A study on the use of communicative activities to enhance 12th grade students'' speaking skill in Hong Lam upper secondary school

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAININGVINH UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI KIEU VAN A STUDY ON THE USE OF COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES IN HONG LAM UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL Major: Teaching English to Speake

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THI KIEU VAN

A STUDY ON THE USE OF COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES

IN HONG LAM UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

NGHE AN - 2014

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THI KIEU VAN

A STUDY ON THE USE OF COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES

IN HONG LAM UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL

Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

Code: 60.14.01.11

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

Supervisor: Nguyen Gia Viet, Ph.D

Nghe An, 2014

I hereby state that I: Nguyen Thi Kieu Van, being a candidate for the degree

of Master accept requirements of the College related to the retention and use ofMaster’s graduation Paper deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited inthe library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, inaccordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan

or reproduction of the thesis

September, 2014SignatureNguyen Thi Kieu Van

Also, sincere thanks are due to the teachers and 12th students at Hong LamUpper Secondary School for allowing me to administer the test and interviewschedule during their invaluable time class Without their patience in participating

in doing questionnaires as well as interviews, the study could not have beencompleted

Last but not least, I would love to send my gratitude to my family, especially

my husband and friends for their continual encouragements during the time Iconducted the study

Although speaking is recognized as a crucial part of second languageteaching, it has been undervalued by English teachers in Vietnamese classrooms.Many teachers are still using traditional techniques such as repetition drills andmemorization of dialogues The use of communicative activities, in spite of havingbeen known to teachers in Vietnam, has been really limited due to many reasons,such as teachers’ low proficiency, class size, limited teaching facilities, and tightteaching schedules

There have been a few research studies that investigated effectiveness ofcommunicative activities in the classroom in some part of the world However, veryfew studies have been conducted in Vietnam about how teachers and studentsperceived about these activities in upper secondary schools Especially, no researchhas been carried out in Hong Lam Upper Secondary School

This research study aims to investigate the use of communicative activities toenhance speaking skill for 12th grade students in Hong Lam UPSS It uses two sets

of questionnaires for teachers and students in Hong Lam Upper Secondary School

A total of survey questionnaires for teachers and survey questionnaires for studentswere collected The data collected were coded in charts and percentage was yieldedand figures were built as to address the research questions

The data showed that the majority of the student participants were inclined tocommunicative activities As for the teachers, based on the results of the study, anumber of implications and suggestions have been provided for teachers, students,policy makers, and researchers The findings of this study, being a case study,cannot be generalized, but they contribute to the academic understanding of acontext where little research has been done

Generally, the students are not interested in doing speaking tasks that aregiven in the textbooks Also, they are not aware of whether these tasks are effectivefor them or not Nevertheless, they express their desire for some types of

For the teachers, most of them admit that they often have difficulties in usingcommunicative activities to teach speaking skill for their 12th grade students.

The study aims to serve as a useful source of reference for teachers, studentsand those who are interested in this subject matter

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Pages

ACCEPTANCE i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS v

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vii

ABBREVIATIONS viii

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims of the study 2

1.3 Scope of the study 3

1.4 Methods of the study 3

1.5 The organization of the thesis 3

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Review of Previous Studies 5

2.2 Theoretical Background of Communicative Activities 7

2.2.1 Definition of The Communicative Activities 7

2.2.2 Features of Communicative Activities 8

2.2.3 Types of Communicative Activities 9

2.2.4 Factors Affecting Communicative Activities 15

2.3 Speaking 23

2.3.1 Speaking as a Skill 23

2.3.2 The role of speaking in language learning and teaching 24

2.3.3 Approaches to the teaching of speaking 26

2.3.4 Teaching speaking in rural areas 29

2.3.5 Teaching Speaking In Upper Secondary School 29

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 31

3.1 An overview of the research site 31

3.2 Participants 32

3.3 Methods of data collection 32

3.3.1 Instrumental Development 33

3.3.2 Procedures of data collection 34

3.3.3 Methods and procedures of data analysis 35

3.4 Summary 36

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 37

4.1 Evaluation of the English 12 textbook 37

4.1.1 Overview of the English 12 textbook 37

4.1.2 Evaluation of Speaking Skill 38

4.2 Results from the survey questionnaires 41

4.2.1 The frequency and interest of each kind of communicative activities in class 44

4.2.2 Difficulties that the teachers have when using communicative activities 49

4.3 Findings and Discussion 50

4.4 Implications 52

4.4.1 Implications for teaching each kind of communicative activities 52

4.4.2 Giving students inspiration by activities involving the lesson 58

4.4.3 Using the situation in introduction 59

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 60

5.1 Summary of Findings 60

5.2 Limitations of the Research 62

5.3 Further Research 62

REFERENCES 64 APPENDIX

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Pages Tables:

Table 3.1 Summary of selected students 32

Table 4.1 Topics in English 12 37

Table 4.2 Students' evaluative attitudes toward textbook speaking tasks 43

Figures: Figure 4.1 The frequency of using speaking tasks in textbook 42

Figure 4.2 The attitude of students towards doing speaking tasks in textbook 42

Figure 4.3 The evaluation of the effectiveness of speaking tasks in textbook .43

Figure 4.4 The frequency of using acting from a script/simulation and role play, given by students 44

Figure 4.5 The frequency of using acting from a script/simulation and role play, given by teacher 45

Figure 4.6 Interest in acting from a script/simulation and role play, given by students 45

Figure 4.7 The frequency of using communication games, given by students 46

Figure 4.8 The frequency of using communication games, given by teachers 46

Figure 4.9 The interest of using communication games 47

Figure 4.10 The frequency of using discussion in class, given by students 48

Figure 4.11 The frequency of using discussion in class, given by teachers 48

Figure 4.12 Interest of the students in discussion 49

Figure 4.13 Some kinds of communicative activities that teachers have difficulties when teaching speaking skill 50

HFLSS : Hanoi Foreign Language Specializing School

MOET : Ministry of Education and Training

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

In the flow of global integration trend, English has become indispensablemeans in communication over the world The importance of English has beenrealized in Vietnam because English is considered to play a crucial role on the path

of industrialization and modernization of the country, English is now taught inalmost every school, college, university and language centre all over the country

