HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES -------------- NGUYEN HOANG ANH SELF-REPORTED EMOTIONS EXPERIENCED IN ONLINE ENGLISH SPEAKING CLASSES BY SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS AT HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, HUE UNIVERSITY MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, University of Foreign Languages and International Studies, Hue University THUA THIEN HUE, 2022 HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES -------------- NGUYEN HOANG ANH SELF-REPORTED EMOTIONS EXPERIENCED IN ONLINE ENGLISH SPEAKING CLASSES BY SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS AT HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, HUE UNIVERSITY MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 8140111 SUPERVISOR: Dr. PHAM THI NGUYEN AI THUA THIEN HUE, 2022 ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ ------------ NGUYỄN HOÀNG ANH NHỮNG CẢM XÚC ĐƯỢC SINH VIÊN NĂM HAI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ, ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ CẢM NHẬN TRONG CÁC LỚP NÓI TIẾNG ANH TRỰC TUYẾN LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 8140111 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TS. PHẠM THỊ NGUYÊN ÁI THỪA THIÊN HUẾ, 2022 STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted for a degree in any university. I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, my thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself.
Signed: ……………………… Date: 09/11/2022 i ABSTRACT This study aimed to investigate the perceptions of second-year English-majored students at Hue University of Foreign Languages and International Studies about the emotions they experienced during online English speaking classes amid the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. This research also contributed to finding out the impacts and sources of the reported emotions. To achieve those aforementioned purposes, both quantitative and qualitative research methods were employed. The data sources were obtained from questionnaires and semi-structured interviews.
The data from the questionnaire were analyzed statistically while the data from the interviews were interpreted accordingly to give insights into the research issues. The results showed that a great number of the participants acknowledged the impacts of emotions when they spoke English. In addition, the study discovered that the students experienced negative emotions more often than positive ones when they dealt with technology-related factors. The negative emotions caused the students to be reluctant to speak while positive emotions stirred up the willingness to speak within them.
Furthermore, both positive and negative emotions were released regarding the social interaction in classes. While positive feelings motivated the students to take part in speaking activities, negative feelings hampered their involvement in activities. The study further revealed that the students were also affected positively and negatively by external factors. On the basis of the results, several pedagogical implications can be proposed for students and teachers.
ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It must be acknowledged that this thesis would have not been completed without the contributions and assistance of many individuals. I would like to extend my gratitude to everyone whose commitment to my work is always appreciated. First and foremost, I am ineffably grateful to my research supervisor, Dr. Pham Thi Nguyen Ai, for quickly and promptly responding to my questions in every step throughout the process.
I truly appreciate her invaluable instructions and infinite patience that guided me through this study. Her thoughtful suggestions along with detailed advice were of great help for me to refine the thesis. Secondly, my gratitude goes to all the lecturers of Hue University of Foreign Languages and International Studies for their instructions and guidance during the course of my studies. Their adequate instructions made a positive contribution to my thesis.
Thirdly, I am indebted to 103 second-year English-majored students of Hue University of Foreign Languages and International Studies who willingly completed the questionnaires. More than that, I am greatly grateful for 7 of them who voluntarily took part in the interviews and were always willing to satisfy my curiosity afterwards. Their participation during the course of my collecting data contributed to the completion of the current study. Finally, I wish to express my special thanks to my family and my friends for their love, wholehearted support, and words of encouragement, which made my thesis come into being.
iii List of Tables Table 1: The two clusters in section 2. 23 Table 2 Emotions due to unstable and slow internet connection. 31 Table 3 Lack of the ability to deal with technology. 33 Table 4 Speaking through digital devices.
36 Table 5 Emotions due to speaking without genuine interaction. 38 Table 6 Emotions when students could or could not understand the instructions clearly. 42 Table 7 Emotions due to untimely support for vocabulary and ideas. 44 Table 8 Emotions after receiving negative and positive evaluations.
45 Table 9 Emotions due to inactive and active co-operations from friends. 48 iv List of Figures Figure 1. Participants’ English speaking ability. The impacts of emotions in speaking English.
30 v List of Abbreviations %. English as a Foreign Language SLA………… Second Language Acquisition HUFLIS. Hue University of Foreign Languages vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Statement of Original Authorship. iii List of Tables.
iv List of Figures. v List of Abbreviations. vi Table of contents. vii Chapter 1: Introduction.
Significance of the study. Organization of the study. 4 Chapter 2: Literature Review. Second language acquisition and the importance of speaking skills.
Definition of emotions. Emotions in SLA. Sources of emotions. The roles of emotions.
Virtual Classes and Emotions. Emotions in Virtual Classes. Summary of the chapter. Data collection procedures.
Procedure of collecting quantitative data. Procedure of collecting qualitative data. Data analysis procedures. Procedure of analyzing quantitative data.
Procedure of analyzing qualitative data. Validity and reliability. Validity and reliability in questionnaire. Validity and reliability in interviews.
Summary of the chapter. 29 Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion. Emotions in speaking English in general. Emotions associated with technology-related factors.
