VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYEN DANH CHIEN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ TRAINING NEEDS AT HIGH SCHOOLS IN HANOI (NGHIÊN CỨU NHU CẦU BỒI DƯỠNG GIÁO VIÊN TIẾNG ANH CỦA HÀ NỘI) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: ELT Methodology Code: 60 14 10 HANOI, 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN DANH CHIẾN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ TRAINING NEEDS AT HIGH SCHOOLS IN HANOI (NGHIÊN CỨU NHU CẦU BỒI DƯỠNG GIÁO VIÊN TIẾNG ANH CỦA HÀ NỘI) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: ELT Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Dr Hoàng Xuân Hoa HANOI, 2010 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 Background to the Study Aims of the Study and Research Questions Significance of the Study Scope of the Study Methods of the Study Design of the Study PART II: DEVELOPMEMT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 New Requirements towards English Language Teachers 1.1.1 Roles of the Teachers 1.1.2 Updating Understanding of CLT 1.1.2.1 General Features and Principles of CLT 1.1.2.2 Common Classroom Activities Used in CLT 1.1.2.2.1 Pairwork and Groupwork 1.1.2.2.2 Role Play 1.1.2.2.3 Information Gap Activities 10 1.1.2.2.4 Group Discussions 10 1.1.2.2.5 Problem-solving Tasks 11 1.2.3 Roles of Learners 1.2 Teacher Training Needs 11 12 1.2.1 Concept of Training Needs 12 1.2.2 Types of Needs 13 1.2.3 Significance of Studying Teachers’ Training Needs 13 1.2.4 Interrelationship Perceptions, Practice and Training Needs 14 iv 1.2.4.1 Perceptions 14 1.2.4.2 Practice 14 1.3 Previous Studies on Teacher Training Needs 15 1.4 Summary 17 CHAPTER 2: THE RESEARCH 18 2.1 Research Questions 18 2.2 Research Settings 18 2.2.1 English curriculum and textbooks for high schools in Vietnam 18 2.2.2 Recent Training Workshop on Implementing the English Curriculum 19 in Hanoi 2.3 Participants 20 2.4 Data Collection Procedures 20 2.4.1 Sampling 20 2.4.2 Instruments for Data Collection 21 2.4.2.1 Teachers Survey Questionnaire 21 2.4.2.2 Teachers Observation Scheme 21 2.5 Data Analysis Procedures 22 2.5.1 Teachers Questionnaire Data 22 2.5.2 Teachers Observation Data 22 CHAPTER : DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 23 3.1 Results of the Data Collected by Means of Questionnaire 23 3.1.1 Teachers’ Perceptions of CLT 23 3.1.1.1 Teachers’ perceptions of features and principles of CLT 23 3.1.1.2 Classroom activities used in CLT 24 3.1.1.3 Classroom procedures 25 3.1.1.4 Roles of the communicative language teacher 26 3.1.1.5 Roles of the learner in the CLT learning process 27 3.1.1.6 Teachers’ applicability of CLT to their classroom practices 28 v 3.2 Results of the Data Collected by Means of Teachers Observations 29 3.2.2 Using pair and group work activities 30 3.2.3 Conducting fluency-oriented and accuracy-oriented activities 31 3.2.4 Correcting students’ errors and giving feedback 32 3.2.5 Implementing roles of the teacher 33 3.3 Summary 34 CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH FINDINGS 35 4.1 Findings to the Research Question 35 4.2 Findings to the Research Question 36 4.3 Findings to the Research Question 37 4.3.1 Theoretical contents 38 4.3.2 Practical contents 39 4.2 Summary 39 PART III: CONCLUSION 41 Concluding remarks 41 Limitations of the study 41 Suggestions for further study 41 REFERENCES 42 APPRENDICES: APPRENDIX 1: Survey questionnaire for English language teachers at high schools in Hanoi APPRENDIX 2: Teacher observation scheme vi LIST OF TABLES Table Participants‟ profile Table Teachers‟ perceptions of features and principles of CLT Table Teachers‟ perceptions of classroom activities used in CLT Table Teachers‟ perceptions of classroom procedures Table Teachers‟ perceptions of the roles of communicative teachers Table Teachers‟ perceptions of the roles of communicative learners Table Descriptive statistics for the teacher observations Table Descriptive statistics for the teacher observations PART I: INTRODUCTION Background to the Study Nowadays, the role of English as an international language of communication and the current tendency of the exclusive use of target language in the classroom (England, 1998) have called for re-adjustments in the way of English language teaching and learning As a result of the changes, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is well established as the dominant theoretical model in English language teaching (Thompson, 1996) Therefore, this approach has been intensively promoted by the Ministry of Education and Training and has been recently renewed by the introduction of a new English curriculum innovation which places an emphasis on developing learners‟ communicative competence in the English language Following the introduction, a