VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES THÁI THỊ PHƯƠNG NGA STUDENTS’ LANGUAGE LEARNING STYLE PREFERENCES AT PHAM HONG THAI HIGH SCHOOL, HANOI: A CASE STUDY (SỞ THÍCH HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ CỦA HỌC SINH TRƯỜNG THPT PHẠM HỒNG THÁI, HÀ NỘI: ĐIỂN CỨU) Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60. Minor Thesis Supervisor: Dr. NGUYỄN HUY KỶ Hanoi, August 2009 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements. ii Table of contents.
iii Lists of graphs and table. vi List of Abbreviations. Aims of the study. Significance of the study.
Scope of the study. Organization of the study. Definitions of terms - Categorization of learning styles. Cognitive learning styles.
Sensory learning styles ………………………………………. Personality learning styles. Students’ learning preferences ………………. Contrastive analysis between students’ and teachers’ opinions …….
Methods of the study ………. Methodology and procedures …………………………….… 14 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Data collection procedure …………………………………………. Data analysis procedure ………………………………….
Learning time and place …………………………………………. Perceiving and processing information …………………. Copying from the board …………………………………………. Listening and taking notes …………………….
Reading and taking notes …………………………………………. Using new words in a sentence …………. Saying or writing a word several times ……………………. Guessing the unknown ………………………………….
Talking with and listening to other students ………………………. Written tasks set by the teacher …………………………. Using language in real-life situations ……………………. Sense of satisfaction ………………….
37 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Contributions of the study …………………. Suggestions for further studies …………………. I APPENDICES Appendix 1: Students’ version questionnaire (in English) …………………….
IV Appendix 2: Students’ version questionnaire (in Vietnamese) ………………. VII Appendix 3: Teacher’s version questionnaire (in English) …………………………. X LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com vi LISTS OF GRAPHS AND TABLE GRAPHS: Graph 1: Students’ and teachers’ view on learning individually Graph 2: Students’ and teachers’ view on doing homework Graph 3: Students’ and teachers’ view on learning time and place Graph 4: Students’ and teachers’ view on learning by copying from the board Graph 5: Students’ and teachers’ view on learning by listening and taking notes Graph 6: Students’ and teachers’ view on learning by reading and taking notes Graph 7: Students’ and teachers’ view on using new words in a sentence Graph 8: Students’ and teachers’ view on saying or writing a word several times Graph 9: Students’ and teachers’ view on guessing the unknown Graph 10: Students’ and teachers’ view on being corrected immediately in front of everyone Graph 11: Students’ and teachers’ view on learning from cassettes / tapes Graph 12: Students’ and teachers’ view on learning from written materials Graph 13: Students’ and teachers’ view on learning from pictures and posters Graph 14: Students’ and teachers’ view on role-play Graph 15: Students’ and teachers’ view on language games Graph 16: Students’ and teachers’ view on talking with and listening to other students Graph 17: Students’ and teachers’ view on improvement through written tasks set by the teacher Graph 18: Students’ view on using English in real-life situations Graph 19: Students’ and teachers’ view on feeling more confident in previous situations TABLE: Table 1: The English results in the first term of the school – year 2008-2009 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ESL: English as a Second Language EFL: English as a Foreign Language L2: The target language N: Number TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language %: Percentage LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 1 PART A INTRODUCTION The first part states the rationale for the study. Afterwards, the aims, research questions, significance, scope of the study are discussed.
The chapter ends with an overview of the thesis structure. Rationale: There have been significant educational changes in Vietnam for the last few years, especially since the new textbook set was officially used at high schools in the school - year 2006 – 2007. According to Van (2006), the English program follows two current approaches: the learner-centered approach and communicative language teaching. Also, it aims at helping students consolidate, expand and improve their communicative competence: the linguistic knowledge and the communicative functions in different topics as well as help them foster their conducts and intellectual qualities needed to enter life or to study further.
Understanding students’ learning style preferences, therefore, is fundamentally important and is the key to educational improvement and success. The ways in which an individual characteristically acquires, retains, and retrieves information are collectively termed the individual’s learning style (Reid, 1987; Celce Murcia, 2001). Students learn in many ways - by seeing and hearing; reflecting and acting; reasoning logically and intuitively; memorizing and visualizing; some students learn a lot from group work, others prefer working individually. Some students never mind being immediately corrected both written and spoken errors, others, whereas, are easy to lose face when being corrected.
While some students can learn much through games and activities, other students like formal presentations. Also, teaching methods vary. Some teachers lecture, others demonstrate or discuss; some teachers focus on rules and others on examples; some teachers emphasize memory and others understanding. Serious mismatches may occur between the learning styles of students in a class and the teaching style of the instructor (Felder LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 2 & Silverman 1988; Lawrence 1993; Oxford et al., 1991; Schmeck, 1988), with unfortunate effects on the quality of the students’ learning and on their attitudes toward the class and the subject.
