VietTESOL International Convention Proceedings

A Critical Discourse Analysis Of President Biden’s Inaugural Speech

2023-03-06T09:35:54+07:00

This paper studies the ideologies embedded in President Joe Biden’s inaugural speech in 2021 and the realizations of these ideologies through the vocabulary, grammar, and structure of the speech. The speech was systematically investigated based on the dialectical-relational approach proposed by Fairclough (2001) and systemic functional grammar by Halliday (1994) towards critical discourse analysis. There are two major ideologies that President Biden has embedded in his inaugural address through the analysis of the lexical, grammatical features, and structure of the speech First, the analysis of the text suggested that the speech plainly conveyed a strong message of unity among the US citizens under the democratic administration of President Biden in the hope of addressing the current concerns that the US had been facing. Second, President Biden emphasized the ideology of liberalism, democracy and equality during his speech based on the analysis of linguistic features as he believed that the needs for freedom and social equality are vital. These findings imply that when analyzing Biden’s, or others’ political speeches, other phonological aspects like stress or intonation should also be employed to help express the desired relationship with the audience as well as the speaker's authority and credibility towards the citizens.

Applying Social Networks in ESL Blended Learning: A Case Study with Ethnic Minority Students

2023-03-06T09:30:26+07:00

The study analyzes and evaluates the use of social networks (Facebook, Messenger and Zalo) as educational tools as well as their influence in blended learning on ESL activities in a Vietnamese mountainous high school. In addition, the study endeavored to find out the most applicable teaching way in blended learning. The study participants included 30 students at Luc Ngan Number 2 High School divided into 2 groups (the social network classroom group and traditional classroom group) with the teaching support of a Canadian teacher. Multi-strategy design method was used to investigate and compare the results with description and statistical figures. The findings of the research suggest that social networks could be effectively and potentially used as supportive tools for Vietnamese ethnic minority students in English speaking learning. Besides, there are some challenges of ethnic minority language, physical environment, economic conditions and technology.

Blended Learning in English Reading Lessons: Vietnamese High-school Students’ Voices

2023-03-06T09:25:30+07:00

Blended learning is a popular term for a method that combines the benefits of both face-to-face and online learning. This mode of learning has noticeable benefits, but it has also raised concerns. The purpose of this paper is to elicit the benefits and challenges of blended learning in English reading lessons through students' perceptions at a Mekong Delta high school in Vietnam. The study was conducted as a descriptive study and the data were collected through two focus-group interviews with ten high-school students. The findings showed that the students perceived they gained nine benefits of blended learning in English reading lessons in terms of vocabulary, technological competence, accessibility, self-regulation, reading strategies, reading comprehension, interaction, interest and emotion. They perceived or experienced more benefits than challenges when learning reading in blended mode. Therefore, blended learning will be their first choice for English reading lessons in the future. Finally, implications and recommendations are drawn to help EFL high school teachers and students have better implementation of blended learning, especially in reading lessons.

E-learning during COVID: Teachers’ and Visually Impaired Students’ Perceptions

2023-03-06T09:45:38+07:00

The widespread of Covid-19 has led to a dramatic and inevitable change in education— the expansive switch to e-learning. Besides the obvious advantages, online learning did raise various issues for students. Problems that have been reported include technical issues, communication breakdown, lack of skills to operate online tools, lack of learning motivation, etc. For Visually Impaired (VI) students, the problems could be multiplied many times over. However, to date, there is not yet any study that looks at the experiences of VI students in online classes. This paper, thus, aimed to examine the perception of teachers and VI students regarding e-learning in inclusive classrooms by conducting a case study qualitative research design. Specifically, online semi-structured interviews were conducted with two VI students and their teacher. After that, thematic analysis was applied to analyze the data. Findings indicated that despite receiving numerous support from the teacher, peers and the university, VI students still experienced challenges in (i) interacting online, (ii) managing online platforms and apps, (iii) understanding the visual aids that teachers use in the lessons. These obstacles, along with hesitation and being overwhelmed feelings, caused significant challenges to the VI in their online learning. Meanwhile, VI students highlighted numerous benefits of online learning namely saving travelling, and beauty expenses, inspiring society and receiving various support and motivation from peers during online classes. Findings from the study might have important implications for numerous stakeholders who want to enhance the learning experience of visually impaired students in an inclusive online class.

