Shaping efl high school students perceptions of learner autonomy the roles of parental support m a

LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: Summary of learner autonomy perceptions of students from Table 3.1: The description of groups of school from 5 high schools 22 Table 3.2: The description of gen

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY –HO CHI MINH CITY

UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE

SHAPING EFL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF LEARNER AUTONOMY: THE

ROLES OF PARENTAL SUPPORT

A thesis submitted to the

Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature

in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY –HOCHIMINH CITY

UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE

SHAPING EFL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF LEARNER AUTONOMY: THE

ROLES OF PARENTAL SUPPORT

A thesis submitted to the

Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature

in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my sincere thanks and deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Dang Tan Tin for his invaluable guidance, assistance and support throughout the research He has steadily supported me from the very beginning stage to the completion of this thesis Without his tremendous support, sympathy and encouragement, my thesis might never have been completed

Secondly, special thank goes to my devoted instructors of the Master course at Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities for their enthusiasm

in providing me with profound knowledge and valuable experiences from the program Also I highly appreciate all members of the class TESOL 2012 for their help and encouragement during my work

Thirdly, many thanks go to my colleagues and students at five high schools in Rach Gia city, who were willing to cooperate in completing the questionnaires and voluntarily took part in the focus group interviews This thesis would not have been completed without their outstanding cooperation

Finally, I would like to thank my extended family, my husband and my little daughter for their love, encouragement and being with me along my academic journey and in my life

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

I hereby certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled:

SHAPING EFL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’

ROLES OF PARENTAL SUPPORT

In terms of the statement of the requirements for the Thesis in Master’s Program

issued by the Higher Degree Committee

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in other

RETENTION OF USE

I hereby state that I, H ch Nhƣ, being the candidate for the degree of Master in TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the library should be accessible for the purpose of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the library for the care, loan

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.3 Students’ perceptions of learner autonomy 9

2.4.2 Parental support for learner autonomy in EFL learning 13

2.5 Effects of parents on students’ perceptions of learner autonomy 14 2.5.1 Parents’ effects in initiating learning process 14 2.5.2 Parents’ effects in monitoring learning process 15 2.5.3 Parents’ effects in evaluating learning process 16 2.5.4 Parents use ICTs to foster students’ learning process 16

2.6 Students’ expectations of parental support in language learning 17

3.7.1 Analysis of data collected from the questionnaire 33 3.7.2 Analysis of data collected from the focus group interviews 34

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1.3 Students’perceptions of learner autonomy 40 4.1.3.1 Students’perceptions in the four dimensions of learner autonomy 40

4.1.3.2 Effect of gender on students’ perceptions of learner autonomy 41 4.1.3.3 Differences in students’ perceptions of learner autonomy among groups of

4.1.4 Students’evaluation on their parental support 45

4.1.4.1 Parental support for the four dimensions of learner autonomy 45 4.1.4.2 Effect of gender on the evaluation towards parental support 47 4.1.4.3 Evaluation of students from different groups of schools on

4.1.5 The relationship between high school students’perceptions of learner

4.1.6 Students’expectations of parental support for their learner autonomy

4.1.6.1 Students’ expectations for parental support in learning environment 52 4.1.6.2 Students’ expectations for parental support in motivation 56 4.1.6.3 Students’ expectations for parental support in time arrangement 59 4.1.6.4 Students’expectations for parental supervision in their learning process 61

4.2.1 Students’ perceptions of learner autonomy 65 4.2.1.1 Students’perceptions on the four dimensions of learner autonomy 65 4.2.1.2 Effect of gender on students’ perceptions of learner autonomy 66 4.2.1.3 Differences in students’ perceptions of learner autonomy among groups

4.2.2 Students’evaluation on their parental support 67 4.2.2.1 Parental support for the four dimensions of learner autonomy 67 4.2.2.2 Effect of gender on students’ evaluation towards parental support 67 4.2.2.3 Effect of groups of schools on students’ evaluation towards parental

4.2.3 The relationship between students’ perceptions of learner autonomy

4.2.4 Students’expectations of parental support for their learner autonomy

4.2.4.1 Students’expectations for parental support in learning environment 69 4.2.4.2 Students’expectations for parental support in motivation 70 4.2.4.3 Students’expectations for parental support in time arrangement 70 4.2.4.4 Students’expectations for parental supervision in their learning process 71

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1: Summary of learner autonomy perceptions of students from

Table 3.1: The description of groups of school from 5 high schools 22

Table 3.2: The description of gender in the study 24

Table 3.3: Modification of some items in Initiating learning process 26

Table 3.4: Modification of some items in Monitoring learning process 27

Table 3.5: Modification of some items in Evaluating learning process 27

Table 3.6: Modification of some items in Using ICTs in learning process 28

Table 3.7: Extracted items from the questionnaire 29

Table 4.1: Distribution of gender in the five schools 37

Table 4.2: An extract from the descriptive statistics of questionnaire

Table 4.3: An extract from the descriptive statistics of questionnaire

Table 4.4: Internal consistency of the four factor regarding student’s

perceptions of learner autonomy 39

Table 4.5: Internal consistency of the four factors regarding parental

support 39 Table 4.6: Descriptive statistics on mean difference among 4 dimensions

