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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES IMPROVING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS FOR B-LEVELLED CANDIDATES AT THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE CENTRE OF THE HCMC UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL) Submitted by NGUYỄN THỊ LỆ HẰNG Supervisor ĐOÀN HUỆ DUNG (Ph.D) Ho Chi Minh City, 2006 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis entitled “IMPROVING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS FOR B-LEVELLED CANDIDATES AT THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE CENTRE OF THE HCMC UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES ” is my own work This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institution Ho Chi Minh City, October 16, 2006 Nguyễn Thị Lệ Haèng i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor, Dr Đoàn Huệ Dung, who has provided me with useful advice and great encouragement Without her guidance, I would not have been able to fulfill this thesis I am particularly grateful to Dr Toâ Minh Thanh whose comments and criticisms are of great assistance to me in carrying out this study I extremely appreciate the help of the teachers and the authorities at the USSH FLC who have given me valuable information to carry out the study My special thanks are also for my family and my friends for their love, care and support that helped me complete my study and particularly, this thesis ii ABSTRACT Inspired by the situation problem that learners for B-levelled certificate have acquired low level of oral proficiency and unsatisfactory results in the oral section of the B-levelled national test, this thesis aims at investigating the issues of teaching, learning and testing of speaking skills at the Foreign Language Centre of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH FLC) The study employed a document search and a survey with the participation of 125 learners and 15 teachers and oral examiners before and after the national test held at the USSH FLC in August 28, 2005 Data collected from the learners’ questionnaire and the teachers and oral examiners’ follow-up interviews were triangulated and analysed The findings revealed that: (1) the teaching of speaking skills was not considered essential as shown by the teachers’ limited investment of time in teaching the skills; (2) the prevailing method of teaching employed was traditional with limited grouped interaction and communicative speaking activities; (3) learners showed a lack of strong motivation and self-practice and (4) there was a lack of efficient grading instruments and proper testing procedures in the administration of the B-levelled oral test to ensure its validity, reliability and backwash effect on the teaching and learning of speaking skills for the Blevelled certificate Based on the above findings, feasible recommendations were made with an effort to contribute to the improvement of teaching and learning of speaking skills at the intermediate level (B level) and to the enhancement of beneficial backwash of the B oral test on the teaching and learning of the same skills iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of originality .i Acknowledgement ii Abstract iii Table of contents iv List of tables v List of figures .vi Abbreviations vii INTRODUCTION 0.1 THE SITUATION PROBLEM .1 0.2 THE AIMS OF THE STUDY AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS 0.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 0.4 LIMITATION AND DELIMITATION 0.5 OVERVIEW OF THE CHAPTERS .4 Chapter 1: BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY .6 1.1 LANGUAGE COURSES FOR THE B CERTIFICATE 1.2 COURSE MATERIALS 1.3 LEARNERS’ AND TEACHERS’ PROFILES .7 1.3.1 Learners’ profile 1.3.2 Teachers’ profile 1.4 CLASSROOM FACILITIES 1.5 THE A, B, C NATIONAL TEST IN ENGLISH 1.6 ASSESSMENT OF THE B-LEVELLED ORAL TEST .11 1.7 SUMMARY 11 iv Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 13 2.1 FACTORS AFFECTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF ORAL COMPETENCE IN A SECOND OR FOREIGN LANGUAGE .13 2.1.1 Communicative language competence .13 2.1.2 Comprehensive input and comprehensive output .15 2.1.3 Communication in the classroom .17 2.1.3.1 What is communication? 