rationale based on theoretical, pedagogical and contextual grounds, which serve as a foundation for the study The focus of the study 1s lined in the third section, together with the research aims, objectives, questions and scope The final section of this part describes the organization of the study
1.1 Rationale
English nowadays is increasingly being used as a tool for interaction among non-native speakers It has become the vital device for communication in all fields It is regarded as a bridge which joins people all over the world together
The atmosphere of English Language Teaching in Vietnam has been greatly improved in the past 15 years since the country opened its door to the rest world and welcomed diplomatic, economic, social and education relations with many other nations English has become the major medium of communication between the Vietnamese and their foreign partners Today, when globalization is an irreversible trend in the international arena, the role of English in Vietnam 1s ever more critical
It cannot be denied that English has become an international language It is the means of communication in all the fields of our everyday life In Vietnam, English has been taught and learnt widely People learn English for many reasons : getting a better job, travelling, reading books, magazines or newspapers in English, improving knowledge, being teachers of English
Trang 2classroom teaching techniques such as Pair-work, Group-work, Role-play, Improvisation, Pantomime, Interviewing, Presentation as well as various kinds of language teaching materials such as authentic materials, published materials and supplementary materials have been used They are all effective techniques and useful materials At Hong Duc University, teachers of English usually use these techniques and materials to teach speaking skills to students However, they only use the materials that are designed for speaking sections in course books or textbooks or they sometimes provide students with some pieces of news cut from English newspapers Being a teacher of English, the author is very interested in teaching speaking skills and she has been teaching speaking skills for nearly five years She usually wants to improve this skills herself and to make something new for her speaking classes The matter is, one day, she went to class with the hope to share some hot new information with her students about what has just happened in the world She entered the class After greeting the whole class, she was very excited to raise a question: “Are you interested in the event happened yesterday in the world?” An absolute silence with surprising facial expressions With a little disappointment, the author told her students the news After the lesson, a question has always appeared in the author’s mind “How to provide students with the fresh information to enrich their knowledge?” From that day, the author has spent time accessing internet and she discovers that a kind of materials that helps language learners widen their knowledge and develop their speaking skills effectively is using VOA news Learners may use information they hear or read from VOA news to enrich their oral presentation By this way they can improve their speaking skills, listening skills and also reading and writing skills The author decides to focus on teaching material, as this is an aspect of evaluation that nearly all teachers do at sometimes, even if itis only an informal basis
Trang 3tasks in the lessons of speaking skills employed by language teachers to enhance the effect of using it as a means to provide comprehensible input in teaching and learning speaking skills
1.3 Aims of the study
The study aims to apply VOA news as a kind of language teaching materials in teaching speaking skills to the third-year English major students of Department of foreign languages at Hong Duc University
1.4 Objectives of the study
Within the framework of a minor M.A thesis, the study attempts to:
(1) review the theoretical literature on VOA news as a kind of language teaching materials used to provide students with suitable authentic materials and its role in teaching EFL and speaking skills, so as to provide teachers with a better understanding about these subject
matter
(2) investigate classroom tasks in speaking lessons through textbooks and _ teachers’ materials being used at Hong Duc University
(3) investigate the effectiveness of using VOA news to teach speaking skills at Hong Duc University
Trang 41.5 Research questions
The research questions addressed in the study are:
1 What language teaching materials have been used frequently to teach speaking skills to English majors at Hong Duc University?
2 To what extent do teachers of English majors at Hong Duc University use VOA news as a kind of language teaching materials in their speaking classes?
3 To what extent does VOA news work in EFL speaking classes at Hong Duc University? 1.6 Scope of the study
This study is concerned with the development of English speaking skills for the third year English major students of Department of foreign languages at Hong Duc University The focus is on effect of applying VOA news as language teaching materials to teach speaking skills, as it is believed this provides students with not only very fresh materials but also the improvement of listening skills, reading skills and writing skills The materials presented are to serve only as guidelines, which can be modified and adapted to answer the requirements of different situations The sample of instructional materials in the teaching of speaking will consist of three lessons only due to the time constrains, and can act as a guide for language teachers in providing instructional materials are adapted from relevant VOA news programs used by teachers at Hong Duc University with some modifications 1.7 Methods of the study
Trang 5be used in supporting for the information from the survey
Survey questionnaires were used to collect information and evidence for the study with the hope that the research would be reliable and processing of data would be manageable within limited time budget
1.8 Design of the study
The study is presented in three parts: introduction, development and conclusion
Part one INTRODUCTION introduces the rationale, aims, focus, objectives, research
questions, scope, methods and design of the study Part two DEVELOPMENT concludes 3 chapters:
Chapter one is the literature reviews This chapter intends to set up the framework of the study It focuses on the theory of the nature of language skills and communication Some discussions on definitions, purposes of using VOA news as a kind of language teaching materials used to provide students with suitable authentic materials to help them develop their speaking skills; VOA news as a kind of authentic materials used in teaching speaking Some principles in teaching speaking and some strategies of approaches are also
mentioned
Trang 7CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW 1 Communicative approach
1.1 The communicative Approach
