Teaching speaking to english majored student at the university of technical education ho chi minh city m a

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE TEACHING SPEAKING TO ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION HO CHI MINH CITY Submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature In partial fulfilment of the Master’s degree in TESOL By HOÀNG TRỌNG MAI SƯƠNG Supervised by TRẦN THỊ MINH PHƯỢNG, PH.D HO CHI MINH CITY, JUNE 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE TEACHING SPEAKING TO ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION HO CHI MINH CITY Submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature In partial fulfilment of the Master’s degree in TESOL By HOÀNG TRỌNG MAI SƯƠNG Supervised by TRẦN THỊ MINH PHƯỢNG, PH.D HO CHI MINH CITY, JUNE 2014 i APPROVAL SHEET This thesis entitled “Teaching speaking to English-majored students at the University of Technical Education Ho Chi Minh City” is submitted to Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature as partial fulfilment of the Master’s degree in TESOL Members of the committee: ………………………………… Signature: …………… Date: ………… ………………………………… Signature: …………… Date: ………… ………………………………… Signature: …………… Date: ………… ………………………………… Signature: …………… Date: ………… ………………………………… Signature: …………… Date: ………… ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr Tran Thi Minh Phuong, my supervisor, for her devotion, guidance and consultancy during the time the thesis was written What I appreciate most was her truthful encouragement and understanding, without which I could not have enough strengths and determination to complete this thesis I would also like to thank the administration, my beloved colleagues and students at the University of Technical Education Ho Chi Minh City’s Faculty of Foreign Languages for their constant support and encouragement, thanks to which I could overcome the difficulties during the process of the study My sincerest thanks also go to my family and special friends who have been always beside me to assist and encourage me during my ups and downs in writing the thesis Finally, my special appreciation is extended to the administration of the Faculty of Linguistics and Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities Ho Chi Minh City, for facilitating my studying throughout the past five years iii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY This is to certify that this submission is my own work and it has not been submitted for any degrees or other purposes I certify that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work and any contribution made to the research by others is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis Hoang Trong Mai Suong iv RETENTION OF USE I hereby state that I, HOÀNG TRỌNG MAI SƯƠNG, being a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL, accept the requirements of the university relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the University Library I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis deposited in the University Library should be assessable for the purpose of the study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan and reproduction of theses Ho Chi Minh City, June, 2014 Hoàng Trọng Mai Sương v TABLE OF CONTENTS Title page i Approval sheet ii Acknowledgement iii Statement of originality iv Retention of use v Table of contents vi List of abbreviation ix List of tables x List of figures xi Abstract xii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study 1.2 Purpose of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Scope, limitations and delimitations of the study 1.6 An overview of the study 1.7 Summary CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 10 2.1 The integrated-skill approach in language teaching 10 2.1.1 What is integrated-skill approach? 10 2.1.2 Why integration? 13 2.1.3 How to integrate skills in a language classroom? 16 2.1.3.1 Teachers’ preparation 16 2.1.3.2 Forms and models of integrated-skill instruction 17 2.1.4 Disadvantages of integrated-skill approach 23 2.2 Teaching speaking skill 24 2.2.1 Definition of speaking 24 vi 2.2.2 Teaching speaking skill 25 2.2.2.1 Principles for teaching speaking skill 25 2.2.2.2 Speaking sequence 27 2.2.2.3 Speaking tasks and activities 28 2.2.3 Students’ potential problems in speaking English 30 2.3 An overview of teaching listening skill 32 2.3.1 Definition of listening 32 2.3.2 Different kinds of listening 33 2.3.3 Listening sequence 33 2.3.4 Students’ potential problems in listening comprehension 35 2.4 Integrating listening and speaking skills 39 2.4.1 The relationship between listening and speaking skills 40 2.4.2 The effects of listening on speaking skill 42 2.4.3 How to integrate listening and speaking skills 44 2.4.4 Summary 46 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 47 3.1 Research questions 47 3.2 Research design 48 3.2.1 Subjects of the study 49 3.2.1.1 Teacher subjects 49 3.2.1.2 Student subjects 50 3.2.2 Instruments 51 3.2.2.1 Questionnaires 