Thiết chỉnh một số hoạt động nói trong sách “Tiếng Anh 10” - cách để giảm bớt những khó khăn của học sinh trong việc học kỹ năng nói - một trường hợp ở trường T

MINOR THESIS Adapting Speaking Activities in "Tieng Anh 10" - A Way to Reduce Students' Difficulties in Learning Oral Skills – A Case of Nong Cong II High School, Thanh Hoa Thiết chỉ

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

 -

NGUYỄN THỊ THU HẰNG M.A MINOR THESIS

Adapting Speaking Activities in "Tieng Anh 10" - A Way

to Reduce Students' Difficulties in Learning Oral Skills –

A Case of Nong Cong II High School, Thanh Hoa

(Thiết chỉnh một số hoạt động nói trong sách “Tiếng Anh 10” - cách để giảm bớt những khó khăn của học sinh trong việc học kỹ năng nói - một trường hợp ở trường THPT Nông Cống II, Thanh Hoá)

Field: English teaching methodology Code: 601410

Cohort: MA 18 – Thanh Hoa

Hanoi, 2011

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

 -

NGUYỄN THỊ THU HẰNG

M.A MINOR THESIS

Adapting Speaking Activities in "Tieng Anh 10" - A Way

to Reduce Students' Difficulties in Learning Oral Skills –

A Case of Nong Cong II High School, Thanh Hoa

(Thiết chỉnh một số hoạt động nói trong sách “Tiếng Anh 10” - cách để giảm bớt những khó khăn của học sinh trong việc học kỹ năng nói - một trường hợp ở trường THPT Nông Cống II, Thanh Hoá)

Field: English teaching methodology Code: 601410

Cohort: MA 18 – Thanh Hoa Supervisor : Dr Tô Thị Thu Hương

Hanoi, 2011

ABSTRACT

Teachers of English have faced many obstacles in developing students’ macro

language skill, and the desire of how to improve the effectiveness of English speaking lessons

is really a strong motivation for this study The study aims at investigating the necessity of adapting English speaking activities, finding how to adapt them and then suggesting some appropriate speaking activities for ‘Tieng Anh 10’ to help the 10th form students at Nong Cong

II school have more changes to practice speaking and improve their speaking ability

The subjects involved in the study are 125 10th form students and 7 teachers who are currently teaching or have taught speaking to 10th form students The data collected from questionnaires, interviews, notes from classroom observation and then feedbacks from both teachers and students reveal that it is vitally necessary to adapt English speaking activities to facilitate English speaking process and enable students to speak naturally and frequently

The investigation also helps the author identify some categories of English speaking activities which attract much of students’ attention and heighten their participation On this basis, the study suggests some adapted speaking activities for teachers to utilize to increase the effectiveness of English speaking lessons when applied to the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’ to teach the 10th form students at Nong Cong 2 high school

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements i

Abstract ii

List of figures, tables and charts vi

Abbreviations vi

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Research questions 2

5 Research methodology 2

PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I – LITERATURE REVIEW I.1 Material Adaptation 3

I.1.1 Definition 3

I.1.2 Categories of materials adaptation 3

I.1.3 The purpose of materials adaptation 5

I.2 Oral communication 5

I.3 Factors causing difficulties in learning oral skills 6

I.3.1 Linguistic factor 6

I.3.2 Socio-cultural factors 6

I.4 English speaking skills 7

I.4.1.The nature of language skills 7

I.4.2 The importance of teaching English speaking 8

I.5 English speaking and speaking activities 8

I.5.1 Characteristics of a successful English speaking activity 8

I.5.2 Categories of English speaking activities 9

I.6 Problems with English speaking and speaking activities 13

I.6.1 Problems with English speaking 13

I.6.2 Problems with English speaking activities 14

CHAPTER II – AN OVERVIEW OF THE MATERIALS AND CURRENT SITUATIONS OF TEACHING ENGLISH SPEAKING AT NONG CONG 2 HIGH SCHOOL, THANH HOA 15

II.1 Brief introduction of Nong Cong 2 high school 15

II.2 Students and their English background knowledge 15

II.3 General description of the curriculum and the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’ 16

II.3.1 Overall Design 16

II.3.2 Approaches of the textbook 18

II.3.3 The curriculum and the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’ 19

II.3.4 Sections for speaking skills in the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’ 19

CHAPTER III - THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 20

III.1 Research questions 20

III.2 The subjects of the study 20

III.3 Data collection instruments 21

III.3.1 Questionnaires 21

III.3.2 Interview 22

III.3.3 Follow –up classroom observation 22

III.3.4 Feedback 22

CHAPTER IV – DATA ANALYSIS 23

IV.1 Questionnaires 22

IV.1.1 The effectiveness of communicative activities in the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’ 22

IV.1.2.Students’ perceptions of their difficulties in English speaking lessons 23

IV.1.3.Necessity of changing or adding English speaking activities 25

IV.1.4 Teachers’ adaptation of English speaking activities and students’ preference……… 25

IV.1.5 Changing or adding English speaking activities chosen by teachers and their reasons 26

IV.2 Interview 27

IV.3 Follow-up class observation 28

IV.4 Feedback from students on the adaptation of English speaking activities and their effectiveness 28

CHAPTER V - SUGGESTED ADAPTATIONS OF ENGLISH SPEAKING ACTIVITIES 31

V.1 Role play 31

V.2 Information gap 32

V.3 Co-operative learning 33

V.4 Discussion 35

V.5 Interviews 37

PART III: CONCLUSION 38

I Summary of the study 38

II Limitations and suggestions for further research 39

III Suggestions for further research 39

REFERENCES 41 APPENDICE I

LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS

Figure 1 The four –macro language skills

Table 1: Description of teachers’ work experience

Table 2: Students’ background of English

Table 3: Students’ perceptions of their difficulties in English speaking skills

Table 4: The English speaking activities adapted by teachers and students’ preference Table 5: The English speaking activities for ‘Tieng Anh 10’ chosen by teachers Table 6: Adapted English speaking activities’ effectiveness

Chart 1 The effectiveness of communicative activities in the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10 Chart 2 The necessity of changing or adding English speaking activities

