TEACHERS AND STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF a goog teacher of english

7/28/2019 TEACHERS AND STUDENTS PERCEPTIONS OF a goog teacher of english

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Vietnam national universityUniversity of languages and international studies

FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

DIM THI HAO TM

M.A. MINOR THESIS

TEACHERS AND STUDENTS PERCEPTIONS OFA GOOD TEACHER OF ENGLISH

(Nhn thc ca gio vin v sinh vin v mt ngi


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DECLARATION

I, Diem Thi Hao Tam, certify that this thesis is the result of my own research and the

substance of this thesis has not, wholly or in part, been submitted for a degree to any otheruniversity or institution.

Hanoi, September 2010

Diem Thi Hao Tam


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSFirst and foremost, I would like to express my special and sincere thanks to my

supervisor, Ms. Nguyen Minh Hue, who has given me great help with this thesis. Without

her experienced guidance, valuable suggestions and dutiful supervision, my research would

be far from finished.

I also wish to acknowledge my debt of gratitude to the staff members of thePostgraduate Department and the lecturers at College of foreign Languages, Vietnam

National University for their valuable lectures, which provide me with scientific

knowledge that help to fulfill the study.

I am also thankful to all the teachers and students at Haiduong Medical Technical

University for answering the questionnaires and interviews.Last but not least, thanks go to my family, especially my husband, who has given

me so much love, patience and encouragement.

Hanoi, September 2010

Diem Thi Hao Tam


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TABLES OF CONTENTS

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1. Statement of the problem and rationale for the study..

2 Research aims and questions

3. Significance of the study4. Chapter arrangements............................................................................................

PART B : DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

I.1. Introduction

I.2. Definition of a good teacher II.2.1. General views about a good teacher...

II.2.2. Specific attributes of a good teacher ..

I.3. General views and specific attributes of a good English teacher ..

II.3.1. General views about a good English teacher...

3 2 S ifi ib f d li h h

1

2

23

4

5

56

10

10

11

14


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III.3. Teachers and students perceptions of professional development and academicrequirement for a good teacher of English

III.4. Teachers and students perceptions of the roles of a good teacher of English.

III.5. Teachers and students perceptions of the importanceof classroom practices

III. 6. Summary.

PART C: CONCLUSIONS1. Summary of the findings .

2. Implications .

3. Limitations and recommendations for further research..

4. Conclusion...

REFERENCESAPPENDICES

2326

31

34

3636

38

38


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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ESL: English as a second language

GED: General Educational Development

CLT: Communicative language teaching

ESP: English for special purpose

Q 1: Question 1


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LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Chart : Teachers and students perceptions of the personal qualities .....................

Table 1: Teachers and students perceptions of professional development and

academic requirement.................................................................................................

Table 2: Teachers and students perceptions about roles of a language teacher........Table 3: Teachers and students perceptions of the importance of classroom

practices.......................................................................................................................

23

24

26

31


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ABSTRACTDuring the past few decades there have been major changes in English language

teaching, particularly in teaching English as a foreign or second language. These changes

first emanated from dissatisfaction with traditional approaches based on teaching the

foreign language. For example, language teachers often put much attention to grammar

and translation, which is no more suitable to teaching and learning intention. So, the languageteachers are constantly faced with the problem of what to teach and how to do it.

Moreover, many language teachers always wonder how best, or perhaps, how appropriately,

the teaching and learning of English as a foreign language can be tackled. The purpose of

this study is to investigate the teachers and learners perceptions of a good English teacher.

Survey questionnaires and interview were designed and given for the students and teachers atHaiduong Medical Technical University. The students and teachers perceptions were

compared to find out the similarities and differences. The results showed that the teachers and

students had different views of the main attributes of good English teachers. Teachers put

emphasis on the role of a good English teacher while students placed teaching practice in the


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PART A: INTRODUCTION1. Statement of the problem and rationale for the study

A question that many teachers often ask is: I like my job, and I love the students,

but how can I become a good language teacher? The answer is not easy. It is clear that

whether someone can become a good foreign language teacher does not solely depend

on his /her command of the language. Some linguists assume that those who areengaged in language teaching profession have the burden of keeping up-to-date, not

only with the language which is taught but ever changing learner needs and profiles as well

(Kayhan, 1999). According to Schrier (1994), along with subject matter knowledge,

professional good foreign language teachers must also have the ability to reflect,

analyze critically, select the tools and materials of teaching, and evaluate theproducts and performance of the learners (p.220).