One of the main tasks assigned to foreign language teaching at school is that

of training students to be communicatively competent At Hong Lam UPSS, like atmany other Upper Secondary Schools in Vietnam, English has been a compulsorysubject in secondary curriculum for many years The fact is that, due to the demand

of the Upper Secondary School graduation and university entrance examinations,the students' focus is on grammar and vocabulary, which means little attention hasbeen paid to speaking skill

Besides, teaching English at school is mainly performed with a traditionalmethod - the Grammar Translation method, which focuses mainly on grammaticaland vocabulary items As a result, students who are passive recipients becomestructurally competent but communicatively incompetent

While speaking may be a necessity for school leavers, and may serve as a

“keystone” in successful communication, evidence shows that too many schoolstudents are unwilling to take part in speaking activities in class This may becaused by many factors, among which is the lack of useful activities

The achievement of a lesson fully depends on students’ active participation

So that for the students, the lesson should also be fascinating and motivating tothem To motivate students, communicative activities (including games andactivities) (Simon, 1984) need to be carefully designed and effectively used inspeaking lessons because “communicative games and activities provide an

opportunity for learners to try out their newly acquired competence in a contextwhere they feel psychological secure” (Simon, 1984, p.6) Therefore, it is reallyessential to know whether the communicative activities have the good effects onteaching speaking skill to the students of Hong Lam UPSS

With the aim to access the method on teaching speaking skill through thecommunicative activities, I would like to choose this topic In Vietnam, therehave been a few studies on communicative activities in English learning andteaching Yet no researcher has conducted investigation into the communicativeactivities to enhance speaking skill for 12th grade students in rural areas such as

at Hong Lam UPSS

1.2 Aims of the study

According to the importance of the participation of students in speakinglessons, this study aims at investigating the use of communicative activities toenhance speaking skill for 12th grade students in Hong Lam UPSS

With the reasons mentioned above, the specific aims of the study,accordingly, are:

+ To investigate the current English speaking teaching and learning situation

at Hong Lam UPSS

+ To explore the teachers’ viewpoints in the necessity of applying thecommunicative activities in teaching speaking skill

+ To learn about the students’ attitude toward practicing their speaking skillthrough the communicative activities

+ To find out the students’ problems in speaking skill and elements leading

to such difficulties

+ To provide strategies to overcome such difficulties and give somesuggestions pedagogical suggestions to apply communicative activities in speakinglessons

In order to serve the above mentioned objectives, the researcher hopes to findout the answers to the following questions:

Research question 1: To what extent are speaking tasks from the textbookused by the 12th grade students in Hong Lam UPSS?

Research question 2: What are the attitudes of students toward using thecommunicative activities in speaking skill?

Research question 3: What are difficulties that teachers have in teachingspeaking skill via the communicative activities?

1.3 Scope of the study

Within the scope of graduation paper and due to the limitation of time, thestudy can not cover all classes in Hong lam UPSS, I just hope to concentrate on thesituation of the 12th grade Moreover, although the communicative activities could

be used widely in all four skills, the study is in dealing with the speaking skill only

Participants in this study are students from three 12th grade classes, HongLam UPSS, Hong Linh town, Ha Tinh province

1.4 Methods of the study

The study firstly employs a quantitative approach in order to accomplish theaims of the study Survey questionnaires for the 12th grade students and surveyquestionnaires for teachers at Hong Lam UPSS are delivered to collect the data asthe basis for evaluation and conclusion at the end of the study Moreover, theresearcher also carries out the evaluating of English 12 textbook in order to get thegeneral English teaching context at Upper Secondary School

1.5 The organization of the thesis

This thesis contains five chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction

This present chapter provides general information about the study, includingrationale, aims, scope of the study, and an overview about the researchmethodology

Chapter 2: Literature review

This chapter introduces the theoretical foundations for the whole thesis

Besides providing the definitions of key terms such as communicative activity and

speaking skill, the chapter presents some of the basic issues in relation to some

theoretical questions and related studies on communicative activities, as well as therole of communicative activities in enhancing speaking skill for students;

Chapter 3: Methodology

The chapter covers the research design, information about the participants,the instruments, the three-phase procedure of collecting data and the procedure ofprocessing data from the survey questionnaire and interviews

Chapter 4: Results and implications

This chapter presents and discusses the findings, which give comprehensiveanswers to the three research questions through the data taken from the surveyquestionnaire for students and teachers analyzed and categorized The findings areused as the cornerstone for the recommendations in the next chapter

Chapter 5: Conclusion

The chapter summarizes significant findings, highlight contributions of theresearch, puts forward practical suggestions for future research as well asaddressees notable limitations

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter, as its name suggests, provides an overview of the literaturerelated to this study, laying the solid foundations for the subsequence development

for the paper Not only are key terms like communicative activity, speaking skill

defined but critical background information about the key terms is also presented toensure a thorough understanding of the research matters Besides, this review willreveal the research gap, thus rationalizing the need to carry out the study

2.1 Review of previous studies

In recent years, it is seen that a large body of research has investigated intoapplying Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) or Communicative Approach

in teaching English language aspects as well as the four language skills Amongthem, the issues of applying communicative activities into teaching speaking skillshave drawn attention of many educators as well as researchers There were somestudies that refer to some aspects of the topic One of the most relevant is “Someproblems in speaking activities of freshmen of English Department of College ofForeign Languages” by Phuong Lan Le Her study had a part that mainly focuses on

“pointing out types of speaking activities freshmen like best” … (p.10) However, toconcentrate on the goal, the study should have made survey questionnaires such aswhich activities that the freshmen like best instead of asking them about only theactivities she often does The question only helps her find out what freshmen do inspeaking class Moreover, it seems that she feels interested when she does what shelikes, so the question “How do you feel in the speaking activities” and “how is yourclass atmosphere in speaking” was redundant In the list of the activities for thefreshmen to choose, there were some activities that seem to be not relevant Groupwork and pair work are only the way that an activity is done not a kind of activity.Because of it, the result of the survey was not completely exact One of thepioneering studies on the application of eliciting techniques into English lessons is

