Engaging beginner students in speaking practice at the vocational and continuing education center of nong cong

INTRODUCTION Reason of study English has become a vital and mandatory communication language in Vietnam since the opening of its doors to the world in 1986 Many Englishspeaking foreigners from across Asia, Australia, American and Europe started coming to invest in Vietnam This has motivated the people of Vietnam to learn English to facilitate efficient and effective communication among their counterparts The importance of English was immediately acknowledged by the Vietnamese government and as a result the English programs were made compulsory beginning with the secondary schools and subsequently the high schools and finally universities Today, of the four English basic skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), it is thought that speaking skill seems to play the most important role: knowing-language-people are considered “speaker” of that language as if speaking included all four kinds of knowing Classroom activities that help to help develop learners’ ability in expressing themselves would play an important part in a language course The goal of teaching speaking, surely, is to improve the oral production of the students Along with international trend, students should improve and promote their communication skill so that they can express themselves and learn to follow the social and cultural rules appropriating in each communicative circumstances In order to that, language-teaching activities in the classroom should aim at maximizing individual language use Teachers’ role is not only to create a warm and friendly classroom but also to provide students with effective and plentiful activities Only by such way can those activities encourage students to speak and attract them to speaking lessons Factors mentioned above have called forth my ambition to carry out the study of “engaging beginner students in speaking practice at The Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong” • Purpose of the study To study students attitudes towards speaking skill then suggest some effective activities to engage beginner students in speaking practice at Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong • Scale of the structure Actually, attracting students’ interest and involvements need to be done in teaching all four basic skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) However, it is impractical to overspread such a large Thus, the study limits itself to: • To find out the students’ attitudes towards speaking skill of beginner students at Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong • To suggest speaking activities to engage beginner students in speaking practice at Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong • Methods of the study The study was done from the beginning of September of 2017 to the ending of March of 2018 First, a survey is conducted for 100 beginner students in the Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong with a point of view to find out their difficulties they encounter as well as their attitudes towards the speaking skill (Questions - APPENDIX A) Second, references books about speaking and methodology are reviewed to get background knowledge of what speaking is, successful and interesting • • techniques in teaching speaking Third, some effective activities are suggested in order to engage beginner students in speaking practice Fourth, the text book is New Headway Elementary –Students’ Book ( the third edition) – Liz and Soars that will be enclosed with this study Last, one more survey is conducted for 100 beginner students in the Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong to examine their attitudes towards the speaking skill after being provided some suggested activities (Question the same with APPENDIX A) II CONTENT 2.1 A general view of speaking skill Speaking skill is the art of communications and one of four productive skills that must mastered in learning foreign languages Good speaking skill is the act of generating words that can be understood by listeners A good speaker is clear and informative Speaking is the skill that students will be judged most real life situations It is an important part of everyday interaction and most often the first impression of a person based on his or her ability to speak fluently and comprehensively However, speaking is in many ways and undervalued skill This, perhaps, is because we can almost all speak, and so have the low opinion of it Speaking is often thought of as a popular form of expressions Speaking, on the contrary, is a skill which deserves attention a bit as much as literacy skill Our learners often need to speak with confidence in order to carry out many of their basic transactions Harris (1777:81) says: “Speaking is a complex skill requiring the simultaneous of different abilities developed at the different rates” John (1982) believes that speaking ability as regarded the measure of knowing a language The learners define speaking as the most important skill they can acquire They assess their progress in term of their accomplishment in spoken communication Besides, Martin Bygate observes: speaking is the skill by which learners are most frequency judged and through which they make or lose friends It is the medium through which much of language is learnt and which for many is particularly conductive for learning” Bygate emphasizes the importance of speaking, not only for perfoming basic translations, but also for establishing and maintaining social relationships In general, speaking is an interactive process of construct meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997) Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participant