Teaching speaking skill to students with low English proficiency difficulties and suggested solutions = Nghiên cứu về việc dạy kỹ năng nói cho người học có ngữ

LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Students‘ English learning background Table 2: Students‘ attitude and motivation to English speaking skill and English speaking skill learning Table 3: Students‘

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

SLEP: Students with low English proficiency

CFBA: College of Finance and Business Administration

L1: First language

L2: Second language

N: Number of cases

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Students‘ English learning background

Table 2: Students‘ attitude and motivation to English speaking skill and English speaking skill learning

Table 3: Students‘ strategies in English speaking skill learning

Table 4: Students‘ desires in English speaking skill learning

Table 5: Teachers‘ experience and opinion on SLEP and teaching speaking skill to SLEP Table 6: Teachers‘ techniques in teaching English speaking skill to SLEP

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………i

ABSTRACT ……… ………ii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ……… ………… iii

LIST OF TABLES ……….iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS ………v

PART A INTRODUCTION ……… 1

1 Rationale ……….1

2 Aim of the study ……… 1

3 Research questions ……… 2

4 Scope of the study … ……….2

5 Method of the study……….2

6 Design of the study ……… 2

PART B DEVELOPMENT ….……….4

Chapter 1 Literature Review ……… 4

1.1 Theoretical background of speaking skill in second language learning ……… 4

1.1.1 Definition of speaking ……… 4

1.1.2 Approaches to the teaching of speaking ……… 4

1.1.3 Factors affecting learners‘ speaking achievement ……… 6

1.1.3.1 Teachers‘ roles ……… 7

1.1.3.2 Learners‘ roles ……… 8

Aptitudes ……… 8

Motivation and attitude ……… 8

Learning strategies ……… 11

Learners‘ needs ……….11

1.2 Students with low English proficiency (SLEP)……… 12

1.2.1 Definition of SLEP ……….12

1.2.2 Ways to help SLEP ……….12

Chapter 2 The study ……… 15

2.1 The context ……… 15

2.2 The study ……… 15

2.2.1 Participants ……… 15

2.2.2 Instruments and methodology ……….16

2.2.3 Data analysis … ……… ………16

2.2.3.1 Questionnaire for students … 16

Methodology ……… 16

Statistical result ……… 17

- Students‘ English learning background ……… 17

- Students‘ attitude and motivation to English speaking skill and English speaking skill learning ……… 18

- Students‘ strategies in English speaking skill learning …… ……… .21

- Students‘ desires in English speaking skill learning ……… ……… 25

2.2.3.2 Questionnaire for teachers ……… 27

Methodology ……… 27

Statistical result ……… 27

- Teachers‘ experience, and opinion on SLEP and teaching speaking skill to SLEP 27

- Teachers‘ techniques in teaching English speaking skill to SLEP……… … 28

Chapter 3 Findings and recommendations ……… 31

3.1 Difficulties in teaching speaking skill to SLEP ………… ……… 31

3.2 Suggested solutions in teaching speaking skill to SLEP ……… …… 31

3.2.1 Creating a pleasant and supportive classroom atmosphere ……….31

3.2.2 Having high expectation and using reward appropriately ……… 32

3.2.3 Providing opportunities for students to experience success ……… 33

3.2.4 Using various and interesting activities and new and effective techniques ………… 33

3.2.5 Training the students with more strategies in learning English speaking skill……… 36

3.3 An example of applying some techniques in teaching plan of English speaking … 37

PART C CONCLUSION……… 44 REFERENCE ……… I APPENDIX 1 Questionnaire for students IV APPENDIX 2 Questionnaire for teachers XII

PART A INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

No one can deny the universality of English nowadays Outside English-speaking countries, English has become a compulsory component of education in many countries This trend also applies in Vietnam At many schools and colleges, English is chosen as a compulsory subject for students as English is considered to be a useful tool to access the world knowledge However, though the importance of English has been recognized, how it is taught can often be questioned for several problems

One of the problems is the existence of mixed-ability-student classes Students in these classes have different levels of ability While some are successful in English language learning, others are unsuccessful The ones in the second group are less able in English when compared to their peers Their utterances are in words or short prefabricated phrases Their grammar is mostly inaccurate and their pronunciation requires concentrated listening In class they are apparently less motivated to learn As a result, their ability can never improve (Littlejohn, 2001) For this reason, they say goodbye to English as quickly as they can Finding a balance in communication with these groups of students during lectures is not an easy job for teachers It

is also true at College of Finance and Business Administration (CFBA)

Yet, while many researchers have investigated how to teach English speaking skill to students

in general, few have introduced effective ways to teach this skill to students with low English

proficiency This actually drives the researcher to her study, namely, “Teaching speaking skill

to students with low English proficiency: Difficulties and Suggested Solutions” for the purpose

of identifying the difficulties in teaching speaking skill to students with low English proficiency (SLEP) and finding out some efficient techniques to help them at CFBA

2 Aim of the study

The study is aimed at the following points:

- Investigating the current situation of learning and teaching of English speaking skill at CFBA

- Identifying the difficulties teachers of English at CFBA encounter in teaching speaking skill

to SLEP

- Making some suggestions of effective ways for teachers of English at CFBA with the hope

of helping them improve their teaching of English speaking to SLEP

3 Research questions

With the aim of the study, the following questions are raised:

Question 1 What are the problems that teachers of English may have in teaching speaking skill to low English proficiency students at CFBA?

