Difficulties experienced by Vietnamese lecturers teaching IELTS speaking at university level and some suggested solutions = Những khó khăn của giảng viên khi dạ20150227

4.1.1.5 LECTURERS‟ DIFFICULTIES OF TEACHING IELTS SPEAKING PART 4.1.2.3 LECTURERS‟ DIFFICULTIES IN GENERAL IN STUDENTS‟ POINT OF VIEW 45 4.1.2.4 LECTURERS‟ DIFFICULTIES IN IELTS SPEAK

2.5 FACT ABOUT TEACHING ENGLISH AT VIETNAMESE UNIVERSITIES 16

2.8 ROLE OF LECTURERS AND STUDENTS IN IELTS TEACHING AT

3.0 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 26

4.1.1.4 LECTURERS‟ DIFFICULTIES OF TEACHING IELTS SPEAKING IN

GENERAL

40

4.1.1.5 LECTURERS‟ DIFFICULTIES OF TEACHING IELTS SPEAKING PART

4.1.2.3 LECTURERS‟ DIFFICULTIES IN GENERAL IN STUDENTS‟ POINT OF

VIEW

45

4.1.2.4 LECTURERS‟ DIFFICULTIES IN IELTS SPEAKING PART 1 IN

STUDENTS‟ POINT OF VIEW

46

4.1.2.5 LECTURERS‟ DIFFICULTIES IN IELTS SPEAKING PART 2 IN

STUDENTS‟ POINT OF VIEW

47

4.1.2.6 LECTURERS‟ DIFFICULTIES IN IELTS SPEAKING PART 3 IN

STUDENTS‟ POINT OF VIEW

48

4.3.1 SUGGESTED SOLUTION IN PROBLEM OF ERROR CORRECTION 56

4.3.2 SUGGESTED SOLUTION TO PROBLEM OF HELPING STUDENTS TO

COPE WITH LANGUAGE ANXIETY IN IELTS SPEAKING

59

4.3.3 SUGGESTED SOLUTION TO PROBLEM OF HELPING STUDENTS TO

COPE WITH STUDENTS‟ LACK OF CRITICAL THINKING IN IELTS SPEAKING

60

4.3.4 SUGGESTED SOLUTION TO PROBLEM OF HELPING STUDENTS TO

USE THE CUE CARD EFFECTIVELY IN PART 2

64

4.3.5 SUGGESTED SOLUTION TO PROBLEM OF HELPING STUDENT DEAL

WITH SELF-STUDY METHOD FOR PRONUNCIATION

65

4.3.6 SUGGESTED SOLUTION TO PROBLEM OF HELPING STUDENT TO

UTILIZE THE TIME EFFECTIVELY

66

TABLE OF FIGURES

Figure 4.5 Difficulties in teaching IELTS speaking in general 40 Figure 4.6 Difficulties in teaching IELTS speaking part 1 41 Figure 4.7 Difficulties in teaching IELTS speaking part 2 42 Figure 4.8 Difficulties in teaching IELTS speaking part 3 43

Figure 4.11 Difficulties of lecturers in general from students‟ point of view 45

Figure 4.12 Difficulties of lecturers in teaching IELTS speaking part 1 from

students‟ point of view

46

Figure 4.13 Difficulties of lecturers in teaching IELTS speaking part 2 from

students‟ point of view

47

Figure 4.14 Difficulties of lecturers in teaching IELTS speaking part 3 from

students‟ point of view

48

Figure 4.15 Difficulties of lecturers in teaching IELTS speaking from both

students‟ and lecturers‟ points of view

49

Abstract

In Vietnam nowadays, the Vietnam National University, Hanoi in particular, a new standard for English proficiency is set; that is the required overall score of 5.0 on the IELTS or equivalent Thus, many universities emphasize the development of IELTS skills While efforts have been made to teach the four macro skills of writing, reading, listening in many language colleges, far less attention is paid to teach necessary techniques to develop good IELTS speaking skill To bridge the gap, this thesis aims to explore the difficulties experienced by lecturer teaching IELTS speaking to Vietnamese students at university level and to find out the solutions regarding this issue Through a questionnaire survey on lecturers and students of IELTS preparation courses, the study found that lecturers have encountered numerous difficulties when teaching IELTS speaking to Vietnamese students such as error correction, overcoming nervousness, using the cue card, helping students improve their critical thinking in answering abstract issues The study also explores lecturers‟ perceptions of the difficulties when teaching students IETLS speaking as well as the factors that help learners to develop their speaking skills Students questionnaire also helps to explore the lecturers‟ difficulties from the students‟ point of view Suggested solutions for each problem are given by experienced lecturers through interviews This work hopes to both contribute to the existing body of IELTS research as well as to pave the way for future studies in this fields

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 RATIONALE OF THE STUDY

IELTS is the most widely used international test of English, with 4 million test takers world wide IELTS has the advantage of being objective and fast It is reasonably accurate These commonly used tests of English are probably sufficiently objective to be useful as a minimum or qualifying standard when trying to evaluate the English language skills of a large number of people, such as employees in a large firm or potential students The widespread requirement for these tests serves as a catalyst for many people to apply themselves to the study of English Therefore, IELTS preparation courses are needed by many learners Many lecturers have tried to find suitable teaching methods to in order to help individuals learn and get high score in IELTS Thus, teaching IELTS preparation courses (henceforth called teaching IELTS) becomes an important element in helping Vietnamese students acquiring positive learning experiences Moreover, many studies have come to a conclusion that effectively obtaining an IELTS certificate is not only important

to students‟ English learning, but also add to their future career

My interest in IELTS Speaking topic is the result of having taught IELTS test preparation

in Hanoi for years at the currently the largest IELTS test center in Vietnam Throughout this period I have repeatedly encountered a number of difficulties regarding teaching IELTS Speaking test preparation as well as performance; so much so, in fact, that my empirical observations developed into concerns strong enough to warrant this research From the main problem of test performance, there have sprung equally worrying issues which may or may not be at the heart of the matter: students expectations of the courses, of study and teaching methods, teaching materials, time management both in and out of class, the level and type of classroom participation, the lack of preparation, the type and quality of questioning posed by instructors, as well as an overall unserious attitude towards the IETLS exam, an attitude that is certainly not indicative of the very purpose of the test The main reason for hypothesizing this was due to two main factors: the very nature and construction of the exam itself and the fact that the underlying ideology of the IELTS Speaking exam is extremely different from that of English language tests developed by Vietnamese teachers

While the IELTS test is administered in over 250 centers in 110 countries around the globe, the relatively high percentage of candidates in Hanoi, accounting for an estimated

40 percent of all IELTS candidature in Vietnam makes the role in the IELTS undoubtedly crucial to the future success of this exam While the Vietnam IELTS Network (The British Council and IDP Education Australia) struggles to meet its exponentially increasing administrative demands, questions concerning the IELTS test itself, with particular interest

on Vietnamese students‟ preparation and performance, have not been addressed with paralleled concern in academic circles It is within this framework that my research has been conducted

Therefore, my study attempts to examine the difficulties of lecturers when teaching IELTS and to suggest suitable teaching techniques to suit Vietnamese students for effective IELTS teaching method

1.2 AIMS OF THE STUDY:

The primary goal of this thesis is to study the difficulties of lecturers when teaching IELTS

to Vietnamese students from both lecturers‟ and students‟ point of view It covers new teaching techniques and shows lecturers the real-life applicability of those techniques gained from both students and professional perspectives This problem can be tackled through answering the following questions:

1 From lecturers‟ perspective, what are their biggest difficulties when teaching IELTS speaking to Vietnamese students at university level?

