Willingness to communicate in English inside EFL classrooms - A case study at Tran Hung Dao High school, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICATE IN ENGLISH

INSIDE EFL CLASSROOMS: A CASE STUDY AT

TRAN HUNG DAO HIGH SCHOOL,

HCM CITY, VIETNAM

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL

Submitted by: TRAN HO THUY HUONG

Supervisor: Dr. BUI THI THUC QUYEN

HO CHI MINH City, 2017

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STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby declare that the thesis entitled “WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICATE

IN ENGLISH INSIDE EFL CLASSROOM AMONG VIETNAMESE

HIGHSCHOOL STUDENTS: A CASE STUDY AT TRAN HUNG DAO

HIGH SCHOOL, HCM CITY” is the result of my own work except as cited in

the reference.

This thesis has not been accepted for any degree and is not currently submitted in

candidature of any other degree.

Ho Chi Minh City, 2017

Tran Ho Thuy Huong

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to my

supervisor, Dr. Bui Thi Thuc Quyen, who patiently guided me through the research

process. Without her invaluable suggestions and comments, I could not have

finished this thesis.

I would also like to thank the administrators of Tran Hung Dao high school

for allowing me to carry out the research there. Besides, I am profoundly grateful

to Tran Hung Dao high school students who enthusiastically participated in my

study.

Last but not least, I would like to thank my parents for giving birth to me, my

husband for his support and encouragement, and my two daughters as an inspiration

for my effort to fulfill this thesis.

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ABSTRACT

With a view to accelerating international integration process, Vietnamese

government has taken a number of measures, including improving the quality of

teaching and learning English in state education system so that students there can

use it as a means of communication. As a result, the issues of whether students will

communicate in English inside language classroom and the impact of classroom

context factors on their willingness to do so have gained importance. In spite of

abundant research on willingness to communicate (WTC) in second/ foreign

language worldwide, few studies were conducted in Vietnam, especially among

high school students. The current study was to fill this gap. It aimed to explore the

level of WTC in English inside EFL classrooms and investigate the extent to which

it may be affected by classroom context factors.

This case study was carried out at Tran Hung Dao high school, Ho Chi Minh City.

Results from data analysis revealed that the students there were not really willing to

communicate in English inside EFL classrooms. Besides, their WTC in English

was found to be greatly affected by a number of classroom context factors,

categorized into interlocutors, tasks and class management. These findings have

shed light on the nature of WTC in English inside EFL classrooms among Tran

Hung Dao high school students. It helps the teachers there better understand why

their students choose to speak up or remain silent during the lessons. The study also

presents some pedagogical implications for English language teachers as well as

policy makers to promote learners’ L2 WTC. Besides, its limitation and

suggestions for future research are also supplied.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT........................................................................................... ii

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

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

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

LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... viii

ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................................................... ix

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

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

1.2 Statement of the problem .................................................................................. 2

1.3 Aims of the study .............................................................................................. 4

1.4 Research questions............................................................................................ 4

1.5 Significance of the study .................................................................................. 4

1.6 Scope of the study............................................................................................. 5

1.7 Context of the study .......................................................................................... 5

1.7.1 The history of English language teaching

and learning in Vietnam............................................................................ 5

1.7.2 Current situation of English teaching and learning

at General Education Level in Vietnam.................................................... 7

1.8 Organization of the study.................................................................................. 11

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW..................................................................... 12

2.1 Willingness to communicate ............................................................................ 12

2.2 Heuristic models of WTC in L2........................................................................ 14

2.2.1 MacIntyre, Dörnyei, Clément and Noels (1998)’s

models of WTC in L2 ............................................................................... 14

2.2.2 Wen and Clément (2003)’s WTC model in China ................................... 16

2.3 Dual characteristics, trait and situational, of L2 WTC ..................................... 17

2.4 Variables underlying WTC in L2...................................................................... 18

2.4.1 Affective/ individual variables underlying WTC in L2 ............................ 18

2.4.2 Social contextual variables underlying WTC in L2 .................................. 22

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2.5 Conceptual framework of the current study...................................................... 28

2.6 Empirical studies on learners’ WTC in EFL classroom and

the impact of classroom environment on it...................................................... 31

2.7 Summary ........................................................................................................... 34

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY............................................................................... 35

3.1 Research design................................................................................................. 35

3.2 Research site...................................................................................................... 36

3.3 Research Participants........................................................................................ 38

3.4 Data collection instruments............................................................................... 40

3.4.1 The questionnaire ...................................................................................... 40

3.4.2 Classroom observation .............................................................................. 41

3.4.3 Participants’ diary entries.......................................................................... 42

3.4.4 The semi-structured interview................................................................... 43

3.5 Data collection procedure ................................................................................. 44

3.6 Data analysis ..................................................................................................... 46

3.7 Validity and reliability in the present study ...................................................... 48

3.7.1 Validity and reliability in the quantitative part of the study...................... 48

3.7.2 Validity and reliability in the qualitative part of the study........................ 49

3.8 Ethical considerations ....................................................................................... 50

3.9 Summary ........................................................................................................... 50

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION........................................................... 50

4.1 Research question One...................................................................................... 50

4.1.1 Results of the questionnaire survey........................................................... 50

4.1.2 Discussion Research question One............................................................ 55

4.2 Research question Two ..................................................................................... 56

4.2.1 Findings of Research question Two .......................................................... 57

4.2.1.1 Interlocutors....................................................................................... 57

4.2.1.2 Tasks.................................................................................................. 61

4.2.1.3 Class management ............................................................................ 65

4.2.2 Discussion of Research question Two....................................................... 69

4.3 Summary ...................................................................................................... 73

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CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS................................. 74

