INTRODUCTION
Rationale
Nowadays, English has become an international language Learning English is a must for anyone who wants to access the world More and more Vietnamese learn English to get knowledge and achieve communicative competence However, the weakest point of Vietnamese learners is that they are not able to communicate in real situation This fact raises the awareness of teaching and learning English communicatively to both teachers and learners Therefore, teachers at both secondary and high school are now trying to apply new teaching methods to teach English communicatively The aim is to help students be more confident to communicate in English Besides, many schools are trying to open new programs which cooperate with other schools from English speaking countries to improve English for their students More and more foreign teachers or Native English-Speaking Teachers are employed to teach in these schools Students and their parents hope that foreign teachers will help them study English better and get more knowledge about culture of English-speaking countries
In the context of the study, Doan Thi Diem Secondary School, where the author is working as a non-native teacher of English, there are bilingual programs in which students from grade 6 to grade 9 are taught by some foreign teachers Apart from subjects studied in Vietnamese, students study three more subjects in English with foreign teachers They are English, Math and Science In fact, many secondary schools in Hanoi have similar programs However, in this research only English subject is mentioned
In the last decades, there has been on-going discussion involved in advantages and disadvantages of native and non-native teachers of English (Philipson, 1992; Medgyes, 1994; Lui, 1999) Nevertheless, in Vietnam there are hardly any studies on the teaching of foreign teachers The author of the study wonders what the students and teachers actually think of native English teachers‟ teaching English That is also the reason for the study
The study is expected to investigate the teachers‟ and 6 th form students‟ attitudes towards learning English with foreign teachers and give some valuable suggestions for the employment of foreign teachers in the context of the study in particular and in Vietnam in general.
The aims of the study and research questions
The aims of the research are: first, to investigate what are the attitudes of students towards learning English with native English teachers, and the attitudes of non-native English teachers at Doan Thi Diem Secondary School towards the teaching of English by native teachers; then to give some implications for the employment of native teachers in the context of Vietnam and some suggestions for parents when choosing bilingual programs for their children Thus, two research questions raised are:
1 What are the 6 th form students’ attitudes toward learning English with native English-speaking teachers?
2 What are the non-native English teachers’ attitudes towards the teaching English of native English-speaking teachers?
The scope of the study
Due to the limit of time and the real context of the research where native teachers are put in charge of English, the research focuses on investigating the teachers‟ and 6 th form students‟ attitudes towards native teacher‟s teaching English Besides, the research only emphasized studying general issues related to the advantages and disadvantages of learning English with native teachers.
Research methodologies
As the main aim of the research is to investigate the teachers‟ and 6 th form students‟ attitudes towards learning English with foreign teachers, survey approach is selected, and two main data collection methods employed are questionnaire and semi-structured interview Census sampling is used with all English teachers and students from 6s1, 6s2, 6s3, 6s4 and 6s5 The data are collected from 100 students and five non-native English teachers The analysis is carried out in the light of finding out the answers to the research questions
1.5 The organization of the thesis
The thesis consists of five chapters:
Chapter 1: Introduction covers the rationale for choosing the topic, the aims and research questions, the scope of the study, research methodologies and organization of the thesis
Chapter 2: Literature Review provides the basic theoretical background of literature on attitudes such as definition, characteristics, classification and role of attitudes in second language acquisition Then, concepts, advantages and disadvantages of foreign teachers in teaching English as a second or foreign language are presented Finally, previous studies related to the topic are reviewed
Chapter 3: Methodology deals with the overall picture of how the research was carried out from the first step of determining the design to the last one of analyzing and collecting results
Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Findings interprets the answer of the posed research questions: What are the teachers‟ and students‟ attitudes towards learning English with native teachers? The findings end with conclusions and comments after these instruments such as questionnaires, semi-structured interviews are conducted and completed
Chapter 5: Recommendation and conclusions reviews the main content and findings of the study, some possible implications for the teachers and learners; and giving out some suggestions for further researches.
Organization of the thesis
In this chapter, the theoretical background for the study will be presented To begin with, definitions, characteristics, classifications and roles of attitude in language learning are discussed Next, concepts, advantages and disadvantages of foreign teachers (native English-speaking teachers) in teaching English as a second or foreign language are presented Finally, previous studies related to the topic are summarized
2.1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF ATTITUDES 2.1.1 Definitions of attitudes
There are many definitions of attitude Gardner (1985, p.8) admits that the term attitude “is complex Many definitions have been proposed to describe its essence” Allport
(1954, p.45 as cited in Gardner, 1985) states that “an attitude is a mental and neural state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting as directive or dynamic influence upon the individual‟s response to all objects and situations with which it is related”
Interestingly, Gibb (1988) also share the same idea as he agrees that attitude is a state of mind, which is influenced by feelings, experiences of the world and belief
Louw and Edwards (1997, p.764) say that the concept “has probably played the most central role in the development of social psychology during the twentieth century”
Likert (1932, p.9), cited in Gardner (1980, p.267), defines the term attitude as “an inference which is made on the basis of a complex of beliefs about the attitude object”
Gardner (1980, p.267) adds more details “the sum total if a man‟s instinct ions and feelings, prejudice or bias, preconceived notions, fears, threat, and convictions about any specified topics” Fishbein and Ajzan (1975) first say that attitude is the general feeling (ranging from positive to negative) or evaluation (good/bad) a person has towards self, other people, objects or events Ajzan (1988, p.4) later provides a more concise definition by stating that attitude is “a disposition to respond favorably or unfavorably to an object, person, institution, or event” An other technical definition by Baker (1992, p.10) is that “a hypothetical construct used to explain the direction and persistence of human behavior”.
