The feasibility of integrated approach in English language teaching at Maritime College No.1, Haiphong = Tính khả thi của phương pháp tích hợp trong giản20150227.PDF

To help seafarers to achieve high quality performance, maritime English instructors should focus on the particular terminology and communication skills that include listening, speaking,

1.1.4 An integrated approach to teaching reading 9 1.1.5 The disadvantages of integrated approach 10

1.2.3 The current situation of English language teaching

and learning at Maritime College

13

1.2.3.1 The teaching situation 13 1.2.3.2 The learning situation 13

3.1.1 Teachers’ perceptions of feasibility of Integration of skills to Reading at Maritime College

3.6 Sample lesson plans with integrated approach 32

LIST OF ABBREVIATION

Integrated approach : IA

Teaching and learning : T/L

Maritime College No 1 : MC

Ministry of Education and Training : MOET

International Maritime Organization : IMO

English as a Foreign Language : EFL

English as a Second Language : ESL

LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS

CHARTS

Chart 1: Teachers’ current language teaching approaches at MC 21 Chart 2: Appropriateness of the integrated Approaches 21

Chart 4: Definition of Integrated Approaches 22 Chart 5: Integrated Approaches implementation 26

Chart 6: Suitability and applicability of Integrated Approaches in

Language teaching at MC

27

Chart 7: Fluency of Integrated Approaches applications 28

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Globalization has not omitted maritime industry Nowadays we can see different nationalities on board This cross-cultural labour mobility makes many maritime English instructors aware that the quality of cadets in the global seafarer‟s community needs a proper teaching pedagogy Today‟s shipping industry communicates through maritime English, the language of the sea Competent seafarers should also be proficient in understanding and using maritime English, which is essential for the safety of life at sea, ship property, pollution prevention, etc Maritime English knowledge and skills can ensure the effectiveness of communication between English speaking seafarers and non-English speaking seafarers; and between seafarers and offshore personnel

To a certain degree safety at sea depends on seafarers‟ communication in maritime English Proper command of maritime English is not only for the essentials of seafarers but also for the appropriate operation of ship

Taking into consideration the significance of the above, IMO (International Maritime Organization) has officially adopted maritime English

as the language of maritime industry But another important step is to ensure that seafarers gain good maritime English communication skills Most of the maritime institutes realize that mastering communication skills is one of the important components which ensure the safety at sea To help seafarers to achieve high quality performance, maritime English instructors should focus on the particular terminology and communication skills that include listening, speaking, reading, writing and try to find the most effective ways to teach the language, trying to use or at least introduce some communicative techniques

Lecturers in general play an essential part in achieving the goals of teaching In addition, the quality of maritime English teaching decides whether the cadets will become competent seafarers to meet requirements of IMO Conventions, and whether they will be communicating freely in the global

maritime community But in the process of teaching and learning maritime English, teaching methodology is the key to success of educational outcomes

In this paper I would like to give an overview of maritime English teaching at the Maritime College No 1, Hai Phong, addressing some advantages and disadvantages of integration of four skills to Reading and providing suggestions on how to improve the communicative skills in maritime English teaching at Maritime College

For all these reasons above, a thesis named: “THE FEASIBILITY OF

AN INTEGRATED APPROACH IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

AT MARITIME COLLEGE No 1, HAI PHONG” has been fostered and conducted

In line with the above mentioned thoughts on English teaching at Maritime College, the author sets out a target to identify what advantages and disadvantages of using integrated approach at Maritime College No 1, Hai Phong and to determine whether the approach is feasible to be carried out at Maritime College Specifically, the researcher seeks to examine the perception

of teachers on how to integrate skills in Reading teaching and the feasibility of the method at Maritime College setting

In addition, it is expected that findings and discussion given would make certain contribution to the improvement of teaching methods for the teacher It means that the specific solutions and samples of lesson plans with integration

of four skills to Reading will be suggested by the school teachers and the author as well

