Stimulating learner autonomy in english language education a curriculum innovation study in a vietnamese context

STIMULATING LEARNER AUTONOMY IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION A CURRICULUM INNOVATION STUDY IN A VIETNAMESE CONTEXT Cover design: Pharos/Monique van Hootegem Printed by PrintPartner Ipskamp B.V., Amsterdam ISBN 90-78087-01-3 This publication was partly supported by grants from the NUFFIC MHO Project and the Graduate School of Teaching and Learning, University of Amsterdam STIMULATING LEARNER AUTONOMY IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION A CURRICULUM INNOVATION STUDY IN A VIETNAMESE CONTEXT ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam op gezag van de Rector Magnificus Prof mr P.F van der Heijden ten overstaan van een door het college voor promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Aula (Doelenzaal) der Universiteit op donderdag 29 september 2005, te 13.00 uur door Trinh Quoc Lap geboren te Can Tho, Vietnam Promotiecommissie Promotor: Prof Dr G.C.W Rijlaarsdam Overige leden: Mw Prof Dr G T M ten Dam (UvA) Mw Dr E H van der Linden (UvA) Prof Dr P Sleegers (UvA) Prof Dr A J van Essen (RUG) Prof Dr G J Westhoff (UU) Faculteit Maatschappij- en Gedragswetenschappen Het promotieonderzoek is voorbereid aan het Instituut voor de Lerarenopleiding van de Universiteit van Amsterdam TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: The Vietnamese context of teaching and learning English Chapter 3: Stimulating learner autonomy 23 Chapter 4: Learner autonomy and communicative competence: parameters for a curriculum 37 Chapter 5: The intended curriculum 57 Chapter 6: Research methodology: an introduction to the two empirical experiments 69 Chapter 7: The implementation of the intended curriculum 85 Chapter 8: The implementation of the task-based component in the adapted curriculum 119 Chapter 9: The effects of the intended and adapted curriculum 143 Chapter 10: Summary and discussion 169 References 181 Appendices 189 Summary in Dutch 219 Curriculum vitae 223 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many have contributed to the completion of this book, in many different ways Working on this study, in a new environment, was made possible with the help and support of many persons I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor and promoter, Prof Dr Gert Rijlaarsdam Dear Gert, thank you very much for accepting me as your Ph.D student When I started this research project, I had no knowledge and experiences of doing any empirical research You have helped me see how to become a researcher and how to cooperate with other researchers I appreciate your supervision You spent your valuable time during your weekends and vacations reading and giving me your feedback on the drafts of sections and chapters in this book I remember well the question you often asked me, “Does it ring a bell for you, Lap?” when you wanted to make sure that the issue under discussion was clear to me You set a good example of a very responsible supervisor to me At the start of the first experiment in Can Tho in November 2002, you arranged your time and made an ultimate short visit to Vietnam, just to make sure that all research activities were going fine During the past years working on this research, I have gone through good and bad times You have been always there to support me, “Be strong, Lap” Without your support, this book would not have been completed My special thanks also go to Hetty Rijlaarsdam for her hospitality and kindness I acknowledge Dr Peter Bimmel who supervised the theoretical background of this research Dear Peter, what a luck I had to meet your expertise in learner autonomy and foreign language methodology Thank you so much for your supervising, reading and giving me valuable feedback on the theoretical chapters of my book My special thanks go to Martine Yates MA for all her work checking and making proposals on improving the English language used in this book Dear Martine, working with me, you encouraged me to trust myself that I could become a better writer in English My thanks go to Nuffic from which I was granted the fellowship to conduct this research I am thankful to Prof Dr Le Phuoc Loc, Drs Willem Bustraan, Drs Riny van Krieken, Dr Jan Beenakker, Truong Vo Dung MA and Bui Anh Kiet MA the steering MHO4 committee members who created the opportunity and supported my work on this project Dear Dr Loc, thank you very much for your feedback on my initial research proposal Your feedback helped me gain insight into improving that version of the proposal so that I could be accepted as a Ph.D student at the Graduate School of Teaching and Learning (ILO, UvA) Dear Willem and Riny, I highly acknowledge all the work arrangements you did concerning my project research and the time you spent for and on me during my stay in the Netherlands Be advised that I have made the best out of this opportunity I enjoyed the good time being with your families I would like to send my hearty thanks to both of you and to Bep Harskamp, Philip Warners, Marijn Warners, and Roemer Warners who made my time in Holland more pleasant Dear Jan, thank you for your hospitality and the nice time I had with you, your wife and your relatives I am indebted to Huynh Trung Tin MA who helped to create the opportunity for me to work on this