Since the 2011-2012 academic year, MOET has decided to adopt EMI for natural science subjects at some particular schools as one component of the NFL 2020 and also part of the DGS 2020 in
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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study
Since Vietnam officially joined the TPP and the AEC, having a good command of foreign languages in general and English in particular is a necessity in the context of globalization English has become one of the important keys to the regional and global integration and the development of the country (MOET, 2013)
In educational circles, the debate about the importance of English and learning other subjects through English continues gathering momentum as well as being the core
of conversation Ministries of education of all countries are constantly reviewing policy, hoping to find optimal learning opportunities for students to succeed in a world that is becoming increasingly demanding, especially in terms of linguistics (British Council, 2010) Accordingly, teaching and learning English in Vietnam has been receiving special attention (To, 2010) Since 1994, personnel working in Government agencies have been required to be able to communicate in English (Le,
1999, p.73) From then on, the foreign language has been a compulsory school subject that students have to pass if they want to get the Secondary School Education Certificate (ibid, p.73) University students are now required to take foreign languages, mostly English, for the entrance and graduation exams Post-graduate education and the granting of faculty positions also require foreign language proficiency (Do, 1999)
In order to boost the effectiveness of teaching and learning foreign languages within Vietnam‟s educational system to achieve a vivid progress on professional skills, language competency for human resources by the year 2015, making languages as an advantage for Vietnamese people, serving the cause of industrialization and modernization for the country, the NFL 2020 was approved in
2008 (Decision No 1400/QĐ-TTg on September 30th, 2008) This decision has proved the importance of teaching and learning foreign languages in general and
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English in specific MOET also instructed universities to make plans to use English
as a medium in the training programmes Priority should go to science, economics, business administration, finance and banking (MOET, 2005)
According to a survey conducted by The British Council in cooperation with Oxford University Department of Education in 2014, Vietnam is one of the countries having the growing trend in using EMI in all stages of education – primary, secondary and tertiary (Dearden, 2014) Since the 2011-2012 academic year, MOET has decided to adopt EMI for natural science subjects at some particular schools as one component of the NFL 2020 and also part of the DGS
2020 in order to ensure that Vietnamese students are able to keep abreast of scientific and technological development that is mostly recorded in English and to provide opportunities for students to use English and consequently increase their proficiency in the language (MOET, 2013) MOET believes that despite a series of difficulties, now is the proper time to start its plan on teaching science subjects, such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and informatics, in English at
several high schools for the gifted nationwide (Vietnamnet, 2014) The teaching will
be piloted in 2-3 years, before it is applied on a large scale in the ensuing years Until now, EMI has been implemented at about 20 high schools for the gifted nationwide with one or two lessons a week for every science subject, and at the first
step has made a positive change in innovating the education at these schools (Giáo dục & thời đại, 2013)
The main purpose of the pilot programme is to familiarise students with specialised terminology in English, which will help them read a wide source of materials written in English Furthermore, this programme also helps them improve
their self-study skills, and apply for international study abroad (Vietnamnews,
2012) These purposes correspond with the perception of English as the ultimate international language of choice for career development of students and their parents (Deller & Price, 2007) Teachers who apply EMI also benefit from this programme They have the opportunity to broaden their professional knowledge,
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access new teaching approaches, study and work in some advanced institutions in the world (Luu, 2013) To prepare for the implementation of this programme, the first training course was provided in late 2013 to teachers from 63 provinces and
cities (Vietnamnet, 2014) At LQD, the pilot programme of teaching some natural
science subjects through English has been conducted since 2013 At first, this programme was reserved only for 10th-grade students majoring in English They kept normal hours with Vietnamese instructions and then had extra hours of learning mathematics and chemistry in English These sections have been conducted
by the content teachers, who are quite competent in using English EFL teachers help them with some problems of pronunciation, word uses and grammar Step by step, other science subjects have been added in all grades As planned, all students will have to experience EMI for 3 years
The aim of the pilot activities is quite good in the aspect of helping both teachers and students access innovative teaching and learning methods, raise their competence in English, especially English in scientific fields to enhance the knowledge, to do research, and to be able to acquire scientific thinking in English as well as in the aspect of offering the students greater chances to receive scholarships
to study overseas or to follow advanced training courses at some specific domestic universities in which English is the main language of teaching (MOET, 2013) Indeed, the application of bilingual teaching in natural science subjects helps students do their best in an innovative learning environment as well as meeting an urgent requirement of education in our country today However, in practice, to deal with the programme initiated by MOET is quite challenging to the educators, teachers as well as students in some gifted high schools, especially to the ones in underprivileged provinces Therefore, a study into the perceptions of secondary teachers and students participating in the pilot programme will help the people involved find the best solutions to all of their problems in EMI adoption
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It is hoped that my research will help the involved have a thorough look into this problem and certain measures will be taken to ensure the continuity in study and the success of the innovative policy
1.2 Aims of the study
This research attempts to explore how teachers and students at LQD perceive the programme to teach some science subjects through English implemented at the school since 2013 This study also aims to find out the challenges they are faced with in the programme application From the findings of the study, some implications will be drawn out to help make the implementation of EMI at the school more applicable and effective
1.3 Significance of the study
EMI is considered to become an inevitable trend and a critical step for English speaking countries to internationalize their education in the global era (Chang, 2010; Chen, 2014; Morgado & Coelho, 2013) Both students and teachers
non-in EMI programmes are motivated to be proficient non-in both English and academic content, constituting a competitive advantage for students when entering domestic
or international universities, laying a steady foundation for students‟ future in the job market and in the global integration (Le, 2012) However, how to transform the academic contents from using the L1 into using the L2 (namely, English) as a medium of instruction in such a non-English speaking context as Vietnam, especially towards high school students is still open for investigation
It is expected that the findings of this case study will gather enough information to explore the perceptions and challenges LQD‟s leaders, teachers and students are facing in the pilot programme and to make practical recommendations
on how to improve the EMI implementation into the curriculum and teaching practice Personally, as an EFL teacher, by doing this research, I can develop my knowledge and skills about EMI that help me cooperate better with the science teachers to make the pilot programme at the school more beneficial to both of the
Trang 53 What are the suggestions to improve the programme implementation?
