Teachers’ roles in enhancing learner autonomy a case study in speaking and listening classes at felte, VNU ULIS

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THỊ LỆ TUYẾT TEACHERS’ ROLES IN ENHANCING LEARNER AUTONOMY - A CASE STUDY IN SPEAKING AND LISTENING CLASSES AT FELTE, VNU-ULIS Vai trò Giáo viên việc thúc đẩy tính tự học sinh viên - Một nghiên cứu tình lớp học kỹ nghe nói khoa Sư phạm tiếng Anh - ĐHNN - ĐHQG Hà Nội Minor Thesis Field: Theory and Methodology in Teaching English Code : 60140111 HÀ NỘI - 2017 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THỊ LỆ TUYẾT TEACHERS’ ROLES IN ENHANCING LEARNER AUTONOMY - A CASE STUDY IN SPEAKING AND LISTENING CLASSES AT FELTE, VNU-ULIS Vai trò Giáo viên việc thúc đẩy tính tự học sinh viên - Một nghiên cứu tình lớp học kỹ nghe nói khoa Sư phạm tiếng Anh - ĐHNN - ĐHQG Hà Nội Minor Thesis Field: Theory and Methodology in Teaching English Code : 60140111 Supervisor: Mai Ngoc Khoi, Ph.D HÀ NỘI - 2017 ACCEPTANCE PAGE I hereby state that I (Pham Thi Le Tuyet, QH2014), being a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL) accept the requirements of the University‟s relating to the retention and use of Master‟s Minor Thesis deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper Signature i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This minor thesis may not be completed without the invaluable help and unconditional support from a number of people Firstly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Mr Mai Ngoc Khoi for his stimulating suggestions, critical comments and endless support from the initial to the final stage, which motivated me to continue the hard work Secondly, I owe my heartfelt thanks to 107 first-year mainstream students and 11 teachers of speaking and listening skills at Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (FELTE, VNU-ULIS), who have enthusiastically helped me to carry out the study with ease Thirdly, it would be an omission without mentioning the great encouragement from my parents, my friends Van, Tuyet, Thao, Huong, who gave me tremendous support in any circumstances Lastly, I also express my blessings to all of those who supported me in any respect during the completion of the study ii ABSTRACT In the recent decades, the concept of learner autonomy has drawn attention from many researchers and educators In attempt to explore students‟ and teachers‟ perspectives on teachers‟ roles in enhancing leaner autonomy and the strategies teachers used to promote learner autonomy in speaking and listening lessons at English Division 1, Faculty of English Teacher Education, VNU-ULIS, this paper includes five parts in which theoretical background related to the two key terms “learner autonomy” and “teachers‟ roles in fostering learner autonomy”, the research methodology as well as major findings and pedagogical implication basing on the data gathered will be fully clarified To be more specific, the investigation involving the participation of 11 teachers and 107 students was pursued with three research instruments, classroom observations, questionnaires and interviews The analysis of the collected data focused on student‟s and teachers‟ perceptions on the roles of teachers in the process of developing autonomous learning, and teachers‟ strategies to foster self-learning in the aforementioned context as perceived by both groups of participants In the process of data analysis, mismatches in teachers‟ and students‟ responses were mainly utilised to add into discussions Afterwards, the issues raised in the discussions were explained in the light of theoretical framework to draw significant implications which are expected to help better application of learner autonomy in improving students listening and speaking skills and other skills in the future iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACCEPTANCE PAGE i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .1 1.1 Research problem, theoretical background and rationale 1.2 Research aims and research questions 1.3 Significance of the study .3 1.4 Scope of the study .4 1.5 Methods of the study 1.6 Organization of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Learner autonomy in language learning 2.1.1 Definitions 2.1.2 Dimensions of learner autonomy 2.1.3 Levels of learner autonomy 10 2.1.4 Components and assessment of learner autonomy 11 2.1.5 Approaches to support learner autonomy .12 2.2 Teacher‟s Roles in Fostering Learner Autonomy .13 2.2.1 Teacher‟s Roles and Autonomous Learning 13 2.2.2 Related studies on the roles of teacher in fostering learner autonomy 14 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 22 3.1 Research questions 22 3.2 Research Context .22 3.3 Research Design 24 3.3.1 Case study .24 iv 3.3.2 