PHONL LOW-COMPETENCE EFL LEARNERS’ EXPECTATIONS FROM THEIR ENGLISH CLASS Những mong muốn của học sinh yếu khi học tiếng Anh trên lớp

ii ABSTRACT This study examined expectations of 5 low-competence learners in a private English school in Vietnam.. The results showed that the low-competence learners cherished many exp

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*********************

LÊ THỊ MỸ PHONL LOW-COMPETENCE EFL LEARNERS’ EXPECTATIONS FROM

THEIR ENGLISH CLASS Những mong muốn của học sinh yếu khi học tiếng Anh trên lớp

M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY

CODE: 60140111

Hanoi, 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*********************

LÊ THỊ MỸ PHONL LOW-COMPETENCE EFL LEARNERS’ EXPECTATIONS FROM

THEIR ENGLISH CLASS Những mong muốn của học sinh yếu khi học tiếng Anh trên lớp

M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY

CODE: 60140111

SUPERVISOR: NGUYỄN TRƯỜNG SA, Ph.D

Hanoi, 2014

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to all those who contribute and support to the completion of this study

My deepest appreciation goes to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Truong Sa, from whom I have gained expert guidance and personal inspiration I especially thank him for his ongoing support and constructive comments on early versions of the manuscript His private time for me was so valuable that

I do not know how to repay

I am grateful to Ms Chi - the general director of ALIS for accepting me

to investigate at ALIS and for her helps in arranging classes for me Many thanks are sent to the teachers and learners who took much time and great care into my study I am indebted to my two colleagues: Ms Tuyet and Mr Tin for all supports when I needed

Finally, a heartfelt gratutide I feel towardmy beloved family for their emotional and material support They really mean the world to me

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ABSTRACT

This study examined expectations of 5 low-competence learners in a private English school in Vietnam The researcher adopted two qualitative methods of in-depth interview and observation to collect the data The first in-depth interview data was coded to build up the subjects‟ stated expectations To examine their expectations related to what happened in class, the researcher analyzed the data collected from the observations and second in-depth interviews The results showed that the low-competence learners cherished many expectations of the learning activities, the teachers and the classmates since they were not satisfied and had many challenges when learning in class The effective collection and value to teachers of English were discussed

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS i

ABSTRACT .ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

DEFINITIONS OF TERMS vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii

TRANSCRIPTION CONVENTIONS ix

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGUERS x

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale 1

2 Objectives of the study 2

3 Research questions 2

4 Significance of the study 3

5 Context of the study 3

6 Overview of chapters 4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

1.1 Expectations 6

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1.1.1 Definition of expectations 6

1.1.2 Categories of expectations 7

1.1.3 Approach to expectations 8

1.1.3.1 Expectations, experiences and challenges 8

1.1.3.2 Expectations andbehaviors 11

1.2 Low-competence learners 11

1.3 Approach to study expectations in language learning 12

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 16

2.1 Participants 16

2.2 Data collection 18

2.2.1 Data collection instruments 18

2.2.2 Data collection procedures 19

2.2.3 Data analysis procedures 22

2.3 Role of researcher 23

2.4 Trustworthiness and Credibility 24

2.5 Ethical considerations 24

2.6 The pilot study 24

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 26

3.1 Pre-conceived expectations 26

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3.2 Learning behaviors 31

3.3 Learning challenges 34

PART C: CONCLUSION 1 Conclusions of the study 36

2 Pedagogical implications 37

3 Limitations of the study and Suggestions for further study 38

REFERENCES 40

APPENDIX A: A GUIDE FOR DESIGNING AND CONDUCTING

IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW I

APPENDIX B: LEARNING ACTIVITIES IV

APPENDIX C: QUESTIONS FOR THE FIRST IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS

V

APPENDIX D: QUESTIONS FOR THE SECOND IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS VI

APPENDIX E: INTERVIEW SAMPLE VII

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DEFINITION OF TERMS Behaviors

Behaviors are a collection of actions a person does that can be observed, measured, and repeated (Bicard & Bicard, 2012) In line with them, behaviors used in this study are what students do, respond and react when learning in class

to define those individuals whose abilities, knowledge and skills of English are performed worse than others in class classified by their teachers according to their result of performance in tests and classroom

