A Study on the Teaching of Mathematics in English at an 8th Grade Class at Doan Thi Diem Private Secondary School . M.A. Thesis Linguistics: 60 14 01

This research studies on the subject of Math because it is universal to people more than any others; its aims are to examine whether teaching Math in English is beneficial or not, the te

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

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

TRẦN THỊ THÙY

A STUDY ON THE TEACHING OF MATHEMATICS

DOAN THI DIEM PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOL

NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC DẠY TOÁN BẰNG TIẾNG ANH TRONG MỘT LỚP 8 TẠI TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC CƠ SỞ DÂN LẬP ĐOÀN THỊ ĐIỂM

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 140 111

Supervisor: Dr Mai Thị Loan

HANOI – 2015

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

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

TRẦN THỊ THÙY

A STUDY ON THE TEACHING OF MATHEMATICS

DOAN THI DIEM PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOL

NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC DẠY TOÁN BẰNG TIẾNG ANH TRONG MỘT LỚP 8 TẠI TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC CƠ SỞ DÂN LẬP ĐOÀN THỊ ĐIỂM

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 140 111

Supervisor: Dr Mai Thị Loan

HANOI – 2015

DECLARATION

I certify my authorship of the thesis:

A study on the teaching of Math in English at an 8 th grade class

at Doan Thi Diem private secondary school

is the result of my own for the Degree of Master of Arts at College of Foreign Languages, Hanoi National University, and this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or institution

Hanoi, 2015

Signature

Trần Thị Thùy

Next, I sincerely would like to acknowledge other teachers at the Department

of Post-Graduate Studies for providing me numerous interesting, valuable lectures and guidance

I have profound regards for Mr David Devine, an excellent Math teacher and for all 8M students, at Doan Thi Diem private secondary school who spent their precious time answering my survey questions Owing to their cooperation, my thesis has been successfully completed

Last but not least, I owe my life to my family and close friends for their incessant encouragements which have raised me up a lot to finish my thesis

ABSTRACT

Math, Science and Literature have been taught to ELLs in parts of the word This research studies on the subject of Math because it is universal to people more than any others; its aims are to examine whether teaching Math in English is beneficial or not, the teaching methods used by the Math teacher, the challenges of teaching Math in English in 8M at DTD School and to find out the recommendations to improve the situation of teaching Math in English in the future

To fulfill these targets, three instruments employed to collect data were the classroom observations, the questionnaire for the students and the interview for the Math teacher

The study was carried out and involved an American teacher of Math and 16 Vietnamese students in grade 8 at DTD School Statistical analysis revealed that most of the students initially struggled with mathematical vocabulary, cultural differences in teachers’ teaching methods and students’ learning styles and especially, their English limited proficiency Gradually, they had improvement in their English competence and mathematical knowledge thanks to the Math teacher’s relatively well-planned lessons Several strategies which are recommended to deal with the found challenges include differentiating specific instructions, teaching mathematical vocabulary properly, applying technology, enhancing communications among students, parents, teacher and school and holding more Math competitions to encourage students to study Math in English

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Candidate’s statement i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

Table of contents iv

List of abbreviations vii

List of tables and figures viii

Table of Contents PART A: INTRODUCTON i

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims and objectives of the study 1

3 Research questions 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Method of the study 2

6 Significance of the study 3

7 Design of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 4

1.1 Teaching Math in English to ELLs 4

1.1.1 Definition of ELLs 4

1.1.2 Why to teach 4

1.1.3 What to teach 5

1.2 Teaching Math in English – a CLIL approach 6

1.3 Implementations of teaching Math in English 7

1.3.1 History of teaching Math in English in Asia 7

1.3.2 Situation of teaching Math in English in Vietnam 8

1.3.3 Benefits of teaching Math in English recognized by scholars 9

1.3.4 Factors affecting Ells’ success in studying Math 9

1.3.5 Challenges for Math teachers and learners 10

1.3.6 Strategies for Math teachers and learners 11

1.4 Review of previous studies related to teaching Math in English 13

1.5 Summary 14

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 15

2.1 Setting 15

2.1.1 The current situation of teaching and learning at DTD School 15

2.1.2 Material description 15

2.2 Research design 16

2.2.1 Participants 16

2.2.2 Data collection instruments 17

2.2.3 Data collection and analysis procedure 18

2.3 Summary 19

3.1 Data analysis 20

3.1.1 Classroom observations 20

3.1.2 Questionnaire for the students 26

3.1.3 Interview for the Math teacher 30

3.2 Findings 35

3.2.1 Research question 1 35

3.2.2 Research question 2 35

3.2.3 Research question 3 36

3.2.4 Research question 4 37

3.3 Summary 43

PART C: CONCLUSION 44

1 Recapitulation 44

2.Limitations of the study 45

3.Recommendations for further studies 45

REFERENCES 46 APPENDICES I

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ACP: American Credit Program

AAS: Association of the Advancement of Science

CLIC: Content and Language Integrated Learning

DTD School: Doan Thi Diem private secondary school

ELLs: English Language Learners

NCTM: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

Math: Mathematics

OECD: the Organizations for Economic Co-operation and Development PISA: Programme for International Student Assessment

SCS: Solomon Christian School

TESOL: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages

LIST OF TABLES &FIGURES

Page Table 1: Jarrett’s and Kersaint’s strategies in teaching Math in English to ELLs…11

