(LUẬN văn THẠC sĩ) difficulties in teaching TOEIC speaking skills to students at bac ha international university

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ YẾN DIFFICULTIES IN TEACHING TOEIC SPEAKING SKILLS TO STUDENTS AT BAC HA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY (Những khó khăn việc dạy kỹ nói TOEIC cho sinh viên trường Đại học Quốc tế Bắc Hà) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10 HANOI – 2013 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ YẾN DIFFICULTIES IN TEACHING TOEIC SPEAKING SKILLS TO STUDENTS AT BAC HA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY (Những khó khăn việc dạy kỹ nói TOEIC cho sinh viên trường Đại học Quốc tế Bắc Hà) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10 Supervisor: Hoàng Thị Xuân Hoa, Ph.D HANOI – 2013 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Certificate of originality of study project report i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii Table of contents iv List of abbreviations vii Table of figures viii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aims of the study Scope of the study Significance of the study Methodology Organization of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 An overview of the TOEIC test 1.2 The TOEIC speaking test 1.3 Difficulties in teaching TOEIC speaking skills 1.3.1 Difficulties from teachers 1.3.2 Difficulties from students 10 1.3.3 Difficulties from objective factors 13 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 15 2.1 The research context 15 2.1.1 Description of the English language teaching and learning at BHIU 15 2.1.2 Description of the students at BHIU 16 2.1.3 Description of the teachers at BHIU 17 2.2 Methods of the study 18 2.3 Research design 19 2.3.1 Sample and sampling 19 2.3.2 Research instruments 20 iv TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 2.3.3 Data collection 22 2.3.4 Data analysis 22 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 24 3.1 Difficulties in teaching TOEIC speaking from teachers’ perspectives 24 3.1.1 General difficulties 24 3.1.2 Specific difficulties 26 3.2 Difficulties in teaching TOEIC speaking from students’ perspectives 27 3.2.1 General difficulties 27 3.2.2 Specific difficulties 29 3.3 Difficulties in teaching TOEIC speaking from both teachers’ and students’ perspectives 30 3.3.1 General difficulties 30 3.3.2 Specific difficulties 31 3.4 Solutions to the eight most common difficulties in teaching TOEIC speaking skills 32 3.4.1 Students' low level of speaking competence 32 3.4.2 Students' passive learning style 33 3.4.3 Students' low motivation level 34 3.4.4 Big and multi-level class 36 3.4.5 Helping students to have inappropriate intonation and stress 37 3.4.6 Helping students to improve their listening competence 38 3.4.7 Helping students to recognize the relationship between the sender and receiver of the message 38 3.4.8 Helping students to support their answers with reasons, examples 40 PART C: IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION 41 CHAPTER 1: IMPLICATIONS 41 CHAPTER 2: CONCLUSION 44 2.1 Summary of the findings 44 2.2 Limitations of the study 45 2.3 Suggestions for further studies 46 REFERENCES 47 APPENDICES I Appendix A: Sample of a complete TOEIC speaking test I Appendix B: TOEIC speaking test scoring guide IV v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Appendix C: Questionnaire for students VIII Appendix D: Questionnaire for teachers XII Appendix E: Transcript of group interview XIV Appendix F: Sample of information gap activity XXVI Appendix G: Sample of graphic organizer XXVIII vi TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university (LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS TOEIC The Test of English for International Communication TOEFL The Test of English as a Foreign Language IELTS The International English Language Testing System GMAT The Graduate Management Admission Test BULATS The Business Language Testing System BEC Business English Certificates EFL English as a Foreign Language BHIU Bac Ha International University vii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university (LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university TABLE OF FIGURES Figure 1: Difficulties in teaching TOEIC speaking skills in general - from teachers’ perspectives 26 Figure 2: Difficulties in teaching six different parts of the TOEIC speaking test - from teachers’ perspectives 28 Figure 4: Difficulties in teaching six different parts of the TOEIC speaking test - from students’ perspectives 29 Figure 5: Difficulties in teaching TOEIC speaking skills in general 31 Figure 6: Difficulties in teaching six different parts of the TOEIC speaking test 32 viii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university (LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university Participant A: I think that we should decide the amount of knowledge we transfer within a lesson basing on the outstanding students’ level of English competence As we know, students belonging to pre-intermediate and elementary are prevailing in comparison to intermediate Therefore, what we should introduce to students in class is only basic and slightly higher to make sure that all students can understand the gist of the lessons As for intermediate students, we can assign extra tasks for them to at home Participant B: And we’d better check them through email instead of in class For instance, I asked my best students to list all the feasible structures besides those introduced in class to describe a photo They’ll