Keywords: COVID-19, online class, visually impaired students, perceptions

English-Majored Students’ Use of Online Dictionary in Translation Study: A Survey at a Vietnamese University

2023-03-06T09:27:16+07:00

In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and its adverse impacts, classes were moved online, facilitating the use of computerized learning assistant tools. Online dictionaries, thus, have become even more widely used even though they were already popular in this digital era. This study aims to shed light on how English majors at a public university in Hanoi used web-based dictionaries during Translation study as well as how they perceive their advantages and disadvantages. An online questionnaire survey was delivered to 182 third-year and fourth-year students who participated in Translation courses. The findings show that most students employed online dictionary with great frequency, mostly for checking lexical meanings and finding collocations, and expected a great number of examples of word use in contexts. The paper also reveals the students’ perceptions of the effects of online dictionary on their Translation study. On that basis, some recommendations for using web-based dictionary in teaching and learning Translation are put forward with a hope to allow instructors and learners to make the best use of the available resources. It is also hoped that the research results can provide a foundation for integrating a training course on using computer-aided translation tools in the curriculum.

Implementing Digital Tools in the EFL Speaking Classrooms

2023-03-06T09:24:55+07:00

Classroom interaction concerns many educators with different perspectives. Over the last two academic years, the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically transformed and shaped the English teaching profession. The paper aims to showcase how digital facilitation tools and mood checks work in English-speaking classrooms, increasing students' participation and lessening the feeling of one-way information flow. Mood checks are essential to explore learning psychology and learners' emotions in class. Communication happens before and after the first class meeting and while preparing for the lessons in the coming weeks. It is supposed that interactive activities and digital tools should help serve this purpose.

Implementing Digital Tools in Teaching American Literature to English Majors

2023-03-06T08:59:15+07:00

American Literature is a compulsory subject in most English Language curricula for English majors in Vietnam. However, while teaching this subject in English, EFL teachers encounter many difficulties, such as students' lack of language competence, hesitation in discussing activities, and low interest in literature. Therefore, to ease the teaching process, this action research tried applying Wordwall, Bamboozle, Padlet, and Kahoot in the pre-teaching, while-teaching, and post-teaching stages in two American Literature classes. This application process was described in the teacher's reflective journal during the 15 weeks of the course. Eventually, a Likert-scale and open-ended questionnaire was distributed to 71 English majors from these above classes, asking about their perspectives on this application. Also, ten randomly-picked students were invited to participate in the semi-structured interview to explore the students' attitudes profoundly. The research findings revealed that a high percentage of students (94%) favored implementing digital tools in their literature course. Most responded that these tools helped them effectively deal with vocabulary difficulties, boost group work participation, and increase their learning engagement. As a result, this study suggests recommendations for teaching American Literature or other literature and culture subjects at the tertiary level.

Improving Students' Speaking Skills and Learning Autonomy Using Video Dubbing in Speaking Lessons

2023-03-06T09:46:24+07:00

This research paper aims to find out: (1) How video dubbing application in the learning and teaching process affects students’English speaking skill. (2) To what extent students’ learning autonomy in their learning process changes when video dubbing is implemented in the English speaking lessons. This research paper uses classroom action research. The subjects of this research are 30 non-major first-year students at the Faculty of Information Technology in Hanoi University of Civil Engineering in academic year 2021-2022. The research is carried out into two cycles. The research data are collected from observations, interviews, picture descriptions, video recordings and tests in each cycle. The techniques of collecting data in this research are statistic descriptive. The research findings show that video dubbing in the learning process requires students’ effort in their timing and lip movements, in their reading, imitating English sentences in the authentic videos. This practice process improves students’ components of speaking skill and learning autonomy. Hence, video dubbing in the teaching and learning process is considered as an effective method to improve students’ English speaking skill and learning autonomy.

