Self instruction in developing reading skills for students at the university of technical education

50 Figure 4.6 Students’ frequency of reading extra English materials ...51 Figure 4.7 Self-learner’s basic strategies ...53 Figure 4.8 Students’ opinions of the importance of their maj

Submitted by NGUYỄN THỊ TOÀN NGỌC

Supervisor TÔ MINH THANH , Ph D.

Viet Nam National University - HCM CITY University of Social Sciences and Humanities

******************

HO CHI MINH CITY - 2007

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL)

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I hereby certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled:

SELF-INSTRUCTION

IN DEVELOPING READING SKILLS FOR STUDENTS

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION

In terms of the Statement of Requirements for Theses in Master’s Programs Issued by the Higher Degree Committee

Ho Chi Minh City, June 2007

NGUYỄN THỊ TOÀN NGỌC

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I, hereby state that I, Nguyễn Thị Toàn Ngọc, being the candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the library for care, loan and reproduction of thesis

Ho Chi Minh City, June 2007

NGUYỄN THỊ TOÀN NGỌC

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my course lecturer and

supervisor, Dr TÔ MINH THANH, for her explicit guidance and valuable support to the completion of my thesis Without her whole-hearted guidance, I could not have finished the thesis

I am also grateful to all my teachers for valuable and helpful instructionsduring the three-year Tesol course (2003 – 2006)

I should also like to express my special thanks to the library staff of theUniversity of Social Sciences and Humanities who help me with my search forreference materials

In addition, I am grateful to my colleagues, especially Mr Ian Venn, Lecturer in B.A English studies, and Mr Lê Hoàng Quân, M.A of TESOL,

New York USA, who were willing to participate in the questionnaire and give

This thesis aims at discovering the non-majored English students’ level of instruction at the University of Technical Education (UTE) and the teachers’perceptions towards this matter It advanced suggestions about what to innovate thesituation

self-To get these purposes, the research was carried out by means of twoquestionnaires The former, which included 20 items addressing 5 different factors ofself-instruction such as learners’ needs, learners’ motivation, learners’ strategies,learners’ self-confidence and learners’ autonomy, administered to first and second-year students The latter was designed for 10 English teachers who have experience

of over 8 years at the UTE In addition, there was an interview for the subject teachersbecause their viewpoints did contribute to the complete picture of students’ futureprofessional needs

The findings proved that the students at the UTE had a low level of instruction, namely in reading skills The results also showed that they lackedeffective learning strategies Based on these findings, some recommendations weremade to improve the students’ current situation

Implications from the research results focused on building students’ instruction by:

self-™ Encouraging students’ intrinsic motivation and self-confidence;

™ Helping students discover their own learning styles;

™ Showing students the variety of available strategies;

™ Enhancing the ability of cooperation and group cohesion;

™ Emphasizing the application of technology in the students’ own learning

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

1st sts : First-year students

2nd sts : Second-year students

EM : Extrinsic motivation ESP : English for Specific Purposes

IM : Intrinsic motivation UTE : University of Technical Education

LIST OF FIGURES

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Figure 2.1 Skill learning 25

Figure 4.1 Students' needs for the four basic language skills 43

Figure 4.2 Arrangement of the students' expectations of improvement in reading 45

Figure 4.3 (a) & (b) Students’ opinions of extensive reading 46

Figure 4.4 Proportion of students’ motivations for learning reading 48

STUDENTS’ NEEDS Figure 4.5 Frequently applied reading techniques 50 Figure 4.6 Students’ frequency of reading extra English materials 51

Figure 4.7 Self-learner’s basic strategies 53

Figure 4.8 Students’ opinions of the importance of their major subjects to language learning 55

STUDENTS’ AUTONOMY Figure 4.9 Students’ abilities to organize their own study time 56

Figure 4.10 Students’ efforts into trying to understand difficult things 58

Figure 4.11 Students’ ability to question the matter in hand 58

Figure 4.12 Students’ awareness of their learning styles 60

Figure 4.13 & 4.14 Students’ awareness of self-assessment 61

Figure 4.15 Preference in teaching and learning reading 64

Figure 4.16 Teachers’ opinions of the out-of-class extensive reading task 65

LIST OF TABLES

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Table 1.1 The first stage of the English course at the UTE 11

Table 2.1 The traditional and contemporary trends in Education 16

Table 2.2 Self-learners’ basic strategies 23

Table 2.3 Efficient and inefficient reading 31

STUDENTS’ NEEDS Table 4.1 Students’ needs for the four basic language skills 42

Table 4.2 Students’ expectations towards reading 44

Table 4.3 Students’ opinions of the relationship between English and other subjects 45

Table 4.4 Students’ opinions of reading skills 46

STUDENTS’ MOTIVATIONS Table 4.5 Students’ motivations for learning reading 47

Table 4.6 Students’ preparations for reading tasks 48

STUDENTS’ STRATEGIES Table 4.7 Students’ preferred learning strategies 49

Table 4.8 Frequently applied reading techniques 50

Table 4.9 Self-learner’s basic strategies 52

STUDENTS’ SELF-CONFIDENCE Table 4.10 Factors positively influencing students’ reading tasks 54

