Introduction
Each student often has at least one study strategy that he or she felt most important whether that is studying in a quiet place, taking good notes, being a good listener, making a schedule and sticking to it, reading every class assignment or preparing for the test. It is said that good study habit is a key to success. If a student has efficient method, he or she can have good result. However, if they have no or unsuitable strategy, they can fail the examinations in college. In the last century, people could realize the positive effects of team work on society (O’Connel & Cuthbertson, 2009). In addition, Longman and Atkinton (1988) claimed that “the human being needs the support of others, as well as to support others. We are physically separate entities but we can’t develop in isolation” (p. 18). Recently, Vietnamese universities as well as other ones in foreign countries have been widely using the teamwork skills. To investigate thoroughly this mater, in this study, university students’ studying in group was explored. The problems occurring during the teamwork process are inevitable (Longman & Atkinton, 1988). However, this mini research only concentrates on the advantages of team after students use teamwork skill to finish their tasks.
Materials and methods
In order to gather data for the study, a questionnaire was designed because of its advantages. For example, we can investigate on a large scale in a short time and do not need any special equipment to get necessary information. There are twelve questions including both close and open ended items. The questionnaire was created to find out the ways students learn together, their attitude and the goals they achieve from studying in group.
Before the survey was administered, the questionnaire was tested by students of class 1a08 of Hanoi University. The survey was carried out in March, 2010. It was conducted in four classes in three different language departments of Hanoi University. Sixty students were all selected on a voluntary basis and delivered sixty questionnaires. The respondents answered the questionnaires in their break time. Before they answered the questions, all the queries about points of difficulty were responded and participants then progressed to finish the questionnaire. All the handouts were collected after 30 minutes.
Results and discussion
1. An overview about students’ learning in the group
It is obvious that the number of students studying in group in class made up the highest rate (58). It means that teamwork is considered a teaching method in college. Teachers used teamwork skill to teach in class. It is one of the main reasons why students study in group. This reason is the same as one of six reasons which Johnson (2003) cited by O’Connel and Cuthbertson (2009) listed “understanding group dynamics is central to education” (p. 3). Moreover, second question was made to ask respondents whether they have any difficulty in studying or not. All students revealed that they have trouble studying and they need help from their friends so they have to learn together. It is entirely reasonable as Santrock and Halonen’s opinion, they noted that revising with friends would stimulate you to do reading task and enable you to find out problematic points.
An investigation into students’ frequency of doing teamwork activity was conducted and the result of it showed that the majority of respondents spent much time learning in the group. Nearly half of students (48%) spent more than three times a week studying in group. A similar percentage 45 % practiced from 2 to 3 times a week. It means that a large number of students were aware of the importance of time for learning together. It can be claimed that when members spend much time learning together, they can organize the group more efficiently. According to Santrock and Halonen (1999) have already stated that “effective groups usually work in stages” (p. 38). He also explained that “efficient group accomplish their work in three stages: planning how they work together, solving the problem or exchanging points of view, and reviewing the quality of their work” (p. 39).
2. Students’ attitudes during teamwork process
From the chart above, one fourths (15) of respondents felt that it is normal to learn together in a group and the rest (45) assumed that studying in a group is an interesting method. None of them felt boring when study in group. It can be concluded that many students are attracted by this studying method. Because in fact, this is an interesting process and it makes learning more active (Longman & Atkinton, 1988).
The investigation into students’ application of teamwork skills in the group showed that the majority of students use necessary techniques when they learn with other people. Of 60 students who were questioned, 28 people sometimes pay attention to their coworkers’ opinions. 20 of them often notice and 10 students always listen to other people’s suggestions. It seemed that students have total responsibility for their group. Longman and Atkinton (1988) claimed that group discussion will be more active if members expound and pay attention carefully to other people.
When being asked about using teamwork skills, 24 respondents said that they often discuss and persuade other members. Particularly, 12 students always ask questions, discuss the objectives of the team and protect their ideas. It is clear that asking, discussing and persuading are the important teamwork skills in teamwork process. Because as far as Longman & Atkinton (1988), “ The purpose of such group is discussion of information. Therefore, learning becomes an active, rather than passive process.” (p. 184).
It is important to share with the team to create an environment of teamwork and it is also crucial to help one’s coworkers, which is the general theme of the team (Keyton, 2002) as cited in the book of O’Connel and Cuthbertson (2009). 22 of 60 students often help their coworkers during the studying process. Likewise, students sometimes give their teammates a hand. The numbers of people who always help other people is high (14 students). It is clear that each individual in the group understood the purpose of team. It goes in line with the findings of O’Connel and Cuthbertson (2009). He said that “Individuals often combine their talents and resources to complete a task, reach a goal or do something they would not be able to do their own” (p 5).
It can be seen from the table, 24 students often participate in group actively, whereas only 8 respondents always join in group activity and up to 16 students rarely do that. It seems that the majority of students are not enthusiastic and they are not aware of the importance of participating actively. The reasons may come from many fields. It may be because of their habit. Maybe they think that it is not necessary to take all the sections on time. It seems that students have misconception of this because according to Longman and Atkinton (1988), arriving on time for all the sections is one of the main responsibilities of group members.
In general, Vietnamese students knew how to apply teamwork skills into group work process as well as the ways to study in group effectively. It is clear that practicing these skills frequently is very important because Levi (2001) reported that it is very essential that members of the team should have social skills and routine to have the best goal when building a group.
3. The advantages of team work
As illustrated in chart 5, among five benefits listed: experiences, learning style, communication, knowledge, confidence, none of 60 students answered that they gain nothing from doing group work. And by choosing more than one answer, the respondents showed their achievement in different angles. Indeed, 50 of 60 students said that they are much more confident after each time they and their friends work together. Students not only feel more confident but also they have more experience, learning style, communication from their coworkers. 35 students gained more experience, 28 students studied the learning style of their teammates, and 40 students admitted that they can develop their communication skill since they learned in the group. It is clear that studying in the group helps the members improve many necessary skills. This conclusion is similar to the findings of Longman and Atkinton (1988) “working in groups adds a vital element to your education. It improves your ability to communicate, develop your project skills, and makes you better at dealing with conflict.” (p. 37). They also said that “effective groups tend to bring out the best in their members.” (p. 39)
As illustrated in the chart, approximately 50 students agreed that it is useful when studying in the group. This number is as four times as the number of students who thought it is a simple method. Particularly, none of them said it is useless. The data indicated that studying in the group seems really useful. It can be proved by benefits students gained from studying in group. The more advantages they gained, the higher they evaluated the group work.
The last question is about students’ opinion about importance of teamwork for their future job. 50 students thought that teamwork skills will play an important role in their job in future. The rest (10) were not sure about that. In fact, teamwork has become a compulsory part of working culture and many businesses now look at teamwork skills when evaluating an employee. It was proved by York, Davis and Wise (2000). They claimed that “today’s competitive business environments where innovation and (spread to market) are crucial, teaming plays a vital business role in bringing key contributors together to focus on join work objectives, common problems and developing innovative solution.” (p. 3). Moreover, Johnson (2003) as cited by O’Connel and Cuthbertson (2009) gave the reason why people should study in group is that: “understand group dynamics is central to creating effective businesses and industries” (p. 3).
