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VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRUADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES NGUYEN THI THANH NGA FRENCH COMPETENCE OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS INFLUENCED BY SOCIAL FACTORS: THE CASE STUDY IN HANOI-AMSTERDAM HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIFTED AND CHU VAN AN HIGH SCHOOL Major Major code: Linguistics 9229020 DOCTORAL THESIS SUMMARY IN PHILOLOGY HANOI - 2020 The work is completed in: GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Academic supervisor: Prof.Dr Do Viet Hung Reviewer 1: Prof Nguyen Van Khang Reviewer 2: Prof Vu Van Đai Reviewer 3: Assoc Prof Đinh Hong Van The thesis is to be defended at the institutional level doctoral thesis Reviewer Board at Graduate Academy of Social Sciences, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences No 477, Nguyen Trai street, Thanh Xuan District, Hanoi At on 2020 The thesis can be found at: - Vietnam National Library - The Library of Graduate Academy of Social Sciences INTRODUCTION THE URGENCY OF RESEARCH ISSUES 1.1 Our party and state have implemented strong policies to promote foreign language learning in schools However, at present, according to the overall assessment, the foreign language capacity of Vietnamese is limited Equipping themselves with a foreign language to meet integration trends and to become a global citizen is still spontaneous In addition to the issues of policies and social needs, we believe that foreign language learning and its effectiveness and quality depend on many factors, including social factors However, up to now, there has been almost no research on the influence of social factors on the results of foreign language learning, and French language learning of Vietnamese students 1.2 Currently, English has become the global language and the number one foreign language in the world, including Vietnam This foreign language is taught popularly in all schools and used widely in cultural and social life Some other foreign languages are also relatively developed in our country today like German, Japanese, etc However, this is not the case for French Being one of 88 official members of the Francophone Community, however, French is losing its position in our country, the quality and results of learning this foreign language are not adequate Up to now, there has been no comprehensive research on factors affecting French competence (FC) of learners in general and students in particular in Vietnam as well as in the world 1.3 Reviewing the previous research, we found that there was relatively lots of research mentioning the importance of foreign language learning, discussing methods to teach each foreign language, and specific skills In addition to that, there were many studies on foreign language competence (FLC) in general and FC in particular, however they all research for teaching methods or foreign language assessment Studying FLC in a relationship with social factors is almost not available In other words, there have been no works concerning the role or impact of social factors on the development of FLC It is an unfortunate absence because the practice of teaching and learning foreign languages confirms that social factors have a significant impact on the process of formation and development of FLC of learners, especially in the context of fierce competition among foreign languages today Choosing the topic thesis French competence of high school students influenced by social factors: the case study in Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for Gifted and Chu Van An High School is the author's wish to fill "the gap" RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND TASKS 2.1 Research objectives By studying actual FC of high school students in some specialized schools in Hanoi and clarifying the impact of social factors on the competence of these students, the thesis aims to help improve FC for students and redefine the status of this foreign language in our education system as well as in our social life In addition to that, the findings of the thesis contribute to making appropriate foreign language policies in Vietnam 2.2 Research tasks 1/ To study theoretical model related to the thesis: Systematize theories about socio-linguistics: linguistic competence (LC), communicative competence (CC), linguistic variables, social variables and the relationship between linguistic variables and social ones; The theory of a framework describing LC: the Common European Framework of Reference for languages and Vietnamese foreign language competence framework 2/ To investigate the reality of FC of specialized high school students and bilingual high school students 3/To figure out social factors impacting on LC of specialized and bilingual high school students in Hanoi RESEARCH SUBJECTS AND SCOPE 3.1 Research subjects: Research subjects of the thesis are social factors impacting on FC of specialized and bilingual high school students in Hanoi 3.2 Research scope: Due to the limited capacity of the thesis, only 333 samples of students of bilingual and specialized French classes in HanoiAmsterdam High School for Gifted and Chu Van An High School are studied Other subjects in other schools will be investigatied in another study RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES The thesis uses some methods such as data collection methods (quantitative methods, qualitative methods), data analysis methods, Research materials' desk review methods, statistical, compare, and contrast methods 5.THE THESIS' CONTRIBUTIONS: It is the first thesis in Vietnam studies linguistic competence in general and French competence in particular from the perspective of sociolinguistics The thesis has made the following new points: Describe the reality of French competence of high school students in specialized and bilingual classes in Hanoi; Figure out social factors affecting high school students' French competence THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL SIGNIFICANCES OF THE THESIS 6.1 Theoretical contributions: To contribute to the sociolinguistics an additional study on factors impacting the FC in particular and FLC in general; to test some hypotheses for the relationship between some social variables (gender, age, family and social conditions, etc.) and linguistic variable (FLC) 6.2 Practical contribution: To provide the education sector and the French training program an overall picture of the reality of FC of high school students studying the 12 year-intensive French program; From the results of the analysis of social factors affecting students' FC such as gender, age, family, society, etc., the study provides educators and policymakers additional evidence to make realistic teaching strategies and policies It makes the pivotal contribution in promoting the process of French teaching and learning in particular and foreign language teaching and learning in general in Vietnam to achieve the best outcomes One more vital practical contribution of the thesis is affirming the position of French in Vietnam in real life French is interested in not only educators, policymakers but also researchers Not only educators and policymakers but also scientific researchers are interested in French Structure of the thesis The thesis includes three chapters (excluding the introduction, conclusion, list of the published works relating to the thesis, references, and indexes) including Chapter 1: Literature review and theoretical background; Chapter 2: Description of high school students' FC; Chapter 3: Social factors affecting the FC of high school students CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1.1 Research situation of linguistic competence 1.1.1.1 International Research situation Chomsky (1965) mentioned the concept of LC and accordingly, it is also grammatical competence (GC) The author used the term LC to clarify the difference between linguistic competence and linguistic performance and he said that the research subject of linguistics is linguistic competence rather than speech or linguistic behavior Halliday (1970, 1972) also referred to LC but he approached LC in a sociological semantic way He argued that it was necessary to put a language in its context to understand the functions of a grammar structure fully The