Nghiên cứu thái độ và kỳ vọng của học sinh chuyên tiếng Anh về việc giảng dạy của giáo viên tại trường THPT Chuyên Biên Hòa, Hà Nam

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES






TRẦN THỊ THU HIỀN





EXPLORING ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES
TOWARDS AND EXPECTATIONS FOR TEACHERS’
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES AT BIEN HOA SPECIALIZED
HIGH SCHOOL, HA NAM

Nghiên cứu thái độ và kỳ vọng của học sinh chuyên tiếng Anh
về việc giảng dạy của giáo viên
tại trường THPT Chuyên Biên Hoà, Hà Nam


M.A Minor Thesis

Field: English Methodology
Code: 60 14 10



HANOI – 2010



VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES






TRẦN THỊ THU HIỀN





EXPLORING ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES
TOWARDS AND EXPECTATIONS FOR TEACHERS’
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES AT BIEN HOA SPECIALIZED
HIGH SCHOOL, HA NAM

Nghiên cứu thái độ và kỳ vọng của học sinh chuyên tiếng Anh
về việc giảng dạy của giáo viên
tại trường THPT Chuyên Biên Hoà, Hà Nam


M.A Minor Thesis




Field: English Methodology
Code: 60 14 10
Supervisor: Cao Thúy Hồng, M.A
HANOI – 2010






v
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
DECLARATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABSTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

i
ii
iii
iv
vii
PART A. INTRODUCTION
1
1. Rationale………………………………………………………
2. Aims of the study………………………………………………
3. Research questions………………………………………………
4. Scope of the study………………………………………………
5. Methods of the study……………………………………………
6. Significance of the study…………………………………………
7. Format of the study………………………………………………
1
2
2
3
3
3
3
PART B. DEVELOPMENT
4
CHAPTER I. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
4
I.1. The learner-centered approach……………………………………
 Basic Principles……………………………………………………
 Benefits ……………………………………………………………
4
4

5
I.2. Foreign language learners’ attitudes …………………………
 Definition……………………………………………………………
 Role of learners’ attitudes…………………………………………
6
6
6
I.3. Foreign language learners’ expectation…………………………
 Definition…………………………………………………………
 Mismatch between teachers’ intentions and learners’ expectations
 Balancing the mismatch between teachers’ intentions and learners’
expectations…………………………………………………………
8
8
8

9
I.4. Shape of an English lesson……………………………………
 Stages of a language lesson……………………………………
 Teacher’s roles in a language lesson……………………………………
 Role of teaching content/ materials in a language lesson……………
12
12
14
15


vi
Role of language materials………………… ……………
Materials development……………………………………

 Common teaching activities in a language lesson
15
16
17
CHAPTER II. THE STUDY
20
II.1. Setting of the study……………………………………
Brief introduction of the school……………………………………
General situation of English teaching and learning in the school…
20
20
20
II.2. Subjects ……………………………………
21
II.3. Instruments………………………………………………………
The survey questionnaire
The follow-up interview
21
22
23
II.4. Data analysis process…………………………………………
23
CHAPTER III. DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
23
III.1. The Survey Questionnaire………………………………………
III.1.1. Students’ general attitudes towards their language teachers’ roles
and work in the classroom
III.1.1.1. Students’ general attitudes towards language teachers’ role
in their learning
24

24

24
III.1.1.2. Students’ general attitudes towards teachers’ work
24
III.1.2. Students’ levels of satisfaction with each of the teaching items
carried out by the language teachers

25
III.1.3. English major students’ comments on teaching and learning materials
provided by the teachers and their workload in English

27
III.1.4. English major students’ opinions on the frequency and quality of
some specific teaching activities

28
III.1.5. English major students’ expectations for future teaching adjustments
and improvement.

30
III.2. The follow-up interview………………………………………
III.2.1. Reasons for satisfaction ………………………………………
III.2.2. Reasons for dissatisfaction……………………………………
III.2.3. Students’ other expectations…………………………………
32
32
32
33

CHAPTER IV. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BETTER LANGUAGE
TEACHING AT ENGLISH MAJOR CLASSES IN THE SCHOOL

34


vii
IV.1. Recommendations for teaching language skills
To improve the teaching of listening skill
To improve the teaching of speaking skill
35
35
35
IV.2. Recommendations for selecting, editing and developing teaching materials
37
IV.3. Recommendations for applying specific teaching activities
37
PART C. CONCLUSION
Summary of the study……………………………………………
Limitations of the research……………………………………………
Recommendations for further research ……………………………
39
39
39
40
REFERENCES
41
APPENDIX 1 – Survey Questionnaire
I
APPENDIX 2 - Interview Questions

V
APPENDIX 3 – Table 2
VI
APPENDIX 4 – Table 3
VII
























viii

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS


Charts
Chart 1. Students’ general attitudes towards language teachers’ role
Chart 2. Students’ general attitudes towards teachers’ work
Chart 3. Students’ levels of satisfaction with each of the teaching items
performed by the language teachers

Tables
Table 1. English major students’ comments on teaching and learning materials
provided by the teachers and their workload in English
Table 2. English major students’ opinions on the frequency and quality of some
specific teaching activities
Table 3. English major students’ expectations for future teaching adjustments
and improvement


