MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ NGUYEN TUAN ANH AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF PORTFOLIOS IN TEACHING ENGLISH LANGUAGE: A CASE STUDY AT QUANG TRUNG HIGH SCHOOL, QUANG BINH PROVINCE MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60. TRAN VAN PHUOC In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Hue University of Foreign Languages HUE, 2017 i BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ ------------ NGUYỄN TUẤN ANH ĐIỀU TRA VIỆC SỬ DỤNG TẬP TÀI LIỆU HỌC TRONG VIỆC GIẢNG DẠY TIẾNG ANH: NGHIÊN CỨU TÌNH HUỐNG TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT QUANG TRUNG, TỈNH QUẢNG BÌNH LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60.11 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: PGS. TRẦN VĂN PHƯỚC HUE, 2017 ii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself.
November 9, 2017 Signature Nguyễn Tuấn Anh iii ABSTRACT This study was conducted to explore the efficiency and problems of the application of portfolios in teaching English to 11th grade students at Quang Trung High School in Quang Binh province. It took into consideration the learning progress of the target students in order to generalize this method at the secondary school The participants included eighty-four 11th grade students at Quang Trung High School in Quang Binh province. A designed integrated English portfolio was done by students and collected at the end of the process, and questionnaires and interview were employed to investigate the efficiency and problems of portfolios and then, find out some suggestions and implications on teaching and learning English. Qualitative method was used to analyze data obtained from the aforementioned data collection instruments.
This is a piece of case study and the findings of the research have provided insight into the efficiency of portfolios in learning English at Quang Trung High School. The interview and evidence from the reflections also showed that although there were a number of difficulties, much progress was made after the process of portfolios. Based on the findings, some recommendations, limitations and suggestions were given out. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc.
Tran Van Phuoc for his helpful guidance, critical comments, ongoing support and invaluable contributions during all the stages of this study. I owe my special thanks to Dr. Vo Thi Lien Huong, who has made insightful suggestions for improving my thesis. I am grateful to all lectures and staff members of the English Department for their valuable lessons and help.
I am thankful to the students and teachers who took part in this study for their cooperation and contribution. Lastly, I am deeply indebted to my family and colleagues whose encouragement has been extremely important to the success of this study. v TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY. v TABLE OF CONTENTS.
vi LIST OF FIGURES .1 Rationale of the research .2 Significance of the research .3 Aims of the research and research questions .5 Structure of the study .1 Theoretical backgrounds of portfolio .1 Definitions of portfolio .3 The contents of a portfolio .4 Principles of using portfolios .5 The effects of portfolios on language learning .1 Stages of portfolio implementation .2 Problems and difficulties of portfolio application.2 Review of the application of portfolios in language teaching .2 Context of study .5 The Procedures of Data Collection. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .1 Students’ perceptions on the role of portfolios in ELT.1 Students’ ideas about the definition of portfolios .2 Students’ opinions about the types of portfolio adopted .3 Students’ preferences for the portfolio contents .4 Students’ opinions about the most important part of a portfolio .5 Students’ ideas of the advantages of portfolio compilation .2 Students’ reflection on the process of portfolio application .1 Students’ ideas about the portfolio application procedure .2 Students’ ideas of language skills and language knowledge in a portfolio.3 Students’ evaluation of the language skills and levels improved during the portfolio application process .4 Students’ opinions about actual practice of portfolio application.5 Students’ evaluation of the reflection and feedback section .3 Difficulties encountered by students and their suggestions and solutions .1 Difficulties encountered by students in the portfolio application .2 Solutions and suggestions by students to improve the use of portfolios. CONCLUSION, IMPLICATIONS, LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH.1 Providing students with the concept of the portfolio and its related issues .2 Involving students in selecting the contents of portfolios .3 Increasing communication between teachers and students.4 Stimulating students’ autonomy .3 Limitations of the study .4 Recommendations for further study. 59 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1: Students’ definition of portfolio.2: Students’ opinions about the types of portfolio adopted.
Students’ preferences for the portfolio contents. Students’ opinions related to the most important part of a portfolio .5 Students’ ideas of the advantages of portfolio keeping .6 Students’ ideas about the portfolio application procedure .7 Students’ ideas of language skills and knowledge in a portfolio .8 Students’ evaluation of the language skills and levels improved during the portfolio application process .9 Students’ evaluation of the actual practice during the portfolio application process 36 Figure 4.10 Students’ evaluation of the reflection and feedback section.11 Difficulties encountered by students in the portfolio application. 40 viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the research English has long been the most prevalent international language all over the world in general and in Vietnam in particular. In Vietnam, the economic open-door policy starting in 1986 has brought about a demand for studying English for globalization.
