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The causes of passive learning of the freshmen at Faculty of Foreign Languages Ho Chi Minh City Open University

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SH 1077

jor 1283 Ma"

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

HO CHI MINH CITY VIET NAM

CEB

VO PHAN KIM NGAN

THE CAUSES OF PASSIVE LEARNING OF THE FRESHMEN AT

FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

, A paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in English

Supervised by: NGUYEN THI XUAN LAN

Ho Chi Minh City

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ABSTRACT

When Vietnam integrates into the world, English becomes so important that the jobs related to English are considered as the ideal ones Hoping to get promising future, a great deal of students choose English as their majors However, in fact, there are several ones who are unsuccessful English learners because of their passive learning So are the freshmen at Faculty of Foreign Languages - Ho Chi Minh City Open

University (FFL — HOU) Their passive learning and their lack of activities while

learning English, which cannot be accepted upon learning such a practical major, are the problems at FFL — HOU Actually, the causes leading to passive learning are related to lots of matters which are subjective as well as objective This thesis studies the causes of passive learning of the freshmen at FFL — HOU Furthermore, there are some recommendations suggested for a better learning of them

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .ccssscssssssccsssscsssseccensensereacsatsnssenssneesouncanssecssveeenssaneennegens ii F10: (a0 iti (ÿ.:002/9)00699) 0/0256 ` iv

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1.1 Background to the sfudy .-. «series 1 1.2 Significance of the sfudy ‹eeereerreeiiiiiiiiriirierrrierirrriee 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Methodology

1.5 Overview of thesis Chap(€TS cong H001 ren 2

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ìeeerereiierririrrrrere 3

2.1 Situation of learning in Vietnam - 5-55 snnenererdrerirmrrrriee 3 2.2 Reasons affecting Vietnamese students” learning styÏe -. -eeeere+ 4

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Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS eceeirirrrierrerrrrrrie 12

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3.1.1 The quantity of passive Students .sccressecsresvscererecnsssnececatsenscnaneeniets 12 3.1.1.1 Passive by HH1 ceceeieehheiereireriererrrierireeieirriiriiiiriirsieree 12 3.1.1.2 PassiVe Í CÏSS€S .ăec site the HH 4011111018111 15

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3.2.8 The thoughts of most of the teachers’ teaching siVèeĐ ôceeeeeseereeere 33 Chapter 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION 37 4.1 Recommendations 4.2 Conclusi0T\ -c< cexeeeeseekeiriereieresrek 141212 2):1209/0 222775 / 111 40 F J2 00/(02 12277 42 Appendix 1: QUESTIONNAIRE SAMPLE IN VIETNAMBESE 42

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LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 3.1: What the freshmen do when meeting a new Íriend 13 Table 3.2: Frequency of giving opinions in cÏasseS e-ceeeeerierrrererreer 15

Table 3.3: The amount of people the students are living with -«e+ 16

Table 3.4: The areas where the freshmen had studied before entering HOU 17 Table 3.5: The English abilities ofthe #eshmen at FFL — HOU 18 Table 3.6: The amount of time the freshmen spend in preparing a lesson

At HOME wacccccsccsccsssceesssssccseecsencessesssesssessnsssenecessussaesensssengedsenneassenseseauanaests 20 Table 3.7: The teaching methods applied by most of the teachers in the opinions of

the freshmen .ccscccsecesesssscssseessessscsenssencenseseccnensseansenesensseacseneesaneseeernennse 21 Table 3.8: The freshmen’s thoughts of most of the teachers’ teaching styles 22 Table 3.9: What the 37 subjects do when meeting a new friend - - 23 Table 3.10: The reasons why the 37 students rarely or never raise hands

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Table 3.15: The teaching methods applied by most of the teachers according to the

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Table 3.16: The subjects’ thoughts of most of their teachers’ teaching styles

