more using dictionary slows down student’s reading speed. A related strategy considered here is asking for assistance. When encounter an unfamiliar words in reading, many students first ask someone to identify its meaning. Some students even regard it as their reading habit because seeking such assistance from their teacher or friends may be so easy and quick. However, there is the possible danger of developing over-dependence. An intelligent student who is used to being supplied by an available person may not develop other self-help strategies. His reading comprehension is not dependent on his skills and knowledge but on other help. He cannot understand the text clearly and completely without asking surrounding people for deducing difficult word’s meaning. In spite of some advantages, these two strategies which are used by the majority of students are not the most effective ones for dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension. Because, in university, students have to self-study by reading many books or documents to expand knowledge but their time is limited. Moreover, after each course of lectures, students have to take an examination in order to evaluate their ablity of gaining knowledge. These examinations are taken place in a certain period with teachers’ strict supervision. Therefore, students do not have enough time to look words up in the dictionary and are not allowed to ask for assistance as well. It is necessary for these students to find out more effective strategies for identifying the meaning of unfamiliar words in reading comprehension. There are four main word-attack strategies which are introduced clearly in Chapter II. However, it is very important for students, especially poor readers, to combine these strategies effectively and flexibly. Here is 3-step method suggested by this paper’s author helps students of English faculty at Hanoi Open Universiy deal with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension most effectively. The first step, when meeting unfamiliar words in reading, students should be keep calm and decide whether they need to understand the exact meaning of those words in order to understand the general sense of the sentence or passage. If not, students had better use skimming and scanning skills to identify the necessary information. These two skills are all useful for students to ignore the unfamiliar words in reading. Students must realize the differences between skimming and scanning. While skimming skill is used to know general information, scanning is the special technique students should use to find detailed information. Skimming skill is used when students have lots of material or long text to read in a limited amount of time. Students just past over the text lightly and hastily and pay attention to the title, subtitle, subheading, words printed in special style, or words repeated. Furthermore, skimming can sometimes help students identify the main ideas of the whole text by reading the first or the last sentence of paragraph. In contrast, when students search for some specific bits of information such as a phone number, a date, a person’s name etc., scanning skill is an effective way students should use. The student’s eyes move across the page until student reaches the information he needs, he reads it thoroughly. The second step, if the unfamiliar word is necessary to understand the whole text, students should recall the word’s meaning by pronunciation or guess the word’s meaning. Sometimes, students meet a familiar word in the context, but they cannot remember its meaning. In this case, pronunciation is helpful to recall the word’s meaning. Most students pronounce fluently and accurately but very few of them use this method when encountering unfamiliar words. Other method is guessing the word’s meaning by analyzing structural formation or making use of context clues. Analyzing structural formation requires students knowledge on parts of speech and word’s parts. If students remember parts of speech and word’s parts, they can figure out the unfamiliar word’s meaning easily. The more roots and affixes students learn by heart, the more quickly students dealing with unfamiliar words. Moreover, students should know six kinds of context clues: definition clue, synonym clue, contrast clue, experience clue, example clue and clue from another sentence and usage of each clue. To make use of context clues effectively, students should consider surrounding words or sentences because unfamiliar word’s meaning is probably shown clearly by them. Through the study, the author of this paper has found that most students know how to use these two skills but they do not use them effectively because of poor knowledge on word’s parts. They had better learn more roots and affixes and practice the way to use them regularly. The last one is looking the unknown word up in the dictionary. This way is necessary if students find that they cannot understand the text without understanding that word but they cannot guess the word’s meaning. Students had better choose a monolingual dictionary