1. Those w ho preach the usefulness of the communicaHve approach or leam or centercdness are not alw ays aw are thal w hat they have been doing is a far cry from w[r]
Trang 1VNU Journal of Science, Foreign [.anguages 23 (2007) 65'75
Changing for the better: Challenges and Opportunities
Nguyen Hoa*, Tran Hoai Phuong
College o f Foreign LattịỊĩiQges, Vietnam National Umversity, Hatwi,
144 Xuan Thuy, Cau d a y , Hanoi, Vietnam
R e c e iv e d 1 J u n e 2007
A b s tr a c t T h is p a p e r p r o v i d e s a n a c c o u n t 0Í ^ p r o j e c t u n d e r t a k e n a t U n iv e r s ity o f L a n g u a g e s a n d
In tc rn d tio n d l S tu d ie s , V ie tn a m N a tio n a l U n iv e r s ity (U L ỈS V N U ) t o i n s t i t u t e a n E n g lis h ias(* track
p r o g r a m fo r s t u d e n t s m ajoring in tc d c h in g English f o r e ig n la n g u a g e (T E F L ) s in c c 2001 S p e c ific a lly
It gives insights in to th e change w c initialed a n d h o w w e have mandgcd it oncc w e started in order
n o t (o b e o v e r w h e lm e d b y th e p r o c e s s s e t in m o tio n T h is p r o g r a m c a n bii d e s c r ib e d a s a s e a c h a n g c
in th e lo c a l c o n tc x t w h ic h h a s h e lp e d generate creaHvc ideas f o r c o u r s e o r g a n iz a tio n , le a r n in g
activities and assessment methods With great efforts by all stakeholders, the program has gained
e n c o u r a g in g s u c c e s s , i m p r o v in g Ih e te a c h in g a n d le a r n in g a n d r e n d e r in g a b e t t e r q u a lity o f
U n iv e r s ity o f L a n g u a g e s a n d I n te r n a tio n a l S tu d ie s {ULIS) g r a d u a te s
This p a p e r p ro v id es an account of a
project u n d ertak en at U niversity of Languages
and International Studies, V ietnam N ational
U niversity (ULISVNU) Ỉ0 institute an English
fasl-track p ro g ram for stu d en ts m ajoring in
TEFL since 2001 In particular, it gives an insight
into the change we initiatcxi and how we have
it oncv wc Mailed ữo ú\i%\ wc would Iiol
be overvvheừned by the process set in motion
This program can be described as a sea change in
ihe Icxral contcxt W hen wc started the process ứ\e
whole team involved w as fully aw are thal this
change w as a tender and vulnerable affair prone
to deraiừnent, dim inution and abandonm ent in
the given context
1 R atio n ale for th e change
English language teaching (ELT) has had
quite a long history sp an n in g a period of m ore
than half a century in Vietnam M any m ethods
w ere tried w ith varying degrees of success, The
• C o r r e s p o n d in g a u th o r Tel.: 84-4'8582630.
old m ethods d ie hard Believe it or n o t the gram m ar translation is stìll there Those w ho preach the usefulness of the communicaHve approach or leam or centercdness are not alw ays aw are thal w hat they have been doing
is a far cry from w hat they preach A s Vietnam
is opening its d o o rs a n d m arket forces are m, cliuiigc bc«.oinc> ÌiiCM.ap4ỉblc G iubaludtiun tiiid
m form atization are olh er factors ứìat p u sh the ELT business forw ard Tho country needs a new crop of qi*ality tcachers of English, interpreters/translators, and the need for a good com m and 0 Í English is felt across the land.
in resp o n se to these d em an d s, ULISVNU
w ith th e b lessin g of V ietnam N ational
U niversity p u l to g eth er a project to launch a fast track p ro g ram The tw o au th o rs a n d a
n u m b e r of d ed icated teachers w ere in p ut charge T he idea w as to first pilot i t and then
sp read it to th e m ainstream system S tu d en ts
w ere selected o n th eir o w n m erit: they sh o u ld
d em o n strate a w illingness to join the project
by w riring a letter of application, and generally th ey w ere the m ost m otivated and
65
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talented ones from ỉhe s tu d e n t body Class
size w as 20 stu d en ts Screening involved
studying their acadcm ic records and
subjecting them to a selection test Teachers
w ere also carefully selected All the team
m em bers w ere trained in an English sp>eaking
country and h av e a M aster's degree All of
them should h av e prior experience w ork in g in
a w estern style environm ent W e cam e to the
task w ith hum ility a n d resolve, kno w in g that
m any previous a tte m p ts failed; for exam ple,
the large scale effort a t ch anging teacher's
teaching m ethods in the 1990s w as n ot fruitful
due to in adequate conceptualization and
su p p o rt as well as insufficieni follow -up work,
resources and appropriate policies They sim ply
introduced a m odel from outside and flew
professionals with high credentials m and out
without taking the local context m to account
2 T he b lu e p rin t a n d p la n n in g stage
The final go-ahead w as given and w e
started the conceptualization a n d planning
process Jack Lindquist [1Ị m entions four
changc strategies, w hich are rational planmng,
social interaction, h um an problem-solving and
poliHf'al ;^pproiirh W h^t ì.inHrỊiiÌQt is
very insightful and interesting In every
organization, there will b e a few innovators,
eager to change and reinvent thcmselveS; and
usually uncom fortabie w ith the sstatus quo A
second g ro u p of a b o u t 12 to 15 p ercent of the
