Difficulties faced by sixth grade students in learning the new english textbooks

Aims of the study The primary aim of the study lies in its attempt to enhance educational quality for sixth grade students in learning the new version of English textbook via identifying

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

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

NGUYỄN HẢI YẾN

DIFFICULTIES FACED BY SIXTH GRADE STUDENTS

IN LEARNING THE NEW ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS

(Những khó khăn học sinh lớp 6 gặp phải trong quá trình học

chương trình sách Tiếng Anh mới)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology

Code: 8140231.01

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

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

NGUYỄN HẢI YẾN

DIFFICULTIES FACED BY SIXTH GRADE STUDENTS

IN LEARNING THE NEW ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS

(Những khó khăn học sinh lớp 6 gặp phải trong quá trình học

chương trình sách Tiếng Anh mới)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology

Code: 8140231.01 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Vo Dai Quang

Hanoi, 12/ 2018

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF TABLES v

ABBREVIATIONS vi

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 3

1.1 Rationale of the study 3

1.2 Aims of the study 4

1.3 Research questions 4

1.4 Significance of the study 4

1.5 Scope of the study 5

1.6 Design of the thesis 6

1.7 Chapter summary 6

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Review of previous research 7

2.2 Review of theoretical background 10

2.2.1 Definition of learning difficulties or obstacles 10

2.2.2 Factors Affecting the Learning of a Second Language 11

Attitude and Motivation 11

Learning opportunities 16

2.3 Chapter summary 18

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 19

3.1 Data collection instruments 22

3.1.1 Survey questionnaire 22

3.1.2 Interviews 24

3.2 Data analysis techniques 24

3.3 Research procedure 25

3.3.1 Data collection procedure 25

3.3.2 Data analysis procedure 26

3.4 Chapter summary 26

CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 27

4.1 Attitude of Ss toward EL in general 27

4.2 Frequency of Use of EL 29

4.3 Purposes for learning EL 30

4.4 Students’ perception of Study skills 31

4.5 Students’ perception on individual EL language macro skills 34

4.6 Self-evaluation of students towards the new version of English text- book for 6th grade 38

4.7 Factors from teacher 43

4.8 Chapter summary 46

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION 47

5.1 Conclusion on research objectives 47

5.1.1 What are the problems encountered by 6th grade students in learning English as a second language? 47

5.1.2 What are the possible solutions to the problems identified…51 5.2 Limitations 56

5.3 Suggestions for future research 56

REFERENCES 58 APPENDIX: Survey questionnaire I

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, rationale is presented first which clarifies the importance and urgent of the study based on Vietnamese context The chapter then goes on to introduce the aims and research questions followed by brief discussion of the significance and scope of the study At the end of the chapter, the design of the study is given

1.1 Rationale for the study

During the integrating context of Vietnam nowadays, English has become a priority in the educational system This can be obviously recognised through many efforts in improving and continually reforming the official English text- book version The newest changes have been applied for Secondary schooling system Although these efforts and endeavour are undeniable, the results ap- pears not to be very positive Learning capacity of students, particularly sixth grade students who have just graduated from Primary school, is influenced directly In other words, they themselves have faced a large number of diffi- culties in studying the new version of EL textbook

The reasons may come from either subjectiveness or objectiveness Whatever

they are, however, the situation can not be underestimated „It is really diffi-

cult to obtain an accurate picture of the number of people who are defined as having learning difficulties‟ (Mittler, 1995:137) That is also the core reason

inspiring and driving the researcher decide to conduct this study in a very pos- itive ideal that this urgent attention can be partly dealt and changed somehow

1.2 Aims of the study

The primary aim of the study lies in its attempt to enhance educational quality for sixth grade students in learning the new version of English textbook via identifying obstacles which hinder the language acquisition Only an experi- mental study could confirm that This kind of information can be useful, not only for the teaching of English in the classroom but also to the Ministry of Education, especially to language planners and writers in their decision-mak- ing

1.3 Research questions

The following questions are raised for research:

1 What are the problems encountered by 6th grade students in learning English as a second language?

2 What are the possible solutions to the problems identified?

1.4 Significance of the study

The findings of this study will redound to the benefits of society considering that EL plays an important role in education today The greater demand for graduates with EL justifies the need for more effective and changing teaching approaches Thus, schools that apply the recommended approach derived from results of this duty will be able to train Ss better Administrators will be guided on what should be emphasised by teachers in the school curriculum to improve Ss‟ performance in EL Moreover, the study will help the researcher uncover critical areas in the educational process that many researchers were not able to explore

