The current situation of english language teaching to the 10 form students at dong hy secondary school a case study

POST-GRADUATE STUDIESLUÂN THỊ PHƯƠNG HẢO THE CURRENT SITUATION OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING TO THE 10-FORM STUDENTS AT DONG HY SECONDARY SCHOOL: A CASE STUDY Nghiên cứu thực trạng dạy ti

POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

LUÂN THỊ PHƯƠNG HẢO

THE CURRENT SITUATION OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING TO THE 10-FORM STUDENTS AT DONG

HY SECONDARY SCHOOL: A CASE STUDY

Nghiên cứu thực trạng dạy tiếng Anh cho học sinh lớp 10 của Trường THPT Đồng Hỷ: Nghiên cứu trường hợp điển hình

M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60 14 10

SUPERVISOR: Prof Dr HOÀNG VĂN VÂN

HA NOI - 2010

POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

LUÂN THỊ PHƯƠNG HẢO

THE CURRENT SITUATION OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING TO THE 10-FORM STUDENTS AT DONG

HY SECONDARY SCHOOL: A CASE STUDY

Nghiên cứu thực trạng dạy tiếng Anh cho học sinh lớp 10 của Trường THPT Đồng Hỷ: Nghiên cứu trường hợp điển hình

M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60 14 10

HA NOI - 2010

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND TABLES

PART A: INTRODUCTION

I Rationale 1

II Aims of the study 2

II Scope of the study 2

IV Methods of the study 2

V Design of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Communicative activities 4

1.1.1 Definition of a communicative activity 4

1.1.2 Characteristics of a good communicative activity 5

1.2 Communicative language teaching 6

1.2.1 Brief history of CLT 6

1.2.2 CLT definition 6

1.2.3 The principles of CLT 8

1.2.4 The characteristics of CLT 9

1.2.5 Conditions related to CLT 10

1.3 Advantages of using CLT 12

1.4 Problems of applying CLT 12

1.5 Previous studies related to CLT 13

Chapter 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2.1 Background of the study 15

2.1.1 Description of the students 15

2.1.2 Description of the teachers 15

2.1.3 Setting of the study 18

2.2.2 The classroom observation 16

2.2.3 The instruments 17

2.3 Presentation of statistical results 17

2.3.1 Results of questionnaires 17

2.3.2 Results of the class observations 28

Chapter 3: Findings and recommendation 33

3.1 Findings 33

3.1.1 Difficulties from students 33

3.1.2 Difficulties from teachers 34

3.1.3 Difficulties from the testing 34

3.1.4 Difficulties from environment 35

3.2 Recommendations 35

3.2.1 For the students 35

3.2.2 For the teachers 37

3.2.3 Reform of the testing 37

3.2.4 Improving the environment 38

PART C: CONCLUSION 1 Summary of the study 39

2 Limitations and suggestions study of the study 39

FREFERENCES

APPENDICES

CLT : Communicative Language TeachingEL

T : English Language Teaching

DH : Dong Hy

Table 1: Teachers’ ages 17

Table 2: Teachers’ years of teaching English 18

Table 3: Teachers’ CLT training background 18

Table 4: Teachers’ opinions about method 19

Table 5: Teachers’ information about the enrichment of knowledge on CLT 19

Table 6: Teachers’ information about perception on CLT 20

Table 7: Teachers’ point of view about CLT 20

Table 8: Teachers’ understanding about CLT 22

Table 9: The frequency of activities used in the classroom 24

Table 10: Teachers’ error correction 25

Table 11: The frequency of change the position of students’ seat, tables and benches for the lesson situations 25 Table 12: Teachers’ opinions about the currently- used textbook. 26

Table 13: Teachers’ difficulties in their teaching 27

Table 14: Teachers’ self-assessment of their application of CLT 28

Table 15: Classroom observation (teacher 1) 29

Table 16: Classroom observation (teacher 2) 30

Table 17: Classroom observation (teacher 3) 31

Part A: Introduction

I Retionale of the stuty

It can‟t be denied that today English is the most widely used means ofcommunication around the world English is important in almost all sectors, includingeducation, business, industry, and science About fifteen years ago, English is compulsorygiven in our secondary school curriculum and widely taught in our colleges anduniversities

Many different methodologies have been used by English language teaching in ourcountry; such as, the grammar translation, the direct method however our students stillfind it hard to communicate in real life situation So speaking skill, as a production andinteraction skill, is especially paid attention to

