A research into the role and the use of first language in General-English classes at Hanoi University of Industry

Ha Cam Tam Năm bảo vệ: 2010 Abstract: The debate over whether English language classrooms should include or exclude students’ native language has been a contentious issue for a long ti

language in General-English classes at Hanoi

University of Industry

Đỗ Thị Khánh Vân

Trường Đại học Ngoại Ngữ Luận văn ThS Chuyên ngành: English language; Mã số: 60 22 15

Người hướng dẫn: Dr Ha Cam Tam

Năm bảo vệ: 2010

Abstract: The debate over whether English language classrooms should include or exclude

students’ native language has been a contentious issue for a long time (Brown, 2000, p195), but not so many findings have been published in the case of Vietnamese as the mother tongue This paper will attempt to prove that L1 use deserves to be used despite the risk of over-reliance on it by demonstrating that using L1 has two enhancing roles to play in vocabulary teaching Firstly, L1 use increases students’ participation in class time activities; and secondly, it helps students learn the vocabulary better Two experiments were carried out

in an attempt to substantiate these theories In the first, four classes of 100 students at elementary level were observed over a period of three weeks, during which time two classes were English-only, and in the others, both teacher and students utilized Vietnamese The progress of these four classes is compared and then discussed In the second experiment, two separate lessons given to one class are compared (one with Vietnamese use, and one without) Despite problems with causality and perhaps the inability to generalize the findings, overall findings do indicate possible support for the researcher’s theories, and thereby for the use of L1 in the classroom

Keywords: Tiếng Anh; Phương pháp giảng dạy; Ngôn ngữ thứ nhất

Content:

TABLE OF CONTENT

Acknowledgement

Abstract

INTRODUCTION 1

1 Problem statement 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Scope of the study 3

4 Method of the study 3

5 Organization of the study 4

DEVELOPMENT 5

Chapter 1: Literature review 5

1.1 The historical view of the issue 5

1.2 The current mixed views 8

1.2.1 Support for the Monolingual Approach 8

1.2.2 Support for the Bilingual Approach 9

1.3 Approaches to vocabulary teaching 13

1.4 Adults L2 vocabulary acquisition model 13

1.5 Action research 15

Chapter 2: The study 18

2.1 Design of the study 18

2.1.1 Research hypotheses 18

2.1.2 Data collection instruments 18

2.1.3 Participants 21

2.1.4 Procedures 21

2.2 Analytical framework 23

Chapter 3: Analysis and discussion 24

3.1 Data preparation 24

3.2 Scoring the data 24

3.2 Results of the tests 25

3.4 Results of classroom observation 31

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 37

1 Concluding remarks 37

2 Implications 37

3 Suggestions for further studies 38

Reference

Appendixes

INTRODUCTION

1 Problem statement

Among a number of experts in the field of second language acquisition, there are increasing contradicting views about whether to use the mother tongue of the students (L1)

in the foreign language (L2) classroom or learning environments

The monolingual approach suggests that the target language ought to be the sole medium

of communication, implying the prohibition of the native language would maximize the effectiveness of learning the target language However, there seems to be an increasing conviction that the first language (L1) has a necessary and facilitating role in the second and foreign language (L2) classroom

Many English language professionals dispute the L1 use in the classroom, something that should never happen in modern communicative lessons They wonder how students can truly appreciate target language exchanges if they are continually relying on their L1s (Mattioli, 2004) Ellis notes that too much L1 use could “deprive the learners of valuable input in the L2” (1984, p 133) Auerbach (1993) observes that in ESL classroom

a numbers of teachers, holding the belief that L1 use will impede progress in the acquisition of English, devising games, signals, and penalty systems to prevent the students from using their L1 This is evidenced by the article of Weinberg (1990), extolling the virtues of fining students for using their L1 “This is an English-only classroom If you speak Spanish or Cantonese or Mandarin or Vietnamese or Russian or Farsi, you pay me

25 cents.”

