AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON TEACHING ENGLISH TO CHILDREN AT KINDERGARTENS IN HANOI

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
O0O
NGUYỄN THỊ DUNG
AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON TEACHING ENGLISH TO
CHILDREN AT KINDERGARTENS IN HANOI
(Nghiên cứu thăm dò về việc dạy tiếng Anh cho học sinh lứa tuổi
mầm non tại một số trường mầm non ở Hà Nội)
M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS
Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111
HANOI-2015
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
O0O
NGUYỄN THỊ DUNG
AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON TEACHING ENGLISH TO
CHILDREN AT KINDERGARTENS IN HANOI
(Nghiên cứu thăm dò về việc dạy tiếng Anh cho học sinh lứa tuổi
mầm non tại một số trường mầm non ở Hà Nội)
M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS
Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111
Supervisor: Asoc. Prof. Dr. NGUYỄN VĂN ĐỘ
HANOI-2015
DECLARATION
I declare that my thesis entitled
AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON TEACHING ENGLISH TO CHILDREN
AT KINDERGARTENS IN HANOI

is the result of my own research of the degree of Master of Arts at the University of
Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi and this
thesis fulfills with the requirements of the degree Master of Arts and has not been
published anywhere
Nguyễn Thị Dung
2015
Supervisor’s signature
Assoc. Prof. Dr. NGUYỄN VĂN ĐỘ
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to express my sincere thankfulness to my supervisor,
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Do for his whole hearted guidance, valuable
suggestions, and critical comments during the course of writing this thesis.
My thanks also go to all the teachers at VIVA center who were willing to
give me information via survey questionnaire. Their enthusiasm and helpful
feedbacks made the thesis more reliable and useful.
Finally, I would like to offer my deepest gratitude to my family and close
friends for their understanding and support during the time of doing the research.
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ABSTRACT
This paper reports the results of the survey conducted in VIVA center to find
out the difficulties in teaching English perceived by the teachers. VIVA center
involves thirty teachers who are teaching English at thirty nursery schools in Hanoi.
The focus is on professional support that the teachers receive to teach English at
preschool level.
The difficulties will be viewed from the questionnaire and observational
data. The results indicate that Vietnamese nursery teachers lack English teaching
methodology for children and classroom management skills. All the teachers have
not only taken part in any regular training because at this time there are not any
colleges or universities training English nursery school teachers in Vietnam, but

also have not enrolled any professional training courses from center. Besides, the
teachers also have difficulty in using teaching facilities and they need more
appropriate teaching facilities. At the end of the study, suggestions and solutions
will be given to help the teachers overcome those challenges.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
APPENDICE I
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
TPR Total Physical Response
No Number of teachers
L1 First language
L2 Second language
TEYL Teaching English to young leaners
ESL English as a Second Language
ELT English language teaching
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LIST OF CHARTS
Chart 1: Teaching methods
Chart 2: Teachers’ using English in the class
Chart 3: Number of children
Chart 4: Children’s work in the classroom
Chart 5: Sitting arrangement
Chart 6: Teachers’ self-evaluation about controlling the class
Chart 7: Using of teaching facilities
Chart 8: Making teaching aids
Chart 9: Training courses
Chart 10: Observing other classes
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Teachers’ perceptions towards English teaching at preschool level

Table 2: Teaching activities
Table 3: Number of teachers
Table 4: Teaching facilities
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PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Nowadays, it cannot be denied that English is important and almost everyone
has a demand on getting English proficiency. Therefore, English is taught as a
compulsory subject in many countries all over the world. In Vietnam, it is
introduced into primary education curriculum starting from Grade 1. Nevertheless, a
large number of Vietnamese people believe that English should be learnt as soon as
possible. They would like their children to learn English earlier. Thus, many
kindergartens offer English classes for very young leaners who range from three to
six years old. The growing trend of teaching English to kindergarteners has received
much attention from the society. It is the fact that teaching English to very young
learners is not an easy task because of specific characteristics of the children. If
teachers are not well qualified, they may not be able to motivate the children to
study, or they may fail to use appropriate and effective tasks to help students learn
English.
As an English teacher who taught English for very young leaners, the author
saw a great number of challenges of teaching English to kindergarten children in
Hanoi. At this time, Vietnam does not have any colleges or universities training
English nursery teachers. Besides, there are not many researches about teaching
English to preschool leaners. This urges the researcher to carry out this study which
examines teaching English to children at kindergartens in Hanoi. This study is
hoped to provide some useful contributions to teaching English at preschool level in
general and to help Vietnamese teachers teach English better in particular.
2. Aims and objectives of the study
For the aim of investigating the English teaching at kindergartens in Hanoi,
the researcher desired to undertake a research with the three following objectives.

