Luận văn a preliminary evaluation of the english course for academic purposes at the international department thai nguyen university

LIST OF ARBREVIATIONS IDTNU: Intemational Department, Thai Nguyen University MMU: Manchester Metropolitan University DMU: Demonfort Metropolitan University IB: International Business I

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST — GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYEN THI THAO

A PRELIMINARY EVALUATION OF THE ENGLISH COURSE FOR

.CADEMIC PURPOSES AT THE INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT, THAI

NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

(DÁNH GIÁ SƠ BỘ KHÓA HỌC TIÊNG ANH PHỤC VỤ MUC DICH HOC

THUẬT TẠI KHOA QUOC TE, DAI HOC THÁI NGUYÊN}

M.A Minor Programme Thesis Vield: English Language Teaching Methodology

Codc: 001410

Hanoi, 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

tk Objectives and significance of the study

4, Scope of the study

5 Methods of the study

1.1.2 The relationship between EGAP and ESAP

1.1.3 English for GRP and English for SBP

2.1.1 The International Department and its teaching and learaing conditions 13

2.1.2 An overview of the course applied for the 1 year students of IDTNU 14

iv

2.2.1, Restating the rescarch questions

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS ANT) DISCUSSION

3.1 Findings of the study

3.1.1 The results of the questionnaire

31.1.1 Students’ background of learning English

31.1.2 Stadents’ assessment on time spent for each skill

3.1.1.3 Students’ assessment on the teaching materials for each skill 3.1.1.4 Students’ assesstncnt on the sub-skills thal they were laught 3.1.1.5 Students’ self-assessment on the skills they have gained

3.1.1.6 The evaluation on teaching performance

3.1.2 The results of the interviews

3.1.2.1 Answer to textbooks

31.2.2 Workload

3.1.2.3 Students’ Knglish proficiency

3.2 Discussions about the study results

APPENDIX 1: Questionnaire

LIST OF ARBREVIATIONS IDTNU: Intemational Department, Thai Nguyen University MMU: Manchester Metropolitan University

DMU: Demonfort Metropolitan University

IB: International Business

IBA: Intemational Business and Administration

UE: United Kingdom

EAP: English for academic purposes

EGAP: English for general academic purposes

BSAP: Bnglish for specific purposes

ELT: English language teaching

LIST OF TABLES AND FINGURES

Tigure 1: The variety of years that students have learnt English before

going to university

Figure 2: The subjcets thal students had lo study for lhe entrance oxam

Figure 3: Students’ assessment on ine spent [or cach skill

Tigure ‘1: Students’ assessment on the applicability of the textbook into

business major

Figure 5: Students’ assessment on the textbooks’ suitability with

students” level

Table 1: Students’ opinion about the sub-skills (hey were taught

‘Table 2: Students’ self-assessment on the skills they have gained

‘Table 4: students’ evaluation on teacher /A’s teaching performance

Table 5: Students evaluation on Mr B's teaching performance

Table 6: Students’ evaluation on Ms C’s teaching, performance

‘Table 7: Students’ evaluation on Mr D’s teaching performance

Figure 6: Comparison of the students’ satisfying about the English

teachers

rey

31 31

PART A: INTRODUCTION

This part is comprised of six sections including the rationale for the study, the objectives and significance of the study, the research questions, the scope of the study, the methods used in the study and the organization of the study

1 Rationale of the study

Nowadays, in many countries whose mother tongue is not English, English is

nola general subject but a language used io instrucl other subjects Tn rec

in Viet Nam, the development of education has required many universities to import

curricula from other countries, whose official language used to teach those subjects

is English This raises another challenge for learning and teaching English: how lo teach English for Academic Purposes ‘he International Department, a new department under Thai Nguyen University, with the aim of applying imported advanced programs into the school, has implemented an advanced program collaborated with Manchester Metropolitan University In this program, students are going to use English as a medium of listening to lectures in their major Therefore, for the first year of studying, students are taught Hnglish in such a way that they can use it for their academic purposes in the later years In fact, the school year of 2011-

2012 is the first year the International Department has implemented the English

course for academic purposes su the preliminary evaluation of the course is important for the course designers to get the feedback from students about the

‘program

2 Objectives and significance of the study

Firstly, the thesis is carried out to investigate the effectiveness and weakness

of the English course for the purpose of preparing study skills in English for the first year students, Intemational Department - Thai Nguyen University Secondly, the aim of the study is to find out what aspects of language skills that studonts still need

to leam so that they can use Linglish as a medium of instruction in their major Last

but not least important, some suggestions are given to improve the course of LUnglish for academic purposes at the International Department, Thai Nguyen Universily

‘This study is done in a hope that it will help better the quality of teaching and learning English for academic purposes at IDENU Thus, it will help enhance

students’ English competence

3 Research questions

Tn order to draw the conclusion, the following research questions arc raised

1 ‘To what extent does the course satisfy students?

2 What da the students still need to leam?

3 How can the course be improved?

Hopefully, based on its findings, the International Department would bring

aboul the improvements inthe course 1 would also help teachers have a clear view

of what aspects of the program that cause difficulties to students and which skills/ activities they should add in their lessons Vinally, with regard to researchers, the information in the study would be a reference for other related researches

4, Scope of the study

The research limits its scope to the Fnglish course for general academic purposes for the first year students at (1)''NU ‘The choice of participants is simply a matter of convenience as the researcher is working as a training managing staff for

TDTNU

5 Mcthods of the study

To achieve the aims, the qualitative and quantitative approach including survey questionnaires and interview is used to collect the data ‘he method used in

this research is formative evaluation In common, the data for the study wore

obtained through the following instruments

The questionnaires which were delivered to the first year students at IDTNU

to discover the students’ background of leaming Unglish, their self-assessment on the course books used during the course, whal they were laughL and what they gained from the course

The interviews were used to get the feedback from the lecturers of the course

on the students’ English proficiency, the course books used as well as the suitability

of the workload on each Hnglish skill

6 Organization of the study

‘The thesis consists of three main parts:

Part A is the introduction, which presents an overview of the study with the rationale for Ibe rescarch, the aims and the research questions of the study TL also narrows the scope, presents the research method and outlines the content of the

sludy

Part B is the development, which includes three chapters as follows:

* Chapter 1 is the literature review ‘his chapter presents all the

related theoretical background that precedes and necessitates the information of the research

* Chapter 2 describes the research methods used in the study with

some necessary components

* Chapter 3 is devoted to a detailed description of data analysis and thorough discussion of the findings of the study In this chapter some explanation

and interpretations of the findings are explored

Part C is the conclusion which presents the study conclusions and teaching

implications Besides, it also offers the limitations and suggestions for further study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CTIAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, all the related theoretical background that precedes and necessitates the information of the research is presented There are three main parts Fnglish for Academic Purposes and Cowse Evaluation The first part deals with definition of Linglish for academic purposes, the relationship between Uglish for general academic purposes and English for specific academic purposes and the relalionship between Fnglish for goncral business purposes and Engliah for specific business purposes ‘The second one refers to the definition of course evaluation, its importance, teaching evaluation and course book evaluation

1 1 English for Academic Purposes

science, economic, and mathematics (Johus, 1997) Compared with the definition in

the past, nowadays literacy is understood differently It involves mechanics such as decoding as well as higher-order thinking conceptualizing, inferring, inventing, and Ieshng Then, lieraey includes not only die ability to read and write but alse communication skills (August & Hakuta, 1997)

English for Academic Purposes, often identified as a sub-category of English for Specific Purposes, is defined as a student’s need for ‘quick and economical use

of the English language to pursue a course of academic study’ (Bernard Coffey,

1984, p4) Therefore, Jordan agrees to divide EAP into two additional groups

‘common core? or “English for General Academie Purposes’ (EGAP) and ‘subject- specific’ or ‘Linglish for Specific Academic Purposes’ (LiSAP) We can easily find out from his opinion that studying English for General Academic Purposes focuses

on reading, wriling, speaking and listening skills while English for Specific Academie Purposes concentrates on vocabulary and skills specific to a subject of study In common, study skills are ‘key component’ of EAP

1.1.2 The relationship between EGAP and ESAP

English for academic purpos

scan be divided into 2 suh types: English for General Academie Purposes (EGAP) and English for Specific Academic (ESAP) as mentioned above, Dudley Livans and St John distinguished LGAP and KSAP as follows: “RGAP refers to the leaching of the skills and langusge thai are common to all disciplines, HSAP refers to the teaching of the features that distinguish one discipline from others’ (Dudley — Ivans & St John, 1998, p 4l) According to Blue, 1993, Rnglish for General Academic Purposes integrates the skills in study activities, for example, reading a text consists of understanding the main ideas and guessing the author’s point of view or scanning for specific information Whereas, Fnglish for Specific Academic Purposes integrates FGAP skills in order to help students in their actual subject tasks In other words, L/SAP is the instrument for students to study their actual lectures Tomy Dudley — Evans and Maggie Jo St John (p.42, 1998) conclude the diiTerenee between FGAP and FSAP is thal SAP

a

pays attention to the actual skills for students to carry out while EGAP covers more

general context

1.1.3 English for General Business Purposes (EGBP) and English for Specific

Business Purposes (ESBP}

English for Generel Business Purposes (EGRP) courses are often for pre- experience leamers or those at the very early stages of their career (Dudley Evans and Mapgie Jo St John, 1998, p $5), EGBP includes traditional four skills plus specific grammar and vocabulary development, Presentation through listening, or reading, followed by exercises to practice grammar and vocabulary is much focused (Dudley.et.al, 1998, p.S6) In contrast, English for Specific Business Purposes (SBP) courses are for job-expericneed learners who bring business knowledge and skills to the language leaming situation’ (Dudley.et.al, 1998, p.56) Unlike EGBP courses, ESBP concentrates on fluency practice including listening, speaking,

reading and writing skills Tn th urscs, ‘settings and carrier content are mainly

skills plus grammar and vocabulary are focused,

1.2 Course evaluation

1.2.1 Definition

Course evaluation involves the evaluation on course conlenl, leaching performance, the suitability of the course to students” level, workload and students’ self assessment on their achievement (Cashin, 1995)

Therclore, course evaluation refers to course coriten!, teaching performance, the course difficulty, workload and students’ self assessment on their achievement,

using questionnaire to collect the data.

1.2.2 The importance of course evaluation

Course evaluation which has been used in many universities in the world is

of greal, importance for boll icachers and sludents Marsh (1987) points out five

purposes of course evaluation Kirst, it is a diagnostic feedback to faculty about the

effectiveness of Iheir teaching that will he useful for the improvernent of leaching

Second, it is a measurement of teaching effectiveness to be used in admiustrative

decision-making Also, the evaluation gives students information to use in the selection of courses and instructors Fourlh, it 38 a measure of the quality of the course which is used in course improvement and curriculum development Finally, the evaluation’s findings are an outcome or process description for research on

teaching,

Hutchinson and Water (1987:96) gives the reason for evaluation ‘Evaluation

is a matter of judging the fitness of something for a particular purpose.”

Cunmngsworth (1984:64) puts toward the idea ‘ ihat the process of evaluation

could not be a purely mechanical one and that professional judgment was involved

at every stage.” In Pamela Gravestock and Emily Gregor-Greenleaf’s point of view (2008: 10), ‘the quantifiability and comparability of most course evaluations makes the imprecise art of evaluating teaching seem more objective and manageable’

Among many kinds of teaching and learning assessment, course evaluations are considered one of the tnost common tools used Lo asscss classroom te:

ching and believed the most heavily weighted for personnel decisions (Franklin , 2001)

Regarding 1o course evaluation, many linguisis have conceded that there is

not any better options than course ovaluation for providing the same sort of quantifiable and comparable data (Abrami, 2001)

In general, most of researchers have appreciated the students’ evaluation in being a useful measure of the instructional behavior that contributes to teaching

effectiveness (Beran, Violato & Kline, 2007; Abrami, 2001; Schmelkin, Spencer &

Gellman, 1997, Marsh, 1987) The results getting from formative feedback are used

to facilitate improved teaching, and course development (Pamela Gravestock and

Limily Gregor-Greenleaf, 2008:10)

1.2.3 Common features af course evaluation

To many Linguists, course evaluations generally assess different and separable aspects of an instructur’s leaching bebaviours and particular aspects of a

course (lderan, Violato & Kline, 2007) According to Pamela Pamela Gravestock

and Emily Gregor-Greenleaf, 2008: 13, course evaluation forms are almost always

anonymous and most frequently incorporate both qualitative and quantitative

responses ‘hey also state that ‘evaluations generally request specific feedback on

measures of teaching effectiveness and on particular aspects of a course’ (p13)

Rogarding to course design and delivery and instructor behaviour, Cashin lists six aspects needed in evaluations: 1) questions about course content, 2)

questions about the instructor’s communication skills; 3) questions about student-

leacher interaction; 4) questions about course difficulty and workload, 5) question about assessment practices in the course: and, 6) students self-assessment questions

Marsh (1987) developed the Studer Evaluation of Fducational Quality (SEEQ) questionnaire with a list of 9 clements: 1) leaming/academic valuc, 2)

instructor enthusiasm, 3) individual rapport, 4) examinations/grading, 5)

organizalion’ clarity, 6) breadth of coverage, 7) group inlcraclion, 8)

assignments/reading and 9) workload/difficulty

Tlarry Murray (1987) referred to the evaluation with the evaluation on 60

imstructor behaviours and Leaching activilies These behaviours and aetivilics are

grouped into 9 categories: 1) clarity,

5) pacing, 6) disclosure, 7) speech; 8) rapport, and 9) teaching aids

)) expression; 3) interaction, 4) organization,

1.2.4 Course book evaluation

1.24.1 Definition of course book

Course book is one of the factors playing an important role in the success of the whole course Many researchers have done a lot of studies on course book

cvaluation with a new wave of interest in the development of the English course

‘Therefore, there are many definitions of course book given:

Ur (1986: 183) pul a simple and easy 10 — understand definition According

to him, course book is ‘a text book of which the teacher and each student has a copy

and which is in principle to be followed systematically as the basis for a language

course’ Thus, the course book must be the one used by both teacher and students

systematically during the course

Course book is defined by Sheldon (1988:237) as ‘the visible heart of any

FLT programne’ or it is considered as ‘an almost universal element of FLT

teaching” by Llutchinson (1994:315) specially, Low (1989) considers teaching

materials as ‘one of the major determinants of what gets taught in language teaching programmes’ (p.136)

Many linguists claim that course books are a magical tool giving leamers a

sense of system, cohesion and progress, and help to achieve consistency and

contmuation (Allwright, 1981; O’Neil, 1982; Litllejolm, 1998) According to

Hutchinson & ‘Tomes (1994), course books are inevitably superficial and

teduchionist in their coverage of language items and they impose unifonmily of

syllabus and remove initiative from teachers

‘Therefore, course book can be broadly defined as the textbook that both

teacher and students use as a ‘road map’ of the course A suitable course book plays

a very important role in the success of the course As the result, the course evaluation should include the evaluation of the teaching materials

1.2.4.2 The significance of course book evaluation

The importance of course book leads to the importance of course book

evaluation As thal Harmer (1991) explains the imporlance of course book for

giving teachers ideas about what to teach and how to teach, doing course book

evaluation is not a concem of educational researchers but also teachers using it

The cvaluation helps the selection of course book, which serves as an important

step of making - decision process Sheldon mentions that:

“The selection of a particular score volume signals an executive educational

decision in which there is considerable professional, financial and even political

investment This high profile means that the definition and application of

systematic criteria for assessing course books are vital.’ (1988:237)

In terms of book evaluation, Cunningsworth (1995: 14) claims that thorough

evaluation pave the way for teaching staff of each organization and policy makers

to have the ability to discriminate amongst all the available books in the market

and considering weak, as well as strong, points of each book educators oan choose

the most appropriate book

Ilutchinson (1997) gives an interactive idea of materials evaluation as follows:

<analerials evaluation plays such an imporlanl role in language teaching that its potential for influencing, the way teachers operate is considerable Materials

evaluation can and should be a two-way process which enables teachers not just to

select a textbook, but also lo develop their awareness of their own teaching/leaming situation.’ (37-38)

Evaluation of course book is viewed as a kind of educational judgment To

conclude, it helps to make decisions in sclocting course books, to form professional

judgments as well as to raise awareness of the teaching and learning experience,

1.2 4.3 Criteria of course book evaluation

It is beneficial to draw some guidelines for evaluation and considering

criteria of book evaluation Referring Lo the crilcria [or book evaluation, Sheldon

(1988) claims that no list of criteria satisfies all different situations, and then the researchers can only commit themselves to checklists or scoring systems However, still, there are a lot of linguists who have published their ideas of criteria for course book evaluation,

Cumningsworth (1995: 7-15) presents that course book should correspond to

learners’ needs, help lo equip learners to use Innguage ellechyely for ther own

purposes, facilitate students’ learning process, have a clear role in mediating the

targct language and the leamor In torms of course book evaluation, a list of successful listening, speaking, reading, and writing can be also applied (Nunan,

1989)

‘To inhibit subjective factors from influencing judgment in the early stage of analysis, Ilutchinson and Waters (1987:97) emphasize the importance of

objectivity in evaluation: ‘Evaluation is basically a matching process: matching

needs to available solutions If this matching is to be done as objectively as possible, it is the best to look at the needs and solutions separately’ They divide

the evalualion process into four major steps: defining criteria, subjective analysis,

objective analysis and matching

To Breen and Candlin (1987), a set of questions divided into twa phases can play a role of a guide for evaluation The [irst one poses some imiial questions about the usefulness of the teaching materials in question, and the second one

offers specific questions leading to a mare searching analysis of materials with

paruicular learners and the actual classroom in mind

In terms of when to evaluate a course book, Cunningsweorth (1995) classifies

evaluation into three kinds: ‘pre-use’, ‘in-use’ and ‘post-use’ evaluation According

to him pre-use cvaluation may be the most difficult because there is no actual experience of using the course book J'rom another perspective, in-use evaluation is

a kind of evaluation for suitability, involving matching the course book against a specific requirement including the leamer’s objective, the learner’s background,

and the resources available On the other hand, post-use evaluation refers to an

assessment of a text book’s fitness over a period of continual use, which helps to

decide whether to use the same text book in the future or not He also distinguishes

the two approaches of evaluation: impressionistic overview and in —depth

evaluation

1.2.5 Previous studies

Nurobers ol experts have done a lot of researches in course svaluston

According to Richard Kiely and Pauline Rea — Dickins (2005:5), evaluation in

language programs is ‘part of the novice teacher's checklist to guide the development of initial lesson plans and teaching practice, a process of determining learning achievements or student satisfaction, and a dimension of the analysis of data in a formal evaluation or research study’ Many other researchers share these ideas Kiely (1998) expressed the purposes for the evaluation activity were that it

was a demonstration of quality assurance at program implementation level or a

means of getting feedback from students on the appropriateness of activities for their learning needs Marsh (1987:259) showed the aim of students’ evaluation on

teaching effectiveness: “Diagnostic feedback to faculty about the effectiveness of

their teaching that will be useful for the improvement of teaching” According to Wright (2006), course evaluations or student ratings are one of the most common tools used lo asscss classroom teaching and may be the most heavily weighted for personnel decisions

From the points of the previous researchers and educators about the purposes

of course evalualion, il is very useful io have a course evaluation in the International Department in order to put some improvements in the course

CHAPTER 2: METHODS OF THE STUDY

Tn this chapter, ihe researcher will provide some tformation about the

background in which the study took place, which includes IDTNU and its teaching and learning conditions, and the linglish course design ‘he second part of this chapter will deal with the methods of the study including the qualitalive approach,

data collecting instruments and the procedures of the research

2.1, Background of the study

In this section, the discussion of the International Department, where the study is conducted, is given In details, the researcher will refer to the factors that play a great part in her research, for example teaching and learning conditions, and the English course which have been used for the first year students in IDINU

2.1.1 The International Department and its te:

The International Department, a new faculty under Thai Nguyen University,

ing and learning canditions

is located in Thai Nguyen city The fac

aims of contributing to the improvement of the quality of training, and building the

Hy was established in August 2011 with the

capacity of human resources to develop intemational integration and the socio- csonomic community Thorefore, the department has implemented two main programs: imported advanced program and joint programs In these programs, the language used to deliver the lessons is English or Chinese For imported advanced program, English is the language for instruction In addition, the Internalional Department is currently cooperating with Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) and De Monfort University (DMU), the United Kingdom, to recruit students for business majors, In the school year of 2011-2012, the schoo! has 40

students leaning bachelor program of international business, which is a joint

program wilh MMU, and 20 sluidents of intcrmational business and administration im

the cooperation with Honghe University Therefore, the department has 2 classes

class of International Business (IB) with 10 students and class of international

business and administration in the cooperation (IBA) with 20 students The language for instruction of U3 class is Linglish and Chinese is used for LBA class

Cưnently, there are 5 Rnglish language teachers and 4 Chinese Tanguage teachers, In this study, the researcher will ouly focus on the English course, students and teachers of IB class where English is a mediums of instruction

With the aim of equipping students with language skills serving their study

in Lnglish, the department has decided to spend the first school year for students to study an intensive English course For that purpose, the department has invested many types of equipment for teaching and learning for example, wifi network, projector, speakers and air conditioner Lispecially, thanks to the cooperation with the universities in the United Kingdom, many delegations from the UK have visited the department, which bas created many chanvos for students to practice speaking ancl listening to English

2.1.2 An overview of the course applied for the first year students of IDTNU

In this course, the intensive Inglish course, the English program has been designed to equip students with listening, speaking, reading and writing skills so

that they arc able to study their major in English in the following years Therefore, the course covers 6 subjects: phonics, listening and speaking, reading, writing,

grammar and Busin

Secondly, the course has spent 45 teaching hours for phonics ‘he subject has been delivered by Malaysian teacher using the text book Phomics, 4 handbook

for Grades 3-6 The objective of the subject is 1o introduce the sludents to the sound

system of the English language (vowels, consonants ) and provide thom chances

to compare Linglish and Vietnamese sounds and practice them

For the speaking and lisicning subject, New Fnglish File _ Beginning Student's Book and New English Mile _ Hlementary Student's Book have been used

to help students improve their Inglish skills for conversation Students have spent

240 hours learning this subject with a Philippina teacher

Fourthly, the reading, subject with 240 teaching hours has been introduced by

a Malaysian teacher The teacher has been using the hooks Read ail about it and

Reading 2_ Advaniage The purpose of this subject is lo widen students’ youabulary

and improve thei reading skills, as well

Write Traits is the book used for writing skill The workload for this subject

is 100 hours The teacher has taught students how lo wrile a paragraph and organize the ideas logically ‘The teacher of this subject is the one who teaches Phonics and

2.2 Methads of the study

2.2.1, Restating the research questions

‘As mentioned in part 1, in order to test the hypothesis the research focuses on three following questions:

1 To what extent dogs the course satisfy students?

2 What do the students still need to learn?

3 How can the course be improved?

2.2.2 The subjects

The subjects are 40 freshmen and 2 teachers at IDTNU They are both

male and female sludents coming [rom điiTcremL homelowns m Viet Nam specially, these students at high schools have prepared for different subjects for

the nalional entrance university exarmiuation Some studerds sal for the exam in

which they did the cxams on Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry (group A) Other students had the exams on Mathematics, Chemistry and Biology (group 13) Others took the exams on Mathomatics, Lileralure and English (group D) The rest did the exams ou Literature, History and Geography (group C) ‘therefore, their English is

not at the same level The two teachers who were chosen to be the subjects of the

research are English speaking teachers who have taught English to those students

For students, questionnaires were given while teachers were

interviewed to get the feedback from the English course

2.2.3 Data collecting instruments

The study employed two instruments to obtain the data They are the

questionnaire and interview ‘the combination of these instruments will increase the preciseness and reliability of the data collected because the data obtained from one method will help to inform and refine the other

2.2.3.1 Questionnaires

The questiomwire was used to gel the studerts’ altitudes and

evaluation toward the intensive [nglish course According to Numan, ‘the

questionnaire is a relatively papular means of collecting data’ (Nunan 2002: 143)

The questionnaire was designed wilh $ main parts which focused on the following aspects that the researcher would like to investigate: (Appendix 1)

| Part 1 including 2 questions worked oul the studenls’ background of

learning English

+ Part 2 providing students with 6 questions was aimed at students self

assessment on the suitability of workload and the Lextbooks used for the first year

+ Part 3 gave students the opportunity to give their sclf-identification in what sub- language skills they have been equipped when studying Linglish (5 questions)

Questionnaire for students was im Vietnamese so that there was no

misunderstanding of the questions, which helped ensure the reliability and validity

of the data collected

2.2.3.2 Interviews

The inlerviews were designed for the English leachers lo evaluate students’ ability, the texthooks as well as workload For each language skill, the researcher designed the interview questions focusing on the sub-language skills that the students ccd to obtain Lor their [ulure study Thus, the interviews were divided into 3 parts: part | for speaking and listening skills, part 2 for writing and reading skills and the last one used for business English (Appendix 2)

All the interview questions were in English because the two teachers are Unglish speaking teachers ‘Ihe interviews were recorded to get the full information

Universily The procedures are as follows

2241 Questionnaire for students

Aller siudenls finished Ihe ñmiersive course, they were given the questionnaire ‘he researcher then collected the information from this questionnaire

to find out the students’ self-assessment on the program, workload, the teaching

materials, language skills they gained aftor tho English couse and teaching performance done by the lecturers

2242 The interviews

To ensure the reliability and validity of data collected from students, the research designed soinc questions [or th interview with the Buglish teachers of the program, ‘The interviews were conducted in an informal way after the researcher collected the questionnaire from students Those interviews gave the researcher the broad and deep view about the couse as well as the students’ language ability before and after taking the course

The methods of the study were mentioned in detail above The next chapter analyses these various types of dala collected and interpretations are made with an

attempt to answer the research questions

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents and discusses the findings that arise from two types of data collected instruments: questionnaire and interviews

3.1 Findings of the study

3.1.1 The results of the questionnaire

The aims of the questionnaire were to explore students’ self-assessment to

the English course in terms of workload for each language skill, teaching materials,

and the objectives of the course as well as the teaching performance

3.1.1.1 Students’ background of learning English

Figure 1: The variety of years that students have learnt English before

going to university

number of students

11

number of students

4years Gyears| 7 years Byears Syears 10 years 11 years 13 years

As can be seen from figure 1, the students have learnt English for a different

number of years before starting the university The students have studied for at least

4 years of English before university The maximum number of years that students spent learning English is 13 years 11/40 of them have studied English for 7 years

Figure 2: The subjects that students had to study for the entrance exam

According to the figure 2 the first year students of the IS took the entrance

examination on different groups of subjects: Group A stands for Math, Chemistry

and Physics, Group B is for Math, Chemistry and Biology, Group C is a social one

with Literature, History and Geography and Group D consists of Math, Literature

and English 37,5% of students are from group D which includes English as one of

the subjects 55% are from the nature science group while only 7,5 % are from

social science