the effects of blended learning on non english majored learners’ motivation and performance in paragraph writing

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY - - CAO BÁ HOÀNG THE EFFECTS OF BLENDED LEARNING ON NON-ENGLISH MAJORED LEARNERS’ MOTIVATION AND PERFORMANCE IN PARAGRAPH WRITING MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL Ho Chi Minh City, 2019 -***** - MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY -[\ [\ - CAO BÁ HOÀNG THE EFFECTS OF BLENDED LEARNING ON NON-ENGLISH MAJORED LEARNERS’ MOTIVATION AND PERFORMANCE IN PARAGRAPH WRITING Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Major code: 60140111 MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Nguyễn Ngọc Vũ Ho Chi Minh City, 2019 STATEMENT OF AUTHORITY I certify that this thesis entitled: THE EFFECTS OF BLENDED LEARNING ON NON-ENGLISH MAJORED LEARNERS’ MOTIVATION AND PERFORMANCE IN PARAGRAPH WRITING is my own work Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis does not contain material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis This thesis has not been submitted for the award or any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution Hochiminh City, 01May, 2019 CAO BÁ HOÀNG i RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, Cao Bá Hoàng, being the candidate for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library In term of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan or reproduction of theses ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have received a lot of help and support from many people during my study at HCMC Open University I would like to express my thanks to them in my thesis First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Ngoc Vu, for giving me the opportunity to use the MOODLE he has been developing in my experiments, for his enthusiastic guidance on giving me lots of useful advice as well as comments on the thesis Without his vital support, my work would not have been completed Second, my heartfelt thanks also go to my lecturers who not only transmit knowledge from their generation to the next one but also inspire us to study better Furthermore, I sincerely thank my colleagues in HCMC University of Education who gave me the chance to conduct experiments on my topic Their enthusiastic support is essential for my completing this thesis Third, I am thankful to the staff of Graduate School for helping me enthusiastically when I need and the librarians for their devotion to duty In the school library, I sometimes experience difficulty in finding the books I need when there is no help from them In addition, I would also like to send my best wishes to my classmates who have helped and encouraged me a lot while I was doing this work Last but not least, I am grateful to all of my students at HCMC University of Education who participated in my research Their active involvement plays an important role in my experiments I really appreciate it iii ABSTRACT Many published studies have shown that Blended Learning (BL) is getting more and more popular in English language teaching all over the world This research focused on an experiment which was designed to explore the effects of BL on enhancing nonEnglish majors’ writing motivation and performance at HCMC University of Education (HCMCUE) To fulfill this aim, the quasi-experimental study was carried out from February to May of the academic year 2016 – 2017, in which two groups with the students in the second year learned English with the same teacher and the experimental group (EG) did writing tasks with BL in 12 weeks The control group (CG) learned the same lessons with conventional methods Before the study started, the learners in two groups did a Pretest, but only the participants in EG completed a Pre-questionnaire After the experiment having finished, all of the students of the two groups did a Post-test, then a Post-questionnaire was sent to the respondents in the experimental group as well as structured interviews were conducted in this one with a view of knowing if Blended Learning has raised learners’ motivation and result of paragraph writing The findings of the research revealed that BL enhanced writing motivation and performance of the students in the experimental group These students were highly aware of doing writing tasks which were assigned by their teachers This chance significantly improved their paragraph writing skills gradually On the other side of the study, the figures showed that the students in the control group did not achieve their performance as well as those in experimental group Furthermore, English learners are getting more and more familiar with BL because of its popularity and Blended Learning also stimulate students’ writing motivation, helps them learn anywhere as well as anytime in their ability Based on the above-mentioned results, some recommendations were given to teachers who would like to apply Blended Learning in their teaching to improve the students’ paragraph writing skills iv TĨM TẮT Nhiều nghiên cứu cơng bố Blended Learning (BL) ngày trở nên phổ biến việc giảng dạy tiếng Anh toàn giới Nghiên cứu tập trung vào thí nghiệm thiết kế để tìm tác động BL việc tăng cường động thành môn viết sinh viên ngành không chuyên tiếng Anh trường Đại học Sư phạm Thành phố HCM Để đạt mục đích này, phương pháp nghiên cứu thực nghiệm giả định thực từ tháng đến tháng năm học 2016 – 2017, hai nhóm với sinh viên năm thứ hai học