AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON TEACHING ENGLISH TO CHILDREN AT KINDERGARTENS IN HANOI

LIST OF CHARTSChart 1: Teaching methods Chart 2: Teachers’ using English in the class Chart 3: Number of children Chart 4: Children’s work in the classroom Chart 5: Sitting arrangement C

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -O0O -

NGUYỄN THỊ DUNG

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON TEACHING ENGLISH TO

CHILDREN AT KINDERGARTENS IN HANOI

(Nghiên cứu thăm dò về việc dạy tiếng Anh cho học sinh lứa tuổi

mầm non tại một số trường mầm non ở Hà Nội)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

HANOI-2015 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -O0O -

NGUYỄN THỊ DUNG

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON TEACHING ENGLISH TO

CHILDREN AT KINDERGARTENS IN HANOI

(Nghiên cứu thăm dò về việc dạy tiếng Anh cho học sinh lứa tuổi

mầm non tại một số trường mầm non ở Hà Nội)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Asoc Prof Dr NGUYỄN VĂN ĐỘ

HANOI-2015

I declare that my thesis entitled

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON TEACHING ENGLISH TO CHILDREN

AT KINDERGARTENS IN HANOI

is the result of my own research of the degree of Master of Arts at the University ofLanguages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi and thisthesis fulfills with the requirements of the degree Master of Arts and has not beenpublished anywhere

Nguyễn Thị Dung

2015

Supervisor’s signature

First of all, I would like to express my sincere thankfulness to my supervisor,Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Van Do for his whole hearted guidance, valuablesuggestions, and critical comments during the course of writing this thesis

My thanks also go to all the teachers at VIVA center who were willing togive me information via survey questionnaire Their enthusiasm and helpfulfeedbacks made the thesis more reliable and useful

Finally, I would like to offer my deepest gratitude to my family and closefriends for their understanding and support during the time of doing the research

This paper reports the results of the survey conducted in VIVA center to findout the difficulties in teaching English perceived by the teachers VIVA centerinvolves thirty teachers who are teaching English at thirty nursery schools in Hanoi.The focus is on professional support that the teachers receive to teach English atpreschool level

The difficulties will be viewed from the questionnaire and observationaldata The results indicate that Vietnamese nursery teachers lack English teachingmethodology for children and classroom management skills All the teachers havenot only taken part in any regular training because at this time there are not anycolleges or universities training English nursery school teachers in Vietnam, butalso have not enrolled any professional training courses from center Besides, theteachers also have difficulty in using teaching facilities and they need moreappropriate teaching facilities At the end of the study, suggestions and solutionswill be given to help the teachers overcome those challenges

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT ii

APPENDICE ii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ii

LIST OF CHARTS ii

LIST OF TABLES ii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 2

1 Rationale 2

2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

3 Research questions 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Methods of the study 2

6 The design of the thesis 2

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 2

CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW 2

1.1 Children learning English as foreign language 2

1.1.1 Characteristics of children 2

1.1.2 Children’s stages of development 2

1.1.2.1 Cognitive development 2

1.1.2.2 Physical development 2

1.1.2.3 Social and emotional development 2

1.1.3 Children learning English as foreign language 2

1.1.4 Children’s learning style 2

1.1.4.1 Visual (spatial) learners (lookers) 2

1.1.4.2 Kinesthetic (movement) learners (movers) 2

1.1.4.3 Verbal (language) learners or auditory learners (listeners) 2

1.1.4.4 Logical learners 2

1.1.5 The importance of learning language (English) in early years 2

1.2 Teaching English as foreign language for children 2

1.2.1 Child language acquisition and language learning 2

1.2.2 Teaching English as foreign language for children 2

12.2.1 Learning outcomes 2

1.2.2.2 Teaching curriculum 2

1.2.2.3 Teaching materials 2

1.2.2.4 Teaching methods 2

1.2.2.4.1 English teaching methods for preschoolers 2

1.2.2.4.2 Classroom management 2

1.2.2.5 Teaching assessment 2

1.2.2.6 Teaching facilities 2

1.3 Teacher’s perception 2

1.4 Previous studies on teaching English to very young leaners 2

1.5 Summary 2

CHAPTER TWO: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2

2.1 VIVA center 2

2.2 Participants 2

2.3 Data collection instruments 2

2.4 Data collection procedure 2

2.5 Data analysis 2

2.6 Summary 2

CHAPTER THREE: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 2

3.1 Results from questionnaire and classroom observations 2

3.1.1 Teachers’ perceptions towards English teaching at preschool level 2

3.1.2 English teaching methods to very young learners 2

3.1.3 Classroom management 2

3.1.4 Teaching facilities 2

3.1.5 Professional training courses for preschool English teachers 2

3.2 Answers to the research questions 2

3.2.1 Research question 1: What are teachers’ perceptions towards English teaching at preschool level? 2

3.2.2 Research question 2: What are the teachers’ difficulties when teaching to nursery children? 2

3.3 Summary 2

PART C: CONCLUSIONS 2

1 Recapitulation 2

2 Recommendation 2

3 Limitations 2

4 Suggestions for further studies 2

REFERENCES 2 APPENDICE I

LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 1: Teaching methods

Chart 2: Teachers’ using English in the class

Chart 3: Number of children

Chart 4: Children’s work in the classroom

Chart 5: Sitting arrangement

Chart 6: Teachers’ self-evaluation about controlling the classChart 7: Using of teaching facilities

