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Duong Dure Minh Tap chi KHOA HQC & CONG NGHE 84(08) 123 128 AN EXPLORATION OF STRATEGIES FOR ORAL SKILLS IMPROVEMENT BY ADVANCED PROGRAM STUDENTS AT THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Duong Due Minh[.]
Duong Dure Minh Tap chi KHOA HQC & CONG NGHE 84(08): 123- 128 AN EXPLORATION OF STRATEGIES FOR O R A L SKILLS I M P R O V E M E N T BY A D V A N C E D P R O G R A M STUDENTS AT THAI N G U Y E N UNIVERSITY OF T E C H N O L O G Y Duong Due Minh Thai Nguyen University ol Technology - T.XU ABSTRACT Research in language learning strategy has addressed the necessity of improving oral skills in second language acquisition This study attempts to explore strategies reported to be employed by 30 EEL advanced program students at Thai Nguyen University ofTechnology (TNUT) to improve their oral skills Semi-structured interview and open-ended questionnaire were used as the instruments for the data collection The data was then analyzed qualitatively for the purpose of the study The findings of the study showed that two main categories to improve speaking skills have been reported included I) fluency-focused strategies and 2) accuracy-focused strategies Two main categories to improve listening skill comprised I) direct strategies and 2) indirect strategies Key words: oral skills Improvement, language learning strategy, science-oriented students INTRODUCTION Nowadays, English has become an international language, and it is widely used in various areas, especially in education as well as science and technology areas As the result, students have to be aware of the necessary to employ strategies to success in their study academically and socially According to Feyten (1991) of the total time people spend on communication, 45% is on listening, 30% on speaking, 16% on reading, and 9% on writing [5] Oral skills, both speaking and listening, are at the very foundation of literacy, and they play an important role in the study of students, so it is clear that oral skills have an important impact on student's personal and professional life The advanced program (AP) has been put into practice at TNUT from the academic year 2009 - 2010 In the advanced programs, all the courses are taught in English except some compulsory courses, e.g Marxist - Leninism, Physical Education, and National Defense Education are taught in Vietnamese At least 60% of courses are instructed by professors from the University of New York at Buffalo and invited professors from renowned universities worldwide to participate in teaching [1 7] As a result AP students are not only required to specialize their knowledge but also to improve their English (especially Listening, and Speaking skills) in order to achieve greater efficiency in the learning process at Thai Nguyen University of Technology LITERATURE REVIEW Language learning strategies (ELS) are the behaviors or steps which an individual uses to enhance his/her learning The term "'strategies" which applies to language improvement, has been developed since the first studies by Rubin (1975) [14], O.xford (1990) [10] and Kyong and Oxford (2008) [6] Examples are note taking, practicing, finding a conversation partner, analyzing words, using background knowledge, and controlling anxiety There have hundreds of such strategies been identified Successful language learners use language learning strategies that are most effective for them and they put them together smoothly to fit the needs of a given language task while less successful learners are "a desperate grab-bag of ill-matched techniques" In some recent years, a lot of attention has been paid to the importance of developing strategies in language learning Many research works has been conducted to Duona Diic Minh Tap chi KHOA HOC & CONG NGHE examined and explored the use of learning strategies in the teaching and learning of vocabulary (Brown and Perry 1991) [2] listening comprehension (Rossano 1994) [13], reading (Rusciolelli 1995) [15] and in the understanding of the learning process (ChamoL 2001 [3]; Nunan 1992 [8]) However, little research has been done on productive skills, such as oral skills and writing Only few studies dealt y\ith strategy employed in speaking and listening, for example Bejarano et cd (1997) examined speaking as an interactive skill [1] and Lam and Wong (2000) explored the importance of oral skills in discussions [7] No research work has been conducted in exploring reported strategies for oral skills improvement by students at TNUT This study attempts to explore language strategies that AP students at TNUT use in order to improve their oral skills In the study, "oral skills" refer to listening and speaking skill, the term "improvement" means to be come better in listening and speaking and "AP students"" here are thirty students majoring in electrical and mechanical engineering at TNUT Two research questions were generated for the purpose of the study: 1) what types of strategies reported by science-oriented graduate students for their listening skill improvement and 2) what types of strategies reported by science-oriented graduate students for their speaking skill improvement The researchers examined a recorded semi-structured interview of students and 19 open-ended questionnaires