variety of teacher training courses and workshops on CLT has been held in order to enhance the teachers‟ knowledge about CLT and to create more favourable conditions for successful teaching to be achieved However, despite teacher training efforts, communicative teaching is still challenging for most of the English language teachers at high schools in Hanoi They have found it difficult to acquire the new approach or adapt new methods of teaching because, like other EL teachers throughout the country, their English proficiency is low, classes are large, the buildings, furnishings and other facilities are basic, and only low levels of support can be provided in terms of materials, libraries and advisory services (Le, 1999) Additionally, although CLT has become more popular, many of the teachers reportedly advocate traditional methods to language teaching and still play a dominant role in the majority of classrooms where activities not seem to be learner-centred As the implementers of the new approach, the teachers have found it challenging to develop their students‟ communicative competence in the target language or to foster the communicative approach This is similar to the what Kennedy (1999) claimed that in this process of change, the teachers have to face many obstacles and a barrier to the implementation of the MOET‟s innovation that they are required to learn more about their subject areas, to use textbooks that are becoming more and more difficult, and to use new methods in teaching In other words, the teachers need help to tackle a lack of teaching ideas (Goh, 1999) since they may not have a clear understanding of the underlying principles of the new approach, which leads to their running out of teaching ideas when developing learning activities for their students Apart from that, many of the teachers have to struggle to move away from the traditional teaching of rules, patterns and definitions about the language (linguistic competence) towards teaching students how to communicate genuinely, spontaneously and meaningfully in the English language (communicative competence) For those teachers who have moderate proficiency in English, and insufficient understanding of effective teaching methods and techniques, they have to suffer feelings of inadequacy and insecurity in their teaching practices Obviously, this lack of understandings and the ineffective teaching practices, in turn, force the teachers to seek any kind of language and teaching methodology improvement through training workshops or training courses so that they can satisfy the increasing professional requirements and stay secure in their teaching positions Moreover, the intensive changes resulted from the communicative approach and the teachers‟ limitations in teaching in diverse contexts have brought about gaps between their understandings and use of CLT for classroom practices This certainly creates urgent needs for enhancing the teachers‟ teaching, and requires continuous anticipation of training or retraining needs, e.g the needs to be further trained in ELT methods However, up until now, there has not been any investigation into the Hanoi‟s high school teachers‟ needs for being retrained in communicative ELT or any full understanding of the extent to which the teachers‟ perceive the communicative approach The absence of studies related to this subject matter is the basic motive for conducting a survey research into the EL teachers‟ training needs at high schools in Hanoi Hopefully, the knowledge and the result of the study will contribute to the better language policy and more effective English language teaching and learning in Hanoi Aims of the Study and Research Questions The study aims to identify the Hanoi‟s high school EL teachers‟ training needs on communicative language teaching by exploring their perceptions of CLT, their perceived needs as their desires, and their theory-practice gap that should be filled so as to satisfy new demands for communicative ELT In order to achieve the aims of the study, the research was carried out to answer the following questions: (1) What are the EL teachers’ perceptions of CLT? (2) What are the methods and techniques the teachers used in their actual classroom practices? (3) What contents should be included in future ELT methodology training workshops? Significance of the Study The research will be of the theory of ELT management as well as practical significance for three reasons First, when completed, the research results will be used as evidence on the teachers‟ performance, and will show key factors affecting the teaching quality so that decisions could be made on whether teacher retraining courses should be organized Second, the findings of the survey research will be useful for the Hanoi DOET