perception of the biological students about the advantages and disadvantages of studying english with the native and non native english speaking teachers

The question for the students in Faculty of Biology in Ho Chi Minh City University of Education is that between native and non-native English teachers, which one students prefer learning

PHẠM CỬ THIỆN

PERCEPTION OF THE BIOLOGICAL STUDENTS ABOUT THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF STUDYING ENGLISH WITH THE NATIVE AND NON-NATIVE

ENGLISH-SPEAKING TEACHERS

MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL

Ho Chi Minh City, 2019

i

I herewith formally declare that I myself have written the submitted Master thesis

“Perception of the biological students about the advantages and disadvantages of studying English with the native and non-native English-speaking teachers”

I did not use any outside support except for the literature and other sources mentioned at the end of this paper

This thesis has not published at any Universities or Institutions

Ho Chi Minh City, 2019

………

Phạm Cử Thiện

I am so thankful to all teachers and staff at Edith Cowan University, Australia for the courses and teaching model during the study tour in Perth Sincere thanks to

Ms Pham Thi Hong Anh, Ms Ho Thi Bao Uyen and Ms Huynh Thi Ngoc Huyen for the support to my study tour and make it more successful

I would like to extend my wholehearted thanks to all my friends, especially

Mr Cao Ba Hoang, Mr Phan Ngoc Huy and Mr Ly Nhut Thien for the encouragement during my studying period

Last but not least, I would like to say thank you very much to all my students

in Faculty of Biology, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education for joining the research

This thesis is dedicated to my parents, sisters and brother It is also a gift for

my wife and my son

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Education on the advantages and disadvantages of learning English with native and native English-speaking teachers was carried out in January, 2018 Data on their perceptions towards the reasons why they liked studying with native and non-native English-speaking teachers were gained from questionnaires Thirty students in this research were also randomly selected for interview to get their suggestions for the better ways of teaching and learning English The result from questionnaire (N=126) and interview (N=30) showed that biological students preferred learning pronunciation, listening, speaking and reading in General English with native English-speaking teachers However, most of them indicated preference to study grammar, writing in General English and English for Biology with non-native English-speaking teachers The findings will help Deans take into consideration the importance of teachers in teaching English

non-Keywords: student’s perception, biological student, English for Biology, teacher of English

iv

Acknowledgement ii

Abstract iii

Table of Contents iv

Lists of figures v

List of Tables vi

Abbreviations vii

1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1.Background to the study 1

1.2 Aims of the study 4

1.3 Research questions 4

1.4 Key terms for the study 5

1.5 Structure of the English courses 5

1.6 Organization of the thesis 6

1.7 Chapter summary 6

2 LITERATURE 7

2.1 English for Special Purposes……… 7

2.2 Differences between native and non-native English-speaking teachers 8

2.3 Previous related studies……… 14

2.4 English language teaching 28

2.5 Research gap 30

2.6 Chapter summary……… ……… 31

3 METHODOLOGY 32

3.1 Research design 32

3.2 Reliability and validity 34

3.3 Definitions of terms 36

3.4 Data analysis 36

3.4 Chapter summary……… 36

4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSSION 37

4.1 Information of participants in the research 37

4.2 Research question 1 40

4.3 Research question 2 55

4.4 Research results from the interview 62

4.5 Chapter summary……… 73

5 CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION 76

REFERENCES 80

v

Figure 2.1 Three concentric circles……… 8 Figure 4.1 Percentage of English skills and aspects that students already practiced with

Figure 4.2 Percentage of students in each batch already studied English with native English-speaking teachers (%) (N=80)……… 40

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Table 2.1 Students’ perceptions of native English-speaking teachers and

non-native English-speaking teachers in terms of their strengths……….20

Table 2.2 Students’ perceptions of native English-speaking teachers and non-native English-speaking teachers in terms of their weaknesses……… 21

Table 3.1 Reliability statistics……… 35

Table 4.1 Total students in each batch in Faculty of Biology……… 37

Table 4.2 Percentage of students in participated in the research………… 38

Table 4.3 Percentage of students liked studying General English………… 41

Table 4.4 Biological students’ perception of studying pronunciation……… 42

Table 4.5 Biological students’ perceptions of studying grammar……… 44

Table 4.6 Biological students’ perception of studying listening…… ……… 45

Table 4.7 Biological students’ perception of studying speaking.……… 47

Table 4.8 Biological students’ perception of studying reading.……… 48

Table 4.9 Biological students’ perception of studying writing.……… 50

Table 4.10 Percentage of students liked learning English for Biology …… 56

Table 4.11 Students’ perceptions of studying English for Biology ……… 58

Table 4.12 Percentage of students liked learning English with English teachers (N=30)……… 63

Table 4.13 Students’ perception of studying English with English teachers (N=30)……… 64

