Statement of problem and rationale
Undeniably, in learning English, the four skills namely reading, writing, speaking, listening are very important but speaking seems to be the most significant Any learners of English want to achieve this skill However, speaking is generally considered the most demanding of the four skills (Bailey and Savage, 1994: vii) For this reason, being aware of the necessity of speaking, English teachers though trying to improve all four skills, always pay much attention on speaking for their students
However, the teaching and learning of English speaking skill in Vietnam has encountered many difficulties For Vietnamese learners, speaking is a very difficult skill It takes learners lots of time practicing if they want to be skillful at it In fact although most of Vietnamese learners pay much attention to grammatical structures and vocabulary, they are often reluctant in speaking skill
In recent years, English teachers have changed their teaching methods and focused their teaching on speaking to the students One top concern of almost all teachers is students’ ineffective participation in speaking lessons The reasons for that are various Tsui (1996), after carrying a research in Hong Kong, lists five principle factors affecting the reluctance of students’ participation in classroom speaking lessons: students’ perceived low proficiency in English, students’ fear of making mistakes and derision, teachers’ intolerance of silence, uneven allocation of turns, incomprehensible input (as cited in Nunan, 1999: 234)
In Vietnam, Phung (2006) conducts an experiment about techniques to overcome factors affecting the participation in classroom oral activities at College of Social Sciences and Humanities The findings shows that factors affecting his students’ participation includes students’ learning styles, motivation, language level, gender differences, teachers’ teaching techniques, characteristics, teachers’ knowledge, implementation of teachers’ role in speaking activities, the available facilities and classroom atmosphere
Nguyen (2010) suggests strategies to increase the participation in communicative activities of students at Dong Do high school, Hanoi She also concludes that the factors affecting her students’ participation in communicative activities are students’ poor background knowledge, lack of confidence, lack of motivation and passive learning style
Although there have been many studies about factors affecting students’ participation in oral activities, it is consider ed new in the EFL context of Thai Nguyen College of Education (TNCE) As a teacher at this college, the researcher sees that most of her students do not often enjoy speaking period, and they do not actively contribute the speaking lessons They always keep quiet, passively take note, some listen to better students speaking but do nothing, and some hard-working students discuss in Vietnamese The study entitled “ Factors affecting the first year non-English major students’ participation in oral activities: a survey at Thai Nguyen College of Education” is an attempt to find out the reasons for above problems, and give some suggestions to increase students’ participation in oral activities
The study was conducted to (1) investigate the current teaching and learning of speaking skill of the students at TNCE, (2) identify the factors affecting the first year non-English major students’ participation in oral activities, then (3) give some recommendations for teachers and students to increase students’ participation in oral activities
Theoretically, it is hoped that this study can be used as a reference for other researchers who want to conduct the study related to teaching and learning speaking in general and factors affecting students’ participation in oral speaking activities in particular The result of the study can be useful for English teachers to implement suitable teaching method to their students
Practically, the study will hopefully better the researcher and her colleagues’ teaching, help the students be aware of their problems in learning and solve these problems The researcher also hopes that this study will benefit both the teaching and learning of English speaking
The current research mainly covers the possible factors affecting the students’ participation in oral activities including students’ language proficiency level, attitude and motivation, personality, teacher’s teaching methods, characteristics, classroom size, atmosphere, and materials The subjects of the study are 6 teachers of English and 160 first year non-major English students at TNCE
To conduct the study, quantitative and qualitative methods were used To collect information and evidence for the study, survey questionnaires for both teachers and students and interviews for teachers were used All comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusion provided in the study based on the data analysis
This minor thesis is composed of three parts:
Part A, Introduction, presents the statement of problem and rationale, aims of the study, significance of the study, scope of the study, research methods, and organization of the study
Part B, Development, including the following chapters:
Chapter 1, Literature review, presents the theoretical background of speaking in which concept of speaking, the role of speaking in foreign language teaching and learning, approaches in teaching speaking are considered, issues of students’ participation in oral activities including concept of students’ participation and factors affecting students’ participation in oral activities
Chapter 2, Methodology, includes background of the study, research questions, the participants, data collection instruments, and data collection procedures
Chapter 3, The results and discussions, presents data analysis of the study, findings and discussions which discover factors affecting both students and teachers in oral activities
Chapter 4, Implications and Recommendations, gives some suggestions to increase students’ participation in oral activities
Part C, Conclusion, summarizes all the key issues of the study as well as the limitations of the study and suggestions for further study
Part B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter consists of three sections The first section reviews the theoretical background of speaking which includes the concept of speaking, the role of speaking in foreign language teaching and learning, approaches in teaching speaking The second section deals with the issues of students’ participation in oral activities The last section is the relevance of this study
In language teaching, speaking can be regarded as the productive skill Different linguists have different concepts of speaking According to Chaney and Burk (1998:13), speaking is “the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contexts” As stated by Burn and Joyce (1997), speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information Moreover, speaking, as Bygate (1987) defines, involves not only the use of the right sounds in the patterns of rhythm and intonation, but also the choice of words and inflections in the right order to convey the right meaning
In the study of Brown and Yule (1983), spoken language consists of short, fragmentary utterances in a range of pronunciation Besides, speaking is known to have two main types of conversation namely dialogue and monologue In monologue, you give uninterrupted oral presentation while in dialogue you interact with one or more other speakers for transactional and international purposes
Significance of the study
Theoretically, it is hoped that this study can be used as a reference for other researchers who want to conduct the study related to teaching and learning speaking in general and factors affecting students’ participation in oral speaking activities in particular The result of the study can be useful for English teachers to implement suitable teaching method to their students
Practically, the study will hopefully better the researcher and her colleagues’ teaching, help the students be aware of their problems in learning and solve these problems The researcher also hopes that this study will benefit both the teaching and learning of English speaking.
Scope of the study
The current research mainly covers the possible factors affecting the students’ participation in oral activities including students’ language proficiency level, attitude and motivation, personality, teacher’s teaching methods, characteristics, classroom size, atmosphere, and materials The subjects of the study are 6 teachers of English and 160 first year non-major English students at TNCE
Research methods
To conduct the study, quantitative and qualitative methods were used To collect information and evidence for the study, survey questionnaires for both teachers and students and interviews for teachers were used All comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusion provided in the study based on the data analysis.