In short, the study is an attempt to meet two aims It not only points to the advantages and disadvantages of integrated-skills teaching at MC but also

to provide guidance and suggestions in applying the method with the purpose

of teaching improvement

3 Research methods

In this section, the author provided the description of the instruments for collecting data that were used and also highlighted the strengths and weakness

of the research methods chosen

The thesis is developed based on a survey research with three methods including surveys questionnaire, class observation and informal interviews A Survey Questionnaire for teachers is used to collect data that relates to the teachers‟ perspectives and attitudes towards the skills integration approach they have applied Class observation is a tool to check the answers of teachers in reality Informal interviews, on the other hand, ask broad questions, collects data from participants and most importantly, to clarify information collected in the survey questionnaire and observation The next part is a detailed discussion

of the research methods used in the thesis In short, the author‟s attempt is to carry out a qualitative and quantitative research of the integrated skills approach at Maritime College

4 Scope of the study

As mentioned in the research‟s title, the research is aiming at an investigation on the suitability of integrated-skills method at MC Since then, the author will study teaching and learning situation in the light of communication language teaching with all English teachers at MC Based on theoretical background and actual observations, recommendations for teaching renovation are given

5 Significance of the study

Being one of two colleges in Vietnam specializing in Maritime industry,

MC has played a very important role in providing Maritime English lectures and labour forces for the nation Thus, studying integrated method, one of the innovative methods with the purpose of T/L quality improvement at MC, in the long-term strategies, will bring out Maritime English lectures that should use some effective pedagogy to help the students in maritime related fields perfect their language skills Especially, in the process of teaching maritime English

there are some problems related to four macro skills in the English language communications, namely speaking, listening, reading and writing The study is

to clearly understand how feasible the integrated-skills approach is as applying

at MC Besides, the author has expected to give recommendations for enhancing T/L quality of the school, providing consultation to the school's educational managers to better understand English studies at MC and making relevant policies of management in time; upgrading pre-service and in-service training programs for the teachers in the coming time and increasing the qualified graduates working in maritime industry who will make a significant contribution to the society

6 Design of the study

PART I: INTRODUCTION provides the basic information such as the aims, the scope, and significance of the study

PART II: DEVELOPMENT contains of 3 chapters

Chapter 1: Literature Review justifies the literature on integrated teaching

approach, categories of integration, the advantages and disadvantages of this method and especially the statement of the problems whose background of teachers and students are given clearly with the application of this method at the school

Chapter 2: Research Methodology focus on the methodology employed in this

study, including the methodology, the participants, the instruments for data collection

Chapter 3: Findings and Discussions are reported

PART III: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS presents a review of the research and the recommendations for the improvement of the material with selected suggestions for further research

PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

The process of the literature review involves the researcher in exploring the literature to establish the status quo, formulate a problem or research enquiry, define the value of pursuing the line of enquiry established, and compared the findings and ideas with his or her own (Andresen 1997, adapted from Bruce 1994) That is why, as stated in the title of the thesis, the assumption has been made that the primary parts of the literature will be involved in the definitions and types of integrated approach and the review of literature concerning advantages and disadvantages of the method The second and most important part which provides the background of teachers and students is the statements of problems It embedded the current situation of language teaching and learning at Maritime College This assumption has influenced both the structure and the content of the literature review

1.1 Integrated teaching approach

1.1.1 Definitions

The philosophy of integrated skills approach is based on the concept that

in natural, day-to-day experience, oral and written languages are not kept separate and isolated from one another Instead, they often occur together, integrated in specific communication events (Peregoy & Boyle, 2001)

Cunningsworth states that “In the actual language use, one skill is rarely used in isolation Numerous communicative situations in real life involve integrating two or more of the four skills The user of the language exercises his abilities in two or more skills, either simultaneously or in close succession.” (1984, p.46)

Similarly, Hersan points out that “nowadays, communication is the major aim for learning a foreign language In daily life, these skills are seen in integration, for example, after reading a letter, usually an answer to this letter is written So in the classroom the activities should be taught in integration in order to arrive at ease in communication.” (1998, p 22)

Thus, the integrated skills approach is the application for the

development of communicative skills in the classroom, in which the four skills

in the acquisition of knowledge of a foreign language can be taught in a

coherent way, and practiced together, with a distinction of the importance of

one upon the other

1.2.2 Types of Integration

According to Meltem Huri Baturay (2010), integration can be classified

into two types, including integration of four language skills and integration of

three areas namely grammar, language functions and topics/themes The

concepts of integration are separated into two as in the chart below:

