Khám phá một số kỹ năng dạy nói tiếng anh cho học sinh khiếm thị ở hội người mù tại huế

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission from associates and have not been published elsewhere Author Bui Xuan Nguyen Thy Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to acknowledge with all my greatest attitude the support, guidance and invaluable critical feedback which I have received from my supervisor, Dr Ngu Thien Hung Next, my special thanks also go to the teacher staff of the teachers and staffs of Hue society for the Blind They are very supportive and cooperative to me throughout the whole process of conducting the study Then, I would really thank the visually impaired students of Hue society for the Blind for their friendliness and sincere cooperation which contributed a lot to the result of the study I would also like to thank all teachers in the English Department who have provided me with useful knowledge and skills throughout my years at university Moreover, thanks are due to my close friends who helped me to collect relevant materials and gave me support as well as advice Finally, I wish to extend my thanks to all members in my family, especially my parents, who gave me precious encouragements during my writing process TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF TABLES ABSTRACT CHAPTER - INTRODUCTION 10 1.1 Rationale 10 1.2 Purposes of the study 11 1.3 Research questions 11 1.4 Significance of Study 12 1.5 The structure of the thesis 12 CHAPTER - LITERATURE REVIEW 13 2.1 Definitions of the visually impaired people 13 2.2 The Educational Needs of the Visually Impaired 14 2.3 Barriers faced by the Visually Impaired 15 2.4 Communicative Language Teaching 17 2.5 Definition of CLT 18 2.6 Communicative Competence 18 2.6.1 Grammatical competence 18 2.6.2 Discourse competence 19 2.6.3 Sociolinguistic competence 19 2.7 Probability rules of occurrence 19 2.8 Communicative strategies 19 2.9 Nature of language skills and oral communication 20 2.9.1 Nature of language skills 20 2.9.2 Oral communication 20 2.10 Nature of speaking skills and development of teaching speaking skills 21 2.10.1 Nature of speaking skills 21 2.10.1.1 Definition of speaking (spoken language) 21 2.10.1.2 Characteristics of speaking 22 2.10.2 Development approach of speaking skills 22 2.10.2.1 The pre-speaking 23 2.10.2.2 The while-speaking 23 2.10.2.3 The post-speaking 23 2.11 Oral language 23 2.11.1 Definition of oral language 23 2.11.2 The importance of oral language in school curricula 24 2.11.3 What oral language skills students need to develop 25 2.11.4 The role of the teacher as facilitator of oral language development 25 2.12 Summary 26 CHAPTER - METHODLOGY 27 3.1 Method of Study 27 3.2 Data Collection 27 3.2.1 The participants 27 3.2.2 The instruments 28 a The questionnaire 28 b The interview 29 c Classroom observation 29 3.2.3 Procedures of Data Collection and Analysis 30 3.3 Reliability and Validity 30 3.4 Summary 31 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 32 4.1 Results from Questionnaires 32 4.1.1 Questionnaire for teachers 32 4.1.1.1 Teachers‟ opinion on teaching speaking for visually impaired students 32 4.1.1.2 Difficulties in teaching process at Hue Society for the Blind 34 4.1.1.3 Teachers‟ attitude towards the visual impaired students when making the same mistakes, and way to correct them 37 4.1.1.4 Teachers‟ current techniques to motivate reluctant speaking learners at Hue society for the Blind 39 4.1.2 Result of Questionnaire for students 41 4.1.2.1 Students‟ attitude towards English learning and the needs for the students in learning English 41 4.1.2.2 Students‟ attitude towards speaking skills 43 4.1.2.3 The factors that make students reluctant in speaking English 45 4.1.2.4 Current methods and techniques applied to teach speaking skills 47 4.1.2.5 Current implementations to encourage the students to speak more 49 4.1.2.6 Students‟ desires 52 CHAPTER - CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 56 5.1 Conclusion 56 5.2 Implications to the Teaching and Learning Speaking Concerning the Visually Impaired Students 58 REFERENCE 61 APPENDICES 64 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CLT : Communication Language Teaching EFL : English Foreign Language LIST OF FIGURES Table 4.1 Teachers‟ opinion on teaching speaking for visually impaired 33 students Table 4.2 Difficulties in teaching process at Hue Society for the Blind 35 Table 4.3 The teachers‟ methods use to overcome the obstacles in the 36 process of teaching English to the visually impaired students Table 4.4 Teachers‟ attitude towards the visual impaired students when 37 making the same mistakes, and way to correct them Table 4.5 The solutions to students’ reluctance to speak 38 Table 4.6 Teachers‟ current techniques to motivate reluctant speaking 39 learners at Hue society for the Blind Table 4.7 