The effects of blended learning on non-English majored learners' motivation and performance in paragraph writing

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

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CAO BÁ HOÀNG

THE EFFECTS OF BLENDED LEARNING ON

NON-ENGLISH MAJORED LEARNERS’

MOTIVATION AND PERFORMANCE

IN PARAGRAPH WRITING

MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL

Ho Chi Minh City, 2019

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

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CAO BÁ HOÀNG

THE EFFECTS OF BLENDED LEARNING ON

NON-ENGLISH MAJORED LEARNERS’

MOTIVATION AND PERFORMANCE

IN PARAGRAPH WRITING

Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

Major code: 60140111

MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyễn Ngọc Vũ

Ho Chi Minh City, 2019

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STATEMENT OF AUTHORITY

I certify that this thesis entitled:

THE EFFECTS OF BLENDED LEARNING ON NON-ENGLISH MAJORED

LEARNERS’ MOTIVATION AND PERFORMANCE IN PARAGRAPH

WRITING

is my own work.

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis does not 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 or any degree or diploma in any other

tertiary institution.

Hochiminh City, 01May, 2019

CAO BÁ HOÀNG

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RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, Cao Bá Hoàng, being the candidate for the degree of Master of Arts

in TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of

Master’s Theses deposited in the Library.

In term of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the Library

should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the

normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan or reproduction of theses.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I have received a lot of help and support from many people during my study at HCMC

Open University. I would like to express my thanks to them in my thesis.

First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Vu, for giving me the opportunity to use the MOODLE he has

been developing in my experiments, for his enthusiastic guidance on giving me lots of

useful advice as well as comments on the thesis. Without his vital support, my work

would not have been completed.

Second, my heartfelt thanks also go to my lecturers who not only transmit knowledge

from their generation to the next one but also inspire us to study better.

Furthermore, I sincerely thank my colleagues in HCMC University of Education who

gave me the chance to conduct experiments on my topic. Their enthusiastic support is

essential for my completing this thesis.

Third, I am thankful to the staff of Graduate School for helping me enthusiastically when

I need and the librarians for their devotion to duty. In the school library, I sometimes

experience difficulty in finding the books I need when there is no help from them.

In addition, I would also like to send my best wishes to my classmates who have helped

and encouraged me a lot while I was doing this work.

Last but not least, I am grateful to all of my students at HCMC University of Education

who participated in my research. Their active involvement plays an important role in my

experiments. I really appreciate it.

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ABSTRACT

Many published studies have shown that Blended Learning (BL) is getting more and

more popular in English language teaching all over the world. This research focused on

an experiment which was designed to explore the effects of BL on enhancing non￾English majors’ writing motivation and performance at HCMC University of Education

(HCMCUE).

To fulfill this aim, the quasi-experimental study was carried out from February to May of

the academic year 2016 – 2017, in which two groups with the students in the second year

learned English with the same teacher and the experimental group (EG) did writing tasks

with BL in 12 weeks. The control group (CG) learned the same lessons with conventional

methods. Before the study started, the learners in two groups did a Pretest, but only the

participants in EG completed a Pre-questionnaire. After the experiment having finished,

all of the students of the two groups did a Post-test, then a Post-questionnaire was sent to

the respondents in the experimental group as well as structured interviews were

conducted in this one with a view of knowing if Blended Learning has raised learners’

motivation and result of paragraph writing.

The findings of the research revealed that BL enhanced writing motivation and

performance of the students in the experimental group. These students were highly aware

of doing writing tasks which were assigned by their teachers. This chance significantly

improved their paragraph writing skills gradually. On the other side of the study, the

figures showed that the students in the control group did not achieve their performance as

well as those in experimental group. Furthermore, English learners are getting more and

more familiar with BL because of its popularity and Blended Learning also stimulate

students’ writing motivation, helps them learn anywhere as well as anytime in their

ability.

Based on the above-mentioned results, some recommendations were given to teachers

who would like to apply Blended Learning in their teaching to improve the students’

paragraph writing skills.

