an investigation on the satisfaction of the learnersí needs in the course american culture and society

CAN THO UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION ENGLISH DEPARTMENT AN INVESTIGATION ON THE SATISFACTION OF THE LEARNERS’ NEEDS IN THE COURSE AMERICAN CULTURE AND SOCIETY B.A... ABSTRACT Being k

CAN THO UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

AN INVESTIGATION ON THE SATISFACTION

OF THE LEARNERS’ NEEDS IN THE COURSE

AMERICAN CULTURE AND SOCIETY

B.A Thesis

Supervisor: Researcher:

Student’s ID: 7032500 B.A Class NN0354A1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

TABLE OF CONTENTS 2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 3

ABSTRACT 4

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION .5

1.1 A brief history of the course American Culture and Society at Can Tho

University 5

1.2 Problem statement .6

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 8

2.1 Needs of learners .8

2.2 Course goals and objectives .10

2.2.1 Course goals .10

2.2.2 Course objectives .10

2.2.3 Reasons for course objectives .11

2.2.4 Turning goals to objectives 11

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY .16

3.1 Design .16

3.2 Participants .16

3.3 Instrument .16

CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 18

4.1 Data analysis and discussion 18

CHAPTER FIVE: LIMITATION, CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION 29

5.1 Conclusion 29

5.2 Limitation 29

5.3 Suggestion 30

REFERENCES 32

APPENDIX 33

Appendix 1 Course evaluation forms 33

Appendix 2 Questionnaire 34

Appendix 3 Bloom’s taxonomy of learning 36

I also wish to thank M.A Le Cong Tuan, who kindly allowed me to distribute to and collect questionnaires back from the students attending his instruction

72 students of English, both Bachelor and Pedagogy Training, from course 29 and

30, filled out the course evaluation forms, answered the questionnaires and responded my follow-up questions I thank them all for their effective cooperation and kindness

Nguyen Thi Ngoc Huong

ABSTRACT

Being knowledgeable of learners’ needs in a given course is of necessity because it helps instructors adapt their instruction, curriculum and teaching materials to be able to achieve desirable results in both teaching and learning This study investigates the

satisfaction of the learners’ needs in the course American Culture and Society, in an

attempt to find out what students wish to learn from the course so that the teaching of instructors becomes more satisfactory and effective The data were collected from the course evaluation forms and questionnaires administered to 72 students who already completed the course and from the interviews with four instructors who have taught the course Some follow-up interviews with the learners were also conducted for a closer inquiry of the course content and structure The course evaluation forms asked generally about the course content and teaching methods and the questionnaire was almost about course objectives, materials and teaching approaches The finding is hoped to assist the instructors in designing course objectives and assignments, selecting course materials and applying teaching approaches appropriate with the learners’ needs The result showed that learners were not taught authentic materials such as oral history, document films, and scholarly articles and normally did not have choices of what they would study in the course Although the course objective was stated either at the beginning of the course or sometimes during the course, there is no any course evaluation given during the course for learners to express what they wanted to study and perform Learners expressed desire that some classroom assignments and activities like visual aid using, group work or group work discussion, presentation and role play should be still kept in or added to the course and the instruction should be emphasized much more on U.S cultural aspects and less on Vietnamese ones

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 A brief history of the course American Culture and Society at Can Tho University

(CTU)

American Culture and Society has been taught at CTU for many years It is

considered an important part in English teaching and learning because in language teaching and learning language and culture have a close relation Teachers’ guideline often writes that language teaching consists of teaching the four skills “plus culture.” This dichotomy of language and culture is an entrenched feature of language teaching around the world Culture is often seen as mere information conveyed by language, not as a feature of language itself; cultural awareness becomes an educational objective in itself, separate

from language Some objectives when the course American Culture and Society was first

taught at CTU were to help learners comprehend some particular cultural aspects of the U.S such as geography, living style and history and improve their English speaking skill Later, there was a change in the course objectives; that was “after the course, the students would be able to compare similarities and contrast differences between Vietnam and the

U.S in terms of family, government, table manners, marriage and religion, which was interviewed from the course instructors It seems that at this point American Culture and

Society functioned as a mean to help learners explore more about Vietnamese Culture and

Society

Besides, course materials that instructors have used in the course are various

British-American Civilization, Spotlight in the U.S.A., Meet the U.S., Aspects of Britain and the U.S.A., Yesterday and Today in the U.S, Cultural Puzzle, and Culturally Speaking

others At the present, the English Department recommends using the three books Cultural

