ĐIỀU TRA về nội DUNG TÍCH hợp nội DUNG và NGÔN NGỮ TRONG SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG ANH mới NGHIÊN cứu tại TRƯỜNG THPT lê QUÝ đôn

Since 2016, the new English textbooks have been experimented in six classes at Lê Quý Đôn high school. Culture, which is the brand new part in the new textbooks, has applied content language integrated learning program. To the researcher’s belief, as the outcomes of content language integrated learning in the new textbook have not been proved yet, the perceptions of stakeholders: teachers and students to this section have stood out asone of the issue that need to be studied. Being one of the first to investigate this under researched population, this study looks at teachers and students’ perceptions of content language integrated learning as well as their benefits and challenges while applying these contents. By employing survey questionnaires and semi structured interviews, the researcher wishes to find out teachers and students’ points of view of content and language integrated learning and some benefits and challenges that they are having. Analysis of data collected from 267 students and 3 teachers who are studying and teaching in 6 classes: 10A1, 10D1, 11A1, 11D1, 12A1 and 12D1 at the beginning of the second semester year 2017 – 2018 has revealed that both teachers and students hold positive views toward content language integrated learning in the new English textbooks. Moreover, teachers’ greatest benefit from content and language integrated learning is students’ motivation and engagement but they also have always encountered with time limitation and students’ low English levels. In addition, while improving cultural appropriateness and context appears to be students’ most enormous gain, the difficulty that they are facing is unqualified teachers, in other words, wrong teaching methods. Findings of the study might be considered as one of the references for Ministry of Education and Training, textbooks’ writers and English teachers to edit and adapt the new textbooks to cater for all students’ needs and abilities. Appropriate action for further improvement of the new textbooks and teaching quality in the future is suggested at the end of the paper.

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

GRADUATION PAPER

AN INVESTIGATION INTO CONTENT

LANGUAGE INTEGARTED LEARNING IN THE

NEW ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS

A CASE STUDY AT LÊ QUÝ ĐÔN HIGH SCHOOL

Supervisor: Hoàng Thị Hồng Hải, MA Student: Trần Hiền Anh

Course: QH2014.F1.E7

HÀ NỘI – 2018

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

ĐIỀU TRA VỀ NỘI DUNG TÍCH HỢP NỘI DUNG

VÀ NGÔN NGỮ TRONG SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG ANH MỚI – NGHIÊN CỨU TẠI TRƯỜNG

THPT LÊ QUÝ ĐÔN

Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Hoàng Thị Hồng Hải,

MA Sinh viên: Trần Hiền Anh Khóa: QH2014.F1.E7

HÀ NỘI – 2018

I hereby state that I – Trần Hiền Anh – Class QH2014.F1.E7, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited

in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper

Hanoi, May 2018

Trần Hiền Anh

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Ms Hoàng Thị Hồng Hải, M.A for her invaluable guidance, her great patience as well as encouragement throughout the process of this research

I would also like to express my special thanks to Ms Nguyễn Thúy Hoài and teachers and students at Lê Quý Đôn high school who participated in the research Without their enthusiastic participation and cooperation, this research would not be completed

Finally, I am grateful to my friends and family for their support and encouragement from the beginning to the end of research process

ABSTRACT

Since 2016, the new English textbooks have been experimented in six classes at Lê Quý Đôn high school Culture, which is the brand new part in the new textbooks, has applied content language integrated learning program To the researcher’s belief, as the outcomes of content language integrated learning in the new textbook have not been proved yet, the perceptions of stakeholders: teachers and students to this section have stood out asone of the issue that need to be studied Being one of the first to investigate this under - researched population, this study looks at teachers and students’ perceptions of content language integrated learning as well as their benefits and challenges while applying these contents By employing survey questionnaires and semi - structured interviews, the researcher wishes to find out teachers and students’ points of view of content and language integrated learning and some benefits and challenges that they are having Analysis of data collected from 267 students and 3 teachers who are studying and teaching in 6 classes: 10A1, 10D1, 11A1, 11D1, 12A1 and 12D1 at the beginning of the second semester year 2017 – 2018 has revealed that both teachers and students hold positive views toward content language integrated learning in the new English textbooks Moreover, teachers’ greatest benefit from content and language integrated learning is students’ motivation and engagement but they also have always encountered with time limitation and students’ low English levels In addition, while improving cultural appropriateness and context appears to be students’ most enormous gain, the difficulty that they are facing is unqualified teachers, in other words, wrong teaching methods Findings of the study might be considered as one of the references for Ministry of Education and Training, textbooks’ writers and English teachers to edit and adapt the new textbooks to cater for all students’ needs and abilities Appropriate action for further improvement of the new textbooks and teaching quality in the future is suggested at the end of the paper

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Acknowledgement……….i

Abstract……….ii

Table of contents……… iii

List of abbreviations……….vi

List of tables and charts……… vii

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of research problem……… 1

1.2 Theoretical background and practical rationale for the study………2

1.3 Research aims and research questions………4

1.4 Scope of the study……… 4

1.5 Significance of study……… 4

1.6 Organization of the study……… 5

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 CLIL and its differences from other approaches………6

2.1.1 Content and language integrated learning (CLIL)……… 6

2.1.1.1 Definition 6

2.1.1.2 CLIL 4Cs’ pedagogical framework and guiding principles……….7

2.1.2 Debates in comparison between CLIL and other approaches………… 9

2.2 Important roles of culture in foreign teaching and learning……….12

2.2.1 Relationship between language and culture……… 12

2.2.2 The improvement in learners’ motivation……….13

2.2.3 Successful communication ……… 13

2.3 Benefits and challenges of applying CLIL in language classrooms………14

2.3.1 Benefits of applying CLIL in language classrooms……… 14

2.3.1.1 An improvement in language proficiency……….14

2.3.1.2 A boost in learners’ motivation and engagement……… 14

2.3.1.3 An increase in learners’ cultural knowledge……… 15

2.3.1.4 The suitability for learners’ of all abilities………16

2.3.2 Challenges in applying CLIL in language classrooms……… 17

2.3.2.1 Teachers’ quality………17

2.3.2.2 Strategies and techniques using in CLIL………17

2.3.2.3 Materials’ evaluation and selection………18

2.3.2.4 Assessment……….18

2.4 CLIL in Vietnamese context……….18

2.5 Research gap……….21

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 3.1 Case study……….22

3.2 Setting and participants………22

3.2.1 Setting………22

3.2.2 Participants………24

3.3 Data collection……… 24

3.3.1 Data collection instruments……… 24

3.3.1.1 Questionnaire……… 25

3.3.1.2 Semi - structure interviews……….27

3.3.2 Data collection procedure……… 27

3.4 Data analysis……….29

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Research Question 1 – What are the teachers’ perceptions of CLIL in the new textbooks? 30