1.5 Scope of the study
With the purpose of exploring the preliminary implementation of EMI at secondary level in contemporary Vietnam, the study concentrates on investigating the perceptions of the leaders, teachers, and students of this pilot programme, the challenges faced in the use of EMI However, due to the constraints of time, effort, finance and knowledge of the field, this is just a case study at LQD, a school in an underprivileged province of Vietnam Moreover, because teaching science subjects through English is being piloted at some high schools in Vietnam, there are not so many students and teachers involved in this programme
1.6 Structure of the study
The study is organized into five chapters:
Chapter 1 provides the rationale, aims of the study, the research questions,
the significance, the scope and the structure of the thesis
Chapter 2 reviews the related literature that serves as the theoretical
foundation for the thesis This review consists of previous related studies, the definition of EMI, the implementation of EMI in some countries, the challenges that
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other teachers have been faced with and some relevant policies to the pilot programme in high schools in Vietnam
Chapter 3 presents the research methodology, which includes the
description of the informants of the study (the leaders, teachers and learners), research instruments such as questionnaires, class observation sheets and interviews The chapter also describes the research procedure on how to obtain research data and the limitation of the study
Chapter 4 provides the detailed results of the findings with thorough
discussion At the end of the chapter, a summary of all the findings and discussion will be presented
Chapter 5 displays the summary of the findings, the implications and
suggestions on the areas for further research Besides, the appendices and the reference source list are also included at the end of the thesis
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CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter first presents the previous related studies, the definition of EMI, the difference between EMI and CLIL as well as the experience gained from implementation of EMI in some countries, particularly Asian ones The perception
of the importance and challenges of using EMI of some scholars are also discussed
in order to provide a general view Some related factors of the case study are also carefully explained Finally, in the conclusion for the chapter, the need for this
study will be highlighted
2.1 Previous related studies
Vietnam is one of the countries having the growing trend in using EMI in all stages of education – primary, secondary and tertiary (Dearden, 2014) Yet little empirical research has been conducted into why and when EMI is being introduced
in Vietnam and how it is delivered What are the perceptions of students and teachers towards EMI? What are the consequences of introducing EMI on teaching, learning, assessing and teacher professional development?
A handful of previous researches in EMI in Vietnam is as follows:
Khả năng và biện pháp thực hiện giảng dạy chuyên môn bằng tiếng nước ngoài trong các trường đại học ở Việt Nam (Nguyen et al., 2009) mentions the
abilities and suggests some feasible measures to implement EMI in higher education level in Vietnam
The impacts of globalisation on EFL teacher education through English as a medium of instruction: an example from Vietnam (Dang, Nguyen & Le, 2013) In
this research, the authors mention the development of EFL and its effects on the implementation of EMI in Vietnam, but at the tertiary level
Learning through English – Insights from Vietnam (To, 2010) focuses on the
development of EFL in Vietnam in general and gives a brief look at the use of EMI
in some universities in Vietnam
Trang 8As can be seen from the previous researches, little is dealt with the implementation of EMI at secondary level
2.2 Definition of EMI
Prah (2005) defines a language of instruction as the language in which basic skills and knowledge are distributed to the population and the medium in which the production and reproduction of knowledge occur Accordingly, a medium of instruction is supposed to be a tool enabling the teaching and learning process, facilitating the learning of subject content, helping students react to different facts and viewpoints in order to construct a new view of the world, including the meanings they attribute to the new concepts they are introduced to, and the values they attach to them Prah (2005) also confirms that in order for communication to be effective in teaching and learning, a medium of instruction should be the one which
is familiar to the teacher and the learner Therefore, it is not surprising that first language is often chosen as the medium of instruction at all levels in many corners
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In general, EMI is a basic educational approach which focuses on the teaching and learning of multi-disciplinary academic subjects (e.g., science, mathematics, geography, medicine) in English (To, 2010) In other words, it either introduces English as a foreign language or, more often, describes subject specific learning through a foreign language EMI is also referred to as “Language Teaching
by Content Teaching” where language learning is developed naturally and incidentally (Coyle, Hood & Marsh, 2010; Fernández, 2009) Goodman (2014) considers EMI as “a means to a more prosperous future” (p.138) EMI programmes thus offer both students and teachers opportunities to study and to teach specialized academic content in English
Dearden (2014) defines EMI as “the use of the English language to teach academic subjects in countries or jurisdictions where the first language (L1) of the majority of the population is not English.” (p.2)
This definition is important in the fact that it provides a conceptual separation between EMI and CLIL
As Coyle et al (2010) defines:
“CLIL is a dual-focused educational approach in which an additional language is used for the learning and teaching of both content and language That is, in the teaching and learning process, there is a focus not only on content, and not only on language Each is interwoven, even if the emphasis
is greater on one or the other at a given time.” (p.1)
As can be easily seen from two definitions above, there are some distictions between CLIL and EMI CLIL does not mention which additional language academic subjects are to be studied in; meanwhile, EMI makes it quite clear that the language of education used in teaching is English, regardless of the geographical, political, social or cultural backgrounds Whereas CLIL has a clear objective of furthering both content and language at the same time, EMI focuses on using English as a bridge to the contents of the academic subject (Dearden, 2014)
Trang 102.3 EMI in some Asian countries
The use of EMI across the world has drawn attention of language policy and planning scholars and researchers in many countries Asian ones are not an exception At the turn of the 21st century, a number of British, American and Australian universities established bilateral relationships with universities in Asia, and elsewhere, to moderate and co-teach EMI programmes in a range of disciplines The educational authorities in the Asian countries considered this trend an opportunity to develop autonomous EMI programmes of their own The main objectives of these are to create a new generation of students who are scientifically and technologically knowledgeable and fluent in English These youths can continue accessing scientific and technological knowledge, even after leaving school They, therefore, become a workforce capable of continued learning, contributing to the economic growth and development of the countries (Kirkpatrick, 2014)
In Malaysia, the government allow and encourage an increasing number of
private universities to introduce EMI programmes in science and related subjects (Tham & Kam, 2008) In 1991, the programme titled Vision 2020 was carried out with an aim to transform Malaysia into an international education hub However, initially, this implementaion was not successful because of nationalism Malaysia is
a multi-racial country with diverse groups (Malays, 50.4%; Chinese, 24.6%; Indians, 7.1% and others) Therefore, some people insisted on Bahasa Malaysia becoming the language of science and technology However, after the Asian financial crisis along with the establishment of private higher-learning institutions, the status of English has been more and more elevated The Education Act (1996)