and its ELT specialists in deciding on the extent to which and how retraining courses should be organized if they should be Third, on a larger scale, the research will provide education administrators and high school principles with suggestions for increasing the quality of ELT in diverse contexts Scope of the Study Within the framework of a minor thesis, the study was limited to exploring Hanoi high school EL teachers‟ needs for being trained in CLT by identifying the teachers‟ perceptions of CLT theories - the extent to which they know about CLT in order to use it for classroom practices, and the retraining needs perceived by themselves as their wants or desires Therefore, there would probably be a gap or differences between the teachers‟ perceived needs and the needs resulted from the researcher‟s observations of the teachers‟ in-class teaching practices Methods of the Study The study is an integrated descriptive-analytical, qualitative and quantitative survey research In order to provide sufficient data, information should be collected by a number of effective methods and a variety of techniques Nevertheless, within the scope of the research, the following main techniques are used: - Teachers survey questionnaire, which was conducted to investigate the English language teachers‟ perceptions of CLT theories; - Teachers observations, which was employed to find out some of the techniques and methods the teachers used in their classroom practices in order to identify gaps between their perceptions and use/implementation of CLT Design of the Study The study is composed of three parts, including Introduction, Development, and Conclusion Part I, Introduction, presents the background to the study, aims, research questions, significance, scope, methods, and design of the study Part II, Development, as the main developing part of the thesis, consists of three chapters Chapter One provides a review of literature relevant CLT and such perspectives as training needs, perceptions, and the interrelation between teachers‟ perception and practice Chapter Two gives a general description of the research with relevant aspects Chapter Three is a representation of the research findings and discussion Part III, Conclusion, is a summary of the main issues addressed in the research, limitations of the study, and some suggestions for further study 36 On the contrary, a number of the teachers did not take a positive view of some of the items on CLT theories In terms of classroom procedures, although 21.4% of teachers thought that at the third stage of a lesson the students were encouraged to use the learned linguistic knowledge in new communicative situations, but they misunderstood that the focus of this stage was placed on accuracy This is opposite to the argument discussed in the Literature Review section that the third stage is the time for students to practise communication, emphasizing fluency In addition, concerning the roles of the teacher in CLT, six teachers (10.7%) did not agree with the communicative teacher‟s role of a facilitator, and 25 teachers (44.7%) disagreed with the role of the teacher as a participant in the learning-teaching group Also, three teachers (5.4%) disagreed with the teachers‟ role as an organizer and manager of classroom activities Apart from the teacher‟s roles, the learners‟ roles in CLT were not fully appreciated This is indicated by 25% of the teachers not considering the learners as a negotiator between the self, the learning process, and the object of learning, and as a joint negotiator within the co-operative group and within classroom activities Additionally, 17.9% of the teachers disagreed that the learners should be an effective communicator and engage in negotiating meaning, and 14.3% did not think that the learners should contribute as much as they gain and learn in an independent way This lack of understanding means the teachers did not think that learners had to be the focus of the lesson This would be difficult for these teachers to narrow the gap between their teaching style and their students‟ learning style In general, the teachers‟ adequate perceptions of some aspects of CLT and their acceptance of CLT as an improvement over traditional approaches is as good way to implement CLT and to satisfy their new teaching requirements However, CLT is still seen as a new and challenging approach to a numbers of the teachers who have inadequate perceptions of it The lack of understanding of CLT serves as a gap that needs to be narrowed by Hanoi‟s educational administrators who then have to figure out a number of measures, e.g retraining local teachers, to improve the ELT in the city 4.2 Findings to the Research Question Question: What are the techniques and methods the teachers used in their actual classroom practices? 