because it provide more information about grammar, use and pronunciation of the word. English-only dictionary is considered to better for intermediate students because they should “always try to find an explanation in English before looking for a translation” (17, 34). In addition, students should learn how to use dictionary quickly and effectively with practice in alphabetical order and using the guideword at the head of each page. This method will be not actually effective unless students are aware of trying to remember the word and its meaning after they look it up in the dictionary. They should have a notebook nearby for taking note unfamiliar word’s meaning and structure (root word and prefixes or suffixes) whenever they look up in the dictionary. In conclusion, the situation and some strategies are given by this paper’s author to overcome the students’ problem. The majority of students have the habit of looking the unfamiliar word up in the dictionary or asking for help, which slows down their reading speed and influences badly reading skills improvement. The author suggested 3-step method which is useful for dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension based on the theory in chapter II and the survey result in chapter III. In each step, the author brought out helpful introduction and remarkable skills to use strategies most effectively. If students apply this method regularly in reading comprehension, they will form certainly an effective reading process by themselves. Chapter V: Conclusion From recent studies, reading is an important way of gaining information in foreign language learning. Reading comprehension is a basic skill for college students including foreign language learners. There are a lot of reading exercises in an examination today. But all these readings must be done in limited time. So students are asked to read them correctly with a certain speed. Many students probably believe that their main problem in reading is that unfamiliar words prevent them from reading fast. The author of this paper would like to provide some possible strategies to students of English facultty at Hanoi Open Universiy for dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension. First of all, in this study, the author has presented an overview of reading comprehension in order to make the study clearly and persuasive. Reading comprehension is a complex process of interaction between the reader and the text. Reading comprehension can be known as the result of effective reading as well as the ability to understand the writer’s message. For students, comprehension refers to understanding college textbook by reading for ideas. Effective reading is active and interactive process and a proficient reader is a person who know how to use reading strategies in a fluent and flexible manner to gain his own goal. Furthermore, the most important overview this paper’s author would like to introduce is unfamiliar words in reading. An unfamiliar word is a word which readers find it unaccustomed or accustomed but in a new context. There are many difficulties made by unfamiliar words in reading comprehension such as: slowing reading speed, interrupting reading process and lack of interest in reading. After studying theories involves the topic, the author of this paper implemented a survey by delivering the exercise and quetionaire to students of English faculty at Hanoi Open University. After data collecting, the survey result has been found. The situation the author has explored is that the majority of students got trouble with unfamiliar words in reading because they have not found the most effective and proper strategy yet to overcome their problem. Finally, the author suggested the 3-step method to help students deal with unfamiliar words in reading based on above theories and the finding concerning students’ difficulties. This method is combination of four strategies introduced clearly in chapter II but in an effective and flexible manner. Also, the author gave some advices and remarkable points for each strategy to help students know how to make use of it. The author of this study hopes that proper ways of learning will give great help to students not only for treatment of unfamiliar words in reading comprehension but also for their improvement of reading abilities. Due to the limited time and knowledge, mistakes in the thesis are inevitable. Therefore, all comments, remarks and suggestions are welcome and highly appreciated. References : Books: Alderson, J.C. (1984). Reading in a foreign language: A reading problem or a language problem. In J.C. Alderson & A.H. Urguhart (Eds.). Reading in a foreign language. New York: Longman. Aspatore, J. V. (1984). But I don't know all the words! Foreign Language Annals 17, (pp. 297-299). Clevedon UK: Multilingual Matters. Barnett, M. (1988). 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School effectiveness for language minority students (NCBE Resource Collection Series, No. 9). Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education. (29th Apr, 2010) . TABLE OF CONTENT Declaration Acknowledgements Table of content References Appendixes Appendix 1: Exercise Appendix 2: Answer keys Appendix 3: Questionaire Appendix 4: Some common roots and prefixes Appendix 5: Some common suffixes Appendix 1: Exercise Part I: Read the following sentences, figure out the meaning of the underlined words by choosing one of answers: The extinction of Bengal tiger will have been caused almost entirely by poachers who, according to some sources, are not interested in material gain but in personal gratification. A.illegal hunters B.enterprising researchers C.concerned scientists Throughout history, humans have built a wide variety of dwellings, from tepees made of skin to mansions of stone. A.homes B.stores C.churches Affluent, or wealthy, Americans should be more concerned with the problems of the homeless. A.sucessful B.active C.rich The coach takes every opportunity to censure his players, yet he ignores every chance to praise them. A.approve B.criticize C.choose The newlyweds agreed to be very frugal in their shopping because they wanted to save enough money to buy a home. A.thrifty B.wasteful C.interested Some countries, in order to circumvent the problem, have allocated large amounts of land to animal reserves. Many forests and national parks have been enlarged and improved. A.set aside B.combined C.organized Part II: Choose the best answer: The word “contradict” means: A.oppose B.agree C.carry out Read the following sentence: “Those companies that respect the rights of shareholders and creditors, and ensure financial transparency and accountability, will be regarded as being an ardent advocate of investors’ interests.” The word “advocate” has function as: A.a noun B.a verb C.an adjective The word “appliable” has the function as: A.a noun B.a verb C.an adjective The word “illuminate” has the root: A.luminate B.illumin C.lum Appendix 2: answer keys Part I: 1 – A: illegal hunters 2 – A: homes 3 – C: rich 4 – B: criticize 5 – A: thrifty 6 – A: allocated Part II: 7 – A: oppose 8 – A: a noun 9 – C: an adjective 10 – C: lum Appendix 3: Questionaire Which method did you use to solve the questions in exercise I? Using a dictionary Asking other people Guessing word’s meaning by making use of context clues Did you use your knowledge of parts of speech to guess the meaning of words in exercise II? Yes No Did you use your knowledge of root and affixes to guess the meaning of words in exercise II? Yes No What do you think about reading comprehension? Favorite Interesting Average Boring Very boring How often do you read for broadening knowledge? Always Often Sometimes Never What is effective reading comprehension? Reading fast without comprehension Reading slowly but understand entire text Reading both quickly and effectively Which difficulties are made by unfamiliar words in your reading comprehension? Being impossible to understand the whole text Reading slowly due to interruption Becoming tired of reading All above answers Which method do you use most for dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension? Ignoring the unfamiliar words Recalling the word’s meaning by pronunciation Guessing the word’s meaning Looking the unfamiliar words up in the dictionary Asking friends or teacher Skimming skill is used to read only the most important information to get general idea of the content by glancing rapidly over a text. How often do you use skimming skill in reading comprehension? Always Often Sometimes Never What do you often do when reading a long text? Read it word-by-word Read the first sentence of each paragraph Pay attention to the title, subtitles, subheading and illustrations Focus on proper names and figures All above answers, except A Scanning skill is used to find a particular piece of information by moving your eyes quickly down the page seeking specific words and phrases. How often do you use scanning skill in reading comprehension? Always Often Sometimes Never What do you often do when using scanning skill in reading comprehension? Look for the author’s use of organizers such as: numbers, letters, steps, or the words: “first”, “second”, or “next” Look for words that are bold faced, italics or in different font size, style or color Look for key ideas in margin if there is one All above answers How often do you use the dictionary to look the unfamiliar words up in your reading comprehension? always often sometimes never Which dictionary do you consider the best one? monolingual dictionary (English – only dictionary) bilingual dictionary online dictionary The method you are using to deal with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension is effective or not? Effective Not effective Appendix 4: Some common prefixes and roots Common Prefixes: Prefixes that reverse the Word’s meaning: Prefix meaning example Contra against contradict, contrast De reverse decompose, deactivate Dis negation disbelief, disenchanted In, im not invalid, immature Ir not irreversible, irrelevant Non not noncombatant Un not uncertain, unpaid Prefixes that indicate Number or Size: Prefix meaning example Bi two bicycle, bigamy Cent