A study on the exploitation of online resources to develop receptive skills to teenagers in viet nam

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all, I express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Associate Professor Dr Ton Nu My Nhat, who was always available to support me not only academically but also spiritually, for her words of encouragement and constructive suggestions, great support, patience, and time in guiding and supporting me throughout the process I would like to thank the lecturers of the English Pedagogy Department at Qui Nhon University for their support and guidance during the study and research process I am also indebted to the English teachers in Binh Dinh province who participated in this study Without their participation, this study would not have been accomplished The writing of this thesis owes a great deal to the support of others I would like thank to Van Anh Le and Kim Hoa Huynh for their emotional support and companionship I dedicate this thesis to my mother Nguyet Thu Nguyen, my father Dang Huy Dao, my brother Trung Quan Dao, and the other members of my extended family for supporting me and enlightening my life I ABSTRACT The research was to explore to what extent the valuable rich online resources have been exploited to develop the EFL learners‟ receptive skills by the EFL teachers in Vietnam It was aimed to grasp the teachers‟ general attitudes and their perceived teacher‟s advantages and challenges in exploiting the online resources to develop the EFL learners‟ receptive skills The study employed the mixed-methods approach To address the research questions, the data collected by questionnaires was quantitatively analyzed to arrive at the descriptive statistics of the points under focus; the qualitative method, by means of open-ended interviews, was used to triangulate the data, obtaining an in-depth description of qualitative data The findings indicate that the EFL teachers in Vietnam are eager to exploit and use online resources to develop EFL learners‟ receptive skills The advantages mentioned are that they are completely free and available anywhere anytime; they are rich and can be applied in nearly all the stages of teaching listening and reading, as supplementary materials both in class and after class The most common challenge is the inaccurateness or unreliability of most of the sources The findings also show that there are not so many noticeable differences in using the online resources between teaching reading and listening The study holds a number of practical implications to the stakeholders and suggestions for further studies II TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I ABSTRACT II LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS VI LIST OF TABLES VII LIST OF FIGURES VIII CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aim and objectives 1.2.1 Aim 1.2.2 Objectives 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Design of the study CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Theoretical background 2.1.1 The receptive skills 2.1.1.1 The reading skill 2.1.1.2 The listening skill 12 2.1.2 Teaching receptive skills 14 2.1.2.1 Teaching reading skill 14 2.1.2.2 Teaching listening skill 18 2.1.3 Online resources 22 2.1.4 Teaching receptive skills using online resources 23 2.1.4.1 Teaching reading skill with using online resources 24 2.1.4.2 Teaching listening skill with using online resources 25 2.2 Previous studies relevant to the present study 26 III CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY 35 3.1 Research design 35 3.2 Participants 36 3.3 Data collection and data analysis 37 3.3.1 The questionnaire 37 3.3.2 The interview 39 3.3.3 Data analysis 39 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 41 4.1 Findings 41 4.1.1 Teachers’ general attitudes 41 4.1.2 Teachers’ advantages and challenges 44 4.1.2.1 Advantages 44 4.1.2.2 Challenges faced 47 4.1.3 Comparison of use of online resources across the two skills 50 4.1.3.1 Comparison of types of online resources 50 4.1.3.2 Comparison of using online resources in teaching stages 54 4.1.4 Suggestions for making the best use of online resources 62 4.2 Discussion 64 4.2.1 Teacher's general attitudes 64 4.2.2 Teacher's advantages and challenges 65 4.2.3 Comparison of teachers’ use across the two skills 68 4.2.4 Suggestions for making the best use of online resources 70 CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 72 5.1 Summary of findings 72 5.2 Implication 73 5.3 Limitations and suggestions for further studies 74 THIS RESEARCH STUDY WAS CONDUCTED IN A PARTICULAR SETTING WHICH HAD AN IMPACT ON THE LIMITATIONS TO SOME DEGREE A LIMITATION OF THIS STUDY IS THAT BECAUSE THIS STUDY WAS MAINLY CARRIED OUT IN BINH DINH PROVINCE, THE FINDINGS FROM THE STUDY COULD NOT REPRESENT OTHER PROVINCES, LET ALONE THE WHOLE COUNTRY, OR EVEN FURTHER; WHILE SOME GENERAL CONCLUSIONS HAVE BEEN MADE, THE FINDINGS WERE SPECIFIC TO THIS LOCATION 74 REFERENCES 76 IV APPENDIXES 81 APPENDIX A: 81 QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS 81 APPENDIX B: 87 QUESTIONS FOR OPEN-ENDED INTERVIEWS 87 APPENDIX C: 88 TRANSCRIPTS FOR INTERVIEWS 88 V LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as a Foreign Language ELT: English Language Teaching ESL: English as a second language ICT: Information and Communications Technology RS: Receptive skill VI LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: The questionnaire respondents‟ background information Table 3.2: Description of items in the questionnaire Table 4.1: EFL teachers‟ general attitudes Table 4.2: The EFL teacher's advantages Table 4.3: The EFL teacher's challenges Table 4.4: Using online resources to design tests or assignments across two skills Table 4.5: Using online resources to display contents Table 4.6: Mean of using online resources to display the contents Table 4.7: Using online resources to teach RSs Table 4.8: Using