Chart 3 Students’ attitudes towards the adapted English speaking activities and their

effectiveness

ABBREVIATIONS

NC2.HS Nong Cong 2 high school

ELT English Language Teaching

CLT Communicative Language Teaching

However, we can not deny a fact that many Vietnamese students after seven years learning English at schools still feel confused when communicating with foreigners or they even could not say a simple utterance like an offer Obviously, the ability to communicate in a foreign language clearly and effectively contributes to the success of the learner in school and success later in every phase of life

At Nong Cong 2 High School (NC2.HS), like many high schools in Vietnam, English has been a compulsory subject in its curriculum for many years and the English speaking skill

is one of five official parts in a unit However, due to the demand of the high school graduation exam, which means little attention has been paid to the speaking skill Sometimes, they feel bored with the difficult and uninteresting topics in the textbook

‘Tieng Anh 10’ With 6 year – experience in NC2.HS, the author finds that the English lessons with speaking activities adapted or designed by teachers always motivate students and get them involved in speaking effectively

Moreover, improving speaking skill for 10th form students proves essential because most students have not learned how to speak English when they were at lower secondary school and their speaking ability is extremely poor

All the above mentioned reasons lead to the choice of the study ‘Adapting speaking activities in ‘Tieng Anh 10’ - a way to reduce students' difficulties in learning oral skills - a case of Nong Cong 2 High School, Thanh Hoa’

II Aims of the study

The aims of the study are:

- to investigate students’ difficulties in learning English oral skills and the current situation

of teaching the speaking activities to the 10th form students by teachers at Nong Cong 2 High School

- to adapt some speaking activities based on “Tieng Anh 10” to reduce 10th grade student’s difficulties in learning English oral skills at Nong Cong 2 high school

III Scope of the study

This thesis is carried with no hope that can cover all kinds of English speaking activities because this is a board aspect investigated by many authors The author’s attempt is only to adapt some difficult speaking activities in “Tieng Anh 10” to reduce student’s difficulties and make them more interested and active in English lessons, thus, improving their speaking ability

IV Research questions

1 What are students’ difficulties in learning the current English speaking activities

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER I – LITERATURE REVIEW

I.1 Material Adaptation

I.1.1 Definition

In reality, a textbook can never totally be an effective tool for teachers to follow without any material adaptation because of its intrinsic deficiencies such as linguistic inaccuracies, out-of-datedness, lack of authenticity or lack of variety Material adaptation is to compensate for those deficiencies

Masuhara (2004) points out that materials adaptation involve changing existing materials

in some forms so that they become suitable for specific purposes, learners, teachers or situations’ Similarly, from Tomlinson’s point of view (1998: xi), materials adaptation means to ‘make changes to materials in order to improve them or to make them more suitable for a particular type of learners Adaptation can include reducing, adding, omitting, modifying and supplement’ Another author, Ellis, M (1986: 47) considered adaptation the process of “retaining, rejecting, re-ordering and modification”

According to Madsen and Bowen (1978: ix), adaptation is the action of employing “one or more of a number of techniques: supplementing, expanding, personalizing, simplifying, modernizing, localizing, or modifying cultural/ situational content”

Materials adaptation means matching materials with the learner’s needs, the teacher’s demands and administration’s purpose To adapt materials we have to consider four major factors:

I.1.2 Categories of materials adaptation

I.1.2.1 Material adaptation as addition

Material adaptation does not always require a great deal of extra work of teachers As stated by Madsen and Bowen (1978) and Mc Donough and Shaw (1993), the most natural form of adaptation is extemporization, that is, a spontaneous response on the part of the teacher to a problem or an opportunity This might take such forms as the substitution in a course book example of the familiar for the unfamiliar; the paraphrase of a course book instruction that is unclear or reference to previously taught items when teaching new items Another form of material adaptation as addition is exploitation which is “the creative use

of what is already there (e.g text, visual, activity) to serve a purpose which is additional to that foreseen by the textbook writer” For example, a text accompanied by a photograph

may intend to develop comprehension skills and linguistic resources but a teacher might use it for some additional purposes The picture might be used to predict the content or brainstorm related vocabulary; the topic and language of the text might provide the basis for discussion of students’ own experiences

Extension, the third form of addition, refers to the provision by the teachers of additional materials in order to improve understanding or learning such as further examples of a rule

or further items in an exercise

However, we must make a distinction between extension and supplementation Extension means “more of the same” For example, if the course book contains only one short exercise to practice a point which your students find particularly difficult and you devise more items of the same type as the original exercise, this is extension If you give them another exercise from another exercise yourself, this is supplementation

I.1.2.2 Adaptation as change /Modification

Modification means changes in different aspects of materials, such as linguistic level, exercises, assessment system and so on Modification of materials is applicable/

appropriate in the following situations: Texts are of inappropriate length Materials are

inappropriate to the aim and to the learners’ age/ experience or materials are unclear, confusing or misleading

I.1.2.3 Adaptation as reduce/ Simplification

This procedure is employed to make materials less complicated or easier to understand If the language teaching material is found to be difficult or mechanical for the target learner,

it (material) can be made suitable for the learner through the process of simplification

I.1.2.4 Adaptation as deletion/omission

Deletion is an adaptation procedure which involves removal of some of the linguistic items and activities which are found to be extra and unnecessary So, deletion is a process in which materials are taken out rather than added Materials should be reduced through omission when the following situations are faced such as learners are clear about a language point and are competent in a skill There are too many tasks on a particular area/point which concerned is not a priority The item/task is not well designed or not well-

suited to its aim(s) And the topic is not appropriate for learners

More or less, most of the scholars’ viewpoints I base my thesis on agree on some kinds of change and addition when mentioning “material adaptation”

I.1.3 The purpose of material adaptation

In reality, a textbook can never totally be an effective tool for teachers to follow without any adaptation because of its intrinsic deficiencies such as linguistic inaccuracies, out-of-datedness, lack of authenticity or lack of variety Thus, I favor Madsen and Bowen’s (1978) and Tice’s (1991) view that is the purpose of material adaptation is to compensate for those deficiencies

Another purpose of material adaptation, as explained by McDonough and Shaw (1993: 85)

is “to maximize the appropriacy of teaching materials in context, by changing some of the internal characteristics of a course book to better suit our particular circumstances.”