1.5 Scope of the study

The centre attention of the thesis is to make every effort to point out the diffi- culties of sixth grade students when they learn the new version of English textbook The project will have been completed by January, 2018

190 student samples were selected from four different classes Their school is situated in Ha Noi, the capital of Vietnam, and run by the government The chosen samples combined both male and female They were all asked to do a designed survey to help clarify the research Then, five students from each class were chosen randomly to take part in an interview

Because the number of English teachers in this secondary schools was small, all five grade-6 teachers were invited to participate in the study 77.4% re- sponded by completing it Permission for their participation was first obtained from the Principal, but, teachers participated at their own discretion Those who agreed to participate, were asked to take the interview only without the questionnaire because of their lack of time and ego

There are a great number of fields which have been observed but we will mention the most significant here: The first are of course the difficulties in general, then some details from the four language skills, the others are pupil observations including their characteristics such as Motivation, Preparedness, Individuality, Personality, Background, Environment or other relevant lan- guage circumstances etc The second are the instruments of the research which are used in order to approach the expected results such as: Interviews both with teachers and pupils, Questionnaires again with the same individu- als, the gathering and the processing of the information through different

order to compare the different survey experiences by many previous re- searchers etc

1.6 Design of the thesis

The overall thesis is mainly divided into five chapters:

Chapter I: Introduction This chapter provides rationale, aims of the study,

research questions, significance of the study, scope of the study and thesis structural organisation

Chapter II: Literature review This chapter presents the review of previous re-

searches and review of theoretical background

Chapter III: Methodology This chapter presents the statement of research de-

sign, data collection instruments, data analysis techniques and research proce- dure

Chapter IV: Findings and Discussion This chapter offers findings and discus-

sion along the line of the research objectives set forth

Chapter V: Conclusion This chapter offers conclusions on the research objec-

tives

1.7 Chapter summary

The author desired to find out the difficulties of students in English language learning via the new version of English textbook by way of interviews and observation, by which the learners was able to express their own opinions The collected data are authentic and valid as it provided the genuine experi- ence of the learners

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, a review of the literature on second language learning is giv-

en First, the review introduces previous researches from which there is a need to look in order to have a comprehensive and complete understanding of the issue The review then goes on to explain what it means to know difficul- ties in acquiring a second language followed by an introduction of factors af- fecting the learning of a second language

2.1 Review of previous research

Obstacle or difficulty means a concept with objective and subjective validity

It is defined as a task that requires effort or labor to solve In the light of such observation, the quest to identify significant and potential difficulties leading

to failure in the acquisition or learning of a second (SL) or foreign language (FL) has been part of research in second language acquisition (SLA) for quite some times

Ellis (1986:27) refers to Second Language Acquisition Difficulties as a non- uniformed as well as an unpredictable phenomenon This view immediately signifies the complexity and diversity of acquiring or learning a second lan- guage The complexity of SLA as a process leads Beebe (1988) to suggest that

a multiple interdisciplinary approach can be used to view SLA in order to achieve a full understanding

Beebe (1988) suggests further that obstacles in second language acquisition

be looked at from: a classroom research-based perspective which concentrates not only on the ways in which second language instruction affects the pro- cesses, rate and ultimate level of second language attainment but also the in-

education which generally focuses on the role of first language (L1) on the acquisition of the second language (L2)

Another way of looking at SLA is reflected again by Ellis's view (1986:4),

"Second language acquisition difficulties is a product of many factors pertain- ing to the learner on the one hand and the learning situation on the other" What is offered by this view is not an entirely different description of SLA from the one mentioned above, but rather an alternative way of organising the same aspects of SLA and explaining them in terms of their specific relevance

to factors related to the learners and the situation where learning takes place Considering many difficulties which can potentially contribute to the acquisi- tion of learning a second language, limited space would make it impossible to discuss all of them here The rest of this literature review, therefore, will focus

on discussing factors which have direct relevance and bearings on this study Pienemann and Johnston (1987:124) came up with a distinction between 'ex- ternal' and 'internal' factors Under the title of 'external factors' are variables ranging from L1, social environment, and biological factors such as age 'In- ternal factors', on the other hand, are described as aspects of the learner's cog- nitive and linguistic capacities and the mental structures which determine these capacities This general typology of factors was incorporated into their multi-dimensional framework used in investigating factors relevant to the ac- quisition of a second language