“Eliciting spontaneous speech in bilingual students: Methods and techniques” byCornejo, Ricardo and Najar (1983) Some other innovative techniques were putforward to foster students’ spontaneous conversations, both with their teachersand students While the study could provide significant background theory andpractical recommendations, it still had two perceivable limitations Since it wasconducted outside Vietnam, the scope of the study did not seem relevant to theVietnamese language teaching and learning context In addition, the subjects of thestudy were bilingual students whose culture, education and other conditions weretotally different from Vietnamese EFL students’ The gap that no specifications forVietnamese students were made as communicative language teaching became themost prevailing approach implemented in almost every upper-secondary school inVietnam, there have been several studies on the field The first one is “Usingelicitation techniques to teach Vocabulary to 11th form students in Hanoi” byPham (2006) On shedding light on the issue, the author attempted to investigatethree aspects: the situation of teaching vocabulary to 11th form students in Hanoi,the application of elicitation techniques to teach vocabulary to these subjects andpedagogical recommendations to make a better use of elicitation techniques inteaching vocabulary Knowing that his effort in conducting this study waspraiseworthy and the findings had a significant contribution to the field, there werestill some limitations that should be addressed Firstly, the study centered on theteaching vocabulary Although this was one of three core teaching componentswhere the employment of elicitation techniques could be considered a must inmodern EFL classrooms, the results of a thorough investigation into this field onlycould not represent that of the others namely grammar, pronunciation and fourmacro skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing Secondly, the classroomsettings where the survey of this research was conducted were not yet introducedthe new textbook which still followed the old teaching methods

One year later, another research on enhancing speaking skill was carried out

by Tran (2007) named “eliciting technique to teach speaking skill to grade-10

students in HFLSS” Firstly, she investigated the real situation of teachers’ usingeliciting techniques to teach 10th grade students in HFLSS in Hanoi Outstandingadvantages of this practice could be drawn out Hindrances to the employmentprocess of this technique were diagnosed for timely and necessary pedagogicaladjustments Notably, the author gave a close look at the speaking skill as the focus.

It means that the whole study shed light on the issue of how to employ elicitingtechnique to teach speaking skill, not others This can be seen as the first limitation

of the study The second problem is that the subjects of the study were studentsfrom FLSS only, which could hardly be generalized into a wider population of otherinstitutions across the city and country

These listed gaps intensify the significance of the current study which targets

at techniques teachers use to elicit students’ talk to develop numerous skillssimultaneously, rather than any single one, and among grade 12 students insome selected classes in Hong Lam UPSS

Therefore, the study mainly focuses on investigating on applying thecommunicative activities into teaching speaking English language to 12th gradestudents in Hong Lam UPSS The result of the study can be the good foundation ofnext ones so that it could help educators multiply teaching methods and studentsenhance their speaking skill

2.2 Theoretical background of communicative activities

2.2.1 Definition of the communicative activities

There have been so far many researches on the theory of communicativeactivities which have generally come to a conclusion that communicative activitiesinclude any activities that encourage and require a learner to speak with and listen

to other learners, as well as with people in the program and community.Communicative activities have real purposes: to find information, break downbarriers, talk about self, and learn about the culture In speaking class,communicative activities are often employed because the use of communicativeactivities is a way to improve the students’ ability to use the language meaningfully

Also, they can alter the environment of speaking lesson (Carrier, 1980).This willmake the speaking lesson “a kind of bridge for learners between the classroom andthe world outside” (Hadfield & Hadfield, 1999) more interesting.

Some learners question whether games is a kind of communicativeactivities? The answer is yes because according to Carrier (1980), the term “games”used whenever there is an element of competition between individual students orteam in communicative activities (p.10) The answer is also supported by Noor EkaChandra (2008) “it can be said that language games not only function as time fillingactivities but also they can bring some educational values that enable the children tolearn the language

To sum up, a communicative activity is a piece of work that involves all thelearners in; the comprehension of the foreign languages (spoken or written); theproduction of the foreign languages (spoken or written) or interaction in the foreignlanguages During a communicative activity, learners’ attention is principallyfocused on meaning rather than form, that is, on what is being expressed rather than

on the linguistic forms used for expressing it In addition, as far as possible, acommunicative activity resembles activity which students or other people carry out

in daily life, thus reproducing processes of daily communication A communicativeactivity is usually part of a sequence which often creates a context for the activity.Beside, both teachers and learners can evaluate this task, in relation to both processand outcome A communicative activity has the ultimate purpose of developingstudents’ ability to communicate in English, so it has a pedagogic purpose

2.2.2 Features of communicative activities

Communicative activities are categorized by two key features

Firstly, it must contact with authentic target language Students are required

to use real language In classes where communicative language teaching is applied,students’ attention is not on the code of the language but on the meaning By usingauthentic materials in the classroom, even when it is not in an authentic situation, itstill provides the learners with many significant advantages (Martinez, 2000)

Martinez (2000) summarized several benefits of using authentic materials By usingauthentic material, students are exposed to real discourse, as in videos of interviewwith famous people where intermediate students listen for general idea Authenticmaterials keep students informed about what is happening in the world, so theyhave an intrinsic educational value Language change is reflected in the materials sothat students and teachers can keep abreast of such changes Reading texts are ideal

to teach/practice mini-skills such as scanning, e.g students are given a news articleand asked to look for specific information Also, teachers can have students practicesome of the micro-skills of listening, e.g basically, students listen to news reportsand they are asked to identify the names of countries, famous people, etc Differentauthentic materials such as books, articles, newspapers, and so on contain a widevariety of text types, and language styles not easily found in conventional teachingmaterials Thus, it can help student extend their vocabulary and help memorizethem in a number of meaningful recycling Authentic materials can encouragereading for pleasure because they are likely to contain topics of interest to learners,especially if students are given the chance to have a say about the topics of kinds ofauthentic materials to be used in class As a result, learners will keep highmotivation and interest in language teaching through these meaningful interactionswith the materials

