An investigation into the current situation of using multimedia in learning speaking skills of the first year english majors at vietnam national university of agriculture

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CURRENT SITUATION OF USING MULTIMEDIA IN LEARNING SPEAKING SKILLS OF THE FIRSTYEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE KHẢO SÁT THỰC TRẠNG CỦA VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CÔNG NGHỆ ĐA PHƯƠNG TIỆN TRONG HỌC KỸ NĂNG NÓI TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT CHUYÊN NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH TẠI HỌC VIỆN NÔNG NGHIỆP VIỆT NAM Student : BUI THI LAN ANH Student code : 621247 Major : ENGLISH LANGUAGE Supervisor : M.A NGUYEN THI HUONG Hanoi – 2021 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CURRENT SITUATION OF USING MULTIMEDIA IN LEARNING SPEAKING SKILLS OF THE FIRSTYEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE KHẢO SÁT THỰC TRẠNG CỦA VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CÔNG NGHỆ ĐA PHƯƠNG TIỆN TRONG HỌC KỸ NĂNG NÓI TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT CHUYÊN NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH TẠI HỌC VIỆN NÔNG NGHIỆP VIỆT NAM Student : BUI THI LAN ANH Student code : 621247 Major : ENGLISH LANGUAGE Supervisor : M.A NGUYEN THI HUONG Hanoi – 2021 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled "AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CURRENT SITUATION OF USING MULTIMEDIA IN LEARNING SPEAKING SKILLS OF THE FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE" submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 2021 Bui Thi Lan Anh Approved by SUPERVISOR M.A Nguyen Thi Huong (Signature and full name) Date: 01/07/2021 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, upon the process of the accomplishment of this thesis, I would like to sincerely address my gratitude to Mrs Nguyen Thi Huong, M.A, lecturer of English at Vietnam National University of Agriculture for her valuable instructions, comments, her assistance and criticism, and her kind encouragement and correction I am also particularly indebted to all my classmates, friends, and students for their cooperation, encouragement and suggestions in conducting the research I wish to thank all my teachers, lectures, and the staff at the Faculty of Education and Foreign Languages at Vietnam National University of Agriculture for their consideration and enthusiasm in helping me to finish the course and complete the study My appreciation and gratitude are also extended to my beloved family; my parents whose endless love and support ask for nothing in returns Finally, I realise that this thesis is still far from being perfect There were many mistakes made It is expected that this thesis will be able to give contribution and be useful for the readers especially for those who are interested in the similar study Ha Noi, 2021 The Writer, Bui Thi Lan Anh ii ABSTRACT Speaking plays an important role in the learning process In an attempt to enhance first-year English major students ' speaking at Vietnam National University of Agriculture , this paper is conducted The study aimed to investigate the current situation of using multimedia in learning speaking skills of Vietnam National University of Agriculture first-year English majors and whether these multimedia tools can really motivate and improve the students ' speaking skill The subjects of this research were 139 students in K65 of the first-year English majors at Vietnam National University of Agriculture The author used questionnaire and semi-structured as the principal sources of data Analyses of these data indicated that the multimedia tools really helped enhance students ' speaking skill Based on the findings of this study , some practical recommendations in application of these tools for learning speaking skill were presented iii LIST OF CHARTS Chart 1: Students's opinion about the importance of speaking skill 23 Chart 2: Student's opinion about the difficulty of speaking skill 24 Chart 3: Student's opinion about the time they spend learning to speak English everyday 25 Chart 4: Student's opinion about often or not of using multimedia tools in learning English speaking skills 25 Chart 5: Student's opinion about the use multimedia tools help you become interested in learning speaking 26 Chart 6: Student's opinion about the use multimedia tools help you learn new words more easily 26 Chart 7: Student's opinion about the use multimedia tools help you catch speaking lesson's ideas more easily 27 Chart 8: Student's opinion about the use multimedia tools help you practice at home more easily 27 Chart 9: Student's opinion about the use multimedia tools help you practice more various speaking activities 28 Chart 10: Student's opinion about difficulty in using multimedia tools to learn speaking 29 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY .i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF CHARTS iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v 1.1 Rationale for the study 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 1.2.1 Aims 1.2.2 Objectives 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Design of the study PART 2: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature Review 1.1 Review of the previous studies (At home & abroad) 1.1.1 Related research 1.1.2 Related research 1.2 Review of theoretical background (depends on what the study is about) 1.2.1 Definitions of speaking 1.2.2 Criteria of Good Speaking Skill 1.2.3 Factors affecting students’ speaking skill 1.2.4 Definition of multimedia 10 1.2.5 Theoretical basis of using multimedia tools in language teaching 11 1.2.6 Multimedia tools and language teaching 14 1.2.7 Multimedia at VNUA 18 1.2.8 Brief summary 18 Chapter : METHODOLOGY 19 v 2.1.Research setting/context 19 2.2 Research methodology 19 2.2.1 Quantitative methods 19 2.2.2 Qualitative methods 20 2.2.3 Data collection 20 2.2.4 Analyzing data 20 2.2.5 Data collecting instruments 21 Chapter - Finding and Discussion 23 3.1 Initial data 23 3.1.1 Questionnaire for students 23 3.1.2 Semi-structured interviews 29 3.2 Discussion 30 PART - CONCLUSION 34 Recapitulation 34 Concluding remarks 