INTRODUCTION
Rationale of the study
Nowadays, English has become an international language which is used in most fields such as education, technology, science, etc It is usual for us to see journals, articles or scientific research written in English Websites are designed and presented in English, so people have to know and use English to read and access to those sites or take part in activities on those websites As the most popular foreign language in Vietnam, English is essential to communication in our current time so that everyone learns it to get in touch with the international community as it is used in forums between different countries, in commercial contracts, etc English is also essential to the field of education In many countries, children are taught and encouraged to learn English as a second language As a compulsory subject in every school in Vietnam, it has been taught from an early age, at the age of 6 (grade 1 in primary school) or even younger in most schools and universities throughout the country beside other ones It is also one subject for entrance exam to high schools or a condition for graduation in colleges and universities in our country Good English learning at school will enhance students’ competence in the area of globalization It will certainly reduce the communication gap between people of different countries and therefore make people in the world become closer Because of its importance, students need to improve their English language to attain get a certain level of competence
To reach a certain level in English, apart from learning at school, students also spend time practising outside the class and both of these two dimensions of learning English are beneficial Richards (2015) states two dimensions to successful second language learning: inside and outside of the classroom, out-of-class learning opportunities provide comprehensible input and output as well as learners’ overall second language development, language learning or activation outside the classroom offers challenges and opportunities that are not available inside the classroom When talking about learning in the classroom, we often think of the images where students sit in their places, teacher is the person to control the class and give the lectures with the help of facilities such as projector, board, chalk and realia Learning inside the class, beside positive aspects, has some constraints such as the number of students in one class is large, time is limited with forty-five minutes for one period with various activities while a teacher has to pay attention to every student, lack of flexibility in teaching methods makes the teacher feel difficult to give lectures as well as control the class effectively
The classroom with 30 or 40 students, each of them is different in personalities and learning level, which requires the teacher to use various methodologies suitable to all of them Besides, education outside the classroom – real world learning – makes an important contribution to building a learner’s store of knowledge, which is based on their own creativity and enquiry Learning outside the classroom are flexible because learners do not have to obey the rules and are not controlled by the teachers, they have the chance to manifest their language skills as well as living skills Unlike class learning which is time- limited, a period of only forty-five minutes is not enough for all the learners to participate in activities carried out by the teachers, so not all skills are developed during the class time; out of class learning is not restricted by time and place, students can learn whenever and wherever they want and with whoever they feel comfortable It is undeniable that out-of-class learning is meaningful and necessary for English language development Because of the above reasons, I decided to carry out the research entitles “An investigation into the 10 th grade students’ out-of-class learning at a high school in Lao Cai province”
The research will help teachers understand how students learn outside the classroom as well as what skills they often focus on It is also essential for teachers of English because it can be used as a reference in their teaching.
Aims of the study
The study aims at investigating how students learn outside the classroom as well as the activities they focus on The findings will be meaningful to English teachers in the school investigated because they can understand how their students learn English outside the class; therefore, they can design suitable strategies to improve their teaching skill as well as design various activities to help their students develop their English competence
This study will find the answers to the questions:
(1) How often do students participate in out-of-class English learning?
(2) What out-of-class learning activities do students prefer?
Scope of the study
With the above aims, the research is limited to explore out-of-class activities that students at Lao Cai High school number 2 take part in It involves the participation of 100 students at grade 10 The findings and suggested activities will be applied to the 10 th grade students in Lao Cai High school number 2 Besides, the ability to encourage learning is essential to all students Therefore, the result of the activities can be transferred to other students who learn English As a result, students will find the ways to improve their English language
In addition, this research project can also contribute to the development of teaching programs The result might raise the awareness of teachers about students’ ways of learning English outside of the class This study is expected to bring more insights into the teacher-student understandings The result hopefully can fill in the gaps between the teacher and their students.
Methods of the study
The study was designed to survey the extent to which the researched students participated in out-of-class English language learning as well as their preferred out-of-class English language learning activities
Since the study is a survey, data was collected by means of a questionnaire.
Significance of the study
Teachers have the role of understanding all the aspects of their students’s such as their background knowledge, real competence, interest, attitude, personalities, etc Knowing these aspects will help them have appropriate teaching methods as well as be active in planning or designing activities in each lesson The study with the aim at investigating 10 th grade students’ out-of-class English learning activities at a high school will be useful for teachers of English at that school because basing on the results, they know how active their students are, how often they take part in some popular activities as well as what activities they often participate in or what activities they like most to improve their English competence after learning at school The result will also be useful for teachers of other subjects because English is now integrated with other subjects thus teachers of other subjects can give extra activities for students do basing on their out-of-class English activities The study will also be useful for teachers of other schools The result of one hundred 10 th students in a high school will be the results of the majority of the 10 th grade students in that province.
