Sử dụng tiếng anh làm phương tiện ngôn ngữ dạy học trong lớp tiếng anh cho sinh viên không chuyên anh năm thứ nhất – nghiên cứu trường hợp tại một trường đại học

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIESFACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG THẢO USING ENGLISH AS THE MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION IN

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG THẢO

USING ENGLISH AS THE MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION

IN ENGLISH CLASSES FOR THE FIRST-YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS – A CASE STUDY AT A UNIVERSITY

(Sử dụng tiếng Anh làm phương tiện ngôn ngữ dạy học trong lớp tiếng Anh

cho sinh viên không chuyên Anh năm thứ nhất – Nghiên cứu trường hợp tại một trường Đại học)

HANOI - 2018

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Major: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG THẢO

USING ENGLISH AS THE MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION

IN ENGLISH CLASSES FOR THE FIRST-YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS – A CASE STUDY AT A UNIVERSITY

(Sử dụng tiếng Anh làm phương tiện ngôn ngữ dạy học trong lớp tiếng Anh

cho sinh viên không chuyên Anh năm thứ nhất – Nghiên cứu trường hợp tại một trường Đại học)

HANOI - 2018

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Major: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Supervisor: Dr Nguyễn Thị Mai Hương

Nguyễn Thị Mai Hương

STATEMENT OF AUTHORITY

I hereby state that the Master’s thesis entitled “Using English as the medium

of instruction in English classes for the first-year non-English majored students – A case study at a university” was carried out by me for the degree of Master of English

Teaching Methodology under the guidance and supervision of Dr Nguyễn Thị Mai Hương Where I have quoted from the work of others, the sources are always given With the exception of such quotations, this thesis is entirely on my own work I confirm that the work has not be submitted for any other degree or professional qualification

I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper.

Signature

Nguyễn Thị Phương Thảo

Hanoi, ……….20…

an indispensable factor in the fulfillment of this research

I was also obliged to the teachers at the Faculty of Post-graduate Studies ofUniversity of Languages and International studies for their precious lessons Theyprovided me with understandings and skills relating to English language teaching,which supported much for the completion of this study particularly and my careergenerally

Furthermore, I sincerely appreciate the cooperation of the teacher- andstudent-participants I would like to thank Teacher A and Teacher B for theirwillingness to let me observe their EFL classes and enthusiastic participation in myinterviews I am also thankful to 93 students of the two A2 classes for agreeing toparticipate in the survey They are the ones who directly influenced the results ofthis study

Last but not least, I am also indebted to my beloved family, who hasconstantly supported me since I started participating in the Master programme, and

my friends, who have always encouraged me and gave me valuable suggestions

teachers’ and students’ perceptions of using English as the medium of instruction,

as well as to look for possible factors hindering the use of English to teach English.The participants were 93 first-year non-English majored students from a universityand their English teachers The methods adopted were both quantitative andqualitative approaches Questionnaires, interviews and observations were employed

to triangulate the information from various aspects, hence ensure the validity andthe reliability of the research The results showed that teachers and students wereaware of the necessity of using English in EFL classes, however, in fact, teachersused both English and Vietnamese The combination of two languages was causeddue to various hindering factors relating mainly to both teachers and students.Basing on these major findings, a number of suggestions for better use of English asmedium of instruction in EFL classes were indicated Therefore, the paper would be

a good reference for researchers, teachers and students to have a closer look on theissue as well as to improve their performances in EFL classes

Key words: medium of instruction, EFL classes, non-English majored students

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Classification of the items in the questionnaire

Table 2.2 Classification of interview questions

Table 2.3 Classification of items in observation checklist

Table 3.1 Advantages of using English as medium of instruction

perceived by students

Table 3.2 Disadvantages of using English as medium of instruction

perceived by students

Table 3.3 Hindering factors relating to teachers

Table 3.4 Hindering factors relating to students

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 Procedure of data collection

Figure 2.2 Data from questionnaire analysis procedure

Figure 2.3 Data from interview and observation analysis procedure

Figure 3.1 Medium of instruction students preferred

Figure 3.2 Medium of instruction teachers used perceived by students

Figure 3.3 Contexts in which students wanted English to be used

Figure 3.4 The effectiveness of using English as medium of

instruction perceived by students

Figure 3.5 Reasons for students’ learning English

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Statement of the problem and rationale of the study 1

2 Aims and research questions 3

3 Significance of the study 3

5 Methods of the study 4

6 Organization of the thesis 5

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 6

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

1.1 Second Language Acquisition 6

1.1.1 The Input Hypothesis 6

1.1.2 The Output Hypothesis 7

1.1.3 The Interaction Hypothesis 8

1.2 Medium of instruction 8

1.2.1 Definition 8

1.2.2 Different viewpoints on medium of instruction in EFL classes 9

1.2.3 Classification of teacher’s language in class 12

1.2.4 Using English as medium of instruction effectively 13

1.2.5 Factors affecting the use of English as the medium of instruction 17

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 19

2.1 Design of the study 19

2.1.1 Case study 19

2.1.2 Mixed method 19

2.2 Participants 20

2.2.1 Sampling method 20

2.2.2 Student-participants 21

2.2.3 Teacher-participants 22

2.3 Data collection instruments 22

2.3.1 Questionnaire 22

2.3.2 Semi-structured interview 25

2.3.3 Observation 27

2.4 Data collection procedure 28

2.5 Data analysis methods 29

2.5.1 Quantitative Analysis Strategy 30

2.5.2 Qualitative Analysis Strategy 30

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 32

3.1 The perceptions of teachers and students of using English as medium of

instruction in English classes 32

3.1.1 Results from questionnaire 32

3.1.2 Results from interview 37

3.1.3 Results from observation 39

3.1.4 Discussion 41

3.2 Factors hindering the use of English as medium of instruction in English classes for the first-year non-English majored students 44