LITERATURE REVIEW
NATIVE ENGLISH-SPEAKING TEACHERS
There are many definitions of native English-speaking speakers According to A Dictionary of Language Teaching of Applied Linguistics (1992), native speaker is “a person considered as a speaker of his or her Native language…” The native language means “the language which a person acquires in early childhood because it is spoken in the family and/or it is of the language of the country he or she is living …” (p.241)
According to Medgyes (1994), native speakers of English: o were either born in an English speaking country or acquired English in their childhood in an English speaking environment o speak English as their first language o have a native-like proficiency in English o are able to produce fluent and natural discourse in English o are able to use the language in a creative way o have reliable intuitions to make distinctions between correct and incorrect forms
Even though some of the above mentioned criteria are rather hazy and occasionally very simplistic, in the majority of cases they serve as a useful starting point
Penny Cook (1994) claims that the native speaker is the “idealized person with a complete and possible innate competence in the language” (p.175) Moreover, Bloomfield
(1933) studied the acquisition of language among American Indians and contended that
“The first language a human being learns to speak is his native language; he is native speaker of this language” (p 43) In this statement, native language was defined as the particular language an individual learned from his/her mother in childhood This implies that only the language an individual was exposed to in childhood would be considered his/her native language Every human being is the native speaker of one language but not any language learned at a later stage in life However, Bloomfield did not consider the circumstances where children were exposed to more than one language simultaneously during childhood, as well as cases in which children moved to another environment where different languages were spoken The following are some more definitions of native speakers:
1 The individual acquired the language in early childhood (Davies, 1991; McArthur, 1992; Phillipson, 1992) and maintains the use of the language (Kubota, 2004;
2 The individual has intuitive knowledge of the language (Davies, 1991; Stern, 1983)
3 The individual is able to produce fluent, spontaneous discourse (Davies, 1991;
4 The individual is communicatively competent (Davies, 1991; Liu, 1999; Medgyes,
1992), able to communicate within different social settings (Stern, 1983)
In this study, the researcher adopts the definition given by Tay (1982) who claims that a native speaker is “one who learns English in childhood and continues to use it as his/her dominant language which has reached a certain level of fluency.”
2.2.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of Native English-Speaking Teachers in Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language
Native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) as well as non-native English speaking teachers (NNESTs) have both advantages and disadvantages in teaching English as a second or foreign language There are many studies concerning about this
According to Medgyes (1992), people “who were born and brought up in an English-speaking environment tended to be more proficient users of English than those who were born and brought up in non-English speaking environment” Therefore, NESTs seem to have an absolute advantage from the starting point when being compared with the NNESTs because English proficiency is regarded as a basic necessity of being an English teacher In addition, Wang (2007) claimed that students are attracted by the appearance of the NESTs because of its novelty
Many scholars (Li & Meng, 2005; Liu, 1999; Medgyes, 1994, etc) share the same idea that the most common strength of NESTs is their oral competence In other study, Li
& Meng (2005, as cited in Mingxui & Limei Zhang 2007) mention other two strong points possessed by NESTs They are their various and more attractive teaching methods and creation of a comfortable and enjoyable learning atmosphere which stimulates students to be involved in class activities
Similarly, Mingxui & Limei Zhang (2007) affirms in their study that NESTs can create a friendlier classroom environment for students Moreover, NESTs can develop students‟ ability to think independently, which seems to be a weakness of NNESTs
More interestingly, according to Dr Ismet SAHIN (2005) NESTs have some advantages as opposed to NNESTs Some of them are “their being more tolerant of learners‟ errors with respect to grammatical errors than non-native English teachers, their giving more importance to fluency than to accuracy and their obliging learners to speak English more because of their incapability of using learners‟ native language” In this case, NESTs make use of their own disadvantages of not using the students‟ first language to make them speak the target language, so students have more talking time and limit the inference of the mother tongue in the second language acquisition
Apart from strengths, NESTs have some weaknesses Arva and Medgyes (2000) and Liaw (2003) claim that native teachers were more informal in their classroom setting than non- native teachers They did not follow the curriculum strictly and prefer to use a variety of materials instead of the prescribed ones Some of the other differences found were that the native teachers were found to be more lenient in correcting mistakes, assigned less homework, favored free activities, used a variety of materials and preferred group work over individual work
Li and Meng (2005, as cited in Mingxiu & Limei Zhang 2007) also share the same idea They claimed that NESTs are unaware of the learners‟ expectations and problems
Moreover, they select their own teaching materials and do not follow the ones designed by schools or institutions They also use the flexibility of the evaluation of students‟ ability without unchanged criteria However, in my opinion, the two later weaknesses are not convincing because teachers can design or use other materials if they find the existing ones are not suitable They can also create new criteria of assessment, as criteria are only appropriate for a certain setting and a group of learners
Ulku Ozturk & Derlin Atay (2010) and Chen Xiao (2008) also indicate that NESTs can not predict the students‟ problems They explain that because NESTs have not experienced the processes of acquiring the foreign languages themselves In addition, NESTs have difficulties in forming a positive relationship with students and helping them deal with the problems because they can not speak the learner‟s native language Boyle
(1997) shared the same idea when claiming that “it is easier for the NNESTs to appreciate the students‟ learning problems in English since they‟re been through the same difficulties themselves”, thus it can be considered to be the main disadvantage of the NESTs for not being able to understand some of the students‟ learning difficulties because of the language barriers and different learning process
In short, NESTs have both strengths and weaknesses The strength is their language competence and unawareness of learners‟ problems and expectations is their common weakness However, NESTs will make use of the strength when they are employed to teach in the fields they can make their best advantages.