council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) (2013) also used the concept of LC and has a view that is close to Chomsky's view Besides, CMEC mentioned the assessment of LC and suggested that it is necessary to base on the four basic skills of learning a foreign language including listening, speaking, reading, and writing Hymes (1971) argued that knowledge of the language of a language is not limited to grammar rules but requires knowledge of psychology and society He called it as CC Widdowson shared the same views with Hymes He believed that the CC of a speaker includes both his/her understanding of the system of grammar rules and the rules that enables a speaker to use them inappropriately in certain social situations Canale and Swain (1980), and Savignon (1983) all mentioned CC and they shared relatively similar views that CC includes GC, sociolinguistic competence (SLC), strategic competence (SC), and discourse competence (DC) Bachman (1990) also referred to CC and suggested that it comprised two main components: organization competence (GC, DC); pragmatic competence (PC) including (SLC and illocutionary competence) Rivers (1973) argued that the process of language learning was the process lasting from practicing structures in a controlled way to using language creatively in communication Although he did not directly mention to two concepts of LC and CC, he implicitly referred to CC However, the author did not specify what elements included in CC According to The Common European Framework of Reference: Learning, Teaching, and Assessing abbreviated to CEFR or CEF (2001), CC includes basic components which are as follows LC, SLC, and PC In this group of points of view, the authors have different interpretations and approaches to CC However, most of the authors share the same opinion that CC encompasses LC We temporarily consider this as a point of view of modern school 1.1.1.2 Research situation in Vietnam Nguyen Van Khang (1999) agreed with Dell Hymes's views on the categories of CC and also said that GC is a constituent element of CC Do Ba Quy (2005,2009) believed that the goal of language learning in general and foreign language learning in particular is CC, not limited to GC and LC Because if the learners have only knowledge of the language, it is not enough for them to communicate effectively The author said that CC was made up of three components including the knowledge competence about the world, LC, and communicative SC Du Ngoc Ngan (2016) said that the goal of forming CC for learners was given top priority, even, a question is whether or not to pay attention explicitly to grammar Thua Thien Hue Department of Education and Traning (2009) used the concept of CC to express communication skills: listening- speaking-reading-writing Meanwhile, The Ministry of Education and Training (2009,2010) used both concepts of CC and LC Reviewing the research works of Vietnamese and foreign authors, we believe that there are different points of view on LC and CC In which, there are two main following trends: (1) to consider LC and CC as two independent, equivalent categories, none of two belongs to each other./ (2)LC is one of the constituent elements of CC Nevertheless, most of the views of Vietnamese and foreign authors are inclined to the second one This fact shows that for foreign language teaching in general and French teaching in particular, following the communication way is the most pivotal and core task Assessment of learners' FLC should follow that direction 1.1.2 Works studying French competence 1.1.2.1 International research situation In the 1990s, The European Council issued the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) to build LC assessment systems including French The Center for Canadian Language assessment- Centre des niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens (2006) studied the French language program for immigrants CMEC (2013) announced a research program on LC for effective French language teaching Most of these studies belong to the language development policies of countries, areas, and regions Rouhollah Rahmatian (1996) studied FC acquisition of Iranian students The research direction is a comparison between French and Persian in some specific elements such as phrases nouns, and verbs It is a thesis on theories of foreign language teaching and learning Maarit Mutta (1999) studied French vocabulary competence of Finnish students The thesis studied how to express ideas in writing for French learners The author showed that the best way to achieve French vocabulary competence is to learn in natural French environments and French training places Thus, being research on teaching methodology, however, it also mentioned social factors affecting FC such as the natural French environments and French training places 1.1.2.2 Research situation in Vietnam Nguyen Phuong Nga (2012) studied the development of verbal expression skills for bilingual students in Primary School The author was interested in how to find interest and motivation for speaking skills for students in grades and Nguyen Viet Anh (2012) researched on testing and evaluation French writing competence in the universities of foreign languages in Vietnam The author analyzed the current situation of assessment of French writing competence of students in universities of foreign languages and built a reference framework to evaluate writing competence in the direction of writing competence development Both studies mentioned issues of French teaching and learning methods, Pedagogy Reviewing Vietnamese and international works shows that the topic of FC has been interested in many authors However, their studies mentioned either macro issues or specific skills like writing speaking, grammar, vocabulary, etc No study researched on all four skills: listening-speakingreading-writing The previous studies followed the direction of pedagogy and method of teaching and evaluating etc There has not been any research on FC from the perspective of sociolinguistics No study mentioned to social factors affecting FC 1.1.3 Research situation of assessing linguistic competence 1.1.3.1 Assessment of Vietnamese competence Vu Thi Thanh Huong (2006) argued that to achieve the top goal of teaching Vietnamese in schools, it is necessary to train students to master all four skills including listening-speaking-reading-writing Assessment of Vietnamese competence in particular and LC, in general, should base on these four basic skills Nguyen Thi Hien (2014) believed that assessment of students' Vietnamese competence does not mean that to judge whether the children understand or misunderstand the meanings of words, be able to distinguish compound words and reduplicative, able to create grammatical combinations but to assess whether they can use that learned words in their communication activities Thus, in her opinion, to assess the competence of students has to base on not only LC but also CC Hoang Quoc (2015) argued that LC can be approached from four basic skills and some of them can be further divided into sub-skills such as listening comprehension without speaking; listening comprehension and speaking; listening comprehension and writing; speaking and writing In his opinion, the assessment of students' competence has to base on four skills: listening-speaking-reading-writing 1.1.3.2.Assessment of foreign languages Nguyen Phuong Nga (2012) argued that to assess FC, it is necessary to focus on skills such as listening- speaking-reading-writing Nguyen Mai Huong (2013) and Pham Thu Ha (2017) stated that we should assess students' English competence in four skills: listening-speaking-readingwriting Vu Thi Thanh Huong also agreed that to study students' FLC, it is necessary to base on four skills: listening- speaking- reading- writing For her, we can apply the same approach of assessment for teachers' FLC The Department of Education and Training of Thua Thien Hue (2009) asserted that it is necessary to have a comprehensive assessment of communication skills: listening-speaking-reading-writing and linguistic knowledge.The Ministry of Education and Training (2009, 2010) discussed both categories of LC and CC in the teaching content but to assess students' competence, there is no separation but integration into main contents such as listening-speakingreading-writing- linguistic knowledge The