HO CHI MINH CITY PEOPLES COMMITTEE

SAI GON UNIVERSITY

FOREIGN LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT

RESEARCH REPORT
Topic: The effectiveness of using techniques in IELTS reading test of
students of Foreign Language Department at Saigon University
Supervisors: Tran The Phi (MA)_ Tran Loan Quang Tuyen (MA)
Group member:
Le Trung Kien
Le The Vu Hung
Tran Thi Thu Huyen
Ho Trung Kiet

Academic year: 2015-2016

CONTENT

ABSTRACT........................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................2
METHOD............................................................................................4
RESULT..............................................................................................5
DISCUSSION.....................................................................................11
REFERENCE......................................................................................13
APPENDIX

ABSTRACT
Reading skill is one of important communication skills in English and using
techniques to better this skill has also been applied widely. However, the effectiveness of
using these reading techniques has not been yet recognized clearly. An aim of our
research was to ascertain the effectiveness of using techniques or strategies in IELTS
reading test towards English-majoring students at Saigon University. Moreover, we were
in the hope of stimulating students to use these techniques whenever they do the reading
test in general. We conducted our research via a thorough going-over using
questionnaire attached to sample test to collect data regarding the effectiveness of using
reading techniques. Results indicated that most students of Foreign Language
Department of Saigon University assumed that using techniques is extremely effective to
better their reading skill as well as makes an enormous impact on their outcomes. More
importantly, our research report may provide the basis for other researches concerning
the use of reading techniques or the effectiveness of these techniques.

INTRODUCTION
IELTS (International English Language Testing System) is nowadays deemed
one of the worlds most popular English tests for higher education and global migration.
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IELTS is jointly managed by Cambridge University, British Council and IDP Education
Australia. It is designed to measure English proficiency of people who want to study or
work where English is used officially as the language of communication through testing
four English skills (Listening, Reading, Speaking, Writing). Among English skills used to
test language ability, reading can be considered the most important skill for English
communication via testing the level of understanding after reading an academic text. One
of the challenges and difficulties that most IELTS learners usually experience in IELTS
reading test is the ability to read the text quickly enough but effectively so that they could
finish the test well. Hence, various approaches and definite techniques are offered to
students so as to better their reading skills as well as to prepare carefully prior to taking
part in this reading test. Ability to read quickly is very important on the IELTS reading
test but reading technique is equally important (Christopher Pell, 2015). There are several
different kinds of IELTS reading questions and each requires a different technique
(Christopher Pell, 2015).
Recent years have seen a sharp increase in studies exploring academic reading
skills as measured through the International English Language Testing System (IELTS)
(e.g., Krishnan, 2011; Moore, Morton, & Price, 2012; Weir, Hawkey, Green, & Devi,
2009). Numerous studies have been conducted to give advice for using techniques or
strategies in IELTS reading test. Nicole Richardson (2010) indicated that reading
comprehension is imperative to a students ability to successfully engage in text, so it is
the teachers responsibility to ensure that students are effectively trained in multiple
comprehension and reading strategies because students must apply multiple
comprehension strategies to ensure accurate understanding. It has been proven that
students who acquire prior reading techniques are better able to comprehend the text
(McNamara, OReilly, Best & Ozuru; Magliano, Todaro, Millis, & Weimer-Hastings,
2006). Nicole Richardson (2010) indicated that educators have to provide strategy
instruction to all students who struggle with reading comprehension so that they can have
successful reading experiences. To overcome these obstacles and respond to test
questions, strategic reading techniques were adopted which focused less on textual
comprehension than on quickly locating correct answers (James Chalmers & Ian
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Walkinshaw, 2014). The strategic reading techniques adopted seemed to limit the need for
participant comprehension to the local-literal level rather than the global-interpretive
level (Moore et al., 2012). As a counter-measure, students may apply strategic reading
techniques to increase their response speed and potentially their test score (Everett &
Colman, 2003; Mickan & Motteram, 2009). Nicole Richardson (2010) assumed that
educational professionals and theorists have determined that focused intensive instruction
of reading strategies will improve reading comprehension. Study by Stephen Bax (2013)
showed clearly that IELTS candidates who make use of expeditious reading strategies are
more successful. However, few studies have reported on the effectiveness of using
reading techniques.
The objective of this study was to ascertain the effectiveness of using techniques
or strategies in IELTS reading exam towards students of foreign language department of
Saigon University. A second goal was to stimulate students to use reading strategies in
order to master their reading skill in general and with IELTS in particular. More
importantly, it is hoped that this topic will be of importance to teachers or IELTS trainers
in offering students to use reading techniques to better skill.