2 From students‟ perspective, what are lecturers‟ difficulties when teaching IELTS speaking?

3 What teaching techniques do lecturers suggest to overcome those difficulties?

1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY:

There are many different types of difficulties of lecturers when teaching IELTS speaking, however this paper only focuses on the most common difficulties voted by lecturers and students in the three parts of IELTS speaking sub-test The study conducts an insightful

analysis of those difficulties, looks deeply into the causes and finds suitable solutions as suggested by lecturers

The situation with foreign language teaching in Vietnamese universities is in some ways different from that of many European countries In Vietnam, students in all specialties have foreign languages on the curricula as an obligatory subject for two or three years out of the average four or five years of the full course Thus, our students not only want to learn foreign languages, but also have to learn them because students of any subject, any discipline must learn a foreign language as part of their program At the beginning of the university course of foreign language teaching it is necessary to formulate its actual – and realistic aims and tasks Students must know from the start what variety of the foreign language, and to what extent, they are going to master it Hence, its findings may not be necessarily generalized to students in other countries Moreover, the population of this study consisted of tertiary lecturers and tertiary students in Hanoi since Hanoi is the capital city and also the centre of Vietnam tertiary education

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY:

The globalization of education, of English and a growing demand for good speaking skills in the job market in particular have been placing a greater emphasis on the

English-teaching of IELTS speaking skills in Vietnam Therefore, speaking is also a crucial part of

language learning and teaching at universities in Vietnam Despite its importance, for many years, teaching IELTS speaking has been undervalued and English language lecturers have continued to teach speaking just as a repetition of drills or memorization of dialogues However, today's world requires that the goal of teaching IELTS speaking should improve students' communicative skills, because, only in that way, students can express themselves and learn how to follow the social and cultural rules appropriate in each communicative circumstance

IELTS speaking skill, as a new standard of foreign language in Vietnam and regarded as one of the most important skills to gain, has been taught at earlier stages in Vietnam universities If we want to make our students communicatively competent in English as a second language, it seems wise to assume that IELTS speaking skill will play a vital role in

achieving this overall competence It has now become a dire need for our learners to speak and interact in a multiplicity of situations through English Even in many contexts, IELTS speaking skill is the basis on which a person‟s language competence is judged Since IELTS speaking play an important role in helping students in their career, it is evident that teaching IETLS speaking is a significant factor in language teaching and learning in

universities Although an IELTS certificate is recognized by more than 6000 institutions

across 120 countries, only few research studies have been conducted in Vietnam context

There are even fewer ones carried out on difficulties of Vietnamese lecturers in teaching speaking skill in IELTS

Teaching IELTS speaking skill in a foreign language context such as Vietnam has some potential difficulties It is a matter of great concern that most of our tertiary learners can not speak English fluently even when they have learnt and have been taught the language for a minimum of 7 years of their life i.e from grade 6 to Upper Secondary level What are the reasons behind it? By analyzing the situation both from lecturers‟ and students‟ point of view, this study hopes to draw more light on this important issue and to evaluate some of them so as to introduce them for use by both lecturers and students Furthermore,

it is strongly believed that this study contributes to the recent knowledge about the IELTS speaking teaching trends in universities in Vietnam Inevitably, such challenges should be uncovered to find solutions for the improvement of the situation Thus, the constant communication with the learners and lecturers is necessary For researchers in the field of English language teaching and training the basic duty is to observe, find, identify and determine these difficulties through dialogues with English language lecturers regarding the classroom situations Hence, they are the ones who are able to generate some suggestions and solutions to the difficulties experienced by English language lecturers and students contributing to the ease of connection of the universities With the purpose on this duty in mind, the present thesis tries to report some of the major current challenges in teaching English in Vietnamese public universities The authentic voices of English language lecturers from a variety of experience and socio-economic background they work for will be displayed in this paper

1.5 METHODOLOGY:

This study aims at investigating difficulties facing Vietnamese university lecturers in teaching IELTS speaking through questionnaire surveys The population of this study consisted of university lecturers from various universities in Hanoi The students‟ sample was chosen from 5 different universities and this facilitate the process of the survey The sample consisted of 92 students The lecturers‟ sample consisted of 189 lecturers of English language in Hanoi The lecturers took part in questionnaire and in the interview; their responses exposed the difficulties of teaching IELTS speaking and their suggested solutions The students also took part in the questionnaire survey to reveal what they think are the difficulties of the lecturers in teaching them IELTS speaking To achieve the goals

of this study, the researcher designed a questionnaire in a way that it included four categories: difficulties in teaching IELTS in general, difficulties in teaching IELTS speaking part 1, difficulties in teaching IELTS part 2, difficulties in teaching IELTS part 3 The questionnaires, and the observation revealed the difficulties facing by lecturers in teaching IELTS speaking and some of the solutions to those difficulties are suggested by experienced lectures through group interview

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 The IELTS Test

2.1.1 An Overview

It has always been necessary, and rarely easy, to assess competence in a particular area or skill in order to ascertain who is deemed suitable for a given task or opportunity for further development In order to make this feasible, standardization of format and criteria for assessment are essential both for the examiner and the candidate The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) has been designed to do just this

“The IELTS is designed to assess the language ability of candidates who need to Study or work where English is used as the language of communication…showing overall ability as well as performance in listening, reading, writing, and speaking…The Speaking Module assesses whether candidates can communicate effectively in English.” (IELTS Handbook: July 2001, p.22)

IELTS offers tests in two modes: Academic (for linguistically demanding academic courses) and General Training (for less linguistically demanding training courses) The tasks of the Reading and Writing sub-tests of each mode are different, but the Listening and Speaking sub-tests are the same for both The IELTS is graded using Band Scores from 1.0 to 9.0, with demarcations in half Bands for the Listening and Reading but only whole Bands for the Writing and Speaking sub-tests The four sub-test Band Scores are both presented separately as well as averaged into one Overall Band Score on the candidates Test Report Form The score is valid for two years After over three years of research, pre-testing, revision, and administration, the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), IDP Education Australia, and The British Council launched a new worldwide version of the IELTS Speaking sub-test in July 2001 This was the final addition introduced to the current exam