research situation shows that some studies discusses concepts of LC and CC while some studies only mentions how to assess competence It also shows that most studies are about English competence In addition, their approaches are teaching methodolody Research on foreign languages especially French from sociolinguistic approach are very rare 1.1.4 Research situation of factors affecting foreign language competence 1.1.4.1 International research situation There are many authors mention factors affecting language acquisition or FLC for example: José - Luis Wofls (2001) referred to factors affecting competence (learning orientation, attribute factors of success or failure, support strategies - concentration and time management, motivation emotional factors, characteristics of adolescence David Singleton (2003) presented the age factor in acquiring the second language; Grzegors Markowski (2008) studied the influence of age on young learners with attitudes in the process of foreign language learning Daniel Véronnique (2009) referred several factors in acquiring a foreign language (learners's knowledge and skills, language exposure, source and target languages, age at the critical time, context) These authors only discusses or points out the relationship among these factors but not clarify relationship beween these factors with learning results Following are research findings of other reseachers that have clarified the relationship between social factors and learners' FLC Janet Atlan (1997, 2000) emphasized on learning strategy It is considered as factors affecting the process of foreign language perception of learners His study was based on a diagram of variables related to foreign language learning by Naiman et al (1978) and Skehan (1989) Accordingly, there are five groups of variables including three independent groups of variables (classes- facilities, learners and context), and two dependent groups of variables (learning activities and results) The learner factor is expressed in differences in cognition, emotion and social culture The differences in emotion are expressed in the following characteristics: individual (personality), attitude, motivation and the difference in social culture are expressed in age, gender and previous education The contextual factor is expressed in the social context and language practice The social context is expressed in the following characteristics: the achievement of effectiveness, the relationship with the target community, the attitude to the target language, the social class Language practice is done by approaching native speakers in or outside classroom, using language to communicate, and use language with negotiation Two dependent variables mentioned by the author are learning activities, and the learning results or the learners' competence Janet Atlan (2000) also considered whether the application of this learning strategy was affected by Information technology (IT) or communication The author did not aim to study the influence of technological factors on students' FLC but showed that IT affected the way learners perform learning activities Maarti Mutta (1999) argued that the best way to achieve French vocabulary competence for Finnish students is to study in a natural French environment or French training places Jane Arnold (2006) cited many experts' comments on language teaching when he mentioned the emotional factor and its representative aspects such as motivation (Dörnyei 2001b, 2005; Lorenzo 2004); attitude (MacIntyre Charos, 1996), selfrespect (de Andrés, 1999); collaborative learning (Casal, 2002); individual differences (Oxford Ehrman, 1993, Reid, 1995, Fonseca, 2005) and worries (Horwitz, Horwitz et Cope, 1986, Rubio, 2004, Young, 1999) The author pointed out two groups of emotional factors affecting foreign language learning including negative factors (worries, inhibition, etc.,)/positive factors (selfrespect/confident; attitude/trust; learning method, etc.,) It is research on learning methodology The author added that factors outside the classroom such as social factors and individual factors needed to be paid attention to.The Common European Framework of Reference (the European Council, 2000) also recognized the importance of emotional factors for foreign language learning Timuc Mirela (2016) was based on Daniel Véronique's theoretical background of factors mentioned above, presented experiences of himself such as children should learn foreign languages early, about at the age of seven To have opportunities to come to France for language experience and to contact the local people play a pivotal role in improving one's French capacity Danielle Savard (2019) asserted that motivation and age play a vital role in foreign language learning The application of technology in the classroom such as the provision of audio, video, graphics, etc and other factors create the dynamism and excitement for students Besides, the author mentioned other factors like the prestige of the language, gender, motivation, or personal factors In summary, almost no work studies social factors but most of the previous works focus on factors of teaching methodology 1.1.4.2 Research situation in Vietnam Nguyen Van Khang (1999) evaluated LC of the learners from a communication perspective and asserted that the "communication level of each person depends on relationships such as family background, his or her social experience, and real needs" Vu Thanh Huong (2013) showed factors affecting students' foreign language learning such as lack of practice opportunities, inappropriate teaching methods of teachers, crowed classes, high tuition fees Nguyen Lan Trung (2015) said that factors affecting foreign language learners were age, gender, origin, culture, demand, family background, financial conditions, social conditions, etc Hoang Quoc (2015) argued that family factors or family care facilitate students' learning and living, and the educational environment has a significant influence on students' LC a new point shown by this author is that the gender factor has an impact on LC Specifically, for Vietnamese students with Chinese origin, Vietnamese and Chinese competence of male students is better than female ones The author also mentioned age, but from a different perspective, due to the influence of family factors, self- awareness of the mother tongue, different ages have different FLC of different languages Some other studies not directly mention the factors affecting foreign language learning but indirectly through learning motivation grammatical rules but also included psychological and social knowledge He gives the concept of CC with the implication there is only linguistic knowledge but also knowledge of a set of code of sociolinguistics or contextual competence and (2) GC or LC; Widdowson's view: he believed that CC of speakers included both an understanding of the grammatical rule system to create correct sentences, and an understanding of the rules that make it possible for the speakers to use them appropriately to perform rhetoric behaviors in certain social contexts To clarify the concept of CC, Widdowson (1983) made a distinction between competence and capacity In this respect, he defined competence as CC That means knowledge of the rules of linguistics and sociolinguistics Capacity, usually means procedural or communicative capacity, is understood as the ability to use knowledge as a means of creating meaning in a language; Canale and Swain's view': Canale and Swain (1980,1981) argued that GC was related to mastering linguistic codes including knowledge of vocabulary as well as knowledge of morphology, syntax, semantics, phonetics and orthographic rules This competence enabled speakers to use the knowledge and skills necessary for understanding and expressing the meaning of utterances Canale and swain defined "CC is a synthesis of an underlying system of knowledge and skill needed for communication." Innitially, Canale and Swain (1980) proposed a model of CC with three main components: GC, SLC , SC In the next version of that model, authors had changed some factors from SLC into DC and proposed a model of CC with four components:GC, SLC, SC, DC, Savignon's view: Savignon (1972,1983) paid special attention to the ability aspect for the concept of CC The author described CC as "capacity to operate in a real communication