Challenges of teaching English to primary children - voices from Ninh Binh teachers = Những khó khăn trong việc dạy tiếng Anh cho học sinh tiểu học của giáo viên tỉnh Ninh Bình. M.A. Thesis Linguistics: 60 14 10

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************

ĐỖ THỊ MAI CHI

CHALLENGES OF TEACHING ENGLISH TO PRIMARY
CHILDREN: VOICES FROM NINH BINH TEACHERS
NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN TRONG VIỆC DẠY TIẾNG ANH CHO
HỌC SINH TIỂU HỌC CỦA GIÁO VIÊN TỈNH NINH BÌNH

MA Thesis
Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 601410

Hanoi – 2010


VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************

ĐỖ THỊ MAI CHI

CHALLENGES OF TEACHING ENGLISH TO PRIMARY
CHILDREN: VOICES FROM NINH BINH TEACHERS
NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN TRONG VIỆC DẠY TIẾNG ANH CHO
HỌC SINH TIỂU HỌC CỦA GIÁO VIÊN TỈNH NINH BÌNH

MA Thesis
Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 601410
Supervisor: Tô Thị Thu Hương, Ph.D.

Hanoi - 2010


TABLE OF CONTENT

PART 1: INTRODUCTION ......... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Rationale .............. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Significance of the studyError! Bookmark not defined.
Aims of the study ...... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Methods of the study ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Scope of the study ..... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Organization of the studyError! Bookmark not defined.

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT .......... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Chapter 1: Literature review . Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.1. Nature of teaching English to primary school
children .................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.2. Challenges of teaching English to primary school

children .................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.2.1. The teacher ........ Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.2.2. The continuity and curricular integrationError! Bookmark
1.3. English instruction to primary children in
Vietnam ..................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.3.1. Policy ............. Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.3.2. Textbooks and materialsError! Bookmark not defined.
1.3.3. Implementation ..... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.3.4. The way forward .... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.4. Available studies on primary English teaching in
Vietnam ..................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.5. Summary ............... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Chapter 2: The context of teaching English to primary
school children in Ninh Binh . Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.1. Introduction to Ninh Binh context of teachinglearning English at primary level.Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.2. Teachers and their backgroundError! Bookmark not defined.
2.3.
Summary ............. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Chapter 3: The Study ......... Error! Bookmark not defined.

3.1. Research questions and research approachError! Bookmark not d
3.2. The data collection instrumentsError! Bookmark not defined.
3.3. The participants ....... Error! Bookmark not defined.


3.4. Data collection procedureError! Bookmark not defined.
3.5. Data analysis .......... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.6. Summary ................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Chapter 4: Findings and discussionError! Bookmark not defined.

4.1. Teachers’ attitudes towards English language
education at the primary school level.Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.2. Teachers’ self-evaluation of their professional
competences ................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.3. Teachers’ self-report of students’ achievementError! Bookmark
4.4. Teachers’ understanding of the goal of primary
English ..................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.5. Teachers’ perceived challenges of teaching
English to primary children . Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.6.
Teachers’ performance in the classroomError! Bookmark not d
Chapter 5: Discussions and ImplicationsError! Bookmark not defined.
5.1. Discussion ............. Error! Bookmark not defined.
5.2. Implications ........... Error! Bookmark not defined.
5.2. 1.
To teachers ..... Error! Bookmark not defined.
5.2. 2.
To MOET ......... Error! Bookmark not defined.
5.2. 3.
To DOET ......... Error! Bookmark not defined.
5.2. 4.
To schools leadersError! Bookmark not defined.
PART 3: CONCLUSION............ Error! Bookmark not defined.
1. Summary of the study ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2. Limitations of the study and suggestions for
further study ............... Error! Bookmark not defined.
References .................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Appendix

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1

Teachers’ attitudes towards English language education at the
primary school level

