(Luận văn thạc sĩ) difficulties faced by sixth grade students in learning the new english textbooks

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

NGUYỄN HẢI YẾN

DIFFICULTIES FACED BY SIXTH GRADE STUDENTS
IN LEARNING THE NEW ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS

(Những khó khăn học sinh lớp 6 gặp phải trong quá trình học
chương trình sách Tiếng Anh mới)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS
Field: English Language Teaching Methodology
Code: 8140231.01

Hanoi, 12/ 2018
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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES
********************

NGUYỄN HẢI YẾN

DIFFICULTIES FACED BY SIXTH GRADE STUDENTS
IN LEARNING THE NEW ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS

(Những khó khăn học sinh lớp 6 gặp phải trong quá trình học
chương trình sách Tiếng Anh mới)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS
Field: English Language Teaching Methodology
Code: 8140231.01
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vo Dai Quang

Hanoi, 12/ 2018

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION. ............................................................................................. i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................... iii
LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................. v
ABBREVIATIONS. ....................................................................................... vi
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION .............................................................. 3
1.1. Rationale of the study.......................................................................... 3
1.2. Aims of the study ................................................................................. 4
1.3. Research questions ................................................................................ 4
1.4. Significance of the study ...................................................................... 4
1.5. Scope of the study ................................................................................ 5
1.6. Design of the thesis ............................................................................... 6
1.7. Chapter summary ................................................................................ 6
CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................... 7
2.1. Review of previous research ............................................................... 7
2.2. Review of theoretical background ....................................................... 10

2.2.1. Definition of learning difficulties or obstacles ......................... 10
2.2.2. Factors Affecting the Learning of a Second Language ............. 11
Attitude and Motivation........................................................................ 11
Learning opportunities ....................................................................... 16
2.3. Chapter summary .............................................................................. 18
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY .......................................................... 19
3.1. Data collection instruments .................................................................. 22
3.1.1. Survey questionnaire .................................................................. 22
3.1.2. Interviews .................................................................................. 24
3.2. Data analysis techniques .................................................................... 24

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3.3. Research procedure ............................................................................... 25
3.3.1. Data collection procedure ............................................................ 25
3.3.2. Data analysis procedure ........................................................... 26
3.4. Chapter summary .............................................................................. 26
CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ................................ 27
4.1. Attitude of Ss toward EL in general ................................................ 27
4.2. Frequency of Use of EL. .................................................................... 29
4.3. Purposes for learning EL. ................................................................. 30
4.4. Students’ perception of Study skills ................................................. 31
4.5. Students’ perception on individual EL language macro skills ...... 34
4.6. Self-evaluation of students towards the new version of English textbook for 6th grade ................................................................................... 38
4.7. Factors from teacher ............................................................................... 43
4.8. Chapter summary .............................................................................. 46
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ................................................................ 47
5.1. Conclusion on research objectives ....................................................... 47
5.1.1. What are the problems encountered by 6th grade students in

learning English as a second language?. ............................................ 47
5.1.2. What are the possible solutions to the problems identified…51
5.2. Limitations ............................................................................................ 56
5.3. Suggestions for future research ........................................................ 56
REFERENCES ........................................................................................... 58
APPENDIX: Survey questionnaire ............................................................... I

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CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, rationale is presented first which clarifies the importance and
urgent of the study based on Vietnamese context. The chapter then goes on to
introduce the aims and research questions followed by brief discussion of the
significance and scope of the study. At the end of the chapter, the design of the
study is given.
1.1. Rationale for the study
During the integrating context of Vietnam nowadays, English has become a
priority in the educational system. This can be obviously recognised through
many efforts in improving and continually reforming the official English textbook version. The newest changes have been applied for Secondary schooling
system. Although these efforts and endeavour are undeniable, the results appears not to be very positive. Learning capacity of students, particularly sixth
grade students who have just graduated from Primary school, is influenced
directly. In other words, they themselves have faced a large number of difficulties in studying the new version of EL textbook.
The reasons may come from either subjectiveness or objectiveness. Whatever
they are, however, the situation can not be underestimated .„It is really difficult to obtain an accurate picture of the number of people who are defined as
having learning difficulties‟ (Mittler, 1995:137). That is also the core reason
inspiring and driving the researcher decide to conduct this study in a very positive ideal that this urgent attention can be partly dealt and changed somehow.