Many years ago, teaching language and especially teaching English in Vietnamexperienced many difficulties and we could see this clearly in the secondary school Thecurriculum is not unified Tests are not suitable to teaching so it makes learners despondent

in studying Teachers are not adequately trained Students lack motive learning Books arenot communication-based Learners do not have many chances to use language tocommunicate with each other although they remember a lot of words, structures andunderstand grammar well Teachers mainly teach vocabulary and grammar, etc

However in 2006, the New English textbook for grade 10 (English 10) has been used

to teach next to English 6, English 7, English 8 and English 9 instead of the old textbooks.English 10 is compiled based on “Themes” and follows two current approaches the learner-centered approach and communicative language teaching (CLT) English 10 containssixteen teaching units Each teaching unit consists of five 45-minute periods with fourskills: reading, speaking, listening, and writing skill, and a language focus lesson In theunits, teachers teach learners to use language fluently in communication stead of presentingthe exact language about grammar, vocabulary This new trend has opened more chancesfor students to improve their spoken language Students have chances to listen to bothnative and non-native English speakers from the tapes, CDs accompanied with the book

In order to having a look at situation realistically about the usefulness and application

of the new method - Communicative language teaching (CLT) in English language

teaching at the secondary school through three school years In this study, as a teacher ofthe school, I would like to investigate the current teaching situation of the 10th formstudents at Dong Hy Secondary School.

II Aims of the study

The study is aimed at finding out the English language teaching and learning at Dong HySecondary School in Thai Nguyen It is expected that the study will be referred to testimonynecessity in improving those facts To be more specific of purposes in this study are:

- To investigate the current situation of English language teaching at Dong HySecondary School by focusing on studying the following conditions: the teachers with theirperceptions of CLT and their CLT practical application, the examination, the new English textbook, the students and the teaching and learning environment

- To find out difficulties that the teachers of English at Dong Hy Secondary School experience when applying CLT

- To offer some suggestions on how to improve the quality of teaching English when using CLT

III Scope of the study

The study focuses on the investigation of teaching English at Dong Hy SecondarySchool in Thai Nguyen when applying CLT approach As set in the aims of the study, Ilimited to focus on studying the following contents: the teachers with their perceptions ofCLT and their CLT practical application, the examination, the new English textbook, thestudents and the teaching and learning environment

Due to the limit of time and within the scope of an M.A minor thesis, only grade 10students and six teachers at Dong Hy Secondary Schools in Thai Nguyen are chosen as theparticipants of the study

IV Methods of the study

In order to complete this thesis, the quantitative method was used to collect theneeded data from the participants

- The questionaire was for six teachers at Dong Hy Secondary School

- The class observations were conducted Three classrooms were chosen at randomfor observation (with no attempt to select the best or the most experienced teachers as well

as the best or the weakest students).

All comments, remarks, recommendations, and conclusions given in this study werebased on the data analysis

V Design of the study

The thesis consists of three parts

Part A - Introduction- Presents the rationale, the aim, scope, methods, and design ofthe study

Part B - Development- consists of three chapters

Chapter one-Literature Review- Deals with the theories related to the study:

Communicative activities, Communicative language teaching, Advantages of using CLT inteaching foreign language, Problems of the application of CLT in teaching English as aforeign language, Previous studies relating to CLT application, Conditions related to CLTapplication

Chapter two-Research methodologies- Presents the methodology performed in the

study It provides information about the participants, the instrumentation Data collectionand findings are also presented in this chapter

Chapter three-Findings and recommendations Discusses the data of the study and

propose recommendations for applying CLT in teaching English to grade10 students at DHsecondary school

Part C: Conclusion- Summarizes all the key issues as well as the limitations of thestudy and suggestions for further study

Part b: Development

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter briefly covers the concepts related to the study: communicativeactivities, communicative language teaching, advantages of using CLT in teaching foreignlanguage, problems of the application of CLT in teaching English as a foreign language,previous studies relating to CLT application, conditions related to CLT application

1.1 Communicative activities

The aim of a CA in class is to get learners to use the language they are learning tointeract in realistic and meaningful ways, usually involving exchanging of information.Thus, in order to organize and improve CA the following should be taken intoconsideration

