(Skkn 2023) developing the attribute of responsibility for students at le viet thuat upper secondary school through some adapted activities in cultureclil lessons of the textbook “tieng anh 10”

NGHE AN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING –––––––––––––––––––––––– DEVELOPING THE ATTRIBUTE OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR STUDENTS AT LE VIET THUAT UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL THROUGH SOME ADAPT

NGHE AN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

––––––––––––––––––––––––

DEVELOPING THE ATTRIBUTE OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR STUDENTS AT LE VIET THUAT UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL THROUGH

SOME ADAPTED ACTIVITIES IN CULTURE/CLIL

LESSONS OF THE TEXTBOOK “TIENG ANH 10”

Subject: English Group: Foreign languages – Literature

Vinh, 2023

NGHE AN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

LE VIET THUAT HIGH SCHOOL

DEVELOPING THE ATTRIBUTE OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR STUDENTS AT LE VIET THUAT UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL THROUGH

SOME ADAPTED ACTIVITIES IN CULTURE/CLIL

LESSONS OF THE TEXTBOOK “TIENG ANH 10”

Subject: English Researcher: Vo Thi Thuy Linh Phone number: 0984359184

Group: Foreign languages – Literature

Vinh, 2023

TABLE OF CONTENTS

2.1.2.1 Principles of Building the Attribute and Competence

Framework for Students

3

2.1.3.2 Principles and Techniques for Adapting Textbooks 5

2.2.3 Situation of Teaching the Attribute of Responsibility at Le Viet

Thuat Upper Secondary School

2.4 Survey on Urgency and Feasibility of the Study 39

2.4.2 Content and Data Collection Procedures 39

3.1 A summary of the Development of the Study 41

APPENDICES

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

In reply to urgent demands of current situation of our country, the Ministry of Education and Training has been undertaking a comprehensive reform, including the renovation of the general education program in the direction of forming and developing learners’ attributes and competences The newly approved curriculum determines five major attributes to be formed and developed in students, namely Patriotism, Humanity, Diligence, Honesty, and Responsibility In addition, the curriculum aims at establishing ten core competences which are classified into two groups: general competencies and academic competences General competencies, consisting of self-control and independent learning, communication, and collaboration and problem-solving and creativity, are acquired from subjects and educational activities Academic competences, formed mainly through certain subjects and educational activities, include Language, Calculation, Natural sciences and Social sciences research, Technology, Informatics, Aesthetic, and Physical fitness

In terms of attribute development, it is stated that through educational methods, diligence, honesty, and sense of responsibility are gradually established and developed through daily labor under the guidance and training

of teachers Patriotism and humanity can only be established and developed sustainably through practical activities It can also be seen that five main attributes that need to be formed and developed for students in the new general education curriculum are in line with the Vietnamese culture

Related to the mentioned aims, the textbook “Tieng Anh 10” was published and has officially been used at all upper secondary schools in Nghe

An since the academic year 2022-2023 The advent of the book has led to certain changes in the language teaching and learning process The general characteristics of the educational methods used in the new curriculum are the positive effects of learners’ behavior, in which the teacher plays the role of organizing and directing activities for students, creating friendly schools and

“problematic situations” to encourage students to actively participate in learning activities, self-discovery of self-efficacy and learn the potential, the knowledge and accumulated skills to develop Students learn activities which include problem exploration, practice, and hands-on activities (applying what has been learned to detect and solve real-life problems) These activities are conducted on and off campus through several major forms such as academic theories; perform exercises, experiments, games, role play, research projects; participating in seminars, sightseeing, camping, reading; collective activities, community service activities

Despite their significant role in forming and developing students’ attributes, Culture/ CLIL lessons in the new textbook are often overlooked since many of their activities are designed in a controlled format like a reading lesson and do not frequently appear in academic tests at school What the students must

do is to follow the activities given in these lessons under the instructions of teachers This, to some extent, demotivates students because they cannot experience many different types of exercises as well as relate what they have learnt into real-life situations Moreover, because of limited background knowledge and essential skills, students often feel bored when carrying out these tasks, especially when lacking support and motivation from teachers Due to students’ low level of proficiency, low motivation and time constraints, teaching and learning Culture lessons are still far from satisfactory; therefore, educational aims established in the general education program cannot be fully achieved

