Difficulites and some suggested solutions in teaching English to grade one students in Hadong district, Hanoi = Những khó khăn và một số giải pháp cho việc dạy

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST –GRADUATE
******************




ĐỖ THỊ PHƯƠNG THÚY



DIFFICULTIES AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS IN TEACHING ENGLISH
TO GRADE ONE STUDENTS IN HADONG DISTRICT, HANOI.


Những khó khăn và một số giải pháp trong việc dạy tiếng Anh
cho học sinh lớp một, quận Hà Đông, Hà Nội



M.A. Minor Thesis




Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60-14-10

Hanoi – 2012

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST –GRADUATE
******************




ĐỖ THỊ PHƯƠNG THÚY



DIFFICULTIES AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS IN TEACHING ENGLISH
TO GRADE ONE STUDENTS IN HADONG DISTRICT, HANOI.


Những khó khăn và một số giải pháp trong việc dạy tiếng Anh
cho học sinh lớp một, quận Hà Đông, Hà Nội

M.A. Minor Thesis




Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60-14-10
Supervisor: Vu Thuy Quynh, M. A.













Hanoi - 2012
iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements …………………………………………………… ………………

i
Abstract………………………………………………………………….………………
ii
Table of contents……………………………………………………… ……………….
iv
List of abbreviations………………………………………………… …………………
vii
List of charts…………………………………………………….………………………
viii
List of tables …………………………………………………….……………………
ix
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………
1
1.1 Rationale ………………………………………………………………….………
1
1.2 The aims of the study ………………………………………… …………………
1
1.3 The scope of the study ……………………………………… …….……………
1
1.4 The methods of the study …………………………………………………………
2
1.5 The design of the thesis …………………………………….…… ………………
3
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ………………………………… …
3
2.1 Children’s characteristics …………………………………………………………
3
2.2 Children’s stages of development ……….……………………… ………………
4
2.2.1 Socio-emotional Development ………….………………………… ………

4
2.2.2 Physical Development ……………………………… ….… ….…………
4
2.2.3 Intellectual Development ……………………….…….… ………….……
5
2.2.4 Individual Differences …………………………… …… … ……………
5
2.3 Children’s learning styles ……………………………… ….…… … …………
2.3.1 Spatial visual style ………………………………… … … ………
5
5
2.3.2 Kinetic style ……………………………………….…… … …….………
6
2.3.3 Language- oriented style …………………… …….…… … ……………
6
2.3.4 Logical style …………………………………………… … ….……….…
6
2.4 An overview of English teaching methods for young learners … … …………….
6
2.4.1 Listening skill ………………………………………… … ……… ……
6
2.4.2 Speaking skill ………………………… … ……….…….……….………
7
2.4.3 Reading skill ………………………… … ………………….……………
8
v

2.4.4 Writing skill………… … ………………………………….………… …
8
2.4.5 Teaching pronunciation ………………… … …………… ……………

9
2.4.6 Teaching vocabulary……… ……… … ……………….………………
9
2.5 Classroom management…………………… … ………. …………………………
10
2.5.1 Organizing the classroom and planning the lesson. ………… … ….………
10
2.5.2 Preventive approaches to classroom behavior problems …… … …… …
10
2.5.3 Keeping proper and flexible moving space of lessons……… … …….…….
11
2.5.4 Solutions to inappropriate behaviors in classroom …….…… … ………….
11
2.5.5 Teacher- learner reference ………………….………… … ………………
12
2.5.6 Proper punishment …………………… ……… … … …………………
12
2.5.7 The factors outside the classroom, which influence the classroom
management …………………………………………………………….…………
12
2.6 Summary ……………………………… … ……………………………………
14
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY …………………………
3.1 The setting of the study ………………… … ………………… ………………
15
3.1.1 Teaching materials …………………… … ……………… ……………
15
3.1.2 Teaching facilities ………………… … ………………………….………
15
3.2 Subjects ………………………… …… … ………………………….…………