1.1.1 Definition of a communicative activity

According to Harmer (1991), communicative activities are the ones which involvelearning through using language for a communicative purpose They are the activities inwhich learners use the linguistic repertoire they have learnt in order to communicatespecific meanings for specific purposes Sharing the same definition, Scrivener (1994)claimed that communicative activities are classroom activities designed to get learners tospeak and listen to one another In other words, whatever activity the students are involved

in, if it is to be genuinely communicative and if it is really promoting language use, thestudents should have a desire to communicate If they do not want to be involved incommunication then that communication will probably not be effective The studentsshould have some kind of communicative purpose That is to say, they should use language

in some way to achieve an objective Then their attention should be centered on the content

of what is being said or written not the language form that is being used

1.1.2 Characteristics of a good communicative activity

A communicative activity should have a desire to communicate When someone asks

a question, they must wish to get some information There must be either an „informationgap‟ or an „opinion gap‟ or some other reason to communicate For example, when theteacher asks students to describe their house, the teacher is creating an artificial

„communicative purpose‟ and making the activity more artificial by asking to do it inEnglish The teacher also creates „information gap‟ by giving different information to pairs

of students so that they can have a reason to exchange information

Another characteristic of a communicative activity is that there is a focus on meaningnot language forms In real life students do not ask about their friends‟ family in order topractice „have got‟ forms They ask the questions because they are interested in theinformation That means what they are interested is the meaning not the language forms.According to Littlewood (1981, p.17) a good CA can provide „whole-task practice‟,improve motivation, allow natural learning and create a context that supports learning Thefollowings are the contributions that a good communicative activity can make to languagelearning:

First, communicative activities provide "whole task practice" While non communicative activities provide training in the part - skills (of which the performance iscomposed), CA provides practice in the total - skill, sometimes called "whole-taskpractice" Learning how to swim, for example, usually involves not only separate practice

-of individual movements (part - skills), but also actual attempts to swim short distance(whole-task practice in order to suit the learners‟ level of ability through various kinds ofcommunicative activity

Second, communicative activities improve motivation The learners‟ ultimate aim is

to take part in communication with others Their motivation to learn is more likely to besustained if they can see how their classroom learning is related to these objectives andhelp them to achieve it with increasing success

Next, communicative activities allow natural learning Many aspects of languagelearning can take place only through natural processes, which operate only when a person

is involved in using the language for communication If this is so, communicative activity(inside or outside the classroom) is an important part of the total learning process

Last, communicative activities can create a context which supports learning.Communicative activity provides opportunities for positive personal relationship todevelop among learners and between learners and the teacher These relationships can help

to create an environment that supports the individual in his effort to learn

Harmer (1991:19) has summarized those characteristics in a figure called the

communication continuum; as follows:

NON - COMMUNICTIVE ACTIVITIES COMMUNICTIVE ACTIVITIES

 no communicative desire

 no communicative purpose

 form not content

 one language item

1.2 Communicative language teaching

Communicative language teaching (CLT) has become the accepted orthodoxy theory

of TEFL over the past thirty years or more Its theoretical base, according to Richards &Rogers (2000: 71), includes the following characteristics First, language is a system for theexpression of meaning Second, the primary function of language is for interaction andcommunication Third, the structure of language reflects its functional and communicativeuses Fourth, the primary units of language are not merely its grammatical and structural

features, but categories of functional and communicative meaning as exemplified indiscourse.

CLT method has brought many advantages Dubin and Olshtain (1986) in Burns(1997) have suggested one of the major benefits of CLT is that it brought about a morecomprehensive view of teaching and learning Communicative language teaching makesuse of real life situations that necessitate communication The teacher sets up a situationthat students are likely to encounter in real life Students and teachers should try to getcloser to real communication in the classroom The communicative approach can leavestudents in suspense as to outcome of a class exercise, which will vary according to theirreactions and responses Students‟ motivation to learn comes from their desire tocommunicate in meaningful ways about meaningful topics Thus, CLT plays an importantrole in foreign language teaching in general and in teaching speaking in particular

1.2.1 Brief history of CLT

Communicative language teaching (CLT) is an innovation in English languageteaching (ELT) CLT emerged as a new teaching approach in Britain in the 1970s The callfor adoption of CLT was not accidental It came from the educational problem that needed

to be solved This problem was the existing unsatisfactory teaching results of the traditionalgrammar-oriented method

