The relationship between teacher cognition and classroom practices in english speaking instruction a case study at europe vietnam america english language center

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHER COGNITION AND CLASSROOM PRACTICES Tai Lieu Chat Luong IN ENGLISH SPEAKING INSTRUCTION: A CASE STUDY AT EUROPE VIETNAM AMERICA ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTER A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL) Submitted by NGUYEN MINH HOANG Supervisor: Dr NGUYEN THUY NGA HO CHI MINH City, May 2017 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY NGUYEN MINH HOANG THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHER COGNITION AND CLASSROOM PRACTICES IN ENGLISH SPEAKING INSTRUCTION: A CASE STUDY AT EUROPE VIETNAM AMERICA ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTER Major: TESOL Major number: 60 14 01 11 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL) Supervisor: NGUYEN THUY NGA, Ph.D HO CHI MINH City, May 2017 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis entitled “The relationship between teacher cognition and classroom practices in English speaking instruction: A case study at Europe Vietnam America English Language Center” is my own work Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis does not contain material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution Ho Chi Minh City, 2017 Nguyen Minh Hoang ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank this section for giving me the opportunity to thank my loved ones Dr Nguyen Thuy Nga has been and will always be my VIP Her instruction, guidance, and support mean a great deal to me I would like to thank her for everything she has done for me and, above all, for being part of my life My special thanks goes to the participants for their generous help and support Without them, this thesis would not be possible I would also like to thank all the teachers at the Graduate school of Ho Chi Minh City Open University Their lessons have helped me grow, not only in my teaching career but also in my life The last, but most important, ones are my parents and younger sister I love them more than I can say Thank you for being the world to me iii ABSTRACT Thinking and actions not always converge In teaching, what teachers think they should is not always executed in their classrooms Therefore, this study set out to investigate the relationship between teacher cognition (i.e thinking, knowledge, and beliefs) and classroom practices One teacher teaching English for International Communication at Europe Vietnam America English Language Center participated in this case study Multiple data collection strategies including one semi-structured interview, five classroom observations, and one stimulated recall interview were utilized to investigate the relationship between her cognition and classroom practices in English speaking instruction The findings showed that her cognition was both consistent and inconsistent with her classroom practices Consistencies were found in all four themes of the study including accuracy and fluency, speaking elements, teacher roles, and teacher feedback Inconsistencies were seen in fluency-focused activities, teacher roles, and feedback in fluencyfocused activities The study revealed two reasons for the inconsistencies First, her classroom practices were inconsistent with her ideal-oriented cognition derived from the semi-structured interview, but consistent with her reality-oriented cognition inferred from the rationale behind her classroom practices Second, she was not fully aware of the impact of one cognition on her classroom practices Based on these findings, several recommendations for research on teacher cognition and the teaching of speaking (including textbook writers, teacher educators, and teachers) were made iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Statement of authorship i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii Table of contents iv List of figures ix List of tables x Transcript conventions xi Abbreviations xii Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1.2 Rationale for the study 1.3 Research aims 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Theoretical framework 1.6 Research significance 1.7 Structure of the thesis Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definitions of teacher cognition 2.2 Definitions of classroom practices 2.3 Previous studies on the relationship between teacher cognition and classroom practices 10 v 2.3.1 Language areas (grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation) 10 2.3.2 Language skills (reading, writing, and speaking) 13 2.3.3 Studies on the relationship between teacher cognition and classroom practices in Vietnam 14 2.4 Four themes of English speaking instruction 18 2.4.1 Accuracy and fluency 19 2.4.2 Speaking elements 22 2.4.3 Teacher roles 23 2.4.4 Teacher feedback 24 2.5 Chapter summary 27 Chapter 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 29 3.1 Research setting 29 3.2 Participant 30 3.3 Research design 31 3.4 Data collection strategies 32 3.4.1 Semi-structured interview 34 3.4.2 Classroom observations 38 3.4.3 Stimulated recall interview 38 3.5 My roles 40 3.6 Data collection procedure 41 3.7 Data analysis 42 3.8 Validity and reliability 43 vi 3.9 Chapter summary 44 Chapter 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 45 4.1 The teacher’s cognition and classroom