An evaluation of stakeholders on an english affiliate program at a primary school in hanoi

Trang 6 ABSTRACT The Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training has been promoting the use of Content and Language Integrated Learning CLIL in English teaching, integrating natural su

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

NGUYEN QUYNH HOA

AN EVALUATION OF STAKEHOLDERS ON AN ENGLISH AFFILIATE PROGRAM AT A PRIMARY

SCHOOL IN HANOI

M.A THESIS

THAI NGUYEN - 2023

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM THÁI NGUYÊN

KHOA NGOẠI NGỮ

NGUYỄN QUỲNH HOA

ĐÁNH GIÁ CỦA CÁC BÊN LIÊN QUAN

VỀ CHƯƠNG TRÌNH TIẾNG ANH LIÊN KẾT TẠI MỘT TRƯỜNG TIỂU HỌC Ở HÀ NỘI

Ngành: Lý luận và phương pháp dạy học bộ môn tiếng Anh

Mã số: 8 14 01 11

LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ

Cán bộ hướng dẫn: TS Nguyễn Thị Minh Loan

THÁI NGUYÊN - 2023

DECLARATION

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains no 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 acknowledgements in the thesis

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution

Thai Nguyen, November 2023

Student Nguyen Quynh Hoa

LỜI CAM ĐOAN

Tôi cam đoan đã thực hiện việc kiểm tra mức độ tương đồng nội dung luận văn qua phần mềm Turnitin một cách trung thực và đạt kết quả mức độ tương đồng 12% Bản luận văn kiểm tra qua phần mềm là bản cứng đã nộp để bảo vệ trước hội đồng Nếu sai tôi hoàn toàn chịu trách nhiệm

Thái Nguyên, ngày 08 tháng 11 năm 2023

Học viên

(Ký, ghi rõ họ tên)

Nguyễn Quỳnh Hoa

Additionally, I am grateful to my parents, my entire family, and my friends for their support in getting me through the study They offered me the energizing strength

I needed to handle the pressure of working long study days Due to their helpful criticizes and suggestions, I am also appreciative of my friends and co-workers

Last but not least, I would want to express my deepest gratitude to all the stakeholders at Dong Ngac B primary school who provided important information for the study The success of this investigation was made possible by their outstanding cooperation

ABSTRACT

The Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training has been promoting the use

of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in English teaching, integrating natural subjects like Math and Science into English iSMART Education, a pioneer in teaching English through Maths and Science, has received positive feedback from schools, parents, and students However, new teachers face challenges in teaching difficult content like Math and Science, and educational administrators question the effectiveness of the program Therefore this study aimed to determine the opinions of

162 stakeholders (including 8 teachers, 76 students, 76 parents and 2 school administrators) about integrating the teaching of English with Maths and Science Furthermore, this study was also to specify if stakeholders' views about integrating the teaching of English with Maths and Science are the same or not Then, the researcher could evaluate this English affiliate program's effectiveness at a primary school in Hanoi To collect data, both qualitative and quantitative research approach are applied Specifically, the qualitative data would be gathered from semi-structured interview while the quantitative data would be collected by a questionnaire After using Microsoft excel and SPSS software to analyze the data, Most stakeholders of Dong Ngac B Primary School agreed that this affiliate program was an appropriate and effective choice if they want to experience a useful program to improve English and other

