Tóm t t: Trong xu hướng hội nhập toàn cầu, nhu
cầu cấp thiết đặt ra cho hệ thống giáo dục Việt Nam là
thực hiện cải cách, đặc biệt là đổi mới phương pháp
dạy và học sao cho học sinh có thể tiếp thu kiến thức
một cách hiệu quả và phát huy được hết khả năng của
mình. Việc giảng dạy tếng Anh ở trường đại học cũng
nhằm đáp ứng nhu cầu đó. Mục tiêu chính của việc dạy
ngoại ngữ ở cấp độ này là áp dụng các phương pháp
mới nhằm giúp sinh viên giao tiếp thành thạo, phối hợp
ăn ý và học tập độc lập. Tuy nhiên, các phương pháp
giảng dạy tiếng Anh truyền thống lấy giáo viên làm
trọng tâm lại không phù hợp để đáp ứng nhu cầu của
người học, vì các phương pháp này khiến việc học
ngoại ngữ trở nên bị động, sinh viên không có nhiều cơ
hội thể hiện bản thân trong lớp. Chính vì thế, trong vài
thập niên trở lại đây, phương pháp dạy và học tiếng
Anh lấy sinh viên làm trọng tâm đã và đang được sử
dụng khá rộng rãi nhằm giúp việc học chủ động hơn
đồng thời sinh viên có thể bắt kịp với chương trình học.
Rõ ràng phương pháp này có nhiều ưu điểm hơn cách
dạy và học truyền thống vì sinh viên được tham gia các
hoạt động thiết thực, giao tiếp tự nhiên và có thể học theo
đúng khả năng cũng như những điều mình hứng thú.
Tuy nhiên, khi áp dụng vào trường đại học, phương
pháp lấy sinh viên làm trọng tâm cũng đặt ra những
thách thức không nhỏ cho các nhà quản lý giáo dục,
các thầy cô giáo và cho chính sinh viên. Thách thức
trước hết đến từ đặc điểm văn hóa của sinh viên Việt
Nam, sau đó là khả năng tiếng Anh hạn chế của phần
đông trong số họ. Hai nhân tố khác không kém phần
quan trọng là ảnh hưởng của việc tuân theo giáo trình
và hệ thống kiểm tra đánh giá.
Trong bài viết này, tác giả trình bày một số ưu điểm
nổi bật của phương pháp giảng dạy tiếng Anh lấy
người học làm trọng tâm, đồng thời thảo luận những
thách thức chính khi áp dụng phương pháp mới này
trong hệ thống giáo dục tiếng Anh ở trường đại học tại
Việt Nam.
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Chin lc ngoi ng trong xu th hi nhp Tháng 11/2014
75
ÁP DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP GIẢNG DẠY TIẾNG ANH
LẤY SINH VIÊN LÀM TRỌNG TÂM
TRONG CÁC TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC Ở VIỆT NAM:
LỢI ÍCH VÀ THÁCH THỨC
Đào Th Thanh Ho
Trường Đại học Hà Nội
Tóm t
t: Trong xu hướng hội nhập toàn cầu, nhu
cầu cấp thiết đặt ra cho hệ thống giáo dục Việt Nam là
thực hiện cải cách, đặc biệt là đổi mới phương pháp
dạy và học sao cho học sinh có thể tiếp thu kiến thức
một cách hiệu quả và phát huy được hết khả năng của
mình. Việc giảng dạy tếng Anh ở trường đại học cũng
nhằm đáp ứng nhu cầu đó. Mục tiêu chính của việc dạy
ngoại ngữ ở cấp độ này là áp dụng các phương pháp
mới nhằm giúp sinh viên giao tiếp thành thạo, phối hợp
ăn ý và học tập độc lập. Tuy nhiên, các phương pháp
giảng dạy tiếng Anh truyền thống lấy giáo viên làm
trọng tâm lại không phù hợp để đáp ứng nhu cầu của
người học, vì các phương pháp này khiến việc học
ngoại ngữ trở nên bị động, sinh viên không có nhiều cơ
hội thể hiện bản thân trong lớp. Chính vì thế, trong vài
thập niên trở lại đây, phương pháp dạy và học tiếng
Anh lấy sinh viên làm trọng tâm đã và đang được sử
dụng khá rộng rãi nhằm giúp việc học chủ động hơn
đồng thời sinh viên có thể bắt kịp với chương trình học.
Rõ ràng phương pháp này có nhiều ưu điểm hơn cách
dạy và học truyền thống vì sinh viên được tham gia các
hoạt động thiết thực, giao tiếp tự nhiên và có thể học theo
đúng khả năng cũng như những điều mình hứng thú.
