Aims of study and research questions
This study aimed to address the following issues:
Investigating the importance of and the difficulties in applying activities in teaching speaking process to non- English major students in Vietnam in general
Discovering the applicability of some useful activities to improve English speaking skills for first year, non-English major students in Hanoi University of Industry
In order to fulfil these aims, the study focuses on answering the research questions
1, What are the most frequently used activities to motivate students at FFL- HaUI in speaking lessons?
2, To what extent, are these activities effective in motivating students at FFL- HaUI?
Significance of the study
As studying on the effective activities and motivation for students in speaking skills, this work would be benefit for the target population, their English teacher and other interested in the field
In the first place, as the first- year student, most of them have to face with the new lifestyle in their universities, and then their unconfident feelings of studying with new teachers and friends are expected to be concerned This study is conducted with a hope to provide the friendly study environment for them and help students can speak English naturally and confidently
As for English teachers, the problems which teachers frequently concern about are exploring the effective activities to motivate their students in speaking English lessons Several activities are used during lessons to help and guide students in speaking skills such as role play, storytelling, reporting, and interview
Each activity will have various impacts on developing speaking skills for a group of particular students, but not for everyone Hence, it is very difficult to clarify the best activities applied for the first- year, non-English major students in FFL to attain the best result in a long-term studying However, they could base on the results of this work to further understand their students‘ difficulties and it is more compatible and constructive for their students‘ motivation by improve better teaching methods
Last but not least, regarding the researchers who are interested in the same or related field, the researcher hope this paper could work as a reliable source of reference and a basis for them to develop their works from.
Scope of the study
It would be too ambitious for this minor thesis to cover all aspects of all factors in teaching and learning English speaking Thus, this study only focused on some useful activities that motivate non- English major students of HaUI and how well the teachers of FFL apply them in their English lessons.
Method of the study
The methods conducted in this study to find out the answers to the aim of research questions are both qualitative and quantitative analyses
Questionnaires and classroom observations are utilized to collect data for the whole paper A survey is done by delivering a questionnaire to 30 teachers of FFL and another questionnaire to 150 first-year, non- English major students at HaUI who are being taught speaking skills under the process-based approach After completing questionnaires, 15 speaking lessons will be observed to build a stable reliability for this study in term of effectiveness of activities applied in English lessons Briefly, all the collected information and data are then analyzed and discussed, for quantitative analysis, frequency, charts, percentage, tables were published On the other hand, qualitative data were produced from class observation checklist.
Design of the study
The thesis comprises of two main parts, part A provides a general introduction, including the rationale for the research and its aim, significance, scope, research questions and the design of the thesis And part B is the development sector including four chapters as follows:
Chapter 1 is an attempt to review some theoretical background for the study
Several underlying theories: communicative approach, the background and some frequently activities, the roles of teacher, some motivation factors are discussed as well In addition, the theory of teaching speaking and some point of views on activities are also presented
Chapter 2 presents the methodology of the study, including the background information of the context where the study is conducted, the subjects, the instruments used to collect data, and the procedures of data collection Furthermore, a detailed description of data analysis is presented; and some explanations and interpretations of the findings of the study are given in this chapter
Chapter 3 is the conclusion of the study, providing some pedagogical implications
The limitations of the study as well as some suggestions for further research are also discussed in this chapter
To sum up, in the first chapter, the following elements have been presented:
(a) The rationale for the study (b) Aims of the study
(c) Significance of the study (d) Scope of the study (e) Methods of the study (f) Design of the study
These issues have not only justified the major contents and structures of the study but will also work as the guidelines for the rest of the paper.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Background of speaking
The well-paid attention to the theoretical background of speaking will determine the position of speaking skill among the other skills and to analyze the elements that speaking as a skill includes The following part will present the theory of communicative language teaching approach and communicative activities will be focused in this part Finally, some activities in which speaking skills can be developed wi ll be shown
Speaking is "the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts‖ based on Chaney (1998, 13) In other words, speaking means conveying the message through the words of mouth
This skill is also called ―Oral Skill‖ or ―Communicative Skill‖ Harmer (2001) Gower et al (1995, 99-100) indicated that from the communicative point of view, speaking has many different aspects including two principal categories as accuracy and fluency while Martin Bygate, Speaking (1987), whose theoretical inputs concerning the elements of speaking will be analyzed into two aspects- knowledge of the language, and skill in using this knowledge He views the skill as including two elements: production skills and interaction skills, both of which can be affected by two conditions: firstly, processing conditions, taking into consideration the fact that ‗a speech takes place under the pressure of time‘; secondly, reciprocity conditions connected with a mutual relationship between the interlocutors (Bygate
Despite its importance, for many years, teaching speaking has been undervalued and English language teachers have continued to teach speaking just as a repetition of drills or memorization of dialogues However, today's world requires that the goal of teaching speaking should improve students' communicative skills, because, only in that way, students can express themselves and proficient at social and cultural rules appropriate in each communicative circumstance.