project and made a good set-up for my first experiment in Vietnam I appreciate my American friends Peggy Williams and Rachel Smith who fully supported me as a candidate to this research project I would like to thank Prof Dr Pepi Leistyna from UMass Boston for his support and the materials concerning his Ph.D proposal at the first stage of my research project I am indebted to Prof Daniel Wessner for his mental support, valuable advises and discussions on the quality of the textbook series Interactions and Mosaic I appreciate the help of Dr Anne Bannink Dear Anne, thank you very much for your tutorials on foreign language methodology, your feedback on the draft of the experimental curriculum module and sharing and understanding my project I am indebted to Drs Stan Frijters for sharing his research project and giving me valuable advice on my project My thanks go to Prof Dr Martin Goedhart who shared with me his work and experiences in innovation the curriculum of the College of Science at Can Tho University I acknowledge Dr Tanja Janssen for her time reading and giving feedback on the draft of the curriculum used in my first experiment My thanks go to Dr Sarah Blom for sharing her experiences with the self-regulated and intrinsic motivation questionnaires and providing me with these questionnaires I am indebted to Drs Peter de Goeje and Drs Arend van Leeuwen I would like to thank them for their understanding and sharing Dear Peter, thank you for being a wise advisor to me Dear Arend, thank you for your work with all kinds of paperwork concerning my stay in the Netherlands The people working at the INS and the health insurance company will miss your voice! I acknowledge Prof Dr Geert ten Dam and Prof Dr Bernadette van HoutWolters for their support and kindness to me I enjoy the cooperative working climate at the ILO I am thankful to the committee members for their reading and proposing improvements in this book My special thanks go to the teachers and colleagues at the English Department, CTU who helped me in either running the experiments or collecting the data: Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy MA, Duong Thi Phi Oanh MA., Bui Lan Chi MA., Bui Minh Chau MA., Vuong Le Thien Thanh MA., Luong Le Thuc Trinh BA., Dao Phong Lam BA., Nguyen Thai Huu BA., Tran Mai Hien, Phuong Hoang Yen BA., Nguyen Van Loi BA, Luu Hoang Anh BA., Huynh Trong Nghia BA., Bui Thi Hong Anh BA Dear teachers and colleagues, I appreciate your cooperation I would like to thank all teachers at the English Department, Can Tho University who gave me their generous support during my project I also like to say thanks to all students who participated in the two experiments of this study My thanks go to Prof Dr Le Quang Minh, Dr Nguyen Anh Tuan, Chau Van Luc MA, Nguyen Hoang Vinh MA., Do Xuan Thang MA., Dr Huynh Thanh Ai, Thai Cong Dan MA., Truong Kim Ngan BA., and Nguyen Hoang Hanh BA who supported me with huge piles of paperwork concerning my stay in the Netherlands I appreciate insightful talks with Dr Bui thi Buu Hue Dear chi Hue, when we go back to Can Tho, we will miss the time we wandered along the streets in Amster- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS dam I owe Dr Nguyen Huu Khanh for supporting me with materials relating to SPSS I would like to express my special thanks to chi Tran thi Thanh for her kindness and good advises Dear chi Thanh, you are a very nice lady! I like to thank chi Mai Bekelaar for her care and help I will miss your cheerfulness, chi Mai My thanks go to Duong Thanh Loan, Casper Kleive and Duong Kieu Anh for the nice time we had I would like to send my special thanks to Huynh Kim Lien MSc., Dr Nguyen Hong Nam, Nguyen Vinh An MSc and Chau Xuan Phuong BSc who inspired me much during the past years I like to thank Msc Nguyen Thanh Thuy for sharing with me her experiences of doing research I acknowledge Drs Nghiem Lien Huong, Drs Bui thi Thanh Thuy, Drs Phan Diep Tu and Drs Le Hong Thai for their friendliness and sharing Many Dutch colleagues contributed to the completion of this book I would like to acknowledge my PhD fellows at the GTSL, some of whom graduated during the period I worked at the GSTL: Drs Patrick Sins, Drs Marleen Kieft, Dr Martine Braaksma, Dr Hein Broekkamp, Drs Jaap Schuitema, Drs Nadira Saab, Drs Monique Pijls and Drs Anne Toorenaar Dear Patrick, thank you so much for being a very nice office-mate during my first seven months at the ILO Dear Marleen, thank you very much for your sharing with me in good and bad times I enjoy the talks we had Dear Martine, I appreciate your time reading, giving your feedback and improving the layout of this book Thank you for all the references you recommended to me, Hein Dear Jaap, Nadira, Monique and Anne, thank you for your sharing with me I appreciate the nice talks I had with Dr Rijkje Dekker Dear Rijkje, I will miss your smile! I would like to express my gratitude to Pauline Lusink, Jeroen de Groot, Anita Remmers, Drs Mariëlle de Reuver, Anne-Martine Gielis, Bas Heerschop and Bert den Hartog for their generous assistance My special thanks go to Petra Wildbret who did most correspondences with the committee members concerning the date of my promotion I am thankful to Rob Wenders for his friendliness and helpfulness in keeping me informed of news on the work schedule I appreciate the nice social talks