Figure 1: Classification of integration (Meltem Huri, 2010)

1.2.2.1 Integration of three areas

Up to now, it has been emphasized that skills integration is inevitable if

a communicative way of teaching is applied However, it should not be limited

to skills integration only in a thematic way Meltem Huri (2010) has suggested

a skills integration model roughly falling into three categories as grammar,

language functions and topics/themes

Grammatical Integration

Most of the course books apply this type of integration There is no

topical/thematic unity among the skills activities, but they reinforce the same

grammatical item Therefore, one/a unit of the course book is completely

Integration of 3 areas

Integration of skills

INTEGRATION

Grammar

Language functions Topics/themes

Reading Writing Listening Speaking

centred on items such as tenses, articles, adverbial forms and so on with its skills activities

This type of integrated unit in a book can be confused with a wholly grammar-based unit The difference between a wholly grammatical unit and a grammatically integrated unit is that while the former one ignores the communicative value of language, the second one recognizes it by using different skills communicatively, focusing on a grammatical item That is, the course book is still communicative with its follow-up activities although it gives importance to grammar a great deal

Skills activities might be presented in different topics and settings but focusing on only one grammatical item and without logical links among them There are no logical links among them because if there were, it means that there would also be a topical/thematic integration taking place

Functional Integration

It focuses on gathering and using skills in an organization around one social functions of language Therefore, it is concerned with elements such as invitations, 24 apologies, suggestions, refuses and so forth It helps the student

to recognize that he has a real purpose for speaking A functional element or expression is given in all skills activities but there is not topical or thematic unity among the skills Sometimes both can operate or sometimes, the same grammatical item is presented besides the same functional element in skills activities

Thematic/Topical Integration

In this type of integration, skills are practiced in conjunction with each other around a topic in the way they are integrated in real life If there is a context, and skills activities are not isolated from this context, there thought to

be a topical unity among activities They follow each other meaningfully; there seems to be a storytaking place with logical connections Whenever the writers have examined the course books for the integration of skills, this is the only

type of integration the course books seem to cover under the title of

“Integration of Four Skills”

1.2.2.2 Integration of skills

In past decades, one or two of the four traditional skills were given prominence in EFL classes where one or two skills were dominant over the others Oxford (2001) describes this approach as segregated-skill approach saying that such segregation is reflected in traditional EFL/ESL programs that offer classes more focused on segregated language skills Yet, segregated- skill approach was found to be contradictory to the natural way of acquiring a language and there has been a movement to integrated approaches that encourage the teaching of all four skills within the general framework In real life, language skills are rarely used in isolation; it is a rare situation where the four skills occur alone Teaching skills in isolation leads to distinction between classroom and real life language use "Often one skill will reinforce another;

we learn to speak, for example, in part by modelling what we hear, and we learn to write by examining what we can read" (Brown,2001)

In natural language learning, skills integration is inevitable and in the language classroom skills need to be practiced in integration Language skills

in the classroom should also be integrated in language teaching process as it is

in real life In order to provide more purposeful and meaningful learning environment, teachers should integrate the language skills -reading, speaking, listening and writing- while teaching and practicing the language

In short, the integration of skills is a combination of four language skills including Listening, Speaking, Writing and Reading is the most important task for teachers The writer prefers the four skills integration and will handle the teaching methods assessment mainly from this perspective

1.2.3 The advantages of integrated approach

For integration of skills, Kyriacou (1991) points out that during the integration of skills, the notion of “smoothness” should be provided That is, activities should be chosen so correctly that the transition between activities

should be smooth This approach is consistent with the communicative language teaching and whole language as both emphasize meaningful and authentic language use and link oral and written language development

Sanchez (2000) emphasizes that practicing receptive and productive skills in isolation in the past have made the transition from „in-classroom‟ to „out of classroom‟ practices „artificial‟ In the language learning process, listening, speaking, reading, and writing should be treated as integrated, interdependent, and inseparable elements of language No language process should be separated from the whole teaching task