The The Use of CapCut in Students' Pronunciation Practice

2023-03-11T15:20:44+07:00

Many Vietnamese adult learners often have difficulty pronouncing English correctly, which hampers them from communicating effectively. Thus, there is a big concern about finding appropriate tools to help them improve their pronunciation in communicative classes among English teachers. This study investigates the learners' views on using CapCut, a free all-in-one video editing app, to assist their pronunciation practice. In this research, nine adult English learners were assigned and instructed to dub a three-minute movie clip per week during an eight-week course. A focused group was then conducted, and the student's reflections on their final products at the end of the course were collected. The findings indicated that using the application facilitates the students' pronunciation practice process and raises their confidence and motivation toward speaking English. This project also increases their autonomy in practicing English pronunciation. It is intended that this study would serve as a model for teachers of similar courses in other teaching contexts.

The effectiveness of peer observation for pre-service education at Felte – Ulis

2023-03-16T13:49:20+07:00

Learning through peer observation significantly contributes to the process of training teachers to be as it helps both the observers and the observers improve their teaching practice, transform their educational perspectives and develop collegiality. This paper describes the peer observation model used in the pre-service teacher training in the Faculty of English language teacher education at the University of Languages and International Studies (FELTE - ULIS) and reports on the effectiveness as well as the drawbacks in the process of installation of this program. Data was collected from the qualitative method using questionnaires for 182 senior students of FELTE-ULIS and the qualitative approach through interviews with 9 out of 182 questionnaire responses. The research discovered that peer observation could be an excellent tool to support student teachers’ professional development by improving their teaching strategies and generating excitement. Recommendations for improvement have also been presented.

The application of Class Dojo to manage and motivate students for online classes during Covid-19 pandemic

2023-02-05T22:00:25+07:00

The Covid-19 pandemic has prevented from normal teaching activities such as going to school, having face-to-face classes, many schools have developed strategies of teaching and learning online. Institutions comprising schools and centers have momentarily transferred their traditional courses to online courses. The instructional strategies can help teachers to design various ways for online teaching and learning effectively. This six-week research of forty grade 12 students and one hundred grade 10 students in Bac Lieu high school examined the improvement of online learning through as tools that can be created and managed by teachers and their colleagues. These strategies play a significant role in motivating students’ interaction during online courses. The aim was to find out Class Dojo can help to manage and enhance remote learning and teaching successfully. The result of this paper benefits the management of teachers as well as students’ parents and supports long-term learning for students. In addition, a set of questionnaires was carried out on students’ opinions about their learning experience. The outcome of this research gains the improvement of students’ motivation in learning online due to attractive atmosphere in online courses and rewards or compliments of teachers. Moreover, teaching students healthy and positive habits early on will not only allow them to learn in a safer classroom atmosphere, but it will also build strong and lasting learning habits within the students.

A Comparison of the Implementation and Explicit Attitudes between Vietnamese and non-Vietnamese English Teachers towards Communicative Language Teaching in Vietnam

