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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - TRAN NGUYEN QUYNH NHI AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF OUT-OF-CLASS ACTIVITIES TO DEVELOP SPEAKING SKILLS BY FIRST YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH AT HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Hue University of Foreign Languages HUE, 2016 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - TRAN NGUYEN QUYNH NHI AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF OUT-OF-CLASS ACTIVITIES TO DEVELOP SPEAKING SKILLS BY FIRST YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH AT HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60.14.01.11 SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN VAN LONG, Asscoc Prof Dr HUE, 2016 i BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ - TRẦN NGUYỄN QUỲNH NHI KHẢO SÁT CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG NGỒI GIỜ HỌC NHẰM MỤC ĐÍCH CẢI THIỆN KHẢ NĂNG NÓI TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT CHUYÊN NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ HUẾ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SỸ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60.14.01.11 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: PGS TS NGUYỄN VĂN LONG HUẾ, 2016 ii STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP The work contained in this thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, my thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself Signed: Tran Nguyen Quynh Nhi Date: 19/12/2016 iii ABSTRACT This paper aims to investigate the use of out-of-class activities in order to develop their English speaking skills The participants of study are 110 first year students and four English teachers from English department of Hue University College of Foreign Languages The data in this study was conducted through student questionnaires, teacher interviews The findings of the study indicate that the students are very conscious to out-of-class activities From the study, the findings show various out-of-class activities that the freshmen of English often used to improve their English speaking ability: (1) listening to music; (2) surfing the internet; (3) & (4) talking English to other students or foreigners; (5) participating English speaking clubs The paper also gives some recommendations for students, teachers and administrators Besides, some limitations are provided Keywords: English speaking skills, classroom activities, out-of-class activities iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For the completion of this thesis, I have received great support from many people Without them, the study would not have been achieved First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Mr Nguyen Van Long, Asscoc Prof Dr., my supervisor This thesis could not complete without his patient, valuable suggestions and constant encouragement I also would like to show my gratitude to teachers at Hue University College of Foreign Languages for dedicating time to broaden my knowledge over past four years Special thanks are also to first year students of English and teachers from English Department for spending time on completing the questionnaires and answering the interviews Last but not least, I owe a debt of gratitude to my beloved family who always encouraged me and support me endlessly in the process of conducting this thesis v TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP iii ABSTRACT .iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi LIST OF TABLES ix LIST OF FIGURES x CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background and rationale for the research 1.2 Aims and objectives of the research 1.3 Significance of the study 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Organization of the study CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Speaking 2.1.1 Definition 2.1.2 The importance of speaking 2.1.3 Learners‟ problems encountered in speaking 2.1.3.1 Inhibition 2.1.3.2 Lack of ideas 2.1.3.3 Lack of vocabulary 2.1.3.4 First language interference 2.1.3.5 Shortage of speaking opportunities 2.1.4 The current situation and issues of learning English speaking in Vietnam 2.2 Activities to develop English speaking skills 11 2.2.1 Classroom activities 11 2.2.2 Out-of-class activities 14 2.2.2.1 Definition 14 2.2.2.2 Some out-of-class activities 14 vi 2.2.2.3 Strengths and weaknesses of out-of-class activities 15 2.3 Previous research related to the study 16 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY 19 3.1 Research approach 19 3.2 Participants 20 3.2.1 Students 20 3.2.2 Teachers 21 3.3 Data collection instruments 22 3.3.1 Questionnaire 22 3.3.2 Interview 22 3.4 Data analysis 22 CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 24 4.1 Students‟ perception of English speaking skills 24 4.1.1 Students‟ self-assessment of their English ability 24 4.1.2 The importance of English speaking skills 25 4.2 Problems that first year students of English at Hue University College of Foreign Languages often have in practice speaking in classrooms 27 4.2.1 Problems encountered when practicing English speaking in classrooms 