then send them to me by email and of course I’ll reply to them by email later on Participant C: Good idea Participant G: For specially weak students, I try to spend time talking to them personally to understand their problems If they need my help, I can try to teach them one extra class every week to help them keep up with other classmates Participant D: I’m not sure I can arrange my time or not for these free classes Researcher: I think that G’s idea is very helpful to weak students If we can, we should try it and for sure we’ll be happy with the result at the end So, we’ve just gone through the solutions to the general difficulties in teaching TOEIC speaking Let’s move on to the first specific one: difficulty in helping students to have appropriate intonation and stress Participant B: Poor pronunciation, especially intonation and stress are very common among non English major students who not have a chance to learn pronunciation officially and carefully Although our students did have an opportunity to study with foreigners during the first two years, the resulting XXI TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university (LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university pronunciation, intonation and stress are not comparatively good Should we include pronunciation into our syllabus for first year students? Participant A: Sure, we discussed this issue for several times Maybe we should try integrating pronunciation into our syllabus for first year students next semester Researcher: That’s right We’ll get back to that issue in our departmental discussion later Now, can you give out some solutions to current students with inappropriate intonation and stress please? Participant C: Though it takes quite a lot of time, I usually spend about lessons introducing students basic knowledge of pronunciation, intonation and stress before moving on to teach real content of TOEIC speaking test (part I) For example, I guide them how to read the syllables and check the pronunciation in dictionaries Common stress patterns for two or three syllable words are also introduced briefly As for sentence stress, I remind students what kind of words is often stressed You know important words in a sentence: noun, verb, adj,… English words should be pronounced in groups to make it understandable to listeners Where to pause, how long to pause….should be also mentioned In short, we should pick out the most common items to teach students Participant D: Since we don’t have enough time in class to introduce all necessary knowledge of pronunciation, intonation and stress to students, I advise them to buy the book “……” and practice at home I ask them to record their voice by their mobile phone or a recording machine and send these recordings to me by email I’ll check and give them some comments on their pronunciation Participant F: Great I think I should adopt your method As for me, I advise my students to use a free web-based text-to-speech application This program is very easy to use All what students must is to type a word, a phrase or a text and then click “say it” to hear the guided pronunciation with an appropriate intonation and stress XXII TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university (LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university Researcher: Excellent guys It’s time for us to deal with the problem of helping students to improve their listening competence You know students must listen to questions in a recording, then reply to them quickly in part III of the TOEIC speaking test Our students often fail to catch the meaning of the questions, then are unable to answer the questions accurately Participant D: I think the best way for students to quickly improve their listening competence is practice You know “practice makes perfect” By this I mean students should try to find reliable sources of TOEIC listening part II (Questions and Responses) The questions in this section are quite similar to those in TOEIC speaking test part III At first, students should apply all the techniques to get the correct answers for these exercises What is, however, more important is that after doing the exercises, students should play the recordings again, repeat after them, trying to copy the way they pronounce English words, phrases and sentences By this way, students get familiar to the format of the questions in both listening and speaking tests, improve their vocabulary and pronunciation at the same time In short, our purpose to improve students’ listening competence can certainly be reached Participant C: Fantastic We can also use some popular methods like listening to real English whenever and wherever we are This method may be very old but I think really effective to improve students’ listening capacity Researcher: Well-done Now, let’s find out solutions to the third difficulty of helping students to recognize the relationship between the sender and the receiver of the message This difficulty belongs to part V (Question 10: Propose a solution) Any suggestions please? Participant F: I must confess that this part seems to be the most challenging to students because what students must in this part is listen to the problem (which often lasts for about minute) to understand the problem of the speaker, to figure XXIII TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university (LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university out the relationship between the speaker and listener (the student), to note down quickly their solutions (within 30 seconds) and