Nghiên cứu thực trạng dạy tiếng Anh cho học sinh lớp 10 của Trường THPT Đồng Hỷ Nghiên cứu trường hợp điển hình

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

LUÂN THỊ PHƯƠNG HẢO

THE CURRENT SITUATION OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING
TO THE 10-FORM STUDENTS AT DONG HY SECONDARY
SCHOOL: A CASE STUDY

Nghiên cứu thực trạng dạy tiếng Anh cho học sinh lớp 10
của Trường THPT Đồng Hỷ: Nghiên cứu trường hợp điển hình

M.A. MINOR THESIS
FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60 14 10
SUPERVISOR: Prof. Dr. HOÀNG VĂN VÂN

HA NOI - 2010


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

LUÂN THỊ PHƯƠNG HẢO

THE CURRENT SITUATION OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING
TO THE 10-FORM STUDENTS AT DONG HY SECONDARY
SCHOOL: A CASE STUDY

Nghiên cứu thực trạng dạy tiếng Anh cho học sinh lớp 10
của Trường THPT Đồng Hỷ: Nghiên cứu trường hợp điển hình

M.A. MINOR THESIS
FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60 14 10

HA NOI - 2010


Table of contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABSTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND TABLES
PART A: INTRODUCTION
I. Rationale .......................................................................................................................... 1
II. Aims of the study ........................................................................................................... 2
II. Scope of the study .......................................................................................................... 2
IV. Methods of the study .................................................................................................... 2
V. Design of the study ........................................................................................................ 3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Communicative activities .......................................................................................... 4
1.1.1. Definition of a communicative activity .............................................................. 4
1.1.2. Characteristics of a good communicative activity .............................................. 5
1.2. Communicative language teaching .......................................................................... 6
1.2.1. Brief history of CLT ........................................................................................... 6
1.2.2. CLT definition .................................................................................................... 6
1.2.3. The principles of CLT......................................................................................... 8

1.2.4. The characteristics of CLT ................................................................................. 9
1.2.5. Conditions related to CLT ............................................................................... 10
1.3. Advantages of using CLT ........................................................................................ 12
1.4. Problems of applying CLT ...................................................................................... 12
1.5. Previous studies related to CLT ............................................................................. 13
Chapter 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
2.1. Background of the study ......................................................................................... 15
2.1.1. Description of the students ............................................................................... 15
2.1.2. Description of the teachers ............................................................................... 15
2.1.3. Setting of the study ........................................................................................... 18


2.2. Research methodology ............................................................................................ 16
2.2.1. Subjects ............................................................................................................. 16
2.2.2. The classroom observation ............................................................................... 16
2.2.3. The instruments................................................................................................. 17
2.3. Presentation of statistical results ............................................................................ 17
2.3.1. Results of questionnaires .................................................................................. 17
2.3.2. Results of the class observations ...................................................................... 28
Chapter 3: Findings and recommendation ...................................................................... 33
3.1. Findings..................................................................................................................... 33
3.1.1. Difficulties from students ................................................................................ 33
3.1.2. Difficulties from teachers ................................................................................ 34
3.1.3. Difficulties from the testing ............................................................................ 34
3.1.4. Difficulties from environment ......................................................................... 35
3.2. Recommendations .................................................................................................... 35
3.2.1. For the students ................................................................................................. 35
3.2.2. For the teachers ................................................................................................. 37
3.2.3. Reform of the testing ........................................................................................ 37
3.2.4. Improving the environment .............................................................................. 38

PART C: CONCLUSION
1. Summary of the study ................................................................................................... 39
2. Limitations and suggestions study of the study ............................................................ 39
FREFERENCES
APPENDICES

.