51 3.2.2.2 Class observation 54 3.2.3 Data collection and analysis procedures 55 3.3 Summary 56 CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 57 4.1 Results from the questionnaires 57 4.1.1 The current ways of teaching speaking 57 vii 4.1.2 Teachers and students’ problems and difficulties 71 4.1.3 Benefits of the integration of listening and speaking 76 4.1.4 Suggestions and recommendations 81 4.2 Class observations 83 4.2.1 Description of observed lessons 83 4.2.2 Discussion of the results of class observations 83 4.3 Summary 87 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 88 5.1 Conclusion of the findings 88 5.2 Suggestions and recommendations 91 5.3 Summary 104 References .105 Appendices 115 Appendix 1: Questionnaire for teachers 115 Appendix 2: Questionnaire for students 125 Appendix 3: Description of observed lessons 134 Appendix 4: Suggested classroom games and activities 145 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as foreign language ELT: English language teaching ESL: English as second language FFL: Faculty of Foreign Languages HCMC: Ho Chi Minh City L1: First language L2: Second language N: the number of respondents Sts: Students T: Teacher UTE: University of Technical Education ix Class meeting Class: - Teacher: Course: Listening-Speaking Course unit: Unit – Culture and commerce Course book: North Star – Listening and Speaking, Third edition Lesson focus: Speaking Duration: periods (150 minutes) Date: Monday afternoon 17/3/2014 Class procedures Main skill/ Stages Activities language focused Warm-up Discovering the hidden picture game Speaking T asks sts to play in two big groups There are questions related to the topic (tourism) Each group, in their turn, choose a number from to eight A hidden question is revealed If the group can give a correct answer, they get one mark and reveal a part of the hidden picture on the screen Whenever a group can guess what the hidden picture is about correctly before all the questions are answered, they can bonus marks The group who has more marks at the end will be the winner Lead-in Speaking Brainstorming activity T asks sts to brainstorm some negative and positive effects of tourism T elicits ideas from sts Pre- Teaching vocabulary / speaking T asks sts to match the words with appropriate definitions in the hand-out she gives T elicits the answers from sts Pre- Reading for main ideas Reading speaking T asks sts to skim the text in the hand-out she gives and and find out the positive and negative effects of tourism 137 Speaking T asks group representatives to report their discussion and elicits ideas from sts Speaking Talking about a tourist destination – Individual Speaking task impromptu presentation T asks sts to think of a tourist destination they have visited and also think about the answer for the questions on the screen What tourist destination did you visit? What are the major tourist attractions? What effects does tourism have on the local people? What effects does tourism have on the local environment? Sts have some minutes to prepare what they are going to say She then asks some sts to come to the front and present about their tourist destination The audience can ask the presenter some questions Pre- Making suggestions: Strong and weak suggestions Speaking speaking (Brainstorming) T asks sts to look at a conversation on page 87 and decide which expression in the example is a strong suggestion and which expression is a weak one T elicits answers from students T introduced some other expressions for making strong and weak suggestions, which are shown on the screen Speaking Practice making suggestions – Acting from a script task T provides a situation in the course book: “Imagine that vocabulary A little you are going to spend four days in Bangkok, Thailand.” / Speaking There is a list of suggested activities you can in Bangkok T asks sts to take turns in pairs to make suggestions on the activities they could in Bangkok, using the expressions they have learned T explains some new vocabulary before the sts the task T then asks some pairs to come to the front and act out 138 their conversations T gives some feedback Planned Speaking Group planned presentation presentation The group who has prepared a presentation on the topic of “tourism” delivers their speech After the presentation, the audience ask some questions T gives feedback on the presentation Class meeting Class: - Teacher: Course: Listening-Speaking Course unit: Unit – Endurance test Course book: North Star – Listening and Speaking, Third edition Lesson focus: Listening Duration: periods (150 minutes) Date: Tuesday 11/3/2014 Class procedures Main skill/ Stages Activities language focused Planned Group planned presentation about the topic of the Speaking presentation unit: Extreme sports The group who has prepared a presentation on the topic “Extreme sports” delivers the speech The audience ask some questions and give comments T gives feedback Pre-listening Whole class discussion to give opinion T shows two pictures of two kinds of sports (sky diving and marathon) and asks sts some questions to engage them into the topic of sports - What sports are they? - What are the differences between the two sports? 