37 The observations demonstrated that the techniques and methods many of the observed teachers used were not congruous with CLT to some extent They used both traditional and communicative methods in their classroom teaching practices The method was not student-centred but teacher-centred as the teachers dominated most of the lessons The observed teachers used a lot presentations and explanation techniques, as they focus too much on transmitting knowledge to their students as if they wanted to meet the students‟ needs for getting high scores in form-focused examination Thus, most lessons exhibited an explicit focus on form, but not on meaning In other words, accuracy was emphasized over fluency, as a wide variety spent quite a lot of time teaching grammar systematically while hoping that explanation about grammar rules and structure would help their students avoid making errors, focusing too much on linguistic competence rather than communicative competence In addition, in spite of the fact that a majority of the teachers used pair work and group work to enhance more student-to-student interaction with meaningful negotiation in the learning processes and help student feel more confident and support one another in using the target language, the techniques they used for organizing pairs and groups were not appropriate As consequence, the effectiveness of the activities in some classrooms was not as high as expected At the post-stage of a lesson, students were often asked to make a presentation, but they got stuck in the middle because of little provision and support were given to the students at the presentation (pre-) and practice (while-) stages Moreover, a considerable of the teachers seemed to correct almost all of the errors that occurred in the classroom, and did not tolerate unnecessary errors in order to encourage fluency In general, initial failure in using CLT and ineffectiveness of the methods and techniques for classroom teaching might reduce the teachers‟ self-confidence and belief of the effectiveness of the communicative approach 4.3 Findings to the Research Question Question: What contents should be included in ELT methodology retraining courses? It is worth mentioning that useful information necessary for designing training workshops or teacher retraining courses was provided by the results of the questionnaire on the EL teachers‟ perceptions of CLT and their self-assessment of applying CLT to their 38 classroom practices, and the results of the teacher observations According to Nunan (1988), the contents of a retraining course are determined from a combination of the teachers‟ individually felt needs (“subjective needs”), the actual educational needs (“objective needs”) Based on the findings, the contents of the courses should be is composed of a theoretical and a practical ones, and should provide opportunities for teachers to practise and develop the skills necessary for successful implementation of course ideas In other words, both theory and practice are of crucial importance for language teacher education and to meet the training needs 4.3.1 Theoretical contents These contents aim to increase the EL teachers‟ understanding of CLT and various skills and techniques by means of lectures, demonstrations, discussions and other learning modes (Ellis, 1986; Richards, 1990) Lecturing, for example, would be used to transmit informational content to the teachers while demonstrations would be the appropriate method to demonstrate the skills or techniques in front of the teachers (Doff, 1988) In order to achieve this aim, the theoretical part should consist of such thematic sections as ELT methodology, pedagogy, curriculum, and classroom management With regard to ELT methodology, the teachers will be supplied with knowledge and expertise in the techniques and methods of ELT This is an opportunity to increase teachers‟ knowledge in the field of new teaching methods In addition, the pedagogy section will give the teachers more understanding of principles and methods important to solving classroom problems, teaching mixed-ability groups, and strengthening their teaching competence In order to achieve more successful and more effective teaching, the area of curriculum is believed to satisfy the subjective and objective needs to modernize and update the teachers‟ knowledge and skills concerning the new English curriculum and textbooks Moreover, the section of classroom management is aimed at meeting the needs to improve the teachers‟ ability to control pupils effectively in the classroom One more thing that should be put into consideration is that, as discussed in the Research Settings section, the EL teachers suggested a little assessment of their achievement at the end of further