Bước đầu tìm hiểu nhận thức của giáo viên tiểu học trong dạy từ vựng cho học sinh

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hi nhp Tháng 11/2014 41 BƯỚC ĐẦU TÌM HIỂU NHẬN THỨC CỦA GIÁO VIÊN TIỂU HỌC TRONG DẠY TỪ VỰNG CHO HỌC SINH Võ Th Thanh Dip Trường Đại học Quy Nhơn Tóm t t: Ngày nay tiếng Anh cho học sinh cấp tiểu học đã trở thành một trong những yêu cầu giáo dục ngày càng cao ở các nước thuộc khối ASEAN nói chung và ở Việt nam nói riêng. Kể từ năm 2008 đến nay, một trong những trọng điểm đề án ngoại ngữ 2020 hướng đến là phổ cập thành công chương trình tiếng Anh ở cấp tiểu học. Đây là một trọng trách lớn vì hiện nay chương trình đào tạo giáo viên dạy tiếng Anh ở cấp tiểu học chưa được phổ biến, phần lớn giáo viên phải sử dụng kiến thức và kỹ năng sư phạm dành cho đối tượng học sinh ở cấp trung học cơ sở và trung học phổ thông để giảng dạy cho đối tượng nhỏ tuổi. Việc tìm hiểu những nhận thức của giáo viên trong việc dạy từ vựng tiếng Anh cho học sinh tiểu học sẽ giúp hiểu rõ hơn, thu hẹp những khoảng cách trong chương trình đào tạo giáo viên ở cấp đại học và tại các trường tiểu học đồng thời nâng cao hơn nữa chất lượng dạy và học tiếng Anh nói chung. Abstract: Nowadays English to primary pupils has become one of the increasing educational demands in ASEAN nations. Vietnam is no exception. Since 2008, a large-scale project of the Vietnamese government, directed by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), has aimed at the teaching and learning of English in the national educational system, at all levels from primary to tertiary for the 2008-2020 period. One of the prioritized goals of Project 2020 is to successfully introduce a foreign language, mainly English into primary curriculum. This is a challenging task as the majority of in-service teachers of English at primary schools in Vietnam have not been officially trained to teach English to young learners, as reported by the MOET. The missing link in language teacher education between universities with schools in Vietnam lies in the fact that teaching primary English has not been present in most university-degree curricula of universities across Vietnam, so elementary teachers have had to apply their own learning experience, the methodological knowledge and teaching practical skills for secondary or high school adolescents to teach English to young classes. Therefore, through this quantitative – qualitative research, an inquiry into how primary English teachers in Vietnam perceive vocabulary teaching and learning in their classroom settings aims at shedding light on how in-service English primary teachers should apply into young language learners. The findings of the research hopefully not only creates interactive and dialogic discussions for reflective teaching but also provides information to bridge the missing gaps between university curricula and the young learning communities for quality enhancement, as well as to facilitate well–informed decisions regarding teacher training and language policies of Vietnam. PRIMARY TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF TEACHING VOCABULARY TO YOUNG LEARNERS 1. Introduction English has played a very vital role among nations as it is the bridge that connects the world together. The fact that the scope of its users has been expanded to young learners has brought both opportunities and challenges for not only learners, teachers but teacher trainers, researchers and educational administrators as well. There have been a great number of studies in primary English education worldwide (Gewehr, 1998; Mallett, 2008; Menyuk & Brisk, 2005; Moon, 2005; Moyles & Hargreaves, 2003; Rocca, 2007; Shintani, 2011; Slattery & Willis, 2014; Troen & Tiu ban 1: Đào to chuyên ng 42 Boles, 2009), especially in Asia, where English is regarded as the common foreign language for world integration (Chan, Chin, & Suthiwan, 2011; Feng, 2011; Mallett, 2002; Qiang; Silver, Hu, & Iino, 2001; Wang, 2008); however, according to the 2013 databases of research theses in Hanoi, Hue, Danang and HoChiMinh City Universities, primary English learning and teaching in Vietnam seem to be open. It is the recent official introduction of English as a foreign language into Vietnamese primary schools that has increased a crucial need for understanding how to support Vietnamese young children learning English effectively. 