Students’ unwillingness to speak english in english language classroom as perceived by students and teachers at high schools in hanoi

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER STUDENTS’ UNWILLINGNESS TO SPEAK ENGLISH IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSROOM AS PERCEIVED BY STUDENTS AND TEACHERS AT HIGH SCHOOLS IN HANOI Supervisor: Dr Vũ Hải Hà Student: Phùng Thị Mai Phương Course: QH2012.F1.E7 HÀ NỘI – 2016 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP SỰ KHƠNG SẴN LÕNG NĨI TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH TRONG LỚP HỌC TIẾNG ANH NHẬN BIẾT BỞI GIÁO VIÊN VÀ HỌC SINH CẤP Ở HÀ NỘI Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Tiến sĩ Vũ Hải Hà Sinh viên: Phùng Thị Mai Phương Khóa: QH2012.F1.E7 HÀ NỘI – 2016 Signatures of Approval: Supervisor‟s comments , including suggestion for improving the speed and quality of the thesis: i ACCEPTANCE PAGE I hereby state that I: Phung Thi Mai Phuong (QH2012.F.1.E7), being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper Signature Date May 1, 2016 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deep sense of gratitude to many people who considerably helped me to accomplish this thesis First and foremost, I owe my deepest gratitude to Dr Vu Hai Ha, who helpfully guided me throughout the thesis I am blessed to have had his supervision, his helpful guidance, his affection, support and encouragement Had it not been for his help, this thesis could not have been completed I also wish to thank Mrs Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan, Mrs Nguyen Thu Hang and 181 students from Cao Ba Quat and Yen Vien high school for their participation in the research I genuinely appreciated Mrs Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan‟s advice and contributions to my study Her passionate enthusiasm for teaching inspired me a lot I wish to extend my warmest thanks to my close friends who have been always supported and encouraged me in my tough time I would like to send my thanks to Ms Le Thi Hoai Thu for her strong encouragement for me to continue the thesis Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family especially my mother, who always give me unconditional love and care I offer my regards and blessings to all of them iii ABSTRACT Students‟ unwillingness to speak in English language classroom after nearly 10 years studying English at schools has become an urgent problem because of the demand for communication in English This study investigates to what extent students at high schools in Hanoi remain unwilling to speak English In addition, it finds out the reasons for students‟ unwillingness to speak English as perceived by both students and teacher at high schools in Hanoi 181 students and teachers from Cao Ba Quat high school and Yen Vien high school were invited to participate in the research Both quantitative and qualitative data analysis methods were applied to the study The perceptions of both student and teacher participants were investigated through multiple methods: questionnaires, interviews and stimulated recalls After the questionnaires, data was analysed to chose participants for interviews and stimulate recalls Findings from questionnaires showed that the extent to which students remain unwilling to speak English in English language classroom was not too high However, the validity of the results from questionnaires was not proved Data from interview and stimulated recall helped to find out the reasons for students‟ unwillingness to speak English As perceived by students, 10 reasons synthesized were: Low group cohesiveness, Lack of teacher support, Low risk-taking, Less tolerance of ambiguity, Lack of motivation, Fear of negative evaluation, Language anxiety, Unfamiliar Topic, Lack of interest, and Bad experiences From teacher‟s perceptions, individual characteristics, lack of teacher support, low risk-taking and language anxiety were affective factors iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACCEPTANCE PAGE ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii ABSTRACT iv LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND ABBREVIATIONS vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Problem Statement and Rationale Research Questions Significant of the study Scope of the study Thesis structure CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Definition of key terms 1.1.1 Unwillingness 1.1.2 Speaking English 1.1.3 Unwillingness to speak 1.1.4 Unwillingness to speak in English language classrooms 1.2 Overview of reasons for students‟ unwillingness to speak 1.3 Dynamics of classroom communication in ELC 13 1.4 Related studies 14 1.5 Research gap 16 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 17 2.1 Research approach 17 2.1.1 Context of the study 17 2.2 Participant selection 18 2.2.1 Participants for questionnaires 19 v 2.2.2 Participants for interviews and stimulated recall 20 2.3 Instruments 22 2.3.1 Face-to-face questionnaire .22 2.3.2 Semi-structured interview 24 2.3.3 Stimulated Recall .24 2.4 Data collection 25 2.4 Data analysis 27 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 28 3.1 