VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES ----------------------- TRẦN THỊ THU HIỀN EXPLORING ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS AND EXPECTATIONS FOR TEACHERS’ CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES AT BIEN HOA SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOL, HA NAM Nghiên cứu thái độ và kỳ vọng của học sinh chuyên tiếng Anh về việc giảng dạy của giáo viên tại trường THPT Chuyên Biên Hoà, Hà Nam M.A Minor Thesis Field: English Methodology Code: 60 14 10 HANOI – 2010 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES ----------------------- TRẦN THỊ THU HIỀN EXPLORING ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS AND EXPECTATIONS FOR TEACHERS’ CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES AT BIEN HOA SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOL, HA NAM Nghiên cứu thái độ và kỳ vọng của học sinh chuyên tiếng Anh về việc giảng dạy của giáo viên tại trường THPT Chuyên Biên Hoà, Hà Nam M.A Minor Thesis Field: English Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Cao Thúy Hồng, M.A HANOI – 2010 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DECLARATION. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS. Aims of the study……………………………………………….
Scope of the study………………………………………………. Methods of the study……………………………………………. Significance of the study…………………………………………. Format of the study……………………………………………….
The learner-centered approach……………………………………. Foreign language learners’ attitudes …………………………. 6 Role of learners’ attitudes…………………………………………. Foreign language learners’ expectation………………………….
8 Mismatch between teachers’ intentions and learners’ expectations. 8 Balancing the mismatch between teachers’ intentions and learners’ expectations…………………………………………………………. Shape of an English lesson……………………………………. 12 Stages of a language lesson…………………………………….
12 Teacher’s roles in a language lesson……………………………………. 14 Role of teaching content/ materials in a language lesson……………. 15 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com vi Role of language materials…………………. 16 Common teaching activities in a language lesson.
Setting of the study……………………………………. 20 Brief introduction of the school……………………………………. 20 General situation of English teaching and learning in the school…. 21 The survey questionnaire.
22 The follow-up interview. Data analysis process…………………………………………. DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION. The Survey Questionnaire……………………………………….
Students’ general attitudes towards their language teachers’ roles and work in the classroom. Students’ general attitudes towards language teachers’ role in their learning. Students’ general attitudes towards teachers’ work. Students’ levels of satisfaction with each of the teaching items carried out by the language teachers.
English major students’ comments on teaching and learning materials provided by the teachers and their workload in English. English major students’ opinions on the frequency and quality of some specific teaching activities. English major students’ expectations for future teaching adjustments and improvement. The follow-up interview……………………………………….
Reasons for satisfaction ………………………………………. Reasons for dissatisfaction……………………………………. Students’ other expectations…………………………………. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BETTER LANGUAGE TEACHING AT ENGLISH MAJOR CLASSES IN THE SCHOOL.
34 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.Nam vii IV. Recommendations for teaching language skills. 35 To improve the teaching of listening skill. 35 To improve the teaching of speaking skill.
Recommendations for selecting, editing and developing teaching materials 37 IV. Recommendations for applying specific teaching activities. 39 Summary of the study……………………………………………. 39 Limitations of the research…………………………………………….
39 Recommendations for further research ……………………………. 41 APPENDIX 1 – Survey Questionnaire. I APPENDIX 2 - Interview Questions. VI APPENDIX 4 – Table 3.Nam TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.Nam viii LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Charts Chart 1.
Students’ general attitudes towards language teachers’ role Chart 2. Students’ general attitudes towards teachers’ work Chart 3. Students’ levels of satisfaction with each of the teaching items performed by the language teachers Tables Table 1. English major students’ comments on teaching and learning materials provided by the teachers and their workload in English Table 2.
English major students’ opinions on the frequency and quality of some specific teaching activities Table 3. English major students’ expectations for future teaching adjustments and improvement (LUAN.Nam TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Rationale Like in every part of the world, the practice of English teaching and learning in Vietnam has been more popular than ever before. Many language teaching methods and approaches have been introduced and applied in the teaching and learning process, aiming at best achieving educational objectives.
In the view of modern language teaching and learning approaches, learners are widely recognized as a major factor determining the learning success; and learner motivation and autonomy is considered to be essential for successful language learning by most language teachers, as Gardner argues, a “motivated learner” is regarded as being: (a) eager to learn the language, (b) willing to expend effort on the learning activity, and (c) willing to sustain the learning activity (Gardner, 1985, p. It is, thus, stipulated that teachers make all efforts to motivate learners and stimulate their autonomy. Research have shown that discovering learners‟ attitudes, beliefs, needs and expectations is really beneficial for teachers to develop appropriate teaching methods and adjust teaching activities, helping to bring about learners‟ satisfaction and more engagement in learning. It is also widely known that in order to succeed in English teaching, teachers need to get and keep learners‟ attention and their positive participation (Davies, 2000, p.12); and that despite classroom teachers‟ efforts to make sure that their lessons are a success, sometimes things do not work as well as they had planned (Jeremy, 1991) and then classroom problems may occur.