Students’ attitude towards English learning and the needs for 41 the students in learning English Table 4.8 Students’ requirement towards the language the teacher uses 42 in the class Table 4.9 Students’ attitude towards speaking skills 44 Table 4.10 The factors that make students reluctant in speaking 46 English Table 4.11 Current methods and techniques applied to teach speaking 47 skills Table4.12 Current implementation to encourage the students to speak 49 more Table 4.13 Students’ desires 52 ABSTRACT This study aims at investigating the current English speaking teaching and learning situations of the visually impaired students in grade 6, 7, at Hue Society of the Blind These students are expected to need to employ English as a helpful tool for their future life To assist the students with vision loss in improving their English and overcoming socio-psychological barriers caused by their vision acuity, it is indispensable to have classroom activities suitable for their circumstances and needs The students always try their best to overcome their misfortune and integrate into the society In four English skills, the English speaking skill is suitable for the visual impairments as an effective means of communication The thesis was carried out using the non-experimental action research which sought both qualitative and quantitative information about the teachers‟ and visually impaired students‟ situation in terms of their difficulties and solution needed for the improvement Data for the study was obtained with two different instruments: questionnaire, interviews and classroom observation The participants of this research were 32 students with visual impairments in grades 6, 7, at Hue Society for the Blind and their teachers of English The result reveals that the students at Hue society for the blind had difficulties in learning in speaking English This was found due to such reasons as student‟s lack of interest, teacher‟s methods and time allocation for teaching and practicing Based on the results, the researcher attempt to give some techniques to improve English speaking for the visually impaired at Hue Society for the Blind 10 5.2 Implications to the Teaching and Learning Speaking Concerning the Visually Impaired Students Although all students know that the English speaking is necessary for their life, most of the students are afraid of English speaking In this researcher, I am lucky to participate and talk to the visually impaired students at Hue society for the blind The teacher agreed for me observation the class to know the differences between the sighted students and the visually impaired students in learning English In the first time, the researcher is surprised of the teachers‟ new teaching methods Most of them were very younger, they make everyone admired of their love for the visually impairments The students studied English speaking with the teacher based on the vocabulary The teacher often explains the meaning of the new word for their students They used the simple language to help the students know the vocabulary by feel The students were drawn the lively pictures by their teacher Each of the vocabulary, the teacher said times, then students repeated Surely, some students kept silent to speak The teacher went around ensuring 100% the students take part in the English speaking This showed that the teacher always tries her best to improve the students‟ English speaking skills In a class, a lot of different students lead to the mixed-levels After giving the information and speaking about vocabulary The teacher was clever to give some details concern the dialogue The students listened carefully and try their best to remember quickly The text book was always closed until the teacher permitted It was difficult for the visually impaired to study the same textbook with the sighted students The researcher hopes that the visually impaired will have many good conditions for education in the future The teaching methods of the teacher are very suitable for the student The visually impaired is comfortable to reading and writing English So, English listening and speaking are often more interesting After providing the vocabulary, teacher play cassette The teacher stopped each of sentences of dialogue, students listened and guessed meaning After that, the students work in pair They will role 59 play the classmate and say about that same topic Sometimes, the students can change the topic and say everything they want The teachers always encourage their creations The researcher thinks the visually impaired are difficult to play game in class However, the activities between teacher and students, students and students are very exciting Teacher give a sentence: “It is a cat.” Students says: “A cat” Teacher says: “It is yellow” Students: “It‟s is a yellow cat” After using the vocabulary to make the new sentence, the