Improving the speaking skills for elementary adult learners at the center for foreign studies, nong lam university

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE GRADUATE SECTION IMPROVING THE SPEAKING SKILLS FOR ELEMENTARY ADULT LEARNERS AT THE CENTER FOR FOREIGN STUDIES, NONG LAM UNIVERSITY A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL) Supervisor: DO HUY THINH, Ph.D Student: DO CHAU CUC PHUONG HO CHI MINH CITY SEPTEMBER 2006 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I would like to express my thanks to my supervisor, Dr Đỗ Huy Thịnh, whom I owe a great debt of gratitude His sympathy and invaluable comments have given me confidence and motivation to overcome the family and personal difficulties that I faced in the two years 2004 & 2005 I am greatly indebted to the organizers of the Master course, the Department of English Linguistics and Literature, Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities, the staff members, and all my instructors who have assisted me during the course I would like to thank the teachers at the Center for Foreign Studies, Nông Lâm University who have offered favorable conditions for my thesis data collection and all the learners of classes of 100A, 100A1, 100A2 at the two annexes Chu Văn An and Tôn Đức Thắng for their helpful responses to the survey questionnaires My sincere thanks go to my colleagues and my friends, especially Ms Võ Thị Phương Oanh, Ms Phạm Thị Thắm, Ms Lương Ngọc Phương Anh, Ms Lê Nguyễn Hồng Vân, Ms Võ Phước Như Hảo, Ms Nguyễn Thị Lan Hương, Mr Đinh Trường Sinh, Ms Ngô Phan Lan Dung for their support and encouragement in my fulfillment of the thesis Finally, I would like to show my deep gratitude to my dear father and mother, my sisters and brothers for their love, sacrifice and support Also I wish to send my thanks to you, the one who is always by my side Your encouragement, understanding and great care have lifted me up when I am down ii CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION This thesis is to study the needs for English learning in Vietnam, explore the existing problems and current methodologies in teaching English nowadays, and suggest improvements in methodology The research is conducted and aimed for teaching English speaking skills for adults at elementary level in the Center for Foreign Studies, Nong Lam University 1.1 Rationale English has been the international language for hundreds of years In Vietnam, although French and Russian are also popular, English has been the dominant foreign language taught in high schools for long However, it was not much in use until the country opened up to business in the world market, marked by the “Doi Moi” policy (Reform policy) in 1986 Since then, Vietnam saw big growths in economy and cultural exchange activities Vietnam becomes one of the biggest exporters of rice, coffee, pepper, and aqua products Up to now, foreign investors have put about USD 34 billion investment in many industries More and more tourists are visiting Vietnam Moreover, the country has been exposing itself to the integration and globalization Vietnam becomes ASEAN member since 1995, APEC member since 1998, and hopefully WTO member in 2006 or early 2007 Vietnam is the host of many ASEAN events, and 2006 APEC Summit The economic and cultural integration set a great demand of English communication People with intermediate English who can understand and communicate basic issues used to be highly appreciated back to ten years ago Many people landed good jobs because they could speak English Nowadays, however, English competence is almost mandatory for anyone who wishes to go to school or work for a company For students, while English courses are required in most semesters, those with good English skills can benefit from the huge knowledge available English textbooks (especially for high-tech programs), and out there on the internet English competence is also number one concern for students who wish to go to international schools or study abroad Working people use English in all kinds of communication, including emails, contracts, documents, meetings, training courses, business trips… Since communication is the most important to management and business, people with better English definitely get more chances to success Since the need for English communication just came up and the demanding level has been going up so fast in recent years, a lot of adults find themselves in trouble to keep up with this rapid pace Compared to young learners, adults face a lot of difficulties in learning a foreign language Most adults not have continuous learning When they go to an English class, they find themselves among many other people with different backgrounds and different pieces of English they pick from work, some books, or some teachers To put things together is just as hard as to fix a broken picture Another problem faced by adult learners is that pronunciation is harder to learn when people get older Back to their high school time, they did not have good opportunities to study pronunciation in a standard lab like young and teenage learners nowadays During their school years, they could be provided with a fairly good knowledge of vocabulary, grammar structures and writing but their pronunciation skill