Nhận thức của giáo viên và sinh viên chuyên ngành tiếng anh về các hoạt động giảng dạy thúc đẩy việc học tích cực và việc vận dụng những hoạt động này trong các lớp văn hoạ và văn hoá

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HUE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
------------

TONG THI THUY TRANG

A STUDY ON EFL TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’
PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICES OF ACTIVE
LEARNING-PROMOTED STRATEGIES IN
LITERATURE AND CULTURE CLASSES

MA THESIS IN EDUCATION

HUE, 2012


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HUE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
------------

TONG THI THUY TRANG

A STUDY ON EFL TEACHERS’ AND
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICES
OF ACTIVE LEARNING-PROMOTED
STRATEGIES IN LITERATURE AND
CULTURE CLASSES
FIELD OF STUDY: THEORY AND METHODOLOGY
OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

CODE: 60.14.10

MA THESIS IN EDUCATION
SUPERVISOR: Ph.D PHAM THI HONG NHUNG

HUE, 2012


BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO
ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ
--------

TỐNG THỊ THÙY TRANG

NHẬN THỨC CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ SINH VIÊN
CHUYÊN NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH VỀ CÁC
HOẠT ĐỘNG GIẢNG DẠY THÚC ĐẨY VIỆC
HỌC TÍCH CỰC VÀ VIỆC VẬN DỤNG
NHỮNG HOẠT ĐỘNG NÀY TRONG CÁC LỚP
VĂN HỌC VÀ VĂN HOÁ

CHUYÊN NGÀNH: LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC MÔN TIẾNG
ANH
MÃ SỐ
: 60.14.10

LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ
GIÁO VIÊN HƯỚNG DẪN: T.S PHẠM THỊ HỒNG NHUNG

HUẾ, 2012


STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine. The data and findings
discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission from associates and have not
been published elsewhere.

Author
Tong Thi Thuy Trang


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research project would not have been possible without the support of
many people.
First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my
supervisor, Dr. Pham Thi Hong Nhung, for her whole-hearted guidance, patience,
and academic support at every stage of the development of this study. Without her
encouragement, insightful comments and detailed guidance this thesis would not
have been materialized.
Secondly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank to Prof. Dr. Truong
Vien who inspired me to conduct this research from the initial topic theme “active
learning”.
I would like to send my grateful words to Dr. Truong Bach Le, Dr. Pham Hoa
Hiep, and Dr. Ton Nu Nhu Huong for their advice and support in the early days of
originating my research.
In particular, I am grateful to all the teachers of British and American
literature and culture and students of HUCFL for willingly helping me with the
classroom observations, the questionnaires and the interviews during the important
stage of data collection.

Finally, I wish to express my love and gratitude to my beloved family, my
teachers and my friends for their understanding, endless love and support
throughout the duration of my study.

Hue, August, 2012


TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .....................................................................................5
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ...........................................................................6
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................7
CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................8
1.2. Reasons for the research .................................................................................10
1.3. Objectives of the research ...............................................................................12
1.4. Significance of the research ............................................................................12
1.5. Research questions ..........................................................................................13
1.6. Research scope ................................................................................................13
1.7. Overview of the thesis.....................................................................................13
CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................15
2.1. Definition of key concepts ..............................................................................15
2.1.1. Perception................................................................................................. 15
2.1.2. Active learning ......................................................................................... 16
2.1.3. Active learning and student-centered approach ....................................... 17
2.1.4. Active learning-promoted strategies ........................................................ 18
2.2. Active learning framework .............................................................................18
2.2.1. Nature of the learning process ................................................................. 18
2.2.2. The significance of teachers’ and students’ perceptions of language
learning............................................................................................................... 20
2.2.2.1. The significance of students’ perceptions of language learning .........20
2.2.2.2. The significance of teachers’ perceptions of language teaching ........21