Table 4.14 Suggestions for better ways of teaching general English……… 66

Table 4.15 Suggestions for better ways of learning general English……… 69

Table 4.16 Suggestions for teaching English for Biology.……… 70

Table 4.17 Suggestions for learning English for Biology.……… 72

vii

NET: native English-speaking teacher

NNET: non-native English-speaking teacher ESP: English for Special Purposes

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

English is an international language and it has been widely used as an important means of communication all over the world (Xue & Zuo, 2013; Tosuncuoglu, 2017) It becomes an important skill that the employers wanted their staff to have at work (Foley, 2011) and the employers requires the competence in English for the employees increasingly (Graddol, 2000) Therefore, learners at different ages all over the world have been studying English for their work, for immigration to an English-speaking country, for travelling purposes or for entertainment (Harmer, 2010) Students at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education also have to learn English because of different reasons, but the common one is that it is one of their subjects in the training program Beside the learning program, the syllabus, and all the means for learning English such as books, video clips, figures, photos, etc, teachers play an important role when teaching a foreign language like English When learners study English, they understand that teachers have individual differences and their work is very important (Harmer, 2010) Luk & Lin (2007) says that the term “non-native speaker” is often defined differently to the “native speaker” of a language, but it is not easy to give definition correctly The native English-speaking teachers have made a

quantity of non-native English-speaking teachers has been growing up and there are more non-native English-speaking teachers than native English-speaking teachers (Canagarajah, 1999; Ma, 2012; Ur, 2012; Richardson,

2016) English has been taught as a compulsory foreign language subject at all levels of education and mainly conducted by Vietnamese English teachers In some schools and universities, it is taught by native English

speakers or foreign English-speaking teachers but with limited hours Different teachers are succeeded in different ways and each group has their own strengths and weaknesses (Medgyes, 1994; Harmer, 2010; Tosuncuoglu, 2017), the things native English-speaking teachers can do but non-native English-speaking teachers cannot do and vice versus, or some things that both kinds of teacher can do or cannot do (Matsuda & Matsuda, 2001) The question for the students in Faculty of Biology in Ho Chi Minh City University of Education is that between native and non-native English teachers, which one students prefer learning skills and aspects including listening, speaking, reading, writing, grammar and pronunciation with Whom do learners like when they want to learn English? No research has been done before to answer these questions.

Theory problem The research on the opinion about choosing native or non-native English-speaking teachers when learning a foreign language was done by many authors including Medgyes (1994), Árva & Medgyes (2000), Madrid

& Canado (2004), Clouet (2006), Luk et al (2007), Ulate (2011), Ma (2012), Thien (2019), and so on The above research was done to examine the teachers’ opinion and experiences, students’ preferences, also school and

the students majoring in biology

Practical problem Faculty of Biology organize English seminar for its students once a year to share experiences and difficulties of learning English The results show that very few of them can use English to present or discuss Many reasons were given but the two main ones were that they did not have the English environment to practice, and there are not any native English-

speaking teachers who teach English at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education Moreover, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education planned to teach one new course named “English for Biology” for the biological students in 2019 Thus, the teacher of the course of English for Biology in Faculty of Biology would like to know which kinds of teachers the biological students think is good for them or which one they like Therefore, a research

on “Perception of the biological students about the advantages and disadvantages of studying English with the native and non-native English-speaking teachers” was carried out

Significance of the study The study investigated the current perception of the students in Faculty of Biology in Ho Chi Minh City University of Education to find out the advantages and disadvantages of studying General English with native and non-native English-speaking teachers The findings then are sent to the Dean of English and Rector for reference in order to make the better plan to teach General English for the next batch

Moreover, the research identified the current perception of the students in Faculty of Biology in Ho Chi Minh City University of Education about learning the new course of English for Biology so that the teacher can make the good plan for the course of English for Biology in 2019 Based on the research result, Dean of Faculty of Biology will decide whether or not it needs to invite some visiting native-speaking teachers to teach some parts in the course of English for Biology for students

Finally, the research result provided the officials who are in charging

of foreign language training at Ministry of Education and Training in Vietnam about learners’ perception of studying English so that they will consider the important role of teachers in teaching and learning English In the future training program, the officials will have a master plan to invite

native English-speaking teachers to teach the skills and aspects that learners expect to learn with, especially for the training of student in Faculty of

Scope of the study The research was carried out only at Faculty of Biology, Ho Chi Minh city, University of Education to find students’ perception about the advantages and disadvantages of studying English with the native and non-native English-speaking teachers

1.2 Aims of the study

The purpose of the study was to find out the biological students’ perception of the advantages and disadvantages of studying General English and English for Biology with native and non-native English-speaking teachers

1.3 Research questions

Research question 1 (RQ1): What are the perceptions of students in Faculty

of Biology in Ho Chi Minh city University of Education about the advantages and disadvantages of studying General English with the native and non-native English-speaking teachers?

Research question 2 (RQ2): What are the perceptions of students in Faculty

of Biology in Ho Chi Minh city University of Education when studying English for Biology with the native and non-native English-speaking

Hypothesis 1 (H1): There will be no differences in biological students’ perceptions of studying General English with native and non-native English-

speaking teachers in Faculty of Biology, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education

Hypothesis 2 (H2): There will be no differences in the respondents’ preferences of studying English for Biology with native and non-native English-speaking teachers in Faculty of Biology, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education

1.4 Key terms for the study

+ Native English-speaking teacher: all teachers from the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand (Kachru, 1985)

+ Non-native English-speaking teacher: all teachers of English who use English as a foreign language

1.5 Structure of the English courses for biological students

Students in Faculty of Biology, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education have a four-year training program to get a Bachelor degree They have to pass 135 credits from 75 subjects including 10 credits of general English with 3 Modules and 2 credits of English for Biology

