ABSTRACT
English language teaching has become very important because of the global status of English and people all over the world are learning this language Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), being a modern and effective method of language teaching, has been implemented in many contexts of ESL/EFL teaching This implementation has not been without problems in many Asian countries and in many cities in Vietnam as CLT has been in clash with local teaching of learning practice This study was an effort to discover to what extent teachers applied CLT in teaching English to non-English majored students and its barriers The thesis was done through (1) a comprehensive survey of the current teaching practice through a questionnaire distributing to the staff members and (2) a comprehensive survey of the students’ feedback through a questionnaire distributing to 83 first year non-English majored students of the three faculties of VLTTC to find out the extent CLT application and the
barriers
The data revealed that all teachers implemented the CLT method to some extent in their classes: They built up students’ communicative competence, they were aware
to make the communication meaningful by requiring speakers to negotiate with
listeners They emphasized the communication but they really minded students’ mistakes by always correcting them They rather neglected learner-centered teaching, They based their teaching mainly on the textbook without using extra authentic teaching materials and they tended to forget their role as the facilitator of the communicative process by talking more than needed in class
Trang 3proficiency was low and they had little motivation for communicative competence so
they resisted to class participation (3) They were the barriers caused by the
educational system The examination system was still focused on grammar- translation with writing tests only The present period of time to study English for non-English
majored students in three years (150 periods) was not long enough for teachers at
VLTTC to help their students practise skills of using English (4) They were the barriers caused by the CLT itself CLT demanded too much on teachers and lessons tended to be less predictable Teachers had to interact with students in as natural a way as possible; they had to be skillful with wider range of management than in the traditional teacher-centered classroom That is the reason why teachers still used the Grammar Translation Method together with CLT and considered to it to make up CLT
Trang 4LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 1.1: Summary of the English course for the non - English
majored st†udenfs -. - Sàn nh nh sec 3
Table 4.1: Profile Of teachers sọ HnHHnHH H nH H801 11 HH 31
Table 4.2: Teachers”practice on CLT Charactertstic Ì - - 32 Table 4.3: Teachers”practice on CUT Characteristic 2 -<<-++ 33
Table 4.4: Teachers”practice on CLT' Characterisfic 3 -‹-+ ++<++ 34 Table 4.5: Teachers” practice on CLT CharacterIsfiC 4 ‹s+++<s+ 35
Table 4.6: Teachers” practice on CLT CharacterIstic 5 - tren 36
Table 4.7: Teachers” practice on CLT CharacferIstiC 6 -+-+++ 37
Table 4.8: Teachers” practice on CUT CharacterIsfIc 7 ‹ ‹ -++ 38
Table 4.9: Students’ feedback on CLT Characteristic Ì - 4I
Table 4.10: Students° feedback on CLT Characteristic 2 .-‹- 42
Table 4.11: Students° feedback on CUT Characferistic 3 43
Table 4.12: Students” feedback on CLT Characteristic 4 estes 44
Table 4.13: Students” feedback on CLT Characterisfic Š - - 45
Table 4.14: Students° feedback on CLT CharacterIsfic 6 - - 46
Trang 5ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS
CLT : Communicative Language Teaching
CA : Communicative Approach
B.A : Bachelor of Arts
EFL : English as a foreign language ESL : English as a second language
ESP : English for Specific Purposes
M.A : Master of Arts
MOET : Minister of Education and Training
TEFL : Teaching English as a foreign language
VLTTC : Vinh Long Teachers’ Training College
Trang 6TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP - nà se i
RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS cà Sàn se il
.Y0).9)19À)/40)9.6)0))/190) I1 ntaQỤmỤDỤIIiiiiaiiảẳaa4ä4Ả4ẢÝẢÝẢÝẢẮẮ ili
n0 00 Vv
LIST OF TABLES ch HT TK TH KH nghi vu LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS LH HH nh nh kh ki Vill
Chapter One: INTRODUCTION co Ằ Ị
1.1 Background to the study SỈ S sàn nàn nhe |
1.2 Objective ofthe study nhớ 5
1.3 Research questiOns cà nền 5
1.4 Scope Ofthe StUuy cu HH kh ke nh 5
1.5 OvervIew ofthe sfuUdy c cm ke, 6 Chapter Two: LITERATURE REVIEW ¬— 7
2.1 Language teaching methodology cớ 7
2.2 _ The Grammar Translation Method -.- - §
2.3 The Direct Method - —— §
2.4 The Communicative Approach - « -c<ccece 9
2.5 Communicative Language Teaching .- «+ scssssssc««e 10
2.5.1 Characteristics of CLT - sen hs ehie 13
Trang 72.6 Barrlers to applying CLT" - << s2 2.7 Barriers to applying CUT in Vietnam cà chen 22
Chapter Three: METHODOLOGY -c cà {cà ằằằà 25
3.1 Research deslgn cc cọ HH HH nh ng 25
3.2 P4TFICIDATIS cQQQQ HH HH kh hư khe 25
3.3 Data collection Instrumernfs -. <-<ccc<« 26
3.3.1 Teacher questionnair€s -<- 26
3.3.2 Studenf questionnaIr€s - 28
3.4 Questionnalre administration -. - - ¬— 28
Chapter Four: DATA ANALYSIS AND EINDINGS 30
4.1 Questionnarre data analysing ratlonales . - 30
4.2 Teachers’ questionnaire analysis and discussion 31
4.2.1 Teachers” charact€rIStiCS - -c<5<-<c< -.-e-.e Ì 4.2.2 Teachers’ practice on CLT Characteristic 1 "— 32 4.2.3 Teachers” practice on CLUT Characteristic 2 33
4.2.4 Teachers” practice on CLUT Characteristic 3 - 34
4.2.5 Teachers’ practice on CLT Characteristic 4 35
Trang 84.2.7 Teachers” practice on CLT Characteristic 6 . 37
4.2.8 Teachers” practice on CLUT Characteristic 4 38
4.2.9 Possible barriers in applying CLT at VUTTC 39
4.3 Studenfs” questionnaire analysis and discussion 4]
4.3.1 Students’ feedback on CLT Characteristic [ 41
4.3.2 Students” feedback on CLT Characteristic 2 . 42
4.3.3 Students” feedback on CLUT Characteristic 3 43
4.3.4 Students’ feedback on CLT Characteristic 4 - 44
4.3.5 Students° feedback on CLT Characteristic 5 45
4.3.6 Students’ feedback on CLT Characteristic 6 ¬ Hee, 46 4.3.7 Students’ feedback on CLT Characteristic 7 47
4.4 Findings " ce nee ne ene n eee nee tee e esses ante ta cena eee es 47
4.4.1 CLT Characteristic 1 application eeeeeseeeeeseeeeseeeeneeneeeees 48 4.4.2 CLT Characteristic 2 application sccccssseesseeseesseeseeeseeenneeens 48 4.4.3 CLT Characteristic 3 applicafion -. - -++sseseeeereerrre 49
4.4.4 CLT Characteristic 4 appÌiCatiOn -++s- + s«ceeeereee 49
4.4.5 CLT Characteristic 5 applicafion -«-+-+s+ssssetseereererr 50
4.4.6 CLT Characteristic 6 appÌiCafion -~-< + neeeteeeereeere 50
Trang 10CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Education is an integral and crucial part of development of a nation General
educational achievement in Vietnam has been seen to be the need for adult education
However, there is widespread recognition that universities and colleges are failing to
equip students with adequate English language proficiency to communicate in English, the international language of commerce, science and development Many students are