Table 2

Teachers' self-evaluation of their professional competence

Table 3

Teachers' self-report of students' achievement

Table 4

Teachers’ understanding of the goal of primary English

Table 5

Teachers’ perceived challenges of teaching English to primary
children


LIST OF TERMS

DOET

Department of Education and Training

EBE

English Bilingual Education

MOET

Ministry of Education and Training

PELT

Primary English Language Teaching


1

PART 1: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
In response to the growth of English education, a great number of changes have
been made in Vietnam so far. On September 30th, 2008 the Prime Minister of Vietnam
issued Decision No 1400-QĐ-TTg, approving the Project entitled “Teaching and
Learning Foreign Languages in the National Education System, Period 2008-2020”.
According to this Decision, English is introduced into the primary education
curriculum starting from Grade 3. According to the pathway projected in the Decision,
in the time being 20% of the primary school students should be taught English, then
the percentage will reach 70% by 2015 and 100% by 2018.
The Decision has caused a hot debate in the public and among English language
education professionals. One of the common voices in this public discourse is that
teachers are not trained for primary English education. Such a discourse has some
justification since formal teacher training for primary English education was not

available in Vietnam until very recently with the cooperation of the British Council,
Vietnam. All teachers who are currently teaching English at the primary schools were,
therefore, re-trained to teach English to young children.
Teaching English to primary children, in fact, used to receive little concern in
Vietnam as it is simply thought that there is not much language knowledge to deal
with at primary level. However, when English is widely introduced to students from
Grade 3, many issues emerge. National and local education professionals, now, have a
more serious look at the situation. Teaching English to primary children is by nature
far different from teaching to other groups of learner. Thus, if teachers are not
qualified to work with primary children, they may not be able to motivate the children
to study, or to use appropriate, effective tasks to develop students‟ communicative
competence.
As a foreign language specialist in a Provincial Department of Education and
Training, the author saw a great number of challenges of teaching English to primary
children in her province. To successfully manage the English teaching-learning


2
throughout the province, the researcher feels the urge to study the challenges perceived
by the teachers so that some feasible solutions to the problems can be employed.
2. Significance of the study
This study points out challenges of teaching English to primary children. Although
the survey was conducted in Ninh Binh province, the author believes the challenges
are similar in other provinces throughout the country. Thus, the results of the study
will be of some contribution to education management regarding teacher development
and language policy implementation.
Professionally, the findings and comments of this study are believed to be relevant
to improving the primary English teachers‟ quality in Vietnam in general and in Ninh
Binh in particular. The study may be of great suggestions for the enhancement of
primary English education in Vietnam and elsewhere.

3. Aims of the study
This study aims to investigate challenges of teaching English to primary children as
perceived by the teachers. To be more specific, the objective of this study are:
-

to find out the teachers‟ attitudes toward teaching English at primary level.

-

to investigate the challenges in term of professional support to primary teachers.

-

to suggest solutions to reduce the problems and challenges of teaching English
to primary children.

These aims are formulated into 3 following research questions:
1. What are teachers‟ attitudes and perception about teaching English to
primary children?
2. What do classroom teachers perceive of the challenges of teaching English
to primary children with particular reference to professional support?
3. What are feasible solutions to overcome those difficulties?
4. Methods of the study
The study used mixed methods to find answers to the three questions. Tools for
data collection in this study were questionnaire, interview (face-to-face and email) and
class observation. Data collected from questionnaires were analysed quantitatively via
Excel software in the forms for descriptive statistics and qualitatively in the forms of