Conclusion
In conclusion, this small-scale research has found out some points concerning students’ teamwork in terms of the ways they learn together, their attitudes towards learning in the group as well as the goals they have achieved from studying in the group. Generally, students have realized the usefulness of team work in their learning course. The majority of students applied this learning method to study thoroughly. They used some teamwork skills that will enable team members of the group to work together and achieve the team’s purposes. They appreciated it because it has brought many advantages such as the experience, knowledge, communication, learning style, confidence which they can gain from their friends. If teamwork technique is applied in universities, it is very good for the students themselves in their job in the future. Because teamwork skills are being increasingly used worldwide as the foundation of work today, it will be very useful if students can approach this working style before they graduate from the universities. It is strongly suggested that students should consider team work a strategy to learn and achieve desirable purpose.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Fourth-Year English Majors’ Career Orientation
I, Introduction
“Employment is the huge part of adult life” (Asher, 2004, p.3). If a person makes a wrong career decision, he will suffer both financially and emotionally. In the 1990s, English degree was highly appreciated and versatile for numerous jobs. However, in modern society, employers tend to recruit graduates with specialized majors such as computer science or economics. Thus, English major students are often confused and get stuck in choosing career (DeGalan & Lambert, 2000). Hence, it is crucial that the research be carried out to give all English majors and the would-be ones an overall look at English major seniors’ career choice and their preparation for the future life-work so that they can take their own career plans to achieve success.
II, Materials and Methods
To collect the data, a questionnaire was developed. The subjects of the study were English major seniors of Hanoi University so a monolingual questionnaire was reasonably required. It comprises nine questions. The first two questions probe the general judgment on senior’s career orientation while the next two questions attempt to find out their popular career choice and the last five ones discover the way students prepare for their future jobs in terms of academic knowledge as well as social skills.
A survey was conducted at 3 English classes: 1A06, 6A06 and 7A06 of Hanoi University in April, 2010. Questionnaire papers were distributed to 48 females and 2 males on voluntary basis. The participations answered the questionnaires in their break time. Before they answered, the queries were responded and participants then progressed to finishing the questionnaire. All the handouts were completed and collected after 30 minutes. It took us several days to analyze the data. Finally, the data were recorded in the form of bar charts, pie charts and tables.
III, Results and Discussion
1. Some general judgment on fourth year English majors’ career orientation
The pie chart showed positive attitude of fourth-year English majors towards career orientation. The majority of asked students (90%) took career paths in advance whereas just a minority of them (10%) did not give any thought to the career planning. Apparently, almost all respondents had their own career planning. It will be the great advantage for them to launch successful career, which was strongly confirmed by Lawson (2002) and Asher (2004). All their research demonstrated that career orientation could boost new employees’ confidence and competence to fit in with their future jobs. As the result, they will gain more success and happy lifetime. For the all above benefits, it is definitely recommended that career orientation be built as soon as possible among undergraduates.
2. Career choice
2.1. The most popular career choice
Concerning English majors’ career choice, chart 2 highlighted the differences in the popularity of work fields. As can be seen from this chart, business contributing the highest percentage of students’ selection (55%) was highly preferable to any other fields. This finding was relevant to the deduction of DeGalan and Lambert (2000) that “business has enjoyed enormous growth and peaked in popularity” (p.9). Following this area was teaching (14%). Two other fields, Tourism, Publishing and Broadcasting made up lower choice with the same percentage (11%). Finally, translating was chosen by only 9% of respondents staying at bottom of the list.
With these results, it is clear that the number of Hanoi English majors who decided to become translators or interpreters as the trained majors was extremely limited. This conclusion proved the findings of Manabe (2009) that to become a translator, learner needed to possess not only excellent English skills but also deep and wide background knowledge of history, culture as well as other aspects of life. Correspondingly, translating is still a particularly challenging field with students. However, English majors are provided with valuable skills such as critical thinking, solid writing, and fluent speaking… which are very useful to different job fields, consequently, they can apply for various kinds of jobs. Lemire also (2006) emphasized that “where there are people who need help using words to communicate, there are jobs for English major” (p.5). Hence, “No one need worry about the future of English majors in colleges or universities” (DeGalan and Lambert, 2000, p. 11).
2.2. Key factors affecting job choice
Chart 3 indicated key factors contributing to job choice of English major seniors. A significant portion of respondents (72%) considered salary the salient factor when looking for work. It was more than three times as much as the percentage of students choosing their jobs based on their interest (20%). Nearly half of respondents, namely 48%, embarked on career fields because of the working-condition while just 25% of them gave heed to their own ability.
It is clear that most of students often paid more attention to external factors than internal factors when they applied for jobs. This trend did not appear to be congruent with findings of many experts. According to DeGalan and Lambert (2000), career planning should be done by choosing a job that not only is suitable with students’ ability but also challenges to develop their new skills as well as flair. They also emphasized, “If you make a decision that you can not tolerate and feel you must leave that job, you will then have both unemployment and self esteem issues to contend with.”(p.97). Therefore, aside from external working factors, internal working factors such as interest and ability should be put on thoughtful deliberation. “If you find jobs you love, you will never work a day in your life” (Asher, 2004, p.4).
3. Preparation
“Planning is the key to success” (Coplin, 2003). As the results, preparation is regarded as a decisive step to launch a successful career.
3.1. Academic preparation
As illustrated in table 4, English majors were more concerned with oral English than written English. Among 50 respondents, majority of them (23) confirmed that they spent a lot of time practicing speaking and listening and no one ignored those skills. Writing, meanwhile, was not fully appreciated by students. Most of them (43) sometimes (not frequently) or rarely or even never spent time practicing it, and just a few students (7) reported that they had the usual habit of exercising writing skills. However, DeGalan and Lambert (2000) emphasized that writing skill was very important to any employer. Through writing frequently, students can learn about critical thinking, paraphrase technique, analyzing and interpreting data as well as the way to express ideas clearly and precisely which can help them not only improve other skills but also satisfy the demand of employers. For all those advantages, besides studying verbal communication skills, English majors should appreciate the importance of writing skill, as the result, practice it more regularly and diligently.
As chart 4 showed, additional education or training were particularly appreciated by most of English major seniors. A substantial percentage of respondents (92%) considered obtaining other degrees or certificates besides English degrees necessary to get their future jobs. Just a modest number of English majors (4%) were confident to launch their career without any other education. Only a small number (4%) had neutral opinions about this. The trend of holding other degrees or certificates besides English could be explained that “English as a major is not job training” (p.115) as DeGalan and Lambert (2000) stated. According to their findings, English majors were provided with “liberal education” (p.115) - general knowledge rather than specified skills, “the content of academic major, in or of itself, is only transferable to those occupations…. such as editing, publishing and translating” (p.115). Hence, to meet the demand of the employment, English major students should be armed with additional education or training to get ready for job search.
Concerning the additional education or training of English major fellows, chart 5 highlights the popular fields students study besides English. Statistics presented economics as the dominant one with the highest students’ choice (84%). This tendency was directly traced to the 4th year English majors’ career selection, which was discussed in the previous part. As most of students decided to work in business, studying in economics fields was the deliberate choice. For this fact, it is strongly suggested that some specialized English, especially business English, should be introduced into the English department curriculum to accommodate the special demand of undergraduates.
3.2 Soft skill preparation
Table 2 shows that fourth-year English majors are supremely not confident in their social skills although they highly appreciate the role of these ones. Among 50 asked people, no one disclaimed the importance of soft skills but only 16 people reinforced to stay at the good degree. More than half of students (26) confirmed that they are at fair level. Worse still, eight respondents admitted to being extremely lack of those skills. It is undeniable that an inordinate number of students made inadequate preparation for social skills. This conclusion agrees with the view of many experts, “Students were considered high functioning, as indicated by intellectual capabilities, language skills and academic performance, but were lacking of social skills” (Kamps, Leonard, Vernon, 1992, p.282). However, aside from academic knowledge, some soft skills such as communication skills, problem-solving skills… are also regarded as the crucial factors required for the work placement (Coplin, 2002). So it is crucial that students pay more attention to improve these skills.