Relation between activities and communicative activities
With the importance of English currently, teachers need to seek a significant method to meet the demand of learners in using this language for communication
The communicative approach or (CLT) is considered as the best approach for such purpose It has attempted to describe theories of language learning processes that are compatible with the communicative approach It is interesting to note that
―Language learning will take care of itself‖ (Harmer, 2001:70) Today, it is not considered as a method but as an approach for teaching based on the idea that language learning means learning how to master the language to achieve a better communication outside the classroom CLT developed because of the limitations of the previous methods, it primarily focuses on the ability to communicate and interact which was absent in the other methods It is mainly based on the theory of communicative competence that comprises grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse and strategic competence
Communicative language teaching (CLT) begins with Chomsky (as cited in Manner 1985) mentions that native speakers know all the rules With this knowledge, the native speaker can create an infinite number of sentences This is called grammatical knowledge competence However, Dell Hymes (as cited in Harmer 1984) disagrees with him He argues that Chomsky misses some important points Native speaker knowing all the rules is not enough because it cannot explain all that native speakers‘ knowledge; they need to know the functions of language as well Hymes coined the concept called communicative competence
Hymes (as cited in Harmer, 1984, 13-14) separates native speakers‘ knowledge on language into four parts First, systematic potential, this is a lot similar to Chomsky‘s original competence The native speaker has system that can produce unlimited language; second, appropriacy- the native speaker knows the appropriateness of using language in a given situation; third, occurrence- the native speaker knows what language is commonly used If the native speakers use a common piece of language, it will be clear and understandable The last one is feasibility, the native speaker knows if something is possible to use in a language
For example, native speakers know that using too many adjectives does not make sense when producing language even though there is no rule to limit how many adjectives can be used before a noun
The theory of communicative competence has gone through a serious development so far Brown (1994), He refers to several theories of communicative competence as they developed through periods of time It has been the philosophy of communicative language teaching (CLT) for many years to teach foreign languages through communicative approach which focuses ‗on speaking and listening skills, on writing for specific communicative purposes, and on authentic reading texts‘ (p.226)
The most important features of CLT then Brown defines by means of four characteristics: a) Classroom goals are focused on all of the components of communicative competence and not restricted to grammatical or linguistic competence; b) Language techniques are designed to engage learners in the pragmatic, authentic, functional use of language for meaningful purposes
Organizational language forms are not the central focus but rather aspects of language that enable the learners to accomplish those purposes c) Fluency and accuracy are seen as complementary principles underlying communicative techniques At times fluency may have to take on more importance than accuracy in order to keep learners meaningfully engaged in language use d) In the communicative classroom, students ultimately have to use the language, productively and receptively, in unrehearsed context (Brown
1994, 245) Nevertheless, as Brown suggests, the newest views are probably best captured by Lyle F Bachman (1990) in his schematization of what Bachman calls
‗language competence‘ (Brown 1994, 227-229) According to Bachman (1994, 84), communicative competence, ‗communicative language ability‘ (CLA), includes two basic aspects - firstly, knowledge, competence in the language, and, secondly, the capacity for implementing or using the competence Bachman proposes three components that in his view ‗communicative language ability‘ framework includes, they are: language competence, strategic competence, and psychological mechanisms
Bachman divides language competence into two categories: organizational and pragmatic competence Organizational competence, further splitting into grammatical and textual competence, presents those abilities involved in controlling the formal structure of language for producing or recognizing grammatically correct sentences, comprehending their propositional content, and ordering them to form texts (Bachman 1994, 87)
In a nutshell, communicative language teaching has based on different characteristics, most researchers agree on the need for the communicative competence to support learning and make the classroom interaction successful A classroom communicative competence- the philosophy of communicative language teaching as Brown stated is essential in order for the second language students to participate in and learn from their classroom experience
Briefly, in present day, many linguistics and teachers agree on that students learn to speak in the second language by "interacting" Communicative language teaching and collaborative learning serve best for this aim Communicative language teaching is based on real-life situations that require communication By using this method in classes, students will have the opportunity of communicating with each other in the target language
Communicative activities refers to the classroom activities that provide a genuine information gap and make it possible for language learners to communicate with target language in Communicative Language Teaching Approaches (Liao,
2000) In other words, communicative activities are activities that give students both a desire to communicate and a purpose which involve them in a varied use of language They have real purposes: to find information, to break down barriers, to talk about oneself, and to learn about the culture Even when a lesson is focused on developing reading or writing skills, communicative activities should be integrated into the lesson
Communicative activities are fluency-based activities (Tait, S., 2001) While such activities may involve students to practice a particular grammatical form, they are likely to do more than this The key element is that the activity is based on a realistic situation This could be anything from an encounter in a department store, to a group of friends discussing holiday plans, etc Within this kind of context, students should be required to negotiate for meaning This is likely to require multiple turn taking
Motivation
Many researchers have been conducted and there is much in the research literature regarding the definition of motivation All the motivation theories in general want to explain the fundamental question of why humans behave as they do, and therefore we cannot assume any simple and straightforward answer
Motivation is described as the impetus to create and sustain intentions and goal seeking acts (Ames & Ames, 1989) Burden (1997:119) assumed that ―from a cognitive perspective, motivation is concerned with such issues as why people decide to act in certain ways and what factors influence the choice they make It also involves decisions as to the amount of effect people are prepared to expand in attempting to achieve their goals The role of the teacher thus becomes one of helping and enabling learners to make suitable decisions"
Dornei (2001:613) defined motivation as ―a general ways of referring to the antecedents (i.e the causes and the origins' He also stated that ―motivation explains why people decide to do something, how hard they are going to pursue it and how long they are willing to sustain the activities‖ (2001:7) The author mentioned two dimensions of human behavior: direction and magnitude (intensity) which motivation concerns Motivation is ―the process whereby goal-directed activity is instigated and sustained‖ (Pintrich& Schunk, 2002)
From the above, it can be deduced that motivation is a psychological trait which leads people to achieve a goal Motivation is what drives you to ―behave‖ in a certain way or to take a particular action
L2 motivation (Dornyei, 1994a) that attempted to synthesize various lines of research by offering an extensive list of motivational components categorized into three main dimensions, the Language Level, the Learner Level, and the Learning Situation Level (see Table 1)
The most elaborate part of the framework is the learning situation level, which is associated with situ-action-specific motives rooted in various aspects of language learning in a classroom setting Course- specific motivational components are related to the syllabus, the teaching materials, the teaching method and the learning tasks Teacher- specific motivational components concern the teacher‘s behavior, personality and teaching style, and include the affiliate motive to please the teacher,