seemed to be ignored due to the teaching criteria and system at that time When the age is up, it is more and more difficult for them to improve pronunciation because the articulation parts are becoming “hard” and not as “flexible” In addition, they have found no strategies to compensate for the limited linguistic knowledge in oral communication Mother tongue dependency is another difficulty People have used one language for so many years and there is no readiness for another language to come up in mind When a learner speaks or writes, usually the sentences come in their native language, and then the sentences are translated to English With this method of reproduction, adult learners cannot really use the English language Adult learners are also reported to have psychological problem They not have confidence and tend to pull them backwards These learners find themselves quite embarrassed in participating in English conversations They cannot respond readily as they wish When they are to speak, they cannot associate words with thought or they react very slowly At the end of the day, most learners passively sit and keep quiet in a corner More or less, adult learners are bound by time and energy limit Unlike young children, they have to work and more things to care for in life This is blamed to be the reason for a larger number of learners who start so many times but never pass beginners’ level Since the above mentioned difficulties are known and some of them, e.g “hard” articulation, are hard to improve, a lot of hope is put in finding the right programs at the right language schools In recent years, learners have more and more options to choose, from low cost to high quality While common courses offers as low cost as 700.000 VND, premium courses are facilitated with modern projector and lab, comfortable air-conditioned room, where they learn to speak with native speaking teachers and in small groups For the language schools and centers that choose to offer common courses, course syllabus and teaching methodology are put on more weight to make up for the facility shortcoming Most common language centers are set up by universities and high schools, which serve students and working people Although the courses are open for all ages, most learners are from 20 to 40 years old Among these centers, Nong Lam University’s Center for Foreign Studies has been known in the past few years for its innovative methodology and diversified syllabus, which is appealing to be chosen for this thesis 1.2 Aims of the study The thesis aims to identify problems arising in oral English class built for adult learners at the CFS, Nong Lam University In order to this, a survey will be carried out to explore learners’ experience in learning English, their expectations as well as their personal characteristics Given the findings, the study will end up with practical solutions to improve the teaching and learning of spoken English for Vietnamese learners, especially those in elementary level While there are a lot of studies for English-majored issues carried out, it appears that not much consideration has been taken into the field of nonmajored English Also, all the time spending in CFS to teach speaking skills for adult learners, having an empathy with them, the researcher finds it urgent to something for them By investigating the current teaching and learning situation at CFS, the thesis aims to suggest possibilities to improve oral skills for elementary adult learners at Nong Lam University’s Center for Foreign Studies 1.3 Overview of the study The thesis includes six main chapters Chapter serves as the introduction of the study, which identifies the problems and provides an overview of the thesis Chapter provides the background of the study It describes the learning environment and situation of the adult learners, the learners’ and teachers’ characteristics for an understanding of what to be addressed in later parts Chapter reviews the relevant literature Chapter presents the methodology of the study involving data collection from learners and how the study conducted Chapter processes, analyzes the data collected and discusses the findings Chapter draws a conclusion and provides solutions with recommended techniques, strategies and suggests areas for further research CHAPTER TWO BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY Chapter presents the background information which is essential for an understanding of the problems mentioned in the thesis The first part is to give an overview on the English course at the Center for Foreign Studies (CFS), Nong Lam University The second part is the reflection of the situation of teaching and teaching staff at CFS The third one provides learners’ profiles, their background knowledge and learning experience 2.1 A description of the English course at CFS, Nong Lam university: This section aims at providing sufficient information about the learning condition as well as the state of being of the English course at CFS, so that the study can be tracked with ease The English training program at CFS consists of many levels from elementary to advance Each course lasts 12 weeks, in which the four skills listening, speaking, reading and writing are taught The objective of the course is to help learners