Exploring english grammar major students attitudes towards and expectations for teachers classroom activities at bien hoa specialized high school, ha nam

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES -  TRẦN THỊ THU HIỀN EXPLORING ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS AND EXPECTATIONS FOR TEACHERS’ CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES AT BIEN HOA SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOL, HA NAM Nghiên cứu thái độ kỳ vọng học sinh chuyên tiếng Anh việc giảng dạy giáo viên trường THPT Chuyên Biên Hoà, Hà Nam M.A Minor Thesis Field: English Methodology Code: 60 14 10 HANOI – 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES -  TRẦN THỊ THU HIỀN EXPLORING ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS AND EXPECTATIONS FOR TEACHERS’ CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES AT BIEN HOA SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOL, HA NAM Nghiên cứu thái độ kỳ vọng học sinh chuyên tiếng Anh việc giảng dạy giáo viên trường THPT Chuyên Biên Hoà, Hà Nam M.A Minor Thesis Field: English Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Cao Thúy Hồng, M.A HANOI – 2010 v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS vii PART A INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale……………………………………………………… Aims of the study……………………………………………… Research questions……………………………………………… Scope of the study……………………………………………… Methods of the study…………………………………………… Significance of the study………………………………………… Format of the study……………………………………………… PART B DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I THEORETICAL BACKGROUND I.1 The learner-centered approach……………………………………  Basic Principles……………………………………………………  Benefits …………………………………………………………… I.2 Foreign language learners’ attitudes …………………………  Definition……………………………………………………………  Role of learners’ attitudes………………………………………… I.3 Foreign language learners’ expectation…………………………  Definition…………………………………………………………  Mismatch between teachers’ intentions and learners’ expectations  Balancing the mismatch between teachers’ intentions and learners’ expectations………………………………………………………… I.4 Shape of an English lesson…………………………………… 12  Stages of a language lesson…………………………………… 12  Teacher’s roles in a language lesson…………………………………… 14  Role of teaching content/ materials in a language lesson…………… 15 vi Role of language materials………………… …………… 15 Materials development…………………………………… 16  Common teaching activities in a language lesson 17 CHAPTER II THE STUDY 20 II.1 Setting of the study…………………………………… 20 Brief introduction of the school…………………………………… 20 General situation of English teaching and learning in the school… 20 II.2 Subjects …………………………………… 21 II.3 Instruments……………………………………………………… 21 The survey questionnaire 22 The follow-up interview 23 II.4 Data analysis process………………………………………… 23 CHAPTER III DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 23 III.1 The Survey Questionnaire……………………………………… 24 III.1.1 Students’ general attitudes towards their language teachers’ roles and work in the classroom 24 III.1.1.1 Students’ general attitudes towards language teachers’ role in their learning 24 III.1.1.2 Students’ general attitudes towards teachers’ work 24 III.1.2 Students’ levels of satisfaction with each of the teaching items carried out by the language teachers 25 III.1.3 English major students’ comments on teaching and learning materials provided by the teachers and their workload in English 27 III.1.4 English major students’ opinions on the frequency and quality of some specific teaching activities 28 III.1.5 English major students’ expectations for future teaching adjustments and improvement 30 III.2 The follow-up interview……………………………………… 32 III.2.1 Reasons for satisfaction ……………………………………… 32 III.2.2 Reasons for dissatisfaction…………………………………… 32 III.2.3 Students’ other expectations………………………………… 33 CHAPTER IV RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BETTER LANGUAGE TEACHING AT ENGLISH MAJOR CLASSES IN THE SCHOOL 34 vii IV.1 Recommendations for teaching language skills 35 To improve the teaching of listening skill 35 To improve the teaching of speaking skill 35 IV.2 Recommendations for selecting, editing and developing teaching materials 37 IV.3 Recommendations for applying specific teaching activities 37 PART C CONCLUSION 39 Summary of the study…………………………………………… 39 Limitations of the research…………………………………………… 39 Recommendations for further research …………………………… 40 REFERENCES 41 APPENDIX – Survey Questionnaire I APPENDIX - Interview Questions V APPENDIX – Table VI APPENDIX – Table VII viii LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Charts Chart Students’ general attitudes towards language teachers’ role Chart Students’ general attitudes towards teachers’ work Chart Students’ levels of satisfaction with each