A very common technique of “maximizing the appropriacy of teaching materials” is modifying them in such a way that they seem more relevant to learners’ interests and needs and this is important to all teachers of English because it can activate learners and stimulate their motivation, and increased motivation, in turn, is likely to create a more conductive classroom atmosphere

I.2 Oral communication

Communication between human is a complex and ever changing process When communication takes place, speakers/ writers, one of the forms of communication is oral

communication which is realized by using oral skills

As mentioned above, oral communication skills are speaking and listening In real life, listening is used twice as often as speaking However, speaking is used twice as much as reading and writing (River, 1981) Inside ELT classrooms, speaking and listening are most often used skills (Brown, 1994)

In oral communication process, the roles of speakers and listeners are interchanged; information gaps between them are created then closed with the effort from both sides In organizing classroom oral practice, teachers should create as much information gaps as possible and teachers’ vital duty is to encourage communication which yields information gaps Teachers should also bear in mind the differences between real-life oral communication and classroom oral communication As for Pattison (1992) clssroom oral practices have five characteristics: (1) the content or topic is predictable and decided by teachers, books, tapes, etc; (2) Leaners’ aims in speaking is: to practice speaking, to follow teachers’ instructions and to get good marks; (3) Learners’ extrinsic motivation is satisfied; (4) participants are often a large group; (5) language from teachers or tapes are closed adapted to learners’ level

Nunan (1989) provides a list of characteristics of successful oral communication As for him, successful oral communication should involve:

(1) Comprehensible pronunciation of the target language

(2) Good use of stress, rhythm, intonation patterns

(3) Fluency

(4) Good transational and interpersonal skills

(5) Skills in taking short and long speaking in turns

(6) Skills in the management of interactions

(7) Skills in negotiating meaning

(8) Conversational listening skills

(9) Skills in knowing about the negotiating purposes for the conversations (10) Using appropriate conversational formulae and filters

I.3 Factors causing difficulties in learning oral skills

I.3.1 Linguistic factor

The speaking skill is so central to our thinking about language learning that when we refer

to speaking a language we often mean knowing a language MacIntyre and Garder (1991)

point out that the skill which procedures most anxiety is speaking This anxiety comes in part from a lack of confidence in our general linguistic knowlegde According to Williamson (2011), this kind of knowledge or “Knowledge of the rules that govern how we encode and decode linguistic utterances can be thought of as being organized into three components: the semantic-syntactic knowledge base, the phonological knowledge base,

and the phonetic knowledge base”

I.3.2 Socio-cultural factors

I.3.2.1 Social environment for L2/ FL acquisition

Environment, where the target language is not used as L1 in the community, provides l2/

FL learners only limited and sometimes faulty input For such learners, the only input is teachers’ or classmates’ talk – both do not speak L2 well Learners in such environment are exposed to the language only in the classroom where they spend less time in contact with the language The limited exposure to the target language and lack of opportunities to practice speaking in such environments result into embarrassment or stress for them when

they are required to speak both in and out of the class

I.3.2.2 Errors in social setting

Although it is clear that language learners can not be without errors, errors can be a source

of anxiety in some individuals because they draw attention to the difficulty of making positive social impressions when speaking a new language (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1989: cited in Horwitz & Gregersen, 2002: 562) Errors in social settings are mostly overlooked

if they do not interfere with meaning because people consider it impolite to interrupt and correct somebody who is trying to have a conversation with them Interlocutors only react

to an error if they cannot understand the speech and try to adjust their speech with the speaker in their effort to negotiate for meaning It is only in the classroom environment that feedback on errors is provided frequently; this leads many learners to frustration and

embarrassment by making them conscious of their deficiencies

I.4 English speaking skills

I.4.1 The nature of language skills

Based on the purpose of analysis and instruction, language is divided into different skill areas On the teaching point of view, language skills consist mainly of four macro-skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing Those four skills have supportive relationship Among the four skills, listening and reading are perceptive skills while speaking and writing are productive skills (Byrne, 1991:8) They are also divided according to the manners by which they are formed The skills which are related to articulate organs are called oral skills which include listening and speaking The ones in connection with manual script are named literacy skills which consist of reading and writing All these four

are represented in Figure 1

Figure1 The four –macro skills

Of the four skills, speaking plays an essential role Byrne (1991:9) proves that this oral skill

in communication is complementary If one man is good at speaking skill, other skills will be much supported

To sum up, all the above skills are important for learners Whenever they acquire those skills they can have confidence in speaking and using a foreign language But it should be

emphasized that speaking skill can never be separated with other skills (listening, reading and writing) All of them are integrated and supportive to each other

I.4.2 The importance of teaching English speaking

It is observed that many Vietnamese teachers of English are good at teaching vocabulary and grammar in order to translate texts and to prepare students for examinations However, organized lessons to practice speaking English can be a big challenge for both teachers and teachers Many teachers worldwide have to teach mainly grammar and vocabulary because the areas are tested in examinations This means that speaking is a neglected language skill

in many classrooms Students may have a good knowledge of grammar and a wide range

of vocabulary, they can use this knowledge to pass the examinations, but they find it

difficult to speak English in the real-life situations

A classroom is not only a place where we learn about the rules of language It is also a place where students can practice using the language in a supportive environment As a result, we, teachers have to try to speed up this process This means that teachers have to introduce new language and help students practice it often

Teachers need to use lots of interesting ways to motivate students to speak and improve their speaking ability Teachers not only give them new words (vocabulary) and tell them how to put words together correctly (grammar) but also give them opportunities to use and practice the language they have learnt, also, providing extra speaking skills

I.5 Speaking activities

I.5.1 Characteristics of a successful English speaking activity

According to Ur (1969: 120), a successful speaking activity consists of the following

I.5.2 Categories of English speaking activities

Many researchers discuss classroom activities and a lot of activities are adapted or designed based on the theory and characteristics of CLT

