AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES TO DEVELOP SPEAKING SKILLS FOR THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT VINH PHUC TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES **************** ĐỖ THỊ CẨM VÂN AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES TO DEVELOP SPEAKING SKILLS FOR THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT VINH PHUC TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE (Nghiên cứu chiến lược giảng dạy nhằm nâng cao kỹ nói cho sinh viên năm thứ hai Trường Cao đẳng Sư phạm Vĩnh Phúc) M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.01.11 Hanoi – 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES **************** ĐỖ THỊ CẨM VÂN AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES TO DEVELOP SPEAKING SKILLS FOR THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT VINH PHUC TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE (Nghiên cứu chiến lược giảng dạy nhằm nâng cao kỹ nói cho sinh viên năm thứ hai Trường Cao đẳng Sư phạm Vĩnh Phúc) M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.01.11 Supervisor: Dr. Tô Thị Thu Hương Hanoi - 2014 DECLARATION I, Do Thi Cam Van, hereby declare that the work in this thesis is the result of my own research. It is recognized that should this declaration be found to be false, disciplinary actions could be taken and penalties could be imposed in accordance with university policies and rules. Hanoi, 2014 Đỗ Thị Cẩm Vân i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would love to express my sincere thanks to a number of people whose invaluable support and encouragement were of great help in completing of this study. First of all, I would like to advance my special gratitude to Dr. To Thi Thu Huong - my supervisor for her guidance, invaluable advice as well as critical comments during the research process. Without her tireless help, this study could not have been finished. Secondly, my thanks go to Dr. Le Van Canh for his contributions through giving me helpful advice when I started the study. I am thankful to all the staff of the Post- Graduate Department of University of Language International Studies, VNU for giving me assistance and encouraging me to complete the thesis A further acknowledgement goes to my dear friends from the Master's Course. I would also like to acknowledge the 15 English teachers and 60 second -year students from K17, English Department, Vinh Phuc Teacher Training College for their participation and cooperation during the data collection process. Finally, special words of thanks are sent to my beloved family for their encouragement even in the hardest time when I was confused and exhausted. ii ABSTRACT The study is entitled “An investigation into the instructional strategies to develop speaking skills for the second year students at Vinh Phuc Teacher Training College”. It was conducted to examine the second year students’ difficulties in their English speaking skills, find out the instructional strategies applied by English language teachers in speaking classes, and show how role- play practice affecting students’ performance in speaking skills. The study was carried out on sixty second- year students and fifteen English teachers at Vinh Phuc Teacher Training College during weeks by questionnaires, semi- structured interviews, test, and personal observations. The findings indicated students’ good awareness and varied attitudes towards the problems they have to face, and the difficulties they had in the learning process. In addition, the study showed a range of the instructional strategies the teachers applied to motivate their students’ participation in speaking lessons. And role- playing was the most popularly used at Vinh Phuc Teacher Training College. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration ……………………………………………………………… .i Acknowledgements ii Abstract .iii Table of contents .iv List of appendices vi List of abbreviations vii List of figures .vii List of tables viii INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale 2. Scope of the study 3. Aims of the study 4. Significance of the study .3 5. Methods of the study .3 6. Design of the study DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Overview of speaking skills .5 1.1 Definition of speaking and teaching speaking skills .5 1.2 Principles for teaching speaking skills .5 2. Communicative Language Teaching Today .7 2.1 Definition of communicative language teaching .7 2.2 Current trends in communicative language teaching .8 2.3 Classroom activities in communicative language teaching 3. Instructional strategies 10 3.1 Definition 10 3.2 Instructional