Organization of the study
This minor thesis is composed of three parts:
Part A, Introduction, presents the statement of problem and rationale, aims of the study, significance of the study, scope of the study, research methods, and organization of the study
Part B, Development, including the following chapters:
Chapter 1, Literature review, presents the theoretical background of speaking in which concept of speaking, the role of speaking in foreign language teaching and learning, approaches in teaching speaking are considered, issues of students’ participation in oral activities including concept of students’ participation and factors affecting students’ participation in oral activities
Chapter 2, Methodology, includes background of the study, research questions, the participants, data collection instruments, and data collection procedures
Chapter 3, The results and discussions, presents data analysis of the study, findings and discussions which discover factors affecting both students and teachers in oral activities
Chapter 4, Implications and Recommendations, gives some suggestions to increase students’ participation in oral activities
Part C, Conclusion, summarizes all the key issues of the study as well as the limitations of the study and suggestions for further study.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Theoretical background of speaking
In language teaching, speaking can be regarded as the productive skill Different linguists have different concepts of speaking According to Chaney and Burk (1998:13), speaking is “the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contexts” As stated by Burn and Joyce (1997), speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information Moreover, speaking, as Bygate (1987) defines, involves not only the use of the right sounds in the patterns of rhythm and intonation, but also the choice of words and inflections in the right order to convey the right meaning
In the study of Brown and Yule (1983), spoken language consists of short, fragmentary utterances in a range of pronunciation Besides, speaking is known to have two main types of conversation namely dialogue and monologue In monologue, you give uninterrupted oral presentation while in dialogue you interact with one or more other speakers for transactional and international purposes
From the above definitions, speaking is making use words, knowing and being able to use language; expressing in words and making speech Therefore, we can infer that speaking is the ability to make use of words or a language to express oneself in actual communication
1.1.2 The role of speaking in foreign language teaching and learning
It has been accepted for many years that communication is the proper aim for language teaching According to Hymes (1972) “The goal of language teaching is to develop communicative competence” (as cited in Larseen-Freeman, 1986) That means we learn a language to communicate well in that language In the study of Ur
(1996), speaking seems intuitively the most important of all four skills Speaking is regarded as the first step to confirm who knows or does not know a language Abbot
(1981) remarks that just as the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so the proof of language-learning lies in the learner's ability to perform, communicate in the foreign language Pattison (1992) shared the same opinion that when people mention knowing or learning a language, they actually mean that they are able to speak the language
For that reason, speaking skill plays an important role in foreign language teaching because effective speaking ability helps learners not only to acquire the language better but also to communicate successfully In the language classroom, speaking skill should be paid great attention to
There are several approaches in teaching English speaking such as Grammar- Translation Method, Direct Method, Audio-Lingual Approach, and a more modern approach, namely Communicative Language Teaching Approach (CLT) However, in recent decades, CLT mostly employ on the belief that helps to develop the learners’ communicative language ability Therefore, in this section, the researcher only discuss on CLT as an approach for teaching speaking skill
Many researchers say that CLT has prevailed over traditional methods such as grammar translation method or the audio-lingual method This is due to several reasons According to Mitchell (1994), CLT covers the four skills of the language which are listening, reading, speaking, and writing (receptive and productive skills), which can be lacking in certain methods like grammar translation method or the audio-lingual method Today, communicative language teaching is viewed as the most effective and widely used approach in EFL/ESL teaching, most modern methods and techniques emphasize it (Kumaravadivelu 1993; Savignon 2000), and most materials and textbooks are designed for it
Moreover, Savignon (2000: 126-128) says that the essence of CLT is the engagement of learners in communication to allow them to develop their communicative competence He also emphasized that the focus of CLT is to promote the development of functional language ability through learner participation in communicative events A further definition of CLT is explicitly characterized by Li (1998:679) as follows: A focus on communicative function; A focus on meaning tasks rather than on language per se (e.g grammar or vocabulary study); Efforts to make tasks and language relevant to a target group of learners through an analysis of genuine, realistic situation; the use of authentic, from life materials; the use of group activities; and the attempt to create a secure, non threatening atmosphere
CLT is learner-centered and emphasizes communication and real-life situations
Therefore, the role of the teacher and the students in CLT is quite different from traditional teaching methods In the traditional classroom, the teacher is in charge and "controls" the students In CLT the teacher serves as more of a facilitator, allowing students to be in charge of their own learning According to Larsen- Freeman (1986), teachers in communicative classroom talk less and listen more
The teachers set up the exercise, then step back and observe, sometimes act as a monitor In contrast, the students do most of the speaking Because of the increased responsibility to participate in communicative activities, students may find they gain confidence in using the target language in general Students are more responsible managers of their own learning
In conclusion, among some approaches of the language teaching methods, CLT is the most appropriate way to teach students to communicate Therefore, the researcher decides to choose CLT as an approach for teaching speaking skill and considers it as one of the bases of the study.