with Kim van Winsen and Nico de Reus I thank Mariëlle de Reuver for her help with the layout of my book I would also like to express my thanks to my two paranymphs: Dr Martine Braaksma and Drs Marleen Kieft I am very thankful to Drs Abdu Idrissi and Glenn Sabajo for the good friendship Dear Abdu and Glenn, thank you for being good listeners and wise advisors to me You are a big source of mental support to me Dear Glenn, I like to say thanks for the hospitality of your family My deep thanks go to Martha Carnie and Robert Carnie for their interest in my work and their care and love to me Dear Martha and Bob, I acknowledge your visit to me in Holland I would like to express my sincere thanks to my dear friends Nguyen Ngoc Thao, Nguyen Thi Minh Thu, Le Huu Ly, Le Thanh Liem, Le Cong Tuan, Huynh van Hien, Nguyen Dang Ai Nhi, Nguyen Hai Quan, Nguyen va Loi, Chung thi Thanh Hang, Vo Phuong Quyen, Le Xuan Mai for their support and generous help Hi all, thank you for being stimulating and helpful to me I highly acknowledge the mental support of MA Truong Thi Kim Lien, and BA Ly Thi Bich Phuong My deepest gratitude goes to my parents who have always been supportive and loving to me I would like to say sincere thanks to my siblings and my life friend for their loving and understanding Thank you so much for being the ones who you are to me APPENDIX 6.3 STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF THE CURRICULUM 1) Regarding choices, did the curriculum provide you with choices of learning content and learning methodology for you to execute unit projects? Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree 2) Did the curriculum provide you with opportunities to gradually take control of your learning (e.g., setting learning objectives, selecting learning tasks, and selfevaluating task execution and language learning)? Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree 3) Did the curriculum provide you with opportunities for you to reflect on your learning process (e.g., evaluating your choice of learning content, learning methodology, learning tasks execution and target language learning)? Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree 4) Did the curriculum help you to be aware of your role as crucial in the success of learning the target language? Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree 5) Was the learning environment, where interactions were highly encouraged, cooperative? Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree 6) Did the curriculum help you build up self-confidence in learning the target language? Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree 210 APPENDICES 7) Did the curriculum provide you with opportunities to be challenged to learn more? Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree APPENDIX 6.4 SELF-REGULATION Pintrich et al Adapted items Clusters When I study for this class, I set goals for myself in order to direct my activities in each study period When studying in this class, I set objectives for myself in order to direct my activities in each study period Planning During class time I often miss important points because I am thinking of other things During class time, I often miss important points because I am thinking of other things Monitoring When I become confused about something I am reading for this class, I go back and try to figure it out When I become confused about something I ‘m studying for this class, I go back and try to figure it out Regulating If course materials are difficult to understand, I change the way I read the material If the materials are difficult for me to understand, I change the way I read or listen to it Regulating Before I study new course material, I often skim it to see how it is organized Before I start a new assignment, I plan how to proceed on it Planning I ask myself questions to make sure I understand the material I have been studying in class I ask myself questions to make sure I understand the material I have been studying in this class Monitoring I try to think through a topic and decide what I am supposed to learn from it rather than just reading it over when studying I try to think through a topic and decide what I am supposed to learn from it rather than just reading it over when studying Planning When studying for this course, I try to determine which concepts I not understand well I try to change the way I study in order to fit the course requirements and instructor’s teaching style I try to determine what I well or not well in an assignment Regulating I try to change the way I study in order to fit the course requirements and the instructor’s teaching style Regulating I often find that I have been reading for class but not know what it was about I often find that I have been reading for class but not know what it was all about Monitoring When reading for this course, I make up questions to help focus my reading When reading or listening in the class, I often make up questions to help focus my reading or listening Monitoring If I get confused taking notes in class, I make sure to sort it out afterwards I just want to finish the assignment and not care if my performance is satisfactory or not Planning 212 APPENDICES When I proceed on a new assignment, I use prior task execution experiences Monitoring I only feel happy with my completed assignment after