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has allowed universities to apply EMI in all levels, mainly in maths and science subjects (Mohini, 2008)
Hong Kong has a unique political complexion Before 1998, English had a
high social status; as a consequence, EMI was applied in over 90% of the secondary schools However, after the handover from Britain to China, the mother tongue policy was implemented in 1998, in which EMI remained around 25% of the schools A decade after 1998, EMI was used in 30% of the secondary schools (from Grade 7) in all subjects except Chinese History, Chinese Language and Literature Nowadays, with the trend to increase EMI whilst preserving mother tongue teaching, 65% of the secondary schools in Hong Kong are using EMI in at least one academic subject However, students are tested prior to being accepted in these programmes (Tung, Lam & Tsang, 1997)
In Korea, the „Immersion Programme‟ was launched to apply EMI in
mathematics, science, music, social science and physical education, but mostly in primary schools Consequently, a series of textbooks was designed appropriately to the students‟ levels However, this programme was halted in 2008, shortly after its introduction because of parental opposition Nowadays, EMI still remains in some private secondary schools and a small number of highly selective government schools Because of the quite low level of Korean teachers‟ proficiency in English, both Korean and native speaker teachers are responsible for the implementation of this programme (Lee, 2010)
In Indonesia, “The International Standard Schools” scheme was initiated in
2003 to use EMI in maths and science subjects from Year 4 of primary schools and throughout junior, senior and vocational secondary schools By the end of 2009, approximately 190 international standard schools at the primary level and about 700 international standard junior, senior and vocational secondary schools had implemented this scheme However, there have been very few native speaker teachers for these subjects and more than half of the teachers acquire the lowest competency band in English proficiency level (Hadisantosa, 2010)
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In Vietnam, in the background of global integration, technological advances,
and internationalization, the government has officially launched a pilot programme
as a component of the NFL 2020 as well as part of the DGS 2020 with the view to encouraging scientific and technological development, offering learners opportunities to increase their English proficiency, to grasp specialised terminology
in English, to read a wide source of materials, to improve self-study skills and to apply for international study abroad At tertiary level, EMI was adopted many years ago in some public and private universities and in some advanced training courses (To, 2010) At secondary level, this programme has been in pilot in about 20 gifted schools since 2013 with 1-2 lessons/week in maths and science subjects At primary level, only international private schools are eager to implement this policy, mainly
in science subjects Teachers participating in this programme are mainly content
ones who are good at English (Vietnamnet, 2014)
2.4 Perceptions of EMI implementation in Vietnam
More and more institutions in Vietnam are using English to teach academic subjects That EMI is a growing global phenomenon in both public and private education in all stages of education – primary, secondary and tertiary has had a great influence on Vietnamese education policy with a view to enabling learners to develop not only a good command of English and the subjects but also English-related cultural competence and soft skills in order to integrate into the international education and work environments (To, 2010)
Dearden (2014) in his research finds out that many teachers, parents and students in Vietnam consider EMI as a passport to global academic and business communities University administrators tend to regard EMI as an opportunity to recruit high fee-paying international students and to rise up global rankings Lecturers are more idealistic, saying EMI can help to improve communication, to exchange ideas and create relations between countries, a way of facilitating world peace EMI is also seen as a key to success, a way to open doors Moreover, EMI is
a personal challenge, a way to improve personally and professionally as teachers
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advance their careers as well as becoming international in an EMI context Policy makers regard EMI as a way to internationalise their educational offer, creating opportunities for students to join a global world
Vu and Burns (2014) also points out that implementing EMI helps to assist learners to acquire the target language (i.e English) while learning the content language Coleman (2006) emphasizes that the main factors impelling the programmes to adopt EMI are the internationalization of higher education due to the rise in the number of student exchanges, the competitiveness among graduates on the job market, the availability of relevant up-to-date teaching materials in English, the staff mobility and preparation of students for an academic and professional world dominated by English
2.5 Issues of implementing EMI in Vietnam
To (2010) points out some obstacles to the implementation of EMI in Vietnam such as lack of understanding and support from leaders and managers, teacher quality and professional competence, programme finance, programme facilities and equipment, the English and Vietnamese proficiency levels of the learners (p.110)
Le (2012) addresses some problems in the EMI use in higher education institutions Examinations of English language competency in Vietnam show that students and lecturers have generally low English proficiency, with which students would be unable to comprehend lectures or materials in English Considering lecturers, few have the proficiency to verbally communicate in English Lecturers who earned academic qualifications abroad appear to be good at English, although there are some concerns about their proficiency level, their ability to lecture at a level suitable for their students, and their interactions with students
There are also problems relating to the curricula, which are considered outdated and inflexible (Le, 2012)
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EMI in Vietnam is thought to be likely to cause socioeconomic inequality, since EMI seemingly benefits only the well-off minority of students who have more opportunities to access English This policy marginalizes most students from rural areas because of their low level of proficiency in English The technological and professional knowledge taught in English will be inaccessible to these linguistically disadvantaged students, who will subsequently be unable to compete for jobs on an equal basis with students who are fluent in English In addition, they may not have the same opportunities for professional development and career advancement Socioeconomic inequality may promote socioeconomic and political instability (Le, 2012)
2.6 The NFL 2020
Teaching and learning English in Vietnam has undergone a dramatic change (Le, 2007) One of the marked changes in the Vietnamese economic system and, consequently, leading to changes in teaching and learning foreign languages, mainly English, is the “Open Door” policy in 1986 Since then, English has widely been chosen as a foreign language to study in Vietnam In 1993 a policy of educational reform was issued to meet the demand of the market economy One of the factors of this reform included increasing the enrolment for English language training programmes It has been required since 1994 that government officials under 45 years of age be able to communicate in a foreign language, preferably English Since Vietnam became a member of ASEAN in 1995 and the 150th member of WTO in 2006, the need for English in Vietnam has risen significantly to meet the requirements of the increasing foreign companies, the expansion of international trading relations, the growing tourist industry and the number of students undertaking overseas study This led to many opportunities for Vietnamese people
to access good jobs with good pay
