Teachers perceptions of english language competency as one component with in the national foreign language 2020 project a case study off efl teachers at upper secondary school in quang tri province

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - - LE THUY HANG TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE COMPETENCY AS ONE COMPONENT WITHIN THE NATIONAL FOREIGN LANGUAGE 2020 PROJECT: A CASE STUDY OF EFL TEACHERS AT UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL IN QUANG TRI PROVINCE SUMMARY MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60.14.01.11 SUPERVISOR: PHAM HOA HIEP, Dr HUE, 2014 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ - LÊ THÚY HẰNG NHẬN THỨC CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VỀ NĂNG LỰC NGÔN NGỮ TIẾNG ANH LÀ MỘT PHẦN TRONG ĐỀ ÁN NGOẠI NGỮ QUỐC GIA 2020: NGHIÊN CỨU TRƯỜNG HỢP CỦA CÁC GIÁO VIÊN TIẾNG ANH TẠI CÁC TRƯỜNG THPT Ở TỈNH QUẢNG TRỊ TÓM TẮT 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: TIẾN SỸ PHẠM HÒA HIỆP HUẾ, 2014 ABSTRACT This thesis investigates teachers’ perceptions of the National Foreign Language 2020 Project as mainly manifested in the test given to assess teachers’ language competency The data were collected through the questionnaire survey and the semi-structured interviews with thirty Vietnamese teachers of English at five Upper Secondary Schools in Quang Tri Province The results reveal that though the participants highly appreciated the necessity of the Proficiency Test, they found the test content is much more difficult than the knowledge required at their teaching level In addition, the teachers believed the test did not fairly evaluate their English proficiency Overall, they blamed their bad test results on their poor preparation While some teachers considered the test a good opportunity to motivate their self-learning, many others felt pressured, stressed or nervous about the test Relating to In-service Training (INSET) courses - a component of the 2020 Project, aiming at improving teachers’ language proficiency, the teachers found INSET courses did not meet their expectations because most of them wished courses that could improve their teaching methods In the teachers’ point of view, the courses were wellorganized with qualified and helpful trainers Besides, the trainees also found the course materials updated and interesting Although the participants admitted that they had learned a lot from INSET courses and their language proficiency were improved remarkably, they thought that the courses did not supply adequate professional knowledge and skills to improve effectiveness of teaching in school The trainees also believed that the length of INSET courses were not sufficient enough for professional development The findings of this investigation suggest that although the teachers recognized the necessity of high level of language proficiency for their professional life, they did not welcome the way educational administrators used it as the mere criteria to evaluate whether that teacher “standardized” or not Moreover, the participants proposed that any test with such a wide scale and serious impacts on a large number of people should be carried out with great care and consideration, and test takers should be well-prepared Thirdly, to improve the effectiveness of INSET courses, teachers’ needs should be analyzed in advance What’s more, the current testing methods which focus mainly on English grammar and reading comprehension should be reformed in order to synchronize the change in curriculum For teachers, they should consider self learning as their daily routine rather than wait until the test time I CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study In Vietnam, since 1986, the government has realised the important role of English in the development of the country, particularly in the process of calling for foreign investment Especially, since Vietnam became the member of World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2006, the need of learning English has increased continuously Moreover, with the aim of renovating thoroughly the tasks of teaching and learning foreign language within national education system, the National Foreign Language 2020 Project was approved in 2008 (Decision No 1400/QĐ-TTg on September 30th, 2008) However, since implementation, this project has proved a number of difficulties and inadequacies, especially in the English proficiency test in which most of ELF teachers cannot succeed According to Dr Nguyen Ngoc Hung, Executive Manager, NLF2020 Project, Ministry of Education and Training, only to percent of participants could attain the level required (Anh, 2012) In his presentation at VUS TESOL Conference 2012, Tran (2012) states that “MoET admits failure of ELT in Vietnam: most learners cannot use the language after 7-10 years of study They [MoET] blame it on the teachers and teachers’ preparation” According to Tran (2012), while many other main reasons can account for this failure such as grammar and translation dominated examinations, there are no professional organizations which can provide advice to government, MoET and provide professional supports for teachers, enhance teachers’ low salary, improve working and learning environment, recruitment and employment policies and so forth 1.2 Rationale for the study This study is carried out for the following reasons: Firstly, the NFL 2020 Project is a very large project which will have an impact on not only 80 thousand English language teachers and 200 million students but also on the throughout educational system Within the project, all English language teachers in Vietnam’s state schools are expected to be confident, intermediatelevel users of English, and to pass a test to prove it Teachers who did not succeed in that test will have to attend an in-service teacher training course organized in summers at one of five regional foreign language centres within NFL2020 Project Thus, 85 percent of the 450 million dollar budget will be spent on teacher training (Parks, 2011) Secondly, the officials of the project have adopted the Common European Framework of Reference to assess EFL teachers’ listening, speaking, reading and writing skills Even though such testing is necessary to improve the English learning and teaching system in Vietnam, according to Mr Le Thanh Hai, the instructor based in the southern hub, it is “unfair” for teachers (Viet, 2013) Although the administrators promised to keep the test result secret, when those teachers are called for a re-training course, everyone seems to know their embarassing scores, which makes some of them lose face, others become disappointed and lose their confidence and the like Understanding of teachers’ perceptions, attitudes and aspirations will help policy makers and teachers trainers to make timely adjustments and changes to ensure that the projects and subprojects will better benefit participants For this reason, it is important to investigate teachers’ perceptions of English language competency as one component within the NFL2020 Project 1.3 The aims and research questions of the study This research aims to explore the perceptions of EFL teachers at Upper Secondary Schools in Quang Tri Province of English language competency as one component within the NFL2020 Project It particularly aims to answer these questions: 1- What are the perceptions of EFL teachers at upper secondary school in Quang Tri of English language competency as one component within the 2020 Project? 2- To what extent does the 2020 Project change teachers' perceptions of Language Competency? 3- What can be done to better prepare the teachers for the Proficiency Tests? 1.4 Significance of the study This study will provide an insight into the perceptions of EFL teachers at Upper Secondary Schools in Quang Tri Province of English language competency as one component within the NFL2020 Project and the extent that the project changes teachers’ perceptions of language competency and their professional development Hopefully, through this study educational administrators of the NFL2020 Project will take time to have an overall look on the reality of EFL teaching and learning; hence, they will adjust the implementation process of the project to make it more effective 1.5 Scope of the study Even though the NFL2020 Project covers a large number of aspects, this research will just focus on Vietnam’s in-service ETCF, especially on the competency 1.1a “Teacher’s Language Proficiency” of the domain of this framework which requires EFL teachers to demonstrate proficiency in the target language at an appropriate level on the CEFR 1.6 Structure of the thesis Apart from Appendices and References, this thesis consists of five chapters Chapter begins with the introduction Chapter provides a review of previous literature in relation to teachers’ professional development and the NFL2020 Project Chapter describes the research methodology used in this study Chapter presents the results of both the quantitative and qualitative investigations of the study Chapter discusses the findings and limitations and gives recommendations and implications for teachers’ professional development II CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Teacher Professional Development (TPD) In education systems where teacher education programs are well-established, TPD is described as a process embracing all activities that enhance professional career growth (Rogan & Grayson 2003; Tecle 2006) or as formal and informal experiences throughout the teacher’s career (Hargreaves & Fullan 1992; Arends et al 1998) TPD may also come in the form of pre-service or in-service PD programs 2.2 In-Service Training (INSET) for