workshops, it is essential to conduct some forms of assessment such as an assignment, and a written test on the theories the teachers attain from the training course This helps identify whether they have an adequate grasp of the theoretical knowledge 39 In general, the theoretical contents will create the teachers‟ more confidence and form the basis of their ELT, help the teachers have a favourable view of the communicative approach and the techniques, and update their perception to reshape their old practices 4.3.2 Practical contents These contents are closely linked to the theoretical ones and guide the teachers how put theories into practice In other words, the teachers are required to transfer or put the knowledge they have learnt into classroom teaching performance, and to get involved in improving their teaching skills with one another In order for the practices to be successful, the teachers should be provided the opportunity to practise in both simulated and real teaching situations Thus, the teachers with more confidence will be expected to come to real classrooms and implement the newly acquired techniques There they are also given support by their instructors and colleagues, considered a variety of feedback, and share teaching experience As a result, they will get a good benefit from demonstrations, observations, coaching each other, and discussions with instructors and colleagues, and decide which skills or techniques are important for classroom teaching Notably, for old teachers and teachers of rural schools who not seem to get familiarized with new teaching methods, the training with practicum will certainly make their progress in teaching English communicatively in the diverse local contexts where the communicative approach should be adapted To sum up, when the teachers encounter difficulties with implementing the new curriculum and using the new teaching approach, the training contents will help enable the teachers to analyse their teaching situations, provide the teachers with opportunities that contribute to their familiarization with new teaching methods and techniques, the change in their mentality and roles are EL teachers, and recommend alternatives to improve their teaching practices 4.2 Summary Although the innovative curriculum has made great contribution to the improvement of EL teaching and learning at high schools in Hanoi, the new teaching methods are still challenging for a considerable number of the teachers The teachers‟ 40 insufficient understanding of CLT, unsuccessful teaching practices, and discrepancy between teachers‟ theoretical perception of CLT and their in-class practices all call for the needs for retraining in relevant aspects – the needs to enhance the teachers‟ knowledge about CLT and to create more favourable conditions for successful teaching to be achieved Thus, it is critical for education administrators to provide more support, to give explicit guidance and information in developing communicative activities suitable to the students, and to reform the testing system and the problematic large size classes Meanwhile, the teachers themselves need to identify, understand and overcome relevant constraints in their own teaching conditions, because they may not teach communicatively if they are not able to get over certain constraints even if they have good understanding of CLT Moreover, knowledge can be obtained through many ways, which suggests the teachers should read relevant books, seek useful information and share it with their colleagues 41 PART III: CONCLUSION Concluding Remarks It is worth mentioning that despite teacher training efforts to improve the EL teaching and learning at high schools in Hanoi, CLT is still challenging for a considerable number of the teachers, and that the teachers‟ insufficient understanding of CLT, unsuccessful teaching practices, and discrepancy between their theoretical perception of CLT and their in-class practices call for the needs for retraining in relevant aspects – the needs to enhance the teachers‟ knowledge about CLT and to create more favourable conditions for successful teaching to be achieved Additionally, one of the cornerstones of successful teaching practice and successful implementation of CLT is that the teachers must be adequately further trained, must update ELT methodology Based on the teachers‟ desires and wants and the research findings, the researcher suggested a few contents for a future training workshop or teacher retraining course in order for the teachers to satisfy increasing professional and social demands Limitations of the Study It is unavoidable that the study presented in this minor thesis has its limitations First, the limited number of the participants might not enhance the generalization of the findings