English as a foreign language (EFL)

EFL described situations where students were learning English in order to use with any other English speakers in the world (Harme, 2007) and where English is taught as a subject in schools but not used for communication within the country (Richard at al., 1992)

Expectations

Expectations in this study are defined as desires or wants of language

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learners Expectations are based on a person‟s previous language learning experience, goals, and needs, and may influence how individuals react, respond, and experience in practice (White, 1999; Barcelos, 2000)

viii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ALIS: Atlantic Languages and Informatics School

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

ix

TRANSCRIPTION CONVENTIONS

01, 02 speaker turn

S student

I1 the first interview

I2 the second interview

x

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Figure 1: Expectation disconfirmation paradigm 10

Table 1: Data collection schedule 22

Table 2: Data analysis strategies for the research questions 23

Table 3: Summary of collected data 26

Table 4: Summary of pre-conceived expectations 28

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PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Since Vietnam open-door policy came into existence in 1986 through the

economic renovation known as Doi moi, English has emerged as the most

important language An increasing influx of foreign investment has brought Vietnamese people about the need to learn English English has gained its role

as the main foreign language taught and used in the country (Wilson, 1993a) Thus, most Vietnamese learners have had at least seven years studying English as a compulsory subject in secondary and tertiary levels However, they are often not able to use English for communication outside the classroom As a result, the increasing number of them is likely to go to private English schools for extra English classes with expectations to be taught in magical ways to improve their English (Nguyen, 2012) although tuition fees paid for such classes are very high Accordingly, hundreds of language centers have been mushrooming all over the country, and thus, the market in English education has become more competitive than ever.The current climate suggests that learners spending a substantial sum of money on learning English are now seen as primary customers (Hill, 1995) Such situations are likely to give a rise to specific expectations in learners regarding the process and outcome of English learning and the fulfillment of these expectations becomes the goal of any English teaching and learning programs In other words, if teachers are framed as service providers, then one way to ensure the provision of a quality service is to know the expectations of

customers as they enter into the service transaction (Zeithaml et al., 1990)

Nguyen (2012) also notes that when students are treated as customers, and the market in English education becomes more competitive, then serving

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Vietnamese learner‟s beliefs and expectations becomes the goal of teaching and the primary requirement for the teachers is satisfying their learner‟s expectations Besides, as suggested by Trejo (2007) understanding learners‟ expectations is essential for effective teaching and learning because those expectations are likely to have a strong influence on their learning process Yet within the field of applied linguistics we know relatively little about the

expectations of learners (Trejo, 2007; Bordia et al., 2006)

In public schools in Vietnam, as students are taught English to achieve high grades in paper exams, many teachers are normally worried about the present of lower proficiency learners in their classes However, as the number

of such lower learners is usually much fewer than the average and higher ones

in each class, it seems that attention from teachers on them is thus much cursory Unfortunately, in real sense such problem is inevitable as even if we are able to assemble a class of complete beginners, it will soon be clear that some are learning slower than others (Harme, 2007) Noticeably, although there have increasingly been researches on students‟ expectations, very few

of them have focused on low-competence ones Therefore, it is both practical and significant to the literature in the field to investigate expectation of low-competence English learners in their classes

2 Objectives of the study

The primary purpose of this study is to investigate low-competence students‟ expectations from their English class I will explore learning activities that these learners expect to do in class; exam what happen in class and if the students have any learning challenges; discover factors that make them unsatisfied when learning in class

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3 Research Questions

The general question of this study is: What are low-competence EFL learners‟ expectations from their English class? This question can be clarified

by addressing these specific questions

(1) What expectations do these learners hold about their class?

(2) What are their learning behaviors?

(3) What are challenges of these learners when learning in class?

