MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BA RIA - VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY --------------- TRUONG MINH HIEU TEACHERS’ AND LEARNERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD LEARNING ENGLISH (GRADE 10) WITH THE FILIPINO TEACHERS AT TRAN VAN QUAN HIGH SCHOOL MASTER’S THESIS Ba Ria - Vung Tau March 2023 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BA RIA - VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY --------------- TRUONG MINH HIEU TEACHERS’ AND LEARNERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD LEARNING ENGLISH (GRADE 10) WITH THE FILIPINO TEACHERS AT TRAN VAN QUAN HIGH SCHOOL MASTER’S THESIS Submitted to the Postgraduate Institute in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL Course code: 8140111 Supervisor’s name: Dr. NGUYEN HOANG TUAN Ba Ria - Vung Tau March 2023 i CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled: TEACHERS’ AND LEARNERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD LEARNING ENGLISH (GRADE 10) WITH THE FILIPINO TEACHERS AT TRAN VAN QUAN HIGH SCHOOL In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Master’s programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee of Postgraduate Institute, Ba Ria - Vung Tau University Ba Ria - Vung Tau, March 2023 TRUONG MINH HIEU ii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, Truong Minh Hieu, being a candidate for the degree of TESOL 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 origin 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 of the thesis. Ba Ria - Vung Tau, March 2023 TRUONG MINH HIEU iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere thanks to those who have made great contributions to my thesis completion.
Firstly, I would like to express my profound gratitude to Dr. Nguyen Hoang Tuan, my supervisor, for his valuable comments and suggestions during the whole research process. His enthusiasm, dynamism, vision, as well as his patience have deeply inspired me. Without his support and guidance, this thesis would never have been completed.
Secondly, I am very grateful to the school board staff including the principal and the Postgraduate Institute of Ba Ria - Vung Tau University who have given me encouragement, support of time and finance, and permission to complete the MA course and implement this thesis there. My sincere thanks also go to my friends and colleagues for all their help and motivation. I would like to thank the research participants who have contributed to this study. Lastly, I sincerely thank my family for their countless support, greatest sympathy, and unconditional love who have provided me strong spiritual and material support.
iv ABSTRACT It is universally acknowledged that learning English with the Filipino teachers plays an integral role in language teaching and learning process. In many countries all over the world, especially those with advanced education, learning English with the Filipino teachers is applied into English teaching and learning widely and effectively. However, in the context of Vietnam, the high school teachers do not pay much attention to developing language skills, teachers mainly focus on how to help students to get better results in their examinations. This study will focus on learning English with the Filipino teachers as an integral approach to enhance students’ language skills in their learning.
Within such context, this study aimed to explore the teachers’ and students’ attitudes toward learning English (grade 10) with the Filipino teachers at Tran Van Quan high school in Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province. This study involved one hundred and twenty - five grade 10 students in answering the questionnaire and seven teachers in responding the semi- structured interview questions. The data gained from the questionnaire were analyzed by SPSS in terms of descriptive statistics (means, standard deviation, & frequency). The findings of the study showed that both high school English teachers and grade 10 students had positive attitudes toward learning English with the Filipino teachers relating to eight sub variables from cultural knowledge, vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar to four language skills of students and three attitude components, including cognitive, affective and behavioral attitudes.
The data from questionnaires and semi- structured interview were coded and analyzed to make the results of the study clearer. These preliminary findings are hoped to not only contribute to a better result of grade 10 students in learning English but it also enhances the quality of the teaching in English language education at Tran Van Quan high school in specific and Ba Ria Vung Tau in general. Key words: attitudes, cognitive attitudes, affective attitudes, behavioural attitudes, grade 10 students, new English textbooks v TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY …………………………………………….i RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS .iv TABLE OF CONTENTS.v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .vii LIST OF APPENDICES. viii LIST OF TABLES .ix LIST OF FIGURES.
Background to the study. Statement of the problem. Aim and objectives of the study. Scope of the study.
Significance of the study. Definitions of the key terms. Organization of the thesis. 8 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .1 Definitions of attitude .2 The components of attitude .3 Attitudes toward learning language .4 Attitudes and achievement .3 The importance of learning with the Filipino teachers .3 Sample and sampling procedures .2 Semi-structured interview .5 Data collection procedures .6 Data analysis procedures .7 Reliability and Validity.