List of abbreviations
CLT

: Communicative Language Teaching

ELT

: English Language Teaching

DH

: Dong Hy


List of tables

Table 1: Teachers’ ages ....................................................................................................... 17
Table 2: Teachers’ years of teaching English ..................................................................... 18
Table 3: Teachers’ CLT training background ..................................................................... 18
Table 4: Teachers’ opinions about method ......................................................................... 19
Table 5: Teachers’ information about the enrichment of knowledge on CLT .................... 19

Table 6: Teachers’ information about perception on CLT.................................................. 20
Table 7: Teachers’ point of view about CLT ...................................................................... 20
Table 8: Teachers’ understanding about CLT ..................................................................... 22
Table 9: The frequency of activities used in the classroom ................................................ 24
Table 10: Teachers’ error correction ................................................................................... 25
Table 11: The frequency of change the position of students’ seat, tables and benches for
the lesson situations. .......................................................................................... 25
Table 12: Teachers’ opinions about the currently- used textbook. ..................................... 26
Table 13: Teachers’ difficulties in their teaching ............................................................... 27
Table 14: Teachers’ self-assessment of their application of CLT....................................... 28
Table 15: Classroom observation (teacher 1)...................................................................... 29
Table 16: Classroom observation (teacher 2)...................................................................... 30
Table 17: Classroom observation (teacher 3)...................................................................... 31


1

Part A: Introduction

I. Retionale of the stuty
It can‟t be denied that today English is the most widely used means of
communication around the world. English is important in almost all sectors, including
education, business, industry, and science. About fifteen years ago, English is compulsory
given in our secondary school curriculum and widely taught in our colleges and
universities.
Many different methodologies have been used by English language teaching in our
country; such as, the grammar translation, the direct method . . . however our students still
find it hard to communicate in real life situation. So speaking skill, as a production and
interaction skill, is especially paid attention to.
Many years ago, teaching language and especially teaching English in Vietnam

experienced many difficulties and we could see this clearly in the secondary school. The
curriculum is not unified. Tests are not suitable to teaching so it makes learners despondent
in studying. Teachers are not adequately trained. Students lack motive learning. Books are
not communication-based. Learners do not have many chances to use language to
communicate with each other although they remember a lot of words, structures and
understand grammar well. Teachers mainly teach vocabulary and grammar, etc.
However in 2006, the New English textbook for grade 10 (English 10) has been used
to teach next to English 6, English 7, English 8 and English 9 instead of the old textbooks.
English 10 is compiled based on “Themes” and follows two current approaches the
learner-centered approach and communicative language teaching (CLT). English 10
contains sixteen teaching units. Each teaching unit consists of five 45-minute periods with
four skills: reading, speaking, listening, and writing skill, and a language focus lesson. In
the units, teachers teach learners to use language fluently in communication stead of
presenting the exact language about grammar, vocabulary. This new trend has opened
more chances for students to improve their spoken language. Students have chances to
listen to both native and non-native English speakers from the tapes, CDs accompanied
with the book.
In order to having a look at situation realistically about the usefulness and application
of the new method - Communicative language teaching (CLT) in English language


2
teaching at the secondary school through three school years. In this study, as a teacher of
the school, I would like to investigate the current teaching situation of the 10th form
students at Dong Hy Secondary School.
II. Aims of the study
The study is aimed at finding out the English language teaching and learning at Dong
Hy Secondary School in Thai Nguyen. It is expected that the study will be referred to
testimony necessity in improving those facts. To be more specific of purposes in this study are:
- To investigate the current situation of English language teaching at Dong Hy

Secondary School by focusing on studying the following conditions: the teachers with their
perceptions of CLT and their CLT practical application, the examination, the new English
text book, the students and the teaching and learning environment.
- To find out difficulties that the teachers of English at Dong Hy Secondary School
experience when applying CLT.
- To offer some suggestions on how to improve the quality of teaching English when
using CLT.
III. Scope of the study
The study focuses on the investigation of teaching English at Dong Hy Secondary
School in Thai Nguyen when applying CLT approach. As set in the aims of the study, I
limited to focus on studying the following contents: the teachers with their perceptions of
CLT and their CLT practical application, the examination, the new English textbook, the
students and the teaching and learning environment.
Due to the limit of time and within the scope of an M.A minor thesis, only grade 10
students and six teachers at Dong Hy Secondary Schools in Thai Nguyen are chosen as the
participants of the study.
IV. Methods of the study
In order to complete this thesis, the quantitative method was used to collect the
needed data from the participants.
- The questionaire was for six teachers at Dong Hy Secondary School.
- The class observations were conducted. Three classrooms were chosen at random
for observation (with no attempt to select the best or the most experienced teachers as well