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The first objective of the study is finding out teachers’ perceptions towards English
teaching at preschool level. The second one is identifying the teachers’ difficulties
when teaching to preschool learners. And the last one is suggesting some solutions
to help the teaching and learning of English for very young learners more
effectively.
3. Research questions
With a view to accomplishing the objectives of the study, these two research
questions were raised:
1. What are teachers' perceptions towards English teaching at preschool level?
2. What are the teachers’ difficulties when teaching to nursery children?
4. Scope of the study
The minor thesis limits its scope to only teachers’ perception towards
English teaching some preschools in Hanoi in order to find out the difficulties
which they have to face in teaching process. And this thesis only focuses on
teaching methods, classroom management skills and teaching facilities. Subjects of
the study are thirty English teachers who works at VIVA center. VIVA center is one
of English centers where provides English teachers for many preschool in Hanoi.
5. Methods of the study
The study uses solely quantitative the selected method in order to explore
the teaching and learning of English in the selected kindergartens in Hanoi. Tools
for data collection in this study are questionnaire and class observation. Data
collected from questionnaire is analyzed quantitatively and data from class
observation is analyzed qualitatively.
6. The design of the thesis
This study is organized into three parts:
The first part is the introduction which consists of rationale, aims, research
questions, scope, methods and design of the thesis.
The second part is the development which involves three chapters:
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Chapter one: Literature review. This chapter includes theoretical background and
previous studies related to the study.
Chapter two: Research methodology. This chapter discusses the context,
participants, instruments, and procedure of the study.
Chapter three: Findings and suggested solutions. This chapter presents and analyzes
the data which has been collected. And then, the findings are given. Moreover, this
chapter deals with some suggestions to the problems in the findings.
The last part is the conclusion which involves recapitulation, limitations,
suggestions for further studies, and references of the study.
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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter presents an overview on English language education at
preschool level and approaches to this study. It provides relevant literature which is
needed to form the theoretical and conceptual framework for the study. First, a
general view on children’s characteristics, stages of development and learning styles
is mentioned because it is important for teachers and educators to make better
teaching and learning if they have a comprehensive look on children. Second,
English teaching as foreign language for children is revealed.
1.1.Children learning English as a foreign language
1.1.1. Characteristics of children
With references to children intellectual development, Piaget (as cited in
Moneey, 2004, p.64) states that children have four stages to develop cognitively.
There are:
Sensomotoric stage (birth +/- years) in which children often learn through
physical situations with the world around them. They have tendency to explore the
words physically and grasp everything. During this stage, infants and toddlers
acquire knowledge through sensory experiences and manipulating objects.
Preoperational stage (from 2 – 7 years) when children need concrete

situations to process ideas. This is the stage of the beginning language and
vocabulary and the first learning of “good” and “bad”. At this stage, kids learn
through pretend play but still struggle with logic and taking the point of view of other
people.
Concrete operational stage (from 7 – 12 years) in which children begin to
conceptualize and do some abstract problem solving, though they still learn best by
doing. It’s time for them to get familiar to actions, objects, and observable properties.
At this period, they begin to think more logically, but their thinking can also be very
rigid. They tend to struggle with abstract and hypothetical concepts.
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Formal operational stage (12 years and older) in which children can use
abstract thinking to reason with concept relationship, abstract properties, and
theories. The final stage of Piaget's theory involves an increase in logic, the ability to
use deductive reasoning, and an understanding of abstract ideas.
From the cognitive development above, the kindergarten students, who are
involved in this research, are in the preoperational stage when they need concrete
situations to process ideas. Therefore, it is easy for them to remember vocabulary if
teachers use specific situations or real objects to teach.
Harmer (2007, p.82) summarizes young learners’ characteristics into seven
points. There are: (1) Children have their own culture, and learning preference, (2)
Children learn by way of physical activities, (3) Children have relatively short
attention and concentration span unless activities are extremely engaging, they can
easily get bored, losing interest after ten minutes or so, (4) Children learn naturally,
(5) Children learn best when learning is meaningful, interesting and functional, (6)
Non-verbal language is important because children will indeed attend very
sensitively to the teacher’s facial features, gestures, and touches and (7) children
often learn indirectly rather than directly.
Brewster, Ellis and Girard (2002, p.27-28) also point out and mention that
children are different from adults because they have a lot of physical energy and
often need to be physically active, have a wide range of emotional needs, are