strategies model 11 4. Role- play .13 iv CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 1. The context .15 1.1 Description of the English speaking classe and its objectives at Vinh Phuc Teacher Training College 15 1.2 Description of the students 17 1.3 Description of the teachers .17 2. Method and procedure 18 2.1 Selection of participants 18 2.2 Data collection methods 18 2.2.1 Questionnaires 19 2.2.2 Semi-structured interviews .19 2.2.3 Observations .20 2.3 Data collection procedures .20 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 1. Teachers’ instructional strategies in English speaking classes 22 1.1 Instructional strategies used by teachers in speaking lessons 22 1.2 Which instructional strategies help the students to overcome their difficulties in speaking lessons? .29 1.2.1 Students’ difficulties in the speaking classes 30 1.2.2 Which instructional strategies help the students to overcome their difficulties in speaking lessons? .33 2. Effect of role- play practice to students’ performance in English speaking classes 33 CONCLUSION 1. Summary of the study .39 2. Limitations of the study 39 4. Suggestions for further studies .40 REFERENCES .41 APPENDICES .I LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix 1: Transcripts of student interviews (schedule 1) v Appendix 2: Transcripts of student interviews (schedule 2) Appendix 3: Transcripts of teacher interviews (schedule 1) Appendix 4: Transcripts of teacher interviews (schedule 2) Appendix 5: Teacher interview schedules Appendix 6: Student interview schedules Appendix 7: Mid- term test Appendix 8: Mid- term test: K 17 English A Appendix 9: Mid- term test: K 17 English C Appendix 10: Students’ questionnaire Appendix 11: Teachers’ questionnaire Appendix 12: Findings from observation LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ED: English Department vi EFL: English as a Foreign Language CLT: Communicative Language Teaching MA: Master of Arts PhD: Doctor of Philosophy Q: Question S: Student T: Teacher VTTC: Vinh Phuc Teacher Training College LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Importance of the teachers’ instructional strategies from the teachers’ points of view Figure 2: Instructional strategies the teachers applied in English speaking lessons Figure 3: The instructional strategy motivated the students the most in English speaking lessons Figure 4: Importance of the teachers’ instructional strategies from the students’ points of view Figure 5: Instructional strategies the teachers used from the students’ points of view Figure 6: Instructional strategy motivated the students the most from the students Figure 7: Students’ difficulties in English speaking lessons Figure 8: Students’ difficulties from the teachers’ points of view Figure 9: Students’ result from the mid- term test LIST OF TABLES vii Table 1: Speaking activities and topics designed for the second year English majored students Table 2: Importance of the teachers’ instructional strategies from the teachers’ points of view Table 3: The instructional strategies the teachers applied and which instructional strategy motivated the students the most in English speaking lessons Table 4: Importance of the teachers’ instructional strategies from the students’ points of view Table 5: The instructional strategies the teachers applied and which instructional strategy motivated the students the most in English speaking lessons from the students’ points of view Table 6: Students’ difficulties in English speaking lessons Table 7: Students’ difficulties in English speaking lessons from the teachers’ points of view Table 8: Students’ perceptions towards role- play Table 9: Students’ result from the mid- term test viii play the interaction without looking at each other’s cue cards. I found that they interacted well in the class. So I think that the studnets liked the strategied I used. Teacher (T5): 1. How you evaluate your students’ level and quality of participation in the speaking lesson today? While discussing, the students always concentrated on giving dominant ideas, using simple words and structures. They were afraid of using complicated ones because they were afraid of giving wrong answers. They were not really confident to raise their voices. 2. Which the instructional strategies did you apply to increase students’ participation in the speaking activity? Do you think your students liked those strategies? Students practiced a role- play in groups of 5. One student was the secretary of the local authority. Another student was an environmental specialist. The others were students who were learning the topic environment. They wanted to understand the real situations of environmental pollution in the local area. They asked the secretary to provide information and they wanted the specialist to give solutions. XII APPENDIX 5: TEACHER INTERVIEW SCHEDULES Teacher interview schedule 1. In your opinion, what are your students’ difficulties in speaking classes? 