FINAL ASSIGNMENT docx VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES ASSIGNMENT ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODOLOGY A Survey Resear.
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ASSIGNMENT ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODOLOGY A Survey Research Plan for Understanding Vietnamese Middle School Students’ Anxiety in English Speaking Classrooms STUDENT: Nguyen Diu Linh COHORT: QH2021.D2 Academic Year: 2021 – 2022 Table of Contents Introduction Background and Rationale a The background and issues of research b Identify area of interest c Literature review d Key debates and developments in the field Research questions: Research Methodology a Research hypothesis b Participants: Plan of work & Time schedule a Planning b Action and data collection c Data analysis procedures 10 d Time schedule 11 Bibliography: 12 A Survey Research Plan for Understanding Vietnamese Middle School Students’ Anxiety in English Speaking Classrooms Abstract: This is a proposal for a survey research plan designed to find out some anxiety of Vietnamese middle school students in learning English speaking in class This plan is focused on the minority students who study at some Secondary schools in Hanoi Speaking is one of the most difficult skills for them As their teacher, the author would like to conduct a survey research in order to deeply understand their anxiety; therefore, the author can suggest some solutions in order to improve their overall speaking ability Keywords: Vietnamese middle school students, anxiety, English speaking class, survey research Introduction Speaking is one of the essential skills in language learning However, Vietnamese students, especially in middle school, always think and find it difficult to talk or answer questions in English To foster the students’ speaking skills and improve their confidence in speaking in language learning is a huge challenge for both teachers and students Each generation and class have their own challenges and teachers need to understand these burdens Survey research offers an ideal opportunity for teachers to the research by themselves to find out the problem’s students are tackling to improve their teaching and make adjustments when and where necessary This paper intends to propose a survey research and attempts to inquire into classroom situations and understand the students’ speaking skills and their situation better and act in the future to improve Background and Rationale a The background and issues of research I am an EFL teacher in a public secondary school in Hanoi My students are from grade 6th to 8th The aim of the course and the book is to develop the full four skills of the English language According to the curriculum, I use a set of textbooks with tapes attached, published by the Ministry of Education and Training, and Discovery. During a few years of teaching, I have found that it is very difficult for my students to talk in English In language learning in Vietnam, when we talk about four basic skills: reading, listening, writing and speaking, speaking is one of the output skills Thus, it is crucial to improve the speaking ability Unfortunately, speaking always seems to be put at last as it is not tested in any ‘one size fits all’ examination Vietnamese middle students are less likely to find it easy and comfortable to speak in English They are afraid when taking part in any speaking contest or meeting native speakers b Identify area of interest I am researching the problems of our students’ speaking with the intention to find out what can be done to help them improve their speaking skills With the results of this research, the research will be a tool for the teachers to understand the anxiety that our students have to face My plan is to find out and show all the challenges of students in speaking in English. c Literature review Anxiety is defined as "the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous system" (Spielberger, 1983, p 15) Trait anxiety, state anxiety, and situation-specific anxiety are the three categories of anxiety (Horwitz et al., 1986; MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991; Scovel, 1978) FLA (Foreign Language Anxiety) has been extensively explored as a situation-specific anxiety (e.g., Dewaele, 2013; Dewaele & Alfawzan, 2018; Gardner, 1985; Horwitz et al., 1986; MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991; Scovel, 1978) According to Krashen's (1982) filter theory, anxiety may limit FL learners' ability to fully utilise language input Many researchers have recognized the harmful impact of anxiety on SL/FL learning (e.g., Gardner, 1985; Horwitz, 2017; Horwitz et al., 1986; Liu, 2007; Liu & Jackson, 2008, 2011; MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991; Young, 1991) FLA relates to learners' anxiety and negative emotional reactions associated with learning/using an SL/FL, as defined by MacIntyre (1999) FLA was identified by Horwitz et al (1986) as a type of anxiety that causes language learners to have unpleasant experiences with SL/FL learning They created the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) to measure it, which has 33 items and covers three dimensions: communication anxiety, fear of being badly graded, and test anxiety. Quantitative research has revealed that learners in SL/FL classes experience varying levels of anxiety, and that there is a consistent negative correlation between FLA and SL/FL learning outcomes measured by various test scores or school grades in various aspects (e.g., reading, speaking, and vocabulary learning) of an SL/FL (e.g., Al-Shboul, Ahmad, Nordin, & Rahman, 2013; Alshahrani & Alshahrani, 2015; Dewaele & Alfawzan, 2018; Liu & Jackson, 2008) For example, in Wu’s (2011) study, 