Chart 6 indicates some popular ways helping students sharpen their social skills. As can be seen from the chart, both part-time jobs and voluntary activities were in huge favor of more than half of respondents, which ranged from 53% to 57 %. Taking part in these activities, students can acquire a lot of communication skills as well as problem-solving skills, which are extremely valuable for their future jobs (Coplin, 2003). However, just a modest number of asked seniors (23%) became a member of clubs such as sports, English or social clubs… Obviously, students did not take full advantages of those kinds of activity. This underestimation of club’s significance completely contrasted with the review suggested by Coplin (2003). According to his findings, “certain pleasure activities are treated as skills for credit in college” (p.112). These experiences will develop students’ self-confidence, teamwork and interpersonal skills that help them cope with the world of work. For all those benefits, students are highly recommended to formulate all these viable strategies in order to develop social skills as much as possible.
IV, Conclusion
In brief, this small-scale research explored some significant points related to career orientation of 4th year English majors in teams of their career choice as well as their preparation for future job. The results demonstrated most of students had circumspect career orientation with variety of job choice and Business was concluded as the most popular. However, the key factors affecting job choice should be taken into more serious consideration. Concerning preparation, students should not only be prepared academically but also pick up more useful practical experience and soft skills. This research along with the above suggestions is expected to help students shape an illustrious career. “An effective orientation program takes time and effort but is well worth the investment” (Lawson, K, 2003).
“Employment is the huge part of adult life” (Asher, 2004, p.3). If a person makes a wrong career decision, he will suffer both financially and emotionally. In the 1990s, English degree was highly appreciated and versatile for numerous jobs. However, in modern society, employers tend to recruit graduates with specialized majors such as computer science or economics. Thus, English major students are often confused and get stuck in choosing career (DeGalan & Lambert, 2000). Hence, it is crucial that the research be carried out to give all English majors and the would-be ones an overall look at English major seniors’ career choice and their preparation for the future life-work so that they can take their own career plans to achieve success.
II, Materials and Methods
To collect the data, a questionnaire was developed. The subjects of the study were English major seniors of Hanoi University so a monolingual questionnaire was reasonably required. It comprises nine questions. The first two questions probe the general judgment on senior’s career orientation while the next two questions attempt to find out their popular career choice and the last five ones discover the way students prepare for their future jobs in terms of academic knowledge as well as social skills.
A survey was conducted at 3 English classes: 1A06, 6A06 and 7A06 of Hanoi University in April, 2010. Questionnaire papers were distributed to 48 females and 2 males on voluntary basis. The participations answered the questionnaires in their break time. Before they answered, the queries were responded and participants then progressed to finishing the questionnaire. All the handouts were completed and collected after 30 minutes. It took us several days to analyze the data. Finally, the data were recorded in the form of bar charts, pie charts and tables.
III, Results and Discussion
1. Some general judgment on fourth year English majors’ career orientation
The pie chart showed positive attitude of fourth-year English majors towards career orientation. The majority of asked students (90%) took career paths in advance whereas just a minority of them (10%) did not give any thought to the career planning. Apparently, almost all respondents had their own career planning. It will be the great advantage for them to launch successful career, which was strongly confirmed by Lawson (2002) and Asher (2004). All their research demonstrated that career orientation could boost new employees’ confidence and competence to fit in with their future jobs. As the result, they will gain more success and happy lifetime. For the all above benefits, it is definitely recommended that career orientation be built as soon as possible among undergraduates.
2. Career choice
2.1. The most popular career choice
Concerning English majors’ career choice, chart 2 highlighted the differences in the popularity of work fields. As can be seen from this chart, business contributing the highest percentage of students’ selection (55%) was highly preferable to any other fields. This finding was relevant to the deduction of DeGalan and Lambert (2000) that “business has enjoyed enormous growth and peaked in popularity” (p.9). Following this area was teaching (14%). Two other fields, Tourism, Publishing and Broadcasting made up lower choice with the same percentage (11%). Finally, translating was chosen by only 9% of respondents staying at bottom of the list.
With these results, it is clear that the number of Hanoi English majors who decided to become translators or interpreters as the trained majors was extremely limited. This conclusion proved the findings of Manabe (2009) that to become a translator, learner needed to possess not only excellent English skills but also deep and wide background knowledge of history, culture as well as other aspects of life. Correspondingly, translating is still a particularly challenging field with students. However, English majors are provided with valuable skills such as critical thinking, solid writing, and fluent speaking… which are very useful to different job fields, consequently, they can apply for various kinds of jobs. Lemire also (2006) emphasized that “where there are people who need help using words to communicate, there are jobs for English major” (p.5). Hence, “No one need worry about the future of English majors in colleges or universities” (DeGalan and Lambert, 2000, p. 11).
2.2. Key factors affecting job choice
Chart 3 indicated key factors contributing to job choice of English major seniors. A significant portion of respondents (72%) considered salary the salient factor when looking for work. It was more than three times as much as the percentage of students choosing their jobs based on their interest (20%). Nearly half of respondents, namely 48%, embarked on career fields because of the working-condition while just 25% of them gave heed to their own ability.
It is clear that most of students often paid more attention to external factors than internal factors when they applied for jobs. This trend did not appear to be congruent with findings of many experts. According to DeGalan and Lambert (2000), career planning should be done by choosing a job that not only is suitable with students’ ability but also challenges to develop their new skills as well as flair. They also emphasized, “If you make a decision that you can not tolerate and feel you must leave that job, you will then have both unemployment and self esteem issues to contend with.”(p.97). Therefore, aside from external working factors, internal working factors such as interest and ability should be put on thoughtful deliberation. “If you find jobs you love, you will never work a day in your life” (Asher, 2004, p.4).
3. Preparation
“Planning is the key to success” (Coplin, 2003). As the results, preparation is regarded as a decisive step to launch a successful career.
3.1. Academic preparation
As illustrated in table 4, English majors were more concerned with oral English than written English. Among 50 respondents, majority of them (23) confirmed that they spent a lot of time practicing speaking and listening and no one ignored those skills. Writing, meanwhile, was not fully appreciated by students. Most of them (43) sometimes (not frequently) or rarely or even never spent time practicing it, and just a few students (7) reported that they had the usual habit of exercising writing skills. However, DeGalan and Lambert (2000) emphasized that writing skill was very important to any employer. Through writing frequently, students can learn about critical thinking, paraphrase technique, analyzing and interpreting data as well as the way to express ideas clearly and precisely which can help them not only improve other skills but also satisfy the demand of employers. For all those advantages, besides studying verbal communication skills, English majors should appreciate the importance of writing skill, as the result, practice it more regularly and diligently.
As chart 4 showed, additional education or training were particularly appreciated by most of English major seniors. A substantial percentage of respondents (92%) considered obtaining other degrees or certificates besides English degrees necessary to get their future jobs. Just a modest number of English majors (4%) were confident to launch their career without any other education. Only a small number (4%) had neutral opinions about this. The trend of holding other degrees or certificates besides English could be explained that “English as a major is not job training” (p.115) as DeGalan and Lambert (2000) stated. According to their findings, English majors were provided with “liberal education” (p.115) - general knowledge rather than specified skills, “the content of academic major, in or of itself, is only transferable to those occupations…. such as editing, publishing and translating” (p.115). Hence, to meet the demand of the employment, English major students should be armed with additional education or training to get ready for job search.
Concerning the additional education or training of English major fellows, chart 5 highlights the popular fields students study besides English. Statistics presented economics as the dominant one with the highest students’ choice (84%). This tendency was directly traced to the 4th year English majors’ career selection, which was discussed in the previous part. As most of students decided to work in business, studying in economics fields was the deliberate choice. For this fact, it is strongly suggested that some specialized English, especially business English, should be introduced into the English department curriculum to accommodate the special demand of undergraduates.