2. Which the instructional strategies did you apply to increase students’ participation in the speaking activity? Do you think your students liked those strategies? How are the instructional strategies affecting student’s attitude and performance in speaking classes? Teacher interview schedule 1. How you evaluate your students’ level and quality of participation in the speaking lesson today? 2. Which the instructional strategies did you apply to increase students’ participation in the speaking activity? Do you think your students liked those strategies? XIII APPENDIX 6: STUDENT INTERVIEW SCHEDULES Student interview schedule 1. What are your difficulties in studying speaking skills? 2. What has affected your participation in speaking class? Student interview schedule 1. How you evaluate your level and quality of your participation in the speaking lesson today? 2. What the instructional strategies your teacher often applies to motivate students in the speaking classes? Do you like them? XIV APPENDIX 7: ĐỀ SỐ PART 1: Introduction Introduce yourself and your family PART 2: Language functions Student 1: Can you read aloud the following numbers? 15/11/2009 ¼ 1.07 Student 2: What does each of the following initials stand for? PhD etc. GMT PART 3: Role-play situation One member plays the role of a tour guide and the other plays the role of the visitor. The tour guide introduces to the visitor the some famous beauty spots around Hanoi. Visitors can ask the tour guide any questions if they want. ĐỀ SỐ PART 1: Introduction Introduce yourself and your family PART 2: Language functions Student 1: Can you read aloud the following numbers? 16/9/1783 1/5 2,550 Student 2: What does each of the following initials stand for? B.C. ASEAN IQ PART 3: Role-play situation Imagine that you are going to take part in an entrance exam at a famous university but you don’t know any information about it. You will play the role of that student and your friend will play the role of the member of the training office of that university. (You can ask information about its location, its background, its staff, etc) ĐỀ SỐ XV PART 1: Introduction Introduce yourself and your family PART 2: Language functions Student 1: What does each of the following initials stand for? UFO UN e.g. Student 2: Can you read aloud the following numbers? 14/2/2011 ½ 3.05 PART 3: Role-play situation You now are living in Phuc Yen town, Vinh Phuc province. Your town is planning the project “Green world’ to protect the environment. You will play the role of the jounalist, and your friend will play the role of the member of “Green world” project. Discuss the situation and the sollution of the environmental pollution in Phuc Yen. ĐỀ SỐ PART 1: Introduction Introduce yourself and your family PART 2: Language functions Student 1: Can you read aloud the following numbers? 1/1/2009 ¾ 2.09 Student 2: What does each of the following initials stand for? GNP IMF Co.,Ltd PART 3: Role-play situation Imagine you have just graduated from the university. You are looking for a job in a big computer. You play the role of the interviewee and your friend will play the role of the interviewer. HƯỚNG DẪN CHẤM XVI 1. Hình thức thi: Nói theo cặp đôi 2. Cách tổ chức thi: Các thí sinh tự chọn người nói cặp với (đối tượng lớp, phòng thi). Giám thị gọi thí sinh theo danh sách phòng thi. Nếu phòng thi có số lẻ thí sinh cuối phép chọn thí sinh khác dự thi, lần nói thứ hai không tính điểm. Mỗi cặp dự thi bốc thăm MỘT đề, muốn đổi đề trừ 20% điểm. 3. Hướng dẫn chấm: Phần 1: (2,0 điểm) Hai thí sinh giới thiệu thân gia đình. Phần 2: (3,0 điểm) Hai thí sinh trả lời câu hỏi đề thi. Mỗi câu trả lời tính 1,0 điểm. Chú ý: Ở cặp đôi, thí sinh gọi vào trước PHẢI làm nhiệm vụ STUDENT Phần 3: (5,0 điểm) Hai thí sinh thực phần thi cách phân vai cho tình đưa đề thi sau thực đoạn hội thoại. Tiêu chí cho điểm phần thi cụ thể sau: - Fluency (1,0 điểm) - Accuracy (1,0 điểm) - Interaction (1,0 điểm) - Content (2,0 điểm) APPENDIX 8: XVII MID- TERM TEST: K 17 ENGLISH A TT Họ tên Ngày sinh Trú quán Điểm Lê Thị Ngọc A. 27/11/1995 Sông Lô - Vĩnh Phúc Nguyễn Thị Vân A. 16/9/1995 Yên Lạc - Vĩnh Phúc Bùi Thị B. 09/01/1995 Tam Dương - Vĩnh Phúc Đỗ Thị Đ. 08/9/1995 Tam Dương - Vĩnh Phúc Đỗ Thị Bích H. 01/5/1995 Lập Thạch - Vĩnh Phúc Trần Thị Thanh H. 17/12/1995 Sông Lô - Vĩnh Phúc Lê Thị H. 26/12/1995 