Table 4.11 Factors negatively influencing students’ reading tasks 54

TABLE OF CONTENTS *************

Page

Certificate of originality i

Retention and use of the thesis ii

Acknowledgements iii

Abstract iv

List of abbreviations v

List of figures vi

List of tables viii

Table of contents x

INTRODUCTION 1- 9 0.1 STATEMENT OF THE PURPOSE 1

0.2 PREVIOUS RESEARCHES IN RELATED FIELDS 3

0.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 5

0.4 ASSUMPTIONS OF THE STUDY 5

0.5 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 6

0.6 DELIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 6

0.7 DEFINITIONS OF TERMS 7

0.8 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS 8

CHAPTER 1: BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 10 - 13 1.1 DESCRIPTION OF THE ENGLISH COURSE AT THE UTE 10

1.2 DESCRIPTION OF PHYSICAL SETTING 11

1.3 TEACHING STAFF 12

1.4 STUDENTS’ PROFILES 12

1.5 SUMMARY 13

INTRODUCTION

Self-instruction is an important part contributing to students' acquisition It helps students with not only reaching the current educational aims but also meeting requirements for further education It comes as no surprise to hear that we are in "the age of the learner" In class the teacher is responsible for only part of the time, and the

remainder is for the learner According to Dickinson (1991: 2),

”self-instruction must be judged by its effectiveness as a learning mode - that is, it must

be judged by the success of learners in learning a foreign language.” Self-instruction contains such elements as learners' awareness of needs and goals, attitude, motivation, and autonomy Autonomy is achieved slowly, through struggling towards it, through careful training and careful preparation on the teacher’s part as well

as on the learner’s part This process allows the development of learner independence and responsibility

This study aims firstly at identifying the elements of self-instruction and

secondly at finding out how self-instruction is involved in the students' development

of reading skills at the UTE It suggests effective ways of helping students to

improve themselves in the learning process

0.1 STATEMENT OF THE PURPOSE

In contemporary approaches to language teaching and learning, learners are encouraged to develop an ability to carry out creative and imaginative learning projects outside the language classroom They should develop independence and learn

how to use the language as a working tool to achieve their main objectives Bearing these ideas in mind, I appreciate the term “self-instruction” which emphasizes an increasing degree of responsibility for learners’ own learning while

“self-study” describes a mode of self-instruction where the learner relies on specialist language-learning materials produced by others Self-instruction is more efficient than classroom instruction in terms of development and teaching time Also,

“it may mean a learner using materials which designed to guide his every step and leave little freedom of choice, or it may describe a situation in which the learner design his own course and makes decisions about when and how he is going to be assessed.”

(Dickinson 1991: 16)

The subjects of the study are 382 students at the UTE They are good at mathematics, but not at learning language Quite often, they consider English as an unimportant subject in their undergraduate program with the help of their language teachers, the students need to foster their self-instruction to improve their academic skills Unfortunately, almost all the decisions about learning have been taken by the teacher, and thus the students have had no the opportunity to decide things for themselves This means that they have failed to develop the ability to learn by themselves or to work out what works best for them as individuals In today’s rapidly-changing world, however, such an ability is increasingly important as members of the national workforce are continually required to learn new skills and absorb new information Learning how to learn should thus be a vital component in any educational course

Moreover, self-instruction can help students to reach wider educational goals

(Dickinson, 1991: 27)

To sum up, this study aims to answer the following three research questions:

1 Is there a strong spirit of self-instruction among the students at the UTE?

2 What elements affect the students' self-instruction?

3 How can teachers foster the students' self-instruction in developing reading skills?

0.2 PREVIOUS RESEARCHES IN RELATED FIELDS

It seems that a considerable number of researchers have paid adequate attention to ways of helping students to develop their proficiency in reading and to become self-learners Among them are various applicants for an M.A in TESOL, those who made great efforts to contribute something to the improvement of language teaching and learning

Nguyen Thi Thanh Thao (2005: 79) had a critical look at reading style preferences of the ESP students at Ton Duc Thang University She emphasized that in all classrooms, there may be students with multiple learning styles So are there in the reading classes She also thought that “at metalcognitive level, there may be other factors other than reading styles that are closely related to learners’ reading process such as learners’ beliefs for reading their feelings, their motivations.”

Pham Van Giao (2005: 26) was interested in Teaching of English reading skills He addresses the five following factors concerning the teaching process of English reading skills: motivation, environment, textbook, reading strategies and satisfaction In term of reading strategies, he suggested that teachers should ask students to begin a program of vocabulary development by reading as much as possible

Investigating into EFL reading difficulties to resolve the problems at Soc Trang College of Education, Lam Quang Tuyet Minh (2005: 81) came to a conclusion that the difficulties were caused by:

- The students’ different levels of English proficiency;

- The differences in English study program before college;

- The teachers’ training method;

- The problem of current textbook

In addition, Laâm Quang Tuyeát Minh (2005: 81-82) showed some factors that may help students overcome their reading problems:

- The teachers’ improved strategy method;

- The positive additional reading material;

