An evaluation of the application of the courseware “Learn To Speak English Deluxe 10” in language lab for the first year non-major of English students at Hanoi University of Business and Technology

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** PHÙNG THỊ NHƯ TRANG AN EVALUATION OF THE APPLICA

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

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

PHÙNG THỊ NHƯ TRANG

AN EVALUATION OF THE APPLICATION OF THE

COURSEWARE “LEARN TO SPEAK ENGLISH DELUXE 10” IN LANGUAGE LAB FOR THE FIRST YEAR NON-MAJOR OF ENGLISH STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF BUSINESS

AND TECHNOLOGY

Đánh giá việc ứng dụng phần mềm chương trình dạy học “ Learn To Speak English Deluxe 10” tại phòng máy cho sinh viên năm thứ nhất không chuyên Anh tại trường Đại Học Kinh Doanh và Công Nghệ Hà Nội

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

HANOI – 2015

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

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

PHÙNG THỊ NHƯ TRANG

AN EVALUATION OF THE APPLICATION OF THE

COURSEWARE “LEARN TO SPEAK ENGLISH DELUXE 10” IN LANGUAGE LAB FOR THE FIRST YEAR NON-MAJOR OF ENGLISH STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF BUSINESS

AND TECHNOLOGY

Đánh giá việc ứng dụng phần mềm chương trình dạy học “ Learn To Speak English Deluxe 10” tại phòng máy cho sinh viên năm thứ nhất không chuyên Anh tại trường Đại Học Kinh Doanh và Công Nghệ Hà Nội

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Prof Nguyễn Hoa ̀

HANOI – 2015

DECLARATION

I hereby certify that the thesis entitled

“ An evaluation of the application of the courseware Learn To Speak English Deluxe 10 in language lab for the first year non major of English students at Hanoi University of Business and Technology”

is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts, and that this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or tertiary institution

Hanoi, 2015

Phùng Thị Như Trang

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author of this thesis is grateful to a great number of people who did offer assistance and support in the preparation of the dissertation

I am most grateful to Prof Nguyễn Hòa- my supervisor His guidance and

comments have helped me fulfill the thesis Without his suggestions and guidance, the thesis would never have been completed

I would also like to thank the teachers at Hanoi University of Business and Technology who did their best to help me gather data from students‟ and teachers‟ questionnaires

This thesis would not have been completed without the enthusiasm and the interest of the first year students in Accounting, Finance majors, who have participated in the survey

Finally, I own my deepest gratitude to my family for their great encouragement and support

ABSTRACT

Applying technology and latest advance in learning is an investment and an

effort of both English Department of HUBT and the school Learn To Speak

English is introduced to first year students of all majors but the results were not up

to expectation Moreover, no courseware is perfect in any situations For the

reasons, the study is aimed to evaluate the software to find out to what extent it can meet teachers and students‟ needs in terms of contents and the presentation,

organization of the content as well as to find out some benefits and difficulties in teaching and learning by using this software

To evaluate the software LTSE, this study was carried out based on the criteria proposed by Georgiadou, E.,& Economides, A (2000) as a basis The data were collected from first year students from different majors and ESP teachers at HUBT

In this study, the teachers and students‟ needs in language learning in terms

of content and the presentation, organization of the content of LTSE were investigated The evaluation also releases some strengths and weaknesses of this software And finally, the evaluator suggests some recommendations to make better use of LTSE

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF TABLES, CHARTS

Chart 1: Results of difficulties in delivering LTSE lessons

Chart 2: Results of students’ evaluation of the most interesting and most difficult

lesson

Chart 3: Results of students’ recommendation to improve the use of LTSE

Table 1: Results of Students’ and teachers’ evaluation of LTSE’s content

Table 2: Results of Students’ and teachers evaluation of Pedagogical factors

Table 3: Results of Students’ and Teachers’ evaluation of Interactivity

Table 4: Results of students’ and teachers’ evaluation of Navigation of LTSE’s

content

Table 5: Results of students evaluation of Feedback of LTSE’s content

Table 6: Results of students’ and teachers’ evaluation of LTSE’s screen design

Table 7: Result of teachers’ opinion about the difficulties or the problems of

teaching with LTSE

Table 8: Results of teachers’ opinion about the benefits of teaching and learning

English at HUBT

Table 9: Results of Teachers’ recommendations to improve NDE

Table 10: Results of students’ perception and attitudes to NDE’ benefits

Table 11: Results of students’ evaluation of Challenges in LTSE studying

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

LIST OF TABLES, CHARTS v

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aim of the study and research questions 2

2.1 Aim of the study 2

2.2 Research questions 2

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Significance of the study 3

5 Design of the study 3

PART II: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER ONE: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 5