16
3.2.1 Teachers ………………………… … ………………………….………
16
3.2.2 The school students …………………… … ……………….….….………
16
3.3 Instruments for collecting data ….… ……… … ………………………………
16
3.4 Data collecting procedure ………… ……… … ………… ………… ………
17
3.5 The methods of analyzing data …………… … ………………………………….
17
3.5 Summary …………………………………… … …………………………….…
17
CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA …………
18
4.1 Presentation and analysis of data ……………………………… … ……………
18
4.1.1 Teachers’ opinions towards English teaching to 1st grade - students .… …
18
4.1.2 Children’s attitudes on learning English ………… … …………………
19
4.1.3 Teachers' English teaching methods to 1st grade students……… … … ….
20
4.1.4 Professional training courses for teachers….……… … …………………
24
vi

4.1.5 Classroom management ……….……………… …… … ………………
26
4.1.6 Teaching curriculum ………….………………… … ……………………

28
4.1.7 Teaching materials and teaching aids………………………………………
30
4.1.8 Teaching conditions ……….……………………… … ….………………
32
4.2 Findings ………………………………………………… … ……………… …
33
4.3 Summary ……………………………………………… … ………………….…
36
CHAPER FIVE: SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS ………………………….………….
37
5.1 For teachers ……………………………………………… … …………………
37
5.1.1 Improving teachers' English proficiency…………… … …………………
37
5.1.2 Strengthening teachers' teaching methodology for young learners …………
38
5.1.3 Equipping classroom management methods to teachers……… … …….
41
5.2 For stake-holders………………………………………………… … …………….
43
5.3 Summary……………………………………………………… … ……………….
44
CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSIONS………………………………………….………
45
6.1 Conclusions………………………………………………… … …………… …
45
6.2 Limitations and suggestions for further studies…………… … …………………
46
References…………………………………………………… … …………………….

47
Appendix














vii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS


EFL English as a Foreign Language
YL Young Learners
EYL English for Young Learners
TPR Total physical Response
ESL English as a Second Language
TEFL Teaching English as a Foreign Language
L1 First language
L2 Second language
N

o
Number of teachers
CLT Communicative Language Teaching

viii

LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 1: The most difficult skills to teach
Chart 2: Feasibility of teaching English to 1st grade students
Chart 3: Children's favorite skills
Chart 4: The most difficult skills to learn
Chart 5: Teaching methods
Chart 6 : Teachers' using English in classroom
Chart 7: Needed - to - be - trained skills
Chart 8: Number of students in one class
Chart 9: Students' work in classroom

ix

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Students' attitudes on learning English
Table 2: Professional training courses for teachers
Table 3: Teaching curriculum
Table 4: Teaching materials and teaching aids
Table 5: Teaching conditions
1

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale
Nowadays, English is an international language and it has been widely used in many
countries in the world. It is also an international language in diplomacy, business, science,
technology, banking, computing, medicine, aviation, armed forces, engineering, tourism, and
so on. Most countries in the world teach English as compulsory subject in their schools. In
Vietnam, English is also considered the most important foreign language and taught as a
compulsory subject in many schools through out the country. Especially, Vietnam Ministry of
Education and Training has issued the Decision No 1400- QD- TTg dated on September 30
th

2008 which targets to totally changing English teaching and learning in the national education
system, carrying out teaching and learning English in all levels from elementary schools to
colleges. To aim these objectives, it is very necessary for our educational system to teach
English from elementary school, especially right from 1
st
grade. In Hadong where I live,
English is chosen as an optional subject to teach for 1
st
grade students in the whole district. As
a result, this emerges a big challenge because most of the teachers in our country in general
and in Hadong in particular are not trained to teach English for young learners as such.
For all these reasons, it is necessary to find out difficulties in teaching English for
grade one children in Hadong district and suggest some possible solutions to this problems.
This urges the author to carry on a study named ―Difficulties in teaching English for 1
st
grade
primary school students in Hadong district, Hanoi city.‖ Once difficulties are identified, some
solutions to cope with them will be suggested.
1.2 The aims of the study
This study aims at:

- Investigating the areas of difficulty that the teachers in Hadong primary schools are
coping with in their daily teaching to grade one students.
- Suggesting some solutions to help teachers overcome these difficulties.
It is hoped that the findings from the study will bring some benefits to teachers of 1st
grade at Hadong primary schools.
1.3. The scope of the study
This study limits to:
2

