Techers and students perceptions of qualities of a good vietnamese english language teacher a study at some rural high schools in an giang province

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAININGVINH UNIVERSITY NGUYEN HONG PHAM TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF QUALITIES OF A GOOD VIETNAMESE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER: A STUDY AT RURAL HIGH S

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN HONG PHAM

TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF QUALITIES OF A GOOD VIETNAMESE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

TEACHER: A STUDY AT RURAL HIGH SCHOOLS

IN AN GIANG PROVINCE

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

Nghe An, 2017

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN HONG PHAM

TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF

QUALITIES OF A GOOD VIETNAMESE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER: A STUDY AT SOME RURAL

HIGH SCHOOLS IN AN GIANG PROVINCE

Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

Code: 60.14.01.11

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

Supervisor: Dr Tran Thi Ngoc Yen

Nghe An, 2017

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine The data and findingsdiscussed in the thesis are true, used with permission from associates, and have notbeen published elsewhere

Author

Nguyen Hong Pham

This MA thesis has been completed thanks to the help and support of many people I would like to express my deep gratitude to all of them.

First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor,

Dr Tran Thi Ngoc Yen for her great enthusiastic instruction, valuable support and feedback during the time I was conducting this study.

I also would like to thank various teaching staffs of Vinh University, whose knowledge has helped me a lot in implementing this study.

Many thanks to the authorities, the teachers and students at four high schools in Phu Tan and Thoai Son district, An Giang province (Chu Van An high school, Binh Thanh Dong high school, Phu Tan high school, Nguyen Khuyen high school), who created good conditions for my research, enthusiastically assisted and participated in the study.

Finally, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my beloved family, especially my wife who has given me warm support and heartfelt encouragement during my MA program.

This study investigated perceptions of teachers and students about qualities of agood Vietnamese English language (VEL) teacher The research instruments included ajournal assignment and a questionnaire The participants were VEL teachers and students

at four rural high schools in An Giang province The journal assignment was employed toelicit ideas from 27 teachers and 40 students about the qualities of a good VEL teacher.The questionnaire was administered among 25 VEL teachers and 240 students to examine

the respondents’ perceptions about the importance of qualities of a good VEL teacher The

results indicated that the participants suggested various qualities that can be categorizedinto four aspects: knowledge, professional skill, personal characteristics and socialbehavior A comparison between the teachers and the students’ perceptions showed somesimilarities and differences in their views Both teachers and students appreciated the

importance of teacher’s knowledge, especially the subject knowledge such as

pronunciation, grammar, language use, etc However, the teachers paid more attention tothe knowledge of pedagogy and educational psychology while the students were moreconcerned about teachers’ fund of general knowledge such as knowledge of culture,society, geography, history, and so on Teachers and students shared an agreement on theimportance professional skill area; yet, their concerns about specific items in this area wereslightly different Besides, in comparison with teachers, students gave more weight toqualities relating to teacher’s personality and social behavior

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION………4

1.1 Rationale……… 4

1.2 Aims of study……….… 5

1.3 Scope of study……… 5

1.4 Research questions ……… 5

1.5 Thesis organization ……….6

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ……… 8

2.1 Definitions of key terms ……… 8

2.1.1 Perception ……….8

2.1.2 Qualities ………8

2.1.3 Teacher……… ……8

2.1.4 Native English teachers vs non-native English teachers……… 9

2.2 English language teaching………9

2.2.1 EFL versus L1 contexts……… 9

2.2.2 EFL versus L1 teachers……… ……… 10

2.2.3 EFL versus L1 learners………10

2.3 Non-native English teachers in EFL contexts……….10

2.3.1 Overview……… 10

2.3.2 Advantages and disadvantages of being a non-native English teacher………11

2.4 Perceptions a good teacher’s qualities………12

2.4.1 Western views ……….13

2.4.2 Eastern views ……… 16

2 5 Perceptions of a good EFL teacher’s qualities……….18

2 5.1 Western views ……… 18

2 5.2 Eastern views……… 22

2.6 Summary ……… 26

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY……….27

3.1 Research questions ………27

3.2 Participants ………27

3.3 Materials ………29

3.3.1 Journal assignment ……… … 30

3.3.2 Questionnaire ……… 30

3.4 Procedures……… 32

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS……… 36

4.1 Results and findings ……… 36

4.1.1 Journal Data……….36

4.1.1.1 Knowledge ……… 36

4.1.1.2 Professional skills……….37

4.1.1.3 Personal characteristics ………40

4.1.1.4 Social behavior ……….41

4.1.2 Questionnaire Data ……….42

4.1.2.1 Teachers’ perceptions ……… 42

4.1.2.2 Students’ perceptions ……… 43

4.2 Discussions ……… 45

4.2.1 Comparison between teachers’ perceptions and students’ perceptions …… 45

4.2.2 Comparison of teachers’ and students’ perceptions and the government’s

official requirements ……… 50

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS ……… 51

5.1 Summary of the findings ………51

5.2 Implications ………52

5.3 Limitations of the present study ……….55

REFERENCES ……… 57

APPENDICES 59

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

Any teacher, particularly a VEL one, would like to become a good languageteacher in the eyes of students and colleagues However, what makes a good VELteacher? Do teachers and students have the same or different perceptions about thequalities of a good VEL teacher? Those questions are part of the reasons that urgesthe researcher to carry out this study

As a VEL teacher at high school, the researcher trusts that knowing thedesirable qualities of a good VEL is actually essential Teachers may employ thosequalities as standards to evaluate themselves and their teaching performance.Teachers, therefore, can adjust their methods, strategies in order to teach moreeffectively

It is believed that VEL teachers expect to know what students consider as the

qualities of a good VEL teacher since students’ perceptions of good VEL teachers

can helps the latter improve the quality of language teaching According to Riddell(2001), students’ views are important in identifying a good teacher because they are

“a critical and discerning audience”, and, such as, teachers who can “respond totheir students’ personalities, attitudes, needs, and backgrounds” will become good

teachers (Riddell, 2001, p.12) Likewise, to know colleagues’ conceptions towardsthe attributes of a good VEL teacher is greatly important because it may help VELteachers have a more insightful view about the portrait of a good VEL teacher It isalso believed that discovering similarities and discrepancies in the teachers’ and

students’ views can help VEL teacher in high schools have appropriate solutions to

improve the quality of language teaching and learning

In Vietnam, there have been few studies on the qualities of a good EFLteacher eventhough the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam has issued aspecific instruction for evaluating the qualities of a good VEL teacher in highschools The evaluation of a good English teacher just relies on the criteria forevaluating good teachers, in general, such as teachers’ performance in the

classroom, teachers’ execution on professional regulations and administrative rules,

as well as teachers’ morality It is hoped that this study may delineate a more

detailed picture of a good VEL teacher and it may be a reference for the educationalauthorities in assessing VEL teachers in high schools