Question 2 What should be done to help these students improve their speaking skill?

4 Scope of the study

Teaching speaking skill for less able students is a very popular problem at any schools and colleges in Vietnam However, in the study, the researcher only wants to focus on the teaching

of speaking skill to SLEP at CFBA where the researcher has taught English and has intention

of finding out the main problems in the teaching Furthermore, in spite of being aware that there is a variety of techniques to help students in English speaking learning, the researcher only try to seek those which are effective for SLEP

5 Method of the study

To fulfill the above aims, the researcher is using a survey research which is both qualitative and quantitative The instruments for data collection include two survey questionnaires delivered to learners and teachers

6 Design of the study

The minor thesis is composed of three parts:

Part A, Introduction presents the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the scope, the method and the design of the study

Part B, Development, consists of three following chapters

1 Chapter one, Literature Review, presents the concepts relevant to the study

2 Chapter two, The Study, presents an overview of the context of investigation, the participants, the instruments, and the data analysis

3 Chapter three, Findings and recommendations, summarizes the difficulties and gives some suggested solutions in teaching SLEP speaking skill at CFBA

Part C, Conclusion, addresses the key issues in the study and gives some ideas for the

limitations and a further research

PART B DEVELOPMENT

1.1 Theoretical background of speaking skill in second language learning

1.1.1 Definition of speaking

Bygate (1997) states that speaking is a skill which deserves attention every bit as much as literary skills, in both first and second languages In order to carry out many of their most basic transactions, the learners often need to be able to speak with confidence

He also explains that there are two basic ways in which something is done can be seen as a

skill They are motor-perceptive skills which involve perceiving, recalling, and articulating in the correct sounds and structures of the language, and interaction skills which involve making

decisions about communication, such as: what to say, how to say it, and whether to develop it,

in accordance with one‘s intentions, while maintaining the desired relations with others (Bygate, 1997: 5-6)

According to Byrne (1986), speaking skill is one of two ways of oral communication process,

and is the productive skill The speaker has to encode the message he wishes to convey in appropriate language, while the listener has to decode (or interpret) the message The message,

in normal speech, usually contains a good deal of ‗information‘ that is redundant; however, one should notice that speech is often characterized by incomplete and sometimes ungrammatical utterances, and by frequent false starts and repetition

1.1.2 Approaches to the teaching of speaking

There are several approaches in teaching English speaking such as Grammar-Translation Method, Direct Method, Audio-Lingual Approach, and a more modern approach, namely Communicative Language Teaching Approach (CLT)

Grammar- translation method is a European language teaching method which focuses on language structure and linguistic details Its outcome is the learners‘ poor oral English ability

development with substandard pronunciation and intonation and does not allow learners to use

a language in a natural way (Widdowson, 1990, cited by Jin, 2007)

Another approach is Direct Method which is totally different from Grammar-Translation

method It uses English directly in teaching, such as using English to make conversations or have discussions Students‘ English competence is developed in this way instead of using mother tongue to translate The basic principle of this method is that the foreign language

learning process should be like the natural process of a child learning his or her mother tongue

It is believed that language is a skill or habit, and this habit can be achieved by repetition and imitation According to Jin (2007), in spite of having some advantages such as inspiring students‘ interests in learning English and being in favour of students‘ English pronunciation and intonation, it has certain limitations: (1) It only focuses on experiences and perceptual knowledge in English and it has little estimate on students‘ level of consciousness (2) This method rejects mother tongue in English teaching It only sees the disadvantages of mother tongue, but never makes use of mother tongue to facilitate students‘ comprehension (3) After learning English for a long time, some students may understand simple oral English but not complicated sentences and have poor grammar skills (4) The class size should be small in using this method

Audio-Lingual Approach uses sentence pattern as the base of teaching and tries to avoid

mother tongue in class When using this method in learning English, students should first listen and then speak After a long time practice, students can automatically express what they had heard Because this method relies on repetition and drills, the main limitation is that it over emphasizes the mechanical practice and ignores students‘ English skills training and learning flexibility

Communicative language teaching (CLT) is an approach to the teaching of second and foreign languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a

language Unlike the Audio-Lingual Approach, its primary focus is on helping learners

create meaning rather than helping them develop perfectly grammatical structures or acquire native-like pronunciation This means that successfully learning a foreign language is assessed

in terms of how well learners have developed their communicative competence, which can loosely be defined as their ability to apply knowledge of both formal and sociolinguistic aspects of a language with adequate proficiency to communicate One of the most recognized lists of general principles or features is the list of five features of CLT by Nunan (1991):