2023-03-06T09:08:31+07:00

This thesis compares the opinions about the implementation and attitudes towards CLT of two groups of English teachers, Vietnamese and non-Vietnamese. Four main factors are referred to investigate teachers’ opinions, including the roles of grammar, the roles of teachers and learners, pair and group work, and correction techniques. The semi-structured interview was employed to collect data from three Vietnamese teachers and three non-Vietnamese teachers. The results show that it is impossible to divide the participants based on their nationalities, as the researcher assumed. It is found from the results that teachers hold a positive attitude toward the implementation of CLT in Vietnam. Generally, they are knowledgeable and adept at using an array of approaches, strategies, and techniques in teaching. They ensure equity in learning opportunities and achievement for all learners. They are abreast of and conversant with the various aspects of teaching methods, strategies, and techniques required by the learners' needs, demands, and the nature of the lesson. Furthermore, they demonstrated higher sensitivity to students who needed help to keep up with the teaching process. They manifested perceptiveness to individual differences by seeing flexibility and shifting gears smoothly when their jobs no longer worked. However, various obstacles still exist which lessen the effectiveness of CLT.

Applying Spencer Kagan’s Teambuilding Structure in Teaching Specialized Subjects to English-Majored Students

2023-03-06T08:48:43+07:00

Cooperative learning (CL) has been widely applied in the world and has been considered as a new trend of education in the 21^st century (Trinh Van Bieu, 2011). Notably, Spencer Kagan’s cooperative learning structures are believed to have the potential to encourage more interactions among students and maximize the improvement of each student’s learning process, thus, having positive impact on teaching in classrooms. In Kagan’s cooperative learning structures, the Teambuilding structure is one of seven key concepts which encourages students’ interaction and promotes self-study. Therefore, teachers can use this structure in their classes, especially for English majored subjects. However, in Vietnam, the application of Kagan’s Teambuilding structure is still limited because teachers have lack of knowledge and skills on cooperative teaching. This article shows how to apply Spencer Kagan’s Teambuilding structure in teaching specialized subjects to English majored students with the participation of 176 informant students and eight teachers at Hanoi University of Industry. The findings from the questionnaire and interview’s data depict a significant enhancement in teaching and learning English majored subjects. In addition, the study also gives teachers some useful suggestions on applying Spencer Kagan’s Teambuilding structure to improve their English teaching.

KEYWORDS: cooperative learning; Spencer Kagan’s Teambuilding structure; specialized English; English-majored students

HOW TO MANAGE THE SHIFT FROM FACE-TO-FACE TO DISTANCE ASSESSMENT IN THE SUBJECT OF INTERPRETATION

2023-03-02T23:03:40+07:00

The COVID 19 crisis has made a growing number of institutions and universities in Vietnam move to distance learning. Consequently, teachers meet the difficulties in finding the methods for subject evaluation. The subject of Interpretation is not an exception. Interpretation teachers are obliged to design suitable assessment methods for their English teaching programs. The study carried out at Foreign Language Department of Haiphong University (HPU) found that after the workshops, the interpretation teachers’ efficiency of assessing process was enhanced thanks to the awareness of challenges and the importance of updating distance assessment criteria. In order to give support for those who find it challenging to make assessment for this subject, the writer will discuss the challenges of distance assessment in interpretation for both students and teachers at the first part of the report. Furthermore, suggestions on designing distance assessment such as setting up the rubrics or blended methods are mentioned.

Lexical Transfer from Vietnamese to English in Noun+Preposition Collocations

2023-03-06T09:20:05+07:00

The paper mainly aims at analyzing lexical transfer that occur in Vietnamese EFL writing. This study, based on theories on language transfer and errors by Lado (1957), Corder (1967), Odlin (1993), etc., investigates 67 M.A. theses mainly on linguistics written in English by Vietnamese post-graduate students to identify lexical transfer. Various methods are employed to implement this study, namely the statistical method, error analysis, and comparative-contrastive method. The statistical method is used firstly to identify the frequency of cases of language transfer based on the numbers and percentages of vocabulary and collocation transfers. Then, error analysis is employed to analyze errors in transfer and then find out the causes to such transfer. After that, the comparative-contrastive method is followed to figure out whether there are semantic changes in the meaning of collocations when Vietnamese learners transfer collocations from Vietnamese to English because of the similarities and differences between the two languages. Preliminary results show that both positive and negative transfers appear in Vietnamese EFL writing due to the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese. These results, together with subsequent studies on lexical transfer, will provide significant theoretical and practical grounds for teaching and learning English to and by Vietnamese learners.