not able to take part in higher education in western countries because of a lack of communicative skill in English One of the major contributors to the economic,
technological and political development of Vietnam is international participation and the key to that participation is communicative competence in English In an era of information technology and international business, where English is the most important language for communication, it is an opportune time for Vietnam to take necessary steps to improve and modernize the English language teaching methodology by adapting the communicative language teaching method in English teaching
Vinh Long Teachers' Training College (VLTTC), as other Teachers Training Colleges in Vietnam, trains teachers who teach various subjects at secondary schools Recently at VLTTC, students called non-English majored students already have basic knowledge of English (language knowledge and skills in high schools) and they have to take the general English course and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course as
compulsory subjects at VLTTC However, most of them face difficulties in using
English to communicate with their teachers and their peers and in their work The study hopes to investigate how teachers at VLTTC apply Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in their teaching to their non-English majored students and what are
Trang 111.1 Background to the study
In this chapter the background information is presented with the purpose of
providing data for understanding the problems mentioned in the thesis It consists of four parts The first part is the report about the English course The second part is the student characteristics The third part is about physical setting, and the fourth part is the reflection of teaching staff
1.1.1 Description of the English course
The non-English majored course at the college, taught in three semesters, is divided into General English and English for Specific Purposes as follows:
The first two semesters is the stage for General English New Cutting Edge
Pre-intermediate (Cunningham & Moor, 2004) is used as the coursebook for the non-
English majored students to learn in two semesters with fifteen units presented in Table 1.1 The book aims at developing the four skills: listening, speaking reading and writing The book with authentic materials (things from newspapers, magazines or from the daily conversations of English people) develops communicative competence for the learners, in which they are required to work in pairs, to work in groups, and to practice English in common situations Furthermore, students have chances to listen both to the native and non-native English speakers from the tapes used with the book and the book focuses on communicative competence without ignoring linguistic competence Students are required to master the principal grammatical structures such
as tenses, comparison, passive voice, reported speech, conditional sentences Students
are taught how to use the new grammar points and are able to review the grammar rules they already know
The third semester is the time for learning ESP The coursebooks for this stage are compiled by the teachers at VLTTC with the topics based on the subjects related to the major students are in There are three coursebooks for three faculties in the college:
Trang 12
Term 1 (60 periods) Term 2 (60 periods) | Term 3 (30 periods)
150 periods | GENERAL ENGLISH | GENERAL ENGLISH ENGLISH FOR
New Cutting Edge New Cutting Edge SPECIFIC
(Pre-inter) Module 1-8 | (Pre-inter) Module PURPOSES
9-15
Content
Language * Revision of question | *Intentions & wishes | Reading:
focus: forms * Predictions Topics of various
* Verb tenses * Verb tenses professional subjects
* comparison * Articles necessary for the
* Gerunds students mainly in the
* Passive voice three Faculties
Vocabulary | * Leisure activities * Modern and Writing:
* Daily routines traditional Focusing on writing
* Dates and special * Health and accidents | sentences and
occasions * Hobbies and paragraphs
* Physical appearance | Interests ~
* Holidays * Everyday objects
* Ambitions and * Personal dreams characteristics * Geographical * Money features Skills * Reading * Reading * Listening * Listening * Speaking * Speaking * Writing * Writing Table 1.1: Summary of the English course for the non - English majored students
1.1.2 Characteristics of the non-English majored students at VLTTC
All of the non-English majored students are the ones in the main stream, i.e
Trang 13of them are from the seven districts in Vinh Long province and 30% of them are from
the centre town
All of the students have seven years of learning English However, they seem to be the beginners of English, especially the ones who are not from the centre town The students from the centre town seem better, but they are only good at grammatical structures and they find it very difficult to express their thinking in English They can do written exercises on English grammar accurately but they have difficulties getting themselves involved in maintaining talks on an everyday basis Another factor needs to be noticed is that they learn English because they want to pass the English
examination, or to get good marks in the examinations, which are essential for their scholarship Besides, English tests at VLTTC are not communicative at all The
students see that learning English interactively is not necessary for their examination
1.1.3 The physical setting ~
At VLTTC, learning and teaching activities are mostly carried out in the classrooms Most of non-English majored classes at VLTTC have the total of 30
students, and the others extend from 40 to 55 students All of the classrooms are
designed for lecture lessons It means that the seating is arranged orderly in front of the teacher, and classroom equipment is just the chalkboard Two audio-visual laboratories are equipped with a system of communication consists of 24 cabins, with an overhead projector, a slide projector, and a videocassette recorder The laboratories are available for supporting teaching but teachers hardly use them as teaching aids There is a library but there are few English books for extra practice or reference
1.1.4 The teaching staff
VLTTC has the staff of eight English language teachers: the youngest is 46 and the oldest is 56 All of the teachers has more than fifteen years of experience The -’ age of the teaching staff proves that they have a lot of experience in teaching English
Trang 14They claim to apply CLT in teaching English for the non-English majored students Two have studied short courses in CLT in the English speaking countries The majority of the staff have been trained from the in-service training course
1.2 Objectives of the study
This study aims to explore the CLT application in teaching English to non- English majored students at Vinh Long Teachers’ Training College and identifies the barriers which inhibit the implementation of communicative teaching of English at VLTTC as well
1.3 Research questions
The study tries to answer these two questions:
