VIETNAMESE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES FFGG LÊ PHƯƠNG ANH E-LEARNING APPLICATION IN TEACHING SPEAKING ENGLISH TO FIRST YEAR STUDENTS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY AT THE UTE, HCMC A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL Supervisor ĐẶNG THỊ HƯỞNG, EdD Ho Chi Minh City, May, 2010 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby certify that this thesis entitled “E-LEARNING APPLICATION IN TEACHING SPEAKING ENGLISH TO FIRST YEAR STUDENTS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY AT THE UTE, HCMC” submitted in terms of the Statements of Requirements for Theses in Master’s Programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee, is my own work. This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institution. Ho Chi Minh City, May 28, 2010 Lê Phương Anh ii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, LÊ PHƯƠNG ANH, being the candidate for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL, accept the requirements of the university relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the University Library. I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis deposited in the University Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan and reproduction for theses.
Ho Chi Minh City, May 28, 2010 Lê Phương Anh iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Statement of authority. i Retention and use of the thesis. ii Table of contents. iii List of figures.
vi List of tables. vii List of abbreviations .1 Background to the study .2 The aims of the study .3 Overview of the study. 3 Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW.1 The differences between spoken language and written language.2 The role of speaking in the four language skills.4 Factors influencing EFL learners’ speaking competence.2 Socio-cultural factors.5 The roles of teachers and learners .6 Introduction to E-learning.1 Definition of E-learning.2 E-learning advantages and disadvantages .3 Why is the adoption of e-learning in higher education inevitable?. Characteristics of the subjects.
Data collection procedures. 49 Chapter 4 DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS.1 Learners’ responses to the questionnaire.2 Teachers’ responses to the interview .3 E-learning experts’ responses to the interviews. 83 Chapter 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 94 Appendix 1: Questionnaire (in Vietnamese) v Appendix 2: Interview with Vietnamese teachers of English at UTE.
100 Appendix 3: Interview with e-learning experts at UTE. 101 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1: Learners’ attitudes towards speaking English.2: Learners’ feeling in English speaking class .3: Learners’ participation in English speaking activities in class .4: Learners’ attitudes towards learning speaking English with e- learning.5: Learners’ assessment on speed of access to the internet.6: Learners’ computer skill self-assessment .7: Time allocation for practicing spoken English .8: Improvement of other language skills. 70 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 2. Classification of communication strategies.
Cabero’s advantages and disadvantages of e-learning .1: Background information about the student subjects .2: Background information about teacher subjects .1: Learners’ frequency of practicing English skills.2: Learners’ difficulties in speaking class .3: Learners’ common mistakes in speaking class.4: Learners’ communication strategies used in speaking class .5: Learners’ frequency of practicing spoken English outside classroom 58 Table 4.6: Learners’ difficulties in speaking with native speakers .7: Accompanying IT tools and soft wares .8: Learners’ frequency of practicing spoken English in Skype.9: Learners’ strategies used to cope with difficulties encountered. Learners’ use of Skype in practising speaking English.11: Learners’ barriers in learning speaking English skill with e- learning. 72 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CALL Computer-Assisted Language Learning CD Compact Disc EFL English as a foreign language ELT English Language Teaching F2F Face to face EM English major ILT Instructor led training IT Information technology L2 Second language NGO Non-governmental organisations SLA Second language acquisition UTE University of Technical Education VLE Vietnamese learner of English ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and above all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my wholehearted thesis supervisor, Dr. Dang Thi Huong for her encouragement, enthusiastic guidance and instructive comments on my writing.
Without her valuable support and careful review of the drafts, I would not have finished my thesis. I would also like to show my special thanks to my colleagues at UTE for their support as well as their contributing ideas to the completion of this thesis. I also take this chance to express my thankfulness to 110 freshmen EMs at UTE for their cooperation and willingness of answering the questionnaires. I am greatly indebted to my parents whose support has been a constant source of encouragement and confidence to me.
My great thanks go to my husband, who supported me and took care of our daughter while I was busy with this study. Finally, my thanks also save for my daughter, who has been my wonderful source of happiness, helping me out of stress to complete the study. x ABSTRACT This study aims 1) to investigate the EFL speaking problems of the first year English majors at the University of Technical Education in Ho Chi Minh City; 2) to examine factors affecting their English speaking skill 3) to investigate the reality of applying e-learning in teaching and learning spoken English at UTE. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were employed in this study.
