VietTESOL International Convention Proceedings

Contents and Reviewers

2020-12-17T16:56:25+07:00

Table of contents

List of volunteer reviewers

Preface

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A Letter from the Proceedings Editors

Integrating Music into English Language Pedagogy

2020-12-17T08:27:14+07:00

In the recent decades, the ELT domain has witnessed the emergence of a wide variety of pedagogical approaches to aiding language learning in a diverse fashion. Among them, the incorporation of music into the instructional process has increasingly captured the attention of teaching scholars and practitioners. Despite some certain degree of complication in the way songs can be selected and utilized for teaching and learning purposes, music, when appropriately employed, is likely to work as a supporting tool of high enjoyability, authenticity and efficiency for EFL students’ acquisition of the target culture, multiple intelligences, language skills and components. From a conceptual and practical perspective, this paper provides an in-depth discussion on the potentialities and challenges possibly yielded by the music-based instruction in the modern EFL education.

A Case Study of Enhancing Pupils’ Culture Literacy through English-language Warm-up Activities

2020-12-17T10:27:30+07:00

Cultural literacy initiated by Hirsh (1983) is an integral part of any language learning which successful language users at all ages have to be literate and apply in their communications. This exploratory case study reports on how to enhance cultural literacy for young learners at a Vietnamese primary school through English-language warm-up activities. The research started with four semi-structured, non-participation observations to identify topics of interest and issues of classroom improvements. Then, data were collected from there sources: first, informal interview of an English teacher about her teaching context and knowledge of cultural literacy; second, 6 observations of her lessons engaging young learners with cultural-literacy-forming warm-up activities; and third the teacher's perspective interview after 6 experimental lessons. The data analysed using theme-based coding method show some merits of using warm-up activities to activate pupils’ prior knowledge on cultural traits. Some implications are discussed for more effective organizing of warm-up activities to facilitate Vietnamese young learners’ cultural literacy.

Integrating English Lessons with Sustainable Development Goals at Primary Schools in Northern Vietnam

2020-12-17T08:37:08+07:00

Integrating global issues and United Nation (UN)’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) into English classrooms has really been a newly-created initiative for English teaching in remote areas in the north of Vietnam. A great deal of generated education ideas or programs fostering 17 themes in SGDs confirmed by the UN in 2015 has also supported the more roles of teachers' assumption than merely providing the knowlegde of language, put the learning process in a more practical context, and inspired learners to actively perceive their responsibilities to the wider world.

A small pilot conducting a language lesson (English 3) project asociated with one SDGs’ theme - life below water - has successfully and beneficially been recognized for teachers and primary school learners in a mountainous city, Lang Son, Vietnam. Employing such various motivating teaching techniques as games, role play, pair-work or group-work was the most noticeable merit for teachers.

The findings for the research question 'How do integrating lessons affect mountainous primary learners’ inspiration in learning English language and informative content?' are relatively positive. Active manner, positive attitude and exciting participation are three recorded typical features of learners in the classroom that strongly motivated children practicing the new language items and improved their awareness of protecting the ocean animals and plants.

The research concludes that integrated SDGs’ themes with English language lesson is probably new to the context of mountainous areas in northern Vietnam,and introduced to primary school teachers there for such lessons directly and highly benefit the teaching and learning English.

Classroom-based Assessment to Promote Equity

2020-12-17T08:39:27+07:00

Language testing and assessment has always been a matter of concern in education worldwide. In Vietnam, there has been a movement towards classroom-based assessment over the last few years in order to gain a more comprehensive look at students’ progress. Classroom-based assessment (CBA) is universally viewed as a crucial part in not only improving teaching and learning but also opening up equal learning opportunities for all learners. However, the effects of CBA on equity in classroom still remain relatively under-researched in Vietnam. This paper, therefore, aims to bridge this gap by first introducing the definition and components of CBA, then describing how it creates an all-embracing atmosphere in class. This will be followed by some strategies to adopt CBA to foster an equitable classroom. Finally, the paper will draw some implications regarding the use of CBA to improve equity in language classrooms for various stakeholders in English teaching and learning, including teachers, administrators and policy makers.