2.2 The IELTS Speaking Test: an Overview

The Speaking Module runs between 11 and 14 minutes, and all interviews are recorded on audio cassette The Structure of the IELTS Speaking Module is broken up into three main

parts, each one fulfilling a specific function in terms of interaction pattern, task input and candidate output

Part 1

In Part 1, the candidate introduce themselves and answers general questions Examples of topic areas are one‟s home, family, job/studies, personal interests, and a wide range of similar familiar topic areas This part lasts between four and five minutes

Part 2

In Part 2 the candidate is given a verbal prompt on a card and is asked to talk on a particular topic uninterrupted for one to two minutes The candidate has one minute to prepare before speaking at length The examiner may then ask one or two rounding-of questions

Part 3

In Part 3 the examiner and candidate engage in a discussion of more abstract issues and concepts which are thematically linked to the topic prompt in Part 2 The discussion lasts between four and five minutes

The overall structure of the test is summarized below

4-5 minutes

Part 2

Individual long

turn

Examiner asks candidate to speak for 1-2 minutes

on a particular topic based on written input in the form of a general instruction and content-focused

3-4 minutes (incl

1 minute preparation time)

prompts Examiner asks one or two questions to complete the long turn

4-5 minutes

Table 2.1 Three parts of IELTS speaking test

(IELTS Handbook January2002)

The interview will be recorded Recording the interview has a number of benefits It allows the interviewer to be monitored to check the interview is properly conducted and it allows the interview to be assessed by another examiner if there is some question over the student‟s score Another benefit is that if there is any problem during the interview excessive noise outside will also be recorded

Much of the interview is predefined, i.e the interviewer works from a script However, there are a number of alternative questions for them to choose from The interviewer has more leeway towards the end of the IELTS Speaking interview

a Speech Functions in IELTS

The IELTS Speaking exam may be particularly difficult for Vietnamese candidates in that

it focuses on testing actual speech functions In other words, there are no specific answers IELTS could be classified, then, as testing communicative language ability (CLA) rather than ability to memorize, as is the case with Vietnamese exams During an IELTS Speaking test, communicative effectiveness is gauged based on the variety of output from the candidate The type of output can greatly vary in the following forms: providing personal information, providing non-personal information, expressing opinions, explaining, suggesting, justifying, opinions, speculating, expressing preference, comparing, summarizing, conversation repair, contrasting, narrating and paraphrasing, analyzing (IELTS Handbook: January 2002)

A candidate may not need al of these speech functions in the actual Speaking Test, but he/she should be aware of how to produce them effectively To better understand the significance of these specific speech functions we should first discuss the term communicative language ability (CLA) in greater detail

b Communicative Language Ability (CLA) in IELTS

CLA can be defined as having both the knowledge of a language as well as the facility to implement it in contextually appropriate use (Bachman: 1990) Bachmann‟s more comprehensive explanation divides CLA into three components: language competence, strategic competence, and psycho physiological mechanisms Of particular interest at this stage is his understanding of language competence, which he further classifies as being both organizational and pragmatic

c Organizational competence in IELTS

Organizational competence is made up of those abilities dealing with controlling the formal construction of language used in creating or identifying grammatically correct sentences, comprehending their propositional content, and organizing them to produce meaningful utterances This would include the knowledge of vocabulary, morphology, syntax, and phonology/graphology and their proper usage This also includes textual competence, which may be understood as the knowledge of the conventions for joining utterances together, either spoken or written, according to the rules of cohesion and rhetorical organization (Bachman: 1990)

These two requirements for CLA are in line with corresponding requirements in the IELTS Speaking Test Band Descriptors: grammatical range and accuracy, fluency and coherence, and lexical resources (IELTS Handbook: January 2002) This performance descriptors deal specifically with the candidate‟s organization of the linguistic signals that are used in communication, and how these signals are used to refer to persons, objects, ideas, and feelings They concern the relationship among signs and their referents We will look more closely into the implications of the above terms in a moment As of equal importance in understanding the IELTS Speaking test is the notion of pragmatics

d Pragmatic competence in IELTS

Pragmatics is concerned with the relationships between utterances and the acts or functions that speakers intend to perform through them This may be referred to as the illocutionary force of utterances (Bachman: 1990) Also embodied in the issue of pragmatics is the characteristics of the contexts themselves This will determine the appropriateness of the actual utterances Another way of understanding pragmatics is described by van Disk as follows: pragmatics must be assigned an empirical domain consisting of CONVENTIONAL RULES of language and manifestations of these in the production and interpretation of utterances In particular, it should make an independent contribution to the analysis to the conditions that make utterances ACCEPTABLE in some situation for speakers of the language.” (Haliday, M.A.K., 1998) Pragmatic competence becomes of particular importance for the IELTS Speaking candidate in both how he/she interprets and responds to test input Two common difficulties that arise are that the candidate misinterprets or ignores the speech function he/she is being asked to perform In the later scenario, the candidate may recite a long passage of prepared text from memory The examiner must disregard these utterances as non-ratable In the first situation it is the responsibility of the examiner to put the candidate back on track The amount of illocutionary force allowed, however, is restricted to the examiner‟s repeating or rephrasing of the question That is to say that the examiner cannot tell the candidate directly that their response is inappropriate This would naturally create undue stress on the part of the candidate If the context for appropriate response is not understood, however, the candidate may become confused and respond as he/she so interprets They are not penalized for doings, though continual responses of topic are at the examiner‟s discretion

to mark down for coherency Without delving too deeply into this area, which would inevitably lead us to critiquing the IELTS test itself, suffice it to say that the test makers do factor pragmatics into the design of both the test rubric and the way raters interpret candidate responses With that, we should now look more closely at the IELTS performance descriptors themselves, and see just how they do account for CLA in particular

e Performance Descriptors in IELTS

Detailed performance descriptors have been developed which describe spoken performance at the nine IELTS bands on four analytical subscales (Appendix E) For each

performance descriptor there is a range of marks, and the score given to a candidate for each depends on the degree to which the stated requirements are fulfilled The following section is based on the IELTS Handbook in January2002, but the definitions include specific references from the examiner‟s assessment criteria Being that this later document

is confidential by UCLES, we will only paraphrase some of its relevant points for our further understanding here