3.2 Soft skill preparation
Table 2 shows that fourth-year English majors are supremely not confident in their social skills although they highly appreciate the role of these ones. Among 50 asked people, no one disclaimed the importance of soft skills but only 16 people reinforced to stay at the good degree. More than half of students (26) confirmed that they are at fair level. Worse still, eight respondents admitted to being extremely lack of those skills. It is undeniable that an inordinate number of students made inadequate preparation for social skills. This conclusion agrees with the view of many experts, “Students were considered high functioning, as indicated by intellectual capabilities, language skills and academic performance, but were lacking of social skills” (Kamps, Leonard, Vernon, 1992, p.282). However, aside from academic knowledge, some soft skills such as communication skills, problem-solving skills… are also regarded as the crucial factors required for the work placement (Coplin, 2002). So it is crucial that students pay more attention to improve these skills.
Chart 6 indicates some popular ways helping students sharpen their social skills. As can be seen from the chart, both part-time jobs and voluntary activities were in huge favor of more than half of respondents, which ranged from 53% to 57 %. Taking part in these activities, students can acquire a lot of communication skills as well as problem-solving skills, which are extremely valuable for their future jobs (Coplin, 2003). However, just a modest number of asked seniors (23%) became a member of clubs such as sports, English or social clubs… Obviously, students did not take full advantages of those kinds of activity. This underestimation of club’s significance completely contrasted with the review suggested by Coplin (2003). According to his findings, “certain pleasure activities are treated as skills for credit in college” (p.112). These experiences will develop students’ self-confidence, teamwork and interpersonal skills that help them cope with the world of work. For all those benefits, students are highly recommended to formulate all these viable strategies in order to develop social skills as much as possible.
IV, Conclusion
In brief, this small-scale research explored some significant points related to career orientation of 4th year English majors in teams of their career choice as well as their preparation for future job. The results demonstrated most of students had circumspect career orientation with variety of job choice and Business was concluded as the most popular. However, the key factors affecting job choice should be taken into more serious consideration. Concerning preparation, students should not only be prepared academically but also pick up more useful practical experience and soft skills. This research along with the above suggestions is expected to help students shape an illustrious career. “An effective orientation program takes time and effort but is well worth the investment” (Lawson, K, 2003).
Friday, October 26, 2012
The Secondary School Students’ Assessments Of Sexuality Education In Curriculum
1. Introduction
Sex education is currently a heated issue that attracts a great deal of attention nationwide and worldwide. Despite researchers and educators’ persuasion that sex education can bring about several benefits, many people, including parents and teachers, are unconvinced of this program being a positive school subject. There are pros and cons in their arguments which need careful consideration before implementation can be realized.
According to Rosen, Murray and Moreland (2004) “Sexuality education is the lifelong process of acquiring information and forming attitudes, beliefs, and values about identity, relationships, and intimacy” (p.4). In other words, sex education should be part of an advanced education program in order to assist children with adequate knowledge of a physical life. In fact, human reproduction and modern civilization would be impossible without the young generation being academically armed with this knowledge.
Despite this fact, school children in Viet Nam seem to be left with the impression that sex knowledge should be grasped by the children themselves. In other words, few schools officially teach this knowledge to school children, fearing that it is too sensitive and it may arouse their curiosity to the extent that they might experiment themselves on this.
In order to find out what secondary school children think about this problem, a mini research was done, hoping that it may throw some light to such areas as the importance of sex education, the age of acquiring this knowledge, the content of the sex education, and finally the method of instructing it to school children.
2. Methodology
In order to collect the data for the study, a questionnaire (Appendix) was developed. The subjects of this study were the secondary school students; therefore, a bilingual questionnaire (English/ Vietnamese) was designed. It was divided into 5 main parts with 9 questions. Some kinds of questions such as multi-choice, scale, close-ended were involved. The first part of the questionnaire aimed to find out the students’ assessments of importance of sexuality education. The second one explored the subjects’ opinions on the ages suitable for acquiring the knowledge of sexuality and the next one discovered students’ opinions on the contents and then the students’ suggestions for teaching sexuality knowledge to secondary students. The last one found out students’ opinion on the counter effect of sexuality education at school.
50 students at Le Loi Secondary School were selected randomly from different classes. They are all at the age of 13.
Before doing the official survey, we had a pilot survey in our own class to see whether or not our questionnaire was acceptable. From the comments of our colleagues, some questions in the questionnaire were adapted to fit the purpose of our primary research.
The official survey was carried out during a break time. Handouts were delivered to 50 participants on a voluntary basis. All the participants had time to read bilingual questions before progressing to completing all queries in the questionnaire. It took 40 minutes to give out and collect the handouts. All questionnaires were classified as appropriate.
3. Findings and discussion
3.1. Importance of sexuality education
As is shown in chart 1, a significant number of students (46%) agreed that sexuality education was important and 38% of them strongly supported that it was very important. In other words, 74% of the respondents support the introduction of sex program at secondary school. Another 10% held the view that it is quite important. Meanwhile only 6% of respondents considered it as an unimportant subject, which may be understood that they do not want to learn this subject at their age or else.
One noticeable thing is that majority of students highly appreciated sexuality education at schools. In fact, many teachers and health educators believe that sexuality education helps to reduce the risk-taking sexual behaviors which might lead to negative impacts like unplanned pregnancy, infection with sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS. Furthermore, sexuality education can provide “opportunities for young people to explore their attitudes and values and to practice the decision-making and other life skills they need to be able to make informed choices about their sexual life” (International Technical Guidance On Sexuality Education: An evidence-informed approach for schools, teacher and health educators, 2009, p.2). In brief, sexuality education encourages young people to live safely and enjoy their sexual life.
Certainly, sexuality education programs in schools should help minimize the risks that the youth might face in the course of their sexual experiences. Then, another question that needs clarifying is the appropriate age range for sexuality education. The next part of survey will focus on this matter.
3.2. The age suitable for acquiring sex knowledge
As can be seen from chart 2, most of the students (62%) would like to be provided with sexuality knowledge when they are at the age of the secondary school. It was followed by high and primary education (18%, 14%). Only 6% of them were in agreement that it was the best to begin introducing at high educational level.
Obviously, it is highly recommended by a large number of respondents that sexuality education be started at secondary school. It can be explained by the fact that most students start their puberty at the age of 12 or 13. Pubescence is a time of great physical and mental changes, especially sexual development. Young people are really curious about the development of their bodies; therefore, providing information about heath, sexuality for young people at this time is very crucial. Furthermore, Kelly (1998) claimed that the majority of youth experienced sexual copulation during the adolescence. Thus, sexuality education should be included in the education curriculum of the secondary school to help the students avoid harmful effects of unsafe sex and have good preparation for a mature life.
Along with introducing sexuality education at appropriate age, finding out the suitable contents to provide for students when studying this subject is also very important. The following section is aimed to discuss this issue.
3.3. Contents of sex education programs should provide for children
As shown in the table, we can see the great difference among students’ opinions about the contents what students should be taught in sexuality education. The most obvious is that the majority of the students (72%) would like to study all of the contents recommended above in sexuality education. This is in congruent with the finding about information of learning including “growth and development, reproduction, contraception, interpersonal relationships, sexual behavior” (International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education: An evidence-informed approach for schools, teachers and health educators, 2009, p.5).
3.4. Students’ suggestion for teaching sexuality knowledge
As illustrated in chart 3, more than a half of the students (64%) wanted to have sexuality education taught as a separate subject. Nearly 30% of the respondents shared the idea that sexuality education ought to be integrated with another subject. Only 8 % of them were still unsure about how this subject should be instructed.