4.2 Research Question 2 – What are the students’ perceptions of CLIL in the new textbooks? 33

4.3 Research Question 3 – What are the benefits for teachers and students and challenges facing them when implementing content language integrated learning? 34

4.3.1 Benefits of CLIL in language classrooms……….34

4.3.1.1 Benefits for teachers……… 34

4.3.1.2 Benefits for students……… 35

4.3.2 Challenges teachers and students are facing when applying CLIL in the new textbooks……… 38

4.3.2.1 Challenges for teachers……… 38

4.3.2.2 Challenges for students……… 40

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 5.1 Summary of major findings……… 43

5.2 Implications……… 44

5.3 Contribution of the study……… 45

5.4 Limitations of the study………46

5.5 Recommend for further research……… 47

REFERENCES……… 48

APPENDICES………50

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CBI: Content based instruction

CLIL: Content language integrated learning

CLIT: Content language integrated teaching

EMI: English-medium instruction

ESL: English as second language

L1: First language

L2: Second language

LCI: Language content integration

MOET: Ministry of education and training

LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES

PAGE Table 2.1 Continuum of content – language integration 7 Table 2.2 Different between EMI, CLIL and CBI 10 Table 3.1 Aims of questions items 26

Figure 4.1 Students’ perceptions of CLIL in the new English

1.1 Statement of research problem

Since 2012, MOET has launched “National foreign languages’ project

2020” which requires that “In 2020, the vast majority of Vietnamese students who will graduate from colleges and universities are able to use a foreign language independently, feel comfortable when communicating, studying and working in the international, multi-languages and multi-cultural environments and make foreign languages become Vietnamese strengths” The purpose of this project is

to enhance teaching and learning foreign languages, especially English – Vietnamese dominant foreign language – qualities by enhancing teachers’ qualifications, teaching and assessment approaches and transforming national textbooks Despite these primarily practical purposes, the scheme has encountered considerable difficulties, not to mention stirred up controversial issue whether it has actually increased the teaching and learning qualities Releasing the new English textbooks is one of the transformations in the scheme

It is obvious that to keep up with the worldwide trends in teaching English, the new English textbooks have adopted various innovative approaches, namely integrated skills approach, communicative approach, task-based approach, project-based approach and content language integrated learning As clearly seen

in the new textbooks, content language integrated learning has been applied to

conduct the “Communication and Culture” section which did not exist in the old

textbooks To the researcher’s belief, as the outcomes of content language integrated learning in the new textbook have not been proved yet, the perceptions

of stakeholders: teachers and students of this section have stood out as one of the issues that need to be studied

1.2 Theoretical background and practical rationale for the study

The fact remains that there have been many researches conducted to investigate myriad aspects of content language integrated learning

The first study is “The benefits and challenges of implementing Content

Language Integrated Learning at higher college of technology-sultanate of Oman” conducted by Mouriss (2014) The study took place in the college of

technology in the sultanate of Oman The participants were students studying in six domains: Engineering, Information technology, Applied science, Business studies, Pharmacy and Photography and fashion design; and English teachers at a center who had varied nationalities, educational backgrounds and experiences The findings were that content language integrated learning brings out many positive impacts such as the improvement in students’ language proficiency, students’ motivation and cultural knowledge; however, negative influences presented are the lack of trained teachers, different materials, assessments and curriculum adoption and students’ unawareness

The second research named “Integrating language and content in the

language classroom: Are transfer of language and knowledge ensured?” (Wolff,

2003) was conducted in European countries This study proved that the usage of content language integrated learning worked well and it was also suitable for all students’ levels from lower to higher levels Tertiary education seemed to take most advantages from content language integrated learning The content integrated was ranging from information technology to economy, which was far different from these in lower educational levels Wolff (2003) also pointed out that content language integrated learning facilitates the development of

“pragmatic knowledge and skills, interpersonal skills, multicultural

communication, quality of learning and teaching in content fields, employability and last but not least multi-perspectivity” for students at higher education (p.5)

Similarly, Harrop (n.d) conducted a research “Content and language

integrated learning (CLIL): Limitations and possible” In this study, Harrop

mentioned some merits of content language integrated learning, namely content

language integrated developed students’ motivation and greater cultural awareness, which were fit for all students in various levels

From the studies mentioned above, it can be seen that although content language integrated learning ameliorates teaching and learning foreign language quality, it has also posed many challenges for teachers as well as students Besides, this type of approach seemed to function well for learners of all academic levels from primary education to higher education

However, it is obvious that most of them focus on evaluating content language integrated learning’s definitions and its benefits and challenges, which are all the theory side This fact incidentally creates an incomplete picture of how content language integrated learning functions in real-life situations Because of this reason, the researcher is highly motivated to carry out the study to examine teacher and students’ perspectives of content and language integrated learning It

is them who actually expose most to the new English textbooks and its content and language sections every single day so their points of view of content language integrated learning should be mainly taken into consideration besides textbooks’ writers or Ministry of Education and Training

The fact remains that though most Vietnamese students have studied English as a compulsory subject since grade 6, and they must study English as one of the fundamental subjects if they continue pursuing higher education, a large number of them cannot communicate in English fluently not to mention successfully Recognizing that content and language integrated learning program gives a boost to students’ language proficiency as a whole, Ministry of Education

and Training has declared “The 2020 project” with an attempt to reform the

quality of teaching and learning foreign languages in the national scale Piloting content language integrated learning program firstly in gifted high schools and then in all Vietnamese high schools is one of these changes Since 2014, Ministry

of Education and Training has launched the new English textbooks Besides the old sections namely Getting started, Writing, Reading, Speaking, Listening and Language focus, the new textbooks include brand new sections such as Project, Communication and Culture and Looking back; and Culture is the part which

applies content language integrated learning program Until recently, the effects

of content language integrated learning in the new textbooks have not been studied; and the perceptions of teachers and students who have actually been exposed to the new textbooks stood out as one of the issues that need to be investigated

1.3 Research aims and research questions

The aim of the study is to explore Lê Quý Đôn- Đống Đa high school teachers and students’ perceptions of content and language integrated learning Its purpose is also to find out benefits and challenges of this approach to learning and teaching English process at Lê Quý Đôn-Đống Đa high school

To achieve these goals, the research is carried out with attempt to answer the questions:

(1) What are the the teachers’ perceptions of content language integrated learning in the new textbooks?