34 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study 37 3.1 Limitations of the study Error! Bookmark not defined 3.2 Suggestions for further study 37 Conclusion 38 APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE 41 vi PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY Nowadays, with the development of science, technology, education and economy, English becomes more and more important in our modern society We have to use English in almost every aspect of life and in almost fields of work and study So English becomes a compulsory subject in primary schools, secondary schools, high schools, especially in universities throughout the country in Vietnam In almost universities, students learn English as a compulsory subject They learn listening skill, speaking skill, reading skill and writing skill And one of skills which students lack the confidence when practicing is speaking skill After twelve years studying at school, they just focused on grammar and reading comprehension to pass the college entrance exam, they did have lots of chances for practicing speaking They often lack of confidence in communication and they lack time and method for learning speaking So we should help the first-year students improve their speaking skills to gain the better speaking abilities in the future, especially when they graduate and apply for work Multimedia makes the students spend more time on using some tools to complete their English assignment It creates an environment for studying and learning professionally The students feel very eager to come to class each day when they have English lesson Moreover, Multimedia is believed that it will help student feel passionate about learning English, especially speaking skills and feel confidents in daily communication, also at work because they have chances to practice in group task and experience in real life The research really desires that the students can have more opportunities to search, study and practice Also, they can find out that multimedia is one of the best ways to help them improve their English day by day With above reasons, the researcher really aspires to conduct a study “An investigation into the current situation of using multimedia in learning speaking skills of the first-year English majors at Vietnam National University of Agriculture” to find the better way for the teaching and learning English speaking skills and apply suitable techniques and activities in speaking class With the hope, the students can improve their ability for speaking skills This study with the objective is to explore the application of the project-based approach to improve speaking skills for the first-year students at Vietnam National University of Agriculture 1.2 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1.2.1 Aims The main aim of this study is to investigate the current situation of using multimedia in learning speaking skills of VNUA first-year English majors 1.2.2 Objectives The overall purpose of this survey is to investigate the following issues: · Investigate the current situation of using multimedia in learning speaking skills of VNUA first-year English majors · Propose some solutions to improve students' using multimedia in learning speaking comprehension skills 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS This study is conducted to seek the answer to the following research questions: a What is the current situation of using multimedia in learning speaking skills of VNUA first-year English majors? b What are some solutions to improve the VNUA first-year English majors’ using multimedia in learning speaking skills? 1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY The study will investigate the current situation of 139 first-year English majors (K65) learning speaking skills in the second term at the school year 2020 – 2021 at VNUA And then, some suggested solutions will be given to use multimedia in learning speaking skills more effectively more interesting than practicing speaking tasks in the text books because there are various kinds of speaking tasks Two students showed that they like learning with multimedia tools because they feel more confident Question 2: Do you have any difficulty in using multimedia tools to learn speaking? Do you have any suggestion for using multimedia tools to facilitate learning speaking? The most common opinion they mentioned is searching suitable materials to practice more at home, and they suggested the teacher should help in finding materials to practice at home Three students describe that they feel hard to find suitable materials Two out of ten students said that they have some technical problems when they learn speaking using multimedia tools They expressed that they not have much experience in using multimedia tools to learn so sometimes they get troubles when using them The last difficulty which five students mentioned is that they sometimes not concentrate on the speaking practice because they pay more attention on the multimedia tools These are virtually all the major difficulties the students faced when they learn speaking skill using multimedia tools, according to their responses to the question Students also presented some suggestion to use multimedia tools more effectively Some students suggested that they should be trained to use multimedia tools before they learn The teacher is also recommended to help students search for suitable materials to practice at home by introducing recourses or giving some materials 3.2 DISCUSSION Speaking has an important part in human life People use their speaking skill in order to communicate with others Speaking is one of four language skills that important to be completed The ability to speak effectively cannot be separated from the role of language in communication Language is a communication tool used to understand and express information, ideas, feelings, and as a tool to develop knowledge and culture 30 In our country, Vietnam, English is a foreign language It is a compulsory subject taught in colleges and universities aimed at preparing the students to be able to communicate and access knowledge in English in the communication context to meet their need Moreover, it is also aimed