The use of autonomous technology based language learning strategies among non english majors at da lat university

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BA RIA-VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY DUONG HUY THE USE OF AUTONOMOUS TECHNOLOGYBASED LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES AMONG NON-ENGLISH MAJORS AT DALAT UNIVERSITY Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of TESOL SUPERVISOR: TRAN QUOC THAO, Ph D Ba Ria - Vung Tau, March , 2021 The thesis entitled THE USE OF AUTONOMOUS TECHNOLOGY-BASED LANGUAGE LEARNING THE STRATEGIES AMONG NON-ENGLISH MAJORS AT DA LAT UNIVERSITY was successfully defended and approved on March 13, 2021 at Ba Ria - Vung Tau University (BVU) Academic supervisor: Dr Trần Quốc Thao Examination Committee Assoc Prof Dr Phạm Hữu Đức: Chair Dr Nguyễn Hoàng Tuấn: Reader Dr Phan Thế Hưng: Reader Dr Dương Mỹ Thẩm : Member Dr Lê Lan Phương: Secretary Member On behalf of the Examination Committee Chair Assoc Prof Dr Phạm Hữu Đức i MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BA RIA VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY Ba Ria - Vung Tau, 13th March 2021 MASTER’S THESIS REPORT Student name: DUONG HUY Sex: Male Date of birth: 15 November 1977 Place of birth: Lam Dong Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Student code: 18110090 I- Thesis title: The use of autonomous technology-based language learning strategies among non-English majored students at Dalat University II- Objectives and contents: This study aims to scrutinize non-English majors’ strategies towards autonomous technology-based language learning (ATLL) at the context of Da Lat University The research objectives are as follows: - To explore non-English majors’ attitudes towards the use of autonomous technology-based language learning (ATLL) at the context of Da Lat University - To investigate the use of autonomous technology-based language learning strategies among non-English majored students at Dalat University This study was conducted at the context of Da Lat University, there are many technology-based facilities such as Electronic library, multimedia rooms, LAB, I-class, smart classrooms, self-study rooms with Wi-Fi internet aiming to help students to study English As such, students are required to take responsibility to learn independently The participants were non-English majored students who were studying at Tourism Services and Tour Management, Economics and Business Administration, Information Technology and International Studies faculty In order to gain the results, this study applied the mixed-method: quantitative and qualitative, two instruments were utilized: questionnaire and semi-structured interview so as to collect the data III- Starting date: September 1st 2020 ii IV- Completing date: March 1st 2020 V- Academic supervisor: Tran Quoc Thao, Ph D ACADEMIC SUPERVISOR FACULTY DEAN iii CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled: “THE USE OF AUTONOMOUS TECHNOLOGY-BASED LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES AMONG NON-ENGLISH MAJORS AT DA LAT UNIVERSITY” Ba Ria - Vung Tau, March, 2021 DUONG HUY iv RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, DUONG HUY, being a candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care, loan, and reproduction for theses Ba Ria Vung Tau, March, 2021 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Tran Quoc Thao for his professional guidance, efforts and support he gave me throughout the different phases of writing my Master Thesis I was very lucky to work on my research under his supervision and patience which inspired me to greater efforts I would also like to take the opportunity to thank examiners for reading my proposal for their in- depth comments and suggesting future steps they gave during the thesis defense I am also deeply grateful for the support of teachers and students at Dalat University, the enthusiastic participation of the students and teachers in this research project This study would not have been possible without the valuable data they provided Last but not least, I owe my family wholehearted thanks for the everlasting support and encouragement I received I might not have gone that far on my academic path without them vi ABSTRACT Technology has emerged as an indispensable part in education in general and in English language education in particular Accordingly, the use of technology for autonomous English language learning should be imperative This study, therefore, aims to scrutinize the use of autonomous technology-based language learning strategies among non -English majors at the context of the Dalat University The research participants were 425 non-English majors conveniently sampled answering the closed-ended questionnaires, and 25 of whom were invited for semi-structured interviews The quantitative data from questionnaires were processed by SPSS, while the qualitative data from interviews were analyzed using the content analysis approach The findings unraveled that the research participants had positive attitudes and effective strategies toward autonomous technology-based language learning Among three components of attitudes, it was found out that research participants were highly aware of the roles of technology in autonomous language learning (cognitive attitudes), they had positive feelings towards the use of technology in autonomous language learning (affective attitudes), and they had different activities for using technology for autonomous language learning (behavioral attitudes) The findings also showed that most of research participants became more autonomous for their language learning and applied more autonomous technology-based language learning strategies beyond the classroom Such preliminary findings are hoped to shed light on the enhancement of learner autonomy by integrating technology into autonomous English language teaching and learning Keywords: attitude; autonomy; non-English major; strategies; technology; language learning vii TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled: iv RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi ABSTRACT vii LIST OF FIGURES xii CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1.2 Statement of the Problem 1.3 Aims of the Study 1.4 Research Questions 1.5 Scope of the Study 1.6 Significance of the Study 1.7 Definitions of the Terms 1.8 Organization of the thesis CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Learner autonomy 2.2.1 Definitions of learner autonomy 2.2.2 Characteristics of learner autonomy 11 2.3 The use of technology in English language learning 14 2.4 Autonomous language learning strategies 16 2.4.1 Classification of autonomous language learning strategies 16 2.4.2 Autonomous technology-based language learning strategies 18 2.5.1 Definitions of attitudes 23 2.5.2 The components of attitudes 23 Figure 1.1: the ABC model of attitude 24 2.6 Previous studies 26 2.7 Conceptual Framework in this Study 32 viii Figure 2.1: The conceptual framework for Autonomous Technology-based Language Learning strategies 32 2.8 Chapter summary 33 CHAPTER 34 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 34 3.1 Introduction 34 3.2 Research Site 34 3.3 Research design 35 Figure 3.1: Sequential explanatory design (Creswell, 2009, p 209) 36 3.4 Sample and sampling procedures 36 Table 3.1: Participants’ general information 39 3.5 Research instruments 39 3.5.1 Questionnaire 39 3.5.2 Semi-structured interview 41 3.6 Data collection procedures 41 3.7 Data analysis procedures 42 3.8 Validity and Reliability 43 Table 3.2 Cronbach’s Alpha of the questionnaire items 44 CHAPTER 47 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 47 4.1 Introduction 47 4.2 Results 47 4.2.1 Non-English majored students’ attitudes towards Autonomous Technologybased Language Learning (ATLL) 47 Table 4.1 Non-English majored Students’ attitudes towards ATLL 48 Table 4.2 Non-English majored students’ affective attitudes towards ATLL 49 Table 4.3 Non-English majored students’ behavioural attitudes towards ATLL 51 Table 4.4 Non-English majored students’ cognitive attitudes towards ATLL 52 4.2.2 Non-English majored students’ Autonomous Technology-based Language Learning Strategies (ATLLS) 53 Table 4.5 Non-English majored students’ memory strategies 55 Table 4.6 Non-English majored students’ cognitive strategies 56 ix ... autonomous technology- based language learning (ATLL) at the context of Da Lat University - To investigate the use of autonomous technology- based language learning strategies among non- English majored... What are the attitudes towards the autonomous use of technology for English language learning of non- English majors at DLU? How non- English majors at DLU use ATLLS in their English language learning? ... certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled: ? ?THE USE OF AUTONOMOUS TECHNOLOGY- BASED LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES AMONG NON- ENGLISH MAJORS AT DA LAT UNIVERSITY? ?? Ba Ria