A study of teachers’ use of English in classrooms at Vietnam University of Commerce

This paper focuses on the quantitative study of teachers’ use of English in the language school at the University of Commerce. The results show that lecture time of teachers dominates speaking time of students.

v PHƯƠNG PHÁP GIẢNG DẠY NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC SỬ DỤNG TIẾNG ANH CỦA GIẢNG VIÊN TRONG GIẢNG DẠY TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC THƯƠNG MẠI TRẦN LAN HƯƠNG * Đại học Thương mại, ✉ tranlanhuong17@gmail.com Ngày nhận bài: 22/01/2018; ngày sửa chữa: 09/02/2018; ngày duyệt đăng: 20/4/2018 * TÓM TẮT Bài báo tập trung vào nghiên cứu định lượng việc giảng viên sử dụng tiếng Anh lớp học ngôn ngữ Đại học Thương mại Kết cho thấy, thời gian nói giảng giảng viên so với thời gian nói phát biểu sinh viên có chênh lệch tương đối lớn Nói cách khác, sinh viên chưa thực đóng vai trò trung tâm lớp học mà phụ thuộc nhiều vào việc truyền thụ kiến thức giảng viên Nói việc sử dụng tiếng Anh giảng dạy, tần suất sử dụng tiếng Anh giảng viên so với tiếng Việt tương đối cao, đáp ứng yêu cầu tối đa hóa sử dụng tiếng Anh hạn chế tiếng mẹ đẻ lớp học ngơn ngữ Từ khóa: giảng viên, giảng dạy, tiếng Anh, tiếng mẹ đẻ INTRODUCTION In the era of communicative language teaching, teacher talk plays an important role in English classrooms Teacher talk is generally recognized as a valuable source of language input for the learner This is particularly true in Vietnam where the teacher’s role is traditionally the centre of the class Moreover, many aspects of teacher talk such as elicitation, and explanation can significantly affect the quantity and quality of student interaction in the lesson However, Vietnamese teachers are believed to be dominating English classes with much teacher talking time while students, as a consequence, are deprived of opportunities of practicing speaking English Moreover, the use of English in teacher talk determines the success of EFL classes to some 50 KHOA HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ QUÂN SỰ Số 13 - 5/2018 extent because English teacher talk is sometimes regarded as a register, with its own pedagogical and interactive properties English teacher talk can be used to instruct language knowledge, communicate and organize classroom activities Teacher’s use of English can greatly promote the communicativeness of the EFL classes as long as teacher talk is communicative, too The importance of teacher talk is not only apparent in the whole class organization but also in the processes of students’ acquisition of the target language Although there have been many studies on the use of English as a foreign language in teacher verbal behavior in EFL classroom, analyses of the use of English in teacher talk in the context of Vietnam in general and Hanoi universities in particular remain necessary PHƯƠNG PHÁP GIẢNG DẠY v REVIEW OF LITERATURE In second language acquisition research, it is the ‘linguistic environment’ that serves as the stage for second language acquisition This environment – the speakers of the target language and their speech to the second language (L2) learnersprovides linguistic input in the form of listening opportunities embedded in social and academic situations In order to acquire the language, learners must come to understand the language in these situations This accessibility is made possible in part through accommodations made by native speakers to make language comprehension possible and in part through strategies the learner enacts to make the speech comprehensible The principle of “Teaching English through English” is highly influential in English language teaching Dulay, Burt, and Krashen (1982), emphasize that a new language is acquired through exposure The availability of a desirable language environment is of “paramount importance to success in learning a new language” (p.13) Teaching English through English “is defined as speaking and using English as often as you possibly can, for example, when organizing teaching activities or chatting to students socially” (Willis, 1981) It means establishing English as the main language of communication between students and instructors Cummins and Swain (1986) warn that if the mother tongue is used together with the second language (L2), students will tend to avoid the one which they feel uneasy about and it will be harmful to L2 learning Cook (2000), when elaborating the importance of “exposure,” further argues that the role of English, in a language class is not only a medium of instruction, but teaching content as well The interaction language between teachers and students is exactly the objective of English language teaching Therefore, teachers should stick to the L2 all the time so as to maximize students’ exposure to the target language Willis (1981) emphasizes