1
PART A. INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Like in every part of the world, the practice of English teaching and learning in
Vietnam has been more popular than ever before. Many language teaching methods and
approaches have been introduced and applied in the teaching and learning process, aiming at
best achieving educational objectives.
In the view of modern language teaching and learning approaches, learners are widely
recognized as a major factor determining the learning success; and learner motivation and
autonomy is considered to be essential for successful language learning by most language
teachers, as Gardner argues, a “motivated learner” is regarded as being: (a) eager to learn the
language, (b) willing to expend effort on the learning activity, and (c) willing to sustain the

learning activity (Gardner, 1985, p. 10). It is, thus, stipulated that teachers make all efforts to
motivate learners and stimulate their autonomy. Research have shown that discovering
learners‟ attitudes, beliefs, needs and expectations is really beneficial for teachers to develop
appropriate teaching methods and adjust teaching activities, helping to bring about learners‟
satisfaction and more engagement in learning.
It is also widely known that in order to succeed in English teaching, teachers need to
get and keep learners‟ attention and their positive participation (Davies, 2000, p.12); and that
despite classroom teachers‟ efforts to make sure that their lessons are a success, sometimes
things do not work as well as they had planned (Jeremy, 1991) and then classroom problems
may occur. These problems can be student-caused, parent-caused, or administrator-caused
(Jessup, 1971). Teachers are also identified as one of the problem- causing sources since the
way they teach and behave has a profound influence on learners‟ attitudes which affect their
learning either negatively or positively. In order to create positive learning attitude, it is
crucial to investigate learners‟ views on what and how teacher do in the classroom so that
appropriate adjustment in the teaching can be carried out to draw learners‟ highest level of
concentration and participation in very lesson.
In my specific teaching context, the way we teach English is based on the
combination of some modern language teaching approaches including learner-centered, skill-
based and task-based to obtain the objectives of teaching language communicatively. This
requires my colleagues and me to work hard, design diverse teaching activities in our
teaching process. However, despite our efforts, sometimes we realize here and there our
students lose interest in our lessons. This makes us feel rather discouraged and wonder about

2
the effectiveness of each activity we use in the classroom. Personally, the researcher strongly
believes that designing learning tasks and teaching activities must be based on teachers‟
understanding of the students. We must realize what they want to learn and how they want
us to teach. Thus, exploring our students‟ evaluation of our teaching, their attitudes and
expectations for what and how we do is really essential to improve the learning and teaching
situation in the school in the next stage.

For all the above mentioned reasons, the writer upheld a strong desire to conduct a
survey research on English major students‟ attitudes towards and expectations for teachers‟
classroom activities.
2. Aims of the study
- to examine the school‟s English major students‟ attitudes towards their language
teachers‟ classroom activities.
- to investigate the students‟ needs, interests and expectations for improvement in
English teaching in these classes.
- to suggest necessary changes that the teachers should make in their teaching process
to improve the English teaching and learning situation.
3. Research questions
The study is carried out to find out the answers to the two main research questions:
1. What are students‟ attitudes towards the teachers‟ way of teaching?
2. What and how do the students expect their teachers to change in their way of
teaching in the future?
It is clear that the former helps to learn about students‟ evaluation and reflection of
what and how the teachers do in the classrooms whereas the later helps to look over
students‟ needs and expectations for teachers‟ future actions. To work out the answer to the
first major question, a number of minor questions need answers as well. They are: (1). What
are the students‟ general attitudes towards teachers‟ roles and work in the classroom? (2)
What in the teachers‟ job do the students feel satisfied with? Why? (3) What in the teachers‟
job do the students feel dissatisfied with? Why? (4) How do the students remark upon
teaching and learning materials provided by the teachers and their workload in English? (5)
What are the students‟ opinions on the frequency and quality of some specific teaching
activities conducted by teachers in every lesson?



3
4. Scope of the study

Teaching activities can be various and indefinite. However, only activities that
teachers normally conduct and perform in English lessons are taken into account in the
study. Besides, only English major students of three grades 10, 11 and 12 in the school are
under investigation. In addition, this study only concentrates on exploring their attitudes
towards and expectations for what and how the teachers do in the classroom.
5. Methods of the study
During the process of collecting and analyzing the data for the research, both
quantitative and qualitative methods were employed. Specifically, the data were collected
via means of a written survey questionnaire –typical of quantitative method; and a group
interview - typical of qualitative method.
6. Significance of the study
It is expected that the findings in the study will help the teachers in the school see the
strong points and weak points of their work. Information of the students‟ expectations may
also be of great help to the teachers in considering developing appropriate teaching methods,
adopting eligible techniques and adapting suitable activities so as to improve the teaching
and learning situation. All in all, the study is hoped to be greatly significant in improving the
English learning and teaching situation in the school.
7. Format of the study
The study is organized into three parts.
The first part, Introduction, provides all the information about the rationale, aims,
scope, significance and format of the study. Research questions and methodology are also
identified in this part.
The second part, Development, consists of four chapters. The first chapter,
Theoretical Background, reviews relevant literatures. In the next chapter, The study, the
setting, subjects, instruments and data analysis process of the study is presented. The third
chapter is devoted to a detailed description of Data analysis and discussion. And the last
chapter, namely Recommendations for better language teaching at English major classes in
the school, puts forward some recommendations for better teaching at English major classes
of the school.
The last part, Conclusion, presents not only a summary but also some limitations of

the research and gives some suggestions for further study.