Students’ participation in oral activities
Students’ participation can be understood as students’ involvement in classroom activities and in this case, oral activities According to Howard, Short, and Clark (1996: 8-24) participation is the student’s active engagement in the classroom to promote effective learning The student’s activities may include reciting in class, having conversations with the instructor or their classmates, doing written outputs, and sharing ideas with others It means a participative learner is one that is not passive Moreover, Sylvelyn, Judith and Paulin (2009) define participation as students who actively engage in classroom discussions, rather than be passive learners who simply take in knowledge They affirm that in a classroom-based learning, participation can be a positive feedback given by students to either the lesson or the teacher which can lead to possible ways in the development of an improved classroom learning experience
1.2.2 Factors affecting students ’ participation in oral activities
Students’ participation in oral activities can be affected by a variety of factors originating from students, teachers and classroom In the following sections, some of the major factors will be discussed
It is undeniable that students’ language proficiency is one important factor affecting students’ participation in oral activities According to Rod (1985) proficiency consists of the learners’ knowledge of target language; it can be synonymous with
“competence” Proficiency can be viewed as linguistic competence or communicative competence Second language proficiency is usually measured in relation to native speaker proficiency Moreover, Stern (1992) defines proficiency in terms of objectives or standards These can serve as criteria by which to assess proficiency as an empirical fact that is the actual performance of given individual learners or group of learners
Language proficiency ranges from Beginning to Fully-English Proficient However, historically, few students achieve Fully-English Proficient
In fact, in a class if students’ language proficiency is rather low, they will not be confident to participate in speaking lesson Moreover, if students’ language proficiency level are low or students are of different language proficiency levels, teachers may cope difficulties choosing a suitable teaching method, and activities used in class
To conclude, the limitation in the students’ language proficiency levels can directly affect their participation, how much they like the activities Thus, in order to develop their second language proficiency, students should try their best to overcome all their difficulties, practice English as mush as possible and teachers should choose the topics and activities of students’ levels to encourage their participation
It is obvious that personality has a great influence on students’ participation in speaking lesson Participation usually means students speaking in class: answer and ask questions, make comments, and join in discussions, etc Students who do not participate in those ways mentioned above are often considered to be passive and are generally penalized when participation is graded Brown (2000) argues that personality is one of the affective factors that are equally important for explaining differential success among second language learners Personality may be divided into extroversion and introversion While extroversion is associated with risk-taking, introversion is subsumed under the concept of self-esteem
A study conducted by Galvan and Fukada (1997/1998: 29-49) finds that students who are outgoing participated more than introverts The study also determine that participants who self-reported as having passive personalities are least likely to initiate a question or volunteer an answer to teacher’s question Additionally, knowledge of personal preferences can help teachers and administrators understand and predict student performance so they can restructure the situation to facilitate more students’ participation Moreover, as stated by Barrett and Connot (1986: 39-
45), introverted students are least involved in school activities and have lower academic achievement As Carskadon (1978: 140-142) states, extroverts generally produce more action with fewer thoughts whereas introverts produce numerous thoughts with little action
To sum up, in a class students with different personality characteristics may result in different level of participation in lessons and different of level of success as well
Understanding of students’ personality will help teachers choose the suitable method to involve all students in oral activities
Besides, students’ attitude and motivation is also a very important factor Gardner (1985:10) defined that “motivation in the present context refers to the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the language plus favorable attitudes towards learning the language” In other words, motivation can be defined in terms of two factors: learners’ communicative need and their attitudes towards the second language community (Lightbrown and Spada, 1999:56) In language learning, motivation is considered as “a key consideration in determining the preparedness of learners to communicate” (Gardner, 1985:10) He also indicates that the motivation of foreign language learning contains four aspects: a goal, effortful behavior, a desire to attain the goal and the attitude It can be understood that if students have strong learning motivation take positive attitude towards study and make great efforts to master English with clear goal and desire, they will gain better grade than those who have not acquired motivation
According to (Sass, 1989: 86-88) there are many factors affecting student's motivation to work and to learn: interest in the subject matter, perception of its usefulness, general desire to achieve, self-confidence and self-esteem, as well as patience and persistence And, of course, not all students are motivated by the same values, needs, desires, or wants Some students will be motivated by the approval of others, some by overcoming challenges
Dornyei (2001), Oxford and Shearin (1994: 19) suggests some ways that teachers can do to increase students’ motivation in English speaking activities: capitalize on students’ existing needs, help students set achievable goals, give clear explanation, create a comfortable atmosphere, vary teaching activities and methods, make learning visual, increase students’ self-confidence, promote co-operative learning, make students active participants in speaking activities, respond to students’ work and reward success
In brief, motivation plays a very important role in teaching and learning as “positive attitudes and motivation are related to success in second language learning”
(Gardner, 1985) Whatever factors affecting students’ motivation, it is a duty for each language teacher to increase students’ motivation in speaking lesson
Teachers’ teaching methods refer to a set of techniques or activities used to get students involved in learning to achieve a goal It means that teachers’ teaching techniques or activities can either motivate or demotivate students to learn
Harmer (1991:12) finds that classes in which the teachers present a variety of activities are far more likely to ensure students’ continuing interest and involvement in learning, whereas classes in which the teachers continually give the same activities are not likely to engage students’ interest Furthermore, students considerably vary in personality, preferences and beliefs The activity that is particularly appropriate for one student may not be ideal for another Thus, a particular teaching method cannot satisfy the needs or the interests of all students
To summarize, there is no single teaching method that is suitable for all learners All these teaching and learning methods are to be used interchangeably According to
Le (2000) Vietnamese students’ passiveness in learning is the product of traditional teaching Therefore, teachers should use a variety of teaching and learning methods in a single period so as to provide a great variability of activities in the teaching and learning process to increase students’ involvement
Relevance of this study
The above mentioned discussion of related study serves to demonstrate how the present research could fit into the existing literature So far, a number of studies have elaborated various factors that affect students from participating in oral activities With the hope to find out the factors affecting the participation of students in oral activities, the researcher will consider some main factors to see if they affect her students’ participation in oral activities Those factors are students’ language proficiency level, personality, attitude and motivation, teachers’ teaching method, characteristics, classroom size, atmosphere, physical conditions and materials
This chapter has provided both selected theoretical background of speaking, and issues of students’ participation in oral activities, accompanied by the relevance of the present study The research methodology employed in the present study will be presented in the next chapter.
