The feasibility of integrated approach in English language teaching at Maritime College No.1, Haiphong = Tính khả thi của phương pháp tích hợp trong giản20150227.PDF

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION
i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
ii
ABSTRACT
iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATION
vi
LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS
vii
PART I: INTRODUCTION
1
1. Rationale
1
2. Aims and objectives
2
3. Research methods
2
4. Scope of research
3
5. Significance of the study
3
6. Design of the study
3

PART II: DEVELOPMENT
5
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
5
1.1. Integrated-skills approach
5
1.1.1. Definitions
5
1.1.2. Types of Integration
6
1.1.2.1. Integration of three areas
6
1.1.2.2. Integration of skills
7
1.1.3. The advantages of integrated approach
8
1.1.4. An integrated approach to teaching reading
9
1.1.5. The disadvantages of integrated approach
10
1.2. The statement of the problems
11
1.2.1. Teachers' background
11
1.2.2. Students’ background
12
1.2.3. The current situation of English language teaching
and learning at Maritime College
13

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1.2.3.1. The teaching situation
13
1.2.3.2. The learning situation
13
1.3. Summary
13
CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
14
2. 1. Methodology
14
2.1.1. Research questions
14
2.1.2. The participants
14
2.1.3. The instruments
14
2.1.3.1. Survey questionnaires
14
2.1.3.2. Class observation
15
2.1.3.3. Informal interview
16
2.2. Data analysis
17
2.3. Summary
18
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

19
3.1. Teacher survey questionnaire
19
3.1.1. Teachers’ perceptions of feasibility of
Integration of skills to Reading at Maritime College
19
3.1.2. Advantages of Integrated Approach
22
3.1.3. Disadvantages of Integrated Approach
23
3.2. Class observation
28
3.3. Informal interview
28
3.4. Major findings
29
3.5. Recommendations and suggestions
30
3.6. Sample lesson plans with integrated approach
32
PART III: CONCLUSION
38
1. Conclusions
38
2. Implications
38
3. Limitations
39
REFERENCES
43

APPENDICES
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LIST OF ABBREVIATION

School year : SY
Ss : Student(s)
Integrated approach : IA
Teaching and learning : T/L
Maritime College No. 1 : MC
Ministry of Education and Training : MOET
International Maritime Organization : IMO
English as a Foreign Language : EFL
English as a Second Language : ESL


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LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS

FIGURES

Figure1: Classification of integration (Meltem Huri, 2010)
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TABLES

Table 1: Advantages of Integrated Approach
24
Table 2: Disadvantages of Integrated Approach
25
Table 3: Recommendations for the application of integrated approach
29

CHARTS

Chart 1: Teachers’ current language teaching approaches at MC
21
Chart 2: Appropriateness of the integrated Approaches
21
Chart 3: Priority in Language Teaching
22
Chart 4: Definition of Integrated Approaches
22
Chart 5: Integrated Approaches implementation
26
Chart 6: Suitability and applicability of Integrated Approaches in
Language teaching at MC
27
Chart 7: Fluency of Integrated Approaches applications

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1

PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Globalization has not omitted maritime industry. Nowadays we can see
different nationalities on board. This cross-cultural labour mobility makes
many maritime English instructors aware that the quality of cadets in the global
seafarer‟s community needs a proper teaching pedagogy. Today‟s shipping
industry communicates through maritime English, the language of the sea.
Competent seafarers should also be proficient in understanding and using
maritime English, which is essential for the safety of life at sea, ship property,
pollution prevention, etc. Maritime English knowledge and skills can ensure
the effectiveness of communication between English speaking seafarers and
non-English speaking seafarers; and between seafarers and offshore personnel.
To a certain degree safety at sea depends on seafarers‟ communication in
maritime English. Proper command of maritime English is not only for the
essentials of seafarers but also for the appropriate operation of ship.
Taking into consideration the significance of the above, IMO
(International Maritime Organization) has officially adopted maritime English
as the language of maritime industry. But another important step is to ensure
that seafarers gain good maritime English communication skills. Most of the
maritime institutes realize that mastering communication skills is one of the
important components which ensure the safety at sea. To help seafarers to
achieve high quality performance, maritime English instructors should focus on
the particular terminology and communication skills that include listening,
speaking, reading, writing and try to find the most effective ways to teach the
language, trying to use or at least introduce some communicative techniques.
Lecturers in general play an essential part in achieving the goals of
teaching. In addition, the quality of maritime English teaching decides whether
the cadets will become competent seafarers to meet requirements of IMO