Organization of the thesis
The study consists of five chapters:
Chapter 1: Introduction presents the rationale, the aims, the scope, the methods, the significance and the organization of the study
Chapter 2: Literature review introduces the review of the literature, theoretical background and related studies
Chapter 3: Research methodology describes the research methodology, in which the context of the study, participants, instruments, data collection procedures and data analysis are presented
Chapter 4: Findings and discussion gains results from the questionnaires This focus on presenting, analyzing and discussing the results obtained from the study through questionnaires
Chapter 5: Conclusion summarizes the research results, implication, limitation of the study and gives some suggestions for futher research.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Activities in teaching and learning English
Almost everybody loves playing even they are old or young, male or female Games are defined as a structure with rules, goals and agreement of the players on the surface (Turtledove, 1996) or an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun (Hadfield, 1990) Therefore, when talking about games, we often regard competition, rules and enjoyment Nowadays, games are used in language teaching and learners are usually active in the classroom by playing games ( Sugar, 1998) Any teacher would be able to use games to get students’ motivation in language learning and when being in the games, students can develop their language abilities Carrier (1980) stated that games are very useful in a class because they provide an opportunity for students to use their language in a less formal situation
There are many types of games that can be used in English language teaching as role-playing games, imitation games, substitution games, theatrical performance and problem-solving activities Among those, problems solving activities are especially fitting for all stages of language learning Howard Gardner claimed that when exploring a certain topic in school, games can be used in different ways to give students the maximum chances of reaching all students in the classroom “The personal way” is the one, where the ultimate goal is to see if it is possible to approach a specific topic by using, for example, role play, or other interactions (Gardner, 2006)
Another one, board games were suggested by Armstrong (2000) as a teaching strategy that might be suitable for students with interpersonal intelligence because they provide an excellent setting for interaction between students
In the classroom, teachers should be the one to decide the appropriate games for their students Carrier (1980) assumed that there are many factors that should be taken into account when choosing the games that bring success to students at any time The principal factors they have to consider are related to the students’ language level, the game, the time to apply the game and the preparation for it as well as its objectives
Drama is defined by Holden (1981) as any activity which asks the student to portray self or another person in an imaginary situation, by Shand
(2008) as techniques to teach other subjects These techniques include storytelling, story dramatization, role-playing, etc In other words, drama refers to the dramatic scenes applied in the classroom There is a location, characters and dramatic activities that done in pairs and groups in a scene
In an ESL classroom, drama is regarded as an effective method as Mattevi (2005) stated that the use of drama in the language classroom allows the teacher to present the target language in an active, communicative and contextualized way Using drama can help teacher develop students’ four skills of language learning (speaking, listening, writing and reading), and facilitate pronunciation and body language It allows the students to express their individuality and brings to life the cultural context of the foreign language Campbell (2008) proved the effectiveness of using drama on students' achievement whereas the effect of drama in foreign language teaching Moreover, drama has effectiveness on critical thinking as it develops students’ intellectual skills such as creativity, problem solving, communication, socialization
There are may ways to incorporating drama in the ESL class One of the easiest ways is to have students act out the dialogue from their textbooks To do this, teacher pair or group the students, have them choose roles, then work together to act out the dialogue This is simple but effective for a beginning activity of incorporating drama in the classroom Performing reader’s theater is another effective beginning exercise in which teachers hand out copies of a short or one-act play, have students choose roles and then read the play, encourage them to read dramatically or model as necessary
Teacher can also have the students write the dialogue for a scene by having students watch a brief clip of a movie without the sound on and write the dialogue for it and act it out
In short, the above activities are almost useful in language classroom
Therefore, teachers can base on the lesson and students’ level to choose the appropriate ones.
The role of out-of-class learning
Out-of-class learning is defined as “any kind of learning that takes place outside the classroom” and is classified into three categories: self- instruction, naturalistic language learning and self-directed naturalistic language learning (Benson, 2001) Benson also gave definition about out-of- class English learning activities as students’ activities in vocabulary learning, grammar learning and language skills such as listening, speaking reading, writing to improve their English out of the classroom Pickard (1996) also indicated out-of-class learning activities as the ones they do outside the class room: listening to the radio, reading newspapers and novels In Brooks (1992) and Suh, Wasanasomsithi, Short and Majid’s (1999) research, students’ major out-of-class activities were watching television, going to the cinema, listening to music and interacting with native speakers In this study, out-of-class
English language learning refers to students’ learning outside the regular classrooms, including extra-curriculum activities organized by the teachers or the school if there was any
Out-of-class learning means using places other than the school for teaching and learning In other words, it is about getting learners out and about, providing them with challenging, exciting and different experiences to help them learn Places may be a location, activity or workshop where learning outside the classroom takes place, the purpose of learning is to give learners a real-world learning experience that will be useful for their real life communication Learning outside the classroom differs from those that happen inside the classroom because students may be encouraged to engage in a wide range of soft skills such as teamwork and leadership It not only helps encourage students develop critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making skills, etc but also leads to a deeper understanding and provides a context for learning in many areas
Out-of-class learning provides opportunities for language use; in other words, it gives chances for language activation outside the classroom The time for learning in the classroom is not long enough for leaners to practice basing on the theory given, so they have to practice outside of the class
Furthermore, learners not only activate their language in authentic contexts, but they also develop their communicative repertoires and acquiring new language skills that are not mastered in the classroom (Choi, 2017) Apart from acquiring new vocabulary, learners can improve fluency and pronunciation, refine their grammatical knowledge, skills, confidence and so on It is easy to understand because learners move from their classroom to the wider world, they have to deal with the linguistic demands summarized above, cope with a more extensive range of interactional and communicative variables This motivates them to study hard for communicative purposes
Thomas (2010) also stated that learning outside the classroom creates fun, enjoyment and negotiated goals Firstly, unlike a classroom with four sides of walls and learners only sit at the desks, out-of-class learning can take place anywhere: at a café, a garden, a corner, etc Secondly, when learners are in the classroom, they are under disciplines and controlled by the teacher, they do not feel free to express their ideas, especially shy ones However, outside the classroom, they can make their own learning regulations, develop their creativity It is true to say that out-of-class learning builds personal experience and provides learners’ interests When learners have the chance to choose their partners who are at their same level or the ones of the same learning styles or interests, they can improve their language competence and therefore the negotiated goals are easily reached
Learners can also entertain when learning outside the classroom
Unlike learning in the class with much pressure from teachers, school rules and time limitation, learning outside the class room is very flexible Learners can learn at any time they want and learning time can last whenever they like
Apart from learning, they share their hobbies as well as their perspectives for future learning Without disciplines and management from the teacher, they feel comfortable and create activities they like basing on the content of the lesson This is also the time for them to relax without neglecting their duty
Ellis (1994) concluded that learners get the most benefit from normal language instruction when it is coupled with opportunities for natural exposure to the language
In short, learning beyond the classroom is significant for learners in general and language development in particular Therefore, learners are not only guided in class time but also encouraged to learn outside the class In fact, many teachers tend to increase assignments or homework to encourage out-of-class learning This is necessary for language improvement
While the benefits of out-of-class learning are obvious and without participating in out-of-class learning, students can hardly achieve the desired learning results, no much research on this issue has ever been undertaken in the context of Vietnamese high schools In Lao Cai, where this study was conducted, this issue was not given adequate attention because teachers were concerned with in-class learning only This provides a rationale for this study.