environment, that means in a dynamic exchange where LC has to adapt to all linguistic and sub-linguistic data of one or many people engaging in communication" (Savignon, 1972:8) The author put CC equivalent to "language proficiency" Savignon did not give a specific concept or model of CC, the author is mainly inclined to describe the properties of CC; he view of Bachman and Palmer: Bachman (1990) proposed a new term that is "communicative language ability" (CLA) instead of CC CLA is a combination of two concepts "CC" and "language proficiency" suggested by Savignon (1972,1983) Bachman (1990) defined CLA is a concept including knowledge or competence and the ability to use knowledge of communicative language appropriately in a context He suggested a model of CLA with three main components: LC, SC, and physiological-psychological mechanism Bachman and Palmer (1996) used a term, which is a linguistic ability (LA) The model of LC includes two components: linguistic knowledge and SC This new model has no difference from Bachman's (1990) but the term "competence" has been 10 replaced by "knowledge"; CEFR's View: This is a model that is intended for assessment as well as for learning and teaching languages Accordingly, CC is only formed in the form of "knowledge" with three basic components: LC, SLC, PC refers to the knowledge and ability to use linguistic resources to form well-structured messages LC includes basic factors of communication, SLC is the knowledge and skill needed to use language appropriately in social contexts PC is a component related to learners' knowledge about principles that the messages are expressed through three elements: DC, Functional competence, and Planning competence The difference in the theoretical frameworks and the LC models offered by the researchers are not antagonistic but complementary The concepts of LC and CC have been improved and clarified to adapt to its linguistic contexts Therefore, many different terms are coexisting with the term CC such as language proficiency, CLA, etc The definition all are aimed at knowledge and ability and skills in communication The thesis approaches this view of researchers, the description of students'FC will be in the direction of CC description 1.2.1.2 The concepts of "linguistic variables" and "social variables" According to Nguyen Van Khang's opinion (2014), social variables are variables with values expressed by social factors that need to be considered when studying languages Social variables are social factors such as age, gender, jobs, social status (political, economic), eduacation, etc.; linguistic variables are variables with values expressed by language, often considered as a unit Each linguistic variable may consist of one or more variants Social variables are considered as independent ones and linguistic variables are dependent ones Independent variables are variables used to explain for dependent ones In other words, social variables will affect linguistic variables, which can lead to changes in languages whose manifestation is the apprearance of variants The thesis studies social factors affecting FC of high school students, linguistic variables are defined as FC of students and social variables are social factors such as individual, family, social- culture 1.2.2 The concept of linguistic competence description framework In our country, to assess FLC in general and FC in particular, the Ministry of Education and Trainning uses the Common European Framework of Reference and the Vietnamese framework of Foreign language Competence 1.2.2.1 The European Reference Framework The European Reference Framework (The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: learning, teaching, and assessment) One of the goals of CEFR is standardized the second language proficiency of learners CEFR is a set of scales evaluated as the most comprehensive and detailed set of scales of all foreign language proficiency scales 11 ever CEFR has a reference framework with the 3-grade model of levels: A (basis user) (A1, A2); B (Independent user) (B1, B2); C (proficient user) (C1, C2) 1.2.2.2 The Vietnamese Framework of foreign language competence The Vietnamese Framework of foreign language competence (VFFLC) was issued in 2014 under the Circular No.01/2014/TT-BGDĐT of The Ministry of Education and Training Accordingly, VFFLC is built based on reference, application of CEFR combined with the current situation, and the real context of teaching, learning and using foreign languages in Vietnam VFFLC includes three grades (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced) and six levels (from level to level 6) These six levels are equivalent to levels from A1 to C2 of the Common European Framework of Reference The conclusion of chapter After studying the research on factors affecting students' foreign language competence, the thesis identifies social factors which are suitable to the research direction of sociolinguistics as follows: individual characteristics (age, gender, motivation, attitude, personal experience and time to start learning foreign languages); family characteristics (family with family member speaking French, family communication, and the attitude and orientation of the family); socio-cultural characteristics (communication with foreigners, IT application, social conditions, job opportunities) Additionally, in chapter 1, analysis of sociolinguistic theories related to the approaches of the thesis such as LC, CC; linguistic variables, and social variables both clarifies the theories of sociolinguistics and theoretical issues related to the thesis CHAPTER 2: DESCRIPTION OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS' FRENCH COMPETENCE 2.1 DESCRIPTION OF THE SAMPLE 2.1.1 Individual characteristics The sample chosen was 333 high school students in bilingual and specialized French classes in Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for Gifted and Chu Van An High School The sample ensures uniformity and similarity in learning level as well as learning conditions and time Male students (128 accounts for 38.4%) Female students (205 make up 61,6%).The statistics show that most of the students have learned French from primary school, accounting for 82.3% The number of students who knew French before entering grade made up 15.6% Two-thirds of the students surveyed said that the choice of French was because of the family's orientation with 63.7%; Favorite (26.4%); Job opportunities (30.3%); Compulsory subjects (11.4%); Other reasons (Like music, movies, easy to learn, etc.) (18.3%) 2.1.2 Family characteristics 12 According to the statistics, there are nearly 60% of students whose family have french speaking people For example: grandparents (19.2%); parents (24,8%); siblings (30.8%) and others (25,3%) This shows a certain connection between this language choice and the family situation Most of the students interviewed said that choosing French is family's orientation, in which most of them from parents with 85.3% The survey results show that the biggest reason, accounting for 50.5% for families choose French for their children is because French has "a low competition rate" compared to other foreign languages, followed by to go to French to study Other reasons such as favorite, family with family members speaking French, etc all have negligible proportions 2.2 HIGH SCHOOLSTUDENTS' FRENCH COMPETENCEBASEDONSKILLS 2.2.1 Listening skills (listening comprehension) In students' opinions, listening comprehension activities are relatively limited The rate of students choosing listening comprehension at a normal level is the highest (48%) The second belongs to the relatively frequent level (26,2%) The lowest is infrequent level (6.9%) 4/5 students said the biggest difficulty is the native speakers' speaking speed, the second is a vocabulary problem Regarding the academic results, more than 50% of students achieved the relatively good level The number of students got average marks ranking the second, counted for 33% The level of excellence and weak are not significant, respectively 3.3% and 4.8% The statistics indicate that there is no influence of age on listening competence However, the rate of male students achieves good and excellent level is much higher than that of female students The vast majority of students recognize that listening comprehension is important and very important 