However, English learning and teaching in Vietnam has been a bone of contention for years There still exist many obvious challenges towards English learners in the Vietnamese educational context (Nguyen, 2004; Le, 2007)
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Vietnamese students studied English only for the purpose of passing formal examinations to move to further study Therefore, teaching and learning English are geared towards exams with main focus on vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension and knowledge of linguistics As a result, the exam-driven instructions, teacher-centred language teaching method in Vietnam have produced students who may achieve the highest grades in examinations, but fail to communicate effectively in real-life situations despite six years of learning English under the general education curriculum of three 45-minute lessons each week and 2 more years at college Furthermore, classrooms are overcrowded, often with 45 or
50 students per class, which has made it difficult for teachers to deal with all problems arising or to apply flexible and suitable methodologies (Nguyen, 2004;
Le, 2007) Generally, myriad reasons have been attributed to the problem of lacking language competence among Vietnamese learners, but everything seems to boil down to unqualified teachers and an outdated testing model
Realizing these barriers could partially delay the development of the country,
in 2008, the Government embarked on an ambitious project to increase foreign language proficiency among Vietnamese people The NFL 2020 was initiated with the aim to create a comprehensive renovation of the teaching and learning of foreign languages in all Vietnam Among all foreign languages, emphasis is placed on English and this 12-year project managed by the MOET aims to develop the English capacity of the workforce and increase their ability to engage in a globalized world, thus serving the cause of industrialization and modernization for the country The common goal of this project is:
“[t]o renovate thoroughly the tasks of teaching and learning foreign languages within national education system, to implement a new programme
on teaching and learning a foreign language at every school and training level, which aims to achieve by the year 2015 a vivid progress on professional skills, language competency for human resources, especially at some prioritized sectors; by the year 2020 most Vietnamese youths whoever
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graduate from vocational schools, colleges and universities gain the capacity
to use a foreign language independently.” (The Government, 2008)
More specifically, in order to achieve these above aims, the NFL 2020 will explore new approaches to make English language teaching and learning in Vietnam more relevant, efficient, and productive Policies implemented include adopting the CEFR, establishing a Language Proficiency Framework for Vietnam, establishing regional foreign language centers as a major strategy to address teacher development and language teaching quality throughout the country, developing and implementing the programme to teach Maths and some science subjects in secondary schools, developing and implementing programmes to teach some basic courses in some specialized and intensive sectors such as information technology, banking and finance, tourism and business administration in the undergraduate programme at the university (The Government, 2008) Under the NFL 2020, it is widely hoped that most of the students will be able to use a foreign language, especially English, confidently in their study, daily communication, and work by
2020 (To, 2010)
However, there have been many concerns about the effectiveness as well as
the success of the project A handful of articles in The Guardian (2011), The Pie news (2012), Tuoitrenews (2013), etc were about the initial problems in the project
implementation They agreed that the major problem of students‟ failure to use the language in real life lies in two issues: teacher qualifications and assessment
methodologies They revealed some recent disheartening figures of teachers‟
performance on aptitude tests using guidelines from CEFR, even the teachers from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the southern and northern economic hubs Most strikingly, those who failed included even seasoned instructors who had successfully trained students at leading gifted schools for national competitions and university entrance exams Moreover, the country‟s current testing methods should also be condemned For years, schools in Vietnam have focused on grammar and reading comprehension, so exams have had to be set this way As a result, both
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students and teachers are trained to be experts in grammatical structures and vocabulary, but not to utilize these skills as a language in real-life contexts Therefore, a test that includes listening, speaking, and writing would understandably
be an ordeal for them (The Guardian, 2011; The Pie news, 2012; Tuoitrenews,
2013) Some recent master theses at HUCFL also mentioned these main issues of
teaching and learning English in Vietnam but expressed strong beliefs in the success
of this VND10-trillion project (Huynh, 2013; Tran, 2013; Nguyen, 2013; Le, 2014)
2.7 The DGS 2020
As part of the NFL 2020, the DGS 2020 was approved to strengthen, build and upgrade the network of high schools for the gifted nationwide, especially in disadvantaged regions of the country by 2020 to meet the standards and quality of advanced education as a way to improve quality of the general education system Under this VND2.3 trillion project, each province will set up at least one high school for gifted students, and try to reach the national standard by 2015 Fifteen of the schools will be selected to attain international standards The infrastructure of target schools will be upgraded; the teaching and research methodology will
be improved The project also aims at developing the management and teaching staff to achieve a high level of professional standards, creating a substantial improvement in the quality of education in these schools to approach the advanced level of the world One of the important tasks underlying this project is that bilingual teaching and learning science subjects will be conducted in all gifted high school nationwide to meet the requirements of globalization (The Government, 2010)
However, there are still a lot of doubts about these ambitious goals
Thanhniennews (2010), Vietnamnews (2012), Vietnamnet (2013) listed some
opinions of many school leaders and representatives about existing problems in the implementation of this project They stressed that its goals were too impractical, considering the current situation of gifted schools nationwide, especially in terms of infrastructure They also regarded this 10-year project as a big waste of money if the
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special training would come for nothing Many of the students with outstanding aptitudes for certain fields give up the knowledge they receive at the schools later because they intend to follow other training majors after graduating from high school Furthermore, the purpose of general education is to provide students with basic knowledge in sciences and life skills, which help them integrate into the society and continue their studies at higher education level Therefore, wasting so much money in developing the network of gifted high schools nationwide is not
really necessary (Thanhniennews, 2010; Vietnamnews, 2012; Vietnamnet, 2013)
2.8 An overview of Quang Tri province
Lying in the middle of the country, surrounded by Quang Binh in the north, Thua Thien Hue in the south, Savanakhet (Laos) in the west, and the East Sea in the east, Quang Tri is considered as an important traffic hub creating favourable conditions for the economic cooperation in the region
The total area of the province is 4,760.1 square kilometres with about 720 thousand inhabitants The provincial capital is Dong Ha City Besides, there are 9 other towns and districts, two of which lie in mountainous areas and one of which is
on an island
Quang Tri is well-known for what it suffered during the harsh war against the US army With unfavourable natural, economic and social conditions, Quang Tri still ranks as a below-average-income province According to the report at the
XVI Congress of the Provincial Communist Party (from 23 to 29 Nov, 2015), the