Table 0: Components of foreign language learning motivation (Dornyei, 1994a: 280)
Language Level Integrative Motivational Subsystem
Instrumental Motivational Subsystem Learner Level *Need for Achievement Self Confidence
Motivational Components Norm & Reward System Group
Cohesion Classroom Goal Structure authority type (authoritarian or democratic teaching style), and direct socialization of student motivation (modelling, task presentation, and feedback) Finally, group- specific motivational components are related to the group dynamics of the learner group (for an overview, see Dornyei and Malderez, 1997, in press; Ehrman and Dornyei, 1998) and include goal-orientedness, the norm and reward system and classroom goal structure (competitive, cooperative or individualistic)
In other words, motivation bases on some factors but in this thesis, learner level will be discovered in detail Therefore, in order to create motivation for student improvement, the teacher should apply as many kinds of activities as possible which should be interesting and familiar to them Another point to bear in mind is that the activities and the topics used must be suitable to learners‘ level since it creates a good condition for students to take part in communication As such, students are no longer afraid of being laughed at by their friends when they make mistakes and they have a self- study achievement Instead, they participate in the lesson so eagerly that their task objective is achieved
According to Byrne (1991, 11-12), the development of speaking skill is good source of motivation for most learners and some important points for teacher are stated to be paid attention to:
Try to find ways of demonstrating to the learners that they are making progress in the language all the time You can do this, for example, by repeating an activity from time to time (such as a game or a discussion), so that they can see for themselves how much more language they can use
Ensure that controlled practice, when you will monitor and want to correct the leaners‘ performance, is matched by opportunities for free expression when the learners should not be discouraged by correction
Show the learner how to make the use of the little they know Sometimes they cannot express an idea because they do not have the precise language they have in mind They need to be shown how to get round these difficulties through paraphrase and alternative expression
We should accept that some learners will never achieve a high level of oral proficiency We should be satisfied if the students reach a high level of comprehension (since this is essential for oral communication) and an adequate level of production By placing more emphasis on comprehension we are also identifying a goal is attainable with large classes (especially if you expose your students to a good deal of language e.g by talking to them yourself, using recorded material, etc.) and will therefore motivate the majority of the students (Byrne (1991, 11-12),
METHODOLOGY
Research method
2.1.1.1 An overview of Non- major English Division –Faculty of Foreign Languages - HaUI
The FFL, the biggest Department in Hanoi University of Industry, was established on 22/12/2005 as decided by the Rector of Hanoi University of Industry based on a consolidation between the Board of Foreign Language and the Foreign Language Division of International Cooperation Over the years, it has grown into a Department known for academic training, interdisciplinary learning and innovation in ELT and research Also, it is keen on developing its teaching and research capacity and on offering a dynamic learning environment for prospective students
Therefore, becoming a member of this Department is the dream of many teachers and students At the FFL, teachers in NED deal with first year students — main stream Currently, teachers are in charge of teaching totally over 10 majors including mechanical engineering technology, chemical technology, electrical engineering technology, accounting, business administration, software technology, thermal engineering technology, car technology, etc Their age ranges from 18 to 20 years old, and obviously, they had to pass the very hard entrance exam to become one of the members at HaUI However, admittedly, English is not their strength
Thus, they have to try their best to study both social subjects as well as English
English is studied with 90 lessons during 15 weeks for each semester Particularly, speaking skill is taught in combination with other skills during 45 minutes multiple with six lessons per week The number of students in each class is around 30, which considers being the advantage for the teachers to carry out speaking activities effectively
2.1.1.2 Current situation of teaching and learning English speaking at FFL
At high school, students are taught to primarily focus on grammar, sentence rules and reading skills while speaking and listening were not paid much attention to The students automatically remembered what the teachers had written on the blackboard with indistinguishable meanings and uses and they are merely taught by teacher- centered teaching procedures Their learning, therefore, is centered on accuracy rather than fluency
At university, speaking skills find its own place and is taught separately and in combination with other skills Since then, teacher-centered approach has been replaced by learner-centered approach gradually The role of the teacher in class is a guide for the students Thus, it is necessary to create suitable study environment for students to actively participate in classroom activities by organizing groups work and pairs work However, having some problems that prevent students from taking part in these speaking activities, perhaps, the reason is that they are still affected by the traditional teaching and learning methods that are used at high schools
Therefore, they remain being passive learners in class and do not have high interest or great motivation to participate in the classroom activities
In summary, a brief overview about actual situations at NED where the data were collected has been presented Some issues related to students, teachers, learning requirement, speaking teaching situation have been investigated, which provides the context for the research to be undertaken The next part will focus on the methodology applied in the study
New Head Way (elementary level) is the speaking course book for non- English major freshmen (main stream) It is structured with a priority towards theme-based or topic-based approach, including 14 units, each semester deals with 7 of them The course book aims at providing students with a profound knowledge of numerous fields, a favorable attitude towards English and four skills proficiency in English (Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing) In order to achieve these objectives, the content of the book is designed based on topics related to social life, sports, work and leisure, which are familiar with students For each topic, related vocabulary and word study are presented communicatively In addition, new methods of language teaching and learning such as learner-centered approach, communicative approach and task-based teaching are extensively employed
However, this course book is chosen for speaking skills so that the activities related to writing or reading are sometimes redundant meanwhile those for speaking are not enough
Most of the students at NED have been learning English since they were 3 rd form students During their time of learning English, their chance of practicing speaking is few The reason is basically in the fact that at high school, the students merely centered upon English reading and grammar while speaking and listening were not paid much attention to because these two macro skills are not tested in Year 12 Graduation Exam and University Entrance Exam Their learning, therefore, is concentrated on accuracy rather than fluency Moreover, the entrance examination is mainly focused on reading and grammar As a result, there are still many students whose communicative ability in English stands at or even below the acceptable level
2.1.3.2 Teachers of Non- major English Division (NED)
At NED, there are totally 30 teachers of English aged from 23 to 31 The oldest teacher has more than 9 years of teaching experience and the youngest just has nearly one year All of them graduated from different universities who are trained into English teachers such as University of Languages and International Studies, Hanoi University and Hanoi University of Industry This real situation of teachers at NED reflects the fact that some of the teachers are so young and not experienced enough, which can cause certain methodological difficulties in terms of the knowledge of as well as the way to apply communicative activities in their teaching process However, all the teachers at this division are so energetic and well- aware of the important role of the ability to communicate in English and the teachers play a very crucial part in the forming student‘s ability of speaking.