2.2.3. Role of active learning ............................................................................. 22
2.2.3.1. Role of active learning in higher education ........................................23
2.2.3.2. The advantages of active learning ......................................................23
2.2.4. Features of active learning- promoted strategies ..................................... 27
2.3. Major active language learning-promoted strategies ......................................28

1


2.4. Factors influencing the implementation of active learning-promoted strategies
................................................................................................................................36
2.4.1. Heavy course contents ............................................................................. 36
2.4.2. Time for preparation ................................................................................ 37
2.4.3. Class size .................................................................................................. 37
2.4.4. Lack of materials and resources supporting ALPS .................................. 37
2.4.5. Teachers and students’ perceptions or experiences ................................. 38
2.4.6. Other factors ............................................................................................. 38
2.5. Relevant studies on language learning-promoted strategies ...........................39
2.5.1. Previous studies on ALPS ........................................................................ 39
2.5.2. Relevant studies on active learning promoted strategies in Vietnamese
teaching context ................................................................................................. 40
CHAPTER 3 - METHODOLOGY ...........................................................................43
3.1. Research questions ..........................................................................................43
3.2. Research approach ..........................................................................................43
3.3. Instruments of data collection .........................................................................44
3.3.1. The questionnaire ..................................................................................... 44
3.3.2. The interview ........................................................................................... 45
3.3.3. The observation ........................................................................................ 46
3.4. Participants ......................................................................................................46
3.4.1. Teachers’ teaching profile (background) ................................................. 47

3.4.2. Students’ background............................................................................... 48
3.5. Procedure of data collection ............................................................................48
3.5.1. Pilot study ................................................................................................ 48
3.5.2. Questionnaire collection .......................................................................... 49
3.5.3. Classroom observation ............................................................................. 49
3.5.4. Teacher and student interviews ................................................................ 50
3.6. Data analysis ...................................................................................................50
3.7. Conclusion.......................................................................................................51

2


CHAPTER 4 - FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .....................................................52
4.1. Data obtained through questionnaires .............................................................52
4.1.1. Teachers’ perceptions of ALPS ............................................................... 52
4.1.1.1. Teachers’ general perceptions of traditional teaching ....................... 53
4.1.1.2. Teachers’ perceptions of ALPS ..........................................................54
4.1.2. Students’ perceptions of ALPS ................................................................ 57
4.1.3 The ALPS employed in literature and culture classes .............................. 60
4.1.3.1. The ALPS employed in literature and culture classes from teachers’
questionnaire ....................................................................................................60
4.1.3.2. The ALPS employed in literature and culture classes from students’
questionnaire ....................................................................................................63
4.1.4. Students’ responses to ALPS implemented in literature and culture classes
............................................................................................................................ 68
4.1.5. Activities recommended to be applied in literature and culture classes by
students............................................................................................................... 71
4.1.6. Factors influencing teachers’ implementation of ALPS .......................... 72
4.1.6.1. Factors greatly influencing teachers’ implementation of ALPS.........74
4.1.6.2. Other factors influencing teachers’ implementation of ALPS ...........76

4.2. Data obtained from interviews and classroom observations...........................76
4.2.1. Teachers’ perceptions of ALPS ............................................................... 77
4.2.1.1. Teachers’ perceptions of the practicability of ALPS ..........................77
4.2.1.2. Teachers’ perceptions on advantages of ALPS ..................................79
4.2.2. Students’ perceptions of ALPS ................................................................ 80
4.2.3. ALPS employed in literature and culture classes .................................... 81
4.2.3.1. ALPS employed in literature classes ..................................................81
4.2.3.2. ALPS employed in culture classes......................................................82
4.2.4. Factors influencing teachers’ implementation of ALPS .......................... 84
4.3. Conclusion.......................................................................................................87
CHAPTER 5 - CONCLUSION ................................................................................89
5.1. Summary of major findings ............................................................................89
3