Table 2: Learning environment in the classroom……….20

Table 3: Teacher’s instructional strategies in the classroom……… 21

Table 4: Students’ learning strategies in the classroom………23

Table 5: Teacher’s teaching strategies in the classroom……… …… …………26

Table 6: Students’ challenges of studying Math in English……….27

Table 7: Students’ suggestions to make the program better……… ……… 29

Table 8: Types and frequency of work for students……… ……….….31

Chart 1: Teacher monitoring in the classroom……….22

Chart 2: Teacher’s instructional tools in the classroom………24

Chart 3: Teacher’s assessment in the classroom……….……… …… 25

Chart 4: Students’ benefits of studying Math in English……… 28

PART A: INTRODUCTON

The part is to introduce the rationale for the study, the aim and objectives of the study

as well as the research questions for this study to search for the answers Furthermore, this part presents the scope, the method, the significance and the design of the study

1 Rationale

After nearly two years of academically teaching at DTD School, the researcher realizes

and highly appreciates the positive effects of teaching Math in English in M classes in which students are bilingual and learn four American subjects To be more specific, M classes are connected to the program ACP at SCS in Edmonds, Washington, United States Besides Vietnamese curriculum, the students in this program have to study four compulsory American subjects, namely English, Literature, Science and Math The results are counted according to the grading system in the United States and are accepted by SCS

if the students wish to continue this program there In this program, the learners have experienced interesting and informative lessons which are totally taught by American teachers These native teachers have been certificated by TESOL before they come to teach Vietnamese students In particular, among four subjects, Math is commonly preferred by the Vietnamese learners because it is an international language (Dale & Cuevas, 1992) and they can compare and follow like studying Math in their home language Studying Math in English brings the students skills of problem-solving, reasoning and communicating, which strongly supports learning English language (Jarrett, 1999) As a result, this potential situation motivates the research to conduct a paper on how to assist the educators to reach the recognition and application of teaching Math in English in Vietnamese educational

environments

2 Aims and objectives of the study

For the aim of promoting the teaching of Math in English, the researcher desired to undertake a research with the following objectives:

(1) to discover the teaching strategies used by the teacher in Math lessons,

(2) to examine the benefits of teaching and learning Math in English,

(3) to investigate the challenges of teaching and learning Math in English,

(4) to suggest recommendations to help the teachers and learners in this program

3 Research questions

With a view to accomplishing the objectives of the study, these three research questions were raised:

(1) What are the teaching strategies often applied by the teacher in the Math classes?

(2) What are the benefits for the teacher and learners in teaching and learning Math in English?

(3) What are the challenges for the teacher and learners in teaching and learning Math in English?

(4) What are the recommendations to a more effective application of teaching and learning Math in English at DTD School?

4 Scope of the study

It can be widely recognized that a variety of subjects have been taught in English to ELLs such as Science or Literature in order to improve their English abilities; however, the

researcher only focused her study on one subject and its effectiveness – i.e teaching and

learning Math in English In addition, only a limited number of students, not all of the

students at DTD School in Hanoi, were chosen as the subjects of the study

5 Method of the study

The study was carried out following these steps:

First, the classroom observation was made by the researcher to discover the learning environment, teacher’s instructional strategies, teacher monitoring, students’ learning strategies, teacher’s instructional tools and the ways of assessment

Next, the questionnaire was delivered to the 16 Vietnamese students to investigate their thoughts about teacher’s teaching activities, students’ benefits and challenges in this

program as well as their recommendations to promote the teaching and learning Math in English more effectively

Third, a personal interview with the Math teacher was conducted so as to indicate the teacher’s teaching strategies, the advantages and difficulties of teaching Math in English to ELLs and several of his suggestions to enhance this program

After that, the data was collected and analyzed to reveal the major findings and give answers to the research questions in detail

6 Significance of the study

After this study, the participants were expected to be more aware of the relatively new education approach of teaching Math to bilingual students In the light of teaching methodology, the results of this study can be set as the framework for English teachers and Vietnamese educators at DTD school in particular and other schools across the country in general to design suitable, effective lessons and activities that encourage students to practice English in a communicative and academic approach

7 Design of the study

The main body of this thesis consists of three main parts:

Part I – INTRODUCTION states the rationale, aims and objectives of the study, the

research questions, method, significance and design of the study

Part II – DEVELOPMENT consists of three chapters:

Chapter 1: Theoretical background provides the literature review of teaching and

implementation of teaching Math in English to ELLs and review of previous related studies

Chapter 2: Methodology describes the setting and the research design including the

participants of the study, the data collection instruments, data collection and analysis procedure

Chapter 3: Data Analysis and Findings releases the findings of the study after analyzing

the collected data in categories and summarizes the answers to the three research questions

Part C – CONCLUSION abridges the results of the entire research and discusses the

limitations of the study along with suggestions for further research

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

This chapter reveals an overview of related literature and researches that deal with teaching Math in English to ELLs

1.1 Teaching Math in English to ELLs

1.1.1 Definition of ELLs

This term was initially originated in the United States when there was a huge flow of

immigrants and refugees coming there These newcomers changed America into the most multicultural and multilingual nation in the world Hence, ELLs were known as a new and homogenous population who were limited or empty-minded in English when they entered America (as cited from NCTM, 2008, p.1) However, this concept has been generalized over the time since English became the international language, and almost every country in the world teaches English to their citizens to be adaptive to the globalization The current circumstance is that people who want to study English do not need to immigrate or move to Britain or America to communicate with native speakers The reason for this is the much appearance of the English or American natives in foreign countries Besides, as cited in Santa Cruz (2009), Fitzsimmons (2007) wrote that ELLs were second language learners who were still developing their proficiency in academic English and simultaneously studying content areas through English