2.2.2 Speaking skills The result of students' valuation about the communicative level as follows: 39% is at a normal level; 26,4% is relatively infrequent and 16.8% is infrequent Most of the students said that French communication is the most common in extracurricular activities, followed by ones in clubs and in break time This can be further explained by the results of the qualitative survey They mainly interact with Vietnamese teachers because there is no learning class with experts at schools Thus, there are 136/198 students whose family members can speak French, have communicative activities in French in this environment Of which, the number of the students communicate with siblings is the biggest, accounting for (58.1%), the second belongs to the rate of the student communicating with parents (32.4%), and the rate of the students who communicate with grandparents is not significant (15%) The results of the qualitative survey contribute to further clarify this issue The statistics show that nearly 90% of the students participate in communicative 13 activities in French in society outside classrooms The most popular places to visit are the French cultural centers, then the places organizing events in French, tourist destinations where there are many foreign visitors, or the French Embassy, French agencies The vast majority of students answered that they communicated with people speaking French (74.8%), and the smallest number is the students who communicate with people who work in French agencies (16.7%) The number of students who actively communicate with tourists is also relatively high, accounting for 50% The surveyed students all said that most of their results were relatively good, then, the second was the average There is not much difference in age, however, there is a gender difference in the achieved score The proportion of male students with excellent and good grades is higher than that of female students 2.2.1 Reading skills (Reading comprehension) Regarding the level of comprehension for reading skills, most of the students said that they understood most of the readings (53,5%), followed by the number of the students said that they understood only one part of the readings (29,1%) 16,2% of students said that they nearly fully understood readings Very few students said they understood only little of the readings Statistics show that there is no difference in age in terms of reading comprehension, however, there is a difference in gender at the highest level that nearly fully understands The percentage of male students at this level is higher than that of female students Almost 50% of students said that they read books, newspapers, and stories in French on the occasional level; 22.4% of students thought they hardly did and 16,2% admitted that they did with a moderate level The number of students who said they did not this activity is very small (9%), and the number of students said they read a lot is negligible (1.5%) The majority of the students thought that the most difficult task for reading comprehension is new words, then phrases (idioms, habitual collocations, etc.) The percentage of female students facing difficulties in new words and phrases is higher than that of male students, whereas, for cultural difficulties, the percentage of male students is higher The statistics by age and gender both indicate that the percentage of the students choosing the relatively good marks is the highest, accounting for 60%, whereas the number of students to choose the good marks occupies approximately 20% The very small number belongs to the number of students choosing average and excellent marks The data by age shows that the higher class, the lower the percentage of the students who get average marks, however, the percentage of students in grade 12 who achieve excellent marks is the highest The data by age shows that there is an insignificant difference between the proportion of male students choosing average marks and the female ones It 14 is worth paying attention to that the rate of male students scoring at an excellent level (5.5%) is much higher than that of female students (2.4%) 2.2.2 Writting skills More than half of the students (53.8%) said that their French writing skills were at normal level The relatively frequent level and relatively infrequent level is nearly equal to about 18% The infrequent level has a low rate (6.9%) and very frequent level is negligible (3%) The statistics show that the higher class the students study the less the students write The statistics also show that the proportion of female students who write frequently is higher than the male ones The majority of the students said that the most difficult they have to face is expression competence It occupies more than 60% and the next is vocabulary, grammar, ideas and limited length Accordingly, the difficulties by age not tend to increase or decrease The surveyed data by age indicate that female students tend to face more difficulties in all aspects, compared to the male ones Regarding the scores usually achieved, the percentage of the students by age or gender, relatively good option is chosen most The percentage of students who score excellent or weak is very small The statistics by gender indicate that at all three levels: excellent, good and relatively good, the percentage of male students is higher than the female ones 2.3 GENERAL ASSESSMENT The results of the survey show that the number of average scores with all four skills is highest, from 55% to 60% The proportion of the students who said they often achieve relatively good scores is the highest, from 50% to 60% The results also indicate that the students achieving relatively good scores (7-8) assessed themselves at a normal level.The number of excellent and good students equivalent to the level of proficiency and relatively good occupies not a high proportion The above statistics are quite suitable for the information collected from interviews with teachers The statistics by age show that there is no correlation between age with students' FC There is a gender difference at the highest scores The rate of male students at a proficient and relatively good level is higher than that of female students This is especially correct to the cases that have four skills at the proficient level Similar results also achieved in cases of excellent and good levels The thesis' findings show that under almost identical conditions, male students have better FC than female students have in all four skills This is considered as a new point of the thesis Analyzed data show that there are more than 50% of the students achieve at least relatively good in all four skills, however, there is an unbalance among those four skills Reading comprehension skills are the best while listening comprehension skills are the worst Speaking and writing skills are at an average level and there is an unclear difference between them 15 The statistical results show that, out of 333 students, only 127 ones have B1 or higher certificates, accounting for 38.1% This result is explained by the fact that not many students in grades 10 and 11 have taken exams Students in grade 10 who are going to complete a high school program and will enroll in Universities at home and abroad so they have to take more exams For example: grade 10 (29,8%); grade 11 (36,4%); grade12 (54,1%) Thus, According to the statistics, 54.1% of grade 12 students, or in other words, students finishing high school, achieves B1 Certificate or higher, meets output standards required by the Ministry of Education and Training Based on quantitative and qualitative results, we find that students in French and bilingual classes basically meet the objectives of the Ministry of Education and Training in terms of FC They achieve level of VFFLC and level B1 of CEFR The conclusion of chapter The research results are consistent with the thesis hypothesis that the actual competence of specialized French and bilingual high school students in Hanoi meets the requirements of the Ministry of Education and Training These results are useful for policymakers and educators It points out that students who are in such a good and favorable social environment, their French learning results will meet the requirements of the Ministry of Education and Training and international standards Hence, to improve the FC