MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI HANG CHALLENGES IN TEACHING ENGLISH FOR ETHNIC MINORITY STUDENTS IN GIA LAI PROVINCE Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching Code: 8140111 Supervisor: Assoc, Prof. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƢỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN NGUYỄN THỊ HẰNG NHỮNG THÁCH THỨC TRONG VIỆC DẠY TIẾNG ANH CHO HỌC SINH DÂN TỘC THIỂU SỐ Ở TỈNH GIA LAI Ngành: Lý luận và phƣơng pháp dạy học bộ môn Tiếng Anh Mã số: 8140111 Ngƣời hƣớng dẫn: PGS. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that the thesis “Challenges in Teaching English for Ethnic Minority Students in Gia Lai Province” is my own work. No other person’s work has been used without acknowledgement in the paper.
This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any universities. Quy Nhon, 2022 Nguyen Thi Hang ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Without the support, encouragement, and contributions from my supervisor, my professors, my school, colleagues, friends and family, the successful completion of this thesis work would not have been possible. I take this chance to express my deepest thanks to them for their support. First and foremost, I am grateful to my thesis supervisor, Assoc.
Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, for her amazing supervision. Her outstanding knowledge and profession inspired me a lot during my academic life at Quy Nhon University. I appreciate her experienced guidance and suggestions, great patience in helping me resolve the obstacles during the process I carried out my thesis. I am gratefully indebted to her for her very valuable comments on this thesis.
A special thank goes to Gia Lai Department of Education and Training and Chu Van An High School for giving me the chance to attend a MA course at Quy Nhon University. This study was made achievable by the participation of the enthusiastic teachers at High Schools in Gia Lai, who devoted their time taking part in this research. I was also thankful to my colleagues for their support during my study time. I am also grateful to Quy Nhon University, Post-graduate Department, and Foreign Languages Department for the administrative assistance.
Last, but not least, I must express my gratitude to my family for providing me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement throughout the course and the study of this thesis. iii ABSTRACT This study attempted to investigate the teachers’ challenges in teaching English to ethnic minority students in Gia Lai province from the high school teachers’ perspectives in terms of school environment and curriculum, students and parents as well as the teachers’ knowledge and professsional development. The quantitative and qualitative approaches were used to answer the research questions. The data were gathered from 53 English from various high schools in Gia Lai province via a questionnaire, including both open-ended questions and close-ended items.
The study showed the interesting results. The teachers are challenged by the crowded classes, time constraints, unequal ability between Kinh and ethnic minority student, and pressure from curriculum, testing and assessment. Meanwhile, students’ lack of interest, concentration and active learning, their frequent use of dialects, parents’ unawareness of the importance of English language, students’ lack of sufficient learning environment are challenges related to students and parents. In addition, challenges concerning the teachers’ knowledge and professsional development are shortage of training, and lack of professional development.
A set of recommendations is presented in this paper which can contribute to tackle the challenges. Key words: English Language Teachers, Challenges, School Environment, Students Community and Parents, The teachers’ knowledge and professsional development, Ethnic Minority Students. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP .iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
vi LIST OF TABLES. Aims and objectives. Scope of The Study. Significance of the Study.
Organization of the Study. Factors Affecting Second Language Acquisition. Cross-linguistic Factors. Schooling of Ethnic Minority Students in Vietnam.
An Overview of Ethnic Minority Groups in Vietnam and in Gia Lai Province. Minority School Education in Vietnam. Current Situation of English Teaching in Vietnam. English at General Education Level in Vietnam.
Current Situation of English Teaching in Gia Lai Province. Roles of Teachers and Students in Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign Language. The Roles of Teachers in English Teaching. The Roles of Learners in English Learning.
Review of Related Empirical Studies. Reliability and Validity. Scale Reliability Analysis. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS.
Challenges in terms of School Environment and Curriculum. Challenges in terms of Students and Parents. Challenges in terms of the Teachers’ Knowledge and Professsional Development. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS.
Summary of The Study. Suggestions for Further Research. 68 APPENDICES vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as a Foreign Language ELL: English Language Learner ELT: English Language Teaching SLA: Second Language Acquisition vii LIST OF TABLES Table 2. The Vietnam Education System.
The number of periods of ELT for each level of education. Participants’ background characteristics. Reliability Statistics of the questionnaire. Challenges in terms of school environment and curriculum.
The detail description of in-class equipment. The detail description of weak emotional and psychological support from the school board. The detail description of crowded classes. The detail description of the unequal ability between Kinh and.
ethnic minority students. The detail description of the time constraint. The detail description of the negligence of English language teachers’ suggestions. The detail description of knowledgeable and helpful colleagues.
The detail description of the pressure from curriculum demands. The detail description of the pressure of the exams on teaching contents. Challenges in terms of students and parents. The detail description of students’ interest in learning English.
