VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
TRẦN HOÀNG ANH, K17A
AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF PRESENTATION-
REFLECTION ASSIGNMENTS IN THE AMERICAN STUDIES
SYLLABUS AT ULIS-VNUH: RELEVANCE AND EFFICACY AS
PERCEIVED BY LECTURERS AND STUDENTS
(Nghiên cứu về việc Sử dụng Bài tập Thuyết trình-Viết Thu hoạch trong Bộ môn Hoa
Kỳ Học ở Trường ĐHNN-ĐHQGHN: Độ Phù hợp và Hiệu quả từ Góc độ Đánh giá của
Giảng viên và Sinh viên)
M.A. Combined Program Thesis
English Language Teaching Methodology
60 14 10
HANOI - 2011
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
TRẦN HOÀNG ANH, K17A
AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF PRESENTATION-
REFLECTION ASSIGNMENTS IN THE AMERICAN STUDIES
SYLLABUS AT ULIS-VNUH: RELEVANCE AND EFFICACY AS
PERCEIVED BY LECTURERS AND STUDENTS
(Nghiên cứu về việc Sử dụng Bài tập Thuyết trình-Viết Thu hoạch trong Bộ môn Hoa
Kỳ Học ở Trường ĐHNN-ĐHQGHN: Độ Phù hợp và Hiệu quả từ Góc độ Đánh giá của
Giảng viên và Sinh viên)
M.A. Combined Program Thesis
English Language Teaching Methodology
60 14 10
Supervisor: Đng Ngc Sinh, M.A.

2.5. Data analysis procedure 29
2.6. Summary 30
CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 31
iv 3.1. Perceptions of teachers and students of the degree to which the presentation-
reflection assignments have helped to meet the couse's objectives 32
3.2. Perceptions of teachers and students of the degree to which the actual assignment
quality has met the assignments' requirements 45
3.3. What do teachers and students suggest about modifying the assignments? – Practical
implication and suggestions 48
3.4. Summary 50
PART C: CONCLUSION 51
1. Summary of findings 51
2. Limitations of the study 52
3. Suggestions for further research 52
REFERENCES 53
APPENDIX I
Appendix 1. American Studies course outline I
Appendix 2a. Survey questionnaire form – Student version VIII
Appendix 2b. Survey questionnaire form – Teacher version X
Appendix 3a. Summary of questionnaire data – Students' Perception XII
Appendix 3b. Summary of questionnaire data – Teachers' Perception XIII
Appendix 4. Median Values XIV
Appendix 5. Correlation between efficacy index and presentation score XV
Appendix 6. Summary of relevant suggestions from students XVI

the design of the courseworks have helped to meet the course's objectives?
I
2

Chapter 1: Introduction

ii. To what degree do they think the actual assignment quality has met the
assignments' requirements?
iii. What do they suggest about modifying the assignments?
3. Significance of the study
The research did not aim to and thus did not suggest the best assignment design to be used
in the course. Instead, it was expected to have a certain impact on the way how the current
assignment types of American Studies courses – and even of similar courses offered by the
division e.g. British Studies or General Geography of the UK and the US – would be
designed, both in paper and practice, to better meet the preset course objectives. It also
served as a referential material for researchers and teachers alike who are interested in the
testing and assessment aspect of curriculum design.
4. Scope of the research
As stated, the study would look at the American Studies assignments in only two main
dimensions: relevance and efficacy – whose meanings within this research context would
be interpreted later in the next chapter.
In terms of research population, the study targeted at students and lecturers involved in the
American Studies courses at ULIS-VNUH. Specifically, for practical reasons, these are
students from the classes of QH081E, since they were the latest groups to take the courses
– while all the previous groups had graduated. As for the lecturers, all of them came from
the Country Studies Division – Faculty of Linguistics and Cultures of English Speaking
Countries.
3

Chapter 2: Literature Review and Practical Basis


The rationale of CBI
Content-based instruction (CBI) bases its rationale on the premise that students can
effectively obtain both language and subject matter knowledge by receiving content input
in the target language. Although it has been recently recognised by influential authors such
as Rodgers as "one of the Communicative Language Teaching spin-off approaches"
(2001), some authors contemplate the paradigm within an even wider perspective:
according to Stryker and Leaver (1997), for instance, CBI "is a truly and holistic approach
to foreign language education … (which) can be at once a philosophical orientation, a
methodological system, a syllabus design for a single course, or a framework for an entire
program of instruction".
The benefits of the approach are directly or indirectly associated with an extensive body of
research from a variety of fields. Strong empirical support for CBI can be found in second
language acquisition research, in teacher training studies and in cognitive psychology, as
well as in the outcomes documented by successful programs in a variety of contexts and
levels of instruction (Adamson, 1993; Dupuy, 2000).
Classification of CBI and current teaching context
Through a careful review of related literature, this paper adopts the classification used by
Met (1999). Met (2007) has specified the approach as follows:

CONTENT-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING:
A CONTINUUM OF CONTENT AND LANGUAGE
INTEGRATION Content-Driven

Language-Driven
Total
Immersion

presentation and the reflection are graded (Dang, 2008). Since the last school year of 2010-
2011, another assignment has been integrated into the syllabus – which is essentially a
series of mini tests, called "quizzes". However, due to its relative novelty and experimental
nature, the assignment is not considered in the scope of this paper.
On a side note, beside presentation, the other assignment is known under several names in
different class – report, reflection, evaluation, comment sheet, etc. Nonetheless, for
convenience, this research report would use "reflection/report assignment", or simply,
"reflection assignment", with the intent to encompass all varieties of the name.
1.1.3. Relevance and efficacy
Relevance
Contextualized, in this research's terms, for both teachers and learners, the relevance factor
of the assignments referred to the degree to which the actual implementation of the
assignments can help realize the objectives set out for the course. Perception from both
sides regarding this factor, however, is treated separately then discussed jointly.
Efficacy
The term, particularly in this research, referred to the quality and quantity of work
performed by students in its relation with the assignments' requirements (level of
adherence to guidelines). It stems from the belief that if the requirements are stricly
followed, the intended results will be achieved.
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Chapter 2: Literature Review and Practical Basis

Accordingly, the following figure proposed another way to visualize the two concepts
relevance and efficacy in their relation to each other and to course objectives:

1.1.2. Notions behind the objectives
There are key concepts in ULIS' American Studies course objectives which might not be
readily obvious. Due to their importance, it is imperative that these concepts are made clear
in light of existing literature – "English skills" (in a sheltered instruction class context), and

i. Comprehensive review of key vocabulary
ii. Comprehensive review of key content concepts
iii. Regular feedback to students on their output
iv. Assessment of student comprehension and learning of all lesson objectives throughout the lesson
In language regard, it seemed to focus very much on students' vocabulary, and, possibly,
their grammar – in order that they could come up with adequate answers, rather than
language skills. Therefore, in the context of the American Studies course in question,
English skills might be understood narrowly as knowledge areas of grammar and (general
and technical) vocabulary – as other English language communication skills are covered
under the umbrella term "presentational skills" already.
1.1.5. Interdisciplinary research skills
According to Beckman, A. and Beckman, M. (2008), interdisciplinary research is a mode
of research by teams or individuals that integrates information, data, techniques, tools,
perspectives, concepts, and/or theories from two or more disciplines or bodies of
specialized knowledge to advance fundamental understanding or to solve problems whose
solutions are beyond the scope of a single discipline or area of research practice.
Larson, Landers, & Begg (2011) in their effort to "add clarity and develop a set of shared
definitions, values, and language about interdisciplinary research", have designed a list that
sketches major area of competencies for interdisciplinary research skills, with 17
competencies falling into 3 major areas.
Nevertheless, considering the practical situation of teaching and learning at ULIS, any
effort to enhance students' (interdisciplinary) research skills within a certain undergraduate
course would be limited only to integrating them into course assignments but not a full-
fledged research in cooperation with a large, diverse team of researchers with the highest
purpose of publication. Therefore, the interdisciplinary research competencies would be
8

Chapter 2: Literature Review and Practical Basis

scaled down and understood in this context as: (the ability to) (i) integrate concepts and

Speaking Countries that can participate in this research.
The first group composed of 532 students in 22 classes of QH081E – third year students at
the moment they participated in the survey. The research targeted at this group of students
as they were familiar the procedures and requirements in Country Studies courses as they
had taken two courses on General Geography of the UK and the US and British Studies in
the previous semesters and they had just completed the course in question of American
Studies before the end of their third year. These students were asked to participate in a
questionnaire survey, which is elaborated in the next parts.
The second group of participants are teachers of the Country Studies Division who taught
American Studies to the QH081E classes. Given the small number of teachers – 6 people –
and the research's concern, data yielded from this group of participants was treated
T
10

Chapter 3: Methodology

qualitatively to provide deeper insights and explanation to the issues arose. Two of the
teachers have more than 10 years of experience in teaching these courses, while the others
range from 2 to 5 years. This group of teachers were invited to give responses to a
questionnaire survey, followed-up by a short in-depth interview.
2.3. Instruments
The methodology of this research is a combination of quantitative and qualitative
approaches – with the former played a more significant role, as it would provide large
sketches of the situation while the latter would provide a basis for further interpretation of
the situation. Three data gathering instruments were utilized to collect data needed to
answer the research questions as well as for the purpose of triangulation. The first one is a
questionnaire survey in two slightly different versions – one issued to students and the
other teachers. The second one is interview, carried out after each participating teacher
finished answering the survey. The last one is secondary analysis of data on students'
American Studies scores – most importantly the presentation-reflection scores.

