Students' and Teachers' Perceptions of Teaching and Learning Practice in Vietnamese Higher Education
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STUDENTS’ AND TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICE IN VIETNAMESE HIGHER EDUCATION TRAN, THI THANH THUY ORCID identifier is 0000-0003-4537-4383 Submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy July, 2019 Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education Melbourne Graduate School of Education The University of Melbourne ABSTRACT In the past several decades, the Vietnamese Government has been attempting to modernise its higher education, aiming for Vietnamese higher education (VHE) to catch up with the world standards by the year 2020, and more specifically it intends to transform teaching and learning approaches so as to produce human resources that meet the increasing demands of a knowledge-based economy. Regardless of the implementation of multiple innovative policies, Vietnamese literature often describes teaching and learning in VHE as consisting of a traditional transmission-style approach, with passive and rote-based learning, examination-driven learning and a rigid and hierarchical learning environment. Contesting these characterisations, some recent studies have shown that teaching and learning in Vietnam has been shifting to a more student-centred approach. While these positive changes have been indicated, they appear to have occurred in advanced curriculum courses only. As such, complexity and diversity have been revealed in teaching and learning practices in the VHE context, a developing context which does not use English as a medium of instruction and which features centralisation in curriculum and the influence of classic Confucianism. This research began five years before the year 2020, when the implementation of several government initiatives comes to an end. It investigated the fundamental question What are the key components of teaching practices that promote student learning in VHE, as perceived by teachers and students? The study is significant because it examined the perceptions of teachers and students, the two players in teaching and learning, to provide a ground-up approach in a centralised context. It aimed at identifying key components of teaching that promote student learning, as perceived by teachers and students. The study also examined the variations within the students’ perceptions and differences between students’ and teachers’ perceptions. The study also sought to reveal the similarities and differences between teaching and learning practices in VHE and those that have been indicated in the research literature. Using a mixed methods approach, the study consisted of three research phases, including the expert consultation (N=34); the questionnaires (N=643) and the i interviews (N=36). It investigated not only the trends but also in-depth detail of students’ and teachers’ perceptions of teaching approaches that facilitate students’ learning within two public universities in Vietnam. Findings of the study indicated that some predominantly western-derived practices of teaching, learning and assessment can be translated into a unique higher education context such as that of Vietnam, but these practices are represented in slightly different ways. Findings of the study also revealed that there are similarities and some hybrid forms between teaching and learning in VHE and what has been represented in the research literature. The findings suggested that the perceptions of students and teachers in Vietnamese universities are more closely in line with teaching and learning approaches in developed western education. They showed that transformations have occurred in teaching and learning in Vietnamese universities, not only within advanced curriculum but also in more general education. Thus, these findings have helped debunk some stereotypes of teaching and learning in VHE, and enhanced understanding about the diversity and complexity in practices of teaching and learning in VHE. The findings provide insights into the contemporary situation of teaching and learning, and offer further understandings about the revolution of teaching and learning in VHE. ii DECLARATION This is to certify that: i. The thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD, ii. Due acknowledgment has been made in the text to all other materials used, iii. The thesis is fewer than 100,000 words in length, exclusive of tables, bibliographies and appendices. Signature: Tran, Thi Thanh Thuy July, 2019 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have experienced quite a bumpy journey in doing this Doctor of Philosophy; however, I have not been alone because I have received tremendous support from special persons to whom I am forever grateful. First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my beloved supervisors, Professor Sophie Arkoudis and Professor Gregor Kenney for their immense support, magnificent academic stewardship and constructive critiques without which my dissertation could not have been completed. Sophie’s wonderful supervision, brilliant criticality and constant encouragement have been an endless source of inspiration for me. I am equally indebted to Gregor for his outstanding scholarly expertise, genuine sincerity, and patience. For Sophie and Gregor, I am forever grateful. I would like to give special thanks to Professor Hamish Coates, and Associate Professor Jason Lodge for their supervision in the early stage of my PhD candidature. I would like to express my sincerest appreciation to Associate Professor Chi Baik as the committee chair, and Associate Professor Shelley Gillis, as a committee member throughout my four-year journey. In each progress review meeting, they provided me insightful comments from which improvements have been made for my dissertation. I also highly appreciate the invaluable help of Associate Professor Graham Hepworth as a statistical consultant, who gave me crystal-clear explanations about statistical tests and enhanced my understanding about quantitative analysis. I wish to sincerely acknowledge Ms Rosemary Viete for her brilliant editing service. She proofread the thesis in its final draft, providing grammatical and semantic feedback, but preserving my meaning, style, organisation and voice. My heartfelt thanks go to my sponsor, the Australian Government for offering me the Australian Awards Scholarship to take a PhD course, without which my dream to pursue doctoral study in Australia would not have come true. I would like to express my sincerest thanks to the two leaders of the two higher education institutions who iv facilitated procedures and supported me during the time I collected data in their universities. I would like to acknowledge all of the participants who gave their valuable time to provide data for this study. Their voluntary and enthusiastic participation would be much appreciated. I express my profound gratitude to my parents who have encouraged me to pursue a Doctor of Philosophy. They have given me unconditional love and tremendous emotional support. Without their assistance, especially in the late period of my candidature, I could not have been able to submit the dissertation on time. I am equally owe my parents-in-law who supported my decision for studying for a PhD and happily accepted their favourite son’s, my husband’s absence for four years when he could not take care of them because he accompanied me to Australia. I would love to show my utmost gratitude to my husband, my soulmate who never complained about my coming home late from the office, and who was always willing to take over my responsibilities as a mother, just to let me have more time for my research. My journey would have been so much more stressful without his constant loving presence and psychological support. I would like to express my loving acknowledgements to our children, my biggest blessings in my life, Phuc Hung and Minh Hien. They were so helpful and supportive in their own lovely ways. This dissertation is dedicated to my husband, my son and my daughter. I would also like to extend sincere thanks to my PhD friends and my colleagues and friends back in Vietnam. I especially thank Ms Loan Phan who was always willing to listen to my difficulties, and provided me invaluable advice as a fore-goer. Special appreciation goes to my peers Loan, Hang, Thao, Phuong, Umesha, Emeline and Claudia from Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education. We have had many beautiful photographs taken together, parties together, discussions over lunch together and much more. Their companionship and encouragement has made my journey an infinitely more fulfilling experience. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................... i DECLARATION ......................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................. vi LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................ xi LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... xii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................... xiii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 1 1.1 Introduction .........................................................................................................