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LIST OF FIGURES

Page

FEigure 3.1: What the feshmen do when meeting a new fiend - 14

Figure 3.2: The English abilities of the freshmenn cssccseteesrererirere 19 Figure 3.3: The English abilities of the 37 subjecfs e.eeeereerrrrrrrrre 29 Figure 3.4: The quantity of time the 37 subjects spend preparing lessons at

I0 17 ` 31

Figure 3.5: The 37 subjects’ thoughts of most of their teachers’ teaching style 34

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Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

Freshmen are the newcomers and they are not accustomed to the ways of studying in university; therefore, they usually get troubles in leaming The freshmen at FFL — HOU are not exceptions In fact, the passive learning has exerted influences on them since they were in high school Also, the causes of the students’ passive learning are not only related to their personality but to other issues

1.2 Significance of the study

In order to help the freshmen at FFL — HOU learn better in the later years, this thesis

studies the causes leading to the passive learning of them and then gives them some recommendations In addition, the later researchers may consider this thesis as the basis to do research on the issues relevant to this topic

1.3 Research questions

During the process of researching, there are some questions which are needed to be

answered: “Are the freshmen at FFL — HOU passive by nature?”, “How do they study?”, and “How do the usual teaching methods applied in the classes at FFL — HOU affect the freshmen?” All of the answers the thesis finds out are concentrated to identify: “What are the causes leading to passive learning of the freshmen at FFL

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1.4 Methodology

Needed information has been collected from books, websites, articles and the former studies In addition, the data collection was carried out by questionnaire, the practical approach This questionnaire was designed to survey the situations of 100 students at from 18 to 22 years old, who have just finished the first year at FFL — HOU; however, the number of copies which are collected is only 79 Besides, the survey was carried out on September 28, 2007, in five classes at FFL — HOU, which

are AVO6A2, AV06B1, AV06B2, AV06B3, and AV06B4 In order to facilitate the

Vietnamese students, the questionnaire was translated into Vietnamese instead of English

1.5 Overview of thesis chapters

The thesis includes four chapters in total First, chapter one consists of the

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Chapter 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Situation of learning in Vietnam

Comparing to the students in other countries, Vietnamese students are still passive (Pham Duc Trong, 2006, p 137) Mezger (1992) finds that they leam all information given without selection Also, he adds that reproductive rote learning is dominant, and memorization and imitation are expected In the opinion of Nguyen Thuc Hai (2006, p 82), university students are “writing workers” who write down absorbedly the whole content which is explained or written down on the blackboard Then, their notebooks become manuals when they take examination Actually, the students play the role of listeners and the recipients of written notes in class (Mezger, 1992) In particular, Nguyen Canh Toan (2002, p 12) states that the lack of practical activities makes Vietnamese students’ learning ineffective Le Due Ngoc (2005, p 26) demonstrates some facts as follows:

+ Students remember 20% of information upon listening only + The rate is 30% when they look or read only

+ If they combine listening with reading of looking, they will remember 50% of

the information

+ The students will remember 80% of the information in case of discussion +If they speak while doing, they will remember 90% of the information

As a teacher, Tran Thanh Hiep (2003, cited in Truong Hieu, 2003) told he had to

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dependent on their teacher (Tran Thanh Hiep, 2003, cited in Truong Hieu, 2003) Besides, that the students discuss through the teacher’s suggestion displays their passiveness Even after he gives a hint, they still keep silent instead of debating

heatedly, which reduces the class quality (Pham Duc Trong, 2006, p 137)

Sometimes, as Nguyen Thuc Hai (2006) states, the teacher asks the students to

answer his questions, which are not difficult and answerable; however, there is a few

of students raising their hands As a result, the learning atmosphere is affected The students are pressurized into giving opinions while their teacher is bored with one- way work Of course, as Pham Duc Trong (2006, p 137) notices, passive learning creates passive “scholars” who cannot study without help Meanwhile, the university students’ task is studying by themselves (Pham Duc Trong, 2006, p.137)