METHODOLOGY
Background of the study
2.1.1 An overview of Thai Nguyen College of Education
Thai Nguyen College of Education, established in 1968, is one of the leading colleges in Thai Nguyen It is famous for its tradition of good teaching and learning
Thousands of primary, lower secondary teachers are trained every year to meet the need of human resources for Thai Nguyen province and some others provinces in the north of Vietnam The college has about 2000 students and more than 200 officials and teachers of all subjects
There are 6 English teachers at TNCE, who are all enthusiastic to devote their time and energy to teaching All of them graduated from Thai Nguyen Teacher Training University Four of them have acquired an M.A degree and two of them are following an M.A course at Hanoi University of Foreign Languages and International Studies They are all young with the age ranging from 28 to 38 and have at least 4 years of experience in teaching English Half of them get the award for one of the best teachers in Thai Nguyen in many years They are so well-aware of the important role of the ability to communicate in English Therefore, they pay much attention to form students’ ability of speaking and they always try to find out effective teaching methods to increase teaching and learning quality
Most of the students at TNCE have been learning English since they were at grade
6, even at grade 3 However, when they come to college, they know very little English The main training fields at TNCE are primary, lower secondary school teachers of all subjects except English Therefore, English, as a non-major subject, is not paid proper attention They do not devote themselves to study English Many students do not have an obvious communicative need All they need is to get enough knowledge of grammar and vocabulary to pass the written exam Generally, most of the students are passive in learning English, especially in speaking lessons English is a very difficult subject for them Thus, it would be hard to create, and involve students in a communicative activity
The English book used for all students at TNCE is “Lifelines Elementary” (Tom Hutchinson, Oxford University Press, 2002) There are 14 units lasting 150 periods divided in three terms Each week students have 3 or 4 English periods and they continuously learn in 15 weeks The book provides students with general knowledge classified into 5 main parts: grammar, vocabulary, reading and writing, listening and speaking, and pronunciation The aim of the book is to enable the students communicate in the target language However, at TNCE, the tests and examinations are in written form So the teachers and students focus most of activities on grammar, and reading comprehension to help students pass the exam
At TNCE, English teaching and learning are mostly carried out inside the classrooms, which are designed for lectures All the seats are arranged in fixed rows and classroom equipment is just a chalkboard Besides, each English teacher is provided with a cassette player to support the listening lessons There are 8 classrooms which are equipped with projectors for all teachers at TNCE The numbers of such classrooms do not meet the demand of all teachers in the college
There are not enough rooms if many classes want to use them at the same time At TNCE, there is no language lab Besides, equipments and facilities are inadequate such as lack of TV set, videotape, laboratory, headphone/microphone and projector
The materials for reference and self-study are not enough In the library, English books, newspapers and magazines, which are good sources of current target language, are not available This is a big disadvantage for both teachers and students who want to seek for reference materials for further study.
Research questions
This study determined the factors affecting the first year non-English major students’ participation in oral activities at Thai Nguyen College of Education and gives some solutions to in crease students’ participation The research was implemented to answer these questions:
1 How do the students participate in oral activities?
2 What are the factors affecting the first year non - English major students’ participation in oral activities?
3 What should be done to increase students’ participation in oral activities?
The participants of the study were 160 first-year non-English major students and six English teachers at TNCE These students were from four classes: office- management K3, chemistry-biology K17, literature-geography K17, mathematic- physics K17, where the researcher was working as a lecturer of English Each of these classes has the total number of forty students The research was conducted in the second term of the school year All the participants took part in the survey questionnaires by answering all the given questions
The instruments of the study were two questionnaires: one administered to 160 students and the other administered to 6 teachers and interviews for 3 teachers
Questionnaires were used because they helped collect large amount of information without consuming too much time (Nunan, 1992) As a result, a set of survey questionnaire was designed for students and teachers including both open-ended and closed-ended questions
The questionnaire for students consists of 10 questions with the aims of finding out students’ opinions toward English speaking lessons, their difficulties in learning speaking, their participation in speaking activities, the teaching methods used by their teachers and their suggested solutions to increase students’ involvement in oral activities The respondents were all introduced how to complete the questionnaire carefully first, and also expected to complete every question To ensure the reliability of the questionnaire, the researcher asked them not to discuss when they finished the questionnaire
The questionnaire for teachers consists of 8 questions, the purpose of which is to find out teachers’ current teaching methods, their opinions about factors affecting students’ participation in oral activities, and their suggestions to increase students’ participation in speaking class
Besides survey questionnaires, the researcher used semi-structured interviews for teachers as a supplementary data collection method Semi-structured interviews were employed for reasons that they could bring the interviewer great flexibility to focus more on remarkable points (Nunan, 1992) Three teachers were invited to the interview and kindly requested to answer the interviewer’s questions The writer took notes right at the place of the interview Each interview included three questions so that the researcher could base on to keep track with the objectives of the study during the interviews However, as the interviews went along, possible relevant questions would be added to generate more useful details
The researcher delivered the questionnaires to 166 participants, 6 English teachers and 160 students The participants were asked to complete at class in 30 minutes
Each participant completed the questionnaire without discussion with the others
After collecting the information from the questionnaires, she started interviews with three teachers to get further information
In this chapter, the background of the study, the research questions, participants, instruments and data collection procedure are presented In the best attempt to build a scientific methodology, the researcher hopes to achieve a reliable and valid data of the study.
Data collections instruments
3 What should be done to increase students’ participation in oral activities?
The participants of the study were 160 first-year non-English major students and six English teachers at TNCE These students were from four classes: office- management K3, chemistry-biology K17, literature-geography K17, mathematic- physics K17, where the researcher was working as a lecturer of English Each of these classes has the total number of forty students The research was conducted in the second term of the school year All the participants took part in the survey questionnaires by answering all the given questions
The instruments of the study were two questionnaires: one administered to 160 students and the other administered to 6 teachers and interviews for 3 teachers
Questionnaires were used because they helped collect large amount of information without consuming too much time (Nunan, 1992) As a result, a set of survey questionnaire was designed for students and teachers including both open-ended and closed-ended questions
The questionnaire for students consists of 10 questions with the aims of finding out students’ opinions toward English speaking lessons, their difficulties in learning speaking, their participation in speaking activities, the teaching methods used by their teachers and their suggested solutions to increase students’ involvement in oral activities The respondents were all introduced how to complete the questionnaire carefully first, and also expected to complete every question To ensure the reliability of the questionnaire, the researcher asked them not to discuss when they finished the questionnaire
The questionnaire for teachers consists of 8 questions, the purpose of which is to find out teachers’ current teaching methods, their opinions about factors affecting students’ participation in oral activities, and their suggestions to increase students’ participation in speaking class
Besides survey questionnaires, the researcher used semi-structured interviews for teachers as a supplementary data collection method Semi-structured interviews were employed for reasons that they could bring the interviewer great flexibility to focus more on remarkable points (Nunan, 1992) Three teachers were invited to the interview and kindly requested to answer the interviewer’s questions The writer took notes right at the place of the interview Each interview included three questions so that the researcher could base on to keep track with the objectives of the study during the interviews However, as the interviews went along, possible relevant questions would be added to generate more useful details.
