Teachers roles in teaching speaking skill an investigation at an giang university

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES TEACHERS’ ROLES IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILL: AN INVESTIGATION AT AN GIANG UNIVERSITY A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL) Supervisor : Nguyễn Hoàng Tuấn, Ph.D Student : Nguyễn Thị Thanh Ho Chi Minh City, 2008 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: TEACHERS’ ROLES IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILL: AN INVESTIGATION AT AN GIANG UNIVERSITY in terms of the statement of Requirements for Theses in Master’s Programmes issued by the Higher Degree Committee Ho Chi Minh City, May 29, 2008 NGUYỄN THỊ THANH i RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESES I hereby state that I, NGUYỄN THỊ THANH, being the candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan, or reproduction of theses Ho Chi Minh City, May 29, 2008 Nguyễn Thị Thanh ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express sincere thanks to my instructor Dr Nguyễn Hoàng Tuấn who helped me develop ideas for the study I am grateful for all the opportunities for discussions with him He kindly provided me with comments and suggestions to complete this thesis I am indebted to my former colleagues at the high school both directly and indirectly I especially thank all teachers at An Giang University who assisted me in collecting data, and students participating in the study for their cooperation I have also received a great deal of support from The Board of Directors of Social Sciences and Humanities University, Department of English Linguistics and Literature, and Post Education Office for granting me more time to finish my thesis Finally, I would like to extend my special thanks to my family and my classmates for their stimulation and encouragement iii ABSTRACT All educators expect learners will be centred of their study We cannot deny the fact that teachers have an important role to lead learners to their path to success This study aims to 1) to examine students’ evaluation on the importance of teachers’ roles in communicative classes of non-English- majored freshmen at AGU; 2) to find out difficulties that teachers and learners encounter while they are teaching and learning oral skill; 3) to show some crucial roles teachers get in teaching English speaking skill; 4) to suggest a way with which learning speaking skill will be improved, and some speaking activities, supplementary resources are provided to support teachers for an interesting atmosphere during learning time 197 students were delivered questionnaires to get their ideas about learning spoken English, and their teachers’ roles in the classroom Besides questionnaires, interviews were also implemented with teachers working at Foreign Language Department so that comments were made to improve students’ communicative competence The results of the study revealed that 1) Students did not have enough core vocabulary and good grammar to express and extend their communication They needed to work on pronunciation, too Most students were quiet; reluctant to speaking activities; 2) Teachers had some important roles in transmitting knowledge and in getting students to involve in class work 3) Extra-curriculum activities needed diversifying; 4) School facilities and teaching material had an influence on the learning of nonEnglish-majored freshmen at AGU From the results of the study I suggest that 1) Students should improve their vocabulary and grammar Teaching pronunciation iv should be combined in speaking lessons Speaking English must be followed as one of the rules set at the beginning of each lesson; 2) Teachers were expected to interpret the following roles in teaching speaking skill: A teacher had to be an informant who supply language items before speaking activities are conducted He/she was also a class manager to organize pair work and group work based on communicative task designs While practising oral skill a teacher became a resource person who was willing to give help when he/she was asked At the same time he was an observer when students were working to take notes At the post stage he would be a motivator to engage students in performance and a corrector who was giving feedback and correct students’ mistakes after self correction or student- student correction was done; 3) Foreign Language Department should hold some more activities depending on the time or seasons in a year such as Halloween, Christmas, New Year, summer camp, spelling competition, poster designing, writing compositions… besides English speaking club; 4) Private desks should be equipped in each classroom More rooms should be installed with audio-visual equipment to create good conditions in teaching and learning speaking skill Course books should be used together with supplementary material AGU should cooperate with several big universities in Ho Chi Minh or Can Tho city to invite more foreign teachers to support in teaching different majors v TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of originality i Retention and use of the thesis .ii Acknowledgement iii Abstract iv Table of contents .vi List of tables ix List of graph x Abbreviations xi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study .1 1.2 The aim of the study .4 1.3 The overview of the study CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Some past researches 2.2 The importance of speaking in four skills 2.3 Roles of teachers and learners 2.3.1 The roles of learners 2.3.2 The roles of teachers 10 2.3.3 The roles of teachers in the communicative classroom 15 2.3.4 Factors affect teachers and learners’ roles 17 2.4 Overview of some teaching methods 18 2.4.1 Grammar Translation Method 18 vi vi 2.4.2 The Direct Method .19 2.4.3 The Audio-lingual Method 20 2.4.4 Communicative Language Teaching 21 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research questions .24 3.2 Research design 24 3.2.1 Cha racteristics of subjects 25 3.2.2 3.2.3 Instruments 27 3.2.2.1 Questionnaire for students 27 3.2.2.2 Questionnaire for teachers 29 3.2.2.3 Interview for teachers 30 Data collection procedures 31 CHAPTER FOUR DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 4.1 4.2 Data analysis 33 4.1.1 Learners’ reponses to the questionnaire 33 4.1.2 Teachers’ responses to the questionnaire 41 4.1.3 Teachers’ answers of the interview 50 Discussion 59 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Conclusion 63 5.2 Recommendations 65 BIBLIOGRAPHY 69 vii APPENDICES Appendix A: Survey questionnaire for students in Vietnamese 72 Appendix B: Survey questionnaire for teaching staff in Vietnamese 76 Appendix C: Interview questions for teaching staff in Vietnamese 79 Appendix D: Warmer activities .80 Appendix E: Supplementary resources 86 viii LIST OF TABLES Pages 4.1 Students’ perception to the importance of speaking skill 33 4.2 Students’ self-evaluation on the speaking skill 34 4.3 Students’ difficulties in speaking English 34 4.4 Speaking actvities students like most 35 4.5 Best ways students learn speaking skill with 36 4.6 Students’ motivators in learning speaking skill 37 4.7 People help students most improve their communicative skill 37 4.8 Students’ comments to statements 38 4.9 Extra-curricular activities students take at AGU 41 ix Bạn học nói tốt cách nào? a Một  b Với bạn (cặp)  c Với bạn nhóm  d.Ý kiến khác: _ Ai người tạo động cho bạn học kỹ nói? a Các giáo viên tơi  b Các bạn lớp tơi  c Chính tơi  d Ý kiến khác: _ _ Ai người giúp bạn nhiều việc nâng cao kỹ nói tiếng Anh? a Các giáo viên  b Các bạn lớp tơi  c Chính tơi  d Ý kiến 10 Các hoạt động ngoại khóa giúp bạn nâng cao kỹ nói? a Câu lạc tiếng Anh  b Dạ hội mùa xuân  c Hội nghị học tốt  d Ý kiến khác 74 11 Bạn khoanh trịn số thích hợp với câu phát biểu sau theo ý kiến bạn ( 1: Rất quan trọng , 2: Quan trọng, 3: Khá quan trọng, 4: Không quan trọng) a Giáo viên bạn hướng dẫn bạn rõ ràng trước bạn tiến hành hoạt động nói b Giáo viên bạn cung cấp cho bạn đầy đủ kiến thức ngôn ngữ văn hóa để bạn thực hoạt động nói c Giáo viên khuyến khích bạn làm cho bạn tự tin nói d Giáo viên bạn tham gia vào hoạt động nói bạn thành viên lớp e Giáo viên bạn đánh giá hoạt động nói cho bạn biết phản hồi hoạt động f Giáo viên bạn quản lý lớp phân cặp, nhóm nói hiệu quả.1 g Giáo viên bạn cho bạn thực hoạt động nói thích hợp với mục đích giao tiếp h Giáo viên bạn tạo điền kiện cho bạn giao tiếp thành viên lớp i Phương pháp thích hợp giáo viên giúp bạn học kỹ giao tiếp tốt 12 Bạn có đề xuất giáo viên bạn để giúp bạn học kỹ nói tốt hơn? _ _ Xin chân thành cám ơn bạn giúp đỡ chúng tôi! 75 APPENDIX B Phiếu khảo sát dành cho giáo viên Chúng muốn xin ý kiến việc dạy tiếng Anh q thầy/cơ Câu trả lời q thầy /cơ giúp chúng tơi biết vai trị giáo viên việc dạy kỹ nói cho sinh viên năm Xin vui lòng đánh dấu câu trả lời thầy/cơ vào thích hợp Độ tuổi:18-29 Giới tính:   30-39 Nam  40-49  50  Nữ: Thầy / cô đánh giá vai trị giáo viên việc dạy kỹ nói cho sinh viên a Rất quan trọng  b Quan trọng  c Khá quan trọng  d Không quan trọng  Theo thầy/ cô nhân tố ảnh hưởng đến việc học kỹ nói sinh viên? a Phương pháp giảng dạy  b Giáo trình  c Phương tiện học tập  d Ý kiến khác: _ _ 76 Theo thầy/ cô nhân tố ảnh hưởng đến khả nói tiếng Anh sinh viên? a Thiếu kiến thức ngôn ngữ  b Thiếu tự tin giao tiếp  c Thái độ không hợp tác tiến hành hoạt động nói  d Ý kiến khác: _ Theo thầy / cô hoạt động giúp sinh viên cải thiện kỹ nói tiếng Anh? a Thảo luận  b Đóng vai  c Phỏng vấn  d Ý kiến khác: _ _ Thầy / thường làm để giúp sinh viên tiến hành hoạt động nói cách hiệu quả? a Khuyến khích khen ngợi em  b Chú ý đến sinh viên yếu  c Sử dụng hoạt động nhóm, cặp  d Ý kiến khác: _ _ Thầy / cô tham gia dự hội thảo vai trò giáo viên việc dạy kỹ nói? a Rất thường xuyên  b Thường xuyên  c Thỉnh thoảng  d Chưa  77 Thầy / cô đọc sách nói vai trị giáo viên việc dạy nói cho học viên? a Rất thường xuyên  b Thường xuyên  c Thỉnh thoảng  d Chưa  Theo thầy / vai trị giáo viên thực dạy kỹ nói cho sinh viên? a Người tạo điều kiện cho sinh viên giao tiếp thànhnh viên lớp. b Người quản lý tổ chức hoạt động nói theo cặp theo nhóm  c Người quan sát hoạt động nói cho sinh viên phản hồi hoạt  động d Ý kiến khác Thầy / cô nghĩ giáo trình sử dụng Đại Học An Giang? a Rất thú vị  b Thú vị  c Bình thường  d Chán  Xin chân thành cám ơn thầy cô giúp đỡ chúng tôi! 78 APPENDIX C Câu hỏi vấn dành cho giáo viên Thầy/ cô nhận thấy khả nói tiếng Anh sinh viên nào? Khó khăn thầy/ q trình dạy kỹ nói cho sinh viên gì? Làm để thầy / khắc phục khó khăn