(LUẬN văn THẠC sĩ) the influence of vietnamese learning culture on upper secondary school students’ attitudes towards communicative activities in learning english

BÙI VĂN HẬU THE INFLUENCE OF VIETNAMESE LEARNING CULTURE ON UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH của học sinh trung học phổ

BÙI VĂN HẬU

THE INFLUENCE OF VIETNAMESE LEARNING CULTURE

ON UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES

TOWARDS COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH

của học sinh trung học phổ thông đối với các hoạt động học

tiếng Anh theo đường hướng giao tiếp)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Code: 60.140.111

HANOI - 2014

BÙI VĂN HẬU

THE INFLUENCE OF VIETNAMESE LEARNING CULTURE

ON UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES

TOWARDS COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH

của học sinh trung học phổ thông đối với các hoạt động học

tiếng Anh theo đường hướng giao tiếp)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60.140.111 Supervisor: Dr Lê Văn Canh

HANOI - 2014

This work is submitted as partial requirements for the Master‟s Degree in English Language Teaching Methodology by the University of Languages and International Stud-ies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi I declare that the work presented is to the best of

my knowledge original, except as acknowledged in the script, and that the material has not been submitted, either in whole or in part, for a degree at this or other educational institu-tions

Signed: _ Date: May 2014

uted to the completion of this thesis First and foremost, I would like to give my most cere thanks to Dr Le Van Canh, my supervisor, for not only his responses to any of my questions but also for his encouragement at any time of my hardship

sin-I would like to thank Nguyen Viet Hung, my friend, a PhD student at the University, for helping me much with advice and encouragement

I am grateful to the students and teachers at my researched Upper-Secondary School for their cooperation during my data collection period

I owe a great debt to my wife, daughter and my families for the patience and agement I have had from them

encour-I believe that with all contribution of the people mentioned, encour-I have an improved final thesis; however, there are unavoidably remaining weaknesses in this thesis, all of which belong to my responsibility, and all of which I should learn from

ABSTRACT

The present study explored the influence of Vietnamese learning culture on secondary school students‟ attitudes towards communicative activities in English learning The survey study method was adopted, and the questionnaires were delivered to a system-atically selected sample of 166 students from one upper-secondary school in a mountain-ous region in Vietnam This aimed at collecting necessary data for answering three re-search questions about the students‟ belief about language learning, the influence of this belief on the students‟ opinion about the role of teacher and learner and on their prefer-ences for English learning activities both inside and outside the classroom

upper-The findings demonstrated influence of the Vietnamese culture of learning on the students‟ attitudes towards communicative English learning activities, some of which were favourable for utilisation of communicative activities These concern their openness in communication, and a greater responsibility they took for their own learning They also indicated the students‟ positive attitudes towards group work activities, which are typical

of CLT techniques Besides, the study showed evidence of the students‟ negative attitudes towards communicative activities, which resulted from the incompatibleness of these ac-tivities to the Vietnamese culture of learning Basically, this incompatibility is related with the students‟ perceived drudgery nature of learning, the cultural strategies for effective learning through memorisation and error avoidance, the necessity for maintaining harmo-nious relationships, the students‟ passive learning, and their respect for and unequal rela-tionship with the teacher

Based on these findings, some suggestions were proposed concerning either tion of the CLT approach and its spawn activities to the cultural context of the study, or adjustment of the students‟ Vietnamese learning culture, or both All of this aims at suc-cessful implementation of CLT at the researched school

adapta-TABLE OF CONTENT

DECLARATION OF AUTHENTICITY I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS II ABSTRACT III TABLE OF CONTENT IV LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES VI

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of Study 1

2 Research Aims and Questions 2

3 Methods of Study 3

4 Scope of Study 3

5 Significance of Study 3

6 Organisation of the Thesis 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1:LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Introduction 4

1.2 Communicative Language Teaching: Principles and Characteristics 4

1.3 Learning Activities in Light of CLT 6

1.4 Communicative Activities 7

1.5 Role of Teacher and Learner in CLT 8

1.6 Culture, Attitude and Behaviour 9

1.7 Vietnamese Learning Culture 11

1.8 Conceptions of Learning in Vietnamese Culture 12

1.9 Learning Culture and CLT 14

CHAPTER 2:THE STUDY 18

2.1 The Research Site 18

2.2 Methodology 18

2.3 Participants and the Ethical Issue 19

2.4 Instrument 19

2.4.1 Rationale for choosing the questionnaire and question type 19

2.4.2 Validity and reliability 20

2.4.3 Questionnaire items 22

2.5 Data Collection and Analysis Procedure 23

2.6 Findings and Discussion 24

2.6.1 Beliefs about Language Learning 24

2.6.2 Role of Teacher and Learner 29

2.6.3 Preference for Learning Activities 32

2.6.4 Students‟ English Learning Habits 34

2.6.5 The Influence of Vietnamese Learning Culture on the Students‟ Attitudes towards Communicative Activities in Learning English 36

PART C: CONCLUSION 39

1 Conclusions and Implications 39

2 Limitations and recommendations for further research 41

REFERENCES 43 APPENDICES I

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Figures

Figure 1 Culture – Attitude – Behaviour 10

Figure 2 Respondents’ Gender 24

Figure 3 Respondents’ English Proficiency 24

Tables Table 1 Questionnaires Delivered and Collected 24

Table 2 Students’ Conceptions of Learning 25

Table 3 Students’ Belief about the Role of Teacher and Learner 30

Table 4 Students’ Preference for English Learning Activities 33

Table 5 Students’ Most Favoured, Most Disfavoured and Home Activities 35

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of Study

Since the time of Marcus Tullius Cicero, a Roman philosopher, and later in the aissance theories, until now all languages have been considered to be of equal status (Pym, 2007) This is because “there is nothing intrinsically limiting, demanding, or handicapping about any of them” (Crystal, 1987, p.6, cited by Kasaian and Subbakrishna, 2011, p.165) The English language is not an exception Although English was said to be a source of gratification to mankind because it was spoken in two of the greatest powers of the world (Jesperson, 1905), that is, America and Britain, it has no intrinsic linguistic supremacy over other languages in the world (Kasaian and Subbakrishna, 2011) Nonetheless, “for good or ill, the dominance of English as the world‟s preferred second or foreign language has been increasing in recent years” (Canh, 2004) For this reason, “those who are able to exploit it, whether to sell goods and services or to sell ideas, wield a very considerable power”; furthermore, “if you want to resist the exploitive power of English, you have to use English to do it” (Halliday, 2006, p.362, cited by Van, 2010, p.17) Although the statement is ideological, it has some truth in it