110 questionnaires were delivered to the students at UTE to get their ideas about learning spoken English before and after experimenting e-learning classes. Interviews were also conducted with five teachers working at the faculty of foreign languages, UTE and two e-learning experts so that their responses can be helpful to improve the learners’ English speaking ability. The results of the study revealed that (1) the learners’ previous language learning experience and affective factors such as anxiety, shyness, their fear of making mistakes; and their shortage of vocabulary… prevent them from taking part in speaking activities in the classroom; (2) the implementation of e-learning into conventional classes can reduce their shortcomings and improve their speaking ability as well as their learning independence, and (3) e-learning application in teaching oral skill has both advantages and disadvantages. The study also points out that despite its setbacks, e- learning can be more effectively applied for speaking class which is reflected by the researcher’s recommendations.
INTRODUCTION This study investigates the application of e-learning methodology in teaching speaking to first year students majored in English of the Foreign Language Faculty at the University of Technical Education, HCMC (UTE) after considering their attitudes toward perceptions of e-learning integration in traditional speaking classes; their communicative competence as well as some factors influencing that competence. It is hoped that the findings and recommendations will help the students and teachers improve the reality of teaching and learning English speaking skill at UTE. This chapter presents the background to the study, the aims and the overview of the thesis. Background to the study There is no doubt that Vietnamese economy system has changed dramatically after the “Open-door” policy was implemented in 1986.
These changes have not only invited many foreign investors and visitors to Vietnam but also provided Vietnamese people with opportunities to go abroad. As a result, the number of Vietnamese who needs English for employment, education, and especially for international communication has sharply increased. Along with the changes in terms of English, the needs and requirements of Vietnamese learners when learning English have changed. In the past, they tried to be good at grammar, to acquire as much vocabulary as possible so that they could read, understand and write well in English.
Nowadays, because of getting more opportunities for direct interaction with foreigners, they need English for daily communication more than ever before. They really want to try every way just to improve their English speaking ability. 2 At UTE, the number of English majors is increasing considerably which is the fact that students are now more aware of the importance of English than ever before. However, most of them come from the neighboring areas of Ho Chi Minh City and some even from very remote provinces where spoken English is not properly taught and paid much attention to.
For them, especially those who are freshmen, speaking English naturally and fluently seems to be impossible. In the first year at university, they study two courses on Speaking 1 and 2 whose course unit value is 3 credits each and the class-contact hour is 135 minutes (1 period is equal to 45 minutes) per week. With a class size normally of around 30-35 students, chance of taking turn to speak is not offered equally to every single one. At the very first level at university, a great number of the learners have problems in speaking English and there are accordingly quite a lot of mistakes in their oral communication in the target language.
It is not too difficult to be aware that their speaking problems come from their poor communicative competence. However, in almost all cases, English speaking environment for first year English majors (EM) in English at UTE is classroom where the learners can practise spoken language. Dang Thi Huong (2000) shows that learners majored in English at the University of Social Sciences & Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City used 80% English and 20% Vietnamese inside the classroom while they were likely to use only 20% or 30% English and 80% or 70% Vietnamese outside the classroom. The problem is more serious for speaking classes at some associate training colleges with UTE out of the City where both teachers and learners find it difficult to manage enough time for face-to-face communication.
While the traditional teaching methods often used seem not to thoroughly solve the problems mentioned above, the integration of e-learning approach is considered to be a remedy. With the implementation of e-learning in the learning programme, we can free learners from a fixed timetable of attendance at university or other learning 3 institutions. This includes the delivery of learning at a distance from a tutor/teacher, it can also add a degree of freedom to more traditional programmes, for example allowing online discussion groups to accompany a lecture programme, delivering a programme based on interactive multimedia learning materials at university or a distance learning programme with learners based throughout the country. Above all, learners can learn at their own pace, where and when they desire provided that they can improve their English speaking proficiency.
So it is hoped that this thesis will bring about benefits to both teachers and learners in their teaching and learning English speaking skill. The aims of the study The aims of this study are: 1. To investigate the reality of teaching and learning speaking skills at UTE. To examine factors influencing first year students’ communicative competence.
To highlight the necessity of applying e-learning in teaching and learning English speaking skill and 4. To give recommendations on how to improve e-learning application in teaching speaking to first year EMs at UTE. Overview of the study This study consists of five chapters. Chapter One is the introduction providing background information to the study.
Chapter Two presents the literature review to the study which consists of theoretical background and related studies. Chapter Three mentions the methodology employed including research questions, research design, characteristics of the subjects, instruments and implementation of the study. Chapter Four reports the results of data analysis and discussion of the findings. 4 Chapter Five presents suggestions to the improvement of e-learning application in teaching English speaking skill to first year EMs at UTE.
5 6 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW In Chapter One, the background information to the study has been presented.