Luận văn an investigation into the use of presentation reflection assignments in the american studies syllabus at ulis vnuh

‘VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOTI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TRAN HOANG ANH, KI7A AN INVESTIGATION INTO TIIE USE OF PRESENT

‘VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOTI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

TRAN HOANG ANH, KI7A

AN INVESTIGATION INTO TIIE USE OF PRESENTATION-

REFLECTION ASSIGNMENTS IN THE AMERICAN STUDIES

SYLLABUS AT ULIS-VNUH: RELEVANCE AND EFFICACY AS

PERCEIVED BY LECTURERS AND STUDENTS

(Nghiên cứu về việc Sử dụng Bài tập Thuyết trinh-Viét Thu hogch trong B6 mon How

Xỹ Học ð Trường ĐHNN.-ĐHQGHN: Độ Phù hợp và Hiệu quả từ Góc độ Đánh giá cũa

Gidng vidn nà Sinh viên)

M.A Combined Program Thesis

English Language Teaching Methodology

601410

TIANOI - 2011

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES:

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

TRAN HOANG ANH, KI7A

AN INVESTIGATION INTO ‘THE USE OF PRESENTATION-

REFLECTION ASSIGNMENTS LN TIE AMERICAN STUDIES

SYLLABUS AT ULIS-VNUH: RELEVANCE AND E

PERCEIVED BY LECTURERS AND STUDENTS

ICACY AS

(Nghiên củu vỗ việc Sử dựng Hải rập Thuyết trình-Viễt Thu haạch trong Hộ môn loa

Kỹ Học ở Trường ĐHNN-ĐHQGHN: Độ Phù hợp và Hiệu quá từ Gúc độ Đúnh giá cũa

Giảng viên và Sinh viên)

M.A Combined Program Thesis

English Language Teaching Methodology

601410

Supervisor: Dang Ngọc Sinh, MLA

HANOI - 2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS

"ào LIST OF FIGURES ng trau

1 Backgrotnd of and ratianals for the study - - 1

2 Aims of the research ào nu mntnmnanninenti viene d

3 Significance of the StUdY senenenennentimennnnentimneiinennmennensennen

iv

3.1, Perceptions of teachers and students of the degree to which the presentation-

reflection assignments have helped to meet the conse's objectives - 32 3.2 Perceptions of teachers and students of the degree to which the actual assignment

1 Summary of findings wsinetenetnnetimetiieiey ErrrirrrrrreroooST

2 Limitations of the stUdY esesesisiseeesneiiinetieitnenmeiivieietesnenenane SE

Appendix 1 Ameriean Studies course oullne., szneeererrrrrrreT Appendix 2a, Survey questionnaire form Studentvarsien VIII Appendix 2b Survey questionnaire form — Teacher version AX Appendix 34 Summary of questionnaire data — Students’ Perception - xu Appendix 3b Summary of questionaire data — Teachers! Porecption - XI

Appendix 5 Correlation between efficacy index and presznfafion seoYe XV

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1, Background of and rationale for the study

n the world, research and teaching about the United States of America have a long

Te dating back lo as carly as the birth of the country At the University of Languages and Intemational Studies Vietnam National University, Hanoi (ULIS- VNUID, however, this multi-disciplinary study field just entered the curriculum as a subject for about a decade (Country Studies Division, 2009)

Throughoul this period, the acadcmic stalf of the Country Studies division z

ssigned lo implement the course have been constantly embarking on improving the course's contents, through modifying the structure, updating and refining materials, and perhaps more importantly, the leaching methods This arduous task is bound to increase in intensity as the division has to take the lead in designing an entuely new undergraduate program on American Studies for ths university, which will be launched around the 2012-2013 timeframe, Therefore, as a junior lecturer working in liaison with the group, the author had the need to help revise some elements of the current teaching method used in the American Studies courses, and so this thesis was an ideal chance to aid in the effort

During the three recent academic years fom 2008 to 2011, the majority of students' casual focdbacks to icachers of American Studics courses mainly expressed conccrns about assignment requirements, assignment quality, and, naturally, assignment grading Rather than catering to the sporadic questions about different aspects of the couse assignments, this study took the chance to investigate the core and overarching dimensions of the course assigmments alrcady in place, i.c oral presentation and written reflcction, as tangible and available products of the teaching and studying processes

2 Aims of the research

With said purposes, the study aimed al answering the three main questions below

i To what degree do American Studies leeturers and students at ULIS-VNUH thimk

the design of the courscworks have helped to meet thz course's objectives?

Chapter 1: Introduction

ii, ‘To what degree do they think the actual assignment quality has met the

igmrcntsỶ requircrtents2

fii, What do they suggest about modilying the assigrmnsnls?

3 Significance of the study

The research did not aim to and thus did not suggest the best assignment design to be used

in the course Instead, it was expected to have a certain impact on the way how the current

division e.g British Studies or General Geography of the UK and the US would be designed, both in paper and practice, to better meet the preset course objectives It also

—and even of simdlar cour

served as a refcrential material for rescarchers and tcachers alike who are interested im the

testing and assessment aspect of curriculum design

4, Scope of the research

As stated, the study would look at the American Sludies assignments in only two tain dimensions: relevance and etlicacy whose meanings within this research context would

be interpreted later in the next chapter

In terms of research population, the study targeted at students and lecturers involved in the

American Studies courses at ULIS-VNUIL Specifically, for practical reasons, these are

students from the classes of QHOSIE, sinec they wers the latest groups to take the courses

—while all the previous groups had graduated As for the lecturers, all of them came from the Country Studies Division — Paculty of Lingnistics and Cnitures of English Speaking

Conmiries

Chapter 1: Itwroduetion.

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Key and related concepts

1.1.1, Content-based Instruction and the teaching centext in ULIS-VNUH American

Studies courses

ince the early 1980s, there has been a growing interest in combining language and

` teaching in the American context, programs, models, and approaches have proliftratcd in all Ievels of instruction, orcating various fons of incorporating language and content tcaching (Mct, 1991) In the mid 1990s in Europcan countrics, curicdum innovations have been directed toward the content and language integrated leaming approach, in which both curriculum content — e.g, science or geography — and Pingtish are taught together (Graddol, 2007) All these forms of incorporating language and content teaching fail under the heading of Content-based Instruction

Overall, it is clear that the term CBI is commonly used to describe a curricula approach which seeks to integrate language and content instruction This paper thus adopts the view similar to that of Curtain and Pzsola (1994) in which CBI involves the euriculum concepts being taught through the foreign language, appropriate to the grade level of the students

Content

Met (1999) proposes that " content! in content-based programs represents material that is cognitively engaging and demanding for the learnsr, and is material that extends beyond the largel language or target cultwe*, This paper adopts the definitions of Met (1999), Curtain and Pesola (1994), which is most relevant to the research context Therefore,

"content" here is seen as materials, or specifically "curriculum concepts", that are cognitively engaging and demanding for the learncr, and is material that extends beyond

the target language or target culture

Chapter 2: Literature Review and Practical Basis

The rationale of CBI

Content-based instruction (CBI) bases its rationale on the premise that students can

effectively obtain both language and subject matter knowledge by receiving content input

in the target language Although it has been recently recognised by influential authors such

as Rodgers as "one of the Communicative Language Teaching spin-off approaches"

(2001), some authors contemplate the paradigm within an even wider perspective:

according to Stryker and Leaver (1997), for instance, CBI "is a truly and holistic approach

to foreign language education (which) can be at once a philosophical orientation, a

methodological system, a syllabus design for a single course, or a framework for an entire

program of instruction"

The benefits of the approach are directly or indirectly associated with an extensive body of

research from a variety of fields Strong empirical support for CBI can be found in second

language acquisition research, in teacher training studies and in cognitive psychology, as well as in the outcomes documented by successful programs in a variety of contexts and

levels of instruction (Adamson, 1993, Dupuy, 2000)

Classification of CBI and current teaching context

Through a careful review of related literature, this paper adopts the classification used by Met (1999) Met (2007) has specified the approach as follows

CONTENT-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING:

A CONTINUUM OF CONTENT AND LANGUAGE

Among the models above, the actual instruction model seems to fit in most with the

Sheltered Courses as the latter is defined by Echevarria, J., Vogt, M-E., & Short, D (2004)

(cited in Short, D, & Himmel, J., 2007) as shown above

Chapter 2: Literature Review and Practical Basis

Its neighbor, the adjunct model, can be refuted as heing noted by Davies (2003) as "[its] cmph

study skills sessions to familiarise the students with listening, note taking and skimming

and scarming texts." These two characteristics are too distant from the course’s objectives (Conniry Studies Division, 2007)

is placed om acquiring specific target vocabulary" amd “th

y may also feature

1.1.3 The presentation assignments

Based on a review of theoretical foundation, the assignments for a typical American Studics course include group presentations on a certain topic and individual reflection essays of group members on that same presentation and topic Other groups have to write Teportsevaluation on the presentation performances of their classmates as well Both the

presentation and the reflection are graded (Dang, 2008) Since the last school year of 2010-

2011, another assignment has been integrated into the syllabus — which is essentially a series of mini tests, called "quizzes", Llowever, due to its relative novelty and experimental nature, the assignment is nol considered in the seupe of this paper

Ona side note, beside presentation, the other assignment is known under several names in different class — report, reflection, evaluation, comment sheet, ete Nonetheless, for convenience, this research report would use "reflection’report assignment", or simply,

*yeflection assignment”, with the intent to encompass all varieties of the name

1.1.3 Relevance and efficacy

Relevance

Contextualized, in this research's terms, for both teachers and learners, the relevance factor

of the assignments referred to the degree to which the actual implementation of the assignments can help realize the objectives set out for the course, Perception from both sides regarding this factor, however, is treated separately then discussed jointly

Efficacy

‘The term, particularly in this research, refsrred to the quality and quantity of work performed by studenis in its relation with the assignments’ roquircments (level of adherence to guidelines) It stems from the belief that if the requirements are stricly followed, the intended results will be achieved,

Chapter 2: Literature Review and Practical Basis

Accordingly, the following figure proposed another way to visualize the two concepts relevance and efficacy in their relation to cach other and ta caurse objectives

Higure 1-Relevance & Ufficacy Concept

Thore are key coneopis in ULIS' American Studies course objectives which might nol be readily obvious Due to their importance, it is imperative that these concepts are made elear

in light of existing literature — "English skills" (ina sheltered instruction class context), and

*interdisciptinary rescarch skills" Acknowledgedly, "presentational compslencics" and foci of American Studies were impeitant concepts, too, but they were adequately defined

by the course syllabus already

1.1.4 English skills in sheltered course classes

According to The Education Alliance at Brown University, Sheltered English instruction is

an instructional approach that engages Linglish language leamers above the beginner level

in developing grade-tevet contont-aren knowledge, academic skilts, and inercased English Proficiency, In sheltered English classes, teachers use clear, direct, simple English and a wide range of scaffolding strategies to communicate meaningful input in the content area

to students Lcarning activitics that connect new content to students' prior knowledge, that

require collaboration among students, and that spiral through curriculum material, offer English language leamers the grade-level content instruction of their English-speaking

Chapter 2: Literature Review and Practical Basis

jon under cight broad calagarics

TL would not be of much benefit to us to explore inta each and every category The primary concer of the moment 1s what the SIOP model suggests teachers to test in their students

in terms of their language skills, specifically Category VIII provides an answer

i Comprehensive review of key vocabulary

ii Comprehensive review af key content concepts

iii Regular feedback to etidents on their ontpnt

iv Assessment of student comprchension and Icarning of all lesson objectives throughout the lesson

In language regard, it seemed to focus very much on students' vocabulary, and, possibly, their grammar — in order that they could come up with adequate answers, rather than language skills Therefore, in the context of the American Sludies course in question, English skills might be understood narrowly as knowledge areas of grammar and (general and technical) vocabulary — as other English language communication skills are covered under the umbrella term "presenfational skills" already

1.1.5, Lnterdisciplinary research skilis

According ta Beckman, A and Beckman, M (2008), interdisciplinary research is a mode

of research by cams or individuals thal integrates information, data,

chniques, Lools, perspectives, concepts, and/or theories fiom two or more disciplines or bodies of specialized knowledge to advance fimdamental understanding or to salve problems whose solutions are beyond the scope of a single discipline or arca of tescarch practice

Larson, Landers, & Begg (2011) in their effort to “add clarity and develop a set of shared definitions, values, and language about interdisciplinary research", have designed a list that sketches major area of competencies for interdisciplinary research skills, with 17

competencias fallinyg ino 3 major arcas

Nevertheless, considering the practical situation of teaching and learning at ULIS, any effort to cnhance students’ (interdisciplinary) rescarch skills within a certain undergraduate course would be limited only to integrating them into course assignments but not a full- fledged research in cooperation with a large, diverse learn of researchers with the highest purpose of publication Therefore, the interdisciplinary research competencies would be

Chapter 2: Literature Review and Practical Basis

sealed down and understood in this context as: (the ability to) (i) integrate concepts and methods from multiple disciplines in designing interdisciplinary rescarch protocols, (i) read journals outside of his or her discipline, and (iii) engage colleagues (expatts) from other disciplines to gain their perspectives on research problems,

1.2 How does this studly fit intn other research?

This research would best contribute to, among all relevant studies, the body of researches

on sheltered instruction, which until recently dominated by commanding and

*entightening" principles by Echevarria, Vogt and Short, Specifically, going along with the order of the day — “think globally, act locally", this study will provide a very langible review of the testing and assessment facet of sheltered instruction classroom in a well- defined, local context

Chapter 2: Literature Review and Practical Basis

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

the preceding chapter briefly reviewed the lileralure ơn the research topic for the

I theoretical basis of the study, This chapter, on the practical side, discussed the participants, the research instruments, and the procedure of data collection and data analysis as a moans to maxim:

eo the validity and reliability of the whole research

2.1 Research questions

Again, this study aimed at answering the three main questions below:

i To what degree do American Studies lecturers and students at ULIS-VNUH think

the design of the coursewarks have helped to mest the course's objectives?

ii, ‘To what degree do they think the actual assignment quality has met the

The first group composed of 532 students in 22 classes of QITO81E — third year students at the moment they participated in the survey The researeh targeted at this group of students

as they were familiar the procedures and requirements in Country Studies courses as they had taken two courses on General Geography of the UK and the US and British Studies in the previous semesters and they had just completed the couse in question of American Studies before the end of their third year ‘I'hese students were asked to participate in a quesiomnaire survey, which is elaborated in the next parts

‘The second group of participants are teachers of the Country Studies Division who taught American Studics to the QHOS1E classes, Given the small number of teachers — 6 people — and the research’s concem, data yielded from this group of participants was treated

Chapter ¥ Methodology

qualitatively to provide deeper msights and explanation to the issues arose ‘Iwo of the icachers have more than 10 years of experience in teaching these courses, whils the others range trom 2 to 5 years, This group of teachers were invited to give responses to a questionnaire survey, followed-up by a short in-depth interview

2.3 Instruments:

The methodology of this research is a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches — with the former played a more significant role, as it would provide large sketches of the situation whits the fatter would provide a basis for further interpretation of the situation, Three dala gathering instruments wore utilized to collect data needad lo answer the research questions as well as for the purpose of triangulation, The first one is a questionaire survey in two slightly different versions — one issued to students and the othơr teachers The sccond one is interview, carried oul afler cach participating Ieacher finished answering the survey, The last one is secondary analysis of data on students’ American Studies scores — most importantly the presentation-reflection scares

2.3.1, Questionnaire

“The central instrument was a questionnaire survey in two similar versions It helped collect data about teachers’ and students’ perceptions about the relevance and efficacy of the American Studics assignments Both versions were designed around the two core dimensions As a matter of course, the underlying connections of each question item to the said dimensions were not disclosed This instrument was chosen for ils various advantages

and compatibility with the aim of the research

The Sepoint Likert suale was adopled as the core framework for the design of the questionnaire, Most questions were formulated on this scale in form of statements, and participants were asked to respond to these statements Possible responses range ftom 1- Strongly disagree to 5-Stiongly agree The last opcn-cnded question was utilized in order

to gain more qualitative data for the third research aim The questionnaire consisted of 40 questions [See Appendix 1a and I’ for the final questionnaire forms]

About the two versions for students and teachers, the only significant difference among thorn tied in the way in which cach question was worded The other tninor variation was the informational question on teaching experience for teachers and class for students,

Chapter ¥ Methodology

2.3.2 Interview

‘This instrument was used in this research as a small, supplementary tool to assist the questionmaire survey All 6 teachers participated in the research were invited to engage in small talks in which they only needed to elaborate on one main question, which was an expansion of the open-ended question in the questionnaire, Here they provided further explanation to back up their comments, No student was inviled to participale in the

interview

2.3.3 Secondary data analysis

This study aimed al, using QHOBIE students! proscntation scores for the Amoriean Studies subject with a purpose to look for any significant correlation among, all the data gathered,

“The data was archived by the Faculty of English Language ‘I'eacher Liducation

2.4, Data collection procedures

The questionnaire survey was conducted in the following steps:

1 Introducing about the research via student mail gromp with the aid of a student

coordinator ‘his introduction reached all students of QHOS1L

2 The coordinator forwarded the questionnaire form to monitor of each class

3 All monitors then forwarded this form to their class’ members, who later retumed the filled forms to their respective monitor

4, All monitors packed the forms together and sent back to the researcher via email

For teachers, the form was sent directly to each, who then xetumed the filled form direetly

to the researcher Later they were interviewed independently aller their asnwers were read thoroughly,

As for (he dala on sludenls' Ainerican Studies scores, firsl, the rescarcher necded to gain an authorization from the faculty This was done after an archive access request form had been filled and filed into the faculty office's archive Then the researcher had full access and the right to usc all QHO81E students’ American Studies scores for the purposc of this

research

Chapter ¥ Methodology

2.5 Data analysis procedure

Questionnaire and interview data

Data ftom questionnaire was first grouped together on "community" basis, i.e students’ forms were grouped according to their class, while all teachers’ forms were taken together under Ihe "ieacher group”

Raw data was then sorted out and enumerated thoroughly with the aid of specialized computer programs (primarily MS Excel — as it would take much more time with SPSS) The nominal choices (I-Suongly disagree, 3-Uncerlain, ele.) were converted ta numerat data

Responses were also grouped info balches under the same principles presented in section 3.3.1 on how the questionnaire was formulated and analyzed quantitatively for meaningful

interpretation and discussion in the next chapter

Responses from the open-ended question were taken into analysis in tandem with data fromm inlorviows to shod light inlo the more in-depth iasnes Due to the ature of apen- ended questions and the scope of interview, this data group was analyzed qualitatively,

with the foous zoomed in on what had been said rather than how many people said what

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Nhough the research expected lo receive survay feedbacks froin $32 students, due to some restraint in communication and cooperation, the research could just access 466

students im 20 out of 22 classes — which means a coverage rate of 87% Furthermore,

considered to he

among thess 466 cntrics, aller an arduous fillering process, 149 wa

invalid because the participmis simply copied the answer fram cach other Eventually, there remained only 317 valid entries, accounting for 60% of the original target population Still, this sufficed to draw up conclusions at confidence level of 95% and confidence

interval of 3.44

In the other group, all 6 teachers were able to participate and their answers were all valid among tham only 4 were able to join in the interview, Teachers’ responses were all analyzed qualitatively, because their small number would hardly make up many statistically meaningful conchisions for the purpose of generalization lo a larger (leachor) population, They would be more meaningful in some situations where teachers’ and students’ perceptions were collated ‘therefore all of of the charts below dealt with data

Chapter 5: Conclusion

demography and so on, and (ii) specific knowledge themes — with five predetermined foci

history, belisfs and values, politics, ceonomy, and cducation

Questions 1 and 2 adibessed the general knowledge group, by asking participanis' evaluation of the degree to which presentation-retlection assignments helped them to acquire general knowledge about the US in considerable depth The distribution of responses was as Fallows:

Almost 70% agreed or strongly agreed that the presentation assignment did help them to acquire the gencral knowledge adequately, compared to 46% with the reflection assignment, It was also reflected in the median value of 3 for presentation (see appendix 4), this Lype of assignment was believed to be more effective in improving learners’ general American Studies knowledge than the retlection assignment (median value 2) A median

value of 2 meant that the majority of respondents chose option 3-Uncertain When students

felt umcertain about their improvement, or lack of it, then it was impossible to assert that the reflection assignment was able to hetp studenis with general knowledge

Combined, presentation and reficction could only do a faitly good job in helping students with general knowledge, with nearly 60% agreed that they did (combined median value being 2.5) As for teachers, with the median value being 3, they seemed to believe a litle amore robustly in the ability of the presentation assignment to help their students in the

general knowledge department

Objective 1b Providing students with knowledge about the US in same specific themes

‘As for the specific knowledge themes the questions ttied to differentiate perceptions toward each of five major themes ‘The median values yielded show that all five themes received 3 poinis, meaning they were mors or Jess equally effective, Tlowever, the distribution chart below showed that knowledge of history was the weakest points of all, having only 60% respondents' rating agiee ot strongly agree compared with 70-75% of other knowledge foci A hint for an proper answer lied in the responses to the open-ended question, Although nol relevant to the question boing asked, some studenls cormnented that Jectures on history was the most boring of all

Teachers had the same level of belief in this regard, with their median value being 3

Chapter 5: Conclusion

‘To sum tp, overal, both tsachers znd students largely agreed that the two assignments both helped to boost students’ knowledge — with the reflection assignraent being the slightly weaker agent

Objective 2 Helping students develop presentational competencies

Presentational competcricics were the

identified as G@) writing skills, (i) oral commmunication, (iii) visual representation, and (iv)

electronic discussion It was here that we could see a clearer distinction between the roles

ond objective prescribed the syllabus They were

of the presentation and the reflection assignment in both students’ and teachers' perception

TL could be

1 clearly thal oral communication and visuml rsprescntation was bctieved lo

be the two improvements triggered by presentation assignments (with both medians being

3) ‘The improvement in oral commmnication received better rating with 78% respondents

agreed or strongly agreed and thal of improvement m visual representation was 66⁄4 Writing skills and electronic discussion was neglected behind with the median values of 2 for both — especially the writing skills, with 32% disagreed or strongly disagreed, 40% uncertain, and only 26,5% agreed and 1.5% This could be explained through the nature of the presentation assignment, in which the foci were on the elaboration of oral arguments and/or information presenting and, to a lesser extent, the way visual aids were prepared Whilsl, writing was Timiled lo short sentences and box language Not surprisingly, teachers agreed totally with students on this (with median values being 2, 3, 3, 2 respectively)

On the other hand, we could have a different perspective into the presentational skills from the regard of reflection assigments Students only acknowledged reflection assignments role in enhancing their writing skills (median 3 with 64% agreed or strongly agrced), while remained unelcar in the other thre components (all three medians being 2)

‘Teachers, on the hand, seemed to be more vehemently by opining that while the reflection assignment helped students improve their wriling skills, il did nol directly help stadenls improve the other thre Their median values for writing skills was 3, oral communication and visual representation were 1, and electronic discussion was 1.5

Because these two types of assignment were designed to complement each other, the combined effect of both helped students to improve their writing skills, oral

commmnication and visual represcntation within the context of prescntational skills

Chapter 5: Conclusion

Liowever, there was the “electronic discussion“ skill untouched Although listed in the

We could also soc that when contrasting with thơ prosorlation assignment, the teflzction assignment lagged behind in terms of improving students’ presentational skills It would be partly explained by some students that the report assignment was uninspiring and they generally could not reach the required depth, or it was neglected by teachers because much

anor in class time, effort and focus was reserved to the prescntation assignment

Objective Ja Offering the students opporkunities (o improve their English languages

The dhitd objective was essentially a combination of two smaller objectives The first one was offering students opportunities to improve their English languages Since it would be impossible to “count” opportunities the corresponding questions aimed directly at how the patticipants porecived the degree to which their English capacity was improved (or degraded) owing to the assignments in question,

For both types of assignments, the perception was vary favorable to “improving general vocabulary" — median 3 for students and median 3.5 for teachers with presentation and both median 3 for both students and teachers wilh reflection To “improving Ienninologi and grammar" through presentation, students were divided, as there were no clear trend of agree or disagree as with general vocabulary Both their medians stayed at 2, It would be the same for the reflection assignment if not for the observation that students believed their grammar had got better thanks to the assignment A considerable 61% cither agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, giving it a median value of 3

Taken together, both presentation and reflection had relatively positive influence on students’ English capacity — so they perceived, with around 55% agreed or strongly agreed and around 10% disagroed and 2.5% strongly disagreed Presentation helped studenis to izuprove their general vocabulary, while reflection their general vocabulary and grammar The capacity of wielding terminologies, despite an important aspect of any specialized

content subjcet, was not belicved to bz better Teachers, nevertheless, believed rather

Chapter 5: Conclusion

strongly that the assignments helped build students' English capacity in all three aspects, especially in terms of general vocabulary

Objective 3h — Offering the students apportunit

or strongly agreed However, if we look at their median values, then consullalion was the method largely ignored by students in doing their presentation-reflection assignment (median 2), and thus, logically, the corresponding competency would not develop as a result of these assignments For the two other competencies, their medians were both 3, so

in a large sense, the assignments did help them to hone some of their interdisciptinary research skills, although very sestiictively

Considered all three competencies together, around 55% respondents agreed that the two courseworks had helped them to achieve certain umprovement in their interdisciplinary research skills, wilh an average median of 2.67 This is 4 positive yel nol satislying signal

to the contribution of the assignments to realize the course's objective, Teachers, alternatively, evaluated the realization of these competencies on relatively lower scale values Their corresponding medim valuss for (the usc of) "Concopls and Methods",

"Documents", "Consultation" were 2.0, 2.5, and 2.0 This implied their uncertainty of the students’ application of these research methods The highest ranking, “Documents”, could only received a 2.5, so il was nat cnough Lo conclude thal Ihe teachers thought the course was successful in this objective

Objective ¢ Preparmg students who are interested in American Studies for their further snedy of the discipline

Question 25-28 corresponded to the forth objective preparing students who aze interested

in American Studies for their further study of the disciptine These questions yielded rather

consistent responses fiom both students and teachers, with morc than 60% student

Chapter 5: Conclusion