Although different theoretical frameworks may put different emphases on these factors and their influences on SLA, Olshtain, Shohamy, Kemp, and Chatow (1990:23-44) argue that it has been identified in literature that they have potential to affect the success or failure in SLA, and they generally exist

in the following categories: (a) the learner context or the learning conditions,

including the educational treatment (formal/informal learning situations) and the amount of exposure to the target language (TL) in its natural setting (Beebe, 1985); (b) the social context: attitudes and motivation deriving from the political, cultural and socio-linguistic milieu (Gardner, 1980:255-270); (c) the learner's characteristics: cognitive variables encompassing language apti- tude, academic knowledge of one's first language (Ll and IQ level, as well as other individual features (Cummins, 1979a:222-250, 1979b:179-205, 1980:25-29, 1981)

However, it may be worth considering what Spolsky (1989:30) says, "To be able to discuss intelligently the conditions that lead to second language learn- ing requires a clear and precise definition of what it means to know a second language" Along the same vein of thinking, though concentrating on the lin- guistic competence, Gregg (1989:11) argues, “Thus, to account for the acqui- sition of linguistic competence, one needs a theory of language, for we cannot understand the acquisition of something without an understanding of what that something is”

These arguments appear to suggest that we cannot fully understand the effects

of those factors unless we can define what it is that they are affecting In other words, we cannot understand the effects of such factors on learning a second language unless we can describe what it means to know a second language

2.2 Review of theoretical background

2.2.1 Definition of learning difficulties or obstacles

Obstacle or difficulty means a concept with objective and subjective validity

It is defined as a task that requires effort or labor to solve

At Secondary level, English is being taught as a compulsory subject in the context Obstacles mean the problems, hurdles and difficulties in way of learning English Examination system, students‟ weak position and founda- tion in English, large classes, passive learning, uninteresting, lengthy, difficult literature based syllabi, the poor performance of the English teachers and old methodologies are considered to be major problems in the learning English Abbas (1998:42) reveals the fact that in spite of so many efforts, the result in English remains poor and this is all due to “flawed pedagogy and material de- sign”

Regarding the function of a language, each language has four skills as Listen- ing, Speaking, Reading and Writing The disability or competency over a lan- guage varies as the diversity of the socio-linguistic division in this world As Morley (1972) has observed that listening gets complexity and difficulties in a place where it is being used as non-native language In this way, the signifi- cance of the Speaking skill is of great importance and its importance cannot

be denied (Bailey and savage 1994) Reading is a socio-interaction process in which “a text”, “a reader” and “social context” are involved (Bernhardt, 1991)

The learners of our context are the students who face obstacles as referred to

“comprehensible input” The obstacles arise when there is lack of understand- ing between a context where a learner lives and the difficulty of a language task given to the students Most of the obstacles come out because the uncon- sciousness of the use and interference of L1 occur The learners are in habit of using their mother tongue, so in this way they face a lot of obstacles in learn- ing English as a second language during their educational career Krashen (1981) has quoted that “syntactic errors in adult performance” occur due to the use of mother tongue in the life of a learner and this impact remains for a

long period in the mind of a learner as cited by Banathy, Trager, and Waddle (1966) In this way, such errors or obstacles are difficult to trace out as it has become an unavoidable habit in the life of learner Krashen (1981) has re- marked that such errors or obstacles vary as the learners vary in their respec- tive linguistic background

2.2.2 Factors Affecting the Learning of a Second Language

Attitude and Motivation

Ellis (1986) observes that there has been no general agreement on definitions

of motivation and attitudes or of their relation to one another in SLA For ex- ample, Schumann (1978:367-380) identifies “attitude” as a social factor on a par with variables such as "size of learning group”, and “motivation" as an affective factor alongside cultural shock Gardner and Lambert (1972:268) define "motivation" in terms of the L2 learner's overall goal and orientation, and "attitude" as the persistence shown by the learner in striving for a goal Gardner (1979) attempts to link attitudes to motivation by saying that atti- tudes support the learner‟s overall orientation In Brown‟s (1981) distinction

of "attitudes" and "motivation", he identifies three types of motivation: 'global motivation' consisting of a general orientation to the goal of learning a L2;

