Teaching english as a foreign language to students at a blind school in hanoi

ABSTRACT In an attempt to investigate the reality of English teaching and learning in a secondary school for the disabled the Blind and Visually Impaired in Hanoi hereinafter called Scho

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

- -

HOÀNG THỊ TRANG

TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

TO STUDENTS AT A BLIND SCHOOL IN HANOI (Nghiên cứu về việc dạy Tiếng Anh như là một ngoại ngữ cho học sinh

khiếm thị ở một trường chuyên biệt ở Hà Nội)

M.A Minor Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

HANOI – 2020

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

- -

HOÀNG THỊ TRANG

TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

TO STUDENTS AT A BLIND SCHOOL IN HANOI (Nghiên cứu về việc dạy Tiếng Anh như là một ngoại ngữ cho học sinh

khiếm thị ở một trường chuyên biệt ở Hà Nội)

M.A Minor Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Supervisor: Prof Dr Nguyễn Hòa

HANOI – 2020

DECLARATION

I certify that the thesis entitled “Teaching English as a Foreign Language to

students at a Blind school in Hanoi” is the results of my own research for the

Degree of Master of Arts at The University of Languages and International Studies – VNU, Hanoi, and the substance of this research has not been submitted for a

degree to any other university or institution wholly or partly

Signature

Hoang Thi Trang Hanoi, 2020

In addition, I would like to send my sincere thanks to all of the lecturers of the Department of Post Graduate Studies, Vietnam National University for their useful lectures and materials which are great of value to my thesis

A special word of thanks goes to all the teachers and students at School X for their participation in completing the project

I also want to send my appreciativeness to my family, my friends and other people who have encouraged, assisted and supported me during the process of this project

Finally, due to the limited time to complete this work, it is unavoidable to have the mistakes; therefore I am solely responsible for them and would like to have comments from others who concern to my study

Hanoi, September 2020

Hoang Thi Trang

ABSTRACT

In an attempt to investigate the reality of English teaching and learning in a secondary school for the disabled (the Blind and Visually Impaired) in Hanoi (hereinafter called School X), the main purposes of the research were to find out: (1) the reality in teaching and learning English to blind and visually impaired students; (2) the difficulties in teaching and learning English via the teachers and students‟ self- reported difficulties they faced with; (3) the reasons why the teachers and students have these difficulties in teaching and learning English; (4) the ways to help teachers and students reduce difficulties they have in teaching and learning English To conduct the research, I used the descriptive qualitative method The subjects of the study were eight randomly selected blind and low- vision students and four English teachers at School X The data was collected from class observation and interview The results of the research shows that: (1) The process in teaching and learning English to visual impaired students in inclusion class at School X are still teacher- centered, so the students are learning depend on the teacher‟s instruction; the English materials for visually impaired students are same with normal students; (2) The problems faced by teachers and visual impaired students in teaching and learning English in inclusion class; (3) The solving of the problems faced in teaching and learning English by teachers and visual impaired students

It is hoped that this thesis will improve the teaching and learning English process more successful at School X in particular and all the secondary schools for blind and low vision students in general

Key words: visually impaired students, language learning, language teaching,

challenges

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LISTS OF TABLES

Table 1: Students‟ reasons for learning English (N=8) 28

Table 2: Students‟ opinions about the importance of learning English (N=8) 28

Table 3: Students‟ opinions about the importance of learning English in comparison with other subjects (N=8) 29

Table 4: Students‟ opinions about their passion learning English (N=8) 29

Table 5: Students‟ learning competence (N=8) 29

Table 6: Students‟ opinions about the importance of good marks (N=8) 30

Table 7: Students‟ attitude to English lessons (N=8) 30

Table 8: Students‟ feeling in English lessons (N=8) 30

Table 9: Factors affecting students in learning English (N=8) 31

Table 10: Students‟ opinion when they are learning English in class (N=8) 32

Table 11: Students‟ opinion when having difficulties in learning English (N=8) 32

Table 12: Students‟ opinion about the most difficult aspect (s) in learning English (N=8) 33

Table 13: Students‟ opinions about English learning activities (N= 8) 34

Table 14: Students‟ materials for learning English better (N=8) 34

Table 15: Students‟ evaluation on their textbooks (N=8) 35

Table 16: Students‟ difficulties in learning English (N=8) 35

Table 17: Students‟ solutions to improve their English (N=8) 36

Table 18: Students‟ suggested solutions to improve their English (N= 8) 36

Table 19: Information about teachers participating in the survey (N= 4) 37

Table 20: Teachers‟ years of teaching English and teachers‟ years of teaching English to blind and low vision (N=4) 37

Table 21: Teachers‟ training background (N=4) 37

Table 22: Teachers‟ opinions about the importance of teaching and learning English (N=4) 38

Table 23: Teachers‟ opinion about the importance of learning English in comparison with other subjects (N=4) 38

Table 24: Teachers‟ and students‟ opinions about student‟s passion learning English (N=4) 39

Table 25: Teachers‟ judgment about students‟ learning competence (N=4) 39

Table 26: Teachers‟ attitudes toward English teaching aim (N=4) 39

Table 27: Aspects that teachers‟ focus on in their teaching English (N=4) 40

Table 28: Teachers‟ opinions about the most suitable method for their teaching

English (N=4) 40

Table 29: Techniques are often used by teachers in teaching English (N=4) 41

Table 30: Ways of using the textbook of the respondents (N= 4) 42

Table 31: Frequency of using other materials besides the textbooks in teaching English (N= 4) 42

Table 32: Frequency of using the mother tongue in teaching English of the participants (N=4) 43

Table 33: Some cases of using the mother tongue in teaching English of the participants (N=4) 43

Table 34: Teaching strategies often used in teaching English (N=4) 44

Table 35: Factors affecting the teachers‟ language teaching (N=4) 45

Table 36: Teachers‟ solutions to improve English language teaching (N=4) 45 Table 37: Teachers‟ suggested solutions to improve their English teaching (N=4) 46

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the rationale of the study, the aims of the study, the research questions and methods used to achieve the aims The scope and significance of the study are also presented Finally, the chapter introduces the structure of the thesis

1.1 Rationale of the study

In the context of integration and globalization, English is now becoming one of the most effective means of communication in the world and Vietnam is also no exception Hence, foreign language teaching and learning, especially English, is more and more essential and the master of foreign language – English - appears as

an urgent requirement at present As a result, there has been a positive trend of teaching and learning English in Vietnam People, from children to adults, are being stimulated to study English for a better life, which takes no exception to the blind people

However, it is assumed that blind and visually impaired foreign language learners experience more difficulties in their learning process than sighted learners The obstacles derive mainly from the absence or reduce input of visual information which may negatively influence the teaching/ learning process In addition, the opportunities for incidental/ implicit foreign language learning/ acquisition are limited in the case of low- vision or blindness As Aiazzi (2005) states in her project

that “eighty percent of learning is through sight”, it could be implied that teaching

English for the blind is confronted with quite a few problems For example, in a class with blind students, teachers cannot use many teaching techniques such as