online resources to teach the RSs stages in different stages VII LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1: EFL teachers using online resources in pre-stages Figure 4.2: EFL teachers using online resources in while-stages Figure 4.3: EFL teachers using online resources in post-stages VIII CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale In modern life, the use of the English language is described as “a global means of inter-community communication” (Kumiko, 2015) English is present in almost all areas of life such as education, work, service, and the like Vietnam is one of the Southeast Asian countries with rapid international integration in many aspects, from the economic sector to the tourism sector and other key sectors To be able to integrate quickly and effectively, the role of foreign languages has been significantly enhanced in Vietnam A number of typical features have been noted in the literature on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching and learning in Vietnam Firstly, for most learners, especially those in lower and upper secondary school, when the immediate use of English is not apparent, English for them is just one subject in the school's curriculum, no more and no less Then, the learners are often not exposed to an authentic English learning environment; both the material and the learning environment not enhance interaction with native culture and native speakers Regarding Receptive skills (RSs), students' common materials are commonly passages from textbooks and audio recordings/scripts attached to textbooks Although these materials have been carefully compiled, they may lack practicality The texts in the reading section and the conversations in the listening section are stereotypical, and non-authentic, which must certainly limit the learners‟ development of communitive competence because the knowledge in textbooks is restricted in terms of the types, languages, and content That makes them feel depressed and lack confidence in using foreign languages in real life From another perspective, the rapid development of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is unstoppable, which has been influencing nearly all fields from all corners of the world, especially education “ICT for education is more critical today than ever before since its growing power and capabilities are triggering a change in the learning environments available for education” (Pajo & Wallace, 2001) The use of the Internet in Viet Nam has facilitated the panorama of learning and teaching English at many ages, especially teenagers, who are grown-up enough to be self-directed in learning For example, the Internet can provide real-world English learning contexts, cultures, texts, documents, and activities; it can provide a motivating and enjoyable learning atmosphere and materials, encourage student autonomy, and provide opportunities for students to use English for a variety of purposes Therefore, using online resources to teach the English language has been familiar to EFL teachers Today, online resources are considered both technological tools and pedagogical devices to promote language teaching and the learning process On the other hand, online resources help EFL teachers with preparing assignments and testing, assisting students in self-education, and organizing extracurricular activities Moreover, these resources are available, abundant, and free on Internet so that instead of writing by hand the exercises on the board in the classroom, EFL teachers can be easier to get them from the online resources for students Given the described context, this study is to investigate how the rich APPENDIXES APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS Dear Sir or Madam, This questionnaire is to obtain information concerning a study on how the online resources have been exploited to teach the reading and listening skills to secondary school learners of English as a foreign language in Viet Nam I would be grateful if you spent time completing the questionnaire The information given will be used for research purposes only and will be kept confidential There is no right or wrong answer Before answering the questionnaire, please read the instructions carefully Thank you for your cooperation! Sincerely, Dao Nguyen Huong Part A: Demographic Information Please fill in the blank, put (X) next to each category that represents you Name Gender: Male Female How long have you been teaching English? Less than years 6-10 years You are a teacher at 81 more than 10 years Lower secondary school Upper secondary school Part B: Main contents After each statement, express your thoughts by putting an X in the box that best I am interested in using online resources I am willing to buy online resources I am willing to encourage my colleagues to make use of online resources It is advantageous to use online resources because they are free to download It is advantageous to use online resources because they are diversified I think online resources are helpful as supplementary materials I receive technical supports from school in order to make best use of online resources I think online resources are more convenient than hard copies in libraries It is advantageous to use online resources because they can be saved on many devices 82 Strongly agree Agree Neutral Items Disagree No Strongly disagree describes you For each statement, choose only ONE option 10 It is advantageous to use online resources because they can be stored in huge amounts 11 It is advantageous to use online resources because they are available anytime anywhere 12 I think access to online resources may be limited 13 Online resources may not be correct 14 Some online resources are costly 15 Searching appropriate online resources is time-consuming Please indicate how often you use online resources for the following purposes 16 I use quiz tools to design questions for reading comprehension