VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ****** VŨ THỊ THANH HUYỀN A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS DOING ENGLISH PRESENTATIONS AT DEPARTMENT OF ACCOUNTING AT QUANG NINH UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY (Nghiên cứu thái độ của sinh viên khoa Kế toán trường Đại học Công nghiệp Quảng Ninh với hoạt động thuyết trình tiếng Anh) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Hanoi - 2016 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ****** VŨ THỊ THANH HUYỀN A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS DOING ENGLISH PRESENTATIONS AT DEPARTMENT OF ACCOUNTING AT QUANG NINH UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY (Nghiên cứu thái độ của sinh viên khoa Kế toán trường Đại học Công nghiệp Quảng Ninh với hoạt động thuyết trình tiếng Anh) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Prof. Hoàng Văn Vân Hanoi - 2016 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled: “A study on students’ attitudes towards doing English presentations at Department of Accounting at Quang Ninh University of Industry” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies - University of Languages and International Studies, VNU, Hanoi, and that this thesis has not been submitted anywhere for any degree.
Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis. Hanoi, 2016 Vũ Thị Thanh Huyền Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Prof. Hoàng Văn Vân Date:…………………… i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to all those who have given me great assistance in the completion of my research work. First and foremost, I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Prof.
Hoàng Văn Vân, for his invaluable guidance, critical feedback, and especially, his enormous encouragement, without which my thesis would be far from completion. My special thanks also go to all the lecturers and the staffs of the Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies for their useful lessons and precious helps throughout my study. I am greatly appreciative of all my colleagues and students at Quang Ninh University of Industry for their contribution to the data collection and their constructive suggestions for this research. I also wish to acknowledge all the authors whose materials have been used in the study.
Thanks to them, I could accomplish my study. Last but not least, the whole-hearted thanks and debt gratitude are reserved for my dear family and friends who have supported and helped me to overcome the difficulties during my study. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT Learners’ attitude is one of the most effective factors which has great influence on language acquisition and helps explain linguistic behavior. Positive attitudes may bring benefits while negative attitudes may lead to decreased motivation and unsuccessful attainment of proficiency.
This study was conducted to explore the attitudes towards doing English presentations of the students at Department of Accounting at Quang Ninh University of Industry. The survey aproach was employed. Two research instruments, survey questionnaire and interview, were used to collect data from 96 first year accounting students at Quang Ninh University of Industry (QUI). Overall, the findings indicated that the participants kept negative attitudes towards doing English presentations.
Both internal and external factors accounted for their unfavorable attitudes. From the findings obtained, some pedagogical implications were proposed to both teachers and students with the hope that they will make a contribution to the improvement of the teaching and learning of English presentation skills at QUI. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS.
iv LIST OF ABBREVIATION. vii LISTS OF TABLES. viii PART A: INTRODUCTION. Rationale for the study.
Aims of the study. Significance of the study. Methods of the study. Scope of the study.
Design of the study .6 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Definition of oral presentation. The advantages of student presentations. Characteristics of effective presentations.
Oral presentation skills in the language classroom. Factors affecting students’ oral presentation. Individual factors affecting on students’ success in language learning. Definition of attitude.
Roles of learners’ attitudes in language learning. Factors affecting learners’ attitudes towards language learning .14 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Review of previous studies related to students’ language attitudes. Setting of the study.
A brief overview of QUI and English Division at QUI. The QUI students. A brief description of the English course and material. Participants of the study.
Data collection procedure. Methods of data analysis .22 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION. Data analysis of students’ questionnaires. General attitudes towards learning English.
Students’ attitudes towards English presentations. Students’ feelings about doing English oral presentations. Students’ activities in periods having presentations. Reasons affecting students’ attitudes towards oral presentations in the classrooms.
Summary from students’ questionnaire. Data analysis of students’ interview. Improving knowledge of English. Preparing thoroughly for presentations .38 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Providing students with linguistic knowledge. Equipping students with presentation skills. I APPENDIX 1: PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT CHO SINH VIÊN. I APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS.
IV APPENDIX 3: CÂU HỎI PHỎNG VẤN CHO SINH VIÊN. VII APPENDIX 4: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS. VII APPENDIX 5: RESULTS FROM QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS. VIII APPENDIX 6: INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS.