Ren-Since the utility of English has been perceived as a passport for many desired things

in life, English teaching has consequently been regarded to be able to serve individual, tional, and international needs (Canh, 2004), and “if people are deprived of the chance of learning it, they are the ones who suffer” (Halliday, 2006, p.362, cited by Van, 2010, p.17) During the course of teaching and learning English, numerous methods have come and gone because there is no one-size-fits-all method that can meet the goals and needs of all learners and programs As a matter of rule, in the 1970s Communicative Language Teach-ing (CLT) emerged, in the West, and started being discussed as a fashionable way of teach-ing languages, and by the turn of the new millennium, CLT had become a real buzzword in language teaching methodology around the world (Dornyei, 2009) In this context, educa-tion administrators, English language educators and teachers have navigated their attention toward CLT, as a response to its irresistible appeal Accordingly, CLT has widely been ac-cepted as an effective way of teaching English as a second and foreign language (ESL/EFL) This is because there is an unspoken assumption that CLT is not only “mod-ern”, but is in fact the only way to learn a language properly; hence, a country without CLT is somehow backward; teachers who do not use CLT approach in their teaching are backward; methodologies which are considered to be traditional and the one based on route

na-learning are said to be behind in comparison with communicative approaches (Bax, 2003, p.281)

Vietnam is not an exception from the spread of CLT Although CLT was introduced into the country rather later than into other countries in the neighbourhood (Canh and Bar-nard, 2009), it has been rhetorical in the whole school system of the country, especially at the general education level However, scholars and researchers have reported the unsatis-factory implementation of this approach in Vietnam (Canh, 2004; Canh, 2011; Canh and Barnard, 2009; Barnard and Viet, 2010; Nguyen and Franken, 2010; Thinh, 2006; Phu, 2008; Van, 2010; Son, 2011; Hung, 2011; Vietnamnet, 2012; Toan, 2013; Khang, 2014) One of the reasons for the failure of CLT implementation in Vietnam is that the ap-proach is imposed without taking into consideration the students‟ learning culture, which influences students‟ attitudes towards learning activities, learning behaviours, and learning habits However, this issue has often been ignored I believe that for the success of innova-tion, the first step to be taken should be the understanding of learners‟ learning culture so that teachers can decide what aspects of the intended innovation fit the students‟ learning culture, and what aspects of the students‟ learning culture should be changed to accommo-date the intended pedagogical innovation This is the rationale for my study

2 Research Aims and Questions

Being inspired by all the above mentioned rationales and my preliminary interest, this survey study aims to explore the influence of Vietnamese learning culture on attitudes

of the upper-secondary school students in a mountainous area toward CLT Information gained from this study is aimed to help teachers to make their teaching more learner-centred by modifying the principles of CLT to the students‟ learning culture for better edu-cational results With this aim in mind, the study was designed to seek answers to the fol-lowing research questions:

1 What is the students‟ belief about language learning?

2 How do their beliefs about language learning affect their opinions of the teacher‟s role and student‟s role in the English language classroom?

3 How do their beliefs about language learning affect their preferences for language learning activities both inside and outside the classroom?

It is hoped that answers to the above questions can inform classroom teachers of how

to adapt CLT in their classrooms

3 Methods of Study

In order to achieve the above-stated aims, this research adopts the survey study framework with the use of a questionnaire as the key instrument for data collection As the purpose of this study is to gain insights into students‟ attitudes to, and opinions of, learning activities, the survey method is appropriate However, the survey was conducted with a small group of upper-secondary school students who were chosen purposefully in one school in a mountainous region of Vietnam Therefore, no generalization of the findings was intended Rather, the findings can be used to inform teachers of English in this and other similar schools of how to adapt CLT more effectively

4 Scope of Study

The study limits itself to the exploration and description how the students‟ learning culture influences their learning of English within the context of an upper-secondary school in one northern mountainous province

5 Significance of Study

This study hopes to be significant in pointing out some culturally inappropriate pects of the CLT approach to a group of school students in a mountainous area This un-derstanding can lead to some suggestions for how to adapt CLT to the local learning cul-ture so as to raise the educational effectiveness

as-6 Organisation of the Thesis

The thesis is composed of three parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion

Part A introduces the rationale, research aims and questions, method, scope and

signifi-cance of the study Part B – the Development – includes a review of the related literature

(Chapter 1) and issues concerning the methodology, participants, instruments, the dure of data collection and analysis, findings and discussions of the findings (Chapter 2)

proce-Part C – the Conclusion – presents the concluding remarks drawn from this survey as well

as the recommendations for adapting CLT in the researched school and other similar schools

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Introduction

First introduced in the 1970s by British applied linguists as a reaction away from grammar-based language teaching approaches, CLT is a multi-perspectival approach that builds on several disciplines that include, at least, linguistics, psychology, philosophy, so-ciology, and educational research (Savignon, 1991, 2002; Hu, 2002; Dornyei, 2009; Asass-feh et al., 2012) Beside this widely accepted view, there have been many attempts in ac-counting for the formation of CLT; nevertheless, for personally logical reason, this paper presents a combined view of these scholars and some others on the background of CLT

1.2 Communicative Language Teaching: Principles and Characteristics

CLT is resulted from a shift in the way language is viewed Accordingly, while guage is still considered as consisting of vocabulary, structures and rules with which, through learning, learners can make grammatically correct sentences, it is not a static sys-tem of interconnected units but social behaviour, which is used purposefully, and always in context (Savignon, 1991, 2002) Its primary function is for interaction and communication: people communicating with others to accomplish some course of action Therefore, lan-guage is said to be instrumental to communicative functions such as making, expressing, exchanging and negotiating meaning (Ma, 2009; Hu, 2002) The assumption is that there is always interdependence between form and meaning, or between structural and functional aspects of language within a language (Hu, 2002) Thus, knowing a language means not solely knowing how to construct sentences in isolation, but also knowing how to combine sentences into texts and to put texts in discourse of the speech community in order to fulfil some task and meet some need CLT has made this one of its most characteristic features when “it pays systematic attention to functional as well as structural aspects of language, combining these into a more fully communicative view” (Littlewood, 1981, p.1, cited by Dornyei, 2009) Moreover, it also puts more emphases on meaningful use than on the form with the guiding principle that “accuracy and acquisition of the formal features of the L2 [second language] are less a measure of successful language learning than are fluency and

lan-an ability to get something across comprehensibly to a native speaker” (Slan-anders, 1987, p.222, cited by Beale, 2002, p.19)