Chart 8: Making teaching aids

Chart 9: Training courses

Chart 10: Observing other classes

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Teachers’ perceptions towards English teaching at preschool levelTable 2: Teaching activities

Table 3: Number of teachers

Table 4: Teaching facilities

1 Rationale

Nowadays, it cannot be denied that English is important and almost everyonehas a demand on getting English proficiency Therefore, English is taught as acompulsory subject in many countries all over the world In Vietnam, it isintroduced into primary education curriculum starting from Grade 1 Nevertheless, alarge number of Vietnamese people believe that English should be learnt as soon aspossible They would like their children to learn English earlier Thus, manykindergartens offer English classes for very young leaners who range from three tosix years old The growing trend of teaching English to kindergarteners has receivedmuch attention from the society It is the fact that teaching English to very younglearners is not an easy task because of specific characteristics of the children Ifteachers are not well qualified, they may not be able to motivate the children tostudy, or they may fail to use appropriate and effective tasks to help students learnEnglish

As an English teacher who taught English for very young leaners, the authorsaw a great number of challenges of teaching English to kindergarten children inHanoi At this time, Vietnam does not have any colleges or universities trainingEnglish nursery teachers Besides, there are not many researches about teachingEnglish to preschool leaners This urges the researcher to carry out this study whichexamines teaching English to children at kindergartens in Hanoi This study ishoped to provide some useful contributions to teaching English at preschool level ingeneral and to help Vietnamese teachers teach English better in particular

2 Aims and objectives of the study

For the aim of investigating the English teaching at kindergartens in Hanoi, theresearcher desired to undertake a research with the three following objectives Thefirst objective of the study is finding out teachers’ perceptions towards Englishteaching at preschool level The second one is identifying the teachers’ difficultieswhen teaching to preschool learners And the last one is suggesting some solutions

to help the teaching and learning of English for very young learners moreeffectively

3 Research questions

With a view to accomplishing the objectives of the study, these two researchquestions were raised:

1 What are teachers' perceptions towards English teaching at preschool level?

2 What are the teachers’ difficulties when teaching to nursery children?

4 Scope of the study

The minor thesis limits its scope to only teachers’ perception towardsEnglish teaching some preschools in Hanoi in order to find out the difficultieswhich they have to face in teaching process And this thesis only focuses onteaching methods, classroom management skills and teaching facilities Subjects ofthe study are thirty English teachers who works at VIVA center VIVA center is one

of English centers where provides English teachers for many preschool in Hanoi

5 Methods of the study

The study uses solely quantitative the selected method in order to explorethe teaching and learning of English in the selected kindergartens in Hanoi Toolsfor data collection in this study are questionnaire and class observation Datacollected from questionnaire is analyzed quantitatively and data from classobservation is analyzed qualitatively

6 The design of the thesis

This study is organized into three parts:

The first part is the introduction which consists of rationale, aims, researchquestions, scope, methods and design of the thesis

The second part is the development which involves three chapters:

Chapter one: Literature review This chapter includes theoretical background andprevious studies related to the study

Chapter two: Research methodology This chapter discusses the context,

Chapter three: Findings and suggested solutions This chapter presents and analyzesthe data which has been collected And then, the findings are given Moreover, thischapter deals with some suggestions to the problems in the findings.

The last part is the conclusion which involves recapitulation, limitations,suggestions for further studies, and references of the study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents an overview on English language education atpreschool level and approaches to this study It provides relevant literature which isneeded to form the theoretical and conceptual framework for the study First, ageneral view on children’s characteristics, stages of development and learning styles

is mentioned because it is important for teachers and educators to make betterteaching and learning if they have a comprehensive look on children Second,English teaching as foreign language for children is revealed

1.1 Children learning English as a foreign language

1.1.1 Characteristics of children

With references to children intellectual development, Piaget (as cited inMoneey, 2004, p.64) states that children have four stages to develop cognitively.There are:

Sensomotoric stage (birth +/- years) in which children often learn throughphysical situations with the world around them They have tendency to explore thewords physically and grasp everything During this stage, infants and toddlersacquire knowledge through sensory experiences and manipulating objects

Preoperational stage (from 2 – 7 years) when children need concretesituations to process ideas This is the stage of the beginning language andvocabulary and the first learning of “good” and “bad” At this stage, kids learnthrough pretend play but still struggle with logic and taking the point of view of otherpeople

Concrete operational stage (from 7 – 12 years) in which children begin toconceptualize and do some abstract problem solving, though they still learn best bydoing It’s time for them to get familiar to actions, objects, and observable properties

At this period, they begin to think more logically, but their thinking can also be very

Formal operational stage (12 years and older) in which children can useabstract thinking to reason with concept relationship, abstract properties, andtheories The final stage of Piaget's theory involves an increase in logic, the ability touse deductive reasoning, and an understanding of abstract ideas.