To summarize, using an integrated skills approach enables students to develop their ability in the use of two or more of the four skills within real context and in a communicative framework According to Finocchiaro (1973) a good teacher recognizes the importance of integrating discrete language skills

in the communicative situations, which simulate or duplicate the real life situations in which students will need to use the foreign language

1.2.4 An integrated approach to teaching reading

Reading, in comparison with the other three skills, namely speaking, writing or listening, is not attractive Learners are often not in the good mood for reading all of the time King (1968) summarizes some of the problems that reading teachers encounter as follows: students are becoming more and more dependent on the teacher while dealing with fewer and fewer activities in the classroom; another problem is that teachers are doing most of the work for their students, as a result of which students‟ language skills and linguistic competence can not satisfactorily Consequently, students are bored and lose interest in reading texts, which are solely followed by comprehension questions, create a no authentic type of session Concerning this, Yılmazer states that “Students tend to get bored when they are just handed a text and told

to read and answer the questions that follow As they do not have enough motivation, they are not actively engaged in the task they are given

Furthermore, when the comprehension questions are done and checked,

the text is left out” (1997, p.59) Therefore, it is vital to make reading interesting and appealing to learners In fact, reading is practiced through other skills „integratedly‟ as in real life; it will become more interesting, motivating and effective for students

According to Grellet, (1981) reading comprehension and other skills should be presented together She states “There are few cases in real life when

we do not talk or write about what we have read or when we do not relate what

we have read to something we might have heard It‟s, therefore, important to link the different skills through reading activities.‟‟(1981, p 8)

Again Abbott, Wingard and Mckeating (1981) point out that there are psychological and practical reasons for the integration of writing with other skills, and so it is in this case: there are plausible reasons for the integration of reading with other skills These are as follows:

1 When analyzed, there is a large overlap among the component skills of the four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing Although there are differences, many elements are in common Therefore, to teach these four skills

in close association facilitates learning

2 In real-life communication, there is a frequent alternation between receptive and productive activities

3 People have differences in their ability to learn through the ear, the eye and muscular movement Integration makes use of all these abilities so that everyone can learn something from this process

4 If something is taken in through more than one channel, it is more likely to

be learned well Practices in these skills can be mutually reinforcing; that is, the channels can reinforce each other

5 Students even of the same age, sex and cultural background are often not interested in the same thing (1981, p 93) Similarly, their interests over the skills activities may have differences

The facts stated above require the use of skills together Harmer (1983) has pointed out that one of the teacher‟s responsibilities is that the students

should practise all the skills He finds separating skills ridiculous and he adds that “Someone who listens to a lecture may take notes and then write a report

of the lecture The same person might also describe the lecture to his friends or colleagues and follow it up by reading an article that the lecturer suggested.” (1983, p 47)

Byrne (1990) confirms this with an example For instance, one sees an

ad in the newspaper (for a job, holiday or device); talks about it to someone else or rings him up or writes a letter or chats on the computer These kinds of activities could follow and provide a natural setting for language teaching/learning

1.2.5 The disadvantages of integrated approach

While generally agreeing with the general concept of integrating language skills teaching method, many of the beginning language teachers voice concern throughout the integration is a challenge for them It is claimed that the skills integration approach is high demanding for teachers in terms of language proficiency, pedagogical experience, technical terminology, the time constraints inhibiting the repetition of the experience in various classes, and the problems of determination of priorities of different language skills Teachers are always assigned to teach many kinds of classes with different level of students‟ proficiency Because of these factors, teachers are anxious to get their turn for attention and investment of one lesson plan for all different classes in a week or maybe in a day of teaching

Another major disadvantage is the complexity of integrated skills which require inputs from many different areas of languages and pedagogies Good co-ordination is therefore the key to success both with respect for preparation and implementation at class It is obvious that if the teachers want

to well perform ELT skills including grammar, speaking, writing, listening, reading, especially technical terminology of different profession, and relevant practical teaching experiences, etc, at the same time would require teachers to

master and regularly update their knowledge and language skills It is really a good requirement but in fact it is really time-consuming for teachers

In conclusion, the teacher should incorporate opportunities throughout the learning process for students to develop their own language skills by responding verbally as they read, write, and learn in English, because it is the integrated use of oral and written language for functional and meaningful purposes that best promotes the full development of second language proficiency (Peregoy and Boyle, 2001)