Conventions, and whether they will be communicating freely in the global
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maritime community. But in the process of teaching and learning maritime
English, teaching methodology is the key to success of educational outcomes.
In this paper I would like to give an overview of maritime English
teaching at the Maritime College No. 1, Hai Phong, addressing some
advantages and disadvantages of integration of four skills to Reading and
providing suggestions on how to improve the communicative skills in
maritime English teaching at Maritime College.
For all these reasons above, a thesis named: “THE FEASIBILITY OF
AN INTEGRATED APPROACH IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING
AT MARITIME COLLEGE No. 1, HAI PHONG” has been fostered and
conducted.
2. Aims and objectives
In line with the above mentioned thoughts on English teaching at
Maritime College, the author sets out a target to identify what advantages and
disadvantages of using integrated approach at Maritime College No. 1, Hai
Phong and to determine whether the approach is feasible to be carried out at
Maritime College. Specifically, the researcher seeks to examine the perception
of teachers on how to integrate skills in Reading teaching and the feasibility of
the method at Maritime College setting.
In addition, it is expected that findings and discussion given would make
certain contribution to the improvement of teaching methods for the teacher. It
means that the specific solutions and samples of lesson plans with integration
of four skills to Reading will be suggested by the school teachers and the
author as well.
In short, the study is an attempt to meet two aims. It not only points to
the advantages and disadvantages of integrated-skills teaching at MC but also

to provide guidance and suggestions in applying the method with the purpose
of teaching improvement.
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3. Research methods
In this section, the author provided the description of the instruments for
collecting data that were used and also highlighted the strengths and weakness
of the research methods chosen.
The thesis is developed based on a survey research with three methods
including surveys questionnaire, class observation and informal interviews. A
Survey Questionnaire for teachers is used to collect data that relates to the
teachers‟ perspectives and attitudes towards the skills integration approach they
have applied. Class observation is a tool to check the answers of teachers in
reality. Informal interviews, on the other hand, ask broad questions, collects
data from participants and most importantly, to clarify information collected in
the survey questionnaire and observation. The next part is a detailed discussion
of the research methods used in the thesis. In short, the author‟s attempt is to
carry out a qualitative and quantitative research of the integrated skills
approach at Maritime College.
4. Scope of the study
As mentioned in the research‟s title, the research is aiming at an
investigation on the suitability of integrated-skills method at MC. Since then,
the author will study teaching and learning situation in the light of
communication language teaching with all English teachers at MC. Based on
theoretical background and actual observations, recommendations for teaching
renovation are given.
5. Significance of the study
Being one of two colleges in Vietnam specializing in Maritime industry,
MC has played a very important role in providing Maritime English lectures

and labour forces for the nation. Thus, studying integrated method, one of the
innovative methods with the purpose of T/L quality improvement at MC, in the
long-term strategies, will bring out Maritime English lectures that should use
some effective pedagogy to help the students in maritime related fields perfect
their language skills. Especially, in the process of teaching maritime English
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there are some problems related to four macro skills in the English language
communications, namely speaking, listening, reading and writing. The study is
to clearly understand how feasible the integrated-skills approach is as applying
at MC. Besides, the author has expected to give recommendations for
enhancing T/L quality of the school, providing consultation to the school's
educational managers to better understand English studies at MC and making
relevant policies of management in time; upgrading pre-service and in-service
training programs for the teachers in the coming time and increasing the
qualified graduates working in maritime industry who will make a significant
contribution to the society.
6. Design of the study
PART I: INTRODUCTION provides the basic information such as the
aims, the scope, and significance of the study.
PART II: DEVELOPMENT contains of 3 chapters.
Chapter 1: Literature Review justifies the literature on integrated teaching
approach, categories of integration, the advantages and disadvantages of this
method and especially the statement of the problems whose background of
teachers and students are given clearly with the application of this method at
the school.
Chapter 2: Research Methodology focus on the methodology employed in this
study, including the methodology, the participants, the instruments for data
collection.

Chapter 3: Findings and Discussions are reported.
PART III: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS presents a review of the
research and the recommendations for the improvement of the material with
selected suggestions for further research.