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1.2. Aims of the study
The primary aim of the study lies in its attempt to enhance educational quality
for sixth grade students in learning the new version of English textbook via
identifying obstacles which hinder the language acquisition. Only an experimental study could confirm that. This kind of information can be useful, not
only for the teaching of English in the classroom but also to the Ministry of
Education, especially to language planners and writers in their decision-making.
1.3. Research questions
The following questions are raised for research:
1. What are the problems encountered by 6th grade students in learning
English as a second language?
2. What are the possible solutions to the problems identified?
1.4. Significance of the study
The findings of this study will redound to the benefits of society considering
that EL plays an important role in education today. The greater demand for
graduates with EL justifies the need for more effective and changing teaching
approaches. Thus, schools that apply the recommended approach derived
from results of this duty will be able to train Ss better. Administrators will be
guided on what should be emphasised by teachers in the school curriculum to
improve Ss‟ performance in EL. Moreover, the study will help the researcher
uncover critical areas in the educational process that many researchers were
not able to explore.

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1.5. Scope of the study
The centre attention of the thesis is to make every effort to point out the difficulties of sixth grade students when they learn the new version of English
textbook. The project will have been completed by January, 2018.
190 student samples were selected from four different classes. Their school is

situated in Ha Noi, the capital of Vietnam, and run by the government. The
chosen samples combined both male and female. They were all asked to do a
designed survey to help clarify the research. Then, five students from each
class were chosen randomly to take part in an interview.
Because the number of English teachers in this secondary schools was small,
all five grade-6 teachers were invited to participate in the study. 77.4% responded by completing it. Permission for their participation was first obtained
from the Principal, but, teachers participated at their own discretion. Those
who agreed to participate, were asked to take the interview only without the
questionnaire because of their lack of time and ego.
There are a great number of fields which have been observed but we will
mention the most significant here: The first are of course the difficulties in
general, then some details from the four language skills, the others are pupil
observations including their characteristics such as Motivation, Preparedness,
Individuality, Personality, Background, Environment or other relevant language circumstances etc. The second are the instruments of the research
which are used in order to approach the expected results such as: Interviews
both with teachers and pupils, Questionnaires again with the same individuals, the gathering and the processing of the information through different
Charts, Data collection, then the Literature Review which was very useful in

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order to compare the different survey experiences by many previous researchers etc.
1.6. Design of the thesis
The overall thesis is mainly divided into five chapters:
Chapter I: Introduction. This chapter provides rationale, aims of the study,
research questions, significance of the study, scope of the study and thesis
structural organisation.
Chapter II: Literature review. This chapter presents the review of previous researches and review of theoretical background.
Chapter III: Methodology. This chapter presents the statement of research design, data collection instruments, data analysis techniques and research procedure.
Chapter IV: Findings and Discussion. This chapter offers findings and discussion along the line of the research objectives set forth.

Chapter V: Conclusion. This chapter offers conclusions on the research objectives.
1.7. Chapter summary
The author desired to find out the difficulties of students in English language
learning via the new version of English textbook by way of interviews and
observation, by which the learners was able to express their own opinions.
The collected data are authentic and valid as it provided the genuine experience of the learners.