17 2.1.3.2 Role of communication in the classroom .18 2.1.3.3 Teacher-learner interaction — Teachers’ talk and questions in the target language 19 2.1.3.4 Learner-learner interaction – paired and grouped interaction 21 2.1.4 Fluency and accuracy activities 22 2.1.5 Motivation and its role in language learning 24 2.2 SOME CRUCIAL ISSUES IN TESTING AND TESTING OF ORAL PROFICIENCY COMMUNICATIVELY 26 2.2.1 Test types — Achievement tests and proficiency tests .26 2.2.2 Effect of testing on teaching and learning – Backwash or washback 28 2.2.3 Communicative Language Testing 29 2.2.4 Basic concepts in test design — Qualities of a communicative test 30 2.2.4.1 Validity 31 2.2.4.2 Face validity 31 2.2.4.3 Content Validity 32 2.2.4.4 Construct Validity 32 2.2.4.5 Reliability 33 2.2.4.6 Authenticity .34 2.2.4.7 Practicality .34 2.3 SUMMARY 35 v Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY .36 3.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 36 3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN 37 3.2.1 Subjects .37 3.2.1.1 The learner subjects 38 3.2.1.2 The teacher subjects (also the oral examiners) .39 3.2.2 Instruments 40 3.2.2.1 Questionnaires for the learner subjects 40 3.2.2.2 Follow-up interviews for the teacher subjects and oral examiners 41 3.2.3 Data Collection Procedures 42 3.3 SUMMARY 43 Chapter 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 45 4.1 LEARNERS’ RESPONSES TO THE QUESTIONNAIRE 45 4.1.1 Learners’ motivation 45 4.1.1.1 Learners’ attitudes towards learning how to speak in English 46 4.1.1.2 Learners’ mode of motivation in learning English 47 4.1.1.3 Learners’ participation in English classrooms .49 4.1.2 Patterns of classroom interaction .50 4.1.3 Employment of speaking activities in the practice stage 53 4.1.4 Learners’ difficulties in practicing speaking English 56 4.1.5 Learners’ self practice of speaking skills outside the classroom .59 4.1.6 Summary of the findings from the learners’ questionnaire 60 4.2 RESPONSES FROM THE FOLLOW-UP INTERVIEWS WITH TEACHERS 61 4.2.1 Interviews with teachers about the teaching of speaking skills 62 4.2.2 Summary on teachers’ interview .65 4.3 RESPONSES FROM THE FOLLOW-UP INTERVIEWS WITH ORAL EXAMINERS 66 4.4 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS 70 vi Chapter 5: RECOMMENDATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS .73 5.1 MOVING TOWARDS COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING (CLT) .73 5.1.1 Change of teaching materials 74 5.1.2 Training of teachers for CLT .74 5.1.3 Reassignment of teachers to be exclusively in charge of teaching speaking 75 5.2 SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS .75 5.2.1 Arousing learners’ intrinsic motivation .75 5.2.2 Building rapport among learners as well as between teachers and learners 75 5.2.3 Maximising grouped interaction 77 5.2.4 Conducting more communicative speaking activities 77 5.3 SUGGESTIONS FOR LEARNERS .78 5.3.1 Taping learners’ own talks 78 5.3.2 Joining speaking clubs 79 5.3.3 Chatting on-line 79 5.4 UPGRADING THE B-LEVELLED CERTIFICATE TO CREATE BENEFICIAL BACKWASH ON THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF SPEAKING SKILLS FOR B-LEVELLED LEARNERS 80 5.4.1 Building awareness of the aims and objectives of the B-levelled oral test .80 5.4.2 Careful planning and conducting oral tests 81 5.4.2.1 Availability of oral examiners 81 5.4.2.2 Availability of time 81 5.4.2.3 Training oral examiners on elicitation procedures and grading process 82 5.4.2.4 Test resources 84 5.5 SUMMARY 85 CONCLUSION 86 REFERENCES 88 vii APPENDICES Appendix 1A Learners’ questionnaire (in Vietnamese) I Appendix 1B Learners’ questionnaire (in English translation) III Appendix 2A Teachers’ interview questions (in Vietnamese) IV Appendix 2B Teachers’ interview questions (in English translation) IV Appendix 3A Oral examiners’ interview questions (in Vietnamese) V Appendix 3B Oral examiners’ interview questions (English translation) V Appendix A sample of lesson unit of the Streamline English DestinationStudent’s book V Appendix A sample of lesson plan of the Streamline English DestinationTeacher’s edition VI Appendix Examples of communicative speaking activities .VII Appendix Blueprint for assessing B-levelled candidates – USSH FLC X Appendix Ranking chart of the B-levelled national test and other national tests and international test XV Appendix A sample of oral topics at the B-levelled oral test XV Appendix 10 Results of the B-levelled oral test on August 28, 2005 XVI viii LIST OF TABLES CHAPTER Table 4.1 Learners’ attitudes towards learning how to speak English 46 Table 4.2a Learners’ extrinsic