3

different topics relating to the research questions. Data from interviews and class
observation were qualitatively classified into corresponding topics for trianguation and
for answering questions 2 and 3.
5. Scope of the study
Dealing with challenges of all types is too broad for a study of this size. Therefore,
the focus of this study is to investigate some challenges relating to professional
supports that primary teachers receive from local and national level in their teaching of
English at primary level.
6. Organization of the study
This minor thesis consists of five chapters.
The first part is the introduction which reveals the rationale, significance,
aims, methods, scope and organization of the study.
The second part includes chapters. Chapter 1 is the literature review centering
on the nature of teaching English to primary school children, problems of teaching
English to primary children in a variety of contexts are discussed, and a brief
introduction of primary English teaching in Vietnam context.
Chapter 2 is the investigation into the context of teaching English to Primary
children in Ninh Binh province
Chapter 3 discusses the methodology of the study i.e. describes the study
context, participants, instruments and procedure of the study.
Chapter 4 is about the data analysis and results. It describes how collected data
is analysed and presented.
Chapter 5 deals with result discussion, limitations and implications of the
study given by the findings.
The last part is the conclusion which summarizes the study with suggestions
for further study.


4
PART 2: DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: Literature review
1.1. Nature of teaching English to primary school children
With regard to primary school children, it is necessary to first specify that children
have both features of new beginners and the peculiar characteristics of their age group
Children have their own characteristics in learning foreign languages. Mary Slattery
and Jane Willis (2001: 4-5) pointed out 12 characteristics as follow:
1. Children learn through seeing, listening, copying and doing
2. Children are unable to understand an explanation of grammar rules, for example,
rules of using tenses of verbs
3. Children can understand the meaning partly through non-verbal communication
activities
4. Copying exactly
5. Love playing and using their own imagination
6. Short attention, so changes needed
7. Curiosity
8. Enjoy repetition of activities
9. Independent thinking is being developed
10. Ability to distinct between reality and imagination
11. Ability to organize the best to implement any activity
12. Teamwork
There is evidence that children have sensitivity to pronunciation and are good at
imitating and picking up whole phrases of language, but if their teachers lack fluency
or have difficulties with pronunciation, then children will not be able to make use of
that particular instinct.
Therefore, it is noticeable to identify what should be done in the classroom.
Carol Read (2003) proposes some of the optimal conditions for helping young learners
to learn:
- learning is natural

5
- learning is contextualized and part of a real event
- learning is interesting and enjoyable
- learning is relevant
- learning is social
- learning belongs to the child
- learning has a purpose for the child
- learning builds on things the child knows
- learning makes sense to the child
- the child is challenged appropriately
- learning is supported appropriately
- learning is part of a coherent whole
- learning is multi-sensory
- the child wants to learn
- learning is active and experiential
- learning is memorable
- learning allows for personal, divergent responses
- learning takes account of multiple intelligences
- the learning atmosphere is relaxed and warm
- the child has a sense of achievement.
Besides, Read (2005) also suggests an integrated framework called the seven Rs
for managing children positively and creating a happy working environment for them:
Relationships - creating and maintaining a positive relationship with learners is at the
heart of establishing a happy learning environment.
Rules - establish a limited number of rules and make sure they are clear, as well as the
reasons for having them.
Routines - classroom routines make it clear to everyone what is expected of them and
what they should do.
Rights and Responsibilities - although these may not be stated explicitly with very
young learners, teachers can model through their own actions which of these they

value.


6
Respect - students who are treated respectfully by the teacher will respond in a similar
way to the teacher. If the children feel that the teacher treats them as individuals, they
will also respond to the teacher as an individual and not with a collective group
mentality.
Rewards - reward systems can be an effective way of reinforcing appropriate
behaviour e.g. using stars, stickers, points, smiley faces, raffle tickets or marbles in a
jar.
Children will only be able to sustain their enthusiasm through primary school if
they can develop an intrinsic interest in learning English through enjoyable and
interesting activities and a good rapport with their teachers. If teaching in primary
school is overly formal and just another version of what is done in secondary school, it
will kill children‟s early enthusiasm. (Moon, 2005).
Teaching English to primary children is much different to teaching English to the
other learners. Without being aware of these can threaten the teaching-learning
implementation in the classroom.
1.2. Challenges of teaching English to primary school children
Moon (2000) argues that children are capable of learning foreign language from
any age providing that the right conditions are in place to enable young learners to be
successful. Some of the most important conditions are:
(1) Realistic aims/expectation and expected outcome
(2) Well-trained teachers fluent in English
(3) Age appropriate curricula and materials
(4) Appropriate assessment and monitoring
(5) Enough time
(6) Continuity and Transfer to secondary level
Concerning the effectiveness of language learning at primary level, Isabel &