- The 1
st
grade children in Hadong district
- The teachers of English of grade one in primary schools in Hadong district
- English for grade one children
1.4. The methods of the study
With the aims of finding out the difficulties in teaching English for grade one at
primary schools in Hadong district, this study adopts quantitative and qualitative methods. To
achieve the above aims, the study has been carried out with the data collected from
questionnaires for teachers of grade one and observations to investigate their current
difficulties that they meet in everyday teaching classes for 1
st
grade students.
1.5. The design of the thesis
The study is organized into six chapters:
Chapter one: Introduction. This chapter includes rationale, aims, methods, scope of the
study, and design of the thesis.
Chapter two: Literaturer review. This chapter consists of theoretical background which
is relevant to the purpose of the study.
Chapter three: Reseach methodology. This chapter presents an introduction on the
context of the primary schools in Hadong district, the subjects of the study, the instruments,

the procedure for collecting data and also the methods of data analysis.
Chapter four: Presentation and analysis of data. This chapter presents and analyze the
data which have been collected and concluded the findings of the study.
Chapter five: Suggested solutions. This chapter deals with some suggested solutions to
the problems in the findings.
Chapter six: Conclusions. Summary, limitations as well as suggestions for further
studies and reference of the study are included in this chapter.
3

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter provides relevant literature which is needed to form the theoretical and
conceptual framework for the study. First, an overview on children’s characteristics, stages of
development and learning styles is mentioned because it is very important for teachers and the
educators to make better teaching and learning if they have a comprehensive look on children.
Second, English teaching methods on listening, speaking, reading, writing, vocabulary, and
pronunciation review are revealed. Next, a variety of elements related to the classroom
management is identified such as, organizing the classroom and planning the lesson,
preventive approaches to classroom behaviors problems, keeping proper and flexible moving
space of lessons, other basic recommendations, solutions to inappropriate behaviors in
classroom, teacher- learner references, proper punishment, and the factors outside the
classrooms which influence the classroom management.
2.1 Children’s characteristics
In a very well known book named ―Teaching English to Children‖, the authors
highlight some of the splendid characteristics of children such as they are always willing to
express their feelings about what they are doing, what they have done or heard, they can argue
for something and tell you why they think what they think. Moreover, they can use logical
reasoning and vivid imaginations. Especially, they can use the wide range of intonation
patterns not only in their mother tongue but also in second language. They have very short
attention and concentrations span, their own understanding comes through hands, eyes and
ears (Scott and Ytreberg, 1991).

Young children sometimes have difficulty in working out what is fact and what is
fiction. The dividing line between the real world and the imaginary world is not clear to them.
The young children love to play and learn best when they are enjoying themselves. But they
also take themselves seriously and like to think that what they are doing is ―real‖ work
(Sharon & Woolley, 2004). It is often said that children are very self- centered up to the age
of six or seven and they can not see things from someone else’s point of view. This may well
be true, but sometimes pupils do not want to work together because they do not see the point.
They do not always understand what others want them to do. But they will seldom admit that
they do not know something either.
4

Young children are enthusiastic and positive about learning. We all thrive on
doing well and being praised for what we do and this is especial true for young children. It is
important to praise them if they are to keep their enthusiasm and feel successful from the
beginning. ―If we label children failures, then they believe us‖ (Pyles and Algae, 1970:56).
2.2 Children’s stages of development
According to Pinter (1997), children move through stages of development as they
mature. The rate of development varies from one child to another. Development is influenced
by the experiences children have, as well as by hereditary factors. Children may grow rapidly
in one area and more slowly in another. The direction of development is from general to
specific, from dependence toward independence and interdependence, and from gross motor
control (the ability to make large, general movements such as waving an arm or lifting a leg, it
requires proper coordination and function of muscle, bones, and nerves) toward fine motor
control (the coordination of muscles, bones, and nerves to produce small, precise movements.
An example of fine motor control is picking up a small item with the index finger and thumb).
2.2.1 Socio-emotional Development
Nunan (1988) noticed that children develop socially and emotionally during the child
years. At the beginning of the year, some children may be shy and appear to lack initiative.
However, as they come to know the situation, the teachers and peers, they usually gain
confidence and begin to establish friendships and become an active part of the class. Other