27 4.2.2 The frequency of problems encountered to students in speaking classes 28 4.2.3 Classroom activities 30 4.2.4 The frequency of taking part in these activities 32 4.2.5 Students‟ satisfaction toward classroom activities 33 4.3.2 The attitude of taking part in out-of-class activities 34 4.3.3 Some out-of-class activities to develop speaking skills 35 4.3.4 Reasons why students choose those activities for practice 37 4.4 The impact of out-of-class activities on their English speaking skills 38 4.4.1 The frequency of using out-of-class activities 38 4.4.2 How beneficial of out-of-class activities for improving speaking skills 42 4.4.3 Impact of out-of-class activities to practice speaking skills 43 CHAPTER V CONCLUSION 45 vii 5.1 Summary of the findings 45 5.2 Implications 46 5.2.1 For students 46 5.2.2 For teachers 47 5.2.3 For administrators 49 5.3 Limitations and future research 50 REFERENCES 52 APPENDICES 57 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Background information of students 20 Table 3.2 Background information of teachers 21 Table 4.1 Some out-of-class activities to develop speaking skills 34 ix English speaking Therefore, the students can improve their English speaking ability by following the instructions of their teachers 5.3 Limitations and future research This thesis studies the use of out-of-class activities by first year students of English at Hue University College of Foreign Languages Having stated the findings above, there were nevertheless a few limitations of the study This research also has thrown up many questions in need of further investigation First of all, the researcher cannot have a test for examing the real English proficiency of all participants so this study is not able to investigate the deeper connection between learners‟ improvement during progress of learning and the way they use of out-of-class activities Thus, it would be interesting to assess the correlation between learner‟s level of English proficiency and the use of out-ofclass activities Besides, different learners have multiple intelligences, disparate personality types, and unique learning styles It causes each learner to choose different learning strategies Future study should therefore concentrate on the investigation of relationship between the use of out-of-class activities and multiple intelligences, learning style or learning strategies for the success of learning English Another limitation is that this study was conducted on a small scale of population due to the time limitation The result from 110 students cannot denote for opinion of the whole first year students of English at Hue University College of Foreign Languages Therefore, futher researcher can take investigation on a larger scale of participant like all of the first year students of English However, different age may lead to different decision of activities outside the classroom Investigator might explore the influence of age to the use of out-of-class activities to improve their English speaking skills In addition, the participants of this study are students whose majors is learning English This means that most of students have been fond of learning English already It would be interesting to follow this up with studies targeting different ages of students or in geographically different areas Students of other faculties feel it difficult to learn English The result of this study would be 50 more interesting since it shows various choices of out-of-class activities for the success of learning English One more limitation of this study is that it only focuses on speaking skills Although the four main skills are very important in both learning and teaching English, this study focuses exclusively on the speaking skill It is recommended that further research can be undertaken in each skill: reading, writing, listening or all of them In addition, researcher can be investigated into how each out-of-class activity improve and promote leaners‟ learning of English Based on the findings, teachers can give their students some advice for specific skills that the students should use to develop their English ability Furthermore, educators can choose appropriate activities to apply in class to stimulate students‟ motivation of learning English when practicing in English speaking classes 51 REFERENCES Al Sharaeai, W A A (2012) Students' perspectives on the use of L1 in English classrooms Alonso, R S (2012) The importance of teaching listening and speaking skills Madrid: Vniversitas Complvtensis Matritensis Belhabib, I (2015) Difficulties Encountered by Students in Learning the Productive Skills in EFL Classroom and the Relationship between Speaking and Writing: Case of First Year LMD Students at Abou Bekr-Belkaid (Doctoral dissertation) Benson, P (2001) Teaching and researching autonomy in language learning Harlow: Pearson Education Bialystok, E., & Frohlich, M (1977) Second 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A Excellent B Good C Average D Weak What you think about English speaking skills? A Very important B Important C Rather important D Not important 57 What is the problem that you encounter when speaking English in classrooms? A I am worried