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PART II: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
The process of the literature review involves the researcher in exploring
the literature to establish the status quo, formulate a problem or research
enquiry, define the value of pursuing the line of enquiry established, and
compared the findings and ideas with his or her own (Andresen 1997, adapted
from Bruce 1994). That is why, as stated in the title of the thesis, the
assumption has been made that the primary parts of the literature will be
involved in the definitions and types of integrated approach and the review of
literature concerning advantages and disadvantages of the method. The second
and most important part which provides the background of teachers and
students is the statements of problems. It embedded the current situation of
language teaching and learning at Maritime College. This assumption has
influenced both the structure and the content of the literature review.
1.1. Integrated teaching approach
1.1.1. Definitions
The philosophy of integrated skills approach is based on the concept that
in natural, day-to-day experience, oral and written languages are not kept
separate and isolated from one another. Instead, they often occur together,
integrated in specific communication events (Peregoy & Boyle, 2001).
Cunningsworth states that “In the actual language use, one skill is rarely
used in isolation Numerous communicative situations in real life involve

integrating two or more of the four skills. The user of the language exercises
his abilities in two or more skills, either simultaneously or in close succession.”
(1984, p.46).
Similarly, Hersan points out that “nowadays, communication is the
major aim for learning a foreign language. In daily life, these skills are seen in
integration, for example, after reading a letter, usually an answer to this letter is
written. So in the classroom the activities should be taught in integration in
order to arrive at ease in communication.” (1998, p. 22).
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Thus, the integrated skills approach is the application for the
development of communicative skills in the classroom, in which the four skills
in the acquisition of knowledge of a foreign language can be taught in a
coherent way, and practiced together, with a distinction of the importance of
one upon the other.
1.2.2. Types of Integration
According to Meltem Huri Baturay (2010), integration can be classified
into two types, including integration of four language skills and integration of
three areas namely grammar, language functions and topics/themes. The
concepts of integration are separated into two as in the chart below:

Figure 1: Classification of integration (Meltem Huri, 2010)
1.2.2.1. Integration of three areas
Up to now, it has been emphasized that skills integration is inevitable if
a communicative way of teaching is applied. However, it should not be limited
to skills integration only in a thematic way. Meltem Huri (2010) has suggested
a skills integration model roughly falling into three categories as grammar,
language functions and topics/themes.
Grammatical Integration

Most of the course books apply this type of integration. There is no
topical/thematic unity among the skills activities, but they reinforce the same
grammatical item. Therefore, one/a unit of the course book is completely











Integration of 3 areas











Integration of skills

INTEGRATION


Grammar












Language functions
Topics/themes
Reading
Writing
Listening
Speaking
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centred on items such as tenses, articles, adverbial forms and so on with its
skills activities.
This type of integrated unit in a book can be confused with a wholly
grammar-based unit. The difference between a wholly grammatical unit and a
grammatically integrated unit is that while the former one ignores the
communicative value of language, the second one recognizes it by using
different skills communicatively, focusing on a grammatical item. That is, the
course book is still communicative with its follow-up activities although it
gives importance to grammar a great deal.
Skills activities might be presented in different topics and settings but
focusing on only one grammatical item and without logical links among them.
There are no logical links among them because if there were, it means that
there would also be a topical/thematic integration taking place.
Functional Integration
It focuses on gathering and using skills in an organization around one
social functions of language. Therefore, it is concerned with elements such as
invitations, 24 apologies, suggestions, refuses and so forth. It helps the student
to recognize that he has a real purpose for speaking. A functional element or
expression is given in all skills activities but there is not topical or thematic
unity among the skills. Sometimes both can operate or sometimes, the same
grammatical item is presented besides the same functional element in skills
activities.
Thematic/Topical Integration
In this type of integration, skills are practiced in conjunction with each
other around a topic in the way they are integrated in real life. If there is a
context, and skills activities are not isolated from this context, there thought to
be a topical unity among activities. They follow each other meaningfully; there
seems to be a storytaking place with logical connections. Whenever the writers
have examined the course books for the integration of skills, this is the only
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type of integration the course books seem to cover under the title of
“Integration of Four Skills”.
1.2.2.2. Integration of skills
In past decades, one or two of the four traditional skills were given
prominence in EFL classes where one or two skills were dominant over the
others. Oxford (2001) describes this approach as segregated-skill approach
saying that such segregation is reflected in traditional EFL/ESL programs that
offer classes more focused on segregated language skills. Yet, segregated- skill
approach was found to be contradictory to the natural way of acquiring a
language and there has been a movement to integrated approaches that
encourage the teaching of all four skills within the general framework. In real
life, language skills are rarely used in isolation; it is a rare situation where the
four skills occur alone. Teaching skills in isolation leads to distinction between
classroom and real life language use. "Often one skill will reinforce another;
we learn to speak, for example, in part by modelling what we hear, and we
learn to write by examining what we can read" (Brown,2001).
In natural language learning, skills integration is inevitable and in the
language classroom skills need to be practiced in integration. Language skills
in the classroom should also be integrated in language teaching process as it is
in real life. In order to provide more purposeful and meaningful learning
environment, teachers should integrate the language skills -reading, speaking,
listening and writing- while teaching and practicing the language.
In short, the integration of skills is a combination of four language skills
including Listening, Speaking, Writing and Reading is the most important task
for teachers. The writer prefers the four skills integration and will handle the
teaching methods assessment mainly from this perspective.
1.2.3. The advantages of integrated approach
For integration of skills, Kyriacou (1991) points out that during the