Result of research question 28 3.2 Result of research question 33 3.3 Result of research question 40 CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION 43 4.1 Summary of key findings 43 4.2 Contribution of the study 43 4.3 Limitations of the study 44 4.4 Suggestion for further study 45 LIST OF REFERENCES 46 APPENDIX A: Questionnaires 50 APPENDIX B: Sample of Students‟ interviews 53 APPENDIX C: Sample of Teachers‟ interviews 57 vi LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Distribution of number of participants ……………………………………….19 Table 2.2 Description of student participants……………………………………… .20 Table 2.3 Distribution of number of participants in interviews and stimulated recall 21 Table 2.4 Schedule of data collection procedures ……………………………… 21 Table 2.5 Data analysis for each question ……………………………………………….22 Table 2.6 Construction of questionnaires………………………… ………………….23 Table 2.7 Schedule of data collection procedures…………………….…………………26 Table 2.8 Data analysis for each question…………………………….……………… 27 Table 3.1: Descriptive statistics of the overall WTS ……………………………… 29 Table 3.2: Descriptive statistics of each degree of willingness…………………… .30 Table 3.3 Descriptive statistics of each class…………………………………………….32 Table 3.4 Descriptive statistics of reasons for students‟ UTS………………………… 33 Table 3.5 Reasons for students‟ UTS from interview……………………………………35 Table 3.6 Reasons for students‟ unwillingness to speak English perceived by teachers 40 vii LIST OF FIGURE Figure 1.1: Heuristic Model of WTC in L2 of MacIntyre et al (1998)………………….8 Figure 1.2: Wen and Clément‟s (2003) model of WTC for EFL students in China……10 Figure 1.3: A Framework for Understanding Communication in Second Language Classrooms……………………………………………………………………………….14 Figure 3.1 Extent of agreement of lowest mean score and highest mean score items….33 viii The more important contribution of this study is to find out the main reasons for students‟ unwillingness to speak English in ELC from perceptions of both students and teachers From the findings of this research, students can understand more about themselves, about their friends and about their teachers Their unknown behaviors, feelings or actions while speaking English can be revealed, from which they know how to control affective factors in order to reduce unwillingness to speak English in ELC As teachers of English, they discovered more about their students‟ thoughts and feelings As a result, they can manage the class and communicate with their students more effectively At the same time, apprehending students‟ reasons for their UTS help them figure out the solution for that issue more easily 4.3 Limitations of the study How hard the researcher tried to minimize limitations of the study, some still exists Firstly, the sample size of the study was limited There were 181 students and teachers from high schools in Hanoi Therefore, the findings of the research cannot be generalized Secondly, due to limited time, there was only one lesson was video-taped for stimulated recall Reliability and validity of the research would be enhanced if it had been conducted in several weeks In that way, the researcher could observe more silent students as well as discover more interesting reasons The students would also be familiar with the researcher‟s appearance, therefore, they would act and behave as usual Thirdly, because of convenience, researcher only chose Vietnamese teachers as participants Could she have investigated the situations from native teachers, it would make the study more comprehensive 44 4.4 Suggestion for further study Because of above limitations, the researcher hopes that there will be more research on this topic conducted in the future To overcome this study‟s shortcomings, it would be better if next research can be carried out on larger scale and in longer period of time For example, questionnaire participants can be about 500 students and 10 teachers Qualitative data from stimulated recall will be collected through weeks instead of week The research will be able to capture the whole picture of unwillingness to speak English in class Additionally, because the findings of questionnaires were not reliable, another suggestion for later study is that applying qualitative dada analysis methods to the study Beside interview and stimulated recall, there are some suitable methods for this study which are observation, journal self-report Finally, if it is possible, the suggestions for reducing students‟ unwillingness should be investigated from teachers‟ perception In this study, T1 also gave some practical tips such as “hold some group activities for them to practice, make them talk about their familiar and favourite topics, give them good mark to improve motivation.” This will enhance the study‟s significance (12, 663 words) 45 LIST OF REFERENCES Ackroyd, S and Hughes, J (1981) Data Collection in Context Retrieved on 25 January, 2016 from http://libweb.surrey.ac.uk/library/skills/Introduction%20to%20Research%20an d%20Managing%20Information%20Leicester/page_51.htm Ames, C (1992) Classrooms: Goals, structures, and student motivation Journal of Educational Psychology 84,261–271 Beebe, L.M (1983) Risk-taking and the language learner In H.W Seliger and M.H.Long (eds) Classroom-Oriented Research in Second Language Acquisition (pp.39–66) Rowley: Newbury House Publishers, Inc Brumfit, C J (1979) „Communicative‟ language teaching: An educational perspective In C J Brumfit and K Johnson (Eds.) 