METHODS
Initially, we paid attention to the issue of graduation criteria as well as IELTS
exam and we realized that difficulties and challenges that most English-majoring at
Saigon University experienced was the question how to conquer reading skill in IELTS
test. Hence, our research group decided to choose this problem as our research topic to
conduct and named it the effectiveness of using techniques in IELTS reading exam.
Under supervisors support, we chose the survey research as the main method by a
thorough going-over on students of foreign language department at Saigon University.
We designed a questionnaire form including 10 questions attached to sample reading test
in order to survey as well as determine the understanding level when applying techniques
or strategies in practicing IELTS reading test. Selected students were divided into 2
groups: IELTS learners and IELTS already-takers.

First of all, 100 selected students from foreign language department of Saigon
University were surveyed carefully via questionnaire together with sample reading test
based on the real IELTS exam. Following this, data was collected and transformed into
charts before being given to analysis. Statistical analysis of different multiple choices in
questionnaire was done with the results of sample test to determine the effectiveness level
of using reading techniques.

RESULTS

Techniques
Determining paraphrase

Skimming

Scanning

Others

7%
26%
25%

42%

Figure 1: The portion of students using various reading techniques

The pie chart displays the number of students using various techniques to solve the
IELTS reading test (by percentage).
As can be seen clearly from the chart that skimming is the most commonly- used
technique in IELTS reading test with 42% in the total, nearly double compared to the
portion of students using scanning method (25%) and paraphrase determination (26%).
Only 7% of students using other methods to do reading test.

It is likely that skimming, scanning and paraphrase determination are common

methods that most students of Foreign Language Department of Saigon University use
when doing the IELTS reading test.

Note

Short- answer question

VERY HARD
HARD

Matching Heading

NORMAL
EASY

Completion

Multiple choice
0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Figure 2: The portion of students asked about the difficult levels of 5 different types of
question.
The bar chart presents the result of survey asking students how difficult they find
with five different kinds of question in IELTS reading test (by percentage).
To specify; in term of multiple choices exercise, most students felt satisfied with
this task and stated that this is an easy task with 35% and normal one with also 35%.
Only 30% of students acknowledged that multiple choices caused difficulty for them and
no one find it very hard to finish well. With completion exercise, the majority of students
was confident with this type of questions and found it as a normal task (44%), twice more
than the portion of students assuming that this task was so difficult to finish. Only small
percentage of students who can do this task easily was 21% and very few students found
it very difficult to do (13%). With matching exercise, the proportion was divided nearly
equally into every level of difficulty. With short-answer question, most of students found
it difficult to do this task (25% at the difficult level and 24% at the very difficult level).
Only small percent of student (12%) was confident to finish this task without difficulties
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and the rest portion (39%) of the total students stated that they could do it normally.
Regarding exercises relating to notes, 39% of students had difficulty in doing this task,
only 4% of students feel very hard to finish and the rest portion of students can do it well.
It appears that most students can do 5 above-mentioned kinds of question easily
and effectively. Only smaller percentage of students finds it difficult to finish. These
findings may be explained clearly by considering the usage of techniques and strategies
in reading test.
Not influenced

little influenced

21

44

Influenced

strongly influenced

20

29

56
54

24
15

12

11

Skimming

Scanning

5
Paraphrase

Figure 3: The ratio of students asked about the levels of influence of 3 main reading
techniques on their outcomes.
The bar chart demonstrates the result of survey asking students about the level of
influence on the result of IELTS reading test (by percentage).
It is clear that most students assumed that reading techniques exerted enormous
influence on their reading tests result. In detail; in the level of influence, scanning made
up 56%, 54% with paraphrase and 44% with skimming. Only small percentage of the
total students realized that reading techniques did not make impact on their result.