Previous studies on teachers‟ and students‟ attitudes towards learning English
There have been a number of studies on the students‟ attitudes or perceptions on learning English with native-English speaking teachers Most of the findings show that students have positive attitudes towards the teaching of English language by NESTs
However, there are also some problems students encounter when they study with NESTs
Mahboob (2004) studied ESL students‟ attitudes toward their teachers and the factors that influenced their perceptions The data were collected from 32 students of various first-language backgrounds enrolled in a Mid-western US university intensive English program The results showed that participants perceived NESTs as more competent with English and better at teaching oral skills like pronunciation and speaking, as well as vocabulary and culture In addition, Cheung (2002) investigated the attitudes of university students and teachers toward NESTs and NNESTs and their perceptions of their strengths and weaknesses A survey of 420 undergraduate students majoring in various subjects and interviews with 10 students from three universities and 22 mostly expatriate English teachers from six universities in Hong Kong were conducted The data analysis indicated that both students and teachers believed that NESTs and NNESTs had different strengths They thought the former “had high proficiency in English, which they were capable of using functionally and as being knowledgeable about the cultures of the countries where English is spoken”
Chen Xiaoru (2008) finds out in her study that NESTs are clearly preferred in the areas of pronunciation, culture, and speaking and she concludes that pronunciation and cultural knowledge are the two most prominent areas in which the native speakers have advantages over non- native speakers She got the results from her questionnaire, 13 groups over 76 groups believed that NESTs could give more help in pronunciation than NNESTs and 9 groups over 53 groups of the total thought that they could study more cultural knowledge of the English speaking countries from the NESTs Moreover, in the interview her students responded that NESTs speak fluently and use English as a medium of instruction, so they learn more; that NESTs provide them with more chances to speak English and serve as a perfect model for imitation Similarly, Tsui (1996) affirms that students value the authenticity of NESTs with regard to pronunciation, knowledge of English speaking countries, and their informal and flexible teaching styles
Sekigawa et al, (2003) also studies the advantages and disadvantages of having native English teachers and finds out that most of the students like having NESTs in their speaking and pronunciation classes They explain that it is exciting to listen to “real”
English in class and they can practice English in situation; therefore, they are used to speaking and thinking in English
Most of the students surveyed in the study by Mingxu Liu and Limei Zhang (2007) think that it is friendlier and have less stress to study in the foreign teacher‟s class than in Chinese teacher‟s class
In Ting‟s (2001) study, the NESTs in junior high schools in Kaohsiung City were investigated to know about the current situation of their teaching The results showed that students preferred NESTs to NNESTs in English classes because NESTs were funnier or the class was assignment-free Furthermore, the majority of students also had a positive attitude towards NESTs‟ teaching in Liu‟s (2004) study In this study, Liu investigated students‟ opinions of their native teachers and the elective courses taught by native teachers in a junior high school in Kaohsiung City Students found the classes of the NESTs more interesting and the intonation and pronunciation were more correct then their NNESTs
In Viet Nam, as far as I know there are hardly any researches done on students and teachers‟ attitudes towards NESTs This is because the employment of NESTs in schools is still not popular and does not receive much attention from educators The author of this study is working as an English teacher at a secondary school In this school, about more than 10 native teachers are employed to teach students in bilingual classes The NNESTs are the assistants of the NESTs during the lessons in order to explain and control the class
Therefore, the author wish to investigate the teachers‟ and students‟ attitudes to NESTs‟ teaching English with a view to giving some valuable implications for successful English language teaching and making certain contribution to the evaluation of using native speakers as teachers in our country
In conclusion, a variety of studies have pointed out that there are both positive and negative attitudes to learning English with NESTs Most studies proved that students have positive attitude to NESTs because they can offer friendly classroom environment, various activities, and flexible teaching styles Students prefer native English speakers on speaking, pronunciation and culture courses as native teachers have oral competence, being a good model for students to imitate and attracting students On the other hand, some researchers showed that native English speakers can not help students to solve their problems in learning and pass the exams easily.