1.3 The statement of the problems

1.3.1 Teachers' background

The teaching staffs have been known to be the key to success of traditional teaching and learning at Maritime College No.1 At the college, there are 23 teachers of English Fourteen out of 23 had the full-time training in English teaching course at the University The others obtained the in-service courses at an English language training centre in Hai Phong city Three of the teachers majored in Engineering course at Maritime University One of the teachers had attended short term training in maritime English teaching in Canada more than ten years ago The teachers are classified as three groups basing on their teaching experience The first group of seven teachers have over ten years of teaching experience The second group are five teachers who have from five to ten years of teaching experience, the remaining are those who have up to five years of teaching experience

1.3.2 Students' background

Maritime College No 1 is located in the centre of Hai Phong city It is near Chua Ve port and not far from the Port of Hai Phong The school is established in the 1980s and has trained many generations of labour forces majoring in Maritime profession English is considered as language of the sea

so although it is not a major at the school, it is one of the most important subjects for students

Maritime College No 1 accepts students through out the country but students mainly from cities and towns alongside the coastlines of Vietnam These students are from rural areas where they have little chance to study English Only 10% of the students have good background knowledge of English as they come from the urban areas in big cities such as Hai Phong, Nam Dinh, Nghe An, Thai Binh, Hai Duong provinces, etc

Students are selected through an entrance examination for college level

As for other levels such as secondary and vocational students, these procedures are determined via documents assessments There are only about three hundred students accepted to study at college level About 1,200 students are learning at secondary and vocational courses The requirements for these students are the completion of twelve years of primary and secondary education At high school they were not taught English in accordance with the national standard

As most of them come from rural areas, where English is paid less attention, it is a difficult subject that get them a great deal of effort At Maritime College they have to finish 360 periods for the whole course before they can get their degrees

The students start learning English with General English for Maritime Students which is at pre-intermediate level This text book is used for Maritime University students where they have finished an elementary level In addition, many students are sent to study at Maritime College by some shipping companies while they are also working at the same time The age range is also various They are between twenty to thirty four years old Many of them neither have learnt English before nor have used English for many years

1.3.2 The current situation of English language teaching and learning at Maritime College

1.3.2.1.1 The teaching situation

College students have to learn five terms out of six terms within their courses whereas the others have to learn three terms out of four There are about more than one hundred classes in a school year There are twenty three

teachers of English in total This means that each teacher has to cover four to five classes though out a year Teachers have to teach at least twenty five periods per week The number of students in a class is from 40 to 60 The school has three branches The headquarter is in Da Nang Street, one branch is

in 5 km away, the other is in the suburb of Hai Phong which is 10 kilometres away There are two types of course book used at Maritime College General English is used for first year students and English for specific purpose (English for Maritime engineering students and officers for Engine department students; English for nautical Students and Officer for Navigation department students, English for Maritime Economical and Shipping students)

1.3.2.1.2 The learning situation

Students study at three main departments at Maritime College These are Engine Department, Navigation Department, and Electro-Mechanical Department Besides, there are some classes belonging to Accounting Department and Informatics Technology Department All of the students here have to learn English for at least three semesters during their course

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2.1 Methodology

This Chapter describes how to collect information using a set of tools including survey questionnaire, class observation, and informal interviews

2.1.1 Research questions

To fulfil the aims mentioned above, the research addresses the following questions:

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using integrated approach

at Maritime College No.1, Hai Phong?

In other words, this study focuses on the evaluation of feasibility of integrated teaching method at MC based on discussing its advantages and disadvantages among all English teachers and then relevant solutions and recommendations of applying this method will be given to demanding both teaching and learning settings at MC

2.1.2 The participants

The study investigates the feasibility of applying integrated approach of twenty three (23) teachers in Maritime College No 1, Haiphong They are both male and female and have different years of teaching experience including groups of more than ten years, five to ten years and less than five years of experiences 60% of teachers have university degrees, and none of them have gained master degrees They, however share a similarity that they were trained under the great influence of the Grammar-Translation method, the emphasis of which is on the learning of the rules of language, not on the acquisition of language skills The teacher population was firstly surveyed The class observations were agreed to implement at the beginning of school year 2010-