Participants .24 3.4 Data collection instruments .26 3.4.1 Questionnaires 26 3.4.2 Interviews .30 3.4.3 Classroom observation 31 3.5 Data collection procedure 33 3.5.1 Step - Design research instruments .33 3.5.2 Step - Conduct observations in the participating classes 33 3.5.3 Step - Distribute questionnaires to the participants .33 3.5.4 Step - Conduct interviews with the participants 34 3.6 Data analysis methods and procedure .35 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND MAJOR FINDINGS 37 4.1 Results and findings from survey questionnaires 37 4.2 Results and findings from interviews 40 4.2.1 Results and findings from teachers‟ interviews 40 4.2.2 Results and findings from students‟ interviews 49 4.3 Results from classroom observations 57 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION .60 5.1 Major findings of the study .60 5.1.1 Research question 1: What are teachers‟ roles in enhancing learner autonomy in speaking and listening classes as perceived by teachers and students? 60 5.1.2 Research question 2: What strategies have teachers used to promote learner autonomy in speaking and listening lessons? 60 5.2 Pedagogical implications 61 5.3 Limitations of the study .62 5.4 Suggestions for further studies 63 APPENDIX 1A I APPENDIX 1B III APPENDIX 2A V v APPENDIX 2B VI APPENDIX VII APPENDIX 3.A1 VIII APPENDIX 3.A2 X APPENDIX 3.A3 XI APPENDIX 3.B1 XII APPENDIX 3.B2 XIII APPENDIX 3.B3 XIV APPENDIX 3.C3 XV APPENDIX 3.C2 XVII APPENDIX 3.C3 XVIII APPENDIX 3.D1 XIX APPENDIX 3.D2 XX APPENDIX 3.D3 XXI APPENDIX 4A XXII APPENDIX 4B XXII APPENDIX 5A XXIX APPENDIX 5B XXIX vi LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: The levels of learner autonomy (Nunan, 1997, p.192-203) Table 2.2: Teacher‟ roles in developing learner autonomy from students‟ perspectives (Xu & Xu, 2004 as cited in Ligang, 2014) Table 3.1: The process of selecting participants Table 3.2: Question items categorised in different teacher‟ roles to foster learner autonomy 10 16 25 27 Table 3.3: Classroom observations schedule 27 Table 3.4: Teacher‟ roles and descriptions (adapted from Xu & Xu, 2014) 31 Table 4.1: Teachers‟ strategies to promote learner autonomy 32 Table 4.2: Students‟ perspectives of teachers‟ roles in fostering learner autonomy in speaking and listening lessons Table 4.3: Teachers‟ roles in the classroom 45 52 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1: Role mean scores of teachers‟ and students‟ responses vii 38 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS FELTE Faculty of English Language Teacher Education ULIS University of Languages and International Studies VNU Vietnam National University, Hanoi ESL English as a Second Language viii APPENDIX 3.D2 - OBSERVATION CHECKLIST Date: 21/03/2017 Group: Name of teacher: Tham Week: 10 Number of students: 30 Venue: 606 A2 Theme: Revision W5-8 Duration: 90 mins (1 - 2:30 p.m.) v v Evidence The teacher teaches English learning strategies and methods The teacher introduces effective ways of practising English listening and speaking autonomously The teacher offers assistance during the lesson The teacher organises some communicative activities to get students more chances to practice English The teacher encourages students to use English in class The teacher provides students with feedback of their performance and some guidance to improve it The teacher provides some references and materials for English learning The teacher creates harmonious and active class atmosphere to facilitate students‟ English studies Others: Notes This is a revision week so there will be no lectures The teacher doesn’t give oral feedback after each role play She gives her comments on the checklist and then returns it to the groups - After each play, the teacher randomly invites some students to give their comments on their friends’ performance - T announces the marks after all performances XX APPENDIX 3.D3 - OBSERVATION CHECKLIST Date: 28/03/2017 Group: Name of teacher: Tham Week: 11 Number of students: 30 Venue: 606 A2 Theme: Communities Duration: 90 mins (1 - 2:30 p.m.) Evidence v The teacher teaches English learning strategies and methods - Notes Reading for details - “How well you know your neighbours?” Talking about qualities of a good neighbour The teacher introduces effective ways of practising English listening and speaking autonomously v v v v - The teacher offers assistance during the lesson The teacher organises some communicative activities to get students more chances to practice English The teacher encourages students to use English in class The teacher provides students with feedback of their performance and some guidance to improve it The teacher provides some references and materials for English learning The teacher creates harmonious and active