3
as the best or the weakest students).
All comments, remarks, recommendations, and conclusions given in this study were
based on the data analysis.
V. Design of the study
The thesis consists of three parts.

Part A - Introduction- Presents the rationale, the aim, scope, methods, and
design of the study.
Part B - Development- consists of three chapters.
Chapter one-Literature Review- Deals with the theories related to the study:
Communicative activities, Communicative language teaching, Advantages of using CLT in
teaching foreign language, Problems of the application of CLT in teaching English as a
foreign language, Previous studies relating to CLT application, Conditions related to CLT
application.
Chapter two-Research methodologies- Presents the methodology performed in the
study. It provides information about the participants, the instrumentation. Data collection
and findings are also presented in this chapter.
Chapter three-Findings and recommendations. Discusses the data of the study and
propose recommendations for applying CLT in teaching English to grade10 students at DH
secondary school.
Part C: Conclusion- Summarizes all the key issues as well as the limitations of
the study and suggestions for further study.


4

Part b: Development
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter briefly covers the concepts related to the study: communicative
activities, communicative language teaching, advantages of using CLT in teaching foreign
language, problems of the application of CLT in teaching English as a foreign language,
previous studies relating to CLT application, conditions related to CLT application.

1.1. Communicative activities
The aim of a CA in class is to get learners to use the language they are learning to
interact in realistic and meaningful ways, usually involving exchanging of information.

Thus, in order to organize and improve CA the following should be taken into
consideration.
1.1.1. Definition of a communicative activity
According to Harmer (1991), communicative activities are the ones which involve
learning through using language for a communicative purpose. They are the activities in
which learners use the linguistic repertoire they have learnt in order to communicate
specific meanings for specific purposes. Sharing the same definition, Scrivener (1994)
claimed that communicative activities are classroom activities designed to get learners to
speak and listen to one another. In other words, whatever activity the students are involved
in, if it is to be genuinely communicative and if it is really promoting language use, the
students should have a desire to communicate. If they do not want to be involved in
communication then that communication will probably not be effective. The students
should have some kind of communicative purpose. That is to say, they should use language
in some way to achieve an objective. Then their attention should be centered on the content
of what is being said or written not the language form that is being used.


5
1.1.2 Characteristics of a good communicative activity
A communicative activity should have a desire to communicate. When someone asks
a question, they must wish to get some information. There must be either an „information
gap‟ or an „opinion gap‟ or some other reason to communicate. For example, when the
teacher asks students to describe their house, the teacher is creating an artificial
„communicative purpose‟ and making the activity more artificial by asking to do it in
English. The teacher also creates „information gap‟ by giving different information to pairs
of students so that they can have a reason to exchange information.
Another characteristic of a communicative activity is that there is a focus on meaning
not language forms. In real life students do not ask about their friends‟ family in order to
practice „have got‟ forms. They ask the questions because they are interested in the
information. That means what they are interested is the meaning not the language forms.

According to Littlewood (1981, p.17) a good CA can provide „whole-task practice‟,
improve motivation, allow natural learning and create a context that supports learning.
The followings are the contributions that a good communicative activity can make to
language learning:
First, communicative activities provide "whole - task practice". While non communicative activities provide training in the part - skills (of which the performance is
composed), CA provides practice in the total - skill, sometimes called "whole-task
practice". Learning how to swim, for example, usually involves not only separate practice
of individual movements (part - skills), but also actual attempts to swim short distance
(whole-task practice in order to suit the learners‟ level of ability through various kinds of
communicative activity.
Second, communicative activities improve motivation. The learners‟ ultimate aim is
to take part in communication with others. Their motivation to learn is more likely to be
sustained if they can see how their classroom learning is related to these objectives and
help them to achieve it with increasing success.
Next, communicative activities allow natural learning. Many aspects of language
learning can take place only through natural processes, which operate only when a person
is involved in using the language for communication. If this is so, communicative activity
(inside or outside the classroom) is an important part of the total learning process.


