HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES EFL TEACHERS’ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES ON THE USE OF INTERACTIVE ACTIVITIES IN READING CLASSES AT TERTIARY LEVEL: A CASE STUDY AT A LOCAL UNIVERSITY IN VIETNAM DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING HUE, 2023 HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES EFL TEACHERS’ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES ON THE USE OF INTERACTIVE ACTIVITIES IN READING CLASSES AT TERTIARY LEVEL: A CASE STUDY AT A LOCAL UNIVERSITY IN VIETNAM CODE: 9 14 01 11 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY O F ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING HUE, 2023 ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ NIỀM TIN VÀ THỰC TIỄN TRIỂN KHAI HOẠT ĐỘNG TƯƠNG TÁC TRONG LỚP ĐỌC HIỂU TIẾNG ANH Ở BẬC ĐẠI HỌC: NGHIÊN CỨU TRƯỜNG HỢP GIẢNG VIÊN TẠI MỘT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC ĐỊA PHƯƠNG Ở VIỆT NAM MÃ SỐ: 9 14 01 11 LUẬN ÁN TIẾN SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC HUẾ, 2023 DECLARATION I certify that the present thesis submitted today entitled “EFL Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices on the Use of Interactive Activities in Reading Classes at Tertiary Level: A Case Study at A Local University in Vietnam” for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in theory and methodology in English language teaching, is the result of my own research, and has not been submitted for a higher degree at any other institutions, colleges, or universities. To the best of my knowledge and beliefs, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by other people except where the reference is made in the thesis itself. Hue, 2023 Author’s signature: i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS On my Ph. journey, I received a lot of assistance and support from beloved people who worked diligently to help me, believed in me and guided me at every stage of conducting the research.
Hereby, I would like to express my most sincere thanks to those willingly contributing their professional and academic knowledge to helping me complete this study. First of all, I would like to send my deepest gratitude to my chief supervisor - Dr. Bao Kham who has wholeheartedly and enthusiastically supervised me and guided my research from the initial days with a lot of difficulties, through the stages of formulating the proposal, collecting and analyzing data, presenting papers at the scientific panels, writing the first draft of my thesis, then revising and editing, and finally completing my PhD thesis. His support and encouragement inspired and motivated me a lot throughout this hard journey.
Without him, I could not reach the destination of this PhD thesis completion and submission. I would also like to express my great gratitude to my second supervisor - Assoc. , who, although lives very far from me, gives me a lot of valuable instructions and feedback to every step of the study and to various versions of this thesis with the whole-hearted support and words of wisdom. I saw myself fortunate to have him as a mentor for this work.
Honestly speaking, but for his support, my thesis would not be in its final shape as it is now. I would also like to extend my sincere gratitude to Assoc. and management board as well as the lecturers of Faculty of English, University of Foreign Languages and International Studies, Hue University for wholeheartedly and dedicatedly supporting and guiding me during the processes required to complete my study program. Their support, encouragement, and willingness as the scientific panel’s members brought me huge benefit in broadening my scope of investigation, and helped me to reach the completion of the thesis.
I would also like to convey my thankfulness to the advisory panel’s members and all examiners who gave me a lot of insightful and valuable comments and suggestions for improving the quality of my thesis. I highly appreciated their questions and inquiries ii that contributed to sharpening my mind and providing me with bright ideas to improve my thesis on the right track. I owe big thanks to my former rector and my current rector, as well as my colleagues at the university and the Foreign Language Faculty where I am serving my teaching job for their on-going support and sympathy with my hard work. In addition, I would like to express my thankfulness to all of the participating teachers who voluntarily and patiently accompanied me during a long time of my data collection process.
Their voluntary participation in the interviews and their permission for my observation and audio-recording of their reading classes contributed a lot to my data findings. It is no doubt that the results I achieve today partially depended on them. My PhD journey would not be successfully completed without my family’s encouragement, assistance and support. Therefore, my special appreciation goes to my beloved parents, my husband, and my two children for their unconditional support and love.
My husband has been the most patient and supportive partner who was always by my side whenever I was in need. He encouraged me unfailingly with kind words, motivated me, and especially had definite confidence in me. From deep within my heart, I send my profound gratitude to all of my big family members who gave me unconditional love, sacrifice and care during my hard journey to complete my PhD thesis. Without their support and motivation, I could not overcome all of the difficulties to become a better me now.
Deepest and most sincere thanks from the bottom of my heart! iii ABSTRACT This thesis adopted Mo’s (2020) system of teachers’ beliefs in teaching reading skills for EFL tertiary students with the purpose of investigating teachers’ beliefs and practices of using interactive activities (IAs) in teaching reading skills to EFL tertiary students in a Vietnamese teaching context. This study was carried out with three EFL teachers from a local public university in the northern central region of Vietnam. To seek for the answers to the research questions posed, the researcher gathered data from three data collection instruments which formed a triangulation of this research including in-depth interviews, classroom observations, and stimulated recall interviews. It was shown in the findings of the study that EFL teachers perceived the use of IAs in teaching reading subject through their beliefs of goals, beliefs of principles, beliefs of contexts and beliefs of the teachers’ roles.