2.2 The elements affecting Vietnamese students’ learning style 2.2.1 Situation of teaching

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Lich — Thien Di, 2006, p 136) In addition, Ton That Nguyen Thiem (2006, p 46)

found that the teacher chooses an “optimum” method which is circulating available knowledge Therefore, it is sure that what he explains is not wrong at all because it is in textbooks Due to the teacher’s right explanation, the students’ discussion is

unnecessary (Ton That Nguyen Thiem, 2006, p 46) In other words, the teacher

speech dominates the classroom (Chaudron, 1988, p 54) Thus, the leaming atmosphere becomes static Furthermore, Freire (1970, chap 2) realized that:

Narration (with the teacher as narrator) leads the students to memorize mechanically the narrated content Worse yet, it turns them into “containers, ” into “receptacles” to be “filled” by the teacher The more completely she fills the receptacles, the better a teacher she is The more meekly the receptacles permit

themselves to be filled, the better the students they are

According to Le Thi Hoai Giang (2006, p 136), the reading-writing method is used constantly in some classes, especially in the fundamental ones Moreover, she noticed that the teacher’s imposition may influence the students’ psychology They are afraid of being wrong; therefore, they do not want to raise their hands in order to give opinions (Le Thi Hoai Giang, 2006, p 136)

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Besides, Freire (1970, chap 2) brings the concept called “banking”, in which the

students are allowed to extend only as far as what they receive, file, and store The

banking concept of education means that “the teacher issues communiqués and

makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat instead of

communicating.” (Freire, 1970, chap 2) He also found banking education maintains and even stimulates the contradiction between the teacher and students through the following attitudes:

(a) The teacher teaches and the students are taught;

(b) The teacher knows everything and the students know nothing, (c) The teacher thinks and the students are thought about;

(d) The teacher talks and the students listen — meekly; (e) The teacher disciplines and the students are disciplined;

() The teacher chooses and enforces his choice, and the students comply;

(g) The teacher acts and the students have the illusion of acting through the action

of the teacher;

(h) The teacher chooses the program content, and the students (who were not consulted) adapt to it;

(i) The teacher confuses the authority of knowledge with his or her own professional authority, which she and he sets in opposition to the freedom of the

students;

@) The teacher is the Subject of the learning process, while the pupils are mere

Objects

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role imposed on them, the more they tend simply to adapt to the world as it is and to the fragmented view of reality deposited on them

2.2.2 Culture

“The culture we belong to as individuals will affect not only the way we think, but also our attitude to information, and our access to that information” (McLaren, 1998) Therefore, culture is important to comprehend the actions and behavior of any population in general and Vietnamese in particular, with “their strong loyalty to the family and their acquiescence to a subtle hierarchical social order in their dealings with one another” (Ellis, 1995) It is considered noble to become a teacher because teachers are highly respected in Vietnamese society (Phan Le Ha, 2001, p 298) According to Phuoc (1975, cited in Ellis, 1995), the nature of Vietnamese teaching and leaming style originates in the Confucian tradition by which the students paid reverence to Confucius, then to their school-masters, who were Confucius’s representatives Sharing the same thought with Phuoc, McLaren (1998) stated that the teacher is considered wise, authority figures whose word has great weight Thus, in Vietnam, as Ellis (1995) shows, the respected authors’ thoughts or observations are always in the students’ minds Nguyen (1988, cited in Ellis, 1995) realized that their thoughts, if any, had been stilled and had no room in their lives This is the reason why Vietnamese students “find it easy to imitate, but difficult to do creative works” (Nguyen, 1988, cited in Ellis, 1995)

Furthermore, Phan Ke Binh (2005) expressed that the students have to respect their teacher because they get knowledge and become good people primarily thanks to him This is an oriental tradition which contributes to our country’s development (Tran Dinh Tuan and Doan Thu Hang, 2005, p 234) In the opinion of Tran Dinh

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role imposed on them, the more they tend simply to adapt to the world as it is and to the fragmented view of reality deposited on them

