teaching contexts. As for the Concepts, there was a significant effect of the level of education on teachers’ beliefs of supplementary materials as “books and other materials used in addition to core materials (item 1)” and “language support materials (item 6)” at p<.05 for the two items [F(3,127) = 3.27, p = .024, and F(3,127) = 2.89, p = .038]. Post hoc comparisons using the LSD test for these two items indicated that the mean scores for the college degree (M = 1.00, SD = .00) and bachelor’s degree (M = 1.29, SD = .48) were significantly different from master degree’s degree (M = 1.54, SD = .56) for “books and other materials we can use in addition to core materials.” This ostensibly suggested a tendency that the higher training teachers received, the less agreement they had toward item 1. Moreover, post hoc comparisons for item 6 showed a similar trend. There was a remarkable disparity between the means scores of doctoral degree (M = 3.00, SD = 1.41) and bachelor’s (M = 1.97, SD = .76), master’s degree (M = 2.08, SD = .76).
Regarding Reasons to develop IELTS supplementary materials, significant difference among levels of education was observed in item 4 [F(3,127) = 3.86, p = .011], item 5 [F(3,127) = 6.56, p = .000], and item 7 [F(3,127) = 4.68, p = .004]. Post hoc
analyses using the LSD post hoc criterion for significance indicated that doctoral degrees significantly differed from the others on the three items. Particularly, while teachers with a doctor title opposed the purposes of developing supplementary materials to “meet students’ needs,” “offer students with extra practices,” and “contain up-to-date information,” the others advocated.
Compared to previous variables, Criteria had more remarkable difference among levels of education. There was significant difference with respect to item 1 [F(3,127) = 3.27, p = .024], item 3 [F(3,127) = 4.87, p = .003], item 4 [F(3,127) = 4.21, p = .007],
item 5 [F(3,127) = 3.17, p = .013], item 6 [F(3,127) = 3.71, p = .013], and item 9
[F(3,127) = 3.61, p = .015]. Noticeably, the mean scores of doctoral degree for all the items considerably outweighed the others and they suggested a negative beliefs tendency
in terms of criteria for developing IELTS supplementary materials. Meanwhile, there were no difference among college, master’s and bachelor’s degree.
When it comes to the comparison among the means of teachers’ general experience, there was an apparent disparity of beliefs between novice and experienced teachers with respect to the reasons and criteria for developing IELTS supplementary materials.
Table 4. 6
The ANOVA results for teachers’ beliefs of Reasons and Criteria of supplementary materials development according to their teaching experience
Dev | |||||
Reasons | offer students with extra practices (item 5) | 2.79 | .020 | ||
less than 6 months | 1.00 | .00 | |||
6 months - 1 year | 1.43 | .51 | |||
1-3 years | 1.29 | .46 | |||
4-6 years | 1.44 | .50 | |||
7-10 years | 1.69 | .48 | |||
over 10 years | 1.78 | 1.09 | |||
Criteria | academic language and style (item 4) | 3.08 | .012 | ||
less than 6 months | 1.40 | .55 | |||
6 months - 1 year | 1.71 | .61 | |||
1-3 years | 1.61 | .53 | |||
4-6 years | 1.53 | .57 | |||
7-10 years | 2.23 | .44 | |||
over 10 years | 1.78 | 1.09 | |||
Students’ background and culture (item 7) | 2.50 | .034 | |||
less than 6 months | 1.40 | .55 | |||
6 months - 1 year | 2.21 | .58 | |||
1-3 years | 2.02 | .71 | |||
4-6 years | 1.84 | .72 | |||
7-10 years | 2.31 | .75 | |||
over 10 years | 2.44 | .73 | |||
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An investigation into teacher's beliefs and practice about developing supplementary materials for ielts learners at language centers in Ho Chi Minh city - 8 -
An investigation into teacher's beliefs and practice about developing supplementary materials for ielts learners at language centers in Ho Chi Minh city - 9 -
An investigation into teacher's beliefs and practice about developing supplementary materials for ielts learners at language centers in Ho Chi Minh city - 10 -
An investigation into teacher's beliefs and practice about developing supplementary materials for ielts learners at language centers in Ho Chi Minh city - 12 -
Can Use Tools To Check The Difficulty Level Of Vocabulary And How To Choose Materials Appropriate For Learners’ Level -
The Convergences And Divergences Between Teachers’ Beliefs And Practice
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Items Mean Std F p
According to Table 4.6 and post hoc analyses, the mean scores of teachers’ general experience, which is less than 6 months (M = 1.00, SD = .00) and 1-3 years (M = 1.29, SD = .46) significantly differed from those who have been teaching for more than 7 years. It seemed that novice teachers preferred to use supplementary materials as extra practice, while expert ones deployed them more for other purposes. Similarly, the disparity was also observed in the criteria of developing supplementary materials in these two groups. Expert teachers with 7-10 years of experience (M = 2.23, SD = .44) did not have positive beliefs toward the criterion “academic language and style” as opposed to those whose experience is less than 7 years. Experienced teachers having more than 10 years of teaching experience (M = 2.44, SD = .73) also expressed a strong disagreement with “students’ background and culture” as a standard to develop supplementary materials compared to novice one with less than 6 months of experience (M = 1.4, SD = .55).