To sum up, ELLs can be generally portrayed as ―active learners of the English language

who may benefit from various types of language support programs‖ (NCTM, 2008, p.2)

1.1.2 Why to teach

Written in a publication of Cardiff School of Mathematics in 2006, Math is a universal part of human culture It is also the language of almost every field of people’s life such as commerce, engineering, physics, computing, and biology

With regard to its importance, Math is one of the greatest cultural and intellectual achievements of human-kind; hence, people should develop an appreciation and

understanding of that achievement (NCTM, 2000, p.4)

Obviously, Math can assist the people to recognize patterns and to understand the world around Furthermore, learning Math can force the people to learn how to think logically and to solve problems using that skill It also teaches them to be precise in thoughts, words and life skills, especially when they are living in an extremely complex

society (Wiśniowski, 2014, p.19)

For all of these reasons, over the last few years, the issues connected with learning and teaching Math have become matters of high importance for everyone involved in education, training and publishing

1.1.3 What to teach

Math education in the United States varies considerably within its 51 states More noticeably, America differs from most other countries in which Math is generally separated

by topic at high-school level (Wikipedia, 2014)

Generally, the students in this country start studying Math at about five or six years of age, continuing through secondary school and into higher education

According to the information updated from the websites of Wikipedia (2014) and NCTM (2014), the standards and focal points of mathematical content taught in American can be generalized as follows During the grades of elementary school, students are taught basic arithmetic: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division Later on, these concepts are interpreted more specifically at middle schools, where students will learn basic algebra and concepts of variables, integers and polynomials At high schools, the general Math curriculum contains algebra 1, algebra 2 and geometry in grades 9 and 10 At this level, algebra 3, otherwise known as trigonometry can be taught for 11th graders Additionally, either pre-calculus or calculus can be completed by students at an honor level in their senior year

Asian countries such as Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Vietnam and Singapore scored above international averages (Kelly, Mullis & Martin, 2000 as cited in Hoang (2007) The proof is that on December 3rd 2013, OECD officially published the results from the PISA,

an exam administered every three years to the 15 and 16-year-old students in several countries Although Vietnam joined the test for the first time, the whole score in Math and Science was surprisingly higher than America and Britain (Hefling, 2013)

In short, the students in Vietnam can follow the Math curriculum in America because this Common Core State Standards Initiative has been effectively used in American states (Wikipedia, 2014) and can be flexibly applied in Vietnamese schools The problem is whether the students’ English proficiency allows them to study with the native speakers

and whether the teaching and learning style can be integrated in harmony

1.2 Teaching Math in English – a CLIL approach

1.2.1 What is a CLIL approach

The CLIL approach is the short abbreviation of the term Content and Language Integrated Learning‖ which was created in 1994 by David Marsh and Anne Maljers (Wikipedia, 2015) It is an approach for learning content through a foreign or second language, thus teachers covers both teaching the subject and the language The aims of CLIL is generalized in four Cs: Communication, Content, Culture and Cognition Specifically, the communication aims at improving overall target language competency; the content is to study the knowledge and skills of the subject learnt; the cognition heads for developing learners’ thinking skills (Coyle, 2007 as cited in Spratt, 2011)

In this integrated approach, the target language is the means used to teach the subject content Hence, its success depends mostly on learners’ language competency so that learners can understand and study the subject In his publication, Dalton-Puffer (2011) implied that teachers in this approach will normally be nonnative speakers of the target language but instead content experts However, there is a doubt about this idea because the applications of CLIL to teaching Math in English in the Asian area were not successful

1.3 Implementations of teaching Math in English

1.3.1 History of teaching Math in English in Asia

The idea of teaching Math in English has been imported into Asian countries for nearly a decade such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam Several of these programs showed a variety of advantageous aspects on the learners’ progress of studying Math and English On the other hand, a quantity of different programs did not receive many approvals and encouragements To be more specific, in Indonesia, a reform for International Standard High School was suggested to teach Math and Science in English according to the Decree of Ministry of Education in 2009 It was required that the native teachers used English and Indonesian in teaching and learning activities, and the proportion

of the use of English in the classroom should be gradually increased 100 % in four years Despite this requirement, the teachers at R-SMA-BI 1 SUTUBONDO, in East Java, Indonesia did not use English as often as expected because they themselves were well aware of their limited English As a consequence, the example of teaching Math in English

in this context did not achieve significant successes (Hidayat & Anugerahwati, 2012) Another application of this method was carried out in 2003, in Malaysia The background was in an urban school in Perak Since 2002, the Malaysian government had issued a new policy in which the schools in Malaysia had to use English as an instruction language to the subjects including Math, Science and Technology The reason for this was that the government realized English as an important mechanism for the direct acquisition

of knowledge in the field of Math, Science and Technology (Anian, 2003 as cited in Tan & Ong, 2007, p.2) A good point was added to this program when the government organized professional development course for the native teachers to improve subject content and linguistic skills because they knew that the Malaysian teachers and learners were not proficient in English On the contrary, the students still looked empty and seemed unable to understand Consequently, a research by Nor, Aziz and Jusoff (2011) testified whether the learners of such a program in Malaysia had improved in English Their participants were students at a well-known boarding school in Johor After the researchers collected the data through the questionnaires, they concluded that the students’ academic performances

declined Even though they felt several improvements on their English, there was no positive indication of these feelings in English exam outcomes The findings of the research lead them to a disentangling situation whether English for teaching Math and

