(SKKN 2022) some solutions to help students at tan son secondary school get hight scores in the speaking english test

1 Introduction 1.1 Reason for choosing the research In today's integrated society, English is a language that plays an extremely important role in helping people access the world's advances and find opportunities for personal development To achieve this goal, we ourselves must know how to use English fluently in communication Realizing that importance, the Ministry of Education and Training has always been at the forefront of implementing the policy of comprehensively renovating English teaching and learning in middle and high schools, shifting from mainly equipping knowledge to developing English language skillsas well as students’ capacity According to the project of teaching foreign languages to 2020 and the adjusted project to 2025 of the Ministry of Education and Training, it is clear that “One of the key tasks to be achieved by teachers is that students can use use English in communication” Then, on September 29, 2014, the Ministry of Education and Training issued Official Letter 5333/BGDĐT-GDTrH on the implementation of testing and assessment in the direction of capacity development for English subject Specifically, it requires students to be able to communicate in English in class, to present their ideas in English through conversations with teachers and friends, and especially to present their ideas Students will learn according to the specific content of each class level, especially English classes according to the new 10-year textbook program Students are tested regularly through the form of question-answer (speaking skills) at least 02 times/semester They can speak simple instructions used in daily communication related to the topics studied Right from the beginning, the Speaking test has been applied at the end of each semester, accounting for 2/10 points of the semester test, in fact through the implementation process, two English teachers, students and I are still confused The form of testing and the content of knowledge demonstrated are still counterproductive Most of the students have not been properly oriented to be able to present the topics well with fluency Because of the shortcomings that my students face, I have wondered many times when they speak English too weakly, as an English teacher with a lot of passion for the profession In the practice of teaching at Tan Son Secondary School, I have been looking for ways to support my students, how to get them high scores in the speaking skill, and presentation skills according to each topic of each unit that they have learned through Here, I would like to present the ideas that I have applied and have brought effective, the topic is titled: “Some solutions to help students at Tan Son Secondary School get high scores in the speaking English test” 1.2 Aims Through this research project, I hope my students will make the following progress: - Improve their scores in the Speaking test - Introduce themselves fluently in English - Present well the topics in each unit of the lesson - Response quickly to questions in English - Develop good communication skills, and confidently speak English in front of crowds or actively initiate conversations with foreigners 1.3 Objects In doing this research, the writer would select students from class 8A and 8Bat Tan Son secondary school Contents of initiative and experience 2.1 Theoretical basis of the problem On September 29, 2014, the Ministry of Education and Training issued Official Dispatch No 5333/BGDĐT-GDTrH on the implementation of testing and assessment in the direction of developing high school English subjects Pursuant to Article of the Regulation on assessment and classification of secondary students and high school students promulgated together with the Circular No 58/2011/TT-BGDĐT dated 12/12/2011 of the Minister of Education and Training, assessment forms include Q&A, written test, and practice test The examination and assessment are conducted through different forms such as: quantitative (scoring), qualitative (commenting, grading), a combination of teacher's assessment, mutual assessment and self-assessment Types of tests and assessments should be suitable for teaching and learning methods applied in the classroom, including speaking tests (dialogue, monologue) Decision No 1400/QD-TTg dated September 30, 2008 of the Prime Minister approving the Project "Teaching and learning foreign languages in the national education system, period 2008-2020" comprehensively new teaching and learning foreign languages in Vietnamese schools with the aim that "by 2020, the majority of Vietnamese young people who graduate from secondary schools, colleges and universities will have the ability to use foreign languages independently, confidently communicate, study and work in an integrated, multilingual and multicultural environment, making foreign languages a strength of the Vietnamese people Decision No 2080/QD-TTg dated December 22, 2017 approving the adjustment and supplementation of the foreign language teaching and learning project in the national education system for the period 2017 - 2025 Listening, speaking, reading and writing are four important skills in English Accordingly, listening and reading are two basic skills, while speaking and writing are two advanced skills Speaking skills, including elements: pronunciation, fluency and coherence, grammar, vocabulary and even speaking speed Usually, the test of speaking skills is planned by schools and organized in separate sessions For my school, I plan to build a Speaking test consisting