organization is called the early adopters, open
to new ideas and changcs, th o u g h not as eager
as the innovators Follow ing is the early
majority, m aking u p a th ird of the population
T h ese a rc th e c a u tio u s fo llo w e rs o f th e
ea rly a d o p te rs T h e n c o m e s a n o th e r th ird ,
th e S0‘C alled s k e p tic a l la te m a jo rity , w h ic h
w a n ts fairly im p re s s iv e e v id e n c e th a t th e
c h a n g e is w o rk in g , p o s sib le , a n d r e w a rd e d
b efo re th e y v e n tu r e a try F in ally , a b o u t 15
p e rc e n t o f m o st o r g a n iz a tio n s a re the
laggards^ w h o w ill p ro b a b ly re sis t c h a n g e
u n til e v e ry o n e is d o in g th e n e x t n ew
th in g s L in d q u is t's o b s e rv a tio n s a re q u ite tru e in o u r co n tex t
Given o u r culture m uch influenced by Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, we decided on the social interaction approach We
im plem ented and m anaged the change as a soda] interaction w here ideas sh o u ld be com m unicated to people, and contacts, cx^nsultations, a n d persuasions w ere effecti\'e in biingm g people round to our view A num ber of
w orkshops w ere held am ong the team m em bers
w here w e discussed the followừìg issues:
(a) W h at is o u r philo so p h y reg ard in g the org an izin g of a fast track course?
(b) W hat standards should we aim for in terms
of knowledge, skills, and qualities/characters? (c) W h at sh o u ld be o u r ap p ro ach to delivering the goods?
(d) H ow sh o u ld w e m o n ito r o u r progress and incorporate feedback into the project as appropriate?
(e) W hat sorts of likely constraints are úìere?
D efining an u n d e rly in g philo so p h y w as a
b reak from trad itio n since in this country
training pro g ram s are often defined in term s
of aim s and objectives, W e believed th at a
p hilosophy clearly defined w o u ld h elp answ er question (b), i.e w h at stan d a rd s w e sh o u ld go
for in term s of know ledge, skills and
qualities/charactcrs A philo so p h y w ould serve as a fram ew o rk to set educational sta n d a rd s a n d assessm ent criteria, and to outline w h at th e m ost im p o rtan t goats w ere to achieve, and w h at resources w ere req u ired for the achievem ent of those educational aims As
F u h rm an n [2] excellently su m m arizes the
m ajor ed u catìo n al philosophies as w e w ere
a b o u t to e n te r the n ew m illennium This early decision w as extrem ely useful in help in g us
d e sig n th e k in d o f p ro g ra m w e w a n te d AlsO;
the choice of teaching course books, and
p rep aratio n of m aterials is m u ch facilitated Basically, w e ag reed th a t o u r philosophy und ersco red th e follow ing things
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C areer p rep aratio n is an expected
outcom e of a college education,
• College should develop stu d en ts' problem
solving and decision m ak in g evaluating, and
interactional or interpersonal skills,
• Students m ust learn how to m anage change,
• S tu d en ts can loam in a variety of ways;
all m u st be u n d ersto o d and fostered,
• S tu d en ts m u st able to use n a n d oth er
technologies,
• S tu d en ts sh o u ld leam to interact in a
variety of cultural en vironm ents, and
• E ducation is a lifelong proccss
2 1 t h e s ta tid a r d ii
T hus the sta n d a rd s w e set for o u r pilot
project w ere very high- S tu d en ts m u st reach
the level four of the ALTE's or C am bridge'
CAE after a b o u l 900 h o u rs of English leaching
and learning (All the stu d en ts had 300 hours
of English a t their high schools) O u r answ er
to quesh o n (b) w as d ciin ed in term s of
know ledge of English a n d c u ltu re required by
the rcprcsentationiil, interp retiv e and
interpersonal skills For exam ple, shadents
d Ik u u K i d e v e l o p l l i c iỉb iH ty t u i n l c i a c L b u l h
propositionally and interpcrsonally They
sh o u ld h av e acquired the ability to m ake
assessm ent, o r evaluations, to w o rk in a team
and to be able to deal w ith bolh academ ic and
em otional issues D iscussions w ere m ad e to
clarify vvhaỉ is m ean t by acquiring know ledge,
for exam ple W e follow ed Bloom 's taxonom y
[3] of educational goals A ccording to him,
educational goals can b e d efin ed in term s of
cognilive, m otor skills and affective goals O n
the cognitive scale, there are 6 levels:
know ledge, com prehension, application,
analysis, synthesis, and evaluation A t the top
' ' ' T h e C a m b r id g e s y s te m h a s fiv e b a n d s : KEY, PET,
FCE, C A E , a n d P ro ficicn cy , c o r r e s p o n d in g to th e
ALTERS W a y s ta g c , T h re s h o ld I n d e p e n d e n t
C o m p e te n t a n d G o o d
end, stu d en ts sh o u ld b e able to look a t issues critically, and m ake w ell-inform ed evaluation and assessm ent Skills d evelopm ent and the interpersonal skills w ere given special attention rig h t at the start to m ake su re the stu d en ts w o u ld g ro w a n d dev elo p into ỉhe
ty p e w e set out O n this basis, leam er-cenlercd activities w ere d esig n ed to h elp stu d en ts acquire know ledge a n d d ev elo p their skills, ừì
setting these goals, w e lo o k into account a
