MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BARIA-VUNGTAU UNIVERSITY HIGH-SCHOOL TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA (ELF) AND CLASSROOM TEACHING PRACTICES IN BA RIA VUNG TAU PROVINCE Nguyen Lan Phuong Supervisor: Tran Quoc Thao, Ph. D Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching Ba Ria- Vung Tau University [02/2021] MASTER’S THESIS REPORT Student name: NGUYEN LAN PHUONG Sex: Female Date of birth: 4/12/1994 Place of birth: Ba Ria Vung Tau Province Major: English Language Student code: 17110002 I- Thesis title: HIGH-SCHOOL TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA (ELF) AND CLASSROOM TEACHING PRACTICES IN BA RIA VUNG TAU PROVINCE II-Objectives and contents: This study aims at investigating high school teachers’ attitudes toward ELF and their classroom teaching practices in Ba Ria Vung Tau Province. The research objectives are as follows: - To explore high school teachers’ attitudes toward ELF in their EFL classrooms in Ba Ria Vung Tau Province - To investigate the classroom teaching practices using ELF implemented by high school teachers in Ba Ria Vung Tau Province. This study was conducted at 11 high schools (including both public and private high schools) in Ba Ria Vung Tau Province where there are more than 109 high-school teachers of English.
In order to gain the results, I applied the mixed method: quantitative and qualitative, two instruments were used: questionnaire and semi- structured interview for the collection of the data. III- Starting date: (as stated in the Decision issued by the University) IV- Completing date:. V- Academic supervisor: TRAN QUOC THAO, Ph. ACADEMIC SUPERVISOR FACULTY DEAN ((full name, signature) ((full name, signature) CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled: HIGH-SCHOOL TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA (ELF) AND CLASSROOM TEACHING PRACTICES IN BA RIA VUNG TAU PROVINCE In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Master’s programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee of Faculty of English Language, Ba Ria Vung Tau University.
Vung Tau City, February 2021 NGUYEN LAN PHUONG RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, NGUYEN LAN PHUONG, 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 original 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 Librarian for the care, loan, and reproduction for theses. Vung Tau City, February 2021 Signature ……………………………. NGUYEN LAN PHUONG ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere thanks to those who have supported, encouraged and assisted me in my thesis completion.
First of all, I would like to express my special appreciation and thanks to Dr. Tran Quoc Thao, my supervisor, for his great patience, careful guidance, insightful advice, and constant encouragement through the whole research process. Without his support and guidance, this thesis would never have been completed. Secondly, I would like to express my thanks to the school board staff, including the principals, the vice principals and teachers of English at high schools in Ba Ria Vung Tau Province who have given me encouragement, support of time and finance and permission to implement this thesis there.
Last but not least, my deepest and sincerest gratitude goes to my family, including my parents and younger brother with their unconditional love, understanding and help. ABSTRACT This study aimed to explore the high school teachers’ attitudes toward ELF and their classroom teaching practices in Ba Ria Vung Tau Province. The mixed-methods approach was employed in this study, i., both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. There were 109 high school teachers of English from 11 high schools in Ba Ria Vung Tau Province who participated in the survey, and 22 of them were selected purposively for the individual interviews.
As for data analysis, descriptive statistics (e., mean, standard deviation, and frequencies/ percentages) were used to analyse quantitative data, whereas qualitative data were analysed through content analysis. Based on the results obtained from the data analysis, there were two findings which were explored in this study. First, the collected data showed that high school teachers had positive attitudes toward ELF in three attitude components, including cognitive, affective and behavioral attitudes. Second, high school teachers conducted some activities for the promotion of ELF among their students relating to eight sub variables from cultural knowledge, vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar to four language skills of students.
These included inviting non-native English speakers to talk to students about ELF, asking students to make dialogues and play roles using ELF in groups, organizing seminars for the students to compare English varieties, creating activities containing aspects relating to ELF for students to take part in, asking students to discover any aspects relating to ELF in the content of the textbook, and introducing pictures or posters used ELF as well. Finally, high school teachers found uneasy to create activities relating to ELF because of preparation time limit and scarce of source of materials. Notwithstanding that, teachers still tried their best to introduce the existence of ELF and help their students be accessible to ELF in language learning. Keywords: ELF, cognitive attitudes, affective attitudes, behavioural attitudes high school teachers, Vietnamese ELF classrooms.
TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY. 3 RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 9 LIST OF TABLES.
10 LIST OF FIGURES. 11 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .1 Background of the study .2 Statement of the problem .3 Aim and objectives of the study .5 Scope of the study .6 Significance of the study .7 Definitions of key terms .8 Organization of the thesis. 6 Chapter 2: Literature Review .1 The status of English .3 The three circles of Katchru .4 English as a lingua franca (ELF) .5 Attitudes toward ELF .6 Classroom teaching practices .3 Sample and sampling procedures .5 Data collection procedures.6 Data analysis procedures .7 Reliability and Validity. 41 Chapter 4: Results and Discussions .1 Teachers’ attitudes towards ELF………………………………………………….43 a) Teachers’ attitudes toward ELF in terms of cognitive attitudes………….
