Challenges in teaching English for ethnic minority students in Gia Lai province = Những thách thức trong việc dạy tiếng Anh cho học sinh dân tộc thiểu số ở tỉnh Gia Lai

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

QUY NHON UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THI HANG

CHALLENGES IN TEACHING ENGLISH FOR

ETHNIC MINORITY STUDENTS

IN GIA LAI PROVINCE

Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching

Code: 8140111

Supervisor: Assoc, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien

BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO

TRƢỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN

NGUYỄN THỊ HẰNG

NHỮNG THÁCH THỨC TRONG VIỆC DẠY

TIẾNG ANH CHO HỌC SINH DÂN TỘC THIỂU SỐ

Ở TỈNH GIA LAI

Ngành: Lý luận và phƣơng pháp dạy học bộ môn Tiếng Anh

Mã số: 8140111

Ngƣời hƣớng dẫn: PGS. TS. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền

i

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that the thesis “Challenges in Teaching English for Ethnic

Minority Students in Gia Lai Province” is my own work.

No other person’s work has been used without acknowledgement in the

paper.

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

diploma in any universities.

Quy Nhon, 2022

Nguyen Thi Hang

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Without the support, encouragement, and contributions from my

supervisor, my professors, my school, colleagues, friends and family, the

successful completion of this thesis work would not have been possible. I take

this chance to express my deepest thanks to them for their support.

First and foremost, I am grateful to my thesis supervisor, Assoc. Prof.

Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, for her amazing supervision. Her outstanding

knowledge and profession inspired me a lot during my academic life at Quy

Nhon University. I appreciate her experienced guidance and suggestions,

great patience in helping me resolve the obstacles during the process I carried

out my thesis. I am gratefully indebted to her for her very valuable comments

on this thesis.

A special thank goes to Gia Lai Department of Education and Training

and Chu Van An High School for giving me the chance to attend a MA course

at Quy Nhon University.

This study was made achievable by the participation of the enthusiastic

teachers at High Schools in Gia Lai, who devoted their time taking part in this

research. I was also thankful to my colleagues for their support during my

study time.

I am also grateful to Quy Nhon University, Post-graduate Department,

and Foreign Languages Department for the administrative assistance.

Last, but not least, I must express my gratitude to my family for

providing me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement

throughout the course and the study of this thesis.

iii

ABSTRACT

This study attempted to investigate the teachers’ challenges in teaching

English to ethnic minority students in Gia Lai province from the high school

teachers’ perspectives in terms of school environment and curriculum,

students and parents as well as the teachers’ knowledge and professsional

development. The quantitative and qualitative approaches were used to

answer the research questions. The data were gathered from 53 English from

various high schools in Gia Lai province via a questionnaire, including both

open-ended questions and close-ended items. The study showed the

interesting results. The teachers are challenged by the crowded classes, time

constraints, unequal ability between Kinh and ethnic minority student, and

pressure from curriculum, testing and assessment. Meanwhile, students’ lack

of interest, concentration and active learning, their frequent use of dialects,

parents’ unawareness of the importance of English language, students’ lack of

sufficient learning environment are challenges related to students and parents.

In addition, challenges concerning the teachers’ knowledge and professsional

development are shortage of training, and lack of professional development.

A set of recommendations is presented in this paper which can contribute to

tackle the challenges.

Key words: English Language Teachers, Challenges, School Environment,

Students Community and Parents, The teachers’ knowledge and professsional

development, Ethnic Minority Students.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ............................................................................i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................ii

ABSTRACT..............................................................................................................iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS..........................................................................................iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS...................................................................................vi

LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................vii

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................1

1.1. Rationale ...........................................................................................................1

1.2. Aims and objectives..........................................................................................2

1.2.1. Aims ..........................................................................................................2

1.2.2. Objectives..................................................................................................2

1.3. Research Questions...........................................................................................3

1.4. Scope of The Study...........................................................................................3

1.5. Significance of the Study..................................................................................4

1.6. Organization of the Study .................................................................................4

CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................5

2.1. Factors Affecting Second Language Acquisition .............................................5

2.1.1. Age factors ................................................................................................6

2.1.2. Psychological Factors................................................................................6

2.1.3. Sociocultural Factors.................................................................................7

2.1.4. Cross-linguistic Factors.............................................................................9

2.2. Schooling of Ethnic Minority Students in Vietnam........................................10

2.2.1. An Overview of Ethnic Minority Groups in Vietnam and in Gia Lai

Province.............................................................................................................10