Research instruments
Two sets of questionnaires were used in this study, one for teachers including
11 questions and the other for students which consist of 10 questions The questions are both close-ended and open-ended
In addition, the researcher‘s classroom observation was taken at NED, which was noted down, analyzed then synthesized for further use in the study Classroom observation helped the researcher survey the motivated factors in classroom when teacher apply CLT activities, so that it will help to answer the research question
Moreover, reliability and validity of the data collected for this study could be achieved
Data collection
At the beginning of the second semester of the academic year 2015-2016, two sets of questionnaires were sent to those teachers and students at NED who agreed to take part in the research
After one week, these questionnaires were collected Information from these questionnaires were then summarized and presented in the form of statistic information (charts and tables) for analysis to make implications and recommendations on the most applicable communicative activities to enhance speaking skills for first year students
Besides, the method of observation was carried out during the second semester, two weeks after the administration of the questionnaires Fifteen speaking lessons were observed All implemented communicative activities were noted down to see how they were organized and how effective they were to ensure validity and reliability of the collected data.
Data analysis
In the data analysis stage, the researcher categorized the collected data from the two questionnaires of teachers and students then divide the data analysis into two phases to have parallel comparisons between teachers and students‘ attitudes as follows: a Teachers and students‘ attitudes towards teaching and learning speaking skills b Teachers and students‘ attitudes towards methods of using communicative activities
For qualitative analysis, observation checklist based on the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL)Version for Speakers of Other Languages Learning EnglishVersion 7.0 (ESL/EFL) R.L.Oxford, 1989 For quantitative analysis, frequency, percentage, charts were calculated Interpretations were then made with regards to the two research questions.
Summary
The approach of research in this study is both quantitative and qualitative In order to collect information on the situation of teaching and learning English speaking at NED of FFL, on the applicability of effective communicative activities for teaching English speaking, a questionnaire survey was conducted Two sets of questionnaire were designed for teachers and students NED to seek the following information on:
- Some effective activities which can be applied in the teaching and learning of speaking skills
- The most frequent activities used in speaking skills
- Students and teachers‘ problems in the learning and teaching of speaking skills through communicative activities
This study is of practical importance because the data and result collected from it as the vital evidence to the theoretical knowledge in the previous chapter and as the practical basic for suggestions to effective way of improving speaking skills for students through communicative activities.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Data analysis
3.1.1 Results of teachers and students’ survey questionnaire
As previously mentioned, the survey questionnaire for teachers consists of three parts with 11 questions including open-ended and close-ended questions Part one is constituted by 4 questions conveying teachers‘ attitudes towards teaching speaking Part two asks about teachers‘ attitudes towards communicative‘ activities, which includes four questions The final 3 questions elicit data on the teacher‘s difficulties in using communicative activities to teach English speaking skill
The students‘ questionnaire is constructed with 10 questions divided into three parts The first five questions asking about student‘s attitudes towards learning English speaking skill Eliciting student‘s attitudes towards communicative activities is the content of part two, which consists of four next questions The students‘ difficulties in practicing communicative activities are discovered in the part three with one open question
These are some difficulties that the surveyed teachers have encountered in their use of communicative activities A careful study in the attitude of students towards speaking skill as well as communicative activities can tell whether teacher really have those obstacles or not The next section presents information collected from students
3.1.1.1 The role of speaking skills
The first, four questions were designed to find out the teachers‘ attitudes towards teaching English speaking skills, at the same time, five questions in students‘ questionnaire figure out their attitude towards speaking skills
Figure 1: Teachers’ attitude towards the role of English speaking skills
It is apparent from the chart in figure 1 that all of the teachers considered that speaking skills are important or even very important compared to other skills in the English curriculum None of them think that speaking skills are not important at all
This result depicted that teachers at NED are all fully aware of the crucial role of speaking skill in foreign language teaching and learning
As regards to question 3 for teachers about teaching the speaking skill in combination with other skills, all teachers (100%) agreed that they often taught speaking in combination with other macro skills of reading, writing and listening because they thought that those skills could support each other, which brought effectiveness to the learning process of the students
Figure 2: Students’ attitudes and their feelings towards learning speaking skills
In figure 2, a large percentage of the students (60%) said that they were certainly interested in speaking skill and they fully realized the importance of communicative competence In comparison with three other macro language skills, 24% of the students considered speaking skills more important than writing, listening and reading skills while the rest (16%) agreed on the idea that speaking is as important as other skills In students‘ feelings, there is a surprise that even they are not really interested in speaking skills (35%), they cannot deny the fact that speaking skills are equally important to other skills
In the survey for students, the result of the question 3 ―How often do you speak English in class?‖ 68% students said ―Sometimes‖ Merely 12% the students answer that they usually speak English in class More surprisingly, the writer found that the number of students who rarely speak English in class is not small (20%)
This also shows a big question for the teachers of English and the reasons why they do not participate much in the activities
70% a more important / interested b equally important/ not really interested c less important/ uninterested students' viewpoints Students' feelings
Figure 3: Teacher’s assessment towards students’ speaking ability
The statistics shows how students‘ speaking ability is judged by their teachers None of the teachers asserted that their English learners‘ oral skills are either very good or bad Most of them (95%) agreed that the students‘ speaking ability was just acceptable and a very tiny proportion of the teachers which accounts for 5% had the thought that it was good
Figure 4: Possible factors to motivate students speaking in classroom
1: very good 2: good 3: acceptable 4: bad
0 a They talk with your friends. b Their teacher asks them. c They are interested in the topic and activities.