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CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter, a review of the literature on second language learning is given. First, the review introduces previous researches from which there is a
need to look in order to have a comprehensive and complete understanding of
the issue. The review then goes on to explain what it means to know difficulties in acquiring a second language followed by an introduction of factors affecting the learning of a second language.
2.1. Review of previous research
Obstacle or difficulty means a concept with objective and subjective validity.
It is defined as a task that requires effort or labor to solve. In the light of such
observation, the quest to identify significant and potential difficulties leading
to failure in the acquisition or learning of a second (SL) or foreign language
(FL) has been part of research in second language acquisition (SLA) for quite
some times.
Ellis (1986:27) refers to Second Language Acquisition Difficulties as a nonuniformed as well as an unpredictable phenomenon. This view immediately
signifies the complexity and diversity of acquiring or learning a second language. The complexity of SLA as a process leads Beebe (1988) to suggest that
a multiple interdisciplinary approach can be used to view SLA in order to
achieve a full understanding.
Beebe (1988) suggests further that obstacles in second language acquisition
be looked at from: a classroom research-based perspective which concentrates
not only on the ways in which second language instruction affects the processes, rate and ultimate level of second language attainment but also the interactions and activities that are going on in the classroom; and a bilingual

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education which generally focuses on the role of first language (L1) on the
acquisition of the second language (L2).
Another way of looking at SLA is reflected again by Ellis's view (1986:4),
"Second language acquisition difficulties is a product of many factors pertaining to the learner on the one hand and the learning situation on the other".
What is offered by this view is not an entirely different description of SLA
from the one mentioned above, but rather an alternative way of organising the
same aspects of SLA and explaining them in terms of their specific relevance
to factors related to the learners and the situation where learning takes place.
Considering many difficulties which can potentially contribute to the acquisition of learning a second language, limited space would make it impossible to
discuss all of them here. The rest of this literature review, therefore, will focus
on discussing factors which have direct relevance and bearings on this study.
Pienemann and Johnston (1987:124) came up with a distinction between 'external' and 'internal' factors. Under the title of 'external factors' are variables
ranging from L1, social environment, and biological factors such as age. 'Internal factors', on the other hand, are described as aspects of the learner's cognitive and linguistic capacities and the mental structures which determine
these capacities. This general typology of factors was incorporated into their
multi-dimensional framework used in investigating factors relevant to the acquisition of a second language.
Although different theoretical frameworks may put different emphases on
these factors and their influences on SLA, Olshtain, Shohamy, Kemp, and
Chatow (1990:23-44) argue that it has been identified in literature that they
have potential to affect the success or failure in SLA, and they generally exist
in the following categories: (a) the learner context or the learning conditions,

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including the educational treatment (formal/informal learning situations) and
the amount of exposure to the target language (TL) in its natural setting
(Beebe, 1985); (b) the social context: attitudes and motivation deriving from
the political, cultural and socio-linguistic milieu (Gardner, 1980:255-270); (c)

the learner's characteristics: cognitive variables encompassing language aptitude, academic knowledge of one's first language (Ll and IQ level, as well as
other individual features

(Cummins, 1979a:222-250, 1979b:179-205,

1980:25-29, 1981).
However, it may be worth considering what Spolsky (1989:30) says, "To be
able to discuss intelligently the conditions that lead to second language learning requires a clear and precise definition of what it means to know a second
language". Along the same vein of thinking, though concentrating on the linguistic competence, Gregg (1989:11) argues, “Thus, to account for the acquisition of linguistic competence, one needs a theory of language, for we cannot
understand the acquisition of something without an understanding of what
that something is”.
These arguments appear to suggest that we cannot fully understand the effects
of those factors unless we can define what it is that they are affecting. In other
words, we cannot understand the effects of such factors on learning a second
language unless we can describe what it means to know a second language.
2.2. Review of theoretical background
2.2.1. Definition of learning difficulties or obstacles
Obstacle or difficulty means a concept with objective and subjective validity.
It is defined as a task that requires effort or labor to solve.

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At Secondary level, English is being taught as a compulsory subject in the
context. Obstacles mean the problems, hurdles and difficulties in way of
learning English. Examination system, students‟ weak position and foundation in English, large classes, passive learning, uninteresting, lengthy, difficult
literature based syllabi, the poor performance of the English teachers and old
methodologies are considered to be major problems in the learning English.
Abbas (1998:42) reveals the fact that in spite of so many efforts, the result in
English remains poor and this is all due to “flawed pedagogy and material design”.