2.2.2 Culture

“The culture we belong to as individuals will affect not only the way we think, but also our attitude to information, and our access to that information” (McLaren, 1998) Therefore, culture is important to comprehend the actions and behavior of any population in general and Vietnamese in particular, with “their strong loyalty to the family and their acquiescence to a subtle hierarchical social order in their dealings with one another” (Ellis, 1995) It is considered noble to become a teacher because teachers are highly respected in Vietnamese society (Phan Le Ha, 2001, p 298) According to Phuoc (1975, cited in Ellis, 1995), the nature of Vietnamese teaching and learning style originates in the Confucian tradition by which the students paid reverence to Confucius, then to their school-masters, who were Confucius’s representatives Sharing the same thought with Phuoc, McLaren (1998) stated that the teacher is considered wise, authority figures whose word has great weight Thus, in Vietnam, as Ellis (1995) shows, the respected authors’ thoughts or observations are always in the students’ minds Nguyen (1988, cited in Ellis, 1995) realized that their thoughts, if any, had been stilled and had no room in their lives This is the reason why Vietnamese students “find it easy to imitate, but difficult to do creative works” (Nguyen, 1988, cited in Ellis, 1995)

Furthermore, Phan Ke Binh (2005) expressed that the students have to respect their

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who trains his students to become moral, educated and polite citizens of the country

He must be respected so much and is considered as a parent; therefore, the students should not contradict him publicly According to Phan Le Ha (2001, p 298), Vietnamese people are imbrued with “respect for father’s moral instructions, mother’s love and sacrifice, and teacher’s knowledge, education and training,” which contributes to the close and responsible relationship between teachers and students Moreover, by tradition, Vietnamese do not reveal any of their problems to one another because such a revelation is regarded as a sign of weakness (Ellis, 1995) Meanwhile, Vietnamese culture, the culture marked more by collectivism, sets great store on the concept of saving face (Huu Ngoc) It is important to save

one’s own face, but also to save another’s (Ellis, 1995) Hence, the students should

not give their own opinions to save the teacher’s face, even when they are aware that he is not right (Phuoc, 1975, cited in Ellis, 1995) Actually, students are not expected to challenge or question their teacher (Mezger, 1992) Although they may not be satisfied with the knowledge given by the teacher, they have to perform as expected

at school No matter how the explanation is, the teacher’s effort should be

appreciated (Tran Dinh Tuan and Doan Thu Hang, 2005, p 234)

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to clarify his intent Rarely do Vietnamese use a direct approach in the communication because it is regarded as blunt and rude (Ellis, 1995) To summarize, R D Lewis (1999) showed the manner of reactive people:

+ listen carefully

+ establish understanding of the other’s intent + allow a period of silence in order to evaluate

+ query further

+ react in a constructive manner

+ maintain a certain amount of inscrutability

+ imitate the other’s strengths or products + improve on them

+ refine

+ perfect if possible

2.2.3 Students’ consciousness

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There is a situation that a few of students raise their hands to give opinions in class

Nhu Lich — Thien Di (2006, p 134-135) collected the reasons why there are a few of

students’ hands raised as follows:

+ The students are too lazy They are looking forward to listening to their teacher’s explanation in order to write down instead of preparing the lesson at

home Thus, they do not know how to answer the teacher's questions

+ They are afraid that the classmates will laugh at and sometimes the teacher will

deduct their marks if their answers are wrong

+ Most of the students do not want to raise hands in case of nobody else does it

because they are afraid of being considered to “upstage” their classmates

The questions are too hard for the students to answer

The students are not interested in the subject; therefore, they write the lesson

only

+ Some students chat with their friends while the teacher is explaining, so they do

not understand the questions

+ Sometimes, the questions are so easy that the students are not interested in answering them

The class atmosphere is not dynamic enough to make the students excited

They are afraid that in case that the answer is right, the teacher will ask more questions they cannot answer