The communicative approach starts from a theory of language as communication It refers to the beliefs and theories of the language teaching, which emphasize that the goal of language teaching is communicative competence (Rechards, 1985)
1.2 Communicative activities
‘Communicative activities’ refers to the techniques which are employed in the communicative method in language teaching The activities involve ‘doing’ things with language Communicative activities have some characteristics: They are purposeful, authentic materials are used and they are based on the information gap principles
2 Definition of speaking skills
2.1 Introduction
‘We learn languages in order to be able to speak, easily, comfortably, confidently This is true for people who need to learn English for work or study, or even for those who want to learn Spanish or Chinese for travel Most people want to learn to speak.’ (Byrne, 1991 :9) According to Bygate (1987) speaking is the productive skill in the oral mode It, like the other skills, is more complicated than it seems at first and involves more than just pronouncing words
Trang 8provides students with encouragement and chances to test themselves Further more, students are able to be reflected on their own out put For all these reasons, speaking is also one of necessary skills that students have to acquire in learning a foreign language
2.2 Nature of language skills and the oral communication
It is believed that language communication involves some language skills In teaching and learning a foreign language, language skills are four-macro skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing, among which listening and reading are believed to be receptive skills, and speaking and writing are productive ones Of the four skills, speaking plays a very important role since it is the first step to identify who knows and does not know a language The nature of oral communication is comprehended as a two-way process between the speaker and the listener
2.3 Elements involved in speaking a foreign language
Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997) According to Hedge (2000), speaking a foreign language competently involves the ability to make oneself understood and to manage interaction Speaker’s oral skills has an impact on the success of any exchange Knowledge that a good speaker has to process:
Trang 9VOA will serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news VOA news will be accurate, objective, and comprehensive VOA will represent America, not any single segment of American society, and will therefore present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions VOA will present the policies of the United States clearly and effectively, and will also present responsible discussions and opinion on these policies
3.2 Some fast facts of VOA news:
Audience: more than 115 million weekly Media: radio, television, and the Internet Languages: 44
Budget: $166 million (FY 2006) Headquarters: Washington, D.C Employees: more than 1,100
Mission: To broadcast accurate, balanced, and comprehensive news and information to an international audience
Facilities: 27 radio broadcast studios, 33 production and recording studios, 30 professional audio mixing and dubbing stations, 4 television studios, 20 video editing
suites, and facilities for master control, recording, scheduling, and feed intake
History: Broadcasts began in 1942, as a response to the need of peoples in closed and war-
Trang 10¢ more than 1,000 hours of programs are produced each week ¢ 25 of VOA's 44 languages broadcast on television
¢ Program content includes news, features, education, and culture, in discussion, call-in,
live, and pre-recorded formats
¢ VOA has a growing worldwide network of more than 1,200 local affiliate stations, which include FM and medium wave (MW or AM) radio stations, television stations and networks, and cable systems
3.4 VOA and Technology
¢ VOA has the largest integrated digital audio system in the world
¢ A network of transmitting stations operated by the international Broadcasting Bureau, along with some leased stations, sends VOA's programs instantaneously around the world ¢ The website, www.VOANews.com provides a wide range of English-language news reports and serves as a portal to homepages of all 44 languages broadcast by VOA, as well
as other information about VOA
¢ VOANews.com pages feature text, audio/video files on demand, and live-streamed programs
The broadcasts in 44 languages make VOAone of the largest multimedia news organizations in the world
"The news may be good The news may be bad We shall tell you the truth.” (William
Harlan Hale, Ist VOA broadcast, 1942)
4 VOA news — a kind of authentic materials
4.1 Authentic materials
Trang 11in his book “ Material Evaluation and design for Language Teaching” and a case study on
the use of news and current events in creating ESL/Efl lessons, which is introduced in the article “Creating ESL/EFL Lessons Based on News and Current Events”, the ITESL Journal
11(9) Sept 2005, by Sean Banville
In definition, authentic materials are usually defined as those which have been produced for purposes other than to teach language, for example print materials such as newspapers
or timetables, or spoken materials such as public announcements [Nunan, 1998, cited in
McGrath, 2002p.105]
The definition of authentic materials used here is taken from Peacock (1997): materials that have been produced to fulfill some social purpose in the language community
There are some more definitions of authentic materials Harmer (1991) points out that “materials which are designed for native speakers; they are real texts designed not for language students, but for the speakers of the language” Jodan (1997:113) states that “texts that are not written for language teaching purposes” etc
There are many references to authentic material in the ELT literature Books and journals contain thorough explanations of why it should or should not be included in lessons, and how it is to be used or best exploited But those authors who support the use of authentic materials have in common one idea: "exposure" In other words, the benefit students get from being exposed to the language in authentic materials
Widdowson's (1990) differentiation of the terms "authentic" and "genuine material” has been a seminal one in the field so the author should like to mention it here: Authentic would be material designed for native speakers of English used in the classroom in a way similar to the one it was designed for For example, a radio news report brought into the class so students discuss the report on pollution in the city where learners live
4.2 The Advantages of authentic materials
Using authentic materials in the classroom, even when not done in an authentic situation,
and provided it is appropriately exploited, is significant for many reasons, amongst which
Trang 12e Students are exposed to real discourse, as in videos of interviews with famous people where intermediate students listen for gist