Out-of-class learning activities
Richards (2015) stated that one of the easiest ways for learners to engage in real communication out of class is through chat rooms Chat rooms enable people with similar interests to interact, either through written text- based messages or in spoken medium They are organized with different topics and there are a large number of people giving their ideas if the topics are of their interest Those topics are also for learners of different levels and are for them to apply the language and knowledge they have achieved to exchange their ideas as well as communicate with different people all over the world including native speakers In contrast with stressful classroom-based learning that makes learners sometimes unwilling to communicate, chat room communication is quite flexible and makes them comfortable to use their language as well as express their ideas They are not punished if they make mistakes, so they do not fear of speaking in front of their peers Apart form consolidating knowledge, chat rooms are the places for participants to entertain When they feel comfortable, they often express their interest and concerns about fashions, music, etc Therefore, their understanding about different areas of life is exposed through the target language they are using In short, chat room interactions often result in more successful comprehension as well as a greater quantity of target language production than classroom-based communication
In an interview, the interviewer tries to find out about interviewees’ knowledge, skill and experience, which they have acquired In addition to that, the environment they perform needs communication When learning a foreign language, learners should be given opportunities to practice their speaking because it is the most important aspect of communication
Moreover, Richards and Rogers (2001) stated that communicative language teaching needs to practice in the real communication, carrying out the meaningful tasks, and the learners are involved in the authentic and meaningful language Interviews provide opportunities for face to face, for give and take, for negotiation of meaning, for extended conversational exchanges While participating in an interview, the learners become vocal participants in the process, they have to think and share their ideas about the issues of interest Each interview often focuses on one issue Therefore, when taking part in different interviews, learners develop their vocabulary of different issues It also makes students raise their awareness about the different matters of the society and widen their general knowledge; therefore interviews create motivation for language learning
Films, stories, music, and other cultural products for English language learning have a long established history They are useful for language development According to Jack Richards, social media plays an important role in most people’s daily life and can also be used to support language development Reading authentic texts and news articles from the electronic media such as BBC News, CNN World, The New York Times can help learners develop their language skills Beside giving learners the chances to practice listening to English, films also help them acquire idiomatic contexts and cultural situations Film are useful for language learning outside the classroom for the following reasons First, it plays an integral part as a motivator, it makes the language learning process more entertaining and enjoyable Second, film provides authentic and varied language, it gives examples of situations in which English is used, as well as conversations for them to imitate in real life Third, it creates a visual context which enables watchers understand more what they have seen Fourth, films assist learners’ comprehension by giving them the chance to listen to language exchanges and see visual supports as facial expressions and gestures simultaneously
Moreover, films can bring variety and flexibility to the language learning
Reading stories is one of the best ways to increase vocabulary and consolidate understanding of grammar A good learning environment can be created, meaningful as well as comprehensible input can be provided through the use of story According to Krashen (1981), through stories, the language acquisition device is activated and it is easy for children to induce the language elements from the data provided by the stories Stories can benefit to learners because they help readers to develop the ability to understand spoken language and engage in thinking skills When meeting and coming across new words and phrases in context, readers will find that they begin to make their way into spoken English as well In this way, the more they read, the more quickly their spoken English will improve Nowadays, with the help of modern technology, we can easily find the sources of stories especially online Khaleel (2017) stated that stories can attract students’ attention, because they provide challenging topics based on their everyday interests A good story interests readers and encourages them to turn the next page and read more They may feel excited, sad, afraid, angry or really happy following up the content of the story and feel like they are part of it, too This is why the words and structures that relate a story's events, descriptions and conversations are processed in this deeper way and make readers easy to understand Through the stories, the learners widen cultural values which are different from theirs, deepen their memory and develop the ability to predict and infer When retelling the stories they have read, learners are provided with the opportunities to speak the foreign language creatively, integrate information and knowledge they learn from other sources, and become more confident in the ability to express themselves spontaneously
Music has become part of our life Besides, it is a useful tool in learning languages Music can help listeners improve their listening skills, therefore it helps enhance their speaking skills as well When listening to an English song, listeners often listen to it many times This makes them be familiar with the vocabulary and when they remember the words of the song, they tend to repeat them then their pronunciation will be improved Apart from improving vocabulary, songs provide useful sentence structures and grammar as well English songs with a simple sentence structure and conversational language make us understand easily so we can learn them by heart quickly Besides, songs are enjoyable Learners listen to them to reduce stress and anxiety in lives, their rhythms and melodies make them feel comfortable
Games provide a fun way to practise English – it can be a really motivating way to learn a language Games are also great for those who are shy or worried about making mistakes It can give them an opportunity to communicate in English in a safe and fun way There are various games with the focus on different skills, grammar, pronunciation, so they can be extremely complex According to Wright et al (2006), games provide one way of helping the learners to experience language rather than merely study it Games also offer the possibility of repeated use of language items and when the language items are repeated, participants will remember them deeply In addition to practicing language, games are useful for creating motivation and reduce stress of learning During playing games, learners feel comfortable and do not worry much about mistakes of using grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation, they focus only on the language they use to get the points or win the games
There are different activities for learners study English outside the classroom and each of them have certain effects to enhance language competence Learners can choose one activity or combine them together depending on their circumstances.