(2) What are the students’ perceptions of content language integrated learning in the new textbooks?

(3) What are the benefits for teachers and students and challenges facing them when implementing content language integrated learning?

1.4 Scope of the study

Currently, the new textbooks have just been published and experimented

in some classes which are 10A1, 10D1, 11A1, 11D1, 12A1 and 12D1 at Lê Quý Đôn- Đống Đa high school The student’s English proficiency levels may be varied as 10A1 and 10D1 have the lowest level and 12A1 and 12D1 have the highest level Based on the fact that the number of students and teachers who have been exposed and involved in learning and teaching the new textbooks are limited, the research decided to focus on students at 6 mentioned classes and 3 teachers teaching those classes

1.5 Significance of the study

The study was the first formal research on perceptions of teachers and students at Lê Quý Đôn high school of content language integrated learning sections in the new English textbooks Overall, the results of the research might

be considered as one of the sources of references for Ministry of Education and Training, textbook’s writers and English teachers who involve in teaching content language integrated learning To be more specific, the research gives an understanding of teachers and students’ perceptions and benefits and challenges

of implementing content language integrated learning which may be expected to

be useful for Ministry of Education and Training and textbook’s writers to edit and adjust them in order to cater for both teachers and students’ needs and Vietnamese specific educational situations From a more macro level, the study’s implications to some extent can ameliorate the quality of teaching and learning English in Vietnamese context, which is mostly advantageous for teachers and students

1.6 Organization of the paper

Besides Introduction, Conclusion, References and Appendix, the research

is divided into three chapters:

- Chapter 1 – Literature review – Provides the background of the study,

including theories on CLIL and roles of culture in L2 learning, brief description of the context of English learning and teaching in Vietnam as well as discussion of related studies

- Chapter 2 – Methodology– Describes the participants, instruments of the

study and the procedure employed to carry out the research

- Chapter 3 – Data analysis and discussion – Presents, analyses and

discusses the findings that the researcher found out from the data collected according to the three questions

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides an overview of an approach - Content and Language Integration Learning as well as the roles of culture in L2 teaching, which gives this study a strong theoretical grounding The last part of the chapter focuses on some similar researches conducted in the tertiary and high school educational context in Vietnam, the results of which are to be compared with the result of this study

2.1 Content and language integrated learning and its differences from other approaches

2.1.1 Content and language integrated learning

2.1.1.1 Definition

The term CLIL was first released in 1994 by March, Maljiers and Hartiala (2001, cited in March et al., 2010) within Europe in the mid-1990 with the purpose of describing an approach adopted in different schools where additional languages were taken placed in teaching and learning This method, according to

Vo (n.d), was founded on the “Canadian immersion model” developed in the

mid-1960 when the core subject such as Mathematics was taught through the students’ non-native language, French for example Krashen (1984, cited in Vo,

n.d, p.1) approved that CLIL was not only “another successful teaching

program” but the most successful which was witnessed in the professional

teaching language March et al (2010) defined that “CLIL is a dual-focused

educational approach in which an additional language is used for the learning and teaching of both content and language” (p.1) Additional language can be

foreign language, L2 or some “forms of heritage or community language” (p.1), which March et al (2001) called “CLIL vehicular language” (p.1) CLIL is

content-driven, in which learners’ experience in L2 acquisition is extended as well as makes CLIL different from the existing L2 teaching approach Hereafter

is a chart showing differences in continuum between content-driven and

language-driven (adapted from Met, 1999, cited in Banegas, n.d)

Table 2.1 Continuum of language-content integration Content-driven Language-driven

Content is taught in L2

Content learning is priority

Language is secondary

Content objectives determined by

course goals or curriculum

Teachers must select language

Students evaluated on content to be integrated

Students evaluated on language skills

or proficiency

2.1.1.2 CLIL 4Cs pedagogical framework and guiding principles

Improving both knowledge and language skill in a subject is the ultimate goal of CLIL Besides, language skill has been transferred by the content Usually, language is utilized as a tool for learning content, and subject content is used as a reference resource for learning language (Divljan, 2012)

In detail, the main objectives of CLIL are summarized in the 4Cs framework According to March et al (2010), the 4Cs framework has always driven the principles of CLIL Four contexts integrated in the 4Cs framework are

content, communication, cognition, and culture

- Content: subject matter, theme and topic which form the ground for the

approach oriented by domain or discipline based on knowledge, concept

and skills (E.g: Science, IT or Arts)

- Communication: the language to generate and transfer meaning about

what students have learned – knowledge, concepts and skills (Stating facts

about the sun, giving instruction on using a software or describing emotion in response to music)

- Cognition: Learning and thinking process of knowledge, experience and

the word around us ( Remembering, understanding, evaluating, critiquing,

reflecting or creating)

- Culture: The way we communicate and involve with knowledge,

experience and the world around us; socially (Social convention for

expressing oneself in target language), pedagogically (Classroom conventions for learning and classroom interaction); and/ or according to

discipline (Scientific conventions for preparing reports to disseminate

knowledge)

(Marsh et al., 2010, cited in Cross and Geacon, 2013)

The 4Cs framework (Marsh et al., 2010)