Summary
In brief, this chapter conceptualizes the discussion and aspects concerning the topic of the study First, it concerns the concepts, the characteristics, the classification and the roles of attitudes in second language acquisition Then comes to an overview of native English teachers in which the definitions, the advantages and disadvantages of native speakers in teaching English as a second language are discussed Lastly, the remarks on previous studies on the students and teachers‟ attitudes towards learning with foreign teachers are summarized as well The following chapter will present the methodology of the research.
METHODOLOGY
Participants
The study was conducted in Doan Thi Diem Secondary School In this school, there are bilingual classes in which students study English with foreign teachers In grade 6, there are five bilingual classes from 6s1 to 6s5 The author of the research chose all the students from these classes to take part in the survey The survey questionnaire was administered to 100 students (48 school boys and 52 school girls) who are all studying in bilingual classes They study English with native teachers two periods (45 minutes per period) a week Nearly half of them (43%) have learnt English with foreign teachers since they studied at Primary School Therefore, they get used to native teachers‟ teaching styles
Apart from 6 th form students, in order to get data, five non-native English teachers were invited to take part in the interview They have been teaching English at Doan Thi Diem Secondary School They are all teaching English with foreign teachers for at least two years.
Instruments
In order to examine teachers and 6 th form students‟ attitudes towards learning English with foreign teachers, both survey and semi-structured interview were used as detailed below
The primary method of inquiry used in this study was a questionnaire It consists of two sections: A and B In section A, three items were used to collect information regarding the students‟ background Section B consists of 15 statements to identify students‟ attitudes towards learning English with foreign teachers All the items were accompanied by a 4- point scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree
My opinions about foreign teachers’ teaching English
Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree
A They give us much help on pronunciation
B They provide us with lots of chances to speak English
C I can learn daily English more from foreign teachers
D They keep me using English because of their incapability of using my own language
E Their teaching styles motivate me to enjoy the lesson more
F I have less examination stress in class with foreign teachers
G They enable us to take part in a lot of activities
H They help me to learn more about the English speaking countries
I I have more freedom in class with foreign teachers
J They have casual manner, which creates a friendly classroom environment
K I do not hesitate to discuss my opinions with foreign teachers
L They understand children and know their needs
M I have difficulties in understanding the lessons because of their different pronunciation and fast speed
N I can not establish a good communication with them as my English is limited
O They have different culture, so we easily have misunderstandings
P Their explanation of grammar is not as good our Vietnamese teachers
Table 1: Items in the questionnaire for students’ attitudes towards learning English with native English-speaking teachers
To examine teachers‟ attitudes towards the teaching English with native teachers, a semi-structured interview was developed The interviewees were asked about 1) years of experience in teaching English, 2)years of experience in teaching English with native teachers, 3) their attitudes towards the teaching English of native teachers and 4) the strengths and weakness of native teachers.
Procedures of data collection
Given the description of the questionnaire and interviews, this sub-section presents the procedures used in the administration process
The researcher carried out the study at Doan Thi Diem Secondary School Prior to distributing the questionnaire, the students were informed of the objectives and significance of the research They were also requested to state their true and honest responses In addition, the subjects were informed to ask for any clarifications they might have Then, the questionnaire was distributed Once they finished answering questionnaire, they were requested to check their responses for incompleteness or missing answers
Before conducting the interviews, the subjects were briefed on the aims and procedures of the interview sessions The interviewees were informed that their answers would be treated with complete confidentiality Moreover, ethical issues related to the culture and nature of the interviewees and the policy of the environment were taken into consideration when conducting the interviews To record the interviewees, an MP 4 and a notebook were used
The data collection methods applied in this study was aimed at adopting both quantitative as well as qualitative ones: content analysis and descriptive statistics The quantitative data of the questionnaires were analyzed in terms of percentages For analyzing, the qualitative part of the data, on the other hand, a content analysis method was used The interviewees‟ responses were analyzed in terms of themes related to the study
In short, this chapter presented the methodology of the study First, it concerns the research questions, the participants and the instruments of the study Then, it comes to the procedures of data collection and methods of data collection The next chapter will present the investigation, the findings of the research under the light of the above-discussed issues.
Summary
In short, this chapter presented the methodology of the study First, it concerns the research questions, the participants and the instruments of the study Then, it comes to the procedures of data collection and methods of data collection The next chapter will present the investigation, the findings of the research under the light of the above-discussed issues.