The pie chart shows the proportion of students express their reasons why they speak in classroom As can be seen that about 69 out of 150 students said that they only spoke when they were asked to do so by their teachers, 48 students raised their voice when talking with friends in class and at the same time, a few students (22%) spoke English when they were interested in the topic and speaking activities
Therefore, it is interesting to note that students still have a high passive learning style because of basing on teacher- control so much
The fourth question of teacher‘s survey and the fifth question in student‘s survey were made to figure out the reason why students are afraid of speaking English from the viewpoint of the teachers and their actual difficulties
Figure 5: Teacher’s viewpoints about the reason why students afraid of speaking and student’s actual difficulties in speaking English
According to this apparent statistics, from teacher‘s viewpoints, Most of them (64%) admitted that poor background knowledge is the main difficulty that student face while speaking, whereas, surprisingly, a very tiny proportion of the students which accounts for 6% admitted this reason Apparently, as for students, 51% of the informants fear that they had poor vocabulary and grammatical knowledge when expressing in English Therefore, the poor vocabulary and
70% a poor background knowledge b poor vocabulary and grammatical knowledge c low accuracy and fluency d.both B&C
Teachers' viewpoint Students' viewpoint grammatical knowledge are the main causes which make students scare to speak A few students (10%) and teachers (6%) believe that low accuracy and fluency are the main reason of being afraid talking English Just 14% of students who were asked said that the combination of the two above made them find difficult it to talk
In conclusion, the result from the first four questions implies that the teachers were conscious of the role of speaking skills in language teaching and learning
However, according to them, the students‘ level was not good enough because of some obstacles which prevented them from speaking English with confidence In fact, most of students are also quite passive in participating speaking lessons As can be seen from the result, teachers and students are agree that speaking in low accuracy and fluency level is not the most difficult factor, it is remarkable to note that teachers do not fully understand their students in term of assessment about actual difficulties that their students are actually afraid of
3.1.1.2 The applicability of using communicative activities
With teachers‘ questionnaire, the next question focus on the teachers‘ towards communicative activities as in figure 6, it is aimed to find out the teachers‘ thinking of the communicative activities in the course book for first year students
Figure 6: Teachers' attitudes towards activities in the textbook
As can be seen from the chart, over 40% of the teachers thought that the number of communicative activities for speaking practice in the textbook are
50% interesting various helpful enough boring poor thought of which communicative activities in the textbook are various Nearly half of the teachers (42%) considered these activities are poor and boring
In addition, the aim of question 6 is to show the teachers‘ time of using communicative activities in figure 7
Figure 7: Teachers’ time to use communicative activities and the frequent forms that they usually organize
Findings and discussion
Twelve lessons were lectured by different teachers in NED, each speaking lesson were observed and there were 15 communicative activities in total Given the result that there were many advantages that could bring to help develop speaking ability for students; however, some problems remained as the obstacles to prevent the goals of improving communicative competence for those students
From learners‘ side, in general, in speaking lessons, most of students participated in speaking activities with high motivation and interest This is considered a very good condition to put into practice so many kinds of activities as it contributed to help improve the oral skills for students However, there were still some students whose communicative ability stood at or even below the acceptable level and they are not interested in the lessons and have a passive thinking of studying English, they only wait for teachers‘ asking As a result, they were not confident enough to speak in front of the class due to their fear of making mistakes
In addition, there are still a few students that do not have a good cooperation with their teacher and show bad behaviors, they do not want to pay attention to the lessons and just talk with friends, so teachers have to stop and remind them to notice This kind of characteristic prevented the learners from speaking and inhibited them in learning English Actually, it seems that learners were not strongly motivated in class Consequently, the effectiveness of the speaking activities was reduced dramatically
From teacher‘s side, it was found that the teachers integrated speaking with other skills during their teaching process to improve the oral skills for learners of English They also applied a variety of useful communicative activities to draw the attention and raise participation of the majority of students In general, their teaching qualities are good, such as flexibility in adapt lesson plan, good pronunciation, clear instruction and enough feedback However, the teachers seemed to create very few chances for students to work in groups The result from teacher‘s questionnaire reveals that only 23% organize the class in groups work because they are afraid of the talkative and good-at-speaking students tended to dominate the speaking activities meanwhile the weak students often depended too much on those who learned better and even became passive during the lesson they mainly made their students work in pairs or individually Also, very few teachers applied all the activities in the course book for the students They just based on the topic of each unit to design more communicative activities with prepared handouts
This may be traced back to the fact that course book provides students with practice in all the four English skills; therefore textbook speaking activities are sometimes not enough for teachers From this finding, some suggestions in the implication chapter will be given as a guide to improve the above situation so that teachers can help their students develop their speaking skills effectively
With the hope of finding out some useful communicative activities apart from the course book to enhance students‘ speaking ability, the major purpose of giving a questionnaire survey is to elicit feedback from the learners and the teachers on how to give maximum help to develop speaking skills for first year students at HaUI
The communicative activities take a vital part in motivating and eventually developing student‘s oral English competence Through the survey, some commonly preferred communicative activities emerged Thanks to them, the decisive factors for the success of a speaking lesson are therefore taken into consideration as the mam point to focus on by the author of the study
Despite many positive factors, the application of communicative activities by teachers at NED, FFL still encounters many difficulties They are discussed in the next section The collected data indicate that the teachers face lots of difficulties, including inadequate preparation, lack of creativeness and genuine effort in finding and applying communicative activities so as to suit their students
For teachers, motivation in language learning has long been taken into consideration Most teachers hold the view that topics, tasks and teaching materials are the first things to be considered before they shift their attention to techniques and activities Students often feel interested in speaking English in classroom if the topics are interesting, the tasks are neither too difficult nor too easy, and teaching materials are interesting Teaching materials play an important role in the success or failure of a speaking lesson A speaking lesson will soon become boring and demotivating if students have to deal with the topics too difficult for them It is due to the fact that sometimes the topics are out of students‘ knowledge range The same situation also happens if teachers only select tasks and topics from the course book and disregard supplementary materials Supplementary materials are of great source of knowledge which can compensate for the gap in students‘ background knowledge A boring atmosphere in classroom has no place to occur if students‘ interest is aroused and if they foresee that they will really gain something from the lesson
It is worth noticing that the inhibitory factors also come from the students‘ side Their shyness when taking part in a communicative activity and talking in class are those which prevent students from actively joining in the activities The reasons may lie in the lack of classroom interaction including teacher-student and student-student interaction, which results in the feeling of embarrassment of students when they want findings are briefly stated as follows
In general, speaking skills and communicative activities are highly appreciated by both teachers and learners at NED Most of them agreed that speaking skills play an important part in having a good command of foreign language In addition, to express something in English, communicative activities should be exploited as a means to stimulate students and make them more confident to freely speak English A number of students expressed that ―my English is not good enough‖ Consequently, they find it intimidating to join in speaking activities
That is a really big hindrance to the application of communicative activities in the process of teaching and learning English
Many of them after several years of learning English remain deficient in the ability to express their ideas due to the fact that they may not thoroughly master grammatical rules or do not have good pronunciation To overcome this problem, teachers should have effective way to organize communicative activities to motivate students in speaking lessons.