"situational motivation" which varies according to the situation in which learning takes place; “task motivation” which is motivation for performing particular learning tasks Brown uses”attitudes" to refer to the set of beliefs that the learner holds towards members of the target language group This lack of agreement reflects the distract nature of these concepts thus making the task of measuring them a difficult one

which links motivation with, firstly, attitudes toward the community of speak- ers of the target language, secondly, with an interest in interacting with such speakers, and thirdly, with some degree of self-identification with the target language community (Crookes & Schmidt, 1991:469-512) The most exten- sive research on attitudes and motivation in relation to L2 learning within this framework has been conducted by Gardner and Lambert and their associates

in Canada beginning in the 1950s continuing to the present (Gardner and Lambert, 1959:266-272, 1972; Gardner, 1968:141-150, 1980:255-270, 1983:219-240, 1985, 1988:101-128; Gardner, Clement & Smythe, l979:242) Other approaches to motivation in relation to second language learning from the social-psychological framework include the Speech Accommodation The- ory (Giles & Byroe, 1982:17-40; Beebe, 1988), Acculturation Model (Schu- mann, 1975:209-235, 1978a, 1978b:367-380, 1986:379-392), and Krashen' s Monitor Model o f SLA (Krashen, 1981, 1982, 1985) Since they have not been as influential in the study of motivation and attitudes in SLA, they are not discussed in detail here

Gardner & Lambert (1959:266-272) first made the distinction between 'inte- grative motivation', which is identified with positive attitudes toward the tar- get language group and the potential for integrating into that group, and 'in- strumental motivation', which refers to more functional reasons for learning a language such as to get a better job or a promotion, or to pass a required ex- amination In 1972, they published the results of a more than ten-year long research program on English speakers learning French in Canada In this study, they established that success or failure in learning French in Canada was associated with whether students wanted to become part of French cul- ture, as opposed to learning French for only instrumental reasons This inte- grative- instrumental duality, with integrative motivation being held to be a

superior support for language learning, soon became widely accepted and many subsequent studies confirmed the validity of Gardner and Lambert's theory (Svanes, 1987; others are already mentioned above) Some studies, however, have come up with contradictory results (Lukmani, 1972:261-273; Cooper & Fishman, 1977; Pierson, Fu, & Lee, 1980: 289-317; Oller, 1981) Both 'integrative' and 'instrumental' motivations can be found among the Ton- gan learners of English as a second language, particularly chose at secondary schools Gardner continued, despite the controversial results, to develop this model of motivation in second language learning His Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB, Gardner et al., 1979; Gardner, 1985) stimulated numer- ous studies and his attempts to synthesise the results has led into a revised model that he (Gardner) now calls the „socio-educational model' (Gardner,

1979, 1980, 1985, 1988) Gardner (1985) points out that language learning is different from all the other school subjects because in language courses indi- vidual learners are required to incorporate elements from another culture Consequently, reactions to the other culture become important considerations thus making attitudes specially relevant to language learning

Gardner identifies two types of attitudes: attitudes to the people who speak the target language; and attitudes to the practical use to which the learner as- sumes he or she can put the language being learned (Spolsky, 1989) Atti- tudes, according to Gardner, do not have direct influence on learning, but they lead to motivation which does Gardner (1985:50)views motivation as a com- plex construct for it 'involves four aspects, a goal, effortful behaviour, a desire

to attain the goal and favourable attitudes towards the activity in question Crookes and Schmidt (1991:469-512) argue that the socio-educational model

1 The integrative motive hypothesis: an integrative motive will be positively associated with SL achievement

2 The cultural belief hypothesis: cultural beliefs influence the development of the integrative motive and the degree to which integrativeness and achieve- ment are related

3 The active learner hypothesis: integratively motivated learners are success- ful because they are active learners

4 The causality hypothesis: integrative motivation is a cause; SL achieve- ment, the effect

5 The two-process hypothesis: aptitude and integrative motivation are inde- pendent factors in second language learning

The empirical studies supporting these hypotheses are again controversial With regard to the integrative motive hypothesis, contradictory results have emerged from studies in different contexts In a summary of various studies testing the model, Au (1988:75-100) indicates that the results include every possible relationship between various measures of integrative motivation and measures of proficiency: positive, negative, nil and ambiguous Clement & Kruidenier (1983:273-294), Hidalgo (1986:193-220) found no support of a general integrative motivation in their studies In response to these criticisms, Gardner (1988:101-126) acknowledges the relatively unstable results, yet continues to maintain that in most cases there are significant correlations be- tween at least some aspects of the integrative motive and some aspects of sec- ond language proficiency Currently, he does not claim that integrative moti- vation is superior to instrumental motivation, but simply that those who are

integratively motivated will probably be more successful in second language learning than those who are not so motivated