of three main parts for each grade level: Part 1(3 minutes): Introduce yourself Part (5 minutes): Students present the topic of the lottery Part (2 minutes): The teacher asks questions related to the contents of the topics students have just presented 2.2 The current state of the problem before applying the experience initiative Ever since the Department of Education and Training issued Official Letter No 5333/BGDĐT-GDTrH, I started to develop a plan for the Speaking test In the school year 2021-2022, I am assigned to teach grade I clearly orient the exam sections for students, asking them to prepare well at the beginning of the school year so that by the end of the term, they will be easily accessibleto this new form of testing I think students have the ability to create a short paragraph (5 to lines) about themselves With topics related to the content of each Unit, I give them topics (about topics each block) and ask them to compose themselves For good students, they did very well, and they prepared it and asked me to correct it Of course, their speaking test got a high score compared to the rest However, this number only accounts for one third of the total number of students in each grade With the average, weak students, they seem unable to speak, even briefly introduce themselves Speaking test results for the first year of class 8A - HKI (school year 2021-2021) Class Total Good number of No % students Fair No Average Weak Poor % No % No % No % 8A 35 20 11 31,4 13 37 11,6 0 8B 34 21 10 29 12 35 15 0 Total 69 14 20,3 21 30,5 25 36,2 13 0 Actions taken to solve the problem 2.3.1 Develope a plan for the Speaking test at the beginning of each school year and disseminate it to students If you get 10 points for a periodical test with the following contents: Listening, Language contents, Writing, Reading, then with semester tests, the speaking part is added and accounts for 02 out of 10 points When students know the test sections in advance, they have plenty of time to prepare at the beginning of the school year Below are the contents in the construction plan for the speaking test applied at Tan Son Secondary School Exams include: Part (3 minutes): Introduce yourself Part (5 minutes): Present the topic Part (2 minutes): The teacher asks questions related to the contents of the topics students have just presented Score sheet CHECK SHEET English speaking skills for the semester… Class …………… School year 201 -201 Content Order Names Trần Thị Hoài An Mai Văn B Personal information (0,5m) Topic (1m) Interview (0,5m) Total Notice 2.3.2 How to organize the speaking test - Organize a separate exam session (2 classes/1 session) - The teacher calls four students in turn (2 pairs) into the exam room at the same time - You can draw a topic first, so you can sit down and prepare within minutes - Then the teacher calls the pairs to take turns, the pair that goes out will have another pair to replace until the end 2.3.3 Create the habit of speaking English for students To help them form the habit of using English, I introduce classroom languages (Classroom Language) and ask them to use them as much as possible in English lessons Some common sentence patterns used by students are as follows: Good morning/afternoon How are you today? How is everything? What's new? Have you done your homework? Let's play a game now, shall we? Can you spell it? I agree/ I disagree I don’t understand Could you repeat that, please? I am sorry, I’m late It’s my turn This solution helps them understand the importance of using English when learning, and forming the habit of speaking English 2.3.4 Integrate topics (topics) into the extension, reinforce the lessons teach At the stage of expanding activities or consolidating the content of knowledge just learned, corresponding to the content of each unit, I give a topic and ask them to work individually or discuss in pairs or groups They give their opinions and present to the class the ideas they have just formed, so that they have the opportunity to practice speaking more and correct mistakes in pronunciation, word usage, and sentence formation, create conditions for students to prepare well for the speaking test at the end of each semester Example: English – Unit 8: Country Life and City Life – Lesson 2: Speak Teacher’s and students’ activities Content Post speaking T: have Ss work in groups of four Ss: work in groups T: let Ss discuss the topic Ss: discuss Discussion Which one you prefer – country life or city life? T: assist if necessary Each representative of each group presents the answer in front ofclass T: give feedback and summarize 2.3.5 Include the speaking test in the regular scoring test With the criterion "Practice makes perfect", giving students many opportunities to practice, I put the Speaking part in regular tests, in the form of taking oral score or 15 minutes This contributes to making them recognize clearly the importance of speaking skills in testing and assessment Particularly for incomplete speeches, students will be corrected and oriented more carefully by the teacher 2.3.6 Encourage and praise them when they speak English In some cases, even if the children speak incorrectly, pronounce incorrectly, make sentences, use words incorrectly or can only speak a simple sentence, the teacher should praise the children's ability to speak English Because in communication, listeners can still understand what the speaker is presenting, even if it's not structured properly After that, the teacher will help students perfect the content and pronunciation so that the speaking part becomes more complete 2.3.7 Guide students to perform well