4 Significance of the study

Practically, my study‟s outcome can help teachers with some new experience on low-competence students as well as bring a careful consideration into their teaching methods In addition, it also draws teacher

to look back their teaching process in class, recognize their shortages and provides them with some ways to improve the quality of their teaching and their students‟ learning as well My study aims to facilitate teachers who are worried about their low-competence students, want to give their students the hands full of care and opportunities for their improvement and development, and are seeking for documents and information of low-competence students‟ expectations Theoretically, this study will contribute to the current literature

by relating low competence students‟ expectations concerned by many teachers and researchers, but in the lack of experience and database

5 Context of the study

The site of this study is ALIS (Atlantic Languages and Informatics School), one of the most prestigious private English schools in Bình Tân district, Hồ Chí Minh city Reasons for choosing this school related to

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practical issues, the purposes of my study, and the research questions First of all, despite having to pay much higher fee, EFL learners are likely to go to private schools for extra English classes where their expectation is a major factor in decisions about how and what to teach When students are treated as customers, their expectations become the goal of the schools and the primary requirement for the teachers is satisfying their learner‟s expectations It was hoped that in a private school where the focus was on teaching for business rather than teaching and learning for tests, I would be able to gain more reliable and significant data The research was carried out at ALIS It is a private school located 686 Le Trong Tan street, Binh Hung Hoa ward, Binh Tan district, Ho Chi Minh city, Viet Nam With the staff of nearly 20 experienced, qualified and knowledgeable teachers, ALIS is now training more than seven hundred students differing from ages to levels As other private schools, ALIS deliveries students many courses including: Lets Go (English for kids), Solutions (English for teenagers), American English File (Communicative English for adults), Pronunciation, SMF (Starters-Movers-Flyers), PET, KET and TOEIC For learning facilities, ALIS provides computer labs, movies rooms and well-equipped classrooms with TVs, CD players, computers and air-conditioners in order to create the best learning environment for students Generally, the school has many things in common with other private schools like curriculums, course books, students and policies Most of the students here are still pupils and university students, only

a few of them have had a job At the school, the students are treated as customers, so their expectations of English learning and teaching are at the highest rate Secondly, to examine a group of learners and teachers in depth

as well as to achieve extensive observation of classes, it was a good strategy

to concentrate on just one school Generally, the school has many things in

In part C, the conclusions, limitations of the study and suggestions for further study are available

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

Looking at historical and current trends, we researchers see that studies

of student expectations seem vital in fulfilling learners‟ needs effectively

(Bordia et al., 2006) Hill (1995) suggested that expectations of students are

valuable data which should be collected and analyzed The interest in examining learners‟ expectations is taken into many scholars‟ considerations

and reflected in a number of studies (Sander et al., 2000; Kuh et al., 2005; Bordia et al., 2006; Kandiko & Mawer, 2013; Brindley, 1984; Nunan, 1988a; Peacock, 1997; White, 1999; Trejo, 2007; Spratt, 1998; Mancuso et al., 2010;

Alcorso &Kalantzis, 1985; Barkhuisen, 1998; Green, 1993) This part sets readers up from the general to specific comprehension of review of literature

subjective probabilities of the occurrence of future events (Bearden and Teal, 1983; Boulding et al., 1993) Meanwhile, many scholars (White, 1999; Barcelos, 2000; Bordia et al., 2006) suggested that expectations are forms of beliefs about the future Therefore, it is now and then believed that expectations

are as ambiguous as their origins Thus, we had better take a broader look back

at the history of the service management literature to fulfill our curiosity of

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expectations It is true that the concept of customer expectations has been

viewed in multiple ways Zeithaml et al (1993) said that expectations are predictions made by customers about what is likely to happen during an

impending transaction or exchange Prakash (1984) viewed expectations as

customers‟ hopes or desires about service providers While there are many

obvious differences between consumer expectations and those of students,

there are some significant similarities Bordia et al (2006) reviewed the

literature and noted that there are some significant similarities between consumer expectations and those of language learning Hence, many researchers borrowed from extensive work on expectations in the consumer psychology literature to approach on learners‟ expectations Gonyea (2005) described learner‟s expectation as “something the student believes will happen, anticipates doing or experiencing” (p.2) With the same point of view, Oettingen & Mayer (2002) stated leaners‟ expectation is the form of thinking about the future or, in other words, students‟ belief about the future Supporting the purposes of my study and the research questions, Prakash‟s (1984) definition of expectation seems to be the best one for my study Thus, expectations in this study are defined as desires or hopes of language learners