1 Computer assisted language learning (CALL) 5

2 Criteria for evaluating language learning software 7

3 The software that has been used at HUBT 19

4 Learn to Speak English program 22

CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY AND DATA ANALYSIS 24

1 Context of the study 24

2 Subjects 24

3 The instruments 25

4 Data collection and analysis 28

CHAPTER THREE: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 29

1 Findings from part I of questionnaires and the interviews 29

2 Findings from part II of the questionnaires and interviews 41

3 Summary of major findings 49

PART III: CONCLUSION 51

1 Conclusion 51

2 Limitations of the study 52

3 Recommendations for courseware improvements 53

4 Suggestions for further research 54

REFERENCES 55 APPENDICES I

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

For decades, English was taught in classrooms in which the teacher-centered method was applied The teacher gave information, while students gained knowledge passively However, advanced technology has influenced the educational methods in classroom in which computer-based technology is mainly used to reinforce instruction and put the focus on the students in their learning process Learners can use some English learning materials easily if they are equipped with a device from very simple ones as their mobile phone, a radio, a cassette, etc to a more advanced one as laptops, ipads And they can learn English anytime, anywhere whenever they have time because learning English does bring pleasure and interests besides leaving great impact on learner‟s listening skill improvement

Among those conveniences, computer technology can be regarded as an educational tool supporting language teaching In fact, a wide range of electronic technologies have been developed to supplement second language teaching and learning (Bas & Kuzucu, 2009; Warschauer, 1996) These technologies include hardware delivery methods such as audiotape recorders, videotape recorders, computers and the Internet In addition, there are many innovative electronic tools that support language learning such as speech production and recognition, text analysis, text translation, and software for visualization and animation, electronic mail, list serve discussion groups, streaming audio and video and real-time synchronous as well as asynchronous communication opportunities that bring the target language environment to the learner (LeLoup & Porterio, 1997)

One of the recent educational methods for language teaching, more specifically English Language teaching, is called the Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) method which is combining with face to face classroom instruction to form

a new Blended Learning model Learn To Speak English Deluxe 10 is one of those

advanced technology in language teaching and learning At Ha Noi University of Business and Technology (HUBT) after two years of experiment, the application of

Learn To Speak English Deluxe 10 Courseware has caused a controversy over its

effectiveness among teachers and students Hence, this research is done to explore

to what extent this software meets teachers and students‟ needs in teaching and learning as well as to reveal the benefits and challenges in applying LTSE so as to find ways to improve the course

2 Aim of the study and research questions

2.1 Aim of the study

The major aims of the study are:

- To evaluate the courseware Learn To Speak English Deluxe 10 used at Hanoi

University of Business and Technology in terms of content as well as the presentation and organization of its content

- To propose some recommendations for administrators and English teachers

to fully exploit and better apply the program supporting students in language learning for expected results

2.2 Research questions

In light of the goals of the study, the following research questions are made:

1 To what extent does LTSE meet teachers and students’ needs in teaching and learning in terms of content as well as the presentation and organization of its content?

2 What improvements can be recommended to make the use of the LTSE courseware more effective?

3 Scope of the study

This study tried to find out teachers and students‟ evaluation of the Learn To

Speak English Courseware in terms of these criteria: content and the presentation

and organization of its content This kind of information was collected through questionnaires and interview

Due to the limited scope of a minor thesis, research subjects are primarily confined to ten English teachers who have been working with the courseware for two years and 100 random students who are learning at eight different classes of Accounting, Banking, and Finance

4 Significance of the study

Firstly, the study serves as a reference source for HUBT administrators and

English teaching staffs who are directly involved in Learn to Speak English

program and administrators as well as for students who are beneficiaries of the program They will be made aware of both the benefits and challenges in the

application of Learn to Speak English and thus promote the quality &

effectiveness of the program

Secondly, based on the results of the study, some changes or improvements in the use of the courseware in the teaching/learning process may be made accordingly in order to serve best the goals of the English Department set for the teachers and students in the first school year

Thirdly, it would make a contribution to the research area in the field of computer

assisted learning as well as relating to the application of language learning

software

Finally, the thesis would also be helpful for those who share similar concern with the researcher

5 Design of the study

This study consists of three parts:

Part I: Introduction This part supplies an overview of the study with specific

reference to the rationale, the aims, and the design

Part II: Development In this part, three chapters are presented

Chapter one: Theoretical Framework This chapter deals with an exploration of

the theoretical background of the research It concerns with the issues relevant to the topic of the research: Computer Assisted Language Learning, Criteria for evaluating language learning software, the software that has been used at HUBT,

Learn to Speak English program

Chapter two: Methodology and data analysis Methodology presents the

background information of the subjects of the study, the instrument used to collect data, the procedure of data collection

detail and a thorough discussion of the findings of the study is made Some explanations and interpretations of the findings are also present in this chapter

Part III: Conclusion In this part, the limitations and some recommendations for

further research are explored

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER ONE: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

1 Computer assisted language learning (CALL)

1.1 What is CALL?

According to Kocak (1997) CALL is “a term used by teachers and students to describe the use of computers as part of a language course” Hardisty & Windeatt (1989) give a more detailed definition that CALL is traditionally considered as a

method of 'presenting, reinforcing and testing' particular language items in which

the learner is first presented with a rule and some examples, and then answers a series of questions which test her/his knowledge of the rule and the computer gives appropriate feedback and awards a mark which may be stored for later inspection for the teacher and reference for the learner