practices in terms of accuracy and fluency 45 4.1.1 Cognition in terms of accuracy and fluency 45 4.1.2 Classroom practices in terms of accuracy and fluency 46 4.1.3 The relationship between the teacher’s cognition and classroom practices in terms of accuracy and fluency 55 4.1.4 Discussion of the teacher’s cognition and classroom practices in terms of accuracy and fluency 56 4.2 The teacher’s cognition and classroom practices in terms of speaking elements 59 4.2.1 Cognition in terms of speaking elements 59 4.2.2 Classroom practices in terms of speaking elements 59 4.2.3 The relationship between the teacher’s cognition and classroom practices in terms of speaking elements 60 4.2.4 Discussion of the teacher’s cognition and classroom practices in terms of speaking elements 61 4.3 The teacher’s cognition and classroom practices in terms of teacher roles 62 4.3.1 Cognition in terms of teacher roles 62 4.3.2 Classroom practices in terms of teacher roles 63 4.3.3 The relationship between the teacher’s cognition and classroom practices in terms of teacher roles 65 vii 4.3.4 Discussion of the teacher’s cognition and classroom practices in terms of teacher roles 67 4.4 The teacher’s cognition and classroom practices in terms of teacher feedback 68 4.4.1 Cognition in terms of teacher feedback 68 4.4.2 Classroom practices in terms of teacher feedback 69 4.4.3 The relationship between the teacher’s cognition and classroom practices in terms of teacher feedback 73 4.4.4 Discussion of the teacher’s cognition and classroom practices in terms of teacher feedback 74 4.5 Summary and discussion of the key findings about the teacher’s cognition and classroom practices related to four themes of this study 75 4.5.1 Summary of the key findings 75 4.5.2 Discussion of the key findings 77 4.6 Chapter summary 78 Chapter 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 79 5.1 Conclusion 79 5.2 Contributions and limitations 80 5.2.1 Contributions 80 5.2.2 Limitations 82 5.3 Recommendations 83 5.4 Suggestions for further studies 84 5.5 Chapter summary 85 viii REFERENCES 86 APPENDIX 93 APPENDIX 94 APPENDIX 99 APPENDIX 99 APPENDIX 101 APPENDIX 113 APPENDIX 117 APPENDIX 124 111 make them more interested because they see that they can apply what they have learned from the textbook into a more practical situation and feel that studying English is more practical, not just studying conversations in the textbook without never applying them into their real lives If possible, I can introduce some English teaching videos and websites on the Internet to them I can bring them (videos), real life English, into the classroom to bridge the gap between English in the textbook and English in real lives W: OK The next question is “What you think you have done successfully in the teaching of speaking?” T: Honestly, I saw some fruit of my work I saw some changes in my students From the beginner class (World Link Intro) until now (World Link 1), they have been studying with me for about one year I felt some big changes in them: some of them could speak English more, expressed their ideas more, made fewer mistakes, and pronounced better Sometimes they still made grammar mistakes, but not serious ones, not to the extent that their statements were messy or without any order They felt more interested in their learning because they saw some improvements and felt that they were going in the right direction This makes them try to study harder These are some encouraging results I can see W: So, those are your students’ improvements? T: Yeah, because they really like to communicate I felt that they understood spoken English and spoke English better They could talk more At first, I had to talk a lot, but now I just raise a topic and they can talk and express on their own I just make some suggestions W: Do you think your students are more confident now? T: Yeah When I raise a topic, they enthusiastically participate to give their opinions They are not too surprised when studying with foreign teachers Foreign teachers told me they understood spoken English better and could work with them W: OK Is there anything else you want to say about the teaching of speaking? 112 T: In my opinion, teachers who teach speaking must ensure that they pronounce English accurately It is impossible for those who pronounce English badly to teach English speaking They have to have good pronunciation Teachers have to bring more real-life English into their classrooms Even though they are not included in textbooks, we have to introduce them to our students We have to create communicative goals for our students, so they can apply what they have learned into their real lives There should also be some real-life communicative situations to make learning more meaningful and students more interested Teachers also have to encourage students and give them compliments even when they make mistakes to make them more enthusiastic about their learning W: OK That’s it for the interview Thank you so much 113 APPENDIX OBSERVATIONAL SAMPLE LESSON 3: ROLE-PLAY Situation Student A: You’re a guitarist You wrote a new song and you’re practicing it Student B: You hear your partner practicing a song You like it You think your partner plays well S1: This song very well How long did you practice it? T: OK So, this song is really well? S1: is really well T: is really well? S1: How long T: Wait This song is really well? S1: Ủa, very good, Oops, very good T: Uh-huh S1: Ủa lộn My bad T: What a good song! It’s such an interesting song! We have a lot of ways to say that, boy S1: What a good song! How long have you practiced it? S2: What kind of song you hear? T: He hears the song that you’re practicing hát tập, new song, Replay, right You have to respond to his compliment Phản hồi khen ngợi trước S2: Thank you T: Thank you It’s very nice of you to say so Answer the question, right Trả lời câu hỏi S1 S2: Ah, it take me about one month for … T: for writing it, right? 