Luận án tiến sĩ ứng dụng khung tham chiếu châu âu về ngôn ngữ ở bậc đại học ở vi

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES LÊ THỊ THANH HẢI IMPLEMENTING THE COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK OF REFERENCE FOR LANGUAGES AT TERTIARY LEVEL IN VIETNAM: GENERAL ENGLISH TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS AND RESPONSES DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING HUE, 2019 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES LÊ THỊ THANH HẢI IMPLEMENTING THE COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK OF REFERENCE FOR LANGUAGES AT TERTIARY LEVEL IN VIETNAM: GENERAL ENGLISH TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS AND RESPONSES CODE: 9 14 01 11 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING Supervisor Assoc. Pham Thi Hong Nhung HUE, 2019 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ LÊ THỊ THANH HẢI ỨNG DỤNG KHUNG THAM CHIẾU CHÂU ÂU VỀ NGÔN NGỮ Ở BẬC ĐẠI HỌC Ở VIỆT NAM: NHẬN THỨC VÀ PHẢN HỒI CỦA GIÁO VIÊN DẠY TIẾNG ANH CƠ BẢN MÃ SỐ: 9 14 01 11 LUẬN ÁN TIẾN SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC PGS. PHẠM THỊ HỒNG NHUNG HUE, NĂM 2019 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I certify that the present dissertation submitted today entitled: “Implementing the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages at teriary level in Vietnam: General English teachers’ perceptions and responses” for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in theory and methodology in English language teaching, is the result of my own research, and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree in any institute, college, or university, and previously published or written by another person, except where due reference is made in the text of the dissertation. Signature: i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The road to achievement within this Doctoral Program is paved with the assistance and efforts of the many who worked diligently to assist me, believed in me and guided me to pursue a personal goal.

I acknowledge those who without hesitation contributed their professional and academic knowledge to this study. Without these individuals, this would never have been possible. I would like to acknowledge the forbearance of my supervisor Associate Professor Doctor Pham Thi Hong Nhung, who provided instruction and feedback to various steps of the study and to various versions of this dissertation with the support and words of wisdom. I was exceptionally fortunate to have her as a mentor for this work.

Her encouragement allowed me to continue to grow as a person and a researcher. She helped me keep things prioritized and in focus. Without her, this work would not have taken its final shape. I would also like to extend my sincere gratitude to teachers, lecturers and professors of University of Foreign Languages, Hue University for patiently and wholeheartedly guiding me through the process required to complete my program of study.

Their support, encouragement, and willingness to serve as academic committee members were of huge benefit to me. Their knowledge and wisdom inspired me to broaden my scope of investigation. I also thank my dear and best friend whom without her support, I would possibly have not accomplished this personal goal. A special mention also goes to my colleagues whose understanding, sympathy, and support were invaluable spiritual strength for me during the process of completing this work.

I owe a great debt to many English teachers at the home university who voluntarily and patiently answered the questionnaire and took part in the in- depth interviews during the data collection process of this study. This journey was made possible through the love and support of my mother, my husband and children. I would like to express my deep gratitude to my family. To my husband, for his unconditional love, support, and encouragement.

He encouraged me unfailingly, provided ongoing support and kind words, motivated ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com me, and had confidence in me. To my mother whose life demonstrated that honor is found in hard work and sacrifice. I thank her for loving me unconditionally and for providing me with encouragement in my educational pursuits. My thanks go to my children, who are a source of strength to me.

Along the way, they constantly made sacrifices to facilitate me in my endeavors. They were persistent in reminding me of my desire to complete the journey and motivated me every step of the way. I will be forever grateful and inspired by their love. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT The present study investigates teachers’ perceptions of the values of the CEFR, the perceived readiness and necessity of its application, and the work involved in its application process.

Also, it explores teachers’ responses to the use of the CEFR to renew the general English curriculum, reflected in how they changed their teaching activities, adapted the assigned textbooks and modified their assessment practice. The study was a case study applying the mixed method sequential explanatory model (Creswell & Clark, 2007). Data were collected from thirty-six GE teachers at a university in Vietnam by means of a forty-nine-item questionnaire. Eight semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted.

The findings revealed that GE teachers were knowledgeable about the CEFR and its implementation at the research site. Specifically, they highly perceived the values of the CEFR, its readiness and necessity for application. Their perceptions, however, were not totally and successfully reflected in their responses. Although GE teachers made great effort in modifying the CEFR-aligned curriculum, they were dissatisfied with the work involved in its implementation process.

Encountered challenges included time constraints, incompatible teaching materials, and mismatch between students’ admission level of proficiency and learning outcome. To deal with the challenges, GE teachers made adaptations and modifications in the teaching activities, teaching materials and classroom assessment practice, albeit the activities were merely used as coping strategies. In particular, teaching activities were changed. There was a lack of adherence to the assigned textbooks.