content subjects

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

LỜI CAM ĐOAN i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v

LIST OF FIGURES vi

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale of the study 1

1.2 Aims of the study 2

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Scope of the study 2

1.5 Significance of the study 2

1.6 Structure of the study 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) Methodology 4

2.1.1 What is CLIL? 4

2.1.2 Principles of CLIL 5

2.1.3 Features of CLIL 6

2.1.4 Advantages of CLIL 7

2.1.5 Disadvantages of CLIL 8

2.2 Teaching English through Maths and Science 8

2.2.1 Teaching English through Maths 9

2.2.2 Teaching English through Science 10

2.3 Attitudes toward a program 10

2.3.1 What is attitude? 10

2.3.2 The factors affect teachers’ attitudes 11

2.4 Evaluation of the program 12

2.4 1 What is a training program? 12

2.4.2 What is evaluation of a program? 13

2.5 Stakeholders and their purpose in education 13

2.6 Previous studies 14

2.7 Summary of the chapter 17

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 18

3.1 Research design 18

3.2 Participants of the study 18

3.3 Data collection instruments 19

3.3.1 Questionnaire 19

3.3.2 Semi-structured interviews 20

3.4 Data collection procedures 20

3.5 Data analysis procedure 21

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS & DISCUSSION 22

4.1 Results of the questionnaire 22

4.1.1 Area 1 Knowledge and preparation 22

4.1.2 Area 2 Competences and assessment 27

4.1.3 Area 3 Motivation and evaluation 32

4.2 Results of the interview 34

4.2.1 Questions 1: “Are there any additional channel for students to study at home? 35

4.2.2 Questions 2: “What are the types of materials and resources which are being employed in iSMART classes?” 35

4.2.3 Questions 3: “Do the school's facilities meet the requirements for learning iSMART program?” 36

4.2.4 Questions 4: “Do you keep going to choose iSMART program?” 36

4.2.5 Questions 5: “Have iSMART program been quality accredited by any educational accreditation organization?” 37

4.3 Discussions 38

4.3.1 Research questions 1: What are stakeholders' attitudes toward affiliate program at Dong Ngac B primary school? 38

4.3.2 Research questions 2: Are there any differences in stakeholders' attitudes

toward affiliate program? 40

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 42

5.1 Conclusion 42

5.2 Implications 43

5.3 Limitation and Suggestions for further research 43

5.3.1 Limitation 43

5.3.2 Suggestion for further research 44

REFERENCES 46 APPENDICES

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 4.1 Statement 1 “I have knowledge/am well informed of the core principles

of Content and Language Integrated Learning in iSMART education settings” (For students) 22 Figure 4.2 Statement 1 “I have knowledge/am well informed of the core principles

of Content and Language Integrated Learning in iSMART education settings” (For teachers) 23 Figure 4.3 Statement 1 “I have knowledge/am well informed of the core principles

of Content and Language Integrated Learning in iSMART education settings” (For parents) 24 Figure 4.4 Statement 1 “I have knowledge/am well informed of the core principles

of Content and Language Integrated Learning in iSMART education settings” (School administrators) 25 Figure 4.5 Statement 2: “Teachers need further CLIL training” 26 Figure 4.6 Statement 3: “Learners’ English has improved as a consequence of their

participation in iSMART program” 28 Figure 4.7 Statement 4: “More use of English is needed in the iSMART classroom” 29 Figure 4.8 Statement 5: “Learners’ knowledge of the subject contents has

improved due to their participation in iSMART program” 31 Figure 4.9 Statement 6: “Learner motivation towards English learning has

increased as a result of their participation in a iSMART program (learners, parents, school administrators) / My students are interested in the iSMART class (teachers)” 32 Figure 4.10 Statement 7: “Being part of a iSMART program is worthwhile and do

not waste time” 33

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

The goal of this chapter is to give readers the overview of the study, including its rationale, aims, scope, and significance To give clear direction for the duration of the study, the research questions and the organizational framework are also illustrated

1.1 Rationale of the study

English language is a worldwide language as its usage has become common in many fields such as education, medical, business, media, etc According to the figures

of Ethnologue (2023, 26th edition), the world population has reached approximately 8 billion and there have been 1.4 billion who used English as either first or second language in 2023 Besides, English not only has become a compulsory subject in most

of the schools in Vietnam but also has been used for the National High School Graduation Examination test before they enter the universities

In recent years, according to National Foreign Language Project of Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), English has got more and more attention, especially, the use of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) method in English teaching that has been widely implemented across the country Many school from primary to high schools not only has taught English as a simple language subject but also integrated natural subjects such as Math and Science into English This makes

it simpler for students to absorb and apply real-life problems in classroom subjects in order to improve English knowledge as well as optimize thinking ability combined with language skills for children

Nowadays, in Hanoi, the application of CLIL to learning English, specifically learning English through Math and Science, is no longer strange and has received a lot

of positive comments from schools, parents and students There are many educational organizations that have cooperated with schools to teach this program and iSMART Education is one of the pioneers in teaching English through Maths and Science programs with smart educational technology ecosystem

However, when teaching this iSMART program, the researcher saw some challenges There were still some new teachers who had not had access to this program before, they did not know how to control this program well or lacked

confident when teaching Specifically, they said that it was very difficult for a language teacher to teach difficult content like Math or Science They had not had experience in teaching these 2 subjects as well as managing classrooms with primary students before In addition, many educational administrators also wondered if this program was effective for their students or not Therefore, the researcher decided to conduct this study: “An evaluation of stakeholders on an English affiliate program at

a primary school in Hanoi” to find out how stakeholders at this school thought about this programme

1.2 Aims of the study

The aims of the study were as follows:

- To determine stakeholders’ opinions about integrating the teaching of English

with Maths and Science

- To specify if stakeholders' views about integrating the teaching of English with Maths and Science were the same or not

1.4 Scope of the study

For a few reasons, this study only evaluated the stakeholders' attitudes toward iSMART program at Dong Ngac B primary school The scope of this research focused

on 162 stakeholders (8 teacher, 2 school administrators, 76 learners and 76 parents) who were related to the iSMART program at Dong Ngac B primary school in Hanoi This research was carried out in the first semester in 2023-2024 school year at this primary school

1.5 Significance of the study

This research would raise the importance of considering all stakeholders’ attitude toward teaching English via Maths and Science Therefore, the author looked

forward to seeing this research to become an useful reference for other teachers or educational researchers who wanted to design researches about foreign language teaching through content subjects Moreover, students and parents can also consider choosing this program when they want to improve their English proficiency as well as knowledge of other subjects In addition, this is also a useful document for educational managers when they want to find a suitable program for their students to consolidate their knowledge outside of main class time

1.6 Structure of the study

The research divides into 5 chapters as followings:

Chapter 1: Introduction shows the rationale behind the thesis subject

selection, the aims and objectives as well as the research questions of the study, the scope and significance of the thesis

Chapter 2: Literature review provides an overview of the theoretical

background of CLIL program and the framework for program evaluation

Chapter 3: Research methodology presents a description of the data collection

and analysis procedures

Chapter 4: Findings and discussions describe the statistic results from

questionnaire and interview to give the clarification for the issues of the study

Chapter 5: Conclusion and implications summaries main findings and gives

some suggestions for teachers, educational administrators, learners and their parents

Finally, References and Appendices are at the end of the research

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Chapter 2 presents theoretical background as well as definitions and characteristics of some terms related to evaluating iSMART's affiliate program at Dong Ngac B primary school The chapter also discusses stakeholders' purpose in education and lists previous studies by researchers

2.1 Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) Methodology

2.1.1 What is CLIL?

Firstly, CLIL stands for Content and Language Integrated Learning Although the word "CLIL" was appeared for the first time Marsh (1994), some writers claimed that this method existed over 5000 years ago Back to history of the Akkadi, after Akkadians had conqueried Sumerians, they used the local language (Sumerians) as the language of instruction in order to teach some subjects such as theology, botany and zoology Later, in the end of the 19th century, some rich familes sent their children aboard to learn foreign languages

In many countries, bilingual education had a long history For example, children

in Luxembourg learnt German and French in primary and secondary education correspondingly earlier than the publication of the law about the standards of bilingualism in 1843 Additionally, the well-known Slovak educator Matthias Bel (1684–1749), often referred to as the Great Ornament of the Kingdom of Hungary (Hanesová, 2014 & 2015), must be mentioned He was a headmaster of two grammar schools placed in a multilingual German-Hungarian-Slovak-Czech area To support his students, he wrote a simple Latin grammar book as well as some textbooks about content integrated which focus on teaching language of daily life There was a significant rise of applying CLIL in the American continent and Europe during the 80s and 90s A typical example is several English speaking parents who lived in a French quarters in Quebec, Canada asked the Government to create a program for teaching all subject in French because their children had to faced some difficulties when communicate with their French friends Since 1970s, multilingual immersion programs has influenced not only Canada but also the whole world

Marsh (1994) who is considered as the first person to mention CLIL, defined

that “CLIL refers to situations where subjects, or parts of subjects, are taught through

a foreign language with dual-focused aims, namely the learning of content and the simultaneous learning of a foreign language”

In an interview after the presentation at the 2008 Directors’ Conference on “The impact of CLIL in Europe”, Marsh further emphasizes that CLIL refers to a situation in teaching where a certain subject is taught in a different language, such as a topic on the

global climate in Korea (teach in English instead of Korean) Besides, a similar opinion

as stated by Bentley (2010), an ever-evolving educational program known as CLIL involves teaching content through the use of a language that is not the speaker's native tongue Meanwhile, the term CLIL is a “language pedagogy focusing on meaning which contrasts to those which focus on form” (Marsh, 2002:49)

In conclusion, a CLIL lesson has a dual-focused aims and this concept is learning of a content and a foreign language at the same time (Marsh, 1994)

in understanding about certain elements of the lesson

The second factor is communication Coyle (2010) once said we “learn to use language and use language to learn” CLIL promotes the use of language as a communication tool as well as a tool for learning In other words, the aim is make student express their own thoughts through second language Coyle (2010, p36) demonstrated the language acquisition process in CLIL through 3 components:

- Language of learning: include vocabulary, grammatical structures that children will receive in the learning process

- Language for learning: contain children's natural language abilities to take part

in class discussions, comprehend lectures, and formulate questions

- Language through learning: providie language environment for children to

learn specialized knowledge and acquire new languages

In addition, there is a relationship between content and cognition, cognition motivates learners to get their own higher-level thinking beyond the concept formation, understanding and knowledge Normally, people use Bloom cognitive scale as a standard instrument to assess the amount of thinking required by educational activities

Last but not least, culture “nurtures an appreciation of oneself and the potential for understanding and appreciating others” (Ellison, 2019, p 249) Intercultural awareness makes students able to comprehend and appreciate both their own and other cultures Particularly to communicate and continue studying or working effectively in any situation, it is important to have a grasp of culture and society on a global scale Children not only get to discover other countries, but also have to discover their own country, region, and even themselves Sometimes the fourth C is also defined as Community or Citizenship

2.1.3 Features of CLIL

Mehistor, Marsh and Frigols (2008) presented six main features of CLIL method namely multiple focus, authenticity, active learning, safe learning environment, scaffolding, and cooperation

To begin with multiple focus, CLIL lessons have a variety of focuses on language teaching, content learning and how learning is supported by cross-curricular themes and projects by integrating several subjects

Also, authenticity which is another aspect of CLIL means the utilization of authentic materials, examples, and topics This features includes the connection with the CLIL language's speakers and the other sources as well as the relationsip between students' life and learning

Another feature is active learning It means that students take the initiative in learning rather than just depending on the teacher Clearly, they help assess their success in achieving learning objectives, encourage peer cooperation and teachers acting as facilitators