With regard to his causality hypothesis, numerous researchers have suggested that achievement might actually be the cause instead of the effect of attitude, that is, successful second language learners might acquire positive attitudes toward both language and the target language community as a result o f doing well in their learning of the language (Savignon, 1972; Backman, 1976:100-122; Hennann, 1980:247-254; Strong, l984:1-14) In response, Gardner (1985) insists that there is no support in literature for the notion that achievement influences the nature and amount of attitude change

In as far as the treatment of motivation in second language learning from the social-psychological framework, so far alluded to, Crookes and Schmidt (1991:469-512) point out something that is lacking “In second language ac- quisition theory, motivation is typically grouped together with various aspects

of personality and emotion as miscellaneous „affective' factors that may play a role in acquisition Current SL discussion on this topic lacks validity in that it

is not well-grounded in the real world domain of the Sl classroom, nor it is well-connected to other related educational research" When teachers say that

a student is motivated, they are not usually concerned with the student's rea- son for studying, but are observing that the student does productively engage

in learning tasks and sustains that engagement without the need for continual encouragement or direction It is this teacher-validated use of the term moti- vation, according to Crookes and Schmidt, that has not been adopted (but should be adopted) by second language investigators

Learning opportunities

Spolsky (1989) argued that "whatever the language learner brings to the task, whether innate ability, a language acquisition device, attitudes, previous knowledge, and experiences of languages and language learning, the outcome

of language learning depends in larger measure on the amount and kind of exposure to the target language” The amount and kind of exposure to the tar- get language are considered important because they provide opportunities for the language learner to successfully perform the tasks essentially involved in learning a second language Klein (1986) claimed that the second language learner has four essential tasks to perform in second language learning: "First,

he or she must successfully analyse the speech input he or she hears into ap- propriate units Second, he or she must learn how to synthesise these minimal units into larger units Third, he or she must learn how utterances are embed- ded in context (including of course non-linguistic context) Finally, he or she must learn to match his or her own present command of a language with the target aimed at" (Spolsky, 1989:166-167) Spolsky (1989) pointed out two other tasks which Klein seemed to have left unstated yet involved in all kinds

of learning The first of these is the remembering of the newly learned items, and the second is the practice of the newly learned items to help the develop- ment of fluency and automaticity In his general theory for second language learning, Spolsky restated all these six task elements as conditions which must be met in order for second language learning to take place That learners must be provided with opportunities so that they can perform these tasks of language learning

There are two kinds of exposure commonly referred to in second language learning literature Although they are distinct in many aspects, they both pro- vide opportunities for the language learner to carry out the various tasks in-

volved in learning a second language The “natural language learning” is a situation where the language learner picks up a second language in the envi- ronment in which it is spoken from others speaking with the purpose of using

it to communicate The formal or classroom learning" is the learning of lan- guage in a situation where only one person (the teacher) has command of it and the teacher controls the exposure so it with lead to learning

Spolsky (1989) outlined sets of contrasting conditions between these two learning situations As the goal for natural language learning is communica- tion,the learner is under pressure to utilise his entire language potential in or- der to communicate successfully This provides a necessary kind of practice Negotiation of meaning between the speakers and the native speakers pro- vides a very valuable form of practice In the formal situation, the goal is learning so the tasks presented to the Learner is smaller making it easier for the learner to analyse, synthesise, and match thus giving time for memory and opportunity for sufficient practice

Many speakers in the natural environment are fluent and native so the learner

is consequently exposed to a variety of forms and styles with which he or she can match his or her own knowledge The influent model of the teacher in the classroom provides the learner with time to get used to one style at a time, also there is no competition from other speakers better than the learners to make them feel inadequate

The natural environment provides contextual clues for understanding lan- guage in use and also opportunities to see the rules in language use in physi- cal and social contexts The controlled circumstances in the classroom make it possible to hear better and to concentrate more

From the sets of distinctive conditions discussed above, it appears that learn- ing a second language through formal instruction is more limited and con- strained especially in the amount of exposure it provides for the language learners to carry out the tasks involved in learning a second language

2.3 Chapter summary

From this review, one can begin to see and appreciate that learning a second language is a very complex process It also follows that teaching a second language is a very difficult task The complexity of factors involved in the learning of a second language makes it even harder to account for the reasons why there is success or lack of success in learning a second language The re- view has revealed that not only are there factors which are 'internal' to the learners, but there are factors that are 'external' to the learners, which con- tribute either to speed up or slow down the process of learning This review has, therefore, provided not only the theoretical basis but guidelines (especial-

ly on factors to be investigated) upon which the design and methodology of this study have been based