1.1.2 Categories of expectations

Above-mentioned definitions set us a path to understand expectations through their categories In the commercial world, expectations have been

seen as composite construct (Sander et al., 2000) Prakash (1984) and

Thompson & Sunol (1994) suggested three types of expectations They asserted that “ideal expectations” are what a customer would ideally like to occur, “predictive expectations” are what the customer assumes to be probably going to occur and “normative expectations” evolve from

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experience of service provision by other similar service providers In the

market of language education, Baldwin et al (1997) demonstrated the three

following types of learners‟ expectations

 “Ideal expectations” are what learners believe should happen in

teaching and learning

 “Predictive expectations” are what they believe will happen

 “Counter-ideal expectations” are what they definitely did not want to

happen

“Ideal expectations” and “predictive expectations” are also referred to as

“will” expectations, i.e whether something will happen and “should”

expectations, i.e whether something should happen, respectively (Boulding et

al 1993)

1.1.3 Approach to expectations

After giving expectations serious consideration, it can be seen that expectation is a mental state, which means approaching to learners‟ expectations is not a simple task In the previous studies, a leaner‟s expectations would be made clear by analyzing his/her experiences, challenges and behaviors Researcher should focus on the classroom level since the result of Trejo‟s investigation (2007) suggested that the classroom is where learning success or failure is determined The nature of expectation and these approaches strongly determine how I design my research study, and I will discuss it in more detail in the next chapter

1.1.3.1 Expectations, experiences and challenges

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According to Barcelos (2000), experiences are the interaction, adaptation, and adjustment of individuals to the environment Throughout life our experiences have a big impact on our expectations of what may happen next since our experiences shape how we think, feel and act Different learners might base on previous and current language learning experiences and future goals and need to cherish different expectations for how language should be taught and learned (Barcelos, 2000; Barkhuizen, 1998; Bernat, 2008) Munford (1983) contended that “management educators should research the learning process and help improve learning by providing a learning process tailored to individual needs” (p 17) By exploring the link

between expectations and experiences, Kuh et al (2005) concluded who

students were less important to engagement, achievement, and persistence than they expected from college and subsequently experience Trejo (2007) focused

on the classroom level to examine student‟s expectation of teachers The voices captured in the study offered valuable information about students‟ expectations Spratt (1999) investigated what English language learning classroom activities learners liked, and then compared these preferences with

the activity preferences that the teacher provided in class.Braxton et al (1995)

found empirical support for the effect of student expectations on students‟ successful integration into the academic and social aspects of campus They argued that the more congruence or “fit” there was between a student‟s expectations and the experiences offered by the institution the more likely the

student was to persist in his or her studies Expectations, according to Kuh et

al (2005), form the basis for a kind of implicit contract between an individual

and, in this context, the institution in which he or she participates in order to gain experience and skills Students choose a learning context in part because they feel that their choice will offer them more in terms of educational gain and

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personal or career advantage If the gained experience fails to live up to expectations, this contract is broken, or at least stressed, and such stress is always a hindrance to continuing engagement As a consequence, it is important to understand not only whether initial experiences match up to expectations but also whether those experiences are being realistically

evaluated or simply suffer in comparison to expectations (Mancusoet al.,

2010) To illustrate this, I refer readers to the following paradigm

Figure 1: Expectation Disconfirmation paradigm (Prakash, 1984)

This Prakash‟s (1984) paradigm can help us understand the process of expectation disconfirmation and predict variables shaping expectations and significant outcomes of disconfirmation The first thing we have to consider from the paradigm is that expectations are compared with performance of the product or service and result in confirmation or disconfirmation of the expectations In education area, teachers are becoming framed as service providers, students as customers and performance, of course, as students‟ learning experiences in class Confirmation, as shown by the paradigm,

Expectations

(E)

Perceived Performance (P)