2011, then the informal interviews and discussions with the teachers were conducted

analysis of answers is straightforward; less pressure for an immediate response, respondent‟s anonymity and especially, lack of interviewer bias

Hence survey questionnaire was chosen to collect the teachers‟ opinions and attitudes toward the integration method Teachers were requested to complete and return the questionnaire within a week They thus had opportunities to reflect their own perceptions and experiences of this method The information, therefore, was more detailed and more accurate

The researcher made use a set of survey questionnaires including closed and open-ended questions to cover all belief of teachers and suggestions serving for the improvement of the current learning and teaching situation The questionnaires were given to the population of 23 teachers who have taught or have been teaching English at Maritime College

2 1.3.2 Classroom observation

Systematic classroom observation is a quantitative method of measuring classroom behaviors from direct observations that specify both the events and behaviors that are to be observed and how they are to be recorded Generally, the data that is collected from this procedure focuses on the frequency with which specific behaviors or types of behavior occurred in the classroom and measure their duration There are several elements that are common to most observational systems

 a purpose for the observation

 operational definitions of all the observed behaviors

 training procedures for observers

 a specific observational focus

 a setting

 a unit of time

 an observation schedule

 a method to record the data

 a method to process and analyze data

(Stallings and Mohlman, pp 469–471)

Prior to the use of systematic observational methods, research on effective teaching typically consisted of subjective data based on personal and anecdotal accounts of effective teaching In order to develop a scientific basis for teaching, researchers began to use the more objective and reliable measures

of systematic classroom observation

Class observation is specifically to closely understand what the teachers have mentioned in the Questionnaires regarding their own teaching approaches, their opinions on the Integration method, etc The observation also supported the researcher to look for the differences of teachers with different teaching experience and different methods of teaching It is expected that with such kinds of this method, the author can fully answer whether the skills integration approach is suitable or not at MC

2 1.3.3 Informal interviews

Interviews may be used as the primary research tool or in an ancillary role as a checking mechanism to triangulate data gathered from other sources Hopkins (cited in McDonough & McDonoug, 1997) lists three applications of interviews in classroom research:

- to focus on a specific aspect of classroom life in detail

- teacher-pupil discussion => diagnostic information

- to improve the classroom climate

Nunan (1992) adds the following uses to interviews:

- needs analysis

- program evaluation

- individual case studies

- mini-surveys (within institution)

This study fits well with these uses of interviews Depending on the evaluation goals, the specific evaluation context and the nature of the design chosen for the evaluation, an evaluator can make use of three types of qualitative interview format: the informal conversational interview (the unstructured interview), the standardized open-ended interview (the most

structured interview), and the interview guide (semi-structured) (Patton, cited

in Lynch, 1996)

Informal interview was identified as the most appropriate method to compliment the other main methods employed in this research The informal interviews with the teacher informants and the student sample were conducted after the survey information had been obtained to clarify information from the surveys The results of the interviews were noted; any variance thus can be revealed and adjusted with other methods

Within this research, interviewing teachers is to get better perceptions and attitudes towards integrated approach at the Maritime College It is a structured, unstructured and semi-structured interview It is also a tool in help the researcher to understand more what the teachers have done and answered in the Questionnaire and Class observation

2.2 Data analysis

In order to collect the required data, the researcher decided to employ a combination of three data collection instruments: teacher surveys, class observation and informal interviews with the aim of getting the fullest evaluation of the integration method from the teachers The research is expected to achieve the main following contents:

+ Teachers‟ perceptions of feasibility of Integration of skills to Reading at Maritime College;

+ Advantages of Integrated Approach;

+ Disadvantages of Integrated Approach;

+ Feasibility of Integrated Approach, Recommendations and suggestions

The data are then analyzed both descriptively and interpretively The quantitative data are presented in the form of charts while qualitative data from open ended questionnaire items and interview are presented by quoting relevant responses from respondents

2.4 Summary

A discussion of data collection instruments have been conducted in this chapter It also described the participants, the methodology used and data analysis

