Quan điểm của giáo viên và học sinh với việc sử dụng tiếng việt trong các lớp học tiếng anh tại các trường cấp 3 nông thôn

The use of mother tongue or code-switching in the EFL English as aforeign language classrooms has created controversy for many years and itsrole in the different teaching methods that ha

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

các lớp học tiếng Anh tại các trường cấp 3 nông thôn)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

HANOI-2019

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

các lớp học tiếng Anh tại các trường cấp 3 nông thôn)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 8140231.01 Supervisor: Assoc Dr Lê Văn Canh, PhD

A special word of thanks to my colleagues and my students in rural highschools in Thanh Hoa province for their effective cooperation in collectingdata for completing this research

Last by not least, I am greatly indebted to my family for the sacrifice Ireceived to finish this academic work

I declare that this thesis is the result of my own work submitted for theMaster of Art degree in English Teaching Methodology at Faculty of Post -Graduate Studies, Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies,Vietnam National University, and has not been previously submitted to anyother universities for any degrees This work was finished with thecontributions of other researchers which were indicated clearly with thereferences The study was done under the guidance of Associated Professor

Le Van Canh at Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies

Approved by SUPERVISOR

(Signature and fullname)

Lê Văn Canh

Date:………

Hanoi, 2019

Trần Thị Hòa

The use of mother tongue or code-switching in the EFL (English as aforeign language) classrooms has created controversy for many years and itsrole in the different teaching methods that have been developed has also beenclearly defined Conducted in the context of a Vietnamese rural area, thestudy is to examine the teachers’ and students’ attitudes toward code-switching use in English classrooms, find out if there are differences betweenstudents’ and teachers’ attitudes and identify how often teachers codeswitch

in EFL classrooms This research was conducted at two rural high schools inThanh Hoa province, one of them where I was working and 50 students and 6teachers participated in the study Data was collected by means of recordedlesson observations, interviews and questionnaires In general, the results ofthis study showed that both teachers and students were positive towards theuse of mother tongue (Vietnamese) in English classrooms but only undercertain circumstances The use of code-switching means using both Englishand Vietnamese in EFL classrooms does not seem to hinder their Englishlearning process, but having to speak only English does make students havenegative feelings because they are students in a rural area, their ability andlearning condition are limited

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ALM: Audio-Lingual Method

CLT: Communicative Language TeachingEFL: English as a foreign Language

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

DECLARATION ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

TABLE OF CONTENT v

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims and Objectives of the Research 2

3 Research Questions 2

4 Scope of the Study 3

5 Significance of the Study 3

6 Structural Organization of the Thesis 4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 6

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

1.1 Definition of Code-switching 6

1.2 History of language teaching methods focusing on code-switching in EFL classroom 6

1.3 Arguments about the use of code-switching or L1 in EFL classrooms 8

1.3.1 Arguments against using code-switching or L1 in EFL classrooms 8

1.3.2 Arguments in favour of code-switching in EFL classrooms 10

1.4 Studies focusing on teachers’ code-switching in EFL classrooms 12

1.4.1 The attitudes of teachers and students 12

1.4.2 Amount of code-switching use 15

1.4.3 Situations of code-switching use 15

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 17

2.1 Research Methodology 17

2.2 Setting and participants 17

2.3 Data collection instruments and procedure 17

2.3.1 Classroom Observation 17

2.3.2 Questionnaires 18

2.3.3 Interview 18

2.4 Data analysis procedure 19

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 20

3.1 Data analysis 20

3.1.1 Classroom observation analysis 20

3.1.2 Analysis of teachers’ interviews results 25

3.1.3 Analysis of students’ questionnaire results 29

3.2 Discussion 34

3.2.1 How often do teachers codeswitch on average in the lesson? 34

3.2.2 What are the attitudes of the teachers towards code-switching? 35

3.2.3 What are the attitudes of the students towards code-switching? 35

3.2.4 Are there any differences between students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards code-switching? 36

PART C: CONCLUSION 38

REFERENCES 42 APPENDICES I

Appendix 1 I Appendix 2 XI Appendix 3 XII

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLE

Table 3.1: Situations of teachers’ code-switching in EFL classrooms 22Table 3.2: The results of students’ multiple choice questions 29Table 3.3: Suitable amount of English 32YFigure 3.1: The amount of code-switching use in observed classes 20