Sông Lô - Vĩnh Phúc Nguyễn Thi Thu H. 26/6/1995 Vĩnh Tường- Vĩnh Phúc Lê Thanh H. 16/08/1995 Tam Dương - Vĩnh Phúc 10 Phạm Thị Thu H. 28/02/1995 Sông Lô - Vĩnh Phúc 11 Bùi Thị H. 15/07/1994 Phúc Yên - Vĩnh Phúc 12 Nguyễn Thị Bích L. 05/9/1995 Tam Đảo- Vĩnh Phúc 13 Nguyền Thùy L. 09/08/1995 Phúc Yên - Vĩnh Phúc 14 Nguyễn Thị L. 21/06/1994 Yên Lạc - Vĩnh Phúc 15 Phạm Hoàng Kiều L. 21/12/1995 Yên Lạc - Vĩnh Phúc 16 Vũ Thị L. 05/04/1995 Yên Lạc - Vĩnh Phúc 17 Nguyễn Thị Thúy Ng. 01/07/1995 Phúc Yên - Vĩnh Phúc 18 Trần Thị Ng. 15/04/1995 Bình Xuyên- Vĩnh Phúc 19 Hoàng Huyền Ng. 02/02/1995 Vĩnh Yên- Vĩnh Phúc 20 Trần Thị Ph. Tam Đảo- Vĩnh Phúc 21 Nguyễn Hồng Qu. 23/08/1995 Bình Xuyên - Vĩnh Phúc 22 Nguyễn Thị Th. 10/11/1995 28/01/1994 XVIII Vĩnh Tường- Vĩnh Phúc 23 Trần Thị Th. 28/03/1995 Vĩnh Tường - Vĩnh Phúc 24 Hà Thị Th. 27/08/1995 Sông Lô - Vĩnh Phúc 25 Nguyễn Thị Lệ Th. 02/11/1995 Bình Xuyên - Vĩnh Phúc 26 Trần Thị Thu Th. 20/02/1995 Lập Thạch - Vĩnh Phúc 27 Nguyễn Thị Thu Th. 31/01/1995 Sông Lô - Vĩnh Phúc 28 Vũ Thị Hà Tr. 11/10/1995 Tam Dương - Vĩnh Phúc 29 Nguyễn Thị Bảo Tr. 17/03/1995 Lập Thạch - Vĩnh Phúc 30 Trần Thu Tr. 09/05/1995 Bình Xuyên - Vĩnh Phúc APPENDIX Mid- term test: K 17 English C TT Tên Trần Thị Kim A. Ngày sinh 28/10/1995 XIX Trú quán Tam Đảo- Vĩnh Phúc Điểm Nguyễn Thị Nguyễn Thị B. B. 28/10/1995 25/08/1994 Phạm Mạnh Nguyễn Thị Thu Vũ Thái Nguyễn Thị Thu C. H. H. H. 17/12/1995 18/11/1995 14/10/1995 04/12/1995 10 Nguyễn Thị Thanh Nguyễn Thị Lê Thị H. H. H. 21/08/1995 02/09/1995 10/10/1995 11 12 13 14 15 16 Nguyễn Thị Lê Thị Nguyễn Thị Trương Thị Thanh Nguyễn Thị Thanh Nguyễn Thanh H. H. H. H. H. L. 27/11/1994 14/12/1995 08/03/1995 24/08/1995 11/11/1995 23/09/1994 17 18 19 20 Nguyễn Thị Thùy Nguyễn Thị Thúy Lương Thị Nguyễn Thị Tuyết L. Ng. Ng. Nh. 30/01/1995 12/08/1993 11/07/1995 21/08/1995 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Tạ Phương Phạm Thị Kiều Nguyễn Thị Hoàng Thị Phương Nguyễn Thị Nguyễn Hồng Ngô Thị Thu Nguyễn Thị Kiều O. O. T. Tr. Tr. Tr. Tr. Tr. 20/07/1995 20/02/1995 19/09/1995 28/02/1995 05/01/1995 19/08/1995 04/04/1995 12/01/1995 29 30 Nguyễn Thị Thùy Dương Thị Tr. Y. 07/06/1995 25/12/1995 XX Yên lạc- Vĩnh Phúc Vĩnh Tường- Vĩnh Phúc Vĩnh Yên- Vĩnh Phúc Vĩnh Yên- Vĩnh Phúc Lập Thạch- Vĩnh Phúc Tam Dương- Vĩnh Phúc Sông Lô- Vĩnh Phúc Phúc Yên- Vĩnh Phúc Bình Xuyên- Vĩnh Phúc Phúc Yên- Vĩnh Phúc Lập Thạch- Vĩnh Phúc Yên lạc- Vĩnh Phúc Phúc Yên- Vĩnh Phúc Sông Lô- Vĩnh Phúc Tam Dương- Vĩnh Phúc Lập Thạch- Vĩnh Phúc Vĩnh Yên- Vĩnh Phúc Phúc Yên- Vĩnh Phúc Tam Dương- Vĩnh Phúc Yên lạc- Vĩnh Phúc Sông Lô- Vĩnh Phúc Sông Lô- Vĩnh Phúc Vĩnh Yên- Vĩnh Phúc Lập Thạch- Vĩnh Phúc Vĩnh Yên- Vĩnh Phúc Yên lạc- Vĩnh Phúc Tam Dương- Vĩnh Phúc Yên lạc- Vĩnh Phúc Lập Thạch- Vĩnh Phúc 8 9 7 8 9 7 9 APPENDIX 10: QUESTIONNAIRE (FOR STUDENTS) This survey questionnaire is designed for the study on: “An investigation into the instructional strategies to develop speaking skills for the second year students at Vinh Phuc Teacher Training College”. Your assistance in completing the following questions is greatly appreciated. You can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussions or data analysis. 1. What are your difficulties when you study English speaking skills? Tick the answers that are appropriate A. You lack vocabularies B. You are not interested in the instructional strategies your teacher applied C. You are shy and inconfident D. You lack the information related to the topic XXI E. Their pronunciation is not good 2. How important are the teachers’ instructional strategies to English learning? Tick the answer that is the most appropriate A. Essential D. Not very important B. Very important E. Not important at all C. Rather important 3. What are the instructional strategies your teacher often applies in your English speaking classes? Tick the answers that are appropriate A. Group work F. Pair work B. Jigsaw activities G. Reasoning- gap activities C. Role- play H. Information- gap activities D. Task- completion activities I. Information- gathering activities E. Opinion- sharing activities K. Information- transfer activities 4. If your English teacher applied these instructional strategies in your English speaking classes, what would motivate you the most? Tick the answer that is the most appropriate A. Group work F. Pair work B. Jigsaw activities G. Reasoning- gap activities C. Role- play H. Information- gap activities D. Task- completion activities I. Information- gathering activities E. Opinion- sharing activities K. Information- transfer activities 5. STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS ROLE- PLAY ACTIVITIES To what extent to