Elisabeth (1997, p. 23) emphasized the following factors which are considered to be of
great importance for successful early language learning:
(1) Well-trained teachers (language competence and methodological skills)
(2) Well-organized in-service training


7
(3) Well-structured curriculum with adequate timetable
(4) Suitable and motivating materials
(5) Continuity of language learning within the primary school and from primary to
secondary stage
(6) Quality assurance measures
Considering all the above factors helps to identify the challenges. For over a
decade, a number of studies investigating early language programmes have been
conducted in various countries. Nikolov. M and Curtain. H (2000) summarized a
number of issues relating to teaching English to primary children around the world.
Through their collection, a concrete picture of teaching English to primary children
was formed with a number of similar issues among which the most popular ones are
related to teachers‟ quality and continuity of the programme.
1.2.1. The teacher
The most important problems in many contexts are related to teachers‟ low level of
communicative competence. In Hungry, Bulgaria, Estonia and Croatia, there are not
enough qualified teachers. More than 76% of foreign language teachers at Czech basic
schools were unqualified (Nikolov & Curtain, 2000, p. 86). In Hong Kong, 55% of
primary English teachers are not subject-trained. The untrained language teachers tend
to experience two main difficulties. Firstly, their own language proficiency is
insufficient for them either to be a good model of language use or to teach consistently
through the target language. Secondly, their lack of awareness of appropriate language
teaching methodology inhibits pupil learning and has a negative impact on the
teachers‟ own professional development. Most classes are taught using predominantly

traditional teacher-centred, whole-class methods. Teachers have tended to see their
main role as to impart knowledge to pupils, who are generally expected to sit quietly
and absorb information. Teaching is often text-book dominated. Many teachers,
perhaps as a result of perceived or actual pressure from the school or from parents, try
to “finish the textbook” with little regard to the ability of the students. In the context of
teaching, this reliance on the textbook is also related to the fact that many teachers lack


8
confidence in their own English proficiency and so the textbook becomes a crutch on
which to cling.
1.2.2. The continuity and curricular integration
The gap between primary and secondary schools has been without doubt one of the
major problems and is the reason for which secondary school teachers tend to start
from scratch rather than building on achieved foreign language competence. The
reason for this lack of continuity from primary to secondary level have been identified
by experts in a number of workshops, seminars and conferences (cf. Heindler &
Felberbauer, 1995; Komorowska, 1997, cited in Nikolov & Curtain, 2000):
-

lack of information on both sides due to little or no contact between primary
and secondary school teachers;

-

different language learning approaches; holistic, child-centred teaching at the
primary level vs. academic, subject teaching at the secondary level.

In Japanese context, Yoshifumi (2006) pointed out two basic things that are lacking
in English education of elementary schools. First, the curriculum lacks practical

guidance in selecting or designing teaching materials and teaching methods as well as
clearly articulated educational goals and philosophy. Second, a pedagogical link
between language learning theory and foreign language methodology has, in practice,
been very weak for a long time.
Obviously, the lack of pedagogical continuity from primary schools to middle
school and curricular integration may have frustrating effects for all children. Teachers
and parents know that pupils who have spent three or more years in primary school
learning a language that is not available in the middle school feel demotivated.
1.3. English instruction to primary children in Vietnam
1.3.1. Policy
In terms of policy, there is a strong political will for English language teaching in
Vietnam.
On September 30th, 2008 the Prime Minister of Vietnam issued Decision No 1400QĐ-TTg by the Prime Minister, approving the project on foreign language teaching
and learning in the national education system for the 2008-2020 period. This is the