children may be too assertive prior to learning from experience more appropriate ways of
relating to peers. It is a time of testing and exploring social relationships.
2.2.2 Physical Development
Physical activity is one common characteristic of children, although children vary a
great deal in the development of physical skills and abilities. Some children are slow and
cautious about trying new things; others seem to accept any challenge that is presented.
Most young children are full of energy, ready to run, swing, climb and jump, and are
eager to try their strength by moving big blocks or boxes. They are developing a sense of
rhythm, and enjoy such activities as marching, jumping or clapping to music. These group
activities need to be short and allow for more participation than standing. Required stillness is
more exhausting and stressful for most children than movement.
5

Sensory development is uneven. The coordination of the eyes and other senses are still
developing. Physical growth has slowed down. It is a time of consolidating gains and
developing fine motor control. However, over-emphasis on fine motor activities such as
writing, cutting and making discrete visual discriminations may result in tension and
frustration (Pinter, 1997).
2.2.3 Intellectual Development
Wood (1981) stated that children love to talk. Their intellectual development is reflected
in the rapid growth of vocabulary and the power to express ideas. They are developing visual
and auditory memory and the ability to listen to others. Their ears are keen but they still need
help in distinguishing sounds, although they can pick up another language and accurately
imitate other people's intonations and inflections. They are especially keen to acquiring new
words (the names of dinosaurs, for example) and to use such words as "infinity" (the idea of
something that has no end) and "trillion". They welcome opportunities to be inventive with
language, to play with rhyming, to joke, to explain things to each other and even to argue.
2.2.4 Individual Differences
Descriptions of general characteristics are helpful in understanding children. However,
such normative statements do not provide the information teachers need about particular

children because each one differs from one another. As a result, the teacher's systematic
observations of children provide the information needed for appropriate planning (Pinter,
1997).
2.3. Children’s learning styles
Armstrong (2000) shows that learning styles are simply different approaches or ways
of learning. Psychologists, academics, and other theoreticians have developed any numbers of
ideas and theories about the ways children learn. They groups learning styles into four, major
categories - spatial visual, kinetic or movement, language-oriented, and logical/analytical.
2.3.1 Spatial visual style
Children with this learning style needs and likes to visualize things, learn through
images, enjoys arts and drawing, read charts, maps and diagrams as well. They are fascinated
with machines and inventions, playing with legos; also they like mazes and puzzles.
Especially, they are often accused of being daydreamers in class. So the motivating tips are:
6

Using board games and memory devices to create visual patterns. In reading, suggest visual
clues, offer picture book of all types. When they read chapter books together, encourage
visualization of story and scenes at intervals, promote writing via colored pens, computers or
drawing.
2.3.2. Kinetic style
The learners with kinetic learning style processes knowledge through physical
sensations, are highly active and not able to sit too long. They usually communicate with body
language and gestures. They prefer showing to telling. They need to touch and feel the world
and are good at mimicking others. Children with this style like scary amusement rides,
naturally athletic and enjoy sports. As the result, physical action is the key ingredient to
simulate this child. While reading, let the child chew gum, walk around, rock or ride stationary
bicycle. Use numerous hands- on activities and experiments, art projects, natural walk or act
out stories.
2.3.3 Language- oriented style
Children think in words, verbalize concepts, spin tales and jokes; especially they spell

words accurately and easily. They can be good readers or prefer the spoken word more. These
kinds of children have excellent memory for names, dates and trivia. They like word games,
enjoy using tape recorders and often musically talented. There for the motivating tips are
encouraging own word problems, having child dictate a story to others, reading aloud together
and tape session for later playback.