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TÓM TẮT

Nhiều nghiên cứu được công bố đã chỉ ra rằng Blended Learning (BL) đang ngày càng

trở nên phổ biến hơn trong việc giảng dạy tiếng Anh trên toàn thế giới. Nghiên cứu này

tập trung vào một thí nghiệm được thiết kế để tìm ra những tác động của BL trong việc

tăng cường những động cơ và thành quả trong môn viết của sinh viên các ngành không

chuyên tiếng Anh tại trường Đại học Sư phạm Thành phố HCM.

Để đạt được mục đích này, phương pháp nghiên cứu thực nghiệm giả định đã được thực

hiện từ tháng 2 đến tháng 5 năm học 2016 – 2017, trong đó hai nhóm với các sinh viên

năm thứ hai đã học tiếng Anh với cùng một giáo viên nhưng chỉ có nhóm thực nghiệm

(EG) thực hiện các bài học về kỹ năng viết với BL trong 12 tuần. Nhóm đối chứng (CG)

học những bài học tương tự với các phương pháp thông thường. Trước khi cuộc thực

nghiệm bắt đầu, người học trong cả hai nhóm đã làm một bài Pre-test, nhưng chỉ những

người tham gia trong nhóm thực nghiệm mới phải hoàn thành Pre-questionnaire. Sau khi

thực nghiệm kết thúc, tất cả các sinh viên của hai nhóm đã làm một bài Post-test, sau đó

một Post-questionnaire đã được gửi cho những sinh viên trong nhóm thực nghiệm trả lời,

cũng như các cuộc phỏng vấn được thực hiện trong nhóm này với quan điểm là liệu BL

có nâng cao động lực và thành quả của người học về viết đoạn văn hay không.

Những phát hiện của nghiên cứu cho thấy BL đã làm tăng động lực viết và thành quả của

các sinh viên trong nhóm thực nghiệm. Những sinh viên này có ý thức cao trong việc

thực hiện các bài tập viết được giao bởi giáo viên của họ. Cơ hội này dần dần cải thiện

đáng kể kỹ năng viết đoạn văn của họ. Ở nhóm còn lại của sự nghiên cứu, các số liệu cho

thấy các sinh viên trong nhóm đối chứng không có được thành quả tốt như những người

trong nhóm thực nghiệm. Hơn nữa, sinh viên trong nhóm thực nghiệm ngày càng quen

thuộc hơn với BL nhờ vào sự phổ biến của nó và BL cũng kíck thích tính động cơ viết

của sinh viên, giúp họ học bất cứ nơi đâu và bất cứ lúc nào trong khả năng của mình.

Dựa trên các kết quả được đề cập ở trên, một số khuyến nghị đã được đưa ra cho các giáo

viên nào muốn áp dụng Blended Learning trong giảng dạy của họ để cải thiện kỹ năng

viết đoạn văn của sinh viên.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORITY

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………… 1

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

1.2 Statements of the Problem.………………………………….……………..... 1

1.3 Objectives, Research Questions and Hypotheses………………………….... 2

1.3.1 Objectives ............................................................................................ …….. 2

1.3.2 Research Questions......................................................................................... 3

1.3.3 Hypotheses....................................................................................................... 3

1.4 Significance of the study.............................................................................. .. 4

1.5 Organization of the study................................................................................. 4

1.6 Definition of Terms ........................................................................................ 4

1.7 Summary......................................................................................................... 4

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

2.1 Blended Learning............................................................................................ 5

2.2 The development of Blended Learning........................................................... 6

2.3 Writing............................................................................................................. 7

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2.4 Paragraph writing ............................................................................................ 8

2.5 Writing motivation.......................................................................................... 9

2.6 Writing performance........................................................................................ 9

2.7 Previous studies............................................................................................... 10

2.8 Prior research in Vietnam................................................................................ 12

2.9 Research Gap................................................................................................... 12

2.10 Summary.......................................................................................................... 12

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY.......................................................................... 13

3.1 Research site.................................................................................................... 13

3.2 Research material............................................................................................. 13

3.3 Time allotment................................................................................................. 14

3.4 Research participants....................................................................................... 14

3.4.1 The control group (1621ENGL240212).......................................................... 16

3.4.2 The experimental group (1621ENGL240213)................................................. 17

3.5 Blended Learning deployed in the study......................................................... 18

3.5.1 MOODLE site.................................................................................................. 18

3.5.2 Netop School................................................................................................... 19

3.5.3 Language Laboratory....................................................................................... 19

3.6 Research design............................................................................................... 20

3.7 Instruments, Validity, Reliability........................................................ ....... ... 22

3.7.1 Instruments...................................................................................................... 22

