A research into the role and the use of first language in general english classes at hanoi university of industry

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES Đỗ THị KHáNH VÂN A research into the role and the use of first language in General-English classes at Hanoi University of Industry (Nghiên cứu vai trò việc sử dụng ngôn ngữ thứ lớp học Tiếng Anh Tr-ờng Đại học Công nghiệp Hµ Néi) MA THESIS English LANGUAGE 60 22 15 Hµ NéI – N¡M 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES Đỗ THị KHáNH VÂN A research into the role and the use of first language in General-English classes at Hanoi University of Industry” (Nghiªn cøu vỊ vai trò việc sử dụng ngôn ngữ thứ lớp học Tiếng Anh Tr-ờng Đại học Công nghiệp Hà Nội) Field: English language Field code: 60 22 15 Supervisor: Dr Ha Cam Tam Hµ NéI – N¡M 2010 i TABLE OF CONTENT Acknowledgement Abstract INTRODUCTION 1 Problem statement Aims of the study Scope of the study Method of the study Organization of the study DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature review 1.1 The historical view of the issue 1.2 The current mixed views 1.2.1 Support for the Monolingual Approach 1.2.2 Support for the Bilingual Approach 1.3 Approaches to vocabulary teaching 13 1.4 Adults L2 vocabulary acquisition model 13 1.5 Action research 15 Chapter 2: The study 18 2.1 Design of the study 18 2.1.1 Research hypotheses 18 2.1.2 Data collection instruments 18 2.1.3 Participants 21 2.1.4 Procedures 21 2.2 Analytical framework 23 Chapter 3: Analysis and discussion 24 3.1 Data preparation 24 3.2 Scoring the data 24 3.2 Results of the tests 25 3.4 Results of classroom observation 31 CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 37 ii Concluding remarks 37 Implications 37 Suggestions for further studies 38 Reference Appendixes INTRODUCTION Problem statement Among a number of experts in the field of second language acquisition, there are increasing contradicting views about whether to use the mother tongue of the students (L1) in the foreign language (L2) classroom or learning environments The monolingual approach suggests that the target language ought to be the sole medium of communication, implying the prohibition of the native language would maximize the effectiveness of learning the target language However, there seems to be an increasing conviction that the first language (L1) has a necessary and facilitating role in the second and foreign language (L2) classroom Many English language professionals dispute the L1 use in the classroom, something that should never happen in modern communicative lessons They wonder how students can truly appreciate target language exchanges if they are continually relying on their L1s (Mattioli, 2004) Ellis notes that too much L1 use could “deprive the learners of valuable input in the L2” (1984, p 133) Auerbach (1993) observes that in ESL classroom a numbers of teachers, holding the belief that L1 use will impede progress in the acquisition of English, devising games, signals, and penalty systems to prevent the students from using their L1 This is evidenced by the article of Weinberg (1990), extolling the virtues of fining students for using their L1 “This is an English-only classroom If you speak Spanish or Cantonese or Mandarin or Vietnamese or Russian or Farsi, you pay me 25 cents.” On the other hand, many professionals in the field of second language and foreign language acquisition agree that L1 should be used with students who are not highly proficient in the target language (Nation, 2001; Swain & Lapkin, 2000; Atkinson, 1987; Tang, 2002; Auerbach, 1993; Mattioli, 2004) This may suggest that L1 plays an important role in language teaching, especially for the low proficiency learners (LPL) However, there are not many empirical studies that have examined specifically what good effects the use of L1 can have on teaching LPL Therefore, it seems necessary to look at the approaches for L1 using from different perspectives and in different fields of L2 learning, that is from teachers‟ and students‟ points of view, in students‟ learning of grammar, vocabulary or skills, etc This study research focused on one of those factors – students‟ learning of vocabulary And it is hoped that the findings of this study, to some extent, will contribute to the pedagogic methodology, especially in teaching English in general and in teaching vocabulary at universities in Vietnam as well as at Hanoi University of Industry in particular The reason the researcher focused on vocabulary acquisition is that the acquisition of vocabulary has a central role in learning a second language (Sökmen, 1997), and is of great significance to language learners, really important for the four language skills (Cook, 1991) Words are the building blocks of a language since they label objects, actions, ideas without which people cannot convey the intended meaning so second language learners need to have a substantial vocabulary size (Nation, 2001) The prominent role of vocabulary knowledge in second or foreign language learning has been recently recognized by theorists and researchers in the field