It seems that most students nearly have awareness of the influence level of using
reading techniques on their outcomes.
120
100
80

VERY EFFECTIVE
EFFECTIVE

60

NORMAL
LITTLE EFFECTIVE

40

INEFFECTIVE

20
0
Skimming

Scanning

Paraphrase

Figure 4: The ratio of students asked about the levels of effectiveness of 3 main reading
techniques.
The bar chart illustrates the effectiveness levels on three basic reading techniques
according to 5 stages (by percentage).
As can be seen from this chart, a large proportion of students were little influenced
by reading techniques (39% with skimming, 27% with scanning and 47% with
paraphrase determination). However, it was clear that most students stated that it was
very useful and effective when reading techniques was used (32% with skimming, 44%
with scanning and 40 % with paraphrase determination). And very small percentage of
students thought that techniques or strategies were not effective in doing IELTS reading
test.
It seems that most students may know clearly the effectiveness of using reading
techniques and find it useful for them when doing reading test. These aforementioned
results may be explained by students preparation in applying techniques and strategies in
IELTS reading test.
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TIME
A. Not spending time

B. 30 minutes 1 hour

D. 2 hours 3 hours

Over 3 hours

7%

C. 1 hour 2 hours

19%

18%

22%

34%

Figure 5: The portion of time that students surveyed spent on practicing reading skill.
The pie chart illustrates the proportion of time that 100 Saigon University
students, who were surveyed, spend on practicing IELTS reading skill.
According to the graphical data, we could discern that the most common time was
about 30 minutes 1 hour with accounting for 34% of pie chart. In contrast, the least of
the chart was some people who spent totally on practicing over than 3 hour. Meanwhile,
Timeline between 1 hour and 2 hours was relatively popular as it occupied three times as
much as the timeline over 3 hours. Moreover, the percentage of students not spending
time was almost as popular as that of students spending 2 hours to 3 hours followed by
18% and 19% respectively.
These results suggest that most students do not spend too much time on practicing
IELTS reading skill. It can be explained easily that students do not have to concentrate
too much on practicing reading; instead of that, they focus to use techniques and
strategies to master this skill.

Improving reading skills

Watching movie with English-Vietnamese subtitles
Reading books or short stories by English
Studying from many English documents
Others

7%
33%
29%

31%

Figure 6: The ratio of students asked about ways that they use to improve reading skill.
The pie chart reveals the result of survey asking students which ways students of
Foreign Language Department of Saigon University used to improve their reading skill.
(by percentage)
The portion of students improving their reading skill through watching movies
with English- Vietnamese subtitles reached the highest percentage with 33%. The second
highest one (31%) was the figure for students bettering their reading skill via reading
books or stories written in English. Approximately 29% of the total students improved
their reading skill by studying from English documents such as dictionary, English books
for learner from basic to advanced level. And the rest proportion of total accounted for
the smallest one (7%) was the ratio of students mastering reading skill based on other
methods.

It seems that mass media, English books or stories are the most popular methods
that most English- majoring students at Saigon University applied for studying and
improving English reading skill. These above-mentioned findings may be explained that
students know how to apply techniques into their reading and make it effective.

DISCUSSION
The former education theories of reading skill strategies led us to infer that using
reading techniques or strategies indeed brings about enormous advantages for test-takers
to achieve success. This research attempted to ascertain the effectiveness of these
techniques so as to motivate students to make use of those in their reading test. Our
findings partly proved that the use of reading techniques had decisive influence on
students outcomes and the effectiveness of these techniques was determined and
valuated practically. These results can be explained by assuming that reading techniques
or strategies assist students in many ways in order to help them achieve successful
outcomes. For example, skimming enables students to get the main ideas or the general
overview of academic text in pre-reading or review situation. Scanning enables students
to get specific facts or a small piece of information without reading the whole text. These
results are in substantial agreement with those of Nicole Richardson.
Definitely, our research faced numerous limitations. The biggest restriction we
found was the small size of our research. It may be certain that our researchs results will
be more reliable and accurate if we have a chance to expand the size of the research, not
only at Foreign Language Department but also the entire Saigon University. The second
limitation is time burden. We only conducted our research in 6 weeks and this barred us
from doing a bigger survey. Besides, we also had difficulties in finance as well as human
resources. And the last one was that this was the first time we had done a thorough
research, so there existed some unexpected mistakes.
The research has some considerable implications for both teachers and learners.
This is due to the fact that IELTS candidates who utilize reading techniques in IELTS
reading test can easily conquer reading challenges from academic texts. Furthermore,

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these findings lead us to believe that reading techniques should be used or prepared
carefully prior to taking the exam in order to have better outcomes.
From our results, we suggest that:
Firstly, reading strategies or techniques should be considered as top priority to be taught
by English experts of Saigon University in subjects regarding reading skill. Secondly, a
deep approach to studying English reading skill needs to be taken to motivate students to
use techniques in academic texts; for instance, the leaders of Foreign Language
Department should expand the study curriculum via adding more practical subjects with
the purpose of strengthening reading ability for students as well as providing skill
techniques.