Its second feature is experiential property In contrast, with analytic factor,experiential feature is global and non-analytic Learners are invited to use languagefor a purpose that is to focus on the message rather than specific aspect of the code.Through experiential strategy, students become involved in language

2.2.3 Types of communicative activities

The communicative activities used now are the activities for communication.Communicative activities are believed to be useful because they carry manycharacteristics that promote learning, among of which are enhancing, and eliciting

Firstly, enhancing involves the class by focusing students’ attention andmaking them think In the presentation stage, it is likely that teachers will be those

who talk most of the time in order to convey as many new knowledge units aspossible within a certain amount of time while students almost do nothing but listen.Doff (1988: 159) diagnosed the problem: “Obviously, this part of lesson will bedominated by the teacher-he or she is using English to introduce new materials” As

a consequence, students may lose concentration and enthusiasm easily Henceforth,

if teachers can activate students’ minds more by asking questions, by pushing them

to think and encouraging them to contribute, they will be more engrossed in thelesson Also by being required to answer teachers’ questions throughout the lesson,students can develop their critical and independent thinking together with manyother skills needed for learners of foreign languages Sooner or later, they canovercome andeliminate passiveness which is one of inherent weaknesses ofVietnamese learners

Secondly, Doff (1988, p 161) believed that “eliciting encourages students

to draw on what they already know or partly know Therefore, it is a usefultechnique for mixed ability classes or those of different learning backgrounds.” Todraw students’ attention to the new lesson, teachers are often reminded to reviewthe old one as well as to ask some questions relating to students' experience Whileresponding to teacher’s questions, students have a chance to display theirbackground knowledge, And by sharing knowledge, students, regardless their weakcompetence, would learn much from one another Using eliciting questions is auseful way of activating the knowledge students have, which is often not disclosed

if not asked

It is taken for granted that elicitation directly and mainly benefit students.However, in the meantime, teachers are at great advantage First, elicitation can beused for presenting new language as well as reviewing what was taught earlier(Doff, 1988, p.161) Moreover, eliciting gives teachers a chance to see whatstudents know and what they do not and so adapt their presentation to the level ofthe class Therefore, it is suggested that elicitation plays the role as testing toolsthat teachers can use to measure the level of the class In short, communicative

activities are beneficial to both students and teachers Teachers should take everychance, when possible, to apply this technique in language classrooms Thefollowing activities are most popular in speaking classes (Harmer, 2004)

2.2.3.1 Acting from a Script/Simulation and Role-play

The activity is like Simulation and Role -play because they both require thestudents to take on roles in the play or in a conversation, etc Acting from a scriptseems to be in simulation and role -play because when the teachers do not havethe students act the script completely, the activity will become Simulation andRole-play

Simulation and Role -play has three advantages (Harmer, 2004)

* The students can be good fun and motivating

* They allow hesitant students to be more forthright in their opinion andbehavior than they might be when speaking for themselves, since they do not have

to take the same responsibility for what they are saying

* By broadening the world of the classroom to include the world outside,they allow students to use a much wider range of language than some more task-centered activities may do

2.2.3.2 Communication games

The activities are used as information gap games (puzzles, draw/describe apainting, put /describe things in the right order, find the similarities and differencesbetween two pictures, etc)

The activities make the students talk together more to find the details that arecut, different or similar They can help the student think and react more rapidly toreach the best score Moreover, the groups in class can take part in the activity tocompete with the other groups to get gifts The advantage of using games aresummarized by Carrier (1980):

1 Games add variety to the range of learning situations

2 Games can be used to change the pace of a lesson and so maintainmotivation

3 Games can be used to punctuate long formal teaching units and renewstudents energy before returning to more formal learning.

4 Games can give hidden practice of specific language points withoutstudents being aware of this

5 Games encourage students‘ participation and can remove the inhibitions

of those who feel intimidated by formal classroom situations

6 Games can change the role of the teacher from that of formal instructor tothat of manager or organizer of activities that students enjoy participating in Thiscan be useful in reducing teacher students’ distance or conflict

7 Games can act as a testing mechanism, in the sense that they will expose

of weakness and the need for remedial work

This technique is widely advocated by many ELT experts since it is veryeffective in many ways Traditionally, there used to be a common conception thatall learning should be serious and solemn in nature This is a mere misconception as

it is possible to learn a language and enjoyed oneself at the same time (Lee, 1995, p.35) Wright, Betteridge and Buckby (1984, p 1) believed that “language learning ishard work…Effort is required at every moment and must be maintained over a longperiod of time Games help and encourage many learners to sustain their interestand work” Therefore, it seems that good games can be used during a burdensomelesson Communication games help teachers to create contexts in which thelanguage is useful and meaningful The learners want to take part and in order to do

so they must understand what others are saying or have written, and they mustspeak or write in order to express their own point of view or give information(Wright, 1984, p 1) If communication games are well-chosen and appropriatelyused, they can give students a break and simultaneously create chances for them topractice new skills in a highly amusing and motivating way (Ersoz, 2000) In order

to fully obtain these benefits, one thing that teachers should take into consideration

is that “whenever a game is to be conducted, the number of students, proficiencylevel, cultural context, timing, learning topic, and the classroom settings are factors

2.2.3.3 Discussion

Through well-prepared communicative output activities such as role playsand discussions, you can encourage students to experiment and innovate with thelanguage, and create a supportive atmosphere that allows them to make mistakeswithout fear of embarrassment This will contribute to their self-confidence asspeakers and to their motivation to learn more (“Developing speaking activities”)The activity not only helps the teachers see whether their students understand whatthey are learning but also improves the students’ ability to speak before crowd Theactivity is also more useful in small groups because the students “have a chance tothink of ideas and the language to express them before being asked in public”.(Harmer, 2004)

2.2.3.4 Prepared talks

The activity has more advantages than discussion because it allows thestudents to have more time to prepare at home Moreover, they can choose the topicsthey like and think of what will happen in their presentation such as a game, somequestions, so on They also make their own play by writing their transcript Theactivity is really effective when it is held by a group Each member of the group hastheir opinion so the thing can make their presentation more unique and interesting