in parts of a speaking test This is considered the most important step and the content I want to emphasize in my research topic Part 1(3 minutes): Introduce yourself For the talk about yourself, I give them an outline and ask them to fill in the information themselves In this section, the time limit is minutes, so the students will select the information they need to say to ensure the time and the difference Example: Hi, my name’s (Hoa) Let’s me introduce to you something about myself I’m from (Viet Nam) (country) I live in (Thanh Hoa) (town/city) I’m(14) years old I’m in (grade 8, class 8A1 of Tan Son) secondary school My birthday is on (25th October) I have (long black hair and brown eyes) (hair and eye colour) I am (1 meter 52 centimeters and 45 kilograms) (height/weight) My favourite sport is (badminton) There are (4) people in my family They are (my parents, my elder sister and me) My favourite food is (chicken) In my free time, I often (play games and watch TV) Today, I am so happy to be here Thanks for your listening For students who are quite good at the subject, it is really unnecessary to make an outline like this because they have already shaped and built their own introduction Nevertheless, for the average, weak students in the subject, I found that when I gave the outline sample as above, my students completed the test much better If in grade 6, they well in this part, when they go to grades 7, 8, 9, they just need to change some information (year of birth, class, height, weight ) to have it Just a post about yourself This will give them more time to practice the rest Part (5 minutes): Students present the topic With topics for each Unit, I guide students through the following steps: 2.3.8 Determine what to talk about in each topic This is an important step to help them develop ideas for their talk When giving a speaking topic, I ask the children to work in groups for minutes to shape the content they will present At this point, I direct the groups to ask questions around the topic After the discussion is over, the groups will present their questions to the class and exchange products After that, the teacher will be the one to edit and synthesize the ideas and guide the students to the next steps Example: English Topic: Talk about your family How many people are there in yourfamily? What does your father do? How old ishe? What does your mother do? How old isshe? Where does your mother/fatherwork? Do you love yourfamily? Example: English Topic: Talk about yourhobbies What you like doing in your freetime? Do you like watching TV? What kind of programs youlike? Where you usually stay at theweekend? How often you read abook? Do you prefer playing games to listening to music? Example: English Topic: Talk about your best friend What is your best friend’sname? How long have you beentogether? How old ishe/she? Where does he/shelive? What is she/helike? What are her/his favoritehobbies? Do you go to school with her/him everyday? What you and your friend together in your free time? Example: English Topic: Talk about life in the countryside Where is yourhometown? What is the weatherlike? What is the airlike? What are the differences between the countryside and thecity? What things you like best in the countryside? Tell some changes about life in thecountryside 2.3.9 Layout for the talk To give a complete speech, you need to identify the parts that make up a complete speech Therefore, I built for you the structure of the talk including the following parts: Introduction Opening Body Closing So, what will you present in each section? - Introduction: This is a brief introduction to the name and topic Usually in this section, I give a general orientation to all students They can generate familiar, simple, and easy-to-remember introductory sentence patterns that apply to all topics Of course, for good and good students, they can actively refer to more good ways from many different sources of information such as siblings, teachers Hello everyone/ everybody My name is……… Now I would like to talk about my topic Good morning/afternoon everyone Mynameis Now I wouldlike to talk about (my best friend) Hello everyone/ everybody I am……… Now I would like to tell yousomething about (myneighborhood) - Opening: This is the part that gives the listener the most general overview of the topic they are about to present This section only needs two sentences to help students open up the ideas that need to be presented in the Body section Example: English Topic: Talk about your hobbies For me, there are many activities that you can in your free time such as listening to music, reading, playing sports, watching TV… but I like reading books and playing badminton best because of some reasons below: Example: English Topic: Do you prefer the country or the city? Why? Frankly speaking, I like living in the country better than living in the city There are some reasons why I like it - Body: This is the most important part to get a high score for the speaking test If you can answer the questions in section 6.2.1, determine what to talk about in each topic, this part will become easier However, to that, it requires students to have a rich vocabulary according to each topic, know how to use conjunctions (connecting words) to help the speech become coherent, fluent and complete Therefore, I focus on the following: + First, provide vocabulary so that children can connect words into words The provision of vocabulary for children for each topic is done in many different ways Some language games in the Warm-up sectionare Network game, Brainstorming, Bingo, Kim's game, Cool pair matching, Smart