VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES ---o0o--- A SURVEY ON THE REAL SITUATION OF ACTIVE LEARNING IN ENGLISH 6 AT SOME SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN HOCHIMINH CITY A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL Submitted by PHAN HOANG YEN Supervisor DO HANH NGA, Ph.D Hochiminh City, June 2007 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: A SURVEY ON THE REAL SITUATION OF ACTIVE LEARNING IN ENGLISH 6 AT SOME SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN HOCHIMINH CITY in terms of the statement of Requirements for Theses in Master’s Programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee. Hochiminh City, June 20, 2007 Phan Hoang Yen i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to acknowledge the invaluable and heartily assistance that my thesis supervisor, Dr. Do Hanh Nga has given to me over the lengthy period of researching and writing this thesis. Without her encouragement and constant guidance, I could hardly finish the thesis.
She was always ready to meet and talk about my ideas, proofread my papers and chapters, make good questions and give helpful advice to help me think through the problems. I am greatly indebted to many lecturers, including Prof. Cao Xuan Hao, Prof. Nguyen Duc Dan, Prof.
Bui Khanh The, Dr. Duong Ngoc Dung, Dr. Nguyen Van Muoi, Dr. Vu Thi Phuong Anh, Dr.
To Minh Thanh, Ms. Nguyen Bich Hanh, M. Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu, M. Pham Thi Ngoc Hoa, M.
Truong Hon Huy, M. Nguyen Hoang Linh, M.A for their dedication and helpful instruction during the course. I also wish to thank all those who helped in the study, in particular, Ms. Ho Dac Hai Mien, Mr Phan Minh Khanh, the management board of Tran Dai Nghia, Vo Truong Toan, Minh Duc (District 1), Khanh Hoi A, Tang Bat Ho A, Van Don, (District 4), Nguyen Huu Tho (District 7), and Lam Son, Cuu Long (Binh Thanh District) secondary schools for their help with the data collection for the study; all the pupils participating in the study for their cooperation; and all my friends for their unfailing support, friendship and enjoyable company.
Last but not least, thanks go to my family. To my parents who continue to give of themselves so that their children will prosper. To my husband and daughter for their love, understanding and support. ii ABSTRACT This research study is carried out with the purpose of identifying the real situation of application of active learning in teaching English 6 at some secondary schools in HCMC.
In parallel to this, it may gain some significance as it is performed to discover what secondary teachers really need to implement instructional innovation with success. Evidence was collected through three survey questionnaires to 6th-grade pupils, teachers and management officials in some secondary in district 1, 4, 7 and Binh Thanh district. Results from the various analyses show (1) the real situation of the application of active learning in the classroom; (2) the cause of that situation. The study also makes suggestion on how to apply active learning more effectively.
Although schools’ management board and teachers are aware of the importance of active learning in foreign language teaching, they should be well-oriented and well-equipped for an ultimate result. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of originality. iii Table of contents. iv List of tables.
vii List of figures .2 Aim of the study and overview of the thesis. 4 Chapter 1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY .1 Description of the English 6 syllabus.1 The English 6 course-book .2 Orientation of the renewal of English 6 teaching method.1 Reinforcing pupil’s motivation.2 Bringing pupil’s personal style and creativityinto play.3 Creating maximum chance for practicing language use.5 Using the textbook creatively .6 Resources and equipment supporting the subject. 11 Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW.1 Overview of active learning .1 What is active learning .2 Historical overview of active learning.3 How to apply active learning in the classroom.4 What are the advantages? .2 Factors needed in applying active learning .1 Analysis of pupils’ demands.3 Active learning techniques.3 Data collection procedures. 37 Chapter 4 DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS.1 Real situation of active learning in English 6 .1 Analysis of teachers’ opinions about active learning .2 Analysis of management official’s opinions about the real situation of active learning .3 Analysis of pupils’ opinions about the real situation of active learning .2 Results of class observation .1 At Tang Bat Ho secondary school .2 At Nguyen Huu Tho secondary school.3 At Tran Dai Nghia secondary school.
52 Chapter 5 IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.1 The real situation of active learning in English 6 at secondary schools.2 Causes of the real situation of active learning in English 6 at secondary schools .57 APPENDIX 1 Questionnaire for teachers (in Vietnamese). 60 APPENDIX 2 Questionnaire for teachers (in English translation). 66 APPENDIX 3 Questionnaire for management officials (in Vietnamese). 72 APPENDIX 4 Questionnaire for mananagement officials (in English translation).