Data collection procedures
The researcher delivered the questionnaires to 166 participants, 6 English teachers and 160 students The participants were asked to complete at class in 30 minutes
Each participant completed the questionnaire without discussion with the others
After collecting the information from the questionnaires, she started interviews with three teachers to get further information
In this chapter, the background of the study, the research questions, participants, instruments and data collection procedure are presented In the best attempt to build a scientific methodology, the researcher hopes to achieve a reliable and valid data of the study.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Data analysis
3.1.1 Results of students ’ survey questionnaire 3.1.1.1 Students’ attitude and motivation to English speaking
Question 1 and 2 are about students’ attitude towards learning the speaking skill
The result is illustrated in the following figure:
Figure 1: Students’ attitudes towards speaking skill
From the result collected in figure 1, it can be recognized that 47.5% of students considered that speaking skill was important even very important skill in the English learning and none of them thought that speaking was not importance at all The other 25% was left for valuing speaking as the little important one
This result indicates that students at TNCE are all fully aware of the crucial role of speaking skill in foreign language learning
Why do you learn English speaking?
A because it is a compulsory subject 52.5
D to have a good job in the future 15
Table 1: Students’ motivation in speaking
In response to question 2, only 13.75% of the students stated that they learn English speaking because it was interesting, 10% studied English speaking for personal interest, 15 % believed that English speaking was necessary for their future job, while 52.5% claimed that they learned English speaking because it was compulsory
47.5% very important important little important not important
Some students gave other answers: to communicate with foreigners, to listen to songs, read books, magazines and watch movies in English, to go abroad after graduating and to have a good certificate in English These reasons presented for only 8.75%
This result reveals that a greater number of the students are not really motivated in learning English However, from the statistics we can see that an opposite trend that most of the students are aware of the importance of speaking, they have low motivation in learning speaking
3.1.1.2 Students’ assessment about their speaking abilities and their level of participation in speaking lessons
Figure 2: Students’ assessment of their speaking ability
The result revealed in figure 2 shows that there were no excellent students at speaking English The number of students with good level at speaking English skill only made up 8.75% while 32.5% of the participants assumed that their speaking was acceptable More than half of them were bad (43.75%) or very bad (15%) at speaking skill From the results, most of the students are at low English speaking level Therefore, they need to improve their English speaking skill
A I always take every opportunity to speak English
B I only speak if I like the topic
C I only speak when teacher orders me
D I rarely speak and often keep quiet in speaking lessons
Figure 3: Students’ level of participation in speaking activities
It can be seen from figure 3 that only 12.5% of the students always spoke English in class, they actively took every chance to speak English 20% only spoke if they liked the topic, 35% only spoke if teacher ordered them One third of them (32.5%) rarely spoke in class We can see that this number is not small Many students often kept quiet and were passively in speaking lessons From the results shown in the figure, a conclusion can be drawn that levels of students’ participation in oral activities are very low Most of students are not active in oral activities
3.1.1.3 Students’ opinion about speaking lessons and speaking topics in their course book
A Boring Most of students are quiet
B Not very interesting Most of students do not want to speak
C All right Many students are very active and willing to speak
D Interesting Most of students participate in speaking lessons
Figure 4: Students’ assessment of their speaking lessons
The result in figure 4 reveals that the majority of the students found their speaking lessons were boring (15%) or not very interesting (47.5%) and they didn’t participate in speaking 27.5 % answered that their speaking lessons were all right, many students were very active and willing to speak Only 10 % said their speaking lessons were interesting
In brief, from the above result, it can be seen that students’ participation is very limited Teachers should do something to improve students’ involvement in speaking lessons
Question 6 is students’ assessment of given speaking tasks in the book “ lifelines elementary” that they study in the first and second term
Level of difficulty: 1 difficult 2 not very difficult 3 easy Level of interest: 1 interesting 2 not very interesting 3 boring
No Tasks Level of difficulty (%) Level of interest (%)
Making conversation when you meet other people
2 Making conversation when you go shopping
Table 2: Students’ assessment of given speaking tasks
In term of level of difficulty, it can be seen from the table that 3 tasks were perceived difficult including making arrangement (57.5%), asking where something is (52.5%) and making travel arrangement (47.5%) 5 in 8 tasks were not very difficult or even easy for students
In term of level of interest, the result reveals that the interesting tasks were making conversation when you meet other people (58.75%), making conversation when you go shopping (48.75%) and asking about times (47.5%) Some tasks were considered boring to students including making arrangement (51.25%), responding (52.5%) and making travel arrangement (48.75%)
From the analysis, it can be concluded that some of tasks are difficult and boring
This fact requires teachers’ investment in appropriate activities and tasks to raise students’ involvement in oral activities
3.1.1.4 Students’ difficulties in speaking lessons
What are your difficulties in speaking English?
(You can choose more than one option)
A I always feel shy and nervous when speaking in front of other people
B I am afraid of making mistakes and being laughed by other students
C I want to speak but I do not have enough vocabulary and knowledge of the topic
D I do not have enough time to prepare 28.75
E I do not have chances because the better students talk first
Table 3: students’ difficulties in learning speaking
According to the statistics, psychological difficulties such as shyness and nervousness (45%), fear of making mistakes or losing face (40%) prevented many students from speaking English 67% agreed that the biggest problem for them was lack of vocabulary and knowledge to express their opinions 28.75% who were asked said that they did not have time to prepare 35% reported that they did not have chances because the better students talked first Twelve students said that they were not used to speaking English This made up only 7.5%
In a limited period, teachers cannot wait for all students, especially slow students
Therefore, many students rarely speak, or do not have chances to speak
3.1.1.5 Factors affecting students’ participation in oral activities
Which factors affecting your participation in speaking activities?