Accordingly, numerous types of approaches, techniques, exercises and practice have been introduced into the field to teach vocabulary (Hatch & Brown, 1995) The study of Ringbom in 1987 clearly indicates that L1 clearly has a very important role to play in the deliberator learning vocabulary (Nation, 2001) Auerbach (1993) claims that the use of the learner‟s L1 in the L2 classroom will have a positive effect on learners‟ second language learning, especially in the area of vocabulary However, what effects the use of L1 in English vocabulary teaching can cause to students‟ learning is still an unanswered question that the researcher is endeavoring to discover Aims of the study The issue this paper examined in more detail is in what ways the use of students‟ L1 in the classroom hinders or facilitates their learning of vocabulary of second language (in this case English) The debate over whether English language classrooms should include or exclude students' native language has been a controversial issue for a long time (Brown, 2000) Although the use of mother tongue was banned by the supporters of the Direct Method at the end of the nineteenth century, the positive role of the mother tongue has recurrently been acknowledged as a rich resource which, if used judiciously, can assist second language teaching and learning (Cook, 2001) Still, so many teachers have questions about whether to provide L1 support, as TESOL programs at all levels on the market today provide neither explicit training nor adequate theoretical information on the subject Teachers are left to work things out on their own For the researcher, the question of whether or not to use students' first language (L1 / Vietnamese) in English classes comes from personal daily teaching, recent literature she has read, presentations she has attended and the same concern of her peer teachers This position of being for the idea that L1 should be used at certain times may seem heretical in light of what most of us were taught when trained as ESL/EFL professionals, but it is surely worthy of serious consideration Therefore, this research study tries to find evidence for the approval of using learners' mother tongue in a thoughtful way in second language teaching In essence then, it is a form of action research where the findings could have a direct impact on this particular school and the way vocabulary is taught The research is done in order to find out the effects of using L1 in English classroom on students learning of vocabulary Scope of the study This study concentrates on “the role and the use of first language in GeneralEnglish classes at Hanoi University of Industry” In this study, L1 using will be investigated through applied-linguistic aspect However, English as a language consists of different fields to teach and learn, and Vietnamese can have different roles in teaching students of different levels Therefore, the study is mainly concerned with teacher‟s use and allowing the use of Vietnamese in teaching vocabulary to non-majored students of English at elementary level Method of the study This study is carried out in the form of an action research in which the teacher applied different approaches (including and excluding Vietnamese) in teaching vocabulary to her students and studied the consequences of each method in order to compare their effectiveness The study consisted of two experiment: the first experiment with classes divided into two groups (control and experimental group) which are taught with two different approaches After some early conclusion has been drawn based on the findings of the first experiment, the second one was conducted for the purpose of further strengthening those findings In the second experiment, though, the two different approaches were used with the same class in different lessons During the process of teaching experiments, observations of classroom interactions were made by the teacher researcher and some tests were delivered to student The records of the observation and the tests‟ results presented the effectiveness of Vietnamese using in students‟ learning English vocabulary Organization of the study The study consists of three chapters Before we can begin with the experiments, chapter examines the issue of L1 use in a language classroom in detail, and more particularly in vocabulary lessons, so as to be able to place these experiments in the proper context Chapter deals with the study which included two experiments from the design to analytical framework In chapter results of the observations and tests will be found together with some discussion about English learning and teaching First of all, we should have a review of the issue in literature DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature review This chapter starts with historical view of the problem, then important findings and arguments from opponents and proponents of an English-only policy will be looked at, followed by a quick view of the action research method 1.1 The historical view of the issue A look at the history of L1 use in the L2 classroom quickly reveals periodic but regular changes in how it