themselves, their collective experiences, the environments and the purpose for speaking 2.2 Teaching and learning condition at the Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong in speaking practice 2.2.1 The teaching and learning condition The teaching and learning condition in the Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong is fairly good with system of the new blackboard, the equipment is modern: the furniture is right in size However, there are not many illustrations English pictures for studying, not projector, not language lab that is why in English periods the class atmosphere is not funny In this school, there is also a library where teachers and students can borrow books, magazines and newspapers Nevertheless, teaching aids to study English in this center are inadequate In class time, teachers often use visual aids but they are not rich That’s why their lectures don’t attract students’ attention and it appears quite boring to the students Further, there are from 38 to 45 students in each class so it is a little bit difficult for teachers to keep discipline in class This study was conducted in order to explore the students’ attitudes towards to English-speaking skill as well as to give one suggested activities to engage the beginner students in speaking lesson at the Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong 2.2.2 Students’ attitudes towards difficulties when speaking in class A survey is conducted for 100 beginner students in the Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nongcong The questionnaire used in this study was students’ opinions about students’ difficulties when speaking in class (7 questions) in class In this study, the planning stage involved the selection of the participants, which were 100 beginner students at the Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong and limited to the academic year 2017-2018, the preparation of letter of consent and the distribution of the letter of consent to the selected groups of students All students agreed to participate in the survey by signing the letter of consent (see APENDIX A) Table1 Questions-result 1: Students’ difficulties-Pre-applying techniques (done on 11th of September, 2017) (What difficulties you have when speaking in class?) I don’t have enough words to express what I want to say I am shy when I stand in front of class I am afraid of making mistakes when speaking The lessons are too difficult for me My friends don’t cooperate with me I don’t understand what people say to me I am not interested in speaking percentages 81 % 65% 53% 70% 60% 80% 30% According to the data presented in Table towards students’ difficulties when speaking in class (N=100), almost students ( 81%) participants agree that they did not have enough words to express what they wanted to say Similarly, 80% of them had a difficulty of not understanding what people said to them More than two-third of the students (70%) stated that the lessons were too difficult for them while 60% of them got the feel of not being cooperated with by their friends Regarding of making mistakes when speaking, more than half of them (53%) said that they are afraid of making mistakes in communicate activities Their difficulties to speaking activities was further supported by a high percentages (65%) being shy when they stood in front of class However, only nearly one third of them (30%) did nod prefer speaking, most of them (70%) like speaking despite of those difficulties 2.3 Some suggested activities to engaging beginner students in a speaking lesson at the Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong 3.1 Making sentences Objectives: This activity can adapt information to make easy for student to speak English Procedures: Teacher give information about a person then talk Each student has to make sentence for each word Example given: Unit 3–The world of work Practice-Talking about people Teacher asks Ss to work in pairs to read information about Fernando then talk about him as a mode Teacher asks Ss to talk about a relative as followed Job Fernando Diaz Tourist guide Peru Lima in a tourist office Spanish, English, and a little German Spanish No Married a dog Free time walking his dog, playing football Fernando Diaz is a tourist guide He comes from Peru He live in Lima town He works in a tourist office He can speak Spanish, English and a little German He isn’t married He likes walking with his dog and playing football in his free time 2.3.2 Face to face activities Objectives: Face to face activity not only motivates students to think a lot in a logical way, use imagination as quickly as possible to pick out the ideas but also can check the students’ memory of new words Procedure: Teacher giveS the topic word then students will have to find as much as possible things related to the given words Example given: Unit –Where you live? What’s in the living room? Teacher asks students to work in pairs Before beginning the lesson, teacher writes the phrase “living room” on the blackboard and asks Ss to find as much as possible things related to it Two Ss stand to face, the Ss who can say more words will be winner An armchair A television Country Town Place of work Languages pictures A sofa A DVD player A fridge A lamp A table 2.3.3 Hot seat activities Objective: Students have chance to apply the grammar into speaking skill so that students will be able to improve both speaking and grammar Procedure: - Teacher writes two names of tense on two chairs - Teachers say one time marker of any tenses Students have to sit down the chair, to have the tenses in accordance with that time marker - Then, students have to make one sentence with the time marker teacher