1 To what extent has CLT been applied in teaching non-English majored students at VLTTC?
2 What are the main barriers in applying CLT to teach non-English majored students at VLTTC?
1.4 Scope of the study
First, this study focuses on the exploration the extent EFL teachers have applied
CLT and the main barriers they face in implementing CLT to teach non-English majored students at VLTTC in the three faculties: the Social Sciences Faculty, the
Informatics-Natural Sciences Faculty, and the Nursery Education Faculty These are
the faculties the college gets and all of them have non-English majored first year
students for this school year Students study English as their major are not involved in
Trang 151.5 Overview of the study
The study consists of five chapters Chapter 1 provides the background in
Trang 16CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
Chapter one provides the background information to the study reported in this thesis This section covers the principal issues in communicative language teaching It is necessary to review the foundation for the application of Communicative Language Teaching in teaching non-English majored students at VLTTC, which will be mentioned in the next sections The literature is relied on the following aspects: (1) Introduction of language teaching methodology in general, (2) The Grammar
Translation Method, (3) The Direct Method, (4) The Communicative Approach, (5)
Communicative Language Teaching, (6) Barriers to applying CLT, and (7) Barriers to
applying CLT in Vietnam
2.1 Language teaching methodology
The early well-known language teaching methods include the Grammar Translation Method, the Direct Method, the Oral Approach or Situational Language Teaching, and the Audio-Lingual Method Following these methods, the alternative methods that include Total Physical Response, the Silent Way, Community Language Learning, Suggestopedia, and Competency-Based Language Teaching The current methods include Communicative Language Teaching, the Natural Approach, Cooperative Language Learning, Content-Based Instruction, and Task-Based Language Teaching (Richards & Rodgers, 2001)
Trang 17teaching languages All of them have good and bad points The best approach is to be
open and flexible to use many different methods and approaches to create activities that meet the particular needs of the lesson and students
2.2 The Grammar Translation Method
As a pioneer in teaching methods, the Grammar Translation Method was the principal method in Europe in the 19th century It was based on teaching grammar
structures and vocabulary with direct translations
The principles of the Grammar Translation Method are briefly stated as they emphasize the study and translation of the written language Therefore, successful learners are those who can translate the language, even though they cannot communicate orally With reading and writing as the main language skills, teachers play an authoritarian role in the classroom The class is extremely teacher-centered and students must learn grammar rules overtly through the students’ native language It is the medium of instruction and is used as comparison with the language studied Little attention is paid to interpersonal communication or pronunciation
Today most experts admit that this method is ineffective by itself as Richards
and Rodgers (1986:5) state, “it is a method for which there is no theory There is no
literature that offers a rationale or justification for it that attempts to relate it to issues in linguistics, psychology, or educational theory.” Over times, people start to see the disadvantages of the Grammar Translation Method since it limits the capability of students in using their second language communicatively
2.3 The Direct Method
Trang 18The Direct Method includes lots of oral interaction, spontaneous use of
language, and little or no analysis of grammar rules with the principles that the
objective are speaking and listening comprehension, not translation and vocabulary is introduced in context, through demonstration and pictures Besides, emphasis of the Direct Method is placed on correct usage and pronunciation, learning a new language is not simply to study the meaning of words themselves but to know how to apply them properly and correctly
The Direct Method became very popular during the first quarter of the 20th century, especially in private language schools in Europe where highly motivated students could study new languages and not need to travel far in order to try them out and apply them communicatively Still, the Direct Method was not without its
problems As Brown (1994:56) points out, "(it) did not take well in public education
where the constraints of budget, classroom size, time, and teacher background made
such a method difficult to use."