Wing (1995) emphasized that todays language teachers are expected to have

multiple roles along with target language competence:

In structuring the foreign language environment, the teacher needs to be a manager

h f ilit t l i iti d l h t th t t


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and teaching methodologies will affect how students learn. Moreover, Jersild (1955) saysthat the teachers understanding and acceptance of himself are the most important

requirement in any effort he makes to help students to know themselves and to gain

healthy attitudes of self-acceptance.

This study is conducted with the aim to find out the perceptions of students and

teachers of good teachers of English. By means of survey research based onquestionnaires and interviews completed by students and teachers, I try to define the

characteristics of a good English teacher both from teachers and students point of

view. I hope that the views from the participants are essential as a whole picture of

teaching and learning language activities. Though students perceptions instead of

actions were the main focus in the present study, it may be that people cannotimplicitly understand the problems or the factors of hindrance without looking at

the whole picture from students and teachers. Therefore, I would like to find out the

differences between teachers and students perceptions in order to improve the

quality of language teaching.


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out this study in order to explore a whole picture of what a good English teacher is, bothperceptions of teachers and students are crucial in this study. The students in the study

might have similar perceptions or very different perceptions from the English teachers.

Thus, looking for ways to use insights from the research might help English teachers

understand what to expect from students, or it might give teachers ideas for tasks,

assignments or assessment.4. Chapter arrangements

The minor thesis consists of six chapters. The first chapter includes a statement of the

problem and rationale for the study, the aims, significance of the study as well as chapter

arrangement of the study. The second chapter includes five parts. The first part is

introduction, the second part is definition of a good teacher, the third is qualities of a goodEnglish teacher, the following part is studies on teachers and students perceptions of a

good teacher of English and the last one is research questions. The third chapter is research

method: part one is research context, part two is participants, part three is data collection

instrument and procedures and part four is data analysis. In chapter four, the researcher


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PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

I.1. Introduction

In a study with 200 foreign language teachers teaching English, French,

Arabic, Brosh (1996) identified the perceived characteristics of effective languageteachers. According to the results of this study, desirable characteristics of effective

language teachers include: knowledge and command of the target language, the ability to

organize, explain, and clarify, and the ability to arouse and sustain interest and motivation

among students. Many language teachers have the same point with Hammadou and

Bernhardt (1987):Language teachers differ from other teachers in that they do not teach a factual

product but rather a process of communication and that they may lose the use of the

process if they themselves do not use it on a regular basis (p. 302)

Included in many factors that directly influence the success of language teachers


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should conduct interesting classes, emphasize good pronunciation, give clearexplanation, have a good knowledge of the target language, have no favouritism, try to

involve the students into the classroom activities, and be patient. He/she should be

friendly, prepares good notes, can tell jokes, plays games with the students, treats the

weak learners well, and acts like a comedian. A good teacher should be able to explain

lessons clearly and arouse students interest. All responsible English teachers have ethicdevotion, and they are supposed to make their personal styles compatible with their work.

These two aspects, which are beyond the scope of this book, can be achieved as long as the

teacher himself has the willingness to do so.Moreover, he/ she should be kind, responsible

and establish good relationship with students. This review is aimed at finding out the

perception and qualities of a good teacher from different perspectives.I.2.1. General views about a good teacher

For a teacher, years of teaching experience and knowledge of teaching methods do

not guarantee effective teaching. Teachers should constantly look for ways to develop

themselves professionally and sharpen their teaching skills along with the subject matter :

O h h ff i l h l hi bj b hi lf P li


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- They should not rely on the course book only- They must know students individual needs help students make progress

- They can give interesting lessons be kind

- They have a good sense of humour

- They must be patient, flexible and creative

- They know the students names you must know your students must careI.2.2. Specific attributes of a good teacher

Teaching is as an art, it is true. Being a teacher is difficult but being a good teacher

is much more difficult. It demands each teacher must be creative, has sense of humor,

flexible, sometimes behaves as an actor, motivating, enthusiastic, is able to

communicate freely, and has positive attitude, etc. When being a teacher, he/ she oftenworries and wants to answer the question that What is a good teacher? and we all find

that there are different qualities shaping a good teacher. As teachers we have to discover

essential elements as well as characteristics of becoming a good teacher. In my opinion, I

believe that if any teacher wants to become a good teacher, he/she will have the abilities to:


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examples for their students as they can show what they say is important enough for thestudents to apply to their own lives. The responsibility involves more than presenting

subject knowledge or making sure the students score high examination marks. Being a

teacher is a way of life. You are a teacher not only when you stand in front of the

classroom but also as you walk through life, applying what you know and understand and

can do.c. Establish good relationship with students

Teachers who have good relationship with their students generally teach more

effectively. The reason is because the connection between students and teachers brings the

teachers to learn about each student as unique from others, and also enables them to

understand the diversity of all the students. This shows the importance of establishing goodrelationships with students. Good teachers are usually associated with teachers who have

maintained a good relationship with their students. This assertion is reiterated by Palmer