3.2.1 Results from questionnaire 44

3.2.2 Results from interview 46

3.2.3 Results from observation 48

3.2.4 Discussion 52

3.3 Implications and suggestions 56

3.3.1 Controlling teacher talk time 56

3.3.2 Maximizing English teacher talk and focusing on grading the language 57

3.3.3 Improving students’ autonomy and motivation 58

PART C: CONCLUSION 60

1 Summary of findings 60

2 Limitations 61

3 Suggestions for further research 62

REFERENCES 63 APPENDICES I APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE I APPENDIX B: GUIDED QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEW V APPENDIX C: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION CHECKLIST VII

PART A: INTRODUCTION

In this part, some brief information about the paper is provided Five main points presented are (1) statement of the problem and rationale of the study, (2) aims and objectives of the study, (3) significance of the study, (4) scope of the study, (5) method of the study and (6) organization of the thesis

1 Statement of the problem and rationale of the study

In 1986, Vietnam adopted a socialist-oriented market economy under theState management Since then, the economics relations between Vietnam and othercountries in the region and in the world have rapidly expanded, which was officiallymarked with the participation of Vietnam in Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) in 1995 and the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2007 As a result ofthis international integration, English is required as a means of communication, andthe importance of English teaching and learning in Vietnam has rapidly grown andexpanded Since the early 1990s, due to the acknowledgement that communication

is the key in language use, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has quicklybecome popular in Vietnam (Kieu, 2012) In accordance with the popularity of CLT

in the country, the use of English in English teaching is widely supported

The issue of encouraging EFL teachers to use target language in classrooms

is not brand new but has been raised for a long time by different researchers ForEllis and Wells (1980), if learners do not have opportunities to expose to the targetlanguage, they cannot acquire it The reason is that acquiring a target language issimilar to the first language acquisition, which is a slow and laborious process.Knop (1995) also shares the same viewpoint about using English to teach English.According to him, for EFL learners, it is very important to experience realcommunicative environments in which they will learn how to express their ownopinions and viewpoints, and to develop their oral fluency and accuracy Heconsiders travelling abroad and immersion experiences two of many factors greatlyaffect the language acquisition process In fact, travelling or living abroad seems to

be impossible for almost students, and foreign language classrooms become themain environment in which students learn to communicate in the language

In spite of the need for oral communication skills and the requirement forCLT in Vietnam, most teachers continue to apply grammar-translation methods inEnglish classes, in which the emphasis still remains on grammar rather than oncommunicative competence (Le, 2011), and the use of Vietnamese in the process ofteaching is still common These have led to a controversial opinion amongVietnamese teachers, whether English or Vietnamese should be used as medium ofinstruction in EFL classes

There have been prior research on using English as the medium ofinstruction in EFL classes “The effectiveness of using English as the sole medium

of instruction in English classes: student responses and improved Englishproficiency” of Wong (2009) and “English Only’ Language Instruction to JapaneseUniversity Students in Low-Level Speaking & Listening Classes” of Lee (2013) aretypical ones It was revealed that students had great interest in English as themedium of instruction Moreover, thanks to the use of English as the sole medium

of instruction, their English proficiency had been improved Unlike these priorresearch, which explored the issue of using English as medium of instruction inEFL classes basing on students’ viewpoint, this study investigated both teachers’and students’ perceptions In Vietnam, a considerable number of previous researchhave been conducted on the issue of instruction language in English classes, such as

Do (2010) and Phung (2010) Nevertheless, they mostly evaluated the use of mothertongue, Vietnamese In this study, the use of target language – English – to teachEnglish, was investigated

Particularly, this study provides an insight into the English teaching andlearning practices at a university which is located in a small rural town in Vietnam.The geographical location was supposed to prevent its students from being exposed

to real English commutative environments, and EFL classes were consideredplaying a vital role in teaching and learning English successfully Additionally,

there has not had any research studying the use of English to teach English at thisuniversity Last but not least, in the case of the first-year non-English majoredstudents, who just entered university and many of whom had relatively lowproficiency in English, the researcher wondered whether English instructions work

or put too much pressure on them Those reasons encouraged the researcher toconduct a research to find out the situation of applying English as the medium ofinstruction to teach English for the first-year non-English majored students at auniversity in Vietnam

2 Aims and research questions

The proposed research aims to find out the teachers’ and students’perceptions of using English as the medium of instruction in EFL classes It alsolooks for possible factors hindering the process of using English to teach and learnEnglish Basing on such findings, some implications to apply English as themedium of instruction effectively were suggested

To achieve these aims, the current research answers the following questions:

(1) What are the students’ and teachers’ perceptions of using English as the medium of instruction in EFL classes?

(2) What factors hinder the use of English as the medium of instruction in EFL classes for the first year non-English majored students?

The results of this study will hopefully contribute to the insights intoeffective approaches of using instruction language, especially English instruction,when teaching first year non-English majored students As a result, the first-yearnon-English majored students at the investigated university in particular and otherEFL learners in general might have a better environment to learn and practiceEnglish

3 Significance of the study

With this study, the researcher expected to gain insights into students’ andteachers’ perceptions of using English as medium of instruction in English classesfor the first-year non-English majored students At the same time, the major factors

that hindered the procedure of using English to teach English were also addressed.From that, some suggestions for improvement were also indicated Once completed,the research would serve as references for EFL teachers and learners who wish toimprove the use of English as medium of instruction in English classes Thefindings might also be a primary resource for further research on related issues.

4 Scope of the study

Medium of instruction might be understood in various ways It could refer toContent and Language Integrated Learning, teaching English as a foreign languagethrough English, English for Specific Purposes, or even English for AcademicPurposes Moreover, the term medium of instruction covers the language choice ofeither mother tongue or second language To be able to have in-depthunderstanding of the research problem, this research focused on only secondlanguage used by teachers in language class, which means English medium ofinstruction used by teachers to teach English as a foreign language

Moreover, the participants of the study were restricted to the first-year English majored students at a certain university in Vietnam and the teachers whowere in charge of teaching English for them The first-year students were required

non-to make acquaintance with the university environment, particularly the languagecurriculum which required them to do all of the four linguistic skills – listening,speaking, reading, and writing The use of English as medium of instruction to teachthem was expected to support their learning but might met a number of hinderingfactors It was also worth emphasizing that participants of the study were 93 first-year non-English majored students This number was hopefully well-representedbecause it counted for more than two fifths of the population

5 Methods of the study

The research was designed as a case study, which provided an insight into aparticular issue – the use of English as the medium of instruction in EFL classes, aswell as gained a deeper understanding of the issue applied on particular subjects –the first-year non-English majored students at a university in Vietnam In this case

study, the researcher adopted both quantitative and qualitative approaches Asquantitative procedures required instrument-based questions, survey design wasused On the other hand, as qualitative procedures involved open-ended questions,interview and observation design were utilized Therefore, the study is a mixeddesign with the application of three types of data collection methods, observation oflanguage classroom, questionnaire and interview.