From the reasons above, the researcher carried out the present study with theexpectations to find out the necessary attributes to constitute a good VEL teacher,and discover the similarities as well as the differences in the eyes of teachers andstudents about the qualities of good VEL teachers As a result, this study mayprovide Vietnamese high school EL teachers with practical implications to enhanceteaching and learning activities

1.2 Aims of study

The aims of this research were to gain insight into high school teachers’ andstudents’ perceptions of a good VEL teacher to (1) identify qualities constituting a

good EFL teacher and (2) examine whether or not there are differences in the views

of teachers and students towards the attributes of a good VEL teacher

1.3 Scope of the study

Based on the theoretical background and the high school context, theresearcher hypothesized that the qualities of a good VEL teacher perceived from

teachers’ and students’ views would belong to four main aspects: (1) knowledge, (2)

professional skills, (3) personal characteristics and (4) social behavior It was alsohypothesized that there were discrepancies in the perceptions of teachers andstudents about the attributes of a good VEL teacher, The study was conductedamong high school students who were 16-17 years old They were in grade 10 and11

3 Are there any mismatches between the teachers’ and students’ perceptions

of a “good VEL teacher” and requirements stated in the official document

792/BGDĐT-NGCBQLGD ?

1.5 Thesis organization

The present thesis comprises five chapters: (1) Introduction, (2) Literature Review, (3) Research Methodology, (4) Findings and Discussions, (5) Conclusion and Implications.

Chapter One presents the rationale of the study in which the researcherintroduced the reasons for the study including the expectation to know what makes

a good VEFL teacher, and whether there are discrepancies in the teachers’ andstudents’ perceptions about the qualities of a good VEFL teacher, and the fact that

there have been very few studies on the attributes of good EFL teachers in Vietnam.This chapter then introduces general information of the current study

Chapter Two reviews literature concerned with the qualities of good teachers

in general and the qualities of a good EFL teacher in particular The chapter alsodescribes the gaps in previous studies which urge the researcher to carry out thisstudy

Chapter Three describes the research methodology of the study includingresearch questions, research aims, research design, and participants Theinstruments and procedure for data collection as well as an explanation of how toanalyze the data are also included

Chapter Four shows the findings of the study about the essential qualitiesconstituting a good VEL teacher It also presents the similarities and the

discrepancies in teachers’ and students’ perceptions of a good VEL teacher The

discussions about the obtained results of the study appear in this chapter as well

Chapter Five summarizes the main results of the study in the light oftheoretical background and hypotheses made It discusses the implications of thefindings related to evaluating VEL teachers and improving EFL teaching andlearning activities in Vietnamese high school context The limitations of the present

study and suggestions for further research are respectively presented at the end ofthis chapter.

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Definitions of key terms

2.1.1 Perception

In previous studies, the word “perception” is used as the synonym of anumber of terms as “conception” (Pratt, 1992; Gow & Kember, 1993; Zhang, 2007;

Kadha, 2009), “belief” (e.g., Pajares, 1992), “personal theory” (Fox, 1983;

Ramsden, 1992), “cognition” (Beishuizen et al., 2001)

There are many ways to define the term “perception” In this research, the

researcher adopts the definition provided by Jordan & Jordan (1989), “perception is

the term that refers to the human ability to process, interpret and attribute meaning

to the information received via the sensory system i.e seeing, hearing, smelling,tasting, and touching (p 332) Also, according to these authors, the term

“perception” is used to refer to a person’s perceptual experiences at a higher level of

information processing In other words, one processes, interprets and reacts to theinformation which he or she received, based on his or her sensory stimulation

2.1.2 Qualities

Although there have been various interpretations of qualities, this current

study uses the term to refer to features, characteristics, attributes or traits of a goodVEFL teacher

2.1.3 Teacher

According Jeremy Harmer, Teacher is the person who has the ability to adopt

a number of different roles in the class, depending on what the students are doing

If, for example, the teacher always acts as a controller, standing at the front of theclass, dictating everything that happens and being the focus of attention, there will

be little chance for students to take much responsibility for their own learning, inother words, for them to have agency Being a controller may work for grammarexplanation and other information presentation, for instance, but it is less effectivefor activities where students are working together cooperative on a project, forexample In such situations teachers need to be prompters, encouranging students,

pushing them to achieve more, feeding in a bit of information or language to helpthem proceed At other times, teachers may need to act as feedback providers(helping students to evaluate their performance) or as assessors (telling studentshow well they have done or giving them grades,etc) Teachers also need to be able

to fuction as a resource when students need to consult us and, at times, as alanguage tutor (that is, an advisor who responds to what the student is doing andadvises them on what to do next)

2.1.4 Native English teachers vs non-native English teachers

Learners in Cheung’s (2002) Hong Kong study (n=420) reported that NETs

had better oral skills, greater vocabulary, and insight into “Western” (presumablyBritish, Australasian and North American) culture On the other hand, their lexico-grammatical knowledge was deficient and they struggled to explain complexconstructions In addition, some teachers lacked understanding of language teaching

methodology Similar findings emerged from Mahboob’s (2003) study of 32 L2

learners in an intensive English program in the USA Conversely, the non-NETswere valued for their own experience as language learners, their use of strictmethodology and their work ethic; however, they were perceived as having weakeroral skills and less cultural insight than their native-speaker counterparts

2.2 English language teaching

2.2.1 EFL versus L1 contexts

It is a good idea for sure to use English most of the time; however,teachers should also know that they should not feel guilty while using L1 when it

is really necessary and appropriate to do so The situation might also be in theopposite way, that is, the teachers might be counting too much on L1, whichprovides less amount of target language input The instructors used L1 most forrapport building purposes, making the topic/meaning clear (by giving examples,explaining, making extra explanations, etc.), explaining difficult concepts orideas, etc However, they used it least for the purpose of talking about something

that is not related to course; confirming students’ understanding; conflict

management; discussing course policies, attendance and other administrativeinformation; transition from one topic to the other (OK, well, now, let’s ….); andhelping students find the correct answers for the questions & activities in for thetasks in their textbooks It was also found out that both the instructors and thestudents were aware of the importance of using the target language as much aspossible in the classes, however, they could not deny the need of mother tonguefrom time to time Both the instructors and students were satisfied about theamount of L1 use in their classes (Paker.T, 2005)