Confirmation P<E

Negative Disconfirmation P<E

Positive Disconfirmation P>E

Dissatisfaction

Satisfaction

Enhanced Satisfaction

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happens when a class performs as expected and leads to satisfaction Disconfirmation can be positive or negative Positive disconfirmation happens when the class is better than expected and leads to enhanced satisfaction Negative disconfirmation happens when the class is less than expected and leads to dissatisfaction As a matter of fact, on the journey of accumulating a wealth of learning experience, students are not without facing significant challenges from both outside and inside As mentioned above, dissatisfaction, for instance, happened when their class is less than expected From another aspect, these challenges reflected clearly what students are expecting from their class

1.1.3.2 Expectations and behaviors

In fact, a person‟s expectations are reflected by behaviors; White (1999) and Barcelos (2000) and Oettingen and Mayer (2002) suggested that expectations influence how individuals react, respond, and experience in practice In their argument, it is not a cause-effect relationship but a relationship where understanding contextual constraints helps understanding expectations since behaviors through gestures and facial expressions are a mirror image of what is dominating people‟s expecting deep in their mind for the time being As discussed previously, expectations are metal and individual; behaviors, meanwhile, are a collection of actions a person does that can be observed, measured, and repeated (Bicard & Bicard, 2012) Eventually, so as to read between the line people‟s expectations, it is widely known that their behaviors should be actually observed

1.2 Low-competence learners

Gilbert (1998) defined competence as an entity of theoretical knowledge,

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ability, application knowledge, behavior and motivation structured in mastering

a specific situation Barnett (1994) stated when competences would be chosen as the ultimate objectives of education, they should be described in term of well-expressed behaviors in classroom If someone is labeled to be competent, this means that the performances are coming up to a standard Low-competence leaners can be defined as a group of leaners whose abilities, knowledge and skills of English are performed worse than others in class

When competence is directly linked with performance in specific situations (Gilbert, 1998), it is clear that controlled tests or achievement test scores would not valid enough to address competences From this, assessment

of competences should include the issue of transfer which need various and repeated tests by long-term observation of performance Employing these definitions and theories I used the term “low competence learners” throughout the study to define those individuals whose abilities, knowledge and skills of English are performed worse than others in class classified by their teachers as a result of performance in tests and classroom

1.3 Approaches to study expectations in language learning

Earlier in the chapter I put nature of expectations and competence onto the table for discussion, now it is the moment to finish the chapter by looking at previous studies to explore what researchers have done into expectations and how expectations were analyzed Supportably, valuable experience and orientation for the next chapter of methodology have emerged Over the last few decades, a numbers of studies of learners‟ expectations have been reported

Most such studies employed questionnaires (Sander et al., 2000; Kuh et al., 2005), others used interviews (Bordia et al., 2006; Kandiko & Mawer, 2013;

Brindley, 1984; Nunan, 1988a; Peacock, 1997) combined with

Sander et al (2000) developed the University Students' Expectations of

Teaching (USET) questionnaire toexplore undergraduate students' expectations of and preferences in teaching, learning and assessment The opportunity enabled students to tell the teaching team what they believed should happen in teaching and learning (ideal expectations), what they believed was likely to happen (predictive expectations) and what they definitely did not want to happen (counter-ideal expectations) The result of this study showed that the students expected to be taught by formal and interactive lectures but preferred to be taught by interactive lectures and group-based activities Their least favored learning methods were formal lecture, role-play and student presentations Coursework assessment preference was for essays, research projects and problems or exercises The qualities of a good university teacher elected as the most important were

“teaching skill” and “approachability” Using data from the College Student Expectations Questionnaire to explore the link between expectations and

experiences, Kuh et al (2005) concluded who students are were less important

to engagement, achievement, and persistence than they expect from college and

subsequently experience

Bordia et al (2006) developed a model of students‟ expectations of the

Expectation Disconfirmation paradigm They addressed their research questions in two studies Study 1 involved short exploratory interviews of students and teachers Based on the response of these interviews, in-depth

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interviews of a larger number of students and teachers were conducted in Study 2 The research found that learners‟ expectations covered two broad domains: expectations related to content of the course, and expectations related to teaching and learning styles during their learning process Kandiko