6 Organization of the thesis

The results are presented into a thesis and overall conclude three main parts

Part A: Introduction: deals with the rationale, aims, significance, scope, and

structure of the research

Part B: Development: consists of three chapters.

Chapter 1: Literature Review: provides the definitions of key concepts and

the theoretical framework which creates the base of the research

Chapter 2: Methodology: describes the selection of subjects, research

instruments, data collection and data analysis procedure

Chapter 3: Results and discussions: presents, analyzes and discusses the

findings obtained from the data collection procedure

Part C: Conclusion: summarizes the main points discussed in the research,

briefly mentions some limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter summarizes the theoretical framework which described the most important issues in the theories relating to the research It consists of two main sections The first section presents general content of second language acquisition, which explains much for the choice of instructional language in EFL classes The second one focused on the direct issue of this research – medium of instruction, which are different viewpoints on using medium of instruction, classification of teacher’s language in classroom, how to use medium of instruction effectively, and some factors affecting the use of English as medium of instruction.

1.1 Second Language Acquisition

Krashen (1985) defined Second Language Acquisition as the process bywhich an L2 student learns the language To be more specific, the subject of SecondLanguage Acquisition theories is “the developing knowledge and use of a language

by children and adults who already know at least one other language” (Spada &Lightbown, cited in Liu, 2015) It is obvious that the application of English as themedium of instruction in EFL classes has a close relation with the theories ofSecond Language Acquisition The three most typical ones are the InputHypothesis, the Output Hypothesis and the Interaction Hypothesis

1.1.1 The Input Hypothesis

One of the most relevant Second Language Acquisition theories to the use ofEnglish as medium of instruction in EFL classes is Krashen’s Comprehensible Inputhypothesis According to Krashen (1985), there are two modes of L2 development,subconscious language acquisition and conscious language learning He states thatlearners improve their language ability not by learning but by acquiring language,which means generally not consciously aware of the rules but have a feel for thecorrectness For Krashen, input plays a critical role in language developmentbecause humans acquire language in only one way – by understanding messages, or

by receiving comprehensible input It is explained in the structure “i+1”, in whichlearner’s current linguistic level is “i”, and “1” stands for the items learners intend

to learn Acquisition occurs, which means learners move from “i” - their currentlevel, to “i+1” - the next level provided that they understand language contained in

“i+1” with the help of context, knowledge of the world, and previous acquiredlinguistic competence Long (1983) also shares the same viewpoint with Krashen

He firmly confirms three arguments to support for the important role ofcomprehensible input, which are:

(1) Access to comprehensible input is a characteristic of all cases of successful acquisition

(2) Greater quantities of comprehensible input seem to result in better acquisition

(3) Lack of access to comprehensible input results in little or no acquisition.

In other words, the use of L2 should be maximized in the classroom;however, this L2 input must be comprehensible, which means not too easy and nottoo difficult for the learners

1.1.2 The Output Hypothesis

The Input Hypothesis has been criticized for the argument that input mayplay a vital role but it is not a sufficient condition for second language acquisition.This argument is raised by Swain (1985) In Swain’s Output Hypothesis, sheemphasizes the importance of output, which is the language produced by students,

in second language acquisition Being pushed to produce language provides learnerswith the opportunity to test their hypothesis about the language It is possible forthem to try out means of expression, even modify the output, and then see if itworks After that, when feedback is given, they may notice their problems or gaps

in the target language This awareness could encourage the learners to fill in theirholes of language skills, correct their errors, and develop their target language level

As can be seen that during this procedure, feedback has a critical function Swainbelieves that learners can improve the accuracy of output if they receive proper

feedback from their teachers In short, for the Output Hypothesis, although teacher’slanguage is important during the process of language learning, teachers should alsomanage to push their students to produce output, provide them with opportunities topractice the target language and then give them feedback

1.1.3 The Interaction Hypothesis

Long (1996) proposes his Interaction Hypothesis as an extension ofKrashen’s Input Hypothesis Both researchers emphasize comprehensible targetlanguage input, however, the major difference is that Krashen focuses on one-wayinput while Long acknowledges the importance of two-way communication intarget language Long (1996) states that when a language learner interacts with anative speaker or another non-native speaker of a higher level, a naturalistic SLAenvironment is created Through input and interaction, language learners haveopportunities to notice differences between their own formulations of targetlanguage and the language of their partners, and then become aware of gaps in theirtarget language knowledge Moreover, they also learn from negotiation of meaning

in which the linguistic input they receive is modified during the conversation andthey are pushed to modify their output accordingly As can be seen thatconversation is not only a medium of practice, but also the means by which learningtakes place According to Xiao-yan (2006), classroom interaction is mainlyhappened with the model of teachers’ initiate – students’ respond – teachers’feedback, which means that teachers often initiate interaction by asking questionsand then guide students to participate in negotiation of meaning during theconversation

the opportunities the learners expose to it and communicate in it, and therefore, todevelop their control of it

According to Dearden (2014), English medium of instruction is considered

as the use of English language to teach academic subjects in countries where thefirst language of the majority of the population is not English From the languageteaching literature, he asserts that the use of English instructions brings learnersbenefits to acquire the second language; however, there exists limitations in somecases

As can be seen that these definitions have similar points The term “medium

of instruction” shares certain features with “teacher talk”, which is defined inLongman dictionary of Language teaching and applied language (2002) as thevariety of language used by teachers when they are in the process of teaching.Besides, it should be noted medium of instruction is a pedagogic discourse which isoften modified and has a well-defined structure (Coulhard, 1977, cited in Susana,2002)