Language learning beyond classroom by Nunan and Richards
Richard and Nunan states two important dimensions to successful second language learning: inside the classroom and outside of the classroom
There is limitation of classroom-based learning such as class-size, time limitation and lack of flexibility in teaching methods Learning inside the classroom is sometimes inefficient because of unfavorable class-size; classes of 50 or more students are not uncommon in some countries making opportunities for authentic communication difficult In addition, not all of the learners have the chance to communicate with all of their classmates Moreover, large classrooms make discussion and group work more difficult as well as difficulties in classroom management As teachers struggle to handle individual student needs, it becomes very difficult to control a large class
In compariosn with Vietnamese schools nowadays, a period of studying is only forty-five minutes which is not enough for all learners to participate in activities carried out by the teachers, so not all skills are developed during the class time In addition, apart from knowledge in the textbook, teachers want to give extra practice associated with real life or realistic situations which are necessary for learners to communicate out side the classroom However, they do not have time to implement that Besides, the tasks given by the teacher are not only for teaching knowledge but also for focusing on the individual needs With the class time of only thirty or forty-five minutes, it is difficult for them to complete all of those If they spend all the time for one task, they cannot solve the other ones Lack of flexibility in teaching methods is also one problem For instance, introverted learners learn more effectively in individual, independent situations but extroverted learners learn more effectively through concrete experiences, contacts with the outside world and relationships with others Furthermore, not all teachers are physical and emotional enough and because of the large class size and lack of time, teacher can choose the method which is suitable for most students in the class but not all of them
Richards and Nunan presented the benefits out-of class learning activities Extensive reading improves reading fluency and comprehension and increases vocabulary A list of instructional principles for extensive reading has been drawn as well as the major advantages of extensive reading are addressed Technology and the internet were used to promote language learning outside of the classroom Richards also stated the importance of technology and the internet in the development of specific language skills
Digital games are mostly liked by young learners because they offer possibilities both for entertainment as well as language learning, particularly in developing vocabulary and ideas for the topic given Moreover, listening logs can be used to give assignment through which students demonstrate their participation in out-of-class activities and improve their listening abilities since listening log assignments require students to attend a variety of authentic events, take notes and reflect on their own comprehension of each event Apart from listening logs, social media plays an important role in the daily lives and can also be used to support language development By reading authentic texts and news articles from the electronic media such as those from BBC News, CNN World, The New York Times, etc In short, out-of-class activities provide a number of benefits
Traditionally, language teaching has always been seen as a preparation for out-of-class use of language, much of the focus in language teaching in the past has typically been on classroom-based As a result, language teaching has focused on the design of syllabuses, methods and materials as well as on training teachers to best exploit the classroom Therefore, students had little opportunities to use English outside the classroom However, with the help of the internet, technology and media, there are greater opportunities for meaningful and authentic language use than those available in the classroom
Nowadays, apart from learning in the classroom, learners can interact using English with people in almost every part of the world by using Apps that support language learning and people can use these while waiting for the bus or train or travelling At home, they may enter a chat room to interact with other people or with native speakers; they can also watch TV programs or movies in English, following subtitles if necessary Richards proved that young people in the northern European countries, such as Finland and Denmark, have good listening skills and are often quite fluent in English compared to their counterparts in countries such as Portugal and Italy One of the reasons is that in these countries, English language movies on TV and cinemas are shown in their original language with subtitles This means that learners would make progress in learning English if they made use of the opportunities to learn English outside of the classroom There are a number of ways to maintain and extend proficiency in English such as using English to maintain social networks with people in different countries, using English as the target language in their job Richards suggested a number of activities to provide opportunities to use and develop proficiency in English such as chat rooms, self-access centres, interviews, language villages Chat rooms can be designed to promote the use of English; self-access centre, student interviews, and the language village can be designed to provide language learning opportunities The activities motivate learners in learning English To take part in chat rooms, students have to spend sustained periods of time since they can serve a variety of social as well as cognitive purposes Interviews are motivating because participants can carry out meaningful interactions with other people in English Participants in the self-access centre as well as the language village similarly develop confidence in using their language since they participate in success-oriented activities in a non-threatening supportive atmosphere In short, each of the above activities involves learners in collaborative interaction Participants can experience a social learning space in which they can share interests, concerns, and needs Nunan stated the difference between learning inside and outside the classroom Traditionally, classroom was referred to as a “black box” because it is a place where teachers shut their doors to teach their students However, when learners move from the classroom to the wider world, they not only have to deal with the linguistic demands but also have to cope with a more extensive range of interactional and communicative variables Therefore, they need cultural knowledge as well as knowledge of the content and context of the conversation There are factors affecting the result of learning beyond the class such as physical factors, for example, face-to-face conversation or the one through the telephone or the Internet will affect their ability to communicate effectively, and emotional factors such as the anxiety as well as the pressure to perform
In the classroom, after posing a question, teachers often provide learners with sufficient time to think of the questions then give responses
However, when communicating outside the classroom, the listeners are often expected to give an immediate response A pause of time will result in a repetition of the question or a show of impatience which can affect the success of the communication
“Language learning beyond the classroom” by Nunan and Richards is an innovative book that promotes learning opportunities outside classroom
The ideas and activities given in the book create readers’ interest and make the book attractive to teachers The book becomes an important resource for language learning.