The results showed that the majority of the students are in favor of studying sexuality education as a separate subject. This finding is not in line with a recommendation from Sexuality Education in Europe (p.12):“Typically, sexuality education is taught in Biology lessons and in perhaps one other area of curriculum”. There are some reasons for the result of this minor research. First, if sexuality education is the part of other subject like biology, physical education and so on, it will be ignored by the teachers because “Experts are concerned that not only are many teachers under prepared, they are also being forced to teach material with which they do not feel personally comfortable” (Kelly, 1998, p.225). Second, if sexuality education is a separate subject, a lot of topics related to sexual life will be covered. It will help students get much useful information and avoid bad sexual activities which can bring about severe consequences in future.
As can be expected, students highly appreciated teaching sexuality education as a separate subject. Besides, concerns have been raised over the type of sexuality education class. The next part will concentrate on talking over this issue.
It can be seen from chart 4, 62% of participants liked learning sexuality education in the single-sex class. Meanwhile 30% of them supported co-ed class and only 8% of respondents still did not know for certain about which type of class organization was suitable for sexuality education program at school.
As expected, most of the students supposed that sexuality instruction should be conducted in the single-sex class. This is perhaps due to the Vietnamese culture and customs which tend to disapprove of discussing this topic in public and with the presence of the opposite sex. This finding was in accordance with conclusion “separating students into same-sex group, for part or all of a programs, has also been demonstrated to be effective” (as cited in International Technical Guidance On Sexuality Education: An evidence-informed approach for schools, teachers and health educators, 2009, p.11). Many people, especially the young, are too shy to talk about sexuality because it is really a sensitive topic. A respondent reported that during a class on sexuality education, she had some queries about female sexual organs; however, she did not dare to ask because there were some boys in her class. She was afraid of being laughed at. Hence, single-sex is an effective type of class for students so that they can feel comfortable and safe when studying sexuality education.
Besides contents, type of class, methodology, instructor of this subject is an important topic in sexuality education curriculum. This issue will be taken into account in the following part of the research.
As table 6 shows, majority students (22 respondents) would like to be taught sexuality education by specialists (physician or nurses). It was followed by 15 students who agreed with teacher of school. Only 2 respondents thought that students can study sexuality education on their own.
After all, the role of educator is very important in teaching sexuality education. Most of the students wanted specialists (physicians or nurses) because some reasons such as “They can be specially trained to cover this sensitive topic and to implement participatory activities; they can be provided with regularly updated information; and they can be linked to community-based reproductive health services” (International guidelines on sexuality education: an evidence informed approach to effective sex, relationships and HIV/STI education, 2009, p.19). This will be the key factor to help students study this subject much better.
There is broad agreement among students that sexuality education is very useful. Nonetheless, some still fear that learning this subject will hasten early onset of sexual experiments among young people. This issue will be analyzed in the following part.
3.5. Students’ opinion on the counter effect of sexuality education at school
As can be seen from the pie-chart, more than a half (54%) of the students claimed that sexuality education at early age did not encourage young people to have sex. Only 16% of them gave opposite opinion. And lots of students, accounted for 30%, still did not know the answer.
This result pointed out that the majority of the students highly appreciated the effectiveness of sexuality education in delaying young people from curiosity and sex experimentation. This finding goes on line with the conclusion which is “sexuality education can lead to later and more responsible sexual behavior or may have no discernible impact on sexual behavior” (International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education: An evidence-informed approach for schools, teachers and health educators, 2009, p.8). Apparently, when students are taught about sex, they are aware of sexual demeanor, they know when and how to have safe sex, particularly they can take the cognizance of the existing health problems which are the consequences of wrong sexual activities.
4. Conclusion
In conclusion, this paper has taken into consideration several issues of sexuality education, which shows some new information on the matter of teaching sexuality to school children. As a result of this some suggestions have been provided. However, a number of contents of sexuality education have not been covered yet because of this project’s small scale and time limitation. Thus, we hope that further research should be done on this topic. In addition, because of its benefits, sex education should be broadly implemented over schools.
Sex education is currently a heated issue that attracts a great deal of attention nationwide and worldwide. Despite researchers and educators’ persuasion that sex education can bring about several benefits, many people, including parents and teachers, are unconvinced of this program being a positive school subject. There are pros and cons in their arguments which need careful consideration before implementation can be realized.
According to Rosen, Murray and Moreland (2004) “Sexuality education is the lifelong process of acquiring information and forming attitudes, beliefs, and values about identity, relationships, and intimacy” (p.4). In other words, sex education should be part of an advanced education program in order to assist children with adequate knowledge of a physical life. In fact, human reproduction and modern civilization would be impossible without the young generation being academically armed with this knowledge.
Despite this fact, school children in Viet Nam seem to be left with the impression that sex knowledge should be grasped by the children themselves. In other words, few schools officially teach this knowledge to school children, fearing that it is too sensitive and it may arouse their curiosity to the extent that they might experiment themselves on this.
In order to find out what secondary school children think about this problem, a mini research was done, hoping that it may throw some light to such areas as the importance of sex education, the age of acquiring this knowledge, the content of the sex education, and finally the method of instructing it to school children.
2. Methodology
In order to collect the data for the study, a questionnaire (Appendix) was developed. The subjects of this study were the secondary school students; therefore, a bilingual questionnaire (English/ Vietnamese) was designed. It was divided into 5 main parts with 9 questions. Some kinds of questions such as multi-choice, scale, close-ended were involved. The first part of the questionnaire aimed to find out the students’ assessments of importance of sexuality education. The second one explored the subjects’ opinions on the ages suitable for acquiring the knowledge of sexuality and the next one discovered students’ opinions on the contents and then the students’ suggestions for teaching sexuality knowledge to secondary students. The last one found out students’ opinion on the counter effect of sexuality education at school.
50 students at Le Loi Secondary School were selected randomly from different classes. They are all at the age of 13.
Before doing the official survey, we had a pilot survey in our own class to see whether or not our questionnaire was acceptable. From the comments of our colleagues, some questions in the questionnaire were adapted to fit the purpose of our primary research.
The official survey was carried out during a break time. Handouts were delivered to 50 participants on a voluntary basis. All the participants had time to read bilingual questions before progressing to completing all queries in the questionnaire. It took 40 minutes to give out and collect the handouts. All questionnaires were classified as appropriate.
3. Findings and discussion
3.1. Importance of sexuality education
As is shown in chart 1, a significant number of students (46%) agreed that sexuality education was important and 38% of them strongly supported that it was very important. In other words, 74% of the respondents support the introduction of sex program at secondary school. Another 10% held the view that it is quite important. Meanwhile only 6% of respondents considered it as an unimportant subject, which may be understood that they do not want to learn this subject at their age or else.
One noticeable thing is that majority of students highly appreciated sexuality education at schools. In fact, many teachers and health educators believe that sexuality education helps to reduce the risk-taking sexual behaviors which might lead to negative impacts like unplanned pregnancy, infection with sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS. Furthermore, sexuality education can provide “opportunities for young people to explore their attitudes and values and to practice the decision-making and other life skills they need to be able to make informed choices about their sexual life” (International Technical Guidance On Sexuality Education: An evidence-informed approach for schools, teacher and health educators, 2009, p.2). In brief, sexuality education encourages young people to live safely and enjoy their sexual life.
Certainly, sexuality education programs in schools should help minimize the risks that the youth might face in the course of their sexual experiences. Then, another question that needs clarifying is the appropriate age range for sexuality education. The next part of survey will focus on this matter.
