In global world today, the importance of English can not be denied and ignored when English was being the most common language spoken all over the world. With the help of technology, English has been playing a major role in many sectors including medicine, engineering, and education.
The first reason for why English should be the medium of instruction at universities is that it helps students find a high quality jobs.
In business life, the most important common language is obviously English. In addition to this, especially, high-quality jobs need good understanding ability and speaking in English. Therefore, companies can easily open out to other countries, and these
companies generally employ graduates whose English is fluent and orderly. For example, the student who is graduated from a university which takes English as a major language will find a better or high-quality job than other students who don’t know English
adequately. In other words, the student who knows English is able to be more efficient in his job because he can use the information from foreign sources and web sites. He can
Page 20 prepare his assignments and tasks with the help of these information. Therefore,
undoubtedly, his managers would like his effort or prepared projects. In addition, many high-quality jobs are related with international communication and world-wide data sharing. University graduates who are in a international company and business are needed to communicate with foreign workers. For instance, if their managers want them to share the company’s data, they are expected to know English. Moreover, they will even have to go business trip for their company. Absolutely, all of these depend on speaking English; as a result, new graduates have to know English in order to get a high- quality job, and the others, who don’t know English, may have lack of communication and be paid less money.
The second and the most important reason, for English to be the medium of instruction higher education system is that it enables students to communicate with the international world.
In these days, in my opinion, the most important thing for both university students and graduates is to follow the development in technology. For this reason, they have to learn common language. Certainly, they should not lose their interest on communicating with the world. However, some of the university students can’t obtain English education in their university. Unfortunately, these people may lose their communication with worldwide subjects and topics. In short, they will not communicate foreign people. To prevent these people from lacking of speaking English, universities’ administration will provide English education to them. In addition, university students can use some specific hardware and software of computers with their English to communicate others. For example, the Internet, which, in my own opinion, is the largest source in the world, based on English knowledge and information. Also, most of the soft ware such as “Windows”,
“Microsoft Office”, “Internet Explorer” are firstly written in English, and these programs are the basic vital things for communication over computer. That is to say, even in a little research about something, they need these programs and the Internet to find necessary sources and information
Page 21 So, English is role an important factor for learners in many ways.
− First, students who know English are easier to find their favorite job related with their field.
− Second, they can communicate with “rest of the world”.
− Third, English makes accessing information easy for students.
2.3 Difficulties of learners when study foreign language
Language teaching practice often assumes that most of the difficulties that learners face in the study of English are a consequence of the degree to which their native language differs from English. A native speaker of Vietnamese, for example, may face many more difficulties than a native speaker of German, because German is closely related to
English, whereas Vietnamese is not. This may be true for anyone of any mother tongue setting out to learn any other language. See also second language acquisition for mixed evidence from linguistic research.
Language learners often produce errors of syntax and pronunciation thought to result from the influence of their L1, such as mapping its grammatical patterns inappropriately onto the second language, pronouncing certain sounds incorrectly or with difficulty, and confusing items of vocabulary known as false friends. This is known as L1 transfer or
"language interference". However, these transfer effects are typically stronger for
beginners' language production, and second language acquisition research has highlighted many errors which cannot be attributed to the L1, as they are attested in learners of many language backgrounds.
It is important to remember that learning a second language involves much more than learning the words and the sounds of a language. Communication breakdowns occur not only due to the more commonly understood syntax and pronunciation difficulties but because when we learn a language we also learn a culture. What is perceived as right, normal and correct in one language and culture does not always "translate" into a second language...even when the vocabulary is understood. Communication breakdowns may occur as a result of cultural assumptions regarding age, forms of address, authority and
Page 22 respect, touching, eye contact and other body language, greetings, invitations, and
punctuality to name just a few.
In particular, some learners may have very different cultural perceptions in the classroom as far as learning a second language is concerned. Also, cultural differences in
communication styles and preferences are significant.
2.4 Factors impact to learner when study English 2.4.1 Learner’s self motivation
- Lack of a large enough force, a very specific purpose. People often hesitate to start a course, or when school is not trying, and in many cases enrolled for some time, then quit halfway through.
- The second is the difficulty most people have no rational methodology, there is no method known in Vietnam as the standard for all to follow.
- Habit translated into Vietnamese to understand the letter, eager to hear and remember information as well as 100% some college students do not distinguish between the core content is necessary to grasp, what is the Secondary information can be ignored in the process of listening. Distorted perception of the requirements of this type of course as learners and fatigue tend to hesitate, confusion in class listening in class.