Fourthly, safe learning environment is how teachers do to inspire students' confidence Teachers demonstrate language and subject utilising educational facilities while students get access to genuine materials and settings to improve their awareness

of language

Additionally, the term "scaffolding" refers to diverse techniques that are employed to assist pupils in developing their cknowledge, abilities, attitude, interests, and experience as well as make them adapt to various learning approaches with critical and creative thinking They also need be challenged in order to advance to the following stage of their learning processes

Finally, cooperation is the effort made by the CLIL teachers who work in collaboration with other teachers (either a subject teacher or language teacher), the local community, and other relevant stakeholders to construct their CLIL classes

2.1.4 Advantages of CLIL

Based on the main features and the principles of CLIL above Also according to Mehisto, Frigols & Marsh (2008), CLIL provides a lot of advantages in language learning and content

Firstly, Floris (2014) declared that CLIL activities contribute positive learning environment where learners are center Teachers are facilitators or scaffolders for students to do given tasks These activities must be relevant and student-oriented, In other words, with instructions of teachers, students get chance to exchange their opinions with their partners and actively express them

Secondly, the learners' motivation is raised through CLIL As Harrop (2012) said that “CLIL may reinvigorate motivation by providing a credible and authentic context for language use” Teachers can incorporate current media to make students discuss about global concerns Besides, teachers can also use authentic materials and create hard exercises using a variety of real-world materials to teach English or another language because of their a lot of benefits

Finally, CLIL pupils have a significant growth in mastering foreign language

To compared to non-CLIL learners, they have more opportunities to explore the other language Generally, they are improved their knowledge, understanding and skills

2.1.5 Disadvantages of CLIL

On the other hand, there are various views of disadvantages of CLIL

At the beginning, Harrop (2012) announced that CLIL learners may lack language competences because CLIL classroom have more focused on how students achieve real-life communication through studying content

Secondly, students could faced some obstacles in learning L2 that come from themselves By way of explanation, some people have limitation of the second language abilities They often require language assistance during the first two years of their CLIL study They can not be good at speaking as well as understanding the target language appropriately

Lastly, many teachers who teach CLIL program do not have enough knowledge

of certain subjects or some of them are unable to speak L2 or English properly They often show a lack of confidence in their language proficiency, when they are forced to present and explain lectures clearly and accurately In addition, they always have to check their pronunciation as well as learn how to use the language in the classroom properly to give assessment, instruction or recommendation

2.2 Teaching English through Maths and Science

Based on the benefits of its own, CLIL likely to gain increased popularity on integrated teaching and learning In particular, the most prominent is the integration of English and Maths or Science As discussed above, countries around the world have been teaching English through Maths and Science many years ago Malaysia in 2003 witnessed a noticeable difference in policy that the medium of instruction in the teaching of Mathematics and Science was changed from Bahasa Melayu (Malaysia language) to English Furthermore, in 2008, Indonesian government announced a policy to implement Math and Science teaching programs in English, mainly at international secondary schools Meanwhile, Thailand has had a long time implementing CLIL in many schools from primary to high school before Since 2001, there are two different types of CLIL in Thailand education system They are English Program (4 out of 9 core subjects are taught in English) and Mini English Program (2 out of 9 core subjects are taught in English)

In 2008, Vietnamese MOET also introduced the implementation of CLIL through the National Foreign Language 2020 Project (hereafter Project 2020) With the current trend of globalization and international integration, increasing the ability to use foreign languages is really necessary This project bring an important mission that provide young Vietnamese people the ability to converse comfortably in a foreign language in a multicultural, integrated setting, advancing the cause of the nation's industrialization and modernization (MOET, 2008) Although it seems that the result

is not as expected, the project has had some positive effects on teaching and learning the foreign language There has been many schools have implemented integrated teaching of English with Math and Science One of the pioneers in applying CLIL to teaching is iSMART In the past, only a few centers or private schools in big cities such

as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City carried out this teaching At present, from the primary level of Vietnamese public schools in other province as Lao Cai, Thai Nguyen, etc, they have started to deploy integrated classes with the curriculum of Math and Science subjects in English

iSMART Education is one of the members of the EQuest Education Group, formerly known as the Institution of American Education (IAE) iSMART program is

a program that sends iSMART teachers to public schools in Vietnam CLIL is applied

to teach English through 2 main subjects, Math and Science Besides, there are the applications of new technology in teaching such as the use of intelligent multi-point interactive whiteboard, Robot NAO, online review platform iTO, Lisa and especially the certified iSMART digital lesson

2.2.1 Teaching English through Maths

Mathematics or known as Maths is one of the core subjects in schools Maths is the subject that dealsm with the logic of numbers, structure, space, and transformations, data, measurements and also logical activities People are all surrounded by a mathematical world Maths can be seen in every areas in our real-life as finance, medicine, economics, etc According to educational experts, intergrating Maths into English means the combination of foreign languages and a science subjects Instead of learning English through traditional methods, students will be provided information with interesting context in maths It will positively affect children's brains, help them

develop logical intelligence and linguistic intelligence at the same time Students not only learn how to read numbers in English or basic multiplication, division, addition and subtraction, but also learning more difficult topics such as fractions calculations, surface area of a cuboid, etc Instead of doing some multiple choices exercises, they have to do word problems exercises in English