2.3.4 Logical style
Children think conceptually, like to explore patterns and relationships. They enjoy
puzzles and seeing how things work; constantly question and wonder. They are capable of
highly abstract forms of logical thinking at early age; math problems are computed quickly in
their head. Strategy games, computers and experiments with purposes, creating own designs to
build with blocks/logos are all of these kinds of children’s favors.
2.4 An overview of English teaching methods for young learners
2.4.1 Listening skill
7

Listening is the language skill which learners usually find the most difficult. This often
is because they feel under unnecessary pressure to understand every word. To achieve the
aims related to this skill, the teacher plays an important role that is defined in the following
steps by Vale and Feunteun (1995):
 ―It is important to help pupils prepare for the listening task well before they hear the
text itself. First of all the teacher must ensure that the pupils understand the language they
need to complete the task and are fully aware of exactly what is expected of them. Reassure
the pupils that they do not need to understand every word they hear.
 The next important step is to encourage pupils to anticipate what they are going to hear.
In everyday life, the situation, the speaker, and visual clues all help us to decode oral messages.
A way to make things a bit easier to the pupils is to present the listening activity within the
context of the topic of a teaching unit. This in itself will help pupils to predict what the
answers might be. The teacher can help them further by asking questions and using the
illustrations to encourage pupils to guess the answers even before they hear the text.

 During the listening, the pupils should be able to concentrate on understanding the
message so make sure they are not trying to read, draw, and write at the same time. Always
give a second chance to listen to the text to provide a new opportunity to those who were not
able to do the task.
 Finally, when pupils have completed the activity, invite answers from the whole class.
Try not to put individual pupils under undue pressure. Rather than confirming whether an
answer is correct or not, play the cassette again and allow pupils to listen again for
confirmation. You may be given a variety of answers, in which case list them all on the board
and play the text again, so that the class can listen and choose the correct one. Even if the
pupils all appear to have completed the task successfully, always encourage them to listen to
the text once more and check their answers for themselves.‖ (Monica & Roger, 1983: 45).
2.4.2 Speaking skill
In the book ―Beginning English with young children‖ the authors express that we must
take into account that the level of language input (listening) must be higher than the level of
language production expected of the pupils. So we have many speaking activities used in the
first levels that enable pupils to participate with a minimal verbal response. However, in the
8

last levels, pupils are encouraged to begin to manipulate language and express themselves in a
much more personal way (Monica and Roger, 1983).
In primary schools, two main types of speaking activities are used. The first type
encourages pupils to mimic the model such as, songs, chants, and poems, they hear on the
cassette. This helps pupils to master the sounds, rhythms, and intonation of the English
language through simple reproduction. The games and pair work activities on the other hand,
although always based on a given model, encourage the pupils to begin to manipulate the
language by presenting them with a certain amount of choice, albeit within a fairly controlled
situation.
Once the activity begins, the teacher tries to help the children speak as much English as
possible without interfering to correct the mistakes that they will probably make. Try to treat
errors casually by praising the utterance and simply repeating it correctly without necessarily

highlighting the errors. And finally, always offer praise for effort regardless of the accuracy of
the English produced (Vale and Feunteun, 1995).
2.4.3 Reading skill
―When choosing texts we should consider not only their difficulty level, but also
their interest or their humor so that children will want to read for the same reasons they read in
their own language: to be entertained or to find out something they do not already know‖
(Slattery and Willis, 2001: 121).
It is important to spend time preparing for the task by using the illustrations (a usual
feature in reading activities for children), pupils' own knowledge about the subject matter, and
key vocabulary to help the pupils to predict the general content of the text. Discuss the subject
and ask questions to elicit language and to stimulate the pupils' interest in the text before they
begin reading. Also make sure that the pupils understand the essential vocabulary they need to
complete the task before they begin to read.
2.4.4 Writing skill
In primary schools, EFL pupils progress from writing isolated words and phrases, to
short paragraphs about themselves or about very familiar topics (family, home, hobbies,
friends, food, etc.)
9

Since many pupils at this level are not yet capable either linguistically or intellectually
of creating a piece of written text from scratch, it is important that time is spent building up
the language they will need and providing a model on which they can then base their own
efforts. The writing activities should therefore be based on a parallel text and guide the pupils,
using simple cues. These writing activities generally appear towards the end of a unit so that
pupils have had plenty of exposure to the language and practice of the main structures and
vocabulary they need.
At this stage, the pupils' work will invariably contain mistakes. The teacher should try
to be sensitive in his/her correction and not necessarily insist on every error being highlighted.
A piece of written work covered in red pen is demoralizing and generally counter-productive.
Where possible, encourage pupils to correct their own mistakes as they work. If there is time,