4
PART B. DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Identifying and carrying out necessary teaching adjustments by the way of
investigating students‟ attitudes and expectations partially shows learner-centeredness in the
teaching and learning process. Thus, relevant literature regarding the learner-centered
approach and learners’ attitudes and expectations in foreign language learning will be
reviewed in this chapter. Some issues concerning teaching activities in foreign language
lessons are also discussed in the chapter.
I.1. The learner-centered approach
A lot of changes in education have taken place as a result of changes in educational
objectives to meet the new demands of the current time and bring about better learning and
teaching outcomes. One of the observable changes in education is the shift in focus from
teachers to learners in the teaching and learning process.
Although “learner-centeredness” is not a new concept in the world, it has been
popularly developed and widely applied in education and especially in language teaching
and learning for only several decades.
In Vietnam, learner-centered teaching has been recently encouraged and promoted
for a number of years. The approach has been asserted and confirmed as a big and essential
renovation in education since 1986, at the 6
th
congress of Communist Party of Vietnam.
Basic Principles
In terms of principle, the learner-centered approach emphasizes the central role of
learners in all classroom activities. It is stated that learning is totally determined by learners.
According to Campbell (1992, pp.5-6), the main principle of learner-based teaching is that
“all class activities can be done using information that the learners themselves bring to

class”. In his view, students bring a lot with them to the classroom. They all have ideas,
opinions, experiences and areas of expertise. All of this is important to them. What they need
from the English classroom is the language to express all this, and there by themselves. This
viewpoint is shared and backed up by many scholars. Holliday (1994, p.167) adds that the
experience and knowledge students bring to the classroom is of great value to the learning
process and must be capitalized and built upon.
Learner-based teaching focuses on encouraging learners to express their ideas freely
and “all of the activities, even grammar practice, are based on “here and now” of the
learners” (Campbell, 1992, p.8). Thus, it can be said that every activity in learner-centered

5
teaching aims at narrowing the traditional gap between teachers and learners. The teaching
and learning are taking place on both sides because teacher can be an active participant (in
the group) while learners can teach themselves with teachers‟ help/supporting and
monitoring.
It is true that in the process of teaching and learning, students cannot be treated as
“an empty vessel which teachers can arbitrarily fill with new knowledge or behavior”
(Holliday, 1994, p.167). Teachers do not teach language to students but only create and
facilitate favorable conditions for students to revise and boost their background knowledge
and experience upon which knew knowledge is constructed and acquired and, as a
consequence, their language competence is developed. Mortimer (1998) sees teaching as a
humble, helping art. The teacher does not produce knowledge or stuff ideas into an empty,
passive mind. It is the learner, not the teacher, who is the active producer of knowledge and
ideas. However, this does not mean that teacher has no role in classroom. Of course,
competent students can teach themselves but the process of learning is made more certain
and less painful when they have teachers‟ help. The teacher shows the student how to
discern, evaluate, judge, and recognize the truth. He does not impose a fixed content of ideas
and doctrines that the student must learn by rote. He teaches the student how to learn and
think for himself. He encourages rather than suppresses a critical and intelligent response.
Thus, teaching is also regarded as cooperative arts in which the teacher gives and the

students receive aid and guidance.
Nguyen Bang and Nguyen Ba Ngoc (2002, p.40) put forward a number of learner-
centered instructions including: techniques that focus or account for learners’ needs, styles
and aims; techniques that give some control to learners (group work, strategy training for
example); syllabus that include the consultation and input of learners and that do not
presuppose objectives in advance; techniques that enhance a learners’ sense of competence
and self-worth; and techniques that allow for learner creativity and innovation.
Benefits
It can be said that this approach is really beneficial and effective if fully applied to any
teaching and learning process. As Turdor (1993) points out, in language teaching and
learning this approach brings about a number of advantages as follows:
-The teaching aims may be suitably set if the learners can participate in building the
subject syllabus based on their own experiences.

6
-The study will be more effective if the teaching method is suitable to learning method of
the learners‟ interest.
-The learners will be more effective if the learners feel involved in building their
syllabus.
According to Lewis & Hill (1992, p.9), “students are more likely to enjoy the subject,
and to succeed at it, if they are involved in the learning process and, as far as possible, have a
chance to influence what happens, and how it happens”.
Undoubtedly, with this approach, learners will become more dynamic, more active
and more self-confident since they are given more room for involvement in lessons. This, in
Scharle‟s (2000, p.5) opinion, helps to foster learners‟ autonomy or, in other words, learners‟
sense of responsibility, which is crucial to learning and teaching success.
I.2. Foreign language learners’ attitudes
Definition
According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, attitude is defined as a hypothetical
construct that represents an individual's degree of like or dislike for an item. Attitudes are

generally positive or negative views of a person, place, thing, or event- this is often referred
to as the attitude object. In other words, attitudes are usually understood as a disposition or
tendency to respond positively or negatively towards a certain thing (idea, object, person,
situation). They encompass, or are closely related to, our opinions and beliefs and are based
upon our experiences. Thus, it can be inferred that in education students‟ attitudes towards a
teacher and his/her job may mean their levels of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with what and
how the teacher does in the teaching process.
Since attitudes often relate in some way to interaction with others, they represent an
important link between cognitive and social psychology. Unlike personality, attitudes are
expected to change as a function of experience. Attitudes can be changed through persuasion
and we should understand attitude change as a response to communication. As far as
instruction is concerned, a great deal of learning involves acquiring or changing attitudes.
Role of learners’ attitudes
In language instruction, students‟ attitudes toward learning the language are regarded
as “an important predictor of success” since “students who consider the learning of English
as a positive and rewarding experience are less likely to suffer from foreign language
anxiety” ( Tsiplakides & Keramida, 2010). Besides, a teacher is widely acknowledged as
one of the most important components of language training and instruction since his/her