6
Last, communicative activities can create a context which supports learning.
Communicative activity provides opportunities for positive personal relationship to
develop among learners and between learners and the teacher. These relationships can help
to create an environment that supports the individual in his effort to learn.
Harmer (1991:19) has summarized those characteristics in a figure called the
communication continuum; as follows:

NON - COMMUNICTIVE ACTIVITIES








no communicative desire
no communicative purpose
form not content
one language item
teacher intervention
materials control

COMMUNICTIVE ACTIVITIES








a desire to communicate
a communicative purpose
content not form
a variety of language
no teacher intervention
no materials control

How can the teacher make the classroom CA more communicative? There is no real
possibility of real communication in English in monolingual classroom. Learners must
pretend that they need to communicate in English. However, the teacher can improve the
students‟ interaction in the classroom by looking at the features mentioned above. The
teacher can easily reduce the intervention and use more authentic materials. Encouraging a
wider variety of language use and creating more natural communicative purposes are also
what the teacher can do.

1.2. Communicative language teaching
Communicative language teaching (CLT) has become the accepted orthodoxy theory
of TEFL over the past thirty years or more. Its theoretical base, according to Richards &
Rogers (2000: 71), includes the following characteristics. First, language is a system for
the expression of meaning. Second, the primary function of language is for interaction and
communication. Third, the structure of language reflects its functional and communicative
uses. Fourth, the primary units of language are not merely its grammatical and structural


7
features, but categories of functional and communicative meaning as exemplified in
discourse.
CLT method has brought many advantages. Dubin and Olshtain (1986) in Burns
(1997) have suggested one of the major benefits of CLT is that it brought about a more
comprehensive view of teaching and learning. Communicative language teaching makes
use of real life situations that necessitate communication. The teacher sets up a situation
that students are likely to encounter in real life. Students and teachers should try to get
closer to real communication in the classroom. The communicative approach can leave
students in suspense as to outcome of a class exercise, which will vary according to their
reactions and responses. Students‟ motivation to learn comes from their desire to
communicate in meaningful ways about meaningful topics. Thus, CLT plays an important
role in foreign language teaching in general and in teaching speaking in particular.

1.2.1. Brief history of CLT
Communicative language teaching (CLT) is an innovation in English language
teaching (ELT). CLT emerged as a new teaching approach in Britain in the 1970s. The call
for adoption of CLT was not accidental. It came from the educational problem that needed
to be solved. This problem was the existing unsatisfactory teaching results of the
traditional grammar-oriented method.

1.2.2. CLT definition
Many researchers have discussed communicative language teaching but few offer the
definition of CLT. Finally, the researcher takes CLT as a way of teaching in which the
application of communicative activities and target language aims to develop learners‟
competence of understanding and exchanging different ideas, behavioral modes, values,
beliefs, and cultures.
“communicative language teaching is an approach to foreign or second language
teaching which emphasizes that the goal of language learning is communicative
competence and which seeks to make meaningful communication and language use a focus
of all classroom activities”.(Richard and Schmidt, 2001:90)


8
1.2.3. The principles of CLT
Principles of communicative language teaching: Learners learn a language through
using it to communicate. Authentic and meaningful communication should be the goal of
classroom activities. Fluency and accuracy are both important in language learning.
Learning is a process of creative construction and involves trial and error.
A communicative approach is essentially learner- centered. Communicative
language teaching emphasizes the development of learners' ability and willingness to use
the target language appropriately and accurately for the purposes of effective
communication.

