Attitudes toward standard English and world Englishes among Vietnamese adult learners of English

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

ATTITUDES TOWARD STANDARD ENGLISH AND WORLD ENGLISHES AMONG

VIETNAMESE ADULT LEARNERS OF ENGLISH

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for

the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL

Submitted by NGUYEN XUAN AN

Supervisor: DR. HUYNH CONG MINH HUNG

Ho Chi Minh City

2018

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

----------------------------------------------------

Nguyen Xuan An

Major: TEACHING ENGLISH TO SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGES

Major code: 60140111

MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL

Supervisor: DR. HUYNH CONG MINH HUNG

Ho Chi Minh City, 2018

ATTITUDES TOWARD STANDARD ENGLISH AND WORLD ENGLISHES

AMONG VIETNAMESE ADULT LEARNERS OF ENGLISH

i

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis entitled ―Attitudes toward Standard English and World

Englishes among Vietnamese Adult Learners of English is my own work.

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contain material

published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have

qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma.

No other person‟s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main

text of the thesis.

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any

other tertiary institution.

Ho Chi Minh City, 2018

Nguyen Xuan An

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Above all, I would like to express my deeply thankful heart to the LORD- my

GOD. Without His love and blessings, I wouldn‟t have any opportunity to attend a

TESOL course at Ho Chi Minh City Open University and my thesis would not be

done. Next, I would like to thank Dr. Huynh Cong Minh Hung – the supervisor of

this study who gave me great support, guidance, advice and feedback during the

time I conducted the study. Then, my gratefulness is offered to all dedicated

research participants who spent their valuable time and had wonderful support and

cooperation in giving responses to questions in Questionnaire and Interview.

Without you, much of this study would not have been possible. To all of my

friends, thank you for standing by me throughout this journey. I also would like to

thank most of all, my students, who are my inspiration with a lot of sharing about

the issue relating to Standard English and World Englishes and their values. Finally,

my very special and sincere thanks will be offered to my mother and brother, who

always had a lot of encouragement and prayer for me during the journey of my

study at TESOL course and gave me unconditional support to help me complete my

course.

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ABSTRACT

In the current time when English is spoken by different users around the world,

Issues relating to Standard English and World Englishes are on debate and widely

discussed in English Language teaching. A number of studies into learners‟

attitudes toward WE and which model of English should be taught in ELT have

been carried out worldwide However, these matters have not been sufficiently

examined in Vietnam. Therefore, this study makes contribution the understanding

of the attitudes toward Standard English and World Englishes among Vietnamese

adult learners of English. The study aimed at answering two research questions:

“What are the attitudes of Vietnamese adult learners of English toward Standard

English? and “What are the attitudes of Vietnamese adult learners of English toward

W.E? The study was designed with two research instruments: Questionnaire on 84

students and Interview with 10 students at different English language centers. It

revealed from the findings that Vietnamese adult learners of English have very

positive attitudes towards Standard English and quite neutral attitudes toward World

Englishes although they do not have supporting behavioral attitudes toward World

Englishes. The study findings also have important implications for English teaching

in the current context of Vietnam.

Key words: attitude, Standard English, World Englishes, Vietnamese adult learners

of English

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TABLE OF CONTENT

Page

Statement of authorship……………………………………………………………...i

Acknowledgement………………………………………………………………… ii

Abstract ………………………………………………………………………….....iii

Table of contents……………………………………………………………………iv

List of figures………………………………………………………………………vii

List of tables………………………………………………………………………viii

List of abbreviations………………………………………………………………..ix

Chapter1: Introduction………………………………………………………………1

1.1Background of the study…………………………………………………………1

1.2 Statement of the problems……………………………………………………….2

1.3 Purpose of the study and the research questions………………………………...4

1.4 Scope of the study ……………………………………………………………....4

1.5 Significance of the study……………………………..………………………….5

1.6 Limitations of the study ………………………………………………………...6

1.7 Organization of the study…………………………………………………..........6

Chapter 2: Literature Review…………………………………………………..……8

2.1. An overview of previous studies and the research gap……………………........8

v

2.1.1 Previous studies…………………………………………………….……….....8

2.1.2 Research gaps……………………………………………..………………….14

2.2. Standard English and World Englishes………………………………….….....15

2.2.1. Standard English…………………………………….……………………....15

2.2.2. World Englishes………………………….…………………………...……..19

2.3. English and World Englishes in Vietnam…………………………..………....28

2.4. Vietnamese Adult learners …………………………………….……………...31

2.5 Attitude and its importance in English language learning…………………......33

2.5.1. Definitions…………………………………………………………………...33

2.5.2. Components and types of attitude……………………….………………......34

2.5.3. The importance of attitude in language learning…………………….………38

Chapter 3: Methodology……………………………………………………..........40

3.1. Study design………………….…………………………………………...…...40

3.2. Research site and participants….……………………………………………...40

3.3 Research instruments……………………………………………...…..…...…..41

3.4 Procedure…….………………………………………...………………………44

3.5 Data analysis………………………………………………………..…….……45

3.6 Reliability and validity…………………………………………………………45

Chapter 4: Findings and discussion……………….……………………………….47

4.1. Findings…….………………………………………………………………….47

vi

4.1.1. Findings from the questionnaire………………….………………………....47

4.1.2. Findings from the interview……………………….………………………...56

4.2. Discussion of findings…………………………………………..…………......62

Chapter 5: Conclusion and recommendations……………………..……………....70

5.1. Main conclusions…………………………………….……………………..…70

5.2. Recommendations for English language education in Vietnam…………........71

5.3. Suggestions for further research……………….………………………….…..73

References………………………………………………..………………………...74

Appendices……………………………………..……………………………..........83

vii

LIST OF FIGURES

Page

Figure2.1. Kachru‟s circles………………………………………………..……..24

Figure 2.2. Three components of attitude……………………………………..…...36

Figure 4.1. Means‟ graph of Questionnaire about SE……………………………...51

Figure 4.2. Means‟ graph of Questionnaire about WE…………………………….56

viii

LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 3.1. Structure of questionnaire…………………………………..………….43

Table 3.2: Reliability Statistics…………………………………………………….46

Table 4.1. Participants‟ response percentage of items……………………………47

about the attitudes toward S.E

Table 4.2. Descriptive statistics of questionnaire about SE……………………….50

Table 4.3. Participants‟ response percentage of items …………………………….52

about the attitudes toward W.E

Table 4.4. Descriptive statistics of questionnaire about WE………………………54

Table 4.5. General information of the interviewees…………………………..……57