said Past Simple Present perfect - Teacher calls two students Teacher says “yesterday”, the student runs and sits down the chair with the name “past simple”, then he/she has to make a sentence with the word “yesterday” Similarly, teacher says “since”, the student runs and sits down the chair with the name “present perfect”, then he/ she has to make and say a sentence with the word “since” and so on The student who sits faster and makes the right sentence is the winner 2.3.4 Pictures description Objective: Improving student’s ability of observation and expression what they have observed in the pictures as well as students’ knowledge of describing languages Procedure: Teacher shows some pictures on the board or divides class into small groups and distributes each of them a picture then asks students to describe what is in the picture After all groups have finished their discussions, teacher calls some students to speak in front of the class Example given: Unit 4-Take it easy Vocabulary and speaking- Leisure activities Teacher shows pictures on textbook page 30-31 then asks Ss to observe pictures carefully then asks Ss to match the words given with photos from a to p Reminds Ss to use the structure of Present Progressive Tense : S + be V-ing 2.3.5 Discussing Objective: Learners become much more involved in the speaking activity when they are posing and answering questions themselves rather than merely responding to teachers’ questions It will give students including weaker one more opportunities to speak without guessing the answers Procedures: Teachers writes down some questions related to the content of the lesson then gives students to minutes to think about their answers and speak them out Example given: Unit 11: Looking good! - Starter Purpose of this speaking lesson is to help students to speak about clothing Teacher asks Ss to work in pairs Teacher gives Ss some questions then asks Ss to ask and answering front of the class: • What are you wearing? • What is your favorite clothes? • What is traditional costume in Vietnam? • What you often wear when you go to school? • What you often wear when you stay at home? Teacher lets Ss work individually in to minutes After that, call some pairs to present their ideas 2.3.6 Teaching through song What makes music such a great teaching tool is its universal appeal, connecting all cultures and languages This makes it one of the best and most motivating resources in the classroom, regardless of the age or background of the learner Objectives: Creating a relaxed learning atmosphere for students Music and lyrics of songs help provide students energy that had none before or changed students’ mood Students also know song related to topic they are going to discuss Procedure: Teacher prepares a song related to the lesson and handout of lyrics of it Before starting new lesson, teachers play the song for students may be one or more than one time Let students listen to it and then ask students some questions about name, singer, and content of song Example given: Unit 11: Looking good! – Listening and speaking By the end of this part, Ss will be able to update themselves with information about the song on an Irish band called West life Teacher asks Ss to look at the song in textbook at page 86-87.Teacher plays the song for students (see lyrics in APPENDIX B) After listening to it, teacher checks students’ understanding about this song, for example: the names of song, musician, singer, composer, the content 2.3.7 Comparing pictures Objectives: Students will also learn how to observe and find the differences among pictures or things with fastest speed So they can practice the ability of comparing and describing the pictures Procedures: Teacher gives students some pairs of similar pictures Let students observe in few minutes then each of group finds most of differences, it will win and receive a gift Example given: Unit 10: Bigger and better! Teacher shows two pictures: picture1: city life, picture 2: country life then asks Ss to work in groups of four to compare life in the city with life in the country and a volunteer of each group will present their comparison Note: Using comparative adjectives given to make sentences Adjective Opposite Fast Slow Modern Old Expensive Cheap Dangerous Safe Dirty Clean Unfriendly Friendly Noisy Quiet Exciting Boring Busy Relaxing Example: The city is noisier than the country The country is safer than the city 2.3.8 Explaining the words Objective: This activity aims at reviewing the new words and improving the speaking reaction of students Procedures: Teachers divide class into small groups of two students One students will explain so that the other students can guess what the word is In two minutes, the group which the most words will be the winner Example give: Review for oral test Teacher prepares some cards which ten words in each card Asks Ss to work in pairs to read information in cards then make dialogues in front of the class B a uniform Thailand a notebook student a house September a bedroom Lunar New year apricot blossom 10 poor A Aodai Lao Pen teacher a classroom8 January a living room Christmas peach blossom 10.rich Example: Vietnam Student A explains: “ It’s proper noun It’ a country in Southeast Asia We live in this country” If student B answers “Vietnam”, they got point 2.3.9 Role play: Role-play is any speaking activity when you either put yourself into somebody else’s shoes, or when you stay in your own shoes but put yourself into an imaginary situation Objective: Students can speak English more naturally and fluently because they have to perform their own play and develop imagination and creativeness Role-play increases the self-confidence of hesitant students because in role-play activity, they will have a different role and they don’t have to speak for themselves Procedures: Teacher asks students to work in pair or group to make a roleplay about situation in front of the class Example given: Unit : Food you like!