1.2.2 CLT definition

Many researchers have discussed communicative language teaching but few offer thedefinition of CLT Finally, the researcher takes CLT as a way of teaching in which theapplication of communicative activities and target language aims to develop learners‟competence of understanding and exchanging different ideas, behavioral modes, values,beliefs, and cultures

“communicative language teaching is an approach to foreign or second language teaching which emphasizes that the goal of language learning is communicative competence and which seeks to make meaningful communication and language use a focus

of all classroom activities”.(Richard and Schmidt, 2001:90)

1.2.3 The principles of CLT

Principles of communicative language teaching: Learners learn a language throughusing it to communicate Authentic and meaningful communication should be the goal ofclassroom activities Fluency and accuracy are both important in language learning.Learning is a process of creative construction and involves trial and error

A communicative approach is essentially learner- centered Communicativelanguage teaching emphasizes the development of learners' ability and willingness to usethe target language appropriately and accurately for the purposes of effectivecommunication

1.2.3.1 The goal of teachers who use the communicative approach

The goal of the teacher is to have students become communicatively competence

1.2.3.2 The role of the teachers and students

Teachers in communicative classrooms will find themselves talking less and listeningmore-becoming active facilitators of their students' learning (Larsen - Freeman, 1986)

The role of the CL teacher is two: To facilitate the communication process betweenall classroom participants and to act as an independent participant within the learning-teaching group (Breen and Candlin, 1980:99)

The role of the communicative learner is as negotiator-between the self, the learningprocess, and the object of learning –emerges from and interacts with the role of jointnegotiator within the group and within the classroom procedures and activities which thegroup undertakes The implication for the learner is that he should contribute as much as hegains, and thereby learn in an independent way (Breen and Candlin, 1980:110) Studentsare expected to interact primarily with each other, rather than with the teacher, andcorrection of errors may be absent or infrequent The cooperative (rather thanindividualistic) approach to learning stressed in CLT may likewise be unfamiliar to leaners(Richards and Rodgers, 2001: 166)

1.2.3.3 The feelings of the students

One of the basic assumptions of the communicative approach is that students will bemore motivated to study a foreign language since they will feel they are learning to dosomething useful with the language they study

1.2.4 Characteristics of CLT

The characteristics of CLT help the learners understand what is happening in a CLTclassroom And then the teacher can take advantage of this approach to promote herstudents' learning

A focus on communicative function: The communicative function is considered asthe most important characteristic of CLT because the goal of CLT is to help the learnersgain communicative competence

A focus on meaningful tasks rather than on language per se: The teacher gives thestudents meaningful tasks in order to improve the students' communicative competence.The meaningful tasks create opportunities for the learners to use the language and toimprove their communicative competence

Efforts to make tasks and language relevant to a target group of learners through ananalysis of genuine, realistic situations It is clear that the genuine, realistic situations areessential in the class Through performing tasks relevant to those situations, the studentslearn the meaning and functions in the context

The use of authentic, from life materials: Authentic materials have a positive effect

on learner motivation in the foreign language classroom They create opportunities for thestudents to be exposed to the real language

The use of group activities: This kind of student collaboration has two benefits First,the whole class actively participates in a task at the same time and students can thencompare their findings when the task is over; and second, the meaningful task is rehearsed

in class for later use in real communication outside the classroom

The attempt to create a secure, non- threatening atmosphere: It is clear that thestudents don't want to say anything when the atmosphere in classroom is serious And in

contrast, when the atmosphere in class is stress - free, the learners will speakenthusiastically.

1.2.5 Conditions related to CLT application

Whether CLT is applied successfully or not depends on a number of factors They areteachers, students with their motivation, proficiency and learning style, authentic materials,teaching and learning materials, the support of the administration, teaching and learningenvironment, time, examination, and cultural factor

In terms of teachers, CLT requires the teacher with high English proficiency and withmastering the concept of CLT so that they can take advantage of the communicativeapproach and manage the class (Hird, 1995) The teachers of CLT must be flexible to adaptthemselves in a particular context Furthermore, they have to invest much time in preparingthe lessons and collecting and designing additional materials It is the teacher'sresponsibility to organize the classroom as a setting for communication and communicativeactivities

For the student, their motivation, proficiency, and learning style are the vital factorsrelating to the successful application of CLT (Hird, 1995; Gahin and Myhill, 2002)

