Applying Problem-Solving Activities in Teaching Speaking Skills for the Second-year English-Major Students at Vietnam University of Commerce

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HÀ APPLYING PROBLEM-SOLVING ACTIVITIES TO TEACH SPEAKING SKILLS TO THE SECOND YEAR ENGLISH-MAJOR STUDENTS AT VIETNAM UNIVERSITY OF COMMERCE ÁP DỤNG CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG GIẢI QUYẾT VẤN ĐỀ TRONG DẠY NÓI CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI CHUYÊN ANH TẠI ĐẠI HỌC THƯƠNG MẠI M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60.14.10 HANOI, 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HÀ APPLYING PROBLEM-SOLVING ACTIVITIES TO TEACH SPEAKING SKILLS TO THE SECOND-YEAR ENGLISH-MAJOR STUDENTS AT VIETNAM UNIVERSITY OF COMMERCE ÁP DỤNG CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG GIẢI QUYẾT VẤN ĐỀ TRONG DẠY NÓI CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI CHUYÊN ANH TẠI ĐẠI HỌC THƯƠNG MẠI M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60.14.10 Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Trâ ̀ n Xuân Điê ̣ p HANOI, 2014 i DECLARATION I hereby certify that the minor thesis entitled: “Applying Problem-Solving Activities in Teaching Speaking Skills for the Second-year English-Major Students at Vietnam University of Commerce” is the result of my own research to fulfill the MA Degree at Post-Graduate Department, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. The substance of this thesis has not, wholly or partially, been submitted for degree to any other university or institution. Signature Nguyen Thi Thanh Ha ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would love to express my deep indebtedness to a number of people whose invaluable support and encouragement were of great help in the completion of this study. First and foremost, I would like to advance my special gratitude and respect to my minor thesis advisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Xuan Diep for his invaluable suggestions, continuous support, great encouragement, motivating attitude as well as critical comments from the beginning of my study. I could never have achieved this without his support. I am also thankful to all my teachers at the English department, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. My special thanks to 40 second-year students at Vietnam University of Commerce for their invaluable support and cooperation to start and complete my thesis. Lastly, my special words of thanks are extent to my family for their endless help, patience and support. iii ABSTRACT The current study entitled “Applying Problem-Solving Activities in Teaching Speaking Skills for the Second-year English-Major Students at Vietnam University of Commerce” was carried out to find out the effectiveness of problem-solving activities in improving students‟ speaking competence as well as investigate the students‟ motivation towards the use of problem-solving activities in speaking lessons at Vietnam University of Commerce (VUC), and then give some pedagogical implications for teachers. An action research was implemented with 40 students of English Department at VUC during four weeks. Data were collected by observations, oral tests, questionnaires, and student‟s journals. To answer two research questions (1) To what extent does the application of problem-solving activities improve students‟ speaking skills? and (2) What are the effects of problem-solving activities on students‟ motivation?, four speaking lessons were conducted in the form of problem-solving activities. The main findings highlighted the students‟ improvement in speaking skills after the treatment. This was shown by the students‟ journals and comparisons of results of oral pre-test and post-test, which have the same format and criteria for assessing. The analyses of the post- intervention questionnaire and observation sheet also indicated that the students are more interested and involved in speaking lessons. Thus, it is expected that the results of this study could benefit English teachers in general and English teachers in VUC in particular to enhance their speaking lessons. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: Procedures of the Study 25 Table 2: Results of Question 1 in the Questionnaire Before the Intervention 27 Table 3: Results of Question 2 in the Questionnaire Before the Intervention 27 Table 4: Results of Question 3 in the Questionnaire Before the Intervention 28 Table 5: Results of Question 4 in the Questionnaire Before the Intervention 28 Table 6: Results of Question 5 in the Questionnaire Before the Intervention 29 Table 7: Means and Standard Deviations of the Scores of the Pre-test and Post-test 31 Table 8: Correlations of the Pre-test and Post-test 31 Table 9: Paired Sample T-Tests 32 Table 10: Students’ Level of Involvement 35 Table 11: Students’ Interest and Benefits 36 Figure 1: Action Research Model ( Kemmis, 1988) 19 Figure 2: Comparison of Results of Pre-test and Post-test 30 Figure 3 Students’ Level Motivation 34 Abbreviation VCU: Vietnam University of Commerce v TABLES OF CONTENTS PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1. Rationale of the Study 1 1.2. Aims of the Study 2 1.3. Objectives of the Study 2 1.4. Research Questions 2 1.5. Scope of the Study 3 1.6. Significance of the Study 3 1.7. Methodology 3 1.8. Design of the Study 4 PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5 CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW 5 1.1. Theoretical Background 5 1.1.1. An Overview of Speaking 5 1.1.1.1. Some Concepts of Speaking 5 1.1.1.2. The Roles of Speaking Skills in Language Teaching 6 1.1.1.3. Principles of Teaching Speaking 7 1.1.1.4. Classroom Speaking Activities 7 1.1.2. Problem-Solving Activities 8 1.1.2.1. Definitions of Problem Solving 8 1.1.2.2. Kinds of Problem-Solving activities 10 1.1.2.3. Advantages of the Application of Problem-Solving Activities in Teaching Speaking 11 1.1.3. Procedures of Conducting Problem-Solving Activities in a Group 13 1.2. Review of Related Works 14 vi 1.3. Justification for the Study 15 1.4. Summary 16 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODS 17 2.1. The Setting 17 2.2. Subjects 18 2.3. Research Approach 18 2.4. Data Collection Instruments 19 2.4.1. Speaking Pre-test and Post-test 19 2.4.2. Questionnaires 20 2.4.3. Observation Sheet 20 2.4.4. Students’Journals 21 2.5. Intervention: The Application of Problem-Solving Activities 21 2.6. Data Collection Procedures 24 2.7. Data Analysis 25 2.8. Summary 26 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 27 3.1. Preliminary Investigation 27 3.1.1. Findings 27 3.1.2. Discussion 29 3.2. Evaluation 30 3.2.1. Research Question 1 30 3.2.1.1. Results from Pre-test and Post-test 30 3.2.1.2. Discussion 32 3.2.1.3. Results from Students’ Journals 33 3.2.2. Research Question 2 34 3.2.2.1. Results from Observation Sheet 34 vii 3.2.2.2. Discussion 35 3.2.2.3. Results from Questionnaire 2 35 3.2.2.4. Discussion 37 3.3. Summary 37 PART C: CONCLUSIONS 39 4.1. Recapitulation of Main Ideas 39 4.2. Limitations of the Study 40 4.3. Suggestions for Further Studies 40 REFERENCES 41 APPENDICES………………………………………………………………………I 1 PART A: INTRODUCTION 1.1. Rationale of the Study Among four skills, speaking plays the most essential part in communication. In fact, Vietnamese students realize the necessity as well as importance of enhancing language skills in order to meet future job‟s needs and communicate in social conversations. However, it is hard for most of them to use English in the real situations. In the real context of Vietnam University of Commerce, lecture-oriented method is still applied at present although there have been a large number of changes about teaching materials and supplementary activities. Students do not feel elated and enthusiastic when participating in speaking lessons. Their lack of confidence as well as uninteresting speaking activities leads to demotivate them to join in. In addition, other problems such as lack of vocabulary, involvement or enjoyment have great impacts on their participation in speaking lessons. To solve these problems, more effective speaking activities need to be exploited so as to enhance learners‟ communicative competence and help them get more involved in speaking lessons, so current teachers need to actively engage students in speaking activities that are enjoyable and are based on a more communicative approach. One of them is problem-solving activities, which received many supports from scholars and teachers. Using problem-solving activities is regarded as an effective way to practise communication skills in which students work with each other to find out appropriate solutions to a specific problem. Therefore, this is a good chance for them to interact with teachers or other students, which encourage them to be more cheerful and inspired. Moreover, their discussion will help them share information, create new ideas and boost their self-confidence. Thus, their speaking skill will also be improved. Students use target language as a means to solve a problem, which also increases their motivation, participation and critical thinking. [...]... problem-solving activities improve students speaking skills? 