& Mawer (2013) investigated student expectations and perceptions of the quality of their learning experience and the academic standards of their chosen programs of study across the UK in 2012-2013 The data were collected along with transcripts of interviews and focus groups The findings showed that students had expectations of value, learning environment, employability, evaluation, quality, standards and their roles at the institutions Brindley (1984) interviewed teachers and learners about the nature of language and language learning, and found, amongst other things, that teachers attached more value to use-oriented activities, while learners valued usage-oriented activities more highly Nunan (1988a) also reports a mismatch between teachers and learners in this area with only one out of 10 activities being given the same rating by the two groups Similar results are reported by

Peacock (1997) on 11 activities

Trejo (2007) focused on the classroom level to examine student‟s expectation of teachers The methods of data generation included involvement, conversations, dairies, and in-depth conversations The voices captured in the study offered valuable information about students‟ expectation As reported, the students appreciated caring and concerned teachers in several ways Understanding students, taking times for them, being non-judgmental, breaking down between teachers and students, concern

of making class interesting and fun are qualities of good teachers mentioned

by the students Spratt (1999) used involvement and conversations to investigate what English language learning classroom activities learners liked,

communicative) predictions might be more or less accurate

Mancuso et al (2010) explored expectations that beginning students

have about the university through three surveys – the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), the Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement (BCSSE), and the Faculty Survey of Students Engagement (FSSE) They found that students in retrospect rate their first-year experience

as less engaging than they had expected it to be before entering university In relation to learners‟ opinions on their own preferences, a study by Alcorso and Kalantzis (1985) indicated that learners tended to view traditional activities as more useful parts of a lesson than communicative activities Barkhuisen (1998) surveyed learners‟ perceptions of classroom activities and again reported that learners resist to participating in communicative-type activities and their preference for more traditional classroom work A study

by Green (1993), however, investigating how much learners‟ enjoyment of communicative and non-communicative activities found that learners tended

to enjoy communicative activities more than non-communicative ones

On the whole, it is a fact that expectations in most previous studies were examined without much accounting for learners‟ experiences and practices since questionnaires or surveys were mostly adopted to be the main instruments for investigating student expectations The use of such instruments reinforces an abstract idea of expectations by disconnecting them from students‟ real contexts

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and experiences (Block, 1998) Whilst relating closely to experiences as discussed previously expectations should be analyzed through observing behaviors of the individual holding them in real contexts In other words, it

is significant to study what happens in class as well as their behaviors during the process of teaching and learning for valid data of learners‟ expectations Unfortunately, observation was not adopted in these studies Furthermore, it is considered that none of these studies have focusing on low-competence learners Accordingly, the following issues need to be investigated more deeply: (1) the pre-conceived expectations of low-competence learners, (2) their learning behaviors and (3) their learning challenges when learning in class, which were the main goals that this study directed

The next chapter is the design of my study In this chapter, I will argue for research methods I adopted in my study Then, I will describe the site, the participants, my data collection and data analysis processes

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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

This study focuses on meanings in an attempt to understand competence students‟ expectations from their English class at a private English language center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam The literature shows that expectations are individual and self-experience based and interrelate with behaviors Thus, in order to understand them, it is essential

low-to look at the context of the classroom where the process of teaching and learning is happening

2.1 Participants

Three classes of S8, S9 and S10 where there were low-competence learners at the suitable age for my study were chosen and been under observations from June to August 2014 In ALIS, the “S” program is designed to meet learning demands of students from 12 to 18 years old The program uses the textbook series of Solutions The course books focus on communication skills comprehensively with a special emphasis on listening comprehension, fluent speaking, accurate pronunciation, grammar, reading and writing.To possess certain traits or qualities to answer research questions, I chose five learners at the age between 15 and 18 in the 3 classes A small scale study like this aims at getting in-depth qualitative data of the participants‟ expectations Besides, the participants of this age are mature enough to be able to express what they think or want The criteria for choosing learners were individuals classified as low-competence by their teachers, as a result of performance in tests and class