Tuy nhiên, khi áp dụng vào trường đại học, phương
pháp lấy sinh viên làm trọng tâm cũng đặt ra những
thách thức không nhỏ cho các nhà quản lý giáo dục,
các thầy cô giáo và cho chính sinh viên. Thách thức
trước hết đến từ đặc điểm văn hóa của sinh viên Việt
Nam, sau đó là khả năng tiếng Anh hạn chế của phần
đông trong số họ. Hai nhân tố khác không kém phần
quan trọng là ảnh hưởng của việc tuân theo giáo trình
và hệ thống kiểm tra đánh giá.
Trong bài viết này, tác giả trình bày một số ưu điểm
nổi bật của phương pháp giảng dạy tiếng Anh lấy
người học làm trọng tâm, đồng thời thảo luận những
thách thức chính khi áp dụng phương pháp mới này
trong hệ thống giáo dục tiếng Anh ở trường đại học tại
Việt Nam.
Abstract: In the trend of international integration,
there is an urgent need to reform education system,
especially in the teaching and learning methodology, so
that students can obtain knowledge effectively and
develop their own potential ability. Teaching English at
university is not an exception. The main goal of
language education at this level is to apply new
approaches to help learners master in English
communication, fully cooperate with others and learn
independently. However, unfortunately the traditional
way of teaching English (e.g teacher -centered method)
is no longer suitable to meet the needs of students
because their learning is very passive and they lack
chances to practice the language in class. Therefore,
over the last few decades, student-centered learning
has been introduced to encompass replacing lectures
with active learning, integrating self-paced learning
programs. Student-centered learning environment’s
advantages outweigh the traditional teacher-centered
ones since the former provides learners with
complimentary activities, natural interaction, and
fulfillment of their own learning interests.
Nevertheless, when being applied and implemented
at university, student- centered approach does pose
some challenges for educators, teachers as well as
learners. The first difficulty comes from Vietnamese
cultural characteristic, then followed by Vietnamese
students' low proficiency in English. Finally, the
curriculum and examination system are also two other
factors that should not be overlooked.
For all of the issues mentioned above, this paper is
designed to discuss some benefits of student centered
method in teaching English for tertiary students. At the
same time, it also focuses on examining different
burdens that stake holders likely encounter when
teaching and learning with this method
Tiu ban 1: Đào to chuyên ng
76
IMPLEMENTING LEARNER-CENTERED APPROACH
IN TEACHING ENGLISH
AT VIETNAMESE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS:
BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES
1. Introduction
In the trend of international integration, we
have witnessed numerous changes in almost all
aspects of life, including higher education. Today,
there is an urgent requirement for tertiary learners
to obtain skills to adapt themselves to various
situations and communicate in English with
different people from different cultural
backgrounds. For this reason, teaching students
how to communicate effectively, cooperate with
others and learn independently has become the
main goal of language education (Cheng 2003). In
fact, communicative skill "prepares learners to
better communicate through their assessment,
enter into dialogue with peers and academics, and
formulate questions to further their learning"
(Deakin University 2013). Therefore, undoubtedly
once students can master this, they can gain
success in their study and their future career.
Unfortunately, the focus of traditional ways of
teaching and learning (e.g teacher-centered and
passive learning approaches) is not suitable to help
students reach such goals. As a result, it becomes
crucial to make changes and reforms in the
traditional teaching approach and provide students
with knowledge and skills in a modern way.
Over the last few decades, learner-centered
approach has been introduced and implemented in
many Vietnamese universities in teaching students
different subjects in general and English in
particular. This is because teachers believe in this
mode’s promising benefits of providing students
with new skills such as activeness, independence,
cooperativeness and creativeness. However, this
kind of pedagogy is still new and hard to accept
for many students because it has a connotation of
learning environment and cultural appropriateness,
taking into account the fact that Vietnam is a
society that is culturally oriented towards
collectivism rather than individualism (Hofstede
& Hofstede 2005). Hence, beside significant
advantages of learner-centered teaching, there are
also many considerations posed for teachers of
English and educators that are going to be
identified and discussed later.
This paper is conducted to address two main
issues:
(1) In what way does learner-centered
approach benefit learners of English?
(2) What challenges are there in implementing
this approach in the Vietnamese context?
2. Learner - centered Approach: The Notion
and Benefits
2.1. The Notion of Learner-Centered
Approach
The concept of learner-centered or student-
centered learning was coined as early as 1905 by
Hayward and developed in Dewey’s work in 1956.
Another developer Carl Roger (2013), the father
of client-centered counseling, helped expanding
this approach into education prospect. In his book
‘Freedom to learn for the 80s’, Roger describes
the shift from the expert - teacher to the student -
learner to meet the need for a change in the
traditional environment where students became
passive, apathetic and lacked enthusiasm.