Regarding the function of a language, each language has four skills as Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. The disability or competency over a language varies as the diversity of the socio-linguistic division in this world. As
Morley (1972) has observed that listening gets complexity and difficulties in a
place where it is being used as non-native language. In this way, the significance of the Speaking skill is of great importance and its importance cannot
be denied (Bailey and savage 1994). Reading is a socio-interaction process in
which “a text”, “a reader” and “social context” are involved (Bernhardt,
1991).
The learners of our context are the students who face obstacles as referred to
“comprehensible input”. The obstacles arise when there is lack of understanding between a context where a learner lives and the difficulty of a language
task given to the students. Most of the obstacles come out because the unconsciousness of the use and interference of L1 occur. The learners are in habit of
using their mother tongue, so in this way they face a lot of obstacles in learning English as a second language during their educational career. Krashen
(1981) has quoted that “syntactic errors in adult performance” occur due to
the use of mother tongue in the life of a learner and this impact remains for a

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long period in the mind of a learner as cited by Banathy, Trager, and Waddle
(1966). In this way, such errors or obstacles are difficult to trace out as it has
become an unavoidable habit in the life of learner. Krashen (1981) has remarked that such errors or obstacles vary as the learners vary in their respective linguistic background.
2.2.2. Factors Affecting the Learning of a Second Language
Attitude and Motivation
Ellis (1986) observes that there has been no general agreement on definitions
of motivation and attitudes or of their relation to one another in SLA. For example, Schumann (1978:367-380) identifies “attitude” as a social factor on a
par with variables such as "size of learning group”, and “motivation" as an
affective factor alongside cultural shock. Gardner and Lambert (1972:268)
define "motivation" in terms of the L2 learner's overall goal and orientation,
and "attitude" as the persistence shown by the learner in striving for a goal.
Gardner (1979) attempts to link attitudes to motivation by saying that attitudes support the learner‟s overall orientation. In Brown‟s (1981) distinction
of "attitudes" and "motivation", he identifies three types of motivation: 'global
motivation' consisting of a general orientation to the goal of learning a L2;

"situational motivation" which varies according to the situation in which
learning takes place; “task motivation” which is motivation for performing
particular learning tasks. Brown uses”attitudes" to refer to the set of beliefs
that the learner holds towards members of the target language group. This
lack of agreement reflects the distract nature of these concepts thus making
the task of measuring them a difficult one.
The role of attitudes and motivation in second language learning has, however, been predominantly researched from a social-psychological framework

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which links motivation with, firstly, attitudes toward the community of speakers of the target language, secondly, with an interest in interacting with such
speakers, and thirdly, with some degree of self-identification with the target
language community (Crookes & Schmidt, 1991:469-512). The most extensive research on attitudes and motivation in relation to L2 learning within this
framework has been conducted by Gardner and Lambert and their associates
in Canada beginning in the 1950s continuing to the present (Gardner and
Lambert, 1959:266-272, 1972; Gardner, 1968:141-150, 1980:255-270,
1983:219-240, 1985, 1988:101-128; Gardner, Clement & Smythe, l979:242).
Other approaches to motivation in relation to second language learning from
the social-psychological framework include the Speech Accommodation Theory (Giles & Byroe, 1982:17-40; Beebe, 1988), Acculturation Model (Schumann, 1975:209-235, 1978a, 1978b:367-380, 1986:379-392), and Krashen' s
Monitor Model o f SLA (Krashen, 1981, 1982, 1985). Since they have not
been as influential in the study of motivation and attitudes in SLA, they are
not discussed in detail here.
Gardner & Lambert (1959:266-272) first made the distinction between 'integrative motivation', which is identified with positive attitudes toward the target language group and the potential for integrating into that group, and 'instrumental motivation', which refers to more functional reasons for learning a
language such as to get a better job or a promotion, or to pass a required examination. In 1972, they published the results of a more than ten-year long
research program on English speakers learning French in Canada. In this
study, they established that success or failure in learning French in Canada
was associated with whether students wanted to become part of French culture, as opposed to learning French for only instrumental reasons. This integrative- instrumental duality, with integrative motivation being held to be a