Accessing to the site went smoothly Firstly, I talked about my study plan

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to my headmistress We had a discussion in which I clarified my purposes, my questions, sampling strategies, and data collection plan Then she arranged three classes that were suitable for my study and helped me to arrange short appointments with teachers When I met the teachers at the school to show them my plan, they all agreed to help me and I started to come to their classes

to talk with learners and invited the learners who met my sampling criteria to take part in the study In this way, I was able to choose the five most suitable students: A, B, C, D and E.They are described briefly as below

Student A: She is 18 years old She has studied English in her public school since 2008 and has gone to ALIS since 2009

Student B: She is 16 years old She has studied English in her public school since 2010 and has gone to ALIS since late 2010

Student C: She is 15 years old She has studied English in her public school since 2011 and has gone to ALIS since late 2011

Student D: She is 15 years old She has studied English in her public school since 2011 and has gone to ALIS since late 2011

Student E: He is 15 years old He has studied English in his public school since 2011 and has gone to ALIS since late 2011

They all study English because it is a compulsory subject at their public schools One more common thing among them is that after spending a period

of time studying English in their public schools, they went to ALIS, a private school, with a general expectation to improve their English competence Hence, it is essential to have a general look at classroom contexts in Vietnamese public school in order to understand these learners‟ learning experience and background which is important to realize their expectations Generally, the public curriculum is exam-driven, being geared to the written examination of grammar, reading and translation (Denham, 1992)

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Ultimately, teachers teach English to finish the curriculum in order to avoid any criticism by colleagues and authorities (Canh, 2011) and students study English to achieve high grades in exams In addition, there are overly crowded classes and poor equipment in the public schools Such pressure keeps teachers far away from being flexible in adapting the text book to the classroom situation (Duggan, 2001) Studying in such context makes these leaners unsatisfied since they are at the lowest rank in exams

2.2 Data collection

2.2.1 Data collection instruments

Observation

Observation offers opportunities to gather „live‟ data from naturally

occurring social situations (Cohen et al., 2007; Mason, 1996) The literature

review shows that expectations may influence how individuals react, respond

and experience a new environment (Basturkmen et al., 2004; Kagan, 1990)

As a result, it would be more valid to enter their classes to observe what was happening than to “stand outside” (Mason, 1996) and only ask them what happened in their class Therefore, a more objective source of data should also

be employed To infer what students expected to do in their classes, I needed

a reliable observation schedule that was made repeatedly to exam what happen in class; my informants‟ learning behaviors and what if they have any challenges when studying in class

In-depth interview

Based on the literature review in chapter 2, the reason for adopting depth interview method in my study comes from the interplay among

in-20

expectations, experience, challenges and behaviors (White, 1999; Barcelos,

2000; Bordia et al., 2006, Oettingen & Mayer, 2002) In-depth interviewing is

a qualitative research technique that “involves conducting intensive individual interviews with a small number of respondents to explore their perspectives

on a particular idea, program, or situation” (Boyce & Neale, 2006, p 4) While it can be difficult for people to say what they expect, in-depth interviewing is an appropriate tool to encourage individuals to think and to talk about their expectations It is suggested that in-depth interviews are useful to detail information about a person‟s thoughts and behaviors or want

to explore new issues in depth (Boyce & Neale, 2006) In the form of structured interviewed, the methodology allows researchers to interact with each respondent on the basic of a set of pre-determined questions In-depth interviews are preferred since they provide much more detailed information than what is available through other data collection methods, such as questionnaires in which participants are only allowed to agree or disagree with a set of fixed statements Furthermore, in-depth interviews provide a more relaxed atmosphere in which informants may feel more comfortable having a conversation with you as opposed to filling out a survey In my study, what I sought was what learners actually thought, so using in-depth interviewing helped the participants to make explicit and articulate the expectations from teaching and learning in real contexts Hence, in-depth interviewing is a valuable source of gaining insight into learners‟ expectations I adopted it in my study where the subjects were helped to build, evaluate, compare, and explain their opinions and reasons, and the data represent their

semi-expectations about their class

2.2.2 Data collection procedures

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I invited each student to join in the study Then I gave him/her the detailed instruction and the purpose of the study individually, explained why he/she had been chosen, expected duration whether and how the information would be kept confidential, and the use of a note taker and recorder For the interviewee‟s convenience I started the first interview with him/her in ALIS‟ teacher office because it was near his/her classroom In addition, the office was quiet enough to go on record during the interview All the interviews were conducted in Vietnamese as the participants were at low-competence, so

it was impossible for them to understand the questions and express what they thought thoroughly in English

