Using Active Teaching to improve English Speaking Skill for first-year Non- English Majoring Students AOF”.PDF

DECLARATION I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and effort and that it has not been submitted anywhere for any award Where other sources of information have been used, they have been acknowledged Author i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This thesis would not have been possible without the support of many people First of all, I would like to thank our respected supervisor – Ms Bui Thi Tuyet Mai, a lecturer of English Department, Academy of Finance for her immense support throughout my research Without her continuous guidance and support during my project, my project would not be completed I also want to give my kind regards to all teachers and students of the Faculty of Foreign Language for their kindness and help in my practicing time at this faculty ii ABSTRACT This thesis concentrates on Active Teaching and how Active Teaching would help to improve the teaching and learning quality of English speaking skill for first year Non-English Majoring students AOF Throughout the thesis, basic information on English speaking and Active Teaching will be provided: the definition and the description Also included in the thesis are figures and facts on current situation of English speaking skill at classes of first year non-gifted students Interviewing method and questionnaire will be used in the thesis to collect students’ opinions on the current and the planned teaching methods Teachers’ view would be taken into consideration to find out what they think about the changes and obstacles may exist when new methods are experimented The thesis concludes with the recommendation on the application of Active Teaching methods in order to improve speaking skill for first year Non-English Majoring students iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION…………………………………………………………… i ACKNOWLEDGMENT……………………………………………… ……ii ABSTRACT………………………………… …………… iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS……………………………………………… iv LIST OF TABLES………………………………… .v INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Aims of the study Scope of the study Methodology Organization of the study CHAPTER 1: BASIC THEORY OF SPEAKING AND ACTIVE TEACHING 1.1 Speaking skill and its related concepts 1.1.1 Definition of Speaking 1.1.2 The importance of speaking skill in classrooms 1.1.3 Skills and knowledge good English speaker need 1.1.4 Teaching Speaking 1.1.4.1 What is Teaching Speaking? 1.1.4.2 How to Teach Speaking? 1.2 Active teaching in a speaking lesson 1.2.1 Definition and description of active teaching 1.2.1.1 Definition of active teaching 1.2.1.2 Description of active teaching 1.2.2 Methods of Active Teaching 1.2.2.1 Brainstorming 1.2.2.2 A visitor to the classroom 1.2.2.3 Personal interview 10 1.2.2.4 Role-Play 10 1.2.2.5 Making a presentation 10 1.2.2.6 Case studies 10 1.2.2.7 Group work/ Team work/ Discussion Groups 11 1.2.2.8 Class debate 11 CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 13 2.1 Description of the subjects 13 2.1.1 Description of first-year Non-English Majoring students 13 2.1.2 Description of first-year Non-English Majoring students’ current state of English speaking skill 13 2.2 Researches on current state of speaking teaching and the application of Active Teaching methods 14 2.2.1 Research methods 14 2.2.2 Research’s results 15 2.2.2.1 Number of speaking periods in total English study program 15 2.2.2.2 Current active teaching methods used 18 2.2.2.3 Teachers’ opinions on the use of Active teaching methods for speaking skill 19 2.2.2.4 Obstacles experienced by the teachers when applying Active 21 2.2.2.5 Students’ opinions on the use of current Active teaching methods 23 2.2.2.4 Student’s obstacles on the application of more Active 24 2.3 What to draw from the findings 25 2.3.1 From students’ perspective 25 2.3.2 From teachers’ perspective 26 2.4 Conclusion 27 2.4.1 How active teaching methods used 27 2.4.2 Obstacles in applying Active Teaching 29 2.4.2.1 Students’ obstacles 29 CHAPTER 3: RECOMMENDATIONS 31 3.1 Recommendation on change within faculties involved 31 3.1.1 Recommendation on change to Non-English majoring faculties 31 3.1.2 Recommendation on change to Faculty of Foreign Language 32 3.1.3 Recommendation on change to teachers 33 Extra method 2: Case Studies 35 3.1.4 Recommendation on change to students 40 CONCLUSION 42 REFERENCE 44 APPENDIX LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AOF: Academy of Finance FFL: Faculty of Foreign Language EOSL: English for Speakers of Other Languages AT: Active Teaching iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Speaking activities and topics/drills in the course book “Business Basics” Table 2: Active Teaching methods, which being used Table 3: Implementation of active teaching methods, teachers’ opinion (by percentage) Table 4: Obstacles experienced by the teachers when applying group work in the speaking class by percent Table 5: Application of current active teaching methods, students’ opinion (by percent) Table 6: Students’ obstacles when applying AT methods v INTRODUCTION ***** Rationale Vietnam is in the transitional period into the knowledge economy, in which