From the cognitive development above, the kindergarten students, who areinvolved in this research, are in the preoperational stage when they need concretesituations to process ideas Therefore, it is easy for them to remember vocabulary ifteachers use specific situations or real objects to teach

Harmer (2007, p.82) summarizes young learners’ characteristics into sevenpoints There are: (1) Children have their own culture, and learning preference, (2)Children learn by way of physical activities, (3) Children have relatively shortattention and concentration span unless activities are extremely engaging, they caneasily get bored, losing interest after ten minutes or so, (4) Children learn naturally,(5) Children learn best when learning is meaningful, interesting and functional, (6)Non-verbal language is important because children will indeed attend verysensitively to the teacher’s facial features, gestures, and touches and (7) childrenoften learn indirectly rather than directly

Brewster, Ellis and Girard (2002, p.27-28) also point out and mention thatchildren are different from adults because they have a lot of physical energy andoften need to be physically active, have a wide range of emotional needs, areemotionally excitable, are developing conceptually and are at an early stage of theirschooling, are still developing literacy in their first language, learn more slowly andforget things quickly, tend to be self-oriented and preoccupied with their ownworld, get bored easily, are excellent mimics, can concentrate for a surprisingly logtime if they are interested and can be easily distracted but also very enthusiastic Ersöz, A (2007) gives eight characteristics of very young children whenlearning There are low concentration span but easily excited, high motivation-active involvement, talking interest but problems in sharing, short memory: learningslowly and forgetting easily, necessity of repetition and revision, limited motor

skills (using a pen and scissors) but kinesthetic and energetic, learning holisticallyand their love with stories, fantasy, imagination, art, drawing and coloring.

Mary Slattery and Jane Willis (2001, p.4-5) emphasize that children havetheir own characteristics in learning foreign language and also point out 12characteristics of young leaners There are: (1) learning through seeing, listening,copying and doing, (2) being unable to understand an explanation of grammar rules,for example, rules of using tenses of verbs, (3) understanding the meaning partlythrough non-verbal communication activities, (4) copying exactly, (5) lovingplaying and using their own imagination, (6) having short attention, so changesneeded, (7) being curious, (8) being developed independent thinking, (9) enjoyingrepetition of activities, (10) being able to distinct between reality and imagination,(11) being able to organize the best to implement any activity, and (12) working ingroups

In short, young children are enthusiastic and positive about learning.Therefore, teachers should design suitable activities and provide appropriatelearning experiences to encourage them to learn

1.1.2 Children’s stages of development

Brazelton and Greenspan (in Linse, 2005) state that young learners are in theprocess of development in every part such as social/emotional, physical, cognitive,and moral

1.1.2.1 Cognitive development

Cognitive development is the development of intelligence, conscious thoughtand problem-solving ability that begins in infancy It involves changes in cognitiveprocess and abilities

To Piaget, cognitive development is a progressive reorganization of mentalprocesses as a result of biological maturation and environmental experience.Accordingly, children construct an overview of the world around them, and thenexperience differences between what they already know and what they discover intheir environment

Carol Seefeldt (1980, p.31) quotes: “teachers accepting the fact that childrenare interactive, endose the cognitive developmental theory of learning Theseteachers believe that children are action-oriented, searching, seeking, adaptingbeings.”

Opal Dunn (1983, p.12-40) says:

The individual differences and especially cognitive differences between youngchildren of the same age are so great If a child is asked to learn a certain skillbefore he is ready, he cannot do it The failure results in disappointment andsometimes loss of interest Only a child who has confidence in his own abilitiescan reach out and learn tolerate to others, to try new things, to learn

Linse (2005) argues that one of the indicators of cognitive development islanguage development

1.1.2.2 Physical development

Physical activity is the common feature of young leaners Kindergartenchildren cannot sit still for a long time They learn a lot by doing and by using theirfive senses Most of them are full of energy, ready to run, swing, climb and jump.And they enjoy physical activities like marching, jumping, running and dancing

Seefeldt (1980), Dunn (1983, 1984), Brewster, Ellis and Girard (2002) give aconclusion that children need physical activities because they have a lot of physicalenergy Opal Dunn (1983, p.14) confirms: “Children are creatures of movement Toprevent frequent teachers´ complaint that young children have difficulty in sittingstill, activities need to give children an opportunity to move around the classroom.”

Sarah Phillips (1993, p.7) adds “the kinds of activities that work well aregames and songs with actions… tasks that involve colouring, cutting, and sticking,simple, repetitive stories, and simple, repetitive speaking activities that have anobvious communicative value.”

Therefore, Carol Seefeldt (1980, p.40) gives a recommendation for teachersthat: “It is important for a teacher to realize this fact for a child’s physical activity is

also related to social and environment growth Learning comes only as a childinteracts physically with the environment.”

1.1.2.3 Social and emotional development

Children at this age are very friendly It is easy for them to cooperate, shareand take turn with other people They have tendency to imitate the actions of peoplethey like and reflect the emotions of the adults around them

Experiencing feelings of love and hate, joy and sorrow, fear and satisfaction istypical for young children

Nunan (1988) notices that children develop socially and emotionally duringthe child years At the beginning of the year, most of children are shy and appear tolack initiative However, they often gain confidence and establish friendshipsquickly and become an active part of the class when they know about the situations

It is a time of testing and exploring social relationships

According to Mulroy (1996, p.16), young children need to learn about whothey are and what they can do by interacting with their peers They need to see thateach person in their group has important information and experiences to share andthat they can retain their identity while still being part of a group

As mentioned above, social and emotional development goes hand in handwith physical development

1.1.2.4 Moral development

Moral development means children’s reasoning about morality, theirattitudes toward moral lapses, and their behavior when facing with moral issues.Morality is defined by some researchers as a personal belief about what constitutesright and wrong behavior

Moral development involves children learning how to tell the differencebetween right and wrong; to use this knowledge to arrive at appropriate decisionswhen facing with complicated choices; and to have the strength and independence

to make the right decision Morality is influenced by the combination of physical,cognitive, emotional and social skills