emotionally excitable, are developing conceptually and are at an early stage of their
schooling, are still developing literacy in their first language, learn more slowly and
forget things quickly, tend to be self-oriented and preoccupied with their own
world, get bored easily, are excellent mimics, can concentrate for a surprisingly log
time if they are interested and can be easily distracted but also very enthusiastic.
Ersöz, A. (2007) gives eight characteristics of very young children when
learning. There are low concentration span but easily excited, high motivation-
active involvement, talking interest but problems in sharing, short memory: learning
slowly and forgetting easily, necessity of repetition and revision, limited motor
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skills (using a pen and scissors) but kinesthetic and energetic, learning holistically
and their love with stories, fantasy, imagination, art, drawing and coloring.
Mary Slattery and Jane Willis (2001, p.4-5) emphasize that children have
their own characteristics in learning foreign language and also point out 12
characteristics of young leaners. There are: (1) learning through seeing, listening,
copying and doing, (2) being unable to understand an explanation of grammar rules,
for example, rules of using tenses of verbs, (3) understanding the meaning partly
through non-verbal communication activities, (4) copying exactly, (5) loving
playing and using their own imagination, (6) having short attention, so changes
needed, (7) being curious, (8) being developed independent thinking, (9) enjoying
repetition of activities, (10) being able to distinct between reality and imagination,
(11) being able to organize the best to implement any activity, and (12) working in
groups.
In short, young children are enthusiastic and positive about learning.
Therefore, teachers should design suitable activities and provide appropriate
learning experiences to encourage them to learn.
1.1.2. Children’s stages of development
Brazelton and Greenspan (in Linse, 2005) state that young learners are in the
process of development in every part such as social/emotional, physical, cognitive,
and moral.

1.1.2.1. Cognitive development
Cognitive development is the development of intelligence, conscious thought
and problem-solving ability that begins in infancy. It involves changes in cognitive
process and abilities.
To Piaget, cognitive development is a progressive reorganization of mental
processes as a result of biological maturation and environmental experience.
Accordingly, children construct an overview of the world around them, and then
experience differences between what they already know and what they discover in
their environment.
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Carol Seefeldt (1980, p.31) quotes: “teachers accepting the fact that children
are interactive, endose the cognitive developmental theory of learning. These
teachers believe that children are action-oriented, searching, seeking, adapting
beings.”
Opal Dunn (1983, p.12-40) says:
The individual differences and especially cognitive differences between young
children of the same age are so great. If a child is asked to learn a certain skill
before he is ready, he cannot do it. The failure results in disappointment and
sometimes loss of interest. Only a child who has confidence in his own abilities
can reach out and learn tolerate to others, to try new things, to learn.
Linse (2005) argues that one of the indicators of cognitive development is
language development.
1.1.2.2. Physical development
Physical activity is the common feature of young leaners. Kindergarten
children cannot sit still for a long time. They learn a lot by doing and by using their
five senses. Most of them are full of energy, ready to run, swing, climb and jump.
And they enjoy physical activities like marching, jumping, running and dancing.
Seefeldt (1980), Dunn (1983, 1984), Brewster, Ellis and Girard (2002) give a
conclusion that children need physical activities because they have a lot of physical
energy. Opal Dunn (1983, p.14) confirms: “Children are creatures of movement. To