The data was archived by the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education.
2.4. Data collection procedures
The questionnaire survey was conducted in the following steps:
1. Introducing about the research via student mail group with the aid of a student
coordinator. This introduction reached all students of QH081E.
2. The coordinator forwarded the questionnaire form to monitor of each class.
3. All monitors then forwarded this form to their class' members, who later returned the
filled forms to their respective monitor.
4. All monitors packed the forms together and sent back to the researcher via email.
For teachers, the form was sent directly to each, who then returned the filled form directly
to the researcher. Later they were interviewed independently after their asnwers were read
thoroughly.
As for the data on students' American Studies scores, first, the researcher needed to gain an
authorization from the faculty. This was done after an archive access request form had
been filled and filed into the faculty office's archive. Then the researcher had full access
and the right to use all QH081E students' American Studies scores for the purpose of this
research.
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Chapter 3: Methodology

2.5. Data analysis procedure
Questionnaire and interview data
Data from questionnaire was first grouped together on "community" basis, i.e. students'
forms were grouped according to their class, while all teachers' forms were taken together
under the "teacher group".
Raw data was then sorted out and enumerated thoroughly with the aid of specialized
computer programs (primarily MS Excel – as it would take much more time with SPSS).
The nominal choices (1-Strongly disagree, 3-Uncertain, etc.) were converted to numeral
data.

statistically meaningful conclusions for the purpose of generalization to a larger (teacher)
population. They would be more meaningful in some situations where teachers' and
students' perceptions were collated. Therefore all of of the charts below dealt with data
from students' reponses only, unless noticed otherwise.
The analysis below was organized on the basis of solving each research question, using
relevant data from all three sources, in stead of data yielded from each type of instruments.
3.1. Perceptions of teachers and students of the degree to which the presentation-
reflection assignments have helped to meet the couse's objectives
Objective 1a – Providing students with general knowledge about the US in the past and at
the present
In the discipline of American Studies, as in many other content subjects, the first and
foremost concern was the amount (and quality) of knowledge passed on to learners. In the
context of the American Studies course at ULIS, this body of knowledge was generally
divided into two interconnected groups: (i) general knowledge – American geography,
A
14

Chapter 5: Conclusion

demography and so on, and (ii) specific knowledge themes – with five predetermined foci:
history, beliefs and values, politics, economy, and education.
Questions 1 and 2 addressed the general knowledge group, by asking participants'
evaluation of the degree to which presentation-reflection assignments helped them to
acquire general knowledge about the US in considerable depth. The distribution of
responses was as follows:
Almost 70% agreed or strongly agreed that the presentation assignment did help them to
acquire the general knowledge adequately, compared to 46% with the reflection
assignment. It was also reflected in the median value of 3 for presentation (see appendix
4), this type of assignment was believed to be more effective in improving learners' general
American Studies knowledge than the reflection assignment (median value 2). A median

It could be seen clearly that oral communication and visual representation was believed to
be the two improvements triggered by presentation assignments (with both medians being
3). The improvement in oral communication received better rating with 78% respondents
agreed or strongly agreed and that of improvement in visual representation was 66%.
Writing skills and electronic discussion was neglected behind with the median values of 2
for both – especially the writing skills, with 32% disagreed or strongly disagreed, 40%
uncertain, and only 26.5% agreed and 1.5%. This could be explained through the nature of
the presentation assignment, in which the foci were on the elaboration of oral arguments
and/or information presenting and, to a lesser extent, the way visual aids were prepared.
Whilst, writing was limited to short sentences and box language. Not surprisingly, teachers
agreed totally with students on this (with median values being 2, 3, 3, 2 respectively).
On the other hand, we could have a different perspective into the presentational skills –
from the regard of reflection assigments. Students only acknowledged reflection
assignment's role in enhancing their writing skills (median 3 with 64% agreed or strongly
agreed), while remained unclear in the other three components (all three medians being 2).
Teachers, on the hand, seemed to be more vehemently by opining that while the reflection
assignment helped students improve their writing skills, it did not directly help students
improve the other three. Their median values for writing skills was 3, oral communication
and visual representation were 1, and electronic discussion was 1.5.
Because these two types of assignment were designed to complement each other, the
combined effect of both helped students to improve their writing skills, oral
communication and visual representation within the context of presentational skills.
16