- The appropriate tasks and activities in additional materials

For the sake of self-learners, Duong Tran Thy Diem (2005: 74) carried out a research to find out how to improve the self-study of pre-intermediate English non-major students at Van Hien University She reported that the students’ motivation and interest should be developed in the learning process In other words, “the students should work for acquiring knowledge and skill, not just for grades With such a meaningful goal, they will be strongly motivated to study and make the most of their self-study time to activate their English outside the class.” In addition, the author emphasized the importance of learning how to learn successfully and of teacher-student partnership She concluded that both the teacher and his students should be actively involved in the process of building up the students’ good habits of self-study

Appreciating the above-mentioned researchers’ work to improve their students’ process of learning English, the author of this MA thesis has come up with some findings from her related fields and advanced some aspects of self-instruction in developing reading skills for her students at the UTE The students’ strength and weakness as well as their own learning styles are stressed in the hope of assisting them

in finding their own way(s) of learning English, especially learning how to read in English successfully

0.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

On the one hand, a considerable number of students would like to master a foreign language and see independent learning as a goal At some point, most language learners at least try to do self-instruction Their success, however, seems quite limited because they lack both an effective study method and some feedback for their efforts

On the other hand, language teachers eagerly wish to have “good” language learners who set their own direction and take responsibility for their own learning; these teachers can provide assistance and materials to help their students succeed in gaining some degree of semi-autonomy The students will gradually reach total autonomy in the learning process

The author of the thesis has a strong belief that self-instruction results in better effects of learning, constituting a significant aspect of training the students’ learning ability

This study is, therefore, carried out in the hope of helping the students at the UTE build up a spirit of self-instruction in learning English, especially in developing their reading skills Findings from this study will be the base for suggestions to innovate the situation

0.4 ASSUMPTIONS OF THE STUDY

It is assumed that self-instruction has a strong effect on students’ acquisition and it can be built up via students’ awareness of its component factors

The second assumption is that the sample target groups are representative of the majority of the students at the UTE

The last assumption is that both the student subjects and the teacher subjects have

no difficulties in understanding the items in the questionnaire and they are willing to give true information

0.5 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

There are some limitations in the study:

Firstly, this study confines itself to investigating a considerable number of students and teachers at the UTE and giving recommendations are to the students majoring in technology at this academic setting The result of the thesis may not be properly applied to the students of other majors at the UTE as well as the students of other universities

Secondly, this is due to the fact that self-instruction is a multifactor concept, the author of the thesis cannot help resorting from various sources to have a sufficient literature review

In spite of the above-mentioned limitations of the thesis, its author hopes that this study does make a small contribution to the innovation of students’ responsibility in learning process at the UTE

0.6 DELIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

There are two main points in this section:

First, this research is conducted over 370 students majoring in (1) Information Technology, (2) Electrical and Electronics Engineering, (3) Machine Design, (4) Machine Building and (5) Industrial Technology at the UTE, so their answers are truly representative of the students at these faculties of the UTE

Second, this research focuses on their students’ self-instruction in developing their reading skills which are very necessary to help students obtain better knowledge from technical books written in English The author of the thesis, therefore, can design a detailed questionnaire characteristic of reading skills

0.7 DEFINITIONS OF TERMS

For clarity of ideas in this thesis, definitions of terms are specified as follows:

™ Group work: Any form of learning activity, which is done by groups of learners working together Often distinguished from class work, in which the whole class

works together (Wallace, 1991: 45)

™ Self-help group: A group of students who come together to help one another,

outside the official tutorial or teaching system (Wallace, 1991: 45)

™ Guided reading: A form of teaching or learning in which students are encouraged

to read specific articles or specific sections of books with a particular purpose in mind (Wallace, 1991: 46)

™ Skills: (1) The four main language skills including also referred to as listening,

speaking, reading and writing or (2) “enabling” skills, which are also referred to

as sub-skills such as the ability to pick out the main points in of a reading text, the ability to locate as quickly as possible specific pieces of information in a reading text, etc (Willis, 1998: 188)

™ Reading skills: Skills like skimming, scanning, etc the aim of which is to the

learner become a more efficient reader (Hill, 2001: 22)

™ Techniques: Ways of doing something (Oxford English Dictionary,

1989: 258)

™ Learning styles: students orientations toward learning (Nunan, 1999: 310)

™ Metacognitive strategies: Learning strategies that encourage learners to focus on

the metal processes underlying their learning (Nunan, 1999: 310)

™ Tasks: Pieces of classroom work which focus principally (although not

exclusively) on meaning:

Task 1: “Listening to the weather forecast and decide whether you should wear a sweater

when you go out.”

Task 2: “Turn the following active voice sentences into the passive voice using the

examples provided.”

(Nunan, 1999: 315)

™ Text: the written record of a communicative event that conveys a complete

message Texts may vary from single words (for example, “stop”, “exit”, etc.) to books running to hundreds of pages (Nunan, 1999: 315)

™ Strategies: Mental processes and operations used by learners to learn and then communicate (Nunan, 1999: 315)

™ Self-instruction: A general cover term referring generally to situations in which

learners, who are totally responsible for making and implements all decisions concerning their learning process, work without their teacher’s control (Diskinson, 1991: 11)

0.8 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS

The thesis is presented in five chapters in addition to an introduction and a conclusion stating and restating the problem in question

Chapter 1 provides the background to the study including (1) the description of the

English course at the UTE as well as (2) the teachers’ profile and the students’ characteristics

Chapter 2 reviews the relevant literature and research to the study consisting of