tests 17 I use online lectures to design questions for reading comprehension tests 18 I use quiz tools to design questions for listening comprehension tests 19 I use online lectures to design questions for listening comprehension tests 20 I use Web pages to display the contents of reading lessons 83 Seldom Never No Always FREQUENCY Often Statement Sometimes Item 21 I use computer files to display the contents of reading lessons 22 I use URL tools to display the contents of reading lessons 23 I use Web pages to display the contents of listening lessons 24 I use computer files to display the contents of listening lessons 25 I use URL tools to display the contents of listening lessons 26 I use Multiple-media texts as supplementary materials in reading lessons 27 I use „exam orientated EFL/ESL sites‟ as supplementary materials in reading lessons 28 I use YouTube as supplementary materials in reading lessons 29 I use Vodcast/ Podcast/ Pod Clips as supplementary materials in reading lessons 30 I use Multiple-media texts as supplementary materials in listening lessons 31 I use „exam orientated EFL/ESL sites‟ as supplementary materials in listening lessons 32 I use YouTube as supplementary materials in listening lessons 84 33 I use Vodcast/ Podcast/ Pod Clips as supplementary materials in listening lessons 34 I use online resources for pre-reading activities 35 I use online resources for while-reading activities 36 I use online resources for post-reading activities 37 I use online resources for pre-listening activities 38 I use online resources for while-listening activities 39 I use online resources for post-listening activities 40 Could you please jot down your suggestions as to how to make the best use of the online resources to teach reading and listening skills For teaching reading skill: -85 For teaching listening skill: Thank you for your cooperation! 86 APPENDIX B: QUESTIONS FOR OPEN-ENDED INTERVIEWS What you think of using online resources to teach RSs and what kinds of online resources you usually use? How you apply the online resources in your teaching stages? In teaching reading? In teaching listening? What you think are the benefits of online resources? What you think are the disadvantages of online resources? What are your suggestions as how to make the best use of online resources in order to teach reading and listening? 87 APPENDIX C: TRANSCRIPTS FOR INTERVIEWS Transcript: Interview Interviewer: Long time no sees Thanks for joining my study How have you been? Interviewee: Yeah, long time no see I‟m great How are you Interviewer: not bad So, we start now, OK? Interviewee: OK Interviewer: So which school you teach at? Lower-secondary or uppersecondary school? Interviewee: Upper-secondary school Interviewer: Ok What you think of using online resources to teach RSs and what kinds of online resources you usually use? Interviewee: Well, let me think, I‟m really interested in using these resources to teach RSs I usually apply them in my teaching English process I love using them because I remember that was the time when I was teaching grade 11 I taught unit “Global warming” In the reading lesson, the passage in the textbook was so simple that every student could it without my support The text gave vocabulary such as famine, absorb, capture, …., which was so easy because they had studied these words before So, I wondered if I should provide them with another kind of material After many times choosing, I decided to use the online resources The one I used was "examorientated EFL/ESL sites" You know that one? Interviewer: Is it the one used for orientating some examinations? Interviewee: Right You know At first, my students found it hard to complete this kind of the resources But then, I used a course called “Easy class”? It‟s a webpage providing you with many types of material and all of the knowledge of the textbooks Interviewer: How you apply the online resources in your teaching stages? In teaching reading? In teaching listening? Interviewee: I usually use the online resources in teaching reading In the pre-reading stage, I let students discuss and come up with keywords related to the lesson, for example, “Global warming” Students will create their own lists of issues and keywords 88 Interviewer: Interviewee: Interviewer: Interviewee: Interviewer: related to the topic Then in the while-reading stage, I still let them complete the exercises in the textbook But I combined the exercise with the “Easy class” webpage Because this website helps students summarize their knowledge easily, and its exercises are closely related to the ones in textbooks When it comes to post-reading, of course, I continue using online resources to give students assignments At this stage, I usually use exam-orientated EFL/ESL sites, which is the type of document that helps students orientate for the exams These materials are very diversified in topics, ranging from easy to difficult They are orientated toward high school students, especially in grade 11 or 12 I often use them for some exams such as national high school exams, IELTS, etc Do you know that? I use these web pages because my students can a variety of exercises to improve their reading skills I usually use the online resources to teach reading more than listening I feel that using textbooks for listening is reasonable because it‟s just right for students, not too easy or too hard for them to listen to The listening exercises and audios in the textbooks are designed at a suitable level for the students, so I don‟t need to edit them You know, if we use the online resources to teach listening, we have to spend time editing them to suit to the students Wow, amazing! I taught them the knowledge by this webpage first, then let them the texts on exam-orientated EFL/ESL sites As a result, they improved their reading skill so much I think that you are interested in the online resources, right? So, in your opinion, what