Dearden (2014) also adds that English medium of instruction is a new andnon-fixed concept that is used in some countries and not in others It can beconfused with many other terms like CLIL (Content and Language IntegratedLearning), EFL (teaching English as a Foreign Language through English), ESP(English for Specific Purposes) and EAP (English for Academic Purposes) Due tothe limit of this current study, English medium of instruction is understood as theEnglish language which teacher uses in EFL classes to serve pedagogic purposes(Wong, 2009; Lee, 2013)

1.2.2 Different viewpoints on medium of instruction in EFL classes

There are different viewpoints on which medium of instruction should beutilized in EFL classes The debate over whether EFL classroom should include orexclude students’ native language has been a contentious issue for a long time Boththe ones who approve using mother tongue (L1) and the others who support using

target language (L2) as medium of instruction have their own reasons andexplanation

1.2.2.1 Using first language as medium of instruction

The approach of using first language as medium of instruction in EFL classescan be traced back to the idea of the early linguistic and scientific theorist Sweet(p.193, 1964) that language instruction must “begin with a knowledge of one’s ownlanguage” and “the first preparation for the study of a foreign language is theacquisition of a thorough knowledge of the peculiarities of one’s own language”.Palmer (1956) also sees the potential of using native language in learning anotherlanguage He considers the use of L1 as harmless ad in many cases positivelypotential Since then, a number of researchers has supported for the use of firstlanguage (L1) in foreign language class due to its different advantages, such asmulti-functions, time-saving, confusing-lowering and relationship-facilitating

A number of studies have documented the important functions of L1instruction In a foreign language class, L1 can be used to explain grammar, explainactivities and give out background information (Mitchell, cited in Miles, 2004),elicit language, check comprehension and give instructions (Atkinson, cited inMiles, 2004)

Particularly, Harbord (1992) emphasizes that the use of L1 can help teacherssave time Skinner (cited in Turnbull & Dailey-O’Cain, 2009) supports for thisargument by explaining that some L1 can facilitate connections between the targetlanguage and prior knowledge and ideas already developed in L1 Therefore, theuse of L1 is especially necessary in teaching and learning contexts where thecognitive load of many tasks is heavy and students’ target language skills arelimited

Last but not least, lowering students’ confusion, facilitating teacher andstudent relationship (Harbord, 1992) and helping learners cooperating with eachother (Atkinson, cited in Miles, 2004) are also argued It is due to the fact that L1 isfamiliar with students and taking part in a classroom with L1 gives them a sense of

security, allow them to express themselves in ways they may not in L2-only setting,experience higher levels of motivation for learning L2, and develop a greater sense

of comfort participating in pair, group as well as whole-class activities

1.2.2.2 Using second language as medium of instruction

During the time, various researchers have supported for using targetlanguage as medium of instruction in foreign language classes, which is generallycalled using English as the medium of instruction in EFL classroom due to thelimitation of the current study To explain for this approach, many reasons such asenriching the input, creating favorable environment for the output, and increasingstudents’ motivation have been raised

First of all, the use of English as the medium of instruction helps enrich theinput In language learning, input is defined as the language data which learners areexposed to It plays a vital role in forming language proficiency because languagelearning is a slow and laborious process, the more exposure the learners receive, themore and the faster they will learn (Ellis & Wells, 1980) Thanks to the use ofEnglish medium of instruction, “the academic dimension of language becomes part

of the students’ language learning experience” In other words, the use of Englishmedium of instruction in EFL classes should be maximized

Moreover, using English as the medium of instruction in EFL classesprovides learners with a favorable environment to make output Output is thelanguage produced by learners, a necessary requirement for successful languagelearning In the classroom, if teacher uses the target language, there will be a lot ofsituations offering students chances not only to hear but also to use phrases that areuseful in the real world, teachers’ L2 encourages students’ L2 and language in theclassroom will come to “resemble ordinary academic interaction more and more”(Hughes, 2007, p.32), and “the communicative potential is closer to real interactionthan is often assumed” (Hughes, 1981, p.6) As a result, English medium ofinstruction usage allows the meaningful situational use of language

Last but not least, with the use of English medium of instruction in EFLclasses, students’ motivation can increase MacDonald (cited in Turnbull & Dailey-O’Cain, 2009) supports for this argument by explaining that students can see howknowledge of the second language will be immediately useful to them Similarly, assaid by Varshney (cited in Jones, 2010, p.9), without continuous target languageinput, students tend to lose confidence in using that language, which leads to “loseinterest in or are discouraged from participating in future second languageendeavors”.

To conclude, applying English as the medium of instruction benefits thesecond language acquisition of learners and many researchers agree to maximize it

in EFL classes Rolin-Ianziti & Varshney (2008) even confirms that L2 should beused in all instructions to eliminate teachers’ overuse of L1 and students’dependence on L1

1.2.3 Classification of teacher’s language in class

Apart from the categorization basing on the language position (first, second,

or foreign language), teacher’s language in class has also been classified in anotherway following the standard of language function or the contexts in which language

is used This categorization has been accepted and documented by a range ofresearchers

Evans (2000) lists out a wide variation of the teacher’s language use forpurposes: teaching the whole class, giving instructions to the students, answeringstudents’ questions in front of the whole class, managing the classroom, discussingideas with the whole class, and talking to individual students about their work Thisdivision seems to be unequal, managing classroom is general while the otherfunctions are specific

According to Kaneko (1992, cited in Zulfah, Rasyid, Rahman & Rahman,2015), teacher’s language use is divided into three categories basing on itsfunctions: language used for core goals, framework goals and social goals

Firstly, language used for core goals means being used for explicit pedagogicpurpose of the lesson It is similar to the instructional talk defined by Zulfah,Rasyid, Rahman & Rahman (2015), the teacher’s language relates to transfer ofteaching materials like giving lecture, giving explanation, giving correction, askingand answering question Weddel (2008) adds more with giving instruction, makingtransition between activities, giving feedback after a task and checking students’understanding

Besides, language used for framework goals is the one which support fororganization requirements in classroom Zulfah, Rasyid, Rahman & Rahman (2015)call this category of teacher’s language with another name, management talk.According to them, this type of language relates to control and discipline in theclassroom Checking attendance, giving announcement and dismissing the class arementioned as typical examples