students say to their classmate This teaching method includes review the vocabulary and help students more confident than when speaking English Based on these sentences, the students can make a short conservation After finishing class, the students were given exercisers These exercises helped them review knowledge Although the study has certain strengths, such as the triangulation of data collection methods, namely observation, survey questionnaires for learners and teachers, and rich data, due to the researcher‟s ability, it is obvious that the study has got a number of drawbacks - The number of students involved in the survey is still limited, so the findings may, to some extent, not be generalized to all students - The study was carried out on various theoretical The techniques in the research are selected from different reliable but limited sources - The procedures of data collection and data analysis have been carried out on a scientific and suitable research methodology Therefore, the conclusions and ideas in the study are all guaranteed in term of science 60 - Redesign English textbooks and materials for visually impaired students to help them learn English more effectively - Apply technology to teaching English to visually impaired students However, like any study weaknesses are unavoidable Actually surveys should be conducted with a larger sample population and wider sources of activities and if it is possible, activities suitable for different majors need to be added Suggested activities should consider students‟ different majors of the factors raising students‟ willingness to involve classroom speaking activities Further studies on changing the form of speaking test to have a more challenging one is also suggested as an effort to motivate students in their learning speaking skills Besides, the conclusion and recommendations would be generalized if the data were collected in more classes To get a better and more efficient study, surely the researcher in the coming time with the future research there will be a similar one which overcomes these weaknesses 61 REFERENCES [Anonymous] (1992) Programme of study for English Key Stage Hong Kong Education Department [Anonymous] (No date) Exploring for People with Disabilities Retrieved April 10, 2009, from http://www.learningforlife.org/exploring/resources/99720/a01.pdf Barnes R., & Kashdan S (1998) Teaching English as a new Language to Visually Impaired and Blind ESL Students: Problems and Possibilities American Foundation for the Blind (www.afb.org) Barraga, N.C., & Erin, J.N.(1992) Visual Handicaps and Learning Austin, TX: PROED Bishop, V.E (1996) Teaching Visually Impaired Children (2nd Ed.) Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas Canale, M  Swain M (1980) Approaches to communicate competence Singapore: relc Donely, P R (2002) Teaching Language to the Blind and Visually Impaired Retrieved July 19, 2009, from http://alihussein11.blogspot.com/2008/11/ teaching-languages-to-blind-and.html Doyle, W (1986) Classroom Organization and Management In M C Wittock (Ed.) Handbook of research on teaching (3rdEd.) New York: Macmillan Dzurec, L.C and Abraham, J.L (1993) The Nature of Inquiry: Linking Quantitative and Qualitative Research Advances in Nursing Science, 16, 73-79 10 Filene, P (2005) The Joy of Teaching: A Practical Guide for New College Instructors University of North Carolina Press 11 Freeman, D., & Richards, J (Eds.) (1996) Teacher Learning in Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 62 12 Hymes, D (1972) On Communicative Competence In J.B, Pride and Ellis.R (1997) Second language acquisition Oxford University Press 13 Kelly, G (2000) How to teach pronunciation Pearson Education limited, England 14 Krashen, S (1981) Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning Pergamon 15 Krashen, S D (1982) Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition Oxford: Oergamon 16 Littlewood, W (1981) Communicative Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 17 Littlewood, W (1992) Teaching Oral Communication: A Methodological Framework Oxford: Blackwell 18 LIU Chen (2003) An Investigation into Teaching Strategies of Children English Class Elementary English Teaching Journal, (3), 70-73 (in Chinese) 19 Lowenfeld, B (1975) The Changing Status of the Blind form Separation to Integration Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas 20 Richards, J C (1983) Communicative Needs in Foreign Language Learning ELT Journal, V37, N2 21 Sagvinon, S J (1983) Communicative competence: theory and classroom practice Addison-wesley Publishing company 22 Sechrest, L and Sidana, S (1995) Quantitative and Qualitative Methods: Is There an Alternative? Evaluation and Program Planning, 18, 77-87 23 Seymour, D and Popova, M (2003) 700 Classroom Activities Macmillan Publishers Limited 24 Spada, N (1999) How Languages are Learned Oxford