(1999)

"Good teaching isn't about technique. I've asked students around the country to

d ib h i d h All f h d ib l h h f


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to intelligence. Teachers are perceived as being intelligent not just in book smarts butalso in other aspects. In view of honesty, the writer explains that honesty means

teachers can be trusted and to tell the truth. Creativity is regarded as one of the

important elements in teaching, teacher should keep students on their toes, for

example, some interesting and motivational activities are introduced in the classroom

learning. Another quality of good teachers is a sense of purpose, teachers have anexpectation of success for every student, or a goal for students to complete certain tasks by

themselves after the course. Without a purpose, there is no meaning to teaching and

learning. In addition, a good teacher needs a sense of humor in classroom teaching. A

great sense of humour reduces barriers and lightens the atmosphere especially during

heavy periods. An ability to make students laugh will carry teachers far and gain theteachers more respect. Kottler and Zehm (2000) state if there is one major premise of

effective teaching, it is conveying the idea that learning is enjoyable.

e. Understand students needs and difficulties

"As a teacher, this means that you know what your students expect, and you make

l h i If h GED l d i l i i h


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teacher cannot lack of knowledge since it is easy to burn out if teachers are not learningand teaching something new periodically in their life (Kohl, 1986, p. 54)

g. Have good teaching practice in classroom

Good teaching is associated with good classroom practice. Morgan and Morris

(1999: p.16) state that classroom practice can be divided into three aspects namely the

method of presentation, explanation or giving feedback and classroom control. There aresome principles of a good teachers presentation:

- effectively select and sequence learning activities, and manage and pace teaching

time to achieve planned student outcomes;

apply a variety of human, material and technological resources to maximise

learning;- are as impartial as possible when discussing controversial matters with students;

- create and maintain a learning environment which:

+ is interesting and challenging

+ is orderly and purposeful


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care.Vernon (1953) states Teachers are as diverse in their psychological traits as any other

occupational group, it is fallacious to talk of the teaching personality as something distinct

and consistent (p.482). If teachers can make an interesting and exciting presentation,

students views a teacher is possessing good teaching practice.

To sum up, it can be said there are no standard or definite answers of looking at how gooda teacher is.

I.3. General views and specific attributes of a good English teacher

I.3.1. General views about a good English teacher

As I have already mentioned above, we studied the general views and the special

attributes of a good teacher. As a language teacher, I want to have a deeper study to answerthe question that what personal qualities, characteristics or classroom practices that help

make up a good language teacher? This answer is considered as a vital role in teaching

English process because perceptions of the language teachers role have changed

considerably. Nowadays language teachers are no longer seen exclusively as individuals


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themselves- group work, etc. In his book, Scrivener (1994: p.15) lists some pieces foradvice for language teachers: Be as honestly yourself as you can be, encourage a friendly,

relaxed learning environment, ask open questions, allow time for students to listen, think

and process their answers, increase opportunities for student talking time, make use of

pairs and small groups, encourage co-operation rather than competition, encourage

interaction between students, use gestures, etc.I.3.2. Specific attributes of a good English teacher

In addition to the general views about the qualities of good English teachers in

the previous section, there is other more subject specific attributes of being a good

English teacher. It is worthwhile to look at the following specific attributes of good

English teachers.a) Understand students needs and difficulties

The needs and difficulties of each student may be different. In order to attain

successful learning by students, language teachers should be able to identify the needs

and abilities of individuals. If a good English teacher can find how students feel about


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approach and 44% used a situational approach. Moreover, when asked, many studentsoften complained that they had to do exercises most of the time during lessons; teachers

seldom play games and interesting activities with them in the English lessons. This idea

can be illustrated in the survey of Richards, Tung and Ng (1992). The teachers ranked the

classroom activities they most frequently employ in their teaching were ranked as:

1. doing reading and writing exercises from the textbook,2. doing written grammar exercises,

3. composition,

4. pair or group work tasks,

5. reading aloud,

6. dictation,7. oral grammar exercises.