2. Children learning English 2.1. The characteristics of young English learners For an in-depth exploration into primary English teaching and learning, it is very important to study the characteristics of the primary English learner. According to Broughton, Brumfit, Flavell, Hill, and Pincas (1980), McKay (2008), Willmott (2003), the nature of the young learner seems not to differ noticeably from nation to nation. Brown (1987) made a very thorough comparison between young learners and adult learners with variables such as cognition, sensory input, attention span, abstract thinking ability (p. 87-92). Instead, children often bring their personalities into their language classes varying individually across Howard Gardner’s eight types of intelligence – linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalistic. Furthermore, their differences in their socioeconomic, cultural and home background add another layer of complexity in their foreign language learning. Meanwhile, Moon (2000) briefly portrayed the profile of the young language learner with the following seven features - using language creatively, going for meaning, using ‘chunks’ of language, having fun, joining in the action, talking their heads off and feeling at home. (p. 10). From another psycholinguistic lens, Gordon (2007) employed the Natural Approach to trace back language instinct - an innate ability for L1 learning in order to psycho-linguistically explain children’s natural abilities with a second or foreign language because at the primary school age, young pupils are competent users of their mother tongue. Simultaneously, Gordon pointed out from the light of the Communicative Approaches that children who are more incidentally exposed to close-to-life contexts can pick up everyday vocabulary better than those who do not. Scott and Ytreberg (1990), while grouping children into their two age groups, mostly shared the above common characteristics during their growth along with their own assumption that children are likely to understand situations more quickly than they understand the language used so they use language skills long before they are aware of them in their language development (p.10). (MacNaughton and Williams (2004)) showed that young language learners are motivated, imaginative and curious in learning, which means that they need assistance, encouragement and praise from primary teachers. Similarly, Halliwell (1993) looked at child foreign language learning in terms of their ability to grasp meaning indirectly, creative use of limited language resources, instinct for play and fun, imagination and interaction and talk. Turnbull and Dailey-O'Cain (2009) indicated the use of first language as a mediator for interaction is a must in young classes; however, the further their L2 learning progresses, the less L1 can be used. 2.2. Children’s foreign language learning From such characteristics of the young language learner, several attempts have been made to provide a theory or model that can explain child foreign language. For instance, Broughton et al. (1980) searched for the answers to the questions about the optimal age and language content for learning English as a foreign language. Helena Mitchell and Jenny Monk (Ashcroft & Palacio, 2003) focused upon teaching literacy in the primary curriculum. Unlike Michell and Monk, Grugeon, Dawes, Smith, and Hubbard (2005) Chi
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hi nhp Tháng 11/2014 43 stressed on developing children’s speaking and listening at Key Stages 1 and 2. In a more detailed analysis, Moon (2005) offered a guidebook to teach children learning English in which Moon took four elements into consideration – contexts for learning English, children’s typical features, teachers’ beliefs about children’s learning and ways of observing children’s language learning. Nikolov (2009) explored into the processes of early learning of modern foreign languages in which young language learners’ cognitive, affective, socio-economic and classroom-related factors interact with one another. In the light of applied linguistics, Cameron also suggested a model of the construct language for child foreign language learning as follows: Source: (Cameron, 2003) Child foreign language learning is divided into two processes – learning oral skills and learning literacy skills. The former skills initially outdo the latter ones so listening and speaking usually come before writing and reading. In oral skills, Cameron (2003) explained: Oral skills can best be thought of as ‘vocabulary’ and ‘discourse’, with both of these being constructs centered on use and meaning, to reflect children’s learning. Vocabulary skills involve the understanding and productive use not just of single words but of phrases and ‘chunks’ of language. Discourse is language as use, and often, but not always, occurs in stretches longer than the sentence. In contrast to these extended stretches of talk, conversational skills involve understanding and using phrases and sentences in interaction with other children and with adults. 