n u m b er of factors such as the m arket's
d e m a n d s for o u r products, the go v em m en l's overall d ev elo p m en t goals, as w ell the availability of resources, both financial and otherw ise W ith o u t these inputs, it w o u ld be
im possible to realize o u r program
2.2 O ur chosen approach
It is com m on know ledge th at no m atter
h o w clear o u r aim s and objectives are, the key
to success is d e p e n d e n t to a large degree on
o u r ap proach to delivering the goods After a
n u m b e r of m eetings, w e discussed how to deal w ith th e problem , a n d w e all agreed that the best w ay forw ard w as to translate the concept of learn er's au to n o m y and leam er- centeredness in to action, ih e w orld w e are living and w ork in g in now is very different from w h at w e w ere fam iliar with K now ledge
is exploding and becom ing m ore specialized and highly technical K now ledge also has a
sh o rt shelf life, too Thus any approach based
on giving know ledge is dcx>mcd to failure Students need to be equippx?d with competencies, skills and suitable qualities so that
they can survive and thrive 'ưx an ever-changing
environm ent It's leam er< en tered n ess, stupid! This is w hat w e often said to each other The stu d e n ts involved in o u r project h av e tu rned
o u t to be g reat resources- We gave them the
o p p o rtu n ities to show w h at they w ere worth/
a n d m ost of them^> proved extrem ely
O n e o f th e m d r o p p e d o u t fo r failin g t o rise to th e
c h a lle n g e o f th e p ro ject.
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com petent to design learning m aterials, and
capable of m aking co n trib u tio n to Ihe success
of the p ro ject T hus w e successfully laid o u t a
good foundation for a cooperatìve,
collaborative, peer-intcractive learning and
tutoring, This is our first lesson: keep going once
ựou believe ĩuhat you are cioitĩiỊ is right, and develop
ữpprơprừite and stiitable metiwds of delivery,
2,3 D c f i y x i n g g o o d e f f i X i i v e l e a r n e r s
A nother issue w e looked a t w as defin in g a
good, in d ep en d en t loam er K now ing their
characteristics w o u ld h elp u s a g reat d eal in
designing suitable pro g ram s w ith a p p ro p riate
activities for them W c concur w ith H edge
(2000: 76), w h o characterizes a good,
com petenl learner as one w h o is
(a) aw are of ỉheir stu d y needs and can
w ork w ith teachers to achieve th eir goals
(b) able to stu d y both w ithin a n d w ith o u t
the classroom
(c) able to fu rth er d ev elo p w h at they have
learned in class
(d) proactive in th eir learning
(e) capable of a d a p tin g ihcir learning
strategies (0 suit their needs and m ake
learning m ore effective
(f) able to maritigo their tim e, and
(g) not d ep e n d e n t on teacher's inputs
This served us well sincc this w as the
change w e w anted to m ake in stu d en ts To
start w ith this w as no easy task
3 A nticipating im plem entation problem stage
3.1 Some genera! and stm ctural constraints
A nticipating im plem entation problem s
and constraints w as im p o rta n t too, We
encounỉered som e faculty resistance and
unfavorable feelings in th e beginning
Structurally, m oving teachers aro u n d w as
unthinkable in a culture w h ere stability is
generally desirable But w e knew then that
this w as som ething u n av o id ab le in any
organization as Jack L in dquist suggests w e
sh o u ld b e p rep ared for W orking in such a
context, teachers sh o u ld be encouraged and
su p p o rte d trniely^ getting alt the resources they n eed ed Very critical in this connection
w as the fact lhat w e all enjoyed the strong backing of ỉhe top lead ersh ip o f o u r College
a n d the V ietnam N alional U niversity with
w hich o u r C ollege is affiliated a n d they still
continue to d o so The backing o f the top
leadership was instnwtental in keepitiịỉ the project
on track This is o u r next lesson.
3.2 Setting the record straight
There has been a lot of m isunderstanding about learner's autonom y and learner- centeredness; as a result, they w ere d isaed ited
in some circles of professionals Some staffs were skeptical of w hether o u r plan w ould work They
m ade unflattering cx)mments such as: 'T h is is nothing novel W e tried it before, and it didn't
w ork” Some w ere even w aiting for a tim e when they could utter "I told you so"' This was
discouraging for som o people, b ut w e d id not
give up We w ere resolved to get people to understand ửie concept and the realit)' by striving to do a good job
W e m anaged U) create m o re toUowers by startin g sm all, k eep in g a low profile, and
d eterm in ed to m ak e o u r w o rk a succcss righi from th e start T h e succcss a n d stu d en ts'
w o rd s w o u ld sp eak for us, a n d this strategy
w as w orking M ore stu d e n ts w ere interested
in o u r fast track p ro je c t and w anted to join
W e could n ot accept all of them , so a t the
b eg inning of each n ew academ ic year, a qualifying test w as given to decide w ho
w o u ld be invilcd to participate in the
program This is o u r th ird lesson: be realistic
and keep a low profile when ]/ou are just startin<Ị to avoid unnecessíìrỵ publicity.