Previous studies on out-of-class learning
Tavakoli, Shakeri and Ghanbarzadeh (2016) in their study provided an overview of learning within the second language classroom and gave an image of how to create the ground for learning from teachers, learners and learning resources It also gave out the effectiveness of learning beyond the classroom such as providing development of language and communication skills or authentic language experience integrating classroom based learning or leading to language learning in the contexts outside the classroom Besides, the study stated that out-of-class learning provides authentic language opportunities as well as raises issues for second language acquisition; this kind of learning can provide a pleasurable and positive language use experience In addition, the study suggested some ways for learning outside the classroom such as extensive reading, extensive listening, dialog journals, online learning and the use of computers However, the study did not point out the frequency of the activities the students do
Hyland (2004) examined the out-of-class English language learning activities of student teachers in Hong Kong Through instruments such as questionnaires, interviews and learner diaries, he found out that among activities outside the classroom, many students spend their time on receptive ones such as listening and reading They had a tendency to private rather than public activities which did not involve face-to-face contact He also investigated students’ out-of-class learning activities and their feelings and found out that they avoided activities because of fear of negative judgement
The study highlighted the importance of considering for learning, students’ attitudes and society’s attitudes These factors are important for language learning as it may inhibit or facilitate the taking up of specific learning activities However, the study did not emphasize on the students’ preferred activities
Suh et al (1999) investigated the out-of-class learning experiences of non-native speakers of English and the impact of the experiences on the individuals' second-language conversation skills of eight international students at Indiana University, Bloomington By using structured interviews, he indicated that independent leisure activities such as watching television, going to the cinema, listening to music and interacting with native speakers benefited their English conversational skills Some of the activities had a positive effect on their conversation skills, especially listening comprehension Another study by Pickard (1996) looked at the out-of-class learning activities carried out by German students studying English in Germany pointed out that the students preferred activities involving the receptive skills such as reading and listening, rather than the productive skills, but were also influenced by whether the activity was intrinsically interesting to them This study can, however, serve only as an introduction to this topic
It did not determine the actual impact of specific out of class on the development of second language conversation skills
Orhon (2018) sought language activities that EFL learners are engaged outside the class in order to support their language learning process and their attitude towards out-of-class language learning 109 students with different proficiency levels studying at Pamukkale University were chosen to participate in the study By using a questionnaire, the author collected the data Through data analysis, the author concluded that learners were mostly engaged in listening and watching activities which were considered as the most helpful activities and the type of language education (compulsory or elective) and language proficiency level were determined to be effective regardless students’ gender However, the study did not respect the gender of the participants
Spratt et al (2002) also looked at how often the high school students take part in specific activities outside classroom The results was that most of the activities are related to communication and entertainment such as watching movies and television in English and using the internet However, the result of the study was only based on self-report and needed further direct investigation using other methodologies
Do Thi Thuy (2017) carried out a study named “The relationship between students’ motivation and their out-of-class learning strategies: A survey at a high school in Vietnam” This thesis has pointed out students’ motivations and learning strategies over time and the interplay between these two factors The results of the study show that the majority of students are motivated to learn English, the reasons are mainly for taking the test (motivation for the tool) or because of their parents and relatives (external motivation) The most used after school learning strategies are indirect strategies (metacognitive and affective) In addition, the survey results show that after school students often learn English through songs or games in English However, this study did not reveal students’ opinions about the importance and effectiveness of those activities
In conclusion, this literature review provides evidence that out-of-class English language learning was not researched in Lao Cai high schools While the benefits of out-of-class learning are obvious and because out-of-class activities play a certain role in improving students’ English proficiency, this topic needs to be further researched.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Rationale for choosing survey as the research method
According to Wager (2016: 48-49), survey research is a research methodology in which the researcher does not attempt to manipulate or control the setting or environment; instead, the goal is a systematic gathering of information, often from a large sample or even an entire population In applied linguistics, survey research is commonly used to investigate psychological constructs such as learner beliefs, attitudes, motivation, and strategy use
This study aimes to investigate high school students’ attitudes towards out-of-class English language learning and their preferred out-of-class learning activities There is no intention to manipulate or to intervene the research environment Therefore, is fits the definition of survey research
This survey method is adopted because of the following reasons:
- Relatively to administer: The number of students is not too big for the author to observe or provide help when asking them to give the answers to the questionnaires
- A broad range of data collection can be collected: Student’s attitude, opinion and behaviour can be collected through the questions
- Numerous questions can be asked about one subject: A number of questions are designed to ask for student’s out-of-class learning
- Data can be collected from a large number of participants: the number of people answering the questions can be large depending on the author’s purpose
- It does not waste much time to carry out the survey: By delivering a questionnaire, the author can collect ideas from a large number of participants
Questionnaires are often used to examine people’s attitudes, beliefs and behaviours in language learning and teaching The data we get from questionnaire research can be especially insightful and satisfying when patterns emerge from a large number of respondents, when apparent differences or similarities are found among groups, or when relationships are ascertained among variables (Brown, 2001; Dửrnyei &Taguchi, 2010)
Because of these features of the questionnaire, it is used in this study
The research was carried out at a high school in Lao Cai, which was established more than 50 years ago and was considered one of the good schools in the province The school always pays attention to improve the quality of English subjects, build an environment for using foreign languages in communication, especially 10-year English classes; enhance skills especially listening-speaking skills for students; actively prepare conditions for teachers and facilities to gradually increase 10-year English classes Most English tests include 3 skills: listening, reading comprehension and writing
Regarding facilities, each classroom is equipped with a projector and there is a room for English practice The school always focuses on fostering English teachers, students with informatics or the ability to apply IT in studying or searching for information Students are instructed to learn knowledge through the internet, find materials and self-study Besides, the collective movement like English language exams on the internet is launched every year In addition, the English club is one of self-governing clubs, operating effectively, with the exchange of many schools throughout the province The school organizes a mid-term exam twice a year for English subject with division of examination room, organization of examination, issue, marking according to national high school regulations to assess the quality of teaching and learning, help students become familiar with the national exam
There were 5 teachers of English in this school and all of them were rated as qualified teachers because they were all graduates from the university that provided English language teacher education
In terms of the syllabus, at the time when this survey was conducted, the 7-year English syllabus had been introduced to 11 and 12 graders 10 graders had been taught 10-year English program Each lesson in the curriculum is designed with various topics to develop vocabulary, grammar and language skills as well as widen students’ knowledge about culture of English speaking countries Extracurricular activities were chosen basing on lessons in the textbooks meeting the requirements of Ministry of Education and Training
In short, English is a subject that is paid much attention and planned to be revised according to the period of each class, even with a free revision class for weak students with teachers' tutoring.