prevent frequent teachers´ complaint that young children have difficulty in sitting
still, activities need to give children an opportunity to move around the classroom.”
Sarah Phillips (1993, p.7) adds “the kinds of activities that work well are
games and songs with actions… tasks that involve colouring, cutting, and sticking,
simple, repetitive stories, and simple, repetitive speaking activities that have an
obvious communicative value.”
Therefore, Carol Seefeldt (1980, p.40) gives a recommendation for teachers
that: “It is important for a teacher to realize this fact for a child’s physical activity is
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also related to social and environment growth. Learning comes only as a child
interacts physically with the environment.”
1.1.2.3. Social and emotional development
Children at this age are very friendly. It is easy for them to cooperate, share
and take turn with other people. They have tendency to imitate the actions of people
they like and reflect the emotions of the adults around them.
Experiencing feelings of love and hate, joy and sorrow, fear and satisfaction is
typical for young children.
Nunan (1988) notices that children develop socially and emotionally during
the child years. At the beginning of the year, most of children are shy and appear to
lack initiative. However, they often gain confidence and establish friendships
quickly and become an active part of the class when they know about the situations.
It is a time of testing and exploring social relationships.
According to Mulroy (1996, p.16), young children need to learn about who
they are and what they can do by interacting with their peers. They need to see that
each person in their group has important information and experiences to share and
that they can retain their identity while still being part of a group.
As mentioned above, social and emotional development goes hand in hand
with physical development.
1.1.2.4. Moral development
Moral development means children’s reasoning about morality, their

attitudes toward moral lapses, and their behavior when facing with moral issues.
Morality is defined by some researchers as a personal belief about what constitutes
right and wrong behavior.
Moral development involves children learning how to tell the difference
between right and wrong; to use this knowledge to arrive at appropriate decisions
when facing with complicated choices; and to have the strength and independence
to make the right decision. Morality is influenced by the combination of physical,
cognitive, emotional and social skills.
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Children go through five stages of moral development.
Stage 1 is infancy. An infant does not have the capacity to moralize, other than
having a sense of rightness or wrongness as those feelings apply to himself.
Stage 2 is toddlerhood. A child at this stage also does not have the ability to judge
something as “right” or “wrong”; he is only directed by what others tell him,
especially, your parents.
Stage 3 is preschoolers who are from three to seven years old. At this stage, the
children begin to internalize family values, and it is a turning point in moral
development. Later in this stage children begin to understand the concept of the
Golden Rule and to consider how what they do affects other people, that others
have rights and viewpoints, too, and how to be considerate.
Children from three to seven years of age expect wiser people to take charge. They
understand the roles of “child” and “adult” and need maturity from the adult.
Stage 4 is the children from seven to ten years old. Seven-to-ten-year-olds children
have a strong sense of fairness, understand the necessity of rules and want to
participate in making the rules. This also begins the stage where children are able to
internalize religious values.
Stage 5 is preteens and teens. At this period, they are vulnerable to peer pressure
and peer values. And they are more capable of abstract reasoning about moral
values and become interested in what’s good for society.
From infancy to adulthood the developing morality progresses from self to

others to abstract moral reasoning.
According to Piaget’s theory, in children’s moral understanding, rules
handed down by authority figures such as parents, teachers and government leaders
are seen as absolute and unbreakable. They accept that authority figures have godlike
powers, and make rules that last forever, do not change and must be followed. Most
of the children follow the rules as a way to avoid being punished.
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1.1.3. Children learning English as a foreign language
Young children are natural language acquirers. They are self-motivated to
pick up language without conscious learning, unlike adolescents and adults. They
have ability to imitate pronunciation and work out the rules for themselves.
Stages in picking up English of young children are not the same as
adolescents and adults. They have to go through four periods in learning English.
Firstly, silent period is when babies learn their home language, they look and listen
and communicate through facial expression or gestures before they begin to speak.
And they also have a similar “silent period” when they learn English. Secondly,
depending on the frequency of English sessions, each child begins to say single word
(cat, dog…) or ready to make short phrases in dialogues or any statements (I can’t,
what’s this? ). The child has memorized them and imitated the pronunciation
exactly without realizing. Thirdly, it is a building up English language stage.
Gradually children build up phrases consisting of a single memorized word to which
they add words from their vocabulary (a dog, a brown dog, a brown and black
dog…) or a single memorized language to which they add their own input (that’s my
chair, time to play….). Fourthly, they can understand what they speak and what they
hear. Although they may not understand everything they hear, they only understand
a few important words.
In the book named “Teaching English to Young Learners”, the author –
Lynne Cameron gives some children’s characteristics when learning. They are often
more enthusiastic and lively as learners. However, they also lose interest more
quickly and are less able to keep themselves motivated on tasks they find difficult.