3.3 Staffing problem
This is o ne of the issues th at w e anticipated very early on w o u ld h appen Like
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u s a t the b eg in n in g of Ihe project, they were
given train in g in th e m e th o d s of d eliv erin g the
course, and w e m a d e su re th at they w ere in
step w ith us Som e left the project either to
stu d y overseas o r m ove on to oth er
assignm ents a s d ictated by the circum stances,
and others joined us There has never been a
m anpow er vacuum This is very im portant to
ensure consistency and quality
4 T h e im p iem en taH o n stage
W hatever d esig n w c m ig h t h av e b ro u g h t
to ỉhe p rogram a n d w h a te v er im portance we
m ig h t h av e attach ed to the concept stâge, we
w ere aw are th at th e im plem entation w as far
m ore im p o rtan t a n d th a t it w as th e key to the
success of the project S tu d en ts sh o u ld be able
to participate m w ell-designed, w ell-organized
ncHvities and learning experiences set for them,
facilitators thai w e alw ays talked a b o u t
Team w o rk w as encouraged and stu d en ts
found them selves w ork in g in an open and
relaxed b u t serio u s m anner E verybody's say
w as counted, as w e teachers listened to
2»iudciU2>* ieedbdck Iherciuri*, w e w ere able to
deal w ith th eir problem s very early on
Enforcing learning discipline in th e sense that
each stu d en t h a d to w o rk o n th eir o w n stu d y
program and m eet dead lin es look som e tim e m
the first year as students werv finding
ihemselves struggling to m ake a break from
Kigh school routines All of us w orked very hard
and patiently, and by the end of the first year at
college, things w ere fine-luning O u r students
were very quick studies Everyone w as satisfied
vviửì their progress This lesson is ive must ptit in
place an open, particrpafory process.
M onitoring progress a n d incorporating
feedback into o u r a g en d a w as also an
im p o rtan t aspect of this pilot project
C onsultations w ith s tu d e n ts a n d gettm g
w ritten feedback is n o w a w ay of life for us
S tu d en ts arc very im aginative a n d indeed, they contributed a great deal to o u r w ork As
o u r project m oved forw ard, m ore staffs w ere recruited to join th e program
D eveloping a n d p rep arin g resources has alw ays played an im p o rtan t p a rt of a program However^ w e d id n ot in ten d to be
th e only source In fact, w h at h a p p en e d was
th at w e chose a core set 0Í textbooks which
co u ld p ro v id e the stu d en ts w ith fundam entals
of the lan g u ag e system and necessary cultural back g ro u n d know ledge Then, both stu d en ts and w e w ere to m ake use of a variety of resources ÍTom th e Internet, newspap>ers and journals S tu d en ts w ere en co u rag ed to develop, to d o research, a n d to brin g m aterials
to class to sh are w ith th eir classm ates and to
ev alu ate their preparations They learned and
g rew fast S tudy m ateriaJs h av e n ev er been in
sh o rt supply N ow , w e will m ove on to discuss the typical class activities and extra curricular activities w e developed and co developed w ith o u r students
4-1- In teaching and learning speaking
Besides the application of speaking activities
tr a c ii H o n a lly u r ^ c i i n t h e E n g l i s h D c p a x l m o n l prior to the Fast-ừack program such as pair
w ork and g ro u p discussions and presentations,
w e m ade a special use OÍ various types of prescntâtìon, debate, forum and role play
a) Presentation
As p resentations arc frequent tasks for stu d en ts in all the four years a t college, we
m ad e them m eaningful and interestìng by setting different levels and stan d a rd s for each year For exam ple, stu d en ts w ere ta u g h t and expected to b e able to give inform ative
p resentations in the first year, persuasive
p resentations in the second y e a r and
m vestigative prescn íatío n s in ứie th ird year In
th e last level, stu d e n ts had to choose a
b u rn in g issue to investigate a n d th en present
th e results along w ith th eir analysis and com m ents T he aim of all these types is to
Trang 670 NịỊuyen Hoa, Tran Hoai PhuoTĩg / VNU Ịoumal of Science, Foreign Languages 23 (2007) 65-75
develop stu d en ts' know ledge, public speaking
skills, confidcnce and m ultip le abilities such as
m anaging presentations w ith in ỉim e lim it and
h an dling questions from the audiencc
b) Forum
The aim is to dev elo p stu d e n ts' general
know ledge about the topic a n d skills to speak,
argue, in terru p t politely in English, etc The
procedure, according to N g u y en e t ai [4], is as
follows First, stu d en ts select a topic from a
pool provided by th eir teacher or a topic of
their o w n interest o r level T hen they search
for m aterials to leam m o re background
know ledge a b o u t the topic Later, all the