Table 4.7: Level differences in the four dimensions of learner

Table 4.8: Effect of gender on students ’perceptions of learner autonomy 42

Table 4.9: Descriptive statistics of gender on learner autonomy 43

Table 4.10: Mean difference of the three groups of school on learner

Table 4.11: Statistical description of post-hoc comparison 44

Table 4.12: Descriptive statistics of four dimensions of parental support 45

Table 4.13: omparing mean between students’ perceptions and parental

support 46 Table 4.14: Level differences in the four dimensions relating to parental support

for the four dimensions of learner autonomy 46

Table 4.15: Effect of gender on students’ evaluation towards parental support for

Table 4.16: Mean difference of the three groups on the evaluation of parental

Table 4.17 orrelations between students’ perception of learner autonomy

and their parental

support for the four dimensions of learner autonomy 49

Table 4.18: Themes from students’ expectations for parental support 51

Table 4.19: Students’ expectations for parental support in learning

Table 4.20: Students’ expectations for parental support in motivation 56

Table 4.21: Students’ expectations for parental support in parental support in

Table 4.22: Students’ expectations for parental supervision in their learning

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: Parental support for students’perceptions of learner autonomy 18

LIST OF ABBREVIATION

EFL: English as Foreign Language

ICTs: Information and CommunicationTechnology in learning processes EAP: English for Academic Purposes

MOET: Ministry of Education and Training

LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix A: The thirty items categorized in four core dimensions 89

Appendix B1: Survey questionnaire (English version) 91

Appendix B2: Survey questionnaire (Vietnamese version) 95

Appendix C1: Questions for focus group interview (English version) 99

Appendix C2: Questions for focus group interview (Vietnamese version) 101

Appendix D1: Sample focus group transcripts (English version) 103

Appendix D2: Sample focus group transcripts (Vietnamese version) 108

Appendix G1: Statistics on level differences in the four dimensions

Appendix G2: Statistics on level differences in the four dimensions of

Appendix H1: Dimensions of learner autonomy and other factors 124

Appendix H2: Dimensions of parental support and other factors 129

Appendix H3: orrelation between students’ perceptions of learner autonomy and

Appendix J: 30 questionnaire items adapted from Dang (2012) 138

ABSTRACT

Learner autonomy has been identified to foster independent EFL learning in the last three decades Therefore, research has significantly focused on students’ perceptions of learner autonomy and the contributions of different teaching practices in promoting this capacity However, most of these practices are investigated in classrooms rather than those beyond this learning context Taking this gap into consideration, the current study investigated high school students’ perceptions of learner autonomy and how it is relevant to the out-of-class support from their parents

Employing a mixed methods design, the current study collected both qualitative and quantitative data A questionnaire was administered to 515 students to understand their perceptions of learner autonomy, their perceived support from parents and the relationship between the two Five focus group interviews were conducted with 33 students to explore students’ expectations of the further support from their parents The two data sets were separately considered with the support

of statistical tests and theme-based analyses

The data analysis showed that students held positive perceptions in all four dimensions of learner autonomy They also appreciated the support from their parents at different levels A positive correlation between students’ perceptions of learner autonomy and their perceived support from parents was identified, suggesting a significant role of parental support on students’ perceptions of learner autonomy In addition, the interview data showed that students wanted to be supported by their parents in learning environment, motivation, time arrangement and supervision in their learning process The findings call for the co-operation between teacher and parents and more support from parents in stimulating learner autonomy of high school students in EFL learning

Key words: Learner autonomy, parental support, perceptions of learner autonomy, EFL learning, EFL high school students

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides an overview of the thesis First, it aims to give an introduction to the background of the study It then provides the critical rationale for which the study was conducted Next it presents the study objectives and purposes After that, the research questions were proposed to explore learner autonomy perceptions of high school students and the relationship between students’ perceptions of learner autonomy and their parental support Significance and limitations of the study are also stated Finally, the organization of the study is presented

1.1 Background to the study

Learner autonomy has become a remarkable growth of interest in both theory and practice in teaching and learning over the last three decades It has been identified

as a complicated capacity that has a great impact on personal growth and achievement (Dang, 2010) Researchers around the world have carried out quite a great number of studies on fostering students’ learner autonomy in various language learning contexts (e.g., Benson, 2001; Breeze, 2002; Chan, 2001; Cotterall, 1995; Dam, 1995; Jing, 2006; Lo, 2010; Nguyen & Gu, 2013,as cited in

Le, 2013) In Vietnam, many studies have been conducted to examine factors which affect learner autonomy development such as Nguyen (2009), Trinh (2005), Dang (2012), Le (2013), Nguyen (2014) However, these researchers mainly focus

on learner autonomy promoting practices in class; very few studies examined of-class practices in EFL learning In fact, it is important to take out-of-class learning into consideration as it plays a vital role in theory and practice of learner autonomy (Benson, 2001) In terms of this aspect, parents are among crucial factors in home learning environment of their children Regarding language learning research, parental involvement is commonly considered as a contributor

out-to learners’ language learning and Asian parents are often closely involved in their children’s second or foreign language learning (Sung & Padilla, 1998; Xuesong,

2006) Therefore, the present research focuses on exploring the relationship between parental support and students’ perceptions of learner autonomy in language learning

1.2 Rationale of the study

In Vietnamese context, English is becoming more and more important nowadays The National Foreign Languages 2020 Project of Vietnam or NFL 2020 project was created in 2008 with the main goal “to renovate thoroughly the tasks of teaching and learning foreign languages within the national educational system” (MOET, 2008) This can be understood that Vietnam wants most of its students to

be able to use a foreign language, especially English confidently in their study, daily communication, and work by 2020