+ The students are not confident and afraid of speaking in front of a crowd

Methods of learning in university are studying actively, reading through the teacher’s suggestion, analyzing, discovering, doubting, criticizing, objecting, arguing, etc In addition, all of these activities must have done by the students themselves (Nguyen Ngoc, 2005) In fact, students are still lazy to read (Ha Anh, 2007) As Huynh Thi Hong Hanh (2007) points out, they read passively because they just read when the teacher asks them to give a lecture or to write an essay, or

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when they are encouraged to read an interesting book In other words, the students read something because they are forced or inspired to Actually, they have not had the habit of reading actively which means reading because of their demands or interests (Huynh Thi Hong Hanh, 2007)

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Chapter 3

FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

The data were collected from the students who have just finished the first year in university In fact, there were 100 copies distributed to them, however, the number of copies which were gathered is only 79 Because all of the students who were surveyed are Vietnamese, the questionnaire was designed in Vietnamese so as to facilitate them After the freshmen in five classes at FFL - HOU were surveyed on

September 28, 2007, the results are produced as follows: _ 3.1 Overview

3.1.1 The quantity of passive students

3.1.1.1 Passive by nature

The first and second questions are to classify the students who are passive by nature and the ones who are passive in class, respectively

As they were asked what they do when meeting a new friend, they bring the answers

as follows:

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The number of Percent (%) respondents Greeting him or her 50 63.29 actively Speaking to this person mạ , P 21 26.58

after his or her greeting

Just looking at him or her and smiling because I do

8 10.13

not know how to

communicate

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Figure 3.1

a: Greeting him or her actively

b: Speaking to this person after his or her greeting

e: Just looking at him or her and smiling because I do not know how to

communicate

d: Having nothing to say even when he or she talks to me first because I am afraid of communicating

There are 50 ones (63.29%), a large amount of respondents, who will send greetings actively if they meet a new friend This proves that there is not any passiveness in their nature In other words, most of the students’ nature is active Unlike these students, 21 others (26.58%) just talk to the person they meet for the first time after he or she greets them first The reason is that they do not know the way of communicating Besides, the 8 remaining respondents (10.13%) will look at the new

friend and smile because they are afraid of communicating with the person they have

never met before Actually, the viewpoints of these 29 students (36.71%) match the

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personality of Orientals who are shy of getting in touch with strangers Fortunately, none of them is too passive to have no word even when the new friend greets first 3.1.1.2 Passive in classes The result of question 2 shows the amount of passive students in classes: The number of Percent (%) respondents Frequently 8 10.13 Sometimes 34 43.04 Rarely 34 43.04 Never 3 3.79 Total 79 100

Table 3.2: Frequency of giving opinions in classes

The numbers indicate a nearly equal rate of passive and active students in classes Although there are 8 surveyed people (10.13%) who raise their hands frequently, the quantity of active ones is not small because there are 34 others (43.04%) sometimes do it The passive students in classes, who rarely or never give opinions or raise their

hands, occupy a rate of 46.83%, equal to the number of 37 ones

There are many reasons making the students passive, excluding the reason involved in their nature, which is mentioned above

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3.1.2 The causes of passive learning

3.1.2.1, Background

The next question indicates how many people there are in the families the students are living with: The number of Percent (%) respondents 1 people 0 0.00 2 people 1 1.27 3 — 4 people 38 48.1 More than 4 people 40 50.63 Total 79 100

Table 3.3: The amount of people the students are living with

Most of the students (40 ones — 50.63%) are living with more than 4 people 38 more ones (48.1%) live in the families with 3 or 4 members And the rest (1 student —

1.27%) live with 2 relatives This means the surveyed students do not live alone;

therefore, there is someone they can talk to at home As a result, their communicating skills are not bad, which may make them confident so that they can speak in front of their classmates

3.1.2.2 Location

It is said that we can judge a person by the place he lives or studies, which is the reason why there is the fifth question that shows the following result:

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The number of Percent (%) respondents

Ho Chi Minh City §2 65.82

Other cities (Ha Noi, Da 2 2.53 Nang, Can Tho, etc.) Provinces 22 27.85 Highlands and profound , 3 3.8 regions, Total 79 100