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superior support for language learning, soon became widely accepted and
many subsequent studies confirmed the validity of Gardner and Lambert's
theory (Svanes, 1987; others are already mentioned above). Some studies,
however, have come up with contradictory results (Lukmani, 1972:261-273;
Cooper & Fishman, 1977; Pierson, Fu, & Lee, 1980: 289-317; Oller, 1981).
Both 'integrative' and 'instrumental' motivations can be found among the Tongan learners of English as a second language, particularly chose at secondary
schools. Gardner continued, despite the controversial results, to develop this
model of motivation in second language learning. His Attitude/Motivation
Test Battery (AMTB, Gardner et al., 1979; Gardner, 1985) stimulated numerous studies and his attempts to synthesise the results has led into a revised
model that he (Gardner) now calls the „socio-educational model' (Gardner,
1979, 1980, 1985, 1988). Gardner (1985) points out that language learning is
different from all the other school subjects because in language courses individual learners are required to incorporate elements from another culture.
Consequently, reactions to the other culture become important considerations
thus making attitudes specially relevant to language learning.
Gardner identifies two types of attitudes: attitudes to the people who speak
the target language; and attitudes to the practical use to which the learner assumes he or she can put the language being learned (Spolsky, 1989). Attitudes, according to Gardner, do not have direct influence on learning, but they
lead to motivation which does. Gardner (1985:50)views motivation as a complex construct for it 'involves four aspects, a goal, effortful behaviour, a desire
to attain the goal and favourable attitudes towards the activity in question.
Crookes and Schmidt (1991:469-512) argue that the socio-educational model
can be summarised in terms of five hypotheses:

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1. The integrative motive hypothesis: an integrative motive will be positively
associated with SL achievement.
2. The cultural belief hypothesis: cultural beliefs influence the development of
the integrative motive and the degree to which integrativeness and achievement are related.

3. The active learner hypothesis: integratively motivated learners are successful because they are active learners.
4. The causality hypothesis: integrative motivation is a cause; SL achievement, the effect.
5. The two-process hypothesis: aptitude and integrative motivation are independent factors in second language learning.
The empirical studies supporting these hypotheses are again controversial.
With regard to the integrative motive hypothesis, contradictory results have
emerged from studies in different contexts. In a summary of various studies
testing the model, Au (1988:75-100) indicates that the results include every
possible relationship between various measures of integrative motivation and
measures of proficiency: positive, negative, nil and ambiguous. Clement &
Kruidenier (1983:273-294), Hidalgo (1986:193-220) found no support of a
general integrative motivation in their studies. In response to these criticisms,
Gardner (1988:101-126) acknowledges the relatively unstable results, yet
continues to maintain that in most cases there are significant correlations between at least some aspects of the integrative motive and some aspects of second language proficiency. Currently, he does not claim that integrative motivation is superior to instrumental motivation, but simply that those who are

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integratively motivated will probably be more successful in second language
learning than those who are not so motivated.
With regard to his causality hypothesis, numerous researchers have suggested
that achievement might actually be the cause instead of the effect of attitude,
that is, successful second language learners might acquire positive attitudes
toward both language and the target language community as a result o f doing
well in their learning of the language (Savignon, 1972; Backman, 1976:100122; Hennann, 1980:247-254; Strong, l984:1-14). In response, Gardner
(1985) insists that there is no support in literature for the notion that
achievement influences the nature and amount of attitude change.
In as far as the treatment of motivation in second language learning from the
social-psychological framework, so far alluded to, Crookes and Schmidt
(1991:469-512) point out something that is lacking. “In second language acquisition theory, motivation is typically grouped together with various aspects
of personality and emotion as miscellaneous „affective' factors that may play a

role in acquisition. Current SL discussion on this topic lacks validity in that it
is not well-grounded in the real world domain of the Sl classroom, nor it is
well-connected to other related educational research". When teachers say that
a student is motivated, they are not usually concerned with the student's reason for studying, but are observing that the student does productively engage
in learning tasks and sustains that engagement without the need for continual
encouragement or direction. It is this teacher-validated use of the term motivation, according to Crookes and Schmidt, that has not been adopted (but
should be adopted) by second language investigators.