get familiar with all the skills to the Pre-Toefl and Toefl tests Also, learners are trained to get the English certificates level A, B In this thesis, the elementary level is focused because it is the first step to help learners with the right background to get to the advanced level Spoken English is one among other compulsory skills which are designed in the teaching syllabus at the center to build the background knowledge of English and to develop the ability to use it in communication At CFS, the classes at elementary levels are named 100A, 100B During 12 weeks, learners at the first level have to take consecutive periods of spoken English per week, which means 60 periods of the whole course By the end of the course, learners of these two classes are expected to be able to carry on daily conversations in simple English, such as how to introduce to each other, how to start or end a conversation, to make offers and request, to call and answer the phone, how to make an invitation They are hoped to build more confidence in pronunciation as well to have a background and move on to the next level Also, learners are required to take the midterm test and final test to check their progress 2.2 Teaching Material The main course book to teach spoken English for the 100A and 100B classes is KnowHow by Therese Naber, and Angela Blackwell, Oxford University Press In fact, this is not the book for the real purpose of teaching speaking skill because it is an integrated book, in which the four skills listening, speaking, reading and writing are developed However, it is chosen for the speaking period at the elementary level at CF because it has the following features: • It is for young adults and adults It covers the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing with particular emphasis on listening and speaking • The primary goal of the course book is to teach communicative competence, that is, the ability to communicate in English according to the situation, purpose, and roles of the participants Throughout the course, learners have the opportunity to personalize the language they learn, to make use of their own world knowledge and to express their ideas and opinions • The course book (level one) takes learners from false beginner to lowintermediate level It also prepares them to make the transition from the classroom to the real world • Speaking skills are a focus of KnowHow Many elements in the course book (e.g., grammar, functions, topics, listening, pronunciation, vocabulary) provide support for oral communication The pronunciation is treated as one integral part of oral proficiency in this book The pronunciation exercises focus on important features of spoken English, including stress, rhythm, intonation, reductions, linking sounds, and sound contrasts These help learners to produce natural-sounding speech • The whole book (level one) consists of 16 units, each presents two main topics 2.3 Learners’ profile: English is not only a compulsory subject for pupils and students but it is also a necessity for most people in life The needs and demands for studying English are increasing more and more Thus, a lot of people rush to foreign language centers to study English Learners in most foreign language centers are from various backgrounds and different ages But the majority of them are young adults and adults Some from the central and southern provinces, some from big cities but most of them want to stay in Ho Chi Minh City permanently to live and work • Young adults aged between 18 and 29 Most of them are students and working people They all have a basic background in English Students have already studied English at high schools for years However, English was not taught as a primary subject in high schools and furthermore, under Grammar-Translation Methodology, all EFL classrooms were teacher-directed, students passively received the lessons English seemed to be taught for reading and writing purpose not for verbal communication and therefore, speaking and listening were 70 CHAPTER SIX CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS With findings in chapter 5, this chapter reports several conclusions and offers recommendations to improve EFL speaking teaching and learning for elementary adult learners at CFS, Nong Lam University 6.1 Conclusions The results of the study indicate that Vietnamese adult learners have positive attitudes and motivations towards learning English Speaking and listening are given high-priority ratings However, the big gap between the ratings of skill priorities shows an unbalanced tendency in learning English of this population, thus this should be reconsidered to adjust Data collected from the questionnaires with learners and interviews with teachers show that the amount of exposure to English environment of learners is limited In such an EFL setting, they have few chances to access a real English community to improve oral communication Learners have negative feelings towards English speaking clubs As mentioned before in the discussion and findings, going to speaking clubs is jumping in at the deep end, forcing themselves to go outside to search for someone with whom we can practice the language Then somehow learners will think that this can take away all joy in learning the