“writing on the board, gesturing, miming and showing objects to pupils” (Aiazzi,

2007: 1) Therefore, how to teach English to blind and visual impaired students has been a controversial issue Thus, investigating the reality of teaching English in blind schools should be carried out in order to identify the difficulties that teachers and students there encounter and the factors that affect their English teaching and learning process

Moreover, concerning “teaching English to the blind people” helps me realize that this area has received little attention from the specialists There is not much research carried out on this problem especially in Vietnam, there is no study conducted to investigate the difficulties in teaching and learning English to the blind students,

which is a considerable disadvantage to people with visual limitations

Because of these all above mentioned reasons, I have decided to conduct a research

titled: “Teaching English as a Foreign Language to students at a Blind school in

Hanoi” This study helps us to have a deep understanding about teachers‟ and

students‟ difficulties in teaching and learning English In general, it can be affected

by a variety of factors coming from teachers‟ side, students‟ side and classroom condition Through this study, I expect to find out some appropriate solutions to overcome the difficulties for more successful teaching and learning English at School X

1.2 Aims of the study

This research is designed to explore the difficulties in teaching and learning English

as a foreign language to blind and low vision students at School X through teacher and students‟ self- reported difficulties they encountered in teaching and learning English With the hope to be some of help to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning English to blind and visually impaired students at School X, it is expected to achieve the following aims:

(i) To explore the reality of teaching and learning English to blind and visually students at School X and investigate the difficulties in teaching and learning English via the teachers and students‟ self- reported difficulties they faced with

(ii) To gain understanding of why the teachers and students have these difficulties

in teaching and learning English process in order to suggest some solutions to help teachers and students reduce difficulties they have in teaching and learning English

in context of a blind school in Hanoi

1.3 Research questions

In order to achieve the mentioned aims above, the following research questions are

raised for this study:

1 What difficulties do teachers and students at School X encounter in teaching and learning English as a foreign language?

2 Why do they have those difficulties?

1.4 Methods of the study

This is a survey study, and the major method used for the study is qualitative Data were collected via interviews for both teachers and students and classroom observations The study was carried out by some steps as follows:

First, the interviews for both the teachers and students were employed to find out their difficulties in teaching and learning English and also help the researcher gain deep insight into the teaching and learning problems and realize the reasons behinds

them Besides, the students‟ opinions of the solutions that they and their teachers can do to overcome the problems was revealed through the interviews

Second, the classroom observation was employed to get information about both teachers‟ ways of teaching and students‟ ways of learning in class as well as to ascertain the prevalent problems forwarded by the teachers during the interviews

After that, the data was collected, sorted, and analyzed qualitatively to obtain realistic results From that, the researcher will give some suggestions to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning English to blind and visually impaired

students

1.5 Scope of the study

The study aims at finding out the difficulties in teaching and learning English faced

by teachers and students at a blind school in Hanoi in teaching and learning English

as a foreign language There is no intention to generalize the results In other words, what is true to the group of students participating in this study may not be true to other groups of students

There are many types of difficulties that teachers and learners met when they taught and studied a foreign language However, due to the limitation of time and the narrow scale, the study only focused on the most common difficulties in teaching and learning English faced by teachers and students at School X from the perspectives of teachers and students in order to offer some suggestions for improvement

1.6 Significance of the study

Theoretically, the result of this research is expected to give contribution for the science in English teaching and learning process, especially for visual impaired students and their teacher

Practically, this study is expected to be useful for the teachers, for the visually impaired students and for the school For the teachers, it is expected to be kind of teaching method and reference for the teachers in developing or creating new more interesting methods and techniques of teaching English for the visual impairment students especially in inclusive school so that they can learn well For the visual impaired students, the researcher hopes that the visually impaired students will get

an appropriate treatment in English learning so they can learn English confidently;

they can decrease their difficulties; they can accept the same education right in class It can motivate visual impairment student to compete with normal students For the school, this research will be expected to be a reflection for English teaching and learning process, especially in inclusion class As an implementation guide for English evaluation for students with visual impairment, it can be a consideration to change the best strategy in teaching English; moreover can improve the quality of

English teaching and learning

1.7 Structure of the thesis

This thesis has five chapters

Chapter One: Introduction This chapter briefly states the rationales of the study, the aims, the research questions, scope, methods, the significance and the design of the thesis

Chapter Two: Literature review provides a review of literature on the theoretical foundations for the whole study as well as the concise review of related studies worldwide

Chapter Three: The methodology contains the core part of the study including the setting of the study, the methodology, the collection and analysis of the data for the research

Chapter Four: Findings and discussion analyze the statistical results from interviews and class observations which aim at answering two research questions mentioned in the previous chapter

Chapter Five: Conclusion This chapter addresses the key issues in the study, summarizes the main findings, gives some limitations of the study and offers some recommendations to improve the quality of teaching and learning English to blind students and also some suggestions for further researches

1.8 Chapter Summary

In the Introduction chapter, I have covered the rationale, the aims, the scope, the research questions, the methods, the significance and the structure of the thesis The following section- Chapter two- Literature review will present a review of literature

on the theoretical foundations for the whole study as well as the concise review of related studies worldwide

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter focuses on some of the most important issues in the theories of difficulties in teaching and learning English as a foreign language to blind students

in general and in School X in particular Firstly, briefly overview of blindness theories will be presented, include the definitions, the types and special educational needs in foreign language teaching and learning Secondly, the impacts of visual impairment on learning and the reality in teaching English to blind students will be mentioned After that, some approaches in teaching English as a foreign language and some problems related to teachers and students in teaching and learning English

will be listed The final part will be a review of previous related studies

2.1 Background Information on Blindness Visual Impairment

The terminology to define loss of vision or reduced vision is quite diverse The terms used more often are: blindness, low-vision, vision/visual impairment, visual disorder, vision loss and visual disability There are also different definitions in use depending on whether these terms are used in medicine, rehabilitation or education And, the two basic criteria to indicate that a person does not have vision, or has only partial vision, are vision acuity and vision field

According to the World Health Organization‟s classification (WHO, 2010), a person is “visually impaired” (or with “low-vision”) if his/her vision acuity in the better eye with best possible correction is less than 0.3 (normal vision is 1.0) or vision field from the centre is less than 30 degrees (normal vision field 180°); a person is totally “blind” (or with “blindness”) if his/her vision acuity in the better eye with best correction is less than 0.05 (3/60) or his/her vision field from the centre is less than 10 degrees

In education, „visual impairment‟ and „blindness‟ are conditions which cause special educational needs; being defined as “an impairment in vision which, even after correction, adversely affects educational performance” (Castellano, 2005:15)

In addition to the abovementioned definitions, Castellano suggests to use a skills definition of blindness/visual impairment According to that, blindness/visual impairment (BVI) means “using alternative skills and tools in place of, or in addition to, eyesight in order to gain information or perform tasks” (Castellano, 2005:16) The simplest definition of visual impairment used in practice is that a person is visually impaired if s/he cannot read ordinary printed text due to his/her vision loss without special aids or adaptations

In the Update and Revision 2006, WHO divided four levels of visually impaired type:

(1) Normal vision

(2) Moderate visual impairment

(3) Severe visual impairment

to a vision less than 20/200 and a limited range of vision People who are legally blind cannot see things clearly, whether it is near or far Totally blind means that the person has no vision at all Their eyes are not able to process images, and they learn through non visual resources, including Braille

Even though visual impairment is a low-prevalence disability, it may happen that there is a child with blindness or reduced vision in a mainstream classroom Providing real inclusion does not mean just physical attendance, but the primary goal should be ensuring them student‟s participation in an effective learning process It sounds well in words, but in reality, achieving full participation is a complicated task influenced negatively by multiple factors

The reasons for difficulties may be caused by students‟ individual characteristics, such as personality, psychological traits and mental abilities, which are very variable Those significant factors are related to accessibility issues It is a well-known fact that the ordinary learning process is based on vision to a great extent Mainstream study materials tend to be visual - in addition to the printed text, there are illustrations, visual clues and effects, which are designed to support and

motivate learning Also the teaching methods and activities are prevailingly based

on the use of vision

2.2 Visual Impairment and Its Impacts on Learning

Visual impairment can be defined legally and educationally It can be congenital, occurring at or shortly after birth or acquired through other means later in life Before teaching students with visual impairments, it is important for the teachers to acquire information about how the loss in vision influences the teaching-learning processes Visual information is fundamental in helping children observe and interpret what happens in the environment It is also an important prerequisite for conceptual development in a student‟s learning (Mwakyeja, 2013)

A visual impairment can make learning very difficult Students with visual impairments have unique educational needs which are most effectively met using a team approach of professionals, parents and students In order to meet their unique needs, students must have specialized services, books and materials in appropriate media (including braille), as well as specialized equipment and technology to assure equal access to the core and specialized curricula, and to enable them to most effectively compete with their peers in school and ultimately in society The teachers, who are working with visually impaired students need to plan the environmental conditions based upon the following factors: (Mwakyeja, 2013)

Learning Environment – The learning environment should be created in such a

manner that students should be able to adapt easily and enhance their learning The availability of learning materials should be well-organized in order to facilitate learning When the learning environmental conditions will not be supportive to the students, then their learning will automatically get interrupted It should contain the technology and the assistive devices, whose utilization will be able to assist students

in the acquisition of education Therefore, there is a need for all the stakeholders in education to consider reformation of the education system to enable these students learn better

Assessment of Learner’s Needs – Assessment of the learner‟s needs refers to the

systematic procedures of gathering and identifying the needs of the learners Quality teaching can only take place in an effective manner, when the needs, backgrounds and prior knowledge of the learners is known Assessment of the learning needs of the students with visual impairment, prior to the beginning of the study program is important for both the students and the teachers The reason being, it allows for an

understanding of the student‟s academic abilities, approaches, strategies and learning styles

Individualized Education Plan - Individualized Education Plan (IEP) is a plan of

study taken from the general curriculum, which is structured specifically to meet the needs of these students This plan of study consists of a list of precise goals to be met, and the strategies to be used to meet those goals Parents and teachers are required to work in co-operation to regulate these specific goals and academic needs

of the students to enable a teacher to plan and implement teaching

Teaching Collaboration (Co-teaching) - Teaching collaboration (Co-teaching) is

an important aspect of inclusive education, because inclusive classrooms comprise

of students with different learning needs A single teacher cannot have all the skills needed to meet students‟ diverse needs within inclusive classrooms Co-teaching involves two teachers teaching the same class at the same time The regular teacher taking responsibility of the main teaching, and a special needs teacher, dealing with disability specific needs of the students A teacher, who has specialized in visual impairments, should help students with visual impairments learn and understand A special teacher will be assisting a general teacher in preparation of teaching materials and learning environment for these students A co-teacher will also be responsible for teaching skills like reading and writing by using Braille, glasses, lenses etc

Collaboration with Parents - Parents make a major contribution to the education

of their children, and are prospective sources of information about the academic abilities of students with visual impairments Parents are the ones, who know their children well; they know their interests and the things that can prove to be beneficial to them They also know their educational needs, and can plan their future They will provide information about social, physical and emotional development

2.3 Teaching English to the Blind and Visually Impaired Students

According to Christidou (2016), the teaching of foreign languages to pupils with visual impairment presents some peculiarities and difficulties

The Transmission of Meaning - A key feature of language teaching is that while

in other courses communication is used to teach the course content, in foreign languages content is used to teach communication The non-verbal methods of communication are key players in the teaching of meaning, while in most classes

where languages are taught, vision plays a dominant if not an exclusive role Consequently, the teachers of the visually impaired who are unable to use visual means to support their teaching, must look for new ways to facilitate the teaching of the target language without making compromises regarding the transmission of meaning

Means and Materials- Today foreign language teaching is greatly based on vision

The meanings are often transmitted visually, using pictures, maps, and diagrams which are inaccessible to the visually impaired students One solution is to prepare differentiated material which is though time consuming and costly The students who use customized sources and material lose many physical-random learning opportunities and the chances to strengthen the incentives of the secondary information which is contained in the original material In addition, students‟ opportunities to choose by themselves the readings which they find pleasurable are

reduced

Reading and Writing Skills- The difficulties in reading and writing in all subjects

met by students with vision problems are commonly accepted, but are significantly increased in the case of learning a foreign language The readers may have a particular difficulty with the handwriting of a foreign language Another difficulty might be presented in the use of documents (catalogs, brochures, etc.) to be read which vary in font sizes, interpretation codes and sometimes present peculiar text

arrangements Moreover, stresses are often not so visible and should be highlighted

The Braille users follow a more unified system, with different types of difficulties Each language has different abbreviations Despite the use of the first degree Braille for foreign languages in order to include symbols for stresses and symbols for common words, a risk of confusion still remains Students from a point and on will have to either learn to use the Braille code of the foreign language, which requires a very good command of the Braille code of their mother tongue to avoid confusion,

or to work with recordings

Access to Reference Materials - A particular point of difficulty for students with

visual impairment is their effective access to dictionaries whose use is a major problem for both printed text users and Braille users Volunteer readers can be a solution to this In this case, however, the use of the dictionary is a troublesome dependence on others for the students and is not a skill of the student Talking

computers and mobile signs in Braille can help, but what is really needed is a

complete and effective talking pocket dictionary with good pronunciation

Use of Information Technology Where Appropriate- Despite the students‟ with

visual impairments relative familiarity with the use of computers, the commercially available software for language learning is mainly visual The sound synthesis systems available for text editing vary in capacity to produce foreign languages and mobile Braille signs are expensive CD-ROMs can provide reading materials with sound, but when it comes to its selection, teachers should make sure that the visual

elements are not the dominant ones

Assessment Procedures - Reading comprehension during an assessment may be a

big test for the memory since the student does not have the opportunity to keep notes in order to be helped The additional time given to the students as to complete the examination is necessary, but it puts to test their physical endurance and their

Encouraging Collaborative Learning – Encouragement of collaborative learning

among students with different learning capabilities and learning needs in an inclusive classroom has proved to be effective in promoting academic achievement, positive attitude towards the subjects and in improving social interaction among the students When individuals are working in collaboration with each other, they are able to devise solutions to their problems and are able to improve their learning Teamwork and collaboration also helps the students to generate awareness regarding the use of innovative techniques and methods Individuals come to know about others perceptions and viewpoints, when they work in collaboration