Puzzle, Culturally Speaking and Spotlight in the U.S for the course Over time, the

position of American Culture and Society in English teaching at CTU has been

strengthened It not only helps widen students’ knowledge about the U.S cultural aspects such as living styles, geography, and government but also enables the students to better study other subjects like Speaking, Reading, and American Literature In fact, according to the English Department Vice Dean Thai Cong Dan, the course will be a foundation for

American Studies, a new field of study planned to be offered at CTU in the near future as

an elective course It is clear that American Culture and Society is an indispensable part in

English teaching and learning

1.2 Problem statement

American Culture and Society is a useful subject in the English program However,

in an informal survey done in November 2006 in which 72 learners already taking the course responded to the course evaluation forms issued by CTU, more than fifty percent of them felt that the knowledge they obtained from the course was too far from satisfactory They experienced that the course has given them excessive information of the U.S geography, which lessened their attention to the lecture and their interest in the course In addition, no research of learners’ needs of the course has been carried out at CTU These seem to be a lack at some points of the course I would like to investigate if this negative perception is supported by strong data I also would like to investigate what the learners’ needs are Therefore, two research questions were posed:

● To what extend the course American Culture and Society satisfies learners ’ needs in terms of course objectives, teaching materials and teaching approaches?

● What are the learners’ needs in the course American Culture and Society?

The data will focus on the course objectives, teaching materials and teaching methods The result of the study is hoped to get instructors informed of learners’ needs; and thus, assist them in designing course objectives, selecting materials and, and applying teaching methods appropriate with the learners’ needs

From the informal survey about learners’ general perception of the course, the

research questions, and aims, the researcher raises a hypothesis that although the course

objectives had been prepared before the course started and were stated either at the beginning of the course or sometimes during the course, the teaching materials and methods were somewhere not at learners’ interest and needs This hypothesis can

direct the researcher in designing questionnaire and questions for the interviews and choosing the appropriate data collection method as well as instruments for analyzing the data

Collicott’s four-step process for the design of multi-level instructional lessons is cited in Salend:

Step 1: Identification of underlying concepts

Teachers identify and examine the goals, objectives and materials of the lesson and determine potential content and skill level differences

Step 2: Consideration of the method of teacher presentation

Teachers consider the different learning styles and cognitive and participation levels of students as well as the various presentation mode that can be used to present the lesson

Step 3: Consideration of the methods of student practice and performance

Teachers consider the different ways students can practice and show mastery of skills and concepts Teachers also employ methods for teaching students to accept the differing response modes for demonstrating skill mastery and understanding of concepts

Step 4: Consideration of methods of evaluation

Teachers consider a variety of ways to assess students’ mastery

Another important aspect of multi-level education involves creating an effective learning environment Some common characteristics of these environments according to a study by Brain which is cited in Bauer and Shea (1999, 1777) include:

● High expectations for students’ learning

● Clear and focused instruction

● Using incentives and rewards to promote learning

● Enforced high standards for classroom behavior (Bauer and Shea, 1999: 177 ) Another component of an effective learning and teaching environment is teacher enthusiasm By creating a very positive atmosphere, teachers can greatly increase chance for student success (Mercer &Mercer, 1998:39) Creating a positive atmosphere and effective learning environment will be a very worthwhile and rewarding undertaking

Meeting the needs of all learners is not easy for teachers The first step in the process is consciousness of the challenge and then makes adaptations when necessary to

meet a diverse range of needs If teachers can make adaptations and improvements effectively, they will be reaching all learners in their class

In four steps of designing multi-level instruction, course goals and objectives, materials, and teaching approaches are the three most necessary factors Of them, course goals and objectives are the most important component for lesson plans If they are written well, an instructor will have an effective and meaningful structure for course content, method of instruction, reading material and forms for assessment

2.2 Course goals and objectives

2.2.1 Course goals

Course goals explain the reasoning behind what instructors will teach in a course They articulate what instructors wish to accomplish and help to map their direction They address the question: what do instructors want their students to take with them after the course is completed? Once they have organized their goals, they can decide what content and teaching method will best achieve them

● Goals state what a student should be able to do at the end of the course; they do not describe the learning process

● Goals for one session are often related to goals for the entire course

● Goals should be clear and reachable, concentrate on naming the most important broad concepts

(Goals and objectives, 2004)