University Press 63 25 Sullivan, P.N (1996) English Language Teaching in Vietnam: An Appropriation of Communicative Methodologies Ph D.dissertation in Education, University of California Berkeley 26 Turchi, J (1994) Students with Disabilities: A Resource Guide for Mesabi Community College Retrieved March 5, 2009, from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ ERICWebPortal/contentdelivery/ERICServlet?accno=ED386840 27 Ur, P (1988), Grammar Practice Activities, UK Cambridge University 28 Ur, P (1991) A course in language teaching Practice and theory Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 29 Warschauer, M (1996) Computer-Assisted Language Learning: An Introduction In Fotos S (ed.) Multimedia language teaching, Tokyo: Logos International: 3-20 at http://www.gse.uci.edu/markw/call.html 64 APPENDICES APPENDIX A: (ENGLISH VERSION) TEACHER QUESTIONNAIRE This questionnaire aims at surveying teachers’ perspectives on using teach English speaking for the visually impaired at Hue Society for the Blind to improve the English teaching and learning process Your contribution is of great value to my research paper The data collected will be used in my research paper only, not for any purposes Please read the questions carefully and tick () on your choice In some questions, you may tick more than one answer if necessary Teachers’ opinion on teaching speaking for visually impaired students How often are you trained in English teaching-training courses and English teaching workshops to help the techniques when teaching English for the visual impaired students? A Many times B Seldom C Never D Others… What techniques have you been using in the speaking lessons? A CLT B Audio-lingual C Grammar translation D Others:… 65 What you think about CLT? (Circle all the options if you find them all true.) A Is learner-centered B Does not teach grammar C Emphasizes on fluency than on accuracy D Focuses on meaningful tasks rather than on language itself Difficulties in teaching process at Hue Society for the Blind How you think about teaching visually impaired students? A Difficult but interesting B Easy and interesting C Difficult and uninteresting D Easy but uninteresting Which difficulties have you got in your teaching speaking for the visual impaired students? A Large class sizes B Students‟ low English proficiency C Not enough time D Mixed-level The teachers’ methods use to overcome the obstacles in the process of teaching English to the visually impaired students What can you to overcome your difficulties in your teaching visually impaired students? (You can circle more than one answer) A Co-operate with the subject teachers B Co-operate with the visually impaired students‟ parents C Co-operate with the visually impaired students D There is a good lecture before coming class E Choose the contexts familiar to your students to practice the target language F Others:…… 66 Teachers’ attitude towards the visual impaired students when making the same mistakes, and way to correct them Do you correct your students’ mistakes? A Usually B Sometimes C Rarely D Never How often your students make the same mistakes? A Always B Sometimes C Rarely D Never The solutions to students’ reluctance to speak What you when your students are reluctant to speak? A Get angry B Get them to speak C Encourage them to speak by asking them easier questions D Let them sit down and not ask them again Teachers’ current techniques to motivate reluctant speaking learners at Hue society for the Blind 10 What you usually to make your students interested in their speaking lesson? A Encourage them by grades B Praise them C Let them choose topics to discuss D Do nothing 67 11 What you often to create a close relation with your students in speaking classes? A Sit on the teacher‟s seat B Stand in front of the students near the blackboard C Stand near the students D Walk around the class and give help 12 What think teachers should to prevent your students from using Vietnamese in group work and in pair work? A Move round and observe B Remind them to speak English C Criticize them D Nothing Thank you for your co-operation! 68 APPENDICES APPENDIX B: (ENGLISH VERSION) STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE This questionnaire aims at surveying visually impaired students’ perspectives on studying English speaking at Hue Society for the Blind Then, the researcher will give some techniques to improve the English learning process Your contribution is of great value to my research paper The data collected will be used in my research paper only, not for any purposes Please read the questions carefully and tick () on your choice In some questions, you may tick more than one answer if necessary Students’ attitude towards English learning and the needs for the students in learning English In your opinion, you think about learning English? A Difficult