1.2.3.1. The goal of teachers who use the communicative approach
The goal of the teacher is to have students become communicatively competence.

1.2.3.2. The role of the teachers and students
Teachers in communicative classrooms will find themselves talking less and listening
more-becoming active facilitators of their students' learning (Larsen - Freeman, 1986)
The role of the CL teacher is two: To facilitate the communication process between
all classroom participants and to act as an independent participant within the learningteaching group (Breen and Candlin, 1980:99).
The role of the communicative learner is as negotiator-between the self, the learning
process, and the object of learning –emerges from and interacts with the role of joint
negotiator within the group and within the classroom procedures and activities which the
group undertakes. The implication for the learner is that he should contribute as much as he
gains, and thereby learn in an independent way (Breen and Candlin, 1980:110). Students
are expected to interact primarily with each other, rather than with the teacher, and
correction of errors may be absent or infrequent. The cooperative (rather than
individualistic) approach to learning stressed in CLT may likewise be unfamiliar to leaners
(Richards and Rodgers, 2001: 166).


9
1.2.3.3. The feelings of the students
One of the basic assumptions of the communicative approach is that students will be
more motivated to study a foreign language since they will feel they are learning to do
something useful with the language they study.

1.2.4. Characteristics of CLT
The characteristics of CLT help the learners understand what is happening in a CLT
classroom. And then the teacher can take advantage of this approach to promote her
students' learning.

A focus on communicative function: The communicative function is considered as
the most important characteristic of CLT because the goal of CLT is to help the learners
gain communicative competence.
A focus on meaningful tasks rather than on language per se: The teacher gives the
students meaningful tasks in order to improve the students' communicative competence.
The meaningful tasks create opportunities for the learners to use the language and to
improve their communicative competence.
Efforts to make tasks and language relevant to a target group of learners through an
analysis of genuine, realistic situations. It is clear that the genuine, realistic situations are
essential in the class. Through performing tasks relevant to those situations, the students
learn the meaning and functions in the context.
The use of authentic, from life materials: Authentic materials have a positive effect
on learner motivation in the foreign language classroom. They create opportunities for the
students to be exposed to the real language.
The use of group activities: This kind of student collaboration has two benefits. First,
the whole class actively participates in a task at the same time and students can then
compare their findings when the task is over; and second, the meaningful task is rehearsed
in class for later use in real communication outside the classroom
The attempt to create a secure, non- threatening atmosphere: It is clear that the
students don't want to say anything when the atmosphere in classroom is serious. And in


10
contrast, when the atmosphere in class is stress - free, the learners will speak
enthusiastically.
1.2.5. Conditions related to CLT application
Whether CLT is applied successfully or not depends on a number of factors. They are
teachers, students with their motivation, proficiency and learning style, authentic materials,
teaching and learning materials, the support of the administration, teaching and learning
environment, time, examination, and cultural factor.

In terms of teachers, CLT requires the teacher with high English proficiency and with
mastering the concept of CLT so that they can take advantage of the communicative
approach and manage the class (Hird, 1995). The teachers of CLT must be flexible to adapt
themselves in a particular context. Furthermore, they have to invest much time in preparing
the lessons and collecting and designing additional materials. It is the teacher's
responsibility to organize the classroom as a setting for communication and
communicative activities.
For the student, their motivation, proficiency, and learning style are the vital factors
relating to the successful application of CLT (Hird, 1995; Gahin and Myhill, 2002).
When the learners determine their studying purpose, or when they are encouraged in
study, it seems that they will be motivated to participate in the class.
The students with their English level suitable with the teaching materials, they will
catch up with the lesson, they will be able to do the tasks, activities and exercises in the
textbook.
If the students are active, they will be eager to speak English or do all the tasks,
activities intentionally.
Another factor which refers to the language used in real situations is authentic
material. Authentic materials help learns to learn better because the learners can transfer
what they acquire in the classroom to the outside world and to introduce them to the
natural language in different situations (Larsen - Free man, 1986). The class will be boring
and unexciting if there is a lack of authentic material.
Administrators also have influences on the success of CLT application (Gahin and