However, the situation in regard to EFL teaching and learning in Vietnam is very challenging for both teachers and students (Dang, 2012) One of the problems is that high school students are lack of capacity to use English in daily communication after seven years learning English Although the new national English textbook published in 2008 had the goal to develop students’ skills in each unit, teacher and students mainly emphasized on reading comprehension, vocabulary and structural patterns for the purposes of passing the end-of-school and university entrance examinations into college or university Additionally, there

is a mismatch between teaching, learning and testing English at high school While the teaching follows the communicative approach, testing seems to focus on measuring students’ grammar and vocabulary (Hoang, 2013)

In Rach Gia city, the situation of EFL learning is also similar to that in high school education across Vietnam High school students study English so as to be able to pass the obligatory exam and meet the school requirements Students are at low level in English except those who are majoring in it In order to improve the quality of teaching and learning, the Department of Education and Training of Kien Giang province has organized many training courses for teachers to renovate teaching methodology with the hope to help develop EFL learning for local

students However, no matter what teaching methods have been employed to foster EFL learning among students, the result gained from it is not significant The reason is that students’ self-learning ability is weak They want to be good learners

of English but they do not know how to learn The inspiration from the study in class and the teachers are not adequate to help them develop their learner autonomy This kind of ability should be nurtured from both sides – school and family However, it seems that the school and teachers do not take into account the involvement of parents in fostering this capacity for students Teachers merely focus on their teaching in class and do not involve parents in their children learning From that practical situation, this research was conducted to help explore the relationship between of parental support and students’ perceptions of learner autonomy in EFL learning

1.3 Aims of the study

The present study aims at investigating high school students’ perceptions of learner autonomy and the relationship between parental support and students’ perceptions of learner autonomy The project was set out to achieve four main objectives First, it examines students’ perceptions of learner autonomy in EFL learning Second, it looks at how students value their parental support for their learner autonomy Third, it is to find out the correlation between students’ learner autonomy perceptions and their parental support in the home learning environment Fourth, it aims to explore students’ expectations of parental support for their learner autonomy development in EFL learning

3 To what extent are high school students’ perceptions of learner autonomy shaped by the support perceived from parents?

4 What are high school students’ expectations of their parental support for their learner autonomy development?

1.5 Significance of the study

The study is of the significant importance when providing insights of students’ perceptions of learner autonomy in high school education and the relationship between their parental support and their learner autonomy perceptions in EFL learning process Firstly, understanding students’ perceptions of learner autonomy help the teachers in adjusting teaching methods and designing more appropriate activities to improve EFL learning of high school students Secondly, examining the correlation between parental support and students’ perceptions of learner autonomy helps teachers realize the crucial role of parents in language learning of their children Thus, it is expected effective co-operation between teachers and parents to foster learner autonomy for students In addition, exploring students’ expectations provide parents and teachers with deep understanding towards students’ desires With the support from both teacher and parents, it helps enhance the ability of students in independent EFL learning at high school education in a particular context in Rach Gia city and in Vietnam generally

1.6 Scope of the study

This study investigated learner autonomy perceptions of high school students and parental support from high school students’ perspectives only As the main objectives of the study are to understand students’ self-evaluation on their learner autonomy perceptions, the extent they value their parental support and their expectations from their parental support, it is important to start with the students’ voice in the investigation Other perspectives such as parents, teachers, school management members were not included in this study Besides, the current survey restricted itself to high school students of grade 12 in Rach Gia City Students in grade 10 and 11 in Rach Gia city were not considered High school students studying in other cities in Vietnam and students from tertiary education were also

generalisable is limited, but the study instrument can be a reference for any research relating to students’ learner autonomy perceptions and their parental support at high school education in the field

1.7 Organization of the study

This paper consists of five main chapters Chapter One is the introduction of the study including the study’s background, rationale of the study, aims of the study, research questions, significance of the study, scope of the study and the organization of the study Chapter Two provides a critical review of the relevant literature beginning with the definition of learner autonomy, learner autonomy in EFL education and students’ perceptions of learner autonomy Next, parental support and their effects on students’ perceptions of learner autonomy were explored Besides, students’ expectations of parental support in language learning are also mentioned in this chapter These reviews help generate a conceptual framework for the whole research Chapter Three outlines the design and methodology of the study Chapter Four details the results of the study and presents a full discussion and interpretation of the results with reference to the literature Chapter Five draws a brief conclusion and presents limitations of the research Suggestions for teachers, parents and recommendations for future research are also entailed in this chapter

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents the review of literature related to learner autonomy in foreign language education First, it provides the definition of learner autonomy and it discusses some perspectives of learner autonomy in EFL education Next, students’ perceptions of learner autonomy are reviewed Then, the definition of parental support and some discussion on parental support for the development of learner autonomy are given After that, it looks at students’ expectations of their parental support in EFL learning Finally, a conceptual framework of the study was proposed

2.1 Definition of learner autonomy

In the last three decades, learner autonomy has become an important focus of educational practices and research Tracing back to the ancient Greece, the word autonomy is derived from auto-nomos (Voltz, 2008), auto meaning “self” and

