Tài liệu Factors affecting learning engagement for task based language learning of non english majored students at ba ria vung tau university master of tesol

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BA RIA VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY --------------- THESIS VU THI MINH TAM FACTORS AFFECTING LEARNING ENGAGEMENT FOR TASKBASED LANGUAGE LEARNING OF NON-ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS AT BA RIA VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY Ba Ria-Vung Tau 2022 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BA RIA VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY --------------- THESIS FACTORS AFFECTING LEARNING ENGAGEMENT FOR TASKBASED LANGUAGE LEARNING OF NON-ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS AT BA RIA VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY Submitted to the Postgraduate Institute in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL Course code: 8140111 By Vu Thi Minh Tam Supervised by Tran Quoc Thao, Ph.D. Ba Ria-Vung Tau 2022 The thesis entitled FACTORS AFFECTING LEARNING ENGAGEMENT FOR TASK-BASED LANGUAGE LEARNING OF NON-ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS AT BA RIA VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY was successfully defended and approved on April 24th at Ba Ria Vung Tau University (BVU). Academic supervisor: Dr. TRAN QUOC THAO Examination Committee 1. ………………………………………………………. Chair 2. ……………………………………………. ………… Reader 1 3. ………………………………………………………. Reader 2 4. ………………………………………………………. Member 5. ……………………………………………………….. Secretary Member On behalf of the Examination Committee Chair (full name, title, signature) BA RIA VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY POSTGRADUATE INSTITUTE Ba Ria Vung Tau, December 2021 MASTER’S THESIS REPORT Student name: VU THI MINH TAM Sex: Female Date of birth: 18/01/1992 Place of birth: Ba Ria Vung Tau Province: Vung Tau Major: English Language Student code: 18110049 I- Thesis title: FACTORS AFFECTING LEARNING ENGAGEMENT FOR TASK-BASED LANGUAGE LEARNING OF NON-ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS AT BA RIA VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY II-Objectives and contents: This study aims at exploring the factors that affect the learning engagement for TBLT of non-English-majored students in the context of BVU. The specific objectives of the research are as follows: To determine the learning engagement for TBLT of non-English-majored students at BVU. To find out the factors that affect learning engagement for TBLT of non-English-majored students at BVU. To examine if there is any significant relationship in the learning engagement for TBLT and the factors affecting learning engagement for TBLT of non-English-majored students at BVU. This study is conducted at BVU in Vung Tau city. There are over 4000 students with different abilities. For those who are not specialized in English, completing the 6 courses of learning English with LIFE course-book is compulsory for their graduation. Therefore, the participants of this study are the 200 non-English-major students who are using this textbook as well as having chances of studying different topics and experiencing TBLT in classrooms. To achieve the desired results, the researcher conducts a semi-structured interview and delivers questionnaires to the participants to collect data. Besides, the mixed methods design is employed, and two analytical methods utilized are SPSS and content analysis. III- Starting date: (as stated in the Decision issued by the University) IV- Completing date: .............................................................................................................. V- Academic supervisor: (full name,title) TRAN QUOC THAO, Ph.D. ACADEMIC SUPERVISOR SCHOOL HEAD ((full name, signature) ((full name, signature) CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled: FACTORS AFFECTING LEARNING ENGAGEMENT FOR TASK-BASED LANGUAGE LEARNING OF NON-ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS AT BA RIA VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Master’s programs issued by Higher Degree Committee of Postgraduate Institute, Ba Ria Vung Tau University Ba Ria Vung Tau province, December 2021 VU THI MINH TAM RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, Vu Thi Minh Tam, 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 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. Ba Ria Vung Tau, December 2021 Signature …………………… Vu Thi Minh Tam ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere thanks to those who have made great contributions to my thesis completion. First and foremost, I would like to express my profound gratitude to Dr. Tran Quoc Thao, my supervisor, for his valuable comments and suggestions during the whole research process. His dynamism, enthusiasm, 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. Last but not least, I warmly thank my family for their countless support, greatest sympathy, and unconditional love who have provided me strong spiritual and material support. ABSTRACT It is universally acknowledged that Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT) plays an integral role in the language teaching and learning process. In many countries all over the world, TBLT is applied to the process of teaching and learning English widely and effectively. Nevertheless, when it comes to the context of education in Vietnam, especially the English subject, examinations are mainly grammar focused. Hence, English teaching and learning is purely examination-based. This leads to the fact that students lose their interest in acquiring the new language and fail to speak fluent English. Therefore, the main aim of this paper is to explore the factors that affect the learning engagement for TBLT of non-English-majored students at Ba Ria Vung Tau University (BVU). This study involves 200 non-English-major students who are using this textbook as well as having chances of studying different topics and experiencing TBLT in classrooms taking part in answering the questionnaire and sixty students in responding to the semi-structured interview questions. The data gained