91 university students answered the questionnaires and took a reading comprehension test The findings showed that students with lower language anxiety and reading anxiety tended to score higher in the reading comprehension test This line of research also shows that FLA interacts with a multitude of other factors such as language proficiency, motivation, self-confidence, language strategy use, the number of FLs known, age, gender, and willingness to communicate (Boudreau, MacIntyre & Dewaele, 2018; Dewaele, 2013; Dewaele & Alfawzan, 2018; Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014; Lu & Liu, 2015) For example, the FLA level decreases as learners have more exposure and access to the FL (Liu, 2007; Liu & Jackson, 2011) and increases as learners learn more FLs (Dewaele, 2013); more anxious learners tend to use less frequently more effective strategies in language learning (Lu & Liu, 2015) and be more unwilling to communicate in the FL (Liu, 2017; Liu & Jackson, 2008) In a study of learners’ anxiety and enjoyment in FL class, Dewaele and MacIntyre (2014) administered a self-developed 21-item Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE) and an 8-item Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCA) adapted from Horwitz et al (1986) FLCAS as well as other measures to thousands of FL learners around the world The results revealed that the FLE levels were significantly higher than those of FLCA, and that FLE and FLCA were related to such variables as students’ self-perceived proficiency in the FL, number of languages known, education level, number of FLs under study, age, gender, cultural background, general proficiency in the FL, classroom environment, and teachers’ professional and emotional skills. Qualitative researchers have found that speaking is the most anxiety-provoking activity, especially when speaking the SL/FL in front of others, that SL/FL learners become/feel anxious for a variety of linguistic, cultural, educational, psychological, and personality reasons, such as fear of being negatively evaluated, fear of being laughed at, peer pressure, low proficiency in the SL/FL, fear of making mistakes, not understanding the input, and teachers being (t) (e.g., Alshahrani & Alshahrani, 2015; Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014; Gregersen & MacIntyre, 2014; Liu, 2006, 2016; Liu & Jackson, 2011; Price, 1991; Young, 1991) A mutually supportive peer group or class, an empathetic teacher, a confident or experienced student, and other factors, on the other hand, can aid to lessen anxiety Perfectionism has also been attributed to FLA in university students by several researchers (Dewaele, 2012, 2017; Liu, 2007) According to Effiong's (2016) interview study, characteristics such as the unfriendliness and teacher's dress code, as well as amusement and silence, might possibly provoke anxiety in the classroom Furthermore, it can be noticed that FLA could be actively encouraging in specific situations (Bailey, 1983; Horwitz, 2017; Liu & Jackson, 2011), and FLA and SL/FL learning outcomes can be mutual variables for each other (Liu & Jackson, 2008, 2011) As reviewed above, studies on FLA in young learners are scarce (Abu-Rabia, 2004; Alshahrani & Alshahrani, 2015; Chan & Wu, 2004; Dewaele & Alfawzan, 2018; Gürsoy & Akin, 2013; Gürsoy & Arman, 2016; Liu & Cheng, 2014) SL/FL learners become/feel anxious for a variety of linguistic, cultural, educational, psychological, and personality reasons, such as fear of being negatively evaluated, fear of being laughed at, peer pressure, low proficiency in the SL/FL, fear of making mistakes, not understanding the input, and teachers being (t) (e.g., Alshahrani & Alshahrani, 2015; Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014; Gregersen & MacIntyre, 2014; Liu, 2006, 2016; Liu & Jackson, 2011; Price, 1991; Young, 1991) They also found that examinations were the most anxiety-provoking to the children The study showed that the main sources of anxiety were language tests, peer pressure (feeling less competent in EFL than peers), and having to speak in front of others in the FL In a case study of 12-year-old Korean primary school students conducted by Macaro and Lee (2013), it was discovered that failing to understand every word the teacher spoke in English was a key cause of them feeling worried in class Liu and Cheng (2014) studied 212 fifth- and sixth graders in central Taiwan and discovered that at least a quarter of the students had an above-average degree of anxiety in the EFL classroom, albeit most had a modest level of nervousness The students were most nervous when (a) they thought other students performed better in English, (b) they were called on to speak in class, and (c) they were fearful of being left behind in class The researchers concluded that students were most likely to feel anxious due to worry over inadequate language performance and fear of being evaluated negatively by others Moreover, young and adult SL/FL may experience different levels of FLA and become/feel anxious in SL/FL class for different reasons, especially in this globalised, information explosion, and technology-prevalent world d Key debates and developments in the field ● Survey research (SR) A study of a large group through direct study of a subset of that group Surveys are widely used to gather data at a particular point in time to: - Describe the nature of existing conditions - Identify standards against which existing conditions can be compared - Determine the relationships that exist between specific events The survey research is used in: - The policies affecting learning and teaching - Program administration - Attitudes of teachers/ learners toward a teaching method - Classroom practices - Target language norms - Responses of