e Authentic materials keep students informed about what is happening in the world, so they have an intrinsic educational value As teachers, we are educators working within the school system, so education and general development are part of our responsibilities (Sanderson, 1999)
e They can produce a sense of achievement, e.g., a brochure on England given to students to plan a 4-day visit
e The same piece of materials can be used under different circumstances if the task 1s
different
e Language change is reflected in the materials so that students and teachers can keep abreast of such changes
đâ Books, articles, newspapers, and so on contain a wide variety of text types, language styles not easily found in conventional teaching materials
e They can encourage reading for pleasure because they are likely to contain topics of interest to learners, especially if students are given the chance to have a say about the topics or kinds of authentic materials to be used in class
4.3 The Disadvantages of authentic materials The disadvantages mentioned by several writers are:
e They may be too culturally based, so unnecessarily difficult to understand outside the language community
e The vocabulary might not be relevant to the student's immediate needs
Trang 13e With listening: too many different accents
e The material can become outdated easily, e.g news
In conclusion, authentic materials adaptation is necessary and must be carefully done No matter what the source of the materials or their purposes in class, however, successful adaptation requires careful attention to the semantic, lexical, syntactic, and discourse elements of the original texts
4.4 Sources of Authentic Materials
In today's globalized world, examples abound, but the most commonly used perhaps are:
newspapers, TV programs, menus, magazines, the internet, movies, songs, brochures, comics, literature (novels, poems and short stories), and so forth
4.4.1 Literature
The reason for using literature in the class has been stated by Ezra Pound (2002): "Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree." Of course, the focus should be on teaching language, not literature In other words, the idea should be using literary texts as one kind among other texts With that in mind, the tasks should aim at meaning and not form, especially literary form or stylistics
4.4.2 Computer Software
Software that has been specially designed for English instruction has received some criticism particularly from teachers who back up a humanistic approach to language teaching They state they see no reason why exercises that can be done with a textbook should be carried out with a computer This idea stems from software such as Gapkit, Grammar mastery II and others that are really computer-guided drills This position is quite
understandable However, together with Tense Buster, and others that drills are not all
computers have to offer to EFL teaching
Trang 14examples of adventure games where learners need to discover clues and unravel mysteries These games usually involve a good amount of reading and with the use of multimedia they involve a good range of sounds, speakers of different ages and accents, and excellent images Students can play in pairs or threes and discuss what to do next, so that the interaction that takes place is also a part of the learning process Another advantage these games have is that they promote computer literacy, a badly needed skill in the modern
world
4.4.3 The Internet
The Internet can be a wonderful resource for authentic materials for FL teachers The standards goal areas serve as clear guides for teachers in their search for useful materials
on the Web Once located, these materials can be used to create marvelous activities that
address the standards and enhance FL instruction by following sound pedagogical models This triangulation of resources and effort can only improve our teaching and, hence, our students’ learning
With the advent of the World Wide Web, teachers have at their disposal large amounts of
texts, visual stimuli, newspapers, magazines, live radio and T.V., video clips and much
more There are endless lists of useful materials for the language classroom There needs to be a task, preferably one in which meaning is central and has some connection to the real world Treasure hunts and other information searching activities are probably the most useful More and more sites have interactive sections The range of authentic materials that may be found on the Internet is extensive, but just because something is on the Internet does not make it accurate and is no guarantee of quality We need to be selective about what we use, but we also can be more successful in finding quality materials if we explore a broad range of sites To the teacher who is new to the Internet, the expanse of the Web can be daunting
Trang 15As mentioned above, VOA news provides students with authentic materials through listening or reading so students may base on the information from those materials to expand the content of their speeches VOA news can develop previous experience for students It creates situation in which there is a need for precise communication VOA news can help challenge students to discover new truths or insights by confronting them with previous unknown predicament VOA news increases motivation and provides the incentive to work hard It fosters a sense of responsibility and co-operation among students if they are made to work in pairs or in groups VOA news can motivate teachers to meet the needs of students It promotes students’ learning process When the teacher uses these materials to draw back to a lesson and gives students something with which they can associate a word, phrase or concept, the students will have a greater impact in their mind about the lesson That is why it is a great advantage to the learning process
5.2 Purposes of using VOA news in teaching speaking skills
VOA news can be used as a kind of language teaching materials to provide students with various kinds of knowledge in the pre-, while- and post- speaking stages VOA news also improves listening skills and reading skills It provides the opportunity for the students to listen to the real talks or read the real stories and get information that they may use for their speaking tasks VOA news can help restore the totality of information by reversing the learning process, beginning with needed knowledge and towards language use This makes the speech more meaningful and attempts to prepare students for real-life situation with real language environment
Language learning must be appeal to the creative intuitive aspect of personality as well as the conscious and rational part VOA news can be used to provide opportunity for the students to be involved actively Effective learning takes place as the student involves himself in the tasks and is motivated to use the target language
Trang 16great time and effort to prepare for the lessons So what are the reasons for using VOA news as a kind of language teaching materials?
