VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ******************* PHẠM THỊ ANH PHƯƠNG NOVICE TEACHERS’ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES OF USING L1 IN EFL CLASSROOMS: A CASE STUDY AT ENGLISH DIVISION I, FELTE, ULIS (Quan niệm và thực tiễn sử dụng ngôn ngữ thứ nhất trong lớp học tiếng Anh của giáo viên mới vào nghề: Một nghiên cứu tại Tổ tiếng Anh I, Khoa Sư phạm tiếng Anh, trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ, Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Major: Theory & Methodology in Teaching English Major code: 60140111 HANOI - 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ******************* PHẠM THỊ ANH PHƯƠNG NOVICE TEACHERS’ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES OF USING L1 IN EFL CLASSROOMS: A CASE STUDY AT ENGLISH DIVISION I, FELTE, ULIS (Quan niệm và thực tiễn sử dụng ngôn ngữ thứ nhất trong lớp học tiếng Anh của giáo viên mới vào nghề: Một nghiên cứu tại Tổ tiếng Anh I, Khoa Sư phạm tiếng Anh, trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ, Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Major: Theory & Methodology in Teaching English Major code: 60140111 Supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Thu Hà (Ph.) HANOI - 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACCEPTANCE I hereby state that I: Phạm Thị Anh Phương, 08.E1, being a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper.
Signature Phạm Thị Anh Phương September 29th, 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To complete this graduation paper, I owe profound indebtedness to a lot of people for their invaluable help during the conduct of my research. First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, for her precious support and helpful instructions during all stages of the study and beyond, which have always been decisive factors in the completion of this paper. Second, I would love to send my heartfelt thanks to the five novice teachers and their first-year students at English Division I, FELTE, ULIS for their enthusiastic help and participation in the conduct of my research.
Without their help, I would not have been able to complete this thesis. Furthermore, I would like to give my sincere thanks to the lecturers of Faculty of Post-graduate Studies for the valuable lessons on all the aspects of language learning and teaching as well as the process of academic writing and research conducting, thanks to which I could overcome all the difficulties when working on the study. Last but not least, I also owe a great debt of gratitude to my beloved family and friends, who have constantly encouraged me during the time I conducted this research. i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT The present study was a case study which examined novice teachers’ beliefs and practices of using L1 in EFL classrooms at English Division I, FELTE, ULIS.
To gain a vivid understanding of this issue, the research was conducted with five two-year- experience novice teachers of the faculty and ten first-year mainstream classes in which these teachers were assigned to deliver English lessons. For the data collection, a combination of questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, classroom observations and audio-recordings was employed. The results supported the judicious use of Vietnamese in some situations and suggested that L1 should be used flexibly according to students’ levels and lessons’ contents. Besides, some teaching implications for novice teachers’ more effective use of L1 were also discussed.
ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .ii LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES, AND ABBREVIATIONS .vi PART A: INTRODUCTION. Statement of the problem and rationale for the study. Aims and objectives of the study. Scope of the study.
Significance of the study. Design of the study. 5 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Definition of novice teachers.
Characteristics of novice teachers. Definition of teachers’ beliefs. Factors affecting teachers’ beliefs. Relationship between teachers’ beliefs and practices in language teaching.
L1 use in EFL classroom. Arguments against L1 use in EFL classroom. Arguments for L1 use in EFL classroom. Review of related studies worldwide.
14 iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Review of related studies in Vietnam. Selection of subjects. First-year mainstream students.
Procedures of data collection. Procedures of data analysis. 23 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. Research question 1: What are novice teachers’ beliefs of using L1 in EFL classrooms?.
Research question 2: How did novice teachers employ L1 in EFL classrooms?. Research question 3: To what extent was this practice effective in facilitating first-year students’ English learning at FELTE, ULIS as perceived by the students?. Pedagogical implications and recommendations. Summary of findings.
Limitations of the study. Suggestions for further studies. 36 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. I APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRES FOR STUDENTS.
I APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW SCHEDULES FOR TEACHERS .IV APPENDIX 3: TRANSCRIPTIONS OF THE RECORDINGS. V APPENDIX 4: TRANSCRIPTIONS OF THE INTERVIEWS. XLIII v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES, AND ABBREVIATIONS List of tables Table 1. Mean score for the effectiveness of the teachers’ L1 use in their EFL classrooms as perceived by the students List of figures Figure 1.
