THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES NGUYEN THI TUYET A COMPARISON OF NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF LEARNER AUTONOMY IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING BY DIFFERENT ETHNICITIES AT A UNIVERSITY IN VIET NAM M.A THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 THAI NGUYEN - 2024 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES NGUYEN THI TUYET A COMPARISON OF NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF LEARNER AUTONOMY IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING BY DIFFERENT ETHNICITIES AT A UNIVERSITY IN VIET NAM M.A THESIS (APPLICATION ORIENTATION) Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Minh Loan, Ph.D THAI NGUYEN – 2024 ĐẠI HỌC THÁI NGUYÊN TRƯỜNG NGOẠI NGỮ NGUYỄN THỊ TUYẾT SO SÁNH NHẬN THỨC VỀ TÍNH TỰ CHỦ CỦA NGƯỜI HỌC TRONG VIỆC HỌC TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH THEO DÂN TỘC TẠI MỘT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC Ở VIỆT NAM LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ (Định hướng ứng dụng) Ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh Mã số: 8220201 Cán bộ hướng dẫn: TS. Nguyễn Thị Minh Loan THÁI NGUYÊN– 2024 DECLARATION I, Nguyen Thi Tuyet certify that the thesis named “A comparison of non- English major students’ perceptions of learner autonomy in English language learning by different ethnicities at a university in Viet Nam” performs the result of my study. I also declare that the thesis has not been submitted for any degree to any other universities or institutions. Approved by Author’s signature SUPERVISOR Nguyen Thi Minh Loan, PhD Nguyễn Thị Tuyết Date, January, 2024 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Without the invaluable assistance and unwavering support of a lot of people, the successful completion of this thesis would not have been possible.
First and foremost, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Minh Loan, whose persistent guidance, insightful feedback, and enthusiastic encouragement were instrumental in this endeavor. Secondly, I extend my heartfelt appreciation to the Thai Nguyen University of Science (TNUS) for creating conditions for me to conduct research and to the K20 students at TNUS for their prompt and wholehearted responses to my survey questionnaires and interviews. Last but certainly not least, I want to give my deepest thanks to my family and friends, who have consistently provided me with their support, sympathy, and motivating words throughout the writing process.
ii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iii LIST OF TABLES .v LIST OF FIGURES. vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
Aims of the study. Scope of the study. Significance of the study. The concept of learner autonomy (LA).
Learner autonomy in language learning. Perceptions of autonomous language learning. Learners' autonomous perceptions. Learners’ autonomous activities.
Factors affecting students’ autonomy in language learning. Previous studies on students’ perceptions of LA in English language learning at higher education. Studies in Vietnam. Gaps in previous studies.
Summary of the chapter. Subjects and locale of the study. Locale of the study. Semi-structured interviews.
Data Gathering Procedure. Data analytical method. Summary of the chapter. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION.
Non-English major students’ perceptions of LA in English language learning. The difference in the student's perception of autonomous English learning between ethnicities. Summary of the chapter. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS.
Implications of the study. For EFL teachers. For EFL students. For curriculum developers.
Limitations of the study. Suggestions for further research.81 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 2. A brief review of previous studies. Summary of the information of the English program (in the academic year 2022-2023).
Information about interview students. The demographic information of the participants. Descriptive statistics of autonomous English learning. Descriptive statistics of non-English major students’ perceptions of their abilities.
Analysis of compare means for their abilities to act autonomously while learning English. Descriptive Statistics of non- English major students’ perceptions of their responsibilities. Analysis of Comparative Means for Their Responsibilities during English Language Classes. Descriptive Statistics of Non-English Students’ perceptions of their motivation level.
Descriptive Statistics of Non-English Students’ perceptions of their activities. Analysis of Compare Means for their activities outside and inside the class. Pearson correlation coefficient between observed variables. Analysis of one-way ANOVA for variables by ethnicity.
Summary of the mean scores of the variables in the study. Analysis of a two-way ANOVA for learner autonomy. Analysis of a two-way ANOVA for learner autonomy by ethnicity and major. Analysis of a two-way ANOVA for learner autonomy by ethnicity and English 2 scores .57 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.
Model of learner autonomy (Benson, 1997; Oxford, 2003). Model of learner autonomy (Trinh, 2005; Nguyen and Habok, 2020). Model of learner autonomy (Nguyen and Habok, 2020, 2022). The proportion of distribution of ethic groups, gender, majors, and English 2 scores.
The percentage of students’ responses about their abilities related to LA according to “Likert scale”. The percentage of students’ responses about responsibilities related to LA according to the “Likert scale”. The percentage of students’ responses about motivation levels related to LA according to the “Likert scale”. The percentage of students’ responses about activities related to LA according to the “Likert scale”.
A scatter plot of the correlation between students’ abilities, responsibilities, motivations, and activities. The mean scores of LA and attributes: abilities, responsibilities, motivation level, and activities of ethnic groups. The mean score value of perception of LA by gender. The mean score value of perception of LA by ethnicity group and gender.
