4
TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION …………………………………………………………………………. i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i1
ABSTRACT i3
TABLE OF CONTENTS iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 6i
LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES 7i

Part A: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale 1
2. Aims of the study 2
3. Methods of the study 2
4. Scope of the study 2
5. Design of the study 3
Part B: DEVELOPMENT 4
CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW 4
1.1. Large Classrooms 4
1.1.1. Class size 4
1.1.2. Advantages of large classes 5
1.1.3. Disadvantages of large classes 6
1.2. ELT in large classrooms 8
1.2.1. Advantages and disadvantages of ELT in large classrooms 8
1.2.2. Reading in ELT 9
1.2.3. Reading in large classrooms 10
CHAPTER 2: PRACTICAL RESEARCH 12
2.1. Background of the study 12
2.1.1. Description of the English course and its objectives in the PPA 12
2.1.2. Description of the students at the PPA 13

3. Suggestions for further studies 40

REFERENCES …………………………………………………………………………41
APPENDICES …………………………………………………………………………… I
6
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as foreign language
ELT: English language teaching
ESL: English as second language
PPA: the People‟s Police Academy

8
Part A
INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale
Nowadays English is becoming one of the most popular languages worldwide. In
different countries, different people at different ages learn English for their own purposes.
Learning to use a language freely and fully is a lengthy and effortful process. In Vietnam,
learning English language is interested by young people, especially students at universities
for many reasons such as being able to get better jobs in foreign companies, having
opportunities to study abroad or having chances of being promoted and so on.
In recent years, because of the phenomenal expansion in students‟ enrollment in
Vietnamese universities, English language classes are bound to be large because of this
expansion. Although large classes facilitate a common background for students and are
economically desirable, they pose a number of challenges to teachers. As a matter of fact,
teaching English is said to be not effective at universities in Vietnam in general and at the
People‟s Police Academy (PPA) in particular.
The importance of teaching English reading skill is undeniable in the context of
Vietnam. This is attributed to many reasons. Generally speaking, teaching English in
Vietnam supplies students with the abilities to understand the materials in the written form
and to communicate in English. Furthermore, English is taught and learnt in a foreign-
language environment where students have little opportunity for using English in daily life.
In such context, reading is not only a means to obtain knowledge but also a means by
which further study takes place. In other words, learners “read to learn” (Burn et al,
1998:11). Taking the same view, Carrell (1981:1) confirms that “for many students,
reading is by far the most important of the four skills in a second language, particularly
English as a second or foreign language”. This is particularly true to the students at the
PPA. They know that if they read well, they will receive lots of information especially in
their future job.
However, there is also a fact that we – the teachers of English cannot deny. That is,

4. Scope of the study
Due to the limit of time, the study mainly focuses on the problems in teaching and
learning reading in large classes at the PPA. It also give some possible suggested
techniques and activities that may improve the situation. Several aspects relating to reading
activities for large classes are not the focus of the study. 10
5. Design of the study
The study is divided into three parts:
The first part, INTRODUCTION, presents rationale for the study and hightlights the aims,
scopes and methods of the study.
The second part, DEVELOPMENT, consists of three chapters.
Chapter 1 accounts for a variety of linguistic concepts most relevant to the research topic
such as definitions of large class, ELT in Large Classrooms, Reading in ELT and Reading
in Large Classrooms
Chapter 2 focuses on the analyses on the real situation of teaching and learning reading in
large classes at the PPA, learning requirements, teaching methods, materials and
assessments. This chapter also deals with the subject, instruments for data collection and
data presentation as well.
Chapter 3 takes a close look at problems in reading in large class at the PPA and it
provides suggestions to these problems.
The last part of the study, CONCLUSION, sum up the issued addressed in the study and
points out the limitations and make some suggestions for further study.

Haynes (1997) defines that any class with over 40 learners can be considered a
large class.
Richard Watson Todd (2006) gives a table which shows the numbers of students
mentioned in articles about large classes for English language teaching:
Some minimum sizes of large classes
Author
Minimum size of large class
Barker (1976)
55
Chimombo (1986)
50
Dixon (1986)
40
Finocchiaro (1989)
65
George (1991)
60
Hayes (1997)
50
Holliday (1996)
50
Hubbard et al. (1983)
45
Li (1998)
50
Long (1977)
60

12
Nolasco & Arthur (1986)

The content of the lessons conducted in a large class usually provides general
information which is easy for the student to understand when they study in a large
classroom. As it is stated that “It is usually good for any person to learn, as the content is
less detailed, more general and broader” (Wulff, Nyquist and Abbot, 1987, p.22).