motivation 48 Table 4.2b Learners’ intrinsic motivation 48 Table 4.3 Frequency of class attendance 49 Table 4.4 Patterns of classroom interaction 50 Table 4.5 Employment of speaking activities in the classroom 54 Table 4.6 Learners’ difficulties in practicing speaking English 57 Table 4.7 Learners’ self practice of speaking skills outside the classroom 59 ix 10.4 Thuyết trình 10.5 Chơi trò chơi 10.6 Tập đóng kịch theo tình 10.7 Tranh luận nhóm PHẦN 4: NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN CẢN TRỞ VIỆC LUYỆN NÓI TIẾNG ANH 11 Những khó khăn sau cản trở bạn tích cực tham gia luyện nói tiếng Anh lớp học Difficulties 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 E ngại, lo sợ phải nói trước nhiều người Thiếu thói quen giao tiếp học Nội dung, chủ đề nói không thú vị Thiếu chuẩn bị kỹ trước nói Lớp học có nhiều trình độ khác Lớp học đông Đồng ý Không có ý kiến Không đồng ý PHẦN 5: VIỆC TỰ HỌC KỸ NĂNG NÓI BÊN NGOÀI LỚP HỌC 12 Ngoài học lớp (kể thời gian bạn học tiếng Anh nơi khác), bạn luyện nói cách sau đây? Xin bạn cho biết mức độ thường xuyên hoạt động này? Mức độ thường xuyên Luyện nói học Chưa bao Hiếm Thỉnh Thường Luôn lớp thoảng xuyên 12.1 Nói 12.2 Nói tiếng Anh với bạn 12.3 Tham gia câu lạc tiếng Anh 12.4 Làm quen với người nước để luyện nói tiếng Anh Xin cảm ơn bạn Chúc bạn gặt hái nhiều thành công việc học tiếng Anh II APPENDIX 1B LEARNERS’ QUESTIONNAIRE (IN ENGLISH TRANSLATION) Date: …………………………………… PART 1: PERSONAL INFORMATION Full name: ……… Contact number: ……………… Sex: 2.1 Male 2.2 Female Age: … How long have you been learning English? 4.1 Under year 4.2 From to years 4.3 Above years Have you been learning English for B certificate at the USSH FLC? 5.1 Yes 5.2 No PHẦN 2: ĐỘNG CƠ HỌC TẬP Which is your main reason for learning English at this FLC? 6.1 Meet the requirements for college/university graduation 6.2 Look for better job opportunities 6.3 Show my love of English, English-speaking countries and their associated cultures 6.4 Show my English competence Do you like to practise speaking English? 7.1 Yes, I 7.2 No, I don’t Do you attend class regularly? 8.1 Regular 8.2 Non regular PART 3: PATTERNS OF CLASSROOM INTERACTION AND THE EMPLOYMENT OF SPEAKING ACTIVITIES Please state the level of frequency in which these patterns of interaction happen in your classroom Frequency Teacher-learner interaction and learner-learner Some interaction Never Rarely Usually Always times 9.1 Individual to teacher 9.2 Whole class to teacher 9.3 Pairs with teacher’s feedback 9.4 Groups of 3-6 with teacher’s feedback 10 Please state the level of frequency in which these speaking activities happen in your classroom Speaking activities Never Drills Questions and answers about texts/dialogues Talks about learners’ own experience Topic presentations Games III Rarely Frequency SomeUsually times Always Role plays Group debates PART4: DIFFICULTIES 11 Which of the below difficulties hinder you from fully participating speaking practice in the classroom? Difficulties 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 Agree Anxious about one’s competence Unfamiliar with speaking activities Not-well prepared Uninteresting topics Multi-levelled classes Too crowded classes No opinion Disagree PART 5: SELF-PRACTICE OF SPEAKING SKILLS OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM 12 Please state the level of frequency you manage to practise speaking English outside the classroom Frequency Learners’ self practice Someof speaking skills Never Rarely Usually Always times 12.1 Talk to yourself 12.2 Talk to friends 12.3 Join English-speaking clubs 12.4 Seek for Englishspeaking foreigners to talk with Thank you Wish you success in learning English Câu hỏi 1: Câu hỏi 2: Câu hỏi 3: Câu hỏi 4: APPENDIX 2A TEACHERS’ INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (IN VIETNAMESE) Thầy/cô phân bố thời gian dạy kỹ nói lớp nào? Vì sao? Thầy/cô gặp phải khó khăn việc dạy kỹ nói? Giao tiếp học viên giáo viên học viên với thường diễn hình thức nào? Vì sao? Thầy/cô thường tổ chức họat động luyện nói gì? APPENDIX 2B TEACHERS’ INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (IN VIETNAMESE) Question 1: Question 2: Question 3: Question 4: How you spend your time teaching speaking skills? Please explain why What difficulties you face in teaching speaking skills? What is your most preferrable patterns of interaction in the speaking classroom? What speaking activities you usually employ? IV APPENDIX 3A ORAL