about making mistakes and losing face B I cannot think of anything to say C I not have enough vocabulary to express my opinion D I often use Vietnamese E I lack of speaking-practice chances F Others: How often you meet these problems when practicing English in classrooms? Never Seldom Sometimes Usually Always A I am worried about making mistakes and losing face B I cannot think of anything to say C I not have enough vocabulary to express my opinion D I often use Vietnamese E I lack of speaking-practice chances F Other(s) 58 Which activities have been used by the teachers in speaking class? A Discussion B Interview C Role-play D Games E Information-gap F Others: How you often take part in those activities? A Always B Usually C Sometimes D Seldom E Never How satisfied are you about those activities in the field of improving your English speaking skills? A Extremely satisfied B Very satisfied C Moderately satisfied D Slightly satisfied E Not at all satisfied What you think about the out-of-class activities? A Very important B Important C Rather important D Not important 59 Do you take part in any out-of-class activities to improve your speaking ability? If NO, please answer question 10 If YES, please answer from question 11 to question 14 10 Why don’t you take part in any activities outside the classroom to enhance your English speaking skill? Reasons(s): 11 What is the out-of-class activity you often take part in to improve your speaking skills? A Watching news on television B Independent study in a library C Reading books, magazines or newspapers in English D Listening to music E Talking English with other students F Talking English with foreigners G Participating in some English speaking clubs H Taking internships or exchanged programs to an English speaking country I Writing English diaries J Take part in English speaking contests K Joining an online English speaking course or of an English center L Using app on the mobile phone M Surfing the Internet N Others: 60 12 What is the reason why you choose those activities to practice English speaking skills? A Advice from your teachers B Suggestions from friends C Interests D By chance E Other(s): 13 How often you use those out-of-class activities? Never Seldom Sometimes Usually Always A Watching news on television B Independent study in a library C Reading books, magazines or newspapers in English D Listening to music E Talking English with other students F Talking English with foreigners G Participating in some English speaking clubs H Taking internships or exchanged programs to an English speaking country I Writing English diaries 61 J Take part in English speaking contests K Joining an online English speaking course or of an English center L Using app on the mobile phone M Surfing the Internet N Other(s) 14 How useful are those activities towards your English speaking ability? A Very useful B Rather useful C Useful D Not useful 15 In what ways those out-of-class activities improve your English speaking abilities? A I feel confident when speaking with other people B I know how to keep a conversation going C I improve my vocabulary shortage D I not use Vietnamese when practicing speaking E I have more chances to practice speaking F Others: Thank you for your participation! 62 Questions for Teachers’ interview (The questions are subjects to change according to the real interview) What you think about the importance of English speaking skills? What are the problems that your students often face when speaking English? How often your students encounter each problem? What you often to help your students overcome those problems? Are your students aware of using out-of-class activities to improve their speaking abilities? Are out-of-class activities as important as inside the classroom? Why? What are the differences between the students who use out-of-class activities to enhance their speaking competences and those who not? What are the out-of-class activities your students usually use for practicing speaking? How those activities affect your students speaking abilities? 10 In your opinion, which would be the most effective? 11 What are your recommendations for students/ teachers/ administrators to make those out-of-class activities more effectively? 63 Questions for Students’ Interview (The questions are subjects to change according to the real interview) What you think about the importance of English speaking skills in the process of language learning? What are the problems that you often face when speaking English? How often you encounter each problem? What you often to overcome those problems? Do you use some out-of-class activities to improve your speaking ability? Are out-of-class activities as important as inside the classroom? Why? What are the differences between the students who use out-of-class activities to enhance their speaking competences and those who not? What are the out-of-class activities you usually use for practicing speaking? How those activities affect your speaking ability? 10 In your opinion, which would be the most effective? 11 What are your recommendations for students/ teachers/ administrators to make those out-of-class activities more effectively? 64