Attitudes of Vietnamese college students towards English acquisition

ISSN: 1859-2171 e-ISSN: 2615-9562 TNU Journal of Science and Technology 225(03): 41 - 47 Email: jst@tnu.edu.vn 41 ATTITUDES OF VIETNAMESE COLLEGE STUDENTS TOWARDS ENGLISH ACQUISITION Vu Van Tuan Hanoi Law University ABSTRACT The term “World Englishes” has become very common in mass media nowadays. In fact, mastering English empowers people to enter the world without much difficulty. However, Vietnamese government has launched many projects with a hope of turning English in our country into a second language one. This study investigates the attitudes of Vietnamese college students towards English acquisition. The findings would serve as basis for the administrators to reassess their aims of becoming an English-speaking country. The quantitative method was employed in this study, basing on 46 items in the questionnaire which are divided into three aspects, namely the awareness of English with the liability score 0.935, the current English educational policies (0.932), and the purposes for learning English (0.920). The data was collected in four universities in different settings with 305 students answering the Google forms to get the confidential and quick results. The findings found that students had very high attitudes towards the awareness of English and purposes, but very low attitudes towards the current English educational policies. It is necessary for the policy makers to come up with more renovated and revolutionary policies in learning and teaching English at the tertiary level. Keywords: Attitudes; World Englishes; awareness; global English; English acquisition. Received: 12/9/2019; Revised: 24/9/2019; Published: 30/9/2019 THÁI ĐỘ CỦA SINH VIÊN ĐẠI HỌC ĐỐI VỚI VIỆC HỌC TIẾNG ANH Vũ Văn Tuấn Trường Đại học Luật Hà Nội TÓM TẮT Ngày nay thuật ngữ “Tiếng Anh toàn cầu” ngày càng trở nên phổ biến trong phương tiện công cộng. Trên thực tế, thành thục tiếng Anh giúp cho con người tham gia vào thế giới công việc hết sức dễ dàng. Tuy vậy, chính phủ Việt Nam đã đưa ra rất nhiều dự án với hi vọng sẽ biến tiếng Anh ở đất nước chúng ta trở thành quốc gia nói tiếng Anh như ngôn ngữ thứ hai. Nghiên cứu này điều tra về thái độ của sinh viên đại học đối với việc học tiếng Anh. Kết quả của nghiên cứu sẽ là nền tảng để các nhà quản lý đánh giá lại mục đích của mình trong tham vọng biến đất nước trở thành quốc gia nói tiếng Anh. Phương pháp định lượng được sử dụng trong nghiên cứu này dựa trên 46 câu hỏi phỏng vấn và được phân chia thành 3 khía cạnh điều tra đó là khả năng nhận thức về tiếng Anh, các câu hỏi này có thang độ tin cậy 0,935, chính sách giáo dục đối với tiếng Anh hiện tại, thang độ tin cậy 0,932 và mục đích học tiếng Anh với thang độ tin cậy 0.920. Dữ liệu được thu thập ở 4 trường đại học ở các nơi khác nhau với 305 sinh viên hợp lệ trả lời trên biểu mẫu của Google nhằm đạt được kết quả nhanh và bảo mật. Kết quả cho thấy rằng sinh viên có thái độ rất cao đối với sự hiểu biết về tiếng Anh, và mục đích học tiếng Anh, nhưng có thái độ rất thấp đối với chính sách giảng dạy tiếng Anh hiện tại. Rất cần thiết cho nhà hoạch định kế hoạch đưa ra những chính cải tổ có tính chất cách mạng đối với việc dạy và học tiếng Anh ở cấp độ đại học. Từ khoá: Thái độ; tiếng Anh thế giới; nhận thức; tiếng Anh toàn cầu; học tiếng Anh. Ngày nhận bài: 12/9/2019; Ngày hoàn thiện: 24/9/2019; Ngày đăng: 30/9/2019 Email: vuvantuanphd@gmail.com DOI: https://doi.org/10.34238/tnu-jst.2020.03.2042 Vu Van Tuan TNU Journal of Science and Technology 225(03): 41 - 47 Email: jst@tnu.edu.vn 42 1. Introduction Industry 4.0 has actively promoted the international integration quickly. The tool contributing to this development is used common languages. As one of the most influential languages, English has been considered as a worldwide lingual franca through globalization. Remarkably, Kachru [1] comes up with the notion about the Concentric Circle Model which differentiates English usage into three circles i.e. inner, outer, and expanding circles, which serve as a fundamental framework to discuss the popularity of English coverage. After reviewing the historical and global development of English, Crytal [2] confirms in his study that English becomes more influenced by non-native speakers, similar to the finding by Widdowson [3] which asserts English belongs not only to its native speakers but also to non-native speakers, too. The widespread use of English has greatly affected language policy-making and practices concerning English education. For the past three decades, English in Vietnam has gradually become a dominant foreign language in the curricula of educational policies. In fact, many reformed, educational policies have been issued to enhance English competence of Vietnamese users. Particularly, the