Also, since the study was conducted on high school EL teachers whose training needs might differ as they have different perceptions, different background knowledge, and teach English in different contexts Moreover, although the study covered many relevant aspects and concepts, it was not be described and analyzed in details Suggestions for Further Study Because of the limitations of the study, the researcher hope to seek for a further research, such as “how the EL teachers at high school of Hanoi use techniques for teaching receptive skills?”, “how the EL teachers at high school of Hanoi apply techniques for teaching productive skills?”, and “what are the teachers‟ needs for language improvement” 42 REFERENCES Aleixo, M B (2003) Teachers’ Perceptions of Communicative Language Teaching Use in Brazil Unpublished M.A thesis, West Virginia University Bal, S M (2006) Teachers‟ Perceptions of Communicative Language Teaching in Turkish EFL Setting: Theory Vs Practices Brumfit, C J (1984) Communicative Methodology in Language Teaching: The Roles of Fluency and Accuracy Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Breen, M & Candlin, C.N (1980) The essentials of a communicative curriculum in language teaching Applied Linguistics, 1, 2, 89-112 Carless, D A (1999) Large Scale Curriculum Change in Hong Kong In C Kennedy, P Doyle, C Goh (Eds), Exploring Change in English Language Teaching (pp 1929) Oxford: Macmillan Education Doff, A (1998) Teaching English: A Training Course for Teachers Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Doyon, P (2000) Shyness in the Japanese EFL Class Why Is It a Problem, What It Is, What Causes It and What to Do About It In M Swanson (Ed.) the Language Teacher 24 (1), 11-17 Ellis, R (1986) Activities and procedures for teacher training, ELT Journal, 40(2): 91-99 Ellis, G (1994) The Appropriateness of the Communicative Approach in Vietnam: An Interview Study in Intercultural Communication La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia England, L (1998) Promoting Effective Professional Development in English Language Teaching (ELT), Forum, 36 (2), April/June, pp 18-29 Finocchiaro, M., and Brumfit, C (1983) The Functional-Notional Approach: From Theory to Practice New York: Oxford University Express Goh, C (1999) National Curriculum Innovation: How We Manage? In C Kennedy, P Doyle, C Goh (Eds.), Exploring Change in English Language Teaching (pp 518) Oxford: Macmillan Education Karim, K M R (2004) Teachers' Perceptions, Attitudes and Expectations about CLT in Post-secondary Education in Bangladesh Harmer, J (1998) How to Teach English England: Addison Wesley Longman 43 Harmer, J (1999) The Practice of English language Teaching (3rd Ed) Essex, England: Pearson Education Limited Hoang, V V., Hoang, T X H., Do, T M., Nguyen, T P., & Nguyen, Q T (2006) Tieng Anh 10 Teachers’ Book Hanoi: Education Publisher Hoàng, V V., Hoàng, T X H., Vũ, T L., Đào, N L., Đỗ, T M., Nguyễn, Q T., Tứ, A., Phan, H., Vũ, T L., Lương, T L., Mai, V P (2006) Tài liệu bồi dưỡng giáo viên: Thực chương trình sách giáo lớp 10 THPT môn Tiếng Anh (Teacher Training Material: Implementing English Curriculum and Textbooks for Grade 10 Hanoi: Education Publisher Kennedy, D (1999) The Foreign Trainers as Change Agent and Implications for Teacher Education Programme in China In C Kennedy, P Doyle, C Goh (Eds.), Exploring Change in English Language Teaching (pp 29-38) Oxford: Macmillan Education Larsen-Freeman, D (1986) Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching Oxford: Oxford University Press Le, J F & Vanpatten, B (2003) Making Communicative Language Teaching Happen (2nd edition) Chicago: Bookmart Press Le, V C (1999) Language and Vietnamese Pedagogical Contexts Paper presented at the 4th International Conference on Language and Development, 1999 Retrieved from the World Wide Web 05 Dec 2009 at http://www.languages.ait.ac.th/hanoi_proceedings/canh.htm Le, V C (2000), Partnership and Interaction: Language and Vietnamese Pedagogical Contexts Bangkok: Trade Limited Partnership Le, V C (2008) Teachers‟ Beliefs about Curricular Innovation in Vietnam: A Preliminary Study In Y H Choi & B Spolsky (Eds.) ELT curriculum innovation and implementation in Asia (pp.191-216) Seoul: Asia TEFL Li, D (1998) It‟s Always More Difficult than You Plan and Imagine: Teachers’ Perceived Difficulties in Introducing the Communicative Approach in South Korea TESOL Quarterly, 32, 677-703 Littlewood, W (1981) Communicative Language Teaching: An Introduction Cambridge: Cambridge University Press McKay, S L (2002) Teaching English as an International Language: Rethinking goals and approaches Oxford: Oxford University Press Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) (2006) The English Curriculum for the Secondary School