the teacher’s role in maintaining English as the language of instruction and communication in a language teacher’s course book that includes phrase lists for non-native teachers However, the question of how to make target language instruction understandable to L2 learners, especially low-level ones is a thorn in language teachers’ flesh Input adjustments, therefore, are often made in teacher talk to boost comprehension Krashen (1982) claimed that ‘comprehensible input’ was a necessary condition for language learning Krashen claims that comprehension is necessary in order for input to become ‘intake’… This ability to understand new language, Krashen maintained, is made possible by speech adjustments made to learners, in addition to the learner’s use of shared knowledge of the context (Larsen-Freeman and Long, 1991) The need to use extra-linguistic information is also emphasized The use of the target language for instruction: From simpler notions like ‘teaching English through English’ (J Willis et al, 1981), through teaching ‘sheltered content’ courses in the target language (Briton et al, 1989) to full-scale immersion programmes ( Genesee 1984) proves to be extremely necessary in non-English speaking countries such as Vietnamese context Unlike countries where English is the second language, Vietnamese contexts not provide opportunities for the target language exposure outside the classrooms Hence, teacher talk provides the main contact with the target language In many Asian countries including China, and Korea, it is suggested that English is the medium for communication and teaching in the classrooms and the use of mother tongue should be kept to the minimum However, the use of English is recommended by some scholars to be considered in a particular context In Vietnam, like other non-English speaking countries, according to Sandra Lee McKay in her book “Principles and Practices for Teaching English as an International Language” (edited with L Alsagoff, G Hu & W Renandya, KHOA HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ QUÂN SỰ Số 13 - 5/2018 51 v PHƯƠNG PHÁP GIẢNG DẠY 2012, Routledge), there are some factors that should be taken into consideration before implement the principle “teaching English through English”: (1) Students’ Proficiency Level; (2) Teachers’ Proficiency in English; (3) Grammatical Rules; (4) Accuracy versus fluency; (5) Lexical development In general then it seems reasonable to consider the many variables that can influence English learning before requiring all teachers to teach English through English RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The data for this study collected through the use of two main instruments: Questionnaires and Observation Selection of subjects: The groups of teachers are Vietnamese females teachers aged from 28 to 50 Most of them are regarded as experienced teachers with at least years teaching All of them have got Master Qualification in teaching English 150 first-year-students from the faculty of English in Hanoi University of Commerce responded to the questionnaires All are Vietnamese aged from 18 to 20 Their levels varying from lower intermediate to pre-intermediate are proven by the fact that they have studied English for at least years at high school The average size of their class varies from 30 to 45 students “The Business - Pre-Intermediate” is used as their textbook Observation: Observations were conducted firstly to provide a general overview of the EFL teaching situation in University of Commerce Three observations focused mainly on the use of English in teacher talk there Observation sheet was adapted as partially cited according to Holland and Shortall, in 2001 and Lightbrown and Spada in 1999 Observations were made in February and March, 2017: - The first observation was conducted on February 24th, 2017 in a speaking lesson 52 KHOA HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ QUÂN SỰ Số 13 - 5/2018 - The second observation was conducted on March 17th, 2017 in a writing lesson - The third observation was conducted on March 17th, 2017 in a listening lesson Questionnaires: In relation with data collected from observations, data from questionnaires were processed to provide a better understanding of the use of English in teacher talk There were two questionnaires: one for 150 students and the other for teachers Both of them are written in Vietnamese to make sure that the participants fully understand all the question items Each questionnaire consists of three parts: Part 1/Part 4: Participants’ perception of the amount of teacher talking time and the use of English in teacher talk in EFL classrooms Part 2: Participants’ perception of some aspects of English teacher talk such as: speech rate, lexical and grammatical simplification, pronunciation, and extra linguistic behaviors