Teachers According to Bohumíra and Alice (2004), in-service teacher training is usually defined as the provision of organized programmes for practising teachers, meant to help them as one of possible systematic steps to support their development There are a variety of types of INSET that educational administrators could choose depending on the purposes of training, levels of trainees as well as educational facilities and facts 2.3 Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) CEFR provides a common basis for the elaboration of language syllabuses, curriculum guidelines, examinations, and textbooks etc across Europe It describes foreign language proficiency at six levels: A1 and A2, B1 and B2, C1 and C2 (Council of Europe) III CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research approaches In this research paper, both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used in order to make use of their strengths and limit their weaknesses Furthermore, they [quantitative and qualitative approaches] could provide different perspectives and usually complement each other 3.2 Research site The research was conducted in upper secondary schools in Quang Tri Province 3.3 Participants The subjects for this study involve thirty EFL teachers at upper secondary schools in Quang Tri Province The participants were selected on the basis of two criteria: having taken part in the proficiency test, and having participated in the in-service training courses after the test After responding to the questionnaire, five teachers were purposely selected for semi-structured interviews, one from each school 3.4 Data collection 3.4.1 Questionnaire survey The questionnaires contained both closed and open-ended questions To questions considering teacher’s perceptions, participants rated their responses on a likert scale The questionnaires were in Vietnamese and delivered in hard copies 3.4.2 Interviews semi-structured interview questions were used in order to acquire information related to the research topic 3.5 Data analysis and interpretation 3.5.1 Qualitative data analysis For the quantitative data analysis, SPSS version 20.0 for Windows will be employed Results were released via tables and figures, and a detailed discussion of the issues and conclusion would be singled out and drawn 3.5.2 Thematic analysis After all the information was collected, interview records were examined by the participants The data collected was categorized and coded on the basic of the categories 3.5.3 Merging both sets of data After the data was collected from both quantitative and qualitative approaches, it was merged for a complete picture of the issues IV CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Teachers’ perceptions of English language competency as one component within the 2020 Project: 4.2.1 Teachers’ perceptions of the Proficiency Test 4.2.1.1 Teachers’ preparation for the Proficiency Test Table 4.2.1.1 presents teachers’ preparation for the proficiency test As can be seen, fewer than half of the teachers taking in the study (43,3%) had heard about the test (CAE) before participating in it Moreover, nearly three fifth (56,7%) of them had never known about the format of the test This indicates that this kind of test seems to be strange to teachers Table 4.2.1.1 Teachers’ preparation for the PT Before participating in the English Proficiency Test, had you ever heard about that kind of test? Had you known the format of the test? Had you prepared yourself such as finding material, doing sample test and so on for the test YES NO 43.3 56.7 43.3 56.7 60.0 40.0 From Figure 4.2.1.1, we see that teachers had little time to prepare for the test Most of the teachers (66%) prepared for the test within half a month Only 10% and 20% of the teachers had weeks and a month to revise for the test respectively Figure 4.2.1.1 Time that teachers were informed about the test 4.2.1.2 Teachers’ perceptions of a good EFL teacher As shown in the Figure 4.2.1.2., not many of the teachers (only 20%) considered “high level of English proficiency” the most important factor that makes a good English teacher Meanwhile, close to three times as many teachers (56.7%) perceived “excellent teaching skills” the most important one Figure 4.2.1.2 The most important factors that make a good English teacher 4.2.1.3 Teachers’ perceptions of the necessity of the PT Mean scores of the item 12a, 12b and 12c are illustrated in the Table 4.2.1.3a The mean scores of these questionnaire items are higher than the average scale 3.0 This indicates that teachers reported moderately positive perceptions of the necessity of the PT Table 4.2.1.3a: Teachers’ perceptions of the necessity of the PT 12a The test is necessary for me to self-evaluate my ability 12b The test helps me realize my weaknesses 12c The test motivates my selflearning Valid N (listwise) N