Children go through five stages of moral development

Stage 1 is infancy An infant does not have the capacity to moralize, other thanhaving a sense of rightness or wrongness as those feelings apply to himself

Stage 2 is toddlerhood A child at this stage also does not have the ability to judgesomething as “right” or “wrong”; he is only directed by what others tell him,especially, your parents

Stage 3 is preschoolers who are from three to seven years old At this stage, thechildren begin to internalize family values, and it is a turning point in moraldevelopment Later in this stage children begin to understand the concept of theGolden Rule and to consider how what they do affects other people, that others haverights and viewpoints, too, and how to be considerate

Children from three to seven years of age expect wiser people to take charge Theyunderstand the roles of “child” and “adult” and need maturity from the adult

Stage 4 is the children from seven to ten years old Seven-to-ten-year-olds childrenhave a strong sense of fairness, understand the necessity of rules and want toparticipate in making the rules This also begins the stage where children are able tointernalize religious values

Stage 5 is preteens and teens At this period, they are vulnerable to peer pressureand peer values And they are more capable of abstract reasoning about moralvalues and become interested in what’s good for society

From infancy to adulthood the developing morality progresses from self toothers to abstract moral reasoning

According to Piaget’s theory, in children’s moral understanding, ruleshanded down by authority figures such as parents, teachers and government leadersare seen as absolute and unbreakable They accept that authority figures have godlikepowers, and make rules that last forever, do not change and must be followed Most

of the children follow the rules as a way to avoid being punished

1.1.3 Children learning English as a foreign language

Young children are natural language acquirers They are self-motivated topick up language without conscious learning, unlike adolescents and adults Theyhave ability to imitate pronunciation and work out the rules for themselves

Stages in picking up English of young children are not the same asadolescents and adults They have to go through four periods in learning English.Firstly, silent period is when babies learn their home language, they look and listenand communicate through facial expression or gestures before they begin to speak.And they also have a similar “silent period” when they learn English Secondly,depending on the frequency of English sessions, each child begins to say single word(cat, dog…) or ready to make short phrases in dialogues or any statements (I can’t,what’s this? ) The child has memorized them and imitated the pronunciationexactly without realizing Thirdly, it is a building up English language stage.Gradually children build up phrases consisting of a single memorized word to whichthey add words from their vocabulary (a dog, a brown dog, a brown and blackdog…) or a single memorized language to which they add their own input (that’s mychair, time to play….) Fourthly, they can understand what they speak and what theyhear Although they may not understand everything they hear, they only understand

a few important words

In the book named “Teaching English to Young Learners”, the author –Lynne Cameron gives some children’s characteristics when learning They are oftenmore enthusiastic and lively as learners However, they also lose interest morequickly and are less able to keep themselves motivated on tasks they find difficult.Children often seem less embarrassed than adults at talking in a new language, andtheir lack of inhibition seems to help them get a more native-like accent

According to Piaget (1970), chidlren are active leaners and thinkers Theyconstruct knowledge from actively interacting with the physical environment indevelopmental stages They learn through their own individual actions andexploration Besides, Vygotsky (1962) states that children learn through social

interaction They construct knowledge through other people, through interaction withaldults Like Vygotsky, Bruner (1983) says that children learn effectivey throughscaffolding by adults The adult’s role is very important in a child’s learning process.

He focuses on the importance of language in a child’s cognitive development Heshows how the adult uses scaffolding to guide a child’s language learning throughfinely-tuned talk

1.1.4 Children’s learning style

Learning style is defined as the sum total of individual skills and referencesthat make up the way a person perceives, gathers and processes information.Learning styles affect every area of a person’s life – how they learn, whether or notthey participate well in group activities, how they relate to others, how they solveproblems, and the manner in which they work

Thomas Armstrong (2000) divides learning styles into four categories: visual(spatially oriented) style, kinesthetic (movement oriented) style, verbal (languageoriented) style, and logical style He said children will generally have one dominantlearning style, but could use a mixture of the four If they could use each learningstyle, they were more flexible in their learning, and would probably be successful inschool

1.1.4.1 Visual (spatial) learners (lookers)

The visual learners learn everything through seeing They may think inpictures and enjoy diagrams, illustrated books, videos, and handouts This type oflearner needs a chance to visualize things and learn well through images They can beartistic, reading maps, and creating charts and diagrams They will often be veryinterested in machines or inventions and trying to figure out how something works.They will be happy to sit and play with building toys such as Lego’s, and will alsoenjoy mazes or puzzles

To help a visual (spatial) learner, using games and memory aids to create avisual pattern While they are reading, offer picture books, or if they are readingchapter books, allow them an opportunity to visualize what is happening in a story

Encourage them to use art to illustrate a story Using colored or drawing pens andcomputer work to help them excel at writing.