11
Myhill, 2002). The implementation of CLT will meet many difficulties if the
administrators don't approve it. The teachers need to be paid high salary so that they can
try their utmost for the teaching career. Besides, all the modern and necessary facilities
used in the teaching and learning English such as cassette players, tapes, flash radiators,
authentic materials, newspapers, library of English document, etc, are available only when

do the administrators support and approve the CLT implementation
The teaching and learning environment is very important. An ideal classroom for
CLT implementation is not too small, or too crowded or multi-level (Li, 1998). A too
crowded class will make the teachers difficult to manage all the students and the efficiency
of teaching is not high. The multi-level class will cause more difficulties for the teachers to
attract both good and bad students. In brief, the ideal teaching and learning environment
plays a not small role in the success of CLT implementation.
In applying CLT, the examination needs to be taken into consideration because the
suitable exam will stimulate the students to learn English (Hird, 1995; Gahin and Myhill,
2002). The exam designed to test the students all what they had learned with CLT
approach will promote them to learn English.
Another element affecting CLT application is the time. If the time in each period is
not enough and the numbers of English periods per week are limited, the students will not
have enough time to participate in the classroom activities to develop listening and
speaking skills. This also means that there is no place for supplementary materials.
To implement CLT successfully, the material needs to be suitable for the students
(Gahin and Myhill, 2002). If the content or activities in the material are too easy or too
difficult, this will discourage the students to learn. If the material is designed focusing on
grammar, the teachers and the students have to fulfill all the grammatical points, therefore,
the students will have fewer opportunities to develop their communicative competence. In
summary, the material should be designed to support CLT and suitable for the students‟
English level.
The final element affecting CLT application is the cultural tradition (Hird, 1995;
Gahin and Myhill, 2002). Vietnamese learners are influenced by the Confucian ideal. The
students are influenced by the Confucian ideal that they should not appeal more intelligent
than their classmates. Therefore, they are reluctant to ask or to answer a question. So it is


12
necessary to improve students' cultural background.

1.3. Advantages of using CLT approach in the foreign language classroom
There are some advantages of using the communicative language teaching approach.
Firstly, it allows learners to use the target language in meaningful contexts, thus
bringing the real world into the classroom. Even at the beginner level students want to
learn English to communicate with people in their community. They want to be able to
make an appointment on the phone, give reasons for, speak to their children‟s teachers, ask
for information or advice and to be able to speak with people in the community.
A second advantage is that this approach can be adapted to any level ranging from
pre-beginner to advanced and is suitable for classes comprising students with different
linguistic backgrounds and varying levels of communicative competence, thus allowing
learners to interact with each according to their level of proficiency.
A third advantage is that the CLT approach enables the teacher to step back and take
on the role of „facilitator‟. The teacher is able to observe individual learning through
various tasks and is able to determine and respond to student‟s needs.

1.4. Problems of applying CLT in the foreign language classroom and in second
language classroom.
Littlewood (1984) point to the fact that ESL is the language which is widely spoken
in the community where it is learnt whereas EFL is used to communicate outside the local
community. CLT in an EFL classroom is a challenge for teachers and students. Lacks of
English - Speaking environment and authentic situations cause hindrances in the learning
process.
The differences in the English - speaking environment, the authentic situations the
motivation, the school curriculum, the national curriculum goals, and the testing system
bring different results when applying CLT in ESL class and EFL classroom.

1.5. Previous studies related to CLT application

13
The four studies by Hird (1995), Li (1998), Gahin and Myhill (2001), Bock (2000),
and Vu To Lan (2003), are presented in this thesis. These studies were carried out in
China, Egypt, South Korea and in Vietnam to find out difficulties hindering the success of
CLT application in those countries.