“nomos” meaning “rule or law” Auto-nomos refers to a state where one gives oneself his own law Although the origin was from politics (Boud, 1981), this concept could be used in any field, including philosophy, medicine, and psychology to indicate a capacity that allows a person or organization can have his

or her own reasons for doing things (Dearden, 1972)

Learner autonomy has therefore been perceived and translated into practice in several ways, depending on particular political, social and contemporary situations (Dang, 2010) For example, while Wenden (1991) considered learner autonomy as

an ability of knowing how to learn, Cotterall (1995) took the notion of autonomy

as ability to “control” one’s learning activities In another definition, Little (1991) assumed that it was an ability for “detachment” or ability to learn “without the involvement of a teacher” (Dickinson, 1987, p 11) esides, it was also defined to

be a “capacity to make and carry out choices” (Littlewood, 1996, p 428) or an ability to perform rational decision-making processes over learning activities

(Hunt, Gow, & Barnes, 1989) More specifically, Boud (1988) viewed learner autonomy as an ability to give responses beyond usual instructions

In short, although there are many definitions of learner autonomy which depend on different aspects of this ability, the central core of this construct maintaining in the current research is the capacity to understand and manage learning processes responsibly and effectively

2.2 Learner autonomy in EFL education

In language learning, learner autonomy has been considered as a complicated construct Therefore, in order to understand learner autonomy perceptions applied for the current situation of this research, it is crucial to examine it under different perspectives of researchers in the field In the literature, learner autonomy has been perceived by four groups of perspectives, namely psychological perspective, technical perspective, socio-cultural perspective, and political-critical perspective (Benson, 2006; Dang, 2010; Oxford, 2003; Sinclair, 2000) The first perspective, psychological perspective, focuses on personal attributes of learners The second one, technical perspective values attributes regarding situational conditions in which learners use to develop their learner autonomy Third, socio-cultural perspective emphasizes the interactions between learners and their environment Finally, political-critical perspective refers to learners’ access, control, power and ideology in their community (Dang, 2010)

From socio-cultural perspective, learner autonomy has been claimed to be a complex construct which is shaped and influenced by the wider socio-cultural context in which it is being promoted (Le, 2013) and individual students can only

be autonomous in relation to some social contexts (Murray, 2014) Interestingly, Palfreyman (2014) developed a new concept in social dimension of autonomy by using a metaphor namely “the ecology of learner autonomy” y paring the ecology metaphor to a natural ecology, the researcher emphasized that a learner is always in some context which shapes what and how she learns (Palfreyman, 2014,

p 180) Therefore, though learning and knowledge exist in individuals, they are in

an interaction with the world around them because “a person is characterized by a power for action” (Masciotra, et al 2007, p.3) This power is manifested in the person’s action, and this action cannot be understood apart from the circumstances

in which the person finds herself (Palfreyman, 2014) In this sense, context can be described at different levels such as a class, a peer group, a family, a workplace, a community or a society in which learning is taken place and become part of an on-going interaction with it (Bronfenbrenner,1979, as cited in Palfreyman, 2014) From this point of view, learners are at the centre nested within the family, then the local community Especially in modern times, these circles tend to overlap and cross-cut (ibid.) From what has been discussed, families have some functions as learning communities in which each member take the roles in promoting learning among other members (Palfreyman, 2011, 2014)

In brief, learner autonomy described in the context of this study is not indicated as

an ability to work alone but with the support from parents as an important social factor Especially high school students, who are much familiar with traditional learning and teaching, really need explicit instructions and scaffolding to be autonomous learners

2.3 Students’ perceptions of learner autonomy

One of the purposes of the present study is to understand students’ perceptions of learner autonomy Thus, it is important to review students’ learner autonomy perceptions under different learning environment in Vietnam and in the world

In an investigation of 396 EFL students in Japan about their perceptions on learner autonomy, Yang (2007) proposed six dimensions which were utilized to explain

learner autonomy in Japanese EFL learning context including Self-initiative,

Making plans, Self-management, Flexibility, Taking actions and Concentration

Among these factors, students perceived self-control, taking action and

concentration better than self-initiative, making plan and self-management Yang

(2007) then offered some suggestions to the teachers to help encourage students to take charge of and continue their own learning

Kaur (2010) examined learner autonomy of Malaysian first year students through asynchronous online interactions Their learner autonomy was measured by the

ability in Planning, Organizing, Monitoring, Evaluating their learning and the

ability in participating in asynchronous online learning Asynchronous online

interactions were considered as a mean to support students to plan, monitor and

evaluate their own learning to become lifelong autonomous learners The findings indicated that they showed some confidence in planning but they needed help in organizing, monitoring and evaluating their learning It is suggested that students should be helped in ICTs skill, knowledge and the ability to plan, monitor and

evaluate their own learning before embarking on an online learning environment

In an attempt to stimulate autonomous practices among EAP learners in Vietnam, Humphreys and Myatt (2013) conducted collaborative action research to discover students’ perceptions of learner autonomy and their autonomous experiences

regarding Goal setting development and Self-reflection The questionnaire with

Likert scale items was utilized to assess students’ confidence in the use of autonomous practices, for example, setting their own learning goal and estimating time engaged in independent learning per week The results revealed that students perceived low level of “awareness” and “involvement” in autonomy in practice The researcher then suggested that there should be some more focus on specific skills of goal setting, self-planning and self-monitoring in the intervention’s goal

