VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ĐINH THỊ HẢI HÀ STUDENTS' ATTITUDE TOWARD ENGLISH AS A COMPULSORY SUBJECT AT AN UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL IN QUANG NINH PROVINCE (Thái độ của học sinh đối với Tiếng Anh như một môn học bắt buộc tại một trường THPT tại Quảng Ninh) MASTER’S THESIS Major: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231,01 HÀ NỘI – 2018 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SAU ĐẠI HỌC ĐINH THỊ HẢI HÀ STUDENTS' ATTITUDE TOWARD ENGLISH AS A COMPULSORY SUBJECT AT AN UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL IN QUANG NINH PROVINCE (Thái độ của học sinh đối với Tiếng Anh như một môn học bắt buộc tại một trường THPT tại Quảng Ninh) MASTER’S THESIS Major: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231,01 Supervisor: Assoc.Prof Lê Văn Canh HÀ NỘI –2018 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP The thesis entitled “Students’ attitude towards English as a compulsory subject at an upper secondary school” has been submitted for the Master of Arts. I, the undersigned, hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. I have fully acknowledged and referenced the ideas and work of others, whether published or unpublished, in my thesis. My thesis does not contain work extracted from a thesis, dissertation or research paper previously presented for another degree or diploma at this or any other universities.
Dinh Thi Hai Ha Date. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am deeply indebted to the individuals that provided support for the completion of this study. Associate Professor Dr. Lê Văn Canh supervised the entire study and, most importantly, read and discussed every aspect and section of this dissertation with assiduity.
His recommendations also helped to shape the form and contents of the final version. I am equally indebted to them for the exceptional friendliness, kindness, and patience that he demonstrated during my study at ULIS-VNU and my research. My sincere thanks also go to the Dean - Dr. Huỳnh Anh Tuấn as well as the staff members at the Faculty of Postgraduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS), Vietnam National University (VNU), who are always so kind and supportive during my study time.
In addition, I would like to express my thankfulness to all the participating teachers at an upper secondary school who helped me in my preliminary research, especially the teachers who accompanied me during a long time of my data collection time. The results I have achieved today partially belong to them. Last but not least, I would like to thank my fellows for their dedication and support, and my family members for their motivation for me to overcome all the difficulties and to become a better me now. Thanking you all Dinh Thi Hai Ha September, 2018 i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT This paper explores the influence of students’ attitude and English subject studying outcome through a case study at a high school.
The study hopes to identify and provide few recommendations on approaches to improve English teaching outcome at high school level in general. From a survey of 180 at a high school students across age ranges and grades, the finding includes the significance of students’ drive to study English and their opinions about teachers on English learning outcomes. Furthermore, from data overview, it is suggested that school facilities also matter. Therefore, the study recommends school to provide students with information about the implications of English, improve facilities to embrace the age of Internet, and enhance students’ opinion about teachers.
ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS. v LIST OF TABLES. Scope of the study.
Significance of the study. Structure of the thesis. English as a compulsory subject in other countries and Vietnam. Students’ attitudes to English as a compulsory in other countries.
Context of the study. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS .1 Quantitative results and discussions. Qualitative results and discussions. Results of the interviews.
Discussions of the interview. 33 iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. I iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABBREVIATIONS CEFR: Common European framework of Reference EFL: English foreign language L2: Second language TEFL: Teaching English as a foreign language v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table 3. Reliability value regarding the language Aspects.
Descriptive Statistics of Students’ Attitudes towards English Language25 Table 4. Descriptive statistics of Behavioral aspect of Language Attitude. Descriptive Statistics of Cognitive Aspect of Language Attitude. Descriptive Statistics of Emotional Aspect of Language Attitude.
Descriptive Statistics of Attitudes towards English as a compulsory subject. 30 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Rationale In foreign language learning context, there are various factors that influence the learning process such as motivation, attitudes, anxiety, learning achievements, aptitudes, intelligence, age, personalities, etc. The matter of learner’s attitude is acknowledged as one of the most important factors that impact on learning a language (Fakeye, D.
Attitudes toward learning are believed to influence behaviors such as selecting and reading books, speaking in a foreign language etc. Especially in Education, if the students have positive attitude towards any subject, they can achieve many things in that specific area. There is an interaction between language learning and the environmental components in which the students were grown up. Both negative and positive attitudes have a strong impact on the success of language learning.