First of all, while the textbooks are usually aimed at developing accuracy and trying to provide learners with authentic materials but these materials are not up-to-date, VOA news is used as a means to provide learners with most up-to-date authentic materials Secondly, VOA news is used as a means to offer a context for language speaking development 6 Common types of using VOA news as a language teaching materials in the EFL
classroom
We generally agree that the classroom is a good environment to bring in information and develop good educational skills Our main interest is not to give our students lessons about the English language but to develop the students’ ingenuity of using English for a wide range of communicative purposes, particularly the speaking skills And we should have a good grasp of a variety of techniques and procedures through which the speaking ability
can be refined
6.1 Phases in teaching speaking skills
According to Byrne (1991:22-31), there are three phases to enhance students’ speaking ability They are Presentation phase (Pre-speaking stage), Practice phase (While-speaking stage) and Production phase (Post-speaking stage) They are briefly summarized as follows: 6.1.1 The presentation phase (Pre-speaking stage)
At this phase teachers work as an informant for these reasons: teachers know English much
better than students; teachers choose the materials to teach; teachers provide this in such a
way they the meaning of the new language is as intelligeble and memorable as possible, whereas the students are motionless They heed, try to understand, and say very little This phase is teacher-centred
Trang 17Unlike the presentation phase, it is the students’ turn to do most of the talking At this stage, the teacher does the minimum amount of talking He provides the maximum amount of practice Practice is normally in the form of exercises or activities for improvement of fluency At the end of this phase, Ur (1996:12) pointed out what the teachers should bear in mind First, attention must be fully paid by the students Second, the target language must be clearly heard or repeated in many ways to reinforce the learners’ perception Third, learners understand the meaning of the new materials Finally, short termed memory of the materials must be created for later use in the lesson through a colorful, dramatic and unusual presentation
6.1.3 The production phase (Post-speaking stage)
At any level, students need chances to speak English freely even if they make mistakes A real speaking of English takes place when the students are able to use English for themselves, not for the teacher Accordingly, we must take on the role of a manager or a guide to supply activities for free expressions and care for them as they carry them out 6.2 In which phase (stage) can VOA news be used?
According to the aim of using VOA news as a kind of language teaching materials to teach speaking skills in this study, VOA news can be used as a means to provide students with real-life fresh materials so presentation phase or pre-speaking stage is the most suitable one in which VOA news will be used There are some reasons for using VOA news in this phase
Trang 186.3 How to use VOA news?
As it is mentioned above, VOA news is a kind of authentic materials so they are very difficult for students to use if teacher does not deal with them first To use them effectively, teacher must find out the way to make them relevant to students’ level and students’ needs and make sure that the teacher wants to adapt the materials in some way The teacher may change the materials in some way, for example by devising new materials either instead of or in addition to some part of the existing materials Besides, the teacher may design some tasks for students to carry out based on the given materials
McGrath (2002) mentions some criteria for the selection of authentic materials to use They
are:
- relevant (to syllabus, to learners’ needs)
- intrinsic interest of topic/theme
- cultural appropriateness - linguistic demands - cognitive demands
- logistical considerations: 1.g length, legibility/audibility
- quality (as a model of use or a representative token of a text-type) - exploitability
McGrath also proposes the principles of using authentic materials in language classroom, which can be stated in brief in the three following stages:
Stage 1: Put the learners in the picture The students will find it easier and more motivated to cope with tasks (listening, speaking, etc.) if they are exposed to the real-life situations
Stage 2: Focus on meaning The meaning that we ask students to extract should be related to the meanings the intended reader is expected to derive from the text
Stage 3: Focus on the language Since students are actually language learners, a focus on the language is necessary This may be intended to serve various purposes: provision of
Trang 19CHAPTER II: DEVELOPMENT OF THE STUDY
The first part of this chapter is the overview of English teaching and learning situations in Foreign Language Department at Hong Duc University Some points have been taken into consideration such as the conditions in which English is taught, the students’ background and their needs, the teaching staff and the materials they have been using The second part of this chapter is the research methodology which consists of the description of the subjects of the study and procedures for carrying out the research with the samples of lesson plans
in which materials of VOA news are used for the classroom research lessons
1 The overview of teaching and learning situations in Foreign Language Department at Hong Duc University
1.1 An overview of the Foreign Language Department of Hong Duc University
Thanh Hoa is one of the biggest provinces in Vietnam where there is a young university called Hong Duc University Established in 1997, by the amalgamation of three local colleges It has nine departments, four centres and eight offices Foreign language department is one of the biggest departments of Hong Duc University Here, English teaching and learning has become popular Progressive strides have been made toward establishing a communicative language teaching wave at the Department of Foreign Languages of the University The department has a mission: to teach English to students of different departments in the University Besides, it also has a very important task: to train teachers of English for high secondary schools around the province Every school year about eighty English major students are enrolled They are trained to become teachers of English
1.2 Students’ background and needs
Trang 20rural areas Most of the students did have at least seven years to learn English at high schools and some of them learnt English for three years However, there is a difference in ability among them
At high schools, the students focus on doing written exercises so that they can solve the tasks as fast and correctly as possible They ignore speaking skills because they do not have to take an English oral exam to enter university Therefore, in the first speaking lessons, they can hardly ever speak in English fluently and it is very difficult for them to express their ideas in English orally
At Hong Duc University, the students have to develop four basic language skills at the same time so they meet a lot of difficulties, especially in speaking skills
Most of the third year students of foreign language department at Hong Duc University who take part in this study were born from 1985 — 1986 All of them will become teachers of English after graduation
1.3 Teaching staff