f Fluency and coherence in IELTS

Fluency and coherence asses the ability to converse at levels of continuity, rate and effort characteristic of native speech, and to connect ideas and language together to form coherent, connected speech The key indicators concerning fluency are frequency of hesitation, self correction, and repetition Coherence involves logical ordering or sequencing of sentences utilizing a variety of cohesive devices (connectors, pronouns, conjunctions, etc.) within and between utterances The greater the range and accuracy of these cohesive devices are, the higher the score

g Lexical resources in IELTS

The examiner is concerned here with the variety of vocabulary the candidate can use and the precision with which meanings and attitudes can be expressed The key features of lexical resources are the multiplicity of words used, or lack of repetition, as well as appropriate usage of idiomatic expressions Included in these criteria is the ability to circumlocution with or without noticeable hesitation Rephrasing, exemplifying, and clarifying are also considered, along with the variety and accuracy of the lexis used in doing so

h Grammatical range and accuracy in IELTS

This refers simply to the range and the accuracy and appropriate use of the candidate‟s grammatical resources The key indicators of grammatical range are: the length and complexity of the spoken sentences and the appropriate use of subordinate clauses the range of sentence structures (especially to move elements around for information focus.) The key indicators of grammatical accuracy are the number of grammatical errors in a given amount of speech and the communicative effect of the errors

i Pronunciation in IELTS

This is measured based on the ability to produce comprehensible speech to fulfill the speaking test requirements The key indicators of pronunciation will be the amount of strain caused to the listener, the amount of the speech that is unintelligible, and also the notice ability of L1 influence The range of phonological features the candidate produces is also important, such as use of intonation There is no one standardized form of English pronunciation the examiner is listening for; rather, any common or recognized form as a native speaker‟s pronunciation will be accepted

k Rater reliability in IELTS

While it is not our aim to critique the validity of the IELTS rating system, it is however necessary to provide the reader a general overview of the process Rater reliability is achieved through a relatively intricate system of assigning different raters to a candidate‟s four exams In Vietnam at least three people are employed to this end, with two certified examiners rating the speaking and writing, and a third party grading the reading and listening These four separate scores are then entered into a specially designed computer program that flags for jagged profiles, or two test scores that are more than one and a half

or two bands apart (the exact number is confidential) There is little to no margin of error

in interpreting correct reading and listening answers, as partial credit is not given to responses, so these scores are used as the basis to judge for jagged profiles Additional examiners are then called in to remark either the speaking or writing, and possibly even a third rater is used in times when there is a notable discrepancy between the first two raters These examiners naturally do not have prior knowledge of each others‟ scores

The reader should now more clearly understand the key ideological components that make

up the IETLS speaking test Given this, it would seem logical to expect that a preparatory course catered around this philosophy would likely yield more favorable results than would

a course centered on rote-memorization The main reason why this question is relevant at

al is, as we have mentioned in the abstract, in response to a generally pervasive attitude among Vietnamese that methods of rote-learning are fit for al occasions While our research will show this to not bathe case, the larger question of how to help the Vietnamese adopt more effective study methods for taking the IETLS Speaking test, as well learning

and improving their spoken English skills overall, become the focal issues byte end of this paper Simply put, how educators can conduct IELTS Speaking preparatory courses that better serve their students‟ interests, and what are the cultural difficulties as well as ethical concerns in achieving this end?

2.4 IELTS Speaking Test Research

In researching the literature, we were not only concerned with the IELTS Speaking Test but we also had to take into account reported findings relating to English language study and test preparation in general, while noting those studies pertinent to Vietnamese test-takers in particular It is the overall aim of this section to establish a foundation on which

to better grasp the significance of the research explained thereafter Therefore, we have divided this section into two parts First, we review any relevant studies relating directly to the IELTS Speaking Test Then, we discus the much broader area of Vietnam educational practices and their implications for the Vietnamese language learner and test taker

Based on the 1998/99 IELTS Annual Review, the revision of the Speaking test was informed by research conducted between 1992 and 1997 However, apart from the Merylees and McDowel study (1999), which discussed the reliability of the Speaking test and examiner attitudes to it, and a Brown and Hill paper (1998), which investigated interviewer styles and candidate performance, there remain relatively few studies in the public domain relating specifically the IELTS Speaking test Two studies were carried out

on the IELTS Speaking test for UCLES by Lazaraton (1998, 2000) The first provided evidence of the effect of examiner language and behavior on ratings, and contributed to the development of an interlocutor framework for the revised test, while the second provided confirmation of the effectiveness of the revised test, particularly the range of speech functions elicited UCLES also commissioned a study of the current Speaking test (Wylie

&Hudson: 1994) Research into inter-rater reliability (Wylie, 1993) and intra-rater reliability of the IELTS Speaking test (Conlan, Bardsley &Martinson: 1994) was commisioned by the International Editing Committee of IELTS but no details of the findings are available

In a separate study, completed as part of a B.A in Commerce at the University of Sydney, Ann Humphry-Baker focused on the relatively under-researched area of candidate

perceptions Ann is a Team Leader in Switzerland for the Cambridge EFL Speaking Tests and her dissertation, entitled Speaking Tests: Students‟ Perception and Performance, set out to investigate „how test-takers feel about the speaking test‟ Nick Charge, the subject manager for IELTS at UCLES, presented an article on the IELTS Speaking Test from an institutional point of view, in which he discussed the justification for the four performance criteria (Research Notes: Issue 2) While the cumulative body of IELTS Speaking Test research is relatively small, it is still relevant in two respects First, the diverse work done

in this field, though limited as it might be, still reflects a myriad of relevant ideas surrounding the IELTS Secondly, there have not been studies to date on comparative methods of test preparation, so our own research serves as contributing new information to this ever-growing field In sum, there are a multitude of relevant, yet unexplored, IELTS related issues worthy of academic inquiry

2.5 Fact about teaching English at Vietnam Universities

It is a well-known fact that English language teaching/learning is problematic in Vietnam (Brick, J (1991) , Burnaby, B and Sun, Y (1989) We have been hearing those who have been learning English at universities for years; yet, many could not reach the desired communicative level to follow even basic level of conversations unless they enroll at English courses else-where or visit an English speaking country exclusively Vietnamese is the only language speaking in the whole country and that is one of the main reasons for such unsuccessful results

There are some other reasons which are outlined by Brick, J (1991) such as the efficacy of language lecturers, student interest and motivation, instructional methods, learning environment and learning materials To start with the efficacy of language lecturers, they must be skillful enough to monitor student performance and expert in instructional designs (Met, 1999) Moreover, they must be a model for the use of the target language and teach language learning strategies explicitly All in all, they must form the most appropriate atmosphere to make the learning at its best How well-educated and how much experienced the lecturers are often regarded that they would provide the most effective language instruction Recently, it is found that lecturer success is rooted in their being reflective

rather than having worked for long (Richardson, 2005) As for the motivation and interest

of the students, we know that motivation is one of the key components to success for language lecturers (Dörnyei, 2001; Bachman, L F (1990) Lecturers often believe that their job is to motivate students by creating classroom tasks that are interesting and engaging and by using authentic materials to stimulate further interest in the target language, as Benson, P (1997) states The trend in motivation research has been replaced with detailed lists of lecturers‟ practices rather than what motivates learners