It implies that teachers can try to change their teaching practices in the lessons

from drilling to more communicative tasks.

d) Create an interesting and relaxing environment


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effectively. As a result, students could not receive sufficient attention in each skill inlanguage learning. Language teachers should take their prominent place in a language

classroom; students will be provided opportunities to practise these skills. Since the four

skills have shown significant relationships, helping students acquire and develop the

four skills reading, listening, speaking and writing in English lessons is put in high

priority. This is stressed by The Department of Education and Science in Great Britain(1985) that students of any age need a satisfying balance between oral, practical and

written tasks providing scope for extended discussion as well as for sustained writing of

many different kinds.

g) Encourage students to speak and participate in English activities

In learning a foreign language, we find that four skills have to draw equal attention.However, speaking may be one of the most difficult and complex skills for language

learners. In most situations, speaking involves more than talk, that means most speaking

tasks are interactive. Students lack the ability to communicate in the language, so they

do not have confidence to speak English.A good English teacher has the responsibility to


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language used, emphasis and interest through voice, using examples, organization of ideasand feedback to the students.

i) Being Up-to-date

It is better for a language teacher to catch up what changes are taking place in the

English curriculum nationally and what their own students are reading or seeing or

listening to. In order to help keep English teachers up-to-date, they need to stretch out andtouch the world. They should read some professional publications, novels, magazines,

classics and English journals. They should stay alert to changes in the youth culture,

especially changes in language, dress, and music. By doing so, teachers can understand

what moves, disturbs, or stimulates young people in language teaching.

I.3.3. Perceptions of students and teachers on a good language teacherTeachers are constantly being enriched by daily contact with their learners which put

them in touch with different perspectives and ways of looking at things. Learning is more

effective if both teachers and students are actively involved in the teaching-learning

process. The problem, however, is that in most learningsituations in different parts of the


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* Primary role as a teacher in the classroom:- to provide useful learning experiences,

- to provide a model of correct language,

- to answer learners questions, and

- to correct learners errors.

* Main roles as an English teacher:- to help students discover effective approaches to learning

- to pass knowledge and skills to pupils

- adapt teaching approaches to meet students needs

The good teacher of modern languages (Sanderson 1983):

1. uses the foreign language predominantly,2. is vigilant about pronunciation, intonation and stress,

3a. uses the foreign language for classroom instruction,

3b. uses the foreign language for the teaching/learning message,

4a. praises correct responses,


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of foreign languages in Altmanns (1981) study and some viewpoints described by thestudents are as follows:

-A real second language teacher is on my side

- A real second language teacher lets me be me and tries to understand what its like to be

me

- A real second language teacher accepts me whether he or she likes me or not.

- A real second language teacher doesnt have expectations of me because of what Ive

been or what he or she has been.

- A real second language teacher is more interested in how I learn than what I learn.

- A real second language teacher doesnt make me feel anxious and afraid. He/ she

provides many choices- A real second language teacher lets me teach myself even if it takes longer. A real

language teacher talks so I can understand what he or she means to say.

- A real second language teacher can make mistakes and admit it

- A real second language teacher can show his or her feelings and let me show mine.

l d l h l k


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subjects, in which we find that statements 2, 4 and 8 are specifically for describinglanguage of foreign teachers.

I.4. Studies on teachers and students perceptions of a good teacher of English

Being a good English language teacher, students ways of learning a language is a

crucial piece of information. At the same time, knowing how students see a good

language teacher is also important. It is believed that students hold a wide variety of beliefsabout language teacher. Some beliefs are likely influenced by students previous

experiences when they received education from their teachers. There have been few studies

on good English teachers (Richards et al., 1992; Urmston et al., 1996; Peacock, 2002) and

Riddell (2001). Besides these studies, there were some other western studies done by

Gorham (1987), Kutnick & Jules (1993) and Aksoy (1998). They have discussed mostof the characteristics of a good teacher, for instance, personality,instruction, relationship

and classroom management. Cortazzi & Jin (1996a) also carried out similar research

on the characteristics of a good language teacher in Tianjin. They asked 135 university

students to write essays on the expected characteristics of A Good language Teacher. In


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what students interests, needs and difficulties are. A good English teacher should have agreat sense of patience, a good communication skill and fluency of his/her language. Class

activities are important for students, but what techniques an English teacher should apply

to motivate students and create a relaxing atmosphere is a big question for a good English

teacher.

In return, we can say that a good English teacher should demonstrate the abovelanguage abilities in teaching English. This study is designed to seek answer to the

following questions:

1. What are the perceptions of a good teacher of English held by students and

teachers of English at Haiduong Medical Technical University?

2. What are the commonalities and differences between the teachers and studentsperceptions of a good teacher of English?

The answer to these questions would serve to give insights into students and teachers

perceptions on a good language teacher.


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CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGYThis chapter presents the research methodology employed in this thesis including

document analysis, survey questionnaires and interviews. Besides, a detail description of

the participants involved in the research will be shown.

II.1. Research context

I decided to conduct a study with the students at my own university because I wasintrigued with giving my students the chance to tell me their own opinions of what a

good language teacher was. Haiduong Medical technical University, at which I have

taught English as a foreign language for 6 years, was founded in 2007, based on Haiduong

Medical Technical High School (founded in 1960, and then Haiduong Medial Technical

College in 2000 ). The students from 29 Northern provinces of Vietnam come here to studymedicine, so they dont often pay much attention to learn English. Due to this reason, the

English teachers always meet difficulties in teaching them English. This demands each

teacher has various methods to help their students to overcome their difficulties.