you agree or disagree with the following statements? Put a tick in the appropriate space provided. if you STRONGLY DISAGREE with the statement if you DISAGREE with the statement if you are NEUTRAL if you AGREE with the statement if you STRONGLY AGREE with the statement N Statements o XXII Role- play increases students’ interactions, promotes their communicative competence, interactive skills, and interpersonal relationships. Role- play helps the students more actively in the English speaking skills. Role- play creates chances for students to use English more. Role- play helps the students more confident to present about the topic Role- play forces the students to practice more in English Role- play helps the students overcome their shyness Role- play is time- consuming Role- play leads misunderstanding among the members of the groups APPENDIX 11: QUESTIONNAIRE (FOR TEACHERS) This survey questionnaire is designed for the study on: “An investigation into the instructional strategies to develop speaking skills for the second year students at Vinh Phuc Teacher Training College”. Your assistance in completing the following questions is greatly appreciated. You can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussions or data analysis. 1.What are your students’ difficulties when they study English speaking skills? Tick the answers that are the most appropriate A. They lack vocabularies B. They are not interested in the instructional strategies you applied C. They are shy and inconfident D. They lack the information related to the topic XXIII E. Their pronunciation is not good 2. How important are the teachers’ instructional strategies to English teaching and learning? Tick the answer that is the most appropriate A. Essential D. Not very important B. Very important E. Not important at all C. Rather important 3. What are the instructional strategies you often applied in your English speaking classes? A. Group work F. Pair work B. Jigsaw activities G. Reasoning- gap activities C. Role- play H. Information- gap activities D. Task- completion activities I. Information- gathering activities E. Opinion- sharing activities K. Information- transfer activities 4. If you applied these instructional strategies in your English speaking classes, what would you think motivate your students the most? A. Group work F. Pair work B. Jigsaw activities G. Reasoning- gap activities C. Role- play H. Information- gap activities D. Task- completion activities I. Information- gathering activities E. Opinion- sharing activities K. Information- transfer activities Thank you very much for your co-operation and assistance! XXIV APPENDIX 12: FINDINGS FROM OBSERVATIONS Observation Date of observation: Time: Duration of role- play: 11 minutes Class: 1. Role- play observation Put a dash (/) for each turn. Members Member Member Member Number of turns taken Total amount of talking time 4.10 minutes 15 seconds 1.30 minutes 2. Teacher’s instructional strategies Put a tick (√) when the teacher uses that strategy. No. Instructional strategies Teacher application XXV 10 Information- transfer activities Group work Role- play Pair work Information- gathering activities Opinion- sharing activities Reasoning- gap activities Jigsaw activities Information- gap activities Task- completion activities √ √ √ √ √ Observation Date of observation: Time: Duration of role- play: 10 minutes Class: 1. Role- play observation Put a dash (/) for each turn. Members Member Member Number of turns taken Total amount of talking time 2.10 minutes 3.05 minutes 2. Teacher’s instructional strategies Put a tick (√) when the teacher uses that strategy. No. Instructional strategies Information- transfer activities Group work Teacher application Role- play √ Pair work √ Information- gathering activities Opinion- sharing activities Reasoning- gap activities Jigsaw activities Information- gap activities √ √ √ XXVI 10 Task- completion activities Observation Date of observation: Time: Duration of role- play: minutes Class: 1. Role- play observation Put a dash (/) for each turn. Members Member Member Member Number of turns taken Total amount of talking time 1.50 minutes minutes 1.30 minutes 2. Teacher’s instructional strategies Put a tick (√) when the teacher uses that strategy. No. Instructional strategies Information- transfer activities Group work Teacher application Role- play √ Pair work √ Information- gathering activities √ 10 Opinion- sharing activities Reasoning- gap activities Jigsaw activities Information- gap activities Task- completion activities √ √ √ XXVII [...]