to collect data for the study METHODOLOGY Participants The participants of the present study were 30 first-year AP students at TNUT All the classes they have are lectured in English except Marxist-Leninism Physical Education, and National Defense Education courses are taught in Vietnamese At the moment the students are studvin" English from 38 to 42 periods per week They deal with English as a medium of instruction 124 84(08): 123- 128 to survive in their study Among them, students were purposively selected for indepth study based on their oral skills proficiency identified by their classmates According to Patton (2001), a purposive sampling is a non-random method of sampling by which information-rich cases can be selected for study in depth [11] Table is the personal background information of participants Table The Participants" Background Information Item English Learning Experience (years) Self-rated for Listening Skill Self-rated for Speaking Skill Ranking Less than 3-6 More than Good Fair Pogr Good Fair Poor Person(s) I 12 15 2 16 I Instruments There are different methods or procedures to collect the data in learning strategy research, such as observation, interview, questionnaire, verbal report, diary, and etc Each method has its advantage and disadvantage as well and can be applied according to the focus of the research Punch (1998) points out that different research questions required different methods to answer them [12] In the present study, data collection will be conducted through semi-structured oral interviews and an open-ended questionnaire The interviews are the most widely used method of generating data in qualitative social research (Nunkoosing, 2005) [9] They can be classified into three categories ranging in terms of their degree of formality ranging from unstructured through semi-structured to structured (Nunan, 1992) [8] Of the three types of interview, the semi-structured interview seems to be popular among researchers Nunan (1992: 149) mentions " because of its flexibility, the semistructured interview has found favor with Duong Du'c Minh Tap chi KHOA HOC & CONG NGHE 84(08): i: - 12? many researchers, particularly those working within an interpretative research tradition"" [8] The most important advantage is that the interviewer can work out a set of questions in advance, but be free to modify their order, to change the way they are worked In the present study, the semi-structured interviews were conducted with the participants to elicit information and obtain in-depth perceptions about what types of strategies they employed for oral skills improvement To acquire more useful information related to the research purposes, individual intei"vievvs were used with audio recording An open-ended question is designed to encourage a full, meaningful answer using the participant's own opinions on learning strategies for oral skills improvement Data colleclum procedure The data collection was divided into two phases One is for a questionnaire, the other is for interviews An open-ended questionnaire was administered to all the participants However, the final sample for data analysis consisted of 19 students Eleven students didn"t respond the questionnaire because they were absent The students interviewed in Vietnamese The interview- lasted for 20 minutes and was recorded Chamot (2001) points out that interviewees may not report their strategy use accurately during interview, but they may report what they perceive as the interviewers" preferred answers [3] Dornyei (2003) states that sometimes, we need open-ended items for the simple reason that we not know the range of possible answers and therefore, cannot provide pre-prepared response categories [4] A questionnaire with open-ended questions would provide data that are qualitative and exploratory in nature To enhance data validity in the research, an open-ended questionnaire was employed with two main sections The first section is about the individual background information, and the second section covers open-ended questions about strategies for oral skills improvement Data analysis The interviews" records were fully transcribed using verbatim and then analysed using Strauss & Corbiifs (1998) open and axial coding [16] All student responses to the open-ended questionnaire items were collected and typed out RESULTS AND DISCUSSION [1].After the carefully analysis of the collected data from interviews and questionnaires, there were finally 19 strategies for oral skills improvement reported by the AP students Strategies reported by the AP students for their speaking skill improvement consist of 10 strategies and strategies for listening skills which will be presented in Table Table 2: Strategies for Speaking and Listening Skills Improvement Reported by the AP students STRATEGIES FOR SPEAKING SKILL IMPROVEMENT Memorizing words / sentences / phrases to improve one's speaking skill Communicating with other people in English Imitating English native speakers Trying to use English in real-life situations Trying to interact with teacher in class by asking and answering questions Using the internet to improve one's speaking skill Seeking an opportunity to speak English Talking to oneself in English 9.Asking for a correction from teacher 10 Playing a speaking game in