at preparing the students to be able to communicate in the daily life based on the global needs Students should have good speaking skill to be able to transfer knowledge and exchanging knowledge and information in English effectively In line with that, the students should be to respond other's ideas in interaction process based on certain context in which the language is used After gathering and analyzing the data from the questionnaires and semistructured interviews from the use of multimedia tools in learning speaking skill of the first- year English major students in Vietnam National University of Agriculture, major findings are presented as following: First, the study detects the effectiveness of using multimedia tools in speaking and the viewpoint of students in using these tools From the questionnaire data analysis, it can be seen that the first-year English major students at Vietnam National University of Agriculture have the positive attitude in using multimedia tools to learn speaking skill All of them state that speaking is an important skill think that speaking is a very important and most of them present that speaking is difficult Most of them say that they become interested in learning speaking thanks to multimedia tools Multimedia tools also help them learn new words, catching speaking ideas, and practice at home more easily Through question 8, they express that they like using multimedia tools because of many reasons such as it helps them improve speaking skill, they multimedia tools is more interesting than learn by normal with various exercises to practice at school and at home Students also state that learning speaking with multimedia tools still has disadvantages They sometimes only concentrate on using tools rather than practicing speaking tasks Some of them also present that they got troubles when using multimedia tools 31 To sum up, any tools to support teaching brings advantages and disadvantages; learners should find solutions to limit disadvantages to use these tools effectively From the data semi-structured interview, it can be seen that the use of multimedia tools in learning speaking is more interesting than normal and the difficulty of this In normal , they only speaking and the speaking tasks in text book, so they feel bored and stressed However, they are attracted by many pictures, video, new information, and various speaking tasks Another popular reason is that they feel comfortable when they learn speaking by using multimedia Six students express that they can practice various speaking tasks anywhere in anytime they want out of class Two out of ten students also describe that practicing speaking tasks with multimedia tools is much more interesting than practicing speaking tasks in the text books because there are various kinds of speaking tasks Two students showed that they like learning with multimedia tools because they feel more confident The difficulty: Three students describe that they feel hard to find suitable materials Two out of ten students said that they have some technical problems when they learn speaking using multimedia tools They expressed that they not have much experience in using multimedia tools to learn so sometimes they get troubles when using them The last difficulty which five students mentioned is that they sometimes not concentrate on the speaking practice because they pay more attention on the multimedia tools In short, the research proves that using multimedia tools in learning speaking skill for the first-year English major students at Vietnam National University of Agriculture presents a good influence on the students' performance in speaking and they have positive attitudes about it This helps answer two research questions: a) What is the current situation of using multimedia in learning speaking skills of VNUA first-year English majors? b) What are some solutions to improve the VNUA first-year English majors’ using multimedia in learning speaking skills? 32 The data analysis and findings were presented in this chapter There were some disadvantages in using multimedia tools for learning speaking skill, the solutions for which will be presented in Part The limitation of the study is also shown in Part 33 PART - CONCLUSION This part includes four sections The first section provides a summary of the study's findings The second section presents the recommendations for speaking learning using multimedia tools The limitations of the study are shown in the third section and the conclusion is presented in the last section RECAPITULATION It is now safe to say that the answers to two research questions were found through the analysis of the data collected using the questionnaire and semi-structured interviews For the first research question, we can see the current situation clearly and students expressed the positive attitudes towards the multimedia tools Most of them presented that they like and become interested in learning speaking skill thanks to these tools They described that they are attracted by pictures, video, sound, etc., and they can learn new words, catch speaking ideas and practice speaking tasks more easily All in all, multimedia tools helped the first-year English major students at Vietnam National University of Agriculture improve their speaking comprehension and most of them had positive attitudes in using these tools to support their learning speaking skill However, there are also some disadvantages when using multimedia tools in learning speaking skill From data of students' questionnaire, it is presented that sometimes the students may not concentrate on the speaking lesson because they pay more attention to using tools Some students expressed that they got troubles when using these tools because of the lack of experience Searching for suitable materials to practice at home is also another challenge for the students The following section will suggest solution to these disadvantages CONCLUDING REMARKS This section sets out some recommendations using multimedia tools more effectively First, for multimedia tools, we have to confirm that they only play an assistant role in learning The students should not overuse multimedia tools Many students believe that using