STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine. The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true and have not been published elsewhere. Author Vo Thi Tuyet Nga iv ABSTRACT This thesis aims to investigate teacher‟s use of Vietnamese in teaching English reading comprehension classes at five high schools in Dong Thap province. The data were collected by means of questionnaires and classroom observations.
Eighty questionnaires for students of grade ten and forty copies for teachers of English were delivered and returned. At the same time, three classroom observations were carried out so that the researcher could get more reliable information for her research. The findings showed that all teachers were well aware of the role of Communicative Approach in teaching English. However, they could not perform the method successfully because of many challenges such as large classes, multi-leveled knowledge background of students, the design of the reading texts in textbooks, ways of testing and evaluating, lack of teaching facilities and teacher‟s development.
Based on the findings, it could be seen that participating teachers and students were still in favor of using Vietnamese in teaching English generally and in reading classes particularly. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I am greatly grateful to my supervisor, Assoc. Tran Van Phuoc for his professional guidance and material supplies. Without his support, this thesis would not be completed.
Second, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Dr.Truong Vien for his invaluable suggestion in choosing the topic. Third, I wish to express my deep thanks to all the participating teachers and students at five high schools including Thap Muoi, Doc Binh Kieu, Cao Lanh 2, Truong Xuan and Phu Dien for their help during the time I carried out this investigation. Lastly, I would like to send my heartfelt thanks to all of my relatives, my parents, my husband, my daughter, and my siblings for their encouragement which helped me overcome obstacles during the time I was working on this thesis. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Page SUB COVER PAGE.
ivii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS. vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. xi LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………….xi CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION .1 Background of the research .2 Rationale of the study.6 Structure of the thesis .4 CHAPTER 2- LITERATURE REVIEW .1 Definition of the first language (L1) or mother tongue (MT) .2 Historical background of L1 in foreign language teaching methodologies .3 The Role of L1 in EFL context .4 Reading Comprehension and The Importance of Reading Comprehension .5 The use of L1 in teaching a receptive skill - reading comprehension .1 In foreign countries .3 Participants and Research Site .16 CHAPTER 4- FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS .Findings and Discussion .1 Results from questionnaires .2 Discussion of questionnaires .3 Results from class observations .4 Discussion of class observations.
Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER 5- CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS .1 Summary of the key findings .1 What are teachers and students‟ perceptions of Vietnamese in teaching and learning English? .2 How has Vietnamese been used in English Reading Classes in five high viii schools in Thap Muoi and Cao Lanh District, Dong Thap province? .3 What are suggestions for using Vietnamese to teach English reading comprehension more effectively and communicatively?.2 Limitation and suggestion for further research .43 APPENDIX 1 CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET .48 APPENDIX 3 RESULTS FROM RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS .66 ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CA: Communicative Approach EFL: English as a foreign language ELT: English language teaching ESL: English as a second language L1: first language, mother tongue L2: second language GTM Grammar Translation Method x LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1 Responses to question 1 of the questionnaire .2 Responses to question 2 of the questionnaire .3 Responses to question 3 of the questionnaire .4 Responses to question 4 of the questionnaire .5 Responses to question 5 of the questionnaire .6 Responses to question 6 of the questionnaireError! Bookmark not defined.7 Responses to question 7 of the questionnaireError! Bookmark not defined.8 Responses to question 8 of the questionnaire .9 Responses to question 9 of the questionnaire .10 Responses to question 10 of the questionnaire .11 Responses to question 11 of the questionnaire .12 Responses to question 12 of the questionnaire .13 Responses to question 13 of the questionnaire .14 Responses to question 14 of the questionnaire .15 Responses to question 15 of the questionnaire .16 Responses to question 16 of the questionnaire .17 Responses to question 17 of the questionnaire .18 Responses to question 18 of the questionnaireError! Bookmark not defined.19 Results from classroom observations.35 xi xii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the research There have always been contradicting views about whether to use the mother tongue of the students in the foreign language classroom. The monolingual approach suggests that the target language ought to be the sole medium of communication, implying the prohibition of the native language would maximize the effectiveness of learning the target language. Krashen (1981), a proponent of the monolingual approach argued that people learning foreign languages follow basically the same route as they acquire their mother tongue, therefore, the use of the mother tongue in the learning process should be minimized.
However, this degradation of mother tongue has harmful psychological effects on learners (Nation 1990). Auerbach (1993) not only acknowledged the positive role of the mother tongue in the classroom but also identified the following uses for it: classroom management, language analysis, presenting grammatical rules, discussing cultural diversities, giving instructions or prompts, explaining errors, and checking for comprehension. Similarly, Le (2004) said that there are some misconceptions about foreign language teaching methodology. One of these misconceptions is “good communicative teaching avoids using mother tongue in the classroom”.