- An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language

- The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation

- The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language but also on the learning process itself

- An enhancement of the learner‘s own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning

- An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activities outside the classroom

The features show that it focuses on students‘ active participation, the whole classroom is not the teacher-centered, but students-centered one The teacher should give students enough time

to practise during class In addition, the English teacher should help students to be more independent, active and fluent in using English In real life situation, students will use the language without teacher‘s help When using the CLT, the teacher often organizes pair and group work, the whole classroom setting should be arranged in favour of these activities

In conclusion, among some approaches of the language teaching methods mentioned above CLT is the most appropriate way to teach students to communicate Therefore, the researcher decides to choose CLT as an approach for teaching speaking skill and considers it as one of

the bases of the study

1.1.3 Factors affecting learners’ speaking achievement

Learner‘s achievements depend on several factors divided into two types: learner-external factors and learner-internal factors Some of them have positive effects on the process of learner‘s second language learning while others have negative effects One of the most important learner-external factors is pedagogical effect which includes the role of teachers and their method Some of learner-internal important factors comprise learners‘ aptitude, their motivation and attitude, their learning strategy and their need It is also true to learning English speaking skill

1.1.3.1 Teachers’ roles

The main goal in teaching the productive skill of speaking will be oral fluency This can be

defined as the ability to express oneself intelligibly reasonably accurately and without too much hesitation To attain this goal, the teacher has to bring the students from the stage where they are mainly imitating a model of some kind, or responding to cues, to the point where they can use the language freely to express their own ideas (Byrne, 1976: 10) Byrne further points out three stages in learning and teaching oral skill and the teacher‘s specific roles to play at different stages

At the presentation stage, the teacher‘s main task is to serve a kind of informant when the teacher introduces something new to be learned There are different ways to do this such as giving texts, activities or situations, but whatever approach the teacher uses, the procedures must be economical and effective Byrne shows that both dialogues and prose passages have

advantages in the early stage of teaching spoken language, so the teacher should make best use

of them according to the needs of learners (p 22-32)

At the practice stage, the teacher serves as a conductor and monitor when the teacher has to devise the maximum amount of practice, which must at the same time, be both meaningful and memorable The author suggests some ways for the teacher to conduct and monitor at this stage such as chorus work technique, reading aloud technique, and mechanical drills including substitution drills, transformation (or conversion) drills Guessing drills, imaginary situations, open-ended responses, practicing concepts, and expressing relationships are also suggested for the teacher to give rapid whole class practice

At the production stage, the teacher serves as a manager and a guide when the teacher gives the students opportunities to work on their own At this stage, the teacher‘s main task is to provide the students with an environment within which they can communicate easily and freely, and within which they can work together independently with only the minimum amount of direction from the teacher The solution lies in forming smaller units – or group because it provides a richer climate for interaction

Byrne finally comes to the conclusion that the teacher plays a key role in three stages of learning, but there is other key role that cuts across these three stages, namely, motivator Whatever the teacher does in the classroom, the teacher‘s ability to motivate the students, to arouse their interest and involve them in what they are doing will be crucial Some key factors will be the teacher‘s ‗performance‘ – the teacher‘s mastery of teaching skills, often dependent

on careful preparation; the teacher‘s selection and presentation of topics and activities and the teacher‘s personality, which in language teaching must be flexible enough to allow the teacher

to be both authoritative and friendly at the same time (Byrne, 1986: 3)

1.1.3.2 Learners’ roles

Aptitudes

Caroll defines aptitude as the "capability of learning a task" (1981, cited by Ellis, 1994:494) This capability is an additional advantage in language learning but it does not guarantee one's achievement (Ellis, 1994) Nevertheless, to be able to discover learners' aptitude helps to explain their success in language learning (Williams and Burdens, 1997)

Examples of language aptitudes are memory for new vocabulary, the ability to memorize new sounds and to understand how words function grammatically (Lightbown & Spada, 1993:37)

In teaching and learning, students' aptitudes provide hints of which teachers can use in selecting activities to develop students' capabilities

Motivation and attitude

In language learning in general, and in speaking skill learning in particular, motivation is not only an intensive desire for learning and acquiring knowledge of English, but also an inner cause that push students forward in English learning with enthusiasm and willingness It is something like the engine and steering wheel of an automobile that can moves students from boredom to interest It is an inner power to drive and help students persevere in English learning (Kong, 2009)

Ellis defines motivation as referring to ―the efforts which learners put into learning an L2 as a result of their need or desire to learn‖ (Ellis, 1995, cited in Sasson, 2007 ) Gardner indicates that the motivation of foreign language learning contains four aspects: a goal, effortful behavior, a desire to attain the goal and attitude (cited in Guanjie, 1996) Students who have strong learning motivation take a correct and positive attitude towards study and make great efforts to master English with clear goal and desire and consequently gain better grade than those who haven‘t acquired motivation and those students usually regard English learning as a heavy and boring burden It is true that motivation is such a basic factor in language learning that no teacher could avoid being concerned with students‘ motivation