(You can choose more than one option)
A Difficult or boring topics and activities 47.5
C Students’ low level of English proficiency 67.5
Table 4: Factors affecting students’ participation
The statistics in the table shows that the highest number of students stated that their major factor affecting their participation in oral activities was their low level of English proficiency (67.5%) The second highest percentage of students (47.5%) accepted that the topics and activities were difficult and boring 32.5% said that they were lack of motivation 27.5% said large class sizes also affected their participation Besides, some other factors such as lack of confidence, ideas or time for preparation also accounted for students’ low participation
3.1.1.6 Students’ opinion about teachers’ method and characteristic
What do you think about your teacher method?
(You can choose more than one option)
B Teacher talks more than students 42.5
D Teacher does not carry out various speaking activities
F Teacher does not create pleasant and encouraging learning atmosphere in class
Table 5: Students’ opinion about teachers’ method and characteristic
The result points out the fact that about one third of the participants (30.5%) said their teachers used appropriate method while more than half of those participants (55%) said their teachers spoke so quickly that they could not understand Beside, that teachers did not carry out various speaking activities and teachers talked more than students was also a big problem Smaller number of students said that their teacher was unfriendly (25%) and did not create an encouraging learning atmosphere in class (20%)
As can be seen from the above analysis, most of students claimed that their teacher did not use appropriate method To solve these problems teachers should change their teaching method to get more students’ involvement in speaking lessons
3.1.1.7 Students’ suggested solutions to increase their participation
What should teachers do to increase students’ participation in speaking lessons? (You can choose more than one option)
A Use various communicative activities (game, information gap, brainstorming…)
B Create a co-operative English learning environment (pair work, group work…)
C Combine books with other relevant sources of materials for suitable adaptation
D Personalize topics and tasks to be suitable for students’ level and interests
Table 6: Students’ suggested solutions to increase their participation
From table 6, we can see that most of the students (67.5%) agreed that their teacher should use various communicative activities like game, information gap, etc 52.5% suggested their teacher to personalize topics and tasks to be suitable for their level and interests Combining textbooks with other relevant sources of materials for suitable adaptation were also appreciated by 43.75% of the students and 40% suggested their teacher to create a co-operative English learning environment (pair work, group work…) 8.75% of the participants gave other ideas, such as teacher should not speak Vietnamese, allow students more time to prepare, give more topics for students to choose, let students choose the topics, etc
3.1.2 Results of teachers ’ survey questionnaire
The teachers’ questionnaire was delivered to 6 teachers The data collected were analyzed as follows:
3.1.2.1 Teachers’ attitude towards speaking skill
The first two questions were designed to find out the teachers’ attitudes towards teaching English speaking skill for students
How is teaching speaking skills important to you?
How much do you feel interested in teaching speaking skills to students?
Table 7: Teachers’ attitude towards speaking skill
It can be shown that all respondents were aware of the importance of teaching speaking skill to their students 50% supposed teaching speaking was important and 33.3% considered it very important 16.7% said that it was little important to teaching speaking skill None of them answered that teaching speaking skill was not important However, only 50% of the respondents felt very interested in speaking skills in class whereas 33.3% answered that they rather felt interested in speaking at all 16.7% only paid little attention to speaking skills
Findings and discussion
With the hope of finding out main factors affecting students’ participation in oral activities, the major purpose of giving two survey questionnaires and interviews is to elicit feedback from the students and the teachers on how to increase the involvement in oral activities for first year non-English major students at TNCE
The findings are briefly stated as follows
3.1.1 Students ’ low level of participation in oral activities
By analyzing the data from the questionnaires and the interview, we could conclude that the level of participation of the students was low Although most of the students state that they highly appreciate the importance of speaking skill in studying foreign language, they passively study this skill as well as participate in oral activities, and their speaking ability is at low level Therefore, to find out factors affecting students’ low participation is a necessary task
The results reveal the fact that students’ low level of language proficiency in English is one of the major factors preventing them from speaking Although all of the students in the survey have learnt English for at least 3 years at secondary school, their English language proficiency such as vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and so on is very poor Consequently, they cannot express ideas in
English confidently Moreover, from the questionnaires and interviews, psychological factors are also considered as another main factors affecting students’ participation in oral activities Most of the students tend to feel shy, nervous or anxious while speaking in front of the class Also, they fear that they will be laughed at by their teachers and friends if they make mistakes while speaking
Lack of motivation is the next factors that the researcher would like to discuss in this section From the questionnaire, more than half students say that they study English because it is a compulsory subject and not many of them really love either English or English speaking skill Therefore, in speaking lessons, instead of participating in oral activities actively, they often keep quiet, passively take note, and only talk they are asked to In conclusion, all the above-mentioned problems have a great deal of hindrance on learner’s involvement in speaking activities Teachers should have effective ways to help students overcome these problems
The collected data indicate that the teachers face lots of difficulties in teaching speaking skill, those difficulties come from students’ low level, shyness, motivation, boring topics or large class size Teachers themselves play an important role in getting students’ involvement in studying The first thing needs to be considered is teachers’ teaching method At TNCE, all teachers have true awareness of the necessity of implementing CLT in teaching However, they do not always apply this approach due to different reasons In stead, most teachers use Grammar-Translation method, which is considered as teacher-centered, and focus their teaching on grammar and vocabulary to help students pass the written exams In general, teachers do not use appropriate method, and cannot inspire students’ motivation to participate in activities Beside, the teachers’ talking time is inappropriate because they occupy almost all the class-time, so students do not have much time to speak
Therefore, chances given to them to practise are limited Finally, teachers’ characteristic is also important in encouraging students in learning If teachers are strict and unfriendly, students will not feel safe and dare not speak freely in class
In brief, teacher’s characteristics will make a pleasant and interesting classroom atmosphere and teachers’ method and knowledge will make effective teaching and learning
Another factor affecting students’ involvement in oral activities is classroom atmosphere and environment Many students agreed that classroom atmosphere and environment have strong impact on their interests in the subjects Most of students like a pleasant, cooperative environment where they can work in pair or small groups Students can overcome their shyness and inhibitions with ease to talk when they are in pair or small groups with their friends Besides, an encouraging learning makes the learners, particularly the weak ones, more comfortable to express themselves Moreover, large class size also affects students’ participation In short, classroom is one important factor that teachers should pay great attention to in order to improve students’ involvement
Materials in language learning should be taken into consideration Students often feel interested to speak English in classroom if the topics are interesting, and the tasks are neither too difficult nor too easy Although the course book “ lifelines elementary” was not designed for teaching speaking only, speaking skill is a focus of this book The book contains opportunities for oral activities Speaking practice takes place through the oral presentation and practice of new language items, in dialogue work, role plays, group work, and class activities These pair exercises and role-play activities build on the teaching points and increase the opportunities for individual practice However, the results show that the topics and tasks in the book are quite difficult and boring The unsuitable tasks may demotivate students so that they are unwilling to participate in speaking activities, and keep quiet all the time
Therefore, tasks must be adapted by each individual teacher to match their students’ need and abilities.
