MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BA RIA VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI YEN NON-ENGLISH MAJOR’S ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE USE OF E-LEARNING IN AN EFL CLASSROOM AT BA RIA-VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY MASTER’S THESIS Ba Ria - Vung Tau, March 2022 i MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BA RIA VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI YEN NON-ENGLISH MAJOR’S ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE USE OF E-LEARNING IN AN EFL CLASSROOM AT BA RIA-VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY MASTER’S THESIS Submitted to the Postgraduate Institute in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL Course code: 8140111 SUPERVISOR: DUONG MY THAM, Ph.D Ba Ria -Vung Tau, March 2022 ABSTRACT In education in general and English language instruction in particular, technology has become an essential component. As a result, it should be mandatory to use technology in the process of teaching and learning English at university level. This study aims exploring non-English majors’ attitudes towards the use of e-learning in the context of BaRia VungTau University in order to make some suggestions for the learners to improve their English ability. One hundred thirty three non-English majors are chosen as research subjects, and six of them are invited to participate in interviews.
In this study, the mixed-method is employed to collect both quantitative and qualitative data using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. There are three types of attitude (affective, cognitive, and behavioral) are addressed in this study. The finding reveals that the research participants have positive attitude towards the use of e-learning (behavioral attitude). The finding also shows that most of the participants have favorable affective attitude regarding the employment of e-learning.
When using e- learning, students who are not English majors can improve their English learning thanks to their affective attitude. It is believed that these preliminary results would throw light on learners’ attitudes toward using e-learning to teach and learn the English language. Keywords: attitude; e-learning; non-English major; language learning i TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract….i Table of Contents .………ii List of Figures. iv List of Tables.
v List of Abbreviations. vi Statement of Original Authorship. viii Retention and use of the thesis…………………………………………….1 Background of the study .2 Statement of the problem .3 Rationale for the study .6 Scope of the study.7 Significance of the study .8 Definition of terms.9 Organization of the study .2 Definition of e-learning .3 Characteristics of e-learning .4 The application of e-learning in EFL teaching and learning .5 Gender difference in e-learning .2 Components of attitudes .3 Students’ attitudes towards the use of EL.3 Research setting and participants .2 Semi-structure interviews .6 Data analysis procedure .7 Validity and Reliability. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION .2 Differences in terms of gender.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .2 Implications of the research .3 Limitations of the research .4 Recommendations for further research. 64 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 3 Participants’ general information……………………………… 35 Table 4.1 Non-English majored students’ attitudes towards the use of e- learning………………………………………………………….2 Non-English major students’ affective attitude towards the use of e-learning…………………………………………………….3 Non-English majored students’ cognitive attitude towards the use of EL……………………………………………………….4 Non-English majored students’ behavioral attitude towards the use of e-learning………………………………………………… 47 Table 4.5 Differences in attitudes towards the use of e-learning according to gender……………………………………………………….6 Differences in attitudes towards the use of e-learning according to gender………………………………………………………. 49 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1:The ABC model (Eagly & Chaiken 1993) .2: Conceptual framework of the study. 32 vi LIST OF ABREVIATIONS TUOEL The Use Of E-learning BVU Ba Ria Vung Tau University NEM Non-English Majors ATTs Attitudes ATT Attitude EL E-learning OL Online Learning JS Jetstream HE HELBLING e-zone SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences ANOVA Analysis of Variance vii STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains no material published elsewhere or extracted in the whole or in part from a thesis by which have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma.
No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the thesis. This thesis has not been submitted for award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution. Ba Ria- Vung Tau March 2023 Nguyễn Thị Yến viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My sincere thanks goes to Dr. Duong My Tham, who served as my adviser and provided me with academic counsel and helpful criticism while I wrote this thesis.
Certainly, without her support and encouragement, this job could not have been finished. She has provided excellent leadership, and I much appreciate how persistent she has been. I appreciate the cooperation of my coworkers and professors throughout data gathering. Additionally, I owe a debt of gratitude to my family, especially my parents, who have supported me throughout my working and helped me care for my daughter while I have been attending the MA classes and worked on my thesis.
A special thanks to my husband's parents for their patience and prompt support is also in order. Last but not least, I want to convey my heartfelt gratitude to my spouse, who has always been a strong spiritual support in both my life and my career. ix RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby confirm that I, Nguyen Thi Yen, a candidate for the degree of TESOL, recognize the University's rules regarding the keeping and usage of Master's Theses placed in the Library. In line with these terms, I agree that the original of my Master's Thesis, which has been placed in the Library, shall be available for study and research purposes, in accordance with the regular criteria established by the Librarian for the care, lending, and reproduction of theses.
Ba Ria -Vung Tau, March 2023 Signature…………….1 Background of the study The growth of science and technology impacts every field in our life in general and in education in particular. Especially when technologies and educational techniques develop constantly, it is important to invest to educational institutions including technology infrastructure. A significant contribution of technology to education is the increase in EL settings. Thanks to technology and communications, the learning environment has been improved.
