VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES VŨ THỊ LÊ VY AN EVALUATION OF LEARNERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE ONLINE B1 LEVEL ENGLISH LEARNING PROGRAM ON WEBSITE WWW.COM/ Đánh giá thái độ của học viên về tính hiệu quả của chƣơng trình luyện thi B1 trực tuyến trên trang web www. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Ha Noi, 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES VŨ THỊ LÊ VY AN EVALUATION OF LEARNERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE ONLINE B1 LEVEL ENGLISH LEARNING PROGRAM ON WEBSITE WWW.COM/ Đánh giá thái độ của học viên về tính hiệu quả của chƣơng trình luyện thi B1 trực tuyến trên trang web www. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Đỗ Tuấn Minh, Ph.D Ha Noi, 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I certify my authority of the study submitted entitled AN EVALUATION OF LEARNERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE ONLINE B1 LEVEL ENGLISH LEARNING PROGRAM ON WEBSITE WWW.COM in fulfillment of the partial requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University- Hanoi Hanoi, 2014 Vũ Thị Lê Vy i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To complete this paper, I am deeply indebted to many people for their assistance and encouragement during the conduct of my study. First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest thanks and gratitude to my supervisor – Dr.
Do Tuan Minh – for his continual support, enlightening guidance, valuable advice and considerable encouragement, which are decisive factors in the completion of this paper. Besides, I owe a special debt of gratitude to Assoc. Le Hung Tien and M.A Nguyen Quynh Trang for their valuable feedback on my portfolios for research methodology subject, which guided me and laid the foundation for my study. I deeply thank all VIP members on the website http://tienganhb1.com/ for their enthusiasm and helpfulness in participating in my study.
My sincere thanks also go to my family and friends who gave me unconditional support and encouragement without which my thesis would not have been accomplished. Last but not least, I am especially indebted to the authors whose materials have been used in the study. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT The concept of online learning or e-learning has become increasingly popular. However, studies on the evaluation of online learning still remain in infancy, especially in Vietnam.
Among the very few studies on this topic in Vietnam, this thesis investigates the effectiveness of the online B1 level English learning program on website http://tienganhb1.com/ (the OLP) from the perspectives of VIP members of the website who are preparing for their B1 test in post-graduate format. Specifically, the study seeks to measure the level of satisfaction of the targeted participants and their suggestions for improving the OLP. In order to achieve these aims, a model of evaluation was designed based on the combination of Brill & Park’s (2011) and Bui Thi Thu Giang’s (2012) models. The data were collected by means of questionnaires surveying participants’ attitudes towards the OLP regarding the instructional design, user-friendliness, support and cost-effectiveness; their difficulties encountered while taking the course and suggestions for change.
Interviews were conducted after that in order to obtain insightful information concerning learners’ difficulties and recommendations. Results show that most learners were satisfied with the design of content, level of support provided by the website administrators and teachers and that the website is generally user-friendly and cost-effective. Suggestions were given to improve all four skills and all areas of instructional design, user-friendliness and level of support. Among these, improving the design of content mostly involved adding up new speaking topics or full B1 tests or making the OLP more motivating with videos or supplementing translation in speaking and writing to improve comprehensibility.
iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS Certification of authority of the study. iii List of tables and abbreviations. vi PART A: INTRODUCTION. Rationale of the study.
Aims and research questions of the study. Scope of the study. Methods of the study. Significance of the study.
Overview of the rest of the study .5 CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND. B1 level of English. Definitions of online learning. Reasons for online learning.
Challenges in online learning. Evaluation of online learning program. The importance of evaluation. Types of evaluation.
Models of evaluation. Previous studies on online learning in Vietnamese context. 16 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Description of the context and participants.
Data collection method. Data collection instruments. Data collection procedure. Data analysis method and procedure.
22 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. Research question 1: To what extent are the learners satisfied with the online B1 level English learning program on website http://tienganhb1. Research question 2: What are the learners’ suggestions to maximize the effectiveness of the online B1 level English learning program on website http://tienganhb1. Summary of the results.
Limitations and suggestions for further studies. VII v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES Page Figure 1: Spectrum of evaluation perspectives 10 Figure 2: Conceptual framework applied to analysis of PBJ tutorial evaluation 13 Figure 3: Homepage of the website http://tienganhb1.com/ 17 Figure 4: The OLP on http://tienganhb1.com/ 17 Figure 5: The questionnaire uploaded on the website http://tienganhb1.com/ 20 Figure 6: Sample respondent’s details for the interviews 21 Table 1: Perspectives on evaluation for e-learning 11 Table 2: Criteria for the evaluation of the OLP 15 Table 3: Learner satisfaction in terms of instructional design 23 Table 4: Learner satisfaction in terms of user-friendliness 24 Table 5: Learner satisfaction in terms of support and cost-effectiveness 26 Chart 1: The importance of the OLP 27 Chart 2: Overall evaluation of the OLP 28 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study Enormous advances in information and technology and the increasing demand for new methods of knowledge delivery have led to the rapid growth in the application of web-based training or e-learning. Online learning is considered as “an excellent solution for the old problem of mass education, beyond that of an impractical apprenticeship method, since there are far too many knowledge seekers and not enough knowledge providers” (Penalvo, 2008).