Conclusion
To sum up, this chapter has presented the data and the information collected through the survey from both teachers and students at NED Basing on the data and information, an analysis to find out teachers‘ and students‘ attitude toward speaking and communicative activities was carried out in order to enhance students‘ speaking skills and also the problems facing both of them when communicative activities are applied On the basis of these findings, the researcher will propose appropriate recommendations in the next chapter.
Some kinds of effective communicative activities
The following activities are truly communicative at the level of free communication Yet, students may require practice at the levels of controlled and semi-controlled communication before they are ready to perform the activity at the level of free communication For this reason, the researcher will explain how the teachers can, step by step decrease their control over the activity and motivate the communicative participation from students
Songs can be applied at the beginning of the lesson as a warm up activity It does only take effect when teachers want students to practice listening but also enhances students‘ oral skills by asking them to retell the content of the song after listening It can be carried out in speaking and listening lesson
Procedure s: Teacher prepares handouts on which there is a song lyric with some gaps Students listen to the song and fill in the missing words, there may be two given words After all the missing words are filled and checked by the teacher, students will be asked to work in groups of 4 or 5 and find out some interesting verb phrase used in the content of the song Then the teacher randomly chooses students from different groups to present their understanding; the others can support their friends
Material: the song ―Fly without wings‖
Material : the song ―All around the world Time: 15 - 20 minutes (see sample 2)
Communicative games for speaking skills provide more opportunities to talk and encourage students‘ participation to highly motivate them in talking
Furthermore, by playing these games, students will use their limited English more naturally because their concentration will be on solving the problems and forget the fear of producing language
There are many speaking games for practicing speaking; however, the researcher only focuses on three games: "?", "Guess where? Mining, Say things about picture" which are considered to be the most suitable and effective ones for first year students to enhance their speaking skills
Time: 1 2 - 1 5 minutes Procedure: The teacher show picture has many objects or things in it The class try to note down words in picture as many as possible relating to a specific topic The teacher students compete each other with a limited time For example:
Material: Unit 5: Where do you live?
Procedure: Teacher divides class into two group, then shows to the class a picture as below After that, in ten minutes, students in two groups go to the board and write down as many things as possible: books, bookshelves, lamp, curtain, rug, mirror, etc
Finally, teacher checks their answer and finds out the winner
This game is good for students remember words that they have just studied during the lesson
Time : 15 minutes Procedure : The teacher explains or asks a students to list an object, or a word relate to name of job then, the rest of the student must find out what it is by asking the teacher with indirect Yes/ No questions
Material: Unit 3: The world of work Procedure: Teacher keep a picture which hide a job Two group of students will make indirect yes/ no question to find what job is
Is he work in factory? No, he isn‘t
Is he work in hospital? No, he isn‘t Does he wear uniform? Yes, he is Does he work with crime? Yes, he is
So the answer must be Policeman
All these kinds of game can be applied at the beginning of any lesson in the course book as a warm up activity for the students to be motivated and relaxed
Thanks to a relaxed feeling, they can produce the best English
Students make up their own free questions and answers relating to a topic discussed in class, to an illustration in or out of the course book, to a text or dialogue that the students have heard or read, and so on
Interviews are conducted by two basically ways To the first one, students question a classmate who stands up the only restriction being that they cannot ask any question they would want to answer themselves The students being interviewed must give an appropriate answer to each question, although it may be false Alternately, a visitor to class may be interviewed A second way to conduct an interview is to have pairs of student then interview each other about particular topic
Semi-controlled question and answer activity: The teacher gives students to give their own responses to questions The teacher can ask the questions or students can work in pairs and take turns to ask and answer questions provided by the textbook or the teacher
Controlled questions and answer activity: Students have script to follow and few decisions to make
Unit 2: Meeting people Time : 15 minutes Procedure : Teachers provide a list of Wh-question on the blackboard then give a pair of students a card with some missing information They have 10 mins to make questions and ask as many questions as possible using Wh-questions
Student A: What‘s his first name?
Student B: His first name is Patrick Student A: What is his job?