5.1 Summary of the findings................................................................................... 74

5.2 Pedagogical implications .................................................................................. 75

5.3 Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research ........................... 78

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 79

APPENDIX A: WTC Questionnaire (English version)............................................... 88

APPENDIX B: WTC Questionnaire (Vietnamese version) ........................................ 90

APPENDIX C: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET......................................... 92

APPENDIX D: EXAMPLE OF CLASSROOM OBSERVATION NOTES ............. 93

APPENDIX E: EXAMPLE OF PARTICIPANTS’ DIARY ENTRY......................... 99

(Vietnamese version)

APPENDIX F: EXAMPLE OF PARTICIPANTS’ DIARY ENTRY......................... 102

(English version)

APPENDIX G: INTERVIEW QUESTION PROTOCOL (English version).............. 105

APPENDIX H: INTERVIEW QUESTION PROTOCOL (Vietnamese version)....... 106

APPENDIX I: EXAMPLE OF INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT.................................... 107

(Vietnamese version)

APPENDIX J: EXAMPLE OF INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT ................................... 110

(English version)

APPENDIX K: Descriptive statistics of each item/ situation

in the questionnaire ......................................................................... 112

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 Phase I participant information ......................................................................39

Table 3.2 Phase II participant information ....................................................................39

Table 3.3 Data collection procedure ..............................................................................45

Table 3.4 Classroom observation schedule ....................................................................46

Table 3.5 Research questions, their purposes, data sources and data analysis ..............47

Table 4.1 Questionnaire respondent demographics .......................................................52

Table 4.2 Descriptive statistics of the respondents’ overall WTC ................................52

Table 4.3 Frequency statistics of the respondents’ level of WTC .................................53

Table 4.4 Group Statistics ..............................................................................................54

Table 4.5 Independent Samples Test ..............................................................................55

Table 4.6 Phase Two participant demographics ............................................................57

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1 Heuristic model of WTC in L2 of MacIntyre et al. (1998) ......................15

Figure 2.2 Wen and Clément’s (2003) model of variables moderating

the relation between DC and WTC in the Chinese EFL classroom .........17

Figure 2.3: Kang’s (2005) model of situational WTC in L2 .....................................25

Figure 2.4 Cao (2009)’s Classroom L2 WTC Model ................................................26

Figure 2.5 The variables contributing to the participants’ WTC

in Pattapong (2010)’s study.....................................................................29

Figure 2.6 Conceptual framework of the current study.............................................32

Figure 4.1Conceptual framework of the current study..............................................53

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ESL English as a Second Language

EFL English as a Foreign Language

FL Foreign Language

L1 First Language

L2 Second Language

L2 WTC Willingness to Communicate in Second/ Foreign Language

WTC Willingness to Communicate

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Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

English is undoubtedly a global language. It is spoken as a mother tongue in the

USA, Canada, Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, several

Caribbean countries and some other territories. Besides, it is spoken as an official

language, the language used in government, law courts, media and education

system, in more than seventy countries (Crystal, 2003). Remarkably, it is the

language most widely learnt as a foreign language in over one hundred countries all

over the world (ibid). By the early 2000s, about one fourth of the world’s

population, around one and a half billion people, is fluent or competent in English,

and this number is expected to continue rising (ibid). English is second to no other

languages in terms of users (Crystal, 2003; Strevens, 1992).

In Vietnam, nowadays, together with the improvement of socio-economic

conditions, the development of science and technology, and the impact of

globalization and integration, the need to learn English as a foreign language has

increased more sharply than ever before (Kieu, 2010; Nguyen, 2012; Hoang, 2011).

People need to know English in order to do business with foreign counterparts,

work for international companies, serve international tourists, understand computer

language, travel or study abroad, make friends with people around the world, or

simply enjoy a plenty of movies or songs in English. Therefore, English should be

first and foremost learnt for communication purposes. Communication, according

to MacIntyre and Charos (1996), is more than a means of facilitating language

learning; it is an important goal in itself. Enhancing learners’ communicative

competence, the competence that enables them to express and understand messages

and to negotiate meanings with other people within particular contexts (Prasad,

2013), must be the objective of teaching English in Vietnam.

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In that sense, in order to become competent in English, Vietnamese students should

practice using it as much as possible. Harmer (1991) believed that “plentiful

exposure to language in use and plenty of opportunities to use it are vitally

important for a student’s development of knowledge and skill” (p. 69). Skehan

(1989) shared the same idea when stating that “learners have to talk in order to

learn” (p.48). Hashimoto (2002) emphasized the use of the target language as it is

an indicator of and a necessary condition for successful second language

acquisition. However, in Vietnam, a country where English is neither spoken as a

mother tongue (L1) nor an official language, language learners do not have much

chance to use it in their daily life. They mostly practice speaking English through

classroom communicative activities. Peng and Woodrow (2010) pointed out that

where English is learnt as a foreign language (EFL), the language classroom is “an

essential platform for learners to experience interactive communication using the

target language” (p.835).

1.2 Statement of the problem

English has long been taught and gradually become the major foreign language

learnt in Vietnam (Hoang, 2011; Le, 2011). The number of people who can use

English has been increasing dramatically not only in big cities but also in the

countryside. However, for the purpose of enhancing international integration

process and improving national human resources with proficiency in English, the

teaching and learning English, especially in state schools in Vietnam, does not seem

adequate enough to meet the demands (Le, 2013). The fact is that a large number of

students, after graduating from high school, can do grammar exercises quite well,

but fail to understand other people and express themselves in simple English

conversations. It causes them to lose further education and job opportunities or

spend a great deal of time and money to study English again in a language center.