universities contributes greatly to the economic growth One of the challenges faced by universities is how to train students whose qualifications are needed by the society English speaking skill ranks among those qualifications that are highly appreciated by the modern world A puzzle appears challenging the education system: How to train students that are able to speak English fluently, to use English to communicate wherever and whenever they want in order to benefit themselves and the society? Academy of Finance has already realized the question raised by the society on English speaking skill It also keeps in mind its role of devoting itself to the education system, as well as the economic growth New plans have been suggested on English speaking lessons with the hope of making students approach English speaking skill right from the moment they start their study at the university In learning speaking skill, the students often find some problems The problem frequently found is that their native language causes them difficult to use the foreign language Other reason is because of motivation lack to practice the second language in daily conversation They are also too shy and afraid to take part in the conversation Many factors can cause the problem of the students’ speaking skill namely the students’ interest, the material, and the media among others including the technique in teaching English Many techniques can be applied including Active Teaching methods because many research findings say that they are effective to use in teaching speaking Non-English Majoring students AOF, like any other English learners, have to face with these problems, and find it hard to reach the target of outcome standard on English speaking needed by the society To solve this problem, AOF – in general, and the teachers of Faculty of Foreign Language – in detail, are making effort to find out suitable methods to help Non-English Majoring students come up with the general standards on English speaking skill This perception by AOF has inspired me to pursue my research on “Using Active Teaching to improve English Speaking Skill for first-year NonEnglish Majoring Students AOF” I wish that this thesis would provide effective recommendation for AOF to improve English speaking skill teaching and learning, thus helping the university to have satisfactory outcomes – students that are qualified by the society in English speaking skill Aims of the study As mentioned above, in order to understand how the Academy of Finance is running its English speaking teaching - learning system for NonEnglish Majoring students, what is the current results and how Active Teaching methods would help to improve these results, this thesis will research English speaking skill, current situation of English speaking teaching at AOF, Active Teaching together with its meanings, components and efficiency; suggesting some recommendation to improve student’s English speaking ability in the Academy Scope of the study The research scope of the study is restrained in Non-English Majoring Faculties, Academy of Finance Moreover, the research focuses on analyzing Crookal, D.& Oxford, R.L (1990) “Simulation, Gaming, and Language Learning” Newbury House Duch, B.J., Groh, S.E., and Allen, D.E (eds.) (2001) “The Power of ProblemBased Learning: A Practical “How To” for Teaching Undergraduate Courses in Any Discipline” Sterling, VA: Stylus Filene, P (2005) The Joy of Teaching: “A Practical guide for New College Harmer, Jeremy (1983), The Practice of English Language Teaching: Longman Handbooks for Language Teaching” USA: Longman Inc J.S Atherton (2003), “Learning and Teaching: Exercises: Role Play” United Kingdom Kayi, Hayriye, “Teaching Speaking: Activities to Promote Speaking in a Second Language” The Internet TESL Journal, Vol XII, No.11, November 2006 Lantis, J.S., Kuzma, L.M., and Boehrer, J.(2000) Active Teaching and Learning at aCritical Corssroads In J.S Lantis, L.M Kuzma, and J Boehrer (eds.) “The New International Studies Classroom: Active Teaching, Active Learning” Boulder: Lynne Rienner, pp 1-18 Lazaraton, A (2001) Teaching oral skills In M Celce-Murcia (Ed.) “Teaching English as a second or foreign language” (3rd ed., pp 103–115) Boston: Heinle & Heinle Mahmudin, Dani (2004), “Using Role Play Activities in Developing Speaking Ability for Children” Jakarta: UIN Syahid Masoner, M (1988) “An audit of the Case Study Method” New York: Praeger 45 Mingst, K.A., and Mori, K (eds) “Teaching International Affairs with Cases: Cross-National Perspective” Boulder: Westview Odell, J.S (2001) Case Study Methods in International Political Economy “International Studies Perspectives” (2), 161-76 Olurunniasola, A.A., Ramasubramanian, S., Russill, C., and Dumas, J (2004) Case Study Effectivenss in a Team-Teaching and General-Education Environment “Journal of General Education”, 52(3), 175-98 Omelicheva, M.Y (2006) Global Politics on Trial: Using Educational Debate for Teaching Controversies of World Affairs “International Studies Perspectives” 7(2), 172-86 Oros, A.L (2007) Let’s Debate: Active Learning Encourages Student Participation and critical Thinking.” Journal of Political Science Education" Communicative Language Teaching Today” Cambridge University Press