Min Max Mean 30 3.60 30 3.63 30 3.83 30 4.2.1.4 Teachers’ perceptions of the validity of the PT The figure 4.2.1.4 presents teachers’ perceptions of the validity of the PT To many teachers, the test was still a higher requirement to their teaching level (M = 3.70) Only a small number of teacher (M = 2.53) reported that the test was an applicable requirement to their teaching level Figure 4.2.1.4 Teachers’ perceptions of the validity of the PT 4.2.1.5 Teachers’ perceptions of the reliability of the PT As revealed from the figure 4.2.1.5, the rates of responses to item 12d and 12h were respectively lower than the average value of The lowest score belongs to the questionnaire item 12h at 2.60 For the statement “The test evaluates my English proficiency exactly”, the teachers’ responses were in “disagree” scale (M=2.73) This indicates that the participants negatively perceived the reliability of the PT Figure 4.2.1.5 Teachers’ perceptions of the reliability of the PT 4.2.2 Teachers’ perceptions of INSET courses: 4.2.2.1 Teachers’ needs for INSET courses As can be seen from the figure 4.2.2.1, most teachers (73.3%) wanted an INSET course on teaching methods A course on listening skill ranks the second with 66.7% of participants’ responses A course on speaking comes third with the agreement of half the participants Only 26.7% and 23.3% of teachers are in need of a course on grammar and a pronunciation one respectively 10 Figure 4.2.2.1 Teachers’ needs for INSET courses 4.2.2.2 Teachers’ perceptions of time allocation of INSET courses As shown in the figure 4.2.2.2, a large number of teachers showed their agreement to the statement “The time of the course is too short” (M = 3.47) Meanwhile, to the questionnaire item 14a, 14b and 14d, the mean scores are under the average scale (2.57, 2.30 and 2.77 respectively) This shows a preference of teachers for INSET courses with longer time Figure 4.2.2.2 Teachers’ perceptions of time allocation of courses 11 4.2.2.3 Teachers’ perceptions of the organization of INSET courses As can be seen from the table 4.2.2.3a, the mean scores of these questionnaire items are higher than the average scale This indicates that teachers reported a positive attitude towards the organization of INSET courses The highest mean score, 3.60, belongs to both questionnaire item 15b and 15c Questionnaire item 15d ranks the third with the mean score of 3.23 These results suggest that the trainers of INSET courses were highly appreciated by participants not only because of their being qualified and helpful but also for their serious attitude to the lessons Coming forth is the questionnaire item 15e with the mean score of 3.17 Participants found the course materials updated and interesting Participants also agreed that the course was well-organized (M = 3.13) and the course content was applicable (M = 3.03) Table 4.2.2.3a Teachers’ perceptions of the organization of INSET courses N Min 15a The course is well-organized 30 3.13 15b The trainers are qualified 30 3.60 15c The trainers are helpful 15d The trainers prepare for the lessons carefully 15e The course materials are updated and interesting 15f The course content is applicable 30 3.60 30 3.23 30 3.17 30 3.03 Valid N (listwise) 30 12 Max Mean 4.3 The impact of the Proficiency Test and INSET courses on teachers and their teaching performance 4.3.1 The washback of the Proficiency Test As shown in Figure 4.3.1, the participants showed a disagreement to the statement “The test result has no impact on me” (M = 2.70) A majority of teachers admitted that the test had either bad or good impact on them (M = 3.53 and 3.00 respectively) This findings indicate that most teachers realized that the test somewhat had impact on them and their teaching career In the survey, the participants expressed such negative attitudes toward its impact such as “pressure”, “nervousness”, “stress”, “low self-esteem” and the like However, the participants did not negate that the test helped evaluate their abilities and motivate their self-learning Figure 4.3.1 Teachers’ perceptions of the impact of the PT 4.3.2 The effectiveness of INSET courses on teachers and their teaching performances in class As can be seen from the table 4.3.2, the mean scores of items over ones are above the average scale This represents positive perceptions of teachers of the effectiveness of INSET courses Items 13 relating to impact of INSET courses on teachers themselves (16a, 16b, 16e) are highly appreciated than the ones regarding impact on teachers’ performances in class (16c, 16d, 16f, 16g) The statement “The courses help me improve my English proficiency” has the highest mean score (3.90) Questionnaire item 16a ranks the second with the mean score of 3.57 Participants agreed that the courses provided them with much knowledge Questionnaire item 16e values up to 3.40, coming