The three modules of general English obtained from the course book named “Life” by HEINLE CENGAGE Learning at the pre-intermediate level consisting of 12 Chapters

The course of English for Biology written by the author of this research has to cover all the main subjects that students have already learnt in the training program in Biology It consists of 10 Chapters namely “The chemistry of life, The cell, Genetics, Mechanisms of evolution, The evolutionary history of biological diversity, Plant form and function, Animal form and function, Ecology, Agricultural biotechnology, and Laboratory” (Appendix 6)

The above information shows that the ability of using English is very important for biological students when they learn General English and English for Biology Therefore, this research can contribute significantly to the success of training in Faculty of Biology, Ho Chi Minh City University

of Education

1.6 Organization of the thesis

The thesis consists of seven parts:

+ Chapter 1: Introduction

+ Chapter 2: Literature review

+ Chapter 3: Methodology

+ Chapter 4: Findings and discussion

+ Chapter 5: Conclusion and implication

of the study, research questions and some definitions relating to the study The last part of this chapter gave the general information about the program

of General English and English for Biology for students at Faculty of Biology, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter firstly provides the information about English for Special Purposes and continues with the differences between native and non-native English-speaking teachers It then reviews the findings from the previous research about the advantages and disadvantages of studying English with native and non-native-English speaking teachers

2.1 English for Special Purposes

English for special purposes has been developed to meet the needs of those learners who intend to use English in professional contexts and for professional purposes (Nagy, 2014) Hutchinson and Waters (1987, p 19) define ESP as “an approach to language learning which is based on learner need” Donesch-Jezo (2012) stated that the most important difference between ESP and General English lies in the learners and their purposes for learning English The ESP learners need the language in order to become equipped with professional communicative skills for particular job ESP focuses on language that is used in a real professional context rather than on teaching grammar structures and vocabulary unrelated to the students’ mainstream subjects Contrary to General English, the content of ESP is integrated into an area of subject matter related to the students’ present and future situation

In the Faculty of Biology at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, ESP is the course of English for Biology that students have to learn because it is in the training program and it is useful for their future career

2.2 Differences between native and non-native English-speaking teachers

The term “native” and “non-native” has been controversial from a sociolinguistic perspective when the English language begins being taught in the world (Medgyes, 1992; Madrid & Canado, 2004; Ma, 2012) It has been used to refer to people who speak a language (Ulate, 2011) In 1985, Kachru classifies the English-speaking world into three concentric circles of the Inner, Outer and Expanding circles (Figure 2.1.) and suggests that countries where English is spoken as a native belong to the inner cycle They include the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand

Figure 2.1 Three concentric circles (Kachru, 1985)

Outer circle

e.g India, Singapore, …

Inner circle e.g USA,

UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand Expanding circle

e.g China, Russia,…

There has been a lot of research to examine the differences in the teaching of non-native English-speaking teachers and native English-speaking teachers in the previous decades Medgyes (1994) states that native and non-native English-speaking teachers are different from the language competence of English and teaching behaviors Non-native English-speaking teachers can play as a good model for students to learn English because they know and understand the first language of students, the students’ culture and they have a lot of experiences when they had already learnt foreign language Árva & Medgyes (2000) say that native teachers can have a greater pronunciation because it is their own language, so they can master it and they are more self-confident It is clear that the native English-speaking teachers can give a better accurate pronunciation in terms of the sounds and the ways which they pronounce because it is their mother tongue In general, native teachers can speak English better than their non-native counterparts and use

it naturally for the communication in classroom and other training places However, native English-speaking teachers do not have enough culture and knowledge of the students’ mother tongue; therefore, they cannot sympathize completely with the learners, especially at the low level of education like primary school and secondary school because these learners cannot use foreign language well to express their ideas (Árva & Medgyes, 2000)

Merino (1997) compares the difference between native speaking teachers and non-native English-speaking teachers with three dimensional frameworks: native and non-native, non-native and non-native and native with native English-speaking teachers The good way of teaching

English-is that thEnglish-is group could complement the other one in their own strengths and weaknesses It is ideal if each school has at least one native English-speaking teachers and they should teach the classes which has higher level of English

so they can use English well, and leave the beginning classes with low-level students for their non-native English-speaking teacher colleagues so that they

can use L1 when necessary to explain the lessons to learners The concept of English teacher should be considered changing to English instructor because most private schools employ the teachers of English based on the English proficiency but they do not consider the teaching ability and the academic certificate of teaching

Matsuda & Matsuda (2001) think that both native and non-native English-speaking teachers have some certain good things for the learners they teach Each of them has the strengths and exists the weaknesses The things native English-speaking teachers can do but non-native English-speaking teachers cannot do and vice versus, or some things that both kinds

of teacher can do or cannot do Therefore, the collaboration between native and non-native English-speaking teachers should be considered and developed so that students can learn more effectively

Clouet (2006) also states that the native and non-native speaking teachers have different advantages and the school should organize the class that present both native and non-native teachers in the same classroom so that students can learn better, practice easier and get more knowledge In addition, both teachers can learn from each other to create a great result in teaching English