1.2 Impacts of CALL on language learning and teaching

In fact, CALL has a lot of effects on language learning in term of methods, context and language knowledge acquisition Higgins (1995) indicates that the value of CALL is that it allows a richer form of language exploration and the use of computers is compatible with a variety of approaches, methods and techniques This gives teachers much flexibility in their teaching practice According to Kramsch and Andersen (1999) multimedia technology can provide authentic cultural contexts that are important for language learning In other words it creates a supportive learning environment Kocak‟s (1997) study investigates the effectiveness of CALL on vocabulary learning and teaching and draws a conclusion that “computer instruction may offer a noteworthy experience to students with respect to vocabulary learning” Besides, CALL considerably influences the development of language skills As some researchers who advocated CALL programs, especially voice-interactive, say that CALL can improve learners' speaking skills Moreover, computer technology in combination with a conferencing system is considered an effective means of

providing goal-directed writing courses tailored to different learning styles So, making complete use of CALL to develop integrative language skills is truly valuable in language teaching and learning

However, working with the computer, as any other teaching aid, needs to be linked with ordinary classroom work and CALL lessons, like other lessons, need to be planned carefully because Jones & Fortescue (1987) warns that the computer is a resource and not a programmed-learning machine

1.3 Lance Knowles( 2004)’ CALL

The diagram shows how various processors in the brain communicate with the working memory, which is instrumental in the learning process The multiple processors such as the visual, auditory, conceptual and many others are involved and can be activated in well-designed activities In addition, these processors work

in parallel in the unconscious process and interact with the working memory and long term memory to interpreted language In fact, when languages are repeated many times, neurons are connected, and then create automaticity Making use of this working process of the brain, people create a new model of language learning naming Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) CALL can simultaneously activate auditory, phonological, and visual systems in the brain

Lance Knowles (2004) states that CALL is an emerging force in language education and affirms that “CALL is now moving toward a blended model where the computer provides the necessary optimal input and practice activities, and the

Long-Term Memory

Working Memory

Visual Buffer

Auditory Buffer

Conceptual Buffer

classroom provides the human element accommodating and utilizing the needs and lives of the learners in a social context” Besides, he shows the different but essential roles of “both multimedia and classroom activities” Without the effective practice provided by well-designed, media-rich courseware, language learning is slow, painful and discouraging However, without social environment of classroom, learning is tedious, unmotivating, and too restrictive to meet the learners‟ needs Moreover, he argues that learners‟ practice should be assisted by teachers who point out practice strategies and materials so that students practice English more effectively

2 Criteria for evaluating language learning software

2.1 Criteria suggested by Hubbard

Hubbard (1988) develops an integrated framework for CALL courseware evaluation Its approach is different from others and requires some introduction It

is an integrated description of the components of CALL materials with respect to a particular goal- evaluation This framework helps an evaluator create his or her own questions or develop some other evaluation scheme instead of asking specific questions

Rather than asking a specific set of questions, a framework provide the tool through which an evaluator can create on his or her own questions or develop some other evaluation scheme He also gives four principles when using the framework

- Principle 1: the evaluation framework should be linked to a general framework for language teaching methodology In other words, it should build as much as possible on existing views of how to analyze the effectiveness of the language process

- Principle 2: the evaluation framework should contain a wide range of methods, teachers, learners, and syllabus goals It should be flexible and non-judgmental of the nature of language and learning

- Principle 3: the evaluation framework should be connected with frameworks for courseware development and implementation in terms of form and terminology That is, the evaluation process should not be secluded from the process of developing and using courseware, but comprise just one module of a comprehensive methodological framework for CALL

- Principle 4: the evaluation framework should express dependencies among different components of CALL Apparently these components interact in non-linear ways Therefore, the framework should be designed in order that the evaluation process should not operate exclusively in a linear manner

The researcher considers these principles to be of great significance in courseware evaluation and should be applied widely and seriously It should be noted that this framework is built on a view of the language teaching/learning process proposed

by Richards and Rogers (1986) They think that when analyzing any method of language teaching method, there are three levels to consider: approach, design, and

procedure Basically, approach represents the method‟s assumptions about the nature of language and language learning; design represents the realization of

those assumptions in terms of curricular goals, learning tasks, and the roles of

learner, teacher, and materials; and procedure represents the implementation of

those goals through specific learning and practice activities This point of view remains important in Hubbard (1988)‟s framework However, some modifications have been made Because the Richards and Rogers framework is designed to analyze whole methods rather than individual pieces of courseware, some significant liberties have been taken to accommodate the rather different goals of courseware evaluation Following is Hubbard (1988)‟s integrated framework for CALL courseware evaluation

Hubbard’s integrated framework for CALL software evaluation

2.2 Criteria suggested by Burston

Based on the work of Hubbard (1987, 1988), Burston (2003) suggest a frame work with four parameters which could be used as a basic guide to software evaluation: technical features, activities (procedures), teacher fit (approach), and learner fit (design)

Technological features seem to be the easiest to assess and include:

1 simplicity of installation (adequacy of instructions, trouble free, easy to uninstall),

2 speed of program operation (where are the delays: at start up, loading videos, web page loading?),

3 reliability of operation (crashes and stalls),

4 platform compatibility (PC/Macintosh, operating system, Web browser versions),

5 screen management (esthetics, navigational transparency),

6 user interface (ease of use, operational consistency, online help), and

7 exploitation of computer potential (effective use of sound, video, speech recognition, speech synthesis, intelligent response handling, student record keeping, adaptability based on user profiles, links to www)

Just like technological features, program activities are relatively straightforward to deal with It is all about finding out what students actually do when using the program and how good the activities are The results should be made to be relative

to activity type For instance, using grammar exercises may be opposed by some teachers but in evaluating such exercises, it cannot be denied that they are useful The quality of exercises has to be judged relative to their instructional purpose (The appropriateness of activities, which is another issue depending on the teacher‟s particular curricula objects, will be dealt later in Teacher Fit parameter) Broadly speaking, activities can be classified into three major types:

1 instructional (tutorials, drills, text reconstruction),

2 collaborative (games, simulations, discussion forums, peer group writing), and

3 facilitative (dictionary, database, verb conjugator, spell/grammar checker, authoring system)

Obvious activity features to consider are:

1 linguistic focus (discourse, syntax, lexis, morphology, spelling, pronunciation),

2 language skills (reading, listening, writing, speaking),

3 sociolinguistic focus (information gathering/authentic tasks), and

4 supplementary/complementary/central relationship to the curriculum

The assessment of teacher fit (approach) requires looking at the theoretical base of student activities; judging how well they follow accepted theories of cognitive development, second language acquisition, and classroom methodology; and determining how closely they fit the teacher's curricular objectives Doing this, teachers can show their rejection to the activities of the software program for not according with collaborative objectives

Linguistic accuracy (e.g., grammaticality, authenticity, typos, etc.) and the

appropriateness of sociocultural representations (e.g., stereotypes or gender bias) also reflect the how well pedagogical objectives of the program are met

Teacher fit is the parameter that determines the pedagogical appropriateness of the

program; therefore considered to be the most critical one of software evaluation Even though a program is rich in activities or technically brilliant, it is useless if

does not help to fulfill teacher‟s curricular objectives Determining teacher fit is the

most difficult partly because the theoretical/methodological assumptions inside the program are not always stated by software developers, and assessors have to make implication On the other hand, software producers label their products basing on favored methodological approaches (e.g., communicative, learner-centered, constructivist, and experiential) rather than paying attention to the truth of the matter In addition, some foreign language teachers may not have adequate formal training (e.g., in cognitive psychology, applied linguistics, or language teaching methodology) required to make decisions about theoretical considerations

The step of assessing learner fit (design) involves defining the potential user of the software program in which teachers play an essential role Other factors such as which the program is appropriate to or can be adapted to, the needs for students are also determined by them Learner fit is affected by the following:

2 response handling (error correction, feedback),

3 adaptation to individual learner differences (age, interests),

4 learning styles (recognition, recall, comprehension, experiential learning),

individual/group work),

6 learner control (sequencing, content, operating parameters), and

7 design flexibility/modifiability by instructor

Burston (2003) also suggests that the easiest way to select software is to select bundled software: “an integrated software/textbook package” because “the content

is age and language-learning level appropriate, the methodology is sound, and total curricular investigation is assured” (p.36) His framework is of great significance in the assessment of the application of a language learning courseware

2.3 Criteria suggested by Lê and Lê

As cited in Quynh Lê and Thao Lê (2007), software is looked at in different aspects

It can be seen as a tool, an instructor, a facilitator of learning, and a virtual class In the context of NDE, a virtual class may be the best comparison because the students self-study in the virtual environment with the help of the teacher These authors take into account the following factors of educational software evaluation:

- Flexibility: A courseware should be flexible enough to serve up learners‟

learning styles and interests when they negotiate through their learning and to allow the learners to learn at their own pace

- Interactivity: This includes textual and communicative interactivity In terms of

textual interactivity, learners can explore a variety of structure-based and content-based parts of the courseware Communicatively, a communication board is used for discussion among participants

- Multimedia power: A range of multimedia tools are embedded in the

courseware for learners to construct their own materials and to access other sources

- Resources: Promoting independent learning is of importance Reading materials

include scanned articles from books and those available on the Web The presence of guided tours of various web sites which deal with specific topics is advisable

- A wide range of learning experiences: Apart from the content-based topics

dealing with different aspects of a course, there should be different components such as practical implications, problem-solving tasks, and self-testing

sub Learners’ evaluation: It is a good ideas for the courseware to include a

component to provide a user-friendly facility for students to contribute their evaluation and feedback

The process of educational software evaluation is presented in the following diagram

Lê & Lê (2007)’s process of educational software evaluation

2.4 Georgiadou Elissavet and Anastasios A Economides’ evaluation criteria

Although there are numerous articles in the literature on instructional design and system evaluation, the researcher still find that the work of Georgiadou & Economides, 2000 is really appropriate to be used in evaluating the effectiveness of LTSE software that is being applied at HUBT