REFERENCES
Bax, S., 2013. Readers cognitive processes during IELTS reading tests: evidence from
eye tracking. ELT Research Papers. British Council, 17.
Chalmers, J. and Walkinshaw, I., 2014. Reading strategies in IELTS tests: Prevalence
and impact on outcomes. English Australia Journal. Griffith University, 37.
Everett, R., & Colman, J. (2003). A critical analysis of selected IELTS preparation
materials. IELTS Research Reports, 5, 1-84.
Krishnan, K. S. (2011). Careful vs. expeditious reading: The case of the IELTS reading
test. Academic Research International, 1(3), 25-35.
McNamara, D. S., O'Reilly, T. P., Best, R. M., & Ozuru, Y. (2006). Improving adolescent
students reading comprehension with iStart*. Journal of Educational Computing
Research, 34(2), 147-171.

Mickan, P., & Motteram, J. (2009). The preparation practices of IELTS candidates: Case
studies. IELTS Research Reports, 10, 1-39.
Moore, T., Morton, J., & Price, S. (2012). Construct validity in the IELTS academic
reading test: A comparison of reading requirements in IELTS test items and in university
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study. IELTS Research Reports , 11, 1-89.

Pell, C., 2015. Speed Reading: How to Increase Your Reading Speed. [online] IELTS
Advantage. Available at: <http://ieltsadvantage.com/2015/05/06/speed-reading-increase/>
[Accessed 27 Apr. 2016].

Richardson, N., 2010. Guided Reading Strategies for Reading Comprehension. Education
master. St. John Fisher College, 2, 39.

Weir, C., Hawkey, R., Green, A., Unaldi, A., & Devi, S. (2009). The relationship between
the academic reading construct as measured by IELTS and the reading experiences of
students in their first year of study at a British university. IELTS Research Reports, 9, 97156.

APPENDIX
QUESTIONNAIRE
We are conducting a research with topic named The effectiveness of using
techniques in IELTS reading exam of students in Foreign Language Department at
Saigon University. Your answers to questions below are extremely vital for us to achieve
our research. Your opinions are indeed valuable for our research topic. We assure that
your information will be secure and absolutely confidential. Thanks in advance.
You may use all or parts of the questionnaire at no charge without permission
1. You are:
A. IELTS-learners
B. IELTS-already takers
2. The difficulty level of each kind of questions in IELTS reading test:
1. Easy

2. Normal

3. Difficult
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4. Very Difficult

Level
1

Kind

Multiple choice
Completion
Matching Heading
Short-answer question
Note
3. Which techniques or strategies do you often use to conquer reading test?
A. Determining paraphrase
B. Skimming
C. Scanning
D. Others
4. The level of influence of reading techniques on students reading test outcomes:
1. Not influenced

2. Little influenced 3. Influenced 4. Strongly influenced

Level
1

Techniques
Skimming
Scanning
Paraphrase
5. The level of effectiveness of using each technique in reading test:
1. Ineffective
2. Normal
3. Little effective
4. Effective
5. Very effective

Level

2
13

Techniques
Skimming
Scanning
Paraphrase
6. How much time do you often spend on practicing reading skill?
A. not spending
B. 30 minutes- 1 hour
C. 1 hour- 2 hours
D. 2 hours- 3 hours
E. Over 3 hours
7. Which way do you often use to improve reading skill?
A. Watching movies with English- Vietnamese subtitles
B. Reading books or short stories written in English
C. Studying English documents
D. Others
8. According to your opinion, which techniques do English-majoring students at
Saigon University have to apply to master reading skill?
........................................................................................................................
9. According to your opinion, which technique is the most effective to use when
doing reading test?
........................................................................................................................
10. According to your opinion, what can Foreign Language Department of Saigon
University do to improve students reading ability?
........................................................................................................................

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