An investigation into activities to promote efl learner autonomy at quoc hoc high school hue city 2

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES NGO THI DIEU TRANG AN INVESTIGATION INTO ACTIVITIES TO PROMOTE EFL LEARNER AUTONOMY AT QUOC HOC HIGH SCHOOL, HUE CITY MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60.14.01.11 SUPERVISOR: TRAN QUANG NGOC THUY, Ph.D HUE, 2015 i BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG GIÚP NÂNG CAO KHẢ NĂNG TỰ HỌC CỦA HỌC SINH TRONG VIỆC HỌC TIẾNG ANH Ở TRƯỜNG PTTH QUỐC HỌC HUẾ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60.14.01.11 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TS TRẦN QUANG NGỌC THÚY , 2015 ii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself November 10th, 2015 Ngo Thi Dieu Trang iii ABSTRACT Learner autonomy (LA) is widely recognised as a desirable goal in education as it is found to enable students to take charge of one's learning Over the last twenty years, researchers have developed various approaches to fostering LA as a means to language learning The learning activities which help learners foster their authentic language use and autonomy are mainly autonomous language learning activities outside the classroom This research aimed to gain more understanding of the activities to promote EFL LA at a high school in Hue City In this study, both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to have more reliable results and give depth to the findings A total of 240 students, chosen randomly from grades 10, 11, 12 at Quoc Hoc High School participated in the research The results from the analyses indicated that the students have overall high levels of autonomy perception The participants reported they made use of a variety of activities and resources beyond the class to improve their English In addition, EFL LA seemed to be affected by motivational factors in which it was exercised The findings clearly specified that “job prospects”, “enjoyment in learning English” and “passing compulsory exams” were the foremost factors influencing the students‟ LA The study also identified obstacles to promoting autonomous English learning In particular, heavy workload from other subjects and the inadequacy of opportunities for using English outside the classroom pose significant challenges to students The paper finished with a discussion on the implications for learners‟ success of autonomous language learning and puts forward some directions for further research iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Tran Quang Ngoc Thuy, Ph.D for all her enthusiastic and professional support Her excellent insights and wholehearted direction play an important role in the fulfillment of my study I am also grateful to my students at Quoc Hoc High School who enthusiastically participated in my interview I would like to express my deep gratitude to all students who wrote learning diaries within eight weeks and who properly completed the questionnaires Finally, my warmest thanks go to my family members for their love and support during the time I did the research Hue, November 2015 Ngo Thi Dieu Trang v TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Pages SUB COVER PAGE i-ii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY iii ABSTRACT iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ix LIST OF TABLES x LIST OF FIGURES xi CONTENTS OF THESIS CHAPTER INTRODUCTION .1 1.1 Reasons of the study 1.2 Purpose of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Organization of the study .2 CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 EFL LA 2.1.1 Definitions of LA .4 2.1.2 LA in language learning 2.2 Practices of EFL LA 2.2.1 Self-access centers 2.2.2 Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) 2.2.3 Out-of-class learning 2.3 Factors influencing EFL LA 2.3.1 Learner‟s perceptions and attitudes 2.3.2 Learner motivation vi 2.3.3 Vietnamese cultural context 10 2.4 Previous studies on EFL LA 11 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 14 3.1 Methodology orientation .14 3.2 Participants 15 3.3 Data collection instruments 15 3.3.1 Questionnaire 16 3.3.2 Interviews 17 3.3.3 Learners‟ diaries .17 3.4 Data collection procedures and analysis 18 3.5 Summary 20 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .21 4.1 Findings and discussion of the questionnaire 21 4.1.1 Awareness of LA 21 4.1.2 Activities to promote EFL LA 23 4.1.3 Motivational factors influencing EFL LA 28 4.1.4 Obstacles to promoting EFL LA 30 4.2 Findings and discussion of the interviews .33 4.2.1 The most popular activities to promote EFL LA 34 4.2.2 Major motivational factors influencing EFL LA 37 4.2.3 Major obstacles to promoting EFL LA 40 4.3 Findings and discussion of the diary entries 44 4.3.1 Activities to promote EFL LA 44 4.3.2 Motivational factors influencing EFL LA 47 4.3.3 Obstacles to promoting EFL LA 49 4.4 Summary of the findings and discussion .51 4.4.1 EFL LA activities carried out by Quoc Hoc High School students .51 4.4.2 Motivational factors influencing Quoc Hoc High School students‟ EFL LA 52 4.4.3 Major obstacles to promoting Quoc Hoc High School students‟ EFL LA 53 vii CHAPTER CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 56 5.1 Methodological contributions 56 5.2 Main findings 56 5.3 Implications 58 5.4 Limitations of the study 60 5.5 Suggestions for future research .61 REFERENCES 62 APPENDICES 69 APPENDIX A QUESTIONNAIRE 69 APPENDIX B INTERVIEW 72 APPENDIX C DIARY 73 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CALL : Computer-assisted language learning EFL : English as a foreign language LA : Learner autonomy ix LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 Awareness of LA .21 Table 4.2 