Teachers perceptions of english language competency as one component with in the national foreign language 2020 project a case study off efl teachers at upper secondary school in quang tri province

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------ LE THUY HANG TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE COMPETENCY AS ONE COMPONENT WITHIN THE

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

- -

LE THUY HANG

TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE COMPETENCY AS ONE COMPONENT WITHIN THE NATIONAL FOREIGN LANGUAGE 2020 PROJECT:

A CASE STUDY OF EFL TEACHERS AT UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL IN QUANG TRI PROVINCE

SUMMARY

MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY

OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

CODE: 60.14.01.11

SUPERVISOR: PHAM HOA HIEP, Dr

HUE, 2014

BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO

ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ - -

LÊ THÚY HẰNG

NHẬN THỨC CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VỀ NĂNG LỰC NGÔN NGỮ TIẾNG ANH LÀ MỘT PHẦN TRONG ĐỀ ÁN NGOẠI NGỮ QUỐC GIA 2020: NGHIÊN CỨU TRƯỜNG HỢP CỦA CÁC GIÁO VIÊN TIẾNG ANH TẠI CÁC TRƯỜNG THPT

Ở TỈNH QUẢNG TRỊ

TÓM TẮT

LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP

DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH

MÃ SỐ: 60.14.01.11

NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC:

TIẾN SỸ PHẠM HÒA HIỆP

HUẾ, 2014

ABSTRACT

This thesis investigates teachers’ perceptions of the National Foreign Language 2020 Project as mainly manifested in the test given to assess teachers’ language competency The data were collected through the questionnaire survey and the semi-structured interviews with thirty Vietnamese teachers of English at five Upper Secondary Schools in Quang Tri Province

The results reveal that though the participants highly appreciated the necessity of the Proficiency Test, they found the test content is much more difficult than the knowledge required at their teaching level In addition, the teachers believed the test did not fairly evaluate their English proficiency Overall, they blamed their bad test results on their poor preparation While some teachers considered the test a good opportunity to motivate their self-learning, many others felt pressured, stressed or nervous about the test Relating to In-service Training (INSET) courses - a component of the 2020 Project, aiming at improving teachers’ language proficiency, the teachers found INSET courses did not meet their expectations because most of them wished courses that could improve their teaching methods In the teachers’ point of view, the courses were well- organized with qualified and helpful trainers Besides, the trainees also found the course materials updated and interesting Although the participants admitted that they had learned a lot from INSET courses and their language proficiency were improved remarkably, they thought that the courses did not supply adequate professional knowledge and skills to improve effectiveness of teaching in school The trainees also believed that the length of INSET courses were not sufficient enough for professional development

The findings of this investigation suggest that although the teachers recognized the necessity of high level of language proficiency for their professional life, they did not welcome the way educational administrators used it as the mere criteria to evaluate whether that teacher “standardized”

or not Moreover, the participants proposed that any test with such a wide scale and serious impacts on a large number of people should be carried out with great care and consideration, and test takers should be well-prepared Thirdly, to improve the effectiveness of INSET courses, teachers’ needs should be analyzed in advance What’s more, the current testing methods which focus mainly on English grammar and reading comprehension should

be reformed in order to synchronize the change in curriculum For teachers, they should consider self learning as their daily routine rather than wait until

the test time

I CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

In Vietnam, since 1986, the government has realised the important role of English in the development of the country, particularly in the process of calling for foreign investment Especially, since Vietnam became the member of World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2006, the need of learning English has increased continuously Moreover, with the aim of renovating thoroughly the tasks of teaching and learning foreign language within national education system, the National Foreign Language

2020 Project was approved in 2008 (Decision No 1400/QĐ-TTg on September 30th, 2008) However, since implementation, this project has proved a number of difficulties and inadequacies, especially in the English proficiency test in which most of ELF teachers cannot succeed According to Dr Nguyen Ngoc Hung, Executive Manager, NLF2020 Project, Ministry of Education and Training, only 2 to 3 percent of participants could attain the level required (Anh, 2012)