third in the questionnaire ratings, confirming that the courses provided teachers with what they were in short of INSET courses also helped teachers feel more confident in teaching (M = 3.23) Participants reported a high level of agreement to the statements “Thanks to the courses, I can become a better teacher” and “The courses help me improve my teaching skills” (M = 3.13 and 3.03 respectively) However, participants did not agree that the courses helped them improve their performances in classroom (M = 2.73) Table 4.3.2a The effectiveness of INSET courses on teachers and their teaching performances in class N 16a The courses provide me with much of knowledge 16b The courses help me improve my English proficiency 16c The courses help me improve my performance in classroom 16d The courses help me feel more confident in teaching 16e The courses provide me with what I was in short of 16f The courses help me improve my teaching skills 16g Thanks to the courses, I can become a better teacher Valid N (listwise) 14 Min Max Mean 30 3.57 30 3.90 30 2.73 30 3.23 30 3.40 30 3.03 30 3.13 30 4.4 Recommendations to better prepare the teachers for the PT Most participants in the survey expressed a wish of being informed about the test in a more advanced time In addition, the participants wished to have received more specific information about the test such as format, relating materials, mocked tests and so on Besides, according to some participants, INSET courses should have been organized before proficiency test V CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 5.1 Introduction As stated in Chapter 1, this study aims at investigating teachers’ perceptions of English competency as one component of NFL 2020 Project Even though this “huge” project covers a large number of aspects, the focus of this study has been on Vietnam’s in-service ETCF, especially on the competency 1.1a “Teacher’s Language Proficiency” of the domain of this framework which requires EFL teachers to demonstrate proficiency in the target language at an appropriate level on the CEFR Therefore, EFL teachers had to participate in a proficiency test Then, anyone who did not attain the required level (C1 for upper secondary teachers) was called for INSET courses at Hue University, College of Foreign Languages for about one month per course This study has attempted to provide an insight into teachers’ perceptions of the Proficiency Test and INSET courses that they participated in It also explores the impact of the Proficiency Test and INSET courses on teachers in general, on teachers’ teaching performance in particular This chapter presents a summary of research findings that leads to some pedagogical implications Next come the section on 15 implications, limitations are acknowledged The chapter ends with some directions for further research 5.2 Findings In order to examine the research problem, this study has addressed the following questions: What are the perceptions of EFL teachers at upper secondary school in Quang Tri of English language competency as one component within the 2020 Project? To what extent does the 2020 Project change teachers' perceptions of Language Competency? What can be done to better prepare the teachers for the Proficiency Tests? The study has shown that Teachers’ perceptions of the Proficiency Test and INSET courses i Though the participants highly appreciated the necessity of the Proficiency Test, they found the test content is much more difficult than the knowledge required at their teaching level In addition, the teachers believed the test did not fairly evaluate their English proficiency Moreover, the participants blamed their bad test results on their poor preparation ii The teachers found INSET courses did not meet their expectation because most of them wished courses that could improve their teaching methods In the teachers’ point of view, the courses were well-organized with qualified and helpful trainers Besides, the trainees also found the course materials updated and interesting However, the trainees thought that the length of INSET courses were not sufficient enough for professional development 16 The impact of the Proficiency Test and INSET courses i A number of teachers considered the test a good opportunity to motivate their self-learning Many others, on the other hand, felt pressured, stressed or nervous about the test ii Although the participants admitted that they had learned a lot from INSET courses and their language proficiency were improved remarkably, they thought that the courses did not supply adequate professional knowledge and skills to improve effectiveness of teaching in school Recommendations to better prepare teachers for the Proficiency Test i Teachers should have been better prepared for the test ii Teachers should have been provided with relating material and mocked tests iii