encourage pupils to decorate their written work and where feasible display their efforts in the
classroom (Monica and Roger, 1983).
2.4.5 Teaching pronunciation
Juel (2003) shows that teaching English pronunciation is an area of language teaching
that many English teachers avoid. While there are many textbooks and instruction manuals
available, as well as books on the theories and methodologies of language teaching there is
comparatively little on learning pronunciation.
Certainly, we need to teach pronunciation. When teaching any language as a foreign or second
language, our first goal for our students is basic communication, and that cannot happen if no
one can understand what they are saying.
Elley (1989) stated that when teachers decide to focus on pronunciation practice many
of them make the mistake of trying to teach pronunciation along with introducing vocabulary.
This can work with students who have "good ears," or who perhaps speak a related language.
However, it can be hit and miss with students whose mother tongue has no relation to the
target language.
2.4.6 Teaching vocabulary
Templeton (2004) strongly shows that because vocabulary knowledge is critical to
reading comprehension, it is important that those working with young readers help foster their
development of a large ―word bank‖ and effective vocabulary learning strategies. There are
10

several effective explicit (intentional, planned instruction) and implicit (spontaneous
instruction as a child comes to new words in a text) strategies that adults can employ with
readers of any age.
2.5 Classroom management.
2.5.1 Organizing the classroom and planning the lesson.
Teachers have many roles in the classroom; two of the most important are planning the
lesson and organizing the classroom in the way that facilitates learning. The following steps
are offered for teachers who are trying to get a successful classroom management.
 Try and achieve a warm, friendly, relaxed atmosphere in which young learners feel

comfortable, competent and most important secure.
 The physical organization of the classroom is quite important. In an ideal world, the
classroom would have an area of easily removable desks and chairs, an open space for actions
songs and games, a quiet corner for reading or self – study. Such ideal conditions are rarely
found in the real world, but if all possible arrange the tables and chairs so that the young
learners can work in pairs or groups, and there should be a space for them to come out to the
board and to move around the classroom. Often the five or ten minutes spent on reorganizing
tables and chairs are well worth it to help an activity work well. It is a good way to display the
learners’ work and relevant posters on the wall and try to keep the display up to date.
 Create a stress free English learning environment for the young learners. Neither
teachers nor parents should push the young learners too hard. The young learners’ English
teachers should encourage them and their attempts to speak English words or sentences. When
they are hesitant, you need to be patient and show great interest. Do not blame them if they
make a mistake. Crucially, if they perform well, give them praise or a certain reward. If the
teacher responds with interest, they will try again because ―reward behavior is usually
repeated and become a habit‖ (Machado, 1985: 101).
2.5.2 Preventive approaches to classroom behavior problems
Setting rules to keep discipline: effective management requires teachers to define their
expectations for their students at the beginning of the school year. Discipline is the main
preoccupation of the teacher and the young learners. (1) Establish the list during the first few
class meeting. (2) Keep the list short and clear. (3) Focus on learners behaviors needed to
11

achieve lesson goal. (4) State the consequences for breaking the rules and rewards for
following them (Kounin, 1970) .
2.5.3 Keeping proper and flexible moving space of lessons
Kounin (1970) also found that the best classroom managers were careful to keep the
lesson moving at a brisk pace. Inappropriate learner behaviors increase when the lesson
becomes boring, so try to use topics and activities that you think will be interesting and
enjoyable.

He also suggests some other basic suggestions to have better classroom management as
follow:
 Keep and eyes on different groups at the same time.
 Be able to be aware of events’ occurring based on observation.
 Use both verbal and nonverbal skills such as voice control and eye contact.
 Plan lesson and include varied activities and interactions that keep the learners busy.
 Motivate the learners by focusing on what they do satisfactorily or well more than
what they do badly.
 Try to create a sense of community in the group.
 Be fair to all learners, never favoring some over others (Kounin, 1970).
2.5.4 Solutions to student's inappropriate behaviors in classroom
 Using silence
Most teachers talk too much because of the responsibility for maintaining and guiding
class interaction. But silence can be effective to discipline the learners. Think of a lesson in
which the teachers are always talking, learners’ attentions decrease and they begin to talk with
each other; when the teachers are suddenly stop speaking to start to speak softly with a low
voice, learners’ attention will be raised to the teachers and the lesson because they want to
know what is happening (Archer & Smith, 1999).
 Proximity control
During the lesson, if the teacher moves closer to a certain learner, it will have different
meaning. First, it means, ―I am standing close to you‖, second ―I don’t like your company‖,
and the last, ―we have something in common‖. With this approach, the teacher can control the
12