stu d en ts share m aterials, each con trib u tin g a
m inim um of one article so th at each stu d e n t
has copies of ab out 20 articles to read to for
content as w ell as ỉhe English vocabulary
frequently used in the topic As ior the
grouping, stu d en ts are d iv id ed into su b
groups of from 3 to 4 stu d en ts Each g ro u p is
given a role in the forum For exam ple, w ith
the topic of Sex education at upper secondary
school in Vietnam, the roles will be: parents,
teachers, stu d en ts, psychologists and
sociologists (N guyen e l al) G ro u p s will
prepare for their assigned roles accordingly
D uring a forum , there will be a lead g ro u p
w hich will present briefly ab o u t the topic,
raise questions for discussion and facilitate Ihe
discussion After the forum , teachers and
g ro u p s give feedback o n the language
perform ance (accuracy and fluency), c o n te n t
g ro u p s' or in d ividuals' contributions, etc
based on an agreed set of criteria for a good
presentation, facilitation and contribution
c) Debate
The pro ced u re for a deb ate is qu ite sim ilar
to that for a forum T he difference is th at there
will be only tw o particip atin g g ro u p s of three
shidenls; and thal each g ro u p chooses either
to agree or disagree w ith ỉhe topic in
discussion They will need to collect
inform ation, build th eir arg u m en ts an d d u rin g
the debate p ro v id e in stan t attack on the
o pinion of th e opp o sin g team D ebate is con d u cted a t tw o levels: free style for Ihe second y ear stu d en ts and professional style for th ird y e a r stu d en ts W hile the free style is the o p en discussion betw een th e tw o g ro u p s
w ith o u t any specific tu m -ta k in g procedure, the professional d eb ate will give each m em ber
of a g ro u p only one chance to speak Thus he/she has to try to attack the oth er g ro u p 's view and arg u e for h is/h er g ro u p 's view effectively A fter th e debate, teachers and
g ro u p s m ay ask further q u estìo n s to clarify
u nclear p o in ts a n d give feedback on the language p erform ance (accuracy and fluency), content, g ro u p s' o r in d iv id u als' contributions, etc, based on an agreed set of criteria for a
d eb ate a n d vote for th e g ro u p they th in k is
m o re persuasive T h ro u g h this activity, stu d en ts could actively d ev elo p im p ro m p tu speaking skills, persuasive speaking, quick responses, analytical thin k in g a n d problem solving skills
d) Role play Each sem ester, fast-track teachers design
role play activities to m atch w ith the
targeted obifTtivos in term s of know ledge and skills For exam ple, in
sem ester 6, K36 stu d e n ts w ere involved in 3n
em p lo y m en t project T he topic w as preparing
h u m an rcsou rcc for a soon-to-be-oponed
L anguage S u p p o rt U nit (LSU) for stu d en ts
w h o h av e difficuldes in learn in g in ULIS, VNU T he class w as d iv id e d in to a g ro u p of university officials (recruiters), m anagers of the LSU (interview ees, recruiters), senior stu d en ts w h o w a n t to w o rk as m anagers or tutors for th e LSU (interview ees) and journalists w h o cared for the event Recruiters
h a d to design a leaflet adv ertisin g for
m anagers, m anagers h ad to d esig n another leaflet ad v ertisin g for tu to rs, and senior stu d en ts n eed ed to w rite app licatio n letters to the university for the posts of m anagers or tutors and sit for a job interviiiw Selections
Trang 7N ^ u y e tì H o a T r a n H o a i P h u o n g / V h ỉU lo u n ỉữ ì o f S c ie n c e , f o r e ig n L a n g u a g e s 2 3 (2 0 0 7 ) 65-75 71
w ould be d iscu ssed am ong recruiters and
an nounced lo applicants U niversity officials,
selected m anagers iind selected tutors w ere
then interview ed by journalists T he first
w ork in g session w as also d o n e right in front
of the class T h o u g h this w as only a sim ulated
au th en tic task, m o st stu d e n ts expressed that
they really en jo y ed it They explained that
d u rin g the plav, Ihey acted their roles
seriously, w an rin g to succeed a n d m aking
efforts to be accepted bv others, so they h ad
feelings that they w ere experiencing â real-life
situation
4.2 I n U w h i r i g ijMti VVrỉíin^V L i s t e t ĩ í ì i Ị Ị
íV U Ỉ R e / 7 d i ỉ i ị ỉ
a) Portfolios
Portfolio is collections of stu d en ts' w riting,
read in g passages o r listening m aterials d u rin g
a given period of tim e It is a typ e of journals
for stu d en ts to record their learning activities
both in and o u tsid e the classroom K eeping a
portfolio helps s tu d e n ts form a good habit of
listening, reading and w ritin g frequently and
have a gcx>d record of rheir stu d y progress
R equirem ents for portfolios vary from one
acnnolui Uỉ ỉh c ỉKCKị, dcpcni.lii)g oit ãluđculd'
level For instance, tcachcrs of read in g could
ask first year s tu d e n ts to collect reading
p ap ers according to certain them es to find the