From this view, CLIL includes learning how to use language appropriately and effectively Because of this reason, this approach is based on the following principles (Marsh et al., 2010):

a Not only is content matter revolved surround learning language and skill,

it is about the personalized learning as well (the way learners create their

knowledge, understand them and improve skills)

b Cognition (learning and thinking) has the link to the content As a result,

it is a must for teachers to enable learners to create their own content interpretation to meet its linguistic demands

c Cognition (intellectual process) is required to be analyzed for its linguistic

f Cultures and language have such a complex relationship and intercultural awareness has become the ground for CLIL

g The wider educational context has adopted a lot of CLIL, where CLIL is developed so that it must take into consideration of contextual variables to

be comprehended effectively

To conclude, it is reasonable enough that there has been a large number of researches and discussion on CLIL with the introduction of CLIL definitions and its pedagogical framework and guiding principles Overall, CLIL is a teaching approach which uses an additional language to transfer both content and language skills (March et al., 2010) It is the

4Cs’ framework (Content, Communication, Cognition and Culture) which

has always driven CLIL’s principles These above mentioned principles would guide teachers and students ways to use language effectively, especially in communication

2.1.2 Debates in comparison between CLIL and other approaches

Among the EFL approaches, there are other approaches including Content-based instruction (CBI) and English-medium instruction (EMI), which share some striking similar features with CLIL Even in the research community, the differences between three approaches cannot be distinguished

clearly and three terms are usually misused The table 2.2 highlights the

differences between EMI, CLIL and CBI in terms of aims, target groups, teaching staffs, pedagogical approaches and teaching formats, the role of language, expected learning outcomes and assessment

Table 2.2: Differences between EMI, CLIL and CBI Overview of CBI, CLIL and EMI: Different Approaches and Goals

Aims Content mastery

 Language learning is often

incidental May have implicit language learning aims

Dual focus content and language learning

 Language learning aims are explicit

Language learning

Target

groups

Non-native English speakers, native English speakers

Non-native English learners

Non-native English learners

Teaching

staffs

Subject specialist;

sometimes subject specialist and language specialist

in collaboration

Language specialist

(often in Britain,

Japan, South America); subject

specialist (often in

Europe); team teaching with both content and language specialists

Language specialist

Multi-modal interactive and learner-centered approaches which support subject content and languages learning;

team

teaching-Language learning tasks, methods depend

on those favored

by the instructor

constructing knowledge and sharing expertise)

Language as a subject

Expected

learning

outcomes

Subject knowledge acquisition

Integrated content and language competence

development; focus

on L2 productive and interactive skills

Language learning outcomes

Content learning

is incidental, at a general

knowledge level

Assessment Students assessed on

subject content knowledge

Students assessed

on language proficiency/

performance and subject content knowledge

Students assessed on language

proficiency/ performance

(Adapted from Unterberger & Wilhelmer (2011, cited in Brown & Bradford, 2017))

The fact remains that researchers have always struggled when distinguishing three approaches As can be seen clearly from the table, CLIL, CBI and EMI

share some similar theories and practices but they are not “synonymous” (March

et al., 2010) However, Cenoz (2014) states that CLIL and CBI are two labels for the same product because they are nearly the same based on the essential

properties (medium of instructions, language aims, societal and educational

aims, typical types of child) and they share common characteristic which is “use non-language content as the vehicle for promoting L2 proficiency” (Genesee&

Linholm-Leary, 2013, cited in Cenoz, 2014, p.10) Only when we connect two

methods to the specific educational situations can we obviously see the

accidental differences (target languages, native vs non-native teachers, starting

ages and origin) between them

In conclusion, though three approaches bear some similarities regarding to aims, target groups or teaching staffs, they cannot replace each other and used simultaneously CLIL, however, is the most suitable for the Vietnamese new

English textbooks because the content is the aim of “Communication and

Culture” section in this textbook while CBI emphasize on language skills and

EMI required teachers who must be both subject and language specialists which cannot be catered in Vietnamese context Because of this reason, the research, which takes place in Vietnamese context and experiments the new English textbooks, will focus on CLIL and be in charge of providing clearest view about CLIL

2.2 Important roles of culture in foreign language teaching and learning 2.2.1 Relationship between language and culture

It is without doubt that learning culture plays an indispensable role in learning and teaching FL process and thus it cannot be separated from learning a foreign language (Kumagai, 1994) Culture and language ameliorate the development of each other as culture provides better understanding for language and language also does so for culture (Dizdarevic, n.d) Only when sharing background cultural knowledge are people able to understand and interpret appropriately each other beliefs, ideas, attitudes and facts Samorvar, Porter and Jain (1981, cited in Dizdarevic, n.d) suggested culture was the profound of language communication, they cannot be separated Culture facilitates speakers to encode underlying messages and the conditions when many massages may be sent or not apart from managing who talk to whom or the way the communication proceeds An example in

the study “The effects of culture on language learning and ways of

communication: The Japanese case” (Kumagai, 1994) is a standard example

When learning Japanese, no way can learners understand some terms without

acknowledging the meaning of silence, direct versus indirect statement or politeness phenomena in Japanese culture

2.2.2 Improvement in learners’ motivation

In both learning and teaching L2 process, motivation has been always of utmost importance as it appears to indicate how successful language learners are For the vast majority of researchers and teachers, motivation has imposed great impacts on the rate and success of language acquisition Motivation, in particular, provides students with an incentive to learn a language and later

the driving force for them to maintain “the long and tedious learning

process” (Anjomshoa & Sadighi, 2015, p.130) which is the key factor for a

successful learner Furthermore, motivation decides students’ dedications and involvements in learning process not to mention that it directly affects the

level “how often students using L2 strategies, how much students interact

with native speakers and how long they preserve and maintain L2 after the study is over” (Anjomshoa & Sadighi, 2015, p.130) Turing back to the

cultural content, a massive number of students find it interesting to explore new foreign culture at the same time with their own cultural backgrounds, which provides them valuable opportunities to compare and contrast different culture knowledge (Dizdarevic, n.d) Tavares and Cavalcanti (1996, cited in Dizdarevic, n.d) shed light on the fact that teaching culture aims to increase students’ awareness and curiosity toward targeted culture and their own, and facilitate students draw a comparison between them, which would definitely

be the motivation for students’ learning process

2.2.3 Successful communication

“Only inter-culturally competent students are able to use language for

successful communication” (Dizdarevic, n.d, p.4) Intercultural competence is

defined as the ability to communicate successfully with foreigners based on starting and maintaining relationships, or communicating without any hesitations (Dizdarevic, n.d) Byram and Fleming (1998, cited in Dizdarevic, n.d) pointed out that intercultural competence enabled people to put new

people in context “for which they have not been prepared directly” (p.4)