I have revised it for a few times Regulating I almost never look back how I worked on the assignments Monitoring How have I modified and adapted Pintrich et al.’s (1991) SRI? Pintrich et al.’s (1991) SRI consisting of 12 items focuses on measuring learners’ self-regulation in a reading course, so to make the inventory fit our needs to measure students’ metacognitive self-regulation in an English course consisting of more language skills than reading, we have kept items the same (items 1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 10, and 11), skipped one item (item 12) and made some minor modification and addition to other items 1) Items in Pintrich’s SRI used in the present continuous tense are changed to simple present to fit our purpose of pre-test and post-test 2) The word “reading” in some of Pintrich et al.’s SRI has been changed to “studying” or “listening and/or reading” This can be seen in items 3, and 11 For instance, Pintrich et al.’s “When I become confused about something I am reading for this class, I go back and try to figure it out” has been changed to “When I become confused about something I study for this class, I go back and try to figure them out”(item 3) or item “If course materials are difficult to understand, I change the way I read the material” has been modified to “If the materials are difficult to understand, I change the way I read or listen the material.” 3) Pintrich et al.’s (1991) SRI aims to measure students’ reading skills, so some items are mostly devoted to reading For this reason, item has been totally semantically changed Pintrich’s: Before I study new course material, I often skim to see how it is organized Revised item: Before I start a new assignment, I plan how to proceed on it 4) To measure the sub-categories of metacognitive self-regulation fully, we have constructed more items to measure students’ planning task execution, using prior execution experiences and assignment revision as sub-category of planning, monitoring and regulating (1) I just want to finish the assignment and not care if my performance is satisfactory or not; (2) When I proceed on a new assignment, I use prior task execution experiences; (3) I only feel happy with my completed assignment after I have revised it for a few times, and (4) I almost never look back on how I worked on the assignments APPENDIX 6.5 INTRINSIC MOTIVATION Ryan & Deci’s Adapted version Clusters I enjoyed doing this activity very much This activity was fun to I enjoy doing learning activities very much Learning activities are fun to Interest/enjoyment I thought it was a boring activity I think they are boring learning activities This activity did not hold my attention Learning activities not hold my attention I would describe this activity as interesting While I was doing this activity, I was thinking about how much I enjoyed it I thought this activity was quite enjoyable I think I am pretty good at this activity I think I did pretty well at this activity, compared to other students After working at this activity for a while, I felt pretty competent I am satisfied with my performance at this task I was pretty skilled at this activity I would describe learning activities as interesting This was an activity that I could not so well I did not feel nervous at all while doing this I felt very tense while doing this activity I was very relaxed in doing these I felt pressured while doing these I felt really distant to this person I really doubt that this person and I would ever be friends I felt like I could really trust this person I’d like a chance to interact with this person more often I’d really prefer not to interact with this person in the future I think learning activities are quite enjoyable I think I learning activities well Perceived competence After doing learning activities for a while, I feel pretty competent I am satisfied with my performance at learning activities I am not skilled at doing learning activities I not feel nervous while doing learning activities I feel very tense while doing learning activities I am very relaxed in doing learning activities I feel pressured while doing learning activities Pressure/ tension I find it hard to get along with my group members Relatedness I’d like to interact with my classmates 214 I don’t feel like I could trust this person It is likely that this person and I could become friends if we interacted a lot I feel close to this person APPENDICES I like to have more opportunities to work with the teacher and almost all of my classmates I feel really close to my teacher How have I modified and adapted Ryan and Deci’s (1992) IMI? Some items in four clusters have been deleted Each cluster in the IMI is a negative or positive predictor of intrinsic motivation which includes repeated items such as the cluster of interest/ enjoyment consisting of affirmative and reversed items Too much repetition leads to boredom To avoid these repetitions, we decided to delete some items, from total 25 in Ryan and Deci’s (ibid.) to 18 in the instrument for our study Ryan and Deci’s (ibid.) IMI consists of 25 items covering four clusters: interest and enjoyment (7 items), perceived competence (6 items), pressure or tension (5 items) and relatedness (7 items) The adapted IMI including 18 items that cover clusters of enjoyment or interest (6 items), perceived