2.4 The Communicative Approach
The Communicative Approach (CA) can be said to be the product of educators and linguists who have grown dissatisfied with the Direct Method and the Grammar Translation Method of foreign language instruction They feel that students are not learning enough realistic, whole language They do not know how to communicate using appropriate social language, gestures, or expressions; in brief, they are at a loss to communicate in the culture of the language studied
Interest in and development of communicative-style teaching mushroomed in
the 1970s, authentic language use and classroom exchanged where students engaged in real communication with one another become quite popular Being able to communicate requires more than linguistic competence, it requires communicative
competence (Hymes, 1971) — knowing when and how to say what or whom Such observations contributed to a shift in the field in the late 1970s and early 1980s from a
linguistic structure-entered approach to a CA (Widdowson, 1990) CA’s main
Trang 19language in the most appropriate form, and concentrating on use and properness rather than simply on language forms
The above reason explains why the role of teachers is especially emphasized Teachers are advisers who facilitate communication in the classroom than a transmitter of knowledge by establishing situations, answering students' questions and monitoring their performances, rather than simply on teacher-centered directions Teachers were communicators on the other hand It included actively engaging in negotiating meaning, taking responsibilities in learning (initiative and creative) and interacting with other students (cooperative and interactive) Moreover, the process of teaching
and learning is done with a communicative intent: games, role-plays and problem- solving tasks etc., and it tends to fluency rather than accuracy so errors are tolerated
during fluency-based activities However, errors will be noted and returned to later with accuracy-based activities In CA the everyday lifestyle of people, using the language is important to expose students to authentic materials and natural language in
a variety of situations as much as possible The aims of CA are not only to put communicative competence at the core of language teaching but also to teach language
skills in an interrelated way, making communication part of that process
2.5 Communicative Language Teaching
Richards, et al (1992:65) defines CLT as “an approach to foreign or second
language teaching, which emphasizes that the goal of language learning is
communicative competence.” This definition presents the main concept of CLT, which is the focus on developing communicative competence among learners According to Richards and Rodgers (1986), CLT aims to make competence the goal of language teaching and develop procedures to teach the four language skills that allow the
independence of language and communication
Having said that linguistic communication performs various kinds of functions
(ibid) and that the performance of these functions can not be realised without ‹
communicative competence the question emerges as to what are its implications for
language teaching and learning The purpose of any second or foreign language
Trang 20learning should be to enable the learner to acquire communicative competence in the target language so that he can employ the target language for performing the same functions which it performs for the members of the target speech community in everyday life This view of language learning and teaching emerged in the 1970s and has taken the form of CLT Until this period language learning and teaching favoured teaching and learning of language as a system of rules and the learners were supposed
to internalize these rules (Nunan 1991) This approach, also referred to as traditional
approach or grammar-translation method, gave centrality to grammar But the fact is,
as demonstrated above through the concept of communicative competence, language
ability involves more than just learning grammar (Richards, 2001) Grammar and other aspects of language need to be used suitably and meaningfully for different communicative purposes (ibid) Thus the focus in language learning and teaching should be on learning to use language and not on the knowledge of language (ibid)
The goal of CLT is to develop communicative competence of the learner by doing the following: (1) CLT helps students in developing skills for the spontaneous and flexible use of the linguistic system of the target language to express their meanings; (2) CLT helps students in distinguishing and mastering the communicative functions of the linguistic forms of the target language; (3) CLT helps students
develop skills and strategies for effective communication of their meanings; and (4)
CLT helps students learn the social meaning of the language forms of the target
language and can put their language to appropriate use (Littlewood, 1981)
Thus the learner, in learning language through CLT, learns the meaning, functionality and use of the target language and these are the aspects which play an important part in using the language as ‘an instrument for social interaction’ (ibid:7)
and functions The application of these basic principles of communicative language
teaching to a language class means a class where learners are involved in communicative activities using meaningful and authentic language These activities
Trang 21aspect of the communication of the learners in the target langue Thus they may be asked to solve a problem with what ever language they have This prepares learners for dealing with the demands of the communicative situations and they acquire functional effectiveness in the target language (ibid) The social interaction activities help learner in using language appropriately in various social situations
However, Richards and Rodgers (2001:161) observe that the kind of communicative activities mentioned above “address the conditions needed to promote
second language learning” Hedge (2000:62) also reiterates that “many communicative
tasks involve learners in face-to-face encounters in the classroom Interaction in work in small groups provide a basis for language acquisition It also gives students practice in communicating and negotiating meanings in establishing positive rapport, in maintaining a conversation with appropriate turntaking conventions and, at the same time, allows them to establish how well they can understand and make themselves
understood.” ~
Howatt (1984), as cited by Aleixo (2003), presents the idea that there are two
versions of CLT He states, “There are, in a sense, a ‘strong’ version of the
communicative approach and a ‘weak’ version The weak version, which has become more or less standard practice in the last ten years, stresses the importance of providing learners with opportunities to use their English for communicative purposes
and, characteristically, attempts to integrate such activities into a wider programme of
language teaching The ‘strong’ version of communicative teaching, on the other
hand, advances the claim that Janguage is acquired through communication, so that it
is not merely a question of stimulating the development of the language system itself If the former could be described as ‘learning to use' English, the latter entails using
English to learn it.” This thesis relate to both versions to find out the extent that CLT is
applied at VLTTC and the barriers the teachers have when applying CLT to teach
non-English majored students
Trang 222.5.1 Characteristics of CLT
There are seven characteristics as follows: First, CLT considers that the primary goal of language learning is to build up communicative competence and to be able to use the language appropriately in a given social context According to Littlewood (1981:1), “one of the most characteristic features of communicative language teaching is that it pays systematic attention to functional as well as structural aspects of
language, combining these into a more fully communicative view.” CLT advocates go
beyond teaching grammatical rules of the target language, and recommend that, by using the target language in a meaningful way, learners will develop communicative
competence
Canale and Swain (1980) refer communicative competence as the interaction