Thirdly, language used for social goals can be understood as the languageteacher uses for private information such as greetings, personal experience talk(Kaneko (1992, cited in Zulfah, Rasyid, Rahman & Rahman, 2015), warm-up chat(Weddel, 2008), giving advice, making humor (Zulfah, Rasyid, Rahman & Rahman,2015) As evaluated by these researchers, this classification has little relation to thepedagogic purpose of the lesson, therefore, it would be out of the research problem

of this study

In short, this study would investigate the English language which teacheruses in EFL classes for core goals – instructional talk, and framework goals –management talk, for example checking attendance, giving lecture, givinginstruction, giving correction, giving feedback, giving explanation, givingannouncement, asking and answering question, and dismissing the class

1.2.4 Using English as medium of instruction effectively

Using English as the medium of instruction in EFL classes provides manyadvantages for the teaching and learning process However, it is not easy to applyEnglish medium of instruction to teach first-year non-English majored students

because there may exist different hindering factors To be successful in the process,teachers should be well aware of how much they should talk, how the languageshould be, as well as equip themselves necessary techniques

1.2.4.1 Teacher talk time

The amount of teacher talks, which is called teacher talk time, hasconsiderable influences on learners’ L2 acquisition Darn (2008) lists out variousbad effects caused by the over-use of teacher talk such as limiting the amount ofstudent talk time, leading to students’ loss of concentration and enthusiasm, andrestricting student autonomy This issue has been mentioned by many other formerresearchers It is asserted by Xiao-Yan (2006) that if the classroom is dominated byteacher talk, students will have few opportunities to talk, discuss, and then berestricted from developing their language proficiency Paul (2003) also confirmsthat the greater amount of teacher talk, the less time students get to practice L2 in aclassroom and therefore, the less effectiveness of the lesson Allwright (1982)claims good language teachers to be able to provide students with opportunities towork in the classroom rather than work too much themselves For him, the teacherswho talk too much in the classroom weren’t teaching effectively As a result, anumber of researchers call on minimizing teacher talk time while maximizingstudent talk time

Darn (2008) and Davies (2011) suggests a useful guideline for the amount ofteacher talk is “a limit of 30% of a lesson, and no more than 10 minutes at onetime.” To be able to reduce teacher talk time, he encourages teachers to givestudents more pair work or group work instead of teacher-led activities Even whensome activities need to be done individually, they can be checked in pairs Studentsshould also be asked to give feedback on their tasks among themselves beforereceiving feedback from teachers Moreover, teachers do not need to present clearexamples and explanations all the times, but use elicitation, body language, mime,gestures or facial expressions Last but not least, silence is advised to be toleratedbecause it is considered as students’ processing time Being patient to wait for

students’ response is sometimes better than unnecessary talking Particularly,according to Darn (2008), there exists some forms of teacher talk which wouldmake the 30% of a lesson beneficial They are questioning, which demands students

to brainstorm to respond, holds students’ attention and involvement; naturalconversation, which helps introduce functional and everyday language in a morememorable way than lessons; personalized presentation, in which teachers talkabout real issues to interest students in the content; and story or joke telling, whichmay be used to stimulate students’ interest during the lesson

1.2.4.2 Grading language

One of the most major theories related to the idea of graded language should

be Krashen’s Comprehensible Input (1985) The theory highly concerns about theinput which needs being slightly beyond the level which learners are currently at.This is a vital condition for language acquisition, learners’ subconscious procedure

to achieve language It should be noted that Krashen was not the first researcherwho pointed out this issue Another earlier theory closely related to Krashen’s isVgotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development Vgotsky (1986) makes no cleardistinction between learning and acquisition; nevertheless, he asserts children grasplanguage concepts quite naturally He adds more that learning can take place if thematerial is something just slightly higher than learners’ current ability On the onehand it's crucial for learners' development that they are able to interact with moreknowledgeable others, but on the other hand they will be pulled along if thepresented material is too difficult

The following issue is that in which ways input of target language can bemade comprehensible to learners According to Chaudron (1988), teacher talk issimplified in various ways – syntactically, phonologically and semantically Indetails, a number of features of teacher speech might be modified such as:

(1) Pauses between utterances, which may be evidence of the speaker planning more, are possibly more frequent and longer

(2) Overall rate of speech appears to be slower

(3) Pronunciation tends to be clearer and exaggerated Pitch range is higher and wider More stresses are used and rhythm is obvious and clear Contracted form of language is less used For example, teachers use more “He will” instead of “He’ll” in pronunciation.

(4) Vocabulary use is more basic Teachers carefully select the words they use according to the students’ proficiency and level

(5) Degree of subordination is lower.

(6) More declaratives and statements are used than questions.

(7) Teachers may self-repeat more frequently.

1.2.4.3 Some useful techniques

The following techniques are raised basing on the guideline by Ur (1996) Firstly, teachers should have a thorough preparation before giving Englishinstruction in class According to Ur (p.16), teachers’ explanations “are often not asclear to their students as they are to themselves” For this reason, preparation isworth noticing and this calls for a need of thinking about the words to use, theillustration to provide for every complicated instruction

Secondly, instructions need to be brief and clear Instructions should bebroken down into small separate steps to help students understand them completely,especially when there is a lot of information in instructions and teachers wantstudents to understand every word Modifying language, using simple words,sentence structures, common expressions and slow speech will be helpful

In addition, there is a need for repetition when giving English instructions.Presenting the information more than once provides students with a second chance

to understand thoroughly what they have to do since “learners’ attention wandersoccasionally.” Teachers can represent the instructions in different modes, either

restating or writing it up

Lastly, getting feedback from students after giving instructions is veryimportant Merely asking the students if they understand the instructions is notenough Students may say that they do even if in fact they do not Instead,

requesting students either to paraphrase the instructions or do illustrations of theirown is a better choice for checking instructions According to Rosenshine (2012),these checks support the process of moving new learning into long-term memoryand let teachers know if students are developing misconceptions as well