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes in detail the statement of research design, the data col- lection instruments, the data analysis techniques and the research procedure

3.1 Data collection instruments

3.1.1 Survey questionnaire

The method used is to deliver survey questionnaire.“Questionnaires are any

written instruments that present respondents with a series of questions or statements to which they are to react either by writing out their answers or selecting from among existing answers” (Brown, 2001)

The questionnaire instructions should be designed clear, short and easy to read (Narins, 1995) and combines two types of question: checklist questions

to check all answers applicable and open-closed questions

The questionnaire consists of four parts:

Part A: Overview

The intention of part A is to clarify the attitude of students towards the lan- guage English in general, the frequency of Ss in using EL and their purposes

in acquiring EL

Part B: Perception on individual English language macro-skills

This part plays a specially essential role in reflecting Ss‟ competence and effi- ciency of knowledge and skills after one half of the school year studying the new version of English textbook

Students in the sample were asked to express their views on the importance of each of the four English macro skills (reading, writing, listening, and speak- ing) The intention was to identity whether the importance students put on each English language macro skill is related to their performances in each of those macro skills

Part C: Self-evaluation of students towards the new version of English text- book for grade six

The intention was to investigate how much their orientation to English, as re- flected by their attitude toward the material they are using, affected their learning competence

Part D: Other objective factors

The intention was to investigate if factors from teachers had remained any af- fection on Ss‟ learning perception

3.1.2 Interviews

In this study, the interviews were carried out right after the questionnaires with 20 students from four classes, who were chosen randomly for more in- depth data The aim for interviews is to get better insights into the research questions and to discuss for further information about items raised in the questionnaires Each of the interviewees was invited to answer the questions with the researcher‟s explanation of the questions and clarifying under an- swers, each interview lasted for about 5-7 minutes The informal talks were sometimes done during breaks The questions for interviews were conducted mainly in Vietnamese because it is better for the participants to express their ideas naturally and truly Basic questions were prepared With interviewees‟

permission, the interviews were recorded and taken note All interview data were analysed interpretatively

3.2 Data analysis techniques

There are methods applied to analyse data: interpretive process and statistical process In the context of using questionnaire to conduct the research, the lat- ter type is preferable

Before analysing data, much consideration is necessarily needed to make re- liable and valid interpretation, draw conclusions from data as well as be ob- jective in analysing data Moreover, in order to manage data, the re- searcher should be selective and check in the analysis, code the data (date, who completed and number of returns), categorise data (in relation to gen- der…as an example) and code data in relation to kinds of answer, theme or issues (especially for open-ended questionnaires)

Coding the questionnaire data

The data were coded that almost all responses which were designed on the Five-point scale were scored 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, in the direction from the most posi- tive (1) to the most negative response (5) The items which were answered by simply identifying the applicable alternatives to their situations from a list of alternatives given, were scored 1 if they indicated an alternative to be applic- able or 0 if they indicated an alternative not to be applicable This system was applied to all students and these provided the quantified results used for the analysis

3.3 Research procedure

3.3.1 Data collection procedure

The questionnaire was first piloted to a small sample of 50 students to check its validity and reality The piloted questionnaire then was re-edited and deliv- ered to 49 students and finally delivered to 91 students at the end of the first semester of the school year 2017-2018 The students had 10 minutes to com- plete the questionnaire The purpose and importance of the study were ex- plained While students were completing the questionnaire, any questions were clarified by me

Concerning the interview, they are conducted to gain more in-depth informa- tion about students‟ learning problem After analysing the questionnaires, 20 students were chosen by chance to participate in the interview It took place in

a face-to-face situation with the students, and the interviews were taken note

or tape-recorded

3.3.2 Data analysis procedure

Data from Questionnaire

Step 1: Prepare the data

Step 2: Report the statistics

Step 3: Display collected data by tables or line graphs

Data from Interviews

Step 1: Record all the process of interviewing

Step 2: Analysis by taking notes of necessary information

3.4 Chapter summary

This chapter looked at the research methodologies used in this research Justi- fications on why the researcher chose to use those methodologies were given This thesis is designed as an action research project Interviews and question- naires were the main methods of data collection used to gather relevant data

to achieve the research objectives

CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

In this chapter the findings of the study are provided The first parts provide

an overview description of the attitude of Ss toward English in general, the students‟ frequency of use of English and the purposes for learning English