Motivation can be described in many types and the main broad categories are intrinsic and

extrinsic motivation The two main types of motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic, can affect the

learning process Intrinsic motivation is task motivation that derives from an inherent interest

in the learning tasks while extrinsic motivation refers to the external influences that affect the

strength of learner‘s motivation such as that which comes from teachers and parents Intrinsic

motivation is a response to needs that exist within the learner, such as curiosity, the need to know, and feelings of competence or growth (Paul Eggen & Don Kauchak, 1994: 428) It exists when someone works because of an inner desire to accomplish a task successfully, whether it has some external value or not (Spaulding, 1992: 4) In contrast, extrinsic motivation is as an outward force in the form of expectation, praise and rewards powers students in English learning It exists when individuals are motivated by an outcome that is external or functionally unrelated to the activity in which they are engaged (Spaulding, 1992: 4) When students work hard to win their parents‘ favor, gain teachers‘ praise, or earn rewards such as pocket money, we can rightly conclude that their motivation is primarily extrinsic, their reason for work and study lie primarily outside themselves and the aim of learning is not for the knowledge itself but the outward rewards in order to gain self-esteem And the outward

praise and rewards encourage students to study more actively

Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are important, inseparable and complementary to each other in English learning Intrinsic motivation is the type of inner drive that propels students forward and onward with continuous energy fueled by its own curiosity and interest However,

in the real world not all of the students are automatically energized to perform this or that task,

or to learn about this or that topic Sometimes, a good grade, the threat of failing and praise move students from an inactive to an active state The use of rewards as extrinsic motivators has sometimes been found to increase intrinsic motivation, especially when the rewards are contingent on the quality of the performance rather than simply on participation It is clear that extrinsic motivators are sometimes necessary either to get students started in the first place, or

to start them down a track that they might not know exists (Hamachek, 1989: 267)

Students are more likely to want to learn when they appreciate the value of the classroom activities, and when they believe that they will succeed if they apply reasonable effort Hence,

"student motivation to learn is an acquired competence developed through general experiences but stimulated most directly through modeling, communication of expectations, and direct instruction or socialization by significant others – especially teachers and parents‖ (Brophy, 1987: 40) When it comes to weak learners, teachers realize that such learners are accustomed

to experiencing failure, hence, the teacher‘s task is to help them experience success

Oxford and Shearin (1994) analyze a total of 12 motivational theories or models, including those from socio-psychology, cognitive development, and socio-cultural psychology, and identified six factors that impact motivation in language learning:

- Attitudes (i.e., sentiments toward the learning community and the target language)

- Beliefs about self (i.e., expectancies about one's attitudes to succeed, self-efficacy, and anxiety)

- Goals (perceived clarity and relevance of learning goals as reasons for learning)

- Involvement (i.e., extent to which the learner actively and consciously participates in the language learning process)

- Environmental support (i.e., extent of teacher and peer support, and the integration of cultural and outside-of-class support into learning experience)

- Personal attributes (i.e., aptitude, age, sex, and previous language learning experiences.)

In summary, motivation is considered as ―a key consideration in determining the preparedness

of learners to communicate‖ (Gardner, 1985:10) Oxford & Shearin (1994) state: ―Many researchers consider motivation as one of the main elements that determine success in a

second or foreign language; it determines the extent of active, personal involvement in L2 learning‖

Learning strategies

Language learning strategies refer to approaches or techniques that learners use to enhance their progress in developing L2 skills and play an essential role in L2 learning (O‘Malley and Chamot 1990; Oxford 1990) Most of the research indicates that there is a positive association between strategy use and L2 achievements and that both the frequency of strategy use and the choice of strategies are distinguishing characteristics between successful and unsuccessful students Moreover, Holec (1981) claims language learning strategies not only enable learners

to learn an L2 effectively and efficiently but also help develop their abilities of independent and autonomous learning which are believed to be another important factor leading to successful learning According to Oxford (1990) language learning strategies are divided into two major classes of strategy: the direct class including three groups (memory, cognitive and compensation) that directly contributes to L2 learning and the indirect class involving three groups (metacognitive, affective and social) which indirectly contribute to L2 learning Memory strategies are used for memorizing more effectively; cognitive strategies for mental processing of information; compensation strategies for making up for limited knowledge; metacognitive strategies for planning, monitoring and evaluating one‘s learning; affective

strategies for regulating one‘s emotions; and social strategies for cooperating with others Learners’ needs

Wenden (1986) proposes that teachers should outline correct learner expectations and attitudes about how languages are learned and also explain the reasoning behind classroom methods, in order to reduce any gap between learner and teacher beliefs Brindley (1984) elaborates on a distinction drawn by Richterich (1972) and Chancerel (1978) between ―objective‖ needs and