from the questionnaire are analyzed by SPSS in terms of descriptive statistics (means, standard deviation, & frequency). The findings of the study show that teacher-related, learning context-related and learner-related factors have positive impacts on learning engagement for TBLT. The researcher then analyzes the data taken from the semi-structured interview to make the results of the study clearer. These preliminary findings are hoped to contribute to a better understanding of the current perspectives of the factors that affect the learning engagement for TBLT, with a view to bringing some practical implications in the Vietnamese context, thereby improving the quality of the teaching in English language for non-majored English students in Ba Ria Vung Tau university in specific and Vietnam in general. (280 words) Keywords: TBLT, factors, learning engagement, non-English majored students. TABLE OF CONTENT CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 1 1.1. Background to the study .................................................................................. 1 1.2. Statement of the problem ................................................................................... 3 1.3. Aims of the Study ............................................................................................... 5 1.4. Research questions ............................................................................................. 5 1.5. Scope of the study .............................................................................................. 6 1.6. Significance of the study .................................................................................... 6 1.7. Definitions of the Terms .................................................................................... 7 1.8. Organization of the study ................................................................................... 7 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................. 8 2.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 8 2.2. An overview of TBLT ........................................................................................ 8 2.3. Tasks in TBLT ................................................................................................... 9 2.3.1. Definitions of tasks ...................................................................................... 9 2.3.2. Types of tasks............................................................................................. 11 2.4. Learning engagement ....................................................................................... 14 2.5. Factors affecting learning engagement for TBLT ........................................... 17 2.5.1. Learner-related factors ............................................................................... 17 2.5.2. Teacher-related factors ............................................................................... 21 2.5.3. The learning context-related factors .......................................................... 24 2.6. Previous studies ................................................................................................ 26 2.7. Conceptual framework ..................................................................................... 30 2.8. Summary .......................................................................................................... 31 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .......................................................................... 32 3.1. Research design ............................................................................................. 32 3.2. Research context and Participants .................................................................... 32 3.3. Research instruments........................................................................................ 35 3.3.1. Questionnaire ............................................................................................. 35 3.3.2. Semi-structured interview ....................................................................... 36 3.4. Data collection and analysis procedures .......................................................... 37 3.4.1. Data collection procedure .......................................................................... 37 3.4.2. Data analysis procedure ............................................................................. 37 3.5. Reliability and validity of the questionnaire .................................................... 38 3.6. Summary .......................................................................................................... 39 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS.................................................... 40 4.1. Results .............................................................................................................. 40 4.1.1. The learning engagement for TBLT of non-English-majored students at BVU ..................................................................................................................... 40 4.1.2. The factors affecting the learning engagement for TBLT of non-Englishmajored students at BVU ..................................................................................... 42 4.1.3. How non-English-majored students’ learning engagement for TBLT correlates with the factors affecting their learning engagement for TBLT ......... 48 4.2. Discussions of the findings .............................................................................. 49 CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION ................................................................................ 53 5.1 Summary of the main findings of the study ...................................................... 53 5.2 Pedagogical implications .................................................................................. 54 5.3 Limitations ........................................................................................................ 55 5.4 Recommendations for the further research ....................................................... 56 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................ 