5.1.1. Teachers’ and students’ perceptions of ALPS ......................................... 89
5.1.2. Practices of ALPS in literature and culture classes ................................. 89
5.1.3. Students’ responses to ALPS implemented in literature and culture classes
............................................................................................................................ 90
5.1.4. Factors influencing teachers’ implementation of ALPS .......................... 91
5.2. Implications .....................................................................................................91
5.2.1. Implications for teachers .......................................................................... 91
5.2.2. Implications for students .......................................................................... 93
5.2.3. Implications for administrators at college ............................................... 94
5.3. Contributions of the study ...............................................................................94
5.4. Limitations ......................................................................................................95
5.5. Suggestions for further research .....................................................................96
5.6. Conclusion.......................................................................................................96
REFERENCES ..........................................................................................................98
APPENDICES

4


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EFL: English as a Foreign Language
TESOL: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
ELT: English Language Teaching
ALPS: Active learning- promoted strategies
SPSS: Statistical Package for the Social Sciences
HUCFL: Hue University College of Foreign Languages

5


LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Table 3.1. Teachers’ teaching profile
Table 4.1. Mean scores of teachers’ perceptions on traditional lecture method
Table 4.2. Teachers’ perception on teaching and learning
Table 4.3. Students’ attitudes and expectations towards teaching and learning
Table 4.4. Frequency of ALPS employment in literature and culture class
Table 4.5. Comparison of teachers’ and students’ responses of ALPS employment
Table 4.6. Reasons for the teachers’ current implementation of ALPS
Table 4.7. Reasons for not applying several ALPS
Table 4.8. Reasons for students’ satisfaction with ALPS current employed in class
Table 4.9. Factors influencing teachers’ implementation of ALPS
Table 4.10. An extract of the checklist on classroom condition
Figure 4.1. Teachers’ perceptions on benefits of ALPS
Figure 4.2. Teachers’ perceptions on difficulties of ALPS employment

Figure 4.3 Percentage of students’ perceptions of benefits of ALPS
Figure 4.4 Students’ perceptions of the importance of active learning
Figure 4.5 Frequency of ALPS often implemented in literature and culture classes
Figure 4.6 ALPS employment in literature and culture classes
Figure 4.7. Students’ responses to ALPS implemented in class
Figure 4.8a Factors greatly influencing teachers’ implementation of ALPS
Figure 4.8b Mean scores of factors greatly influencing teachers’ implementation of
ALPS

6


ABSTRACT
Through the investigation with 10 teachers and 120 students of Hue University
College of Foreign Languages (HUCFL) including the questionnaires, classroom
observations and semi-structured interviews, this study aimed to assess EFL
teachers’ and students’ perceptions of active learning-promoted strategies (ALPS),
to explore ALPS adopted frequently by teachers, as well as to consider the factors
influencing the practices of ALPS in literature and culture classes. The findings
revealed that most teachers and students had positive attitudes toward ALPS and its
application, such as when “question and answer”, “group work”, “discussion”,
“quizzes” and “films” were applied frequently in literature and culture classes. The
results also indicated that the current limited employment of ALPS in these classes
was mainly influenced by local barriers such as large class size, students’ negative
attitudes toward learning and heavy course content. Some implications and
suggestions for further research were provided in the conclusion to encourage
teachers to apply more ALPS in their classes.

7

CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION

1.1.

Background
If the four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing, are considered as

the fundamental skills belonging to linguistic competence that a language learner
needs to master, literature and culture make the learner come closer to the target
language and enhance his/her sociolinguistic/pragmatics competence. Therefore,
knowledge of literature and culture is extremely necessary for any language learner
to obtain real proficiency and approach the goal of integrating into the target
community. Accordingly, teaching and learning literature and culture in EFL
classes are as crucial as building the walls and completing the decoration for the
frame of a building since “literature trains every learner to develop love for reading
and most important, develop reading and writing skills” (Ebunoluwa et al, 2011, p.
261) and “culture acts as the flesh and language as the skeleton of a society”
(Mohammad, M. Yavuz & Elham, 2012, p. 69).
However, in EFL classes in the Vietnamese teaching context, teaching and
learning literature and culture have not really attracted the full attention of both
teachers and students in terms of teaching and learning methodology. In fact, many
teachers of literature and culture who were taught with “black board and white
chalk” seemed to focus too much on the traditional teaching methods. This is where
teachers lecture, talk or present overcrowded slides and students passively listen to
such packed- information and try to take notes carefully every word their teachers
said. At the same time, students make all possible efforts to memorize what their
teachers have said and learn everything by heart before the final exams. This is
because as Pham (2011) explained, “students believe that they must memorize all
the information that was presented in class if they want to pass the exams” (p. 7).