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

There has been a growing interest in learning English as a second/foreignlanguage over the last few decades This is due to the important role Englishplays in almost every aspect of life nowadays, starting from education tobusiness (Hasman 2004) In addition, English has become a global linguafranca and a mean of international communication round the world (Brutt-Griffle, 1998) It has allowed people from different cultures and linguisticbackgrounds to communicate and share their knowledge and expertise.Moreover, English has become “a key part of the educational strategy in mostcountries” (Graddol, 2006 p.70) This explains why governments haveexerted to introduce English language as early as possible to their educationalsystems, in an attempt to help their citizens to be effective users of the targetlanguage in the future

In the process of teaching and learning foreign language, using mothertongue or foreign language only in the classroom remains virtuallyunquestioned This has been still controversy topic for many ages, especiallyCommunicative Language Teaching become more popular In global scale,many studies were conducted to investigate the code-switching technique orthe use of mother tongue in EFL (English as a foreign language) classroomswith the different results Ellis (1984), Wong-Fillmore (1985), Chaudron(1988), Lightbown (2001), believe that teachers should aim at creating a pureforeign language environment since they are the sole linguistic models for thestudents and that code-switching will result in negative transfer in FLlearning On the contrary, researchers in support of crosslingual (code-switching) teaching strategy including Tikunoff and Vazquez-Faria (1982),

Levine (2003), Chen Liping (2004), etc., argue that the first language canpromote the learning of target language and the first language deserves aplace in foreign language classroom And code-switching is a good strategy

of efficiency in foreign language classrooms In Vietnam, some researchersalso investigated the attitudes of teachers and students towards the code-switching in EFL classrooms at Universities, English center and Highschools However, it is very difficult to find out a study which is conducted in

a rural area where students’ levels are very low and the teachers’ and learners’beliefs about learning English are different from people in urbanenvironments That is reason why the researcher conducted this study in thiscontext

2 Aims and Objectives of the Research

This research project aims to explore teachers’ and students’ opinionsregarding code-switching use in English classrooms in the context of ruralHigh schools To achieve the above aims, the following objectives are set forexploration:

- Examining the teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards code-switching use

in English classrooms at 2 rural High schools

- Identifying if there are the differences between students’ and teachers’attitudes towards code-switching in EFL classrooms

- Identifying how often teachers codeswitch in their lessons

3.Research Questions

The aim of this investigation is to explore the attitudes of rural teachersand students towards the use of code-switching in EFL classrooms Thecurrent study aims to answer the following research questions:

- How often do teachers codeswitch on average in the lesson?

- What are the attitudes of the teachers towards code-switching?

- What are the attitudes of the students towards code-switching?

- Are there any differences between students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards code-switching?

4 Scope of the Study

Within the framework of this minor thesis, the study focused on bothstudents’ and teachers’ attitudes (the teachers of English) towards the code-switching in English classrooms at High schools in rural area The data foranalysis is taken from teachers’ interviews and observations and students’questionnaires at some High schools The participants are 6 teachers ofEnglish and one hundred students at these High schools in Thanh Hoaprovince

5 Significance of the Study

Educational policy-makers in a lot of countries seem to have adopted themonolingual approach Although there are a lot of researches that support theinclusion of learners’ mother tongue (Schweers, 1999; Swain & Lapkin,2000; Burden, 2001; Prodromou 2002; Tang 2002; Al-Nofaie, 2010), suchpedagogical decisions regarding the exclusion of learners’ the first languagehave been made on “unexamined and taken-for-granted assumptions(Auerbach, 1993, p.29) Moreover, there does not seem to be enough evidencethat both teachers’ and students’ input has been taken into consideration Since teachers and students are the most important key players in theeducation, a lot of studies have been carried out to investigate theirperceptions towards the use of learners’ mother tongue in learning anotherlanguage This study focused on investigating the students’ and teachers’attitudes towards code-switching in EFL classrooms at rural High schools Inrural area, most of students were not taught listening and speaking skillscarefully at secondary schools, especially listening lessons are often ignored

The rural classrooms always have 40-45 students with different levels ofEnglish Thus, as a mentioned above, this research is to examine the teachers’and students’ attitudes towards the use of code-switching in Englishclassrooms in order to find out if its use gives learners benefits and reducesthe anxiety in learning process and how to use code-switching effectively.Every teacher of English can use the results of this study as a reference toconsider some change if needed in teacher training process.