2.2.2 EFL versus L1 teachers

According Paker’study, teachers are able to see the circumstances in which

the others use L1, and have better understanding regarding the role of L1 in theirclasses The target language used as much as possible should be the goal of every

foreign language teacher, however, the use of the students’ L1 might also be

necessary from time to time, so it should not be a taboo for them Teachers mayhave some awareness to how much and for which functions some teachers feel thenecessity of using L1 in their classes They might find some solutions for some ofthe functions for which L1 is used, and thus, teachers can use more of the targetlanguage, which will lead to more target language communication in their classes

2.3 Non-native English teachers in EFL contexts

2.3.1 Overview

The place of native and non-native speakers in the role of English teachershas probably been an issue ever since English was taught internationally There is agrowing interest in the field of the professional development of non-native Englishteachers (NNETs) within teacher education programs (Braine, 1999; Carnagarajah,

1999) Since context is a powerful variable in shaping people’s perspectives and

experiences, this research primarily aims to explore the similarities and differences

in self-perceptions, challenges, and needs of non-native speaking teacher learners inteaching English as a foreign language (EFL) It helps me to gain a better globalunderstanding of non-native English speaking teacher issues

2.3.2 Advantages and disadvantages of being a non-native English teacher

Ellis (2002) points out that the characteristic of learning experience is onlysignificant if the experience is accessible and useful to teachers to draw uponduring their teaching For instance, they have learned the grammar, unlike nativeEnglish teacher who may have acquired it unconsciously Ellis further confirms

that NES know what “sounds right”, but maybe unable to explain it in the

classroom These abilities of NNES come under labels such as “language

awareness,” “meta linguistic awareness,” and “sensitivity to the language.” In her

later study (2006, cited in Moussu & Llurda, 2008), Ellis reiterates that a goodlanguage teacher in addition to mastering a combination of linguistic, pedagogicaland methodological skills will need to have experienced the process of acquiringand using a new language in order to understand students‟ learning process and

experiences

Arva & Medgyes (2000) and Barratt & Kontra (2002) cited in (Moussu &Llurda, 2008, p 322) confirm that a unique advantage NNES teachers have overNES teachers is that they can empathize very well with their students‟ learning

difficulties and understand what is to be homesick and to experience culture shock.NNES teachers are also admired by their students because they are successful rolemodels and are often very motivated

A study by Modiano (1999, cited in Moussu & Llurda, 2008, p 318),argues that regarding English as an international language, it may even be claimedthat many NNES of English are more communicatively efficient speakers ofEnglish in international contexts than a great deal of NES In other words, manyso-called NES can be far less intelligible in global settings than well-educatedproficient speakers of a second language

In a comparative study on NES and NNES English teachers in Kamhi-Stein,Aagard, Ching, Paik, & Sasser (2004, p 92, cited in Braine, 2010, p 23), listeningwas the highest self-rated skill, while pronunciation was the lowest rated Onerespondent stated that NNES teachers are afraid that they will make mistakes when

they speak Vocabulary skills were the second area of difficulty.

Reves & Medgyes (1994, cited in Braine, 2010, p 28 and Moussu and Llurda,

2008, p 322) found that the NNES English teachers were sacrificing thecommunicative language teaching for the sake of accuracy and more formalfeatures of English Similar results were found in Samimy & Brutt-Griffler‟s

(1999) subjects, who also perceived NNES English teachers as relying ontextbooks, which suggests a lack of innovation and creativity in the classroom aswell as preparation for examinations instead of learning for communication

A growing number of studies on language attitudes have examinedstudents‟ attitudes towards the non-native accents of foreign-born teachers and

instructors These studies have shown that teachers with foreign accents areperceived by parents and students to be less intelligent compared with teacherswithout foreign accents (Nelson, 1991; Solomon, 1991, cited in Butler, 2007, p.734)

2.4 Perceptions a good teacher’s qualities

Within the scope of the present study, perception about qualities of a good

EFL teacher can be interpreted as someone’s belief of the characteristics which

make a teacher who teaches English as a foreign language do the teaching well and

benefit students’ learning activity Therefore, the existing literature has used somesynonyms of the word “good” as descriptors of desirable teacher qualities Thesesynonyms were “effective” (e.g., Wringe, 1989; Cullingford, 1995; Hay-McBer,2000), “excellent” (e.g., Vallance, 2003; Kane et al., 2004), and “competent” (e.g.,

Hustler & McIntyre, 1996)

A good EFL teacher has characteristics of a good teacher in general;therefore, it is necessary to consider the qualities of a good teacher first Thus, whatqualities should a good teacher possess? To interpret the essential qualities of agood teacher is a difficult undertaking (Korthagen, 2004) From various viewpoints,the attributes making someone become a good teacher are different

2.4.1 Western views

The American Association of School Administrators (AASA) reported 15characteristics of good teachers in two categories: (1) management and instructionaltechniques, (2) personal characteristics (Demmon-Berger, 1986).

To further this argument, Kutnick and Jules’s (1993) conducted research on

pupils’ perceptions of a good teacher The participants were primary and secondary

school students aged between 7 and 17 The researchers identified that qualities of agood EFL teacher were classified into five categories:

1 Physical and personal characteristic of the teacher (e.g teacher shouldhave a good outlook and display good manners)

2 Quality of the relationship between teacher and pupils (e.g a good teacher

was expected to be “kind and caring”, “nice and friendly”, and “not bediscriminatory”)

3 Control of behavior by the teacher, which meant that the teacher is able tomaintain discipline in class even though that would mean punishment tostudents

4 Descriptions of the teaching process (i.e the teacher is able to organizeinteresting classroom activities, encourage students in learning tasks, giveappropriate amount of homework and plan for learning development )

5 And the expected educational and life outcomes that the pupils may obtain

through the teacher’s efforts (i.e students think that the teacher should

provide good education for them, and good academic results as well)

Also, Kutnick and Jules’ (1993) study showed that students’ perceptionsvaried depending on their age Differences in pupils’ focus when perceiving good

teachers were identified as follows:

Younger pupils focused on appearance, subject taught, and assertion ofphysical punishment Mid-aged pupils focus on the range of classroom control used

by teachers (including distributive and retributive punishments), actions involved inthe teaching process, and growing awareness of the individual needs of pupils.Oldest pupils understood that good teachers must be well trained and highly

motivated, should be sensitive and responsive to the needs of pupils, draw the pupilsinto the learning process, and have a major responsibility in preparing the pupil forthe world of work and further education (Kutnick & Jules, 1993, p 400).

