MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY --------------------------- HOANG TRAM ANH TEACHERS' PRACTICES AND PERCEPTIONS OF INTEGRATING COMPUTER-ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING INTO ENGLISH CLASSES AT THONG TAY HOI SECONDARY SCHOOL Major: English Language Course code: 8220201 HO CHI MINH CITY, AUGUST/ 2021 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY --------------------------- TEACHERS' PRACTICES AND PERCEPTIONS OF INTEGRATING COMPUTER-ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING INTO ENGLISH CLASSES AT THONG TAY HOI SECONDARY SCHOOL Submitted to the Faculty of English Language in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in English Language Number of words: 20947 Course code: 8220201 By HOANG TRAM ANH Supervised by LE VAN TUYEN, Ph. HO CHI MINH CITY, AUGUST/ 2021 iii The thesis entitled TEACHERS' PRACTICES AND PERCEPTIONS OF INTEGRATING COMPUTER-ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING INTO ENGLISH CLASSES AT THONG TAY HOI SECONDARY SCHOOL was successfully defended and approved on …. at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HUTECH). Academic supervisor: Le Van Tuyen, Ph.
NGUYỄN THỊ KIỀU THU…………………… Chair 2. NGUYỄN THỊ NHƯ NGỌC………. NGUYỄN THỊ THU…………………………… Reader 2 4. PHẠM HUY CƯỜNG………………………… Member 5.
CAO THỊ PHƯƠNG DUNG……………… Secretary Member On behalf of the Examination Committee Chair iv HCMC UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY POSTGRADUATE INSTITUE HCMC, 4/8/2021 MASTER’S THESIS REPORT Student name: Hoang Tram Anh. Date of birth: 25/01/1997.Place of birth: Ho Chi Minh City Major: English Language.Student code: 1941900024 I- Thesis title: TEACHERS' PRACTICES AND PERCEPTIONS OF INTEGRATING COMPUTER-ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING INTO ENGLISH CLASSES AT THONG TAY HOI SECONDARY SCHOOL II- Objectives and contents: This study is conducted: a) To find out the practices of CALL that are utilized by English teachers at TTHSS b) To explore the teachers’ perceptions towards the integration of CALL in the English classes at TTHSS …………………………………………………………………………………… III- Starting date: 20/03/2021 IV- Completing date: 04/08/2021. V- Academic supervisor: Le Van Tuyen, Ph.D ………………………… ACADEMIC SUPERVISOR FACULTY DEAN (full name, signature) (full name, signature) v CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled: TEACHERS' PRACTICES AND PERCEPTIONS OF INTEGRATING COMPUTER-ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING INTO ENGLISH CLASSES AT THONG TAY HOI SECONDARY SCHOOL In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Master’s programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee of Faculty of English Language, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology. Ho Chi Minh City, AUGUST 2021 HOANG TRAM ANH vi RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, HOANG TRAM ANH, 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. Ho Chi Minh City, AUGUST/2021 Signature …………………………… HOANG TRAM ANH vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my profound gratitude towards my supervisor for his vital support and assistance, Mr. Le Van Tuyen who gave me magnificent guidance and advice. His encouragement made it possible to achieve the goal.
It is whole-heartedly expressed that your advice for my research proved to be a landmark effort towards the success of this graduation paper. Generally, it is my first time to conduct an academic research paper, so it is impossible to avoid some deficiencies. I gratefully acknowledge his encouraging and sincere comments on my paper as well as his immensely important guidance during my beginning until the very end of my thesis. I would like to show my appreciation to all the lecturers of the Institute for Postgraduate and the Department of English Language in HUTECH for their tirelessly devoting time and efforts to enrich, broaden and deepen my knowledge over the past two years.
I would like to thank all the support and participation of the English teacher at Thong Tay Hoi Secondary School, those whose assistance proved to be a milestone in the accomplishment of my end goal. Finally, I wish to give a special thanks to my family: my mother and my father who not only assisted me financially during my time conducting the thesis, but also expressed their support morally and emotionally viii ABSTRACT The assistance of computer technology in the academic field, particularly in the field of teaching and learning languages, is nothing but remarkable. Investigating the practices of application of Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and perceptions of its practitioners in the context of teaching EFL is of vital importance. Especially in Thong Tay Hoi Secondary School (TTHSS), a specific study on the application of CALL in the context of TTHSS has not been done yet.
Therefore, teachers are still not aware of the importance of CALL as well as lack the skills to use it. That is why the current study has been conducted to identify the common CALL practices among the English teachers at TTHSS in Ho Chi Minh City, along with their perceptions towards the use of CALL in their English classes. Twenty- five English teachers at TTHSS participated in this study. Both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered from questionnaires and semi-structured interview.
The data gathered through questionnaires were analyzed by using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation), and “content analysis” was employed for qualitative data analysis. The findings revealed that although teachers can apply CALL applications and have rather positive perceptions towards CALL itself, some of them were still unfamiliar with its definition, classifications and some barriers still exist, preventing teachers from integrating CALL into their teaching of English. The findings of this study led to some recommendations to elevate and expand the integration of CALL into both teaching and learning of languages. It is expected that the study will shed light on the existing knowledge relating to the field of study.