Cultural Adjustment Experiences of Vietnamese International Students in Australia

2020-12-17T08:45:21+07:00

Different aspects regarding international students’ needs and experiences when they adapt to social and academic environments in English speaking countries have been investigated in the last few decades. This paper explores how Vietnamese international postgraduates adjust to life in Australia. A questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 Vietnamese international postgraduate students who were pursuing their Master or PhD Master degrees at the University of Queensland, Australia. The findings indicate that although having well-prepared prior to their sojourn, most participants encountered such cultural adjustment problems as language barrier, cultural differences, social relationships, unfamiliar educational system and ability to practice critical thinking. A wide range of resources and specific strategies which were used for coping with cultural adjustment problems were also reported. The paper provides useful information for educational stakeholders in Vietnam and Australia to improve students’ experiences and strategies to better prepare for their sojourn and to positively adjust to the host country.

Narrative Inquiry: A Window to Understand Experiences of Learning English of Vietnamese Children in Canada

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First month

Canadian school

daughter Joey

cried

tried a lot

could not understand teacher

felt bad

did not know what to do

left page blank

remembered moments in Vietnam

good marks

compliments

from grade one teacher

Now feels lost

upset and silent

Teacher’s English language

Joey’s Vietnamese language

How to communicate?

This poem shows my daughter’s experiences as she arrives in Canada without ability of communication in English. Tensions, tears, and loneliness are situated in her English language learning, alongside family, teachers and classmates. My wonders about experiences of immigrant Vietnamese children regarding ESL learning shape my research, which inquires into: (1) How families’ and children’s experiences with social, cultural, and linguistic narratives shape their ESL familial curriculum making; and (2) How children’s interactions with teachers and classmates shape their ESL learning experiences?

I employ narrative inquiry to unfold experiences of Vietnamese children. Narrative inquiry studies experiences as storied phenomena. As an inquiry unfolds, narrative inquirers attend to temporal, social, and place aspects of experience. Field research will be alongside three newly immigrated Vietnamese children and families during their first year at school, with data from research conversations, field notes, journals, and artefacts.

While much research has been done on children’s ESL learning, few studies have focused directly on their voices and understandings. This research expands understanding on ESL learning of Vietnamese children as a door to embrace diversity, promote equity and assure inclusion in early childhood education. It may echo across that of children from diverse education landscapes.

Effects of English Collocation Instruction on Vietnamese Students’ Writing Performance

2020-12-17T08:55:37+07:00

This study investigates the effects of the teacher’s use of collocation instruction on Vietnamese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ achievement of collocations in their writing. Twenty one volunteer students participated in this study. Data were collected through a pre-post test design and quantitatively analyzed afterwards. The results indicated that on the students outperformed in the number and made fewer errors of lexical and grammatical collocations in the post-test compared to the pre-test. Significant correlations between the three collocation types (correct lexical, correct grammatical and incorrect grammatical collocations) and the students’ writing scores were reported, except the type of incorrect lexical collocation. Accordingly, pedagogical implications as well as suggestions for the teachers with regard to teaching collocations in a writing class will be provided.

The Use of Timed Reading Technique to Improve Vietnamese Non – English Majored Students’ Reading Speed and Comprehension

2020-12-17T08:59:03+07:00

The research investigated the effects of timed reading activity on improving students’ reading speed and comprehension. An experimental research project was conducted with participants were fifty first year students at Thai Nguyen University of Economics and Business Administration. Participants were divided into 3 groups which are fast reader, medium reader and slow reader basing on their reading speed analyzed by the results of a pretest. The reading activity included two stages, correspondingly, the former ranging within 3 weeks covers conventional reading activity while the latter which lasted for 8 weeks dealt with timed reading intervention. In this study, a pretest, posttest and a reading rate chart were utilized to measure the students’ reading rate and comprehension. The results of the study show that both students’ reading speed and comprehension remarkably increased after having timed reading intervention. The fast reader had their highest reading rate and comprehension score among the three groups.

University Language Teachers' Perceptions Towards the MOET's Requirements of Second Foreign Languages

2020-12-17T09:08:40+07:00

This paper aims at raising the issue for discussion among language teachers, institutional leaders, and policy makers about the relevance of the policy that requires language teachers in Vietnamese universities to possess satisfactory proficiency in a second foreign language for promotion at work and professional development. The study reported a case of 15 English teachers in a public university in Vietnam who needed to obtain the required competence in French to move up in their career ladder and pursue doctoral study. Data included in-depth interviews with 15 English teachers, five French teachers, the head of human resources department, and the vice president of the university. Using the theory of Language Policy and Planning as the framework of data analysis, the study sketches out the formulation of the policy at macro (ministerial) level, its mandate at meso (institutional) level, and the implementation process at micro (individual) level. It is revealed that the language teachers were generally not happy with the policy, considering it irrelevant to their teaching needs and research work; therefore, policy should incorporate teachers' voice if it is for their professional advancement.