XII APPENDIX 7: CHECKLISTS. XV APPENDIX 8: A SAMPLE FINAL SPEECH EVALUATION FORM. XVI vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATION VNU : Vietnam National University, Hanoi EFL : English as a Foreign Language ESL : English as a Second Language QUI : Quang Ninh University of Industry CLT : Communicative Language Teaching ESP : English for Specific Purposes vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LISTS OF TABLES Table 1: Summary of students’ attitudes towards learning English .23 Table 2: Summary of students’ awareness about the importance of English presentations .24 Table 3: Summary of students’ feelings about doing English oral presentations .26 Table 4: Summary of students’ activities in presentation periods .26 Table 5: Summary of internal factors affecting students’ attitudes towards doing English presentations .28 Table 6: Summary of external factors affecting students’ attitudes towards doing English presentations .30 viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale for the study Attitudes have been frequently reported as one of the most essential factors affecting students’ achievements in EFL classrooms.
Language attitude has great influence not only on language learning and acquisition but also on learners’ choice and use of language. A positive attitude toward learning the English language is one of the leading predictors of success in gaining fluency. Besides, in the Vietnamese educational system, since the shift from the teacher-centered to the learner-centered approach in recent years, the role of learners has been put on more emphasis in every aspect of education, such as teaching methods, material development, learners’ proficiency assessment, etc. At every level of teaching English, the student is at the center.
Therefore, it can be said that understanding of learner’s attitudes is one of the keys to the success of our English teaching process. The Vietnamese Prime Minister’s Decision 1400/QĐ-TTg, promulgated on September 30th, 2008, on the approval of the Project entitled “ Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages in the National Education system, Period 2008-2020” has emphasized the teaching and learning a foreign language, particularly English with the goal that “by the year 2020 most Vietnamese youth whoever graduate from vocational schools, colleges and universities gain the capacity to use a foreign language independently. This will enable them to be more confident in communication, further their chance to study and work in an integrated and multi- cultural environment with variety of languages”. Thus, the ability to communicate is the most important goal that communicative language teaching aims to reach.
Having students give oral presentations in front of class is one typical example of learner-centered, communicative activities that has been widely included in teachers’ plans to satisfy the demand of English teaching in this stage. There is a considerable amount of research which confirms that presentation skills are essential skills not only because of their popularity in most working places but also a lot of benefits they bring to learners, namely, bridging the gap between language 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com study and language use, using the four language skills in a naturally integrated way, helping students to collect, inquire, organize and construct information, enhancing team work, and helping students become active and autonomous learners (Nguyen, 2009). At Quang Ninh University of Industry (QUI), English is a compulsory subject. Within the credit-based system, especially in large classes, oral presentations receive much attention from the management as well as the English teaching staff.
However, in reality, the ability to do English presentations of the students in general, accounting students in particular, was still far from satisfaction. With the experience of four-year teaching EFL at QUI, I can see that my students showed different attitudes towards doing English presentations. Some showed their favorable attitudes and wanted to improve their presenting abilities while others felt uncomfortable and under pressure. Therefore, I would like to do a research on this issue to clarify this problem.
For all that have been mentioned, I have decided to choose the topic “A study on students’ attitudes towards doing English presentations at Department of Accounting at Quang Ninh University of Industry” for my minor thesis. Hopefully, my efforts in doing this research can contribute effectively to the teaching and learning of presentation skills at QUI. Aims of the study This study is conducted to explore the accounting students’ attitudes towards delivering presentations in English. Therefore, the aims of the research are: to discover the students’ attitudes at Department of Accounting at QUI towards doing English presentations.
to find out the reasons why they had those attitudes. Research questions To translate the aims into reality, two research questions are raised for exploration as follows: (1) What are the attitudes of the students at Department of Accounting at QUI towards doing English presentations? (2) Why do they have such attitudes towards doing English presentations? 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Significance of the study The study is conducted with the expectation that its results will be useful for both students and teachers of the English division at QUI. Most importantly, it is hoped to bring the detailed and full view on their students’ attitudes towards and expectations for their English presentations as well as the reason why they had those attitudes.
Based on the findings, some suggestions are given in order to help students develop interest and promote positive attitudes towards doing English presentations. This will be effective for them to accomplish English language proficiency. Methods of the study To fulfill the above aims, the survey approach was selected. It is worth noting that survey methods have been strongly supported to study wide variety of issues that impinge on language learning, including the changing demographic contexts, the institutional settings in which L2 professionals function, the policies that affect learning and teaching, program administration, teacher preparation, attitudes of teachers and professors toward language varieties, classroom practice, target language norms, and students language use and growth (Johnson 1991:105).
The study used both qualitative and quantitative methods to collect and analyze data. However, a questionnaire was developed as a primary research instrument.