On the other hand, many professionals in the field of second language and foreign language acquisition agree that L1 should be used with students who are not highly proficient in the target language (Nation, 2001; Swain & Lapkin, 2000; Atkinson, 1987; Tang, 2002; Auerbach, 1993; Mattioli, 2004) This may suggest that L1 plays an important role in language teaching, especially for the low proficiency learners (LPL) However, there are not many empirical studies that have examined specifically what good effects the use of L1 can have on teaching LPL

Therefore, it seems necessary to look at the approaches for L1 using from different perspectives and in different fields of L2 learning, that is from teachers’ and students’ points of view, in students’ learning of grammar, vocabulary or skills, etc This study research focused on one of those factors – students’ learning of vocabulary And it is hoped

that the findings of this study, to some extent, will contribute to the pedagogic methodology, especially in teaching English in general and in teaching vocabulary at universities in Vietnam as well as at Hanoi University of Industry in particular

The reason the researcher focused on vocabulary acquisition is that the acquisition

of vocabulary has a central role in learning a second language (Sökmen, 1997), and is of great significance to language learners, really important for the four language skills (Cook, 1991) Words are the building blocks of a language since they label objects, actions, ideas without which people cannot convey the intended meaning so second language learners need to have a substantial vocabulary size (Nation, 2001) The prominent role of vocabulary knowledge in second or foreign language learning has been recently recognized

by theorists and researchers in the field Accordingly, numerous types of approaches, techniques, exercises and practice have been introduced into the field to teach vocabulary (Hatch & Brown, 1995) The study of Ringbom in 1987 clearly indicates that L1 clearly has a very important role to play in the deliberator learning vocabulary (Nation, 2001) Auerbach (1993) claims that the use of the learner’s L1 in the L2 classroom will have a positive effect on learners’ second language learning, especially in the area of vocabulary However, what effects the use of L1 in English vocabulary teaching can cause to students’ learning is still an unanswered question that the researcher is endeavoring to discover

2 Aims of the study

The issue this paper examined in more detail is in what ways the use of students’ L1 in the classroom hinders or facilitates their learning of vocabulary of second language (in this case English)

The debate over whether English language classrooms should include or exclude students' native language has been a controversial issue for a long time (Brown, 2000) Although the use of mother tongue was banned by the supporters of the Direct Method at the end of the nineteenth century, the positive role of the mother tongue has recurrently been acknowledged as a rich resource which, if used judiciously, can assist second language teaching and learning (Cook, 2001) Still, so many teachers have questions about whether to provide L1 support, as TESOL programs at all levels on the market today provide neither explicit training nor adequate theoretical information on the subject Teachers are left to work things out on their own

For the researcher, the question of whether or not to use students' first language (L1 / Vietnamese) in English classes comes from personal daily teaching, recent literature she has read, presentations she has attended and the same concern of her peer teachers This position of being for the idea that L1 should be used at certain times may seem heretical in light of what most of us were taught when trained as ESL/EFL professionals, but it is surely worthy of serious consideration

Therefore, this research study tries to find evidence for the approval of using learners' mother tongue in a thoughtful way in second language teaching In essence then,

it is a form of action research where the findings could have a direct impact on this particular school and the way vocabulary is taught The research is done in order to find out the effects of using L1 in English classroom on students learning of vocabulary

3 Scope of the study

This study concentrates on “the role and the use of first language in

General-English classes at Hanoi University of Industry” In this study, L1 using will be investigated through applied-linguistic aspect However, English as a language consists of different fields to teach and learn, and Vietnamese can have different roles in teaching students of different levels Therefore, the study is mainly concerned with teacher’s use and allowing the use of Vietnamese in teaching vocabulary to non-majored students of English at elementary level

4 Method of the study

This study is carried out in the form of an action research in which the teacher applied different approaches (including and excluding Vietnamese) in teaching vocabulary

to her students and studied the consequences of each method in order to compare their effectiveness The study consisted of two experiment: the first experiment with 4 classes divided into two groups (control and experimental group) which are taught with two different approaches After some early conclusion has been drawn based on the findings of the first experiment, the second one was conducted for the purpose of further strengthening those findings In the second experiment, though, the two different approaches were used with the same class in different lessons During the process of teaching experiments, observations of classroom interactions were made by the teacher researcher and some tests were delivered to student The records of the observation and the tests’ results presented the effectiveness of Vietnamese using in students’ learning English vocabulary

5 Organization of the study

The study consists of three chapters Before we can begin with the experiments, chapter 1 examines the issue of L1 use in a language classroom in detail, and more particularly in vocabulary lessons, so as to be able to place these experiments in the proper context Chapter 2 deals with the study which included two experiments from the design to analytical framework In chapter 3 results of the observations and tests will be found together with some discussion about English learning and teaching First of all, we should have a review of the issue in literature

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