Table 3.4: The areas where the freshmen had studied before entering HOU The amount of students from Ho Chi Minh City and other cities, the dynamic regions, are 52 (65.82%) and 2 (2.53%), respectively In contrast, there is a small quantity of surveyed people from the less dynamic areas Specifically, 22 ones (27.85%) used to study in provinces and 3 ones (3.8%) in highlands and profound regions Thus, location does not make the students who were surveyed passive in classes because most of them used to study in animated cities

3.1.2.3 English abilities

Before studying in university, most Vietnamese students have been learning English for at least three years To find the causes of passive learning of the freshmen, especially those at Faculty of Foreign Language, we cannot help studying their English abilities

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The number of Percent (%) respondents My speaking and ¬¬ 1 1.27

listening skills are good

Iam good at listening

30 37.98

but speaking English

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The English abilities of the freshmen Figure 3.2

a My speaking and listening skills are good

b: Lam good at listening but speaking English I speak English fluently but listen a little

d: My listening and speaking skills are not good enough to communicate in

English

e: Other(s)

Actually, the number of those who can speak English fluently and listen well is only 1 (1.27%) On the contrary, the students whose listening and speaking skills are not good occupy the rate of 26.58% (21 ones), which is nearly 21 times bigger than the tate of 1.27% Meanwhile, there are several freshmen whose listening.and speaking skills are not equally good Some are good at listening (30 ones — 37.98%) and some are good at speaking (16 ones — 20.25%) The rest of the surveyed students (11 ones — 13.92%) answered that they can communicate in English although their speaking and listening skills are passable In fact, the English abilities affect the freshmen so

8

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much Most of the lectures in classes at FFL — HOU are in English Therefore, if the

abilities are not good, the students cannot understand what the teachers speak or explain As a result, they do not catch up with the curriculum

3.1.2.4 Preparing lessons

Before going to classes, the students need to prepare lessons so that they can master them The following result shows how long the freshmen prepare a lesson at home: The number of Percent (%) respondents 3 —5 hours 12 15.2 1 —3 hours 54 68.35 Less than 1 hour 11 13.92 Never 2 2.53 Total 79 100 Table 3.6: The amount of time the freshmen spend in preparing a lesson at home

Never do 2 students (2.53%) among 79 freshmen who were surveyed prepare a lesson at home It is not good at all for them to bring an “empty” head to class because they cannot understand the explanations clearly Fortunately, there are 54 freshmen (68.35%) preparing lessons nearly perfectly in from 1 to 3 hours per day Although the 11 others (13.92%) spend less than 1 hour per day to do such an action, we cannot help praising their effort The rest (12 ones) who occupy a small rate of

15.2% try their best to prepare lessons perfectly before going to classes so that they can master what they study In fact, the more the students prepare a lesson carefully, the more they can understand it thoroughly

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3.1.2.5 Teaching style

Another reason which may influence the freshmen activities in classes so much is the teaching methods This result below indicates which methods most of the teachers use The number of Percent (%) respondents Reading — writing 0 0.00 Lecturing 9 11.39 Discussion 45 56.96 Other(s) 25 31.65 Total ; 79 100 Table 3.7: The teaching methods applied by most of the teachers in the opinions of the freshmen

As the result shows, the “traditional” method of reading — writing, which means the students write while their teachers are reading aloud, is not applied any more Instead, in the opinions of most of the freshmen (45 ones — 56.96%), their teachers

use discussion method It is an improvement needed to be appreciated However,

according to 9 students (11.39%), that teachers explain only still exists in some classes Besides, the rest (25 ones — 31.65%) tell the methods combined with each other 23 out of 25 remaining students state the teaching method of combining lecturing, discussion and reading — writing Moreover, | other freshman adds the measure some of the teachers use is allowing the students to play the games that are involved in subjects Another method, which is stated by the remaining student, is

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the combination of lecturing, asking some questions, and testing at the end of classes In general, these teaching methods do not cause the passive learning of the freshmen because all of them are advanced effectively