Diagram of the Evaluation Framework

According to the diagram of the evaluation framework above, the evaluators of hypermedia courseware (H.C.) (Georgiadou & Economides, 2000) put emphasize

on the social and practical acceptability of hypermedia courseware

Firstly, with the social acceptability, the authors mean the social basis of an educational system In cases when the basis is teacher-centered, then the software that provides high levels of learner control and undermines the teacher‟s authority is possibly socially unacceptable On the other hand, when the basis is student-centered, then a courseware that limits the student‟s potential for independent discovery is socially unacceptable

The second branch in the diagram is the practical acceptability term which includes some criteria of the software evaluation such as the content, the presentation and organization, Technical support and update processes and evaluation of learning According to the author all sectors are equally important, as hypermedia courseware has to be simultaneously pedagogically and technically sound Moreover, each

sector includes a number of criteria that are incorporated in the evaluation instrument, which should be met in a satisfactory level, in order to characterize a piece of hypermedia courseware of high quality

The authors also gave some clarification of some smaller terms that appear in the diagram such as the „presentation and organization of the content‟ and the

„evaluation of learning‟ sectors

1 The presentation and organization of the content: it is associated with the

pedagogical ones that are concerned with learning and instructional design theories and the interface design factor

1.1 Pedagogical Factor: it is how humans learn Firstly, regarding to the cognitive

theories, learning is an active, constructive, cumulative, self-regulated process in which the learner plays a critical role In addition, instructional theory focusing on learner-centered approaches depends on information access and learning environments that encourage free interaction with information The agreement with the principles of an instructional design theory depends heavily on the subject matter In addition, teachers‟ beliefs are of great importance, especially in cases when the hypermedia courseware is part of the curriculum

Secondly, „motivation‟ and „structure‟ are important in all educational settings that are how to organize instructional information, this again depends on the subject matter Structured hypermedia consists of sets of nodes, each set accessible from any other set The node sets can be structured in any number of ways, such as node-link, hierarchical, network, depending on the nature of the processing the designer wants to elicit from the user The structure of each node set with the various options available within each set needs to be conveyed on every screen Another method for structuring the node sets is to combine related concepts, tie them together in an introductory block, and then permit access within the set only to concepts contained within the set

Thirdly, „learner's control‟ is another important thing, which is primary in the design of interactive learning as it allows students to tailor the learning experience

to their own individual needs

Moreover, the issues of „accommodation of individual differences‟, and

„cooperative learning‟ are highly important in the effectiveness of based learning In most education contexts learners are not homogeneous in terms

hypermedia-of prerequisite knowledge, motivation, experience, learning styles and cognitive styles Also evidence suggests that when hypermedia-learning systems are structured to allow cooperation, learners benefit both instructionally and socially

1.2 Interface Design Factor: there are some issues that create the interface design

factor: Interactivity - Navigation – Feedback; and the screen design

1.2.1 Interactivity - Navigation – Feedback

a, Interactivity in instruction: that is the activity performed by the technology and

the learner as well as the ability of the technology to adapt the events of instruction

in order to make that interaction more meaningful (Reigeluth, 1987)

b, Navigation: the types of links the software allows to assist the study, it is the

assistance needed that provides a function of the size of the knowledge base

c, Feedback : it is closely related with the issue of interaction, as action without

feedback is completely unproductive for a learner There are two factors that determine the effectiveness of feedback: The type and frequency of feedbacks According to Laurillard (1993) there are two types of feedback, „intrinsic‟- what is given as a natural consequence of an action and „extrinsic‟- as the word suggested,

it is an external comment on it: right or wrong not The intrinsic is different from

the extrinsic clearly in computer-based instruction because the intrinsic feedback

relates to navigation and interactivity with the instructional program and the

extrinsic feedback relates to the feedback on user's performance

In addition, Schimmel (1988) identifies three types of extrinsic feedback: (a) Confirmation feedback that simply confirms whether a learner's answer is correct or incorrect; (b) Correct response feedback that presents the correct answer; (c) Explanatory feedback, such as a step-by-step solution to an incorrectly answered question

1.2.2 The screen design

In order to encourage students in their learning with the help of computers, the author suggested that there should have different screen elements to present information so that it can assist the learners in retaining and recalling the information

2 Evaluation of Learning

Firstly, the learning outcomes can be evaluated by „pre-tests‟ which is used to

determine learning outcomes prior to the intervention and „immediate‟ and „delayed post-tests‟ to examine learning outcomes after the intervention

The learning process refers to the usability of a product it is done by observing and

measuring the end-users attitudes Usability is usually associated with five parameters (Nielsen, 1990): Easy to learn; Efficient to use; Easy to remember; Few errors; Pleasant to use

In conclusion, a wide variety of criteria for software evaluation of different authors makes it really difficult for the writer to choose criteria for the evaluation process

of LSE There are too many things to consider which requires enormous effort to look at the software from various aspects However, it is likely to be easier when the evaluating process is limited within some particular criteria Personally, the

researcher has chosen the criteria of Georgiadou Elissavet and Anastasios A Economides (2000) to evaluate the software in terms of content and the

presentation or organization of the content through questionnaires to find out if the

software meets the need for the contents of both students and teachers English software that was used in Hanoi university of Business and Technology

