VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS THE CURRENT STATUS OF APPLYING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN LEARNING ENGLISH OF FIRST-YEAR BIOTECHNOLOGY STUDENTS AT THE VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE THỰC TRẠNG ỨNG DỤNG CÔNG NGHỆ THÔNG TIN TRONG VIỆC HỌC TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT KHOA CÔNG NGHỆ SINH HỌC TẠI HỌC VIỆN NÔNG NGHIỆP VIỆT NAM Student : LE THI THU HA Student code : 621205 Major : ENGLISH Supervisor : NGUYEN CONG UOC, Ph.D TRAN THANH PHUONG, M.A Hanoi – 2021 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “THE CURRENT STATUS OF APPLYING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN LEARNING ENGLISH OF FIRST-YEAR BIOTECHNOLOGY STUDENTS AT THE VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor in English Language. Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis. Hanoi, 2021 Le Thi Thu Ha Approved by Approved by SUPERVISOR 1 SUPERVISOR 2 (Signature and full name) (Signature and full name) Date:…………………… Date:…………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge all the following people without whom I would not have fulfilled this master’s thesis. First, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Ph.D Nguyen Cong Uoc for his valuable instruction and endless support.
He spent his valuable time and effort reading my work with much care and gave me his insightful comments. Without his devoted assistance, this thesis would not have been completed. I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to M.A Tran Thanh Phuong for all the valuable comments and instructions. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all lecturers in the Vietnam National University of Agriculture who provided me with invaluable sources of knowledge during my study there and all the staff members of the department for their help during the course.
I also express my special thanks to the students who took part in this study for their willing support and contributions to my research. Last but not least, I would like to send special gratitude to my family for their consistent support. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS.
v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. vi LIST OF TABLES. vii LIST OF FIGURES. viii Part I: INTRODUCTION.
Rationale for the study. Aims and Objectives of the study. Scope of the study. Significance of the study.
Error! Bookmark not defined. Design of the study. 5 Part II: DEVELOPMENT. 6 CHAPTER 1 - LITERATURE REVIEW.
Review of the previous studies (At home & abroad). Review of the previous study: At home. Review of the previous study: Abroad. Review of theoretical background.
Technology, Information Technology. ICT used in education and English language learning and teaching. Applications of information technology in English language teaching and learning. Benefits of IT applications in English language learning.
Computer and EFL teaching and learning. Mobile Assisted Language Learning. Internet and Web-Based Language Learning Activities. Research setting/context.
Data collecting instruments. Data collecting procedures. Methods of anlysis. 19 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION.
Findings and discussion. Recommendation for the students. 34 Part III: CONCLUSION. Limitations of the study.
Suggestions for further study. 42 iv ABSTRACT In the early part of the 21st century, the development of information technology and its important applications in learning, especially the field of information technology has developed significantly. The study aims at investigating the situation of technology use including how benefits and challenges that non-English major students at the Vietnam National University of Agriculture applied information technology to assist their learning English. This study, which employed a questionnaire as the main instrument, presents the result of data collected from 100 participant students at the faculty of biotechnology of Vietnam National University of Agriculture.
Moreover, the study design is based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. The outcomes of the study indicate the following: Students own a variety of information and communication technologies and use them quite regularly in schoolwork, recreation, and online activities. Among this information technology, smartphones and laptops are leading the top of the device ownership chart. Most of the participants assess their information technology at a high level, remarkably in the fields of online application and mobile technology.
In general, the study result has proved that students have a positive attitude towards information technology use in learning English. v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS VNUA : Vietnam National University of Agriculture CALL : Computer Assisted Language Learning EFL : English as a Foreign Language ESL : English as a Second Language MOET : Ministry of Education and Training MALL : Mobile Assisted Language Learning AECT : The Association for Educational Communications and Technology IT : Information Technology ICT : Information Communication Technology PLATO : Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operations vi LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Weekly hours of IT use for learning English.2: IT use for English language learning purposes .3: Learners’ perceptions of IT use in learning English .5: Top three of benefits and challenges .6: Face-to-face and online learning.7: Suitable language skill for smartphones. 32 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1: Electronic Device Ownership .2: The feeling of participants when using information technology in learning English.3: Mean score of students’ attitude .4: Students’ attitude about information technology .7: Benefits and challenges of using information technology. 30 viii Part I: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale for the study We are living in the era of two revolutions: the scientific-technical revolution and the social revolution. These revolutions are growing like a storm in human history, pushing many fields, having strong strides, and opening up great prospects as humanity enters the twenty-first century which is a great achievement of the current scientific-technical revolution. It penetrates and dominates most fields of scientific research, technology application in production, education, training, and other political and social activities. Information technology is used in all-natural subjects, technical, social, and humanities in education and training.