2.2.3.5 Using questions in speaking classes

According to Harmer (2004) questionnaire is very useful because, by beingpre-planned, it ensure that both questioner and respondent have something to say toeach other Depending upon how tightly designed they are, they may wellencourage the natural use of certain repetitive language patterns-and thus be situated

in the middle of our communication continuum” (p 274)

Also, it can be more useful when it is used for the students to makeacquainted together in the beginning lessons The questionnaires can be about one’shometown, interests, and hobbies, etc

 Eliciting questions

Eliciting questions is the leading technique employed to encourage students

to speak or, to be more specific, ideas and responses from students Questioning

offers a number of benefits As acknowledged by Darn, S (2008), elicitingquestions is a natural feature of communication, but also one of the most importanttools which teachers have at their disposal Questioning is crucial to the wayteachers manage the class, engage students with content, encourage participationand increase understanding Also, according to the writer, while questioning can be

an effective tool, there is both an art and science to asking questions Some of therules, teachers should take into account are to consider the quantity of questions toraise in appropriate time and place to keep teacher speaking time to the minimumwhile maximizing students’ contributions and what questions to ask students

Regarding question types, scholars had numerous different ways of classification.Grammatically, (Doff, 1988, p 23-24) a basic categorization includes:

+ Yes/no questions

This type of question means to check students’ comprehension by answeringyes or no It helps teachers see whether students understand any point related to thelesson or not Therefore, yes/no question cannot help much in enhancing speakingskill but is still employed in classroom for certain purposes

+ Alternative questions

This type of question can be called alternative question By being asked toselect one option among some available ones, students are made to think carefullyfor the right answer With this type of question, teachers can motivate students toreview their knowledge in order to justify their choice As a result, alternativequestion is regarded as a relatively effective instrument to provoke students’responses

+ Wh-questions

Wh-questions, or questions beginning with what, who, where, when, which,etc , can be asked to obtain specific information These kinds of questionstremendously exploit students’ existing knowledge or check their comprehension ofthe new knowledge Henceforth, wh-questions are by far most favored to enhancespeaking skill of 12th grade students in class-time

According to Darn (2008), as discovered, there have been a number oftypologies and taxonomies of questions Socratic questioning forms the basis ofeliciting (Ur, 1996, p 53) Meanwhile, Darn (2008) found out that Bloom’staxonomy identifies six types of questions by which thinking skills may bedeveloped and tested In the context of language teaching and learning Bloomhimself maintained that “The major purpose in constructing a taxonomy ofeducational objectives is to facilitate communication…” Darn (2008) said thatclassroom questions can fall into two main types:

 Display questions: these questions help enhance learner’ prior knowledgeand to check comprehension of the knowledge that has been taught Displayquestions often focus on the form of meaning of language structures and items, theanswers of which are already known by teachers

 Referential questions: These questions are used to foster students’ skills ofproviding further information, giving an opinion, explaining or clarifying Theyoften focus on content rather than language, require “follow-up” or “probe”questions, and the answer is not necessarily known by the teacher

The difference of the two taxonomies of questions, one presented by Doff(1988) and the other by Darn (2008), results from the different angels of views andfocuses However, both of them agree on the fact that questions are used for themain purpose of checking students’ comprehension of the new knowledge andprovoke their prior knowledge

2.2.4 Factors affecting communicative activities

2.2.4.1 Teacher factors

The teacher is a facilitator of students´ learning and as such he has many

roles to fulfill Freeman (1986, p 131) describes him as a manager of classroom

activities In this role, one of his major responsibilities is to set up activities that

promote communication During the communicative activities he acts as a

consultant answering students´ questions, offers advice and provides necessary

language items One of the most important roles is to make sure that students know

what they are supposed to practice and check if they do it effectively These roles

are called a conductor and a monitor Although there is a great number of various

activities which may be used in speaking lessons, their use would be confusing and

pointless if they would not be logically organized Being a good organizer should

be an ability possessed by every skillful teacher

Considering the facts mentioned above we can conclude that the teacher´spersonality in a learning process is very important not only while participating inthe activity but also while monitoring the students The teacher´s less dominantrole in communicative activities offers the students the opportunity to be involved

in conversation and improve their speaking skills to be able to cope with the life situations

real-2.2.4.2 Learner factors

In the traditional approach, learners are the passive recipients of the languagelearning process They have little control over their learning or no chance to raisetheir voice about what and how to teach They are supposed to wait passively to becrammed with the huge amount of theoretical knowledge

However, when doing communicative tasks, students are required to putlanguage to a range of uses, to negotiate meaning, to draw on their own resourcesrather than simply repeating and adsorbing language Moreover, learners are alsoconsidered as the negotiators of the learning process, they can negotiate with theteacher what to speak about and how to do it They are forced to learn how to workwell in groups negotiating with partners to reach a final product, which then can beappreciated by their classmates

2.2.4.3 Settings

Setting is supposed to refer to classroom management, which is theorchestration of the learning environment of a group of individuals within aclassroom setting Classroom management is a term used by teachers to describethe process of ensuring that classroom lessons run smoothly despite disruptivebehavior by students Also, it implies the prevention of disruptive behavior

According to Nunan (1988), there are two different aspects of the learningsituation Nunan refers to these as “mode” and “environment”.