Many teachers, moreover, are unaware of their students’ learning style preferences, hence cannot meet the learning needs of individual students. Aims of the study The case study on students’ language learning style preferences at Pham Hong Thai High School, Hanoi aims at certain points. Firstly, the case study aims at investigating students’ language learning style preferences at Pham Hong Thai High School, Hanoi. Students’ language learning style preferences can be defined basing on some criteria such as learning mode (individually, in pairs, in groups, etc), learning time and place, perceiving and processing information, error correction (immediate and delayed error correction), homework, new words, class activities (listening and taking notes, copying from the board, reading and taking notes, talking with and listening to other students, etc), teaching aids (tapes, cassettes, etc), improvement, sense of satisfaction.
Secondly, the study intends to discover teachers’ awareness of their students’ preferences. The extent to which teachers know about their students’ language learning style preferences in terms of learning mode, error correction, homework, class activities, feeling of achievement, etc can be gained from their answers in the questionnaires. Thirdly, the study examines the relation between some variables such as age and gender with learning style preferences. Finally, the results of the study can help categorize students at Pham Hong Thai High in terms of language learning styles typologies.
Research questions The study intends to investigate the language learning style preferences of the students at Pham Hong Thai High School and the extent of teachers’ awareness of them. Specifically, the study seeks answers to the following questions: 1. What are the language learning style preferences of Pham Hong Thai High School students? LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. To what extent, if any, are teachers aware of their students’ language learning preferences? 3.
What is the association between language learning styles and age and gender variables? 4. How can these students be categorized in terms of language learning styles typologies? 4. Significance of the study It is important to emphasize that learning styles and strategies of individual students can work together with – or conflict with – a given instructional methodology. If there is harmony between the student (in terms of style and strategy preferences) and the combination of instructional methodology and materials, then the student is likely to perform well, feel confident, and experience low anxiety.
If clashes occur between the student and the combination of instructional methodology and materials, the student often performs poorly, feels unconfident, and experiences significant anxiety. Sometimes such clashes lead to serious breakdowns in teacher-student interaction. These conflicts may also lead to the dispirited student’s outright rejection of the teaching methodology, the teacher, and the subject matter. The results gained from the study are intended to provide an overview of students’ language learning style preferences at Pham Hong Thai High School, Hanoi as well as the extent to which teachers are aware of their preferences.
The awareness of students’ ‘real’ language learning style preferences is the basis for teachers to find out teaching ways that work the best for them. In addition, teachers’ awareness of students’ learning preference helps make their lessons more attractive, effective and practical. The desired learning outcome of individual task, activity in each lesson as well as the whole syllabus can be easily achieved. As a result, the atmosphere in the class, the attitude of students towards the teacher and the subject can be improved significantly.
This can certainly help improve the language learning and teaching at Pham Hong Thai High School. Such information is also significant to other teachers from other high schools in similar teaching context. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Scope of the study The study examines student’s language learning style preferences at Pham Hong Thai High School.
Among about 2,000 students, 532 students from 12 classes were randomly selected: 2 classes from group A and 2 classes from group D of each grade 10, 11 and 12. 12 teachers teaching these 12 classes were invited to take part in the study. This number of participants is sufficient to provide valid and reliable information, the contribution of which is vital to the success of this modest research. Students’ and teachers’ answers in the 13-item questionnaires on such criteria as learning mode, perceiving and processing information, new words, error correction, teaching aids, class activities, improvement, etc help answer the questions on students’ language learning style preferences at Pham Hong Thai High School as well as teachers’ awareness of them.
Moreover, the results of the study can help figure out the relationship between age, gender and language learning style preferences and categorize students at Pham Hong Thai High in terms of language learning styles typologies. Organization of the study The study is divided into three main parts. In the first part _ Introduction _ the rationale, aims, significance, scope of the study, the research questions and the organization of the study are presented. The second part_ Development_ is divided into three chapters.
Chapter 1, Literature Review, deals with definitions of terms – categorization of learning styles, students’ learning preferences and a contrastive analysis between students’ and teachers’ opinions. The methods of the study adopted as well as justifications for the chosen instrument, participants and procedures for data collection and analysis are discussed in chapter 2 _ Methodology. In the third chapter, the data on such criteria as learning mode, homework, learning time and place, perceiving and processing information, new words, error correction, teaching aids, class activities, improvement, sense of satisfaction are discussed. This chapter presents the results combined with critical interpretation and analysis, from which major findings are revealed and discussed.
LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 5 In the last part _ Conclusions _ we focus on some major findings and contributions of the study. Limitations and suggestions for further studies are also mentioned. To sum up, the chapter has discussed the rationale, aims, research questions, significance and as well as the scope of the study. Ending the chapter is an overview of the thesis organization.
With such contents, it acts as the guideline or orientation for the development of the later parts of the thesis. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 6 PART B DEVELOPMENT In part B _ Development, there are three chapters: Literature Review, Methodology and Data Analysis.