MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BARIA VUNGTAU UNIVERSITY CHALLENGES IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO THIRD GRADERS AT TRAN QUOC TOAN PRIMARY SCHOOL (LAC DUONG DISTRICT, LAM DONG PROVINCE) TEACHERS’ AND LEARN[.]
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BARIA-VUNGTAU UNIVERSITY CHALLENGES IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO THIRD GRADERS AT TRAN QUOC TOAN PRIMARY SCHOOL (LAC DUONG DISTRICT, LAM DONG PROVINCE): TEACHERS’ AND LEARNERS’ PERSPECTIVES - Student’s name: NGUYEN TRAN HOANG YEN Student’s code : 18114182 Class : MTESOL18K4 Instructor’s name: NGUYEN HOANG TUAN, Ph.D Ba Ria-Vung Tau, September 2022 The thesis entitled CHALLENGES IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO THIRD GRADERS AT TRAN QUOC TOAN PRIMARY SCHOOL (LAC DUONG DISTRICT, LAM DONG PROVINCE): TEACHERS’ AND LEARNERS’ PERSPECTIVES was successfully defended and approved on September 18th, 2022 at Ba Ria Vung Tau University Academic supervisor: Dr NGUYEN HOANG TUAN Examination Committee Assoc.Prof Nguyen Huu Duc, Ph.D Chair Bui Thi Kim Loan,Ph.D Reader Nguyen Xuan Hong,Ph.D Reader Nguyen Huu The,Ph.D Member Dinh Lu Giang,Ph.D Secretary Member On behalf of the Examination Committee Chair (full name, title, signature) BA RIA-VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY POSTGRADUATE INSTITUTE Ba Ria Vung Tau, July 2022 MASTER’S THESIS REPORT Student name: NGUYEN TRAN HOANG YEN Sex: Female Date of birth: 02/8/1992 Place of birth : Lam Dong Province Major: Master of TESOL Student code: 18114182 I- Thesis title: CHALLENGES IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO THIRD GRADERS AT TRAN QUOC TOAN PRIMARY SCHOOL (LAC DUONG DISTRICT, LAM DONG PROVINCE): TEACHERS’ AND LEARNERS’ PERSPECTIVES II-Objectives and contents: The objectives of this present study are to identify different types of challenges encountered by teachers in teaching English for the third graders at Tran Quoc Toan primary school in the local context in which English is taught as a foreign language (EFL) to children of ethnic groups in the central highland of Vietnam The study also examines teachers’ perception of the challenges they face in teaching English to young learners in this particular setting A qualitative case study approach was used to obtain the data, including interviews and teaching diary Several challenges emerged in the local educational contexts, namely, teaching speaking, motivation, teaching large classes, discipline, teaching writing, and teaching grammar, developing teachers’ English competence Importantly, some of these challenges have not been highlighted in the literature on the third graders teaching to date The results shows that there are three main groups of factors that pose challenges to the teachers in teaching English for Grade at Tran Quoc Toan Primary School: Teacher-related factors, Learner-related factors, and Context-related factors The findings imply that teacher education should focus less on introducing teachers to general approaches to English language teaching and more on supporting teachers to meet the challenges that they have identified III- Starting date: 08/9/2020 IV- Completing date: 01/7/2022 V- Academic supervisor: NGUYEN HOANG TUAN, Ph.D ACADEMIC SUPERVISOR FACULTY DEAN ((full name, signature) ((full name, signature) RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, NGUYEN TRAN HOANG YEN, being a candidate for the degree of TESOL accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care, loan, and reproduction for theses Ba Ria Vung Tau, September 2022 Signature …………………………… NGUYEN TRAN HOANG YEN i STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis, “Challenges in Teaching English to Third Graders at Tran Quoc Toan Primary School (Lac Duong District, Lam Dong Province): Teachers’ and Students’ Perspectives”, is my own work Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person Signature: _ Date: _ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere thanks to those who have supported, encouraged, and assisted me in my thesis completion Firstly, I would like to express my special appreciation and thanks to Dr Nguyen Hoang Tuan, my supervisor, for