3 The software that has been used at HUBT

Responding to the development in computer technology as well as teaching and

learning English, the administrators of HUBT decided to apply The DynEd in 2012

This software provided both advantages and disadvantages

3.1 Over view of Dyned

New Dynamic English is introduced for first year students of all majors and it

started to be used in 2012 Dyned (Dynamic English) is a useful language learning

computer software DynEd's research-based courses provide chances to learn

English from kids in school to adults in leading corporations DynED courses are

supported by Records Management System, Mastery and Placement tests

DynED is a four-level introductory program which is presented from elementary to

upper intermediate learners It focuses on building the receptive skill of listening and the productive speaking skill that are essential for basic English communication Lessons are subject based that relate to students' lives at the college

level Topics vary from daily routine to social issues In each lesson of Dyned, there

are six main parts: the presentation, the speech recognition, review, video interaction, dictation, matrix vocabulary lesson

3.2 NDE advantages and disadvantages

Due to the limitation of a minor thesis, the researchers used the studies of some other researchers to make conclusion about the benefits and the disadvantages of applying this program at HUBT as follow

3.2.1 Advantages in the application of NDE at HUBT

The benefit of NDE at HUBT has been investigated by many researchers, thus in

this minor thesis, the researcher refer to some benefits that were conducted in some previous researches by Chu, T.T.H (2014) and Mai, T.N (2011)

In the study of Mai (2011), she found out that there are three outstanding

advantages of applying NDE in HUBT First of all, it is the oral skills development

for learner that it offered According to her study, the number of investigated

students approved that NDE helped them improve their oral skills accounts for 82%

Secondly, she also found that NDE also helps to develop communication skills and

creates a relaxing environment to learn English The topics presented in NDE reflect

real world activities from greeting, families, and jobs to the current social issues like

environmental pollution, diseases and wars Finally, she pointed out that the assistance of modern technology is the third benefit of using NDE It is true that the

language rooms are equipped with multimedia facilities like projectors, megaphones, computers which are connected to the internet, to create good

conditions for language learning These conditions make NDE learning in particular

and English studying in general easier

From the data analysis and discussions of Chu (2014), she found that this software provided some benefits for learners with suitable aim of the course because the courseware successfully met the course requirements in developing language skills, especially speaking and listening It also consolidates the students‟ basic grammar due to adequate grammatical structures and exercises It also provides students with sufficient amount of vocabulary necessary for daily communication in English at a basic level In addition, with regard to content, the courseware provides appropriate content for students to learn in some aspects including adequate amount of language skills, functional language and grammatical points Many common topics in communicative situations such as daily activities, families and jobs, etc are also presented Vocabulary is provided through specific situation and conversation in each lesson with the participation of familiar characters (Max, Kathy, etc.) Finally, teaching – learning techniques presented in activities quite satisfy teachers and students There are good interaction between teachers and students, between students and among students throughout modules in the courseware

3.2.2 Problems in the application of NDE at HUBT

In Mai (2011)‟s research, the problems lies in the working schedule The time allocation for each module is insufficient for students to acquire the skills and create automaticity In addition, the heavy workload for each lesson disheartened students

a lot and made teachers feel puzzled to deliver such huge work It seems that too much work in a lesson makes both teachers and students tired and demotivated The next problem is that the supplementary materials are not suitable They are badly

designed and not compatible with NDE’ content which needs extending and

personalizing In practice, some of these materials were too difficult for some learners but were too boring to motivate other students Moreover, the written skills have not been developed much Both teachers and students had the same idea about this problem The results conflict with the claim of this program that it develops integrated skills

Shared the same idea with Mai (2011), Chu (2014) also found out in her study that the proportion of four macro language skills is not really equal Speaking and listening skills are designed with more exercises and given more practicing time than reading and writing skills In her work, Chu (2014) figured out that in terms of exercises, the courseware does not provide a variety of tasks in grammar and writing for students to revise some difficult language points

From the researchers‟ viewpoint, as being taken part in teaching NDE for students

at HUBT, beside the above disadvantages mentioned by the two researchers, I found that the technical issues also caused problems The students‟ result in learning was affected a lot by the technical issues because they have to record their voice a lot when using this program In addition, this software needs the internet connection all the time Without the internet connection, students can‟t record their performance

4 Learn to Speak English program

LTSE is one of learning software in the flagship Learn to Speak™ Deluxe product

line, produced by eLanguage, LLC - a Northern California-based developer of

language learning software

Unlike most language software programs, Learn to Speak English teaches the

language from the ground up It not only immerses the user in the language, but it provides extensive grammar lessons as well Each lesson contains a vocabulary list, story, dialogue, grammar topic, conversation, and exercises Also included are fun games to break the monotony while strengthening and reinforcing learning Speech recognition technology allows users to test their knowledge and perfect their accents with immediate feedback from the computer

