Factors Affecting English Language Teaching in Vietnamese High Schools from Teachers' Perspective

— English language teaching is considered a strategic role in Vietnamese high schools. English is a compulsory subject in almost all high schools. However, various factors can impede teachers' English teaching. Helping teachers to deeply understand those factors is certainly of vital importance. Therefore, the aim of this study is to discover the factors that affect the teaching of English at three high schools in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The participants of the study were 33 Vietnamese English teachers. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered via questionnaire surveys and semi-structured interviews. Descriptive statistics and content analysis were used to analyze the data. The ANOVA analysis was employed to assess whether there are some differences in teachers' perceptions of factors affecting their English teaching. The results of the study revealed that student-related factors, teacher-related factors, and environment-related factors had a significant influence on the teachers’ teaching of English in their classrooms , and that the teache rs’ perceptions of the factors affecting their teaching had no statistically significant difference. Last but not least, several recommendations were made for the stakeholders with the aim of improving the quality of English teaching and learning at the context of study.


INTRODUCTION
Teaching English as a second language has gained a prominent position in the world. English is now one of the most frequently spoken languages on an international market (Jain & Patel, 2008). The quality of education in general and foreign language education, in particular, has received significant attention from the Vietnamese government. Teaching and learning English entail a variety of variables that might have a positive or negative effect on this process. Several senior officials, education administrators, teachers, and parents have voiced their support for the reform of the method and acknowledged the Ministry of Education and Training's efforts to enhance the quality of teachers. In English language instruction, these efforts have been undertaken by the government and stakeholders. They have carried out various initiatives to enhance the quality of instruction, such as writing new communication-oriented textbooks and organizing seminars to educate teachers on how to include more learner-centered activities into their classroom instruction. However, it cannot be denied that many factors are regarded to have a significant impact on how English is taught and learned in Vietnam, especially factors affecting the teacher's teaching, leading to the fact that the effectiveness of teaching and learning English in Vietnamese high schools is still a controversial issue. So far in other contexts, a variety of studies on factors affecting the teaching of English have been conducted. Nonetheless, little literature related to factors affecting the teaching of English in Vietnamese high schools has been found in the context of study. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to (a) discover factors that directly affect the teaching of English at three high schools in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and (b) determine whether there are some differences between the three schools' teachers' perceptions of factors affecting their English teaching. The IJELS-2022, 7(1), (ISSN: 2456-7620) https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.71. 44 318 current study attempts to address the two following research questions: (1) What factors affect the teachers' teaching of English at three high schools in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam? (2) Is there any significant difference between the three schools' teachers' perceptions of the factors that affect their teaching of English?

Teaching and Learning English in High Schools in Vietnam
Vietnam has prioritized the quality of English instruction because English plays a critical role in the country's political, economic, cultural, and social sectors. Since Vietnam joined the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1995, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in 1998, and, more recently, the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2006, English's status hasbeen greatly enhanced. As an increasing number of English-speaking foreigners travel to Vietnam for business, the necessity for Vietnamese people to acquire English for intercultural communication increases. Indeed, English is the most often-taught foreign language in Vietnam's language teaching and learning programs (Hoang, 2010). The focus of EFL teaching in Vietnam has traditionally been on the language form of the target language. In particular, teaching English in Vietnam has emphasized grammar structure and examination preparation. Moreover, according to Hoang (2010), Vietnam's education system is divided into three stages: primary school (grades 1-5) for children aged 6-11, lower high school (grades 6-9) for children aged [11][12][13][14][15], and upper high school (grades 6-9) for children aged 11-15. (from grade 10 to 12 for children aged 15 to 18).
In the high school education system, English is taught based on standard classes (or regular English) and intensive classes (or advanced English). Students in formal English lessons study for three to four periods each week, whereas the advanced English ones study for five to seven periods per week. They are given an English test at the end of each semester to assess their progress. They offer various English assessments during the academic year, including oral, fifteen-minute, forty-five-minute, and two final exams: a first-semester and a second-semester. Students must take the English test as part of the high education graduation examination called General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) when graduating from high school. At the same time, that English test score are used for university admission exam entrance.
Teachers must ensure that students acquire the following things before graduation from high school. Firstly, students must understand the following concepts regarding "Phonetics" such as: diphthongs, consonants, consonant combinations, word stress, strong and weak pronunciation, consonant sound, assimilation, articulation, sentence stress, rhythm, and intonation. Secondly, vocabulary refers to commonly used words in two domains of spoken and written language. After graduating from high school, pupils must know approximately 2500 words. Finally, regarding "Grammar," teachers reinforce and expand what was learned in primary and lower high school, such as relative clauses, conditional sentences, active sentences, passive sentences, direct sentences, indirect sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, tenses, etc.
The typical high school classroom is very crowded with about 45 students, and because of its size, it often brings a lot of problems. When teaching big classes, teachers must exercise extreme caution in determining the most effective methods for ensuring that every student participates entirely in the course. Moreover, teachers have to be in charge of teaching about three to five classes simultaneously. Furthermore, the teacher's responsibility is to ensure that the teaching method is appropriate to each class; it must be well organized and attractive. In most high schools today, the majority of instructors and students spend their time teaching and studying grammar, memorizing lists of words, rather than really applying what they have learned (Vo & Nguyen, 2021)