58 APPENDIX 1 .......................................................................................................... 67 APPENDIX 2 .......................................................................................................... 72 APPENDIX 3 .......................................................................................................... 74 APPENDIX 4 .......................................................................................................... 78 APPENDIX 5 .......................................................................................................... 81 APPENDICES Appendix 1: Questionnaire for Students Appendix 2: Interview Protocol Appendix 3: Cronbach’s Alpha Appendix 4: Contents of LIFE coursebook Appendix 5: A TBLT Lesson plan LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS TBLT Task-based language teaching BVU Ba Ria Vung Tau university LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Frequency of survey participants’ personal information 34 Table 4.1 Total mean scores of learning engagement for TBLT 41 Table 4.2 Learning engagement for TBLT 41 Table 4.3 Total mean scores of learner-related factors 42 Table 4.4 Learner-related factors 43 Table 4.5 Total mean scores of learning context-related factors 44 Table 4.6 Learning context-related factors 45 Table 4.7 Total mean scores of teacher-related factors 46 Table 4.8 Teacher-related factors 46 Table 4.9 Correlations 48 CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION 1.1. Background to the study It is clearly evident that English is the greatest language spoken universally when one out of five people can speak or at least understand it. According to Crystal (1997), it is estimated that there are 380 million native speakers and 300 million that utilize English as a second language and an additional 100 million who use it as a foreign language. Furthermore, Graddol (1997) states that English has also been considered the language of science, aviation, computers, diplomacy, and tourism. In terms of knowledge, English is a major window that helps people get information and broaden their horizons. It indicates that without English, one can hardly attain the amount of information he needs if he wants to conduct research himself. In addition, in this modern era, as a global language, there is no denying that English plays a vital role in international interactions which include economic relationships among countries, international business relationships, global trading, and others. According to Sneddon (2003), English mainly acts as a global lingua franca that is used to communicate among different people from different countries. Consequently, having a good command of English is undoubtedly of necessity as it is the key to unlock one’s highest potential in the future world. As the number of English learners is increasing, different teaching methods have been implemented to evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching progress. For many decades, language teaching and learning have been dominated by grammar- based approaches with traditional classroom activities. However, these methods of teaching have received little demand. As a reaction to this matter, a notion of communicative competence was developed. The approach later came to be known as Communicative language teaching (CLT). Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT), on the other hand, does not have a clear definition, but some proponents present it as the logical development of CLT because its basic principles were derived from the CLT movement of the 1980s (Littlewood, 2007). TBLT is an approach that provides students with opportunities to engage actively in 1 communication to achieve a goal or complete a task. The use of this method in class usually brings real-life work that allows the practice of all the language abilities, especially speaking. Ellis (2009) points out that this methodology focuses on the integration of language learning where students are expected to conduct creative activities, infer meaning from readings and oral messages, and communicate their ideas well. Thus, learners themselves are put in a real situation where oral communication is needed. In addition, Willis (1996) focuses on the importance of this approach because it emphasizes authenticity and communicative activities. For them, when TBLT is applied in class, learners are assigned active roles while learning and reflections are constant. Hence, it is obvious that TBLT enhances students’ communicative competence with the use of authentic language, daily-life activities, and the chance of practicing the target language constantly. In Vietnam, as Le (2007) states that since the economic and political reforms were launched in 1986, English has been regarded as a vital foreign language. As the number of foreign people coming to Vietnam to work and invest has dramatically been increasing, the significance of English has been widely recognized by not only the government but also its citizens. The growth of international businesses and trade has motivated Vietnamese people to improve their language skills among their counterparts. Consequently, English has become a compulsory subject at secondary schools, followed by high schools, colleges, and eventually universities around the country. There has also been a boom in language centers across the country. The main concern of teaching English to students at secondary school and primary school is mostly on grammar, vocabulary as well as sentence structures while conversational English is not fully taken into consideration. Besides, examinations are mainly grammar focused. Hence, English teaching and learning is purely examination-based. This leads to the fact that students gradually lose their interest in acquiring the new language and fail to speak fluent English. When it comes to the university level, the progress of teaching and learning English seems much positive when students have more chances to produce the language and improve the skills equally. 