When the learners determine their studying purpose, or when they are encouraged instudy, it seems that they will be motivated to participate in the class

The students with their English level suitable with the teaching materials, they willcatch up with the lesson, they will be able to do the tasks, activities and exercises in thetextbook

If the students are active, they will be eager to speak English or do all the tasks,activities intentionally

Another factor which refers to the language used in real situations is authenticmaterial Authentic materials help learns to learn better because the learners can transferwhat they acquire in the classroom to the outside world and to introduce them to the naturallanguage in different situations (Larsen - Free man, 1986) The class will be boring andunexciting if there is a lack of authentic material

Administrators also have influences on the success of CLT application (Gahin and

Myhill, 2002) The implementation of CLT will meet many difficulties if theadministrators don't approve it The teachers need to be paid high salary so that they can trytheir utmost for the teaching career Besides, all the modern and necessary facilities used inthe teaching and learning English such as cassette players, tapes, flash radiators, authenticmaterials, newspapers, library of English document, etc, are available only when do theadministrators support and approve the CLT implementation

The teaching and learning environment is very important An ideal classroom forCLT implementation is not too small, or too crowded or multi-level (Li, 1998) A toocrowded class will make the teachers difficult to manage all the students and the efficiency

of teaching is not high The multi-level class will cause more difficulties for the teachers toattract both good and bad students In brief, the ideal teaching and learning environmentplays a not small role in the success of CLT implementation

In applying CLT, the examination needs to be taken into consideration because thesuitable exam will stimulate the students to learn English (Hird, 1995; Gahin and Myhill,2002) The exam designed to test the students all what they had learned with CLT approachwill promote them to learn English

Another element affecting CLT application is the time If the time in each period isnot enough and the numbers of English periods per week are limited, the students will nothave enough time to participate in the classroom activities to develop listening andspeaking skills This also means that there is no place for supplementary materials

To implement CLT successfully, the material needs to be suitable for the students(Gahin and Myhill, 2002) If the content or activities in the material are too easy or toodifficult, this will discourage the students to learn If the material is designed focusing ongrammar, the teachers and the students have to fulfill all the grammatical points, therefore,the students will have fewer opportunities to develop their communicative competence Insummary, the material should be designed to support CLT and suitable for the students‟English level

The final element affecting CLT application is the cultural tradition (Hird, 1995;Gahin and Myhill, 2002) Vietnamese learners are influenced by the Confucian ideal Thestudents are influenced by the Confucian ideal that they should not appeal more intelligentthan their classmates Therefore, they are reluctant to ask or to answer a question So it is

necessary to improve students' cultural background.

1.3 Advantages of using CLT approach in the foreign language classroom

There are some advantages of using the communicative language teaching approach.Firstly, it allows learners to use the target language in meaningful contexts, thusbringing the real world into the classroom Even at the beginner level students want tolearn English to communicate with people in their community They want to be able tomake an appointment on the phone, give reasons for, speak to their children‟s teachers, askfor information or advice and to be able to speak with people in the community

A second advantage is that this approach can be adapted to any level ranging frompre-beginner to advanced and is suitable for classes comprising students with differentlinguistic backgrounds and varying levels of communicative competence, thus allowinglearners to interact with each according to their level of proficiency

A third advantage is that the CLT approach enables the teacher to step back and take

on the role of „facilitator‟ The teacher is able to observe individual learning throughvarious tasks and is able to determine and respond to student‟s needs

1.4 Problems of applying CLT in the foreign language classroom and in second language classroom.

Littlewood (1984) point to the fact that ESL is the language which is widely spoken

in the community where it is learnt whereas EFL is used to communicate outside the localcommunity CLT in an EFL classroom is a challenge for teachers and students Lacks ofEnglish - Speaking environment and authentic situations cause hindrances in the learningprocess

The differences in the English - speaking environment, the authentic situations themotivation, the school curriculum, the national curriculum goals, and the testing systembring different results when applying CLT in ESL class and EFL classroom

1.5 Previous studies related to CLT application

The four studies by Hird (1995), Li (1998), Gahin and Myhill (2001), Bock (2000),and Vu To Lan (2003), are presented in this thesis These studies were carried out in China,Egypt, South Korea and in Vietnam to find out difficulties hindering the success of CLTapplication in those countries.