DATA ANALYSIS AND DICUSSION
Data analysis
4.1.1 Students’ attitudes towards learning English with native English-speaking teachers
My opinions about foreign teachers’ teaching English
Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree
A They give us much help on pronunciation 41% 48% 9% 2%
B They provide us with lots of chances to speak English 56% 37% 4% 3%
C I can learn daily English from foreign teachers 30% 46% 17% 7%
D They keep me using English because of their incapability of using my own language
Table 2: Students’ attitudes towards native teachers’ language competence
Figure 1: Students’ attitudes towards native English-speaking teachers’ language competence
As can be seen from chart 1, most of the students (88%) have positive attitudes towards native teachers‟ language competence The majority of the participants (89%) agree that native teachers help them a lot in their pronunciation, as native teachers are perfect models for them to imitate Non-native teachers can be good at pronunciation, but sometimes they still make mistakes with sounds and stress However, native teachers do not have to do anything; just serve as a model for imitation A high proportion of the informants (93%: 56% of strong agreement and 37% of agreement) agree that native teachers provide many chances to practice English They create a lot of speaking activities in class and encourage students to take part in these activities Therefore, students can practice English easily Similarly, more than two thirds of students (76%) agree that they can learn daily English from native teachers and they can use them in real situation, so they can communicate with foreigners without difficulties Moreover, more than three-quarters of the participants (82%) think that native teachers take the advantages of their disadvantages They do not know the students‟ own language, thus they make students only use English in class Native teachers can not communicate in students‟ mother tongue
This helps students get used to using English and thinking in English To sum up, most students agree that native teachers are good at teaching speaking and pronunciation because of their oral competences Many researchers share the same idea with this study
According to Davies (1991, 2003), Árva and Medgyes (2000), and Liaw (2003), native teachers have a higher level of overall English competence and its use in real-life situations These perceived „English competence‟ abilities include a better sense of confidence and the use of real language over book language The native speaker can use these skills with greater ease and naturalness than their non-native speaking counterparts because the non- native speakers skills were learned through study and work rather than
Similarly, Xiaoru (2008) claims that students have a clear preference for native teachers in the area of speaking because foreigners can help them a lot in pronunciation
The teachers use real language and speak it naturally and fluently In addition, the results of the study reveal that native teachers keep their students using English because of their incapability of speaking their own language Students are obliged to use the target language all the time and this helps increase student talking time and limit the interference of the mother tongue in acquiring speaking skill
My opinions about foreign teachers’ teaching English
Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree
E Their teaching styles motivate me to enjoy the lesson more 40% 29% 23% 8%
F I have less examination stress in class with foreign teachers 37% 32% 23% 8%
G They enable us to take part in a lot of activities 45% 37% 10% 8%
H They help me to learn more about the English speaking countries
Table 3: Students’ attitudes towards native English-speaking teachers’ teaching styles
Figure 2: Students’ attitudes towards native English-speaking teachers’ teaching styles
Chart 2 shows that nearly three-quarters of the students agree that native teachers‟ different teaching styles help them learn more and enjoy the lesson More than half (69%) think that native teachers‟ teaching styles motivate them to enjoy the lesson more This is because they apply new teaching methods while non-native teachers often follow traditional one While students are usually stressed with the exam in non-native teachers‟ class, more than half (59%) agree that they have less stress in class with foreign teachers
Less than half (41%) still feel scared in exam, as they want to get high results in all subjects with both native and non-native teachers Furthermore, 84% of the participants think that native teachers enable them to take part in a lot of activities, thus they are more active and more confident in the class Finally, the results show that students (65%) have chance to learn a lot about the English-speaking countries Many studies have also mentioned the differences in teaching styles between native teachers and non-native teachers Árva and Medgyes (2000) and Liaw (2003) claimed that native teachers were more informal in their classroom setting than non-native teachers The native teachers did not follow the curriculum strictly, preferring to use a variety of materials instead of the prescribed ones Some of the other differences found were that the native teachers were found to be more tolerant in correcting mistakes, assigned less homework, favored free activities, used a variety of materials and preferred group work over individual work This also means that students are less stressed in the class and they can take part in many activities in class
My opinions about foreign teachers’ teaching English
Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree
I I have more freedom in class with foreign teachers 25% 37% 30% 8%
J They have casual manner, which creates a friendly classroom environment 40% 51% 6% 3%
K I do not hesitate to discuss my opinions with foreign teachers 34% 39% 22% 5%
L They understand children and know their needs
Table 4: Students’ attitudes towards motivation in native English-speaking teachers’ class
Figure 3: Students’ attitudes towards motivation in native English-speaking teachers’ class