The third reason stated by Brick, J (1991) is the instructional method It is relevant to the educational background and experience of the lecturers A balanced instructional approach

is vital since too much focus on meaning fails to create the knowledge of structure necessary for anything beyond the most basic conversational skills As Briton, J (1979) believes that teaching structures implicitly are effective but not the over reliance on structure, which will cause boredom among the students It should be kept in mind that students would like to communicate in target language instead of learning about it all the time “There are many ways to draw attention to the form of a language (whole words, sentence structures, stress, and

intonation patterns), depending on the student‟s aptitude, motivation, and previous experience and on the educational and learning goals of the student and the teaching program” Brown, H D (1987) p 2) The learning environment and learning materials are also a reason for an indispensible part of instructional methods of a lecturer If a learner cannot put the learned component in the target language, it affects the motivation and thus success of the learner., Burnaby, B and Sun, Y (1989 p.2) clearly put the difference between a first language (L1) and foreign language (FL) context as “ FL learning is essentially limited to a classroom within L1 environment.” This is why a foreign language lecturer should use appropriate teaching materials which addresses the communicative competence of learners to create an atmosphere where they would feel close to a target language Coopersmith, S (1997) defines the qualities of a good material as having an interesting text, an enjoyable activity and opportunities for learners by providing their potential knowledge and skills Good materials also help the lecturer and the learner in organizing the teaching/learning process providing various activities to maximize the chances of learning They embody a view of the nature of language and learning Sadly

enough, lecturers of English in Vietnam appear to lack good practices in adapting or designing good materials for their students; which in turns, really demotivates the students

2.6 Fact about IELTS in Universities in Vietnam

English is a foreign language in Vietnam and the country depends on it for various international trades and conducting business with the outside world IELTS is in much demand in job markets In business, industry and government, workers are increasingly expected to develop proficiency in English

In Vietnam universities nowadays, the new standard for English is set which some IELTS overall of 5.0 or equivalent So many students take IELTS courses in universities These courses are for all students After passing the Upper Secondary Certificate exam which is held after completion of twelve years of study, students move to tertiary education In Vietnam, as Chowdhury (2001) mentions, students are not exposed to skill development courses in high schools So if they are faced with communicative approaches to language teaching in university, they find themselves in a new world He also mentions that in universities, first year students have a modest grasp of structure and usage due to heavy grammar input from high schools but have great difficulty in expressing themselves Lectures find it difficult to get the students to participate in class activities

According to the Vietnam Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics in 2002, there are about 92 main universities in Vietnam These universities have offered an opportunity

to thousands of students of opportunities for a good education and good command of English These universities have responded to the demand for English studies by providing them courses of IELTS in fields of Language Teaching, Business Administration, Business Finance, Computer Science, Environmental Science and Telecommunications since there

is a high demand in service sectors for students who have good English skills and knowledge in these areas Some universities such as University of International Studies provide an honours degree in English teaching and translating According to the 16+23 programs at Vietnam National University, students should get certain score of IELTS in order to be admited to some major For general students, they should get around 4.5 IELTS For the fast track students, they should get above 6.5 IELTS in field such as

Information technology of Vietnam National University According to 322 program of the government, students should also get 5.5 IELTS in order to apply for the scholarship provided by the state to travel overseas to study at English-medium universities Courses for those students are offered at Hanoi University and the Foreign Trade University Conlan (1997) states that these universities put special emphasis on English, remembering that jobs will go to those who have achieved fluency in spoken and written English At Hanoi University, students should get an overall of 6.0 IELTS in order to apply or to transfer to some majors such as Banking and finance, IT, Tourism, IBM etc At the Foreign Trade University, one of the condition that students can enter the master course without having to take the exam is that they have an overall IELTS score of 5.0 or above

At the Foreign Trade University, if the students achieve band 6 of IELTS, they will have chance to receive a scholarship sponsored by Bedfordshire University of £1500 In Hanoi University of Technology, students who achieve 4.5 band in IELTS will not have to take the English entrance exam when applying to an MA course Therefore, IELTS is also a crucial part of language learning and teaching at universities in Vietnam IELTS speaking skill, as a new standard of foreign language in Vietnam and regarded as one of the most important skills to gain, has been taught at earlier stages in Vietnam universities

2.7 Affective Factors in IELTS Learning

Motivation is an important aspect to be considered when learning a second language It can determine success or failure in any learning situation (Melton, C,1990) According to Dörnyei (2001) motivation does not exist, it is a theoretical concept used to describe and explain how people think and behave The term motivation is also used for explaining why the learner did or did not gain knowledge; without the need to go into detail about what factors have contributed to their commitment, the lecturer can simply say “Because they are motivated” or “They are not motivated” (Dörnyei, 2001, p.6) By using the word motivation, theoreticians and researchers can easily relate to the most basic aspects of our mind, which are wills, desires, rational thinking and feelings; thus, our cognitive and affective functions (Dörnyei, 2001) However, the learners‟ attitudes are not enough to support motivation in learning Schumann, J H (1998) In second language acquisition, it does not matter how gifted the learners are in their native tongue, they can still find it difficult or even impossible to learn the new language (Dörnyei, 2001) Learning a second

language takes commitment and persistence from the learners and is the key to succeed in the process of learning a second language Schumann, J H (1998)

According to Dörnyei (2001) motivation can be identified through three sets of

components during the learning situation The first is course-specific motivational

components meaning that the learners‟ interest and needs are in relevance to their

expectations, success and satisfaction in the outcome These are related to syllabus,

teaching materials, teaching methods and learning tasks The second is lecturer-specific

motivational components and concerns the motivational impact of the lecturer‟s

personality, behaviour and teaching style contra autonomy-supporting, direct socialisation

of motivation such as modelling, task presentation and feedback The third is

group-specific motivational components which relates to the characteristics of the learners‟ group

cohesiveness, classroom goals structure as cooperative, competitive or individualistic (Dörnyei, 2001) The meaning of motivation depends on the perception of human nature that is used and in which context Schumann, J H (1998), but also on the lecturer‟s supporting the learners‟ motivation Sampson, G P (1990) Anxiety is another important aspect in second language acquisition/learning It is “the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous system” Shank, C C and Terrill, L R (1995, May) Anxiety can have both negative (debilitating anxiety) and positive (facilitating anxiety) effects, which motivates and facilitates, disrupts and inhibits cognitive actions in learning Shank, C C and Terrill, L