competence (4 items), tension or pressure (4 items) and relatedness (4 items) 1) Besides deleting some items in all four clusters, we have made some local modifications in terms of grammar and semantics 2) One common modification was the change of tense: Ryan and Deci’s (1992) IMI aims to measure learners’ intrinsic motivation after a certain course of study, so most items (19 out of 25) are used in the simple past tense To fit our purpose of using this IMI as both pre-test and post-test and to make the items in the inventory as students’ statements of truth, the items our adapted instrument have been used in the simple present tense (e.g., items 1-14) 3) Another modification was the change of singular noun to plural noun (e.g., activity-activities) and the skip of demonstrative adjective “this” to generalize the activities, not this or that activity but activities in general (e.g., items 1-14) 4) The word “learning” is added in front of “activities” to make “activities” more specific; e.g., which type of activities? For instance, “I enjoyed doing this activity very much” has been modified and adapted as “ I enjoy doing learning activities very much.” 5) Some words in the items from the cluster of relatedness have been changed to fit our context Instead of using “this person”, we use “ classmates” or “group members” or “teacher” For example, the original item goes “ I’d like to interact with this person”; has turned out to be “I’d like to interact with my classmates” as the revised item APPENDIX 6.6 ATTITUDES TO AUTONOMOUS LEARNING Camilleri’s Adapted items Clusters Are you afraid of taking the initiative in your own learning, that is, of going further than what is imposed? How self-confident are you, especially in your academic work? What level of interest and motivation you have? How co-operative are you as a person? Do you like to participate in class events? How willing are you to discuss your own progress? How flexible are you when it comes to adapting yourself to new ways of learning? How flexible are you when it comes to adapting yourself to new environments? How flexible are you when it comes to adapt yourself to new colleagues? Are you afraid of taking the initiative in your own learning, that is, of going further than what is imposed? How self-confident are you when you use English? What level of interest and motivation you have to learn English? How co-operative are you as a student? Cognitive and metacognitive Have you ever had to establish your own learning goals? Were you able to list your learning needs? How your prefer to learn? By listening passively to lectures How your prefer to learn? By reading on your own How your prefer to learn? By discussing with your colleagues How your prefer to learn? By working in a group How your prefer to learn? By talking to the teacher How often you use the school library? How often you use the public library? How often you use the resource center? How often you use the newspapers, journals, and magazines? How willing are you to discuss your own progress? How flexible you think you are when it comes to adapting yourself to a new way of learning? How flexible you think you are when it comes to adapting yourself to a new learning environment? How flexible you think you are when it comes to adapting yourself to new classmates? Affective Affective Social Cognitive and metacognitive Social Social Social How much you like to learn by listening to the teacher’s lecture? How much you like to learn by learning by yourself? How you like to learn by discussing with your classmates? How much you like to learn by working in pairs or in groups? How much you like to learn by coming to tutorials? How willing are you to use the school library? Cognitive and metacognitive Cognitive and metacognitive Cognitive and metacognitive Cognitive and metacognitive Cognitive and metacognitive Cognitive and metacognitive How willing are you to use the resource center? How willing are you to use the newspapers and magazines? Cognitive and metacognitive Cognitive and metacognitive 216 How often you use audio-visual material? Do you think you are able to be objective in your own evaluation? Have you ever carried out selfevaluation? What did you learn from it (selfevaluation) APPENDICES How willing are you to use audio-visual material? Cognitive and metacognitive How much you think that the learners should self-evaluate their own learning? Cognitive and metacognitive How important you think your role is to succeed in your learning English How much you consider English as a means for communication rather than a subject to be studied How much you think that learning means learning how to communicate in English? How much you think that learning English means learning how to learn it? Affective Perception of language and language learning Perception of language and language learning Perception of language and language learning How have I adapted Camilleri’s (1999) questionnaire? Camilleri’s (1999) questionnaire aims to collect information on the degree of autonomy the teachers in a workshop had, so adapting the questionnaire to the context of measuring the level of attitudes to autonomous language learning of our participants as university students is essential Camilleri’s (ibid.) questionnaire consists of 24 questions which cover the three aspects: cognitive, metacognitive