II.2. Participants


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II.3. Data collection, methods and proceduresIn order to gain data for the study, two different instruments were employed: survey

questions and interview.

II.3.1. Questionnaires

- Reasons of choosing questionnaires

One of the most common methods of data collection in second language research isto use questionnaires of various kinds. The popularity of questionnaires is due to the fact

that they are easy to construct and uniquely capable of gathering a large amount of

information quickly in a form that is readily processable (Dornyei, 2003:1). A

questionnaire as an instrument of a data collection has such advantages as low cost in time

and money, respondent anonymity, and standardization of questions. However, it hasdisadvantages such as the quality of data, respondent literacy problems, question wording.

Therefore, interview was used to .

Given the purpose of the study, it is necessary to have the students and teachers

opinions on perceptions of a good language teacher, I decided to use two types of


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CHAPTER III: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONIII.1. Introduction

This chapter presents the findings both descriptively and interpretively as well as

discusses the findings. How the chapter is organized?

All the 15 questionnaires were returned. After analyzing the results of the

questionnaire, the most interesting and significant findings were selected to present here.Moreover, in order to obtain more in-dept data, 5 teachers and 10 students were selected

randomly among the respondents for a structured interview. These teachers and students

were in fact selected on the basis of accessibility. These teachers were asked in English and

the students were asked in Vietnamese. This was to guarantee the truthfulness of the

information in case the students were not confident enough in answering in English or theymay get confused in understanding the interview questions and in giving answers to the

asked questions. All the interviews were audio-taped. Each interviewee was asked three

questions:

1. What characteristics do you think a good teacher of English should have?


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0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Very

important

Important Not very

important

Not

Important

Teachers' responses

Students' responses

Chart 1: Teachers and students perceptions of the personal qualities

Table 1 shows that most teachers (70%) selected a good teacher of English should

have a great patience and sense of humor as a very important characteristic of a good

English teacher. For the students responses, they also assume that patience and sense of

humor are important for a good English teacher, which accounts for 51.4% (for very

important) and 48.6% (for important). There is not much difference in this characteristic


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Items

Teachers responses

(N= 10)

Students responses

(N = 70)1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

Need to have goodcommunication skills

80% 20% 0% 0% 67.1% 30% 2.9% 0%

Need to update information/changes in a foreign

language60% 40% 0% 0% 62.9% 32.8% 4.3% 0%

Be able to be flexible andvary techniques according to

students level and theteaching/learning situations

40% 60% 0% 0% 52.8% 42.8% 4.3% 0%

Table 1: Teachers and students perceptions of professional development and academic

requirement

1= Very important 2= Important

3=Not very important 4=Not important

a. A good language teacher needs good communication skills

At Haiduong Medical Technical University the language teachers have also begun to


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the students agreed that it is important for good language teachers to possess goodcommunication skills.

b. A good teacher of English needs to update information/ changes in a foreign

language

As can be seen from the table, 100% of the teachers assumed that updating

information/ changes in a foreign language is very important and important. Theresponses of the students compared with the teachers agreement may be fewer (96.7%),

but we can find the similarity between the teachers and students. At Haiduong Medical

technical University, where they are studying ESP about medicine, the students really

wanted language teachers have constantly updated information of the language in order to

explain the related knowledge to ESP. This is reasonable because medicine is an areawhich has continuous changes of drugs, treatment, machines, kinds of diseases, epidemics

and etc., so the language teachers always have to pick out new terminologies, then give

their Vietnamese equivalents and teach the students how to pronounce then correctly.

c. A good language teacher needs to be flexible and vary techniques according to


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III.4. Teachers and students perceptions of the roles of a good teacher of English

Items

Teachers responses

(N = 10)

Students responses

(N = 70)1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

be able to make/ stimulatestudents to interact/communicate with each otherthrough pair /group work/roles

play /simulations etc..

60% 40% 0% 0 % 34.3% 44.2% 18.5% 2.9%

be able to plan the lessonsclearly.

40% 60% 0% 0 % 54.3% 42.8% 2.9% 0%

be able to state the objectivesof the lessons clearly

40% 60% 0% 0 % 47.2% 52.8% 0% 0%

be able to offer a good model

as the target language user.80% 20% 0% 0 % 80% 20% 0% 0%

be able to provide studentswith appropriate correctionand feedback

20% 80% 0% 0 % 54.2% 41.4% 4.3% 0%

be able to build studentsconfidence

40% 60% 0% 0 % 12.9% 82.8% 2.9% 1.4%

be able to realize studentsneeds, interests as well as 70% 30% 0% 0 % 17.1% 71.4% 11.4% 0%


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sometimes I have trouble with such a crowded class (teacher 3). This is difficult for theteachers to design suitable tasks or manage learners involvement in speaking lessons.