integration of skills, the notion of “smoothness” should be provided. That is,
activities should be chosen so correctly that the transition between activities
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should be smooth. This approach is consistent with the communicative
language teaching and whole language as both emphasize meaningful and
authentic language use and link oral and written language development.
Sanchez (2000) emphasizes that practicing receptive and productive skills in
isolation in the past have made the transition from „in-classroom‟ to „out of
classroom‟ practices „artificial‟. In the language learning process, listening,
speaking, reading, and writing should be treated as integrated, interdependent,
and inseparable elements of language. No language process should be separated
from the whole teaching task.
To summarize, using an integrated skills approach enables students to
develop their ability in the use of two or more of the four skills within real
context and in a communicative framework. According to Finocchiaro (1973) a
good teacher recognizes the importance of integrating discrete language skills
in the communicative situations, which simulate or duplicate the real life
situations in which students will need to use the foreign language.
1.2.4. An integrated approach to teaching reading
Reading, in comparison with the other three skills, namely speaking,
writing or listening, is not attractive. Learners are often not in the good mood
for reading all of the time. King (1968) summarizes some of the problems that
reading teachers encounter as follows: students are becoming more and more
dependent on the teacher while dealing with fewer and fewer activities in the
classroom; another problem is that teachers are doing most of the work for their
students, as a result of which students‟ language skills and linguistic
competence can not satisfactorily. Consequently, students are bored and lose
interest in reading texts, which are solely followed by comprehension

questions, create a no authentic type of session. Concerning this, Yılmazer
states that “Students tend to get bored when they are just handed a text and told
to read and answer the questions that follow. As they do not have enough
motivation, they are not actively engaged in the task they are given.
Furthermore, when the comprehension questions are done and checked,
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the text is left out” (1997, p.59). Therefore, it is vital to make reading
interesting and appealing to learners. In fact, reading is practiced through other
skills „integratedly‟ as in real life; it will become more interesting, motivating
and effective for students.
According to Grellet, (1981) reading comprehension and other skills
should be presented together. She states “There are few cases in real life when
we do not talk or write about what we have read or when we do not relate what
we have read to something we might have heard. It‟s, therefore, important to
link the different skills through reading activities.‟‟(1981, p. 8).
Again Abbott, Wingard and Mckeating (1981) point out that there are
psychological and practical reasons for the integration of writing with other
skills, and so it is in this case: there are plausible reasons for the integration of
reading with other skills. These are as follows:
1. When analyzed, there is a large overlap among the component skills of the
four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Although there are
differences, many elements are in common. Therefore, to teach these four skills
in close association facilitates learning.
2. In real-life communication, there is a frequent alternation between receptive
and productive activities.
3. People have differences in their ability to learn through the ear, the eye and
muscular movement. Integration makes use of all these abilities so that
everyone can learn something from this process.

