How to Improve Reading Skills for Cambodian Students

Build Bright University
Final of Project Paper


Topic: How to Improve Reading Skills
for Cambodian Students.

Advisor: Mr. Khiev Kim Chheng


Group’s members: In Viraleakhena
Kuy Socheat
Sean Thorninn
Song Mongtray


2001-2005

I. Introduction

1. General overview and English status in Cambodia

- Brief description (1953-present)
Foreign French - Language: French, Vietnamese,
Russian, and English (since 1985, supported by Australian Government, AIDAB or AusAID).(Sloper, 1999,p. 143)

2. Background
- English is an international language.
- Many materials are written in English.

3. Problem Statement
- Reader: poor in reading p g experience.
- Strategies: lack of effective reading strategies.
- Text: English written, complex concepts.

4. Purpose of Study
- To explain the importance of reading.
- To improve our Cambodian students’ reading competence with effective strategies.
- To help Cambodian students to be the effective and successful readers of English.

5. Scope and Limitation
Focuses on high school and university students.




II. Literature Review

1. Why reading?
- To improve career, study purpose, or for pleasure.
- To get general and new ideas, facts, and experiences.
- To improve English language such as vocabulary, grammar, and writing pattern.

2. Meaning of reading
“Reading is an exercise dominated by the eyes and the brain. The eyes receive messages and the brain then has to work out the significance of these massages.” (Harmer, 1998, p. 190)

2.1 Reading quickly and effectively: means that we read in a short time but still keep our comprehension.

2.2 Critical reading: means that when we read we should question and judge the merit and worth of the information it contains.

3. Types of reading

3.1 Intensive reading: readers have a purpose of reading and read thoroughly for comprehension.

3.2 Extensive reading: readers may have a necessarily general understanding without understand every word.

4. Reading Skills

4.1 Scanning: Fry suggested that Scanning is a reading skill you use when you want to locate a single fact or a specific but of information without reading every part of a story, article, list or document (1999, p. 40)

4.2 Skimming: “Skimming is very fast reading. When you skim, you read to get the main ideas and a few,
but not all, of the detail.” (Fry, 1999, p. 1)

4.3 Detail comprehensive reading: When looking for detail, readers should concentrate on the minutia of they are reading, and it involves reading a text what thoroughly.

III. Methodology

1. Collecting data: most of collected data are secondary data.

2. Answering method: inductive method.

3. Research design: this research is divided into six
main parts: Part I-Introduction, Part II Literature review, Part III-Methodology, Part IV-Factors that affect reading, Part V-Reading strategies or solution, and Part VI-Conclusion
and recommendation.

IV. Factors that Affect Reading

1. Language Problems: poor in vocabulary and grammar.
2. Lack of Reading Experience:
2.1. Individuals: rare in readin. . d v dua s: a e ead g
2.2 Culture: lack of reading habit
2.3 Teachers and schools: lack of supporting.

3. Unawareness of Reading Skills and Strategies

4. Lack of Interest and Motivation: attitude and interest are considered as the vital shaped factors of reading motivation (Conley, 1995, p.84).
This is resulted from:
- No objective
- Uninterested topic
- Bad reading environment
- Lack of background knowledge of reading.

V.Solutions or Reading Strategies

1. Language Improvement

1.1 Vocabulary:
- Guessing meaning from context.
- Using grammar to guess words meaning.
- Recognizing words that connect ideas.(through pronouns, synonyms, summary words)

1.2 Writing Structure or Pattern Understanding: we identify it through listing of related ideas or examples, sequencing information,comparison contrast and cause and effect
and contrast, effect.

2. How to Be Familiar with Reading

2.1 Setting objective:
- Knowing what you want to know from reading.

2.2 Choosing suitable text:
- Readers should select the text that suits to their degree, but it is not the easiest one because it can make you feel bored.

2.3 Read more often:
- Every time you read, you are teaching yourself how to read.

3. Reading Strategies
Reading Strategies

Pre-Reading

-Setting a purpose
-Reading abstract and content
-Activating prior knowledge
-Recognizing key words
-Making sense of topic
-Topic of paragraph
-Previewing and predicting.

While-Reading

-Pay attention
-QAR
-Main idea
-Note taking
-Underlining
-Fix-up
-Skimming or scanning
-Think aloud
-Context clue
-Inferring and Visualizing
-Restating

Post-Reading
-Summarizing
-Drawing
conclusion
-Evaluating

VI. Conclusion and Recommendation

1. Conclusion:
- Reading help g p us in various ways such as English competence, general knowledge, and career improvement.
- Reading means your eyes catch the messages and your brain makes sense.
- There are three main reading skills: skimming, scanning, and comprehension.
- Factors that shape reading: language problem, poor in reading experience, poor in reading skills and strategies, and lack of motivation.
- Solutions: language improvement (vocabulary and grammar), and to be familiar with reading (having objective, selecting
suitable topic and text, and read more often).
- Reading strategies: Pre-reading, While reading, and Post-reading.

2. Recommendation

- Before reading English text, make sure that you have enough of English knowledge.
-Readers should choose the books that fit to their own level.
- Some sub-reading strategies can be used either in pre-, while, or post reading. So readers should be flexible enough.
- Not all sub-reading strategies fit all readers. So readers should adopt those which suit to their aptitude, and their own style of reading and learning.
- The last, but not least, you should learn how to read by reading. Try to read as much possible as you can.


Thanks for your attention!