new w ords, form n ew sentences w ith those
w o rd s and su m m a riz e Ihe content of the
papers For their second year students, they
w ould ask Ihem to collect read in g papers, list
Ihc new w o rd s a n d m ake sentences w ith those
w ords, sum m arize th e passages, p rovide a
critical review, a n d d esig n exorcises to practice
â certain read in g skill intro d u ced in the
sem ester Sim ilarly, in listening lessons,
teachers w o u ld req u ire stu d e n ts to keep
portfolios of w h a t they listened every week,
w h at problem s th ey had, and h o w they solved
their ow n problem s
U sing portfolios in teaching writingr
especially in g ro u p w riting, is also highly
effective In K35 sem ester 5 w riting class for exam ple, all th e g ro u p m em bers w ould sit together to discuss h o w to w rite â paper, and the first person w ro te th e first version O ther
g ro u p m em bers w o u ld th en take tu rn s to
w rite ỉhe second and the th ird versions Finally, th e e n tire g ro u p agreed on one final version to subm it All versions w ere then included in o rd e r in a portfolio W hen
m ark in g th e portfolio, leachers co u ld see both
th e process and th e final product They could therefore ev alu ate stu d e n ts' perform ance in each draft as w ell as in the final w riting An
a d a p ta tio n of this activity that w e used in sem ester 6 req u ired all g ro u p m em bers to
w rite the first version, and Ihen they sat together to either select the best version to
im p ro v e on o r chooso to com bine the strengths of all th e p ap ers inlo the second draft, and th en last draft This m ethod seem ed
to b e m ore effective in m aking sure all stu d en ts w ro te th eir original th o u g h ts dow n
A fter coliccting all entries for th e 15 w eeks
of a semester^ stu d e n ts w ere often required to
w rite a final rep o rt to describe their w o rk and evaluate th e progress as w ell as the lessons they learned This ty p e of reflection helped stu d en ts to be au to n o m o u s in their studying, rath er th an alw ays looking to teachers for com m ents
b) Teaching listening and w riting using the m ulti-m edia o r co m p u ter lab
In listening lessons, w ith the h elp of the
M ulti-m edia center, teachers could use the lab
to teach listening a n d w riting They can use
CD, VCD, vid eo files and online w eb pages, such as those of C N N or BBC to teach Teachers w ere even p ro v id ed w ith five-
m in u te original video files to use for their
m aterial d ev elo p m en t and daily teaching
D u rin g th e last tsu n am i in Asia^ teachers in ửie Fast-ưack prograiTi taught listening lessons live from http://w w w cnn.com to check on the toll
Trang 872 N g u y e n H o a T r a n H o a i P h u o n g ỉ v ^ u Ịo u r ĩìa l o f S c ừ n c e , F o r e ig n L ứ ĩĩỊỊU ứ ịỊe s 2 3 (2 0 0 7 ) 65-75
n um ber updates, and b o th teachers and
students w ere pleased w ith the real tim e
feature of th e learning facilities
In w riting lessons, stu d en ts could w o rk on
com puters, and teachers could use the m aster
com puter to observe how each of them w rote
u n d er tím e p ressu re to offer h elp w henever
necessary A fter an in d iv id u al w ritin g activity^
stu d en ts could all save their p ap ers on a
shared folder and view each o th er's papers
The w hole class could view any p a p e r to
com m ent and correct together O rg an izin g the
class like this m ade the w ritin g lessons m ore
interesting, m ore real time, m o re visual and
m ore effective
c) Research project and tu to rin g project for
fourth year stu d en ts
The aim of ứie research project and tutoring
project is to develop language skills, research
skills and m icroteaching skills (e.g.: questioning
skill, grt>up-work, presentation skills,
communication skills and facilitation skills)
In the research project; students conducted a
research projcct in groups of four^^ They went
ửưough all the steps of a research cycle from
choosing the topic identifying the research
question, writing Ihe liỉerature review, collecting
real lứe d a ti, anolv/ing dilta and w nting the
condusion and rocommendations Reportbacks
were held weekJy and support was offered
limely io ensure the a'scarch progress of all the
g ro u ^
R unning parallel, the tu to rin g project<^^
w as held w ith the particip atio n of io u rlh y ear
fast-track stu d en ts a n d tw o g ro u p s of second
year m ainstream stu d en ts for 12 weeks
D uring the 12 weeks, fast*track stu d en ts w ere
guided on how to co n d u ct tuto rin g activities,
The research componcni follows a m(xJcl of that in Ihe
T;tlkhasc program at Asmn Insuiulc Technology Center in
Vicinam
As Ihe project involved about 30 mainstream
students, teachcrs soughl the approval of the dean and
vicc-deans of the English Dcpartmcni and the head 0Í
the Language Skills fi before embarking on it.