1.1.4.2 Kinesthetic (movement) learners (movers)

The kinesthetic leaners are not able to sit still for long periods of time, andoften use body language and hand gestures when talking They need to show how to

do something rather than explain it and they love to touch things and are usuallynatural-born actors Boys are generally more kinesthetic in their learning style, butare also girls in this style Kinesthetic learners will excel in sports

Giving the kinesthetic learners a chance to move is the effective way to helpthem learn Physical actions will stimulate and help them do their best Give them anopportunity to do hands-on activities, art projects, or acting out a story whilestudying

1.1.4.3 Verbal (language) learners or auditory learners (listeners)

Auditory learners learn by talking and listening They think in words ratherthan being able to visualize something They will learn more easily through verballessons and anything that allows them to talk out that they are learning Theygenerally love to read and have an excellent memory of names, dates, and trivia

The best way to encourage a verbal learner is to allow them to create words

by themselves Tape record stories they tell and listen to them at a later date, orallow them to read stories aloud during class time

1.1.4.4 Logical learners

Logical learners are often capable of abstract thinking at an early age and canunderstand mathematics easily They enjoy patterns, relationships, strategy names,and computers

Motivating logical learners is not difficult They learn well by being allowed

to play computer games, do word puzzles, and help with scientific experiments.Non-fiction and rhyming books will be appreciated to them

1.1.5 The importance of learning language (English) in early years

Nowadays, early language learning has become popular Pinter (2006) pointsout that one reason why early language learning has become so popular is that manypsycholinguistics have explained the advantages by proposing a so called “sensitiveperiod” in childhood for language learning This idea also comes from Lenneberg (inPinter, 2006) who proposed Critical Period Hypothesis He argues that brainplasticity was only conducive to language learning until puberty Therefore, childrenwho start younger than 11-12 years of age, given advantageous learningcircumstances, such as plenty of input and interaction in an English environment, aremore likely to acquire English to native levels without an accent

Scovel (in Brewster & Ellis, 2004) supports Lenneberg’s idea and points outthat language is best learned during the early years of childhood In addition, anofficial reference bulletin for educators published by the French Ministry ofEducation, Bulletin Officiel de L’Education Nationale, (in Brewster & Ellis 2004)argues that the aim of early foreign language learning was not the creation ofbilingual children but more reasonably “to prepare children linguistically,psychologically, and culturally for language learning”

Therefore, learning foreign language in early years is important for children.They can comprehend their native language and other languages in the early years,and they even can acquire English to native levels without an accent before 11-12years of age because of their brain plasticity

1.2 Teaching English as a foreign language for children

1.2.1 Child language acquisition and language learning

It is essential to understand and distinguish the difference between languageacquisition and language learning Generally, language acquisition is in whichlanguage is acquired, and language learning is in which language is learned.Krashen (in Linse, 2005) differentiates the process of language acquisition for theprocess of language learning Language acquisition is the natural process used to

develop language skills in a child’s native language Language learning, then, isoften used to describe the more formal approach to language instruction

Acquisition can be defined as a process of having language naturally orsubconsciously On the other hand, learning is a process of having languageconsciously Krashen and Terrell, (1983, p.18) state that acquiring a language is

‘picking it up’, i.e., developing ability in language by using it in natural,communicative situations Language learning is different from acquisition.Language learning is ‘knowing the rules’, i.e., having a conscious knowledge aboutgrammar

According to Noam Chomsky, children have an inherited ability to learn anyhuman language when they are born Besides, they don’t have to be taught language

or corrected for their mistakes They learn language by exposing to it and then,linguistics rules develop unconsciously

Vygotsky in Hudelson (1991, p.257) states that acquisition takes place whenlearners comprehend how the language is used and worked Fromkin, Collins, andBlair (1990, p.349) summarize some characteristics of language acquisition Thereare:

1 Children do not learn a language by storing all the words and all the sentences insome dictionaries The list of words is finite, but no dictionary can hold allsentences, which are infinite in number

2 Children learn to construct sentences, most of which they have never producedbefore

3 Children learn to understand sentences they have never heard before Theycannot do so by matching the “heard utterance” with some stored sentences

4 Children must therefore construct the “rules” that permit them to use thelanguage creatively

5 No one teaches them these rules Their parents are no more aware of thephonological, syntactic, and semantic rules than the children are

To sum up, linguists and psychologists studied and applied languageacquisition in order to discover the nature of language and the language learningprocess Based on children’s development and the two concepts above (acquisitionand learning), the teaching of English to young learners requires situations in whichthe students acquire language by means of acquisition rather than learning It meansthat the children acquire language naturally and communicatively

1.2.2 Teaching English as a[ foreign language for children

University of Exeter (2007) defines learning outcome as an expression of what astudent will demonstrate on the successful completion of a module Learningoutcomes:

        are related to the level of the learning;

        indicate the intended gain in knowledge and skills that a typical student will achieve;

        should be capable of being assessed

Learning outcomes and ‘aims and objectives’ are often used synonymously,although they are not the same Adam (2004) notes that ‘aims are concerned withteaching and the teacher’s intentions whilst learning outcomes are concerned withlearning’ and Moon (2002) suggests that one way to distinguish aims from learningoutcomes is that aims indicate the general content, direction and intentions behindthe module from the designer/teacher viewpoint

However, learning outcomes and objectives are more difficult to distinguish

as objectives can be written in terms that are very similar to that used in learningoutcomes Indeed, in the UK polytechnic sector in the 1970s, objectives werewritten that identified what students should be able to do; this was well before theywere known as learning outcomes

With preschool children, English learning outcomes are simpler than adults’

At the end of the school year, children are able to use vocabulary of some familiartopics such as shapes, colours, animals, family, body parts, transportation, and so

on Besides, they can use some simple responses and sing some songs, especially,they have an interest in learning English

to learn, which includes the learning standards or learning objectives they areexpected to meet; the units and lessons that teachers teach; the assignments andprojects given to students; the books, materials, videos, presentations, and readingsused in a course; and the tests, assessments, and other methods used to evaluatestudent learning