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Learning opportunities
Spolsky (1989) argued that "whatever the language learner brings to the task,
whether innate ability, a language acquisition device, attitudes, previous
knowledge, and experiences of languages and language learning, the outcome
of language learning depends in larger measure on the amount and kind of
exposure to the target language”. The amount and kind of exposure to the target language are considered important because they provide opportunities for
the language learner to successfully perform the tasks essentially involved in
learning a second language. Klein (1986) claimed that the second language
learner has four essential tasks to perform in second language learning: "First,
he or she must successfully analyse the speech input he or she hears into appropriate units. Second, he or she must learn how to synthesise these minimal
units into larger units. Third, he or she must learn how utterances are embedded in context (including of course non-linguistic context). Finally, he or she
must learn to match his or her own present command of a language with the
target aimed at" (Spolsky, 1989:166-167). Spolsky (1989) pointed out two
other tasks which Klein seemed to have left unstated yet involved in all kinds
of learning. The first of these is the remembering of the newly learned items,
and the second is the practice of the newly learned items to help the development of fluency and automaticity. In his general theory for second language
learning, Spolsky restated all these six task elements as conditions which
must be met in order for second language learning to take place. That learners
must be provided with opportunities so that they can perform these tasks of

language learning.
There are two kinds of exposure commonly referred to in second language
learning literature. Although they are distinct in many aspects, they both provide opportunities for the language learner to carry out the various tasks in-

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volved in learning a second language. The “natural language learning” is a
situation where the language learner picks up a second language in the environment in which it is spoken from others speaking with the purpose of using
it to communicate. The formal or classroom learning" is the learning of language in a situation where only one person (the teacher) has command of it
and the teacher controls the exposure so it with lead to learning.
Spolsky (1989) outlined sets of contrasting conditions between these two
learning situations. As the goal for natural language learning is communication,the learner is under pressure to utilise his entire language potential in order to communicate successfully. This provides a necessary kind of practice.
Negotiation of meaning between the speakers and the native speakers provides a very valuable form of practice. In the formal situation, the goal is
learning so the tasks presented to the Learner is smaller making it easier for
the learner to analyse, synthesise, and match thus giving time for memory and
opportunity for sufficient practice.
Many speakers in the natural environment are fluent and native so the learner
is consequently exposed to a variety of forms and styles with which he or she
can match his or her own knowledge. The influent model of the teacher in the
classroom provides the learner with time to get used to one style at a time,
also there is no competition from other speakers better than the learners to
make them feel inadequate.
The natural environment provides contextual clues for understanding language in use and also opportunities to see the rules in language use in physical and social contexts. The controlled circumstances in the classroom make it
possible to hear better and to concentrate more.

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From the sets of distinctive conditions discussed above, it appears that learning a second language through formal instruction is more limited and constrained especially in the amount of exposure it provides for the language

learners to carry out the tasks involved in learning a second language.
2.3. Chapter summary
From this review, one can begin to see and appreciate that learning a second
language is a very complex process. It also follows that teaching a second
language is a very difficult task. The complexity of factors involved in the
learning of a second language makes it even harder to account for the reasons
why there is success or lack of success in learning a second language. The review has revealed that not only are there factors which are 'internal' to the
learners, but there are factors that are 'external' to the learners, which contribute either to speed up or slow down the process of learning. This review
has, therefore, provided not only the theoretical basis but guidelines (especially on factors to be investigated) upon which the design and methodology of
this study have been based.