Proposals for Task-Based Teaching of English based on Cognitive Grammar

2023-03-07T00:20:15+07:00

Task-oriented language education is based on the ideation of the many communication approaches available, which is why it is primarily focused on communication. However, many teachers, aiming to develop communication skills, tend to avoid grammar teaching. This study goes much further, arguing that grammar is as significant as lexis (although in a more abstract way), and that teaching grammar should thus, go along with teaching communication. In our proposals, we first, focus on the development and advantages of task-based language teaching with the role of grammar; then, we offer an introduction to cognitive grammar and its applications and additionally outline their potential for the foreign language classroom. In conclusion, a mixture of the two approaches of task-based language teaching and applied cognitive grammar will be virtually planned to show how one may benefit from the other and to explain in detail how the grammatical role can be implemented in a task-based action through a communicative situation.

Students’ Perceptions of the Debate Activity in Grade 9 Intensive English Program

2023-03-28T05:32:54+07:00

This primary research focuses on students’ perceptions on the implementation of debate activity in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom and their improvements in their teamwork skills and speaking skills so as to determine the effectiveness of implementing debate as an additional activity in the intensive English program. The research involved 84 participants in two grade-9 Intensive English classes at one public secondary school in Thu Duc City (Ho Chi Minh City). The research was conducted using the mixed-method approach. The quantitative data were collected with the use of surveys and qualitative paradigms including class observations and an open-ended question in the questionnaire were also adopted. The findings of the study indicated that the majority of participants found the debate activity enjoyable to take part in and debating skills are considered useful for their future. In addition, the participants witnessed a number of improvements in their teamwork skills and speaking skills, although only more than half of them agreed that they were able to speak at length. Some of the participants believed that more teenager-relatable topics should be introduced in the debate activity and visual aids should be allowed.

Key words: debate, arguments, intensive English, perceptions

THE EFFECTS OF USING SPEAKING TEMPLATES ON DEVELOPING ORAL FLUENCY OF INTERMEDIATE STUDENTS

2023-03-06T09:04:53+07:00

Among a vast array of techniques that help enhance L2 oral fluency of students is the use of speaking templates. Much as this technique has been quite commonly practiced, its relevance and effectiveness take more than experience and observation to determine. This study investigated the impact of using templates on improving oral fluency. To fulfil this aim, a quasi-experiment was designed with a control group (N=24) and an experimental group (N=24); they both took a pre-test and a post-test but only the experimental group received training with speaking templates in a 6-week period. The data collected was processed to garner numerical statistics of Speech Rate, Mean Length of Runs and Average Length of Pauses, the three measures of oral fluency. The test scores of the two group were then compared by t-tests and one-way ANOVA tests on SPSS. The findings revealed that the students from the experimental group did not reap equal benefit from speaking templates.

Vietnamese Tertiary Students’ Autonomy in Learning English Listening Skills

2023-03-02T23:02:00+07:00

Autonomy is deemed a crucial component of the learning process since it contributes substantially to learners’ academic achievement and equips them with lifelong learning skills. This paper aims to investigate tertiary students’ autonomy in learning English listening skills (ELS) through a mixed method using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. After selecting participants with the random sampling method, the study surveyed 150 sophomores and 10 EFL teachers at a public university in Hanoi. 10 students and 5 teachers were then randomly selected to take part in 10-minute semi-structured interviews. The results indicated that students were not willing to learn English listening skills autonomously and they needed more guidance from teachers to develop their autonomous listening ability. The data also revealed that one of the most common factors hindering learners’ self-study was their lack of motivation. Based on the findings and discussion, the study suggested some recommendations to improve the effectiveness of students’ autonomy in learning English listening skills.