The actual amount of L1 employment of Novice teachers List of abbreviations CLT Communicative Language Teaching EFL English as Foreign Language FELTE Faculty of English Language Teacher Education L1 The first language L2 The second language ULIS University of Languages and International Studies VNU Vietnam National University, Hanoi vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Statement of the problem and rationale for the study Since the rise of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in 1970s, the use of students’ mother tongue in EFL classrooms has become a controversial issue through a large body of research worldwide. It is noted that the idea of whether L1 should be included or excluded in English language learning and teaching has divided opinions. On the one hand, it is believed that teaching English monolingually will help learners develop their language learning and truly appreciate the target language exchanges without relying on their L1 (Weschler, 1997; Cook, 2001; Bouangeune, 2009).
According to Ellis (1984), several authors even assert that L1 has no essential role to play in EFL teaching and that too much L1 use might deprive learners of valuable input in L2. On the other hand, advocates of L1 use in EFL classrooms dispute that students’ native language has a positive contribution to English learning and teaching if it is used at appropriate times and for appropriate reasons (Cameron, 2001; Tang, 2002; Nation, 2003; Sharma, 2006). However, the question of how many times and in which situations are considered appropriate for using L1 in EFL classrooms still needs researching. Recently, several teaching methods and trends supporting the use of L1 as a helpful teaching and learning tool have widely emerged (Al-Nofaie, 2010).
Numerous researchers and teachers have started to re-evaluate the role of L1 in EFL classrooms and think of ways to find the answer to this question. Among them, teachers’ beliefs and practices of using L1 in EFL classrooms seems to be a focal concern. In Vietnam, although CLT has been adopted for a long time, it has gained limited outcomes owing to the dominance of the Grammar Translation Method (GTM), especially in high schools where teachers often make use of L1 to transfer their knowledge to students. This matter leads to the fact that the majority of Vietnamese 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com high school students find it difficult to understand an English lesson without the help of teachers’ use of Vietnamese when they come to a foreign language specializing university.
Thus, even in this L2 favoring environment, teachers still need to employ L1 as an essential tool to facilitate the English teaching and learning. Specifically, from the researcher’s observation, this practice also exists in the context of English Division I, FELTE, ULIS. Nevertheless, little attention has been given to teachers’ exploitation of L1 and its effectiveness in EFL classrooms as perceived by both teachers and their first-year students. In fact, teachers with more teaching experience seem to be more aware of utilizing L1 in their EFL classrooms than those new and young do.
Over the past few years, more and more Vietnamese researchers, including Kieu (2010) and Nguyen (2011), have studied on the issue of teachers’ beliefs and practices of employing L1 in their EFL classrooms and reach an agreement that judicious L1 use is supported by both language teachers and students due to the fact that it facilitates the foreign language learning and teaching. However, the subjects of these studies are mostly experienced teachers. Meanwhile, there have not been any studies focusing on those of university novice teachers who are new and have little experience in teaching. All of the above-mentioned reasons, henceforth, have offered the researcher an interest in conducting a study on “Novice teachers’ beliefs and practices of using L1 in EFL classrooms: A case study at English Division I, FELTE, ULIS” with a view to filling the pointed gap in the research field as well as facilitating further studies into the same topic.
Aims and objectives of the study First, the research paper aimed at exploring novice teachers’ beliefs and practices of using L1 in teaching English for first-year students at FELTE, ULIS. Then, a deeper investigation into the effectiveness of this practice as perceived by the students was carried out. Finally, teaching implications for novice teachers’ use of L1 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com in EFL classrooms were also drawn out from these findings with a view to helping them be more aware of its effectiveness in each specific context. In brief, these objectives could be summarized into three research questions as follows: 1.
What are novice teachers’ beliefs of using L1 in EFL classrooms? 2. How did novice teachers employ L1 in EFL classrooms? 3. To what extent was this practice effective in facilitating first-year students’ English learning at FELTE, ULIS as perceived by the students? 3. Scope of the study This study specifically aimed at investigating the use of L1 among novice teachers at English Division I, FELTE, ULIS during the second year of their teaching career for the fact that these teachers were in the middle of their three year mentoring program; therefore, they have witnessed the effectiveness of their own L1 use in EFL classrooms for two years, and still have one more year to adjust their practices before becoming real professional teachers, which would have certain effects on their lifelong career afterwards.
Hence, the target participants of the study were particularly five two- year-experience teachers at English Division I, FELTE, ULIS. Moreover, regarding the feasibility and scope of such a small scale study, the researcher only expected to measure the amount of L1 used by the novice teachers and did not plan to analyze the discourse. Significance of the study This research is expected to be of benefits for novice teachers, first-year students at FELTE, ULIS, as well as other researchers who are interested in the same field.