Student B: He is an accountant
Role play is a type of skit in which learners assume the identity of individual characters in a given situation and engage in a conversation that reflects the personalities, needs and desires of the characters portrayed In setting up a role play, the teacher should explain the situation, perhaps go over some of the utterances that would grow out of the situation and perhaps demonstrate role-playing with a student The other steps depend on what type of role play is chosen
Free role play No prescribed structures and very few suggestions If it is necessary, the vocabulary to be used is presented The teacher simply gives students and the characters; alternatively, students come up with their own situations After an appropriate time, they deliver their presentation
Semi-controlled role play: Structures or vocabulary may be suggested by the teacher, the content is determined by the participants A list of utterances or only a list of words which could be used in the situation are given to students who are allowed time to prepare the role play before presenting it to the class
Controlled role play This involves the use of grammatical structures and vocabulary which are controlled by a script The script offers the participants to change the tense of the verb
Time : 3 0 - 4 5 minutes Procedures: Teacher follows the steps:
Divide the class into two sides: A will be sellers, B will be customers
-Side A prepare everything to sell at the market -Side B will go to buy things
Some considerations and suggestions on using communicative activities 45 4.3 Limitations and suggestions for further research
From the researcher‘s own experience and the precious advice of the experienced teachers of English at NED, some considerations and suggestions are offered on the using of communicative activities
Firstly, the normal procedure in teaching is to teach the students the language they will need to carry out a communicative activity first, and to move from controlled to semi- controlled to free communication Another approach is to do just the opposite: the students are forced to communicate without any initial preparation
It means that they may need to use language they have not yet been taught This in turn forces them to use important communication strategies: (1) searching memory for items learned or half-learned some time ago, (2) struggling to find circumlocutions when the appropriate term is not available, (3) perceiving when the listener has not understood what was said, and (4) rephrasing In a nutshell, they must find alternate ways to get meaning across using whatever English they do know Clearly, with this procedure students are going to make mistakes, however, it is believed that taking risks and making mistakes are necessary parts of the learning process Thus, the students will develop a type of confidence that is essential to learning a foreign language: the confidence to attempt to express their opinions in English
While the students are communicating as best as they can, the teacher moves around the room, listening, and determines what the students know and do not know, and this diagnosis provides the framework for future teaching In this way, teaching is designed to meet actual needs of the student Furthermore, a close attention to students may help teachers restrict the use of mother tongue in doing the activities
The teacher should not correct grammar during a communicative activity As a matter of the fact, communication deals with the conveying of information; hence, interrupting students to correct or call attention to error, will disturb die flow and inhibit the speaker In addition, assessment should focus on whether information has been successfully conveyed or not It is not suggested that teacher‘s correction for accuracy is eliminated It may happen that a student succeeds in getting a message across in a grammatically or pragmatically imperfect way However, teacher‘s correction should be given at some other stages and not during the communicative activity More importantly, the students communicate to each other, knowing that the language they produce will not be assessed in the first instance by the teacher but rather by their partner for its adequacy in the completion of a task
Last but not least, communicative activities should be done in pairs or groups, which helps to increase cooperativeness among students In order to avoid the situation in which the good-at-speaking students tended to dominate the speaking activities in and the weak students often depended too much on those who learned better their groups work, it is advisable for teachers to randomly call representatives to come in front or even create more chances for these passive learners to express their ideas in English
In short, this chapter, on the basis of the findings reported in the previous chapter, suggests some kinds of communicative activities with designed samples which can be applied for the course book Inside Out in order to enhance students‘ oral communication Together with some suggestions and considerations for using these activities, the researcher hopes to provide teachers with some basic steps in applying communicative activities in the process of teaching and learning
4.3 Limitations and suggestions for further research
Aside from the strengths and contribution of the current research, some limitations could be detected Firstly, the instruments making use of self-report had certain inherent limitations, which, in fact, was common in the research of this field
Further study should recruit more participants to gather more reliable data Interview method can be employed along with questionnaires and classroom observations to obtain more insightful results
Moreover, this study‘s context was just among first- year, non- English major students in HaUI and teachers of NED- HaUI with specific features (see page 27); also, they are being affected strictly by their teaching and learning curriculum; therefore, the following researches should choose a more general context in order to benefit much more readers and other studies Finally, apart from instructed first year, non- English major students and teachers listed in questionnaires, respondents also made use of different activities, so followers that investigate the same or related field may put these activities (see page 47) into consideration to include them into the survey.
Conclusion
It is obvious that communicative activities are popularly used in the process of foreign language teaching and learning at many foreign language universities nowadays, Thanks to the advantages of these kinds of activity, teachers of English have probably exploited them to improve the speaking ability for their students
Furthermore, students are given chances to learn and practice their English in truly communicative situations Therefore, with a view to find out some communicative activities to help develop oral skills for first year students of HaUI, this theme has been chosen for this thesis
The study has mainly dealt with the question of how to enhance first year students speaking skills at NED through communicative activities While reviewing theoretical issues such as factor and concepts relating to language teaching, the nature of spoken language, types and purposes of communicative activities as well as the roles of teachers in class, the thesis also provides findings about situation of applying communicative activities by teachers to improve oral skills for first year students at HaUI This real situation was exposed through classroom observation and survey questionnaire Last but not least, several applicable communicative activities are suggested based on the teaching and learning situations at this Division as well as the suggestions for using these kinds of activities in the last chapter of this thesis
However, it is undeniable that the study has a number of limitations Firstly, the survey was carried out with only a small number of teachers and students at NED This may not enable the researcher to collect sufficient data and get a general picture of studied data Therefore, later research on this topic should be conducted on a larger number of subjects Secondly, the qualitative method of the study, survey questionnaire should be combined with other quantitative methods such as testing or experiments so that more sufficient data can be collected In addition, these suggested communicative activities are not enough and not very systematic, thus there should be more activities to enhance speaking skill for first year students in general as well as the whole students at NED Finally, this paper was written within the limited academic knowledge, methodology and little experience in teaching from the author, mistakes and errors, therefore, are unavoidable From these limitations of this study, the researcher wishes that further studies will overcome them to achieve much better results
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APPENDIX I SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (for teachers)
This survey questionnaire is designed for my study “ A study on activities to motivate first- year, non- English major students in English speaking lessons at HaUI ” Your responses to this survey questionnaire would be of great value to the final product of the research This is not a test, so there is no ―right‖ or ―wrong‖
Please give your answer sincerely because that is the only way to ensure the significance and success of this research You can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data
Survey conductor: Quang Thi Bich Ngoc K23C- Post Graduate Department
University of Languages and International studies
Vietnam National University, Hanoi Please tick () where appropriate or write in brief where necessary (You can choose more than one answer to some questions)
The role of English speaking skills
1 What do you think of the importance of speaking skills? a very important b important c unimportant
2 What do you think about your students‘ speaking ability? a very good b good c acceptable d bad
3 Do you teach speaking skills in the combination with other skills? a Yes b No
4 In your experience, what makes students afraid of speaking? (more than one option is possible) a poor background knowledge b poor vocabulary and grammatical knowledge c low accuracy and fluency d others:………
The applicability of communicative activities
5 What do you think about the importance of the communicative activities in the textbook for first year students‘ practicing? (more than one option is possible) a interesting b boring c helpful d various e enough f poor
6 When do you usually use communicative activities? a at the beginning of the lesson b during the lesson c at the end of the lesson d out of the class time
7 What kind of communicative activities do you usually use in your English teaching process? a Discussion b Information gap c Using songs d Story telling e Role play f Communicative games g Question and answer h Others: ………
What form of the activity do you usually organize?
8 a at the whole class work b group work d individual work What difficulties do you meet when applying the communicative activities? (more than one option is possible)
9 In terms of students‘ side a they often keep quiet and only speak when they are asked b learners are too shy to speak in front of the class c they are not interested in the topic
10 In terms of your own side a it‘s difficult to organize b it takes too much time to make a lesson plan
11 In terms of objective factors a lack of materials b size of class c time allocation d atmosphere in class e Other difficulties that you face: ………
Thank you very much for your cooperation!