In order to communicate effectively in a language, people need to have the following four aspects of abilities (Stern, 1983, cited by Ma, 2009):

 The intuitive mastery of the forms of language

 The intuitive mastery of the linguistic, cognitive, affective and social-cultural meanings expressed by the language forms

 The capacity to use the language with maximum attention to communication and minimum attention to form

 The creativity of language use

Hymes (1971 cited in Ma, 2009), while reacting to Chomsky‟s conception of

compe-tence and performance, is concerned more with language in the speech communities and in

its integration with communication and culture To him, linguistic knowledge is a sary but not sufficient condition for successful communication People also need to under-stand about culture, through which they know how to interact in culturally acceptable ways with others in different situations and relationships He proposes an influential theory of communicative competence

neces-Communicative competence is defined as “the ability to communicate in a personally effective and socially appropriate manner” (Trenholm and Jensen, 1988, cited by Ma,

2009, p.41) Canale and Swain (1980) conceive it more broadly by relating it with the cept of social behaviour: communicative competence is the ability to interpret and enact appropriate social behaviours which requires the active involvement of the learner in the production of the target language For this reason, communicative competence plays a not only necessary but very important role in language proficiency It is even identified as “the most important linguistic ability”, which helps to “produce or understand utterances which

con-are not so much grammatical but, more important, appropriate to context in which they con-are

made” (Campbell and Wales, 1970, p.247, cited by Canale and Swain, 1980, p.4, italics in

original) Communicative competence consists of four components, including grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic competence (Ma, 2009; Canale and Swain, 1980; Latha and Rajan, 2012; Beale, 2002; Richards, 2006) The grammatical (or linguistic) component refers to the knowledge of lexis, syntax, morphology, phonology and the like It concerns the language users‟ understanding about how phonemes are combined into words, how words come together to form phrases, clauses or sentences, and how sentences are sounded with stresses and with different into-

nations Briefly speaking, grammatical competence is the cognition of linguistic rules, which enables people to create and understand grammatically correct sentences

Sociolinguistic competence implies knowing what is expected socially and ally by members of the speech community This element transcends its linguistic counter-part because with knowledge of language alone, people cannot use language appropriately, and therefore, effectively They need to know about sociolinguistic rules, which stipulate, for example, what to say to people of different statuses and different relationships in dif-ferent circumstances This knowledge is also about how to response nonverbally in particu-lar ways basing on the purpose of the interaction It enables people to vary their use of lan-guage according to the setting and the participants

cultur-Discourse competence is related to the logical meaning relationship between tences, that is to say, in a text or a discourse It concerns the ways, for instance, how sen-tences are grouped, with different discourse markers, and rules of cohesion and coherence,

sen-in different discourse structures, sen-in meansen-ingful ways to serve language users‟ purposes These discourse principles are also important clues for processing different types of texts, and perceiving and comprehending the meaning that the conversational partners want to convey

Strategic competence is the knowledge of communication strategies that people ploy in interaction It is, for example, “the ability to know how to keep a conversation go-ing, how to terminate the conversation, and how to clear up communication breakdown as well as comprehension problems” (Ma, 2009, p.41) Basically, when people use communi-cation strategies, they manipulate their language to meet their communicative purpose For this reason, it can be said that this kind of understanding is the compensation for the limita-tion in or reinforcement of people‟s understanding of linguistic, sociolinguistic and dis-course rules

em-From the communicative competence perspective, learning a language is to facilitate the integration of the four types of knowledge for learners (Canale and Swain, 1980; Asassfeh et al., 2012; Richards, 2006; Savignon, 2002; Hu, 2002; Ma, 2009; Latha and Ra-jan, 2012), as dissected above

1.3 Learning Activities in Light of CLT

CLT emphasizes “activities that involve real communication promote learning” (Richards and Rogers, 1986, p.72) It requires that the input language for teaching and learning must be “realistic samples of discourse use surrounding native speaker and non-

native speaker accomplishments of targeted tasks” (Doughty and Long, 2003, p.61) On the other hand, since the language classroom aims at preparing for learners‟ survival in the real world, the relationship between classroom activities and real life is essential; therefore, learning and use of language must be contextualised and must utilise authentic materials, situations, activities, and tasks (Richards, 2006; Hu, 2002), through active participation into which, learners are better prepared to function in real-world communicative events Furthermore, the input language must also be rich, meaning that it is complex in terms of not only language but also quality, quantity, variety, genuineness, and relevance

In addition, since CLT activities are required to involve real communication, they must promote cooperative and collaborative learning As pointed out by Vygotsky (1978), teacher‟s assistance and social interactions play a crucial role helping learners reach a po-tential that exceeds their current level of development; therefore, conversational interaction must be used as a means of developing communicative competence, which relies on learn-ers‟ own ability to interactively negotiate meaning with each other

Norris et al (1998, p.31) explain that:

the best way to learn and teach a language is through social interactions [ they] low students to work toward a clear goal, share information and opinions, negotiate meaning, get the interlocutor‟s help in comprehending input, and receive feedback on their language production In the process, learners not only use their inter-language, but also modify it, which in turn promotes acquisition

al-Savignon (1991) shares this view and comments that communicative tasks determine the opportunities for language use, for the interpretation, expression, and negotiation of meaning

 They provide opportunities for both inductive as well as deductive learning of mar

gram- They make use of content that connects to students‟ lives and interests

 They allow students to personalise learning by applying what they have learned to their own lives

 Classroom materials typically make use of authentic texts to create interest and to vide valid models of language

pro-Examples of activities of this type are information-gap activities, jigsaw activities, task-completion activities (puzzles, games, map-reading), information-gathering activities (surveys, interviews, and searches), opinion-sharing activities, information-transfer activi-ties, reasoning-gap activities, role plays

1.5 Role of Teacher and Learner in CLT

It is widely accepted that changes in teacher‟s and learner‟s role are one of the gest differences between traditional language teaching approaches and CLT, which results

big-from the type of classroom activities, i.e communicative activities, proposed in CLT, which are in turn led from the emphasis in CLT on the processes of communication, rather than mastery of language forms For this reason, CLT is conceived to derive from “a set of principles about the goals of language teaching, how learners learn a language, the kinds of

classroom activities that best facilitate learning, and the roles of teachers and learners in

the classroom” (Richards, 2006, p.2, italics added) Jacobs and Farrell (2003), cited by