Using Questions and Answers – Verbal communication among the teachers and

the students is regarded as an imperative means of facilitating learning After providing verbal explanation of the concepts, the teachers should encourage the students to clarify the doubts that they may have Verbal communication of giving instructions and obtaining answers from the students is also a helpful technique

The teachers should record the answers given by visually impaired students, so that they are able to assess their needs and requirements in a better way

Sound Projection and Calling Students Names – The teachers need to be clear in

their speaking and in addressing the students The voice of the teachers should be pleasant, he or she should be interesting to listen to, should read out loud and be coherent in providing explanations, and one should avoid the use of vague phrases, such as, this, that or over here The teachers should make use of simple presentation and communication The best teaching method is following up on the tasks of the individuals to ensure that they are able to understand the lesson plan in a better way

Adapting Written Texts - Teaching materials need to be adapted For example

printed text can be adapted through increasing the font size, bolding the text, increasing contrast, adding colour, adjusting spaces between characters and large writing text should be used on the blackboard or visual aids However, the extent of these adaptations is determined solely by the rigorousness of visual defects and the needs of the students Therefore, it is important to consult a specialist teacher on preparation of materials prior to the lesson, the reason being, different students use different materials depending on the degree of their visual impairment

The Use of Audio, Optical and Non-Optical Devices – Verbal learning proves to

be beneficial to the students with visual impairments The incorporation of audio devices primarily assist the teaching processes, these include audio cassettes and compact discs Optical devices such as, eye glasses, magnifiers and telescopes use lenses to increase a person‟s residual vision and are normally prescribed by a medical specialist The examples of non-optical devices include large prints, Braille and Braille writer, tape recorders, book stands, recorded and talking, books and calculators and computers The role of both optical and non-optical devices is to improve vision and increase functionality of the students through the use of other senses It is the role of a teacher to encourage these students to use visual devices and assistive technologies to help them with vision

The Use of Tactile Materials – Teachers must be aware, that students with visual

impairments experience deficiency in conceptual experiences and understanding due to non-appearance of visual ability Therefore, adaptations of teaching materials becomes principal, if they have to learn all the things other students without visual impairments learn in class To help this, these students should be taught physically using concrete experiences Tactile diagrams are important to understand the

images and concepts, which are difficult to explain and describe in words Therefore, they should apparently be used, when figures and designs are important

to understand the concept but also, when the real objects are not available to help teaching Tactile images or diagrams can be drawn on Braille papers, using a special mat and stylus

Extra Time Allowance – The students with visual impairments are slow in

completing their work Therefore, extra time allowance is important for them in completing their work, to process visual information and complete their written assignments Students with low vision take longer time to read a text as compared

to students with normal vision Also reading and writing in Braille as well as getting information from tactile sources for students with blindness is time consuming At the same time, students with blindness need much time to integrate information coming through hearing Normally, it is adequate to add half of the time for students with low vision, and twice as much for students with blindness Many external examinations identify this requirement and give them allowance of up to 100% additional time for students with visual impairments

2.5 Factors affecting the process of teaching and learning English

There is a great deal of factors affecting the quality of language teaching and learning but because of the limited scope of the study, the focus is only on some factors affecting English teaching and learning process in a blind school in Hanoi Basing on Larsen-Freemans‟ views, difficulties in language teaching in general and difficulties in teaching English to student‟s vision loss in particular are examined from internal factors which include factors from teachers‟ view and blind students‟ view together with external factors which related to the characteristics of the class/ classroom structure and climate, the textbooks/materials, the school facilities and

the extra classes/tutorials

2.5.1 Difficulties from internal factors

Internal factors are those that the individual language brings with him or her to the particular teaching/ learning situation It means that these are the problems come from English teachers and visual impaired students themselves

2.5.1.1 Difficulties from teachers’ view

Teachers’ teaching methods

Through the history we have experienced the existence and development of many teaching methods that can be divided into two types: teacher- centered and learner-

centered methods Stern (1983) listed out some main methods including: Grammar- translation or traditional method, Direct method, Audio-lingual method, Audiovisual method Listing out these methods does not mean that we can choose a method to be perfectly applied to a certain class to increase students‟ involvement

In order to have a suitable method, the teacher should take some of the other factors into consideration including learners, teaching purposes and other available classroom/ school conditions This method can be one or a combination of those above mentioned methods Choosing an inappropriate or not being flexible in applying methods to a certain class may have negative effects on students‟ learning/

studying

Teachers’ knowledge

In the study “What makes a Good teacher”, Breach (2005) pointed out that most students believe that the teacher is a fountain of knowledge and their main responsibility is to pass on the knowledge to students: Language, Specialist knowledge, General knowledge of English- (speaking country)

Teachers’ characteristics

Barry (1993) pointed out some characteristics a teacher should have that help motivate students in learning/ studying in classroom in general: being natural, being warm, being pleasant, being approachable and being tolerant

It should be noted that hardly any teacher can have all the above characteristics once starting the teaching job but she/he should bear in mind that her/his characteristics partially account for success in her/ his teaching job so she/he should try to obtain them day by day

Teachers’ roles in classroom

With an increasing concern about the CLT approach in foreign language teaching and learning, in which learners are the centre of the lesson, the roles of a teachers are different from those in the traditional grammar- translation method, Harmer (2001) used the term “facilitator” to suggest the teacher‟s roles in a learner- centered classroom According to Harmer (2001), a teacher can have the following roles: Controller, Organizer, Assessor, Prompter, Participant, Resource, Tutor, Observer, Feedback provider

Teachers’ teaching strategies/ Experience in teaching Blind students

As for Ming-Nuan Yang (2007), it is important for English teachers to believe that effective strategy use can determine students‟ success It is believed that both sight and blind students need teachers who inspire them, who have rapport with them, who have high expectations of them, and who can provide them with supportive environments which bolster their confidence Therefore, the teachers need to be

able to communicate with the parents, to modify the curriculum where needed, and

to have the skills and the time to talk with students about life and its problems

2.5.1.2 Difficulties from blind students’ view

Students’ aptitudes

Caroll defines aptitude as the “capability of learning a task” (1981, cited by Ellis, 1994: 494) This capability is an additional advantage in language learning but it does not guarantee one‟s achievement (Ellis, 1994) Nevertheless, to be able to discover learners‟ aptitude helps to explain their success in language learning (Williams and Burden, 1997) Examples of language aptitudes are memory for new vocabulary, the ability to memorize new sounds and to understand how words function grammatically (Lightbown & Spada, 1993: 37) In teaching and learning, students‟ aptitudes provide hints of which teachers can use in selecting activities to develop students‟ capabilities