R (1995, May) According to Oxford, R and Anderson, N (1995), anxiety can be divided

in three parts, communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation and test anxiety

These are related to academic and social evaluation situations and can be defined as a type

of shyness characterized by fear of, or anxiety about speaking in front of peers, negative feedback evaluation by peers and lecturer and language testing situations (Oxford, R and Anderson, N, 1995)

Anxiety is often related to a sense of threat to the learners‟ self concept in the learning situation If learners fear being laughed at for making a mistake, it can hinder them of behaving as they usually do and consequently, it causes emotional stress and lower selfesteem and self-confidence (Moxford, R and Anderson, N (1995) However, anxiety

plays an important role in the development of a second language, because no matter how accomplished the learners are, they are likely to experience at least some degree of anxiety over their own levels of language proficiency (Paine, L W (1990) Possible symptoms caused by second language anxiety include forgetfulness, avoidance of speaking the language, less interaction with people, low self-esteem, low-confidence, and feeling unsure

of ones abilities Schumann, J H (1998)

According to Ledge (2004) there are five competences the learners should develop during

the learning process The First is linguistic competence which is knowledge of spelling,

pronunciation, vocabulary, grammatical structure and sentence structure and is an integral

part of communicative competence Pragmatic competence involves three different kinds

of abilities: Illocutionary competence (how to use a language), illocutionary forces (things around that influence learning) and sociolinguistic competence (knowing how to use a

language with different people) The third is discourse competence which means knowing,

as a native speaker, how to maintain the conversation and take it to further levels and acquiring language strategies, as a second language speaker, where you take initiatives,

interrupt or enter conversation Strategic competence is knowing how to cope in a communicative situation, where the communicative strategies are important and fluency

competence is the speakers ability to, without interruptions or hesitations, link propositions

and speech acts, words and syntactic constituents and linking speech segments (Paine, L

W (1990), p.46-52)

According to Wylie, E (1993) the talk of lecturers has a far-reaching influence since it is a method for classroom organisation and control; a medium for socialisation and culture and also a way of encountering the curriculum Classroom-related communication gives opportunities to explain what one thinks and knows if it is a secure environment (Wylie, E (1993) Thorp, D (1991) argues that lately employees in the university organisation have been so preoccupied delivering the curricula that the focus on how it is delivered has been neglected Further, “effective teaching depends on successful communication” Thorp, D (1991p.4), which is best gained if both the lecturer and the students are open for taking in nonverbal and verbal signals The nonverbal form is the easiest form of communication to send and receive messages accurately, but also an important asset to verbal communication (Thorp, D (1991) The classroom should be a tool for transmitting those messages between

the sender and receiver and the environment in the classroom has great importance for learning to happen (Thorp, D (1991) Firstly the classroom should provide stimuli and motivation; secondly a feeling of security and safety to expressions and finally the classroom should emphasize individuality and provide privacy (Thorp, D (1991) If these visions are achieved the environment for communication is as good as it can be and there should be great development in the classroom (Thorp, D (1991) According to Ledge (2004) it is in the learners‟ best interest to be put in situations where they need to make themselves understood, by speaking slowly, repeating their ideas or clarifying them through rephrasing The principle of interaction between learners pushes them to produce appropriate language, enabling them to learn from each other (Ledge, 2004)

According to Sampson, G P (1984) the importance of linguistic input and communicative interaction has been recognized as central for the development of a second language To be able to use the language fluently in real life, learners need to be given opportunities to learn and practise the language in classroom situations (Ledge, 2004) If the lecturer tries

to communicate with the students on several levels, such as nonverbal, verbal, and cultural, possibly all the students will reach some level, which is far better than none at all (Sampson, G P (1990) In classroom situations the lecturer is the prime source of linguistic input (Sampson, G P 1990), and therefore, he should try to communicate with the students on several levels, such as nonverbal and verbal (Sampson, G P 1990)

strategies that facilitate learning and focus on the development of the whole learner (Schumann, J H 1998)

As nurturers, lecturers establish an atmosphere of acceptance, tolerance and empathy in situations where students of varied linguistic and cultural backgrounds are integrated As observers, lecturers are careful and sensitive observers of students as they interact and become accustomed to linguistic and cultural differences (Schumann, J H 1998)

As participants, lecturers share the challenges of learning while acknowledging the frustrations of IELTS students

As facilitators, lecturers act as interpreters for students as they construct their own understanding of the new language

As learners, lecturers continually become more knowledgeable about language development and how IELTS students‟ cultural backgrounds affect their university experience

As evaluators and communicators, lecturers communicate effectively on an ongoing basis with students and their parents, and seek to bridge the language barrier to facilitate communication between students

As planners and managers, lecturers modify activities and resources as necessary to reflect accessible language levels and cultural awareness

As role models, lecturers accept, respect and celebrate the varied cultural, physical, racial, religious and socio-economic backgrounds of all students and their families

(Shank, C C and Terrill, L R 1995)

involves university tours, classroom buddies and homework partners Through activities such as peer tutoring, ongoing interaction can foster friendships and increase feelings of belonging Appropriate peer tutors are academically strong, genuinely interested and have leadership qualities It is more effective, whenever possible, to place IELTS students with same-gender, older students As continuity is important, an IELTS student should work with no more than two different tutors and tutoring time should follow a regular schedule, (Syndicate Cleverley, J 1991) IELTS students are usually the recipients of sharing, but lecturers should find ways for IELTS students to, in turn, share their developing knowledge and language skills For example, when subsequent IELTS students enroll in the university, IELTS students who are already established in the environment can work alongside English-speaking students to welcome and support new students and potentially act as interpreters It is important, however, to be aware of how relationships are being formed Although IELTS students may find comfort in relationships with other IELTS students, it is important for them to integrate and form relationships with a variety of classmates.(C C and Terrill, L R 1995)

IELTS students learn best when they:

o are involved in identifying what works best for them; eg how they are integrated into the class and what types of support are provided

o are made aware of available resources and given the choice of materials e.g a range of books to choose from

o are given realistic expectations

o are acknowledged for their continued growth by lecturers and peers

o are in an environment where wisk taking is valued and where

incremental groth is valued as highly as the attainment of goals

o experience a sense of self-confidence within their new peers and those with a shared first language

o understand the new culture, clearly, and show respect for its values while maintaining and valuing their own culture

o are both learners and teachers, individuals and group members

( C C and Terrill, L R 1995)