To sum up, English is utilized as medium of instruction effectively whenteachers have a good preparation; instructions are short, precise and simple; theinformation is repeated in different ways; and students’ understanding is regularlychecked after the information is given

1.2.5 Factors affecting the use of English as the medium of instruction

Even though English is encouraged to be used as the medium of instruction

as much as possible, there is a fact that several factors may influence itseffectiveness These factors may exist in students, teachers as well as resources

For students, their low English proficiency and passive learning style mayprevent teachers from using English medium of instruction effectively Because ofthe low English proficiency, students cannot understand what their teacher talks.Knop (1995) wonders how one can expect the first-year students to understand anduse the language when they cannot understand the interactions and the materials inthe target language Coyne, Kami’enui & Carnine (2010) shares the same idea bysaying that students may fail to understand what teacher is talking about, and maybecome frustrated when they have an idea but cannot adequately express theirthoughts in English As a result, students’ learning motivation and concentrationdecreases during class time Besides, in some cases, students with passive learningstyle, who are “not willing to make efforts to hear and use target language duringactivities or interactions, simply tune out during class sessions” (Knop, 1995)

For teachers, they may lack understanding about their students, teachingskills, and English proficiency as well According to the results from the research ofFlores (cited in Weddel, 2008), English medium of instruction usage is not effectivewhen teachers use very complicated language that distract or confuse learners.Weddel (2008) emphasizes that teacher talk needs to be authentic, meaningful,

engaging, and appropriate for learners Therefore, teachers should be aware of theirstudents’ English capacity to decide the difficult level of the language used Inaddition, their teaching skills need to be good enough to simplify the language,enable students follow as well as make students motivated during class time Lastbut not least, for Lam Hoang & Filipi (2016) teachers also need to be proficient intheir command of English; however, not all of the graduating English teachers inVietnam are capable of using English fluently and accurately in their teaching Inother words, lack of understanding about students, lack of English proficiency aswell as teaching skills many hinder teachers from using English as the medium ofinstruction effectively

Apart from factors relating to students and teachers, there would be anotherfactor which is rather objective, resources In the view of Vu & Burns (2014),resources mean both physical and material facilities Shortage of inadequatesupplies of reference materials, teaching equipment and Internet access may causefurther obstacles for teaching and learning with the application of English asmedium of instruction

Generally, during the process of applying English as the medium ofinstruction to teach English for the first-year non-English majored students,affecting factors can be found in students and teachers themselves, as well as inteaching resources They may be the students’ English proficiency and learningstyle They may also be the extent to which teachers understand their students andteachers’ teaching skills Last but not least, they may be the problems relating toteaching resources as well

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes the methods employed to carry out the study, which are presented in five main parts: (1) design of the study, (2) selection of participants, (3) research instruments, (4) data collection procedure, and (5) data analysis procedure

2.1 Design of the study

2.1.1 Case study

A case study is a study of “the particularity and complexity of a single case,coming to understand its activity within important circumstances” (Skate, cited inBassey, 2009, p.27) Sturman (cited in Bassey, 2009) adds more details about theboundaries of the case, which may be an individual, a group or a phenomenon Due

to such boundaries, case studies allow researchers to have insights into certainaspects of the cases in their particular contexts, which is rarely possible in othergroup research (Markey & Gass, 2005) This may be the reason why case studieshave been used in a wide range of second language research studies However, thereexists a problem of generalization within this type of research while single case orcases are not easily generalizable It asks for the researcher’s extreme caution tosample, analyze and draw conclusions

For this study, the investigation will be taken place on the issue of usingEnglish as the medium of instruction in EFL classes Moreover, the participants will

be only bounded to a number of the first-year non-English majored students at acertain university in Vietnam and their teachers of English This instance studiedcan be generalized to the situation of other first-year non-English majored studentsand other EFL teachers at this university, as well as the situation of the first-yearnon-English majored students and EFL teachers at other universities in Vietnam

2.1.2 Mixed method

Mixed methods research represents research that involves collecting,analyzing, and interpreting quantitative and qualitative data in a single study or in a

series of studies that investigate the same underlying phenomenon (Leech &Onwuegbuzie, 2008), which is reasonable for this case The researcher applied bothquantitative and qualitative approaches As quantitative procedures require thecollection and analysis of data in numeric forms (Blaxter, Highes & Tight, 1996),close response questionnaires were used On the other hand, as qualitativeprocedures involved collecting and analyzing information chiefly non-numeric withopen-ended questions, interview and observation were utilized

Three types of data collection method, which are questionnaire, interviewand observation were applied with the purpose of triangulation As defined by John(1992, p 90), triangulation is the attempt to reach “the same meaning by at leastthree different independent approaches” Mackey & Gass (2005, p.181) shared thesame viewpoint by saying that it is the application of “multiple, independentmethods of obtaining data in a single investigation” to get the same researchfindings All of them agreed on the advantages of triangulation which is seekingconvergent results, reducing observer or interviewer bias and enhancing the validityand reliability of the information

2.2 Participants

2.2.1 Sampling method

Simple two-stage clustering was utilized As explained by Creswell (2009),

in a clustering procedure, after sampling groups, the researcher obtains names ofindividuals within groups or clusters, and then sample within the clusters Ahmed(2009) elaborates more on simple two-stage clustering method that after selectingthe clusters, the researchers sampled the clusters in the second stage, usually bysimple random sampling In this study, after the researchers obtained the list of first-year non-English classes with the name of their in-charge teachers, students fromtwo classes with two different teachers were chosen as the samples of the study bysimple random sampling method

Simple random sampling method were applied so that each class remaining

in the population had the same probability of being selected for the sample, which

guarantees that the sample selection is taken place in an unbiased way Theclustering method also helped the researchers reach one of the goals of the study,which is to make conclusions pertaining to the population obtained from a samplinggroup’s results Due to the representativeness of a sample in cluster sampling, it wasreasonable to make generalizations from the results of the sample back to thepopulation.