4.1 Learn To Speak English Deluxe 10’s content

Learn To Speak English consists of forty increasingly advanced lessons From

lesson 1 to lesson 5 is Beginner Course, lesson 6 to lesson 34 is Intermediate

Course and five last lessons are Advanced Course

Each lesson of Beginner Course has four main parts: Vocabulary, Communication,

Grammar, Exercises While each lesson of Intermediate Course and Advanced

Course contain seven main parts They are Vocabulary, Vocabulary Exercises,

Story, Story Exercises, Grammar, Grammar Exercises and Conversation There are

some similarities between the structures of Beginner Course and Intermediate or

Advanced Course Both of them consist of Vocabulary, Communication or Story,

Grammar and Exercise However, in the Beginner Course, all vocabulary exercises,

Communication or Story exercises, and Grammar Exercises are put in one part

called Exercise, while in the Intermediate and Advanced Courses, each kind of

exercises is separated in one part

In vocabulary part, students listen to a list of words or phrase and can understand the meanings by looking at the pictures that come with those words It is unlimited the times of repeating listening to those words After that they will record their voice with the computer‟s speech recognition and assessment meter that measures how close they are to a native speaker‟s voice

The stories section of the program give students chance to experience real situations such as time telling, days and dates, and basic colors, greetings, farewells,

introductions, and making acquaintances in Beginner Course or looking for an

apartment, going to the theater, taking a taxi, opening a bank account, buying

groceries, going to the doctor in Intermediate Course or further broaden contents,

including linguistically more challenging topics, such as making business calls,

flirting, expressing frustration, or even watching a soccer game of Advanced

Course

The grammar part supports students with correct use of grammar point that be used

in the previous part of the same lesson

In the Exercises, students can do different types of exercises such as, in Dialog

exercises, there are 3 common kinds: See It, Say It; Drag and Match, Multiple Choice In Vocabulary Exercises is See and Say In Grammar parts is Fill in the Blank

The conversation parts help students interact with characters in real-life scenarios based on the most common travel situations

In addition, there are some other parts such as Language Workshops, Games &

Activities, Oral & Written Lessons, Media Center, and Progress All these parts are

design to help students make a revision on what they have learnt in the main part of the program

CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY AND DATA ANALYSIS

1 Context of the study

The leaders of Hanoi University of Business and Technology (HUBT) and the

English faculty decided to introduce Learn to Speak English deluxe 10, for K19

non- English major students The introduction of the English software is considered

as an innovation in the ways of teaching and learning English at HUBT

Actually, Learn to Speak English deluxe 10 is undertaken by making use of blended

learning model and computer assisted language learning, which is different from traditional classroom model This requires teachers to adapt their teaching methods

as well as improve their proficiency levels Also, students have to change their way

of studying

Moreover, the students at HUBT are from many places in Vietnam They have different abilities of learning English and they are learning in different departments such as accounting, administration or finance Therefore, this software has been received differently by HUBT teachers and students In such a context, it is critical

to investigate the effectiveness of the new English program in order to have empirical evidence for administrative decisions on how to support teachers and students in running the program

2 Subjects

2.1 Teachers

Ten English teachers of English Faculty at HUBT aged from 24 to 40 were invited

to take part in completing the questionnaires They are in charge of teaching English

in language lab for mainly first year students Among those, eight are female and two are male All of them are qualified teachers who graduated from well- known universities for teacher training in Vietnam such as Hanoi University, Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies, which have adopted the latest approaches in teaching English for years Moreover, five of the teachers have at

least ten years of experience in teaching English Eight of them have been teaching English for at least 5 years and are in Group of English for Information Technology The rests have over 2 years of experience They all have been teaching at the university for at least 2 years and they are very enthusiastic about their teaching career

of 2013- 2014 By the end of the first semester, they have finished the total time budget of learning English (60 periods, each period last 55 minutes) They are considered to have experience in giving and expressing their opinions and have fresh experience working with Learn to Speak English deluxe 10

3 The instruments

There are many ways of collecting data such as: mail survey, telephone survey, interview, questionnaire, and so on but questionnaire is one of the instruments which is often used to collect data by most researchers in social sciences According

to Gillham (2000: 6), there are some advantages of using questionnaires in doing research such as:

- Low cost in time and money

- Easy to get information from a lot of people very quickly

- Respondents can complete the questionnaire when it suits them

- Analysis of answers to closed questions is straightforward

- Less pressure for an immediate response

- Respondents‟ anonymity

- Lack of interviewer bias

- Standardization of questions (but true of structured interview)

- Can provide suggestive data for testing a hypothesis

In order to fulfill the aims of this study as presented, it is suitable to use questionnaires in this study because the researcher wants to collect the information from the students and teachers in their own current situations to find out the appropriateness of the LTSE software in the process of learning English

In addition, to assure the reliability and validity of the results, interviews were also employed together with questionnaires as the main methods of data collection

3.1 Survey questionnaires

Two sets of questionnaires (for teachers and students) were designed including both closed-ended and open-ended questions Questionnaires were distributed to 10 teachers and 100 students