Students’ anxiety

Anxiety, simply speaking, is a kind of troubled feeling in the mind Spielberger (1983:1) defines anxiety as- the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the automatic nervous system (as cited in Brown, 2007:161) More simply, it is associated with feelings of uneasiness, frustration, self-doubt, apprehension or worry (Scovel, 1978:134) If the students are afraid of losing face as making mistakes or being laughed at by other students, they are certain to keep quiet and wait until they are required to speak in English lessons Anxiety is obviously an important factor in the foreign language learning Therefore, language educators should strive to promote a non- threatening environment and have techniques to reduce students‟ anxiety like: creating a relaxed and safe atmosphere for students, avoiding negative evaluation of students

in classrooms and comment on students‟ behaviors with more encouragement and taking some measures to relax students‟ attention to exams or evaluation

Students’ attitude and motivation

There have been a large number of researches on the attitude and motivation of students on learning and teaching English According to Gardner (1985), “positive attitude and motivation are closely related to success in foreign language learning”

An attitude is a mental or neural state of readiness organized through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence on the individual's response to all objects and situations to which it is related (Allport, 1935) Language attitudes may have an effect on second language or foreign language learning The measurement of language attitudes provides information which is useful in language teaching and language planning (Richard et all, 1993)

Motivation is one of the important aspects of second language acquisition Motivation has been identified as the learner's orientation with regard to the goal of learning a foreign language (Crookes and Schmidt, 1991) Brown (2007) considers motivation as an affective factor that plays a central role in learning a second or foreign language According to Siegel (2003), motivation is affected by learners‟ attitudes toward the L2, its speakers, and the speakers‟ culture Motivation is a kind of desire for learning It is very difficult to teach a foreign language in a learning environment if the learner does not have a desire to learn a language The teaching process will be success if students have motivation

in the learning Because of it, the teacher need grow the student‟s motivation

Students’ learning strategies

Language learning strategies refer to approaches or techniques that learners use to enhance their progress in developing L2 skills and play an essential role in L2 learning (Malley & Chamot, 1990) Most of the research indicates that there is a positive association between strategy use and L2 achievements and that both the frequency of strategy use and the choice of strategies are distinguishing characteristics between successful and unsuccessful students Moreover, Holec (1981) claimed that language learning strategies not only enable learners/ students

to learn L2 effectively and efficiently but also help develop their abilities of independent and autonomous learning which are believed to be another important factor leading to successful learning

2.5.2 Difficulties from external factors

External difficulties come from other elements instead of the teacher and students themselves Some elements of the learning environment and the context of teaching also cause difficulties to the blind students in learning English These elements include the textbooks/ materials, the classroom structure and climate, the school facilities, and the extra classes/tutorials

plan and teach lessons as well as formats that teachers can use” Moreover, Rivers (1968: 475) states that the textbook plays an important part determining the major part of the classroom teaching and the students‟ out-of-class learning

In Vietnam all the textbooks for schools are produced by the Ministry of Education and Training and no alternatives are available These course books are used in both private and public schools and all the teachers follow the same syllabus Thus, students and teachers from blind/ special schools have difficulty in learning and teaching English

2.5.2.2 Classroom structure and climate

Classroom structure refers to how the physical environment is organized to facilitate students‟ success in learning When students enter the classroom, they should be able to identify where their workspace or desk is located, and where the play or break area is located Therefore, classroom structure can be a powerful

factor in setting up the environment successfully by letting individual knows what is expected, what to do next, and when they finish with an activity A well-structured classroom not only improves learning opportunities, and can increase opportunities for appropriate social interactions but also decreases frustration, which may result in

fewer challenging behaviors A well-structured classroom should be a positive, pleasant place where students and staff alike want to be

2.5.2.3 School facilities

Most teaching takes place in a specific physical location (a school building) and the quality of that location can affect the ability of teachers to teach, teacher morale, and the very health and safety of teachers Many factors contribute to the quality of the school building and, in turn, affect the quality of teachers‟ life, teaching and educational outcomes Successful teaching and learning take place in school buildings that are clean, quiet, safe, comfortable, and healthy (Blagojevich, Illinois Capital Development Board, & Illinois State Board of Education, 2006) There are many factors related to school facilities that affect the quality of teaching and learning

2.6 Review of related studies

It is admitted that in regard to the topic “Teaching English to Blind Students”, not much research has been carried out until now, which is a considerable disadvantage

to people with visual limitations The following are some most recent studies of the topic which were conducted in the countries where English is taught and learnt as a foreign language They are studies by Lovi (2013), Michael (2013), and Aryanti

(2014) All of these studies share a common purpose in discovering the reality of teaching and learning English of visual impairment and suggesting possible solutions

The first study “Aspects of Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign Language

in The Case of Blind and Visually Impaired Learners in Estonia” by Lovi (2013) explored the factors influencing the process of teaching/learning English as a foreign language in the case of students with blindness or low- vision and to highlight the supportive measures used in practice in Estonia The instruments used

in the study were two surveys among learners with blindness/ low- vision and among foreign language teachers of visual impaired students in Estonia and two different questionnaires for the sample groups The study identified that blind and visually impaired can achieve same foreign language skills that those without sight problems The ability of acquiring a foreign language is definitely influenced by individual characteristics and individual differences of learners However, there are specific factors caused by blindness/ visual impairment It is assumed that learning foreign languages, including English as a foreign language, maybe more complicated for BVI learners in comparison with sighted learners The reasons for possible difficulties and challenges lie mainly in the absence or loss of vision which limits access to information Therefore, information should be adapted into accessible format and special skills and techniques are necessary to master for using technical accommodations Lovi (2013) proposed some suggestions that FL teachers should consider in teaching BVI foreign language learners In particular, the teachers should estimate the factor of time while designing and using reading tasks and activities based on reading Also, it is recommended that while teaching visual impaired learners in the mainstream environment, teacher should consider the needs of sighted group members

The second study by Michael (2013), “Teaching Students with Visual Impairments

in Inclusive Classrooms aimed at investigating the way general teachers teach students with visual impairments in inclusive classrooms and the challenges facing them at one of the secondary school located in southern part of Tanzania It employed qualitative case study design using four general teachers teaching in classes having students with visual impairments Data collection was done using semi-structured interviews and participants- observation methods The study found that general teachers have little knowledge about inclusive education and how it should be practiced not only for students with visual impairments but for all students with special needs The knowledge about inclusion and teaching in inclusive classroom is highly needed among general teachers to practice inclusive teaching for students with visual impairments in a professional manner Michael

(2013) suggested a lot of recommendations for the teachers, the ministry of education, the government, and future researchers The teachers should have preparation of teaching resources, like audio and tactile materials, reading braille writings, and instructing students with visual impairments the proper way of using their visual devices

Another previous study is taken from journal article, written by Aryanti (2014) under title “Difficulties in Learning English Faced by Visually Impaired Students at Center of Language Development (P2B) in State Islamic University (UIN) Sunan Kalijaga” The objectives of this research are to describe some learning strategies and difficulties faced by Visual Impaired Students (VIS) in learning English at UIN Sunan Kalijaga and to describe some strategies of the lecturer in dealing with difficulties in English teaching and learning process for VIS at UIN Sunan Kalijaga The type of research is descriptive qualitative research in the form of case study In this research, the researcher used two instruments They are observation and interview There are three subjects involved in this research They are two blind students and one low vision students The observation was done when the researcher did teaching and learning process at Class Dakwah R The data were taken from observation and interview The researcher used the data to analyze the VIS‟ difficulties in learning English The result shows that there are some difficulties faced by Visual impaired students These difficulties can be put into two different categories: internal and external difficulties Internal difficulties come from the VIS themselves which relates to VIS‟ sight conditions and their learning strategies External difficulties come from the learning environment including difficulties from the lecturer, friends, materials and the facilities VIS has different learning strategies The lecturer should discuss some classroom adaptations such as seating arrangement, friends‟ assistance and peer teaching, adapted facilities and exam accommodation, for instance exam assistance, longer exam time, inclusive examination and larger print for low vision students Finally, the lecturer should choose appropriate teaching strategies, media and teaching aids