6 Structural Organization of the Thesis

The study consists of three main parts, namely Introduction, Developmentand Conclusion:

- Chapter 1: Literature Review

This chapter provides an overview of definition and history of code-switchingtechnique in EFL classrooms, some arguments for and against mother tongueuse as well as the reviews of related works in this topic

- Chapter 2: Methodology

It presents the subject of study, research instruments, collecting dataprocedure and data analysis procedure from which answers for the researchquestions

- Chapter 3: Findings and Discussion

The data collection from observations, interviews and questionnaires areanalyzed in this chapter so the findings and discussion will be presented

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1.Definition of Code-switching

The concept of code was put forward by Bernstein (1971) It refers to any

system of signals, such as numbers, words, which carries concrete meaning

Wardhaugh pointed out that the term code is neutral term rather than terms such as dialect, language, style, pidgin and creole which are inclined to

arouse emotions Code can be used to refer to “any kind of system that two ormore people employ for communication” (p.86)

In the studies of code-switching, there have been various definitions ofthe term “code-switching” Gumperz referred to it as “the juxtaposition withinthe same speech exchange of passages of speech belonging to two differentgrammatical systems or subsystems” (Gumperz, 1982, p.59)

Cook (2000, p.83) defines code-switching as the process of “going fromone language varieties within a single conversation or utterance”

In the context of foreign language classroom, Liu Jingxia (2010) viewscode-switching as the alternate use of the first language and the targetlanguage, a mean of communication by language teachers when the needarises As this study was conducted in the context where English was taughtand studied as a foreign language, Jingxia’s above definition of code-switching is adopted

1.2 History of language teaching methods focusing on code-switching in EFL classroom

In the history of foreign language (FL) teaching, different linguisticssuggested various methods and approaches which were used for differentperiods The role of the first language in language teaching is one of the most

long-standing controversies in the history of language pedagogy (Stern,1992) The following glimpse in the historical sequence of the most-recognized language teaching methods will highlight periodic changes in therole of L1 in foreign language teaching.

In the early years of the nineteenth century in Western country, theGrammar Translation Method (GTM) was the standard way of FL teaching.Foreign language was taught through grammar illustration, bilingualvocabulary lists and translation exercises At this time, it was believed that tolearn a language was to read its literature In GTM classrooms, the students’native language is the “ medium of instruction”, which is used to explain newitem and to make comparisons between L1 and L2 (Richards & Rodgers,2001) In other words, FL teachers mostly codeswitch in their GTMclassrooms

However, some other linguistics strongly criticized the GrammarTranslation Method In the late nineteenth century, the Western worldexperienced a big change in the need of learning languages with the aim ofcommunicating This led to the emergence of the Direct Method, which paysits whole attention to the spoken language The Direct Method is based on thebelief that FL learning should be an imitation of L1 learning In this light,learners should be immersed in the target language (TL) through the use ofthat TL “as a mean of instruction and communication in the languageclassroom”, and through “the avoidance of the use of L1 and translation as atechnique” (Stern, 1983) After its highest popularity during the period fromthe late nineteenth century to the first quarter of the twentieth century, theDirect Method began to decline However, the method has laid foundationupon which many of the later methods and approaches expanded anddeveloped Among them are the Audio-lingual Method and CommunicativeApproach

Audio-lingual Method (ALM), which was suggested by Americanlinguistics in 1950s, aims to develop communicative competence of students

by the repetition of dialogues and drills Supporting this method, Freeman (2000 cited in Vu Thi Thu Trang, 2016) says the more oftensomething is repeated, the stronger the habit and the greater the learning InALM classroom, the use of the first language is forbidden becauseunderstanding context as well as grammatical explanation are not necessary Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has the same communicativepurpose to ALM, the CLT has served as a major source of influence on languageteaching practise around the world since its inception in the 1970s (Richards,2006) The author also suggests a lot of classroom activities that best facilitatelearning such as group work, pair work, role play in CLT classroom.TheCommunicative Approach, which has attracted most attention from the languageteaching profession during the fast five decades, the restricted use of learners’mother tongue is allowed where feasible and translation may be used whenlearners find it essential and helpful (Ellis, 2003)

In the twentieth century, there were some popular teaching methods,which tried to avoid using code-switching or the student’s L1 to developcommunicative language teaching in EFL classroom However, code-switching in classroom is still issue which raises many debates amonglinguistics, foreign language teachers and learners in the world