In the context of Vietnam, there have been several studies conducted with an attempt to examine students’ perceptions of learner autonomy According to Trinh (2005), in order to improve students’communicative competence, teacher should enhance their learner autonomy in language learning He considered learner autonomy as self-regulated meta-cognitive activities consisting of three

dimensions called Planning, Monitoring, and Regulating He suggested that

teaching method should be created the opportunities for learners to develop their self-regulated skills using task-based language learning as promoting learners’ self-regulated skills aims to stimulate their learner autonomy

Another study investigated in Vietnam was of Nguyen (2009) In her argument on the conception of learner autonomy, there were two basic threads of learner

autonomy called self-initiation and self-regulation She argued that self-initiation

is learners’ volition and willingness to learn without being forced by other people and the self-regulation element is task-focused Although she proposed that self-regulation involves the metacognitive skills of planning, monitoring, and evaluating, she did not focus on justifying the pre-defined number of learner autonomy dimensions In other words, her study aimed to comprehend features of learner autonomy as learner self-initiation and learner self-regulation and used strategy-based instructions to promote learner autonomy

Dang (2012) examined 562 undergraduate students in four universities in Vietnam Generated from factor analyses are four dimensions of learner autonomy namely

Monitoring learning processes, Goal-setting and evaluating learning, Using ICTs

in learning, and Initiating learning opportunities Students’ perceptions of

autonomy was self-reported at different levels by Vietnamese students but it showed that students wanted to control their learning process The findings were then compared to their performance of learner autonomy in online and offline environment Statistical analyses presented a strong relationship between students’ perception and performance of learner autonomy in each dimension at the beginning of the course but the relationship was not confirmed at the end of the course The researcher proposed a holistic approach in educational reforms to foster learner autonomy, particularly in such an examination-oriented context as Vietnam

In short, students’ perceptions of learner autonomy in language education can be summarized in the following table

Table 2.1: Summary of learner autonomy perceptions of students from literature review

Dimensions

of LA

Trinh (2005)

Yang (2007)

Nguyen (2009)

Kaur (2010)

Dang (2012)

Humphreys

& Myatt, (2013)

1 Planning Self-initiative

Self-initiation Planning Initiating

Goal setting development

2 Monitoring

Making plans Flexibility Taking actions Concentration

regulation

Self-Organizing Monitoring

Monitoring

Self-reflection

3 Regulating Self-control Evaluating

setting &

Goal-evaluating learning

4

Asynchronous online interactions

Using ICTs

As presented above, it can be seen that in investigating students’ perceptions of learner autonomy in the literature, most of researchers identified the dimensions of learner autonomy depending on the phases controlling and managing learning processes to indicate the process of learner autonomy (Dang, 2012) The literature

review presented a number of dimensions such as Planning, Initiating,

Regulating, Monitoring, Controlling, Organizing, Personalizing learning activities, Evaluating, Asynchronous online interactions and Using ICTs in learning process All dimensions proposed by the researchers mentioned above

have some common viewpoint Therefore, they may be grouped into four common

dimensions namely Initiating, Monitoring, Evaluating and Using ICTs The

differences appeared among the name of the dimensions were stemmed from the linguistical use and different situations under which the investigations were

conducted For example, Trinh (2005) indicated three dimensions called Planning,

Monitoring and Regulating in which Planning could be included in Initiating

learning activities as students make their plan to initiate learning activities

Regulating matches with Evaluating when students regulate their learning process

It also means they evaluate it and then regulate it towards a suitable trend in their

learning process Another example is from Yang (2007), with six dimensions

including Self-initiative, Making plans, Flexibility, Taking actions, Concentration and Self-control Self-initiative and Making plans may belong to Initiating learning process; Flexibility, Taking actions, Concentration may be grouped into

Monitoring; and the other dimension is Self-control which is similar to Evaluating

learning process Especially, four dimensions proposed by Dang (2012) and Kaur (2010) are the most similar to 4 dimensions regarding Initiating, Monitoring, Evaluating and Using ICTs in learning process

In the current study, dimensions of learner autonomy were adapted the four

common dimensions withdrawn from the literature review namely Initiating,

Monitoring, Evaluating and Using ICTs The four dimensions of learner autonomy

perceptions in the current study are Initiating learning process, Monitoring

learning process, Evaluating learning process and Using ICTs in learning process

More details relating to these four dimensions will be elaborately presented in the conceptual framework of the study (see section 2.7, page 18)

2.4 Parental support

2.4.1 Definition of parental support

In the existing body of literature on the development of students’ academic improvement, a number of studies have been focused on “parental involvement” or

“parental engagement” and these two terms were used interchangeably They refer

to the range of activities undertaken by parents to support their children at school

or at home In some way, “parental support” is similar to “parental involvement” and “parental engagement” However, in the context of this research parental support is defined as things or actions that parents do to help their children in their learning process at home This term implies a more active and personal level in supporting students in their EFL learning at home by their parents

2.4.2 Parental support for learner autonomy in EFL learning

In the development of students’ learner autonomy perceptions, parents are one of the crucial contributors when they provide their children’s with positive support in their learning process at home As argued by Yashima (2014), autonomous behavior can be developed under the support from “external prompts used by significant others” or encouragement by “salient reference groups” (Deci & Ryan,

2002, p 15) Under this light, external prompts mean the support from teachers, peers or parents in their learning process (Yashima, 2014) and parents belong to

“salient reference groups” (ibid.) which play an important role in facilitating their children’s learning Therefore, parents are considered as an essential factor who helps students become more autonomous in their EFL learning process

Furthermore, in terms of social dimension of learner autonomy, an autonomous behavior can not be explained by attributing it to just one cause (Sade, 2014) In this sense, he noted that “if we are to foster autonomy in class, it is not enough to establish some steps toward implementation” (p 172) Hence, educators should take into consideration to “the complex social network in which teachers, students, parents and other social factors are immersed, which has a great impact on the way people think, make choices and engage with valued enterprises” (ibid.)