75 APPENDIX 5 Questionnaire for pupils (in Vietnamese). 78 APPENDIX 6 Questionnaire for pupils (in English translation). 80 APPENDIX 7 Observation sheet. 82 vi LIST OF TABLES Chapter 1 Table 1.1 Content of English 6 course-book .1 Efficient and Inefficient teaching situation for lecturing .2 Effective and Ineffective lecture.1 Frequency distribution of teachers’ questionnaire .2 Frequency distribution of management officials’ questionnaire.3 Frequency distribution of pupils’ questionnaire.1 Teachers’ opinions about their understanding in active teaching method .2 Teachers’ opinions about active teaching method.3 Difficulties in applying active learning in the classroom.4 Types of activities done in class .5 Equipment used in the classroom .6 Purpose of active learning and use of equipment.7 Ways of identifying pupils’ demands.8 Teachers’ habit of lesson planning .9 Reasons that teachers are not satisfied with the course-book .10 Management officials’ opinions about statements on the application of active learning.11 Management officials’ opinions about the application of active learning .12 Mean of types of activities done in class.13 Pupils’ opinions about the real situation of active learning.
50 vii LIST OF FIGURES Chapter 2 Figure 2.1 A model of active learning .2 The cone of learning .1 Skills that teachers focus on practicing. 44 viii ABBREVIATIONS MOET : Ministry of Education and Training DOET : Department of Education and Training HCMC : Hochiminh City SD : Standard deviation T : Teacher Ps : Pupils ix INTRODUCTION The survey reported in this thesis examines the real situation of teaching and learning English at grade 6 to see if they meet the demands of educational innovation which MOET requires. This introductory chapter identifies the problem the thesis attempts to find out, states the aim of the survey and provides an overview of the thesis.1 THE PROBLEM Hochiminh City is regarded to be the place where foreign language learning has become the most popular in all the country. However, there has been a fact that most pupils, after seven years of learning English at schools and even at some foreign language centers, fail or do not have enough confidence to communicate in English.
There have been a series of articles on some newspapers recently mentioning this fact. They try to find the reason for this and look forward to a more appropriate solution. However, it is really hard to find a concrete answer. As far as we know, in our general education system, English begins to be taught officially at grade 6.
This is such an important milestone for it will set the first bricks for pupils’ habit of language learning. If they are interested in the first lessons, then it can be a source of aspiration later on. And vice versa, it may take a negative effect on pupils. That is why teaching methodology plays an important part in the success of a lesson.
For decades, pupils in Vietnam are getting used to such an inactive way as listening to what the teacher says and noting down. When being they tested, they just memorize things as much as they can and do not know how to make it into practice in real life. And it is the same with English. One of the most important aims of learning English is that pupils can use it to communicate; however, teachers pay less attention to teach listening and speaking in class.
10 At the present time, due to the need of methodology innovation, teachers have made some efforts in changing their style of teaching and learning in a way that is more active and positive. They are now conscious of the four language skills, of teaching techniques (warming up, presenting new language materials, and arousing pupils’ interest), variety of classroom activities, tests and assessments and the use of technology. Together with the new course book (English 6), educational innovation has brought some positive changes. The first impression is that the new course book makes such an improvement compared with the old one with more activities, more conversations and more colors.
Most teachers when being asked admit that education innovation is necessary and they have to adapt themselves to the new teaching method. Pupils seem to be more active, more motivated and diligent than those who are still under the old teaching method. However, the application of active learning in the classroom, in fact, still has a lot of difficulties and turns out to be quite inefficient. When reviewing theory of active learning, it is noted that there are barriers that Bonwell and Eison (1991) have pointed out such as the influence of education tradition, lack of needed teaching skills, materials, equipment, or resources, limited incentives for faculty to change, risks that students will not participate, use higher-order thinking, or learn sufficient content, that faculty members will feel a loss of control.
The heart of active learning has not been shown clearly for teachers still play the central role in teaching and learning, pupils only work on being pointed at. Or teachers rely on textbooks so inflexibly that pupils fail to cultivate their communication skills. That is why pupils are often shy and timid when working in groups. So what are the causes of the situation? How can teacher create a real active environment in their classroom? Is it because of the influence of the traditional teaching method, or lack of needed materials, equipment or administrative incentives? 11 0.2 AIM OF THE STUDY AND OVERVIEW OF THE THESIS The objectives of this study are: (1) to make a survey on the real situation of active learning in English 6 at some secondary schools in HCMC; and (2) to make recommendations on how to improve active learning in teaching English 6.
The survey of these issues was based on: (1) a questionnaire asking pupils what activities that the teacher holds in class, how and where they acquire their English; (2) a questionnaire asking teachers what activities they hold in class, how they make their lesson plans; (3) a questionnaire asking management officials about the school’s policy and orientations in applying active learning; and (4) three (03) observation sheets of three classes to see what teachers and pupils do in the classroom. In addition to this chapter – Introduction – which identifies the problem and provides an overview of the thesis, and the Conclusion which closes the thesis, the thesis consists of five main chapters: - Chapter 1 provides the background to the study with the information about Active learning in the world and in Vietnam. - Chapter 2 presents a review of the literature relevant to this study in two separate sections: (1) defines what active learning is; (2) 6th-grade English curriculum. - Chapter 3 describes the methodology used in the study.
This chapter includes a presentation of the research questions, followed by a discussion of the research design and a description of the subjects, instruments, and data collection procedures. - Chapter 4 shows the results of the survey and discusses the findings from the sources of data.