teachers and learners’ attitudes towards blended learning for information technology program for first year students at fpt polytechnic college

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI THU MY TEACHERS AND LEARNERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS BLENDED LEARNING FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM FOR FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT FPT POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL HO CHI MINH CITY, December 2018 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI THU MY TEACHERS AND LEARNERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS BLENDED LEARNING FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM FOR FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT FPT POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other languages Major code: 60140111 MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL Supervisor: Ph.D NGUYEN HOANG TUAN HO CHI MINH CITY, 2018 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis entitled “Teachers and Learners’ Attitudes towards Blended learning for Information Technology Program for First year Students at FPT Polytechnic College in Ho Chi Minh City” 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 in which I have qualified 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 of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution Ho Chi Minh City, July 2018 Nguyen Thi Thu My i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Master of Art in TESOL thesis is completed thanks to the help of people who supported me during my research time I would like to acknowledge wholeheartedly their assistance and encouragement to help me accomplish this study Without them, this study would not have been feasible Firstly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Dr Nguyen Hoang Tuan, who gave me compassion, critical comments, guidance through this study I appreciate his patience and broad knowledge about academic quality I have truly learnt from my supervisor’s wide experiences in research Secondly, I would like to thank all English teaching teachers, staff and students at FPT Polytechnic College who enthusiastically joined my research, and help me to distribute and collect questionnaires as well as participate in my interview sessions Thirdly, I would like to thank my TESOL classmates, including Mai Thi Ngoc Hanh, Dang Hoang Huy, Duong Thanh Hung Duc, Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, and Truong Minh Hoa, who share opinion and encourage me on my research Last but not least, many thanks to my family, in particular, my parents, my sisters, my loving husband, who have encouraged me with unlimited sympathy when I became disheartened ii ABSTRACT EFL teacher and learner attitudes towards a learning environment can affect to language acquisition or educational quality It can be a drive or a barrier to learning effectiveness Attitudes towards a new approach using technologies such Blended learning in Vietnam is urgent to investigate Thereby, the purpose of this paper sought to discover EFL teacher and learner attitudes towards Blended learning for information Technology Program for First year Students at FPT Polytechnic College in Ho Chi Minh City This study employed the survey research design to investigate the teacher and learner attitudes towards blended learning through two instruments of questionnaires and interviews A student questionnaire survey was administered to 139 students to obtain data on learner attitudes regarding to student perception, quality teaching of instructors, technical system and interface design, course information or content and assistance of staff or administrators, while a teacher questionnaire survey was administered to 11 teachers to gather data regarding to teacher attitudes in terms of process and content in blended learning Then, these questionnaires were quantitatively analyzed and the interviews were qualitative analyzed The findings indicate that majority of learners and teachers had positive attitudes towards blended learning For learners, most of them agreed that blended learning was a good environment for them to improve English language because of autonomy in learning, good teaching style of instructors, and the support of staff However, they also admitted that technical problems and Internet connection made them go down in learning online While, the teachers agreed that blended learning gave both teachers and learners a rich experience and made learning and teaching more active It helped the teachers improve pedagogical performance and helped the students enhance language skills as well as communicative competence Moreover, the teachers also revealed that topics used in the blended learning course were relevant and authentic, and kept motivation of the students iii Therefore, they prepared for the students to communicate with English language speakers around the world iv TABLE OF CONTENT STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP…………………………………………………………………………i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………………………………… .ii ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………………………….iii TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………………………………….v LIST OF FIGURES, CHARTS………………………………………….