In the literature, there was very little research carried out to examine parental support for learner autonomy perceptions of students in EFL learning Nevertheless, researchers in the field of language learning education have conducted their work to explore parents’ role in their children’ EFL learning process

In an interview of Chinese students on their development of language learning, in particular, their development as competent English learners, Xuesong (2006) found that parental involvement had both direct and indirect impact on the development of these students On one side, parents and other family members were indirectly involved in the participants’ development in learning English as language learning advocates, language learning facilitators, and language teachers’ collaborators On the other side, they are directly involved in their language learning as advisors, language learning coercers, and language learning nurturers

The researcher then suggested some more establishment of a family/teacher-parent partnership in learner development programs

school-Palfreyman (2011) described some families in which the interrelationships among family members help improve their children capacity in English The researcher emphasized the role of parental support when he illustrated the interrelationships

in one family that the father facilitated his children’s access to English by buying the younger children books and taking the older ones on business trip abroad He also challenged their language competence by asking them questions about English language films they watch on television Along with the direct support from the father, the mother who had limited knowledge of English, provided support and motivation for studying as well as to learn some English with her youngest son when they worked on his homework together

In sum, it can be assumed that by providing their children with direct or indirect support, parents may help their children to develop their learner autonomy in their language learning at home The following section presents the effects of parents on students’ perceptions of learner autonomy in details

2.5 Effects of parents on students’ perceptions of learner autonomy

2.5.1 Parents’ effects in initiating learning process

Many studies have shown that it was parents who helped students in initiating their language learning process Parents’ support and their attitudes shaped children's perceptions in the second language learning (Buckwalter & Lo,2002; Li,1999) For example, in the findings of his semi-structure interview, Xuesong (2006) found that “family members often attempted to instil positive attitudes towards learning English among the participants when they started learning English or even earlier” (p 290)

Additionally, parents certainly play a major role in providing environment, and necessary materials for successful studying to take place (Xuesong, 2006; Lee, 2010) There is evidence that English resources may support foreign language

learning effectively For example, parents who want their children to study English well may buy English books, English CDs, English magazines, newspapers or materials which help to enhance English skills for their children (Lee, 2010) Parents can also help students identify a definite goal for their learning process (Lee, 2010) They know their children’s capacity when communicating with their teacher or observing their learning process at home Therefore, they may give useful advice to help their children to set goals which are achievable and relevant

to them Besides, many of the issues concerning success in learning English revolve around making good study plan at home According to family routines, parents can also help students to make a suitable plan for their learning English at home

2.5.2 Parents’ effects in monitoring learning process

Besides their effects in initiating students’ learning process, parents have a significant impact on students’ monitoring learning process As study habits do not always come easily or naturally, most of students need to be taught how to develop them and parents are their first teachers Parents can help them keep track of their own learning, make progress in learning as well as nurture study habits for their children As noted by Xuesong (2006), it is not necessary for parents who want to support their children in EFL learning to have English proficiency In his interview, Xuesong (2006) found that parents played the role of an advisor who helped their children acquire useful strategies in learning English For example, one father, who knew little English but tried his best to keep up to date about recent developments in English learning and teaching in China, provided critical guidance for his child in how to learn English Parents may also play another role

as coercers who tried to force their children to develop certain strategies out of their convictions about language learning (ibid.)

2.5.3 Parents’ effects in evaluating learning process

In this learning process, students still need the support from their parents As evaluation is one of essential components in English learning, parents help

students to find out an effective evaluation so that they know how much progress they make and what they have to do to improve their English In order to help students access their English, parents may support them directly or indirectly For example, if parents have English proficiency, they can comment on their children’s pronunciation or other English skills such as writing, reading, listening or speaking They can directly provide their chidren with effective strategies to improve these skills (Xuesong, 2006) In contrast, with those who know very little

in English, they may encourage their children to meet English speaking people or foreigners to speak English (ibid.) or write diary in English They may also introduce their children other self- online evaluation tools (Lee, 2010) The others help their children to attend TOEIC, TOEFL or IELTS courses to improve their skills and check their English proficiency In short, with their support, parents give their children opportunities to think about their progress, realize their strength, find out their weaknesses and try to develop their skills

2.5.4 Parents use ICTs to foster students’ learning process

With the outstanding function of computers, many researchers admitted the wonderful effects of computers in language learning Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and learner autonomy had a close relationship (Dang, 2010) It helps foster the three learning processes of learner autonomy including Initiating, Monitoring and Evaluating Thus, it is not surprised when parents make use of ICTs to support their children in EFL learning They can rely on computer applications to create an authentic learning situation for their children to learn English at home One of the strategies parents used to promote their children’s English learning was the utilization of multi-media materials (Lee, 2010) Multi-media materials at home include instructional CD, multiple sets of audio English books, songs, and DVDs, and various on-line learning programs