The questionnaires were adapted from Georgiadou, E.,& Economides, A (2003) However, some changes were made in order to fit into the situation of this study

3.1.1 Questionnaires for students

The questionnaire was administered to 8 randomly selected classes (nearly 100 students), aged from 18 to 22, from different classes of different faculties at HUBT

and they are studying the Learn To Speak English Deluxe 10

The questionnaires consisted of 2 sections The first section contained 30 questions

which dealt with the evaluation of LTSE and the last 4 question in the third section find out the benefits and difficulties in the application of LTSE as well as students‟

suggestions to improve the course

3.1.2 Questionnaires for teachers

The questionnaires were delivered to 10 teachers of English All the questionnaires were written in English and they were designed to focus on three main areas The first area 30 questions coped with the teachers‟ evaluation of LTSE And the last part with 4 questions showed the advantages and disadvantages of LTSE to the students and some recommendations that they give to improve the course

3.2 Interviews

The researcher used semi-structured interviews which were closely related to the questionnaires with little modification but still facilitated chances to obtain a variety

of responses from the interviewees

The interview questions were adopted from Mai (2011) who was also the researcher

about the attitude toward Dyned Courseware, but there are also some modifications

so that it fits my participants in the research The interviews were taken place during breaking time in order to avoid any interruption to the lesson and they feel free to answer

The information from the interviews would be categorized and analyzed in accordance with the data from the questionnaires to answer the research questions

3.2.1 Interviews for teachers

Four teachers of English from the sample who were delivered the questionnaires were randomly chosen for the interview The interview included four questions to further discorver teachers‟ opinions of the benifits of LTSE teaching in langugage lab and reveal some of the difficulties and their suggestions to improve the course were also extracted Each interview was about 15 minutes long and was recorded and transcripted for later reference

3.2.2 Interviews for students

Four students who had taken part in the surveyed questionnaires were chosen for the

benefits, their difficulties in the process of learning as well as their suggestion for the teacher and the administrator to improve the software and the way of teaching Each interview lasted about 15 minutes

4 Data collection and analysis

Firstly, both of teachers and students filled out the questionnaires The researcher directly explained the purpose, relevance and the importance of the study, as well as answered all the questions that the students and teachers had Then, the researcher counted, coded the data collected from the questionnaires

Next, the results were displayed in forms of tables, figures or charts for the convenience of analysis while qualitative data from the open- ended questionnaires items and the interviews were presented by quoting relevant responses from the respondents

In addition, collected data is classified into different categories and the researcher use descriptive statistics and qualitative statistics to analyze After that, the collected data were synthesized, categorized and discussed to reveal answers to the research questions Comparison between the data from the questionnaires and those from the interviews were also made to assist interpretation

CHAPTER THREE: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

1 Findings from part I of questionnaires and the interviews

1.1 Results of the LTSE’s content evaluation

Table 1 below demonstrates students‟ opinions about LTSE’s content when using

the courseware LTSE (1 strongly disagree, 2 disagree, 3 neither agree nor disagree, 4 agree, 5 strongly agree)

As can be seen from the Table 1, more than half of the students took part in the

questionnaire agreed that the content of LTSE software is relevant to age group and

half of students answered that this software provides correct use of grammar There

is a small percentage disagreed (approximately 5%) Similarly, half of the teachers thought that students have opportunities to develop their speaking skills by using

accurate use of grammar and relevant topics to the age group in LTSE software

None of them disagreed with the statement that the information of the software is relevant to age group 20% strongly agreed on that In the third question about the relevant of concepts and vocabulary to learners‟ abilities, there are 5% of students thought that the vocabulary is not suitable with them and 14% disagreed For teachers, more than half of them agreed, however there is still 20% teacher thought that was somewhat not relevant to their students‟ abilities From my personal

experience of teaching LTSE, that might be due to the fact that the vocabulary is

quite easy for the grade level and subject

With regard to logical progression of topics, both teachers and students shared the same percentage approximately (80% or 87%) that approved the lessons that students learned are organized logically in term of topics progression This is not surprising because when using this software, students were required to follow the story of one character and his story life, so the topics are listed according to time sequence and logical actions

In the fifth question about the variety of activities presented in this software, most visibly, about 91% of the surveyed students approved that the software provided a variety of activities to practice pronunciation and speaking English There is no student disagreed And a high percentage of teachers (90%) shared the same idea with them Indeed, students can do a lot of activities when learning English with this soft ware like drag and match, fill in the blank with the words from the previous part of the lesson, or they can even reinforce their pronunciation by going to the pronunciation workshop to have a further practice

In the sixth question, it can be clearly seen in the table 1 that only a small percent of students and teachers (about 9% or 10%) dissatisfied with the cultural knowledge, social experience and grammatical rules supply of the software On the contrary most teachers and students agreed that the software increased their culture knowledge, social experience and enriched their grammatical rules so that they can communicate naturally in the real life

1.2 Results of presentation and organization of LTSE’s content evaluation

review, see examples,

repeat the unit, or

their performance and

get feedback quickly