13
It is also imperative to ensure that in large classes students understand the materials
well. The use of repetition in the class may “act as a map to help them know where the
class has been and where it is going” (Carbone, 1998, p.21).
Moreover, in large class, students can share many different ideas and interesting
life experiences. This stimulates the students and enlivens those parts of our lessons where
students can discuss and learn from each other. During project work, students can learn to
share responsibility and help each other. This also brings diversity and speeds up the work.
In short, although it is believed that teaching in large classes is big a challenge for
the teacher, it still has a few advantages for both teachers and learners. Because of these
advantages, when teaches have to give lectures to large classes, it is advisable to make the
best of these good points to have good teaching result.

1.1.3. Disadvantages of large classes
Large classes are popular in many countries and it is indeed a pressing matter to
many EFL teachers. Many teachers have realized the negative influence that large class
size can have on the quality of teaching and learning.
The teaching of large classes is truly challenging and requires more conscious
effort and planning in order to make learning and teaching more effective in such an
environment. Many experts believe that small classes achieve better results than large ones
do. Most EFL teachers reject teaching in large classes as they often mean heterogeneous
ages and abilities with many difficulties in learning and individually giving and getting
attention. A large class makes teachers difficult to motivate students‟ participation, difficult
to make interaction with students, and difficult to give feedback to them.
Conant (2003) states that teaching large classes is demanding and difficult. Among

Secondly, there is lack of teacher-student interaction; and thirdly, there are some physical
constraints as the most of the classrooms have rows of desks fixed to the floor, which is
unfavorable for language learning and teaching. Such being the case, it is not surprising if
teachers feel there is a gap between the theory of teaching methodology and reality of their
own teaching situation.
Challenges of teaching a large class include the difficulties in keeping good class
discipline, giving each student individual attention he or she needs; providing for more
students of different ages and different abilities who want to learn different things at
different speeds and in different ways.
From the student‟s perspective the main problem with large classes is the feeling of
anonymity. The anonymity of students in large classes has been associated with students

15
taking a more passive role and being less likely to participate with in-class activities,
hoping that their lack of involvement will „go unnoticed‟. (Islam, 2001).
Because of those disadvantages, it is not surprising that non-native teachers of
English often find it difficult to carry out their teaching in a more effective way, which
may involve the full participation and contribution from students.

1.2. ELT in large classrooms
Teaching a second language can sometimes be complicated. Some researchers
believe that a naturalistic approach is more effective than formal teaching in the classroom
setting. However, second language acquisition or learning can also be achieved in the
classroom setting, including large classroom, through appropriate methods of effective
instructions and different types of classroom interaction.
Moreover, learning usually takes place in the classroom setting where the teacher is
the provider of the rules, i.e. grammatical forms and feedback, including error detection
and correction. The teacher determines the syllabus, while the students are expected to
receive passively. Although the concept is the traditional methods of language teaching, it
is still widely used in schools around the world where large classrooms prevail.

being read with greater care than others”. (Wallace 2001:5). There are many types of
reading such as reading for survival, reading for learning and reading for pleasure.
Reading for survival is any reading that response to our environment, such as
reading signs on the street, signs for motorists, advertisements, notices and announcement.
For other social groups such as parents, reading for survival might include the ability to
read instructions on the food package and safety regulations on toys. “Survival reading
serves immediate needs or wishes” (Wallace 2001:6).
Reading for learning means finding out information in order to extend one‟s
horizon. It is common for students to read for information while attending school,
particularly in a setting where English is learned as a second or foreign language. In this
setting, reading may not be fully used to its potential to reflect the students‟ learning, it is
rather used as a display function.
Reading for pleasure is carried out for the sake of reading, In ELT situation,
students are rarely taught the practice of reading as pleasure. The purpose of reading has
been converted into examination drills which mean reading is required merely to pass the
exams. Moreover, Wallace coins that “if readers do not read for pleasure in their mother
tongue they are very unlikely to do so in a second or foreign language” (2001:7)
Fluency is the most essential outcome of reading for pleasure in any language.
Readers must be fluent in reading to be able to enjoy the material, otherwise it will create

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boredom, and thus it will lead them to discontinue reading. Simultaneously, it decreases
motivation to read anything except reading for survival. This in turn will determine fluency,
which might never have an opportunity to develop.