language In speaking class, they can understand teacher instruction but some show passive participation and unwilling performance It can be explained by the dominant role of the Grammar-Translation method in EFL context in Vietnam The GrammarTranslation method, in which grammar-based teaching method is paid much attention and spoken English is usually ignored, has shaped Vietnamese learners into some kind of inactive learning style and focus their attentions on analyzing grammar rules or several reading texts In addition, the English 67 proficiency evaluation in high schools or universities can account for that Testing and assessment are usually in forms of written examinations instead of oral tests, which discourages them to practice speaking English in class As a matter of fact, Vietnamese learners have made a habit of using mothertongue in class, even in an English-speaking one Meanwhile, the issue of using Vietnamese in elementary-level speaking class turns into a controversial debate The study points out that Vietnamese learner encounter serious problems with English pronunciation, stress and intonation This usually leads to communication breakdowns As a consequence, many adult learners rank it to be top priority to care for Their effort in learning pronunciation, unfortunately, has become even a barrier to speaking effectiveness for a native-like pronunciation demand Affective factors such as self-esteem, anxiety, inhibition, age have a great influence on learners’ oral communication Usually young adult learners are more confident, show less anxiety and shyness, have lower self-esteem than the older ones As mature adults, they may try to keep their self-esteem afloat (i.e maintain “face”), don’t like being laughed at or being corrected in front of class because it is an extremely humiliating experience being a fool of themselves in public The feeling of using a new language can be like that of wearing fancy dress Children not fear fancy dress – they enjoy wearing it Adults vary tremendously – some feeling very self-conscious Aging, therefore, also plays a prime role in language learning However, the more childlike an adult language learner can be, the more easily they can learn a new language The most important finding is in the communicative competence of learners The results indicate that learners are not well-equipped with good communication strategies In fact, facing a communication problem, they usually appeal for peers’ or teacher’s assistance, or even turn to Vietnamese 68 Whilst there are many more strategies that should be called into action to compensate for their insufficient linguistic knowledge in the target language Technology such as multimedia labs, self-study software, and computerassisted language learning products has been given attention in English learning and teaching Although no prior knowledge in multimedia is mostly reported among the learners, they have very positive attitudes towards using it to learn English From the interview, much information about the current teaching methodology is collected The Grammar-Translation method, here and there, still plays an influential role in the speaking class for its own sake In addition, teachers face resistance from learners when they adapt Communicative Language Teaching Learners seem to be so familiar with the Grammar Translation Method that they become reluctant speakers Apart from that, some teachers point to the lack of sociolinguistic competence and cultural competence to take away their confidence in an English speaking class “KnowHow”, the current speaking course book for elementary learners at CFS is considered satisfactory at the selection of suitable level of difficulty for learners to follow smoothly As for some teachers, the book brings comfort teaching with an abundant source of printable communicative activities on OUP website However, there are some topics like food and sports are not suitable for Vietnamese learners And the narrow and rigid design of speaking activities makes a few teachers uneasy to cope with Last but not least, the physical setting (i.e noise distraction, fixed seats facing forward, not enough lighting room, etc.) and the overcrowding class have put a constraint on the teaching and learning of an English speaking class 69 6.2 Recommendations Based on the findings of the study, several recommendation for improving the teaching and learning speaking skills for elementary adult learners at CFS are offered Build a friendly and relaxing classroom atmosphere so that learners feel comfortable using and taking risks with English For any person, but particularly for an adult who finds himself in a new and unfamiliar environment, being recognized and appreciated is extremely important A safe and secure environment will bring more confidence to anxious adult learners, acting as a useful device against the affective factor barrier Several ways to create a relaxing atmosphere and build rapport with learners are suggested below: - Try to get to know about learners’ interest by asking each individual to make a short talk - Listen to learners’ needs and expectations by designing a questionnaire concerning detailed information about learners’ attitude towards English learning, and their problems in study and life - Teachers