Conclusion
The findings from the questionnaires and interviews reveal many useful facts related to factors affecting students’ participation on oral activities Those factors come from students, teachers, classroom and materials First, students’ factors conclude students’ low level of language proficiency, students’ shyness, nervousness, and fear of making mistakes, students’ low motivation Second, concerning to teachers, the factors are teachers’ teaching method, and teachers’ characteristics Third, classroom factors refer to classroom size and atmosphere Finally, with regard to materials, suitable materials have much impact on students’ participation
These findings were important because it would give the researcher the foundation of implications and recommendations to get students actively participate in oral activities.
IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The students
Firstly, to be successful in learning English, students should take positive attitudes and motivation towards English as well as English speaking They should consider English as important as other subjects in the syllabus and speaking is their goal in learning English By having positive attitudes and motivation, students will have desire to study Therefore, they will actively participate in class activities
Secondly, students should try to become less hesitant or nervous and more confident to speak, try to participate more actively and take every opportunity to talk
Next, self-study is very important Students should take responsibility to improve their grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary and so on Besides, they also can listen to radio or watch television, read newspapers and magazines in English to enrich their vocabulary and knowledge Steps by steps they will get used to spoken English and feel more confident to express their ideas
Then, students should set up English speaking habits Having good habits in speaking English is one of the ways to help students improve their speaking In class activities, students should try to talk to teachers and friends in English instead of Vietnamese
Finally, ask for help from teacher or friends if necessary When students want to express their ideas, but they do not have enough vocabulary, they should ask their teachers or friends for suggestions.
The teachers
First of all, teachers should create a pleasant, supportive and co-operative classroom atmosphere, and establish close relationship with the students It is better for teachers to give students more encouragement than criticism to help students overcome the feeling of anxiety, shyness or nervousness Moreover, teachers should allow students to discuss broadly, work co-operatively with their partners in their groups More students work in co-operative groups, the more they understand, retain, and feel better about themselves and their peers Working in a co-operative environment encourages student responsibility for learning Moreover, by having peer support, student motivation is increased Students can overcome their shyness and inhibitions with ease to talk, show their feelings and thoughts when they are in small groups Only in a relaxing teaching atmosphere, can students have happy mood and dare to speak English
Next, teachers should apply, adapt suitable teaching methods, and make best use of communicative approach in teaching by creating realistic contexts for students to develop communicative competence so learner-centered approach instead of teacher-centered one ought to be used Teachers should facilitate as much time as possible for students to speak In other words, provide maximum opportunity to students to speak the target language by providing a rich environment that contains collaborative work, authentic materials and tasks When students have more opportunities to speak, their speaking skills will be improved
In addition, teachers should use various speaking activities to motivate them to study Teachers can apply many other activities such as game, discussion, role-play, information gap, interview, picture description, brainstorming, etc in stages of a speaking lesson These kinds of activities will avoid students’ boredom and stimulate their interest in learning
Then, teachers can organize class in pairs or groups for students to co-operate with each other Most of the students say that they will feel more secure if they work in a safe environment It means that when they are in co-operative learning groups or among friends, their anxiety will be allayed and the fear of making mistakes will be decreased However, when organizing class in pairs or groups, teachers should monitor the activities to avoid students speaking Vietnamese and make sure all students have the equal chance to speak Besides, teachers should play the role of an advisor, or recourse provider to give help when necessary
Besides, teachers may personalize the topics and tasks, combine the course book with other materials to be suitable with students’ levels The findings show that many topics and tasks in the book are difficult and unsuitable with students so that some of them are not interested in speaking activities In order to encourage students to speak, teachers should adapt the topics and task to be more suitable, and familiar to the students Besides, teachers should combine book with other materials such as newspaper, magazines to make the lesson more interesting to students
Last but not least, teachers should carry out regular tests or examinations on speaking skill In fact, the tests and examinations do not include speaking component Therefore, many students ignore this skill Most of them are interested in learning grammar rules, vocabulary, reading comprehension with the hope to pass the written exam Hence, the teachers should test the students’ speaking ability more often so that the students have to take responsibility and put more effort on learning this skill
The classroom
The EFL learning environment has a powerful effect on learning motivation So that improving physical condition in classroom is necessary Multimedia equipment should be added to all classrooms and the language lab should be staffed This will arouse all students’ interest to learn English
Moreover, it should be better if the desks are movable The students would feel more comfortable and free to contact with each other It is also very convenient for pair works or group works
The previous chapters have provided answers to the three research questions In this chapter the researcher will give a summary of the important findings, discusses the limitations of the research.