between grammatical competence, or the knowledge of the rules of grammar, and sociolinguistic competence, or knowledge of the rules of use Canale and Swain (1980) identify grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic competence as part of
communicative competence According to Canale (1983:7), grammatical competence "focuses directly on the knowledge and skill required to understand and express
accurately the literal meaning of utterances." Sociolinguistic competence represents the learner’s ability to use the language properly in different social contexts Sociolinguistic competence thus demonstrates the learners’ ability to go beyond the literal meaning of utterances and recognize what is the intent of such utterances in particular social situations
Canale (1983:8) adds "sociolinguistic competence is crucial in interpreting utterances for their 'social meaning’.” Discourse competence relates to the learner's ability to combine grammatical forms and meaning in an appropriate order for diverse needs Discourse competence highlights that learners must also be aware of the discourse patterns of the language they are learning Strategic competence relates to
Trang 23competence in one or more of the other areas of communicative competence, and to enhance the effectiveness of communication (Canale, 1983) Strategic competence
helps the learner keep on the flow of conversation
Second, in CLT, meaning is important Larsen-Freeman (1986) believes that
oral communication becomes meaningful through negotiation between speaker and listener CLT allows learners to acquire the linguistic means to perform different kinds
of functions According to Larsen-Freeman (1986:133), "language is for communication" and true communication is not possible without interaction
Third, in every CLT activity, communicative intent is always emphasized Almost everything is done with a communicative intent to be able to use the language
appropriately in a given social context In a communicative class, students use the
language a great deal through communicative activities, (e.g., games, role-plays, group
work, etc) According to Johnson and Morrow (1981), activities that are genuinely communicative have three features: information gap, choice, and feedback An
information gap takes place when one partner in an exchange knows something that
the other partner does not In an actual communication, the speaker has the choice of
what to say and how to say it “Free choice” refers to what and how people say is completely chosen by them In real - life communication, the speaker himself decides not only what he intends to express but use what language form to express appropriately without being controlled by others Information feedback refers to the
two sides make proper adjustment according to the information of the other party
There is always a goal for the communication The goal of one party may be offering invitation, giving opinion, expressing dissatisfaction and asking for help, etc.; while that of the other may be resistance or declining, etc People in communication always keep in mind of the goal and try to achieve it
Fourth, CLT advocates that if messages are understood, accuracy may be achieved later Communicative language teaching encourages learners to communicate
in a meaningful way using the target language from the initial stage While using the
language, accuracy is important but communication precedes it and the emphasis is on
Trang 24the processes of communication, rather than mastery of language forms (Richards & Rodgers, 2001)
Fifth, CLT emphasizes on learner - centered teaching The role of the learner in a CLT classroom is envisaged in the following way: “the role of the learner as negotiator — between the self, the learning process, and the object of learning — emerges from and interacts with the role of joint negotiator within the group and
within the classroom procedures and activities which the group undertakes The
implication for the learner is that he should contribute as much as he gains, and thereby learn in an independent way” (Breen & Candlin, 2001:19) This view of the language learner suggests a learner who interacts mainly with other learners in the group and learns through cooperation with other learners (Richards & Rodgers, 2001) with less reliance on teacher, and actively engages in negotiating meaning According to Savignon (1991:263), "communicative language teaching has become a term for methods and curricula that embrace both the goals and the processes of classroom
learning, for teaching practice that views competence in terms of social interaction.”
CLT provides learners with the opportunity to experience language through
communicative activities Referring to Savignon (1991), Li (1998) states that CLT
theory recognizes that individual learners possess unique interest, styles, and goals that need to be reflected in the design of instructional methods Li (1998:679) also adds
that CLT requires teachers to develop materials based on the needs of a particular class and “students must be made to feel secure, unthreatened, and nondefensive" in a CLT
classroom
Sixth, CLT also introduces the use of authentic materials in the class Using
authentic materials provides students opportunities to experience language actually used by native speakers and allows them to develop strategies for interpreting language as it is actually used by native speakers (Littlewood, 1981) Canale and
Swain (1980) also state that CLT allows learners to respond to genuine communicative
needs in realistic second language situations in order for them to develop strategies to understand language as used by native speakers in reality Besides, the cultural role is also mentioned as “the overall internal capacity of an individual to manage key
Trang 25challenging features of intercultural communication” (Kim, 1991:259), to efficiently “negotiate a mode of communication and interaction” by ability to use and adapt language use appropriately in culturally different contexts
Seventh, in CLT the role of the teacher is “to facilitate the communication process between all the participants in the classroom, and between these participants
and the various activities and texts The second role is to act as an independent participant within the learning-teaching group These roles imply a set of secondary roles of the teacher; first, as an organizer of resources and a resource himself, second as a guide within the classroom procedures and activities A third
role for the teacher is that of researcher and learner, with much to contribute in terms
of appropriate knowledge and abilities, actual and observed experience of the nature of
learning and organizational capacities’ (Breen & Candlin, 2001:17) Hence a
multidimensional role of the teacher in the CLT as compared to traditional approach
where teacher is a source of knowledge and his role in the classroom is to transfer this
knowledge to the learner
Students are therefore encouraged to construct meaning through genuine linguistic interaction with others Students in a communicative class ultimately have to use language, productively and receptively, in unrehearsed contexts outside the classroom Classroom tasks must therefore equip students with the skills necessary for communication in those contexts Students are given opportunities to focus on their own learning process through an understanding of their own styles of learning and through the development of appropriate strategies for autonomous learning
These above seven characteristics of CLT can be seen as the key figures to illustrate the CLT practice and they are used as the criteria in this study to assess how
VLTTC has applied CLT in their English teaching 2.5.2 Teachers’ principles in applying CLT
Stemming from the socio-cognitive perspective of the socio-linguistic theory,
Trang 26communicative competence, CLT approach evolves as a prominent language teaching method and gradually replaces the previous Grammar-Translation and Direct Methods (Richards & Rodgers, 2001) Communicative language teaching has been an influential approach for at least two decades now Anyhow, it is hard to have a clear- cut and common understanding of CLT
Based on the CLT characteristics, different experts in the field of communicative language teaching, summarize the principles to help teachers understand and use CLT easily