Related to these problems, this study was carried out, entitled: Developing

the attribute of responsibility for students at Le Viet Thuat upper secondary school through some adapted activities in Culture/CLIL lessons of the textbook “Tieng Anh 10”

1.2 Aims of the Study

The ultimate goal of the study is to help 10th graders be aware of the responsibility for themselves, for their families, for their school and society and for the environment through Culture/ CLIL lessons by suggesting adaptations from some activities given in the textbook “Tieng Anh 10”

PART II: CONTENT 2.1 Theoretical Background

2.1.1 Culture

2.1.1.1 Definition of Culture

According to Brown (1994), culture might be defined as the ideas, customs, skills, arts and tools that characterize a given group of people in a given period of time It is way of life and the “glue” that binds a group of people together

Adaskou, Britten and Fahsi (1990) identify culture on a more specific level by outlining four meanings of culture Their semantic sense encompasses the whole conceptualization system which conditions perceptions and thought processes Their aesthetic sense includes cinema, literature, music, and media, while their sociological one refers to the organization and nature of family, interpersonal relations, customs, material conditions, and so on Their pragmatic

or sociolinguistic sense refers to the background knowledge, social and paralinguistic skills, and language code which are necessary for successful communication

The different aspects and levels of culture briefly outlined above obviously explain that the role of what culture means in language education is varied

2.1.1.2 The Role of Culture in Language Teaching

As language and culture are interrelated, language cannot be taught without culture Many of the factors which give rise to linguistic variation are sometimes discussed in terms of cultural differences Allen (1985) summarized it: “ prior to the 1960s, the lines between language and culture were carefully drawn The primary reason for language study in the earlier part of this century was access to the great literary masterpieces of civilization”

In the 1990s, the cultural syllabus has been supported by research in the National Core French Study (Flewelling, 1994), and its importance was reaffirmed in Stern's (1992) last book In short, “culture” in language education today is clearly much more than great literature As our understanding of language and communication has evolved, the importance of culture language education has improved

2.1.2 The Attribute and Competence Framework for Students in the General Education Curriculum

2.1.2.1 Principles of Building the Attribute and Competence Framework for Students

The attribute and competence framework for students was built based on the following principles:

• The attribute and competence framework must be based on the attributes and competencies of students defined in the general education curriculum

• The attributes and competences of students stipulated by the Ministry of Education and Training vary from Primary, Secondary to High School, in which the following level developed on top of from the previous ones Therefore, all attributes and competencies from the three levels should be integrated in the attribute and competence framework students (High School level)

• The description of each attribute should follow a consistent format: Definition (what is that attribute?), Description (what does a student with that attribute

do?), and Action Direction (what does this student do to the community?)

2.1.2.2 The Attribute of Responsibility

The attribute of responsibility in the general education program is determined through 4 aspects as follow:

- Responsibility for oneself:

+ Those students with this attribute actively and voluntarily take care of, protect and perfect their own minds, souls, and physical health

+ They are willing to take responsibility for their own words and actions

+ They encourage others to take responsibility for themselves

- Responsibility for one’s family:

+ They are conscious of fulfilling their duty for their family members

+ They take care of and protect their own families

+ They encourage others to take responsibility for their families

- Responsibility for the school and society:

+ Those students with this attribute are conscious of and take actions to protect public assets and observe school regulations and national laws

+ They are conscious of studying and practicing in order to promote the school’s tradition They actively contribute to community activities

+ They encourage others to preserve and promote the school’s tradition, to protect the public assets, to obey laws and to take part in community activities

- Responsibility for the environment:

+ Those students with this attribute respect and preserve natural resources and the environment They are fully aware of the meaning of using resources efficiently for the sustainable development of the environment

+ They use resources efficiently; they fight against wasting resources and damaging the environment - They raise social awareness about protecting natural resources

2.1.3 Adapting Textbooks

2.1.3.1 What is Textbook Adaptation?

Adapting textbook activities is not just something teachers should do as the need arises but also for appealing to the lower, middle, and strong student levels Textbook adaptation is performed to make textbook lessons more communicative and incorporate authentic textbooks into the lessons Adapting is

the ability to create a textbook that introduces and integrates skills in a lively, enjoyable, and productive format

