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iv LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 2.1: Students’ profiles Table 3.1: The degrees of students’ participation before the experiment Table 3.2: Students’ purposes of learning English Table 3.3: Students’ learning styles in the two classes Table 3.4: Students’ levels of participation before and after the experiment Figure 3.1: Students’ levels of participation in group discussion in Class KT1A Figure 3.2: Students’ level of participation in group discussion in Class KT1B Figure 3.3: Students’ levels of participation in debating in Class KT1A Figure 3.4: Students’ levels of participation in debating in Class KT1B Figure 3.5: Students’ levels of participation before the experiment Figure 3.6: Students’ levels at the end of the experiment v ABBREVIATIONS NETC: National Economic Technical College CLT: Communicative Language Teaching ESL: English as Second Language PART 1: INTRODUCTION The first chapter of this thesis is to introduce the rationale, the aims of the study as well as the research questions which the study was to carry out to find out the answers It also presents the scope of the study, an overview of the methods employed to conduct the research, the significance of the study as well as its design Rationale of the study As a foreign language in Vietnam, English is learned seriously by many people to have a good prospect in the community of the international world Recently, English becomes a universal language which is very important to be mastered well There are four English skills to learn, namely speaking, reading, writing, and listening skill Speaking seems intuitively the most important skill to master because by mastering speaking skill, people can give ideas and exchange information with others Hence, in speaking English classes learners should work and participate in the lessons as much as possible Students’ participation is worth being studied as it plays a very important role in studying and teaching efficiency At NETC, like at many colleges and universities in Vietnam, English has been a compulsory subject in its curriculum for many years and speaking is an important skill However, it seems that students not pay much attention to speaking They are often not very motivated and eager to take part in speaking activities For these above reasons, the researcher has decided to write this thesis with the aim of increasing students’ involvement in speaking lessons There are many activities to make students engage including role play, games, problem-solving, songs and discussion (Fauziati, 2008: 122) In addition, there is a new technique which is also used in teaching speaking This is debate technique Debate is the process of inquiry and advocacy, a new way of arriving at a reasoned judgment on a proposition (Freeley, 2000: 4) An individual may use debate to reach a decision in his own mind; alternatively, individuals or groups may use it to bring others around to their way of thinking In this case, the writer would like to use debate technique to increase students’ involvement in the research entitled USING DEBATE TOPICS TO INCREASE STUDENTS’ PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING CLASSES AT NATIONAL ECONOMIC TECHNICAL COLLEGE (NETC) Aims of the study This study is aimed at:  Investigating the current situation of teaching and learning speaking English at NETC to see how actively the second year Accounting students involved in oral activities and what accounts for the degree of their involvement  Investigating the effectiveness of using debate topics in increasing students’ participation in speaking English classes at NETC  Proposing some suggestions to use debate topics effectively to intensify students’ participation in speaking lessons Research questions To reach the aims of the study, the two research questions are addressed: (1) How actively are the second year Accounting students at NETC involved in oral activities in the class, and what accounts for the degree of their involvement? (2) How effective is the use of debate topics in increasing students’ participation in English speaking lessons? Scope of the study This research has a broader scope and it is impossible for the writer to handle all problems Therefore, the writer limits the scope of the research There are many ways to intensify students’ participation in speaking activities However, in this study, the researcher only focuses on debate technique that is used for teaching English speaking to the second year students The subject of the research is limited to English teachers and the second year Accounting students at NETC 2010 – 2011 academic year Methods of the study The study was a quasi-experiment using both quantitative and qualitative methods That is, the data serving the research analysis and discussion were collected by means of:  Classroom observations  Questionnaires  Interviews Besides, reviewing the related documents is also a method to establish the theoretical background of the study, which mainly focuses on speaking skill, students’ participation and debate technique Significance of the study In this study, the researcher hopes to give a small contribution to help readers understand the use of debate technique in teaching and learning process The teachers and learners can realize the effectiveness of this technique in increasing students’ participation in speaking English lessons The writer also expects that her findings could be used by other researchers to open further analysis of debate technique Design of the study The study is divided into three parts as follows: Part presents a general introduction of the study including the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the method, the scope, the significance and the design of the study Part presents the development of the study including four chapters Chapter is underlying theory It delivers previous study and theoretical review Chapter is research method It presents background information, methods and procedure of the study Chapter is research result and discussion This chapter discusses the results or findings of using debate topics in teaching English speaking to the second year Accounting students at NETC Chapter suggests what both teachers of English and students at NETC should and shouldn’t in order to get the most benefit from using debate technique to increase the students’ participation in speaking lessons Part is the conclusion of the study It gives the limitations of the study and some suggestions for further researches PART 2: THE STUDY CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter consists of three sections Section one deals with the issue of teaching speaking Section two concerns some concepts of increasing students’ participation Section three focuses on the debate technique 1 Notion of speaking skill 1.1.1 Definitions of speaking Speaking is one of four necessary skills to use a language successfully According to Chaney (1998:13), speaking is “the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non – verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts” (as cited in Kayi, 2006) Fowler & Thompson (2000) share the same view that speaking is “the action of conveying information or expressing one’s thoughts and feelings in spoken language” This definition confirms