From this fact, many students cannot adequately receive effects of the teaching techniques

given their teachers, they are not enthusiastic enough to involve in speaking activities. This

may be a main reason why 78,5% surveyed students consider this term very important and

important, and up to 18,5% of the students consider it not very important or even notimportant (2,9%).

Interview question 3 What should a language teacher do to motivate students to

participate in classroom activities? was given and I received many answers as well as

suggestions for this question. A teacher said that I will design activities suitable to

learners ability in class so that the learners feel motivated to speak (teacher 1), another Iwill provide learners with appropriate and interesting topics to discuss, especially topics

relating to real life to create enjoyable class atmosphere (teacher 3). For the students, they

hope to get involved more in class activities I will actively participate in activities given

by teacher (student 7).


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students on the importance of this characteristic can be originated from the fact that atHaiduong Medical Technical University, it is compulsory for the teachers to state the

objectives of the lessons before each new lesson is started. This has been done for a long

time, so both the teachers and students are easy to find out importance of this

characteristic.

d. A good teacher of English should be able to offer a good model as the targetlanguage user.

As can be seen, the majority of the teachers (80%) and the students (80%) say that it is

very important for a good English teacher to be a good/appropriate model in using the

language. The rest of the surveyed teachers (20%) and students (20%) consider it

important.

This means that the students always expect their language teachers to have aspecific proficiency level in any skill area, especially the four skills. The skills of

understanding, speaking, reading and writing do not exist in isolation. A good English

teacher should have a good command of the language so that he or she can set a good

model for the students to follow.


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students: I want my teacher to give more specific explanation (student 8). Sometimes,the teachers correction is quite confusing and incomprehensible. We are very difficult to

understand my teacher because she always corrects mistakes in English (student 5), this is

a reason why student responses do not find importance from their teachers mistake

correction (4.3%). I think a good language teacher must be willing to accept students

mistakes, provide chances as well as ways of correction for the students. The teacherexpresses concern for the students by offering encouragement and support during difficult

times.

From the collected result, we find that both the teachers and the students come to

agreement that it is important to give appropriate feedback for students. But the teachers

have to pay much more to their ways of correction in order to gain more effects and meetthe students desire. If so, there will be not difference between the teachers and the

students because the students consider this characteristic as one of the top priorities.

f. A good teacher of English should be able to build studentsconfidence

Good teachers are usually associated with teachers who have maintained a good


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not important (1,4%).g. A good teacher of English should realize students needs, interests as well as

individual differences

The responses to this question also reveal the fact that it is important for a language

teacher to understand not only how learning takes place but also what may impede or block

learning needs and interests of students. 30% of the teachers and up to 71.4% of thestudents think that understanding students needs and interests is important.

Demands for learning English are becoming more and more, but not everybody can

learn English. Learners can have much trouble in pronunciation, communication skills,

etc At that time, they need a teacher who has the ability and willingness to step inside

students shoes in order to feel what the student is going through learning a language.Teaching students who have limited English proficiency requires that teachers adjust their

responses and their instructional activities to match the specific language skill and ability

of their students. This requires teachers ability to communicate this deep level of

understanding. That means teachers can use their experiences of being a language learner


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expresses a desire towards their language teachers, not simply responding to a question.All the collected results of the teachers and the students can be inferred that realizing

students interests, needs and individual difficulties is important for a good teacher of

English. However, students comments make language teachers pay more attention to their

students needs. There is surprising difference between the teachers and the students.

III.5. Teachers and students perceptions of the importance of classroom practices

ItemsTeachers responses Students responses

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4be able to create goodclassroom atmosphere.

70% 30% 0% 0 % 48.6% 48.6% 2.9% 0%

be able to manage,balance l anguage

classroom activities.

50% 50% 0% 0 % 12.9% 80% 5.7% 1.4%

be able to encouragestudents to speak Englishwith praises/ rewards

10% 90% 0% 0 % 24.3% 31.4% 40% 4.3%

Be able to explainvocabulary and grammarclearly.

50% 50% 0% 0 % 70% 28.6% 1.4% 0%


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they said that they liked learning English. The reason why the students liked learningEnglish was that the teacher succeeded in creating a good learning environment. The

students felt motivated, excited, therefore, it was easy for them to understand and

memorize the lesson: we can learn much from games(student 3) I like leaning English

because I can share ideas freely with my partner (student 10).