- Practice - Role-play The speaking part of this unit requires students to take turns to be shopper and seller Teacher gives shopping list, set mode then asks students to work in pairs to make dialogues Thing to buy Bread Eggs Milk Butter Apples Biscuits Carrots Strawberries Tomatoes Apple juices Cakes cheese tea A:Can I help you? B: Yes, please I’d like some bread A: Here you are Anything else? B: Yes Can I have eggs? A: Yes, of course B: How much is that? A: That’s 1.60 pound B: Thank you Goodbye A: Bye Potatoes Cheddar - Teacher gives feedback 2.3.10.Speaking in topic Objectives: This activity is the kind of speaking with students’ preparation in advance so students will feel more confidents when they speak in front of class Procedure: Teacher gives topic for students in the previous lesson and ask them to prepare speaking about this topic For the next lesson, each student has minute to present about their topic Example given: Unit 5: Where you live– Listening and speaking Asks Ss to see the chart Candy and Alise Kwan Manola Bert House or flat? house house Flat flat Old or modern? Quite old Very old Modern modern Where? New England Samoa Korea Lisbon How many 1 bedrooms? Live(s) with? Only them Her family A lone A lone Extra information Do bed and House one Marry next Have a cat breakfast for room year A lot of tourist in friend summer come to visit Teacher gives students the topic: “Talking about where you live”, asks students to play-act as Candy and Bert, Alise, Kwan, Manola to tell about their accommodation Example: Candy and Bert Bert: We live in a house It is a quite old house in New England There are three bedrooms in our house Only Candy and I live here now We bed and breakfast for tourists in summer -Asks students to take turn to play-act 2.3.11 Telling story Objectives: Students can improve their logical thinking in order to develop their speaking skill Procedures: Teachers shows some pictures that are put in order of story and give each group one of story pictures and divides class into some group of or people They will look at the pictures and tell a story based on these pictures Each student will tell one sentence about that picture and the other tell the next order of that story Two o’clock woke up Heard a noisewent slowly downstairs a light on the living room two men speaking very quietlyTwo burglars phoned the police the police arrived a TV was turning on police turned off TV Suggested answer: It was about two o’clock in the morning Suddenly I wake up I heard a noise I went slowly downstairs There is a light on in the living-room I could hear two men speaking very quietly ‘Burglars’ I thought ‘Two burglars! I phoned the police immediately The police arrived quickly There was nothing except a TV was turning on The police turned off TV for me 2.3.12 Debate Objectives: Students can learn the way to express their opinions of for or against something Specially, it is the way to encourage students’ critical thinking with logical evidences to convince the listeners Procedure: Teacher gives a situation and divides class into groups of four then let each draw lots to choose which group is for or against Example given: Unit 9: Food you like! - Starter Teacher shows the situation ‘People say that fast food is now universally in most countries and is coming increasingly popular Do you agree with it? Why or why not?’ Each group discusses to find evidences to protect their opinions After students finish their debates, teacher gives comment and summarizes the main ideas Example: Group says: I don’t agree with it ……………… Group says: I agree with it …………………… Suggested answer: For: I agree with it Fast food saves not only money but also time It is a healthy choice for people demanding for healthy food options Against: I don’t agree with it Fast food is a lower quality food It makes people become more fattening 2.3.13 Talk show Objectives: Students can bring the real life into the lesson and show their ability of speaking in public Procedures: For each group, one student is in the role play of TV presenter, other student supposes to be the famous person in different field as: doctor, teacher, singer, actor, actress………… Each group has to design 5-8 interviewed questions After 10 minutes of preparation, they will perform their talk show Teacher gives the field for each group with two fields: Group A: Free-diving and group B: free-running One student play-acts as MC, the other play-acts as David Bella Suggested answer: Welcome to our talk show “You are famous” Today we are going to meet a famous free-running, David Bella, in Lisses a town outside Paris MC: Nice to meet you How you feel now? David Bella: I feel so excited and a bit nervous MC: Why you like the country side? David Bella: Because I loved the feeling of freedom there MC: What did you like doing at school? David Bella: I loved doing gymnastics at school MC: What sport did you invent? David Bella: I invented Le Parkour or ‘free running’ MC: What did you in Lisses? David Bella: I spent ten years in Lisses practicing moves and jump and teaching people MC: What are you going to next? David Bella: I am going to go where no human ever went before Suggested answer: Welcome to our talk show “You are famous” Today we are going to meet a famous free-diving, Tanya Streeter, in the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean MC: Nice to meet you How you feel now? Tanya Streeter: I feel so excited and a bit nervous MC: What did you like doing as a child? Tanya Streeter: I love swimming in the sea MC: When did you join a diving class? Tanya Streeter: I can swim underwater for nearly six minutes with just one breath MC: What record you break? Tanya Streeter: I broke the world free-diving I dived 121 metres with one breath MC: What are you going to next? Tanya Streeter: I’m going to teach free-diving and work for sea-life conversation Tanya Streeter: in 1997 MC: How long can you swim underwater? 