Part 3: Participants’ idea of what are obstacles to the use of English in teacher talk in these EFL classrooms RESULT 4.1 Teacher talking time Results from observations illustrated in Table show that the amount of teacher talking time for questions, instructions, explanation, elicitation, answering questions, and repetition or clarification occupied more than 60% of the total class time, especially Teacher 1’s talk accounted for up to 66% Obviously, this shows that teachers dominated the classes with their talk, which left students few opportunities of speaking practice Results from questionnaires for students and teachers lead to the same conclusion Most of the students (46%) believed that their teachers talked between 60-80% Teachers themselves gave the same percentage of their talking time in EFL classes PHƯƠNG PHÁP GIẢNG DẠY v Table 1: Teacher Talking Time Total TTT (min)/a period (45 min) % of total TTT Teacher 30/45 66% Teacher 28/45 62% Teacher 28/45 62% 4.2 The use of English in teacher talk As can be seen from Table 2, three teachers used the target language as a medium to teach English with a different quantity Their English talking time was about 60% The results from questionnaires show that the majority of students (40%) thought that English teacher talk reached 6080%, but a comparatively high number of students (31%) agreed that their teachers talked 40-60% of total talking time in English In fact, teachers themselves admitted that they spoke English less than 60% of the total talking time A teacher shared her experience that she could not speak more English than 60% during her teacher talk for the sake of a smooth lesson These figures reveal the medium quantity of English use in teacher talk The limited use of English means an excessive use of Vietnamese, which may deprive students from maximum exposures to the target language This also causes the limited use of English between students once the teacher fails to form the habit of using English as much as possible in the classroom as well as set an example for them at the same time lexical simplification as well as slow speech rate exited in English teacher talk made up majority Also, most teachers and students expressed their neutral point of view on the statement that teachers had a master of native-like pronunciation In fact, that the rest of the teachers and students showed their disagreement is reasonable because the capacity of native-like pronunciation is hardly possible for non-native adult speakers no matter how good their command of English can be Concerning the extra linguistic behaviors, most of the students (61%) thought that their teachers use non-verbal language effectively to go with their teacher talk 120 106 100 80 60 91 70 61 6367 Neutral 40 30 20 Agree 18 A B Disagree 27 C D Figure 1: Students’ perception of some features of English teacher talk A: Slow speech rate B: Native-like pronunciation C: Lexical simplification D: Effective Extra linguistic behaviors Table 2: The use of English in TT English % of English Teacher 18/30 60% Teacher 17/28 61% Teacher 18/32 60% 4.3 Features of English teacher talk As can be seen from the Figure and 2, both the number of students and teachers who agreed that Figure 2: Teachers’ perception of some features of English teacher talk KHOA HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ QUÂN SỰ Số 13 - 5/2018 53 v PHƯƠNG PHÁP GIẢNG DẠY 4.4 Categories and frequencies of TT in English and Vietnamese Data for categories and frequencies of English/Vietnamese TT types were collected mainly through questionnaires for students and teachers The questionnaires were distributed to 150 students and teachers on March 24th, 2017 after first three speaking lessons of the first year’s second term in the university These three speaking lessons were designed at least 60% for students’ speaking and teachers were just instructors to help students fulfill their tasks On the same day, questionnaires were collected In general, each teacher speech type in English appeared to enjoy high frequency Such teacher talk types as questions, instructions, explanation, elicitation, answering questions, and repetition or clarification were considered as usually performed in English Especially, the frequency of error correction, procedural talk and compliments in English were thought to be higher by about half of the subjects (see Table 3) Interactional and other teacher speech types enjoyed lower frequency Vietnamese teacher talk types were believed to occur less frequently than English corresponding ones Most of teacher speech types were sometimes performed in Vietnamese Table 3: Frequency of teacher talk in English Frequency Teacher speech type never arely sometimes usually always Questions 0 12 58 30 Instructions Questions 24 51 17 Explanations 16 49 31 Elicitation 10 28 42 20 Error