139 Speaking - What they have in common? T elicits and provides some background knowledge about: extreme sports and especially ultra-marathon She then shows a picture of the Marathon des Sables and asks some questions - Where does the competition take place? - How long is it? - How can runners get water to drink? - Where runners sleep? T elicits answers from sts Pre-listening A Teaching vocabulary little T asks sts to read a text about ultra-marathon and reading / match the boldfaced words in the text with given vocabulary/ a definitions They work in pairs in five minutes little T checks answers pronunciation T has the sts repeat the new words and gives some guidelines on linking She then asks sts to practice linking words Pre-listening Speaking Brainstorming activity T asks sts to think about a question: Why runners take part in ultra-marathons like the Marathon des Sables? T asks sts to brainstorm some reasons why people take part in ultra-marathons like the Marathon des Sables T elicits answers from sts While- Listen for the reasons – Book closed listening T asks sts to listen to Jay Batchen, an ultra-runner, Listening talking about ultra-marathon, and take notes the reasons why he takes part in the Marathon des Sables T elicits answers from sts While- Listen for main ideas Listening listening T asks sts to listen again and decide if the statements in the course book are true or false Sts have to adjust the 140 wrong answers She reviews the statements with the sts and guides them to predict the answers T asks sts to compare their answers with their partner She then elicits and checks the answers While- Listen for details Listening listening T asks students to listen again and answer the multiple questions in the course book She reviews the questions with students and guides them with some key words T asks sts to compare their answers with their partner She then elicits the answers from the students T lets sts listen again to the recording and checks the answers Post-listening Game: Picture drawing and guessing Vocabulary Teachers divide sts into two big groups She asks one representative from each group to go in front T secretly shows the representatives a word on a piece of paper The representative then has to draw a picture on the board to describe what the word is All members of the two groups have to guess the word Any member from any group who can say the right word first will get one mark for their team T changes the representatives after each word The words used in the game are related to sports Post-listening Vocabulary Crossword puzzle T asks sts to look at page 42 to have a look at a list of a little words She has them repeat the words then ask them to pronunciation a crossword puzzle on the next page She guides the students about the pronunciation of some words and has them practice the linking words She does the cross word puzzle with the class Post-listening Question and answer exchange and Impromptu Speaking presentation T asks sts to think about an important goal/dream in 141 / their life (sport, school, work, etc.) Sts then work with their partner, take turns asking and answering about their goal T gives sts a hand-out to facilitate sts’ work Finally T asks some sts to stand and present about their goal/dream in life T gives feedback Class meeting Class: - Teacher: Course: Listening-Speaking Course unit: Unit – Endurance test Course book: North Star – Listening and Speaking, Third edition Lesson focus: Speaking Duration: periods (150 minutes) Date: Tuesday 17/3/2014 Class procedures Main skill/ Stages Activities language focused Revision Short whole class discussion to give opinion Speaking T asks sts some questions about ultra-marathon they dealt with in the previous class: the length, the location, the prize, reasons why people take part in ultra-marathons T elicits answers from sts Pre-listening Short brainstorming activity Speaking T introduces listening text 2: Sports psychology She explains the term “motivation” and asks sts to brainstorm some kinds of motivation that an ultrarunner may have T elicits answers from sts While- Listening Listening for details 142 listening T asks sts to review the questions in the course book, pp 40-41 She asks sts to identify keywords in the questions and guides them with some listening tips T asks sts to listen and answer multiple questions in the course book T asks sts to compare their answers with their partner T elicits answers from sts T has students listen again to the listening text and check answers While- Listen for main information and specific examples listening T asks sts to look at the chart on page 41 She reviews Listening the questions in the chart with sts and asks if they can answer the questions She elicits some ideas from the sts T has sts listen again to the listening text about the ultra-runner Jay