Foreign language department has thirty-two teachers, among them twenty-two are teachers of English Most of them have had special training in teaching different foreign language skills and fields of foreign language teaching and learning There are only four teachers who got M.A degree and the others got B.A degree From the beginning of its foundation, Hong Duc University has had good relationship with some Universities and educational organizations of foreign countries in the area and in the world such as Thailand, Singapore, Canada, Australia and America Nearly every year some teachers are sent to these countries to improve their English and to attend English teaching methodology courses Also, Hong Duc University has had a very good relationship with the organization of The Project Trust — UK, so every year two English volunteer teachers are sent to teach English at the department and they help students with speaking skills and listening skills
Trang 21teaching materials, and have come to decide on using the Communicative Language Teaching Approach at all levels The goal is to motivate students to use target language competently
1.4 Course books and teaching materials for teaching speaking skills
At Hong Duc University, students of English have four year course with eight semesters for university level and three year course with six semesters for college level
For university level, each semester has fifteen weeks For the first and second year, students have three forty-five minute periods of speaking skills every week For the third year and the first semester of the fourth year, they have only two forty-five minute periods of speaking skills every week They do not have speaking lessons for the eighth semester For college level, each semester also has fifteen weeks For the first and second year, students have four forty-five minute periods of speaking skills every week For the third year, they have only two forty-five minute periods of speaking skills every week They do not have speaking lessons for the sixth semester
The main textbooks for teaching speaking skills are Let’s Talk 1, 2 and 3 by Leo Jones, which have been designed in detail for speaking syllabus for six semesters For the first semester of the fourth year the text book for speaking skills is Interaction 2 by Judith Tanka & Linda R Baker, which has also been designed in detail for speaking syllabus However, the teachers who are in charge of teaching speaking skills are not satisfied with this teaching syllabus because of not enough materials to develop students’ speaking skills Therefore, the teachers have to use extra materials to support and design their speaking lessons based on the topics assigned and relevant to the students’ level
Trang 22speaking skills is a good idea Teachers may look for these materials from many sources In this research, using VOA news materials from voanews.com is highly recommended for teachers to teach speaking skills The effect of this kind of materials will be discussed in the next chapter
2 Methodology for the study
2.1 Description of subjects and participants in the study
The subjects of the study are the teachers of speaking skills and the third-year students ; the participant in the study is the researcher who carries out the speaking lessons
The subjects of the study are five Vietnamese teachers of English speaking skills and seventy-seven third-year students of English majors of university level
The teachers are aged from twenty-eight (60%) to forty-four (40%) They are one male teacher and four female teachers (20% compared to 80%) Four of them got B.A degree of English and one got M.A degree of English
The students are from two classes of the third-year university level students in the teachers’ training section of foreign language department at Hong Duc university Most of them are aged from twenty-one to twenty-two There are sixty-six female students and eleven male students (85% compared to 15%) They are at the same level so it is easy to apply the same sample lessons using VOA news materials and the same techniques
The reason why the researcher did not choose the first, the second and the fourth year students as the subjects of the study because the first and the second students have not learnt much at the department and also because VOA news is a kind of authentic materials so it is rather difficult for the students of these levels to adapt The fourth year students are busy with their teaching practicum at high schools
Trang 23In this part, the instruments for carrying out the study are presented Each stage of the instruments is described in each following section
2.2.1 Deciding on the research questions
New trends in ELT material development are the up-to-date materials that focus on current events and the method is learner-centered base Materials are very important for teachers and students because “Materials are anything which is used to help to teach language
learners Materials can be in the form of a textbook, a workbook, a cassette, a CD-Rom, a
video, a photocopied handout, a newspaper, a paragraph written on a white-board: anything which presents or informs about the language being learnt” (Tomlinson, B 1998, p.23) Knowing the importance of ELT materials, teachers of English employ different kinds of ELT materials to make their lessons more interesting and increase students’ interests in learning speaking skills The study is to try to investigate what kinds of materials are usually used to teach speaking skills to English major students at Hong Duc University, to what extent teachers of English majors at Hong Duc University use VOA news as a kind of language teaching materials in their speaking classes, and to examine the effectiveness of using VOA news in EFL speaking classes at Hong Duc University
2.2.2 The methods for the data collection
In order to collect necessary data and information for the study, several ways are used such as: classroom observations, questionnaires, follow-up interviews
For the classroom observation
The researcher did this herself to check the students’ participation in the speaking lessons using VOA news as a kind of authentic materials The data collected over a nine week term (nine times in each class during 9 speaking lessons) The data collected from the observation sheet could be used to support the data collected from the questionnaires in which the students evaluated the use of VOA news
Trang 24Ten out of seventy-seven English major students were randomly chosen for the interviews to get their opinions about using VOA news in teaching speaking skills
Three out of five teachers of English were interviewed for their teaching experience, their attitudes toward the teaching of speaking and the materials they usually use to teach in their speaking lessons
For the questionnaires
Five teachers of English and seventy-seven English major students of the Foreign Language Department, Hong Duc University were invited to complete the questionnaires Short and clear explanations about the aims of these questionnaires were given before
handouts were distributed
Three questionnaires (one for teachers and the other two for students) were used to collect information about students’ opinions about learning speaking, to discover the kinds of materials that teachers usually use to teach speaking skills, the students’ evaluation of using VOA news materials and teachers’ experiences and their attitudes towards the teaching speaking skills as well
Questionnaires were used because they are one of the most popular instruments in collecting data The researcher uses questionnaires because she wants to tap into the knowledge, opinions, ideas and experiences of her students, fellow teachers The answers are usually recorded in some way so that they become available for subsequent reflection and analysis (Wallace, 1998:124) Also, questionnaires are a save of time They can be given to large groups of subjects at the same time and because of this the data are more
accurate In addition, the information collected is not so difficult to tabulate and analize
(Brown, 1995)
Trang 251 What language teaching materials have been used frequently to teach speaking skills to English majors at Hong Duc University?