trên? Thầy /cơ thường làm để giúp sinh viên cải thiện kỹ nói? Ý kiến thầy/ việc dạy kỹ nói ? Số lượng sinh viên trung bình lớp thầy/ bao nhiêu? Theo thầy / cô số lượng sinh viên thích hợp để dạy kỹ nói bao nhiêu? Tại sao? 79 APPENDIX D Wamer Activities The following are warmer activities designed to get things started , wake up tired students (and teachers) and prepare brains, mouths, ears and eyes for English The description of activities has been written to maximize student involvement This can be done by Having teams instead of eliminating students Having as many as teams as possible Having tasks for students when they are listening to each other things in common: students work in pairs to find out three things they have in common with each otherbut not things like? We both live in Viet Nam”, as these things are too obvious Teacher can extend this or make it more specific by giving them a topic(family) and they have to find three things in common Try to put students together who don’t normally talk to each other Music chart discussion: Connected to the theme of music, a great piece of material to have at hand for young students groups is the recent top 20 music singles charts Hand out a copy to each group of three or four students and get them chatting at the beginning of a lesson Teachers could set some guidelines for discussion e.g “ What kind of music is popular this week?”, “ How long you think this song will be at number one?” “ which songs are going to move up the charts or down the charts? Etc For US chart visit the following website: http://www.billboard/charts/hot100.jsp 80 Dice discussions: Write number 2-12 on the board and get students to suggest topics they like to talk about Write one topic next to each number Students take it in turns to roll the dice, and talk for a pre-agreed time limit on the subject that corresponds to the number rolled Disco / library the goal is for students to transmit a message to one another Split the students into two groups Put one groups at one end of the room, the other group in a row on the other side of the room Pair the students together so one person is a speaker and one is a listener Give one row white boards( they are listeners) and one row a slip of paper with a message on it( they are speakers) Decide if teachers want their students to be at the disco or the library.(‘disco’- the teacher plays loud music and students must shout to each other; ‘library’- the students must mouth words to each other.) the first person to write down the message correctly gets a point for their pair Continue with a new message and switch the listeners and the speakers That’s a lie: Tell the students they will be telling the true story to their friends but they will include one lie Give the students time to think about their story( they can make notes but shouldn’t write the whole story) because they should make it believable In pairs or small groups, one student tells his or her story The other students try to get the lie from the story Give time for all the students to tell their story Switch up the groups and have students retell the same story while new students try to guess the lie To debrief, ask the students if they did a better job telling the story the second time Ask them if they were better liars the second time 81 Weekend: Elicit words from each student to describe their weekend A different student tells class or small groups what the other did The original student verifies the story Talk for a minute: Put the class into rows facing each other Write a topic on the board e.g sport The pairs have to talk toughest for a minute about sport e.g “ what’s your favorite sport?, “ how often you play?”, “ how you play?”, after a minute say stop Ask each student to move down one person to their left so they are facing another student( the person on the end goes to the opposite end) Give them a new topic and repeat the procedure Continue with more topics Picture story: Teachers will need a photo of an interesting couple, a photo of an interesting location, and a strange piece of realia Students must build a story from these items First shoe them the couple Elicit ideas about their relationship, their careers, who loves whom the most, how long they have been together, etc Once you have a pretty full picture, introduce the piece of realia ( for example: a tennis racket), elicit how this is involved in the story, who used it and the result that it had upon the couple Finally show the class the location picture and elicit a suitable conclusion to the story Ask students to summarize the entire story The student will surprise teaches with how inventive they are This can be done in small groups, as a whole class with different pictures Story telling: A good game for revising past simple tense Sit the students in a circle tell them hay they are going to tell a story The story will be told one word at a time, with the students taking it in turns to say a word The teacher starts e.g “ Yesterday” The next 82 student then says a word to continue the story e.g “ I” the next student says a word and continues the story Magic circle: Students stand in a circle One person has a ball and males a statement e.g ‘ my name is ….’ or ‘I like… but I don’t like….’ Then tosses the ball to another student who also makes a statement and so on This can be used often at the beginning or at the end of class to remember or reflect on what students have been learning It is also a fun way to see students’ language skills develop as they gain more ability 10 Spin the bottle: Take some skittles/ bowling pins to class and pt them into three teams Sit them in circles One student spins the bottle Whoever the bottle points to can ask a question or practise the vocabulary/ grammar point E.g “ I am thinking of an animal beginning with T” – the rest of the group has to guess the answer They can keep a tally of correct answers for points if teachers want it competitive teachers can also vary this activity and have the bottle spinner ask a question to whom ever it points to Then the students who answer can spin the bottle and ask a question to the next person 11 Talk or die: Elicit several topics on the board e.g hobbies, school, sports, family, etc Stand students in a circle Point a marker at a student and call out a topic That student must talk continuously without stuttering or stopping on that topic until the teacher points the marker at another student and call out a different topic If a student stops or cannot speak on the topic, he/she dies and is out of the game Continue until one student left They are the winner This can be done in smaller groups 83 12 To be or not to be: Split the class into row facing each other Write a controversial statement on the board e.g boys are better at school than girls, woman should not have jobs outside the house, Viet Nam is better then Cambodia, etc Tell one row you must agree with the statement and the other row must disagree with the statement The two sides then debate with each other The teacher can make this a less structured activity where all students are talking with each other at once or a team vs team structured activity where sides take turns talking and rebutting 13 Angry greetings: Elicit some greetings to the board e.g how are you, what’s your name, nice to meet you, how have you been, it’s been a long time since I last saw you etc Tell students they are going to go around and greet each other as if they are meeting for the first time Decide whether the students are meeting a coworker, a friend’s friend, their boyfriend/ girlfriend’s mother, etc Have them mingle and meet each other Then tell the students that they are meeting their friend for lunch but they just found out their friend kissed their boyfriend/ girlfriend and they are very angry about this Continue with other scenarios, using familiar language but changing the body language and tone of voice depending on situation Some other example situations include: the person they are meeting smells really bad, you’ve met the person before but can’t remember with his/her name, the person you are meeting is really famous and you are star struck, you are meeting a small child, the person you are meeting just had a parent pass away, etc 14 I’d rather… Tell students they are going to have to tell their partner their preference to the sentences the teacher writes on the board Write funny sentences on the board, e.g “ 84 I’d rather eat a cockroach” and “ I’d rather eat a spider” Students talk amongst themselves about which they would rather Other examples are “ I think myself as the ocean” or “ I think my self as the mountain”; “ I’d rather be deaf” or” I’d be blind “, etc 85 APPENDIX E Supplementary Resources The material below can be used as extra activities accompanying with units in “Know- How 1” The resource is collected from Inside Out, Reward, New Head Way Resouces Pack, Pair work, and Communication Games Unit Famous people Each student thinks of a famous person who they admire or idolize Students work in pairs or groups Tell the other students in pair or group are going to guess the name of the famous person by making questions E.g.: A: Is it a male or female? B: It is a male A: How old is he? B: He is 25 A: What’s his job? B: He’s a footballer A: where is he from? B: He is from Brazil A: What football team does he play for? B: He’s in Barcelona A: Is he Kaka? B: Yes, that’s right The first person tells the name will be asked next 86 Family Photos Ask the students to work in small groups of three or four and give each group a picture from a magazine Tell the students that they have to imagine that there are photographs of members of their own family, and that in a moment they are going to talk to their partners about them Give one copy of the worksheet to each student and ask them to invent their identities for the people in the photograph by writing answers to the questions on the worksheet Give them the time they need to this, and on the hand to help them with the language they need When the students have done this ask them to take it in turns to show the picture to the other students in their group, and explain who in the photograph are Notes: Teachers may like to demonstrate the activity before asking the students to it choose a picture from the magazine and hold it in front of the class Go round the class and ask them to invent personal information for the person in the picture Each has to repeat information already invented by other students and then add another piece of information themselves 87 88