―subjective‖ needs The ―objective‖ needs are those that can be diagnosed by teachers on the basis of the analysis of personal data about learners along with information about their language proficiency and patterns of language use ―Subjective‖ needs are often wants, desires, expectations, or other psychological manifestation of a lack ―Subjective‖ needs should be diagnosed so that teachers may adapt learning activities to individual needs

In short, each factor plays a specific role in the achievement of students‘ success in L2 learning Thus, in order to attain good result in teaching, teachers should take these factors carefully into careful consideration

1.2 Students with low English proficiency (SLEP)

1.2.1 Definition of SLEP

According to Shrum and Glisan (2005), average or non-gifted students are actually one of two groups The first group refers to students with a learning disability They suffer from disorders that affect a broad range of academic and functional skills including the ability to listen, speak, read, write, spell, reason and organize information They need long-term assistance from specialists The second group refers to students whose aptitude for language learning is minimal They are poor language learners but if more suitable language classes are provided they may improve However, it is quite unfortunate that a ‗more suitable language class‘ seldom exists Most language teachers practice according to what is concluded by McDonough (1981, p 138): classroom management most of the time ignores individual differences of the learners; and a classroom of mixed ability students requires a teaching method that focuses on

a variety of activities with the hope that either one or other of the activities will help the majority of students to some extent, while slow learners become temporarily ‗invisible‘ or ignored

1.2.2 Ways to help SLEP

A lot of research had been conducted to look for ways to help poor language learners In the study ―Searching for better language learning strategies‖ conducted by Takeuchi (2003), the result showed that poor language learners used fewer strategies in language learning than successful The former often used deep, L2-based, association, active participation, language use, positive-attitude taking and learning-process monitoring strategies that are likely to make more contributions to successful L2 learning while the latter tended to use surface, L1- based, word-level, rote memory and gesture strategies Chung (1999) conducted an experiment in Taiwan and found that when the lessons were prepared to match the level of the learners, there was no significant difference in achievement between fast learners and poor learners In addition, one of the results in the study conducted by Gan, Humbpreys & Hamp-Lyons (2004) showed that unsuccessful language learners believed that teachers paid interest only to successful ones and did not give them enough help They felt they were forgotten These studies implied that it is possible to help slow learners by training them to use more language learning strategies or showing them that they are not forgotten by preparing lessons that are more suitable to their learning styles

Theoretically, Hadley (2001: 94-105) proposed five hypotheses that would be conducive to the achievement of language teaching goals, but only some of them seem applicable to slow learners The most important hypothesis that is really applicable to poor language learners is to tailor a lesson that is responsive to the affective as well as the cognitive needs of students The

students should be settled in a classroom environment that lowers their anxiety, increases their confidence and encourages their willingness to communicate (Chan, 2002) Balado (2001) and Lescano (1995) suggested the following practical ideas to help teachers understand slow learners and work with them in a more effective way:

- Their weakest skills are writing and reading Focus priority goals on oral expression and listening skills and devote less time and effort to polishing grammar and detailed reading

- Use lots of praise and reinforcement Also, slow learners need repetition

- Limit the working time and have several short work periods rather than one long one

- Add variety to the academic routine Do active things and use educational games, puzzles, and other techniques as much as possible

- Work on material that is somewhat challenging but allows success Work that is too hard or too easy is a turn-off

- Make learning fun and comfortable

- Provide meaningful, concrete activities rather than abstract ones

In conclusion, for some specific characteristics of SLEP, teaching English speaking to them is

a challenge to teachers of English Aptitude seems somewhat that cannot be changed easily, but other elements such as their motivation, strategies are things that teachers can make a positive effect on Therefore, investigating and understanding what they think, how they learn, and what they really need or want is actually an essential job of teachers for the progress of their learning achievement

Chapter 2 The Study

The study begins with the description of the situation where the study was conducted The

next part is an overview of participants and instruments of the study Finally, it is the

presentation of statistics and data analysis and findings

2.1 The context

The study was conducted at CFBA in Hung Yen, where English is the only foreign language taught as a non-major subject Students at CFBA study English in the three first terms, each of which lasts about 9 weeks with 45 forty-five minute periods New Headway at elementary level is the course book used in the first and the second terms for the purpose of improving speaking and listening skills for the students In the third term, the students take a book, namely English in Business and Finance, as the course book for the practice of comprehension reading and translation After finishing each term, the students have to take an English exam consisting of 2 parts: writing and speaking

The students at CFBA come from different provinces, mainly from rural areas Most of them have studied English before, but many are not good at speaking They are divided into different classes and study every subject together This fact forms multi-level classes In English classes, while some are good at English, others have much lower English proficiency Helping the second group to learn English in general, and English speaking skill in particular

is a really problematic issue for teachers of English at CFBA

English department at CFBA consists of 12 teachers of English, aged from 16 to 48, and they are all experienced in teaching English