Based on the previous studies above, the researcher proposed current research that

is different from the previous researches Firstly, in terms of subject and object of the research, the current research took challenges faced by English teachers and visually impaired students in inclusive setting as a subject research while previous researches only focus on problems faced by either teachers or visually impaired students The objects of the current research are both teachers and impaired students

at a secondary school for the blind and low vision in Hanoi while previous studies conducted in the countries all over the world Secondly, in terms of method, the current research is a survey study, and the major method used for the study is

qualitative while other related studies use case study as the main method Lastly, in terms of the way to collect data, the current research use interviews for both teachers and students and classroom observations as the main data collection instruments while the previous studies use questionnaires to collect data

In conclusion, all the previous studies mentioned above showed many different difficulties which are related to different aspects in teaching and learning English of teachers and students with visual impairments As regards research works in this area, there has not been much conducted to explore the reality in teaching and learning English to the blind and visually impaired students in Vietnam, I conducted

my thesis with the hope to explore more specific difficulties and proposing/finding out possible solutions and make a new and useful contribution to the development

of education system in Vietnamese teaching context

2.7 Chapter Summary

In this chapter, the researcher has presented a number of issues related to the research questions These include the definitions, the types and special educational needs in foreign language teaching and learning; the reality in teaching and learning English for Blind students and some approaches in teaching English as a foreign language; some difficulties related to teachers and students in teaching and learning English and a review of previous related studies This literature review serves as the theoretical framework for the researcher to design the interview questions and adapt class observation checklist with which the investigation of the teachers and students‟ difficulties in teaching and learning English at Blind School was carried out, and then to analyze the data collected as well as to suggest some pedagogical implications for learning English at School X

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

This chapter provides the general description of how the study had been conducted The chapter includes the following sections, namely, the research setting, participants, data collection instruments, research procedure, and data analysis

3.1 The setting of the study

3.1.1 An overview of the research site

This research was conducted at a secondary school for the disabled (the blind and low vision)- School X This is a public school which was founded in 1982 Since then, it has been virtually the only one place for students with blindness or serious visual impairment in Hanoi to receive formal education It means that School X was applied inclusion class in which students have visual impaired learnt together with normal students In the academic year 2018-2019, School X has 33 classes from grade 1 to grade 9 (21 classes for primary students and 12 classes for secondary students) with 1700 students in which there are 203 blind ones (116 blind students live in dormitory) Each class consists of 50 students, in which 6 to 7 are blind

The teaching staff composes 90 in total (both primary and secondary teachers) (70 females and the others are males) who are in charge of teaching all the subjects in the school Most of them are young (from 28 to 37 years old), enthusiastic and creative Those teachers often attending training or re-training courses organized in the school or in some others to brush up their professional knowledge, especially the teaching techniques and the adaption of new textbooks Moreover, festivals are held every year to encourage students to study not only English but also other subjects The physical condition in this school is quite good, eighty percent of classrooms have speakers, projectors, but there are not any special rooms for teaching and learning English

3.1.2 The teachers of English at School X

At School X, there are four teachers of English currently working All of them are female and have obtained BA degree in English language teaching Their experience of teaching English varies from 3 to 15 years They have over 4 years of experience in teaching English and at least 2 years in teaching English to blind students They are helpful, enthusiastic, and willing to make some renovations in teaching methodology They often have weekly meeting to discuss and adjust their lesson plans, to find solutions to the difficult exercises, and to design tests

3.1.3 The students at School X

The school has 12 classes with over 600 students ranging from grade 6 to grade 9,

at the age of 11 to 16 They started learning English from grade 3 on Most of them live in Hanoi so they are provided with good learning conditions They have enough textbooks and almost have reference or supplementary materials

The Blind and visually impaired students at School X

There are about 60-70 blind and visually impaired students studying at School Hanoi every school year In the academic year 2018-2019, there are 69 blind and visually impaired students who are integrated into 12 classes from grade 6 to grade

X-9 According to the school‟s principal and teachers, all of the students are in the state of “near-total vision loss” and “total vision loss” (number 6 &7 in the aforementioned Range of Vision Loss) They are equipped with course books in Braille of the same contents with their classmates Most of the blind students live in the dormitory in School X, where they often receive extra lectures by teachers/volunteers for further understanding of the lessons they learnt in class

3.1.4 The current situation of English teaching and learning at School X

3.1.4.1 The materials for teaching and learning/ Textbooks

At School X, English is one of the compulsory subjects in curriculum As in other secondary schools in Vietnam, the textbooks currently used for teaching and learning English is a series of textbooks from “Tieng Anh 6” to “Tieng Anh 9” published by Ministry of Education and Training The blind and visually impaired students are equipped with course books in Braille of the same contents with their classmates

3.1.4.2 The facilities

The facility of the school meets the standards for basic Vietnamese Secondary

classroom with one black board, 20-25 student tables, one teacher table, two big

fans and lights There is one projector but no computer or any high technology teaching aids Sometimes, laptop and microphone can be provided by teachers to connect with the projector in order to raise the effective level for their lessons The classroom setting follows the type “rows of tablet- arm chairs”, two students in a table, facing the blackboard and the teacher table The blind students do not have any special or fixed spots in every class, they seat with their normal classmate

3.1.4.3 Tutorials/Extra classes

A number of tutorials/ extra classes have been conducted in School X with the aim

of supporting the blind and visually impaired students in learning English Based on

their different organizers as well as timetables, these tutorials are divided into three main types: Noon, afternoon and evening tutorials

Noon tutorials

After finishing their lunch at school canteen, almost all blind and visually impaired students come to join in tutorials conducted by foreign volunteers from charity organization at about 12: 30 three times a week In these extra classes, students are often involved in fun and useful activities to enhance their background knowledge and to foster their English competences For example, students are told some stories

in English, learnt new words and join in discussions about some topics raised by the volunteers

Afternoon tutorials

The afternoon tutorials, known as the extra classes for blind and visually impaired students, are in a program set up by the School X staffs, purporting to help these students catch up with their peers in normal official classes which often take place

in the morning Regarding the English tutorials, there are two classes per week and the duration of each class is around 45 minutes There are no assigned rooms for the tutorials; class location is changed continuously, depending on the teachers, the students and other surrounding factors The number of students for each class is also unfixed as their demand in learning is different in time At School X, there are four English teachers and they all take part in the program Their students in the extra classes are also their official students in the morning classes The content of the lessons are flexible in accordance with the student needs Usually, teachers tend to help students revise what have been taught in the morning classes so that they will not stay behind their classmates Sometimes, new lessons can be carried beforehand

to make it more convenient for the blind to follow the lessons in their next classes