According to Wiggins and McTighe (2006, p.6), curriculum takes content(from external standards and local goals) and shapes it into a plan for how toconduct effective teaching and learning It is thus more than a list of topics and lists

of key facts and skills (the “input”) It is a map of how to achieve the “outputs” ofdesired student performance, in which appropriate learning activities andassessments are suggested to make it more likely that students achieve the desiredresults

Basically, curriculum is an organized framework that delineates the contentchildren are to learn, the processes through which children achieve the identifiedcurricular goals, what teachers do to help children achieve these goals, and thecontext in which teaching and learning occur

1.2.2.3 Teaching materials

Tomlinson (1998, p xi) defines that materials are “anything which presents

or informs about the language being learned” or “anything that can be used tofacilitate the learning of a language” McGrath’s (2002, p.7) agrees that materialsare “all kinds” that “can be exploited effectively for language learning”

Regarding the role of language learning and teaching materials, a largevolume of research has demonstrated its critical importance in language acquisition.Nunan (1988, p.98) states that language teaching materials are “an essential elementwithin the curriculum … they provide concrete models for desirable classroompractice and … fulfill a teacher development role.” Richards (2001, p.251) alsotitles materials as “a key component in most language programs” He perceives thefunctions of materials as the basis for language input (lesson contents, skills taught)

as well as language practice occurring in language classroom; and as a form ofteacher training which provides teachers with ideas on how to plan and teachlessons

In terms of classification, (Tomlinson 2003, p.2) notes that materials can belinguistic, visual, auditory or kinaesthetic Taking the forms of print or non-print,hand-written or media-distributed (internet websites, computer software, etc.)(Richards, 2001, p.251; McGrath, 2002, pp 125-136), linguistic materials may beinformative – informing learners about the target language; instructional – guidinglearners in practising the language, experiential – providing learners withexperiences of the language in use, eliciting – encouraging learners to use thelanguage; and exploratory – helping learners to make discoveries about thelanguage (Tomlinson, 2012, p.143) Pedagogical materials – materials designed forlanguage learning and teaching, non-pedagogical materials – authentic materials

(e.g off-air recordings, newspaper articles), teacher-written materials, and generated materials (McGrath, 2002, p.7) can be utilized as core / main materials

learner-or supplearner-orting /supplementary materials (Cunningswlearner-orth, 1995, p 1)

In summary, materials in English language teaching are anything that serve

as a guideline for not only learners but also teachers about content and classroompractice in English lessons It is materials that provide learners with Englishlinguistic knowledge and background knowledge in English, especially when they

do the self-directed learning; and it is materials that help teachers become moreefficient and diverse in ELT classrooms

1.2.2.4 Teaching methods

1.2.2.4.1 English teaching methods for preschoolers

There are many different foreign language teaching methods such as thegrammar-translation approach, the direct method, the audio-lingual approach, thesilent way, the whole language approach, the total physical response (TPR),communicative language learning, the natural approach, community language

learning, suggestopedia and so on (Brown, 1987; Tseng, 2000) Every teaching

method has its specific goal, either for listening, speaking, reading or writing It isdifficult to determine which one is the best It depends on many factors, like the ageand level of the students, class size, teaching time, teaching goals, and qualifications

of the teachers All teaching methods work but every method has its limitations.Therefore, in practice, many teachers use more than one teaching method Theychoose the most suitable aspects from different teaching methods for their studentsand apply them flexibly

In this part, the researcher concentrates on four teaching methods which areappropriate for kindergarten children Their characteristics and the use of themethods in kindergarten English classes are described below:

The Direct Method: The focus of this method is developing oral skills.

Consequently, the teacher must be a native speaker of the target language orsomeone who speaks the target language fluently (Brown, 1987, p.57) In order to

increase comprehensible input, teaching is conducted with ”lots of active oralinteraction, spontaneous use of the language, no translation between first andsecond languages, and little or no analysis of grammatical rules” (Brown, 1987) Asthis method does not use the students’ first language, the teacher must use concreteobjects, pictures or demonstration as aids for teaching Because the teacher uses thetarget language all the time, a great deal of comprehensible input is provided Thismethod is appropriate for kindergarten children, but it might be too onerous foradult or adolescent foreign language beginners because first language explanationsare not offered.

The Audiolingual Method: Like the direct method, the audiolingual method also

insists on using the target language to teach In term of characteristics, Brown(1987, p.96) notes that the audiolingual is used with “a great deal of oral activity -pronunciation and pattern drills and conversation” Typically, the lesson begins with

a dialogue Structural patterns are taught using repetitive drills There is little or nogrammatical explanation Vocabulary is learned in context Because this methodinsists on oral skills, tapes, language labs, and visual aids are heavily dependedupon The shortcomings of this method are that it fails to teach long-termcommunicative proficiency, and it tends to be teacher centered Today, learner-centered teaching is thought to be preferable Although this method has itsshortcomings, some of its teaching tools, e.g the use of repetitive drills, tapes andvisual aids to help students use pattern sentences automatically, are also appropriatefor kindergarten children

Total Physical Response (TPR): In a TPR class, students do a large amount of

listening and acting TPR uses a lot of imperatives, even in proficiency levels TPR

is appropriate in kindergarten English classes because it is a combination ofcommands and activities If the teacher can demonstrate clearly with gestures, facialexpressions or other teaching aids, students can understand without the assistance ofL1 Furthermore, TPR is accompanied with physical activities, which children love

to do As with any other teaching method, TPR also has its limitations Although

TPR is especially effective in the beginning levels of language proficiency, it is not

as suitable for more advanced learners Moreover, when students have overcome thefear of speaking out in class, the class is like any other “communicative” languageclassroom (Brown 1987, p.164)

