Introduction 1.1. Introduction Research on computer mediated communication (CMC) has shown an outstanding development on foreign/second language teaching and learning methodology using technology of which countless benefits have been proved through numerous world-wide research studies (Abdorreza, Jaleh, & Azadeh, 2015; Abrams, 2003; Bui, 2006; Chou, 2004; Dang, 2011). Gonzalez-Lloret (2011) assumed that CMC was one of the fastest growing communicative media in the world and produced large quantities of authentic materials for instructors and learners around the world. Generally, CMC which refers to discussions via computer as a medium of communication has two modes. The first, asynchronous computer-mediated communication (ASCMC), takes place in time and place independence. Typically, the instructor and students discuss, give and get information or deliver materials through course web pages, posting of forum messages or email messages. In contrast, synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) represents realtime interactions. Usually, this means that the instructor and students meet in a chat room, simultaneously, at a particular location in cyberspace or from any location that has Internet access and interact through typed statements or questions (Lavooy & Newlin, 2003). The advantages of using SCMC have been so far touched on a variety of research publications, the aim of this study is to explore experimental insights into applicability of SCMC mode for Vietnamese EFL students’ language skills development. The present study investigates the effects of SCMC on the development of oral and written proficiency of EFL university students of Vietnam over the course of a fifteen-week semester. The research also explores students’ perceptions of and attitudes towards SCMC mode as well as their progress on language skills through SCMC activities. 1.2. Research setting This section describes an overview of the institution, the students, the use of technology in language teaching and learning of the present study. 1.2.1. Institution The research was implemented at the Danang University of Medical Technology and Pharmacy (DUMTP) under Vietnam Ministry of Health. The first campus is located at 99 Hung Vuong street in Hai Chau district and the second oneat Nam Ky Khoi Nghia street in Ngu Hanh Son district of Danang city. The totalarea is 62,093 m 2 . The total number of students at the time of the research being done in the academic year 2017-2018 was 4,402 students. DUMTP is a public school belonging to the Vietnamese educational system. Its mission is to train healthstaff at undergraduate and post graduate levels in order to meet the requirements ofhealth human resources and people’s health care and protection. Major training programs of DUMTP in the academic year of 2017-2018 were6-year-curriculum General Practitioner, 5-year-curriculum Pharmacist and 4-yearcurriculum Bachelors of Public Health, Medical Imaging, Medical Laboratory, Rehabilitation, General Nursing, Dental Nursing and Anesthesia Resuscitation Nursing. While General Practitioner program was lately introduced in DUMTP in2015, the other ones have been offered over a long history of establishment since1963. They shared many common subjects, except for some specialized onesparticular to the individual discipline. The participants involved in this researchwere General Practitioner students. The investigation was conducted in their first semester of the first academic year out of twelve semesters within six years theystudied at DUMTP.
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES PHẠM ĐẶNG TRÂM ANH AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECTS OF SYNCHRONOUS COMPUTER MEDIATED COMMUNICATION ON LANGUAGE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT FOR EFL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN VIETNAM DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THESIS THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING HUE, 2019 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES PHẠM ĐẶNG TRÂM ANH AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECTS OF SYNCHRONOUS COMPUTER MEDIATED COMMUNICATION ON LANGUAGE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT FOR EFL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN VIETNAM DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THESIS THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 14 01 11 SUPERVISORS: Assoc Professor TRAN VAN PHUOC Assoc Professor NGUYEN VAN LONG HUE, 2019 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ PHẠM ĐẶNG TRÂM ANH NGHIÊN CỨU HIỆU QUẢ CỦA GIAO TIẾP CÙNG THỜI ĐIỂM QUA TRUNG GIAN MÁY TÍNH ĐỐI VỚI VIỆC PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG NGÔN NGỮ CHO SINH VIÊN VIỆT NAM LUẬN ÁN TIẾN SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH HUẾ, 2019 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ PHẠM ĐẶNG TRÂM ANH NGHIÊN CỨU HIỆU QUẢ CỦA GIAO TIẾP CÙNG THỜI ĐIỂM QUA TRUNG GIAN MÁY TÍNH ĐỐI VỚI VIỆC PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG NGÔN NGỮ CHO SINH VIÊN VIỆT NAM LUẬN ÁN TIẾN SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 14 01 11 Người hướng dẫn khoa học: PGS TS TRẦN VĂN PHƯỚC PGS TS NGUYỄN VĂN LONG HUẾ, 2019 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this doctoral dissertation and that I have not used any sources other than those listed in the bibliography and identified as references I further declare that I have not submitted this dissertation at any other institution in order to obtain a degree Place: Hue, Vietnam Date: July 5th, 2019 Signature: i ABSTRACT The present study investigated the effects of synchronous computer-mediated communication on the language development for Vietnamese EFL university students The research objectives aimed at examining the differences in oral and written proficiency levels between the two treatment groups over the course of one semester as well as exploring the students’ attitudes towards and perceptions of the use of synchronous computer-mediated communication in language skills classes The research employed a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design Thirty students from Danang University of Medical Technology and Pharmacy participated in the research project One class of English level of CEFR – Vietnamese standard (B1) participated in oral role plays and one class engaged in synchronous online discussions Data were collected from pre- and post- treatment tests at the beginning and at the end of the semester The research participants also filled out the pre- and post- questionnaires to prevail their attitudes towards and perceptions of the use of synchronous computer-mediated communication in language skills classes Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants from the SCMC chat group to verify the effects that