of the teaching items performed by the language teachers Tables Table English major students’ comments on teaching and learning materials provided by the teachers and their workload in English Table English major students’ opinions on the frequency and quality of some specific teaching activities Table English major students’ expectations for future teaching adjustments and improvement PART A INTRODUCTION Rationale Like in every part of the world, the practice of English teaching and learning in Vietnam has been more popular than ever before Many language teaching methods and approaches have been introduced and applied in the teaching and learning process, aiming at best achieving educational objectives In the view of modern language teaching and learning approaches, learners are widely recognized as a major factor determining the learning success; and learner motivation and autonomy is considered to be essential for successful language learning by most language teachers, as Gardner argues, a “motivated learner” is regarded as being: (a) eager to learn the language, (b) willing to expend effort on the learning activity, and (c) willing to sustain the learning activity (Gardner, 1985, p 10) It is, thus, stipulated that teachers make all efforts to motivate learners and stimulate their autonomy Research have shown that discovering learners‟ attitudes, beliefs, needs and expectations is really beneficial for teachers to develop appropriate teaching methods and adjust teaching activities, helping to bring about learners‟ satisfaction and more engagement in learning It is also widely known that in order to succeed in English teaching, teachers need to get and keep learners‟ attention and their positive participation (Davies, 2000, p.12); and that despite classroom teachers‟ efforts to make sure that their lessons are a success, sometimes things not work as well as they had planned (Jeremy, 1991) and then classroom problems may occur These problems can be student-caused, parent-caused, or administrator-caused (Jessup, 1971) Teachers are also identified as one of the problemcausing sources since the way they teach and behave has a profound influence on learners‟ attitudes which affect their learning either negatively or positively In order to create positive learning attitude, it is crucial to investigate learners‟ views on what and how teacher in the classroom so that appropriate adjustment in the teaching can be carried out to draw learners‟ highest level of concentration and participation in very lesson In my specific teaching context, the way we teach English is based on the combination of some modern language teaching approaches including learner-centered, skillbased and task-based to obtain the objectives of teaching language communicatively This requires my colleagues and me to work hard, design diverse teaching activities in our teaching process However, despite our efforts, sometimes we realize here and there our students lose interest in our lessons This makes us feel rather discouraged and wonder about the effectiveness of each activity we use in the classroom Personally, the researcher strongly believes that designing learning tasks and teaching activities must be based on teachers‟ understanding of the students We must realize what they want to learn and how they want us to teach Thus, exploring our students‟ evaluation of our teaching, their attitudes and expectations for what and how we is really essential to improve the learning and teaching situation in the school in the next stage For all the above mentioned reasons, the writer upheld a strong desire to conduct a survey research on English major students‟ attitudes towards and expectations for teachers‟ classroom activities Aims of the study - to examine the school‟s English major students‟ attitudes towards their language teachers‟ classroom activities - to investigate the students‟ needs, interests and expectations for improvement in English teaching in these classes - to suggest necessary changes that the teachers should make in their teaching process to improve the English teaching and learning situation Research questions The study is carried out to find out the answers to the two main research questions: What are students‟ attitudes towards the teachers‟ way of teaching? What and how the students expect their teachers to change in their way of teaching in the future? It is clear that the former helps to learn about students‟ evaluation and reflection of what and how the teachers in the classrooms whereas the later helps to look over students‟ needs and expectations for teachers‟ future actions To work out the answer to the first major question, a number of minor questions need answers as well They are: (1) What are the students‟ general attitudes towards teachers‟ roles and work in the