Classroom management focuses on three major components: contentmanagement, conduct management, and covenant management Each of theseconcepts is defined and presented with details in a list of observable elements ineffective teaching practices

Research shows that a high incidence of classroom disciplinary problemshas a significant impact on the effectiveness of teaching and learning In thisrespect, it has been found that teachers facing such issues fail to plan and designappropriate instructional tasks They also tend to neglect variety in lesson plansand rarely prompt students to discuss or evaluate the materials that they arelearning In addition, student comprehension or seat work is not monitored on aregular basis

In contrast, strong and consistent management and organizational skillshave been identified as leading to fewer classroom discipline problems

In this light, content management "does not refer to skills peculiar toteaching a particular subject but rather to those skills that cut across subjects andactivities" (Froyen & Iverson, 1999, p 128) Doyle stressed that the core ofinstructional management is gaining and maintaining student cooperation inlearning activities (as cited in Froyen & Iverson, 1999, p 128)

Related to content management, Kounin (as cited in Froyen & Iverson,

1999, p 129) places a special emphasis on instructional management skills,sequencing and integrating additional instructional activities, and dealing withinstruction-related discipline problems

Conduct management is centered on one’s beliefs about the nature ofpeople By integrating knowledge about human diversity (and individuality, atthe same time) into a particular instructional philosophy, teachers could managetheir classrooms in a better, more effective way

Researchers have pointed out the importance of assisting students inpositive behaviors In planning classroom management, teachers should considerusing an assertive communication style and behavior In addition, they shouldalways know what they want their students to do and involve them in therespective learning activities, under the general conditions of clearly andexplicitly stated school wide and classroom rules.

According to Iverson and Froyen (1999), conduct management is essential

to the creation of a foundation for "an orderly, task-oriented approach to teachingand learning" (p 217), thus leading to granting students greater independenceand autonomy through socialization

An effective conduct management plan should also result from teachercontrol and administration of consequences The following components of such aplan are focused on in this summary: acknowledging responsible behaviors,correcting irresponsible and inappropriate behavior, ignoring, proximity control,gentle verbal reprimands, delaying, preferential seating, time owed, time-out,notification of parents/guardians, written behavioral contract, setting limitsoutside the classroom, and reinforcement systems All of these components arepresented so they can be identified in examples of best teaching practices

Covenant management stresses the classroom group as a social system.Teacher and student roles and expectations shape the classroom into anenvironment conducive to learning In other words, the culture of any givenschool is unique to that school However, it is directly influenced by the culture

of the larger community whose educational goals are to be met A strongconnection between school and community must be constantly revised andmodified according to the requirements of societal dynamism As schoolsbecome very diverse, teachers and students should become aware of how to usediversity to strengthen the school/classroom social group

Quality schools are defined by teacher effectiveness and studentachievement under the auspices of building strong interpersonal skills In thislight, teacher and student relationships are essential to ensuring a positiveschool/classroom atmosphere Classroom management discipline problems can

be dealt with either on an individual basis (between teacher and student) or bygroup problem solving (class meetings) As mutual trust builds up betweenteacher and students, the latter are gradually released from teacher supervision

by becoming individually responsible This is how both “educators andstudents become co-participants in the teaching-learning process, striving tomake the most of themselves and their collective experience" (Froyen &Iverson, 1999, p 256)

2.2.4.4 Using tasks in communicative activities

One of the significant ways to carry out communicative activities is to usethem as tasks Communicative tasks should be viewed as techniques ofcommunicative language teaching, in which the role of the learner is emphasized onactive participants rather than passive receptors Language tasks are a useful tool forlanguage development Tasks provide input to learners and opportunities formeaningful language use (Robinson, 1984; Swain, 1995) In addition, languagetasks are likely to create a rich linguistic environment which is capable of activatingthe learners’ intuitive heuristics More specifically, tasks provide highly naturalcontact and communicative situations for learning and teaching process Tasks playroles of motivation and stimulations in language classroom Being switched fromdry and theoretical lessons, students now are put in real life situations where theyuse not only the language but also the capacity, the background knowledge to copewith the tasks Therefore, it is certain that the students are doing the best to achievethe sketched-out targets Learners learn more about reality and are more willingwhen they enjoy the learning process

2.2.4.5 Teaching and learning conditions

It can be seen that communicative activities are great opportunities forlearning But what goes into making a communicative activity a success? The truth

is, the success of language pair and group work activities is almost alwaysdetermined by the work the teacher does before the students begin the activity itself.This includes both what is done by the teacher before the class starts and what isdone in class to set up the task

Before looking at the role of the teacher, it might be worth clarifying what ismeant by "communicative activities" These are fluency-based activities Whilesuch activities may involve students practicing a particular grammatical form, theyare likely to do more than this The key element is that the activity is based around arealistic situation This could be anything from an encounter in a department store,

to a group of friends discussing holiday plans Within this kind of context, thestudents should be required to negotiate for meaning This is likely to requiremultiple turn taking

Before Class, it is often helpful for teachers to ask themselves a fewquestions when preparing for communicative activities:

+ What can be done to set the scene/create a context?

Try to picture a realistic situation where the language forms you have beenteaching might be used Try to imagine both the location of the conversation and therelationship between those involved

+ What is the purpose of the task?

Within the context that you have thought of, try to imagine why theparticipants would be talking What would their objectives be? How do you thinkthey would respond to each other? For example, if the task involves giving advice to

a sick friend, perhaps he or she has already considered some of the friend'ssuggestions

+ How can I generate interest in the activity?

There is no doubt that activities go better when students are interested in

interest Providing personal examples may be helpful Modeling the activity in anenthusiastic way may help Having students reflect on similar experiences they arefamiliar with may also work.

+ Will the students require preparation time?

Most research these days suggests that students perform better if they havebeen given preparation time This is pretty logical when you think about it Withoutpreparation time, students are required to do two things at once: use their Englishlanguage resources effectively and be creative Preparation time can often take care

of some of the pressure that comes with having to be creative while using thelanguage spontaneously

+ What type of groupings will be appropriate?

Would the activity work best with students in pairs or groups? Should they

be seated or standing? Should they be facing each other or not?

+ What type of exchanges should the students be expected to produce?

This may well be the most crucial element of the planning process Perhapsthe best way to gain a sense of the language the students will need to produce inorder to complete the activity is to write out a sample dialogue Language activitiesoften throw up language needs for which the class work has not prepared thestudents Writing out a sample dialogue can often highlight these needs It can alsoenable the teacher to get a sense of potential demands/pitfalls in the activity Thiskind of planning allows the teacher to identify potentially useful conversationalgambits, and to consider what is needed to ensure a reasonably natural flow to theconversation

The success of communicative language activity refers to in- class andbefore- class preparation

In Class, once the teacher enters the classroom, the process of preparing thestudents for the activity begins Following are a few stages that teachers (andstudents) might find helpful

Set the scene and generate interest: For example, this might be the time tointroduce a personal anecdote related to the communicative activity It is alsoimportant to make sure students know where they will be talking, who they will betalking to, and why they will be talking.