Meaning of smile in some countries provides a standard example When the Japanese feel confused or angry, they smile but in some Asian countries, people smile when being embarrassed (Dizdarevic, n.d) Smile in other way is not always the signal of happiness or welcome Therefore, if acknowledging this behavior pattern, students cannot bias or judge other people negatively

and acquiring cultural competence enable students to “mediate/interpret

values, beliefs or behaviors”, in other words, cultures of other people or

indeed themselves to understand and even bridge among people from different cultures and languages (Byram,2006, cited in Dizdarevic, n.d, p.4)

In the globalization era, when the world seems to be becoming homogeneous, intercultural competence skill will definitely help students integrate in modern world With this skill, they are able to study abroad or work in multi - cultural environment, which unarguably brightens their future job prospects

2.3 Benefits and challenges of applying CLIL in language classrooms 2.3.1 Benefits of applying CLIL in language classrooms

2.3.1.1 An improvement in language proficiency

Adopting CLIL in class increases students’ language proficiency containing their mother tongues, foreign languages and language and study skills gradually March et al.(2010) support the implement of CLIL on the ground that students have assessed target language in class which gives a boost to their language proficiency In addition to this, first and second language, and linguistic awareness are improved as students can compare L2 with their mother tongues together with the materials using in class yield students with some linguistic features and register (Mourssi, 2014)

For higher education, students can develop their skills in CLIL classes (Mourssi, 2014) This study finds that students have been into knowledge related to their specializations and CLIL develops some study skills resulting

in their better proficiency

2.3.1.2 A boost in learners’ motivation and engagement

CLIL builds up students’ motivation and engagement It is the nature of students to be more engaged and excited in learning when they reach higher

proficiency levels Undoubtedly, engagement and motivation drive learning process The more engagement and motivation students achieve, the more successful their academic performances are The major reason lies in the fact that CLIL requires students to solve difficult problems or understand complex contexts, which will trigger their curiosities and motivate them to interact more with teachers and friends by asking questions or brainstorm together That is why implementing CLIL would be vital additive to learners’ willingness to study L2 (Mourssi, 2014)

2.3.1.3 An increase in learners’ cultural knowledge

Because of the 4Cs framework, CLIL have built up learners’ cultural awareness (Marsh et al.,2010)

Marsh (2010) suggested two main elements from the 4Cs frame work Initially, language and culture have a complex relationship Moreover, the link between three elements content, cognition and communication is culture Culture, more than just influences on CLIL, assimilates any things related to learning process namely learners, teachers, subjects, classrooms and so on Simply, appropriate CLIL is the culture of new language CLIL provides students with many opportunities to access intercultural interaction and the high spirit of students will result to the successful of CLIL (Mourssi, 2014)

“Overall, CLIL enables students to refer to the target language in authentic

way and students can construct their cultural identity by studying contents”

(Sudhoff, 2010, cited in Mourssi, 2014, p.277)

Students acquire “a new way of thinking” and analysis skill by learning L2

through CLIL (Sudhoff, 2010, cited in Mourssi, 2014, p.277) In CLIL, language and culture have been formed informally and this is the way how CLIL elicits students’ culture awareness or, in other words, culture determines the ways we think As a result, new cultures of FL unarguably facilitate thinking process and culture awareness

2.3.1.4 The suitability for learners of all abilities

CLIL proposers stated that it not only increases language proficiency but also boosts content knowledge, cognitive skills and creativity for students in different levels not just for top-notch ones In a more simple way, CLIL is the

“one size fits all” approach In 2003, Dieter Wolff conducted a research

“Integrating language and content in the language classroom: Are

transferred of knowledge and language ensured?” to experiment CLIL in

primary, secondary and higher education in Europe Surprisingly, a large number of primary schools have adopted CLIL due to the holistic methodological approach which is the natural characteristic of primary education and one of the requirements is to integrate language into normal disciplines taught in classroom In terms of secondary school, CLIL has been

implemented in at least one content subject (humanities or social sciences)

and the common languages are English, French and German However, at this level, teachers not only use the textbook materials but also use and adapt some authentic sources to improve students’ linguistic levels In both primary and secondary education, the outcomes appear to be positive Students engage more in learning and do not find any differences in gaining knowledge In addition to this, the benefits and success of CLIL have been proved to be more obvious in tertiary education Wolff (2003) pointed out that CLIL

facilitates the development of “pragmatic knowledge and skills, interpersonal

skills, multicultural communication, quality of learning and teaching in

content fields, employability and last but not least multi-perspectivity” which

can be transferable into students’ widen job prospects (p.5)

2.3.2 Challenges in applying CLIL in language classrooms

2.3.2.1 Teachers’ quality

In the whole world, qualified teachers who can apply CLIL successfully may not been much available The underlying reason belongs to the lack of appropriate training CLIL is such an innovative method that rarely do teaching courses offer to their students, so they lack understanding about theories and rationales of CLIL, which leads to the fact that many teachers are struggling or feeling uncomfortable when facing to the CLIL sections in the textbooks (Mourssi, 2014) Mourssi (2014) recommended a feasible approach should be for educational universities or MOET to introduce training courses which will introduce teachers with CLIL in order to develop the large resource of teachers who are able to implement CLIL The training should be focused on ameliorating needed skills for teachers to implement proper CLIL Furthermore, each teacher should also study and be tutored with a major specialist to widen their knowledge about the content of specialization (Mourssi, 2014)