classroom? (2) What in the teachers‟ job the students feel satisfied with? Why? (3) What in the teachers‟ job the students feel dissatisfied with? Why? (4) How the students remark upon teaching and learning materials provided by the teachers and their workload in English? (5) What are the students‟ opinions on the frequency and quality of some specific teaching activities conducted by teachers in every lesson? Scope of the study Teaching activities can be various and indefinite However, only activities that teachers normally conduct and perform in English lessons are taken into account in the study Besides, only English major students of three grades 10, 11 and 12 in the school are under investigation In addition, this study only concentrates on exploring their attitudes towards and expectations for what and how the teachers in the classroom Methods of the study During the process of collecting and analyzing the data for the research, both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed Specifically, the data were collected via means of a written survey questionnaire –typical of quantitative method; and a group interview - typical of qualitative method Significance of the study It is expected that the findings in the study will help the teachers in the school see the strong points and weak points of their work Information of the students‟ expectations may also be of great help to the teachers in considering developing appropriate teaching methods, adopting eligible techniques and adapting suitable activities so as to improve the teaching and learning situation All in all, the study is hoped to be greatly significant in improving the English learning and teaching situation in the school Format of the study The study is organized into three parts The first part, Introduction, provides all the information about the rationale, aims, scope, significance and format of the study Research questions and methodology are also identified in this part The second part, Development, consists of four chapters The first chapter, Theoretical Background, reviews relevant literatures In the next chapter, The study, the setting, subjects, instruments and data analysis process of the study is presented The third chapter is devoted to a detailed description of Data analysis and discussion And the last chapter, namely Recommendations for better language teaching at English major classes in the school, puts forward some recommendations for better teaching at English major classes of the school The last part, Conclusion, presents not only a summary but also some limitations of the research and gives some suggestions for further study PART B DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Identifying and carrying out necessary teaching adjustments by the way of investigating students‟ attitudes and expectations partially shows learner-centeredness in the teaching and learning process Thus, relevant literature regarding the learner-centered approach and learners’ attitudes and expectations in foreign language learning will be reviewed in this chapter Some issues concerning teaching activities in foreign language lessons are also discussed in the chapter I.1 The learner-centered approach A lot of changes in education have taken place as a result of changes in educational objectives to meet the new demands of the current time and bring about better learning and teaching outcomes One of the observable changes in education is the shift in focus from teachers to learners in the teaching and learning process Although “learner-centeredness” is not a new concept in the world, it has been popularly developed and widely applied in education and especially in language teaching and learning for only several decades In Vietnam, learner-centered teaching has been recently encouraged and promoted for a number of years The approach has been asserted and confirmed as a big and essential th renovation in education since 1986, at the congress of Communist Party of Vietnam Basic Principles In terms of principle, the learner-centered approach emphasizes the central role of learners in all classroom activities It is stated that learning is totally determined by learners According to Campbell (1992, pp.5-6), the main principle of learner-based teaching is that “all class activities can be done using information that the learners themselves bring to class” In his view, students bring a lot with them to the classroom They all have ideas, opinions, experiences and areas of expertise All of this is important to them What they need from the English classroom is the language to express all this, and there by themselves This viewpoint is shared and backed up by many scholars Holliday (1994, p.167) adds that the experience and knowledge students bring to the classroom is of great value to the learning process and must be capitalized and built upon Learner-based teaching focuses on encouraging learners to express their ideas freely and “all of the activities, even grammar practice, are based on “here and now” of the learners” (Campbell, 1992, p.8) Thus, it can be said that every activity in learner-centered 42 18 Lewis, Micheal.