class atmosphere to facilitate students‟ English studies Others: - T moves around to listen to students’ discussion and suggests some new ideas Pair work to discuss their neighbourhood Group work to list out qualities of a good neighbour T reminds students of using English in their discussions - T helps to correct students’ pronunciation mistakes - The students are quite active in pair and group work activities XXI APPENDIX 4A: Teachers’ perspectives on the roles of teachers in enhancing learner autonomy Role Inspirator Resource supplier Guide Facilitator Organiser Evaluator Cooperator Item 13 19 20 17 16 18 11 12 14 15 10 Mean 4.73 4.55 4.82 4.55 4.18 4.64 4.64 4.64 4.64 3.64 4.64 4.0 3.91 4.36 3.64 3.91 4.64 3.55 4.36 4.09 SD 0.47 0.69 0.4 0.69 0.87 0.67 0.5 0.67 0.5 0.67 0.5 0.89 1.04 0.81 1.12 0.94 0.67 1.13 0.5 0.54 Role mean Role SD 4.7 4.55 0.15 4.48 4.3 4.23 4.06 0.19 0.10 0.23 0.23 0.35 APPENDIX 4B: Students’ perspectives on the roles of teachers in enhancing learner autonomy Role Inspirator Resource supplier Guide Facilitator Organiser Evaluator Cooperator Item 13 19 20 17 16 18 11 12 14 15 Mean 4.09 4.34 4.43 4.2 3.64 4.12 4.21 4.05 4.21 3.66 4.55 3.45 3.25 3.88 3.11 3.75 4.48 3.76 4.17 4.1 SD 0.78 0.75 0.63 0.62 0.74 0.84 0.77 0.9 0.63 0.95 0.55 0.76 0.91 0.77 1.02 0.95 0.65 0.96 0.69 0.8 Role mean Role SD 4.29 0.08 4.2 3.99 3.97 3.78 4.29 4.01 0.05 0.17 0.15 0.20 0.14 XXII 10 APPENDIX 5A: SUMMARISED TRANSCRIPTS OF TEACHERS’ RESPONSES ON THEIR ROLES Teacher Extracts Roles I also introduced them some websites so that Resource they can learn and practice their skills supplier autonomously As you know, most of my students at this university are freshmen, so they don‟t have much experience with listening and speaking English Therefore, teachers will be the one who provides them sources I think it is creating English speaking Inspirator environment for students to practice their listening and speaking skills, because most of them may have good reading and writing skills, Anh but listening and speaking are quite hard for them to self - study At home, they can only practice listening skills by replaying the audio files again and again, but they need to come to the class to practice speaking Besides, teachers also have another important role, giving Evaluator feedback, because there will be no one at home to help students find their mistakes, and there won‟t be teacher-student interaction I think there may be some other roles that I have played in my class, but I find it difficult to name them and I even don’t think that they are such important that I consider them as my roles XXIII Other roles I try to make English study a natural experience for them That means I try my best to involve chances of practicing English, as many as I Organiser can This means I tried to follow CLT approach in speaking class, also, I tried to include speaking session in other skill‟s session Also, I try to learn more about my students’ own preference in order to direct or suggest their Cooperator study course in the way that is suitable for them For example, if my student likes horror games, I will encourage the students to work on projects that involve horror themes Sometimes I share with them my own experience in Thuong learning English, tell them stories related to Cooperator the topic we are working on I often introduce some book titles, films, Resource songs, and suggest them going to Sword Lake supplier to talk with foreigners I tell them about the frequency of watching Guide films, or reading books Some students asked me about whether they should watch their films with or without English subtitles, and I told them it didn‟t matter, as long as they made and kept the habit I also share with them some tips to be polite when they stop foreigners to practice English with them I think my fundamental duty is to make Inspirator student love learning English Another role XXIV that I consider important is to provide guidance on English language and English language Guide learning First of all, I think as a teacher, I try to make students clear that they should become much more independent, and the importance of Guide why being independent or autonomous is so important, how it will help them in their language learning So if they are clear about this, they will initiate the steps, they are willing to take the steps, and the teachers will give them some guidance in order to be autonomous And in the classroom, you can see there are a lot of activities in which students can help each Binh Organiser other when they are listening to the same materials, they not ask the teacher for help all the time but they learn from each other Besides, at the beginning of the course, I even asked the students to fill a form with their