Regarding the experience with IELTS training, the result of the ANOVA test was not significant (all higher than p = .05). A conclusion, therefore, might be drawn that the difference in teachers’ experience with IELTS training did not influence their beliefs of the concepts, reasons, and criteria of developing supplementary materials for IELTS classrooms.
This was somewhat in line with what Amerian and Pouromid (2018) had claimed. In their article about teachers' beliefs on materials use and their locus of control, these authors recognized the exceptional impact of experience as teachers. However, the research methodology used by Amerian and Pouromid was a case study with a limitation of participants, while the current study embodied a quantitative phase with a larger sample and thus, provided more diverse sets of data.
4.2. Findings from the interview
The following part of this thesis reports the result that emerged from the data analysis with NVIVO. Each theme and subtheme with excerpts from the interview data will be thoroughly examined and interpreted by the principles of the qualitative analysis described in the previous chapter. The themes and subthemes are major findings that appear as headings in the current section. In excerpts, boldface indicates the main idea based on which results are discussed. The frequency count of codes was also conducted to show the common trend in respondents’ answers (Appendix D).
4.2.1. The notion of supplementary materials in IELTS classrooms
This section reveals findings reflecting the notion of supplementary materials. Although the term “supplementary materials” has been thoroughly defined in Chapter Two, the definition seems to be broad and not pertinent to a particular context. In their report of the beliefs about supplementary materials, the teachers in this study provided valuable data contributing to the comprehensive notion of supplementary materials in the field of IELTS training. The interview data well reflected the result from the questionnaire. Most of the teachers believed that supplementary materials are those used in addition to course books provided by their language centers. Moreover, they also shared some thoughts regarding the purposes, benefits, or types of such materials.
4.2.1.1. The purposes of supplementary materials for IELTS classrooms
Seven out of the twelve respondents felt that IELTS supplementary materials are akin to “extra exercises.”. For instance, in the words of teachers P3, P7, P8, and P9:
“In my opinion, these materials are rather helpful. They are similar to extra exercises.” (Teacher P3, 08/08/2020)
“If the supplementary materials are immediately relevant to the topics that I teach in classes, they will be a way of consolidating knowledge and offering extra practice and resources.” (Teacher P7, 24/08/2020)
“First they [supplementary materials] are different from textbooks. They are usually those outside main coursebooks and extra materials for learners to practice.” (Teacher P8, 24/08/2020)
“I think they [supplementary materials] is used besides the course books provided by the center. Usually, they are similar to extra exercise for learners to do at home or to self-study. They help teachers provide more exercises but still follow the main textbook in the language center.” (Teacher P9, 29/07/2020)
IELTS supplementary materials were also assumed to help fill the gaps between the available coursebooks and learners’ needs or the examination. For example, teachers P8 and P10 believed these materials contain updated information in comparison with textbooks.