Ur, P (1996) “A Course in Language Teaching” Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Ur, P (1991) “Discussions that Work” Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Van Lier, L (1995) “Introducing language awareness” London: Penguin English Wilson, B.M., Pollock, P.H., and Hamann, K (2007) Does Active Learning Enhance Learner Outcomes? Evidence from Discussion Participation in Online Classes “Journal of Political Science Education” (2), 131-42 46 APPENDIX Appendix 1: Questionnaire for teachers QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS The following questionnaire aims at figuring out difficulties that teachers have in applying Active Teaching methods in English speaking skill for Non-English Majoring students at AOF so as to suggest ways to help teachers solve the problems Please fill out by checking the box(es) which best describe(s) your ideas or specifying your answer Your responses are more than of beneficial values Thank you very much for your cooperation! Question 1: What you think about the application of Active Teaching methods in speaking classes? A I understand active teaching methods well enough to implement it successfully B The costs involved in implementing more active teaching methods are great C Active teaching methods best prepare students for the real world D My students presently lack the skills necessary for effective active learning E Active teaching methods give too much responsibility to the students F I find that active teaching methods are too difficult to implement successfully G Using active teaching enhances my career advancement H Active teaching is a valuable instructional approach I I prefer using familiar teaching methods over trying new approaches J Others (please specify) …………………………………… Question 2: What are your difficulties in applying AT methods in English teaching speaking skill for Non-English Majoring students at AOF? A Overload work B Students’ levels of proficiency are varied C I don’t have enough time to prepare speaking activities D I don’t know much about AT methods E Teaching speaking takes time when I have to cover all other contents of the course book F Lack of academic training in active teaching G Students resistance to class participation H Others (please specify) ……………………………………… Appendix 2: Questionnaire for students QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS The following questionnaire aims at figuring out problems encountered by Non-English Majoring students AOF in learning English speaking skill with AT methods to suggest ways to improve their ability in speaking English and the effectiveness of AT methods Please fill out by checking the box(es) which best describe(s) your ideas or specifying your answer Your responses are more than of beneficial values Thank you very much for your cooperation! Question 1: How well you learn from Brainstorming method? A Very well B Well C Okay D Not well E Badly F Others (please specify) ……………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… Question 2: How well you learn from Personal interview method? A Very well B Well C Okay D Not well E Badly F Others (please specify) ……………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… Question 3: How well you learn from Making a presentation method? A Very well B Well C Okay D Not well E Badly F Others (please specify) ……………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… Question 4: How well you learn from Group work/ Team work/ Discussion group method? A Very well B Well C Okay D Not well E Badly F Others (please specify) ……………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… Question 5: What are your difficulties when applying AT methods in studying speaking? A I don’t think I can come up with new methods and activities, as my English speaking is not good enough B Many of my classmates speak English much better than me, so we should not have similar learning program C I’m not interested in studying speaking at all D Others (please specify) ……………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… Appendix 3: The Contents page of the course book Business Basics SUPERVISOR JUDGEMENT Supervisor: Ms Bui Thi Tuyet Mai Student: Nguyen Phuong Thao Class: 51.03 Intake: CQ47 Topic: Using Active Teaching to improve English speaking skill for first-year Non-English majoring students AOF Mark: - In number: - In word: Hanoi, date month year REVIEWER’S JUDGEMENT Reviewer: Student: Nguyen Phuong Thao Class: 51.03 Intake: CQ47 Topic: Using Active Teaching to improve English speaking skill for first-year Non-English majoring students AOF Mark: - In number: - In word: Hanoi, date month year ... on Using Active Teaching to improve English Speaking Skill for first-year NonEnglish Majoring Students AOF” I wish that this thesis would provide effective recommendation for AOF to improve English. .. of first-year Non -English Majoring students In Academy of Finance, those who study English are divided into two groups: English Majoring and Non -English Majoring students For English Majoring students, ... applying Active Teaching and suggesting recommendation on the application of Active Teaching to improve speaking skills for first-year Non -English Majoring Students AOF CHAPTER 1: BASIC THEORY OF SPEAKING