(1) contemporary trends in language teaching and learning, (2) definitions of instruction and its relevant factors including learners’ need, learners’

self-motivation, learning strategies, learners’ self-confidence and learners’ autonomy, (3) current issues concerning the concepts of reading skills and reading strategies

Chapter 3 presents the methodology employed in the research done at the UTE

The data collected for the research are from a questionnaire to the student subjects and

a questionnaire as well as a personal interview to the teacher subject

Chapter 4 discusses the findings of this MA thesis and analyzes questionnaire

responses in the light of the research literature review

Chapter 5 summarizes the findings of the study and raises a number of suggestions

in the hope of contributing something to the promotion of students’ self-instruction

CHAPTER 1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

“Teaching cannot be defined apart from learning Teaching is guiding and facilitating learning, enabling the learner to learn, setting the conditions for learning Your understanding of how the learner learns will determine your philosophy of education, your teaching style, your approach,

methods, and classroom techniques.” (Brown, 2000: 7)

This chapter provides information for the background of the thesis, i.e the overview of teaching and learning English at the UTE

1.1 DESCRIPTION OF THE ENGLISH COURSE AT THE UTE

English is a non-major but compulsory subject at the UTE It is divided into two stages: The first is for general English and the second for ESP

” The first stage covers the students’ first three semesters at the UTE during which New Headway (Elementary and Pre-intermediate) is used as the course book This

is an integrated course book with the development of the four basis language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing The skills’ work and features come from a wide range of material, eg newspapers, magazines, biographies, short stories, radio-programmes and songs, characterizing both British and American English

The table below illustrates the first stage of the English course at the UTE:

Stage 1 Term 1 (60 periods) Term 2 (60 periods) Term 3 (60 periods)

180 periods New Headway

Elementary Unit 8 – 14

New Headway pre-inter Unit 1 – 7

New Headway pre-inter Unit 8 – 14

” Verb patterns 2

” Reported statements

topic

” Inventors

” Dangerous sports

” Dreams

” Love

TABLE 1.1: The first stage of the English course at the UTE

” The second stage lasts 45 periods, which is the time for all the students at the UTE

to learn English for specific purpose (ESP) From the school year 2006 –2007, the teachers of the faculties will take charge of teaching ESP Thus, teachers of English are only responsible for teaching general English

1.2 DESCRIPTION OF PHYSICAL SETTING

The classrooms are designed for lectures There are no classrooms especially designed for language learning Classroom equipment is only the blackboard and microphone Some rooms are equipped with a hanging screen and fifteen cassette recorders are available for English lessons

There exists a library but there are few English books available for students’ practice and reference Most of the books are technical books written in Vietnamese Technical English books, which are seldom used by the students at the UTE, make a small portion in the library

Most of the classes at the university are really big, including from 65 to 85 students

It is a real problem for any teachers of English

1.3 TEACHING STAFF

Teachers have different roles and responsibilities in their professional practice Besides transmitting knowledge, they have to provide an environment for students to explore a variety of experiences and make sure that students are prepared for the next stage It is undeniable that the teaching staff plays an important role in the teaching and learning process

In the English Department of the UTE there are 15 English teachers and 5 regular visiting teachers, all being from 25 to 53

Of the 15 official teachers, 10 have got an M.A in TESOL; 3 are fulfilling a graduate TESOL course; and the rest have a B.A in English

post-As far as the working time is concerned, 10 teachers have been teaching English at the UTE for over 8 years; the remainder have 2 or 5 years of experience

1.4 STUDENTS’ PROFILES

All of the students enter the university after passing a national entrance examination the three main subjects of which are mathematics, physics, and chemistry Their ages range from 18 to 25, and they are all native speakers of Vietnamese The majority of the students at the UTE (about 80%) are male

Coming from the different provinces and cities, the students do not have the same background of English at entry: those from a big city seem better because they have undergone seven years of learning English; others have learned English

for only three years at high school Still others either have never learned English before or have learned another foreign language like French at high school

The students’ problem is that they have low proficiency and lack adequate motivation in learning English They do not recognize the importance and necessity of English until they are in the fourth year when a lot of technical English books need to

be read to get a thorough understanding of their major subjects

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents relevant theories and studies essential for the issues discussed in the thesis The first section addresses some linguists’ opinions on contemporary trends in language teaching and learning The second section deals with an overview of self-

instruction in language learning The third section presents factors that encourage instruction The fourth section shows basic reading skills The last section provides

self-strategies to develop reading skills

2.1 CONTEMPORARY TRENDS IN LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING

It is obvious that there are so many differences between the traditional and the

contemporary trends in language education As far as contemporary trends are concerned, learners learn not only from their teacher and their friends but also from themselves

Stevick (1976) demonstrates that teachers cannot learn instead of students, and in

order to increase learners’ independence and responsibility for learning, the traditional roles need changing

Harmer (2000: 9), in the study of the characteristics of good language learners,

finds that learners who take responsibility for their own learning (by studying in their

own time, doing home work, thinking carefully about what would be best for them) are good learners He also states that learners need to be aware that teachers cannot teach them English unless they themselves are prepared to take some of the strain Learning

is a partnership between teachers and students

Learning how to learn is crucial in the learning process Supporting this idea, Lewis & Hill (1985: 18) state:

One of the tasks of the language teacher is to help the student to study more efficiently and more enjoyably A small but important part of the teaching time should be spent making students aware of why certain things will help them, and why others will not The more students understand about the process of learning the foreign language, the more they will able to take responsibility for their own learning

Larsen-Freeman (1986: 62) indicates students should be able to use the language

for self-expression to express their thoughts, perceptions, and feelings In order to do

this, they need to develop independence from the teacher, to develop their own inner criteria for correctness Students become independent by relying on themselves The teacher, therefore, should give them only what they absolutely need to promote their learning

Scharle and Szabo (2000: 4) emphasize learners’ responsibility and autonomy in their book:

In language learning, teachers can provide all the necessary circumstances and in put, but learning can only happen if learners are willing to contribute And, in order for learners to be actively involved in the learning process, they first need to realize and accept that success in learning depends as much on the students as on the teacher That is, they share responsibility for the outcome In other words, success in learning very much depends on learners having a responsible attitude

The following table by Nunan (1999: 90) shows the major shifts that have taken place in langue pedagogy over the last thirty years:

SYLLABUS DESIGN

Content & methodology decided with reference

to the classroom rather than with reference to

learners’ real communication needs

Content & methodology match learner needs beyond the classroom Process and content are integrated

APPROACH TO TEACHING (METHODOLOGY)

Learners are taught about language and its

rules, learning facts about language rather than

how to use it communicatively

Learners are actively involved in using language

Traditional Contemporary

ROLE OF THE LEARNERS

Learners spend their time copying and

reproducing language written down by others

Learners learn how to use language creatively, responding in novel and authentic

communicative situations

APPROACH TO LANGUAGE

Grammar is taught as rules to be memorized Grammar and vocabulary are taught

communicatively so Learners can use the grammar to express different communicative meanings

USING LANGUAGE TEXT

Learners listen to and read specially written

classroom texts They have difficulty

comprehending authentic language outside the

classroom

Learners study authentic texts and learn to use genuine language outside the classroom

RESOURCES FOR LEARNERS

Learners have to rely only on the textbook as

an aid to language learning

Learners use a specially written, illustrated textbook plus self-study workbooks, cassette tapes, and videotaped materials

well-APPROACH TO LEARNING

Learners don’t learn how to become better

language learners on their own

Learners learn a range of effective language learning strategies and are shown how to apply these strategies to their own learning outside the classroom

CLASSROOM ORGANIZATION

Learners sit in rows facing the teacher and

spend most of their time repeating what the

teacher says They don’t learn how to express

their own ideas

Learners work in small groups and pairs, learning skills of cooperating with others and how to express their own opinions, ideas, and feelings.

ASSESSMENT

Teacher alone assesses the student’s progress

Learners do not develop ability to assess what

they have learned

Learners are trained to assess their own learning progress, and can identify their own strengths and weaknesses

TABLE 2.1: THE TRADITIONAL AND CONTEMPORARY TRENDS IN EDUCATION

2.2 AN OVERVIEW OF SELF-INSTRUCTION IN LANGUAGE LEARNING

There are a lot of terms to express “self” in language learning Experts in education gave different terminology to label the situation in which learners are

responsible for their learning and consciously monitor their own progress:

self-study (Nunan, 1999; Harmer, 2000), self-access (Sheerin, 1989), learner autonomy (Scharle and Szabo, 2000), and self-instruction (Dickinson, 1991)

Dickinson is currently a Senior Lecturer at the Moray HouseInstitute of Education

at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland He has written several books and articles on learner autonomy, including Self-instruction in Language Learning and

Learning Training for Language Learning According to Dickinson (1991: 15) “there is

no need to invest a lot of effort in attempting to disentangle these terms here.” However, he appreciates the term self-instruction and answers the question “what is self-instruction?” by providing his readers with a number of his “case studies” which

illustrate several of the possibilities of self-instruction (See Appendix 14 for specific information.)

Distinguishing learners’ responsible attitude to their learning process from

learners’ self-instruction, which is a mode of learning, Dickinson (1991: 4) gives the

following definition:

Self-instruction is used to refer to situation in which a learner, with others, or

alone, is working without the direct control of a teacher This might be for short periods within a lesson, for whole lessons, or in the extreme case of learner autonomy, where a student undertakes the whole of his learning without the help

of a teacher

In other words, self-instruction seeks to give to learners as much responsibility for their learning as they can cope with at any particular time The learners’ responsibility is

showed in the following four areas:

- Responsibility for the aims and objectives of the course;

- Development of the course;

- Self-assess and awareness of their level of proficiency;

- Their active role in learning

The author of this MA thesis gives a strong support to Dickinson’s theory of self-instruction in language learning, especially his opinion

of the fact that

self-instruction entails assisting potential learners to learn how to learn, which is a metacognitive ability contributing to learners’ acquisition

2.3 FACTORS ENHANCING SELF-INSTRUCTION

2.3.1 LEARNERS’ NEEDS

Language learners are seen to have different needs and interests, which will have an

important influence on the effectiveness of their learning A number of linguists has

carried out some practical work in needs analysis As a result, they introduce some

different terms related to the field of learners’ needs

Brindley (1984: 31) gives the concepts of objective and subjective needs:

™ Objective needs are those that can be diagnosed by teachers on the basis

of personal data of learners along with information about their language proficiency and pattern of language use

™ Subjective needs are often wants, desires, expectations of a lack which

can not be diagnosed easily, or, in many cases, even stated by learners themselves

Nunan (1999: 149) is interested in another aspect of learners’ needs, and he

prefers to draw a distinction between content needs and process needs:

™ Content needs include the selection and sequencing of such things as

topic, grammar, function, notions, and vocabulary, traditionally the domain of syllabus design

™ Process needs refer to the selection and sequencing of learning tasks and

experience, traditionally seen as the domain of methodology

It seems that more and more Vietnamese researchers have taken interests in learners’ need analysis For example, Duong Thi Hoang Oanh (2005: 21) reports:

Learners’ needs, or their perceptions of their needs, will change as a course progresses Reanalysis of needs is necessary because learners often find it difficult to identify and define their need at the beginning of a course (Teacher’s Edition 17, March 2005)

Moreover, emphasizing the relationship between learners’ needs and instruction, Dickinson (1991: 89) also believes that “the ideal system is one which

self-allows the learner to take as much responsibility for his own learning as he wishes to, and which makes provision both for those who want full autonomy and those who do not want any!”

2.3.2 LEARNERS’ MOTIVATION

2.3.2.1 Definition

A number of linguists give somewhat different definitions to “motivation”:

Motivation in second language is a complex phenomenon which can be defined in

terms of two factors: learners’ communicate needs, and their attitudes towards the second language community (Lightbrow & Spada, 1998: 40)

Motivation: in language learning, the psychological factors determining the

amount of effort a learner is prepared to put into language learning (Nunan, 1999: 311)

In other words, motivation is one of the most important psychological concepts in

education today and has in fact shown to be related to various learning and performance

2.3.2.2 Classification

It has been believed that there are two types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic

Ur (1996: 276) distinguishes intrinsic motivation from extrinsic motivation:

™ Intrinsic motivation can be defined as the urge to engage in the

learning activity for its own sake

™ Extrinsic motivation is derived from external incentives

If a person is intrinsically motivated, they will perform the behaviour without any material rewards or external constraints An example of intrinsic motivation would be reading a book for the pleasure of learning something interesting, while extrinsic motivation refers to a range of behaviours which are not engaged for their own sake but as a means to an end

Sheding a light to the effects of attitudes on motivation, Littlewood (1991: 56)

distinguishes integrative motivation from instrumental motivation::

™ A learner with integrative motivation has a genuine interest in the

second language community He wants to learn their language in order to communicate with them more satisfactorily and to gain closer contact with them and their culture

™ A learner with instrumental motivation is more interested in how the

second language can be a useful instruments toward furthering other goals, such as gaining a necessary qualification or improving employment prospect

Dickinson (1991: 29, 30) strongly believes that “the relationship between instruction and motivation is complex–as motivation itself–and both deserve careful analysis.” Promoting intrinsic motivation (i.e continuing willingness to put learning at a high level of priority) requires the following factors of self-instruction:

self-1- Learners’ awareness of needs and goals;

2- Perceived relevance of the course to achieving goals;

3- Maintenance of self-esteem as a person through involvement in decision making;

4- Degree of freedom to use preferred learning strategies;

5- Membership of a supportive group leading to increased empathy and reduced

Littlewood (1991: 67) states that:

It seems that successful language learners employ a wide variety of strategies For example, they may repeat silently to themselves the sounds they hear from the teacher or other students When learning or producing dialogues, they make efforts to identify with their foreign language roles and to pay close attention to the meaning of the language they are using They are likely to take opportunities

to discuss the lesson material with other students Outside the classroom, they exploit every opportunity to use the language as a means of communication, for example by seeking personal contacts, listening to the radio, or reading newspaper

Similarly, Nunan (1999: 55-57) emphasizes the relationship between learning strategies and acquisition, saying that language-learning strategies are the mental and communicative processes that learners deploy to learn a second language The effective language learner is the one who can make effective choices in terms of learning tasks and strategies By encouraging learners to make choices, teachers convey to learners the important message that they have responsibility for making decisions and taking control of their learning Below are a number of strategies and tasks presented by Nunan (1991: 183 – 184):

Cognitive

- Classifying: Putting things that are similar together in groups;

- Predicting: Predicting what is to come in the learning process;

- Inducing: Looking for patterns and regularities;

- Taking notes: Writing down the important information in a text in your own

words;

- Concept Mapping: Showing the main ideas in a text in the form of a map;

- Inferencing: Using what you know to learn something new;

- Discriminating: Distinguishing between the main idea and supporting

information;

- Diagramming: Using information from a text to label a diagram

Interpersonal

- Cooperating: Sharing ideas and learning with other students;

- Role-Playing: Pretending to be somebody else and using the language for

the situation you are in

Affective

- Personalizing: Learners share their own opinions, feelings, and ideas about

a subject;

- Self-Evaluating: Thinking about how well you did on a learning task, and

rating yourself on a scale;

- Reflecting: Thinking about ways you learn best.