2 To what extent do teachers of English majors at Hong Duc University use VOA news as a kind of language teaching materials in their speaking classes?
The questionnaire No.3 for the teachers also answers to these questions
Questionnaire No.2 was given to students after the speaking lessons in which teachers use VOA news as a kind of teaching materials with the aim to collect the information about the students’ reflections and their opinions of using VOA news in teaching speaking skills and it answers to the research question that is: To what extent does VOA news work in EFL speaking classes at Hong Duc University?
The speaking lessons, in which teachers use VOA news as a kind of teaching materials were carried out to get reliable data for answering the main question of the study that is : “To what extent does VOA news work in EFL speaking classes at Hong Duc University?” In these lessons the researcher used different kinds of VOA news materials that were designed different speaking tasks to make them suitable for students’ level and their needs as well These lessons were carried out in nine weeks followed by the evaluation of the students from the questionnaire to get the data for the above research question
Trang 262.2.3 The methods for processing and analyzing the data
As being mentioned in the methods of the study, the survey data are collected for the study through a combination of questionnaires and interviews The interviews with the students and the teachers were selected in accordance with the objectives of the research The responses through the interviews and questionnaires, the figures from the research teaching and the classroom self-observations were statistically classified This served as a basis for the analysis and pedagogical implications
Trang 27CHAPTER III: DATA COLLECTION AND DISCUSSION
In this chapter, the result of the study are presented followed by the discussion and analysis of the data The data have been collected from the observations, from the questionnaires and interviews The results are statistically presented in the forms of tables These are used to answer the three research questions:
1 What language teaching materials have been used frequently to teach speaking skills to English majors at Hong Duc University?
2 To what extent do teachers of English majors at Hong Duc University use VOA news as a kind of language teaching materials in their speaking classes?
3 To what extent does VOA news work in EFL speaking classes at Hong Duc University? Question I: What language teaching materials have been used frequently to teach speaking
Skills to English majors at Hong Duc University?
The goal of this question is to discover what language teaching materials have been used frequently to teach speaking skills to English majors at Hong Duc University The results were collected from the questionnaires and interviews Tables 1 and table 2 are the summary of the responses to the questions from the questionnaires for the teachers (question 4 from the teachers’ questionnaire: What kinds of materials do you usually use for your speaking classes?) and from students’ Questionnaire No.1 (question 6 from the
Trang 28Answer Usually Often Sometimes Rarely Never Questions % % % % % 1 Textbooks 20 60 20 0 0 2 Newspapers 0 0 100 0 0 3 Films 0 0 0 0 100 4 Video tapes with 0 0 0 0 100 speaking activities 5 Cassettes with 0 0 0 20 80 news recorded 6 VOA news 0 0 0 0 100 7 Pictures 0 100 0 0 0 8 Magazines 0 0 40 60 0 9 Poems 0 0 40 60 0 10 English songs 0 0 40 60 0 11 Workbooks 0 0 100 0 0 12 Photocopied handouts accessed 0 0 20 60 20 from Internet
Table 1: Teachers’ responses to the frequency of using different kinds of materials to teach speaking skills (question 4 from teachers’ questionnaire)
The results from the table 1 shows that 100% of the teachers use textbooks, workbooks,
Trang 29enough For newspapers and workbooks, 100% of the teachers sometimes use them to teach speaking So, it can be said that these kinds of materials have their own usefulness It is surprising that 100% of the teachers often use pictures to teach speaking The reason is very simple It is because students must take final oral examinations with picture description at the end of each semester at Hong Duc University
The data from the table shows very clearly that none of the teachers (100%) uses films video tapes with speaking activities and VOA news in their speaking lessons while all of them (100%) sometimes use pictures and workbooks It may be implied that students have never had chances to get to know with or they are too familiar to these kinds of teaching
materials
It can be seen that magazines, poems and English songs are sometimes used as materials by teachers (40% ‘sometimes and 60% ‘rarely’) These results indicate that authentic materials have been using quite often in speaking lessons
The results from the table also point out that most of the teachers have accessed Internet to look for relevant teaching materials, but they have not spent enough time Only 20% of them sometimes uses Photocopied handouts accessed from Internet while 60% ‘rarely’ and 20% ‘never’ uses them in their speaking lessons
Question 6 from students’ questionnaire: How familiar are you with the following kinds of
materials?