- From limited capital is the biggest obstacle for the comprehension of the learners. This restriction makes the school so stopped thinking when meeting new words, had to miss most of the next information. That's not to mention the psychological stress factors can hear the familiar word processing became popular not recognize new words during the hearing. Pronunciation Vocabulary also increases the difficulty of the subjects to listen to many times. The negative change in rapid and continuous speech compared to articulate each syllable of the teacher in the class as well as significant obstacles. Such phenomena schwa sound / ə /, swallowing negative phenomena (elision), negative assimilation (assimilation), and that sound simple (homophone), is always the challenge for non- language learners. That's not to mention the different accent (accents) capital shock and psychological crisis for the school.
Page 23 2.4.2 High technology support
High technology already has an important role of learning English effective to both individuals and schools.
But in the other hand, we are understood of its potentials has encouraged a shift in emphasis from computer technology itself to its applications. So, looking ways to use high technology for convincing teaching and learning has gained prominence in the research. Nowadays, the use of multimedia, the Internet, and diversity forms of distance learning are wide spread. Interest in using them as tools to support language learning is growing, both from the perspective of a language educator and that of a language learner.
A significant amount of literature explored the potentials of computer technology with regards to teaching and learning languages more effectively. Dunkel (1990), for example, asserted that the possibilities of computer technology as a tool could include increasing language learners’ self esteem, vocational preparedness, language proficiency and overall academic skills. Furthermore, the benefits of multimedia, the Internet, and various forms of distance education were explored by many others. Educators were particularly
interested in technology’s interactive capabilities, such as providing immediate feedback and increasing learner autonomy, in addition to the capability of simulating real-world situations via audio.
Moreover, discussions of the benefits of computer technology included the exploration of the application of certain technologies in specific language areas. Hypermedia technology with its linking and interactive capabilities was discussed as a tool to enhance vocabulary learning, and reading comprehension. Video and audio considered as the potentials to support text comprehension.
2.4.3 Teachers and teaching method
There were many researchers and articles have attempted to describe and explain how is the best model of second language teacher and language learning methods.
Although they have showed different classifications and conceptualizations of both concepts above, for example, O’Malley & Chamot (1990) conclusion language
Page 24 learning methods into three categories: cognitive, meta-cognitive, and social-affective, Oxford (1990) was improved to become more comprehensive, clearly and systematic.
Although from this research, Oxford also separated language learning methods into two domains:
- Direct Methods: it means that language learning methods which directly involve the target language. All direct methods require mental processing of the language.(1990, p. 37) There are three elements of direct methods:
Memory methods – techniques specifically tailored to help the learner store new information in their memory and retrieve it later on, e.g. placing new words in context, using keywords and representing sounds in memory, etc.
Cognitive methods – skills that allow students to better comprehend and produce language in different ways, e.g. note-taking, repetition, summarizing text, etc.
Compensation methods – behaviors used to compensate and help them to employ the language, e.g. guessing while listening or reading, or using synonyms or paraphrasing while speaking or writing.
- Indirect Methods
This methods is the other side of view, “Indirect Methods provide indirect support for language learning through focusing, planning, evaluating, seeking opportunities, controlling anxiety, increasing cooperation and empathy, and other means” (1990, p. 151). The factors of this indirect methods are below:
Meta-cognitive methods – behaviors used for arranging, planning and
evaluating one’s learning, e.g. overview and linking with already known material.
Affective methods – techniques which regulate emotional behaviors and
motivation, e.g. using relaxation techniques, singing songs in a target language to lower one’s anxiety, etc.
Page 25
Social methods – actions allowing better learner interaction with other people in the language learning process, e.g. asking questions, cooperating with peers, and developing empathy towards target language speaking people, etc.
In the other hand, the teacher is one of the factors that has a lot of influence on student achievement. An ineffective teacher places students at an extreme disadvantage due to poor instruction. According to Adams & Pierce (1999), having many years of experience doesn’t guarantee expert teaching; experience is useful only when the teacher continually engages in self-reflection and modifies classroom techniques to better serve the needs of students. Teachers must prepare to teach a wide range of students in terms of interest, motivation and ability, some of whom may need additional assistance and these behavioral
characteristics are said to have effects on the students
in learning English. However, apart from good teaching skills that teachers need to have, personal traits are also equally important because they also play a vital role in the success of learning as stated by Thorne (2009) that building and maintaining relationships in classrooms is necessary. And to build relationships, teachers need to be able to build rapport and foster an environment that encourages questions, negotiation and processing, and ultimately, autonomy, rather than an over-dependence on teachers. In order for this to occur, teachers should be well-planned, creative and patient with the learners they are working.”