- Practicing: Doing controlled exercises to improve knowledge and skills;

- Using Context: Using the surrounding context to guess the meaning of

unknown words, phrases, and concepts;

- Summarizing: Picking out and presenting the major points in a text in

summary form;

- Selective Listening: Listening for key information without trying to

understand every word;

- Skimming: Reading quickly to get a general idea of a text.

Dickinson (1991: 127) presents the following basic strategies which, according to the author, make students self-learners:

2.1 The ability to apply other skills and knowledge to the completion

of learning contracts, etc

2.2 The ability to determine task objectives (e.g what to use a particular reading listening passage for)

2.3 The ability to undertake self-assessment 2.4 The ability to use course materials to help maintain language learning objectives

2.5 The ability to use reference materials (dictionaries, grammar book, etc.) to help attain language learning objectives 2.6 The ability to use self-access learning systems (e.g learning resources, libraries, etc.)

2.7 The ability to work co-operatively with others to achieve learning objectives

2.8 The ability to use human resources to help attain language learning objectives, etc

3- Learning skills

- Skills specific to particular

aspects of language learning,

e.g reading for information,

oral communication for

transactional purposes, etc

3.1 Selecting learning techniques 3.2 Devising exercises

3.3 Doing exercises 3.4 Monitoring performance – written and spoken 3.5 Applying criteria of assessment

3.6 Administering self-tests, etc

TABLE 2.2: Self-learners’ basic strategies

2.3.4 LEARNING STYLES

Nunan (1999: 304) defines learning styles as “a student’s orientation toward

learning.” He adds, “effective learners are aware of the process underlying their own learning strategies to control their own learning.”

Also, Lightbown and Spada (1998 : 41) state:

There is clearly some truth to the intuition that certain ways of approaching

a task are more successful for one person than another, and that when learners are given some freedom to choose their preferred

ways of learning, they will do better than those who find themselves forced

to learn in environments where a learning styles which does suitable for them is imposed as the only way to way

The following four types of learning styles are introduced to learners to help

inspire their awareness of their own learning preference:

- “Concrete” learners: These learners tend to like games, pictures, films, video,

using cassettes, talking in pairs, and practicing English outside class

- “Analytical” learners: These learners liked studying grammar, studying

English books and reading newspapers, studying alone, finding their own mistakes, and working on problems set by the teacher

- “Communicative” learners: These learners like to learn by watching listening

to native speakers, talking to friends in English and watching television in English, using English out of class in stores, trains, and so on, learning new words by hearing them, and learning by conversations

- “Authority-oriented” learners: These learners preferred the teacher to explain

everything, liked to have their own textbook, to write everything in a notebook, to study grammar, learn by reading, and learn new words by seeing them (Nunan, 1999: 57)

2.3.5 LEARNERS’ SELF-CONFIDENCE

Do learners lack confidence in learning English because they are limited or lack the ability to learn? The experience proves that the causes are more likely found in poor learning environments and lack of recognition of different learning styles and

needs Effective learning strategies can help learners overcome fear and lack of belief Confidence builds competence in learning and competence builds confidence

self-Tarone and Yule (1996: 139), state that self-confidence is normally assumed to have an influence in successful learning When affective factors are explicitly

discussed, there seems to be a consensus that the general notion of self-esteem may be a crucial factor in the learner’s ability to overcome occasional setbacks or

minor mistakes in the process of learning a second language They also find that there are

a lot of similar ideas of self-confidence Brown (1977: 352) states that “a person with high self-esteem is able to reach out beyond himself more freely, to be less inhibited, and because of his ego strength, to make the necessary mistakes involved in language learning with less threat to his ego.” In Krashen’s theory (1981), self-confidence is specifically identified as an important aspect of the ‘affective filter’ in that it enables the learner to encourage intake, or useful input

Conversely, we would expect that the lack of self-confidence would be an inhibiting factor for learners and this receives some support from the report by Naiman (1978) that poor learners lacked self-confidence

2.3.6 LEARNERS’ RESPONSIBILITY AND AUTONOMY

You can bring the horse to water, but you cannot make him drink

English proverb

In Scharle’and Szabo’ (2000: 4) definition, autonomy is the freedom and ability to manage one’s own affairs, which entails the right to make decisions as well Responsibility may

FIGURE 2.1: Skill learning

VERBALIZATION

Teacher describes and

demonstrates the skilled

behaviour to be learned;

learners perceive and

AUTOMATIZATION Teacher suggests exercises;

learners practise skill in order to acquire facility, automatize, teacher monitor

AUTONOMY Learners continue to use skill

on their own, becoming more proficient and creative

also be understood as being in charge of something, but with the implication that one has to deal with the consequences of one’s own actions Autonomy and responsibility both

require active involvement, and they apparently very much interrelated

Ur (1996: 20) also introduces the path to autonomy in skill learning:

In term of language learning, Dickinson (1991:11-13) argues that some degree of autonomy is also essential to the learning process He defines autonomy as the situation in which learners are totally responsible for all of the decisions concerned with their learning and the implementation of those decisions

He also mentions two levels of autonomy:

™ Semi-autonomy (partial autonomy): This conveniently labels the stage at which learners are preparing for autonomy

™ Total-autonomy: This term describes the situation in which the learner is totally responsible for all of their decisions In full autonomy there is no involvement of a “teacher” an institution And the learner is also independent of specially prepared materials