is viewed (Auerbach, 1999, p12) Several hundred years ago bilingual teaching was the „norm‟, with students learning through translation The use of L1 to study L2 was almost universal and readily accepted, in part because language th teaching placed an emphasis on the written word above the spoken word In the 19 century, this trend slowly reversed itself (towards a monolingual approach), in part due to a shift towards an emphasis on the spoken word The impact of mass migration, colonialism and a large increase in research in the field, would further strengthen the Monolingual th Approach in the 20 century The mass migration of people to other countries, particularly from Europe to America was important because it forced educators to refocus their lessons, from smaller translation-oriented classes to bigger classes, and perhaps from students with a common L1 to students with a mixed L1 (Hawks, 2001, p47) No longer could teachers rely on using L1 to help them The only way to teach was to use the L2 as the medium of teaching Experiences garnered by the many teachers who went abroad during the colonial teaching period would further help the monolingual tenet to evolve (Phillipson, 1992, p186) As English became the predominant culture in the British colonies, those who were not a part of it were forced to assimilate if they wished to better their life or be a part of the ruling elite This led to the perceived superiority of English above all other languages and would in part eventually lead to a commonly held assumption that English was the only language that should be spoken in the English-language classroom The rise of an English-only classroom for political and practical reasons (of the teacher‟s, not the student‟s) conversely brought about the exclusion of the student‟s L1 Those caught using L1 were often punished or shamed for doing something wrong (Phillipson, 1992, p187) The idea of bilingual education was seen as unnatural or inefficient (Pennycook, 1994, p136) Perhaps furthering the desirability of an English-only policy was the fact that many teachers themselves were monolingual They could not, nor did they perceive the need to speak the L1 of their students (Phillipson, 1992, p188) By enforcing an English-only policy, the teacher could assume control of the class, and would naturally be in a position of strength On the other hand, by using L1 in the classroom, the teacher risked undermining him/herself, as the students being the better speakers would control the communication The emphasis on monolingual teaching of English also inherently implied that the native speaker was the ideal teacher This was closely tied not only to political agendas, but also to the economics of the global EFL field (Pennycook, 1994, p176) English speakers could control all the employment opportunities, by being seen as the „ideal teacher‟ The appearance of the Direct Method of teaching just over a hundred years ago also contributed greatly to the consolidation of the idea that all L1 languages should be excluded from the classroom (Harbord, 1992, p350) & (Pennycook, 1994, p169) The premise of the Direct Method was that second language learning mirrored first language acquisition: lots of oral interaction, little grammatical analysis and no translation The Direct Method would soon be discredited when it failed in the public education system (Brown, 1994, p44), but it would have a lasting influence on ESL/EFL classrooms Also pivotal in forwarding the argument that L1 should not be used in the classroom was Krashen, who advocated maximum exposure to the target language He stated that all the lessons or as much as possible should be in L2 (English in our case), and that there was a definite relationship between comprehensible input in L2 and proficiency (Krashen, 1985, p14) Crucially though, this perhaps implied that time spent using L1 would only detract from learning He even suggested that the reason exposure was not always successful in facilitating proficiency, was because learners had access to their L1 either in class, or out of it (Krashen, 1985, p14) This idea that the L2 lesson should be taught in L2, in order to maximize exposure, and thereby learning, is perhaps the key concept which monolingual supporters have based their approach on The Makere report in 1961 further reinforced the idea of using nothing but English in the classroom There are five basic tenets originating from this report, which have been called into question, but which were taken as the „truth‟, at the time They are: 34 which made it easy enough for them to understand As can be observed from the classes, within a class period of 45 minutes in which words of foods and drinks were taught, there were seven times when students asked for more explanation and six other times when they successfully answered teacher‟s questions about the words introduced to them, most of the times with the participation of not only some but almost all students With such a lot of interaction between teacher and students, the class obviously became noisy and much more exciting than that of the control group where students