2.3.2.2 Strategies and techniques used in CLIL

CLIL is considered to be time-consuming as it requires the preparation of

a large array of strategies and techniques before teachers can actually apply it Those strategies and techniques can be separated into two stages: Pre-teach and While-teach In the first stage – pre-teach, teachers are required to: observe classroom, collaborate with colleagues, examine the content materials, choose the theme, identify objectives of the units, identify key terms and words, look for appropriate text materials and adapt written materials (Short, 1991) While-teach includes announcing lesson’s objectives and activities, writing legibly, developing and maintaining routines, listing and instructing step-by-step, presenting information in varied ways and providing frequent summations of the salient points of the lessons (Short, 1991) In this second

stage, various traditional ESL techniques can be adopted namely using realia, demonstrations, film subtitles or hand-on activities (Short, 1991)

2.3.2.3 Materials’ evaluation and selection

It is unarguable that using a foreign language to teach a subject craves for the creativity; as a result, course books and materials should be evaluated and selected carefully to become more learner-friendly If teachers adopt a huge amount of authentic materials related directly to students’ daily life, students will unarguably have more opportunities to expose to target language as well

as it will motivate their learning spirits and positive attitudes However, these authentic material sources are limited, and it will be challenging and time-consuming if teachers have to design teaching materials fitting for CLIL on their own A possible solution for teachers is that they could adapt their existing textbooks by covering the textbooks contents based on proposed topics and then adding some challenging and problem-solving tasks or activities (Vo, n.d)

2.3.2.4 Assessment

It has been argued that whether teachers should assess language or content and which types of measurement should be used has always been one of the concerns of teachers when teaching CLIL lessons Regular test is commonly applied as current assessment criteria of CLIL (Morgan, 2006, cited by Mourssi, 2014) but this kind of test cannot assess the variety of students’ language levels because it emphasizes on testing learners’ content knowledge and ignores language features Colombo and Furbush( 2009, cited in Mourssi,

2014) recommended three principles of assessment for CLIL: “First -

measuring deep comprehension of both subject and the language conducted

by the teachers Second – using various ways of measurement Third – matching assessments with students’ performances” (p.279)

2.4 CLIL in Vietnamese context

English is a foreign language in Vietnam so Vietnam is considered as an EFL learning context Compared to other languages such as French, Mandarin or Japan, English is used widely and commonly, and it is included as compulsory

subject in the curriculum of most schools and universities Before 2001, a small number of universities and colleges had adopted English test like one of the entrance exams but during three years from 2001 to 2014, English has been included as a compulsory test for group D and A1 and since 2015 until now, students must take the English exam to graduate and be accepted to higher education Studying English currently plays an indispensable role since it not only broadens learners’ horizons but also brings them more career opportunities However, because most of the English exams in Vietnam emphasize on grammar, reading and writing skills, many Vietnamese learners cannot communicate in English properly in spite of seven years learning English Rather, it is rather the question of how to help students use English to communicate successfully Applying CLIL in the new textbooks is one of the approaches to address this contentious issue constructively; as a result, studying and examining the effects of CLIL has emerged as one major concern of Vietnamese teachers and researchers

In terms of the English textbooks, the vast majority of high schools especially state ones use the national textbooks designed by MOET and a small number of private schools follow other textbooks designed by Cambridge university press or Oxford university press Before 2014, the old English textbooks involved six sections: Getting started, Writing, Speaking, Reading,

Listening and Language focus (Pronunciation, Grammar and Vocabulary) but

since 2014, MOET has launched the new textbooks which includes three brand new parts namely Project, Communication and Culture and Looking back; and the Language focus is divided into smaller parts such as Vocabulary, Pronunciation and Grammar One of the brand new changes is the Culture section which adopts the CLIL program This section, in particular, makes up approximately 5% of the textbook and it appears to be fewer compared to the other sections The reason lying in the decision to adopt CLIL in the new text

book might belong to the aims of “2020 project” As mentioned before about the aims of “2020 project”, CLIL program ameliorates students’ language

proficiency, helps them to improve cultural awareness in order to communicate confidently and successfully in the multicultural environment

A number of attempts to investigate CLIL program have been made with a primary purpose of getting an understanding of the benefits and challenges when adopting CLIL in Vietnamese context Due to space limitation, the researcher chooses to review only some studies that are closely related to the research

Sakamoto (n.d) explains that “using CLIL to teach English is of growing

necessity in the Asian context as well for global education” (p.2) Global

education is the innovative approach to teach language Cates (2012, cited in

Sakamoto, n.d) defined that “Global education is a new approach to language

teaching which aims at enabling students to effectively acquire and use a foreign language while empowering them with the knowledge, skills and commitment required by world citizens for the solution of global problems” (p.2) Global

education, critical thinking, problem-solving and team-work skills are vital; and CLIL with the 4Cs framework including Content, Communication, Cognition and Culture/Community serve the purpose of building up these skills In the recent years, CLIL has been implemented into the New English textbooks – communication and culture sections to transform totally the language teaching with an innovative teaching approach – CLIL and help Vietnamese students be able to integrate in the development of the word

Thuy (2013) conducted a research “Promoting content and language

integrated learning in gifted high schools in Vietnam: Challenges and impacts” by case study The study investigated into drawbacks and influences

of implementing CLIL in some Vietnamese gifted high schools divided in terms of teachers and students The result is that while the majority of schools face up with the lack of qualified teachers and standardized curriculums, students’ cognitive and language development cannot be guaranteed and not all students can enjoy the benefits of CLIL

In another research named “The introduce of Content and Language

integrated learning to English teaching and learning at university of Economics Ho Chi Minh city”, Vo (n.d) examined the effects of CLIL in

economic major students such as banking, accounting, international business and so forth by a case study.Recently, the information era coupled with an escalating demand for global integrating are placing a new mission for The university of Economy Ho Chi Minh city (UEH) which is to provide students with both expert knowledge and language skills; and CLIL is the best choice

to serve this purpose In the conclusion, Vo(n.d) concluded that there are many reasons proving that CLIL produces positive outcomes for learning which proves that learners are more engaged in their study and also demonstrates higher level of intercultural competence and sensitivity

Overall, two outstanding similarities can be seen in the reviewed studies Firstly, CLIL is such an innovative approach which offers both teachers and students many benefits Secondly, on the other hand, schools and teachers are still struggling in applying CLIL due to its hindrances