Batchen in the previous lesson and asks them to fill in the chart, using the information from the two listening texts they have listened T elicits answers from sts T checks the answers Post-listening Game: Who’s bingo? / T asks sts to work in groups of four They have to take out a piece of paper and a pen T asks sts a question Each group has to think of three answers for the question about sports If they have three answers for the question, the group has to write the answers down on a piece of paper and say “bingo.” They then have to report the answers to the class The group can get marks for a question The game goes on in the same procedures The group who has the most marks at the end will be the winner Pre-speaking Whole class discussion to exchange personal Speaking 143 opinion T show a statement on the screen: “Vietnamese people are too lazy to lay sports” and asks if sts agree with the statement She elicits answers from sts T then shows two other statements about sports and asks if sts agree She elicits answers from sts Pre-speaking Speaking Brainstorming activity T asks sts to brainstorm some expressions that can be used to ask for and express opinions She elicits answers from sts She also introduces some other expressions to ask for opinion, express opinion and say you agree or disagree Speaking task Practice asking for and giving opinions (Discussion) Speaking T asks sts to work in group of four Sts look at the pictures of athletes on page 51 and discuss about how the athletes are feeling, using the expressions they have learned She gives an example before sts practice T elicits some opinions from sts and give some feedback Speaking task Whole class discussion to exchange personal Speaking opinion T shows another statement about sport on the screen and asks sts to give their opinion “Some people believe that competitive sports, both team and individual, have no place in the school curriculum How far you agree or disagree?” Speaking task Individual planned presentation T asks some sts who did not present their talk about their goal/dream in life in the previous lesson come to the front and present it T gives feedback 144 Speaking APPENDIX SUGGESTED CLASSROOM VOCABULARY GAMES AND ACTIVITIES Back to the board - Prepare a list of words related to the topic of the lesson or the words you want your students to revise - Divide the class into two teams Ask player from each team to come to the front at the same time They have to face their members and cannot see the board - Write a word on the board or Show a word on the screen All the members of the two teams have to explain the word without saying it or a part of it Any player who can say the correct word first will get mark for their team - Change the players after each word Don’t erase the words on the board The team who gets more marks at the end will be the winner If this is a lead-in, show all the words on the screen/the board Ask students to look at the words and guess what the topic of the lesson is and explain why they can think of that topic based on the words in the game Pyramid This is another version of Back to the board Instead of listening to their team members explaining the words, the two players will be provided the words and explain the words to their team members Anyone in a team can say the right word first will get a mark for their team Word box - Prepare two grids of words like these on sheets of paper The same words are used but in different positions in the two tables Teacher can make copies of the grids if there are a large number of students 145 - Draw similar grids on the board without writing the words on: - Divide the class into groups (or more if there is enough space on the board) Ask them to choose a writer The writer has to come to the board and stand next to their grid Deliver the grids with words to the members of the groups - When the teacher says “Start”, the members have to look at their grid, tell the writer the location of the words (1A, for example), and explain the meaning of the word in the location without saying the words or a part of them - The writers listen to their team’s explanation and write the words on the grid of their team The group who finishes the grid first and correctly will be the winner Crossword puzzle running dictation - Prepare a crossword puzzle using the words in the lesson - Divide the class into groups Ask each group to decide a runner and a writer Give each group a crossword puzzle without the clues - Stick the clues on the walls outside the classroom When the teacher says “Start”, the runner in each group has to run to the clues outside, read a clue, identify its location (e.g across), try to remember it, and then run back to their group, and tell their partners the clue The group has to listen to the clue and discuss the answer quickly, then the writer writes the word in the crossword puzzle - Change the runner and the writer after each word Repeat until they finish writing all the words in the puzzle The group who can solve the crossword