1.3.Arguments about the use of code-switching or L1 in EFL classrooms

1.3.1 Arguments against using code-switching or L1 in EFL classrooms

Since 1980, code-switching as a specific technique in foreign languagegot much attention Some scholars hold a positive attitude for using thistechnique in EFL classrooms, whereas some have negative attitude for usingcode-switching in EFL classrooms Scholars such as Ellis (1984), Wong-

Fillmore (1985), Chaudron (1988), Light (2001) (cited in Liu Jingxia, 2010)advocate that teachers should create a pure linguistics environment in EFLclassrooms and code-switching to L1 by EFL teachers will have a negativeimpact on target or foreign language learning

According to Cook (2001), arguments against teachers using students’mother tongue in the literature are generally organized into three followingreasons:

1 The learning of L2 should model the learning of an L1 (through maximumexposure to the L2)

2 Successful learning involves the separation and distinction of L1 and L2

3 Students should be shown the importance of the L2 through its continual use

(Cook, 2001, p412) The first reason is based on the rationale from childhood, childrenlisten, imitate and respond to what they hear around them and then theysucceed in mastering their mother tongue Therefore, many linguistics suggestthat language learners should be in the surrounding sound environment to getthe best result According to Krashen and Terrell (1983), as cited in Salah &Farrah (2012), indicate that L1 use should be excluded in the Englishclassroom to increase students’ exposure to the target language Phillipson(1992, cited in Salah & Farrah, 2012) who has same view, argue that the morelearners exposure to the target language, the more quickly will they learn.Turnbull (2001) also mentions that students do not benefit if teachers rely toomuch on using their students’ mother tongue

Regarding to Cook’s second principle, the supporters of theMonolingual Approach have stated that translating between L1 and L2 can bedangerous as it encourages the belief that there are equivalents between thelanguage, which is not always the case (Pracek, 2003) They believe that

successful FL acquisition depends on keeping L2 separate from L1 One mainreason for thinking this way is the fear of L1 interference (Cook, 2001).Karshen (1981) in his influential “Second Language Acquisition and SecondLanguage Learning” also suggests that L1 is a source of errors in learners’foreign language performance.The proponents of target language exclusivityargue that it is not necessary for learners to understand everything that is said

to them by the teacher and that switching to the first language undermines theprocess of learning (F Chambers, 1991; Halliwell & Jones, 1991; Macdonald,1993) For them, teaching entirely through the TL makes the language real,allows learners to experience unpredictability, and develops the learners’ ownin-built language system (cited in Liu Jingxia, 2010)

Regarding Cook’s third point, Pachler & Field mention that the use ofL2 only in the classroom does help demonstrate the L2’ importance and canportray the usage of the language being studied (2001, p.86) According toSharma (2006), the rationale for using only English in EFL classroom is thatthe more students are exposed to English, the faster they learn Manymonolingual approaches agree with this view, they think that the best way tolearn language is if learners are forced to use it

1.3.2.Arguments in favour of code-switching in EFL classrooms

The proponents of the bilingual approach have focused their efforts othree points to discredit the monolingual approach According to Philipson(1992, p.191), the biggest problem of the monolingual approach is that “it isimpractical” There is the fact that non-native speakers account for the vastmajority of teachers of English across the world (Hawks, 2001), cited inMiles, 2004, p.9) These English teachers are usually not good enough tocarry out the English-only teaching in the classroom; thus, the insistence onthe monolingual approach may result in their reduced ability to communicate

and consequently their reduced teaching performance (Miles, 2004, p.9).Another reason for the monolingual approach’s impracticality is that theexclusion of L1 in lower-level monolingual classes is practically impossible(Nunan & Lamb, 1996) As a result, the English-only teaching in theclassroom may create “the alienation of learners from the learning process”(Pachler & Field, 2001).