2.2.2 Teaching English through Science

Similarly, English teaching through Science also growing more and more Currently, organizations or schools that integrate Math into English are also teaching English through Science Science subject is a universal subject that spans the branch of knowledge that uses experimentation and observation to study the structure and behavior

of the physical and natural world English teaching through Science means via basic scientific knowledge topics such as: animals, plants, people, environment, sound, materials

in nature, etc, their English will be practiced as well as develop the best thinking skills, at the same time develop the language Specifically, students are “immersed” in a purely English environment with real-life contexts as discover human body, muscles and joints, five of senses, how sound travel, or how we can see things, etc

2.3 Attitudes toward a program

2.3.1 What is attitude?

An attitude is "a relatively enduring organization of beliefs, feelings, and behavioral tendencies towards socially significant objects, groups, events or symbols" (Hogg & Vaughan 2005, p 150) Crystal (1997) also argued attitude is the evaluative response to things, behaviors, events, and circumstances that arise from personal ideas and opinions An attitude described a person's persistent positive or negative sentiments, actions, and cognitive assessments of a certain thing or concept People have opinions on practically everything, including politics, religion, clothing, music, and cuisine Moreover, experiences or upbringing frequently influence attitudes They can have a significant impact on how people behave and behave in different circumstances stances

Morries and Maisto (2005) said that attitudes are created from learning and experience Generally, attitudes are described as a tool of judgement which evaluates whether individuals, objects, event, activities, ideas, or just about anything in a persons'

environment and attitudes can be positive or negative Ustuner (2006) defined attitude haves impact on teacher's thought, feelings, and behaviors about a psychological item

He also thought that one of the crucial factors influencing instructors' views is their attitudes toward their career as teachers

Generally, Wenden (1991) and Matsuda, A (2000) similarly stated, attitude is classified into three elements, namely cognitive, affective, and behavioural The first one, the mental component, comprises the beliefs and thoughts about an object, people, behaviour, event, and knowledge It is supposed to have a great impact on the learning because its relation to personal perception The second element which is called the affective component contains the emotions and feeling towards an object This influences one’s preferences, for example, to stand for or against, or to like or dislike The last one, the behavioural aspect, involves people’s actions or disposition or special behaviour in particular situations

2.3.2 The factors affect teachers’ attitudes

Salwa Al Darwish (2018) said that the factors which affect the teachers' attitudes are many Teachers are influenced by both the environment's function and the role of the individual This research will discuss some of them

Firstly of all, gender factor also shows that there are differences between male and female attitudes toward English teaching Appleby (2014) showed that that gender patterns have a demonstrable impact on how education is constructed Besides, according to Dee (2006), the teacher's gender affects how they interact with pupils and how they are portrayed as "gender-specific role models"

Secondly, education level and year of experience are also related to teachers' opinions When they are senior in their school and get on well with teaching every day, they will become more confident and have more effective lessons Meanwhile, although some fresh graduates do not have much professional experience, with a good university degree, they still have many advantages over those who get lower degree

Thirdly, numerous research have been done on the connection between marital status and job satisfaction (Fitzmaurice, M 2012; Gazioglu and Tansel, 2006; Eyupoglu and Saner, 2013) The research's findings indicate that marital status has an

impact on people, with the married group , they report higher levels of job satisfaction than the other statuses

Next, the financial factor according to Boyd et al., increasing salary in some places attracts teachers, especially if they are specializing in a topic like English language (2003) Furthermore, Santiago (2004) contends that teachers' views regarding continuing in their profession are influenced by income and prospects for other jobs

Lastly, Alptekin et al., (1984) anounced the cultural factor has impact on the target language attitudes toward English Alptekin and his colleagues also added that teachers who have positive opinions regarding a language, its speakers, and its culture are more likely to be effective in their instruction than instructors who have unfavorable sentiments Additionally, according to Kara, an effective teacher is one who has a favorable outlook on the target language and its culture (2009)

In this study, the research focuses on 4 factors (gender, educational level, marital status and years of experience) to find out whether there are any differences between teachers’ opinions based on 4 these factors or not

2.4 Evaluation of the program

Evaluation of training programs in education plays an important role in the entire process of program construction and development Through evaluation, educators will make decisions to improve the quality and effectiveness of training programs

2.4 1 What is a training program?