2.4 READING SKILLS AND STRATEGIES

2.4.1 READING PURPOSES

Students want to be able to read for many reasons: either for their studies, for their future

careers or simply for pleasure It is a good idea for teachers to make reading easier for

them A lot of educationalists have done researches to find out the learners’ reading

purposes and prove benefits of reading:

Nunan (1999: 251) finds that there are seven main purposes for reading:

1 To obtain information for some purposes or because we are curious about some topic;

2 To obtain instructions on how to perform some task for our work or daily life (e.g, knowing how an appliance works);

3 To act in a play, play a game, do a puzzle;

4 To keep in touch with friends by correspondence or to understand business letters;

5 To know when or where something will take place or what is available;

6 To know what is happening or has happened (as reported in newspapers, magazines, reports);

7 For enjoyment or excitement

Once learners have determined their purpose for reading, they will be able to apply

appropriate skills to texts, which facilitates their reading process

Harmer (2000: 68) shows readers some benefits of reading:

- Any exposure to English (provided students understand it more or less) is a good thing for language students

- Reading texts also provide good models for English writing

- Reading texts also provide opportunities to study language: vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and the way we construct sentences, paragraphs and texts

2.4.2 READING SKILLS

According to Willis (1998:188), the term of skills is used in two ways:

1 The four main language skills are listening, speaking, reading and writing

2 “Enabling” skills, which are sub-skills, e.g the ability to pick out the main points in the reading text to guess the meaning of unknown words from context

A great number of researchers make great efforts to answer the question what reading skills students should acquire in the learning process Below are a number of

reading skills supported by Grellet (1981:12):

- Skimming: Quickly running one’s eyes over a text to get the gist of it

- Scanning: Quickly going through a text to find a particular piece of information

- Extensive reading: Reading longer texts, usually for one’s own pleasure This is a

fluency activity, mainly involving global understanding

- Intensive reading: Reading shorter texts, to extract specific information This is

more an accuracy activity involving reading for detail

Also, taking the view that to be a good writer, one must also be a good reader; Hill

(2001: 1-29) presents an overview of several important reading skills:

- Identifying (topics, main ideas, details, similar meanings, purpose);

- Making predictions;

- Skimming for main ideas;

- Scanning for specific information;

- Guessing meaning from context;

- Inferring information;

- Analyzing descriptive detail;

- Understanding meaning from context;

- Sequencing;

- Predicting a conclusion;

- Recognizing textual highlighting techniques;

- Comparing major points;

- Finding support from the text;

- Inferring meaning

2.4.3 READING STRATEGIES

Nunan (1999: 264 − 265) thought that students should have a strategy-based approach to the development of reading skills: “By choosing the best strategies for different texts and purposes, it is possible for second language readers to significantly increase both their reading speed and their comprehension.”

Similarly, Grellet (1981: 12-13) introduces a typology of reading strategies to learners He identifies three main types of strategy:

1 Sensitizing;

2 Improving reading speed;

3 Going from skimming to scanning

Sensitizing is subcategorized into:

- Making inferences;

- Understanding relations within the sentence;

- Linking sentences and ideas

Going from skimming to scanning includes:

™ Classroom techniques using these strategies include:

- Ordering a sequence of pictures;

- Comparing text and pictures;

- Matching, using illustrations;

- Completing a document;

- Mapping it out;

- Jigsaw reading;

- Reorganizing the information;

- Comparing several texts;

- Summarizing;

- Note talking

2.4.4 READING DIFFICULTIES: CROSS-CULTURAL ASPECTS OF READING

Culture in general is concerned with beliefs and values on the basis of which people

interpret experiences and behave individually and in groups In other words, culture refers

to a group or community with which you share common experiences that shape the way you understand the world

The same person, thus, can belong to several different cultures depending on his or her birthplace, nationality, ethnicity, family status, gender, age, language, education, physical condition, sexual orientation, religion, profession, place of work and its corporate culture

Nunan (1999: 259) proves difficulties in cross-cultural aspects of reading by introducing the following study to readers:

One of the best known studies is that by Steffensen (1981) who compared the comprehension of readers from two different cultural backgrounds, one group from North America, and one group from India She looked at the ability of her subjects to recover meaning from two texts, one describing a North America wedding, and one describing an Indian wedding Steffensen found that her North America subjects had higher levels of comprehension on the passage describing the North America wedding, and the Indian subjects did better on the passage concerning an Indian wedding

reading for pleasure and reading for detailed comprehension In addition, the author

addresses six reading “principles”:

- Reading is not a passive skill;

- Students need to be engaged while they are reading;

- Students need to be engaged with the cont of a text, not just its language;

- Prediction is a major factor in reading;

- The task needs to be matched to the topic;

- Good teachers exploit reading texts to the full

Similarly, Ur (1996: 148) helps students and teachers obtain concepts of good reading and

tell the differences between efficient and inefficient reading by presenting the following

2 Content The content of the text is

accessible to the learners; they know enough about it to be able

to apply their own background knowledge

The text is too difficult in the sense that the content is too far removed from the knowledge and experience of the learners

3 Speed The reading progresses fairly fast:

mainly because the reader has

‘automatized’ recognition of common combinations, and does not waste time working out each

The reading is slow: the reader does not have a large

‘vocabulary’ of automatically recognized items