MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION
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Phung Tuan Ngoc
AN INVESTIGATION INTO TEACHER'S BELIEFS AND PRACTICE ABOUT DEVELOPING SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS FOR IELTS LEARNERS AT LANGUAGE CENTERS
IN HO CHI MINH CITY
Major: Theory and methods of teaching English subject Code: 8140111
MASTER'S THESIS IN EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE
SCIENTIFIC INSTRUCTOR:
DR. NGUYEN THANH BINH
COMMITMENT
My name is Phung Tuan Ngoc. I hereby declare that the thesis on the topic “An investigation into teacher's beliefs and practice about developing supplementary materials for IELTS learners at language centers in Ho Chi Minh City” is my personal research work during the past time as required by the master's program at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education. The data and research results in this thesis have never been used or published in any other work.
Ho Chi Minh, 2021
Phung Tuan Ngoc
DECLARATION
My name is Phung Tuan Ngoc. I hereby certify that my thesis entitled “An investigation into teacher's beliefs and practice about developing supplementary materials for IELTS learners at language centers in Ho Chi Minh City” is solely the result of my own work as the fulfillment of the requirements for the Master's program at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Pedagogy. The data and results of this thesis have not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification.
Ho Chi Minh, 2021
Phung Tuan Ngoc
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
During the process of researching and completing the thesis, the author received a lot of support and encouragement from leaders, teachers, colleagues and family.
First of all, the author would like to express his sincere thanks to the supervisor - Dr. Nguyen Thanh Binh, who directly guided, enthusiastically instructed and helped the author in research activities to complete this thesis.
The author would also like to express his deep gratitude to the Graduate School of Ho Chi Minh City University of Education and the teachers who taught throughout the course for providing useful lessons and ideas for the author's thesis.
I would like to sincerely thank my colleagues who participated in the survey and interviews. Especially Mr. Le Huy Lam, Ms. Dang Ngoc Anh Thu, and Ms. Trinh My Linh who helped the author a lot during the data collection phase.
Finally, the author would like to express his gratitude to his family and friends for their support and encouragement in life and during the time of completing his master's thesis.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Throughout the writing of this thesis, I have received a great deal of support and encouragement from leaders, tutors, colleagues, and parents.
First and foremost, I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to my supervisor
– Dr. Nguyen Thanh Binh, for his inspiration, guidance, and assistance in the research activities to finalize the thesis.
I am deeply grateful to the staff of the Postgraduate Department at Ho Chi Minh City University of Pedagogy and tutors participating in the Master's program for their interesting, helpful lectures and ideas for my thesis.
My heartfelt thanks also go to my colleagues who have participated in the questionnaire and responded to my interviews. Particularly, I am indebted to Mr. Le Huy Lam, Ms. Dang Ngoc Anh Thu, and Ms. Trinh My Linh, who has enthusiastically supported me during the phase of data collection.
Last but not least, I wish to express my appreciation to my parents and friends for their constant support and encouragement in life as well as during the time of doing this thesis.
ABSTRACT
Much literature in the pedagogic field has focused on language teaching and learning aspects, while there are obvious gaps regarding materials development. Moreover, materials development appears to be a contemporary field worth more attention from researchers in the flourishing era of printed and electronic materials for English language teaching and learning. This thesis is to investigate teachers' beliefs about IELTS supplementary materials and explore how they select, adapt, and design these types of materials. In this thesis, two instruments, including survey questionnaires and interviews, were employed to attain the research objectives. The study focuses on teachers who have experience in EILTS training at language centers in Ho Chi Minh City. One hundred and thirty-one teachers participated, and twelve of them were interviewed.
The results show that most teachers believe supplementary materials for IELTS classrooms are those extra exercises. These materials are used in addition to the main coursebooks provided by their language centers. With respect to the factors affecting teachers' beliefs, rather than education and theoretical knowledge, the influence of personal experience and teaching contexts is tremendous. Most teachers reported the impact of former exposure to supplementary materials as learners and the policies at their language centers on their current decision. Furthermore, although there is a significant convergence between teachers' beliefs and practice, some beliefs do not translate into actual practice due to internal and external factors.
It is expected that this study will contribute to the repertoire of materials development and the relationship between teachers' beliefs and practice, a field that receives little attention from researchers. The results may also have prospective implementation for training teachers and managing language courses.
Keywords: belief, practice, supplementary materials, IELTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT v
LIST OF ABBREVIATION x
LIST OF TABLES xi
LIST OF FIGURES xi
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1. Background to the study 1
1.2. Problem statement 2
1.3. Aims and Scope 3
1.4. Significance of the study 4
CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 5
2.1. Teachers' beliefs in English language teaching 5
2.1.1. What are teachers' beliefs? 5
2.1.2. Teachers' belief system 7
2.1.3. Teachers' beliefs and practices 10
2.2. The role of materials in ELT classrooms 12
2.2.1. What are language-learning materials? 12
2.2.1.1. Ready-made coursebooks 13
2.2.1.2. Teacher-generated materials 24
2.2.1.3. A need for flexibility 26
2.2.2. Types of language-learning materials 27
2.2.3. Materials for IELTS training 28
2.3. Supplementary materials in IELTS classrooms 31
2.3.1. Selecting supplementary materials for IELTS training 32
2.3.2. Designing supplementary materials for IELTS training 36
2.3.3. Adapting supplementary materials for IELTS training 37
2.4. Theoretical framework from literature review 39
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 41
3.1. Research questions 41
3.2. Method design 41
3.3. Research Setting 42
3.4. Participants 43
3.4.1. Description of the population 43
3.4.2. Sampling method 43
3.5. Data collection methods 49
3.6. Pilot Study 54
3.6.1. The questionnaire 54
3.6.2. The interview 55
3.7. Data analysis methods 56
3.8. Reliability and validity 60
CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS 62
4.1. Findings from the survey 62
4.2. Findings from the interview 72
4.2.1. The notion of supplementary materials in IELTS classrooms 72
4.2.1.1. The purposes of supplementary materials for IELTS schools 72
4.2.1.2. The benefits of supplementary materials for IELTS schools 74
4.2.1.3. The sources of supplementary materials for IELTS schools 76
4.2.2. Internal and external sources 78
4.2.2.1. Teaching context 78
4.2.2.3. Teachers' experience 82
4.2.2.2. The washback effect of the IELTS examination 85
4.2.2.4. Theoretical knowledge 86
4.2.2.5. Personalities 88
4.2.3. Teachers' practice of developing supplementary materials 88
4.2.3.1. Selecting supplementary materials 89