MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY --------------------------- NGUYỄN THỊ MINH HIẾU EFL ADULT LEARNERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF INTERACTION AND THEIR ATTITUDES TOWARDS LEARNING ENGLISH ONLINE AT TESSE.IO Major: English Language Student’s code: 1841900040 HO CHI MINH CITY, SEPTEMBER 2020 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY ----------------------------- EFL ADULT LEARNERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF INTERACTION AND THEIR ATTITUDES TOWARDS LEARNING ENGLISH ONLINE AT TESSE.IO Submitted to the Faculty of English Language in partial fulfilment of the Master’s degree in English Language Course code: 8220201 By NGUYỄN THỊ MINH HIẾU Supervised by TRUONG CONG BANG, PH. HO CHI MINH CITY, SEPTEMBER 2020 The thesis entitled EFL Adult Learners’ Perceptions of Interaction and Their Attitudes Towards Learning English Online at Tesse.io was successfully defended and approved on ……………………………. at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HUTECH). Academic supervisor: Dr Truong Cong Bang Examination Committee 1 …………………………………………………………… Chair 2 …………………………………………………………… Reader 1 3 …………………………………………………………… Reader 2 4 …………………………………………………………… Member 5 …………………………………………………………… Secretary Member On behalf of the Examination Committee Chair (Full name, tile, signature) HCMC UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY POSTGRADUATE INSTITUTE HCMC, …………….2020 MASTER’S THESIS REPORT Student name: NGUYỄN THỊ MINH HIẾU Sex: Female Date of birth: September 20th, 1992 Place of birth: Tay Son – Binh Dinh Major: English Language Student code: 1841900040 I.
Thesis title EFL Adult Learners’ Perceptions of Interaction and Their Attitudes Towards Learning English Online at Tesse. Objectives and contents The primary focus of the current study is to investigate and explore learners’ perceptions of interaction and their attitudes towards learning English online at website Tesse. The researcher hopes to highlight areas that need adjustment to benefit learners’ achievement, teachers’ teaching achievement, and administrators’ improvement of online courses. The research was conducted in six months at Tesse.io in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
This study involved the participation of 96 adult learners in different online English classes. It should be noted that the researcher has worked as a teacher of English in these classes. Quantitative and qualitative methods were employed. The data was gathered using online questionnaires and online interviews.
The results were analysed in terms of means scores and standard deviations using SPSS version 20 and thematic analysis. This study was based on the online learning theory of Anderson (2011) and the ABC model of attitudes of Ellis (1956). The findings revealed that students had a positive perception of interaction with teachers, other learners, and course content. They valued the guidance and encouragement of teachers in online English classes.
Learning online offered students opportunities to communicate in small groups and the entire class. They could exchange resources such as links or documents with other learners. Besides, the findings indicated that course content fit the students’ expectations. Students could easily interact with the course content and learning materials by variety of tools.
In general, students valued the student-teacher interaction as an important factor. In terms of attitudes towards learning English online, students expressed positive feeling. They were interested in learning online due to the comfort of using smart devices, time convenience, and benefit from feedbacks of teachers. Students positively reported that they frequently attended online classes.
They actively joined the extra free English classes besides the paid class that they enrolled in. Besides, students’ attitudes towards learning English online have changed. In general, most of the participants posited that they have improved performance when learning English online. Finally, with positive attitudes, most students looked forwards to studying English online more in the future.
Based on the findings of the study, recommendations for the stakeholders (students, teachers, administrators and web developers at Tesse) are included. It is expected that the study will shed light on the existing knowledge relating to the field of study. Starting date: March 30th, 2020 Completing date: September 20th, 2020 Academic supervisor: Dr Truong Cong Bang ACADEMIC SUPERVISOR FACUTY DEAN (Full name, signature) (Full name, signature) CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled: EFL ADULT LEARNERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF INTERACTION AND THEIR ATTITUDES TOWARDS LEARNING ENGLISH ONLINE AT TESSE.IO In terms of the statement of the requirements for Thesis in Master’s programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee of English Language, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology. Ho Chi Minh City, October 2020 NGUYEN THI MINH HIEU i RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, NGUYEN THI MINH HIEU, being a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts (English Language) accept the requirements 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 origin of my Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarians for the care, loam, and reproduction for theses. Ho Chi Minh City, September 2020 NGUYEN THI MINH HIEU ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. Truong Cong Bang, my supervisor, of his patience, guidance, insightful advice, and constant encouragement throughout the whole research process. Under any circumstances, he always gives me his warm support and dedication.
He has been a wonderful mentor and I feel grateful for having such a wonderful teacher. Without his support and guidance, this thesis would never have been completed. Second, I would also like to show my profound gratitude to all the lecturers of the Institute for Postgraduate and the Department of English Language in HUTECH for their tirelessly devoting time and efforts to enrich, broaden and deepen my knowledge over the past two years. Third, I would like to send my gratefulness to some of the enthusiastic teachers and learners from Tesse.io who helped me to provide and collect valuable data for the questionnaire and interview.