short and long term goals, then I signed in it So apart from using the compulsory materials, I recommended them some books so that they can read and know how important it is to Resource have some other social skills such as learning supplier things fast, or other things because they not have the tools They have the willingness but they not know what to with it However, teachers are not responsible for LA XXV but they can learn from other people, their friends or parents And I'm very interested in helping them have Guide learning habits rather than setting goals For example asking them how they can spend time on practicing speaking and listening skills Cooperator and other subjects like reading and writing at home, and how they can make efficiently use of their time For example they have only hour for practicing all skills, so how to make use of it I even recommended them some applications in order to track But very few students use the apps and they often quitted after kind of month I give them some guidance about how they Guide can improve those skills by themselves or Resource some online materials (Can you be more supplier specific?) For example, I often talk to my students that using Speak Out is one excellent way to improve their listening and speaking because some of the students are very weak, they even can‟t manage to catch the main ideas of some recordings in SpeakOut So I recommend them to use the recordings and transcripts at home to record their voice and imitate the speakers for many times And other people I also tell them that watching movies is not a good way to practice listening and speaking at this stage XXVI I think it is really important to make the students understand that learning Guide by themselves is significant Because the students get the same materials from the textbooks, they can take part in various activities rather than just complete exercises So I try to guide them how to listen, take notes or listen to the in class Guide audio files again and again And it is necessary to guide them from the first semester at university, to show them how to learn autonomously Regarding setting goals, I helped the students divide the goals in the Guide course guide into short and long term goals, Tham for example goals for the first weeks so that they can reflect what they achieve after that period of time I think we can be an instructor who provides Instructor the students with guidance, the one who Organiser organizes activities to make sure that the student keep track We can also be their partners, listen to their problems and give Cooperator guidance to help them solve them Another important job is inspiring; let the students know the reasons for learning English and they will work on it better And lastly, learning should go with discipline Sometimes you need to be strict to let the students know that there are other people are working and they need to be XXVII Guide more focused I often prepare some games or warm-up activities so that they can be more relaxed during the lessons Sometimes I talked to them about the hot topics that have been raised recently or their students' life XXVIII Organiser APPENDIX 5B: SUMMARISED TRANSRIPTIONS OF STUDENTS’ RESPONSES ON TEACHERS’ ROLES Group Responses Roles fulfilled by the teacher No Of course it's what we have to do, not the teacher Yes, he did Yes, there are activities that teacher needs to set the time so that we can stay focused and finish the task No He gave instructions only Yes He gave us goals from course guide No, T followed the curriculum Yes, he did Yes, he did Yes, he did 10 Yes, he did 11 No, he didn‟t 12 Yes, she organised games for us 13 Yes, she followed the curriculum 14 Yes, he did 15 Yes, he said if we didn't work hard at home, we could not reach our goal at the end of this semester 16 Yes, he introduces websites for us to self-study at home 17 No, he didn‟t 18 Yes, he did 19 Yes, he did 20 Yes, he did Most important roles: 13, 17, 18/ 5, 7, 13 / 2, 11, 20/ 16, 18, 20 / 7, 13, 19 …For me, a good teacher must enhance student's interest in XXIX Group Responses learning If he or she likes to learn English, he can be very eager to self study In our class, the teacher created exciting lessons so that we can not only practice our English skills but also learn how to work in pairs, in groups He also suggested us with some websites so that we can self study at home Roles fulfilled by the teacher: No, I think this is the role of both the teacher and students She is strict to us but couldn't make us work harder I think it is because we don‟t really like her teaching methods Yes but not very often N, she didn‟t No, the teacher just asked some questions to lead-in and then we started Yes, she told us to play a game to brainstorm