(1993), Practical techniques for language teaching, Hove Eng 19 Lewis, M (1993), The Lexical Approach, Language Teaching Publications 20 Les Dangerfield (1985), "Lesson planning", At the chalkface: practical techniques in language teaching, pp.20-21 21 Mary Spratt (1985), "The presentation stage", At the chalkface: practical techniques in language teaching, pp.5-8 22 Mary Spratt.(1985), "The practice stage", At the chalkface: practical techniques in language teaching, pp.8-12 23 Mary Spratt (1985), "The production stage", At the chalkface: practical techniques in language teaching, pp.12-16 24 Nguyen Bang & Nguyen Ba Ngoc (2002), A course in TEFL Theory and Practice, Ha Noi 25 Nunan, D (1988) "Principles for designing language teaching materials", Guidelines, 10(2), pp.1-24 26 Nunan, David.(1988), The learner-centred curriculum: a study in second language teaching, Cambridge England 27 Nunan, David.(1991), Language teaching methodology: a textbook for teachers, Englewood Cliffs NJ 28 O'Neill, R (1990), "Why use textbooks?" In R Rossner and R Bolitho, (Eds.), Currents in language teaching, Oxford University Press 29 Richards, Jack C (2001), Approaches and methods in language teaching, New York 30 Richards, Jack C (1988), Beyond training: perspectives on language teacher education, Cambridge University Press 31 Rixon, Shelagh (1988) How to use games in language teaching Illustrations Macmillan Publishers Ltd, HongKong 32 Scharle, Ágota (2000), Learner autonomy: a guide to developing learner responsibility, Cambridge University Press 33 Tarone, Elaine & Yule , George (1989), Focus on the language learner: approaches to identifying and meeting the needs of second language learners, Oxford University Press 34 Turdor, I (1993), Learners-centredness in language teaching: finding the right balance, 35 Ur, Penny (1996), A course in language teaching: practice and theory, Cambridge 36 Underwood, Mary (1987), Effective class management: a practical approach, London - New York 43 37 Wallace M.J (2001), Action research for language teachers, London, Methuen 38 Wright, Tony (1987), Roles of teachers and learners, Oxford University Press 39 Adam Mickiewicz University Press (copyright 2002), The role of the foreign language teacher in the classroom - the teachers' beliefs and role behavior versus the students' expectations, http://www.thefreelibrary.com (accessed on January 01, 2002) 40 Howard, J and Major, J (2004), "Guidelines for designing effective English language teaching materials", The TESOLANZ Journal 12, 101-109, http://www.paaljapan.org/resources/proceedings/PAAL9/pdf/How 41 Kitao, Kenji (1997), "Selecting and Developing Teaching/Learning Materials", The Internet TESL Journal, Vol IV, No 4, April 1997, http://iteslj.org/ (http://iteslj.org/Articles/Kitao-Materials.html) 42 Lynch, Larry Creating Materials for the EFL Classroom, http://www.eslbase.com/articles/creatingmaterials.asp 43 Mortimer J Adler, Ph.D The Art of teaching, (Copyright 1998-99, 2000-01, & 2002-03 by The Radical Academy All Rights Reserved), http://www.radicalacademy.com/adlerteaching2.htm 44 Tsiplakides, Iakovos and Keramida, Areti (2010), "Promoting Positive Attitudes in ESL/EFL Classes", The Internet TESL Journal, Vol XVI, No 1, January 2010, http://iteslj.org/ I APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE PHIẾU ĐIỀU TRA NGHIÊN CỨU Bảng câu hỏi nhằm phục vụ đề tài nghiên cứu thái độ kỳ vọng học sinh chuyên tiếng Anh việc giảng dạy giáo viên trường THPT Chuyên Biên Hoà, Hà Nam Các câu trả lời mà em cung cấp quan trọng cơng trình nghiên cứu Các liệu điều tra đựơc sử dụng cho việc nghiên cứu, khơng mục đích khác Em học lớp chuyên Anh Hãy khoanh tròn tích (√ ) vào câu trả lời mà em lựa chọn, viết trình bày câu trả lời em cách ngắn gọn PHẦN I Đối với em, hoạt động giảng dạy lớp giáo viên .trong việc giúp em nâng cao khả tiếng Anh A Rất quan trọng C Không quan trọng B Quan trọng D Khơng quan trọng tí Nhìn chung, em cảm thấy……….về chất lượng giảng dạy môn tiếng Anh lớp em: A Rất hài lịng B Hài lịng C.Khơng hài lịng D.Rất thất vọng Xin em cho biết mức độ hài lòng em nội dung giảng dạy sau giáo viên Hoạt động giảng dạy Kỹ đọc Kỹ nghe Kỹ nói Kỹ viết Ngữ pháp& từ vựng *Lý khiến em (rất) hài lòng: II *Lý khiến em (rất) khơng hài lịng: Nhận xét chung em chất lượng, nội dung thể loại tài liệu thực hành tiếng nâng cao mà gv thiết kế, biên soạn đưa vào giảng dạy ? Độ khó Tính hấp dẫn Tính đa dạng Khối lượng kiến thức, tập Trong trình giảng dạy, giáo viên có thường