MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY VO THANH TU FACTORS FOSTERING COMMUNICATION IN ENGLISH CLASSROOMS A STUDY ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE MAJORS AT TERTIARY LEVEL Field Theory and Methodolo[.]
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY VO THANH TU FACTORS FOSTERING COMMUNICATION IN ENGLISH CLASSROOMS: A STUDY ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE MAJORS AT TERTIARY LEVEL Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching Code: 8140111 Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, Assoc.Prof.Dr BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƢỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN VÕ THANH TÚ CÁC YẾU TỐ THÚC ĐẨY GIAO TIẾP TRONG LỚP HỌC TIẾNG ANH: NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁC CHUYÊN NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH Ở CẤP BẬC ĐẠI HỌC Chuyên ngành: Lý Luận Phƣơng Pháp dạy học môn Tiếng Anh Mã số: 8140111 Ngƣời hƣớng dẫn: PGS.TS Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền i DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP The thesis entitled ―Factors Fostering Communication in English Classrooms: A Study On English Language Majors at Tertiary Level‖ is conducted under the supervision of Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, a lecturer working at Quy Nhon University I declare that the information reported in this study is the result of my own work and effort, except where due reference is made The thesis has not been accepted for any degree and is not simultaneously submitted to any candidature for any degree or diploma ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Without the support, encouragement, and contributions from Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, colleagues, friends and family, the successful completion of this study work would not have been possible I take this chance to appreciate them for their useful advice and invaluable comments, and time They have always been by my side and helped me enrich my knowledge and made my master thesis graduate journey a memorable chapter in my life First and foremost, I am grateful to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, for her amazing supervision Her knowledge and profession teaching-related expertise inspired me greatly during my studying at Quy Nhon University, and she opened new horizons for me in every field I profoundly appreciate her accommodating guidelines and suggestions, great patience, and strong management skills in helping me resolve the obstacles whenever I had difficulties in my thesis I am very lucky to have had her support for my work This study was made achievable by the presence of the enthusiastic students at Quy Nhon University in Quy Nhon City, who devoted their time taking part in this study I was also thankful to my colleagues for their fascinating assistance, encouragement and management during this phase I feel fortunate to know all of them Last, but not least, I am grateful to all the support that I received from my beloved parents throughout my thesis education iii ABSTRACT In this modern world, communication skills play a vital role and one must have mastery over these skills to get success in their respective fields So, speaking is the most important skill among all the four language skills in order to communicate well in this global world However, it is a fact that there are some challenges for EFL learners when they deal with speaking skills This study aims at identifying some factors that help students foster their communication skills This was done by quantitative and qualitative methods with two instruments, namely questionnaire and interview Moreover, the study also applied observation as another method to identify what activities were popularly used to enhance the learners‘ speaking abilities Results showed four factors that got strong agreement from participants They are Teaching activities, Team work, Classroom environment and Intrinsic motivation Moreover, Role-play and Group work are two activities which got positive responses The results of this study can help instructors and researchers take into account the speaking requirements of their language students in the context of English language teaching and learning iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF TABLES viii CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aim and Objectives 1.2.1 Aim of the Study 1.2.2 Objectives of the Study 1.3 