multimedia tools more can help better the performance in language 34 learning They think that using these tools as much as possible can create better teaching environment and motivate students to participate learning speaking In fact, it is wrong to think that the multimedia tools have a magic to English language learning They may help students feel interested in learning but students may feel inactive if they only look on the screen all the time In fact, if the students are inactive in their learning, they will acquire less from the materials Although the advantages of using multimedia tools in language learning in general and in speaking learning in particular cannot be denied, it should be used as supplementary instrument for the language learners So, the students are supposed to choose suitable learning methods depending on the requirements of context In short, language learners should use multimedia tools properly in learning and should not overuse them Learners should clearly know that English learning based on multimedia tools is not going to replace traditional learning instruments and they should combine both of flexibly in English language learning to get the highest effectiveness In order to learning effectively in multimedia classroom, the learners must know to use these tools clearly and they should determine whether to adopt these tools in English language learning or not Some students presented in the questionnaire that sometimes they got troubles in using these tools Searching for suitable materials for learning is also difficult for the teachers As the author mentioned above, materials for learning by multimedia are not only the textbooks, they can be other resources such as newspapers, videos, news, etc The learners can search these documents on the internet but they must be suitable to the program and themselve’ ability This is not an easy things for the learners, and therefore, all learners need to know how to use the Web as a resource for current authentic language materials in written, audio, and visual formats It has been, therefore, increasingly important to evaluate those materials systematically before use After screening and evaluating materials, language learners should adapt or modify the materials to suit their own learning situations As the author mentioned from the beginning, speaking is a difficult skill for the students said that they cannot hear and catch the speaking ideas because of many 35 reasons such as pronunciation, notation, accent, long sentences, etc The students also have few chances to communicate in English in their real life so it can be said that speaking is a challenge for the students to learn and for the teachers to teach So, it is not easy for the learners to choose suitable materials and to create suitable learning speaking environment to practice to develop their speaking There are various online resources in which learners can find suitable materials to practice In this study, the author would like to suggest some useful websites to learn and practice English speaking skill for reference: VOA learning English at http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/theclassroom/home/ BBC learning English at http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/ Penpal World at http://www.penpalworld.com/ Cambly at https://www.cambly.com/english?lang=vi&lang=vi LingoGlobe at http://www.lingoglobe.com/ These websites are useful and suitable for learning speaking because they have many different levels, diversity of topics, subtitles or transcripts, and interactive quizzes They are free, and can run online or be downloaded easily Another website which is recommended for teaching and learning speaking is Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/ YouTube videos are considered a powerful educational and motivational tool, and they are proven to produce positive results because students are shown the speeches of native English speakers It is also free and very easy to access and search the video These websites re hoped to help students in their English speaking learning when using multimedia tools For students, according to Liuzhi (2011), they should be in the center position in and they should be active in their learning Speaking is a hard skill and it cannot be improv in short time, it cannot be better if students not try to practice They need to spend time practice speaking skill more at home They can request their teachers' help if they have any difficulty in their learning The students should also be trained to use the multimedia tools before they learn with these tools because some students described that they got troubles when using them 36 In conclusion, Multimedia technology is become more and more popular in English learning It is one of the best means to motivate students' interests in their English learning However, in order to get the highest result in language learning in general and speaking learning in particular, the learners should play the leading role, and they should combine between traditional learning method and multimedia tools flexibly in their learning LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY AND SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER STUDY 3.1 Limitations of The Study The study has gained some remarkable results in improving students' speaking comprehension and motivating them to learn speaking for the first-year English major students at Vietnam National University of Agriculture However, there are still some limitations of the study Firstly, with limited ability, the author has not yet been able to identify all the benefits and disadvantages of using multimedia tools Secondly, the numbers of students participating in the study are only 139 firstyear English major students coming from only department at Vietnam National University of Agriculture They by no means represent all the students at Vietnam National University of Agriculture, so the data collected may not fully reflect all the students' attitudes and reactions to speaking skill learning in terms of methodology Some students may not answer the questionnaire according to their true thinking and feeling; they may copy from the responses of the others