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

In the closing chapter, the author integrates and summarizes briefly all

of the preceding chapters

3.1 Teacher survey questionnaire

The teacher survey questionnaires were completely fulfilled by 22

teachers out of 23 teachers who have been teaching English at Maritime

College The questionnaire is developed with three main parts Consequently, the data collected was analyzed and illustrated by a number of Figures and Tables in complying with three main parts as bellow:

3.1.1 Teachers’ perceptions of feasibility of Integration of skills to Reading at Maritime College

In this part, the researcher presents the information collected by 4 questions in which the target teachers were asked to state their views towards their current teaching methods and general perception of skills integration approach

As it can be seen in the Chart 1, more than half of the teachers (55%) indicates that they have applied the integrated approach The communicative language skills method is applied by 25% of MC teachers Other 10% of teachers said that they used to apply the Grammar-translation and Audio-lingual method for their students These figures show that the integrated approach has been popular and similar with MC teachers Specifically, what are their clear ideas on the integration method would be discovered by the following questions in the Questionnaires as given

Chart 1: Teachers’ current language teaching approaches at MC

Chart 2: Appropriateness of the integrated Approaches

According to the Figure, 80% of teachers agreed that integrated approach is appropriate to apply at Maritime College No 1 in current situation Only 20% of the teachers disagreed that this approach was inappropriate to use

in teaching at present Majority of teachers thought that English language

80%

20%

Appropriate Inappropriate

Grammar-translation

Audio-lingual Method

Communicative Language Teaching

Integration of Teaching Methods (Eclectic Method)

teaching at Maritime College should focus more on the students' ability to communicate rather than just reading for ideas according to what was written in the text The others disagreed because they thought that the students were not familiar to these methods of teaching They were accustomed to listening and taking notes and they were not motivated to work actively The teachers themselves did not know how to apply the methods effectively

Chart 3: Priority in Language Teaching

About 20% of the teachers focused on mostly Grammar and Reading and Writing skills 25% of the teachers paid attention to maritime vocabulary and technical term According to these teachers, vocabulary and technical term were the most essential part in learning a foreign language Whereas, majority

of teachers (accounting for 55%) prioritized communication skills development This method required students to be more active as they had to enrich the prior knowledge before they came to class

Marime

Vocabulary Grammar structures Communication skills (Listening

and Speaking)

Reading, Writing Skills

Chart 4: Definition of Integrated Approaches

To find out the definition of integrated approaches, teachers were asked about their opinions on the integrated approaches Half of teachers believed that the integration approach is constituted by the combination of four language skills plus teaching vocabulary and grammar into a unit lesson 40%

of teachers have similar ideas of this integration approach with combination of

4 language skills only There is only 10% who has given out on clear definition

of this method They supposed that it is the way of integrating many different teaching methods that they have known such as grammar-translation, audio-lingual method, communicative language teaching, etc In general, the author and almost teachers at MC have the same belief of the integration method aiming to study with perspectives of combination of four language skills in a unit lesson

3.1.2 Advantages of Integrated Approach

There were, according to the Table 1, two significant trends on teachers' ideas on the advantages of integrated approach can bring about in the belief of teachers The big trend of teachers with relatively 90%, 85% or 80% is in favor

of the integration method They believed that this method has supported us a lot

in developing four language skills for the students, then, help them to easily deal with real situation in the future This effect is very important because both

Various teaching methods

Four language skills:

Reading, Listening, Speaking and Writing

Combination

of teaching vocabulary, grammar and four language skills

teachers and students have the same targets to improve language skills for the purpose of communicativeness By this method, the students are equipped with speaking and listening techniques to help them feel more confident in the real context In addition, on the process of teaching implementation, it is the integration method that enhances the T/L atmosphere The teachers are more flexible to incorporate more learning materials and practical experience; meanwhile, the students have more chances to be dynamic and comfortable to practice their language skills via a lot of activities and games given The integration method is really useful and good choice for both teachers and students to apply in the Maritime specialized sessions which used to be very hard and boring with them

The second trend shows that other advantages suggested by the researcher‟s suggestions have not been concurred with the teachers Only 40%

of teachers preferred to apply this method for the reason that it can improve the interaction between teachers and students Another advantage such as improving chances for students to use authentic language or increasing the more effective interaction between teachers and students are accounting for 45%, 55% accordingly