Summary of the study
The study aims at finding the factor affecting the participation in oral activities of first year non- English major students at TNCE as well as making some suggestions to increase students’ participation in oral activities The study was carried out at four classes: office-management K3, chemistry-biology K17, literature-geography K17, mathematic-physics K17 In this study, two questionnaires for both teachers and students and interviews for teachers were used as research instruments From students and teachers’ responses to the questionnaires and interviews, the researcher has found out the answers to the three research questions
For the first question “How do the students participate in oral activities?” the researcher found out that most of students participate passively in oral activities
When teachers ask them to do some tasks, they often sit quietly, pretend to concentrate on the book, or take note, or do nothing They rarely speak, or only speak when they like the topics or when teachers order them to do As for the second questions “What are the factors affecting the first year non-English major students’ participation in oral activities?” the researcher found out the reasons for students’ passive participation in oral activities Those factors include students’ factors (students’ low level of language proficiency, students’ personality), teachers’ factors (teachers’ teaching method and characteristic), classroom factors (classroom size, atmosphere and environment), and material factors (difficult or unsuitable tasks) Based on the findings of this study, a number of suggestions to increase students’ participation in oral activities were given Those suggestions were the answer for the third question “what should be done to increase students’ participation in oral activities?” By using various communicative activities (games, role-play…), creating a co-operative English learning environment (pair work, group work), combining books with other relevant sources of materials for suitable adaptation, designing appropriate speaking tasks to the learners’ abilities and conducting tests or exams on speaking, teachers can help students actively participate in oral activities.
Limitation and suggestions for further study
Although the study is carefully and clearly designed and based on reliable data, due to the shortage of time, lack of resources and the researcher’s ability, shortcomings are inevitable Firstly, the study is carried out with only 160 first year non-English major students so to some extent, the results may not be generalized for all students of the college Secondly, the researcher only used survey questionnaires and interviews for the research instrument In order to make obtained result more reliable, different instruments for data collection, such as observation, should be applied
Despite the unavoidable limitations, the researcher hopes that this study will be of some value to teachers and students in their language teaching and learning process
This study only concentrates on factor affecting students’ participation in oral activities and makes some suggestions to increase students’ involvement It is likely to affirm that the study has merely mentioned a very small part of teaching and learning English speaking skill There are some suggestions for further researches:
- A study on strategies to increase students’ participation in oral activities
- Another study with a larger scope should be done (not only with the first year students but also with all students at TNCE)
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APPENDIX 1 Survey questionnaire for students
This questionnaire is designed to collect data for the study “ Factors affecting the first year non-English major students’ participation in oral activities: a survey at Thai Nguyen College of Education” It would be extremely helpful if you will truthfully provide the information being asked for and will not leave any items unanswered The data collected are used for the study purpose only Thank you!
1 How is English speaking skill important to you?
A very important B important C little important D not important
2 Why do you learn English speaking?
A because it is a compulsory subject
D to have a good job in the future
3 How do you think about your English speaking ability?
A very good B good C acceptable D Bad E very bad
4 How often do you participate in speaking activities in the class?
A I always take every opportunity to speak English
B I only speak if I like the topic
C I only speak when teacher orders me
D I rarely speak and often keep quiet in speaking lessons
5 How do you evaluate your speaking lessons?
A Boring Most of students are quiet
B Not very interesting Most of students do not want to speak
C All right Many students are very active and willing to speak
D Interesting Most of students participate in speaking lessons
6 How do you think about the given speaking tasks in the course book “ lifelines elementary ” ?
Level of difficulty: 1 difficult 2 not very difficult 3 easy Level of interest: 1 interesting 2 not very interesting 3 boring
No Tasks Level of difficulty Level of interest
1 Making conversation when you meet other people
2 Making conversation when you go shopping
7 What are your difficulties in speaking English?
(You can choose more than one option)
A I always feel shy and nervous when speaking in front of other people
B I am afraid of making mistakes and being laughed by other students
C I want to speak but I do not have enough vocabulary and knowledge of the topic
D I do not have enough time to prepare
E I do not have chances because the better students talk first
8 Which factors affecting your participation in speaking activities?
(You can choose more than one option)
A Difficult or boring topics and activities
C Students’ low level of English proficiency
9 What do you think about your teacher method?
(You can choose more than one option)
B Teacher talks more than students do
C Teacher speaks so quickly that students cannot understand
D Teacher does not carry out various speaking activities
E Teacher is unfriendly and does not create encouraging learning atmosphere in class
10 What should teachers do to increase students ’ participation in speaking lessons? (You can choose more than one option)
A Use various communicative activities (game, information gap, brainstorming…)
B Create a co – operative English learning environment (pair work, group work…)
C Combine textbooks with other relevant sources of materials for suitable adaptation
D Personalize topics and tasks to be suitable for students’ level and interests
Thank you for your cooperation!
APPENDIX 2 Survey questionnaire for teachers
This Questionnaire is designed to collect data for the study “ Factors affecting the first year non- English major students’ participation in oral activities: a survey at Thai Nguyen College of Education” It would be extremely helpful if you will truthfully provide the information being asked for and will not leave any item unanswered The data collected are used for the study purpose only Thank you very much!
1 How is teaching speaking important to you?
2 How much do you feel interested in teaching speaking skills to students?
C Little interested D Not interested at all
3 How do you evaluate your students ’ speaking ability?
A very good B good C acceptable D Bad E very bad
4 What teaching methods are currently being applied in your speaking lesson?
(You can choose more than one option)
5 What kinds of communicative activities do you usually use?
(You can choose more than one option)
2 Questions and answers 7 Information gap
6 How often do you use pair work and group work?
7 What are the problems you are facing in teaching speaking skills?
(You can choose more than one option)
E Difficult or boring topics and activities
8 What should teachers do to increase students ’ participation in speaking lessons? (You can choose more than one option)
A Use various communicative activities (game, information gap, brainstorming…)
B Create a co – operative English learning environment (pair work, group work…)
C Combine textbooks with other relevant sources of materials for suitable adaptation
D Personalize topics and tasks to be suitable for students’ level and interests
Thank you for your cooperation!
APPENDIX 3 Interviews for teachers Interview questions:
1 How do you evaluate speaking topics and tasks in the course book “ lifelines elementary” (in term of difficult level, variety of activities, communicativeness)?
2 In your opinion, which factors affecting your students’ participation in speaking activities?
3 What should teachers do to increase students’ participation in speaking lessons?