Littlewood (1981) distinguishes between “functional communication activities” and “social interaction activities “ In his views, the former includes such tasks as learners noting similarities or differences in sets of picture, discovering missing features in a map or picture, one learner communicating behind a screen to another learner and giving instructions on how to draw a picture or shape, or how to complete a map, following directions, and solving problems from shared cues The latter includes conversation and discussion sessions, dialogues and role- plays, simulation, improvisations and debates Richards and Rodgers (1986: 165) discuss that the range of exercise types and activities with a communicative approach is unlimited, provided that such exercises and activities enable learners to attain the communicative objectives of the curriculum, engage learners

in communication and require the use of such communicative processes as information sharing, negotiation of meaning, and interaction In their views, classroom activities should

be designed to focus on completing tasks that are mediated through language or involve negotiation of information and information sharing

Activities may be classified as activities for accuracy that aim at learners’ competence in producing right words, phrases or sentences and activities for fluency that aim at learners’ capacity to sustain the flow of speech with ease and comfort

In short, speaking activities are various and can be found in a great number of resources However, in this minor thesis, the author would introduce some most applicable types which have proven the most effective

 Conversation

Conversation serves many functions People use conversations to establish relationships through personal expression, to find out information, and to compare views with other Conversation provides a means for sharing experiences and solving problems

Teachers can capitalize on the critical role of conversation in students’ lives and use it to enhance their language learning Through, experiences with the language processes, students can discover a steadily expanding series of topics and purposes for conversation Students should have opportunities to talk about a variety of topics such as projects, books, characters, television programs and videos In conversation, it is important for students to have useful vocabulary Clarity and precision are the keys to effective word choice in conversation Teachers should not expect perfection from students in the use of unfamiliar

or difficult words, but rather should develop a supportive environment and group rapport the encourage students to experiment with unfamiliar words

 Discussion

Discussion differs from conversation in that it generally has an identifiable purpose, such

as coming to clearer understanding of characters’ roles in a drama or exploring the possibilities for publishing student writing Discussion is similar to conversation with regard to listening carefully, considering what others say, being courteous, and speaking so that all can hear Many of students’ conversational abilities will transfer to discussion

situations

Discussion assists students in the development of reasoning, critical thinking, and problems-solving skills It gives them practice in expressing ideas orally in an organized manner and enables them to arrive at conclusions, clarity or modify ideas, resolve differences, and find alternative solutions In group discussions, students many encounter viewpoints different from their own They come to see that there are many problems for which no one finds appropriate solution As well, discussion can serve as a means of

building consensus among group members

Groupings of three to five are good for effective discussion Everyone is able to contribute

to the discussion as a listener and as a speaker In addition, a small group draws out quieter students who many not contribute to larder group discussions

 Storytelling

Storytelling is an oral sharing of a personal or traditional story, told using the essence of the tradition from which it originates As a shared experience between teller and listener, it

offered natural language experiences for students

Storytelling allows students to internalize important aspects of story beginnings and endings, settings, characters, and plot lines It provides practice in expressing ideas in thought units, using colorful and descriptive language, developing ideas in sequence, and

choosing effective action words

The speech abilities needed for storytelling are essentially the same as ones required for all speaking activities Storytelling encourages students to experiment with voice, tone, eye-contact, gestures, and facial expressions It also lets them practice techniques for holding

audience attention

 Oral reports

In preparing reports, students develop the ability to select material appropriate to classroom topics and to the audience, and the ability to collect and organize material (requiring skills in reading critically, taking notes, summarizing, and outlining) Often a

report can be made more meaningful to the audience through the use of visuals such as

charts, maps, diagrams, and overhead transparencies

Oral reports should emerge from other English language arts processes If some students are not comfortable with reporting, they can develop more confidence by taking part in

other oral activities before they are ready to give a report

 Telephoning

The telephoning is an important tool for personal, school, and business use because of the rapid communication it permits Therefore, there is need to reinforce personal speaking and

listening abilities regarding telephone use

The students should be provided with functional and helpful vocabulary and they must have authentic reasons for telephoning when they are practicing their skills in the English language arts classroom

 Announcements

Making announcements can serve as useful oral speaking practice at any grade level As with other types of speech activities, criteria for making announcements should be developed by the class These criteria should address the recommended format and manner

of presentation and serve as guidelines for the students

After the announcements are made, peers or the teacher might write the student announcer

an informal note, commenting on the strengths of the presentation and including one suggestion for improvement

 Role play

Role play provides the opportunity for students to develop and revise their understanding and perspectives by exploring thoughts and feelings of characters in given situations The teacher may take a role, becoming an active participant in promoting independent thinking and co-operative learning

Role play helps students to develop empathy as they examine others’ ideas, feelings, and points of view as well as oral expression and interpretation skills as they use language to describe perceptions, emotions, and reactions In addition, it also helps students to improve decision-making, problem-solving skills as they gain experience independence thinking and co-operative learning

 Interviews

An interview is a good way to gain information and provide the participants with practice

in proving speaking and listening skills Results of interviews can be prepared for

publication in reports or in the school newspaper, thus supporting the writing component of the language arts program

Students might interview people from the community who have firsthand knowledge regarding topics being studied at school or they might interview visitors, fellow students or teachers It is important that the interview has a definite purpose

 Informal Debate

Students who participate in debates have an opportunity to explore, listen, and enjoy learning Debates gave students additional opportunities to hear their classmates’ views and to express opinions regarding topics that matter to them They also help students make important decisions and become critical listeners The informal debate helps students to work together to understand common problems

Informal debate reflects the learning process Debating allows students to explore ideas and arguments in a non-threatening atmosphere, because presentational guidelines are provided Debating is an effective method of acquiring knowledge, as arguments need to

be supported by relevant, accurate, and complete information Students who debate informally learn to recognize the elements of a good argument and to develop further their abilities to speak confidently

 Co-operative learning

Co-operative learning involves students in group collaboration in order to achieve a goal or

to complete a project Although students do not necessarily work together at one table throughout the project, participation by each group member is necessary to accomplish the task Success and assessment are based on the performance of the group, as well as on individual contributions and performance within the group

Co-operative learning experiences are particularly effective at the Middle Level, where students have an innate desire to be accepted Competitive, individual efforts are appropriate at times, however, co-operative learning experiences have the advantage of helping students work together and support each other

I.6 Problems with English speaking and speaking activities

I.6.1 Problems with English speaking

Everything has bad and good sides Speaking also has its own problems

According to Brown (1994: 256), the characteristics of spoken language can make oral performance easy as well as in some cases difficult There are following problems with speaking:

 Colloquial language

Colloquialism appears both in monogues and dialogues If learners are only exposed to standard English and/ or ‘textbook’ language, they sometimes have difficulty in understanding and producing words, idioms and phrases of colloquial language

 Stress, rhythm and intonation

This is the most important characteristic of English pronunciation because the stress-timed rhythm of spoken English and its intonation patterns convey important massages But the fact that the learners of English often find it difficult to pronounce English words or stress the right syllables, to follow the tress-timed rhythm and intonation patterns of spoken English

 Affective factors

In the process of learning speaking, students often encounter the risk of saying out things that may be wrong, stupid and incomprehensible At those times, they tend to be anxious because they do not want to be judged by other learners

 Interaction

The greatest difficulty that the students face in learning to speak originates from the interactive nature of most communication Engaged in the process of negotiation of meaning with any discourse constraints, learners have to do the complex task of choosing what to say, how to say, when to say Learners are also affected by their interlocutors’ performance

I.6.2 Problems with English speaking activities

Classroom activities that develop learners’ ability to express themselves through speech is

an important component of a language course where CLT is applied However, it is more

difficult to design and administer such activities than to do so for listening, reading or writing Teachers often come across the problems that Ur (1996:121) lists out:

 Inhibition:

Unlike reading, writing and listening activities, speaking requires some degree of real time exposure to an audience Learners are often inhibition about trying to say things in a foreign language In the classroom: worried about making mistakes, fearful of criticism or losing face, or simply shy of the attention that their speech attracts

 Nothing to say:

Even if they are not inhibited, you often hear learners complain that they can not think of anything to say, or that they have no motive to express themselves beyond the guilty feeling

 Lows or uneven participation:

Only one participate can talk at a time if he or she is to be heard; and in a large group this means that each one will have only very little talking time This problem is compounded

by the tendency of some learners to dominate, while others speak very little or not at all

CHAPTER II – AN OVERVIEW OF THE CURRICULUM AND THE TEXTBOOK TIENG ANH 10 AND THE CURRENT SITUATIONS OF TEACHING ENGLISH

SPEAKING AT NONG CONG 2 HIGH SCHOOL, THANH HOA

II.1 Brief introduction of Nong Cong 2 high school

Nong Cong 2 high school is located in Nong Cong district which is in the rural area of Thanh hoa It has three grades: 10, 11, and 12, in each of which the number of students is nearly the same

As in every high school, English is one of the compulsory subjects in Nong Cong II high school which is taught in every three forty-five periods per week As for classroom arrangement, the class size is averagely 42 -45, therefore, it is difficult to carry out a communicative task in such a mixed –ability large class The school also has a room with

an overhead projector and a computer with is occasionally used by teachers of all subjects

in teaching festivals that are held twice an academic year

Concerning the teaching staff, there are nearly seventy teachers of all subjects, nine of whom are teachers of English whose ages range from 30 to 52 Four of them graduated from the English Department of Hong Duc University, Thanh hoa One of them graduated from French Department and she got English as the 2nd Degree The rest were from Vinh University, Nghe An They all have at least 5 years of teaching experience The teachers mostly speak their mother tongue a habit, even in speaking classes This results in the fact that they face difficulties in pronunciation and expressing themselves in the target language

II.2 Students and their English background knowledge

Students of Nong Cong 2 high school come from all parts of Nong Cong district It is a poor district because agriculture plays the main role in its economy This heavily affects people’s thinking here According to them, being able to speak their mother tongue (that is Vietnamese) correctly is enough, so it is not necessary for them and their children to learn

to speak English Although learning English at lower secondary schools and high schools has been considered an official subject among Maths, Literature, Chemistry, Physics, and others, it is not appreciated at lower secondary schools at Nong Cong because English is not included in any entrance or final exams Therefore, teachers and students’ attitudes towards teaching and learning English are negative They consider English a minor subject

at school at schools As a result, students do not pay attention to learning English They

learn it very badly Thus, it is difficult for teachers at NCII.HS to teach them English because the new textbook Tieng Anh 10 at high schools now written based on the English textbooks at lower secondary schools Teachers have no time to reteach all the English knowledge students have learned at lower secondary schools, especially speaking skill; they have to follow the syllabus Day by day, both teachers and students feel tired and bored when having to teach and learning English So it is essential to find out the way to reduce these difficulties and improve students’ speaking English ability

II.3 General description of the curriculum of textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’

II.3.1 Overall Design

The new textbook Tieng Anh 10 is designed to foster a more communicative approach, learner-centered learning, an emphasis on oral skills, and language for real-life communication This intention is explicitly presented in the following objectives of the new textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’:

- To formulate and develop a fundamental and systematic knowledge of English hence learners can use English as a means of communication at the basic level

- To enable the students to develop their communicative skills in the target language including the four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing

- To have an appropriate, systematic and basic knowledge of English for upper secondary school learners

- To create a communicative environment or set for students to acquire English by using it through activities in class

- To broaden learners’ general understanding of and positive attitudes toward the language, countries, people and cultures of some English countries, thus enrich their knowledge and pride of their own culture and language

The textbook is theme-based designed in which language and the skills are structured round a certain topic or theme The theme provides a context in which language is used so

as to help students be able to use the appropriate language structures in different communicative situations

The topic and vocabulary are recycled in guided group discussion (i.e speaking practice) before students listen to a lecture or tape (i.e listening comprehension) A writing task taking the form of narrative, letters or reports concludes the theme-based activities Thus, all four major language skills together with note-taking, analytical and interpretive skills, etc can be practiced

II.3.2 Approaches of the textbook

The need to use English in actual communicative context is beginning to emerge as educators realize that the traditional learning and teaching styles do not help learners’ communicate with foreigners, both native and non-native speakers of English The shift toward a new way of learning with more opportunities to use the target language, not only

in classroom but also in reality has brought a livelier atmosphere to learning and teaching English in high secondary schools

The new textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’ based on two popular approaches in contemporary English teaching Grammatical phenomenon is considered important to the development of communicative skills, learner-centered approach and communicative approach The two oriented methods of teaching English is considered by task-based teaching The new method considered learners as the center of other teaching-learning process; promote students’ ability, positive ness, activeness and creative It is directed toward communicative competence through skills Communicative competence is a means of achieving communicative goal The teacher in the new teaching context, instead being dominating authority in the classroom, plays a role as an assistant, advisor, organizer, helper and enlightener in class to facilitate the communicative process among all the learners so that students could be confident and relaxed Whereas, students get familiarization with pair work and group work, willing to fulfill their tasks (linguistic and communications) positively, actively under the supervision and assistant from their teachers