English-Harmer (2010) says that different teachers have different strengths and weaknesses, and the perception result depend on how students view each teacher, and it is clear that students would not give the same ideas Obviously, different teachers succeed in different ways so it is difficult to describe a good teacher Teaching is not an easy job and some lessons are very difficult to understand and stressful, so the ways of teaching to make student improve English and feel enjoyable is the best way of teaching

Inan (2012) reports that both native and non-native English-speaking teachers commonly use the scaffolding technique in the class including

modeling, speaking loudly the knowledge, making question, adjusting the teaching content for suitable level and instructing step by step carefully However, native English-speaking teachers have more tolerance than non-native English-speaking teachers in terms of error correction

Wahyudi (2012) discuss the advantages of native and non-native English-speaking teachers Native teachers have better proficiency because they master the language they teach, explain the cultural issues in the target language better as they know well and use the fluent language, and more flexible for topic changes since they can apply a lot of authentic materials during teaching For non-native English-speaking teachers, they have the same culture background as students, so it is very easy for them to understand students, to help students solve problems Moreover, non-native teachers can teach grammar better in the classroom because they can use students’ first language to teach, they also can predict the errors students may make because they used to study and have similar errors Furthermore, non-native English-speaking teachers can be a good model for students to follow and share learning strategies to their learners Wahyudi (2012) suggested five interaction patterns for teaching as follows

+ Pattern A: this is a traditional form of teaching English; native and non-native English-speaking teachers cooperate to decide the lesson topic given in the classroom and students are recipients

Students Non-native English-speaking teachers - Native English-speaking teachers

+ Pattern B: non-native English-speaking teachers help students prepare the topic and students could initiate communication practice with native English-speaking teachers and show them students’ culture

Native English-speaking teachers

+ Pattern C: students can learn more linguistics and culture from native English-speaking teachers and communicate more with them when working in the same team

+ Pattern D: half of students work with native English-speaking teachers and the other half work with non-native English-speaking teachers

to improve intercultural experiences

+ Pattern E: all students work together as a team with both native and non-native English-speaking teachers to improve the communicative competence through interaction

Non-native speaking teachers

English-Students A

Native speaking teachers

English-Students B

Non-native English-speaking teachers - Native English-speaking teachers

Students

2.3 Previous related studies

2.3.1 In foreign context (presented in term of time from 2002 to 2018) Lasagabaster and Sierra (2002) researched on 76 university students,

in which 38 of them were majoring in English and 52 students were taught

by a native English-speaking teacher in some stages The results were that they liked studying with native English-speaking teachers (Mean = 3.68/5.0)

or the combination of both groups (4.00/ 5.00) The analysis showed that students who had already had experiences with native English speaking-teachers gave a stronger preference (Mean = 3.84/ 5.00) than the ones had not had this experience (Mean = 3.33/ 5.00) (P<0.01) Students preferred studying listening (Mean = 3.21/5.00) and reading (Mean = 3.14/5.00) with native English speaking-teachers However, they liked learning grammar with non-native English speaking-teachers

Madrid & Canado (2004) researched on the preferences of 35 teachers and 459 students of native and non-native speakers as teachers of English The results showed that both instructors and learners recognized the certain differences between the pedagogy of teaching of native and non-native English-speaking teachers Students’ preferences for native English-speaking teachers increased with their academic level from primary to university Primary students thought that native teachers had a better capacity, pronunciation, expressions, explanations and had a great amount of vocabularies because of their language However, students could not get a good result as their accent was difficult and different, so they considered that the Spanish teachers explained grammar more understandable Some of Secondary Education students liked native English-speaking teachers since they had a higher level and knew the language and expression more, so they could learn more The other students thought non-native English speaking teachers had more advantages of teaching as they could use Spanish to teach and students could learn better For the university students, the majority

preferred native teachers because they could master the language they taught and students felt their English improved with native teachers more than with the non-native ones Teachers thought that native or non-native teachers depended on the educational level The intermediate and advance level were suitable for native teachers whereas the initial level was better with non-native English-speaking teachers If non-native English-speaking teachers could master the L2, there was no differences between two kinds of teachers, the same result was found in writing skill Generally, native teachers were good at oral expressions, better pronunciation while non-native English-speaking teachers had advantages of explaining and solving problems Madrid & Canado (2004)

Xiaoru (2008) studied 75 university students majoring in English Translation and Interpretation More than 60% of students preferred studying English with native English-speaking teachers because they could use English perfectly Most of them liked studying pronunciation (81.5%) and speaking (64.5%) with native teachers However, more than half of students preferred studying reading (53.1%) and writing (54.4%) with non-native English-speaking teachers This finding showed that each kind of teachers had its own advantages and disadvantages, so they could help each other and also complemented when they taught English

Sung (2009) gathered the attitudes of 81 participants from two secondary schools in Hong Kong towards native and non-native English-speaking teachers In the area of teaching methods, native teachers were preferred by most of students (76%, N=62) as they used different kinds of teaching methods with attractive topics and lessons and prepared more interesting materials while non-native English speaking-teachers often used the traditional teaching methods to teach grammar, reading etc and they usually made learners feel tired and boring However, the majority of students (81.5%, N=66) indicated that they could understand non-native