The Natural Approach: The natural approach is aimed at basic personal

communication skills, e.g conversations, shopping and listening to the radio Forthe natural approach, the class is used to provide comprehensible input, thereforethe teacher speaks only the target language in the classroom The natural approachuses TPR activities at the beginning level of language learning to provide studentswith comprehensible input (Krashen, 1995, p.137; Brown, 1987, p 164) According

to Krashen (1995) and Brown (1987), learners will presumably move through threestages: (1) The preproduction stage: In this stage students develop listeningcomprehension skills The teaching method of TPR can be used in this stage (2)The early speech production stage: Students’ errors will not be corrected, unlessthey will hinder the meaning entirely, because the teacher focuses on meaning atthis stage, not on form (3) Speech emerges: This stage includes freecommunication activity, more complex games, open-ended dialogues anddiscussions Some points of the natural approach are appropriate for kindergartenchildren

To summarize, there is no one teaching method for all children and for allsituations Teaching situations differ from classroom to classroom, and every child

is different (Dunn 1990, p.vi) How to choose one or more appropriate teachingmethods is a crucial factor in the success of language learning in children Theresponsibility of a teacher is to choose the best of other people’s insights and adaptthem to his own situation

1.2.2.4.2 Classroom management

Classroom management is a term used by teachers to describe the process ofensuring that classroom lessons run smoothly despite disruptive behaviour bystudents The term also implies the prevention of disruptive behavior It refers to all

those activities necessary to create and maintain an orderly learning environmentsuch as planning and preparation of materials, organization, decoration of theclassroom and certainly the establishment and enforcement of routines and rules(Tan, Parsons, Hinson, & Sardo-Brown, 2003).

Krause, Bouchner and Duchesne ( 2003) defines: “Classroom management iscertainly concerned with behaviour, but it can also be defined more broadly asinvolving the planning, organization and control of learners, the learning processand the classroom environment to create and maintain an effective learningexperience.”

In class of preschoolers, there are many factors affected how to manage theclass like class size, the physical surrounding, and arrangement of desks and chairs

In order to manage the class well, the teachers the teachers should establish the rules

and consequences for good and bad behavior, apply them consistently, set a goodexample, use peer pressure and points, and use attention grabbing cues such asfavorite songs, English rhymes with actions and countdowns Being firm and fun atthe same time is also an important factor to manage the class

1.2.2.5 Teaching assessment

Assessment is an integral part of teaching and learning in English as in otherareas of the curriculum Assessment is the process of observing, recording, andotherwise documenting the work children do and why they do it It is the basis for avariety of educational decisions that affect the child, including planning for groupsand individual children, and communication with parents Assessment encompassesthe many forms of evaluation available to educational decision makers Assessment

in the service of curriculum and learning requires teachers to observe and analyzeregularly what the children are doing in light of content goals and the learningprocesses

In teaching English for preschoolers, assessment is necessary for bothchildren and teachers Assessment aims to answer three following questions: (1)Where are children now in their learning? (2) Where are children going in their

learning? and (3) How will children get to the next point in their learning? Based

on the assessment, the teachers are able to identify children’s skills, abilities, needs,and then, they can make more interesting lessons and activities, set suitable goalsand improve the teaching-learning process

1.2.2.6 Teaching facilities

As stated by Nikky (2010), the process of teaching - learning depends uponthe different type of equipment available in the classroom There are many aidsavailable these days like, audio, visual and audio- visual aids They have very muchimportance in teaching leaning process He gives eight reasons for the necessity ofteaching aids There are: (1) every individual has the tendency to forget; proper use

of teaching aids helps to retain more concept permanently, (2) students can learn better when they are motivated properly through differentteaching aids, (3) teaching aids develop the proper image when the students see,hear taste and smell properly, (4) teaching aids provide complete example forconceptual thinking, (5) the teaching aids create the environment of interest for thestudents, (6) teaching aids helps to increase the vocabulary of the students, (7)teaching aids helps the teacher to get sometime and make learning permanent and(8) teaching aids provide direct experience to the students

Although teaching English has many aspects as listed above, this study isonly to focus on teaching method, especially in classroom management andteaching facilities

1.3 Teacher’s perception

Perception is defined in the Oxford dictionary by Colman (2006) as theaction process, or product of perceiving… , to become aware or gain knowledge ofsomething through the senses, or to comprehend or grasp a stimulus Perception is aprocess of the consciousness of an object It is one of the means of valid knowledge

in the world and consists in an inseparable relation of the perceptive consciousnesswith its content

1.4 Previous studies on teaching English to very young leaners

In the world, not many researches about English teaching to preschoolerswere conducted In the study of Mei-Ling Chuang (2001), teaching and learningEnglish in kindergartens in Kaohsiung were explored The author concluded that itwas appropriate for kindergartens to offer English classes However, kindergartenEnglish classes had many problems about Chinese English teachers, native Englishteachers, teaching materials, teaching facilities, and class size The researcher gavesome suggestions for both government and English teachers to solve those problems

In Vietnam, although the researches about primary students, secondarystudents, high school students and students at colleges are various, there hasn’t beenany investigation into nursery students However, primary students, especially gradeone students have many characteristics like kindergarten students The researches of