9
first official involvement of Primary Education in the teaching of foreign language in
Vietnam. According to this Decision, English is introduced at primary level from
Grade 3, the target is that by 2018 100% of primary children will be taught English.
The Ministry of Education and Training issued Decision No 50/2003/QĐBGD&ĐT dated November 30th 2003 providing guidance on full-day teaching in
which English is an optional subject with 2 periods per week, starting from Grade 3,
the objectives are specified as follow:
+ Forming basic English communicative skills of listening, speaking, reading and
writing for students to communicate in English at schools, at home and in familiar
social environment; of which, the former two skill are better focused.
+ Provide students with fundamental knowledge of English to gain primary
understanding of the country, people and culture of some English speaking
country.
+ Building students‟ positive attitude to English, better understanding and love for

Vietnamese through learning English. Furthermore, students‟ intelligence,
personality and learning method have also been gradually formed.
(National curriculum 2003)
1.3.2. Textbooks and materials
The new teaching approach allows a program to have several different sets of
textbooks, including:
+ English Book 1, 2, 3 (The Centre for Educational Technology)
+ Let‟s Learn English Book 1, 2, 3 (the Educational Publishing House & SNP
Panpac Publishing House, Singapore)
+ Let‟s Go Book (OUP)
Primary education management at all levels, from the central to local, use the
primary English optional curriculum as a legal basis for teaching the subject in
primary schools. Although the official curriculum for primary English was approved
since 2003, it is still not available to educators in school or training institutions. Thus,
the current MOET‟s textbook acts as the curriculum/syllabus. The problem is that the
headteachers, teachers, DOET‟s educational staff are not very clear about the aims or


10
goals of teaching English, the expected outcomes, the means to achieve the aims or
how to assess children‟s progress and achievement. Lack of clarity about aims and
outcomes makes it difficult to assess whether the MOET‟s expected outcomes are
being achieved i.e. children are able to communicate very simply and are developing
positive attitudes to English by the end of primary school (National Curiculum 2003).
1.3.3. Implementation
Currently, English language teaching at primary level has been actively
implemented, mostly in big cities:
- English is an optional subject from grade 3 with the time allocation of two
periods per week. In 2007, 32.2% of the primary schools in Vietnam implemented this
program. (MOET report)

- English is an optional subject in grade 1, 2 using Phonics Learning Box- UK
Program. In 2009, 87 primary schools (with 25 000 students) in Vietnam were
involved in this program. (VpBox report)
- In Ho Chi Minh City, an Intensive Program has been piloted with 8 periods per
week at Grade 1 since 1998. (Nguyen Ho Thuy Anh, 2007)
It is a fact that English education at primary level has been implementing for over a
decade but there is still no institutionalized curriculum and the teachers are not trained
to teach primary English.
1.3.4. The way forward
MOET has just announced the Proposal for Primary English Curriculum.
According to this, students will learn all 4 English communicative skills with 4 periods
per week to achieve all above aims and by the end of primary level students will get
A1 level in ALTE.
Primary teachers will be required to reach standard of qualification e.g. TKT
Certificate. MOET is piloting a project within 16 provinces providing primary and
lower-secondary school teachers with TKT preparation courses.
1.4. Available
Vietnam