Children often seem less embarrassed than adults at talking in a new language, and
their lack of inhibition seems to help them get a more native-like accent.
According to Piaget (1970), chidlren are active leaners and thinkers. They
construct knowledge from actively interacting with the physical environment in
developmental stages. They learn through their own individual actions and
exploration. Besides, Vygotsky (1962) states that children learn through social
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interaction. They construct knowledge through other people, through interaction with
aldults. Like Vygotsky, Bruner (1983) says that children learn effectivey through
scaffolding by adults. The adult’s role is very important in a child’s learning process.
He focuses on the importance of language in a child’s cognitive development. He
shows how the adult uses scaffolding to guide a child’s language learning through
finely-tuned talk.
1.1.4. Children’s learning style
Learning style is defined as the sum total of individual skills and references
that make up the way a person perceives, gathers and processes information.
Learning styles affect every area of a person’s life – how they learn, whether or not
they participate well in group activities, how they relate to others, how they solve
problems, and the manner in which they work.
Thomas Armstrong (2000) divides learning styles into four categories: visual
(spatially oriented) style, kinesthetic (movement oriented) style, verbal (language
oriented) style, and logical style. He said children will generally have one dominant
learning style, but could use a mixture of the four. If they could use each learning
style, they were more flexible in their learning, and would probably be successful in
school.
1.1.4.1. Visual (spatial) learners (lookers)
The visual learners learn everything through seeing. They may think in
pictures and enjoy diagrams, illustrated books, videos, and handouts. This type of
learner needs a chance to visualize things and learn well through images. They can be
artistic, reading maps, and creating charts and diagrams. They will often be very

interested in machines or inventions and trying to figure out how something works.
They will be happy to sit and play with building toys such as Lego’s, and will also
enjoy mazes or puzzles.
To help a visual (spatial) learner, using games and memory aids to create a
visual pattern. While they are reading, offer picture books, or if they are reading
chapter books, allow them an opportunity to visualize what is happening in a story.
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Encourage them to use art to illustrate a story. Using colored or drawing pens and
computer work to help them excel at writing.
1.1.4.2. Kinesthetic (movement) learners (movers)
The kinesthetic leaners are not able to sit still for long periods of time, and
often use body language and hand gestures when talking. They need to show how to
do something rather than explain it and they love to touch things and are usually
natural-born actors. Boys are generally more kinesthetic in their learning style, but
are also girls in this style. Kinesthetic learners will excel in sports.
Giving the kinesthetic learners a chance to move is the effective way to help
them learn. Physical actions will stimulate and help them do their best. Give them an
opportunity to do hands-on activities, art projects, or acting out a story while
studying.
1.1.4.3. Verbal (language) learners or auditory learners (listeners)
Auditory learners learn by talking and listening. They think in words rather
than being able to visualize something. They will learn more easily through verbal
lessons and anything that allows them to talk out that they are learning. They
generally love to read and have an excellent memory of names, dates, and trivia.
The best way to encourage a verbal learner is to allow them to create words
by themselves. Tape record stories they tell and listen to them at a later date, or
allow them to read stories aloud during class time.
1.1.4.4. Logical learners
Logical learners are often capable of abstract thinking at an early age and can
understand mathematics easily. They enjoy patterns, relationships, strategy names,