…………………………… vii LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………………………………….viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………… 1.1 Background of the study……………………………………………………………………………… 1.2 Statement of the problem……………………………………………………………………………….3 1.3 Research aim………………………………………………………………………………………… 1.4 Research question…………………………………………………………………………………… 1.5 Significance of the study…………………………………………………………………………… 1.6 Organization of the study………………………………………………………………………………5 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW………………………………………………………………… 2.1 Blended learning approach…………………………………………………………………………….6 2.2 Underlying Constructivism theory for Blended learning……………………………………………….8 2.3 Model of blended learning……………………………………………………………………………10 2.4 Reasons for blended learning…………………………………………………………………………12 2.5 Dimensions for effective blended learning environment…………………………………………… 13 2.6 Benefits and challenges of blended learning………………………………………………………….17 2.6.1 Benefits…………………………………………………………………………………………… 17 2.6.2 Challenges………………………………………………………………………………………….18 2.7 Blended learning program evaluation…………………………………………………………… …20 2.8 Teacher and student attitudes towards blended learning……………………………………… 22 2.8.1 Definition of attitude……………………………………………………………………………… 22 2.8.2 Components of attitude………………………………………………………………………… 23 2.9 Previous studies…………………………………………………………………………………… 24 2.9.1 Teacher attitudes towards blended learning……………………………………………………… 24 2.9.2 Student attitudes towards blended learning……………………………………………………… 26 2.10 Summary of Chapter 2………………………………………………………………………………29 CHAPTER III: RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY…………………………………………………………30 3.1 Research setting………………………………………………………………………………………30 3.2 Description of the blended learning program at FPT Polytechnic…………………………… 31 3.2.1 Assessment category for students passing the English course in level 1B…………………………31 3.2.2 Assessment category for English-in service teachers………………………………………… 33 3.2.3 Materials……………………………………………………………………………………… .34 3.2.4 Expectation of English-level 1B students……………………………………………………… 35 3.2.5 Blended learning process at the FPT Polytechnic College in HCMC…………………………… 36 3.2.5.1 Online learning environment…………………………………………………………………… 37 v 3.2.5.2 Face-to-face learning…………………………………………………………………………….47 3.3 Participants (convenient sampling) ………………………………………………………………… 56 3.3.1 Teacher participants……………………………………………………………………………… 57 3.3.2 Student participants…………………………………………………………………………………57 3.4 Research design…………………………………………………………………………………… 58 3.5 Data collection and instruments………………………………………………………………………58 3.5.1 Student and teacher questionnaires…………………………………………………………… 59 3.5.1.1 Student questionnaire…………………………………………………………………………… 60 3.5.1.2 Teacher questionnaire………………………………………………………………………… 61 3.5.2 Student and teacher interviews…………………………………………………………………… 63 3.5.2.1 Student interview…………………………………………………………………………………64 3.5.2.2 Teacher interview……………………………………………………………………………… 65 3.6 Procedure of the study……………………………………………………………………………… 65 3.6.1 Student questionnaire delivery and interview protocols……………………………………………65 3.6.1.1 Student questionnaire delivery……………………………………………………………………65 3.6.1.2 Student interview protocols……………………………………………………………………….67 3.6.2 Teacher questionnaire delivery and interview administration…………………………………… 67 3.6.2.1 Teacher questionnaire delivery………………………………………………………………… 68 3.6.2.2 Teacher interview administration……………………………………………………………… 68 3.7 Data analysis………………………………………………………………………………………….69 3.8 Validity and Reliability…………………………………………………………………………… 70 3.9 Summary of chapter 3……………………………………………………………………………… 71 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION …………………………………………………… 73 4.1 Description of samplings…………………………………………………………………………… 73 4.1.1 Description of student sampling……………………………………………………………………73 4.1.2 Description of teacher sampling……………………………………………………………………74 4.2 Research question 1………………………………………………………………………………… 76 4.3 Research question 2…………………………………………………………………………………101 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION, IMPLICATIONS, LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………114 5.1 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………… 114 5.2 Implication………………………………………………………………………………………… 116 5.2.1 For students……………………………………………………………………………………… 116 5.2.2 For teachers……………………………………………………………………………………… 117 5.3 Limitation……………………………………………………………………………………………118 5.4 Recommendation for further research……………………………………………………………… 119 REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………………………… 121 APPENDICES………………………………………………………………………………………… 140 vi LIST OF FIGURES, CHARTS Figure 2.1: Khan’s (2003) octagonal framework……………………………………………………… 14 Figure 3.1: Guessing its meaning…………………………………………………………………… … 38 Figure 3.2: Drag and drop the verbs………………………………………………………………… 39 Figure 3.3: Listen and choose the same sound……………………………………………………… 39 