correction or negotiation 12 30 55 Answering questions 21 39 38 Repetition or clarification 24 45 23 Interaction 10 36 30 19 T praises 22 29 39 10 Procedural 14 37 42 11 Other 27 30 23 14 CONCLUSION The amount of teacher talk in the classrooms under the investigation is still large with teacher talking time that occupies more than 60% of the total class time This is a consequence of traditional teaching style which has a deep root in Vietnamese education system Excessive teacher talk means minimum of student talking time Students, thus, are deprived of opportunities to raise their voice in the class Moreover, there is a limitation to the use of English in teacher talk due to some obstacles such as: students’ incapability of understanding, teachers’ limited proficiency, time pressure, heavy syllabus pressure, and testing-oriented teaching Thus, though English has been claimed to be the medium of teaching, the average use of English is less than 60% of total teacher talking time Some teachers also admitted that 54 KHOA HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ QUÂN SỰ Số 13 - 5/2018 PHƯƠNG PHÁP GIẢNG DẠY v they could not speak English more than 50% for the sake of students’ understanding This may deprive of students of maximum exposure to the target language and leads to students’ hesitation to speak English once teachers themselves fail to form a habit of speaking this language as much as possible in classrooms Secondly, some features such as lexical and grammatical simplification as well as slow speech rate can be found in English teacher talk Concerning the pronunciation, Vietnamese teachers of English hardly reach the standard of native-like pronunciation Regarding the extra linguistic information, it seems that English teachers make use of non-verbal language but not very effectively as noted by teachers themselves Finally, each teacher speech type in English appears to enjoy high frequency in general The most common teacher speech types are instruction, questions, and explanation are performed in English with high quantity./ References: Cook, V.J (2000) ‘Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition: One Person with Two Languages’ Aronoff & Rees-Miller, Blackwell Handbook of Linguistics, Blackwell Publishing Jim Cummins, Merrill Swain (1986), Bilingualism in education: aspects of theory, research, and practice, London: Longman Publishing Dulay, H., M Burt and S.Krashen (1982), Language two, Oxford, England, Oxford University Press Edwards, C et al (1998), Language Teaching Methodology, Centre for English Language Studies: Birmingham University Ellis, R (1994), The Study of Second Language Acquisition, Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press Centre for English Language Studies, Birmingham University Larsen-Freeman, D & Long, M (1991), An Introduction to Second Language Acquisition Research, London & New York: Longmans Long, M (1996), The role of the linguistic environment in second language acquisition In W C Ritchie & T K Bhatia (Eds.), Handbook of language acquisition Vol 2: Second language acquisition (pp 413 - 468), New York: Academic Press Willis, J (1981), Teaching English Through English Longman Hughes, G.S: A Handbook of Classroom English, Oxford University Press A STUDY OF TEACHERS’ USE OF ENGLISH IN CLASSROOMS AT VIETNAM UNIVERSITY OF COMMERCE TRAN LAN HUONG Abstract: This paper focuses on the quantitative study of teachers’ use of English in the language school at the University of Commerce The results show that lecture time of teachers dominates speaking time of students In other words, students not really play a central role in the classroom but rely heavily on the knowledge transfer of the teacher With reference to the use of English in teaching, the frequency of Vietnamese teachers of English use compared to Vietnamese is relatively high, meeting the requirement to maximize the use of English and limit mother tongue in the language classroom Keywords: teacher talk, English, mother tongue Received: 22/01/2018; Revised: 09/2/2018; Accepted for publication: 20/4/2018 Holland, R and T Shortall (2000), Classroom Research and Research Methods, KHOA HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ QUÂN SỰ Số 13 - 5/2018 55 ... lexical and grammatical simplification, pronunciation, and extra linguistic behaviors Part 3: Participants’ idea of what are obstacles to the use of English in teacher talk in these EFL classrooms. .. English, Oxford University Press A STUDY OF TEACHERS’ USE OF ENGLISH IN CLASSROOMS AT VIETNAM UNIVERSITY OF COMMERCE TRAN LAN HUONG Abstract: This paper focuses on the quantitative study of teachers’. .. observations focused mainly on the use of English in teacher talk there Observation sheet was adapted as partially cited according to Holland and Shortall, in 2001 and Lightbrown and Spada in 1999