Keywords: English listening skills; autonomy; tertiary students; factors

Women’s Language by Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey from the Oprah 2020 Vision Tour Interview

2023-03-02T22:59:31+07:00

Since the 17th century it was believed that women’s language lacks certainty (Lakoff, 1973) and cooperative communication styles (Coates, 2004; Coates, 2015). To test the two hypotheses in high-status women's conversation this sociolinguistic study used a descriptive qualitative method to examine the forms and functions of language features. It was used by Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama in the Oprah Winfrey's 2020 Vision Tour's live talk show where Michelle Obama determines the type of language used by high social status women such as facilitative, tentative (Holmes, 1984; Lakoff, 1973) and communication styles (Coates, 2004). This study focused on four elements: lexical hedges, tag questions, interruptions, and back-channeling responses (Coates, 2015; Lakoff, 1973 ). The study found that both Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama communicated through their usage of collaborative functions of the aforementioned elements and supports Coates's (2004) theory on women’s cooperative communication style. Lastly, the findings suggest that each linguistic element has a particular purpose depending on the situation's context and the speaker's aim. Due to the changes in women's roles and societal circumstances since the 17th century, it appears that additional research is required to enhance the researcher's conclusions.

UNDERSTANDING ENGLISH-MEDIUM INSTRUCTION IN VIETNAMESE HIGHER EDUCATION: VOICES OF TEACHERS AND STUDENTS

2023-01-29T13:02:20+07:00

English as a medium of instruction (EMI), which is the teaching of content subjects in English where most of the population's first language is not English, has seen fast expansion in recent decades because of global trends in higher education institution internationalization. The entire picture of EMI, which mostly occurs in tertiary education, has also seen exponential growth in Vietnam. The implementation of EMI in Vietnam's higher education sector has received little attention (Tri & Moskovsky, 2019), particularly when it comes to identifying some of the benefits and drawbacks of these EMI programs (Yen & Thong, 2019). Consequently, the goal of this study was to investigate the problem from the perspectives of the students and the lecturers. For effective and professional EMI teaching and learning, several pedagogical implications can be drawn and discussed.

Using Different Teaching Strategies to Help Young Learners Figure Out Meanings of New Words

2023-03-06T09:03:06+07:00

Helping young learners figure out forms, meanings and uses of new words without using their mother language can be one of the teachers' challenges, especially for those who are not native speakers of English and are teaching English as a foreign not a second language, because it is likely that both teachers and young learners tend to use their first language to be sure that all learners understand new vocabulary correctly as well as to save time. This article has been written with the hope to share some practical and effective teaching strategies to create contexts in which young leaners can get the meaning of new words directly in English in instead of translating them one by one and to motivate the learners to take part into the classroom activities actively and happily. By using such teaching strategies, new vocabulary will be presented, explained and demonstrated in different lively, meaningful and memorable ways by using some flashcards, posters, board drawings, imitative sounds, total physical response, miming, realia, toys, stories, etc.

Teachers’ Reactions to Professional Development Activities: Perception from Tertiary EFL Teachers in Vietnam

2023-03-26T03:02:08+07:00

Teachers’ professional development is believed to be crucial to improving the quality of schooling in general and higher education in particular. This quantitative research aims at investigating tertiary EFL teachers’ reactions to both formal and informal professional development activities which they have most frequently participated in by means of a survey questionnaire. Particularly, the questionnaire was designed upon the first level of Guskey’s (2000) evaluation model along with the consideration into the interaction among core features of professional development by Desimone (2009) (i.e., content focus, active learning, coherence, duration, collective participation). The data collected from 202 valid responses of EFL teachers in different universities around Vietnam showed that their engagement frequency and reactions were perceived at different degrees as a result of the interaction among the core features of professional development. The research findings possibly inform tertiary EFL teachers, institution managers and professional development program organizers the current professional development practice in Vietnam and suggestions to further improve the existing activities.