2.2 The study

2.2.1 Participants

In order to get information to fulfill the aims of the study, two survey questionnaires were designed The first questionnaire was administered to 50 randomly selected first-year students, aged from 18 to 20, from different classes of different departments at college They had got bad results in English writing tests and speaking test, and had to retake the English exam in the first term The researcher chose them as the respondents because of two reasons Firstly, they had finished an English course for communication, so it is easy for them to evaluate what and how they had learned in English speaking lessons Secondly, based on their bad results in the exams, it can be concluded that they are the ones that have very low English proficiency, so they are suitable to the study

The second questionnaire was administered to 6 teachers who teach English at CFBA These teachers include 2 males, and 4 females, aged from 26 to 34 Two of them were trained from full-time training courses on English language and the rest were trained in English language teaching at College of Foreign Languages

2.2.2 Instruments and methodology

As mentioned above, the instruments of the study were two questionnaires: one administered

to 50 students and the other administered to 6 teachers The two questionnaires were designed for the aim of the research, and based on the knowledge studied in previous researches which were mentioned briefly in the literature review They were delivered to the participants first, then collected and analyzed carefully The respondents were all introduced how to complete the questionnaire carefully first, and also expected to complete every question To ensure the reliability of the questionnaire for student-respondents, the researcher used the Vietnamese version, and asked them not to discuss when they fulfill the questionnaire in a specific time with 30 minutes

- Students‘ English learning background (Questions 1, 2)

- Students‘ attitude and motivation to English speaking skill and English speaking skill learning (Questions 3 - 6)

- Students‘ strategies of English speaking skill learning (Questions 7-14)

- Students‘ desires in English speaking skill learning (Question 15)

Statistical result

- Students’ English learning background

1 Did you learn English before college? 47 94 3 6

2 If yes, how long did you learn English?

Table 1: Students’ English learning background

It can be seen from the table that most of the respondents (94%) have learnt English before college Only three of them (6 %) have never studied the foreign language The table also shows that only 6% of the participants have had less than 1 year for English studying and the majority (64%) have had from 1 to 3 years of learning English Some of them (20%) have studied English from 4 to 7 years and no one has had more than 7 years in learning English The figures indicate that most of the students have had a basic knowledge of English before college Therefore the vocabulary and the grammar items introduced in the course book, namely New Headway at Elementary level, are supposed to be already acquired As the result, the purpose of the course that is not to spend too much time on vocabulary and grammar but how to improve the students‘ skills in using English in general and in speaking in particular is reasonable

- Students’ attitude and motivation to English speaking skill and English speaking skill learning

3 Why do you learn English speaking?

to communicate with foreigners and improve knowledge 27 54 More ideas (specify):

- ‗to have a good certificate after college‘

- ‗to study or work abroad if I have a chance‘

4 How is English speaking skill important to you?

More ideas (specify): no response

5 How do you often feel when you are in English speaking class?

‗I usually feel anxious, especially when my name is called.‘ 34 68

More ideas (specify):

- ‗I want to participate but I feel unconfident.‘

- ‗I like learning English speaking much but I dare not speak.‘

6 What are the factors that make you feel bored, anxious, or unwilling

to speak English in class?

Being afraid of losing face when making a mistake 24 48

Difficult topics introduced in the course book 5 10

More ideas (specify):

- ‗I feel anxious because my teacher speaks so fast that I don‘t understand what she says and don‘t know what to say.‘

- ‗I dare not speak because I don‘t remember words when I speak English.‘

- ‗I think my teacher seems not to be patient to listen to me because I usually speak so slowly, so she/ he usually ignores me to save time, and it makes

me de-motivated.‘

- ‗I have no time to talk because better ones speak too much.‘

Table 2: Students’ attitude and motivation to English speaking skill and English

speaking skill learning

From the data collected from question 3, it can be seen that 90 % of the respondents learn English speaking because they think it is helpful for them to have a good job in the future and

a nearly same number (82%) state that they learn this skill because it is a compulsory subject

at college Only 34% of the respondents claim that they study English because it is interesting, and to the researcher‘s surprise, over a half (54%) of the respondents asserts that they learn English to communicate with foreigners and improve their knowledge In the part of giving more ideas, one of the SLEP states that she wants to learn English speaking to have a good certificate after finishing her study at college, and another gives his own idea that he studies English to have a chance to study or work abroad From the statistics and information of question 3, it is possible to state that most of the SLEP have extrinsic motivation rather than intrinsic one In other words, extrinsic motivation overwhelms intrinsic motivation There is a surprise to the researcher that even though the students do not think that they learn English because it is interesting, many of them have the idea of communicating with foreigners and improving knowledge as a goal of learning English speaking The finding makes the researcher have a thought in mind that whether the students will be more interested in English

if they have a chance to meet foreigners and approach meaningful materials in English related

to their majors

It can be also calculated from questions 4, and 5 in the table that all of the SLEP (100%) suppose speaking is an important skill from normally to highly important scale, but very few (6%) often feel interested in English speaking class 68% of the respondents often feel anxious, 50% of them often get bored, and 48% of them often have no desire to speak out in English class Two respondents further state that they actually like and want to participate in speaking activities but feel unconfident and dare not speak Therefore, it can be concluded from question 4, and question 5 that although the students acknowledge clearly the importance

of English speaking skill, they have no or very low interest, willingness, confidence, or desire

in participating in English speaking learning These students have very low motivation and attitude to English speaking skill and the learning of this skill

