VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LEARNER CENTERED APPROACH TO ENGLISH TEACHING AT DOAN THI DIEM HIGH SCHOOL IN BEN TRE PROVINCE A thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL By BUI THI TRUC LINH Supervised by PHAN THANH HUNG, Ph. HO CHI MINH CITY, JANUARY 2023 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my former supervisor, Dr. Tran Thi Thanh Dieu, for her useful guidance and considerable support. I would like to convey my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr.
Phan Thanh Hung, for his continuous guidance and support. His great expertise and diligent editing have been really beneficial to me. I am grateful for my time conducting the research study under his careful and caring supervision. This study would not have been accomplished without the great support from the management, the English teachers and students at Doan Thi Diem high school, Ben Tre province.
I would like to give special thanks to their valuable time spent for sharing information and assisting me at the research site. Finally, I would like to express my thanks to my lecturers and friends who have supported me during my study at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities. ii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I certify that this thesis entitled “AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LEARNER CENTERED APPROACH TO ENGLISH TEACHING AT DOAN THI DIEM HIGH SCHOOL IN BEN TRE PROVINCE” is my own work. This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institution.
Ho Chi Minh City, December 15th, 2022 Bùi Thị Trúc Linh iii RETENTION OF USE I hereby state that I, BUI THI TRUC LINH, being the candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirement of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the originality of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan or reproduction of theses. Ho Chi Minh City, December 15th, 2022 Bùi Thị Trúc Linh iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .1 Background to the study .2 Aims of the study .4 Significance of the study. Scope of the study.
Organization of thesis chapters. 4 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Overview of Learner-centered approach .1 Definitions of Learner-centered approach.2 Origins of Learner-centered approach.3 Underpinning theories of Learner-centered approach .4 A Shift towards Learner-centered approach in English education. Learner-centered approach in English education in Vietnam.1 Upper-secondary education system in Vietnam.
Initiatives of Learner-centered approach in Vietnam .3 English education in Vietnamese secondary schools .4 Cultural influence on English education in Vietnam .3 Previous studies on Learner-centered approach .1 Brandes and Ginnis’s (1986) Principles of Student-centered Learning .2 Neumann’s (2013) framework of Student-centered learning .3 APA’s psychological principles of Learner-centered practice .1 Mixed methods research.2 Case study approach .3 Context of the study .4 Participants and Sampling procedures .1 Individual interviews with English teachers .2 Observation field notes.3 Questionnaire to students .6 Data collection procedure .7 Data analysis scheme .1 Analysis of individual interview data.2 Analysis of class observation field notes. Analysis of questionnaires .9 Reliability, Validity, and Triangulation .1 Findings from individual interviews .2 Findings from Class Observations .3 Results from Questionnaires .1 Perspectives on learner-centered Approach .2 Reasons for the adoption of Learner-centered approach .3 Implementation of Lerner-centered approach to English education .4 Challenges to the implementation of Learner-centered approach .5 Implications for the future development of Learner-centered approach .1 Summary of the study .2 Main research findings .1 Perspectives on Learner-centered approach .2 Reasons for the adoption of Learner-centered approach .3 Implementation of Learner-centered approach .4 Challenges to the implementation of Learner-centered approach .5 Implications for the future development of LCA .3 Limitations of the study. 104 vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS APA The American Psychological Association EFL English as a Foreign Language ESL English as a Second Language GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education LCA The Learner-centered Approach MOET Ministry of Education and Training TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages viii LISTS OF TABLES Table 2.1 Changing views on the nature of language and learning: Traditionalism and communicative language teaching .2 APA’s learner-centered psychological principles. List of teacher participants.
List of student participants. Stages for collecting data .4 A summary of participants and data collection methods for each research question .5 Example of coding interviews. 46 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 A social constructivist model of teaching-learning process .2 The process of data analysis for this study .3 Themes for the first research question .4 Themes for the second research question .1 Timeframe for the interaction with classroom activities .2 Percentage of student respondents for perspectives on learner-centered methods .3 Percentage of student respondents for the benefits from learner-centered methods .4 Percentage of student respondents for the difficulties students faced with learner-centered methods .5 Percentage of student respondents for reasons underlying challenges with learner-centered methods. 72 x ABSTRACT This thesis is a mixed methods case study that explores how the learner- centered approach is implemented into teaching English at Doan Thi Diem high school, Ben Tre province.
This research study investigates teachers’ perspectives towards the learner-centered approach, reasons of its adoption, the extent of its implementation and challenges to its implementation at the research site. For its framework for analysis, the study draws on individual interviews with three English teachers, three class observations and questionnaires with 132 students in relation to the aims of the study. The findings reveal that both English teachers and students at the research site have positive viewpoints towards the learner-centeredness in teaching and learning English. English language education through the learner- centered approach has been adopted due to the influence of management staff’s guidance and personal experience of English language teachers.