Attitude is determined by the individual’s beliefs about outcomes or attributes of performing the behavior (behavioral beliefs), weighted by evaluations of those outcomes or attributes. Thus, a person who holds strong beliefs that positively valued outcomes will result from performing the behavior will have a positive attitude toward the behavior. Conversely, a person who holds strong beliefs that negatively valued outcomes will result from the behavior will have a negative attitude. Attitude is considered as an essential factor influencing language performance and received considerable attention from both first and second language researchers.
There are many reasons why students’ attitude toward language learning is important. Weinburgh (1998) believes that attitudes toward learning influence behaviors such as selecting and reading books, speaking in a foreign language. Generally, it is believed that learners’ attitudes dictate whether or not they will be able to absorb the details of language. In other words, achievement in a target language relies not only on intellectual capacity but also on the learner’s 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com attitudes toward language learning.
This means that learning language should be approached primarily as a social and psychological phenomenon rather than as a purely academic one. As Brown (1994:168) defines “attitudes, like all aspects of the development of cognition and affect in human beings, develop early in childhood and are the result of parents’ and peers’ attitudes, contact with people who are different in any number of ways, and interacting affective factors in the human experience”, the benefits of this for students have aroused my interest and encouraged me to carry out the thesis “Students’ attitudes’ towards English as a compulsory subject at an upper secondary school”. As a teacher of English at secondary school for over 10 years, I have noticed that learners of English in general and students at secondary schools in particular do not show positive attitudes towards English as well as English learning. This leads to demotivation and poor language achievement.
Most of them learn English just as to complete the curriculum. It is assumed that if teachers understand their feelings and emotion or their attitudes towards English and English learning they can design appropriate activities to motivate their students in order to achieve better language proficiency. That is the main reason for me to carry out this study. Research question In this study, the main objective is to conduct a literature review on the relationship between students’ attitudes and English subject studying outcome at the high school.
The main questions are: (1) What are the attitudes of Vietnamese high school students towards English learning? (2) What are the attitudes of Vietnamese high school students towards English as a compulsory subject at schools? 1. Research method The method used in this study is quantitative. Thus, an adapted questionnaire was employed as a measuring instrument. The participants were required to answer 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com all the items of the questionnaire honestly, giving their own perceptions about their attitudes toward learning English language in terms of the emotional, cognitive as well as their gender.
Scope of the study The participants in this study consist of 180 high school students, 94 persons (52.2%) male and 86 persons (47.8%) female, randomly chosen from the secondary schools in Quang Ninh province. There were 58 students (32.2%) in the grade 10, 68 students (37.8%) in the grade 11, and the grade 12 students were 54 (30%). The students from different grades, different genders were selected to represent varieties of attitudes towards learning English in terms of genders and time of studying English. For the qualitative research, 12 students from the participants are selected for interviews; for each grade, two boys and two girls are selected.
Significance of the study The findings of this study will be of great interest to a number of researchers focusing on demographic variables of Second Language (L2) learners, English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners, and English education policies and practices. By providing insights into attitudes of high schools EFL learners toward the English language, English education policies, and their purposes for learning English, this study contributes to an understanding of English learning and teaching and adds to the growing body of studies on the spread of English. Furthermore, this study aims to offer insights for language attitude research and studies in EFL context. In addition, if English language teachers know and recognize their students’ feelings, needs, behaviors, they are able to fit appropriate activities with their needs and would encourage them to positive attitudes toward English learning.
Furthermore, curriculum designers would review the content and the design of the curriculum to meet the needs and the interests of the students, especially students at high schools in Vietnam. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Structure of the thesis Chapter I. INTRODUCTION Chapter II: LITERATURE REVIEW Chapter III: METHODOLOGY Chapter IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Chapter V: CONCLUSION In this part, the researcher will summarize the findings of the thesis.
After that, the limitation of the research as well as the suggestion for further research will also be included. 4 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter is devoted for reviewing related literature about attitudes, attitudes towards English language learning and English is a compulsory subject at schools.1 Attitudes and learning Attitudes towards language learning have been defined differently by differentscholars. The Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching (2002: 297) defines language attitudes as follows: “The attitudes which speakers of different languages or language varieties have towards each other’s languages or to their own language.
Expressions of positive or negative feelings towards a language may reflect impressions of linguistic difficulty or simplicity, ease or difficulty of learning, degree of importance, elegance, social status, etc. Attitudes towards a language may also show what people feel about the speakers of that language. Language attitudes may have an effect on second language or foreign language learning. The measurement of language attitudes provides information which is useful in language teaching and language learning.” Attitudes are defined as an “acquired internal state that influences the choice of personal action” (Gagné & Driscoll, 1988).
For instant, a person’s attitude toward the environment influences whether or not they choose to recycle. A student’s attitude toward information will influence the resources he or she chooses to use.