2.3.14 Survey Objective: Survey help students ask for information easily and speak fluently Morever, students can practice summary the ideas logically From that, the students can improve their speaking in passage and interviewing skill Procedures: Teacher writes survey questionnaires or grid on the board Students work in pairs or groups to fill in the gap or ask and answer the gaps or ask and answer the question in minutes Students are given more minutes to report their results Teacher calls some students to speak out in front of the class and corrects it Example given: Unit 4: Take it easy- Do you have a healthy style Asks students to read the questionnaire, tick about themselves then asks their teacher and two students, tick the answer (Yes), or (No) Do you…………? Me T S1 S2 • Go to bed early on weekdays • Have breakfast every morning • Drink mineral water • Walk to school/work • Play a sport • Smoke • Drink alcohol • Like fast food • Watch TV a lot • Play computer games 2.3.15.Drawing activities Objectives: - Improving students’ drawing skill and imagination - This activity also checks students’ ability of memorizing about the features of any pictures - This activity can help students review the preposition of places that they have learnt before Procedure: Teacher divides class into small group Teacher shows a picture for students to see Teacher calls some students to describe the pictures by asking some questions such as: where/what/what color Example given: Unit 5: Where you live?– What’s on the living room Teacher divides class in to groups then calls them to describe the picture Teacher gives each group 10 minutes to draw the picture without looking because the picture is already hidden After finishing, students have to describe their picture in front of the class Teacher will gives comments and corrects it Suggested answer: This is a living room There is a table On the table, there are two books and a jar………… After describing the picture, teacher hides the pictures and two groups have to draw the pictures The group which draws more correctly will be the winner 2.3.16 Using poems Objectives: Creating a comfortable and funny learning environment for students Students will learn many new expressions from literature field Procedure: - Teacher finds short and understandable poems related to the topic or lesson students are going to study or let students prepare it themselves - At the beginning of speaking lesson, teacher shows the poem on the poster and let students read it in few minutes - After that teacher asks students about content and theme of the poem they have read Example given: Unit 8: A date to remember Everyday English - Special occasion Teacher can give handout to student or display the poem Christmas on the board Teacher gives questions about the poem: • What is the poem about? • What is the name of this poem? • When is the Christmas day? • What people often at Christmas? 2.3.17 Using films Objective: Creating a comfortable and funny learning environment for students Students can summarize the contents of the film that they have just watching Procedure: • Teacher finds a short film and show on the TV for student to watch • After watching, teacher asks students some questions about that film • After watching the film, students have to summarize the content of the film and present before class for the next lesson Example given: Unit 13- Story time - A quiz – Question words Teacher divide class in to groups of five to save time to watch such films as: Snow White and seven Dwarfs, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella at home in the previous day the asks Students to summarize the content of each film and then tell in front of the class for the next lesson Snow White and seven Dwarfs, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella short story (see appendix C.) 2.4 Results After aduration of applying mentioned techniques, there is a significant progress in speaking practice among beginner students A survey is also conducted for 100 beginner students in the Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong The questionnaire used in this study was students’ opinions also about students’ difficulties when speaking in class (7 questions) In this study, the planning stage involved the selection of the participants, which were 100 beginner students at the Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong and limited to the academic year 2017-2018 after a duration of being applied mentioned techniques, the preparation of letter of consent and the distribution of the letter of consent to the selected groups of students All students agreed to participate in the survey by signing the letter of consent (see APENDIX A) Table Students’ difficultiesPost-applying techniques (done on 27th of March, 2018) What difficulties you have when speaking in class? I don’t have enough words to express what I want to say I am shy when I stand in front of class I am afraid of making mistakes when speaking The lessons are too difficult for me My friends don’t cooperate with me I don’t understand what people say to me I am not interested in speaking percentages 21 % 10% 15% 10% 13% 10% 5% According to data presented in table 2, almost students changed their attitudes towards speaking activities To be more