Science in Malaysia should be abolished or not

1.3.2 Situation of teaching Math in English in Vietnam

Teaching fundamental subjects in English, including Math, is one of the main issues indicated in projects No 1400 and 959 approved by the Prime Minister of Vietnam (Chien, 2010) From the very first applications of these projects at various level of education, those who taught Math in English were Vietnamese teachers of Math at Foreign Language Specialized School or Amsterdam Hanoi Specialized School These teachers might have a strong foundation and good knowledge about this specified subject On the other hand, the majority of them were not sufficiently equipped with English proficiency to teach their students As a result, the primary objectives set by the administrators could not be fulfilled (Chien, 2010)

Recognizing the above problems, many of the Vietnamese schools had been applying the teaching of Math in English by a relatively different approach These schools employed English native speakers to teach Math for their students However, the point was that these teachers had to come from Great Britain, America or at least from English-speaking countries such as Singapore or Australia; they already graduated in the major of Math and qualified by TESOL about their ability of teaching in English to the students in English non-speaking countries The main difficulty for these schools was a large amount of budget they had to spend hiring English natives to teach their students Due to this reason, in big cities, there have been a few private and international schools which can afford the salary for the foreign teachers Several reputable schools are Hanoi Academy, British Vietnamese International School, Singapore International School, Doan Thi Diem School, Brendon School, American International School, Saigon South International School, and RMIT Viet Nam and so on These schools have been given good compliments for their foreign teachers who are young, enthusiastic, knowledgeable and adaptive to Vietnamese learners

1.3.3 Benefits of teaching Math in English recognized by scholars

It is commonly known that ELLs have to spend more than one year developing conversational language and approximately five years equipping sufficient academic language to learn in English Otherwise, they can learn English easily and quickly by being exposed to and surrounded by English native speakers (Harris, 2007, p.5) Because of the factors related to the learning environment in which ELLs have more chances to interact with the English native teachers, the program of teaching Math in English has been widely applied in the context of Vietnam The primary purpose of such educational programs is to enable the students to acquire English proficiency while they learn a specified area – Math According to AAS (1998), the ability to speak English as a 2nd language, combined with strong skills in Math and Science would provide unlimited opportunities (as cited in Jarrett,

1999, p.6)

1.3.4 Factors affecting Ells’ success in studying Math

When considering the benefits of teaching Math in English to ELLs, educators also have to look inside the factors affecting ELLs’ success The most influential features have been discovered as follows:

Cultural differences: Math has been regarded as a universal language where numbers

connect people regardless of culture, religion, age or gender However, there is a big difference in learning styles across countries For example, in many Asian countries, rote memorization and self-study underlies the motive of schooling and learning Thus, these students may have little or even no experience in working in cooperative groups, sharing and discussing how to solve problems (Harris, 2011, p.25)

Linguistic knowledge: A number of the ELLs do not have enough knowledge of

academic English to use in school This causes troubles as they face the challenge of understanding and learning specified vocabulary (Dale & Cuevas, 1992; Hallidat & Martin, 1993; Kang & Pham, 1995)

Conceptual knowledge or background knowledge: Depending on various

fundamentals, students may not have adequate education or lack basic Math skills and the

ability to grasp the new concepts taught in Math courses Consequently, the interference in their studying can become more and more problematic (Moschokovish, 2000)

The complexities of reading mathematical texts and understanding its language are always challenging for almost ELLs Math teachers are advised to study these factors that may meddle the teaching and learning Math in English

1.3.5 Challenges for Math teachers and learners

As mentioned above, in the exemplifications in Malaysia and Indonesia, these programs failed to meet the demands which had been targeted by the ministers and educators as the teacher staff were natives and their English proficiency was not strong enough to transfer mathematical concepts and teaching instructions effectively In addition, the content knowledge and language proficiency of the learners themselves in these countries were limited to get the lessons through Thus, the expected improvements could not be satisfactory Regarding other contexts such as in Vietnam, the teachers and students also have to cope with a variety of difficulties although their Math teachers are English native speakers The most challenging and most easily recognized problem is that Math language consists of a huge number of specialized vocabulary and discourse features (Kang

& Pham, 1995; Jarrett, 1999, p.8) Moreover, everyday language with different meanings is popularly used in Math textbooks Several specific examples are extracted from Harris (2005, p.15) as follows:

Addition: add, plus, and, combine, sum, total of, more than, increased by, etc

Subtraction: subtract, minus, less, less than, fewer than, decreased by, difference,

lower, take away, from, shorter, etc

Multiplication: multiply, times, product, as a factor, twice, double, etc

Division: divide, divided by, quotient, separated into equal groups, etc

Equal: is, are, result, make, etc

Additionally, the symbols of Math are sometimes totally different in use from one country to another For instance, in the United States, the dot is functioned as the decimal

point to separate whole numbers from decimal numbers such as 0.5 whereas for the same idea, Vietnamese teachers and learners write the comma instead like 0,5

Last but not least, the use of mathematical concepts, problems and instructions in English differs in word expressions (Jarrett, 1999) As cited from Dale and Cuevas (1992,

p.335), the number a is five less than the number b, which the student may mistakenly restate as a= 5-b, which it should be a= b-5

Besides the examples of content-related issues, other problems that ELLs have to experience may be concerned with cultural differences, difficulties in learning English or limited prior knowledge of mathematical concepts in the learners’ mother tongue language Towards the English native teachers, for instance, they come to Vietnam and absolutely encounter certain kinds of cultural shock when they communicate and teach in Vietnamese educational environments The style of teaching and learning in their own country also varies in aspects in comparison with that of Vietnam, which occasionally troubles and stresses them