The learner- centered approach is conducted through various activities in different ways, but is not fully implemented. Challenges faced when implementing this approach, which come from internal and external factors, point to the need for more management- level support for its future development to English language education. Keyword: learner-centered approach, perspectives, implementation, challenges, internal factors, external factors. xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter provides the introduction to the research study.
It includes (1) background to the research study, (2) aims of the study, (3) research questions, (4) significance of the study, (5) scope of the study and (6) organization of thesis chapters.1 Background to the study In recent years, there have been numerous changes in teaching and learning philosophy in Vietnam. According to Vietnam’s Strategies for the Development of Education 2011-2020 by MOET, education in Vietnam aims at promoting students’ active and independent learning. Because its principles satisfy the requirements for the achievement of this goal, the learner-centered approach (LCA), in which learners are regarded as active agents in their learning process, has been identified as the main approach to teaching and learning in the Vietnamese education system (Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 2008). This general trend has an impact on English teaching and learning in Vietnam.
Since the Doi Moi reform in 1986, English has been regarded as the preferred foreign language and has grown in importance in all aspects of Vietnam's economy and society. The most recent project, Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages in the National Education System, Period 2008-2020 (Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 2008), aimed at improving English language instruction in the country's school system. English is taught as one of the three core subjects in high school and is a required subject for students to take an examination for the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) as well as the national university entrance examination. However, the shift towards education with LCA in Vietnam has been encountering problems.
First of all, the traditional view of pedagogy in which teachers are considered as providers of knowledge and students as receivers is deeply rooted in the Vietnamese. This dominant traditional teaching and learning approach in 1 Vietnamese educational institutions has proven insufficient for providing students with newly required thinking and learning skills. Aside from that, issues such as large class size, material limitations, and curriculum coverage impede instruction (Pham, 2016). Therefore, implementing LCA into education in general and English language teaching and learning in particular is limited in most Vietnamese schools, especially in rural schools where inadequate resources and facilities place a heavy pressure on the effectiveness of teaching and learning English.
Although some research on English language teaching and learning in Vietnam mentions students' positive attitudes towards learner-centered teaching and learning and some undertaken in tertiary teaching settings, only a handful of research studies have been conducted into the adoption of LCA to English teaching and learning in Vietnamese high schools, especially in rural areas. Given the above reasons, this study aims to explore the extent to which English language education with LCA has been developed in the specific context of a high school in Vietnam.2 Aims of the study The study sets out to investigate how the learner-centeredness has been implemented into English education at Doan Thi Diem high school, Ben Tre province, Vietnam. It aims to (1) find out the extent to which English language education with LCA is being adopted, (2) identify the challenges to the implementation of LCA to English language education.3 Research questions Given all the above stated aims, this current research study attempts to answer two following research questions: 1. How is LCA implemented into English education at Doan Thi Diem high school, Ben Tre province, Vietnam? 2.
What are the challenges to the implementation of LCA at Doan Thi Diem high school, Ben Tre province, Vietnam? To better understand how LCA is used in practice, it is essential to first understand how this approach was perceived and why it was adopted in the first place. 2 The data gathered from various research tools is then analyzed to investigate how LCA is perceived and implemented at the research site. The factors that impede student-centered teaching and learning as well as implications for the future development of LCA in the research context are expected to emerge from this investigation.4 Significance of the study Because the learner-centeredness stems from Western models (Nunan, 1998), the implementation of this approach into teaching and learning English in Vietnam is likely to face some challenges due to potential cultural and infrastructural mismatches. Given this context, the researcher believes it is critical to investigate underpinning reasons for this LCA adoption as well as what is actually happening in this educational institution.
The findings of this research study are expected to contribute to the current literature of English language teaching and learning in Vietnam. In particular, this study provides stake-holders a reference to the reality of implementation of learner- centeredness to teaching and learning English at Doan Thi Diem high school, a typical rural high school in Ben Tre Province, Vietnam. Besides that, English teachers in Vietnamese high schools may need to refer to the findings of this study to build their instructions with learner-centered methods in the future. Additionally, pedagogical implications may arise for school administrators in Vietnam to devise more suitable solutions to limiting difficulties in teaching and learning English with LCA.
Last but not least, this study adds its own value by helping to fill the research gap in the given field of study and making additional recommendations for future development. Scope of the study This study was conducted to explore in-depth understandings of the implementation of LCA at a specific site, which is Doan Thi Diem high school in Ben Tre province.