This is one of very little research that has studied the differences in terms of

age and length of schooling experience, which is able to “provide developmentalinsights into pupils perceptions of a good teacher” (Kutnick & Jules, 1993, p 402)

Likewise, a study on students’ and teachers’ beliefs about good teachers in theNetherlands by Beishuizen et al (2001) involved students of different age groups(7, 10, 13, and 16 years of age) and primary and secondary school teachers in thetask of writing an essay on the good teacher The researchers collected essays fromteachers and students and then analyzed to compare the similarities and differences

in the perceptions of the participant groups The results of the study indicated thatprimary school pupils perceived good teachers basically as competent instructors,focusing on transmitting knowledge and skills Secondary school students paidmuch attention to relational aspects of good teachers, which was similar to the

teachers’ perceptions of establishing personal relationship with their students

Hence, the discrepancies in the perceptions of secondary school students andteachers were smaller than that between primary school pupils and teachers

Relating to the discrepancies between teachers’ and students’ perceptions about

good teacher characteristics, an earlier research was developed in 1993 by Lang et

al The researchers asked 167 participants including administrators, chairpersons,college teachers, and students to identify and rank three characteristics which areselected from a given list of 32 characteristics considered important to teaching Thefinding of this study showed that the teachers rates characteristics significantlydifferent from the students Specifically, students emphasized the characteristicsincluding knowledge of world events and knowing student ability and teachingthem in ways which they learn best, whereas teachers focus much on characteristicsincluding knowing the subject well and encouraging students to learnindependently

A good teacher should possess several characteristics, such as organizationand communication (Cullingford, 1995) Organization referred to the quality ofmanaging a classroom, with good preparation, clear rules and expectations,attention to detail, the best use of the classroom facilities, as well as knowing when

to teach the class as a whole, in groups, or individually Regarding thecommunication, it meant the quality of interest in other people, especially students,and the ability to demonstrate that interest through ideas and stories Thus,according to Cullingford (1995) the classroom practice items were highly necessary

to an effective teacher

In spite of sharing the same ideas with lots of writers (e.g., Bernhardt &Hammadou, 1987; Molllica & Nuessel, 1996; Lowman, 1996; Freeman & Johnson,1998; Witcher et al., 2001) about a number of attributes that make up the essence of

a good teacher such as sound subject knowledge, proper pedagogical knowledgeand social- skills, Kottler and Zehm (2000) emphasized that the essential qualities

of the best teachers were: charisma, compassion, egalitarianism, sense of humor,and additional desirable traits (e.g., smarts, creativity, honesty, emotional stability,patience, ability to challenge and motivate, and novelty) These authors also arguedthat a teacher’s responsibility “involves so much more than presenting the coursecontent or making sure of the students’ getting high score on achievement tests

Being a teacher is a way of life” (Kottler & Zehm, 2000, p 20)

More recently, 94 characteristics of effective teachers were identified in thestudy of Koutsoulis (2003), which was carried out with the participation of 25 highschool students in Cyprus The result of this study showed that 94 characteristicswere classified into three categories: personal qualities such as the ability tounderstanding students and teacher friendliness; communication characteristics such

as having good relationship with students; and teaching and productioncharacteristics such as the ability to make lessons interesting and motivating, and

the teacher’s knowledge of the subject matter Also, this study found that students at

different achievement levels had different views about the characteristics of

effective teachers The low achievement students endorsed more teacher personalqualities and communication characteristics while the high achievement studentslaid much weight on teaching and production characteristics.

In sum, studies on good teacher qualities summarized above suggested thatsome of these qualities were universal, that other quality were group-dependent andthat numerous qualities could be classified into four categories: knowledge(including subject matter knowledge and general knowledge); professional skills(e.g., teaching method, classroom management); personal characteristics (e.g.,enthusiasm, friendliness, patience, sense of humor, creativity, etc.); andcommunication characteristics or social behavior (e.g., ability to communicate withstudents and to handle teacher-student relation) Noticeably, these characteristicswere rated differently depending group endorsement such as teachers and students,older and younger students, high achievement and low achievement students

2.4.2 Eastern views

Confucius, a famous Chinese scholar, believed that a good teacher shouldteach with endless zeal and should teach students in accordance with their aptitude(cited in Zhang, 2007) Han Yu, one of the most celebrated litterateurs andeducators in Tang Dynasty in China wrote in his book Shi Shuo (On teachers):

“What is a teacher? A teacher is the one who shows you the way of being human,teaches you knowledge and enlightens you while you are confused” (Z Liu, 1973,

cited in Gao & Watkins, 2001, p 461) Thus, it can be argued that good teachers in

China should not only promote students’ intellectual development, but also enhance

their moral behavior Likewise, the qualities of good teachers in Vietnam arebelieved to manifest in two aspects: knowledge and conduct Ho Chi Minh (2000)

said that teachers need to train both talent (tài) and virtue (đức) Talent is

knowledge, skill; and virtue is political conduct He also suggested that teachersshould be good examples for students to follow

With respect to the perceptions of a good teacher held by Eastern people,

there have been very few relevant studies One study on Chinese students’ views

about a good teacher conducted by Szalay, Strohl, Fu, and Lao (1994) indicated thatthe students tended to view their teacher in terms of authority, esteem and respect.The survey also found that Chinese students not only considered their teachers astransmitters of knowledge, but also as “an idealized role model, a resource forsolving all types of human problems, and a model for lifestyle as well” (p 245).

In the same way, Cortazzi and Jin (1996b) investigated 135 Chineseuniversity students in Tianjin about their perceptions of good teachers by askingthem to write essays on this topic The result of this investigation was: 67% of the

students preferred a good teacher to have deep knowledge or a similar phrase, 25%

of them thought that a good teacher is patient, 23.7% is humorous, and 21.5% is a good moral example and shows friendliness.