The CEFR-aligned tests were favored and students’ self and peer assessments were focused. GE teachers were found to teach “test-taking strategies” and instant techniques to aid students achieving the required learning outcome. Due to the limited timeframe, an emphasis on blended learning and learner autonomy was recognized and started to take hold. From the findings, methodological and pedagogical implications are made for improvements of the adoption of the CEFR on the implementation level.

iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CoE : Council of Europe CEFR : The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages CRLs : Common Reference Levels FSL : French as a Second Language GE : General English L1 : First language/ the mother tongue L2 : Second language M : Mean (value) MOET : Ministry of Education and Training NFL : Vietnam’s National Foreign Languages QUAN : Quantitative QUAL : Qualitative SPSS : Statistical Package for the Social Sciences S.D : Standard deviation v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION .iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .v TABLE OF CONTENTS .vi LIST OF TABLES .ix LIST OF FIGURES. Background context of the study. Rationale of the study. Purpose of the study and research questions.

Research design overview. Scope of the study. Significance of the study. Organization of the study.

Definitions of the key terms. The CEFR in language education. A sketch of the CEFR: Definition, content, purpose, limitations and suggestions for good use. The spread of the CEFR in language education.

Teachers’ perceptions and responses. The relationship between teachers’ perceptions and teachers’ responses. The CEFR implementation as change management in English language education. Educational change management model.

Factors influential to successful educational change management. The implementation of the CEFR in the light of educational change management. Previous studies on the use of the CEFR in English language education .40 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Previous studies in the world.

Previous studies in Vietnam. The conceptual framework. Research approach and research design. Research questions and conceptual framework.

Research setting and sample. Data collection methods. Data collection instruments. Data collection procedures.

The pilot phase. The official round .FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. GE teachers’ perceptions of the CEFR and its implementation. GE teachers’ understanding of the values of the CEFR.

GE teachers’ perceptions of the CEFR readiness for application. GE teachers’ attitudes towards the necessity of the CEFR implementation. GE teachers’ dissatisfaction of the work involved in the CEFR implementation process.89 vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Summary of the first research question’s findings.

GE teachers’ responses to the CEFR implementation. GE teachers’ responses to teaching activities modification. GE teachers’ responses to teaching materials adaptation. GE teachers’ responses to classroom assessment renewal.

Summary of the second research question’s findings. Summary of key findings. Teachers’ perceptions of the CEFR and its implementation process. GE teachers’ responses to the CEFR implementation.

Implications for teachers and classroom teaching. Implications for administrators. Limitations of the study. Recommendations for further research .132 LISTS OF AUTHOR’S WORK .146 APPENDIX A: The pilot questionnaire .147 APPENDIX B1: The official English questionnaire .156 APPENDIX B2: The official Vietnamese questionnaire .160 APPENDIX C: The pilot interview protocol-Vietnamese version .165 APPENDIX D: The oficial interview protocol-Vietnamese version .169 APPENDIX E1: Participant information sheet and consent form-English version .172 APPENDIX E2: Participant information sheet and consent form -Vietnamese version .175 APPENDIX F: Sample of interview coding and theming .178 viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table 3.

Demographic data of participants (N=36). Summary of the pilot questionnaire. Summary of the official questionnaire. Timeline for data collection procedure and data analysis.

The reliability of the pilot questionnaire and clusters. The reliability of the official questionnaire and clusters. General results of the four clusters. GE teachers’ perceptions of the CEFR values.

GE teachers’ perceptions of the CEFR readiness for implementation. GE teachers’ perceptions of the necessity of the CEFR implementation. GE teachers’ perceptions of the work involved in the CEFR implementation process. General results of teachers’ responses.

GE teachers’ responses to teaching activities modification. GE teachers’ responses to teaching materials adaptation. GE teachers’ responses to classroom assessment renewal .108 ix LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: The teacher iceberg (Waters, 2009, p.2: A simplified overview of the change process (Fullan, 2001b, p.3: Eight drivers of change knowledge (Fullan et al.4: Development stages with the CEFR (Richards, 2013, p.5: The conceptual framework. Mixed method sequential explanatory model.

An adapted model for the present study.55 x LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The present study explores General English (GE) teachers’ perceptions of and their responses to the CEFR implementation for non-English major students at a university in Central Vietnam. This chapter serves as an introduction to the thesis. It introduces the background of the study and statement of the problem, presents the research purpose and research questions. The chapter also provides an overview of the research design and describes the organization of the thesis.

Background context of the study In the era of globalization and integration, English is more and more indispensable to the development of any country. It has become the first foreign language to be taught and a compulsory subject for both undergraduates and graduates at tertiary level in Vietnam (Vietnamese government, 2008). Nonetheless, English language education has encountered great difficulties in catching up with the social need.