In fact, learner-centered learning does not own
one universally-agreed definition, though it has
been a term often used by a number of higher
education policy-makers or teachers. This is
because in different contexts, the approach is
taken into account in different ways.
However, there is a major principle which has
been approved by all proponents and researchers
Chin lc ngoi ng trong xu th hi nhp Tháng 11/2014
77
of the approach. This is that, learner-centered
method is based on the philosophy that the student
is at the heart of the learning process. In other
words, this approach focuses on each student's
interests, abilities, and learning styles, placing the
teacher as a facilitator of learning. By such
teaching style, the student's voice is acknowledged
as central to the learning experience of every
learner, and ideally they can choose what and how
they will learn, and the way they will assess their
own study. National Center for Research on
Teacher Learning (1999) even made it clearer by
emphasizing the pro-activeness of students in this
pedagogy. They showed that during their learning
process, students are active participants; they
utilise their own strategies and study English at
their pace, which make learning individualized
rather than standardized (1999). Moreover,
learner-centered learning helps develop various
skills such as critical thinking, reflective thinking
and problem solving. This is a notion which underlies
all attempts at applying the learner-centered
approach. Whilst this means that the student is the
focal point of the process, the role of the teacher
remains paramount, particularly under the context
that students' competencies are not the same.
2.2. Conventional Versus Learner-centered
Approach
The differences between conventional
approach and learner-centered approach are quite
easily recognized. With the conventional or
teacher/expert approach, learners are viewed as
relatively passive, and external reinforcement
controlled by teachers is necessarily available to
shape their behavior (Skinner1953). What is more,
learners are ‘‘empty vessels to be filled with
knowledge’’, thus, they really need "an expert" to
feed them information (Garfield 1995; Moore
1997). In this light, knowledge is defined as an
entity transmitted and absorbed by students.
Therefore, a good teacher should be the one who
transfers information thoroughly and at the right
pace so that learners can receive and "digest"
information to make it their own (Moore 1997).
As a result, under this approach, learning is
viewed as a linear process, progressing steadily
from ‘‘not knowing’’ to ‘‘knowing’’.
In the traditional lessons, the predominant use
of formal lectures, seminars and examinations are
very powerful. Teacher provides structured
material during lectures, while students listen
carefully and take notes quickly. Then, during
seminars, students are questioned their
understanding on the material. Finally, absorbed
knowledge is checked and assessed by conducting
examinations several times during the term. This
approach is relatively efficient since it allows
educators to teach many students within a rather
short period of time. Unfortunately, in most of the
cases, such methods might focus on the "surface"
rather than "deep" comprehension levels and just
help the students to get a high score in the test but
not evaluate their true competency (Biggs 1999).
On the other hand, learner-center approach is
in contrast to the traditional method mentioned
above. In this way, learners are not passive
receivers of information and knowledge but rather
active participants in a complex learning process.
They have the responsibility to accommodate their
own unique learning style so as to structure their
own learning. Meanwhile, the teacher plays the
role of a guide who assists the learner in the
process of constructing their individual system of
knowledge. Broughton (1994) adds that “the
language student is best motivated by practice in
which he senses the language is truly
communicative, that it is appropriate to its context,
that his teacher’s skills are moving him forward to
a fuller competence in a foreign language” (p.47).
It can be understood that, the teacher is there not
to explain but to encourage and help students to
explore, try out, make learning interesting, and
learn from mistakes.
Tiu ban 1: Đào to chuyên ng
78
Unlike teacher-centered approach, the modern
style puts students into the center, the materials
given by teachers are less significant than the
development of logical or systematic concepts
through social exchange (Vygotsky 1978). This
implies that the social environment surrounding
learners helps encourage the development of their
thoughts, beliefs and behaviors inside and outside
classrooms. From a constructivist perspective,
students are actively and individually shaping
their own social knowledge, rather than merely
copying knowledge from teacher (Garfield 1995).
For this reason, the assessment of their
understanding aims to diagnose the problems and
promote learning.
2.3. Proposed Benefits of Learner-centered
Approach over Traditional Approach in
Teaching English
Traditionally, teacher-centered English
teaching methodology focuses on accuracy of
grammatical structures and isolated items of
vocabulary. Jim Scrivener (2012) stated that “the
teacher spends quite a lot of class time using the
board, materials and explaining things again and
again as if he/she is ‘transmitting’ the knowledge
into learners' brain” (Scrivener 2012, p.16). At the
same time, students are required to learn the rules
and the items of lexis by heart, and make some
sentence examples based on such things. However,
most of the time they explore only narrow avenues
of the language since the syllabuses are
grammatical-based and the language is grouped by
purpose (Scrivener 2012, p.16). Meanwhile, other
important skills like listening and speaking which
are crucial for interaction processes are not
appreciated properly and taught effectively. When
it comes to assessment, the teacher-approach
seems to judge students' ability based on their
memorization and paper work. This might be
inaccurate and subjective because sometimes it is
affected by various factors and contexts.