In Vietnam, the portrait of a good teacher is more or less characterized based

on Confucian thinking That means teachers should teach their students not onlyknowledge but also the way of thinking and the attitude towards life Specially, in

feudal society, Vietnamese students often lived in teachers’ family to study;

therefore, teachers and students had a very close relationship The relationshipbetween teachers and students is similar to that of fathers and sons Teachers playedthe role of parents to teach, to love and to take care of their students as well.Nowadays, though the role of teachers has changed, a good teacher is still

considered as a “kind mother” or a “good father” (cô giáo như mẹ hiền- Vietnamese

idiom) Somewhere, Confusion ideology keeps influencing Vietnamese education

A good teacher is supposed to love and to have responsibility to students, and tomaintain classroom discipline; thus, it is certain that every good teacher in Vietnam

is aware of the slogan given by Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam:

“Dân chủ Kỷ cương Tình thương Trách nhiệm Trung thực” (Democracy

-Discipline - Love - Responsibility - and Honesty) Besides, to keep up with theeffective pedagogical methods, Vietnamese teachers are also expected to usevarious pedagogical strategies in accordance with students’ different capacities and

needs, to promote students’ activeness and creativeness, to be fair and honest in

student assessment in order to motivate student learning

It can be seen from the above discussion, Eastern perceptions considered

“moral role model” and “conduct guidance” as prerequisites to an accomplishedteachers because students go to school to “study manners first, and then learn to

read and write” (“Tiên học lễ, hậu học văn”- Vietnamese idiom) Besides, having

deep knowledge and effective teaching method, maintaining good teacher-studentrelationship are also crucial qualities of a good teacher In addition, it could beargued that Eastern ideas focus more on teacher personal qualities such as patient,friendly, kind, caring against Western views which appreciate academic andprofessional knowledge

2 5 Perceptions of a good EFL teacher’s qualities

Good teachers of various subjects are likely to share certain qualities incommon However, there may be specific characteristics that belong to teachers of aparticular subject such as a foreign language subject (Hammadou & Bernhardt,1987; Peck, 1988) In Western literature, it is common to find identified qualities ofgood foreign language teachers in general Narrower focus on EFL teachers onlyseems to be rare However, there is research (e.g., Borg, 2006) conducted tocharacterize the good general foreign language teachers by examining the teachers

in the field of TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) In Eastern literature,only a dearth of studies (e.g., Richards, Tung & Ng, 1992; Brosh, 1996; Ng, 2003;Park & Lee, 2006) have been conducted to identify the characteristics of good EFLteachers Therefore, in the present research, literature on qualities of both goodforeign language teachers and good EFL teachers were reviewed

2 5.1 Western views

To carry out the study on the good teaching practice, The LanguageTeaching Centre of the University of York had some intensive longitudinalobservation of nine competent foreign language teachers The research teamidentified that some certain attributes such as “involve the whole group”, “be skilled

with equipment”, “convey enthusiasm for the subject”, “explain tasks clearly”, and

“convey warmth through facial expression” (Sanderson, 1983) were commonly

shared by all the teachers observed However, these attributes can be applied to agood teacher of any subject Only four attributes identified were unique to foreignlanguage teachers including provide a variety of language activity, engage inintensive oral exploitation of materials, use the foreign language predominantly, andpromote use of the foreign language by the pupils

Previously, a research was conducted by asking a thousand French schoolpupils of different age groups to make a list of the qualities of a good foreignlanguage teacher (Girard, 1977) As a result, ten descriptors were found to be thebest qualities of a good language teacher are:

1 The good language teacher makes his course interesting

2 He teaches a good pronunciation

3 He explains clearly

4 He speaks good English

5 He shows the same interest in all the pupils

6 He makes them participate

7 He shows great patience

8 He insists on the spoken language

9 He makes pupils work

10 He uses an audio-visual method

It can be seen that the above general statements could apply to teachers ofany subjects, but statements 2, 4 and 8 are specifically for describing EFL teachers

In the studies of foreign language teacher education, many researchers havediscussed effective teacher characteristics because the role of teacher education is toproduce quality teachers (Bernhardt & Hammadou, 1987; Freeman& Johnson,1998; Vélez-Rendón, 2002) The discussion has been centered on teacher’sknowledge which included the subject matter knowledge and the pedagogicalknowledge According to Rendón (2002) the subject matter knowledge is defined as

what teachers know about what they teach; and pedagogical knowledge as whatteachers know about teaching their subjects In other words, the subject matterknowledge in foreign language education refers to target language proficiency inmany cases; meanwhile pedagogical knowledge relates to second/foreign languageacquisition theories, teaching methods and testing Actually, foreign languageproficiency has been considered a prerequisite for good foreign language teachers.

In other words, when teachers were proficient at foreign language, they could use

the target language in class, personalize lessons according to students’ background,

and facilitate effective lesson planning (Buchmann, 1984b) Nevertheless, foreignlanguage proficiency only cannot help teachers transmit knowledge effectively tolearners It is the view of some researchers that teachers should be equipped withgermane pedagogical knowledge (Shulman, 1986; Vélez-Rendón, 2002) From

Shulman’s (1986) view, pedagogical knowledge included ideas, concepts,

analogies, explanations and demonstrations used to make the subject mattercomprehensible to students Thus, it can be seen from Shulman’s argument that tohave a grasp of teaching methods and to be wise in applying pedagogicalknowledge into practice are essential qualities to good language teachers

In 1991, Prodromou also explored foreign language students’ views of goodand bad language teachers The survey found some of the characteristics of the good

language teachers as being friendly, giving good notes, organizing group work, playing games, and telling jokes Whereas some qualities like being strict, being dominant in speaking, giving students a text to learn and check it, and giving marks all the time are considered to belong to bad language teachers.

Also, another study outlined the traits of good language teachers as follows:professional training ability such as effective instructional techniques, languageproficiency such as four skills fluency and cultural comprehension of the targetlanguage, command of instructional materials such as visual and audio materials,grasp of evaluation such as assessment of students and professional testing, and

effective classroom management such as reduction of second language anxiety andmaintenance of classroom discipline (Molica and Nuessel, 1997).