2.3. Children’s foreign vocabulary learning One of the milestones of early foreign language development is the production of children’s first words which reflect their cognitive skills and understanding of a new language. Stephanie and Villiers (1997) defined vocabulary as the most basic building blocks for learning English. Words are also basic meaning carriers that young learners initially employ to express what is going on in their minds. However, words only do not meet communicative needs. M. Lewis (2008) emphasized on chunks of language or stretches of words in meaningful contexts that enable young learners to be naturally involved in conversations and lead them from words to sentences and then grammar. Cameron (2003) and Pinter (2014) shared the belief that school-aged children pick up words before they are aware of grammatical rules as their limited capacity to generalize or analyze structures keeps them from grammatical explanations at the onset of child foreign language learning, which agrees with the dotted boundary between vocabulary and grammar in Cameron’s model of the construct language for child foreign language learning. Actually, even to adults, learning a sufficient amount of vocabulary is one of the biggest challenges because grammar is a closed system but vocabulary is an open system. The linguist David Wilkins summed up the importance of vocabulary learning (Thornbury, 2002, p. 13): Tiu ban 1: Đào to chuyên ng 44 “Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.” 2.4. Children’s word learning mechanisms The status of vocabulary has become reconsidered in foreign language teaching, backed by increasing significant research (Bogaards & Laufer, 2004; Carter, 2002, 2012; McCarthy, 2010; Morgan & Rinvolucri, 2011; P. Nation, 2005; N. Schmitt, 2000; Takac, 2008). For effective communication in young language classes, Cameron (2003) reconfirmed that building up useful vocabulary at primary level is the principal focus of the learning of a foreign language (p.72). Then how do children learn vocabulary? A lot of scientists have been interested in the area. For example, Grauberg (1997) suggested when a word is introduced for the first time, its meaning, pronunciation and spelling are what primary pupils should be instructed. As young learners’ experience of words and lexical knowledge widens and deepens, their lexical knowledge grows in various ways. Gil Diesendruck (Hoff & Shatz, 2007) tried to seek for the answer with his suggested model of child word learning mechanisms in which children learn words through six mechanisms: input, lexical constraints, syntax, conceptual bias, pragmatics, attention and learning in the two dimensions of specificity-cognition and exogenous (external) endogenous (internal) source. Position of the various word learning mechanisms in relation to the dimensions of specificity and source Source: (Hoff & Shatz, 2007, p. 258) The chart shows that the mechanism of attention and learning lies between the external and internal source dimension, decided by both the learner and the teacher. The other four mechanisms, lexical constraints, syntax, conceptual bias and pragmatics, process within the learner during their cognitive development from concrete to abstract. The only external mechanism is input. Native or bilingual children acquire vocabulary input from parents or family members and develop it naturally without formal instruction, but second or foreign language learners apparently do need vocabulary instructions in the necessary knowledge and the skills required to use it mainly from their teachers. 3. Teaching vocabulary to children Learning and teaching always go along together. From the characteristics of young English learners, their language learning in general and vocabulary learning as well word learning mechanisms in particular, to bring vocabulary to life in young English classes, it is essential to review the following fundamental teaching principles. Chi
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hi nhp Tháng 11/2014 45 3.1. Principles of teaching vocabulary to children In tune with Gil Diesendruck’s lens on the mechanisms of word learning, taking the factors of the nature of vocabulary into account, Cameron (2001) analyzed children vocabulary learning in their conceptual development and suggested the principles for teaching vocabulary as follows (p. 91): - The types of words that children find possible to learn will shift from concrete to abstract. - Vocabulary development is not just learning more words but is also importantly about expanding and deepening word knowledge. - Words and word knowledge are linked in networks of meaning. - Basic level words are likely to be more appropriate for younger children while older learners can benefit from building up superordinate and subordinate vocabulary linked to basic level words they already know. - Children change in how they can