2.2.2. Minority School Education in Vietnam ..................................................11

2.3. Current Situation of English Teaching in Vietnam ........................................12

2.3.1. English at General Education Level in Vietnam.....................................13

v

2.3.2. Current Situation of English Teaching in Gia Lai Province ...................15

2.4. Roles of Teachers and Students in Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign

Language................................................................................................................15

2.4.1. The Roles of Teachers in English Teaching............................................15

2.4.2. The Roles of Learners in English Learning ............................................17

2.5. Review of Related Empirical Studies.............................................................18

CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY ...........................................................................23

3.1. Research Methods...........................................................................................23

3.2. Participants......................................................................................................23

3.3. Instruments......................................................................................................25

3.4. Data Collection ...............................................................................................26

3.5. Data Analysis..................................................................................................27

3.6. Reliability and Validity...................................................................................28

3.6.1. Scale Reliability Analysis .......................................................................28

3.6.2. Validity....................................................................................................28

CHAPTER 4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ...................................................30

4.1. Challenges in terms of School Environment and Curriculum........................30

4.3. Challenges in terms of Students and Parents..................................................42

4.4. Challenges in terms of the Teachers’ Knowledge and Professsional

Development ..........................................................................................................54

CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS..........................................63

5.1. Summary of The Study ...................................................................................63

5.2. Implications.....................................................................................................65

5.3. Limitations......................................................................................................66

5.4. Suggestions for Further Research ...................................................................67

REFERENCES.........................................................................................................68

APPENDICES

vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

ELL: English Language Learner

ELT: English Language Teaching

SLA: Second Language Acquisition

vii

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1. The Vietnam Education System .................................................... 14

Table 2.2. The number of periods of ELT for each level of education .......... 14

Table 3.1. Participants’ background characteristics ....................................... 24

Table 3.2. Reliability Statistics of the questionnaire ...................................... 28

Table 4.1. Challenges in terms of school environment and curriculum ......... 31

Table 4.2. The detail description of in-class equipment................................. 32

Table 4.3. The detail description of weak emotional and psychological

support from the school board ...................................................... 34

Table 4.4. The detail description of crowded classes ..................................... 35

Table 4.5. The detail description of the unequal ability between Kinh and.

ethnic minority students................................................................ 36

Table 4.6. The detail description of the time constraint ................................. 37

Table 4.7. The detail description of the negligence of English language

teachers’ suggestions .................................................................... 38

Table 4.8. The detail description of knowledgeable and helpful colleagues.. 39

Table 4.9. The detail description of the pressure from curriculum demands. 40

Table 4.10. The detail description of the pressure of the exams on

teaching contents........................................................................... 41

Table 4.11. Challenges in terms of students and parents............................... 43

Table 4.12. The detail description of students’ interest in learning English .. 44

Table 4.13. The detail description of students’ comprehensive ability .......... 45

Table 4.14. The detail description of students’ perspective about learning

English .......................................................................................... 46

Table 4.15. The detail description of students’ concentration in class........... 47

Table 4.16. The detail description of students’ assignment completion........ 48

Table 4.17. The detail description of monority students’ interaction............. 49

viii

Table 4.18. The detail description of parents’ attitudes towards teachers...... 50

Table 4.19. The detail description of parents’ perceptions of the

importance of English................................................................... 51

Table 4.20. The detail description of parents’ cooperation with teachers...... 52

Table 4.21. The detail description of supportive environment for learning

English .......................................................................................... 53

Table 4.22. Challenges in terms of the teachers’ knowledge and

professsional development............................................................ 54

Table 4.23. The detail description of teachers’ preparation about material

and knowledge .............................................................................. 55

Table 4.24. The detail description of teachers’ knowledge about students’

cultural and linguistic backgrounds. ............................................. 56

Table 4.25. The detail description of teachers’ participation in training

courses on teaching ethnic minority students.” ............................ 57

Table 4.26. The detail description of teachers’ exchange with students

about their difficulties................................................................... 58

Table 4.27. The detail description of no workshops related to English

language teaching and learning for ethnic minority students...... 59

Table 4.28. The detail description of teachers’ eagerness to teach.”.............. 60