However, what is going on at an amazing speed outside the classroom in this age of
information technology requires much more than this of teachers and students.

8


More specifically, they need to be able to adapt their teaching and learning styles/
skills to be as active and flexible as possible.
In addition, the literature points out that the lecture teaching approach
unconsciously makes students become passive and dependent learners who lack
responsibility for their own learning (Hansen & Stephens, 2000; Machemer &
Crawford, 2007) ( as cited in Covill, 2011) and prevents them from deep and lasting
learning (Eison, 2010). Meanwhile, a lot of research indicates that students only
learn best when they are actively involved in the learning process through
differentiate active teaching activities or strategies, which hardly happens in the
traditional lecture- style class (Bonwell & Sutherland, 1996).
Hence, it is high time for EFL teachers and students who prefer the
traditional approach to look back at their current teaching and learning methods and
find more appropriate ways to promote active teaching and learning by combining
different strategies rather than relying on the traditional approach. This can be done
by fostering students’ active learning through paying more attention to them and
their learning process rather than only covering the content of the lesson and by
encouraging students to actively interact with the materials as well as their peers
(Morrison, 2004). More precisely, teachers should take advantage of all the positive
aspects of lectures and “reduce or erase” the negative ones. This can be done by
using some simple active learning techniques to make lectures more interactive such
as diversifying the ways of delivering lectures, using visual stimulation or “varying
what students do in a lecture” as recommended by Exley (2010). If EFL Vietnamese
teachers of literature and culture can ensure a balance between imparting the
content of the lessons and promoting students’ active learning, the real quality of

teaching and learning such subjects will be improved considerably. This also partly
enables teachers and students to keep up with the innovations and new trends of
world education because, like Eison’s conclusion (2010),“employing active learning
instructional strategies” means “ to maximize student learning in the college or
university classroom”(p. 2).

9


1.2.

Reasons for the research
In EFL classes in Vietnam, apart from the four language skills: speaking,

listening, reading and writing, English major students also have to learn a number of
content courses such as linguistics, culture, literature and so forth. This often
includes a large amount of information in the form of long reading texts. In
particular, during at least 90-minute British American literature and culture classes,
teachers are pressured to implement lecture-based approach as their main method to
save the time and to ensure they cover all the content of each lesson. As a result,
students are accustomed to sitting listening passively to their teacher’s lecture and
classmate’s ideas, or only raising their voices to answer some appointed questions
once in a while. Such a traditional teaching and learning style seems to be oldfashioned in today’s world of information technology and today’s active students’
lifestyles. Therefore, today’s generation of teachers and students has perceived the
necessity of incorporating different kinds of strategies and activities into British and
American literature and culture classes in order to promote students’ involvement
and active learning to some extent. However, the level of implementation of such
teaching strategies into the classrooms is still in question because it depends on
many objective and subjective factors such as the teacher’s teaching experiences
and teaching style, the students’ attitudes, the classroom conditions, the

supplementary materials, and so on.
Additionally, teaching literature and culture to English major students is an
integral part in the training curriculum at colleges and universities in Vietnam.
Nevertheless, in reality, teachers still face a lot of difficulties from students, which
leads to unexpected results in teaching from teachers. For instance, according to
Hoang’s study (2008), in some classes, students are not really interested in learning
American literature; some students do not like to take part in activities and just keep
silent. Others tend to work individually or to be passive and dependent on other
students or on their teacher in literature periods. Of course, the teachers who are
really interested in teaching and have a strong desire to change their teaching
situation have been making strong efforts to better achieve this. Nonetheless, the
10