3.2. The age suitable for acquiring sex knowledge
As can be seen from chart 2, most of the students (62%) would like to be provided with sexuality knowledge when they are at the age of the secondary school. It was followed by high and primary education (18%, 14%). Only 6% of them were in agreement that it was the best to begin introducing at high educational level.
Obviously, it is highly recommended by a large number of respondents that sexuality education be started at secondary school. It can be explained by the fact that most students start their puberty at the age of 12 or 13. Pubescence is a time of great physical and mental changes, especially sexual development. Young people are really curious about the development of their bodies; therefore, providing information about heath, sexuality for young people at this time is very crucial. Furthermore, Kelly (1998) claimed that the majority of youth experienced sexual copulation during the adolescence. Thus, sexuality education should be included in the education curriculum of the secondary school to help the students avoid harmful effects of unsafe sex and have good preparation for a mature life.
Along with introducing sexuality education at appropriate age, finding out the suitable contents to provide for students when studying this subject is also very important. The following section is aimed to discuss this issue.
3.3. Contents of sex education programs should provide for children
As shown in the table, we can see the great difference among students’ opinions about the contents what students should be taught in sexuality education. The most obvious is that the majority of the students (72%) would like to study all of the contents recommended above in sexuality education. This is in congruent with the finding about information of learning including “growth and development, reproduction, contraception, interpersonal relationships, sexual behavior” (International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education: An evidence-informed approach for schools, teachers and health educators, 2009, p.5).
3.4. Students’ suggestion for teaching sexuality knowledge
As illustrated in chart 3, more than a half of the students (64%) wanted to have sexuality education taught as a separate subject. Nearly 30% of the respondents shared the idea that sexuality education ought to be integrated with another subject. Only 8 % of them were still unsure about how this subject should be instructed.
The results showed that the majority of the students are in favor of studying sexuality education as a separate subject. This finding is not in line with a recommendation from Sexuality Education in Europe (p.12):“Typically, sexuality education is taught in Biology lessons and in perhaps one other area of curriculum”. There are some reasons for the result of this minor research. First, if sexuality education is the part of other subject like biology, physical education and so on, it will be ignored by the teachers because “Experts are concerned that not only are many teachers under prepared, they are also being forced to teach material with which they do not feel personally comfortable” (Kelly, 1998, p.225). Second, if sexuality education is a separate subject, a lot of topics related to sexual life will be covered. It will help students get much useful information and avoid bad sexual activities which can bring about severe consequences in future.
As can be expected, students highly appreciated teaching sexuality education as a separate subject. Besides, concerns have been raised over the type of sexuality education class. The next part will concentrate on talking over this issue.
It can be seen from chart 4, 62% of participants liked learning sexuality education in the single-sex class. Meanwhile 30% of them supported co-ed class and only 8% of respondents still did not know for certain about which type of class organization was suitable for sexuality education program at school.
As expected, most of the students supposed that sexuality instruction should be conducted in the single-sex class. This is perhaps due to the Vietnamese culture and customs which tend to disapprove of discussing this topic in public and with the presence of the opposite sex. This finding was in accordance with conclusion “separating students into same-sex group, for part or all of a programs, has also been demonstrated to be effective” (as cited in International Technical Guidance On Sexuality Education: An evidence-informed approach for schools, teachers and health educators, 2009, p.11). Many people, especially the young, are too shy to talk about sexuality because it is really a sensitive topic. A respondent reported that during a class on sexuality education, she had some queries about female sexual organs; however, she did not dare to ask because there were some boys in her class. She was afraid of being laughed at. Hence, single-sex is an effective type of class for students so that they can feel comfortable and safe when studying sexuality education.
Besides contents, type of class, methodology, instructor of this subject is an important topic in sexuality education curriculum. This issue will be taken into account in the following part of the research.
As table 6 shows, majority students (22 respondents) would like to be taught sexuality education by specialists (physician or nurses). It was followed by 15 students who agreed with teacher of school. Only 2 respondents thought that students can study sexuality education on their own.
After all, the role of educator is very important in teaching sexuality education. Most of the students wanted specialists (physicians or nurses) because some reasons such as “They can be specially trained to cover this sensitive topic and to implement participatory activities; they can be provided with regularly updated information; and they can be linked to community-based reproductive health services” (International guidelines on sexuality education: an evidence informed approach to effective sex, relationships and HIV/STI education, 2009, p.19). This will be the key factor to help students study this subject much better.
There is broad agreement among students that sexuality education is very useful. Nonetheless, some still fear that learning this subject will hasten early onset of sexual experiments among young people. This issue will be analyzed in the following part.
3.5. Students’ opinion on the counter effect of sexuality education at school
As can be seen from the pie-chart, more than a half (54%) of the students claimed that sexuality education at early age did not encourage young people to have sex. Only 16% of them gave opposite opinion. And lots of students, accounted for 30%, still did not know the answer.
This result pointed out that the majority of the students highly appreciated the effectiveness of sexuality education in delaying young people from curiosity and sex experimentation. This finding goes on line with the conclusion which is “sexuality education can lead to later and more responsible sexual behavior or may have no discernible impact on sexual behavior” (International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education: An evidence-informed approach for schools, teachers and health educators, 2009, p.8). Apparently, when students are taught about sex, they are aware of sexual demeanor, they know when and how to have safe sex, particularly they can take the cognizance of the existing health problems which are the consequences of wrong sexual activities.
4. Conclusion
In conclusion, this paper has taken into consideration several issues of sexuality education, which shows some new information on the matter of teaching sexuality to school children. As a result of this some suggestions have been provided. However, a number of contents of sexuality education have not been covered yet because of this project’s small scale and time limitation. Thus, we hope that further research should be done on this topic. In addition, because of its benefits, sex education should be broadly implemented over schools.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
The Importance of an Interpersonal Teacher-Student Relationship on Students’ learning among Second-year Students
Introduction
Nowadays, with the development of teaching management and teaching methods, people are paying more attention to TSR. “It is the keystone for other factors” Marzano and Pickering (2003, p.41) said. It is believable that cultivating a harmonious and affective environment between teachers and students will have positive effect on the study for many students. At school, there are exchanges not only in knowledge but also in affection between them. Certainly, psychological barriers have still existed for a long period of time. Thus, the teacher will be the guardian helping students get rid of those things, build stress-free atmosphere and explore their potential. Moreover, school may not be so friendly with students. That is why there is a need for strong TSR. It is a significant factor that cannot be omitted in the process of learning and teaching, which requires cooperation and active attendance from both teachers and students. In our small-scale project, we wish to find out the importance of having this relationship as well as ways to build up it effectively.
Materials and Methods
A questionnaire (Appendix) was chosen because of its advantages. It included ten items. The first part was to identify the actual state of TSR among second-year students. It mainly focuses on the level of TSR that students have now and the difficulties they have in process of forming a good TSR. The second one was to find out how a good TSR has influences on student’s learning motivation in terms of some basic aspects. In addition, the question is whether the final result can be affected by this relationship, was discovered by asking respondents their average score of the last term and level of their relationship with teachers. Collecting respondents’ ideas to establish an effective TSR is of the last part. Characteristics of a teacher which students often expect were also known through this questionnaire.
Second-year students of Hanoi University and Hanoi Architectural University were subjects of our research. 55 students with both genders at the age of 20 were chosen randomly from different classes. TSR affects all students who study many different subjects and those students have already made different views of TSR between school and University at this time. So we wanted to survey as many students as possible to get objective and reliable information.
Before doing the survey officially, we had a pilot survey in our class to see which problems our questionnaire may have. A bilingual English-Vietnamese questionnaire was processed because the English version was too demanding. The questions “How are the benefits of this relationship” and “Which aspects do TSR benefit you” seem to be similar to the question “how TSR influences on students’ study based on some statements”. We decided to delete it. Another question on how to build up a good TSR was changed from open-ended question into multiple-choice one because it took longer time to complete them. In addition, it was quite hard for us to summarize students’ suggestions. We also left a blank for them to fill in if they had any other different ideas.
