Vu Thi Luong (2002) and Dang Quang Sang (2007) put an emphasis on using games in teaching English to primary children to meet children’s interests, characteristics and capacity in acquiring a foreign language. Such an important part that games play in primary English language teaching, teachers, however, had many different opinions about them as well as difficulties in using them.
90% of teachers in the study sample agreed that games are effective to language teaching but almost all teachers complained that they had not got any book or materials including a game collection so they used only some games repeatedly (Vu Thi Luong, 2002). Thus among 70% of the teachers using games in teaching only 20% used games frequently. 30% of the teachers had never used games because they thought that the secondary school students were so anxious to learn English in order to pass the exams so the primary teachers should only focus on vocabulary and grammar and then asked students to do as many exercises as possible (Dang Quang Sang, 2007). Given this, the teachers spent no time for studying or collecting games for their learners. As a result, “games were not used frequently and usefully in teaching English to primary school children” (Vu Thi Luong, 2002, p. 23).
Nguyen Minh Ha (2001) conducted a study on Teaching English on Computer to Primary School Children in a school in Hanoi. According to her findings, one of the problems with the uses of the computer in TEYL was that
“most teachers are not qualified enough to meet the demands of teaching
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English on computer. Their major short-comings are poor English, lack of computer skills, inexperience and weak teaching methods.” She showed a fact that many teachers abused computers and became too dependent on computers.
The teachers had difficulty choosing appropriate programme, setting up a sustainable syllabus or applying techniques relevant to students’ level. She provoked a conclusion that “teaching English to children not only fails but puts pressure on children’s attitude towards English language.” (p. 27) because most primary teachers considered English a school subject like Maths, Vietnamese so they asked children to learn by heart a list of words and structures.
Ta Van Diep (2003) explored the uses of video clips as an effective means of developing communicative competence for primary school children in Hanoi because “video clips create a natural language environment with the combination of sound and pictures” (p. 19). However, the question of using video clips surprised many teachers because they had never considered video clips a means of teaching, instead, a means of entertainment. Moreover, most schools in Hanoi were not equipped with video so both the teachers and learners did not have chance to enjoy video clips in English lessons.
In an exploratory study on the situation of English Bilingual Education (EBE) in East Asia, To Thi Thu Huong (2010) gave an insightful discussion about the implementation of EBE in Vietnam from preschool to tertiary level.
As a response to the pressing need of society, a strong political will be from leaders of the country, “EBE will move very fast in years to come” (p. 112).
However, introducing EBE at primary level may cause some challenges for Vietnamese language maintenance. Moreover, some obstacles to the implementation of EBE are identified as:
- lack of understanding and support from leaders and managers - teacher quality and professional competence
(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).The.Chanllenges.of.teaching.English.at.Primary.Schools.A.Survey.in.One.Province(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).The.Chanllenges.of.teaching.English.at.Primary.Schools.A.Survey.in.One.Province(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).The.Chanllenges.of.teaching.English.at.Primary.Schools.A.Survey.in.One.Province(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).The.Chanllenges.of.teaching.English.at.Primary.Schools.A.Survey.in.One.Province(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).The.Chanllenges.of.teaching.English.at.Primary.Schools.A.Survey.in.One.Province(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).The.Chanllenges.of.teaching.English.at.Primary.Schools.A.Survey.in.One.Province(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).The.Chanllenges.of.teaching.English.at.Primary.Schools.A.Survey.in.One.Province(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).The.Chanllenges.of.teaching.English.at.Primary.Schools.A.Survey.in.One.Province
- programmer finance
- programmer facilities and equipment
- the English and Vietnamese proficiency levels of the learners.