economic growth rate reaches about 7% per year The total budget revenue shows a growing trend during the last five years, from about VND 674 thousand million in
2010 to about 1212 thousand million in 2014 In Dong Ha city, this number is 120 thousand million and 237 thousand million respectively However, the total budget expenditure is much bigger with about VND 5923 thousand million in 2014 Therefore, the province continuously receives a great deal of budget assistance from the central government
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The income per capita has increased a great deal since 2000 However, what the inhabitants Quang Tri earn in a year is still below average in comparison with that of the nation In 2000, the city dwellers could earn on average about 3,5 million per year In 2006, it rose to about 8 million And in 2014, it reached more than 32,8 million Meanwhile, the average income per capita of Vietnam in 2014 is more than 44,5 million In terms of the income of people in rural areas in Quang Tri, the number is much lower
Table 2.1: Income per capita of Quang Tri
(Source: Appendices of the report at the XVI Congress of the Provincial Communist Party (23, Sep 2015))
Table 2.2: Income per capita of Vietnam
Unit: Thousand VND
Income per capita 7638 11942 16645 23998 44503
(Source: General Statistics Office Of Vietnam - https://www.gso.gov.vn/Default_en.aspx)
According to the table of PCI of 63 provinces in Vietnam, the standing place
of Quang Tri dropped significantly from 2011 to 2014 In 2011, it ranked 13 out of
63 However, in 2012 and 2013 its place plummeted to 37 and 58 respectively In
2014, it stood in the 53rd position (PCI reports from http://eng.pcivietnam.org/)
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2.9 An overview of LQD
LQD, established in 1994, is located in Dong Ha City, Quang Tri Since its foundation, the school has become a reliable address for local people The school has been fully equipped with modern facilities to meet the rising demand of training gifted students for the province Most of the 72 teachers of the school are well-qualified and competent in adapting new methodology There are 8 teachers in English Department, all of whom acquire C1 level of CEFR Most of the teachers of Department of Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics and Biology and young, energetic and quite competent in using English Some of them even have a BA degree in English Appropriately 700 students of 3 grades (10th, 11th and 12th) had to pass an entrance examination to get a stand at the school Therefore, most of them are capable, studious and willing to follow advanced courses
Since 2013, EMI has been piloted at the school in some subjects This programme started in 2013 with Mathematics and Chemistry taught in English for
10th-grade students majoring in English The number of participants was 29 At that time, only one lesson was provided a week for each relevant subject In 2014, EMI courses were available for 10th- and 11th-grade students specialized in English, Mathmatics and Chemistry with one lesson per week for each subject In this school year, Physics and Biolology are added to teach 10th-grade students specializing in English, Physics and Biology In 3 years, there have been over 100 students and 6 teachers experiencing the pilot programme
2.10 Chapter summary
From the all above-mentioned reviews, we see that EMI has become a global trend In the educational context of Vietnam, English learning and teaching has long been a bone of contention With the NFL 2020 and DGS 2020, it is widely hoped that by this situation will be thoroughly improved Although there have been a lot of studies on the NFL 2020, there is little empirical research on the DGS 2020, especially in terms of teaching Maths and science subjects in English at secondary
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level as part of these projects The studies of Nguyen et al (2009), Dang et al (2013), To (2010), Le (2012) have mentioned the implementation of EMI at tertiary level, which still bears a lot of challenges towards lecturers and students
The objective of this case study research is to examine the perceptions of teachers and students at LQD of teaching Maths and science subjects through English, the challenges the administrators, teachers and students are facing in using EMI as well as preliminary evaluations of this pilot programme at LQD If this programme can be implemented successfully in such an underprivileged province as Quang Tri, it is hoped to apply with greater success in other provinces with better socioeconomic conditions
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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
The issues related to the research methodology used in this study will be presented in this chapter It starts with the research approach, then a brief overview
of the participants in the survey and in the interview Next come the research instruments and the data collection procedure Data analysis methods and the limitation of the research are also mentioned in the last two parts of the chapter
3.1 Research approach
Case study as a research strategy is often used by new researchers as an obvious option to conduct a fairly modest scale research project (Rowley, 2002, p.16) It is a specific instance of a bounded system and is frequently designed to illustrate a more general principle Indeed, a case study research will provide a unique example of real people in real situations, thus helping readers to grasp ideas more clearly and to understand how ideas and abstract principles can fit together (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2007, p.253) Griffee (2012, p.97) cited Yin (2000) that there have to be three aspects of a typical case study: getting data from multiple sources, examining something in a real-life context, and using theory to generalize results In other words, a case study design should be considered when the focus of the study is to answer “how” and “why” questions or when the behaviour of those involved in the study cannot be manipulated or contextual conditions are supposed
to be covered because it is believed that they are relevant to the phenomenon under study or when the boundaries are not clear between the phenomenon and context This case study research was carried out by a combination of qualitative and quantitative approach Newman (2000) pointed out that while quantitatively collected data have to be expressed in the form of numbers and the final results have been used to “analyze the social world”, qualitatively collected data are sometimes
in the form of numbers but more often, include “written or spoken words, actions, sounds or visual images” (p.158)
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The advantage of quantitative approach is to synthesize a large amount of information from questionnaires, surveys or interviews in a numeric form Therefore, statistical tests can be applied in making statements about the data for the research, which include descriptive statistics like the mean, median, and standard deviation Meanwhile, data from qualitative studies describes the qualities or characteristics of something Qualitative research methods allow researchers to use
a variety of techniques (e.g interviews, participation, photographs, document studies and so on) to record their observations consistently and to provide them with details about human behavior, emotion, and personality characteristics that quantitative studies cannot match (Newman, 2000) Thus, data collected can be used to triangulate with each other
From this perspective, data collected from surveys have been synthesized in mainly numerical information, then used to evaluate the frequency and percentage
In addition, data collected from interviews and class observations have been analyzed qualitatively to triangulate with each other All the data collected have tried to answer the three research questions, namely, the perceptions of EMI, the challenges in implementing EMI programme, and the possible solutions
3.2 Survey participants
The informants of this survey consist of 175 LQD‟s students of 3 grades who have been experiencing EMI There are 73 males and 102 females aged from 16 to
18 In each grade, two classes are chosen
Table 3.1: Description of the students participating in the survey
Grade Major subject Number of students
Gender
Male Female