Chapter 5: Conclusion

However, there was the "electronic discussion" skill untouched. Although listed in the
course objectives, the concept of electronic discussion was left blank, and hardly any effort
to integrate this skill into the process of doing these assignments could be seen in the
syllabus. In reality, the researcher had to explain to the students the definition of electronic

strongly that the assignments helped build students' English capacity in all three aspects,
especially in terms of general vocabulary.
Objective 3b – Offering the students opportunities to improve their interdisciplinary
research skills
It could be seen that the order of manifestation of the three competencies, from highest to
lowest frequency, was as follows: using documents from other fields of study was the most
popular, with nearly 70% agreed or strongly agreed; using concepts and methods from
other fields of study came second, with 55% agreed or strongly agreed; and consulting
with teachers or experts from other fields of study came last, with only about 42% agreed
or strongly agreed. However, if we look at their median values, then consultation was the
method largely ignored by students in doing their presentation-reflection assignment
(median 2), and thus, logically, the corresponding competency would not develop as a
result of these assignments. For the two other competencies, their medians were both 3, so
in a large sense, the assignments did help them to hone some of their interdisciplinary
research skills, although very restrictively.
Considered all three competencies together, around 55% respondents agreed that the two
courseworks had helped them to achieve certain improvement in their interdisciplinary
research skills, with an average median of 2.67. This is a positive yet not satisfying signal
to the contribution of the assignments to realize the course's objective. Teachers,
alternatively, evaluated the realization of these competencies on relatively lower scale
values. Their corresponding median values for (the use of) "Concepts and Methods",
"Documents", "Consultation" were 2.0, 2.5, and 2.0. This implied their uncertainty of the
students' application of these research methods. The highest ranking, "Documents", could
only received a 2.5, so it was not enough to conclude that the teachers thought the course
was successful in this objective.
Objective 4 – Preparing students who are interested in American Studies for their further
study of the discipline
Question 25-28 corresponded to the forth objective – preparing students who are interested
in American Studies for their further study of the discipline. These questions yielded rather
consistent responses from both students and teachers, with more than 60% student

In an attempt to find the correlation between the efficacy (perception) index and students'
presentation scores, which took both assignments – presentation and reflection – into
19

Chapter 5: Conclusion

consideration, the researcher used students' official presentation scores (as filed by the
faculty) jointly with data yielded from the questionnaire survey.
In this calculation, means were used to calculate average scores and average efficacy
indexes for each class. This enabled the calculation of the differences between the scores
and efficacy indexes of each class and the average scores and efficacy indexes of the whole
20 classes (See Appendix 5 for details).
With this method, positive correlations between the efficacy indexes and presentation
scores were identified:
 A 1 point increased in presentation efficacy index would yield 2.14 points
increased in presentation score.
 A 1 point increased in reflection efficacy index would yield 0.85 points increased in
presentation score.
 A 1 point increased in presentation-reflection combined efficacy index would yield
1.54 points increased in presentation score.
These correlations strengthened the validity of the efficacy indexes in the way that the
better a student believed to adhere to the requirements set out, the better the score he/she
received. The relations might be interpreted in two ways: (i) students with higher efficacy
perception indexes were more likely to actually follow the guidelines better – while the
guidelines provided the basis for grading, and (ii) those students were more likely to be
confident and assertive, which would benefit almost any type of presentational
assignments.

20


checklist for all to bear in mind and adapt appropriately to their own classroom context.
21

Chapter 5: Conclusion

PART C: CONCLUSION
1. Summary of findings
o sum up in clear terms, average medians were used as a measure to gauge the
relevance of presentation-reflection assignment toward realizing each course
objective:
Objectives
Average Median
Interpretation
1
2.75
Met the objective for the most part (with only 1 over
8 medians being 2)
2
2.38
Failed to meet the objective
3
2.56
Partially met the objective (each group of English
skills and interdisciplinary research skills could only
meet two thirds of the objective)
4
3.00
Successfully met the objective
The combined efficacy of presentation-reflection assignment could be deemed high at
median value of 3.0, however, the reflection assignment's requirements were slightly less