2.5 Research gap

While reading some studies of CLIL in Vietnamese contexts, researcher shed light on the fact that most of them are conducted to experiment the theory of CLIL including definitions and its benefits and challenges, which incidentally creates an incomplete picture of how CLIL functions in real-life situations Because of this reason, the researcher is highly motivated to carry out the study

to experiment teachers and students’ perspectives It is them who actually expose

to the new English textbooks and its CLIL sections every single day so their points of view to CLIL should be mainly taken into consideration besides textbooks’ writers or MOET

Summary

In a nut shell, this first chapter provides an overview of a language teaching approach which is Content and Language integrated learning The essential roles of culture in teaching language, some benefits and challenges of implement CLIL are addressed The last part of the chapter focuses on some similar researches conducted in the educational context in Vietnam, the results of which are to be compared with the result of this study

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

In the previous chapter, the literature on the research topic was briefly reviewed for the theoretical basis of the study This chapter provides a whole picture of the methodology in terms of the participants, the instruments including questionnaires and semi-structured interviews and the procedure of data collection

3.1 Case study

Case study is used as a record research because of two major reasons Inititially, the study is carried out with attempt to investigate how CLIL in the new English textbooks funcitions in real life situations to finish the incompleted picture of CLIL Another reason lies in Lê Quý Đôn high school It is this high school which has just examined the new textbooks on six classes for two years;

as a result, a case study Lê Quý Đôn is required to find out the effects of the new textbooks and CLIL contents on teaching and learning English processes

3.2 Setting and participants

3.2.1 Setting

Lê Quý Đôn high school located on Xã Đàn street, Đống Đa district was first set up in 1970 with the original name is No 1 High school Throughout 70 years of development, this high school has become one of the top-notch high schools in Hanoi Students annually must have equal or higher than 50 score to pass the entrance exam Their scores are the sum of the score of 4 years of being

excellent or good students (students will get 5 points for each year of being

excellent students and 4.5 points for each years of being good students),

vocational scores (from 0 to 1.5 points based on their levels) and the double of

scores of Mathematics and Literature’s entrance exams As a result, both the students and teaching quality in Lê Quý Đôn high school are highly appreciated

in Hanoi as a whole

The number of students at Lê Quý Đôn high school is quite large with 600

students who are divided into 3 grades (10, 11 and 12), 27 classes and 2 groups (A and D) While students in group A focus more on studying science (Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology), group D’s studentsare inclined

to major in learning Mathematics, English and Literature Yet, for all of these students, English is one of the 11 obligatory subjects and a mandatory subject to graduate In general, there are some striking differences between students studying in A and D groups Firstly, while students in group A study English four sessions per week, these at group D have five English sessions Secondly, students studying in group A study English as one of the mandatory subjects to graduate and from teachers’ observation, the vast majority of them do not have talent in learning English and they even find English boring compared to Math, Physics or Chemistry- the science subjects; however, many of the group D’s students are really into English and they learn English not only to pass the entrance exam to universities but also to study abroad or even as a hobby As a result of this fact, it is fair to say that students in group D, to some extent, have higher English level than students in A group

When it comes to the teachers, this high school has a total of 11 English teachers who all have achieved Master degrees in teaching methodology and have at least 5 years of teaching experience Since 2015, all teachers have been trained regularly in teaching the new English textbooks but until recently there are only three teachers who are actually teaching the new textbooks On a regular basis, the English group holds a workshop or a conference where teachers are able to share their experience and knowledge about teaching with the purpose of improving teaching and learning quality The most recent workshop was about

“How to teach the new textbooks effectively?” which happened successfully and

exaltedly Although just a small number of teachers can have opportunities to teach the new textbooks because they have just been experimented in 6 classes, all teachers seemed to feel excited when discussing new teaching methodologies and the new textbooks

The new textbooks, as mentioned before, have just been experimented in 6 classes: 10A1, 10D1, 11A1, 11D1, 12A1 and 12D1 so the researcher decided to focus on the study in 6 classes and 3 teachers teaching in those classes

Data for the study were collected in the third week of January, 2018 when the students started their second semester

3.2.2 Participants

Although the research is conducted in Lê Quý Đôn high school, there are only 6 classes which have just used the new English textbooks Because of this reason, the target population of the research is about 267 students and 3 teachers teaching English in these classes It is obvious that 10A1, 11A1 and 12A1 are group A classes and 10D1, 11D1 and 12D1 are group D so because of the class group and the grade, their English levels quite vary as 10A1 and 10D1 might have the lowest level and 12A1 and 12D1 probably have the highest level Besides, the study also aims to investigate the teachers’ perceptions; therefore, 3 teachers teaching in 6 classes are involved in the study It is they who actually expose to and teach the new textbooks The fact remains that these teachers all achieved Master degrees in teaching methodology and have taught English for at least 5 years All classes and teachers agreed to the researcher’s request In case, there would be students absent on the surveying day and some returned questionnaires could have errors, the researcher delivered questionnaires to all students presenting at the classes on the surveying day

3.3 Data collection

3.3.1 Data collection instruments

In order to collect data to answer the research questions, survey questionnaire is chosen to become the major instrument of the research because

of the following reasons According to the article “The advantages and

disadvantages of using questionnaires” (2012) pubilished by the University of

Portsmouth, questionnaires initially allow researchers to investigate the massive number of respondents in a short term without costing a large amount of money Moreover, after receiving the questionnaires, participants have time to consider

questions carefully and report about themselves (including their beliefs,

comments or perceptions) Lastly, the questionnaires have already been proved to

be validated and straightforward to analyze on the ground that they usually provide numerical data

Due to the fact that the numerical data can be ambiguous, semi-structured interviews are conducted after data from the questionnaires are viewed This

instrument unarguably helps the researcher elicit extra information from the participants and illumine unclear point of views from the survey questionnaires

3.3.1.1 Questionnaire

Despite the research report involving both Vietnamese and English versions of the questionnaire, only Vietnamese versions were delivered to students due to the fact that their English levels might not be sufficient to understand fully the questionnaires Before responding to the surveys, students were informed with clear instruction about the aims of the research and the confidentiality of the personal information inquired An explanation for the content and language integration in the textbooks was also provided on the first page of the questionnaire with the purpose of preventing students from misunderstanding