114 S2: writing it T: practicing it, uh-huh Cool OK S1: Can you told me, uh, the magic of this song? T: All right, yeah, what is the song about? S1: nods his head T: Yeah Imagine, OK? S2: I think … T: Think of your favorite song, baby Is it about love? Is it about peace? S2: T: It’s about … S2: It’s about … T: think of your favorite song S2: T: Nghĩ hát u thích em nói chủ đề thử Think about your favorite song and talk about its topic S2: T: It’s about friendship? S2: a love story T: OK It’s a love story Yah Most stronger than Romeo and Juliet’s love story OK Cool T: Situation two, right? S3, can you read that, baby? S3: Situation Student B: You’re wearing a new sweater It didn’t cost a lot of money Student A: Your partner is wearing a new sweater You think it’s cool T: OK Can you play student B, right? S4, can you play student A? Yah? S4: Ah, what a beautiful sweeter! T: sweater S4: sweater 115 T: OK What a beautiful sweater! S3: T: How you respond? S3: Ah… a new sweeter T: Yah Nhưng mà phản ứng lại làm sao? How you respond? Người ta khen đó, hổng lẽ He complimented … S3: Thank you T: Thank you Or maybe I’m glad you like it S4: Where did you buy it? T: Uh-huh S3: I buy it in a supermarket T: I buy it? S3: in the supermarket T: Yah It’s something you did in the past not the present S3: T: Where did you buy it? So, I … S3: I … buy it T: Yah, it’s the past or present, baby? S3: T: It’s in the past, right? Some students: bought T: Oh yah! S3: I bought it in the supermarket T: I bought it in the supermarket Yah, a week ago, a month ago S4? S4: Was it expensive? T: Good! S3: It didn’t expensive T: It didn’t expensive? didn’t? 116 S3: doesn’t T: doesn’t? S3: wasn’t T: Yah, wasn’t expensive I just got it with a hundred thousand dong Yah, maybe So now, free talk, right 117 APPENDIX THE STIMULATED RECALL INTERVIEW W: OK Can we start now? T: OK W: First, let’s talk about the use of English and Vietnamese in your class I could see this pattern: you used mostly English, but sometimes you translated English to Vietnamese T: Right I know W: So, why did you that? T: For good students, I use only English because I know they could understand me right away For lower-level ones, they couldn’t really understand spoken English, so I translated to Vietnamese to make them feel more comfortable If I speak only English, they don’t understand I wait for them and repeat my instructions, and they still don’t understand This is a waste of time and makes them stressed, so I use some Vietnamese to make them feel more comfortable W: OK T: I know I have to expose my students to English., so I shouldn’t say simple statements in Vietnamese I should speak English more often to help them get used to it However, in my mixed-level class, I have to admit that I need to use Vietnamese to make things clearer W: OK I saw that the students used English names Can you explain? T: I want to create a communication environment in which they have English names This doesn’t mean that they should forget their identities Instead, they have new identities and adapt to this new environment Moreover, they like English names and think that having English names is nice Using English names makes communication sound a little more realistic W: Did they choose their English names by themselves or did you choose for them? 118 T: They chose by themselves W: OK So, that’s why your students used English names T: Yeah, using English names W: OK I saw when your students didn’t know new words, you wrote them down on the board Can you explain? T: I thought that their answers were insufficient, so they needed to say more to express themselves better, so I wrote new words on the board I thought they needed to say more and learned to develop their ideas in detail Instead of saying a short sentence, they needed to develop their ideas in detail At higher levels, they needed to know how to express their ideas in more detail I provided vocabulary so they could talk better W: OK I also saw that you often sat in the front and asked questions Can you explain? T: Because the classroom was a little small, and there were not many students Therefore, I didn’t have difficulty making me audible to those at the back I walked around when they worked in pairs, but I sat when asking and answering one-on-one Sitting helped me observe the whole class Coming close to one student would leave the others behind I looked at the student who was answering, and I could also look at the others to check if they were listening W: OK So, that’s why you sat T: Yeah I sat and looked around the classroom W: OK Can you explain why you participated in the students’ pair work? T: The activities were not completely fluency-focused They were in the middle of accuracy and fluency or bridges Using only structures in the textbook makes too short conversations In reality, nobody asks and answers just one question; we need to add some things Therefore, I needed to