The participants
The participants were 100 students from the three classes of grade 10 at a high school in Lao Cai, both males and females They were kind, friendly and honest Their age ranged from 16 to 17 years old They had three periods of English each week, with each period lasting 45 minutes All of them had learnt English for more than 4 years in primary and secondary school
Before entering this high school, they had to take part in the entrance exam including English paper When studying in grade 10, these students had been taught with 10-year English program which was designed variously in skills with different topic related to real life The objective of the course book is to provide students with necessary information about different aspects of life and improve their English skills as well as provide the vocabulary Their English proficiency varied There were students who were good at English; however, there were those who were not and felt unconfident to use English This raised the question of whether they spent enough time for practising English outside the classroom This study aimed to find out the answer for that question.
Data collection
The data for this study were collected by means of survey questionnaire which is composed of two parts
Part 1 with 4 closed questions includes students’ attitude to learning English, their opinion about English skills and vocabulary and out-of-class activities This part aims at finding information about their opinions about learning English as well as their frequency of taking part in some out-of-class learning activities With the information collected, the author desires to have an overview of how students learn English outside the classroom
Part 2 includes 4 open questions which seek for students’ opinion about the advantages of learning English outside the classroom, the necessity of the activities and what activities they like to take part in most
Bilingual version questionnaires were used, the first language is English and the other is Vietnamese to avoid ambiguity
The time for data collection lasted during the fourth month of the second semester of the school year 2018-2019 This is the time when students learnt a majority of grade 10 knowledge Therefore, students may have an overview of their English ability or summarize the activities they participate in as well as evaluate the effects of those activities The questionnaire was delivered to 100 grade 10 students Before answering the questions, they were informed in Vietnamese the purpose, methods and requirements of the survey to make sure they got the idea about what they would have to do and were willing to take part in the study Then the students completed the questionnaire While students were completing the questions, anything that they wonder was clarified by the author
The collected data were analyzed quantitatively, in terms of numbers
To be more specific, the collected information was analyzed in percentage to identify the common patterns of the students’ participation in out-of-class English language learning as well as their most frequent out-of-class learning activities The results were presented in tables or charts to provide the trend about the students’ out-of-class learning.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Students’ attitude towards English
Figure 1 Students' attitude towards English
Figure 1 shows students’ attitudes towards English It is easy to recognize that the largest number of the students, which accounts for 44%, do not like English The ones who like English follows the list with only 5 cases fewer 16% of the participants in the survey reported that they like English much Lastly, few students really do not like English with only 1% The results indicate that not all the students like English although it is a compulsory subject and they have to learn it at school from early age We all know that all the children have to learn English when they enter primary school and this is an important subject because students have to take part in English exam for entrance as well as graduating high school
Not likeLikeLike muchReally don't like
Students’ self-evaluation about English
4.2.1 Students’ self-evaluation about their English proficiency
Figure 2 Students’ evaluation about their English proficiency
Figure 2 reveals that students do not highly evaluate their English proficiency Only 1% of the participants evaluate their English as very good
More than 4 cases of them suggest that their English is very bad We can see a fairly high percentage of them (38%) evaluate their English at average level
The number of students reduced to 31% at bad level and to 25% at good level
This answer could be explained by some reasons Students who have good marks at the exam self evaluate their English ability at very good or good level However, those who do not get good marks at the exam or do not feel confident to use English especially in front of the crowd self evaluate at average or bad level and those who have bad marks for the exam evaluate their ability at very bad level
AverageBadGoodVery badVery good
4.2.2 Students’ evaluation about their English skills and knowledge
Figure 3 Students’ evaluation about their English skills and knowledge
As illustrated in figure 3, students evaluated their English skills and knowledge in 5 levels: very bad, bad, average, good and very good At the first level, very bad, listening comprehension ranks the first with 9% of the students; writing and pronunciation ranks the second with 6% and 5% of the participants; speaking, grammar and vocabulary, which are all at 5%, rank the third and reading comprehension ranks the last with only 3% In the second level, bad, students have bad vocabulary in English account for 38%, which is the highest number; those who have bad listening comprehension and grammar account for 34% and 31%, which is the second highest number; those who have bad writing pronunciaton and reading comprehension account for 30%, 28% and 25%, which is the third highest number; those who have bad speaking account for 23% which is the smallest number of the participants The third level for students’ evaluation is average At this level,
Very badBadAverageGoodVery good speaking skill has the highest number with 48%; writing and pronunciation has the second highest number with 45% and 44%; reading comprehension, grammar and vocabulary rank the third with 40% and 39%; listening comprehension ranks the last with 34% At the fourth level of skill and knowledge evaluation (good), reading comprehension has the largest number of participants with 30%; listening comprehension, speaking and pronunciation have the second largest participants which are all at 22%; grammar and writing have the third largest students with 21% and 18%; vocabulary has the least students with 18% The last level of students evaluation is very good At this level, the number of students choose grammar is the largest with 4%, the number of students choose speaking and reading comprehension rank the second with 3% and 2%; those who choose listening comprehension, pronunciation and grammar rank the third with 2% and no one choose writing
The results indicate that, the majority of the students evaluates their skills and knowledge at bad and average level, a small number of them self evaluate their skills and knowledge at good level, few number of them self evaluate their skills and knowledge at very bad level and the number continues reducing at very good level.