Therefore, when selecting materials for IELTS learners, lecturers should consider:

o themes and topics are developmentally appropriate

o content is interesting and stimulating

o language level is slightly above the student‟s language proficiency level

o material is appropriately sequenced

o natural, authentic-sounding language is used

o consistent langue patterns and structures are presented

o idiomatic and colloquial language are avoided

o pictures and illustration support and enhance the text

o material reflects cultural and ethnic diversity

o countries, cultures and traditions are presented accurately without stereotyping

( C C and Terrill, L R 1995)

Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected, through

• questionnaires, for the collection of quantitative data;

• classroom observations, and interviews for the collection of qualitative data

+ +

Figure 3.1 Research instruments

3.2 Procedures of data collection and analysis

3.2.1 Questionnaires

We have chosen the qualitative survey method for collecting data, since it provides space

for respondents' thoughts, ideas and approaches (Wylie, E, 1993)

Benson, P & Voler, P (1997) explain that surveys are a useful tool to gather “information about affective dimensions of teaching and learning, such as beliefs, attitudes, motivations,

and preferences” (p 10) A questionnaire with specific multiple-choice questions and statements to rate on provided the participants with a single frame of reference in choosing their answers (Brown, H D (1987) also explains that using this close-response format allows for more uniformity across questions, that respondents are less likely to skip questions because of their length or complexity, and that responses are relatively easy to interpret

Finally, statistical analyses of data from larger populations are usually robust and reliable, and such large groups of participants allow for a more normal distribution of the results These questionnaires will now be described in more details

3.2.1.1 Questionnaire for lecturers

The aim of the questionnaire was to identify the difficulties of lecturers when teaching IELTS speaking, and the extent to which these beliefs were present in actual classroom practice

This questionnaire consists of a list of difficulties of lecturers found in teaching IELTS speaking There were 31 IELTS speaking difficulties for the respondents to rate

In order to create questions and statements for the different sections of the questionnaires, different lecturer and student beliefs were first identified Weglinsky, H (2002) explain that successful measurements of attitudes must be determined by “the domain the measure

is intended to assess” (p 147), that is, the constructs that might influence IELTS students‟ attitudes towards their IELTS lecturers Successful measurements also must take into consideration the population whose attitudes will be measured, as well as the context for which the measure will be created Taking all these requirements into consideration, two lists of the student and lecturer potential issues were created

There were one hundred eighty nine lecturers who participated in the study These lecturers came from five universities in Hanoi, namely:

~ ULIS (University of languages and international studies), Vietnam National University (54 lecturers),

~ HUT (Hanoi University of Technology) (38 lecturers),

~ NEU (National Economics University(31 lecturers),

~ Hanoi University (37 lecturers), and

~ Foreign Trade University (29 lecturers)

(for the complete questionnaire see Appendix B)

3.2.1.2 Questionnaire for students:

The aim of this survey is to find out the students‟ personal thoughts and feedback about lecturers‟ biggest difficulties when teaching IETLS speaking If there are other difficulties apart from those provided in the questionnaire, the subjects could suggest after each section (for the complete questionnaire see Appendix D)

3.2.1.3 Procedures of data collection

Before we began, we sent a letter of approval to the lecturers and the students involved In the letter we briefly described and explained the purpose of our study According to Shen,

A (1994) researchers should follow the guidelines of good ethics, fulfill its claims and keep the purpose of the study clear The two main claims (Shen, A 1994) are stated below with our own translation:

• Letter of Inquiry: the researcher shall inform the concerned about the aim of the study

and the participants should have highest confidentiality as possible and unauthorized readers should not be available (for the complete letter of inquiry for lecturers and students see Appendix A and C)

• Letter of Approval: the participants in the study are the main decision takers about their

participation (for the complete approval letter see Appendix E)

We respected the decision of our respondents to participate or not Their privacy and identity are confidential to the fullest since we gave the students fictitious names in this study; and, the gathered information will not be used in any other purposes than to achieve the aim of this research

By considering the claims above, this study can be available for future researchers to take part of the outcome and results (Bachman, L F, 1990)

Before and after the pilot study, the questionnaires were sent to two experts in attitude testing from the English Department-ULIS for evaluation These two experts gave valuable feedback and made several suggestions about the format of the questionnaires, the constructs, and the way the reliability and validity of the questionnaires should be calculated and verified once the data was collected Wegener and Fabrigar (2003) explain that the content and the wording of questions and statements used in questionnaires is a fundamental step and that careful consideration of the format, the order of questions, and the number of items needs to take place Additionally, Brown (2001) explains that several aspects of questionnaire writing need to be carefully considered when writing questions:

the form of the questions (e.g the length and ambiguity of the questions), the meaning of the questions (e.g doublebarreled, embarrassing, and biased questions), and the respondents (e.g level of the language used, relevance of the questions) After this process,

it became obvious that some constructs and statements were too general, too vague, too complex, or simply too much for one project and the original list of 85 statements was narrowed down to 61 Those statements were organized into the four sections that are difficulties in teaching IELTS speaking in general, difficulties in teaching IELTS speaking part 1, difficulties in teaching IELTS speaking part 2, difficulties in teaching IELTS speaking part 3 and slightly adapted so that they would fit the different groups of respondents (students, and lecturers), while asking them all about the same topics and issues

3.2.1.3.1 The Pilot questionnaire

Once the questionnaires were produced and the necessary permissions granted, a first pilot was conducted in March of 2009, to verify that all the needed issues were covered and also

to make sure that the questions made sense to students and lecturers The questionnaires were sent to two groups of students and one group of IELTS lecturers

23 undergraduate college students and 15 lecturers responded to the pilot questionnaire This first pilot was used to get feedback from respondents who knew that it was a pilot and whose English proficiency and language awareness were high enough that they could call attention to questions they did not understand, questions that they thought did not belong,

or questions that they believed should be included At the same time, the lecturer questionnaire was distributed to seven lecturers in ULIS, VNU These lecturers were asked

to verify that every statement belonged to its corresponding construct, to answer the questionnaire, and to provide feedback on potential mistakes and difficulties

The final version of lecturer and students questionnaires were then developed on the basis

of the revision of the pilot ones

3.2.1.3.2 Data Collection

During the spring and summer of 2009, four hundred copies of the questionnaire were sent

to students and lecturers of 5 different universities in Hanoi Those files contained:

 An introductory letter,

 The English version of the questionnaire,

  Approval letter

 A number of return envelopes with stamps and address labels

At the same time, an email was sent to random students and lecturers to give the URLs of the online questionnaires, along with the usernames and passwords necessary to access those questionnaires, which could be filled out at any time during the semester By the end

of the semester, 39 lecturer questionnaires and 22 students questionnaire had been out online

filled-After four weeks, 304 questionnaires had been received both online and through post and paper for lectures‟ and students‟ questionnaires Results from 23 questionnaires were invalid for different reasons making 281 (189 from lecturers and 92 from students) the final number of returned questionnaires to be used in further analysis