just listened to teacher‟s explanation of words and gave their answer when they were really sure, usually the words that are used similarly in Vietnamese like coffee, pizza, chocolate, hamburger, biscuits, etc As well, they can ask their classmates for help when necessary, and, as they were mostly fully aware of the issue being discussed, they tended to talk more enthusiastically, which animated the classroom Also, sometimes students‟ questions or teacher‟s answers can be light-hearted, which makes learning and teaching easier and more relaxed For example, when they were asked to talk about activities in good and bad weather, some questions like these were asked: “What can be the most romantic thing to when it rains?”, “Who would you like to be with when it‟s cold?”, “What you think about popcorn and an interesting film when it‟s cold?”, etc (the underlined words are in Vietnamese that students asked teacher for a translation in English) Above all the effects, L1 use helped students take an active part in learning What happened in the experimental classes was a firm evidence for this After each time teacher explained, students eagerly took notes in their books and discussed with each other about the language In contrast, in the control classes, students had difficulties even in taking notes did not understand the explanation thoroughly enough to take notes, and even if they had understood, it was very difficult to that in English When Vietnamese was allowed in the classes, students found the aim and the content of the lesson (words and adjective about city and country places and life, for instance) as well as teacher‟s explanation clear enough to understand Therefore, they knew they are learning for their own needs, and also knew what is important for them (to describe their life, their favourite place to live, etc.) Consequently, they took part in the lesson actively, without feeling any pressure When they were aware of what they were learning and why they were learning, they became more hardworking and more willing to learn, asking about more places in city and country This is really important because only students themselves know what is really happening in 35 their mind, what can be easy and what can be difficult for them, and how well they are getting on with the lesson In brief, teacher‟s observations of different classes and lessons in the two experiments proved the usefulness of L1 in L2 learning of vocabulary It encouraged students to learn the language actively, not only learning but also asking questions for their own sake and competing to reach the higher level Thus, it helped create an animate learning atmosphere in the classroom It is clear from the context that the use of Vietnamese in teaching vocabulary has advantages that should not be ignored 36 CONCLUSION Concluding remarks This study makes a contribution to TEFL, particularly in the area of vocabulary, for students at a lower proficiency level The results of this experiment have partially confirmed the original thesis Due to a personal bias, and an increase in recent research supporting this bias, the study investigated the use of L1 in teaching vocabulary in the English language classroom Before the experiment it was hypothesized that L1 use in the classroom increases not only students‟ motivation to learn but also their learning and memorizing of vocabulary The purpose of this research was to try and prove this theory and find evidence to validate the researcher‟s claims, so that it could be put into use at the college where this research was carried out This study shows the effectiveness of using L1 in teaching vocabulary through bilingual explanation and translation exercises The findings indicate that the experimental group achieved significantly better performance in both vocabulary in direct translation and vocabulary in context These results could provide empirical support for the application of L1 in the foreign language classroom Serious consideration could be given to the teachers‟ choice of the language to use in teaching English vocabulary and more interest in L1 use might be generated Although both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to maximize the advantages of each type, short comings still persisted Firstly, the study focused on only one aspect of English that is vocabulary learning of university students of low-proficiency Secondly, the survey was not implemented in a large scale, thus, the number of subjects were not large enough to allow generalization about the L1 and vocabulary teaching at higher education institutes This led to the third problem that the data collected from the small number of students that cannot reflect the real fact as a whole The fourth limitation is that, the writer of this study only carried out the survey at HaUI in Hanoi, therefore, the result cannot indicate the real situation of teaching and learning English vocabulary in Vietnam One more thing is, although students were not taught in any Vietnamese, they had access to bilingual dictionaries out of classroom, which made the separation between the two approaches a little