4. If something is taken in through more than one channel, it is more likely to
be learned well. Practices in these skills can be mutually reinforcing; that is, the
channels can reinforce each other.
5. Students even of the same age, sex and cultural background are often not
interested in the same thing (1981, p. 93). Similarly, their interests over the
skills activities may have differences.
The facts stated above require the use of skills together. Harmer (1983)
has pointed out that one of the teacher‟s responsibilities is that the students
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should practise all the skills. He finds separating skills ridiculous and he adds
that “Someone who listens to a lecture may take notes and then write a report
of the lecture. The same person might also describe the lecture to his friends or
colleagues and follow it up by reading an article that the lecturer suggested.”
(1983, p. 47)
Byrne (1990) confirms this with an example. For instance, one sees an
ad in the newspaper (for a job, holiday or device); talks about it to someone
else or rings him up or writes a letter or chats on the computer. These kinds of
activities could follow and provide a natural setting for language
teaching/learning.
1.2.5. The disadvantages of integrated approach
While generally agreeing with the general concept of integrating
language skills teaching method, many of the beginning language teachers
voice concern throughout the integration is a challenge for them. It is claimed
that the skills integration approach is high demanding for teachers in terms of
language proficiency, pedagogical experience, technical terminology, the time
constraints inhibiting the repetition of the experience in various classes, and the
problems of determination of priorities of different language skills. Teachers
are always assigned to teach many kinds of classes with different level of

students‟ proficiency. Because of these factors, teachers are anxious to get their
turn for attention and investment of one lesson plan for all different classes in a
week or maybe in a day of teaching.
Another major disadvantage is the complexity of integrated skills
which require inputs from many different areas of languages and pedagogies.
Good co-ordination is therefore the key to success both with respect for
preparation and implementation at class. It is obvious that if the teachers want
to well perform ELT skills including grammar, speaking, writing, listening,
reading, especially technical terminology of different profession, and relevant
practical teaching experiences, etc, at the same time would require teachers to
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master and regularly update their knowledge and language skills. It is really a
good requirement but in fact it is really time-consuming for teachers.
In conclusion, the teacher should incorporate opportunities throughout
the learning process for students to develop their own language skills by
responding verbally as they read, write, and learn in English, because it is the
integrated use of oral and written language for functional and meaningful
purposes that best promotes the full development of second language
proficiency (Peregoy and Boyle, 2001).
1.3. The statement of the problems
1.3.1. Teachers' background
The teaching staffs have been known to be the key to success of
traditional teaching and learning at Maritime College No.1. At the college,
there are 23 teachers of English. Fourteen out of 23 had the full-time training in
English teaching course at the University. The others obtained the in-service
courses at an English language training centre in Hai Phong city. Three of the
teachers majored in Engineering course at Maritime University. One of the
teachers had attended short term training in maritime English teaching in

Canada more than ten years ago. The teachers are classified as three groups
basing on their teaching experience. The first group of seven teachers have
over ten years of teaching experience. The second group are five teachers who
have from five to ten years of teaching experience, the remaining are those who
have up to five years of teaching experience.
1.3.2. Students' background
Maritime College No. 1 is located in the centre of Hai Phong city. It is
near Chua Ve port and not far from the Port of Hai Phong. The school is
established in the 1980s and has trained many generations of labour forces
majoring in Maritime profession. English is considered as language of the sea
so although it is not a major at the school, it is one of the most important
subjects for students.
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Maritime College No. 1 accepts students through out the country but
students mainly from cities and towns alongside the coastlines of Vietnam.
These students are from rural areas where they have little chance to study
English. Only 10% of the students have good background knowledge of
English as they come from the urban areas in big cities such as Hai Phong,
Nam Dinh, Nghe An, Thai Binh, Hai Duong provinces, etc.
Students are selected through an entrance examination for college level.
As for other levels such as secondary and vocational students, these procedures
are determined via documents assessments. There are only about three hundred
students accepted to study at college level. About 1,200 students are learning at
secondary and vocational courses. The requirements for these students are the
completion of twelve years of primary and secondary education. At high school
they were not taught English in accordance with the national standard.
As most of them come from rural areas, where English is paid less
attention, it is a difficult subject that get them a great deal of effort. At