The detail description of students’ comprehensive ability. The detail description of students’ perspective about learning English. The detail description of students’ concentration in class. The detail description of students’ assignment completion.
The detail description of monority students’ interaction. The detail description of parents’ attitudes towards teachers. The detail description of parents’ perceptions of the importance of English. The detail description of parents’ cooperation with teachers.
The detail description of supportive environment for learning English. Challenges in terms of the teachers’ knowledge and professsional development. The detail description of teachers’ preparation about material and knowledge. The detail description of teachers’ knowledge about students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
The detail description of teachers’ participation in training courses on teaching ethnic minority students. The detail description of teachers’ exchange with students about their difficulties. The detail description of no workshops related to English language teaching and learning for ethnic minority students. The detail description of teachers’ eagerness to teach.
Rationale Learning a foreign language is considered one of the most difficult learning topics that face people who are interested in learning a foreign language. Teaching English in a foreign environment is difficult and needs time. Teaching English in a multilingual context is an enormous challenge for the English teachers due to linguistic diversity in the classrooms. This stress has been an issue for long time and it has been documented by some of researchers over years of research.
Some studies revealed the challenges in the English classroom (F. Khan, 2016; Mumary Songbatumis, 2017; Yulia, 2013). They found that a number of challenges emerged, partly coming from students, partly from teachers, and partly from the school’s facility. Khan (2021) and Yulia (2013) found that student’s low motivation is considered among the most serious problems.
Van (2010) and Kizildag (2009) concluded that classroom constraints are the problems. Other studies showed that multilingual classrooms are always among the most challenging features for the English language teachers and students (A Kizildag, 2009; Rasheed, S. The results of Rasheed (2017) showed that teaching English language in a multilingual context is an enormous challenge for the English teachers due to linguistics diversity in the classrooms. Kizildag (2009) stated that poor institutional, the instructional and socio- cultural economic problems are the challenges in teaching English.
In Vietnam, this issue has been taken into consideration for years. Some researchers conducted the studies in the minorities context (Bui, T. In the North of Vietnam, Huong, V. V (2019) asserted that teaching English for ethnic minority students in remote Northwest area of Vietnam has always been a huge challenge for educators and teachers.
In the South, Vo, T. (2017) explored that socio-cultural and ecological factors influencing the acquisition of English of Khmer students in Vietnam. In Highland, especially in Gia Lai, there is no study conducted. Gia Lai is the second largest province in Vietnam and a highland province located in the Central Highlands region.
Most minority students are Jrai and Bana who have to learn to speak Kinh language as a second language and English as a foreign language at the same time. Therefore, in the process of learning new language, they find it difficult to learn English. Although many researches have been conducted in this area in many places, the issue still lacks of concentration in the Central Highland of Vietnam or more specifically, Gia Lai. It can be seen that it is necessary to have a study conducted to fill this gap.
To investigate the challenges in teaching English to ethnic minority students, the study entitled Challenges in Teaching English for Ethnic Minority Students in Gia Lai Province has been chosen as the topic of the study. Aims and objectives 1. Aims The main purpose of this study is to investigate the teachers’ challenges in teaching English to ethnic minority students in Gia Lai province from the high school teachers’ perspectives. Objectives To investigate the challenges in teaching English for ethnic minority 3 from the high school teachers’ perspectives, the specific objectives of this study are: - To find out the teaching challenges caused by school environment and curriculum.
- To identify the teaching challenges caused by students and parents. - To examine the challenges caused by the teachers’ knowledge and professsional development. Research Questions Based on the foregoing discussion, this study seeks to answer the following research questions: 1. What are the challenges caused by school environment and curriculum? 2.
What are the challenges caused by students and parents? 3. What are the challenges caused by the teachers’ knowledge and professsional development? 1. Scope of The Study Due to the limited time, ability and research conditions, the study was just conducted in a sample of 53 teachers who are teaching at schools in Gia Lai province where ethnic minority students are attending. The researcher did not analyze all aspects causing challenges to the teachers but only focusing on three dimensions mentioned above through the descriptive study with two main instruments including the close-ended and open-ended questionnaire.
Therefore, the study’s generalization should be limited and the results may not be representative of a larger same of all teachers in Vietnam. Significance of the Study By doing this study, the researcher hopes that the findings can contribute precious values and recommendations for both teachers and students in teaching and learning journey in the same contexts. Moreover, the research aims to serve as a beneficial resource in providing information for the English language teachers to be aware of the reasons of ineffective learning and teaching. Also, the findings could be used as a data base for further study.
Organization of the Study The thesis will be presented in five chapters: Introduction, Literature Review, Research Method, Results, and Discussion and Conclusion. Chapter 1 shows the rationale, the aims, the significance and the organization of the study. Chapter 2 establishes the theory foundation for the whole thesis. It provides a theoretical basis for the study.
Chapter 3 describes the method that the study is conducted. It provides the questions and hypotheses. Next, it describes the research design and the participants of the study.