These problems can be student-caused, parent-caused, or administrator-caused (Jessup, 1971). Teachers are also identified as one of the problem- causing sources since the way they teach and behave has a profound influence on learners‟ attitudes which affect their learning either negatively or positively. In order to create positive learning attitude, it is crucial to investigate learners‟ views on what and how teacher do in the classroom so that appropriate adjustment in the teaching can be carried out to draw learners‟ highest level of concentration and participation in very lesson. In my specific teaching context, the way we teach English is based on the combination of some modern language teaching approaches including learner-centered, skill- based and task-based to obtain the objectives of teaching language communicatively.
This requires my colleagues and me to work hard, design diverse teaching activities in our teaching process. However, despite our efforts, sometimes we realize here and there our students lose interest in our lessons. This makes us feel rather discouraged and wonder about (LUAN.Nam TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.Nam 2 the effectiveness of each activity we use in the classroom. Personally, the researcher strongly believes that designing learning tasks and teaching activities must be based on teachers‟ understanding of the students.
We must realize what they want to learn and how they want us to teach. Thus, exploring our students‟ evaluation of our teaching, their attitudes and expectations for what and how we do is really essential to improve the learning and teaching situation in the school in the next stage. For all the above mentioned reasons, the writer upheld a strong desire to conduct a survey research on English major students‟ attitudes towards and expectations for teachers‟ classroom activities. Aims of the study - to examine the school‟s English major students‟ attitudes towards their language teachers‟ classroom activities.
- to investigate the students‟ needs, interests and expectations for improvement in English teaching in these classes. - to suggest necessary changes that the teachers should make in their teaching process to improve the English teaching and learning situation. Research questions The study is carried out to find out the answers to the two main research questions: 1. What are students‟ attitudes towards the teachers‟ way of teaching? 2.
What and how do the students expect their teachers to change in their way of teaching in the future? It is clear that the former helps to learn about students‟ evaluation and reflection of what and how the teachers do in the classrooms whereas the later helps to look over students‟ needs and expectations for teachers‟ future actions. To work out the answer to the first major question, a number of minor questions need answers as well. What are the students‟ general attitudes towards teachers‟ roles and work in the classroom? (2) What in the teachers‟ job do the students feel satisfied with? Why? (3) What in the teachers‟ job do the students feel dissatisfied with? Why? (4) How do the students remark upon teaching and learning materials provided by the teachers and their workload in English? (5) What are the students‟ opinions on the frequency and quality of some specific teaching activities conducted by teachers in every lesson? (LUAN.Nam TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Scope of the study Teaching activities can be various and indefinite.
However, only activities that teachers normally conduct and perform in English lessons are taken into account in the study. Besides, only English major students of three grades 10, 11 and 12 in the school are under investigation. In addition, this study only concentrates on exploring their attitudes towards and expectations for what and how the teachers do in the classroom. Methods of the study During the process of collecting and analyzing the data for the research, both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed.
Specifically, the data were collected via means of a written survey questionnaire –typical of quantitative method; and a group interview - typical of qualitative method. Significance of the study It is expected that the findings in the study will help the teachers in the school see the strong points and weak points of their work. Information of the students‟ expectations may also be of great help to the teachers in considering developing appropriate teaching methods, adopting eligible techniques and adapting suitable activities so as to improve the teaching and learning situation. All in all, the study is hoped to be greatly significant in improving the English learning and teaching situation in the school.
Format of the study The study is organized into three parts. The first part, Introduction, provides all the information about the rationale, aims, scope, significance and format of the study. Research questions and methodology are also identified in this part. The second part, Development, consists of four chapters.
The first chapter, Theoretical Background, reviews relevant literatures. In the next chapter, The study, the setting, subjects, instruments and data analysis process of the study is presented. The third chapter is devoted to a detailed description of Data analysis and discussion. And the last chapter, namely Recommendations for better language teaching at English major classes in the school, puts forward some recommendations for better teaching at English major classes of the school.
The last part, Conclusion, presents not only a summary but also some limitations of the research and gives some suggestions for further study.Nam TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Identifying and carrying out necessary teaching adjustments by the way of investigating students‟ attitudes and expectations partially shows learner-centeredness in the teaching and learning process. Thus, relevant literature regarding the learner-centered approach and learners’ attitudes and expectations in foreign language learning will be reviewed in this chapter. Some issues concerning teaching activities in foreign language lessons are also discussed in the chapter.
The learner-centered approach A lot of changes in education have taken place as a result of changes in educational objectives to meet the new demands of the current time and bring about better learning and teaching outcomes. One of the observable changes in education is the shift in focus from teachers to learners in the teaching and learning process. Although “learner-centeredness” is not a new concept in the world, it has been popularly developed and widely applied in education and especially in language teaching and learning for only several decades. In Vietnam, learner-centered teaching has been recently encouraged and promoted for a number of years.
The approach has been asserted and confirmed as a big and essential renovation in education since 1986, at the 6th congress of Communist Party of Vietnam. Basic Principles In terms of principle, the learner-centered approach emphasizes the central role of learners in all classroom activities. It is stated that learning is totally determined by learners.