of students in different regions, training systems, policymakers, and educators have to pay special attention to factors of the social environment This is one of the pivotal issues determined by learners' FLC Additionally, FC of high school students is described through four basic skills in the relationship with age, gender This will help educators have useful information Then they can adjust teaching methods as well as have appropriate approaches for each student An overall assessment of competence of four skills indicates the current studying levels of surveyed students that is the fact that their reading comprehension skills are the best, and their listening comprehension skills are the worst Based on that, teachers will have specific directions to help students to promote good points and overcome their shortcomings The survey results point out that male students have better FC than female students This finding can help test sociolinguistics’ assumptions of the relationship between social variable (gender) and linguistic variable (FC) It is considered as a new research point of the thesis and offers sociolinguist new research direction CHAPTER 3: SOCIAL FACTORS AFFECTING HIGHSHOOL STUDENTS'FRENCH COMPETENCE A research question of chapter is: what are social factors affecting the FC of specialized French and bilingual high school students in Hanoi? To 16 answer this question, we hypothesize that social factor such as individual, family, social culture affecting FC of highschool students Social variables such as: individual (age, gender, motivation, attitude, personal experience and time to start to learn foreign languages of students); family (families with people speaking French, family communication, attitude and orientation of the family toward students' French learning); sociocultural (communicate with foreigners, IT aplication, social conditions, Job opportunites) Linguistic variables in this study are defined as FC FC of the students is considered based on their achievements in all four skills including listening-speakingreading-writing as mentioned above Students who achieve at least relatively good (realtively good, good, excellent levels) are considered to have relatively good FC The statistics show that there are 163/333 students achieving at least the relatively good level in all four skills including listening-speaking-reading-writing, occupying 48.9% 3.1 PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS The analyzed data in this chapter once again indicates that the percentage of male students achieving at least relatively good marks in all four skills is higher than that of female students and there is no relationship between the age of students with FC Together with the findings of chapter 2, we believe that gender and age factors will not need to be mentioned in this chapter once the results are clear Therefore, in this part, personal characteristics factors only are considered as the following variables: time to start learning foreign languages, motivation, attitude, and personal experience 3.1.1 The impact of factors of the time to start learning foreign languages on the highschool students'French competence As mentioned above, age is one of the factors considered to have an impact on foreign language learning outcomes Excluding works researching on age from a methodology perspective, many works research on age characteristics and the role of early foreign language learning clarify this issue Penfield and Roberts (1999) pointed out that children under are capable of learning many languages and fully perceive their linguistic functions; Nguyen Duc Dan (2011) asserted that Vietnamese children should learn foreign languages very early; Nguyen Anh Tu (2013) agreed with Wilder Penfield (1959) and said: "the young but flexible brains of children help children learn a and other subjects in an easy way that adults not have" In our country, the intensive French-Vietnamese bilingual programs start in grade 1, however, students surveyed have different times of starting learning French The statistics show that the earlier students learn French, the higher the percentage of learning outcomes that is at least a relatively good level in four skills For example (before Primary: 59.9%; Primary: 17.1%, 17 Secondary school 42.9%) Thus, the factor of starting time to learn French has a remarkable influence on the learning outcomes of the students This finding contributes to an additional scientific argument supporting the researchers'view that is children should learn foreign languages as soon as possible 3.1.2 The impact of factors such as the high school students' motivation, attitude on their French competence Many authors believed that motivation and attitude factors are important ones affecting learners' outcomes The results of the survey show that the number of the group of students learning French for favorite achieved a relatively good result or higher 1.4 times higher than that of the non-favorite group (61.4% compared to 44.5%) In the relationship to learning motivation and the attitude, researchers also mentioned the attitude of self-study or selfstudy strategy Preliminary data show that 92.8% of the students have selfconsciousness of self-study Among those, they have different amounts of self-study, for example, less than 30 minutes, from 30 minutes to hour, from hour to hours, more than hours a day To investigate how selfstudy attitude at home affects the outcome of learning French, a new variable of students' self-study time is considered at the following levels: 0h/ less than 30 minutes to 1hour/ 1hour and more The statistics show that the more selfstudy hours the higher rate of students achieves at least relatively good outcomes For example (more than 1hour accounts for 63.6%, from less than 30 minutes to 1hour make up 49%; hour is 41.7%) Some teachers interviewed also said that FC was influenced by the students’ learning language motivation The results of quantitative and qualitative analysis point out that the motivation factor (favorite) and self-study strategy (the number of language studying time per day) affecting the students' FC 3.1.3 The impact of personal experience factor on the French competence of high school students The personal experience factor is whether the students have been to France or Francophone community countries The statistics show that 57.5% of the students have this experience A new variable established is the group of students who have been to France or French-speaking countries Analyses of the correlation between this variable with relatively good French competence are conducted to see whether the experience affecting language learning outcomes of students Statistics show that students with this experience who have relatively good French learning outcomes and higher ones also accounted for a significantly higher percentage than the rest of the students (61.6 % compared to 42.5%) Therefore, the personal experience factor that is interacting with local people and living in a local environment plays a vital role 18 in learning foreign languages This finding contributes to clarifying some hypotheses as well as sociolinguistic research on personal characteristics 3.2 FAMILY CHARACTERISTICS 3.2.1 The impact of the factor that is family with people who know French on the high school students' French competence According to the statistics, there are almost 60% of students who have families with people who know French The research results show that these students with relatively good competence and higher also occupy a higher percentage than the remaining group (55.6% compared to 39.3%) Students whose families use French to communicate with a relatively good competence and higher also accounted for a remarkably higher percentage, more than 11,7 % higher percentage than students in the remaining group (55.9% compared to 44.2%) They tend to communicate most with siblings The most frequent communication happens when they study, and then in daily activities The research results show that the percentage of students who communicate French at home in these two situations and have a relatively good competence and more is much higher than students without doing these two activities (according to the statistics, there are almost 60% of students who have families with people who know French The research results show