from an aly zin g learn ers' needs to w orking out
th e syllabus, m ak in g lesson plans, facilitating lessons in front of th e class and self-evaluating their tuto rin g perform ance S tudents were
su p erv ised a n d assisted th ro u g h o u t the process After each tu to rin g session, feedback
w as p ro v id ed to s tu d e n ts so thal they couid
h elp m ain sỉream s tu d e n ts better in their follow ing session P articip an ts' feedback a t the
e n d of ihe sem ester revealed that this activit)' proved especially helpful to fast-track students
in practicing m tcgrated language skills and in learning how to teach a n d handle a class It was also beneficial to the m ainstream partid p an ts in receivmg uistm ctions a n d advice on areas they needed to ừnprove
The results of both the research and the tutoring project w ere exhibited in the O pen
H ouse aỉ the end of sem ester 7 w here K35^ K36 and K37 fast-track stu d en ts welcomed visitors to see their research and tuto rin g outputs
4.3 In conducting cxtra<utricular activities
Besides learn in g in class, fast-track stu d en ts also o rg an ize d som e extra-curricular activities such as p ro v id in g orientatíon for
n ew 2»ludeiil5 (dl ih c b u ^ iitiu n ^ OÍ ev ery new
a ca d e m ic y ear), tu to r in g m ainstream s tu d e n ts
(as K37A1 s tu d e n ts h elp ed K38 m ainstream classes in 2005) a n d p articip a tin g in p rep arin g Bulletìn/ N ew sletters T hese actìvities helped stu d en ts to im p ro v e th eir language and give them a chance to h e lp o th er stu d en ts in a co operative learning en v iro n m en t
5 R esults
To ev alu ate th e effectiveness of the change
w e initiated a n d to research th e stu d en ts' perception of all the elem en ts of the four-year training program , w e conducted a com prehensive p ro g ra m ev aluation in m id-
2005 to su rv ey all th e fast*track stu d en ts of K35, 36, 37 a n d 38A1 Som e m ajor ftndings
ab out the learn ers' needs, the course
Trang 9N g u ỵ e n H o a , T r a n H o a i P h u o n g / V N U Ị o u m a l o f S c ie n c e , F o r e ig n L a n g u a g e s 2 3 (2 0 0 7 ) 6 5 -7 5 73
objectives, th e testin g a n d assessm ent
m ethods, ử\e learn in g m aterials a n d the
detailed aspects of th e teaching a n d learning
process can b e su m m a riz e d below
a) S tu d e n t's needs
R eg arding w h e th er the educational
program m et their needs, s tu d e n ts of all the
four courses had q u ite po sitiv e judgm ents
From 80 to 90 % of the s tu d e n ts in each course
found th e p ro g ram e ith e r g o o d o r very good
O nly ab o u t 10 to 20% fo u n d it average No
stu d e n t rep o rted th at th e p ro g ra m d id not
m eet ỉheir training needs
b) C o u rse objectives
W hen asked how w oll the course m et the
objectives, 8% found this veiy well, 50% well,
40% average, a n d only 2% said not very well
Thus, 98% of all th e s tu d e n ts found lhat the
course m et the ta rg ete d objectives^'^^ This
re s u lt according lo B row n's view of program
L'valuation [5], sh o w s th at th e fast-track
program has been a successful one H ow ever,
the 2%, th o u g h negligible, m eans th at teachers
w o u ld need to w ork h a rd e r to m ak e su re all
the objectives could be met
c ) T e s t i n g a n t i <33:>c3am cnt
W hen askod ab o u t Ihc fairness 0 Í different
evaluation m eth o d s ust'd in the course,
stu d en ts highly v alu ed th e continuous
.ìsscssm enỉ m eth o d s u se d in Ihe fast-track
program Som e of th em stated that
'Co?ifm«ow5 assessment methods help me see that
Ì am evaluated throu<ihout the course, not only at
the midiile or at the end o f tlie term when I take the
m id'fenn or final All th e students
ev aluated the testing a n d assessm en t m ethods
we applied very positively From 60 to over
90% of th e S tu d en ts in e a c h c o u rse fo u n d th em
eith er good o r verỵ good O n ly a ro u n d 5% of the
T h e c o u rs c o b je c tiv e s a s w e ll ÙS s e m e s te r a n d y e a r
o b je c tiv e s w e re p r e s e n te d to s t u d e n t s a t th e b e g in n in g
o f th e c o u rs e a n d r e m in d e d th r o u g h o u t th e fo u r y e a rs.
