VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ---oOo--- HỒ THU HUYỀN AN INVESTIGATION INTO 10TH GRADE STUDENTS’ OUT-OF-CLASS LEARNING AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN LAO CAI PROVINCE (Nghiên cứu việc học ngoài lớp học của học sinh khối lớp 10 ở một trường THPT tại tỉnh Lào Cai) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 8140231.01 Hanoi - 2019 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ---oOo--- HỒ THU HUYỀN AN INVESTIGATION INTO 10TH GRADE STUDENTS’ OUT-OF-CLASS LEARNING AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN LAO CAI PROVINCE (Nghiên cứu việc học ngoài lớp học của học sinh khối lớp 10 ở một trường THPT tại tỉnh Lào Cai) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 8140231. Lê Văn Canh, PhD Hanoi - 2019 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I, Ho Thu Huyen, hereby declare that my thesis entitled “An investigation into 10th grade students’ out-of-class learning at a high school in Lao Cai province” (Nghiên cứu việc học ngoài lớp học của học sinh khối lớp 10 ở một trường THPT tại tỉnh Lào Cai) submitted to the Faculty of Post- Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi is my own work and has not been submitted before to any institutions for assessment. Documented references have been fully provided. Hanoi, 2019 Ho Thu Huyen i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor, associate professor Le Van Canh, who has constantly supported me through the stage of my study and stimulated ideas for my growth as an academic researcher.
I also want to express my profound gratitude to all the doctors, lecturers and staff members of the Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their useful lectures and helpful advice for me to complete the thesis. I would like to send my thanks to the management board and teachers of Lao Cai High School Number 2 for their cooperation and valuable information they provided in my research. Without their help, the survey could not have been successfully conducted. My thanks also go to my colleagues in Lao Cai college for their encouragement and enthusiasm for my studying time.
Last but not least, I would like to express my endearing and enduring gratitude to my family and friends for their continuous support throughout my years of studying and the process of researching and writing this thesis. It is virtually impossible for me to accomplish my thesis without their assistance. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT This research aims at exploring the ways the10th grade students learn English outside the classroom. The primary purpose is to examine what activities the students take part in to improve English out of the class, the frequency of those supplementary activities.
The secondary purpose is to investigate the activities they like to participate in most. To achieve the aim of the study, the author used survey questionnaire as instrument to collect data. The results of the data analysis reveal that activities students usually do to enhance their English proficiency are watching films, doing projects, listening to music and learning the new words by heart. The out-of-class activities they prefer are listening to music, playing games and communicating in English.
The students also recognized the importance of learning English outside of the classroom. In addition, the findings of the research suggested some activities for the students do behind the class for their better English. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS.
vi LIST OF TABLES. vii LIST OF FIGURES. viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Rationale of the study.
Aims of the study. Scope of the study. Methods of the study. Significance of the study.
Organization of the thesis. 5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Activities in teaching and learning English. The role of out-of-class learning.
Out-of-class learning activities. Language learning beyond classroom by Nunan and Richards. Previous studies on out-of-class learning. 19 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.
Rationale for choosing survey as the research method. 24 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Data collection instruments. Data collection procedure.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Students’ attitude towards English. Students’ self-evaluation about English. Students’ self-evaluation about their English proficiency.
Students’ evaluation about their English skills and knowledge. Students’ attitude toward out-of-class activities. Students’ frequency of taking part in out-of-class activities. Advantages of out-of-class activities to their English.
Students’ preference about out-of-class learning activities. Summary of the research results. Current out-of-class activities students take part in. Activities students like to participate in most outside the classroom.
Suggested activities for English out-of-class learning. Implications of the study. Limitations of the study .6 Further research directions. I v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABBREVIATIONS App Application ELT English language teaching EFL English as a foreign language ESL English as a second language IT Information technology RELC Regional English Language Center TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table 1.
Students’ frequency of taking part in out-of-class activities. The necessity for taking part in out-of-class activities. 35 vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Students' attitude toward English.
Students’ evaluation about their English proficiency. Students’ evaluation about their English skills and knowledge. Advantages of out-of-class activities. Students' preference abut out-of-class learning activities.