In the next two parts, students‟ individual perception of soft skills and micro skills are presented, followed by the students‟ self-evaluation towards the new version of English textbook part Then, included in the final section are the factors as perceived by teachers

4.1 Attitude of Ss toward EL in general

Ss were asked to show what they thought about English and the results were presented in table 1

Content (rate) Strong- ly

agree

Agre

e

Not sure

Dis- agree

Strongly disagree

Q1: EL is really important? 71,7 3,6 11,3 8,3 5,1 Q2: Whether you like studying

EL?

26,3 37,8 9,6 20,6 15,7

Table 1: Attitude of Ss toward EL in general

The results witnessed a considerable fluctuation in Question 1 The Ss who

“Strongly agree” with the idea that “EL is really important” counted for 71,7% After that, the rate went into free fall to 11,3% and 8,3% for “Not sure” and “Disagree”, before continuously experiencing a new low at around 3,6% and 5,1% for “Agree” and “Strongly disagree”

However, in Question 2, the rate was fairly stable Approximately well over one-third of the participants (37,8%) revealed that they liked EL, following by

a slight fluctuation among “strongly agree”, “strongly disagree” and “dis- agree” (i.e, 26,3%, 20,6% and 15,7%) The selection which received the low- est vote was “Not sure” with only 9,6%

In Question 3, students were asked whether they actively approached to EL with other sources beside textbook In response, the proportion of students indicated always was 56.4% before collapsing to 23.2% for those who did most of the time 10.3% said some times, 2.0% did very little and 4.0% con- fessed never There was a sharp fluctuation but the trend was definitely downward

The most common sources students approached were books, music and films There is a strong possibility that entertainment or leisure activities bring peo- ple countless motivation Moreover, people could do more actively when it comes to their favourite fortes

For question 4, students were asked to indicate the method they learnt EL 5.9% said they learnt themselves and used textbook as the main source of ma- terial only 33.8% revealed they both used the textbook as well as buying sup- plementary materials to reinforce their knowledge The last option, taking tu- tor or extra classes accounted for 60.3% They stated that they spent approxi- mately 1,5h to 3,5h on practicing grammar

It seems that textbook is still not enough for the knowledgeable greed of learners

Q6: How often do you commu-

nicate with teacher by EL in-

side the classroom?

Q7: How often do you commu-

nicate with friends by EL in-

side the classroom?

Q8: How often do you use EL

outside the classroom (at break

time, at home, in public

places…)?

Table 2: Frequency of Use of EL

It can be seen from table 3 a less frequent use of English for communication

of Ss with friends inside classroom or anywhere outside classroom, particular-

ly, based on the lowest "always" and "most time" figures as well as highest

"very little" and "never" figures The majority of students (53 5%) never used English when they left school Only very few students used it all the time for communication as a habit

It is also revealed that the frequency of English use inside classroom depend-

ed on whom the students used it with Considering the communication of Ss inside classroom with both teacher and friends figures and basing particularly

on “higher always and most time” figures as well as “mostly lower sometime and very little” figures, the most frequent use of English was with teachers 30,3% of the students used English most of the time when communicating with teacher inside the classroom while there was only 4,7% did the same with friends inside the classroom

4.3 Purposes for learning EL

Five purposes or reasons for studying EL were given and Ss were asked to identify the ones which most represented their idea Table 4 shows the distri- bution of Ss‟ purposes for learning EL

Table 3: Purposes for learning EL

Table 4 reveals that a large majority of Ss learned EL just because “it is a compulsory subject at school” (84,8%) or it was for “entertainment” (74,7%)

they approached EL because their parents forced them to do so or they wished

to continue using EL in the future counted for 33,5% and 46,4%

It can be inferred from the results of question 1, 2, 5 that a large number of Ss can keep up with the rapidly developing trend of society and realise the es- sence of EL However, they, at the same time, are likely not to pay much at- tention to EL It seems that they have not got themselves a big enough moti- vation to turn into passion Instead, EL has just been considered an obstacle which needs passing at school

4.4 Students’ perception of Study skills

This part plays a specially essential role in reflecting Ss‟ competence and effi- ciency of knowledge and skills after one half of the school year approaching the new version of English textbook