Penalvo also emphasizes that e- learning is possible anytime and anywhere. Additionally, online courses are at lower costs than face to face ones (Petrova and Sinclair, as cited in Penalvo, 2008). Yang & Yuen (2010) stress that the use of computers helps to “support teaching and learning for educators and improve quality and excellence in education” (p. Due to numerous benefits of online learning, many educators have applied it in their teaching.
E-learning has been widespread in recent years. However, studies in the evaluation of e-learning are still limited in number. So far very little research has dealt with e- learning evaluation in Vietnam; therefore, it leaves many gaps for those who are interested in this topic to investigate. This study aims at filling this gap.
Since the Circular No. 05 /2012/TT- BGDĐT dated 15 February, 2012 by MOET came into effect, there has been a very high demand for learning resources to prepare graduate learners for B1 English test. There have been several English websites worldwide offering preparation courses for the B1 test known as PET such as http://www.com/PET/, http://www.com/, http://www. Most of these websites have guidelines for each part of these exams including practice tests.
However, none of these provide extensive courses for B1 tests designed for Vietnamese learners, except for www. The website www.com was designed and officially launched in June, 2013 in order to meet the increasing need for B1 learning materials in Vietnamese context. It has a wide range of online materials for B1 test in Vietnam. Since its introduction, there have been a large number of members 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com registering for the website.
Many of them applied to be VIP members with full access to the online B1 level English learning program on website http://tienganhb1. However, there has been no research conducted in order to evaluate how effective this program is to the learners. Therefore, the researcher is particularly interested in seeking whether the program is effective to its users and there are any suggestions to improve it. In short, key motivation for the researcher to conduct this study is the need to evaluate available online resources for B1 test preparation and to examine unanswered questions left in the field.
Aims and research questions of the study The first objective set out in this study is to investigate the effectiveness of the OLP according to the level of satisfaction of VIP members, mainly using the theories proposed by Brill & Park (2011) and Bui Thi Thu Giang (2012) as methods of evaluation. Next, the study purports to explore learners’ suggestions to improve the educational outcomes of the OLP. In short, the study aims to answer the following research questions: 1. To what extent are the learners satisfied with the online B1 level English learning program on website http://tienganhb1.
What are the learners’ suggestions to maximize the effectiveness of the online B1 level English learning program on website http://tienganhb1. Scope of the study The study focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of the OLP from the learners’ perspectives. This is reflected by the level of users’ satisfaction with the learning conditions referring to the instructional design, the friendliness to the users, the level of support by teachers and administrators to the users and the course cost. 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com This work also stresses the evaluation provided by participants who are going to take B1 test in the post graduate format as specified in the Circular No.
05 /2012/TT- BGDĐT dated 15 February, 2012 by MOET. This means that participants are limited to VIP members as MA or prospective PhD students who are going to take the B1 test under post graduate format pursuant to the above Circular. All other VIP members who are undergraduate students or English teachers are beyond the scope of this study. Methods of the study The study employed both qualitative and quantitative methods.
The data were gathered by using questionnaires and interviews. First, questionnaires were administered to selected participants online after they logged into the system. Survey questionnaires were designed based on the conceptual framework. Survey questionnaires consisted of close-ended question to draw findings to the first questions concerning learners’ satisfaction of the OLP and open-ended questions to capture respondents’ difficulties encountered while taking the course and suggestions to improve it.
Next, semi-structured interviews were adopted to address the second research question for deeper information. Significance of the study As one of the very few studies conducted on the evaluation of e-learning in Vietnam, this research is supposed to shed some light on the field, especially on suggesting criteria for online course evaluation as stated in the rationale. Accordingly, the study is hoped to encourage more researchers to investigate the topic. Also, the study is expected to explore learners’ feedbacks and suggestions for the OLP.
Therefore, with the findings of the study, the researcher wishes to propose changes to maximize the effectiveness of the OLP. Overview of the rest of the study The rest of the study is comprised of four chapters which are as follows. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Chapter two, Theoretical Background, reviews prominent literature directly relevant to the topic being discussed. Chapter three, Methodology, presents the methods used for data collection and data analysis as well as justification for these methods.