INSET courses should have been organized before the Proficiency Test iv It should have been better if the test was conducted by British Council The findings show that EFL teachers at upper secondary schools in Quang Tri Provinces realized the importance of the language competency as one component of NFL 2020 Project They agreed that the Proficiency Test and INSET courses together helped them improve their professional development However, they did not completely welcome the way educational administrators carrying out the Proficiency Test and INSET courses in haste In addition, the teachers perceived that the required level C1 for upper secondary school teachers was ambitious and inadequate 17 5.3 Implications 5.3.1 For educational administrators The prime pedagogy implication in this study is that educational administrators of the NFL 2020 Project would take time to have an overall look on the reality of EFL teaching and learning; hence, they could adjust the implementation process of the project to make it more effective As seen in Chapter 4, though high level of language proficiency is important to an EFL teacher, it should not be considered the mere criteria to evaluate whether that teacher “standardized” or not Relating to this issue, I agree with a popular quote, attributed to German-born physicist Albert Einstein (18791955), “If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” A fish must be judged in water environment Why judges teachers outside their teaching environment and then states they are under the required level? Moreover, any test that has a wide scale and serious impacts on a large number of people should be carried out carefully Test takers should be well-prepared Therefore, their test results could prove their competencies more reliably and objectively Thirdly, to improve the effectiveness of INSET courses, teachers’ need should be analyzed in advance As revealed by the findings, teachers did not find that INSET courses could improve their teaching performance in class because they were not provided an INSET course on teaching methods as expected What’s more, administrators of NFL2020 Project should take testing into consideration and consider it as an important component that need reforming The current testing methods which focus mainly on English grammar and reading 18 comprehension should be reformed in order to synchronise the change in curriculum 5.3.2 For EFL teachers Teacher Professional Development, as in the definition of Arends et al (1998), is considered as formal and informal experiences throughout the teacher’s career Following Pham (2001) on defining teacher development the vital component in teachers’ career, no one was born to be a good teacher What a teacher should to become a good teacher is to accumulate knowledge and experiences and to put them into practice The more a teacher develops his/ her teaching ability, the more confident he/ she will be in his/ her teaching Teachers should consider self learning as their daily routine rather than wait until there is a test 5.4 Limitations of the study There were some inescapable limitations imbedded in this study Firstly, the partcipants of this study consist of only 30 EFL upper secondary school teachers from Quang Tri Province Therefore, the findings can not be generalizable to all EFL upper secondary school teachers in Vietnam Secondly, perceptions of the participants might be based on the teachers’ current knowledge and preference which may differ from one teacher to another and can not be generalised Thirdly, time constaint is aslo a factor 5.5 Suggestions for further research It is not feasible within this study to examine all aspects of NFL 2020 Project Indeed, there are some areas that need studying further NFL 2020 Project is affecting more than 200 million students (An, 2013) and 80 thousand English teachers (Parks, 2011) 19 However, this study only explores perceptions of EFL teachers at upper secondary school teachers Therefore, the potential of investigating perceptions of EFL teachers at other levels such as primary, lower secondary shools or higher education could be further explore to gain a deeper insight about NFL 2020 Project 5.6 Conclusion In summary, the NFL 2020 Project was designed with an undoubtedly wonderful purpose Professional development of EFL teachers was likely to have been sleeping soundly until the National Language 2020 Project woke it up and stirred the atmosphere of teaching and learning However, the goals of the project seem to be so vast and ambitious that there appear many difficulties and inadequacies in its implementation To make a thorough renovation in a national education system is not a task that can be done in haste Teacher professional development covers much broader scope than the mere participation in the training courses after the proficiency test 20