An overview of the situation of teaching and learn- 123docz.net

2.1.1. The educational environment

Dong Hy High School is situated in the centre of Dong Hy district, Thai Nguyen province. The school has three buildings with 42 classes equipped with fans and lights. Most of the classes are rather big in comparison with an ordinary class of English, about over 40 students. In our school, there are some labs with teaching aids and modern technology. There is also a library where teachers and students can come to read and borrow books. However, both the laboratories and the library do not meet the need of teaching and learning because there are too many students and classes while the facilities are limited. For English subjects, teachers are equipped with cassettes which help them a lot in teaching; however, there is only one projector and a special room with modern technology for teaching and learning English for 42 classes.

Therefore, they have a few chances to apply technology to teaching. Moreover, materials and reference books teaching English in our school are limited. The environment inside the school is quite fresh and environment friendly. However the surroundings is quite complicated with social evils which affect students‟ learning.

2.1.2. Teachers

There are about over one hundred teachers in Dong Hy High School. Most of them graduated from Thai Nguyen University of Education and some have finished the MA course and some others are following the course. Teachers in the school are very close-knit and friendly with each other. For students, they are always dedicated and willing to help them. The school has six groups divided according to the subjects. In English group, there are twelve teachers aged from 31 to 53. All the teachers are very enthusiastic with teaching and want to improve the quality of English teaching and learning. Two teachers are following an MA course, three have finished the course, and the others graduated from the university. In English teaching, all teachers hope that their students can have enough knowledge to pass the test and exam. Besides,

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most of the tests and exams are in written form. As a result of this, they usually pay more attention to teaching vocabulary and grammar than pronunciation.

2.1.3. Learners

There are nearly 2000 students in our school, who are aged from 16 to 18. Most of students come from poor families of farmers in mountainous and remote areas.

Their houses are far from school; therefore, it takes them a lot of time to go to school every day. Some students even have to rent small rooms near the school to live and study. Nowadays, English has become a compulsory subject in most schools in Viet Nam and Dong Hy High School is not exception. Most students have learnt English since they were at grade six. Some of them even have learnt English since they were at primary school. However, many students in the school are afraid of English and their English level is very low. When they start upper secondary school, a lot of them do not have enough knowledge to follow the curriculum in the textbook, some students even know nothing. Recently, textbooks and curriculums have been changed a lot and the books we are using are not suitable with our students' level; the lessons are too difficult and long for them. This causes many difficulties in English teaching and learning at the school.

2.1.4. The textbook

All the text books, English 10, 11, 12 are designed to include 16 units. Each unit is divided into five parts. The first four parts are aimed at helping learners develop their language skills of Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing and the last part is Language Focus which consists of Pronunciation and Grammar. Each part is taught in a period of 45 minutes. In the pronunciation syllabus designed for English 11, consonantal problems are mentioned in the succession of vowels; and voiced and voiceless pairs of consonants taught in English 10. The details of pronunciation lessons in English 11 are shown in the table below.

Units Pronunciation matter Unit 1 / dʒ/; / tʃ /

Unit 2 / m/ ; / n /; / ŋ / Unit 3 / l / ; / r / ; / h / Unit 4 / w/ ; / j /

Unit 5 / pl / ; / bl / ; / pr / ; / br / Unit 6 / tr / ; / dr / ; / tw /

Unit 7 / kl / ; / gl / ; / kr / ; / gr / ; / kw / Unit 8 / fl / ; / fr / ; / θr /

Unit 9 / sp / ; / st / ; / sk /

Unit 10 / sl / ; / sm / ; / sn / ; / sw / Unit 11 / ʃr / ; / spl / ; / spr / Unit 12 / str / ; / skr / ; / skw / Unit 13 / pt / ; / bd / ; / ps/ ; / bz / Unit 14 / ts / ; / dz / ; / tʃt / ; / dʒd / Unit 15 / nt / ; / nd / ; / nθ / ; / ns / ; / nz / Unit 16 / ft / ; / vd / ; / fs / ; / vz /

Table 3: Pronunciation matters mentioned in English 11

From the table, we can come to a conclusion that in English 11, pronunciation matters are various, including affricates, nasal consonants, lateral consonant, fricatives, approximants and clusters.

An overview of the situation of teaching and learning English at Dong Hy

Studies on the effects of different teaching methods

General description and classification of English consonants