More and more researchers, such as Stern (1992) and Cook (2000,2001) argued that students’ L1 deserves a place in FL classrooms Theyattempted to question the long-held belief of excluding the L1 from theclassroom Cook (2000) believed that to let students use their mother tongue

is a humanistic approach, as it permits them to say what they really want tosay The use of students’ L1 is a “learner- preferred strategy” (p.242) Stern(1992) suggested that it may be the time to “reconsider” the use ofcrosslingual strategy, though in theory language teaching today is entirelyintralingual The learner inevitably works from an L1 reference base, so it can

be helpful for him to “orient himself in the L2 through the L1 medium or byrelating L2 phenomena to their equivalents in L1” (Stern, 1992, p.285).Moreover, Stern quoted several students’ far less positive opinions on theexclusive use of the TL

Atkinson (1987, p.42) also stated that the mother tongue use in theform of translation technique is a preferred learning strategy for most learners.This idea has been voiced earlier by Danchev (1982, cited by ChristineManara, 2007) who states that “translation is a natural phenomenon and aninevitable part of second language acquisition even where no formalclassroom learning occurs”

L1 use also reduces the affective barriers to L2 acquisition According

to D’Annulizios (1991), Garcia (1991), Hemmindinger (1987), Shamash

(1990), Strei (1992), (cited in Christine Manara 2007), they show that the use

of L1 lowers students’ language anxiety and enhances positive affectiveenvironment for the students to make a progress in their L2 learning.Moreover it takes into account students’ sociocultural factors, facilitatesincorporation of learners’ life experiences, and allows for learner centeredcurriculum development

Additionally, some linguistics think that L1 can be used as a tool forthought Vygotsky (1986) asserts that “L1 would quite naturally serve as atool to help students think about and make sense of the structures, content andmeaning of the L2 texts they read” (see Upton & Lee-Thompson, 2001,p.491) Using mother tongue while discussing with peers, learners provideeach other “scaffolded help” Upton and Lee-Thompson’s study finds that L1use to mediate L2 reading comprehension is not only a reading strategy(translation) but also a tool for creating a cognitive space in which the readerscan facilitate their own understanding of the text (2001, p.491)

Teaching in the TL does have benefits but teaching in TL only, willnot guarantee learning among the students (Pachler & Field, 2001, p.101), butexcluding it may “impede learning” (Auerbach, 1993, p.16 cited in Vu ThiThu Trang, 2016)

1.4.Studies focusing on teachers’ code-switching in EFL classrooms

1.4.1 The attitudes of teachers and students

In Vietnam and in other parts of the world, there are a number ofstudies which have considered the attitudes and perceptions towards thecodeswitch to L1 in the EFL classrooms They can be classified into threecategories: Those which only investigate the attitudes of language learners,those which only analyse the attitudes of language teacher and others explorethe attitudes of both language learners and teachers

In the first study, Schweers (1999, cited in Nguyen Thi Nhu Quynh,2011) conducted a study with EFL students and their teachers at his PuertoRican university and found that 88.7 percent of the students and 100 percent

of the teachers felt that Spanish should be used in their English classes.Eighty-six percent of the students felt that their L1 helps them to feel “lesslost” Schweers concluded that he “pedagogical and affective benefits of L1use justify its limited and judicious use”

Another important study was carried out by Burden (2001) Itexplored the issue of when learners and their teachers felt there was a need touse Japanese in English classes The results indicated that there was a generalagreement between teachers and students regarding the importance of L1 use

in the TL classes The surveyed teachers and students also believed that it wasacceptable to use L1 to explain new vocabulary, give instructions, teachgrammar and check comprehension Burden emphasized the value ofoccasional inclusion of L1 in L2 classes to meet learners’ psychological need

of not portraying their mother tongue as an inferior to the teaching language

In an Arab context, Al-Nofaie (2010) carried out research to examinethe Saudi teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards using Arabic as afacilitating learning tool in the English classroom The findings indicated thatthe study participants had positive attitudes toward using L1 in EFL classes.Both teachers and students were convinced of the value of limited andjudicious use of Arabic in English classes They believed that excessive use ofArabic would hinder their learning and affect it negatively They alsopreferred to use Arabic to a) give exam instructions, b) translate new words,and c) contrast between English and Arabic

Tang (2002) researched both students’ and teachers’ attitudes towardsusing mother tongue (Chinese) during English classrooms The reveals that

the use of L1 in L2 classes does not hinder L2 learning but helps teaching andlearning They saw the value of using L1 to discuss difficult grammaticalrules and to explain challenging vocabulary items, to practice new phrasesand expression Tang concluded that “limited and judicious use of the mothertongue in EFL class does not reduce students’ exposure to English, but ratherthan can assist in the teaching and learning processes” (p.41)