We started administering the research in April, 2010. It took three weeks to give out, collect the handouts and analyze the data. 55 questionnaires delivered but only 50 ones were classified as appropriate.
Findings and Discussion
I. The actual state of TSR among students.
It is obvious that the teacher is a close person to students at school. He or she provides them with not only knowledge of their fields but also social understanding. The result showed that a large number of students (54%) regarded teacher as one of their moral guardians in life. Most of them highly appreciated the role of teacher. And as a result, 92% agreed that TSR is not only in teaching and learning. This figure proved the existence of other purposes which may also base on this relationship.
However, when being asked about the frequency of communicating with teachers, over half of students (52%) admitted that they are infrequent with doing so. The number of ones who rarely communicates with teacher is still high (18%). Generally, this relationship stands at a normal level (60% indicated), and can be the result of this phenomenon.
By questionnaire, we found out that there were many reasons which were described in chart 1, leading to students’ infrequent communicating. Half of them chose the option that communicating frequency depends on the relationship. A lot of them do not like to chat with their teachers out of fear, anxiety or timidity. They are afraid of bothering teachers (80%) or feel unconfident (52%). Others (70%) thought that the time is limited and so on. We can see that there was a lack of exchanges between teachers and students. “A perfect TSR is based on trust and care” while students are especially prone to problems and troubles concerning love, family, friends and academic studies during their adolescence (Kabir, 2007, p.2). It is crucial that they gain the care and recognition of their teachers through frequent communication with teachers, to talk about the problems when they have completely trust in teachers (Davis, 1999) and will not conceal some of the facts. In addition, teachers should have a high sensitivity to student’s emotion and be proactive to talk to them.
II. Impacts of a harmonious TSR on students’ learning.
The percentage in chart 2 shows that TSR had influence on student’s learning. About 60% of learners thought that TSR had great influence on their learning interest and performance. It depends on teacher’s expectations and if teachers act as though they expect students to be motivated (Davis, 1999). Only 2 to 6% of them chose “no influence”. Moreover, the students who do not like their teacher are more likely to feel sleepy during class (Kabir, 2007). While those who have good relationship with teacher, are more willing to cooperate with their teachers, find interest and performance important.
Study duration seems to be hard work, requiring not only efforts and courage of learners to face difficulties but also motivation and pleasant mood. By analyzing the questionnaire, we found that students’ learning interest and their love for the teacher are highly correlated. And their willingness to devote efforts to lessons and accept teacher’s comments also depends deeply on their relationship. Efforts, motivation and pleasant mood help students reach high spirit, concentrate better on what they are learning for a longer period of time (Davis, 1999). As a result, learners can master knowledge more efficiently (46% agreed) and easily talk about their difficulties (58%). However, the influence on self-study depends on each learner with 50% somewhat approved. Thus, in some aspects, TSR functioned to adjust students’ interests and efforts in learning.
Whether can efficient study be the result of having a harmoniously interpersonal TSR? By questionnaire, we collected 84% of students who had average score over 7.0. What can they reveal about their relationship with teachers? Nearly half of these students had very good TSR (47% self-evaluated), the normal level accounted for only 26%. Surprisingly, most of them thought that they had better results thanks to their good link with teachers; TSR was conductive to their grades which in turn can further motivate them. According to http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu, “close relationships with teachers lead to higher levels of students engagement and achievement” (Pianta, 1999). Furthermore, getting satisfactory grades in exam was also a useful way that students gave impressions on teachers as cited in Harris’s report (1991). Teaching and learning is a duplex activity, which needs cooperation from both sides. Therefore, students should try their best to build a good TSR for their own benefits.
III. Suggestions to build up good and harmonious TSR.
Chart 5, which is illustrated above, reveals that there was also a need to know which popular characteristics of teachers that students often expect in forming a harmonious TSR. Respecting students was the quality of teachers that had the highest proportion up to 82% in comparison with the appearance. Although people assumed that it gave the impression on students, it was not very important to them, standing at the modest level. As Kabir (2007) suggested that teachers should treat students as their own children and mutual love with respect forming a TSR. The sense of self-esteem was quite strong in these students. They longed for respect from others. If the teachers respect them, they will show respect for teachers as well.
A teacher with a wide scope of knowledge is the second most popular qualification among students (74%). It seemed that teachers were expected to be professional, adapting to students’ needs in learning. The next qualification was the one who is kind-hearted and sympathetic, who should know students’ needs and treat students as his or her friends or families. The qualification of fairness ranked as high as that of having a good temper (68%). Marzano and Pickering (2003) also concluded that “students have a strong sense of fairness”, “they will resist efforts to monitor their behavior” if teachers have inappropriate behavior (p.33). Nearly the same percentage of learners favored teachers who had a sense of humor. Teachers can make class as interesting as possible by some activities to engage students. Of course, this part of responsibility also falls on students.
It is believed that knowing the main characteristics of a TSR is the vital element as a direction in making a strong connection with teachers to students. The highest percentage of participants (nearly 80%) agreed that TSR must have pleasant working atmosphere, following with mutual respect (66%). Other characteristics seemed to be less important than these ones. Cahn (1987) indicated that “In TSR, the quality of the relationship rather than the content of the course may be the most important factor determining the effectiveness of teachers” (p.182). Moreover, students need inspiration, challenging and stimulation from their instructors to become more enthusiastic, following Davis’s report (1999).
Since teaching is a two-way process, setting up a good TSR also requires students’ efforts. The data in table 1 indicates that there were various ways students used to improve their relationship with teachers and how they paid attention to each of them. The largest number of respondents (42%) thought that enhancing communication with teachers was good way and could shorten the distance between them and teachers. 34% held the view that cooperating actively could improve TSR, devoting to the effectiveness of the lessons. Sometimes, holding activities makes class more interesting and devotes to the effectiveness of class (28% agreed). Only 6% chose making suggestions for teachers’ teaching improvement. It seemed that enhancing communication and actively cooperating were useful ways which students often think and use. As far as the community concerns, teachers are burdened with heavy workload and pressure. Being understood and appreciated by students, teachers gain the assurance to perform their duties. Cahn (1982) confirmed that “perceived understanding plays important role in the development of TSR as measured by student evaluation of teachers” (p.179). Not only should we have confidence in and respect our teachers, but also ask sensibly, study spontaneously and learn persistently. No doubt the result will be fruitful.
Conclusion
In conclusion, our small-scale research found out the actual state and some significant points of having an effectively interpersonal TSR. Generally, students may not have full-evaluation on its importance. Their frequent communication with teachers was still limited basing on many listed reasons we collected, making the building of TSR difficult. In spite of playing a very important role, the fact that it is not easy to build a harmonious TSR on account of estrangement between teachers and students, which comes from traditional concepts, teachers’ teaching practice and students’ affection. “Effective teaching and learning cannot take place in a poorly managed classroom” (Marzano & Pickering, 2003, p.1). It is emphasized on the necessity of having cooperation from both sides. Instead of treating students as lifeless bottles thirsting for knowledge, teachers should treat them as good friends, to whom the share invaluable experience, enrich logical thinking and ethics. Students also must respect them and cooperate with them for creating a pleasant learning environment. Those above are the useful ways letting TSR exist for ages.