In addition, the findings revealed that the teacher participants used IAs in their reading classes in different ways. Most of what they believed was consistent with the ways they acted in actual practices of teaching the chosen subject. However, there still existed some inconsistencies due to the impact of certain factors as addressed in the thesis. This study, as the researcher’s intention, does not aim at giving any generalization to the whole context of the EFL teaching and learning in Vietnam; however, it is expected to depict the picture of EFL teaching in some similar Vietnamese context.
It is significant in helping Vietnamese EFL teachers have a deeper understanding about foreign language teaching and learning in tertiary education at local universities, which hopefully helps the policy makers have a better view on the whole picture of teaching foreign languages in Vietnam. In addition, some implications for whom the study may concern, and some recommendations for future research are also presented. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ELT : English language teaching CI : Classroom Interaction IAs : Interactive activities CEFR : The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages SCT : Sociocultural Theory EFL : English as a Foreign Language ESL : English as a Second Language L1 : First language/ Mother tongue L2 : Second language FL : Foreign Language MoET : Ministry of Education and Training v LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 2.1 Interaction and Collaboration Among Learners, Peers, and Teacher in an EFL Context (Behroozizad et al.2 Variables that affect reading performance .3 Categories of Teachers’ Beliefs (Burn, 1996) .4: Teachers’ beliefs system by Mo (2020) .1 Data triangulation paradigm. Thematic analysis Guideline (Braun & Clarke, 2006).
Data Transcription and Analysis Procedure. Analysis of Teachers’ beliefs of using IAs in teaching. 71 EFL Reading Comprehension skills .71 LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Description of scaffolding means in language teaching .1 Criteria for researcher’s choosing qualitative research approach .2 Information of the teacher participants .1 A Summary of main interactive reading activities used in Lisa’s observed reading classes .2 A Summary of main interactive reading activities used in Rosie’s observed reading classes .3 A Summary of main interactive reading activities used in Maria’s observed reading classes .112 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION .iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .v LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES .vi LIST OF TABLES .vi TABLE OF CONTENTS. vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION.
Background of the study. Statement of the problem. Purposes of the study. Scope of the study.
Significance of the research. Definitions of key terms. Organizational Structure of the Thesis. 8 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .1 Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory (SCT) .1 Sociocultural in Language Teahing and Learning .2 Major tenets of Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory .1 Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) .2 Reading Comprehension from Sociocultural Theory .1 Some perspectives about Reading Comprehension .2 A Sociocultural Perspective of Reading.1 Interactive Activities in Language Teaching .2 Interactive Activities in Reading Comprehension .3 Principles of teaching EFL reading skills .4 Teachers’ beliefs and practices .4 Beliefs about Teachers’ Roles .3 Relationships between teachers’ beliefs and teachers’ practices .4 Factors affecting teachers’ beliefs and practices .5 Previous related studies and gaps in the literature .1 Previous related studies .2 Gaps in the Literature .6 Theoretical framework of the study .7 Summary of the Chapter .41 CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.
Research Approach and Research Design .2 The Research Setting .3 Participants of the study and the researcher’s roles .1 Participants of the study. Some characteristics of Vietnamese EFL teachers. Participants of the study .2 Researcher’s roles in the study .4 Data Collection methods and Procedures .1 In-depth Interviews .3 Stimulated Recall Interviews .3 Data Collection Procedure .6 Data Analysis Procedures .1 Interview Data Analysis .2 Observational Data Analysis .7 Trustworthiness of the Study. Summary of the Chapter .69 CHAPTER 4 EFL TEACHERS’ BELIEFS OF INTERACTIVE ACTIVITIES IN READING CLASSES .1 Findings about teachers’ beliefs .1 Teachers’ perception about interactive activities .2 Teachers’ beliefs of goals in using interactive activities in teaching EFL reading skills.1 Motivating students’ participation.
Increasing students’ communicative competence.3 Improving students’ social interaction skills .3 Teachers’ principles of teaching EFL reading skills with interactive activities.1 Establishing students’ active engagement .2 Fostering interactive activities in reading classes with collaborative work .3 Facilitating students in building collaborative learning community .4 Building good rapport with students .4 Teachers’ beliefs of context in teaching EFL reading with interactive activities.1 Teaching contexts and IAs: Teachers’ beliefs of advantages .2 Teaching contexts and IAs: Teachers’ beliefs of disadvantages .4 Beliefs about teacher’s roles in teaching EFL reading with interactive activities.3 Summary of the Chapter .1 Findings about teachers’ practices of employing interactive activities in teaching EFL reading subjects .1 Using interactive activities for motivating students’ comprehension.2 Facilitating students’ oral language use with interactive activities .3 Establishing students’ collaborative working community with interactive activities .4 Forming teacher - student rapports with interactive activities.5 Summary of Lisa’s practices of teaching reading with interactive activities .1 Using interactive activities for motivating students’ comprehension 101 5.2 Facilitating students’ oral language use with interactive activities .3 Establishing students’ collaborative working community with interactive activities .4 Forming teacher - student rapports with interactive activities.5 Summary of Rosie’s practices of teaching reading with interactive activities .1 Using interactive activities for motivating students’ comprehension 107 5. Facilitating students’ oral language use with interactive activities. Establishing students’ collaborative working community with interactive activities. Forming teacher - student rapports with interactive activities.
Summary of Maria’s practices of teaching reading with interactive activities .