1.3.6 Strategies for Math teachers and learners

From the troubles raised above, numerous strategies were suggested to make teaching

Math in English more compressible to ELLs With respect to this issue, Jarrett (1999) and Kersaint (2009) proposed several similar and different strategies as illustrated in the following table:

Jarrett’s Strategies Kersaint’s Strategies

1 Simplify and instruct the language in the lessons elaborately to provide assess and opportunities for ELLs

2 Engage ELLs in the classroom discourse so that they can participate in Math lessons

3 Choose appropriate types of assessment for ELLs

4 Promote cooperative learning 4.Express mathematical information in

6 Develop ELLs’ mathematical

vocabulary

6.Eliminate or address linguistic complexities inherent in English

7 Be aware of affective influences such as

visual aids or games during the lessons

8 Involve the family in teaching ELLs

Table 1: Jarrett’s and Kersaint’s strategies in teaching Math in English to ELLs

However, in some researches, the environment for teaching and learning Math in English is the most important and influential factor to learners (NCTM, 2000; Moschokovish, 2000; Jasper & Huber, 2005) They believed that establishing a good learning context could help the learners feel safe, comfortable, motivated and engaged instead of being anxious and disruptive in Math lessons

Similarly, Hoffert (2009) and Jasper & Huber (2005) showed out a specific list of strategies to accelerate the teaching of Math in English such as highlighting key words, use graphic organizers, use technology, enhance students’ English language skills and so on Overall, the writer relied on the findings by Harris (2005) when he summarized the strategies into three categories: classroom management strategies, instructional strategies to increase comprehension and assessment strategies These categories almost systematically covered the strategies previously discussed by other authors He reckoned that an effective environment should have comprehensible input, provide contextual clues, facilitate verbal interaction and encourage active participation Additionally, the teachers are supposed to integrate language and content to increase the learners’ comprehension by using daily and popular vocabulary to explain mathematical problems, starting lessons with warm-up activities and designing pair or group work, for instance More importantly, assessment strategies such as authentic performance tasks for example learning logs, exercises and problems, should be put into great consideration because they help the teachers check and promote their students’ understanding and progress before, during and after the lesson

1.4 Review of previous studies related to teaching Math in English

Evidently, the teaching and learning of Math in English has appealed much attention of international and Vietnamese researchers when it is increasingly becoming a global tendency to help ELLs develop their English language skills as well as mathematical knowledge

Initially, Cuevas (1984) did research on the learning of Math in English as a second language He concluded that to apply this way, learners had to require a variety of linguistic skills Furthermore, teachers and schools ought to assess students’ mathematical achievement properly and draw out a well-designed curriculum to develop the second language skills

After that, Moschokovish (1998) discovered the needs of Latino students in oriented Math classrooms From the findings, he stressed that classroom instruction for the Latino students had to be designed based on mathematical discourse and students’ participation Two years later, this scholar conducted a study to help teachers and learners change challenges into resources when teaching Math in two languages (Moschokovish, 2000)

In the context of Malaysia, there were at least three studies which investigated the teaching of Math and/or Science in English after the educational reform in this country Namely, Nordin (2004) explored students’ perception on teaching and learning Math in English This research found out that the respondents were well aware of the importance of English in daily life and career development Conversely, they admitted that studying this subject in English was extremely challenging when they lacked of mathematical knowledge and instruction language

After that, Tan and Ong (2007) academically dug into teacher’s experiences and

classroom practices in the implementation of the change in language of instruction for Math and Science From the result, he collected three factors influencing this implementation were teacher’s prior educational background, school’s linguistic environment and students’ linguistic abilities

As followed, Nor, Aziz and Jusoff (2011) carried out a research to answer whether English for teaching Math and Science in Malaysia should be abolished as he proved that

his participants made a little progress after studying this program

In the context of Indonesia, Hidayat and Anugerahwati (2012) examined the use of English in the teaching of Math and Science at R-SMA-BI 1 SUTUBONDO However, this author indicated that this approach was not effective when the teachers used their mother tongue in almost all the time during the teaching process

Although the issue of teaching and learning Math in English has been widely researched on for a long time, a few studies have been published on it in Vietnam

Hoang (2007) investigated the relationship between learning and instruction in Math instruction of 12-year-old students in Saigon, Vietnam In conclusion, he strongly approved

of the use of cooperative learning activities in class and active learning strategies as well as homework after school to facilitate learners’ academic achievement and self-confidence to study Math

Chien (2010) reported the realities of teaching Math in English at Vietnamese high schools This teacher also proposed some feasible approaches to deal with these problems

at Vietnamese high schools in general and at Foreign Language Specialized School in particular

Last but not least, Phuc (2010) discovered the difficulties most teachers and students at Minh Khai 1 primary school faced with in teaching and learning English for Math by the textbook Practice Math 1 After analyzing the difficulties, the author listed out practical solutions and suggestions to promote this program

As a teacher of English and having participated in the Math classes taught in English

by native speakers, the researcher of this study did recognize much improvement of her students’ English language skills and mathematical knowledge However, she also witnessed the difficulties being struggled by both teachers and students Thus, she studied

on the use of teaching and learning Math in English for her students with a view to support this program more effectively

1.5 Summary

In short, this chapter has clearly touched upon the issues associated to the topic of the study It discusses the notion of ELLs, the application of teaching Math in English and previously related literature The following Chapter 2 will be devoted to the discussion of the methods of the study in the light of the above-mentioned theories