Do Thi Mai Chi (2010) and Do Thi Phuong Thuy (2012) are typical

Do Thi Mai Chi (2010) conducted a study named “Challenges of teachingEnglish to primary children: voices from Ninh Binh teachers” to find out thechallenges which the Ninh Binh primary teachers had to face Teachers’ proficiencyand methodology are the most important problems The study suggested theimportance of supporting primary teachers with reasonable proficiency-basedcompetences and instructional-based competences through pre-service and in-servicetraining which should be given

Do Thi Phuong Thuy (2012) carried out a research named “Difficulties andsome suggested solutions in teaching English to grade one students in Ha Dongdistrict, Hanoi” The study result indicated that a large number of teacher of teacherslack English teaching methodology for children, teacher professional trainingcourses, classroom management And some suggestions and solutions were given tohelp teachers overcome those difficulties

1.5 Summary

This chapter provides the theoretical background of the study related toteaching and learning English as foreign language Children’s characteristics, stages

of development, learning styles are clearly given It is very important for teachers andeducators to make better teaching and learning if they have a comprehensive look onchildren Besides, an overview of teaching English is clarified Theories aboutlearning outcomes, teaching curriculum, teaching materials, teaching methods,teaching assessment and teaching facilities are explained After that, the chapterpresents some related studies on teaching English to very young leaners Thefollowing chapter devotes to the detailed description of research methodology of thestudy

CHAPTER TWO: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the methodology for the research Reasons foremploying quantitative method, and how data were collected and analyzed areexplained

2.1 VIVA center

Hanoi has had many kindergartens: both public and private schools Most ofthese schools also have English subject as an optional subject for their students based

on the requirements of the society and their parents And teachers who teach English

at these schools are from different English centers in Hanoi

VIVA center is one of these English centers It has thirty teachers who teach

in thirty nursery schools in Hanoi, both public and private schools Most of theteachers have been teaching English in their own ways because at this time there arenot any colleges or universities training English nursery school teachers in Vietnam

For the time being, there are many English books being used to teach for

very young leaners such as First Friend, Tiny Talk, Fingerprints, My little Island,

Brainy Baby, Super Kids, Let’s go, Super Tots and Magic English They are all

foreign books and at starter levels VIVA English is a book which is based on allthese books above and used only in VIVA center The book consists of seven unitswith seven topics: home and school, family, body parts, Christmas and New Year,animals, nature and transportation refer to seventy lessons The book is designed withmany colorful pictures to attract young children Each unit has a song with the sametopic The homework is available for them after each lesson Their duties are oftencoloring and doing the quiz The aim of the homework is to review the lesson and fortheir parents to learn with their children

Teaching facilities play a very important role in teaching English for veryyoung children because they need lively images and sounds Therefore, VIVA centerhas equipped cassettes and flash cards for all teachers here and each school a TV toplay CD

VIVA teachers are very young, from twenty three to thirty years old This isthe favorable condition to teach English for children because they have enoughenergy and enthusiasm to carry out physical activities which are necessary forchildren Ten teachers come from Hanoi, and other twenty teachers come fromdifferent provinces Some of them has problem with pronunciation of “l” and “n” sothat they could have difficulty in pronouncing English accurately

In general, the big problem is that all the teachers have not been trained toteach English for very young leaners

2.3 Data collection instruments

In this study, questionnaires and classroom observations are used to collectinformation

Questionnaire data is particularly appropriate to quantitative, statisticalanalysis Since all the informants answer the same questions, the data collected areeasy to be summarized, analyzed and reported (Wilson & Maclen, 1994; Brown &Rodgers, 2002; Cohen & Morrison, 2007) Besides, according to Nunan (1993), usingsurvey questionnaire is incredibly helpful because researchers can save a plenty of time

in delivering or collecting the questionnaires Furthermore, the subjects are free tostate out their ideas without having to worry about personal information leaked As aresult, the questionnaire is the main tool to collect the data for the study

Classroom observation functions as an additional tool to check theinformation Observation is a way of gathering data by watching behavior, events, ornoting physical characteristics in their natural setting It has three main advantages

such as: (1) Collecting data where and when an event or activity is occurring, (2) Notrelying on people’s willingness or ability to provide information, and (3) Allowingresearchers to directly see what people do rather than relying on what people say theydid.

Instrumentation one: Questionnaire

In order to seek answers to the two research questions, a set of surveyquestionnaires with twenty closed-ended questions have been selected as the main

instrument for data collection The questionnaire is composed of five parts

Part one contains seven items which are sub-divided into 5 categories.Questionnaire items are ranked into 5 different of Degree of Agreement, namely 1-Strongly disagree, 2-Disagree, 3-Neutral, 4-Agree, 5-Stronly agree This part is toanswer the first research question relating to the teachers’ perception towards Englishteaching at preschool level

Part two, three, four and five involve thirteen closed-ended questions acting

as the source for the second research question about the teacher’s difficulties inteaching English to nursery children Part two asks for an overview of Englishteaching methods to very young learners It contains three closed-ended questionsrelating to the teaching method which the teachers use most frequently, how often theteachers speak English in the class and which activity the teachers mostly use tomake the children enjoy the lesson Part three deals with teaching facilities andteaching aids Part four is about teachers’ classroom management And the last partdiscusses about professional training courses for VIVA teachers

Instrumentation two: Classroom observation

With the aim to find out the teachers’ perceptions towards English teaching

at preschool level, the teachers’ difficulties in teaching English to preschool children,and solutions for nursery English teachers, the researcher makes ten classroomobservations at ten nursery schools and with ten different teachers as an additionaltool to confirm the teachers’ answers for the questionnaire