7
decisions can be influential on the learning/teaching contents or materials, methods of
teaching/learning as well as on his/her students‟ learning outcomes. Therefore, students‟
attitudes towards their teachers, an attitude object, need taking into consideration by
educators and trainers.
Attitude can alter every aspect of a person's life, including their education. Student
attitudes on learning determine their ability and willingness to learn. As discussed in
Bloom's Taxonomy theory, a learning attitude is developed over time and past learning
experiences affect future learning experiences. During their learning process, students may
develop either positive or negative attitudes towards their language learning and their
language teacher, which certainly affects their language learning in either a good way or a

bad way. Undeniably, positive learning attitudes make students want to learn, be receptive
and participate in the learning process to ultimately experience satisfaction from learning
whereas negative attitudes towards language learning can reduce learners' motivation and
harm language learning. Negative attitudes can discourage creativity and participation as part
of the learning process. If negative attitudes are not altered, a student is unlikely to continue
his education beyond what is required. Changing students' negative attitudes towards
learning is a process that involves determining the factors driving the attitude and using this
information to bring about change.
Some factors that influence students‟ attitudes toward their foreign language learning
are identified by Tsiplakides & Keramida (2010): a) teacher-student relationships, b) the
general classroom atmosphere, and c) the use of authentic teaching materials and activities.
These authors also suggest a number of principles to foster positive attitudes in ESL/EFL
classes: (1) Developing Teacher-student Relationships; (2) Fostering a Positive
Psychological Classroom Atmosphere; (3) Creating an Attractive Physical Classroom
Environment; (4) Supplementing the Teaching Material with Authentic Texts and Tasks.
In short, student attitudes on learning, good or bad, affect their outlook toward
learning throughout life. Their attitudes towards learning affect not only their amount of
education but their desire for education. Those who respond with enthusiasm towards
learning are primarily successful learners. Those responding negatively to education had
experienced only basic (required) learning and did not desire further study. Once educators
uncover student attitudes on learning, the challenge is using this information to shape a
positive attitude.


8
I.3. Foreign language learners’ expectation
Definition
In the case of uncertainty, expectation is what is considered the most likely to
happen. An expectation, which is a belief that is centered on the future, may or may not be
realistic. An expectation may results in diverse psychological states. A less advantageous

result gives rise to the emotion of disappointment. If something happens that is not at all
expected it is a surprise. An expectation about the behavior or performance of another
person, expressed to that person, may have the nature of a strong request, or an order.
(Wikipedia….)
Similarly, we can infer that students’ expectations in foreign language learning may
be referred to as their desires or needs of what and how they would like to learn in the
coming time. In other words, it means students expect teachers to carry out changes in
teaching content and teaching styles so as to match their learning preferences and bring
about the highest degrees of satisfaction in their learning.
Mismatch between teachers’ intentions and learners’ expectations
Undeniably, most teachers always try their best and do every thing to make effective
teaching. Teaching can be said to be an intentional activity which is undertaken with the
purpose of bringing about learning. A lot of teachers‟ time and effort are devoted to lesson
planning, task designing, and applying appropriate teaching methods and techniques with the
hope to draw students‟ attention, get them involved in the lesson so as to have the best
learning outcomes. However, at times things do not go on as well as expected. Both teachers
and students feel quite disappointed and dissatisfied with each other. The main cause of this
problem is probably a certain result of the mismatch between teachers‟ intentions and
learners‟ expectations.
So far, many researches have shown that there is a gap between teachers‟ intentions
and learners‟ expectations, which has an effect of seriously limiting the learning outcomes.
Kumaravadivelu (1991) found that “the learner‟ perception of what was going on frequently
failed to match the teacher‟s intention” (cited in Harmer 1991, p.395). In fact, there is always
an existence of this gap. What a teacher teaches, in many cases, does not mean what the
students like and want to learn; and “what may feel appropriate from teacher‟s point of view
may not seem so appropriate for students” (Harmer, 1991, p.396). As a result, despite all
effort and intention teachers make in designing each of particular learning tasks, students do
not perform as well as teachers have expected. This causes problems to not only teachers but