Promoting Inclusion through English for Organic Farming and Ecotourism in ASEAN Countries: A Thai Example

2020-12-17T09:11:15+07:00

Organic Farming and Ecotourism can be valuable resources for economic stability in many ASEAN communities. English is vital to exchange organic farming practices with other farms outside their country and is a necessary skill to promote ecotourism to international tourists (Morrow, 2015; Upayokin, 2007; Wallenberger, 2012). This research article will use a 2017 visit to a community in Phetchaburi, Thailand as a case study to look at addressing this community’s needs from an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) approach (Belcher, 2004; Swales, 1985). Because this and similar communities have limited economic resources and less access to English teachers and classrooms, we focus on publicly available materials on the Internet. After a needs analysis, this article will focus on how YouTube videos can be used to develop and expand a corpus of materials for English acquisition to meet local needs. Specific attention will be paid to developing media literacy skills (Bloom & Johnston, 2010; Hobbs, 2010; Silverblatt, Miller, Smith, & Brown, 2014) as a way to further empower local teachers and students in their English language acquisition. The final purpose of this paper is to propose sustainable language development to support sustainable ecotourism and economic vitality.

Are Teachers Teaching to High-stake Language Tests? - An Exploratory Study at Vietnam National University, Hanoi

2020-12-17T09:16:08+07:00

When the pressure of a high-skate test is too high, does the teacher teach only to help students pass the test? The researcher attempted to find the answer by observing three classes representing three General English modules: General English 1 (GE1), General English 2 (GE2), and General English 3 (GE3) at Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU). The context of the present study is that GE1 and GE2 equip students with basic language knowledge, and at the end of the GE3 module, students will have to take the VSTEP (Vietnamese Standardized Test of English Proficiency). Only those who have reached level 3/6 can qualify for graduation. Initial research findings show that VSTEP had an impact on the students' contribution and the teachers' selection of class organization, content, and materials. Teachers in this study seemed to focus more on how to help students become accustomed to the paper format and test-taking strategies rather than developing their general language proficiency. However, the findings were only exploratory and can give suggestions for more studies on the issue in the future.

Effects of Virtual Conversations through Skype on Vietnamese Students’ Intercultural Communicative Competence

2020-12-17T09:21:53+07:00

This research was aimed to examine the effects of through-SKYPE conversations on the first-year English majors’ intercultural competence at School of Foreign Languages, Thai Nguyen University. Fourteen Vietnamese freshmen majoring in English and fourteen English speaking countries volunteers took part in the 12-week pre-experiment. Pre- and post- survey questionnaires were used to collect data on the participants’ intercultural communicative competence (ICC). The data was analyzed with SPSS. The results indicated that the intercultural competence of Vietnamese students who had virtual conversations with English speaking volunteers improved greatly in all the ICC dimensions: knowledge, skills, attitude and awareness, with the most growth being in knowledge. Also, many individual items of intercutural knowledge were significantly different despite no significant difference in overall ICC. The findings from this study would contribute to the development of intercultural communicative competence using information technology in Vietnamese context.

Effect of Language Games in the English Performance of Grade 11th Ethnic Minority Students

2020-12-17T10:31:59+07:00

This study was an investigation of the effect of the use of language games in teaching English to the grade 11 ethnic minority students at a high school in the northwest area in Viet Nam. The study used a quasi-experimental method employing the repeated measures design. It is repeated because each group was exposed alternately to both methods-lecture using handout and lecture using language games, in six different lessons. Two intact groups (11A5 and 11A6) were used. The study was handled by the researcher in which the classes were held three times a week. The result of the research was shown after the second semester of the school year 2016-2017. Based on the findings of the study, there is a significant difference in the performance of the students in the use of language games and hand-outs. The findings imply that the students have improved performance after being exposed to language games rather than hand-outs. Thus, the use of language games as a teaching strategy is an effective tool in enhancing the English language performance of the students.