1.5.1 CLT in China

Basing on experience of teaching English in China, Hird (1995) had an article aboutthe situation of communicative English language teaching in China The author shows thespecific factors limiting the CLT application They are the grammar-focused examinationsystem, influence of traditional teaching styles and teacher- related factors

1.5.2 CLT in Egypt

The findings of the research show that the teachers‟ difficulties in implementing CLTare economic factors, examination pressure, teachers‟ academic abilities, and Egyptiancultural traditions, feelings of frustration and stress of the teachers Economic constraintsinclude low pay, lack of resources, large-sized unequipped classrooms, and lack ofappropriate teacher training provision

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2.1 Back ground of the study

2.1.1 Description of the students at §ong Hy (DH) Secondary School

The majority of secondary school students at DH have been learning English sincethey were in lower secondary schools This means by the time they go to secondary school,they have at least 4 or more years of experience in learning English Their lower secondaryyears were spent with the new text books and the two aspects: learner-centered approachand communicative language teaching (CTL) However, most students are not good atlistening and speaking the target language They can do written exercises on English

grammar accurately but they can hardly communicate in English They do not feel confident incommunicating in English Using English to communicate is a big challenge for them.Theystill thinks that learning a foreign language means learning grammar, structures and most ofthem still keep silent and do not participate in the activities of lessons.

2.1.2 Description of the teachers at DH secondary school

The teachers are the most important factors in the process of teaching and learning atarget language In DH secondary school, there are 12 teachers of English aged from 28 to

52 and none of them has ever been to any English speaking countries Two of them havebeen trained in the in-service training programmes because they used to be the teachers ofRussian The rest has been trained at College of Foreign Language - Vietnam NationalUniversity, Hanoi and Thainguyen Teachers‟ Training College

The teachers at DH Secondary School are familiar with traditional language teaching.However, most of them usually try to acquire knowledge of the communicativecompetence and apply it in their teaching English

2.1.3 Setting of the study

- The class size: There are about 45 students in each class It is difficult to carry out acommunicative activity in a mixed- ability and large class There is a lot of unavoidable noise inthe classroom when the teachers create a communicative environment for students

All the classrooms are designed for lecture lesson Students still sit in the tranditionaloder It means that the seats are arranged orderly in front of the teacher in rows andclassroom equipment is just a chalkboard and cassette recorder

- The textbook: The English textbook is “Theme-based”and follows two currentapproaches the learner-centered approach and communicative language teaching (CLT).English 10 contains sixteen teaching units Each teaching unit consists of five 45-minuteperiods with four skills: reading, speaking, listening, and writing In the units, teachersteach learners to use language fluently in communication stead of presenting the exactlanguage about grammar, vocabulary Besides the skill-focused periods, Language focus isalso an important part of each unit and is designed to summarize all language elements likevocabulary, grammar Students will catch an overview of the entire unit After every threeunits, students will have chances to evaluate their learning results units called „Testyourself‟

Materials for reference and self-study are not available There is a library at theschool but there are not many English books for reference Most of the books here are forstudents only.

2.2 Research methodology

2.2.1 Subjects

The subjects under study are all the teachers who are teaching English to thestudents‟ grade 10 at DH secondary school All of the teachers have taught English for atleast 5 years and at most for 15 years, so they have accumulated a lot of experience inteaching English in many contexts

2.2.2 The classroom observation

- The classroom observation was conducted to gather information but not to evaluatethe teachers' quality The researcher decided in advance what she was going to observe bydesigning a checklist that could prevent her from deviation and helped her focus on thecategories that matched her intent for the research

All teaching and learning activities in class have been noted: for instance, theteachers‟ questions and explanation, the student‟s answers and their mistakes, the teachers and the students‟ interaction, the students‟ group work, etc

2.2.3 The instruments

- The observation was carried out in one week in the second semester of the schoolyear 2009-2010 Three classrooms were chosen at random for observation (with no attempt toselect the best or the most experienced teachers as well as the best or the weakest students)

- The questionnaire was distributed to 6 teachers of English who teach grade 10 at

DH Secondary School The questionnaires which had been delivered were handed back

The questionnaires are about

- Teachers‟ teaching experience (Questions 1,2)

- Teachers‟ CLT training background (Question 3)

- Teachers‟ opinions about the most suitable method for their teaching English at present (Question 4)

- Teachers‟ information on CLT (Questions 5,6)

- Teachers‟ understanding of subjects about CLT (Questions 7,8)