44 b) Teachers’ attitudes toward ELF in terms of affective attitudes …………. 46 c) Teachers’ attitudes toward ELF in terms of behavioral attitudes…………….2 Teachers’ classroom teaching practices in Ba Ria Vung Tau Province………52 a) Teachers’ knowledge of teaching practices in EFL classrooms………………….52 b) Other teaching activities in the EFL classrooms…………………………………….1 Teachers’ attitudes towards ELF………………………………………………….2 Teachers’ classroom teaching practices in Ba Ria Vung Tau Province…. 62 Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendations .1 Summary of the main findings of the thesis .4 Recommendation for the further research. 77 APPENDICES Appendix A1: Questionnaire for Survey (English Version) Appendix A2: Questionnaire for Survey (Vietnamese translation) Appendix B1: Interview Protocol (English Version) Appendix B2: Interview Protocol (Vietnamese translation) Appendix B3: Sample of interview data analysis (English Version) Appendix B3: Sample of interview data analysis (Vietnamese translation) LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Demographic information of the participants.2 Mean scores for analyzing the quantitative data.3 Mean scores for analyzing the quantitative data 41 Table 4.1 The overall results of teachers’ attitudes toward ELF 43 Table 4.2 Teachers’ attitudes toward ELF in terms of cognitive attitudes 44 Table 4.3 Teachers’ attitudes toward ELF in terms of affective attitudes 47 Table 4.4 Teachers’ attitudes toward ELF in terms of behavioral attitudes 49 Table 4.5 Knowledge of teaching practices in EFL classrooms 52 Table 4.6 Other activities in the EFL classroom 55 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 Three concentric Circles of English 12 Figure 2.2 The background knowledge of EFL 13 Figure 2.3 Conceptual framework of the study 31 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AEC ASEAN economic community ASEAN Association of South East Asian Nations EFL English as Foreign Language ELF English as a Lingua Franca MOET Ministry of Education and Training SPSS Statistical Package for Social Sciences WTO World Trade Organization UAE United Arab Emirates Chapter 1: Introduction This chapter first presents a background of the study with a brief introduction of the English language teaching and learning at high school level in Ba Ria Vung Tau Province.
The Statement of the problem is followed to raise the gap of the study context. Then, Purpose of the study is established and research objectives and research questions are introduced. In addition, Significance of the study, Definitions of key terms and Organizations of the Study are provided at the end of this chapter.1 Background of the study The prediction made by Kachru (1983) that the continuous spread of English led to the huge increase in non-native English speakers in the world (p. 3) proved to be true by Harmer (1985) when he claimed that “native speakers” are “increasingly out - numbered by people who have English as a second or third language and use it for international communication” (p.
Until now, there is an indispensable truth that English these days is “a mother tongue for many people in the world” (Harmer, 1985, p.13) and the most common studied foreign language for the time being. Additionally, the development of economy and technology create more and more opportunities for communication all over the world, which raised the obligatory need for a mutual language for people from different nations all over the world. The term “English as a lingua franca” (ELF) was introduced by Tonkin (2003) under the emergence of a common language for different first language speakers (Seodlhofer, 2005a). And the spread of English as a lingua franca leads to a great many changes in language teaching and learning.
Seidlhofer (2005a) suggested incorporating ELF in language education in order to facilitate the globalization of English in many aspects. Since then, there have been a great many studies on ELF in wide range of aspects relating to language teaching and learning at different levels. In the context of international education, ELF is regarded as a tool for communication and medium instruction in multi-national contexts where lectures and students are from different countries. In the context of Vietnam, this is a country of ‘the expanding circle’ Chapter 1: Introduction 1 (Kachru, 1985, 1992), where English is not an official language, ELF is still really necessary for communication and interaction in EFL classrooms in particular and in daily life in general in order to help Vietnamese generations to be more fluent and confident in English communication.
Furthermore, since being a member of ASIAN, along with WE's recognition among ASEAN regional groups, Vietnam government have taken a lot of actions to promote “mutual intelligibility” (Kirkpatrick, 2007, p. The importance of English has been enhanced through the project “Teaching and Learning of Foreign Languages in the National Education System, 2008-2020” (Decision No. 1400/QĐ-TTg, 2008), and then updated on December 22nd, 2017 named “Teaching and Learning of Foreign Languages in the National Education System, 2017 - 2025” (Decision No. 2080/ QĐ-TTg, December 22, 2017) for students to use English independently, communicate confidently, study, work in an integrated environment, multilingual, multicultural, turn foreign languages into strengths.
Especially, students should explore more English varieties outside the classroom for more effective communication with non-native speakers. Moreover, the ability to communicate successfully should be the main goal of the learner, instead of acquiring the proficiency and standards of native speakers. In the context of Ba Ria Vung Tau Province, the “National Foreign Languages Project, period 2017 - 2025” encouraged the changes in language teaching methodology, especially at high school levels, Ba Ria Vung Tau Education and Training Department held training courses for all the high school teachers and appealed them to apply innovative and creative ways of teaching in order to motivate students to communicate and interact with each other in EFL classrooms. Therefore, the majority of high school teachers are aware of ELF and its roles in language education.