Figure 3.4: Listen and choose the correct picture…………………………………………………… 40 Figure 3.5: Guess its meaning………………………………………………………………………… 41 Figure 3.6: Listen and arrange sentences into a conversation……………………………………… 42 Figure 3.7: Drag and drop the words to make a sentence…………………………………………………42 Figure 3.8: Clink on the letters to make a word ………………………………………………………… 45 Figure 3.9: Healthy survey……………………………………………………………………………… 54 Chart 4.1: Demographical Information of Student Participants………………… ………… 74 Chart 4.2: Demographical Information of Teacher Participants……………………………… 75 Chart 4.3: Students’ attitudes towards blended learning course in General……………… 77 Chart 4.4: Descriptive statistics for students’ attitudes towards teaching quality of instructors in ……………………………………………………………………… ………… ………… …………84 Chart 4.5: Students’ attitudes towards technical system and interface design……………… 89 Chart 4.6: Students’ attitudes towards course information or content……………………… 93 Chart 4.7: Students’ attitudes towards assistance of staff or administrator in General………… .97 Chart 4.8: Teachers’ attitudes towards blended learning in term of process in General……………… 102 Chart 4.8b: Descriptive statistics for teachers’ attitudes towards Blended learning in term of process in Details…………………………………………………………………………………… ….107 Chart 4.9a: Teachers’ attitudes towards blended learning in terms of content in General………………108 Chart 4.9b: Teachers’ attitudes towards blended learning in terms of content in Details ……………………………………………………………………………….………… 111 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: Matrix of different contexts vs learning formats for blended learning ……………………… Table 3.1: Assessment Category for Students in level 1B………… ………… ………… ……… 33 Table 3.2: Topics for learning at Level 1B………… ………………… ………….… …………….34 Table 3.3: Description of Research questions and instruments………………………………………… 59 Table 3.4: Overview of research procedure………… ………… ………… ………… ………….66 Table 3.5: Summary of Data collection………… ………… 69 Table 4.1a Respondents' affective attitudes of students towards blended learning course …… ……… 79 Table 4.1b Respondents' behavioral attitudes of students towards blended learning course …… …… 80 Table 4.1c Respondents' cognitive attitudes of students towards blended learning …… …………… 82 Table 4.2a Respondents' affective attitudes of students towards the teaching quality of the instructors …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 84 Table 4.2b Respondents' behavioral attitudes of students towards the teaching quality of the instructors ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………85 Table 4.2c Respondents' cognitive attitudes of students towards the teaching quality of the instructors …………………………………………………………………………………………… 88 Table 4.3a Respondents' affective attitudes of students towards technical system and interface design …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 90 viii 38 Trường học cung cấp đầy đủ nguồn tài liệu cần thiết cho sinh viên 39 So với cấp độ 1A, khối lượng vừa phải 40 Nôi dung học cập nhật 41 Tơi hiểu theo kịp nội dung giảng dễ dàng 42 Các khái niệm trừu tượng giải thích ví dụ cụ thể Sự hỗ trợ nhân viên 43 44 45 Tôi nhận hỗ trợ kỹ thuật cần Các dịch vụ hỗ trợ trường tốt Khi có lỗi hệ thống, tơi nhận phản hồi email hay điện thoại 148 APPENDIX 3: Teacher Questionnaire Blended Course Teacher Survey Dear Sir/madam, I am preparing a research on teachers and students’ attitudes towards English blended learning approach at the FPT Polytechnic College I would be grateful if you could answer these questions to help me in my research Please use a check (✓) to indicate your chosen option, and specify your answer when needed Part I Please tell about yourself: Gender: ☐ Male Age: ☐ From 25 – 30 ☐ Female ☐ From 31 – 40 ☐ above 50 Educational background: ☐ University ☐ Postgraduate Teaching experience: ☐ From – ☐ From – 10 ☐ From 16 – 20 149 ☐ Above 20 ☐ From 11 – 15 Part II Indicate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statements Statement Strongly disagree (1) TEACHERS' ATTITUDES TOWARDS BLENDED LEARNING IN TERMS OF PROCESS I am in favor of applying blended learning to English courses Applying blended learning in teaching English courses makes students be more interested in learning English Applying blended learning in teaching English courses helps students to improve their English language skills (writing, reading, listening, speaking) I have found the English courses easier to teach when applying blended learning in teaching Blended learning improves communication between students and teachers I enjoy talking with others about blended learning to encourage them use blended learning Blended learning gives students access to authentic English materials 150 Disagree Neutral Agree (2) (3) (4) Strongly agree (5) Blended learning helps me teach better TEACHERS' ATTITUDES TOWARDS BLENDED LEARNING IN TERMS OF CONTENT The topics are relevant 10 the reading texts are easy to follow 11 The listening texts are easy to follow 12 The pronunciations lessons are interesting 13 The grammar lessons are communicative 151 APPENDIX 4: Teacher Interview Questions What aspects of blended learning you like best? Why? Why you find English course easier to teach when applying blended learning in teaching? In what way blended learning improves communication between teachers and students? Which topics are most relevant? Which topics you suggest? 