A survey on the effective techniques to improve english majored sophomores’ fluency in speaking skill at tay do university

TAY DO UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF LINGUSTICS AND LITERATURE A SURVEY ON THE EFFECTIVE TECHNIQUES TO IMPROVE ENGLISH MAJORED SOPHOMORES’ FLUENCY IN SPEAKING SKILL AT TAY DO UNIVERSITY Supervisor: HUYNH THI NGOC KIEU, MA Student: Student’s name: NGUYỄN ANH THƯ Student’s code: 13D220201040 Class: English April 2017 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am deeply honored to be part of The University of Tay Do which, has given me the opportunity to study, to conduct this research and broaden my knowledge Also, I am truly grateful for all the advices and supports from my lecturers and staffs at the Faculty of Linguistic and Literature First of all, I want to show my gratefulness towards my supervisor, Ms Huynh Thi Ngoc Kieu, MA at Tay Do University This proposal could not be completed without her enthusiastic, thoughtfulness and informative She was always willing to correct my mistakes and providing valuable advices, which allows me to complete my research in a given timeframe Secondly, I would like to send my best regards to all of my lecturers and staffs at the Faculty of Linguistics and Literature of TDU for their teaching and wise knowledge of English over the past four years Furthermore, allows me to take this opportunity to express my indebtedness to my family for their love and support They always encouraged and motivated me during my studying process and completing this research Finally, I am truly appreciated your interest and comments on this study i COMMENTS ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i COMMENTS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii ABSTRACT vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 The significance of study 1.3 The organization of study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definitions of speaking 2.2Definition of fluency in speaking 2.3 The importance of fluency English speaking skill 2.4 Main factors affecting students’ fluency English speaking 2.4.1 Linguistic causes (i) Vocabulary (ii) Grammar (iii) Pronunciation (iv) Accent (v) Listening comprehension 2.4.2 Psychological causes iii (i) Fear of mistakes (ii) Shyness (iii) Anxiety 10 (iv) Lack of confidence 10 (v) Lack of motivation 11 2.4.3 Other causes 11 (i) Learning strategies 11 (ii) Speaking environment 11 (iii) Being limited time for English practicing 12 (iv) Learners’ background knowledge 12 2.5 The role of teachers in different stages of teaching speaking 13 2.5.1 The role of teachers at the pre-speaking stage 13 2.5.2 The role of teachers at the while-speaking stage 13 2.5.3 The role of teacher at the post-speaking stage 14 2.6 Some suggested techniques in teaching English to improve English majored sophomores’ fluency in speaking skill at Tay Do University 14 2.6.1 Repeat and Re-phrase 15 2.6.2 Cooperative groups 16 2.6.3 Simulation 17 2.6.4 Role play 17 2.6.5 Audio recorder 18 2.6.6 Using recorder as a diary 19 iv 2.7 Previous study 19 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH AIMS – RESEARCH QUESTIONS – HYPOTHESIS 21 3.1 Research aims 21 3.2 Research questions 21 3.3 Hypothesis 21 CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 22 4.1 Design 22 4.2 Participants 22 4.3 Instruments 22 4.3.1 Questionnaire 23 4.3.2 Interview 23 4.4 Procedure 24 CHAPTER 5: EXPECTED OUTCOME 25 REFERENCES 27 APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS 29 APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW 35 v ABSTRACT Speaking is said to be an indispensable subject which partly contributes to the success of learning English and daily communications However, students have to face with lots of factors that can affect to their speaking fluently Therefore, the study “A survey on the effective techniques to improve English majored sophomores’ fluency in speaking skill at Tay Do University” was conducted to find out some effective techniques to help students expand their speaking smoothly The participants of this research are the sophomores from Bachelor of English class at TDU In this study process, the questionnaire and interview were used as the instruments to collect the data The result of this study will point out the techniques in teaching and learning to help students improve their speaking, especially fluency in speaking English skill vi CHAPTER INTRODUCTION In this chapter, the researcher would like to present the rationale, significance and the organization of the study 1.1 Rationale Nowadays, with the development of the international relationship among countries, learning English, especially learning English speaking is playing a more and more important role in the world People use English for communication and discussion for the world forum and in different aspects of life In Vietnam, English speaking is also very essential for work place Thus, learning English speaking has become more important than ever However, there are still some problems today about the teaching and learning English speaking, particularly at Tay Do University (TDU), there is a fact that the English Majors at TDU, especially the second year English majors at TDU have a poor English speaking skill They spend a lot of time on learning grammar, writing, reading and seem to ignore speaking The majority of the second year English majors are really passive in their speaking Furthermore, they feel reluctant to get involved in the speaking activities in the lessons