3.7.1.1 Tests......... ................................................................................................ 22

3.7.1.2 Questionnaires...... .................................................................................. 23

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3.7.1.3 Interviews.........................................................................................….... 25

3.7.2 Validity ............................................................................................................ 25

3.7.3 Reliability........................................................................................................ 26

3.8 Procedures of Data Collection ........................................................................ 28

3.9 Summary.......................................................................................................... 30

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION………….. 31

4.1 Participant Analysis.......................... .............................................................. 31

4.2 Tests................................................................................................................. 32

4.2.1 Pre-test............................................................................................................. 32

4.2.2 Post-test............................................................................................................ 33

4.3 Questionnaires................................................................................................. 35

4.3.1 Pre-questionnaire............................................................................................. 35

4.3.2 Post-questionnaire........................................................................................... 37

4.4 Interviews…………....................................................................................... 39

4.5 Discussion ....................................................................................................... 41

4.5.1 Results of Research question 1....................................................................... 41

4.5.2 Results of Research question 2 ....................................................................... 42

4.6 Summary.................................................................................................……. 43

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS.................................... 44

5.1 Conclusions..................................................................................................... 44

5.2 Implications..................................................................................................... 45

5.2.1 In teaching ...................................................................................................... 45

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5.2.2 In learning....................................................................................................... 45

5.3 Limitations....................................................................................................... 46

5.4 Recommendations........................................................................................... 47

5.4.1 For non-English majored learners................................................................. . 47

5.4.2 For the teachers being in charge of teaching non-English majored students.. 47

5.4.3 For the English Department of HCMC University of Education.................... 48

References ................................................................................................................ 50

Appendices................................................................................................................. 56

Appendix A: Pre-questionnaire (Vietnamese and English versions)................... 57

Appendix B: Post-questionnaire (Vietnamese and English versions) ................. 60

Appendix C: Larsen’s Post-questionnaire (2012) ................................................. 62

Appendix D: Pre- and Post-tests…......................................................................... 65

Appendix E: Banditvilai’s interview questions...................................................... 66

Appendix F: Interview questions............................................................................. 67

Appendix G: IELTS Writing Band Descriptors................................................... 68

Appendix H: The results of Pre- and Post-Test between CG and EG................. 69

Appendix I: The results of Pre-questionnaire after being coded......................... 70

Appendix J: The results of Post-questionnaire after being coded........................ 71

Appendix K: The results from SPSS....................................................................... 72

Appendix L: The script of Interviews (Vietnamese and English versions)……. 80

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LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS

Figure 3.1: The control group (1621ENGL240212)……………………………... 16

Figure 3.2: The experimental group (1621ENGL240213)……………………......17

Figure 4.1: The participants’ gender……………………………………………... 31

Figure 4.2: The age of the students………………………………………………. 31

Figure 4.3: Participants know M-learning System. ……………………………… 35

Figure 4.4: Participants know about BL…………………………………………. 36

Figure 4.5: Participants write with IT. …………………………………………... 36

Figure 4.6: Participants liked learning with BL. ………………………………… 37

Figure 4.7: BL enhances Ss’ motivation in learning to write. ……………………38

Figure 4.8: BL environment made students satisfied. ………………………….... 38

Table 4.1: Reliability Statistics ……………………………………………......... 32

Table 4.2: Group Statistics of the Posttest of CG and EG…………………......... 32

Table 4.3: Independent Sample Test of Pretest of CG & EG………………….... 32

Table 4.4: Group Statistics of the Posttest of CG and EG…………………........ 33

Table 4.5: Independent Sample Test of the Post-Test between CG & EG……... 33

Table 4.6: The differential scores between Examiner 1 and Examiner 2……….. 34

Table 4.7: Responses of the Interview …………………..................................... 39

Chart 4.1: Pretest and Posttest results of CG ………………….......................... 34

Chart 4.2: Pretest and Posttest results of EG ………………….......................... 34