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Setting

2.1.1 The current situation of teaching and learning at DTD School

DTD School has been a reputed educational environment in Hanoi for a long period of time because this school has been considerably successful in teaching its students both subjects in Vietnam’s educational curriculum and several basic subjects in English according to the international systems of Singapore and America In general, the students at DTD School not only accomplish the compulsory subjects in Vietnam but also master their English communication skills and Vietnamese common core knowledge

In particular, the students from grade 6 to 9 can attend M classes to follow a program joint with ACP at SCS in Edmonds, Washington, the United States This means that besides compulsory subjects of Vietnam, they must study other four subjects: English, Science, Math and Literature as required in America Specifically, the M graders learn weekly 15 periods with American natives for Science, Math and Literature; three periods for English whereas 20 periods for the subjects are taught in Vietnamese It can be seen that the number of periods during a week for two educational programs are almost equal Thanks to spending a big amount of time working with the native speakers, the students were expected to make much progress in their English proficiency and increase in their specified knowledge

2.1.2 Material description

Holt McDougal Algebra 1, which is included in The Holt McDougal High School Mathematics series with Geometry and Algebra 2, was compiled and published by Burger, Kennedy, Chard, Leinwand, Renfro, Roby & Waits (2012)

Algebra 1 is designed to the philosophy of the Common Core State Standards as a program that prepares high school students for college and career readiness These textbooks provide comprehensive instructions focused on conceptual understanding, supported with ongoing progress-monitoring and intervention tools, to make a balanced and complete standard-based curriculum

In total, Algebra 1 contains ten chapters: chapter 1-equations; chapter 2-inequalities; chapter 3-functions; chapter 4-linear functions; chapter 5-systems of equations and inequalities; chapter 6-exponents and polynomials; chapter 7-factoring polynomials; chapter 8-quadratic functions and equations; chapter 9-exponential functions; chapter 10-data analysis and probability Particularly, each chapter is divided into sub-units illustrated

by related problems, useful pictures and practical examples to promote the students’ mathematical understanding and practice

2.2 Research design

2.2.1 Participants

2.2.1.1 The Math teacher

The first respondent was David Devine who was a 24 year old American teacher of Math After he graduated from Whitman College, he gained the certificate of TESOL and travelled to Vietnam for his first teaching experiences He had been teaching at DTD School for nearly two years Thanks to the charity activities he experienced teaching in America, his youth and creativeness, he contributed to his students so many interesting and effective Math lessons that he received a number of compliments and positive comments

on his teaching method and personalities from the school, students and their parents

2.2.1.2 The 8M students

The main participants of the study are 16 Vietnamese students in 8M class at DTD School Actually, these learners had been studying Math in English for more than two years Along with Math, they learnt Science, English and Literature; all of these subjects were taught by American teachers who were selectively qualified by the principals of the two schools

Overall, the majority of the 8M students lived in Hanoi and had been studying English with the native speakers since elementary school Hence, their English proficiency was considerably good Besides, only one student was born in England and came back Vietnam with their family It can be said that his English communication was more excellent and familiar with studying Math in English than the other classmates

2.2.2 Data collection instruments

8 classroom observation checklists were used to observe 8 Math periods at the beginning of the second semester of the school year Here is the list of 8 Math periods

1) Solving systems by graphing (page 329- chapter 5), on 25th February 2014

2) Solving systems by substitution (page 336- chapter 5), on 28th February 2014

3) Adding and subtracting polynomials (page 414-chapter 6), on 25th February 2014

4) Multiplying polynomials (page 422-chapter 6), on 7th March 2014

6) Factoring ax2 + bx + c (page 480-chapter 7), on 14th March 2014

7) Graphing quadratic functions (page 538-chapter 8), on 18th March 2014

8) Solving quadratic equations by factoring (page 554-chapter 8), on 21st March 2014 Each checklist includes the following criteria:

Category 1 – Learning environment

Category 2 – Teacher’s instructional strategies

Category 3 – Teacher’s monitoring

Category 4 – Student’s learning strategies

Category 5 – Teacher’s instructional tools

Category 6 – Teacher’s Assessment

(Details can be seen in Appendix A)

2.2.2.2 Survey questionnaire for the students

According to Nunan (1993), using survey questionnaire is incredibly helpful because researchers can save a plenty of time in delivering or collecting the questionnaires, and it is

convenient to summarize and report collected data by this way As a result, this tool was

used to collect the data for the study

Written in both English and Vietnamese, this set of questionnaire includes four

questions The first question aims at asking the frequency of the Math teacher’s activities in

class The next question has a purpose of investigating the students’ difficulties when

learning Math in English The third is to examine whether the students gained benefits

from studying Math in English or not The last question collects the students’ suggestions

to make the teaching and learning Math in English more effective

(Details can be seen in Appendix B & C)

2.2.2.3 Interview for the teacher

According to James (1997), interviewing is a direct face-to-face attempt to gather

reliable and valid measures in the form of verbal responses from one or more respondents

Especially, using an interview can help the research obtain the participant’s personal

information, attitudes, perceptions or beliefs Hence, the last tool to collect the date for this

study is an interview with the Math teacher

The unstructured interview consists of four categories:

Category 1 –Teaching Strategies used in Math classes

Category 2 – Benefits of teaching Math in English

Category 3 –Challenges of teaching Math in English

Category 4 – Recommendations to the program

(Details can be seen in Appendix D)