Vietnamese people are expected to have competence in verbal communication with people from different countries. In response to this trend, English has been set as a compulsory subject in almost all schools at all levels. In addition, there has been an innovative shift in terms of English teaching methods and language assessment in every language class across Vietnam. Previously, language teaching in Vietnam was strongly influenced by the structuralist tradition with the main focus on English grammar, reading comprehension and structural patterns to read literature and pass the end-of-school and university entrance examinations.
As a result, both students and their teachers were trained to be experts in grammatical structures and vocabulary, but not to utilize communicative language skills. After learning for seven years, Vietnamese high school students are still unable to communicate in English, even with simple and common saying (Cam, 2015). However, recently, more stress has been put in communication skills, with attention to speaking and listening skills. Currently, although it has been stressed by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), “the development of practical communication skills is seldom reflected at the classroom level” (Hoang, 2010, p.
There might be two causes of this problematic situation. Firstly, Vietnamese teachers still adopt the old methods regardless of the authorities’ encouragement to teachers in training programs. Secondly, there is a mismatch between language teaching and testing in Vietnamese education system. While teaching follows the communicative approach to develop students’ communicative competence, testing focuses on measuring students’ lexico- grammatical knowledge, with an emphasis on reading and grammar (Hoang, 2016).
1 In Quang Binh province, the Decision number 1824 issued by Quang Binh’s Department of Education and Training (DOET) on September 4th, 2015 required language teachers to apply assessment of other language skills besides reading and writing in class, at least once every semester with different forms of assessment, focusing on how students use the language they learn in certain situations. The end- of-semester tests include all four language skills incorporating lexico-grammatical knowledge. The Decision has taken effect from the school year of 2015-2016 and on the 10th grade students first. Following this Decision, all the English teachers at Quang Trung High School where the researcher is working have been administering short tests to assess all four language skills for the past two years.
Although this is a positive change, some issues need to be taken into consideration. First of all, the results of the test were rather low, especially in speaking and listening sections. Most of the students were unable to use the language they learnt for communication. Secondly, it is necessary that students practice using English outside the classroom rather than doing grammar and reading exercises and reflect on their learning process to improve their language performance, thus there is a need to develop a useful tool for teachers and also students to facilitate students’ learning and monitor their progress in learning.
Previous research indicated that there are some advantages of using portfolios in foreign language education such as providing teachers with clear and specific evidence of a student’s progress and achievement over time, enhancing learner autonomy as well as evaluation and integrating teaching and learning into assessment (Banfi, 2003; Yang, 2003; Nunes, 2004; etc.However, most of the previous works on application of portfolios in language learning focused on applying portfolios to university English major and non-major students learning English. Little is known about using it to facilitate high school students in developing their language skills, especially the school where the researcher is working. This idea created strong inspiration for the researcher to carry out the study “An investigation into the use of portfolios in teaching English language: a case study at Quang Trung High School, Quang Binh province.2 Significance of the research The study is of practical significance for the following reasons. First of all, the outcome of the study can be used as evidence of the effect of portfolio on students’ language learning so that decisions could be made on whether portfolios should be encouraged or not.
Second, if the use of portfolio is effective, some difficulties that teacher and students may encounter during the process of applications and their possible solutions will be found out to make decisions on how portfolios can be used extensively.3 Aims of the research and research questions As stated as one of the main purposes of most case study designs in education, this research was implemented for the purpose of systematically studying the use of portfolios before more structured designs can be developed. In the case of this study, the researcher aims to examine the students’ perceptions of portfolio and its related issues as well as the effects, both positive and negative, of portfolios on students’ English learning. Moreover, during the implementation of this research, it is hoped that the researcher can find out the problems that both students and teachers may have when using portfolios in learning English and what can be done to solve those problems so that further application can be improved. For the above mentioned purposes, this research aims at looking for the answers to the following three questions: 1.
What are students' perceptions on the role of portfolios in English language teaching (ELT)? 2. How have portfolios been applied in teaching English to 11th grade students at Quang Trung High School in Quang Binh? 3. What are some solutions or suggestions to improve the use of portfolios in ELT at Quang Trung High School in Quang Binh? 1.4 Research scope This study is limited to investigating the students’ perception of portfolios, some issues of using portfolios in teaching English to the 11th grade students at Quang Trung High School in Quang Binh province and the problems of implementing and 3 their solutions. The study was carried out on a limited number of 84 students in grade 11 at Quang Trung High School.5 Structure of the study Chapter 1: Introduction This chapter provides an overview of the study, including the rationale, the purpose, the scope, the significance, the structure of the study.