According to Riddell (2001) a good English language teacher wascharacterized by five attributes Firstly, the teacher had to know beyond the subject,which meant the teacher needed to grasp not only the subject knowledge but alsothe teaching methodology Secondly, the teacher could give interesting lessons such

as to adapt and supplement the textbook to meet students’ overall level and theirindividual needs Thirdly, the teacher should know the students including knowingtheir name, their learning style, their expectations, their aims, their likes anddislikes, and so on Besides, the teacher should be passionate and patient becauseteaching and learning English is a very difficult and time-consuming task Finally,the teacher could help students make progress by planning lesson in accordancewith the real needs of the class and making proper evaluation of his own teaching

Recently, in an attempt to understand what it means to be a foreign languageteacher and in what sense they are different from other teachers, Borg (2006)examined the views of over two hundred practicing prospective language teachers.The study explored most mentioned qualities of good language teachers related tothe nature of the subject (i.e., more dynamic and more relevant to real life than othersubjects); the content of teaching (comprehensive and complex); teachingmethodology (more diverse and communication-oriented); teacher-learnerrelationships (more communication between teacher and learners); non-nativeissues (the use of a language other than mother tongue in teaching and learning, andteachers are also compared to native speakers of the language); and teachers’characteristics (creativity, flexibility, and enthusiasm) Borg (2006) also stressed the

need to define language teacher’ distinctive characteristics with reference to specific

contexts, rather than across cultures

Additionally, some other researchers had arguments about qualities of a goodEFL teacher To Rubin (1995), the process in learning a new language appeared toinvolve trial and error, so, a good EFL teacher had to accept students’ mistakes

Ottway, in Education and Society (1962), pointed out that one of the prime tasks ofany language teacher was that of handing on the cultural values and behaviourpatterns of the society to its young and potential members Correspondingly, a goodlanguage teacher required to know the culture of the language and embed this aspectinto the language teaching in order to help the learners use language moreeffectively.

Briefly, there are many attributes identified from the studies mentioned in theprevious section However, only a few of them can be considered as exclusivecharacteristics of a good foreign language teacher This can be explained that agood foreign language teacher is also a good teacher in general, so they surely sharethe same characteristics of the teacher of any subject (e.g to be dedicated in

teaching, to have teaching methods in accordance with students’ ability) What

makes a good foreign language teacher unique is probably his/her knowledge andcommand of the foreign language, ability to promote learners’ interest in and use ofthe language, knowledge about the target language culture, and most importantly,his/her ability to integrate these unique elements into those basic teaching skills(Zhang, 2007)

2 5.2 Eastern views

In an investigation into the characteristics of effective language teachers,Brosh (1996) identified the characteristics of a good EFL teacher from theperspectives of foreign language teachers and students in Israel His study reportedfour following desirable characteristics: having knowledge and command of thetarget language; being able to organize, explain, and clarify, as well as to arouse andsustain interest and motivation among students; being fair to students by showingneither favoritism nor prejudice; and being available to student In Brosh’ s study,both language teachers and learners counted command of the target language andteaching comprehensibility as the most important characteristics to be possessed bygood EFL teachers However, the teachers gave more weight than students on itemsabout developing motivation and research orientation, whereas the students gave

more weight than teachers on items about treating students fairly and makinglessons interesting In addition, the author emphasized the importance that the

teacher’s personality could have impacts on his or her success or failure

Also, there was another investigation into Korean high school teachers’ and

students’ perceptions about the characteristics of effective English teachers (Park

and Lee, 2006) In this investigation, the participants are required to express theirviews on a self-report questionnaire consisting of three categories: Englishproficiency, pedagogical knowledge, and socio-affective skills The findings

illustrated that teacher’ perceptions, on the whole, differed significantly from those

of the students in all three categories More specifically, teachers ranked Englishproficiency the highest; whereas the students rated pedagogical knowledge the first

A questionnaire survey on Hong Kong teachers’ beliefs, goal, practices and

judgments about their teaching and the teaching of English in Hong Kongsecondary schools was carried out by a group of researchers Richards, Tung and Ng(1992) The study result identified such qualities of good EFL teachers as be able to

motivate students (52%), diagnose students’ weakness (26%), know the subject

matter well (26%), assist students in their development (24%) and be organized (22%) It can be argued that in the eyes of the language teachersthemselves, motivating students to learn English is a prerequisite to become a goodEnglish teacher The survey also concluded that the main roles as an EFL teacherwere to help students discover effective approaches for learning, to transmitknowledge and skills to pupils, and to adapt teaching approaches to meet students’needs With regard to the primary roles an EFL teacher plays in the classroomcontext, the following functions were identified: to provide useful learningexperiences, to provide a model of correct language usage, to answer learners’questions, and to correct their errors Accordingly, it can be said that the essentialqualities for a good EFL teacher are having special skills and training in EFLteaching, reading widely to keep up with the field, understanding clearly how a

well-foreign language is learned, having knowledge of the English language, andknowledge of the cultures of English-speaking countries (Richards et al., 1992).

In the same study context of Hong Kong, another investigation into

secondary teachers’ and students’ perceptions of good English language teachers

was conducted (Ng, 2003) Fourteen EFL teachers and 148 students participated inthis study by writing a short essay on that topic Five areas of conceptions (Personalqualities & personalities, Professional development & academic requirement, Roles

of English teachers, Classroom practices, and Relationship with students) wereidentified and teacher-student differences in the distribution of the conceptions were

examined It was observed that the teachers’conceptions significantly related totheir roles and professional skills whereas students’conceptions concerned teaching

practices in the classroom For the teacher group, the five most frequentlymentioned conceptual items were: understanding/being sensitive to students’ needsand abilities; motivating students to learn; having good command of English; usingeffective teaching skills/methods; and prepare tailormade/suitable materials andnotes For the student group, the five most frequently mentioned conceptual itemswere: organizing interesting classroom activities; being patient; having deepknowledge about the subject; paying attention to students’ progress and needs; andgiving clear explanation (Ng, 2003, p.77)

Though the two studies mentioned in the previous sections were both conducted inHong Kong at secondary level, the latter (Ng, 2003) examined both teachers’ and

students’ conceptions of a good secondary English teacher while the formerresearch just examined teachers’ perceptions only For this reason, in the study of

Ng (2003) more conceptions were identified such as personal qualities and personalities, professional development and academic requirement, and relationship with students instead of two foci: teachers’ professional skills and roles

of EFL teachers in the study by Richard et al (1992).