Monkey They not only help children remember vocabulary actively and long-term but also contribute to increasing learning excitement for students Example: English 8, Topic: Talk about best friend or penpal friend Rule of game - Students work in fourteams - Students think of vocabulary relating to thetopic - Each team writes down their answers on theboard - T gives remarks and gives more words thin short overweight Apperance pretty tall beautiful kind sociable easy- going Characteristic humorous out-going talkative Example: English Topic:Talk about your after - school activities Rule of game: - T presents some after - schoolactivities Play games/play badminton/skip/watch Tv/ listen to music/play marbles… - Students repeat all thewords - Students choose or words form the list above to write down on their small pieces ofpaper - Teacher reads the words inrandom - Students circle the words they have in theirpaper - The winner is a person who has all the wordscircled + Second, I give them the necessary conjunctions to help connect ideas together to make their speech logical and complete.Commonlyusedconjunctionsinclude: Give your personal opinion More Informations List ideas 10 Giving opposite ideas In my opinion From my point of view For me Personally, I think… Give reasons First/ First of all/ And Firstly As well as Second/ Moreover Secondly In addition Third/Thirdly Besides Finally Furthermore Next/Then/After that Give consequences collation But However Otherwie Summarize ideas Because/ So Although In conclusion Because of Therfore Even though To sum up Since As Whereas In whole However In short Otherwise Examples: In my opinion, living in the countryside is much better than living in the city because of the following reasons Personally, students should wear uniforms because it will help them perform better at school and it won’t take them much time to decide what to wear for the nextday My favortive food is fried chicken becauseit is jummy and gives me energy Moreover, I enjoy eating ice-cream in hot weather since it makes me cool and relaxed In conclusion, we cannot deny that Internet brings us a lot of benefits but spending too much time surfing the internet can cause some negative effects + Third, guide them to diversify sentence structures This is a step to help the speech become not boring, enhance the ability to use language for children At the beginning, some children will mechanically apply the sentence structures provided by the teacher, for example, when talking about hobbies (hobbies) or favorite foods (favorite food), they all use the “like” structure (I like playing soccer/ I like chicken) Seeing this clearly, I provide them with equivalent structures, using time and 11 regular practice, as a result, they know how to choose their own appropriate sentence patterns to present the problem, topics to talk about in each speaking topic Instead of saying“I like” you can now say something like this: - My hooby is playingsoccer - My interest is playingsoccer - My favorite thing to in my free time is playingsoccer - I love eating chicken - I enjoy eatingchicken - I am interested in eatingchicken - I am fond of studyingEnglish Examples: - I like living in the countryside better than living in thecity = Living in the countryside is much better than living in the city There are many people go to the cities = There are a lot of people rush to the big cities Thus, training them to understand sentence structure in English and apply sentence structure to problem presentation in Speaking is very important and it will determine the success and difference of each student in theStudying English class - Closing: This is the part that closes the issue presented throughout from the beginning of a Speaking lesson In this part, I encourage you to use other sentence patterns than the Opening in combination with the provided conjunctions to summarize what needs to be said Examples: Topic: Talk about your favorite festival (English 8) Opening: Frommypointofview,IaminterestedintheBuonMaThuot Coffee Festival because of the following reasons Closing: To sum up, the Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival is my favorite festival of a year That’s the end of my presentation Thanks for listening Ví dụ: Topic: Talk about your favorite season (English 6) Opening: Personally, I love all the seasons but I think my favourite season isSpring Closing: In conclusion, spring is the most beautiful season of the year That’s the end of my presentation Thanks for your attention Some essays prepared to speak by students: 12 Part (2 minutes): The teacher asks questions related to the contents of the topics students have just presented The questions here revolve around the content of the talk you just presented When participating in group discussions, determining the content of 13 the lesson, they will list questions to build ideas, so they will easily answer when the teacher asks questions In addition, I often organize extended activities such as having children draw lots of questions that I have prepared and cut into a box, then let them draw lots of questions to answer, I encourage reward them with points that add to their 15-minute test scores or oral scores I find that my students are very excited about this activity, it helps them to react more quickly and respond relatively well to the extended conversation with the teacher Some simple questions like: Do you have any brothers or sisters? Where you live? How did you get there? What’s your phone number? What’s your email address? When is your birthday? What you usually on your birthday? What’s your favourite kind of