Especially everyone has opportunities to enjoy lifetime learning through audiovisual appliances and online learning environments (Duran et al. In order to make certain the majority of young Vietnamese people graduate from secondary schools, colleges and universities have sufficient foreign language ability to use independently, confidently in communication, study and work in an integrated, multilingual and multicultural environment; making foreign languages a strength of the Vietnamese, serving the cause of industrialization and modernization of the country, schools and teachers have used a variety of new methods or approaches to improve students' foreign language skills such as learning English through applications, YouTube channel EL and other forms of English language learning while EL is also a new effective and useful which should be applied. Recently, besides familiar teaching and learning modes, EL has emerged as a new type of learning which is carried out through digital resource. Thanks to the advantages of conveniences, diversity, student-oriented programs, EL has become an inevitable trend of higher education.
The Ministry of Education and Training has coordinated with businesses to deploy EL and online exams such as the contest "Designing electronic lecture records for EL" in the 2020- 2021n With the increasingly growing internet network, a few Vietnamese universities have used this advanced training method. 1 At the 19th international conference on "Application of Information Technology and Management-ITAM" held in early 2018 at Dong A University, Da Nang City, Vietnam, Mr. Pradeep Bastola said EL has risen at a rate never previously witnessed in its ten-year existence and is expected to continue to develop quickly in the future as traditional teaching and learning techniques are being replaced. This is the reason why at the third Annual High-Level Forum on Industry 4.0 on December 6th, 2021, Nguyen Kim Son – Minister of the Ministry of Education and Training declared that in order to train high-quality human resources to meet the 4.0 educations, especially in higher education, is necessarily promoted.
The Ministry of Education and Training has coordinated with businesses to deploy EL and online exams such as the contest "Designing electronic lecture records for EL" in the 2020-2021 school year. With the advantage of rapidly developing internet infrastructure, people are gradually getting used to digital transformation through online transactions and Government’s determination to digital transformation, according to many experts, uses EL in education will grow strongly in the higher education system in Vietnam when we promote two factors that are improving teaching and learning in a combination of face-to-face and online to help students equip needed necessary skills to meet the needs of personnel in a changing working environment. According to Miller et al. (2014) EL includes features that provide productive ways to achieve learning goals, and nowadays, with the internet's strong development, learning English has become easier than before.
EL has had a great impact on education in general and English in particular. There are many factors affecting the results of learning English through EL such as environment, learning time, motivation, etc. And one factor that cannot be overlooked is students' ATTs towards learning English. Also, Smith (1971) stated a generally persistent arrangement of thoughts about a thing or a circumstance is called an ATT, and it predisposes a person to 2 behave in a particular way.
Besides the benefits of EL in the language learning, it is also beneficial in promoting learners' self-discipline, but learners' ATTs towards the use of EL also have a great impact on learning outcomes. Gardner (1994) claimed that a person's ATT is their evaluation of a referent or ATT object based on their thoughts or beliefs about the referent.2Statement of the problem It is true that the results or learning potential of learners are increased when learners have a positive ATT and a high level of motivation. For example, to see if students' ATTs towards learning English really affect their ability to learn a foreign language, instructors could recognize the positive and negative ATT of students then teachers can change materials, and teaching methods, and adopt other activities to change learner ATTs. Moreover, if learners have positive ATTs towards using EL in learning, the results will also be increased.
In the context of global integration, learning English is a necessity. However, many Vietnamese students have difficulty accessing this new language. With many changes in the application of technology in teaching, some varieties of online English learning software aim to help students get better results in English as well as increase learning intensity, and earning English through apps is an extremely popular method nowadays, no one can deny the benefits it brings. BVU has implemented a 30-credit English program for non-English majors’ students with JETSTREAM which is a brand-new digital-age 6- level course for adult learners which I have taught my students so far.
It is a useful application that is cheap, convenient, and necessary for every language learner. According to the author Jane Revell and Mary Tomalin, the Helbling e-zone is a friendly online platform for teachers and students to support teaching and learning, which offers a Learning Management System. As a central platform for coursing books, grammar books, and readers, the Helbling e-zone is a comprehensive resource for teachers as well as supporting students’ learning in 3 class and at home. HE is a flexible and intuitive tool for inside and outside the classroom.
Besides exciting and interesting classroom activities, they also have a variety of reinforcement and self-training exercises for each lesson. On the other hand, it has become common for learners to use online resources and personal technology devices to learn foreign languages in general and English in particular in recent years. There are many diverse and attractive resources for learners. Moreover, the supports of technology, the attitude, and perception of learners orteaching methods of teachers also have a strong impact on students’ learning outcomes.
Investigation and establishment of the factors affecting learners' ATTs towards using EL to learn English are the focus of this study because one’s ATT and behavior are closely related to each other.