By contrast, learner-centered style does have
their advanced uses in teaching English as a
foreign language. First and foremost, it creates a
friendly learning environment for students to be
more open and proactive in study. In his book
named Learning Teaching, Scrivener (2012)
emphasized the importance of communicative
competence in language learning. He meant that
students are expected to "be able to use the
language for meaningful communication" and a
foreign language should be taught in the way so
that “not simply for the learner to be able to write
to a foreign pen friend” but to broaden his or her
horizons by introducing “certain ways of
thinking" in simultaneous real life conversations
(Richard 2008, p.4). Under this significance,
teacher only plays the role as a guide while
learners base on such instruction and perform the
task in their own ways. They share responsibilities
in class and actively get involved in individual
work as well as group work to reach the desired
results (Walters 2011). As learners participate in
communication with each other and learn from
their own mistakes during their performance, they
can strengthen their communicative skills, and
apply English language into different specific real
life contexts. In this approach, learners are self
motivated and enjoy learning more because they
can choose and feel comfortable with the topics
without worrying about making mistakes. For
example, in speaking or writing lessons, students
have the right to decide the topics by relying on
the wide theme suggested by teacher. In this way,
they do not major in only one topic but are able to
acquire more knowledge in different challenges
and settings (Weimer 2013). The eventual result is
that fluency and accuracy in English usage
gradually improves.
Another advantage of leaner-centered method
in teaching English is that students benefit from
collaborating, supporting, and co-operating with
one another. With this methodology, all the
Chin lc ngoi ng trong xu th hi nhp Tháng 11/2014
79
students are required to face the challenges by
helping each other and sharing ideas to solve
problems. Teachers choose suitable activities and
guide them into the lesson, then groups of students
must decide what to do and how to deal with the
task on their own. Under the instruction of
teachers, learners work in groups discussing the
solution, supporting each other, sharing the
leadership and producing meaningful speech or
statements themselves. This is particularly
effective with productive skills like speaking.
Long and Porter (1985) indicated that group work
in learner-centered teaching approach is an
"attractive alternative" to the teacher-led mode and
"a viable classroom" that can replace individual
conversations with native speakers. In other words,
both of them agreed that by this mode, teachers no
longer get involved too much in the students'
performance but let them practice speaking
together in teams to self improve their skill.
In short, learner-centered approach is
obviously more advantageous than teacher-led
mode. The former tends to encourage students to
show their potential on their own while
developing the cooperation as well as pro-
activeness in learning. In other words, students
feel more comfortable and easier to learn under
learner-centered system because they can master
their own leadership and get experiences from
their mistakes.
3. Implementing Learner-centered
Approach in Teaching English in Vietnamese
Context
3.1. Current Situation: The Shift from
Teacher-centered to Learner-centered
Approach
Following the trend of contemporary English
teaching pedagogy, the reform of the teaching
English in Vietnam has focused on developing
learners' communicative proficiency and
promoting learners' autonomy and pro-activeness
in language classrooms. In fact, the booming of
communicative approach has shifted the teaching
process from "language form" to "language
function" which is in accordance with the needs of
students (Savignon 1997). Inevitably, the
language teaching mode has also changed from
traditional teacher-centered to more learner-
centered (Nunan 1988; Tudor 1996). This
communicative language teaching style requires
learners' active participation and negotiation to
produce meaningful interaction in class and of
course this aims to encourage students to interpret
and construct meaning by themselves based on the
basic guide from teacher (Breen & Candlin 1980).
Theoretically, under the learner-centered
methodology, students are aware of their
objectives and goals so they know what to do and
how to do in order to achieve these goals. Thus,
this model for" language curriculum development
shifts from what should be done in a course of
study to what is specifically done by language
teachers in their classes through the negotiation
between teachers and learners in the planning,
implementation and evaluation of language
courses" (Nunan 1988). However, in most of
Vietnamese tertiary institutions, the so called top-
down approach is very strict, hence, curriculum is
still assigned by the Ministry or teacher board, and
so the negotiation is not very strong. Nonetheless,
the autonomy of learners in studying a language is
emphasized and modified in some aspects.
Specifically, at the early phase of the course,
students’ needs are collected and analyzed so that
learning styles can be figured out and used for
selecting course content and teaching
methodologies. During every lesson, more
responsibility is placed in the hands of students to
manage their study and teachers now just play the
role of facilitators to help learners get knowledge
in their own way rather than being "the source of
knowledge". Learners' autonomy can be fostered
through communicative tasks by which they can
develop their English language