that speaking is a process because it contains speakers’ thoughts and feelings Orwig (1999) defines speaking is the productive skill in the oral mode It is complicated and involves more than just pronouncing words W.F Mackey also agrees that oral skill “involves not only the use of the right sounds in the right patterns of rhythm and intonation, but also the choice of words and inflections in the right order to convey the right meaning.” (quoted from Bygate, M., 1987:5) In conclusion, speaking is the ability to perform the linguistic knowledge in actual communication It functions to express one’s idea, feeling, thought and needs orally 1.1.2 Components of speaking According to Syakur (1987:5), speaking is a complex skill because at least it concerns with components of pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and fluency The description is as follows:  Pronunciation is the students’ way to utter English well and it deals with phonology  Grammar concerns with how to arrange to correct sentences in conversation The utility of grammar is to learn the correct way to gain expertise in a language both in oral and written form  Vocabulary means the appropriate diction which is used in conversation Without having a sufficient vocabulary, one can’t communicate effectively  Fluency and accuracy: Fluency can be defined as the ability to speak fluently and accurately suited with professional necessity Basically, being fluent means being able to keep the language coming Richards, Platt and Weber (1985) state that Communicative Competence includes:  Knowledge of grammar and vocabulary of the language  Knowledge of rules of speaking (e.g knowing how to begin and end conversations, knowing what topics can be talked about in different types of speech event, knowing which address, forms should be used with different people and in different situations  Knowing how to use and respond to different types of speech acts such as requests, apologies, thanks and invitations  Knowing how to use language appropriately (quoted from Nunan 1999: 226) 1.1.3 Methods and techniques of teaching speaking In teaching speaking, speaking lessons can follow the usual pattern of preparation, presentation, practice, evaluation, and extension The teacher can use the preparation step to establish a context for the speaking task (where, when , why, and with whom it will occur) and to initiate awareness of the speaking skill to be target (asking for clarification, stressing key words, using reduced forms of words) In presentation, the teacher can provide learners with a preproduction model that furthers learners’ comprehension and helps them become more attentive observers of language use Practice involves learners in reproducing the targeted structure, usually in a controlled or highly supported manner Evaluation involves directing attention to the skill being examined and asking learners to monitor and assess their own progress Finally, extension consists of activities that ask learners to use the strategy or skill in a different context of authentic communicative situation, or to integrate use of the new skill or strategy with previously acquired ones (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997; Carter & McCarthy, 1995) Various ways have been used as the method of teaching and learning speaking English There are traditional ways of teaching by using traditional tools (book, chalks, blackboard or whiteboard) and the newer and modern method by using the modern tools such as realia, real object, pictures, music, etc In term of teaching technique, Fauziati (2002:6) describes that technique is classroom practice done by the teacher when presenting a language program This is the way the classroom activities are integrated into lessons and used as the basis for teaching learning Some techniques often used in speaking class are discussions, information gap, storytelling, games, interviews, dialogues, story completion, reporting, and debate technique 1.2 Students’ participation 1.2.1 Concept of students’ participation Students’ participation can be identified in terms of three kinds of interaction: students to their teacher, students to students, and students to material The interaction between students and their teacher includes care, contact, and cooperation between them in the class Students who have a good interaction with their teacher always join the class discussion, support and act as their teacher requires Moreover, they ask for more information or explanation, perform an activity voluntarily, share personal experience relating to the topics being discussed to show that they involve in what is happening in the class Thus, participation not only means attending the class regularly and on time but also taking part in the lesson actively The interaction between students and students is set up through their discussion in small groups A good interaction involves their cooperation and contribution to the task given Whenever students feel pleasant and comfortable in groups, they will their best to complete the task Students’ participation also includes the interaction between students and material Obviously, students will be more active and pay more attention to the lesson if they are interested in the material or the task given In other words, good and interesting materials can get students to involve in the lesson In short, students’ participation is concerned with their activeness in the lesson, their success in completing the class activities and their interaction to what is happening in the class 1.2.2 Factors affecting students’ participation in the class From the description of students’ participation in the previous section, we can see that students’ participation depends on different interactions in classroom Hence, in order to involve students in communicative activities, it is essential to understand the factors affecting students’ participation  Students’ learning styles According to Willing (1995, cited in Nunan 1988:93), learners’ styles can be classified into four types:  Concrete learners: they preferred learning by games, pictures, films and videos, talking in pairs and learning through the use of cassettes  Analytical learners: these learners liked studying grammar, studying English books, finding their own mistakes, and learning through reading newspapers  Communicative learners: they liked to learn by observing and listening to native speakers, talking to friends in English and learning English wherever possible  Authority-oriented learners: they liked the teacher to explain everything, writing everything in their notebooks, having their own textbooks, learning to read, studying grammar, and learning English words by seeing them  Students’ motivations ... experiment For each stage, the researcher took the average amount of the students’ ‘time-on-task’ and ‘time-off-task’ The researcher also asked this teacher to note down necessary information accounting... by Wajnryb (1992) The degrees of participation were measured in terms of their ‘time-on-task’ and ‘time-off-task’  Second, a survey questionnaire was distributed among the students of the two... sheets by Wajnryb (1992), noting down the students’ participation in terms of their ‘time-on-task’ and ‘time-off-task’ 18  Then the researcher chose and interviewed randomly five students in each