and computers
Motivating logical learners is not difficult. They learn well by being allowed
to play computer games, do word puzzles, and help with scientific experiments.
Non-fiction and rhyming books will be appreciated to them.
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1.1.5. The importance of learning language (English) in early years
Nowadays, early language learning has become popular. Pinter (2006) points
out that one reason why early language learning has become so popular is that many
psycholinguistics have explained the advantages by proposing a so called “sensitive
period” in childhood for language learning. This idea also comes from Lenneberg (in
Pinter, 2006) who proposed Critical Period Hypothesis. He argues that brain
plasticity was only conducive to language learning until puberty. Therefore, children
who start younger than 11-12 years of age, given advantageous learning
circumstances, such as plenty of input and interaction in an English environment, are
more likely to acquire English to native levels without an accent.
Scovel (in Brewster & Ellis, 2004) supports Lenneberg’s idea and points out
that language is best learned during the early years of childhood. In addition, an
official reference bulletin for educators published by the French Ministry of
Education, Bulletin Officiel de L’Education Nationale, (in Brewster & Ellis 2004)
argues that the aim of early foreign language learning was not the creation of
bilingual children but more reasonably “to prepare children linguistically,
psychologically, and culturally for language learning”.
Therefore, learning foreign language in early years is important for children.
They can comprehend their native language and other languages in the early years,
and they even can acquire English to native levels without an accent before 11-12
years of age because of their brain plasticity.
1.2.Teaching English as a foreign language for children
1.2.1. Child language acquisition and language learning
It is essential to understand and distinguish the difference between language
acquisition and language learning. Generally, language acquisition is in which

language is acquired, and language learning is in which language is learned.
Krashen (in Linse, 2005) differentiates the process of language acquisition for the
process of language learning. Language acquisition is the natural process used to
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develop language skills in a child’s native language. Language learning, then, is
often used to describe the more formal approach to language instruction.
Acquisition can be defined as a process of having language naturally or
subconsciously. On the other hand, learning is a process of having language
consciously. Krashen and Terrell, (1983, p.18) state that acquiring a language is
‘picking it up’, i.e., developing ability in language by using it in natural,
communicative situations. Language learning is different from acquisition.
Language learning is ‘knowing the rules’, i.e., having a conscious knowledge about
grammar.
According to Noam Chomsky, children have an inherited ability to learn any
human language when they are born. Besides, they don’t have to be taught language
or corrected for their mistakes. They learn language by exposing to it and then,
linguistics rules develop unconsciously.
Vygotsky in Hudelson (1991, p.257) states that acquisition takes place when
learners comprehend how the language is used and worked. Fromkin, Collins, and
Blair (1990, p.349) summarize some characteristics of language acquisition. There
are:
1. Children do not learn a language by storing all the words and all the sentences in
some dictionaries. The list of words is finite, but no dictionary can hold all
sentences, which are infinite in number.
2. Children learn to construct sentences, most of which they have never produced
before.
3. Children learn to understand sentences they have never heard before. They
cannot do so by matching the “heard utterance” with some stored sentences.
4. Children must therefore construct the “rules” that permit them to use the
language creatively.

5. No one teaches them these rules. Their parents are no more aware of the
phonological, syntactic, and semantic rules than the children are.
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To sum up, linguists and psychologists studied and applied language
acquisition in order to discover the nature of language and the language learning
process. Based on children’s development and the two concepts above (acquisition
and learning), the teaching of English to young learners requires situations in which
the students acquire language by means of acquisition rather than learning. It means
that the children acquire language naturally and communicatively.
1.2.2. Teaching English as a[ foreign language for children
12.2.1. Learning outcomes
The learning outcomes are a framework to guide educators in their efforts to
make informed decisions about curriculum and assessment.
Adam (2004) states: “A learning outcome is a written statement of what the
successful student/learner is expected to be able to do at the end of the
module/course unit, or qualification”. He also finds that learning outcomes are
concerned with the achievements of the learner rather than the intentions of the
teacher.
University of Exeter (2007) defines learning outcome as an expression of what a
student will demonstrate on the successful completion of a module. Learning
outcomes:
 are related to the level of the learning;
 indicate the intended gain in knowledge and skills that a typical
student will achieve;
 should be capable of being assessed.
Learning outcomes and ‘aims and objectives’ are often used synonymously,
although they are not the same. Adam (2004) notes that ‘aims are concerned with
teaching and the teacher’s intentions whilst learning outcomes are concerned with
learning’ and Moon (2002) suggests that one way to distinguish aims from learning
outcomes is that aims indicate the general content, direction and intentions behind

the module from the designer/teacher viewpoint.
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