following decisions and circulars have been in effect such as Decision No.1400/QĐ- TTg on the approval of the project “Teaching and learning English in the National education system from 2008-2020”, Decision No.711/QĐ-TTg on education and training development period 2011-2020; Circular No.01/2014/TT-BGDĐT issued in relation to Vietnamese 6 level foreign language competence framework; Decision No.2080/QĐ-TTg on the approval of revising and supplementing the project on teaching and learning English language in the National education system period 2017-2025. Among these documents, the main objectives concentrate on the foreign language competence of human resources to serve the cause of industrialization and modernization. Until now, much investment and effort to meet the targets of the National foreign language project have been implemented to turn English into a second language in Vietnam. The outcomes, however, have not been persuasive. For the past time, many studies have been conducted on the innovation of English language teaching and learning [4]. In fact, some studies have been conducted on the attitudes of language learners worldwide (e.g. [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10]). The overall findings have shown that learners have positive attitudes towards learning English; whereas, they cannot know how to turn their motivation into the effects of learning English. This study was done basing on the three factors that might affect Vietnamese college students, namely their awareness of the diversity of English, their assessment of the current education policy, and their purposes of learning English. Participants were recruited from students in four universities with both public and private universities in Hanoi and Bac Ninh city, using the quantitative approach to get the quick and correct data. The findings of this study would highlight the motivation that students should change to be fluent in learning English. 2. Method 2.1. Participants Using Google forms to collect data via mailshot is a convenient and efficient tool in research nowadays. Student unions of four universities, namely University of Languages & International Studies (ULIS); Hanoi University of Business & Technology (HUBT); Hanoi Law University (HLU); and University of Kinh Bac (UKB) were selected as respondents for this study. After one month requested via social media, the data were collected and the screen process took place. 824 participants answered the questionnaire, however, 519 answer sheets were rejected as the participants hadn’t correctly filled them out although the instructions had been clearly explained. The final sample consisted of 185 Vu Van Tuan TNU Journal of Science and Technology 225(03): 41 - 47 Email: jst@tnu.edu.vn 43 male and 120 female participants, equivalent to 60.7% and 39.3%, respectively. 94 students from ULIS which accounts for 30.8%, 63 from HLU, equivalent 20.7%, 89 or 29.2% from HUBT, and 59 or 19.3% respondents from UKB. 121 freshmen (39.7%), 104 sophomores (34.1%), 61 juniors (19.7%), and 20 seniors (6.6%) took part in the survey. In terms of number of years they studied English, the respondents spent many years studying English, namely 157 participants (51.5%) who reported that they studied English over 10 years, 85 or 27.9% students for 6-9 years. 31 respondents (10.2%) revealed that they learnt English for 3-5 years. 32 respondents (10.5%) acquired English for less that 3 years. When asked about whether they have learnt with native speakers of English, 248 participants (81.3%) said that they had not learnt with native speakers while 57 participants (18.7%) had a chance to study with native speakers. When asking about their parents, 224 or 73.4% of participants’ parents don’t know English, whereas 81 parents (26.6%) can use English. For living in English-speaking countries, only 7 students (2.3%) have spent time in an English- speaking country, whereas 298 participants (97.7%) haven’t been abroad. In general, the respondents have a long time studying English but they have little chance to use English in real lives. This might affect negatively their attitudes in learning English, which would be confirmed later in this study. 2.2. Measures The survey questionnaire consisted of demographic items in the first part such as sex, school year, the number of years learning English, students’ past teachers, These items would be the background for the consideration of influencing their attitudes towards learning English. The second part survey including 46 items dealt with attitudes towards English acquisition. The first category consisted of 18 items relating to the awareness of English. The second one, 18 items, concerned about the current English education policy. The third one, 10 items, dealt with the purposes for learning English. In order to know the respondents’ attitudes, limits of description were used to make qualitative judgements as follows; 1.0-1.79 equivalent to “very low”, 1.8-2.59 “low”, 2.6- 3.39 “moderate”, 3.4-4.19 “high”, and 4.2-5.0 “very high”. t-test used to determine whether the difference between sex and attitudes. 