VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG THẢO USING ENGLISH AS THE MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION IN ENGLISH CLASSES FOR THE FIRST-YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS – A CASE STUDY AT A UNIVERSITY (Sử dụng tiếng Anh làm phương tiện ngôn ngữ dạy học trong lớp tiếng Anh cho sinh viên không chuyên Anh năm thứ nhất – Nghiên cứu trường hợp tại một trường Đại học) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Major: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 HANOI - 2018 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG THẢO USING ENGLISH AS THE MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION IN ENGLISH CLASSES FOR THE FIRST-YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS – A CASE STUDY AT A UNIVERSITY (Sử dụng tiếng Anh làm phương tiện ngôn ngữ dạy học trong lớp tiếng Anh cho sinh viên không chuyên Anh năm thứ nhất – Nghiên cứu trường hợp tại một trường Đại học) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Major: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231. Nguyễn Thị Mai Hương Nguyễn Thị Mai Hương HANOI - 2018 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com STATEMENT OF AUTHORITY I hereby state that the Master’s thesis entitled “Using English as the medium of instruction in English classes for the first-year non-English majored students – A case study at a university” was carried out by me for the degree of Master of English Teaching Methodology under the guidance and supervision of Dr.
Nguyễn Thị Mai Hương. Where I have quoted from the work of others, the sources are always given. With the exception of such quotations, this thesis is entirely on my own work. I confirm that the work has not be submitted for any other degree or professional qualification.
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 Nguyễn Thị Phương Thảo Hanoi, ……………………. i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGMENTS On the completion of this paper, I wish to express my gratitude to my teachers, teacher- and student-participants, friends and family. First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratefulness to my supervisor.
Her intellectual consultancy, valuable comments and spiritual encouragement were an indispensable factor in the fulfillment of this research. I was also obliged to the teachers at the Faculty of Post-graduate Studies of University of Languages and International studies for their precious lessons. They provided me with understandings and skills relating to English language teaching, which supported much for the completion of this study particularly and my career generally. Furthermore, I sincerely appreciate the cooperation of the teacher- and student-participants.
I would like to thank Teacher A and Teacher B for their willingness to let me observe their EFL classes and enthusiastic participation in my interviews. I am also thankful to 93 students of the two A2 classes for agreeing to participate in the survey. They are the ones who directly influenced the results of this study. Last but not least, I am also indebted to my beloved family, who has constantly supported me since I started participating in the Master programme, and my friends, who have always encouraged me and gave me valuable suggestions.
ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT In the context of Vietnam, Vietnamese is still commonly utilized in English teaching while the use of English is encouraged. With the deep concerns about this situation, the researcher carried out study titled “Using English as the medium of instruction in English classes for the first-year non-English majored students: A case study at a university”. The main purpose of this research was to find out the teachers’ and students’ perceptions of using English as the medium of instruction, as well as to look for possible factors hindering the use of English to teach English. The participants were 93 first-year non-English majored students from a university and their English teachers.
The methods adopted were both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Questionnaires, interviews and observations were employed to triangulate the information from various aspects, hence ensure the validity and the reliability of the research. The results showed that teachers and students were aware of the necessity of using English in EFL classes, however, in fact, teachers used both English and Vietnamese. The combination of two languages was caused due to various hindering factors relating mainly to both teachers and students.
Basing on these major findings, a number of suggestions for better use of English as medium of instruction in EFL classes were indicated. Therefore, the paper would be a good reference for researchers, teachers and students to have a closer look on the issue as well as to improve their performances in EFL classes. Key words: medium of instruction, EFL classes, non-English majored students iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL English as a Foreign language L1/ L2 First language/ Second language CLT Communicative Language Teaching MOI Medium of Instruction T Teacher Ss Students LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Classification of the items in the questionnaire Table 2.2 Classification of interview questions Table 2.3 Classification of items in observation checklist Table 3.1 Advantages of using English as medium of instruction perceived by students Table 3.2 Disadvantages of using English as medium of instruction perceived by students Table 3.3 Hindering factors relating to teachers Table 3.4 Hindering factors relating to students LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 Procedure of data collection Figure 2.2 Data from questionnaire analysis procedure Figure 2.3 Data from interview and observation analysis procedure Figure 3.1 Medium of instruction students preferred Figure 3.2 Medium of instruction teachers used perceived by students Figure 3.3 Contexts in which students wanted English to be used Figure 3.4 The effectiveness of using English as medium of instruction perceived by students Figure 3.5 Reasons for students’ learning English iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS PART A: INTRODUCTION. Statement of the problem and rationale of the study.