Table 1: Advantages of Integrated Approach

1 Help students develop four language skills 75%

2 Students are flexible to cope with various communicative situations

in real life context

No Advantages (%)

6 Make the lessons less boring by applying various skills in a lesson 90%

7 Be flexible for teachers to concentrate on the areas he/she wants 50%

8 Teachers feel free to provide more practical experience and learning materials to support the lesson

3.1.3 Disadvantages of Integrated Approach

Regarding the disadvantages of the integration method, there were some difficulties when integration method is applied The biggest problems facing when teachers at MC applied the method divided into four main factors These were the uneven level of English proficiency, the lack of suitable teaching aids, inadequate experience and qualification of teachers, and teachers‟ practical experience about their students' profession Normally, there are about 50 to 60 students in a class and they are of different level of English language proficiency Many of them are elementary level of English; some of them even learn English for the first time For teaching aids, the school has a multi-media room with about ten computers In addition, the time for each class is limited; the room is far from the classroom, as well On average, each class has only 4 hours learning in multi-media room in a semester About 2/3 of teachers have under 5 years of teaching experience They have to struggle for lesson completion as per schedule It is safe for them to fulfill their assignments Teaching outside classroom is optional Half of teachers believed that integrated approach took them and their students much time to prepare Few teachers (10%) needed more time to teach in class 15% of teachers believed

that the textbook should be changed because it is out of date As for them, it was difficult to design lessons with such little supports from textbook

Table 2: Disadvantages of integrated Approach

1 Both teachers and students have to make great effort for preparation

if integration of teaching methods is applied

5 It makes students stressful and anxious to learn English 10%

6 It is not important and suitable at Maritime College because the students need to learn Maritime English Vocabulary only

80%

10 Due to different level of English proficiency and big number of students in a class, the teachers may fail to complete the lesson if an integrated method is applied

95%

Chart 5: Integrated Approaches implementation

Regarding the question: “How often do you apply the integrated approach”, 75% of teachers said they probably apply the method in their

teaching in future 1/4 of teachers would not apply as they have not understood the method thoroughly The current difficulty for these teachers is that they needed time to prepare as well as get their students ready for new things

Chart 6: Suitability and applicability of Integrated Approaches in

75%

25%

Yes No

(representing 80%) said it is suitable and applicable They believed that this method would help students develop four language skills gradually With the current methods applied at MC, which focused mainly on reading skill, students learn only passive language The language only processes in their mind only

In the extend to which the integrated method is applied is illustrated in chart 7 Majority of teachers said that they would not apply the method for all lessons in the program 80% of teachers would choose the lessons according to their interests or for the practicality of the lesson Few teachers, 10% of

teachers, only chose to apply the method in a demonstration class or for

teaching contest

Chart 7: Fluency of Integrated Approaches applications

In the next part of the Questionnaire, Table 3 shows number of recommendations and suggestions for the application of integrated approach It

is the fact that teachers have faced a number of difficulties in the real context of teaching at MC They have worked with at least 6 or 7 classes per week, each class has approximately 50 students which caused overload to their teaching Although almost teachers find the integrated approach useful and applicable, the teachers (100%) asked for a lot of support from the School Board to

All lessons Some lesson

with high level

of practicality

Any lesson you like

Lessons for teaching contest or for demonstration

upgrading the teaching facilities with visual aids, projectors, radio, TV, etc In order achieve the qualified teaching, the school should reduce the number of students in class to help them more comfortable and decrease stressful for teachers as applying the integration method 70% of teachers said that they need more in-service training on this method Provision of in-service training is limited at MC Thus, they required more training of integration method will create more chances and motivation to carry out it at MC

Table 3: Recommendations for the application of integrated approach

No Recommendations for the application of Integrated Approaches (%)

1 In-service training of integrated approach should be provided for

teachers at Maritime College

70%

2 The teaching materials and facilities should be improved to support

Integrated Approach

100%

3 The number of students in each class should be reduced to make it

easier to adopt Integrated Approach

80%

4 Tests should include not only grammar points, but also other

language skills such as listening and speaking, writing

The questions are inclusive of the informal conversational interview (the unstructured interview), the standardized open-ended interview (the most structured interview), and the interview guide (semi-structured) with the