Students in the sample were asked to express their views on the importance of each of the four English macro skills (reading, writing, listening, and speak- ing) The intention was to identity whether the importance students put on each English language macro skill is related to their performances in each of those macro skills

Ss were asked to indicate their ability of remembering lexis The intention was to check how much vocabulary they could gain when the number of new words were supplied massively

Ss were asked to indicate their perception of grammar

0 Very well Fairly well Normal Not too well Not at all

Chart 2: Ability in acquiring and practicing grammar

The rate started with 4.1% for Ss who did excellently in grammar Then, it peaked up at 34.3% for those who did fairly well before suddenly decreasing approximately twofold to 17.2% for those evaluating their ability normal Here, the line went up modestly to 22.2% for those who did not very well and finished at 12.4% for those revealing that they did not do well at all

Ss were asked to demonstrate their pronunciation ability

3

1

0 Very well Fairly well Normal Not too well Not at all

Chart 3: Ability in pronouncing

The results went through an unstable movement 19.2% of all stated that they pronounced perfectly After that, the trend increased twofold to 43.4% for those who did fairly well before coming back to the starting point at around 22.2% for those answering normal The rate continued to go into free fall to 5.1% for those who did not do well Here the trend remained unchanged for those who could not pronounce a single word

Ss were asked to indicate their ability of integrating into mutual community and working in group

13.1% of all Ss showed their confidence in their excellent ability of co-work-

Chart 4: Ability in performing in teamwork

ing with colleagues in groups Approximately half of the participants (53,5%) evaluated their ability was good Turn to the rate of those indicating they did

normal, the result described 24,2% After that, the rate declined considerably

to 4,1% and 6,1% for those claiming they did not very well and did not do well at all, respectively

Ss were asked to indicate their ability of contributing opinions in EL classes

48

50 37.5

26

25

10 12.5

0 Very well Fairly well Normal Not too well Not at all

Chart 5: Ability in contributing opinions in classroom

9.7% of all the sample participants revealed that they did excellently, 26% ac- cepted that their ability were fairly good The number of those who consid- ered their ability normal peaked up at 48,4% before going into free fall to 8.3% for those doing not well Then, the line fluctuated slightly on point to 7.6% for those who could not give any opinions at all

4.5 Students’ perception on individual EL language macro skills

Students were asked to show their perception on four micro skills and the re- sults were presented in table 4

Listening Speaking Read-

ing

Writing

Q14 Which is the most impor-

tant English macroskill to devel-

op?

Q16 Which English macroskill

do you feel is most related to stu-

dents' English exam results at

school?

Q17 Which English macro skill

do you like the most?

Table 4: Perception on individual EL language macro skills

The Most Important English Language Macro skill to Develop at Sec- ondary School

Table 6 displays the mean scores of the students' performance in each English language macro skills in relation to their perceptions on the most important English macro skill to be developed at secondary school The students were asked to indicate the most important English language macro skill which should be developed at secondary school In response, 43.4% indicated speak- ing, 6.1% indicated listening, 23.2% indicated reading and 27.3% indicated writing

The English Language Macro skill Most Related to students' English exam results at school

In relation to the results of the students' English exam at school, students were asked to indicate the English language macro skills which are most related to them About 6.1% showed speaking, 2.0% showed listening, 16.2% showed, writing and 74.7% showed reading

The English Language Macro skill That Students Who Participated in the Study Performed Best in

The students in the sample were also asked to indicate the English language macro skill that they themselves performed best in About 8,2% revealed speaking, 7,1% revealed listening, 45.3% revealed reading, and 23,4% re- vealed writing

The English Language Macro skill that Students Liked the Best

Students in the sample were asked to show the English language macro skills that they themselves liked the best About 49.5% showed speaking, 3.0% showed listening, 31.3% showed reading, and 13.1% showed writing

It can be inferred from the results that although a large number of Ss showed their more interest in Speaking than other macro skills, it was still Speaking that they did face many difficulties and Reading, in stead, was the aspect most

of them did the best The reason was analysed more detailedly in the inter- view Student A, one of the interviewees who appeared to have trouble in ac- quiring all four macro skills stated:

“In our Speaking classes, most of the time, our teacher releases the question for Ss to answer, instead of the way that Ss can present freely or have non- stop speaking Moreover, there are 46 students in my class, so there isn‟t enough time for each of us to get the chance to practice ”

In addition, a teacher shared:

“Practically, the periodic examinations Ss are required to take are mostly in written form which focuses mainly on Grammar Obviously, it should be more