In conclusion, the text book ‘Tieng Anh 10’ is designed to exploit thoroughly and effectively the modern teaching methods so as to innovate teachers’ teaching methods as well as formulate learners’ learning ones It also provides a good source of motivation for students to learn the target language

II.3.3 The curriculum and the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’

‘Tieng Anh 10’ is continuously designed based on English 6, English 7, English 8, and English 9 at the level of high secondary school In this textbook, the learning objectives are clear and concise and a detailed overview of the topics, functions, structrures/ grammar, and skills within each unit can be found in the introductory table of contents

The new English textbook – Tieng Anh 10 is theme-based designed with 16 units,

equivalent to 16 topics divided into 6 themes: Personal information, Education,

Community, Health, The world around us Within the frame work of each unit, the

language input is respectively introduced within 5 sections respectively: reading, speaking, listening, writing, and language focus.Each section is designed to be taught in one period These sections are theme-based closely related to each other as follow to ensure a smooth transition from one to another (See Appendix 4)

II.3.4 Sections for speaking skills in the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’

The section for speaking is placed the second, after reading lesson The aims of speaking lesson are to develop learners’ speaking skills on given topic In each speaking lesson, there are 3 or 4 tasks, Task 1 and task 2 focus learners’ language input and develop language competencies as well as language specific functions such as expressing preferences, talking abour the uses of computer, giving instructions, expressing opinions, asking for and giving information, expressing agreements and disagreements, and making comparison and contrast etc Task 3 – 4 get students synthesize specific competencies and develop a text for 1-2 minute speaking practice with or without the guidance of the teachers

Although designed to renovate the teaching and learning of English in Vietnam, the textbook Tieng Anh 10 is not without faults Teachers and students report that sometimes,

it is very difficult for them to just follow the pre-designed speaking activities in the textbook This points to the need to investigate into this problem The current study is such

an attempt

The next chapter presents the methodology used in this study

CHAPTER III – THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

III.1 Research questions

The reasearch aims to find out difficulties encountered by students at NC2HS in their English speaking lessons It also explores how the English speaking activities in the textbook should be adapted to help students learn In brief, its purpose is to answer the following questions

1 What are NC2HS students’ difficulties in learning English speaking activities in

III.2 The subjects of the study

This is a case study of teaching and learning at NC2.HS so the research was undertaken with the participation of 125 students and 9 teachers of English The two questionnaires were prepared to get information for the research The first was administered to a sample

of 7 teachers of English, of which 2 were male and 5 were female Among the 7 teachers, four were teaching grade 10 at the time of delivering the questionnaire, two taught tenth graders the previous academic year, and one did it two years ago In general, all of them had experience in teaching speaking skill to tenth form learners with the new textbook

‘Tieng Anh 10’ Although using questionnaire with a sample of 7 may appear uneconomical, the need to compare teacher information with student data for validity can offset this

Table 1: Description of teachers’ work experience

Years of teaching Number of staff Percentage

The table indicated that the English staff at NC2.HS had rich experience in teaching English

125 copies of the second questionnaire were delivered to male and female students to investigate the problems They were all 10 graders at NC2.HS There were 63 female and

62 male students with the aged sixteen

Table 2: Students’ background of English

Have learnt English for more than 4 years 15 12.0%

Most of the sudents came from countryside (124 students), and only 1 student came from Thanh hoa city whose family moved to Nong Cong district some months before the academic year started Their different living places somehow led to the various levels of English The majority of them had four-year-experience of English learning The classes and students were characterestics of other classes in the school

There were 3 classes of grade ten at the time of class observations and delivering questionnaire To have reliable variable, more than half of the classes should be included

in the survey To be objective, judgmental sampling was not possible because these were not at the same level

III.3 Data collection instrument

III.3.1 Questionnaires

All of 7 teachers had taught 10th form students with ‘Tieng Anh 10’ so they were absolutely familiar with speaking activities presented in the book Thus, the questionnaire was designed for the investigation into their attitudes towards the communicative activities

in the textbook and their desire, if any, to change or add more speaking activities The teachers were also asked about their choice of speaking which should be changed or added

to the textbook

The questionnaire for 125 students also aims to find out their difficulties and attitudes towards the speaking activities in the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’ as well as those given for practice by their teachers The questionnaire helps the author to identify the speaking

activities which interest students the most

III.3.2 Interview

In this study, the interviews with the teacher informants were conducted after the survey information had been obtained to clarify information from the surveys Each interview lasted 10-15 minutes All interviews were conducted in Vietnamese in order for the participants to fully articulate their views without being constrained by the use of second language They were then fully transcribed, translate and analyzed by the researcher

III.3.3 Follow –up classroom observation

Along with the survey questionnaires, the class observation is a supplementary instrument which is used to increase the reliability of the obtained information and provide more information relating to the adapted English speaking activities

The researcher visits 8 classes of 6 teachers with difficult speaking lessons (which teachers identified) and how often teachers use different kinds of speaking activities

III.3.4 Post-lesson Feedback

Nobody can deny that feedback is important, so the author wants to get teachers and students’ feedback after teachers taught some adapted English speaking activities by interviewing 3 out of 7 teachers who have taught these adapted English speaking activities and 6 students (3 students are good with English scores from 8) and the rest are bad at English based on their average scores) In the post-lesson interviews for feedback on the effectiveness of the adapted activities, the researcher asked for teachers and students’ perceptions of how the adapted activities have worked in reducing students’ difficulties (see Appendix 1B and Appendix 1C)

CHAPTER IV – DATA ANALYSIS

IV.1 Questionnaires

The questionnaires for teachers and students consist of 5 and 7 questions respectively to collect information focusing the following categories: (see appendix 1 and appendix 2)

- The effectiveness of communicative activities in the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10

- Students’ perceptions of their difficulties in English speaking skills

- Necessity of changing or adding English speaking activities

- Students’ attitudes towards applying changing or adding English speaking activities and their effectiveness