success in increasing students’ involvement in various activities that promote active
learning during literature and culture classes depends too much on teachers’
perceptions of the importance, as well as the necessity, of incorporating different
active learning-promoted strategies in these classes. For example, for those who are
aware of the need to modify their traditional teaching methods in view of a new
generation of students, they are not afraid of exploiting different teaching
techniques to improve the teaching quality of each class. Whereas, teachers who are
satisfied with their current teaching methods and preferred the traditional lecture
style usually repeat the same teaching techniques day after day. In addition,
students’ attitudes towards what teachers employ also provide teachers’ motivation
as they endeavor to find the appropriate methods for each lesson.
Indeed, there have been a lot of studies on the success and failure in teaching
and learning the four skills in EFL classes at college in the local context. However,
these studies have rarely focused on EFL teachers’ and students’ perceptions of
employing teaching strategies to promote students’ active learning in literature and
culture classes at colleges or universities in Vietnam.

Consequently, there should be more research on active learning in the
Vietnamese teaching context to exploit the benefits of active learning techniques to
supplement the traditional lecture teaching method at the university level. This
should be done in order to “shift the focus from the teacher and delivery of course
content to the students and active engagement with the material” (Instruction, 2010,
p. 75).
From the above arguments, the researcher would like to conduct this study to
consider firstly whether EFL teachers in Vietnam have combined different teaching
techniques when teaching the major subjects like literature and culture or whether
they have just used the traditional lecture method. More precisely, I want to know
what EFL Vietnamese teachers and students think of active learning-promoted
strategies and whether they have applied any kind of active learning-promoted
strategies in their literature and culture classes. I also would like to know which
factors hindering their application of active learning techniques in these classes. In
11


addition, this research takes students’ perceptions of active learning into
consideration as well and examines whether they follow or support the active
learning activities that their teachers included in these classes.
1.3. Objectives of the research
The purpose of this study is to investigate the perceptions and practices of
active learning-promoted strategies in literature and culture classes of Hue
University College of Foreign Languages (HUCFL).
To achieve the main purpose, the following specific objectives have been set.
 To assess EFL teachers’ and students’ perceptions of active learningpromoted strategies in literature and culture classes.
 To explore active learning-promoted strategies that EFL teachers have
employed in literature and culture classes.
 To examine EFL students’ responses to the active learning-promoted
strategies that their teachers have incorporated in literature and culture

classes.
 To consider the factors influencing the practices of active learning-promoted
strategies in literature and culture classes.
1.4. Significance of the research
The research aims at investigating EFL teachers’ and students’ perceptions
and practices of active learning-promoted strategies in literature and culture classes
of HUCFL. It is hoped that the findings of this study may have the following
significances. First, it provides more information on active learning at college in
general and active learning-promoted strategies in EFL classes in particular. It may
also strengthen previous studies that focus on the advantages of active learningpromoted strategies in teaching content courses like literature and culture. Second,
practically, it may raise teachers’ awareness on the use of active learning-promoted
strategies in teaching English major subjects. Third, methodologically, it may
contribute to improving EFL teaching methodology to some extent. Besides, it may
encourage syllabus designers to consider active learning- promoted strategies in the

12


process of designing syllabus. Finally, for further research, the study may be used as
a supporting document for further study in this area.
1.5. Research questions
To achieve the objectives mentioned above, this project seeks to answers
these following questions:
1. What are EFL teachers’ and students’ perceptions of active learningpromoted strategies?
2. What active learning-promoted strategies do EFL teachers employ in
literature and culture classes?
3. How do EFL students respond to these active learning-promoted strategies in
literature and culture classes?
4. What factors influence the practices of active learning-promoted strategies in
literature and culture classes?