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CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY
This chapter describes in detail the statement of research design, the data collection instruments, the data analysis techniques and the research procedure.
3.1. Data collection instruments
3.1.1. Survey questionnaire
The method used is to deliver survey questionnaire.“Questionnaires are any
written instruments that present respondents with a series of questions or
statements to which they are to react either by writing out their answers or
selecting from among existing answers” (Brown, 2001).
The questionnaire instructions should be designed clear, short and easy to
read (Narins, 1995) and combines two types of question: checklist questions
to check all answers applicable and open-closed questions.
The questionnaire consists of four parts:
Part A: Overview
The intention of part A is to clarify the attitude of students towards the language English in general, the frequency of Ss in using EL and their purposes
in acquiring EL.
Part B: Perception on individual English language macro-skills

This part plays a specially essential role in reflecting Ss‟ competence and efficiency of knowledge and skills after one half of the school year studying the
new version of English textbook.

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Students in the sample were asked to express their views on the importance of
each of the four English macro skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking). The intention was to identity whether the importance students put on
each English language macro skill is related to their performances in each of
those macro skills.
Part C: Self-evaluation of students towards the new version of English textbook for grade six.
The intention was to investigate how much their orientation to English, as reflected by their attitude toward the material they are using, affected their
learning competence.
Part D: Other objective factors
The intention was to investigate if factors from teachers had remained any affection on Ss‟ learning perception
3.1.2. Interviews
In this study, the interviews were carried out right after the questionnaires
with 20 students from four classes, who were chosen randomly for more indepth data. The aim for interviews is to get better insights into the research
questions and to discuss for further information about items raised in the
questionnaires. Each of the interviewees was invited to answer the questions
with the researcher‟s explanation of the questions and clarifying under answers, each interview lasted for about 5-7 minutes. The informal talks were
sometimes done during breaks. The questions for interviews were conducted
mainly in Vietnamese because it is better for the participants to express their
ideas naturally and truly. Basic questions were prepared. With interviewees‟

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permission, the interviews were recorded and taken note. All interview data
were analysed interpretatively.

3.2. Data analysis techniques
There are methods applied to analyse data: interpretive process and statistical
process. In the context of using questionnaire to conduct the research, the latter type is preferable.
Before analysing data, much consideration is necessarily needed to make reliable and valid interpretation, draw conclusions from data as well as be objective in analysing data. Moreover, in order to manage data,

the

re-

searcher should be selective and check in the analysis, code the data (date,
who completed and number of returns), categorise data (in relation to gender…as an example) and code data in relation to kinds of answer, theme or
issues (especially for open-ended questionnaires).
Coding the questionnaire data
The data were coded that almost all responses which were designed on the
Five-point scale were scored 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, in the direction from the most positive (1) to the most negative response (5). The items which were answered by
simply identifying the applicable alternatives to their situations from a list of
alternatives given, were scored 1 if they indicated an alternative to be applicable or 0 if they indicated an alternative not to be applicable. This system was
applied to all students and these provided the quantified results used for the
analysis.

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3.3. Research procedure
3.3.1. Data collection procedure
The questionnaire was first piloted to a small sample of 50 students to check
its validity and reality. The piloted questionnaire then was re-edited and delivered to 49 students and finally delivered to 91 students at the end of the first
semester of the school year 2017-2018. The students had 10 minutes to complete the questionnaire. The purpose and importance of the study were explained. While students were completing the questionnaire, any questions
were clarified by me.
Concerning the interview, they are conducted to gain more in-depth information about students‟ learning problem. After analysing the questionnaires, 20

students were chosen by chance to participate in the interview. It took place in
a face-to-face situation with the students, and the interviews were taken note
or tape-recorded.
3.3.2. Data analysis procedure
Data from Questionnaire
Step 1: Prepare the data
Step 2: Report the statistics
Step 3: Display collected data by tables or line graphs
Data from Interviews
Step 1: Record all the process of interviewing
Step 2: Analysis by taking notes of necessary information.

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3.4. Chapter summary
This chapter looked at the research methodologies used in this research. Justifications on why the researcher chose to use those methodologies were given.
This thesis is designed as an action research project. Interviews and questionnaires were the main methods of data collection used to gather relevant data
to achieve the research objectives.

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