The instruction was followed by the questionnaire items which are divided into two groups The initial group involved factual questions about participants’

personal information (names and contact information) which were collected in

case researcher wants to understand fully and correctly any students’ opinions Another group consisted of the vast majority of close-ended attitudinal questions

which students had to rate different statements on scales (from 1 to 5) base on

their perspectives Moreover, in order to ameliorate the questionnaire’ objective, the researcher added some open-ended questions which allowed students to add their comments or other options to the answers of the questions Overall, on the ground of the fact that students have often been lazy when answering long and complex questions, which would lead to poor data quality, this questionnaire was designed with short and concise close-ended questions and only 6 open-ended items It did not take students too much time with this highly-structured questionnaire Collected from the second segment, data was to answer mainly 2

out of 3 research questions: What are the students’ perceptions of CLIL in the

new textbook? What are benefits and challenges of CLIL that students have been

facing? Table 3.1 provides subjects of investigation of all question items in the

questionnaire

Table 3.1 Aims of question items Item 1-6

(Research question 2)

Aim: To investigate students’

perspective of CLIL in the

textbook

1-2 Researcher makes sure that students

have learned the CLIL content in the textbook

3-4 Both language and culture content are

Item 7-11

(Research question 3)

Aim: To investigate students’

benefits by learning CLIL

7 Language proficiency

8 Learners’ engagement

9 Learners’ motivation

10 Cultural appropriateness and context

11 Learners of all abilities

Item 12-16

(Research question 3)

Aim: To investigate

challenges that students are

facing while learning CLIL

12-13 Taught by incorrect methods

4 I am fully taught in English

1

Almost never

true

2 Usually not true

3 Occasionally true

4 Usually true

5 Almost always true

3.3.1.2 Semi - structured interview

Besides the questionnaire consisting of both close-ended and open-ended questions, another main instrument of the study is semi-structured interview While researcher used questionnaires in order to investigate students’ opinions, semi-structure interviews were carried out for teachers The main reason is that items from questionnaire mainly contain discrete points; as a result, researcher cannot gain insight the problem or detailed information from the important side-teachers’ perspectives

The aim of researcher for interviews is to investigate better insights into the research questions from the teacher side 3 interviews with 3 teachers teaching in classes 10A1, 10D1, 11A1, 11D1, 12A1 and 12D1 were conducted in Vietnamese in order to minimize misunderstanding in communication between the researcher and the interviewees Appendix 3 shows a sample of interview questions and answers from 3 interviewees

3.3.2 Data collection procedure

Stage 1 – Piloting

Having been reviewed and checked by the supervisor, the draft questionnaires were revised and delivered to 10 students from actual participants for piloting The researcher accessed their contacts from one of the interviewed teachers who used to be the English teacher of the researcher Pre-test was administered via face to face conversations which allowed researcher and students to discuss any unclear information immediately Not only did students actually complete the questionnaires but they also added comments on the content together with format of the questionnaires After having revised from these comments, the final questionnaires were ready to hand out to students Those 10 students undoubtedly did not involve in the main research

Stage 2 – Administering the questionnaires

The questionnaires were handed out to students presenting at surveying time in 6 classes on the third week of January 2018 The location and time for surveying were carefully chosen with the purpose of increasing data validity as these extrinsic factors to some extent pose effects on participants’ mindset (Shulruf et al., 2007)

The researcher initially explained briefly about the aims of the research and guaranteed that students’ information would be kept secretly Secondly, researcher asked for students’ agreement to take part in the survey They could refuse to participate in the research if they did not want to Fortunately, 100% of the presenting students agreed to do the questionnaire Then, before letting students complete the questionnaires, the researcher instructed them how to do the questionnaires and explained any unclear phrases for them At the final stage, the completed questionnaires were collected, and the researcher checked carefully to make sure that there was no questionnaire to be left behind Totally,

249 questionnaires were returned

While students were filling in the questionnaires, the teacher was not present because the researcher was afraid that students might feel uncomfortable and unwilling to answer some questions related to the teachers’ quality and their teaching methods In addition, all questions must be completed on the same day

so as to minimize differences in physical environment which also have some affects on participants’ feelings Since the researcher cannot survey 6 classes at a same time, she delivered the questionnaire for different classes on different days

Stage 3 – Interviewing

After collecting the questionnaires from students, the researcher conducted some semi-structured interviews with 3 teachers The researcher contacted those teachers via telephones or emails and asked for their agreements

to take part in the interview Their contacts were taken from one of these teachers who used to be an English teacher of the researcher at high school Fortunately, all of them agreed to join in and time and location for the interviews were negotiated and fixed The researcher started the interviews with some formal

social questions so as to create the friendly atmosphere The researcher could only record 2 interviews since a teacher refused to be recorded, so that the researcher took notes of her ideas quickly and checked the notes immediately

3.4 Data analysis

After checking the questionnaires, 8 questionnaires were discharged, which reduced the number of questionnaires to 241 questionnaires It was because these questionnaires contain the same answer for every item, which could be referred that they might have tried to complete the questionnaire as soon

as possible so that they can return it

Following this, the researcher analyzed the data collected from questionnaires and classified them into 3 research questions Before transferred into numerical form and summarized by graphs, these responses from close-ended questions were synthesized and calculated Descriptive statistics were employed so as to depict the survey findings Besides that from close-ended questions, the researcher translated and transcribed responses from open-ended questions before summarized by key words or statements to support research questions number 2 and 3

Last but not least, qualitative data from 3 interviews were transcribed and summarized in order to answer directly all research questions

Summary

To put everything into a nutshell, this chapter has described the research methodology by interpreting the target participants who are students at Lê Quý Đôn high school of 6 classes: 10A1, 10D1, 11A1, 11D1, 12A1 and 12D1 Additionally, the descriptions of questionnaires and interviews, 2 main data collection instruments, were involved in order to tackle 3 research questions from data analysis These arguments on the methodology would definitely pave the way for the results and implications illustrated in the following chapter