In the same vein, Dantas and Kemm (2008) found that E-learning is considered to

be particularly well-suited to make learners highly motivated in their learning It is also confirmed that asynchronous online interaction is an effective mean to support students in planning, monitoring and evaluating their own learning (Kaur, 2010)

Thus, parents also introduce students more about English learning websites, blogs, discussion forums and wiki environment With their support, parents may help students develop a habit to use online resources to study and improve their English skills, use online forum to communicate in English and evaluate their English proficiency through English tests online

2.6 Students’ expectations of parental support in language learning

Expectation is what an individual believes will happen in the future It allows every student to be involved and engaged in their learning process

In the literature, there have been many studies conducted to find out students’ expectations in their language learning but these studies mainly focus on students’ expectations from the school (Lennard & Bulsara, 2007) or the teacher (Trejo, 2007), there is a scarcity of research to seek for students’ voice for the support from parents in EFL study Therefore, understanding students’ expectations is very essential, especially what they hope to be supported by their parents in their language learning

In the field of language learning, Rieger & McGrail (2006) stated that some students had highly supportive home environments for language learning and literacy development; others lived without any access to books or literacy rich environments In order to help these students, familial support should be enhanced and their expectations should be explored Hence, exploring what students expect from their parents should be taken into consideration so as to help teachers and parents acknowledge the true need from students and thus assist them in their EFL learning more effectively

2.7 Conceptual Framework of the study

Basing on four common dimensions from the literature review on students’ perceptions of learner autonomy and social dimension perspective of learner

autonomy , the current study proposed four dimensions namely Initiating learning

process, Monitoring learning process, Evaluating learning process and Using

ICTs in learning process As all four dimensions were affected by parental

support, the theoretical framework of the present study can be illustrated by the following figure

Using ICTs in learning process

Parental support

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

This chapter is devoted to providing details on the description of the research methodology First, it restates the research questions proposed in chapter 1 It then reports on the research design and the context of the study Next, the participants and the instruments are described The validity and reliability of the instruments are also considered Finally, the data collection procedure and the data analysis procedure are presented

3.1 Research questions

In this study, the researcher aims to explore high school students’ perceptions of learner autonomy, the exent to which students valued their parental support and the relationship between the two In order to achieve the objectives proposed, this section presents the description of the methodology employed for this project to answer the following research questions:

1 What are high school students’ perceptions of learner autonomy in EFL learning?

2 To what extent do high school students value their parental support for their learner autonomy?

3 To what extent are high school students’ perceptions of learner autonomy shaped by the level of support perceived from parents?

4 What are high school students’ expectations of parental support for their learner autonomy development?

3.2 Research design

This project employed a mixed methods approach characterized by a process of generating and interpreting both qualitative and quantitative data to answer four research questions As noticed by Creswell and Clark (2007), the central premise

of this method is to provide a better understanding of research problems than either approach alone The quantitative method collects numerical data to explain students’ perceptions of learner autonomy and their evaluation on their parental support The qualitative method was utilized to explore students’ expectations from their parental support in their EFL learning process

The quantitative data generated from a survey questionnaire was to measure the students’ perceptions in four dimensions of learner autonomy The instrument was also utilized to identify the extent to which students valued the support from their parents Then, basing on the findings from the data collected, the researcher explored the correlation between students’ perceptions of learner autonomy and their parental support After that, the focus group interview was used to understand students’ expectations from the support of their parents for their learner autonomy development in EFL learning

3.3 Context of the study

The research project was conducted at five high schools in Rach Gia city Rach Gia is the capital city of Kien Giang province, located in the Mekong Delta, southern Vietnam With 15 kilometer long coastline and many rivers, Rach Gia has advantages of trade, tourism, aquaculture and fishing Due to the favorable natural conditions, people who live in Rach Gia city mainly run their own business, do farming or do fishery

There are totally seven high schools in Rach Gia city namely Huynh Man Dat, Nguyen Trung Truc, Nguyen Hung Son, Pho Co Dieu, I-school Rach Gia, Duc Tri and Kien Giang boarding upper secondary school The schools are categorized into three types including gifted school, normal public school and private school The grouping is based on the common characteristics of these schools Huynh Man Dat high school is a public school for gifted students in Rach Gia city It is unique and cannot be confused with other high schools The second is normal public high school including Nguyen Hung Son and Nguyen Trung Truc The third one is private school consisting of Pho Co Dieu, I-school Rach Gia, Duc Tri Every year,

an exam is held by the Department of Education and Training of Kien Giang province to recruit high school students for the three schools including Huynh Man Dat, Nguyen Trung Truc and Nguyen Hung Son Students who achieved the top scores will be selected for gifted school The others who gain an acceptable score will become students of normal public schools and the rest will apply for private schools The description of groups of school is presented in Table 3.1 as follows Table 3.1: The description of groups of school from 5 high schools

Gifted school Huynh Man Dat high school 97 20.5

Normal public school

Nguyen Trung Truc high school Nguyen Hung Son high school

235 49.5 Private school I-school Rach Gia

Pho Co Dieu high school

At school, the relationship between parents and teacher, especially English teacher

is rather loose The collaboration between family and school mainly depends on the regular parent meetings which are held every school year These meetings are open with the purpose to exchange information between the form teacher and parents about the general learning process and ethical training of all students in class There is no separate meeting for English teacher and parents to discuss about

students’ EFL study In addition, many parents believe that English teachers should take full responsibility for their children's language learning Rarely do they pay attention and support for their children in learning this subject As the students have to face their difficulties in EFL learning tremendously, their EFL study is often at low level and they are afraid of learning English