stu d en ts found th em not good K35A1 students^ w h o h a d gone th ro u g h the four
y ears of the p ro g ram a n d h a d a m osl com plete view of all th e m eth o d s used, ev aluated them
m o st favorably w ith no one finding them not
good D espite t h a t Ihe 5% of students
rep o rtm g dissatisfaction in K38A1 a n d K36A1
m eans that teachers w ould need to help students understand the assessment tools better and a t the sam e tim e adjust their m ethods to
m ake them fairer and m ore effective
Besides, ử\e su rv ey also show s that
stu d en ts found th e assessm ent m ethods very helpful in o rien tatin g and assisting them to leam T he m eth o d s w ere ev aluated m ost favorably a m o n g first year and fourth year
stu d en ts w ith 65% a n d 47% saying very good
respectively T he second year and third year stu d en ts (K36A1 and K37A1) ev aluated the
sup p o rtiv en css of assessm ent tools as good,
and only one th ird y ear stu d e n t in K36A1
considered it not ịỊooii This result was very
encouraging to the teaching learn as all these
m ethods took both stu d en ts and teachers a
g reat am o u n ỉ of Hme
d ) L v ^ r n i i ì ị ^ i n a l c i i a l : )
As m entioned in a previous section, the learning m aterials u sed in the fasN rack
p ro g ram included a core set of m aterials for students' self-study and a set of supplem entary materials designed a n d com piled by the teaching team to b e used in class Instructions and su p p o rt from teachers w ere provided
w h en ev er stu d e n ts h ad problem s with learning th e corc m aterials
The su rv ey results indicate alm ost no negative feedback for learning materials Generally, stu d en ts enjoyed w h at we used in
class O ne of th em said: '7 like the writing and
speaking materials Theỵ are very good" A nother
said: '‘The supplernentarỵ materials are even better
than the core ones" H ow ever, one second year
stu d e n t stated ''Some exercises are rather
Trang 1074 N yuự e« H o a , T r a u H o a i P ĩm o ĩiịi / V N U Ị o u n ia l o f S c ie n c e , F o r e ig n L a n g u a g e s 2 3 (2 0 0 7 ) 6 5 -7 5
difficult", and one fourth y e a r stu d e n t said
"Wt* need more materials" These com m ents are
indeed quite sharp, b ringing to life a fact that
to a fasK rack class w ith specific
characterisHcs, specific objectives a n d specific
needs, the reliance on any one course book
will not satisfy all students It also reveals that
the flexible self*designed o r self-com piled
m aterials, though tim e-consum ing, are in fact
m ore suitable and therefore m o re useful The
com m ent th at som e p arts of th e m aterials
w ere difficult is u n d e rsta n d a b le because u p to
ihe point of the survey, materials^ especially
those for o u r first load of stu d en ts, h a d n ot
gone th ro u g h any p rior pilot,
e) Teaching âiìd learning
A part from the four above elem ents of a
training program , the effectiveness of teaching
and learning activities w as also surveyed
Students' feedback w as on the w hole
affirm ative w ith th e converted average scores
ranging from 60 to 95 o u t of 100 for each
learning actìvity T he activities for w riting
skills w ere ev alu ated m ost highly w ith scores
from 75 to 95 N ext com e activities for
bpedking ỉ»kilb will) (rum 70 to 90 ữoUi
actívities for listening a n d read in g received
scores ranging from 60 Ì 0 90 This resu lt show s
that o u r w riting and sp eak in g p ro g ram s were
very well-received by th e stu d en ts, a n d that
the listening and read in g w ere seen as íairỉy
good H ow ever, detailed statistics still show s
that opinions varied am ong m em bers of the
sam e class and am ong classes This is
reasonable because each stu d e n t has h is o r her
ow n perception of ap p ro ach to different
learning activities H ow ever, it is obvious th at
the teaching team n eed s to review all the
teaching activitìes, p ro m o tin g good ones and
im proving or rem oving w eak ones to satisfy
students better
In addition, w h en asked ab o u t how
satisfactory all learning activities w ere ừi
term s of th e level of effectiveness felt, level of
m otivation crcated and level of lc?arner autonom y d ev elo p ed , 95% of the stu d en ts stated th at the activities w ere effective, 80% found them m otivating, a n d 100% said they helped them be m ore au to n o m o u s in learning
So far in this section, w e hav e presented the m ost im p o rtan t results gained from o u r
p rogram ev aluation survey As can been seen,
the p ro g ram has received highly positive evaluation 0Í alm o st all the stu d en ts o n its five elem ents This m ark s its initial succcss in
n sm g u p to o u r expectation of a special training p ro g ra m th a t b ro u g h t a b o u t a truly leam er-centered learning en v iro n m e n t and
m ore im portantly an im proved education quality T he lELTS scores o f the 16 students^'^'
w h o took th e test a t the e n d of the four-year
p rogram in 2005 (5 stu d e n ts got 7.5, 9 g ot 7.0 and 2 g o t 6.5) h a v e p ro v ed that o u r goal 0Í yielding a g ro u p of stu d e n ts w ith an equivalence of level four of th e ALTERS or
C am b rid g e's CAE after a b o u t 900 h ours of English teaching an d learning has been met These days, it is enco u rag in g to see our K35 a n d K3(> grddualeb á y u u n ^ ^enerdUuiỉ
of ed u cato rs in the English d e p a rtm e n t and
o th e r d e p a rtm en ts of o u r university, sharing
th e w o rk w ith u s and receiving positive com m ents from th eir em ployers It is also
h eart-w arm in g to h e a r th at o u r stu d e n ts who received scholarships to various M aster program s in America, Singapore and Thailand shortly after the course are doing very well, loo
6 C o n clu sio n and lessons learned
The project has been acclaimed as a successful experim ent and our mother organizatioa Vietnam National University, has continued the project and m oved forward with
Oứter students did n d lake ihc lest because they went
on other training programs right after ỬỈC course.