Looking at the chart above, we can find that students are highly motivated in class with native teachers More than half (57%) agree that they have more freedom in class with foreign teachers while they must obey all the rules in class with non-native teachers who are stricter 91 % of the participants share the opinion that native teachers have casual manner, which creates a friendly classroom environment In non-native teachers‟ class, teachers often pay too much attention to the mistakes; therefore, students hesitate to join the activities and afraid to give out the answer It is different in class with foreign teachers as they are friendly and do not pay attention to the errors and students feel free The native teachers are so friendly that most students agree they do not hesitate to discuss their opinions with them, only 27% of the respondents disagree However, a high proportion of participants do not think native teachers understand and know the students‟ needs Less than half (45%) agree native teachers can understand them The studies by Medgyes
(1994), Sahin (2005) and Liu &Zhang (2007) also indicate that native teacher can create a student-friendly classroom environment, which is very important to language class as one of the language problems is learners‟ nervousness and anxiety
4.1.1.4 Disadvantages of native English-speaking teachers
My opinions about foreign teachers’ teaching English
Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree
M I have difficulties in understanding the lessons because of their different pronunciation and fast speed
N I can not establish a good communication with them as my English is limited
O They have different culture, so we easily have misunderstandings 33% 32% 21% 14%
P Their explanation of grammar is not as good as our Vietnamese teachers
Table 5: Students’ attitudes towards the disadvantages of native English- speaking teachers
Figure 4: Students’ attitudes towards the disadvantages of native English-speaking teachers
As can be seen from the above chart, more than half of the respondents (56%) agree with the native teachers‟ weakness; whereas, a bit less than half (44%) disagree with them
In detail, half of the participants agree that they have difficulties in understanding the lesson because of their different and fast speed However, half of them disagree with this They say that they only have problems in the beginning, after studying with foreign teachers for a while, they get used to their voice and accent Therefore, it is easy for them to understand the lessons Only 46% of the respondents agree that they can not establish a good communication with native teachers as their English is limited In fact, almost all students studying in the context of the study (Doan Thi Diem Secondary School) studied English from primary school and their English is often good, thus they are not afraid of speaking and listening, especially communicating with foreign teachers Not surprisingly, more than half of the participants think that the native teachers have different culture, so they easily have misunderstanding Sometimes, during the lesson, native teachers try to explain one problem, but they do not know Vietnamese culture, so they make students misunderstood Similar to the author‟s assumption, 60% of the students agree that native teachers‟ explanation of grammar is not as good as non-native teachers‟ One of the most outstanding pitfalls of native teachers identified was their poor knowledge of grammar
Some of these teachers would state: “This is wrong and this is the correct way you should say it, I know, but I can´t explain why it’s wrong or right” (Árva and Medgyes, 2000: 261)
Quite on the contrary, knowledge of English grammar was often a source of pride for nonnative teachers, since they had studied it in depth and were capable of providing scientific explanations for the constructions and use of the English language Therefore, it will be better if native teacher are responsible for conversational classes
4.1.2 Teachers’ attitudes towards the teaching English of native English-speaking teachers
When being asked about their attitudes towards native teachers, most of the respondents claim that they have positive attitudes towards them One teacher said, “I really like the teaching English of native teachers It is creative, relaxing and effective”
However, the respondents mentioned both the strong points and weak points of studying with foreign teachers
With regard to strong points of native teachers, all the respondents mentioned the fact that native teachers are good model for students to get right pronunciation and good intonation One teacher interviewed shared: “They serve as a perfect model for learning pronunciation They use real language and speak English confident and naturally”
Another interviewee adds: “They speak English naturally and fluently, and they use it all the time in class Non-native teachers can pronounce correctly, but they can make mistakes in stress and intonation and their pronunciation is not natural” Not only students but the non-native teachers who take part in lessons with native teachers also find it useful to improve their pronunciation One teacher explains: “I myself study a lot when I am working as an assistant for native teachers in class Their voice is smooth, their pronunciation is correct and sometimes I have to correct my own mistakes after listening to native teachers” However, some respondents mention that the differences in accents and voice prevent students from understanding native teachers This will be further discussed in next part
In addition to the oral competence, native teachers are said to motivate students in learning English One interviewee emphasized: “Native teachers are open and friendly, which makes the teacher-student relationship closer and more relaxing They help students to take part in the class activities confidently and effectively They are also enthusiastic, creative and active” Besides, “native teachers do not pay much attention to marks, so there is less stress in examination for students However, non-native teachers always concern about the results students get, and as a result students are often stressed”, one teacher said In short, as native teachers have casual manner and are friendly, students prefer studying with them to studying with non-native teachers
Summary
This chapter presented the data obtained from the analysis of the study The findings were discussed and supported with the results of some researchers‟ studies The following chapter contains the summary of the findings, limitations of the study and recommendation for further studies.
RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSIONS
Conclusions
This study aimed to discover the attitudes of the teachers and 6 th form students towards learning English with native teachers Students of five bilingual classes, totaling
100 and 5 non-native teachers volunteered for this study Both the survey and semi- structured interviews were adopted to gain extensive understanding of the research questions The quantitative findings came from the researcher-made, 4-point scale questionnaire Five non-native teachers were invited to participate in semi-structured interview
The following part synthesizes and discusses both survey findings and interview data Discussions are organized following the order of research questions proposed earlier in this study
As for the first question: “What are the 6 th form students’ attitudes toward learning English with native-English speaking teachers”, we have found that most of the students have positive attitudes towards learning with native teachers They prefer learning English with native teachers because of the strength as a native teacher The first and foremost advantage of native teachers is their oral competence Students think that native teachers help them a lot in pronunciation They are good model for them to imitate pronunciation
Their non-native teachers can be good at pronunciation; however, they sometimes make mistakes, especially in sounds and stress Next, students have a lot of chances to practice English in class as native teachers create a lot of activities for them and they can not communicate in students‟ own language, so students are obliged to use English only This helps students to get used to speaking English and thinking in English Moreover, students can learn daily English from native teachers which help them communicate with foreigners easily
The second strength of native teachers is their teaching styles Native teachers coming from different countries often have different teaching methodology which encourages students to study Furthermore, students have chance to learn about English speaking countries, not from books but from real men from that country The last strength of native teachers is their ability to motivate students in their study Native teachers have casual manner and they are friendly, thus they create a friendly classroom environment
Students feel less stressed in class with native teachers than that with non-native teachers
Students do not hesitate to express their opinions; however, most students think their native teachers do not understand them and know their needs Therefore, this is one disadvantage of native teachers in comparison with non-native teachers
Everything has both good points and weak points It is similar to native teachers
They also possess some weaknesses Firstly, good pronunciation is their strength but it is also their weakness because with some students they cannot understand the lesson and they have their different pronunciation and speak fast Furthermore, students and native teachers have different culture, so they easily have misunderstandings Finally, most students think that native teachers are not as good at explaining grammar as non-native teachers This suggests that native teachers are better at teaching speaking and pronunciation than grammar
In brief, students have positive attitudes towards learning English with native teachers, which explains the reasons why many students are trying to take the exam to study in class with native teachers
As for the second question: “What are the non-native teachers’ attitudes towards the teaching English of native-English speaking teachers”, the result of the study was obtained through the interview with five non-native teachers Most non-native teachers also have positive attitudes towards the teaching English of native teachers They think that native teachers have advantage of language competence They are good at teaching pronunciation and speaking This result supports the students‟ ideas Besides, native teachers are creative, friendly and active, which motivates students a lot Nevertheless, the interviews show some weak points of native teachers Non-native teachers argued that native teachers could not solve all the problem of students as they did not have firsthand experience in learning English Moreover, the ability to manage the class is one of the strengths of non-native teachers; whereas, it is the weakness of native teachers In conclusion, the advantages overweigh the disadvantages; non-native teachers still enjoy the lesson with native teachers.
Limitations of the study
Although results of this study were statistically significant, and the research design and instruments were sound, the study was not without limitations Several limitations to this study must be noted The first limitation of the study is the number of participants Only 100 6 th form students and five non-native English teachers teaching in grade 6 took part in the survey and interview Therefore, the results can not be good presentation for all students and teachers in secondary schools
Moreover, the study has not yet compared the differences in attitudes of students to both non-native teachers and native teachers in teaching English
Furthermore, this study may not be applicable for all secondary schools in Viet Nam; however, it can firstly give out good implication in employing native teachers for Doan Thi Diem Secondary School and for schools which have native teachers
In short, all of the limitations are the suggestions for further studies, which will be presented in the next section of this chapter
For the limitations stated above, there are some suggestions for further study relating to this matter
First of all, it is suggested to carry out a research with the participants from all different grades at secondary school Therefore, it will be more useful to compare the attitudes of students towards native English teachers among all students at secondary schools
Second, it is recommended to carry out a research to see the attitudes of students towards both non-native teachers and native teachers in teaching English to find out who teaches English better
Finally, it is advisable to carry out a more detailed study on the skills which are taught best by native teachers
To summarize, this chapter presents the conclusion for the study and at the same time points out the limitations and then bring about some suggestions for further study
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Appendix 1: SURVEY QUESTIONAIRE ON 6 TH FORM STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS LEARNING ENGLISH WITH FOREIGN TEACHERS.
This survey questionnaire is designed to find out the teachers‟ and 6 th form students‟ attitudes towards learning English with foreign teachers at Doan Thi Diem Secondary School as my completion for my MA thesis titled “An investigation into teachers’ and 6 th form students’ attitudes towards learning English with foreign teachers” It is highly appreciated if you could spend your little time completing truthfully the questionnaire All the information provided by you is solely for the study purpose, and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data
Thank you very much for your cooperation!