and gave us a lot of vocabulary that we have to learn in class I don't think the teacher of 2A helped us to set the goals Like in 2B, the teacher told us not to repeat the mistakes in each writing assignment and checked our writing very carefully Yes, she followed the curriculum Yes but only after we role-plays, but not very often Yes, she did Yes, she did 10 Yes, she did 11 No, I don't think I make progress in her lesson Yes, she makes me feel more confident in speaking and speaking lessons, especially speaking, and I think I make big progress XXX Group Responses 12 No, she didn't give us any sources to practice the skills outside the class 13 Yes, by playing games 14 Yes, she followed the curriculum 15 Yes, she did 16 No, she rarely mentioned to our self studying at home Yes, I remember she provided an example of how a hardworking person made such a big progress 17 Yes, she introduced us titles of movies to broaden our knowledge 18 No, she just told us to watch them Yes, she told us to watch with English subtitles 19 No, we did not feel very comfortable in her class Yes, I enjoyed her class 20 No, she told us to be quiet Yes, she doesn't allow us to speak Vietnamese Most important roles: 20, 17, 18/ 2, 7, 20 / 18, 19, 20/ 5, 7, 16 / 17, 19, 20 Roles fulfilled by the teacher: No, It's the students' job, we are the one who are responsible for us ourselves Yes, she did No, she didn‟t No, she gave instructions only Yes, she told us the goals mentioned in the course guide and encouraged us to have our own goals because we have different English levels XXXI Group Responses Yes, she followed the curriculum Yes, she did Yes, she did Yes, she did 10 Yes, she did 11 Yes, she did 12 No, I think it's the time for us to self-practice and find our own opportunities 13 Yes, by playing games, telling stories about the cultures of English speaking countries 14 Yes, she did She followed the curriculum 15 Yes, she did 16 Yes, she encouraged us to speak English well so that we could communicate confidently with foreigners 17 Yes, she introduced us titles of books and websites for us to self-study at home 18 Yes, she told us to listen to the recordings again at home, try to imitate the sounds 19 Yes, she did 20 Yes, she did Most important roles: 2, 7, 20/ 5, 6, / 2, 18, 19/ 11, 15, 20 / 16, 17, 19 She gave us homework after every lesson and checked them in the next ones She also provided us with names of books about social skills or English books so that we can read and improve ourselves day by day We can also improve our English thanks to her feedbacks after our role plays, especially pronunciation, and most of us got higher marks after each role-play or listening quizzes Of XXXII Group Responses course it is partly because we got more familiar and knew what would be assessed by the teacher, but we appreciate her feedbacks and found it the most effective way to help us better our English We think that learning autonomously is very important, and teachers should help students prepare for that Roles fulfilled by the teacher: teacher did provide a lot of homework but students didn‟t finish all T provided different games and I kind of like those games T decided the duration for students to finish their tasks Yes, she did Yes, she did Yes, she followed the curriculum Yes, she frequently gave direct feedbacks and we the students made progress after getting her feedback Yes, she did Yes, she did 10 Yes, she did 11 Yes, she did, by giving feedback 12 Yes, if we ask questions via email 13 Yes, she did 14 She followed the curriculum 15 Yes, she did 16 Yes, she did She mentioned the importance of English, and giving homework 17 Yes, she gave titles of IELTS, TOEFL, test preparation books 18 Yes, she did XXXIII Group Responses 19 Yes, she did 20 Yes, she did Most important roles: 15, 5, 7, 16 I think the most important role of a teacher is motivating or providing students inspiration for learning English If we are motivated, our awareness of learning English will be encouraged We will love English more Our teacher did a good job in giving direct feedback, providing learning sources, following currilum and coursebooks XXXIV ... study can be summarised into two research questions: 1) What are teachers’ roles in enhancing leaner autonomy in speaking and listening classes as perceived by teachers and students? 2) What strategies... The learners‟ ability here includes understanding the objectives of learning, then planning and facilitating learning in combination with regularly reviewing and evaluating what they have learned... teachers’ roles in enhancing leaner autonomy in speaking and listening classes as perceived by teachers and students? Question 2: What strategies have teachers used to promote learner autonomy in speaking