tiếng Anh với giáo viên có nhóm thực nghiệm (EG) thực học kỹ viết với BL 12 tuần Nhóm đối chứng (CG) học học tương tự với phương pháp thông thường Trước thực nghiệm bắt đầu, người học hai nhóm làm Pre-test, người tham gia nhóm thực nghiệm phải hoàn thành Pre-questionnaire Sau thực nghiệm kết thúc, tất sinh viên hai nhóm làm Post-test, sau Post-questionnaire gửi cho sinh viên nhóm thực nghiệm trả lời, vấn thực nhóm với quan điểm liệu BL có nâng cao động lực thành người học viết đoạn văn hay không Những phát nghiên cứu cho thấy BL làm tăng động lực viết thành sinh viên nhóm thực nghiệm Những sinh viên có ý thức cao việc thực tập viết giao giáo viên họ Cơ hội cải thiện đáng kể kỹ viết đoạn văn họ Ở nhóm cịn lại nghiên cứu, số liệu cho thấy sinh viên nhóm đối chứng khơng có thành tốt người nhóm thực nghiệm Hơn nữa, sinh viên nhóm thực nghiệm ngày quen thuộc với BL nhờ vào phổ biến BL kíck thích tính động viết sinh viên, giúp họ học nơi đâu lúc khả Dựa kết đề cập trên, số khuyến nghị đưa cho giáo viên muốn áp dụng Blended Learning giảng dạy họ để cải thiện kỹ viết đoạn văn sinh viên v TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORITY RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………1 1.1 Background of the study…………………………………………………… 1.2 Statements of the Problem.………………………………….…………… 1.3 Objectives, Research Questions and Hypotheses………………………… 1.3.1 Objectives …… 1.3.2 Research Questions 1.3.3 Hypotheses 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Organization of the study .4 1.6 Definition of Terms 1.7 Summary CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Blended Learning 2.2 The development of Blended Learning 2.3 Writing vi 2.4 Paragraph writing 2.5 Writing motivation 2.6 Writing performance 2.7 Previous studies 10 2.8 Prior research in Vietnam 12 2.9 Research Gap 12 2.10 Summary 12 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 13 3.1 Research site 13 3.2 Research material 13 3.3 Time allotment 14 3.4 Research participants 14 3.4.1 The control group (1621ENGL240212) 16 3.4.2 The experimental group (1621ENGL240213) 17 3.5 Blended Learning deployed in the study 18 3.5.1 MOODLE site 18 3.5.2 Netop School 19 3.5.3 Language Laboratory 19 3.6 Research design 20 3.7 Instruments, Validity, Reliability 22 3.7.1 Instruments 22 3.7.1.1 Tests 22 3.7.1.2 Questionnaires 23 vii Mohammed (2017) highly recommended using language labs in teaching English in schools because the use of a fully equipped lab daily with it altogether will probably affect students’ performance Furthermore, Adamu and Umar (2018) stated the Multimedia Device supports teachers to teach learners individually or in groups and teachers can assess their students basing on individual performances The Language Laboratory with 40 cabins in HCMUE, which is well equipped with modern facilities for students to learn English, is on the third floor of block C It is in very good condition to be used for this experiment Section 3.5.2 & 3.5.3: The discussion of validity and reliability is not enough pp 19-20 The validity and reliability aspects of any data collection method greatly vindicate the findings of any scientific research In this part, these aspects are discussed as follows: Writing Tests In this study, the researcher followed some specific guidelines to clinch the value of reliability and validity of the writing tests First, to indemnify the writing tests to be reliable, the researcher piloted the pre-test and post-test one time to make sure that all tested items were clear enough; moreover, their reliability was also assured when both the tests shared the same format, allocated time, familiarized words, and task types Secondly, to establish the construct validity, the instruction was clear enough and the 14 pp 24-25 scoring rubrics were based on IELTS-standardized criteria systematically (e.g task completion, lexical range, grammatical accuracy and coherence) Thirdly, for content validity of the reading and writing tests, the content of these tests were developed from what they had learnt previously For example, the teaching and test content focused on the students’ ability to write a paragraph Lastly, the existence of face validity of the pre- and post-tests derived from the fact that these tests were doublechecked and consulted by the researcher’s supervisor and colleagues at his research setting Questionnaire To contribute to the reliability quality for the questionnaire, the researcher used a five-point Likert scale for all items, and checked its consistency by means of Cronbach’s Alpha value Regarding construct validity of this questionnaire, the researcher reviewed relevant literature on the field of performance and motivation as well as Blended Learning, and then he constructed the questionnaire content which focused on these two constructs By this quality, the researcher could elicit the students’ attitudes on learning writing within Blended Learning in depth and breadth The suitability of the questionnaire to the research objectives and the students’ comprehension accredited its content validity Especially, such validity could be assured when a Vietnamese version was included The attested quality of face 15 validity of this instrument stemmed from the participation of the supervisor for constructive feedback Interview Like other instruments, the interview consisted of its reliability and validity For the semi-structured interview reliable, the researcher conducted an interview