- Changing or adding English speaking activities applied by teachers and the ones chosen by students

IV.1.1 The effectiveness of communicative activities in the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10

Question 1 in both questionnaires asks about the teachers’ and students’ viewpoints on the effectiveness of the speaking activities presented in 16 units of ‘Tieng Anh 10’

2 6.25

72 81.25

21 12.5

5 0

Chart 1 The effectiveness of communicative activities in the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10 Most of the teacher (81.25%) and the students (72%) agree that they are not very effective when being taught at NC2 HS although the new textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’ is interesting According the teachers, there are some reasons for this First, some activities in the text book are not suitable to rural students of NC2 HS, for example some topics are unfamiliar

to them Moreover, those topics are not explained clearly by their teachers both teachers’ and students’ background about socio- cultural factors is not good so they find that activities are not interesting enough to attract their concentration As they explain further,

the activities may be repetitive or simply are not what they like So, in some speaking lessons the author adapted by changing activities in each task to be more suitable to her students

IV.1.2 Students’ perceptions of their difficulties in English speaking skills

Question 2 in the questionnaire of students asks about their perceptions of difficulties in English speaking skills

Table 3: Students’ perceptions of their difficulties in English speaking skills

students Percentage

English speaking activities are repetitive in each speaking

Lack of English vocabulary and grammatical structures 80 64.0% Some topics of English speaking activities (in ‘Tieng anh

Teachers and students have little socio-cultural knowledge 70 56.0%

Little chance to practice English speaking skills in class 99 79.2%

The highest percentage of the students (92.0%) identified the major difficulty in learning English speaking was topics of English speaking activities are unfamiliar to rural students

at Nong Cong 2 high school The second highest percentage of them (89.6%) English speaking activities are repetitive in each speaking lesson, which make boring Most of the students reported that teachers and students have little socio-cultural knowledge so teachers sometimes can’t give more information about difficult topics (56.0%), little chance to practice English speaking skills in class (79.2%), large and noisy class(77.6%),

poor classroom conditions(47.2%), teachers speaking much English in class(49.6%) and

lack of English vocabulary and grammatical structures(64.0%) make it difficult for them to learn English speaking skills so it is necessary to adapt those English speaking activities to help them overcome these difficulties

IV.1.3 Necessity of changing or adding English speaking activities

Question 3 for students and question 2 for teachers are designed to investigate both teachers’ and students’ perception of the need of using change or extra English speaking activities

62 75

34 18.75

4 6.25

0 10

Chart 2 The necessity of changing or adding English speaking activities

As illustrated in the chart above, 96% of the students and 93.75% of the teachers agree that changing and adding speaking activities are needed for students to develop their speaking ability 62% of the students and 75% of the teachers suppose that these activities should be often performed This reveals the vital necessity of adding or changing speaking activities

in this textbook

Types of English speaking activities Changed by

teachers (%)

Supported by students(%)

The table reveals that the teachers have applied most categories of the speaking

activities above This is very helpful because students can provide the designer with helpful information about the effectiveness of each activity when applied in ‘Tieng Anh 10’ As seen in the table, students show their most interest in the categories of information gap, discussion, role play and interview Furthermore,

many students (over 30%) are also interested in the kinds of games, co-operative learning It seems to suggest that group work attracts much of students’ attention and heightens their participation Students who are audience-shy often find it much easier

to express themselves in front of a small group of peers In the course of group

discussion, students will learn from each other, whether consciously or unconsciously, and can correct each other’s mistakes

The results also indicate that not many students like oral report, story telling, informal debate and solving-problem (supported by nearly 15%) The students do not support oral report much maybe because this activity need much time to prepare: a report

maker must go along with information searching and preparing, writing up, reading

aloud and group or team working And perhaps the others are also very time-consuming Apart from that, announcements seem dim in the current language classroom It might

be the case that they are not suitable for the content of the text book Moreover, playing

in a drama, a play or co-working in project is not appreciated at all The operation of

these activities seems very difficult and time-consuming

IV.1.5 Changing or adding English speaking activities chosen by teachers and

their reasons

Question 3 and 4 in the questionnaire for teachers were designed to get their advice on the types of changing or extra speaking activities for the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’ and the reasons for these

Types of English

Supported

by teachers(%)

Games It is very interesting but time-consuming and not profitable 12.50% Information gap It is easy to prepare and carry out It is also reasonable for students’ language level 56.25

Discussion

Many students can participate in speaking activities Students like this way It gives students high motivation of brains 68.75

Informal Debate It is time-consuming and difficult 0

Co-operative learning It helps students work together and support each other 45.50

Solving – problem

It is quite interesting and give students high motivation of brains but students sometimes lack vocabulary of English and social 12.50

English

56.25

Table 5: The English speaking activities for ‘Tieng Anh 10’ have chosen by teachers

As seen in table 5, role play, discussion and information gap are the most favorable

Co-operative learning and interviews are also preferred by the teachers They explained that these activities , are very profitable, easy to prepare, participated by many students

in a speaking period and good for students to practice speaking English As they explained further, these activities also give students high motivation of brain and make

them more confident when speaking However, the really noticeable point here is

that games, one of students’ favorite speaking activities, are only supported by

a few teachers Games very interesting and attract students’ attention but in the

teacher’s opinions, they are not always profitable and very time-consuming The rest seen not to interest because they are too difficult for students to do, time-consuming, not very profitable

IV.2 Interview

In order to have in-depth information about difficulties of students in learning English speaking and lessons in ‘Tieng Anh 10’ which teachers want to adapt, I conducted an interview after all teachers did questionnaire It means that the interviewees are teachers who had responded the questionnaire

All interview share the same opinion that, despite the interesting speaking lessons that textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’ brings about, there are some tasks causing difficulties for them Such as in question 1 and 2, 80% teachers think that speaking lessons in 16 units of Tieng Anh 10 are interesting for their students except for task 2 or 3 of speaking lessons in Unit

1, unit 3, unit 5, unit 8, unit4, unit 6, unit 14 and unit 15, etc because they think that task