According to Cianflone (2009), he researched L1 use in Englishcourses at University of Messina in Italy The results claim that theinterviewed teachers seem favorable to L1 use in terms of explaininggrammar, vocabulary items, and difficult concepts as well as getting generalcomprehension It is also concluded that in university level, such use maysave time and increase students’ motivation

In Vietnam, many researches were conducted in high schools,universities and English center The results in the study by Kieu Hang KimAnh (2010, cited in Vu Thi Thu Trang, 2016) which investigates the teachers’attitude in three universities in Ho Chi Minh city, presents the possible usefulrole of Vietnamese in several situation but it should not be overused NguyenThi Nhu Quynh (2011) conducted a research to investigate both teachers andstudents’ attitudes at Ba Vi high school The result shows that there are a lot

of benefits of L1 use on facilitating students’ comprehension and create aconfident environment for EFL classes Conducted in May School EnglishCenter in Hanoi, the study by Vu Thi Thu Trang (2016) which investigatesteachers’ attitudes, highlights that teachers’ use of Vietnamese (L1) isunavoidable when teachers and learners share the same L1 although teachersalways try to minimize its use in EFL classroom for young learners

1.4.2.Amount of code-switching use

Evidence from many studies reveals that in the different contexts, there is avariety of amount of code-switching use in EFL classrooms For instance,Turnbull (reported in Turnbull 2001; Turnbull & Arnett 2002) analyzed theL1 and TL “functional units” in the discourse of four teachers of French inCanada secondary schools He found that the use of L1 (English) ranged from28% to 78% Kim & Elder (2005, cited in Vu Thi Thu Trang, 2016) examinedthe discourse of seven native-speaker secondary-school teachers of Japanese,Korean, German and French in New Zealand and found a range from 12% to77% use of the students’ L1 (English) In South Korea, Liu et al (2004)calculated the percentage of L1 (Korean) and TL words in the lessons ofthirteen high school teachers of English and found that their use of L1 rangedfrom only 10% to 90%

In Vietnam, according to Vu Thi Thu Trang (2016), the proportion ofmother tongue used by teacher in the classroom depends on the level and age

of students, types of lessons and stages in each lesson, but they would try touse English as much as possible for their students to exposure to L2 Sheconducted group interview with five female teachers and ten observations inMay School English Center and the results revealed that Vietnamese use wasabout 20 percent to 91 percent

1.4.3.Situations of code-switching use

Many linguistics have investigated the benefits of code-switching in EFlclassrooms and they look over in which situations the teachers and studentsoften use mother tongue Atkinson (1987), who believes in the great potential

of L1 “as a classroom resource” (Atkinson, 1987, p.241), provided extensiveknowledge on where to use mother tongue in EFL classrooms:

1 Eliciting language (all levels)

2 Checking comprehension (all levels)

3 Giving instructions (early levels)

4 Co-operation among learners

5 Discussions of classroom methodology (early levels)

6 Presentations and reinforcement of language (mainly early levels)

7 Checking for sense

8 Testing

Auerbach (1993, p.9) also listed the reasons of using mother tongue inher study such as : a) Negotiation of the syllabus and the lesson; b) Recordkeeping; c) Classroom management; d) Scene setting; e) Language analysis;f) Presentation of rules government; g) Phonology, morphology and spelling;h) Discussion of across - cultural issues; instructions of prompts; i)Explanation of errors; j) Assessment of comprehension

In the context of Vietnam, Kieu Hang Kim Anh found out three reasonswhich teacher participants use mother tongue in their classes: “explaininggrammatical points” (75%); “explaining new words” (67%); “checking forunderstanding” (67%) The findings of the study by Nguyen Thi Nhu Quynh(2011) highlighted some situations in which Vietnamese appeared to be helpfuloption Data from her research instruments shows that the most common usesamong the teachers were for explaining complex grammar structures, giving themeanings of new words and clarifying the difficult abstract ideas She indicatesthat the use of Vietnamese in these situations not only made the teachers feelmore confident but also help students understand the lesson better In Vu ThiThu Trang’s study (2016), she indicates some common situations that teacherswould employ mother tongue were explaining grammar points (especially inhigh level classes); explaining difficult and abstract vocabulary; givinginstruction; eliciting and creating rapport

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1 Research Methodology

As the purpose of this study is to find out the teachers’ and students’opinions of code-switching in English language lesson, a survey method is used