2.3. Procedure The researcher-made survey questionnaire was presented to five experts on educational assessment and accreditation for content validation. The questionnaire was then fine- tuned with a group of 70 students who participated in a pilot study to validate the strengths and weaknesses of the instrument. To ensure the liability of the questionnaire items, 46 questions were mixed up and encoded to get the best results. After the data mining had been completed, Cronbach Alpha was applied for the second part of the survey to check whether these items were liable for the actual implementation. The results showed that the participants’ attitudes toward the awareness of English got 0.935 and no index of Corrected Item-Total Correlation was below 0.3. The same figures were with the current English education policy and the purposes for learning English, namely 0.932 and 0.920, respectively. These results proved that these items were very reliable for carrying out the survey. Then, the five experts were again consulted for the finalization of the questionnaire before the researcher personally administered it basing on mailshot thanks to the administrative aides in targeted universities. All collected data were organized, summarized, analyzed, interpreted, and treated confidentially. IBM SPSS software was used for the treatment of the collected data. 3. Results and discussion When analyzing the participants’ attitudes toward the awareness of English as presented in the Table 1 below, they all recognized the role of English nowsadays. The weighted Vu Van Tuan TNU Journal of Science and Technology 225(03): 41 - 47 Email: jst@tnu.edu.vn 44 mean is 4.38, and the means of 18 items are also above 4, which denotes that the participants show their agreements in this survey. Overall, the standard deviation also stands at a very low figure 0.63, which denotes that not much difference is seen among the participants in terms of the awareness of English. Interestingly, the participants thought that like “Singaporean English” and “Indian English,” Vietnam should have its own variety of English: “Vietnamese English.” was gained the highest mean, that is 4.55. From this figure, it can be inferred that students want to become global citizens. They want to integrate their work with people in different countries using English. They, however, wish to have English intervened with Vietnamese circumstances in order to create their own essence – Vietnamese English. This tendency takes time to achieve its satisfaction such as the Philippines or India. Remarkably, the respondents acknowledged that British English and American English are not the major varieties of English in the world, which earned the lowest mean in this aspect (4.21). We might negate the idea that students don’t recognize the importance of acquiring English because they want to have their own Vietnamese English and they also know that more varieties of English have developed these days. This notion can be supported with the phrase “World Englishes” which the participants gave a high score of 4.43 on the list. In short, the attitudes towards the awareness of English in the students are well recognized, which does not require much effort of the school administrators in persuading their learners to motivate themselves in learning English [7]. Table 1. The attitudes toward the awareness of English Mean Std. Deviation 1 English is an international language. 4.33 0.642 2 English is the language used most widely in the world. 4.44 0.583 3 Knowing English is important in understanding people from other countries. 4.35 0.648 4 Knowing English is important in understanding the cultures of English-speaking countries, like the USA or the UK. 4.31 0.667 5 If I have a chance, I would like to travel to English-speaking countries, like the USA or the UK. 4.39 0.551 6 I prefer learning English to other foreign languages. 4.4 0.637 7 British English and American English are the major varieties of English in the world. 4.21 0.681 8 The English spoken by Indian people is not authentic English. 4.35 0.627 9 Many varieties of English exist in the world. 4.46 0.567 10 The non-native English speakers can also speak Standard English. (Here, Standard English refers to English spoken in the English-speaking countries, like the USA or the UK). 4.39 0.591 11 I want to learn American English rather than Singapore English. 4.49 0.551 12 As long as people understand me, it is not important which variety of English I speak. 