people toward a language phenomenon - Sociolinguistic studies of language use - The institutional settings Survey research is defined as "the collection of information from a sample of individuals through their responses to questions" (Check & Schutt, 2012, p 160) This type of research allows for a variety of methods to recruit participants, collect data, and utilise various methods of instrumentation Survey research can use quantitative research strategies (e.g., using questionnaires with numerically rated items), qualitative research strategies (e.g., using open-ended questions), or both strategies (i.e., mixed methods) As it is often used to describe and explore human behaviour, surveys are therefore frequently used in social and psychological research (Singleton & Straits, 2009). ● Middle school students Middle school is in between elementary school and high school and has 6th to 9th graders in Vietnam. ● Anxiety Anxiety - an uncomfortable feeling of nervousness or worry about something that is happening or might happen in the future The American Psychological Association (APA) defines anxiety as “an emotion characterised by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes like increased blood pressure.” ● Questionnaires “Questionnaires are any written instruments that present respondents with a series of questions or statements to which they are to react either by writing out their answers or selecting from among existing answers.” (Brown, 2001) ● Semi structured interview Semi-structured interviews are a mix of structured and unstructured interviews While a few questions are predetermined, the others are not planned The other three most common types of interviews are: - Structured interviews: The questions are predetermined in both topic and order - Unstructured interviews: None of the questions are predetermined - Focus group interviews: The questions are presented to a group instead of one individual Semi-structured interviews: - Have a structured overall framework. - Allow for greater flexibility in changing the question order and extensive, follow-up response questions - Remain in the control of the direction with more leeway - Closer to qualitative paradigm: richer interactions and more personalised responses Research questions: The major purpose was to identify differences in English speaking anxiety among Vietnamese young EFL learners (6th to 9th graders) To accomplish this, the following three specific research questions were formulated: (1) To what degree are Vietnamese young learners of English anxious when speaking English in class? (2) What causes the middle students to be anxious when speaking English in class? (3) What are the effects of anxiety on middle students’ learning of (spoken) English? Research Methodology a Research hypothesis Since the Vietnamese middle school students appear to have a significant need to improve their English-speaking skills, it is necessary to provide an explanation and a recommendation for further action to comprehend and facilitate the process of de-fossilization To be more specific, it is anticipated that if the teacher continuously keeps track and understand the causes of the fossilised and frequent anxiety of students, he/ she might: ● Be more able to observe learners’ needs based on a categorised list of common items ● Make it possible to carefully observe and realise and provide therapeutic feedback to his/ her students b Participants: Students grade 6th to 9th from a Public Middle School in Long Bien District, Hanoi, Vietnam Their English level is ranging from A1 to A2-, they have learnt English for more than years Participants are chosen from different grades and classes and taught key words, grammar, and skills Plan of work & Time schedule a Planning First, I would like to collect their Final Speaking English test performance to have a general assessment of students’ speaking skills Second, I would create instrument materials, included: questionnaires and interview questions based on the research population. Third, I would encourage students to answer questions honestly and thoroughly Finally, I would discuss and adopt some skills and strategies in speaking to adequately prepare their confidence in speaking English b Action and data collection I decided to use two methods of data collection, questionnaires and interviews. Specifying population by choosing: (random sampling) ● Survey participants: A total of 250 students aged 11 to 14 of my school answered the survey: 80 6th graders, 64 7th graders, 50 8th graders and 46 9th graders ● Interview participants: Two 6th, two 7th, two 8th and two 9th graders participated in semi-structured interviews For the sake of convenience and privacy protection, a number was assigned to each interviewee, which was used when reporting their remarks in the paper. The next step is developing instruments: ● Observing population: The issue should be of informants’ interest and concern. ● Creating questionnaires: English Speaking Class Anxiety Scale The survey used in the present study was adapted from Horwitz et al.’s (1986), with several modifications being made to better suit the present situation First, only items indicating physical symptoms of anxiety, nervousness and lack of confidence concerned with speaking anxiety were selected, with reference to causes for speaking anxiety in SL/FL language class identified in the current literature (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014; Liu, 2006, 2016; Price, 1991; Young, 1991) One item was added based on an informal talk with middle school students prior to the study Thus, the English Speaking Class Anxiety Scale (ESCAS) covers such aspects related to speaking English in class as self-confidence, making mistakes, teacher