Model preparatory task: If the teacher has decided to allow planning time, itmight be worth demonstrating how this time is to be used For example, the teachermight begin creating a list of suggestions for a sick friend

Student preparation time: The students write while the teacher monitors

Modeling: T-S, S-T, S-S This is perhaps the most crucial element for

successful communicative language activities It can be used:

- To show target language in action and elicit relevant language

- To clarify/illustrate the requirements or the objective of the task

- To add useful/necessary conversational gambits

- To highlight the type of conversational framework needed

- To identify potential problem areas

- To gauge the students' readiness to begin the activity

- To build student confidence

Pair work: Monitor, interrupting only if students really get stuck Monitor in

order to:

a) aid the flow of conversation when necessary,

b) identify any common errors or areas of breakdown,

c) offer encouragement, and

d) recognize when best to change the pairings

Deal with problems: While you do not want to interrupt students in themiddle of a conversation, error correction can still be done effectively Write typicalproblems that you have heard on the board After conversations have beencompleted, draw attention to these problems Encourage the students to offersuggestions for solving the problems

Pair work: New pairings By repeating the activity with a new partner,students can attempt to incorporate the corrections and suggestions made during theprevious stage.

2.3 Speaking

2.3.1 Speaking as a skill

According to linguistics science, speaking skill refers to communication It issupposed to be one of the most important practical skills Speaking is the productiveskill in the oral mode It, like the other skills, is more complicated than it seems at firstand involves more than just pronouncing words Speaking is an interactive process ofconstructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information

(Brown, 1994; Burn & Joyce, 1997) Speaking is “an interactive process ofconstructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processinginformation” (Florez, 1999, p.1) It is “often spontaneous, open-ended andevolving” (bid., p.1), but it is not completely unpredictable

Speaking is such a fundamental human behavior that we do not stop toanalyze it unless there is something noticeable about it For example, if a person isexperiencing a speech pathology (if a person stutters or if his speech is impaired due

to a stroke or a head injury), we may realize that the speech is atypical Likewise, ifsomeone is a particularly effective or lucid speaker, we may notice that her speech

is atypical in a noteworthy sense What we fail to notice on a daily basis, however,are the myriad physical, mental, psychological, social, and cultural factors that mustall work together when we speak It is even a more impressive feat when we hearsomeone speaking effectively in a second or foreign language

According to Brown and Yule’s opinions (1983), spoken language consists

of short, fragmentary utterances in a range of pronunciation However, speaking is askill, which deserves attention as much as literacy skills in both first and secondlanguage because our learners often need to speak with confidence in order to carryout a lot of their most basic transactions (Bygate, 1991) Furthermore, speaking isknown with two main types of conversation called dialogue and monologue

Brown and Yule (1983) point out the ability to give uninterrupted oralpresentation (monologue) is rather different from interacting with one or more otherspeakers for transactional and international purposes It is much more difficult toextemporize on a given subject to a group of listeners That explains why speakingskill generally has to be learnt and practiced carefully before giving a presentation.

A comprehensive discussion of the nature of speaking is provided by Bygate(1987), who shows that in order to be able to speak a foreign language, it isobviously necessary to have micro-linguistic skills, that is, to understand somegrammar, vocabulary and the rules governing how words are put together to formsentences However, these motor perceptive skills, as Bygate calls them, are notsufficient since while producing sentences, we often have to adapt them to thecircumstances He then presents the second set of speaking skills: the interactionskills, which involve using knowledge and basic motor-perception skills in decidingwhat to say and how to say it, while maintaining the intended relation with others

2.3.2 The role of speaking in language learning and teaching

Speaking plays an utmost important role among the four language skillssince it helps to identify who knows or does not know a language Pattison (1992)points out that when people mention knowing or learning a language, they meanbeing able to speak the language

In a social context, social roles are likely to be taken by those who learn andknow how to speak, but not by those who do not have this skill It cannot be deniedthat speaking deserves as much attention as or even more attention than writtenskill In order to carry out many of the most basic transactions, it is necessary forlearners to speak with confidence Similar view is held by Nunan, who says that theability to operate in a second language can be actually equated to the ability tospeak that language Hedge gives the evidence that speaking has recently obtained,

at least from textbook writers, the attention it deserves: “Learners need to develop atthe same time a knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, functional language andcommunicative skills Attention to the systems of language is crucial, but the

development of fluency and contextual appropriacy are equally important goals”.The reasons for learning to speak competently are formulated as follows: Learnersmay need the skill to establish and maintain relationships, to negotiate, to influencepeople Speaking is the skill by which learners are assessed when the firstimpression is formed.

The development of speaking skill, in terms of its importance in languageteaching, can be illustrated by the position ascribed to this skill in differentapproaches to teaching Presumably the most striking contrast would be revealed incomparison of the recent view on speaking with the views held by advocates ofgrammar-translation or audio-lingual method In these approaches the skill ofspeaking was rarely emphasized in connection to its purpose, i.e the ability to use alanguage in real-life situations, the ability to communicate If it was addressed, then

it usually was only in terms of accuracy That can be seen in the following quotation

by Mackey: “Oral expression involves not only [….] the use of the right sounds inthe right patterns of rhythm and intonation, but also the choice of words andinflections in the right order to convey the right meaning” (Bygate: 5) Thequotation reflects the conception of speaking at that time The emphasis on theformal part, i.e the correct sounds, the correct choice of words and inflections etc.,led to the accuracy oriented practice Types of activities such as oral drills, modeldialogue practice and pattern practice (“The Audio-lingual method”) were widelyused in teaching speaking The result was that, although learners knew the patternsand memorized the rules, they were not able to use their knowledge in practice.They were not capable of exploiting the rules and patterns in real interaction One ofthe possible causes of their “inability” could be the lack of opportunities to use theirtheoretical knowledge in purposeful communication They were not exposed tosituations when they would be made to use whatever language they had at theirdisposal to convey their message or to try to understand their interlocutor’smessage There was not much prominence given to the fact that there was adifference between “knowledge about a language” and “skill in using it” incommunication