46 CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION .1 Grade 10 students’ attitudes towards LEF .2 Teachers’ attitudes toward LEF.1 Garde 10 students’ attitudes towards LEF .2 Teacher’s attitudes towards learning English with the Filipino teachers 63 4.1 Summary of the main findings of the thesis .4 Recommendations for the further research. 77 vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS LEF Learning English with the Filipino teacher SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences TESOL Teaching English of Speakers of Other Languages viii LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix A1: Questionnaire Appendix A2: Questionnaire for Survey (Vietnamese version) Appendix B1: Interview Protocol Appendix B2: Interview Protocol (Vietnamese version) Appendix C: Sample of interview data analysis Appendix D: Pictures of learning English with the Filipino teachers ix LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Participants’ general information .2: Cronbach’s Alpha indexes of the questionnaire items in average .1: Total mean scores of attitudes towards LEF .2: Grade 10 students’ attitudes towards LEF .3 Grade 10 students’ cognitive attitudes towards LEF .4 Grade 10 students’ affective attitudes towards LEF .5 Grade 10 students’ behavioural attitudes towards LEF. 51 x LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Tripartite Model. 16 Figure 2: ABC Model.
17 Figure 3: CAC Model. 18 Figure 4: Conceptual framework of teachers’ and grade 10 students’ attitudes toward learning English with the Filipino teachers. 25 1 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 to the study Nowadays, English is used as the common language all over the world. It may be a foreign language, but international in its significance. English language is spoken, read and understood in most parts of the world.
Because of this language, people on the globe communicate and belong to the whole shares of the world. It is widely accepted that English language has become the language of choice for many international scholarly journals. According to Crystal (1997), conversation without a common language between academicians from different nationalities, both in the virtual and real world would prove impossible. English language is now the most spread of the entire world’s language since it is spoken by both natives and non-natives.
According to Graddol (1997), English is used by three types of speakers: those speaking it as a first language (around 375 million speakers), those speaking it as a second or additional language (again some 375 million speakers), and those learning it as a foreign language (about 750 million learners). As to this language scholar, English language plays a very important role in different areas worldwide. For example, it serves as a working language of international organizations and conferences, scientific publications, international banking (economic affairs and trade), advertising for global brands, audio-visual cultural products such as films, TV, popular music, international tourism, tertiary (university) education, international safety (airline and maritime travels), international law, as a “relay language” in 2 interpretation and translation, technology transfer, and international communication (Graddol, 1997). The growth of economy and technology make more and more chances for communication all over the world, which raised the mandatory need for a mutual language for people from different nations all over the world.
At schools, students do not possess appropriate English even to understand what they hear from their teachers or read in their textbooks, let alone to join actively the inability of students to function through English, the quality of teaching and learning in schools has been very adversely affected. It means that students learn something by rote and they understand little of what they are being told. And at worst it means that some possibly many students whose English is not sufficient even for rote-learning spend most of their class hours copying down notes that the teacher has written on the blackboard, and transforming them in the process into complete nonsense. In such a situation it is no longer suitable to call English as a medium of instruction; rather it has become a medium of obstruction.
6–7) According to some researchers, the main reason for student failure in the secondary school is the inability to study through the medium of English and determining it as a foreign language which restricts students’ opportunities to practice outside the classroom that is informal way of learning (Dendir, 1981). Teaching is not merely an intellectual matter, it is to be considered an art or as the saying goes, “great teachers are born and not made” (Brosh, 1996). It draws on those experiences and resources that are uniquely defined and exhibited by the teacher’s personality, which cannot be easily transferred to, or learned from, others. English language as a subject that has spread around the world and most of the non- English speaking countries are interested in learning it for its value.
Furthermore, people who are interested in learning English have different motivation and attitude toward that language. 3 Although this is true, but to teach this language, teachers have to project some kind of an attitude and feeling toward it to the students (learners). In this sense the teachers' personality can be of the greatest importance in determining the learners' success or failure (Karavas, 1996). Consequently, in a foreign language context, the learning process is affected by various factors such as motivation, attitudes, anxiety, learning achievements, aptitudes, intelligence, age, and personalities, (Yashima & Zenuk, 2004).
Among these affective factors, attitude which is a speculative idea that represents an individual’s behavior in a positive or negative way toward someone or a language, is very decisive and essential contributor. Then, the instructors and educators should take this factor into account. The spread of English as a lingua franca leads to a great number of opportunities in language teaching and learning. Seidlhofer (2005a) suggested incorporating ELF in language education so as to enable 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.