Activities to promote EFL LA 23 Table 4.3 Motivational factors influencing EFL LA 28 Table 4.4 Obstacles to promoting EFL LA 30 Table 4.5 Activities to promote EFL LA 34 Table 4.6 Motivational factors influencing EFL LA .37 Table 4.7 Obstacles to promoting EFL LA 40 Table 4.8 Activities to promote EFL LA 44 Table 4.9 Motivational factors influencing EFL LA .47 Table 4.10 Obstacles to promoting EFL LA 49 x findings indicated which learning activities are preferable to others and the extent to which they greatly benefit students outside school It is evident that the activities with entertainment value, e.g “listening to English songs” and “watching English TV programs or movies” are the most popular among students While receptive activities such as “reading reference books” and “reading English books, newspapers or magazines” are favored by some students, the productive aspects of the language, e.g “speaking English to foreigners” and “writing emails, blogs, etc in English” are more engaged in by others It is essential that students find out the learning activities that suit them best and develop their effective individual learning strategies in order to enable them to become self-regulated learners taking responsibility for their own learning As highlighted by Tashakori (2013), learners' appropriate use of language learning strategies makes great contribution to the success of EFL learning Consequently, the value of autonomous language learning should not be underestimated Making use of a variety of activities and resources according to different learning styles facilitates students‟ promotion of their motivation towards learning English Enhanced motivation is of vital importance to the advancement of LA (Lamb 2001; Da Silva 2002; Sakui 2002; Takagi 2003; Ushioda 2003, 2006) The results of the study indicated that the students have both extrinsic (e.g job prospects, passing compulsory exams) and intrinsic motivations (e.g enjoyment in learning, and cultural interests) Without doubt, students‟ motivation is significantly and positively related to their autonomous learning In other words, learner motivation is indispensible for the development of an autonomous language learning environment Thus, it is significant that motivation is instilled into learners, which will lead to greater autonomy Most importantly, helping learners to visualize the needs for English and creating such needs in learners‟ immediate environment can enhance the identification of those needs This should be given lots of support and encouragement from learners‟ school administrators, teachers, families and friends For instance, field trips and site visits of companies where students are engaged in English language communication will enable students to 59 see that they need to develop their English skills to remain competitive in their future jobs In addition to the learners‟ extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, contextual factors such as heavy workload of other subjects and limited opportunities for using English outside the classroom; psychological factors, for example, lack of a sense of urgency for language enhancement, lack of perseverance; and social factors, for instance, lack of teacher‟s and peer‟s support all contribute to the inhibition of LA The findings in this research showed that contextual factors are considered the biggest obstacles that confronted the students in their autonomous learning activities outside the classroom In fact, these difficulties can be overcome with the use of appropriate learning strategies and the learner‟s efforts Students ought to learn how to make full use of all the available resources and consider alternatives For instance, instead of having face-to-face conversations with native speakers, students can make friends with English-speaking people and talk to them via Skype This might show that students had better control their own learning and attribute their successes and failures to their own efforts rather than external factors Moreover, there is a point that LA can never be the outcome of a single, short-term intervention in the learning process, but instead, the development of autonomy is long-term and incremental 5.4 Limitations of the study Although the researcher has made much attempt to deliver the best possible thesis, the study has some limitations Firstly, as a study conducted at a high school in Vietnam, this study is limited in its generalizability to other contexts It would have been useful to extend the study to a wider context by involving student participants from other high schools The second limitation of the study is related to the questionnaire The selfreport nature of the questionnaire may elicit response distortion Some responses may be a reflection of socially desirable responses rather than reality Furthermore, the rating-scale items might not precisely and adequately assess the participants‟ 60 beliefs and practices The questionnaire could have included more items to measure the constructs and to reduce measurement error These limitations have, however, been reduced by the combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods used in the study Thirdly, because of its research design and purpose, this study has given major attention to the immediate context or enabling and inhibiting factors influencing learners‟ development of autonomous language learning, but less attention to the impact of the wider social context and the traditional Vietnamese culture on the participants‟ learning and autonomy 5.5 Suggestions for future research This study is limited to investigating the English learning activities to promote EFL LA at a high school in Hue city, Vietnam Therefore, further