you think are the benefits of online resources? I think the online resources bring us many benefits But the best one, in my opinion, is that they are very plentiful They have many types of exercises for RSs, from multiple choices to short answers, from filling the blank to true or false exercises I can choose whatever I want This helps me save time when choosing or designing exercises for my students Anything else? 89 Interviewee: Well, I find it more convenient to use online resources to teach RSs than having to find books in the library to look for good exercise samples for students to You know, as teachers are really busy, teaching has taken up more than half a day, and spending time flipping books to find exercises is really timeconsuming So, it's much more convenient to know about online resources The time left I spend scrutinizing the online materials I found This will be more convenient for my teaching work Moreover; online resources are helpful as a source of supplementary materials Interviewer: What you think are the disadvantages of online resources? Interviewee: The one I don‟t like is that sometimes this kind of material is not correct You know because sometimes these documents are incorrect in grammar and spelling So, when I use them to teach listening and reading skill, I really have to be very careful Interviewer: What are your suggestions as how to make the best use of online resources in order to teach reading and listening? Interviewee: Well, as a teacher, everywhen I use them, I have to check carefully to make sure that there are not any mistakes in the exercises Besides, I think that we have different several ways to exploit these resources successfully First of all, we should create a website for our classes to manage the online resources downloaded This website has to be designed clearly to arrange the online resources into files Moreover, this website is able to be used both offline and online in order to access it as soon as possible I myself have a website for overviewing all of the lessons and online resources that I collect through my teaching procedure I realize that my students have some good methods to make the best use of the online resources When they find out a good online resource, they will upload this resource on Facebook, Zalo, Drive, etc to store them I ask them the reason why they don‟t save them on the devices such as laptops or smartphones, then they said that although these devices can save these resources, their storage capacity is limited, and if these devices are lost, that means we lose these resources as well Saving online resources on these networks helps us store the online resources for a long time without limited storage 90 capacity Interviewer: Great, that‟s all Thanks for joining! Interviewee: You‟re welcome Transcript: Interview Interviewer: Good evening Thanks for joining my study How are you today? Interviewee: Not bad How are you? Interviewer: I‟m great So we start the interview now, OK? Interviewee: OK Interviewer: Which school you teach at? Lower-secondary or uppersecondary school? Interviewee: Lower- secondary Interviewer: What you think of using online resources to teach RSs and what kinds of online resources you usually use? Interviewee: Actually, I thought that teaching RSs was not relevant to the Internet, so I didn't tend to use online resources to teach these skills at first When I graduated from university and started teaching, I taught 7th grade I use YouTube a lot, I know that there are many interesting videos about music and art on YouTube So at that time, I decided to apply those videos to the lesson Interviewer: How you apply the online resources in your teaching stages? In teaching reading? In teaching listening? Interviewee: When I taught listening unit "Music and Art", this topic was quite interesting to students nowadays, but there is little talk about the types of music and art that students like in the textbook At that time, I felt that if it continued like this, I could not be able to attract students to actively participate in the class, so I decided to look for new materials besides textbooks Only now did I pay attention to online resources You know that class was the one I was most impressed with because it was my first time using online resources and the students enjoyed the online materials I used Although I apply these resources to both of the skills, in fact, I used them for listening skill rather than reading skill Because I myself usually use video-related applications and websites, 91 Interviewer: Interviewee: Interviewer: Interviewee: Interviewer: Interviewee: Interviewer: Interviewee: Interviewer: finding online documents to teach them is quite easy Of course, I still use these resources to teach reading skill, but I prefer using the materials in textbooks for reading skill to using online resources to teach listening skill So, in your opinion, what you think are the benefits of online resources? People tend to think that finding these online resources must use a computer, but now we can use any device that can easily access them Some devices such as mobile phones, tablets, or laptops, are extremely handy So, I can access it anytime everywhere I want without having to carry around any heavy devices I can also save them on my phones, tablets, or laptops with an unlimited amount, that‟s so great Anything else? There are many free online resources on the Internet, I think so What you think are the disadvantages of online resources? I guess there's a limit to downloading documents online There are many limited online resources that cannot be downloaded If I want to download them, I have to pay money That is very inconvenient Because the price of good materials is really high, for me, I really don't want to spend a high amount of money to buy them So, many times, I have found out good documents but cannot download them, which is really a pity But if there are