Trang 24The participants for interviews are divided into two groups
- The first group includes 20 teachers at LQD (7 males and 13 females) Their ages range from 25 to 59 with 3- to 37-year teaching experience
Table 3.2: Description of the teachers participating in the interview
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Table 3.3: Description of the students participating in the interview
Grade Major subject Number of students
All of the interviews in this research were recorded and conducted independently with each group
3.4 Research instruments
In order to collect sufficient, valuable and reliable information concerning the perceptions of the teachers and students involved in the project as well as the difficulties they are faced with, different types of research instruments were applied including questionnaires, interviews and class observations
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The initial instrument used to collect necessary data is the questionnaire As Milne (1999) pointed out, questionnaires are a cheap, quick, convenient and time-saving research tool because they are useful in collecting data from a large portion
of participants and in exploring a wide range of information from relevant aspects
of the study Thus, the questionnaire for this study was carefully constructed
In general, the survey questionnaire consists of 13 questions in both open and close forms used for all students surveyed and is divided into 2 parts The first part includes 2 questions, aiming to seek for personal as well as preliminary information about EMI lessons they have been experiencing The second consists of 11 questions aimed at investigating these following main aspects:
- the students‟ perceptions of the project
- the learners‟ willingness to participate in the programme
- the benefits students can get from the implementation of EMI
- the difficulties faced by learners in EMI lessons
- the learners‟ suggestions to improve the use of EMI at the school
In order to obtain more exact results, the questionnaire is written in Vietnamese to make sure of the students‟ thorough understanding A short but concise explanation about the nature of the study is also given at the beginning of the questionnaire
The second instrument used to collect relevant data is class observations in order to find the interactions between teachers and students and real difficulties learners encounter in bilingual lessons This method is useful in providing the researchers with a chance to witness, reinforce and clarify the information they get previously from other data collection methods (Scott, 2010) The main purposes of the class observations are to get to know about:
- the learning environment by gathering general information about the class, the number of learners, and teaching facilities;
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- the teaching procedure, types of activities, the use of teaching aids, the amount of time using EMI;
- the attitude of students in lessons using EMI and the learning atmosphere;
- the difficulties the teachers and students face in using EMI;
The last research instrument applied in this study is interviews Interviews can achieve high response rate because they are useful in obtaining more detailed information about personal feelings, perceptions, attitudes and opinions of the participants that questionnaires can not look into (Opdenakker, 2006) The interviewees in this research are divided into 4 subgroups
- The first group is the headmaster of LQD The questions focused on the reality of implementing the pilot programme, its advantages and disadvantages, the policies for teachers and students involved as well as the future orientations
- The second group, the main object of the interviews, are content teachers of Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics and Biology Most of them are using EMI in their classes The questions focused on their perceptions of the pilot programme, their willingness, their difficulties in the use of EMI and their suggestions to improve the programme After the class observations, the research also raised some questions related to the issues occurring during the lessons
- The third group consists of the language teachers Their questions were mainly about their perceptions of EMI, their assistance towards content teachers as well as their opinions about the students‟ improvement in English after taking part in EMI lessons
- The last group of interviewees is students chosen randomly based on critical incidents The questions were mainly designed based on the open questions in the survey to help clarify the problems
All the questions used in the interviews were in Vietnamese to make sure all the necessary information was included The aims of the interviews were to triangulate the information achieved from surveys or class observations
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3.5 Data collection procedures
With all the above mentioned instruments, all information was collected in 3 months with the help from the School Management Board and Heads of the relevant Divisions at LQD
To begin with, the researcher delivered the survey questionnaires to students
in 6 classes, 2 of each grade, majoring in English and in science subjects The researcher carefully explained the purpose of the study and then distributed the questionnaires The researcher answered any questions raised about the items on the survey while the learners were filling After some time, all of 175 questionnaires handed out were collected and officially used to gather information
For interviews, each group was interviewed seperately Before answering the researcher‟s questions, the purpose of the research was carefully explained The very informal interviews were conducted in Vietnamese and recorded With all the raw data collected, the researcher had to summarize the main points as themes because some of them had similar contents
Because of time constraint and the limited number of lessons using EMI in the pilot programme, seven class observations in total were done by the researcher
in 5 classes of 10th- and 11th-grade During each class, the researcher observed and took notes to collect necessary information
3.6 Data analysis
Questionnaires were numbered and all the questions on each questionnaire were coded and computerized with the SPSS software The process of entering the data was done together with a colleague to make sure of the accuracy of all the data entered Once the data were coded and computerized, the final result was automatically produced in terms of frequency, percentage, and tables
The results of the surveys have been discussed qualitatively and quantitatively in accordance with the data collected from interviews and class observations to find out the teachers‟ and students‟ perceptions of the use of EMI at
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the school, the benefits the students can gain from the programme as well as the challenges the teachers and students are facing in the implementation of the pilot programme With the analysis of the computer‟s software, the correlation between parameters has also been calculated
3.7 Limitations of the study
Because the programme of teaching Mathematics and science subjects in English is being piloted at LQD, not so many teachers and students are involved and EMI lessons are not conducted regularly Therefore, the findings might not be so generalized In addition, the video tape recorder, which is claimed to provide as much more information as possible when playing back for examining, was not used
as a supplementary tool for data collection
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CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter of the thesis presents in a logical way the details of the data collected from surveys, class observations and interviews concerning the EMI implementation at LQD along with a thorough discussion with a view to answering the three research questions: namely, (1) the teachers’ and students’ perceptions of EMI; (2) some challenges when implementing the EMI programme at the school; (3) the possible solutions to improve the programme adoption The last part will serve as a summary of all the findings and discussions
As can be seen from Table 4.1, the overall alpha is much higher than 7, namely 850 Thus, this value indicates the strong internal consistency among the answers of the participants In other words, the data collected from the research are reliable
