NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** TRẦN THỊ THÙY A STUDY ON THE TEACHING OF MATHEMATICS IN ENGLISH AT AN 8TH GRADE CLASS AT DOAN THI DIEM PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOL NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC DẠY TOÁN BẰNG TIẾNG ANH TRONG MỘT LỚP 8 TẠI TRƢỜNG TRUNG HỌC CƠ SỞ DÂN LẬP ĐOÀN THỊ ĐIỂM M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 140 111 Supervisor: Dr. Mai Thị Loan HANOI – 2015 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** TRẦN THỊ THÙY A STUDY ON THE TEACHING OF MATHEMATICS IN ENGLISH AT AN 8TH GRADE CLASS AT DOAN THI DIEM PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOL NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC DẠY TOÁN BẰNG TIẾNG ANH TRONG MỘT LỚP 8 TẠI TRƢỜNG TRUNG HỌC CƠ SỞ DÂN LẬP ĐOÀN THỊ ĐIỂM M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 140 111 Supervisor: Dr.
Mai Thị Loan HANOI – 2015 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I certify my authorship of the thesis: A study on the teaching of Math in English at an 8th grade class at Doan Thi Diem private secondary school is the result of my own for the Degree of Master of Arts at College of Foreign Languages, Hanoi National University, and this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or institution. Hanoi, 2015 Signature Trần Thị Thùy i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS From the bottom of my heart, I thank all people who have supported and encouraged me through the process I completed this thesis. First of all, I would like to send my most sincere and deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Mai Thi Loan for her wholehearted instructions, precious suggestions and knowledgeable advice to my study. Without her enthusiasm, this work would never have been accomplished.
Next, I sincerely would like to acknowledge other teachers at the Department of Post-Graduate Studies for providing me numerous interesting, valuable lectures and guidance. I have profound regards for Mr David Devine, an excellent Math teacher and for all 8M students, at Doan Thi Diem private secondary school who spent their precious time answering my survey questions. Owing to their cooperation, my thesis has been successfully completed. Last but not least, I owe my life to my family and close friends for their incessant encouragements which have raised me up a lot to finish my thesis.
ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT Math, Science and Literature have been taught to ELLs in parts of the word. This research studies on the subject of Math because it is universal to people more than any others; its aims are to examine whether teaching Math in English is beneficial or not, the teaching methods used by the Math teacher, the challenges of teaching Math in English in 8M at DTD School and to find out the recommendations to improve the situation of teaching Math in English in the future. To fulfill these targets, three instruments employed to collect data were the classroom observations, the questionnaire for the students and the interview for the Math teacher. The study was carried out and involved an American teacher of Math and 16 Vietnamese students in grade 8 at DTD School.
Statistical analysis revealed that most of the students initially struggled with mathematical vocabulary, cultural differences in teachers’ teaching methods and students’ learning styles and especially, their English limited proficiency. Gradually, they had improvement in their English competence and mathematical knowledge thanks to the Math teacher’s relatively well-planned lessons. Several strategies which are recommended to deal with the found challenges include differentiating specific instructions, teaching mathematical vocabulary properly, applying technology, enhancing communications among students, parents, teacher and school and holding more Math competitions to encourage students to study Math in English. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS Candidate’s statement.
iii Table of contents. iv List of abbreviations.vii List of tables and figures. viii Table of Contents PART A: INTRODUCTON. Aims and objectives of the study.
Scope of the study. Method of the study. Significance of the study. Design of the study.
4 CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND. Teaching Math in English to ELLs. Definition of ELLs. Why to teach.
What to teach. Teaching Math in English – a CLIL approach. Implementations of teaching Math in English. History of teaching Math in English in Asia.
Situation of teaching Math in English in Vietnam. Benefits of teaching Math in English recognized by scholars. 9 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Factors affecting Ells’ success in studying Math.
Challenges for Math teachers and learners. Strategies for Math teachers and learners. Review of previous studies related to teaching Math in English. The current situation of teaching and learning at DTD School.
Data collection instruments. Data collection and analysis procedure. Questionnaire for the students. Interview for the Math teacher.