Maritime College they have to finish 360 periods for the whole course before
they can get their degrees.
The students start learning English with General English for Maritime
Students which is at pre-intermediate level. This text book is used for Maritime
University students where they have finished an elementary level. In addition,
many students are sent to study at Maritime College by some shipping
companies while they are also working at the same time. The age range is also
various. They are between twenty to thirty four years old. Many of them
neither have learnt English before nor have used English for many years.
1.3.2. The current situation of English language teaching and learning at
Maritime College
1.3.2.1.1. The teaching situation
College students have to learn five terms out of six terms within their
courses whereas the others have to learn three terms out of four. There are
about more than one hundred classes in a school year. There are twenty three
14


teachers of English in total. This means that each teacher has to cover four to
five classes though out a year. Teachers have to teach at least twenty five
periods per week. The number of students in a class is from 40 to 60. The
school has three branches. The headquarter is in Da Nang Street, one branch is
in 5 km away, the other is in the suburb of Hai Phong which is 10 kilometres
away. There are two types of course book used at Maritime College. General
English is used for first year students and English for specific purpose (English
for Maritime engineering students and officers for Engine department students;
English for nautical Students and Officer for Navigation department students,
English for Maritime Economical and Shipping students).
1.3.2.1.2. The learning situation
Students study at three main departments at Maritime College. These are

Engine Department, Navigation Department, and Electro-Mechanical
Department. Besides, there are some classes belonging to Accounting
Department and Informatics Technology Department. All of the students here
have to learn English for at least three semesters during their course.
1.4. Summary
Chapter one has presented the definition, roles of integration of four
skills teaching method as well as the advantages and disadvantages that need to
be taken to be account. In addition, the detail introduction of current settings of
teachers and students at Maritime College are provided as background for the
developments of the thesis.
CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
2.1. Methodology
This Chapter describes how to collect information using a set of tools
including survey questionnaire, class observation, and informal interviews.
2.1.1. Research questions
To fulfil the aims mentioned above, the research addresses the following
questions:
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of using integrated approach
at Maritime College No.1, Hai Phong?
In other words, this study focuses on the evaluation of feasibility of
integrated teaching method at MC based on discussing its advantages and
disadvantages among all English teachers and then relevant solutions and
recommendations of applying this method will be given to demanding both
teaching and learning settings at MC.
2.1.2. The participants
The study investigates the feasibility of applying integrated approach of
twenty three (23) teachers in Maritime College No. 1, Haiphong. They are both

male and female and have different years of teaching experience including
groups of more than ten years, five to ten years and less than five years of
experiences. 60% of teachers have university degrees, and none of them have
gained master degrees. They, however share a similarity that they were trained
under the great influence of the Grammar-Translation method, the emphasis of
which is on the learning of the rules of language, not on the acquisition of
language skills. The teacher population was firstly surveyed. The class
observations were agreed to implement at the beginning of school year 2010-
2011, then the informal interviews and discussions with the teachers were
conducted.
2.1.3. The instruments
A combination of different methods is used to collect various sources of
data.
2. 1.3.1. Survey questionnaires
Interviewing can be a complicated business as far as finding mutually
convenient times is concerned. Thus, questionnaire is the best choice to be the
instruments in this educational research. Gillham (2000) has figured out a
number of great benefits of questionnaire such as: low cost in time and money,
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analysis of answers is straightforward; less pressure for an immediate response,
respondent‟s anonymity and especially, lack of interviewer bias.
Hence survey questionnaire was chosen to collect the teachers‟ opinions
and attitudes toward the integration method. Teachers were requested to
complete and return the questionnaire within a week. They thus had
opportunities to reflect their own perceptions and experiences of this method.
The information, therefore, was more detailed and more accurate.
The researcher made use a set of survey questionnaires including closed
and open-ended questions to cover all belief of teachers and suggestions

serving for the improvement of the current learning and teaching situation. The
questionnaires were given to the population of 23 teachers who have taught or
have been teaching English at Maritime College.
2. 1.3.2. Classroom observation
Systematic classroom observation is a quantitative method of measuring
classroom behaviors from direct observations that specify both the events and
behaviors that are to be observed and how they are to be recorded. Generally,
the data that is collected from this procedure focuses on the frequency with
which specific behaviors or types of behavior occurred in the classroom and
measure their duration. There are several elements that are common to most
observational systems.
 a purpose for the observation
 operational definitions of all the observed behaviors
 training procedures for observers
 a specific observational focus
 a setting
 a unit of time
 an observation schedule
 a method to record the data
 a method to process and analyze data
(Stallings and Mohlman, pp. 469–471)
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Prior to the use of systematic observational methods, research on
effective teaching typically consisted of subjective data based on personal and
anecdotal accounts of effective teaching. In order to develop a scientific basis
for teaching, researchers began to use the more objective and reliable measures
of systematic classroom observation.
Class observation is specifically to closely understand what the teachers