English-speaking teachers better and they felt difficult to get what native English-speaking teachers’ speech because they spoke too fast and used too many complex words Concerning to teachers’ care for students, 75% students (N=60) thought that non-native English-speaking teachers showed more care to students than native English-speaking teachers Teaching grammar was also preferred by non-native English-speaking teachers (80%, N=65) because teachers explained in L1 as they thought that grammar was difficult and students could not understand if they taught in English, teachers also knew students’ problems and English level On the contrary, students preferred native teachers when studying speaking (71%, N=58) and pronunciation (86%, N=70) because of their English proficiency Native English-speaking teachers spoke more standard English, their pronunciation was more accurate and they could correct students’ pronunciation when they pronounced incorrectly Furthermore, students thought that the teaching methods and the lessons which native English-speaking teachers taught was more attractive and much more interesting than the teaching methodology and the task taught by the non-native English-speaking teachers

Demir (2011) investigated 120 undergraduate students’ perceptions of native and non-native English-speaking teachers at three universities in Turkey Students’ perceptions for non-native English-speaking teachers were more positive than native English-speaking teachers as they already knew the difficulties when they studied a foreign language Students thought that in-class teaching roles was the only thing that native teachers as superior to non-native teachers In addition, the native teachers that students had already studied with was an important factor that influenced the student’s opinions

Ma (2012) studied the differences in perceived teaching behavior of native and non-native English-speaking teachers in Hong Kong with 53 local English teachers from 16 secondary schools The findings were that it differed in teaching approaches, teaching objectives and classroom

atmosphere Local English teachers had good knowledge of students in their learning difficulties and learning needs, also they could assess the accuracy

of students and explain for students to understand easily Native speaking teachers had the good knowledge of their culture, confidence and accurate pronunciation, so they could give a good linguistic model for students to follow

English-Alseweed (2012) studied in Qassim University with 169 Saudi male university students (non-English major) to get their perception when studying English in the classroom with native and non-native English-speaking teachers, the results showed that they like studying with native English teacher, especially in the higher level However, they also showed their interest in studying with non-native English speakers because of their providing the serious learning environment and clear answer for students’ asking

Liaw (2012) investigated 206 Taiwanese university students’ attitudes toward native and non-native English-speaking teachers University students

in this study generally preferred studying culture and communication skill with native English-speaking teachers and students were sure that they could assist the learning of oral communication better than the Taiwanese teachers For non-native English-speaking teachers, they were better understanding difficulties and classroom interaction, and better for test preparation because they had good experiences in studying for English tests In Taiwan, English ability had become a requirement in many professional fields such as business or science and technology and students should have high scores of international tests as IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC in order to get a good job after graduation This study suggested that students should relied on non-native English-speaking teachers if they wanted to learn grammar better, to get the excellent learning strategies and techniques for taking those tests

A dissertation by Tsou (2013) researched on Taiwanese University students’ perception toward native and non-native English-speaking teachers There were 184 non-English major students answered the questionnaires Their perception was that both two groups had their strengths and weakness

in English instruction The disadvantages of this group were the advantages

of the other groups in terms of the English proficiency, the communication and the solution for students’ problems

Çakir & Demir (2013) had a research with 96 Turkish students to get their perceptions on native and non-native English-speaking instructors in preparation classes at Basic English Department in Middle East Technical University in Turkey The results showed that native English-speaking instructors were better in teaching speaking, listening, pronunciation and vocabulary whereas non-native English-speaking teachers could teach grammar better and build the friendly communication with their students Albakrawi (2014) studied to find out whether the native teachers of English had a significant effect on the student’s proficiency and their attitudes toward learning English compared with the native and non-native English teachers at Tabuk University in Saudi Arabia An experiment was implemented with 72 preparatory-year students in two groups, and four teachers Two of them were native teachers in the experimental group and the other were non-native English-speaking teachers in the control group The result was that native English-speaking teachers played an important role in facilitating the class and they could improve the students’ communicate competence

Dweik & Al-Barghouthi (2014) investigated the attitudes of 93 Jordanian graduate students including 49 males and 44 females In which 90.3% hold Master degreed and 9.7% hold PhDs Participants gave various perception with regards to native and non-native English-speaking teachers Many of them preferred the native English-speaking teachers because they

had a lot of positive things that they could pronounce better, they could use language better, they had the good knowledge of English culture and competed better linguistic Students preferred non-native English-speaking teachers when they taught grammar and writing skill Furthermore, they had the advantages of the students’ language so they could translate, solve problems and meet students’ requirements easily

Chang (2016) explored students’ attitudes to native and non-native English-speaking teachers Two hundred undergraduate Taiwanese students who had experiences working with native and non-native English-speaking teachers joined the research in 2013 The students showed very positive attitudes to non-native English-speaking teachers and felt that this kind of teachers could serve as good English models to them thanks to their experiences in learning foreign language They could even be better than native English-speaking teachers because they could explain the lesson, solve the problem easily and teach well because they could use learners’ first language Moreover, students could get good benefits from teachers’ instruction and learning strategies for their expectation On the other hand, non-native English-speaking teachers were good at teaching how to do the test, they could also pronounce non-authentic, and correct students’ grammatical mistakes easily