According to Le (2004), general recommendations for not using the mother tongue in the classroom were originated in the world of multilingual classes in the target language environment. In such a situation, it is not only desirable to use the target language at all time, it is, for most part, essential, given the mixed linguistic background of the learners. This situation does not apply; however, to the vast majority of foreign language classes around the world where both the teacher and the learners share a common linguistic background. The use of the mother tongue in a monolingual class has some obvious advantages.
First, there are occasions where short cuts can be used to provide a quick and accurate translation of a word that might take several 1 minutes for the teacher to explain but then there would be no guarantee of correct understanding. Second, the mother tongue may be useful in discussing how to tackle a task, or in talking about a lesson. This can be particularly effective with younger learners and adult learners at beginner level before the learners have gained confidence in the target language. Third, it is useful to use the mother tongue to give and to check instructions in order to ensure that the concepts have been correctly understood.
Fourth, the mother tongue is efficient for classroom management, especially in the primary or secondary school where the learners‟ proficiency in the target language is very limited. Above all, the use of the mother tongue with the target language in order to avoid problems with vocabulary items, confusing words, words with no equivalents and so on. Le (2004) also stated the second misconception: “good communicative teaching rejects translation as a classroom technique”. Many language teachers have associated the use of translation with the use of grammar-translation as a method even though it is clear that using translation activities in the classroom does not imply that teachers are using grammar- translation as a teaching method.
However, for Le (2004) the view of translation activities as non- communicative and non-natural is not right. In the case of teachers, an ability to translate into the mother tongue of the learners can offer a convenient and efficient way out of a tricky situation – why bother to spend ten minutes trying to explain the concept behind a particular utterance when simple translation can achieve the same goal in just seconds? Translation can also be extremely creative. It is not only the translation of words from one language to another but the translation of ideas, concepts and images. In brief, translation activities should be used in the language classroom and should be supported by communicative, natural language learning methods In order to make clear the matter whether to use or not to use L1 in teaching English as foreign language, the researcher plans to carry out the thesis “An Investigation into Teacher’s Use of Vietnamese in Teaching English Reading Comprehension Classes at Some High Schools in Dong Thap Province”.2 Rationale of the study 2 Being a teacher of English for more than ten years, the researcher has been attempting to raise the teaching quality of her classes and improve reading skill for her students.
However, she has learnt from experience that a large proportion of her students in the local area, especially students at Grade ten, are sometimes confused with difficult words and phrases of word, especially with unfamiliar reading topics. They may have no enough time to understand the reading texts or to finish all the tasks required in the textbook if the teacher refuses to respond to their demands in their native language. Regarding reading, it is one of the basic skills in a foreign language acquisition. In Vietnam, reading occurs in most important examinations of all levels.
Although reading strategies may help students in learning a reading text, Vietnamese is still a means to help students at secondary education to achieve better comprehension of the reading lessons. The findings of this research may be a source of reference for her to teach English reading comprehension classes more successfully.3 Research aims This thesis aims to investigate teachers‟ and students‟ perceptions of using Vietnamese in teaching English reading comprehension classes. Likewise, it finds out how Vietnamese has been used in reality at five high schools in Thap Muoi and Cao Lanh districts, Dong Thap province. The investigation particularly seeks to answer the following questions: 1.
What are the teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the role of mother tongue (Vietnamese) in teaching and learning English reading? 2. How has Vietnamese been used in teaching English reading comprehension classes at some high schools in Dong Thap province? 3. What are suggestions for using Vietnamese to teach English reading comprehension classes more effectively and communicatively? 1.4 Research scope With limited time, material resources, and condition, the data for this thesis merely 3 focus on teacher‟s use of Vietnamese in teaching English reading comprehension classes at five places ( at Thap Muoi, Doc Binh Kieu, Phu Dien, Truong Xuan and Cao Lanh 2 high schools) in Dong Thap province. Hopefully, the results of this study may be useful to other teachers while dealing with teaching English reading skill.5 Research significance As mentioned in research aims, the thesis is to provide information based on which suggestions can be withdraw to help teaching and learning English reading better.
Personally, after the completion of this research, the researcher can verify her belief of using Vietnamese in teaching English reading and then justify her teaching method. At the same time, the findings may benefit other teachers who are also interested in teaching this skill.6 Structure of the thesis This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 presents a general overview of the study. It states the background, the rationale, the aims, the scope, the significance and the organization of the study.
Chapter 2 offers an overview of the literature and previous studies related to the thesis. Chapter 3 provides detailed description of the research methodology, participants, data collection and data analysis. Chapter 4 describes the findings from the questionnaires, the classroom observations of teachers and students at five high schools in Thap Muoi and Cao Lanh districts, Dong Thap province. Based on the findings, this chapter will discuss some problems related to the reality of using Vietnamese in teaching English reading comprehension classes.