Richards (2006), see the shift toward CLT as marking a paradigm shift in our thinking about teachers, learning, and teaching

Accordingly, language education with CLT is no longer a “banking” system with bank-account-learners into which regular deposits (knowledge and skills) are made to be drawn later for specific purposes like examination (Choudhury, 2011), but “landscapes of practices” (Wenger, 2010, p.3), in which learners have greater choice over their own learn-ing, both in terms of the content of learning as well as processes they might employ (Rich-ards, 2006) They can develop their own routes to language learning, progress at different rates, and have different needs and motivations for language learning They are considered

to be the centre of the learning process in which diversity among learners is paid greater attention and viewed not as impediments to learning but as resources to be recognized, ca-tered to, and appreciated Learning language with CLT, learners have to participate in classroom activities which are based on a cooperative rather than individualistic approach

to learning They have to become comfortable with listening to their peers in group work

or pair work tasks, rather than relying on the teacher for a model They are expected to take

on a greater degree of responsibility for their own learning (Richards, 2006)

On the other hand, teachers in CLT classroom no longer play a dominant role in the classroom; they are not authorities, like the Titans or Atlas of Greek mythology, who bear the burden of the whole class and learners‟ learning on their shoulders They are no longer viewed as the source of all knowledge (and the model or exemplar of morality as in the case of Vietnam), who fill, through teaching-as-modelling-and-explanation, receptacle learners with knowledge (and virtue) The role of teachers in the CLT classroom is that of

a facilitator, who creates a classroom climate conducive to language learning and provides opportunities for students to use and practice the language and to reflect on language use and language learning Rather than being models for correct speech and writing and ones with the primary responsibility of making students produce plenty of error-free sentences, teachers have to develop a different view of learners‟ errors and of their own role in facili-tating language learning (Richards, 2006) Besides, teachers can also play the role of an independent participant within the learning-teaching group, a researcher and learner, or that of an analyst, a counsellor, and a group process manager (Richards and Rodgers, 1987)

For this reason, CLT has been considered to be a learner-centred approach to guage teaching; it takes into account learners‟ backgrounds, language needs, and goals and allows learners some creativity and role in instructional decisions (Canale and Swain, 1980; Beale, 2002)

lan-1.6 Culture, Attitude and Behaviour

It is undeniable that culture is an omnipresent entity (Kramsch, 1993, cited by Jabeen and Shah, 2011), which pervades and influences all fields of life It influences people‟s be-haviours by “establish[ing] for each person a context of cognitive and affective behaviour,

a template for personal and social existence” (Brown, 2007, p.189) On the other hand, tude and culture are considered as mutually dependant terms, and whenever culture is reckoned, the concept of attitude is also in one way or another brought up (Jabeen and Shah, 2011) In Ajzen‟s and Fishbein‟s (1973) view, attitude and overt behaviour are closely related Olson and Zanna (1993, p.125), cited by Bakker (1996, p.34), remark that values, as constituent of culture, can be seen as determinants for attitudes and behavioural intentions and can be used to predict attitudes towards specific subjects Although this

atti-study does not delve into exploring the connection between culture, attitude and iours, this section reviews the related literature to make explicit, to some extent, this rela-tionship as well as to give a theoretical evidence for the cruciality of taking into considera-tion culture/learning culture in adoption of CLT

behav-Culture plays a very important role in constituting a person‟s attitude toward an ject, an act/behaviour or another person, which in turn influence, to a large extent, his/her behavioural intentions and subsequently overt behaviours This can be summarised figura-tively as follows:

ob-Figure 1 Culture – Attitude – Behaviour

(Adapted from Ajzen and Fishbein, 1975, and Bakker, 1996)

As can be seen in figure 1, overt behaviours not only are influenced (the solid rows) by cultures through the two paths of attitude and subjective norm but also give feed-back (the dashed arrow) to the actor‟s cultural values and normative beliefs This may in-spire some implications for implementation of CLT at the researched school, which will be discussed later Part 3

ar-Bearing a similar view to Ajzen‟s and Fishbein‟s but specific to the field of second and foreign language learning, Spolsky (1989, p.131) proposes that social factors, which include culture, influence second language learning in two indirect but essential ways (Ap-pendix 1) Firstly, they play a major role in developing in the learner the set of attitudes

towards the language being learned, its speakers and the language learning situation (in

the case of this study, communicative activities) that are hypothesised to directly influence motivation Secondly, they determine the social provision of language learning situations and opportunity of various kinds

So far, what has been aroused is that learners‟ attitudes toward communicative ties in English learning are very much likely to be affected by Vietnamese culture of learn-

activi-Culturally determined values

Attitude

Subjective norm

Behavioural intentions Normative

beliefs

Overt behaviours

ing This influence in turn may lead to learners‟ English learning behaviours and result in learning effectiveness For this reason, research into this issue can hopefully, in the one hand, give an account for the current situation of CLT deployment and, to some extent, raise some awareness of this issue at the researched site, on the other hand

1.7 Vietnamese Learning Culture

Being one form of culture, culture of learning is understood as “taken for granted frameworks of expectations, attitudes, values and beliefs about what constitutes good learning, about how to teach or learn, whether and how to ask questions, what textbooks are for, and how language teaching relates to broader issues of the nature and purpose of education” (Cortazzi and Jin, 1996, p.169) The concept of culture of learning implies that learning is cultural, and learning or, more broadly, education is deeply rooted in the history and culture of the community or society in which it is located (Cortazzi and Jin, 1996, 2013) Learning culture is not a matter of different ways of learning but beyond content or syllabus differences; it includes deeper presuppositions and values, for example, about the nature of school subjects or the roles of students and teachers in interaction (Cotazzi and Jin, 2013)

An important aspect in Vietnamese culture of learning is the concept of face; which

is considered to be powerful due to the collectivist nature of the society (Cortazzi and Jin, 1996) This is much reflected in learners‟ behaviours in classroom They would not inter-rupt the lesson by questioning because by questioning teachers, it is thought that they are questioning the teacher‟s authority and challenging his/her knowledge This is categorised

as showing disrespect to the teacher because if learners pose a question that teacher cannot answer, the teacher (and the learner questioning) will lose face Therefore, if learners have some issue needing explicating, they will simply wait thinking that the teacher will proba-bly mention it later In case it is not mentioned, it is because the issue is not worth men-tioning, and leaners will probably ask questions to the teacher individually after the class time Learners‟ respect to teachers can also be seen in other ways learners behave in class-room They would all stand up to greet the teacher at the beginning of the lesson and would remain standing until being allowed to sit When they want to go out, they are expected to ask the teacher for permission to do so This is similar to the case when they have some-thing to say: they have to raise their hand and wait for the teacher‟s allowing them to speak