The term “training program” is frequently mentioned a lot in the field of education According to Hollis and Campbell (1935), all of the knowledge and experiences that students gain while studying at school are included in the training program As a result, the training program is seen as a collection of experiences designed to support students in strengthening their self-discipline as well as their ability

to think and act The training program covers all the information that students need to know in order to meet predetermined goals and objectives

A training program, according to Wentling (1993), is the general layout of a training exercise That activity might consist of a single training session that lasts for a few hours, a day, a week, or even several years That overall design shows all the content

that needs to be trained, clearly showing what learners can achieve b after participating

in the program On the other hand, the training program also describes the required procedure to apply training material, training techniques, and methods of testing and evaluating learning results, all of which are ordered according to a specific timeline

In conclusion, the definition of training program is approached from many different angles, but basically, the training program is considered the overall design for

a training activity to achieve training goals in a certain period of time framework

2.4.2 What is evaluation of a program?

Goldstein (1993) defined training program evaluation as the methodical process

of gathering descriptive and evaluative data in order to make decisions about training programs, such as application and selection, add value to the program, and make adjustments in order to achieve implementation efficiency

Sanders and Worthen (2004) said that training program evaluation must be carried out systematically and objectively to collect, analyze, and evaluate information related to the training program Mcnamara (2000) believes that training program evaluation is the collection and documentation of information about a specific program

to assist in making the right decisions for each specific aspect of the training program

According to OECD (2009), program evaluation is a systematic and targeted assessment of ongoing or completed programs from three perspectives including program development, program implementation and the results achieved by the program The purpose of program evaluation is to determine the extent to which goals are achieved, the degree of effectiveness of the program, the degree of impact and sustainability of the program

In summary, training program evaluation is not a single activity but must be a process of measuring progress achieved in the program's goals, helping to improve the effectiveness of program implementation and serves as a tool for informing pertinent

parties and assisting with program planning and decision-making

2.5 Stakeholders and their purpose in education

There are two main types of stakeholders in education namely internal stakeholders and external stakeholders This study only focus on 4 main types of internal stakeholders, including the following:

Firstly, students are the primary stakeholders Any changes to the system directly affect them They are directly impacted by any system modifications They rely on the system to give them a quality education and the tools they need to thrive in adulthood They attend courses, finish their assignments, and get ready for tests in exchange

Secondly, parents are one the most important stakeholders because they pay for their children's education and expect that their children will have a top-notch education that will equip them for life after home and for work in the future Furthermore, parents are in charge of making sure their children attend class and follow the rules as well as complete their homework

Thirdly, teacher is the bridge between parents and students' education at school The responsibilities of teachers are work on the curriculum, create lesson plans for each day, week, and year Their main goals are to educate kids all the information they require for this school year and raise their understanding to the point where they may

go on to the following one They also assist kids in adjusting to new situations and resolving conflicts among classmates

Lastly, school administrators who have the main goals are work at school and are

in charge of making sure the school operates properly and efficiently They work together with other stakeholders to carry out changes and make strategic choices School administrators include principals, assistant principals and other senior members

2.6 Previous studies

In various studies, researchers have determined how stakeholders think about implementing CLIL in general and English teaching through Maths and Science in particular The effect of converting from traditional English teaching to CLIL program was also investigated

In 2007, Feryok examined a teacher trainer development program created in response to the switch from Malay to English as the primary language of instruction in secondary math and science education in Malaysia A group of 25 math and science instructors from Malaysia were exposed to the program's ideas and techniques for teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) By concentrating on task-

based learning and teaching, the immediate goal was to equip them to create and carry out an in-service session for other math and science instructors (TBLT) Written assignments and classroom observations during the program's intermediate period demonstrated that the instructors had started to grasp the significance of activities for teaching material in English

Yahaya et al (2009) investigated the teachers' perceptions on using English as the to teach the mathematic and science as well as the problems they encounter in the classroom This study focused on a group of pre-university teachers in northern Malaysia who had taken English for the teaching of Mathematics and Science language improvement courses After analyzing data from a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, this study showed that teachers are typically aware of changing teaching methods, but they still need to take some long-term action to enhance more than just their language skills

In 2011, May T., OngSaw L wanted to find out the perceptions and beliefs of upper secondary Math and Science stakeholders (MST) who are teaching Mathematics and Science in English Data were gained from surveys, teacher interviews, and classroom observations The study's findings indicate that the interaction between test policy, instructor views, and beliefs promotes the use of translation and a keyword-focused approach to instruction These methods benefit students who are academically and linguistically talented but have a detrimental effect on their ability to master new material and express themselves in new languages Additionally, these techniques could enhance students' short-term information understanding while limiting the growth of their oral and written communication skills

Meanwhile, Hanadi S Mirza (2015) conducted a study with Faculty of Pedagogy's twenty four senior Math & Science student-teachers in Lebanese University were engaged In the spring of 2014, data was gathered using a questionnaire to investigate their opinions about the usage of English as a teaching language According

to the results, the majority of respondents acknowledged that English should be the language of teaching in their classes, but that Arabic should be used as a backup when pupils' understanding of mathematical and scientific ideas is in doubt

Nina K Lancaster (2015) designed an investigation which documents the findings of a study concerning the perspectives on Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in the monolingual context of Jaén The study includes the creation, validation, and distribution of two sets of questionnaires to 745 informants (692 students and 53 teachers) from eight secondary schools in the province of Jaén in order

to determine student and teacher views regarding Andalusian CLIL Perceptions are described in terms of students' use, competence, and development of English in class; methodology; materials and resources, as well as ICT; evaluation; teachers' use, competence, and development of English in class; teacher training; mobility; improvement and motivation towards English; and coordination and organization The article starts with a summary of earlier studies, then goes on to discuss the study's research design before presenting the investigation's key results at the end A thorough analysis of the viewpoints of stakeholders on CLIL in the province of Jaén finds that the student and teacher cohorts have a largely optimistic attitude toward the implementation of a bilingual program in the Andalusian area of Spain