Evening tutorials

In the evenings, blind and visually impaired students at this school also receive tutorials by volunteer students from colleges and universities in Hanoi During the time working with these undergraduates, the blind and visually impaired students can raise any questions related to all the subjects they learn, not restricted to only English

3.2 Participants

In order to get the data for the study, eight students and four teachers of School X

are the research subjects

Eight blind and low- vision students have been randomly chosen from grade 6 to grade 9 (2 students per grade) Their ages vary from11 to 17 They are 4 females and 4 males They have been studying since grade 1 Some of them do not live in Hanoi; they are from different cities in the North of Vietnam

Four teachers who are teaching English at school were invited to participate in the research As being stated from the previous section, they were all female and their time length of teaching English is different: minimum is 3 years and maximum is 25 years

3.3 Data collection instruments

3.3.1 Interview

To allow collection of detailed information from the teachers about how they teach students with visual impairments in inclusive classrooms and the challenges facing them, interview method was used as a main method In this study, the researcher used structured interviews, in which the researcher creates a set of interview questions in advance and these questions are asked in the same order so that responses can easily be placed in similar categories A structured interview is also known as a patterned interview, planned interview or a standardized interview The questions in the interview guide were developed from the research questions and theoretical literature presented in chapter two They are about the problems faced by visual impaired students in learning process especially learning English in inclusion class The duration of interview session for every teacher ranged from 45 minutes to

1 hour, mainly in Vietnamese (with students), only with English words, phrases, or

sentences (with teachers) Basic interview questions were prepared (for details of the interview, see Appendix A and B) With interviewees‟ permission, the interviews

were tape- recorded All interview data were analyzed interpretatively

3.3.2 Class Observation

In order to see the reality of the process of teaching to students with visual impairments in inclusive classrooms, observation was selected as the second important method In this study, the researcher assumed the role of non-participant observer This type of observation was chosen because of the limited time that was available for data collection Observation schedule was used to guide and maintain the focus of the observed behavior The behaviors observed from teachers were recorded through writing notes immediately as the behavior was occurring From

classroom observation, the researcher wanted to see how English classes were really going on by the teachers of English in an inclusive class such as how they organized classroom activities; how teachers conducted their teaching; what challenges teachers coped with their classroom teaching; how teachers actually dealt with those challenges Moreover, the purpose of having classroom observation was to ascertain the prevalent problems given by the teachers during the interviews The observations were conducted in 4 English lessons at 6, 7, 8 and 9 grades of 4 selected teachers on language skills and language knowledge

3.4 Data collection procedure

According to Seliger and Shohamy (1989) once the researcher has selected a specific design for the study which is consistent with the objectives of the research, the next step is to collect the research data In collecting the data it is important to use procedures which elicit high quality data, since the quality of any research study depends largely on the quality of the data collected and the data collection procedure The data of the research was collected by means of interviews and classroom observations

The informal interviews took place in a face-to-face situation with the teachers and students during the second semester of the academic year 2018-2019, and the interviews were tape-recorded The interviews helped the researcher to get the necessary information on the challenges that teachers and students faced in teaching and learning English process at school

The observations were conducted in 4 English lessons at 6, 7, 8, 9 grades of four selected teachers The observations strengthened the information gathered in the interviews

Concerning the interview for teachers, it is aimed at exploring the difficulties

perceived by the English secondary teachers while teaching English to blind students in School X Also, the researchers wish to learn about practical solutions suggested or experienced by the teachers themselves to overcome mentioned hardships The interview questions for teachers consist of 21 both close questions and open- ended questions All these questions were focused on the following categories:

- Teachers‟ background/ teachers‟ teaching experience and teachers‟ teaching experience to blind and low vision students (Questions 1, 2, 3, 4)

- Teachers‟ attitude towards teaching and learning English (Questions 5, 6, 7, 8)

- Teachers‟ opinion about the most suitable methods, techniques, strategies, activities, materials and conditions for their teaching English at present (Questions

9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)

- Teachers‟ difficulties in teaching English to blind and low vision students (Question 19)

- Teachers‟ solutions to improve English language teaching (Question 20)

- Teachers‟ suggestions to improve their English teaching (Question 21)

Likewise, the interview for students will also follow the above format of the

students‟ interview which includes three main categories: personal information,

internal factors and external factors Students will be asked about the obstacles they

have to face in and out of class time regarding developing their English learning proficiency Also, the researchers hope to receive their ideas of how to solve their own existed problems

The interview questions for students consist of 21 both close questions and open- ended questions in which most of the questions were multiple choices All these questions were focused on the following categories:

- Students‟ background and their learning experience

- Students‟ attitude, motivation towards learning English and students‟ linguistic competence and anxiety (Questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)

- Students‟ strategies in learning English (Question 10, 11, 12)

- Students‟ learning facilities (Question 13, 14, 15, 16)

- Students‟ access to resources of learning English (Question 17, 18)

- Students‟ difficulties in learning English (Question 19)

- Students‟ solutions (Question 20)

- Students‟ suggestions in teaching English (Question 21)

All the interviews, which were approximately 45- 60 minute long, were audio recorded with the permission of the interviewees for later references and then were transcribed for the purpose of analyzing

3.5.2 Class Observation

As classroom observation has long been believed to effectively aid in the research process and to “help to make the educational research more accessible and practical” (Hoang & Nguyen, cited in Vu, 2008), it is fully employed at the first stage of the research for two main reasons Firstly, it helps partly to answer the first and second research questions with some surfaced difficulties such as blind students could not hear clearly because of the noisy class, or teachers have some problems with louder, etc Secondly, observation method is applied with the aim of collecting some raw data about the behaviors of the teachers and students in teaching and learning English from which the researcher can find out some problems for deeper investigation in the following interview part

The researcher attended the classes, noting down the factors affecting teachers and

students teaching and learning English by completing observation checklist (for details of the class observation checklist, see Appendix C).) I observed the four

classes which are taught by four English language teachers with different abilities During the process of observations, some aspects taking in class were focused on as follows:

- Classroom setting

- The participants of VISs

- Delivery of the lesson (classroom management, method of teaching)

- Teachers‟ follow up and motivation

- Availability of teaching and learning materials

CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

The previous chapter has clarified the methodology applied in this study, particularly the descriptions and justifications of the choice of participants, the instruments and data collections and analysis process In this chapter, all the results collected from the interviews and classroom observations will be presented and discussed in detail

4.1 Findings

4.1.1 Findings from interviews

After having invited the participants to answer the questions in survey interviews, it took a lot of time for the researcher to collect and analyze the data And here are the results

4.1.1.1 Findings from interviews with students

a Students’ personal information and English learning background

The participants‟ background information from the questionnaire shows that students are at the age from 12 to 18 They belong to two kinds of visual impairment: blind and low vision There were 8 blind and low vision students who participated in answering the interview questions Among them, 4 students (50%) were male, and 4 students (50%) were female