Research Questions 1.4 Scope of the Study 1.5 Significance of the Study 1.6 Organization of the study CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Communicative Competence 2.1.1 Oral and Written Communication 2.1.2 Challenges in Oral Communication 10 2.2 Factors affecting oral communication 12 2.2.1 Psychological factors 12 2.2.2 Context factors 13 2.2.3 Teacher’s and Learner’s attitudes toward English Speaking 14 2.3 Factors fostering communication in English classrooms 17 2.3.1 Teaching activities 17 2.3.2 Teamwork 18 2.3.3 Students – Students’ interaction 20 v 2.3.4 Supportive relationships 21 2.3.5 Classroom environment 22 2.3.6 Task instruction 24 2.3.7 Feedback 25 2.3.7.1 Positive feedback 26 2.3.7.2 Negative feedback 27 2.3.8 Intrinsic Motivation 28 2.4 Speaking activities developing communication in English classrooms 29 2.4.1 Role-play 30 2.4.2 Group work 31 2.4.3 Pair work 31 2.4.4 Interviews/ Talk shows 31 2.4.5 Games 32 2.4.6 Debate 32 2.4.7 Storytelling 33 2.5 Previous studies on the factors fostering speaking skills 33 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 36 3.1 Research design 36 3.2 The research setting and participants 37 3.3 Research Instruments 38 3.3.1 Observation 39 3.3.2 Questionnaires survey 40 3.3.3 Interview 42 3.4 Procedures for data collection 43 3.4.1 Observation 43 3.4.2 Questionnaire 44 3.4.3 Interview 45 3.5 Procedures for data analysis 45 vi 3.6 Ethical considerations 46 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 47 4.1 Factors fostering communication in English classrooms from Teachers‘ and Students‘ perspectives 47 4.1.1 Findings from Students’ questionnaire 47 4.1.1.1 Teaching activities 47 4.1.1.2 Team work 49 4.1.1.3 Students – Students’ interaction 50 4.1.1.4 Supportive relationships 51 4.1.1.5 Classroom environment 52 4.1.1.6 Task instruction 53 4.1.1.7 Feed back 54 4.1.1.8 Intrinsic motivation 55 4.1.2 Findings from Teachers’ questionnaire 56 4.1.2.1 Teaching activities 56 4.1.2.3 Students – Students’ interaction 58 4.1.2.4 Supportive relationships 59 4.1.2.5 Classroom environment 60 4.1.2.6 Task instruction 61 4.1.2.7 Feed back 61 4.1.2.8 Intrinsic motivation 62 4.2 Findings from observation 63 4.2.1 The overview of observation 63 4.2.2 Results of the observation 64 CHAPTER CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 71 5.1 Conclusion 71 5.2 Teaching implications 73 5.3 Limitations of the study 74 vii 5.4 Suggestion for further research 75 REFERENCES 76 APPENDICES viii LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 The Reliability of Students‘ questionnaire 41 Table 3.2 The Reliability of Teachers‘ questionnaire 41 Table 4.1 Students‘ perception of Teaching activities 47 Table 4.2 Students‘ perception of Team work 49 Table 4.3 Students‘ perception of Students – Students‘ interaction 50 Table 4.4 Students‘ perception of Supportive relationships 51 Table 4.5 Students‘ perception of Classroom environment 52 Table 4.6 Students‘ perception of Task instruction 53 Table 4.7 Students‘ perception of Feed back 54 Table 4.8 Students‘ perception of Intrinsic motivation 55 Table 4.9 Teachers‘ perception of Teaching activities 56 Table 4.10 Teachers‘ perception of Teamwork 57 Table 4.11 Teachers‘ perception of Students – Students‘ interaction 58 Table 4.12 Teachers‘ perception of Supportive relationship 59 Table 4.13 Teachers‘ perception of Classroom environment 60 Table 4.14 Teachers‘ perception of Task instruction 61 Table 4.15 Teachers‘ perception of Feed back 61 Table 4.16 Teachers‘ perception of Intrinsic motivation 62 Table 4.17 Times using English speaking activities 64 Table 4.18 Observation checklist of the first online class 64 Table 4.19 Observation checklist of the second online class 65 Table 4.20 Observation checklist of the third online class 66 Table 4.21 The findings from three classrooms‘ observation 67 ... Debate and Storytelling 1.5 Significance of the Study This study concentrated on the factors fostering communication in EFL speaking classrooms at tertiary level and speaking activities that... DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP The thesis entitled ? ?Factors Fostering Communication in English Classrooms: A Study On English Language Majors at Tertiary Level? ?? is conducted under the supervision of Assoc... modeling, a model including willingness to communicate in English, communication confidence, motivation, learner beliefs, and classroom environment was assessed Exploratory factor analyses on a dataset