First, on the characteristic of CLT that the primary goal of language learning is to build up communicative competence, Berns (1984) states that language teaching is based on a view of language as communication That means language is seen as a
social tool, which speakers use to make meaning; speakers communicate about
something to someone for some purpose, either orally or in writing This principle holds that learner’s participation in activities which involve real communication assists learning of the target language (Richards & Rodgers, 2001) The implication for the classroom practice is that every thing done in the classroom should involve some kind of communication leading to the use of language This can be realized by
involving learners in activities like role play, games and problem-solving tasks To be
truly communicative these activities should have the qualities of information gap, choice, and feedback (Larsen-Freeman, 1986) These qualities generate the need for communication for the learners and brings into play the abilities and skills which can
ultimately culminate in the development of the communicative competence in the
target language
Second, on the characteristic that meaning is important, it is essential that learners be engaged in doing things with language that is; they use language for a variety of purposes in all phases of learning (Berns, 1984) Students are therefore encouraged to construct meaning through genuine linguistic interaction with others Students in a communicative class ultimately have to use language, productively and receptively in unrehearsed contexts outside the classroom Classroom tasks must
17
Trang 27therefore equip students with the skills necessary for communication in those contexts
Language that is meaningful to the learner supports the learning process (Richards & Rodgers, 2001) This implies meaningful and authentic language use reflecting the
communicative situations in which one engages in routine life and the kind of
language being used in such situations
Third, on the characteristic that in every CLT activity, communicative intent is
always emphasized, Berns (1984) agrees that language use is recognized as serving the ideational, the interpersonal, and the textual functions and is related to the development of learners' competence in each In this light, language study has to look at the use (function) of language in context, both its linguistic context (what is uttered before and after a given piece of discourse) and its social, or situational context (who
is speaking, what their social roles are, why they have come together to speak) This
states that activities in which language is used for executing meaningful tasks promote learning (Richards & Rodgers, 2001) Tasks are carried out after language is processed
and understood (Richards & Rodgers, 1986) Tasks are important as they provide a
purpose for the activities (ibid) mentioned under the communication principle and
focuses the attention of the learner on the meaning of the language rather than on the
structure of the language (Nunan, 1989) In real life situations among native speakers
of a language it is meaning of an utterance which is important not the structure of that utterance Same structure of the utterance can have different meanings in different
communicative situations
Fourth, on the characteristic that CLT advocates that if messages are
understood, accuracy may be achieved later, Larsen-Freeman (2003) suggests that a learner's competence is considered in relative, not absolute, terms of correctness Some
students struggle to understand and be understood, but this is part of the learning process The teacher does not always correct mistakes because the more they use it, the more students’ English improves, in the same way as children learn language
Fifth, on the characteristic that CLT emphasizes on learners-centered teaching, more than one variety of a language is recognized as a model for learning Translation
Trang 28is accepted as the latest means to convey meaning (Berns, 1984) Teachers need to
consider a paradigm shift from a teacher-centered teaching style to a learner-centered
one (Kain, 2003)
Sixth, on the characteristic that CLT also introduces the use of authentic
materials in the class, Larsen-Freeman (2000) says that the everyday lifestyle of
people who use the language is important Berns (1984) also agrees that culture is seen to play an instrumental role in shaping speakers’ communicative competence
Culture of learning can be defined as a “framework of expectations, attitudes, values,
and beliefs about what constitute good learning, about how to teacher learn, whether and how to ask questions, what textbooks are for, and how language teaching relates to broader issues of the nature and purpose of education” (Cortazzi & Jin, 1996:169) Thus culture of learning is interplay of various social and educational factors which affect what is going into the classroom, the role of teacher and learner, the styles of learning and what is the status of language teaching in the broad spectrum of local educational context
Finally, on the characteristic that in CLT the role of the teacher is that of facilitator and guide, not an all-knowing bestower of knowledge, Larsen-Freeman (2000) states that emphasis on ‘the role of teachers is placed on facilitating communication in the classroom than a transmitter of knowledge by establishing
situations, answering students' questions, and monitoring their performances, rather than simply on teacher-centered directions
No matter how useful and idealistic the CLT is, there is always some flaw
thrusting its robust growth around the world Consistently and perpetually searching to enhance this teaching fashion, scholars and researchers discover its numerous barriers
Thus, to see whether a language class lends itself to the label of CLT, one might have
a look at the degree to which the characteristics and principles outlined above are
substantiated in class activities, and the possible barriers to CLT from the above
Trang 292.6 Barriers to applying CLT
The barriers reported fall into four categories: those cause (1) by the teacher, (2) by the students, (3) by the educational system, and (4) by CLT itself (Li, 1998) The barriers caused by teachers are their deficiency in spoken English, their deficiency in strategic and sociolinguistic competence, their lack of training in CLT, their few opportunities for retraining in CLT, and their misconceptions about CLT The teachers believe CLT require them to be fluent in English They generally feel that they have
high proficiency in English grammar, reading, and writing, but they have inadequate
abilities in English speaking and listening to conduct the communicative class
Teachers have other misconceptions about CLT such as CLT neglects accuracy They
believe that by concentrating on appropriateness and fluency CLT does not teach form at all and thus neglects accuracy Teachers believe that the “lack of time for and expertise in developing communicative materials have been constraints for them to use
CLT" (Li, 1998: 689) as well ~
According to the study findings of Li (1998), and Ellis (1994) the misconceptions and misinterpretation of CLT among teachers are also playing role as
barriers In addition, factors affecting implementation are teachers’ understandings,
teachers’ background training, lack of guidance, the influence of textbooks, and large
class sizes Specifically, teachers’ understanding of the theoretical principles is not
good enough (Larsen-Freeman, 2003) Furthermore, the mentality of teachers toward
students could also be bad for applying CLT For instance, they did not want to use the learner-centeredness style because they thought students’ ability were insufficient to lead their classes The misconceptions set out by Thompson (1996): the teachers
believed that CLT relied heavily on speaking and listening skills, CLT involved little grammar teaching and used time consuming activities The teachers held
misconceptions about CLT and there were discrepancies between their beliefs and
practices
The barriers caused by students are students’ low English proficiency, their little motivation for communicative competence, and the resistance to class
Trang 30participation In Chinese, most students are from the rural areas so they have no
incentive to use English and very limited vocabulary (Xu, 1997) Therefore, students’ motivation declines over time and teachers fail to implement faithfully the curriculum policy (Wang, 2002) In Thailand, Nonkykhetkhong (et al., 2006) agrees that when