learners with inappropriate behaviors because the distance between the teacher and the
learners is very short (Scott (1970).
2.5.5 Teacher- learner reference
The learner who does not change his or her inappropriate behaviors in class may have
reasons. In order to solve the problem, a teacher- learner reference after class is a good way
(Smith, 1995). The success of the reference depends on the manner in which it is conducted.

The teacher should be positive and calm instead of showing authority so that good
communication with the learner can be made, which helps the learner make behavioral
progress.
2.5.6 Proper punishment
According to Loannou and Pavlou (2000), sometimes teacher may need to use some
kind of punishment for a trouble maker in the classroom. But never give a punishment that is
humiliating or unreasonable and always reintegrate learners into the group after they have
received a reprimand or punishment. This is important not just for the learner involved, but
also for the teacher’s standing with the group. The following two kinds of punishment may be
effective.
Temporary isolation: It means that the misbehaving learner is removed for a short time
from the class activities. The place used for the isolation should be dull and simple. But the
time should not be long, often five or ten minutes will be enough. Moreover, it must not be
forgotten that the isolation should not be used to frighten the learner.
Response cost: It means the removal of the quantity of reinforces related to a response.
For example, a teacher can take a learner’s water paints away from his desk because he was
painting his desk mate’s hands. Within the classroom environment, typical response cost may
be loss of tokens or privileges as part of a classroom management system. Many young
learners’ teachers agree that the response cost is a very effective way to reduce inappropriate
behaviors.
―It is also useful to develop your sense of humor, which is usually appreciated by
others and can help you face small and sometimes large problems.‖ (Hill, 1985:332).
2.5.7 The factors outside the classroom, which influence the classroom management
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The graduation paper by Do, Thi Mai Chi (2008) mentioning factors outside the
classroom which influence the classroom management as follow:
 Peer relations: Peers play an important role in a young learner’s schooling. Peers serve
as reinforce be giving or drawing attention and approval. They also serve as models and basis
for social comparisons. Peer relations contribute to the young learner’s perception of their

success. Positive peer relations can reduce social isolation and improve social academic
abilities. Poor peer relations can result in isolation and even psychological problems. The
young learners who are accepted by their peers are willing to take part in classroom activities.
Those who are rejected by their peers often feel anxious and have less confidence. In addition,
peer prejudice is often a catalyst for misbehavior. Teachers should help them build positive
relationships by enhancing classroom interaction, cooperation and conversation.
 Teacher’s attention: Educationists emphasize the relationship between teachers and
students because the relation socializes attitudes, values, and abilities of the students.
Teacher’s positive comments on and attention to the young learners can promote their
performance in the classroom.
 Parents’ care and encouragement: Parents’ attitudes towards young learners’
performance play a quite important role in their classroom management. So regular teacher-
parents conference often take place in most primary schools to serve the purpose.

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2.6 Summary
Having a look at related literature urges the author to investigate the difficulties in
teaching English for children in Hadong district since there has never been any investigation
into this topic. Also, it is very important for teachers and educators to make better teaching
and learning if they have a comprehensive look on children. It is considered the collation for
the next chapters.
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CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the setting of this study, that is twenty primary schools in Hadong,
the real situation of English teaching for children, the different types of text books, available
aids for teaching, the teachers and the school students in Hadong. It also reveals the
instruments for collecting data and data collecting procedure which are the basements for the
following chapters.