Karakas et al (2016) did a research to find out students’ perceptions

of native and non-native English-speaking teachers One hundred and twenty Turkish monolingual students from a private university joined the research The findings demonstrated that students preferred Turkish teachers because they knew the local culture well, so it might have a positive effect in their motivation and approach Therefore, native English-speaking teachers might need to explore the basics of host culture and intercultural communication before joining the teaching program Furthermore, the collaboration between two kinds of teaching should be considered and non-native English-speaking

teachers could aid native English-speaking teachers till they had all the necessary cultural knowledge and the way that students wanted to learn English The results highlighted that native English-speaking teachers were the most suitable for students who were in the high level or could use English well, and also for the teaching of communication-based lessons whereas non-native English-speaking teachers were better for students with lower level of English, especially good for grammar teaching Karakas et al (2016) also summarize the strengths and weaknesses of native and non-native English-speaking teachers in Table 2.1 and Table 2.2

Table 2.1 Students’ perceptions of native English-speaking teachers and non-native English-speaking teachers in terms of their strengths

+ Speak English very well

+ Very cool, charismatic

+ Outgoing, natural, sociable, active

+ Exciting feelings of emulation

+ Cultural ambassador

+ Good model of spoken English

+ Good for practice speaking

+ Good at methodology and teaching

skills, are knowledgeable

+ Can increase openness to other

countries/ cultures

+ Encourage students to speak more

+ Often bring more creativity or

different methodology

+ Can think in English more easily

+ Can understand students’’ lives and stresses better

+ Know the students’ culture and can behave appropriately

+ Can easily communicate with students + Can encourage students more

+ Can better teach English to students + Can put the students at ease/ help them

to learn in a more comfortable way + Can provide extra help

Sources: Karakas et al (2016, p 189)

Table 2.2 Students’ perceptions of native English-speaking teachers and non-native English-speaking teachers in terms of their weaknesses

+ Can create a fear of

comprehension

+ Create a feeling of humiliation

+ May not teach English effectively

+ Can bring unrealistic expectations

to the class/ school

+ Can be out of touch with students

+ Cannot empathize with students/

be insensitive to their needs

+ Can say/ do inappropriate things

+ Can overvalue themselves in the

+ Can overuse L1 so easily + Can be overly mechanical (heavy emphasis on grammar)

+ Can be heavily dependent on textbooks + Can reproduce mistakes or bad pronunciation

Sources: Karakas et al (2016, p 190)

Tajeddin & Adeh (2016) carried out a research on 100 native English- speaking teachers from the United Sates and the United Kingdom, and 100 non-native teachers from Iran and Turkey to find the perceptions of their professional identity: convergent or divergent Most non-native English teachers thought that native English-speaking teachers could speak better with high proficiency, could pronounce better and they were greater self-confident Native teachers said that non-native teachers understood and used teaching methodology very well whereas native teachers were much better in competence in correct language

Yazawa (2017) conducted a survey with 320 freshmen students in Tokyo metropolitan high school consisting of 16 questions about their perception of their native and non-native English-speaking teachers One third of them preferred native English-speaking teachers because of teachers’ language authenticity and clear pronunciation Fifty-five students felt more comfortable with Japanese teachers of English as they could talk to teachers

in Japanese and they were lack of self-confidence when using only English Sevy-Biloon (2017) investigated 89 university students from two universities and 30 Ecuadorian EFL teachers from primary school, high school and universities in different cities in Ecuador The findings from the research showed that beginner Ecuadorian English language learners liked to choose non-native English-speaking teachers because they had certain qualities that native English-speaking teachers did not have such as grammatical knowledge and a better ability of explanation However, the phenomenon created the perception that native English-speaking teachers had better fluency, pronunciation, proficiency than Ecuadorian non-native English-speaking teachers Therefore, non-native English-speaking teachers should improve their English proficiency to be a good teacher in the future Tosuncuoglu (2017) had a paper to explore the literature to find the difference from teaching effectiveness between native and non-native English-speaking teachers Systematically, there was a perception that native English speaking-teachers were better than non-native English-speaking teachers This was untrue in Tosuncuoglu ’s research, especially in grammar that non-native English-speaking teachers had a better preparation than native English-speaking teachers and that both groups had their own strengths and weaknesses Therefore, both kinds of teachers should work together to have a better result of English teaching and learning

Atamturk et al (2018) conducted a research with 185 secondary school students, 18 English teachers, 86 parents and two

upper-administrators of a private and a state school in Nicosia in 2016 to address their perceptions of native and non-native English-speaking teachers In general, students preferred learning English with native English-speaking teachers and students thought they could provide better idea as to how to learn English; however, when teaching skills were considered, they did not care what kinds of teachers and they only liked the ones who had good teaching skills According to both students and parents, the personality and teaching skills of English language teachers were more important than the status of native or non-native English-speaking teachers Although the general idea was that native English-speaking teachers were better, a growing realization that non-native English-speaking teachers could be good English teachers

2.3.2 In Vietnamese context Walkinshaw and Duong (2012) carried out a researched on 50 third- year English major students in two universities in Vietnam about their preference to the studying English with native and non-native English-speaking teachers The result showed that English competence was the one which the respondents chose for the native English-speaking teacher However, both groups of teachers had a lot of good qualities in teaching and managing the class They had enough teaching experience and good qualifications They were friendly and enthusiastic They were also able to give interesting and informative classes