applying CLT, teachers do not believe learner-centeredness is suitable to their classes because students are slow and inadequately motivated They report using
communicative activities, but “grammar explanation, vocabulary explanation,
translation, and whole class drills and repetition” (Li, 1998: 6-7) are commonly observed in their actual teaching In Japan, there are limited opportunities for students
to engage in face-to-face communication in English outside the school; no need for communicative English skills on the part of the learners as teachers’ and learners’
concerns about university entrance examinations, which focus more on grammar and reading comprehension (Nishino & Watanabe, 2008) In addition to that probably a
fundamental problem in the implementation of CLT is its conflict with local culture of learning (Tudor, 1996) Such a culture may find grammar-translation method more favourable for its language classrooms as this method is more teacher-centered as opposed to CLT which is more learner - centered In such situations the response to CLT may be one of rejection both by the teachers and learners or the implementation of this method, despite all its proven strengths, may hinder learning instead of promoting language learning
The barriers caused by the educational system are the Asian educational styles, which have traditionally setting, such as large classrooms, heavy curriculum, strictly- theory-based tests, can disadvance CLT greatly Li (1998) conducts a study based on
the characteristics and the principles of CLT with 18 South Korean secondary English schools EFL teachers studying at a Canadian university to identify their barriers in
adopting CLT The results of the study show that they encounter barriers in trying
CLT approach in their classes "A conflict apparently exists between what CLT
demands and what the EFL situation in many countries, such as South Korea This
Trang 31of barriers with class management, noise, giving individualized attention to students,
keeping students on task, and lack of space for teachers and students to move around
or get into groups Grammar-based examinations, insufficient funding and the lack of
support also discourage teachers in applying CLT
The barriers caused by CLT itself are CLT's inadequate account of EFL teaching CLT is taught as knowledge and theory, and teachers have no practical experience in the methodology or its applications, and the lack of effective and
efficient assessment instruments, the gap between the curriculum intentions and the
practical realities cause constraints, additional requirements and expectations imposed
on teachers (Careless, 2003; Ruffell, 2006)
In short, there are a number of objectives hinders and subjective difficulties making the CLT not growing as robustly as it are supposed to be Generally, Asian educational styles, which have traditionally setting, such as large classrooms, heavy
curriculum, strictly-theory-based tests, can disadvance CLT greatly Furthermore, the mentality of teachers toward students can also be bad for applying CLT The inadequate skill of instructors and the students’ poor language learning motivation
prevent the CLT from developing
2.7 Barriers to applying CLT in Vietnam
Similar to the barriers to CLT application all over the world, the barriers in Vietnam can be classified into four categories First, one of the barrier category confronted by Vietnam is that of teachers Ellis (1994) investigates the appropriateness of the communicative approach in Vietnam and finds that one of the basic problems in
implementing CLT in Vietnam is the teachers’ holding on to the deep-rooted tradition
The teachers rely on lecturing and fail to vary the learning activities (Ellis, 1994) It has been argued that the combination of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism has established the core values and behavioural norms of Vietnamese teachers and there
still remains a considerable disparity between the core values and behavioural norms
of Western and Vietnamese culture
Trang 32In addition, factors affecting implementation are teachers’ understandings,
teachers’ background training, lack of guidance, the influence of textbooks, and large class sizes Specifically, teachers’ understanding of the theoretical principles is not good enough (Larsen-Freeman, 2003) Furthermore, the mentality of teachers toward students could also be bad for applying CLT For instance, they did not want to use
the learner-centeredness style because they thought students’ ability were insufficient
to lead their classes
The second barriers is the students’ attitudes towards exclusive peer interaction,
their incorporation of errors from peers, and the amount of negotiation claimed to be crucial to second language acquisition Particularly, groupwork, which stems from co- figurative cultures where peer learning is the norm, is likely to clash with the traditional post-figurative paradigm of the society as a whole where it is believed that one learn from older and wiser people (Ellis, 1994)
The third barrier is of applying CLT in a traditional educational system A great number of teachers never used to go beyond practising students how to say English with added purpose because the examination system mainly focuses on grammar-
translation Within a qualification framework for education, the teacher functions as
the authority that provides students with the information necessary for succeeding in examinations (Morris, 1985)
The fourth barrier is the necessary knowledge of CLT and it is also the real barrier to Vietnamese teachers They feel CLT does not culturally fit for Vietnam A document released by the Department of Secondary Education, within the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training, stated that, “ the demand for English language teaching and learning is even increasing but the quality of teaching and learning English is unsatisfactory” (Tran, 2001:15) In Vietnam, most classrooms have been
teacher-centered or teacher-fronted (Sullivan, 2000) This is also supported by Kennett
and Knight (1999), who hold that teaching methods in Vietnam were outdated, relying
almost entirely on strict teacher-centered methods and rote learning Ellis (1994: 69)
Trang 33Ị that "although there is a strong demand for communicative competence in Vietnam, it is not matched by adequate teacher training, communicative language materials and suitable learning environments." Medgyes (1986) argues that CLT demands too much
on teachers, more so than Grammar Translation Method and teachers have to be
skillful with wider range of management than in the traditional teacher-centered classroom There are a lot of unpredictable in class, which is an encouragement and a challenge for them
Trang 34CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
This chapter describes the research methodology employed in the study It gives
the description of the subjects, the instruments and the study methodology 3.1 Research design
In order to find out the answers to the research questions “To what extent has Communicative Language Teaching been applied in teaching non-English majored
students at VLTTC?” and “What are the main barriers in applying CLT to teach non-
English majored students at VLTTC?” questionnaires were used to collect the data
from teachers and students at VLTTC
3.2 Participants
There were two groups of participants The English teachers at VLTTC, who provided their practice and information related to the two research questions and the non-English majored students who provided the feedback related to how they studied
English The information provided by the students studying in the classes taught by the
teacher participants might double check how CLT had been applied in the classes so
far
The first group of participants of the study were seven English teachers from VLTTC All of the English teachers of the school joined the study (three males and four females) with their age ranged from 46 to 56 years and their average age is 51 Their teaching experience ranged from 12 to 28 years with an average of 20 years The average age of teachers, 51, and the average 20 years of teaching pointed out that they were mainly trained to use traditional English teaching methods and now they claimed
that they were applying CLT in their teaching All of them held a B.A degree in