4.37 0.662 13 I have heard of the phrase “World Englishes.” 4.43 0.631 14 I have heard of the phrase “Vietnamese English.” 4.31 0.769 15 Like “Singaporean English” and “Indian English,” Vietnam should have its own variety of English: “Vietnamese English.” 4.55 0.549 16 When I speak English, I want to sound like a native speaker. 4.33 0.596 17 When I speak English, I want to be identified clearly as Vietnamese. 4.38 0.643 18 I am not confident in speaking English because of my Vietnamese accent. 4.34 0.694 Weighted mean 4.38 Vu Van Tuan TNU Journal of Science and Technology 225(03): 41 - 47 Email: jst@tnu.edu.vn 45 When investigating the participants’ attitudes towards the current English education policy shown in the table 2 below, the findings revealed that they felt very low or disappointed with the current policy in learning English, which represents by a very modest figure 1.70 in the weighted mean. In recent years many reformed policies have been launched such as the Decision No.1400/QĐ-TTg; Decision No.711/QĐ- TTg; Cirlular No.01/2014/TT-BGDĐT; or Decision No.2080/QĐ-TTg. The core in these decisions or circular focuses on the role of teaching foreign languages, but the interviewees still supposed that they were not satisfied with the English teaching methods in their school. This piece of information confirms that it is the teachers who take charge of the success in learning English of the students. It’s time for teachers to review and adapt their methods in teaching different levels in one class. In fact, the respondents know that it is necessary to use English as one subject in the National Graduation Examination in Vietnam. Besides, the respondents also thought that they preferred learning British English to American English. Concerning the comparison between language skills and literacy skill in college English education, the respondents didn’t care much about this question. This implies that students want to develop four skills – speaking, listening, reading, and writing – simultaneously. The finding on the list shows the mean of 1.89. In short, students show no interest in the current English policy. Table 2. The attitudes toward the current English education policy Mean Std. Deviation 1 I am satisfied with the English teaching methods used in our school. 1.50 0.50 2 English should not be a compulsory subject in the National Graduation Examination in Vietnam. 1.55 0.50 3 American English is the best model for Vietnamese learners of English. 1.56 0.50 4 British English is the best model for Vietnamese learners of English. 1.60 0.52 5 Vietnamese college students should use English in either spoken or written communications among each other. 1.61 0.52 6 I would not take English if it were not a compulsory subject in school. 1.65 0.53 7 English education should start from kindergarten schools in Vietnam. 1.66 0.51 8 College English classes should be conducted in both English and Vietnamese. 1.69 0.58 9 All Vietnamese students should learn English. 1.70 0.55 10 I prefer native speakers rather than non-native speakers as my English teachers. 1.72 0.57 11 B1 or C1 (CEFR) should not be a requirement for non-major and major students respectively, obtaining the university degree in Vietnam. 1.74 0.58 12 If English were not taught at school, I would study it on my own. 1.76 0.62 13 I am satisfied with the college English education curriculum in Vietnam. 1.76 0.58 14 Besides English classes, other college classes, such as Math, should be also conducted in English. 1.81 0.53 15 I am satisfied with the English education policy in Vietnam. 1.81 0.49 16 I am satisfied with the English learning textbooks and other materials used in our school. 1.81 0.56 17 College English classes should be entirely conducted in English. 1.86 0.55 18 Speaking language skills are more important than literacy skills in college English education. 1.89 0.62 Weighted mean 1.70 Vu Van Tuan TNU Journal of Science and Technology 225(03): 41 - 47 Email: jst@tnu.edu.vn 46 Table 3. Your attitudes toward the purposes for learning English Mean Std. Deviation 1 In Vietnam, knowing English is more useful than knowing any other foreign language. 4.14 0.69 2 An important purpose for my English learning is to get a decent job. 4.22 0.69 3 I learn English in order to obtain better education and job opportunities abroad. 4.26 0.63 4 An important purpose for my English learning is to obtain high scores in English examinations, such as B1, C1 equivalence. 4.3 0.68 5 My parents believe that learning English is important. 4.34 0.72 6 Learning English is important for me, because English is a very useful tool in contemporary society. 4.35 0.66 7 I learn English to catch up with economic and technological developments in the world. 4.