My work could not be done without the participation of teachers and learners at this online learning website. In addition, I would like to thank the board of directors, the academic staff, and the management board for allowing me to conduct this study. iii ABSTRACT Online learning alternatives are growing rapidly in Vietnam. Recently many education institutions have offered online English courses.
It is increasingly recognized in education research to find out what learners think about online learning and what makes them successful in an online learning environment. Educators should better understand learners’ perceptions of interaction and their attitudes towards learning English online. This research examines the students’ perceptions of interaction and attitudes towards learning online to provide information that may assist education institutes and teachers in meeting students’ needs and improving students’ performance. This study was conducted at Tesse.io – an online learning and teaching website in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
It was based on the theory of online learning of Anderson (2011) and the ABC model of attitudes of Ellis (1956). A mixed-methods design employing online questionnaires and interviews was carried out with convenience sampling of 96 adult students at pre-intermediate and intermediate levels of English. SPSS and thematic analyses were performed to analyze quantitative and qualitative data. Results were consistent with student survey responses and indicated that students perceive learning English online positively.
Besides, their attitudes towards learning English online were positive in terms of feeling, behavior, and knowledge. The study proves that several issues need to be highlighted in order to ensure the effectiveness of learning English online. Suggestions for learners, teachers, administrators, and web developers on how to improve learning and teaching English online are presented in the study. The study contributes to the existing literature of the research field and provides some insights into teaching and learning English online.
It is expected the study would contribute to the existing knowledge relevant to the field of study, providing a reference for learners, teachers, and researchers who desire to study learning and teaching English online. Keywords: Perception, interaction, attitude, online learning. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of originality. i Retention and use of the thesis.
iv Table of contents. v List of abbreviations. viii List of tables. ix List of figures.
Background to the study. Statement of the problems. Aims and objectives of the study. Scope of the study.
Significance of the study. Definition of key terms. Organization of the thesis .Advantages of online education .Disadvantages of online education. Perception of learners.
Online language learning. Terry Anderson’s theory of online learning. Role of interaction in online learning .Student-teacher interaction .Student-student interaction .Student-content interaction. Attitude of learners .Definition and importance of attitudes .Importance of attitude towards language learning .Components of Language Attitude.
Review of previous studies. Sample and sampling procedures. Data collection procedures. Data analysis procedures.
Reliability and Validity. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS .Students’ perceptions of interaction of learning English online at Tesse. Students’ perception of their interaction with teachers. Students’ perception of interaction with other learners.
Students’ perception of interaction with course content .Students’ attitudes towards learning English online. Students’ affective aspect of attitudes. Students’ behavioral aspect of attitudes. Students’ cognitive aspect of attitudes .Summary of the results.
Summary of the main findings of the thesis. Implications of the research .1Implications for learners .2Implications for teachers .3Implications for administrators and web developers. Limitation of the research. Recommendations for further research.
INVITATION LETTER TO PARTICIPATE IN ONLINE SURVEY AND INTERVIEW OF RESEARCH………………………………. SUMMARY OF THE INTERVIEW………………………….115 vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Tesse: Tesse.io ELS: Electronic Learning System EFL: English as Foreign Language viii LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 Descriptive statistics of students’ perception of their interaction in learning English online…. Descriptive Statistics of respondents for each statement of interaction with teachers……………………………………………………………………………. Descriptive Statistics of respondents for each statements of their interaction with other learners in online English classes.
Descriptive Statistics of respondents for each statements of their interaction with course content. Descriptive Statistics of students’ attitudes towards learning English online. Descriptive Statistics of respondents for each statements of Affective Aspect of Attitudes. Descriptive Statistics of respondents for each statements of Beharioral Aspect of Attitudes.
Descriptive Statistics of respondents for each statements of Cognitive Aspect of Attitudes. Descriptive Statistics of Learners’ perception of interaction and their attitudes towards learning English online .57 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Anderson’s model of interaction of online learning. ABC model of attitudes.
Conceptual framework of EFL adult learners’ perceptions of interaction and their attitudes towards learning English online at Tesse. Online English classes at Tesse. Background to the study Technology development since the 1990s has led to an increment in its usage in education and changed the way of learning and teaching. Recent development has heightened the growth of online learning.
Online learning becomes a common alternative for adult learners since the learners unable to attend face-to-face classes regularly (Means, Bakia, & Murphy, 2014). While a limited number of secondary schools offer online courses, online programs are developing at a wide range in colleges and universities (Allen & Seaman, 2017). According to Rovai, Wighting, and Lui (2005), there is almost no significant difference in students’ performance between online and face-to-face course formats. Online learning is increasingly recognized in education research to find out appropriate answers for questions: What do learners think about online learning? What makes learners successful in an online learning environment? For those questions, Motargy and Boghikian (2010) argue that the answers depend on learners’ perceptions of interaction with instructors, other learners, course content, and their attitudes towards learning English online.
Learners’ perceptions of interaction and attitudes have caught the attention of researchers, educational institutions, and instructors. Richards and Rogers (2001) mention that teachers should attempt to determine learners’ perceptions of interaction in a learning environment and students’ attitudes by discussing directly with them. In online learning, learners’ perceptions of interaction and learning attitudes are the primary concern.