1 Are you male or female? ………
2 Did you learn English with foreign teachers at primary school? ………
B Student’s attitudes towards learning English with foreign teachers
The following are number of statements expressing your opinions about the teaching English of foreign teachers There are no right or wrong answers since people have different views I would like to indicate your opinions about each statement by ticking (V) at one of the four columns
Example: They (foreign teachers) help us much on pronunciation If you strongly agree with this statement, please tick at the column strongly agree
My opinions about foreign teachers’ teaching English
Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree
A They give us much help on pronunciation
B They provide us with lots of chances to speak English
C I can learn daily English more from foreign teachers
D They keep me using English because of their incapability of using my own language
E Their teaching styles motivate me to enjoy the lesson more
F I have less examination stress in class with foreign teachers
G They enable us to take part in a lot of activities
H They help me to learn more about the English speaking countries
I I have more freedom in class with foreign teachers
J They have casual manner, which creates a friendly classroom environment
K I do not hesitate to discuss my opinions with foreign teachers
L They understand children and know their needs
M I have difficulties in understanding the lessons because of their different pronunciation and fast speed
N I can not establish a good communication with them as my
O They have different culture, so we easily have misunderstandings
P Their explanation of grammar is not as good our Vietnamese teachers
APPENDIX II: PHIẾU ĐIỀU TRA
VỀ THÁI ĐỘ CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 6 ĐỐI VỚI VIỆC HỌC TIẾNG ANH VỚI NGƯỜI BẢN NGỮ TẠI TRƯỜNG TRUNG
HỌC CƠ SỞ ĐOÀN THỊ ĐIỂM
Các con học sinh thân mến!
Hiện nay, cô đang thực hiện tiểu luận thạc sĩ với đề tài: “Thái độ của giáo viên và học sinh lớp 6 đối với việc học Tiếng Anh với người bản ngữ: Nghiên cứu điều tra tại trường trung học cơ sở Đoàn Thị Điểm” Đây là điều tra ban đầu để tìm hiểu thái độ của học sinh lớp 6 đối với việc học Tiếng Anh với người bản ngữ tại trường trung học cơ sở Đoàn Thị Điểm Cô rất mong các con dành một chút thời gian giúp cô hoàn thành phiếu điều tra dưới đây Đây không phải là một bài kiểm tra nên không có câu trả lời
“đúng” hay “sai” Các con hãy đưa ra câu trả lời chân thực nhất bởi chỉ có như vậy mới đảm bảo sự thành công của nghiên cứu này
Xin chân thành cảm ơn sự hợp tác của các con!
3 Con có được học Tiếng Anh với giáo viên bản ngữ ở trường tiểu học không?
B Thái độ của học sinh đối với việc học Tiếng Anh với giáo viên bản ngữ
Hãy tích (V) vào cột hoàn toàn đồng ý, đồng ý, không đồng ý, hoặc hoàn toàn không đồng ý cho những ý kiến đưa ra dưới đây về việc dạy tiếng Anh của giáo viên người bản ngữ
Ví dụ: Họ giúp chúng con phát âm tốt hơn Nếu con hoàn toàn đồng ý với ý kiến này thì con hãy tích vào cột hoàn toàn đồng ý
A Họ giúp chúng con phát âm tốt hơn
B Họ khuyến khích chúng con tham gia nhiều hoạt động trong giờ học
C Họ tạo cho chúng con nhiều cơ hội để giao tiếp bằng Tiếng Anh
D Chúng con có khó khăn trong việc hiểu bài vì họ có cách phát âm khác và họ nói nhanh
E Họ có phong cách thoải mãi do đó họ tạo ra môi trường thân thiện trong lớp học
F Con không thể giao tiếp một cách tự nhiên với họ bởi vì khả năng Tiếng Anh của con còn nhiều hạn chế
G Con bị ít áp lực thi cử hơn khi con học với giáo viên nước ngoài
H Con không ngần ngại chia sẻ ý kiến của mình với giáo viên
I Họ không hiểu học sinh và không biết được nhu cầu của học sinh
J Cách dạy của họ khuyến khích học sinh thích học hơn
K Khả năng dạy ngữ pháp của họ còn nhiều hạn chế so với giáo viên Việt
L Chúng con luôn luôn phải sử dụng Tiếng Anh vì họ không thể nói được ngôn ngữ của chúng con
M Chúng con được tự do và thoải mái hơn trong lớp học
N Chúng con được học Tiếng Anh giao tiếp hàng ngày
O Họ giúp chúng con hiểu biết hơn về nền văn hóa của các nước nói Tiếng Anh
Interview with non-native English teachers
“I really like the teaching English of native teachers It is creative, relaxing and effective Native teachers have different teaching methods They often apply new method to teach students and focus on teaching speaking and listening Vietnamese teachers are used to using traditional methods, so they focus on teaching grammar Students have to do a lot of grammar exercise in non-native teachers‟ class while they can take part in a lot of activities in class with foreign teachers”
“They serve as a perfect model for learning pronunciation They use real language and speak English confident and naturally However, native teachers can not speak students‟ own language, so they do not understand all students‟ problems and sometimes students are not satisfied with the teachers‟ explanation Moreover, native teachers do not have firsthand experience in learning English and they are unaware of students‟ difficulties”
“They speak English naturally and fluently, and they use it all the time in class
Non-native teachers can pronounce correctly, but they can make mistakes in stress and intonation and their pronunciation is not natural Nevertheless, native teachers acquire the language rules but they do not learn them as formally as non-native teachers, thus I do not think they can explain grammar clearly and easily enough for students to be understand”.