2.2.2 Course objectives

Course objectives are student performances of the concepts described in the course goals They are often referred to as “learning outcomes” because they define more

specifically what skills and knowledge students will be able to demonstrate after the course They can be used to assess the effectiveness of the course

● Objectives should always focus on the students, not the instructor

● Objectives should address outcomes, not learning processes

● Each objective should focus only one idea

● Objectives should measure specific behaviors Try to avoid using vague verbs such as “understand” and “know”

(Goals and objectives, 2004)

2.2.3 Reasons for course objectives

Course objectives are useful for students, instructors and instructional designers Some of the ways in which they are used to include:

● To select and design instructional content, materials, or methods, it is necessary

to have a sound basic by which success can be measured Clearly defined objectives allow designers and instructors a method to find how successful their material has been

● The purpose of instruction is to improve performance By clearing stating the results we want the learners to accomplish, we can identify if they have gained the appropriate skills and knowledge

● Because objectives should be stated before learners begin their instructional materials, they provide students the means to organize their efforts toward accomplish the desired behaviors

(Reason for objectives, 1996)

2.2.4 Turning goals to objectives

At the workshop organized by a Fulbright scholar (1) at the English Department, CTU in April 2007, the audience was introduced to the following enlightening information

on course goals and objectives (2)

The following examples will illustrate the process of turning un-assessable course goals into assessable course objectives To make this shift, we need to change our thinking from “course-focused” to “student-focused” In other words, we need to look at what students actually get out of a course, and not what we think the course will give them

It is important to note that we do not ask too much from any one course Two or three well-designed outcomes can result in more effective learning than four or five ambiguous course goals In order to achieve higher-level critical thinking and writing skill, courses need to be designed so that these skills are built incrementally

In the following examples, Rice has utilized Bloom’s Taxonomy (see appendix 3)

of learning and underlined and placed in boldface the key terms taken from the Bloom

Example One from the course Cross-Culture Perspectives (3)

Old course goal: “To encourage students to look for similarities and differences

between their culture and other cultures.”

New course objective: “Students will be able to describe and explain significant

similarities and significant differences between American Culture and Vietnamese

Culture.” (This objective demonstrates the students’ knowledge and their ability to

analyze features of their own and another culture.)

1 Professor Mark Rice was a 2006 U.S Fulbright scholar at Can Tho University

2 The two examples are copied from the workshop’s handouts;

3 This course is taught in TEOSL Master s program at CTU

Assignment: Students will complete multiple homework assignments that describe

and explain features of their own culture as well as the class readings By asking them to

explain significant similarities and differences, we will be able to determine the depth of their understanding of culture

Explanation: The old course goal is somewhat student-centered, but it does not ask

students to be held accountable for their understanding of cultural similarities and differences The new course objective expects concrete results from the students- they have

to both describe and explain, which asks them to move from the level of knowledge to the level of analysis, a move that is not always easy for them to make

Example Two from the course Cross-Cultural Perspectives

Old course goal: “To give insights into how to teach culture through language

more successfully.”

New course objective: “Students will be able to integrate the teaching of American

Culture with the teaching of the English language.” (This objective demonstrates the students’ ability to synthesize classroom information with existing knowledge and skills.)

Assignment: Students will be asked develop five lesson plans that incorporate

elements of culture into language learning They will help present one of their lesson plans

in front of the class

Explanation: In the old course goal, the focus is on what the course intends to

teach the students, but it does not adequately reveal whether of not the students are able to

“teach culture through language more successfully.” The new course objective, however, includes a key word that can lead to effective assessment

By having students develop an assignment of their own, we can determine whether they are able to do the kind of integration that they have been asked to do If most students cannot “integrate the teaching of culture with the teaching of language,” we need to ask

ourselves why that is the case, and whether or not we need to modify our course design or delivery in order to allow students to more effectively achieve the desired outcome