1.5.1 CLT in China
Basing on experience of teaching English in China, Hird (1995) had an article about
the situation of communicative English language teaching in China. The author shows the
specific factors limiting the CLT application. They are the grammar-focused examination
system, influence of traditional teaching styles and teacher- related factors.

1.5.2 CLT in Egypt
The findings of the research show that the teachers‟ difficulties in implementing CLT
are economic factors, examination pressure, teachers‟ academic abilities, and Egyptian
cultural traditions, feelings of frustration and stress of the teachers. Economic constraints
include low pay, lack of resources, large-sized unequipped classrooms, and lack of
appropriate teacher training provision.

1.5.3 CLT in Korea
Li discovered that teachers, students, and educational system are the main hindrances
of CLT success.
1.5.4 CLT in Vietnam
The results of the study made by Bock pointed out that CLT implementation is
hindered from success by the teachers, the students, and educational system. Vu To Lan
(2003) carried out a research study on the difficulties when implementing CLT at the 6th
grade classes at Hanoi-Amsterdam School. The classified the difficulties into four
catergories: the teachers, the new material, the testing system, and teaching/ learning
environment.

14

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2.1. Back ground of the study
2.1.1. Description of the students at §ong Hy (DH) Secondary School
The majority of secondary school students at DH have been learning English since
they were in lower secondary schools. This means by the time they go to secondary school,
they have at least 4 or more years of experience in learning English. Their lower secondary
years were spent with the new text books and the two aspects: learner-centered approach
and communicative language teaching (CTL). However, most students are not good at
listening and speaking the target language. They can do written exercises on English


15
grammar accurately but they can hardly communicate in English. They do not feel
confident in communicating in English. Using English to communicate is a big challenge
for them.They still thinks that learning a foreign language means learning grammar,
structures and most of them still keep silent and do not participate in the activities of lessons.
2.1.2. Description of the teachers at DH secondary school
The teachers are the most important factors in the process of teaching and learning a
target language. In DH secondary school, there are 12 teachers of English aged from 28 to
52 and none of them has ever been to any English speaking countries. Two of them have
been trained in the in-service training programmes because they used to be the teachers of
Russian. The rest has been trained at College of Foreign Language - Vietnam National
University, Hanoi and Thainguyen Teachers‟ Training College.
The teachers at DH Secondary School are familiar with traditional language teaching.
However, most of them usually try to acquire knowledge of the communicative
competence and apply it in their teaching English.

2.1.3. Setting of the study
- The class size: There are about 45 students in each class. It is difficult to carry out a
communicative activity in a mixed- ability and large class. There is a lot of unavoidable
noise in the classroom when the teachers create a communicative environment for students.
All the classrooms are designed for lecture lesson. Students still sit in the tranditional
oder. It means that the seats are arranged orderly in front of the teacher in rows and
classroom equipment is just a chalkboard and cassette recorder.
- The textbook: The English textbook is “Theme-based”and follows two current
approaches the learner-centered approach and communicative language teaching (CLT).
English 10 contains sixteen teaching units. Each teaching unit consists of five 45-minute
periods with four skills: reading, speaking, listening, and writing. In the units, teachers
teach learners to use language fluently in communication stead of presenting the exact
language about grammar, vocabulary. Besides the skill-focused periods, Language focus is
also an important part of each unit and is designed to summarize all language elements like
vocabulary, grammar. Students will catch an overview of the entire unit. After every three
units, students will have chances to evaluate their learning results units called „Test
yourself‟.