3.1 The setting of the study
For the time being, Hadong district has twenty primary schools with more than seventy
teachers of English aged from twenty-three to forty in their teaching currency. And the
number of 1
st
grade classes is over ninety. Recently Hadong has been in its primary expands
so that by the year 2020 there will have been more than ten primary schools putting into
operation. Hadong Education and Training Department has given favorable conditions to all
primary schools to get access to English teaching from 1
st
grade by giving nongovernmental
organizations permissions to launch English program for 1
st
and 2
nd
grades. As a result, most
of the teachers have been teaching English in an unprofessional way because they were not
trained to teach English for young learners.
3.1.1 Teaching materials
For the time being in Hadong, there are 4 text books being used in grade one, they are:
Let’s learn, Phonics, Next Stop, and Family and Friends. They are all foreign books except
Let’s Learn published by Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training (2003). Thus, the
syllabus for each book is different. For example, Next Stop book by Macmillan publisher
(2007) has four units, each unit has ten lessons. All these books are at starter levels, each book
is designed with many colorful pictures to attract young children.
3.1.2 Teaching facilities
Teaching facilities also play an important role in teaching English and may affect the
teaching process positively or negatively. In Hadong in particular and Hanoi in general, the
issue of teaching facilities has been a hot topic for a long time and the answer is still pending.
According to Mr. Pham Xuan Tien (2010), Head of Primary Education Department,

Ministry of Education and Training, the basic facilities needed are laboratory, CD player,
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cassettes, teaching aids and so on. However, many English classes at many primary schools
including state and private schools are short of teaching facilities.
3.2 Subjects
In order to achieve the aims of the thesis, the main subjects of the study include forty
teachers in twenty primary schools in Hadong district. They have at least five year-experience
teaching English, and they are all female teachers.
3.2.1 Teachers
Most of the teachers (25) graduated from universities, the other fifteen teachers
graduated from colleges and in – service study where English for children are not their major.
In each school, there are at least five 1
st
grade classes , so we can see that each teacher has to
teach many classes everyday. In addition to grade one, they also have to teach grade two, three,
four or five.
In addition, English for 1
st
grade is still new for them because they have been teaching
English for grade three to five, and English has been taught to grade one and two for two years
up to now. However the teachers have not been trained to teach young learners as such. This
may be one of the reasons teachers find it very difficult to teach English for grade one.
The thing is that most of the teachers in Hadong has pronunciation problems. Their
pronunciation is not good and standard. There are about fifty out of seventy teachers have
trouble with pronouncing the words in a correct way.
3.2.2 The school students
All 1
st
grade school students in Hadong are six years old and the English is very new

for them. In fact, this is the first time they start study a foreign language. As the result, they
are very interested in studying English; this may be a favorable condition for teachers after a
lot of difficulties. They are from all classes of society. However, no matter where the children
are from, teachers always put the children’s study into a focus.
3.3 Instruments for collecting data
In this study, questionnaires and classroom observation are chosen as main tools for
collecting information because of some advantages. Firstly, these methods give the needed
data in quantitative form. Secondly, all informants have chance of expressing their attitudes.
As a result, the study will be more objective with accurate data.
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The set of questionnaires was administered to get information concerning these
following aspects:
 Teachers’ attitudes towards English teaching for young learners
 Student’s attitudes towards learning English
 English teaching methods to children in Hadong
 Professional training courses for teachers
 Classroom management
 Teaching curriculum
 Materials required for teachers
 Teaching aids
 Teaching conditions
3.4 Data collecting procedure
The procedure of collecting data is as follow:
First, the teachers in Hadong are given a set of questionnaires with a clear purposes
provided by the researcher in break - time. Then they are all explained the benefits of this
research for their teaching; this helps to encourage the teachers to complete the questionnaires.
Finally, the researcher collects all the questionnaires right after the teachers have finished.
In order to make the result of the questionnaire more reliable, during 10 weeks, the
author conducts the observations in ten primary schools with ten teachers of English. To have

fair comparisions, the author observes teaching vocabulary lesson in all ten schools.
3.5 The method of analyzing the data
In this study, quantitative and qualitative methods are used to analyze data.
Particularly, charts and tables are employed to present data collected from questionnaires and
classroom observations .
3.6 Summary
In conclusion, this chapter provides the current situations in primary schools in Hadong
such as, teaching materials, teaching facilities, teachers, school students, as well as
instruments for collecting data, data collected procedure and method of analyzing the data
which helps us have a deep look on primary schools and the methods to approach to this study.
Also, it is the foundation for the following chapter.