Given the class size and constraints of the local context, English teaching at Vision High tended to cater for the needs of the majority of students who specialised in natural sciences and had minimal interest in English. This practice challenged the minority of students who were committed to learning English, including Diem. Particularly, the classroom teaching approaches, with their lack of flexibility or focus on communicative elements, fell short of her expectations (see Figure 5.2, column 3).
Chapter Five: Diem
5.5.1 The routine teaching approaches
Diem was among the very few students in her class as well as her school to choose English as a university major. Over her three years at high school, she had the opportunity to work with most of the English teaching staff either directly or indirectly in various contexts, including the formal English classes, training sessions for excellent English students, and other extracurricular activities. However, her experience showed that her English teachers, despite their enthusiasm, did not provide adequate support for students like her who specialised in English. This was because they paid more attention to low- performing students who chose to pursue majors in natural sciences. Her teachers had to ensure that these students met the score requirements imposed by the school stakeholders to maintain the balance between English and other subjects. Consequently, their teaching approaches were tailored to the needs of this bigger group of students. Diem reflected on her classroom experience:
Interviewer: How do you feel about your English classes?
Diem: There are not many special activities in class. My teachers always follow the majority. We do not have much communication in class. Because the test questions are the same for all students in the province, schools compete more for students’ academic achievement than teaching quality. We work on a lot of exercises from a supplementary workbook the English staff compiled. After we finish the assigned exercises in the workbook, they will read the answer keys to us. Sometimes they give us some explanations but very briefly. We only study according to the tests and exams. They want us to have high scores, so we have grammar and vocabulary practice most of the time.
Interviewer: Have you ever been impressed about the teachers’ lessons?
Diem: Yes. We go to the school lab sometimes, actually very rarely, because there is only one lab for over 35 classes. In one lesson, my teacher showed us some video clips about
Chapter Five: Diem
the universe and asked us related questions. It was really interesting but we do not have many opportunities.
Interviewer: So most classes are the same?
Diem: It is only when our classes are observed by the school vice-principal or other English teachers that my teachers will carry out more communicative activities. Otherwise, we only have exercises and little interaction in English. (ISDiem030613)
Except for a few occasions, especially when the class had visitors, Diem felt bored with the routine exam-focused teaching approach. Most tasks in class were well below her English level because the majority of her classmates were not good at English. She commented: “I have to ‘swim by myself’ with English as my teachers have not helped me much” (ISDiem201013). By “swimming by herself,” Diem meant that the teachers did not offer individual support to excellent students like her but focussed more on the less-achieving students to balance the overall performance of the whole class.
5.5.2 Diem’s desired English class
Despite her frustration with the teaching approaches that her English teachers adopted and their limited support for students specialising in English, Diem was sympathetic towards their challenges. She was aware of the English language teachers’ struggle in the rural context where most students held a resigned attitude towards learning English. Diem said:
Diem: Although they are mechanical in their teaching styles, they do want students to understand the lessons.
Interviewer: What do your teachers usually do?
Diem: They usually repeat the same points many times or draw a diagram to illustrate their explanations. It is not always easy to understand some of the teachers though because of their methods. (ISDiem030613)
Chapter Five: Diem
By “mechanical”, Diem meant that the teachers mainly focused on drills and non-interactive practice in the belief that her classmates could master the study points. There were little classroom interaction and few communicative activities to develop speaking and listening skills. In Diem’s opinion, such an approach was hugely beneficial to students who only learned English for examinations, but not for her because she wanted to develop multiple language skills, especially communicative English. In one interview, I played the role of her formal English teacher and asked Diem to make some frank suggestions. The extract below indicated what she really expected from an English class:
Interviewer: If I were your English teacher, how would you like me to teach you?
Diem: I think you should conduct more games and activities to increase the application of textbook knowledge. There should be more interaction and communicative activities so that we can become more active in our study and apply what we learn in real-life contexts.
Interviewer: What else do you think I should do?
Diem: For example, you should have some illustrative photos and video clips to make the lesson more interesting or integrate your life experience in the lesson so that we can develop life skills as well. (ISDiem030613)
Diem felt that authentic practice and visual illustrations would be useful for English learning; however, few of the school teachers integrated these elements into their lessons. Also, there was a marked mismatch between what she learned and its immediate applicability because the teachers did not give her the chance to put them to use in meaningful situations. One inevitable repercussion of this teaching style and focus was that students had to take private tuition if they wanted to pursue an English language major in their future studies.
Chapter Five: Diem