2 or 3 are quite boring or difficulty so it’s necessary to adapt these tasks with more interesting and effective speaking activities The next question is answered in questionnaire

of teachers; they say that they adapted speaking activities in the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’

as information gap, role play or describing pictures since they are suitable for rural students at NCII HS Let’s see how often teachers use English speaking activities in class through the following class observation

6% 3% 4%

very rather

little not at all

IV.3 Follow-up class observation

In 8 speaking periods which author visited, English speaking activities such as information gap, role playing, describing pictures and co-operative learning always applied (7 periods) instead of task 2, or 3 in textbook Other English speaking activities such as story telling, solving – problem and telephoning are sometimes or never used in speaking lessons (1 period is used English speaking activities such as story telling, solving – problem and telephoning or no period is used English speaking activities such as informal debate or announcements)

The class observation also reveals that teachers need to have good preparation for speaking to make the speaking activities more effective such as providing students key words relating to the topic, giving clear instructions

pre-IV.4 Feedback of students towards applying changing or adding English

speaking activities and their effectiveness

Chart 3 Students’ feedback towards applying changing or

adding English speaking activities and their effectiveness

In answering question 1 in post interview for students, the majority of the students (93%) say they like the adding or changing speaking activities and 3% of them say they just like these activities a little Only 4% of them say they do not like them at all Obviously most of the students show their positive feedback toward applying the changing or adding speaking activities This can be explained by the fact collected from question 2 for students in the following table:

a be more interested in speaking English 93% 7%

b have more chance to practice speaking English 96% 4%

Table 6: Changing or adding English speaking activities’ effectiveness

V.1 ROLE PLAY

V.1.1 Activities 1

Application: Task 3 - Unit 6: An excursion

Aims: Giving opinions, expressing agreement and disagreement

Class time: 20 minutes

Materials: English textbook 10, page 66

Source: Section cards and role cards (See Appendix 6)

Procedure:

1 Copy and cut the 4 role cards of each people and the 6 section cards

2 Divide the class into group of four (or three if there are only three students left) Give each group one set of role cards and one set of situation cards (for group of three, leave out role card D)

3 Ask the students to sit round the table with the situations cards face down in a pile in the middle of the table The cards should be in order from 1 to 6 Each student should have a role card 1, 2, 3 or 4

4 Tell the students that it is Sunday morning and Tim’s class is going on a boat on Lake Michigan in Chicago Read the seat plan You suggest the best seat in each section for each person

5 The object of the game is using structures ‘… think …‘should’ or should not… because’ or giving opinions via answers ‘Yes’, ‘No’ basing on the content of textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’

6 The game is finished when they have successfully decided on each people’s seat Ask

groups their decision on some sections and check with the whole class

V.1.2 Activities 2

Application: Task 2 – Unit 3: People’s background

Aims: to encourage students to find out information related to their friends’ background for

their presentation next task

Level: Elementary

Class time: 10 minutes

Materials: English textbook 10, page 35

Source: English Textbook 10, Education Press, 2006 (See Appendix 7)

3 Students work in pairs to do the interview

4 Teacher walks around to encourage and help students if necessary

5 Teacher calls some pairs to do the interview before class

After doing this task, students can collect information to talk about the friend they have interviewed for reporting at the end of the lesson Most students are eager to do the task because they can do it in role of the interviewers

V.2 INFORMATION GAP

V.2.1 Activities 1

Application: Task 3 – Unit 1: A day in the life of …

Aims: Talking about daily activities

Class time: 10 minutes

Materials: English textbook 10, page 14

Source: Role cards (See Appendix 8)

Procedure:

1 Copy the two role cards They are the same but some information is missing from each

2 Ask students to work in pairs Give each pairs the 2 role cards

3 Tell the students to complete the form by asking and answering their partner’s questions

e.g A: What does Tom do after school?

B: He often does exercise

4 Tell the students to write the answers in the boxes or draw the picture

5 Ask the students to write his/ her partner’s name in the last box and ask him/ her same questions to complete the boxes

6 The activity is finished when students have completed all the missing information Tell students to stand up and make full sentences about the characters in the cards

V.2.2 Activities 2

Application: Task 2 – Unit 15: Cities

Aims: Comparing two cities

Class time: 15 minutes

Materials: English textbook 10, page 159

Source: Role cards – Cities (See Appendix 9)

Procedure:

1 Copy the two role cards - cities They are the same but some information is missing from each

2 Ask students to work in pairs Give each pairs the 2 role cards

3 Tell the students to complete the form by asking and answering their partner’s questions

e.g When was New York founded?

What is population of New York?

How many national holidays are there in New York?

4 The activity is finished when students have completed all the missing information in their cards

5 Ask some students to stand up and talk about the person they have asked their partners

to get the information about their cities

V.3 CO-OPERATIVE LEARNING

V.3.1 Activity 1

Application: Task 1 – Unit 5: Technology and You

Aims: Asking for and giving information about the uses of modern inventions

Class time: 10 minutes

Materials: English textbook 10, page 56

Source: Modern inventions Cards (See Appendix 10)

Procedure:

1 Copy and cut out the 18 modern invention cards above

2 Divide the class into groups of six (or five if there are only five students left) Give each group one set of job cards

3 Tell the students to put cards face down on the table

4 Ask students to take it turn to pick up a card and ask and answer about the uses

of modern inventions Put some helpful language on the board for them to refer to:

A: Can/ Could you tell me what ……… is used for?

Application: Task 2 – Unit 11: National Parks

Aims: Expressing regrets (using the conditional sentence type 3)

Class time: 15 minutes

Materials: English textbook 10, page 115

Source: Situation cards - List of wishes (See Appendix 11)

Procedure:

1 Copy the list of wishes and the situation cards, cut out the situation cards

2 Divide the class into groups of six (or five if there are only five students left) Give each student a list of wishes and two situation cards

3 Tell the students to complete their list of wishes by saying according to model others in their group:

e.g If we had not …., we wouldn’t have …

4 When students have completed all the missing information in their list of wishes, ask them to tell their group the most interesting or surprising wisher they have known

V.4 DISCUSSION

V.4.1 Activity 1

Application: Task 3 – Unit 8: The story of my village

Aims: Talking about plans and possible results (in the village)

Class time: 10 minutes

Materials: English textbook 10, page 85

Source: Question Cards (See Appendix 12)

Procedure:

1 Copy, cut out and shuffle question cards