specific, as many as 95 % of them were interested in speaking, only % of them have opposite idea Accordingly, 90% of them had not feeling shy when they stood in front of class as well as feeling of the too difficult lessons for them and having an ability to understand what people said to them Similarly, 87 % of them were ready to cooperate with each other in making conversation as well as in speaking practice, only 13% of them discounted with the practice of cooperating with their friends Their confidence of speaking English was further supported by very high percentages (85%) that they were not afraid of making mistakes when speaking English As far as lexical usage, 79% of the students said that they had enough vocabulary to communicate with other people, only 21% of them told they did not have enough words to express what they wanted to say • CONCLUTION AND SUGGESTION • Conclusion The present study aims to explore the perception of 100 beginner students towards the speaking skill in their learning English as a foreign language in formal context, i.e., as a compulsory subject in the Vocational and Continuing Education Center curriculum Data were collected by means of questionnaire for the duration of pre-applying and postapplying techniques in teaching speaking skill The results show that the participating students favored these activities This reflects that the students are interested in studying with those in EFL classrooms However, besides the strong points, weak points are unavoidable Due to limitations of time and knowledge, the study can not cover all stages and levels In addition to that, my graduation paper only concerns a very small part of teaching speaking with the main purpose is to improve students’ speaking skill and their interests to speaking lessons Therefore, the author would like to receive both critical and lenient review from the readers • Suggestion for future studies In view of the findings and the limitations in this study, the following suggestions are provided for future studies as follows First, future studies involving different groups of learners should be conducted to replicate this study Second, it would be an interesting avenue for future studies to add more in class activity items in the questionnaire to yield various reactions towards class activities Third, the author hope that in the near future, many other activities for engaging students in to writing, reading, listening lessons will be studied by myself as well as others to help learner study English better REFERERENCES Baker, C (1992) Attitudes and language Adelaide: Multilingual Matters Ltd Brown, H D (2001) Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy (2nd edition) Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Addison Wesley Longman Brown, J D (2001) Using surveys in language programs New York: Cambridge University Press Brumfit, C (1984) Communicative Methodology in Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Dörnyei, Z (2003) Questionnaires in second language research: Construction, administration, and processing Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publisher Ferris, D (1998) Students’ views of academic aural/oral skills: A comparative needs analysis TESOL Quarterly, 32 (2), 289-318 Galloway, A (1993) Communicative language teaching: An introduction and sample activities ERIC Digest ED 357642 Green, J 1993 Student Attitudes toward Communicative and NonCommunicative Activities: Do enjoyment and effectiveness go together? The Modern Language Journal, 77,1-10 Johnson, K., & Morrow, K.(1981).Communication in the classroom Essex: Longman Khoi, M A., & Iwashita, N (2012).A comparison of learners’ and teachers’ attitudes towards communicative language teaching at two universities in Vietnam University of Sydney Papers in TESOL, 7, 25-49 Kumaravadivelu, B (1991) Language-learning tasks: Teacher intention and learner interpretation ELT Journal, 45 (2), 98-107 Larsen-Freeman, D.(2000).Techniques and Teaching New York: Oxford University Press Principles in Language Littlewood, W (1981) Communicative Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Rao, Z (2002) Chinese students’ perceptions of communicative and noncommunicative activities in EFL classroom System, 30 (1), 85-105 Rudduck, J (1991) Innovation and change Buckingham: Milton Keynes, Open University Press Savignon, S And Wang, C (2003) Communicative language teaching in EFL contexts: Learner attitudes and perceptions IRAL, 41 , 223–249 Van Lier, L (1996) Interaction in the Language Classroom: Awareness, Autonomy and Authenticity New York: Longman Widdowson, H G (1978) Teaching language as communication Oxford: Oxford University Press Burns, a & Joyce, H (1997) Focus on speaking Sydney; National Center for English Language Research Bygate, Martin.CN Canlind & HG Widdouson (1987) Speaking Hongkong: Oxford University Press Ý KIẾN CỦA TRUNG TÂM GDNN-GDTX NÔNG CỐNG STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is my own work The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission, and have not been published elsewhere Nông công, the 30th of March, 2018 Author: Ngô Thị Hạnh ... Education Center of Nong cong in speaking practice 2.2.1 The teaching and learning condition The teaching and learning condition in the Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong is... 100 beginner students at the Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong and limited to the academic year 2017-2018, the preparation of letter of consent and the distribution of the. .. Nong cong 2.2.2 Students attitudes towards difficulties when speaking in class A survey is conducted for 100 beginner students in the Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nongcong The