intervene to make their conversations longer and to help them have more ideas and communicate more 119 W: OK Another point was that your students answered your questions right away Can you explain why “right away”? T: Right I rarely gave them time to prepare W: Can you explain why? T: I wanted to help them speed up their reaction In real-life communication, they not have time to prepare or think At first, it was difficult, but after they practiced for a while, they would be able to speed up their reaction W: OK So, you wanted them to react more quickly? T: Yeah That’s the reason W: OK Let’s talk about what you did in more detail In the first lesson, you asked your students “Have you watched America’s got talent?” Why did you ask this question in the beginning of the lesson? T: OK I wanted to bring personal experiences into the classroom, i.e helping the students relate to the topic of the lesson by asking them to talk about their daily activities like watching TV shows This would help them speak English more easily W: And the next one “I want you to pick up your favorite performers or acts.” Did you have the same reason, i.e bringing personal experiences into the classroom? T: To develop their ideas They have watched (those shows), so they needed to be able to talk about their favorite acts This helped them develop their communicative goals This is common in communication, so they needed to know how to develop their conversations My aim was to help them develop their conversations and make them more realistic W: Did you focus on accuracy or fluency here? T: Fluency W: OK T: I knew this topic was difficult for them to express their ideas, but they should try to talk 120 W: OK So, in this episode, you corrected one student’s mistake He said “He name is Dua Leo” And then you said “Right, that’s his nickname, huh?” Then he repeated “his name” Can you explain why you said “That’s his nickname, huh?”? T: If I just corrected, it would be too explicit I asked for his confirmation so he could contribute to the correction It wasn’t only my correction W: OK In this episode, he said “He … he … he … he has … standup comedy.” And you said “Right, a standup comedian.”, wrote this phrase on the board, and explained it to the whole class Can you explain? T: I knew for sure they couldn’t get it right They didn’t know it, so I had to teach them I thought this phrase was kind of nice because there were a lot of comedians, so I wrote it on the board W: OK And here, he said “He’s famous in YouTube.” and then you said “a famous YouTuber, right?” Can you explain? T: I thought his expression was OK but kind of long, so I changed it to a noun phrase to make it more natural I wanted to teach him another expression W: OK In this episode, this student couldn’t answer the question right away, and you said “I’ll get back to you.” Can you explain? T: He couldn’t prepare what to say in a short time, so I gave him some time to think To save time and avoid silence while waiting for him, I moved on to ask other students and would get back to him This would make him more confident because he had some time to prepare W: OK Here, you provided vocabulary “Did he get, something you should know, a standing ovation?” T: Though this phrase was a little advanced, it’s popular on talent shows So, students should know it W: OK In fluency-focused activities, you often asked the students to read boxes of information in the textbook aloud Can you explain? T: It was OK to let them read in silence and think However, to save time, I let them read aloud so if there were mistakes in pronunciation, I could help them 121 correct I didn’t want my class to be too silent There should be some speaking, so I often asked them to read aloud W: OK One student said “talent” and you asked the others “Did you see something wrong?” Can you explain why you asked that question? T: The other students often made this mistake, so I asked to help them remember their own mistake I also wanted them to correct each other I wanted more community sense here W: OK When the students were practicing pronouncing ‘can” and ‘can’t”, you asked them to repeat T: They very often mispronounced these words I asked them to repeat so they pronounced correctly W: You also said “Nhấn chút xíu Put more stress” Why did you say this here? T: OK I thought they didn’t stress ‘can’t” enough, so I had to make it clear W: OK There were some guessing games in which the students took guesses about each other’s abilities Do you think they were accuracy- or fluency-focused? T: They were accuracy-focused W: Why did you let them these activities? T: OK After learning “can” and ‘can’t”, they needed to apply them into speaking The activities were fun I would ask them to talk about their abilities for sure, but they needed to learn about their classmates: what they can and can’t I wanted to make the activities fun and their relationships closer W: OK In compliment activities, you asked the students to look for compliment expressions in a conversation Can you explain? T: I wanted to make them curious about those expressions before I presented W: You also taught “give it a try” Can you explain? T: It was a nice phrase in spoken English, so I introduced to my students W: In speaking activities, you often asked a student called “J” first Can you explain? 