1.2.3. Reading in large classrooms
Reading has been “viewed as a twofold phenomenon involving process
(comprehending) and product (comprehension)” (Siberstein 1987: 30). Many teachers,
particularly in large classrooms concentrate more on the product of reading instead of the
process, for example, the teacher explains new vocabulary at length, the text is read to the

especially to those who do not put their hands up. When the answers are given, the teacher
should not reward the students by saying “good” or “that‟s right”. This is to encourage
other students to give different answers or providing different approach to the same answer.
Furthermore, it is not advisable to correct any mistake that might occur during the question
and answer session, as the activity is merely focused on the understanding of the meaning
of the material.
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CHAPTER 2: PRACTICAL RESEARCH



20
their profession. The textbook used at this stage (English for Police), which mainly focuses
on developing students‟ reading, speaking and slightly on writing skill, is designed by
teachers at the PPA. Students are required to read the texts on real law cases, to find out the
meanings of the law terms. They then discuss in pairs, and in groups to find answers to the
questions. At the end of this stage students will have oral tests.
The objectives of the English course are clear. At the end of the course (after 225 periods),
students are required to obtain:
- General knowledge of English grammar and an active vocabulary of 1,500 words.
- The ability to communicate with foreigners in English in common situations like:
showing the ways, asking to check foreigners‟ suspecting luggage.
- The ability to understand and use the professional terms and structures

2.1.2. Description of the students at the PPA
Like students of other colleges and universities, in order to be students of the PPA,
they have to pass a very challenging University Entrance Examination. Students of the
PPA come from all parts of the country: big cities, provinces and mountainous areas.
Freshmen at the PPA do not have the same level of English language proficiency.
Some of them have learned English for 7 years at secondary and high schools some have
only learned English for 3 years and some other have never learned English.

2.1.3. Description of the teachers at the PPA
In the PPA, there are 16 teachers of English language aged from 23 to 52. Of the 16
teachers, 5 have MA degrees, 7 have been trained at College of Foreign Languages-
Vietnam National University, Hanoi and one has been trained from Hanoi University of
Foreign Studies. The rest used to be teachers of Russian, however, since the number of
students learning Russian is now dwindled, there are not many Russian classes for them.
Therefore, after having attended an English-training course which lasted more than two
years, they became teachers of English.

techniques they currently apply in teaching reading skill to non-English major students at
the PPA.
The second questionnaire was administered to 150 non-English language major
students at the PPA. They are male and female students who were randomly chosen from
220 non English - major students of elementary level of English language proficiency.
Most of them aged from 18 to 22 and they are first year students. The researcher delivered
the questionnaire to those students in order to investigate the problems facing the students
at the elementary level at PPA in their learning of English reading skill. The reason for the

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choice of the first year students was because they were the only group of students who
were still learning English at the time of questionnaire delivery.

2.2.2. Research instruments
As mentioned above, in order to gather information for the study, the survey
method employing self-administered survey questionnaires for both students and teachers
was used. The researcher only used survey questionnaire as her research instrument
because of its convenience and due to the limitation of time and scope of this study.

2.2.3. Data analysis
Data analysis is not simply a single description of the collected data. In fact, it is
the process by which the researcher interprets the data collected from the survey
questionnaires. The scheme and coding categories in this research emerged from an
examination of data rather than being pre-determined and imposed on the data.

2.3. Presentation of statistical results
2.3.1. Questionnaire for Teachers
2.3.1.1. Methodology
The questionnaire for teacher consists of 5 open-ended questions written in English with
the hope to find out the difficulties that teachers encounter in their teaching of reading skill

The table shows that English language teachers at the PPA are quite experienced. 10
out of 16 teachers (62.5%) have been teaching foreign languages for more than 6 years.