1.8 Beliefs of Learning in Vietnamese Culture

It can be said that learning in Vietnam is influenced, firstly, by face-saving and mony-maintaining culture This features the collectivist nature of Vietnamese culture In Vietnam, each member of the community sees themselves as belonging to an in-group; they do not want to stand out from this collective and do not want to be seen as the “nail that sticks up” (Anderson, 1993, cited by Littlewood, 2000) For this reason, they are reluc-tant to participate in discussions, in which people have to challenge each other‟s ideas to reach agreement on certain issues By doing so, they can avoid the risk of their ideas being vetoed by other members or their vetoing others‟ ideas, through which they can save face for not only themselves but also for others, and maintain a harmonious relationship with and among members (Littrell, 2005; Kramsch and Sullivan, 1996; Qiao and Tan, n.d.; Lit-tlewood, 2000; Phuong-Mai et al., 2006; Trang and Baldauf, 2007; McCornac & Chi, 2005; Lee, n.d.; Lewis and McCook, 2002; Huong, 2008) Since losing face inflicts ex-tremely serious personal damage, and one should try to avoid it at any price (Hofstede and Hofstede, 2005, cited by Phuong-Mai et al., 2006), there is an intense fear of making mis-takes among Vietnamese people; these are reflected in common proverbs that serve as maxims for interpersonal communication Examples include “twisting your tongue seven

har-times before speaking out your thought” (Uốn lưỡi bảy lần trước khi nói), or “words cost

no money, so people should speak beautifully to please others” (Lời nói chẳng mất tiền

mua, lựa lời mà nói cho vừa lòng nhau) On this respect, Huong (2008) refers to Duong,

Diller and Sutherland‟s (1975, p.126) comment that:

According to Vietnamese custom, one should remain modest and humble, showing the extent of knowledge or skills only when asked In Vietnam, there is the motto of say- ing less than what one actually knows, often and admirable characteristic Modesty and humility for Vietnamese are very important social graces, and deeply ingrained into their identity

This norm spontaneously affects the way learners behave in classroom; they dare not volunteer personal ideas, either for fear of being considered silly or for fear of making oth-ers feel humiliated (Phuong-Mai et al., 2006) A learner may even think that he/she loses face only due to he/she did not speak or state an issue clearly and thus was laughed at by his/her classmate According to Huong (2008), there is a widely accepted view in Vietnam that a learner should speak little but correctly rather than verbalise a lot but wrongly This view is also recognised by Lewis & McCook (2002, p.147), in their accounting for Asian

learners‟ learning style; they state that verbal perfection has been traditionally valued across many Asian cultures, which contributes to learners‟ quietness in class and their sel-dom voluntarily expressing ideas or contributing to the lesson In her study, Phuong-Mai et

al (2006) also draw a similar conclusion that learners from Confucian heritage cultures (CHC) are usually quiet, shy, reticent and lacking initiative; they dislike public touching and overt displays of opinions or emotions, do not talk in class, but instead expect the teacher to teach them everything they are expected to know They have little desire to dis-cover for themselves, wish to be spoon-fed, and, therefore, teacher-dominated classrooms are common

Another Confucian belief in education is the “learn-to-use” philosophy Accordingly, learning is considered to be an accumulating process of knowledge rather than a practical process of constructing and using knowledge for immediate use (“learn-by-using” philoso-phy) (Phu, 2008; Cortazzi and Jin, 1996; Littrell, 2005; An, 2002; Biggs, 1998; Huong, 2008; Lee, n.d.) For this reason, the focus of teaching is not on how teachers and students can create, construct, and apply knowledge in an experiential approach, but on how extant authoritative knowledge can be transmitted and internalised in a most effective and effi-cient way This conception can also be explained with the respect that people have for knowledge as well as knowledgeable men Therefore, the importance is attached to knowl-edge and memory over creativity as the dominant method of acquiring knowledge (Lee, n.d.; Kramsch and Sullivan, 1996) This way of learning has been reckoned as “passive learning”, “rote learning”, “silent learning” or “memorisation”, through which knowledge

is “poured” into the students‟ heads without them having any real opportunity to exercise However, an interesting feature of Vietnamese learners is that though they are thought of learning by rote or memorisation, they are only silent and inactive in the surface The sur-vey conducted by Duong Thi Hoang Oanh and Nguyen Thi Hien (2006) showed that both teachers and students at the tertiary level emphasised memorization as an important strat-egy for learning grammar and vocabulary

Vietnamese learners prefer learning through exemplars or models This leads to the importance of the textbook and, especially, the teacher as the model of not only knowledge but also morality, who learners have to strive to become alike Therefore, Phuoc (1975), cited by An (2002), comments that the Confucian teaching model is “teacher-centred, closed, suspicious of creativity, and predicated on an unquestioning obedience from the students”

Besides, the notion that learning is a process of accumulating knowledge ously leads to the belief that learning is a hard and serious undertaking, which requires a full commitment and painstaking efforts (Phu, 2008; Ha, 2013) Learning is a life-long job;

spontane-it involves learners‟ perseverance and patience “to grind an iron bar into a needle” (Hu, 2002) and not concerning to or associated with light-heartedness (Phu, 2008) For this rea-son, Vietnamese learners are expected to be hard-working and willing to participate in ac-tivities; however, with all the conceptions of learning, as explicated above, they tend to be silent and shy in class (Huyen and Ha, 2013)

To sum up, as culture affects cognitive structures and the structure of personality (Lambert, 1973, p.3), it follows that culture affects the way people learn At a glance, the learning philosophy of CLT and that in Vietnamese culture are under different poles (Hsiao, 2010) This entails that the meeting of these, manifested in the implementation of CLT in Vietnamese context, to Vietnamese learners, may cause either convergence or di-vergence Another point to note is the dynamic nature of culture Culture is always chang-ing, and with recent rapid development of Vietnam through modernization and industriali-zation, Vietnamese cultural values are subject to change, and changing This may result in changes in Vietnamese philosophy of learning, and subsequently in the way Vietnamese people learn, as well as learners‟ attitude towards CLT