However, at Haiduong Medical Technical University, the teachers have to teachEnglish with large scaled classes and different English backgrounds, so it is difficult to

create a really good environment for the students. Although the proportion of students

thinking that this characteristic is not important was inconsiderable, only 2.9%, we can find

that students long for a relaxing environment to learn English. Only when they have a

comfortable atmosphere, can they feel safe to try out language to express what they reallywant to say and learn other skills effectively.

There is not very much difference between the teachers and the students in this aspect.

This means that both teachers and students were aware that it is vital for teachers to

contribute to an atmosphere encouraging the learningg of English.


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students consider this characteristic not very important and even not important (1.4%).The agreement of the teachers and the students to this characteristic is rather high. In

reality the technique is still good; good language teachers should provide a variety of

activities in the classroom to keep students' attention. However, the unequal proportion

between the teacher and the students (50% against 12.9%) makes me wonder whether the

way of managing and balancing class activities is effective or not.c.A good teacher of English should encourage students to speak English with praises/

rewards

According to the survey, 100% of teacher responses agree with importance of

encouraging students to speak English with praise/ rewards. Teachers need to provide

opportunities for students to speak or practise English with reinforcement. When asked toanswer question 3 that what a good language teacher should do to motivate students to

speak, responses were given: students usually know exactly what will happen in class and

answer questions mechanically, so I often add suprises to my lessons (teacher 1), At

first, teachers should reward any success however small. If students speak out loudly and


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mistakes. I think rewards are very important because they made us feel self-confident(student 10). I assume that the students answer reflected a reality in only her class but also

many other classes in Vietnam.

A good teacher of English remembers that praise and encouragement for positive

efforts by the learners will help to keep motivation up. This survey shows differences

between the teachers and students about this characteristic. Although, both objects considerit important to motivate students to speak with praises and rewards, the surveyed results

from the students say that effectiveness from teachers rewards is not high.

d.A good teacher of English should explain vocabulary and grammar clearly

Maybe from the fact that Vietnamese teachers who teach English often pay too much

attention to teaching grammatical structures and vocabulary, Vietnamese students are toofamiliar to such a way of teaching and learning. Therefore, when asked, up to 70% of the

students agree that this characteristic is very important. 28.6% find it important. 100% of

the teachers believe that explaining vocabulary and grammar clearly is very important and

important. A good English teacher ensures that students learn and understand the language


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they agreed that all the characteristics are necessary and important. For the students theyalso consider them important, but they give their responses according to real situations,

which are happening in their class. So, we sometimes find that students are not very

satisfied with the teaching methodology of their teachers or with the effectiveness of the

teachers motivation.


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The ultimate purpose of studying students and teachers perceptions of goodEnglish teacher is, of course, an applied one; teachers hope to determine which strategies

are most effective and help students adopt more productive leaning procedures. When

teachers have researched what a good English teacher is in the eyes of the students more

thoroughly they will be able to incorporate teaching strategies into their teaching

methodology, what the students and teachers said about a good English teacher hasimplications for teachers of a second language.

When teaching speaking skill, if teachers want students to participate into this

activity effectively, the teachers should remember that students need to know exactly how

an activity is done, otherwise they will be out of control when the activity starts. So, a good

language teacher should: Model the activity with one of your best students so everyone can see what they

need to do and start with a simple, mechanical activity, then continue with

something more meaningful, and finish with a communicative activity.

Design interesting activities suitable to students ability


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teaching, students should also take more ownership of their own learning. Perhaps they areexpecting too much contribution from their teachers and too little from themselves. For

example, they have to more actively participate in activities given by the teacher. Students

also have their own responsibilities in improving their attitude toward learning English in

order to become an effective and successful language learner.

All in all, language teachers have to face the challenge in any school situation, theyshould be equipped with as great a repertoire of methods, learning activities and

relationship skills as possible.

3. Limitations and recommendations for further research

Although the study has found some important findings, like many other studies,

there are some limitations.There will be some limitations in the methodology. The research design, especially

content analysis, is limited by some constraints. Sometimes the materials involved are

unrepresentative for analysis to have a chance of producing valid results. By asking the

participants of two classes, some invaluable information has been obtained to show the

essential attributes constituting a good English teacher. However, the findings are limited


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his/her foreign language, understanding students needs and interests, etc. However, wefound a lot of different perceptions of these two kinds of respondents. The teachers said

that it was very important to stimulate students, realize students interests, needs and

difficulties or encourage students with praises and rewards, but the students assumed that

these activities were not very importance. To find out the explanation for all these

differences, the researcher carried out many interviews and discovered the reason thatteachers had not applied their methods of motivating effectively. So, we always look

forwards to active teaching methods from their teachers. Obviously, when the gap of

perceptions between teachers and students is narrowed, the students will me more

motivated and the effectiveness of language teaching will be considerably increased.