44 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.Limitations of the study .Recommendations for further studies .I LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACP: American Credit Program AAS: Association of the Advancement of Science CLIC: Content and Language Integrated Learning DTD School: Doan Thi Diem private secondary school ELLs: English Language Learners NCTM: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Math: Mathematics OECD: the Organizations for Economic Co-operation and Development PISA: Programme for International Student Assessment SCS: Solomon Christian School TESOL: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES &FIGURES Page Table 1: Jarrett’s and Kersaint’s strategies in teaching Math in English to ELLs…11 Table 2: Learning environment in the classroom………………………………….20 Table 3: Teacher’s instructional strategies in the classroom…………………….21 Table 4: Students’ learning strategies in the classroom……………………………23 Table 5: Teacher’s teaching strategies in the classroom……….…………26 Table 6: Students’ challenges of studying Math in English……………………….27 Table 7: Students’ suggestions to make the program better……….29 Table 8: Types and frequency of work for students………………….31 Chart 1: Teacher monitoring in the classroom…………………………………….22 Chart 2: Teacher’s instructional tools in the classroom……………………………24 Chart 3: Teacher’s assessment in the classroom…………….25 Chart 4: Students’ benefits of studying Math in English………………………….28 viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTON The part is to introduce the rationale for the study, the aim and objectives of the study as well as the research questions for this study to search for the answers. Furthermore, this part presents the scope, the method, the significance and the design of the study. Rationale After nearly two years of academically teaching at DTD School, the researcher realizes and highly appreciates the positive effects of teaching Math in English in M classes in which students are bilingual and learn four American subjects. To be more specific, M classes are connected to the program ACP at SCS in Edmonds, Washington, United States.
Besides Vietnamese curriculum, the students in this program have to study four compulsory American subjects, namely English, Literature, Science and Math. The results are counted according to the grading system in the United States and are accepted by SCS if the students wish to continue this program there. In this program, the learners have experienced interesting and informative lessons which are totally taught by American teachers. These native teachers have been certificated by TESOL before they come to teach Vietnamese students.
In particular, among four subjects, Math is commonly preferred by the Vietnamese learners because it is an international language (Dale & Cuevas, 1992) and they can compare and follow like studying Math in their home language. Studying Math in English brings the students skills of problem-solving, reasoning and communicating, which strongly supports learning English language (Jarrett, 1999). As a result, this potential situation motivates the research to conduct a paper on how to assist the educators to reach the recognition and application of teaching Math in English in Vietnamese educational environments. Aims and objectives of the study For the aim of promoting the teaching of Math in English, the researcher desired to undertake a research with the following objectives: 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com (1) to discover the teaching strategies used by the teacher in Math lessons, (2) to examine the benefits of teaching and learning Math in English, (3) to investigate the challenges of teaching and learning Math in English, (4) to suggest recommendations to help the teachers and learners in this program.
Research questions With a view to accomplishing the objectives of the study, these three research questions were raised: (1) What are the teaching strategies often applied by the teacher in the Math classes? (2) What are the benefits for the teacher and learners in teaching and learning Math in English? (3) What are the challenges for the teacher and learners in teaching and learning Math in English? (4) What are the recommendations to a more effective application of teaching and learning Math in English at DTD School? 4. Scope of the study It can be widely recognized that a variety of subjects have been taught in English to ELLs such as Science or Literature in order to improve their English abilities; however, the researcher only focused her study on one subject and its effectiveness – i. teaching and learning Math in English. In addition, only a limited number of students, not all of the students at DTD School in Hanoi, were chosen as the subjects of the study.
Method of the study The study was carried out following these steps: First, the classroom observation was made by the researcher to discover the learning environment, teacher’s instructional strategies, teacher monitoring, students’ learning strategies, teacher’s instructional tools and the ways of assessment. Next, the questionnaire was delivered to the 16 Vietnamese students to investigate their thoughts about teacher’s teaching activities, students’ benefits and challenges in this 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com program as well as their recommendations to promote the teaching and learning Math in English more effectively. Third, a personal interview with the Math teacher was conducted so as to indicate the teacher’s teaching strategies, the advantages and difficulties of teaching Math in English to ELLs and several of his suggestions to enhance this program. After that, the data was collected and analyzed to reveal the major findings and give answers to the research questions in detail.
Significance of the study After this study, the participants were expected to be more aware of the relatively new education approach of teaching Math to bilingual students. In the light of teaching methodology, the results of this study can be set as the framework for English teachers and Vietnamese educators at DTD school in particular and other schools across the country in general to design suitable, effective lessons and activities that encourage students to practice English in a communicative and academic approach. Design of the study The main body of this thesis consists of three main parts: Part I – INTRODUCTION states the rationale, aims and objectives of the study, the research questions, method, significance and design of the study. Part II – DEVELOPMENT consists of three chapters: Chapter 1: Theoretical background provides the literature review of teaching and implementation of teaching Math in English to ELLs and review of previous related studies Chapter 2: Methodology describes the setting and the research design including the participants of the study, the data collection instruments, data collection and analysis procedure.
Chapter 3: Data Analysis and Findings releases the findings of the study after analyzing the collected data in categories and summarizes the answers to the three research questions. Part C – CONCLUSION abridges the results of the entire research and discusses the limitations of the study along with suggestions for further research.