Finally, in the study entitled “Conceptions of a Good English Language Teacher atTertiary Level in the People’s Republic of China”, Zhang (2007) established models

of good EFL teacher from the Western teachers’ conceptions, from the Chineseteachers’ views and from the students’ perceptions Especially, in the same study,

the author also indicated the differences among perceptions of three study groups:

Western teachers tended to consider a good tertiary English teacher as beingpractical in teaching, and showing adaptability in various environments andteam spirit in the relationship with colleagues Chinese teachers placedconsiderable emphasis on the sound pedagogical content knowledge

Students […] viewed the teacher’s effective communication with students,

encouragement and deep care for students, and sound subject knowledge asthe salient attributes of a good tertiary English teacher Compared with Non-English majors and first-year students, English majors and final-year studentsgenerally had higher expectations from their English teachers and theirexpectations covered a wider range of aspects of attributes such as personalqualities and standards of behavior and responsibility (Zhang, 2007, p 126)

In short, according to the foregoing studies, it can be argued that good EFLteachers, in the Eastern views, are expected to train the students to become perfectpeople in aspects of knowledge and human dignity Correspondingly, good EFLteachers should not only have high language proficiency and solid knowledge aboutthe English language and teaching methodology but also be able to motivatestudents and facilitate their language learning and development of positivepersonality (Zhang & Li, 1999) Moreover, good EFL teachers are also expected toform and maintain good teacher– student relation in addition to have some essentialpersonal qualities such as patient, caring, etc These allegations are in accord withthe conceptions of good teachers (see section 2.2.2) From the Eastern views, good

teachers’ characteristics involves not only knowledge delivery, ability development

but also conduct guidance and morality enhancement, so teachers are considered asthe cultivators who grow good persons

2.6 Summary

As reviewed in the earlier sections, there have been a large number of studies

on teachers’ and students’ perceptions about the qualities of a good EFL teacher In

the Western views, good EFL teachers are those who have knowledge andcommand of the language, adhere to the target language in class, encourage students

to use the language in class (particularly speaking), organize group/pair workeffectively, and treat fairly to students It can be found that great emphasis is placed

on teachers’ knowledge competence and classroom practice Unfortunately, specificperceptions of a good high school EFL teacher in the Eastern views are rare Onlythe study of Zhang (2007) indicated specific characteristics of a good tertiary EFLteacher in the eyes of Chinese teachers and students On the other hand, very fewstudies (e.g., Park & Lee, 2006; Richard et al., 1992; Ng, 2003) on good EFL

teacher’ qualities has been implemented in the high school context These studies,

however, indicated characteristics that appear to be unique to high school EFLteacher such as organizing interesting classroom activities, providing model of

correct language use, correcting students’ errors Up to now, the researcher has notfound any study related to the teachers’ or students’ perceptions about the qualities

of a good VEL teacher conducted in Vietnamese high school context Besides, some

of the previous studies identified the good EFL teacher’s qualities based merely onthe teachers’ perceptions (e.g., Witcher et al., 2001) or students’ conceptions

(Koutsoulis, 2003) instead of comparing teachers’ perceptions with those ofstudents It is hypothesized that there are discrepancies in the perceptions of highschool teachers and students about the qualities of a good VEL teacher; and it ishoped that knowing such discrepancies is crucial because it could help VELteachers at high school look back and adjust their teaching methods in order toimprove the language teaching and learning environment Therefore, the present

study entitled: “Investigating teachers’ and students’ perceptions about the qualities

of a good English foreign language (EFL) teacher - A case study at some rural high

schools in An Giang province” was conducted

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter first presents the research questions to be investigated Then the research design is presented The participants involved in this study, the instruments for data collection, and the procedures of the study are described.

3.1 Research questions

In order to investigate the teachers’ and students’ perceptions about the

qualities of a good VFL teacher at high schools, this study attempted to find theanswer to the following

1 What are the qualities of a “good VEL teacher” in the eyes of EFLVietnamese learners?

2 What are the qualities of a “good VEL teacher” in the eyes of EFLVietnamese teachers?

3 Are there any mismatches between the teachers’ and students’ perceptions

of a “good VEL teacher” and requirements stated in the official document

The students who participated in this study were between 10th grade and 12th

grade ones The students’ age is between sixteen and nineteen years old They have

learned English as a foreign language in school from five years to seven years.The journal assignment was carried out by 71 participants: 44 high school studentsand 27 VEL teachers

 44 high school students included 17 males and 27 females Among these, 14

students were tenth-grade ones, 14 students were eleventh-grade ones, and 16twelfth-grade ones The students’ information is presented in Table 3.2.1

Table 3.2.1: Information of the students participating in the first stage of the study

Class Number of students Gender

Male Female10

11

12

141416

566

9810

 27 Vietnamese high school EFL teachers comprised 12 males and 15 females

These teachers were from four high schools which are referred to as schools A, B,

B

C

D

9774

3252

6522The questionnaire was administered to 240 students and 25 EFL teachers

 240 students included 120 males and 120 females These students were randomly

chosen from 24 classes of four high schools The detailed information of the studentparticipants is presented in Table 3.2.3

Table 3.2.3: Information of the students participating in the second stage of the study

Class Number of students Gender

Male Female10

11

12

808080

404040

404040

 25 VEL teachers included 11 males and 14 females Among these, 20 teachers

used to participate in writing journals in the first stage of this study Theinformation of the teacher participants is shown in Table 3.2.4

Table 3.2.4 Information of the teachers participating in the second stage of the study

School Number of teachers Gender

Male FemaleA

B

C

D

9774

3242

6422

3.3 Materials

The instruments used in this study consisted of a journal assignment and aquestionnaire

Instruments Journal assignment Questionnaire

Function To collect teachers’ and

students’ perceptions about the

qualities of a good EFL teacher

To gauge respondents’ views

on the importance of eachitem about the qualities of agood EFL teacher

Elicitation

format

Writing a journal on the topic

“What makes a good EFL teacher

at high school?”

A five-point Likert scalequestionnaire of 50 itemsabout the qualities of a goodEFL teacher

format

WrittenWrite a free journal

WrittenCircle the number that canbest represent the

respondents’ views

3.3.1 Journal assignment

The journal assignment was used because it is a relevant means that allowsthe participants to articulate their views freely and thus is able to elicit the widest

possible range of participants’ conceptions (Kutnick & Jules, 1993) In addition, it

enables participants to effectively communicate their own thoughts, feelings andideas since it allows the participants to reflect on experience before responding; and

it excludes participants’ inhibition rather than in the face-to-face interview strategy

which was employed by some researchers in previous studies (e.g., Kadha, H., M.,2009) The researcher is strongly consistent with Kutnick and Jules’ view; andhence, in this study, the participants were asked to write a journal in their ownlanguage about the qualities of a good EFL teacher at high school One explanation

is that the term EFL teacher mentioned in the journal assignment is interpreted as

Vietnamese EFL teachers rather than general EFL teachers, which may includeEnglish native speaker as teacher

The instrument contained two parts The first part was a demographic sheetwhich was completed by the respondents to identify school where they wereworking, age, sex, grade (to students) and teaching experience (to teachers) Thesecond part was specifically for the study The participants were asked to write a

free journal in Vietnamese on the topic “What makes a good EFL teacher at highschool?” in not less than 100 words

3.3.2 Questionnaire

The questionnaire was designed based on the results of the content analysis

of the journals It was used to examine the participants’ perceptions about the

importance of items which were considered the qualities of a good VEL teacher.Nevertheless, the questionnaire had some differences in comparison with the list of

conceptual items For instance, some conceptual items which were mentioned

infrequently in the first study did not include in the questionnaire such as having good hand writing, having clear voice, having good health.