2.2 Setting and participants

The study was carried out at two High schools, which are located in ruraltowns in Thanh Hoa province A High school was established in 1999 inNgoc Lac town and had total of 1100 students and 6 teachers of English Andthe other was set up in 1977 in Lam Son town and had total of 1150 studentsand 4 English of teachers Most of the students were at low and mediumEnglish proficiency levels They do not have enough motivation to studyEnglish hard, they just learn this language because it is a compulsory subject

at school Their main reason for low learning English motivation is thatEnglish test of National High school graduation examination consists of 50multiple choice questions completely so the students do not need to study thissubject seriously to get 1.5 point-the save mark for each test

The participants of the study included 6 teachers of English (2 malesand 4 females), who have been teaching English at rural high school for atleast 6 years, and 100 students who have been learning English for 5-10 years.Like students, all the teachers are Vietnamese so their first language isVietnamese

2.3 Data collection instruments and procedure

2.3.1.Classroom Observation

In the study, the researcher observed 6 classes from grade 10 to grade 12during 45 minutes each in two high schools to get information about thepractice of teachers’ code-switching use in EFL classrooms In all classroom

observations, the researcher as a non-participant observer sat in the corner of theclass, recorded and took notes during the lessons The researcher’s aims were toexamine the situations in which teachers and students often use Vietnamese inEnglish classes to consider choose the questions in the questionnaires andinterviews and find out whether the use of code-switching in EFL classroomshad benefits or disadvantages in learning and teaching English.

2.3.2 Questionnaires

The study used questionnaires to collect the data from students, they consisted

of 11 questions, which were mixed of 3 open-ended and 8 multiple choicequestions The questionnaire was set up in Vietnamese so that students canunderstand and answer them more easily and correctly They was distributed

to 100 students to elicit pertinent data to find out their attitudes towards switching in EFL classrooms

The questionnaire concluded two parts: the first one collected someindividual information of participants such as name, age, sex, educationalbackground The other was questions to elicit their thoughts and wishes inusing code-switching in English lessons

All the questionnaires were filled in seriously by the students andreturned to the researcher

2.3.3 Interview

After the six classroom observations, the researcher conductedinterviews with 6 teachers from two high schools: 4 females and 2 males, whowere chosen randomly and at the different ages

There were 6 interview open questions and they were conducted

in both English and Vietnamese so that the old teachers can understand andexpress their thoughts easily and comfortably The researcher took notes theiranswers as important data to investigate their attitudes toward code-switching

and the reasons for accepting or avoiding Vietnamese use in Englishclassrooms.

2.4 Data analysis procedure

The analysis was based on the notes and the transcripts of theclassroom observations, the responses of the interviews and questionnaire Firstly, data of the class observations which was collected from writtennotes and tape recordings,was analysed, summarized to elicit the frequency ofcode-switching use and situations to use it Secondly, after summarizing thedata in questionnaire the researcher presented into the sections of thestudents’ general attitudes Thirdly, the data from the interviews revealed theteachers’ viewpoints towards code-switching and situations to use it Afterthat the research compared it with the data obtained from the classroomobservation and find out whether there is any differences between students’and teachers’ attitudes towards code-switching

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Data analysis

3.1.1 Classroom observation analysis

3.1.1.1 The frequency of code-switching use

Figure 3.1: The amount of code-switching use in observed classes.

The figure indicates the percentage of teachers’ code-switching use in sixEFL classrooms After observation, the researcher transcribed the recordingand estimate the length of teacher talk in English and in Vietnamese It can beseen from the above chart that the amount of English use in 11C1 is thehighest and the proportion of code-switching use did not vary much amongfive other classes

As can be seen from the chart 1, it is clear that class 11C1 used the leastamount of code-switching use with 84.4 percent of six observed English lessonsand the total length of teacher talk in English was about 7 minutes This class isconsidered the gifted one in Le Lai high school because of many intelligentstudents and the best English level of all That was reason why teacher can speak

English as much as he can to improve communicative skills and did not have touse too much code-switching to explain or translate all new structures, questions,answers into mother tongue during writing lesson

Another observed class of grade 11 was 11C5 which considered Englishone of the most difficult subjects This class had the same percentage of code-switching use as a gifted class of grade 10 - 10B1 with 6.6 percent English(about 3 minutes ) and 93.4 percent code-switching use The students of 11C5were not intelligent and good at any subject so that is the reason why theteacher had to codeswitch too much in reading lesson to help them understandnew words and the text Most teachers tried to speak English as much as theycan in English class but in the reading lesson of 10B1 class the teacher taught

in Vietnamese the most, though her students could have understood if she hadspoken more English