input, preparation, volunteering to speak, being singled out to speak English, peer pressure, and being laughed at.hen, the words “language” and “foreign language” used in the original FLCAS were consistently replaced with “English” All the items were placed on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from “Strongly Disagree” to “Strongly Agree”, with values of 1-5 assigned to each of the five descriptors respectively The higher the score, the more anxious a student was when speaking English in class ● Creating interview questions: Semi structured interviews To gather more views of English-speaking anxiety, survey respondents were interviewed The interview guide covered such questions as feelings when speaking English in class, causes for anxiety, and the effects of anxiety on English speaking performance Interviewers write up after the interview, record audio and take notes to collect data. ● Speaking English test performance: Students’ scores in the course’s final term speaking English test were collected as indicators of their performance in oral English The test consisted of two parts: 1- 2-minute recitation of a text (e.g., topics like “what book did you read this week?” and “what sports you like?”) The first research question is (1) To what degree are Vietnamese young learners of English anxious when speaking English in class? I would like to collect the data by: ● Sending questionnaires to students ● Requiring students to the questionnaire A total of 250 complete questionnaires were collected for statistical analyses The English-Speaking Class Anxiety Scale (ESCAS) items were computed in terms of mean (M) and standard deviation (SD) first for each sample graders and then compared by ANOVA to explore differences The second research question is (2) What causes the students to be anxious when speaking English in class? I would like to collect the data by: ● Sending questionnaires to students ● Requiring students to the questionnaire A total of 250 complete questionnaires were collected for statistical analyses The English-Speaking Class Anxiety Scale (ESCAS) items were computed in terms of mean (M) and standard deviation (SD) first for each sample graders and then compared by ANOVA to explore differences The third research question is (3) What are the effects of anxiety on students’ learning of (spoken) English? I would like to collect the data about Self-reported causes for and effects of anxiety by: ● Choosing interviewees ● Interviewing each student ● Write-up, audio recording and note-taking during and after the interview c Data analysis procedures After compiling the results of questionnaires and interviews and ANOVA, I researchers and critics will compare, create tables, analyse and evaluate collected data I will review what I have learnt and draw conclusions about what I think the data mean Hopefully, I will be given a chance to more research to solve the problems that I will find in this research Finally, I will prepare a report of the study, including follow-up action This report will be presented to the Dean of the department and the principles of some middle schools with the hope that we will be able to investigate and deeply understand students’ anxiety at speaking class and try to find solutions to these problems 10 d Time schedule The research will take place over the course of five months in 2023, with nine stages To improve the quality and authenticity of the research proposal, each step is meticulously planned, carried out by experts, and founded on recommendations The table below shows the detailed schedule that each stage comes before Month/ 2023 Task to be performed January February March April May 4 4 Finalise research proposal and submit for clearance Literature Survey & Develop Questionnaire Search Engine and Analysis of Data Identification of Areas of Improvements Data collection Data entry and analysis Feedback, discuss, and disseminate research findings and recommendations Thesis report writing 11 Thesis submission Bibliography: Alshahrani, M., & Alandal, A (2015) An investigation of anxiety among elementary school students towards foreign language learning. Studies in Literature and Language, 11(1), 29-40 Al-Shboul, M M., Ahmad, I S., Nordin, M S., & Rahman, Z A (2013) Foreign language anxiety and achievement: Systematic review. International Journal of English Linguistics, 3(2), 32 Bailey, K M (1983) Competitiveness and anxiety in adult second language learning: Looking at and through the diary studies. Classroom oriented research in second language acquisition, 3(5), 67-102 Black, T R (1999). Doing quantitative research in the social sciences: An integrated approach to research design, measurement and statistics sage Boudreau, C., MacIntyre, P., & Dewaele, J M (2018) Enjoyment and anxiety in second language communication: An idiodynamic approach. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 8(1), 149-170 Chan, D Y C., & Wu, G C (2004) A study of foreign language anxiety of EFL elementary school students in Taipei County. Journal of national Taipei teachers college, 17(2), 287-320 Cohen, J (2013). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences Routledge 12 ... According to the curriculum, I use a set of textbooks with tapes attached, published by the Ministry of Education and Training, and Discovery. During a few years of teaching, I have found that it is... test This line of research also shows that FLA interacts with a multitude of other factors such as language proficiency, motivation, self-confidence, language strategy use, the number of FLs known,... students’ self-perceived proficiency in the FL, number of languages known, education level, number of FLs under study, age, gender, cultural background, general proficiency in the FL, classroom