The questionnaire contained fifty items categorizing four clusters: (1)knowledge, (2) professional skills, (3) personal characteristics and (4) socialbehavior Table 3.2 below summarizes items for each cluster in the questionnaire

Table: Summary of the questionnaire

personal information, and instructions as how to response to the questionnaire Thequestionnaire used a five-point Likert scale for the participants to response to the

importance of each item by indicating whether it is unimportant, rather important, important, very important or extremely important

3.4 Procedure of data collection

3.4.1 Administering the journal assignment and questionaire

The purpose of using journal instrument was to seek for participants’ real

particular views on the topic There were no clear-cut right or wrong answers.Hence, the participants could express their ideas freely To make the participantsfeel comfortable and easy to write the journal, friendly but explicit instructions weregiven to all the participants

The students received an oral instruction (see Appendix 3) from their own VEL

teacher to write a free journal in Vietnamese on the topic “What makes a good EFLteacher at high school?” in at least one hundred words It was emphasized that the

journals were used for a research project and that the students should write thejournals about good teachers in general, without referring to any particular teacher.The students were also asked to put their school, grade and age on the journals Onesheet of lined paper with the topic and demographic enquiry on it was distributed toeach participant (see Appendices 1 & 2 for the English and Vietnamese versions ofpaper samples) The students completed the assignments at home and handed in thejournals to their own VEL teachers within a week The researcher then collected thejournals from those teachers

The VEL teachers received an invitation letter (see Appendix 4) to write a journal

on the same topic They were also asked to provide the name of the school wherethey were teaching, gender, and year(s) of teaching experience on the journals (seeAppendices 5 & 6) The researcher approached the VEL teachers and invited them

to complete the assignments and return them to the researcher sometime later Theresearcher also explained to VEFL teachers the purpose of the task they were going

to do Twenty four teachers wrote the journals on the blank papers (see Appendices

5 & 6) which were given by the researcher, and the three others completedelectronic versions which were returned to the researcher via email.

In order to collect authentic data, all the participants were required torespond in Vietnamese because responding in a second language might prove lessuseful than responding in their mother tongue (McDonough & McDonough, 1997)

In this study, the second language itself can be a barrier because the Vietnameseparticipants might have different learning/teaching experiences and Englishproficiency In addition, to help the participants feel “safe” to express their honestthinking, all the essays were anonymous All the journals of teachers and studentswere collected for data analysis

After the questionnaire was constructed, it was piloted with a non-electivegroup of forty high school students and ten teachers who were studying / teaching atthe same schools as the participants of the study No time limit was set for the pilot.The questionnaire was completed for about twenty five minutes: the fastest studentspending only twenty minutes and the slowest twenty five minutes Therefore,twenty five minutes was set to be the time allotted for responding to thequestionnaire

The questionnaire was almost conducted at four schools by the researcherhimself However, since the time limit and the difficulties in approaching thestudents, four VEL teachers at four high schools were also asked for help with theadministration of the questionnaire by asking their students to complete the paper inclass Then the questionnaires were collected and delivered to the researcher.Twenty five VEL teachers teaching at four high schools were approached

respectively at the end of four teacher’s meetings at their schools They completed

the questionnaire on the spot and hand in them to the researcher Finally, 25questionnaire versions from the teachers and 200 versions from the students (96versions of males and 104 versions of females) were used for data analysis 40questionnaire versions responded by the students were rejected for some reasons

such as insufficient response, only one option was chosen for fifty questionnaireitems.

3.4.2 Procedure of data analysis

After the journals were collected, the researcher read these journals carefullyand extracted a list of conceptual items to translate into English wordings since itextremely demanding and time consuming to translate everything contained in thejournals of the teachers and students The conceptual items extracted from the

participants’ journals were translated into English by the researcher himself

However, the original extracts along with the English versions were then sent to twoVietnamese high school EFL teachers for revising Then, the list of conceptualitems was shortened by replacing all synonyms with one descriptor or a shortphrase The initial list included fifty eight conceptual items identified from thejournals The list was then sent to the supervisor for feedback Next, threecolleagues of the researcher, two other experienced teachers at high school and fivehigh school students were invited to give feedback on the items and to offersuggestions From the feedback of the supervisor and the participants, the list wasthen improved and revised Specifically, some items were adjusted or removed fromthe list For example, the initial list included two items as follows:

(1) To apply information technology into the teaching

(2) To use teaching equipment (e.g TV, cassette, computer, internet, etc.) skillfully

After getting the feedback that there was overlapping between the two items, the

researcher combined these items into one as “to use multi-media/ high-tech equipment skillfully in teaching” The items “to make students interested in learning” and “to have active teaching method” in the initial version were removed

from the list because the meaning of these items was too general On the other hand,the aspects mentioned in these items were included in the other items of the list

Similarly, the item “to prepare sufficient materials for lessons” was excluded from the list because the meaning of this item included in the other one: “to plan the

lesson well” As a result, a list of 53 conceptual items was obtained (see Appendix

7)

First, the reliability coefficient was computed by the Statistics Package forthe Social Science (SPSS) program to check for the value of the questionnaire.Then, the data elicited from the attitude questionnaire was analyzed to examine the

participants’ perceptions about the importance of each conceptual item which was

supposed the quality of a good VEL teacher More specifically, independent-samplet-test was conducted to compare the mean differences between groups ofparticipants The result of questionnaire analysis was also compared with the one ofthe journal analysis in order to cross-validate the findings of journal data andquestionnaire data

In short, this chapter outlined the research methodology of the study,including the research questions, research design and the participants in the study.The research instruments were also described in this chapter Besides, the chapterdescribed in details the procedures of data collection and data analysis In the nextchapter, the results of the study as well as the discussion on the findings will bepresented