A detailed description of how the data was analyzed follows

3.2.1.3.3 Procedures of data analysis

189 sets of completed lecturer and 92 of student questionnaires were obtained in October

2009 and codes derived from responses were input into SPSS software for statistical analysis

For the first two research questions, percentages for the questionnaire were examined to find out the most common difficulties of lecturers when teaching IELTS speaking

While the creation of items is time consuming and the time it takes to respond to all the items is demanding for participants, measuring one attitude with several different items allows for the final results to be quite precise and helpful for the interpretation of the data (Brown, A., & Hil, K (1998) Brown, A., & Hil, K (1998) also explain that using percentage and comparison to find out the difficulties can lead to a high reliability and validity of the measurement of attitudes if careful attention is given to the following two areas: 1) the theoretical assumptions used to create the items (the respondents must be able

to understand the meaning of the items and agree on the definitions of the labels on the scale, the points should not overlap, and there should be a logical continuum from one point to the next); and 2) the number of points available on the rating items (too many becomes vague, not enough is not precise enough)

To answer the Research Question 3, data collected from interview and observations were divided into categories corresponding the types of difficulties identified in research questions 1 and 2

~ ULIS (University of languages and international studies), Vietnam National University (3 lecturers)

~ HUT (Hanoi University of Technology) (1 lecturers)

~ NEU (National Economics University(2 lecturer)

~ Hanoi University (2 lecturers)

~ Foreign Trade University (1 lecturers)

The following are the personal information on each subject

1 Teacher A

Teacher A was male, 25 years old He had a TEFL Bachelor‟s degree and had been teaching English for 2 years At the time of the observation, he was teaching IELTS speaking part 1

2 Teacher B

Teacher B was female, 40 years old She had a TESOL Master‟s degree and had been teaching English for 16 years At the time of the observation, she was teaching IELTS speaking part 2

3 Teacher C

Teacher C was female, 26 years old She had a B.A degree and had been teaching English for 2 years At the time of the observation, she was teaching IELTS speaking part 1

4 Teacher D

Teacher D was male, 38 years old He had TESOL Master‟s degree and had been teaching English for 11 years At the time of the observation, he was teaching pronunciation in IELTS speaking

5 Teacher E

Teacher E was female, 26 years old She had a TESOL M.A degree and had been teaching English for 3 years At the time of the observation, she was teaching IELTS speaking part 3

6 Teacher F

Teacher F was female, 35 years old She had a TEFL M.A degree and had been teaching English for 9 years At the time of the observation, she was teaching useful vocabulary to use in IELTS speaking

7 Teacher G

Teacher G was male, 24 years old He had a TESOL B.A degree and had been teaching English for 2 years At the time of the observation, he was teaching IELTS speaking part 2

8 Teacher H

Teacher H was female, 44 years old She had a TESOL Master‟s degree and had been teaching English for 25 years At the time of the observation, she was teaching extensive topic discussion in IELTS speaking part 3

9 Teacher I

Teacher I was female, 30 years old She had a TESOL Master‟s degree and had been teaching English for 4 years At the time of the observation, she was teaching IELTS speaking part 3

Due to time constraints, each lecturer was observed once Each class lasted for 45 minutes Notes were also taken

3.2.2.2 Procedures of data collection

The observation took place in different universities in Hanoi, Vietnam The classroom observation focused on the difficulties of the lecturers have in the lesson, and the student-lecturer relationship during the observation The observations were done by writing continuous notes Based on what we have seen, we try to find out the difficulties of the lecturers have in the lesson, strong points and weak points of each and if they motivate the students

3.2.2.3 Procedures of data analysis

Data collected from observations were then analysed using an „interactive synthesis‟ (Huberman & Miles 1994: 436) This approach combined both case-oriented and variable

oriented strategies First, start with a variable-oriented strategy of „finding themes that cut across cases‟ (Huberman & Miles 1994: 436) to compose a „general condensation‟ (Fischer

& Wertz 1975; cited in Huberman & Miles 1994: 436) of the data, the study then returned

to individual cases for configuration within each case, and performed comparative analysis

to arrive at findings for the themes of difficulties of the lecturers have in the lesson, strong

points and weak points of each and if they motivate the students

3.2.3 Interviews

Another tool used in this study was group interviews This tool has its focus on the content and composition of the group (Dörnyei, Z (2001) This is a way of collecting empirical data which searches for opinions and conflicts that might not surface in individual interviews (Haliday, M.A.K (1998) An interview is supposed to be simple conversations between the researcher and the respondents, however, an interview has an aim, a special focus to be analysed (Haliday, M.A.K (1998) A list of questions was prepared outlining the aim of this study We chose to work with direct interview form which means asking the appropriate questions that will distinguish the direction of the interview in order to reach a qualitative analysis (Humphry-Baker, Ann (2000) According to Haliday, M.A.K (1998), the interview becomes a story and therefore it is important to use quotes to make the interview reliable Firstly because of the difference of pre-knowledge the respondents have about the subject and secondly because our interviewing skills increase after each preformed interview (Lantz, 2007) (see appendix F for full transcription of the group interview)

included a component on teaching English One (J) is a graduate who majored in English and who has completed a local government training programme in the teaching of English

(lasting for two months)

3.2.3.2 Procedures of data collection

The interviews were conducted in English Laine, E.J (1987) claims an interview is a tool that makes it easier for people to open up and be honest in their responses It is also a good way of having an open dialogue about the subject in focus We did a stratified selection (Larsen-Freeman, D and Long, M H (1991) choosing who would participate in the interviews, which means that we had picked the respondents suitable for the aim of our study It was group interview lasted about an hour and a half The interviews were semi-structured and were based on core questions Those core questions are asked about the suggested solution in the most common difficulties lecturers faced when teaching IELTS speaking to Vietnamese students at university level Those common difficulties will be addressed as the result of the questionnaires 9 participants were interviewed face-to-face

3.2.3.3 Procedures of data analysis

A Radio Shack micro tape recorder was used to record the responses of participants in the multicultural component of this study Responses were transcribed with Microsoft Word software All the interviews were audio-taped and later transcribed for further analysis These transcripts were then deductively analyzed according to pre-determined similar categories found in the questionnaire namely the difficulties of lecturers when teaching IELTS speaking In the analysis of the interviews the researcher listened to the data several times to collect the information necessary Laughter, pauses and unclear answers were taken away since they were not relevant To achieve a good quality it is necessary that the researchers make sensible choices processing the information, thus, critically evaluate the study by being open minded to other‟s interpretations and keep the aim in focus at all times (Kirkpatrick, A (1995)

The next chapter provide results of the analysis of the data collected through the instruments just described