Table 4.1: The reliability statistics in terms of Cronbach Alpha
data of the questionnaires and interviews The emerged themes include the necessity
of the project, the enthusiasm and the benefits teachers and students can gain from EMI lessons
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4.1.1 Perceptions of LQD’s leaders, teachers and students of the necessities of the DGS 2020
4.1.1.1 The students’ perceptions of the necessities of the DGS 2020
The role of the students in successful innovation is invariably accepted as important (Fullan, 2007) Therefore, it is necessary to find out their perceptions to ensure the success of any innovative plan In the survey, students were asked to give their opinions about whether the DGS 2020 is really necessary for students Table 4.2 describes their overall ideas
Table 4.2: The students‟ perceptions of the necessity of the DGS 2020
It should be understood that the minimum value is 1 and the maximum value
is 5 as illustrated in the table can partially point out the diversity of students‟ ideas
on the necessity of the project According to the table 4.2, the mean score is 2.37 In comparison to the middle value (M=3) of the five-point scale (1-Very necessary, 2- Necessary, 3-Neutral, 4-Not very necessary, 5-Not necessary), the mean score
can show that a great number of the students at LQD agreed that the DGS 2020 is
„Necessary‟ in general
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Specifically, as can be seen from the table 4.2, more than half of the respondents (accounting for 61.7%) considered this project necessary Especially, 15.4% of the students thought that implementing EMI at gifted schools in the context of globalisation and integration was an absolute necessity because of a lot of benefits these programmes could bring to them When being asked to give reasons for their choices, these students revealed:
“I think it is really necessary because I can know many scientific terms and science lessons will be less boring.” (a 12-grade student majoring in English)
“This will create a new experience for students, and I will have more chances to follow high-quality training courses at university.” (a 12-grade student majoring in Chemistry)
“It is so necessary because I can google many available materials in English.” (a 12-grade student majoring in English)
“I can get used to this experience and have a chance to know how students in other countries learn science subjects It is also useful in the future when I take SAT to study in the USA.” (a 10-grade student majoring in English)
“I think it is necessary because nowadays English is becoming more and more important Learning science subjects through English will help me improve my English.” (an 11-grade student majoring in Mathematics)
These positive attitudes towards the necessity of the DGS 2020 show that most of the students were ready to take part in EMI lessons These are more clearly proved in interviews in terms of critical incidence Most of them agreed that this project would be of great help if they had a chance “to study overseas” or “to take part in International Science Olympiads” These findings illustrate Lo Bianco‟s (2010) argument that EMI has been increasingly adopted because English is a powerful language of scholarship, which enables individuals to access and share knowledge The data collected overwhelmingly indicated that the EMI programme
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could enhance students‟ mobility They could get access to more job opportunities, travel overseas, and study abroad Indeed, with good English skills acquired from the EMI programme, they might have more of a chance to gain scholarships for overseas training
While 28.6% of the students had neutral opinions about the implementation
of the project; however, there still remain 9.7% of the repondents who thought that such a project was quite unnecessary Remarkably, 8 out of 175 students being surveyed regarded teaching science subjects in English for students at gifted high schools as an unnecessary plan Some of them explained their ideas as follows:
“I think this project is a nonsense because some students are not good at English They will find it difficult to understand these lessons.” (an 11-grade student majoring in Physics)
“I think it is not useful because these subjects are not easy to learn even in Vietnamese, let alone study in English.” (a 12-grade student majoring in Chemistry)
“My goal is to have a place at the university The exams now are in Vietnamese Therefore, it is unnecessary for me to spend my time studying something not really suited for my objective.” (a 10-grade student majoring
in Biology)
“Science subjects help develop logical thinking; therefore, they are so difficult and complicated If a foreign language is integrated, there will be a real obstacle for most students because not all of them are able to understand what teachers are saying.” (an 11-grade student majoring in Physics revealed in the interview)
“The current curriculum is really a burden for students If they are asked to study some subjects in English, they will have not enough time to learn.” (a 12-grade student majoring in Chemistry revealed in the interview)
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Especially, one 11-grade student, despite perceiving that the project was good and beneficial, still thought that the implementation was not necessary because “learning these subjects in Vietnamese seems so difficult to some students; they will possibly disengage if English is added to these courses.”
However, more specifically, the students specializing in English highly appreciate the use of English in teaching and learning science subjects, as clearly shown in the chart below
Chart 4.1: The perceptions of the necessity of the DGS 2020 of students in each class
As can be clearly seen from Chart 4.1, 26.7% of 10-grade and 34.6% of grade students majoring in English considered this project absolutely necessary, whereas 43.3% and 38.5% respectively thought that the DGS 2020 was necessary This perception is easily understood because they have a better command of English than those majoring in other subjects None of 12 graders of English class and 11 graders of Maths class depreciated this EMI implementation The 11-grade students specializing in Physics seemed reluctant to welcome this project 6.7% of them thought this plan was hardly necessary and 10% admitted that the DGS 2020 was not totally needed Remarkably, in general, the 12 graders majoring in Chemistry also showed great enthusiasm towards EMI lessons 75.9% of them reckoned that
Trang 35Table 4.3: The students‟ perceptions of the benefits of EMI
a Facilitating to search more useful materials on the Internet 163 93.1
c Helping you know specialised terminology in English 137 78.3
d Familiarising you gradually in case you intend to study
e Creating a favourable foundation to join advanced training
f Helping raise the confidence and motivation in studying 49 28.0
g Helping update latest information about new inventions and
h Creating a sound basis in case you participate in Regional or
i Helping you integrate with other students in other countries in
As Table 4.3 depicts, 93.1% of the students surveyed thought that EMI helped them search for materials on the Internet better One 12-grade student majoring in English disclosed in the interview that online materials for science subjects were abundant, updated and useful for the study if students knew how to
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make use of them Moreover, 80% of the students agreed that they would improve their English proficiency levels if they followed EMI courses 43.4% of the students had “international mobility” (Coleman, 2006) when they thought that EMI would be
of great help in case they travel overseas, and study abroad Only 28% thought that EMI would motivate them to study and help raise their confidence There were also two ideas adding that EMI programme would help attract foreign students to come and study in Vietnam and help students have something to discuss with foreign ones when they visited the school
Not only the students at LQD have these perceptions of EMI, but also tertiary ones in Vietnam experience the same, as revealed in the studies of Vu and Burns (2014), Dang et al (2013), To (2010), and Le (2012)
4.1.1.2 The teachers’ perceptions of the necessities of the DGS 2020