studies can be conducted to extend the scope in terms of students, schools, and locations so that comprehensive and far-reaching results can be obtained The study also did not focus on the direct relationship between autonomy and motivation, which meant that it did not aim to shed any light on whether motivation leads to autonomy or autonomy is an antecedent of motivation It just attempted to illustrate students‟ motivational factors influencing EFL LA There is a need for further investigations into this relationship by using different methodological approaches Additionally, language learning experiences are more likely to change during students‟ learning, it is unclear if there is a relationship between the change of learners‟ capacity to take control of their LA as a result of enabling/inhibiting factors and their language achievement Longitudinal studies are, therefore, necessary to explore the relationship Finally, my study might be replicated to examine the promotion of LA in other subjects as well as in other levels of education Other sources of data, such as administrators, teachers, and parents would enable a greater variety of perspectives, and reflect the wider picture of the existing state of LA in Vietnam 61 REFERENCES Allwright, D (1990) Autonomy in language pedagogy in CRILE Working Paper Centre for Research in Education: University of Lancaster Ariza, J (2008) Unveiling Students‟ Understanding of Autonomy: Puzzling Out a Path to Learning Beyond the EFL Classroom Profile 10, ISSN 1657-0790 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If yes, how many hours you generally spend studying English each week? -6 hours -4 hours 69 II YOUR PERCEPTION ABOUT EFL SELF-STUDY Please read each statement, deciding if you: strongly disagree, disagree, neither agree nor disagree, agree, or strongly agree and tick the corresponding box Learner autonomy is important Language learning involves a lot of self-study The learner‟s own effort plays an important role in successful language learning Using English outside the classroom is important for developing good language skills Choose one of the following answers and tick the corresponding box (1 never rarely sometimes often always) Activities to promote EFL learner autonomy 5 Using a dictionary to find information about new words Preparing for lessons in advance Doing extra revision not required by the teacher Doing optional assignments Asking for help in learning English when I need it 10 Keeping portfolios of what I have learnt to monitor my progress 11 Studying English in a group of my classmates or friends 12 Using online English-learning programmes to study English 13 Doing independent study in a library/self-learning centre 14 Reading reference books (grammar, vocabulary, skills) on my own 15 Reading books, newspapers or magazines in English 16 Using the Internet in English 17 Listening to English songs 18 Listening to English radio (BBC, VOA, etc.) 19 Watching English TV programmes or English movies 20 Speaking English to any foreigner I meet 21 Voice chat with English speaking people (via Skype or any 70 other applications) 22 Writing in English (emails, blogs, etc.) 23 Going to English-speaking clubs (held at my school or elsewhere) 24 Doing part-time jobs or volunteer work that requires me to speak English 25 Others (Please specify ……………………………………… ) Motivational factors influencing EFL learner autonomy 26 Enjoying learning English 27 Passing compulsory exams 28 Making my family pleased 29 Studying abroad 30 Job opportunities 31 Others (Please specify …………………………………… ) Obstacles to promoting learner autonomy 32 Lack of perseverance 33 Absence of a sense of urgency for language improvement 34 Low level of English 35 Time clashes with other commitments 36 Heavy workload from other subjects 37 Inability to choose suitable learning resources 38 Limited opportunities for internet access 39 Distraction by digital devices 40 Scarce facilities for autonomous learning at school 41 Lack of proper places for self-study 42 Limited opportunities for using English outside the classroom 43 Lack of experience in autonomous learning 44 Others (Please specify …………………………………… ) THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION! 71 APPENDIX B INTERVIEW The questionnaire findings showed that there were six outstanding learning practices In your opinion, what are the six most popular autonomous English learning activities among students? In what way these activities help you improve your English? Please list any learning activities you recommend to other students to encourage them to learn autonomously According to the questionnaire responses, among the five listed motivational factors, three of which were considered the most influential ones In your opinion, what are the three main motivational factors in the autonomous language learning? Do you think these factors are influential enough to make you strive to study English well? Please list any other motivational factors influencing your autonomous English learning The questionnaire responses revealed that two obstacles stood out as the biggest impediments to promote students‟ LA In your view, what are the two major hindrances to students‟ autonomous English learning? How you think these obstacles can be overcome? Please list any other obstacles to your autonomous English learning 72 APPENDIX C DIARY Learners‟ diaries were written based on the following questions: What EFL learner autonomy activities did you carry out? How did you carry out these activities? Do you think they were effective? Why/why not? What motivational factors influenced your EFL learner autonomy? What are the obstacles to promoting your EFL learner autonomy? 73