VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

VŨ THỊ THU TRANG

VIETNAMESE TEACHERS’ VIEWPOINTS ON THEIR USE OF
VIETNAMESE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSROOMS FOR YOUNG
LEARNERS IN MAY SCHOOL ENGLISH CENTER

Quan điểm của giáo viên Việt Nam đối với việc sử dụng
tiếng Việt của họ trong các lớp học Tiếng Anh cho trẻ em
tại Trung Tâm Ngoại Ngữ Tháng Năm

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111

HANOI, 2016


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

VŨ THỊ THU TRANG

VIETNAMESE TEACHERS’ VIEWPOINTS ON THEIR USE OF
VIETNAMESE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSROOMS FOR YOUNG
LEARNERS IN MAY SCHOOL ENGLISH CENTER



ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

At the completion of this thesis, I would like to express my sincere thanks to
my lecturer and my supervisor, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thom for his valuable support
and instructions without which it would have been really difficult for me to handle
the task.
I would like to acknowledge my debt to my colleagues in May School
English Center for their effective cooperation in collecting data for completing this
study. Their enthusiastic participation was indispensable to my research.
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my family for all the support
I received to finish this thesis.

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ABSTRACT
The use of the mother tongue has been argued for ages in English language
teaching and the argument over whether students’ native language should be
included or excluded in English language classrooms has been a controversial issue.
Conducted in the context of Vietnam, the study is an attempt to address the use of
Vietnamese as mother tongue in English language classrooms in a prestigious
English center for young learners in Hanoi (May School). It focuses on the
viewpoints of Vietnamese teachers in May School on their use of Vietnamese as
mother tongue in their English language classrooms as well as the amount and
situations in which it is employed. The findings and discussion are based on the
analysis of the data collected from group interview of five female teachers and ten
one-hour classroom observations. The current study supports the judicious use of
Vietnamese in some situations such as giving instructions, responding to students’


Grammar Translation Method

L1:

First Language

L2:

Second Language

TL:

Target Language

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LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES

Chart 1: The amount of Vietnamese used in observed classes
Table 1: Participating teachers’ profile
Table 2: Information of observed classes
Table 3: The occasions of teachers’ use of Vietnamese in Starters classes
Table 4: The occasions of teachers’ use of Vietnamese in Movers classes
Table 5: The occasions of teachers’ use of Vietnamese in Flyers classes

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