Afier all, the students’ thoughts of teaching style should be considered to find

whether it actually affects them or not The number of Percent (%) respondents They are so attractive and i 22 27.85 exciting

They are normal 49 62.02

They are too boring 8 10.13

Other(s) 0 0.00

Total 79 100

Table 3.8: The freshmen’s thoughts of most of the teachers’ teaching styles Clearly, although the teaching methods are improved, they do not make all of the

students excited In the opinions of 49 ones (62.02%), the teaching styles of the

teachers are so normal Worse, there is a small quantity of the freshmen (8 ones — 10.13%) considering the styles as too boring However, there are still 22 others who think that teaching styles of most of the teachers are so attractive and exciting Therefore, teaching style is not the real cause of passive leaning of the freshmen

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3.2 Close analysis of the study’s major subjects 3.2.1 Nature

The 37 students who are passive in class, the principal subjects of this thesis, should be considered thoroughly to find out the actual reasons of passive learning The number of Percent (%) respondents Greeting him or her 20 54.06 actively Speaking to this person j P 13 35.13

after his or her greeting Just looking at him or her

and smiling because I do 4 10.81

not know how to communicate

Having nothing to say even when he or she talks 0 0.00 to me first because I am afraid of communicating Total 37 100

Table 3.9: What the 37 subjects do when meeting a new friend

In fact, most of these students are not passive by nature On the contrary, 20 out of them (54.06%) are so active, which are revealed when they meet a new friend It is

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usual for them to greet the stranger actively However, there are still a number of people who have passive personality Specifically, among 37 students are 13 ones (35.13%) speaking to the friend after he or she greets them The rest (4 ones — 10.81%) are too passive to have more actions except for looking at the person and smiling because they do not know the way of communication Luckily, none of them is such an extremely passive person that he says nothing even when the new friend talks to him first Anyhow, the issue of nature does not influence the learning of the freshmen at FFL — HOU so much because those who are active occupy a large amount of them

3.2.2 Viewpoints about raising hands in classes

Among the 37 students who learn passively in classes, there are several ones who do not raise their hands frequently or even never do it The question 3 in the questionnaire, in which the surveyed people may choose 2 answers and more, states

the causes as follows:

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The number of Percent (%) respondents I do not know the 12 32.43 answer I know the answer but I am afraid that it is 21 56.76 wrong T do not want to upstage 7 18.92 I am not inspired or I do 9 24.32 not like to answer Other reason(s) 1 2.7 Table 3.10: The reasons why the 37 students rarely or never raise hands in classes

As the students are asked by teachers in classes, 21 ones (56.76%) know the

answers; however, they do not raise their hands for fear that their answers are not

right Hence, they keep silent in order not to lose face in case they give the wrong answers, which is involved in Vietnamese culture By tradition, Vietnamese do not reveal any of their problems to another person because it is regarded as a sign of weakness Besides, Vietnamese culture sets great store on the concept of saving

face

In addition, some teachers explain so fast that the students cannot foHow them, or

sometimes the lectures are beyond the students’ grasp As a result, there are 12 students (32.43%) who do not know how to answer the questions of the teachers In addition, if the students raise their hands, they will be paid attention to Thus, 7 surveyed people (18.92%) do not want to stand up in front of their classmates In

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other words, they do not like to “upstage” In some classes, the atmosphere is not dynamic enough to inspire 9 students (24.32%) so that they could raise their hands to give opinions Furthermore, 1 person (2.7%) cannot express his opinion exactly;

therefore, he does not raise his hand although sometimes he knows the answer

3.2.3 Background

When the subjects are asked about the quantity of people that they are living with, they do not show any particular results The number of Percent (%) respondents 1 people 0 0.00 2 people 1 2.7 3 —4 people 16 43.24 More than 4 people 20 54.06 Total 37 100

