Teaching and Learning English Linguistics at Undergraduate Level at the University of Languages and International Studies - Vietnam National University, Hanoi: Changes Over the Last Ten Years

Abstract

This paper, which is not a research paper, elaborates on the innovations made in English linguistics undergraduate courses at the University of Languages and International Studies - Vietnam National University, Hanoi (ULIS) during the last ten years, from 2009 to 2018. The report on the changes in teaching and learning English linguistics was informed from the 4 published research papers, the contents of which functioned as jigsaw pieces together combining and complementing to make up the complete picture of teaching and learning English linguistics at ULIS over the last decade. The report was also informed from the observation of how English linguistics has been taught and learnt over the last ten years by the author in the roles of a teacher of English linguistics and a course developer at ULIS as well. The comparison between the scenarios of English linguistics teaching and learning before and after 2014 was made, from which the outstanding innovations in teaching and learning English linguistics over the last decade could be seen.

Using Problem-based Tasks to Promote Higher-order Thinking Skills for TESOL MA Students in Vietnam

“…In class, students are reticent to participate in class activities that test their knowledge. In addition, students appear to be terrified of taking tests (Nguyen et al, 2015(Nguyen et al, , 2016. Many of these students have grown frustrated by their role as "passive acceptors" (Forester & Chau, 1999, p.10).…”

“…Therefore, they falsely believed that the linguistic courses were not necessary for them. Even though these courses would provide students with the necessary knowledge and skills to teach or translate at a more advanced level, linguistic subjects are considered something purely theoretical and far from essential and practical for the students, so their motivation for deep learning (Biggs, 2003) in linguistic subjects is often low (Nguyen et al, 2015(Nguyen et al, , 2016.…”

“…With regard to the teaching of linguistic subjects in the foreign language college where I teach, the results of a recent survey conducted also showed that a teacher-centered approach in teaching linguistic subjects is still used here (Nguyen et al, 2015). The survey found that despite teachers' success in imparting linguistic knowledge to their students and in helping students to develop linguistic skills, the teachers still tended to neglect to develop students' thinking skills development in class (Nguyen et al, 2016). Teachers rarely created chances for students to be analytical or critical in their learning and to keenly learn how to apply the subject knowledge and skills in their current English learning, which could transfer to their future career.…”

“…The research framework in this study, which is summarized in Table 1, was adapted from Nguyen et al 's (2016) framework of thinking skills mostly required in linguistic tasks in the college under study. To build up this framework, Nguyen et al (2016) selected all of the skills that students could possibly be required to use in the linguistic courses offered at the college and specified the skills they might employ for each course assignment. This framework was used in this study as the reference for designing the problem-based tasks in which higher-order thinking skills are required for tasking, and to seek evidence of how these skills were actually used.…”

“…Table 1: Thinking Skills Most Frequently Required For Linguistic Tasks (adapted from Nguyen et al, 2016) Using problem-based tasks to promote higher-order thinking skills Nguyen et al, 2016) As shown in Figure 1, students were asked to fulfill five problem-based tasks during the nine weeks of each intervention cycle. The first four problem-based tasks were conducted individually in the form of post-lecture reflective writings from weeks 1 to 4, which were coded as A in the higher-order thinking skills employment checklist (see Appendix 1, Part A and Appendix 2, Part A).…”