1.9 Learning Culture and CLT

Since its birth, CLT has spread out of its birthplace It has been widely implemented

in many countries of dissimilar cultural values, beliefs and norms; however, its ness in these contexts has been widely suspected The notion that CLT is a Western rooted language teaching approach, which needs to be both culturally attuned and culturally ac-cepted in contexts other than the West (Kramsch and Sullivan, 1996; Bax, 2003; Ellis, 1996; McKay, 2003; Barnard and Viet, 2010; Hu, 2002; Lewis and McCook, 2002; Stroupe, 2012; Hsiao, 2010; McClintock, 2011; Mahmoodzadeh, 2011; Khoi and Iwashita, 2012; An, 2002) has been consuming paper and ink of a lot of scholars

effective-Kramsch and Sullivan (1996, p.199) state a general rule that “what is appropriate in

an international context may not be appropriate in a local context” and in mentioning CLT, they are concerned that “the notion of appropriate pedagogy should be a pedagogy of both global appropriacy and local appropriation.” Therefore, they follow on Berman‟s (1994) view that educators and teachers need to think globally, but act locally Bax (2003) classi-fies approaches to language teaching into two groups, i.e., methodologically-driven and

language-driven, and argues that there should be a context-driven approach which can suit learners of different cultures and in different conditions On this line, he stresses that the learning context, including learner variables, is the key factor in successful language learn-ing, and methodology, such as CLT should only be placed in second place In assessing the appropriateness of CLT in Asia, Ellis (1996) maintains that a number of aspects of Canale and Swain‟s model are unsuitable for Asian learners and teachers She exemplifies that the focus of CLT on meaning rather than form ignores the observance of rituals in the “collec-tivist societies” of Asia and the reverential attitude towards the mastery of individual lin-guistic forms McKay (2003) discovers that in many countries, such as Chile, China, Japan, and Korea, the appropriateness of CLT in light of the local context and learners‟ needs has been challenged On this basis, they recommend that when selecting a methodology for a particular context, it is vital that teachers consider the local needs of the students rather than assume that a method that is effective in one context is effective in all contexts Bar-nard and Viet (2010) review a large amount of literature which shows that in many Asian contexts, including Hong Kong, China, Korea, Japan, and Thailand, there has been a great mismatch between the tenets of CLT as well as Task-Based Language Teaching and local cultures of learning

Taking a step closer to the issue, Hu (2002) analyses that CLT takes the drudgery out

of the learning process and injects elements of entertainment, such as various language games, with a view to making learning become a light-hearted, pleasant experience in learning However, it is inappropriate for CHC learning context in terms of teacher-learner relationship, learning methods and learning content It is because CLT aims to create an egalitarian communicative learning environment and practices in which the relationship between teacher and learner is not the one of hierarchy but equality, and learning is not concerned with hardness and serious-undertaking but with light-heartedness Besides, CLT downplays the importance of memorisation as the philosophy of CHC learning, stress ver-bal interaction (often at the expense of inner activity), and encourage speculation (e.g guesswork) and tolerance for ambiguity Hu (2010) also agrees that one of the main obsta-cles of CLT implementation in China is the teachers‟ authority and students‟ passive role The passivity is generalised to learners of other Asian countries and is said to be a cultural barrier to successful CLT (Lewis and McCook, 2002; Stroupe, 2012) In their studies, Hsiao (2010) and McClintock (2011) clarifies some contradictions between CLT approach and Confucian views of learning These include the centredness of learning, respect and

reverence for teachers and education, nature of learning activities, teachers‟ authority, and learners‟ autonomy in learning

Getting closer to the context of the current study, although it is reported that namese teachers of English, by and large, have positive attitudes towards the CA [CLT]” (Canh, 1999), implementation of CLT in Vietnam has not satisfied teachers, learners and parents, and educational managers The underlying reason of this, besides ones concerning

“Viet-to teachers‟ and learners‟ English proficiency, inefficiency of teaching facility, big-class size, is cultural Ellis (1994), cited by Khoi and Iwashita (2012), discerns that CLT in its original form is not suited to the Vietnamese context and should not be adopted but rather culturally adapted and culturally redefined Barnard and Viet (2010) echo this view and assert that cultural values of Vietnam should be closely and carefully considered in apply-ing CLT or any other modern teaching methods It is, for example, explained that because CLT is socially constructed with Western values such as individualism, whereas collectiv-ism is greatly valued in Vietnamese society (Mahmoodzadeh, 2011) For this reason, it is concerned that how Vietnamese teachers cope with conflicts between Western values em-bedded in CLT and traditional Vietnamese values (Khoi and Iwashita, 2012) Since teach-ers‟ traditional roles as mentors and imparters of knowledge in the classroom lie at the heart of the pedagogical practices in Vietnam (Kramsch & Sullivan, 1996), CLT is be-lieved to be unsuitable in Vietnamese context by downgrading teachers‟ authority in the classroom to facilitators (An, 2002) This would be uneasy for not only teachers but also learners to accept Therefore, in trying to implement CLT, the Vietnamese teachers strug-gle with conflicts between their two identities As teachers of English, they need to be a facilitator rather than a controller At the same time, in order to be good Vietnamese teach-ers, they need to perform their traditional duty as behavioural educators or moral guides (Khoi and Iwashita, 2012) In addition, CLT is unfamiliar to Vietnamese learners in the sense that too much noise is made during learning activities while it is perceived that the school should be a place where students keep silent while listening to teachers and copying from the board (An, 2002) In terms of group learning, Kramsch and Sullivan (1996) ob-serve that “the associations students form are more akin to Western notions of „family‟ than „classmate‟”, which they maintain close relationship throughout their lives, forming ties that encompass financial, familial, and social obligations In this respect, whole class activities would be preferred, and it would be divisive and detrimental to learning to divide the class into subgroups

So far, this current chapter has presented a review of the extant literature on CLT, culture, the connection between culture, attitude and behaviour It has also referred to a brief about Vietnamese culture of learning as well as implementation of CLT under the in-fluence of learning culture This is hoped to be a theoretical basis for the empirical research into the claimed field

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 2.1 The Research Site

The study reported in this thesis was conducted in a state upper-secondary school in Cao Bang province Economically, the area where the school is located is underdeveloped, with 93.7 per cent of the population being ethnic minorities (2009) Admission is usually based on the results from entrance exams organised by the Provincial Department of Edu-cation and Training The English proficiency of students as indicated from the result of the entry examination is low, which may be due to the language learning education condition which is characterized as low input and poorly-resourced