Step 1: The first in-depth interviews

In the first stage, the subjects were given a list of learning activities (Appendix B) Using the given activities, the interviews focused on what the students had done in their previous language classes, and the learning activities that they evaluated as useful for their own learning, or felt were familiar or easy to get on with The participants were also encouraged to add more activities if they liked After that, the participants were asked to evaluate each learning activity and reported how it benefited or deterred them

in language learning (See Appendix D for questions used in the interviews) This step provided rich qualitative data of ideal expectations

Step 2: Observations

Then the observations were carried out within three days of three lessons

in each class Unfortunately, I could not record videos while observing since the participants in my study admitted that being observed was uncomfortable and they would not study as usual with a camera in class However, taking the

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role of a non-participant observer, I watched each sign of classroom activities and noted them down carefully for the sake of getting live data which determine the validity and reliability of the research later on I paid a very deep attention on both difficulties and challenges that participant students were facing in class.To get prepared for in-depth interviews, I jotted detailed notes down at some particular points that I predicted would be interesting and significant to examine students‟ behaviors and actions which might lead me

to the reasons why they did or reacted like that Most of the data exemplified classroom activities and the learner‟s challenges and dissatisfaction in class

Step 3: The second in-depth interviews

Finally, from the first interview results and data collected in one month

of observing, I selected and designed the questions (See Appendix D for questions used in the interviews) for the second interview which was operated in ALIS‟s teacher office again The same procedures were repeatedly conducted with all participants Adapted the guide of Boyce and Neale (2006) (Appendix A) Firstly, I started the interview with some general questions to help the learners to be gradually in tune with the stream Then I discussed the main questions with them and stimulated them to give reasons for their answers or opinions The interviews usually took about 30 minutes

To get the most and rich data from an interviewee, I tried to make the participants comfortable and appear interested in what they are saying Effective interview techniques were used as I, for example, always avoided yes/no and leading questions, used appropriate body language, and kept the interviewee‟s personal opinions in check My data collection schedule was as below

Observation

To examine students‟ learning behaviors and their challenges in class

To collect data for 2nd in-depth interviews

Three lessons for each student, 90-minute-observation per lesson

Table 1: Data collection schedule

2.2.3 Data analysis procedures

All of the interviews were carried out in Vietnamese, then transcribed and translated into English To render interview excerpts into a more readable text, some researchers recommend that in transcription where it is not essential to have the exact linguistic form as it is in sociolinguistic studies, all hesitations, pauses, restarts, and asides can be dropped from the excerpts (Weiss, 1994) Thus, I have altered the interview transcripts in the following ways (based on Barcelos, 2000) "Hum", "erm", "you know" have been eliminated from

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the quotes when used in the final writing of this study and false starts and unnecessary repetitions of a phrase were usually edited since they could be distracting to the reader However, no word was added, changed, or substituted except to make the sentences less redundant I transcribed the audio-recorded interviews myself and sent the transcription back to the participants to check the reliability of my transcription and to add any clarification/modification where necessary To validate the Vietnamese-English translation text of the learners‟ interviews, I had them checked by my Vietnamese colleague experiencing in teaching Vietnamese-English translation Consequently, all participants‟ quotes are reported in English After processing the data, I used the strategies below to present the findings and to answer the research questions

Questions Strategies to answer the questions

What expectations do these

learners hold about their class?

Making use of live data collected from the 1st and 2nd in-depth interviews

What are their learning behaviors? Demonstrating by making use of live

data collected from the observations

What are challenges of these

learners when learning in class?

Demonstrating by making use of live

data collected from the observations and

2nd in-depth interviews

Table 2: Data analysis strategies for the research questions