skills (e.g., items, 1, 6, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24), affective factors (e.g., items 2, 3), and social factors (e.g., items 4, 5, 7, 8, 9) Items 10, 11, 22, 23 and 24 are open-ended questions which require the respondents to elaborate their answers; the other items require the respondents to choose from (1) the lowest score to (5) the highest score to answer each item 1) Change the scale In Camillerri’s (ibid.), the scale is with “1” as the lowest score and “5” as the highest score Some items are open questions In the adapted questionnaire, all items are responded by using the five-point-scale (Not at all, Little, Partly, Much and Very much) 2) No changes for item and item 3) Item 1: Are you afraid of taking the initiative in your own learning, that is, of going further than what is imposed? 4) Item 8: How willing are you to discuss your own progress? 5) Local changes, not the main manifestations 6) Semantic change Camilleri’s aims at helping teachers to establish their personal level of autonomy, so in many instances, words such as “academic work, colleagues” are used To make the items fit the respondents who are university students, the words “academic work” and “colleagues” have been changed to “use English” and “new friends” respectively For instance, ATTITUDE TO AUTONOMOUS LEARNING Camilleri’s: How self-confident are you, especially in your academic work? How flexible are you when it comes to adapt yourself to new colleagues? 217 The adapted version: How self-confident are you when you use English? How flexible you think you are when it comes to adapting yourself to new classmates? Besides changing some words to fit the respondents’ academic background, we change words such as “how often” to “how often” in the adapted version to fit the designated sub-scale of the adapted questionnaire For instance, Camilleri’s: How often you use the school library? The adapted version: How often are you willing to use the library? 7) Verbal change In terms of verbs, we made two changes to Camilleri’ s (ibid.) questionnaire: “prefer” has been changed to “like” and “do you use”, to “are you willing to use” such as in Camilleri’s: How your prefer to learn? By discussing with your colleagues How often you use the resource center? The adapted version: How much you like to learn by working in pairs or in groups? How willing are you to use the resource center? 8) Syntactic change In the original item, the item is in the form of yes-no question, and in the adapted version, the question is in the form of “how much” question For instance, Camilleri’s: Have you ever carried out self-evaluation? The adapted version: How much you think that learners should self-evaluate their own learning? 9) Create totally new items such as items 20, 21, 22, 23 How important you think your role is to succeed in your learning English? How much you consider English as a means for communication rather than a subject to be studied? How much you think that learning means learning how to communicate in English? How much you think that learning English means learning how to learn it? SAMENVATTING1 Dit proefschrift gaat over een curriculuminnovatie Met deze studie wil ik de kwaliteit verbeteren van de opleiding voor leraar Engels als vreemde taal aan de Can Tho Universiteit (CTU) in Vietnam Daartoe ontwierp en testte ik een curriculum dat erop gericht is de autonomie en de communicatieve competentie van studenten te stimuleren De studie baseert zich op Fullan’s (1991) drie-fasen model van curriculuminnovatie (initiatie, implementatie en adaptatie) Het onderzoek bestaat uit twee experimentele uitvoeringen van het curriculum, in het eerste semester van het eerstejaarsprogramma van twee opeenvolgende studiejaren Deze experimenten worden beschreven aan de hand van de drie representaties van het curriculum: het intentionele, het operationele en het verworven curriculum VOORWERK Voor experiment ontwierp ik een curriculum (het intentionele curriculum), implementeerde het en testte de kwaliteit ervan om zo inzicht te krijgen in hoeverre dit experimentele curriculum voldeed Rondom de ontwikkeling van het oorspronkelijke curriculum ontplooide ik drie activiteiten Ten eerste analyseerde ik de context, problemen en kwaliteit van het Engelse taal onderwijs in Vietnam vanaf de nationale hereniging (1975) Het overzicht van het Engelse taalonderwijs in Vietnam en de leerresultaten lieten zien dat er te weinig autonomie bestaat onder studenten en dat hun communicatieve vaardigheid onvoldoende is Een curriculum Engels zou daarom moeten bijdragen aan de ontwikkeling van de autonomie van studenten en hun communicatieve competentie Ten tweede bestudeerde ik de relevante literatuur over de bestaande maatregelen om de kwaliteit van het EFL-onderwijs te verbeteren Deze studie over de autonomie van studenten, communicatieve competentie en over hoe de autonomie en communicatieve competentie zijn te stimuleren, leverde drie resultaten op De eerste bevinding was dat Task-based language learning (TBLL), ofwel taakgericht taalonderwijs, vooralsnog het beste middel lijkt om de autonomie van studenten en het verwerven van communicatieve competentie te stimuleren Een tweede resultaat van deze literatuurstudie was de formulering van twee parameters voor het ontwerpen van het curriculum: keuzes en interacties De