Key words: EFL context, CALL, practices, perceptions, English teachers, Secondary School, Vietnam ix TABLE OF CONTENT Master’s thesis report. iv Certificate of originality. v Retention and use of the thesis. viii Table of contents.
ix List of tables. xii List of figures. xiii List of abbreviations and sympols. xiv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study.2 Statement of the problem.
Aims and objectives of the study. Scope of the study. Significance of the study. Definitions of the terms .8 The organization of the thesis.
7 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2. Technology and Language Teaching. CALL and ESL/EFL Teaching. Practices of integrating CALL into English classes.
Benefits of Integrating CALL into English Classes. Individualization in a large class. Multimodal practice with feedback. Promote second language learning.
Challenges of integrating CALL into English classes. Teacher-related challenges. Student-related challenges. Context-related challenges.
Sample and sampling procedures .2 Semi-structure interviews. Data collection procedures. Data analysis procedures. Data from questionnaires.
Data from interviews. Reliability and Validity. 39 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 4. Results of the study.
The common practices of CALL among English teacher into their English classes. The perceptions of the teachers towards the integration of CALL into their English classes. Teachers’ perceptions towards the benefits of CALL integration into English classes. Teachers’ perceptions towards the challenges of CALL integration into English classes.
Teachers’ practices of integrating CALL. Teachers’ perceptions of benefits and challenges of CALL integration. Teachers’ perceptions of benefits of CALL integration. Teachers’ perceptions of challenges of CALL integration.
Summary of the main findings of the thesis .3 Limitation of the research .4 Recommendations for further research. 86 APPENDIX 1: TEACHER QUESTIONAIRES. 86 APPENDIX 2: EXCERPT OF STUDENT INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT. 90 APPENDIX 3: PLAGIARISM REPORT.
95 APPENDIX 4: DATA COLLECTION ENDORSEMENT FORM. 96 xii LIST OF TABLES Table 3. Demographic information of the respondents. Cronbach’s Alpha Indexes.
Frequency of teachers using CALL in teaching. Descriptive Statistics of Benefits of CALL integration into English classes. Descriptive Statistics of Barriers of CALL integration into English classes. 60 xiii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.
CALL Software Application Typology. The conceptual framework of teacher’s perceptions and practice. 31 xiv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS CALL: Computer-Assisted Language Learning EFL: English as Foreign Language ESL: English as Second Language TELL: Technology-Enhanced Language Learning CALI: Computer-Aided Language Instruction CAI: Language-Aided Learning ICT: Information & Communication Technologies IT: Information Technology TTHSS: Thong Tay Hoi Secondary School SNS: Social Networking Service CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1. Background to the study As the role of computer-based technologies and their subsequent developments in English classrooms has become prominent, Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) thus occupies an important position in the education system.
CALL may offer assistance to improve English learning and more essentially, it is a tool to make strides the whole educating and learning handle. It is not surprising that the use of computers in education has increased and in many ways has revolutionized traditional education. In the past ten years, there have been a lot of big changes in the education industry, such as using computers as a teaching aid or a preparation tool into a platform for students/teachers to learn or teach English effectively (Warschauer, 1996). Subsequently, with the entry of the Web, the computer has been changed from a device for data parade and information processing to a device for exchange information and communication both within the society and within the classroom.
CALL has become, at an increasingly fast pace, both an interesting and highly applicable field of study in language learning. In fact, in an era where technology 4.0 increasingly develops, CALL will promote information sharing, and reach a worldwide group of onlookers with free learning strategies which can empower more independence and personalization for learners. Presently, learners are not considered as the receives of the data passed on by teachers but as a part of the biological learning system. In regard to the immense importance of CALL in English pedagogy, many English teachers have become to perceive the integration of CALL into their instruction as a superb advantage.
CALL provides a much more compelling and modernized learning environment and therefore has become an effective and well-worthy approach. 1 “CALL is both exciting and frustrating as a field of research and practice” (Pirasteh, 2014). Several studies have been conducted to determine the effectiveness of CALL integration and the attitudes and awareness of both students and teachers towards the CALL method in specific contexts. However, most of the studies are done in foreign countries, while many public schools in Vietnam fail to meet the growing demand for foreign languages, computers and information technology (Trines, 2017).
Nevertheless, the perceptions of the language instructors towards CALL have yet to be inspected on a deeper, more professional scale. CALL is widely considered to be much more innovative, dynamic, and student-centered than prior language teaching methods, yet oppositely frustrating for such characteristics. Apart from its marvelous benefits in a language teaching context, CALL does bring upon a wide range of barriers for instructors, such as lack of computer-related knowledge, financial capability, and the decline of instructors’ role in classrooms. As a result, those who fail to grasp the technology will be left behind.
The integration of CALL into English teachers in Vietnam at the moment focuses on providing aids for instructors in classrooms, rather than replacing the role of those teachers. Consequently, many Vietnamese language teachers and students are far from fully exploring the applications of CALL and still underestimate its remarkable benefits to the acquisition of English. According to Peeraer and Van Petegem (2010), the research and integration of CALL in Vietnam are indeed to a rudimentary and restricted extent. Statement of the problem In English, the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing are considered difficult and equally important.