Therefore, their English speaking skill is often low and very few of them can communicate in English fluently Obviously, it is high time teachers chose the appropriate teaching methods to solve the problem This study will explore the reality of teaching and learning English speaking of the second year English majors at TDU and suggest some main techniques which include the methods of strengthening the teaching of English speaking to help students enhance their English speaking skill Only in this way, students who are learning English speaking can learn it well so that they can communicate in English fluently In order to help the students at TDU, especially the second year English majors at TDU improve their English speaking skill, the author of the study carries on this study with the title: “A survey on the effective techniques to improve English majored sophomores’ fluency in speaking skill at Tay Do University” The study is expected to help the students of Foreign Languages Department at TDU, especially the second year English majors at TDU improve their fluency in English speaking in order to get a brighter future 1.2 The significance of study The research is conducted to help the sophomores majoring in English recognize some techniques that can help them improve their fluency in speaking skill Through the research results, they realize that applying effective techniques has some positive effects on speaking fluently 1.3 The organization of study The research consists of five chapters Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Literature review Chapter 3: Research aims – Research questions – Hypothesis Chapter 4: Research methodology Chapter 5: Expected outcome CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW The chapter presents the definitions of speaking, fluency in speaking, its importance and what factors affect to students’ fluency in speaking Besides, the researcher wants to mention the role of the teacher in different stages of teaching speaking and after all, the researcher points out some suggested techniques in teaching English to improve English majored sophomores’ fluency in speaking skill at Tay Do University 2.1 Definitions of speaking There are several definitions on speaking presented in language learning methodology “Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information” (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997) Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participants themselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking In addition, speaking is the delivery of language through the physical organisms In the process of speaking, we create sounds using many parts of our body, including the lungs, vocal tract, vocal chords, tongue, teeth and lips Speaking includes two ways: formal and informal Informal speaking is typically used with family and friends, or people you know well Formal speaking occurs in business or academic situations, or when meeting people for the first time Speaking is one of the four basic language skills which students need to acquire deeply and widely (reading, writing, listening and speaking) It is the means through which learners can communicate with others to achieve certain goals or to express their opinions, intentions, hopes and viewpoints In addition, people who know a 4.4 Procedure Duration (12 weeks) Step 1: from the 1st week to 4th week Step 2: from the 5th week Activities in study process - Designing the framework of the study - Designing questionnaire and interview - Asking the teacher for the permission of to 7th week delivering questionnaire - Delivering the questionnaires to students and interview to teachers and students - Collecting the data from questionnaire and interview Step 3: from the 8th week - to 12th week Analyzing the collected questionnaire and interview - Completing the paper 24 data from CHAPTER EXPECTED OUTCOME In this chapter, the researcher presents the expectation from the study and the difficulties in this research 5.1 Expected from the study Speaking plays a vital role in learning English and speaking fluency is a goal for any second language learner Doing this study, the researcher hopes that English sophomores majored at Tay Do University can improve their speaking smoothly with some effective techniques The author wants to change the students’ attitude on peaking English and let them find English speaking more interesting The present study focuses on improving sophomores’ fluency speaking at Tay Do University In fact, there are a lot of various techniques to study English communication It requires mush time and effort However, due to the limitation of time, resources and knowledge of mine as well as some other conditions, this study was carried out to find out the reality of teaching English speaking for the second year English majors and the effectiveness of Tay Do University teaching method as well as offering some techniques to help the English majors at Tay Do University enhance their speaking skill 5.2 Difficulties It is a commonly recognized the fact that achieving proficiency in foreign language speaking in classroom conditions is not an easy task Even advanced learners often finish a language course with the conviction that they are not sufficiently prepared for speaking beyond the classroom Other problems that are commonly observed in the language classroom are related to individual learners’ personalities and attitudes to the learning process and learning speaking in particular They can be shown as the