that these students with relatively good competence and higher also occupy a higher percentage than the remaining group (55.6% compared to 39.3%) Students whose families use French to communicate with a relatively good competence and higher also accounted for a remarkably higher percentage, more than 11,7 % higher percentage than students in the remaining group (55.9% compared to 44.2%) They tend to communicate most with siblings The most frequent communication happens when they study, and then in daily activities The research results show that the percentage of students who communicate French at home in these two situations and have a relatively good competence and more is much higher than students without doing these two activities (communication while studying is 58.1% compared to 53.2% and communication in daily activities is 61.5% compared to 53.6%) The research results will open a new research direction for scholars, especially sociolinguists 3.2.2 The impact of the family-oriented factor on high school students' French competence The family-oriented factor is defined as to love French and to study in France The research findings show that the students oriented by their families to study French because of their love for French, with relatively good competence and higher have a higher percentage than the other group (57.6% compared to 48%) The students oriented by their family to study French for going to France to study with relatively good competence and 19 higher also have a significantly higher percentage than the other group (64.4% compared to 41.9% (the difference is more than 1.5 times) Thus, the research findings show that family orientation has a significant impact on the FC of the high school students in specialized French and bilingual classes 3.3 SOCIOCULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS 3.3.1 The impact of the IT factor on high school students' French competence International and Vietnamese studies such as works by Benson (2011), Hafner (2014), Lai & Gu (2011); Nguyen Lan Trung (2005), Le Thi Thu Mai and Pham Thị Tuyet Huong (2014), Nguyen Van Long (2009) pointed out the positive impact of IT development on foreign language learning In this study, IT only is considered in some indicators such as watching movies, entertainment channels, listening to music, radio, etc Accordingly, a new variable on students' use of IT is established including students who have used at least to types mentioned above and those who have never used the applications above The correlation between this variable with students' relatively good FC in all four skills is analyzed to examine the role of IT to the students' French learning outcomes The results of analyses show that students who use IT such as watching movies, watching entertainment channels, watching the news, listening to music or listening to the radio, their French learning outcomes at a relatively good level or higher have a higher percentage than the rest (49.5% compared to 42.9%) The students interviewed directly also have the same opinion This research finding is not only suitable for the current situation but also consistent with the research argument of authors The argument is that IT has a significant influence on students' foreign language learning 3.3.2 The impact of the social condition factor on the high school students' French competence In this part, the thesis focuses on investigating the relationship between a social variable that is the availability of French materials via the level of reading French books and the dependent variable that is students' FC Currently, in our country, the treasure of documents in French from ancient times (the 19th century) remains significantly It is a very favorable condition for French-language learners The analysis results show that the group of students who read regularly, their results of learning French that is relatively good and better in all four skills, also accounted for a higher percentage than the group who did not read or occasionally read (64.4% compared to 45.6%) Qualitative analyses also have the same result Thus, the results of the survey show that the social condition factor (the availability of materials in French) also affects the high school students ' language learning 3.3.3 The impact of the job-opportunities factor on the high school students' competence 20 In recent years, Vietnam and France have established many good diplomatic relations, especially in economic and educational fields Currently, in our country, the job opportunities related to the French language for young people are considered to have many advantages The research results show students who choose to study French for job opportunities, their French learning outcomes at a relatively good level, and better in four skills also accounted for higher proportion than the rest (62.4% compared to 43.1%) Therefore, the jobopportunity factor has an impact on high school students' French competence 3.3.4 The impact of the factor of social communication with foreigners on the high school students' competence As mentioned above, the group of students with proactive social communications is students who frequently use French in one of the places such as tourist attractions, French cultural centers, and locations where events organized in French, French Embassy, or French agencies in Vietnam In these locations, this group of students has the opportunity to speak with tourists, friends from other French-speaking schools, people working in French agencies in Vietnam, or people who know French To understand the relationship between using French for social communication with FC, we establish a new variable on the "frequency of using French in society" of students The first group of students choosing options such as very often, quite often, and often is the group of students with more communications; the second group is the students who select the options such as rarely or no communication The analysis results show that students using French to communicate more often in society with French competence at a relatively good level or better level occupy a much higher percentage than students who rarely or have no social communication (64.7% compared to 42%) The number of students with the result of French learning at a relatively good level or higher levels, use French in one of these locations, accounts for twice as much as the group without this activity (52.4% compared to 25.6%) The results of quantitative and qualitative analyses show that sociocultural factors affecting high school students' FC Factors such as the development and IT application or communicating with foreigners (French people) were considered as factors affecting language learning competence by some researchers whereas, factors as social conditions (availability of learning documents) and job opportunities are almost unknown It is a new contribution to the thesis This finding provides a new research direction on factors affecting learners' FLC for scientists in general and sociolinguists in particular The conclusion of chapter The study has pointed out the role of social factors such as personal characteristics, family characteristics, and socio-cultural characteristics in 21 language learning Therefore, educators and policymakers need to pay special attention to these factors to develop students' LC Then, the French learning results of students in our country will be significantly improved and completely meet the requirements of the Ministry of Education and Training as well as international standards The position of French will be restored in the field of education as well as economic and socio-cultural activities in Vietnam Furthermore, to create positive motivations for learners, the Party and the State also need to make appropriate policies for foreign language teaching in general and French language teaching in particular We would like to propose some specific recommendations as follows: (1) It is necessary to apply methods of teaching and learning foreign languages in the direction of communication, taking learners as the center; (2) The factor as communicating with foreigners has a positive influence on students' FC High schools should promote multifaceted cooperation with French language centers in Vietnam, schools in France, or countries in the Francophone community to conduct