hundred century, centennial Deca ten decade, decimal Magna large, great magnify, magnificent Micro small microscope, microbe Milli thousand million, millimeter Mono one monopoly, monorail Poly many polygamy, polynomial Quad four quadrangle, quadruplets Semi half, twice semiannually, semifinal Tri three tricycle, triple Uni one uniform, unity - Prefixes that indicate position: Prefix meaning example A without, not atypical, amoral Ad to, toward advertise, advocate Anti against antagonize, antifreeze Circum around circumference, circumstance Co, con, com with, together committee, cocaptain En into entrance, enact Epi upon, over epidermis, epoxy Ex, e out of exit, eject Im, in into immerse, inspect Inter between intermediary, intercept Intra within (places) intrastate, intramurals Intro within (people) introspective, introvert Over excessive overdue, overwhelm Peri around perimeter, periscope Post after postscript, postpone Pre before prenatal, prefix Prim first primary, primer Sub under subway, submit Super above superfund, superhuman Tele distant telephone, television Trans across, beyond transport, transmit Additional prefixes: Prefix meaning example Ambi both ambidextrous, ambiguous Auto self automatic, autonomous Bio life biology, biography Civ citizen civic, civil Geo earth geology, geography Hetero other heterogeneous, heterosexual Homo same homogeneous, homosexual Manu hand manual, manicure Mis wrong, hatred misspell, mistake Omni all omnipotent, omniscient Physic relating to the body physiology, physician Pop people popular, population Pro forward promote, propel Psycho mind psychology, psychic Re again reconsider, restore Sequi following sequel, consequence Sym, syn same synonym, sympathy Common roots: Root meaning example Animus spirit animated, magnanious Anni, enni year anniversary, perennial Anthropo human anthropology, misanthrope Aqua water aquarium, aquanaut Aud hear audible, audience Belli warlike rebellion, belligerent Bene good, well benefactor, benefit Cap, cep take, receive reception, capture Cede yield recede, secede Chrono time chronological, chronometer Corp body corporation, corporal Cred believe credible, credit Cura care cure, manicure Cycle circle bicycle, cyclical Derm skin dermatologist, epidermis Dict say, speak dictation, diction Dorm sleep dormitory, dormant Duc lead conductor, induct Equi equal equality, inequities Fac, fic make, do factory, fiction Fer producing fertilizer, infertility Fide trust confide, fidelity Fin end finish, infinite Fug flee refugee, fugitive Gene produce, create generate, genetics Graph, gram written telegraph, monograph Juv young juvenile, rejuvenate Labor work collaborate, laborious Leg, legis related to law legal, legislator Loc place location, locomotive Luc, lum light illuminate, lucid Mal bad malignant, malicious Meter measure kilometer, thermometer Mis, mit send transmit, mission Mort death postmortem, morgue Naut related to the sea nautical, nautilus Nov new novelty, novice Nym, nom name nominate, pseudonym Ology study of psychology, sociology Pathos feeling sympathy, antipathy Ped foot or child pedal, pediatrician Phil love of philosophy, philanthropy Phobia fear claustrophobia, acrophobia Phono sound phonograph, telephone Port carry transport, import Pos place position, posture Poten power potential, potent Scope see telescope, microscope Scrip, scrib write scribble, script Spec look spectator, spectacle Sphere ball atmosphere, hemisphere Temp time temporary, tempo Theo God theology, polytheism Tox poison toxin, nontoxic Ven come convention, inventory Vers, vert turn reverse, convert View see, look at prview, viewer Vis, vid observable television, video Vita life vitality, vitamin Voc call vocation, vocal Appendix 5 Some common suffixes Suffixes Meaning Examples Suffixes that indicate a person: -er, -or, -ist One who (does what the root word indicates) Banker, inventor, scientist, pacifist Suffixes that indicate a noun: -ance, -ence, -tion, -sion, -ment, -ness, -ity, -ty, -tude, -hood, -age State of, quality of, condition of, act of Tolerance, permanence, retention, vision, government, happiness, maturity, beauty, gratitude, statehood, marriage -itis Inflammation of (whatever the root indicates) Sinusitics, tonsillitics -ology Study or science of (whatever the root indicates) Psychology, microbiology -ism Philosophy of or belief in Terrorism, Buddhism, pacifisim Suffixes that indicate an adjective: -al, -ic, -ish, -ical, -ive Pertaining to (whatever the root indicates) Normal, hormonal, psychic, selfish, magical, defective, pacific -less Without, lacking (whatever the root indicates) Homeless, toothless -ous, -ful Full of (whatever the root indicates) Harmonious, colorful -able, -ible Able to do or be (whatever the root indicates) Comfortable, comprehensible Suffixes that indicate a verb: -ify, -ate, -ize, -en To do (whatever the root indicates) Pacify, meditate, criticize, enlighten Suffixes that indicate an adverb: -ly In the manner (indicated by the root) Slowly, heavily, peacefully -ward In the direction of (whatever the root indicates) Estward, homeward, backward