can score their performance in the checklist to have a selfreflection and make changes if necessary (see Appendix 7) Increase the amount of exposure to English community as much as possible because practice makes better speaking The EFL setting has restricted learners’ access to the real English community, provided very limited chances to speak English to native speakers The classroom, as a result, becomes the major environment to facilitate learners’ oral proficiency How to make classroom a real English-speaking community? Below are several suggestions: - Learners should be encouraged to use English to communicate with friends 70 or teachers in class Tell learners that they can make mistakes and mistakes are a normal and necessary part of language learning - At elementary - level class, teacher should use slow and clear English Teacher instruction should be in English to make learners familiar with spoken English and improve their listening skill as well - It is suggested that English speaking club should be reconsidered more seriously If not, in class, set time for extracurricular activities such as “teamwork” time or “free conversation” work when learners form small groups of different interests to some extracurricular activities For example, there may be a sports group, a music group, a current events group, a social problems group, a drama group, a western culture study group, or even a fashion group, etc They are supposed to collect some reading material on a specific aspect in their everyday reading of newspapers or magazines in English and some reports of their extracurricular activities every time they meet in class They may some different things in their extracurricular activities, such as making up dialogues, conversations, or discussions or debates, or they may just simply discuss some of the latest news This can really help them in working independently and in speaking more in English When the students are interested in the topic and some of them have got some knowledge about the topic they are given, they can have real practice of oral English And as time goes on, they will get used to learning from each other instead of referring to a Vietnamese-English dictionary Learner-centered teaching approach should be applied with supplementary materials Teacher can find relevant materials in OUP website, or it is more effective to design and prepare on your own with learners’ assist because few teachers have access to the Internet Realia, task-based, and especially learner-based teaching materials are recommended apart from the course book 71 In my opinion, there are two reasons to arrive at learner-based teaching materials Firstly, some of the groups of learners I taught consisted of academic of varying ages, with different specialties In certain areas their knowledge was often considerably greater than the teacher, therefore why not exploiting their experience and thinking of this as a way to motivate learners? For example, a travel consultant may know a lot about exact times, dates of departure, routes, fares, conditions of travel and he proved to be an invaluable source during a class on traveling Therefore topics should be relevant to learners’ interest and proficiency Secondly, some colleagues complained that the materials they had did not meet the real needs and interests of their students This teaching aims to suggest ways to avoid overdependence on the course book, not to reject it Group work and pair work are recommended to solve the overcrowding problem Grouping encourages learners to express their ideas freely in groups, work together and learn from each other The use of drills should be seen as merely one kind of form-focused activity that needs to be balanced with other types of form-focused activities, as well as with meaning-focused and fluency development activities Make continual, small variations in the drills so that the activity is always challenging, smooth, and interesting Allocate a little time for pronunciation work because learners need accuracy at this level It is better to put teaching pronunciation together with some piece of music, which is carefully designed and selected up to the related pronunciation problems It is supposed to help learners study enjoyable pronunciation, leading them to master it fast However, the most important thing is that learners should be advised not to be anxious and be more patient while learning pronunciation Besides, the teacher need to change his goal from expecting his learners to speak like native speakers to having them 72 make strides in different areas of pronunciation and helping them to identify, understand, and overcome their weaknesses To help learners speak correctly, it is important for the teacher to correct learners’ errors However, it is not acceptable to make corrections when they are speaking It's suggested that the teacher should take down notes of errors learners make in class If they are common problems, he/she can present them as language points and ask the learners to some practice; if they are mistakes committed by individual student, just point them out at the completion of the individual performance or give the student a note with the corrections Though oracy has been given prominent status, it should be brought