Emotions due to unstable and slow internet connection. Emotions due to the lack of ability to deal with technology. Emotions due to speaking through digital devices. Emotions associated with social interaction.
Emotions due to speaking without genuine interaction. Emotions when the students could or could not understand the instructions clearly. Emotions due to untimely support for vocabulary and ideas. Emotions after receiving negative and positive evaluations.
Emotions due to inactive and active co-operations from friends. Emotions associated with teachers’ emotions and manner. Emotions associated with family members. Emotions associated with teachers’ technological competence.
Summary of the chapter. 54 Chapter 5: Conclusion and Implication. Pedagogical implications for teachers. Pedagogical implications for EFL learners.
Limitations of the study. Suggestions for further studies. 67 ix Chapter 1: Introduction In this chapter, the rationale underlying the study is presented. It provides the background of the study and describes the context that raises the research issue.
In addition, this chapter centers on research aims, research questions and the significance of the study, followed by the scope of the study. Background With the advent of modern technology, the education system has undergone some far- reaching changes. Technology has been utilized in offline classes to create more stimulating engaging lessons with PowerPoint slides, and/or games. More importantly, technology has been employed to conduct online-based classes around the globe.
This enables learners to have access to education regardless of geographical boundaries. With its prominent benefits, technology has been increasingly made use of amidst the period of the pandemic. The pandemic Covid-19 commenced at the end of the year 2019 and has still been raging in various parts of the world, which has brought huge shifts in many aspects of human life including production, economy, health care, and especially, education. Under Covid-19 lockdown, many physical classes have been dismissed and conducted through the internet to keep students’ learning process on track, and English classes are not an exception.
This novel form of learning has provoked some emotions that exert impacts on students’ learning process. This research aims to seek these emotions and their influences on students’ oral performance from English students’ perceptions. Rationale There is a general consensus among the researchers (Aragão, 2011; Becker, Goetz, Morger, and Ranellucci, 2014; Dewaele, Witney, Saito, and Dewaele, 2017; Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1986; Kitano, 2001; MacIntyre, 2007; MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994; Subaşı, 2010; 1 Turnbull & Arnett, 2002; Williams & Andrade, 2008) that various emotions are generated in offline language learning environments. The emotions exert debilitative and facilitative impacts upon students’ performance.
Currently, with the advent of technology over the past few decades, offline classes have been shifting to online classes. Several researchers (Ch’Ng, 2019; O’Regan, 2003; Reilly, Gallagher-Lepak and Killion., 2012; Zembylas, 2008; Zembylas , Theodorou and Pavlakis, 2008) also conducted studies to investigate the emotions experienced in the online classes held prior to the existence of the Covid-19 virus. These researchers found some positive emotions (pride, excitement, etc.) and negative emotions (frustration, alienation, etc. Nevertheless, there has been no detailed investigation of the impacts of these emotions.
Hitherto, similarly, there has been little discussion about emotions in online speaking classes. Due to the rapid spread of the contagious virus globally, governments in the world decided to put a halt to social activities and imposed the lockdown order to ensure public health. This mandate for months on end was implemented almost around the globe, leading to the conspicuous development of online-based learning. The spread of Covid-19 pandemic in the past three years has led to catastrophic consequences which negatively impacted college and university students’ emotions.
Liu, Liu and Zhong (2020), who investigated the cognition, psychological state, and the level of anxiety and depression of college students amid the outbreak of Covid-19, suggested that college students’ anxiety and depression increased in the early days of the pandemic. This might be explained by the ignorance about the pandemic situation of the public which further resulted in the lack of participants' positive perception of prevention. In the same line of health related factors, Le Vigoroux, Goncalves and Charbonnier (2021) proved that a number of students felt worried for their own health as well as that of their loved ones. A possible explanation for this is the uncertainty in coping with the preventive lockdown.
2 Simultaneously, Marzana et al. (2021), who analyzed emotional dimensions of individuals during the spread of Covid-19, found out that the spread of Covid-19, especially the first period of lockdown stirred up fear and concern related to their family members and friends. Similarly, Kee (2021), through his students’ reflection papers, contends that the uncertainties about the corona virus affect students’ emotional states since they could not accurately predict their future of their learning. Additionally, worry about learning online also provokes student anxiety.
Additionally, students’ economic condition is another cause of anxiety (Cao et al. During protective lockdown for months on end, earning money was undoubtedly more challenging since a massive number of workplaces were closed to curb the spread. The shortage of income hindered students from meeting their fundamental needs for food, accommodation, and so on. The struggles about living expenditures exacerbated the level of anxiety among students.
With the nervousness and struggles in life, students’ emotions themselves have been affected. Thus, it is likely that emotions in online classes in previous studies mentioned above are no longer precise among tertiary students. Furthermore, although affective domain has been gaining attention among researchers, emotions in online speaking classes, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, have received scant attention in the Vietnamese context. For the above reasons, this study was conducted in the context of Hue University of Foreign Languages to provide a broader understanding of EFL students’ perception about their emotions in online speaking classes, the sources and impacts on their oral performance.