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REFERENCES1. Altman, H.B. (1981). What is Second language teaching. In the Second language

Classroom: Direction for the 1980s.ed.J.E. Alatis, H.B. , Altman and P.M. Alatis. Oxford

University Press.

2. Askoy,N (1998). Opinions of Upper Elementary Students about good teachers.Paper

presented at the Annual Meeting of the Northeastern Education Research Association

(29th, Ellenville, NY. October, p.p. 28-30)

3. Brosh, H. (1996). Perceived characteristics of the effective language teacher. Foreign

Language Annals, 29, 125138.

4. Brown,H.D. (1994). Principles of language learning and teaching. Englewood Cliffs,

NJ: Prentice Hall Regents.5. Buskist, W., Sikorski, J., Buckley, T., & Saville, B. K. (2002). Elements of Master

Teaching. In S. F. Davis & W. Buskist (Eds.), The teaching of psychology: Essays in

honor of Wilbert J. McKeachie and Charles L. Brewer (p.p. 2739). Mahwah, NJ:

Erlbaum.


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28. Wright, T. (1987).Roles of teachers & learners. Oxford University Press.29. Yamoor, K.Y. (1985). A study of attitudes in second language learning. University

Microfilms International.

30. Yorio, C. (1989). The other side of the looking glass.Journal of Basic Writing, 8(1), 32-

45.


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SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (Completed by the teachers)

I am interested in researching the students and teachers perceptions of a good language teacher. Your participation in this

survey will help me to complete my MA thesis at Vietnamese National University. Please kindly spare a few minutes of your

time to fill out this questionnaire. Your responses to this questionnaire will be treated with utmost confidence. Thank you for

your cooperation.

Very important Important Not very important Not important

A good language teacher should :Personal Qualities &personalities

need to have great patience and sense ofhumor

Professional Development& Academic requirement

need to have good communication skillsneed to have fluency and up-to-date information/changes in a foreign languagebe able to be flexible and vary techniques according

to students level and the teaching/learning situations

Role of a languageteacher

be able to make/ stimulate students tointeract/communicate with each otherthrough pair/group work/roles play /simulations etc..be able to plan the lessons clearly.be able to state the objectives of the lessons clearlybe able to offer a good model as the target languageuser.be able to provide students with appropriate correctionand feedbackbe able to build students confidencebe able to realize students needs, interests as well asindividual differences

Classroom practices be able to create good classroom atmosphere.be able to manage, balance language classroomactivities.be able to encourage students to speak English with

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praises/ rewardsBe able to explain vocabulary and grammar clearly.

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PHIU IU TRA NGHIN CU (DANH CHO NGI HOC)

Bng cu hi di y nhm phc v ti nghin cu s nhn thc ca gio vin v sinh vin v mt ngi gio vin ngoi ng tt. Cu

tr li m cc bn cung cp rt quan trng i vi cng trnh nghin cu ny. Cc d liu iu tra s ch c s dng cho vic nghin cu,

khng nhm mc ch no khc.

Rt quan trong Quan trong Khng quan trong

lm

Khngquan trong

A good language teacher should :Phm cht va tinh cach phi co s kin nhn va hai hc

oi hoi chuyn mn va

phat trin ngh nghi p

Cn phi co kh nng giao tip tt

Cn phi co s thnh tho cung nh kh nng c p nht

thng tin cho ngn ng mnh s dng

phi linh hot v p dng c nhiu phng php

khc nhau theo trnh v hon cnh ca ngi hc

Vai tro cua ngi giao

vin ngoai ng

phi khuyn khch c ngi hc giao tip vi nhaubng nhng hot ng nh lm vic theo c p, theo

nhom, ng vai, v.v

Phi a ra mt k hoch bi ging ro rng

phi a ra c mc tiu bi ging mt cch ro rng

phi noi, pht m ngoi ng ca mnh mt cch tri

chy v chnh xc

phi tip nhn cc li sai ca ngi hc v co nhng y

kin phn hi mt cch hp ly

phi bit c nhu cu v s thch ca tng ngi hcphi co c mi quan h tt cung nh s quan tm

n ngi hc

Hoat ng trong lp hoc phi to c mt khng kh lp hc tt.

phi qun ly v cn bng c cc hat ng trong lp

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ngoi ng

phi bit dung nhng li khen hoc phn thng

khuyn khch c ngi hc noi ngn ng ang hc.

phi gii thch t vng v ng php mt cch ro rng.

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TEACHERS AND STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF a goog teacher of english

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