APPENDIX II SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (for students)
This survey questionnaire is designed for my study “ A study on activities to motivate first- year, non- English major students in English speaking lessons at HaUI ” Your responses to this survey questionnaire would be of great value to the final product of the research This is not a test, so there is no ―right‖ or ―wrong‖
Please give your answer sincerely because that is the only way to ensure the significance and success of this research You can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data
Survey conductor: Quang Thi Bich Ngoc K23C- Post- Graduate Department
University of Languages and International studies
Vietnam National University, Hanoi Please tick () where appropriate or write in brief where necessary (You can choose more than one answer to some questions)
The role of speaking skills
1 How do you feel towards speaking skill? a Interested b Not really interested c Uninterested
1 What do you think about the importance of speaking in four skills: writing, listening, speaking and reading)? a More important b Equally important c Less important
2 How often do you speak English in class? a Very often b Sometimes c Rarely
3 When do you usually speak English a You talk with your friends b Your teacher asks you c You are interested in the topic and activities
4 What makes you afraid of speaking English? (more than one option is possible) a Poor background knowledge b Poor vocabulary and grammatical knowledge d Others:………
The applicability of communicative activities
5 What kinds of communicative activities do you like to take part in your class?
(more than one option is possible) a Discussion b Information gap c Using songs d Story telling e Role play f Communicative games g Question and answer h Others:………
6 How do you like the activities? a Very much b Not much c Not at all
7 What forms of the activity do you like to take part in? a The whole class work b Groups work c Pairs work d Individual work
8 What is the most effective way of practicing the activities for you? a You can speak more fluently b You feel more confident c You have chance to practice English d You are more interested in learning English e Your English is much improved f Others:………
9 What are your difficulties in practicing the activities? a You lack vocabulary to express your opinion b You are afraid of making mistakes c You fear for being criticized or losing face d You feel shy while speaking in front of the class e You have nothing to say f Others:………
Thank you very much for your cooperation!
APPENDIX III CLASSROOM OBSERVATION CHECKLISTS
1: Very bad 2: Bad 3: Fair (Average) 4: Good 5: Very good
2 Appropriateness of lesson within framework of general syllabus
4 Lesson plan (realistic/lesson links/ teachers' sensitivity to the lesson plan/ timing)
B Interaction and Class Atmosphere Comments 1 2 3 4 5
6 Interaction between Ts and Ss
9 T's provision of safe and supportive context for practice
C Teaching Strategies and skills Comments 1 2 3 4 5
10 Teacher‘s decision making the classroom
11 Achievement of the lesson aims/ objectives
14 Teacher‘s roles in action (manager/ facilitator/ social worker/ monitor/ counselor/ facilitator/ friend/ informant, etc)
19 Teacher's Confidence (non-verbal language)
24 Learners' willingness to ask when uncertain
25 Learners' tolerance of other students
Summary of Strengths and Areas Needing Improvement:
APPENDIX IV RESULT FROM CLASSROOM OBSERVATION CHECKLIST
1: Very bad 2: Bad 3: Fair (Average) 4: Good 5: Very good
2 Appropriateness of lesson within framework of general syllabus
4 Lesson plan (realistic/lesson links/ teachers' sensitivity to the lesson plan/ timing)
6 Interaction between Ts and Ss 0% 0% 13,3% 60% 26,7%
9 T's provision of safe and supportive context for practice
10 Teacher‘s decision making the classroom 0% 0% 0% 66,7% 33,3%
11 Achievement of the lesson aims/ objectives 0% 0% 24% 49,3% 26,7%
14 Teacher‘s roles in action (manager/ facilitator/ social worker/ monitor/ counselor/ facilitator/ friend/ informant, etc)
19 Teacher's Confidence (non-verbal language) 0% 0% 0% 86,7% 13,3%
24 Learners' willingness to ask when uncertain 20% 13,3% 53,3% 6,7% 6,7%
25 Learners' tolerance of other students 0% 0% 7% 93% 0%
APPENDIX V SAMPLE 1 Listen to the song and fill in the blank with words you hear Work in groups and discuss the role of music in this song
Everybody's _ for that something One thing that makes it all complete
You'll it in the strangest places Places you never knew it could be
Some find it in the face of their children Some find it in their lover's eyes
Who can deny the joy it _
When you've found that special thing You're flying without wings
Some find it sharing every morning Some in their solitary lives
You'll find it in the words of others
A simple line can make you _ or cry You'll find it in the deepest friendship
The kind you cherish all your life And when you know how much that means You've found that thing
You're flying without wings
So, impossible as they may seem You've got to fight for every _
Cos who's to know which one you let go Would have made you complete
Well, for me it's waking up beside you
To watch the sunrise on your face
To know that I can say I love you
In any given time or place [Mark:]
It's things that only I know Those are the things that make you mine And it's like flying without wings
Cos you're my special thing I'm flying without wings [Shane:]
And you're the place my life begins And you'll be where it ends
I'm flying without wings And that's the joy you bring I'm flying without wings
Listen to the song and fill in the blank with given words you hear Work in groups and discuss the role of some missing words in this song (correct words will be bolded)
I don't know _ my baby is where/ when But I'll find him, somewhere, somehow
I've got to let him know much I care how/ why I'll never give up looking for my baby
Been around the world and i, i, i
I don't know when, I don't know why Why he's gone away
And I don't know where he can be, my baby But I'm gonna find him
We had a quarrel and I let go himself /myself
I said so many things, things he didn't know And I was oh oh so bad
And I don't think he's comin' back, mm mm
He gave the reason, the reasons he should go And he _ so many things he never said before said/ say And he was oh oh so mad
And I don't think he's comin', comin' back
I did too much lyin', wasted too much time, Now I'm here a'cryin', i, i, i
So open hearted, he never did me wrong
I was the one, the weakest one of all And now I'm oh oh so sad
And I don't think he's comin' back, comin' back