bit less clear Lastly, the study can be tentative as mistakes are unavoidable Overall though, the findings in this experiment could be classified as positive While there were problems, the findings were generally favorable and supportive of the 37 original thesis, that L1 use in teaching English vocabulary can actually facilitate the learning of an L2, in the way that it increases students enthusiasm to learn, helps them learn vocabulary more effectively and remember the new words or expressions longer On account of restricted knowledge and resources, this paper cannot cover Vietnamese using in all aspects of English teaching and learning I would greatly appreciate any recommendation to make it better In conclusion, despite some inevitable deficiency, the researcher does hope that this research would serve as a good help to both those teachers who wish to improve their teaching and those students who really wants to promote their learning of vocabulary, which is often considered boring Implications on English teaching to university students in Vietnam From the findings of this study and adults‟ different way of learning new words from children‟s learning, some implications can be made on English vocabulary teaching to Vietnamese university students Interlingual strategies such as providing translation equivalents have several advantages Therefore, teachers of English, while trying to use and encourage students to use L2 whenever possible, should use and allow the use of L1 when necessary As Grabe and Stoller (1997, p 114) put it, “Perhaps, for adults, there are times when it is important to know that a word is understood accurately” It is not difficult to see cases in which L1 should be used in teaching English vocabulary, like explaining abstract words, words with connotational meanings, words with transference in meaning, or words that hardly have any equivalents in Vietnamese, etc What‟s more, using L1 translation may link a L2 word with well-established semantic and linguistic structure which help the learner retain the word better, because the L1 and its semantic structures are no doubt the steadiest “cognitive hook to hang the new item on” (Fraser, 1999, p 238) In short, there is no reason not to use L1 as a means of teaching or as a tool for checking and validating L2 learners‟ understanding of word meaning But the researcher does want to emphasize, in line with the findings of the present study, that L1 should be used in cases where it is really necessary, maybe for teachers to save time or to avoid misinterpretation, or for students to have better understanding Avoiding the L1 is neither practical nor desirable in adult L2 acquisition and memorization, especially for the Vietnamese EFL learners And for College English teaching, instead of running the risk of confusing or misleading students whose English proficiency are neither high or too low, 38 while trying to minimize the use of Vietnamese, the teacher should be encouraged to use the interlingual strategies (such as the bilingual method, both English explanation and Vietnamese translation) as a quick and efficient means of the new word‟s initial introduction to students However, the researcher is not promoting the use of L1 in teaching and learning English vocabulary in place of intralingual or extralingual strategies Rather, an eclectic strategy could be more preferable, that is, a mixture of all three types of teaching vocabulary strategies may produce the best overall effect Suggestions for further studies It is firstly suggested that, in order to attain more convincing findings than the ones collected in this paper, there are several areas which need improving Most obviously, the limitations of this research will be overcome in further studies with the increased number of participants or with participants of varied English proficiency, which would make it more possible to generalize findings Besides, questionnaires or interviews with both teachers and students about Vietnamese using could possibly provide the researchers with more insights into the issues studied Furthermore, this research only attempted to investigate the role of Vietnamese in enhancing students‟ motivation as well as their learning and remembering the new words or expressions Further studies should be carried out to focus on the role of Vietnamese in teaching grammar or the four language skills, etc not only among university students but also among other adult learners, not only at HaUI but also at other universities Some other studies could also focus on how to use Vietnamese effectively in English classroom, how much Vietnamese should be used or when to use it, etc I Reference Atkinson, D (1987) The Mother Tongue in the Classroom: A Neglected Resource? ELT Journal, 41/4: 241-247 Auerbach, E (1993) Reexamining English Only in the ESL Classroom TESOL Quarterly, 27/1: 9-32 Bawcom, L (2002) Using the Mother Tongue Modern English Teacher, 11/1/2002 Briggs, M (2001) Teacher and Student Attitudes to English-Only & L1 in the EFL Classroom MA Dissertation at the University of Bristol Brown, H (2000) Principles of Language