his great patience, careful guidance, insightful advice, and constant encouragement through the whole research process Without his support and guidance, this thesis would never have been completed Next, I would like to express my thanks to the school board staff, including the principal and the vice principals at Tran Quoc Toan Primary school who have given me encouragement, support of time and finance and permission to implement this thesis there I thank all the research participants, the English teachers, and my students, who have contributed to this study They gave me a lot of time during the data collection process, and they also encouraged me to complete my research Finally, my deepest and sincerest gratitude goes to my family with their unconditional love, understanding and help I would like to dedicate this dissertation to my beloved mother who has provided me strong spiritual and material support iii ABSTRACT The purpose of this present study is to examine the challenges faced by teachers in teaching English to the third graders at Tran Quoc Toan primary school A qualitative case study approach was used to obtain the data, including interviews and teaching diary Several challenges emerged in the local educational contexts, namely, teaching speaking, motivation, teaching large classes, discipline, teaching writing, and teaching grammar, developing teachers’ English competence Importantly, some of these challenges have not been highlighted in the literature on the third graders teaching to date The results shows that there are three main groups of factors that pose challenges to the teachers in teaching English for Grade at Tran Quoc Toan Primary School: Teacher-related factors, Learner-related factors, and Context-related factors The findings imply that teacher education should focus less on introducing teachers to general approaches to English language teaching and more on supporting teachers to meet the challenges that they have identified Key words: challenges, teacher-related factors, learner-related factors, context-related factors, English for Grade iv TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii APPENDICES vi LIST OF FIGURES vii List of Abbreviations viii ABSTRACT ix Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Background of the study 1.2 Statement of the problem 1.3 Aims and objectives of the study 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Significance of the study 1.7 Organization of the thesis Chapter 2: Literature review 2.1 Characteristics of young learners 2.2 Teaching English to young learners 10 2.3 Factors affecting the teaching and learning English at primary school 14 2.4 Previous studies 23 2.5 Research gap 26 2.6 Conceptual framework 26 Chapter 3: Research Methodology 27 3.1 Research questions 27 3.2 Research design 27 3.3 Research site 28 3.4 Participants 28 3.5 Research instruments 30 3.6 Data analysis 33 v Chapter 4: Findings and discussion 34 4.1 Findings 34 4.1.1 Findings to RQ1 (What types of challenges teachers encounter in teaching English for Grade at Tran Quoc Toan primary school?) 34 4.1.2 Findings to RQ2 (How teachers perceive the challenges encountered in teaching English for Grade at Tran Quoc Toan primary school?) 44 4.2 Discussion 45 Chapter 5: Conclusions and recommendations 51 5.1 Conclusion 51 5.2 Recommendations 52 5.3 Limitations 54 5.4 Further research 54 REFERENCES 55 APPENDICES 67 APPENDIX – INTERVIEW FOR TEACHERS 67 APPENDIX – INTERVIEW FOR STUDENTS 70 APPENDIX - PHỎNG VẤN NHÓM HỌC SINH 78 APPENDIX – OBSERVATION CHECKLIST 80 APPENDIX - TEACHING REFLECTION 81 ... YEN i STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis, ? ?Challenges in Teaching English to Third Graders at Tran Quoc Toan Primary School (Lac Duong District, Lam Dong Province): Teachers’... encounter in teaching English for Grade at Tran Quoc Toan primary school? ) 34 4.1.2 Findings to RQ2 (How teachers perceive the challenges encountered in teaching English for Grade at Tran Quoc Toan primary. .. learners in teaching and learning English at primary schools especially in remote areas in Vietnam Tran Quoc Toan Primary School is a public school in Lac Duong district, Lam Dong province It is located