In 2019, Heba Dhia Peter explored the challenges that students and teachers in Swedish international and IB programs have faced when learning and teaching Mathematics in English Through individual interviews with two native English speaker teachers and four groups interviews with students from various secondary and upper-secondary schools in Sweden, all of whom speak English as a second language The findings indicated that vocabulary was a the most challenge students encounter in learning while teachers thought word problems were their biggest problems However, both teachers and learners said that no matter which language they use in classroom, maths was always the main issue

In 2020, Juan & Laura did a research From the viewpoints of stakeholders, this research investigates contentious topics impacting CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) programs It focuses on their opinions on the advantages of CLIL, possible advantages, enhancement of subject knowledge, prioritizing content over language in assessments, and satisfaction In order to investigate the similarities and differences in viewpoints, this work used a mixed-method research methodology The findings indicate that while all stakeholders concur on the advantages of CLIL, they disagree on the necessity of increasing L2 exposure and enhancing subject

understanding But teacher preparation programs and quality enhancements can still be improved

In short, although these studies have shown how teachers and students think about the advantages and disadvantages of teaching and learning English through Maths and Science, there were very few previous studies have investigated how to evaluate a program or whether there are any differences between all stakeholders of a program Therefore, the researcher conducts this study to investigate this problem

2.7 Summary of the chapter

In conclusion, Chapter 2 provides theoretical background on some terms and previous research related to iSMART's affiliate program at Dong Ngac B primary school Firstly, the researcher introduces the definitions, characteristics as well as the benefits and disadvantages of the CLIL program Secondly, the researcher also mentioned what teaching integrates English with Math and Science is Thirdly, an overview about attitudes is also showed The next part is how to evaluate a educational program Furthermore, the researcher talk about stakeholders and their purpose in education Finally, some previous studies by researchers are also listed

in this chapter

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The purpose of this section is to presents the subject of the study, data collection instruments, procedure of data collection and methods of data analysis

3.1 Research design

There are many definitions about quantitative and qualitative which are two types of research According to Chuck Miller (2020), “both qualitative and quantitative research are indispensable tools in a researcher’s toolbox” Bryman and Bell (2007) also claimed that quantitative research approach is adopted because it allows the researcher to collect data and not just hypothesize about the purpose of the dissertation Moreover, Fellows and Liu (2008) stated that this method is scientific and give results immediately in research while Yilmaz (2013) said that qualitative research is “an emergent, inductive, interpretive and naturalistic approach to the study of people, cases, phenomena, social situations and processes in their natural settings in order to reveal

in descriptive terms the meanings that people attach to their experiences of the world” Therefore, the researcher collected data in both qualitative and quantitative to conduct this project The qualitative data would be gathered from semi-structured interview while the quantitative data would be collected by a questionnaire

3.2 Participants of the study

The survey was conducted at Dong Ngac B Primary School in Hanoi This school was connected with iSMART Education for 4-5 years to teach English through Maths and Science for students from grade 1 to 5 iSMART Education is one of the members of the EQuest Education Group (EQuest Education Group), formerly known as the Institution of American Education (IAE) iSMART program

is a program that sends iSMART teachers to public schools in Vietnam CLIL was applied to teach English through 2 main subjects, Math and Science Besides, there were the applications of new technology in teaching such as the use of intelligent multi-point interactive whiteboard, Robot NAO, online review platform iTO, Lisa and especially the certified iSMART digital lesson All stakeholders were 8 teachers who teach iSMART program, 2 school administrators, 76 iSMART learners from

5th graders and their parents of Dong Ngac B primary school

3.3 Data collection instruments

In this research, the data were taken from the questionnaire and interviews

3.3.1 Questionnaire

As the definition of Francis Galton (1870), a questionnaire is a research tool consisting of a list of questions (items) designed to record respondents' replies in a consistent way In other words, questionnaire is a popular research instrument described as a instrument to collect helpful information from respondents as well as

includes a set of written or spoken questions

In this study, there were 4 questionnaire which included 6 statements for teachers who teach iSMART programs, educational administrators, students and their parents This questionaire was adopted from Juan & Laura (2020) and was used for all

4 stakeholders and was divided into three areas and each area has two or three statements.They were designed on a 5-point Likert scale (5= strongly disagree, 4= disagree, 3= neutral, 2= strongly agree, 1= agree) As Melville and Goddard (1996) said that: “A decent questionnaire has to have clear and comprehensible questions"

exploring whether stakeholders think the CLIL program was effective or not Furthermore, this questionnaire included complete and detailed aspects enough to covers program evaluation for all stakeholders Specifically as follows:

The first area was “Knowledge and preparation” This area had two aspects including “Knowledge about CLIL” and “CLIL training” Each aspect had one statement The researcher wanted to know about the stakeholders’ knowledge when they chose this program The second area named “Competences and assessment” which had three aspects are “L2 competence”, “L2 exposure and use” and “Content competence” As the same with area 1, each aspect also had one statement In these statements, the researcher wanted to know about the attitudes of stakeholders toward ability of students in learning and improve their English as well as content subjects The last area was “Motivation and evaluation” with two aspects which were “Students’ motivation towards English” and “The effort is worthwhile” With the aspect

“Students’ motivation towards English” the statement of teacher was not the same as

the other stakeholders From this area, the researcher wanted to check that whether CLIL program helped the students have motivation in learning English or not

3.3.2 Semi-structured interviews

A semi-structured interview (SSI) is designed to gain the qualitative data As stated by Burgess, R (1984), a semi-structured interview is a purposeful conversation Adams (2015, p.494) once said: “In mixed methods research, SSI can be useful as an adjunct to supplement and add depth to other approaches.” In real-world research, a semi-structured interview is a crucial tool since it is a much more adaptable variant of the structured interview (Gillham, 2000)

Clearly, in this research, there were about 5 questions for the stakeholders to evaluate their attitudes toward this program and to see if there are any differences in their attitudes or not The first question was about further way to learn and review the lessons outside the school The second one was about the materials which students d to learn this program While question 3 was designed to ask about the facilities of the class, the question 4 let the stakeholders to express opinions about this CLIL program

as well as the reasons why they would continue to choose this program to enhance students’ English level Last but not least, the question 5 was to talk about one of the aspects to make this affiliate program effective or not by asking about the accreditation from educational organiztions Moreover, during each interview with a certain interviewee, the researcher would be able to design more detailed questions to encourage them to provide as many thoughts and recommendations as possible

3.4 Data collection procedures

There were 6 stages in this survey

- Stage 1: Making a questionnaire

Based on “Key stakeholders’ commonalities and differences of perspective” (Juan & Laura Victoria, 2020), all questions were adopted and translated into Vietnamese for stakeholders to easily understand With the questionnaire, each of them was asked to state their attitudes in English teaching using Maths and Science as well

as to give their personal information

- Stage 2: Making semi-structure interview questions

5 questions were designed to interview 20 random participants after they had

finished their questionnaire for one week

- Stage 3: Giving the questionnaire to the stakeholders

The researcher gave all stakeholders the questionnaire face to face or online

They all had 15 minutes to complete the questionnaire

- Stage 4: Interview participants

After they had finished their questionnaire for one week, the investigator chose randomly 20 participants to take part in the interview Each interview took about 6-7

minutes to answer All questions were asked in Vietnamese

- Stage 5: Collecting data

After they had finished their questionnaire and interviews, the researcher collected and summarized data for analyzing as well as translate all the answer into

English

- Step 6: Analyzing data

Based on the purposes of the study, the data were analyzed

3.5 Data analysis procedure

After collecting all data, the investigator used Microsoft Excel and SPSS software to measure the data After that, the researcher evaluated the effectiveness of the the iSMART program based on the result of the questionnaire and interviews

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS & DISCUSSION

In this chapter, the research results and related discussions were presented, based on the findings obtained from the study The initial segment demonstrated the data collected from the questionnaires administered to 4 stakeholders, highlighting their attitudes towards English affiliate program at Dong Ngac B primary school Then the chapter provided information about the semi-structured interviews results obtained from 4 stakeholders, indicating the differences between their answers.s

4.1 Results of the questionnaire

4.1.1 Area 1 Knowledge and preparation

4.1.1.1 Knowledge about CLIL

Statement 1: “I have knowledge/am well informed of the core principles of Content and Language Integrated Learning in iSMART education settings.”

4.1.1.1.1 Students

Figure 4.1 Statement 1 “I have knowledge/am well informed of the core principles

of Content and Language Integrated Learning in iSMART education settings”

(For students)

The pie chart showed how students understand about the principles of the program As can be seen from the chart, a large proportion of students 43.15%, had known about the principles of program, while, the figure for disagreement was 19.74% Besides, only 14.47% of students did not know about this program

This information was used to evaluate the knowledge of students about the core principles of program they learned If the majority of students had known about this program when they chose it, it means the iSMART Education did a good job in thoroughly disseminating the theory as well as the goals and objectives of the program for students On the other hand, if the minority of students who had not known about this program principles, it might show that iSMART Education had not been a very good at promoting the curriculum to all users

In conclusion, the responses to the question stated that most of iSMART's students were also actively care about what they will receive This finding might provide a chance to further investigate and help iSMART Education have more popular ways of propaganda

4.1.1.1.2 Teachers

Figure 4.2 Statement 1 “I have knowledge/am well informed of the core principles

of Content and Language Integrated Learning in iSMART education settings”

(For teachers)

This pie chart showed teachers’ knowledge about what they will teach for their students As can be seen from the chart above that most of the teachers master the theory of CLIL program Clearly, 61.76% strongly agreed and 29.41% of students agreed No one disagreed with this item