The mean score value of perception of LA by majors. The mean score value of perception of LA and English 2 scores .58 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS % : Percent LA : Learner Autonomy M : Mean score SD : Std. Deviation EFL : English as a Foreign Language vii ABSTRACT The study aimed to examine the non-English major students’ perceptions of learner autonomy in English language learning at TNUS and the difference in the students’ perception of learner autonomy in English language learning between ethnicities. The data was collected using a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews.
138 non-English major students at a university in Thai Nguyen, Vietnam, took a survey. Of these participants, 14 were later interviewed. The finding revealed that the students’ perception of LA in the English language was assessed at an average level. The students’ low self-perceived abilities included planning their learning activities, evaluating their learning, and identifying their weaknesses in English.
The students were relatively aware of their responsibility related to autonomous English learning. The students preferred shared responsibilities. They had the motivation to learn English, but the motivation was not high enough to be autonomous in learning English. Thus, they did not vary their activities toward autonomy.
The results of the study indicated that students with higher levels of motivation engaged in autonomous language learning activities more frequently. It was found that there was no significant difference in perceptions of LA between students of different ethnic groups. The study also extracted some implications from these findings. INTRODUCTION The chapter first provides the rationale, aiming to briefly analyze the context leading to the research problem, and determine the position of the study in theory and practice.
Then, the chapter presents the aims of the study. Based on that, the research questions have been posed. Additionally, the scope of the study is clearly outlined in terms of content, research location, and duration. Finally, the chapter discusses the significance of the study.
Rationale It is said that English has become a widely accepted dominant language. It plays an important role in the need for socio-economic development, integration, and cooperation between our country and the world. For the young generation and students, fluency in the English language is a key to success in life. They can find many job opportunities and have chances to study abroad as well as get a scholarship.
Moreover, they can discover rich sources of knowledge in all fields, such as technology, music, science, education, culture, and so forth. In Vietnamese education, English is the most widely taught at all levels and majors. English has been included in the training program as a compulsory subject from primary school to higher education in the Vietnamese educational system for many years. English language teaching in recent decades has faced many innovations in terms of both language teaching methodology and the roles of learners and teachers (Nguyen, 2018).
The aim of developing the communicative competence of learners has led to the development of the concept of a learner-centered approach, which is the idea that learners are responsible for their learning including all aspects of language learning (cited in Pham, 2018), and this has revealed the notion of learner autonomy. Learner autonomy (hereinafter LA) is a learning concept that appeared in the 1960s of the 20th century in Western countries. One of the first people to introduce the definition of LA was Henri Holec (1981). He defined LA as the “ability to take charge of one’s learning, the responsibility for all the decisions concerning all aspects of this learning”.
In the mid-1970s (Chan, 2015), LA became an interesting 1 topic for researchers, educators, and learners in language education as it empowered learners and fostered a deeper understanding of the language. Especially, the interest in learner autonomy within the context of English language learning in higher education is evident in the growing number of academic publications that discuss developments and research findings related to this field in the world as well as in Viet Nam. In Viet Nam Higher Education, English language learning was a compulsory subject for non-major students. When students entered university, they might be accustomed to the traditional way of learning, which had often emphasized rote memorization, reliance on teachers, and passive learning, but they were not familiar with the credit-based system, which required increased LA from students (Tran, 2019).
Moreover, the students who graduated from university had to achieve the English language proficiency standard of B1. Consequently, it was widely accepted that fostering LA among non-English majors is difficult. At Thai Nguyen University of Sciences (TNUS), the students came from many different ethnic groups with different socio-economic conditions and academic backgrounds. The current status of English subject results at TNUS showed that English average scores for ethnicities ranged from 5,4 to 6,4 points (Nguyen, 2018).
To achieve English language proficiency at the B1 level and use English to support a student's career prospects, it was implied that the learner should contribute as much as they gain and require much time and effort in English learning, as well as autonomy in English language learning. Due to the importance of LA in tertiary education in Viet Nam in general and at TNUS in particular, it was necessary to learn how students perceive LA. Although different aspects of LA in English language learning had been examined, there was a paucity of research that mentions the comparison of students’ autonomy by different ethnicities. Thus, to fill this gap, this study was conducted with the title “A comparison of non-English major students’ perceptions of learner autonomy in English language learning by different ethnicities at a university in Viet Nam”.
The study investigated several aspects of LA, including 2 students’ perceptions of abilities, responsibilities, motivation level, autonomous English language learning activities, and exploring the differences between ethnic groups in their perceptions of LA in English language learning. Aims of the study There were two aims to be achieved. The primary aim of this study was to find out the non-English major students’ perceptions of learner autonomy in English language learning at TNUS. The secondary aim of the study was to identify whether there was a significant difference in the students’ perception of learner autonomy in English language learning between ethnicities.
From the above-mentioned aims, two main research questions were: 1. What are the non-English major students’ perceptions of learner autonomy in English language learning at TNUS? 2.