puzzle first will be the winner This activity can also be done in pairs Board race 146 This is a follow-up game of the vocabulary activity in the course book before listening tasks, which often ask students to read a text and then match the words in the text with its definition - Teacher design sentences with gaps where the learned words can appear - Divide the class into groups, let’s say, groups and give them group names Give each group one marker, one white board and one eraser (tissue) Ask them to write their group name on the corner and record their marks on the left side of the white board Ask them to choose a writer - Show a sentence teacher have prepared on the screen Students discuss the answer and the writer writes the word that can be filled in the blank on the white board - Whenever they finish writing, they raise the board up Teacher reads the answer If it’s correct, give them some marks; if it’s not, ask them to write it again - The first group who can write the answer correctly will get marks, the second gets marks, the third gets marks and the last gets mark Ask them to record their marks on the left side of the white board Ask them to change the writer after each sentence - After all the sentences have been checked, the group who has the most marks will be the winner - If teacher does not want to conduct this activity as a game, or he/she does not have needed equipment, it can be done simply by providing a hand-out to the students to finish the task SUGGESTED CLASSROOM VOCABULARY GAMES AND ACTIVITIES SUGGESTED SPEAKING PRACTICE ACTIVITIES - Record themselves speaking English Listen to a recording of a fluent English speaker (a short audio file) and then record yourself repeating what they said Compare the difference and try again Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/) is an excellent tool for voice recording as students can make notes about their errors - Read aloud, especially dialogues Although reading aloud is not the same as speaking naturally, it is very useful for exercising the vocal muscles Students should practise for or 10 minutes a day They should find transcripts of natural dialogues and practise reading alone or acting them with a friend Through these dialogues, students 147 will also learn common phrases which are usually used in speaking They can find a number of dialogues in Teacherjoe website: http://www.teacherjoe.us/NYBJ.html - Sing along to English songs Students can lean common expressions in the lyrics of the songs, which are often conversional This helps learners remember words and practice pronouncing them Students can get started with the songs in Esolcourses.com: http://www.esolcourses.com/topics/learn-english-with-songs.html - Watch short video clips and pause and repeat what you hear They need to be short to avoid wandering attention Students should listen carefully and use the pause button to focus on sounds and words YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/) is now an excellent source for such video clips They can also look at the captions, which are now often available on YouTube videos - Identify fixed and semi-fixed phrases and practise them These include fixed phrases containing between and words like: to be honest, in a moment, on the other hand Students should learn the communicative function of these phrases and practise how to pronounce them (remember weak forms, which words are stressed) and use them in your everyday conversation They can find thousands of such common expression in Broadskyblog: http://broadskyblog.blogspot.com.es/2012/11/over-1000-of-mostcommon-fixed.html - Learn short automatic responses Many of our responses are automatic (e.g right, OK, no problem, alright, fine thanks, just a minute, you’re welcome, fine by me, let’s it!, yup, no way! you’re joking, right?, I have to? etc.) Collect these short automatic responses and start using them - Practise telling stories and using narrative tenses We use the past simple, past continuous and past perfect for telling stories but we can often use present tenses to make our stories more dramatic - Learn when to pause for effect An effective English speaker knows when to pause to give the listener time to think about what you have said, respond appropriately, and predict what you are going to say They can learn how to pause in this video: Mastering the pause to improve your public speaking skills (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l1Tom9q8Ic) - Learn about chunking Chunking means joining words together to make meaningful units Students should learn the common chunks in English, and practice pronouncing and using them in conversation They can learn how to chunk messages 148 in this video series: How to chunk your messages (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9Tmz1no1mY) - Listen and read along to poetry (or rap songs) to practise the rhythm of English Limericks (short, funny, rhyming poems) are really useful and demonstrate how English is stress-timed and how we use weak forms Students