Some Academic Listening Problems Facing Second-Year English Major Students
Introduction
Listening plays a vital role in daily life. People listen for different purposes like communication, information, academic purposes, entertainment …In addition, without listening skill, no communication can be achieved. However, according to some previous researches, such as Rixon’ one (1993), those who learn English as a foreign language, especially in a non-native setting, find it difficult to acquire good listening skill. The listening problems involved hearing the sounds, understanding intonation and stress, coping with redundancy and noise, predicting, comprehending colloquial vocabulary, fatigue, understanding different accents, using visual and aural environmental clues (Ur, !990). To investigate thoroughly this matter, in this project, listening skill of second-year English major students researched to point out the attitude of students towards learning listening, which difficulties they often face when listening English and the reasons for these problems. This research would concentrate only on problems in term of redundancy, vocabulary and accents when students study listening English.
Materials and Methods
In order to gather the data for our study, a monolingual questionnaire (Appendix) was developed because of its advantages. For example, questionnaires are considered as reliable ways for collecting information since they are anonymous and this encourages greater honesty. Furthermore, they are also cheap and easy to answer. Our questionnaire was created including 9 closed items. Two first questions investigate whether listening skill is a hindrance for second-year English major students. The next three questions ask students what problems they often face when studying listening English. And the four last ones probe what the reasons for their difficulties are.
Second-year English Department students at Hanoi University were the subjects of our research. 50 students from different classes were all selected on voluntary basic. Most of them are female and the age range is 20-21. These participants were chosen because all of them may experience such problems.
We started administering the project in Hanoi University in March, 2010. All the participants were summoned to one class room. 50 questionnaires were sent to 50 subjects. Before they answered the questions, all the queries were responded and participants then progressed to completing the questionnaire. All the handouts were collected after 30 minutes.
Results and discussion
I. Evaluation of second-year English major students’ listening skill
As illustrated in this column chart, studying listening is a really big obstacle for second-year English major students. The number of students who answered listening skill was hard was 60% and very difficult was 10%. This figure was approximately six times as much as the percentage of students (12%) who thought listening English just was a trivial matter. Obviously, the large number of sophomores who are lack of confidence in their own abilities of listening proves their modest level at listening.
II. Problems of academic listening facing second-year English major students
The investigation into the difficulties which second-year English major students often encounter when studying listening shows that most of them have problems with redundancy, colloquial vocabulary and different accents.
As shown in table 1, it is clear that most of the sophomores agree that redundancy was a hindrance for them when listening. Redundancy includes such thing as repetition, paraphrases, self-correction, and the use of words such as “I mean”, “well”...A learner listener is often unable to profit from such redundancy by becoming aware that not every new sentence or phrase contains new information and that there is extra time available for comprehending. Instead, they will feel interfered and distracted. This was proved by the data recorded. Among 50 students questioned, 43 ones said they always or sometimes faced problem with coping with redundancy. Whereas just 5 respondents answered redundancy rarely made them confused and 2 participants did not consider it a problem when studying listening. It appears to be in congruent with Ur’s finding (1990). She wrote in her book that a lot of foreign-language learners had problem with redundancy when listening English because they thought it was compulsory to comprehend everything, even absolutely unessential words and then they were thrown off balance if meeting any unknown words.
Furthermore, colloquial vocabulary is a language barrier to second-year English majors too. It is claimed by 86% of the students (43) to be one of the most common drawbacks in listening. 38 ones answered they sometimes encountered the problem with colloquial vocabulary and 5 participants always had trouble with that. Only 7 respondents hardly or never met the problem with colloquial vocabulary. In explanation, a lot of vocabulary used in colloquial speech may already be known by foreign listeners but this does not mean that they are familiar with them, especially those who have been confined to classroom learning environment. This conclusion agrees with Ur’s study (1990). She noted that when colloquial vocabulary occurred in fast stream of listening, even if listening learners had learned that word yet but not been familiar with it, it was still difficult to be recognized.
Moreover, the variety of accents also makes it difficult for sophomores to listen since they do not have much exposure to different accents. For instance, if learners listen to French people speaking English, they will feel hard to understand him or her because these speakers often speak English in a native French intonation. The result from table 1 demonstrated that 94% of the students (47) experienced this kind of problem whereas only 6% of participants (3) reported that different accents were not their trouble. From this data, it can be seen that second-year English major students seemed to be not capable of understanding various accents. This finding is in accordance with what Ur (1990) has found out. According to Ur, “many foreign-language learners who are used to be the accent of their own teacher are surprised and dismayed when they find they have difficulty understanding someone else” (p.20).
III. Some reasons explaining the problems of second-year English major students
As shown before from column chart 1, listening is actually an obstacle to students. In fact, to get good listening skill, it takes much time and efforts. However, many students seem to spend little time practicing at home. The data shows that second-year English major students’ level of listening depends on the frequency of studying listening. Of 3 respondents who were good at listening, all of them answered that they always studied listening. On the contrary, of 47 students admitted to be at fair or poor level, 9 ones rarely studied listening and even among 32 people who said that they sometimes learned, 9 was still weak at this subject. This number indicates that the infrequency of studying can be one of the reasons that cause sophomores difficulties in listening.
From table 3, it is obvious that most of the students who have problems with pronunciation encounter difficulties when studying listening. Of 47 students admitted to be fair or poor at listening skill, 38 replied that they were fair or weak at pronunciation too. Unlike, 2 out of 3 respondents who reported to be good at listening also claimed that they were good at articulation. So weakness at pronunciation might be another reason that made second-year English major confused when listening. Ur (1990) also proclaimed in her book that “It is certainly that if he learns to pronounce the sounds accurately himself, it will be much easier for him to hear them correctly when said by someone else” (p.12).
Furthermore, stress is very important for comprehension. Also, intonation patterns are significant not just for interpreting such straightforward elements as questions, statements, emphasis but more subtle messages like praises or insults … However, paying attention to stress and intonation when listening was still not the habit of second-year English major students. Among 50 participants, 2 ones replied that they were good at listening skill and always paid attention to stress and intonation when they studied listening. Meanwhile, 22 respondents who rarely or never concentrated on stress and intonation got fair or poor results in listening. It signified that not focusing on stress and intonation brought students bad results in studying listening. This conclusion is similar to Ur’s finding (1990). She found that the English system of stress, intonation and rhythm can stop listeners from comprehending spoken English.
Another significant issue is the lack of background knowledge. General background knowledge (knowledge of culture, knowledge of the topic under discussion and general world knowledge of current affairs, art, politics, literature …) helps language learners make guesses about what they hear or read. Nevertheless, many students still do not concentrate on this area. As the pie chart shows, just 15% of the sophomores proclaimed they were confident with their good background knowledge. Of 85% left, 45% of the second-year English majors were at fair degree and 40% admitted to be poor at background knowledge. It appeared that weakness at students’ listening skill can be caused by the limited background knowledge. This opinion was strongly confirmed by Anderson and Lynch (1993). They demonstrated that background knowledge is vital and “Gaps in our knowledge of the culture, of the association and references available to native users, can present obstacles to comprehension” (p.35).
Conclusion
To sum up, the small-scale investigation shows some considerable points related to listening skill of second-year English major students. In general, most of them seem to have problems with listening. The most common difficulties collected by learners are redundancy, colloquial vocabulary and different accents. One of the reasons for their problems is the time they spend studying themselves is too little to improve listening skill. Moreover, difficulties are also caused by the weakness in pronunciation, stress and intonation. Another factor is students’ limited background knowledge. It is highly recommended that to acquire an acceptable listening skill, students themselves should listen to the variety of materials and find out effective listening learning style. Simultaneously, learners had better improve theirs speaking skill and background knowledge by practicing and reading more. These are suggestions to solve the problems as well as to upgrade English listening skill for second-year English major students in Hanoi University. Hopefully, the findings we get from this project will help learners with better listening.
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