Using Foreign Volunteers to Check Students’ Writings Project

2020-12-17T09:34:12+07:00

Aiming at fostering students’ language proficiency, especially in writing skill, helping students to avoid common writing errors, and being confident when communicating with foreigners, the project “Using Foreign Volunteers to Check Students’ Writings” was carried out in the School of Foreign Languages, Thai Nguyen University for students majoring in English Education for two school terms. At the end of the project, two separate surveys were conducted; one among 34 related project’s participants, the other with 10 foreign volunteers. In addition, the observation from project team members was a valuable source to evaluate the effectiveness of the project. The results revealed that the participation of foreign factor during teaching and assessing process proved to be efficient in creating a new energetic atmosphere for both teachers and students, contributing to an improvement in students’ attitude and learning outcome. The project received a great number of valuable feedbacks and recognition from both oversea volunteers and students. The operation, advantages, and drawbacks of the project will be discussed by the authors, who are team members of the project with a view to an encouragement to implement such similar meaningful plans.

Computer-based Testing: From Different Perspectives of the Stakeholders Involved

2020-12-17T09:37:15+07:00

Given the superiorities of computer-based testing (CBT) over the paper-and-pen one, computerized tests have been widely applied in many educational contexts worldwide. However, not until the early 2017 did computer-based tests begin to be employed in testing English proficiency among non-English majors at Banking Academy of Vietnam (BAV). Therefore, this research was conducted to explore how the involved stakeholders including non-English major students, lecturers from the Faculty of Foreign Languages (FFL), staff of the training quality assurance department (TQAD) and information technology (IT) specialists perceived the application of computer-based English tests (CBETs). The research findings would also serve as a stepping-stone to measure the effectiveness of the innovation. The research questions were answered based on the data obtained from online questionnaires among students as well as in-depth interviews with the lecturers, TQAD staff and the IT specialists involved. Overall, the findings revealed positive attitudes towards the administering tests on computers by all the stakeholder groups, implying the potential development of this testing approach in the future. However, the challenges rooted in the limited free-of-charge online testing system, the low capacity of the Internet and computer system and other facilities were generally concerned by all the stakeholders involved.

Enacting Assessment Reforms at a Local University Toward Reinforcing Vietnamese EFL Learners’ 21st-century Skills

2020-12-17T09:40:15+07:00

In Vietnam, although testing and assessment is regarded as one of the seven pivotal pillars in the National Foreign Language Project 2020 (Decision 1400/QD-TTg), its enactment has seemingly imposed challenges on Vietnamese ELT educators at all levels. Addressing the revolution in the field, this paper aims at conducting assessment reforms to reinforce tertiary Vietnamese EFL learners' 21st-century skills. The process was demonstrated in a linguistics course at X University. An action methodology was exploited for the research purpose. Studies by Brown (2003), Van Tessel-Baska (2013), McTighe (2014) and Espinosa (2015) suggested the reform procedures. Two major phases serving the assessment enactment were actualized: (1) preparation, (2) implementation. The former embraces three sub-steps beginning with identifying learning outcomes, delivering learning and assessing requirements, and ending with designing a rubric; whereas the latter consists of utilizing assessment and discussing results. Reflection was made to better the model. The researcher exploited the Partnership of the 21st century portraying modern global citizens' qualities and the Bloom Taxonomy identifying educational learning objectives, to formulate the learning outcomes in the course toward satisfying the life-work demands for English majors. The rubric was developed from McTighe (2014), and localized in the Vietnamese marking system and learners' needs. The assessment reforms and implementation in class would be on the ground of equity, diversity, and inclusion. The findings dedicate to boosting EFL learners' new set of skills besides academic knowledge and professional attitudes in the researcher's context. Hopefully, the framework can function in a wider ELT community.

Lexicogrammatical Features of College Admission Essays in English: A Discourse Analysis

2020-12-17T09:42:34+07:00

An admission essay or application essay is an essay written by a prospective student as a part of admission processes of many colleges and universities in the world. The admission essay is an effective tool that allows the applicants to distinguish himself/herself from the thousands of other applicants with similar scores and backgrounds because its purpose is to convey a sense of the writer’s unique character to the admissions committee and to demonstrate his/her writing skills as well as his/her ability to organize thoughts coherently. In the light of Discourse Analysis, this study deals with lexico-grammatical features of admission essays in English. We apply Functional Grammar as a tool to analyze the data of 40 samples which were accepted admissions essays collected from some reliable books in English. Through a variety of methods, the research describes lexico-grammatical features used in these essays. This study is also significant in providing some linguistic as well as pedagogical contributions. Linguistically, the results yields some insights into admission essays in English. Pedagogically, they can be useful to ESP teaching and learning English, especially writing skill.

