MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES NGUYEN HONG THAO MY THE CEFR – C1 LEVEL AS STANDARD-BASED LEARNING OUTCOME: HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS AND LEARNING STRATEGIES MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60. PHAM THI HONG NHUNG HUE, 2016 i BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ NGUYỄN HỒNG THẢO MY CHUẨN ĐẦU RA TRÌNH ĐỘ C1 THEO KHUNG THAM CHIẾU NĂNG LỰC NGOẠI NGỮ CHUNG CHÂU ÂU: NHẬN THỨC VÀ CHIẾN LƯỢC HỌC CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ TƯ CHUYÊN ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ - ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ 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. PHẠM THỊ HỒNG NHUNG HUẾ, 2016 ii STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP The work contained in this thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma 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: Nguyen Hong Thao My Date: 19th December 2016 iii ABSTRACT On the threshold of a new century, the Common Europe Framework of Reference (CEFR) has a remarkable effect on many English language educational systems around the world, and the system of English education in Vietnam is not an exception. In 2008, this framework was officially applied in Vietnam with the affirmation of Decision 1400/QĐ – TTG (Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 2008). Particularly, the CEFR has effectively been employed in Hue University College of Foreign Language’s (HUCFL) training scheme in recent years and the C1 level has been considered as a standard – based outcome for English major students. Therefore, the crucial purpose of this study is to investigate the perceptions of HUCFL four-year students as well as their language learning strategies applied for attaining the CEFR – C1 level.
Through the results gathered from 200 participants, several significant pedagogical implications can be put forward helping these students to have prerequisite orientations for obtaining the CEFR – C1 level certificate according to its true worth. Key words: The CEFR-C1 level, perceptions, language learning strategies, language outcome. iv Acknowledgements The journey of conducting this research would not have ever reached out for the ending point without the support of many people who have continuously assisted me in carrying out this thesis. It is impossible for me to forget to say my sincere thanks to all of them.
Above all, I would like to express my profound gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc. Pham Thi Hong Nhung for her devoted guidance, professional and valuable advice so that I could complete my papers from the very beginning until the end of this study. Secondly, I also would like to express my deepest thanks to my colleagues who work at Center for Quality Assurance of Hue University for giving me the most favorable conditions so as to focus all of my abilities on doing this research. Thirdly, I am greatly grateful to the Hue University College of Foreign Languages students who took part in my questionnaire and interview surveys with enthusiastic assistance.
Their conscientious information and support with respect to the analysis of the data greatly help me to gather much invaluable data. In addition, I am immeasurably thankful to my respectable teacher Dr. Hoang Tinh Bao, PhD and my trust – worthy friends, especially Duc Tri and Minh Hue from College of Economics and College of Foreign Languages – Hue University for their inspiriting me with the significant ideas for the implementation of this research. Last but not least, I would like to give my special thanks to my beloved family, Mr.
Duc Dung and Mrs. Thanh Trang who have always encouraged and raise me up when I confront with the extremely difficult moments of accomplishing my thesis paper. v v TABLE OF CONTENTS SUB COVER PAGE. i STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP.
v TABLE OF CONTENTS. vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. ix LIST OF TABLES. x LIST OF FIGURES.
xi CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION. Background to the Study. Statement of the problem. Purpose of the Study.
Significance of the Study. Structure of the study. 7 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW. Definitions of key terms.
Language learning strategies. Standard – based expected learning outcome. The CEFR and language teaching. The use of the CEFR in language education.
The CEFR in Vietnamese educational system. Standard – based expected learning outcome. The CEFR and setting standards in English education in Vietnam. The CEFR and the six – level framework for foreign language competence in Vietnam.
The CEFR-C1 as standard-based learning outcome for English major students of HUCFL. Descriptions of C1 level. The access to the CFFR-C1 level as expected learning outcome. Assessment of C1 level.
Results from C1-level tests. Language learning strategies. Review of relevant studies on students’ perceptions, learning strategies and learning outcome. 29 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY.
Data collection instruments. Data collection procedure. Data analysis methods. 35 CHAPTER IV: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS .2 The analysis of the HUCFL students’ perceptions of the C1 level as their language learning outcome Questionnaire .3 The analysis of Learning Strategies.
Summary of chapter. Summary of the Study. The pedagogical implications. For HUCFL students.
For language instructors. Limitations of the research and suggestions. 60 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CEFR the Common Europe Framework of Reference HUCFL Hue University College of Foreign Langugaes SILL The Strategy Inventory for Language Learning MOET Ministry of Education and Training ix LIST OF TABLES Table 1: The levels of the CEFR (CEFR, 2001, p. 14 Table 2: Common Reference Levels: global scale (CEFR, 2001, p.