The English level of 10B2 class was not as good as 11C1 and 10B1 butthe amount of code-switching was just higher than only 11C1 with 90percentage in observed listening lesson Many students were interested inlearning English so teacher tried to teach in English and avoid usingVietnamese if it was unnecessary situation to motivate them and improvetheir communicative skills

Class 10B4 had the same English level as 11C5 but in observed lessonthey used less code-switching with 91.2 percentage Because the lesson wasspeaking and the content of the lesson was not complex so teacher couldspeak English in total length 4 minutes to read and give samples to helpstudents practise well She got used to using English to teach much and thentranslate into Vietnamese like other teacher, she explained in mother tongue

in her class instead

The last class was 12A3, the students of this class was good at social

subjects such as literature, history and geography but English was not theirfavourite one In EFL lesson, English was spoken averagely in about 3minutes to teach, read new words, check the answers or some simplesentences She also use quite high amount of code-switching with 93percentage because of her habit and the students’ low level.

To sum up, in all three grades, the frequency of code-switching in sixclasses was very high which was 91 percent in average, only 11C1 had thelowest amount, there was not remarkably different among five ones It could

be concluded from the chart 1 that the proportion of code-switching was quiteequal in rural high schools except one or two better classes

3.1.1.2 Situation of teachers’ code-switching in EFL classrooms

Table 3.1: Situations of teachers’ code-switching in EFL classrooms

giving humour examples or real short story in Vietnamese Although theyused English to ask questions and also encouraged students to answer thequestions in English, the teachers had to code-switch to translate questionsand suggest for some complex answers To check students’ readingcomprehension, the teachers sometimes asked some students especially theweak to answer their questions and better students to summarize the content

of the reading passage in Vietnamese and then assigned homework for theirstudents Because those were EFL lessons, the teachers tried to use English ingreeting, maintaining the classroom discipline, giving compliments, callingfor students After the lessons, the researcher found that code-switching isvery important factor to help rural students with very low English levelunderstand the lessons and have more interest in this language

During the speaking lesson, the teacher tried to used English as much

as impossible such as greeting, asking questions, confirming answers,correcting mistakes, managing class, giving compliments She alsoencouraged her students to practise more in English, repeat difficult or newwords many times She only used code-switching to warm-up, giveinstruction for each task because there were many students had low Englishlevels and translate some of sentences in samples Besides, the teachersometimes code-switch to give the suggestions, encouragement for the weakand the shy After the lesson, the researcher found her students could practisespeaking English well when she codeswitched in necessary situations

In the listening lesson, to help students easily understand andcomplete the tasks, the teacher used code-switching to explain some newwords and complex grammar structures She also translated difficult questionsand answers, give instructions about the setting of the listening, and tellstudents how to listening and completing the listening tasks in Vietnamese

Listening is the only lesson that students were emerged into English muchbecause of English recordings and the teacher needs to use enough code-switching to make this difficult skill more interesting

During the writing lesson, using code-switching to give instructionsfor writing was necessary Besides, Vietnamese was also used to explain newwords and grammar structures This class learned English better than others

so the teacher mainly spoke English in many all activities such as greeting,warm-up, joking, managing the class, giving compliments, correctingmistakes, checking students’ understanding, calling for volunteer, confirminganswers Although he tried to use English as much as possible, hecodeswitched to assess students’ writing to help them recognize their strongpoints and weak points Writing is often lesson which needs using code-switching frequently but in the researcher’s observation, the writing lesson of11C1 class had the lowest amount of code-switching because of students’equal English level and the teachers’ teaching habit

In summary, it can be seen from the classroom observations and thechecklists that code-switching was used in all observed classes Teachers tookthe help of code-switching in some common situations: explaining themeanings of new words, explaining complex grammar structures, givinginstructions, managing the class and assigning homework with the aim to helpstudents understand the lesson more effectively However, the frequency andsituations in which teachers used code-switching are different because itdepends on many factors such as the aims of the lesson, the level of students,the duration of the lesson and the habit of the teachers

3.1.2 Analysis of teachers’ interviews results.

The teachers’ interviews aimed to find out the general attitudes ofteachers towards code-switching in EFL classrooms and then compare them