Lastly, the study was conducted in a short time; the results of the study may therefore be less objective and reliable The study would have better results if it were conducted in a longer period of time to a larger group of participants 3.2 Suggestions for further study Due to limited time, knowledge, experience and ability, the current study may not have the best results of students' improvement and motivation for speaking Therefore, it would be of great benefits if further studies are conducted to investigate 37 new ways of teaching speaking with multimedia tools to make speaking lessons more interesting, motivational, effective and successful The author hopes that the above recommendations for using multimedia tools in learning speaking can help some learners to improve their learning and to enhance students' speaking This study can also be considered the basis for many further studies on using multimedia tools in teaching other skills, such as reading, writing, listening CONCLUSION Speaking is considered the hard skill for the students to learn The teachers and students at Vietnam National University of Agriculture have always faced many difficulties in teaching and learning speaking skill One of the most typical problems in speaking class is the lack of motivation for students in learning With the rapid expansion of information and technology nowadays, the application of multimedia tools in language learning has become more and more popular To find out the students' attitudes of the first-year English major students at Vietnam National University of Agriculture and their improvements in speaking after applying multimedia tools in learning English speaking skill, the author decided to choose the topic "AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CURRENT SITUATION OF USING MULTIMEDIA IN LEARNING SPEAKING SKILLS OF THE FIRSTYEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE." Thanks to the instruments such as questionnaire, semi-structured interview, the researcher has obtained the important findings with the hope to improve the situation of learning English in general and speaking skill in particular at Vietnam National University of Agriculture This study is hoped to be valuable for both teachers and students in the application of multimedia tools in their language teaching and learning Because of the limitation of time, the researcher's limited academic knowledge, lack of experience in data measurement procedures and resources, limited number of participating students, etc., it is unable to avoid some shortcomings and drawbacks in the study Therefore, all comments and corrections are highly appreciated 38 In short, this study was an attempt to investigate the advantages of using multimedia tools reaching English speaking skill-in terms of promoting motivation and improvement of first-year English major students at Vietnam National University of Agriculture The positive findings will hopefully contribute to the researcher's own situation in learning English speaking skill at Vietnam National University of Agriculture and help the author answer the two research questions and confirm the value of multimedia tools in language learning in general and in speaking learning in particular This study is also a good reference for language students in choosing a suitable language learning method However, there are still some limitations in this study that need to be addressed in further research 39 REFERENCES Brown, D (2000) Principles of Language learning and Teaching Edition Fourth San Francisco State University: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc Eaton, S E (2010) Global Trends in Language Learning in the 21st Century: ERIC Fenrich, P (1997) Practical guidelines for creating instructional multimedia applications Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace Krashen, S D (1987) Principles and practice in Second Language Acquisition, Oxford: Pergamon Maddux, C D, Johnson, J & Willis, J (2001) Learning with tomorrow's technologies In Educational Computer Boston Nhon Thanh Dang, (2011) Exploring CALL Options for Teaching EFL in Vietnam Minnesota State University, Mankato Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato Nunan, D (1999) Second language teaching and learning Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers Neri, A., Cucchiarini, C., & Strik, H (2008) The effectiveness of computer-based speech corrective feedback for improving segmental quality in L2 Dutch ReCALL, 20(02), 225-243 Nunan, D (1991) Language teaching methodology: A textbook for teachers: Prentice Hall 10 Phillips, R (1997) The Developers handbook to Interactive Multimedia: A Practical Guide for Educational Applications London: Kogan Page 40 APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE Question1: In your opinion, Speaking skill is very important important quite/fairy important not important Question 2: Speaking skill is very difficult difficult quite/ fairy difficult not difficult Question 3: How much time you spend learning to speak English everyday? Never 30 minute 1-2 hours 3-4 hours more than that Question 4: Do you often use multimedia tools in learning English speaking skills? Never Sometime Regular Always 41 Question 5: Multimedia tools help you become interested in learning speaking Never Sometime 3.Regular Always Question 6: Multimedia tools help you learn new words more easily Never Sometime 3.Regular Always Question : Multimedia tools help you catch speaking lesson's ideas more easily Never Sometime 3.Regular Always Question 8: Multimedia tools help you practice at home more easily Never Sometime 3.Regular Always Question 9: Multimedia tools help you practice more various speaking activities Never 42 Sometime 3.Regular Always Question 10: Do you have any difficulty in using multimedia tools to learn speaking? Never Sometime 3.Regular Always 43 APPENDIX B: SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS Question : Do you like learning speaking using multimedia tools? Why/ Why not? Question: Do you have any difficulty in using multimedia tools to learn speaking? Do The you have any suggestions for using multimedia tools to facilitate learning speaking? Thank you for your cooperation! 44