9

students as well. For teachers‟ part, they may feel quite disappointed and discouraged since
all their effort comes to nothing, their students have no progress in learning, and they cannot
motivate students to learn effectively. In addition, sometimes they may even have to suffer
from negative behaviors of some students who are not interested in learning. For students‟
part, they lose interest in learning when they find what teacher does do not live up to their
expectation. For instance, teachers just impose and ask them to learn all the learning content
which is too tedious or too challenging instead of teaching what they really like and want to
learn. Besides, they may feel fed up with the way teachers frequently perform in every
lesson. Teaching techniques and strategies teachers use are not effective and suitable for
students‟ learning styles.
As a consequence of their losing interest, “their incentive to maintain their level of
concentration is lessened, and if that happens, they are more likely to become disconnected
with what is going on. That is when problem behavior often manifests itself” (Harmer,1991,
p.154). Then, no positive collaboration and harmonious working between teachers and
learners in classroom can be found; both teachers and students have sufferings; teaching and
learning objectives cannot be achieved.
In Willing‟s (1988, p.1) opinion, “accommodating learning style and strategy
preferences in the classroom can result in improved learner satisfaction and attainment”
(cited in Nunan 1991, p.167). Thus, the gap between teachers‟ intention and learners‟
expectations really needs narrowing. According to Kumaravadivelu (1991, p.98), “the
narrower the gap between teacher intention and learner interpretation is, the greater are the
chances of achieving desired learning outcomes. It is thus important that we understand
potential sources contributing to the mismatch between teacher intention and learner
interpretation”. He also points out “ learning outcome is the result of a fairly unpredictable
interaction between the learner, the task, and the task situation. From the teacher's
perspective, then, achievement of success

depends largely on the degree to which teacher
intention and

learner interpretation of a given task converge”
Balancing the mismatch between teachers’ intentions and learners’ expectations
Like any classroom problems, problem of the mismatch between teachers‟ intention
and learners‟ expectations is not impossible to be tackled as long as teachers are a little more
sensitive, flexible, enthusiastic in teaching, and more considerate towards their students.
Tarone & Yule(1989, p.9) suggest “decisions about how to present the 'best' learning
experience for a group of students inevitably depends on the individual teacher's ability to

10
work out what those students appear to need, while also remaining aware of what they
expect to happen in the learning situation". Holliday(1994) also argues that “the choice of
content can depend on many things, from the needs, interests, expectations and experiences
of the students, to the requirements of other parties who hold stakes in what happens in the
classroom” (bubble 20, p.169, cited in Holliday. 1994). Talking about the basic principles
in teaching, Lewis & Hill (1992, p.9) argue that “ at any point during the lesson, the
teachers‟ pre-arranged plan and the students‟ needs are in conflict, it is the students‟ needs
which should have priority”.
It is clear that the mismatch between teachers‟ intentions and learners‟ expectation is
a common conflict between teachers and students. When this conflict exists, it is required
that teachers make some sacrifice for students. Adjustment in teaching should be carried out
to make sure that students feel satisfied since once their needs and expectations are met, the
content and the way teachers teach match with their learning styles and preferences to a great
extent. As Jessup (1971, p.151) points out, so as to create students‟ positive attitudes for
learning, an effective teacher recognizes that the selection of material taught and the teaching
techniques employed are contingent upon the ability and interest levels of his students.
In general, scholars and educationalists approve that it is necessary that teachers
always take students into consideration as an initial step in designing, preparing any teaching
activities or learning tasks for students. Students‟ experience, learning styles, attitudes,
needs, beliefs and expectations really matter and should be carefully investigated before
selecting appropriate teaching materials and pedagogical methods. Scharle (2000, p.16)

discusses “It‟s important to know what experience your students have had and as a
consequence what expectations they may have of you as a teacher” since “you may put to
use what you have learnt about the expectations and previous experience of your students
and choose activities in which their attention would not be too much occupied by the novelty
of the task”. In his view, information on students‟ existing attitudes to learning and to the
foreign language is the starting point for developing responsible attitudes towards learning.
Therefore, it is really essential that “the attitudes and personalities of students have to
be taken into consideration when selecting techniques for a lesson” (Dangerfield,
1985). Holliday (1994, pp.161-163) also emphasizes the importance of understanding
students as one part of finding appropriate methodology. In his terms, an appropriate
methodology, which must by nature be culture-sensitive, therefore has two major
components: a teaching methodology and a process of learning about the classroom because

11
learning about the classroom is an essential aspect of finding out how to teach. Achieving
appropriate methodology depends on learning what happens between people in the
classroom. The process of learning what happens between people in a particular classroom
should be largely in the hands of the teacher, just as the act of teaching is in the hands of the
teacher (pp.161-162). Therefore, in his view, when there is likely to be conflict between
teacher and student agendas, learning about the classroom is regarded as an action research
which helps not only to develop appropriate methodologies but also to solve classroom
problems (p.163).
There are several ways for teachers to gain understanding of students. According to
Scharle (2000), information about students‟ opinions on teaching and learning style can be
collected through interviews or discussions. In addition, interview activity can be modified,
converted into questionnaires. Teachers are also suggested to occasionally invite students to
write compositions expressing their ideas, judgements and comments on current teaching
and learning situation in their classroom. As suggested by Lewis & Hill (1992), teachers
should occasionally invite students to judge their teachers or teaching, ask them which ways
they prefer to be taught and which way they do not like as one way of knowing how

successful their lessons are. These scholars also argue it is a good idea to “discuss with
students about their expectations of what they expect to happen in the classroom, (it
also helps) to discuss what students expect to enjoy, and not enjoy right at the
beginning of a new course” (Lewis & Hill, 1992).
As stated by Lewis & Hill(1992, pp.50-51), consulting students is very beneficial to
the general atmosphere of the classrooms, and sometimes reveals concrete ways in which
classes can be made more enjoyable or more effective for the students as long as teachers
take their comments seriously. If their comments are taken seriously students soon realize
that they can usefully influence their own lessons and have a sense of taking active part in
making decisions about their learning. Encouraged to assess teachers and provide
information about their attitudes, learning styles or expectations, students certainly feel that
they are important in the learning process, and that the teacher is interested in them both as
language learners and as people. Scharle (2000, p.8) also discusses “by sharing relevant
information with students, teachers express respect and a willingness to regard learners as
partners in working towards the common aim of learning a foreign language”. This, as a
result, certainly makes students become more autonomous and are “more likely to enjoy the
subject, and to succeed at it, if they are involved in the learning process and, as far as