can learn how to use limericks on Youtube: How and why to use Limericks to improve your English (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0moGwr4huc) They can also find a great number of limericks for practice in Authur’s Limericks (http://limericks.5gl.net/index.htm ) - Learn exclamation words and fillers and practice saying them Students can study a list of 100 common exclamations in Dailywritingtips (http://www.dailywritingtips.com/100-mostly-small-but-expressive-interjections/ ) - Practice saying and using contractions more Contractions make speech more efficient because they save time and energy They can start by learn about contractions in English (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvaXnJqrdcg ) SUGGESTED CLASSROOM LISTENING-SPEAKING ACTIVITIES Onion rings - Prepare questions that you want your students to speak about - Ask half of the students to stand up and make a big circle in the middle of the class Ask them to face out - Ask the other half to stand up and make another big circle outside the first circle Ask them to face in - Ask everybody to face their partner in the other cirle If anybody hasn’t got a partner, teacher will join a circle - Show a question on the screen or say the question Ask students to talk about it with their partner in about 2-3 minutes Then ask or students to report - Ask one circle to take step to their right/left so that everybody has a new partner Continue until they have talked about all three questions/statements - If the space is not enough, students can make lines in stead of circles Jumping lines - Prepare statements about (controversal) issues related to the topic of your lesson 149 - Draw a line on the floor On the left, write “Agree”; on the right, write “Disagree” - Ask students to stand up and make a line along the line you draw on the floor - Show a statement on the screen/ Say a statement Ask students to decide whether they agree or disagree with the statement and jump to the “Agree” or “Disagree” side within seconds - Ask students in the two sides to stand in lines and face each other Ask them to tell their partner(s) why they agree or disagree and debate with them in 2-3 minutes - Ask or students to report - Ask students to make a line in the middle again Show/Say another statement Continue until they have talked about all three statements - Before asking students to stand in lines and debate with their partner, you may ask the students in each line to get together and discuss Gallery walk - Divide the class into groups - Choose a topic/issue For example: the bad effects of internet addiction - Deliver each group markers (of two colours), a sheet of big size paper, and some crayons - Ask students to work in their groups, brainstorm ideas about the assigned topic - Ask them to make a poster (with mind map or pictures) and prepare to talk about the topic - When they finish, ask them to stick their poster on the wall - Ask them to choose a presenter who has to stand up and stay next to their poster and answer questions about their poster - Ask other members in their group to stand up, walk around and look at the posters of other groups Ask them to discuss with the presenters, ask questions and add some more ideas if needed After 3-5 minutes, ask them to move to another poster It is best if the teacher asks students to stop and move at the same time and in routine Teacher may ask them to choose the best poster/presenter Teachers can also choose a number of topics instead of one topic The number of topics should be the same as or half of the number of the groups Assign topic/group or topic/2 groups 150 There is another version of Gallery Walk This version works best when you have groups of members working on topics, or groups of members working on topics and so on However, teacher can be flexible if the number of students is not 16 or 25 - Suppose that you have groups of members, namely group 1, group 2, group 3, and group - After students have stuck their poster on the wall, ask them to stand next to their poster - Regroup them, for example, by giving each member in each group a colour (e.g blue, red, yellow, orange) Ask students with the same colours (4 students) to get together to make a new group So now you have four new groups, in each of which there is one student from group 1, one from group 2, one from group and one from group If the number of students is not 16 or 25, teacher can assign students from an original group to join the new one, and these two students will work together in their presentation later - Ask each new group to stand next to a poster The student(s) who have/has prepared the poster will become the presenter who talks about their topic Other members in the colour group can ask questions After 3-5 minutes, ask them to move to another poster, where a new presenter has to give his/her talk Students need to stop and move in routine as assigned by the teacher - Continue until all the students have presented You may ask them to choose the best poster/presenter 151