EXAMINERS’ INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (IN VIETNAMESE) Câu hỏi 1: Câu hỏi 2: Câu hỏi 3: Câu hỏi 4: Xin cho biết nhận xét thầy/cô hình thức kỳ thi vấn đáp B TTNN ĐHXH&NV? (loại hình đánh giá? Đề thi?) Xin cho biết nhận xét thầy/cô qui trình tổ chức kỳ thi vấn đáp B TTNN ĐHXH&NV? (Thời gian vấn đáp? Công việc cụ thể giám khảo) Thầy/cô có nhận xét chung trình độ thí sinh thi B? Thầy/cô đánh giá lực giao tiếp thí sinh thi B dựa sở nào? APPENDIX 3B ORAL EXAMINERS’ INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (IN ENGLISH TRANSLATION) Question 1: Question 2: Question 3: Question 4: What you think about the formats of the B-oral test (test types? The oral topics?) Please describe the procedures of the B oral test? What you think about the test procedures? What is your general comment of the B candidates’ oral proficiency? How you grade B candidates? APPENDIX A SAMPLE LESSON UNIT THE STREAMLINE ENGLISH DESTINATION (Student’s book) V APPENDIX A SAMPLE LESSON PLAN THE STREAMLINE ENGLISH DESTINATION (Teacher’s edition) VI APPENDIX EXAMPLES OF COMMUNICATIVE SPEAKING ACTIVITIES Information Gap Activities (From http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/speaking/developspeak.htm) Filling the gaps in a schedule or timetable: Partner A holds an airline timetable with some of the arrival and departure times missing Partner B has the same timetable but with different blank spaces The two partners are not permitted to see each other's timetables and must fill in the blanks by asking each other appropriate questions The features of language that are practiced would include questions beginning with "when" or "at what time." Answers would be limited mostly to time expressions like "at 8:15" or "at ten in the evening." Completing the picture: The two partners have similar pictures, each with different missing details, and they cooperate to find all the missing details In another variation, no items are missing, but similar items differ in appearance For example, in one picture, a man walking along the street may be wearing an overcoat, while in the other the man is wearing a jacket The features of grammar and vocabulary that are practiced are determined by the content of the pictures and the items that are missing or different Differences in the activities depicted lead to practice of different verbs Differences in number, size, and shape lead to adjective practice Differing locations would probably be described with prepositional phrases Jigsaw Activities (From http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/speaking/developspeak.htm) Jigsaw activities are more elaborate information gap activities that can be done with several partners In a jigsaw activity, each partner has one or a few pieces of the "puzzle," and the partners must cooperate to fit all the pieces into a whole picture The puzzle piece may take one of several forms It may be one panel from a comic strip or one photo from a set that tells a story It may be one sentence from a written narrative It may be a tape recording of a conversation, in which case no two partners hear exactly the same conversation In one fairly simple jigsaw activity, students work in groups of four Each student in the group receives one panel from a comic strip Partners may not show each other their panels Together the four panels present this narrative: a man takes a container of ice cream from the freezer; he serves himself several scoops of ice cream; he sits in front of the TV eating his ice cream; he returns with the empty bowl to the kitchen and finds that he left the container of ice cream, now melting, on the kitchen counter These pictures have a clear narrative line and the partners are not likely to disagree about the appropriate sequencing You can make the task more demanding, however, by using pictures that lend themselves to alternative sequences, so that the partners have to negotiate among themselves to agree on a satisfactory sequence More elaborate jigsaws may proceed in two stages Students first work in input groups (groups A, B, C, and D) to receive information Each group receives a different part of the total information for the task Students then reorganize into groups of four with one student each from A, B, C, and D, and use the information they received to complete the task Such an organization could be used, for example, when the input is given in the form of a tape recording Groups A, B, C, and D