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Materials for reference and self-study are not available. There is a library at the
school but there are not many English books for reference. Most of the books here are for
students only.
2.2 Research methodology
2.2.1. Subjects
The subjects under study are all the teachers who are teaching English to the
students‟ grade 10 at DH secondary school. All of the teachers have taught English for at
least 5 years and at most for 15 years, so they have accumulated a lot of experience in
teaching English in many contexts.
2.2.2. The classroom observation

- The classroom observation was conducted to gather information but not to evaluate
the teachers' quality. The researcher decided in advance what she was going to observe by
designing a checklist that could prevent her from deviation and helped her focus on the
categories that matched her intent for the research.
All teaching and learning activities in class have been noted: for instance, the
teachers‟ questions and explanation, the student‟s answers and their mistakes, the teachers
and the students‟ interaction, the students‟ group work, etc.
2.2.3. The instruments
- The observation was carried out in one week in the second semester of the school
year 2009-2010. Three classrooms were chosen at random for observation (with no attempt
to select the best or the most experienced teachers as well as the best or the weakest
students).
- The questionnaire was distributed to 6 teachers of English who teach grade 10 at
DH Secondary School. The questionnaires which had been delivered were handed back.
The questionnaires are about
- Teachers‟ teaching experience (Questions 1,2)
- Teachers‟ CLT training background (Question 3)
- Teachers‟ opinions about the most suitable method for their teaching English at
present (Question 4)
- Teachers‟ information on CLT (Questions 5,6)
- Teachers‟ understanding of subjects about CLT (Questions 7,8)


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- Looking about applying CLT in the actual classroom practice (Questions 9,10,11)
- Inspecting the English textbook in CLT application (Question 12)
- Teachers‟ oppinions about the difficulties in the implementation of CLT in their
context of language teaching (Question 13)
- The degree of success in applying CLT at DH secondary school (Question14).
2.3. Presentation of statistical results.

2.3.1. Results
* Question1 and 2
Question 1 focuses on the teachers‟ ages. Question 2 is about the teachers‟
experience of teacing English. The results are shown the following table.
Age

%

30-35

33

36-45

50

>45

17
Table1: Teachers’ ages

Years of Teaching

%

English
5-10

17

11-15

67

>15

16

Table2: Teachers’ years of teaching English
It can be seen in table 1 that teachers attended in the study are different ages. Only 17
% of the teachers asked are above 45 and 33% are between 30 and 35. The teachers aged
from 36 to 45 make up 50%. This data show that the teachers are mainly in the midle age
with quite a lot of living experience as well as teaching experience.
The table 2 shows that English language teachers are quite experienced in their
profession. Four out of six teachers (67%) have been teaching foreign language for than
eleven years.


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*Question 3 and 4
Question 3: Have you ever been trained in CLT?
Options

%

Yes

67

No

33

Others

0

Table 3: Teachers’ CLT training background
CLT is now the dominant foreign language teaching method; however, the table 3
shows that not all teachers at school have attended in workshops for CLT. Only 67% have
received formal training in CLT. Two teachers has never received any kinds of training in
CLT.They have general knowledge about CLT as they have read books on CLT themselve.

Question 4: What approach do you think most suitable for . . .?
Oppions

%

The Direct Metho d

0

The Grammar-Translation Method (GTM)

0

Communicative Language Teaching

33

The Audio-Lingual Method

0

Combination of GTM and CLT

67

Table 4: Teachers’ oppinions about method

When asked the opinions about method that 2 out of 6 teachers (33%) think that CLT
is suitable for their teaching situation at present. 4 out of 6 teachers (67%) teach with a
combination of the grammar- translation method and the communcative language teaching
approach. Teachers have to combine methods because of the pressure and format of tests
and the level of the students.


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*Question 5 and 6
Question 5. How often do you read books or attended workshops to improve
your knowledge of CLT?
Oppions
Offen

%
0

Sometimes

100

Seldom

0

Never

0

Table 5. Teachers’ information about the enrichment of knowledge on CLT.

Question 6. You understand the principle and the characteristics of CLT.
Oppions

%

Yes

67

No

0

Not sure

33

Table 6. Teachers’ information about perception on CLT
Table 5 shows that all teachers sometimes attended workshops or the training course

on CLT to improve their knowledge of CLT.
Table 6 shows that the majority of the respondents (67%) said that they understand
the principles and characteristics of CLT and the rest admitted that they are uncertain about
the principle and characteristic of CLT.
*Question 7 and 8
Question 7: CLT…
Opptions

%