Question 6 is aimed at finding out why they have such feelings as anxiety, boredom, and unwillingness It reveals that 84% of the respondents think that they feel bored, anxious, or unwilling to speaking English in class because they are not used to speaking English 80%

believe that it is due to the feeling of being forgotten in class The number of respondents who think that the reason is related to difficult topics introduced in the course book accounts only 10%, and 28 % of the students think it is the boring teaching that leads to such feelings In addition, being afraid of losing face also has a specific effect on the attitude and motivation of the respondents with the colleted response-statistics of 48% One of the SLEP gives more details of why she feels anxious that her teacher often speaks so fast that she can‘t understand and does not know what to say Another one claims that because of the sudden disappearance

of vocabulary in her mind when speaking, she dare not speak One student thinks that his teacher often ignores him because she is not patient enough to listen to him, and it makes him de-motivated The last additional idea is about the much more speaking time of better peers In short, it can be inferred that the most popular elements affecting the feeling of the SLEP at CFBA are their passive learning habit and the feeling of being forgotten which results from the ignorance of teachers and the more prominent performance of better learners The topics introduced in the course book seem not to be a problem to them There is one point that should

be noticed in this question is that although few SLEP think teaching affects them, the speaking speech of teachers is one problem to these students

In summary, table 2 provides some very useful information on motivation and attitude of the SLEP at CFBA to English speaking skill and the learning of this skill Firstly, it turns out that they have extrinsic motivation rather than intrinsic one when there is a largest number of respondents choosing getting a good job in the future as a goal in their learning Another finding is the contrast between the SLEP‘s positive perception of speaking skill importance and the de-motivated feeling they have in class mainly due to the passive habit of their learning and the feeling of being invisible The result reveals that it is the extrinsic motivation that drives the SLEP to learn English speaking, but with a very low level of motivation, it is inevitable to state that it seems hard for them to improve their studying

- Students’ strategies in English speaking skill learning

7 What do you often do when you cannot think of a word during a

conversation in English?

‗I use another word or phrase that means the same thing.‘ 16 32

More ideas (specify):

- ‗I ignore it.‘

8 How do you often improve your English speaking?

‗I try to read, and write in English as much as possible to get the

ideas and practice how to express my ideas.‘

More ideas (specify):

‗I do nothing except for what my teacher asks me to do.‘

9 How do you often speak English?

‗I try to avoid word-for-word translation.‘ 10 20

‗In speaking, I first organize my ideas in Vietnamese, then

translate them into English.‘

More ideas (specify): no response

10 How is your attitude towards English speaking learning?

‗I take a positive attitude towards English speaking learning and

intentionally develop my interests in English speaking learning.‘

‗I don‘t mind keeping a positive attitude or interests in English

language learning.‘

More ideas (specify):

- ‗I usually take a positive attitude towards English speaking learning at first but

my interest does not last long.‘

11 What do you often do when you don‘t perform well in English

speaking tests?

More ideas (specify):

- ‗I feel sad, and I think it is because of my ability, so it‘s normal.‘

12 What do you often do when you feel nervous while using

English?

‗I try to relax myself and then continue.‘ 19 38

‗I try to stop and think that I can‘t continue.‘ 31 62

More ideas (specify): no response

13 What do you often do when you have difficulties in learning

English speaking?

‗I ask for help from teachers or higher proficiency-level

students.‘

More ideas (specify): no response

14 What do you often do in classroom speaking activities?

‗I actively participate in those activities.‘ 11 22

‗I almost keep silent and listen to other peers.‘ 39 78 More ideas (specify):

- ‗I speak to my friends in Vietnamese.‘

Table 3: Students’ strategies in English speaking skill learning

According to the figures from questions 7, 8, and 9, 68% of the respondents use Vietnamese when they cannot think of a word during a conversation in English 82% of them improve their English speaking mainly by memorizing words, and a similar number of the respondents (80%) state that they often organize their ideas in Vietnamese and then translate them into English in speaking Additional ideas of the SLEP include ignorance of words when not remembering it, passive learning when doing nothing except for what his teacher says

The figures point out the fact that the SLEP often used out-of-context word-building and based strategies These strategies are surface ones, the use of which entails shallow processing