2.1.3.2 Principles and Techniques for Adapting Textbooks

Despite the great effort that textbook writers make to meet the needs of the intended users, textbooks are subject to adaptation when they are actually used in the classroom McDonough and Shaw (1993:83) propose that textbooks are internally coherent although they may be, they may not be entirely applicable Although most classroom teachers will not be involved in the production of textbooks, all teachers have the responsibility for textbook evaluation, selection, and adaptation It is undeniable that adapting textbook allows teachers to achieve more compatibility and fitness between the textbook and the teaching environment, and therefore maximize the value of the book for the benefit of their particular learners and for the most effective teaching outcomes to achieve Maley (1998:281) suggested the following techniques to adapt textbook:

• Omission: the teacher leaves out things seemed inappropriate, offensive,

unproductive, etc., for the particular group

• Addition: where there seems to be inadequate coverage, teachers may

decide to add to textbooks, either in the form of texts or exercise material

• Reduction: where the teacher shortens an activity to give it less weight or

emphasis

• Extension: where an activity is lengthened in order to give it an additional

dimension (For example, a vocabulary activity is extended to draw attention to some syntactic patterning.)

• Rewriting/modification: teacher may occasionally decide to rewrite

material, especially exercise material, to make it more appropriate, more

“communicative”, more demanding, more accessible to their students, etc

• Replacement: text or exercise material which is considered inadequate, for

whatever reason, may be replaced by more suitable material This is often culled from other resource textbook

• Re-ordering: teachers may decide that the order in which the textbooks are

presented is not suitable for their students They can then decide to plot a different course through the textbooks from the one the writer has laid down

• Branching: teachers may decide to add options to the existing activity or to

suggest alternative pathways through the activities

Textbook adaptation can be done at three levels The first level is macro adaptation, which is ideally done before the language program begins After comparing what is covered in a textbook and what is required by the syllabus or

examination, the teacher may find that certain areas or even whole units of the book can be omitted, and certain contents need to be supplemented

The second level of adaptation is adapting a unit This could be done by reordering the activities, combining activities, omitting activities, rewriting, or supplementing exercise material, etc Unit adaptation helps to make the classroom teaching smoother and more cohesive It also helps the teacher to better fulfill the aims of a unit

The third level is adaptation of specific activities in a unit Occasionally

an activity is regarded as valuable, but it is not well-designed, or it is not suitable in a particular class If the teacher does not want to give up the activity,

he or she needs to adapt it

2.2 Practical Background

2.2.1 An Overview of the Textbook “Tieng Anh 10”

Each unit in the textbook “Tieng Anh 10”, which refers to a particular theme, is divided into 8 sections: Getting started, Language, Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing, Communication and Culture/CLIL, and Looking back and Project Each section is designed with different kinds of activities with a view to helping students form and develop necessary attributes and competencies through their learning process

2.2.2 Situation of Teaching and Learning Culture/CLIL Lessons at Le Viet Thuat Upper Secondary School

Under the instructions of Ministry of education and training, all schools now have had their own syllables for teaching and learning English As far as I know, most upper secondary schools in Nghe An province allot 45 minutes for each lesson However, Culture/CLIL and Everyday English are combined in one period of 45 minutes under the name of Communication and Culture/CLIL; as a result, the given tasks are sometimes not fully carried out due to the lack of time

as well as students’ uneven levels of proficiency Many of the students are not able to actively take part in pair or group discussions due to their capability Added to that, another factor affecting the quality of the Communication and Culture/CLIL lesson lies in the monotonous requirements of some tasks given in the textbook Taking these factors into consideration, it is undeniable that the objective of the lesson is not always reached Because of these reasons, I would like to suggest a few adaptations for some tasks in Culture/CLIL section to make them more appealing for students to fulfill; hereby establishing and improving their sense of responsibility for the issues presented in the lesson

2.2.3 Situation of Teaching the Attribute of Responsibility at Le Viet Thuat Upper Secondary School

It is likely that students at my school have been taught the attribute of responsibility through activities organized by the Youth Union or their own

classes However, since the General Education Program (GET) 2018 for grade

10 was implemented, most teachers of all subjects have paid more attention to develop this attribute in students through their lessons Despite this fact, some teachers of English still focus much on providing knowledge for students so that they can get good results from tests and exams in class In other words, students’ sense of responsibility has not been emphasized in English classes

grade 6 to grade 9 at lower secondary school

The second questionnaire for students in post -improvement stage includes four questions in which students are asked about the effects of the solutions on their studying Culture/ CLIL lessons and the development of attributes and competences after the experimental period From these responses, the author can assess the effectiveness of the study