... majored students to overcome their difficulties in learning speaking skills, and help the English teachers to have some useful instructional strategies in teaching are the inspiration of conducting the study entitled An investigation into the instructional strategies to develop speaking skills for the second year students at Vinh Phuc Teacher Training College 2 Scope of the study As this thesis is... instruction: to use the instructional strategies to produce the instruction - Design and conduct formative evaluation: to collect data that are used to identify how to improve the instruction - Revise instruction: to use the data from the formative evaluation to examine the validity of the instructional analysis, learner and context analysis, performance objectives, assessment instruments, instructional strategies, ... to occur in the classroom is the students go beyond practice of language forms for their own sake and use their linguistic and communicative resources to obtain information - Jigsaw activities: The class is divided into groups and each group has part of information needed to complete an activity The class must fit the pieces together to complete the whole They have to use their language abilities to. .. and brings some more useful strategies used in speaking lessons The last part, Conclusion, presents the summary of the study, limitations and suggestions for further studies 4 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW In the investigation into the instructional strategies to develop students speaking abilities, the study needs to present the previous and current literature on the speaking skills. .. designed in the questionnaire version for the students (see Appendix 10) indicated that they had the same ideas with their teachers The third question in the questionnaire for the students gave the researcher the information about the importance of the teachers’ instructional strategies in the students English speaking learning When the students were asked on the 5-point Likert scale that ranged from... concerned with the difficulties the students had in the speaking class, the suitable instructional strategies that teachers at VTTC choose for the second year English majored students in their speaking lessons as well as to help the students learn English speaking skills better 3 Aims of the study The study is carried out to help the English teachers at VTTC find out which instructional strategies are... purposes of the instructional strategies are: 10 - To motivate students and help them focus attention - To organize information for understanding and remembering - To monitor and assess learning (Instructional strategies/ 67/ 2002, Alberta Learning, Alberta, Canada) 3.2 Instructional strategies model of Dick and Carey (1996) Dick and Carey's Model Dick and Carey's model (1996) is systematic in nature The model... of speaking activity by providing a change Summary: From all the above information, all the readers could see that there were many useful activities (the instructional strategies) the language teachers can apply in their English speaking classes to stimulate their students in the learning process The linguists mentioned the instructional strategies much in their studies such as groupwork, information... instructional strategies are those tactics used by the instructors to promote learning Dick and Carey (1996) showed the definition of the instructional strategies: Instructional strategies determine the approach a teacher may take to achieve learning objectives Instructional strategies are used by the teachers to create learning environment and to specify the nature of the activity in which the teacher and learner... modifications to their model to reflect growing interest in performance technology, context analysis, multilevel evaluation models, and total quality 12 management" From the above definitions of the instructional strategies of some linguists and the model of the instructional strategies of Dick and Carey (1996), I draw my own definition of the instructional strategies as follows: The instructional strategies .  KE2#CC#D!;$F +8 8H* *,?*  8H 8   An investigation into the instructional strategies to develop speaking skills for the second year students at Vinh Phuc Teacher Training College . 2. Scope of the study 4,  8H 8 3 + *  ABSTRACT  An investigation into the instructional strategies to develop speaking skills for the second year students at Vinh Phuc Teacher Training College .     . **************** ĐỖ THỊ CẨM VÂN AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES TO DEVELOP SPEAKING SKILLS FOR THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT VINH PHUC TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE (Nghiên cứu những