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possible, have a chance to influence what happens, and how it happens” (Lewis & Hill,1992,
p.10).
To obtain positive cooperation and the most trustworthy information from students, it
is required that teachers be quite sincere, friendly, open and kind-hearted to students during
the process of getting information. “Explain to your students that you would like to learn
about their attitudes towards learning the foreign language, and you would like them to fill in
a questionnaire as honesty as they can” (Scharle, 2000, pp.18-20). More importantly,
teachers must tactfully show that students‟ comments are important and appreciated by
making appropriate pedagogical adaptation as soon as possible right after each consultation
and discussion with students.
In short, to work out the solution to the conflict between teachers‟ intentions and

learners‟ expectations as well as any other classroom conflicts and problems, teachers should
learn about learners, consult them, carry out appropriate teaching adjustments and make
some necessary sacrifice for them. This sacrifice shows teachers‟ respect for students and is
seen as an act of following the main principle of learner-centered teaching. More
importantly, to my mind, teachers must always be decisive, effective and fair in all lessons.
(Harmer, 1991, p.154) points out that students are very sensitive, if they see teachers as
unprepared and uncertain about what to do in the lessons, they are far more likely to lose
interest and be disruptive; chances of successful learning are then not guaranteed.
I.4. Shape of an English lesson
Stages of a language lesson
In order to be professionally successful any language teachers must surely have good
understanding of the language and how to teach it. It is widely known that the use of
language involves two aspects: form and meaning which are relevant to the very two main
linguistic concepts- “formal” and “functional” normally used by linguists. Then language
teaching always consists of the teaching of language components including grammar,
vocabulary, pronunciation and the teaching language skills -reading, listening, writing and
speaking. This has been strongly consolidated and emphasized in many titles which are quite
famous and familiar to teachers and even to language students at teacher training colleges or
universities. A course in language teaching: practice and theory (Ur.1996); An introduction
to English language teaching (Haycraft, 1978); or Language teaching methodology: a
textbook for teachers (Nunan, 1991) are some very popular books, which give readers
careful guidance on what and how to teach English language. In his The practice of English

13
language teaching, Harmer (1991, pp.195-196) states that language teaching involves not
only forms but also meanings, and he elaborately features what and how teachers should do
in teaching different aspects of language.
As can be inferred from the above section, language teachers can divide their
teaching work into teaching different language items in different lessons. It is recommended
that language skills, grammar, or vocabulary can be taught and learnt either separately or in

integration. However, to help students obtain effective learning, it is essential for teachers to
carry out appropriate teaching procedure for each lesson.
In Vietnam, language teachers have been all carefully trained how to teach each skill
as well as grammar, phonetics and vocabulary. It is clear that teaching reading or listening is
quite different from teaching speaking, teaching writing or teaching grammar; so among
their various teaching methods, techniques and strategies teachers must flexibly choose and
use appropriate ones in teaching different lessons. However, the procedure for teaching each
learning item often seems to follow one general pattern of some certain teaching phases.
As Ur (1996) points out, after introducing, giving presentation and explanation of
what students learn and have to do in the lesson, teachers move to another step that is
controlling students‟ practice, and then the final step - testing how students learn the lesson.
Recently, teachers have been well trained to conduct the teaching process of any lesson
through the model of PPP, which stands for Presentation, Practice, Production
/Performance. The PPP procedure is described, demonstrated and discussed thoroughly by
Harmer (1991, p.64), Byrne (1986, p.3), Lewis (1993, p.190), Spratt & Read (1985, pp.5-17)
and many other scholars. Above all the controversial opinions about this teaching procedure,
there is a general view among these scholars that is “PPP is extremely useful in a focus-on-
forms lesson, especially at lower levels, but irrelevant in a skills lesson, where focus on form
may occur as a result of something students hear or read”(Harmer, 1991, p.67). Then, one
modified/alternative version of this procedure is widely introduced and applied for teaching
skill lessons. In this new procedure, the teaching and learning process of any lessons goes on
through three stages: Pre/Before, While/Through and Post/After, in each of which, diverse
teaching and learning activities and tasks are performed, serving specific purposes and all
contributing to perfect lessons. Elaborate instructions on how to carry out each teaching
stage are presented in the publications of our Ministry of Education and Training (2006,
2007). All English language teachers in Vietnam have been being asked to help students
work on every lesson and task with this three-stage procedure.