exchange programs Schools and teachers should organize regular extracurricular activities, clubs to improve communicative skills, create opportunities for students to interact with foreigners and the Francophone community; (3) To have the most effective teaching, teachers need to equip IT skills to be able to widely apply IT to teaching French in the teaching process and assessment Additionally, it is necessary to establish a program for teaching French online These chapter findings will contribute a new study to Sociolinguistics to test some hypotheses about the relationship between social variables and linguistic variables The contributions of the thesis will be the basis for creating new approaches for the sociolinguistic field The thesis outcomes will be the basis for the scientist to refer and test CONCLUSION The thesis provides an overall picture of the current situation of FC of high school students studying 12-year intensive French programs and figures out social factors affecting their FC The research findings will contribute to the sociolinguistic field and teaching methodology of certain values The thesis reviews the basic theories of sociolinguistics directly related to the study on social factors affecting high school students' French competence From that, the thesis confirm the role of sociolinguistics in language teaching in general and French teaching in particular Additionally, these findings will test more some hypotheses about the relationship between social variables (gender, age, personal conditions, family, socio-cultural, etc.) and the linguistic variable (FLC) Then, the thesis suggests new research directions for sociolinguists The thesis provides an overall picture of FC of high school students in specialized French and bilingual classes in schools 22 with the best studying conditions in Hanoi Analysis results show that in such favorable environments, students'FC not only meet output requirements of the Ministry of Education and Training but also can reach international standards It will provide educators and policymakers additional evidence to make realistic teaching strategies and policies Then it makes the pivotal contribution in promoting the process of teaching French in particular and foreign languages in general in Vietnam to achieve the best outcomes The research findings also provide additional foundations to confirm that for foreign language learning and teaching; a favorable environment is a very important factor With its research scope, the thesis has not provided an overall picture of age, studying environments, etc for all subjects studying French, however, the thesis shows that to improve students' FC, especially in the studying environment in Vietnam, it is necessary to pay attention to many factors, including social factors In addition to identifying positive factors, it is also important to understand negative factors to make adjustments to suit students' foreign language learning The thesis is valuable research It is the first work providing the overall picture of the current situation FC of French specialized and bilingual high school students in Vietnam The findings will open new research directions for the author of the thesis as well as others Research findings show that the FC of high school students is influenced by social factors with different levels Firstly, for individual characteristics, factors are considered to affect the high school students' French competence of students are gender, age at which students start to study French, attitude, and personal experience Gender statistics show that there is no difference at a relatively good level, however at a good level and especially an excellent level, the percentage of male students is much higher than that of female ones It is considered as the first study making this point The thesis also points out that other factors of personal characteristics such as age at which students start to study French, attitude/ motivation of learners, personal experience all have a positive influence on students' FC Students who learn French early or choose to study French for their favorite, have good studying strategy, have been to France or French-speaking countries, have French learning outcomes at a relatively good level, and better in all four skills occupy a significantly higher percentage than the other These research results are quite similar to the findings of previous studies Students should learn foreign languages as soon as possible, especially before reaching the age of Attitude and motivation have a significant impact on students' learning and their learning results This research result also makes a contribution to confirming the positive influence of personal experience factor (having opportunities to come to the country of the target language) on 23 their LC Previous research has not clarified this fact enough Secondly, it is family factors The study shows that family factors have a positive influence on students' French learning such as family have people speaking French, the orientation of family in learning French (favorite/ go to France to study), etc It is a new point of the thesis because almost no studies have thoroughly investigated these family factors Thirdly, it is socio-cultural factors The findings show that socio-cultural factors such as the development and application of IT, social conditions, job opportunities, and communicating with foreigners have a significant impact on high school students' FC Previous studies researched on factors such as communicating with foreigners and IT application Factors such as was studied by other studies and had the similar results to the investigation results of the thesis, though, the impact of factors such as social conditions and the availability of foreign documents and job opportunities only be pointed out by this thesis It can be said that these new social factors are related to the characteristics of our society and economy Vietnam is a developing country; hence facilities, foreign documents, etc are still limited, compared to those in developing countries With this limitation, only students with clear studying motivation can exploit the available conditions of foreign documents in our country Research results show that this fact has a great influence on French studying Vietnam today is the favorite market and destination of many great powerful countries in the world Jobs with foreign elements are now a topical issue Equipping themselves with the necessary foreign languages will be a strong motivation for Vietnamese youth The result results both make a contribution to clarifying hypotheses of sociolinguistics and provide new research direction for scientists, especially sociolinguists The thesis not only affirms the role of sociolinguistics in language teaching in general and in foreign languages teaching in particular but also help educators and policymakers have more foundations to adjust and add teaching strategy and policies which is suitable for the reality of teaching and learning foreign languages in Vietnam It makes a pivotal contribution to promoting the process of French teaching and learning in particular and foreign languages teaching and learning in general Thus, French has more opportunities to regain its position As mentioned above, we have only carried out our research in two typical high schools in Hanoi Surveys in other studying environments, other training programs, as well as at other ages have not been conducted Besides, the impact of negative social factors on students' French learning such as anxiety, difficult family conditions, the loss of French position in the society, etc has not been investigated in this study Those issues need to be studied more in further studies 24 ... syntax, semantics, phonetics and orthographic rules This competence enabled speakers to use the knowledge and skills necessary for understanding and expressing the meaning of utterances Canale and swain... high school students in bilingual and specialized French classes in Hanoi -Amsterdam High School for Gifted and Chu Van An High School The sample ensures uniformity and similarity in learning level... foreign languages today Choosing the topic thesis French competence of high school students influenced by social factors: the case study in Hanoi -Amsterdam High School for Gifted and Chu Van An High