The data about the students’ responses to the question 6 from students’ questionnaire are
Trang 30Answer Very A lot A little Very little | Not at all much (%) (%) (%) (%) Questions (%) 1 Textbooks 28.6 54.6 10.4 6.4 0 2 Newspapers 9.2 14.3 55.8 20.7 0 3 Cassettes with news 5 7.8 65 22 0 4 VOA news 0 0 0 0 100 5 Pictures 100 0 0 0 0 6 Magazines 6.6 15.6 58.4 19.4 0 7 Poems 2.6 6.5 61 22.1 7.8 8 English songs 31.2 53.7 10.4 4.7 0 9 Workbooks 23.4 55.8 14.3 6.4 0 10 Photocopied handouts accessed 11.7 19.5 58.4 10.4 0 from Internet Table 2: Students’ responses to the question 6 from the students’ questionnaire No.1
The figures from the table 2 show that most of the students are very familiar with textbooks (54.6%), workbooks (53.7%) and English songs (55.8%) It is obvious that these kinds of teaching materials have been using most often The number of students, who know little about newspapers (55.8%), cassettes with news (65%), magazines (58.4%, poems (61%) and photocopied handouts accessed from Internet (58.4%) shown in the table, is very high It proves that teachers do not use these kinds of teaching materials very often and students themselves do not spend enough time looking for various kinds of materials
Trang 31to take final oral examinations with picture description at the end of each semester at Hong Duc University
The results of the collected data from the tables above, it can be seen that VOA news
materials seem to be very strange to both teachers and students at Hong Duc University Rechards (2005) points out that in developing materials for any aspects of language learning, whether it be a skill-based course in listening, reading, speaking or writing, or integrated skills basic series, the writer’s understanding of language and language use will have a major impact on material design, since it will determine the goals the writer sets for
the materials, the focus on the materials themselves, and the activities within them Thus,
providing students with new kinds of speaking learning materials is necessary and needs doing Besides the materials that have been used to teach speaking, teachers should use other kinds of materials in combination to enrich students knowledge and to make learning and teaching process more effective In this study, using VOA news materials to teach speaking is suggested as an effective kind of teaching materials The extent to what teachers at Hong Duc University use VOA news to teach speaking skills and the effect of this kind of teaching materials are discussed in the following question:
Question 2: To what extent do teachers of English majors at Hong Duc University use VOA news as a kind of language teaching materials in their speaking classes? The answer to this question is also included in table 1 and table 2 because the questionnaires and interviews were designed to collect the data to see to what extent VOA news materials are used in speaking classes
The information from the questionnaires and interviews improves the fact that most of the teachers are not very familiar with VOA news From the interview, only one of them knows rather clearly about it but he has never used it his in speaking lessons
Trang 32equipments and the teachers lack knowledge and skills in using communicative technology to carry out the lessons That is why they have to carry their own speaking lessons in very simple ways and they sometimes design their own teaching materials, but none of them use VOA news as a kind of teaching materials to teach speaking
Teachers’ questionnaire (5 handouts) | Teachers’ interviews (3 teachers)
Questions YES (%) NO (%) YES (%) NO (%) 1 0 100 0 100 3 100 0 100 0 Table 3: A summary of the responses to the teachers’ questionnaire and interviews with the teachers Question 3: To what extent does VOA news work in EFL speaking classes at Hong Duc University?
As mentioned in the procedures to carry out the study and in order to get the best answer to the question “To what extent does VOA news work in EFL speaking classes at Hong Duc University?”’, the author herself did an action research about the effect of using VOA news to teach speaking in two different but the same level classes Why did the author decide to carry out an action research? It is because Elliott (1978) claims that an action research in schools, colleges or universities aims at solving everyday practical problems experienced by teachers, rather than the ‘theoretical problems’ defined by non - teaching researchers It should be carried out by the teachers themselves or by someone they commission to carry out for them
When a teacher faces practical problems in teaching in a classroom such as “students do not want to take part in the lesson” or “students can not express their ideas in English smoothly” or “ Pve found that I do not provide students with enough input in a speaking lesson How can I solve this problem?” he may not know how to solve them effectively The problems mentioned above are involved in students’ or the teacher’s actions or behaviours in a concrete situation of teaching so they can be solved through an action
Trang 33The author followed 5 steps suggested by Tsui (1993) in conducting an action research She designed a set of speaking tasks for her speaking lessons in which she used VOA news materials Data were collected from the questionnaire (the one that delivered to students after the action research) and the interviews with the students in the form of evaluation The observation was also done to check the extent to which extent the students took part in
the activities The results of the data in the tables below can show that VOA news work
well and effectively in speaking classes of English majors at Hong Duc University
Very Not very | Not at Questions much A lot A little much all % % % % % 1.a useful for speaking skills 44.2 51.9 2.6 1.3 0 1.b interesting 31.2 50.6 16.9 1.3 0 l.c helpful (being provided with necessary information) 42.9 36.3 20.8 0 0 2.a being encouraged 32.4 41.6 22.1 3.9 0 2 b confident 24.6 46.9 24.6 3.9 0 2.c being helped 36.3 37.7 19.5 5.2 1.3 2.d being interested in the activities 35 48 17 0 0 Table 4: A summary of responses to the students’ questionnaire No.2 (Questions I and 2)
Trang 34According to students’ evaluation (questions 1 and 2), using VOA news in speaking lessons are useful (44.2% of the students marked ‘very much, 51.9 ‘a lot’); interesting (31.2 % ‘very much, 50.6% “a lot’) 42.9% of the students claim that VOA news is very much helpful and 36.3 % of them say it 1s a lot helpful