music? Which bands you like? What’s your favourite day of the week? Why? What’s your favourite month of the year? Why? What’s your favourite food? What’s your favourite drink? I found my experiential initiative to be a new subject When typing the topic title or the keywords related to the topic, I only see other topics related to speaking skills such as: Practicing speaking skills for 6th, 7th grade students or improving the effectiveness of speak teaching time … Through consulting the above experience initiatives, I see that my experience initiatives have brought in new solutions that greatly support students in the test of speaking skills, guiding them to form ideas and well presented a topic (topic) according to each Unit studied 14 I have detailed the steps to take, how to be more effective and creative, and given specific examples to demonstrate those measures.The topic of my experience initiative is very close to students, suitable for all students in the school and can be replicated to other schools 2.4 Results After my solutions were applied to teaching at Tan Son Secondary School, it helped my students a lot in the speaking test Students are no longer too stressed before each exam session Many children know how to build ideas, know how to start a topic and end a problem in a reasonable way and how to speak logically and fluently They have a lot of time to practice their pronunciation well and correctly In the school year 2021 - 2022, by applying the above solutions, the results of the speaking test of the classes I teach at the end of the first semester are shown as follows: Class Total number of students 8A Good Fair Average weak Poor No % No % No % No % No % 35 10 29 17 48 17 0 8B 34 11 32 16 47 15 0 Total 69 21 30,4 33 47,8 11 16 5,8 0 - In comparision with the result from the beginning of the school year, the figure has changed as follows: Good Fair Average weak Poor Increase 10,1 % Increase 17,3% Decrease 20,2% Decrease 7,2 % No student Conclusion, recommendations 3.1 Conclusion Up to now, teaching and learning English has always been the first concern of the Ministry of Education and Training and is a subject at the forefront of innovation However, this is a difficult subject for many students, especially speaking skills Many students spend a long time learning English but cannot introduce themselves or briefly present a topic Moreover, they are very shy to speak, afraid of making mistakes and lack confidence in communication For the students of Tan Son Secondary School, most of them are children of purely agricultural families, their economic conditions are still difficult, they have not been given due attention along with the influence of local languages, so 15 learning English He still has many limitations This is my biggest problem when I am also a local child Therefore, I myself always try my best to improve the quality of English teaching and learning at school With the solutions to improve the quality of the Speaking test mentioned above, I find that they have been of great help to students In the speaking test, they became more interested in the subject and were more active in the activities All of these are very important factors to contribute to improving the quality and effectiveness of English teaching and learning in Thanh Hoa city in general and in Tan Son secondary school in particular 3.2 Recommendations I would like to suggest the following comments: For the Department of Education and Training - Building a separate function room for teaching and learning English at each Secondary school so that in the process of developing communication skills, it does not affect other classes - Deploying topics on methods of teaching speaking skills, how to organize activities to promote students' communication ability For teachers of English subject - Actively studying, improve professional capacity, practice pronunciation, apply active teaching methods - Encouraging them to use English in the classroom, praise their progress, notcriticize their weaknesses, local accents so that they can be confident when speaking English Above is the entire content of the topic of initiative and experience that I myself have researched and experimented at at Tan Son Secondary School I am looking forward to receiving suggestions from colleagues to improve the experience At the same time, I hope that with a little of my experience, I can make a small contribution to teaching to improve the quality of the subject *I hereby declare that this research is due to the experience I myself have written, copy from nobody I sincerely thank you! COMMENTS AND ASSESSMENT OF THE SCIENCE COUNCIL Tan Son, March 25th 2022 The writer Le Ngọc Lan Le Thi Minh REFERENCES English teacher’s book, English textbook for grades 6, 7, 8, and of the Ministry of Education and Training 16 Official Letter 5333/BGDĐT-GDTrH English language Teaching Methodology of the Ministry of Education and Training 2003 Training materials on innovation of English subject methods for grades 6, 7, 8, Internet 17 ... all students in the school and can be replicated to other schools 2.4 Results After my solutions were applied to teaching at Tan Son Secondary School, it helped my students a lot in the speaking. .. advance, they have plenty of time to prepare at the beginning of the school year Below are the contents in the construction plan for the speaking test applied at Tan Son Secondary School Exams include:... that they have been of great help to students In the speaking test, they became more interested in the subject and were more active in the activities All of these are very important factors to