2.2.3 Data collection and analysis procedure

2.2.3.1 Data analysis procedure

The data collection was conducted in the procedure as follows:

To begin with, the Classroom Observation Checklist was done in 8M class at DTD

School The researcher made this in-class observation to gain more acute understanding

about the methods, strategies and instructions which the Math teacher applied in his

lessons The delivery of the Vietnamese version of the questionnaire to the participants was

the next step in the procedure The questionnaire described above was sent to the 16 students at 8M to investigate specific difficulties and benefits they experienced in learning Math in English Finally, a personal interview was arranged with the Math teacher to discover the benefits and difficulties as well as recommendation he expressed after teaching Math in English

The results of the collected data were analyzed and presented in percentage and words and then used for the discussion part of the study

2.2.3.2 Data collection process

The qualitative data were obtained through 8 class observations, 16 questionnaires and

an unstructured interview which were analyzed descriptively As the interview data was qualitative, the interview was analyzed subjectively by the researcher, whereas, the questionnaire data and was analyzed with the help of SPSS statistical software package

2.3 Summary

The chapter has a deep discussion of the setting in which the study was carried out The method and procedure of collecting and analyzing data used in the study were also fully described In the next chapter, the major findings include the benefits, the challenges of teaching and learning Math in English and several recommendations to promote the program in the selected educational environment

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

This chapter comprises two parts in which the first part describes analysis of the interview for the teacher, the questionnaire for the students and class observations The other part shows the findings of the data collected through the study

2 Clear, relevant objectives aligned with

national standards are guiding the lesson

3 Classroom environment is printed rich and

well-equipped (TV, loudspeakers, projector)

Table 2: Learning environment in the classroom

The table shows how the learning environment in the classroom was evaluated 50 % of the periods were excellently evaluated when the teacher clearly established rules and procedure at the beginning of four periods The same proportion of the periods received the satisfactory comments because the objectives of the lessons were closely aligned with the content In particular, all observed periods (100%) were taught in the classroom environment which was well-equipped with modern and sufficient facilities It can be said that these good factors were potentially basis to the success of the Math lessons

3.1.1.2 Teacher’s instructional strategies

In the second category, the observer collected a big amount of information about the instructional strategies used by the Math teacher to his students

Table 3: Teacher’s instructional strategies in the classroom

The table 3 indicates how 12 instructional strategies were applied in the Math periods Among them, half of the periods were satisfactorily and excellently evaluated because the Math teacher activated and linked students’ prior knowledge to content during the lesson content This can be considered a good start for each lesson Besides, 50 % is also the

Teacher’s instructional strategies

The percentage of periods (%) Needs

improvement

Satisfactory Excellent

4 The teacher activates and links students’

prior knowledge to content

6 The teacher uses

whole-group/large-group instruction

7 The teacher uses small-group instruction 62.5 25 12.5

8 The teacher uses cooperative group

instruction

10 The teacher guides student practice a skill

percentage accounting for the three best appreciated items 13, 14 and 15 since the teacher used experiential/ hands-on learning activities, used compare and contrast activities as well

as used summarizing strategies However, in terms of whole-group/large-group instruction and guiding student practice a skill or procedure, the teacher needed to pay more attention because about two-fifths (37.5 %) of the periods were undervalued Especially, the teacher did not use small-group instruction properly to his students during a significant proportion (62.5%) of the periods More noticeably, three criteria 5, 8 and 11 needed more improvement, which accounted for exactly half of the periods According this data, the weakness in the teacher’s instructional strategies might be due to that he did not differentiate his ways of explaining the lesson content and vocabulary suitably to his students

3.1.1.3 Teacher’s monitoring

The chart 2 reveals the ways the Math teacher monitored his class

Chart 1: Teacher monitoring in the classroom

From this chart, a majority of the periods (62.5%) were excellently evaluated when the teacher interacted enthusiastically and friendly with students The same percentage of the periods was considered an excellence as the teacher monitored all areas where students were working in the class However, nearly two-fifths (37.5%) of the periods still needed

was not effective enough In general, the teacher’s monitoring style in his classes was

considerably good

3.1.1.4 Students’ learning strategies

Table 4: Students’ learning strategies in the classroom

The table 4 indicates the learning strategies that the students employed in their own

studying of Math in English Most noticeably, the highest percentage (100%) of the periods

was excellently evaluated as all participants took notes during the lesson Nevertheless, this

number is twice reduced when only four periods (50%) were excellently evaluated owing

to the students’ being engaged on task, and not disruptive most of the time, analyzing

presented material and applying content knowledge (the criteria 19, 24 and 25) Another

important point is that a half of the observed periods needed more improvement when the

students did not practice many oral presentations to explain their ways of thinking Overall, the students’ learning strategies were relatively effective although they seemed to

be limited in orally expressing their ideas or wonders to the teacher and class

Students’ learning strategies

The percentage of periods (%) Needs

improvement

Satisfactory Excellent

19 All students are engaged on task, and not

disruptive most of the time

21 Students ask questions about the lesson content 37.5 50 12.5

22 Students are practicing skills/procedure

independently

23 Students are practicing oral presentations to

explain their ways of thinking

25 Students are applying content knowledge (e.g.,

projects)

3.1.1.5 Teacher’s instructional tools

The data about the use of instructional tools is clarified in this chart followed:

Chart 2: Teacher’s instructional tools in the classroom

As revealed from the third chart, the textbook Algebra 1 was satisfactorily used in all 8