2.4.4 Online social networks
There is a research study published in December 2008 on the use of digital technologies by adults from 16 industrial nations suggests that “on average spend a third of their leisure time online, belong to two social networking sites and have regular contact with 16 people who they have ‘virtually’ met on the internet”. While most European countries and the USA hovered around the 30% average, Asia’s digital natives far exceeded it, with
Page 26 China, Korea and Japan registering at the 40% mark due to their cultural fascination with blogs, Social Networking Sites (SNS), online gaming and virtual worlds. In Asia in particular, the widespread availability of 3G telephony has made access to these new applications via portable handheld devices all the more significant. The popularity of SNSs such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn demonstrate the addictive appeal of online and virtual communities across generations and cultures, particularly their attraction to teenagers, housewives, students and a new group of recently enfranchised elderly digital immigrants. Facebook, for example, reputedly has more than 175 million international users, a claim that, if true, would make it the sixth largest country in the world.
The article examines how one example of social software is having a direct impact on foreign language teaching and learning in Japan, by allowing both teachers and learners to build and participate in multimedia collaborative learning environments that are able to promote active and creative language learning. Language learning that takes places in these social networks can be based on the creation and sharing of user profiles, friends, instant messaging, blogging and comments, as well as photos and videos. What follows will present research findings from a pilot project carried out on the first SNS specifically aimed at developing an online community of language learners, Livemocha.com, which was launched at the end of 2007 in the United States. The aim of the project was to examine the way that an SNS designed specifically to enhance language learning responds to a number of concerns of existing research in this area, impression
management, friendship performance, networks and network structure, and privacy issues (Boyd & Ellison 2007), as well as the potential to enhance opportunities for language exchange between native and non-native speakers.
Page 27 2.5 The research model and hypothesis
2.5.1 Research model
The research model is built to figure out the factors impact to learning English effective of the non native speaking English students in HCM city. The model as below:
Figure 1: The research model 2.5.2 Hypothesis of report
H1: self motivation of learner impacts to result of learning EL
There are many reasons to motivate oneself to study English as a second language: to study oversea, to get better job with high salary, to travel, to understand the culture all over the world…so I hope that self motivation is the most potential variable could enhance the learners’ performance of English as second language learning.
Dửrnyei (2001), one of the well-known leaders within the field of motivation also states, generally, motivation can be a matter explaining why people decide to do
something, how long they are willing to sustain the activity, and how hard they are going to pursue it. The learners with high motivation to learn a language will likely use a variety of strategies. Therefore, in terms of language learning, achievement can be
H1
H2
H3
H4 Self-
motivate
Online social network participant Teacher and
teaching method
Hi-tech support
Job requirement
of English skill
Learning English effective of non-native speaking English students in HCM
H5
Page 28 viewed as one of indexes of motivation since motivation can lead to and support all activities.
H2: teacher and teaching method is a role factor impacts to result of learning EL Teacher and teaching method play an important role to bring back good result for
students who learning English. Teachers are not only a living library but also a mirror for student. But nothing is always right and perfect, through this research I hope can explore new methodology maybe good in pass but must change now.
H3: hi-tech support
We can’t deny that high-tech tools have played an important role in modern life. It is hard to imagine how’s life would be without them. High technology has crept into almost every activity of our daily, which has applications in learning. Hopefully hi-tech also bring back positive results for learning English as we are thinking.
There is a article to assess how typical English language classroom students can take benefits of technology to learn English as a second language, a questionnaire form has been used for this purpose (Nomass, B. B. 2013).. The form was given to samples of students of College of arts, Al-Jabal Al-Gharbi University in Libya. The results show the following:
- 98% of the students using the computer can improve their English vocabulary.
- 96% of the students that using computer in the classroom increases students' interaction with learning.
- 96% of the students believe that using computer will help them to develop their writing skills.
- 83% of the students believe that the use of computer will improve their listening skills.
- 66% of the students prefer using technology to learn English language.
- 98% of the students using technology will help them to learn English language faster than other ways.
Page 29 - 90% of the students that using technology can help them to improve their speaking
skills.
H4: social network participant
Along with the explosion of information technology is a series of nascent trend among young people today. One of which is the habit of using online social networking. With online social networks, people across continents as closer, and this could also be factors to help improve students' English learning HCM city.
In 2012, the research by two authors from the University of California - Wang, S., &
Vásquez, C. (2012). has shown that the elements from the internet (from Web 2.0 platform) that affects the efficiency to second language learning online in which online blogs and social networks took part for 45%, the rest are other factors such as Wiki, Google tools, 3-D virtual world ... thus, this article is also looking for do those factors impact to English learners in HCM City.
H5: pressure of job’s requirement impacts to result of learning EL
English nowadays becomes one of most important indicate for company to recruit an employee. So, want or don’t want, learners also try to get a high score in English certificate to enhance the recruiters even they do not use after get in the company.
Conclusion chapter 2:
This chapter introduces about literature relation to the research. It is also list out 5 hypotheses which are maybe deep impact to the learning English result. In next chapter will talk about the research methodology, research resign and sample.