It is a must. Until now, after years of teaching, I have never seen such a multipurpose textbook that is highly updated, published by Cambridge Press, and contains fine model essays.” (Teacher P10, 24/08/2020)
“When the coursebooks do not provide ample exercises. They update new trends in society, contemporary news, and topics for learners to practice. These materials are more practical than textbooks.” (Teacher P8, 24/08/2020)
For teacher P3, supplementary materials “are more relevant to the actual tests. For example, in the main coursebook, there are parts easier than the real test.” Meanwhile, teachers P1, P2, and P12 shared the same beliefs and mentioned learners’ needs as a foundation for the use of supplementary materials:
“I think they are materials that assist learners in their study. Supplementary materials are based on the learners’ needs. For example, if they lack lexical resources, they will need materials for improving lexical resources. Or, if they are not good at grammar, more grammatical materials will be needed.” (Teachers P1, 09/18/2020 and P2, 27/08/2020)
“Learners in a class are not always at the same level [of language proficiency]…. supplementary materials can be used for two halves of the class where one’s level is higher than the other. They each have different materials, which will increase the flexibility of the lesson.” (Teacher P12, 27/07/2020)
4.2.1.2. The benefits of supplementary materials for IELTS classrooms
The advantages that supplementary materials bring to IELTS training are rather unequivocal. Almost two-thirds of the participants (66%) believed that they were able to compensate for the weaknesses in main coursebooks with other extra materials. Teacher P8 thought that coursebooks’ content only contained primitive knowledge and helped learners grasp some initial insight into the IELTS examination structure. Essentially, P4 and P9 gave a clear example of the inadequate input knowledge in the textbook provided by their language centers:
“For example, when I use the textbook Mindset For IELTS – the foundation level, the input knowledge is rather restricted. Therefore, I have to use some other extra materials.” (Teacher P4, 04/08/2020)
“For instance, when my students learn how to write an introduction for an essay, the main textbook only presents vocabulary but does not cater for the instruction. I have to prepare those instructions for my students. After the students understand the structure of an introduction, problems such as
paraphrasing may emerge, and I, then, continue to develop materials to address this issue.” (Teacher P9, 29/07/2020)
The paraphrasing problems teacher P8 mentioned lead to the second outstanding asset of IELTS supplementary materials – learners’ need fulfillment. Hutchinson and Waters (1987), as cited in West (1994) and promoted by Nation and Macalister (2010), classified needs as three main types – necessities, lack, and want. Accordingly, lacks are related to present knowledge, necessities are related to the required knowledge, and wants are related to subjective needs. It appears that only the first two of these needs are acknowledged by the interviewed teachers. According to teacher P6, in case main coursebooks are inappropriate in terms of students’ levels of language proficiency, more suitable IELTS supplementary materials are used alternatively.
“Some coursebooks are not appropriate for the students’ level. For example, while students are only at the elementary level, the coursebooks’ content is too difficult. Hence, it is necessary to have easier supplementary materials that match learners’ level” (Teacher P6, 24/08/2020)
Teacher P11 believed IELTS supplementary materials to “cater for scarce topics in the examination and thus, benefit learners who desire to achieve band 7.5 and up in the test”. Likewise, teacher P1 reported that she let her students practice on their own with materials other than the main textbooks outside of classrooms. The purpose of this is to compensate for the knowledge learners lack. Although most teachers centered on the necessities and lacks with respect to the IELTS examination, real-life tasks were the foci of P12’s supplementary materials. In his perspective, exercises in coursebooks are normally restricted to controlled tasks that make learners imagine and associate with their situations. Consequently, when they are exposed to materials containing real-world tasks, they can be more active and purposeful in using English.
In addition to fulfilling the weaknesses of textbooks and learners’ needs, other less critical merits of supplementary materials involve raising the interest among students (Teacher P7, P10, and P2), enhancing lexical and grammatical capacity (teacher P1, P5, and P7), and bearing more resemblance to the real test (teacher P8 and P10). Some teachers even reported that supplementary materials were beneficial to their own language knowledge. In the words of teacher P11:
“They [supplementary materials] help teachers broaden their knowledge. They also provide other information such as scarce topics in IELTS test.” (Teacher P11, 09/08/2020)
4.2.1.3. The sources of supplementary materials for IELTS classrooms
As for the source of IELTS supplementary materials, data provided by the interview depicted a general preference for IELTS commercial textbooks (eight out of twelve teachers reported their favour toward this type of material). It is explicitly stated by teachers P6 and P10 that supplementary materials “must be closely relevant to the IELTS test. It is impossible to use materials for TOEIC training in IELTS classrooms.” Particularly, teachers had a tendency to choose materials published by Cambridge University Press such as the IELTS Academic Series, Vocabulary for IELTS, Complete IELTS, Mindset for IELTS, or The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS. The reason behind that, according to teachers P3 and P8 (24/08/2020), “the IELTS examination is designed by Cambridge (UCLES). Therefore, books by the press are accurate and close to the test questions.” Some other teachers preferred textbooks by other publishers who were considered reliable, namely Collins, Macmillan, or Longman. IELTS model tests also received much attention. These mock tests are published mainly in the form of textbooks and by Cambridge University Press.