to mind that other skills areas can not be ignored Vocabulary teaching should be paid more attention in language use, i.e not only giving lexical meaning but also how the word is used and some collocations should be illustrated to make sure that learners can understand and use it correctly Foster retention of vocabulary by playing word games, perhaps spending about or 10 minutes only as pre-speaking activities Learners should be trained in strategic competency for fluent speaking In some activities like discussion, game, role-play, group-work, pair-work, learners can be encouraged to use communication strategies Tell them try not to use language switch, topic avoidance but mime and paraphrase 10 Multimedia-assisted language learning or any piece of technology is very useful in a language classroom However, while the well-equipped multimedia lab is out of reach, in the mean time teacher can develop learners’ autonomy by encouraging them to use pronunciation software or self-study websites This kind of learning creates visual, audio and cultural exposure to the target language, making learners feel like living in a real English community 73 11 The role of the teacher is very important A teacher’s task is to help learners maintain their motivation throughout their studies This means he needs to encourage, acknowledge, praise and support learners, as well as create a trusting learning atmosphere and a sense of achievement 12 Teachers should be given adequate training More seminars or workshops can be hold for teachers to exchange teaching experience, learn from each other and search for innovative methodology 6.3 Some useful tips to teaching Oral English To sum up, there are the reasons why teaching Oral English is considered one of the most specializations in TEFL: - Learners could already be reluctant speakers in their mother tongue - Course books are too rigid to follow Book-free lessons cause disrespect - The teacher’s job rotates between teaching, entertaining, speaking, managing, and motivating On the above ground, some tips collected from the researcher’s own experience and her colleagues’ are offered to contribute to the improvement of teaching and learning spoken English for EFL adult learners Start with a personal story to eliminate external “noise” and grab learner attention Tell learners from the beginning day that they come to class to study thus mistake making is a normal process in language learning Divide your class time to chunks A, B, C and D Teacher talk in A and C and let learners talk in B and D Always teach some vocabulary in A chunk and review 74 it in C; Use paper Flashcards, song lyrics, anything paper goes Books no more; Have learners vary their B and D chunks; Try pairwork, trios, solo, group work and on-stage; Remember to model the role-play first with a volunteer and use authentic material Don’t correct while learners are speaking Encourage self and peer correction at the end of tasks If immediate correction is needed, it may work more effectively if humor is used to describe their mistakes Take it easy End the class with a filler – maybe a word game; If they leave you happy, they will remember this next time Reward, reward, reward: give praise for communicating meaning successfully Energize learners 6.4 Summary This chapter concludes the study It gives some recommendations on how to improve teaching and learning speaking skills to elementary adult learners at CFS, Nong Lam University Some selected supplementary materials have been presented to contribute to the success of Vietnamese learners of English in the Vietnamese context It is hoped that these basic suggestions will somehow benefit both teachers and learners in teaching and learning English speaking skills at foreign language centers as well as some other high schools and universities in Vietnam 75 76 BIBLIOGRAPHY Bailey, Kathleen M (2006) Issues in Teaching Speaking Skills to Adult ESOL Learners National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, (5), 123 Bailey, Kathleen M and David Nunan (eds.) (1996) Voices from the Language Classroom Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Bailey, Kathleen and Lance Savage (eds.) (1994) New Ways in Teaching Speaking USA: TESOL, Inc Beebe, Leslie M (1983) Risk-taking and the language learner In Seliger, Herbert W & Long, Michael H Classroom Oriented Research in Second Language Acquisition Rowley, MA: Newbury House Publishers Berns, M (1990) Contexts of competence: Social and cultural considerations in communicative language teaching New York: Plenum Press Blackwell, Angela and Therese Naber (2004) English KnowHow Student Book Opener Hong Kong : Oxford University Press Bress, Paul (2002) Connect with your class English Teaching Professional, 22, 60 Brown, H Douglas (1994) Teaching by Principles An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc Brown, G and G Yule (1989) Teaching the Spoken Language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Brundage, Donald H., and Dorothy Mackeracher (1980) Adult learning principles and their application to planning Toronto: Ministry of Education of Ontario Campbell, Colin and Hanna Kryszewska (1993) Learner-based Teaching Hong Kong: Oxford University Press Canale, M., and M Swain (1980) Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing Applied Linguistics, 1, 1-47 Carrasquillo, A L (1994) Teaching English as a second language: A resource guide New York: Garland Publishing Inc 76 Chun, D.M & K.K Brandl (1992) Beyond form based-drill and practice: Meaningenhanced CALL on the Macintosh Foreign Language Annals, 25 (3), 255-267 Cook, Guy (2000) Language play, language learning Hong Kong: Oxford University Press Coppersmith, Stanley (1967) The Antecedents of Self-esteem San Francisco: WH.Freeman & Company Crookes, Graham and Richard W Schmidt (1991) Motivation: Reopening the research agenda Language Learning, 41(4), 469-512 Doff, Adrian (1988) Teach English: A Training Course for Teachers Teacher’s Handbook Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Do Huy Thinh (1996) Foreign language education policy in Vietnam: the emergence of English and its impact on higher education National University in Ho Chi Minh City Ellis, Rod (1985) Understanding Second Language Acquisition Oxford: Blackwell Ellis, Rod (1994) The Study of Second Language Acquisition Hong Kong: Oxford University Press Ellis, Rod (1997) Second Language Acquisition in Context Hong Kong: Oxford University Press Florez, M.C and Miriam Burt (2001) Beginning to work with Adult English Language Learners: Some Considerations Center for Adult English Language Acquisition http://www.cal.org Hammerly, H (1991) Fluency and accuracy: Toward balance in language teaching and learning UK: Multi-lingual Matters Ltd Harmer, Jeremy (1991) The Practice of English Language Teaching New ed London: Longman Hilles, Sharon and André Sutton (2001) Teaching Adults In Murcia, M.C (eds.) Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, 385-400 Boston: Heinle & Heinle Knowles, M S.(1975) Self-Directed Learning A guide for learners and teachers Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall 77 Kumar, Ranjit (1996) Research Methodology A step-by-step guide for beginners South Merbourne: Longman Lieb, Stephen (1991) Principles of adult learning VISION Web Journal, Fall 1991 Littlewood, W (1981) A communicative approach Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Littlewood, William (1991) Foreign and Second Language Learning Language Acquisition Research and its Implications for the Classroom Avon: Cambridge University Press Long, Michael H and Jack C Richards (1987) Methodology in TESOL A book of Readings USA: Heinle & Heinle Publishers McKay, Heather and Abigail Tom (1999) Teaching Adult Second Language Learners USA: Cambridge University Press Mendelsohn and Rubin (eds.) (1995) A Guide for the Teaching of Second Language Listening UK: Dominie Press Nguyễn Thị Thúy Ngọc (2000) Identification of Problems and Solutions Associated with Teaching Spoken English to First-year Students of English Major at The College of Social Sciences and Humanities of HCMC MA thesis USSH Nunan, David (1989) Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Nunan, David (1991) Language Teaching Methodology: A textbook for teachers Englewood Cliffs, NJ.: Prentice Hall Oyama, S (1976) A sensitive period for the acquisition of a nonnative phonological system Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, (3) Ozmen, K Sinan (2004) Make them aware, not beware of learning The Cognitive Therapy Technique in adult EFL classes Asian EFL Journal, (1) Quoc Dung (2005) Hiệp hội tiếng Anh thành lập Việt Nam Tuổi trẻ Online http://www.tuoitre.com.vn Rababah, G (2003) Communication problems facing Arab learners of English: A personal perspective TEFL Web Journal, (1), 15-27 78 Richards, Jack, John Platt, and Heidi Weber (1985).Longman dictionary of applied linguistics Harlow, Essex, England: Longman Richards, Jack C and Theodore S Rodgers (1986) Approaches and Method in Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Rivers, Wilga M (1987) Interactive Languate Teaching USA: Cambridge University Press Scollon, R and S.W.Scollon (2001) Intercultural Communication UK: Blackwell Publishers Inc Shumin, K (1997) Factors to consider: Developing Adult EFL Learners’ speaking Abilities Teaching Forum, 35 (3), 8-10 Stevick, Earl.W (1976) Memory, Meaning & Method, Some Psychological Perfectives on Language Learning Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publisher Tarone, E and G Yule (1989) Focus on Language Learner Oxford: Oxford University Press Taylor, Donald M., Roch Meynard and Elizabeth Rheault (1997) Threat to ethnic identity and second language learning In Howard Giles (eds.) Language, ethnicity and intergroup relations London: Academic Press Trosset, C.S (1986) The social identity of Welsh learners Language in Society Web Journal, 15, 165-192 Tsui, Amy B.M (1996) Reticence and Anxiety in Second Language Learning” In Phillips, E.M (1999) Decreasing Language Anxiety: Practical Techniques for Oral Activities In D.J.Young (Eds.) Affect in Foreign Language and Second Language learning – a practical guide to create a low-anxiety classroom atmosphere The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc Wright, Tony (1987) Roles of Teachers and Learners Hong Kong : Oxford University Press Xu Li-sheng (2000) Strategic Competence For Intercultural Communication Journal of Zhejiang University SCIENCE, (4), 476-480 Yule, G (1998) Pragmatics Hong Kong: Oxford University Press 79