but interesting B Difficult and uninteresting C Easy but uninteresting D Easy and interesting What is a description of your English learning and practicing situation? A It‟s confident B It‟s unconfident C Others (Please specify):…………… Students’ requirement towards the language the teacher uses in the class What kinds of language you want the teacher to use in the class? A The English teacher uses English only in the class 69 B The English teacher uses Vietnamese only in the class C The English teacher uses English more than Vietnamese in the class D The English teacher uses Vietnamese more than English in the class Students’ attitude towards speaking skills Which skills you like best in learning English? A Listening B Speaking C Reading D Writing How is speaking skill important to you? A very important B rather important C little important D not important at all How much you feel excited in speaking English classes? A very excited B rather excited C little excited D not excited at all Do you feel reluctant to speak English in class? A Yes, often B Yes, sometimes C No, I like speaking very much D No, I speak English willingly The factors that make students reluctant in speaking English What factors make you reluctant to speak English in class? A Being afraid of losing face B Being not accustomed to speaking C Learning goal is not to communicate in English D Boring teaching way Which reason often deters your speaking process? A Inability to find words B Inability to find ideas 70 C Inability to find structures D Need time for preparation Current methods and techniques applied to teach speaking skills 10 What you think your teacher’s talking time? A Too much B A little much C All right D Too little time 11 When you make mistakes in speaking, your teacher: A gets angry and interrupts to correct the mistakes B does not get angry but interrupts to correct mistakes C waits until you have finished your presentation, then points out your mistakes and corrects them D waits until you have finished your presentation, points out your mistakes and encourages you to correct them yourself Current implementation to encourage the students to speak more 12 After giving you speaking topics, your teacher usually: A provides you with new words and structures relating to the topics B provides you with main ideas of the topics C encourages you to plan the topics D makes you discuss the topics yourselves 13 What does your teacher usually to encourage you to practice speaking? A uses communicative games B creates topics interesting and appropriates to your level C supports some suggested questions D uses group work 71 14 Are you given enough time to prepare the answer to a question? A Yes, usually enough B Yes, sometimes enough C No, little D No, not enough 15 What does your teacher after finishing a topic discussion? A encourages students to keep talking about the topic outside the class B only corrects mistakes C appreciates your presentation and draws out experience D does nothing Students’ desires 16 Do you want to have a job related to English in the future? A Yes, it‟s my dream B No, I don‟t care 17 Which classmate you want to study? A The sighted classmate B The visually impaired classmate 18 What you want your teacher to to motivate you to speak? A Not to interrupt you when you make mistakes B To accept a variety of answers C To give you a reading text based on topics D To ask you to speak without preparation 19 What you think about group work and pair work helps you? A Enable you to speak more B Give you opportunities to express your own ideas C Make you speak English more naturally and creatively D Give you opportunities to chat with your classmates in Vietnamese 72 APPENDIX C INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Questions for interview For teachers: Is the curriculum for visually impaired students similar to the ones for normal students? Should we keep a strict and serious attitude towards our visually impaired students in the class? Why (not)? What you think about the advantages and disadvantages of the proving visually impaired students with a separate learning environment from normal students? How you feel when teaching for the visually impaired students? Do you like take part in the workshop to have a knowledge in teaching English for the visually students? How often you apply the CLT in class? Give the reasons? Why you want to teach English for the visually impaired students but not the sighted students? For staff: What difficulty have you got when help the visually impaired students? In the curriculum for the visually impaired students similar to the one for normal students? What qualities teachers of visually impaired students need to have? How you think about the teachers of visually impaired students should take part in training course about teaching English? Thank you for your co-operation! 73