In interviews with the teachers, all of them agreed that the project of teaching and learning science subjects in gifted high schools nationwide was very necessary for both teachers and students Many reasons were provided
“Nowadays, English really becomes an important tool and a must for any recruitment process or any scholarship application Learning science subjects through English will help raise the awareness of students of the important role of English in this current context of the society.” (a male mathematics teacher)
“I think this project is of great importance and thus should be applied Students will get a new experience, acquire more motivation and have a valuable chance to improve their English Teachers will gain a lot of benefits from this project because they will have more chances to take part in training courses and innovate their old-fashioned teaching methodology.” (a male physics teacher)
“This project is good There is a rising demand from the society when there are many chances for students to study overseas Valuable materials in
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English are now available online and more abundant than those in Vietnamese Having a good command of English will facilitate the search, thus, motivating students in learning, helping them study and update latest information …… Moreover, students will have a chance to use in English in real contexts” (a female physics teacher)
“When we aim to train students to become international citizens, improving their English is of great importance……Students often lack an environment
to use English; therefore, their communicative competence is not very good EMI will help overcome these problems and help make students more confident in using English.” (a male chemistry teacher)
“In my opinion, this project would be of great use for both content teachers and students if well undertaken It would be a valuable chance to improve their English We [English teachers] also benefit a lot from EMI lessons We can grasp more specialized terminology in English We can also help some students better prepare for SAT Students would be well motivated to learn our subject [English].” (a female English teacher)
Indeed, the teachers highly appreciate the benefits of EMI programme that they and their students can gain They listed many beneficial things students can get when implementing EMI Most of these ideas coincide with the students‟ perceptions shown in Table 4.3 Besides, they added that EMI also helped students
to become international citizens, to know how to use English in real life contexts and to increase self-study skills Moreover, they revealed that when applying EMI, they also benefited from this programme Not only could they improve their English proficiency levels but they also had an opportunity to broaden their professional knowledge, to access scientific sources in their major field, to communicate with the international scientific world by taking part in international seminars and to access new teaching approaches One male teacher even thought of the chance to be able to work in some advanced institutions in the world
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4.1.1.3 The leaders’ perceptions of the necessities of the DGS 2020
The headmaster of LQD seemed to show full approval of the DGS 2020 He revealed:
“It is a timely decision of the MOET This project totally accords with policies of the Party and the Government on the international integration in education It aims to build and develop specialized high schools into high quality secondary educational institutions meeting national standards as well as accessing advanced educational standards of the world in the process of integration The equipment will then be upgraded and modernised The teachers taking part in this project will have a chance to train in English-speaking countries The students will develop self-study methods as well as English competence All will help to make specialized high schools an epitome of other high schools in all aspects: facilities, teaching staff, students and educational activities.”
From the organizational perspective, this perception of the leader of the school totally coincides with the objectives and duties of the DGS 2020 One of the important duties of the project is to hold short-term and long-term training courses for content teachers teaching Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Informatics in English The project also aims to send some selected teachers to attend some training courses in English-speaking countries to boost both their language and academic competence Compiling appropriate materials to facilitate the teaching and learning in EMI programme is also a must in the DGS 2020 It is widely hoped that some major high schools for the gifted will reach the level in education with other secondary schools in the region and the world (The Government, 2010) He also added some advantages of gifted high schools in general and LQD in particular when implementing the pilot project
“The equipment at gifted high schools is well-furnished and modernised regularly Students in high schools for the gifted are well chosen They have
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to pass an entrance examination in which English is one of the compulsory subjects to be tested Therefore, most of them have good manners, are quite smart and have good cognitive and self-study skills They also have critical thinking and better motivation Elite students will take part in International Science Olympiads Besides, they have more chances to communicate and study with native language teachers One more thing is that most of them are not under a lot of pressure of passing an entrance examination to univeristy because, take this school [LQD] for example, every year, more than 90% of
12 graders get a place at university Teachers are also carefully selected and well qualified Many of them are still very young, intelligent, ambitious, energetic, and receptive to new teaching methods The English proficiency level of some teachers, especially the young ones, are quite good This is an important factor deciding on the success of the EMI implementation.”
Indeed, all the LQD‟s teachers in charge of this pilot programme are quite young, energetic, ranging from 25 to 41 years of age and have a quite good background of English All of them have acquired B1 level of CEFR
In summary, Vietnam in the integration and globalisation process has placed new demands on the educational system Therefore, multiple educational initiatives have been taken to improve its quality In that context, the EMI programme seems
to be able to integrate mixed agendas and is perceived as a purposeful means for leaders, teachers and students to adapt to the changing world (Vu & Burns, 2014) The positive attitude of the leader, all the teachers and most of the students at LQD towards the aims and necessity of the DGS 2020 will initially lay a solid foundation
on implementing the project successfully at the school
4.1.2 The students’ feelings of EMI lessons at the school
This section will examine the feelings of the students before and after experiencing some lessons using EMI
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4.1.2.1 The students’ feelings before the EMI programme starts
When being asked about their first reaction to the news that they would have
a chance to study science subjects through English, most of the students surveyed showed great interest, as shown in this table below
Table 4.4: The students‟ feelings before the EMI programme starts
It should be understood that the minimum value is 1 and the maximum value
is 5 as illustrated in the table can partially point out the diversity of students‟ interest in the EMI lessons According to the table 4.4, the mean score is 2.0 In comparison to the middle value (M=3) of the five-point scale (1-Very interested, 2-Interested, 3-Neutral, 4-Not very interested, 5-Not interested), the mean score
can reveal that a great number of the LQD‟s students showed that in general they
initially felt „Interested‟ to the news that they would have a chance to experience
EMI courses at the school
More specifically, as can be clearly seen from the table 4.4, 72% (in total) of the students surveyed expressed positive feelings of the DGS 2020, in which 34.3% showed that they felt extremely interested in learning EMI lessons because EMI seemed new and strange to them and they would “experience science subjects in a