then speak up in 60 minutes Participant E: That’s right Only some students in my class can really understand the problem, especially can figure out the real relationship between the listener and the speaker Consequently, their solutions are often irrelevant or inaccurate Participant B: I’m thinking of one solution While students are listening to the recording, they should take note of important information From these notes, they may make a guess about the relationship between the speaker and the listener and the real problem of the speaker Hopefully, their suggested solutions will be more relevant and accurate Participant A: As for me, I divided the problems in this part into four main categories: Work-related problems, Bill payment, Delivery Failure, Reservation Mistakes I then provide them common words which often appear in each category of problems Also, the typical relationship between the speaker (who makes complaints) and the listener (who receives complaints) is drawn out From these prompts, students can be better prepared to give out the most suitable solutions Participant C: Great The students themselves must also keep in mind that they are acting a different role, not a student in this part While listening, they must not only understand the problem but also their role in this situation and that from their new position, what can they to solve the problem suitably Researcher: Great What about the last difficulty in helping students to support their answers with details, reasons or examples? Participant B: Is it the problem with students’ critical thinking? Participant A: Exactly Once again, this problem stems from our educational system Students are not taught how to express their opinion effectively That is to say they should first state their opinion, then support it with details, reasons or XXIV TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university (LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university examples Students often find it very difficult to figure out supporting ideas though they may quickly decide whether they agree or disagree with an issue Participant C: If some of them can, to some extent, give out some examples or ideas to support their opinion, these ideas are often not organized in a logical and effective way Participant D: I’m thinking of a model which my friends introduced to me some months ago It’s called “Graphic organizers” Simply speaking, graphic organizers can help our students to classify ideas and communicate more effectively They can be used for problem solving, decision making, and brainstorming Participant E: I heard of this model but don’t know how to use it Can you give us an example? Participant D: I’ll send you some popular models of graphic organizers which I often use in TOEIC speaking class But please keep in mind that graphic organizers can be widely adapted to all kinds of subject teaching and studying Researcher: You’re right, D Using graphic organizers help students to develop their critical thinking Instead of giving a simple answer stating their opinion, students can, hopefully, support it with examples, reasons or details Well, we have already come across all the difficulties with so many useful and practical solutions to them Thank you very much for your cooperation Have a nice day XXV TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university (LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university APPENDIX F SAMPLE OF INFORMATION GAP ACTIVITY Key Words: TOEIC Speaking and Listening: Picture Description Learner English Level: Pre - intermediate Activity Time: 10 minutes Procedure Pre-teach vocabulary items or formulaic phrases and write them on the board Example: "Student A, Picture (a list of relevant vocabulary)" "Student B, Picture (a list of relevant vocabulary)" Pair up the students One will be Student A and one will be Student B Hand out half of the pictures from the first part of the TOEIC listening test to Student A and the other half to Student B (2 pictures each) Inform students that they should not show their pictures to each other Student A must clearly describe the first picture to Student B according to the following criteria: people (i.e., number, gender, appearance, and activities), things (general/specific locations, and objects) Encourage Student A to use the vocabulary and phrases written on the board, as these will quite often occur later in the listening section Student B should be encouraged to ask for clarification and repetition where necessary This stage lasts about or minutes Next, students will listen to the four statements from the listening section, which match the picture Student B must choose the most correct statement that best describes the picture The teacher should then demonstrate describing the picture using the vocabulary items on the board, and repeat the XXVI TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university (LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university four statements once again The answers can then be discussed and explained After the first picture has been completed, Student B should describe the next picture to Student A This continues until all pictures of students have been completed The entire activity takes 10-15 minutes, depending on how much pre-teaching is required XXVII TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university (LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university(LUAN.van.THAC.si).difficulties.in.teaching.TOEIC.speaking.skills.to.students.at.bac.ha.international.university