Factors Affecting English Language Teaching
Richard (2014) believes that the process of education is accomplished not just via the ability of teachers to teach effectively but also through the creation of settings and work environments appropriate to elite schools. It entails creating a shared commitment to high-quality teaching and implementing the necessary processes. Teaching effectiveness refers to a teacher's ability to assist students in achieving their goals (McKeachie, 1979). Therefore, it is important to determine factors affecting teacher's English teaching. Factors affecting the English Language Teaching have been widely discussed. Some experts pointed out that various factors could influence the English language teaching (Aydin, 2012), and to raise the quality of English language instruction, it is necessary first to identify the factors affecting teacher's English teaching. Those factors are (a) English proficiency-related factors, showing that most students have a limited number of vocabulary, poor grammar, and poor listening comprehension in a foreign language classroom. When it comes to high schools in Vietnam, according to Phan (2017), the majority of students have low English proficiency; (b) psychology-related factors: studies say Asian students, particularly Vietnamese students, appear to be rote learners. Studying abroad reveals these traits (Exley, 2005). Asian students are more passive and silent in class than other students according to Park (2000). They may be afraid of losing face in front of their peers if they do not reply well, so they hold back in group conversations in ESL classes (Vang, 1999). Moreover, Vietnamese students lack autonomy and dislike ambiguity (Rao, 2001). Rao proved that 'teacher-centered' education and 'closure-oriented learning' are the sources of these issues. High school students tend to be "authorityfocused." They preferred having their own textbook, recording everything in a notebook, and studying grammar (Nunan, 1991); and (c) Motivation-related factors:It is undeniable that motivation factors and reasons for learning English are critical concerns to solve in order to improve curriculum materials and teaching practices that motivate pupils to learn English. Mitu (2019) believes that motivation is a critical factor in learning a second language. As defined by Ellis (1997, p. 75), motivation is "the effort that learners undertake to study an L2 as a result of their own need or want to learn." As a result, inspiration to acquire a second language is proportional to the extent to which an individual studies or seeks to acquire the language out of desire and delight.

Teacher-related factors
It is found in literature thatthose following factors have effects on EFL teachers' teaching: (a) English proficiencyrelated factors: Sanders(2000) illustrates that the instructor is the most significant element affecting student learning. They summarize the research by stating that differences in teacher effectiveness are the most critical factor influencing the academic development of children. Wright, Horn, and Sanders (1997)also contend that good instructors seem to be successful with students at all performance levels, regardless of the degree of variety in their classes. If the instructor is incompetent, students under his or her instruction will make insufficient academic progress, regardless of how comparable or dissimilar their academic performance is. Borman Mackey (1969), selecting a teaching method should be based on how well it matches the curriculum, the students, and the teachers. Additionally, when teaching objectives are attained, applicable techniques and instructional strategies can be evaluated. The syllabus should be suited for the environment. The curriculum material must be appropriate and properly stated. It must also be accessible to the majority of intended learners. Because teaching is highly sustained, teachers must use professional judgment, drawing on both formal and informal information. For the instructor to select the most effective teaching methods, a strong grasp of the students is required during the learning and teaching processes. Teachers, students, and methods should work together to enhance learning; and (c) attitude-related factors:Al Darwish (2017) studies teachers' attitudes toward successful teaching and the factors that influenced their choice of profession. The results demonstrate the teachers' eagerness to learn more about the language and culture.