36 viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study Nowadays, English has become an international language which is used in most fields such as education, technology, science, etc. It is usual for us to see journals, articles or scientific research written in English. Websites are designed and presented in English, so people have to know and use English to read and access to those sites or take part in activities on those websites.
As the most popular foreign language in Vietnam, English is essential to communication in our current time so that everyone learns it to get in touch with the international community as it is used in forums between different countries, in commercial contracts, etc. English is also essential to the field of education. In many countries, children are taught and encouraged to learn English as a second language. As a compulsory subject in every school in Vietnam, it has been taught from an early age, at the age of 6 (grade 1 in primary school) or even younger in most schools and universities throughout the country beside other ones.
It is also one subject for entrance exam to high schools or a condition for graduation in colleges and universities in our country. Good English learning at school will enhance students’ competence in the area of globalization. It will certainly reduce the communication gap between people of different countries and therefore make people in the world become closer. Because of its importance, students need to improve their English language to attain get a certain level of competence.
To reach a certain level in English, apart from learning at school, students also spend time practising outside the class and both of these two dimensions of learning English are beneficial. Richards (2015) states two dimensions to successful second language learning: inside and outside of the 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com classroom, out-of-class learning opportunities provide comprehensible input and output as well as learners’ overall second language development, language learning or activation outside the classroom offers challenges and opportunities that are not available inside the classroom. When talking about learning in the classroom, we often think of the images where students sit in their places, teacher is the person to control the class and give the lectures with the help of facilities such as projector, board, chalk and realia. Learning inside the class, beside positive aspects, has some constraints such as the number of students in one class is large, time is limited with forty-five minutes for one period with various activities while a teacher has to pay attention to every student, lack of flexibility in teaching methods makes the teacher feel difficult to give lectures as well as control the class effectively.
The classroom with 30 or 40 students, each of them is different in personalities and learning level, which requires the teacher to use various methodologies suitable to all of them. Besides, education outside the classroom – real world learning – makes an important contribution to building a learner’s store of knowledge, which is based on their own creativity and enquiry. Learning outside the classroom are flexible because learners do not have to obey the rules and are not controlled by the teachers, they have the chance to manifest their language skills as well as living skills. Unlike class learning which is time- limited, a period of only forty-five minutes is not enough for all the learners to participate in activities carried out by the teachers, so not all skills are developed during the class time; out of class learning is not restricted by time and place, students can learn whenever and wherever they want and with whoever they feel comfortable.
It is undeniable that out-of-class learning is meaningful and necessary for English language development. Because of the above reasons, I decided to carry out the 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com research entitles “An investigation into the 10th grade students’ out-of-class learning at a high school in Lao Cai province”. The research will help teachers understand how students learn outside the classroom as well as what skills they often focus on. It is also essential for teachers of English because it can be used as a reference in their teaching.
Aims of the study The study aims at investigating how students learn outside the classroom as well as the activities they focus on. The findings will be meaningful to English teachers in the school investigated because they can understand how their students learn English outside the class; therefore, they can design suitable strategies to improve their teaching skill as well as design various activities to help their students develop their English competence. This study will find the answers to the questions: (1) How often do students participate in out-of-class English learning? (2) What out-of-class learning activities do students prefer? 3. Scope of the study With the above aims, the research is limited to explore out-of-class activities that students at Lao Cai High school number 2 take part in.
It involves the participation of 100 students at grade 10. The findings and suggested activities will be applied to the 10th grade students in Lao Cai High school number 2. Besides, the ability to encourage learning is essential to all students. Therefore, the result of the activities can be transferred to other students who learn English.
As a result, students will find the ways to improve their English language. In addition, this research project can also contribute to the development of teaching programs. The result might raise the awareness of teachers about 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com students’ ways of learning English outside of the class. This study is expected to bring more insights into the teacher-student understandings.
The result hopefully can fill in the gaps between the teacher and their students. Methods of the study The study was designed to survey the extent to which the researched students participated in out-of-class English language learning as well as their preferred out-of-class English language learning activities.