In his presentation at VUS TESOL Conference 2012, Tran (2012) states that “MoET admits failure of ELT in Vietnam: most learners cannot use the language after 7-10 years of study They [MoET] blame it on the teachers and teachers’ preparation” According to Tran (2012), while many other main reasons can account for this failure such as grammar and translation dominated examinations, there are no professional organizations which can provide advice to government, MoET and provide professional supports for teachers, enhance teachers’ low salary, improve working and learning environment, recruitment and employment policies and

so forth

1.2 Rationale for the study

This study is carried out for the following reasons:

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Firstly, the NFL 2020 Project is a very large project which will have an impact on not only 80 thousand English language teachers and 200 million students but also on the throughout educational system Within the project, all English language teachers in Vietnam’s state schools are expected to be confident, intermediate-level users of English, and to pass a test to prove it Teachers who did not succeed in that test will have to attend an in-service teacher training course organized in summers at one of five regional foreign language centres within NFL2020 Project Thus, 85 percent of the

450 million dollar budget will be spent on teacher training (Parks, 2011)

Secondly, the officials of the project have adopted the Common European Framework of Reference to assess EFL teachers’ listening, speaking, reading and writing skills Even though such testing is necessary to improve the English learning and teaching system in Vietnam, according to Mr Le Thanh Hai, the instructor based in the southern hub, it is “unfair” for teachers (Viet, 2013) Although the administrators promised to keep the test result secret, when those teachers are called for a re-training course, everyone seems to know their embarassing scores, which makes some of them lose face, others become disappointed and lose their confidence and the like Understanding of teachers’ perceptions, attitudes and aspirations will help policy makers and teachers trainers to make timely adjustments and changes to ensure that the projects and subprojects will better benefit participants For this reason, it is important to investigate teachers’ perceptions of English language competency as one component within the NFL2020 Project

1.3 The aims and research questions of the study

This research aims to explore the perceptions of EFL teachers at Upper Secondary Schools in Quang Tri Province of English

language competency as one component within the NFL2020 Project It particularly aims to answer these questions:

1- What are the perceptions of EFL teachers at upper secondary school in Quang Tri of English language competency as one component within the 2020 Project?

2- To what extent does the 2020 Project change teachers' perceptions of Language Competency?

3- What can be done to better prepare the teachers for the Proficiency Tests?

1.4 Significance of the study

This study will provide an insight into the perceptions of EFL teachers at Upper Secondary Schools in Quang Tri Province of English language competency as one component within the NFL2020 Project and the extent that the project changes teachers’ perceptions of language competency and their professional development Hopefully, through this study educational administrators of the NFL2020 Project will take time to have an overall look on the reality of EFL teaching and learning; hence, they will adjust the implementation process of the project to make it more effective

1.5 Scope of the study

Even though the NFL2020 Project covers a large number of aspects, this research will just focus on Vietnam’s in-service ETCF, especially on the competency 1.1a “Teacher’s Language Proficiency” of the domain 1 of this framework which requires EFL teachers to demonstrate proficiency in the target language at an appropriate level on the CEFR

1.6 Structure of the thesis

Apart from Appendices and References, this thesis consists of five chapters Chapter 1 begins with the introduction Chapter 2

4

provides a review of previous literature in relation to teachers’ professional development and the NFL2020 Project Chapter 3 describes the research methodology used in this study Chapter 4 presents the results of both the quantitative and qualitative investigations of the study Chapter 5 discusses the findings and limitations and gives recommendations and implications for teachers’ professional development

II CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Teacher Professional Development (TPD)

In education systems where teacher education programs are well-established, TPD is described as a process embracing all activities that enhance professional career growth (Rogan & Grayson 2003; Tecle 2006) or as formal and informal experiences throughout the teacher’s career (Hargreaves & Fullan 1992; Arends et al 1998) TPD may also come in the form of pre-service or in-service PD programs