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III(3), pp 21-34., 10.20472/TE.2015.3.3.002 Mortensen, D C., Arntson, P H., & Lustig, M (1977) The measurement of verbal predispositions: Scale development and application Human Communication Research, 3(2), 146-158 Naiman, N., Frohlich, M and Stern, H.H (1975) The Good Language Learner Toronto:Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Pattapong, K (2010) Willingness to communicate in a second language: A qualitative study of issues affecting Thai EFL learners from students’ and teachers’ points of view Richards, Jack C (2006) Communicative language teaching today New York: 48 Cambridge University Press Reeve, J (1996) Motivating Others: Nurturing Inner Motivation Resources New York: Allyn and Bacon Schachter, S (1976) The Psychology of Afliation: Experimental Studies of the Sources of Gregariousness Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press Shaw, M.E (1981) Group Dynamics: The Psychology of Group Behaviour (3rd edn) New York: McGraw-Hill Skinner, E.A and Belmont, M.J (1993) Motivation in the classroom: Reciprocal effects of teacher behaviour and students engagement across the school year Journal of Educational Psychology 85,571–581 Weaver, C (2005) Using the Rasch model to develop a measure of second language learners' willingness to communicate within a language classroom Journal of Applied Measurement, 6(4), 396-415 Wen, W P., & Clément, R (2003) A Chinese conceptualisation of willingness to communicate in ESL Language, Culture and Curriculum, 16(1), 18-38 Widdowson, H.G (1994) Teaching Language as Communication Oxford: Oxford University Press Xia, W H (2010) 15 Day’s Practice for IELTS Speaking Beijing, China: Beijing Language and Culture University Press Yu, D.H (1990) The hidden stories of the Chinese Chinese Psychology Series (pp.1– 14) Taipei: Professor Zhang Press, Inc 49 APPENDIX A: Questionnaires Survey about students‟ unwillingness to speak English in English language classroom PART 1: Extent of willingness to speak English Following behaviours are related to students‟ willingness to speak in class Read each sentence and circle a number from to to show your extent of agreement: (lowest to highest) In my English class at school, I‟m willing to: Extent of agreement Raise your hand to answer teacher‟s question in English 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 Answer a question in English when you are called upon 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 Respond to a question addressed to another student 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 4.Ask teacher a question in English in class 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 Ask teacher a question in English in private 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 Make a presentation in English in class 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 Present your own ideas in English with members in your group 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 Participate in pair discussion in English in class 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 Volunteer to participate in an activity related to speaking English in class 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 10 Speak English with members from other groups 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 11 Introduce yourself in English in class 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 12 Greetings in English 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 13 Read out loud a text in your English text book 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 50 14 Say thank you in English when you are helped 1–2–3–4–5–6-7 15 Say sorry in English when you make mistake 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 Part II: Reasons for Students’ unwillingness to speak English in ELC Following statements are related to reasons may cause Students‟ unwillingness to speak English in class Think about situations you experienced in which you were not willing to speak English Read following sentences and circle a number from to 7showing your extent of agreement (lowest to highest): Mức độ đồng ý I’m unwilling to speak English with my teacher 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 I’m unwilling to speak English with my classmates 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 I’m unwilling to speak English in my class because I don’t understand teacher’s question/requirement 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 I’m unwilling to speak English in class due to my lack of confidence 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 I’m unwilling to speak English in class because I don’t have motivation 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 I’m unwilling to speak English in class because I’m afraid