price documents that are suitable for my pocket, I will pay for them Anything else? Using online resources to teach listening and reading skill, what really challenged me is finding the correct resources for the student's level For example, when I teach at a lower-secondary school, I usually teach 7th grade, I have to find materials that are appropriate for grade students For example, I teach the topic "Music and art", even though there are a lot of online videos or materials related to this topic, but they have so many mistakes, so I have to consider a lot I usually find online resources in international language levels, so it will be more suitable for students What are your suggestions as how to make the best use of 92 online resources in order to teach reading and listening? Interviewee: I haven't thought about it yet In my opinion, if these resources can be shared with many users, that's fine I mean if multiple users can pay for the document together, that would be better About making the best use of online resources, I think that EFL teachers should choose online resources on websites of clear origin It is best to choose online resources that are designed by English experts in pedagogy and have been strictly censored After selecting the right resources, teachers should spend time checking, reading carefully, and correcting the areas that are not suitable for students If these resources are not appropriate for students‟ English levels, the teachers should revise them to make them more appropriate Teachers should also categorize online resources clearly to easily manage them I usually sort them into small files, then add these files into large files and save them on computers and phones In that way, every time I need to find them, it's easier to find My students also spend time completing online exercises I give them and let them submit online Interviewer: Thanks for joining! Interviewee: It‟s my pleasure Transcript: Interview Interviewer: Good morning Thanks for joining my study How are you today? Interviewee: I‟m good How are you? Interviewer: I‟m great So we start now, OK? Interviewee: OK Interviewer: So which school you teach at? Lower-secondary or uppersecondary school? Interviewee: Lower- secondary Interviewer: OK Can you tell me what you think of using online resources to teach RSs and what kinds of online resources you usually use? Interviewee: I'm a young person, so I am open-minded about using online resources to teach RSs But at first, I didn't use them to teach RSs I graduated years ago and when I started teaching, I was 93 Interviewer: Interviewee: Interviewer: Interviewee: Interviewer: Interviewee: Interviewer: assigned to teach grade At first, I still taught through textbooks But then I realized that the students I taught were not so interested in textbooks I started researching students' interests and found out that my students like some things online Based on that, I applied online resources in my teaching I remember the first lesson that I taught using online materials was when I was teaching 6th grade, unit “Cities of the world” I often use YouTube to teach There are many interesting videos on it, suitable for students' topics and ages For the postlistening part, YouTube is the source I use to choose videos as materials for students to discuss How you apply the online resources in your teaching stages? In teaching reading and in teaching listening? I usually use online resources to teach the post-reading and prelistening sections Because for students, the part before starting to read or listen is the time when students are most easily motivated to learn And the online resources are very diverse and interesting, so I often use them to teach When I started using online resources to teach RSs, there is no difference in the frequency because I also apply online resources to most of the exercises and knowledge and skills, as documents to help students learn more So, in your opinion, what you think are the benefits of online resources? Online resources really bring a lot of benefits to my teaching work They are mostly free and can be saved on many devices What you think are the disadvantages of online resources? Perhaps the is that sometimes, online resources are not very accurate But for me, it's not a big deal because I can check them carefully Many people say that the most common complaint is that there are a lot of paid online resources But I find it reasonable to pay for them Perhaps the challenge that I often face is that sometimes online resources are not very accurate But for me, it's not a big deal because I can check them carefully What are your suggestions as how to make the best use of online resources in order to teach reading and listening? 94 Interviewee: You know, because online resources often contain mistakes, they must be used with great care First, teachers need to check these resources carefully to ensure that there are no mistakes in the materials Furthermore, Teachers need to alter them for each skill and student‟s levels I myself spend time checking the online resources carefully For videos that are incorrect, I often cut and edit them to make sense I also often find great reading online resources I have to spend time editing them and the questions to fit the students Interviewer: Thanks for joining! Interviewee: OK 95 ... forward The questionnaire consists of two parts: Part A to obtain the demographic information of the participants, and Part B to obtain the information concerning the research questions, organized in. .. boosting their motivation and autonomy toward the usage of the internet with learning goals The above studies dealt with computer-assisted language learning in general and using online resources in. .. an e-learning teaching program The Lesson Study method was an Action Research in which instructors collaborated to improve their pedagogy by monitoring both the teaching and the learning as they