Students’ attitude toward out-of-class activities
4.3.1 Students’ frequency of taking part in out-of-class activities
Table 1 Students’ frequency of taking part in out-of-class activities
(1) Read something interesting in English on the internet 13 13% 72 72% 12 12% 3 3%
(2) Read short stories in English 40 40% 50 50% 7 7% 3 3%
(4) Listen to the news in English 54 54% 40 40% 6 6% 0 0%
(5) Write English emails to friends 70 70% 23 23% 7 7% 0 0%
(6) Write comments on facebook in English 15 15% 55 55% 24 24% 6 6%
(8) Practice speaking English with other people 35 35% 49 49% 13 13% 3 3%
(9) Watch movies in English with the sub-title 3 3% 24 24% 47 47% 26 26%
(10) Watch movies in English without the sub-title 36 36% 46 46% 12 12% 6 6%
(11) Learn new words by heart 5 5% 49 49% 43 43% 3 3%
(12) Do English tests in test books 14 14% 46 46% 34 34% 6 6%
(15) Do English projects with classmates 3 3% 42 42% 46 46% 9 9%
Table 1 shows how students take part in out-of-class activities The activities focus on developing language skills as well as enhancing vocabulary and consolidating grammar knowledge The frequencies are from never (0%) to always (100%) As can be seen from the table, regarding activities that students never take part in, the number of students who never write emails to friends are the highest which accounts for 70%; students who never listen to the news rank the second with 54%; the ones who never watch movies in English without the sub-title and practice speaking English with other people are at the third place which account for 36% and 35% of the participants; other activities such as listening to English songs, watching movies in English with the sub-title, doing English projects with classmates has the small number of students who never take part in with 0% and 3%
Regarding activities that students sometimes take part in, reading something interesting in English on the internet ranks the first with 72%; writing comments on Facebook in English ranks the second with 55%; reading short stories in English, practising speaking English with other people and learning new words by heart rank the third with 50% and 49%; writing English emails to friends ranks the last with 23% Regarding activities that students usually take part in, watching movies in English with the sub-title accounts for the largest number of students with 47%; doing English projects with classmates ranks the second with less than the largest one only 1%; listening to English songs accounts for the third largest number of those with 44%; reading short stories in English and writing English emails to friends account for the least number of those with 7% Regarding activities that students always participate in, playing English video games is the first one which accounts for 30%; listening to English songs is the one that ranks the second place with 28%; less than two cases of the students alsways watching movies in English with the sub-title which ranks the third place; the final position is for listening to the news in English and writing English emails to friends which account for 0% of the students
From these results, we can conclude that entertaining activities such as watching movies, listening to songs and playing games are usually regarded when recommending student’s out-of-class activities This is easy to understand because of the own characteristics of young learners who do not like to sit in the stable place and do tasks
4.3.2 Advantages of out-of-class activities to their English
Figure 4 Advantages of out-of-class activities
Figure 4 reveales that out-of-class activities bring a number of advantages to students’ English As can be seen in the table, 39% of the students take part in out-of-class activities because they not only feel comfortable but also improve their English proficiency, 37% of them want to develop their skills and vocabulary, 18% of them take part in those activities because they want to entertain and only 6% take part in those activities to widen their social knowledge The results indicate that the main reasons for participating in the activities outside the class is for enhancing English skills and vocabulary as well as entertain themselves.
Entertaining and improving English proficiency
3 The necessity for taking part in out-of-class activities
Table 2 The necessity for taking part in out-of-class activities
Necessary because English is important Taking part in the activities to enhance the chance to use English
Necessary because these activities are exciting and useful to learn English 20 20%
Necessary because they help improve vocabulary and practice grammar 5 5%
Necessary because they help entertain and enhance their communicating skills as well as students can help each other in studying
Necessary because they widen social understandings 5 5%
Not necessary because they do not have time 5 5%
The table presents the students’ opinions about the necessity to take part in the activities and the reasons for those As can be seen from the table, the majority of the participants answered that taking part in out-of-class activities is necessary for the following reasons 55% of the students recognize the importance of English as it is a compulsory subject and they have to take the English final high school exam so they take part in the activities to have more chances to use English; therefore English will be improved 20% of the students think these activities are necessary because they are exciting and useful to learn English such as developing the skills
10% of the students think they need to take part in these activities because they not only feel relaxed but also enhance their communicating skills as well as they can help each other in studying 5% of the students think the activities are necessary because they can improve vocabulary and practice grammar, 5% of them think the activities are useful for widening social understandings
However, there is a small number of the students, which accounts for 10%, assume that it is not necessary to participate in these activities because they do not have time
In short, the majority of the students recognizes the necessity of out-of- class activities because of their advantages to improving their English
4.3.4 Students’ preference about out-of-class learning activities
Figure 5 Students' preference abut out-of-class learning activities
The table provides some information about what students like most to learn English outside the class Students’ preferred activities varied There are the ones which are useful for language skill development, such as communicating in English; there are the ones that are effective for not only
Percentage language skills but also entertainment such as watching films with or without the sub-title, listening to music or playing games However, there is a small number of the students who did not like any activities because they are busy or do not find interested in any activities
As can be seen from the table, listening to music ranks first with 29%
The students preferred learning English through English songs to the other activities outside the classroom because it brings out certain advantages such as entertaining, developing skills and vocabulary Playing games follows the list with only 8 cases fewer The reason for this choice is that it helps entertain, develop vocabulary, skills and thinking Less than 6 cases are communicating in English (including communicating with foreigners) because it helps improving English and confidence Watching films without the sub-title ranks the fourth which makes up for 14% of the cases because it helps entertain and develop skills and widen their social understandings
Lastly, a small number of the students (10%) like watching films with the sub-title because it helps entertain and develop vocabulary What is noteworthy that the number of the students who do not like learning English out of the class accounts for 10%, equalling the number of those who preferred watching movies with sub-titles Especially, the findings reveal that out-of class learning was not popular among these students Even the most preferred activity, which is learning English through music, attracted only nearly one-third of the student participants This implies that a greater emphasis should be placed on out-of-class learning without which students’ ability to use English and their performance in English can hardly be satisfactory
In short, out-of-class activities students prefer to do are the ones which are not only for English improvement but also for entertainment This is easy to understand because the 10 th graders are usually active and dynamic, the characteristics of their ages and states.