After participating in activities carried out in speaking lessons in which VOA news was used, most of the students felt being encouraged (32.4% “very much’, 41.6% ‘a lot’) and confident (46.9% ‘a lot’) and being helped (36.3 ‘very much’, 37.7 ‘a lot’)
The number of the students felt very much and a little confident is the same (24.6%) It can be seen that many students felt being interested in the activities (35% “very much, 48% ‘a lot’) and only 17% of the students marked ‘a little’ Question 3 1 2 3 4 5 % % % % %
a increase your confidence in speaking 24.7 | 55.8 | 19.5 0 0
b get a lot of information 273 | 63.6 | 9.1 0 0
c enrich your general knowledge 29.9 | 57.1 | 13 0 0 d be interested in learning speaking 18.2 | 54.5 | 27.3 0 0 e improve your listening and reading skills | 32.5 | 61 5.2 1.3 0 f with ability to deal with real-life situations | 35.1 | 63.6 | 1.3 0 0 g up-date the fresh information quickly 234 | 75.3 | 1.3 0 0
h improve your pronunciation 26 727 | 1.3 0 0
i be more creative and active 28.5 | 68.9 | 2.6 0 0
J mprove your vocabulary 26 71.4 | 2.6 0 0
Trang 35
Question: Using VOA news materials in 1 2 3 4 5
learning speaking skills can help you % % % % %
a increase your confidence in speaking 20 70 10 0 0
b get a lot of information 40 50 10 0 0
c enrich your general knowledge 60 20 20 0 0
d be interested in learning speaking 10 70 20 0 0
e improve your listening and reading skills | 30 70 0 0 0 f with ability to deal with real-life situations | 50 50 0 0 0 g up-date the fresh information quickly 20 80 0 0 0
h improve your pronunciation 20 80 0 0 0
i be more creative and active 20 80 0 0 0
J mprove your vocabulary 20 80 0 0 0
Table 7: A summary of responses to interviews with the students
The results in the tables above imply a very positive prospect for using VOA news in teaching speaking skills The data collected from the students’ ranking the degree of agreement in both questionnaire and interview 63.6% and 57.1% of them agreed that they were helped with a lot of information and enriched their general knowledge That is why 24.7% of the students strongly agreed and 55.8% of them agreed that VOA news help them increase their confidence in speaking and help them be interested in learning speaking and help them improve listening and reading skills (54.5%, 61%) The help of VOA news in students’ ability to deal with real-life situations is described by 35.1% of the student strongly agreed and 63.6% of them agreed The number of the students agreed that VOA news help them up-date the fresh information quickly, improve their pronunciation and vocabulary and be more creative and active is very high (75.3%,
72.7%, 68.9% and 71.4%) Obviously, the results in the tables indicate that VOA news can
Trang 36Students’ Questionnaire No 2 (77 | Interviews with students (10 students) handouts) Questions | YES NO No idea YES NO No idea % % % % % % Question 4 | 93.5 6.5 90 10 0 Question 5 | 89.6 3.9 6.5 100 0 0
Table 8: A summary of the responses to the students’ questionnaire No 2 and interviews
with the students
Trang 37Week | | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 50 50 25 25 25 0 25 25 0 5 50 50 75 75 75 100 75 75 100
Table 10: Students’ level of concentration on the learning task
Week | | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 25 25 25 25 25 0 0 0 0 5 75 75 75 75 75 100 100 100 100
Table 11: Students’ enjoyment of activities
Week | | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 50 50 25 25 50 25 25 0 25 5 50 50 75 75 50 75 75 100 75
Table 12: Students’ intensity of application
Trang 38Week | | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 25 50 25 25 0 0 25 0 25 5 75 50 75 75 100 100 75 100 75 Table 14: Students’ evaluation of the activities and the way of class management Summary
Trang 39PART THREE: CONCLUSION Introduction
This part is the application and recommendation of the study Implication and suggestion for EFL teaching and learning speaking using VOA news as a language teaching materials are presented This section is followed by some suggestion for considerations for using VOA news in EFL classroom and limitation and suggestion for further research
1 Implications and suggestions for teaching speaking using VOA news
1.1 For the teachers
It is very necessary for the teachers to be aware of the importance of using VOA news as a kind of teaching materials The teachers can combine the appropriate and relevant materials in teaching The researcher hopes that the study, somehow, helps teachers get to know more about VOA news and its useful application in speaking classes
1.2 Some considerations when using VOA news
VOA news 1s a kind of authentic materials, so it is very difficult for students if the teachers do not modify and make them adapted materials To have relevant VOA news materials for students’ level, it takes a lot of preparation for the teachers Before starting the activities, teachers should provide or remind students of some language use by giving students handouts or displaying this on the board The role of the teachers in controlling the class is very important In this case teachers should be the instructor, supervisor and facilitator 2 Limitation and Recommendation for further study
In this study the researcher carried out research action in her own classes She did many things by herself The results would have been better and more reliable if she had some
other teachers observe the classes Also, within the limit of time and knowledge, the
Trang 40VOA news to teach speaking, the researcher has suggestion for further research proposal: Toward a VOA news-based speaking syllabus for the students of English majors at Hong Duc University The reasons for this suggestion are: there should be a more detailed and appropriate syllabus for both teachers and students; the results of the study on VOA news prove effective in teaching speaking Other suggestion the researcher wants to recommend for further study is VOA news can be applied in teaching other subjects such as listening or reading skills
Conclusion
It is apparent that teachers at Hong Duc University often encounter difficulties in speaking lessons One of these is searching better materials to teach speaking Students often find it hard to express their ideas because they lack information and general knowledge Therefore they feel inconfident and afraid of speaking Being a teacher who teaches speaking to English majors, the researcher has considered these difficulties and has decided to conduct this study