learn words. Meanwhile, from another skill-based perspective, E. H. Hiebert and M. L. Kamil (2005) distinguished two sets of word concepts: print/oral vocabulary and receptive/productive vocabulary. In the learner’s angle, I. S. P. Nation (1990) recognized the learning burden pupils encounter when they learn vocabulary involves meaning, form and usage along with three challenges – the learner’s previous experience of English and their mother tongue, the way in which the word is learned or taught and the intrinsic difficulty of the word. With the similar focus on the vocabulary principles but from the teacher’s views, Linse and Nunan (2005) suggested (p. 123-127): • Emphasize both direct and indirect teaching. • Teaching vocabulary words before a new activity. • Teach how to use context clues appropriately. • Present multiple exposures to new vocabulary items. • Give opportunities for deep processing of vocabulary items. • Teach students to use dictionaries. • Have students keep vocabulary notebooks. 3.2. Vocabulary teaching stages In a more detailed perspective in connection with young learners’ ages, familiarity with vocabulary concepts, similarity between L1 and L2, Stephanie and Villiers (1997) addressed child vocabulary learning by seeking for answers to frequently asked questions such as word teaching load per session, word choice and word learning. They also convincingly clarified the six stages of learning a word for the correspondent teaching implications (p. 6): 1) Recognition 2) Repetition 3) Controlled usage 4) Reading 5) Write and spell 6) Independent usage Grauberg (1997) suggested a four-stage teaching process for young learners including discrimination, understanding meaning, remembering and consolidation and extension of meaning (p. 15). First, discrimination involves distinctions of sound, letters, sound clustering, oral vocabulary or print vocabulary. Next comes understanding meaning. Besides, word learning depends on learners’ preferences. Instead of focusing on vocabulary principles or teaching stages, in order to find how children could find their ways to learn vocabulary, Takac (2008) employed a quantitative research in which 675 elementary learners of English as a FL aged between 11 and 14 with the implication that the position of the FL in the learning context does affect the selection and use of the vocabulary learning strategies. He eventually reached a Tiu ban 1: Đào to chuyên ng 46 conclusion that to beginning pupils, learning vocabulary is crucial so teaching vocabulary to young language learners effectively is of greater importance especially in FL learning environments where Nikolov (2002) considered teachers of young learners key players (p. 5). It’s primary teachers’ deep insights of child learning that will lead to success in young language classes. 3.3. The teacher’s role in children’s vocabulary learning Any decisions about classroom practice made by a language teacher originate from professional perceptions a language teacher have about the nature of a target language, language learners and the context in which the teacher works. Fives and Gill (2015) highlighted teachers’ beliefs were “at the very heart of teaching” and explained some reasons why it is very important to understand how and what teachers view about learning and teaching (p. 85): One reason may be that beliefs held by teachers influence how and why they may or may not change their practice to incorporate new curriculum, adopt new instructional strategies or take up new initiatives. Understanding the beliefs that guide teachers’ decision making and actions in their classrooms could help educators at all levels adjust how they work with teachers to provide more targeted feedback to support teachers’ professional growth and development throughout their career. In English language teacher education, Borg (2006), one of the leading researchers in teacher cognition in language education, recommended a wide range of research methods such as questionnaires, self-report instruments, interviews, classroom visits, scenario-rating tasks of pre- service and in-service teachers because teachers are active, thinking decision-makers who play a central role in shaping classroom events with the convincing assumption that what teachers do in the conduct of their professional activities is shaped, though not entirely determined, by what they believe and know. Barnard and Burns (2012) stressed (page 3): Although teachers may have strongly held beliefs, they do not always put these into practice. The reasons need to be understood by exploring the specific contexts in which they work, each of which is itself a complex and dynamic system in which physical, temporal, cognitive, social and cultural factors interact to provide affordances for, o