studies

on

primary

English

teaching

in

11
In order to find out the effective ways of teaching English to primary school
children, some research had been done to explore the use of modern equipments and
techniques to raise quality of teaching. These researchers identified some problems
relating to the current practice of teaching English in the classroom employed by
teachers.
Vu Thi Luong (2002) and Dang Quang Sang (2007) put an emphasis on using
games in teaching English to primary children to meet children‟s interests,
characteristics and capacity in acquiring a foreign language. Such an important part
that games play in primary English language teaching, teachers, however, had many
different opinions about them as well as difficulties in using them. 90% of teachers in
the study sample agreed that games are effective to language teaching but almost all
teachers complained that they had not got any book or materials including a game
collection so they used only some games repeatedly (Vu Thi Luong, 2002). Thus
among 70% of the teachers using games in teaching only 20% used games frequently.
30% of the teachers had never used games because they thought that the secondary
school students were so anxious to learn English in order to pass the exams so the
primary teachers should only focus on vocabulary and grammar and then asked
students to do as many exercises as possible (Dang Quang Sang, 2007). Given this, the
teachers spent no time for studying or collecting games for their learners. As a result,
“games were not used frequently and usefully in teaching English to primary school
children” (Vu Thi Luong, 2002, p. 23).
Nguyen Minh Ha (2001) conducted a study on Teaching English on Computer to
Primary School Children in a school in Hanoi. According to her findings, one of the
problems with the uses of the computer in TEYL was that “most teachers are not
qualified enough to meet the demands of teaching English on computer. Their major
short-comings are poor English, lack of computer skills, inexperience and weak
teaching methods.” She showed a fact that many teachers abused computers and

became too dependent on computers. The teachers had difficulty choosing appropriate
programme, setting up a sustainable syllabus or applying techniques relevant to
students‟ level. She provoked a conclusion that “teaching English to children not only


12
fails but puts pressure on children‟s attitude towards English language.” (p. 27)
because most primary teachers considered English a school subject like Maths,
Vietnamese so they asked children to learn by heart a list of words and structures.
Ta Van Diep (2003) explored the uses of video clips as an effective means of
developing communicative competence for primary school children in Hanoi because
“video clips create a natural language environment with the combination of sound and
pictures” (p. 19). However, the question of using video clips surprised many teachers
because they had never considered video clips a means of teaching, instead, a means of
entertainment. Moreover, most schools in Hanoi were not equipped with video so both
the teachers and learners did not have chance to enjoy video clips in English lessons.
In an exploratory study on the situation of English Bilingual Education (EBE) in
East Asia, To Thi Thu Huong (2010) gave an insightful discussion about the
implementation of EBE in Vietnam from preschool to tertiary level. As a response to
the pressing need of society and strong political will from leaders of the country, “EBE
will move very fast in years to come” (p. 112). However, introducing EBE at primary
level may cause some challenges for Vietnamese language maintenance. Moreover,
some obstacles to the implementation of EBE are identified as:
-

lack of understanding and support from leaders and managers

-

teacher quality and professional competence

-

programme finance

-

programme facilities and equipment

-

the English and Vietnamese proficiency levels of the learners.

1.5. Summary
In short, this chapter provides relevant literature which is needed to form the
theoretical and the conceptual framework for the study. First, an overview on the
nature of teaching English to primary children is given, in which typical characteristics
of children, the optimal conditions for helping children to learn and an integrated
framework for positive and happy classroom environment are discussed. It has been
concluded that teaching English to children by nature far more different than teaching
English to older learners. Second, two most common issues of primary education are


13
identified through a variety of context world wide, i.e. teachers‟ quality and continuity
of the programme. Last, an overview on English primary introduction in Vietnam from
policy to practice is discussed.
Having looked at the related literature, it is an urge to investigate the challenges of
teaching English to primary children in Ninh Binh province since there has never been
any investigation into how teachers are teaching English to primary children and what

difficulties they are facing in Ninh Binh. It is, therefore, essential for the present
researcher to fill the gap by investigating what challenges are perceived by the
teachers so that proper solutions can be adopted to help reduce these challenges.


14

Chapter 2: The context of teaching English to primary school children
in Ninh Binh
2.1.

Introduction to Ninh Binh context of teaching-learning English at
primary level.

