In EFL countries where English is rarely practiced outside the classroom, textbooks have become the major input source for learners. Particularly in Vietnam, multiple textbook series are available simultaneously for the same grade. Thus, it is important to examine if their vocabulary is appropriate and of similar difficulty. This study aims to…

In EFL learning and teaching, listening is believed to be the most challenging of the four macro language skills. Various obstacles have been reported as causing challenges to English listening comprehension for EFL learners. This study, therefore, aimed to determine the English listening comprehension problems of Vietnamese high school students…

There are many types of research by scientists around the world studying effective methods of learning foreign languages, including English, especially its use in teaching science subjects. Few people are aware of the criteria to assess the level of the use of the English language skills in teaching science subjects. We surveyed 14 teachers, 486…

This study examined whether the reading passages in the new series of English-language textbooks for high-school students in Vietnam fostered reading comprehension and incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading by looking at four factors: the number of unfamiliar words in the texts, the importance of these words for text comprehension, the…

Reading comprehension of informational texts has been largely debated and introduced at all levels of education across western countries. However, it has not received enough attention in developing countries including Vietnam. This paper aims to investigate the procedure of reading and comprehension of informational texts in high schools in…

Using the BEAR assessment system, the author set up a hypothetical reading competence (RC) developmental continuum and sketched the RC assessment standards, established RC measurement tasks, and described outputs. The author collected real RC evidence based on the cross-sectional study models, then adjusted the developmental continuum and RC…

The "TOEFL Junior"® Standard Test is an assessment that measures the degree to which middle school-aged students learning English as a second language have attained proficiency in the academic and social English skills representative of English-medium instructional environments. The assessment measures skills in three areas: listening…

The effects of meta-cognitive strategy use on learning reading comprehension have gained much interest of researchers and educators (Chumpavan, 2000; Shmais, 2002; Phakiti, 2003; Aegpongpaow 2008; Subasi, 2009; Zhang and Wu, 2009). Available literature indicated a positive correlation between learners' meta-cognitive strategy use and their…