Learning and Teaching Longman: San Francisco Burden, P (2000) The Use of the Students’ Mother Tongue in Monolingual English “Conversation” Classes at Japanese Universities The Language Teacher, 24/6: 5-10 Chaudron, Craig (1988) Second Language Classrooms Cambridge University Press: Cambridge Cook, V (2001) Using the First Language in the Classroom, in The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue Canadienne des Languages Vivantes, 57/3: 402-23 Cook, J (1991) Linguistics and second language acquisition London: Macmillan Critchley, M (1999) Bilingual Support in English Classes in Japan: A survey of Student Opinions of L1 Use by Foreign Teachers The Language Teacher, 23/9: 10-13 Ellis, R (1984) Classroom second language development Oxford: Pergamon Harbord, J (1992) The Use of the Mother Tongue in the Classroom ELT Journal, 46/4: 30-55 Hawks, P (2001) Making Distinctions: A Discussion of the Mother Tongue in the Foreign Language Classroom Hwa Kang Journal of TEFL, 7: 47-55 Krashen, S.D (1985) The Input Hypothesis: Issues and Implications Longman: London and New York Lewis, M (1993) The Lexical Approach Language Teaching Publications: London II Lightbown, P & Spada, N (1999) How Languages are Learned Oxford University Press: Oxford Nation, I S P (1990) Teaching and learning vocabulary New York: Newbury House Nation, I S P (2001) Learning vocabulary in another language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Nation, I S P (2003, June) The role of the first language in foreign language learning Asian EFL Journal 5(2), Article [Online] Available: http://www.asian-efl- journal.com/june_2003_PN.php (May 25, 2009) Phillipson, R (1992) Linguistic Imperialism Oxford University Press: Oxford Pennycook, A (1994) The Cultural Politics of English as an International Language Longman: London & New York Polio, C (1994) Comments on Elsa Roberts Auerbach’s “Reexamining English Only in the ESL Classroom” TESOL Quarterly, 28/1: 153-161 Soars, J., & Soars, L (2004) New headway English course (elementary) Oxford: Oxford University Press Sökmen, J A (1997) Current trends in teaching second language vocabulary In N Schmitt & M McCarthy (Eds.), Vocabulary acquisition and pedagogy (pp 237-257) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Weschler, R (1997) Uses of Japanese (L1) in the English Classroom: Introducing the Functional- Translation Method The Internet TESL Journal, III/11 III Appendixes All the tests have the same form as the one presented below Test 2: Ex 1: Choose the closest equivalent for these words in English or Vietnamese Away from Lend Bottle Dessert Pasta Bất ớt có vị kinh khủng thuộc nước ngồi 10 Thịt bị Ex 2: Vocabulary in context Choose the best word or expression to complete the following sentences I like … of music, from Pop to Rock, to R&B, Jazz, etc a No b all sorts a Buy d a bit Rice is the … food for Vietnamese meals A traditional c every b cheap c special d typical From the factory they … beer to bars in special vans b transport c borrow d lend IV … is my favourite fruit A apple juice b bacon c tomato d orange Long ago in their …, people learned to farm the land and control environment A life b history b borrows b horrible c hungry d full b possible c poor d typical I’m going to a Chinese restaurant with my friend We’re having lunch … a early 10 d depends With the telephone, it is now … to talk to your friends thousands of miles A central c controls I’m so … I didn’t eat anything for breakfast A glad away d recipe As a young child, he still … on his parents for food A eats c meal b especially c together d faithfully Before going to the market you should make a … so that you won’t forget what you need to buy A paper b recipe c menu d shopping list V Result of test 2: Exercise 1: Direct translation 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 away lend bottle dessert pasta ớt from Results of test 2: Exercise 2: Vocabulary in context 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 VI Test Exercise 1: Direct translation 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 Test Exercise 2: Vocabulary in context 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 VII Table 3: Results of test and test 5: Number of students’ correct answers for test and test Test section Student number 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Mean score VIII Table 4: Results for test and test 7: Number of students’ correct answers for test and test Test section Student number 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Mean score ...VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES Đỗ THị KHáNH VÂN A research into the role and the use of first language in General- English classes at Hanoi University. .. especially in teaching English in general and in teaching vocabulary at universities in Vietnam as well as at Hanoi University of Industry in particular The reason the researcher focused on vocabulary... conviction that the first language (L1) has a necessary and facilitating role in the second and foreign language (L2) classroom Many English language professionals dispute the L1 use in the classroom,