L1-of language information that contributes less to language learning (Leaver, Ehrman and Shekhtman 2005) Since one word can have more than one meaning depending on the context,

it is difficult to put it into correct use if one remembers it without a context Further, with only words but without contexts, one does not have the chance to see how the words are used In addition, often using L1-based strategies is likely to cause communication to break down and reduce students‘ desire and opportunities to use L2 Besides, additional information shows that their strategies are also negative and passive The often use of surface strategies may come from their poor ability of the target language However, in turn, applying these strategies most frequently causes them to have little progress in learning

Apart from the language individual ability, it cannot be denied that attitude plays an important role in language learning If a student takes a positive attitude towards English and English

learning, he/she will get actively involved in the learning of the target language both inside and outside the class Active participation, in turn, enables students to learn better However the responses from question 10, 11 and 12 in table 3 show that 68% of the respondents don‘t mind keeping a positive attitude or interests in English language learning, 66 % feel disappointed but don‘t care when they don‘t perform well in English tests and 62% think that they can‘t continue when they feel nervous while using English One of the SPLEP admits that she often has a positive attitude towards English speaking learning at first, but she cannot keep

it for a long time Another one thinks that her bad speaking result comes from her in-born ability which cannot be changed, so it is normal and there is no need for her to try Also, figures from questions 13 and 14 indicate that only 32% of the respondents ask for help from teachers or higher proficiency-level students when they have difficulties in learning English and only 22% of them actively participate in classroom activities One student gives additional information for question 14 that she usually speaks to her friends in Vietnamese instead of English in classroom activities

From the statistics collected, it can be concluded that a lot of the SLEP seem not to pay attention to develop their interest and effort in English speaking learning and are ready to give

up when not having a good performance It may be the reason why they are not confident and willing to look foolish in front of others when having difficulties and just keep silent in learning activities Actually these strategies do not give them any advantages in their learning, and may destroy their learning motivation instead

In short, the data colleted from table 3 indicate a very specific overview of English speaking learning strategies of SLEP at CFBA Shallowness, negativeness, and passiveness are the features used to describe these strategies, which may have very bad effects on the SLEP‘s learning achievement

- Students’ desires in English speaking skill learning

15 Which of following things do you like in English speaking

class?

Be trained more effective language learning strategies 45 90

Spend less time and effort polishing grammar and detailed

reading

Get lots of praise and reinforcement from teachers 43 86

Have limited working time and several short work periods

rather than one long one

Do active things and use educational games, puzzles, and

other techniques as much as possible

Experience something challenging but possible to succeed 44 88

Have meaningful, concrete activities rather than abstract ones 47 94

More ideas (specify):

- ‗I hope that my teacher is more enthusiastic in teaching.‘

- ‗I need more time to prepare for presentation.‘

- ‗I want to have more suggestions before speaking activities.‘

- ‗I want my teacher to slow down her/his speech, and use Vietnamese

sometimes to let me understand what she/ he says.‘

Table 4: Students’ desires in English speaking skill learning

There is one point that must be noticed from in table 4 that all of the respondents (100%) state that they desire to have fun and comfortable learning, and 90% of the respondents want to be trained more effective language learning strategies Over 85% of the respondents want to have

a chance to experience success (88%), and receive praises and reinforcement from teachers (86%) Also, a great number of the respondents state that they are interested in activities, including: having meaningful, concrete activities (94%), having repetition (86%), doing active things and use educational games, puzzles, and other techniques (84%), having variety to the academic routine (82%), having limited working time and several short work periods (70%), and spend less time and effort polishing grammar (70%) In addition, the SLEP also hope that their teachers should be more enthusiastic, give them more time and suggestions for preparation, and slow down their speech in teaching From the figures collected from question

15, it is possible to come to the conclusion that the thing that the SLEP at CFBA expect most from English speaking learning in class is a relaxed learning environment Furthermore, learning strategies are also very necessary to the students Finally, besides the meaningful activities, other techniques related to encouraging the students‘ attitude and feeling and flexibly making learning more suitable to their ability are also what the students really need

In conclusion, the questionnaire for students is a very valuable support for the researcher to realize what the SLEP at CFBA think, do, and need in their English speaking learning It

cannot be unacceptable that it is a very rich and useful information source on the way of discovering the challenges they face as well as looking for effective resorts to those challenges

2.2.3.2 Questionnaire for teachers

Methodology

The questionnaire for teachers consists of 5 questions written in English with the hope to find out teachers‘ perception of students with low English proficiency and teaching English speaking skill for them In addition, the questionnaire is also aimed at investigating the techniques they use in order to help these less able students The questions, therefore, are divided into 2 different categories:

- Teachers‘ experience, and opinion on SLEP and teaching speaking skill to SLEP (Questions 1- 3)

- Teachers‘ techniques in teaching English speaking skill to SLEP (Questions 4 – 5)

3 As for you, students with low English proficiency are …

those whose aptitude for language learning is minimal, and they 0 0