pilot After that, he found that all ten interview questions were clear and comprehensible In addition, the action to endorse the construct validity of this tool, the researcher linked it to the questionnaire substance, fabricating it with two sub-categories of learning attitudes, including writing performance perceptions and motivation levels What’s more, the relevance of the interview to the research aims and to the participants’ ability contributed to its content validity Apart from that, the Vietnamese language became the predominant means of communication for these interview sessions Finally, the supervisor’s presence of giving opinions and feedback on the interview also empowered its face validity Chapter Section 4.5.1: The discussion of the findings p 33 Chapter 4.5.1 Results of Research question (To what extent does BL contains some incompatible and affect English learners’ performance in paragraph writing?) unconvincing claims The data collection and analysis from the experiment report the participants’ attitude towards BL was very positive Moreover, BL has important influence on English learners when a great majority of respondents found out the BL is good for learning to 16 p 38 write in English, and brings a lot of useful information to them First, 76.0% of the respondents were satisfied with learning in a blended class because of their writing improvement as can be seen in Figure 4.10 which describes the results of the Postquestionnaire Second, the figures in the interview demonstrate the participants (n=11) thought BL helped them write more and improve their writing ability with 60.0 % and 90.90 % respectively Moreover, structured interviews also define that the number of students (n=12) who thought BL helps them write better accounting for 100.0% Third, the scores of 22 participants’ writing performance in Posttest were higher than theirs in Pretest after learning with BL model in Chart 4.2 In conclusion, these impressed figures are significant illustrations of enhancing English learners’ writing performance by BL What is more, looking at students’ writing performance in Posttest, it can be firmly believed that EG outperformed CG In addition, the output of this research proves that students have reaped benefits of BL model 4.5.2 Results of Research question (To what extent does blended environment influence on non-English majored learners’ motivation in paragraph writing?) 17 p 39 To begin with, according to the collected information from the post-questionnaire, the number of students believed BL helped enhance their motivation in learning to write accounted for over two-thirds, in which 4.0 per cent of them completely agreed the blended environment improved their awareness of practising writing Next, 100% of students (n=10) assured BL made them fond of writing after being interviewed by the researcher Furthermore, the number of students believed BL helped enhance their motivation in learning to write accounted for over two-thirds as being illustrated in Figure 4.9 Moreover, in the interview, 37.50 % of the learners (n=14) thought BL enforced their autonomy in writing Finally, from the finding of this experiment confirmed that teachers of English should apply BL in English learning-teaching process thanks to its improving students’ motivation in the course At the beginning of the study a lot of students did not know anything about Blended Learning This was considered a disadvantage at the outset of the treatment However, when the study finished the statistical in Figure 4.8 shows learners liked learning writing with Blended Learning when well over threefourth of the students agreed with this idea Moreover, in the interview of the study 12.50 % of the 18 participants (n=8) thought traditional teaching was not as attractive as BL Besides, 58.30 % students in the experiment (n=12) stated BL should be applied more In short, the collected data of the research corroborate the learners are ready for learning in blended class at present Chapter The conclusions and implications are quite thin pp 36-37 Chapter 5.2 Implications Based on findings of this study, here are some following implications proposed by the researcher as the outcome by applying BL to enhance the students’ motivation and their performance in writing First, because ICT has changed and developed day by day, English teachers should be regularly trained to use Learning Management System installed in school to be in effective preparation for employing this model for their students (So, & Lee, 2013) Furthermore, in personal talks to colleagues who are teaching at HCMUE, the researcher has found out there are still a lot of teachers who not know how to use Language Laboratory which has LMS 19 p 42 Inconsistent and incorrect use of citations in References both text and works cited pp 6, 7, References (Gleason, 2013), (Güzer and Caner, 2013), Pappas (2015), pp 5, (Neumeier, 2005), p 11 (Ly, 2007) p 12 pp 14, 15 Mohammed (2017), Adamu and Umar (2018), pp 18, 19 p 29 (Akbari, Simons & Eghtesad, 2012) p 34 pp 41-45 Adas, D & Bakir, A (2013) pp 47-52 Akbari, E., Simons, R & Eghtesad, S (2012) Adamu, A & Umar, M M (2018) Banditvilai, C (2016) Brook-Hart, G & Jakeman, V Bryson, S (2014) How to structure a paragraph in an academic essay Retrieved from https://www.scribbr.com/academic-essay/how-to-structure-aparagraph-in-an-academic-essay Camahalan, F M G & Ruley, A G Dede, C (2009) Comparing frameworks for 21st century skills Retrieved from http://watertown.k12 ma.us/dept/ed_tech/research/pdf/ChrisDede.pdf Dillenbourg, P (1999).What you mean by collaborative learning? In: Dillenbourg P.