Trang 35The second group of participants was 83 non-English majored students of the
three faculties who study the general English course They were the first year students in the three faculties of VLTTC: 34 first year students from the Nursery Education Faculty, 24 first year students from the Informatics- Natural Sciences Faculty, and 25
first year students from the Social Sciences Faculty 3.3 Data collection instruments
Two sets of questionnaire were used in the study One set for the teachers and one for the students The questionnaires were in English and were then translated into
Vietnamese
3.3.1 Teacher questionnaire
The questionnaire was designed according to the following principles: the teachers could complete their questionnaires right at the teachers’ room; all data (with
the exception of hand - written opinions) could be coded and analysed statistically The questionnaire included 22 questions arranged in three parts (Appendix 1)
Two types of questions were used: open and close questions Eighteen of them were close questions with Likert five-scale answers, which are typically used to investigate how participants feedback about a series of statements According to Brown (2001), this kind of questions are effective for gathering the subjects’ views, opinions and attitudes that were about teaching activities The questionnaire had four open questions
as well
Part I consisted of Questions 1, 2 and 3 that requested the matter concerning about the teachers’ age, qualification and years of teaching experience
Part II consisted of 15 questions in order to answer the research question
number one They were about the seven characteristics as the symbols of CLT in order to certify whether teachers actually applied CLT, and to what extent they had conducted their teaching basing on the recommendations of CLT teaching
Trang 36choices as never (1), seldom (2), sometimes (3), often (4), or always (5) Questions 4-5
intended to find whether the teachers’ lessons focused on the first characteristic of CLT that the primary goal of language learning is to build up communicative competence and to be able to use the language appropriately in a given social context Question 6-8 were designed to capture teachers’ attitudes towards classroom activities
associated with the second characteristic of CLT that in CLT, true communication is
not possible without interaction They were asked if they provided their students with activities that required students to talk and listen to each other, and if they encouraged students to ask and answer questions Questions 9-10 were statements about the third
characteristic of CLT that in everyday CLT activity, communicative intent is always
emphasized Teachers were asked if they actively engaged students in negotiating
meaning — in trying to make students get messages understood — even when their
knowledge of the target language was incomplete Question 11-12 were related to the
fourth characteristic of CLT that if messages are understood, accuracy may be
achieved later Teachers were asked about their acts towards studerits’ mistakes — if they ignored or corrected any of the students’ mistakes Question 13-14 were related to the fifth characteristic of CLT that CLT emphasizes on learner-centered teaching Teachers were asked if they encouraged self study and used many different techniques such as eliciting, creating information gap, and even translation to perform a function or a single form to serve a variety of functions Question 15 -17 were related to the sixth characteristic of CLT that CLT also introduces the use of authentic materials in class Teachers were asked if they used various materials and introduced culture in
contexts Question 18 was related to the seventh characteristic of CLT that in CLT,
the role of the teacher is that of a facilitator and guide This question elicited teachers’ attitudes towards their roles in class — if they played the role of a controller all the time of their teaching or not
Part III (Question 19 - 22) were used to answer the research question number
Trang 37educational system of Vietnam they might deal with in their teaching They were also asked whether CLT theory and requirements caused them any problems
3.3.2 Student questionnaire
Generally, the questions in students’ questionnaire were similar to those in the
teachers’; however, there were no questions about the problems when teachers applied
CLT because they were about teachers’ experiences Most of the questions were similar in both contents and choices for comparison between teachers’ and students’ responses of reflecting the CLT application at VLTTC
The questionnaire for students unlike the one for teachers consisted of fifteen questions that had similar format and requirements to Questions 4-18 in the questionnaire for teachers, respectively They were about how teachers applied CLT in teaching students For each question, students were asked to tick one among the five
choices as never (1), seldom (2), sometimes (3), often (4), or always (5) Questions 1-2
examined whether teachers achieved the goal of building up communicative competence Question 3-5 asked students how often teachers provided them with activities that they would work with their friends Questions 6-7 were about communicative intent Students were asked if teachers gave them real interactive
activities Question 8-9 asked students how teachers treated their mistakes of using
English Question 10-11 were used to examine whether teachers used various materials to develop students’ ability of communicating Question 12 -14 were about the use and adaption of materials in culturally different contexts Question 15 examined the teacher role in their class Also, this questionnaire was designed in English and then
translated into Vietnamese (Appendix 2) 3.4 Questionnaire administration
The student questionnaires were delivered to 83 non-English majored classes in the three faculties at VLTTC in September, 2010 The questionnaires were
administered directly to the students in class thanks to the assistance of the teachers in
Trang 38charge of the classes, who generally gave 15 minutes at the beginning of classes for the students to complete the questionnaires
Trang 39CHAPTER IV
DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS
In this chapter, the data obtained from the teacher and student questionnaires
were analyzed and discussed The date analysis was to identify CLT applications in
teaching non-English majored students at Vinh Long Teachers Training College and
its barriers
4.1 Questionnaire data analysing rationales
Data for this study was collected using the written questionnaires described in
the previous chapter The analysis proceeded in several stages First, all the
questionnaires were tabulated to record the responses for each participant for each
item The tabulations were then read and re-read carefully to identify patterns and commonalities Tables were made to summarize the frequency of responses to each question Statistical procedures employed included descriptive statistics for the various items on the surveys (totals, percentages) The results sometimes were described in percentage terms which are, according to Brown (2001), easier for readers to
understand and presented in table forms, the most conventional way to display simple frequency data (Hatch & Faraday, 1982)
Following the tabulation of individual question items, further analyses were conducted with sets of questions, which were grouped together because they related to a common issue or theme related to teachers’ application of the seven CLT characteristics They were compared with the items in the student survey that asked students to give their feedback on how the teachers applied CLT in their teaching
Such a comparison provides the confirmation of the teachers’ practices, and their
Trang 404.2 Teachers’ questionnaire analysis and discussion
4.2.1 Teacher characteristics
The first five questions asked for demographic information only These results were reported in Table 4.1 to describe the teachers that were surveyed Characteristics Number (N=7) Gender Male 3 Female 4 Age 30-35 0 36 — 45 0 46 and over 7 Qualifications B.A 6 ` M.A 1 Time of teaching Under 5 years 0 From 5 to 10 years 0 Over 10 years 7 Attended training courses in| 1—2 3 VN 3-4 4 5 and over 0 Attended training courses | 1 — 2 Ị oversea 3-4 0 5 and over | 0 Table 4.1: Profile of teachers