Math periods (100%) This can be due to the fact that the textbook is extremely rich in pictures, mathematical problems and mathematical applications in real life Even so, the Math teacher did not use the textbook all the time and he also delivered his students other printed materials such as worksheets (see the appendix E) or let them use their own dictionary to look for the meaning of the difficult mathematical vocabulary These instructional tools contributed to the satisfaction of 37.5% and the excellence of 37.5% of the periods The secondly most excellent tool of instruction is manipulatives, accounting for 62.5% of the 8 periods By contrast, other instructional devices like computers and projectors were not much employed by the teacher as three-quarters (75%) of the periods needed to use more technology

3.1.1.6 Teacher’s assessment

The last part of the class observation is spent checking how the teacher assessed his students

Chart 3: Teacher’s assessment in the classroom

From the data above, the teacher’s three ways of assessing the students in 8 periods received a good evaluation This is thanks to the excellence of a very large number of periods (87.5%) in which the teacher assessed his students by checking their understanding

of knowledge and skills Additionally, just over three-fifths of the periods (62.5%) predominated satisfactorily as the teacher gave points or credits to the students with good performances Also, the same percentage of the periods was excellently evaluated when the teacher assessed students by checking their classwork and homework In short, the teacher’s assessment methods appeared to be flexible and matching to the students’

learning style and abilities

In summary, the data analysis from the classroom observation succeeded in discovering the actuality of teaching and learning Math in English This authentication is testified through the deep observation during the 8 periods Briefly, the six most influential factors to an effective period including learning environment, teacher’s instructional strategies, teacher monitoring, students’ learning strategies, instructional tools and assessment were carefully observed and well evaluated However, the things needed changing by the teacher are his instructional methods, vocabulary explanation and technology application

3.1.2 Questionnaire for the students

3.1.2.1 Teacher’s teaching strategies

Teacher’s teaching strategies

The percentage of students (%) Always Often Rarely

a The teacher gets me to work with other students in my

class

b The teacher uses a variety of methods for teaching Math 100 0 0

c The teacher uses technical aids to help me learn Math 12.5 25 62.5

d The teacher makes me feel curious and want to know more

about Math

e The teacher is well organized and prepared for classes 87.5 12.5 0

f The teacher gives me helpful comments on my work 50 37.5 12.5

g The teacher instructs me to think about why I get something

wrong

h The teacher keeps an eye on how I am doing in Math 12.5 87.5 12.5

i The teacher shows me how Math helps me in real life 68.75 18.75 12.5

j The teacher gives specific and suitable instructions to me

and my classmates

12.5 18.75 68.75

Table 5: Teacher’s teaching strategies in the classroom

As seen from the table, the Math teacher applied almost every teaching strategy given because no student chose the option ―never‖ Most outstandingly, 100 % of the informants stated that their teacher always used a variety of methods for teaching Math and instructed them to think about why they did something wrong Similarly, the vast majority of the students confirmed that their Math teacher often let them work with other students in the class and kept an eye on their studying Math with the percentages of 81.25 and 87.5 respectively Also, 87.5 % of the respondents said that the teacher always organized and prepared very well for his classes Conversely, the teacher rarely used technical aids to help his students learn Math and gave specific and suitable instructions to them This limitation

3.1.2.2 Students’ challenges of studying Math in English

When being asked about the possibility of challenges of studying Math in English, all

of the participants confirmed it The data in the table 6 is followed to unveil the difficulties interfering with the students when they learnt Math in English

Students’ challenges of studying Math in English

The percentage of students

(%)

a The knowledge and concepts are too difficult 68.7 31.25

b The western ways of solving the Math problems are very

different from/contrast to the eastern ones

c The teacher’s western culture totally opposites my eastern

culture

d The teacher’s instruction is not specific and helpful to me 62.5 37.5

e The teacher assigns a lot of classwork and homework 12.5 87.5

g My English proficiency is not good enough to understand

all of teacher’s lectures and difficult lessons

h My classmates are much better at Math than me 56.25 43.75

Table 6: Students’ challenges of studying Math in English

Specifically, a very large majority of the students agreed that the teacher’s western ways of solving the Math problems and western culture were very different from/contrast

to their eastern ones Those percentages are 87.5% and 75% respectively Next, the slightly lower proportion of the students, occupying 68.7 % and 62.5%, considered the difficult knowledge/concepts and the teacher’s ineffective instructional strategies as their troubles in studying Math in English Last but not least, half of the students stated that they might be stressed of the number of school tests/ exams and the rate of the participants worried about the competiveness among their classmates was a little higher at nearly three-fifths (56.25%) In sum, these numbers shows that the most challenging problems to the

students in learning Math in English are related to the cultural, academic and spiritual

factors

3.1.2.3 Students’ benefits of studying Math in English

100 percentage of the students agreed that they gained many benefits from studying

Math in English The responses to those benefits are shown in the chart below

Chart 4: Students’ benefits of studying Math in English

The bar chart brings out seven advantages the learners could achieve from studying

Math in English Nevertheless, there are three most outstanding benefits confirmed by the

participants 100% of them said that they knew more specified words about Math in

English, more methods to solve mathematical problems from the west and more Western

cultures from American teachers A big number of the students (87.5%) also admitted that

they improved English proficiency whereas three quarters of them (75%) could enhance

reasoning, problem-solving skills, critical thinking after studying Math in English Finally,

for the last two benefits, over three-fifths of the respondents (62.5%) said that they

practiced their leadership skills in working cooperatively while 56.25 % benefited from

explaining the mathematical problems to their classmates On the whole, the learners in this

program had many advantages for their cultural enrichment, academic enhancement and