Ninh Binh is a small province in the North of Vietnam with 8 districts. On July 8th,
2008 the President of Ninh Binh Provincial Committee of People issued Plan No
21/ĐA-UBND, approving the Scheme on foreign language teaching and learning in
the education system for the 2008-2015 period. According to this plan, English is
introduced into the primary education curriculum starting from grade 3 from the
school year 2008-2009. Thus, English has been a compulsory subject for 10234
students of grade 3 and 4 in 153 primary schools throughout Ninh Binh, 164 primary
teachers have been employed to teach English.
Two years after the introduction of English at primary level, there have been no
official evaluation of the teaching-learning quality. The Director of Ninh Binh
Provincial Department of Education and Training decided to take an evaluation of the
programme to check whether English teachers are actually efficiently and effectively
teach English to students. A formal agreement was signed between The Department of
Education and Training and Apollo Organization of Education and Training in order to
develop and administer a plan for evaluation. In June 2010, all English teachers
(including 164 primary school teachers of English) sat a general English test, mainly

speaking, listening, grammar and vocabulary. Although the test caused hot debate, it
raised the strong awareness of self-study among teachers. The result helped to classify
teachers‟ level of proficiency so that they were put into different groups for in-service
training.
2.2.

Teachers and their background

Ninh Binh has 164 primary English teachers with four different types of English
language teaching degrees.
 four-year university degrees qualifying teachers to teach at any institution, most
importantly in upper-secondary schools. This is the most prestigious teaching


15
degree but in most of the cases trainees do no primary-school practice (25
teachers).
 three-year college degrees qualifying teachers to work at lower-secondary
schools or primary schools but trainees do no primary-school practice (1
teacher).
 two to four-year in-service training degrees qualifying teachers to teach English
to students from grade 3 to grade 12 (136 teachers).
 two to three-year in-service training degrees for ex-Russian and ex-French
teachers qualifying teachers to teach English from grade 3 to grade 12 (3
teachers).
As can be seen, all teachers were trained to teach adults and adolescents, not
primary children and most of them (83%) were in-service trained. Moreover, there has
not been any specialized or dedicated pre-service or in-service training courses for
primary teachers in Ninh Binh, except one-day in-service training which was mainly
focus on textbook analysis.

Basing on teachers‟ original training it can be deduced that most of them have low
level of English proficiency. This can be proved by the results of Oral and General
Test given by Apollo Organization of Education and Training, according to which the
level of primary English teachers is described below:
Level

Number of teacher

Level

Number of teacher

Intermediate+

01

Elementary+

17

Intermediate

05

Elementary

22

Intermediate-

19

Elementary-

08

Pre-Intermediate+

18

Beginner+

03

Pre-Intermediate

33

Beginner

04

Pre-Intermediate-

29

Beginner-

01

Evidently, the English proficiency of the vast majority of these teachers ranged
from beginner to pre-intermediate instead of Level 3 on the ALTE scale as required by
the Decision 1400.


16
2.3.

Summary

This chapter present briefly Ninh Binh context in which the policy of primary
English instruction and teachers‟ background are detailed. It is notable that Ninh Binh
issued policy of compulsory primary English introduction three months earlier than
national policy while the factor of workforce for teaching was neglected. It means that
Ninh Binh rushed for English teaching-learning at primary level, rushed for employing
teachers without careful consideration, especially, into teachers‟ quality.


17
Chapter 3: The Study
Research questions and research approach
The study seeks to find answers to the 3 following research questions:
1) What are teachers‟ attitudes and perception about teaching English to
primary children?
2) What do classroom teachers perceive of the challenges of teaching English to
primary children with particular reference to professional support?
3) What are feasible solutions to overcome those difficulties?
The study used mixed methods to find answers to the three questions. This approach is
used because by “using more than one method within a research program, we are able
to obtain a more complete picture of human behaviour and experience. Thus, we are