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Teacher’s roles in a language lesson

Undoubtedly, teachers and learners are the two principal and indispensable parts of
any teaching and learning process. It is the interaction between teachers and learners that
enables the process of teaching and learning to take place. In practice, many learners can
teach themselves without the help from teachers, but general view of conventional education
confines that a real education does not exist if there is an absence of one of these two parts.
Thus, both teachers and learners have certain roles and significance to ensure an effective
education. Due to the scope of the study, only teachers‟ roles in language teaching are under
review in this section, aiming at clarifying common and principal classroom activities often
conducted by teachers in every language lessons.
Language teachers‟ roles have been so far discussed again and again in a great deal
of literature. Approaches and methods in language teaching (Richards & Rogers, 1986) is
one very popular title which has a clear section on teacher roles within each approach or
method analyzed. Roles of teachers and learners (Wright, 1987) is also a famous title.
Harmer‟s The practice of English language teaching (1991) has been a favorite, which
provides a comprehensive and general overview of this topic in which various roles of a
teacher like a controller, a prompter, a participant, a resource, and a tutor are distinctly
demonstrated (p.108). Besides, Harmer (1991) also sees a teacher as teaching aid in the way
they help students both hear and understand language by miming, gesturing, being language
model or provider of comprehensible input (pp.116-117). In his opinion, one of the teachers‟
principal responsibilities is “to foster a good relationship with the group in front of us
(teachers) so that they work together cooperatively in a spirit of friendliness and harmonious
creativity.” He adds that in order to work well with different roles, above all teachers should
create successful „rapport‟-the relationship that students have with the teachers and vice
versa, which is of great help to bring about “a positive, enjoyable and respectful relationship
between teacher and students, and between the students themselves”(p.113). Thus, it is
necessary that teachers recognize students, listen to students, respect students and being
even-handed.
Discussing this issue, Cranmer (1985, pp. 1-3) also points out a number of roles a
language teacher can play. These roles include a motivator, an informant, a conductor, a
diagnoser, or a corrector. He does not forget to remind teachers to seek to encourage students

while they take over these roles since, in his opinion, “this encouragement involves all
aspects of the teacher‟s role-a sympathetic attitude, not demanding beyond the students‟

15
capabilities, not overcorrecting, praising what has been well done” (Cranmer, 1985, p. 3).
Specific roles of a teacher in different phases of teaching process are also summarized by
Read (1985, p.17). While supposed to work as an informant in the presentation phase, a
teacher is regarded as conductor and corrector in practice phase and monitor, adviser,
mistake-hearer, or consultant in production phase of the teaching procedure.
It is clear that a language teacher‟s roles can be rather diverse and complicated.
Personally, the researcher is quite in favor of the way these roles are classified on
. According to this way, teachers normally have task-related
roles when acting as organizer, instructor, controller, facilitator, counselor, participant,
expert/resource, or evaluator in the classroom. Besides, they may assume some interpersonal
roles when functioning as creators of conditions conducive to learning, or as students‟
friends or socializing agents. Last but not least, teachers can play special roles of motivators
and even learners in the class. Undeniably, to fulfill these roles teachers must always
endeavor to work hard, and above all they must be very sensitive, flexible, and creative and
competent in their work.
Role of teaching content/ materials in a language lesson
 Role of language materials
Materials in language teaching are quite varied, including textbooks, video and audio
tapes, computer softwares, visual aids…. which all contribute to the process of language
instruction.
According to Kitao (1997), materials are one of the five key components (including
students, a teacher, materials, teaching methods, and evaluation) of language instruction
since they can influence the content and procedures of teaching and learning. In his opinion,
experienced teachers can teach English without a textbook but it is not easy to do it all the
time. In practice, both teachers and students usually rely heavily on textbooks because of the
fact that textbooks can not only “make it possible for students to review and prepare their

lessons” and “allow for adaptation and improvization.” (O‟neill, 1990) but also be treated as
“resource books for ideas and activities for instruction/learning” and “give teachers
rationales for what they do” (Allright, 1990).
It is true that, as Kitao(1997) discusses, textbooks determine the components and
methods of learning. They control the content, methods and procedures of learning. Students
learn what is presented in the textbook, and the way the textbook presents material is the
way students learn it. Therefore, in many cases, “materials are the center of instruction and

16
one of the most important influences on what goes on in the classroom” (Kitao, 1997). Thus,
it can be said that materials take on a very important role in language classes, and it is
important for all language teachers to select a good textbook.
 Materials development
Important as they are, textbooks are sometimes too inflexible to be used directly as
instructional materials (Allright, 1990). This viewpoint of Allright (1990) is backed up by
Lynch ( who points out some
reasons for teachers to adapt existing or available materials. The reasons consist of
unsuitable material level (not suitable for learners‟ need), being too difficult or too easy, too
long or too short, extensive use of grammar or structure. In her opinion, it is necessary that
teachers explore relevancy of the existing materials to find out how to adapt the materials for
specific use or modify materials to students‟ learning styles. In addition, the movement of
the learner-centeredness since the end of 1970s has also stressed the role of the learners as
the center of language learning, which means that materials, as well as teaching methods and
evaluation, should all be designed for learners and their needs. “It is teachers‟ responsibility
to cheek to see whether all the elements of the learning process are working well for learners
and to adapt them if they are not.” (Kitao, 1997)
In practice, adapting/developing textbooks and teaching materials is always carried
out as a part of the teaching job of any enthusiastic teachers. Many of them even choose to
construct their own teaching materials despite the availability of commercially produced
ones.