(ed) Collaborative-learning: cognitive and computational approaches Elsevier, Oxford, pp119 Fernández, R., & Gunashekar, P (2009) 20 Fraenkel, J R., Wallen, N E & Hyun, H H (2012) Hanan, T (2018) The Blended Learning Approach and Its Application in Language Teaching International Journal of Language and Linguistics 5(4),2374-8869 doi:10.30845/ijll.v5n4p6 Hughes, J., Stephenson, H & Dummett, P (2015) Life (Preintermediate) – Student’s Book with Online Workbook Singapore: Cengage Learning Jones, L (2007) The Student Centered Classroom New York: Cambridge University Press Kessler, G., & Bikowski, D (2010) Developing collaborative autonomous learning abilities in computer mediated language learning: attention to meaning among students in wiki space Computer Assisted Language Learning, 23(1), 41-58 Larsen, L J E (2012) “Teacher and student perspectives on a blended learning intensive English program writing course” Graduate Theses and Dissertations Paper 12375 Lo Bianco, J (2010) Language policy and planning In N.H Hornberger & S.L McKay (Eds.), Sociolinguistics and language education (pp.143-174) Mohammed, M (2010) Using Wikis to develop writing performance among prospective English as a foreign language teacher Retrieved from http://www.nauss.edu.sa/acit/PDFs/f1766.pdf 21 TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC MỞ THÀNH PHỐ HỒ CHÍ MINH HỘI ĐỒNG CHẤM LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ CỘNG HOÀ XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM Độc lập – Tự – Hạnh phúc BIÊN BẢN ĐIỀU CHỈNH THEO GÓP Ý CỦA HỘI ĐỒNG (Bảo vệ ngày 17/10/2019) Tên Học viên: CAO BÁ HOÀNG Tên Đề Tài: The Effects of Blended Learning on Enhancing Non-English Majored Learners’ Writing Motivation and Performance at HCMC University of Education Những điều cần chỉnh sửa theo góp Những điều chỉnh sửa ý Hội Đồng STT Nội dung Trang, Nội dung chỉnh sửa mục Chapter Before the treatment, the control group (1621ENGL240212) and the experimental The treatment needs to group (1621ENGL240213) did the pre-test in class with pen and paper in the first be clearly described week The aim of this test was to find out the students who were suitable for the study The procedure in each the researcher would like to carry out Then, the tests were collected and coded before group needs to be being scored separately by two examiners who have been experienced in teaching justified, using specific writing for years (See Appendix H) The results of the pre-test combined with the description convenience sampling technique helped form two groups of the study To begin the treatment, the control group learnt Part 5e: Writing emails, in which they focused on skills in writing formal language in the traditional class To put in another way, the learners in this group learnt the lessons with their teacher without the Trang, mục pp 20-22 assistance of the ICT They read the course book, listened to their teacher’s explanation, wrote the drafts, and then some students went to the board to write down their final versions After that, the researcher corrected their writing, gave comments, and drew a conclusion The teacher could not correct all of students’ writing because of limited time This lesson helped the students get used to academic writing Before teaching the same lesson to the experimental group, first, the researcher delivered the pre-questionnaire aiming to collect information about students’ knowledge of Blended Learning in order that some solutions might need adjusting during the study The next step was the teacher deployed the ICT in teaching the lesson beside the traditional method The students in this group could use the computer connected with the Internet in the laboratory to help them find out the necessities on the Internet or in soft wares installed on the computer to sever their writing emails effectively They also read the course book, listened to their teacher’s explanation, but wrote their drafts on computer and then submitted their final writing to the researcher via the MOODLE site which is always in public Therefore, every member of this group could read all of their writing and learn something from each other During the lesson in the laboratory, the researcher controlled the class with NetOp School by looking at the screen of the host computer where every student’s activity on the computer could be seen easily If a student did not concentrate on his or her task, their computer would be locked or shown on the main screen of the lab to warn the others about their laziness or distraction The researcher then collected their writing, corrected, gave comments, and sent back to the learners via the MOODLE site whenever the task had been finished thanks to the assistance of tools in the Window programs and applications Teaching paragraph writing with Blended Learning, the teacher had to work hard not only in class but at home or anywhere and anytime as well However, every learner’s writing could be corrected and commented to help them avoid repeating their mistakes and their performance could improve was one of the strong points of this model The following lessons of the treatment were conducted as the same ways with Part 5e for two groups but the contents were different In Part 6e, students learnt how to write a