2 What are the effects of problem-solving activities on students motivation? 2 1.5 Scope of the Study The study was conducted on 40 Second-year English-Major Students at Vietnam University of Commerce in the first semester of 2014-2015 via the application of problem-solving activities in teaching speaking skills 1.6 Significance of the Study The foremost... significance of this study is that it will contribute to a more effective use of problem-solving activities in order to enhance speaking skills for the Second-year English-Major Students at Vietnam University of Commerce The findings of the study will provide an insightful understanding of the current situation of exploiting problem-solving activities in teaching speaking skills to the Second-year English-Major. . .The above mentioned situation has urged the researcher to conduct a study of Applying Problem-solving Activities in Teaching Speaking Skills to the Secondyear English-Major Students at Vietnam University of Commerce This study is intended to make a contribution to helping students at Vietnam University of Commerce improve their speaking skills 1.2 Aims of the Study The study aimed at finding... which the application of problem-solving activities has improved the speaking competence of the Second-year English-Major Students at Vietnam University of Commerce  To exploit the effects of problem-solving activities on students motivation in speaking skills 1.4 Research Questions In this investigation, the following research questions were addressed: 1 To what extent does the application of problem-solving. .. study, using pretest and post-test along with questionnaires to collect data After the experimental teaching, the students showed positive attitudes towards the strategy From these related works, it would be worth investigating applying problemsolving activities in teaching speaking skills at Vietnam University of Commerce 1.3 Justification for the Study The mentioned discussion of related studies in the. .. in- depth review of the literature in which a relevant theoretical background and a review of related studies concerning applying problem-solving activities in teaching speaking skills Chapter Two features the research methods including the background information of the context, the subjects of the study, the instruments used to collect data, and the procedures of data collection and data analysis Moreover,... the area concerning teaching language by the application of problem-solving activities demonstrates how the current study could be fit into the existing literature Firstly, a number of studies have just elaborated on the role of communicative activities in teaching speaking skills in which problem-solving activities are proved as a technique to increase students „motivation Therefore, the current study... recommendations for methods 14 of teacher training in foreign languages based on problem solving The researchers gave some typical activities which helped to increase students „motivation in learning foreign language The another one is that a study into teaching speaking skills using problemsolving method at class tenth of Sma Bina Muda Cicalengka by Asep Rahmat Hidayat (2008) proved that the use of problem-solving. .. out whether the application of problem-solving activities has a positive impact on the speaking skills of the Second-year EnglishMajor Students at Vietnam University of Commerce Then, suggestions on how to use problem-solving activities effectively to enhance students speaking competence are given 1.3 Objectives of the Study The specific objectives of the study were as follows:  To investigate the extent... speaking skills Then, an overview of problem-solving activities in developing speaking skills has been provided 16 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODS 2.1 The Setting The study was carried out at Vietnam University of Commerce (VUC) which has a reputation in training students in the field of business and commerce With the aim “Training good entrepreneurs for the country”, VUC focuses on equipping students with . DECLARATION I hereby certify that the minor thesis entitled: Applying Problem-Solving Activities in Teaching Speaking Skills for the Second-year English-Major Students at Vietnam University. helping students at Vietnam University of Commerce improve their speaking skills. 1.2. Aims of the Study The study aimed at finding out whether the application of problem-solving activities. English-Major Students at Vietnam University of Commerce. The findings of the study will provide an insightful understanding of the current situation of exploiting problem-solving activities in teaching