English STRATEGIES FOR SPEAKING SKILL IMPROVEMENT Listening to radio programs in English Listening to English songs Watching TV programs in English Watching English speaking tilms Doing the repetitive listening Using the internet to improve one's listening skill Having a conversation in English Interacting with teachers in English Seeking ways for improving one's listening skill I2f Duang Du-c Minh Tap chi KHOA HOC & CONG NGHE However, the strategies for speaking and listening skills improvement can be classified into sub-categories for each oral skill Firstly, the strategies for speaking skill improvement are categorized into (1) the fluency-focused strategies and (2) the accuracy-focused strategies Secondly, the strategies for listening skill improvement are classified into (1) the direct strategies and (2) the indirect strategies Table presents the classifications of the strategies for oral skills improvement reported by the AP students According to strategies for speaking skill improvement, most of the strategies reported by the AP students were the fluency-focused strategies (7 fluency - focused strategies out of 10 strategies for speaking skill improvement) Generally, the AP students are adult learners where English is used as a medium of instruction according to the requirements The possible explanation for why the fluency-focused strategies were mostly reported by this group of students is that they are science-oriented students where the focus of their study is not a language Instead, they have focused on contents not 84(08): 123- 128 language usage Additionally, because of English is used as a medium of instruction; therefore, this group of students need to survive the program socially and academically by having a good ability to communicate in English They need to speak fluently to keep on their relationships and study They try to communicate as much as possible The only one goal for their speaking at this time is that their speaking should be understood by their interlocutors Therefore, most of the strategies reported by this group of students are the fluency-focused strategies for speaking skill improvement which they employed to make a better or improve their speaking skills However, there are some accuracy-focused strategies reported by this group of students for speaking skill improvement This is because of at some levels, accuracy is also very important for them For example, they need to make a formal presentation Moreover, accuracy is very important for them to write their theses, reports, or articles So, accuracy is also important for them if they want to succeed in their learning Table 3: Classifications of Strategies for Speaking and Listening Skills Imprgvement STRATEGIES FOR SPEAKING SKILL IMPROVEMENT The Fluency-Focused The Accuracy- Focused Strategies Strategies Communicating with other Memorizing words/ people in English sentences / phrases to improve one's speaking skill Trying to use English in Imitating English native real-life situatigns speakers Trying tg interact with Asking for a cgrrection teacher in class by asking from teacher and answering questions Using the internet to improve one's speaking skill Seeking an opportunity to speak English Talking to oneself in En"lish Playing a speaking game in English 126 STRATEGIES FOR LISTENING SKILL IMPROVEMENT The Direct Strategies The Indirect Strategies Listening to radio Seeking ways for prggrams in English improving one's listening skill Listening to English Having a conversa- ^°"§^ Watching TV programs tion in English Interacting with "^ '^ Watching English speaking tilms Doing the repetitive listening Using the internet to improve one's listeninsi skill teacher in English Dirane Dire Minh Tap chi KHOA HOC & CONG NGHE On the other hand, strategies for listening skill improvement reported by the AP students were mostly the direct strategies (6 direct strategies and indirect strategies for listening skill improvement) If we take a look carefully to the direct strategies for listening skill improvement, we will see that all of the direct strategies deal with mass media communication such as news, radio, television, and etc This is because of at the present day, we are living in the technology"s world As a result, it is very easy for people to listen to English radio programs, songs, or to watch English speaking films, English news and etc., through the internet or satellite with a reasonable cost Another explanation for why the direct strategies were mostly reported for listening skill improvement is that in order to practice to improve listening skill, they can practice to improve listening skill individually or they have no need to find out a partner or interlocutor to interact for a listening practice They just find out the English programs on the internet, radio, or television to watch and listen Therefore, roles of mass media in language teaching and learning are increasing and very important for the world today Mass media helps people to learn a language easily than the past CONCLUSION The AP students in the present study reported 19 strategies for oral skills improvement Firstly, there were 10 strategies for speaking skill improvement reported by the AP students which could be classified into subcategories - the fluency-focused strategies