* Teachers‟ attitudes towards the position of reading skill
Option
Number of teachers
%
a. Listening
2
12.2
b. Speaking
3
18.7
c. Reading
9
56.2
d. Writing
2
12.2
Table 2: Teachers’ attitudes towards the position of reading skill
It can be seen clearly that most of teachers are aware of the importance of reading
skill when working as a policeman (56.2%). Because of the age of integration, police
students in the future have to face up with many kinds of crimes including trans-nation
crimes. If they read well in English, they will receive a lot of information and they will
work well with English documents.

* Number of students in an English class and teachers‟ difficulties in teaching reading in
these classes

Question 3: You are teaching English class with the numbers of students:

%
a. Feeling out of control and trapped by the problems of
classroom management
9
56.2
b. Being frustrated by the huge amount of written work.
5
31.2
c. Creating effective learning for all, finding suitable materials
13
81.3
d. Activating all students, especially, silent or weak ones
14
87.5
e. Others
2
12.5
Table 4: Difficulties in teaching large reading classes

Table 4 describes the problems that the teachers at PPA have to face with when
teaching reading English in large classes. According to them, the most difficult issue they
have to cope with is to activate all students, especially, silent or weak ones (87.5%). The
teachers complain that they do not have time to help all students, only some students are
attended during the class due to the limited time.
And 13 out of 16 teachers (81.3%) find that it is difficult to create effective learning
for all, and to find suitable materials. Many teachers are concerned that because students
are too crowded and they are all so different, they are neglecting the needs of their students
as individuals.
56.2% of the teacher (9 out of 16) feel out of control and trapped by the problems
of classroom management. Apparently, this is a considerable pressure for teachers in large

a. Showing personal interest in students (remember, use students‟
names, encourage them to talk about themselves and about the topics
that concern them)
16
100
b. treating all respectfully, fairly
16
100
Table 5.1: Personalization techniques
One striking feature is that 100% teachers are aware of the importance of
personalization, and they all apply in their classes. But they also add that they cannot
remember all students‟ names and they do not often ask students to talk about themselves
or about the topics of concern. This is because each teacher has too many students and they
have some classes at the same time. Some confine that sometimes they do not treat all

26
respectfully and fairly, especially with weak students. And they explain that is because of
the pressure of overworking, large classes, quality of English teaching …
٭ Techniques of organizing activities
Solutions
No of
teachers
%
d. varying activities and tasks
8
50
e. setting up a clear goal for students to read
14
87.5
f. Asking students to do tasks within a set time

2
12.5
r. creating a quiz on the reading content
0
0
s. encouraging extensive reading among students
5
31.2
Table 5.2: Techniques of organizing activities
Among 15 techniques of organizing activities, setting up a clear goal for students to
read and asking students to do tasks within a set time were the two most frequent activities
carried out by 14 out of 16 teachers, taking up 87.5%.
As we can see from the data, many techniques in this table were not applied or well
exploited by the teachers although they were probably considered beneficial to stimulate
and create relaxing, joyful atmosphere for students. That will attract more students on
reading lessons and improve their reading skill. To explain this some teachers when being
asked blamed for the time limitation, university compulsory syllabus and class size.
27
٭Techniques of Material adapting and supplementing and Assessment
Solutions
No of
teachers
%
Material adapting and supplementing
t. making reading tasks more interesting and suitable to the students‟
level, interests
6

- Question 7 – 9: Students‟ attitudes to large class.
- Question 10: Students‟ preferences for reading techniques.

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2.3.2.2. Results
* Students‟ attitudes towards the position of reading skill
Listening
Speaking
Reading
Writing

Chart 1: Students’ attitudes towards the position of reading skill.

Similar to the statistics from table 1 by the teachers, chart 1 shows that nearly half
of the students in the survey (48%) are aware of the importance of reading in their future
job. Also from chart 1, a relatively high number of students (34%) regard speaking skill as
the most frequently used. The rest number belongs to writing skill (4%). This can be that
because the students under investigation come from different groups of specialized
scientific branches such as criminal prevention and investigation violating social order,
laws, criminology state management on social order, prisoners management and
rehabilitation to name a few, therefore, their choices depend much on their working
environment. But most of them pay much attention to reading skill as it helps them a lot in
their further study.
* Students‟ evaluation on the reading texts/ activities
Criteria
No of
students
%
Level of language difficulty
a. too easy