2.2 In-Service Training (INSET) for Teachers

According to Bohumíra and Alice (2004), in-service teacher training is usually defined as the provision of organized programmes for practising teachers, meant to help them as one of possible systematic steps to support their development There are a variety of types of INSET that educational administrators could choose depending on the purposes of training, levels of trainees as well as educational facilities and facts

2.3 Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR)

CEFR provides a common basis for the elaboration of language syllabuses, curriculum guidelines, examinations, and textbooks etc across Europe It describes foreign language proficiency at six levels: A1 and A2, B1 and B2, C1 and C2 (Council of Europe)

2.4 National Foreign Language (NFL) 2020 Project

On the 30th of September, 2008, the Prime Minister of the Social Republic of Vietnam signed Decision No 1400/QĐ-TTg on the Approval of the NFL2020 Project The goal of this Project is:

[t]o renovate thoroughly the tasks of teaching and learning foreign language within national education system, to implement a new program on teaching and learning foreign language at every school levels and training degrees (Decision No 1400/QĐ-TTg on September

30th, 2008)

2.5 Testing and its negative effects

Educational policymakers have considered testing as a significant, positive and cost-effective reform tool; therefore, testing

in many types has been used at an increasing rate Many researchers such as Cannell (1987) and Shepard (1989); howerver, wonder if improvement in test score performance is actually a signal of improvement in learning Hence, administrators of Vietnam’s NFL2020 Project should take testing into consideration and consider it as an important component that need reforming

2.6 Vietnam’s in-service English Teacher Competency Framework (ETCF)

Vietnam’s ETCF is based upon five domains:

1 Knowledge of subject matter and curriculum

3.4 Data collection

3.4.1 Questionnaire survey

The questionnaires contained both closed and open-ended questions To questions considering teacher’s perceptions, participants rated their responses on a likert scale The questionnaires were in Vietnamese and delivered in hard copies

3.4.2 Interviews

6 semi-structured interview questions were used in order to acquire information related to the research topic

3.5 Data analysis and interpretation

3.5.1 Qualitative data analysis

For the quantitative data analysis, SPSS version 20.0 for Windows will be employed Results were released via tables and figures, and a detailed discussion of the issues and conclusion would

be singled out and drawn

3.5.2 Thematic analysis

After all the information was collected, interview records were examined by the participants The data collected was categorized and coded on the basic of the categories

3.5.3 Merging both sets of data

After the data was collected from both quantitative and qualitative approaches, it was merged for a complete picture of the issues

IV CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Teachers’ perceptions of English language competency as one component within the 2020 Project:

4.2.1 Teachers’ perceptions of the Proficiency Test

4.2.1.1 Teachers’ preparation for the Proficiency Test

Table 4.2.1.1 presents teachers’ preparation for the proficiency test As can be seen, fewer than half of the teachers taking in the study (43,3%) had heard about the test (CAE) before participating in

it Moreover, nearly three fifth (56,7%) of them had never known about the format of the test This indicates that this kind of test seems

to be strange to teachers

Table 4.2.1.1 Teachers’ preparation for the PT

6 Before participating in the English Proficiency

Test, had you ever heard about that kind of test? 43.3 56.7

8 Had you prepared yourself such as finding

material, doing sample test and so on for the test 60.0 40.0

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From Figure 4.2.1.1, we see that teachers had little time to prepare for the test Most of the teachers (66%) prepared for the test within half a month Only 10% and 20% of the teachers had 3 weeks and a month to revise for the test respectively

Figure 4.2.1.1 Time that teachers were informed about the test

4.2.1.2 Teachers’ perceptions of a good EFL teacher

As shown in the Figure 4.2.1.2., not many of the teachers (only 20%) considered “high level of English proficiency” the most important factor that makes a good English teacher Meanwhile, close to three times as many teachers (56.7%) perceived “excellent teaching skills” the most important one

Figure 4.2.1.2 The most important factors that make a good English

teacher