In a language-teaching course, skills-based and knowledge-based objectives are

usually considered at the same time It is knowledge-based because it requires that students learn certain facts and concepts Am example of a skills-based objective for this course might be “learners’ English speaking skill is enhanced.” This is a skills-based objective because it requires that students learn how to do something To determine the level of expertise for each measurable student outcome, first decide to which of these two categories the corresponding course objectives belong to Then, using the appropriate Bloom’s Taxonomy, look over the descriptions of the various levels of expertise determine which description most closely matches the measurable student outcome Therefore, Bloom’s Taxonomy is a convenient way to describe the degree to which we want students

to understand and use concepts, to demonstrate particular skills

It is suggested that students had better reach cultural knowledge-based objectives with the level of expertise that they will able to describe and explain significant similarities and differences between American Culture and Vietnamese Culture in the course American Culture and Society At this level, critical thinking is required in learners’ response of these similarities and differences so that the learners are able to analyze them Another objective that students need to reach is speaking skills-based They learn how to use cultural aspects

of English speaking in real-life situations For example, Americans consider a “verbal” culture to show their feedback in communication White they are talking, they often say phrases and sounds like “oh, I see”, all right”, “oh, sure”, “uh,huh”, etc to show that they are listening and that they understand In the following dialogue between Bill and Tak, Tak gives Bill feedback by using sounds and words to show Bill “I am listening”, “I understand”, and “I don’t understand”:

Bill: “The hospital ordered two typewriters last month”

Tak: “Uh hud” (he nods his head)

Bill: “Get hold of Pierre….uh… call him, or go see him”

Tak: “oh, I see”

If Americans do not receive a lot of verbal feedback, they may feel that the other person is not listening, is bored or angry or that he or she disagrees (Levine, Deena R., Baxter, J., McNulty, P., 1987) Contrary to Americans, Vietnamese people usually respond

to another person nonverbally Vietnamese listeners normally keep silence and seldom ask questions when they do not understand This character of Vietnamese may cause confusing

in communicating with Americans who often feel uncomfortable with silence American speakers may think that listeners are not interested and feel bored in talking to them If Vietnamese learners apply this “verbal culture” or speaking skill in their talking, they will interact more effectively in English Generally, the second objective should say that after

the course American Culture and Society, students will be able to apply the learning of

American Culture and Society in the learning of English language I believe the two

objectives suggested should be considered when instructors design the course American

Culture and Society

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY 3.1 Design

Descriptive and quantitative approaches are used to investigate the satisfaction of

the learners’ needs in the course American Culture and Society The CTU course

evaluation form (CEF) was first administered to English students who already took the course to get their general ideas about the needs of learners in the course Based on the result of the CEF, interview questions were designed and answered by participants for more reliable data to analyze learners’ satisfaction of the course

3.2 Participants

The participants the researcher chose included four instructors of American

Culture and Society and 72 English students who already took the course American Culture and Society The researcher wanted to choose four instructors of the course

because they are able to provide the researcher information about the course content and structure The students were of Bachelor of English course 29 and of Education of English course 30 at CTU The first group of course 29 finished the course in fall 2005 and the later group of course 30 in fall 2006 The researcher investigated the two different groups of

students studying the course American Culture and Society in different period with the

purpose of examining whether or not the satisfaction of their needs in the course is similar

in other that the researcher can get an overview of learners’ needs

3.3 Instruments

CTU Course Evaluation Forms, questionnaires, and interviews were used to collect the data

3.3.1 CTU Course Evaluation Forms: Questions asked generally about the course

content and teaching methods

3.3.2 Questionnaires: questions asked for course materials, objectives, teaching

methods and learners’ needs

3.3.3 Interviews: The student interview discussed again questions in the

questionnaires The purpose of this session was to better examine what the students’ responses to the CEF and questionnaire actually meant The instructor interviews were conducted with questions about course objectives, contents and evaluations

used the two textbooks Cultural Puzzle and Spotlight in the U.S and the other half, English Educational students of course 30, used Culturally Speaking and Spotlight in the U.S as their required textbooks Although the two textbooks Cultural Puzzle and Culturally

Speaking are different, they convey the same content: cross-cultural communication,

which, therefore, is the reason why the researcher chose learners who were taught different

course books The course instructor also gave them some handouts for further readings of

U.S history and maps The learners studied responded to the third question in the questionnaire that famous places and customs such as greeting, addressing, and expressing emotion and customs were the two most liked readings The learners were interested in some famous places in the U.S because the landscapes were terrific and suitable for traveling like dreamlike beaches in California and Hawaii The students had a chance to present one of these well-known regions so they could memorize most information It seemed that what learners still memorized were also what they were most excited to

Besides, the fourth question that asked which reading the learners liked least received confusing answers About a quarter informants either had no response or answered this question too generally: “I don’t remember.” It might be explained that learners were introduced mostly general information in textbooks about the U.S., they did not have chances to discuss aspects of the information deeply, so they easily forgot most of