TEACHERS’ CHOICE OF ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE AS THE LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION IN THE EFL CLASSROOM: A CASE STUDY AT FELTE - ULIS

Abstract

In the modern context, Communicative Language Teaching has gradually become a trend, especially in Vietnam. This approach emphasizes the role of English in class, considering it as an ideal FL teaching medium. Many scholars argued that language of instruction should totally be English while others find integrating Vietnamese more beneficial. Only by understanding the underneath reasons for the teachers’ choice of language can one make a conclusion towards the appropriateness of English domination in the current scenario in Viet Nam. Thus, the researcher was encouragedtocarryoutastudyentitled “Teachers’ choice of English and Vietnamese as the language of instruction in the EFL classrooms: A case study at FELTE-ULIS”. The purpose of this researchis toexplorethecurrentsituationofthe use of English and Vietnamese for in-class instruction employed by certain FELTE-ULIS teachers. Specifically, it studies the frequency that the teachers use each language, identifies the reasons encouraging them to choose one, as well as finds out the students’ perceptions of the teachers’ language preference. The researcher has adopted multiple-case study with the participation of four teachers currently teaching in English Division 1, FELTE, ULIS, VNU and their students. Three instruments namely class observation, questionnaires and face-to-face interviews with the teachers and their students were employed in order to collect data. The researcher, then, analyzed the data using both quantitative and qualitative methods. After the procedure of data analysis, significant findings were presented as follow. First and foremost, according to the researcher’s observation, three out of four teachers tended to use more English and less Vietnamese than they perceived from 8 to 28%. Second of all, the priority concern of the four teachers when choosing English over Vietnamese is their students’ benefits in learning process namely being students’ role model, building students’ English speaking motivation, improving students’ English proficiency and simulating a native-like learning environment. On the other hand, they all recognized the role of Vietnamese in guaranteeing each and every student’s comprehension in particular incidents. Lastly, from the perceptions of the students, all four teachers received a high level of students’ satisfaction. However, a small percentage of students had other thoughts on the appropriateness of their teachers’ instruction language choice and frequency. Also, for the reasons of choosing a language, there still existed some mismatch between the perceptions of the teachers and their students with the most typical ones being the teachers’ confidence, teachers’ English proficiency, and time factors. The researcher hopes that teachers of all fields would take the above finding into great consideration and make suitable amendment for their own instruction language pattern. This paper was expected to serve as a reference for other researchers with their further studies on this issue.