152 APPENDIX 5: Student Interview Questions Why you like/dislike Blended learning? Which language skills does Blended learning help improve most? Which instructional areas should the instructors improve to help them gain knowledge and more focus on lessons? What are the system errors? What other technical problems have you encountered? In what ways is the course content interesting? 153 APPENDIX 6: Lesson Plan Day Lesson Pre-teaching While-Teaching The 1st Day Warm up - Introduce the topic - Staying in Shape - Divide SS into PREVIEW groups and ask LESSON them watch the Goal: provide video “Bernard an The Bear – Gym” introduction and answer to the topic questions relating and the social to activities at the language of gym to stay in the unit shape “(1) What kind of animal is in the video? (2) Where is he? (3) What is he doing?” - SS listen and repeat 18 activities - Divide SS into groups to play the - SS write out game guessing Vocabulary: activities that they activities based on Activities learn online pictures - Divide SS in pairs to ask and answer the questions “(1) What activities you to stay in shape? (2) What 154 Post-Teaching - SS practice the expressions and vocabulary by answer the questions “What you every day/every weekend/once a week?” and compare activities with a partner kind of sports you play? (3) How often you play the sport? - SS read and listen to the photo story individually - SS work in groups to answer the comprehensive questions: "Where is - Before listening Joy? How often does the story, students Photo story Jou play tennis? Does answer questions People who Lynn play tennis? Does based on its talking about Joy's husband play pictures and guess playing tennis tennis? Who burn alot what the of calories today?" conversation talks - The teacher speaks about some expressions in the conversation aloud and students have to give The correct meanings “What are you up to?” and students reply “what are you doing?” LESSON Goal: Plan an activity with someone 155 Grammar (Can and have to) - T invites a student to tell difference between can and have to - T invites Ss read aloud two Pronunciatio sentences: I can n call you today I can and can't can’t call you tomorrow Conversatio n model Two people planning an activity together 156 - Ss work in groups to write out structures and examples to illustrate the grammar points.- T checks the answers and confirms the information.- SS practice the grammar points in three tasks+ Play a game by complete each sentence with can or have to (Groups) - Ss learn the pronunciation in four steps: + Listen to the audio of the two sentences “I can call you today I can’t call you tomorrow”) + Listen and repeat each sentence + Listen to other statements and check can or can’t - Ss read and listen to the conversation - Ss answer comprehensive questions:(1) What are the two men planning to do? (2) Is Phil free to play basketball tomorrow at 3:00? (3) Why not? What is he doing at this time? (4) Is he free to play Sunday afternoon at "+ Write three questions using can and three questions using have to (individual)+ Ask and answer these questions (in pairs) - T gives 10 statements and asks Ss practice the pronunciation (in pairs) - Ss plan an activity with someone + Write schedule for this weekend in the Daily Planner + Change the conversation using Daily Planner and practice with their partner 2:00? - T explain why don't we ? = you want to - Ss listen and repeat chorolly - Ss practice the conversation (in pairs) Warm up -T shows a video about two people, a man and a woman, who are discussing habitual activities to get in shape - Ss are asked to answer the question how often the woman does these activities such as go running, aerobics, play tennis or golf, and go bike riding The 2nd day LESSON - Goal: Talk about habitual activities 157 -T asks students some questions about possible places to go for different activities Vocabulary to check their Places for online vocabulary physical learning: Where activities can I go dancing? Where can I go swimming? Where can I play tennis? -T invites a student to come to the board and tells about the differences GrammarPre between present sent simple simple and and Present present continuous continuous and frequency adverbs.- T makes a comment on the student's response Conversatio n model Two people talking about habitual activities 158 - T shows pictures of places and asks “Where is it? What can we here?” - T shows a list of vocabulary with its audio - Ss listen and repeat each words - Ss work in pairs to ask and answer the question: What you at these places? - Ss work in groups to write out structures and examples to illustrate the grammar points.- T checks the answers and comments upon the information.- SS practice the grammar points - Ss tell their partner:+ two things you every weekend and two things you don't do.