synchronous online discussions might have on language development for Vietnamese university students Results showed no statistically significant differences in oral and written proficiency between the two treatment groups at the end of the semester However, there were statistically significant differences in pre- and post- treatment scores of oral and written tests Other analyses of the oral transcripts and the written papers evolved that the lexical richness had reasonably clear impacts on the oral and written test scores on the basis of the described marking criteria Results of lexical richness analysis indicated a general increase in language although the difference in lexical richness based on the two treatments was not detected Analysis of the questionnaires and semi-structured interviews exposed that the one-semester English course enhanced learners’ language development The ii students engaging in online discussions perceived them as beneficial for both their oral and written language skills The fact that students perceived the online discussions as beneficial for their oral speech, and the fact that there was no significant difference between the posttreatment oral and written proficiency of the two groups, corroborates the notion that online discussions support the development of the same processes that underlie oral speech SCMC discussions are thus shown to be a valuable addition to the foreign language classrooms Based on the findings, pedagogical implications on synchronous computermediated communication were put forward to English language skills classes iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my very great appreciation to all who have helped and accompanied me along this arduous but worthwhile journey All professors, lecturers and supporters I have met during my coursework studies and the process of writing this dissertation earn you my eternal gratitude I would like to express my deep gratitude to Assoc Professor Dr Tran Van Phuoc, my research supervisor, for his patient guidance, enthusiastic encouragement and useful critiques of this research work He has always been by my side to share his experience, professional development and challenges emerging from this long journey I am particularly grateful for the assistance and professional guidance given by Assoc Professor Dr Nguyen Van Long, my co-supervisor, during my process of writing this dissertation He has contributed significantly to my completion of the PhD degree My special thanks are extended to Assoc Professor Dr Pham Thi Hong Nhung, my lecturer and administrative supervisor, for her strong support from the very beginning to the end of my PhD course Her bright personality and integrity impressed me profoundly Constructive comments and recommendations given by the panel members of Hue University of Foreign Languages have been of great help to me in diving deeper into the issues of computer-assisted English teaching and learning and shaping the person I am today My grateful thanks are also extended to Dr Ton Nu Nhu Huong, Dr Tran Quang Ngoc Thuy and Assoc Professor Dr Le Pham Hoai Huong for their advice and assistance in revising the research title, scope of the study and research questions My gratitude also goes to the lecturers of Hue University of Foreign Languages: Dr Bao Kham, Assoc Prof Dr Truong Vien, and Dr Pham Hoa Hiep who have given me interesting lectures in TESOL and guided me through the fulfillment of this thesis iv I wish to acknowledge the help provided by Assoc Professor Dr Nguyen Khac Minh, Rector, for his granting me study leave and implementation of my research project at the Danang University of Technology and Pharmacy I would also like to thank the librarians of my University for assisting me in teaching at the computer labs and collecting the research data as well as my colleagues for taking up my workload while I was doing my PhD degree My big thanks go to Ms Dang Thi Le Thu who never stopped believing that I could this and who gave me her unwavering emotional and technical support Ms Tran Thi Hoai Vi was a great help with technical questions regarding SPSS software Finally, I wish to thank my family for their support and encouragement throughout my study Without them, I would not be able to reach the finishing line of this meaningful journey v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ANOVA Analysis of variance ASCMC Asynchronous computer-mediated communication CALL Computer assisted language learning CEFR Common European Framework of Reference CMC Computer-mediated communication DUMTP Danang University of Medical Technology and Pharmacy EFL English as a foreign language ESL English as a second language ESP English for Specific Purposes FTF Face to face ICT Information and communication technology L1 First language L2 Second language MOET Ministry of Education and Training PET Preliminary English Test SCMC Synchronous computer-mediated communication SCT Socio-cultural theory SLA Second language acquisition VSTEP Vietnamese Standardized Test of English Proficiency ZPD Zone of Proximal Development vi PO: quantity written Equal variances assumed 761 390 Equal variances not assumed PO: Diversity Oral Equal variances assumed 769 388 Equal variances not assumed PO: Diversity written Equal variances assumed 000 992 Equal variances not assumed PO: Density Oral Equal variances assumed 1.076 309 Equal variances not assumed PO: Density Written Equal variances assumed Equal variances not assumed 090 767 -.585 28 563 -.8713 1.48821 -3.91980 2.17713 -.585 26.000 563 -.8713 1.48821 -3.93040 2.18773 -.104 28 918 -.0040 03864 -.08314 07514 -.104 26.706 918 -.0040 03864 -.08332 07532 1.618 28 117 0447 02761 -.01189 10123 1.618 27.289 117 0447 02761 -.01196 10129 -.768 28 449 -.0187 02429 -.06843 03110 -.768 23.062 450 -.0187 02429 -.06891 03158 -1.714 28 098 -.0300 01750 -.06586 00586 -1.714 27.726 098 -.0300 01750 -.06587 00587 230 Appendix 35 Approval to conduct research at DUMTP 231 Appendix 36 Syllabus for English intensive program 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 Appendix 37 Syllabus for English for specific purposes 239 240 241 242 243 244 ... TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ PHẠM ĐẶNG TRÂM ANH NGHIÊN CỨU HIỆU QUẢ CỦA GIAO TIẾP CÙNG THỜI ĐIỂM QUA TRUNG GIAN MÁY TÍNH ĐỐI VỚI VIỆC PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG NGÔN NGỮ CHO SINH VIÊN VIỆT NAM. .. DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH HUẾ, 2019 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ PHẠM ĐẶNG TRÂM ANH NGHIÊN CỨU HIỆU QUẢ CỦA GIAO TIẾP CÙNG THỜI ĐIỂM QUA TRUNG GIAN MÁY TÍNH ĐỐI VỚI... MÁY TÍNH ĐỐI VỚI VIỆC PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG NGƠN NGỮ CHO SINH VIÊN VIỆT NAM LUẬN ÁN TIẾN SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 14 01 11 Người hướng dẫn khoa học: PGS TS TRẦN