Aims and research questions. Significance of the study. Methods of the study. Organization of the thesis.
6 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Second Language Acquisition. The Input Hypothesis. The Output Hypothesis.
The Interaction Hypothesis. Medium of instruction. Different viewpoints on medium of instruction in EFL classes. Classification of teacher’s language in class.
Using English as medium of instruction effectively. Factors affecting the use of English as the medium of instruction. Design of the study. Data collection instruments.
Semi-structured interview. 27 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Data collection procedure. Data analysis methods.
Quantitative Analysis Strategy. Qualitative Analysis Strategy. 30 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS. The perceptions of teachers and students of using English as medium of instruction in English classes.
Results from questionnaire. Results from interview. Results from observation. Factors hindering the use of English as medium of instruction in English classes for the first-year non-English majored students.
Results from questionnaire. Results from interview. Results from observation. Implications and suggestions.
Controlling teacher talk time. Maximizing English teacher talk and focusing on grading the language. Improving students’ autonomy and motivation. Summary of findings.
Suggestions for further research. I APPENDIX B: GUIDED QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEW. V APPENDIX C: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION CHECKLIST. VII vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION In this part, some brief information about the paper is provided.
Five main points presented are (1) statement of the problem and rationale of the study, (2) aims and objectives of the study, (3) significance of the study, (4) scope of the study, (5) method of the study and (6) organization of the thesis. Statement of the problem and rationale of the study In 1986, Vietnam adopted a socialist-oriented market economy under the State management. Since then, the economics relations between Vietnam and other countries in the region and in the world have rapidly expanded, which was officially marked with the participation of Vietnam in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1995 and the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2007. As a result of this international integration, English is required as a means of communication, and the importance of English teaching and learning in Vietnam has rapidly grown and expanded.
Since the early 1990s, due to the acknowledgement that communication is the key in language use, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has quickly become popular in Vietnam (Kieu, 2012). In accordance with the popularity of CLT in the country, the use of English in English teaching is widely supported. The issue of encouraging EFL teachers to use target language in classrooms is not brand new but has been raised for a long time by different researchers. For Ellis and Wells (1980), if learners do not have opportunities to expose to the target language, they cannot acquire it.
The reason is that acquiring a target language is similar to the first language acquisition, which is a slow and laborious process. Knop (1995) also shares the same viewpoint about using English to teach English. According to him, for EFL learners, it is very important to experience real communicative environments in which they will learn how to express their own opinions and viewpoints, and to develop their oral fluency and accuracy. He considers travelling abroad and immersion experiences two of many factors greatly affect the language acquisition process.
In fact, travelling or living abroad seems to 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com be impossible for almost students, and foreign language classrooms become the main environment in which students learn to communicate in the language. In spite of the need for oral communication skills and the requirement for CLT in Vietnam, most teachers continue to apply grammar-translation methods in English classes, in which the emphasis still remains on grammar rather than on communicative competence (Le, 2011), and the use of Vietnamese in the process of teaching is still common. These have led to a controversial opinion among Vietnamese teachers, whether English or Vietnamese should be used as medium of instruction in EFL classes. There have been prior research on using English as the medium of instruction in EFL classes.
“The effectiveness of using English as the sole medium of instruction in English classes: student responses and improved English proficiency” of Wong (2009) and “English Only’ Language Instruction to Japanese University Students in Low-Level Speaking & Listening Classes” of Lee (2013) are typical ones. It was revealed that students had great interest in English as the medium of instruction. Moreover, thanks to the use of English as the sole medium of instruction, their English proficiency had been improved. Unlike these prior research, which explored the issue of using English as medium of instruction in EFL classes basing on students’ viewpoint, this study investigated both teachers’ and students’ perceptions.
In Vietnam, a considerable number of previous research have been conducted on the issue of instruction language in English classes, such as Do (2010) and Phung (2010). Nevertheless, they mostly evaluated the use of mother tongue, Vietnamese. In this study, the use of target language – English – to teach English, was investigated. Particularly, this study provides an insight into the English teaching and learning practices at a university which is located in a small rural town in Vietnam.
The geographical location was supposed to prevent its students from being exposed to real English commutative environments, and EFL classes were considered playing a vital role in teaching and learning English successfully. Additionally, 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com there has not had any research studying the use of English to teach English at this university.