Rapid changes in information and communication technology, globalization, and new knowledge acquisition strategies make a computer-based learning environment more fundamental than ever. The fast growth of communication technologies has changed the instruction and use of a target language, enabling new forms of discourse, authorship, and ways to participate in academic communities (Kern, 2006). According to Warschauer (2000), globalization and new information technologies will further spread English and change the way English is used. In other words, information technology contributes to transforming “notions of literacy, making online navigation and research, interpretation and authoring of hypermedia, and synchronous and asynchronous online communication critical skills for learners of English” (p.
It is undeniable that technology has been successfully and beneficially applied in various areas of society especially in foreign language education (Amiri, 2012). Actually, in Vietnam, English is the most popular foreign language and is widely spoken in many cities. In the education area, although there are currently other foreign languages in Vietnam, English is regarded as the most important and compulsory foreign language. Significantly, MOET invested in computers 1 at schools and universities, encouraged teachers to use computers to solve teaching and learn foreign languages.
In addition, information technology has been contributing to the modernization and educational renovation process in Vietnam. Technologies also offer students “opportunities to practice reading, writing, speaking and listening outside the classroom at their own pace, in real life-semblance and safe environments” (Pop, 2010). Furthermore, teachers’ CALL applications in the classroom suitably reply to the MOET’s call for teaching renovations. CALL could be a key to solve the difficulty of the above teaching situation in Vietnam.
It can be a suitable solution to assist and supply additional means for teachers and students to achieve their goals more effectively and efficiently. In that common trend, at universities, information technology is also considered a tool to help renovate the quality of foreign language teaching and learning. With the widespread implementation of the Project on teaching and learning foreign languages in the national education system 2020, Vietnam National University of Agriculture has made significant investments in facilities, equipment for teaching and learning foreign languages, and opening practice classes training for teachers, and incorporating technology into students' English practice activities. As we know, the English language is the most widely used in the world, with integration and globalization, the application of information technology in learning English is indispensable to use at the workplace for biotechnology students when getting a job after college.
On the other hand, being proficient in the language can help one leave a good first impression which means higher chances of getting the position one is applying for. Currently, the application of information technology in learning English by first- year biotechnology students at VNUA is still limited and they do not know how to use it correctly in learning English. Therefore, in order to study this problem in-depth, the author has conducted the research entitled: "The current status of 2 applying information technology in learning English of first-year biotechnology students at the Vietnam National University of Agriculture.” Hopefully, this study will help students deeply understand the issues they have not yet applied technology when learning English and suggest solutions to use information technology to the subject effectively. Aims and Objectives of the study The study aims to understand the perceptions of biotechnology students at the Vietnam National University of Agriculture on the characteristics that attract them to use technology to self-study English, the types of technology, and the extent to which they operated.
Specifically, this research aims to obtain two objectives: The first objective is to assist students in applying information technology for learning English, and motivating them to be autonomous learners on studying. The second one is to confirm the benefits and challenges of applying information technology and to assist their learning of English. Research questions The study was conducted to find out the answers to these central research questions: - Question 1: To what extent do the biotechnology students at the Vietnam National University of Agriculture utilize information technology to assist their learning of English? - Question 2: What are the benefits and challenges for applying information technology to assist their learning English of biotechnology students at the Vietnam National University of Agriculture? 4. Scope of the study This study focuses on the information technology broadly applied to English language teaching but in the framework of this minor thesis, the researcher focuses on studying the reality in which the students are using the 3 computer in their studies.
Although information technology is used for studying, practicing, presenting, and the application it to has been so far limited, for learning English. This is a reason for the researcher to choose it. Moreover, the study aims at investigating the reality of the students' information technology using for learning English because the laptop is really important for them to study from first-year. However, it is difficult to carry out this research on a larger scale because of the time limit and the framework of a minor thesis.
Therefore, the study is narrowed to a group of 100 first-year students. The students are the Biotechnology faculty at the Vietnam National University of Agriculture. The scope of the study includes 100 biotechnology students (A random 20 students/class) from 5 classes CNSHA, CNSHB, CNSHC, CNSHD, CNSHE of K65 at the Vietnam National University of Agriculture. The study begins 01/03/2021 and finishes on 30/06/2021.
Significance of the study This study plays an important part in defining the benefits of using information technology for learning English as a second language, especially at university. Besides, the thesis provides an overview of the current status of applying information technology in learning English of first-year biotechnology students at the Vietnam National University of Agriculture.