Most of blind and low vision students at School X have learnt English for quite a long time 50% of the students (4 out of 8 students) have studied English for more than 3 to 7 years This is the same number with students who claimed that they have learnt English more than 7 years (50%) However, their English results (average marks of English) previous semester were not high, ranking from 4.2 to 8.7

b Students’ attitude, motivation towards learning English and students’ linguistic competence and anxiety (Questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)

Reasons for learning English (Question 1)

In the interview, the participants (the blind and low vision students) were asked to response to the question showing reasons for learning English

The result was presented in table 1 below:

Students’ reasons for learning English Number of

respondents

Percentage (%)

I learn English to pass examinations 5 62,5% Because English is an international language 0 0

I learn English to communicate with foreigners 0 0

It was a compulsory subject 2 25% For a better high school 1 12,5% Others (Please specify):

- To have a good job in the future

- To study or work abroad if I have a chance

Table 1: Students’ reasons for learning English (N=8)

The statistic in the above table showed that the majority of students (62, 5%) learnt English because they wanted to pass the examinations Quite a large number of students (25%) really needed it because it was a compulsory subject It can be seen from statistics that no one really loved English and learnt it as a hobby From this result, we can see that most students are not willing to acquire English They learnt it for purposes: pass the examinations, get a better high school and be a compulsory subject

Students’ opinions about the importance of learning English (Question 2)

The importance of teaching and learning

English

Number of respondents

Not essential at all 0 0%

Table 2: Students’ opinions about the importance of learning English (N=8)

It can be concluded from the table 2 that half number of students (50%) thought learning English was very essential The number of students considered learning English was quite essential is the same with the number of students found that it was essential to learn English Only one student found that learning English was not very essential and no one thought that learning English was not essential at all

Students’ opinions about the importance of learning English in comparison with other subjects (Question 3)

The importance of learning English in

comparison with other subjects

Number of respondents

Percentage

%

More important than others 2 25%

As important as others 2 25% Less important than others 4 50%

Table 3: Students’ opinions about the importance of learning English in

comparison with other subjects (N=8)

When being asked about the importance of learning English in comparison with other subjects (Math, literature, physics,), 25% of the students considered that it was more important than other subjects and 25% considered it was as important as other subjects The number of students who thought that learning English was less important than other subjects is very high/ big (4 out 8 students), which made up 50%

Students’ opinions about their passion learning English (Question 4)

Options Number of respondents Percentage %

Table 4: Students’ opinions about their passion learning English (N=8)

As can be seen from the table 4, 12, 5% of them like learning English a lot, 25 % of them like learning quite lot while a large number of students assumed that they liked learning English normally (50%), and a small number of students assumed that they do not like learning English much (12, 5%)

Students’ English language competence (Question 5)

Table 5: Students’ learning competence (N=8)

As presented in the table 5, very few students judged that their English level/ competence were good, quite good and very good The percentage of these students only took up for 37, 5% In contrast, 5 out of 8 students which took up for 62, 5% found that their language competence/ level were not very good and not good at all

This information should only be used as reference because some students did not tell the truth about their English competence

Students’ opinions about the importance of good marks (Question 6)

As for the importance of getting good marks, table 6 shows that nearly half of the respondents (37, 5%) said that they just wanted to get a pass mark, they did not care whether their mark was high or not Also, 37, 5% of the respondents paid much attention to good marks Only 25% of them did not care about the marks

The importance of good marks Number of

respondents

Percentage %

Just to get a pass mark 3 37,5%

Do not care about them 2 25%

Table 6: Students’ opinions about the importance of good marks (N=8)

Students’ attitude to English lessons (Question 7)

With regard to students‟ attitudes to English lessons in class, table 7 shows that that almost blind and low vision students do not care about the interest of the lessons A small of the respondents (25%) found their English lessons interesting while the number of the participants who felt excited, interested in and bored with their English lessons were equal It confirms that a great number of students in the case

of low vision or blindness have a negative attitudes to their English lessons

Students’ attitude to English lessons Number of

Table 7: Students’ attitude to English lessons (N=8)

Students’ feeling in English lessons (Question 8)

Students’ feeling in English lessons Number of

I usually feel anxious, especially when my name is called 4 50%

I feel unwilling to communicate 6 75% Others (More ideas- Please specify):

- I want to participate but I feel unconfident

- I like learning English but I dare not learn

Table 8: Students’ feeling in English lessons (N=8)

It can be calculated from question 8 in the table 8 that all of the blind and low vision students (100%) suppose learning English is an important subject from normally to highly important scale, but no one (0%) feels interested in English classes 50% of the respondents often feel anxious, 75% of them often get bored, and also 50% of them often have no desire to learn in English class Two respondents further state that they actually like and want to participate in activities/ lessons/ tasks but feel unconfident and dare not learn Therefore, it can be concluded from question 2 and question 8 that although students acknowledge clearly the importance of learning English, they have no or very low interest, willingness, confidence, or desire in participating in English learning classes These students have very low motivation and attitude to English language learning

Factors affecting students in learning English (Question 9)

course book

4 50%

Others (More ideas- Please specify):

- I feel anxious because my teacher talks so fast that

I don‟t understand what she says and don‟t know

what to do

- I dare not participate because I do not

understand/know what to do and how to do the

tasks/ activities

- I think my teacher seems not to be patient to listen

to me because I usually do the task/ exercise/

answer the questions so slowly, so she usually

ignores me to save time, and it makes me

de-motivated

- I think my teacher only pay attention to good/

better students

Table 9: Factors affecting students in learning English (N=8)

Question 9 is aimed at finding out why students have such feelings as anxiety, boredom, and unwillingness to participate in English lessons It reveals that 75% of the respondents think that they feel bored, anxious, or unwilling to join in the English lessons because they are not used to learning English 50% believe that it is due to the feeling of being forgotten in class The number of respondents who think that the reason is related to difficult topics introduced in the course book accounts

50%, and 50% of the students think it is the boring teaching that leads to such feelings In addition, being afraid of losing face also has a specific effect on the attitude and motivation of the respondents with the collected response- statistic of 75% One of the blind and low vision students gives more details of why she feels anxious that her teacher often speaks so fast that she can‟t understand and does not know what to do Another one claims that because she does not know what to do, she does not want to take part in the lesson One student thinks that his teacher often ignores him because she is not patient enough to listen to him, and it makes him de-motivated The last additional idea is about that her teacher often pays attention to better students instead of other weaker

c Students’ strategies in learning English (Questions 10, 11, 12)

What do you often do in English class?(Question 10)

respondents

Percentage

%

I actively participate in lessons/ activities 2 25%

I almost keep silent and listen to the

teachers and friends

Others (More ideas- Please specify):

I use Vietnamese when working with my

friends

Table 10: Students’ opinion when they are learning English in class (N=8)

What do you often do when you have difficulties in learning English? (Question 11)

Table 11: Students’ opinion when having difficulties in learning English (N=8)

According to figures from tables 10 and 11, only 25% of the respondents ask for help from teachers or better students when they have difficulties in learning English and only 25% of them actively participate in classroom activities One student gives additional information for question 12 that she usually uses Vietnamese to speak to her friends instead of using English