At the time when this study was conducted, the school had the total number of dents of 700 accommodated in 20 classes (7 grades 10, 6 grades11 and 7 grades 12) The average number of students in each class is 35 There were six teachers of English The textbook used in the school was mandated by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), which are based on the Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) approach (Canh

stu-& Barnard, 2009; Van, 2010; Hung, 2011), offspring recent development of the CLT proach The time allocated for formal English teaching and learning at the school is, as na-tionally, 3 periods (45 minutes each) per week

ap-2.2 Methodology

Collis and Hussey (2009) explain that there is a link between the research paradigm and the method They suggest that a researcher needs to take into account the appropriate-ness between the method chosen and the problem stated, the researcher‟s personal experi-ence and skills, which may be assisted by the best choice of method, and the audience to whom the findings from the research will be addressed

Since the purpose of this research is to explore the influence of students‟ learning culture on their learning English in the classroom, it is descriptive by nature Therefore, the study adopted survey method The survey method was considered to be highly appropriate and was chosen for the current research in terms of the paradigm adopted, the aims of the study, the number of participants (discussed later), the role of the context, and the limited experience and skills of the researcher

As defined by Mathiyazhagan, and Nandan (2010, p.35), a survey study is “a method

of descriptive research used for collecting primary data based on verbal or written nication with a representative sample of individuals or respondents from the target popula-

commu-tion” It is a type of research which, typically in the form of questionnaire, focuses on ple, the vital facts of people, and their beliefs, opinions, attitudes, motivations and behav-iour (Mackey and Gass, 2005; Brown, 1991) For this reason, it has been considered as one

peo-of the most common methods used in second language research and English language teaching in particular

As a research design, the survey study has been accepted with many of its tages These include amount of information probed, short time of data collection, cost-saving, possibility for accessing to a wide range of participants, accuracy of data in case of probability sampling, and the precision and clarity of data (McDonough and McDonough, 1997; Brown, 1991) Although problems of the survey study framework are usually con-cerned with low response rate, Brown (1991) maintains that if carefully controlled, this method can aid in discerning patterns in large amounts of information By adopting the survey study framework and with careful selection of participants, as elaborated below, it

advan-is hoped that the data collected would be reliable and could yield valuable findings

2.3 Participants and the Ethical Issue

The study utilised the systematic sampling frame; accordingly, the full list of all dents of the school was established, which included students‟ full name and their class In order to do this, the student name lists of all the classes were collected in the form of com-puter files (Microsoft Excel) These separated lists were then combined into one list, which was again sorted alphabetically according to the students‟ names After that, 150 students were randomly chosen out of the total student body of the school (N=700) Randomization was achieved by choosing one in the list out of every four students Then the chosen stu-dents were sorted out according to their grade The final list of participants was composed

stu-of 50 grade 10 students, 63 grade 11 students, and 62 grade 12 students

As a critically important issue, the research ethics was assured by observing the ciples of confidentiality and anonymity No real name of the students was used in this the-sis

prin-2.4 Instrument 2.4.1 Rationale for choosing the questionnaire and question type

As stated previously, this study is an exploratory inquiry using the survey method Therefore, the self-reported questionnaire was used as the key instrument of data collec-tion Questionnaires are considered to be very popular among educational researchers in general and ELT research in particular, especially in the survey context (McDonough and

McDonough, 1997) It is more economical and practical than the interview (Mackey and Gass, 2005; Selinger and Shohamy, 1989; Bryman, 2004) It can elicit comparable infor-mation from a number of respondents, and in conducting a study with the questionnaire the researcher has a greater degree of flexibility in the gathering process (Mackey and Gass, 2005) It is also said to afford a good deal of precision and clarity (McDonough and McDonough, 1997) In terms of the quality of the data collected, since questionnaires are given to all subjects of the research at the same time the data is usually more accurate, more uniform and standard Furthermore, when anonymity is assured, subjects tend to share information of a sensitive nature more easily (Selinger and Shohamy, 1989); thus, the information collected tends to be more truthful In addition, the questionnaire is highly appropriate for descriptive and explanatory studies which investigate attitudes, opinions of

people and cause-effect relationships between variables (Saunders et al., 2009)

Further-more, although questionnaires usually generate only one chance for collecting data and duce a low level of co-operation from participants, and therefore lower response rates (Bryman, 2004), if worded correctly, they normally require less skill and sensitivity to ad-

in-minister than semi-structured or in-depth interviews (Saunders et al., 2009)

In addition, since question types usually affect people‟s consideration of the answers (Bryman, 2004), and influence their co-operation and response rate, special attention was paid to choosing the appropriate type of question In this sense, structured questionnaires are considered to be more efficient than open ones (Selinger and Shohamy, 1989), and closed-item questions have greater uniformity of measurement, therefore, can yield greater level of reliability Additionally, questions of this type are also easy for data quantifying and analysing process (Oppenheim, 1992; Mackey and Gass, 2005) As the most important criterion is the measurability and the ability of the question type to probe necessary infor-mation, the 5-point Likert scale was employed for almost all the questionnaire items In addition to the Likert-type items, there were three open-ended items These open-ended items were to give the participants more freedom to express their opinions on the issues under investigation (see Appendix 3 for the complete questionnaire)

2.4.2 Validity and reliability

The value of research is made up of the credibility of the findings, which is again created from the validity and reliability of the data collection instrument and the informa-tion collected Therefore, in the current study, much effort was given to designing the questionnaire and data collection and analysis processes

In order to ensure the validity and reliability of the research findings, prior to ing the questionnaire, the literature relating to the research issue was thoroughly studied to work out the variables and the relationship between these variables which need to be measured These then became the basis for determining the number and content of ques-tions Another factor that can affect the validity and reliability of the study is the structure and design of the questionnaire Accordingly, it is essential that the questionnaire be struc-tured and designed in a way that it “must be understood by the respondent in the way in-tended by the researcher”, and “the answer given by the respondent must be understood by

design-the researcher in design-the way intended by design-the respondent” (Saunders et al., 2009, p.371) For

this reason, the aims of the research and the content of the questions together with the structions on how to answer the questions were made clear to the respondents Accord-ingly, general information about the aims of the research and a simple and lucid instruction about how to complete the questionnaire were clearly explained to the students prior to the questionnaire delivery This was intended to contribute to the respondents‟ basic under-standing about what they were expected to do and to minimise the possibility that the par-ticipants would not answer the questions or their answers would not be reliable (McDonough and McDonough, 1997)

in-On the other hand, special attention was paid to the wording of the questions by ing clear and simple language with familiar terms and avoiding jargons or words which do not have an everyday usage Leading questions, double-barrelled questions and double negative ones were all avoided, since they can cause misunderstanding and confusion to both the respondents and researcher Furthermore, the questions were kept short to make them clear and unambiguous However, some longer questions were included to clarify the terms unfamiliar to the respondents All of this aimed at making all the questions good ones which are relatively easy to answer, easy to record and evaluate, user-friendly and unambiguous (McDonough and McDonough, 1997) In addition, the order and arrange-ment of the questions was carefully considered All the questions were grouped into 5 cor-responding parts, and factual questions were located at the end of the questionnaire This, together with the consistent formatting and familiar layout, hoped to contribute to the reli-ability of the questionnaire as well as the data collected

us-One of the potential threats to the reliability of this study was how to cope with the contaminating effect which may result from “social desirability bias” (Bryman, 2004) This can lead to a gap between what the students indicate and what they actually think and feel

about their learning and their teacher This issue is even more problematic in Vietnam, with the culture of communal and collective spirit, in which researchers, who try to explore the organisation, may be considered as intruders However, this effect was minimised with prior contact and explanation to the principal of the school, who was recommended not to create pressure on the students and not to get involved in their filling in the questionnaires Furthermore, the questionnaires were directly delivered to and collected from the students

by the researcher which actually brought about the participants‟ co-operation and tion, and helped to achieve the high response rate, the authenticity of the data collected, and the reliability of the research findings

motiva-It is considered to be invaluable in trying out the instrument to obtain information about the relevancy and clarity of the questions, the format, and the amount of time re-quired to answer the questions from all of which, a decision is made on if the questionnaire needs revising in order to improve its quality (Selinger and Shohamy, 1989) Hence, a pilot was conducted with six respondents, two from each of the grade blocks The respondents were asked to fill in the questionnaire and then an evaluation form (Appendix 2) After be-ing piloted, the questionnaire was revised to devise the final version for the data collection

2.4.3 Questionnaire items

The questionnaire was developed based on the variables identified during the process

of literature review and linked to the research objectives It was composed and delivered to the participants in Vietnamese, and then translated into English for the aim of reporting The full English version of the questionnaire can be found in Appendix 3

The questionnaire consists of 60 questions grouped in five parts The first part with the first 22 items probes the students‟ preference for typical English learning activities of different teaching approaches, which aims to answer research question 3 The second part, including items from #23 to #39, investigates the students‟ opinions of the teacher‟s role and student‟s role in the English language classroom, in order to answer research question

2 The third part of the questionnaire with items from #40 to #55 was supposed to answer the first research question, which is concerned with the students‟ belief about how learning should take place Part four of the questionnaire, including three open-ended items, aims to answer the third research question about the way students usually employ in learning Eng-lish both inside and outside the classroom The last two items of the questionnaire extracts the students‟ personal information about gender and their English score of semester 1 in

academic year 2013 – 2014, both of which are assumed to affect the students‟ attitude wards learning activities

to-2.5 Data Collection and Analysis Procedure

The questionnaires were hand-delivered to the participants and collected directly by the researcher After being collected, each of the returned questionnaires was marked with

a distinct code, which is to prevent errors during the data entry process The responses were then fed into the computer, checked for correctness between on-paper and in-computer data, processed and analysed using SPSS (version 16.0) Accordingly, the re-sponses to the scale questions were analysed to work out the mean values, and the ones to the open-ended questions were synthesised to extract the frequency of the learning activi-ties mentioned Based on these factors, the variables were interpreted, explained, validated

to build up the findings and conclusions of the study

The data analysis adopted the inductive approach, in which the analysis framework was, to some extent, less structured and relied much on data interpretation This means that

no proposition had been developed before the analysis; therefore, the analysis was pected not to be constrained or bound by any pre-determined assumption However, it would be insufficient to rely solely on the empirical data from the questionnaire; thus, the analysis made use of the prior development of theory from the literature about the influ-ence of culture and CLT This provided a rigorous basis for the explanation of the findings, guiding the analysis process and reaching the conclusions

ex-Moreover, some principles were paid great attention to during the analysis process to ensure confidentiality, anonymity and to avoid typographical errors as well as researcher bias, which may lead to misrepresentation of data This was partly guaranteed by the un-bounded nature of the analysis, as discussed above All of this careful consideration taken into methodological issues helped to ensure both the quality and quantity of the data col-lected as well as to provide a robust basis for the development of the research findings

Of the total 175 questionnaires delivered, 166 were returned, which made the overall response rate of 94.9 per cent A summary of the response rate is presented in Table 1

Of the 166 respondents, there were 44 males (27%), and 122 females (73 %) In terms of English proficiency, 21 respondents had good English score (from 8.0 to 10) in semester 1, academic year 2013 – 2014 (13%), 79 had fair score (from 6.5 to 7.9 – 47%), and 66 had medium score (from 5.0 to 6.4 – 40%) These characteristics of the respondents are demonstrated in figures 2 and 3

Block Questionnaires delivered Questionnaires returned Response Rate (%)

Table 1 Questionnaires Delivered and Collected

Figure 2 Respondents’ Gender Figure 3 Respondents’ English Proficiency 2.6 Findings and Discussion

2.6.1 Beliefs about Language Learning

It would be a better idea to explore the students‟ conceptions of learning, i.e their belief about how learning should take place This domain was probed in 16 questions, from

#40 to #55, in the questionnaire, and the students‟ responses with the mean (M) values are tabulated in Table 2; the percentage of the responses can be found in Appendix 4

The purpose of learning is one among various cultural beliefs which may influence students‟ attitudes towards English learning and types of learning activities In this respect (item #40), the M value of 3.0 reveals that the students in this study were undetermined on

if they are learning in order to get good marks in exams, as their most important purpose of going to school Success in exams seems to be no longer the “highest target” the students want to achieve, which is, to some extent, in contrast with the Vietnamese traditional belief

that learning is “to pass (exams) and to gain (success)” (đỗ đạt), and that one‟s success in

life unavoidably stems from one‟s demonstration of one‟s own capacity in exams The dents may think that exam results do not necessary guarantee their success in later life, but their real ability