3.4 Participants

There are approximately 6,720 high school students with about 2,260 grade twelve students in Rach Gia city Due to the large number of students and limited time, the researcher decided to get the sample size In order to do that, the study used a simplified formula for proportions by Yamane (1967, as cited in Israel, 1992) The formula was described as follows:

n = N

in which n is the sample size, N is the population size with 2,260 grade 12 students, and e is the level of precision When the confidence level is 95%, e equals 0.05 The sample size is then 345 students but to increase the representiveness of the population the reseracher included 515 participants in the questionnaire survey

The target population in this study is high school students in Rach Gia city who were currently studying English from the national textbook of seven-year programme designed by Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) As one of the purposes of the study was to investigate high school students’ perceptions of learner autonomy, grade twelve students were chosen because they were supposed

to have more experiences in EFL learning than the students from grade ten and eleven The ages of the participants range from 17 to19

In order to select the participants for the study, the researcher made contact with school administrators of seven high schools in Rach Gia city, five of them agreed

to participate in the study The reason the other two schools could not participate

1 + N (e)2

in the study because the students in these school were taking the second term examination Next, the researcher sequentially came to those schools to collect the data At each school, the researcher was supported by one colleague who guided her to the class and assisted her in the administration process The questionnaire was distributed to 515 students in their classes by the reseacher and her coodinator

It took the respondents around 15-20 minutes to finish the questionnaire The responses were then collected and returned to the researcher right after finishing The respondents were all confirmed that their participation in the research was strictly confidential and it did not affect their study results in any way

When the data screening of 515 responses was done, there were 41 cases relating

to outliers As a result, 474 valid responses were included in the data analysis With 474 responses, the data still meet the representiveness of the sample size The sample consists of 44.4 percent of the males and 55.7 percent of the females

Table 3.2: The description of gender in the study

After that, the researcher recruited respondents for the focus group interviews So

as to collect data, she made personal contact with the students who have just completed the survey She explained the purpose of the interview and asked them

if they wanted to raise their voice on what they needed parents to support them Thirty three students from five high schools agreed to participate in the interviews with the hope that they could express their expectations on the support they need from their parents The interviews were audio-recorded and then were transcribed for study purpose

3.5 Instruments

The instruments employed to collect data of the current project were questionnaire and focus group interview The questionnaire was designed to understand the perceptions of high school students on learner autonomy in EFL learning and how they valued their parental support for this cognitive process The focus group interview questions were developed to find out students’ expectations from their parental support for their learner autonomy The development and rationale of the two tools are described in the following subsections

3.5.1 Theoretical considerations

3.5.1.1 Questionnaire

In the current study, questionnaire was used in investigating students’ perceptions

of learner autonomy and their parental support When using questionnaire, researchers are provided with more chances of receiving genuine responses This tool may prove easy to develop, more reliable, less time-consuming and more uniform across the measurement situation (Henerson, et al., 1987) In this project, the instrument was proved less time consuming when the researcher collected a large number of participants (515 high school students) in a short time It is also a reliable and an objective tool as the participants are permitted to give their responses in a considerable amount of time (10-15 minutes) and their answers were returned to the researcher right after the work done In short, regarding the purpose of this study, questionnaire is viewed as a reliable and convenient instrument in data collection as well as analysis process

3.5.1.2 Focus group interview

Focus group interview was the second instrument which was intentionally utilized

to explore students’ expectations of their parental support for their learner autonomy development This tool can be defined as “a research technique that collects data through group interaction on a topic determined by the researcher” (Morgan, 1997, p 6) It is conducted in person with a limited number of

participants to gain information about their views and experiences on a topic Especially, it is particularly suited for investigating adolescent students’ beliefs, perceptions and viewpoints about prevalent institutional sociocultural norms in learning English (Gorsuch, 2000; Heslep, 2001; Kramsch, 1998; Williams, 2001,

as cited in Ho, 2006) As emphasized by Le (2013), focus group interview would

be more comfortable for Vietnamese learners as they are not willing to risk their face by volunteering their ideas In this study, high school students are adolescents and they share similar characteristics as what mentioned above about Vietnamese learners When working in small groups of six to eight, they often feel free to voice their opinions or viewpoints Therefore, this tool is considered the most appropriate to this research effort in the local context

3.5.2 Instrument development

3.5.2.1 Questionnaire

The questionnaire employed in this project was adapted from the original version

of Dang (2012) Apparently, it was adjusted so as to match the aims of the present study and its participants First, there was an examination on 62-item inventory in the questionnaire of Dang (2012) Next, 30 items were selected basing on 4

dimensions of learner autonomy namely Initiating learning process, Monitoring

learning process, Evaluating learning process and Using ICTs in learning process

Then, some modifications were carefully made to suit the participants as well as the specific purpose of the study The modifications and reasons were detailed described as follows

Dimension 1: Initiating learning process

In dimension 1, 7 items of the current project were recruited from Dang (2012) and reworded to make it more appropriate for the study purpose or clearer for the participants to understand For example, item 55 from Dang’s study “think English

is not important for their future” was reworded into “be aware of the importance of English” in the recent study or “try to have a good environment to study English, e.g cleaning up the table before studying English at home” was modified into