2.2.2 Student-participants

The research was conducted on the first-year non-English majored students

at a certain university If the students’ results for the university entrance examincluded the English marks, these marks would be used to place them into differentcategories If not, before being accepted into English classes, they were required totake a placement test with the form similar to the university entrance test The markrange to categorize students of both situations was the same, including the ones whowere not allowed to be in any classes (mark under 5), the ones who got to level 1classes (mark from 5 to 7), and the ones who got to level 2 classes (mark above 7).Due to the fact that the study investigated the application of English as medium ofinstruction, an issue which demanded students to have a reasonably properlinguistic knowledge and skills, it would pay attention to the category of level 2only In details, students from two classes participated in the research In the firstclass, there were 53 students, however, only 49 of them agreed to participate In thesecond class, all of 44 students gave their consent to the research Therefore, thetotal number of student participants was 93 This number was evaluated asappropriate among the population of 230

In their first year, students in both classes learned with the core textbook

“Life elementary” published by National Geographic learning and Cengagelearning Integrated skills design require students to not only revise grammar andvocabulary but also learn systematically about the four skills: reading, writing,speaking and listening All of the participants were expected to be at the level of A2after completing all required English courses They had learnt English during high

school years as a compulsory subject, however, this goal seemed to be not as easilyachieved as expected In fact, the university entrance exam did not contain the parts

of speaking and listening, and students were affected by traditional teachingapproach, they did not pay much attention to practice linguistic skills, especiallyspeaking and listening Facing to the problem, the suggestion of using English asthe medium of instruction are supposed to help them improve and develop theirEnglish proficiency although it may cause a certain number of difficulties Ingeneral, it is worth conducting the research among these samples

2.2.3 Teacher-participants

After the two classes had been selected, two teachers taking charge ofteaching English to the classes, namely Teacher A and Teacher B, were invited totake part in this study It should be noted that each teacher was in charge of oneclass, respectively named class A and class B Having worked with the first-yearnon-English majored students at the university for about two years and the studentparticipants for more than two months, they had an insightful grasp of the students’language competence Moreover, they used instructions to teach English to thestudent-participants, so they could give their own reflection and feedback on usingEnglish as the medium of instruction, share some convenience as well as difficultiesthey had got, and then suggest some solutions to use English instruction effectivelybasing on their experiences

2.3 Data collection instruments

2.3.1 Questionnaire

Justification

As defined by Brown (2001), questionnaires are “any written instrumentsthat present respondents with a series of questions or statements to which they werereacted either by writing out their answers or selecting from among existinganswers” However, it should be emphasized that a questionnaire was neither a sort

of official form nor a set of questions which had been casually jotted down withoutmuch thought It is an important instrument of research, a tool for data collection

with the typical function of measurement Its detailed specification of measurementaims must be related to the aims of the overall research plan and objectives(Oppenheim, 1992).

For this study, questionnaires were used to get data from 93 first-year English majored students at the university This method was chosen because of itssuitability and convenience As Mackey & Gass (2005, p.92), questionnaire is “one

non-of the most common methods non-of collecting data on attitudes and opinions from alarge group of participants” and it helps researcher gather participants’ report aboutthemselves For this study, thanks to questionnaire, the researcher could collect thestudents’ perception of using English as the medium of instruction, the advantagesand disadvantages they had when their teacher talked English in classes Thanks tothis method, fairly straightforward information from the samples could be collected.Moreover, the samples of the research were students from two separate classes;therefore, the researcher could easily distribute as well as collect the questionnaires

in a short time

In addtion to such advantages, using questionnaires as a strategy to elicitinformation contained some limitations According to Yount (2006), when using thequestionnaire, the researchers could not measure the motivation level of the subjectswhen they filled out the form For example, the subjects’ mental state: were theybusy, overworked, concentrated or contemplative? It was not good becausesubjects’ motivation had certain effects on the questionnaire’s result He alsomentioned the loss of control There was no control over the order in which thequestions were answered Particularly, there was no control over leaving the answerblank Sometimes students might not be willing to answer the questions, so they left

it blank, which could cause “missing data” Because all of those disadvantages hadbeen aware, the researchers tried to reduce them by giving careful explanation inadvance about why the information was being collected and how the results would

be beneficial to the participants

Questionnaire design

After the first draft of the questionnaire had been completed, 5 students, whowere first-year non-English majored students at the university, but not theresearch’s samples, were chosen to pilot it The results from the pilot process helpedthe researchers refine the questionnaire

Because the samples were 93 first-year non-English majored students at theuniversity, who were not specialized at English, it would be possible for them tomisunderstand the meaning or feel discouraged if the questionnaire was in English

As a result, the questionnaire was designed in Vietnamese The researchers usedboth closed questions and open-ended questions The close questions allowedanalyzing the data conveniently And the open-ended questions gave respondentsthe freedom to express their own ideas and gave researchers the opportunity tocollect a variety of information

Thanks to the questionnaire, the researcher could explore students’perception on using English as medium of instruction in EFL classes as well as findout some factors relating to student participants which affected the use of English asmedium of instruction to teach them English Last but not least, as being studentswho directly took part in the EFL classes, participant students were also able toraise some suggestions and implications to improve the use of English as medium ofinstruction

Students’ perception of using English as medium of

instruction in EFL classes

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8

Factors affecting the use of English as medium of

instruction in EFL classes

1, 7

Table 2.1: Classification of the items in the questionnaire

2.3.2 Semi-structured interview

Justification

Unlike structured interview in which researchers usually ask an identical set

of questions of all respondents, researchers in semi-structured one use a written list

of questions as a guide (Mackey & Gass, 2005) On the same topic, according toCase (1990), semi-structured interview is the interview conducted with a fairly openframework which contains more general questions in comparison with structureddesign and those questions are often made during the interview Eric (1995) sharedthe same viewpoint by noting that semi-structured interview got a general structurebeforehand because detailed structure would be worked out during the procedure.Generally speaking, a semi-structured interview is flexible with no formalizedquestions

It was suitable for a small number of participants, so semi-structuredinterview was conducted with two teacher-participants at different times Theresearchers were able to discover the teacher participants’ perception on the issue ofusing English as the medium of instructions in EFL classes, which factors mightaffect the application of English as medium of instruction for the first year non-English majored students, and useful suggestions raised as the role of EFL teachers