Hanoi: Education Publisher 44 Nunan, D (1988) The Learner – Centred Curriculum Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Nunan, D (1991) Language Teaching Methodology: A Textbook for Teachers Wiltshire: Dotesios Ltd Pham, H H (2007) Communicative language teaching: unity within diversity ELT Journal, 61(3), 193-201 Richards, J C., & Rodgers, T S (1996) “The nature of approaches and methods in language teaching” in Approaches and Methods in Language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (pp 14-30) Richards, J C., & Rodgers, T S (1996) “Communicative language teaching” in Approaches and Methods in Language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (pp 64-86) Richards, J C & Rodgers, T.S (2001) Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching (2nd edition) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Sullivan, P N (1996) English language teaching in Vietnam: An appropriation of communicative methodologies Unpublished Ph.D., University of California Thompson, G (1996) Some misconceptions about communicative language teaching ELT Journal, 50(1) – ASIAN journal Ur, P (1996) A Course in Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Widdowson, G H (1978) Teaching Language as Communication Oxford: Oxford University Press APPRENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS AT HIGH SCHOOLS IN HANOI This survey questionnaire is designed for the study on English language teachers‟ training needs at high schools in Hanoi in order to hold retraining courses for better teaching quality Your assistance in responding to the following questions is highly appreciated You can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of data Thank you Part I Your Background: In this section, you will be asked to provide some information about yourself Please put a tick where appropriate Your qualifications: B.A  M.A  Length of your teaching experience: Less than years  Less than 10 years  More than 10 years  Location of your school: In the urban area  In the rural area  Part II Your Perceptions of Communicative Language Teaching Following are statements about Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach with which some people agree and others disagree We would like you to indicate your opinion about each statement by putting a tick in the alternative below it which best indicates the extent to which you disagree or agree with the statement II.1 Main Features and Principles of CLT: Statements CLT places an emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language Learners are provided with opportunities to focus not only on language but also on the learning process itself An enhancement of the learner‟s own personal experiences is not important contributing elements to classroom learning In CLT, no attempt should be made to link classroom language learning with language activities outside the classroom Learners learn a language through using it to communicate Strongly disagree (4) Disagree Agree (3) (2) Strongly agree (1) Fluency and accuracy are both important in language learning Communication involves the integration of different language skills Learning is a process of creative construction and involves trial and error II Classroom Activities Used in CLT: Statements Strongly disagree (4) Disagree Agree (3) (2) Strongly disagree (4) Disagree Agree (3) (2) Strongly agree (1) Role play is an activity where students are given roles to act out by imagining themselves in a situation or playing the role of someone else, using language relevant to the context Information gap is an activity in which the same students are given different information to share with one another Language game cannot provide language practice but fun and challenge Discussion is an activity in which students are asked to express their own opinions on a topic Pair and group work promote students of different background to join classroom activities in order to share information and ideas and to negotiate meaning Problem-solving tasks give students some real-life problems that need solving, through which students can practise both the target language and their critical thinking ability II Classroom Procedures in a Lesson: Statements At the first (before-, or pre-, or Presentation) stage of a lesson, the teacher introduces the situation of a reading or listening passage, a writing task, pre-teach new words and structures, and determines a task for the students to fulfil At second (while-, or during- , or Strongly agree (1) Practice) stage, the students fulfil relevant tasks, beginning with guided/controlled practice, and then move onto open/freer practice At third (after-, or post-, or Production) stage of a lesson, the students are encouraged to use the learned linguistic knowledge in new