xuyên thực hoạt động sau không? Em đánh giá chất lượng hoạt động nào? Hoạt động Đưa hướng dẫn, giải thích cách ngắn gọn, hợp lý, dễ hiểu Cho hs thảo luận, trả lời câu hỏi theo chủ đề học tập trước sau học III Giúp hs gợi nhớ dạy trước từ cấu trúc mới/quan trọng xuất học Cho học sinh thảo luận, làm việc theo cặp/nhóm Tham gia thảo luận, trợ giúp hs kịp thời q trình gv kiểm sốt hs thực nhiệm vụ học tập Tổ chức trò chơi học tập Sử dụng giáo cụ trực quan (tranh ảnh, băng hình, âm thanh, ) Nhận xét, góp ý, sửa chữa cách hợp lý kịp thời cho học sinh Kiểm tra, đánh giá, chấm bài, xếp loại học lực Áp dụng sách thưởng phạt, rõ ràng (VD: cho điểm khuyến khích ) PHẦN II Em kỳ vọng giáo viên tăng cường, cải tiến nâng cao chất lượng hoạt đông giảng dạy sau thời gian tới? Dạy kỹ đọc Dạy kỹ nghe Dạy kỹ nói Dạy kỹ viết Dạy ngữ pháp & từ vựng Đưa hướng dẫn, giải thích cách ngắn gọn, hợp lý, dễ hiểu IV Cho hs thảo luận, trả lời câu hỏi theo chủ đề học tập trước sau học Giúp hs gợi nhớ dạy trước từ cấu trúc mới/quan trọng xuất học Cho học sinh thảo luận, làm việc theo cặp/nhóm Tham gia thảo luận, trợ giúp hs kịp thời q trình gv kiểm sốt hs thực nhiệm vụ học tập Tổ chức trò chơi học tập Sử dụng giáo cụ trực quan (tranh ảnh, băng hình, âm thanh, ) Nhận xét, góp ý, sửa chữa cách hợp lý kịp thời cho học sinh Kiểm tra, đánh giá, chấm bài, xếp loại học lực Áp dụng sách thưởng phạt, rõ ràng (VD: cho điểm khuyến khích ) Kỳ vọng khác em điều chỉnh giảng dạy giáo viên nhằm giúp em học môn tiếng Anh tốt hơn: Tôi xin chân thành cảm ơn giúp đỡ em ! V APPENDIX Interview Questions The interviewees were asked the following questions: Can you show all the strong points in the way the teachers help you to learn English grammar and vocabulary effectively ? learn Though most of you feel satisfied with the way your teachers help you grammar and vocabulary, some of you not If any, can you show the teachers’ limitations in teaching these contents? What in the way of the teachers' teaching writing & reading skills make you satisfied ? Can you give more clarification of the reasons why your teachers need to improve their teaching of speaking and listening skills? OR: What in the way of the teachers' teaching listening & speaking skills make you dissatisfied ? Can you give some accounts for the fact that most of you say that you have too much workload in English ? Can you specify the reasons why many of you suppose that most of your English lessons are boring and tedious? What, in your opinion, should be done to better the learning atmosphere at you classes? Can you give some suggestions about what should be done in the next time to improve the language teaching and learning situation in your classes? VI APPENDIX VII APPENDIX Table Students’ expectations for improvement in teachers’ classroom activities Teaching readin Teaching listen Teaching speak Teaching writin Teaching Gram Giving brief ins and understand Asking student topics before a Helping studen key words/stru listening texts Organizing and conducting clas Taking part in s 10 prompts while 11 Organizing lang Using audio an 12 work cards, etc Giving commen 13 students’ perfo 14 Testing, evalua 15 Applying rewar VI APPENDIX Table Students’ opinions on the frequency and quality of some specific classroom activities normally conducted by the teachers in every lesson Activities Giving brief instructions and explanations which are easy to follow and understand Asking students to discuss - asking and answering on the learning topics before and after each lesson Helping students to brainstorm or teaching/ introducing in advance new key words/structures which will be found in the reading/listening texts Organizing and conducting pair work/ group work /individual work; conducting classroom discussion Taking part in students’ discussion; giving appropriate aids/prompts while students learning tasks Organizing language games Using audio and visual aids (pictures, tapes, videos, worksheets or workcards, etc….) Giving comments/feedbacks/corrections regularly and appropriately on students’ performance Testing, evaluating, marking and grading students’ learning 10 Applying rewards and punishment policy ... survey and the interview, it is clear that the students have various attitudes and opinions towards each of the teachers? ?? classroom activities and that they have a lot of expectations for the teachers? ??... research on English major students? ?? attitudes towards and expectations for teachers? ?? classroom activities Aims of the study - to examine the school‟s English major students? ?? attitudes towards their... LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Charts Chart Students? ?? general attitudes towards language teachers? ?? role Chart Students? ?? general attitudes towards teachers? ?? work Chart Students? ?? levels of satisfaction