Table 3.11: The amount of people the 37 students are living with

A large amount of these students are living with three people and more 16 (43.24%) out of them live with three or four others Besides, 20 (54.06%) other subjects live with more than four people The number of students living with two members occupies a small rate of 2.7% These 37 freshmen as a whole are not living alone There is somebody they can talk to, which does not have any influence on their

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communicating skills As a result, the background is not the reason why the subjects learn passively in classes

3.2.4 Location

In fact, the location should be considered to understand a person The location of the

37 students’ high schools is shown as follows: The number of Percent (%) respondents

Ho Chi Minh City 23 62.16

Other cities (Ha Noi, Da 0 0.00 Nang, Can Tho, etc.) Provinces 12 32.43 Highlands and profound ` 2 S4I regions Total 37 100

Table 3.12: The location of the 37 freshmen’s high schools

Although there are students from highlands or profound regions, the quantity is so small (2 ones — 5.41%) In contrast, the amount of those who come from such a big city as Ho Chi Minh City is 23, which is equal to the rate of 62.16% In addition, none of them used to study in other cities and 12 (32.43%) out of these 37 students are from provinces In general, there are a large number of the students coming from dynamic areas which may make them active Consequently, this matter does not have any influences on the freshmen’s passive learning

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3.2.5 English abilities

Another reason of passive learning which is considered as the most important is the English abilities of the freshmen The following result reveals whether it is principal or not: The number of Percent (%) respondents My speaking and - y P 5 0 0.00

listening skills are good

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Figure 3.3

a My speaking and listening skills are good &: 1am good at listening but speaking English c Ispeak English fluently but listen a littie

d: My listening and speaking skills are not good enough to communicate in English

e: Other(s)

Contrary to the general result of 79 freshmen, this result states that most of the 37 particular students (14 ones — 37.84%) are not good at communicating in English They do not speak and listen to English well enough to talk to another people Meanwhile, the number of those whose speaking and listening are perfect is zero Besides, 9 other students (24.32%) can speak English but listen a little and 13 remaining freshmen (35.14%) are good at listening but speaking English Actually, the influence of English abilities on learning style of the freshmen is so important If

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their English skills are not good, they cannot follow the classes in which English is the main language such as the ones at FFL — HOU Of course, they cannot ask their teachers when getting the problem of understanding something or cannot contribute their opinions Hence, it is certain that the class atmosphere is not animated at all As a result, these freshmen cannot get thorough knowledge

3.2.6 Preparing lessons at home

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Figure 3.4 a 3—5 hours & 1-3 hours ec: Less than | hour d: Never

In fact, the result is not bad at all Most of them (26 ones — 70.27%) spend from one to three hours per day preparing lessons at home The time is enough for them to understand what is happening in classes in the next day Besides, 4 other people (10.81%) are so careful that they spend from three to five hours per day doing such action However, there are the rate of 16.22% students (6 ones) preparing lessons in less than one hour per day Although they make preparations, the time is not much enough for them to do it carefully Also, another person (2.7%) even does not prepare anything He usually goes to school with an empty head; therefore, what he studies is what he listens or writes down in class Nevertheless, the knowledge he gets is not much because he cannot remember the whole without preparation

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3.2.7 The teaching style of the subjects’ teachers

The teaching style of teachers in general and of the teachers of the 37 freshmen in particular is the matter needed to be considered in order to find the causes of passive learning The number of Percent (%) respondents Reading — writing 0 0.00 Lecturing 5 13.51 Discussion 19 51.35 Other(s) 13 35.14 Total 37 100 Table 3.15: The teaching methods applied by most of the teachers according to the 37 students

Fortunately, the passive method of reading — writing is not used anymore Instead, 19 ones (51.35%) answer that the method most of their teachers apply is discussion which makes them more active They can get a lot of knowledge thanks to their classmates, besides the teachers Furthermore, 13.51% other students add that the lecturing method is used frequently And the remaining subjects (13 ones — 35.14%) tell the other styles Specifically, 12 out of them show the method of combining lecturing, discussion and reading — writing Another person states the teaching

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