+ two things that are happening in the classroom now+ two things you're doing this evening and two things you aren't doing - Ss read and listen to the conversation - Ss answer comprehensive questions:"(1) When does Nancy usually go to the gym? (2) why is Nancy going to the gym today?" - Ss listen and repeat chorolly - Ss practice the - Ss change the Conversation Model, using places from the Vocabulary or other places to talk about habitual activities - Ss practice their own conversation with a partner conversation (in pairs) LESSON Goal: Discuss fitness and eating habits Listening Comprehensi on - Listen for main idea + Ss listen to three people talking about their fitness and eating habit and checke the box if the person exercises regularly Warm up/Before - Listen for detail listening +SS listen again and - Ss discuss the circle the words that question: "In your complete the opinion, is it statements important for +'Ss are required to people to stay in work in teams to shape? Why? discuss two questions What people related to their own to stay in lives and the text: (1) shape?" which of the people above you think are in shape or out of shape? Explain (2) Whose fitness and eating habits are like your own? Explain 159 - Ss could self-assess and demonstrate that they achieved the communication goal through four steps: + check the healthy survey with five sentences, then to add up score with scales + compare their survey answers and scores with a partner + work in groups to asks questions (e.g Why are you in great shape? why are you out of shape? What junk food you eat? Where you exercise?) and write names of classmates who were interviewed + present about the people who were interviewed - T gives example of verbs in the third-person singular and requested some Pronunciation students to read to check whether they pronounce each verb correctly or not The 3rd day LESSON Goal:Describ e someone's rountines Warm up/Before reading -Ss think of different types of warter sports -Ss answer some questions based on pictures: (1) which kind of sport is this? Do you know how to play it? (2) Which kind of animal is this? Are you afraid of this animal? (3) What is happening to them? Do you know any one like them? 160 - T draws the following - T shows the rules of chart on the board and how verbs in the third- called out verbs in the person singular are third-person singular called “walks, likes, runs, - Ss listen and repeat to avoids, does, cleans, some verbs in the third- watches, fixes, misses”, person singular etc., and has students endings write them in the correct column - Ss listen and read the articles independently.Ss work in teams to answer comprehensive questions:Mr Zupan1 When did Mark Zupan have his accident?2 What’s wrong with Mr Zupan?3 What sport - Ss look at the does Mr Zupan play?4 title, photos and What does Mr Zupan captions to every day?5 How predict the does he stay in content of the text shape?Bethany and answer the Hamilton1 What sport questions:(1) does Bethany Hamilton Reading“Wh "What these do?2 When did Ms en You Think two people have Hamilton lose her left You Can’t…” in common?(2) arm?3 What animal and what you attacked her?4 How think they have to does she tell people in order to about her experiences?participate Ss two successfully in comprehension their sports activities to develop a subskill such as reading for gist:+ complete the paragraph about Mark Zupan by using can, can’t or has to+ complete the paragraph about Hamilton by using the simple present and present continuous REVIEW LESSON 161 - Ss are asked to write some notes about their daily routines individually by listing something they usually do, don’t, can’t, and have to in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening respectively.-Ss interview their partner about his or her daily routines.- Ss describe their partner daily activities to classmates Review Vocabulary and Grammar - Ss some tasks to review some of important things such as vocabulary, grammar points learnt during the Unit to make sure they follow all clearly - T gives some question to brainstorm about Writing exercise and Write a healthy habits paragraph to such as what describe their you to stay in exercise and shape? Do you go healthy habits to the gym? Do you eat junk food? What foods you avoid? etc - Ss are required to write a paragraph to describe their exercise and healthy habits 162 ... AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis entitled ? ?Teachers and Learners’ Attitudes towards Blended learning for Information Technology Program for First year Students at FPT Polytechnic College in Ho Chi... EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI THU MY TEACHERS AND LEARNERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS BLENDED LEARNING FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM FOR FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT FPT. .. What are students? ?? attitudes towards English blended learning at FPT Polytechnic College? Research question 2: What are teachers? ?? attitudes towards English blended learning at FPT Polytechnic College?