In 2014, Walkinshaw and Duong continued studying on 50 Japanese and 50 Vietnamese university students about their perception of studying English with native and non-native English-speaking teachers Both groups showed their advantages and disadvantages of teaching English The non-native English-speaking teachers could teach and explain grammar better They also carry out the interaction in the classroom perfectly and they could

use the first language to discuss with students when necessary, while the other was good at being models for authentic and natural pronunciation in spite of comprehensibility issues; moreover, correct language use and cultural knowledge were also their advantages

Thien and Hung (2018) had a study on TESOL Master students’ perception of the advantages and disadvantages of studying speaking skill and pronunciation with foreign English teachers The finding was that most

of these 46 master students from Ho Chi Minh City Open University preferred studying with teachers from the United States of America and from England, and the most popular reason was that teachers could use English more accurately TESOL master students also suggested that teachers should create the environment for learners to practice more and more, teachers should also have good methods of teaching, and they had to pronounce accurately so that they could be a model that students would imitate when studying speaking and pronunciation

Thien (2019) researched on students’ perception of studying English with native and non-native English-speaking teachers with all 24 senior physician students in the seventh batch of Sai Gon Polytechnic College in Ho

preferred learning listening, speaking, reading and pronunciation with native

accurately in speaking skill and pronunciation and they could make them

them indicated preference to study with non-native English-speaking

2.3.3 Summary of related studies (presented in term of themes) Matsuda & Matsuda (2001) think that both native and non-native English-speaking teachers have their own strengths and weaknesses Both kinds of teacher can do or cannot do some things or the ones native English-speaking teachers are be able to do but non-native English-speaking teachers are not and vice versus Therefore, this group can complement the other one (Merino, 1997) The native teachers have better proficiency and culture in the target language; they can speak language fluently and use more flexible topics (Wahyudi, 2012) Non-native English-speaking teachers experience well in learning English and they can use students’ language naturally, so they can assist students to solve problems and play as a good model for students to learn all skills and aspects including pronunciation, listening, speaking, reading, writing and grammar (Medgyes, 1994)

Pronunciation According to Árva & Medgyes (2000), native teachers have a more accurate pronunciation due to their own language Students thought that native teachers can pronounce better and have great amount of vocabularies (Madrid & Canado, 2004), they can also correct students’ pronunciation easily when learners pronounced incorrectly (Sung, 2009) Native English-speaking teachers have excellent knowledge of their culture and accurate pronunciation (Ma, 2012; Dweik & Al-Barghouthi, 2014) and competed better linguistic (Dweik & Al-Barghouthi, 2014) They are good at test-driven teaching style and they can pronounce non-authentic well (Chang, 2016)

Listening Students preferred studying listening with native English speaking-teachers (Lasagabaster & Sierra, 2002) because they are better in teaching

listening (Çakir & Demir, 2013) The methods of teaching and lesson which are taught by native English-speaking teachers are more attractive and much more interesting than non-native English-speaking teachers (Sung, 2009) In

However, Atamturk et al (2018) found that some students did not care what kinds of teachers, and both groups of teachers had enough teaching experience and good qualifications to deliver interesting and informative classes (Walkinshaw and Duong (2012)

Speaking Native teachers have a better ability of speaking English when comparing to non-native English-speaking teachers, so they can communicate well in the class (Árva & Medgyes, 2000) Madrid & Canado (2004) also agreed that native teachers are good at oral expressions and they could use English perfectly (Xiaoru, 2008) They also speak more standard English (Sung, 2009) with high proficiency (Tajeddin & Adeh (2016), they are suitable for the teaching of communication-based lessons (Karakas et al., 2016) and can assist the learning of oral communication better than non-native English-speaking teachers (Liaw, 2012) They play an important role

in facilitating and improve students’ competence in communication (Albakrawi, 2014)

Reading Students preferred studying reading with native English speaking-teachers (Lasagabaster & Sierra, 2002) because they master the language they teach (Çakir and Demir, 2013; Yazawa, 2017) and they are greater self-confident (Tajeddin & Adeh, 2016) However, some students preferred studying reading non-native English-speaking teachers (Xiaoru, 2008) since they can explain all lessons including reading in learners’ first language, also

they are able to solve problems easily Therefore, whenever there are new words, teachers can use L1 to translate for students to understand the words and the sentences (Chang, 2016)

Writing More than half of students preferred studying writing with non-native English-speaking teachers (Xiaoru, 2008) because they can translate, solve problems and meet students’ requirements easily thanks to using well the first language (Dweik & Al-Barghouthi, 2014) They have certain qualities which native English-speaking teachers does not have including grammatical knowledge and a better ability of explanation (Sevy-Biloon, 2017) Most of students indicated preference to study writing with non-native English-speaking teachers as it was easy to follow and easy to understand the lesson

native English-speaking teachers because they can use English more accurately not only in pronunciation but also writing skill (Çakir and Demir, 2013; Walkinshaw & Duong, 2014; Yazawa, 2017)