- Looking about applying CLT in the actual classroom practice (Questions 9,10,11)

- Inspecting the English textbook in CLT application (Question 12)

- Teachers‟ oppinions about the difficulties in the implementation of CLT in their

context of language teaching (Question 13)

- The degree of success in applying CLT at DH secondary school (Question14)

2.3 Presentation of statistical results.

2.3.1 Results

* Question1 and 2

Question 1 focuses on the teachers‟ ages Question 2 is about the teachers‟

experience of teacing English The results are shown the following table

Table2: Teachers’ years of teaching English

It can be seen in table 1 that teachers attended in the study are different ages Only 17

% of the teachers asked are above 45 and 33% are between 30 and 35 The teachers agedfrom 36 to 45 make up 50% This data show that the teachers are mainly in the midle age withquite a lot of living experience as well as teaching experience

The table 2 shows that English language teachers are quite experienced in theirprofession Four out of six teachers (67%) have been teaching foreign language for thaneleven years

Table 3: Teachers’ CLT training background

CLT is now the dominant foreign language teaching method; however, the table 3

shows that not all teachers at school have attended in workshops for CLT Only 67% have

received formal training in CLT Two teachers has never received any kinds of training in

CLT.They have general knowledge about CLT as they have read books on CLT themselve

Question 4: What approach do you think most suitable for ?

The Grammar-Translation Method (GTM) 0Communicative Language Teaching 33

Combination of GTM and CLT 67

Table 4: Teachers’ oppinions about method

When asked the opinions about method that 2 out of 6 teachers (33%) think that CLT

is suitable for their teaching situation at present 4 out of 6 teachers (67%) teach with a

combination of the grammar- translation method and the communcative language teaching

approach Teachers have to combine methods because of the pressure and format of tests

and the level of the students

Table 5 Teachers’ information about the enrichment of knowledge on CLT.

Question 6 You understand the principle and the characteristics of CLT.

Table 6 Teachers’ information about perception on CLT

Table 5 shows that all teachers sometimes attended workshops or the training course

on CLT to improve their knowledge of CLT

Table 6 shows that the majority of the respondents (67%) said that they understand

the principles and characteristics of CLT and the rest admitted that they are uncertain about

the principle and characteristic of CLT

*Question 7 and 8

Question 7: CLT…

always emphasizes fluency over accuracy 50

s‟ final goal is students‟communicative competence 100

is used only for teaching speaking and listening skill 67

focuses on meaningful tasks rather than on language itself 50

Table 7 Teachers’ point of view about CLT

According to the data in table 7, 100% of teachers asked think that CLT‟s final goal

is students‟communicative competence and they all also admit that CLT is centered The percentage of those who agree that CLT does not teach grammar and focuses

learner-on meaningful tasks rather than learner-on language itself is 50% 67% of teachers think that CLT

is used only for teaching speaking and listening skill

All information above show that the teachers donot have good knowledge of CLTand half of the teachers don‟t understand some important characteristics of CLT

Question 8 You find that:

Key concepts, principles and

Agree (%) Disagree (%) Uncertain (%) characteristics

Grammatical correctness is the most

important criterion by which language 50 33 17performance should be judged

Group work activities are essential in

providing opportunities for co-operative

100relationship to emerge and in promoting

genuine interaction among students

For students to become effective

communicators in the foreign language,

the teachers' feedback must be focused on 67 33

the appropriateness and not the linguistic

form of the students' responses

The learner- centered approach to 100

language teaching encourages

responsibility and self- discipline and

allows each student to develop his/ her

full potential

Group work allows students to explore

problems for themselves and thus have

some measures of control over their own

100learning It is therefore an invaluable

means of organizing classroom

experiences

The teacher should correct all the

grammatical errors student make If errors 50 17 33are ignored, this will result in imperfect learning

Key concepts, principles and

Agree (%) Disagree (%) Uncertain (%) characteristics

It is impossible in a large class of

students to organize your teaching so as to 83 17

suit the needs of all

Group work activities take too long to

organize and waste a lot of valuable 50 50

teaching time

The communicative approach to language

teaching produces fluent but inaccurate learners

By mastering the rules of grammar,

students become fully capable of 50 50

communicating with another

The role of the teacher in the language

classroom is to impart knowledge through

activities such as explanation, writing and

example

and adapted to suit the students' needs