of making mistakes 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 I’m unwilling to speak English in class because I used to have bad experiences about it 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 I’m unwilling to speak English in class because we are not familiar with speaking English in class 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 I’m unwilling to speak English in class because of the topic speaking 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 51 10 I’m unwilling to speak English in class because in Vietnam classroom, it’s better to listen than to speak 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 11 I’m unwilling to speak English in class because I have no idea to speak 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 12 I’m unwilling to speak English in class because I don’t know how to express my opinion in English 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 13 I’m unwilling to speak English in class because of my poor pronunciation 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 14 I’m unwilling to speak English in class because of my lack of vocabulary 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 15 I’m unwilling to speak English in class because my grammar is not good 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 16 I’m unwilling to speak English in class because I feel worried to speak among a lot of people 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 17 I’m unwilling to speak English in class because of my class’s learning atmosphere 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 18 I’m unwilling to speak English in class because my pursuit of perfection 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 19 I’m unwilling to speak English in class because I’m shy 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 20 Other reasons:.………………………………………………………………………………… If you are suitable to be participants in next stages of my study, how can I contact with you? Facebook…………………………………………………… Email……………………………………… Phone number…………………………… 52 APPENDIX B: Sample of Students’ interviews Student 15 I: How long have you been studying English? S15: years I: How important you think English is? S15: It helps to communicate and the more importance thing is most universities require students with English proficiency I: How did you feel when you were speaking English in class? S15: I was not confident Sometimes I was so shaking that I could not say a word I: Were you afraid of making mistakes? S15: Yes I: Were you embarrassed when you made mistakes? S15: Yeah my classmates would laugh at me when I made mistakes so I was very embarrassed at that time I: Normally you behave like that when you speak in public? S15: No, I don‟t I: Why it happens when you speak English? S15: Vietnamese is my mother tongue so I can speak it comfortably without being afraid of mistakes I don‟t know much about English, I even pronounce English words wrongly so I‟m very ashamed to speak English in class I: What about talking English with teacher? How did you feel when teacher asked you a question in English? S15: When it was a native teacher, sometimes I misunderstood the question because I couldn‟t listen to it clearly About Vietnamese teacher, I wouldn‟t be afraid if I understood it, but if I didn‟t understand, I would be anxious and didn‟t dare to answer I: If you didn‟t understand teacher‟s question, did you ask her/him? S15: No I: Why? S15: I don‟t know, I am not used to speaking English with teacher It kind of has a distance between us I choose to speak only when I have to 53 I: During learning English process in class, have you ever raised your hand to ask for further explanation when you don‟t understand something? S15: No I chose to ask my friend instead I: How did you feel when your teacher was watching you while you were speaking? S15: I was a bit afraid I: How did you feel when your teacher corrected your English? S15: I would correct it I: Next part we will discuss about how did you feel when you had to speak English with your friends in ELC Do you think that your classmates are better at English than you? S15: Yes, there are many students good at English around me I: Did it make you more unwillingness to speak English? S15: Yeah of course I: In what situation would you speak most, between speaking in pairs or speaking in groups? S15: Normally in groups I: Who you speak English with most, between your teacher and your friends? S15: With my friends, cauze I feel more comfortable I: How would you describe your personality? How you think your personality affect your speaking? S15: I am a bit quiet in class Because I don't want to talk a lot in class I: What about outside of classroom? S15: Normally I also talk and laugh a lot But it just happened with my okd friends I haven't communicated much with new friends so I: How you evaluate your own English ability? S15: I evaluate my self out of 10 I: Do you have any motivation to study English S15: Because of my future and because of a person 54 Vietnamese version I: Em học TA rồi? S15: Dạ năm I: Việc học TA quan trọng em nào? S15: Nó giúp ích cho việc giao