Environment-related factors
Researchers have indicated that the effectiveness of the process of teaching and learning may be affected by such factors as (a) Classroom-related factors: One factor that profoundly influences the English language teaching is class environment. Golam (2012) asserts in a study that large class sizes contribute to student's low achievement in English at the high level. In Vietnam, each class has around 45 students, with a maximum of 50 students. Baker and Westrup (2000)notice that students in a large class have difficulty requesting assistance and communicating with the teacher. This is one of the primary issues impacting the English language teaching and learning; (b)Textbook-related factors:It is undeniable that there is a lack of sources for English materials in a high school. The students mainly concentrate on the English textbook, which is basis and inefficient for advanced studies. It may also be true that no extensive reading can be found in the school library, and most books belong to other subjects. Lack of conductive environment and limited teaching resources are factors encountered among high school teachers (Behroozi&Amoozegar, 2014); and (d) Facilityrelated factors: Learning is enhanced when the furniture and space enable the teacher to observe and interact with all students from a comfortable distance (Seifert & Sutton, 2009 . Their primary role is to educate the students entrusted to their care. Teaching requires a lot of time, effort, and commitment. They should not be assigned to do too much paper work both at school and at home. Workload must be suitable so that they can spend time preparing lessons to help students with various tasks in the classroom. The school should always support them in their job, create a good learning and teaching for both teachers and students.

Sample and Sampling Procedures
There were 33 teachers who came from three different high schools in Binh Tan district, Ho Chi Minh city, taking part in completing the questionnaire. Twelve of them voluntarily joined the semi-interviewed section. Convenience sampling was employed for this study. The teacher total population at each school that participated in the study ranged from 11 to 13 teachers. As a result, the researcher chose 11 teachers per school, representing between 84.61 % and 100% of the English teachers in three schools. Among 33 teachers, 2 of them are male (6,4%); 31 of them are female (93,6%). All of them have been teaching English for at least three years.

Instruments
Two research instruments were employed for collecting data for the current study, including questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews.The questionnaires consist of 44 items, employing a four-point Likert scale ranging from '1' for "strongly disagree" to '4' for "strongly agree". Studentrelated factors included 13 questions; Teacher-related factors included 15 questions; Environment-related factors included 16 questions. Finally, there were 12 questions used for the semi-structured interview to gather information to support the quantitative data.

Data Collection Procedures
For the questionnaire, 44items were designed using Google Forms and distributed to instructors at the three schools after being piloted with 3 teachers. Due to the effects of the covid-19 pandemic, teachers were required to complete their questionnaires online. Prior to that, the researchers had thoroughly explained the survey to the participants. Prior to that, the researchers had thoroughly explained the survey to the participants. According to Dörnyei and Taguchi (2009), the questionnaire should not take more than 30 minutes to complete. Therefore, they completed the surveys in 25 minutes. There were no responses uncompleted. Following the data gathering phase, the researcher organized the data on a table sheet in preparation for upcoming data analysis procedures.
In the interview section, each group teacher was given between 20 and 30 minutes to respond to the interview questions. All interviews were completely documented since all instructor remarks were retained to ensure that the interview information acquired was accurate and complete. Additionally, the researcher made detailed notes during the interview process. Following that, the participant's responses were examined and assessed.

Data analysis procedures
In preparation for the final analysis procedure, the questionnaires were coded ranging from T1 to T33 and the quantitative data extracted using SPSS Statistics version 22.0 to determine the value and calculate the means (M) and standard deviation (St. D) of the factors impacting teachers' teaching English.
The meaning of themean (M) scores was interpreted based on the scalesas follows:M= 1.00 -1.75: Strongly disagree; M= 1.76 -2.50: Disagree; M= 2.51 -3.25: Agree; M= 3.26 -4.00: Strongly agree. In addition to descriptive statistics, inferential statistics was employed for the analysis of the data for research question 2; i.e., the ANOVA analysis was employed to assess whether there are some differences in teachers' perceptions of factors affecting their English teaching among the three schools. Finally, the interview data was summarized and analyzed via the use of content analysis. The teachers were coded as T1, T2, T3, ..., T12.