2.3.1.3 Data Collection Procedures

A survey through questionnaire was conducted among the participants with a view to gathering students’ opinions on learning Culture/ CLIL lessons in class before and after applying the adaptations The preliminary questionnaire was designed to get information on how students find Culture lessons in the

other questionnaire was delivered after the adaptations had been applied to receive students’ responses from which the author could assess the effectiveness

of the adaptation The participants were asked to answer the questionnaires honestly and frankly All of these answers would be used as important data of the study

2.3.2 Findings of the Study

Regarding the role of responsibility, all of the students strongly agree that sense of responsibility plays a crucial part in their daily life 100% of the participants also strongly believe that it is necessary to teach sense of responsibility in all subjects at school Besides, more than half the respondents (57,5%) strongly agree and agree that they can learn a lot about sense of responsibility through English lessons in the textbook while about 30% are not sure of whether they are useful to them or not by choosing “Neither agree nor disagree” Only 24 participants (13,4%) disagree with this statement

In terms of Culture/ CLIL lessons, most of the students (78,2%) strongly agree and agree that these lessons in the textbook are somewhat like Reading lessons, so they are not always interesting Nevertheless, 160 participants (89,4%) reveal that learning Culture/ CLIL lessons helps them develop a greater sense of responsibility towards themselves, their family and society

Thus, it can be concluded from these findings that forming and developing sense of responsibility in students through English subject in general and Culture/ CLIL lessons in particular are necessary and effective However, because of their similarity to Reading tasks, some activities should be modified

so that they can attract more attention and interest from students; hereby enhance students’ sense of responsibility and other attributes as well as competences to meet the requirements of General Education Program 2018

From these findings, I would like to make some suggestions on changing the requirements of some tasks in the Culture/ CLIL lessons to help students realize and fulfil their potential as well as develop essential attributes and competences

After having students carry out the adapted activities as planned, the other questionnaire was delivered to students to get their response to the effectiveness

of the application Surprisingly, the results collected from the survey are encouraging 75,1% and 15,1% of the participants respectively strongly agree and agree that they are motivated to study thanks to interesting adapted activities In addition, most of the students (about 88%) consent that they can develop a greater sense of responsibility towards themselves, their family and society Another positive feedback is that 126 out 179 respondents (70, 4%) admit that beside sense of responsibility, other attributes like patriotism, and competences like problem solving, creativity, or language are also improved

Although 53,1% of the students do not agree that they feel more confident when using English in class and in real-life situations after taking the adapted lessons, the rest of the participants approve of this assertion In brief, the adaptation of certain tasks in the Culture lessons, to some extent, has been proved to be effective in forming and developing students’ sense of responsibility and other attributes and competences as well

2.3.3 Finding Solutions

In this part, some of the Culture/ CLIL lessons from the textbook “Tieng Anh 10” are selected to make modifications to their tasks The author will make some comments on the requirements of these tasks before introducing suggestions to adapt them and describe the adaptation in detail Sample teaching plans for these Culture/ CLIL lessons will be provided after that One common thing of these changes is that along with the attribute of responsibility, the adapted activities are carried out in groups so that students have opportunities to develop such other skills as language, communication, collaboration, and problem-solving Therefore, the activities are modified in a way that are suitable for teamwork and students’ proficiency

2.3.3.1 Sample Application 1

Unit 1: FAMILY LIFE

Lesson 7: COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE/ CLIL

a Comments:

If students follow the tasks in the lesson, they only make a comparison between British and Vietnamese family values after reading the text This is somewhat like a reading activity rather than a lesson derived from teaching culture to students

b Suggestions:

From the above comments, I would like to suggest some changes to the

requirements of task 2: Work in groups Discuss whether Vietnamese people have similar family values and what students can do to preserve them

c Descriptions for adapted activity:

- Time: 18 minutes

- Work arrangement: group work

- Possible outcomes:

+ students make a list of Vietnamese family values

+ students compare these values with those of Britain

+ students suggest ways to preserve the values from their own experience in their families and learn how to do it from their friends’ families

d Sample teaching plan for Unit 1 – Culture:

I Objectives:

By the end of the lesson, students will be able to

1 Cognition:

- use lexical items related to the topic “Family values”

- understand family values in the UK in the 21st century

2 Skills:

- scan a text for specific information about family values in the UK

- present a topic

3 Attitudes:

- willingly acquire and do the tasks

- actively, creatively and cooperatively participate in and fulfill assigned tasks