ontwerpparameter keuzes draagt de ontwerper op de student keuzes te bieden rondom het ‘wat’ van de taak (bijvoorbeeld onderwerp, eindresultaat) en het ‘hoe’ van de uitvoering (bijvoorbeeld sociale, affectieve, cognitieve en metacognitieve strategieën om de taak te volbrengen) De parameter interacties vereist de creatie van authentieke communicatie, tussen leraar Deze samenvatting is van de hand van Arend van Leeuwen 220 en student(en) en tussen studenten onderling De derde uitkomst van het literatuuronderzoek zijn de theoretische verdiepingen van de autonomie van studenten en communicatieve competentie Autonomie en communicatieve competentie zijn met elkaar verbonden via het concept van strategische competentie Deze strategische competentie reguleert communicatie- en taalleerprocessen via zelfregulerende, metacognitieve activiteiten: plannen, monitoren en het evalueren van leerprestaties) Ik veronderstel dat keuzes over de inhoud van het onderwijs en leerstrategieën voorwaarden zijn voor de verdere ontwikkeling van zelfregulatie, intrinsieke motivatie en houding ten opzichte van autonoom leren Daarom zullen zelfregulatie, intrinsieke motivatie en houding ten opzichte van autonoom leren worden gemeten als effecten van het curriculum Vervolgens heb ik aan de hand van de twee ontwerpparameters het intentionele curriculum ontworpen: vijf leseenheden die samen een semester beslaan volgens de principes van Task-based language learning (TBLL) Studenten verwerven de doeltaal door de doeltaal te gebruiken in taken en de communicatie over die taken Deze taken bieden de studenten de mogelijkheid keuzes te maken over wat zij gaan ondernemen en hoe zij dat aanpakken Dit intentionele curriculum werd aan een deskundigenpanel voorgelegd: vakdidactici van het Instituut voor de Lerarenopleiding van de Universiteit van Amsterdam en taaldocenten van de Department of English, CTU, Vietnam Het panel was overwegend positief over het curriculum Na een aantal aanpassingen was het intentionele curriculum daarmee klaar voor implementatie EXPERIMENT Het curriculum werd uitgevoerd bij alle 60 eerstejaarsstudenten van de opleiding Leraar Engels als vreemde taal aan de CTU in Vietnam in het eerste semester van het academisch jaar 2002-2003 Deze studenten werden verdeeld in vier groepen die alle hetzelfde, experimentele curriculum volgden, maar met een andere docent Vier docenten van de afdeling Engels voerden het curriculum uit Nunan’s (2000) instrument om het niveau van autonomie vast te stellen werd aangepast om na te kunnen gaan wat de keuzevrijheid was van studenten tijdens de lessen Door de uitvoering van het curriculum nauwgezet te volgen werd duidelijk dat het inderdaad werd uitgevoerd zoals bedoeld Bovendien ervoeren docenten en studenten het operationele curriculum als positief De effecten (zelfregulering, intrinsieke motivatie en houding ten opzichte van autonoom leren) van het geïmplementeerde curriculum werden vastgesteld via drie aangepaste vragenlijsten: Pintrich, Garcia, en McKeachie’s (1991) A Manual for the Use of Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ), Ryan en Deci’s (1992) Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI), en Camilleri’s (1999) Questionnaire to Help You Establish Your Personal Level of Autonomy Het gemiddelde op zelfregulatie verschilde niet tussen voor- en nameting De intrinsieke motivatie leek af te nemen De houding ten opzichte van autonoom leren werd daarentegen positiever In het algemeen waren de effecten voor de vier groepen gelijk Alleen voor de meting op de houding tegenover autonoom leren bleek een groepseffect: groep bleek significant het meest te profiteren SAMENVATTING 221 De ervaringen tijdens dit eerste semester stimuleerden de curriculumontwikkelaars van mijn vakgroep om de ontwerpparameters toe te passen op onderwijs dat meer aansloot op hun eigen onderwijsfilosofie Samen met mij ontwierpen zij een volgende versie van het eerstejaars semester, waarin hun ‘oude’ visie gepaard ging met de nieuwe visie Er ontstond een curriculum met daarin een taakgerichte component De andere component was het presentatie-oefenen-productie paradigma (in het Engels: PPP-model), de bestaande onderwijsbenadering op mijn afdeling Het aangepaste curriculum werd in experiment van mijn studie geïmplementeerd EXPERIMENT Ook het aangepaste curriculum werd uitgevoerd en geobserveerd en weer werden de effecten ervan gemeten Het aangepaste curriculum werd gevolgd door alle 40 eerstejaars studenten van EFLT aan de CTU, semester 1, jaar 2003-2004 De studenten werden in drie groepen verdeeld Vijf docenten gaven les aan de drie groepen Om de effecten van de TBLL, waarbij keuzes en interacties de onafhankelijke variabelen zijn en zelfregulatie, intrinsieke motivatie en houding tegenover autonoom leren de afhankelijke variabelen, valide te kunnen bepalen werd de uitvoering van het curriculum geobserveerd Daaruit bleek dat de het curriculum werd uitgevoerd zoals bedoeld Zowel docenten als studenten ervoeren TBLL als positief De resultaten dit experimentele semester werden bepaald met dezelfde instrumenten als in experiment De gemiddelde score op zelfregulatie en op intrinsieke motivatie bleef gelijk De gemiddelde score van houding ten opzichte van autonoom leren nam af Alleen voor intrinsieke motivatie werd een groepseffect waargenomen: terwijl de motivatie in groep en groep toenam, nam