and the accuracy-focused strategies Secondly, there were strategies for listening skill improvement reported by the AP students which could be classified into subcategories - the direct strategies and the indirect strategies The AP students are adult learners who focus their study on contents of the subject and English is used as a medium of instruction 84(08): 123- 128 since this program is the international program All of them (19 students) are nonEnglish native speakers However, although the AP students have to use English for their study, but the focus of their study is still on the contents not a language usage (a content driven not a language driven) Since English is used as a medium of instruction, the AP students need to learn and communicate with their classmates and teachers in English Therefore, a speaking skill and a listening skill are very important for them to survive the program socially and academically The findings from the present study show that a mass media communication or a technology has an increasing role in language teaching and learning nowadays As a teacher, we should pay more attention to a development of technology in order to provide and prepare ourselves for a new age of language learning and teaching - a technology-based language teaching and learning era For language learners, if they know bow to use technologies or mass media coininunication effectively and maximally, it is very easy for them to success in learning a language However, this study may be replicated with the same subjects in the second academic year of their study Because the present study was conducted when they are in the first semester of the first academic year where they just have a chance to use English or communicate in English for a few months So, to speak English fluently is very important for them to survive the program socially and academically at this moment But for the second academic year, their English ability both speaking and listening should be improved more than this moment, therefore; at that time these subjects may tell more strategies about bow they improve their oral skills This is especially for the accuracyfocused strategies to improve their oral skills where accuracy is needed and important for them in the future 127 Duong Due Minh 84(08): 123-128 Tap chi KHOA HOC & CONG NGHE REFERENCES [I] Bejarano Y T Levine E Olshtain and J Steiner (1997) The Skilled Use of Interactign Strategies Creating a Framework for Improved Small-Group Communicaticn Interactign in the Language Classroom .System 25(2), 203-214 [2] Brown, T S & Perry, F L Jr (1991) A comparison of three learning strategies fgr ESL vgcabulary acquisition TESOL Quarterly 25 (1), 17-32 [3] Chamgt A U (2001) The role of learning strategies in second language acquisition In M P Breen (Ed.), Learner contributions lo language learning; New directions In research Harlow: Longman [4] Dornyei, Z (2003) Questionnaires In Second Language Research; Construction Administratlun and Processing Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc Publishers [5] Feyten, C M (1991) The Power of Listening Ability: An Overlooked Dimension in Language Acquisition 7"/?^ Modern Language Juiirna\15:\12-^Q [6] Kyoung R L., and Oxford, R 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TESOL Quarterly, 9(1), 4145 [15] Rusciolelli, J (1995), Student Responses to Reading Strategies Instruction Foreign Language Annals, 28: 262^-273 [16] Strauss, A L., & Corbin, J (1990) Basics of qualitative research; Grounded theory, procedures and techniques Newbury Park: Sage [17] Thainguyen University of Technology Website, www.tnut.edu.vn Retrieved on 20 November 2010 TOM T A T NHLTNG THU THUAT PHAT TRIEN KY NANG GIAO TIEP TIENG ANH C U A S I N H V I E N CHIirONG T R I N H T I E N T I E N T A I T R l / O N G DAI HOC KY T H U A T C O N G N G H l E P THAI N G U Y E N Duong Diic Minh Tru-d-ng Dgi hgc Ky thudt cong nghiep - DH Thdi Nguyen Nhung nghien cuu ve cac thu thuat hgc tap viec hgc ngoai ngir da chi sir cSn thiSt cua cac thu thu^t viec nang cao ky nang nghe, ndi Nghien cun nay^se kham pha, tim higu cac thu thuat de nang cao ky nang nghe, ndi tiSng Anh cua 30 sinh vien khda 46 chuong trinh tien tidn tai trudng Dai hgc ky thuat cdng nghiep Thai Nguyen, Phdng vkn ban c^u true va bang cau hdi khao sat da dugc su dung de thu tbiip dir lieu Cac dir lieu sau dd dugc phan tich djnh tinh phuc vu muc dich nghien cuu Ket qua nghien ciru cho thay: Hai nhdm thu thuat de nang cao ky nang ndi: nhdm thii thuat tap trung vao su luu loat va 2) nhdm thii thuat tiip trung viio chinh xac Hai nhdm thu thuat de nang cao k\ nang nghe bao gdm: 1) nhdm thu thuat true tiep vii 2) nhdm thii thuat gian tiep Til- khda: thu thudl hoc tap, ky- ndng nghe, ky ndng ndi, sinh viin ky thudt 128 ... www.tnut.edu.vn Retrieved on 20 November 2010 TOM T A T NHLTNG THU THUAT PHAT TRIEN KY NANG GIAO TIEP TIENG ANH C U A S I N H V I E N CHIirONG T R I N H T I E N T I E N T A I T R l / O N G DAI HOC... ndi Nghien cun nay^se kham pha, tim higu cac thu thuat de nang cao ky nang nghe, ndi tiSng Anh cua 30 sinh vien khda 46 chuong trinh tien tidn tai trudng Dai hgc ky thuat cdng nghiep Thai Nguyen,... tiep vii 2) nhdm thii thuat gian tiep Til- khda: thu thudl hoc tap, ky- ndng nghe, ky ndng ndi, sinh viin ky thudt 128