communicative situations, focusing on accuracy II Roles of the Communicative Language Teacher: Statements The teacher facilitates the communication process between all classroom participants The teacher takes part in the learningteaching group, which helps the teacher return to the position of a student The teacher organizes and manages classroom activities, establishing situations to promote communication, and being aware of classroom management issues The teacher analyzes the situation with the students informally and personally and comes to know their learning style, learning assets, and learning goals During an activity, the teacher monitors the students‟ gaps in lexis, grammar, and strategy; then, at the end the activity, the teacher points out alternatives and extensions and assists the students in selfcorrection discussion The teacher investigates what is going on in the classroom in order to find out appropriate methods and teaching techniques for better teaching and learning Strongly disagree (4) Disagree Agree (3) (2) Strongly agree (1) II Roles of the Learner in the CLT Learning Process: Statements Strongly disagree (4) Disagree Agree (3) (2) Strongly agree (1) The learners actively participate in the learning activities/tasks The learner serves as a negotiator between the self, the learning process, and the object of learning, and as a joint negotiator within the co-operative group and within classroom activities The learner is expected to be an effective communicator, engaging in negotiating meaning The learner should contribute as much as he gains, and thereby learns in an independent way Part III Your Applicability of CLT to Your Classroom Practices Here are some statements about your applicability of CLT to your classroom practices Please put a tick “” where appropriate Statements I use a variety of classroom activities such as pair work, group work, role play, questions and answers, discussion, and presentation While teaching new language items, I follow the presentation, guided practice and production/free practice procedure While teaching language skills, I follow the three-stage procedure: pre-, while- and post- or before-during-after language skills procedure I use a maximum amount of student-tostudent activities I make the classroom become like the world outside the classroom, where the target language is used spontaneously and communicatively to convey meaning I talk a lot in a learning lesson to model oral language and to pass knowledge of language to the students Strongly disagree (4) Disagree Agree (3) (2) Strongly agree (1) I make learners the focus of the lesson In places where I am the only source of English, the students may not have enough English to perform communication tasks and activities, I give more guided practice and teach grammar and vocabulary first, to enable students to these communication activities If you don‟t mind, please let us know your telephone number or/and e-mail address Phone number: ……………………………………… E-mail address: ……………………………………… Thank you very much for your cooperation APPRENDIX 2: TEACHER OBSERVATION SCHEME (Teacher‟s use of teaching methods and techniques) High School: ………………………………… …………………… Date: ……/……/.…… Grade level (10th, 11th, 12th): ………… Teacher provides activities that students have to contribute and state ideas, and fulfill the activities in pairs and/or in groups T provides meaning-based activities, e.g narratives, interviews, and presentation T seeks students‟ explanation about how the grammar structure is used, and gives more examples with the structure T points out the grammar form used in a sentence, and writes it onto the blackboard for clarity T encourages students to correct each other's errors, or/and corrects selected errors T tolerates students‟ errors that not hinder comprehensive communication T talks a lot in the learning lesson, and tries to pass the knowledge of the English language to students T facilitates the communication process between students, and between students and various activities and texts Teacher monitors classroom situations and was aware of classroom management issues Never Rarely Sometime s usually Items Always Lesson title:……………………………………………………………………………….… ... NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN DANH CHIẾN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS TRAINING NEEDS AT HIGH SCHOOLS IN. .. Teacher Training Needs 11 12 1.2.1 Concept of Training Needs 12 1.2.2 Types of Needs 13 1.2.3 Significance of Studying Teachers Training Needs 13 1.2.4 Interrelationship Perceptions, Practice and Training. .. classroom teaching In other words, there are needs for training the EL teachers in implementing CLT for more effective practices 1.2 Teacher Training Needs 1.2.1 Concept of Training Needs In fact,