2.3.3 Approaches to the teaching of speaking

2.3.3.1 Proficiency or the native speaker

There are two very different views of the goal of language teaching, nativespeaker and proficiency Davies (1994) distinguishes the two very different views

of the goal of language teaching, the goal of the native speaker and the goal of aproficiency level "A second language learner may attain native speaker levels ofproficiency and therefore be indistinguishable from a native speaker" (1994, p.145) He also points out that the native speaker seems at first more obvious, lessabstract Proficiency, however, appears to be less easily graspable and it is anabstract construct, which does not occur in nature As a result, we have to invent it,find something to stand for it

Since the native speaker is a fine myth, in teaching speaking we need it as amodel, a goal and almost an inspiration, but not a measure Davies (1994, p 157)confirms that what is crucial for language teaching is the definability of partialproficiency The native speaker is the construct whereas proficiency is its metric

2.3.3.2 Accuracy versus fluency

Accuracy and fluency are terms characteristic for a successful and fecundconversation Scrivener (2005, p 160-162) declares that accuracy is the ability tospeak correctly without making serious mistakes and therefore a greater use of instantteacher's correction within a speaking activity is appropriate On the contrary, fluency

is the ability to speak confidently without irrelevant pauses or hesitation, however,often with making major mistakes In this case, instant correction may beinappropriate and could interfere with the aims of the speaking activity

Accuracy in language teaching involves the correct use of vocabulary,grammar and pronunciation In controlled and guided activities, accuracy is usuallythe focus and the teacher makes it clear from feedback that accuracy is important.Ongoing correction is often appropriate during accuracy activities In freer activitiesthe teacher's hopes are the students' correct use of the language and ability tocommunicate as well

Fluency can be considered to be the ability to keep the talk going whenspeaking spontaneously When speaking fluently students should be able to get themessage across with whatever resources and abilities they have, regardless ofgrammatical and other mistakes Normally, students should not be corrected duringfluency activities In feedback afterwards, on the other hand, favourable comment

on strategies is needed to increase their fluency

2.3.3.4 Phases to teach speaking

Byrne (1991, p 22-31) distinguishes three following phases to developlearners' oral ability:

* Phase 1: The Presentation Phase

In this phase teachers play a centre role They work as an informationprovider as they know the language, select teaching materials and the ways topresent the materials What students usually do in this phase is to observe and listen

to the teacher, i.e they passively receive information As we know, dialogue andprose are two forms in which oral materials are presented in every course book, andthese forms are presented in different ways

Byrne (1991, p 22) identifies ten different steps to present a dialogue asfollow:

(1) Establish setting by using pictures At this step English should be used asmuch as possible

(2) Draw out learners' experience related to situation

(3) Explain some key words

(4) Set listening task by asking key information of the dialogue

(5) Ask learners listen without looking at the book

(6) Allow learners to have a look at their book when necessary for them (7) Ask the learners to listen and repeat

(8) Ask learners to pick up difficulties and explain them

(9) Ask them to practice (role-play)

(10) Ask them to dramatize the dialogue

These steps are known to be perfect and in logical order However, not all ofthem must always be used

The following nine steps are suggested to present a prose passage by Byrne(1991:26):

(1) Introduce the topic by asking learners to look at the picture or askingthem about related things

(2) Introduce the text New words and structures are given

(3) Provide relevant practice

(4) Set the reading task: make questions

(5) Ask the learners to read the passage in silence and find the answers (6) Ask learners to read again aloud and ask for the answer

(7) Explain difficulties they still have

(8) Do silent reading again because learners need to go on with step nine (9) Get the learners to talk about what they have to learn based on theprevious answers

* The Practice Phase

It is the time for learners to do the most of talking as they are providedmaximum amount of practice in the form of controlled and guided activities to improvevocabulary and grammar knowledge as well as fluency of speaking The activitiesare usually pair work, group work or sometimes learners do individual work

* The production Phase

At the last phase of learning speaking learners are given chances to speakEnglish freely Being in a real situation, learners use English by themselves, notnearly depend on the teacher's help Free activities are also in the form of individualwork, pair work and group work However, pair work and group work are of greatimportance and effectiveness as all learners can have chance to participate in talks,and they seem more confident and more motivated Moreover, this can save a greatdeal of time

In the process of teaching speaking, improvement of the speaking ability will

be gained if these three phases are followed orderly Nevertheless, the practicalapplication much depends on such factors as the time and the material used etc

2.3.4 Teaching speaking in rural areas

The teaching of speaking in rural area are far more difficult than in urbanarea The dominant language used outside the classroom is the mother tongue,Vietnamese There are no mass media contacts with English, except through some

TV programs, and some newspapers which are hardly accessible to the students.Moreover, there is tremendous peer pressure, both among the teachers and thestudents, not to use English except in English classes Anyone speaking English will

be looked at as a strange creature Therefore, what teachers have to do to improvespeaking skill among their students is really hard work Andrew (1984, p 97-100)makes some suggestions on the teaching of speaking in rural areas as follow:

(1) Creating a subculture of English in a rural setting

(2) Creating a make-believe world in the classroom

(3) Creating a content-challenging context in the classroom

2.3.5 Teaching Speaking In Upper Secondary School

At the upper secondary school level, and especially in the senior years, thetask of maintaining students' interest and having obtainable short term goals mayprove more difficult With the focus of study: being directed towards universityentrance examinations students generally have little desire or indeed motivation to

improve language proficiency Therefore, "Teachers need to create interesting

lessons in which the students' attention is gained." (Norris-Holt, 2001) Norris-Holt

also emphasizes the importance of an interesting text in helping to create motivation

among students in the classroom "They can create a great deal of interaction and

help to motivate students to develop their language skills"(Norris- Holt, 2001)

Normally, at upper secondary school, a series of the grammatical items to betaught in any one year is listed However, it does not imply that the teaching issolely based on grammatical parts rather than the language as a whole Johnson and