1.6. Research scope
This research is confined to university EFL teachers and English major
students from the second year to the fourth year at Hue University College of
Foreign Languages, particularly to the teachers who have been teaching literature
and culture to EFL students. The collected information from these teachers and
students will describe the teachers and students’ perceptions of active learningpromoted strategies in literature and culture classes. Additionally, it may reflect the
reality of the employment of active learning-promoted strategies of teachers and
students of HUCFL in literature and culture classes. Besides that, the factors
causing the obstacles of using active learning-promoted strategies in these classes
will be analyzed in this study.
1.7. Overview of the thesis
The thesis consists of five chapters which are briefly described in a review
of their titles and contents as follows:
Chapter 1. Introduction

13


This chapter serves as an introduction to the key elements of the whole thesis. It
includes the background of the study and explains the reasons why the researcher
pursues this area. The research questions are raised and the composition of the
thesis is outlined.
Chapter 2. Literature Review
This chapter attempts to review some studies related to two main subjects of the
research, the use of active learning-promoted strategies in tertiary education and the
active learning-promoted strategies commonly employed in lectures. The terms and
notions will be defined. The prominent aspects of the main theme will be selectively
presented and discussed. Implications concerning theoretical and methodological
paradigms for the current ELT situation in Vietnam will be suggested based on the

analysis of relevant research.
Chapter 3. Research methodology
The third chapter discusses the nature of research in education. The reason to
choose qualitative and quantitative research methods is presented. The participants,
the tools and the whole procedure of data collection and analysis are described.
Chapter 4. Findings and discussions
Main results and data collected from teachers and students are reported and
discussed under the main aspects covered in the research questions. Teachers’ and
students’ views of active learning-promoted strategies as well as the practices of
active learning-promoted strategies are analyzed to prove a comprehensive picture
of the current teaching and learning situation in literature and culture classes at
HUCFL.
Chapter 5. Conclusion
The last chapter of the thesis briefly presents the results of the study and offers some
implications for ELT. Suggestions for further research are also included.

14


CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter presents the theoretical background of the study. It first
discusses the definition of key concepts fundamental to the current research.
Secondly, active learning framework is also analyzed in order to provide a general
understanding of the issues on active learning-promoted strategies. Thirdly, the
factors which influence the implementation of active learning-promoted strategies
as well as the employment of active learning promoted strategies in Vietnamese
teaching context will be addressed. The rest of the chapter reviews some relevant
studies on language learning-promoted strategies.
2.1. Definition of key concepts
With the aim of investigating teachers’ and students’ perceptions as well as

their practices of active learning-promoted strategies in literature and culture
classes, major concepts including perception, active learning, student centered
approach and active learning-promoted strategies are defined as follows.
2.1.1. Perception
The term “perception” or belief can be found in most research on education,
especially in TESOL field. However, hardly ever have there been clear definitions
of perceptions in the literature (Pajares, 1992, cited in Arnett & Turnbull, 2007).
Therefore, with a limited consensus on the definition of this term, only significant
definitions of perceptions are reviewed in this section.
Psychologically, perception is the process by which organisms interpret and
organize sensation (through five sensory receptors eyes, ears, nose, tongue, or skin)
to produce a meaningful experience of the world (Lindsay &Norman, 1977) and
such perceived will be analyzed before we make any decisions (Babitski, n.d).
Therefore, what a person experienced affected their thoughts and behaviors toward
the world around them.
However, the most really working definition of perception (belief) for this
study appeared in Tayjasanant and Barnard’s study (2010) as “a proposition which
an individual subjectively forms or acquires in a culturally specific environment