Grammar Students liked learning grammar with non-native English speaking-teachers (Lasagabaster & Sierra, 2002; Dweik & Al-Barghouthi, 2014) because they explain grammar more understandable (Madrid & Canado, 2004), they are good for grammar teaching (Walkinshaw and Duong, 2014; Karakas et al., 2016) and they know students’ problems and English level (Sung, 2009) Students can learn grammar better and get the excellent learning strategies for taking the tests (Liaw, 2012) Çakir & Demir (2013) also agree that non-native English speaking-teachers can teach grammar better and build the friendly communication with their students On the other hand, some students prefer native English-speaking teachers because they

can correct students’ grammatical mistakes easily (Chang, 2016) and have a better preparation (Tosuncuoglu, 2017)

2.4 English language teaching

Teachers should know that a kind of teaching is also a kind of learning and any teachers has stopped learning themselves has probably stopped being useful as a teacher (Scrivener, 2011) Therefore, teachers need

to master the way they teach and understand what learners expect to gain when they study a language like English

Harmer (2010) had a guide for teachers how to manage the classroom, how to use course book, how to teach language system, listening, speaking, reading, writing, testing, and so on Scrivener (2011) gave the similar advice and added the way of teaching grammar and teaching pronunciation Ur (2012) also provided the detailed program and added the way of teaching vocabulary All of these are very important and must be referred to language teaching and learning

Teaching listening Harmer (2010) gave six listening principles that students must follow and teachers should consider applying for the class For teaching speaking, it can provide rehearsal opportunities to practice in the real-life speaking and help students become more confident and fluent in using English

Scrivener (2011) advised two alternative starting points of listening in the classroom including top-down and bottom-up listening Working on the sounds, words and details is called top-down and on background topics, overall structure and organization is called bottom-up Ur (2012) wrote that most listening comprehension lessons based on informal English and spoken

by a speaker using local pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and gave student hear different accents

Teaching speaking

Ur (2012) stated that speaking is the most important of all four skills including listening, speaking, reading and writing, and identified the goals and problems in teaching speaking and designed some speaking activities including topic and task, sample activities, and presentation; pronunciation was considered the importance in speaking skill Harmer (2010) said that teaching speaking for students in the class room can provide rehearsal opportunities to practice in the real-life speaking and help students become more confident and fluent in using English

Teaching reading Harmer (2010) advised students to read authentic texts when their English reached a certain level They could practice reading in classrooms (intensive reading) and outside the classroom (extensive reading) with different reading skills including scan, skim and reading for detailed comprehension Moreover, students needed to follow six reading principles

Teaching writing Harmer (2010) said that writing gave more thinking time for students when they started the conversation The level of writing depended on the age, the level and the interests In order to write well in different styles, students needed to consider three separate issues including genre, the writing process and building the writing habit

Teaching grammar

Ur (2012) agreed with the previous author that teaching grammar is needed to carry out both writing and speaking because some students could not understand well if there was only either writing or speaking about grammar Some grammar parts needed teaching both form and meaning

because it did not have the similarity in their first language Moreover, teachers could use L1 to explain grammar for learners to be sure all of them could know the lesson well

Teaching pronunciation Scrivener (2011) said that pronunciation could be an overlooked area

of language teaching because teachers might feel less sure than grammar or vocabulary, and teachers worried that they did not have enough knowledge

to teach students Therefore, teachers should give students a chance to hear what teachers taught about the item naturally in the context of a typical phrase or sentence and asked students to repeat the phrase and gave them feedback if they had problems Teachers should remember to teach carefully phonemes, vowels, diphthongs and consonants

2.5 Research gap

The above information shows that there was a lot of research on the perception in the positive and negative sides about native and non-native English teachers in lots of institutions from teachers, parents, different levels

of students major and non-major English However, the previous research mainly focused on perceptions of native and non-native teachers on general English, but they have not researched on native and non-native English teachers in ESP or researched about the perception of students in Faculty of Biology in Ho Chi Minh City University of Education about advantages and disadvantages of studying English with the native and non-native English-speaking teachers in General English and English for Biology

The biological students in Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, one of the representative groups of high academic level, were researched to get their perceptions about the advantages and disadvantages of studying English with native and non-native English-speaking teachers The result

showed the real situation and ideas of students when studying English, and gave the new information to the policy maker in education to prepare the future planning of teaching and learning foreign language in general English and especially in English for Biology for students

2.6 Chapter summary

This chapter identified the differences between native and non-native English-speaking teachers with the revisions of the preferences of them, and then gave the research gap In general, people preferred native English-speaking teachers because of the following reasons:

+ They had accuracy pronunciation;

+ They could speak more fluently with high proficiency;

+ They could use authentic language;

+ They had the good knowledge of their culture;

On the contrary, non-native English-speaking teachers could teach grammar and writing better Moreover, they could solve learners’ problems easily, better explanation and being a good model for learners to follow

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research design

Survey research is very popular in education study and the most one is a sectional survey design It determines individual opinions and identify important beliefs and attitudes (Creswell, 2012), so one cross-sectional survey was done to collect data by using the questionnaire and interview in the classrooms The researcher collected data at one point of the time in January, 2018 The implementation of the data collection referred to the Five steps in the Process of Data collection including identifying the participants and sites, getting permission from Dean of Faculty and students, obtaining data from the designed questionnaire, organizing the collected information correctly, and doing survey in the class in this study

Participants

All students (100%) in Faculty of Biology in the Ho Chi Minh City University of Education who had experiences in working (studying and having conversation) with native English speakers joined the research Total