2 In recent years, there have been a lot of changes and improvements in teaching methodologies at Ba Ria-Vung Tau University (BVU), especially in the area of the communicative approach. Teachers pay more attention to apply and integrate communicative lessons into the English learning classrooms to provide students with real-life context for the purpose of better communication. As a result, in today classrooms, it can be seen that more and more learners’ responses take place. However, when the non-English-majored students here need to express their ideas and thoughts in English, they fail to develop their English-speaking competence, making themselves misunderstood in many circumstances. Thus, to most of the nonEnglish majored students at BVU, English is not an easy subject. 1.2. Statement of the problem The non-English-majored students at BVU are studying the course book LIFE presented by National Geographic. LIFE is a general English course with six levels. It consists of a full package which is really useful. For students, they can make full use of student’s books, online homework, and workbooks at the same time. Besides, as for teachers, they can take advantage of teacher’s books, extra materials from the websites, especially interactive whiteboard, and the assessment CD-ROM. Normally, one book is used for 2 semesters for students from beginners to students of B1 level according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). When taking the English courses, students are provided with a wide range of practical and appropriate communicative tasks that help them in developing vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, functions, and skills. From different themes and context, vocabulary can be easily taught with an emphasis on key words and word formation in Word focus and Word building sections. In addition, students have a lot of opportunities to put themselves in real-life circumstances and practice daily functions which prepare them a firm base from which they can use English in the real world. However, it is obvious that the nonEnglish-major students here encounter a lot of obstacles while studying this second language. 3 First and foremost, students face challenges in English speaking skills. Le (2011) also examines her research in the same context and points out that the challenges they encounter are due to their learning styles, worries, and language proficiency. When students lack linguistic competence, they do not have enough vocabulary to fully express their ideas in English. They are confused to use the word that they need, then beat about the bush and end up in long pauses and embarrassment. This can lead to the fact that they are unconfident and unwilling to speak English because they are afraid of making mistakes. Once students consider it as a negative factor and try to avoid it as many times as possible, it will result in a lack of active and enthusiastic participation in communicative activities in English in class, making it harder for them to obtain the language. One of the major problems that students at BVU encounter is their attitude towards learning English. Most of them study English from the examination point of view. They just love to focus on the grammar features and exercises that appear in the tests without paying much attention to using authentic language in everyday conversation. Moreover, although they have been taught a number of new words and structures involved in the topic given, they hardly can complete the tasks related to daily context. Another hindering factor to the learning progress of the non-English-majored students at BVU is that they are familiar with the traditional learning methods. In fact, throughout school-years at secondary and high school, students have been accustomed to lecture-style and rote learning which remains the dominant practice. Teacher-centered approaches are the norm, and students seemed conditioned to receive knowledge passively. As a result, students lack confidence in applying learning to practice. When it comes to English, students keep following the same way, making it hard for them to apply the language they have learnt effectively in real situations. Moreover, it is also a big challenge for students to shift from the traditional methods to the new ones such as TBLT, which forces students to make more attempts and efforts in learning. The fact that teachers lack experience in TBLT is one of the difficult problems in implementing TBLT in classrooms. Apparently, when applying the new teaching 4 methods, teachers need to be well-prepared for the changes in teaching methodology. It would be a big challenge for teachers to give students good instructions, provide them with good right answers or direct them towards the next step they could take. However, as Hoang (2016) finds out that due to the Vietnamese tradition of hierarchical order and respect which most Vietnamese learners are expected to live by seems to have a strong impact on students to such a degree that many of them are actually unable to take any initiative at all. In short, there has been a lot of research across many contexts, especially Asian recently to name the challenges posed to English teachers in using TBLT. However, little research has been undertaken to investigate the factors that affect learning engagement for task-based learning of students at universities based on the obstacles they face, which is a gap that this study seeks to fill. 1.3. Aims of the Study This study aims at exploring the factors that affect the learning engagement for TBLT of non-English-majored students in the context of BVU. The specific objectives of the research are as follows: • To determine the learning engagement for TBLT of non-English-majored students at BVU. • To find out the factors that affect learning engagement for TBLT of nonEnglish-majored students at BVU. • To examine if there is any significant relationship in the learning engagement for TBLT and the factors affecting learning engagement for TBLT of non-English-majored students at BVU. 1.4. Research questions In order to achieve the aforementioned objectives, the following research questions must be addressed: 1. To what extent is the learning engagement for TBLT of non-Englishmajored students at BVU? 5