CONCLUSION
Summary of the research results
This study focuses on finding how students take part in out-of-class acivities and what activities students prefer to improve their English proficiency Through the data collected in the survey, it is clear that students like participating in different activities outside of the classroom The answers to the research questions have also been found basing on the data analysis
5.1 Current out-of-class activities students take part in
There are various out-of-class activities for students to take part in
Most of them aim at different skills which is essential for English development Basing on the data collected from survey, the activities students usually participate outside the classroom is watching movies with the sub- title, doing projects with classmates, listening to English songs and learning new words by heart
The most frequent activities is watching movies with the sub-title This is easy to understand 10 graders are the ones who are at the age of 16 and 17 so apart from learning, they also want to entertain and one type of entertainment is watching movies Many researchers (Ismaili, 2013;
Khoshniyat & Dowlatabadi, 2014; Li & Wang, 2015; Qiu, 2017) have claimed that there are several advantages inherent in the use of English movies including increasing students’ motivation, enhancing students’ oral and communication skills, and developing their cultural awareness The movies are also various from science fiction, romantic films to cartoons with different themes which are interesting for them to follow, especially the ones with the actors or actresses they admire Besides, with the sub-title, when encountering the words that they cannot hear, they can read the words in the sub-title which is useful for them to improve their reading skills and widen their vocabulary With the help of modern technology such as digital television or the internet, students can access to watch any film and at any time they like However, with the negative effects of television such as violent behaviours or being overweight, parents should pay attention to the time and films their children watch and help them to choose the ones which are appropriate to their ages
Doing projects with classmates is one of the activities students usually do outside the classroom It is also one task in the book However, there is not enough time for students to do it in the class with only forty-five minutes
Therefore, they have to prepare them at home with their classmates in their groups assigned by teachers or the monitor When doing projects, each member in the group takes responsibility for one part to fulfil the whole task, for example finding the data, taking photos to demonstrate the problems, writing comments for the pictures, presenting the group ideas, etc
Furthermore, doing projects helps develop team-work skill They have the chance to improve their leadership skills as well as collaborative skills By carrying out projects, students develop all the English skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing That may be one reason for teachers to give projects for their students to do
Apart from watching movies, listening to English songs is for students to learn while entertaining Students have different tastes of music such as pop music, classical music or rock music Songs with a playful melody may make people feel excited and bring the joyful atmosphere which bring good environment for students to study and create ideas In addition, most students have their own singers they admire, so they like to listen to the songs sung by their favorite singers or the songs of their music type Because of that, the frequency of listening to one English song may be high which is good for them to practice their listening skills Beside listening to the songs, students like to sing them and try to understand the content of them, this makes them widen their vocabulary and speaking skills With the help of modern technology such as smart phones and the internet, the students can take full advantage of their spare time to listen to English songs such as on the way to school, while doing housework or at the class break time
Learning new words by heart is one of the out-of-class activities that students frequently take part in It is easy to understand because that is a usual task that teachers ask their students to do outside the classroom It is undeniable that vocabulary plays an important part in every skill Without vocabulary, students have difficulties in expressing their ideas as well as understand other people’s ideas when speaking to them or reading the document Therefore, teaching vocabulary usually happen before activities of reading, speaking, listening and writing In addition to teaching new words in class, teachers often ask their students to learn them at home in order to remember the words deeply Some of the teachers sometimes check if the students learn the new words at home or not That may be one reason for students to learn new words by heart outside the classroom
In short, while watching movies with the sub-title and listen to English songs are mostly to entertain and are optional, learning new words by heart and doing projects with classmates focus most on developing English skills and vocabulary and they are mostly assigned by the teachers
5.2 Activities students like to participate in most outside the classroom
Based on the data collected, a large number of students acknowledge the advantages of out-of-class learning activities as they help students improve their English skills and widen their vocabulary as well as help them relax after hard-working time Two activities students like to do most outside the classroom are listening to music and playing games These two activities are preferred because they not only help the students entertain but also improve their English skills as well as widen their vocabulary
Songs in different kinds, such as pop, classical, rock or jazz bring joyful atmosphere that is helpful to nurture people’s soul Teenagers often have their own idols as singers or actors, actresses and they like to listen to the songs performed by their idols As their favorite songs, the students often listen to them many times and imitate the lyrics and try to understand the words which make them enhance their vocabulary Therefore, listening to English songs improves students’ listening skills and vocabulary
Games are the ones that attract most teenagers especially the boys after hard-studying time Nowadays, with the help of technology, students have the chance to enjoy different games at their free time by using smart phones, televisions or computers Modern games often have the English version, so to understand the rules, students must have a certain vocabulary Games or video games naturally require the integration of several linguistic skills including reading, listening, speaking and even writing in some It is undeniable that students naturally learn faster and comprehend more when they are forced to use the information in real-world situations, so video games allow students to actually use the knowledge they gain in classroom to learn and master English faster By playing games, students are free to practice English and further develop their linguistic and cognitive abilities as well Unlike homework, tests and assignements which can cause a great deal of stress and anxiety in students, video games or games help alleviate stress, increase social engagement and bring fun to them while learning English
Games help reduce stress and bring an environment for English development, but it is easy for students to be addicted to them and make them easy to forget learning because when playing games, they usually forget the time Therefore, parents should help their children choose the appropriate games to play and control their playing time
5.3 Suggested activities for English out-of-class learning
The findings show that most of the students preferred learning through songs and games Therefore, teachers may pay greater attention to the use of multimedia as an important channel to promote out-of-class learning For example, teachers may ask the students to undertake learning projects using English songs In case of games, the issue can be more challenging because it is not easy to design games that can promote out-of-class learning I believe that games can make learning fun, but their impact on language learning for adolescent (i.e 10 th graders) is not conclusive from empirical evidence