tiếp quan trọng trường đại học lấy sinh viên phải có trình độ tiếng Anh I: Em cảm thấy nói tiếng Anh lớp? S15: Em không tự tin Nhiều lúc em run khơng nói I: Em có sợ mắc lỗi khơng? S15: Có I: Nếu mắc lỗi em có thấy ngượng hay xấu hổ khơng? S15: Mắc lỗi bạn cười lúc ý em ngại I: Bình thường nói trước đám đơng em có khơng? S15: Khơng I: Vì nói TA em lại run vậy? S15: Tiếng Việt tiếng mẹ đẻ nên khơng sợ nói cách thoải mái mà khơng sợ sai từ Còn với Tiếng Anh hem chưa biết nhiều đọc từ cịn sai nên em ngại nói I: Vậy cịn nói với giáo viên sao? Khi giáo viên hỏi câu hỏi Tiếng Anh em cảm thấy nào? S15: Nếu giáo viên nước ngồi có chút nghe khơng rõ tiếng họ nói nên có lúc cịn hiểu sai câu hỏi, cịn với giáo viên Việt Nam câu hỏi em hiểu em khơng sợ, cịn câu nghe khơng hiểu em thấy sợ khơng dám trả lời I: Nếu không hiểu câu hỏi GV em có chủ động hỏi lại khơng? S15: Khơng I: Tại vậy? S15: Em nữa, em khơng quen nói chuyện với giáo viên, trừ em phải nói em nói 55 I: Trong q trình học lớp có chỗ khơng rõ, có em giơ tay hỏi GV không? S15: Trong q trình học lớp có chỗ khơng hiểu em hỏi bạn xung quanh I: Trong lúc em nói giáo viên nhìn em em cảm thấy nào? S15: Em run I: Nếu em nói sai mà GV ngắt lời em để sửa lỗi em thấy nào? S15: Em sửa lại I: OK phần nói chuyện với bạn lớp Em có thấy bạn nói giỏi khơng? S15: Có ạ, xung quanh em bạn học giỏi tiếng Anh I: Điều có khiến em ngại nói không? S15: Tất nhiên I: OK hoạt động em nói nhiều nhất, làm việc theo cặp, theo nhóm, hay trước lớp? S15: Thường theo nhóm I: Em thích nói Tiếng Anh với giáo viên hay với bạn hơn? S15: Em thích nói chuyện với bạn hơn, em thấy thoải mái I: Em miêu tả tính cách em khơng? Em tự nhận thấy người nào? S15: Ở lớp trầm ạ, em khơng thích nói nhiều lớp I: Vậy cịn bình thường sao? Tính cách hang ngày em ấy? S15: Bình thường cười nhiều nói nhiều, bạn lớp cũ thơi ạ, bạn lớp em tiếp xúc nên nói I: Em nghĩ trình độ Tiếng Anh mức độ thang 10? S15: Nếu tự đánh giá em nghĩ mức thơi I: Em có động lực thúc đẩy học tốt khơng? S15: Là người tương lai ln 56 APPENDIX C: Sample of Teachers’ interviews Teacher I: Good afternoon, thank you for attending my interview First of all can you tell me how long have you been teaching English? T1: years I: Ok Could you tell me about how you feel about teaching this subject? T1: Under a lot of pressure because it‟s one of compulsory subject at school Additionally, English competence levels of students are quite low Therefore, I have to help them make gradual progress and I myself always have to make great efforts Sometimes I feel exhausted I: Yeah I see So what you think about the speaking performaces of students in classes CB1 and CB2? T1: CB2 is much better than CB1 Because CB2 has more boys than CB1 This is one of the most important factors to make my speaking lesson more interesting I: Why you think a class with more boys has better performance? T1: Boys are said to be far more active than girls Their abilities are also better, in my opinion I: So CB1 is not as good at speaking English as CB2 or at English in general? T1: CB1 is good at Literature They are not good at English in general I: So i wanna know more about students in A8, cauze my thesis is about unwillingness to speak So beside abilities and personalities, you think there is any factor makes them refuse to speak? T1: There are three main reasons in my opinion: Firstly is because of me I am their head teacher, I often scold them hence they are afraid and create a distance between them and me Secondly, the new text book has been exploited deeply, so the materials weren‟t used 57 effectively Lastly, their English abilities are not good in general, and because of their lack of vocabulary, structures to express their ideas I: If they are not willing to speak, how you attempt to encourage them to speak? T2: I'll add more effective teaching method, give good marks to encourage them, organize good and suitable activities for them, check their vocabulary regularly, ask them to work hard in pairs and groups, let them listen to good students speaking English as examples Sometimes I change the class‟s organization, so that students know more about other students in class, which makes them more sociable I: Can you tell me which kind of organization makes them most willing to speak? In pairs, in groups, in class? T1: In groups I: Before we finish, would you like to add any more comments that we haven‟t covered in the interview? T2: I have come up with no better ideas Teaching is a hard job As a teacher, I am always in an attempt to teach well 58 ... language classrooms as perceived by students at high schools in Hanoi? RQ3 What are the reasons for students? ?? unwillingness to speak English in English language classrooms as perceived by teachers at. .. RQ1 To what extent students at high schools in Hanoi remain unwilling to speak in English language classrooms? RQ2 What are the reasons for students? ?? unwillingness to speak English in English language. .. RQ2: What are the reasons for students? ?? unwillingness to speak English in English language classrooms as perceived by teachers at high schools in Hanoi? Table 3.6 Reasons for students? ?? unwillingness