better able to …achieve our research goals more quickly” (Abbasi & Teddlie, 2003:
189).
The data collection instruments
The instruments for data collection in this study were questionnaire, interview
(face-to-face and email) and class observation.
Instrumentation one: A set of questionnaire answered by the teachers.
The questionnaire consisted of three sections. In section one teachers were asked to
tick or give answer to 14 questions relating to their background which included their
gender, place of residence, the number of years they had been teaching English, the
training they receive to teach English to primary children, the number of students in
their class, the number of their colleagues, and some issues relating to professional
outcome, success, problems/challenges of teaching English to primary children.
Session two aimed to collect information about teachers‟ perceptions and attitudes
towards some issues relating to teaching English at primary school using 5-scale
degree of agreement (including 10 statements). Section three aimed to explore
teachers‟ perception of the goals of teaching English to primary children using a
number of goal-related statements with 5-point scale for teacher to choose.


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Instrumentation two: The interview
The researcher conducted interviews (face – to – face with 8 key teachers and
email with about 30 teachers) for further explanation, clarification and details of their
own teaching context about which the researcher was not clear when gathering
information from the questionnaire.
Instrumentation three: Classroom observations
A total of 17 classroom observations were done in a year. The teachers‟ teaching
methods and students‟ activities were taken notes and captured with some pictures.
The 6th among the topics below guided the analysis of data obtained from classroom
observation:

(1) teachers‟ general perceptions and attitudes towards English language
education at the primary school level;
(2) teachers‟ understanding of the goal of English teaching at primary level;
(3) teachers‟ self-evaluation of their professional competences
(4) teachers‟ self-report of students‟ achievement
(5) teachers‟ perceived challenges of teaching English to primary school children
(6) teachers performance in the classroom
The participants
One hundred and four elementary school teachers who are currently teaching
English in Ninh Binh responded to the survey. The author surveyed the respondents
during the time they attended the oral test and OPT (Oxford Placement Test) given by
Apollo Organization of Education and Training. With the help of examiners, 120
survey copies were distributed and 104 teachers completed and hand in the surveys to
the researcher. The survey contains items addressing their perceptions and attitudes
towards various aspects of English teaching and in total the survey took 30 to 35
minutes on average for the teachers to complete.
85 respondents came from rural area. More than 80% of the respondents were
young female teachers in their twenty and thirties. The average years of English
teaching experience was 4 years, only 5 respondents had been teaching for more than


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10 years. The popular English class size that the teachers had been teaching was from
25 to 30 students.
The majority of the respondents had never received any training in teaching
English to primary school children except one-day training organized by Ninh Binh
DOET, sponsored by Hanoi Education Development Joint Stock Company. Most of
them work alone as they are the unique English teacher at school.
Data collection procedure
The researcher had one - year experience visiting 10 different schools

throughout the province (3 schools in the city and 7 schools in the countryside). The
researcher had 17 class observations in total: 5 in Grade 3, 6 in Grade 4 and 6 in Grade
5. Thus, class observations with a lot of notes and small talk with the teachers revealed
much about what was happening in the classroom.
The questionnaire was administered during the time the teachers took oral test
and OPT test given by Apollo Organization of Education and Training. Before the
questionnaire was delivered the researcher took time to explain the purpose of the
questionnaire, the requirement for the respondents and answer any questions made by
the respondents (even translated some questions into Vietnamese). The respondents
were also encouraged to ask if there was anything in the questionnaire they did not
understand. Then they were instructed to take as much time as they needed to
complete the questionnaire.
To make sure the collected questionnaires were all correctly completed, the
researcher asked for permission to have another contact with the respondents after data
collection so that she could clarify any unclear responses. The author posted seven
unclear items for further discussion through Internet chat. About 30 teachers using
email involved in this discussion.
Besides, the researchers interviewed 8 teachers who are key teachersrepresentatives of 8 districts in Ninh Binh province (Ninh Bình City, Tam Điệp town,
Nho Quan, Gia Viễn, Hoa Lư, Yên Khánh, Kim Sơn, Yên Mô). These eight areas
differ slightly in terms of their economic and educational development.