- build up and develop the sense of responsibility in preserving family values in their families

4 Competences:

- communicative competence

- self-control and independent learning

- communication and collaboration

II Teaching aids:

- textbook, TV, pictures, handouts, zalo (for Ss to send their preparation for the

a Aim: help students learn about British family values in the 21st century

b Performance: Ss work individually to complete the table

c Outcome:

Ss will understand family values in the UK

d Organization:

- Ask Ss to read the text carefully and complete the table

- Call on some Ss to give their answers

- Elicit feedback from the whole class

- Give suggested answers:

Traditional British family values

1 being truthful and honest

2 Respecting older people

3 Having good table manners

4 Remembering to say please and thank you

5 Helping with family chores

2 Activity 2

18 minutes 2 Work in groups Discuss whether Vietnamese people have similar

family values and what students can do to preserve them

a Aim:

- help Ss relate what they have learnt in the reading text to their own culture

- raise Ss’ awareness of responsibility in preserving family values

b Content:

- list traditional Vietnamese family values

- present what they have found out and suggest ways to show their responsibility in preserving these values

c Outcome:

- Ss make a list of Vietnamese family values

- Ss compare these values with those of Britain

- Ss suggest ways to preserve the values from their own experience in their families and learn how to do it from their friends’ families

d Organization:

- Ask Ss to work in 4 groups to carry out the task

- Go around to offer help if necessary

- Call on the representatives from the groups to present in front of the class

- Elicit comments from the whole class

- Give final comments and feedback

e Illustrations of Ss’ work:

e

2.3.3.2 Sample Application 2

Unit 3: MUSIC

Lesson 7: COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE/ CLIL

a Comments:

According to the requirements of the given tasks, what students must do is

to read a passage about a type of traditional music in Viet Nam - Chau Van - and

summarize the main points of the passage using a mind map Again, these requirements do not help students form any attributes apart from improving certain competences depending on how the activity is organized

b Suggestions:

From the above comments, I would like to suggest some changes to the

requirements of task 2: Choose another type of traditional music in Viet Nam and introduce it to your class Discuss how secondary school students can contribute to preserving its values in the modern music industry

c Descriptions for adapted activity:

d Sample teaching plan for Unit 1 – Culture:

I Objectives:

By the end of the lesson, students will be able to

1 Cognition:

- know about Chau van singing and other types of traditional music

- know how to summarize a passage using a mind map

2 Skills:

- scanning a text for specific information about Chau van singing

- speaking

3 Attributes:

- willingly acquire and do the tasks

- actively, creatively and cooperatively participate in and fulfill assigned tasks

- build up and develop the sense of responsibility in preserving and enhancing values of traditional music types

4 Competences:

- language

- self-control and self-study

- communication and collaboration

- problem-solving

II Teaching aids:

- textbook, TV, pictures, handouts, zalo (for Ss to send their preparation for the

lesson)

III Procedures:

1 Activity 1

7 minutes

a Aim: help students learn about Chau van singing

b Performance: Ss work in pairs to complete the mind map

c Outcome:

Ss will understand more about Chau van singing

d Organization:

- Ask Ss to read the text carefully and work in pairs to do the task

- Call on some Ss to explain their answers

- Elicit feedback from the whole class

- Give suggested answers:

2 Activity 2

18 minutes 2 Work in groups Choose another type of traditional music in

Viet Nam and introduce it to your class Discuss how secondary school students can contribute to preserving its values in the modern music industry

a Aim:

- help Ss know more about other types of traditional music which are

not popular among teenagers like them in modern society

- help Ss realize their responsibility in preserving and developing these types of traditional music

b Content:

- prepare a presentation on different types of traditional music (one

type per group)

- present what they have found out and suggest activities they can do

to maintain values of folk music in modern society

c Outcome:

- Ss get basic information about a type of folk music

- Ss learn about other types of traditional music from their friends’ presentations

- Ss suggest ways to preserve these types of traditional music

- Ss’ sense of responsibility to community will be established and developed through their participation for the task

d Organization:

- Ask Ss to work in 4 groups to carry out the task

- Ask Ss to prepare their presentations in advance

- Call on the representatives from the groups to present in front of the class

- Elicit comments from the whole class

- Give final comments and feedback

e Illustrations of Ss’ work: