Luận văn exploring english grammar major students' attitudes towards and expectations for teachers' classroom activities at bien hoa specialized high school ha nam

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, ITANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES TRẢN TIIỊ THU HIẾN EXPLORING ENGLISIT MAJOR STUDENTS’ ATTITUDE

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, ITANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

TRẢN TIIỊ THU HIẾN

EXPLORING ENGLISIT MAJOR STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS AND EXPECTATIONS FOR TEACHERS’

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES AT BIEN HOA SPECIALIZED

INGI SCHOOL, ITA NAM

Nghiên cứu thái độ và kỳ vụng cửa bọc sinh chuyên tiếng Anh

về việc giảng dạy của giáo viên tại trường TIIPT Chuyên Biên Hoà, Ià Nam

M.A Minor Thesis

Field: English Methodology Code: 60 1410

ILANOI— 2010

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES:

—polflc -—-—

TRAN THI THU HIEN

EXPLORING ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS AND EXPECTATIONS FOR TEACIIERS’

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES AT BIEN HOA SPECIALIZED

HIGH SCHOOL, HA NAM

Nghiên cứu thái độ và kỳ vụng của học sinh chuyên tiếng Anh

về việc giáng day của giáo viên tại trường THPT Chuyên Biên Hoa, Hà Nam

M.A Minor Thesis

Ficld: English Mcthodology Code: 60 1410

Supervisor: Cao Thuy Iléng, M.A

HANOI - 2010

Scope of the study,

Methods of the study

Signifieance of the study

Format of the stuủy

* Role of learners’ attitudes

1.3 Foreign language learners’ expectation

« Definition

* Mistnatch between teachers’ intentions and learners’ expeclalions

+ Balancing the mismatch belween teachers’ intentions amd learners’

1.4 Shape of an English lesson

* Stages of'a language lesson

vi

Role of language materials

Materials development

* Common Leaching activilies in a language lesson

CHAPTER II THE STUDY

ILL Setting of the study

Brief introduction of the school

General station of English teaching and learning in the school

AL3 Instruments

The survey questionnatre

ILA Data analysis process

CHAPTER Ill DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

ILL The Survey Questionnaire

JIL LL Students’ general attitudes towards their language teachers’ roles

am] work inthe classroom,

HLA Students’ general attitudes towards language teachers’ role

in their learning

WEI 4.2 Students’ general attitudes towards teachers’ wark

TIL1.2 Students’ levels of satisfaction with each of the teaching items

carried out by the language teachers

11.1.3 Friglish major students’ comments on teaching and learning salcrials

provided by the teachers and their workload in English

L1L.1.4 English major students’ opinions on the frequency and quality of

1112.1, Reasons for satsfution

11.2.2 Reasons for dissatisfaction

11.2.3 Students’ other expectations,

CHAPTER JI¥ RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BEITER LANGUAGE

TEACHING AT ENGLISH MAJOR CLASSES IN THE §CHOOL

32

33

+

vì

1V.1 Reoommendations for teaching langtiage skills

To improve the teaching of listening skill

IV.2 Recommendations for selecting, editing and developing teaching materials TV.3 Recommendations for applying specific teachings activities

PART C CONCLUSION

Summary of the study

Limilalions of the rescarch

Recommendations for further research

REFERENCES

APPENDIX 1 — Survey Questiannaire

APPENDIX 2 - Interview Questions

APPENDIX 3— Table 2

APPENDIX 4 - Table 3

vũi

LIST OF TABLES AND CIIARTS

Charts

Chart 1 Students’ general attitudes towards language teachers’ role

Chart 2 Students’ general allitudes towards teachers’ work

Chart 3 Students’ levels of satisfaction with each of the teaching items

performed by the language teachers

Tables

Table 1 English major students’ comments on teaching and learning materials

provided by the teachers and their workload in English

‘Table 2 English major students” opinions on the frequency and quality of some

specific leaching activities

Table 3 English major students’ oxpectations for future teaching adjustments

and improvement

learning activity (Gardner, 1985, p 10) Its, thus, stipulated that teachers make all efforts to motivate learners and stimulate their autonomy Research have shown that discovering learners’ altitudes, beliefs, needs and expactations is really beneficial for teachers lo develop approptiate teaching methods and adjust teaching activities, helping to bring about leamers’ satisfaction and more engagement in learning,

arried oul Lo draw learners’ bighes! level of

concentration and participation in vary lesson

In my specific teaching context, the way we teach English is based on the combination of some modern language teaching approaches including learner-centered, skill- based and lask-lsed lo oblain the objectives of teaching language communicatively This requires my colleagues and me to work hard, design diverse teaching activities in our teaching process Ilowever, despite our efforts, sometimes we realize here and there our

students lose interest in our lessons This makes us fecl rather discouraged and wonder about

Vor all the above mentioned reasons, the writer upheld a strong desire to conduct a survey roscaroh on English major students’ altitudes towards and expectations for teachers"

classroom activities

2, Aims of the study

+ lo examine the school’s English major sludents? altitudes towards their language teachers’ classroom activities

- to investigate the students’ needs, interests and expectations for improvement in

English Leaching in these classes

- to suggest necessary changes that the teachers should make in their teaching process

to improve the English teaching and learning situation

3 Research questions

The siudy is carricd out le find ont the answers Lo the two nisin research questions:

1, What are students’ attitudes towards the teachers’ way of teaching?

2 What and how do the students expeet their teachers to change in their way of teaching in the future?

It is clear that the former helps to learn about students’ evaluation and reflection of what and how the teachers do in the classrooms whereas the later helps to look over students’ necds and expectations for teachers’ futurc actions To work out the answer to the Grst major question, a number of minor questions need answers as well, hey are: (1) What are the students” general altitudes towards leachers? roles and work in the classroom? (2) What in the teachers? job do the students fecl

job do the students feel dissatisfied with? Why? (4) How do the students remark upon teaching and leaming materials provided by the teachers and their workload in linglish? (5)

fied with? Why? (3) What in the Leachers”

What arc the students" apinions on the froqueney and quality af some specifie teaching activities conducted by teachers in every lesson?

4 Scope of the study

Teaching activities can be various and indefinite Mowever, only activities that teachers normally conduct and perform m English lessons are taken into account in the study Besides, only English major students of three grades 10, 11 and 12 in the school are under invastigalion Tn addition, this sludy only concentratss on cxplaring their attitudes towards and expectations for what and how the teachers do in the classroom,

5 Methods of the study

During the process of collecting and analyzing the data for the rescarch, bolh quantitative and qualitative methods were employed Specifically, the data were collected via means of a written survey questionnaire —typical of quantitative method; and a group inlerview - typieal of qualitative method

6 Significance of the study

It is expected that the findings in the study will help the teachers in the school see the sirong pơïnls and weak points of their work, Information of the students’ expectations may

7 Format of the study

‘The study is organized into three parts

The first part, urodweéion, provides all the information about the rationale, aims,

scope, significance and format of the study Research questions and methodology are also identified in this part

The sccond part, Development, consists of four chapters The first chapter,

Theoretical Background, reviews relevant literatures In the next chapter, The study, the

selling, subjects, instruments and data analysis process of the study is presented The third

chapter is devoicd lo a detailed description of Data analysis and discussion And the last

chapter, namely Recommendations for beter language teaching at English major classes int

the school, puts forward some recommendations for better teaching at Linglish major classes

of the school,

The last part, Conciusion, presents not only a summary but also some limitations of

the research and gives some suggestions for fiarther study.

PART B DEVELOPMENT CTIAPTER FL THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Identifying and carrying out necessary teaching adjustments by the way of investigating students’ attitudes and expectations partially shows learner-centeredness in the

ms are also discussed in the chapter

11 The learner-centered approach

A lot of changes in education have taken place as a result of changes in educational objectives to tee! the new demands of the current time and bring aboul beller learing and teaching outcomes One of the observable changes in education is the shift in focus from teachers to learners in the teaching and learning process,

Although “leamer-cenleredness” is nol a new concepl in the world, it has been popularly developed and widely applied in education and especially in language teaching and learning for only several decades

In Victarn, learner-contersd leaching has been

ly cncouraged and promoted for a number of years The approach has boon asserled and confirmed as a big and cssontial renovation in education since 1986, at the 6 congress of Communist Party of Vietnam,

Basie Principles

In terms of principle, the learner-centered approach emphasizes the central role of learners in all classroom activities, It is stated that learning is totally determined by leamers According to Camphell (1992, pp.5-6), the main principle of lsarner-based teaching is that

“all class activities can be done using information that the Icarners themsclves bring to class”, In his view, students bring a lot with them to the classroom They all have ideas,

opinions, experiences and areas of expertise, All of this is important to them What they need Rom the English classroom is the language to express all his, and thers by thorn This viewpoint is shared and backed up by many scholars Holliday (1994, p.167) adds that the experience and knowledge students bring to the classroom is of great value to the learning

ly:

process and must be capitalized and buill upon

Learner-based teaching focuses on encouraging leamers to express their ideas fteely and “all of the activitiss, even grammar practice, are based on “here and now” of the

learners” (Campbell, 1992, p.8) Thus, it can be said that very activity in learner-centered

teaching aims at narrowing the traditional gap between teachers and learners The teaching

of loaching and learning, students eamot be treated as

“an empty vessel which teachers can arbitrarily fill with new knowledge or behavior”

(Ilolliday, 1994, p.167) ‘Teachers do not teach language to students but only create and

facilitate faverable conditions for students to revise and boast their background knowledge and experience upon which knew knowledge is constructed and acquired and, as a

consequence, their language competence is developed Mortimer (1998) sees teaching as a

humrible, helping ar, The teacher does not produce knowledge or stuff ideas into an empty, passive mind, It is the leamer, not the teacher, who is the active producer of knowledge and ideas However, this does not mean that teacher has no role in classroom Of course, competent sludenis can teach themselves but the process of learning is made more certain and less painful when they have teachers’ help The teacher shows the student how to discern, evaluate, judge, and recognize the truth He does not impose a fixed content of ideas

and doctrine

that the student must learn by rete He teaches the student how to Team and

think for himself He encourages rather than suppresses @ critical and inlelligent response

Thus, teachmg is also regarded as cooperative arts in which the teacher gives and the

students receive aid and guidance

Nguyen Bang and Nguyen Ba Ngoc (2002, p.40) put forward a number of Icarner-

centered instructions including: techniques that focus or account for learners’ needs, styles and aims; techniques that give some control to learners (group work, strategy training for example); syllabus that include ihe consullation and input of learners and that do not presuppose objectives in advance; techniques that enhance a learners’ sense of competence and self-worth: and techaiques that allow for learner creativity and innovation

Benefits

It can be said that this approach is really beneticial and effective if fully applied te any teaching and learning process As ‘lurdor (1993) points out, in language teaching and

learning this approach brings shout a turnber of advantages as follows:

-The teaching aims may be suitably set if the learners can participate in building the

subject syllatnis based on their own experiences

-The stndy will he mors effective if the teaching method is suitable to learning method of

Undoubtedly, with this approach, leamers will become more dynamic, more active and more self-confident since they are given more room for involvement in lessons, This, in Scharle’s (2000, p.5) opinion, helps to foster learners’ autonomy or, in other words, learners? sense of tespousibilily, which is crucial lo learning and teaching success,

12 Foreign language learners’ attitudes

Definition

According lo Wikipedia, the fiee encyclopedia, attitude is defined as 4 hypothetical construct that represents an individual's degree of like or dislike for an item Atufudes are generally positive or negative views of a person, place, thing, or event- this is often referred

to as the altilude object In other words, altiludes arc usually undersiood as 4 disposition or

iendency to respond positively or negatively towards a certain thing (idea, object, person, situation) They encompass, or are closely related to, our opinions and belief and are based upon our experiences Thus, it can be inferred that in education students’ attitudes towards a teacher and his/her job may mean their levels of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with what and how the teacher does in the teaching process

Since attitudes often relate in some way to interaction with others, they represent an important link between cognitive and social psychology Unlike personality, attitudes are expected to change as a fiction of experience, Attitudes can be changed through persuasion and we should understand altitude change as 4 response lo communication, As far as instruction is concerned, a great deal of learning involve:

‘students who consider the learning of Engtish

as a positive and rewarding experience are less likely to suffer tom foreign language anxiety” ( Tsiplakides & Keramida, 2010) Besides, a teacher is widely acknowledged as one of the most important components of language training and instruction since his/her

decisions can be influsntial on the learningiieaehing contznis or materials, methods of teaching/learning as well as on his/har students’ Tearning outcomes, Therefore, students” atutudes towards their teachers, an attitude object, need taking nto consideration by educators and trainers

Allitude can aller every asp

L of a person's lifb, including their cducation Studont attitudes on learning determine their ability and willingness to lean, As discussed in Bloom's ‘laxonomy theory, a learning attitude is developed over time and past learning

experienc:

s affect future learning experiences, During their learning proc students may

develop either positive or negative attitudes towards their language learning and their language teacher, which certainly affects their language learning in either a good way or a bad way Undeniably, posilive learning altitudes make students want to learn, be receptive

and participate in the learning process to ultimately experience satisfaction ftom leaming

whereas negative attitudes towards language leaming can reduce learners’ motivation and

harm language learning, Negative alliludes can discourage crealivily and participation as part

of the learning process, If negative attitudes are not altered, a student is unlikely to continme his education beyond what is required Changing students’ negative attitudes towards

thal invalves determining the f

lors driving the altitude andl using this

information to bring about change:

Some factors that influence students’ athtudes toward their foreign language learning

are identified by Tsiplakides & Keramida (2010): a) teacher-student relationships, b) the

general classroom atmosphere, and c) the use of authentic: teaching materials and activities

These authors also suggest a number of principles to foster positive aititudes mm ESL/EFL classes) (/) Developing Teacher-student Relationships; (3) Fostering a Positive

Psychelogwal Classroom Atmosphere; (3) Creating an Altractive Physical Classroom Environment, (4) Supplementing the Teaching Material with Authentic Texts and Tasks

Tn short, siudent attitudes on Tearrang, good or bad, affect their autlook Loward

learning throughout, life Their alliludes towards learning affect nol only their amount of

education but their desire for education Those who respond with enthusiasm towards

learning are primarily successful Isarners ‘Those responding negatively to education had experienced only basic Gequired) learning and did not desire further sludy Once educators

uncover student attitudes on learning, the challenge 1s using this information to shape a

positive attitude

1.3 Foreign language learners’ expectation

Definition

In the case of uncertainty, expectation is what is considered the most likely to happen An expectation, which is a belief that is centered on the fiture, may or may not be roalialic An expectation may rosults in diverse psychological states, A less advanlagzous

result gives rise to the emotion of disappomtment If something happens that is not at all expected it is a surprise An expectation about the behavior or performance of another porsom, expres

(Wikipedia )

Similarly, we can infer that snedents’ expectations in foreign language learning may

dia that person, may have the talture of a strong request, or an order

be referred lo as their desires or needs of whal and how they wonld like to lean in the coming time In other words, it means students expect teachers to carry out changes in teaching content and teaching styles so as to match their learning preferences and bring about the highest degrass of salisfaction in their learning

Mismatch between teachers’ intentions and learners’ expectations

Undeniably, most teachers always try their best and do every thing to make effective

ching Teaching can be said to be an intentional avlivity which is undertaken with the

purpose of bringing abont learning A Tol of Isaehors" Lime and effort are devoted fo lesson planning, task designing, and applying appropriate teaching methods and techniques with the hope to draw students’ attention, get them involved in the lesson so as to have the best Jearning outcomes, However, at times things do not go on as well as cxpected Both teachers and students tzel quite disappointed and dissatisfied with each other The main cause of tas problem is probably a certain resuit of the mismatch between teachers’ intentions and

failed to match the teacher’s intention” (cited in Harmer 1991, p.395) In fhet, there is always

an existence of this gap What a teacher teaches, in many cases, does not mean what the

rently

students like and want to loam: and “whal may fool appropriate (rom Leacher’s point of view may not seem so appropriate for students” (Harmer, 1991, p.396) As a result, despite all effbri and intention teachers make in designing each of particular Isarning tasks, students do

not perform as well as teachers have expected This causes problems to not only teachers but

students as well For ieachers" part, they may feel quite disappointed and discouraged since all their effort comes to nothing, Iheir studenls have no progress in leaming, and thay canmot motivate students to learn effectively In addition, sometimes they may even have to suffer from negative behaviors of some students who are not interested in learning Kor students’

part, they Jose interest in learning when they find whet leacher docs de not live up Lo U

expectation For instance, teachers just impose and ask them to learn all the learnmg content

which is too tedious or too challenging instead of teaching what they really like and want to learn Besides, they may feel fed up with the way teachers Gequently perform in every

lesson Teaching techniques and strategies teachers use are not effective and suitable for

students’ learning styles

As a corsequence of their losing inlerest, “their incenlive to maintain their level of

concentration is lessened, and if that happens, they are more likely to become disconnected

with what is going on That is when problem behavior often manifests itself” (Harmer, 1991, p.154) Then, no positive collaboration and harmonious working belwsen teachers and

Jearners in classroom can be found, both teachers and students have sufferings; teaching and

learning objectives cannot be achieved

In Willing’s (1988, p.1) opinion, “accommodating learning siyls and siralegy preferenees in the classroom can result in improved Iearner satisfaction and atlainment”

(cited in Nunan 1991, p.167) Thus, the gap between teachers’ intention and learners”

expectations really needs narrowing According to Kumaravadiveln (1991, p.98), “the

nowrower the gap between teacher intention und learner interpretation is, the greater are the chances of achieving desired learning outcomes It is thus important that we understand potential sources contributing to the mismatch hetween teacher intention and learner inderpretavon” Hc also points out “ Jearning outcome is the result of a fairly unprediciable interaction between the learner, the task, and the task situation From the teacher's

perspective, then, achievement of success depends largely on the degree to which teacher

intention and learner interpretation of a given task converge”

Balancing the mismatch between teachers’ intentions and learners’ expectations

Like any classroom problems, problem of the mismatch between teachers’ intention and learners’ expectations is not impossible Lo be tackled as long as teachers are a litfle more

sensitive, flexible, enthusiastic in teaching, and more considerate towards their students

Tarone & Yule(1989, p.9) suggest “decisions about how to present the ‘best! learning

expericnce for a group of students inevitably depends on the individual tcacher's ability to

10

work out what those students appear to need, while also remaining aware of what they expect lo happen in the learning situation", [Tolliday(1994) also argues thal “the choice of content can depend on many things, fiom the needs, interests, expectations and experiences

of the students, to the requirements of other parties who hold stakes in what happens in the classroom” (bubble 20, p.169, cited in Holliday 1994) Talking about the basic principles

in teaching, Lewis & Hill (1992, p.9) argue that “ at any point during the lesson, the teachers’ pre-arranged plan and the students’ needs are in conflict, it is the students’ needs which should have priority”

It is clear that the mismatch between teachers’ intentions and learners’ expectation is

a common conflict between teachers and students When this conflict exists, it is required

thal Icachers make some sacrifice for students

Adjustment in teaching should be carried out

to make sure that students feel satisfied since once their needs and expectations are met, the content and the way teachers teach match with their leaming styles and preferences to a great

extent, As Jessup (1971, p.1S1) points out, so as to create students’ positive attitudes for

activities or learning tasks for students Students’ experience, learning styles, attitudes,

needs, belicfs and expectations really malter and should be carcfully investigated before selecting, appropriate teaching materials and pedagogical methods Scharle (2600, p.16) discusses “It’s important to know what experience your students have had and as a

consequence what expectations they may have of you as a teacher” sines “you may put to

usc whal you lave learnt dboul the expectations and previous expericnee of your students and choose activities in which their attention would not be too much occupied by the novelty

of the task” In his view, information on students’ existing attitudes to learning and to the forvign language is the starting point for devcloping responsible attitudes towards Icaming Therefore, il 1s really esscniial that “Lu: altitudes and personalities of students have te

be taken into consideration when selecting techniques for a lesson” (Dangerfield,

1988) Holliday (1994, pp.161-163) also emphasizes the importance af understanding

students as one part of finding appropriate methodology In his terms, an appropnate methodology, which nmst by nature be culture-sensitive, therefore has two major

components: a teaching methodology and a process of carning about the classtoom because

11

learning about the classroom is an essential aspect of finding out haw to teach, Achieving appropriate methodology depsnds om learning whal happens belween people in the classroom The process of learning what happens between people in a particular classroom should be largely in the hands of the teacher, just as the act of teaching is in the hands of the

E cher (pp.161-162) Therefore, in his viow, when there is likcly lo le conflict betw:

teacher and student agendas, learning about the classroom is regarded as an action research which helps not only to develop appropriate methodologies but also to solve classroom

problems (p.163)

There are several ways tor teachers to gain understanding of students According to Scharle (2000), information about students’ opinions on teaching and learning style can be collected through interviews or discussions In addition, interview aclivily can be modified, converted into questionnaires Teachers are also suggested to occasionally invite students to

write compositions expressing their ideas, judgements and comments on current teaching

and learning situation in their classroom As suggested by Lewis & THỊ (1992), teachers should occasionally invite students to judge their teachers or teaching, ask them which ways they prefer to be taught and which way they do not like as one way of knowing how successful their lessons are, These scholars also argue it is a good idea to “discuss with students about their expectations of what they expect to happen in the classroom, (it also helps) lo discuss wha students expect to enjoy, and not enjoy right al the beginning of a new course” (Lewis & Hill, 1992)

As stated by Lewis & Hill(1992, pp.50-31), consulting students is very beneficial to the general atmosphere of the classrooms, and sometimes reveals concrete ways in which classes can be tds Tore enjoyable or more effective for the studenls as long as teachers take their comments scriously If their comments arc taken scriously students soon realize that they can usefully influence their own lessons and have a sense of taking active part in making decisions about their leaming Fncouraged to assess teachers and provide information about their attitudes, leaming styles or expectations, students cartainly feel that they are important in the learning process, and that the teacher is interested in them both as language learners and as people Scharls (2000, p.8) alsa discusses “by sharing relevant information with students, teachers express respect and a willingness to regard learners as partnars in warking towards the common aim of learning a foreign languags” This, as a result, certainly makes students become more autonomous end are “more likely to enjoy the subject, and lo succeed at il, if they arc involved in the learning process and, as far as

12

possible, have a chance to influsnce what happens, and how it happens” (Lewis & Tlill,1992,

„.19)

To obtain positive cooperation and the most trustworthy information from students, it

is required that teachers be quite sincere, ftiendly, open and kind-hearted to students during the process af gol ing infrmation, “Explain lo your students thái you wauld like to tear

about their attitudes towards learning the foreign language, and you would like them to fill in

a questionnaire as honesty as they can” (Scharle, 2000, pp.18-20) More importantly,

isachors must taalfally show that studenls’ comments are important and appreciated by making appropriate pedagogical adaptation as soon as possible right after each consultation and discussion with students

In short, ta work out the solution lo the conflict belween teachers” inlenlions and

Jeamers* expectations as well as any other classroom conilicts and problems, teachers should Jearn about learners, consult them, carry out appropriate teaching adjustments and make some necessary sacrifice for them, This sacrifice shows teachers’ respect for sludenis and is seen as an act of following the main principle of Iearner-centered teaching More importantly, to my mind, teachers must always be decisive, effective and fair in all lessons

unprepared and uncerlain about what lo do im the lessons, they ars fir more Tikely lo lose interest and be disruptive; chances of successful learning are then not guaranteed,

1.4 Shape of an English lesson

Stages of a language lesson

In order to be professionally successfull any language teachers must surely have good understanding of the langnage and how to teach it Tt is widely known that the use of language involves two aspects: form and meaning which arc relevant to the very two main linguistic concepts- “formal” and “functional” normally used by linguists, ‘Then language leaching always consisls of the leaching of language componsuts including grammar, vocabulary, promuncialion amd the

speaking This has been strongly consolidated and empliasized in many titles which are quite

famous and familiar to teachers and even to language students at teacher training colleges or

universilics 4 course w2 language teaching: practice and theary (U1.1996), An introduction

to English language teaching (Haycrait, 1978); or Language teaching methodology: a

textbook for teachers (Nunan, 1991) are some very popular books, which give readers

careful guidance on what and how to teach English language In his The practice of English

language waching, Tlarmer (1991, pp.195-196) states that language teaching involves not only forms but also me:mings, and he elaborately features what and how teachers should do

in teaching different aspects of language

As can be inferred fiom the above section, language teachers can divide their isaching work into leaching different kanguage items in differant lessons, TL is recommended

that language skills, grammar, or vocabulary can be taught and learnt either separately or in integration {Jowever, to help students obtain effective learning, it is essential for teachers to carry oul approprinic teaching procedure for cach lesson

In Vietnam, language teachers have been all carefully trained how to teach each skill

as well as grammar, phonetics and vocabulary It is clear that teaching reading or listening is quile differen from teaching speaking, teaching writing or teaching: grarmmar; so among their various teaching methods, techniques and strategies teachers must flexibly choose and use appropriate ones in teaching different lessons However, the procedure for teaching each learning item aflen seems Lo fallow one general pallern of some certain teaching phases,

As Ur (1996) points out, after mtroducing, giving presentation and explanation of what students learn and have to do in the lesson, teachers move to another step that is

controlting students’ practice, and then the final step - testing how students kearn Ì n Recently, teachers have been welt trainad to conducl the tcacking pracess of any lesson through the model of PPP, which stands for Presentation, Practice, Production Performance The PPP procedure is described, demonstrated and discussed thoroughly by Harmer (1991, p.64), Byrne (1986, p.3), Lowis (1993, p.190), Spratt & Read (1985, pp.5-17) and many other scholars Above all the controversial opinions about this teaching procedure, there is a general view among these scholars that is “PPP is extremely usefut in a focus-on- forms lesson, especially at lower levels, but inrelevant ina skills lesson, where focus on form may occur as a result of something students hear or read”(Harmer, 1991, p.67), Then, one movified/aliemnative version of this procedure is widely introduced and apptied for Leaching

work on every lesson and task with this three-stage procedure.

14

Teacher’s roles in a language lesson

Undoubtedly, teachers and leamers are the two principal and indispensable parts of any teaching and learning process It is the interaction between teachers and learners that enables the process of teaching and leaming to take place In practice, many Jeamers can

teach themsslves withoul the help from teachers, bul gengral view of conventional cdueation

confines that a real education does not exist if there is an absence of one of these two parts

‘Thus, both teachers and leamers have certain roles and significance to ensure an effective cducation, Due to the scope af the study, only tsachers? rolzs in languags leaching arc under review in this section, aiming at claritying common and principal classroom activities often conducted by teachers in every language lessons

Language teachers” roles have been so far discussed again and again ina great deal

of literature Approaches and methods in langage teaching (Richards & Rogers, 1986) is one very popular title which has a clear section on teacher roles within each approach or method analyzed Roles of teachers and learners (Wright, 1987) is also a famous tille Harmer’s The practive of English language teaching (1991) has been a favorite, which provides a comprehensive and general overview of this topie in which various roles of a

aspects of the teacher's rolc-a sympathetic attitude, not demanding beyond the students’

capabilities, not overcorrecting, praising what has been well done” (Cranmer, 1985, p 3)

Specific roles of a teacher in different phases of teaching process are also summarized by

Read (1985, p.17) While supposed to work as an informant in the presentation phase, a

teacher is regarded as conductor and corrector in practice phase and monitor, adviser, mistake-hearer, or consultant in production phase of the teaching procedure

It is clear that a language teacher’s roles can be rather diverse and complicated

Personally, the researcher is quite in favor of the way these roles are classified on hup:/www.thefreelibrary.com According to this way, teachers normally have task-related

roles when acting as organizer, instructor, controller, facilitator, counselor, participant,

expert/resource, or evaluator in the classroom Besides, they may assume some interpersonal

roles when functioning as creators of conditions conducive to learning, or as students” friends or socializing agents Last but not least, teachers can play special roles of motivators

and even learners in the class Undeniably, to fulfill these roles teachers must always

endeavor to work hard, and above all they must be very sensitive, flexible, and creative and

competent in their work,

Role of teaching content/ materials in a language lesson

© Role of language materials

Materials in language teaching are quite varied, including textbooks, video and audio tapes, computer softwares, visual aids which all contribute to the process of language

instruction

According to Kitao (1997), materials are one of the five key components (including students, a teacher, materials, teaching methods, and evaluation) of language instruction

since they can influence the content and procedures of teaching and learning In his opinion,

experienced teachers can teach English without a textbook but it is not easy to do it all the

time In practice, both teachers and students usually rely heavily on textbooks because of the

fact that textbooks can not only “make it possible for students to review and prepare their lessons” and “allow for adaptation and improvization.” (O'neill, 1990) but also be treated as

“tesource books for ideas and activities for instruction/learning” and “give teachers rationales for what they do” (Allright, 1990)

It is true that, as Kitao(1997) discusses, textbooks determine the components and

methods of learning They control the content, methods and procedures of learning Students

learn what is presented in the textbook, and the way the textbook presents material is the way students learn it Therefore, in many cases, “materials are the center of instruction and

16

one of the most important influences ơn what goes on in the classroom” (Kitao, 1997), Thus,

it can be said thal materials take on a very important, role in language classes, and il is

important tor all language teachers to select a good textbook

» Materials development

Important as they are, textbooks are sometimes too inflexible to be used directly as

instructional materials (Allright, 1990) This viewpoint of Allright (1990) is backed up by

Lynch (tp: /Avww.elsbase com/urticles/creating-materials.asp)} who points out some

reasons for teachers to adapt existing or available materials Ihe reasons consist of unsuitable material level (not suitable for learners’ need), being too difficull or loo easy, Loo

long or too short, extensive use of grammar or structure In her opinion, it is necessary that

teachers explore relevancy of the existing materials to find out how to adapt the materials for specific use or modify materials to students’ leaming styles In addition, the movement of

the learner-centeredness since the end of 1970s has also slressed the role of the learners as

‘the center of language learning, which means that materials, as well as teaching methods and

evaluation, should all be designed for learners and their needs “It is teachers’ responsibility

to check Lo sce whether all the of the learning proc

and to adapt them if they are not.” (Kitao, 1997)

In practice, adapting/developing textbooks and teaching materials is always camied

re working well for learners

out as a part of the teaching job of any enthusiastic teachers, Many of them even choose to construct their own teaching materials despite the availability of commercially produced ones

In developing malcrials, asic understandings of developing materials and instructional materials’ characterises is of great help for the teachers So as to develop teaching materials, teachers should first evaluate the materials, and then adapt them or write anew kind of muierials for the students, According to Lynch (year), the job of evaluating materials often involves learning about principles for evaluating materials, doing analysis of teaching materials, studying criteria for selecting materials, and acknowledging the importance of using authentic materials Adapting materials requires not only reasons for adaptation but also techniques for adaptation including adding, deleting, modifying,

simplifying and reordering Concerning this issue, Howard & Major (2004, p 104)

summarizes some main tasks ofien dong by language teachers, The tasks inckude the followang: (1) - Add activities to those already suggested; (2)- Leave out activites that do

not meet your learners’ needs; (3} - Replace or adapt activities or materials with:

supplementary materials from other commercial texts; authentic materials (newspapers,

radio reports, films, ete): teacher-created supplementary materials, and (A) - Change the

organizahonal siructure of the aclivities, for example, pairs, eal groups or whole class

Regarding constructing teaching materials, a mumber of guidelines for designing

cffective Rnglish toaching talcrials are also pul forwards in grcal detail by these authors In

their opinion, English language teaching matenals should, in brief, (1) be contextualised, (2)

stimulate interaction and be generative in terms of language, (3) encourage learners to

develop learning skills and strategies, (2) allow for a focus on form as well as fimction, (5)

offer opportunities for integrated language use, (6) be atthentic, (7) link ta each other to

develop a progression of skills, understandings and language items, (3) be attractive, (9}

have appropriate instructions, (10) be flexible (Toward & Major, 2004, pp 104-107)

‘Nunan (1988) also suggests that materials should have following characteristics: be

authentic as they reflect the outside world the socio-cultural context within which they will

he used / build up student’s learning autonomy hy forming in them conscioumess and

awareness of learning process’ be designed to be used in different ways / cater for all

students’ levels of proficiency’ be suggestive rather than definitive

Generally, materials are of groal importance in most Fuglish leachingfisaming programs and malcrials development is nec

y im language instruction, In their leaching process, competent and enthusiasue teachers never stop practicing the job of developing/adapting materials in order to have the most effective teaching and learning results,

Common teaching activities in a language lesson

As we all know, the way of leaming and teaching ix now quits differsnt from some years ago Toaching and loarning is no longer a process of language transmission, in which

teachers, regarded as “a source of information” (Rixon, 1981), pour knowledge to students

while students passively receive whal is taught and introdnced by their teachers, Moder

chers ars required Lo play the rokss of facilitalors, controllers, suporvis

and many other roles while the students actively and collaboratively aequire and reconstruct their knowledge and skills through pair work and group work ‘'his requires that all teachers

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Understanding of language and language teaching as well as the roles and tasks of a language leacher certainly helps teachers make Tight decisions aboul their leaching aclivilies, getting success in their job During the lessons, vanous teaching activities each of which serves different roles taking part in making effective learning and teaching in the classroom are conducted by lexchers Talking about ths roles of classroom aclivitics, Holliday (1994,

p.189) states: “classroom activities must not only provide opportunities for learning but also provide opportunities for the teacher to observe and learn about the culture of the students, the culture of ths classroom, student progress, In other words, they should thus be designed with the transaction and formative evaluation roles in mind”

Personally, the researcher thinks of teaching activities as any of the teachers” action resulting in tearninyy outcomes, They can be very diverse from gelling lo know about students, planning lesson, or preparing teaching aids to any action teachers perform during, or even after the lessons I'hus, teaching activities can be done outside or inside the classroom However, as stated earlier, this paper otity concentrates on investigating teaching activities that are normally carried out in the classroom,

Supposed to be a special art, teaching in general and teaching activities in particular

leaching lechniques and stratogics from teachers in the classroom

Any competent icachers should know how and when lo skillfully cmploy various techniques and strategies in all stages of their teaching process to fulfill their tasks Since appropnate use of such techniques and strategies can have the efffct of motivating and engaging students

in Joatning effectively

Since, as presented in the previous section, teaching procedure is divided into different stages and different lessons are assigned with different learning items and differsnt teaching, objectives, teaching activities must be various to bc applicd appropriately to cach stage of each lesson, Generally, teachers’ classroom activities all aim at helping students develop language skills (both macro-skills and micro-skills), enhancing their use of the

and

language inchading vocabulary and grammatical structures, Basiles, as sugg

directed by Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training in training courses for teachers

of Lnglish, common classroom activities conducted by tsachers in all lessons can be

specified as follows: giving brisf instructions and exphiralions which are casy lo follow and understand, organizing and conducting pair work! group work ‘individual work; conducting classroom discussion; helping students brainstorm or teaching/introducing in advance new

key words/structurcs which will be found in the reading/listening texts, taking part in

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students’ discussion; giving appropriate aids‘prompts while students do learning tasks; onganiving language games, using visual aids, worksheets or word cards, ele assigning tasks to students; helping students to consolidate the lessons; giving comments’feedbacks

regularly and appropriately to students’ performance; correcting students’ mistakes; testing

and marking students? performance, applying rewards and punishmen! policy, cle

Undoubtedly, language teachers’ work can be rather hard and complicated, Ít is imperative that teachers be really competent, dynamic, creative, flexible, and above all they must be very enilmsiastie and hardworking to do well with those classroom activities, fuldilling their different roles and dues in every lesson

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CHAPTER LL THE STUDY

In this chapler, seiting for the study is presented; subjects, scope, amd instruments of

the study are described Then, data collection and analysis process will be demonstrated,

LL1 Setting of the study

Brief introduction of the school

The study was conducted at Bien Hoa Specialzed School, which is the only specialized one in LIanam provinee It is a small school set up in 1959 and often consists of

30 ch

s spccializod in đifferenL subjects: malhermatics, informalics, physies, chomislry, biology, literature, history, geography, English and Russian The class size is rather small (with no more than 35 students in each class), which is seen as fairly convenient condition for good leaching and learning The main duty of the school is to train and foster latents for the province and the country Despite not being well-equipped, the school is always regarded

as the best one in the province in terms of student and teacher quality and learning and teaching achievernents

Each year, many good students tiom almost every lower secondary schools of the province have to take a serious entrance examination in order to be admitted to one of the

school’s classes Thers ars 10 ch majoring in 10 different anbjgcls in cach grade (10, 11, and 12) for them 10 choose as Tong as they can perform their learning competence in the majored subjects in the entrance examinations Every year, most students of the school going

in for different provincial and national examinations for gifted students always get good results, The school is always proud of having about 90 percent of its students passing university entrance examinations each year In English, most of the students of three English majored classes are always snccessfill in examinations for gifted students held in the provinee, and over the last five years our gifted students of English have got good results at national examinations, Especially, 100% of those taking part in this kind of examinations in the years 2007, 2008 and 2009 achieved awardls; and seven oul af eight students going in for this year's examination (2010) were awarded,

The school has more than 90 teachers About half of them have been recruited from graduated students with excellent leaming scores for some recent years, so they are all well quatified The rest are of medium and okd ages and have good tsaching experiences,

General situation of English teaching and learning in the school

The number of teachers of English is 8 They are in charge of teaching English at 24 non-English majored classes and only 6 of them annually take part in teaching English to 3

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English major classes in the school They are all willing and enthusiastic towards their jab However, they have a munber of difficutties in working wilh English major studenls for some reasons Firstly, coming, fiom different rural areas of the province most English major students are too reserved in their manner and accustomed to passive learring and do not have good financial conditions which enabls them to afford sxtra English materials such as book, tapes or disks to improve their study, They are, therefore, quite dependent on the teachers in terms of what to learn Secondly, syllabuses for three English specialized olasses are the text books Advance English 10, 11, 12 which arc nol really appropriate to the studenls since they are of litle help and not demanding enough to the students while they need more advanced English materials Except for speaking and writing tasks, which are useful to students’ writing and speaking skills, lasks on receptive skills and language focus are loo easy for them Reading or listening texts are of no help in improving reading/ listening skills apart from providing students with general knowledge Besides, the number of lessons in these textbooks is loo small compared with the amount of students’ school time for English (which

is normally 11 periods per week-5 in the moming and ¢ in the afternoon) So fia, there has been no formal syllatms for these classes The teachers, therefore, frequently have to select, dil, and đo:

12 Subjects

A total of 100 students of three English major classes from three different grades at

Bien Iloa Specialized [igh School participated in the study (32 of 10” form, 33 of 11° form

and 35 of 12 form) Ranging in age from 16 to 18, all the subjects were cxecllont and good students coming ftom different secondary schools in the province and had to take part in a

ign all the toaelring materials by themselves,

very strict entrance examination to be accepted to these clas

Therefore, they were all quick at Icarning and most of thom usually had achicvcments in many important English examinations for gifted students, When the survey was conducted - at the beginning of the second semester, all these participants had been Ñsqnenlly working with the school’s

chers of English formally for at least 10 months, Thus, they must have been quile familiar

with the teaching activities the teachers use, Hopelully, this would be a favorable condition allowing the informants to give the most reliable opinions, honest evaluation and information in the survey,

11.3 Instruments

‘As pointed out by Scharls (2000) and Wallace (2001), questionnaire is a popular and

effcctive means of collecting data because it has a mumber of advantages Firstly, it docs not

22

take researchers much tims to callect a great amommt of data via means of questionnaires Secondly, while doing survey questiormaires informants may [eel Gree to give the most honest answers without any hesitancy, Besides, the questionnaire can consist of both close and open-ended questions so that the informants have chances to express their opinions individually Ir addition, it is rather cay for ihe researchers lo summarize, analyze and report the data because all the answers are givento the same questions

Vor all the above mentioned reasons, a questionnaire is used as the main instrument

of the rescarch, Resides lo oblain more in-depth data, ospecially lo gain more understanding

of the reasons for the students’ satisthetion/dissatisfaction with teachers’ work as wall as their expectations, a follow-up interview was also conducted

The questionnaire

Copies of the questionnaire were delivered to 100 students, All the

instructions/information and questions in the questionnaire were presented in Vietnamese to

make sure (hal all the responders carr easily and completely understand them before giving answers, So as to give respondents more freedom and encouragement to express their specific thoughts about each item presented in the questionnaire, both close and open-ended questions ware used

Content of the survey questionnaire is constructed based ơn [Ít lilerahiue review of teachers’ roles and their common teaching activities for all lessons conventionally conducted

by language teachers in the classroom (sce the previous chapter) Moreover, through personal obscrvation of hr colleagues’ teaching practice the researcher realizes that all the teaching activities mentioned in the questionnaire are very typical and popular for language teachers in their process of teaching Questions, cach of which is assigned with different purposes to get answers to cach rescarch question, are the put into two scctions The first section, consisting of five questions, focuses on examining students’ attitudes towards and

next question aims al gelling students’ comments on teaching and learning tatcrials

provided by the teachers and their workload in English, and lastly question 5 is for understanding students” opinions‘comments on the frequency and quality of some specific

teaching activities conducted by the teachers in every lesson The sceond scction, including