In developing materials, basic understandings of developing materials and
instructional materials‟ characteristics is of great help for the teachers. So as to develop
teaching materials, teachers should first evaluate the materials, and then adapt them or write
a new kind of materials for the students. According to Lynch (year), the job of evaluating
materials often involves learning about principles for evaluating materials, doing analysis of
teaching materials, studying criteria for selecting materials, and acknowledging the
importance of using authentic materials. Adapting materials requires not only reasons for
adaptation but also techniques for adaptation including adding, deleting, modifying,
simplifying and reordering. Concerning this issue, Howard & Major (2004, p. 104)
summarizes some main tasks often done by language teachers. The tasks include the
following: (1) - Add activities to those already suggested; (2)- Leave out activities that do
not meet your learners’ needs; (3) - Replace or adapt activities or materials with:

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supplementary materials from other commercial texts; authentic materials (newspapers,
radio reports, films, etc); teacher-created supplementary materials; and (4) - Change the
organizational structure of the activities, for example, pairs, small groups or whole class.
Regarding constructing teaching materials, a number of guidelines for designing
effective English teaching materials are also put forwards in great detail by these authors. In
their opinion, English language teaching materials should, in brief, (1) be contextualized, (2)
stimulate interaction and be generative in terms of language, (3) encourage learners to
develop learning skills and strategies, (4) allow for a focus on form as well as function, (5)
offer opportunities for integrated language use, (6) be authentic, (7) link to each other to
develop a progression of skills, understandings and language items, (8) be attractive, (9)
have appropriate instructions, (10) be flexible. (Howard. & Major, 2004, pp. 104-107)
Nunan (1988) also suggests that materials should have following characteristics: be
authentic as they reflect the outside world the socio-cultural context within which they will
be used / build up student’s learning autonomy by forming in them consciousness and
awareness of learning process/ be designed to be used in different ways / cater for all
students’ levels of proficiency/ be suggestive rather than definitive.

Generally, materials are of great importance in most English teaching/learning
programs and materials development is necessary in language instruction. In their teaching
process, competent and enthusiastic teachers never stop practicing the job of
developing/adapting materials in order to have the most effective teaching and learning
results.
Common teaching activities in a language lesson
As we all know, the way of learning and teaching is now quite different from some
years ago. Teaching and learning is no longer a process of language transmission, in which
teachers, regarded as “a source of information” (Rixon, 1981), pour knowledge to students
while students passively receive what is taught and introduced by their teachers. Modern
teachers are required to play the roles of facilitators, controllers, supervisors and assessors
and many other roles while the students actively and collaboratively acquire and reconstruct
their knowledge and skills through pair work and group work. This requires that all teachers
of English incessantly make all their attempts and efforts to find out suitable teaching
methods and techniques to apply in each language lesson to activate their students in every
learning activity.

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Understanding of language and language teaching as well as the roles and tasks of a
language teacher certainly helps teachers make right decisions about their teaching activities,
getting success in their job. During the lessons, various teaching activities each of which
serves different roles taking part in making effective learning and teaching in the classroom
are conducted by teachers. Talking about the roles of classroom activities, Holliday (1994,
p.189) states: “classroom activities must not only provide opportunities for learning but also
provide opportunities for the teacher to observe and learn about the culture of the students,
the culture of the classroom, student progress. In other words, they should thus be designed
with the transaction and formative evaluation roles in mind”.
Personally, the researcher thinks of teaching activities as any of the teachers‟ action
resulting in learning outcomes. They can be very diverse from getting to know about
students, planning lesson, or preparing teaching aids to any action teachers perform during or

even after the lessons. Thus, teaching activities can be done outside or inside the classroom.
However, as stated earlier, this paper only concentrates on investigating teaching activities
that are normally carried out in the classroom.
Supposed to be a special art, teaching in general and teaching activities in particular
requires various skills, teaching techniques and strategies from teachers in the classroom.
Any competent teachers should know how and when to skillfully employ various techniques
and strategies in all stages of their teaching process to fulfill their tasks. Since appropriate
use of such techniques and strategies can have the effect of motivating and engaging students
in learning effectively.
Since, as presented in the previous section, teaching procedure is divided into
different stages and different lessons are assigned with different learning items and different
teaching objectives, teaching activities must be various to be applied appropriately to each
stage of each lesson. Generally, teachers‟ classroom activities all aim at helping students
develop language skills (both macro-skills and micro-skills), enhancing their use of the
language including vocabulary and grammatical structures. Besides, as suggested and
directed by Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training in training courses for teachers
of English, common classroom activities conducted by teachers in all lessons can be
specified as follows: giving brief instructions and explanations which are easy to follow and
understand; organizing and conducting pair work/ group work /individual work; conducting
classroom discussion; helping students brainstorm or teaching/introducing in advance new
key words/structures which will be found in the reading/listening texts; taking part in

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students‟ discussion; giving appropriate aids/prompts while students do learning tasks;
organizing language games, using visual aids, worksheets or word cards, etc.; assigning
tasks to students; helping students to consolidate the lessons; giving comments/feedbacks
regularly and appropriately to students‟ performance; correcting students‟ mistakes; testing
and marking students‟ performance; applying rewards and punishment policy, etc.
Undoubtedly, language teachers‟ work can be rather hard and complicated. It is
imperative that teachers be really competent, dynamic, creative, flexible, and above all they

must be very enthusiastic and hardworking to do well with those classroom activities,
fulfilling their different roles and duties in every lesson.