have mentioned in the Questionnaires regarding their own teaching approaches,
their opinions on the Integration method, etc. The observation also supported
the researcher to look for the differences of teachers with different teaching
experience and different methods of teaching. It is expected that with such
kinds of this method, the author can fully answer whether the skills integration
approach is suitable or not at MC.
2. 1.3.3. Informal interviews
Interviews may be used as the primary research tool or in an ancillary
role as a checking mechanism to triangulate data gathered from other sources.
Hopkins (cited in McDonough & McDonoug, 1997) lists three applications of
interviews in classroom research:
- to focus on a specific aspect of classroom life in detail
- teacher-pupil discussion => diagnostic information
- to improve the classroom climate
Nunan (1992) adds the following uses to interviews:
- needs analysis
- program evaluation
- individual case studies
- mini-surveys (within institution)
This study fits well with these uses of interviews. Depending on the
evaluation goals, the specific evaluation context and the nature of the design
chosen for the evaluation, an evaluator can make use of three types of
qualitative interview format: the informal conversational interview (the
unstructured interview), the standardized open-ended interview (the most
18


structured interview), and the interview guide (semi-structured) (Patton, cited
in Lynch, 1996).
Informal interview was identified as the most appropriate method to

compliment the other main methods employed in this research. The informal
interviews with the teacher informants and the student sample were conducted
after the survey information had been obtained to clarify information from the
surveys. The results of the interviews were noted; any variance thus can be
revealed and adjusted with other methods.
Within this research, interviewing teachers is to get better perceptions
and attitudes towards integrated approach at the Maritime College. It is a
structured, unstructured and semi-structured interview. It is also a tool in help
the researcher to understand more what the teachers have done and answered in
the Questionnaire and Class observation.
2.2. Data analysis
In order to collect the required data, the researcher decided to employ a
combination of three data collection instruments: teacher surveys, class
observation and informal interviews with the aim of getting the fullest
evaluation of the integration method from the teachers. The research is
expected to achieve the main following contents:
+ Teachers‟ perceptions of feasibility of Integration of skills to Reading at
Maritime College;
+ Advantages of Integrated Approach;
+ Disadvantages of Integrated Approach;
+ Feasibility of Integrated Approach, Recommendations and suggestions.
The data are then analyzed both descriptively and interpretively. The
quantitative data are presented in the form of charts while qualitative data from
open ended questionnaire items and interview are presented by quoting relevant
responses from respondents.
19


2.4. Summary
A discussion of data collection instruments have been conducted in this

chapter. It also described the participants, the methodology used and data
analysis.
20


CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
In the closing chapter, the author integrates and summarizes briefly all
of the preceding chapters.
3.1. Teacher survey questionnaire
The teacher survey questionnaires were completely fulfilled by 22
teachers out of 23 teachers who have been teaching English at Maritime
College. The questionnaire is developed with three main parts. Consequently,
the data collected was analyzed and illustrated by a number of Figures and
Tables in complying with three main parts as bellow:
3.1.1. Teachers’ perceptions of feasibility of Integration of skills to
Reading at Maritime College
In this part, the researcher presents the information collected by 4
questions in which the target teachers were asked to state their views towards
their current teaching methods and general perception of skills integration
approach.
As it can be seen in the Chart 1, more than half of the teachers (55%)
indicates that they have applied the integrated approach. The communicative
language skills method is applied by 25% of MC teachers. Other 10% of
teachers said that they used to apply the Grammar-translation and Audio-
lingual method for their students. These figures show that the integrated
approach has been popular and similar with MC teachers. Specifically, what
are their clear ideas on the integration method would be discovered by the
following questions in the Questionnaires as given.

21

Chart 1: Teachers’ current language teaching approaches at MC

Chart 2: Appropriateness of the integrated Approaches
According to the Figure, 80% of teachers agreed that integrated
approach is appropriate to apply at Maritime College No. 1 in current situation.
Only 20% of the teachers disagreed that this approach was inappropriate to use
in teaching at present. Majority of teachers thought that English language
80%
20%
Appropriate
Inappropriate
Grammar-
translation
Audio-lingual
Method
Communicative
Language
Teaching
Integration of
Teaching
Methods
(Eclectic
Method)
0%
10%
20%
30%

40%
50%
60%
10% 10%
25%
55%