122 T: He was the best student, so I asked him to be the model for the others If I asked a lower-level student, the activities would not be smooth and it would be a waste of time W: OK In this episode, your student said “This song very well.”, and then you said “well?” and frowned Can you explain? T: They were some correction techniques They were good ways to help him realize his mistake instead of saying “is really good” directly When he saw my face, he could know he had made a mistake W: OK Your student said “What a beautiful sweeter!” and then you said “sweater” Why did you explicitly correct his mistake? T: He was a quite good student Most of them mispronounced this word I didn’t think he knew how to pronounce this word correctly, so I explicitly corrected him W: OK In this episode, one student said “I buy it.” and then you said “Is it the past or the present?” Why did you give hints here? T: to let her know she used the wrong tense Instead of explicitly correcting it “I bought it.”, I reminded her of which tense was correct W: OK Was the role-play fluency-focused? T: In this class, the activities were not completely fluency-focused, not to that extent, but I tried to let them talk freely, so there was my intervention I shouldn’t let them work completely on their own I should direct their conversations W: OK There were some activities you asked each student to answer your questions Can you explain? T: I wanted to make sure that each student could use language correctly If I listened to the whole class, I couldn’t know each student clearly Therefore, I asked each student to be specific and to make sure that they could speak English correctly W: OK You also taught this phrase “kill/nail the song” 123 T: Yah Spoken English It’s often used and interesting As I said, I really liked spoken English, so I brought it into the classroom W: You said you focused on fluency but not completely? T: There was my intervention because the students’ levels were still low (only elementary) W: OK You often asked one student in this row to talk to another student in the other row Can you explain? T: When I gave them time to work together, I let two students sitting next to each other work together Then when I needed to check, I could call on some pair However, repeating what they had said made them bored So, I let one student in this row talk to another student in the other row to have some surprise They were far away, so they had to talk loudly; therefore, it was easy for other students to follow them W: OK You also asked your students to talk about a painting in the textbook before teaching them compliment expressions Can you explain why? T: I wanted to have a smooth transition between the dialogue and the useful expressions I wanted to help them relate to their experiences by letting them share their evaluations W: OK So, is there anything else you want to say about this class? T: Besides the content in the textbook, I tried to teach them some phrases in spoken English and different expressions and structures for the same idea to help them develop their ideas and conversations in detail I focused more on these, so there was my intervention When their levels are higher, I will intervene less At this level, I had to intervene, not 80 or 90 percent, but about 50 percent W: OK That’s it for the interview Thank you so much 124 APPENDIX LETTER OF CONSENT Dear Ms./Mr., My name is Nguyen Minh Hoang from Ho Chi Minh City Open University, Graduate School I am conducting a study for my master’s degree in TESOL It aims to investigate the relationship between teacher cognition (i.e knowledge, thinking, and beliefs) and classroom practices in English speaking instruction I would like to invite you to participate in this study and would be very grateful if you could To collect data for the study, I will use the following procedure: a) one semi-structured interview (approximately one hour) b) five classroom observations c) one stimulated-recall interview after each classroom observation (approximately 30 minutes) I plan to audio-record the interviews, which will be conducted in Vietnamese, and video-record the classroom observations The data will then be transcribed into English and kept in a password-protected folder on my desktop computer Only my supervisor and I will have access to the recordings and transcripts Throughout the study, you will be referred to by a pseudonym (e.g T1); I will also ensure that any data from which your identity could be inferred will be removed from the finished thesis The recordings and transcripts will be used only for research purposes and deleted one year after the completion of the study I hope that you will agree to participate in this study and complete the consent form on the next page Please note that you have every right to withdraw from the study 125 without giving me any reason However, I would appreciate it if you could inform me of your withdrawal one week in advance of the semi-structured interview If you need further information about my thesis, please contact me at nguyenminhhoang2007@gmail.com or at my cell number: 0986760909 Thank you very much for your participation in this study Sincerely yours, Nguyen Minh Hoang _ I …………………………………………………………………………………… agree to participate in the study described above and allow Nguyen Minh Hoang to interview me and observe my lessons I understand that my personal identity will be fully protected, and that I have every right to withdraw from the study at any time without giving any reason Signed ………………………………… Date ……………………………