description (paragraph) with descriptive adjectives In Part 7e, writing Curriculum Vitae with action verbs was taught to the learners In fact, the students learnt to write sentences and reduce from sentences to phrases This was an essential skill to help paragraph writing later In Part 8e, the researcher taught the students to write a paragraph with connections words When the lessons of the study finished, the control group and the experimental group did the same post-test in each class with pen and paper in the last week The researcher would like to indicate if Blended Learning affected English learners’ performance in paragraph writing and how much it could in the EG via the results of this post-test Besides, the post-questionnaire was distributed among learners of the EG to collect the information about the influence of Blended Learning on students’ motivation in paragraph writing and to what extent Finally, the researcher interviewed every members of the experimental group to assure the exact results of the treatment as well as expected In other words, this tool combined with the post-questionnaire helped the researcher support in measuring the collected data due to application of convenience sampling in this experiment Chapter Convenience sampling (also known as Haphazard Sampling or Accidental Sampling) The sampling technique technique, which is a non-probability sampling in which the researcher uses the needs to be justified subjects that are nearest and available to participate in the research study (Ilker et al, 2016), is used in this study because of its simplicity of sampling and the ease of research It is also helpful for pilot studies and for hypothesis generation Moreover, data collection can be facilitated in short duration of time The convenience sampling approach has some disadvantages such as bias is the most significant criticism of convenience sampling as the data gathered from convenience sampling does not accurately represent the entire population, and limitation in generalization leading to when making inferences about the entire population, a more sophisticated sampling method must be applied (Gaganpreet, 2017) Nevertheless, convenience sampling can collect data quickly thanks to the rules to gather elements for the sample are least complicated in comparison to techniques such as simple random sampling, stratified sampling and, systematic sampling Furthermore, data collection is easy and accessible Most convenience sampling considers the population at hand Samples are readily available to the researcher In addition, it allows researchers to generate more samples with less or no investment and in a brief period The class 1621ENGL240213 was chosen for the research as the experimental group (EG) with 22 students at random In fact, there were 32 students in this class However, 22 students (17 females and males) were randomly chosen thanks to their agreement to follow the treatment which the researcher informed them about the study when meeting in the first week This was the reason for choosing the class 1621ENGL240212 as the control group (CG) with the same number of students (15 females and males) Chapter p 15 In this study, most of the students (nearly 70.0%) were in 22 years old, and about onethird of them were 23 years old However, the female students accounted for over twothirds compared with the male students in total due to one of the main characteristics of HCMC University of Education, where there are more females than males to study to be teachers (See Figures 4.1 and 4.2) Chapter 5.2 Implications Chapter The implication needs to Based on findings of this study, here are some following implications proposed by the be discussed in relation researcher as the outcome by applying BL to enhance the students’ motivation and their to the findings of the performance in paragraph writing study 5.2.1 In teaching First, because ICT has changed and developed day by day, English teachers should be regularly trained to use Learning Management System installed in school in order to be in effective preparation for employing this model for their students (So, & Lee, 2013) Next, the LMS in HCMC University of Education should be upgraded in order that teachers might have opportunities to deploy ICT as well as MOODLE site Basing on this footing, BL can be well applied, therefore, teachers as well as learners may benefit from that investment Last but not least, the role of English teachers should have been surveyed in the future to find out whether the relationship between teaching and learning English with Blended Learning is advantageous or disadvantageous An implication may be derived based on the findings of this study that further research is required to explore the position of English teachers on Blended Learning in order to confirm that they cannot be replaced by any technology pp 45-46 ...MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY -[ [ - CAO BÁ HOÀNG THE EFFECTS OF BLENDED LEARNING ON NON- ENGLISH MAJORED LEARNERS’ MOTIVATION AND PERFORMANCE IN PARAGRAPH. .. this thesis entitled: THE EFFECTS OF BLENDED LEARNING ON NON- ENGLISH MAJORED LEARNERS’ MOTIVATION AND PERFORMANCE IN PARAGRAPH WRITING is my own work Except where reference is made in the text of. .. in this one with a view of knowing if Blended Learning has raised learners’ motivation and result of paragraph writing The findings of the research revealed that BL enhanced writing motivation