15


and strongly holds to guide his or her behaviors” (p. 284).With this definition, the
social cultural environment that a person lives in and experiences through his/ her
subjective viewpoints contribute to form a person’s perception.
In short, perception can be understood as the thoughts, ideas that a person
possesses and obtains through experiences in a certain living environment and it
greatly influences and directs their actions and decisions.
2.1.2. Active learning
Active learning is not a new term in education because it exists in almost

studies from education to cognitive science, psychology, and so forth (Bell &
Kahrhoff, 2006). It is considered as an umbrella term because it has “different
meanings and different degrees of emphasis in different subject areas and for
different groups of learners” (Kane, 2004, p. 276). That is why the definitions of
active learning are as various as its studies in different fields and common
definitions on active learning are reviewed for the purpose of the present study.
Regardless of the fact that the term “active learning” may make the readers
associate a really vague learning method, however, it is the long-term goal that any
educations at any levels or teachers are making a great deal of effort to reach; a
teaching and learning process is happening every day here and there used by the
today’s teachers and students generation. For instance, with the simplest meaning,
active learning can be understood as any supplementary activities teachers
incorporate into classroom along with lecture teaching method for the purpose of
helping students be more active learners in the process of constructing their own
knowledge and developing various necessary skills adequately (Bell & Kahrhoff,
2006). According to this definition, any teachers have applied the so-called active
learning teaching activities in some extent or another, which depends on their own
local teaching context.
More specifically, Faust and Paulson (1998), and Eison (2010) added a list of
activities or techniques when mentioning “active learning” such as small group
discussion, role playing, hands-on projects, and teacher driven questioning, and so

16


forth which make the students be active listeners and the teacher lecture less instead
to direct the students to “discover” the material when they work with other students.
In terms of learning environment in which the teaching and learning take
place, Eison (2010) came into conclusions that “active learning strategies can be
completed by students either in- class or out- of- class, be done by students working

either as individual or in group, and can be done either with or without the use of
technology tools” (p. 1). In this sense, such teaching strategies or activities not only
promote students’ learning in class but make them be more responsible for their
own learning outside the class and teachers at all ages with more or less
professional experiences might also have the same ability to use such activities with
or without technological aids.
From the above definitions, the term “active learning” in this research is
used with the senses as students’ active engagement in every classroom activities
through various teaching techniques and methods used by the teacher in lectures as
well as students’ responsibility of learning outside of class.
2.1.3. Active learning and student-centered approach
From the definition of active learning presented, it can be recognized that the
aim of active learning quite coincides with the purpose of the student-centered
approach (learner-centered approach) which is contrary to the traditional teaching
method that overemphasizes on the dominant role of the teacher (teacher-centered
approach). Therefore, it is impossible to discuss active learning issues without
mentioning student-centered (learner centered) approach.
Student-centered approach is a familiar term in ELT and EFL teaching context
which is based on the concept that the student is central in the learning process
(Coombe & Kinney, 1999). Students are individual learners who come to their
classroom with “their perceived needs, motivations, past experiences, background
knowledge, interests, and creative skills”. Students are active participants rather than
passive recipients of knowledge. They are responsible for their learning in making
their own decisions in choosing “what is to be learned, through which activities, and
at what pace” and may be an authentic source of teaching and learning in producing
17


materials and providing realia for the classroom. Teachers, on the other hand, are
seen as “facilitators, helpers, and resources with a decentralized role” (Campbell &

Kryszewska, 1992) (as cited in Coombe & Kinney, 1999).
Apparently, student-centered approach and active learning show a
considerable overlap in putting students and their learning in the centre of the
teaching and learning process, fostering students’ learning by encouraging students
to be actively engaged in a variety of activities, encouraging teachers and students’
creativity and innovation, promoting interactions and relationships among students
themselves (Dolisso, 2006).
2.1.4. Active learning-promoted strategies
As an integral part of active learning, “active-learning promoted strategies”
(ALPS) or active learning techniques are any activities or teaching strategies that a
teacher incorporates into the classroom to stimulate active learning among students
instead of the monologue teaching style-lecture (Faust & Paulson, 1998). According
to this viewpoint, the majority of activities that EFL teachers have applied in their
classroom consisting of any kinds: formal or informal activities, at any teaching
stage or at any levels except for the main traditional lecture teaching method are
ALPS. Therefore, obviously, the frequency of using such activities may be varied
from one teacher to another or from a specific class to another but one certain thing
in the current teaching tendency is that ALPS such as seminars, a kind of group
discussion, assignments and quizzes have been commonly employed to supplement
the lecture courses gradually in today’s classrooms at tertiary level in Vietnam.
Through the key conceptions introduced, the next section will further
interpret the facets of active learning before exploiting the major active learningpromoted strategies.
2.2. Active learning framework
2.2.1. Nature of the learning process
Teaching and learning always go hand in hand as two sides of a coin. In
other words, teaching and learning is a co-related process and is influenced with
each other. True teachers cannot be those who just grasp different teaching methods
18