Cohesive Device Errors in Academic IELTS Writing Task 2

2020-12-17T09:45:02+07:00

One criterion used to assess IELTS writing task 2 is ‘cohesion and coherence’. Cohesion refers to the use of cohesive devices to make connections between ideas in the text, which, in turn, contributes to the coherence of the text as a whole. This paper presents the results of cohesive device error analysis of English major students’ Academic IELTS writing based on Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) framework. This framework provides a model for identifying errors in the use of grammatical ties, which include reference, substitution, ellipsis and conjunctions; and lexical ties, which consist of reiteration and collocation. The research presented in this paper will not only help teachers recognize common cohesive device errors and, therefore, aid their teaching, but enable IELTS candidates to take into account these errors and, in doing so, avoid making such mistakes when producing their own Academic IELTS writing task 2 as well. It will also provide them with insights into the appropriate use of cohesive devices, which they can use to connect their own ideas and achieve a higher score for ‘cohesion and coherence’ in their IELTS writing test.

Overcoming Reticence and Anxiety: The Madman’s Cooperative Learning Approach to Academic (EAP/ESP) Writing

2020-12-17T09:47:29+07:00

This paper introduces a method of applying Cooperative Learning (CL) to EAP/ESP writing instruction; thereby, demonstrating the benefits of combining CL, with “The Madman” ESP writing method (Kagan & Kagan, 2009, Flowers, 1981). Traditional classroom and “Flipped” classroom techniques are also employed, further enhancing the educational benefits derived from recent technological and pedagogical innovation (Bergman & Sams, 2012; Kahn, 2012). Reticence and anxiety can prevent EFL learners from participating in collaborative educational activities, severally hindering the learning process (Tsui, 1996). Cooperative learning instruction has been shown to increase; social skills, cognitive development, innovation and creativity (Rogers, 1988). Affective filter obstruction often blocks writers; writing is one of the most challenging skills students must learn (Krashen, 1982). Rhoades (2013) has shown CL as a means of reducing the chaos found in ultra-large classrooms, through the use of Rainbow Learning. By combining new innovative strategies with socially interactive techniques, students can “negotiate meaning,” resolve internal and external conflict, test their knowledge and language hypotheses, and better understand the sender/receiver transaction process (Richards and Rodgers, 2001; Kagan & Kagan, 2009). Further research is being conducted, employing the method to online instructional environments.

A New Solution to Improve English Language Skills for Vietnam High School Students

2020-12-17T09:51:27+07:00

Online learning is defined as one way to catalyze a pedagogical shift in how we teach and learn, in which we change from top-down lecturing for passive students to a more interactive, collaborative approach in the learning process that students and instructors co-create and co-operate. English Discoveries Online is a fully customizable, interactive end-to-end solution designed to meet specific client needs, which provides educators with effective and user-friendly tools to maximize student learning outcomes. The paper is designed to find a way to help secondary and high school English teachers solve the problems of lacking authentic learning materials, training time and further support after class time. There are three main parts in this paper: The first part provides an overview on Online learning in the new era, in which the author analyzes the information collected from recent studies about online learning and its trend; the second part gives readers certain online learning benefits for teenagers in general and Vietnamese teenagers in particular; and the last part aims at providing the reason why implementing the integrated English Discovery course using the MOET course books is the new solution to fill the gaps for secondary and high school students in Vietnam.

Narrow Reading as a Method to Improve EFL Learners’ Reading Fluency

2020-12-17T09:54:20+07:00

This study aimed to see if narrow reading has any effects on EFL learners’ reading fluency development. An experiment was carried out among 70 high school students. Both the control group and experimental group were following the usual English program at high school while the experimental group did narrow reading. Reading speed was measured by calculating the number of words read per minute and reading comprehension was assessed using a set of multiple choice questions. The results showed significant differences between the experimental and control group in both aspects. The findings suggest that narrow reading has a positive impact on EFL learners’ reading fluency.