Factors Affecting Teachers' Teaching of English
Research Question 1 attempted to investigate the factors that influence the teachers' teaching of English at three high schools. The data collected from the interviews also supported the quantitative data. The interviewed teachers reported that students with a higher competence in English were taught more successfully than students with lower proficiency in English. The following are some excerpts of teacher opinions:

Student-related factors
"Student levels are essential to instructors' success in the classroom because when students participate actively in class, ….so, if the student's level is low, it can impact the teaching practice negatively (T7)."; "Students frequently lack a clear learning method, which contributes to their inability to learn English effectively….English subjects frequently have low test scores compared to other subjects (T2)." Table 1also shows that most of the students had a low English proficiency(item 1) with M=3.35, St. D=.619.Only four teachers (13,2%) believed that their students had a good background in English. In the interview, a teacher also expressed that:"My students are so weak, so they are not interested in learning English. They are only interested in math, physics, chemistry and biology subjects for university entrance exams(T4)." The data collected from the questionnaire also confirmed that students often felt worried (item 6) with M=3.12, St. D=.485 and unwilling to study when English lesson is coming (item 9) with M=2.61, St. D=.659. And, it is unsurprising that the majority of teachers thought that their students were highly reliant on them (item 8) with M=3.21, St. D=.545. The data gathered from the interviews were consistent with the quantitative data. They reported that most students were passive in class, always looking for the teacher's direction rather than figuring out how to handle the problem on their own. Several teachers shared similar opinions: "My students are scared of learning English… They share with me that they often feel worried about studying English (T2)"; "Some of them are learning English seriously because they love this subject or they study English just because it is a compulsory subject" (T3).
It is evident that the majority of the teachers did not believe that the students actively participated in the class activities (item 13 In conclusion, the data collected via questionnaires and semi-structured interviews clearly expressed the student-related factors affecting the teacher's English instruction inthe 3 high schools.  Table 2,the mean scores of the five items ranged from 1.88 to 3.33, and the average mean score ofall the items is 2.67, indicating that the majority of instructors thought that the teacher-related factors were one of the factors affecting the teaching of English language. However, as implied by the mean scores, teachers disagreed on three points related to in-service training courses and the C1 certificate (items 15, 16&27)with M= 2.42; 2.39 and 1.88respectively. These characteristics are inextricably linked to teachers' teaching practices in class. The majority of instructors engaged in their school's inservice training. They did not, however, obtain the C1 level required for their work.Regarding data from the interview, 9 out of 12 teachers reported that they often took part in a training course to develop their teaching profession. For example, a teacher expressed:

"We participate in professional development programs on a regular basis. … Team members frequently enroll in short-or long-term courses to further their education" (T1).
Only 4 out of 33 ( In conclusion, teacher-related factors affected the efficiency of English instruction with average M=2.78. More particularly, among the factors affecting instructors, teacher and student relationship got the highest average score with M= 3.33 (item 24). This demonstrates the critical role of maintaining a good relationship with students in determining the quality and efficacy of English language instruction. Additionally, distractions from outside the classroom frequently occurred throughout the teaching process (item 30) with M = 3.03&St. D = 0.648). As a result, students became quickly exhausted when receiving new knowledge, which had a negative impact on teachers' teaching performance. Some teachers stated the following to explain this notion:

Environment-related factors
"I think they are insufficient realistic learning environment and time, insufficient class size, crowded students in class, and noise. (T6)"; "Overcrowded classes and different student levels, lack of school facilities. Noise from construction causes students to lose their concentration on the lesson(T8)"; "The learning environment affects the student's capacity to learn; noise impacts the class successfully (T10)".
The survey results indicated that teachers primarily used textbooks and disc players in the classroom (item 35) with M=2.79, St. D=.650). It was pointed out that the topics addressed in the textbooks are already out of date (item 36) with M=3.24, St. D=.614 since the textbook was published in 2011. Moreover, the teachers lacked additional materials to employ in the classroom (item 37) with M=2.70, St. D=.684. The main lessons delivered in class were primarily dependent on the textbook.
In accordance with the survey, the teachers who were interviewed also expressed similar concerns about textbook-related issues: "Teachers mostly use textbooks and CD players as teaching aids. However, sometimes the textbooks include out-of-date information. Teachers lack supplemental resources for use in the classroom (T8)"; "At our school, we teach English using textbooks. From my perspective, the material and illustrations in books do not stimulate students' interest T9)." As displayed in Table 3, the teachers disagreed that their schools have adequate equipment and operational library (item 39) with M=2.42, St. D=.502. Moreover, nearly half of them (45,4%) stated that their schools had libraries and subject-specific classrooms with inappropriate teaching and learning facilities (item 38) with M=2.45, SD=.564. In particular, T4 expressed: "My school has a well-equipped library, but it doesn't have many English books and its hours of operation are limited. Normally, students are only allowed to read books for about 20 hours at a time. We are provided with projectors, speakers, as well as other teaching and learning aids, but it doesn't work very well(T4)." However, teachers were provided with adequate rooms, tables, and chairs (item 40) M=2.7, St. D=.529. Especially, the same rooms were provided for many subjects (item 41) with M=2.15, St. D=.712. This made it impossible for teachers to design the classroom in an appealing manner, which could help prevent students from getting bored in the learning process. In addition, teachers agreed that they had to take responsibility for teaching so many English classes in a week (item 42) with M=2.55 and St. D=.666. Apart from teaching English to students, teachers had to do many other things at school item (item 43) with M=2.94, and St. D=.788.
Finally, the findings were not really supported the idea that the school curriculum was appropriate enough for students to learn English (item 44) with M=2.52, St. D=.566. About half of the teachers who took part in the interview said the time allocated was not adequate to cover the curriculum's material. In the interview teachers also gave some opinions concerning this problem: As can be concluded that teachers believed that environment-related factors had great impact on the effectiveness of their instruction.

Difference between the three High Schools' Teachers' Perceptions of Factors that Affect their Teaching of English
Research question 2 attempted to find out whether there are some differences between the teachers' perceptions of factors affecting their teaching at three schools, including aspects relating to students, teachers, and the environment. The data were gathered via questionnaires and are given here to elucidate these factors. The following data were evaluated and described descriptively. In summary, the finding of the study revealed that there is no significant difference in teachers' perceptions of factors affecting teaching effectiveness across three schools.

Factors Affecting Teachers' Teaching of English
The findings of this study confirmed that student-related factors, teacher-related factors, and environment-related factors influence teachers' teaching English remarkably, which can be said that they are consistent with other researchers' conclusions. The teachers rated student-related factors as a decisive factor in their English language teaching. Many experts have emphasized the critical nature of positive roles of the students and teacher-student connections in the classroom. The heart of the educational process is the student-related factors. According to Alkhairy (20130), once students are convinced that they must learn the English language and that it is just as important as their significant subjects of study, they will engage in the learning process with tremendous enthusiasm and motivation. It is vitally recommended that English teachers recognize this and make every effort to motivate students. Additionally, regarding teacher-related aspects, as demonstrated by Tran (2013b), Mosha (2014)that teachers must continue studying to improve their competencies and English teaching abilities. Since teachers' teaching approaches contribute to the success of students' learning (Getie, 2020 friends, putting themselves in their students' circumstances. Dang (2006) demonstrated that establishing relationships with students might increase their motivation in studying and improve students' performance. In terms of environment-related factors, the findings of this study also are compatible with El-Omari (2016) and Phan's studies (2017). The noise and the lack of teaching facilities also contributed to the low quality of a lesson, as students struggled to hear their teachers effectively (Behroozi & Amoozegar, 2013). As a result, educators should upgrade the learning environment. School principals should provide proper learning facilities and increase English-related activities to help students enhance their English communication abilities. Also, textbook-related factors appear to have a considerable impact on teachers' English instruction among environment-related factors (Golam, 2012). Specifically, most of the topics addressed in the textbook were out of date and uninteresting.