die in groep af Het verschil tussen groep en groep was statistisch significant STUDENTKENMERKEN EN EXPERIMENTELE EFFECTEN Om na te gaan voor welke studenten nu welk van de twee experimentele curricula het meest geschikt zou zijn, deed ik een exploratieve studie naar relaties tussen studentkenmerken en leerwinst De resultaten lieten zien dat de deelnemers die relatief hoog scoorden op zelfregulatie en houding ten opzichte van autonoom leren, betere resultaten boekten op het gebied van zelfregulatie, intrinsieke motivatie en houding ten opzichte van autonoom leren (autonomie van de student) en taalverwerving met het oorspronkelijke curriculum dan met het aangepaste curriculum Als de deelnemers relatief laag scoren op genoemde kenmerken aan het begin van de cursus lijkt het aangepaste curriculum de beste keus EVALUATIE VAN DE STUDIE EN SUGGESTIES VOOR VERDER ONDERZOEK Er zijn niet zozeer validiteitsproblemen qua theoretische inbedding, onderzoeksuitvoering en instrumentatie: (1) de onderzoeksvraag is theoretisch ingebed in de theorie van de tweede-taalverwerving; (2) de meetinstrumenten bleken redelijk betrouw- 222 baar om informatie te verzamelen, en (3) het intentionele curriculum en de taakgerichte component van het aangepaste curriculum werden volgens plan uitgevoerd Toch werd toename van de zelfregulatie niet geobserveerd; de intrinsieke motivatie nam zelfs af De samenhang tussen de testresultaten op zelfregulatie en intrinsieke motivatie vooraf en achteraf was niet groot Dat zou men kunnen toeschrijven aan onvoldoende kwaliteit van de metingen Merk echter op dat het er juist om ging om deze variabelen via onderwijs te beïnvloeden Dat is kennelijk ook gelukt, maar het algemene gemiddelde nam niet toe, of zelfs af Voor de deelnemers die gewend zijn aan de docent als absoluut middelpunt in de klas, behoeft het taalleren via taalgebruiken en het reguleren van het leerproces wellicht meer dan één semester Daarom zouden een onderzoek verspreid over twee semesters betere inzichten in de effecten van het TBLL curriculum kunnen opleveren Theoretisch gezien heeft dit onderzoek uitwerkingen getoond voor de concepten van communicatieve competentie, taakgericht taalleren en autonomie in taalonderwijs Het gemeenschappelijke element in de werkdefinities van communicatieve vaardigheid en de autonomie van studenten is de strategische competentie Om strategische competentie te kunnen ontwikkelen, moeten taaltaken de studenten de mogelijkheid bieden keuzes te maken, taken te plannen, uit te voeren, te controleren en hun eigen taalverwerving en leerproces te evalueren door de doeltaal als belangrijkste medium te gebruiken Empirisch gezien heeft het onderzoek bijgedragen aan de waardering van de universaliteit van de autonomie van studenten (Crabbe, 1999) in Aziatische contexten en aan de literatuur over de autonomie van studenten De autonomie van studenten is volgens mij geen typisch Westers concept Het is niet zo dat de Aziatische studenten van nature zelf niet autonoom zouden zijn Op het niveau van curriculuminnovatie poneert het onderzoek het paradigma “using the target language to learn the target language” in de curricula die de ontwikkeling van de autonomie van de student en communicatieve competentie stimuleren De resultaten toonden aan dat voor een optimale ontwikkeling van de autonomie van de student en communicatieve vaardigheid, dit paradigma een voordeel biedt aan die studenten die als zij beginnen, relatief hoog scoren op de kenmerken zelfregulatie en autonoom leren AANBEVELINGEN De curricula die zich richten op het stimuleren van de autonomie van studenten en communicatieve competentie, zouden opgebouwd moeten worden rond taken die (1) studenten de mogelijkheid bieden de doeltaal authentiek te gebruiken, dat wil zeggen, in de interactie met medestudenten en de docent, (2) keuzes toestaan over wat de taak zal zijn en hoe die taak uit te voeren en studenten waar nodig ondersteuning bieden via subtaken, en (3) studenten de ruimte geven zelf hun uitvoering en taalverwerving te evalueren via observatie en reflectie CURRICULUM VITAE Trinh Quoc Lap received his B.A degree in Teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) from Can Tho University, Vietnam With the fellowship from HarvardYenching Institute, he earned his MA degree in Applied Linguistics at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, USA In September 2001, he started his Ph.D research in the ‘sandwich construction’ – being half of the time in the Netherlands and the other half in Vietnam – at the Graduate School of Teaching and Learning, the University of Amsterdam, under the supervision of Prof Dr Gert Rijlaarsdam, funded by NUFFIC via the MHO project ... Graduate School of Teaching and Learning, University of Amsterdam STIMULATING LEARNER AUTONOMY IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION A CURRICULUM INNOVATION STUDY IN A VIETNAMESE CONTEXT ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT... achieve their goals Taking learners’ roles as crucial in their learning and stimulating learner autonomy should be the aim of language education because autonomous language learners would be... foreign language learners’ genuine communicative purposes are not taken into consideration In the context of teaching and learning English in Vietnam in general and at CTU in particular, learning