This type of interview allowed for focused, conversational, two-waycommunication (Case, 1990) Greater flexibility and more extensive responses wasallowed because the researcher could change the order of the questions as well asask questions back, ask further related questions to get more information from theinterviewees The researchers – the interviewers – remained the ones who decidedthe directions of the interview but with more freedom and activeness Similarly, theinterviewees were considerably free to choose what to talk about, how much to sayand how to express it It helped the researchers to understand thoroughly theanswers provided by interviewees (Harrell & Bradley, 2009)

Nevertheless, interview method possibly had certain drawbacks It mightinvolve memory loss from both interviewer and interviewee Participants’ attitude

and emotion could also impact what they said (Mackey & Gass, 2005) Therefore,the researcher tried to make the interviewee comfortable by conducting theinterview in a familiar place - in the classroom after class hour, and encourageopen-ended discussion during the interviews The two interviews were all recordedfrom the beginning to the end, which had been expected to be useful for theresearchers in deciding the trustworthiness of the answers

Interview question design

The instruments were constructed based on the research questions Firstly,the researchers found the indicators of each question and then made question(s) foreach indicator Each indicator may have one or more questions

What are the

teachers’ perceptions

of using English as

medium of instruction

(MOI) in EFL classes

for the first year

non-English majored

students?

See if English should beused as MOI perceived

by teachers

- The effectiveness of using English as MOI

2, 3, 4, 6, 8

What factors hinder

the use of English as

MOI in EFL classes

for the first year

non-English majored

students?

Consider both personal and outside factors

- Students’ English proficiency, motivation and learning styles

- Teachers’ linguistic knowledge, teaching skills and background knowledge

- The suitability of syllabus, textbook and required materials

- By help from teachers

- By students themselves

9

as medium of instruction in EFL classes, it was necessary to observe the situation inclassrooms Thus, four observations were conducted on four sessions in twoseparate classes containing teacher and student participants, two sessions per class.Each of them lasted for 50 minutes, so 200 minutes in total During theobservations, the researcher was not part of the activities taking place, but simplyobserved Audio-recording and note-taking would much support the following step

of analyzing data

Observation was considered helpful as providing the researcher with “theopportunity to collect large amounts of rich data on the participants’ behaviors andactions within a particular context” (Mackey & Gass, 2005, p.175) In other words,this method allowed the researcher to collect data at the place and time differentevents and activities were occurring, directly see what participants did rather thanrelying on what they said they did It provided a chance to learn things thatparticipants might be unwilling to mention in questionnaires or to discuss ininterviews The collected data was helpful for the researcher to double check theresults from the questionnaires and semi-structured interviews

Apart from the suitability of observation method for the research, theresearcher cared for the “observer’s paradox” (Labov, cited in Mackey & Gass,2005) It means that the presence of observer might influence the performance of

those being observed To minimize this threat, the researcher decided to sit down atthe end of the class not to distract the participants Additionally, with twoobservations per class, the participants were expected to get accustomed to theobserver’s presence and the researcher was also able to compare and contrast thedata collected from the two

Observation feature design

Medium of instruction in use English or Vietnamese

Factual situation of using

English as MOI

When teachers use English as MOIThe way teachers check students’ understandingThe way teachers explain when students do notunderstand

Reactions of studentsTeacher talk timeGrading language

Table 2.3: Classification of items in observation checklist

2.4 Data collection procedure

Figure 2.1: Procedure of data collection

The procedure of collecting data consisted of four main steps listed asfollows

Step 1: Preparation

The researcher designed questionnaires, interview questions and observationchecklists based on the research questions Firstly, indicators for each researchquestion were found, and then detailed questions in each instrument for eachindicator were created

Preparation Agree access Inteview and

questionnaire Observation

Step 2: Agree access to the respondents

The researcher contacted with the teachers and students beforehand to gettheir consent and make appointments Audio-recording must have been allowed byboth teachers and students as well Basing on the available time of teachers andtimetable of the classes, schedule was organized suitably

Step 3: Data collection with interview and questionnaire

According to the appointment, the researcher interviewed the teachers.During the interviews, note-taking and audio-recording was used Questionnairesfor students were also distributed and collected Instructions to the ways ofcompleting the questionnaire were carefully given before the process Questionnairedistribution and interview were taken place one week before observation

Step 4: Data collection with observation

Basing on the general results received from the interview and questionnaireprocedure, observation checklist was revised in some points Then the researcherspent time observing classes with the support of observation checklist, note-takingand audio-recording

2.5 Data analysis methods

Questionnaires, interview notes and recordings, and observation checklistsand recordings were used for analysis as the primary source of data In this stage,two analysis methods, quantitative and qualitative methods were applied to makesense of the findings

2.5.1 Quantitative Analysis Strategy

Figure 2.2: Data from questionnaire analysis procedure

Step 1: Prepare the data

Some essential elements needed checking included the completeness of thecollected questionnaires, the consistence of each questions as well as the givenanswers, and the understandability as well as the validity of the answers

Step 2: Report the statistics

The information obtained from questionnaires was expressed in numericalform In details, the researcher listed out, counted and grouped the number ofsimilar responses The statistics were reported by frequency distribution andmeasures of central tendency

Step 3: Visualize collected data

The data were converted into charts and graphs to be logical and followed

easy-2.5.2 Qualitative Analysis Strategy

Figure 2.3: Data from interview and observation analysis procedure

Step 1: Transcribe

The data collected from observation checklist, observation recordings,interview note-taking, and interview recordings was transcribed

Step 2: Code/ Conceptualize

After that, the data supposed to be relevant and supportive were selected andcoded/ conceptualized The aim of this step was to link specific quotes to analytic

concepts and categories Basing on describing each defined indicator, differentaspects which helped answered research questions were measured

Step 3: Analyze

Once the data became selective, direct and conceptually motivated after theinitial coding phase, the researchers chose qualitative method to analyze the databased on the research questions and the purposes of the study In this step, theanalyzed data were generalized and theorized into findings and grounded theory

Step 4: Conclude

Finally, the findings were reported The findings from the questionnaires, theinterviews and the observations were triangulately checked then Some discussionand implications were drawn accordingly