inhibition which is the 25 fear of making mistakes, losing face, criticism or shyness The second thing is that learners have problems with finding ideas to speak, formulating opinions or relevant comments The third one is the low or uneven participation and this is often caused by the tendency of some learners to dominate in the group The last one is about the mother-tongue use which is particularly common in less disciplined or less motivated classes, learners find it easier or more natural to express themselves in their native language (Ur 1995: 121) In addition, as many teachers’ observations indicate, the above situations occur in language classrooms regardless of the level of proficiency or the number of students in the group Moreover, every learner enters any learning and communicative environment with his or her entire personality additionally shaped by their prior learning and communicative experiences, both positive and negative This individual dimension is particularly noticeable among older and more advanced learners who often have a good insight into the nature of their individual difficulties, an accurate assessment of the skills they have already developed and, consequently, clearly defined needs The fact is that English is used for communication among people in the world As an international language, it is necessary for us to learn it But we know that studying English as a foreign language is not easy 26 REFERENCES Baker, J., & Westrup, H (2003) Essential Speaking Skills: A Handbook for English Language Teachers London: Continuum Baldwin, Caroline, (2011) How to Overcome Shyness During an Oral Presentation Buckner, M (1999) Simulation and role play: presentation skills and games Alexandria, VA: ASTD Bums, A & Joyce, H (1997) Focus on speaking Sydney: National Center for English Language Research Brown, G & Yule, G (1983) Teaching the Spoken Language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Byrne, D (1984) Language learning in the classroom: Teaching oral English Hong Kong: Longman Byrne, D (1986) Teaching Oral English Longman Crookall, D (1984) The use of non-ELT simulations ELT Journal, Volume 38/4:262-273 Doff (2000) Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts Sociological Abstracts, Incorporated 10 Fillmore, C.J (1979) On fluency In Fillmore, C J., Kempler, D., and Wang, W S.-J (eds), Individual Differences in Language Ability and Language Behavior New York: Academic Press 11 Foley, K S (1993) Talking journals TESOL Journal, 3(1) 37-38 12 Fraser, H (2000) Coordinating improvements in pronunciation teaching for adult learners Canberra: DETYA 13 Harmer, J., (2001) The Practice of English Language Teaching Third Edition Longman 14 Horwitz, Elaine K., & Horwitz, Michael B (1986) Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Joann Cope Source: The Modern Language Journal, Vol 70, No (Summer, 1986), pp 125-130 15 Kowalska, Barbara (1991) Let them talk in English Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Szkolne I Pedagogiczne 16 Ladousse, G.P (1996) Role – play: A Resource Book for Language Teachers Maley, Alan: Oxford University Press 17 Lightbown, P and Spada, N (2006) How Languages Are Learned (Third Edition) Oxford: Oxford University Press 18 Liu, M & Jackson, J (2008) An Exploration of Chinese EFL Learners’ Unwillingness to Communicate and Foreign Language Anxiety Vol 92, pp 71-86 27 19 Maley, A and Duff, A (1982) Drama Techniques in Language Learning Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 20 Maurice, K (1983) The fluency workshop TESOL Newsletter 17, p.429 21 Nam, I O (2006) A case study on voice journals as a way of improving speaking skill Unpublished master's thesis, Sogang University, Seoul 22 Nunan, D (1999) Second Language Teaching & Learning USA: Heinle&Heinle Publisher 23 Register, N A (1986) Talking on tape: The audio cassette as an aid to oral skills improvement TESL Reporter, 19(1), 7-9 24 Rivers, W (1968) Teaching Foreign Language Skills Chicago: University of Chicago Press 25 Rivers, W (1981) Teaching Foreign Language Skills (2nd ed.) Chicago: University of Chicago Press 26 Robby, S, (2010) Conquer Your Fear of Making Mistakes when Speaking English 27 Shumin, K (1997) Factors to Consider Developing Adult EFL Students’ Speaking Abilities FORUM Vol 35, pp 8-18 28 Slavin, R “Cooperative Learning.” Review of Educational Research, (1980) 315-342 29 Swain, M (1985) There Functions of Output in Second Language Learning In G, Cook & B, Seidlhofer (Eds.) 30 Tatayama, Y (1998) Explicit and implicit teaching of pragmatic routines: Japanese Sumimasen In K R Rose & G Kasper (Eds.), Pragmatics in language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 31 Williams, M & Burden, R (1997) Psychology for language teachers Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 32 Zaremba, A J (2006) Speaking professionally Canada: Thompson SouthWestern 28 APPENDIX A QUESTIONAIRE FOR STUDENTS Dear friends, My name is Nguyen Anh Thu and I am currently a senior majoring in English I am very grateful to you for spending your valuable time helping me with this questionnaire This questionnaire is one of the instruments for my research about “A survey on the effective techniques to improve English majored sophomores’ fluency in speaking skill at Tay Do University” Please take your time to fulfill these below questions carefully because its result is important to my research Once again, thank you so much! PART Student’s full name: ………………………………… Age ………… Gender: Male Female Class: ……………… Please read the