each hear a different recording of a short news bulletin The four recordings all contain the same general information, but each has one or more details that the others not In the second stage, students reconstruct the complete story by comparing the four versions VII Find the Differences (From http://www.waze.net/oea/activities/23#Resources) ▶Duration: 10–15 ▶Aim: Oral fluency practice ▶Summary: Students speak in order to find the differences between two similar pictures Go back to Oral English Activites INTRODUCTION This is a well-known activity, and a classic example of the principle of an "information gap" in communicative activities If you put two pictures in front of a pair of students and tell them to talk about the differences, there is not much to motivate them But if you arrange the activity so that each student only sees one picture, then an information gap is created Cooperating with their partner to identify the differences becomes an act of genuine communication Although suitable pairs of pictures are provided in many modern textbooks, this activity is included here to remind teachers that it is not too difficult to create picture pairs by oneself, especially with access to the internet For example, cartoons can be adapted A suitable picture can be found to fit with almost any theme-based lesson PREPARATION The first step is to find a suitable picture These might come from books and magazines, or from the internet For example, try a search on Google Images (note that the Advanced Image Search allows you to limit your results to black and white, or a particular size) There are also several websites which sell cartoons online, such as CartoonStock In Discussions that Work (Cambridge University Press, 1981), Penny Ur writes: "The preparation of such pictures is fairly simple and fun to You need a black and white line drawing (not photograph) with a fair amount of detail but without shades of grey (these not reproduce well) The content of the drawing should not entail vocabulary beyond the level of the students You photocopy it and then make the requisite number of alterations to the original drawing, using either a black fibre-tip pen (for additions) or white type-correcting fluid (for erasures)." Alternatively, the modifications could be done on a computer using even the simplest "paint" application If you create any picture pairs in this way, please send them to us for inclusion on this page See the Resources section for examples You need to make enough copies so that each student will receive either one copy of "Version A" or one copy of "Version B" PROCEDURE If the students are already familiar with the concept, then you just need to repeat the "check" questions But the first time you this activity, it is helpful to explain the concept using the blackboard: draw two simple pictures with one or two differences and explain that partners will each receive one version They must not show their pictures to each other, instead they have to talk to each other and circle the n differences Check: Are these pictures the same? (no) How many differences are there? (n) Can you show your partner? (no) What you when you find a difference? (circle it) After the activity, you can either provide the answers, or elicit the answers from the students, or simply tell the students to put the pictures side by side so that they can check whether the differences they found really exist or not RESOURCES Dentist Cartoon VIII This cartoon (drawn by Adey Bryant, and found on CartoonStock) depicts a dentist holding a stick of dynamite behind his back, saying to the patient "I have to remove all your teeth": dentist_diffs.doc (html preview) The differences: window on door, dentist's spectacles, patient's missing tooth, extra pedal under chair, extra finger holding dynamite RATING: This activity does not demand any real conversation per se, but it is a motivating and enjoyable communicative speaking activity Furthermore, it can be adapted for almost any lesson, and is good for filling a 15 minute gap in a lesson plan IX APPENDIX BLUE PRINT FOR ASSESSING B-LEVELLED CANDIDATES X XI XII XIII Tiêu chí loại hình tập đánh giá kỹ nói XIV APPENDIX RANKING CHART OF THE B-LEVELLED NATIONAL TEST WITH OTHER NATIONAL TEST AND INTERNATIONAL TEST APPENDIX A SAMPLE OF THE ORAL TOPICS OF THE B-LEVELLED ORAL TEST XV APPENDIX 10 RESULTS OF THE B-LEVELLED ORAL TEST ON AUGUST 28, 2005 XVI
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