Difference between three High Schools' EFL Teachers' Perceptions of Factors Affecting their Teaching
According to the study's findings, there is no statistically significant difference between the three factors affecting teacher's teaching English, including student-related factors, teacher-related factors, and environment-related factors. It can be stated that all teachers in three high schools have similar perceptions of the factors that impact their teaching of English. Given the fact that all three schools are located within the same district, and this finding is not surprising. In part, they are located in a distant location with low quality student input, and the curriculum must adhere to the guidelines set forth by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training. Almost all assessments, as well as educational activities, have aims and focuses that are quite similar. Students, teachers, and the learning environment all have influence on the teachers' instruction. These three independent variables contribute to the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of a teacher's instructional process. Because without any of the three components, the teacher's role is negatively affected. As a result, it is critical and essential for teachers to assist students in developing good influence. Teachers can increase students' motivation to study by addressing their fundamental needs, stimulate their curiosity, or cultivate their self-efficacy, and they can decrease students' fear through cooperative learning and appropriate use of body language. Both teachers and students will find satisfaction in English teaching and learning as long as students have an interest in the language. Positive students are more likely to develop into comprehensive students (Zhu & Zhou, 2012).Moreover, teachers must understand how to organize a classroom and give a lesson effectively. Educators should devote more attention to enhancing the atmosphere in order to boost students' performance in English. For instance, if the classroom atmosphere is supportive, the teacher's competence will govern how lessons and teaching practices are prepared and organized. It encourages students to take a more active role in learning (Nguyen, Warren &Fehring, 2014).

VI. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION
This study sought for understanding the factors affecting English language teaching at three high schools in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The study discovered that studentrelated factors had a more significant influence on teachers' English teaching in class than teacher-related factors, and environment-related factors. Among student-related factors, the two most significant influences on teachers' English instruction are students' habit of speaking Vietnamese in class and students' low English proficiency. The majority of students are fearful of communicating in English and prefer to communicate in Vietnamese during English class. They are genuinely afraid of being incorrect, and their knowledge is still constrained, which results in the setting aside opportunities to communicate in English with native speakers. Therefore, students should understand the critical importance of English learning and develop effective ways for self-study through the media or from the experiences of their predecessors. To develop confidence in communicating in English, students should improve their knowledge when they are still in middle school so that they are not discouraged when they confront tough lessons in high school.
In Vietnam, high school teachers are required to reach the C1 level according to CEFR. The results of this study indicated that several teachers have not met the standard yet. Their low proficiency is due in part to inadequate initial training, but also to teachers' working conditions, which prevents them from being exposed to the target language or from communicating in English with other instructors. This is a significant issue since teachers' English competence has an effect on their instructional approaches. As noted previously, teaching approaches havean effect on student learning; hence, a teacher's English competence has a direct effect on the teacher's teaching performance. Teachers should discard traditional grammatical translation methods in favor of communicative methods. They should constantly update their teaching methods and create effective strategies to build students' communicative abilities using appropriate teaching resources to encourage students to communicate in English freely. Teachers should encourage students to use English as the primary language in all classroom activities.
IJELS-2022, 7(1), (ISSN: 2456-7620) https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.71. 44 327 In terms of environment-related factors, the study concluded that schools should prioritize the construction of classrooms equipped with sufficient current technology to allow teachers to increase their teaching efficacy. Also, they should make an effort to minimize the influence of external sounds on students' concentration. Additionally, the study discovered that several sections of the current textbook did not spark students' interest in studying and were quite monotonous. As Tomlinson (2008) recommended that students give greater attention when teaching materials are exciting and relevant to their interests. Hence, administrators should take time to listen to students' and teachers' perspectives and suggestions on their difficulties and examine the relevant materials in English classes even if the curricula are flexible. Additionally, the school should manage teachers' workloads reasonably, which includes not assigning too many duties concurrently and equally distributing time and responsibilities among teachers.
This study was conducted in three high schools with the participation of 33 teachers, so limitations cannot be avoided. It is suggested that another study can be conducted at more high schools in different districts with the participation of more EFL teachers so that the findings would be more reliable.