15 Table 3: The changes of leaning strategies since C1 level was the HUCFL learning outcome. 41 Table 4: General language learning strategies used by HUCFL fourth year students. 44 Table 5: The frequency in use of the Metacognitive strategies. 47 Table 6: The frequency in use of the Social strategies.
48 x LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Oxford’s direct strategies system (Oxford, 1990, pp. 26 Figure 2: Oxford’s indirect strategies system (Oxford, 1990, pp. 27 Figure 3: “When CEFR-C1 is set as the learning outcome of your program, what do you know about CEFR-C1?”. 39 Figure 4: When did you first know about this learning outcome?.
40 Figure 5: Where are the descriptions of C1 level made available to you?. 40 Figure 6: Since you knew that you have to get C1 level to be able to graduate from the university and get the university degree granted, did your learning strategies change in any way?. 41 xi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1. Presentation This chapter presents the background of the study followed by the statement of problem, the purposes and research questions.
Next, this introduction chapter also includes the significance of the study along with the structure of all chapters in the last section. Background to the Study In general, the topic related to learners’ learning strategies and the learning outcomes caught much attention of many English educators, book designers and teachers. At an early time, O’Malley and Chamot (1985) conducted a research on the learning strategy applications with the EFL students. According to the study of these two authors, many smaller domains of learning strategies including definitions of learning strategies, terminology and classification of strategies, the effects of learner characteristics on strategy use, the effects of culture and context on strategy use, explicit and integrated strategy instruction, language of instruction, transfer of strategies to new tasks, models for language learning strategy instruction were thoroughly explored.
The crucial purpose of their investigation is to help the students become more effective and successful language learners. A possible explanation for this viewpoint is that a good language learner tends to choose the appropriate strategies that develop their language proficiency in a highly orchestrated way. Therefore, these learners can handily explain the strategies they use and the reasons they employ them. It is believed that O’Malley’s and Chamot’s study apparently contributed much valuable awareness for many researchers who intended profoundly scrutinizing this wide area of learning strategies in the second language acquisition.
In this paper of thesis, based on the background of knowledge provided by these two authors, the orientation of defining what language learning strategies are is concisely clarified. Another representative researcher in this aspect of learning strategies is Rebecca L. Oxford who creates an impressive remark in this sphere of English language teaching and learning. She successfully discovers the 1 values of previous studies and develops many significant theories for investigating “the language strategies system with the classifications of six types of strategies” and “the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning or SILL – language learning strategy – assessment instrument in the world” (Oxford, 1990).
It is almost certain that Oxford’s studies seem to be a milestone to remark the development of the learning strategies areas in the overall view of English education system. Based on her findings (1990), many noticeable works, articles and reports were published aiming at raising the teachers’ and learners’ cognizance of the learning strategies’ importance towards language proficiency. In this study, the definitions of language learning strategies and the taxonomy of these strategieswere cognized as the most pertinent findings. In recent years, the extreme development of globalization has considerably influenced the changes of English education.
Consequently, the studies of language learning strategies and standard-based learning outcome have drawn many considerations of several modern theories of language teaching and learning. The Anna Uhl Chamot’s (2004) study was a noticeable example. Her study not only discussed the issues “language learning strategies”, but also specially accentuated the relation between culture and context in English language using. Through Chamot’s discussion, it is essential to consider applying the CEFR and the Vietnamese six – level framework for foreign language competence to assess the learners’ English proficiency in this paper.
In Vietnam, “the language strategies” issue attracted many researchers and Nguyen Thi Thu Ha was a representative for the researchers in this domain. In 2008, her study published in the VNU journal of Science provided the audiences emphasizing the insights about the importance of learning strategies in language teaching and learning. Nguyen’s consideration was the affirmation for the significance of learners’ perceptions of language learning strategies and learning outcomes in Vietnamese context. In fact, it is now a truism to state that English is spreading rapidly and becoming a predominant language around the world.
Therefore, in our S – shaped country – Vietnam, the investment of 9,378 billion in a 12 – year period from 2008 to 2020, the National Foreign 2 Language Project was regarded as a precise proof for the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training concern about the English educational development. The topics related to learning strategies and standard-based learning outcome were diverse and interesting to numerous researchers. This issue in Vietnamese context, however, was still a gap and lacked much attention in this international educational system. As a result, the thesis topic “The CEFR – C1 level as a standard-based learning outcome: Hue University College of Foreign Languages English major students’ perceptions and learning strategies” could be seen as a new and worthwhile investigation.
Along with the CEFR C1 level assessment test, the necessary learning strategies and the reality of how these strategies are related to HUCFL students also drew much attention in this study. Statement of the problem It has commonly been assumed in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (2008) that since the “open – door” period, the CEFR has become a standard - based framework for English language scale of assessment adopted in Vietnam.