in theory and conduct teaching like a robot-teaching machine without any
understanding of their learners or any information related to the learning or the
nature of the learning process of their students. Hence, it is vital for teachers to have
in-depth understandings of the nature of the learning process which can be defined.
If learning is considered as an active social process “where learners should
learn to discover principles, concepts and facts for themselves” according to social
constructivist scholars’ view (Brown et al.,1989) , the nature of the learning process
includes four basic insights: (a) Learning is a process of interaction between what is
known and what is to be learnt (that combines our prior knowledge with the
particular information to be learnt), (b) Learning is a social process (where
interactions happen among learners themselves or with teachers), (c) Learning is a
situated process- which means we learn everything in a context, particularly, modern
learning theorists affirmed that what we learn is the context as much as any skills and
processes which we use within that context (Lave & Wenger, 1991) , (d) Learning is
a meta-cognitive process in which the most effective learners are those who have a
degree of awareness about their own levels of understanding of what they are
learning (Wray & Lewis, 1999). In other words, learning is not a simple process of
transferring the knowledge from teachers to students but an active process where
the learner collects information from the environment and constructs his/her
personal understandings, as well as

creates the connection between previous

knowledge and new concepts and apply them to deal with new situations (Roth,
1990; Good & Brophy, 1994; Phillips, 1995)(as cited in Kueker, 2005).
Therefore, teachers or those who work in education need to take these factors
into consideration to provide opportunities and create all convenient conditions to
make the learning process happen in every sense of the word in order to obtain the
most beneficial values in their teaching like Morrison’s explanations (2004, p. 2) –
“learning is an active process”, that is why during this process, at any level students

must be “actively engaged in the class, with the materials, solving problems,
processing information, evaluating evidence, and so on”. This process “can be alone
or with a peer or in a group”, “in class or out of class”.
19


Grasping the nature of the learning process does not create necessary and
sufficient conditions for teachers’ success in their teaching profession, perceptions
not only play an important part in choosing of the appropriate teaching methods,
bettering the teaching quality, further professional development but affect students’
attitudes and interests towards their learning as well. Consequently, understanding
the nature of the learning process is as crucial as knowing how important teachers
and students’ perceptions affect language learning and teaching.
2.2.2. The significance of teachers’ and students’ perceptions of language
teaching and learning
2.2.2.1. The significance of students’ perceptions of language learning
No one can deny the importance of perceptions in a person’s life, especially
in making decisions, directing their actions and behaviors. There is no exception for
students and teachers in learning and teaching. Obviously, perceptions will also
influence language learning and teaching to some extent. Firstly, in terms of
students, in particular, according to Horwitz’s experience (2007), “students’ beliefs
(perceptions) could facilitate or impede the learning process”. In addition, studying
students’ perceptions is quite useful for teachers and researchers to understand why
some language learners were more successful than others (Horwitz, 2007). More
importantly,

“learner beliefs are also important to the success of classroom

language teaching because a number of relationships have been found between
beliefs and other individual difference variables related to language learning”

(Horwitz, 2007, p. 5). For example, in an interview with advanced learners of
English from various language backgrounds, Wenden (1987) found that using
English learning strategies of these students is consistent with their perceptions
about language learning (as cited in Horwitz, 2007). In fact, any EFL teachers can
easily recognize that those who believe knowing a lot of grammar rules is
successful in language learning will choose learning as many grammatical points as
possible or those who think the ability of communication in a language will decide
the learner’s success tend to focus on learning speaking and listening skills. This

20