following questions and marking (v) the appropriate answer for each question Give specific answers if needed How long have you studied English? ……… Years Where are you from? ☐ Urban area/ city ☐ Plural area/ countryside 29 According to you, learning English is ☐ Very important ☐ Important ☐ Normal ☐ Not important What are your purposes of learning English? ☐ Finding a good job with good salary ☐ Studying abroad ☐ Living in English speaking countries ☐ Communicating with foreigners effectively Others: …………………………………………… Which subjects did you learn when you were in high school? (You can choose more than one options) ☐ Listening ☐ Speaking ☐ Reading ☐ Writing How many periods a week did you practice speaking to English? ……………………………… period(s) a week 30 PART Please read the following statements and mark (v) in suitable column to express your opinion Strongly Statement agree Learning English speaking subject is not easy for you You have faced difficulties when learning speaking subject You not have enough vocabulary to express your ideas, thoughts and emotions Grammar plays a key role in speaking skill Improving pronunciation is really necessary for you to be a good speaker 31 Agree No ideas Disagree Strongly disagree You feel embarrassed when listening to the sound connections and intonation native spoken speakers by with different accents Sometimes, you feel confused because you have no background knowledge about what you are listening to You are often afraid of making mistakes and being laughed by your friends You feel speaking shy in when front of give up many people 10 You often chances to speak English because of your anxiety 11 When speaking in front of many people, you often lack confidence 32 12 Enhancing your motivation is one of the keys to improve your English learning general and in English speaking in particular 13 Speaking is not a simple skill, so learners should have effective strategies to master it 14 You have very few chances to speak English outside the classroom 15 The practicing time in class is not enough for you 16 Sometimes, you cannot speak fluently and naturally because of lack of background knowledge 17 Sometimes, you difficulties get with unfamiliar topics 33 18 You have much time to speak English in class 19 You think speaking English lessons in class are very interesting 20 You think that using some techniques teaching can and help in learning improving fluency speaking very well 21 You interested about the current teaching method 22 Do you want to have more activities to learn English speaking more effectively? THANKS FOR YOUR HELP! 34 APPENDIX B STUDENTS’ INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Dear friends, My name is Nguyen Anh Thu and I am currently a senior of English major Now I am conducting a research entitled “A survey on the effective techniques to improve English majored sophomores’ fluency in speaking skill at Tay Do University” Would you please take a minute to answer all the questions below? Your responses are very important to my research Once again, thank you so much! Student’s full name: ……………………………… Age: ………………………… Gender: Male Female Class: ……………………… Why you choose English as your major? ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… Do you like learning speaking subject? Why? ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… 35 Do you think speaking subject is the most difficult one? Why or why not? ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… What are your problems when studying speaking subject in class? ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… According to you, which technique is the most effective to help you improve fluency in speaking (Repeat and Re-phrase, cooperative groups, simulation, role play, audio-recorder, using recorder as a diary and games, etc,)? Why? ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… Do you think teachers should use these techniques in teaching speaking in class? Why or why not? ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… THANKS FOR YOUR HELP! 36 TEACHERS’ INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Dear teachers, My name is Nguyen Anh Thu and I am currently a senior of English major Now I am conducting a research entitled “A survey on the effective techniques to improve English majored sophomores’ fluency in speaking skill at Tay Do University” Would you please take a minute to answer all the questions below? Your responses are very important to my research Once again, thank you so much! Teacher’s name: …………………………………… Gender: …………………… Years of teaching: …………….years Why you choose teaching English as your work? ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… Do you like teaching speaking subject? Why? ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… 37 Do you think speaking subject is the most difficult one with students? Why or why not? ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… In your opinion, what difficulties have your students faced in speaking process? ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… According to you, which technique is the most effective to help your students improve their fluency in speaking (Repeat and Re-phrase, cooperative groups, simulation, role play, audio-recorder, using recorder as a diary and games, etc,)? Why? ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… Do you think you should use these techniques in teaching speaking in class? Why or why not? ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… THANKS FOR YOUR HELP! 38